Hybrid Theory
by CnA Productions
Summary: You know the story of the typical selfinsert? This is not that story.
1. With You

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 1: With You

They stopped when Aaron pointed it out to her, and Ukyou led them over to the sign. It was nondescript, just one of the thousands that appeared haphazardly across the landscape. Aaron was rather annoyed with the lack of proper signs in Japan. It made navigating the land difficult, requiring one to ask directions far more often than he wished. Ukyou was more familiar with the way things worked here, obviously, and thus had been very helpful with that. Still, she wouldn't have known where to go at all without him. And it wasn't like she had much choice but to let him tag along.

"Nerima Ward," she said aloud as she read the sign. It was placed on an otherwise unremarkable street leading through the great metropolis of Tokyo. Though one would have been hard-pressed to guess this was one of the largest cities on earth, from the small houses and simple wall-lined streets through which they passed. Would Ranma really be here?

Aaron was sure that he would be. He also knew exactly where her elusive fiancee would be staying. It would make her search considerably easier. And then she could have her revenge

(Is that what you're really after?)

Damn it! Ukyou reached up and clenched her head in frustration. She leaned against the sign and took a long, deep breath. There was no getting used to it. Feeling the thoughts bubble up and consume her mind like that. Even though she knew that the thought was alien, the experience of it was so... complete. It reminded her that she had other priorities now. Nonetheless, finding Ranma was important, because it would draw her closer to a solution to both of her problems.

With a sigh she pulled herself to her feet and walked past the sign. It was just as well she got moving, as people had started to give her odd looks. Not surprising. She did strike an odd figure, dressed in a solid black boy's school uniform covered with a layer of trail dust. The dust could have been avoided by taking a bus, there was ample money. But the time spent walking had allowed her to... adjust to her new circumstances. It also made Aaron a lot less dangerous both to himself and others, since she had been rigorously drilling him in the Art since they had left her hometown. On her back was a huge canvas travel sack, sized for someone at least twice her height. It made her stand out, but it was not obviously out of place. Far stranger was the huge polearm strapped to the back of the sack, which resembled nothing so much as a spatula.

01010

"He's not there," Ukyou stated aloud.

They had ditched the travel pack in a rat-hole motel that asked no questions and accepted cash. Ukyou wasn't really afraid of the types who lingered there. She was more afraid of the communal bathroom, really. She didn't know why Aaron insisted that they travel in such secrecy, but she supposed he had a right to be paranoid. She really couldn't blame him, since his concerns were literally infectious. That was also the reason she was standing in a tree in the neighboring yard, using the blooming spring foliage to conceal her location from the family she was watching.

The compound looked almost exactly like Aaron remembered. It was a walled-in home, two stories, attached to a traditional dojo with an idyllic backyard garden complete with koi pond. Still it was strange seeing it like this for the first time, and he was experiencing some form of strange sensory feedback. Ukyou sighed and rubbed her hand over her eyes as the headache spread. Still she forced them open again as she heard the family members beginning to call to each other down below. For a moment she watched as the group gathered itself together for the traditional evening meal. Their position in the tree afforded them an almost unobstructed view straight into the dining area. Aaron took this opportunity to point out the family members. Ukyou didn't resist his efforts, even if it was unnecessary.

"Akane." The girl was obviously in her mid-teens, with a long head of black hair. She was wearing a simple blouse-skirt combo and was gesturing extravagantly as she spoke. If Aaron's memories were to be trusted, something Ukyou had yet to agree with, then her hairstyle placed either before or very early in the series. That might explain Ranma's absence. Or it might not.

"Nabiki." The next girl was dressed in a far less modest fashion. She was slightly taller than Akane, with shorter hair and an expression of calculated indifference.

"Soun." The only man of the household was sitting with his back to them so neither could see his face. He was dressed in a plain green gi and his dull black hair was cut severely just below his shoulder.

"Kasumi." This girl Ukyou couldn't see entirely. Her position at the head of the table edged her just out of their line of sight. All that Ukyou could see was that she was wearing a dowdy housedress and was serving the rest of the household before digging into her own meal.

"He's still not here," Ukyou pointed out again as she drew back her finger. Her hand wrapped carefully about the hilt of the combat spatula that was slung over her shoulder. It was early, Aaron pointed out. Ukyou didn't know if she trusted this memory of his. It was all a bit too much to take. He couldn't really have read out a significant portion of her life in a comic book published in another world. It was just insane. Still, enough of what he -knew- made just enough sense that Ukyou couldn't dismiss it. Plus she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he had never been to this house or this place before. The only place he remembered that family from was the stories he had read and watched on his strange alternate earth. It sent strange chills through her limbs to think about it. Aaron calmed her down, keeping her from hyperventilating at the idea. He was very good at that; calming her down when her emotions flared.

"We'll do some investigating," Aaron pointed out in a whisper. It was still strange to hear him talking like that. It was disturbing. This whole experience was disturbing...no, beyond disturbing.

(Once we have the sword, I'll be out of your hair... literally.)

Ukyou nodded. Yes. The other reason they were in Nerima. It would give them something else to do before Ranma showed up, at the very least.

01010

Akane glanced back over her shoulder. There he was again. The boy was wearing a school uniform, but she could swear she had never seen him at school. It would have been hard not to recognize him, with that weird weapon strapped to his back. Still, it was the same boy, and now Akane was definitely convinced that he was following her. Akane moved her eyes back in front of her before the boy noticed her noticing him. She felt her temper growing shorter as she thought about him back there, watching her. His gleaming baby-brown eyes sliding lecherously across her body. His effeminately handsome face cracked in two by a perverted leer. Akane was fuming as she felt heat rising in her cheeks at the image of him she conjured up in her mind. If some... BOY thought that he could stalk her and catch her defenseless and alone and molest her away from prying eyes she would show him a thing or two.

"Excuse me," she called to Sayuri and Yuka. They stopped in mid-stride upon hearing her, and blinked when they realized that she had stopped a few strides back. "I have to go take care of something," she practically growled at them as she bowed slightly and turned to walk back the way they had come.

"Uh oh, sounds like Akane spotted that guy again," Yuka told her friend as Akane stalked away.

"Oh man," Sayuri sighed to herself. "I hope Akane doesn't hit him in the face. He has such a cute face..." The rest of her friends' conversation was lost to Akane as she moved through the crowd towards where she had last spotted the mystery boy. She was feeling good and steamed up now. After her "talk" with the acting principal about how she was "abusing" all the men on campus Akane had been packing a good old-fashioned beating around all day just waiting for an excuse to let it loose. She had planned on working out her frustrations on some innocent bricks back at the dojo, but this was far better. Not only would giving this guy a few wallops do wonders for her peace of mind, it might also convince him to find somebody else to stalk. Akane didn't like the feeling of being watched, and was prepared to demonstrate this... at length, if necessary.

She was just quick enough to spot the boy slipping away into an alley. Akane didn't hesitate as she jogged in pursuit. Still, by the time she caught sight of him the boy was already exiting the other side of the narrow passage. Damn, he moved fast, especially for someone who appeared to be only walking. If he got out of her sight she might lose him in the crowd of students that were rapidly filling up the streets.

"Hey you! Stop!" Akane cried out in her most commanding tone. The boy continued to move, perhaps picking up his pace a little. "Don't pretend you don't hear me!" Akane snarled as she picked up her pace to a sprint. The boy jerked his head at this, his long black hair snapping behind him. With obvious reluctance he stopped his forward momentum and turned to face her. His expression was blank, with just a hint of curiosity in his elegantly arched eyebrows. Akane had spent too long living with her sister to be fooled by that expression. "Yes, I'm talking to you!" she growled as she slowed down so she didn't slam into him. Tempted as she was to hit first and ask questions later, Akane was willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. THEN hit him.

"Can I help you?" he asked in an uninflected, high-pitched voice. Akane frowned. This guy looked too old and tall for his voice not to have changed yet, but he still sounded like a ten-year-old.

"Don't play dumb with me," Akane poked at his chest - only to stumble slightly as the boy slid back to avoid it so fast she barely saw him move. The boy's arm was raised protectively over his chest to ward off her touch. Akane blinked at the odd gesture.

"I'm not playing dumb," the boy said slowly as he lowered his arm.

"Yes, you are!" Akane snapped. The boy was giving her a wary look. Good, she wanted him a bit scared. "You've been following me around for almost two weeks now! Don't play innocent-"

"Oh, that," The boy cut her off with a sigh. Akane blinked. "So much for my mad wind ninja skillz..." he grinned a bit impishly and ran his hand through his long bangs. "Yes, I was following you, I admit it. But it wasn't for the reason you probably think it was for."

"What if I don't believe you?" Akane stated evenly. The boys confession had thrown her off her stride. Akane fully expected to have to beat the truth out of him. But this boy was neither cowering in terror nor slinking away in shame. He was completely ruining her fantasies about this confrontation!

"Then I guess you don't believe me," the boy replied with a fluid shrug. The smile had faded from his face.

"Well, I think I know exactly why you're following me," Akane grunted. "I think you're some pervert boy who sees me as some easy target for his disgusting fantasies. Well I'm not about to let you-" The boy began to laugh abruptly, cutting off Akane just as she was reaching her stride. Akane narrowed her eyes and clutched her fists so tight her knuckles turned white. He was MOCKING her?

"You have a healthy ego, I'll give you that," the boy commented as he quieted his laughter. "No, I'm not after you for anything like that. In fact, I'm only peripherally interested in you at all." Akane was about to open her mouth to denounce him when he stopped her by holding his palm up. "And I see that nothing I -say- is going to prove that I'm not after that. So I'll show you. Just not here on the street."

"What?" Akane stepped back, unsure what the boy meant. He had a mischievous look in his eyes, but his voice was resigned.

"Follow me into the alley a little bit, just far enough to get out of sight of everyone else," the boy invited her as he smoothly slid around her. Akane stared at his back as he moved further into the alley. She could see he had moved his hands up to his chest and was doing something there, but not what. Suddenly doubt and a hint of fear crept into Akane's consciousness. The boy paused after a dozen space-eating strides and looked over his shoulder at her. His long hair flipped with the gesture to rest over one shoulder. "There's nothing to be afraid of. If I'm trying to trick you or you don't believe me for any reason, you can beat me up if you like. I won't even raise a finger to defend myself."

Somehow the suggestion that she might be afraid caused the emotion to evaporate. Akane didn't really pay attention to the rest of what he said after that. She was too busy grumbling unintelligibly and planning what awful pain she would inflict on this pervert once he failed to convince her of whatever lie he had thought up. Still Akane followed him into the alley. It was really narrow inside, not even wide enough across for two people to walk abreast. It was also filthy, and the ground was covered with some sort of slime that Akane preferred not to think about. She had gone through the alley so fast the first time she didn't even notice the smell. The boy resumed his trek inward once he was sure she was following. Soon they were standing less than a meter apart, halfway into the shadowed passage.

"Okay, this is far enough," the boy said with a nod. He turned to face her. One hand lay askance at his side, but his other hand was holding the high collar of his black school uniform in a death grip. "I'm usually not such an exhibitionist, but you leave me little choice," the boy warned her cryptically. With an easy pull he peeled down his shirt and Akane could only stare at what was revealed. At first her mind didn't register it right. The tightly wound bandages first made Akane think of some horrible wound, complete with the swelling that was obvious underneath them. Then she realized what she was looking at. The boy had breasts.

Akane snapped her head back as if burned, and her face felt hot enough for that to be true. The boy laughed and pulled up his shirt over his... no, HER breasts again and began to button up. Akane tried to speak, but her mouth refused to cooperate. It simply hung open there and sagged back and forth as she backed up a few steps.

"Satisfied?" the girl said with a grunt. She was just finishing refastening her top and Akane's face drifted from his hands up to his nearby face. Now that she was looking in the right light, Akane could see that the boy was a bit -too- effeminate. His eyes and the angle of his nose and the smooth chin... it was a bit too much when taken all together.

Oh yeah, and he had no adam's apple. There was that too.

"My name is Ukyou Kuonji," the girl said with a short bow. "Sorry for the misunderstanding."

"Akane Tendo," Akane bowed back, dipping only slightly deeper. "It was my fault. I leapt to conclusions..." she trailed off lamely, not really sure how to address the person standing before her. Thankfully the girl seemed to be taking it in good humour. She waved off Akane's attempt at an apology and started to walk out of the alley, mentioning that the place stank a bit too much for the conversation to continue there. Akane had to agree with that and followed along willingly enough.

"It was my fault," Ukyou pointed out as they walked. "I was the one tailing you. Though it wasn't just you. I've actually been spying on your whole family for the last few weeks. I honestly didn't think anyone had spotted me."

"Well, you're wrong," Akane replied with a frown. "I think Nabiki spotted you first, but you're being talked about all around the school." Akane paused at this point to growl. "Like I don't have enough rumors floating around about me, thanks to you everyone is talking about my 'mystery stalker' and how 'romantic' it is that you don't attack me every day like all the other guys."

"Oh man," Ukyou muttered to herself and put her face in her hands. "I really suck at this stealth stuff."

Akane chuckled at her obvious disappointment. But that brought the reason for it floating back to the front of her mind and the laugh died off suddenly. Ukyou looked over at her and Akane cleared her throat. "Speaking of that, why -were- you following me?"

"I'm looking for someone, and I have reason to believe you - or more accurately your family - knows him." Ukyou's voice was even and soft. But there was a underlying hint of some deeper emotion. Akane couldn't place it, but from the way the other girl's hands twitched Akane suspected this was something very personal to her. "I didn't announce myself because I know how sneaky they are. That bastard Genma would flee like a rat if he found out I was looking for him." Akane frowned as Ukyou spoke. She was already straining her brain to identify the name Genma, but she could not recall having ever heard it before in her life. "The person I'm looking for is named Genma Saotome, and his son...Ranma," Ukyou added after a moment's deep thought. Her voice hitched at the second name. Akane found herself intensely curious about what this girl-in-disguise was after these two for. Especially if they were somehow connected to her family.

"I've never heard of them," Akane murmured softly. Ukyou looked back at her with an unreadable expression. Then she strode forward slightly and turned her attention back to the crowds.

"No, I think you would have led me to them by now if you knew them," Ukyou said. "But I have a feeling that if you aren't going to contact them, they'll be contacting you. I have reason to believe your father owes Genma something. And Genma is sure to remember a debt like that... at least when he's not the one owing."

"What kind of debt?"

Ukyou took a good long time answering this question. Her body was slouched slightly and she was staring off into space. Akane almost stepped past her before she realized that the other girl had stopped.

"I have suspicions, but nothing I can prove," Ukyou said slowly. She looked at Akane with a blank, almost dead expression. "I think it has something to do with what they did to... me."

"Did to you...?"

"Nevermind," Ukyou laughed suddenly and waved her hand as if to dispel some stale air. "It doesn't matter. When I catch up with them, I'll be able to set that all right." Ukyou paused again and looked off into the distance. "But I've wasted enough of your day already. I promise to stay out of your hair." Ukyou began to walk away at an angle, her strides once more beginning to consume space with abandon.

"No, wait!" Akane called out. She was holding her hand towards the retreating back of this strange girl and didn't know why. Maybe it was because there seemed something...sad about her. She seemed to be so alone. And Akane was beginning to understand what it was like to be alone. She had never exactly been popular. But now... now she was receiving all the wrong attention. And as a result, the only people in school that ever talked to her were Yuka and Sayuri. And Akane had known them since the three were toddlers. Ukyou had been so... so at ease with her. It was like being treated like a human being again.

The girl in question had paused and was looking back over her shoulder. Akane could see how she, and everyone else, had mistaken her for a boy. Her face was cute, but not pretty enough to give her away, and all her other signs of femininity were well-concealed. Her posture, her gestures and her very expression were so masculine it was hard to picture her as anything else. The girl must have had a great deal of experience with her deception.

"Indeed?" Ukyou asked, startling Akane out of her reverie.

"Uh... you don't have to go," Akane began lamely. Ukyou didn't move, but continued to stare at her with a strange, dispassionate intensity. "What I mean is... you don't know anybody around here, do you?"

"You could say that..." Ukyou said slowly. She cocked her head to the side and spun to face Akane. She crossed her legs at the ankle as she stood there. Her arms rose up and laced together over her concealed breasts.

"Well, we might have gotten off in the wrong foot but... do you... want to be friends?"

"Okay..." Ukyou said slowly and then laughed. "As long as you don't get mad at me for being better than you at martial arts."

"What!" Akane snapped. She stepped forward and clenched her extended hand into a fist. "Are you saying you're better than me at fighting?" Ukyou shrugged and chuckled again. "I think that's a challenge!"

"Who, me?" Ukyou stepped back and waved her hands in front of her to ward Akane off. "No, it was just an in-joke! Really!"

"Oh no, you're not getting away with it that easy! Let's go... right here, right now!"

"But..."

Akane wasn't about to listen. Grinning like a loon, she charged at the other girl. She still needed to work out her frustration, after all. And it wasn't like she was going to hurt Ukyou. Before Akane could close half the distance, Ukyou was moving. Her hand reached up and clasped the shaft of her ridiculously huge spatula. With an elegant motion she jerked it free of the harness on her back and brought it around before her. Akane felt her first blow glance off the metal of the weapon and grunted to conceal the pain she felt. She was already moving into her next blow, but Ukyou skipped back sliding away from the shorter girl with deceptive ease. Akane had committed herself to the strike, and was already moving to recover when Ukyou countered. Akane could only blink as she felt the ground disappear from under her feet. She was already smashing her back into the sidewalk before she even felt the sharp pain in her ankles.

Akane was just re-catching her breath when she felt something cool placed against her throat. Allowing her eyes to drift along the shaft of the metal weapon Akane noticed that Ukyou was holding the wide edge of her bizarre weapon against her throat. And from the feel of it, Ukyou kept the edge of that weapon very sharp. "So, do you yield?" Ukyou asked softly. She had a strange expression on her face. It wasn't mocking, or enthused, like all the other fighters she had ever seen win a fight. It was confused, as if Ukyou was genuinely surprised at how well she had done. Akane internally debated how to feel about that and decided she might as well feel good. So she allowed herself to smile and nod, at least as much as the blade at her neck would let her. It wasn't like it really mattered if she lost to Ukyou, anyway. Ukyou was a girl. No matter what she looked like.

Ukyou reslung her spatula with a single motion. Still wearing her confused frown, she offered her hand to Akane and yanked the smaller girl to her feet easily. Akane laughed a bit as she bounced to her feet. "I yield all right," Akane snickered into her hand. "But I want a rematch. And next time leave your toy at home."

"Okay," Ukyou smiled behind her own hand. "You have a deal."

01010

Aaron directed them into the hotel room and hung the battle spatula, harness and all, on a hook usually reserved for hats and coats. His mind was awhirl. Well, even more than usual. Today had certainly not gone the way he had planned. It was certainly inevitable that his presence here would cause changes in the timeline,

(Like ruining my life.)

but he wasn't expecting to cause such a change so soon. Still, as changes went, it was rather minor. Ukyou and Akane had been friends in the manga as well... eventually. Besides this gave him a line right into the Tendo dojo, which meant less time spent staking out the place waiting for Ranma to show up so Ukyou could have her

(Revenge)

whatever she finally decided to do about her feelings about Ranma.

He sat down on the relatively clean - compared to the rest of the building - bed and started to undress. Ukyou was too busy thinking about what to do with Akane to help him with that, so he moved gingerly but with an annoying familiarity. He sighed in relief as he unwrapped the bindings on Ukyou's chest and lay back to let the tensions of the day flow out of them. Aaron had tried pointing out that Ukyou's ruse was no longer necessary, and to a large extent Ukyou agreed with him. Still, habits were hard to break, and Ukyou herself didn't really know how to dress and act like a girl, after spending so long repressing and avoiding her feminine side. Not that Aaron was complaining. It meant he was less likely to have to deal with

(What, you afraid of a few skirts, mister sexless wonder?)

those things.

Aaron groaned and let Ukyou lead them to the bathroom, where she began to clean herself. He tried not to think about what she was doing, but it was rather hard considering his circumstances. He didn't like these feelings she was filling his mind with. Ukyou couldn't help it, and was trying to deny the feeling existed herself. But if there was one thing Aaron was good at, it was pointing out when people were just deceiving themselves. Ukyou didn't want to face up to how she really felt about Ranma, but Aaron was having none of that. He may not like how her childhood crush turned teenage lust made him feel, but he couldn't deny it was there.

And now they were friends with Akane. Aaron admitted that the girl was pleasant enough to be around. She had a boisterous energy that was tempered by her wary shyness. The odd combination made Akane both enthusiastic and sarcastic, which was a mix Aaron had never experienced before. He had spent the whole afternoon subtly picking Akane's brain, trying to peel away her personality and see into the girl within. It was a fascinating intellectual exercise. Made even more so by the fact that he already knew

(Or think you know)

so much about her.

Not that Ukyou really approved of such activity. She was just glad to have someone to talk to that wasn't Tsubasa or some macho jerk that she had to impress with her strength and speed before they took her seriously. She could see why Akane and That-Other-Ukyou (TM, All Rights Reserved) had eventually become friendly rivals over Ranma's affections. Of course, Ukyou didn't plan on becoming Akane's rival for the boy in this world. But still... the more she thought about him, the less and less angry she was with him. He had been six. He couldn't be held responsible for abandoning her.

Genma, they both agreed, was going to be smashed into a unrecognizable lump. Ukyou planned on testing out exactly how much of Ranma's famous recovery speed he had inherited from his father. And given their performance against Akane, she guessed that would be no problem at all. Aaron was still confused about that. He had never believed Ukyou was that good. Better than Akane, yes. But that much better? It should have been some sort of a challenge. Unless... he sighed as Ukyou started up the shower for them. There were too many variables. Had Akane not been going all out? Was he comparing Ranma to Ukyou, but only after Ranma had already mastered the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken? For the life of him he couldn't remember any time Akane and Ukyou had fought directly in the manga. Not that there was any indication this was the manga. Well, except for the hair. He fingered a strand of Ukyou's hair and examined its severe black color. The anime had made this hair brown. But still, Ukyou was right. There was no reason to assume everything here was based on the manga he had known. There was no reason to dismiss that knowledge either. Besides, he knew the anime and most other fan-created continuities just as well.

Ukyou finished her shower quickly, and stepped out to towel off. The very fact this run-down dive had a functioning - and private - shower was the only reason Ukyou still allowed them to stay here. It wasn't like Ukyou couldn't afford to set them up somewhere more classy. She had inherited quite a lot of money from her father's life insurance. Combined with the cash she had squirreled away over the years working odd jobs in restaurants, it was more than enough to afford enough space for her own restaurant in the super-expensive real estate of Tokyo. But the privacy of this place suited her for the moment, and Aaron had no opinion one way or another. He only recommended she not put down too many roots before she knew exactly what she was going to do about Ranma Saotome. Maybe if she fucked him that would get him out of her head.

(Aaron!)

Well, he just hoped that they got their hands on that sword before she did. It was hard enough taking a shower like this. He wasn't really sure if he could survive -that-.

01010

Very few people understood Tatewaki Kunou. It was a condition he did little to rectify. In fact, sometimes he was so magnificent that he had trouble understanding himself. How could any lesser person thus measure up to his standards in this regard?

Kunou strode boldly through the halls of his domain, allowing his people to part before him. He listened with contentment to their inane banter as he crossed the schoolyard. He didn't pay attention to the actual words. It was obvious that they were discussing him. Listening to their mutters of awe and reverance would doubtless only tempt him to think better of himself than he really was.

He was almost to the entrance when he spotted his goal lingering near the corner of the school. Adjusting his path, he proceeded to her without delay. Given a choice, Kunou would have as little to do with Nabiki Tendo as was humanly possible. However, as with so many unpleasant things in life, he had found it was his duty to deal with her. Few others could bring her to heel about her petty blackmail and extrotion schemes around the campus. And was it not the duty of the daimyo to look out for the well-being of his fiefdom?

"You sent me this?" Kunou deftly retrieved a folded paper note from the pockets of his hakama-style pants. Nabiki looked up at him from under her bangs. As always, she had that annoyingly superior smirk on her face. Kunou despised that smirk, and despised even more the woman it came attached to. As an excuse to take his eyes from her, he unfolded the note that he had meticulously stored and began to read it aloud. "Kunou-chan," he began, and almost immediatly regretted it. Why she choose to refer to him with such a childish, diminuitive title eluded him. Didn't she know it annoyed him?

"I have some important information for you. Please bring me five thousand yen when you come to school tomorrow," he continued without pause. He then folded the note again and safely stowed it away."Well I am here and I have brought your money. So tell me what is so urgent, Nabiki Tendo?"

"So forward?" Nabiki said coyly. "Maybe I want you to say 'please' first?"

"Don't toy with my time," Kunou responded.

"I think I might increase my price because of that comment," Nabiki pointed out in a level tone. Kunou did not groan. People of his standing simply did not do so. Thus it must have been someone nearby who made the noise. "Oh, you're so cute when you're annoyed, Kunou-chan!" Nabiki said brightly. Kunou -did- growl, however. "Okay, I have information about Akane's secret mystery admirer. I thought you might be interested."

Kunou perked up. He was, by definition, above the mindless gossip and rumor-mongering of his fellow students. Yet even he had seen the mysterious stranger who had started showing up shortly after his open challenge to Akane Tendo. Kunou knew the boy had been observing his Akane from a distance, but the situation bothered Kunou not a bit. What was the point of wooing such a prize if others did not also desire it? Besides, the boy had never had the courage to openly challenge Kunou's destined paramour. Such weak-willed fools as those who could not fight to gain the attention of the young woman were typically beneath Kunou's notice.

"You thought wrong, Nabiki Tendo," Kunou allowed his smirk to show in his voice. Watching Nabiki's face fall briefly was worth the annoyance of having been brought here to her in the first place. "What do I care of some miscreant who stands in the shadows cast by your sister's shining star?" Shining star? He would have to remember to write that one down. Maybe if he altered it slightly it would serve as a suitable nom de guerre.

"Ah, so you haven't heard the latest news then," Nabiki spoke with feigned innocence, thus stopping Kunou in his tracks before he could turn away.

"Very well, woman," Kunou frowned and retrieved a wad of bills from his pocket. "I expect this news to be worth the expense." From the venom he laced his voice with, he doubted Nabiki missed the double-entendre.

Nabiki held out one hand until he handed over the cash. She didn't bother to count it. Instead she opened her school pack and retrieved a number of glossy photos. The exchange was over quickly.

Kunou fanned the photos with easy familiarity. Then he found himself staring hard at them. The pictures contained one of his favorite subjects, but not in a manner that Kunou enjoyed seeing. She was on the ground, while a boy loomed over her with his bizarre giant spatula held against her throat in one picture. In the next, the two were sitting in an ice cream parlor, both with huge smiles on their faces. In the next the two were walking down the street and chatting back and forth. In the next Akane was handing the boy a small note. And that was all. Creases began to appear in the photos, making it seem like the two were moving closer and closer together.

"Who is he?"

"Well I don't know exactly..."

"I want a name and location, Nabiki Tendo," Kunou informed her softly. "Money is no object. I must find this boy."

"You just said the magic words, Kunou-chan!" Nabiki called and Kunou grunted. He heard her walking away, but didn't look up to see her leave. Kunou was too busy burning the face of his enemy into his mind. Obviously the fiend had ambushed her like an assasin from the shadows, and was now having his way with her. A man like that, who had no honor...

It was the duty of the daimyo to protect his property.

01010

Akane spotted Ukyou standing just outside the school grounds. The girl was actually leaning against the outer wall of the school. Once again Akane was struck by how male she looked with her dour frown and slumped posture. Her hands were idly sliding back and forth on the handle of her huge spatula, spinning the ring at the end in the dirt and creating a low whirring sound from the blade atop it. She was staring off into space, obviously not noticing or not caring that she was the center of attention for all the students exiting the school.

"Ukyou, you came!" Akane called out brightly. Ukyou snatched her weapon with one hand, instantly stopping its motion and jerked her head to look in Akane's direction. Suddenly Ukyou was smiling and her entire face seemed to change. Her eyes, usually veiled and mysterious, now sparkled with unconcealed mirth. Animation and vitality seemed to flow into her expression and in fact her entire body. She waved eagerly to Akane and then gestured her forward. Akane heard several of the nearby girls make swooning noises and cries of delight. She hid a derisive smile behind her hand and walked easily towards her new friend.

"You thought I was lying?" Ukyou asked in her usual direct manner once Akane was a bit closer. Akane stared at her earnest face for a few seconds before she decided Ukyou was just toying with her.

"I just thought..." Akane trailed off and shrugged. "I thought you might have something else to do."

"Indeed?" Ukyou spun her spatula around her hand and returned it to the harness on her back. Akane supressed a shot of jealousy at the ease with which she handled her weapon. "I don't have much else to do except wait around for Ranma to show up. Frankly, I'd prefer to spend that time hanging with you than sitting in my apartment brooding."

Akane blinked embarrassment threatening to emerge visibly on her face. "That's great," she grinned and nodded. "Don't you go to school? You can't be much older than me, and with your uniform, I just assumed you did."

"Oh," Ukyou murmured as she cocked her head to the side and took a few moments before answering. "I dropped out of my old high school before coming here. I just don't feel the need to go to school at the moment, I guess."

"Akane!"

Both girls turned to see Akane's childhood friends dashing up to the pair. Both girls were looking at Ukyou while trying not to appear as if they were doing so. They waved slightly when Akane noticed them and Akane beckoned them over.

"Akane, so this is your mystery stalker?" Yuka asked brightly. Sayuri elbowed her slightly and frowned at her directness. For her part Yuka responded with a glare. Akane giggled.

"Oh man," Ukyou grumbled and put her face in her hands. "Apparently next time around I should practice my 'not getting noticed' skills." This caused all three childhood friends to burst out laughing. "My name is Ukyou Kuonji," Ukyou introduced herself with a bow to the two girls, which they returned. "Rumors of me being a sex maniac are greatly exaggerated."

The two girls chuckled amiably at Ukyou's remark. Then Sayuri piped up. "I would have thought Akane would've flattened you when she caught up with you yesterday."

"Well there was no need to," Akane responded cheerfully. "It turns out that Ukyou is actually-"

"A friend of the family!" Ukyou burst in quickly, cutting Akane off. Akane glanced at her and caught Ukyou's eyes. The girl in disguise almost imperceptably shook her head back and forth. Akane supposed the girl had a good reason for continuing to maintain her deception, so it wasn't her place to reveal it if Ukyou didn't want to do so.

"That's right," Akane said slowly. "She has... business with my family."

"Well, not exactly," Ukyou amended. "I have business with someone who has business with her family."

Yuka and Sayuri were looking back and forth between the two of them. Yuka only smirked and nodded, while Sayuri fingered her chin and mumbled, "Riiight..."

Akane took the opportunity to introduce her only other friends to Ukyou. Each of them took their opportunity to bow in turn, and soon enough all four of them were chatting easily. Ukyou seemed to be only half-paying attention to the conversation, however. Her eyes had taken on their usual concealed cast and she seemed to keep casting glances back at Akane's school. Akane briefly wondered what her new friend could find so interesting about the school. It was just like thousands of others found throughout Japan. And she was pretty sure that this 'Ranma' jerk, whoever he was, didn't go there.

"You there, step away from Akane Tendo!"

Akane groaned. This was just what she needed to ruin her day. Strangely enough Ukyou had a smile on her face. It wasn't a pleasant smile. It was a dangerous, almost feral smile. "I was wondering when he'd show up," Ukyou murmured, almost too low for Akane to hear.

"Do you not know who you are dealing with?" Kunou shouted as Akane turned to watch him with a frown on her face. The upperclassman was standing only a few meters away, garbed up for battle in his traditional samurai costume. He stood almost a head taller than any nearby student, not that many of them were standing near him. His bokken was out and leveled threateningly in the direction of Akane's group. From the look of his face, he was not pleased to see Ukyou. "Very well, I shall introduce myself. I am-"

"Tatewaki Kunou, age seventeen," Ukyou grunted as she slid around Akane to face the taller fighter. Her hand reached behind her back to clench tightly around the ring on the end of her spatula. Her other hand dissapeared into one of her pants pockets. "I'm not impressed."

"Obviously not," Kunou practically spat. "Honorless cur, one who would ambush Akane Tendo on the street and then seek to take advantage of her delicate nature would not be impressed by my righteous demeanour and elegant tongue. I fear only my strong blade could garner my due respect from you."

"Honorless!" Ukyou snapped and her knuckles whitened around her weapon's grip. "I should-" Then Ukyou took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again her face was set and calm, her eyes cool and unwavering. "For your information, Akane attacked me and I defeated her in open combat."

"You lie!"

"Believe what you want."

Akane moaned as the exchange took place. In the wake of Ukyou's declaration everyone in the immediate area had gone silent. Well, everyone except-

"Is that true, Akane?" Yuka gasped in and clapped her hands together. Sayuri was nodding along with her, obviously also eager to hear the latest gossip. Akane allowed her eyes to drift over everyone else near-by, most of which were listening in. A few shameless individuals were even taking notes. Akane allowed her gaze to settle on Ukyou, who nodded slightly when she noticed the shorter girl's attention.

"Ukyou's version is true," Akane forced herself to admit. She took great pride in her skill as a martial artist and Ukyou had totally floored her. Still, it didn't sting as bad as Akane thought it would to admit it. Thankfully it wasn't one of the pervert BOYS that had been able to do that.

"I refuse to believe it!" Kunou shouted.

"Whatever," Ukyou commented with a shrug. "That isn't my problem."

"Ah, but it is your problem," Kunou informed Ukyou as he shifted his stance slightly. "Are you not aware of the special circumstances that dear Akane has agreed to regarding her social activities?"

"Agreed to!" Akane shouted and stepped forward. That pompous ass! If declaring something to the entire school during the first public essay contest without even consulting her was his idea of agreeing... Akane found her way blocked by Ukyou's extended arm.

"Let me handle this, Akane." Ukyou turned and smiled at her. "I think I can take him. But you might want to step back, I have a feeling he has a few tricks up his sleeves that might surprise you." Akane found herself at a loss for words, so she noded mutely and stepped back. Yuka and Sayuri sighed expansively before Akane waved her fist at them threateningly and shooed them away from the confrontation.

"Only one who beats Akane in fair and open challenge can date her," Kunou informed Ukyou with a smile as he tossed his head. "An agreement that is enforced by me, the greatest rising legend in the high school kendo world. I will give you one chance to back away from me and leave this place, never to soil Akane's presence with yours again, and perhaps I won't thrash you for your impertinence."

"I'd rather skip the battle of wits with an unarmed opponent and get straight to me kicking your ass," Ukyou drawled. There was a loud woosh of displaced air as Ukyou slipped into a combat stance with her spatula held in front of her. Everyone in the crowd gasped and backed off. Akane found herself standing on the edge of the circle the students had created, flanked by her friends.

"Fine then, we shall join in battle!" Kunou roared as he shifted slightly, before launching himself forward. The air cracked. Wood collided with metal in a resounding clang. Akane gasped. Kunou's swing had been almost too fast for her to follow. So had Ukyou's defense. Now Kunou found himself growling through gritted teeth as he held his sword against the shaft of Ukyou's upraised weapon. Akane could see the strain in his face as he attempted to power through his opponent's guard, but Ukyou was holding her ground with little difficulty.

With another cry, Kunou pulled back his blade and brought it down again, and again, and again. Each time Ukyou deftly deflected the strike with her weapon's shaft. Still, she was driven backward a step with each blow. Kunou began to grin as he realized he was stronger than his opponent. Soon Ukyou found herself pushed to the edge of the wall surrounding the schoolyard.

"You're better than I thought you would be," Ukyou pointed out in a hollow voice. Kunou laughed and struck downward again, but this time Ukyou did not meet his attack. The wall parted in the wake of Kunou's sword. Concrete and dust erupted from the wall in all directions. The student body shouted and scrambled back as small stones pelted down among them. Akane frowned and dusted a few fragments from the collar of her dress, but didn't move. Her eyes were scanning for Ukyou among the debris.

It was Kunou who spotted her first. Without halting the momentum of his swing he dragged his bokken through the ground, ripping a new trench in his haste, and brought it up behind him to halt the path of Ukyou's swing. Once again metal and wood met noisily. Kunou found himself in the unenviable position of having to hold his sword behind his back while Ukyou was using both hands to press her spatula against it. Grunting, Kunou allowed himself to be pushed forward, and he stumbled through the shattered rubble of the wall. Ukyou smirked before leaping, her simple leg pump propelling her over the two meter tall wall without difficulty. At that point Akane lost sight of both of them.

Muttering a mild profanity, Akane ran around the remaining section of wall to catch sight of the battle again. A few dozen of her bravest classmates followed her. She heard the battle before she could see it again. A second later she caught sight of Kunou snarling and slashing madly at Ukyou. His bokken snapped and thrust through the air, seemingly in multiple places at once. But everywhere it went, so did Ukyou's battle spatula. Akane couldn't even see the impacts from her parries, only hear the staccato clangs. She could see Ukyou's face through the swirling mass of brown and grey streaks, and the girl was smiling.

"Hey Kunou, we've got our audience back!" Ukyou shouted aloud.

"Hold your tongue, lest I remove it!"

"That's no fun," Ukyou commented happily. "I have to do something to keep myself entertained. Your patterns are too predictable."

"You mock me!" Kunou roared and stepped back. His blade was extended far over his head for a moment and then with a roar he brought it down at Ukyou, his entire body bending with the force of his blow. Ukyou wasn't there to receive it, sliding easily out of the way of the strike. Dust leapt up from the pavement as Kunou's sword bit into it deeply. Akane snapped her head to the side as a loud crack filled the air. She watched in mute awe as a large tree - over five meters from Kunou and almost a half-meter thick - split in two and began to topple to both sides.

"He did that... with just the air pressure!" she gasped aloud. Ukyou wasn't kidding. There was a lot of tricks Kunou was capable of. Did he really hold back that much in her daily battles with him?

Kunou was straightening himself up and scanning for Ukyou. His breathing had grown labored and sweat trickled down into his eyes. Ukyou was standing nearby, leaning casually on the haft of her spatula.

"Okay, I think I've made my point," Ukyou drawled in her kansai dialect. She stood up and swung the spatula in her grip until the wide blade was pointed at Kunou. Kunou frowned and pivoted so he could point his own blade straight at her heart.

"Yes, you certainly are a worthy opponent," Kunou admitted. "But no one can defeat the sword of Tatewaki Kunou."

"You're the one who likes quoting people, right?" Ukyou shifted her grip on her blade slightly. "Well here's one by Musashi, 'The sword is the queen of battlefield..." And then she was moving. Kunou tried to engage her before she got too close, but Ukyou deflected the sword. Transfering the momentum of her block easily, Ukyou spun her weapon behind her back and rammed the ringed end into Kunou's face. As Kunou swayed to the side from the impact, Ukyou continued past him and spun her spatula again. As it swung back it caught Kunou's gut and folded him over like a rag doll. Ukyou dug in her heels just past him and with a negligent tug pulled Kunou staggering forward. As Kunou gasped to recover his breath, Ukyou continued without pause. Pulling with both arms she smashed the flat of her spatula into the back of his knees. Kunou found himself going vertical, his body shifting up until it seemed to float parallel to the ground. Ukyou swung her spatula up in his wake. Her body pirouetted elegantly on one foot, her long hair snapping back behind her in a graceful arc. Then her spatula came down on Kunou's chest. The taller boy found himself pancaked into the pavement so hard that a spider-web of cracks radiated outward from him. All of this happened in less than three seconds. "...but the staff is king'," Ukyou finished and straightened up while she ran her fingers through her bangs.

Ukyou nudged Kunou's body with her foot a few times to make sure he was unconscious, and then re-slung her spatula in its harness. She pivoted away from him and strode toward Akane. She didn't bother looking to either side as she approached the crowd of dead silent students. Once she was within easy reach of Akane she allowed herself to smile down at the other girl. "Well, now that I've gotten that out of my system... is there somewhere you wanted to go? Or did you just want to hang around school all day?"

01010

"Okay, I think this is far enough."

Akane looked over at Ukyou as the girl ran her hand through her bangs and stopped in place. It was quiet on the street they had stopped in. Nobody was around. That wasn't surprising, considering this was one of the less populous parts of town. Ukyou stepped over to a wall, leaned against it... and immediately slumped to her knees and began to take deep breaths.

"Oh man, that really hurts once the adrenaline wears off," Ukyou grumbled as she began to rub her arms up and down along her sleeves.

"You're hurt?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Well, not really," Ukyou admitted. "But that guy was throwing around strikes strong enough to shatter concrete from several meters away and I was just standing there absorbing it like an idiot."

Akane chuckled. Somehow it made her feel better that Ukyou had come out of her dramatic battle with a few aches and pains. For a while there, while they walked and Ukyou just gazed off into space with her enigmatic blank-eyed stare, Akane had felt slightly intimidated by this superhuman fighting machine she had befriended.

"Laugh it up, Tendo," Ukyou waggled her finger at Akane reproachfully. "I only put on that little show for your benefit."

"What? My benefit?"

"Indeed," Ukyou sighed as she slid to her feet again. "If we play this right, you won't have to worry about those hordes of assholes attacking you anymore."

"What are you talking about? I can handle myself..." Akane grumbled a bit and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Hey, Akane," Ukyou waved her arms vigourously. "I wouldn't think of fighting your battles for you. Kunou was going to attack me anyway. But the fact that I beat him so soundly can work to your advantage." Ukyou paused here and began to fiddle idly with the haft of her spatula. "I don't think you'll ever get Kunou to leave you alone, he strikes me as the obsessive type. But the others? Most of them are just being intimidated by Kunou. If they think they'll have to face ME, after the unholy can of whupass I just opened up on the strongest fighter in school without breaking a sweat, they'll probably back off."

"Wait a minute," Akane shook her head and glanced at Ukyou askance. "Why would any of them back off... oh." Akane blinked and then blushed fiercely. "But they'd have to think that you were my..."

"Boyfriend?" Ukyou laughed. "Don't sweat it Akane, I won't ask you to go steady if you don't want me to." Akane found herself backing away from the other girl slightly. Was it possible that Ukyou... swung that way? "Geez, you've gone white as a sheet. I'm just teasing you a little bit. You have to relax, girl." Akane laughed, but it sounded a little forced to her ears. Mainly because it WAS a little forced. "Akane, you don't have to go along with this if you don't want to," Ukyou shrugged. "The way I see it, those guys with their barbaric contest have probably spoiled you on the entire other half of the genepool for a good long time. And I'm fine with that. But I have a... unique insight into the male mind and don't want you to just keep getting antagonized with them perpetually until you lose all hope with them." Ukyou rolled her head back on her neck and stared up at the clouds. "This will get most of them off your back, and give you a chance to start looking at things with a chance to catch your breath. You're not being pushed into any relationships...as long as you keep this fiction about us up, you'll be effectively off limits to all but the most insane guys. Eventually..." she shrugged again, "...eventually you might find some guy you like, decide to take a chance with him. In this case, you'll do it under your terms. Its not like you'll have to worry about me getting jealous or anything."

"Ukyou... I don't know what to think..."

"Well, don't get all mushy on me," Ukyou laughed. "I have an ulterior motive, you know." Akane blinked, not sure how to respond. "Think about it, if all the girls think I'm 'with' you, then it will really cut down on the number of stray love letters and chocolates I'm going to get."

Akane frowned at that. Then she found her frown cracking. Then she found her throat convulsing. Finally she could hold it in no longer and burst out laughing.

"Hey! I know how much this hot pretty boy look turns the girl's knees to mush!" Ukyou said with a comically miffed expression on her face.

"And you accuse me of having an ego!" Akane guffawed while pointing at Ukyou. The other girl was obviously doing little better at holding back her own laughter. Every now and then a snort would escape from between her lips. Akane had to clutch her stomach, it was beginning to hurt. Apparently that was the last straw for Ukyou, as she too broke out in rolling laughter. Akane patted Ukyou on the shoulder and nodded between guffaws to show she approved of the idea. If it didn't work, there was little really it would change about Akane's life. And if it did, then all the better. She really couldn't see a downside.

01010

"I'm home!" Akane called out as she entered the house.

"Welcome back!" Kasumi called out from the kitchen in her usual cheerful manner. "How was school?"

"Yeah, sis," Nabiki deadpanned from the living room. "Why don't you tell us all about it?"

Akane glared at her sister as she walked into the home. Trust Nabiki to ruin a perfectly good mood. Her older sister was lounging on the floor, wearing a pair of embarrassingly high cut off jeans and a tight maroon T-shirt. She was idly flipping through one of her tankoubans, but her attention was focused entirely on her little sister. Akane stuck her tongue out at her. Nabiki blinked.

"I had a wonderful day at school," Akane retorted in her most snobbish tone of voice. Nabiki had recovered by this point and rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner. "You're just jealous because -I- got a boyfriend before you did!"

"Akane has a boyfriend?" her father spoke up from behind her. Akane froze solid. Nabiki just smirked and stuck the tip of her tongue out at Akane. Great. Akane had just walked into that one.

"Did I hear correctly?" Daddy asked in a reasonable enough tone of voice. Akane turned to face the music. She knew her father was not the most... emotionally dependable father in the world. She remembered clearly the time Nabiki had brought one of her dates back to the house. The poor boy had been chased off with bows and arrows for 'being too forward' with her. And all he'd done was place his arm around Nabiki's shoulder.

"Well, it's not exactly like that, Daddy," Akane began uneasily. Her mind flashed back to a conversation a few days ago. Specifically Ukyou asking her not to reveal her secret to her family, or ask about the Saotomes. Apparently that bastard Genma was able to sense an ambush a mile away, and she didn't want him or Ranma catching a whiff of her presence until she was ready to pay them back for what they had done to her. Akane reminded herself to get the mysterious girl to actually spill the truth about that soon. Every time she asked, Ukyou politely and efficiently sidestepped the question.

"Oh... what is it like, exactly?" he replied in an innocent tone. Akane sighed. She couldn't risk revealing their scheme to get the boys at school to leave her alone. Knowing Nabiki, the information would be spread across the whole school before noon tomorrow and the whole thing would have been a waste of time.

"Well, he -is- a boyfriend, I guess you could say..." Akane could see Daddy's eye twitching. "But NOTHING has happened! We just started dating yesterday! I swear!"

"I see..." Daddy murmured evenly. His eye was still twitching.

"This is great news!" Kasumi called out brightly as she entered the living room. She was absently cleaning her hands on her apron, and Akane could smell the aroma of baking bread following in her wake. Ohh, that reminded Akane. She would have to treat her new friend to some cookies or something... "I was beginning to wonder if you would ever have a boyfriend, Akane!"

Akane's eye twitched, almost mirroring her father's expression. "You don't have to say it quite like that..."

"Oh Kasumi!" Daddy finally broke down in tears and clutched his eldest daughter in a bearhug. "My little girl is growing up!"

"There... there..." Kasumi muttered in a unsure manner,

"But... but what about..." Daddy's eyes shot open and he pulled back to clutch his eldest by the shoulders. "Kasumi! You don't have a boyfriend, do you! Please, tell me you don't!"

"Of course not, Father," Kasumi laughed prettily. Kasumi did everything prettily, Akane noted to herself grumpily. Her mind drifted to Doctor Tofu and his bizarre fascination with her sister...

"And you, Nabiki, you aren't dating anyone, are you?" Daddy pounced on the middle sister with an almost frantic energy. Nabiki stared at him in obvious bewilderment.

"No, I prefer to leave my options open when it comes to that sort of thing," Nabiki pointed out as she pried her father's hands off her shoulders.

Daddy breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to his knees. "Then the agreement is still safe," he sighed aloud.

"What agreement?" Akane asked into the descending calm.

"Uh..." Daddy broke out into a sweat as he stared at all three of his daughters. "Why... it's nothing! Nothing you have to worry about!"

Akane frowned at her father suspiciously. Nabiki just gave Akane a flippant shrug and went back to her graphic novel. Kasumi remained cheerfully oblivious and informed everyone that dinner was almost ready.

01010

Ukyou ran her fingers along the spine of the books. Some of the titles she recognized, others she did not. Not that she had ever been a big fan of the medium before, but Aaron certainly liked manga well enough. Thanks to him, she now knew far more about the various titles. She had even decided that a few of them were rather interesting, from what Aaron could remember about reading them,

Thus, she was growing rather annoyed at her inability to locate a few of her favorite series. Aaron tried to point out that this world might not be the same as his own. He was aware of the selection of manga from over a decade in the "future" and wasn't even sure when a lot of titles had been first published. Still, she wasn't about to complain about his foresight in that regard. A quick scan of the history books had revealed that the two worlds had almost exact parallels when it came to things like politics, business, sports and a host of other areas. Ukyou certainly wouldn't be lacking in financial resources, after the savvy investments she had spent most of today transferring her funds into.

Aaron sighed as they stepped out of the last isle in the cramped bookstore. He stretched out one of Ukyou's hands and snapped her knuckles in irritation. Her other hand held less than a dozen graphic novels, far fewer than he would have thought available. Still, it would do. He was just glad the two of them had finally agreed on an activity to pass the time. It was getting annoying to be constantly bickering back and forth over every little decision like that. It was giving them both a massive headache.

Paying for the collection was a simple affair, and Ukyou was out of the store in short order. She took her first breath of fresh air since she had entered the cramped basement over and hour ago. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the remembered smells of the place, an unappealing combination of dust, body odor and drying paint from the custom garage kit models. Compared to that, the smog of the Tokyo suburb was almost pleasant.

Aaron took a few seconds to scan across the crowd moving along the street. It was mostly housewives and young adults at this hour. Still not yet afternoon...most of the younger children were still in school, and the majority of adults would be involved in whatever gainful employment they had. Still, Aaron couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Ukyou agreed with him, but thought it was just his paranoia acting up.

Then he spotted her. She was dressed in an elegant and fashionable business suit. She was tall, tall enough to stand out among the small statured Japanese that surrounded her, and had a dark complexion that almost looked Mediterranean. She had red eyes and dark green hair that fell about her shoulder in a delicate cascade. And she was looking right at Ukyou. Right at her.

"Sailor Plu-" Ukyou burst out in surprise and Aaron smacked their hands over their mouth before she could say anymore. Setsuna's eyes narrowed slightly. She couldn't have possibly heard Ukyou from all the way on the other side of the street. She had to be standing a good ten meters away.

(Can she read lips?)

Shit. Aaron realized they were staring at her, with their hands covering their mouth and their eyes agape. They didn't exactly strike the picture of innocent nonchalance. For one brief moment Setsuna's eyes met with Ukyou and Aaron saw recognition flash in those red eyes. What the hell was going on?

Before Ukyou could even think about it she was fleeing. It caught Aaron by surprise when she snapped her legs and propelled them off the street and onto a nearby rooftop. She didn't hesitate on the rooftop long, bounding away almost as soon as her feet found purchase on the tarred surface. She was muttering a few choice curses under her breath as she ran and

(Stop!)

her legs refused to move. With a cry she fell facefirst into the next roof and slid a few meters before her inertia gave out. She spent a few seconds understanding the concept of pain. With a groan she levered herself up to her knees and brushed a few flecks of dirt from her face. She probed her face gingerly but found nothing out of place or broken. No thanks to SOME people.

(Sorry.)

Ukyou grunted and looked around. The rooftops, for as far as she could see in any direction, were free and clear. Thus feeling momentarily safe, she smacked herself in the face good, enduring the pain to know that Aaron would be thrown for a loop by it as well.

Aaron frowned and pulled her hand down before shifting them into a more comfortable position. Ukyou was still annoyed with him but he didn't much care. They had already probably ruined any chance of clearing up whatever misunderstanding had come over the Senshi of Time. Ukyou felt herself backing away from the idea of confronting Setsuna. The woman was a psychopath. No. Aaron knew that wasn't true. She was mixing up continuities again. Sure, many fanfics on the net had painted Setsuna as cold-hearted and ruthless, but no evidence from either canon series supported that idea. It was just as likely that she could be talked to reasonably, and they certainly wouldn't know what kind of personality the Senshi had until they interacted with her. Unfortunately now, they had sent all the wrong signals. If Setsuna suspected them of some wrong-doing, then fleeing would only support the idea that Ukyou was guilty in her mind.

Still, the Sailor Senshi were all about forgiveness and redemption. The likelihood of them shooting first and asking questions later was from low to nil. It would be even better if Ukyou did nothing hostile. Aaron cocked his head to the side as he thought about it. Actually, having Sailor Moon around might be a blessing in disguise. With her magical powers, it might be possible to separate the two of them without having to resort to the wishing sword.

Ukyou sighed and agreed. There was no point in jumping to conclusions. Once Ukyou had taken care of her business here with Ranma, she would head off to the Minato ward and see if she could find Usagi. Aaron was sure that if they could get the young princess-to-be to trust them, than whatever problems Setsuna might have with them could be forgiven and forgotten. She pulled herself to her feet and dusted herself off. It was then she realized she had dropped her manga back at the store. Well... there was no helping it. Best not to risk confronting Sailor Pluto until she had a chance to get in good with Usagi.

Once again in agreement, the two bounced over the rooftops, heading back towards their dingy hotel room.

01010

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

Akane stared at the short, busty girl in front of her. This couldn't be possible. Ukyou had been quite clear on the point. Genma Saotome had a son named Ranma, not a daughter. There was also no mention of any pandas of any shape or form.

"Daddy, how could you engage us to a girl?"

"My friend Genma told me his son was a boy."

"Does this look like a boy to you, huh, Daddy?" Nabiki reached out as she spoke and began to squeeze and fondle the young girl's ample assets. Ranma, for her part, made a sick-looking face and cringed a bit away from Nabiki.

"Ah, could you stop that?"

"You stay out of this," Nabiki commanded the smaller girl. The girl blinked but seemed uninclined to complain any more. She was beginning to blush something fierce, however. Akane felt like she should stop this, but wasn't sure she wanted to get involved. She was still trying to parse the contradictory information in front of her. The fact was, she trusted Ukyou completely. Especially since she had revealed her deep secret...

Ah ha!

"Nabiki," Akane shouted out. Her sister turned to look at her with a frown. "You should leave our guest alone." The girl looked relieved when Nabiki let go, but was staring at Akane quizzically. She had probably picked up on the venom in Akane's voice. Maybe she thought it was directed at Nabiki. Well, she thought wrong. "Hi there. Ranma, right?"

"Uh huh..."

"I'm Akane," Akane bowed in place, but only slightly. "I apologize for my sister's behavior." Nabiki snorted. "I know this must be pretty strange for you, being engaged to a bunch of girls. Why don't I take you on the tour while we wait for your father to arrive so we can get this all cleared up."

"But my pop is right..." she trailed off. Then she turned and glared at the large panda bear. "Yeah. Maybe I should wait until I can talk to my father before I do anything here. Or at least, until he can talk back."

Akane stood up and offered her hand to the shorter girl. "Then why don't you come with me?" Ranma took the hand a bit hesitantly. Akane tried to smile in a reassuring manner, but maybe it came out a bit sinister, since Ranma was staring at her wide-eyed the whole time. Akane didn't let that bother her. She led the way out of the house proper and into the dojo. No use destroying the good furniture here. She smiled again, this time not trying to hide her angry glee. It was going to be good to get a chance to pay back Ukyou for her favor with the guys at school, and get a chance to beat a real pervert into the ground at the same time.

It didn't take long to reach the dojo. Ranma was slumping through the area nonchalantly. Akane had to snort. Maybe if she hadn't had such recent experience with Ukyou's deception, this entire thing might have fooled her. But look at that "girl"! She wasn't moving like a girl. She didn't even try to sound like a girl, even if her voice didn't sound like any teenage guy's. Akane concealed her gleeful grin before turning back to her guest.

"So, my dad told me you were trained in martial arts?"

"A little," Ranma said with a shrug while "she" shuffled her feet.

"Well, so do I!" Akane called out cheerfully. "Why don't we have a little match?"

"Uh." Ranma looked her up and down with a critical eye and then shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Great!" Akane clapped her hands and led Ranma further into the dojo and then took a stance. Ranma seemed to have her mind on other things, since she just stood there with her arms behind her back, swaying back and forth on the balls of her feet like a little kid. "Let's begin, shall we?" Ranma only nodded slightly in response. Akane gave a mental shrug and narrowed her eyes. She had warned the little freak.

Akane didn't bother holding back, striking with all the force and precision her twelve years of martial arts training had instilled in her. Ranma wasn't there to receive the punch. Akane had to skid to a stop before she smashed a hole in the dojo wall. She spun in place, and spotted Ranma standing a few meters away, still standing with arms behind the back and trying to look innocent. Akane began to feel her temper building.

"You're pretty good..."

"Thanks," Ranma replied with a shrug.

Okay, this time Akane wasn't going to kid around. Sliding forward she made her approach slow and easy. Ukyou was also faster than her, and Akane had learned a few things from their sparring sessions over the last week. The first lesson: never charge someone faster than you. Ranma noticed her slow approach and backed up a step, allowing her arms to unfold from her back. Her eyes had become wary.

"You should be worried, buster," Akane said aloud.

"Huh?"

"After what you did, I'm going to make sure you pay!"

"What! What did I do to you?" Ranma sounded genuinely confused.

"Don't play innocent!" Akane pointed at him. "I know your dirty little secret! Did you think I wouldn't see through it the moment you walked in the house?"

"You... you know..." Ranma backed up another step, his arms shooting out. "Wait, I can explain-"

"Oh no you don't!" Akane roared. She was close enough now, and Ranma was off balance. She burst forward and lashed out with a blistering right cross. Ranma leaned back under the blow. Akane was too off balance from the attack to recover before he had a chance to scamper out of reach again.

"Hey you crazy chick! This isn't my fault!" he shouted at her.

"Yeah right," Akane replied sarcastically. She launched a few more attacks, but again and again Ranma twisted or side-stepped away from her best efforts. Damn, this guy was good. "You can't possibly pull off something that convincing without special effort!"

"Huh? What are you-"

"Got you!" Akane shouted as she leapt forward. Literally jumping into the air with her arms spread wide. Unseeing, Ranma had backed himself into a corner and had nowhere to go as Akane spread herself like a net. Ranma yelped as Akane fell on him and the wall creaked as the two landed against it with a loud creak. "You can't escape from me now, you cross-dressing pervert!"

"Agh! Get off me!"

"Oh no! Not until I reveal you for what you are! Now take off your clothes, you pervert!"

"Gah! That's my shirt!"

There was a ripping sound as Akane tore at the fabric of Ranma's red satin shirt.

"Why are you being so stubborn about this! Take your punishment like a man!"

"No way! You're nuts! Let me go!"

"Not until I get your pants off, too!"

"Waaah! Don't touch me there!"

Akane frowned as the breasts came into view. They were certainly large and... very realistic looking. They had to be very good false breasts. So of course, Akane decided the best thing to do was to rip them off. Which was what she was trying to do right then. They were very stubborn. It must be a very strong glue.

Click. Click.

Akane paused and looked to her right. There was Nabiki, and her father, and Kasumi, and a large panda bear. Nabiki was cursing rapidly and trying to change the film in her camera. Kasumi was standing as stiff as a statue, her eyes the size of dinner plates. Soun was shuddering and twitching, his eyes sparkling with ready tears. The panda had an unreadable expression, but then, it was a panda.

Finally Nabiki had her camera reloaded. She looked through it at the pair of wrestling girls. "Don't stop on our account," Nabiki deadpanned. "Just pretend we aren't here."

"Oh... oh..." Kasumi gasped softly.

Akane slowly released Ranma's breasts and looked down at the girl beneath her. Akane's own gi had come partially loose in the struggle and the front was now half-open. At least open enough to see Akane's sports bra underneath it. Now that Akane looked down, outside of the heat of the moment, those breasts looked very real. Much too real. Especially considering there were bruises forming on them in the outline of her grasping hands. Akane couldn't think of any material that bruised like that.

"Could you get off me now?" Ranma asked with a dead-eyed glare.

01010

"And you were complaining about me fondling Ranma," Nabiki pointed out for what had to be the millionth time.

"Shut up!" Akane groused from her position at the table. She wasn't looking up at her sister. She wasn't looking at anything at all. She was sitting in a fetal curl, her arms wrapped firmly around her knees and her head buried in the nook created by them. Anything so people couldn't see the embarrassment on her face. She would have really preferred to be left alone to wallow in her misery. Nabiki, however, seemed far more interested in tormenting her than sympathizing. It was times like this she hated Nabiki.

"No really, tell me again how you were trying to protect the family from a sex fiend," Nabiki requested. Her voice had taken on a sing-song quality that Akane really didn't like. "Because I'm interested in knowing which of you ended up acting more like a sex fiend in the end."

"Shut up!"

"You know, if you didn't have a boyfriend, I'd think all those rumors about you at school were true," Nabiki mused softly. Thankfully Nabiki couldn't see Akane flinch at that. "Maybe you swing both ways?"

"Argh!" Akane screamed heavenward.

"Excuse me, girls," Daddy called out to the two of them. Akane looked over at him. He was standing in the doorway with a strange man. The man was portly, but not fat. He wore a white martial arts gi and a kerchief over the top of his head. A pair of wire-rim spectacles perched on his flourid face. Kasumi had proceeded the pair of grown-ups into the room and was now sitting down at the table. She was glancing at Akane out of the corner of her eyes, but her expression was carefully neutral. Akane felt herself squirming. Having Kasumi disappointed in her made Akane feel... soiled.

Seeing neither of her sisters was going to speak up, Nabiki interrupted her hemming and hawing father. "We're all here, Daddy," she pointed out. "You had something to say?"

"Ah yes," Daddy murmured. Then he cleared his throat and seemed to straighten himself up. When next he spoke his voice was clear and resonant, fatherly. "Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, I want to introduce you to my old friend Genma Saotome." All three of the girls nodded at the man as he bowed to them. "And this is his son, the boy one of you will marry..." Daddy waved his hand around the corner and a boy stepped into view.

He was taller than the girl, and much more flat-chested. But his hair was the same style. His uncomfortable slouch the same. His eyes the same eyes.

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

01010

"I'll kill him!" Akane screamed as she waved the giant stone she had uprooted out of the garden over her head. Ranma was cringing back behind the large panda that was her father. Akane tried to get a clear shot with her projectile, but the boy-turned-girl was slippery as an eel and kept sliding out of her arc behind the giant fuzzball. Akane was just beginning to consider going through the faux-animal when her eldest sister's voice cut in.

"Akane! I won't have you throwing such things around in my house!"

"But sis! I was right! It IS a guy! He just has the advantage of this magic to carry off his perverted plans!"

"What perverted plans? I haven't tried to do anything to you, you psycho chick!"

"Akane!"

"Kasumi..." Akane moaned in a voice even she found a bit childish.

"No, I won't have you destroying my house with that rock!" Akane sighed and put the rock back down outside. "Here, use this instead!" Kasumi smiled and handed Akane a bokken. Akane tested the heft of the weapon and turned on Ranma with an evil grin. The fake-girl let out a girlish squeak and tried to flee from the room. She didn't get very far. Genma was using his giant paws to hold onto the collar of Ranma's recently replaced shirt.

Akane never got a chance to 'open the unholy can of whupass on him' , as Ukyou would say, since at that point her father intervened with the retrieved kettle of hot water.

"Really, this problem isn't so bad!" Daddy called out as he placed himself between Akane and her prey. "Cold water changes you to a panda... but hot water changes you right back!" He upturned the kettle and spilled the steaming water over Genma.

The transformation was so fast, Akane barely even noticed it. She saw the image of the panda superimposed over the image of the man for a brief second, like an afterimage or a reflection on a glass window. Then it was gone and there was only the man. He was panting and pulling his glasses back on.

"It needn't be that hot!" the man groused in mid-pant.

"And while cold water makes you a girl, hot water can change you back as well!" Daddy attempted to pour the kettle onto Ranma, but the girl bent her body out of the way.

"Watch it with that!" Ranma cried out as she tried to twist out of her father's grasp. She wasn't having much luck with that. When Daddy moved in and grasped him around the shoulder, the girl gave up with a sigh.

"This means things can continue as planned," Daddy stated expansively. He waved his hand towards his three daughters. "These are my daughters; Kasumi, she's nineteen; Nabiki, she's seventeen and Akane, she's sixteen! Pick whomever you like, she'll be your fiancee!"

"Fiancee?" Nabiki blinked. "You're not still going through with that?"

"There is NO WAY I'm marrying that pervert!" Akane pointed her sword at the girl's heart.

"Like I'd marry you either, you psycho tomboy!"

"What did you call me?"

"Psycho tomboy!"

"You... sex-changing freak!"

"Flat-chested gorilla!"

"Friend-betraying creep!"

"Thunder thighs!"

"You must think with your privates because you certainly don't have any brains left at the moment!"

"You-"

The two cut off as they realized that their two fathers were laughing heartily in the background.

"The sound like they're already married, Tendo," Genma pointed out as he calmed himself down.

"That they do, Saotome. That they do."

Oh no. Akane saw that look in her father's eyes. It was time to step on this fire before it spread any further.

"I can't marry him, Daddy... I... I..." Then it hit her. "I already have a boyfriend, remember? And I really like him!" Ukyou to the rescue again. Akane made a mental note to treat her friend to an ice cream.

"But doesn't family honor come before personal feelings?" Nabiki noted laconically.

"Stay out of this..." Akane warned her. "Besides, you're here too. And you already pointed out you weren't attached at the moment."

Nabiki opened her mouth, then closed it. She glared at her sister.

"Oh dear, he's much too young for me. Maybe Nabiki is the best choice, after all?"

"Oh no! You aren't roping me into this so easily! I'm not marrying this guy," Nabiki asserted in an even tone of voice.

"I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole!" Akane pointed out.

"He's so uncouth and rude." Kasumi clapped her hands to her cheek in exaggerated horror.

"You're the one who was so keen on getting his clothes off earlier, you marry him!"

"No way! You're the one who grabbed his breasts first!"

"Hey! Stop talking about me like I'm some peace of meat!"

"You stay out of this!" all three girls yelled in Ranma's face. Wisely, the boy-turned girl decided to stay silent after that.

01010

It was amazing what you could learn from a simple phonebook. Ukyou flipped the carefully folded piece of paper over in her hands again and again. Written on that simple paper were the phone numbers and addresses of every Sailor Senshi she had been able to find. A few had eluded her grasp. There were far too many "Aino"s and "Mizuno"s in the Tokyo listing to pinpoint the locations of either of those girls. Heck, it was possible Sailor V was still fighting the Dark Agency over in England. It was certain that there was a lot of Sailor V merchandise that was making its way into the popular culture around here. Ukyou almost wondered how she had missed it before.

The park came into view quickly, and Ukyou hurried her steps a little bit. Akane had agreed to meet her here once again now that school was over for the shorter girl. Aaron ran her hand through her bangs as he considered the agenda for today. It was probably best to get in a few more hours of free sparring. Ever hour he spent practicing his imperfect hand-to-hand techniques on someone he didn't have to worry too much about mangling with Ukyou's superhuman strength was an hour well spent. He felt he was actually beginning to get a grip on this whole martial arts business. Even Ukyou agreed that learning how to fight without her weapons of choice was probably a good idea.

After that, Ukyou planned to spend the rest of the day just hanging with her new friend. It would be hard to enjoy it, what with Aaron acting as a constant black hole of cynicism and apathy in the back of her skull. But Akane was a decent person, and worth just hanging around with.

When they saw Akane sitting on the bench, fiddling her legs in the dirt and frowning at her shoelaces, Ukyou knew something was wrong. Aaron called out a greeting and waved to their new friend. Akane looked up and her eyes brightened as she smiled with relief.

"Ukyou! Over here!" Akane called needlessly. Aaron shrugged their shoulders and bit back a comment about that, mainly because Ukyou mentally threatened to start thinking about sweaty men if he did.

"What's up, Akane? You look down," Ukyou asked as she slumped into the bench next to Akane. Unconsciously she sat with her legs spread and her arms stretched across the back of the seat. Aaron began to drum her fingers against the wood.

"I... Ukyou..." Akane took a deep breath and looked at Ukyou before looking away again. Then the girl began to twiddle her fingers together and sigh. "I... well..."

"Something is obviously bothering you, Akane," Aaron blurted out in his most blunt tone. "It obviously has something to do with me, too. Why not just spit it out?"

"Right... Ukyou," Akane drifted off, then looked at Ukyou's expectant features. Her mouth set in a firm line and her eyes narrowed before she nodded to herself. "Ukyou, that boy you were waiting for showed up at my house yesterday. You were right."

"Ranma..."

(Ranma.)

Ukyou felt her heart skip a beat. She knew this moment was coming. Somehow, she hadn't quite believed it. She was going to have her chance with Ranma. She was going to get to pay him back

(Who are you kidding?)

for... for nothing. It wasn't his fault. Ukyou dropped her head to her chest and felt her fingertips digging into the wood of the benchback. Aaron was right. Ukyou had seen too much that corroborated his memories of that stupid comic book! Ranma knew nothing about her! Nothing! He...

"Ukyou, are you okay?"

"I..." Aaron forced them to stop speaking. Ukyou's voice was cracking with emotion. He calmly asserted control over the conversation. "I'm fine. I was just caught off gaud."

"Yes..."

"Is Genma with him?"

"Well, yes, but I have to ask you a favor..."

Ukyou wasn't paying attention to Akane anymore.

(Genma...)

She was thinking about only one man. Thinking about how he had tricked her father. Thinking about how he had tricked Ranma. Thinking about how he had humiliated Ukyou, and forced her to become this bizarre parody of a woman.

(Genma.)

Ukyou remembered his florid, smiling face. Pretending he approved of Ukyou's friendship with Ranma. Pretending he gave a shit about Ranma at all. Always taking. He was someone Ukyou could safely hate. Someone she could

(Genma!)

feel something dark and malevolent about. She could feel herself starting to grin. Remembering that boy. The one that had bullied her. Little Ukyou versus the big bully. And there had been hate there. Just like this hate. Hate for the humiliation and pain and then Ukyou had just walked up to him and lit him on fire

(Wait...)

and that had been that. And she had enjoyed watching it too. Just like she would enjoy watching Genma squirm. She could burn him too. She knew a few techniques to roast the bastard alive and

(This isn't right...)

she would enjoy it. No more holding back. No more pretending to be something she was not. No more trying to fit in with the other boys despite the fact it was obvious she did not. She could lash out with all her

(his)

anger without having to worry about anyone caring. It would be-

"UKYOU!"

The sound of wood splintering snapped Ukyou out of it. Akane was standing across the gravel path in the park. Akane had one arm extended across her chest between the two of them and the other pointed behind her. Her eyes shook in her face and her mouth was a large O. Ukyou looked down at herself. She was covered by splinters of wood. The entire bench had been torn asunder and Ukyou was now sitting on the gravel in the remains. It took her a few seconds to realize that she had done that.

No. Not her.

Aaron shuddered. That had not been pleasant. It was... a feedback loop. It had to be. Like Ukyou was drawing on his memories and feelings to fuel her own. And he had barely noticed. Barely been aware of what was happening. Heck, he'd barely been aware of HIMSELF... he had... he had... lost himself in her rage. Been almost smothered by Ukyou's personality completely.

"Akane..." Ukyou began hoarsely. "I'm sorry... I guess it got to me a bit more than I thought."

"I'll say," Akane sighed and laughed nervously. "Those creeps must have done something pretty bad to you, huh?"

"Something like that..." Ukyou pushed herself to her feet. Aaron had retreated. He was carefully pulling himself back, filling his mind with the familiar ice and void. Ukyou felt her own perspective shifting as he did. It was unavoidable. Her anger was draining away, at least. Ukyou couldn't blame Aaron for doing this. "I need to meet them, Akane." Ukyou could hear the flat, impassive tone of her voice but couldn't help it. Unconsciously, she pulled her hands through her bangs in Aaron's nervous tic. "As soon as possible..."

"I see." Akane seemed to be relaxing a bit. She flexed a bit. "I'll take you to my place, right away then."

"Thank you." The words were formal, but had no real passion behind them. Inwardly Ukyou wished she could show true gratitude, but Aaron was clamping down on their emotions pretty hard. Maybe he could ease up and

(Risk killing Genma?)

maybe he couldn't. Damn.

"But while we're going there, I do have a favor to ask you."

"Indeed?"

"Yes... you see, the agreement between our families is kind of stupid... and if they find out that you're really a girl... I might... might end up engaged to that jerk!"

Ukyou looked at Akane. Damn. This was just another wonderful problem she had to deal with.

01010

Ranma sighed as he relaxed into the bath. This was getting to be a long day. At least he was a man again. But he wouldn't be for long. He just knew something would turn him into that small, weak, fragile girl-form again before the day was out. Still, it wasn't worth lingering on that problem at the moment. Soon enough he would ditch this place and find his way back to Jyusenkyo, and the cure.

The real problem was how he was going to survive in this house. Already he had been molested by two of the girls he was supposed to marry, almost scalded by their father, and repeatedly tossed into a koi pond by his own father. The thought of sleeping in this house of nutcases made Ranma shudder, sending tiny ripples through the water.

At least he was safe enough in the bathroom. Nobody would walk in on him here. But there was only so long he could stay inside. Especially considering eventually the bathwater would cool. Then he would not only be a walking prune, he would be a walking female prune. And that mental image would haunt his nightmares for years to come. Thank you very much, overactive imagination.

Ranma was just stepping out of the water when the door slid open. His eyes snapped up and settled on the figure standing in the doorway. It was Kasumi, and aside from the towel folded daintily over one arm she was dressed not at all. Her eyes widened when she saw the boy in the bathtub. Ranma looked down, confirming that, yes, his clothes had not magically appeared on his body to save him from dreadful embarrassment.

"Oh dear," Kasumi said simply. "This is awkward."

"Uh..." Ranma wasn't sure what to say or do. So far Kasumi hadn't tried to molest him. That was a plus.

"Well, we can't have this at all," Kasumi frowned slightly and wrapped her towel about her chest so that it draped over her body to obscure it from view. She stepped inside to close the door behind her. "Next time remember to put out the occupied sign, young man." Kasumi walked over to the cleaning bench and began to fiddle with the hose. This involved her bending over.

"Gurk..." Ranma failed to speak clearly. He was blushing furiously but was far more worried about other involuntary reactions.

Ranma didn't even see her moving before he felt the cold water spraying in his face. He blinked as he felt his body shift and his physical reactions cease to exist at the same time.

"There, now that we're both girls, this isn't so bad!" Kasumi called out cheerfully. "Perhaps you could clean my back?" She turned away from him and dropped her towel.

Ranma ran screaming from the room.

01010

He entered the policebox, squinted automatically as the darkened night outside was replaced by the brightly lit interior, then realised he didn't actually have to do that and relaxed. The police officer was sitting at the desk, writing something, but looked up as the figure walked in. He was alone. Good. But there was a phone there. Had to get him to get up.

As he thought, the policeman stared at him. His eyes crinkled a bit at the sight of the heavyset foreigner, but his expression didn't change otherwise. "May I...be helping...you?" the officer asked, in slow, careful English.

"That isn't necessary, I can talk," he replied in fluent Japanese, grinning slightly. "But I do need your assistance."

Another twitch of the eyes, but still no change of expression. "What is...your probrem?" Still in English. Oh, he'd heard about those. So much for the 'ever-courteous Japan' myth. That made what was about to happen a little better. A little.

"I'm having some difficulty," he said, again in Japanese, assuming a serious expression. "I think there's somebody hurt. Could you please come look?"

Well, that knocked the racism out of him, at least for a moment. Maybe he thought the hurt person was Japanese. Bounding up, the officer walked up beside him. "Where?"

He pointed with his off-hand, the policeman's gaze followed. "It's right over..."

He was strong; he'd been careful to be strong. The officer didn't really have a chance. As he looked, he was grabbed around the throat, jerked from the floor. Arms reached up to grapple with his attackers', but the grip was cinched in. He made a brutal twist. A noise emerged, but the policeman's struggles intensified. He was trying to reach the weapon at his side. Not enough. The attacker let his weight bear them both to the floor, found better purchase, twisted again. A crack, like a branch breaking underfoot. The struggles ceased, became spasmodic twitching. Still he held on, tight, tight, waiting until he felt it. A few moments later, he did, and released the body, sitting up.

He was hyperventilating. Damn it, he didn't need to do that. That was stupid. He willed himself to calm, willed the sharp, shallow breathing to cease. It was all right. It was all over. It was necessary.

He sighed, which required him to draw breath again, but at least it was a normal breath. He didn't think he would ever get used to this. But... necessary. It was necessary. Standing, he stared down at the body of the policeman. Life, snuffed out so fast, like a candle. But the void left by its absence...it called to him. Beckoned him. Invited him.

Now. It was time.

To Be Continued... Author's Notes: Blade: Wow, you actually reached the end. That's better than I expected. Well, here's the part where we explain to you why, exactly, after years of non- productivity and unfinished projects, we started yet ANOTHER new fanfic, and then just to make sure nobody (except, apparently, you) read it, we made it a self-insert. Epsilon: Bah. Part of the reason I haven't been releasing fanfics for over five years is because I never actually got close to finishing anything else. I don't plan on being one of those writers who gets half-way through a released series and stops, never to return. Blade: Not counting all those fanfics we DID get halfway through releasing and then stopped, I assume? Or is that a statement of intent to finish them all after all? Epsilon: (waves hand dismisively) Products of a misspent youth. Blade: Ahhhh, I see. Well, back on-topic. There is a reason we're releasing this. Namely, we expect to finish it. For we are capping off a BLAZING series of writing unseen in the annals of this website, so we're way ahead in actual writing of where we're releasing anything. But actually, that's still off- topic. So, I guess, the question to be answered is: why a self-insert? (stage whisper) That's your cue, Aaron, it's YOUR fic. Epsilon: Its really very simple. I read "Insertion", by Carrot Glace (aside) Highly recommended, by the way. (/aside) and wanted to do my own take on the same idea. So I did. And it sucked. (pauses) Then I re-wrote it. And I got bored. (pauses) Then I explained the concept to you, and the concept changed from doing my own version of Insertion, to doing a self-insert in the same vein that made -sense-. A self-insert unlike any other self-insert, because it would contain many of the elements missing from most such stories. Blade: Those elements being "a plot", and/or "a point"? Epsilon: If you wanted to distill it down to the essence, yes. Also, a reason for the events that happen. And not a stupid reason, like contacting the Goddess Relief line and making a stupid wish, or a bullshit reason, like some cosmic accident. I mean an honest to goodness CAUSE for the self-insertion. Why it's happening, period. Why it's happening the way it is. Why me and Ukyou specifically. All of these questions have answers to them, which shall be revealed over the course of the story. Blade: Quite so. When it comes right down to it, most - I won't say "all", because I don't and never have read enough fanfiction to say, but "most" I feel comfortable with - self-insertions have either been for fun, or at best, something that TRIES to overcome its cheesy, pointless roots. But there's no reason that has to be. The concept of self-insertion is one that has an actual literary tradition, one that is decidedly not as despised as the self-insert tradition in fanfiction. Epsilon: Indeed. From "Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet" all the way to "Excel Saga" self-insertion has been used as a useful tool for storytelling. Blade: Which is not to say we'll make a literary masterpiece, or even something amazingly better than what came before. Obviously it is you, the reader, who decides the worth of the fic. But if it sucks, it will at least suck for DIFFERENT REASONS from previous self-insertion fics. That is our promise to you! Epsilon: I should point out I rarely write anything for others. I'm writing this fic because I want to do so and I enjoy it. This doens't mean I don't enjoy criticism, reviews, or even flames. Please feel free to respond on the board I post this on, or via e-mail at rlepsilon , or send it along to Blade via kumonryuu since we'll forward commentary to each other. Heck, if you raise legitimate questions I don't answer (or plan to answer) in the text of the fic itself, I'll even answer them for you. Blade: Yes, any commentary is welcome. Good, bad, indifferent, even those shitty "hey man i red yr fic needs more pr0n" mails. I don't have the luxury of turning up my nose at anything anymore! Oh, to have the glory and acknowledgement that was ours during those bright days of Ran Wars and CoD! SO LONELY. Umm...anyway, yeah. Please feel free to send any thoughts you have. Epsilon: Due note that I like the text of my fic to stand on its own, so I won't be answering questions that I feel are addressed through the writing. Thus, I'm not using these notes to explain the concept and characters of Hybrid Theory, myself included. If I failed to convey the story to you, then obviously I didn't do my job here. In the future, I will be using it as a way to translate the names of any "special techniques" I introduce. After all, attack names just sound cooler in Japanese. Even if I find the use of random Japanese in fanfics slightly annoying... but I digress. Blade: Well, yeah. Although, if you didn't understand anything, feel free to ask, since we will explain, and if we were unclear in our writing, well, that can be rectified in a reedit or future chapter. Plus, next time, we'll explain exactly why I get a spot in these author's notes aside from the fact that I always try to hog an equal share of the spotlight on projects Aaron's doing most of the work for! Epsilon: And on that note... there isn't too much left to say. I suppose I could insert the standard "disclaimer" here, but I don't really believe in them. I will note that this fanfic is written not for profit, and I hereby give anybody the write to post it on any website they want so long as none of the text is altered, no fees are charged, and Blade and I are informed. Heck, you inform us, and we'll probably end up linking to you from our website: (plug) .com (/plug) Blade: Not that anybody is likely to do this. But we live in hope that our True Genius And Godlike Talent will someday be recognised by the great unwashed. Epsilon: Indeed. On that note... in our next installment of Hybrid Theory...

"AKANE!"

Ukyou wasn't even aware she was moving before her feet hit the pavement. The throwing spatula impacted into the man's hand with a meaty thunk. But he didn't scream. Instead, he turned around and looked at her, his eyes narrowing. Ukyou pulled her battle spatula from her back with ease as she closed in.

He continued to stare at her as she approached. And then his eyes snapped open at the last second as Ukyou body-checked him away from Akane. The man flew like a rag doll across the street and landed limply against the other sidewalk. Ukyou spun around and briefly checked on Akane, Aaron's practiced eyes noting a lack of any injury. Her mouth was open in a small 'O' of surprise, but that was okay. Ukyou turned her attention back to the man across the street without saying anything, shifting her grip on the spatula to bring the wide plate in front of her.

Damn, would this thing stop bullets?

Hybrid Theory, Chapter 2: Numb 


	2. Numb

Hi! Akane Tendo here, and, ummm, a lot of stuff happened last chapter, didn't it? Well, first off, this person named Ukyou Kuonji came to Nerima. I didn't think much of this at the time, actually, I didn't even know about it, but these two guys have shown up with and told me it was important to tell you all about it. Whoever 'you' are. They also told me I woudn't remember any of this, but, oh well, right?

So, at first I thought Ukyou was some creepy pervert stalker, but then she flashed her chest at me and I knew a girl couldn't be a creepy pervert. Now we're friends, even if I don't know about this weird voice that seems to be in Ukyou's head. Ukyou even helped me out by convincing all the boys at school to stop attacking me in the hopes of getting a date by telling them all that I was her girlfriend!

Uh... at least I think she isn't a creepy pervert...

Ukyou has this thing with her old friend Ranma. She didn't tell me much about it, but I knew he did something bad to her. So when he showed up at my house pretending to be a girl I saw right through that and... uh... actually, the less said about that the better. Thankfully I was able to use my 'relationship' with Ukyou to get me out of having to be Ranma's fiancee because of the stupid promise our fathers made. Now Nabiki is stuck with him.

So now I just have to find out what this big deal is between Ukyou and Ranma. Thats why I went to tell her about it, but Ukyou kinda freaked out when I told her about Genma being there.

Also, somebody apparently killed a police officer. Wow, this is beginning to look a little dark...

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 2: Numb

Ukyou stood in front of the archaic gate that led into the Tendo compound. Akane was already stepping through the arch, moving without hesitation. Of course, she had every reason to: this was her home. She knew exactly what to expect beyond those doors. Ukyou... had only ever seen the place once. Still, she knew the layout of the building almost as well as if she'd been there repeatedly, thanks to her uninvited "guest"'s memories of the so-called Ranma 1/2 manga series.

"Ukyou," Akane's voice snapped her out of her reverie. "Are you coming or not?" Akane motioned into the household. Ukyou felt herself smirking self- consciously at that. Aaron was apparently amused by the concept of being invited into the household. Still, his amusement faded slightly and the familiar numbing fog began to fill Ukyou's heart again. Her breath evened out and her heart stopped pounding as her unwilling companion's influence spread through her nerves like frost on a windowpane.

"Indeed," Aaron offered as he made Ukyou step through the gate into the front yard. "I was just... caught off-guard by the reality of this. I've been looking for Ranma for... ten years."

Akane perked up at this. Aaron had purposefully let the information slip. He and Ukyou had agreed to be secretive about the real reason they were in Nerima. At least, they would be until Ukyou figured out whatever actual reason she was here for. But the little slip had appeased Akane's curiosity and allowed Aaron to move them towards their goal with a minimum of interference.

"Do you know where Ranma is, now?"

"Well, no," Akane admitted with a shrug. "He and his father are staying in the guest room. I could show you to there..."

"No," Ukyou spoke up. "I think... if you don't mind Akane, I'd rather do this on my own."

"But Ukyou, I'm your friend, I can-"

Ukyou held up a finger, forestalling Akane's argument before it could get started. "I just need to do this alone, Akane."

(As alone as we'll ever be until this is over.)

Akane nodded and sighed.

01010

Ranma leaned against the cherry tree, looking up at the star-speckled sky. It was so much more... empty here in the city. On the road, the stars had been everywhere. Too many to count, but they were always the same. They were always there, guiding, illuminating... But here, in the city, the stars were lost.

Ranma had never been a deep person. He didn't like to think of life in the grand cosmic sense of things. Ranma was a man of action and instinct. When the world seemed to get confused and out of whack, Ranma knew he could always rely on his instincts to put him on the right path and his abilities to allow him to take whatever actions were necessary. Now, his instincts were telling him that this place wasn't for him. It wasn't that he felt more at home in the country than the city; he had spent almost half his life in one town or another. Nah, it was more that this place was...well, for lack of a better word, strange. Every other time that he and the old man had settled down for a bit, Ranma had seen the signs of Genma being ready to leave at a moments notice. He had always seen Genma working on his latest money-making scheme, or been involved in some stupid adventure to acquire the secret teachings of some local martial arts master.

Somehow, this time felt different. It was the first time Ranma could ever remember his father ever being WELCOME somewhere, for one thing. Also, despite the fact that this place was a dojo, Genma hadn't tried to convince the master here to show Ranma all his tricks. The old man was certainly making himself comfortable, too. Ranma couldn't avoid the image of his father somehow taking root here. The idea of taking root anywhere didn't appeal to Ranma, for a number of reasons.

The biggest of those was the trio of lunatic lesbians that lived here and that he was supposed to marry one of. The short-haired girl was the most calculating. Ranma could smell a sneak from miles away. He had his dad to thank for THAT skill. And that one was a sneak, all right. One who looked out only for herself. The eldest was the most subtle about it. Trying to confuse you with her sweet and innocent act, only to pounce on you when you last expected it. Worst of all, she made decent food. Why did such a good cook have to be such a bad person? But personally, the one Ranma disliked the most was the youngest, the little psychopath. That one just gave him the willies. The sooner he was out of her sight, the better.

The problem was that he was stuck here. His father just didn't see those three nutcases the same way Ranma did. He had tried talking sense into his father earlier, but the old man stayed stubborn no matter how much Ranma hit him. He was beginning to get the sickening feeling that this whole situation was for real, and not just another of his father's elaborate con games.

Even putting aside getting his old man to agree to let him leave, there was the question of where to go. There was only one real place Ranma wanted to go to, and unfortunately it was the one place he didn't feel safe journeying toward. At least, not alone. He knew he could beat that -other- psycho girl handily. But even he had to sleep sometime, and Shampoo had shown herself more than willing to attack him whenever he let his guard slip for a moment.

There had to be some way out of this. He found himself wishing that someone would claim responsibility for it all, someone he could beat black and blue to solve the whole problem. Ranma grunted and shielded his eyes with one hand. He didn't like thinking. There had to be something he could DO about this situation. Action, not thought, that was the key to keeping himself one step ahead of the problems here. But what direction to go in?

"Ranma..."

The voice snapped Ranma out of his brooding. He sprang up to his feet, cursing himself for allowing someone to come so close without him noticing. That's what thinking did to you, throwing you off your game.

The boy who stood in the backyard with Ranma was shorter than him, with long black hair and a boyishly handsome face. He was wearing a black school uniform, with a harness around his right shoulder. Hanging on the back of that harness was a ridiculously oversized metal spatula with what looked like a very sharp edge to it. The boy was standing there, staring at Ranma with wide eyes. Yet the eyes were clouded, distant. It was like the boy was looking through Ranma, not at him. Something about him was disturbingly familiar, but the identity didn't leap to mind, so Ranma shrugged off the feeling.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.

01010

"Who are you?"

Ukyou couldn't work up the willpower to answer him. Her knees felt weak and her throat was dry. Nervously, she ran her fingers through her bangs - and stopped herself halfway through the gesture. That wasn't her. That was Aaron. Creeping into her mind, filling her posture and expression and movements with his little tics and foibles.

What was Ranma seeing on her face? Was he seeing the conflict in her mind? Could he see her shock? Her mind refused to grasp what she was seeing. This was Ranma. This was her Ranma. He was taller and older and more mature, but he was the same Ranma. She could see the child in his soft black eyes. She could hear the echoes of his pre-pubescent voice in his words. She could SMELL him. That same scent of woods and dust and old-sweat and mixed in was something new, some subtle musk about him. If she reached out and touched him she would feel HIM, not some two-dimensional image of him. His body was round and full and there. His presence was unmistakable. This was Ranma Saotome. This was the heir to Anything Goes Martial Arts. This was the boy whom she had fallen in love with at the tender age of six and hated for the last ten years of her life.

Before her was the star of a popular manga and anime series.

She was a cartoon character.

(My god? Who AM I?)

Aaron felt Ukyou's reactions. His stomach lurched and twisted as she went through the rollercoaster of emotions. He tried to pull back, to rein in her feeling. But he might as well have been trying to avert an avalanche with a twig. Ever since he was twelve Aaron had been learning to suppress his desires and feelings, for the good of others

(or so you told yourself)

and for his own well-being. But controlling Ukyou's emotions was different. Her feelings were more alive, more intense than any Aaron had felt except one... Ukyou felt ALIVE in a way that Aaron had never experienced. She boiled over with desire and sadness and guilt and anger, a complex web of personality that left Aaron baffled. How could she doubt herself now, feeling the way she did? She was more alive than Aaron had ever been.

Somehow, Ukyou felt herself growing more at ease with Aaron's vindication of her... fundamental reality. He was right. She felt and lived and breathed. If you pricked her, did she not bleed? She was Ukyou Kuonji, no matter what passengers she had picked up along the way. And she was here. Here, at last, with Ranma. The object of ten years of preparation and sacrifice was now within her reach.

What the hell was she supposed to do about it?

Ranma was growing uneasy in front of her. His body kept shifting slightly. He looked like he wanted to raise his fists, but never got around to actually doing it. "Hey, you deaf? I asked you a question." Ranma grunted and turned his eyes away from Ukyou, apparently unable to stand her stare for much longer. She WAS staring. With a jerk she forced her eyes away from him. The Tendo's backyard was quiet and serene in the starlight. Nobody was around. They were alone.

"I said, 'Who are you?'" Ranma was growing annoyed now.

"You don't... you don't remember at all, do you?" Ukyou spoke out loud. Ranma stared at her quizzically for a moment, but then shook his head ever so slightly. He had forgotten her. Ukyou's hands clenched into fists, her knuckles cracking as they strained a harsh white. The old rage filled her again. Abandoned. Alone. Mocked. Outcast.

Aaron came to her rescue. THIS emotion he understood. With consummate ease he eased their breathing and closed their eyes. For a few seconds she listened to the sound of her own heartbeat. The technique was really quite simple, once you knew how to do it. The fire wasn't sealed away, it was snuffed. When she opened her eyes again Ukyou felt composed and relaxed. Distant.

"You don't remember your old buddy, Ucchan?"

Ukyou's voice was calm and detached, two feelings she wasn't sure she wanted to be projecting at the moment.

"Ucchan..." Ranma stared at her. Then his eyes widened and she saw recognition flare in his features. And in that exact moment she felt Aaron's iron control crumble again and her heart started beating a mile a minute. He was smiling, genuinely smiling and happy. He was even beginning to laugh. It was the exact same laugh. The laugh of a child with no worries and no limits.

"Ucchan!" Ranma cried out and grabbed her by the shoulders. "It... it really is you! Wow!" Ukyou blushed as his hands gripped her tightly. She could feel Aaron's displeasure, his physical unease at the closeness.

Aaron shrugged them out of Ranma's grip and took a step back. It was best to retain some distance between them, especially since Ranma didn't know

(how much Ukyou wanted him to touch her)

that Ukyou was a girl. The boy was a bit touchy about such distinctions at the moment. With his own curse and all. It was best not to risk anything, and he did mean ANYTHING, that could expose their secret.

"Hi, Ranchan," the words sounded so right in Ukyou's mouth and so wrong in Aaron's. "It's been... a long time." Ukyou allowed them to smile, a bit nervously.

"Wow, it has!" Ranma clapped and took another step closer to her. "You don't know how glad I am to see you, Ucchan. All the people here are crazy! I was beginning to think that there wasn't a single good thing in Tokyo. Now... this is great!"

Aaron could only stare at Ranma in shock and dismay. After a moment his heart started pounding again. The boy was so exuberant, so alive. It was just the way Ukyou had remembered him, and just the way Aaron had imagined him. It sent flashes of heat and cold up and down his spine, the way he was looking at her. The way he was talking about her. Even if he didn't know, he was saying all the right words.

Then Ukyou remembered what Akane had said. She and Ranma had been at each other's throats, and Ukyou was looking for a way to prevent the inevitable engagement. Akane thought the best way to do that was for Ukyou to keep pretending to be her boyfriend. But Ukyou knew a better way to help

(yourself)

Akane out. She could assert her own claim. Ukyou knew she could play Genma like a flute. Aaron knew all his buttons, so therefore Ukyou did as well. If she wanted to claim Ranma as the sole fiancee, then nothing could stop her. It would help out

(Who do you think you're trying to kid, here?)

...it would help out Ukyou.

"So, where have you been, what have you been up to?"

"I..." Ukyou paused at Ranma's question. She could tell him the whole truth, right here. She could tell him about her being a girl, and about hiding her femininity so that she could

(preserve yourself...)

avoid the humiliation he had left her in. And after she got through convincing him that this transformation was not the result of Jyusenkyo, he would say the words. She KNEW he would say the words. Telling her she was cute. She was, despite her ten year campaign to denounce and destroy her feminine self, still attractive and desirable. And she knew she could have him, if she wanted to. Aaron knew how to do it. Aaron knew that patience and kindness and taking it slow... not forcing him to do anything, always making it -seem- like he was in control... yes. It could work. The fairytale ending...

Aaron suddenly pushed them away from Ranma. Ranma staggered as Ukyou's hand thumped into his chest and

(No!)

he fell against the cherry tree. Aaron felt his self-control slipping. His eyes squeezed shut as the flood of sensation from Ukyou's subconscious threatened to overwhelm him. He was losing it, losing his sense of self piece by piece to her... her stupid senseless physical NEEDS! Needs that were base and disgusting at that. How could she risk this? How could he fight it? Then he felt it. Not her, but him. His anger. His rage. He had suppressed and controlled it for so long, but now she was wearing that away in her silly, selfish little desire. Well, fine. She wanted to give into emotions, then it was only fair she give into his as well!

Ukyou swayed under Aaron's mental onslaught, her hand flying to her head. She felt dizzy. Her head was splitting. It was like the mother of all migraines, except there was no relief from this. No retreat from it. The clash of two different emotions, two different desires in her head was tearing her apart. Fuck this! This was her life! She would live it the way she pleased, and fuck Aaron and the horse he rode in on!

Ukyou felt Ranma grab her around the shoulders, and she snapped her eyes open again. He was worried about her. Ranma was being sweet and... and what right did he have to think he could solve her problems anyway? No. Wait. She shook her head. She didn't mind Ranma touching her, perhaps even... even... even if he was a deceitful little prick! What kind of a friend was Ranma, that he would just abandon her and never even think about her for ten years? He didn't care about anyone but himself. Even if he did touch her THAT way it was only because he... no... he... he wasn't like that. He could be a decent person. He just usually wasn't.

Ukyou felt her knees weaken as Ranma suddenly found himself supporting her weight. But she was seeing red. She could stand up for herself. She didn't NEED him. How could he touch her without her permission? He was no better than that freak Tsubasa, demanding, possessive... She felt dizzy. He was leaning in closer, trying to say something she couldn't hear through the mental cacophony.

But words weren't what reached her. It was a flash of thought, a neon daydream image of Ranma leaning even closer, pressing his lips against hers. That single image cut through the fog of anger like a gale. She clung to it, focused on it. Pursued the daydream to its logical and inevitable conclusion. Imagined the rough texture of Ranma's fingers, as he helped her remove this boyish facade once and for all-

Aaron gagged. His anger was faltering, and in its place he felt only a sick sort of warmth. The images suddenly flooding their connected mind were primal, disgusting, made him sick just to feel them. Submitting to those alien feelings struck at the core of his being. Aaron felt his gorge rising... and before Ukyou could stop him, he submitted to the vicious thought and didn't even try to repress the reaction.

01010

Ranma wasn't sure how to react when Ukyou opened his mouth and promptly vomited into his face.

On the one hand, he was now covered in vomit. On the other, Ukyou was obviously sick. Pride or concern? Ranma debated the concepts briefly, but decided it was best to go with his instincts. And his instincts were saying: "GAH! I'M COVERED IN VOMIT!"

With a cry Ranma dropped Ukyou and leapt into the nearby koi pond. He felt the water splash around him, and began to wring it into his hands. Moving with inhuman speed, he rapidly scrubbed his face clear of the offending substance.

Once he was finished Ranma turned his gaze back towards his old friend. Ukyou hadn't fallen completely to the ground. He was kneeling in the grass where Ranma had left him, staring at Ranma in that same detached manner. His right hand was clutching the top of his head and the left was covering his mouth. He was blushing beet-red in embarassment.

"Geez, what's the matter, Ucchan? You sick?"

"Something... something like that," Ukyou spoke up softly. His voice seemed to change cadence in mind-phrase, going from cold to shy in the space of a single syllable. "Did you just turn into a girl?" he asked, in an oddly unsurprised voice. Ranma stared down at himself and confirmed that yes, that was indeed his current gender. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of the pond and sat on a nearby stone. He might as well get the explanations over with.

01010

"So, this is your mysterious boyfriend?"

Ranma relaxed against the wall as the Tendo clan gathered around the dinner table. His father was sitting opposite him, giving long nervous glances at Ukyou. For her part, Ukyou seemed content to ignore Genma completely. In fact, she seemed to be ignoring virtually everybody at the moment. His old buddy had recovered from his earlier sickness, but now he was just sitting near the door, almost oblivious to everyone else. His eyes had that same distant, veiled quality that he remembered from when he had first shown up in the yard.

It was weird. Ukyou had barely even reacted when Ranma had explained and demonstrated his curse. The only response out of his mouth had been "Indeed." Now he was just sitting back, responding only to direct questions.

"Yes," Akane was saying with a fierce nod. "So, as you can see, I have no intention of marrying Ranma at all."

"Wait a minute..." Ranma held up his hand. "You two know each other?" Ranma gestured between Akane and Ukyou.

"We know each other very well," Akane said, with a sneer in Ranma's direction. "We're dating." Ranma could only stare in open mouthed shock at this proclamation. Ukyou... and Akane? He was having a hard time picturing it. Ukyou was such a, well, Ukyou was a nice guy. He didn't deserve a psycho like Akane.

"That's what you say," Nabiki pointed out with a flip of her hand. "But we've yet to hear anything from your knight in shining cookware over there."

"Nabiki has a point," Soun said with a stern nod. "I know very little about this person who is supposed to be dating my youngest daughter."

Ranma looked over at Ukyou, expecting some response. But Ukyou was only twirling a small spatula between his fingers absently and staring off into space.

"Well, Ukyou, is there anything you'd like to say?" Kasumi took the initiative with the reticent guest.

"Huh?" Ukyou looked at Kasumi, cocking his head to the side in puzzlement. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. "I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. What exactly do you want to know?"

"Let's start with the truth about whether you are dating my daughter."

"Dad! Don't you trust your own flesh and blood?"

"Ah, he's just being protective," Ukyou said with a shrug. He ran his hands through his bangs, pushing them out of his eyes. "To answer your question..." He paused. "I like Akane, and I want to hang out with her more. If she wants to call that dating, that's her prerogative."

"How non-committal of you," Nabiki drawled.

"We've only known each other for two weeks, Nabiki," Ukyou pointed out. "This isn't exactly Romeo and Juliet. I prefer to let my relationships develop slowly, and go wherever they happen to go. If Akane wants this to grow into something more serious, then that's up to her." For some reason, Akane snickered at this statement. Ranma frowned briefly in her direction. The girl must think her whole relationship with Ukyou was some kind of joke. Ukyou was obviously stuck on her, from the way he kept placing all the emphasis on Akane's importance in the relationship. Now Ranma -really- knew that Akane didn't deserve him. There had to be some way he could get Ukyou out of this... without getting himself more involved with the black-haired tomboy than he had to.

"You're lying!" Genma suddenly burst into the conversation. He was now standing and pointing his meaty finger into Ukyou's face. The boy had turned his attention to the older man, and was holding his throwing spatula in a much more steady grip. "You can't possibly be dating Akane! This is just some scheme to sabotage the union of the two schools!"

"Indeed?" Ranma could have sworn he saw frost form in the wake of Ukyou's response, so cold his tone had been. "And why is that, Mr. Saotome? Do you know something about me that you want to share with the rest of the people here? Something special about you and me, and the relationship we share, that you think the Tendos ought to know? Hmmm?" Genma seemed to freeze solid at Ukyou's question. Ranma frowned and looked back and forth between the two. Ukyou's face never changed expression, retaining that placid but dangerous flatness. Genma's, on the other hand, seemed to be going through every kind of expression in the book as rapidly as he could possibly form them. Not to mention the beads of sweat slowly trickling down from his kerchief to drip off the end of his nose. Pops was definitely hiding something.

"Well, do you want to say why Akane and I can never be together? Why you think Ranma and her are SO much better for each other? All about the real truth about us?"

"No... No!" Genma sat down and stared at Ukyou hard. He began to pull at the collar of his dirty white gi. A sudden gasp caught Ranma's attention and he flipped his attention to Akane. She was staring at Genma, and her face had drained of all blood. Then, she began to shake. Shake, and grit her teeth, and clench her hands into white-knuckled fists. Her eyes narrowed at Genma. Ranma suddenly found imself desiring the wall he leaned against to be further away from her.

"You... YOU BASTARD!" Akane yelled suddenly. "So -that's- what you did to Ukyou!"

"No!" Genma waved his hands in the air between them. "You have it all wrong. It wasn't my fault! I just couldn't stand to turn down such a golden opportunity!"

"What you did... is UNFORGIVEABLE!" Akane screamed and grabbed the table with both hands. Ranma watched her lift it easily over her head and bring it down on his old man with enough force to crack the floorboards. Everyone else, including Ukyou, had thought to retrieve their rice bowls from the table first. But Akane wasn't finished there. She drew back the table again and brought it down once more. Genma gave a weak moan of pain as the floorboards further protested their ill-treatment. Then Akane hit him again. This time the table snapped in two down the center. As Akane lifted up her arms for a fourth strike, Ranma watched Ukyou step in between the two of them.

"That's enough, Akane," Ukyou said in a low, toneless voice.

"But... but he..." Akane was seething so much she seemed to have lost the ability speak.

"What he did was between us," Ukyou said slowly. "He's not worth it, Akane." This seemed to calm Akane down a bit. Ranma found himself staring at the two of them. Geez, what could Genma have done to Ucchan that was so bad? "Besides, if you kill him, I won't get my chance to pay him back personally." Ukyou quipped with an easy smile. Ranma found himself sighing in relief. Ukyou's entire posture had changed, and his face had suddenly become animated and vibrant. This was more like the Ucchan Ranma remembered. Akane looked at Ukyou's face for a few seconds, and then she started giggling and nodded.

Ukyou turned around to retrieve a piece of broken table, and held it up towards Kasumi with a raised eyebrow. Kasumi surveyed the living room, then sighed and gestured outside. Ukyou smiled and held out his hand for Akane's half of the former table. Sheepishly, Akane handed the large wooden club over. Then Ukyou noticed Genma was beginning to stir and moan. With a shrug he clubbed him with Akane's half of the table once, soundly, on the head. Genma didn't continue reviving after that.

"Who gave you permission to regain consciousness?" he asked flippantly as he tossed the table halves outside. This caused Akane to giggle a bit again, and even Ranma found himself chuckling softly at the sight. Its not like he hadn't seen Genma take worse punishment. Heck, Ranma had done worse to the old man himself a few times.

"Now, young man, I'm not sure I approve much of you beating up my old friend," Soun pointed out as sternly as he could once Ukyou was no longer armed with the table halves. Ukyou just shrugged and went back to sitting down near the door.

"I'm just glad Akane found a young man who suits her so well," Kasumi added vibrantly. This caused Akane to chuckle again. Nabiki seemed less pleased with the idea. She was glaring at Ranma and muttering softly to herself. Ranma frowned right back. Like he had any intention of getting himself hitched to any of the screwballs in this house. And if he had anything to say about it, neither would Ucchan.

01010

Ukyou noticed Ranma following her as she leapt across the rooftops of Nerima ward. She cursed inwardly. She had hoped to avoid having to tell him about what was wrong with her until she and Aaron had a chance to work out a plausible story. She still wasn't even sure she wanted to go through with any kind of story. No matter what she told him, it would be a lie. And the truth was unacceptable. Aaron didn't much care if Ranma knew, but she knew that telling him the whole truth was likely to frighten him off at best, or make him think she was insane at worst.

Then again, was she really not insane already?

There was no point in debating the question internally. Aaron was quiescent at the moment. Not silent. It was impossible to escape the constant mental static of his thoughts. Just passive. He seemed uninclined to think about what had happened in the yard back there, despite Ukyou's attempts to pry information out of him.

Personally, Ukyou thought he was afraid. Afraid of himself. Ukyou couldn't blame him. But then, she couldn't forgive him either.

Finally Ukyou stopped and allowed Ranma to catch up with her. If Aaron wasn't willing to talk with her - as much as "talking" covered what they did - then she would just take the chance to talk with Ranma.

"Hey, Ucchan, wait up!" Ranma called needlessly. Ukyou only smiled and waved at him as he settled down on the roof Ukyou had stopped on. "With everything that happened at the dojo, I never got a chance to talk with you."

"Indeed," Ukyou said and then frowned momentarily before forcing herself to smile cheerfully. Ranma was standing under the soft moonlight. His dark hair glimmered in the silver radiance, and his eyes seemed to shine with their own inner fire. Even as she found herself admiring the view of him, she felt her stomach stirring and writhing. She sighed and slumped a little. Aaron may have been acting quiet, but he was still willing to employ his weapon if she got too... mushy.

"I'd almost think you were avoiding me," Ranma laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well..." Ukyou suddenly felt a flash of inspiration hit her. She almost didn't use it, because she knew where it came from. But it was too good to waste... too perfect to discard, no matter which of them had thought it up. "I was avoiding you, Ranma."

Ranma blinked and opened his mouth slowly, then closed it again. Wait for it, Ukyou felt herself thinking. She wanted to fly through the entire explanation, but the number one thing about telling a good lie was pacing. Allow the mark to reel himself in.

"What do you mean? Do you... not like me?" Ranma said slowly.

"Actually, it's exactly the opposite, Ranma." Ukyou turned away. Mostly so that he couldn't see her face. It wasn't that she couldn't feign the proper emotions. Heck, in many cases she would actually be feeling them. The problem was that she was beginning to feel like a worm. Stringing Ranma along like this. She could have told herself it was for his own good, but there was an annoying voice in the back of her head which wasn't letting her cling to such a tempting illusion. "You aren't the only one of us who is cursed."

"W-what?"

Ukyou reached up and unbuttoned the top of her shirt, moving slowly. She could hear Ranma's feet shift on the tiles as he backed away from her. Still, she had committed to her course of action, and Aaron was in agreement for once. Soon she was pulling down her shirt, revealing the taut bandages along her back to Ranma. "This is just part of my curse, Ranma."

"You're... hurt?"

"No, Ranma, this form you see is a disguise. In reality..." she spun abruptly to face him, allowing him to see her tighly bound breasts for the first time. Ranma's eyes snapped open as he did his best impression of a fish. Ukyou felt herself flushing in mingled embarrassment and excitement. Still, that queasy feeling remained in the pit of her stomach, so she quickly pulled the shirt back together to conceal herself from him. "In reality, I'm a girl."

Ukyou double-stepped back to avoid the sudden stream of hot water as Ranma tried to up-end a kettle over her. She sighed and lashed out with her fist, smacking him on the side of the skull. "You idiot! This has nothing to do with Jyusenkyo!"

"But... my good old buddy, Ucchan..."

"Was a girl all along, dumbass."

Ranma seemed to need a moment to digest this. Ukyou waited patiently. Finally Ranma rubbed his eyes and looked at her real hard.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..." she sighed again. "I'm sure, Ranma. I'm really a girl. I was born a girl. I was a girl when we first met and a girl when you aban... when you left." She concentrated for a moment. What was some memory only she and Ranma would share? Something even that asshole in the back of her skull didn't know about? Oh... perfect... "I was a girl that day we went to the hotsprings outside the village. That's why I kept beating you up every time you tried to get in the bath with me."

"It was?" Ranma blinked. "I just thought you really wanted to spar that day."

"Obviously," Ukyou sighed into her hands. "Didn't you ever wonder why I kept using the girl's restrooms when we were kids?"

"Uh..." Ranma scratched his brow. "I never noticed. Back then, I used to just mostly do my business in the bushes..."

Ukyou hit him again, lightly.

Ranma rubbed his head absently, but was now slowly nodding. "So... you're a girl..." Then Ranma shrugged and grinned. "Well, I guess that's okay. You certainly aren't like any girl I've ever met, though."

"That's part of the problem," Ukyou pointed out as she stepped back. Her voice was choked up with emotion, but her head was perfectly clear. Aaron's numbing influence had filled her mind again. He didn't want them messing this up, and was more than happy to help out in the acting department. Apparently a dozen years pretending to be more...normal...had made him quite the actor. Ukyou was almost glad for his help. Almost. "I'm cursed like you are Ranma, but in a slightly different way."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm really a girl... but I have to pretend to be a guy."

"Have to pretend... but why?"

"I'd rather not get into the specifics," Ukyou waved her hand through the air. "The gist of it is that... some bastard cursed me. Now, whenever I try to act or be like a girl... I get sick. Really sick."

"Sick?" Ranma frowned. "Like earlier this evening?"

"Except it can be worse. I could really hurt myself." She turned and looked out across the sea of houses. "Even my thoughts aren't safe. My feelings..." Ukyou allowed some of her real anger at the situation to creep into her voice. But the anger was cold, like back in the house with Genma. "I can't even risk feeling like a woman until I'm cured."

"But wait. You were acting like a guy back at the house," Ranma pointed out as he scratched the back of his neck again.

"Ah Ranma," Ukyou turned and punched him softly in the arm. "You're such a clueless idiot. Don't ever change."

"Clueless?" Ranma blinked. He obviously had no idea what Ukyou was talking about. Ukyou found herself gazing into his eyes... and then was forced to look away again as her stomach roiled violently. Damn, it would be so easy to catch his heart if that bastard Aaron wasn't there refusing to go along with it.

"It's not important, Ranma," Ukyou pointed out as she slipped her hand over her mouth. Ranma stepped closer to her and she held her hand up between them and mimed feeling a bit sicker, even if she wasn't feeling ill at all. "What is important, is that I'm just as cursed as you are. Maybe even worse. You can at least act like a boy when you're in that girl's body. Me, I have to spend the rest of my life living a life I never wanted to live..."

"Ukyou," Ranma's voice was soft and clear. "I... are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious!" she spat. Her voice was full of frost and malice. She took a deep breath, listened to her heart beat for a moment. Anger wouldn't serve her well right now. Even if Ranma did appear to like them with a bit of a temper... Ukyou forced her mind away from that line of thought. It wouldn't do her any good at the moment.

"I'll... I'll get that jerk for you, Ucchan!" Ranma suddenly cried out. Ukyou felt herself spun in place to face him as the taller boy latched onto her shoulders in a grip that was both firm and gentle. "I swear it! Whoever did this to you... I'll give them hell!"

"Ranma... that's sweet. And don't think I'm not tempted to let you..." Ukyou sighed. A vicious little part of her imagined Ranma beating Aaron into a bloody pulp. Aaron didn't even flinch, mainly because he knew Ukyou would never go through with it. She may hate him for what he was making her do, but she couldn't seriously blame him. Besides... after the car crash, she doubted anything much scared Aaron as far as physical pain went. She shuddered in remembered agony of that day... that last day. No, best not to dwell on that, either.

"The fact is, the man who is responsible for this is beyond your ability to touch." She looked down at her feet. "He's already dead."

"Ukyou! Did you..."

"No. He died... a long time ago. I had nothing to do with it."

"Geez, that sucks," Ranma muttered slowly. "I was all set to beat up SOMEBODY."

Ukyou laughed.

01010

"School?"

"Of course! It's the same school Akane and Nabiki go to," Kasumi added cheerfully, as she handed him a boxed lunch. He reached out and snatched it from her hands like he would snatch an apple from a snake's mouth. He may not trust the girl as far as he could spit, but Ranma never turned down free food. Which reminded him, he would have to see if Ukyou still made those delicious okonomiyaki.

"Right, see you there!" Nabiki called out from the front gate.

"Nabiki, wait a moment." She slid to a halt with a sigh as her father stepped out of the house. A rolled up newspaper was tucked under his arm and he had a serious-looking frown on his face. Ranma cocked his head to the side at the man's gait. Last night, he could have sworn the man was spineless. But he was moving like a serious warrior at the moment. "I think you should walk with Ranma to school."

"Daddy..." Nabiki moaned. "Why do I have to walk with him to school?"

"Don't argue with me on this," Soun gripped the newspaper under his arm. "This isn't just for the sake of the schools."

"Huh?"

Soun flipped out the paper and displayed it to her. Ranma read the headline quickly. "Foreigner Found Murdered In Police Box," the huge title read. The paper was too far away and Soun held it up too briefly for Ranma to catch any of the story. Apparently Nabiki felt the same way, since she stalked over and snatched the paper from her father's hands. She gazed over the paper for a moment. Ranma slipped over and snuck a glance over her shoulder. Before Ranma could get very far, she rolled up the paper in her hands and used it to smack her father over the head.

"Oh Daddy, you silly little worrywart," she said in an exasperated tone. "This happened all the way out by Narita. That's nowhere near here!"

"Well, still," Soun wrung his hands, his fierce warrior expression melting under his daughter's assault.

"I think I'm safe enough walking through broad daylight with crowds of other students along an open road in a nice neighbourhood halfway across the city from the first murder in six MONTHS in Tokyo."

"Uh, well..."

"I'll walk Ranma to school," Akane piped up suddenly. Everyone turned their attention to her, especially Ranma. She was holding her school bag in one hand and was giving Ranma a long, careful stare. Ranma frowned back at her. What was she up to now?

"Thanks, Akane! I owe you one," Nabiki called as she fled through the gate.

"You're welcome," Akane called back. Then she turned her attention back to Ranma. "Well, are you coming? We don't have all day."

"I'm not ready yet!" Ranma pointed out. Only to have his father shove his packed school bag into his face. Ranma sighed and grabbed the pack from him. There was no use grumbling about it. The old man had this thing about schooling. He'd even delayed a few of their trips for a few months, just long enough for Ranma to earn his credits and move on. With a sigh, he followed Akane out of the building.

01010

Ranma strode along the top of the fence as he followed Akane to the school. His bookbag was slung behind his back, and he kept an eye on the slowly accumulating clouds overhead. Ever since his curse, Ranma had gained a new appreciation for watching the skies. Plus, it kept him from interacting with Akane in any significant way, which was a plus.

"So, Ranma..." Akane started. Ranma sighed. So much for that. "I think we need to talk, before we get to school."

"Ain't nothin' to talk about," Ranma grumbled. "I don't like you, you're a psycho tomboy with a breast fetish."

"I am NOT a psycho tomboy!" Akane shouted and swung her bookbag at his feet. Ranma nimbly danced over the few strikes until Akane got tired with trying to trip him into the nearby canal.

"But you didn't deny the breast fetish!" Ranma laughed while pulling down one eyelid and sticking his tongue at her.

"I don't...I'm not like that!" Akane protested loudly.

"Oh right," Ranma grumbled. "That why you're takin' advantage of Ukyou's problem so blatantly?"

"Wha-what?"

"Don't think I don't know what you're really up to with my best buddy!" Ranma snapped. "Ucchan ain't got no choice than to do what she's doin'. You do, so don't expect me to forgive you."

"Forgive me? It was Ukyou's idea! All of it." Akane growled. "Not that I expect you to understand. You just don't know the whole truth at all, do you."

"Whole truth?"

"About you and Ukyou, and your father, and the connection between all three of you."

"What does pop have to do with Ukyou?"

"Only everything!"

"Yeah right," Ranma shrugged. "You're blowing smoke."

"Oh really?" Akane sneered. "Tell me, Ranma, how much do you remember about your mother?"

"My mother?" Ranma glared at her. "What does she have to do with this, you tomboy?"

Akane swung at him a few times, which Ranma nimbly evaded. Then she smiled and smacked her fist into the fence under his feet. Ranma blinked as the chain-link buckled under her blow. He suddenly found himself without support under his dancing legs. With a cry he plummeted down, breaking the surface of the drainage canal with a resounding splash.

Ranma climbed out of the water with a sigh. A single leap propelled him over the damaged fence and into the street next to Akane.

"Now look what you did," Ranma grumbled as he pulled off his shirt to wring it out.

"Ack!" Akane covered her eyes. Paused. Then rushed over and started trying to grab Ranma. "Have you no feminine modesty?"

"Uh, no?" Ranma deadpanned as he dodged around the girl's attempts to grab him. Damn, his center of gravity kept shifting in this shape. He had almost been grabbed that one time. "And can't you stop trying to molest me for a minute?"

"Just put your shirt on and I'll stop trying to conceal you from view!"

Ranma muttered to himself but did as she asked. It was better than dodging her freaky violent advances all day. Akane sighed, obviously in disappointment. She turned her nose up on Ranma and started walking again. Ranma shrugged at the girl's behaviour and followed.

"So, tell me about your mother," Akane started up again after a few steps.

"Didn't we just go through this?"

"Do you want me to dump you into the canal again?"

"Fine, fine..." Ranma snapped. He wasn't really worried about Akane besting him in battle. He was just worried about having to fight her as a girl. Who knew what perverted thoughts ran around in that dim little girl brain? "My mother..." Ranma trailed off.

He realized that this was the first time he had even thought about his mother in years. His father never brought her up, and never seemed to pine for her in any special way. Then again, Ranma had never seen him out chasing skirts. Though if all girls acted like Akane and her sisters, he could understand why the old man would avoid the problem.

"I... don't really remember my mother," Ranma began slowly. His voice was soft and steady. He noticed Akane looking at him over her shoulder. "I just always assumed she was dead. Pops never talked about her."

"You never met her?"

"No."

"How... interesting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ranam snapped, a bit irritably.

"Just that it's interesting," Akane snapped right back. Ranma grumbled and crossed his arms - or tried to, those damn things on his chest kept getting in the way. "Look, Ranma..." Akane's voice had changed tone completely. There was no hostility in her words, just a sort of... calm acceptance. "I think we got off to a bad start."

"And whose fault is that?"

Somehow Akane managed to smack him in the head with her bookbag before Ranma could react. He glared at her and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead while she turned around with an audible "hmpf".

"I'm trying to be the bigger person here!" Akane snapped over her shoulder.

"Whatever..." Ranma slipped his arms behind his head again. For some reason, seeing him walking in that pose caused Akane to glare balefully but she turned away from him again to see where she was going.

"I was just going to say that I don't really blame you for what happened to Ukyou," Akane began again. She was talking softly. "It was just your father, taking advantage of both of you at the same time." Ranma stopped in mid-step. What was Akane talking about? Did she know something about what had happened to Ukyou that Ranma didn't? And if that was even possible, why would Ukyou reveal it to AKANE, of all people?

"Let's just say I consider you a neutral party in all this mess," Akane pointed out as she flipped her long hair from one shoulder to the other. "I don't really know how I can prove any of this, and Ukyou asked me to stay out of it anyway. But just know that I know exactly what's going on, even if you don't."

Ranma blinked in confusion. Just then, he noticed the clock tower of the school coming into view around the next corner. It was just like the clock tower at any other school, anywhere else in Japan. He secretly suspected somebody went around with a giant cookie-cutter and just stamped these things into existence. Oh well, at least in a few moments he wouldn't have to worry about hanging around with the mercurial Tendo sister anymore.

It was about then that he realized he was about to walk into the school grounds and he was currently female. Just great. Now everyone he met was going to consider him some freak, and he had she-of-the-violent-temper to thank for it.

Ranma's ears perked up as he heard a loud retort of wood off metal. Akane seemed to notice as well, but she just sighed as she walked into the yard. He could see a smallish crowd of students just beyond the front gate, obviously watching something.

"Hold still, you vile miscreant!" an unfamiliar voice cried angrily from within the group. Another retort of wood off metal followed.

"I think that would probably be pretty stupid, actually," a more familiar voice said back in a familiar uninflected tone. Ukyou was involved in some sort of fight. Without a glance at Akane or a word in her direction Ranma took two steps and launched himself through the air, easily clearing the five meter span across the street so he could land atop the school wall.

From his new vantage Ranma cold see the entire courtyard. It was pretty standard. A few trees along the sides and placed sporadically across the manicured lawn. A concrete path leading up to the three story building. Ranma quickly memorized the layout of the area, just in case. The big attraction was near the center of the grounds. Ukyou and some guy in samurai robes were dueling back and forth across the concrete path. The other guy had the advantage of height, and obviously knew how to use the wooden sword rather well, but calling it a duel was giving him a lot of credit.

Ukyou was spinning around his assaults, deflecting each of his strikes with her twirling spatula. She was even using the unwieldy weapon to parry attacks that wouldn't have even threatened her. She was playing with him.

"You cannot win! My victory is inevitable, why not just lay down your arms and admit it to yourself?" the taller boy crowed pompously. Apparently, he didn't realize what was going on.

"Indeed?" Ukyou casually deflected another four or five strikes. "You'll have to prove your hypothesis, then."

"My what?"

"Ukyou!"

Ranma snapped his head to the side and watched as Akane pushed through the screen of on-lookers. She had a smile on her face, but was still shaking her head back and forth.

"I'm kind of busy, Akane. Can this wait?" Ukyou frowned and stepped to the side, dodging one of her enemy's strikes at the last instant. The boy tipped forward, unbalanced by the sudden lack of blocking force. Ukyou spun around him and twirled her spatula like a staff. The ring opposite her blade impacted with the back of his cranium. The boy's eyes crossed and his slight tip turned into a full topple. "Okay, I'm finished."

It was true, the boy wasn't rising from his induced slumber.

"You know I can handle him on my own, right?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" Ukyou protested, in a much more animated manner than she had held during the fight. "I was just waiting here at school for you guys to show up when he attacked me."

"Right..." Akane sighed. "And the thought he would attack you just didn't occur to you?"

"Well, maybe..." Ukyou giggled a bit.

Ranma frowned and leapt from the top of the wall. He landed in front of the crowd of students and began to walk up to Ukyou with an easy slouch to his steps. He heard the sudden increase in noise behind him, but dismissed it as irrelevant.

"Heya, Ucchan!" Ranma greeted easily.

"Indeed," Ukyou smiled back. Ranma leaned back once he was within talking distance of his old friend, lacing his arms behind his neck once more. Ukyou's smile was really quite cute. It was a wonder anybody mistook her for a guy.

"What's this?" Ranma poked the unconscious teenager on the ground with his toe idly. The boy shifted a little in response, then fell still again. "Nice work, by the way."

"Problem not," Ukyou replied with a shrug. "But I have to give him most of the credit. I've been fighting him off and on for over a week. He never changes patterns, never adapts to others styles. Once you know how he fights, it's rather easy to beat him."

"I guess," Akane said as she nodded and rubbed her chin. "That would explain it."

"Whatever," Ranma shrugged. "It was still a good takedown. Not often you get a one-shot KO in our business." He looked at Ukyou and smiled slyly. "Maybe I should test just how good you've gotten in the last ten years, Ucchan?"

"Aw man, first Akane now the new babe! This guy has all the luck," someone cried from behind Ranma. The boy-in-girlflesh flicked a glance over his shoulder and saw a few of the boys near the front row crying streams of tears. One oily haired kid was patting another blond-haired boy on the back and making 'there, there' noises. Ranma turned his attention back to Ukyou, not really sure what they were so upset over.

"I see you couldn't avoid water this morning," Ukyou commented sardonically.

"Yeah, blame this psycho tomboy," Ranma said as he jerked his thumb at the girl in question.

"You had it coming, you jerk!" Akane cried as she tried to thump him with her bookbag again. What did she put in that thing, a brick? Ranma decided not to test the theory and nimbly slid back away from the assault. He stuck his tongue out at her again. Akane just growled and and clutched her bookbag in her white-knuckled hands.

"Yeah, yeah," Ranma replied flippantly as he moved closer to Ukyou. For some reason, the girl-in-boyclothes found the entire situation funny, at least funny enough that she couldn't stop chuckling lowly into the ball of her thumb.

"Don't you three make a lovely little group," a new voice intruded. Ranma gave a hooded glance as Nabiki stepped towards them, coming much closer than most of the other students. A few were entering the building, but a lot of them were milling around just within earshot, doing there best to appear anything but interested. Some guy was in the bushes nearby, taking pictures with a professional-looking camera. Ranma turned and flashed him a toothy grin complete with V-sign just as he took his next picture. The boy seemed to decide to leave just after that. Nabiki was looking at him strangely when Ranma turned back to the trio of girls, but nobody commented on his odd behaviour.

"Anyway, I just wanted to point out that if you three stand out here reminiscing all day, you're going to be late for class."

"It's actually five minutes until first bell," Ukyou pointed out placidly with a glance at her watch.

"And you would know? You don't even go here," Nabiki pointed out. "By the way, the administration is beginning to get annoyed at you showing up and constantly beating one of their students into the ground."

"Off and on, huh?" Ranma chuckled. Ukyou had the decency to shrug. Akane rolled her eyes.

"Tell them that if they want to complain, I'm sure your sister would be more than happy to press charges for assault," Ukyou replied easily. "But I doubt it will come to that. These things have a way of getting swept under the carpet. Especially when it involves the rich, or the powerful." From the way Ukyou emphasized the word Ranma didn't think she was referring to politics. "Plus I don't think Kunou is ever going to lodge a formal complaint. That would mean admitting he was beaten, which is probably beyond the limits of his delusions."

"Okay," Nabiki shrugged and stepped past the group as she made towards the entrance.

"So... you wanted to talk to us?" Akane prompted once Nabiki was out of earshot.

"Well..." Ukyou looked around at the loitering student body. "Maybe this place is a bit too public. I tell you what, we'll meet after school. I have a feeling the three of us are going to need to have a talk." Ranma and Akane nodded in unison, then glared at each other for doing so.

"Oh, and Ranma," Ukyou snapped her fingers and caught Ranma's attention. "I thought you might need it, so..." she trailed off and pointed. Partially hidden behind a nearby tree was a portable grill, on top of which was a small brass kettle.

"Oh man," Ranma said, leaning and clapping Ukyou on the shoulder. "You're a champ, Ucchan!" Ukyou was blushing slightly, but seemed unable to say anything.

01010

Ukyou sat on the lip of the wall, kicking her feet idly against the stone. Above and to her right was Ranma, lounging in a treebranch. Below and to her left was Akane, sitting on a more prosaic bench. Around them the park was reasonably well-inhabited, clusters of anonymous humanity treading their way past them. In and out of sight like extras on a movie set. Did these people look at her and see her as just a strange boy sitting upon a wall? Or did they immediately assume that she was a special person by her demeanour and appearance? Or did they even notice her? It was entirely possible some extant law of creation kept her and her friends from even entering the minds of these people for more than the few seconds they would use to note the existence of a field mouse or a dandelion. A boy sitting atop a wall with a giant spatula on his back? Somebody else's problem.

The other two looked at her strangely when she burst out into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. She waved off their concern and got herself under control quickly. Aaron helped; he was very good at that sort of thing. Then she opened her mouth and tried to decide what to say. The storyteller part of

(Aaron)

her was both excited and repulsed by the idea of saying, "I guess you're all wondering why I brought you here today?" Of course, anything else was just a variation on the same. But, as Aaron knew, it was sometimes best to avoid starting conversations. Best to let the curious walk their own path. That gave you control. That gave you power over them.

"I bet you two want me to clear up a few things, right?"

"Yeah," Ranma said from his perch. Like Ukyou had asked, he was keeping an eye out for uninvited eavesdroppers, so his face was currently turned away. Akane echoed the sentiment, but her attention was all on Ukyou. So far, in all the time she'd seen them together there had been only open antagonism between the two. No long, quiet stares when they thought nobody else was paying attention. No unexplained embarrassment or sudden spurts of shyness between them. Ukyou sighed. What she was about to say might disarm some of their hostility towards each other, but it was unlikely to lead to a sudden blossoming of adolescent love. It appeared Destiny

(with a capital D and everything)

held no sway over these two's hearts. That made Ukyou feel better, on a great variety of levels.

"First off, I want to say that there are some things I haven't told either of you, and I have good reason. They're private things. Things I plan on dealing with myself." She could see that neither of them quite liked that statement. But Ranma was nodding in understanding. Akane was shifting her feet a bit and looking at Ukyou with huge doe-like eyes. Was that pity? Ukyou suspected it was.

"You don't have to tell us everything, Ukyou," Akane pointed out. "It's not like some of it isn't obvious in retrospect anyway."

Ukyou gave a mental "Huh?" at that but didn't let it show on her face. It was okay to let Akane leap to a few conclusions. If Akane had a few "facts" in her head, she would ask less questions. The less lying Ukyou did in response the better.

"I just wanted to talk because you two don't seem to be talking much, and I think you've both sort of come to some wrong ideas here." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs. "I just want to clear the air here. You're both my friends. Ranma, I've known you since we were six and Akane, I know more about who you are now than I do Ranma. But you're my friends, and I like you both. I don't want to be at the center of some little war you two wage on each other."

"Hey! This isn't my fault!" Ranma cried indignantly. Akane only turned her nose up on him. Which looked kind of funny, considering he was perched in a tree over her head.

"I'm not laying blame," Ukyou pointed out at Aaron's prompting. "Nor am I trying to dictate how you to interact. If you want to hate each other, fine by me. I would just rather not have to choose between the two of you."

That seemed to quiet Ranma right down, and made Akane smile a bit.

"First off, both of you know that I'm not really a guy." Ukyou noted their nods. "So Ranma, before you get any ideas, no, neither Akane or I swing that way."

"Huh?" Ranma spun around in place, shifting his eyes over the two of them. "But I thought you said that you weren't-"

"I never said anything about being a lesbian, Ranma."

"Finally!" Akane said as she threw her hands into the air. "This moron has been going on about me being like that all day!"

"Well, technically I can't speak for Akane..."

"Ahah!"

"Ukyou!"

"I'm kidding!" Ukyou protested as she warded off a few flung pebbles from Akane's direction. "Akane isn't a lesbian either, Ranma." Ranma looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and his arms crossed casually over his chest. "She just doesn't like the guys at her school and they couldn't get that through their heads. So I stepped in to help with this fake dating thing. It helps the both of us."

"But this crazy chick-"

"Ranchan!"

Ranma blinked at the harshness of Ukyou's tone.

"Part of you two to not involving me in your feud means not trying to kill each other in my presence. So maybe we can keep this civil?"

"I guess," Ranma mumbled sullenly and cast a glare at Akane. For her part Akane returned it with equal smugness.

"Akane is a fully functional heterosexual," Ukyou pointed out with a shrug. "Just ask her about Ono Tofu some time."

"Ukyou!" Akane blazed red as Ukyou smiled down at her.

"Who?"

"He's... our family doctor..." Akane said she she twiddled her fingers together. Ranma blinked at this, but seemed to accept it with a shrug.

"Fine, if Ucchan says you're not that way, then you aren't." He grinned down at Ukyou. "I trust her, she doesn't lie to me."

Ukyou could only stare speechlessly at him for a few moments. She didn't wince, Aaron saw to that. There weren't any tell-tale signs of the turmoil in her heart on her face at all, once again Aaron's work. She wanted to say something but couldn't seem to form the right words. In this part of her, Aaron couldn't help at all.

"See! I told you this wasn't about me feeling THAT way about you," Akane pointed out smugly. Ranma seemed about to retort, glanced at Ukyou, thought better of it and shut his mouth with a shrug. "And I already told you I'm willing to be the better person here, so once you apologize for the way you've treated me-"

"Apologize!" Ranma snapped.

"Never mind whose fault what was now," Ukyou pointed out loudly, catching the attention of both of them. She held up her hands. "Let's just make a clean break of things. No matter who saw who naked or under what circumstances or how many insults have been thrown in either direction, let's just start over from here, okay?" The two of them looked at her in confusion. "Its really simple. All this malice is just because of stupid misunderstandings. It's kid stuff. You can't let one or two incidents rule the rest of your life..." Oh man, those words tasted bitter in Ukyou's mouth. "Just start over from scratch, okay?"

"Okay..." Akane said slowly.

Ranma looked at Ukyou, then back to Akane and then to Ukyou once more. He shrugged and looked up at the leaves of his tree-perch. "Whatever."

"Now, Ranma, say 'I'm Ranma Saotome, pleased to meet you' and Akane, you do the same." They both stared at her. "Humor me." They did, and managed to do it without sounding snide, or hostile or anything. Ukyou felt rather proud of the two of them.

"Like I said, I'm fine with working things out between us," Akane noted, apparently noticing some expression on Ukyou's face. Ukyou cocked her head to the side. and Ranma looked down at her. "Well, given what the two of you have been through, what Genma did to both of you... I can accept that. It's not your fault. It's really all Genma's doing."

Ukyou blinked. This was unusual. Aaron would give higher odds to the sun rising in the north tomorrow than to Genma admitting the truth about what had happened ten years ago. This meant that Akane was probably off in some strange self-delusion about what was going on. An amused part of... one of them, she wasn't sure, wanted to tease that out and see what it led to. A bigger part realized that this could (and probably would) lead to the wrong kinds of misunderstanding, and it was more trouble than it was worth.

"But... we can't let this lie, you two. This whole situation is just poison. I know that you don't want to talk about this, Ukyou, but you have to put your personal friendship with him aside. This isn't right. What happened between the two of you needs to come out in the light." Ukyou blinked again. "I know it's personal and it hurts, and it involves bad feelings... but Ranma deserves to know the truth about you and him and how you feel and what Genma is really after! It's sick and twisted, and talking about it might hurt, but if we get this all-"

"Hey, Ucchan! Hear about that murder this morning?"

Aaron snapped her head towards Ranma so fast Ukyou felt her tendons protest. The boy was squatting on the branch, clutching it with both hands and sweating nervously.

"Murder? What murder?" Aaron said in a implacably calm voice. Ranma blinked at the sudden shift in his friend's demeanour.

"Just some guy killed half-way across the city," Akane pointed out from behind her. Her tone was annoyed and dismissive. "Dad got all worked up about it this morning and tried to convince Ranma to escort Nabiki to school-"

"Wait!" Aaron cut Akane off with a sharp motion of Ukyou's hands. "Soun told you about this? Soun Tendo?"

"Well, yes..." Akane trailed off, obviously confused now.

"Yeah," Ranma agreed with a nod when Aaron stared at him in that cold, expressionless manner.

Ukyou felt herself frowning. Aaron was worried about this, but for reasons she wasn't sure she agreed with. This world existed beyond the confines of the story Rumiko Takahashi had defined. Murders happened the world over and it certainly wasn't 'out of continuity' for them to occur so that the cast of her little manga would become aware of them. But still... there had never been anything like that in the manga, or the anime for that matter. And if it had been serious enough for Soun to be worried about Nabiki's safety, it should also have appeared in the actual story. Except maybe whatever prescience Takahashi had to see this actual world and draw it up had been tainted by her desire to tell a funnier story and...

Ukyou clutched her head. She was giving herself a headache. Such mental debates with Aaron always did. They always led themselves in circles until they finally decided to just stop thinking about it.

And of course, there was the fact that Sailor Pluto was interested in Ukyou.

Okay. Something was going on here. Something had gone wrong with the continuity of this world. And Aaron was damn sure that nothing he had done had led to someone getting killed in Tokyo and Setsuna Meiou acquiring a sudden interest in Ukyou Kuonji. Not now. The timing was just too damn convienient.

"Ukyou, are you okay?"

"Where did this happen?" Aaron spoke in a level voice, but didn't look up at either of them.

"At the Tendo place-" Ranma began but Aaron cut him off quickly.

"The murder! Where?"

"Uh, I dunno... it was in the paper this morning..."

The newspaper. Of course. Aaron berated himself and Ukyou internally. He had been so sure that this world was the same - as far as most news went - as his own that he didn't need to bother reading the news. It wasn't like he was interested in the human interest stuff, and he knew all the major news stories for the next dozen years. How could he have been so stupid?

"Ukyou, where are you going?"

Ukyou looked over her shoulder at Akane. She had already leapt down from her seat before she even realized it.

"To get a newspaper," she explained.

"Wait, why?" Ranma also leapt down from his perch. His muscles were tense, and his eyes flickered across the landscape quickly.

"For nothing, I hope," Ukyou said slowly. "Listen, you two..." Ukyou pondered how to phrase her request. "Just go back home. I have to see about this. It's just a bad feeling I have, and I have to make it go away."

"I'll come with you," Ranma informed her, in a manner which made it clear this was not a request.

"Ranma, I..." Ukyou sighed. What harm would it do? "Okay." Ranma nodded to himself.

"I'm coming too!" Akane pointed out, standing and flexing her arms.

"No you're not," Ukyou pointed out. "I hate to be harsh, Akane, but you'll just slow us down. Speed is our advantage here. And you can't leap across the rooftops like we can."

"But..."

"Just go home, Akane," Ukyou waved her hand towards the houses in view nearby. "This is probably nothing. I'm just overreacting to bad news. But I don't like surprises, and I need to..." Ukyou sighed. "Just trust me, Akane. I'll come back to the dojo as soon as I've cleared this up. Okay?"

Akane stared back at Ukyou defiantly. Aaron loosened up his grip on their emotions and Ukyou let a bit of her concern for the girl show in her expression. Akane couldn't met her gaze after that. After a few seconds of staring at her shoes shuffling in the dirt, Akane sighed and nodded.

"Great!" Ukyou nodded happily. "Come on, Ranma. I don't think this is anything, but I want to make sure."

"Whatever you say, Ucchan."

01010

Sitting in the pipe, listening to the water flow, he wished the Internet had been invented a little earlier. It existed, but it'd be years before it was really useful. Luckily, he'd thought of that before, and gotten the information he needed before leaving the police box. The Tendo Dojo was close. She was close.

He felt...something. It might have been a shiver running up his spine, but not quite so bold. It was more...dull. More blunted. Less alive. Of course, so was the cold from the water that rushed around his naked body, the feeling of wetness. So dimmed.

But why had he felt it? Was he having second thoughts? Damn, he couldn't afford that. He had told himself before. Had to be done. Had to be done. It was the only way. She was the only one. The only one he was sure about, anyway.

He grimaced. Telling himself that didn't make it any easier. But what else could he do?

It was with mild surprise that he realised he could no longer see. So night was falling. Time flew when you were...hiding naked in a pipe draining into one of those ubiquitous canals? Or perhaps it just flew when you were...well, best not to dwell on that. Besides, it was time for action.

His joints, despite being still all day (fifteen hours? Perhaps.), moved fluidly and effortlessly. And, of course, he felt no discomfort. The cold and wetness were distant, shadows. He crawled from the pipe, glanced cautiously around. No one was near, no one took notice of the faint splashes. Good, good. He'd picked a good area. But of course, he knew that.

Near his hiding place, he dug the bag of clothes and towel from the ground where he'd secreted them early that morning. Using the canal wall for cover, he dried himself. The uniform was a little musty and wrinkled, but nothing too bad. She wouldn't really have any reason to be suspicious. Of course, the police would be looking for him by now. But he knew how to avoid them. It wouldn't take long, anyway.

Finishing dressing, he threw the towel and bag into the canal. The money he had retrieved from their bank accounts, he'd hidden elsewhere. Best to get that afterwards. He turned, facing in the direction of where he knew the dojo to be. His perspective was a bit off, too slanted. With a small, irritated noise, he reached up and straightened the broken neck.

It wouldn't take long at all.

01010

It would be sunset soon, and the lengthening shadows were beginning to make their mode of transport more hazardous. Still, Ranma moved with ease as he followed Ukyou along the rooftops. He could have moved maybe half again as fast as she was, but he had to admire her style. The girl seemed to have a great deal of practice moving quickly and efficiently. For a moment, Ukyou paused and looked down from the lip of the building they had landed on. Frowning, she flipped open a city map she had pulled out and consulted it, then looked down at the street again.

"Haven't these people ever heard of street signs?" she muttered, before putting away the map. "It's that way," she said pointing north. "Probably about ten more blocks."

The trip went relatively quickly, and there was no doubt they were at the right place once they arrived. The area below was a bustle of controlled chaos. The police box rested near the sidewalk, out of the main pathways but clearly available to anyone who needed it. It was dark and silent now, surrounded on all sides by flashing reflective police tape. A single police cruiser was parked nearby, and two uniformed officers were leaning against it, calmly directing the flow of humanity away from the incident. Near the corner, a newsvan was packing up its gear.

"Well, we're here," Ranma pointed out.

"Indeed..." Ukyou murmured softly as she surveyed the scene herself. They were too high up to be easily spotted by the people below, so their presence went unnoticed. Ranma began to fidget as time passed and Ukyou seemed content to examine the scene without pause. She was spinning a minature spatula between her fingers, but otherwise not doing anything.

"Whatcha lookin' for here, anyway?" Ranma asked when the silence finally got to him. He had been hoping for something blatant and obvious here. Maybe a lurking monster to beat up or something. That would have been cool.

"Small details," Ukyou said as she stepped back from the edge of the roof. "But this place has been cleaned up. Too much time has passed I guess."

"Small details?"

Ukyou looked at him with an unreadable expresion for a few moments then shrugged. "Not much you'd really get. I have... a unique perspective. But nothing I see suggests this was anything but a regular murder."

"Except for the where," Ranma nodded.

"Yeah," Ukyou crossed her arms and leaned backward slightly. "Still, maybe I'm just being paranoid. This looks perfectly normal."

"So there's no danger?"

"Not here, at any rate." Ukyou looked up at the descending sun. "It's late, and I don't want to hang out here anymore. I could learn some more by questioning the people down there, but I don't think I want to get involved with this."

"Probably for the best," Ranma nodded. "I've dealt with the police before, they're nothin' but trouble."

"I'm not surprised you think that, given your father," Ukyou chuckled. Ranma grinned a bit himself. "Come on, let's get back. Akane's probably worried sick. I want to tell her this was all for nothing." Ukyou took a few steps forward, then paused and looked over her shoulder at Ranma. "But let's hurry anyway."

"Why?" Ranma shrugged. He wasn't really adverse to another long run across the city, but was curious.

"Because I still don't like surprises."

01010

Akane was really trying to do her homework. She understood how important math was. Normally she was very good at it. Or, at least, she was very diligent at it. But outside the light was fading and the day was coming to a close, and Ukyou and Ranma were out there somewhere.

She was worried. What was Ukyou up to? Why get so concerned over an anonymous murder half-way across the city? It didn't make sense. Plus, Akane was a bit annoyed with her. Akane was a martial artist, too. Whatever problem Ukyou thought was coming up, Akane could help. She just knew it.

"Akane, you have a visitor," Kasumi called from downstairs. Akane bolted up, barely noting the distressed tone of her sister's voice. Her only thoughts were on Ukyou and Ranma. She had never doubted the girl would live up to her promise. Still...Akane grinned wickedly. That didn't mean Akane was going to spare her a stern lecture, or let her get away with anything less than a complete accounting of every detail.

At the bottom of the stair Kasumi was talking to someone standing just outside the door. Akane would have to remind her sister to let Ukyou in right away next time and-

The man outside the door was not Ukyou. He was tall and thin, and dressed in blue. It took Akane a few moments to note the glint of a badge on his familiar uniform. On his belt hung a leather holster and a simple firearm. For a moment his face was cloaked in shadows by the angle of the light and the door. Akane stopped in place, a cold chill running up her spine to rest like a hard knot against the base of her skull.

The officer moved forward a bit into the light, and his face came into view. It was just a normal face. Not especially handsome, but not ugly either. Perfectly normal. When the man saw Akane he smiled, a wide and pleased grin that utterly failed to reach his eyes.

"Hello there," the officer said. "You would be Miss Akane Tendo, I believe?"

Akane bowed deeply before responding. "Yes. I'm Akane Tendo. May I help you, officer?" Kasumi, seeing she was no longer needed, stepped around Akane and back into the house. Akane noticed her and Nabiki standing just out of the officer's line of sight in the background.

He bowed, slightly less deeply, in return. "Yes you can. I need you to come with me to answer a few questions."

Akane opened her mouth to ask why, but thought better of it. Still, she didn't want to be somewhere else when Ukyou showed up. Maybe if she cooperated right away, this could be over quickly. "Of course, officer. But can we stay here? I'm sort of waiting for somebody to show up..." Akane trailed off.

The officer bowed again, apologetically. "I'm sorry, that won't be possible. I need you to come back to the box with me, so I can fill out some forms. However, I promise it won't take very long. Your..." he hesitated, "...older sister, is it? I'm certain she would be able to entertain your guest for a few minutes, correct?"

Akane resisted the urge to frown and nodded slightly. She turned towards her sisters. "Kasumi, if Ukyou shows up tell... him to wait for me. I'll just be a few minutes with the officer here." Kasumi nodded.

She felt, more than heard, a sharp intake of breath from behind her. But when she turned around, the policeman's expression was calm and composed. "All right, Miss Tendo. Let's see if we can get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible." He smiled, but again the expression never seemed to reach his eyes. Akane suppressed a shiver but gestured for him to lead the way. She was going to be with a police officer, after all. Whatever premonition of danger she felt, she would be perfectly safe with him.

01010

Aaron was about to leap down to the street when Ranma stopped him by laying a hand on his shoulder. He peered casually back, wondering what was up.

"Can, uh, we go in the back way?"

"Back way?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah," Ranma fidgeted. "I sorta wanna avoid... uh..." Ranma trailed off. Aaron smiled to himself. The way Ranma kept trying to avoid saying he was scared of something was kind of endearing in-

Aaron frowned and cut that line of thought off right there. He silently berated Ukyou to keep her feelings to herself. She gave him the mental equivalent of a raspberry. This caused them both to frown as the feedback gave them a small headache.

"What's up?"

"Well..." Then Ranma's eyes brightened. "You may want to avoid too much time with Akane's sister, ya know?" Aaron raised an eyebrow and stared at Ranma for a few moments until the other continued. "Well, they're real perverts, get it? They like, have this thing for girls...and if they ever find out you're a chick, with you being so cute and all, they might get some ideas in their heads and never leave you alone... why are you laughing?"

"Nothing, nothing," Aaron tried to stifle the chuckles with reasonable success. "I'm just... you've suddenly reminded me that I don't know how you and Akane met."

"Well..."

"I think I'll want to hear her perspective on this, too," Aaron said as he ran his hand through Ukyou's bangs. "Let's go in the back."

They landed in the backyard without preamble. Ranma seemed more than happy that none of the various residents were available. "Since you're concerned about me, why don't you go in and fetch Akane?" Aaron teased before Ukyou could stop him. Ranma jerked a bit, then looked at Ukyou and sighed before wandering into the house.

Aaron began to pace casually about the yard. Ukyou wasn't too upset with him for playing with Ranma like that. It was her intention to play neutral mediator in their disputes. The Tendo's were really very good landscapers, he noted idly as he waited for Ranam to make a reappearance.

Ranma emerged from a second floor window and dropped gracefully to the ground. Aaron rolled his eyes at the boy's antics. He really was going to have to learn what had happened here if he was going to be able to manipulate the situation to his needs. Not that Ukyou really liked to use the "M-word" when it came to Ranma, but Aaron had no illusions about how they were playing the boy like a ten cent flute.

"Akane isn't here," Ranma said with a shrug.

"What?" Aaron blurted out.

"I said-"

"Please hold the comedy for a moment," Aaron said as he held up his hands. Akane wasn't likely to have left. It wasn't in-character for her to... unless she decided to take off after them anyway. Which meant Akane could be halfway across the city right now. Damn, he should have seen this coming.

Without bothering to say anything to Ranma, Aaron directed Ukyou into the house. It didn't take long to locate Kasumi, she was busy cleaning up the kitchen and preparing it for tomorrow. Ukyou noted with a professionally critical eye that the place was kept meticulously clean and well-stocked. She would be okay with using this place herself.

"Oh, Ukyou!" Kasumi gasped when she looked up. "I didn't see you there."

"Sorry." Aaron shrugged. "Where's Akane?"

"Oh she left. She asked you to wait for her," Kasumi explained cheerfully. Then again, Kasumi did everything cheerfully, including becoming a homicidal maniac. Heh. But...

"Indeed," Aaron said with a frown. "When did she leave, and why?"

"I think she and the officer left a little over ten minutes ago," Kasumi said as she tapped her finger against her chin.

"Officer?" Aaron stepped forward and did his best to loom over Kasumi, despite being shorter than her. Kasumi blinked. "What officer?" Aaron had a bad feeling about this. Too many coincidences.

"Officer Takashita," Kasumi pointed out, after another moments thought.

"Takashita..." Aaron stepped back and frowned. The name was unfamiliar to him, it certainly wasn't from any anime or manga he had ever read. At least, not the name of any major character. But why on earth would any police officer talk to Akane? No, this was just too convienient.

"Thanks!" he shouted over his shoulder as he dashed out into the backyard. Ranma was pitching small stones into the koi pond, staying well out of splash radius. "Ranma!"

Ranma leapt up, having heard the urgency in Ukyou's voice.

"We have to find Akane, quickly."

"Why?"

"Just being cautious," Aaron noted as he leapt up onto the roof of the Tendo home. Ranma followed him easily. Damn, it felt good being able to do that. Ukyou never really did appreciate how mobile she was until Aaron had arrived to show her what life was like without mad martial arts skills. "She's with a police officer, so she's likely at the local police box or station. You head off there and look for her. I'll check around here myself, see if I can catch up with them before they get where they're going."

"Okay..." Ranma murmured. He looked about to object, but Aaron felt time was of the essence. His horror movie instincts told him it was a bad idea, but splitting up really was the fastest way of finding Akane.

"I'll be fine," Ukyou pointed out for him with a genuine smile. "This is probably nothing. At least, it's nothing I can't handle."

"If you say so," Ranma grumbled before leaping off in one direction. Ukyou opened her mouth to point out that he didn't know where the police box was, then closed it and shrugged. He would find his way there soon enough. With a quick step Aaron propelled them in the opposite direction. Ukyou may not be much of a tracker, but it shouldn't be too hard to spot a police officer with the streets nearly deserted.

01010

"This isn't the way to the police box, is it?"

The officer looked at her for a moment, then rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry, I'm not from your local office. We're going over that way," he said, and pointed vaguely in another direction. "But it's not too far, I promise."

Akane mulled over that for a few seconds. They walked further onward, though Akane noticed they were actually moving away from the main thoroughfares to the other parts of the city. It was certainly posisble to get to other places through the back roads, but not very efficient. She was opening her mouth to ask Officer Takashita about this when he cut her off.

"So," he said conversationally, "I'm sorry to have kept you from your friend. Ukyou, wasn't it? Are you two close?"

"Well s-," Akane stopped herself. She had promised not to reveal Ukyou's condition to anyone. Besides, the officer didn't really need to know details. "Ukyou and I are... really good friends." Akane made herself smile a little wistfully, trying to affect the 'dreamy girlfriend' expression she had seen on more than a few girl's faces from time to time. "But it's not like we had a date tonight. He just wanted to talk to me. I'm certain it can wait a little while."

There was a long pause, and then the officer smiled again. "Ah, young love. I remember being young myself. How'd you two meet?"

"Uh..." Akane blinked. "Well he was stalk-" Akane cut herself off. Wrong word to use when you're talking to a police officer, you dummy. "He was... following me around and we just sort of, um, hit it off?" Akane ventured. She really wasn't sure she wanted the man to dig any further.

The officer seemed to have a small coughing fit, covering his mouth hastily. "Umm, yes," he continued. "Well, I'm glad to hear you're...getting on well. I'm sure you make quite a cute young couple."

They walked on in silence for a few more minutes. Akane tried to look anywhere but at the officer. The strange way he was looking at her set her nerves on edge. It was something about his eyes. Not the way Ukyou's eyes sometimes seemed guarded or hidden. These eyes were just...wrong, in a way she couldn't place her finger on.. Akane sighed to herself as they passed a landmark she recognized. They were heading further into her neighbourhood now, going in circles as they entered increasingly deserted areas.

"Officer, are you sure this is the right direction?"

"Ah, yes. Well, now that you mention it..." he hesitated, biting his lip, and then suddenly his eyes widened, and he pointed behind her. "What's THAT!"

Akane spun around, adopting a fighting stance. The shadows in that direction were deep, but empty. She frowned and turned around to ask the man what was going on.

There was a scream.

01010

Ukyou propelled them across another street with a graceful leap. Aaron was letting her do the 'driving', as it were. He was too busy thinking, planning and theorizing. He did that a lot. He was trying to think of every anime series he had ever seen, remembering which ones involved the police in some fashion. Recalling faces and identities and names. But none of it was adding up in the back of her head.

But the number of possible things this COULD be was beginning to frighten Ukyou a bit. Akane could be the target of some soul-sucking plot by the minions of the Dark Kingdom, or whatever villian Sailor Moon was fighting this season. She certainly had energy to spare. And there were other things that were even worse. Psychotic demons from the Yuu Yuu Hakusho universe? Zoanoids? Insane martial artists with a thing for little girls, like M. Bison? The list was - almost literally - endless. But he wasn't willing to worry too much about it. It was just a strange series of badly-timed events to him.

Ukyou felt her heart beating like a triphammer as she bounced across another alleyway, glancing down to see if there was any movement. They couldn't find them. It was dark, Ukyou had never really trained herself to be a tracker, and while Aaron was good with directions, that only helped if they knew where to go. And they didn't.

Akane could be literally anywhere. Anywhere at all. It could already be too late.

Aaron warned her to calm down, but Ukyou wasn't willing to listen. The desperation seemed to lend energy to her flagging strength, which she definitely needed by now. Her legs seemed to be made out of lead, having already sprinted across the city not once, but twice. Plus it didn't help that she barely slept anymore.

Ukyou let out a small prayer of thanks to the Kami when she spotted them. They were walking in a street below, heading, oddly enough, towards the area of town where Ukyou was staying. That was not a nice part of Nerima Ward, and at night it was practically deserted and empty. Her first instinct was to leap down and ask what the hell was going on, but Aaron restrained her. The two were just walking, slowly and surely into the neighbourhood, and nothing was happening. It could all still be just something... innocent was the wrong word. At the very least, it wasnt necessarily something to get involved in. Yet.

Aaron directed them to a rooftop across the street from them. Deliberately keeping the officer between himself and Akane. He wanted a good look at the man's face. Unfortuneatly, the officer was busy staring down at his feet, obviously thinking hard about something. They couldn't see his face, as the brim of his hat cast his face in shadow.

Ukyou fidgeted and slipped her hand up to her bandolier.

"Officer, are you sure this is the right direction?"

"Ah, yes. Well, now that you mention it..." he hesitated as he looked up at Akane, away from Ukyou. "What's THAT!"

He pointed, off into the shadows behind Akane.

Akane spun, adopting a fighting stance.

Ukyou looked up slightly. The shadows were empty. Her eyes drifted down. The man's hand was resting on his gun, gripping the handle.

"AKANE!"

Ukyou wasn't even aware she had screamed before her feet hit the pavement. The throwing spatula impacted into the man's hand with a meaty thunk. But he didn't react as if he felt the pain. Instead, he turned around and looked at her, his eyes narrowing. Ukyou pulled her battle spatula from her back with ease as she closed in.

He continued to stare at her as she approached. And then his eyes snapped wide at the last second as Ukyou body-checked him away from Akane. The man flew like a rag doll across the street and landed limply against the other sidewalk. Ukyou spun around and briefly checked on Akane, Aaron's practiced eyes noting a lack of any injury. Her mouth was open in a small 'O' of surprise, but that was okay. Ukyou turned her attention back to the man across the street without saying anything, shifting her grip on the spatula to bring the wide plate in front of her.

Damn, would this thing stop bullets?

"Ukyou! What on earth are you doing? That's a police officer!"

"He was reaching for his gun and-"

"He saw something! Oh my god! You're going to jail!"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Let's see what he has to say about it."

Akane began calling out to the downed man - Ukyou refused to think of him as a police officer - as she tried to rush around Ukyou. Ukyou's arms moved as Aaron interjected her spatula in the girl's way.

"Ukyou, stop it! He's hurt!"

"I should hope so," Aaron pointed out coolly. "I hit him really hard."

Akane was gaping at Ukyou, but Aaron refused to look away. The man was lying there, seemingly unconscious. But his eyes were open and pointed in their direction. Still, there was a glaze to them. He really could be unconscious. Ukyou felt the first niggling threads of doubt begin to worm their way into mind, but Aaron kept their expression icy and unreadable.

"Yes. Yes, the young la...man did indeed hit me quite hard," came a weak voice. Akane looked over, seeing the police officer rising to his feet. His good hand dropped to his pistol, but he made no attempt to draw it. "And I think you and I, young man, definitely need to have a talk."

"Indeed," Aaron said coolly. "Let's talk. First, you can tell me who you are, and why you were with Akane."

He narrowed his eyes at them again, penetratingly. Then he glanced at Akane. "Given the seriousness of the situation, I think you, young lady, should go home. We will have to talk another time."

Ukyou and Aaron began a furious mental debate back and forth. Ukyou was all for getting Akane out of here, the better to lessen the amount of danger she was in. Aaron, on the other hand, was more inclined to keep her there. For one, there was no guarantee that Akane would go all the way home. For two, she would make an excellent witness if things began to become more serious than they were now. Ukyou tried to point out that things couldn't get much more serious than they were now, but Aaron only rolled his metaphorical eyes at that. Akane, for her part, was spending the few seconds Aaron and Ukyou spent psychically debating looking back and forth between Ukyou and the man.

"This is very serious." His voice cracked like a whip. "Go home NOW, young lady."

That decided it.

"She's in no danger here," Aaron pointed out. "She makes an excellent witness. Why don't we just have her stay and keep notes."

"Believe me, she will undoubtedly be called as a witness. But she has no reason to stay here to be picked up by the authorities. I want her to go home, now." His face softened a little. "I'll make sure someone calls you later to update you on the situation and your...friend. But please, go home, Miss Tendo."

"Doesn't that hurt?" Ukyou noted, pointing with her free hand at the spatula still resting in the man's hand. She didn't see any blood.

"Yes," he noted, "but I'm trained to ignore that sort of thing. Besides, it doesn't seem to have penetrated very far."

Aaron narrowed his eyes. This guy was good. He could see Akane hesitating out of the corner of his eyes. He was across the street and it was dark out. It was hard to tell exact details at this range, probably even harder for Akane, who he knew had the medical skills of a hyperactive second grader. Ukyou still felt that small butterfly of doubt in her stomach.

"Ukyou... I think I should probably go home," Akane said after another minute of hesitation. She began to edge away. "I'm sorry, but I don't think-"

"Akane, the only reason for you to leave is if you think I'm a danger to you in some way," Aaron pointed out calmly.

"I'm afraid I'd have to respectfully disagree," the man said. "She has been told to leave the area by an officer of the law. I've been patient so far...but as I said, this is a very serious matter. Miss Tendo, if you insist on staying here, I'm afraid you will be obstructing justice."

"Bullshit," Aaron pointed out, still keeping his voice level. "No officer of the law would want a witness to leave the scene." He paused. "Why haven't you called for back-up yet?"

"You don't seem very familiar with how the law operates here, ma'am," he noted, with a hint of irritation. "Miss Tendo has not committed a crime. Her residence and contact information is known to the police. She will be called upon to dispense her statement in due time. I do intend to call backup, but as you have not made further threatening moves, I felt it more immediately necessary to get the innocent bystander out of the area."

"Hmm...fine," Aaron said, with a smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out ten yen before flipping it to Akane. "Akane, be a dear. There's a payphone nearby, no doubt. Go find one and call the police. Tell them to send a few officers along."

Akane hesitated and looked at the coin in her palm before nodding and running off.

"I figure we have a few minutes before they show up," Aaron told the man laconically. "Whatever you have to do now that she's gone, I suggest you make it fast." Ukyou was a trifle worried about what might happen if this turned out to be all her fault. But Aaron was willing to spend a few days in jail, if this all turned out to be completely unfounded. But there was the fact the man wasn't bleeding. Aaron couldn't see for sure. But his and Ukyou's ears were quite good, and that had been a strong throw. There was no sound of dripping blood. Something was wrong here, he'd lay money on it.

The policeman glanced off in the direction Akane had run, hesitated a moment, then shrugged. Grabbing the spatula, he removed it from his hand. "Indeed," he noted. "So let's start with who, exactly, you actually are, 'Ukyou'." The snide emphasis on the last word was unmissable.

"What the hell do you mean, you jackass!" Ukyou pointed at her chest. "I AM Ukyou Kuonji!" Ukyou felt her nerves fraying at that. That hit a little too close to home for comfort. "Why don't you tell me who you are, before I beat it out of you!"

The officer smirked. "Ha. Nice try, but Ukyou doesn't say 'indeed', 'bullshit', look at me the way you have been up until now with that icy, detached stare...and oh yes, Ukyou wouldn't attack someone out of nowhere and drive a spatula into their hand without provocation." He spread his hands. "And, since you DID attack me first, I think it's only fair you give me a little bit of explanation, whoever you are."

"How would you know what I would or wouldn't do?" Ukyou replied evenly. All doubt had just evaporated from Aaron's mind, and thus, from Ukyou's mind as well. "No wait, don't answer that." She held up a hand to forestall him saying anything. Aaron began to think, trying to find a question that Ukyou could ask but that wouldn't play his hand too much, and would trap this man if he gave the right - or wrong - answer. "If you know so much about me that I can't possibly be Ukyou, then why don't you ask me something only Ukyou would know."

He paused for a moment, considering, then smiled again. "As I recall, I just said you owed me an explanation first. And you should probably hurry, since I imagine Akane is already calling the police, and you're in a fair bit of trouble already. I suppose you could run away - and be a fugitive - or try to pound my skull in with that spatula of yours - which I'm sure Akane would love to return to see - but wouldn't it be much easier just to cooperate a little?"

Aaron paused and considered. Then he and Ukyou shrugged as one. "Fine." Without taking her eyes off him she walked to the curb and sat down. "Let's sit down and wait, then. Unlike you, I have nothing to hide."

"Aside from attacking an officer of the law?"

"Then I'll go to jail," Aaron said with a shrug. "If I really did do something wrong, I'm willing to live with it. If not..." he paused. "Well, I just have a feeling that this has something to do with this." Aaron plucked his newspaper out of storage and flipped it into the center of the street. "Isn't that right, Officer Takashita?" Aaron put on his best poker face as he stared back at the man.

The man, whoever he was, just looked at them for a moment, his expression unreadable. Aaron didn't like to bluff like that. He had no clue whether this had anything to do with the murder last night. Except for those storyteller instincts of his. It was too good a coincidence. Akane hears about a murder at a police box, which leads to him hearing about it, which leads to a desperate flight across Tokyo, which leads to this moment. It was a pattern, and Aaron was good at recognizing patterns. Ukyou had her doubts, and for that matter so did he. But he wasn't about to let that show on his face. The key to a good bluff was -always- appearing to know more than you did.

The pause stretched out another couple of agonising moments. And then the man suddenly laughed, twirling the mini-spatula around in his fingers. "All right, it seems we've both called the other's bluff. Fair enough, then, 'Ukyou'. I'll tell you what. You can leave and we'll go our separate ways, or we can head off somewhere before Akane gets back and have a more candid talk while she worries herself sick. Though you'll need to come up with a good explanation for the police, I'm thinking." He paused, then smirked again. "I can probably help you out, there, actually. A little favor, if we can be civil."

Aaron opened his mouth to say yes. If this really was something beyond the pale, then he rather suspected the police would be ill-equipped to handle it. Plus, he had the power. But Ukyou wasn't about to let it go that easily. "Before we go anywhere, tell me what you were doing with Akane." She looked off into the distance for a second and mimed hearing something, even though she couldn't. "And hurry."

The man pursed his lips, considering his words. "As it turns out, I wasn't going to do anything to her. I thought...but she's not the right sort for what I wanted. You needn't worry. Even if you hadn't showed up, she was perfectly safe. And she will continue to be so in the future."

Aaron frowned. He certainly sounded sincere. Ukyou still didn't trust him, but was willing to admit that Aaron was right. The police would likely be completely unable to handle this situation. Now it just remained to defuse it when they showed up.

"Okay, I agree," Ukyou began, standing up and returned her oversized weapon to its harness. "But I don't relish explaining this to the proper authorities. What do you suggest?"

"As I said, let's get out of here first. I've got a good story for you to give when you get back. But come on...do you expect me to give everything away when you haven't told me jack? A little good faith here, please."

"Fine." Ukyou paused, and then started towards him with her hand extended. "Your weapon?"

He laughed. "As if I could hurt YOU with it. But sure, whatever makes you happy." He unbelted the gun holster and tossed it casually at her. "Mind you, that's just a loaner. I expect it back once our business is concluded."

Ukyou caught it with one hand and smiled back at him in a reasonably pleasant manner. Now that he was unarmed, she felt much better about the whole situation. Aaron might think a martial artist's skin could stop a bullet, but Ukyou wasn't anywhere close to wanting to test that theory. "I hope you don't get motion sick," she warned him before reaching out and grabbing his collar. In a few leaps she leapt clear of the street. Before she left, she did note one thing: there was no blood on the pavement.

01010

She was looking for the blood. Sharp of her to notice that. Well, couldn't be helped. But it distracted her attention, looking as she grabbed him, and he took that opportunity to study her closely. She certainly LOOKED like Ukyou, or like what he had expected Ukyou to look like.

As she jumped up to the rooftops, he noted closely the rising and falling of her breast. Mind you, his chest was also rising and falling, but...ah yes, the breathing sped up as they started to move. Whoever she actually was, she was either a DAMN good actor with a lot of practice at looking natural, or that body was alive. He was betting on the latter. Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Of course, that also neatly destroyed his previous theory. So, if this 'Ukyou' wasn't like him...what was she? Possessed? A doppleganger? Shapeshifter? Any way he sliced it, it didn't make sense. Akane had had long hair, and he wasn't even sure if Ranma had arrived yet. Ukyou had no business being here, and even less business being the one saving Akane from danger.

That thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. All that preparation, that perfect plan...and he couldn't do it. It was his own stupid fault for TALKING with her. He should've found some other way to distract her, keep her quiet until they were alone. But once they had talked...ah, it was like staring a rabbit in its innocent, frightened eyes before strangling it for dinner. Not that he'd ever done that, but the concept was similar.

Of course, it turned out for the best. He doubted he'd be having much of a civil conversation with this pseudo-Ukyou if he'd actually tried to kill Akane. As it was, there was no way she could be sure killing Akane was actually what he'd planned to do. And he intended to keep it that way...at least until he knew a little bit more about why this person didn't act like Ukyou should, talk like Ukyou would, and was in Nerima long before Ukyou was.

And on that note...she'd decided on a nondescript rooftop as their rendezvous point, apparently. Smart idea; normal police probably wouldn't be looking there. And Akane couldn't leap to rooftops to check. They'd have some time. She let him go, and he brushed himself down. About time he took a more aggressive role in this conversation. "So, I've cooperated with you and told you what you asked. Now it's your turn."

Ukyou held up a hand to forestall him. She spent a few minutes examining the edges of the rooftop and checking about. "You asked who I am, and I've already told you. My name is Ukyou Kuonji. As for why I'm here..." she trailed off and stared at him in the placid, dispassionate manner that had first niggled at his perceptions. "I was looking for someone. I found him staying at Akane's place. Akane and I are friends. I heard about her going off with a police officer, so I followed her. When I caught up I watched your conversation... right up until the point you distracted her and tried to shoot her."

He allowed himself to smirk openly. Really, how stupid did this person think he was? "Please. I give you my good faith, and you reward me with this load of crap? I asked for some answers, not a thinly-veiled attempt to get more answers from me." He raised his hand to cut off her response, ticking off points on his fingers. "First off, don't think I didn't notice how you evaded the question of who you really are. Second off, don't treat me like I'm ignorant. I KNOW Ukyou Kuonji. You don't talk like her. You don't act like her. And Ukyou Kuonji is not, at this point in time, supposed to be in Nerima, being friends with Akane. You can avoid it all you like...but I -know- the truth. Thirdly, you obviously know more than you're letting on...since, after all, why on earth would you follow Akane if she'd gone to answer some questions for a police officer? You were worried for a reason. Now, I'm going to ask you again: give me some real information. You've attacked me without warning, threatened me, taken my weapon, and spirited me away here. I've cooperated with you up until now, and I'm willing to cooperate with you further. But don't think I'm willing to keep spilling my guts while you sit there carefully avoiding saying a damn thing."

"I didn't lie at all," the not-Ukyou said simply with a shrug. "And what do you mean, I'm not supposed to be here yet..." She trailed off, and her eyes widened. "No... you can't be. There's no way that -she- sent you after me." She began to look around again, her expression worried and guarded. Then she looked back at him, her eyes alive with worry. Then she closed them and took a single deep, cleansing breath before mastering herself again. "It doesn't matter. Even if she did, I plan on clearing up that misunderstanding in the next few days."

'She', huh? Heh. He kept his expression neutral and waited for her to give more away.

"Listen, I don't like you very much," the girl pointed out as she grabbed her weapon's haft. "And while it isn't my style to kill people, that doesn't mean I'm not willing to beat you black and blue a bit, or just chain you down and give you a thorough medical exam to figure out why you don't bleed." She paused then, letting the threat sink in. "Or we can be civil about this. You've cooperated, I'll give you that, but I've also cooperated. You asked me if I'm Ukyou Kuonji, and I told you the truth. I AM who I say I am. If you don't believe me, that's your problem. I answered your question, now you answer mine. Quid pro quo."

First rule of debate: Never let them see you sweat. Less of a problem when you didn't sweat anymore. He glanced at her spatula with casual disinterest. "Thorough medical exam, huh? Kinky. And kindly don't threaten me. I am unintimidated by your oversized cooking utensil." Not true, of course...he sure as hell couldn't even hope to escape from a superhuman like Ukyou. But she didn't know that. And she didn't know WHY he didn't bleed, or what it meant. Best keep it that way. "Fine. You're Ukyou Kuonji. You still evaded the real question, and you're hiding something. If you actually WERE just the normal super martial artist/okonomiyaki chef you say you were, you'd be utterly confused that I thought you weren't yourself. But instead, you're being evasive and defensive. Just letting you know I noticed that. But since you - technically - answered one question, I suppose you're right. So, ask one question...Ukyou."

"Now we're being civil," the girl said cheerfully. He repressed the urge to react to how quickly her expression changed. Her entire face lit up and became much more animated in the space of a heartbeat. "Now that we know my name, all I have to do is know yours and we're properly introduced. So why don't we start with that. Tell me your name, and don't try to convince me you're actually Officer Takashita."

Hmm. Easy answer. Stupid answer. Why'd she ask? She had to know his next question wouldn't be so easily wriggled out of. But, of course, he didn't know what she WAS, yet...fishing for a "true name"? He couldn't think off-hand of a series that used that cliche, but there were probably some. That could be bad, given his circumstances. Well, two could play the semantical game. "All right, simple enough question. My name is Chris."

Chris blinked in confusion as the girl's mouth dropped open and she began to open and close it soundlessly. She stared at him, pointing a single finger in his direction for almost a minute. Then she physically closed her mouth with one hand and shook her head, seeming to regain control of her reactions again. "Indeed... your name is Chris." She paused thoughtfully. "That probably means you're from a long way from here..." she trailed off. "Okay. Pleased to meet you, Chris." She bowed. "I believe it is your turn."

Okay, what was THAT all about? Unless...that "indeed"...but it didn't make sense. That body was ALIVE. Maybe it was a trick. He frowned slightly, considering the phrasing of his next question. Then he grinned a little bit as a recent memory occured to him. Chew on this, 'Ukyou'. "Hmm. So it is. So, when you first met Akane, you were stalking her. Might I ask why exactly you were doing that, or even knew who Akane was?"

Ukyou didn't react, keeping her face impassive. She considered her reply for a fraction of a second and then answered easily. "That's two questions. I was following Akane because I wanted to know as much about her and her family as I could. I was given to understand the person I was searching for would soon arrive at her household, and wanted to know exactly when that would happen. I had learned from a reliable source that the Tendo family had... has a family pact of honor with the person I am looking for, so I came here searching for them."

Slippery. But he wondered who that "reliable source" was. And he also wondered why she was looking for Ranma. Did that mean Ranma hadn't arrived in Nerima yet after all?

Ukyou affected a look of concentration for a few moments, then finally spoke. "Since you asked two questions, I'll ask two questions, just to be fair. I'll even keep them related. What makes you so sure I'm not 'supposed' to be here, and, for that matter, how do you know me at all?"

Well, that was easy enough to be vague about. "I know you're not supposed to be here because I know the sequence of events laid out to happen for you, Akane, and quite a few other people you may or may not know. You - that is, Ukyou - should not even be in Nerima for...well, let's just say a while. As for how I know you...," he grinned, "I've watched you from afar. As you surmised before, I come from a long way from here."

Ukyou sighed. "Ah, you are a master of debate, I see." For some reason, despite her disappointed sigh, she was smiling to herself. "Now, let's keep this to one question at a time."

"Sure. Who exactly was the 'reliable source' you learned about the Tendos from?"

"He never said his name to me," Ukyou said with an easy shrug. "He was pretty much average-looking. I do know that he's from the West. He certainly didn't speak very good Japanese until I helped him out with that. I trust him because he revealed a bunch of things to me that turned out to be true."

Chris clapped slowly, sarcastically. "And you are obviously no stranger to the art of twisting words yourself. Very unlike Ukyou, I might add...but it's your turn now. Ask away."

Ukyou frowned at that. "Don't think you know me because you've seen snippets of my life from far off places," she growled out between clenched teeth. "Let's get to the meat of this, then. Why don't you bleed?"

He glanced down at his hand, smiling slightly, bitterly, to himself. Ah, that was the crux of it all, wasn't it? And what was the phrase...? "This body is just a vessel." He looked up at her, stared her in the eyes. "Just a vessel. It doesn't bleed. It's not even alive."

"A vessel..." Ukyou drew in a sharp breath. The anger seemed to drain from her face, floating briefly through that placid expressionless visage, before her mouth softened and her eyes, while still cold, were less angrily so. "Wow. That's harsh." She stepped back from him and sat down on the rooftop with legs crossed. She reached up with one hand towards her face, stopped herself, and continued onward, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "So I guess it's your turn."

Harsh. Ha. She had no idea. Unless she caused it, of course. But he doubted that. Hmm. So, what was the next tease attempt in this little game? He thought for a moment. Anything he asked that was 'different' about her compared to the real Ukyou - ah, irony - she'd just deny or chalk up to the mysterious unnamed gentleman. It wasn't really that important why she had followed him and Akane, though he was curious. What could he ask that would give him the real answer, what was really going on here?

Well, the direct line of inquiry wasn't working...let's toss out a non- sequitur and see how she handled it. Maybe she'd let something slip. "So, this person you're looking for. Why are you looking for him or her, anyway?"

"Hmm?" Ukyou quirked her head to the side. Chris got the impression that she hadn't been watching him until now, despite her eyes never leaving his face. "Oh. He dishonored my family, stole our property and left with my best friend. I plan on beating him up a bit for it." She paused a moment. "Listen, I don't really care about you that much. Once I'm sure you're no threat to any of my friends, you can go on your way. You could be Lucifer or Susano-wo or Gendo Ikari for all I care...so long as you stay away from me and my friends, it doesn't matter to me. So my question is this; how would you convince me you're no threat to them?"

The words came out before he even thought about them. "Why Ukyou," he noted softly, "I never knew you watched Evangelion." It was giving it away, giving it away, a part of his mind screamed at him...but that slip-up she'd made...he had to know. What the hell did SHE know?

She released a long, slow breath. "Well, the game is up, I guess." She flowed effortlessly to her feet. "You just answered my last unasked question. And if I didn't believe you were about to shoot my friend, I'd answer yours. But there is a question on the table. If you answer it to my satisfaction, I'll leave you be and we never have to meet again."

Bitch. He clenched his fists, then forcibly relaxed. "Actually, even when I answer your question, you still owe me one more before you go anywhere. I started with the answering, and thus it's only fair. Now, about what you asked..." he paused, and then shrugged. "I -can't- convince you I'm no threat to them. Because I don't even know who your friends ARE. As you say, Ukyou, I don't nearly so much about you as I thought. So how am I to answer if I might not be a threat to a completely undefined group of people? For all I know, your friends might include a mosquito I swat, or someone who attacks me in the night and I have to defend myself against."

"And I can't guarantee I won't find more friends in the near future," Ukyou shrugged and began to fiddle absently with the gun belt hanging over her shoulder. "You could answer the question by telling me exactly why you took her all the way out here, in the middle of the night, and distracted her while reaching for your gun, but I guess you're not going to do that. But still, if I knew why you were after her, then I could be satisfied." She looked up. "I have a feeling our paths don't have to lead us to be enemies, unless you force the issue. I might even be inclined to help you, depending on the circumstances."

"Tch. I -did- answer your question, Ukyou." Now he felt better, slipping easily back into the verbal fencing of debate. It didn't hurt to award himself a mental point for catching what the other had clearly missed. "You asked me how I would convince you. I told you I couldn't, under the circumstances. That IS an answer, even if it wasn't what you wanted. And that means, I believe, that it is now my turn again."

"Ah," she said, and nodded. "Point." She gestured for him to go ahead.

He considered. Well, he'd been sharper so far. It was worth a bit of a risk. "I'm going to be a little unfair here, but I'll let you return the favour if you continue our game of twenty questions. I want to know how you know the name Gendo Ikari. And if your answer is that this mysterious unnamed stranger that you trust told you, I want to know how HE knows. And if he never told you that - despite telling you enough that you listed him alongside Lucifer - then I want to know where to find him. Because I want to talk to him."

She shrugged, as if expecting the question. "Yes, my mysterious unnamed stranger told me about him. According to him, Gendo is a man from a story where he comes from. And I'm afraid you'll never get a chance to talk to him directly." She looked down at her feet for a moment, her bangs falling forward and casting her eyes in shadow. "He's dead."

He laughed. He couldn't help it. The irony was just too much. He laughed loud, and long, and hard. Probably the police searching somewhere below could hear. He didn't care. This was just too rich.

Finally, he quieted. She was just standing there, unreacting. He felt a great weariness overtake him in the wake of the bitter laughter. Someone else. Someone else from his world, but they were dead. Dead like him, except not like him, obviously. And for some reason they'd hooked up with Ukyou, allowed her to mess up the plotline, and then died. Why? How? Who cared? Maybe they'd tried bakusai ten ketsu training or something. But whatever the reason, this avenue was closed. He knew he should probably try to talk to Ukyou, gain her confidence, try to learn the clues she knew. Maybe he would, later. But not right now. He just couldn't care enough right now.

"All right. I guess you don't really have anything to help me with, then. Fine. As per our agreement, give me back my gun, I'll tell you how to get out of trouble with the cops, and I'm out of here."

Ukyou came out of her reverie only reluctantly, her face soft but unfeeling. "Okay. I don't think you're a threat to my friends. You know I know you, and no matter how you try to hide, I think I can spot you for who you are and act accordingly. I suggest you leave Nerima for a while." She stepped forward and pulled the gunbelt from her shoulder. "Before we part ways, I want to give you a gift. I suggest you keep an eye on the classified section of the newspaper. If you ever see an ad asking for Gendo Ikari to come to visit the Evangelion, then you'll know I'm trying to get in touch with you. Whatever your problem is, I have at least one way I think can solve it." She placed the pistol on the ground and backed off, cautiously.

He stared at her. "You know I know you..." he repeated, slowly, almost tasting each word. "What do you mean by that?"

"The game is over," Ukyou pointed out simply. "I believe you promised a way for us to clear this up with the police?"

The fact he knew Ukyou could crush him like a bug didn't stop him from stepping forward, fists and teeth clenched. He was tired of being dicked around. Extremely fucking tired. "If the game is over, then stop PLAYING with me. What the HELL did you mean by that!"

"No," Ukyou replied evenly. "I want you to think about that. Wonder what kinds of skills and abilities I may or may not have. Wonder what information I may or may not know. I want you to not be sure of anything but one thing, that I LET you go." She flicked her head, causing her hair to fall over her shoulder. "I don't enjoy playing with you. If you want complete and total honesty out of me, then you go first. If you aren't willing to tell me the whole truth, then live with not knowing the whole truth yourself."

He had to restrain himself. The frustration threatened to overwhelm him. He wanted to snap, to grab her around the throat and force the answers from her. He wanted to...he realised he wanted to kill her, take the answers from her brain, pick it apart, get the knowledge and body he needed at the same time. But that was stupid. He couldn't do it. And realising that, he calmed himself. Somewhat. He snatched his gun and rebelted it to his side, conscious of how she watched his every move. He felt a vast wave of contempt. As if I'd ever attack you like this, bitch, when you're on guard and hold all the advantages, he silently flung in her face. But he could change that equation. "Fine," he spat. "For someone who doesn't enjoy playing with me, you certainly seem to be pursuing it to the point of masochism. But that's fine." He glared at her. "We'll talk again, sometime. Maybe you'll be more willing to come clean then."

A shrug was her only response. Icy rage surged through him at the sight. That was no more the real Ukyou than he was the real police officer whose body he was inhabiting. She'd lied, whoever she was. He'd find out the truth soon enough. But he didn't say that, or let anything show on his face. Let her think she knew his measure. Without further response, he walked to the edge of the rooftop, and stared down. Once, he'd been afraid of heights. He didn't have to be anymore. Another broken bone or two wouldn't hurt. A step forward, and he allowed himself to plunge into the inky darkness.

01010

The rain came down suddenly and with unexpected ferocity. Aaron had to surrender control to Ukyou so as to keep from slipping as she propelled them across the rooftops back to where they had first confronted Chris. It was just as well, since he was too busy thinking about what he had done, and wondering if he had made a mistake.

Chris was here as well. That idea didn't really surprise him as much as he thought it would. The crash probably hadn't played any favorites, and if one boy could find himself catapulted across reality by such an event, then two could just as easily.

He hadn't enjoyed turning his face from his friend, but really, what choice had he had? Ukyou certainly didn't like him. His acerbic personality and continuing insults against her already-fragile sense of self had cemented her bad impression of him from Aaron's memory. Plus, she was convinced that they had interupted him just before he shot Akane. But why would Chris do such a thing? He was a jerk, but not a murderer. There had to be some reason...

Not that it really mattered now. Aaron couldn't understand why Chris was so angry with them, angry enough to walk off without fulfilling his promise. Aaron had only decided it was best to play things close to the chest. After all, Chris appeared to have it better than Aaron himself. He wasn't stuck with a voice constantly in the back of his head. Whatever form he was in had improved his normal human host to the point where he didn't have to worry about breathing or falls from three stories up. It was obvious Chris could take care of himself in the coming months. Until then, Ukyou and he agreed that keeping him away from Nerima and their lives was for the best.

It was okay, in a few months it wouldn't matter. By then they would have The Sword. With The Sword they could make everything all right. Three wishes, one for Ukyou and Aaron and one to solve whatever problem Chris had as well. Until then, it was better to focus on their current problems then getting caught up in Chris's. No matter how close they were, Aaron barely felt a pang of regret at driving his old friend away. Or so he kept telling imself.

"Ukyou! You're all right!"

Ukyou landed on the familiar street, avoiding a puddle by a few inches. Akane was running up to her, and just behind the girl was a sopping wet and disgruntled looking female Ranma. Behind them were FOUR police cars with various officers turning to regard the scene.

"Well, I asked you to call the cops Akane, but I wasn't expecting the entire force," Aaron deadpanned. Akane enveloped her in a brief hug before breaking contact. Ranma just slouched into positon nearby and nodded a greeting, apparently willing to let Akane take the lead.

"What's going on?" Aaron asked.

"That's what we were about to ask you, young man," an officer asked as he stepped forward. His uniform was slightly different then the others, and his badge identified him as a Sergeant Ushio.

"Man, Ukyou, you certainly know how to get attention," Ranma pointed out. "These guys are all real interested in this police officer you disappeared with."

"Yes," the sergeant grunted as he pulled out a pad, but frowned as it began to be soaked by the downpoar. "What happened between you and Officer Takashita?" The man was asking more than a question. His voice was slightly uneven, and he was trying to suppress a frown. Aaron took a logical leap and asnwered with almost the truth.

"After Akane left he went off in that direction," Aaron pointed Ukyou's hand in the direction she had come. "I followed him as best as I could, but he escaped into an alley. I might have been able to catch him, but he had a gun."

"A wise decision," the sergeant muttered as he nodded towards some of his fellows. "I need you to come with us to the station for a few questions Mr...?"

"Kuonji, Ukyou Kuonji," Ukyou pointed out and indicated how to write her name.

"Tell me, before we go..." the policeman looked around. "Did the man appear... disturbed to you?"

"He was very angry, when I last saw him," Aaron answered carefully.

"I see, I see..." the man sighed. "Let's go."

"Wow, Ukyou," Akane gushed. "How did you know? A dangerous rogue police officer! Who would have thought?"

"Indeed," Ukyou grunted. "A rogue police-officer? I think a bit more than that."

"What was that?" Ranma cut in.

"Nothing," Ukyou dismissed him with a wave. "It's taken care of. I have a feeling I'll never see Officer Takashita again."

Ukyou followed the officers over to their cars, with Ranma left in the pouring rain behind her.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Well, I promised to explain why I was in the author's notes last chapter, but I'm guessing you've figured that one out on your own by now.

Epsilon: Unless of course our readership has the collective intelligence of pond scum.

Blade: Please don't insult the readers, Aaron. It's an endangered species thing.

Epsilon: That isn't an insult. It's a backhanded compliment.

Blade: Suuuuuuuure it is. Well, since certain people find our pretentious, self-absorbed banter to be uncomfortably pretentious and self-absorbed, we should probably move onto whatever actual points we wish to bring up. Aaron?

Epsilon: I'm not really sure what to say at this point, actually. The text pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Blade: Hmm. And contrary to our practice in every other fanfic ever, we have yet to have climactic fight scenes, so no new special technique names yet.

Epsilon: I guess we could ask why you got involved in this project, since I gave my reasons last time.

Blade: Oh yes, good point. It's not just hubris, because frankly, I would have rather had Aaron get working on the CoD rewrites than starting something new. But there was a very important reason I'm in here. I'm involved in the plot, of course, but more than that, I'm involved in the writing process, and not in the usual way.

Epsilon: We're actually doing co-authorship! You know, with Blade actually WRITING parts and everything, instead of his usual practice of just taking credit for all my hard work.

Blade: Le sigh. Way to miss the point. The thing is, yes, I'm writing my own scenes, but that's only part of what make this project somewhat unique. I'm writing my own scenes...but I am NOT writing them according to a laid-out plot and plan. I am, in fact, writing things Aaron has absolutely no idea I'm writing, and doing things he has no idea I'm doing. That's the point.

Epsilon: Yes, which means that I'm also writing things that Chris has no idea what's going to happen. And we have divided up the writing chores for characters inside the series as well, with the whole thing split about 70/30. And whenever we have characters in both of our quote/unquote 'camps', we write the scenes literally at the same time, with whoever's playing the perspective doing the bulk of the chorse. So don't expect to see many scene's from Chris' perspective.

Blade: Oh, go to hell. Anyway, yes, that's it. The idea here is to avoid a problem we've had in many of our fics, where we plot out things far in advance and get a large degree of ennui as we wade through the plot, always looking forward to the "good stuff" that's just a few chapters down the line. But now, there IS no long-term plot, because I'm a force of chaos in the series that Aaron can't be sure (either in or out of character) of the long-term actions and impact of. Thus, there's always a great degree of spontaneity.

Epsilon: Which isn't to say we don't have a Plan, and a Point, and a Purpose. The fact is we do have all of that for Hybrid Theory, and a backstory, all of which will be revealed piece by piece during the plotline to Ukyou, and Aaron, and Chris, and all the people they interact with.

Blade: But what we do NOT have is, for instance, any conception beyond the absolutely vaguest where we'll be in Chapter 12.

Epsilon: Aside from "things will get worse".

Blade: But then, that's always the case in our fanfics. Anyway, I think enough of our improv skills (thanks, GRIT) that I think the long-term plotline will still be quite coherent, and the spontaneity keeps our interest keen and writing fresh. I like the results so far, and hopefully you will too.

Epsilon: After all, it could lead to even MORE releases from C Productions in the future! And everyone wants that!

Blade: Of course they do!

Epsilon: Don't they?

Blade: DON'T YOU!

Epsilon: Okay, enough of our self-indulgent babbling inanity. Here's the part where I say yadda yadda yadda, no rights to these characters, blah blah, archive where you wish, whoop-dee-do, fruitful and multiply, and so and so forth and do unto others as I would do unto a cockroach, and you know the rest.

Blade: But what you DON'T know is what's going to happen next. So why not have a teaser?

"Damn it, Pluto," Ukyou lowered her arms and seemed to quickly compose herself. "You must have made some kind of mistake. If we can just talk this over like reasonable people..."

The tip of Setsuna's staff wavered slightly. This wasn't right, a voice in the back of her mind cried out. This girl didn't look like a threat to all creation. She looked like a scared teenager, a girl in over her head. Wasn't her mandate to protect the people of this world? Maybe there was an explanation.

Then she remembered the destruction. And the terrible energy she could even now feel inside the girl in front of her. Her grip on her weapon firmed up.

"I'm terribly sorry," Pluto aplogized, trying to put as much of the remorse she felt in her voice as possible. "Your death is neccesary... You may not know it now, but its best you never find out why."

Hybrid Theory, Chapter 3: Foreword


	3. Forward

Yo. Ranma here. So, last chapter had more of me than the one before, so that was good. I met Ukyou, and when I realised who she was, she threw up on me, because this guy in her head doesn't like thinking about how Ukyou thinks I'm sexy. Which woulda been weird, ya know, except Ukyou is a girl, which I didn't really know, ya know? Aw, whatever. I don't understand that stuff, but these guys won't let me get to sleep until I tell everyone about it.

So, Akane and me weren't really getting along, cause she's a crazy violent tomboy who molested me, but Ukyou gave us this big speech about being more mature. Then she got all worried about this guy who got killed who she didn't even know. Turns out the guy who killed the cop can hop into corpses and he planned to kill Akane. So while we were out running around, he drew her off by herself.

Later, when we got back and started looking for the cop guy, me and Ukyou split up and she found him first, still with Akane. The dead guy was planning on shooting her in the head or something, but after they talked, he liked her too much to kill her. But Ukyou thought he was trying to, so she attacked. Then they had this big showdown... where they TALKED.

And talked.

And talked some more.

Then they got rid of Akane, leaped up to the top of a building where nobody could find 'em...

And TALKED some more!

Who writes this crap?

Anyway, they keep telling me I should mention the guy in the dead body was Chris, who used to be Aaron's friend, who is the guy in Ukyou's head. And Chris is all pissed at Ukyou because she won't trust him.

Whatever. Overall, I'd say last chapter had too much talking, and not nearly enough me. Let's hope this one's better, huh?

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 3: Foreword

Ukyou lay back on the bed, pillowing her head with her hands. Her long hair flowed out behind her, dangling from the lip of the mattress to brush along the edge of the floor. She was naked, able to breathe much more comfortably without the bandages binding her breasts to her chest. Aaron preferred not to think about such things, but couldn't help it as Ukyou felt the simple pleasure of relief from her restriction.

Their eyelids were heavy with weariness, and the lulling melody of the rain outside did little to aid them in staying awake. Still, they resisted sleep. Sleep had become an enemy. Aaron had been an insomniac for so long he had forgotten what true deep sleep felt like, and had once enthusiastically proclaimed that he would pay a thousand dollars for one full night's sleep. Now he dreaded it for much the same reason Ukyou did. Sleep was a surrender, one neither of them could afford to accept. So they stayed awake, meditated, and used methods both had developed to avoid slipping into darkness. But it was inescapable.

Slowly the room lost focus, began to swim in and out. Then it was dimmer, and sound seemed... duller. Distant. Her eyes closed despite the best wishes of Ukyou and Aaron, and their breathing began to settle into an ancient and peaceful rhythm. For an infinite instant they dangled on the lip of oblivion and then...

01010

In the dream-memory everything was both more and less real at the same time. Colors were sharper, more vibrant, but shapes less clearly defined. Objects of attention leapt out in every detail. Here, a man walking by was etched in their mind down to the tiniest follicle of hair in his beard, there the pop machine was tall and covered in beads of moisture and flecks of rust that numbered in the thousands and yet were easily countable. Yet things beyond their immediate focus faded away, dimming, becoming less in some way. The crowd walking about outside was nothing more than a blur of vaguely people- colored motion, and the sounds of the airport had cycled back into an indistinct bass rumble with explosions of garbled speech mixed in.

They were standing just inside the doorway, positioned so they were out of the main path of the passing people, but so that they could see with no problem outside. Except it wasn't they, it was him. Aaron Peori, male, age twenty-five, resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. Social outcast, by choice and by nature, here to meet up with one of the few other social outcasts who accepted him. Here to enjoy the company of a large collection of social outcasts of all types. Except Aaron wouldn't really enjoy it, but it pleased his friend to affect that he did, so he went through the motions.

It was at this point in the dream-memory that they felt the strange split, a surreal second as if they were viewing this scene from two detached perspectives at once. Then it went away. They were who they were, and this was the past and thus immutable to their attempts to change the course of events.

"Yo, Aaron."

They looked to the side and noted the approach of Aaron's/their longest and only friend. Chris was a dark-eyed man wearing amber rimmed glasses that reflected the spring sunlight in an unsettling way. He was grinning - no, more properly he was smirking - as he walked forward. He walked with a slight limp, a reminder of the accident he had survived years ago. His arms were at his side, hands stuck into the pockets of his jeans. He was dark-haired, with a ponytail that reached past the middle of his back and a string necklace of pseudo-Indian beads around his neck. He wore a leather jacket and black t-shirt. In the memory, they could count the hairs in his moustache and see the wrinkles of his jeans fold and ripple in the slight breeze.

Behind him were the others. Chris had his girlfriend, whose identity eluded them for a moment, and his other friend with him as well. Jenn and Rob: the names leapt from the back of their mind suddenly. But they were indistinct, less -there- than Chris was in some fundamental way. They focused their attention on the man in front of them, and spoke.

"You're late, again."

"Traffic was bad. And the ride's free, so I'm not complaining."

Chris shrugged, and in the dream-memory the movement was full of complex and subtle motions. There were greetings from the other two, but they were there and gone like mist. One of them (Rob?) offered to carry their baggage but they waved him off. Despite Aaron's unexceptional build, they always surprised people with how strong they actually were. They offered mechanical greetings to the others present, satisfying the requirements of politeness in both cases, then basically dismissed them from their mind.

"Let's go. I hate airports."

Chris deferred to Rob to lead them outside to the car. The weight of the suitcase was heavy at first, but then it lessened and seemed to vanish into the same phantom substance that most things in the dream-memory had. They walked in relative silence the rest of the way. The three others made small talk, which Chris tried to get Aaron to participate in. They only grunted and nodded as appropriate to participate in a minimum of conversation. After a time Chris noted their reluctance to talk for the moment, and allowed himself to get into discussions with the others.

For the duration of the walk the only real thing was Chris. They thought about the boy, and for some reason in this dream-memory they recalled much more of the man than they usually ever thought of. They recalled that first meeting in the library of the Cape Breton high school, then how Chris has always managed to barge into his life, uninvited, until they'd grown used to him and finally grew to enjoy the stories they made up, talking outside in the crisp air of Aaron's mother's yard. Until the day when Chris defied his father and fled with them to Aaron's house by the river for sanctuary. After that it was just the long years of separation... even now, it had been over a year since they had last seen each other face to face. Why did they consider this man friend? This man whom they barely ever saw? But beyond a doubt they did. They would trust Chris as much as they would trust anyone.

"As you can see, Rob got a new car. Not that you'd probably have noticed, but he got in a nasty accident a bit back."

They looked up as Chris pointed out they had arrived. The car was also quite real. It was white, medium-sized and four-doored but for some reason they exact make and model eluded them. Tha paint still had the smooth texture and shine of either the new or the recently refurbished. Rob mentioned something about the accident of his old car and they responded with polite interest to his story.

"He hasn't named his new car yet. I keep suggesting 'Kalia-chan', but for some reason he's reluctant."

"I can't imagine why."

Chris chuckled as the back was popped to deposit their suitcases. For some reason the interior of the trunk was less real than the rest of the car, nothing more than an indistinct black pit into which the luggage vanished from view, and their world, forever. Inside the car itself was another story. Rob and Jenn occupied the front seats, leaving Chris and Aaron to the back so they could sit together and talk. Chris had not lost his happy smirk the entire walk, and he sprawled comfortably in the foam seats. They looked about the interior of the car only briefly, but noted every detail instantly and permanently, from the stylish upholstering to the functional and advanced controls for the stereo and CD player (controls only, oddly...there was no actual CD player they could see).

Rob started up the car as Chris turned in liquid slow motion to address Aaron.

"So, how was the trip?"

"Expensive."

Chris laughed politely. He took his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt. Jenn and Rob might have laughed, too, it was hard to tell.

"Isn't it always. That's why I get YOU to come HERE. Well, that and the fact that Ottawa's more interesting than Halifax. And I've got all the cool stuff."

"Indeed."

They glanced out the side-window. The world was flowing past, an nauseatingly formless blur. They felt a niggling sense that they should be contributing more to the conversation, but failed to do so.

"So, you remembered to bring the Brigadoon DVDs back, right? And the games?"

"Yes, yes. I even rememebered this for once."

Between their feet rested a red back-pack, its bottom caked with salt stains from the long Halifax winter. With what their hands felt was a practiced and familiar motion, they reached in and retrieved a green binder whose covers were worn and peeling from constant use. They handed the binder to Chris, who took it after he had finished cleaning his glasses. He opened it and flipped through, his eyes widening a bit and his smirk growing, in that impossible way, more pleased with itself.

"Wow. It's about time. And even slightly before the third actual Star Wars prequel comes out, amazingly."

They shrugged a bit sheepishly...an affectation, but it helped smooth things over.

"Law of averages says I have to remember it sometime."

"This is true. Unless it's the Altima Cycle...but we won't go there."

Chris closed the binder and placed it in his lap, his hands clutching it a bit protectively.

"I'll read it later. And then type it. Or rather, get Jenn to type it, since she so capably fills in for me in that role."

Chris grinned in his girlfriend's direction. Jenn interjected with an amusing comment at this point and they both laughed.

"So what's the plan for the day?"

Up ahead the traffic was thinning. A large tanker truck, its metal finish gleaming and reflecting the world around it, was pulling up to the intersection. The light in front of them turned green, they distinctly saw that.

Chris gnawed at his nail for a moment, thinking, then noticed what he was doing and frowned. He retrieved a nail file from his pocket and set about repairing the damage. Rob pulled into the intersection, he was saying something to Jenn, not looking at the truck. The truck wasn't moving. It was at a complete stop.

"Well, once we get you settled in, I figure I'll show you some new music vids and stuff. Then maybe we can do some games or something."

Chris' smirk transformed into an amused grin. He was looking in the wrong direction to see the truck. He might have not have seen anything at all. Maybe he was lucky and that was just what happened. Maybe he didn't feel anything, either.

"Maybe I can teach you to play Here Comes The Pain. A wrestling game is, after all, just another sort of fighting game. Some variety."

The truck was moving. Not just the slow rolling start of a lumbering behemoth combating its inertia for every inch of ground. This was the barreling, high-speed blast of the highway. It had to be going over a hundred kilometers an hour! That wasn't possible. They rolled their eyes. Somehow, despite the clarity of the truck, it never entered their mind that they were in any danger. It was impossible.

"Problem not..."

Their voice trailed off. Rob's car had gotten just far enough into the intersection that the front half was beyond the point of the truck when it hit. The huge "Mack" logo was at window height when the collision occurred. Their mouth opened in a strange O as the doorway behind Chris crumbled inward in disturbing slow motion. Then Chris was gone, the pinwheeling wreckage slashing his body apart without even slowing. The shrapnel had slowed enough by the time it reached them that it merely stuck into their body in a dozen places, none of them immediately fatal.

The car was flipped by the impact, bouncing end over end to rest on its side several meters away. The gyrations sprayed the interior with blood and served to drive the shrapnel even further into their body. The pain was omnipresent. It was everything. It was so there that it ceased to matter.

"Oh, God! They're dead!"

The voice called out from the front seat. Jenn was looking back at them,her eyes wide and fearful. She was so real. So that was why Chris thought she was beautiful, she really was in her own way. Her face was flecked with blood, but none of it was her own. In some bizarre miracle, she didn't appear to be harmed at all beyond a bruise on the ball of her thumb. Rob was next to her, admonishing her to get out of the car, but she wasn't listening.

They coughed, and the pain erupted into new heights. So this was what it felt like to die. There was no encroaching darkness, no phantom light, just pain slowly consuming everything. He would have to remember to get a refund from all those corny writers some day...

01010

The dreams of sleep were bad, but waking up was far worse. Ukyou

(Aaron)

emerged from sleep like a bat out of hell, screaming and thrashing. He tried to move his right hand but she was also moving it in the other direction, causing the hand to twitch and spasm. Eyes fluttered open and closed, turning the dim light into brutal flashes of color and motion. She wanted to scream, but his voice wouldn't work. Their throat pulsed as they tried to swallow and expel at the same time, cutting off precious air. Legs flopped and rolled back and forth, trying to simultaneously walk and stand and kick.

As bad as the physical reactions were, the mental feedback was far worse. Aaron was lost in memories and emotions. She was a little girl, standing in the bright sunroom with her mother who had died two years ago while his brother ratted him out about destroying her GI Joes. In the background her father was preparing another okonomiyaki in his business suit that was slightly rumpled from a long day of office work and he did not look pleased. Brad, who was not his brother because he had none, was really playing up how much he had lost so Aaron pulled out his battle spatula and taught him a lesson. She didn't like being taunted because she had lost the

(fiancee)

toys in the backyard sandbox. Then the memory shifted and he was training furiously against the sea, contemplating his parents divorce and trying to figure out a way to conceal the fact that he was really a girl when he went off to boarding school in Prince Edward Island for the year and-

"Make it stop!"

The scream broke out of his/her throat in unison. But of course, it wouldn't stop, it couldn't stop. Not until they had made the sacrifice. The memories kept coming, but they kept contradicting and shattering one each other, like bombs going off in their head. They couldn't think, they couldn't do anything but remember as their overworked brain tried to resolve the conflict. But so long as Aaron refused to accept Ukyou's memories as his own, and she did the same to him, they kept coming again and again.

It had taken them almost a day of non-stop disjunction, and the brink of insanity, before they stumbled upon the secret of releasing the pressure. It was like two balloons, expanding inside a confined space. The secret was to let out the pressure a little bit, until they could think again. Aaron and Ukyou seized upon memories and concentrated on them, forcing their minds not to waver. As the impossibilities began to emerge they refused to let them distract, instead focusing all their attention at maintaining the single image. Slowly the images merged, blended, and finally there were no contradictions.

As the pressure slowly died down Aaron found himself able to think again, awareness of his surroundings returning. Tears were leaking from Ukyou's eyes, and a froth flecked her lips. It took them almost fifteen minutes to master themselves, release the pressure to the level where they could distinguish him from her and regain their feet. Ukyou staggered her body into the bathroom and began to scrub her face in the sink.

She hated this. Every time they woke up, another memory slipped away from them both. This time it was back during childhood, when she was training. Except in her memories she wasn't a she, she was a he. Her name kept waffling between Aaron and Ukyou in the memory now, and she remembered a mother she had never had calling her to dinner while her father had developed the traits of two separate men. She couldn't even recall the original memory anymore. It had become hopelessly mixed between the two of them. It even made sense, in some bizarre way. There was no discontinuity between it and the rest of her life. Any more than the growing list of other blended memories were.

Aaron sighed and finished up the cleansing. It was the price they had to pay, to be able to move and think at all. But every time they slept and their defenses slipped like that, they had to create a new one. Every time they slept, a piece of their life was gone forever. A piece of them.

Just a few more months. A few more months and The Sword could end all this. But Ukyou was beginning to have serious doubts they would even last that long. Would anything at all be left of her or Aaron by the time they had the sword?

Best not the think about such things. That way lay madness.

Besides it was time to deal with their other problem. Ukyou moved quickly, snatching up a clean outfit with one hand while Aaron set about re- binding her breasts with the other. Today they would find a few Sailor Senshi, and clear up whatever beef Setsuna had with them.

01010

Once again Chris was hiding in a pipe, though not the same pipe, and he had not bothered to remove and hide his clothes this time. He held the gun above him, had seen it dimly above the rush of the water for most of the day. It was tedious, but otherwise not really a problem. He didn't get tired.

The arm was steady, but the softer, fleshy parts of it wobbled in the flow of the water in an unpleasant fashion. The colour of the flesh was also going from the normal - or, at least, understandable - pallor to something darker and less pleasant. It wasn't very noticible yet...but he'd had little else to do that day except look for the signs.

A wave of revulsion overcame him. He had to get out of this body soon. Inhabiting a corpse was strain enough. But once it began to rot, to decay, the inevitable breaking down of the flesh...it threatened his grasp on sanity. Such as it was.

He remembered awaking, or so it had felt like. A homeless, nameless drunk in the central United States. It didn't take that long to figure out his condition...when you didn't breathe, or eat, and everything felt so distant, so removed...no, it was easy. But it hadn't even occurred to him what the consequences of this were until a few days later. He could gain access to a shower, but the stench the body was emitting by then wasn't from dirt or sweat. And the horrible feeling that spread through him, that sickening softness...

By the third day, he was afraid to stay still, to sit anywhere, for fear that insects and rats would begin devouring him. He was going insane, could feel despair, rage, frustration eating away at his mind. Would he die, again, when the body finally decayed past the point of supporting him? Or would he remain there perpetually, eventually nothing but a skeleton, fleshless, blinded, unable to move, lying there waiting to become dust?

Yes, he had come very close to insanity. And he kept moving, always moving, the bum's ragged shoes wearing out underneath him, and then his equally ragged feet as well. Late the third night, he had come upon a group of women, standing on a corner, assumed they were prostitutes, later would find out he was right. At first, he barely noticed them. But one called out to him.

He didn't, even now, know what she had said to him. A proposition, a taunt, a greeting? He didn't want to know. But at the time, he had seen red, despising her, despising her useless WASTE of life that she held up to him, taunting him, and he had screamed and gripped her by the throat with his dead hands and...

He closed his eyes, willing away the memory. Her companions had tried to stop him, beating him and kicking at him. But he felt no pain, then or now. Or rather, he felt it, but it was just as distant as everything else. Like a dull sound from far away, it could be noticed, but could just as easily be dismissed. In his rage, he ignored it, and they disappeared from his view. Probably ran away to call the police. But he wasn't paying attention to them.

As he stood, looking down at her body, he felt he should be overcome by the enormity of what he had done. A part of him actually was shocked and horrified. But the rest...empty. He was just empty. And then he became aware that the emptiness was not only inside, but outside. Outside, in the woman's body, was an emptiness that awaited him, beckoned for him to fill it. And without knowing quite what he was doing or how he was doing it, he did so.

He opened his eyes, awaking for the second time, and saw the rotting corpse that he recognised as himself...or, rather, what he had looked like...tumbling to the street. He didn't look down at himself (herself)? He didn't have to. Male and female bodies didn't feel at all similar, even to him. He screamed, and the voice he screamed with was her voice. And then he fled, not knowing why, just feeling a driving NEED to be away from that street corner, to be away from that body that once was his, the body that had killed the body that was now his body that now was dead dead dead like him.

He stopped running...some time later. Hours, probably. He had escaped from the whole city. He stopped, not because of a tiredness that he could no longer feel, but because finally the emotions had died down. It was the sun that had done it, he thought. It was just starting to rise, bathing the world in crimson, distracting him, grabbing his attention and forcing him to think. He had to find shelter. Someplace cool. Someplace where this new body would not be exposed to the heat of the day, which would cause it to rot faster.

And, once he had started thinking, he continued. He sheltered in the overhang of a highway bridge for most of that day, and thought long and hard. Alright, so he was an undead possessing spirit. Or something. That was better than being trapped in a single rotting body, but only marginally. There was no way he'd be able to, on a regular basis, find "replacement" bodies that were themselves undecayed enough to be useful. Sure, there were morgues, but nonwithstanding that he had no idea how he'd break into one undetected, it probably wouldn't take too many bodies getting up and walking away before there'd be some serious interest in the matter.

That left the option he'd unwittingly discovered the night before: creating his own fresh replacement bodies. That was not an avenue he wanted to walk down. He wasn't a murderer. Except, of course, that now he was. But the thought of stretching out months, years, decades (centuries? eons?) of constantly killing to keep himself going...no. He didn't put that kind of stock on his own worth. Besides, practicality stepped in. Eventually he'd get caught and exposed for what he was. That would be unpleasant in any case, but not nearly as unpleasant as it'd be if he had left a trail of hundreds of murders behind him.

So, what to do, then? He couldn't decide. Obviously, he'd have to turn himself in to some authority to which he could prove what he was, and see if they could help them. But who? He was in the United States. Maybe it was just his left-leaning paranoia...but he'd rather not put himself at the disposal of a government that might decide that he had useful military applications (which, of course, he undoubtedly did, in a whole number of areas). Of course, any government might decide that...but the US was a lot more able to implement such an idea, and would have more use for him. He wanted to be helped, not used and certainly not replicated. But he was also a long, long way away from Canada. Hell, he was closer to Mexico. If he wanted to make the trip north on foot, even running all day and night, he'd have to replace his body along the way. And that would mean killing someone. He didn't feel right doing that just because the US government bugged him.

Eventually, he decided he'd hitchhike north. It wasn't the best of options...but it was possible. With luck, he could get to the border before this body started seriously failing him. It helped he wouldn't have to rest, or sleep. And, of course, he was hardly worried about being accosted, kidnapped, or molested...if anyone had antisocial ideas and was too big to handle, he could just play dead, something he could do extremely well. Then he figured he could just continue after his body got dumped by the roadway. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was the best thing he could think of. He could always change his mind and get in contact with the US government if he was stalled along the way.

But, before he could do that, he had to go back to the city, because this look wouldn't do at all. The skimpy clothes would be attracting the wrong type of ride, and his frantic run had snapped both the spike heels of the shoes. It was a wonder he hadn't broken an ankle or something, so little had he been paying attention to the state of his new body.

When dusk had fallen, he headed out. Still considering plans for what to do in the future and how to do it, he found himself in the city limits almost before he knew it. He idly wondered where he might find a store that sold shoes and was open in the evening. A department store, probably. But where could he find one...?

That was when he realised he KNEW where to find such a store.

How? He racked his memory. Had he passed by this store in the body of the homeless man, wandering in his attempts to avoid decomposition? No, that wasn't it, he was sure. Even if he had, he wouldn't have remembered where to go to find it; he knew his poor sense of direction well. And yet, he DID know. And he had know precisely how to get back into the city, as well, recalled it so quickly and easily that he had barely needed to think about it as he returned, his mind occupied with other matters.

Trying to picture where he'd seen the store, he remembered purchasing the same shoes there that he'd broken in his run...and then he knew the truth. It wasn't his memory at all. It was HERS. Her memories had led him back to the city, and told him where to find the store. Just like, he only now realised, the memories of the homeless man had before. His wanderings had skirted the areas where he was likely to be questioned or picked up by the police for loitering; he had just felt safer in the places he decided to go, wandered on instinct. But it wasn't instinct, it had been learned.

He couldn't find the old man's memories anymore. They were gone with his body. But hers were another story. He thought, and remembered, and shared the experiences, the knowledge that he needed. He knew where her run-down apartment was. She had some money there, carefully hidden away. But it would be too dangerous to go, he quickly realised. Her pimp checked up on her every night. He would have heard about what had happened the night before. He would be looking for her. In fact, it would be best if he got out of town right away.

Luckily, he also remembered that she had some money in her pockets, earned earlier that same evening. He shook his head, making a wry mental vow to search the pockets of any subsequent bodies he found himself in right away.

First, he needed shoes. Skanky clothes were one thing, but no shoes would just make her stand out, and he wanted to stand out as little as possible. Besides, less wear and tear on the body was good.

At the store he - or she - had remembered, he found a pair; cheap, knock-off brand sneakers. People gave him mingled looks of pity and contempt, and some hastily moved away as he he walked by...well, he couldn't blame them, given what he must look like. The lady at the cash was heavy-set and looked at the young woman she thought he was with undisguised motherly compassion.

"Rough night for you, huh, Sheila?" she asked.

His name was Sheila. Wait, no...HER name was. Well, she'd shopped here often. He paused for a moment before responding, trying to glean from her memory how the dead woman had talked. But that wasn't something she THOUGHT about much...damn. But then an idea struck him. He kept his voice steady, low. Serious, maybe a hint of anger. "Yeah, but it's gonna be the last one."

"Why's that?" the woman asked, looking at him strangely. A pang of fear touched her eyes. "You're...all right, aren't you, dear?"

He resisted a sudden urge to laugh. About as all right as she'd ever be, unfortunately. But he spoke, still in that low, focused tone. "Yeah, I'm all right. But I'm thinkin'...well, I'm getting out of here." He gestured vaguely.

"Out of here? To where, hon?"

"North. Way up north, I think." He paused, as if lost in thought. "Always wanted to go there. I like the snow, you know? And the cold don't bother me."

"Well, bless your heart, Sheila. I hope it all works out for you." The woman paused, obviously considering something, and when she spoke again, her eyes were kind. "You'll be needing some warmer clothes than that, though, if you're going on the road."

He knew where this was going, but played his part anyway. "I'd like to, but y'know..." he shrugged helplessly. "I'm a little short, so new shoes'll have to do."

"Well..." the heavy-set woman paused, looking around shiftily. Nobody else was nearby. She smiled, with a bit of a conspiratorial air. "I'll tell you what. You just go pick yourself out a set of warm clothes. It's a special sale, just for you."

He was tempted, but gave protesting a shot. "Oh...no, I really couldn't. It's not fair, and I could probably never repay you..."

"Don't you worry about a thing, dear. If you go and make the most of your life, that's repayment enough for me and the Lord."

He kept his expression the same, although anger flared through him. Then he forced himself to relax, and felt more angry at himself. He'd killed this body, lied about his identity and intentions to this kindly old woman, received a generous bit of charity for it, and was offended because she'd invoked her mystical cloud-man at him? Asshole. He graciously thanked her, and quickly moved on to the women's clothing section.

Besides, the US was full of religious nuts. 60% born-again Christians, or something like that? Lucky the old woman hadn't given her a rosary or something to start her healing journey to make the 'most of her life'. Ha. Maybe if some loving supreme being had been watching over Sheila, she wouldn't be dead. Maybe if some loving supreme being existed, he wouldn't be...what he was.

But getting angry about it was pointless and petty. Shrugging off the feelings, he browsed the clothing racks. He didn't even buy clothes much for himself, much less for a woman, but luckily, this body knew what it was doing more than he did. And jeans were unisexual anyway. With a few pairs of them and some relatively warm - and unrevealing - long-sleeved shirts in his grip, he retired to a dressing room, making sure he went into the correct one for his apparent gender.

Inside, looking at the mirror, he winced involuntarily. No wonder people were giving him such a wide berth. The eyes were puffy, and a dark ring of bruises enclosed his - her - neck like a choker.

He was coming for her. He was insane, his eyes wide and black and devoid of anything of rage and oh my god they were DEAD dead eyes his fingers were around her throat and she was pushing at them but they wouldn't move couldn't scream couldn't breathe and her vision was fading couldn't feel anything couldn't see anything but those eyes, those eyes, they were staring at her through her into her-

He snapped back to reality with a jerk, and cursed once, loudly, before remembering where he was and shutting up. Damn. That was one memory he didn't want to view. He shuddered, and mentally apologised to Sheila. For all the good it did. Damn it. He hoped nothing like that would ever happen again. But if he started rotting again...

He firmly put those thoughts to the side. Not productive. Had to plan. He could get through this. Somehow.

One pair of jeans and a shirt proved to be adequate fits. They'd do. He exited the dressing room, handed off the remaining clothes to the attendant. For reasons not entirely clear to him, before returning to the cash, he detoured, heading off the electronics department.

Well, the electronics department had been his favourite part of these stores ever since he'd (mostly) outgrown the toy section. He grinned to himself, the dark feelings receding a bit. Attempting to wrangle a Game Boy Advance and some RPG out of the heavy-set woman would probably be ungracious. But no harm in looking.

Except there was no Game Boy Advance. No PS2, X-Box, Gamecube...hell, no PS1 either. There was a display set up with a Game Boy. The original Game Boy, green screen and all. Playing Tetris. It was immediately both extremely nostalgic and disturbing.

As for consoles...there were Super Nintendos there. And they were new. More than that, they were new and hyped like the latest of technology. Small game selection, and the prices...those were new game prices.

What the hell?

He peered around the rest of the section. No DVDs. No DVD players. He didn't even see a portable CD player, although it was a small section, so...no, that made no damn sense. No sense at ALL. The smallest, crappiest electronics section in the shoddiest mall in the most hillbilly US town wouldn't have this. This wasn't just where he'd lived...this wasn't WHEN he'd lived, either.

His mind worked furiously. Of course, he hadn't stopped much to read newspapers in the last body...no money for them, although he guessed he could've gotten them from a garbage can or something. But why would he? He'd had other concerns, and there was no reason to look.

Except now there was. Now there sure as HELL was. He glanced around, eye latched onto a display of television sets. They were showing some talk show. He moved closer, wondered if he'd get in trouble for changing the channel. Well, who gave a damn about that? He didn't even know what year this was. Super Nintendo new...early 90s? Not his area of trivia. He was reaching for the controls of the nearest television when the words "Sailor V" came from the speaker and arrested his attention.

He peered at the screen again. Talk show, yeah...some guests there in odd costumes. One was definitely done up as Sailor V. He thought it was a girl. Not a great-looking one, though. He almost smirked at the fangirl humiliating herself on national television. Probably going to decry the editing practices of those awful, horrible, censoring American companies.

Except...wait. If this was the early 90s, anime wasn't a "thing" in the US then. It wasn't even a blip on the radar. And...well, he -thought- Sailor Moon was around, then. Maybe. But not in English. Why would it even make it onto a talk show?

And then, the show itself answered his questions. "...our next guest, who, as you can see, is a big fan of that mysterious British urban legend - or is that superheroine? - Sailor V, let's have a big hand for..."

Urban legend. Superheroine. British. Distinctly not 'Japanese cartoon character'. He stared, and as the following comments only confirmed his suspicions, he began to think furiously.

It appeared the plan would require some tweaking...

A loud splash, echoing through the water, startled Chris from his reminiscing. He looked over, but didn't see anything. He didn't need to breathe, but nothing had made him better able to see underwater. Well, no need to panic. Probably someone throwing a rock against the pipe, or into the canal or something. He stayed still, anxiously scanning the entrance, but nothing darkened it, and he relaxed.

The setting sun was staining the water a brilliant orange, slowly fading to red. It wouldn't be long, now. Once night fell, he'd move onto his next target. He went over again, in his mind - or Officer Takashita's - police procedures, schedules, patrolling. He'd be able to evade them, he thought. If not, he could escape into the canals again, though that would ruin them as a future hiding place. After that...well, there were other places.

The arm holding the gun was steady. Good. It wouldn't do for that to get wet. After all, being dead only got you so far in SOME fights...

He settled back, waiting for the sun to set. It would be time soon. Soon. Soon, he mentally promised the being that called itself Ukyou. Soon, we'll have our next meeting, a lot sooner than you expect. And then he'd see if he couldn't have a more productive talk about exactly what she was, and what she knew about him.

Soon.

01010

"Minato Ward?"

Ranma looked up from his plate as Ukyou flipped another Okonomiyaki off her portable grill and onto his plate. Akane was still working on her first serving, but she looked to be enjoying herself.

"That's right, I have some business to take care of there," Ukyou explained cheerfully. Ranma was beginning to notice that Ukyou had two moods. In one mood she was quiet and serious, her voice and face betraying little emotion. The other Ukyou was energetic and cheerful, seeming to smile in secret amusement at everything and with an easy laugh on her lips. He hadn't figured out what triggered her sudden mood changes, but he was trying to put two and two together.

"How long will you be gone?" Akane asked. Ranma frowned at the girl sitting across from him. She was smiling at Ukyou in an over-eager manner. Ever since last night the girl hadn't been able to shut up about Ukyou for one minute. She was gushing to her family, to her friends and to anyone who would listen how Ukyou had saved her from a rogue cop with a gun. Ranma had managed to hear the entire story himself more than once, the details getting more impressive each time it got told. Ranma really wanted to know how Ukyou had known what was going on.

"The rest of today, most certainly," Ukyou said with a shrug as she began to clean up her grill. Ranma sighed as he looked down at his own half- finished portion and realized there woud be no more free food today. She really had gotten much better at cooking over the years. "I doubt I'll be there overnight, but you never know. Sometimes it takes a while to tie up these kinds of problems."

"Right," Ranma grunted as he swallowed his remaining food in a single gulp, or tried to. The combination of too much food and trying to talk caused the morsel to lodge itself in the wrong pipe. Ranma choked and smacked himself in the chest as he tried to force the food out... then he realized that spitting it up would ruin this fabulous meal. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he was faced with a terrible choice: breathe, or finish Ukyou's okonomiyaki? He was probably turning blue by the time he managed to send the meal down the right pipe. He expelled a massive burp in a cloud of steam. Ukyou giggled a bit at his antics. Akane rolled her eyes and crossed her arms while trying her best to look down her nose at him. "So, when do we leave?"

"We leave?" Ukyou looked at Ranma with a puzzled frown.

"You're not leaving me behind this time," Ranma pointed out with a flip of his finger. "Last night I spent three hours talking to the police while you ran over town saving people from insane cops. You owe me."

"Uh," Ukyou ran her hands through her bangs and sighed. "Ranma, you don't know how much I would like to have a second pair of hands around for this, but I don't think its the best idea..."

"Well, why not?" Ranma crossed his arms and tried to put on an air of wounded pride, which wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Ukyou gave him a blank-eyed stare for a few moments than put her face in her hands with another sigh.

"Ranma, just trust me." Then Ukyou's head snapped up suddenly and she smiled, a pleased-with-herself grin. "Besides, I need you here, to look after Akane."

"Hey!" He and Akane screamed out at the same time. They both looked at each other and glared.

"Akane was targeted by something dangerous last night," Ukyou pointed out with a flip of her damp washcloth. "And it definately wasn't human. I think we won't have to worry about it again, but I'd rather not gamble Akane's life on it." She reached over and patted him on his shoulder. "Frankly, I think you'd be an even better bodyguard than I would. You're certainly the better martial artist."

Well, Ranma couldn't really argue with that. But he'd rather try to tame a pit of poisonous vipers then willingly spend time with the pervert girl and her equally perverted family.

"Well, there's a simple solution to that," Akane pointed out as she handed her plate to Ukyou. "I'll just have to come with you both."

Ranma and Ukyou stared at her for a long second as they both tried to process that statement.

"Ohh boy," Ukyou said as she rocked back and braced herself with her arms. She looked up at the noon-day sun overhead, partially concealed by the tree they were sitting under. "I knew I should have just went off on my own without telling either of you." She continued to stare up at the sky for a few seconds, the breeze catching in her hair as it hung down between her arms and teasing it in gentle waves. How had he ever thought that this was a guy?

"Don't think you can get rid of me this time around," Akane pointed out, snapping Ukyou out of her reverie. Ranma glared at Akane, but wasn't sure why. "Last time you ran off without me, I was almost shot by some inhuman police officer."

"Well..." Ukyou frowned as she looked back at the two of them. "Can I appeal to your desire not to skip school, then? You both still have a half-day of classes left, and I have to leave now if I'm going to get there in time."

This seemed to give Akane pause, but Ranma didn't even hesitate. "I'm not really that attached to school, Ucchan."

"I figured as much," Ukyou grumbled half to herself. "Fine, Ranma, you can come." She slide to her feet in a single elegant motion. "Akane, you have to decide if you want to skip school or not."

"But that isn't fair!" Akane complained. "We have a test this afternoon!" Ranma stood up as well and stuck his tongue out at her. "Don't think I'm covering for you, jerk! You can get an F for all I care."

"I'm shaking," Ranma began but Ukyou cut him off by rapping him lightly on the back of the head.

"Be nice," she admonished with her amused grin.

"This is just no fair," Akane grumbled as she settled her chin into her hands.

01010

The bus moved leisurely through the mid-day traffic. They had entered the Minato Ward almost a half-hour ago, making the entire cross-town trip almost an hour and a half total. An hour and a half alone with Ranma. It had been surprisingly simple to get him to go along with her. Just string him along, make him think it was his idea, play reluctant and stroke his ego at the same time and he would all but force himself to come along. That was the advice Aaron had given to Ukyou, and it had worked like a charm. Ukyou had even managed to get him to agree to take the bus with much the same tactic, despite them being able to run the distance in half the time.

Ukyou was staring out the window, or trying to. Her eyes and head kept swivelling to look at him. He was sitting there, calm and cool. There was no nervous energy in his posture, but instead an almost unsettling readiness about him. He was like a lounging cat, ready to pounce at the slightest sign of danger. With him, she wouldn't have to worry about protecting herself. He would always be ready to fight for her. He would always be ready to react to her every need-

Aaron jerked her eyes away from him before her thoughts could go much further. She felt her stomach roil as he reminded her of his limiting factor on her "little girl fantasies." Were they? Aaron reminded her again and again that what she felt for Ranma could not posisbly be love. She didn't even know him. Her image of Ranma was gathered from idealized childhood memories and...

And.

Memories of childhood and of the man he would be over the next year or so. Ukyou knew Ranma, perhaps even better than he did himself. She had seen his heart, displayed on pages in black and white. She could remember him during the moments when he was down and when he was on top of the world. He was an arrogant, compassionate, stubborn, protective, possessive, imaginative, determined, juvenile... he was a person. He was much more than what Ukyou had thought he would be. He was much more than that "other" Ukyou had ever seen in him. He was all sorts of bad things and all sorts of good things.

Ranma Saotome was a real jerk. And she didn't care. She wanted to be with him, regardless. She wanted the fairy tale ending, even if the fairy tale ending was impossible. And she was looking at him again, despite Aaron's protests and the mild nausea. Ranma was looking back at her this time.

"Ukyou, you shouldn't always have that serious face," he pointed out as he wrapped his arms behind his head.

"Huh?"

"You should smile more, you look a lot better when you smile." Ukyou's heart skipped a beat and she felt heat rushing to her cheeks. Slowly she pushed past Aaron's numbing facial expression and smiled at him. He smiled back and nodded. "There, that's much better. "Now you don't look so...I dunno, serious." His voice was cheerful and oblivious as he spoke. He turned his head back away from her and resumed people watching, since there wasn't much else he could do on the bus.

Ukyou ran her fingers through her bangs and released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in a long sigh. She wanted to be with him, there was no doubt in her mind now. She loved him, for whatever he was. And she could have him, too. Aaron might not like it, but he knew Ranma. Aaron knew all his triggers and traits well. And therefore so did she. It would take time, but it would be inevitable. The trick was patience, and Ukyou knew she could be patient. Just demonstrate a bit of sympathy, a bit of rivalry, a bit of compassion and a bit of sexual allure and Ranma would fall into her hands.

She could play him like a ten cent flute. Aaron's words, not hers. Aaron pointed out ruthlessly how much she would be manipulating him. He knew how to trick Ranma into loving her, oh yes. And Ukyou would be happy with that, but would Ranma? Ranma was nothing if not a free spirit. He lived to choose his own destiny. Trapping him in a love built on so many false pretenses, would it be any different than trapping a wild bird in a cage? How could Ukyou say she loved him, when she was willing to go to any lengths to make him love her, and be damned what Ranma wanted out of life.

But that didn't matter! She wanted him to be with her. Was it so wrong how she did it? He would be happy...

Except she knew he might not be. Aaron was relentless. She might be able to lie to Ranma, she even might be able to lie to herself. But Aaron knew everything she thought and felt. She couldn't conceal her motives from him. The fact was that she didn't care how Ranma felt about it.

Now she felt like crap.

She was really tempted to smack herself and punish Aaron for the slight feeling of smugness he was projecting through her mind at the moment.

"Uh, Ukyou," Ranma pointed out and snapped her out of her internal bickering. "Wasn't that our stop?"

"Eep!" Ukyou began to ring the bell furiously as the bus began to pull away from the curb.

01010

Ranma followed Ukyou up the steps leading towards the temple. There certainly were a lot of people here for a shrine, especially girls. Lots and lots of school girls in the traditional sailor suit themed uniforms. Many of them were giving him sly glances out of the corners of their eyes when they thought he wasn't looking. Ranma coldn't help but beam a little at that. Of course, this was nothing compared to the way they were reacting to Ukyou. At least a third of the girls were staring at the masculine girl, many with their mouths open, strong blushes on their cheeks or affecting dizziness. Ranma frowned a bit at this, but then just had to chuckle about it. If only they knew.

Ukyou, for her part wasn't paying much if any attention to them at all. Nor was she paying much attention to anything else. Ever since they had gotten off the bus Ukyou had been brooding, her face bent down so her long bangs fell over her eyes as she stared at her feet. Her hands were hooked into her pants, and Ranma noticed for the first time today that she wasn't wearing her usual school uniform, having adopted a more casual slacks and button-up shirt combo. She still sported her harness with the huge combat spatula on her back, however. Maybe that was why Ukyou was attracting more attention than Ranma was?

The top of the steps came up pretty quickly, with the steady long-legged pace Ukyou was setting. Ranma scanned the words set on the traditional archway. Hikawa Shrine, it stated in elegant simplicity. Ranma shrugged and looked down again. The name of the place didn't really matter to him. He'd seen hundreds of shrines and temples and holy places of all kinds over his life. Usually he'd been sneaking into them, so walking in like a regular guest was a bit of a novelty.

Ukyou stopped at the top of the shrine steps, looking left and right for something. Ranma sidled up next to her, rubbing the back of his neck as he craned to see over the heads of the crowded schoolgirls for any details. The place looked pretty typical. A booth had been set up nearby, selling little trinkets to the girls. They were gobbling up the tiny charms in droves, many of them cooing and gushing over them. More than half were holding them tightly and talking in hushed whispers to their friends while pointing at Ranma and Ukyou. A little old monk with a bald head and a tanned complexion was floating among the crowd, accosting the girls cheerfully. Further on he could see a black-haired shrine maiden stalking through the crowd towards the old monk. A blonde guy was in the booth selling the little trinkets, and he seemed to be drawing as much atention as Ranma and his friend.

"What are you looking for?" Ranma asked evenly after a half-minute or so.

"I'm looking for a girl..." Ukyou trailed off. Ranma raised an eyebrow but failed to comment. "Aha, that's her there." She inclined her chin slightly as the raven-haired shrine girl passed in front of them. From the barely restrained growl on her lips Ranma guessed that she was angry with someone, probably that old monk making a fool of himself in front of a trio of young girls. "But this seems terribly familiar for some reason." Ukyou pulled one hand from her pocket and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "This place isn't this crowded, usually..."

"They seem to be having some sort of sale or festival or something," Ranma replied with a shrug. He laced his arms behind the back of his head and nodded towards the booth set up nearby. Ukyou was shorter than him, so she must be having more trouble seeing over the heads of all the girls. She frowned a bit and pulled her hand from her chin.

"Let's get closer to that, I want to hear what's going on."

Ukyou didn't wait for Ranma to respond, instead stepping through the crowd with the same ground-eating strides she usually favored. Ranma let his arms fall and followed wordlessly. So far this was turning out to be very boring. Not to mention he could do without all the girls talking behind his back, it gave him the willies. Ukyou stepped through the crowd just as the shrine-maiden finished scolding the old man about something. They were standing next to a trio of girls, probably a few years younger than Ranma from the looks of them. One had her hair up in a duet of giant ponytails that stood out in the crowd, but Ranma had seen weirder hair in his day.

"I sense evil energy!" the shrine maiden shouted suddenly. Moving with exceptional swiftness she reached into her top and withdrew a long paper ward. Chanting quickly the girl seemed to fill it with some sort of energy, at least the thing snapped rigid in her grip. Ranma cocked his head to the side as he watched. He had felt -something- happen when the girl chanted, but wasn't sure what. "Demon be gone!" she cried out, spun on one heel and firmly applied the ward to the forehead of the ponytailed blonde. This seemed to be received badly by the girl, whose eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted to the crowd to the shocked alarm of her friend. That seemed like a pretty overdone attack for such a little bit of effect, Ranma mused.

"Ranma, we're leaving," Ukyou said evenly.

"Huh? Leaving?"

"Yes, right now," Ukyou grabbed his sleeve and began to tug him back into the crowd. Ranma looked down at her out of the corner of his eye. The shrine girl and the two anonymous friends were bending over to help the one that had fainted. Ranma's first instinct was to stay and see what he could do to help, but Ukyou had the same no-nonsense expression on her face she had worn the day that Akane had been attacked.

"Okay," Ranma murmured softly as he allowed himself to be led away. "But why?"

"I..." Ukyou trailed off. "I just realized I'm early. I need to come back another day." Ukyou kept looking back over her shoulder at the goings on as she led Ranma away. Ranma cast a few glances in that direction as well, but aside from the usual commotion over carrying an unconscious girl into a temple, there was nothing to see.

"Ukyou, are you sure we should be leaving?"

"Very sure," Ukyou replied calmly. "Hurry."

Now Ranma was sure something was up. There was no way that Ukyou would be in such a rush to get out of here if she was just early for a meeting. This was beginning to remind him a lot of last night, when Ukyou had sent him away while she got to have all the real action. Ranma looked back over his shoulders and tried to look at everything anew, with fresher eyes than he had used earlier. Ukyou had seen something that made her want to leave, but what?

Then Ranma noticed the man staring at them. He was standing just outside the booth now, apparently drawn out by the girl's fainting spell. He was tall, slender and blond, even if his build was mostly concealed by the enveloping garments he wore for his service at the shrine. He was staring at them with a dangerous frown on his pretty-boy face. Then for a moment Ranma's eyes met his and Ranma felt -something-, a lot like what he had felt with the shrine girl but much stronger, flash between them.

"Wait up, Ukyou," Ranma pulled his arm from her grip with relative ease. Ukyou took several more steps down the stairway before noticing this. Ranma was already walking back towards the gateway by that time. "Hey, buddy, you want me for some reason?"

"Oh, was I staring?" the man said softly as Ranma approached. He didn't seem intimidated, but he wasn't hostile either. There was still something about him. Now that Ranma was closer, he could taste some nasty quality to the air. It was the same kind of feeling he got just before he was about to be ambushed or attacked, like a build-up of negative chi. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't help but notice how... energetic you seem to be."

"Right," Ranma settled himself just within the man's comfort zone and crossed his arms across his chest. "Don't try and fool me pal, you haven't taken your eyes off us since we got here."

"Ranma!" Ukyou hissed as she stepped up beside him and grabbed his shoulder. "We should leave. This doesn't concern us."

"What doesn't concern us?" Ranma asked, awfully curious. Ukyou opened her mouth to respond but then suddenly closed it again. She looked out of the corner of her eyes at Blondie and seemed to shake her head subtly.

"Its not important," Ukyou pointed out in a clear and calm voice. "Besides, you're holding up this fine young man. I'm certain that R- er, the shrine maiden could use your help treating the girl who fainted." The last part was addressed to Blondie, who seemed slightly amused by the response.

He bowed slightly to Ukyou. "You're right, of course," Blondie said in an overwhelmingly polite tone. "I should attend to my duty to the shrine before satisfying my own curiosity." Ranma narrowed his eyes at the man. He was hiding something. The air around them had only grown more dangerous, not less. From the looks of Ukyou's face, she could feel it too.

"But since I seem to have offended you, why don't I make it up." The man held out his hand to Ranma, offering two tiny trinkets. "They aren't much, just little love charms, but I offer them as an apology for my rude behaviour." Ranma plucked one of them and let it settle into his palm. What use did he have for love charms? With his luck they might make those crazy Tendo chicks even more attracted to his girl side.

"No!"

Ukyou slapped Ranma's hand, displacing the charm and causing it to tumble to the ground. Ranma and Blondie stared at her, eyes wide as Ukyou took a deep, calming breath. That had been close to real panic in her voice a second ago.

"I mean, we don't really believe in those kinds of things, so no thank you," Ukyou offered slightly lamely but in a much calmer voice. Ranma noticed Ukyou subtly, but deliberately, grind the charm under her heel as she moved in closer to Ranma. "Let's get out of here, Ranma." she said in a very serious, no- arguments-wanted tone. Ranma considered being stubborn, but decided that he'd get the full story out of her once they were away from the strange man.

"Let's go then."

Ukyou turned without so much as a nod to Blondie, and Ranma didn't feel much like saying goodbye either. The blonde pretty-boy waved at them anyway, calling out that he hoped to see them both again soon. Ranma relaxed a little as he felt himself stepping out of the man's aura. It was like walking out of a room filled with noxious fumes into a bright spring day. Ukyou was half-way down the stairs, taking them in short hopping steps that ate up three at a time, before she spoke again.

"Ranma, I want you to be on alert," she said without turning her head to see him. "I don't think that we're in immediate danger. But I think we just acquired the wrong kind of attention."

"Wrong kind?" Ranma grumbled. He was beginning to wonder if there was a right kind. Every time his father had managed to 'get attention' they had been chased out of town by a band of people wielding improvised weapons. Now that they had settled down he was receiving all kinds of the wrong attention from Akane, her sisters, their fathers and all the kids at school. "You owe me an explanation for all this," he pointed out as they came to the bottom of the stairs.

"Indeed," Ukyou murmured as she looked around. A bus stop was nearby, and she led Ranma over to it with fast determined paces. "But later, once we're back in Nerima ward."

"We could just run the rooftops," Ranma pointed out as they settled in with the crowd of school girls to wait for the bus. He glanced at the schedule posted on the stop and frowned. "The bus doesn't come by for another half hour."

"No, we've done enough to draw attention to ourselves," Ukyou said as she rolled her eyes. "Let's just try to act normal, for once." She was looking across the street and frowning. Ranma followed her line of sight. A newsvan was parked there, with a snappily dressed woman standing in front of it talking to a man behind a camera. Guess this was a pretty popular sale, to get the TV people interested in it.

"Look, see, the bus is here already," Ukyou pointed out a second later. Ranma looked over her head and saw that she was right, the bus was here. Huh. Well, guess it must be running more often because of the festival. He looked around at all the girls crowded alongside them waiting for the bus. They certainly looked like they'd been waiting long enough for it to come. Half of them looked dead on their feet, and the other half just looked plain dead. He shivered.

The bus that pulled up was perfectly normal, but Ranma felt that same negative feeling creeping through the air as he approached the doors. It wasn't hard for him and Ukyou to get to the front of the line, nobody put up much of a fight for it. Ukyou was busy looking back at the shrine as she got in and handed the fare to the driver. The woman looked up from under the bill of her cap at them and sneered unpleasantly.

"Take your seat, please," she said, still sneering. Ranma gave her a wide berth as Ukyou lead them down the aisle. Behind them the girls from the shrine began to pour into the conveyance.

"There's something I'm not remembering," Ukyou murmured mostly to herself as she sat down. Ranma shrugged and sat down next to her.

"Don't ask me," Ranma grumbled a bit. "I have no idea what is going on." He yawned. Man, all this sitting around doing nothing was making him tired. No wonder all the girls on the bus seemed to be out of it, if this was what lack of proper exercise did to you. In fact, most of the girls were catching quick cat- er, a little shuteye. Not really a bad idea, now that he thought about it. He was certainly tired.

Ukyou yawned next to him, then her eyes snapped open. "Oh shit!" she gasped and tried to stand up in the seat without much success, her spatula getting in the way. "Ranma, don't fall asleep!"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked his eyes open. He had been halfway to dreamland, but now came suddenly awake at the insistence in her voice. He still felt tired however, fatigue was weighing down his limbs. "What's going on?"

"I just remembered the plot!" Ukyou grabbed his collar. "We can't be in this bus..." her voice was beginning to acquire a serious drawl as she slumped visibly.

"Sit down!" the driver called from up front. "No one can stand while the bus is in motion!" For some reason the driver found this extremely funny. Her laughter was mocking and malicious. Ranma didn't like her tone, and didn't like even more being ordered around.

"Stop the bus!" he barked as he propelled himself to his feet. Still, he was swaying as he tried to stand, and his arms felt like lead weights as he lifted them up to a basic boxing position. "Don't make me tell you again!"

"Pitiful human," the woman said as she turned her head to stare at him, a deep red glow flashed from her eyes. "You can't fight our power. Even without the charms, this bus has been enchanted to relieve you of all your energy!"

"Take my energy?" Ranma mumbled. Ranma hadn't felt this weak in years. It was like the strength, the very chi, was fleeing his body. "No! Ukyou, c'mon let's..." he couldn't finish the words, his mouth felt numb and his tongue too big. The air around him swirled with a grey fog, some of it was seeping out of his skin! He wouldn't go down without a fight...

Not without a fig-

01010

Ukyou watched as Ranma toppled like a marionette with its strings cut. There went her big hope for not being drawn into this. She was slumped against the seat in front of her as well, barely able to find the energy to keep her eyes open. In her credit, she had only yelled at Aaron a few million times in their mental manner. It had taken her less than a second to do it, thanks to that whole speed of thought thing.

Aaron tried to level them back into a sitting position, trying to gain enough time to think by wasting as little precious energy as possible. Whatever this magic was, it drained their chi as quickly as Ukyou could produce it. By all rights they should have already collapsed. Aaron really doubted that Ukyou had more chi at her disposal than Ranma did. Really there was no real point in fighting this. Sooner or later Usagi would get her act together and save them from the evil Youma-of-the-week. Then they could go on with their lives as if none of this had ever happened.

Except Ukyou didn't think it would be so simple. She had seen the look in Jadeite's eyes. He had taken a personal interest in Ukyou and Ranma. With their exceptional strength, they might make perfect living batteries for the Dark Kingdom. Maybe waiting for Usagi to save them would be too late...

Aaron closed his eyes and considered that as Ukyou continued to let worry gnaw at them. Like it or not, she was right. They couldn't take that risk, they had to find some way of getting out of this without the help of Sailor Moon. Besides, in the long run, Sailor Moon would still come to the rescue, right?

The only question was how, they were still losing energy... or were they? Ukyou opened her eyes and noted that the grey fog that had been drifting from their body had stopped. The entire cabin was now free of the residual energy. The bus itself was beginning to arch into the air, from the sudden shift in her center of gravity. A huge vortex of black light was forming in front of the travelling bus. If they went into that vortex, there would be no escape.

We have to move, now! Ukyou was desperate, searching for some spark of chi or strength within her, but she was drained. How was she even awake still? With an external growl she mentally browbeat Aaron into helping her search for some inner well of untapped power, and both were surprised when he immediately discovered it at his fingertips.

Of course! Aaron's chi had not been drained along with the Ukyou's. Up until this point, even when Aaron was in charge, they had been using Ukyou's skills to tap into her reserves of fighting spirit. They had never even considered that there might be another pool of power available. Still, the energy was strange to Ukyou's sense. Not quite like the chi she was used to subconsciously channeling through her body.

Figuring out how to use it to fuel their motions was trial and error. The first few times they tried to rise they collapsed back onto the seat again with a wuff. The thing driving the bus didn't seem to notice or care. Then Aaron stumbled on how to get the energy to flow correctly. It was all about the proper focus. Moving jerkily they staggered out of the seat and stood in the aisle. The fatigue they had felt up until now was beginning to vanish, and with each moment they were gaining better and better control.

They didn't have any time to practice more, from the relative speed of this bus, they would be in that vortex in only a few more seconds.

"Stop this bus!" Ukyou cried out with far more confidence than she was feeling. She was already reaching for a few throwing spatulas on her bandolier while Aaron used her free hand to search through her hidden pockets.

"You're still awake?" the thing in human guise said with obvious surprise. It stepped away form the wheel and smiled at them, a cruel and vicious smile that nearly split her angular face in two. "Well, that makes this more fun than I had thought it would be."

"Here, catch!" Ukyou roared as she flung her projectiles quickly. The spatulas wizzed through the air almost too fast for her to follow, but evidently not too fast for the youma. It reached up and plucked the cluster of weapons from the air with both hands.

"Heh, you asked me to," the thing pointed out as it laughed.

"Of course I did," Aaron said coolly. "Otherwise you wouldn't have grabbed onto the explosive."

"Explosive?" the youma looked down into her hands and blinked. The blast erupted across the front of the bus, throwing a cloud of dust between the two of them. Ukyou braced herself as the cabin funneled the shockwave into her. She lowered the hand she had used as a shield to see the smoke clearing and the entire front of the bus in tatters. The windshield, side door and windows down for three seats had been blown out in the explosion. There was no sign of the youma, but Aaron knew better than to believe that was the end. They grinned, a little goofily. But nothing could survive that much dust, right?

Aaron took over, propelling them forward in two quick steps. His chi seemed to be serving equally well as Ukyou's here. They were just as fast as before as they reached the steering column in under a second. Already the front of the bus was beginning to be swallowed by the dark energy portal. Not sure if it would do any good, but having no better options, he grabbed the wheel and began to spin it as hard as he could.

The bus lurched, and Ukyou had to brace them to keep from falling. For a moment Aaron felt them being pulled into that void, like having a giant vacuum cleaner pressed against their side. Then the sensation was gone and he breathed a sigh of relief. Until he realized they were falling, from almost twenty meters up.

They both stood there, unable to respond until the impact. The force of the crash threw them from their feet and shattered any windows that had survived his explosive attack earlier. Metal shrieked and twisted into new and dangerous shapes around them and many of the girls in the seats were flung bodily into the aisles. Still, nobody appeared to have died, althought many of them might have to worry about broken bones later.

"You little bitch!"

Ukyou snapped her head up as the metal door of the bus was ripped away with a shrill squeal of protest. The youma had returned, but had shed its human shape now. It was tall and ugly, a grotesque parody of a female figure. Stringy red hair framed a triangular face adorned with a mouth full of nice pointy teeth. Her skin was some sort of putrid green shade and was pulled taut over an excessively thin body. Either a coarse black coat of fur or some sort of garment preserved her modesty, thankfully for their sanity.

"I'll rip your head off!"

"I think we got it mad," Ukyou pointed out aloud. The creature hissed and leaped at them. This surprised Aaron, who had expected a typical youma ranged attack of some kind. Still they weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Ukyou rolled backward, projecting her legs up. She caught the thing in the stomach with both feet. A woof of rancid breath erupted from the thing's mouth, and its clawed hands stopped only centimeters from Ukyou's face. But Ukyou was smiling as she continued her momentum and flipped the thing easily over her head and out the shattered window behind them. Aaron pointed out they needed room to fight properly, and Ukyou agreed.

Completing the backward roll Ukyou landed in a crouch and paused not at all as she launched herself out of the bus. The crisp air outside the cabin felt refreshing on their face. Aaron turned them in mid-leap. They landed in a crouch, facing back towards the battered bus. Ukyou's hand reached up and loosed the spatula from her back. With a loud crack of displaced air and dust she swung it out from her body in one hand. The other raised in front of her, gripping a half-dozen throwing spatulas Aaron had retrieved.

They didn't wait long. The youma leapt over the bus, easily clearing it. It came down at them claws-first. Aaron projected its landing spot and Ukyou backed them away. She was already swinging her spatula back in a deceptively gentle arc by the time she was getting to her feet. The monster only had a chance to widen its eyes in wonder as Ukyou's attack struck it like a badminton shuttle. It screamed in pain as its head cracked against the tempered metal spatula and then there was a shriek of twisting metal again as its body was launched hard into the side of the bus. More glass rained down on top of the thing's body as it slumped down.

Where was Sailor Moon?

No time for that now.

Ukyou sprinted forward. Her grip shifted to two-hands, choking up on the spatula like a bat. The thing was just standing up when she struck again. This time it parried. Claws and metal clashed in a flare of sparks. It came back fast, launching a strike with its free hand. Aaron backpeddled, inching just out of range as Ukyou recovered her balance.

The thing recovered faster. With a roar it sprung up, pushing off the bus with one leg and swinging its other out in a kick so fast it snapped the air like a rifle shot. Ukyou barely got her spatula in the way, absorbing the blow along the shaft between her hands. Even so, the strike was powerful enough to send them skidding back on the tips of their feet almost five meters, a contrail of dust forming in their wake.

This wasn't like fighting Kunou. This thing was dangerous, and out to kill them. Aaron began to pull back, running through their options in the back of their mind while Ukyou automatically took control of the main physical part of the fight. The thing was crouched in front of them, its claws cutting little lines into the pavement. Already they could feel bruises forming along their arms. Did that thing really strike that hard?

"You can't possibly be a normal human," the youma grinned, a dangerous expression for a thing with so many sharp teeth. "My master will be most pleased with the energy you provide us with, boy."

"Hah! I fear not your stock dialogue!" Aaron sneered as Ukyou shifted stances slightly.

"You dare mock me?" The thing roared as it galloped towards them, propelling itself with all four limbs like some wild beast. Aaron recommended a course of action, and Ukyou agreed. With a short hop they leaped into the air, twisting upside down and arcing over the thing's head. It rose up to slash at them but Aaron had already seen that move. With a brutal poke Ukyou thrust her weapon downward and clipped the thing's legs. Suddenly it had no more traction and fell face-first into the pavement, skidding along with enough force to dig a shallow trench in he street. Ukyou completed their flip easily, landing in a crouch with her spatula held to her side.

They charged. Two strides at full strength carried them to the beast. It flipped to its feet but was too late. "Do me a favor." The thing rocked back as Ukyou drilled a right cross into its cheek. Ouch. Thing had skin like rock. "And this time..." Ukyou followed through quickly, her spatula coming up and catching the thing's legs again, flipping it off its feet. It roared as it went airborne. "Stay down." Ukyou continued past it, drilling her extended arm downward in an elbow strike that caught it right where the solar plexus would have been on a human. From the scream, youma must have had a similar anatomy. The thing landed in the ground again.

Ukyou didn't pause, running past it and coming quickly to the wall along the road. She took two steps up the wall and flipped backwards, landing on her feet facing the thing as it crawled out of the dent Ukyou had drilled it into.

"You aren't being very nice," she pointed out as she eased up her grip on her spatula and shifted positions again. Inwardly Aaron was running through scenarios as quickly as possible. Really, fighting was a lot like chess. It was all about how many moves ahead you were.

"I'll devour your brains!" the thing hissed as it rubbed its chin with one arm. It was standing, looking not-much-worse for wear.

"I thought we already pointed out your dialogue problems," Ukyou drawled smugly. Now that they had settled down she could feel her muscles screaming in protest. It was like she had been fighting all day, not for under a minute. This was definitely getting annoying.

"Halt right there!" a voice cried from the wall across the street.

"It's about time," Ukyou sighed. She looked up and saw Sailor Moon posing atop the wall. Aaron had always wondered if those poses would look as silly in person as they did animated. Apparently they did.

"You monster who seeks to abuse the trust of our city's public transportation- hey! I'm not finished!"

Aaron immediatly noted the youma's attention drifting to Sailor Moon and reacted. Dipping forward Ukyou ran at the beast, one hand unleashing a dozen throwing spatulas at once. The thing screamed as the razor-sharp weapons lodged in its unprotected flank. Green blood began to seep from the shallow wounds.

"At least you bleed," Ukyou grumbled as she dashed in low. The thing growled and swung at her, but as Aaron had foreseen it favored its undamaged arm. With deceptive ease Ukyou reversed her spatula and brought the ring up, allowing the things punch to piston through the hole. Ukyou spun past it, locking the spatula behind her back with both arms and skidding her feet in the dust to stop on the proverbial dime. The thing roared as it was pulled back and to the side by its captured arm. Then Aaron made them grin. This was the fun part. With a kick into the things back and a quick lever of the spatula the thing found itself being pulled in two directions at once. There was a resounding crack as the monster's arm broke. "Don't wait for me to get away, Sailor Moon," Aaron called out over Ukyou's shoulder. "Finish this thing off before it recovers!"

"Uh, right..." Sailor Moon leapt from the wall and landed somewhat inelegantly on the ground. Her school girl fetish costume looked even more ridiculous in real life, and Aaron suppressed a surprise case of the giggles. "Can I just ask..."

"Now, Sailor Moon," Ukyou sighed as she spun away from the beast and brought her spatula up in another whistling arc. This time she struck with the edge, ripping a deep gouge in the chest of the monster as it tried to regain its feet.

"Right!" The magical girl calmed down and reached up to her tiara. Ukyou could follow all her actions, but only because she was used to seeing people moving at slightly faster than human speed. It appeared stock footage attacks took a lot less time in the world than they did on sceen. "Moon Tiara ACTION!" Sailor Moon screamed as she unleashed her finishing move. The already weakened monster could only scream as the golden discus of light impacted with its sternum. In a flash of magical energy the thing screamed and disintegrated to dust. The swirling discus returned to Usagi's waiting hand and reverted to its simple tiara form. "Hah! Moon dusted!"

"You actually say that!" Ukyou blurted out before Aaron could stop her.

"What's wrong with it?" Usagi frowned.

"Nothing, nothing just..." Aaron's eyes widened as a sudden fact occured to him. "Oh no, the portal!"

"What portal?" Usagi blinked.

"That portal!" Aaron grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face the black vortex in the sky. The rapidly shrinking black vortex. "Without the Youma to sustain it, the portal is collapsing."

"Well good riddance," Usagi said with a sigh.

"No, there are still people trapped on the other side!"

"Oh, well that's bad. How do we help them out?"

"We?" Aaron blinked and looked at the girl for a long second. Oh man, he was going to regret this. He was going to regret this a great deal. But he had no choice. Not if he wanted to keep those peoples lives off his conscience. "Oh no, not we. You're the one with the magic powers, you keep it open."

"But I don't know how!" Usagi whined. Ukyou resisted the impulse to cover her ears. That girl had a powerful set of lungs.

"Well, I'm very sorry about this," Aaron leaned in forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. Sailor Moon's eyes widened as she stared at her, and Ukyou realized with a bit of chagrin that Usagi didn't know she was a girl. "But you're going to have to figure out how the hard way."

"WhhhaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Usagi screamed as Ukyou hefted her and propelled her into impromptu flight, easily sending her up and through the portal. She sighed in relief. Usagi had figured a way out of the dark portal in the anime, she was sure to do so this time around as well. Almost definitely. Very possibly. Hopefully.

But the fact was, the crisis was averted. Now she could begin to address the muscle fatigue that was creeping through her body. She reached up and rubbed her hand across her mouth, coming away with something wet and slick. She looked down in puzzlement. Blood? The thing hadn't tagged her in the face. In fact, it hadn't laid a finger on her the whole fight. Why was she bleeding?

"So, you finally show your true colors. I knew it was only a matter of time."

Aaron snapped them around in a tight circle. Standing only a few meters away was a tall, green-haired beauty who looked much better in her fetish sailor suit than Usagi did. That long key-shaped polearm in her right hand helped with the image.

"Pluto!"

Aaron cursed as the word slipped from his mouth before he could stop it. The woman in front of them frowned and raised her staff to point it at them. It was then Aaron remembered he had just tossed Sailor Moon through a portal into the Dark Kingdom. Way to look heroic and noble.

"Wait, I can explain! This isn't my fault!"

01010

"Wait, I can explain! This isn't my fault!"

Sailor Pluto frowned but didn't answer, keeping her Time Key trained firmly on the girl in front of her. Pluto had arrived only a few seconds ago, drawn by the strange disturbance she had detected in the timeline. Sure enough, here had been Ukyou. Ukyou throwing the reincarnated Princess into the clutches of the Dark Kingdom. Ukyou, again. That face was burned into her brain, a face she couldn't forget. A face she saw every night in her nightmares. Already she could feel the same terrifying energy flowing through the young girl's body as she backed up slightly in the face of the implacable Senshi's weapon.

"Don't make me use this," Pluto warned coldly. "I have a feeling you know what it does."

"Damn it, Pluto," Ukyou lowered her arms and seemed to quickly compose herself. "You must have made some kind of mistake. If we can just talk this over like reasonable people..."

The tip of her staff wavered slightly. This wasn't right, a voice in the back of her mind cried out. This girl didn't look like a threat to all creation. She looked like a scared teenager, a girl in over her head. Wasn't her mandate to protect the people of this world? Maybe there was an explanation.

Then she remembered the destruction. And the terrible energy she could even now feel inside the girl in front of her. Her grip on her weapon firmed up.

"I'm terribly sorry," Pluto aplogized, trying to put as much of the remorse she felt in her voice as possible. "Your death is neccesary... You may not know it now, but it's best you never find out why."

"No..." Ukyou growled. "I don't care." Her hand tightened on her bizarre weapon. "I'm not letting you kill me."

"You don't have much hope of defeating me in your condition."

"Right, well see if you can face my special attack!" Ukyou held up her hand suddenly. Pluto shifted her staff up to follow the motion, then she realized that Ukyou had thrown something at the ground with her other hand. "FLOUR BOMB!"

Suddenly the world went white. Pluto blinked, then cursed herself. "Dead Scream," she whispered her attack name. The coruscating ball of purple light shot through the thick cloud, carving a path of visibility through the flour. Ukyou had already moved, and the attack did little more than blow an impressive hole in the wall of one of the nearby homes. Pluto stepped forward, searching blindly with her staff, but knew it was futile. By the time the flour settled down Ukyou was long gone, no doubt leaping across the rooftops again.

If only Pluto could track her movements! She could give chase on foot herself, hoping to catch up. But then she saw the closing vortex behind her and sighed. No, she had other business to take care of. Without Sailor Mercury here to hold open the portal, it would collapse, trapping the Princess in the Dark Kingdom alone and inexperienced. With a sigh she turned and pointed her staff at the vortex, concentrating her energy into holding the small opening in the dimensional fabric open.

Behind her a woman in a flour-covered skirt-suit turned to a man carrying a flour-covered camera.

"Tell me you got that all on tape."

The man only nodded mutely.

Pluto growled and ignored them. Ukyou may have escaped this time, but she couldn't do so forever. It went against everything she stood for. It was against all the laws as Time Guardian. It was against her basic human decency. But Sailor Pluto had seen the future. She knew what was coming.

If Ukyou Kuonji did not die, she would destroy the entire universe.

01010

He emerged dripping from the canal in the evening, mentally going over the details of the murder he planned to commit. His mind flinched from the term, but he refused to consider it a "step in a plan", or some other euphemism. If he let himself do that, it would become easier. He didn't want it to become easier. He didn't want to stop hating himself for it. The moment he did...he shivered, and not from the cold and damp he could barely feel.

He had a certain degree of increased respect for all those angsty fictional vampires and undead (fictional? did that even apply anymore?). Oooh, all that superhuman strength and cool powers and turning into bats and fangirls hanging off to you, woe is you! But you were DEAD. Dead, and you could feel it, couldn't escape it, couldn't ignore the feeling, the vast weariness in your unliving bones.

He smiled a little. All that, and he didn't even get the turning-into- a-bat or clinging fangirls benefits. Terribly unfair, that's what it was. He wondered, if he met a real vampire, if he could just take its body. It was dead already, right?

That reminded him of the task at hand, and his momentary good humour faded. He had a murder to plan. And this time it had to go right, because he might not get a third chance if he screwed up against this target. At the very least, with Akane undoubtedly on guard now, it would be much harder. And there weren't many other suitable candidates he could locate just yet.

Suitable candidates...his mouth twisted. Suitable victims. The idea had occurred to him, the fevered rush of thought and planning and recalculation in the wake of realising where he was, back in the United States. He had, still in the body of the woman, hitchhiked to another city, a little further north in the state. He wanted to do some research, but getting some distance between himself and the problems Sheila had back "home" only made sense.

And once there, he had visited a library, and discovered to his chagrin that the Internet had not been invented yet...well, had been, but was not exactly at the level he was used to accessing for information. Still, there were other ways to research. He stayed all day in the library and discovered what he could, poring over newspaper microfiches, history textbooks, and nearly everything he could find about Japan. He had smirked when he had confirmed the existence of a Tendo Dojo. Sure, there might be one in the "real world" he wasn't in...but in Nerima Ward? Doubtful. Which meant that there was more here than just Sailor Moon. Which meant, if he could reach Japan, he might be able to find people who could not only help him, but had experience with the walking dead.

And, he realised, that meant there were super martial artists in the world. People with bodies harder than steel, people who could shrug off tank shells, strike faster than sound, move from the street to rooftops in a single leap. A body like that...a body like that HAD to be more durable than a normal human body. Instead of having a few days, maybe he could have weeks, months, even years. Long enough for him to stop worrying about the rotting, and be able to seriously look for help. And, learning those abilities from such a person, to be able to go beyond the limits of normal people...that was a powerful allure. He couldn't deny it. When younger, he'd been fascinated by superheroes, by fantasy novels; when older, by super martial arts-related anime and manga, and hell, he still read the occasional Americomic. He LOVED the idea of that kind of power, the personal power that created the situation that did not exist in the real world, the individual who was truly individual, an island unto themselves, unconstrained by the ocean of society. He knew that sort of thing would realistically lead to huge societal problems, but the possibilities of it still fascinated him.

And now the possibility of gaining that sort of strength was almost in his hands. Yes, it was a powerful allure. But it wasn't the only reason. If he was right, and such a body was more durable than an ordinary one, it would not only make it easier for him to concentrate on finding help, but it would save the lives of other people. Every day that superhuman body wasn't rotting was a day he wasn't desperately searching for someone else to steal the life of. That was worth it. Right?

It was a justification, and he knew it, but it was a justification he could live with. But there was a cost. He had to get to Japan, and he had to find and kill a superhuman person. And he couldn't get there with this body. He had next to no money. And while he didn't get tired, swimming across the Pacific Ocean was just stupid. He wasn't Ranma, and sharks wouldn't exactly be repulsed by a dead body swimming around. Besides, what if he froze solid? It wasn't like he was generating body heat to prevent it. It wasn't winter, but still...

No, he had to get to Japan a more conventional way. Which would mean killing again. And as long as he was killing again, he might as well make it purposeful. No more waste.

He was still thinking when they kicked him out of the library, but by that point, he had the gist of his plan down. And he put it into action, knowing he had to act prior to this body starting to decay.

Thank goodness for stereotypes. A nearby bar indeed had several trucks out back with shotgun racks. He examined them all, carefully selected a target according to a few criteria. Mud-splattered wheels, check. A messy interior of the vehicle, check. And most of all, the shotgun had to be in pristine shape, better than the truck itself, check. Memorising the license plate, he went inside, made an audacious announcement. Who owned that truck outside, because that was a dang good-looking gun, and she was always looking for a man who had one hell of a gun, if you know what she meant, wink wink. It was corny, but these were drunk, single men at a bar. And in this body, he knew almost instinctively the right things to do, the right words to say, the right way to stand, to look attractive to a man. Which was unsurprising, useful, and repulsive all at the same time. But this body also knew how to divorce real feelings from outward emotions, and he clung to that, smiling and chatting and worming her way even further into the man's surprised interest even as inside he was recoiling both from what he was doing and what he planned to do. It had to be done. That's what he told himself. It had to be done.

What made your life worth more than his?

He couldn't answer that question, of course. But he couldn't stand the rotting. He couldn't. And he didn't want to try to kill himself and die again, even if it was possible. Not until he found out what - who - had done this to him. And...he didn't want to end it now, anyway. Not once he had found this. The land of promise. The land where he could be everything he'd ever wanted to be.

If only he could be alive again.

The man - his name was Roger - took them back in the dirty truck. As Chris had hoped, he lived in a refurbished farmhouse outside of town. He wasn't exactly a militant nutcase, but he liked his privacy, and he had a shooting range, and he undoubtedly thought that "bearing arms" Amendment to the US Constitution (what one was that? Second? Whatever.) was the most important. Which meant he was exactly what Chris had wanted.

Now all he had to do was kill him.

He was grateful for the unliving nature of his body, a bit. No cold sweat to worry about, and it was easy to keep his tone even. In his bedroom, he steeled himself as Roger drunkenly removed his shirt. It had to be now. If he saw the bruises around his...her neck, currently hidden by the shirt he'd chosen, he might be worried and on his guard. He wouldn't be expecting an attack, of course, but...he needed an unguarded moment. This man was certainly a lot stronger than this body.

The unguarded moment came easily, more easily than he'd imagined. He was drunkenly pawing her body, hands slipping to places that had no feeling any more. He turned his head a bit with one hand, drawing his full attention. And then, with his other hand, he crushed the man's throat. It was easy.

Roger didn't even realise what had happened right away, but when Chris shoved him back, the alcoholic fog - he was a drunk driver? Chris hadn't even thought about that - seemed to clear. His face turned ugly, and he made some indistinct gurgling noises. That was good. He couldn't talk. His face was purple with rage, but maybe the lack of breathing had something to do with that, and sudden panic mingled with the anger in his eyes.

He lurched back, and Chris cursed himself suddenly. If he went for the phone...he'd have to do something. He couldn't afford the police coming to check things out. He braced himself, he'd have to grapple with him and hope he could hold him off long enough for the lack of air to win the fight...and then almost sighed in relief as the dying man pulled a large-caliber revolver from the bed. From under the pillow? People really did that? No wonder he was desperate for a woman to sleep with him.

The absurd thoughts dancing across his mind were driven from him as there was a sharp crack and he staggered backwards as if someone had hit him. Looking down, he looked at the hole in his chest dispassionately. There was pain, of course, but he didn't feel it strongly enough to care. A bit of fluid leaked from the bullet wound, dark and unpleasant, certainly not looking like blood.

He looked up and met the eyes of Roger. The panic in the man's eyes had grown. Not surprising. Chris straightened, and was shot again, this time in the shoulder. He didn't even bother looking at it. His mind was already working furiously: keep his attention, and he won't even think about the phone. A third shot went wide; Roger's aim wasn't being helped by the lack of air. Or maybe his hands were shaking.

He walked toward the terrified man, slowly, deliberately, and had to suppress a laugh. He was sure acting like a real undead now, wasn't he? He then regarded his own thoughts with a bit of astonishment. Was this normal? Thinking absurd thoughts, trying not to laugh while killing someone? Was that his mind's coping mechanism?

He felt another impact, realised with slight startlement that he had bumped into the man, who had fallen backwards. Another bullet struck him, this time in the stomach. He looked at the man; his face was beaded with sweat, and was definitely an unhealthy colour. His whole body laboured to breathe, he could see the strain, the frantic contractions of his chest, but no noise escaped.

He smiled, a bit sadly, at the man. "I'm sorry," he said. Didn't reassure him much. The gun had fallen from his fingers. He looked around, and now his eyes locked on the phone. Chris moved swiftly, pinning down his wrists with his own hands. Or rather, Sheila's hands. They were slender and Roger's much stronger, but most of his strength appeared to be gone...he struggled weakly, but Chris had no trouble holding him. It wouldn't be long now. His eyes were rolling in his head, his mouth working soundlessly, his colour...

Chris closed his eyes. He'd wanted to watch, force himself to confront what exactly he was doing. But he couldn't. "I'm sorry," he said again. If the man had had any sort of reaction, he did not see it. The struggles continued, faintly, then ceased, the man passing out perhaps, or just devoting all his remaining strength toward attempting to breathe. It seemed like a long time after that when he felt the familiar emptiness beckoning. Without looking at the face of the man he had just killed, Chris opened his eyes and sat on the bed, leaning his body against the headboard. Then he allowed himself to flee it, entering and filling the emptiness next to him.

He opened his eyes again as Roger. He realised a flaw in his plan. He couldn't speak, obviously, with his throat crushed. He'd have to deal with that. Raising himself from the bed, he wiped some flecks of spittle from his lips as he looked towards the head of the bed. The blank eyes of Sheila stared back at him. At least they weren't terror-filled this time. He felt the emptiness her body offered him, but ignored it. Indeed, he sighed in relief. In this new body, this fresh body, things felt...sturdier. It was more muscular, obviously, but...she must've been closer to rotting than he'd thought. He shuddered a little and set about his work.

He'd worked the rest of the night. First stashing the body in the cellar, where the chill would keep it from becoming too noticible until he planned to be long gone. He realised, doing this, that he was going to be staining this man's reputation forever. He put it out of his mind, for the moment. He'd KILLED him...kind of pointless to worry about how he'd made him look bad in the aftermath. What mattered was doing what he had to, quickly, efficiently, so as few people had to die as possible.

It took some unpleasant work, but he managed to eventually "fix" the throat to the point where he could speak in a low, raspy tone. Examining in the mirror, he decided the throat just looked odd, not like he was actually dead. At least to a casual glance. He hoped. Anyway, the raspy voice would help. He called into the man's work, his fingers automatically pushing the phone number as if he'd known it all his life. He was sick. Might not be in for a few days.

And then he practiced. He knew this sort of trick wouldn't be able to kill a superhuman martial artist, even a weaker one. He needed a gun, and he needed to be able to use one accurately, to kill or at least mortally wound on the first shot. So he learned how to do that. Or rather, he REMEMBERED how to do that, going through motions that felt practiced and engraving them on his mind. He knew he'd remember it later if he practiced, even in another body. He still remembered, after all, how to seduce a drunken man.

A day later, he thought he was as good a marksman as he could reasonably be, which was in fact pretty good. So he washed, changed, took the truck - hmm, he could learn to drive too, useful - and got all the money from Roger's account...and the wad stashed under his mattress. He had also, almost as an afterthought, packed a small bag and taken a jacket, which would make him not stand out. And he had a gun, of course. A pistol, silenced...no, -suppressed-, his stolen memories told him. He drove west, soaking up the knowledge of how to do it like he had never bothered in real life. But of course, this was much easier than learning it the typical way. He stopped only for gas along the way, idly hoping the truck wouldn't break down, though he had enough cash to rent another vehicle if he had to.

Eventually, he reached Los Angeles. He had never seen it, and neither had Roger, but he didn't have time to take it in. He felt the heat, faintly, a lingering warning that he had to move as fast as possible. Did Roger's body feel a little soft already? Or was he getting paranoid? In the airport, he bought a ticket, it didn't matter where, but he picked Vancouver anyways. He wondered if he would ever see Canada again. But he didn't have time for that. He had to carry out his second - no, third - murder.

There were several Japan-bound flights. A whole JAL booth, in fact. Not surprising. He was nonplussed, however, by how many PEOPLE were at the airport. That wasn't good. He needed to be alone with someone. He swallowed nervousness, the feeling of being watched by everybody, especially the security guards. He'd be fine. It wasn't as if anybody could possibly predict his actions. He was just a normal-looking American traveller. A tall, well-muscled man, just finished checking in his bags near the JAL booth, drifted towards a nearby bathroom, and he followed a moment afterwards. This was it.

There was another man in there as well, using the urinal. He suppressed a curse. There was a lot of people there, it wasn't surprising. But he couldn't keep going into and out of the bathroom, now could he? He went into a stall to wait, two away from his target. Nervousness overcame him. Was the man even going to Tokyo? What if he left first? What if someone came in as he was...he swallowed those thoughts. They'd just make him hesitant. There, the man from the urinal was washing his hands. He had left. It was time.

He realised he couldn't open the bathroom stall door from the outside. Of course he couldn't! All that planning, and he'd forgotten THAT? Stupid! He considered his options. He could boost himself up from the stall next to it...no, too risky, too easy to miss or even just hit him in the shoulder. If he made a commotion, it was all over. Better for him to miss this chance than to blow all future ones.

He waited impatiently, near the sink, listening almost desperately for the sounds within the stall. Someone walked by the door outside, but didn't enter. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the toilet flushed, there was the rustle of fabric. He walked forward swiftly, his hand reaching inside his jacket for the concealed pistol.

The man never had a chance. He was looking down, adjusting his grip on his bag, as he exited. He looked up, and his eyes had enough time to widen before the first bullet slammed into him, the suppressed barrel emitting only a small 'phut' sound. Then the second, and the third. All in the chest, slightly to the left of center. Not hard, at close range with some practice beforehand.

It seemed to have worked. The man slumped, bag falling from his fingers. Chris caught him and shoved him backwards to sprawl on the toilet, grabbing his bag and entering the stall himself, shutting the door behind them. Nobody had entered.

He couldn't feel the emptiness. He almost panicked, reaching for the gun again, then stopped, forcing himself to think reasonable. It took some time for someone to die like this. He hadn't shot him in the head. Give the brain time.

It took a few minutes, probably, but seemed like hours as he nervously paid attention to both the door and the other man. But finally, he felt it and nearly leaped into the new body, then immediately rose again, fighting the disorientation and steadying the old one. The gun fell from Roger's nerveless fingers, clattering, but luckily stayed within the stall. Still, nobody had entered.

A few minutes later, he emerged, sliding under the stall and exiting through the one next so he could leave the door closed. Roger's body was in there, with the gun. Some blood had been splashed around, but nothing visible from the outside. It'd be awhile before what had happened was discovered. He hoped. As long as the plane had already taken off, that should be good enough.

He had been lucky. This man - Greg - had been here alone, as he hoped. So nobody would notice that he was in fact wearing a somewhat loose new, dark shirt (which he had luckily thought to pack), the old one tied underneath soaking up the still-oozing blood from the wounds. And he was actually going to Tokyo, which was even better. Chris had been lucky...for a certain meaning of the word, he supposed.

He had shaken his head. There wasn't any point in berating himself. Yes, what he had done was horrible. And it was more horrible how EASY it had been to kill this last one. Maybe it was because he'd had a gun...maybe. He hoped that was it. But regardless, what was done was done. He'd have time to hate himself later. He needed to prepare himself, learn what he could, get ready to do what he had to. Once he had the body of Akane, a body that wouldn't be rotting to pieces underneath him, then he could relax. Then he'd have some time. He hoped.

And in the present, he stopped walking, cursed a little bit as he realised he's passed his goal, and began to backtrack. He had to stop doing that. He had to stay focused. He was so close. He couldn't screw up again. He HAD to do this. Especially now. Whatever that Ukyou-lookalike was, he needed to be able to fight it on equal terms to get some answers.

He hadn't been able to kill Akane. That frustrated him, but made him obscurely happy at the same time. He liked Akane. She was a genuinely good person. Of course, that only meant his knowledge of her, or of what he had read of her, had stopped him where it hadn't for the faceless, unknown people he had killed up until now. But still...he couldn't do it. That meant he hadn't totally lost himself yet? Right?

He shook his head. He'd killed four people. Three of them in cold blood. And now he was trying for his fifth. But he couldn't help it. Couldn't stop it. Or could he? Maybe he should have gone to Canada after all. Maybe he should have turned himself in. Roger, Greg, and Officer Takashita would still be alive, then. Had he chosen right in coming here instead?

Of course he had. He steeled himself. This was unnatural. And Japan was where all - or most - of the unnatural things happened. It was here he could find answers. Here he could find solutions.

And the proof of that he had already seen. That Ukyou-thing. She KNEW about him. She had to be mixed up in what had happened to him. Maybe she was a servant of whatever had done this to him. Maybe she WAS what had done this to him. He didn't know, but she obviously knew -something-. And he had to know that something. It had to be able to save him. Had to.

And all he had to do was murder one more person.

One more.

One.

01010

It was dark out when Ranma struggled awake. He groaned and sat up, placing a hand against his forehead. Something had hit him real hard while he was unconscious. Weirdly, though, he felt totally refreshed, like he had just slept for ten hours straight. Wait, what had happened? Where was he?

He was on a rooftop, somewhere in the city. The roof was just like a thousand others, with a small laundry line running from a nearby doorway to an antenna set up near the raised lip of the building. He sat up, looking around for landmarks, and almost immediately spotted Ukyou.

She was sitting against the squat hut that housed the door into the stairwell. Her legs spread before her and her spatula was lying a few centimeters from her outstretched hand. Her hair had fallen down over her face as her head nodded forward. She was still except for the occasional bob of her head.

"Ucchan?"

"Ranma..." Ukyou's voice came out coarse. She raised her head slightly and weakly lifted her hand to try and push the hair from her face, but then gave up after a second. "Oh screw it. I know you're alright. With the youma dead, your energy should have returned to you."

"Youma?" Ranma sprung to his feet. Something worried him about how tired Ukyou seemed. "What happened back at the bus? What was that crazy chick?"

"I think I shouldn't have spent so much energy getting you out of the bus when Pluto showed up," Ukyou coughed. Ranma blinked as a red spot appeared on Ukyou's pants. Now that he was getting closer, he could see a number of such red stains spread out across her clothes and the roof around her. "I think that pushed me over the edge."

"Ucchan!" Ranma raced forward, getting to her side in an instant. He pushed back her hair and took a long look at her face. She was grimacing in pain, lines of blood trickling from the corners of her lips. Similarly red stains were emerging from her nose and her ears. Disturbing red tears were falling down her cheeks from the edge of her eyes. "Holy...what happened to you!"

"I wish I knew..." Ukyou coughed and a bit more blood emerged. "This doesn't make any sense... all I did was tap into my reserves..." Ukyou sighed out the last few words as her eyes closed and she went still. For a moment Ranma panicked, then he saw her chest rising and falling and released a sigh.

"Ucchan?" Ranma frowned down at her. She didn't look good. Understatement. "Crap, I wish I knew what happened..." Ranma was scanning her body for some sign of injury, but aside from the obvious there was, well, nothing obvious. He couldn't do anything for her here. He looked up, and with a nod picked her up in his arms. If Ranma couldn't help her, he would just have to find someone who could.

01010

"Jadeite, before me!"

Jadeite materialized in Queen Beryl's throne room. The chamber was truly massive, shadows obscured the walls in all directions and a small army of featureless youma stood behind him, mindlessly chanting litanies of worship to Empress Metallia's name. He appeared on bent knee, head bowed and thus couldn't see her expression at first. He could imagine it, however. In his mind's eye, he could see her pale skin pulled back in a vicious snarl of annoyance so that her fangs were exposed. Her long red hair would be waving in the air behind her, and her hands gesturing impatiently over her glowing crystal orb.

"Well Jadeite, it appears you failed again, and this time yet another of those Sailor Senshi has appeared to oppose us."

"Yes, my queen, and this is even worse than it appears. The new Senshi is Pluto, the Guardian of the Time Gates," Jadeite admitted ruefully. He was annoyed with himself for fleeing at the first sign of the green-haired Senshi. But he knew he was no match for her power in one on one combat. Apparently the annoyance leaked into his tone, since Queen Beryl laughed in her vaguely disturbing manner.

"So, the famous Sailor Pluto finally sets foot outside her precious Gates of Time," Beryl hissed. "It is of no matter, she knew better than to meddle in our affairs when the Moon Kingdom fell. If she tries to stand in our way this time, Empress Metallia will crush her under heel like the rest of these pathetic humans." There was a pregnant pause that Jadeite knew better than to interrupt. "But that still does not excuse your failure."

"Actually, my Queen, I think my failure today has given me insight into how to further our plans even faster than before," Jadeite called out as he raised his head to look at her. Beryl looked intrigued, but from the way she was snapping her hands over her crystal ball, he knew her patience was thin.

"Very well, Jadeite. Explain your plan to me, but this had better be good," the Queen ordered haughtily.

"It wasn't Sailor Pluto who was responsible for my loss," Jadeite explained quickly. "There were humans there, humans with a great deal of energy. Two of them alone had more energy in their bodies then four dozen of the ones I had been targeting up until then. One was even so strong that after I drained him of most of his power, he still destroyed my servant Kigan in hand to hand combat."

"What? This can not be! No mere human could have such strength," the Queen cried in annoyance. A murmur of assent emerged from the horde of nameless monsters behind Jadeite.

"I know it's hard to believe, my queen," Jadeite agreed. "But I saw it with my own eyes. If I manage to drain the life force from even a few of these humans, we will have a surplus of energy to revive the Empress." Jadeite smiled. He knew exactly which humans he would start with, as well. Nobody said he couldn't combine work with pleasure. And revenge was the best pleasure of all.

"Very well," Queen Beryl sat back in her throne and frowned down at him. "I will allow you to carry out this new plan. You had best hope it pays off well, Jadeite."

Jadeite nodded and stood up so he could bow properly. "You have no need to worry, my queen. I will enjoy this duty," he pointed out. As he raised himself up he teleported away. Already thoughts of how best to capitalise on his new insight into humanity were running through his brain.

01010

Kodachi Kunou strode briskly through the hallways of her home. In times when other, lesser, people could see her she deigned to affect a more sedate and ladylike stride, but rarely bothered with such empty frivolities when she was alone. Her time was precious and best not wasted on meandering from location to location. The sky outside had darkened and what few servants that her family kept had already retired for the night, so Kodachi was unconcerned with any of them seeing her. Not that they would have spoken of her nocturnal habits if they did see. She laughed softly into her hand in gleeful rememberance of the vengeance she had exacted on the last fool who had spoken out of turn about her.

Kodachi made it to her room with little incident. Her errand tonight had been rather simple, only a few drops of a new and exotic narcotic dripped into her brother's ear as he lay sleeping. She looked forward to seeing the results the next day. Maybe for once he would shut up about that Tendo girl and that Kuonji boy. It would certainly make breakfast interesting, a thing it had failed to be in far too long a time.

The room she entered was both elegantly extravagant and disappointingly incomplete. Kodachi had spared no expense in decoration. She had an extravagant four-poster bed, surrounded by diaphanous curtains. Her vanity was carved of the finiest teak by expert artisans commissioned especially for the project (and Kodachi had thoughtfully broken their fingers to ensure its uniqueness once it was completed). Wall hangings adorned the walls in just the perfect places, all depicting western-themed betrayals and romances. It was the perfect boudoir for the perfect romantic tryst. It was truly unfortunate that Kodachi lacked a suitable paramour to engage in it with.

She sighed elaborately and made her way to her bed. Sixteen years old, and still untried in the courts of love. What hell it was to be doomed to stay within the confines of a virtual nunnery! How was she expected to attract her Prince Charming if she could only practice her arts of deception on the members of the fairer sex? It was a tragedy of epic proportions.

She was half-way undressed when the noise attracted her attention. She frowned. That was no normal nighttime sound. It was sharp and loud, resounding with a dreadful echo. She stepped towards her doorway, dropping her outer layer of clothing so she could move unhindered in her leotard. This was a curiosity. She checked her person for her hidden weapons and stepped out into the hallway again.

The sound had come from the back yard and Kodachi made great haste in that direction. She resisted to urge to laugh to herself as she moved. It was only a short minute after she had first heard it that she emerged into the back yard. The garden was quiet, except for the lapping of waves in Midorigame's pool. The noise might have awakened her pet crocodile, so Kodachi made her way in that direction first. The only light was the gibbous moon overhead, and thus the entire area was cloaked in shadows.

Kodachi alighted on the short stone bridge over her pet's home. She could see her crocodile floating in the water beneath her, a darker shade amid the shadows. She called to it, but there was no response. She frowned again. Kodachi was not pleased with her beast's lack of response. She had raised that monster from a hatchling to obey and revere her. With a soft sigh she unfurled her gymnastics robbon and snatched the reptile with it. A sharp tug and the beast floated in her direction.

Something was wrong. Even if the creature was asleep, it should have reacted to that, but it remained as stiff as a log. Now that it was closer she could see a spray of fluid across her animal's head. It was surrounding a small hole...

Kodachi leaned in closer to investigate when the figure burst from the water at her. She only had a moment to not that it was clad in blue and definitely male before he was upon her. She let out a short cry and lashed out, snapping her ribbon in a defensive arc. The slash caught the man across the neck and sent him spiraling into the water. He landed atop the all-too-still body of her pet and lay motionless.

Kodachi paused to catch her breath. Well, that had been most vexing, but it appeared to be over now. She looked over the man in the pond. He was wearing a police uniform, complete with pistol. His back was to her, so she could do little to see his features. She couldn't be sure if he was unconscious or dead, for he was far too still to be injured. It was as she examined him that she remembered the sound from earlier. A gunshot? Yes, now that she was able to look at her leisure, she saw one of the man's legs had been ravaged by Midorigame's teeth.

A quick scenario sketched itself out in her mind. The man had snuck in, but not counted on her faithful pet. Then it had caught him by surprise. With his leg being chewed on, he had used his pistol to dispatch her crocodile. Then she had arrived and the man, still in the pond, had hidden beneath the surface planning to surprise her. She allowed her head to dip backward and laughed long and hard. The pitiful fool had not counted on encountering a maiden worthy of battle, instead of a girl barely able to defend herself.

As she finished her laughter she hopped down to the side of the pond. She allowed herself to smile, cruelly and arrogantly. The man had best hope she had finished what Midorigame had started, or she would not allow him to escape so easily from her vengeance. The fool had dared harm one of HER possessions... he deserved whatever he received in payment. So, she would have to check first, to see what had happened to him.

Moving gingerly she stepped up to her waist into the pond. She had exchanged her ribbon for a baton, one of her specially prepared ones. She reached forward and jostled the man with her free hand, but he didn't move. He wasn't, she noted after a moment, even breathing, and his neck was twisted at an unnatural angle. Kodachi sighed. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She had never killed anyone before, but she didn't feel any guilt or remorse over it, either. It was simply...unsatisfying. She looked more closely at the man, searching for the expression on his face. Perhaps it would show something? His body was sprawled across the mass of her dead pet, with one hand clasping firmly onto Midorigame's collar...

Wait.

That hand had not been on the collar when he had first landed. She was quite sure of that. She leaned in, and then the seemingly lifeless hand jerked suddenly, pulling on the collar. Her eyes widened, and she had a split second to remember the boobytrap she had implanted into the collar before

01010

So that was what it felt like to be electrocuted. It wasn't pleasant, as far as he could tell in the one-step-removed way he perceived such things. Not entirely unlike being shot, actually. A hard jolt. Heh, how appropriate.

Chris swung himself off the body of the crocodile, the smell of roasting meat - not just crocodile - rising faintly to his nostrils. Must've...yes, his "good" leg had been dangling in the water. Well, better than his whole being in the water, as he had planned. He'd have been pretty toasty, if so. Kodachi, it seemed, did not play around when it came to normal humans. As if the late, lamented Midorigame itself wasn't deterrent enough.

There was no movement from the darkened house. Kodachi had screamed, briefly, as the massive electric shock from the collar had coursed through her. But it wasn't that loud...he hoped. No lights turning on, though, no answering shouts...it looked like he was safe. Kunou must be a sound sleeper. Or maybe he just ignored his sister. Speaking of...

Kodachi was floating, face up, in the waters of the pond. Her baton had floated away, out of her reach. She was twitching a bit. Still alive, but definitely unconscious. He expected nothing less from a trap strong enough to knock out Ranma at full charge. Thank goodness for his encyclopediac knowledge of the manga. It would come in handy. In fact, he really ought to make a journal and stash it somewhere, writing down every detail he could remember, so he could reference it. That way, hopefully, he wouldn't forget anything important, though the faux-Ukyou's presence had already ensured things were going to alter significantly as time went on. Not to mention what he was about to do.

What he was about to do. Steeling himself, he moved away from the body of the crocodile and towards Kodachi. He stumbled a bit...Midorigame had really mangled Officer Takashita's leg. But the leg was necessary bait to get the head of the crocodile at close range. Japanese police officer sidearms were insultingly poor, so that was the only sure way to do the job, albeit a somewhat risky one. He hadn't really wanted to chance being devoured.

But Kodachi's superhuman body would significantly reduce the chances of that, wouldn't it? And here she was, unconscious and helpless, floating in a pond. Exactly as he'd planned.

So why was he hesitating?

Because he KNEW Kodachi. Just like Akane. And no matter how little sense it made, it was a lot harder to kill someone you knew - or felt like you knew - than some faceless victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And there was no stress, no pressure of time...there was nothing stopping him from just leaving, leaving her here, letting her live.

Except he couldn't. His gun was empty and abandoned in the dark water. His body was mauled. He couldn't even hope to pass for a living person by this point. If he didn't kill her, he'd not get another chance...he'd have to settle for a normal body. And that meant he wouldn't be able to confront the faux- Ukyou. And he had to do that. He had to get the answers.

So Kodachi had to die. He stood over her, and with a motion that surprised him with its suddenness, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her under the water. She might wake up. If she did, he was probably doomed. Maybe not. Who knew how Kodachi might react to an undead? Maybe she'd take a fancy to him, want him as a servant. That'd be better then being ripped to pieces by her. It wasn't if he'd be too put out if he whipped or stabbed him or whatever she did to servants. And she'd probably be happy to provide opportunities for fresh bodies. Or would she? Kodachi wasn't the most fully- fleshed-out of the Ranma characters. He knew she was insane, insane enough that Ranma and his friends usually reacted with fear to her appearances. But was she actually a potential killer? Hard to say, Takahashi wouldn't cover ground like that...

The matter, he felt by the void he felt yawning beneath him, had been rendered moot. Already? How long had he been thinking, his brain - his? no, not his, but his thoughts nonetheless - compensating, dwelling on anything other than what he was doing? He felt slightly ashamed. You'd think he'd be used to killing by about the half-dozenth victim, wouldn't you?

Looking down, he saw her dimly in the water. She looked peaceful. Not that he could really make out the details of her expression. She felt peaceful. Her posture was. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. But the deed was done. He couldn't turn back time and undo it. He could only go on. If he was right, this would be the last one. If he was right, he'd be able to save himself and others before this body wore out. If he was right.

But he'd have to move as soon as possible. There'd be a lot of training and memories to experience by the morning. Knowing this, he cast his doubts aside. There was work to do.

He sent his spirit out, falling towards his goal.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Epsilon: At this point, we'd like to thank our prereaders.

Blade: Yes, Jenn and Rob, thank you for prereading! We'd thank Talen too, but he never actually made it to chapter 3. Anyway, in sign of our gratitude, they get cameos in this chapter! Whee!

Epsilon: Please ignore the fact that the plotline more or less dictated that they make cameos no matter what.

Blade: Well, okay, then that means they made cameos and we didn't KILL THEM. Happy?

Epsilon: Not particularly, but then again, I'm me.

Blade: Which was a major theme in this chapter! See, these things are relevent!

Epsilon: And maybe now people will stop asking "what's going on", since if it isn't crystal clear what's going on by now, we've utterly failed.

Blade: Not that that will stop us from forging on ahead, because goddamnit, we're going to finish SOMETHING in our lifetimes.

Epsilon: Other than that, that's pretty much it, I guess...there's no new special moves for me to explain or translate, anyway.

Blade: Well, it's been said by some acronym-for-name people that our banter here is too pretentiously self-absorbed. But that makes perfect sense for this chapter, where pretentious self-absorption was the theme!

Epsilon: That's not exactly going to win over the readers, Blade.

Blade: Well, try this: after this chapter, you will never again get a chapter 50% composed of flashbacks to our semi-real lives.

Epsilon: This would be a good place to make fun of Evangelion.

Blade: Yes. It would, wouldn't it?

Epsilon: Because if there's one popular series that's all about pretentious self-absorption...

Blade: It's Saint Seiya!

Epsilon: No, no, I'm talking about the one that all the fanboys insist is deep and meaningful, when really it's just...

Blade: Earth Girl Arjuna!

Epsilon: No, no, the one with all that absurd "symbolism" that...

Blade: Lain?

Epsilon: Fine. Lain. Whatever.

Blade: But I -like- Lain!

Epsilon: And that just says a great deal about you, doesn't it?

Blade: Uh...no, not really.

Epsilon: Quiet, you, I'm trying to sound wise.

Blade: Wow, this time it really was pretentiously self-absorbed. Uh, we'll try to do better next time! And never again will a chapter be focused so much on Chris and Aaron, without all the cool anime characters you actually care about being involved!

Epsilon: Unless it is.

Blade: But anyway, you'll want to tune in to the next chapter for sure! Why? BIG FIGHT SCENE! What else?

**NUDITY!**

Epsilon: No nudity.

Blade: Well, okay, just a big fight, then. And c'mon, anyone who reads us must have some appreciation for that, right? Not to mention angst!

Epsilon: Angst and fight scenes! They make fics good!

Blade: The only things that would make it better are explosions.

Epsilon: And Kero-chan.

Blade: And flashing clips of gore. But now we're devoling into pretentious self-absorption (or at least in-jokes) again, so why don't we just leave you with your SNEAK PREVIEW from the next chapter?

Nabiki had never regained consciousness after being knocked out before, and she noted with some annoyance that she didn't like it much. Her head hurt, for one thing. Her mouth was also filled with some terrible aftertaste. It was probably the result of whatever drug she had been slipped. There really was no other explanation, unless everyone in her family had come down with a sudden case of fainting sickness.

She resisted the urge to swear as she opened her eyes. She was in some anonymous room, not really traditional Japanese style. There were no windows, and instead of a paper screen there was a solid-looking wooden door. She arched her aching head around, trying to get a good view of things. Where the hell was she? She tried to stand up, but found herself instead toppling over onto her side.

She blinked and looked down, noticing that her legs were tied with some sort of cloth around the ankles. A quick tug with her arms confirmed that those were tied behind her back at the wrist. A few seconds of futile struggle followed before Nabiki was forced to conclude that she was quite securely bound. She beat back her panic with a few choice curses, not bothering to try and cover them up now. As she did she twisted and bounced her body back into a sitting position.

Oh, whoever did this was going to pay. Nabiki didn't know how yet, but she was sure of that.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 4: Lying From You


	4. Lying From You

Greetings, I am the rising young star of the high school kendo world, the one they call the Blue Thunder, and your gracious narrator, the noble, handsome and intelligent Tatewaki Kunou. Age Seventeen.

Apparently last chapter dwelled mainly on the lives of two peasants who managed to be both not me, and not interacting with me, at the same time. In fact, if I am to understand this correctly, I did not even appear last chapter! But I have faith, for is not my divine providence such that I can not help but fail to not appear? Truly, it is my fate that the pitiful lives of these pathetic beings shall lead up to events which only I can properly address in a satisfactory manner!

Therefore, I shall tell you, my adoring public, of what transpired. First, that horrid deceitful wizard Ukyou Kuonji went through elaborate preparations to make the readers think she was a woman (this involved taking off all her clothes... and she... uh... moving on...). Shortly thereafter Ukyou fell asleep and had terrible dreams, proving she is not a girl because they did not involve me in any way. It appeared in this dream she is actually somebody named "Aaron" and he died along with a young man named "Chris" in a horrible car accident.

Then we learned that Chris was not truly aware of this, but had woken up in the body of a shambling corpse that used to be a indigent living off the street in some place that isn't Japan. As if any place that isn't Japan could truly matter. Probably more of Aaron's foul sorcery, I say. Chris was reflecting on this while lying in a storm drain, which appears to be one of his hobbies, not that I shall pass judgement upon this. The poor must do something to pass their lives away, I suppose. It appears he killed a fine young woman named Sheila in a madness induced by the decay of his body, after which he found himself in HER body instead. Uh... moving on... I shall have to remember to smite him for that.

Yes, I fully intend to remember all this.

Chris, intending to find asylum with the government of whatever country he comes from, went shopping for shoes, for the fine young woman's high-heeled shoes with which she had been innocently standing on a street corner with, were apparently not up to his satisfaction. At least not after he broke them. So he went to a department store to purchase new ones, and decided for some fool reason that this was what he considered the past, and that furthermore this was a comic book, or some such. Apparently, the madness had not yet left him.

Aaron (who claims to be Ukyou) had used trickery to befriend my dear love Akane and... some pompous ass named Ranma, whomever he is. Aaron planned to traverse to city to accost some young women named the Sailor Senshi. Thankfully, he left with only Ranma and thus I feel less a need to visit holy vengeance upon him for taking my Akane away from my magnificent presence overlong.

Apparently Aaron (or Ukyou) quite loves Ranma. Which, aside from being strange in itself, just makes getting between me and my tigress all the more unforgiveable. He pondered this before arriving at the temple where the Sailor Senshi usually meet. There, he ran into a fine chap named Jadeite. Of course, Ukyou and Ranma were quite rude to Jadeite when they met, despite his humble manner and polite greetings. He can hardly be blamed for sending one of his servants to correct their manners, can he not?

Despite a valiant fight wherein the Saotome boy was laid low straight away, the servant was defeated by the mysterious evil power that dwells in Aaron's dark soul. A good-hearted woman named Sailor Pluto tried to punish him for this, but the coward ran away. Sailor Pluto seems to think that Aaron, or Ukyou, shall destroy the universe.

Nonsense. I am here.

After this, the dead boy Chris pointed out how he desired power (apparently so his bodies would last longer before rotting), and the only way he could get it was killing his betters. So he remembered how he had done that with a series of innocents before coming to Tokyo. I also learned that apparently Aaron's dark power causes him personal harm. Something I will put to good use in our next confrontation!

Then Chris killed my sister, Kodachi. Filial loyalty compels me to point out how much of a tragedy this was and...

What?

She'll never hear any of this?

Well, shit! Then I just want to tell that bitch once and for all that-

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 4: Lying From You

Akane yawned and stretched as she stepped out of her room. She had already put on her school uniform and brushed her long hair until it looked fine, at least in her opinion. She ran her hand through the dark locks as she wandered down the stairs to where Kasumi was setting up breakfast. Doing so reminded her that it had been a long time since she had seen Doctor Tofu. In fact, she had barely even thought of him much in the last three or four days. She guessed it was forgivable, with everything that had happened since Ukyou and Ranma had stepped into her life. But she reminded herself firmly that she was going to take some time after school to go and see him. Maybe she could even arrange for Ukyou to give her a nice bruise or scrape in one of their sparring sessions...

"Hey Akane," Nabiki drawled from the table. "Your boyfriend's famous."

"What? Who?" Akane blinked and looked at the table. Her father was sitting at his usual position at the head, reading his daily paper. Genma, whose face drew a snarl to Akane's lips, was sitting next to him. Nabiki was the only other person at the table now, since Kasumi was busy in the kitchen. Which meant that Ranma wasn't here. Which meant he was...where?

"Take a look," Nabiki pointed at the paper in Dad's hand. Akane sat down, allowing her puzzlement to show on her face. That didn't last long as she got her first good look at the huge banner headline and the equally large picture underneath it.

MYSTERY BOY SAVES BUS FULL OF SCHOOOLGIRLS FROM MONSTER!

Underneath the huge block letters was a picture of Ukyou. The girl in boy's clothing was fighting... something. At first Akane thought it was a human being, but no human had a face like that. It was a monster, like the headline claimed, a grotesque parody of a woman with a fanged maw and deadly claws. In the picture Ukyou was catching the thing's kick on the shaft of her combat spatula, a grimace of concentration on her face.

"I don't believe it..." Akane said after a moment, at a loss to say much of anything else.

"Neither do I really," Nabiki buffed her nails on her blouse and shrugged. "I mean, magical curses are one thing. Monsters that capture schoolgirls and drag them off to another dimension for who-knows-what?" The way Nabiki emphasized the last words, she most definitely had an idea 'who-knows- what' was and thought it was rather naughty. Akane opened her mouth to scold her, realized Nabiki hadn't technically said anything wrong, and closed it again.

"No, that I can believe," Akane said with a shrug. "After all, the police officer she saved me from wasn't even human either." The rest of the table stared at her, but she hastily continued before any of them could ask any questions. "What I can't believe is that she DITCHED me! Again! This is twice she's run off to confront some horrible evil danger and left me behind!"

"And you're complaining about this?" Nabiki pointed out, rolling her eyes. Akane could only grunt and cross her arms, mentally revising her earlier plan: she was going to give UKYOU a few bruises and scrapes as an excuse to go see Doctor Tofu later.

"Well I think it's wonderful," Dad called from behind the paper. He rolled it up in one hand and placed it on the floor beside him, beaming a cheerful smile at her. It was the same smile he used to give Akane when she learned a new form of the Anything Goes school. "You've certainly found a wonderful young man to be betrothed to!"

"Betrothed!" Akane blurted out. She felt heat rush to her cheeks but she scowled. The idea of -dating- Ukyou still made Akane a little queasy, even if it was fake. That her father... oh god, what if he found out the truth about Ukyou and Genma? Then Akane would be really in trouble. He didn't seem to mind that Ranma was half-girl when it came to fobbing the boy off on Nabiki. Then again, he might not mind that Ukyou was one hundred percent girl if her special past came up. Thinking about that reminded Akane to glare at Genma again, who gave her a puzzled frown in return. What a pig, she mentally snarled, before turning her nose up at him.

"Breakfast!"

Kasumi came into the room with a tray of breakfast foods. It wasn't anything special, just miso, rice and a few pickles, but Akane didn't mind. Unlike some people - and here she specifically cited Ranma - she had the decency to be grateful for what was given to her. Thinking that, she remembered to thank Kasumi especially enthusiastically when the food was served in front of her. Her eldest sister blushed a bit at the praise but waved it off. She then stepped away and went into the kitchen to retrieve her own food.

"Well, it hardly matters about your fiance now," Dad pointed out. Akane groused at the presumption but said nothing. Sometimes it was best to let her father live in his own fantasy world. Besides, if she protested too much they might not think she and Ukyou were a couple, and then she could be in Nabiki's position. "What's important is the lack of Nabiki's fiancee." Speaking of...

"Maybe he just ran out on me?" Nabiki said with a shrug, but her voice contained an equal mix of wistful hope and sarcasm.

"Ranma would never do that!" Genma defended his so-called son. "He is as dedicated to the family's honor as I am!" His words came out slightly distorted, because he was halfway through his own rice at the time. Taking this as her cue, Akane dug into her own bowl. The rest of the family followed her lead.

"If you say so..." Nabiki commented as she finished one of her bites. "I just think he might not be ready for a relationship with an actual girl."

"What do you mean by that?" Akane snapped. Nabiki looked at her oddly, and Akane closed her mouth. Of course, nobody here, besides Genma and her obviously, knew about Ukyou's true gender. That couldn't have been a sly insult. Nabiki opened her mouth, presumably to ask Akane what she meant, and the younger sister began to try to formulate a reasonable response.

Thump.

Akane and Nabiki turned to see Genma with his head face-down in the miso soup. Akane opened her mouth to ask if he was okay, but no words came out. It felt like her tongue had swollen up and turned into cotton. Her vision grew blurry, the lights seeming to both dim and flare at the same time. The room, it was spinning and spinning and Akane saw the table rushing up to greet her face-

01010

It was almost too easy. Slip down from the roof. Only one person up...Kasumi, of course, having just dropped her own plate of food, staring in presumable shock at everyone else's involuntary reaction to the drugged rice. Whip out a baton, rap her smartly on the back of the skull. She never knew what hit her.

Watching Kasumi Tendo crumple unconscious to the ground gave Chris a surge of only slightly guilt-tinged satisfaction. So much for fanfic canon. Ooooh, nobody can hurt Kasumi! Well, THIS undead possessing spirit sure could! Not that she was really hurt, aside from maybe a lump on the head, but it was the thought that counted.

He looked around the room. Everyone else was definitely nicely unconscious already. Ah, Kodachi's extensive practice in chemical warfare was an excellent skill to know, indeed. There was Soun, Nabiki, Akane, Genma...

Genma. Just Genma. But no Ranma.

A sliver of fear ran through him. Was Ranma here? At this house? Somehow not at breakfast? That didn't make sense. He'd planned on the possibility of Ranma being there, but of course, had expected he'd eat the drugged rice. He certainly couldn't hope to fight Ranma.

But he wasn't coming. Maybe...he hadn't done anything too out of the ordinary for Kodachi yet. Ranma didn't like hitting girls. If he was around, Chris could talk his way out of this. If he was around. Better find out. He crept up the stairs...man, it was weird, actually being IN the Tendo Dojo, cute little signs on the girl's doors and all.

There was the room. He was sure of it. It was nearly bare, that lamp hanging from the ceiling, two futons...and two big backpacks. Just like he remembered. But Ranma wasn't there.

That proved he at least lived there, though. So why wasn't he here? He certainly hadn't left early for school. Walking back down to the dining room, he considered, then shrugged. Ukyou. Had to be. As the only changed variable in the equation so far, the faux-Ukyou almost had to be the culprit. Which meant...what? Had she anticipated his plan and removed her most powerful potential ally? Maybe. But probably not. Probably it was something unrelated. Hopefully. But either way, he'd better get his business over with quickly, because Ranma - or Ukyou - coming back early was a dangerous possibility.

He swiftly tied Akane and Nabiki up in ribbon - whee, how kinky - and dragged them out of the room. Then he placed the carefully prepared note on the center of the table. Good thing he'd accounted for the possibility of Ranma being there, at least. How the faux-Ukyou responded to this would tell him a lot about how much she really knew, and how smart she was.

Finally, with a spin that he had never done before but simultaneously had performed hundred of times, he twirled his ribbon around himself, spraying black rose petals all over the room and the unconscious remaining occupants of the house. It seemed RIGHT to laugh along with it...and why not? It was kind of cool to be able to laugh like that, anyway.

Then he picked up his two captives and bounded away. Time enough to learn where Ranma and Ukyou might be once his bait had been properly secured.

01010

Ranma blinked and opened his eyes. Something had prompted him awake, and he sat up rubbing his eyes as he tried to figure out what that was. His back hurt a bit from having slept hunched over on the chair all night, but that wasn't what had woken him up. Neither was the vague grumbling that reminded him he hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday. It was something moving next to him, or very near him. Something that was making a great deal of noise.

His vision started to clear and he looked to his left. It was Ukyou, and she didn't look good. She was awake, or almost so, but her eyes had rolled back into her head and her body was thrashing around like a fish out of water. A shallow froth was forming along the edge of her lips, and her head kept jerking around. For a few seconds, all Ranma could do was stare in shock at the sight. Then he jumped from his chair, grabbing onto her shoulders.

"Ucchan! Snap out of it!" he shouted, jostling her, but she only rolled her eyes over him without even the slightest hint of acknowledgement. She continued to jerk and gyrate in place, her mouth opening and closing as strange half-formed words erupted from her mouth. "Doctor! Come quick! I need a doctor!"

Ranma continued to call out as he backed away from the girl. She seemed to be doing nothing to hurt herself, but Ranma had no idea what to do. Finally a nurse rushed into the room, drawn by his shouts. She was a short dark-haired girl in a modest uniform, and had a harried look about her.

"Sir, calm down for a moment and tell me-"

"Ukyou won't stop uh... what you call it, what she's doing!" Ranma cut her off as he stepped away from his childhood friend and indicated her with one hand. The nurse took one look at the thrashing girl and stepped forward to check her over.

"How long has she been like this?" the nurse asked brusquely.

"I don't know, I just woke up when she started I guess, a few seconds ago..." Ranma trailed off, unsure what to say.

"I need you to go get a doctor and-" she cut off as Ukyou gasped suddenly, her back arching. Then the girl on the bed visibly relaxed. Her eyes focused on the ceiling and her arms and legs stilled. She took a few more deep breaths.

"Ucchan? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ranma," Ukyou breathed out slowly. She certainly didn't look fine. She sat up slowly in bed, only to find her path barred as the nurse placed a gentle hand on her stomach to restrain her.

"I'm afraid you can't get up just yet, miss," the nurse pointed out. "You just had a form of seizure or convulsion."

"I see," Ukyou said with a frown as she laid back again. "If you say so, nurse..." Ukyou let her eyes focus on the ceiling again. Her face had become that cold, expressionless mask.

"You don't seem surprised," the nurse pointed out slowly as she looked at the few devices hooked up to Ukyou. There were all kinds of medical stuff attached to his best buddy that Ranma couldn't even begin to describe, much less explain the purpose of. "Have you had these kinds of fits before?"

Ukyou took a long time answering the question. "Yes, but you don't have to worry about it. I have medication for the convulsions, but it is back at my apartment."

"Medication? What kind?"

"Anti-epileptics," Ukyou said with a shrug. "I'm not sure of the full name." The nurse frowned at this, but nodded and made a note on the chart hanging from the wall near Ukyou. "I think I was brought in here because I fainted?"

"Yes, your friend brought you in late last night," the nurse pointed out. She flipped through the pages of her chart. "You were suffering from massive blood loss, subdermal hematomas and... oh dear, you suffered some sort of massive attack. You were bleeding from burst capillaries in the mouth, nose, eyes, lungs and throughout most of your body."

"Indeed..." Ukyou sighed and raised her arm up to look at it. There was still a slight purpling around her limbs. "So, how am I doing now?"

"Fine," the nurse said. "I should have a doctor speak to you about it, but from all appearances, your bleeding stopped quickly. You had a transfusion, and now you should be alright."

"I thought as much," Ukyou nodded.

"Let me go get a doctor, he can talk with you more about this," the nurse offered as she walked out of the room. Ranma released a sigh as she left and sat down in the chair he had vacated earlier.

"Are you okay, Ucchan?"

"Hmm? Ranma?" Ukyou turned and looked at him. "You're...here." She seemed faintly surprised, as if she had just noticed him there.

"Yeah! Of course I am! Did you think I was going to abandon you?" Ukyou smiled a little bit at that and chuckled softly. There was a slight flush in her cheeks when she responded.

"No, I don't suppose I did." She looked at the towel laid out on the bedside table Ranma had been using as a pillow. "You really were here all night. How did you manage that?"

"Ain't nobody tellin' me I can't stay in the same room as my hurt friend!" Ranma blustered a bit. Then he sighed again and felt his face drop. "Ukyou, are you really okay? What happened to you last night? What happened earlier? I have a feeling you don't have any drugs to take care of this."

Ukyou cast an eye over her shoulder at the door and shrugged. "You're right, Ranma. I just said that to throw them off the scent. They couldn't treat what I have. It... remember my curse Ranma?"

"The one that means you can't act like a girl?"

"That one exactly," Ukyou said as she turned her eyes back to the ceiling. "What you saw last night, and just a few moments ago, were both caused by my curse."

"Geez!" Ranma blinked. "And I thought I had it bad. You mean you can bleed and have a convolution-"

"Convulsion," Ukyou corrected him.

"Whatever," he waved that aside. She knew what he meant. "You can have all that because of what happened to you?"

"Indeed," Ukyou answered dourly. "But that's for later. For now, I have to find a way to get them to discharge me quickly. I don't want a bunch of doctors running tests on me for stuff they'll never find."

"I see," Ranma blinked. "But you're still hurt."

"I'm fine, Ranma," Ukyou said with a shrug. "I think I recovered all my strength last night."

"Are you certain, I mean..."

"Ranma! I'm fine, really," Ukyou sighed and placed her hands over her face. "What I have, modern science can't help me with. I just... I just want to get out of here. Hospitals depress me."

"Why?"

She went silent for a moment. "My father died in a room just like this. it was only five or six months ago."

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Don't be, he died in his sleep."

"Wow. That must suck, losing your dad like that..."

"Indeed..." Ukyou sighed into her hands then pulled them away from her face. "Ranma... remind me to take you on a little trip when we get back to Nerima."

"A little trip?"

"There's someone I want you to meet," Ukyou sat up, the blanket falling from her shoulders. Underneath she was clad only in a green hospital gown. Ranma blinked as he saw the swell of her breasts underneath the sterile fabric. "But I think I'll leave it a surprise for now. Let's just concentrate on getting back to Nerima as quickly as possible first."

"If you say so," Ranma shrugged and scratched the back of his neck. He casually made sure he was looking in any direction but at Ukyou, who was still mainly focused on the ceiling. One of these days, he swore he would figure out what was actually going on with her.

01010

Nabiki had never regained consciousness after being knocked out before, and she noted with some annoyance that she didn't like it much. Her head hurt, for one thing. Her mouth was also filled with some terrible aftertaste. It was probably the result of whatever drug she had been slipped. There really was no other explanation, unless everyone in her family had come down with a sudden case of fainting sickness.

She resisted the urge to swear as she opened her eyes. She was in some anonymous room, not really traditional Japanese style. There were no windows, and instead of a paper screen there was a solid-looking wooden door. She arched her aching head around, trying to get a good view of things. Where the hell was she? She tried to stand up, but found herself instead toppling over onto her side.

She blinked and looked down, noticing that her legs were tied with some sort of cloth around the ankles. A quick tug with her arms confirmed that those were also tied, behind her back at the wrist. A few seconds of futile struggle followed before Nabiki was forced to conclude that she was quite securely bound. She beat back her panic with a few choice curses, not bothering to try and cover them up now. As she did she twisted and bounced her body back into a sitting position.

Oh, whoever did this was going to pay. Nabiki didn't know how yet, but she was sure of that.

"Hey! Come here and get me out of these!" Nabiki yelled as loud as she could. She wasn't sure how thick the walls were, but yelling made her feel better. There was no immediate response so Nabiki repeated herself, annoyed at the dry aftertaste that left her voice slightly harsh and panicked-sounding. She took another deep cleansing breath before yelling a third time. After that she groaned and leaned back.

There was nothing to do but sit and wait now. If her first few yells hadn't caught the right attention, then a dozen more would not do much better. Besides, yelling was exacerbating her headache. Nabiki tried to rub her temples, before rediscovering that she was tied up. She settled for groaning.

Time passed. Nabiki spent it fidgeting and staring at the walls, trying to combat the dull pain and the even more dull boredom. She mainly did this by imagining various elaborate and exquisite revenge schemes she would launch once this was finished. Then there was movement at the door. Nabiki snapped her head up as her presumable captor stepped into the room.

The girl who entered moved with a haughty grace that was matched by her cold beauty. She was tall, with imperious features well-accented by lightly applied makeup. Her black hair was tied back in a pony-tail that fell to the small of her back, and she was clad only in a form-fitting black leotard cut high on the hips. She was carrying a huge sack tossed over her shoulder with one hand, barely getting it through the door unobstructed.

She saw Nabiki was awake and smiled. It was an expression that utterly failed to reach her unblinking eyes. She carefully placed the bag on the floor. "Ah, Miss Tendo, I see you've awakened." Her voice was cool and elegant.

"I see you know my name. Can I know yours, so that the police can put the proper one on the arrest warrant?" Nabiki tried to inject as much acid and false bravado as she could into her voice. That sack looked really heavy, and she hadn't failed to notice that this mystery girl hefted it with one hand. Nabiki lived with the former martial arts champion of Furinkan High...she knew exactly what a properly trained fighter could do. She wasn't, however, about to let that show on her face.

The woman shifted her grip on the bag and moved it into the corner. It made a sound like many tiny metallic objects striking each other. "I'm surprised you don't know my name, Miss Tendo. Perhaps you're not as well-informed as you think." She flashed an insincere smile. "I am Kodachi Kunou. I believe you are acquainted with my brother...in fact, you're in the same class, are you not?"

"Tatewaki?" Nabiki blinked. Well, that explained some things. Nabiki did her best to shrug, a much harder process when you were bound than it looked. "I think you have the wrong sister. Akane is the one your brother is after."

"Oh no no no, Miss Tendo, I know EXACTLY who I have, and why." Her voice lost some of its haughty edge and took on a level of cold malice as she continued. She leaned forward, practically in Nabiki's face. "I want to ask you a few questions about someone you're also acquainted with. Someone by the name of Ukyou Kuonji." Nabiki refused to be intimidated, but found herself wishing she didn't have to stare into those hard, soulless eyes.

"Once again, wrong sister. Akane is the one dating Mr. Heroic Stranger, not me."

"And because of that, your knowledge is more valuable to me. You are the one who can tell me the facts, unswayed by emotions, or a willingness to protect the individual involved even at a risk to yourself."

Nabiki didn't like the implied threat. She liked even less the growing certainty in the back of her mind that this girl was capable of acting it out. She bit the inside of her cheek surreptitiously, and really wished she didn't have to look at those eyes anymore. They never wavered or blinked. The pupils didn't move at all.

"Since you seem to already know the facts, why bother questioning me at all?" Nabiki asked quickly to buy time. She hated to admit it publicly, or even to herself, but she knew very little about Ukyou Kuonji. She didn't have the pull to get a peek at his personal records, nor the money to hire a private investigator. There was practically no rumors about the boy at school aside from the usual lurid ones (half of which had begun to include Ranma, in both forms, among the usual suspects). Gosunkugi had never been able to catch the boy on film except in the most innocuous circumstances.

"No no no, Miss Tendo. I know the facts about you, for I know of you through reputation and your dealings with my brother...oh, and a few other things. But I don't know nearly enough about Ukyou Kuonji. That's why you're here. I want you to tell me everything you know about Ukyou Kuonji. Everything you think about Ukyou Kuonji. Everything you suspect. Everything." Kodachi moved back, standing to her full height once again. She smiled in a patronizing manner at Nabiki. Nabiki resisted the urge to sigh in relief. It was much easier to keep her eyes on the other girl's face at this distance. "Don't worry. I don't plan to hurt you...as long as you're forthcoming with me. I will be most displeased to find out you held something back, though...at any time in the future."

"Then I'll have to tell you what I did before," Nabiki groused softly. There was no hope for it but the truth. "Ukyou is dating my sister. He's some sort of martial artist. He knows Genma and Ranma Saotome from a few years back. And he seems to like playing the mysterious hero coming to the last second rescue. Other than that, you'll have to ask Akane." Nabiki tried to console her wounded ego by reminding herself that this was all unimportant information, the kind anybody with an ear to the ground and two eyes in their head could find out. Unfortunately, that only emphasised how little Nabiki knew about Ukyou herself. She sighed. No point in worrying about it now. And besides...she'd really been too focused on getting out of her predicament with Ranma to worry too much about what her sister had going on the side.

Kodachi frowned, mainly to herself. Her voice took on an impatient tone, all its haughty elegance fleeing it. "No, you know more than that. How did she arrive in your happy household? How did you meet her? How did Akane meet her?"

Nabiki grit her teeth behind her lips. What was so special about Ukyou Kuonji that this girl was going to such lengths to find out about him? Nabiki felt her own curiosity aroused now. Damn, her life had gotten much too complicated since that spatula-wielding boy had entered her life. "He was looking for Ranma and Genma and followed Akane around. I don't know how they met exactly, but apparently they started dating shortly after Ukyou beat up your brother the first time. I'm sure he told you about Ukyou, he certainly doesn't stop carping on about him around me. I met her when she came to the house to confront Genma and Ranma." Again, it was all minor information. But now Nabiki resolved she was going to find out the real truth behind Ukyou Kuonji. No boy had such an extensive list of enemies as this boy did without having something in his past he wanted to hide. And if Ukyou had something to hide, Nabiki had leverage over him. If this worked out well, it could solve her problem with Ranma at the same time. Nabiki smiled unconsciously, a thin malicious smile of her own.

Kodachi gave Nabiki an incredulous look then stepped back a bit. She allowed herself a long pause as she apparently thought. Kodachi reached up to her face and grabbed for something near her eyes, then frowned when she realized that nothing was there. Did she usually wear glasses? "Dating...Ukyou Kuonji is dating your sister, Akane Tendo. Has Akane said anything about this? Any reasons? Your sister doesn't really like boys very much, does she?" her voice was slow and careful as she spoke. Some of her imperious tone had filtered back into her speech.

"Akane?" Nabiki's smile turned into a sour grimace. She hadn't really been thinking about Akane much. But now that the girl in front of her had brought the subject back up, Nabiki couldn't help but consider it. Was Akane in danger because of her relationship with Ukyou? Already, someone had threatened her with a gun since the spatula-wielding mystery man had shown up. Could this be some sort of jilted lover? "I couldn't say. Akane and Ukyou spend a lot of time together, and Akane seems really happy-" Nabiki almost added 'for the first time in years' but cut herself off. "I guess its the same reasons any guy and girl date. Akane may be pissed of with what YOUR brother did to her, but she likes guys..." Nabiki almost added 'I think' to the end of that statement but allowed herself to trail off first. Honestly, Nabiki couldn't remember any time Akane had shown interest in any guy who wasn't Doc Tofu. And everyone had a crush on the handsome young doctor at some point, even half his male patients. There was something about this conversation that tickled the back of Nabiki's mind. Something that her captor had let slip and Nabiki had missed.

Kodachi began to tap her finger on the side of her jaw as she thought about Nabiki's words. "They spend a lot of time together, hmm? And what about Ranma? What does he think of that? Aren't they..." Kodachi trailed off as she ceased tapping her chin. Then she just stared at Nabiki, apparently expecting a prompt answer.

Nabiki grit her teeth behind her smile again. She hated not having control of this conversation, but there was little she could do about it. "I can't tell you what Ranma thinks. My darling fiancee spends more time hanging out with Ukyou than with me." Nabiki purposefully dropped the bit about Ranma, trying to make it sound angry, which wasn't hard. With narrowed eyes, she carefully analyzed Kodachi's response.

Nabiki saw a flash of surprise on the girl's face for a fraction of a second before she composed herself. Kodachi smirked a little and her voice was full of irony when she asked, "So, Ranma Saotome is your fiancee, is he? That sounds positively charming. But you're so young. How did that happen?"

"I thought you wanted to know about Ukyou," Nabiki said with another difficult shrug. "It was an arrangement between our families."

"And you just let yourself be pushed into it?" This made Kodachi laugh, a slightly crazed cackle while she partially covered her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'd have expected you'd at least have tried to volunteer one of your sisters for such an arrangement."

Nabiki blinked. That had been almost exactly what had happened, except Kodachi couldn't possibly know that. Suspicious, Nabiki phrased her words carefully. It was time to start skirting the truth, just a little. "I didn't exactly have much choice in the situation."

Kodachi's good humour evaporated suddenly. She affixed Nabiki with a far too intimidating glare from those cold, lifeless eyes. "You're not being very talkative, Miss Tendo. I get a feeling you're not being entirely forthcoming. This displeases me. It is not in your best interest to displease me. I have a very long memory, Miss Tendo. Now, I want to know everything about Ukyou Kuonji. This I told you. If there is anything...anything at all...in your thoughts, or in what you've observed that you haven't told me, you would do well to do so now."

"I told you everything I know about Ukyou," Nabiki answered with complete sincerity, unable to keep a bit of smugness from her tone. Nabiki still refused to be intimidated, but it was getting harder to ignore the impulse. "Everything else you could learn by picking up the newspaper or asking anybody at school."

Kodachi closed her eyes and sighed, than began to mutter to herself. Nabiki leaned in a bit and was able to just overhear her. "So much for the vaunted Nabiki Tendo, Super-Know-It-All-Genius." When she looked up again, Nabiki was back to her former position, feeling a little insulted on top of everything else now. "Very well. If that's all you know, that's all you know. But I can still make use of you," Kodachi pointed out with an irritated growl. She made an elegant flourish with her hands and was suddenly holding a wide strip of some green fabric. Nabiki blinked, wondering what this was for, then she began to cringe away as the taller girl stepped towards her. Nabiki put up a token struggle as she was gagged. "Now stay here like a good little girl until I'm ready for the arrival of your friend."

Kodachi turned away from her, retrieved the sack and stalked from the room. Her graceful walk had been replaced by a brisk, irritated stride. The door closed behind her with a dreadful finality. For a few minutes all Nabiki did was stare at the door and focus on her hate for Kodachi Kunou.

Then, when the silence grew heavy and the adrenaline ran out, Nabiki Tendo began to cry.

01010

The trip back to Nerima was uneventful and short. Aaron had managed to bullshit his way out of the hospital, aided a great deal by the fact that there was nothing the staff could do to actually hold Ukyou against her will. Ranma had tried to strike up conversations a few times during the trip, but neither Ukyou nor Aaron were in a very talkative mood. At least, not in the mood to be talking to anyone outside their shared skull at the moment.

The fact was that they had screwed up. Ukyou wanted to lay all the blame on Aaron, but was unable to bring herself to do so. She knew every detail about the Sailor Moon anime that he did, whether she liked it or not. The fact that she had agreed with his plan, agreed with all his decisions at the scene, and gone along with them all without hesitation or debate made her as much to blame for this debacle as he was. Aaron seemed willing enough to blame himself for the problems, which didn't make her feel any better.

But regardless of that, it was clear Aaron had been running on instinct too much. He had hoped to coast along through all the hassles of living in an anime universe as a secondary character without having to do much of anything. He had been so caught up in trying to preserve his identity that he hadn't been paying attention to the world around him. It was tempting to wallow in self- pity, but instead he was more annoyed with himself.

There was the vague hope that this would all blow over, but both Aaron and Ukyou severely doubted that. Sailor Pluto still had it in for them, and now Jadeite might be interested as well. Not to mention they had probably alienated Usagi as well. It was time to start walking with one eye over their shoulders. It was also time to stop relying on Ukyou's inherent skills and start exploiting some of that encyclopedic knowledge of anime and manga Aaron was so proud of. When next they encountered Sailor Pluto, the Dark Kingdom or whatever other surprises this universe had in store for them, Ukyou and Aaron both planned to have more tricks up their collective sleeve than a bag of flour.

Which brought them to their next problem: the mysterious "chi" that they had tapped into to fight Jadeite's youma. Aaron was still convinced that that energy was somehow 'his' chi, and the fact it seemed to be something distinctly different from Ukyou's chi supported his idea. Ukyou was not convinced. If it was chi, then why had it done so much harm to her when she'd used it in that fight? Ukyou had been tapping into her chi since almost as soon as she could walk, and doing so had never caused her to spit up blood, faint or develop bruises along her limbs that still hadn't faded.

But believing it was Aaron's chi also made her feel better. If he had a completely separate energy than her, it meant that this damn merger of minds wasn't also a merger of souls. Which meant that they could be free of each other. It was almost refreshing to feel it back there. Now that they had found it once, it was impossible not to feel that pool of energy deep in their gut.

"We're here," Ranma said somewhat reluctantly, causing Ukyou to look up. Sure enough, they had arrived at the Tendo compound. Ukyou sighed. She had put up a brave front for Ranma, but she still felt half-dead. Her every muscle ached and she was slightly light-headed. It would be good to be able to relax now that they were back.

"Let's go inside," Ukyou said as she walked through the main gate. "I have to explain what happened to Akane, at the very least."

"Thanks heavens you're here!"

Aaron blinked and looked down as a new growth suddenly attached itself around Ukyou's waist. It was Soun, with his arms wrapped firmly around her torso. He was sobbing like a baby into her midsection. Aaron was briefly thankful Ukyou had thought to "borrow" some medical bandages from the hospital before leaving. But even the best chest binding wouldn't stop Soun from realizing Ukyou's secret if he kept clinging to her like that.

With a sigh Aaron flipped Ukyou's combat spatula from his back and used it as a pry-lever to pop the Tendo patriarch off him. Soun landed in an undignified sprawl on the path. Ukyou regretted that for a moment, but was as aware as Aaron how irrational the mustached man could be. Hopefully the fall would jar some sense into him.

"What's going on?" Ranma asked as he stepped up beside his friend. Ukyou shrugged, waiting for Soun to recompose himself. She never had that chance, as shortly after his questions Genma appeared on the path as well, looming as best he could over Ranma.

"Boy! How dare you run off when your fiancee is in mortal peril!"

"Mortal peril?" Ranma blinked. Ukyou took a step back. Genma had a tendency to overreact, so she and Aaron wanted to hear what was going on before leaping to conclusions.

"Ukyou! You have to save my baby girl!" Soun wailed as he flipped to his feet. He was remarkably spry for someone his age. Than again, it was easy to forget he was also a trained martial artist. Wait, what did he say?

"Explain!" Aaron barked shortly.

Soun stared at Ukyou's face for a moment, made a little whimpering sound and fell back on his ass. The scene almost caused Ukyou to burst out in a fit of laughter. Aaron kept rigid control over their features, but only barely.

"Yeah pops, what are you two going on about?"

"Ranma, someone has kidnapped your fiancee and her younger sister," Genma explained as he adjusted his glasses with one hand. The light glinted off the lenses. "As the heir to the Anything Goes school and as a man it is your duty to rescue them."

"Rescue?" Ranma looked perplexed. "Wait, back up a sec..."

Ukyou didn't hear the rest of what Ranma had to say. She was already striding briskly into the house. Aaron knew that getting a straight answer from either Genma or Soun was entirely unlikely, so he hoped that the only other person in the house might be able to help.

They found Kasumi in the living room, sitting with a frown on her face and holding an ice-pack to the back of her head. Warning lights went off in their mind.

"Kasumi, are you okay?" Ukyou said in her most consoling tone. She knelt down next to the taller girl and began to look her over, tapping into Aaron's extensive medical lore. She didn't look badly hurt.

"I'm fine, it's just a small bump," Kasumi pointed out mildly. Ukyou noted that Soun was entering the household and allowed Aaron to shoot the man a dangerous glare. This caused him to back off a bit. Apparently Ranma and Genma were still debating manly duties outside.

"What happened here?" Ukyou asked slowly and softly. Despite Aaron's preconceptions of her as a boring, one-dimensional character, the two of them had found themselves liking Kasumi the few times they had interacted with her.

"I'm not quite sure," Kasumi began slowly but gradually grew more confident as she spoke. "I served breakfast, and everyone just sort of fainted in front of me as I was sitting down to eat myself. Then I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. The next thing I remember, I woke up, and Akane and Nabiki were gone."

"Gone?"

"Just gone. Father and Uncle Saotome were still unconscious at the time."

"Indeed..." Aaron frowned but only for a moment. Ukyou made them smile and she patted Kasumi reassuringly on the shoulder.

"There was a note," Kasumi pointed out as Ukyou began to rise. She looked down at the pseudo-housewife and allowed a curious frown to cross her features. Kasumi reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. Ukyou held out her hand and smiled at the long-haired girl, who smiled back and handed over the note.

"Dearest Ukyou Kuonji," Aaron read aloud. "I, the rising young star of the gymnastics world...blah, blah, blah, known as Kodachi Kunou, the Black Rose, am extremely anxious to meet with you, as well as Nabiki and Akane Tendo, who came ahead of you, at the Kunou Estate this afternoon. The Tendo siblings have expressed their desire that you come alone, for this will be more pleasing to them. I look forward to your timely arrival."

"See!" Soun burst into their field of view and snatched the note from their unresisting fingers. "Someone has kidnapped my baby girls! You... you're a hero! You rescue people! Rescue them!" He was really beginning to tear up now.

"Mr. Tendo, calm down," Ukyou told him with a bit of understanding in her tone. He had every right to be worried about two of his three daughters. It was just so hard to see the man behind the parody that Aaron knew so well. "I have every intention of helping out Akane and Nabiki."

They spent the next few seconds fending off the man's enthusiastic thanks.

When Ukyou stepped outside she saw Ranma leaning next to the wall and grumbling. Genma was sitting cross-legged nearby, intently watching him. Ukyou rolled her eyes at the scene but stepped forward anyway.

"Ucchan, do you have any idea what's going on here?" Ranma blurted out when she was within a few paces of him.

"Yeah, we're going to save Akane and Nabiki from a kidnapper," Aaron pointed out evenly.

"We?"

"Yes, we," Ukyou smiled at him. "Or I could leave you behind this time."

"Oh no! Not that again!" Ranma waved both arms in front of her face. "I've already missed all the action twice now."

"Third times the charm," Aaron chuckled. Ranma blinked at this, but was cut off from responding as the male identity walked Ukyou's body out the gate. Ranma leapt to catch up.

"Where are we going?"

"To get supplies," Ukyou said evenly. She wanted to sigh. This was not fair. She was still feeling weak from yesterday. And now Kodachi Kunou was deciding to get all-

Wait. Wait just one second.

Ranma walked on a few paces before he realized Ukyou had stopped in the middle of the street. He paused and glanced over his shoulder at the girl. Ukyou was too busy mentally debating with Aaron to really notice.

This made no sense. There was no reason for Kodachi to kidnap Akane and Nabiki. It wasn't even her style. No, there was something else behind this. Could it be the Dark Kingdom? With their magic, it might have been possible to track Ukyou down quickly... but this wasn't their style either. Maybe it was some other anime that Aaron hadn't yet identified that also inhabited this universe? Damn, too many unknowns.

"What's the hold up, Ucchan?"

"I'm just thinking about this," Ukyou stated simply. "Yesterday I walked right into an ambush because I forgot the simple lessons of warfare."

"Lessons of warfare?" Ranma murmured.

"But I'm not going to make that mistake again," Ukyou sighed. She ran her hand through her bangs. "Ranma, before we go any further, I'm going to tell you everything I know about Kodachi Kunou."

01010

Chris surveyed the Kunou mansion courtyard with a feeling of smug satisfaction. It was, if he did say so himself, perfect. Or as close as could be reasonably expected under the time constraints given. Thank goodness he didn't get tired...ever since he took Kodachi's body, he'd been moving, working, plotting, and training, sometimes all at once.

But now things were nearly set. He'd worried 'Ukyou' might show up too early for the party, but it seemed that wasn't going to be a problem. What WAS a problem was Nabiki, or rather her unexpected unhelpfulness. He wasn't sure if she had been holding back, or just honestly was completely ignorant. She didn't even seem to know Ukyou's real gender. He'd referred to Ukyou as "her" a few times before realising that, but Nabiki seemed to be too concerned over her own situation to catch the slip. No matter.

The problem is, he hardly knew any better than before what Ukyou's game was. And what he did know just raised more questions. Why was Ukyou posing as Akane's boyfriend? Why had she interfered in the formation of the Ranma/Akane engagement? And, of course, Nabiki wouldn't know how strong she was, or was pretending to be, or any unusual abilities she'd displayed.

Which left his other captive, whom he was now staring down at. She was unconscious, of course. He'd been very, very careful to ensure she would be. Akane was no helpless victim, and the stupid anime movies nonwithstanding, had a habit of rescuing herself from these sorts of situations without outside help. The last thing he needed, during the fight with Ukyou, was Akane breaking out of her bonds and joining in against him.

But now...continued safety, or information? He'd decided on the latter. Akane was strong, but he'd made sure she was tied up very firmly, even for a superhuman. She got a burst of strength when enraged...he'd make sure she didn't get to that point. And if she did, well, there was that bouquet of black roses lying nearby. Handy, that. Especially when it couldn't affect you on account of the whole "dead" thing.

Moving Akane into a seated position, he uncorked a small bottle, vaguely noticing the strong smell. Waving it under her nose a few times, he took a step back and awaited the results. Kodachi wasn't Pink and Link or anything, but she was more than competent. Akane would recover quickly.

She did. After a few moments, she groaned and her eyelids fluttered. "Wha..?" she muttered, then seemed to realise her circumstances. Reflexively, her arms moved, muscles bunching...but the bonds held. Thank goodness for martial arts death machine-worthy gymnastics ribbon. Akane was looking around now, blinking away the last of her drug-induced sleep. Her eyes had fastened upon him.

He took a step forward, carefully settling into Kodachi's arrogant, high-class speech pattern. "Greetings, Miss Tendo. You seem to have awakened. Did you sleep well?"

Her expression showed confusion, then flashed to anger. It was very... Akane. "Who the- what do you think you're doing! Untie me!"

He burned with impatience, to demand the answers out of her. Ukyou could arrive at any moment. But Kodachi wouldn't do that. Had to keep up the facade. Calm and steady. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss Tendo. For the moment, you're my guest." Cover mouth with hand, laugh that oh-so-stereotypical upper-class snob laugh.

That didn't exactly calm her down, unsurprisingly. She struggled with her bonds again, banging the wall a bit. "Guests are usually invited, not kidnapped and tied up!"

"Ah, but you are a very special guest, Miss Tendo. You are more than a guest, in fact...you are the bait on my hook, which will lure the fish to me." And that's the bait to make you interested, Akane. He silently shouted at her to take it.

"Bait?" Her anger was again replaced by confusion. She bit her lip, clearly considering the words, then looked up at him again. "You... you're just using me to get to someone else! But who?"

He leaned forward, affecting a pleased expression. "Why, none other than your...purported boyfriend, Miss Tendo. Ukyou Kuonji." He put a generous dollop of sarcasm on 'boyfriend'. Let's see if Akane knew the truth.

She recoiled slightly from him, opened her mouth as if to say something, closed it again. After a long pause, she spoke again, quietly. "What do you want with Ukyou?"

Well, she didn't protest the sarcasm. Or maybe she didn't notice it? Akane was not exactly noted for that kind of perception. Still, now she was concerned for Ukyou, as well as angry at him. That's what he wanted. He crouched before her, grinning. "Would you like to know, my dear Miss Tendo? Marvellous. There are some things I wish to know from you as well. Tell me them, and I'll reveal my intentions to you. A fair exchange, is it not?"

Akane turned her head away, avoiding his gaze. "I won't help you hurt Ukyou," she said softly. She seemed to struggle internally for a moment, then turned back, her face serious but no longer angry. "Please, just tell me what your problem is here!"

Oh, it was Akane's Sympathy For The Devil routine. Drug my family, kidnap me, be vaguely threatening towards my friend? You can't be all bad! How can I help you with your problems? Heh. Too nice for her own good. But he could work with that. He broke out of his crouch, sitting before her cross- legged, putting them at the same level. He let the smirk fade from his face, and looked calm, maybe just the slightest bit sad.

"I'm sorry, Miss Tendo. I can't tell you what my problem is, unless you tell me what I need to know, because until you do, I'm not sure what my problem may be, exactly." True, after a fashion. "I can tell you that if I know more, I may not need to hurt Ukyou. But I need to know more about her." Damn, slipped again! Well, see how she reacted. "And I need you to help me. Otherwise..." he shrugged. "I'll have to find out what I need. By any means necessary."

Akane stared at him strangely after the gender-slip. Now what did that mean? But she settled his doubts a moment later. "I told you I can't help you hurt my friend," Akane said fiercely, gritting her teeth. "Ukyou has done too much for me to betray her!" So she knew. And Nabiki didn't. Interesting. But Akane was still staring at him. Not angrily, just...determined. "Maybe... maybe we can talk about this. Tell me what you want to know. If it isn't something dangerous, maybe I can help you after all."

Hmm. He didn't want to lie to her. Much. So what was close to the truth? A-ha. This ought to work. "I...knew Ukyou. Before you met her. But she showed up here, and she's...changed. She's not acting like the same person. I'm worried she ISN'T the same person. I want to know what you know about her. How you met her. Anything unusual she's done. Anything that can help me figure out what's happened to her."

"Huh? But Ranma seems to get along with Ukyou just fine..." Suddenly, her eyes widened. "You mean you knew Ukyou from -before- she met Ranma? Back before Genma ruined her life?" Her expression grew sad. "Yes, she must seem like a different person, after what that bastard did to her."

What the hell was she babbling about? Why would he know or care what Ukyou was like before she was six? Okay, sure, it sounded like a stupid anime plotline, but...maybe she'd jumped to conclusions. He shook his head. "No, you don't get it. I knew Ukyou before she came here, to Tokyo. She was a different person then. And she just...vanished, and came here. But now she's different. Completely different. And I want to know why."

"That doesn't make any sense then." Akane shook her head. "If what you're saying is true, that would mean Ukyou lied to me. And I'm much more inclined to believe her than you, considering how she saved my life and you kidnapped me."

"And what did Ukyou tell you?"

"Nothing about changing at all. She's always been... kinda private about her condition. She came here to find Ranma and Genma."

This was frustratingly uninformative. And taking too damn long. He strained to hold in his impatience. "Yes, that's what I want to know. How she came here. How you met. Why you're posing as a couple."

"She was following me around for a while, trying to see if I knew where Ranma and Genma were. Then I caught up with her and... well, it's kinda embarrassing. Anyway she told me her story. Then she noticed that I was having these problems with guys at school and offered to help me with it." She paused, and glanced down at her bonds. "I'd be much more inclined to trust you, if you let me go. I promise not to try to run away or attack you."

Sounded credible, if again, frustratingly unhelpful. 'Ukyou' obviously wasn't giving much away. And that promise...tempting. He wouldn't have to worry about her escaping to fight against him, as long as he wasn't actually killing Ukyou. Which he didn't intend to do. At least not until he had answers. He quickly rethought some plans. Could work. "I could believe you...but if I let you go, you must promise not to interfere at all when Ukyou comes here. In return, I promise not to severely injure her. But I will probably have to fight her. I tried talking to her before...and she wouldn't tell me anything. So I'll have to force her to give me the answers I want. Can you accept that?"

Akane looked torn. She wanted to help him, wanted to help Ukyou, clearly...was there something else? She wasn't as easy to read as he thought. Guess those thought balloons in the manga really helped. Suddenly, she brightened hopefully. "Wait, I have an idea! Why don't you have me talk to Ukyou? We're really close friends. If I explain what's going on, maybe she'll tell us both?"

Hmm. No, if the faux-Ukyou cared enough about Akane to respect a request from her, she wouldn't be lying to her in the first place. He shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid I already tried that, Akane. She knows what's going on, and what my concerns are. But she wouldn't tell me anything. I doubt it'll be any different with you. No, I'm afraid I'm going to have to incapacitate her before she'll talk."

"But Ukyou isn't that kind of person!" Akane insisted. "She never lies to me, she just chooses to keep a few things private. I mean, she's a hero! Didn't you see what she did yesterday?"

"Why no, I did not. I was rather busy yesterday. What did she do?"

"She only saved two or three busloads of innocent people from a real live monster! She even knew it was going to happen, and left yesterday just in time to stop them and everything..." here she trailed off, muttering just loud enough for him to hear, "...of course, she could have taken me along too." She shook off her irritation and was back to defence mode quickly, though. "The point is, Ukyou is a good person. If she's hiding something from you, she has a very good reason! Maybe if she sees that you just want to help, and I ask her too, than we can get her to open up a little bit?"

His mind worked furiously. A monster? Busloads of people? The hell? Some series he didn't know about? Or...it COULD be Sailor Moon, he supposed. Maybe. Hell, it could be Blue Seed for all he knew (was that here too?). And either way, no reason for Ukyou to be involved, busloads of innocent people or not. And 'knew it was going to happen'...ah, but she knew. She KNEW. The dropped Evangelion reference. So she must have been interfering in the plot of another anime. But what? And why?

And what to do about Akane? Well, she obviously wasn't going to add much more to his information stockpile, though at least now he knew where Ukyou - and Ranma? - had vanished to. He let anger flow into his voice. It wasn't hard. "No, Akane, that's just it. Maybe I just want to help, and maybe I don't. Helping Ukyou is one thing. But that person you know looks like Ukyou, calls herself Ukyou...and is NOT Ukyou. I'll guarantee it from the bottom of my soul. Nothing that happened to her would explain the Ukyou I knew becoming the Ukyou you know. I don't know if she's something else with the shape of Ukyou's body imitating her, or whether she's possessed, or...I don't know. I don't know. But the one thing I DO know is that she lied. She's NOT Ukyou. And I'm sorry if you don't believe me. But I'm sure. And I'm sure she won't tell either of us the truth just because we ask. Like I told you, I tried that."

"But Ranma's known her since she was six and -he- believes she's the real Ukyou!"

He snorted. "Akane, Ranma knew Ukyou WHEN she was six. And didn't see her again until they met here. He didn't even know Ukyou was a girl. So I think I'm a slightly better judge than him."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Akane sighed. "I don't know if I believe what you say is true. If Ukyou has changed so much... what was she like before? I can't imagine her having changed so totally you don't even recognize her anymore."

He paused, then decided to go for broke. Akane already knew enough to know she wasn't Kodachi anyway, as soon as she and Ukyou talked, and that was under the dubious assumption Ukyou wouldn't find out in the fight anyway. So let's see what might surprise her and what might not. He scrutinised her reactions carefully. "Well, for starters, the real Ukyou doesn't fight monsters. She was training for revenge on Genma, but fighting wasn't her thing. Her only true hobby was cooking okonomiyaki. She LOVED that. Wanted to own her own restaurant, and she talked about it a lot. And oh yes: she's been in love with Ranma for ten years. She wants to marry him. She certainly wouldn't have any interest in pretending to be your boyfriend and thus stalling that, even as a favour."

"Marry Ranma? But... that's just... you must be joking?" Then she blinked. "Well, there was the time she threw up on him, I suppose..."

"Threw up on him? Um...okay, whatever. Trust me when I say this, Akane: if that's the real Ukyou, she loves Ranma more than she loves anyone or anything else. She spent the last ten years of her life pretending to be a boy and training hard in fighting even though she didn't like it because of him. Though I have no doubt Ukyou could be friends with you, she'd throw you aside or even beat the crap out of you to be with him. I can't think of anything she values more." Ah, nothing could beat the sincere ring of truth, when trying to persuade.

"Let me get this straight: she pretended to be a boy because she was in love with another boy?" She didn't sound sarcastic, just understandably confused. "Uh, right." Again she muttered mainly to herself. "Maybe that's why Ukyou keeps dashing off with Ranma and leaving me behind all the time..." Then she shook her head disbelievingly.

One more try. "There are reasons, Akane. I can't tell you them, because they're Ukyou's secrets to tell, not mine. I only said as much as I did because I wanted you to believe me. But now we've come to the crux. Either you do believe me, and agree to our deal...or you don't, and I'll have to do things by myself. The choice is up to you."

"I'm sorry, I can't stand by while you hurt Ukyou!" She sighed. "No matter what, she saved my life once. If you're so dead set on this, you'll have to fight me as well." She looked up at him, determined and defiant.

Zero for two. He was really stressed today. No matter. Back to Plan "A". He straightened. "In that case, Akane, I'm very sorry. Perhaps, once it's all over, it will be explained to you. I guess we'll see if I win, then, won't we?"

As he turned to pick up the bouquet, he heard her voice again. "I'm sorry." She sounded like she meant it. But of course she did. She was Akane. And she was too nice for her own good. Too stubborn, too. He'd tried to let her in on things. He'd let on too much, again, he'd tried too hard. It wasn't his fault she had absolute loyalty to someone she'd known for a couple of weeks at most.

So why was it that he felt so utterly rotten about it?

He angrily shoved that away. He didn't have time for doubt. He pushed the bouquet into her face. She tried to avoid it, but tied up as she was, didn't have much success. Her body slumped bonelessly as she inhaled the fumes released. Producing another strip of cloth much like he had used on her sister, he gagged her. She wouldn't be able to speak very LOUDLY while paralysed...but better safe than sorry.

He didn't speak again as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. He felt her eyes on his back, but ignored it. It was time to finish preparing. Ukyou would arrive soon. And then he'd see just how much better than the real thing she might be.

Then he'd finally have his answers.

01010

Ranma followed Ukyou along as she stormed down the street. The tail of her new black trenchcoat flapped along behind her. It had been one of the many purchases Ukyou had made over the last hour as she pulled Ranma along in her wake. He still wasn't sure about some of the stuff Ukyou had gotten. A lot of it seemed to be standard cooking ingredients, and other stuff she had been forced to buy from people with dark sunglasses and shorter-than-normal fingers. Not that Ranma was scared of their type; you dealt with them enough when you got in the occasional pit fight.

"I just wish I had been able to get more than one of these," Ukyou grumbled as she held up a small metal box in her hands. Ranma wasn't sure what it was, but shrugged as she slipped it into her coat again. "Ranma, if you see any clouds of gas, hold your breath and leap over it and get away."

"Man, you're being awfully paranoid, Ucchan," Ranma shrugged as he scratched at the back of his neck. "This Kodachi chick doesn't sound too bad. Maybe a little skewed in the head about the whole fair play deal, but otherwise not that dangerous."

"Always be prepared," Ukyou said as she ran her hands through her bangs again. "Anyway, no use crying over split milk. We're here."

"Yeah, I guess."

There was no doubt the place was big. It was surrounded by a wall, like the Tendo compound. But the wall was much longer, and the building which rose behind it much more... well, big.

"Okay," Ukyou sighed. "Let's get this over with." She looked at Ranma and smiled, and he smiled back. Her face shifted to its standard cold-eyed stare a moment later and she walked up to the huge gate. Then with a twin snapping of her knuckles she loosened herself up. And finally, she drew back one hand... and knocked.

There was a loud buzz and the door gradually swung open. Ukyou cocked her head to the side, then shrugged with a short chortle. She waited until the door was all the way open before stepping forward. Her manner was wary and slow as she moved in. Her huge combat spatula was kept slightly in front of her. Ranma waited a half-second then shrugged and idled on through himself. He wasn't really as concerned as Ukyou was by some psycho chick with a poison fetish.

Ukyou stopped Ranma with a raised hand as they entered the threshold of the compound. It was possible to see inside now. The place looked good enough, Ranma guessed. It had all the traditional Japanese points of interest. The yard was huge, by most standards, but not really impressive to a guy who had been wandering in the great wilderness wastes of China for the better portion of a year.

Beyond the front yard was the mansion itself. It was two stories high, with a traditional sloping roof with those weird tiles Ranma never did like the design of. They made the roof too slippery. The front doors were open. He could see something beyond the front doors, but not very well at this distance. Ranma gave the rest of the area a quick scan, noticing nothing unusual. He made a few mental notes of the tactical options the place offered, then just shrugged.

This was kinda boring, where was the monster?

Ranma was about to step forward when Ukyou stopped him by tapping him on the shoulder. Leaning her spatula on the ground, she cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Oy, Kodachi Kunou! I believe you've kidnapped some friends of mine. If you hand them over now, I won't feel obligated to kick your ass!" Ukyou yelled as loud as she could. Ranma staggered back a bit and clutched his ears. shooting a bit of a frown at Ukyou. Man that girl had a set of lun... er, a really loud voice.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Welcome, Ukyou Kuonji. I've been expecting you. Please, enter my humble abode. What you see there may interest you."

Well, that person certainly didn't sound very stable. He glanced around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. Aside from 'in front of him' he wasn't able to narrow it down at all. Ukyou ran her hands through her bangs and sighed. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking behind that ice-cold mask she called an expression.

"Okay, you asked for it," Ukyou said softly as she pulled a small packet from her coat. She flipped it through the air and the packet unraveled as it flew. A cloud of dust fell down behind it, slowly settling onto the ground. Then the ground exploded. Ranma yelped and leapt backward as a trail of fire erupted in a straight line between Ukyou and the doorway. "I hope you weren't too attached to your house, Kodachi!" Ukyou cried out again. "I don't plan on leaving much of it standing when I'm finished!"

Ukyou waited for the explosions to die down then started across the burnt pathway she had created towards the doorway. Ranma rubbed his fingers in his ears and followed her.

"What the hell was that?"

"Tempura flakes mixed with gunpowder, at about triple my usual admixture," Ukyou grinned evilly. Ranma gave her a long, serious stare and then reminded himself never to get on her bad side.

Another laugh reached them as they neared the door. "Dear me. I guess you're not nearly as good a friend as a certain Miss Tendo told me you were, to so callously risk her life, now are you?"

"Hey, that's right, you can't exactly burn the place down." Ranma pointed out.

"I never planned on doing that... until Akane and Nabiki are safe," Ukyou pointed out as they neared the door. "After that, I'll probably beat Kodachi black and blue, torch a bit of her house and otherwise 'convince' her not to mess with me. Whatever problem she has, I'm going to solve it before it gets out of hand."

Ranma blinked as Ukyou spoke. Her voice was cold and certain. Those weren't idle threats. He found himself putting a little more space between them. This was a side of his friend that he had never seen before.

Ukyou looked around the interior with a critical eye. Ranma looked over her shoulder past the front hall. He could see that the hall was short and led to a back patio, maybe some sort of centre courtyard deal? There was a bit of smoke left over from Ukyou's stunt, but Ranma could see the bright sunshine bouncing off two figures standing back to back out there. He couldn't make out any other details.

"Hey, Ucchan, check it out!" Ranma tapped Ukyou on the shoulder and pointed towards the figures which were barely in view. Ukyou nodded and then stepped back a bit.

"Akane! Nabiki! Can you hear me? Can you respond?" Ukyou called out again. They waited a few seconds with no response and Ukyou shrugged and spoke in a lower tone. "Probably drugged."

"Well, let's go get them out of there..."

"Wait," Ukyou grabbed his shoulder. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a dozen of her miniature spatulas. "Kodachi probably has the entire place rigged with booby-traps. Let's see if we can spring any before they become a problem." With that Ukyou tossed the blades into the house one at a time, taking special attention to hit any flowers she saw within line of sight. Ranma blinked as a few of the arrangements suddenly exploded into clouds of noxious looking purple smoke. "Way too predictable." Ukyou pulled out her larger spatula and began to wave it around, dispersing the small clouds easily. Then with a simple efficiency she retrieved her weapons from the walls, making sure to clean them off on the outside of her jacket before returning them to storage.

Ranma walked forward into the room while she did that. Now that he was further in, he could get a better angle on the back patio. The outside was indeed some sort of interior courtyard. The first thing Ranma's eyes settled on were the two girls in the exact center of the open space. They were bound to some kind of wooden post, black hoods over their heads. They were wearing Furinkan school uniforms and looked to be about the right height. Ranma glanced around the rest of the area. A few scattered pieces of kendo equipment were pushed against the walls, and a bunch of other wrapped bundles were scattered about in various places about the yard. The yard itself was grassy, but well- trimmed. It was fairly small, no larger than the Tendo's backyard. Ranma looked up and spotted their enemy for the first time.

She was standing imperiously on the top of the building straight across from Ranma. She was long-legged, a fact made evident by her high-cut black leotard that was tight enough to leave very little to the imagination. Then again, when one saw such things from Ranma's point of view often enough, they began to lose their carnal impact. Still, it was an interesting outfit. Her long black hair was tied up in a pony-tail that flipped and swayed behind her as it caught in the wind. Her elegant face was smirking down at them... until she seemed to notice Ranma, and then her mouth fell into a stern frown.

"It was requested that you come alone, Ukyou Kuonji. This... -interloper- was not invited." Kodachi sounded irritated, and her posture reflected as much. Ukyou stepped in front of Ranma before he could shoot his own response back.

"And I decided to ignore your request." Ukyou pointed out coldly. "Now, I'll repeat what I said before. You can give up now and let me and my friends walk out of here, or I can rescue them, break your legs, and maybe burn your house to the ground."

"An uncouth response. I think not. Very well, Ukyou Kuonji. I will not so insult you by offering you the chance to surrender." She reached out, stretching a long thin ribbon between her hands. Ranma tightened his posture a bit; Ukyou had warned him not to underestimate that weapon. "I will remember your threat to break my legs. Let us see if you can carry it out."

"Ask and ye shall receive," Ukyou responded frostily. With a snap of her arms, Ukyou pulled a small swarm of throwing spatulas from her coat and sent them flying. Kodachi grinned and began to twirl her ribbon in front of her, obviously expecting to deflect the attack. It might have worked too, if Ukyou had been aiming for Kodachi. Instead the shuriken-like weapons let out a series of hollow thuds as they impacted into the post holding the two girls up. With deceptive slowness the ropes fell away, neatly bisected in a dozen places. Ranma kept his attention split between Ukyou and the girl on the roof. Kodachi dropped her ribbon, her annoyed frown deepening slightly. She gestured behind her back and came back with a pair of gymnastics batons in both hands. Ranma had also been warned that such batons often carried hidden surprises.

His companion, however, didn't even give Kodachi a second glance. Ukyou was already moving again, her motion efficiently transferring from one throw back to reach inside her coat. With a cry she flipped her hands out, and long strands leapt from her fingertips.

"Woah," Ranma called as the bands slapped into the two toppling girls bodies, and adhered there. Now that Ranma could see the strands, they looked like super-thick noodles of some kind. He only had a few seconds to notice this before Ukyou jerked with all her strength, lifted the girls off their feet and propelling them through the air. Kodachi gasped in shock and pulled back her batons to throw them.

"Ranma, deflect them!" Ukyou barked.

"Right." Ranma pulled out a few of the miniature spatulas Ukyou had provided him and threw them on instinct. The weapons zinged over Ukyou's head, causing her hair to ruffle in their wake. His aim was true, and each of his weapons struck one of Kodachi's batons in mid-flight, knocking them off path. A second later, Ukyou grunted as the two bodies slammed into her and she fell towards Ranma as she tumbled under their weight. Ranma easily side-stepped the collapsing pile of females.

"You okay, Ucchan?" Ranma asked swiftly as he bent over to check on her. She was currently buried under a pile of girls. Ranma was about to help her up when he felt something snap tightly around his neck. "Gargh!" Ranma tried to scream as he hands flew reflexively to his neck. He could feel the thin ribbon rubbing against his flesh with the tip of his fingers, but couldn't get his fingers under it.

Then he was flying. He gasped in pain as a force wrenched at his neck. The world spun around him. His hands snapped around the ribbon and he righted himself. He briefly saw Kodachi as she jerked him skyward. She was standing on the post now. She smiled maliciously as Ranma reached the apex of his flight.

"OHOHOHOHOHO! You fools!"

With a vicious tug Kodachi pulled him from the sky, sending Ranma flying towards the ground. Ranma tried to gasp, but he could barely breathe. The ground was really approaching fast...

"Ranma!"

Ukyou's voice caught Ranma's attention and he saw her sprinting across the grass towards him. Her expression had lost all its cold composure. She leapt, stretching her arms out and catching Ranma as he fell. Ukyou let out a gasp as Ranma smashed into her stomach. A split-second later they hit the ground, which gave with a resounding crack. Ranma grunted, barely feeling the impact.

He snarled, pulling one of Ukyou's mini-spatulas from his sleeve and slashed apart the ribbon holding him. Immediately the pressure on his throat ceased. He took a deep breath and sat up.

"Dammit," Ranma growled at Kodachi. The girl was still standing on the post in the center of the yard, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips. "You crazy freak." Ranma looked down at Ukyou before the leotard-clad teenager could respond. "Ucchan, thanks for the assist, but it really wasn't necessary..." he trailed off.

Ukyou was staring at him, her eyes staring glassily and her mouth slowly opening and closing. Ranma frowned. Ukyou's arms and legs twitched slightly, but otherwise she wasn't moving.

"Ukyou? Are you hurt?"

"Pppp..." Ukyou gasped between vibrating lips. "P-poison!"

"What?"

Ranma stepped off of Ukyou and looked down at her. Now that he had a better angle he could see them. Dozens of tiny caltrops, all sticking into Ukyou's body from multiple angles. Each one glistened with some sort of strange fluid. Ranma looked around the yard. Now that he knew what to look for he could see them. Tiny pieces of metal glinting throughout the entire grassy area. Who knew how many had been under Ukyou when she had landed?

Carefully placing his feet, Ranma turned and glared at Kodachi, who was smiling down at him.

"You hurt my friend," Ranma informed her cooly. "I won't forgive you."

Even as he said that, the girl was flipping back up, landing once more on the far roof. "Dear boy, your friend planned to hurt me rather badly. Or did you perhaps not hear her threat? Fair is fair...and I, after all, have not hurt her nearly so badly as that."

Great. If she left the courtyard, Ranma would have more room to maneuver without worrying about those caltrops. He grinned. Obviously, she didn't know that the Saotome School focused on mid-air combat.

"And you kidnapped Akane," Ranma said as he bunched his legs and followed her. "Don't think you're getting away with this!" Ranma flew straight at her. He cocked back one hand for a punch. But he was already planning ahead. She would likely evade. If she went right, he could tap off the roof and spin into a kick. If she went left, he would continue past her and rebound with a powerful thrust that should catch her off balance.

Left. She was going left, he could see her posture shift towards that, and her hand was reaching down. He grinned...but then Kodachi hesitated. Her eyes widened as they focused on his approach - was that fear on her face? - and he was upon her. His fist slammed into her gut. He wasn't gentle about it...he didn't like hitting chicks, but this one had kidnapped girls and hurt Ucchan. She folded up and tumbled back, but something was odd. Something wrong about how she'd reacted to the blow. Normally, that drove the wind out of someone, but she hadn't...

His feet touched the roof, and thoughts of Kodachi vanished from Ranma's mind, because suddenly he was falling. Had he landed wrong? He scrabbled for purchase, but his hands slipped over the tiles. They were greased! And that meant he was falling...towards the grass. And those poisoned caltrops in it. He desperately flung out his hands, searching for something that would hold him...and caught it. A leotard-clad form tumbled past him as he jerked to a halt, but he ignored her, looking at what he had grabbed. It was another tile. But it wasn't greased. Wait, it was where Kodachi had been standing. She HAD flipped back to the exact same spot when she returned to the roof. Hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but...he reached his other hand up to secure his grip.

And the tile broke.

He stared at the broken shard in his hand dumbly for a moment, then frantically dropped it and reached out with both hands. But it was too late, because gravity had taken over, and he was falling, towards the eaves of the house, towards the grass below. He looked around for something, anything, saw something dark, kicked himself towards it as he slid from the roof.

The world spun around crazily, then suddenly came to a halt. Ranma lay still for a moment. He didn't feel any pricks, no poison coursing through his veins, no inability to move. Okay. He carefully moved to his feet. Where was Kodachi...oh.

Kodachi was below him, having served as his impromptu cushion. Her haughty face was pale, and her eyes wide. Her mouth hung open, and she was still except for a slight twitch of her cheek. Her eyes stared up, but not at him. In fact, they didn't seem to be focused on anything, or even conscious anymore. Instead, they were glassy and blank.

It was over already? Damn. That was fast. Ranma was just getting warmed up.

"That was kinda disappointing," Ranma grumbled. Well, first job was getting to Ukyou. Ranma stood up on Kodachi's stomach, not really surprised by her lack of protest, and began to look for some way to go over and help Ukyou without risking getting poisoned himself. That was a bit of a pickle... then Ranma smacked his fist into his palm and grinned. "Excuse me," he told the unconscious Kodachi as he reached down and plucked her ribbon from her nerveless fingers.

Ranma leapt across the yard, landing on the central post. Then with a snap whipped out the ribbon a few times. The first few attempts didn't do much good, but on about the third try he got the trick of it. With that he snatched the huge spatula lying next to Ukyou and pulled it to him. A few second later he had flung it on the ground next to her. With a sigh of relief he leapt the short distance to land on the large flat of the blade.

"Hang on, Ucchan," Ranma murmured simply. He used the last of the miniature shuriken-like spatulas Ukyou had given him to carefully remove the caltrops from her body. Then he lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. It appeared the thick leather of Ukyou's coat had kept most of the caltrops on her back from penetrating all the way through. "Right now let's go get the others and..."

Ranma cut off as a soft sound came to him. He snapped his head to the side and saw Kodachi. She was standing on the eave again, carrying a pair of batons with spiked heads in each hand. She was smiling.

"What the..." Ranma reached up with his free hand and rubbed his eyes. "How did you get back up!"

"Silly, silly Ranma. Do you think I would be so easily hoist by my own petard? Now, don't move, dear boy, there's a bit of a problem here for you." She held out the batons, poised for a throw. "The spikes on these are coated with a very lethal little concoction I've brewed up. A single hit...a single SCRATCH means certain death. But, as I am merciful, I do not feel it necessary to use them. Unless you make me, of course. I have many of them, including these four I have ready to throw now. You quite admirably deflected them before, but now...unfortunately, you are burdened by your friend, whom you probably do not wish to drop upon the poisonous little surprises that were somehow left in the grass. But you are fast and strong, I can see that. You could probably save yourself and her from being touched by them. Probably. But could you save those other two girls as well? They are rather far away, aren't they? And you certainly can't let yourself be distracted, turning your back on me..."

Ranma stared at her dumbly for a few seconds. Then shook his head. "Wow, you are nuts. I didn't believe Ucchan when she told me about you." He rotated his neck. "Well... I guess I'll just have to stop you from using those things." Ranma narrowed his eyes, scanning the courtyard for something, anything, he could use to stop Kodachi before she carried out her threat.

With a soft sigh Kodachi flung one of the batons. Ranma didn't flinch as the weapon snapped into the ground in front of his feet. "Dear boy, you didn't listen. I said, do not move. Not a single muscle, save perhaps for that lovely mouth of yours, to respond to what I say. There will be no further warnings, I am afraid."

Ranma frowned now. Kodachi sounded serious. But there was no way Ranma was going to back down. Kodachi had just gone from mildly annoying kidnapper to potential murderer. Worse, she was using the threat of harming his friends to try and get him to back down. Ranma tensed his muscles invisibly under his clothes, his eyes snapping across the area for some weapon he could use to defend himself, Ukyou and the two Tendo sisters all at once.

His hand tensed slightly and he realized he had the ribbon still in one hand. That could help, but at best he could snatch one baton in mid-air before it reached a target, and Kodachi had three of them left. If only he had a bit more practice with the unusual weapon...

"Excellent decision," Kodachi purred, cutting off that train of thought. "Now remember, not even a twitch until I tell you. You're rather troublesome, boy. You weren't supposed to be here. Now what shall I do with you? It simply wouldn't do to leave you as a proper factor here. How unfortunate for you that I hold all the cards in this situation, hmm?" Her voice suddenly grew ice-cold. "You have two choices. Either leave, right now, or step on one of the caltrops and stay to observe what happens. Think quickly."

"Nah," Ranma grinned happily. "You want Ukyou so bad? Catch." Ranma moved quickly, cutting off Kodachi before she could speak. With a mighty heave he snapped the arm holding Ukyou forward... and suddenly a cloud of billowing black flew towards Kodachi. But Ukyou wasn't in the coat anymore, Ranma having held onto her well enough to prevent that. Ranma didn't wait to see Kodachi's reaction as the obscuring black coat blasted towards her. Instead he muttered a soft prayer asking Ukyou for forgiveness as he spun on one toe... and threw her through a nearby window into the house proper. Ranma transferred the momentum of his spin even further, tapping off the spatula beneath him and leaping in the direction of the doorway Akane and Nabiki were in.

There was a triple thump as the batons slammed into the coat and the entire mass suddenly reversed direction. Ranma was barely leaping by the time it reached him, but he grinned as his gambit paid off. He could feel something brush past his leg as he leapt away, but it was just leather against his pants. Ranma saw Kodachi already reacting, pulling more of those batons from wherever she was storing them. She was reaching back for a throw and Ranma couldn't tell if she was aiming for him or the girls beyond. He grit his teeth. This had to work!

Ranma snapped his hand out as he flew over the ground. Time seemed to slow down as the ribbon unrolled towards the house. Was it too high? Had he missed? Could he adjust it in mid-flight? Should he? No! Trust yourself, Ranma! This WOULD work!

The ribbon wrapped tightly about its target... the door handle! With a triumphant yell Ranma pulled the improvised grapple sharply. The door slammed shut. Now, Kodachi was cut off from all three of the helpless girls! His leap had also looked like it was toward the house, but it really was just high enough to allow him to tuck in his legs and land on the roof itself. Unfortunately he had no time to unravel the ribbon, and was forced to drop it as he landed on the roof.

His triumph was short-lived as his legs suddenly shot out from under him. He fell backward, and felt more than saw the sudden passage of a pair of poison-tipped batons as they flew through the space he would have occupied had he landed upright. Ranma almost sighed in relief. Then he was falling off the edge of the roof, towards that damn trapped ground again!

With a yell Ranma punched downward. He could just see the glitter of metal amidst the grass... and his fist slammed down into the ground, barely a millimeter from the edge of one of the poison-coated spines. For an agonizing instant his muscles fought gravity as he tried to support his weight on that one hand. Then he heard the whistle of incoming projectiles. Gritting his teeth and cursing whatever gods were supposed to be looking out for him Ranma pushed.

He was airborne again. The batons slammed into the ground where his hand had been moments before. His push had achieved some altitude, but it wouldn't last forever and he could now see the cursing Kodachi seeming to dance in place as she launched batons at him in sequence, tracking his motion.

Ranma had lost the ribbon. He had no way to defend himself from the attacks. In a second his inertia would cease carrying him upward and then he'd be a sitting duck. His mouth cocked into a grin as his brain suddenly provided him with what might be an answer.

Ranma's hands moved fast. One hand clamped onto each side of his shirt and with a staccato of popping wooden ties he ripped it open. A quick shrug and the silk garment was pulled from his chest and swinging around ahead of him. It had worked before. But Ukyou's leather coat was much thicker than Ranma's silk shirt. Still he snapped the fabric with as much force as he could, wishing he'd bothered to learn that iron cloth thing.

The fabric collided with the first baton that would have caught him and he grinned as it flew off course. Then Ranma spun the cloth again, knocking a second and third weapon out of the way. He could hear the shirt ripping and tearing as he descended. It wouldn't last two more blows. But Ranma was almost down to the roof again. The slightly shining roof.

Ranma had almost forgotten the grease -again-. He needed some way to stay on the roof... to maneuver without restriction. Wait, that might work-

Ranma had no more time for thinking. He spun in place, putting his legs beneath him and kicked out with as much force as he could muster. The tile of the roof hit his foot and splintered into dozens of pieces. He was stable!

His shirt gave out at last, tearing into shreds as he knocked aside one last baton. Ranma couldn't afford to stay still. With a grin he used his stable footing to launch himself along the eave of the roof. Every time his foot came down it wasn't a gentle tap. His footsteps left a trail of splintered tile in his wake. Not elegant, but definitely effective. Now he just had to stay ahead of those damn batons and circle around to Kodachi's part of the roof!

It took Ranma a fraction of a second to realize he was no longer hearing the whizzing sound of projectiles, but instead the rhythmic sound of hands clapping. He slowed his pace a fraction and saw Kodachi applauding him. Noticing she had his attention, Kodachi spoke in a low, amused tone. "Excellent, Ranma, excellent. Masterfully played. Truly, you are a wonder, a martial arts genius far beyond my stature."

"Heh, I am the best," Ranma grinned as he pulled to a stop. He was halfway around the courtyard to Kodachi at this point. A good solid leap would carry him to her, but leave him too vulnerable in the air. Best to keep running. But first, he'd give her one last chance to back down. "You might as well give it up. You ain't never gonna beat me. No matter what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

"However, as superb as you are, you couldn't think of everything. You got all three of the girls inside the house. You guarded them. You slammed the door." Kodachi stopped clapping and drew her hand up to her cheek. Her mouth dropped open into an overblown O of shock. "Unfortunately for you, you neglected to block the very window you just threw Ukyou Kuonji through. And more unfortunately still, my aim was quite good enough to send several of my weapons through that while you were dancing around waving your shirt at me." Ranma felt his heart skip a beat. Ukyou! Kodachi smiled as she saw his reaction. Her next words were oily and slow, making sure he heard every word. "Miss Kuonji, most unfortunately, will expire within minutes. Far too quickly to take her to a doctor. But all is not lost. I have an antidote, of course. Merely throw yourself to the lawn below you and I shall be most happy to administer it to her."

"You're bluffing!" Ranma cried as he began to lunge across the roof towards her. Great geysers of debris erupted in his wake as he pushed with all his speed. She had to be bluffing. Nobody could make that kind of shot. Ranma had thrown Ukyou so she would roll out of the way. Hadn't he? It had been so fast, he might not have done the throw perfect. Plus Ukyou was a lot of deadweight at the time. "Dammit! You psychopath!"

Kodachi flipped down to the courtyard as he approached and Ranma skidded to a halt on the eave of the roof. Could he follow her down there and risk searching her for the antidote... "You're wasting time, Ranma. Precious time. YOU could have made that shot. You know I could. And I did. I won't let Ukyou die if I can avoid it. Talking to her is important to me. But not so much that I'll surrender to you. Beat me, bludgeon me...even if I break, how much time will it take? Ukyou's time, Ranma. What's more valuable to you? Winning, or her?"

"I don't believe you..." Ranma growled but he could hear the fear in his own voice. He tensed his legs, ready to leap. He had to risk going down there blind.

Before he could move Kodachi's hand flickered to her waist and returned holding a small vial of something. "No more negotiations. Do what I said. Now. Or I'll smash it, and we see if you can brew another one in the remaining minutes of her lifespan."

Ranma could feel it. Feel the fight draining out of him. There was no way he could get down there faster than Kodachi could destroy that potion. Especially not with all those poisoned caltrops spread across the yard. He couldn't surrender! But... it went against everything he stood for. There was always a chance... always a possibility... except there wasn't. Kodachi held all the cards. His fists unclenched and his chin fell to his chest.

"Alright! You win!"

"Of course I do. Now jump down on the lawn, landing with your whole body, if you please, not your very agile feet. Don't leap towards me, as I am of course expecting that."

Ranma growled and nodded. He stepped forward, toppling off the edge of the roof. He spun once, spreading his arms and legs as he plummeted. The impact didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. He felt the burning points on his back as the tiny metal spikes drilled into his back. He let out an involuntary gasp, and it was the last solid sound he made. The poison didn't creep through his system. It hit like diving into a pool of water, swallowing him all at once. He could feel, feel everything, but couldn't control any of it.

Ranma tried to scream as he watched three of the batons impact with his chest, drawing long lines of blood on his bared skin. It came out only as a strangled gurgle. That bitch! He would kill her! He needed to move, just enough to finish her off... He heard the ground crunching softly under footfalls as the girl approached. He rolled his eyes, trying to get a good look at her. If he could see her, he could will her dead with just his hatred! She appeared in his line of sight, looking slightly amused at his expression. She crouched down beside him. Then her entire posture and expression changed. Her shoulders slumped. Her smile went from gloating to relieved. Everything about her changed except her eyes. Those cold, empty, dead eyes. When she spoke, she sounded barely like the girl he had been fighting. Every word she spoke was different, less haughty, less HER somehow.

"Geez, Ranma. You scared the crap out of me. I wasn't at all sure if I could handle you. To put your mind at ease, neither Ukyou nor you are in danger. My batons were poisoned, but only with the same chemical on the caltrops. Paralysis, nothing more. You'll remain perfectly conscious, if perhaps uncomfortable. Which is good. You should pay attention to what's going to happen. You might learn a thing or two about your 'friend', Ukyou."

Then she sighed and smiled at him one last time before standing to walk away.

01010

Being thrown through a window was not ever going to be high on Ukyou's list of favorite things to experience. Neither was being paralyzed. Landing on a hardwood floor after having both done to you was definitely going on her 'never repeat' list. The fall might not have hurt that much, had she been able to roll with the impact. She had somehow managed to land face up in a small pool of broken glass as well. This was not turning out to be one of her favorite days.

Someone was going to pay, she and Aaron vowed silently. Kodachi wasn't really to blame, she was just a convenient scapegoat. There had to be someone else behind what was happening here with Kodachi. Once Aaron could figure out who that was, they would find out what it was like to be thrown through a window or two.

But the first priority was moving. Aaron couldn't remember how long Kodachi's paralysis concoctions lasted, but he knew moving anytime soon was probably a slim chance. In fact, he was inclined to wait. Ranma was out there, and he was more than a match for Kodachi in one-on-one combat. Even if Kodachi had booby-trapped every inch of the estate, Ranma was still likely to come out on top.

Except...

Except this wasn't just Kodachi. Someone had to have set her up on this errand. There was no other explanation for her showing so much interest in Ukyou, a person she had no reason to have even heard much about. Someone else was behind this, and that someone could decide to step up and tip the scales in Kodachi's favor.

It was a chance Ukyou just wasn't willing to live with. Which left them both back at square one. How to start moving again?

Aaron frowned as an idea came to him, a radical and really stupid idea. But until they learned "anti-poison fu" then it was all they had. Ukyou wasn't too wild about the concept either, but she wasn't coming any closer to a solution than Aaron.

So they reached out, feeling for that small pocket of strange energy that was Aaron's self-destructive chi. With a gasp they filtered it through their body. Ukyou really didn't have much control over her chi, just the basics of how to enhance muscle strength, eliminate fatigue and otherwise render oneself superhuman. But Aaron built on that, focusing the strange energy using techniques he had mastered in 'his world' to control breathing and heartbeat. Aaron then concentrated the painful energy around the dozens of small punctures which Kodachi's hidden caltrops had punched into Ukyou's arms and legs.

They could feel the bleeding start almost immediately, and with it a slow release of the vicelike grip of the poison. He had been right, the poison was bleeding out of his system. But they couldn't afford to bleed it all out. Some had managed to work its way in too deep, and they had already lost a lot of blood the day before.

With some reluctance Ukyou stopped them. She tested her reflexes a few times and found them slow and sluggish, but there. Good, they could move again. It wasn't much of a struggle to get to her feet. She could hear the sounds of the battle outside the window, but didn't risk a glance outside. In her state, intervening directly in the fight would make her more liability than asset. Aaron first noted the clubs embedded in the wall nearby. Kodachi had probably missed them by centimeters with that throw.

Chuckling to herself, Ukyou strode over and plucked the clubs from the wood. All her tools had been left outside, so arming herself seemed prudent. A quick examination led to her finding a way to retract the spines. Best not to toy with a potentially lethal poison, though Ukyou wasn't sure she thought Kodachi capable of using something like that.

Though tempted to go outside and stick the things in Kodachi's thighs, Ukyou resisted the urge and departed via the handy doorway. She had other priorities now. Now, which way to where she had left the two unconscious girls? Ukyou had been tossed through a window on the opposite side of the house, and she would have to circle the entire courtyard to get to them. One way had to be faster than the other, however. Well, Aaron always claimed to have an excellent sense of direction, so she trusted him as he guided them down the hallway, the sounds of the battle outside slowly dimming as they left the room. Aaron blinked as the hallway swam for a moment, but managed to keep going. They had really lost a lot of blood. He sure hoped Ranma could take care of this without Ukyou's help.

Aaron guessed right, and in short order they entered the foyer. The two girls were still lying unconscious on the floor. Ukyou knelt down next to them as Aaron quickly went through normal first aid on them... and his hands hesitated. Something about these two... seemed off. Frowning he snapped his hands to the hoods and yanked them off without preamble. A brown-haired and a black-haired girl, but neither of them was Nabiki or Akane.

"A trick," Ukyou groused aloud. "I should have known." Then Aaron snapped their head to the side. He had felt the telltale trickle of the martial arts danger sense. Walking into the room in the same direction Ukyou had come from was Kodachi. Ukyou cursed under her breath and rose to her feet, flipping the twin batons in her hand into a defensive posture.

Kodachi did not look happy when she walked in: her pretty mouth was scowling, and her pace was hurried. Plus she seemed to be following something on the floor... ah yes, the blood trail. Then Kodachi looked up and spied Ukyou. She smirked, raising one hand to her cheek. "Well, you managed to get up somehow, but didn't get very far, hmm? I also see you noticed those aren't your friends. Well, then again, I never said they were. Assumptions may well be the death of you."

"You beat Ranma..." Aaron said slowly. He almost added 'that shouldn't be possible', but his inherent distaste for stock dialogue prevented him. "You're more dangerous than you have any right to be, Kodachi Kunou."

Kodachi swung a pair of batons from behind her back. "Which makes us even, I suppose, since you're supposed to be lying helpless on the ground." Wait, that didn't sound very much like Kodachi. There was a twin set of snaps as the bulbs at the end of her batons extended their dripping spines. "But you know, that's just peachy. Because, me? I've been under a lot of stress lately, and of all the people you and I brought here, you are the only one I do not feel the slightest bit guilty letting out all that stress on. Please don't crumple too easily, and I promise I won't damage your mouth too badly."

Ukyou gasped as Kodachi leapt across the space between them. A desperate parry kept the first blow from smashing into her stomach, and a second deflection prevented the follow-up from catching her. Aaron backpedaled away, trying to gain maneuvering room, but Kodachi pursued almost faster than he could follow. They were in serious trouble. Blood loss, poison and injury were slowing them down. Kodachi was fighting like she was fresh, and they couldn't risk touching those spines again.

Ukyou kept up a series of parries as Kodachi snarled and lashed out again and again. She caught a particularly strong swing with both of her own clubs and the sheer force of it sent her flying back into the wall. The wood splintered around her and Aaron cried out in pain.

The world swayed as the injuries and dizziness caught up with them. They didn't even see Kodachi charge in, just felt the sickening impact of the club driving into their stomach. Ukyou folded over the head of the weapon. She saw Kodachi smirk. The girl had intentionally retracted her spines? An uppercut with the other club caught them square on the chin. Stars erupted across the inside of their eyelids. They didn't even feel the wall behind them collapse until they were already falling into the next room.

Ukyou propped herself up on one hand. Aaron noted wryly that they had lost their clubs somewhere in the exchange. Kodachi stepped calmly through the hole in the wall she had created, smirking evilly. Her eyes weren't smiling, however. Ukyou spit a gob of blood to the side. With tremendous will she forced herself to kick out, trying to catch Kodachi in the ankles. The girl bounced up over the attack. Ukyou watched her curl into a ball to avoid clipping the ceiling, then vault off it down at them. With a curse Aaron pushed them to the side. Kodachi came down where they had been laying with enough force to splinter the floorboards. But they weren't fast enough to avoid her follow-up kick. Once again stars burst across their vision, this time accompanied by an disturbing darkness at the edge of her eyes.

"Oh my, are you almost finished already? That simply won't do. I suppose I'll have to take things just a little bit easier." Aaron was struggling to lift themselves up while Ukyou tried to get a fix on Kodachi's position. They had landed on their side against the wall, and could only hear her approaching footsteps. Then an unkind hand grabbed a hold of their hair and jerked their face up. Before they could do more than note Kodachi's evil smirk they were thrust into the floorboards again. The floor didn't give way this time, but it certainly vibrated. "Certain types of pain are almost as good as a cold shower for waking up. Did that break your nose? Should I try again?"

"Fuck you," Aaron hissed between clenched teeth, trying to rise. Their nose did feel bruised, but probably not broken yet.

"Goodness, such language. Well, it's not like you weren't warned. Oh, and you brought Ranma after I specifically told you to come alone. Most vexing. This is for that." Ukyou's head fell to the floorboards again as Kodachi released it. Then something snapped around her ankle. The ribbon? A second later she was airborne. A long scream erupted from her throat. They didn't see what they hit, but their back exploded in pain as it collided with something very hard. Whatever it was, it thankfully broke before their spine did. They flew through the sudden rain of broken statuary, and Aaron noted in one of those bizarre extremely lucid moments that he could see a bit of Principal Kunou's face smiling ridiculously at him. Then they collided with the wall again and collapsed in a heap.

The sound of footsteps approaching kept them from falling unconscious. Ukyou was still struggling to lift herself up, but wasn't doing too well. Aaron was just about ready to give up and just let them drift off. "Well, that was... fairly satisfying. I guess you probably can't take much more. Too bad." A none-too-delicate poke from Kodachi's foot flipped them over onto their side. She smiled down at them, but her eyes were not reflecting her glee. Reaching out with one hand, she grabbed the front of Ukyou's shirt and pulled them up to eye level. Ukyou struggled to keep her head up, but it bobbed annoyingly. "Or not. It does feel kind of wrong to be beating up someone who looks that much like Ukyou. But, c'est la vie." Huh? Aaron blinked. "You look like you could use some fresh air, and I haven't QUITE paid you back for last night, though, soooooooo..." With a grin, Kodachi spun on one heel and flung them through a nearby window. Not another damn window, Aaron groused internally. But the passage was brief and now they were falling into the yard. The yard laced with poison-caltrops.

Acting on instinct, Aaron drew on a bit more of his own strange chi, somehow gaining the strength to push his hands in front of him and land with both palms against the grass. Tiny metal weapons glinted nearby. Ukyou took over, using the momentum of the throw and the pivot of their palms to complete a flip. It snapped them into the center of the courtyard. With a cry they slammed into the post there. Again acting on instinct, Aaron draped an arm around it, keeping them from collapsing.

Now that they weren't flying through the air, Aaron had a moment to think. What the hell had Kodachi meant there, at the end? Payback for last night? Was this actually some Dark Kingdom thing, after all? But that other sentence, it tickled the back of Aaron's memory. There was something here he was missing. He hated that.

His musing were cut off as the door into the courtyard exploded off its hinges. Kodachi strode out, stepping into the grass without a hint of worry. Nor did she move with any of Kodachi's characteristic grace, Aaron's critical eye noted. "And you're moving...again! Congratulations on your resilience. Does that mean I get to beat you up a little more, or are you just about ready to call it a match for now?"

"What do you want, Kodachi?" Ukyou spit a gob of blood from the corner of her mouth. "I've never done anything to you!"

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Ukyou-who-isn't. Last night..." She paused, and frowned. "No, wait, it was the night before, wasn't it? Damn my lousy time sense. Well, you try staying underwater for nearly 24 hours and see how well you remember a day. Anyway. I told you then we were going to talk sooner than you thought. And now we are going to. And you are going to tell me everything. Everything."

"Two nights ago..." Ukyou said slowly. Aaron stared at the girl before them. "No... it can't be. Chris?"

"Bingo! Got it in one! Not quite so arrogant now, are we? Not quite so smugly superior, huh? But gloating, as fun as it may be, is just a waste of time. Tell me, whoever-you-are. Tell me what you know. Tell me why you look like Ukyou but don't act like her. Tell me how you knew about Evangelion. And while we're at it, tell me just what series you were messing with the plot of yesterday. In fact, just tell me everything that may be of the slightest interest to me. And be very convincing that you're doing so, because I'll be more than happy to try various methods of making sure you're not holding anything back." 'Kodachi's' voice rose with every word, growing more and more shrill and angry as she went on. By the time she finished her diatribe she was shaking with suppressed rage. Then she took a deep breath and visibly calmed down. "Heh. You really did piss me off. But I'm all better now. So talk."

"Chris..." Aaron trailed off. Was he some kind of shapeshifter? No, that didn't make any sense. What had happened to him? More importantly, to Ukyou's mind, what had happened to Kodachi? Ukyou hardened her face, about to loudly tell the jerk to go fuck himself until he told her what had happened to the real Kodachi. But Aaron snapped her mouth closed. Why couldn't they tell him a bit of the truth? This was Chris. Aaron had trusted the man with more of his deepest secrets than anyone else on the planet. He needed to know what had happened to the boy. Ukyou was having none of it. The 'trusted friend' had beaten them within an inch of their life. Threatened her. Kidnapped Akane, twice. She could even see Ranma laying shirtless and bloody nearby. Let the boy beat them senseless, she wasn't giving him the satisfaction of breaking. The mental battle of wills waged inside their head, forming a new headache that somehow managed to make them feel even more pain then they already were. This might have continued for a good long time, if Chris-as-Kodachi hadn't gotten impatient.

Chris/Kodachi stalked forward, her face twisting into a vicious snarl. Her hand raised as if she was about to backhand Ukyou... and stopped. For a moment the hand quivered in the air, then it dropped to her side. When the Kodachi-lookalike next spoke her voice was weary, but it slowly grew in both strength and vehemence as she talked. "All right. All right. Let me put things straight for you. You had your chance to talk nice-nice with me. But you dicked around and held back with clever answers and finally dangled your knowledge in front of my face like water in front of a man dying in the desert. You ASKED for this. You damn near forced it, in fact. And then you came here with Ranma, who was probably ready to kill me - ha! - by the end of this fight. I'm very, very tired of you right now. You ARE going to give me answers. Now, I'm trying to get you give them willingly. Believe it or not, I really, really don't want to hurt any of your friends. I don't even want to hurt you, much. But I will. So help me, if you push me I'll break every bone in your body one by one, and if that's not good enough Ranma and Akane are next. And if that's not good enough - because god knows if you actually care about them, or are just acting - I will find SOMETHING. Something WILL make you talk. Let that something be a threat, whoever-you-are, because I will do more than threaten if you force me. Capiche?"

"You... you would really hurt all of those people, just to get back at me because I didn't trust you? What happened to you? The Chris I knew, he would... well, he would..." Aaron trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to say that the Chris he knew would never do that. Aaron was, after all, a realist. He knew that Chris was only human. But what could drive the man to such lengths? When Chris lost his temper he yelled and screamed and threw video game controllers at television screens. But no one got hurt. "My god, what happened to you?"

Kodachi froze. "The Chris...you knew..." she repeated slowly. "Who's the Chris you knew? Who the fuck ARE you?"

"My name is Ukyou Kuonji!" Ukyou spat out, a bit of blood flying from her lips as she did so. Aaron couldn't stop her, nor did he really want to. Kodachi stared at them as Aaron tried to figure out what to say next. He wanted to tell Chris the truth, really he did. But how could he? What was the truth? Kodachi's face twisted. Her mouth became a vicious snarl, her nostrils flared. Aaron could literally see the bangs of her hair rising and flapping as her chi slowly bled into the visible light. But her eyes didn't change. Those dead, emotionless eyes. Why hadn't either of them seen those eyes before? Chris raised Kodachi's hands slowly, curled into strangling claws.

"You... you... you..." Chris hissed between clenched teeth. Ukyou's eyes widened.

"Jenn is alive!" Aaron shouted out as loud as he could. It was all he could think of to hopefully snap Chris out of what looked like a killing rage.

It worked. Kodachi's hands fell nervelessly to her sides. Then she took a deep breath and looked back at Ukyou again, her face still a tight mask of anger.  
"Damn you, you sneaky...you're toying with me AGAIN. Not this time. The truth! Who are you? Now!" Before Aaron could say anything, Chris cut in again. "And I swear, if you say 'I'm Ukyou Kuonji' again, I'm going to go over and break every one of Ranma's fingers before asking you a third time."

Slap!

Ukyou stared as she saw her own hand pulling back from the slap she had just delivered. She hadn't even thought about it. She'd just drawn on Aaron's chi enough to deliver the blow. But now that she saw herself do it, she couldn't help but fell... empowered by it. She was angry. This bastard... he didn't even... Kodachi was staring at her in mute shock, caught completely flat-footed and Ukyou let loose before she could say anything.

"My name is fucking Ukyou Kuonji, you jackass!" she shouted. "How the hell would you know differently?" Ukyou felt the anger building up in her. The frustration that had been mounting and mounting ever since she had woken up one day with this fucking stranger in her head. And here this self-righteous geek voyeur prick was attacking her at the core of her being. "How DARE you! What the hell do you know about Ukyou Kuonji that makes you such a fucking expert on the subject! What have you really seen about her? Snapshots on a page! Ink on paper! You know NOTHING about who I am! Can you even name my father? My mother? Do I even have siblings? To you, I'm nothing but a fucking caricature, aren't I!" Ukyou snarled, she was really working herself into a good fever now. Aaron couldn't do anything to stop her. He was helpless before this sudden, unexpected swell of emotion. "Oh, let's have Ukyou fall in love with Tarou and have him break her heart! That'll be fun! Or how about sticking her in the body of an android and making her watch her own body die! Sounds great! No wait, let's clone her so much she has no identity, make the only person who cares about her a psychopath and drive her so insane she tries to kill all her friends! That's the best part of all! You self-righteous little prick! You can't see anything but your truth, you can't see anything but what you think is right. You've always been like that. To think Aaron likes you! To think he trusts you! To think he wants to tell you everything! I refuse! Threaten my friends all you want. If you touch one finger on Ranma's body, if you disturb one hair on Akane's head, I'll fucking finish what that truck started!"

Chris-as-Kodachi stared at them, her hand reaching up to her cheek. Ukyou snarled, breathing heavily. That attack hadn't cost her as much as she thought it would. The anger, the sweet anger rolled out of somewhere deep inside her, making the pain go away. Ukyou had never known there was anger like this in her soul. She had never suspected anger like this could exist. It was liberating. She almost felt like laughing.

Then it hit her. This wasn't her anger. This was Aaron's anger. He recognized it. He remembered it. The anger he had locked away, ever since he had understood what it meant. Aaron feared this freeing, satisfying anger more than anything. Feared it so much, he had spent the last decade and a half of his life a virtual robot.

Control. He needed to control it before it went too far. A grimace of self-disgust crossed Ukyou's features as she realized what she had tapped into. Yes. They needed to control themselves. Rein in the anger. Concentrate on her heartbeat. Will yourself calm. Emotionless.

"Aaron," Chris said softly with Kodachi's voice. Ukyou looked at him blankly. Had he discovered the truth? Did he know? A part of her, she wasn't sure whose part, wanted him to know the truth. A part of her wanted it secret. "Aaron. Aaron. Of COURSE. But that means..." The girl that had once been Aaron's friend trailed off and stared at Ukyou with those blank eyes. Aaron wanted to say something, but he was too busy helping Ukyou control the emotions they felt. "Aaron was the person you knew that died? Okay, him and me both here? But...wait. If you knew Aaron, and you knew of me, why the hell didn't you just say so?"

Here the Kodachi-Chris stopped. Then a look of incredulous disbelief crossed her face. Her next words came out short and sharp, but without real force behind them. "Because of -fanfics-? Because we wrote some STORIES about you as a fictional character? Holy fucking crap, Ukyou, that might've miffed you, but if you associated with him enough to learn all that...what the hell is going on here? How did he even die? As far as I can tell that's next to impossible. Unless...did he rot? Or the body got destroyed or something? Wait...he WANTS to? So he's not dead? Where the hell is he?" Kodachi's voice grew more and more frustrated as she continued talking, by the end her hands were clenched into fists. Her knuckles strained and should have turned white from it, but Aaron idly noticed that her entire hand was already pale. Not just her hand, either, her entire body was pale. He blinked. Rotted? A fleeting memory of clammy skin against Ukyou's hand as she delivered her slap came to mind. "Goddamnit, Ukyou, this isn't a fucking game! If you know him, knew him, whatever, you should know that! Why the hell couldn't you just tell me the truth? Because of STORIES? Shit, fuck, motherfucking...I'm SORRY I wrote stories about you. Does that balance the scales?" Kodachi's voice had become slightly shrill as real anger entered into it. "Yeah, I'm SO FUCKING SORRY I read about you in a comic book, Ukyou Kuonji, and never realised you existed somewhere, somehow. That really is just as bad as taunting me and abandoning me as a rotting corpse when you could have given me some help and hope, huh? Jesus. Fine. Tell me where Aaron is, or if he IS dead, tell me what you know, and I'll get out of your life. If you knew me, you should have known I never would have wanted to hurt you, or Ranma, or Akane. You damn well forced me into this by refusing to tell me a damn thing. But nobody's permanently injured or...well, none of your friends have been hurt except for some scratches on Ranma. So just tell me what the HELL is going on here, please?"

Rotting corpse? Abandoning? Pale skin. Clammy flesh.

("This body is just a vessel." He looked up at her, stared her in the eyes. "Just a vessel. It doesn't bleed. It's not even alive.")

Dear lord.

"I don't know what's going on," Aaron answered truthfully. He opened his mouth to answer Chris, to finally tell all. Then the part of them that was Ukyou thought 'And what happened to Kodachi then?' and his mouth snapped shut. "You killed her. You killed Kodachi, didn't you?" they said in mixed shock and horror.

"I..." Chris clamped Kodachi's mouth shut and narrowed her eyes. "No. No, I see what you're doing. Getting me to answer questions without answering any of mine, again. I'll answer you when you answer me, Ukyou. You still haven't explained a damn thing. And you're STILL not acting like Ukyou should, and I'm SORRY where I draw my knowledge from, but nobody else here acts so utterly different than what I expected. So, fine, I'll believe you're Ukyou, since you're a damn good actress if you can fake that much anger. But something obviously changed you. So what was it? Meeting Aaron? What happened? Why are you so damn determined not to tell me anything?"

"Meeting Aaron? Meeting him..." Ukyou snickered. She couldn't help herself. "Yes, it was meeting him. Aaron changed my life. Aaron ruined my life. Because of Aaron I can't tell Ranma how I feel about him. Because of Aaron I can't get mad at anyone without risking it blowing up into a berserk rage. Because of him Sailor Pluto is trying to kill me, and the Dark Kingdom is attacking me. Because of Aaron I've seen myself in ways I never wanted to see myself. Oh... and let's not forget, Aaron's 'friend' is threatening to kill me while in the corpse of Kodachi Kunou!" Ukyou took a deep breath, trying to let Aaron reign in the anger she felt again. "I hate Aaron Peori," she spat softly. She couldn't help it. She didn't want to do it. She could almost sympathize with Aaron. He was just as much a victim here as she was. Except she couldn't.

Chris stared at them mutely for a moment. "What the hell are you talking about?" Kodachi's voice was dumbfounded. "Because of Aaron, because of Aaron. Obviously he's no mind-controller..." Ukyou burst out into a short, bitter laugh. But Chris just gave her a funny look and continued."...so how he's doing all this stuff, I don't know. And you obviously got mad at me just fine. Well, that makes us even, since I was certainly mad at you. Although, just to make a point, I never threatened to kill you. ANYway..." Chris reached up and massaged her temples, closing her eyes. "You're evading the point again. I don't think you're doing it deliberately, because you're obviously agitated about the whole thing. I don't know why you hate him. I don't know why you hate me, previous to today's encounter. But I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. However, you've got to give me a little here. I need to know what's going on. Hell, if you're having so much trouble with him, maybe I can help you." Her voice was growing bitter. She opened her eyes and stared straight into Ukyou's. "But you have to help me first. Just spit it out, for christ's sake. Get mad all you want, threaten all you want, but the fact is, you're not getting out of this situation without telling me anything, so let's deal with this situation rationally. Trust me, no matter how much you hate that I wrote fictional versions of you to be angsty, I've suffered PLENTY for it, okay?"

"I can't help you, Chris," Ukyou said slowly. "At least, not yet." She tried to straighten herself up, but her vision swam with black sparks. Giving up, she resumed her slump against the post. "I don't think you can help me either. Aaron... Aaron gave me a lot of baggage to carry, Chris. Up here..." Ukyou tapped her forehead. "Up here Aaron has done a lot of damage. But it's okay. I can help you, in the future. You already know how. The Sword, Chris. In only a few months, it will hit the magic number and I plan to be there when it does. I can help you then."

Before Chris could reply, Aaron cut in. "Chris. You have to believe me... I want to help you. But there's nothing I can say that can make what you're going through better. I have no clue why this all happened to you. I have no clue why it happened to me as well. And I wouldn't look for Aaron either, he can't help you now." Aaron dipped their head. "If that doesn't satisfy you, then I suggest you beat me up some more. Get it out of your system."

"Oh, trust me, I'm tempted." The anger was clear in her voice. "Once again, once again, you won't tell me CRAP. And I don't know why, but I'm getting plenty sick of it. The sword? The Wishing Sword, you mean? Who gives a shit? Do you even know where it is? Because nothing ever said that. And even if it did..." She sighed and looked at her hands. "Months. Probably at least three months, maybe four, given the current circumstances. I can't wait for that. There won't be anything left of me by then. Unless...but I can't take the risk. If you want to help me, help me by TELLING ME. You may not know why this happening - I don't even think you know WHAT is happening - but you damn well know more than I do. Why won't you tell me what you do know? Do I have to get on my knees and beg you? Jeezus! Goddamn...JEEZUS!" She swung wildly, her fist whistling in the air. Ukyou didn't flinch. "I don't care if you're Ukyou! I'm not going to sit here like a good little corpse and, and, FUCK! You WILL tell me what you know! You gave me no reason to do anything other than twist the truth out of you, but I tried talking. I believed you, I trusted what you told me. And you're STILL dicking me around!" Ukyou just looked on dully as the Kodachi-corpse turned her eyes back to her. "Don't. Don't do this to me, Ukyou. You don't know me any more than I know you. But I'm not the person Aaron knew. You said it yourself. What I've gone through...what I've become...you can't imagine. I hope you can't. But don't do this to me. Because I won't let you. And I'm scared of what might happen. What I might... just tell me. Please. I AM begging you. Tell me. Tell me what happened to you. What happened to Aaron. What's going on. I need to know. I NEED it."

"I can't help you, damn it!" Ukyou said in exhaustion, tired of this. "You want to know what I know. Fine. You and Aaron were hit by a truck when he went to visit you. You died fast, he died slowly and painfully. Now you're here. End. Of. Story." Ukyou stared at the ground. It took her a few seconds to realize she was crying. "I'm not dicking you around, Chris." She brushed a few tears from her cheeks and noted with distaste that it was mixed with blood. "You want the truth... so do I. I want to know what fucking happened to me. I want to know why I remember things that haven't happened yet. You want to know what happened to Aaron? He died and I felt him die. I know everything he knew. I don't know HOW, okay?" Ukyou slumped down, no longer able to hold up her body. "Just, leave me alone. I can't take this anymore. Just leave me and my friends alone."

Ukyou stared at the ground, unable to work up the emotional or physical energy to look up and see Chris's reactions. A few seconds passed without any response. "So...some sort of soul-bond. So you felt him, and you knew what he knew, and...no wonder you act so different. You're...what, Ukyou with a dash of Aaron. With all his memories. And he's dead." A short bark of bitter laughter erupted from above Ukyou's head. "Well, isn't that rich. He's dead. He's dead, and I'm dead, except he's more dead. Or maybe I'm more dead. How should I know? I'm real good at that, I guess. You know, having dead friends. You should know, if you have his memories."

Ukyou didn't respond. Aaron didn't feel like doing so either. What was the point? They just continued to watch tears of blood drip from their face to the ground. "All right. So you told me," Chris said in Kodachi's voice. She sounded weary. "Look, I believe you. I'm not so horrible. And since I promised, here's what I am. Yes, I killed Kodachi. I killed her, and I killed the person whose body you last saw me in, and I killed someone before that, and before that, and before that, and before that I woke up in the body of someone I presume who had just died. You say I'm dead in the real world? Or my world, or whatever? I guess that explains why I'm dead now. And I AM dead. I'm a walking corpse. I don't breathe, and I don't feel things like I did before, and I don't have bloodflow or, well, any of the other things you probably could intuit me not having due to being a corpse. But it gets more fun than that, Ukyou. Oh yes. I can kill people, and take their bodies, take their memories, their skills, and learn them. You know that. You've seen that. You must think I'm horrible. You're probably right. But I'm not doing it for no reason.

"They're dead. They're dead, and they start to rot. Rot. I can feel THAT. I can feel myself rotting from the inside out. It's like...I can't say what it's like without making it sound trivial. It's...my entire BEING is hollowing out, becoming softer and softer, decomposing, and then the insects come, and..." Kodachi's voice quivered and Ukyou could almost feel her shudder. "I can't take it. I was going insane, in that first body. I kept running from place to place so the maggots and flies wouldn't get me. I ran across someone, they called out to me. I think they were making fun of me, that body was of a street bum. I was so...ANGRY. I snapped. I killed them. I didn't even realise what I did until I was standing over them...and then I felt it, I felt this void calling to me, and I was in her body, I WAS her, and I could feel what she felt, remember what she remembered."

Kodachi started pacing in front of them. Her voice came out in short bursts, like she was spitting up something unpleasant. "I didn't want to do it. I was horrified, you understand? I was going to try and get back to Canada, give myself to the government. But then I found out. This wasn't my world. It wasn't even the right year. I found out that Sailor Moon existed, and then was pretty sure Ranma did too. I knew, if I was going to get help, I needed to come to Japan. Because that's where everything was. Where everything HAPPENED. This was magic, it'd be in Japan or China I'd find a cure for it."

Another pause. This time the voice that drifted down to Ukyou's ears was heavy and drained. "But I couldn't get there in that body. And, in fact, I realised the problem went deeper than that. The body was already rotting. Two, three days, they lasted, and then it'd happen again, and I couldn't take it. I decided I needed a body. A stronger body. A superhuman body, like this world was full of. It was horrible, but what choice did I have? In a body like this, I hoped, I could stay for weeks, maybe even months. Then I'd have TIME to look for an answer, for a cure, without it always being in the back of my mind, rotting, always looking for a new victim. Less people would die. The ends were worth the means."

Chris sighed. "Small consolation for Kodachi, right? I don't think my life is worth more than other people's. You should know THAT courtesy of what Aaron knew. But I couldn't take just staying in the body while it rotted again. And I didn't know what else to do. I wasn't even sure if I could kill myself. Yes, as you no doubt have already guessed, Akane was my planned target. But I couldn't do it. Even before you interrupted...you saw, didn't you? I didn't take the gun. So Kodachi was next. She was the only other target I could think of, that I knew I could have a chance of killing. And she wasn't Akane. It wasn't pleasant, but Kodachi's an evil bitch, and I could force myself to kill her.

"And the goal, of course: to find out about you. What you knew. Because all I knew was that you looked like Ukyou, didn't act like Ukyou, and knew about me, knew something nobody from this world should have, and wouldn't tell me the truth. For all I knew, you had the key to freeing me from this damn curse. Or knew what had happened, which I could at least take to an expert. I'm sorry things turned out the way they did, but you didn't exactly help, you know. I still don't understand why you wouldn't tell me the truth then. Didn't you realise something was wrong? I dunno."

Aaron didn't respond. Let Chris paint them as the villain, if he wanted. It cost Aaron nothing to let him do so. He knew there was something wrong with what he had done. But then again, how was Aaron to know that Chris had been in such a bad position? It wasn't like he wasn't in a bad situation himself.

"Maybe you were just resenting getting in contact with someone who Aaron knew. Maybe I can't blame you. But you can't blame me, either. It's not that I WANT to be like this. I don't want to kill people, not you, not Akane, not Kodachi, not even the people I don't know. It's easy to say I should have just tied myself up and sunk to the bottom of the river, or something. I don't know." Another sigh. "Whatever. Now you know my story, too. That's what I promised. Now, I'll help you and Ranma get to a hospital, and free Akane and Nabiki. I'll stay out of your affairs, I guess. If you do get the sword, I guess you can let me know, if I'm still stuck here. Hopefully this body will last long enough. Hopefully..." Kodachi's voice trailed off.

Ukyou shuddered.

"No," she said softly. "Just... give Ranma the antidote. Get Akane and Nabiki. Let us go."

When Chris next spoke he couldn't quite conceal the resentment behind his voice. "Whatever suits you. I'll go get the girls." Fine. Let him dislike Ukyou. Maybe it would keep them away. Aaron couldn't stand to see him in that body anymore. It reminded Aaron of everything he had lost. Aaron could hardly stand to think of himself anymore. Ukyou's hatred for him was contagious. Maybe... maybe Aaron didn't deserve to live either. Was he so different from Chris, stealing second after second of Ukyou's life? Kodachi's footfalls fell off slowly as she walked away from them.

Ukyou and Aaron were left alone, beaten and defeated, each in their own way.

01010

Chris walked up the stairs with a scowl. Maybe it was a little petty to be annoyed at how much Ukyou disliked him and wouldn't help him. But maybe it was a little petty of her, too. Everything that had happened was as much her fault as his. She had figured out who he was, if not what he was, the other night. Nothing stopped her from telling him the truth then, except her goddamn resentment of him. For what? Because Aaron had known him? Because he wrote fanfics? What a joke.

But he forced himself to calm down. Ukyou might have been asinine, but she was a done issue. Besides, she was young. Very young. It was easy to forget that. Only sixteen. So maybe expecting rationality was a bit much.

It was still very hard not to be angry at her.

He swung the door open to where Akane had been held captive. Looking down, his eyes adjusting to the dimness, she was struggling weakly to free herself, and then she was staring at him. Wait. Struggling weakly? That paralysing gas took Ranma out of commission for an entire night in the manga. Of course, Kodachi had caught Ranma by total surprise, whereas Akane could hardly have been shocked at the thought that the flowers would do something bad. She must have not inhaled much. Sloppy. He'd have to be more careful in the future.

Stepping inside, he opened a dusty wardrobe next to her, and retrieved the katana he had stored inside it earlier as a weapon of last resort. Thankfully it hadn't come to that. Akane was still staring at him. Not glaring, for which he was oddly grateful, but just staring, piercingly.

He unsheathed the sword, and sliced it down with a swift but delicate motion. Akane flinched involuntarily, but his aim was superhumanly perfect, severing every strand of the ropes that bound her without touching even a thread of her clothing. That made him feel good as well. This whole thing might have been a total, stupid, useless waste, but at least he had his body, now. His martial-arts-death-machine body. That gave him hope.

He looked down again after a moment. Akane has removed her gag, but had not said anything. She was still staring at him with a half angry, half sad look. For a moment they remained like that, and then she spoke. "Why?"

"Why?" he repeated, confused. "I already told you...oh. That's right. You must've heard everything. That's why I put you in this room." He glanced towards the small window that peered into the courtyard. "So you could hear the truth when I did. Except it wasn't a truth I'd expected." He gazed down at her again with a wry little smile. "I guess you were right. She is Ukyou, after all."

"Was it worth it? All this?"

He sighed. "Who can say, Akane? Who can say? But you'll all be fine. You, your sister, Ukyou, Ranma...none of you are permanently injured. It could've been worse. It could've been much worse. So, in that way, it isn't so bad. And at least it's over."

"Is it?" Akane tried to stand up, and he instinctively reached down to help her with his free hand. She flinched away from his touch, staggering back to the window. Well, he couldn't blame her for that reaction. "I didn't understand half what you two were talking about. I thought... Ukyou was just a normal girl who had been abandoned by Genma. Now I find out all this. This all seems... bigger now."

He flipped the katana over his shoulder, tapping the blunt side against it for a moment. "I'm not going to apologise for that, Akane. I'll apologise for kidnapping you. I'll apologise for beating up Ukyou. And I apologise for what I almost did two nights ago. But I won't apologise for what you found out today. If Ukyou's your friend...well, friends share things. Friends try to help friends in trouble. Now you know more about the trouble Ukyou has. I suppose, if anything, that's the one good thing for you to come out of this."

"I have so many... no. I have to help her..." She pushed past him, and staggered to the door, obviously woozy still. "She needs my help."

Typical. He sighed. "Wait a second, Akane."

She kept walking, well, staggering anyway. "You said it yourself, I have to get her to a doctor... thankfully I know someone nearby who can help."

He walked out behind her. "Yes, Akane. A certain Doctor Tofu, right? A good idea. But first off, if you won't let me assist you in walking, slow down a bit, because if you fall down the stairs and break your neck that leaves only Nabiki to take the three of you there. Second, Ranma and Ukyou happen to be in the middle of a grassy area liberally covered with poisoned spiky bits of metal. You're going to need some better footwear before you try to extricate them."

"I can take care of myself..." she began reflexively, and then stopped with a sigh. "Fine... wait. You said Nabiki was here?"

Whoops. "Yes, actually. I grabbed her and you both this morning. She's in another part of the house; I'll go free her while you help Ranma and Ukyou."

She paused, but then seemed to accept it. "Okay. I need some sturdy shoes then."

He tapped the katana again. Probably should have put that back. Oh well, too late now. "Yes...if you go down these stairs - be careful - you'll go into the main foyer. If you then take a...right, you'll see a small door in the hallway on your left, which is a closet. That's where the servants put the footwear, I believe. You should be able to find something suitable." He paused, then laughed a bit. "I'm sorry. Talking like this...it seems sort of surreal, somehow."

She looked over her shoulder at him. Her expression was sad. She opened her mouth, closed it again, then turned and walked away. As she vanished down the stairs, he leaned against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. There was a crack, probably from Ranma smashing up the roof. A bit of dust hovered in the air.

Could things have gone differently?

He shrugged. It wouldn't have mattered. Ukyou was prejudiced against him from the start. It was too bad Akane had gotten involved. But he wasn't exactly counting on her help or anything. And now she knew enough to get the truth out of Ukyou. In the long run, that'd probably improve any friendship they had. Especially since Ukyou had so conveniently taken Akane out of the Ranma sweepstakes. So, probably, this would end up being good for them. Not that either would likely see it that way.

Good for him? Well, he had his body. Once he got rid of them, he'd get to work. Have to feed Kunou - currently tied up, drugged, and stripped to his underwear in his bedroom - a story to explain what happened. Have to do something about the bodies of Midorigame and Officer Takashita, hidden and sunk under the bridge of the pond, respectively. Maybe the police? Maybe the yakuza? Whatever.

And after that, he'd start using the money and connections he now had. Maybe he could find another series with the sort of expertise he needed. If not...it'd be awhile before Cologne departed to come here. Maybe a trip to China would be in order.

He walked away from the stairwell Akane had gone down. He'd free Nabiki and get them out of here. They could go home and commiserate about how they'd almost been killed by the awful, horrible, hateful monster. Oh well. At least they'd stay the heck out of his business from now on.

01010

Getting Ukyou and the others to Doctor Tofu's place took a lot more work then Akane thought it would. First, there was the problem of the two other girls to deal with. Akane recognized their faces, if not their names. She wasn't about to leave the two of them here with Kodachi, or Chris, or whoever it was that had just done all this.

It was all so stupid!

Akane forced herself not to think about that while she worked. A set of wooden clogs protected Akane's feet while she got Ukyou and Ranma out of the yard. She remembered gasping when she finally got a good look at Ukyou. There was so much blood, coming from her mouth and nose and eyes and ears and all the small cuts on her body. Her face and hands were covered with bruises. Akane couldn't see the rest of her, but imagined it was much the same. Akane had went to help her but had been stopped by Ukyou's soft but insistent voice.

"Ranma first."

That had been all the girl had said, since Akane had shown up in the yard until she was back at the office recovering in one of Tofu's beds. Akane wanted to argue, but she just couldn't. So Akane had ended up carrying Ranma out of the yard first. By the time Akane was heading back out for her friend, Nabiki had shown up.

Nabiki seemed shocked by the level of damage done to both the Kunou estate and to both Ranma and Ukyou. Compared to that, the rope-burns on her wrists and ankles seemed unworthy of comment. After that the two of them did their best to carry/drag the quartet back to Tofu's clinic. Akane ended up doing most of the work, though Ukyou was able to partially support her own weight.

Tofu took one look at the group Akane lead into his offices and shooed out the rest of his customers. He wanted to get Ukyou to a real hospital, but the girl refused for some reason. Thankfully, all that Ranma and Akane's schoolmates needed was a few judicious pokes with Tofu's practiced hand and a dose of some vile-smelling concoction. All three were up and walking within an hour. Akane herself got a good swallow of the potion, and discovered it tasted about as bad as it smelled. It did clear her head.

Now... now she was just sitting next to Ukyou's bed. Ranma was sitting on a windowsill, staring alternately at Ukyou or out at the setting sun. A few minutes ago Ukyou had fallen unconscious. Tofu had left to go consult some texts of his. He seemed worried, far more worried than Akane had ever seen him. Nabiki had wanted to come in and speak with all three of them, but Akane had been forced to keep her out.

She remembered Ukyou's last words to her, before she had drifted off. "I don't want... anybody to know about what happened. Keep it secret... please." Akane felt kind of bad about keeping her sister away, and the look Nabiki gave her promised trouble down the line. Akane was just reminded of how stupid this all was by that.

How could it have come to this? Akane couldn't help but feel that if the two of them had just been willing to talk with each other from the beginning, if just one of them had been willing to trust the other with their secrets...

"Dammit!"

Akane snapped her head up as Ranma leapt down from the windowsill. He stalked over to the door, scratching idly at the shirt Tofu had been kind enough to loan him.

"Where are you going?"

"I can't..." He looked over at Ukyou and dropped his head. "I can't just watch her like this again."

Ranma walked out of the room. Akane sighed and set her chin on her palm. In a few minutes, she would probably have to leave herself. Her father was probably worried sick about her, not to mention Kasumi. But she didn't want to leave quite yet. There were too many questions swimming around in her head. Questions only Ukyou could properly answer. She hadn't heard everything the two had been talking about, but she had heard enough to know that there was far more going on here than Ukyou had once led Akane to believe.

Akane reached out and grabbed Ukyou's limp hand. However it turned out, Ukyou had friends. Maybe Ukyou had done something wrong. But Akane would be here when she woke up, and Ranma was going to be here too. Whatever problems Chris, or whoever that was, had... they were behind them now.

She hoped.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Well, that was about as much of us as any sane reader would ever want to handle, so we should probably keep our pretentious self-indulgence short.

Epsilon: And to think people were actually asking us to tone down the angst.

Blade: Feh. "They don't know us vewy well, do they?"

Epsilon: Well, I really don't have anything to say here. It pretty much explains itself.

Blade: What, no translations of Japanese names for Ranma's amazing Shirt Shield technique? Or Tile Breaking Stance?

Epsilon: That sounds like a Charm from Exalted.

Blade: Oh jeezus. Shut up about Exalted already.

Epsilon: (gleeful fanboy mode) I statted up Hybrid Theory Ukyou in Exalted! It was COOL! (/GFB)

Blade: Well, this is a reversal of roles. Anyway, so yeah. Never fear, people who read this self-insert fic, but not for the self-insert elements! It will be a good long while before there's as much Chris and Aaron as there was in this chapter.

Epsilon: Yes, other characters will have a chance to angst too!

Blade: Because god knows Ranma 1/2 is certainly well-known for all its rampaging angst.

Epsilon: Anyway, there's nothing much else to add...

Blade: And I'm horrendously sick, so I'm probably forgetting whatever brilliant geniusosity I normally would...

Epsilon: ...right. So let's hit the next chapter preview!

"I woke up almost eight hours ago now. I spent a lot of that time lying here and getting very familiar with what that ceiling looks like. I also spent a lot of that time thinking. I was thinking about what I was going to tell you when you came and you had questions. Questions about me, about Chris, about Aaron and about how all three of us are connected. And I came up with a lot of things I could say to you. I spent a great deal of time refining the message over and over in my mind, editing it and revising it. I perfected it the same way a politician perfects a speech or a storyteller perfects a tale, introducing the right levels of drama and exoticism, playing to the emotional appeals of my audience. I came up with a brilliant way to give you what you wanted to hear.

"Now, sitting here, looking at the two of you, I can't say any of it. Because everything I was going to say to you was a lie. Oh, I could call it a subtle half-truth, or just a little white lie, or a harmless omission... but I seem to have lost the ability to deceive myself even as I become a better liar. I look at your faces and I feel like a bitch when I prepare myself to lie to you so openly. I can't do it. You two mean too much to me. So instead I'm going to tell you the truth, or a good part of it.

"There are parts of the truth I'm not going to tell you. Some of that is because I don't know the whole truth. Some of that is because there are things I just don't feel like telling anyone. There are secrets in my heart that I want to keep, and if it's wrong for me to hide them from you then I'm wrong, but that doesn't change how I feel."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 5: Session


	5. Session

Um yes, well, I'm Doctor Tofu Ono, and it seems I have the task of describing the last chapter to you. It was truly very exciting!

It seems Chris was very angry at Ukyou, so he had killed the body of Kodachi Kunou so he could get stronger, and hopefully not rot away as quickly. Ukyou and Ranma returned from Juuban, Ukyou still not entirely well after having drawn on this painful dark power inside her. They found that 'Kodachi' had taken Akane and Nabiki and hurt K... K...

HE HURT KASUMI!

BETTY-CHAN, MY SWORD! He must die!

Oh dear, I appear to have lost track of time.

Then Chris was talking with both Akane and Nabiki and they had a very interesting conversation! And when Ukyou showed up with Ranma, Chris was very upset! They fought! Chris managed to poison Ukyou, and Ranma was forced to...

...oh dear, I've just been told I'm a terribly boring recapper. I can't help it if my character hasn't had quite so much attention drawn to it as Alan Harnum did. Perhaps it's simply that Mr. Harnum is a better writer...

...now I am being told to go back to being boring, or Chris says he shall twist of my head like a dandelion and mount it on a wall. Then throw darts at it. He seems a bit insecure, in my professional opinion.

Ahem. Yes. To make a long story short, Chris bluffed Ranma into defeating himself and then attacked the helpless Ukyou. After his brutal assault, he interrogated her. She told him a half-truth, leaving him with the impression that Aaron was dead and she had just inherited his memories. Chris, on the other hand, told Ukyou everything. They also appear to not like each other very much.

Chris, having won but feeling bitter about it, released all his hostages and Akane took them to my clinic for some much needed medical attention. Which is where I come into this story, I suppose.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 5: Session

"So you're awake."

Ukyou sighed as her newly modified memory drifted back into the recesses of her consciousness. She had been rather fond of that memory before, or so she suspected. It was rather hard to tell, now.

Anyway, she and Aaron were awake now. The first thing she noticed was her complete inability to move. The next was the spoken phrase, which had just now registered. She opened her eyes and saw the plain white ceiling with its harsh neon lights overhead. In the corner of her vision she saw hanging partitions. Oh right, Akane had taken her to Doctor Tofu's clinic.

"Doctor Tofu, I presume?"

"Why yes. though I don't believe we've had a chance to be properly introduced," the man said as he leaned in. Doctor Tofu was really a quite attractive man, Ukyou noted with idle dispassion. He had well trimmed brown hair, kindly black eyes behind neat little glasses and the kind of mouth which was made for smiling. Aaron was curious as to why he wore a martial arts gi in the office, but couldn't work up the energy to ask.

"Ukyou Kuonji," Ukyou said in a bored tone. "And you are Tofu Ono. Pleased to meet you." Tofu seemed to find her deadpan manner slightly amusing, and chuckled to himself.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"No, actually, I feel terrible," Ukyou pointed out with a sigh. She wasn't exaggerating either. Her muscles ached like she had just run across all of Asia, and her head felt like someone had set off a fireworks display in it a few moments ago. There didn't seem to be a part of her body that didn't feel like someone had worked it over with a baseball bat. "But you can unparalyse me, if that's what you mean. My seizure is over now that I'm fully awake."

"You sound like you're used to this kind of thing," Tofu noted idly as he moved his expert fingers to unfreeze her. Ukyou grit her teeth and hissed as the sudden return of vitality to her limbs only increased the pain. "I'm sorry," the doctor murmured softly when he saw her expression.

"Problem not," Ukyou sighed and rolled her head back on the stiff pillow Tofu had provided her. "It wasn't your fault."

"I can do something for the pain."

"Don't bother," Ukyou groaned. "It isn't that bad. Plus it will remind me not to be such an idiot in the future."

Tofu tsked and leaned in, placing his fingers on a few of the pressure points on her head. Slowly, much of the pain drained away. Now she only felt like she had been run over by a garbage truck. "I'll never understand how you martial artists can be so bull-headed about certain things."

"Like wearing workout clothes while tending patients?" Aaron chuckled. Tofu had the decency to look abashed, but still smiled in a winning fashion. Aaron frowned, however, looking back up at the ceiling. "I guess I should get the cliches out of the way. Like finding out how long I was unconscious, and what happened to everyone else."

"Well..." Tofu shrugged and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You were asleep for a good..." He checked his watch and whistled. "A little over thirty- eight hours."

"Thirty-eight?" Aaron blinked, followed swiftly by a groan from Ukyou.

"Yes, you were in much worse shape then you are in now when you came in. I didn't even try to wake you up."

"How bad?"

"Very bad," Tofu said with uncharacteristic seriousness in his tone. "Aside from the extensive internal and external injuries, coupled with the blood loss and broken bones... the most serious damage of all was to your chi."

Aaron snapped his eyes to the doctor's face and stared at him intently. The man seemed to barely notice as he leaned back on the stool he was using.

"I don't know what technique you were using, but whatever it was is extremely dangerous."

"Indeed..." Aaron sighed. "The truth is, doctor, that it wasn't a technique. It's a... condition I suffer from."

"Ah," Tofu commented softly as he nodded. "That makes sense. The damage done to your chi is too extensive for you to have done it voluntarily."

"Can you... tell me anything about it?"

"Hmm... not really, I'm not sure of the cause, It's certainly not anything I'm familiar with."

"Too much to hope for," Ukyou grumbled softly. She spoke again before Tofu could respond. "So, where are all my friends? I expected one of them to be here when I woke up."

"Don't be disappointed," Tofu said easily. "It's still school hours for them. Akane and Ranma have both been in to see you with all their free time. They're doing well. Ms. Hirozuki and Ms. Kanagata have not been back since I gave them an antidote to that nasty poison."

"Ah," Aaron nodded. He and Ukyou fell silent as the doctor moved back out of their sight and did doctor-things. In the silence of the clinic the mental debate started. Calling it mental speech would have been a misnomer. It was far more... pure, more immediate than any speech could have been. The moment a concept entered Aaron's mind, it entered Ukyou's mind with the same potency. In exchange her thoughts were experienced by Aaron simultaneously. Maintaining a sense of separation was difficult, but not impossible. Aaron had no trouble identifying which thoughts were "his" and which came from Ukyou's part of their shared psyche. It could still be confusing and annoying, however.

The first thing to enter their dual mind were recriminations, on both sides. Ukyou had deliberately pushed Chris away. Aaron had drawn them both into too many conflicts. But the attacks lasted only a few seconds. It was impossible to blame someone for something with any real vehemence when you became instantly aware of every nuance of thought they experienced. So, there could be no blame to dole out here. Whatever damage they had done to themselves and their friends, both past and present, they shared responsibility equally. It was the only fair way to see it.

That was the logic behind it. It didn't stop Ukyou's feelings. Aaron knew how to suppress his feelings, but that was one skill Ukyou never wanted to master. It left her with this dark pit of hate in her gut, a roiling toxic mix of guilt and anger and pain that she couldn't let out. It had been almost a month since she had woken up with Aaron stuck inside her skull, and that miasma of hatred had been growing every day since then. The fact that Aaron was as much of a victim as she didn't matter. The fact that she was being a bitch to his friend didn't matter. Her heart couldn't be swayed by logic; simple sense couldn't stop her from hating him for the mockery he had made out of her life.

Her constant hatred was inescapable for Aaron. It wore him down, eroded his meager confidence. Ukyou's outburst against Chris the other day, when she voiced her hatred for the first time, had been the first time in his life that Aaron had ever considered suicide. Maybe it would be better if he could find some way to disappear.

Ukyou sighed aloud. Now his feeling bad was making her feel bad. Which only made her angry. Which only made her hate him more. Which only fueled his growing depression. It was a vicious cycle, one which both of them realized existed, yet neither of them could do anything to avoid.

"You look sad," Tofu understated as he walked back into view. "You should cheer up. From what I gathered, it isn't all that bad."

"You didn't hear enough," Ukyou sighed again. "I..." Ukyou trailed off. "It doesn't matter, doctor. This is just something I have to live with, I guess."

"Well, if you need somebody to talk to...," Tofu smiled down at her and let the comment hang in the air. Ukyou forced herself to smile back. She didn't feel like smiling, but Aaron was a good actor and it was simple to draw on his skills in that area. "We're probably going to be together for a while. The level of your injuries... it would take someone weeks or months to recover fully from them. I don't even recommend you get out of bed for another week."

"I see..." Ukyou nodded. "Isn't this the part where you recommend I go to a normal hospital?"

"I would, except I don't believe that any normal hospital could properly treat you," Tofu responded. "At first, I would have thought that best, but now..." he trailed off. "You've had as close to a complete transfusion as you can get. The rest of the damage is too widespread and too minor to be corrected with even the most advanced surgical techniques. Not to mention the damage to your chi. Your average surgeon or resident wouldn't understand the concepts behind chi damage, much less the treatments needed to reverse it."

"So... that's why you work as a chiropractor?" Aaron mused aloud. "I always thought you were a bit too skilled to be a small time practitioner."

"You sound like we've met before."

"We haven't," Ukyou said evenly. It was easy to forget how much they knew, thanks to Aaron's reading that damnable comic book. "I just make it a habit to learn everything I can about my friends and enemies."

"A strange habit in one so young," Tofu mused as he leaned back. He started for the door. "I think I can help you recover from your injuries, Miss Kuonji. I understand you fled medical care the last time this happened. I hope you won't do the same this time."

"I won't." Ukyou turned her head to the side and saw him standing at the door. "I insist on paying for your help. I'm not a freeloader, and I have money."

"Hmm? Oh, it doesn't matter much to me. Your case is so interesting; I've never seen a kind of damage quite like yours. I would love the chance to study it."

"Now you make me feel like some lab accident," Ukyou groused with as much good nature as she could manage.

"Hah! No, nothing like that!" Tofu laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Indeed..." Ukyou turned her head back to the ceiling. "Do me a favor, and tell Ranma and Akane that I'm awake if you can get in touch with them. I have... things I need to discuss with them."

"I will," Tofu said seriously. The sound of the door closing left Ukyou alone with her and Aaron's thoughts.

01010

Nabiki splashed the cold water on her face and reached over to procure a towel to dry herself off. She couldn't stand this anymore. It was keeping her up at night. Remembering that day. Locked in a room, tied up, gagged, listening to the distant sounds of combat as it ripped up the Kunou estate...

She shook her head to free up those thoughts. No use dwelling on the past. Best to think forward to the future. With a yawn she leaned away from the sink and stretched herself out. She might have been able to let it go, if she had been able to make any progress at all with finding out things about Ukyou Kuonji. No such luck. But maybe today that would change.

Nabiki left the bathroom with a smile on her lips. She did not forget to take her schoolbag with her when she left. She wasn't letting that thing out of her sight. The school itself was relatively quiet today, which was a blessing, because Nabiki didn't want anything distracting her today. She made her way through the halls to class without any further incident.

Kunou was back in classes full time today. Without Ukyou around to give him his daily beating, he had even managed to show up for class on time. Nabiki had already cornered him the other day and bribed him with a few of the "less discrete" pictures she had of Akane until he blew the whole story to her. Once she managed to filter out the usual self-aggrandizing idiocy from Kunou's responses she had managed to figure out quite a bit.

Apparently Kodachi had drugged him and locked him in his room for the totality of the "incident", which meant Kunou had seen about as much of what had happened as she did. The fact that he treated being poisoned, trussed up and locked away by his sister with such blase familiarity was something Nabiki found vaguely disturbing. Apparently Kodachi had released him once everyone was gone, and then told him that she was going on an extended vacation of some kind. He had spent much of yesterday withdrawing his sister from the exclusive girl's private school she attended.

Kodachi herself had also been a busy bee yesterday. Apparently, the morning after the battle, she had 'discovered' the body of a dead police officer in a pond on the property. Nabiki might have dismissed it, except for the fact that her sister was attacked already by a police officer. This was rather too large a coincidence for Nabiki to dismiss, even if she didn't quite know what the connection was. Too bad the police, after swarming over the household for much of the day, seemed to accept whatever story she spun for them and moved along their merry way.

Nabiki briefly considered pressing charges against the girl. But the problem was, she was slightly intimidated. Kodachi had beaten Ranma and Ukyou, and Nabiki had seen both of them fight before. She doubted very much the police could protect her from Kodachi if she started flinging dirt about. But the idea was very tempting. Nabiki just -knew- she could poke a few dozen holes in whatever story Kodachi had come up with for them. Getting revenge on her kidnapper came in second to saving her own skin, however.

It was far easier to focus her efforts on the person that was going to be more available and of more immediate concern anyway. Which reminded her about her package.

Once she was safely in her seat Nabiki took out the plain manila folder and began to flip through its contents. It was lucky she had established a reputation for scholastic excellence, and so could look through the information without being hassled by the teacher. Inside were all the public records available for one Ukyou Kuonji, and quite a few non-public records as well. It had cost her a pretty penny to get access to all these, but in Nabiki's opinion it would be worth it.

Throughout the day, the information proved to be naggingly incomplete. It contained all the usual backstory, which Nabiki was able to piece together quite well. It seemed Ukyou was a relatively normal student. Went to mostly all- boy's schools, worked on the side in a number of restaurants. No living relatives (his father had died just months ago, his mother died shortly after he was born) or much in the way of obvious friends. There was some sort of problem with his records from about ten years ago. All of Ukyou's identity papers, from birth certificate on up, were re-issued suddenly throughout that year. Which was interesting, but annoyingly unrevelatory. There was also the fact that Ukyou had suddenly withdrawn from school and all but disappeared off the map almost one month ago. That left two major events for Nabiki to find out about.

From what she remembered, ten years ago would be just about right for when Ranma Saotome first encountered him. That meant Ranma was still probably her best source of information on the mystery boy. Which was annoying, since he was proving amazingly stubborn about talking about Ukyou to her. He was obviously hiding something - he had the worst poker face - but he simply refused to talk about it. Hitting up Genma for information was no better. He would just sweat until he somehow distracted her and then -splash- instant panda. It was frustrating.

A month ago would be just about right for Ukyou coming to Nerima, so that wasn't so much of a mystery. Considering his father had died only a few months earlier, he must have delayed only so long before departing on his quest. But the father's death did point out one interesting fact. It appeared that Ukyou Kuonji had inherited quite a bit from his life insurance and estate. Mysterious was one thing, but independently wealthy was a whole other kettle of fish.

Nabiki smiled and shuffled the information back into the plain manila folder. The information she had gained had barely been worth the price she had paid. But it did at least confirm some of the Kuonji boy's story. Now the rest would be up to Nabiki. Well, it had been a few years since she had been forced to really dig for something. She was going to enjoy the challenge.

01010

"I don't know, maybe we should have let Nabiki come along?"

"Forget about it, Akane," Ranma replied with a shrug. "Ukyou already asked us to keep what happened at the house between us three. Plus, she ain't exactly dressed up for preserving her secret right now, ya know?"

Akane sighed as she followed Ranma up the path to Doctor Tofu's clinic. He was right, even if Akane didn't feel quite right excluding her sister from the conversation. Nabiki had been kidnapped too; she probably deserved at least as many answers as Ranma or Akane did. But on the other hand, Nabiki finding out about Ukyou's condition would mean her father might end up switching the engagement between Ranma and her to Ranma and Akane. That just didn't bear thinking about. The two only barely got along now because of their friendship with Ukyou. No telling what being forced into -that- kind of relationship might do.

"Ah, you came quickly," Doctor Tofu said as he stepped out the door. Akane smiled and bowed, making sure to run a hand through her long hair so that the doctor would see it. Just because she was here to see Ukyou didn't mean she couldn't score a few points with Doctor Tofu in the meantime.

"We came as soon as we got your message!" Akane said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, why didn't you call us at school or something? I could have used the excuse to get out of classes," Ranma groused as he laced his arms behind his neck.

Tofu laughed and shook his head as he adjusted his glasses. "Now Ranma, school is serious business. You should concentrate on your studies a bit more." Ranma gave him a puzzled frown but otherwise didn't react. Tofu turned to Akane next, his soft brown hair blowing in the wind. "You two are both really good friends to Ukyou. I think she could really use some friends at the moment as well." Akane nodded a few times while Ranma rolled his eyes. "Come along, she's in here."

They followed the doctor into the back of his clinic. He only had three patient rooms, so it didn't take them long to reach the one where Ukyou was resting. Once they were inside, the doctor quickly excused himself. Two chairs had been placed in the room for them, one of which Akane availed herself of. Ranma, being Ranma, decided to perch himself in the windowsill again.

Ukyou herself was sitting semi-upright, propped up on a small mountain of pillows. Her hands were laced behind her head and she was staring at the ceiling with cold-eyed indifference. She looked a lot better now then she had when Akane had first dragged her into the clinic. The color had returned to her cheeks, and the bruises had stopped growing. The one on her chin ended just below her lip and just before it reached her neck. But for some reason she looked less healthy when she was awake. There had been something about the image of Ukyou when she was asleep that this awake Ukyou didn't possess. Akane didn't want to call it "peace"... but it was the only word she could think of.

"Ucchan..."

Ukyou looked over at Ranma as he spoke.

"Are you... feeling better?"

"I'll live," Ukyou shrugged. Ranma seemed to take that at face value, but Akane wasn't going to let her get off that easily.

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, trying not to sound too insistent.

Ukyou switched her attention to Akane and smiled, though it seemed forced. Akane had seen Ukyou smile before. When she did, her face lit up and the cold demeanour she often walked around seemed to burn away. This time it did not. "I'm really fine, Akane. It's just a little beating. A week, maybe two, and I'll be better than ever."

Akane considered disputing that, but decided better of it. Ranma nodded along as Ukyou spoke.

"Heh. You know, I've always wanted to say this." Ukyou spoke up suddenly into the silence that descended after her statement. "I guess you're all wondering why I called you here today."

"Uh, no, not really. I figured you were going to tell us about this whole mess with that undead guy, er girl, er whatever."

"Ranma, you're messing with my cliche!" Ukyou teased.

"Sorry!" Ranma said as he raised his hands in front of himself. "I didn't mean to!"

Ukyou stared at Ranma's look of mute horror for a few moments with a totally blank expression. A second later she broke out into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Akane found herself smiling along with her. Somehow that outburst of giggles made Akane feel better. Ranma, for his part spent a few moments staring at them in confusion until he finally realised he must have said something stupid. This caused him to glare at them both and cross his arms over his chest, puffing out his cheeks in annoyance. The expression he put on only caused Ukyou to laugh louder. Akane began to giggle herself, and after a moment Ranma joined them.

The spent the next few minutes just laughing together. Everytime it began to die down, one of them would make some silly face and the guffaws would burst out all over again. It wasn't judgmental or harsh, it was just easy and companionable. Somehow the laughter infected them all, brought them closer together in a way they hadn't been until now. Akane clutched at her stomach. The laughter was beginning to hurt, but not in a bad way. Laughing like this felt so right, so good.

It felt like friendship.

As the chuckles died down for the final time Akane spent a few seconds thinking about that while she wiped tears from her eyes. This was the first time Akane could remember feeling this way. Sure, she had Yuka and Sayuri for hanging around with. But those were just people she talked to at school. They didn't... they didn't understand her the same way. Everyone else at school either treated her like some weird tomboy, or some porcelain statue (albeit one they wanted to beat into a date). Ranma and Ukyou were people she had much more in common with. They had shared danger together, and now they had shared laughter. Akane found herself wishing the moment wouldn't go away.

But, of course, it did.

"I needed that," Ukyou said as she clutched at her own stomach. "I don't think even I knew how much I needed that."

"Uh... thank you?" Ranma rubbed the back of his neck and grinned, trying to take credit for his slip-up earlier. His expression threatened to start Akane giggling again, but she stifled the urge as the cold, serious look reappeared on Ukyou's face.

"But anyway, you interrupted me before I could start..."

"EEEK!"

"What the..." Ranma leapt from the windowsill and ran towards the door.

01010

Nabiki knocked on the door to Doctor Tofu's clinic. She suppressed the urge to laugh into her hand as she rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting for the man to respond. It took him a few moments, probably because he was used to people just walking into his reception area. When he did appear at the door, he blinked owlishly on seeing her, but smiled anyway.

Perfect, he didn't suspect a thing.

"Oh, Nabiki! What brings you here today?"

Nabiki smiled back and held out a plate full of (store bought) cookies and a (library) book of anatomy. "Oh Doctor Tofu!" she grinned, pouring on the false enthusiasm. "I just came over to give these to you. Kasumi wanted to bring them over herself, but was too busy. So I helped her out."

"K-Kasumi sent these..." Tofu said as he stared at the items in front of him. Nabiki could practically see the veins in his forehead throb. Just a little more of a push...

"Oh yes," Nabiki smiled even wider. "She said she made them especially for you. She wanted you to enjoy them as much as you would her company. She really does miss you, when she can't come over."

"She... m-m-misses me..." Tofu chuckled and adjusted his glasses. The poor man was practically steaming, and his glasses had already begun to fog up. "Oh... k-Kasumi!"

Nabiki thrust the goods into the doctor's hands and side-stepped him as he danced out into the yard. That'd take care of him for a good long while. Nabiki had seen him in his state of Kasumi-induced bliss quite a few times. He wouldn't notice if those cookies were store-bought, not when she had seen him eat pieces of ceramic plate without noticing it before.

Nabiki proceeded easily into the clinic proper. Thankfully, at this time of day it was deserted. Almost all of Tofu's patients were old men and women, and none of them liked being out this time of day when all the teenagers were about. Nabiki slipped into the back without incident and crept along the hallway. There was only one door closed back there, so it didn't take a genius to figure out which one Ukyou and the others were talking behind. Well, laughing behind, from the sounds of it.

Nabiki chuckled herself. They wouldn't even notice her. Nabiki calmly walked into another room and pulled a stethoscope off the wall before returning with the instrument. Unable to contain her glee Nabiki slipped it into her ears and placed the metal cup against the thin wooden door. Perfect, she could hear everything they were saying in there. The laughter was dying down and Ukyou was thanking Ranma for something. It also appeared that Nabiki hadn't missed the meat of the conversation. This was going to be...

There was a bony hand on her shoulder.

"EEEK!"

Nabiki leapt away from the hand, spinning in mid-air with the kind of grace only gymnasts and the terrorized possessed. Behind her was Doctor Tofu with his anatomy skeleton. His glasses were still fogged up and he was grinning like a loon.

"I'm sorry!" he said with a smile. "Betty just wanted to thank you for bringing us the cookies! She's so happy to hear from Kasumi, you see." Nabiki wasn't sure what she found more frightening, the bones on her shoulder a second ago, or the way a grown man was making his teaching skeleton wave its hand at her.

Suddenly the door next to her flew open and Ranma stepped into view. He took one look at Nabiki and Tofu and then crossed his arms with an amused grin on his face.

"Can I... help you two?"

"Uh, no..." Nabiki said with a sigh. Ranma's sudden appearance seemed to have snapped Doctor Tofu out of his stupor. That meant Nabiki didn't have to be afraid of the man rearranging her body-parts in a playful accident while he was out of it. It also meant that Nabiki's chances of listening in were just about shot.

"Oh, Nabiki, what are you doing back here?" Tofu said as he bent his head to the side. Disturbingly, the skeleton tilted its head in the exact same way at the exact same time.

"Yeah... what are you doing back here?" Ranma said with a bit of suspicion in his voice. Nabiki realized as he stared at her that she still had the stethoscope plugged into her ears. That would explain why everyone's voice had been muffled. She pulled it from her ears with a chagrined smile.

"I was just... helping the doctor put away some equipment!"

"Oh, really..." Ranma gave her a flat stare. Nabiki tried to edge past him, hoping to get a look into the room, but Ranma shifted to block her view. A moment later he was joined by Akane, effectively blocking out all line of sight into the room.

"Nabiki? Why did you come here?"

"I was..." Nabiki almost blurted out the excuse she had given Tofu earlier, but paused when she saw the man standing only a few paces from her. There was no telling what would set him off. "I just dropped some stuff off and... andnowI'mleavingbyebye!" Nabiki ran off as she finished her sentence, skipping around the motionless doctor and his pet skeleton agilely as she sprinted for the door. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, but she wasn't about to be stopped by this little setback. Oh no... this wouldn't stop Nabiki Tendo!

01010

Ranma closed the door firmly once Nabiki was out of sight and Tofu apologized for the interruption. Akane wasn't that mad, just vaguely disappointed in her sister. She went back to her seat, while Ranma leaned against the wall near the door. Close enough, Akane noted, that he would hear if anyone came down the hallway again. Ukyou had a slightly amused smirk on her face, but shook it off quickly as she adjusted her position to better face them both.

"Well, as amusing as that was..." Ukyou trailed off a bit. "Where was I before we were interrupted?"

"You were about to start explaining all the stuff that happened two days ago to us," Ranma pointed out simply.

"Ah yes..." Ukyou ran her fingers through her bangs and sighed. "That's quite a tall order. I don't even know where to begin."

"Were you hiding so much from us?" Akane said, unable to keep the disappointment out of her tone.

Ukyou flinched. "I wasn't lying to you, exactly. Everything I told you was phrased so that what I was saying wasn't exactly a lie, you see..." Ukyou trailed off with another flinch. Ranma was giving her a flat look, and Akane guessed her own expression was remarkably similar. "I just didn't want to..." Ukyou trailed off as their expressions didn't change. "Fine. You're right. I lied to you. I'm sorry." Ukyou bowed her head, allowing her bangs to fall over her eyes.

Akane let out a sigh. "It's okay, Ukyou. You had good reasons for not telling us the whole truth, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry about it, Ucchan," Ranma added in. "We forgive you. Well, I'm guessing Akane does. I never really held it against you, myself."

"I know..." Ukyou raised her head up and smiled a little thinly at them. "You're not the kind to hold a real grudge, Ranma." Then she smiled a little viciously. "Not that you don't hide things from your friends on occasion, either." Ranma scratched the back of his neck in confusion while Ukyou gave him a slightly self-satisfied smile. "Like, about certain sauce recipes..." Ranma stared at her for another second then his eyes widened and he gulped.

"Huh? Sauce recipe?"

"Never mind. Think nothing of it, Ranma," Ukyou waved aside Ranma's obvious confusion. "I forgive you."

"Oh, well, that's good... I guess..." Ranma said with a shrug. Akane blinked a few times, feeling a little left out. It was still hard to accept that Ranma had actually known Ukyou longer than Akane had, especially since Akane had met her "first" here in Tokyo.

Ukyou seemed to relax a bit, releasing a long slow breath between thin lips. Her eyes closed and she ran a hand absently through her bangs. "Where to begin..." Ukyou mused aloud. "The beginning would be a good place. But it's not the right place. The beginning was over ten years ago, back when Ranma and I first met. The only important thing you have to know about those times is that Ranma's father stole my father's food cart, and abandoned me in the dust when he was supposed to take me with them."

"Wait... now I remember!" Ranma burst out, pounding his fist into his palm. "That day... I remember you running after us."

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded her head, still not opening her eyes.

"But I thought you were just there to say goodbye."

"I know, you were six. I blamed you at first but... in time I came to realize that you weren't at fault."

"So I was partly right," Akane mused aloud. "Genma did abandon you. I thought he was... you know, really your..."

"That I was Ranma's illegitimate sister or something similar?"

"Something like that..."

"I guess I only have myself to blame," Ukyou sighed. "I was so used to lying that I just let you draw your own conclusions." Ukyou smiled, a little sardonically. "That's the easiest kind of lie, you know? The one where you just give the mark only enough information, phrased just so, and they draw their own false conclusions."

Akane had no real response to that. Neither did Ranma, apparently. When Ukyou spoke next her voice had taken on a new cadence. It was slow and rhythmic, drawing her attention in an odd way. There was something about the way it sounded that was familiar to Akane, but she couldn't place her finger on it.

"I woke up almost eight hours ago now. I spent a lot of that time lying here and getting very familiar with what that ceiling looks like. I also spent a lot of that time thinking. I was thinking about what I was going to tell you when you came and you had questions. Questions about me, about Chris, about Aaron and about how all three of us are connected. And I came up with a lot of things I could say to you. I spent a great deal of time refining the message over and over in my mind, editing it and revising it. I perfected it the same way a politician perfects a speech or a storyteller perfects a tale, introducing the right levels of drama and exoticism, playing to the emotional appeals of my audience. I came up with a brilliant way to give you what you wanted to hear.

"Now, sitting here, looking at the two of you, I can't say any of it. Because everything I was going to say to you was a lie. Oh, I could call it a subtle half-truth, or just a little white lie, or a harmless omission... but I seem to have lost the ability to deceive myself even as I become a better liar. I look at your faces and I feel like a bitch when I prepare myself to lie to you so openly. I can't do it. You two mean too much to me. So instead I'm going to tell you the truth, or a good part of it.

"There are parts of the truth I'm not going to tell you. Some of that is because I don't know the whole truth. Some of that is because there are things I just don't feel like telling anyone. There are secrets in my heart that I want to keep, and if it's wrong for me to hide them from you then I'm wrong, but that doesn't change how I feel."

Here Ukyou paused as she took a deep breath. Ranma's mouth opened and closed as he tried to find a way to respond to all that. Akane herself was far from speechless, she could think of a million questions and reassurances to give Ukyou. But even as she opened her mouth to say something Ukyou's hand shot up and formed a wall between them.

"Please, don't say anything. Getting this out is hard enough. If you interrupt me now, my courage might fail and you'd end up just as misled as before. I need to get this out now, or I'll never get it out."

Ukyou flexed her neck.

"I am Ukyou Kuonji, the same girl you that you befriended all those years ago, Ranma. But to a certain extent I'm another person as well. A boy who died, and whom I managed to... inherit the memory of. He... is like a silent partner. He hasn't taken me over, like some parasite or anything. I'm still ME. But we are who we remember we are as well, and I remember all his life." Ukyou ran her hand through her bangs again.

"I can't really tell you how this happened. I don't know myself. It happened about a month ago, and ever since I've been struggling to deal with it. Having these extra memories in my head has also done things to me physically. As you've seen, I can damage myself by tapping into my chi too deeply and when I fall unconscious I wake up again having spasms and fits. Plus, I can't feel... comfortable as a woman like I used to. Aaron was a guy, and for some reason his presence changed my body so that I can't be much like a girl anymore. It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it..."

Ukyou opened her eyes and looked over at them. "And that's me. A girl who by some quirk of fate ended up with this bad thing stuck over her head. So, before I go any further, I'm sure you're both dying to ask me questions. So shoot."

Akane stood up and quickly crossed the room to Ukyou. Ukyou only stared as she leaned over and wrapped her up in her arms. It was kind of awkward, but Akane managed. Ukyou stammered for a few seconds, obviously not expecting this. Akane smiled and stepped back, brushing a scattering of tears from the edge of her eyes as she did so.

"Ukyou... I don't real understand what's going on, but I'm not about to let whatever it is get between us, okay?"

"Um, okay..."

Ranma, however, walked right past the bed, a frown of anger on his face. Ukyou gulped at his expression. Akane couldn't blame her, he certainly looked mad.

01010

Nabiki smirked as she idly spun the stethoscope around her index finger. It was a bit of luck that she hadn't dropped it in her flight from the doctor's office. She would return it later, of course. Nabiki was no petty thief, at least not for things with no real value. Secrets, on the other hand, had a good deal of value.

Her problem before had been trusting to luck. Tofu's chaotic actions had worked against her. That was why this time she would eliminate any chance of Doctor Tofu interfering. So saying, she had waited outside his clinic until another patient had arrived, a young pregnant woman. With the doctor occupied with a patient, he was sure not to interfere with her reconnaissance. Thankfully it had only been a few minutes before a patient arrived, so hopefully Nabiki hadn't missed anything critical.

The back lot behind Doctor Tofu's clinic was deserted, basically just a muddy field dotted with the detritus of human society. It would probably cease to exist in a few months as the realtors of Tokyo eagerly gobbled up the precious open space. But for now, it was just another empty place in the world. That suited Nabiki just fine. She walked along the wall, using her free hand to run her palm along the painted facade. She mentally counted out the windows until she arrived just below the one in which her sister was talking with the mystery boy.

The problem was, she was below it. She craned her neck back and stared up the narrow window in annoyance. It was quite a bit above her, which made her chances of overhearing much of what was going inside remote. But that wouldn't stop Nabiki Tendo!

Looking around, she quickly spotted a few abandoned boxes that looked sturdy enough. They proved a little heavier than they looked, but you didn't get a body as hot as Nabiki's without exercising a little bit. Still, she was sweating by the time she had piled two of them up. A quick hop and she found herself within easy reach of the window. She could even crouch, giving her a nice lap on which to lay her notebook so she could write down anything interesting she overheard. Suppressing the desire to snigger she fitted the stethoscope over her ears and reached up to place it against the windowpane, looking down with her eyes so she could write anything she heard down in the little notebook perched on her knees.

Hmm. That was funny. She waved the little metal cap around a bit, trying to touch it the window, but it seemed like the window wasn't there. Was it recessed into the building? No, Nabiki could have sworn the pane of glass was flush against the side of the white-washed walls. Oh, there, it seemed to have hit something...

"HELLO, NABIKI!"

"AHHH!"

Nabiki tipped over and collapsed as her hands snapped to her head to cover her ringing ears. Then she screamed again as she fell on the empty crates, which splintered under the sudden impact with her bottom. Then she screamed again as she plummeted through to the next crate, which also smashed apart when her rear end collided with it. She didn't have the breath to scream when she landed on the ground, which thankfully didn't give way. For a few dizzying seconds she wasn't sure whether to cover her ringing ears or rub her sore behind.

It took her a few moments to recover her equilibrium and for the ringing in her ears to die down to any degree. Moaning she reached up and pulled the stethoscope from her ears. It didn't really help with the pain, but it made her feel better about it. She looked up above her, and only remembered what had caused her to crash when she saw Ranma's smirking face staring down at her. That arrogant little bastard had yelled into the amplifier!

He was saying something, but Nabiki couldn't hear him over the ringing in her ears. For a moment she thought it would be too undignified to cup her hands to her ears and yell "What?", then she remembered she was sitting on the muddy ground, surrounded by a pile of splinters. Her face burning red with embarrassment (and anger, don't forget the anger!) she made it clear to the boy that she couldn't hear him.

"I said, imagine meeting you here Nabiki, again," Ranma shouted a little louder. Nabiki could hear him now. It helped that the ringing was really dying down.

"Yeah, imagine that..." Nabiki chuckled dryly.

"Can I ask what you were doing outside the window?" Ranma said as he crossed his arms on the sill and rested his chin on them. His stupid cheshire cat grin wouldn't go away however. Nabiki resisted the urge to glare at him, trying to put on her most pleasant front.

"I was... just trying to return Doctor Tofu's stethoscope?"

"Right..." Ranma drawled. "Here, I'll do it for you?" He reached down for the instrument, which Nabiki reluctantly handed over. "Anything else?"

"No... I think I'll be on my way," Nabiki stood up with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn't much. The skirt of her uniform was plastered to her buttocks with mud, and she was more than a little wobbly on her feet.

"Are you sure you can get home okay? Maybe you should see the doc about that fall?"

"I'm perfectly fine!" Nabiki snapped as she strode away. Ranma stayed in the windowsill, watching her with idle interest until she turned the corner. Nabiki spit out a stream of unladylike curses as she leaned against the wall and rubbed at her sore rear. Damn.

Well, Nabiki wasn't about to let this stop her. Neither Tofu, nor Ranma, nor anyone else would keep her from finding out the secrets of Ukyou Kuonji! She smirked and nodded her head downward, covering her eyes with one hand as she tried to think of what to do next.

It was then that she remembered she had just been using that hand to rub at her skirt. Her skirt which had been covered in mud.

Nabiki sighed.

01010

"Sorry 'bout that, Ucchan," Ranma said as he slid the window closed and turned back to the room. "Man, Akane. You seem like a nice enough person, you know, when you're not molesting me, but your sister is a real prize."

"Hey!" Akane shouted, doubly indignant.

"I thought we talked about this already," Ukyou said with a sigh.

Ranma grinned at her and leaned against the windowsill. One-upping Nabiki was enjoyable. The two of them had spent every moment together since they had been "engaged" shooting verbal snipes back and forth. Ranma felt kind of sore with how easily she outmaneuvered him. Getting a bit of payback made him feel better about it.

"Well, Akane already said she doesn't have many questions, Ranma. What about you?" Ukyou asked calmly. Ranma dragged his attention back to the matter at hand and frowned a bit as he thought the question over.

"I guess this stuff does answer some questions. I mean, it seems a lot like my curse, only in the exact opposite."

"That's... actually a rather insightful way of putting it, Ranma." Ukyou smiled a bit at him. Ranma shrugged. She sounded relieved to hear he wasn't mad at her or anything. Ranma would have told her she didn't have to worry, but that really went without saying. Ranma knew what it was like to live with a problem that people just didn't understand most of the time. The fact that Ukyou had a certain bit of guyishness to her was something he found really easy to accept. Heck, it was much harder to think of Ukyou as a girl than to think of her as a guy. Though there was that bit about her 'true feelings' when she was yelling at that guy which Ranma wasn't sure about...

"Okay, well that explains you," Ranma said. "But what about this other girl? That Chris person?" Ranma didn't bother keeping the anger out of his tone. But Ukyou should be able to tell it wasn't directed at her. Nobody humiliated Ranma like Chris had.

"Hmmm..." Ukyou ran her hands through her bangs and let her palms rest against the back of her neck. "First off, she's not a girl. Chris is a man, like Aaron was. The two of them were friends, and they died in the same accident. I guess that something went wrong. Somehow Chris ended up being slingshot to our world as well, but he's stuck as a corpse person."

"Our world?" Akane asked as she leaned forward in her chair.

"Huh? Oh, well... that's probably the wrong term to use." Ukyou paused her and chewed on her lower lip a bit. "Aaron and Chris are from the future, from our point of view."

"The future?" Ranma snorted. "That doesn't make sense. They're like, time-traveling ghosts?"

"Don't be so quick to dismiss it, Ranma," Ukyou berated him lightly. "If you can believe in men who turn into women, why not people from the future?"

"Huh... I guess."

"That's part of the problem with him," Ukyou mused. "Chris knows the future, and thus has access to a lot of information that most people don't. It's how he was able to predict all our moves and beat us so easily-"

"I wasn't beaten!" Ranma snapped a bit. Seeing Akane and Ukyou staring at him Ranma grunted and laced his own hands behind his neck. "Well, I wasn't. I was going to win that fight until she, he, whatever... until Chris convinced me you were dying."

"He what?"

"I only let myself be paralyzed because I thought the poison she had hit you with was deadly," Ranma explained easily enough. "I... I wasn't about to let you die."

"Indeed..." Ukyou said in her oddly emotionless tone. She shook her head. "But we shouldn't have to worry about Chris. I think he'll leave us alone from now on."

"But why take that risk?" Ranma griped. "I think we should settle the score now." Ranma's fingers clenched along the back of his neck and he grit his teeth. That creature... had played him for a fool. Then beaten Ukyou to within an inch of her life while all Ranma could do was watch. He would... do something about it!

"Calm down, Ranma," Ukyou said soothingly. Ranma took a few deep breaths as he forced himself to ease up. "There's no need to pick a fight with Chris now, or any other time." She laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling once more. "He's too dangerous to trust, but I think he won't be coming back."

"What makes you think that?" Akane asked.

"I know him," Ukyou stated simply. "He hates my guts now, which is good. I wanted him to."

"Why?" Akane continued.

"Akane... Chris is a dangerous man. He's... not human the way we are, not anymore. He doesn't see people like you or me as 'real' the same way he is. To him, we're just people he's read about in journals from the future. And he's already proven he's capable of murder... many times over. He says he wasn't going to kill you that night when I first met him, but can I really trust that? And what happens when his Kodachi form begins to decay on him? He'll go after another body then, and I know what he wants. A 'normal' person won't satisfy him. He'll want somebody at least as strong and fast as Kodachi is, which means we're not safe with him around. At least if he's gone away, he isn't our problem."

"You really want to abandon him like that?" Akane said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Abandon... no, I don't see it like that," Ukyou frowned and turned her full attention to Akane. "I'm protecting you, us... As much as I don't want to, I have inherited some of Aaron's feelings about Chris. Part of his friendship is with me. But I can't trust him. If I find a way to help him while I'm looking for a way to help myself, I'll do so. But he's too dangerous to have around."

"I agree," Ranma nodded sharply. "I've seen people with that kind of disregard for human life before on my journey." Ranma paused, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "Chris is our enemy, whether he likes it or not."

"I wish there was another way," Akane sighed and rested her chin on her palms. "It just seems so sad, the life he has to lead."

"I wish I could help him too," Ukyou sighed, rolling her head on her neck. "But there's nothing we can do to help him, now. In time, that may change. Until then, we're best if he's as far from us as possible."

"I guess..." Akane sighed and nodded.

An uncomfortable silence fell as they all thought about what had been said. Ranma, personally, wasn't willing to give up the game yet. He knew that Chris would be back. It was only a matter of time. This time Ranma would be prepared. He would protect his friends, he would be ready to fight whatever tricks that undead bastard had up her...his...whatever's sleeve. Nobody hurt his friends like that. Nobody.

"So, what now? Where do we go from here?" Akane asked, pulling Ranma out of his own thoughts.

"That's a good question, isn't it?" Ukyou mused as she looked down into her lap, a wry smile twisting across her features.

01010

Chris stared out the window of the plane, watching Japan vanish into the clouds below. It was odd how he'd always loved the view from an airplane, even though he also had an acute phobia of heights. Though that particular phobia had faded with his current circumstances.

"Would you like something to drink, Miss Kunou?"

Turning, he waved the flight attendant away, and returned his attention to the recently-bought diary on his (or was it her?) lap. He almost smiled as he looked at the first page, showing all the series he now knew to exist.

Sailor Moon, discovered by accident from a US talk show. Reading the article in the paper, that was definitely the series Ukyou had been messing with. For what reason? Hard to say. Didn't know how early it was in the series, but he'd do well to keep away from them regardless. The Sailor Senshi needed to save the world a bunch of times, and in any case, he didn't want to chance being hit by one of Sailor Moon's purifying attacks in his current state.

Ranma 1/2, discovered from a library search and - obviously - confirmed in person. Definitely early in the series, and Ukyou, with Aaron's memories, had also been messing with that to her own advantage. But that was fine. Still a rich source of possible allies and useful artifacts, and many things would happen on schedule no matter how much Ukyou screwed around with the events at the Tendo Dojo.

The video games Street Fighter and King of Fighters, drawn from the memory of Greg, the body he had occupied to get into Japan, who had been a martial arts fan and amateur enthusiast. WHICH iteration of each series, he didn't know enough yet to know for sure. Would be worth looking into in the future.

Phantom Quest Corp, aka Yuu-Gen-Kai-Sha, which had been confirmed through a simple search of Japanese business ads. They might be useful, since they had experience with ghosts, spirits and the undead. Of course, since that was because their business generally involved exorcising and destroying said beings, being cautious was definitely in order.

And finally, Blue Seed, checked out while waiting for Kodachi's family influence and liberal applications of money to speed along the permissions for the trip he was now taking. Also easily confirmed: a simple schoolgirl, seduced by the handsome eyes and charming smile of the man she knew only as Officer Sugishita, wanting OH-so-badly to be able to get in touch with him again. He didn't yet know where the TAC building was, but the heard-it-before groan and stock referral to a form she'd have to fill out to "complain about Officer Sugishita" pretty much confirmed it was there somewhere. Where in THAT series? No idea. He hadn't heard about giant frogs in Tokyo just yet, though, and neither had Kodachi's memories, so "early" was a safe bet. They'd be good people to go to for help if he stumbled across an Ancient Evil or something, which he supposed was possible. After all, he still didn't know WHY he had been brought here.

He was pretty sure there were other series' out there somewhere, but he'd need more time to look into them. The lack of the Internet was really frustrating in that regard, for sure. And, of course, no guarantee everything that was here was something he knew about. He was pretty sure El Hazard WASN'T here, though...there was two Shinanome High Schools he'd managed to find, but neither had had ancient ruins discovered there, and both had reacted with confusion when he asked to speak to Katsuhiko Jinnai. Pity. If he could've reached El Hazard somehow, the presence of powerful android bodies certainly presented possibilities. But maybe he'd run into some here. Androids were hardly rare in anime...

He leafed through the diary, glancing through his collected memories and notes on the series' he knew to be there. He'd probably want to have a separate journal for each series, eventually, for ease of reference. Everything about every series he WASN'T sure was here would have to go down as soon as possible, too. That would be a lot of work, but his memories would fade with time, and he had no way of referencing anything without asking Ukyou, which wasn't a tempting thought after the other day's events...

His eyes stopped on a particular entry. "Pink and Link: First Appearance - Volume 29. Identical twins from a herbalist's village, presumably near the Nyuuchezu. Interacted with Shampoo when all three were children. Pink (always smiling, wears red, cruel and malicious) nearly killed Shampoo while testing out a new herb strain, the Mandragora (separate entry in "techniques" section). Link (always frowning, wears blue, generally nice) came across Shampoo and saved her life. Shampoo couldn't tell the difference between the two and beat Link up afterwards. Calling herself the victim in the situation, Shampoo made a point of finding and beating the crap out of the twins every time she went to that village thereafter. Pink and Link want brutal revenge on Shampoo, preferably one that leaves her dead. In Volume 29, hearing about Shampoo's 'husband' Ranma from an interview Shampoo did for a Nyuuchezu paper, they came to Japan..."

The entry went on, but he knew what it said already, of course. Still, it made him think. He was already planning on going to the Nyuuchezu village in the hopes that Cologne might help him with his condition, and he wanted to find Jyusenkyou as well. So why not look for Pink and Link? As the most expert herbalists in the manga, they might be able to help him with preserving a body. Kodachi's body WAS still fresh and solid on this third day, which confirmed his hopes that superhuman bodies like hers would be more durable. But how much more durable, he didn't know. It wouldn't hurt to take precautions. And, of course, Pink and Link could be easily bribed into doing anything with some smooth talking and a promise to help them exact some (non-fatal) revenge on Shampoo. Cologne probably wouldn't appreciate it, but Shampoo wouldn't be in the village, and in fact was probably going to head to Japan after Ranma fairly soon, so she wouldn't have to know. It sounded like a plan to him.

Smiling, Chris leaned back. The flight wouldn't be very long; then he'd just have to find transportation to the Bayankala Range in the Qinghai Province. But he had lots of yuan for that. The altercation with Ukyou might have been a fiasco, but now things definitely seemed to be looking up.

01010

Tofu Ono adjusted his glasses as he shuffled the papers in front of him. The charts on the papers were complex, the various annotations and notes appended to them written in obscure technical terms, and the entire thing was covered with a variety of formulae and equations. Very few laymen would understand the significance of any of it. But then again, very few trained medical professionals would be able to read the various charts with any success, either.

Oh, the various statistics that medicine considered important were written in the files. It contained the proper notes on blood pressure, heart rate, T-cell counts, all the scientific indicators of health and vitality were there. But next to them were notes on her aura, her balance of the five Chi aspects, maps of her dragon tracks... the kind of things that most professionals in his business would dismiss as folk medicine and witchdoctory. It brought an amused smile to his lips. He had been forced to create his own terminology for almost the entire subject, working backward from ancient texts and applying modern variables and numbers to them. He had been forced to create his own theories that fit all the facts together, mostly from scratch. Frankly, he was only half sure that any of it made sense at all.

The point of the elaborate and arcane notes, however, was not really to have accurate information. It wasn't like he knew more than a handful of scientists and physicians who believed, really believed, in the existence of the concepts Ono was trying to quantify. For the most part, the entire thing served as a jog to his own memory. Looking at these papers allowed him to remember his patients and triggered his mind to think about what he had seen and felt and heard as he examined and treated them.

Now he was working on the case that had almost literally fallen into his lap and was proving to be the most... interesting he had ever worked on. This girl, Ukyou...there was something odd about her chi that was more than just mere damage. He could struggle to figure out what was strange about it, but it came down to this: Ukyou's body looked, and acted, like it contained twice as much energy as it did. Yet no test Ono could perform would reveal the presence of this excess energy. At first he had thought she might have a store of magical energy in her body, but the test for magical infusion or contamination had turned up negative. He wasn't nearly as adept with magic as he was with the elements of chi, but he knew enough to believe that his tests should have picked up something. There had to be something else there, but he couldn't sense a whiff of it.

Ono sighed and let the various papers fall to the desk. He craned his neck and rubbed the back of it with one hand, expertly massaging the tension away. His free hand removed the glasses from his eyes and he closed both of them to block out the harsh light of the fluorescent overheads. He was getting tired, and his brain was running in circles. He had already covered this ground many times before, hoping for some spark of understanding to leap from the back of his mind. But such a thing wasn't happening. Perhaps it was time to get some sleep and take a better look at this in the morning. He did have a pretty full schedule...

A knock at his door drew the doctor's attention. He opened his eyes, realizing he had been on the verge of drifting off propped up in the chair. He chuckled under his breath. You would think a chiropractor would know better. He slipped easily to his feet and made his way over to the door, making it a few seconds after a second knock.

He was hardly surprised to see that the person standing outside was Ukyou. They were the only people in the clinic at this time of night, after all. The girl in question was standing with her legs crossed and her right hand buried in her long hair to rub at the back of her neck. Her left hand was lowering from the act of knocking. Ukyou was wearing one of the shirts Ono had loaned her, and the doctor noted wryly that she had apparently borrowed some bandages to bind her breasts down again. He considered telling her that doing so wasn't a very healthy thing, but whatever lifestyle choices she chose to indulge in weren't his business. She appeared almost unnaturally masculine when she put her mind to it. Not in a brutish or butch manner, she was far too pretty for that. Instead she looked like one of those increasingly more common pretty boys that Ono had seen in a lot of shows on TV these days.

"Ukyou, you shouldn't be walking about like this," Ono said, trying to suppress the instinct to frown and inject a note of geniality in his voice.

"I'm fine for walking around a bit," Ukyou pointed out. "Don't worry, I don't plan on trying anything more strenuous."

"Well, I guess you want to talk. So in the interests of getting you off your feet, why don't you come in and have a seat?"

Ukyou nodded and walked in as Ono eased to the side. The girl certainly moved like a martial artist, with her brisk and confident strides. Her face was a mask of detachment, with unexpressive eyes. She slouched more than sat in her seat, running a hand through her bangs in a gesture Ono had grown very familiar with. Her hand remained in her hair as she looked towards the office window.

As Ono walked over to his own seat, he took a few moments to examine her with a doctor's eye. The swelling of her bruises had died down a good deal, and much of the colour had returned to her cheeks. She looked to be well on her way to recovery. On the other hand, she had dark lines under her eyes.

"So, you're still awake?" Ono asked as he sat down. Ukyou nodded silently. "You haven't slept for three days, ever since you woke up after your... altercation."

"I can see the question on your lips," Ukyou verbally jumped ahead of him. "I'm an insomniac. I might get some sleep tonight..." Her voice sounded tired, but not physically drained. Ono nodded to himself as he leapt to his own conclusion. Ukyou didn't want to fall asleep, he guessed. Was it bad dreams? Or more likely, it was connected to her seizures. "I didn't come here to talk about that."

"I see," Ono leaned forward, resting his chin on the back of his interlaced hands. "Well then, let's get right to that. You strike me as the type who likes to get to the heart of a problem."

Ukyou gave him a sharp look, but it softened almost immediately. "Indeed, I suppose I am." Ukyou stretched a bit, repressing a yawn. "It's very simple, Doctor. I'm bored out of my skull. I need something to do."

"Well... that wasn't quite what I was expecting," Ono admitted. He wasn't sure what he HAD been expecting, but this wasn't it. "You have two friends who come by for several hours each day to entertain you, after all."

"That's four hours out of twenty-four," Ukyou pointed out. "I need something to do."

Ono smiled and leaned back. "You already have a proposal?"

"You need an assistant," Ukyou pointed out simply. "I know Genma Saotome applied for a job, but does he really meet your criteria?"

"Hmm, well, having a giant panda around would certainly liven this place up," Ono mused with a chuckle. "But you're right. From what I've heard about him, he's not exactly the most trustworthy fellow. That doesn't mean I'm going to jump at your proposal. First you have to convince me you'll be a help to me."

"Heh. Indeed," Ukyou sat up straighter. No, not just straighter, more commanding as well. Her lips were smiling confidently and her normally flat expression had taken on a new self-assurance. "Well, first off, I've been trained in first aid, in fact I've been trained in techniques that are in some ways more advanced than standard procedures. I also know a good deal about anatomy and medicine. But I'm not going to be a doctor, so that isn't why you'll hire me." Ono nodded. "I'm good with numbers and finances. I can free up a lot of time from your schedule by helping you balance your budgets, payroll and billing. I'm familiar with customer service, both in person and on the phone. I've even been called charismatic by a few people," she grinned at that last point, adding an ironic flourish to her voice. "Plus, I have a big advantage over Genma: I'll work for free."

"Free?" Ono mused, egging her on.

"That's what I said," Ukyou laced her fingers together in front of her and nodded.

"You make a good case for yourself... but I have a feeling this free thing isn't all you make it out to be."

"Obviously," she shrugged. "You're providing me with free room, board and health care at the moment, despite me insisting that I can pay. I figure this will make up for that."

"Hmm, you have a point," Ono nodded along. "I still think I'm getting my money's worth just for the chance to examine your condition so extensively."

"I don't like playing the freeloader," Ukyou pointed out. But this was an old argument, and Ono turned it aside with a wave of his hand.

"You have some other reason for wanting to help me out," Ono pointed out, not really asking a question.

"Yes... I wish I could promise you that I won't get into any more fights as dangerous as the one that sent me here. But I'm afraid that won't be possible. I have dangerous enemies, and I'm not sure if I can hide out from them forever."

"I see..." Ono nodded, sensing the suddenly serious tone of the conversation. "What kind of enemies?"

"The kind you want no part of," Ukyou said flatly. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Very well. Then how can I help?"

Ukyou paused. Then she stood up and slapped her arms to her side, stiffening her entire posture. Moving with fluid grace she bowed herself down before the doctor, her long hair flipping briefly in her wake. While still bent low she spoke, injecting a note of humility in her voice. "Teach me, Tofu- sensei."

"T-teach you?" Ono blinked and adjusted his glasses. She was still bowing before him. He had never thought of himself as a martial arts sensei... the sudden formality had caught him off guard. "But what can I teach you?"

"A great deal," Ukyou said, still bowed before him. "I already know how to fight... what I want to learn is stuff about the secrets of chi control. I've heard that martial artists can improve the speed of their own healing, sense their opponent's fighting spirit, and do even more esoteric feats. You've already proven you have control over similar techniques. I want to learn the fundamentals of these arts."

"The fundamentals..." Ono mused. He smiled to himself as he rubbed his chin. Here was an opportunity he had been dreaming of for years, a student who seemed eager to accept all his accumulated wisdom from his studies of the ancient ways under the rigours of modern methods. No other doctor, no other student had ever been willing to entertain his 'crazy' notions. And she was right, she would have a great deal of time over the next few weeks to absorb his teachings. It was almost too good to be true.

"Of course, I'll teach you everything I know," Ono laughed and tapped her on the shoulder to indicate she should rise. Ukyou returned to her feet and smiled up at him. "I only have one condition."

"Which is?"

"Get some sleep."

"But..." Ono could sense the actual dread in her voice as she trailed off and her eyes darted to both sides instinctively.

"That's a double order, from your doctor and your sensei."

Ukyou sighed and nodded to herself. "If you say so..." she said wearily. "But you better be prepared when I wake up and start having convulsions again."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ono chuckled as he stood up himself. He felt suddenly energized. It would be good to pass on his teachings to someone as bright as Ukyou obviously was. Plus, she might actually clear up some of his workload. "If you need help getting to sleep, I can assist..."

"No... I won't need it." Ukyou sighed as she walked out of the office. "Good night, sensei."

"Good night, Ukyou."

01010

Jadeite smashed his fist into the mirror before him, shattering the glass into a million silver splinters in his rage. This was intolerable. His latest youma had been destroyed by those annoying Sailor Senshi once again, and this time that other boy hadn't even shown his face. The entire thing had been for his benefit, and the boy hadn't even appeared. Worse yet, the girls had added another member to their team.

If only his magical scans could track any of them. But the Senshi were protected by powerful glamours that concealed their true identities. And while the boy had no such protections, it seemed that magic had a very difficult time tracing his passage. Only two days ago Jadeite had thought he had finally tracked the fool down... only to find a motel room covered in several days of dust.

After venting his rage there, he had returned to his home and thrown together a makeshift plan to gather some energy. Already Queen Beryl was growing impatient with him, and the failure of this plan was sure to lead to punishment. He shuddered as he thought of what awaited him when he went to report the failure to his queen. Compared to that, the minor scratches on his hand were nothing.

He needed to find the boy, and quickly. Just his energy alone would be worth more than Jadeite could gather in weeks of subtle scheming in the human city. If he could gain access to two, or three, or four of them... the energy could release Metallia months ahead of schedule. Jadeite smiled as he contemplated the rewards he would earn for such a successful operation.

Maybe... maybe he was going about this wrong. Relying on magical resources too much. Maybe he should let humans do the dirty work for him. At the very least, he could continue his own plans while he played them for pawns. He had already learned how effective the human media was in this world...

"JADEITE! BEFORE ME!"

The magical summons hung in the air around Jadeite for a few seconds as he cursed his bad luck. But now was not the time for recrimination. He would have to accept his punishment, and hope that he retained enough of his faculties to pull off his new plan when she was finished venting her rage. Composing his face into an obsequious mask he teleported himself to Queen Beryl's throne chamber, already mentally preparing himself for the pain to come.

01010

"I can't believe that idiot..." Akane grumbled as she stepped into the clinic again. "Hello, Doctor Tofu, I just came to quickly see Ukyou, hope you don't mind!" Akane called as she walked past the reception desk without looking up. She was far too angry to give the handsome young doctor the smile he deserved, so it was best not to tempt fate.

"Just a minute, Akane," Ukyou called from behind her. "I'm busy at the moment."

Akane stopped in mid-stride, unsure if she had heard correctly. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that, yes, Ukyou was out of bed and behind her. The girl was sitting behind the reception desk, helping an elderly woman fill out some sort of form. Ukyou was wearing a well-cut casual suit which emphasized her shoulders and made her look more mannish than usual. From the way the old lady was smiling as Ukyou chatted amiably with her, apparently Ukyou struck quite the dashing figure. Akane guessed she could see it...

Ukyou bade goodbye to the old woman and gestured for Akane to take a seat nearby. Realizing she was staring, Akane stepped over and sat down. Ukyou didn't stop much, she was already pulling several huge files of papers from the desk behind which she sat. Akane watched in silent awe as Ukyou efficiently laid out the papers in front of her and began to examine them each in turn, her expressionless eyes scanning each with critical ease.

"No wonder the guy disappears... he's been hemorrhaging money for months with all the special projects..." Ukyou mused aloud as she began to re-order the papers into three large piles.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Akane said finally.

"I'm helping Doctor Tofu out," Ukyou pointed out evenly, letting her eyes drift up to Akane for a second before going back to her work. "Just think of it as payback for all the free medical care."

"I thought you were supposed to still be in bed?"

"I'm fine to walk around Akane, I just need to go easy for a few weeks," Ukyou pointed out. She bit lightly on her tongue and began to make notes on several of the pieces of paper with a red pen. "I guess it is true that doctors know nothing about money. If I had half this man's operating capital, I could own a chain of restaurants..."

"Okay..." Akane blinked.

"Don't feel like you're disturbing me, Akane," Ukyou commented in a placid tone as she began to make notes and punch the buttons on a nearby calculator. "I can easily concentrate on two things at once." Ukyou let herself display a wry smirk. "It's a gift of mine."

"Right..." Akane stared as Ukyou's fingers literally flew across the papers beneath her. Every now and then the girl would tsk in a disappointed way and mark something with a huge red X or circle it in a giant red oval. Akane wasn't sure she wanted to disturb the girl, even with her statement a few seconds ago.

"Did Nabiki follow you here again?" Ukyou commented idly as she continued working. Apparently, if Akane wasn't going to start the conversation, Ukyou would.

"No, I don't think so," Akane sighed a bit ruefully. "I think she's still recovering from that sprained ankle from when she fell off the roof."

"Heh," Ukyou smirked a bit viciously. "I wish I could say I felt sorry for her, but she was asking for it. Your sister is quite the little snoop."

"I know," Akane grunted and crossed her arms. Nabiki was already pestering her day in and day out to reveal Ukyou's confidences. Not pleased with just berating Ranma and her, Nabiki had taken to trying to sneak into the clinic all the time so she could find out more about Ukyou. Sooner or later Akane would have to have a talk with her about it. Thankfully, Daddy just thought Nabiki was sneaking out to be with Ranma. "I'll try convincing her to leave you alone..." Akane trailed off at a shake of Ukyou's head.

"Don't bother," Ukyou said a bit evenly. "I think having her after me all the time keeps me on my toes."

"I suppose it would," Akane sighed. She just hoped Ukyou knew what she was in for. Akane knew her sister could be quite sneaky when she put her mind to it. So far, Ukyou had proven to be just that one step sneakier. Frankly, the idea that Ukyou would enjoy the competition cheered Akane up a little. Ever since Ukyou had woken up, she had been... withdrawn. Well, even more withdrawn than usual. Akane could get her to grin, and Ranma could make her laugh. But Ukyou never did anything herself when the two of them were around. She seemed to spend most of her time just staring at the ceiling.

"By the way, where's Ranma? It's not like him to show up later than you," Ukyou asked as she continued to scratch notes all over the financial records.

Oh great, that reminded Akane why she was mad in the first place.

"That idiot decided he'd rather go get himself beat up than come see his best friend on her sickbed!" Akane snapped.

"Akane..." Ukyou said chidingly, not bothering to look up. Akane flushed. Whenever Ukyou used that impossibly mature tone, Akane felt ten years younger than her. Considering how often she and Ranma got into shouting matches, Akane had grown very familiar with that tone of voice. "I'm not exactly dying. Ranma has his own life, I'm not surprised that..." Here Ukyou paused and looked up at Akane for only the second time since she had walked in the door. "Wait, Ranma's having a fight... with who?" Ukyou's tone of voice was carefully neutral.

"Some guy named... Ryo... Ryouken? Ryougi?" Akane waved her bad memory away. "Some guy who showed up at school this afternoon and punched a hole in the pavement. Ranma didn't even really wait for him to introduce himself before the two ran off to have a fight."

"Indeed," Ukyou mused aloud. "Oh, one thing I keep forgetting to mention, Akane." Akane perked up as Ukyou leaned back in her chair, running one hand through her bangs and letting the palm rest on the back of her ponytail. "I have a pet pig that I haven't been able to see for a few days for obvious reasons."

"Ukyou!"

"It's not that bad, Akane. The pig can take care of himself. He's a pretty good forager, and has a tendency to wander about aimlessly when I'm not there to look after him." Ukyou grinned a bit, but her smile wasn't pleasant. "I just wanted to warn you to keep an eye out for him. He's about this big..." Ukyou held her hands apart, leaving about enough space for a housecat between them. "He's jet black and very cute looking. He has a yellow and black bandana tied about his neck, and can be hostile with people he doesn't know."

"I'll keep an eye out for him," Akane nodded.

"Good," Ukyou nodded. "If you do see him, could you grab him and bring him here?" Seeing Akane nod enthusiastically, Ukyou smiled. "Oh, and one last thing. The pig is a real pervert. Like to watch girls undress and all that. So don't cradle him or do anything mushy with him, since he's a rather sick piggy. That's why I called him H-chan."

Akane stared at Ukyou for a second. H-chan... short for hentai-chan? Little pervert? That was certainly a strange name for a pig. But if the little critter was as bad as Ukyou was saying, maybe he deserved it. Akane resolved to handle the pig at arms length, if she ever saw it. It seemed unlikely, however.

"I understand, Ukyou."

"Good, good..." Ukyou said with a relieved sigh. Akane gave her a curious stare as the girl went back to working on Doctor Tofu's books. Her face was still as expressionless as ever, even as she went over the papers with uncanny ease. Akane shook her head and stood up. Ukyou seemed to be doing something anyway... maybe now was a good chance for Akane to have a talk with the good doctor? Akane smiled a bit at that thought, allowing herself to indulge in a few mildly naughty fantasies.

01010

Ranma groaned and wrung the water out of his pigtail as he leapt over the rooftops. Leave it to that loser Ryouga to disappear in the middle of a fight. At least when they had fallen into that canal, Ryouga had vanished before he'd had a chance to see Ranma change into this girl body. In a way, that had been convenient. Not that Ranma couldn't have won the match regardless of his current shape, but it might have been a closer fight. Still, it seemed pretty weird even for someone with a directional sense as bad as Ryouga's to disappear during a fight, but whatever.

It was only a few more hops before the clinic came into view. With a sigh, Ranma descended to the street outside. Maybe he could get the Doc to look at a few of these bruises while he was there. Not that Ryouga's punches had really hurt, Ranma thought, then winced when his slightly swollen ankle hit the payment. It was just better to be safe then sorry, after all.

Ranma was just walking up the path to the clinic when Akane stepped out of the clinic, bidding goodbye to someone inside. She was probably gushing over the Doc again. Ranma grinned and shook his head. His pigtail bounced wetly against his neck. At least she seemed to be interested in guys, even if the guy in question was more interested in her oldest sister than Akane.

"Hey, Akane," Ranma nodded as he stepped onto the stairs.

"Ranma..." Akane looked down at him, and from the way her eyes dipped down to his chest she had noted his current gender. Ranma repressed the urge to growl in annoyance. "Wait, come with me for a second." Akane grabbed his arm and began to pull him down the stairs. He had to pinwheel his other arm and dance a bit to keep from being pulled off his feet entirely.

"But... but..."

"This will only take a second, and it's important. Besides, Ukyou is busy right now," Akane pointed out as she pulled Ranma around the wall.

"Okay, fine," Ranma grumbled as he pulled his arm free. He leaned against the wall and rubbed at the arm. Underneath the sleeve was one of his developing bruises, but he wasn't about to share that information with Akane. "What's so important, anyway?"

"I think something's wrong with Ukyou," Akane began in a somber tone. Ranma cocked his heads to the side, idly batting his wet locks from his forehead. "Haven't you seen it yourself the past few days?"

"Well, she seems to be getting better, recovering from her injuries..."

"That isn't what I mean," Akane said with a bit of frustration in her tone, her feet scuffing the dirt a bit as she walked over to lean next to him. "Haven't you see it yourself, the way Ukyou is almost totally in her... how do you say it... her withdrawn mode?"

"Withdrawn mode?" Ranma frowned and tried to figure out what Akane meant. She was probably thinking about the way Ukyou looked when her eyes took on that cold cast and her face didn't express much. The way sometimes his best friend would look at him like he was barely even there. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen much sign of the other side of Ukyou lately. The happy, excited Ukyou. The one with the infectious smile and boundless determination. "I guess I see what you mean..."

"Yes! Ukyou is depressed," Akane nodded as she crossed her arms. "I think the fight... her defeat at Chris' hands hurt her deeper than just the surface."

"That's kinda silly, Akane," Ranma said with a shrug. "I've beaten up Ukyou plenty of times when we were kids. Never quite as bad, but still I always won. It only ever made her more determined to fight me harder next time."

"No offense, Ranma, but you have the emotional sensitivity of a rock," Akane grumbled from beside him. "You can't even see how Ukyou feels about..."

"About?" Ranma asked as Akane trailed off.

"Nevermind," Akane sighed and waved the question aside. "Not my place to say."

"Fine," Ranma grunted and crossed his own arms... or tried to. It took several tries with that stupid top-heaviness getting in his way. "I still don't think she's depressed. Maybe a little down, but then again so was I until today." Ranma grinned. Ryouga showing up had solved that. It was about time he'd finally gotten to take on an opponent who didn't do anything but use brute force. Ranma was almost curious what Ryouga's problem was. He was at least sure he had met the guy before and...

Oh wait, was this all about that stupid bread thing?

"We need to find some way to snap Ukyou out of this," Akane muttered, bringing Ranma back to the here and now.

"Well, maybe she just needs a challenge?" Ranma suggested. "Something that she can overcome, to give her some confidence back."

"Maybe..." Akane nodded. "Anyway, I have to get home... WE have homework for tomorrow, you know."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma waved her aside and skipped around her. "No sweat about that." Ranma didn't watch Akane leave. He was busy walking up to the clinic and thinking about what she had said. It was probably best to keep Akane's idea between the two of them for now. At least until Ranma could think of something to cheer Ukyou up with.

01010

Rei Hino sighed as she sat down on the edge of her porch. Usagi was sitting nearby, laughing and convulsing while she read a small graphic novel... Wait, that was HER graphic novel!

"Give me that!" Rei shouted as she reached out to snatch the small book from the blonde's grasp. Usagi, displaying a level of agility she lacked in virtually all other pursuits, kept the book from Rei's grasping hand.

"I'm not finished yet!" Usagi complained in her best nasal whine. Rei felt the blood beginning to throb in her forehead, but took a deep sigh and forced herself to remain calm.

"Fine, you can read it, just ask permission from here on in, okay?" Rei grumbled as she went back to staring out across the courtyard of her family's ancestral temple. She didn't even acknowledge Usagi's agreement to Rei's terms. Honestly, what was Usagi even doing here? Rei wasn't sure why such a girl had been chosen to be one of the Sailor Senshi, the only thing between Earth and the forces of this evil demonic agency. Ami was a person that Rei could certainly see in the role...she was smart and sensible, and brave in her own way. Usagi was the exact opposite: air-headed, gullible and a coward.

Then again, maybe fate worked in mysterious ways. Rei herself didn't believe that she could be a magical soldier of love and justice, not until she had been forced to transform for the first time in that Dreamland amusement park. Rei still had trouble believing in all this, but it was hard to deny when she had herself flung flame from her fingers to save Usagi's life.

"Hi, everyone," Ami called as she walked up into view up the stair. Usagi waved vibrantly and Rei kept herself to nodding. The girl had agreed to meet the two here after her cram school, mainly at Rei's request. Rei felt it was important to discuss what was going on.

"Did you have any trouble getting past the vultures?" Rei asked when Ami sat down next to her. Ami gave her a curious look at first, but it didn't take long for understanding to dawn.

"Oh, you mean all the reporters," Ami said with a shy smile. "They are rather making a mess at the bottom of your steps."

Rei harrumphed and placed her chin on one palm, shifting her legs under her expansive hakama-style pants so she was more comfortable sitting on the wooden porch. "I don't know what they expect to find here. That guy hasn't been back since he saved everyone on that bus."

"I hear they're offering a one million yen reward for his location!" Usagi crowed happily from nearby. Rei noticed she had dropped the - formerly mint condition - book onto the floor. She wanted to comment on it, but it was really rather a minor thing. Besides they had better things to worry about, like what Usagi had just brought up.

"I think it's kind of suspicious myself," Rei mused. "This guy shows up just in time to stop Jadeite, then throws Usagi into the portal and runs away. Now he never shows up again and nobody has any idea who he is at all."

"That isn't quite fair," Ami pointed out. "That other Sailor, Pluto, she attacked him and scared him off." Ami leaned forward and sighed. "I wouldn't blame him if he didn't trust us enough to show up again."

"Oh who cares if Pluto scared him off or not," Usagi waved her hand through the air a few times. "Did you guys see his butt? It's fantastic! He's the cutest guy ever!"

"What about Tuxedo Kamen?" Rei snapped, remembering how Usagi had gushed over the masked man back in Dreamland.

"Eh, he's also very cute..." Usagi trailed off. "On the one hand you have the poetic, dark and mysterious gentleman... on the other the quiet, achingly handsome rebel... oh it's too hard to choose between them!"

"The guy threw you through a portal into an evil dimension!" Rei hissed.

"If he hadn't, all those people would still be trapped," Ami pointed out in a shy tone. Rei cast an aggravated look at her, but it died off quickly. She had a point, after all. Pluto herself had admitted in her talk with Usagi that she had only paused to keep the portal open to save Sailor Moon. But then again, Pluto seemed to think that this mystery boy was far more dangerous than whatever enemy they were currently fighting.

"See, Ami's right," Usagi nodded. "Besides, he doesn't even hide behind a mask. Granted using a mask on a face like that would be a crime, but he doesn't, which is the point." Rei stared at her, giving a mental 'huh?' as she tried to figure out the meaning of that statement. "The point, Rei, is that someone that cute obviously can't be a bad guy. He may be rough around the edges, but all he needs is the right woman to smooth him out and..."

"I suppose you're the right woman?" Rei sneered.

"Maybe I am!"

Rei snapped her head up suddenly. Usagi gasped and fell over.

"Wah! Rei looks scary!" Usagi whined loudly.

"Be quiet," Rei hissed as she rose to her feet. Where was this feeling coming from? It was a great anger, flowing through the courtyard from... over there. Rei snaked a hand into her shirt, peering along the edge of the yard. She concentrated, unfocusing her eyes and allowing them to see beyond the physical. It was just like the meditation before the sacred flame. You had to perceive the energy that bound all things together... there! "I've got you!" Rei shouted as she sprinted across the yard. Her hand whipped out, trailing the paper strip of her ofuda ward. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!" Rei screamed as she thrust her ward forward between two fingers. Instinct and mystical energy guided her strike, placing it with unerring accuracy right on the... signpost?

Rei was not sure what surprised her more. The fact the she had just attacked a signpost, or the fact that the signpost suddenly sprouted a young woman's head and fell backward as the girl's eyes wobbled about.

"Ah! Some kind of signpost youma!" Usagi shrieked from behind her. Well, at least Rei wasn't going crazy.

"Wait, I don't think it is..." Ami cried as she began to tap the buttons on that tiny pocketbook computer of hers.

"Ow! That really hurt!" the girl's head on the ground complained. Rei could only stare in wonder as a perfectly normal looking arm emerged from the side of the sign (it read "No sign posting please", Rei noted absently) and reached up to the girl's head. "You crazy chick! What did you do that for?" There was a ripping sound as the girl pulled the paper ward from her forehead. "Yowch! I think I lost some skin!"

"Ah! The signpost monster girl resisted Rei's ward!" Usagi cried as she began to shake her head back and forth, her pig-tails whipping back and forth with audible cracks.

"I don't think its a monster," Ami pointed out again. She was making futile calming gestures at the panicking blonde.

"She's right, no monster would have been able to pull off that ward," Rei said as she crossed her arms. "Not without a lot more effort, anyway. That does still leave the question of who it is, and why she was spying on us." Rei began to tap her foot impatiently.

"Spying on you?" the girl grumbled as she rose to her feet. This involved peeling off the remains of her elaborate disguise, a process that she made seem impossibly mundane, considering that she should have been unable to hide in the signpost at all. It gave Rei a slight headache to watch. She was wearing a rather frilly and flashy sundress, which looked almost normal on her. "I wouldn't talk if I were you. I'm not the one planning to snatch somebody else's sweetheart away like some street corner hussy!"

"What are you talking about?" Rei sighed as she placed a hand over her brow. She could feel the blood thumping in her temples again. She was also busy trying to remember if she said anything that let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, regarding their secret identities.

"Don't deny it!" the girl shouted. She pointed at Usagi and started to stalk across the courtyard toward her. Usagi eeped and toppled backwards onto the porch when she tried to back away. "This one here was talking about seducing my darling Ukyou!"

"Ukyou?" Ami piped in. She had slipped her pocket computer away to wherever it was that she stored it.

"Hah, you don't even know the name of your 'mysterious boy hero', do you?" the teenage girl snorted and crossed her arms under her bodice. She was probably about as tall as Rei, which meant she literally loomed over the cowering Usagi. However, upon hearing the mention of her latest crush (Rei had counted three boys she was desperate for so far) Usagi ceased the cowering act and sat up.

"Wait, you're saying you know who he is?"

"Yes, I know who 'he' is," the girl snorted, with an unusual emphasis on the word 'he'. "I've only been dating Ukyou for almost a year now."

"Dating!" Usagi shrieked and slapped her hands to her cheeks. "You're lying, I don't believe a guy like that could date a jerk like you!" Tears began to well up on the corners of Usagi's eyes. Rei sighed and walked towards the catfight in the making. If there was going to be a blow up here, she might as well have a good view of the fun.

"You better believe it," the girl smirked down at Usagi. "I am Tsubasa Kurenai, the one true love of the mysterious Ukyou Kuonji!" she introduced herself with a graceful pirouette that ended with her standing in a singers pose, complete with karaoke microphone.

"Oh, is that why you're here?" Ami said with a cheerful smile. "I guess you want to collect the million yen reward, since you know this Ukyou person so well."

"Ah..." Tsubasa stumbled back, her face going from rapturous to downtrodden in an eyeblink. "Well, not really. I was actually hoping that... that there would be someone here who knows where Ukyou is..." she admitted slowly and with obvious reluctance. However, Ami's cheerful and unrelenting smile seemed to wear down Tsubasa's nerve.

"Ah ha!" Usagi leapt to her feet and poked her finger at Tsubasa accusingly. "How can you claim to be Ukyou's girlfriend when you don't even know where he is?"

"I have a lot more solid a claim than you!" Tsubasa shot back. "In fact, I know for a fact that Ukyou wouldn't give you a second glance, you... ugly girl!"

"UGLY!" Usagi shrieked, but in rage this time. Rei backed off. She had never seen Usagi angry before. It was mildly scary, the way her body seemed to glow with rage. "Did you call me ugly?"

"I just call them like I see them," Tsubasa smirked and crossed her arms under her bodice again. "But even if you were the prettiest girl on earth, you couldn't begin to get Ukyou's attention like I can."

"So you don't think I'm enough of a woman for him?" Usagi growled and mimed rolling up her sleeves. "I'm ten times the woman you are!"

"Bah!" Tsubasa stepped back and sneered. She waved her hand at Usagi like she was trying to dispel a bad smell. "I have something you will never have, girl. Without it, you're not even in the competition."

"Oh really," Usagi said in a dangerously calm voice. "I think that sounds like a challenge to me."

"Hmph, fine." Tsubasa stared into Usagi's eyes, and the other girl stared back. Rei backed up another step at the intensity of their stares. She could see their auras clashing and sparking against each other thanks to her training, and wanted no part of this new contest. "We'll see which of us tracks down Ukyou and goes out on a date with her first."

"You're on!"

Tsubasa smirked again and spun on one heel, her shoulder length hair bobbing prettily in her wake. She waved absently over her shoulder as she started down the stairs. Usagi clenched her fists as she watched her new romantic rival sashay down the steps.

"No one calls me ugly..." Usagi grumbled. Then she raised her hand and pointed at the sky. "I swear, in the name of the moon... forget Motoki, forget Tuxedo Kamen... Ukyou Kuonji will be my boyfriend!"

"So, does that mean Tuxedo Kamen is free now?" Rei teased. Well, sorta. He WAS kinda dreamy, with his top hat and cane...

"Well... " Usagi deflated. Then she sniffed and began to tear up. "It was such a beautiful dream, Tuxedo Kamen... but if I'm going to beat that jerk Tsubasa..." she looked at the sky and clutched her hands before her. "You have to forgive me, Tuxedo Kamen! You have to understand that I do this for the greater good!"

"How exactly is dating some guy you don't even know because of some stupid contest with a girl you don't even know for the greater good!" Rei burst out.

Usagi only looked at her in the same manner one might look at a child who had just asked a really stupid question. "You obviously don't understand how these things work, Rei." Usagi waved her fingers at her, as if she were deflecting Rei's common sense. "It would just take too long to explain."

01010

Nabiki winced as she slid quickly around the corner. Her ankle protested the mistreatment as she moved too quickly for its taste. She had sprained it almost a week ago now, trying once again to sneak into the clinic to get the goods on Ukyou Kuonji. This made trailing her sister and her reluctant fiancee without them noticing all that much harder. Nabiki had already learned the hard way that Ranma seemed to have a knack for knowing when people were following him, what with all the pictures Gosunkugi took where the man/woman was obviously posing for the camera. But still, being five blocks back from them seemed to work, even if it made her job all that much harder.

Nabiki leaned down and rubbed her poor ankle. She sighed and peeked around the corner, mindful that unless she kept her eyes on them the duo could likely disappear around a corner without her getting a chance to notice. Thankfully Ranma was wearing that ridiculous red silk shirt of his, so he stood out like a sore thumb.

Also thankfully, the two seemed to have finally come to a stop. They were standing a few blocks down the street, staring across the busy street at an unassuming looking motel. They had led Nabiki into a rather unsavory part of town, the kind of place where a girl didn't want to be walking alone at night. The motel was a stereotypical example of the kind of dive that sprung up in these kinds of places. While it was well painted and clean enough outside, it had a certain worn down look that pointed out that maintenance was done half- heartedly, if at all. Oh, and there was that giant blackened hole in it.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Ranma and Akane were taking more than a casual interest in the motel, which meant it was probably the place where Ukyou had sent them. Nabiki grinned to herself. Ranma might be a martial arts genius and have the senses of a hunting cat, but he really did speak too much for his own good and lied like a two year old. Nabiki hadn't yet managed to weasel the true story of his history with Ukyou out of him, but on occasion he let slip little details, like the fact he and Akane were spending today fetching some of Ukyou's possessions from this motel. Probably because the boy was working at Doctor Tofu's now, which meant he would be getting better housing for free.

Now the two were talking, making animated gestures to each other. Damn, what Nabiki wouldn't give to know what they were talking about. But there was too much space and too many noisy people between her and them, which made that impossible. So Nabiki instead decided to examine the building itself. The large hole in the building would have been, if Nabiki guessed correctly, just about large enough to account for one room in the complex. It was also obviously burnt out, but not in any way she had seen fire operate before. A blaze powerful enough to do that much damage to the structure should have burned down most of the building, shouldn't it? Somehow, this did not strike Nabiki as a coincidence.

Nabiki kept a sidelong glance on Ranma and Akane, and thus saw them moving in plenty of time to react. She carefully slipped back into the alley, hiding herself behind a rather unpleasant-smelling dumpster. The two passed her by without a glance and Nabiki smiled, even if she would need a bath when she got home.

Sauntering as much as her injured ankle would let her, Nabiki exited the alley and made her way down the street. Ranma and Akane might have given up easily on the matter of retrieving things from Ukyou's motel room, but Nabiki wasn't about to let a little fire stop her. Her mind worked overtime as she came up with a simple but efficient plan to get herself into the motel...

The inside of the motel was a great deal more scuzzy than the outside. The wallpaper peeled off the walls in a few places, and a bit of green mold could be seen growing in one corner of the ceiling. The foyer was a plain box, with one entrance into the rest of the building. The register was in an open window along one of the walls. A tall, sweaty man with a bad combover was sitting behind it.

"Excuse me, please..." Nabiki said as she tiptoed to the desk, her voice containing just enough tremble to sound scared yet eager at the same time. She made sure to look down, and blush, while subtly breathing in so her breasts stood out. That got the man's attention, all right. "Can you help me, please, sir?"

"Heh. Sure thing, little girl," the man replied roughly. His breath smelled minty; probably mouthwash, to cover up the occasional sip of alcohol. "What can I do for you?" He leaned forward across the desk. To his credit, he didn't leer, but he definitely wanted to.

"Well sir, I was supposed to meet my boyfriend here, because... because-" Nabiki cut herself off and shoved her fist over her face and shook it back and forth, making sure she breathed deeply while she did so. She spent a few seconds 'regaining her composure' then pulled her hands away. "I... was supposed to meet him here, and he hasn't shown up yet."

"Ah... that's too bad..." the man said, grinning widely to himself. Nabiki repressed the urge to smirk. He was fed just enough information to leap to the wrong conclusion. "For a guy to stand you up like that is a real crime."

"Oh, he didn't stand me up!" Nabiki gasped, making sure to put a bit of reproach in her voice. "I, actually... I was so... excited that I showed up..." Nabiki looked down and twiddled her toes with her hands laced behind her back, her blush was in full force. "I showed up a bit early actually..."

"Oh, I see..." the man gave her a long look. "Well, what can I help you with?"

"Well, when I agreed to meet him here I didn't know what kind of neighbourhood this was... just that it was far away from our parents and... ahem... well, I'm kind of scared to wait for him outside."

"Ahhh..." the man said in sudden understanding. "And you want to wait inside, where someone can protect you, is that it?" Nabiki nodded. "Well, I don't have anywhere you can sit in the foyer..." he mused.

Nabiki squealed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't wait for him right here! Standing in the middle of the entrance, dressed like this, by myself? What will people think?" The man raised an eyebrow but didn't reply. "Maybe... maybe I can just wait in the room..."

"I see..." the man mused, rubbing his chin. "I suppose your boyfriend has all the money?" Nabiki flushed and nodded. He sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Okay kid, I'll give you a break. This is a special event." The man reached under his desk and came back up with a room key. "Here, go make yourself at home." At this point he did leer, just a little. "I'll be sure to tell your boyfriend you're waiting for him."

"Oh thank you, thank you!" Nabiki squealed in delight this time, and leaned over to take the key. She even allowed her hand to linger on his for a few seconds as a minor payment. Then she gave him a wink and skipped over to the room leading into the motel. Once she was inside she dropped the coquettish school girl act and dropped the keys in the nearest trash bin. It wasn't like she was ever going to need them.

Nabiki strolled along the hall in no particular hurry. It wasn't hard to spot the room that had been flash-fried; the door was missing, and ribbons of yellow police tape had been liberally placed across the threshold. Nabiki leaned down and ran her fingers along the carpet. It was even stranger up close. The fire that had burnt out this room had stopped exactly at the edge of the door. It sent a shiver up her spine for some reason...

Getting in through the police tape was easy; doing so without displacing any of it too badly was more difficult, but not impossible. Once she was inside, Nabiki felt vaguely disappointed. The room was a burnt-out shell, nothing but black ash from wall to wall... or what would have been the walls. The ceiling and floor were mostly intact, but the interior walls were full of scorch-edged holes. The remnants of a bed sat dimly in one corner, and the opening to the small bath proved that to be a blackened ruin as well. Nabiki kicked around for a few minutes, overturning anything large or unusual looking with her good leg.

It was in the remains of what looked like a backpack that Nabiki found her prize. The pack was barely more than a lump of ashes, filled with even more charred and unrecognizable objects. Nabiki guessed some of it was clothing; other things she couldn't guess at. She did discover a set of short-handled metal spatulas like the kind Ukyou liked to use as throwing stars, but she discarded them. At least their discovery confirmed the former occupant of this room.

The real prize only even partly survived because Ukyou seemed to have gone to great lengths to make sure it would survive almost anything. It was packed in the remains of what Nabiki recognized as a brand of waterproof carrying cases, then packed in pink insulation, then sealed behind a (melted) plastic baggy. Nabiki held up the charred binder in her hands. This had been important to Ukyou, all right.

Unable to contain herself, Nabiki carefully flipped it open. She cursed and resisted to urge to throw the thing away in disgust. It was badly burned, at least half the pages missing or so burnt as to be unrecognizable. Still, Nabiki held out hope. Flipped through the pages she discovered that some of them still contained legible text, and it was filled with quite a number of hand- drawn pictures of various subjects, some of which had even survived almost unscathed. But it was written in English, all of it, in a slightly messy but small and efficient hand.

Nabiki sighed. Her English teachers at school had always varied from incompetent to downright ignorant, so she wasn't that eager to test out her skills with the language on the fragments of pages left within it. With a sigh of disgust, she flipped the binder closed and stood up. Translating this thing would be long and difficult, especially if she didn't want anybody else to discover what might potentially be inside. But it was the first solid clue Nabiki had... and she wasn't about to let a thing like a freak fire or a language barrier stop her! Grinning, she stepped out of the room, located the nearest emergency exit and was gone in a flash.

01010

Ukyou took a long sip from her cup. The pile of invoices and bills had finally shrunk down to a few stray sheets covering only the last few years. It had taken almost five days to get all the doctor's finances in order. Ukyou smirked as she ran a trained eye over the much larger pile of paperwork that she had managed to finish up. It made her feel better about herself, to help this good man with his mundane troubles. It also meant she had a chance to put all that time she had spent learning how to run a successful business to good use. After all, it wasn't like she was going to be able to open up her restaurant until she solved this whole brain-hitchhiker problem.

It also made her feel better that she had been the major contributor to this little project. Aaron was used to being more intelligent and more insightful than those around him. It was a guilty pleasure to be the one contributing the academic skills instead of the boy. It was also good that she could do most of this on her own; it kept him mercifully... quiescent for the majority of the week.

"Ukyou, this is... this is amazing!" Tofu said as he looked at the papers Ukyou had handed him a few minutes ago. "I never dreamed that my practice was doing so... so..."

"Disastrously bad?" Ukyou offered as she slipped her eyes over one of the last few pieces of financial data remaining to be dealt with. "Don't be too harsh with yourself. You were busy learning all you could, aiding the sick and injured... you know, being a decent human being. I've known far too many doctors concerned only with their bottom line."

"I guess..." Tofu sighed and adjusted his glasses. "I can't thank you enough, though. If I had known you were this good at keeping the books, I would have agreed to pay you more."

"It's nothing." Ukyou waved her hand dismissively. "It keeps my mind busy. I like being occupied."

"I really do need to thank you, however."

"This is my job, Tofu." Ukyou murmured. The man was taking this much too seriously.

"Ukyou!"

Ukyou looked up, frowning as Akane burst into the room. Ranma was peering over her shoulder, but Akane's position kept him from walking into the office. Akane's long hair was shiny with sweat, and her eyes were darting about fearfully. Ukyou's muscles tensed but she retained an outwardly calm expression. Ranma, after all, did not look very worried.

"Can we help you?" Doctor Tofu asked as he stood up. He was smiling, but Ukyou had used her recently acquired skills of perception on him too much to be fooled. She could see the subtle signs of his worry. The way his eyes kept drifting along Akane's chakra pressure points as he examined her chi, for instance.

"Ukyou, we need to talk with you..." Akane looked at Doctor Tofu for a few seconds. "It may be private..."

"I see," Tofu nodded. "Well, I can let you young people use my office. If you'll get out of my way?"

Aaron came to a sudden decision, and spoke up before anyone else could respond. "No, you should stay, Doctor." Ukyou thought of protesting the sudden decision, but decided Aaron was right. If they were going to trust Tofu enough to let him be their instructor, then they had to trust him with other, more dangerous secrets. Besides, it wasn't like Tofu didn't already know most of what was going on. And anything he learned... it might just help him help her.

Doctor Tofu gave her a long look and then shrugged. He stepped back to his chair and slid down into it. Apparently he was willing to wait patiently for Akane to speak her mind, an attitude which Ukyou emulated, if didn't exactly feel. Ukyou gestured for the two of them to enter. Ranma gave Ukyou a questioning look, but shrugged when she raised no objection. He did, however, reflexively check the hallway to make sure there were no potential eavesdroppers before closing the doors.

Once Akane was seated, she spoke up. "Ukyou, I have bad news."

"I'm not surprised," Ukyou deadpanned.

"You know that hotel you sent us to? The one you were staying at?" Ukyou nodded slowly. "Someone attacked it, burned it down." Ukyou opened her mouth, but no words came down.

"And not the entire thing either," Ranma added with a grumble. "It was pretty much just your room. No attempt at even makin' it seem like a normal fire." Ranma shoved his hands into his pockets and frowned down at the floor. "I think it was a message. I think someone wanted us to know it wasn't natural."

"Could this be Chris again?" Akane asked a bit fearfully. Aaron noted Tofu raise an eyebrow, but the man remained quiet.

"Not his style," Ukyou grunted dismissively. She stood up and walked over to the window. "This sounds more like the work of the Dark Kingdom. I suppose Pluto could be responsible, but it really isn't her style either..."

"Who? Where?" Ranma coughed. "You have more people after you?"

"A few..." Ukyou crossed her arms on the sill and laid her chin across them. Outside the wind had picked up, causing passers-by to shield their faces from the last lingering traces of the winter chill. In only a few short months it would be summer. How much longer... but Ukyou was drifting. Aaron forced them to stay on topic.

"The Dark Kingdom is a group of dangerous people who have access to advanced abilities that resemble magic. They can summon a variety of demonic servants, much like the one which attacked us back in Juuban."

"That one that knocked me unconscious?"

"That's the one," Ukyou confirmed. "They want to gather human life energy, or chi, to fuel the resurrection of their demon empress Metallia. I think they might be interested in me, and Ranma actually, by dint of how much more chi we have than normal humans."

"So these people are after trained martial artists?" Tofu asked softly.

"Not directly," Ukyou sighed. The street outside was full of everyday people going about everyday problems. Aaron had never dreamed of being anyone more important than one of them, had never wanted to be anything but normal. Ukyou was beginning to wonder why she had once dreamed of being special, if this was what it felt like. "They aren't targeting martial artists especially, to my knowledge anyway. I think I just pissed off one of their generals, and he wants revenge. They're petty like that."

"You sound familiar with them..." Tofu pointed out slowly.

"I have sources of information," Ukyou shrugged. "Not really important at the moment." She spent a few more seconds watching the world walk by outside while the others talked in the background. Aaron kept a small bit of their combined attention on the conversation, but mainly let Ukyou focus her thoughts outward. He idly noted a young woman gasp in annoyance as the wind caught her hat and sent it skittering down the street.

"Are you listening, Ukyou?"

"Indeed," Ukyou sighed. The others had been discussing what they could do about the situation. "And before you ask again, there is nothing we can do about this, Ranma." Ukyou tapped her fingers idly along the sill. "The Dark Kingdom isn't an enemy we can defeat. First off, we would have trouble even finding them. They come from... a long way away from Japan and use their magic to get here. Plus they are probably out of our league. We might be able to defeat their demon minions, but we can't hope to stop Metallia. And thirdly, there is already a group of demon hunters on their case." Ukyou stopped drumming her fingers. "Best we can do is lay low and wait for the problem to blow over. Jadeite will have to go back to finding other victims if he can't find me, and the Sailor Senshi will track him down once he does."

"You're serious?" Ranma asked, his tone becoming exasperated. "You just want to sit here and do nothing?"

"That's about the size of it," Ukyou agreed calmly.

Ukyou gasped as Ranma grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him. He was right in his face, his blue eyes smoldering under his furrowed brow. For a few moments time seemed to crawl as Ranma stared into her eyes. Ukyou was transfixed, breathless. Then he sighed and released her. He stepped back, shaking his head slightly.

"I guess I didn't want to believe it..." Ranma muttered. "But it really is gone."

"Gone?" Ukyou whispered as she regained the ability to breathe.

"The fire in your eyes," Ranma said with a shrug. "Back when we were kids, you always had that fire. I'd beat you every day when we sparred for our breakfast, and every morning you came back with that fire in your eyes." He looked away from her. "But now... your eyes are so cold. I guess the fire just went out."

Ukyou stared back at him, unable to speak. As the silence descended on the room, Ukyou found the words sinking in. She had lost it, she realized. That fire that used to burn inside her and push her forward. She had always been motivated to exceed... but what now? Ever since she had woken up here, she had been delaying.

She had access to a world class martial arts master, one who could improve her skills. One who had agreed to train her, and she had spent the last five days doing paperwork.

"Ukyou, Ranma doesn't mean it," Akane voiced suddenly. Ukyou realized that something must have shown on her face. Shown through the placid mask that she had become so used to. Aaron's placid mask. Ukyou suddenly felt like screaming. An irrational impulse to rip the skin from her face and scream and scream gripped her. Oh god, she had been slipping further and further from herself, even as she tried to provoke Aaron into being more and more a silent partner in their forced union.

"No, he does..." Ukyou sighed and slumped down. "I... I think I came dangerously close to just giving up here." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs. "It's so tempting: to lose yourself in the mundane and just forget." Ukyou spoke from bitter experience. She remembered the brutal details of Aaron's life, and his steady descent from promising young intellectual to just another wage slave. All because of his inability to fight the inertia of his own apathy. It wasn't something that was going to happen to Ukyou, damnit! "I think Ranma is right. I've been sitting around on my duff for too long."

"Ukyou, that's hardly your fault, you've been recuperating..." Tofu began but she cut him off.

"No, I thank you for helping me out, but you're wrong," Ukyou grunted. "I was like a little boy thrown from a bike and who got scared because he skinned his knee. I thought... I was so confident when I went in to fight Kodachi that I would handle it with ease. I knew," she spat the last word like a curse. "I knew that I could handle things. When I failed so badly..." She stood up, smirking angrily at herself. "Okay Ranma, you made your point. What do you want to do about this?"

"Hah!" Ranma walked over and clapped her on the back. "That's my old buddy Ucchan talking. First thing we have to do is train ourselves. If these guys are stronger than us, we'll just have to change that!"

"I'm helping too!" Akane shouted suddenly as she sprung to her feet. "You two always end up saving me or leaving me behind... I want to help here!"

"You're right, Akane," Ukyou nodded. "You should help us."

"Ukyou, she'll just slow u-ow!" Ranma cut off sharply as Ukyou and Akane smacked him in the back of the head at the same time.

"Children..." Tofu sighed. "You're all set on fighting this battle, are you?"

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded.

"I don't suppose I can try pointing out that Ukyou's former plan is really a good one. You're still teenagers. While tough teenagers, true, you aren't supposed to be responsible for these kinds of things."

"Ah, s'not a big deal, Doc," Ranma said with a shrug as he rubbed the sore spot on his scalp. "We can probably handle whatever these Dork Kingdom guys throw at us."

"Akane, I beg you to be the voice of reason here."

"I'm sorry, Doctor Tofu, but I've seen the kind of people that Ukyou has to deal with. I don't think we can talk them down."

"That only leaves me with one choice... I guess I'll have to help you all out." He stood up and smiled. "If I don't, I'm likely to lose the young woman who is the only thing keeping my practice afloat at the moment."

01010

Chris gazed over the expanse of the Chinese countryside with a certain appreciation. He had always liked travelling; not only through his native country, but also throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Britain and Africa. Asia, however, had eluded him until he had stolen a body and come to Japan. He had not really had the time or ability to appreciate Japan properly, however; aside from his obvious distraction in the few days he had been there, the bodies he'd occupied LIVED in Japan. They knew it, and thus the surprise and wonder he felt exploring the new was dulled by the fact he could easily, almost unconsciously, call up foreknowledge of it. Hard to get too fascinated by the lights and bustle of Shinjuku when he was following Kodachi's memories to her favourite store to make a purchase of certain herbal ingredients.

But Kodachi had never been to China, and thus the experience was totally fresh to him as well. Certain aspects of the usual tourist experience - the food, the entertainment, seeing and interacting with the people and their lives - weren't available to him, but what he had was still pretty gratifying. The thing about the breathtaking landscape spread out before him that most caught his eyes were the mountain peaks. The Bayankala range, he supposed. They were not at all like mountains he was used to. Oddly, almost abnormally thin, they were like enormous dead trees scratching at the sky with their branchless grey trunks. He wondered if they were that way in the real world, or just the stylised backgrounds of the manga he'd remembered.

Below him, in that mountain range, were wonders that he knew weren't in the real world. Jyusenkyou. The Nyuuchezu village. Phoenix Mountain. The homeland of the Musk Dynasty. He felt curiosity about them, almost like a archaeologist. So many questions Takahashi's manga had never answered. What happened to female children of the Musk? What were Saffron's origins? How was the Nyuuchezu village run, and how did they not know the Musk still existed? What were all the springs in Jyusenkyou, and how - or from whom - did the cursed springs originate?

Ah, so many questions. And with luck, he'd have a lifetime to satisfy that curiosity and explore this new world.

But for the moment, there was this cliff. He frowned, glancing down at the directions he'd been given. Forty kilometers still, by his reckoning, and he'd have to continue the way he'd been going, before he reached the village. Given that he didn't need to stop to rest, he could probably easily reach them by early nightfall. Which was good; camping out waiting for Cologne to wake up the next morning would be incredibly boring, and he didn't want to risk getting lost exploring away from his directed path.

Folding the paper with the directions, he placed it away in the pocket of his jeans - he hadn't exactly felt like travelling in Kodachi's leotard, though he had one in case of necessary combat - he looked down the steep slope, maybe a hundred metres total. There was a path winding precariously down it; his eyes searched for how to reach it, but then suddenly a crooked grin spread across his borrowed face.

Path? Who needed paths?

Taking off his travelling backpack, he spun it once by the strap and hurled it high into the air, far over the cliff. Without pausing he then ran forward, hurling himself over the precipice, diving like a swimmer.

The slope was sleep, but not vertical; it hurtled towards him. Two fingers stabbed down, touched the side, flipped him over and outward. A moment later, a heel did the same. He flipped down the slope like a human tumbleweed, his face and thoughts calm as the world whirled around him. He was close, now; leg bunched up, found a protruding rock, shot down, pushing him off and up. He descended in a graceful arc, flipped in the air one more time, and landed gracefully on the toes of one foot. One hand reached up, almost as an afterthought, and caught the bag as it fell past him.

He laughed, and this wasn't Kodachi's laugh, but something very much like his own, ringing out over the empty countryside. It was pointless showing off, and to nobody but himself, he knew that...but it was good. It felt so GOOD. He never regretted for a second losing his real body, even when finding out that both it and he had apparently died. That crippled, weakened body. Here was a place where he no longer had to worry about it. This was the land of promise. The land where anything, literally anything was possible to the person who was willing to reach out and grasp it. This was where the gods walked, casually performing things that in the "real" world were impossible. And now he was one of them. Oh, it felt good.

Almost as good as being alive.

Still grinning, he checked the directions again, carefully oriented himself, and strode briskly off. Maybe his journey would end here. Maybe Cologne could help him, or tell him what he needed to know. He'd find out that night.

01010

"And you must be H-chan," Akane sighed as she held the squirming black piglet in her hands. The damn thing had frightened her half to death, leaping out of the shadows at her like that. And she had really been hoping to get some sleep now that the noise from Ranma and Ryouga's brawl outside her window had died down. Maybe that barbell she had tossed at them had gotten the point across.

Outside the rain fell and the lightning flashed, followed only shortly thereafter by the distant peal of thunder. The flash of light gave her the first clear view of the piglet in her hands. She had been half-joking when she mentioned the name of Ukyou's missing pet piglet. But now she saw there was no doubt about it. It wore exactly the right yellow and black bandana around its neck.

The little pig was still trying to squirm out of her hands. Akane wasn't about to let it go, however. For one thing Ukyou had banged into Akane's head how much the thing wandered. For another she had pointed out what a little pervert it was. And since the beast had leapt at her bosom from the shadows, she had little reason to doubt Ukyou's word.

"Calm down, H-chan," Akane muttered to the pig as she shook it a little. Strangely enough that seemed to get the pig to pause. It looked at her, its little head cocked to the side. It had the largest eyes she had ever seen on a pig, and they had an almost human intelligence behind them. Maybe it recognized its name, which was why it stopped moving so violently. "I guess I can see why some people consider you cute," Akane muttered as she shook her head. "If you weren't such a pervert..."

Akane trailed off as she looked around her room. There was no place she really trusted keeping the pig for the night. She wasn't about to let him sleep in her bed, and letting it wander around would be even worse. Akane was just glad the pet hadn't been deep-fried along with all of Ukyou's other belongings. The thought of letting H-chan wander off was unthinkable. Maybe seeing her companion would help cheer Ukyou out of her funk.

"Personally I think you should just be neutered," Akane muttered, mainly to herself, as she walked out of the room. "That would solve both your wandering and your perversion problems." Akane blinked as the pig seemed to faint at her statement. She looked down in worry, then gasped as the little animal began to fight her grip with renewed vigor. Akane frowned as she was forced to exert all her strength and skill just to keep a hold of the animal. "You're a tough little bugger..." Akane grunted as she tried to wrestle the beast while simultaneously keeping it from touching any of her sensitive regions. It seemed a doomed prospect. "Stupid pig, if you keep this up I have half a mind to neuter you with a kitchen knife!" Akane shouted in frustration.

Ah, now the animal was being still. Almost unnaturally, completely still, with a large bead of sweat along its brow. Did pigs actually sweat? She guessed so, but couldn't remember.

"Now that you're quiet, H-chan, let's see if I can find someplace safe to keep you till morning..."

Akane wandered downstairs. She paused as she passed the living room, wondering exactly what Ranma was doing sitting in her soaking wet nightclothes staring intently at the neighbours dog. But Ranma was prone to bouts of random insanity, Akane supposed. She really didn't know what Ukyou saw in her, er, him, er, whatever.

Finally Akane found an old leash, ironically enough from her old dog- walking days for the neighbours, and went about securing it to H-chan. "Now you be good, H-chan, and don't try to get away tonight. I'll be very cross with you if you do." Akane said to the pig. It looked at her as if it really understood, and so Akane didn't really feel foolish talking to a pig. She even made a little snip-snip motion with her fingers, which caused the pig to blanch and nod its head vigourously. Wow. It was easier having pets than everyone said it was. Maybe that was why Ukyou kept this thing around?

01010

Nabiki strode into the office. She resisted the urge to check and make sure her hair was in place. She kept her eyes centered forward, her back slightly arched and her arms steadily, but loosely, at her sides. The key was appearing more confident then you actually were. She didn't quite smirk, but she allowed the corners of her lips to lift slightly.

"Ah, you would be Ms. Tendo," the man behind the desk said with a smile. His voice was soft, almost languid. He was tall, and rakishly thin. His hair was short, blonde and curly, and he wore a set of pink-tinted sunglasses that made it hard to see his eyes. "Please, have a seat."

Nabiki smiled and graciously accepted his offer. She made sure to lean forward a bit more than was absolutely necessary when she sat down. It was hard to tell if he noticed, however. Whoever this guy was, he was a smooth operator. She glanced idly at the nameplate on his desk. J. Dight. Sounded foreign.

"I believe I have information that you advertised you were willing to pay handsomely for?" Nabiki pointed out. Nabiki felt a thrill of vindication with herself. It was finally time for her to pay that bastard Ukyou back for dragging her life through the mud the past few weeks. Of course, she would keep the remains of the journal she had found yesterday to herself, but having a little extra cash to help make up for her losses would be nice. "I will be betraying my good friend Ukyou to you, so I hope I can be appropriately compensated."

"Yes, Ms. Tendo," Mr. Dight said as he leaned across the table, tenting his fingers in front of his face. "And I'll make sure you get everything that's coming to you. But first, tell me... where is Ukyou Kuonji?"

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Well, first off, we would like to send out a hearty "thank you" to our new prereader, Elin! For, unlike all our other prereaders (except my girlfriend), she actually, you know, READS the chapters! And comments on them! And catches some of Epsi's innumerable spelling errors that I miss!

Epsilon: Yes, and I might as well say "thank you" for probably the first time, since I don't actually talk to her.

Blade: Which might have a lot to do with why she's still prereading.

Epsilon: It might at that.

Blade: Anyways, for her invaluable service, Elin gets to read ahead! That's right: while you guys are just now reading here, SHE'S about to read Chapter 8! Aren't you jealous?

Epsilon: If YOU TOO become a prereader, YOU TOO could get to read ahead! Until you reach the point where we're still writing, and get back to that one-month delay.

Blade: In other news, this series is going to have a lot of different characters from a lot of different series', as hinted at in this chapter. Most won't be very important, but a few, of course, will end up being storyline-centric. We don't expect you to know every series involved; indeed, we don't expect you even to know Ranma or Sailor Moon. Theoretically, anyone and any series we introduce will be in such a fashion that even someone who's never heard of it should be able to follow along.

Epsilon: But for people with the IQs of-

Blade: (smashes Epsilon with bokken) Let's not insult the readers, SHALL WE?

Epsilon: Oh, fine. (rub head) So if there's anything you're confused on, let us know and we'll try to edit things for clarity, or add more exposition on the character/series as we go along.

Blade: Unless we're making you confused on purpose! You know, the whole "mysterious stranger" thing! Far more likely than our flawless writing not being flawless, certainly!

Epsilon: That's right. Our flawless writing! Which contained NO spelling errors...at least until Elin read it!

Blade: She probably sneaks them in on purpose! Can't trust those tricky Swedes!

Epsilon: Even if she does speak (or at least write) better English than most of the native speakers we know!

Blade: And she knows what an "infinitive" is. I mean, really, what's up with that? How suspicious.

Epsilon: I believe that she just made that term up. You know, like other meaningless terms, such as "unobtainium", "blinkenspiel", or "compassionate conservative".

Blade: I'd just like to remind everybody at this point that we're near-geniuses. Or, at least, -I- am.

Epsilon: I also think the term "self-deprecation" is made up. I mean, come ON. What's with that?

Blade: But here's one word that has meaning: "preview"! So enjoy this weak segue and, yes, this "preview" of our next exciting chapter, on its way in thirty days!

Cologne took another long draw on her pipe, savored the flavour for a few moments, than exhaled an acrid cloud of smoke. "Interesting." She paused, looking him up and down. "You are no spirit, or ghost, or elemental, or demon." She tapped the ashes out into a small dish near her chair. "You are, as far as I can tell, a nothing. Ambulatory flesh with no more animating essence than a rock or a stream. Either you are an automaton, like those 'robots' I have heard about, or you are impelled by a force I can neither detect nor have heard the least amount on." With that, she began elaborately and carefully stuffing her pipe again.

He slumped. "Well. That doesn't exactly sound very hopeful, I must admit."

"Wisdom rarely does."

"Touche. Well, is there anything you can suggest? Any avenue I might take, source of information I might seek out, expert I might consult?"

"I never said I couldn't help you," Cologne noted as she finished lighting her pipe. She took another puff before continuing. "You came seeking my wisdom, and I gave it to you. Which is to say, I know nothing about what you are or how to solve your problem." Cologne smiled, more to herself than to him. "But the far better question for you to ask yourself now would be: why should I do anything at all to help you?"

Hybrid Theory Chapter 6: Breaking The Habit


	6. Breaking The Habit

Hiiiiiiiii~~~! Tsubasa Kurenai here, and I am just SOOOO excited to be your recapper! Are you reading, my dearest Ukyou? *blows kisses* I really don't like that guy who has been shoved in your head and is giving me threatening glares because I'm not getting to the point of this!

Anyhoo, last time on Hybrid Theory... not much happened! My beautiful girlfriend Ukyou decided, out of the goodness of her boundless heart, to save Dr. Tofu from falling down an open sewer and dying because his business was going bankrupt! They also gave that little harridan Nabiki what she deserved and snubbed her from their social clique, leaving room for ME!

Speaking of ME, I appeared last chapter! I'm soooooo happy! And I'm totally going to embarrass that ugly klutz Usagi! She's going to be SOOOOOO freaked out when she finds out my darling Ukyou is actually a girl, despite Usagi having a crush on her!

And is it wrong that I find that slightly arousing?

Nooooo, nooo, kyaaaa, naughty thoughts!

Ryouga showed up last chapter, but really, who cares? Bad things happened to him, but really, what else is new? What a boring old stiff. Speaking of stiffs, that nasty old Chris guy/girl/corpse/whatever went to China and fell off a cliff or something. My dearest Ukyou wasn't involved, so I didn't pay much attention!

That's pretty much it! Thank you, thank you, and please, tip your wait staff!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 6: Breaking the Habit

Chris felt a bit of a thrill as he stood upon the hill and looked down upon the Nyuuchezu - he refused to call it "Amazon", even mentally - village for the first time. It was like being in the Tendo Dojo... here was the proof, the stories come to life. This -was- the world of wonders. Of course, unlike the Dojo, he wasn't sure exactly what to expect from the Nyuuchezu village. A crowd, a table, a banquet, and a log. All that had been seen in the manga...not much to go by.

From this high up, the village probably seemed smaller then it actually was. The encroaching shadow of night and the lazy sprawl of houses made it hard to guess at the exact size of the community. It did not even begin to fill the valley in which it was located, but the rice paddies that spread out from its northern end certainly took up a huge amount of space. Only one building appeared to be over a single story high, and that looked like some sort of giant dome. A tribal meeting place? The house of a community elder? Capsule Corp? Heh, okay, maybe not that last one.

As Chris watched, lights began to appear in the windows down below. They weren't the flickering lights of bonfire or lamp that he had expected. Instead, they glowed with the clear, steady white of electric lights. But how had they gotten power out here? A quick scan to the west of the village showed several windmills. At first he had dismissed them as archaic throwbacks, but maybe they served some more modern purpose here after all.

The walk down to the village was almost disappointingly uneventful. The path he followed was well-worn, the dirt packed flat by the tread of many feet. Ruts too narrow to be tire tracks showed the passage of carts. Night continued to fall, but with an idle laziness that Chris had grown to expect in the wilderness. The village slowly grew in his view. It was definitely large, but nothing he would even call a town in a more civilised part of the world. But then, he had passed through highway "towns" in the more civilized world that were both smaller and dirtier than this. Nonetheless, one probably could have walked from one end to the other in a half hour, and there couldn't have been more than sixty buildings.

Most were short, stocky affairs made of some dark, smooth wood. They looked like any number of other village houses he had encountered in his journey here. Perhaps more sturdily constructed, actually. There still couldn't have been more than three or four rooms to each. Only a few people walked between the houses, men and women moving together with the casual hurry of people going about their business anywhere.

A few of them looked up as Chris walked into the village proper, but none paid him any particular heed. A few curious expressions, but no yelled greetings, angry challenges by heavily armed warriors or rushes to escape the strange foreigner. Of course, why would there be? He felt a little silly for half-expecting it. Chris shifted his grip on his pack as he moved inward and took in more detail.

The village seemed like something lifted straight from a pre-industrial Chinese epic, mixed in with several obvious anachronisms. Aside from the electric lights (no power lines were in sight... did they have generators?) there were other signs of modern influence. Here and there a village man or woman wore a digital watch, or carried a small trinket of the modern world. One pair of young girls were huddled in a corner with a flashlight and several copies of some modern teen magazine, giggling to each other.

Chris soon arrived in the center of the village, where the largish dome stood. It was made of stone, but masterfully erected. Chris was no architect, but he could detect no seam where they must have fitted the stone blocks together, nor was there any break to the smooth lines of its exterior. It was maybe two and a half-stories tall, and twice that wide. A perfect hemisphere, at least to his untrained eye.

There was one entrance, and this was the first clue Chris saw of any martial presence. A tall, buxom brunette in one of those form-fitting Chinese breastplates Shampoo favored was sitting in front of the building. A spear was leaning against the wall beside her, within arm's reach. She wasn't paying attention to much beside the game of solitaire she was dealing out on a patch of dusty earth.

He hesitated a bit. Kodachi knew a -little- Chinese. It was part of the proper education of the elite, such as she was. But it wasn't something she'd had great interest in. Her brother could probably get by conversationally, but he knew better than to try that. Misunderstandings in dialogue could lead to bad things, when he didn't even know what this building was. Maybe a shrine? Well, first let's see if the problem was moot. "Excuse me," he said politely, "Do you by any chance speak Japanese?"

The woman - she looked to be in her early thirties - looked up without any surprise, or anything else beyond mild annoyance. She had muddy brown eyes which were clouded with confusion. Chris repressed a sigh and repeated his request, this time speaking the words more carefully. The woman seemed to get the message this time. She said something rapidly in Chinese, pointing off at an angle to the direction Chris had taken entering the village. Chris couldn't make out a word she was saying, but she was shaking her head slightly. Guess that was a no.

Well, let's try something else she might recognise. "Cologne."

The guard tilted her head to the side, obviously recognising the word. Then she grunted and pointed back in the same direction. Her voice was rough, but oddly musical. Then she said a few Japanese words. Chris recognized "traders", "morning" and "guests" past her horrible accent.

He nodded, and thanked her - he could at least do that in Chinese - before turning and moving in that direction. Cologne DID speak Japanese... aside from Mousse, it was entirely possible few or none of the others in the village did, depending on how often anybody there travelled. In which case, he might well be being directed straight to her, which would certainly simplify things.

He moved through the village slowly, keeping an eye on every house he passed since he was unsure what he was looking for. The guard's directions had placed him on what was obviously the main thoroughfare of the village. After a half-dozen or so houses passed by Chris came to what was obviously his destination. The building was about three times as long as any other in the village, and most of it was dark. The front door was wide open and white light spilled from inside. On the wall next to the door were signs in a half dozen languages, including Japanese and English, all of which basically said "Inn."

Well. Didn't -he- feel stupid. He walked in, wryly hoping he'd provided the bored guard a little amusement. Although that still left the question open as to what exactly she had been guarding...but that wasn't important at the moment.

The inside of the building was furnished in a spartan but comfortable fashion. The light came from a few tasteful and expensive-looking lamps that hung from the ceiling. The part of him that was Kodachi recognised their value, and he was mildly impressed. The walls were covered in elaborate murals of Chinese art, as well as one piece of western art (a piece he did not recognize). The room he was in was small, with a pair of stuffed leather chairs in one corner. A man stood with his back to Chris behind a waist-high desk of carved mahogany, watering what Chris recognized as a cannabis plant. Heh, maybe that's what Cologne smoked in that pipe of hers. It'd explain her usual mellowness.

"Excuse me," he said in Japanese.

The man turned slowly. He was old...not ancient, but Chris couldn't place his age. He had short black hair and tiny black eyes. His cheeks and brow wrinkled with grandfatherly good humour as he smiled.

"Yes, may I help you, young lady?" his voice contained the same rough but musical accent as the guard, but his Japanese was impeccable, a fact for which Chris almost sighed in relief.

"Yes, hopefully you may. Am I correct in assuming that I have reached the village of Nyuuchezu?" Never hurt to be polite.

"You assume correctly," the man nodded and gestured for Chris to come closer. "You must have walked far. From your pack, you're either a martial artist here for training, or a trader here for barter. If you hoped to witness the tournament, I'm afraid you're almost two months late." He laughed, a loud belly-quaking sound. Not that he had much belly. He was thick and rounded, but there appeared to be not much fat to him.

He smiled in return. "I have come far, but not for training. I have come in search of the wisdom of one who resides here." He paused for effect. "Her name is Cologne."

The man frowned, but only slightly. "Well, that is an odd request. But Cologne has always been a bit of an odd sort, hanging out with the strangest people." he shrugged. "I'm afraid you'll probably have to wait until morning. Cologne has spent many years acquiring wisdom and it shows in her health, which isn't what it used to be." He gestured towards the far wall, which had a single door. "I can offer you a room. Reasonable price. Its the off-season, you know. Snow is just now melting out of some of the higher passes, so we don't get many but the really determined in."

He sighed. Too late after all. "Thank you...but as it turns out, I don't really need to sleep at the moment. If Cologne is truly unavailable, is there perhaps something I could do for you or in the village to pass time until the morning?"

"No, we pretty much take care of ourselves around here," the man said with a kindly smile. "You best be careful offering help to anyone else in this village. I'm more worldly than most, but the people here are known for their pride for a reason. It's best you just keep your nose outside their business and stay out of sight until your business here is finished."

"I understand," he nodded. "Well, in that case, I can at least practice my martial arts. Is there an out of the way nook where I could do so, or should I have to leave the village until morning?" He grinned. "Don't worry...I do know better than to get into any fights with the women here unless they are strictly friendly sparring matches with no winners or losers."

"So I was right, after a fashion," the man said with a quick chortle. "If you want to practice, I suggest doing so outside the village. The square at the other end of the village is open up enough, but you'll probably attract the wrong kind of attention." He paused and gave Chris a long, piercing, and slightly discomforting stare. "Sometimes the people here have more pride than brains, and don't give you chances to turn down challenges, if you know what I mean. Like I said, best to keep a low profile if it can be helped at all. Outsiders here are tolerated, not welcomed."

He laughed. "You're probably right. And since I actually want to be able to be here tomorrow, I would do well to avoid joining them in that pride- overcoming-brains thing. Fair enough. I'll go outside the village for the night, then. If anyone wants to fight me, they'll have to walk for it."

"Ah, good, good," the man nodded. "If you need any help tomorrow just come ask me. Name's Bath. In case I see Cologne before you do, can I tell her who came calling?"

"I don't believe she'll recognise it, but my name is Kodachi," he responded.

Bath nodded, and gave him a jovial goodbye as he left. As he exited the building, Chris scowled a bit. This was exactly what he was hoping to avoid. But oh well. He could wait until sunrise to see Cologne. It'd be boring, but boredom was, after all, the least of his problems.

01010

Ukyou ran her hand over the coat that was hanging on the rack Tofu had kindly set in her "room." Well, it appeared it would be her room, at least for the foreseeable future. She wasn't sure she wanted the coat here, and hadn't even touched it, or the large spatula leaning against the wall next to it, since waking up in this very same room a little over a week ago. The coat was the same one she had worn in that disaster at the Kunou mansion...

Ukyou sighed. It had been Aaron's idea to purchase the thing. It was supposed to help save their bacon, but really it was just because he was enamoured of the badass 'Matrix' look. She paused when her hand encountered an unexpected bulge in the material. Aaron frowned and reached in, pulling out the small metal container. It was an emergency respirator, a portable metal case filled with pressurized oxygen attached to a simple plastic mask. The idea had been to use it in case of gas attacks by Kodachi. A problem he would likely never have to deal with now. Because Kodachi was dead.

Ukyou growled and pulled the forearm-sized tank back, ready to pitch it out the window. But Aaron stopped her, holding Ukyou's arm in place with what was probably the first exertion of his will since... since that night. "It might still be useful, for other things," Aaron said out loud in Ukyou's voice. Ukyou was forced to nod reluctantly, then she slipped the container back into her pocket.

Next up was an inspection of her weapons. A visual check showed that her combat spatula had a few dinks and nicks, but no structural damage a good wetcloth and a few hours of polishing wouldn't fix. Her bandolier of miniature spatulas was hanging from it, and Ukyou sighed again. There were only three of them left. Moving on she found a few bags of her Flour Bombs (patent pending) and a single tiny explosive. That was it.

That was it for all her physical possessions on earth. Everything else had been in the pack that had been blown up along with her ratbag hotel room. Strangely Ukyou couldn't bring herself to feel bad about losing most of it. It was just clothes, some cooking ingredients and some survival gear. Nothing worth getting worked up over. She wasn't sure if that was Aaron's influence or not, and that worried her in a small way she didn't dwell on.

The only thing she cared about, and that Aaron cared about even more, was the loss of their notebook. That thing had contained all the notes Aaron could remember about the timeline of Ranma 1/2 and a few other animes. It also contained all the information Aaron remembered about the history of his world. The important events that would shape history, like the election of presidents and prime ministers, the wars, the economic bubbles and bursts and new technologies, and the events like 9/11 and the other things the future held. But that was still fresh enough in his mind that he could recreate it all.

The real loss was the writing, the drawings, the musings and diagrams. Aaron had always been a writer, and his interest in drawing, while not as advanced, was definitely there. Strangely, he had found that Ukyou shared some of his passion for art. Unwilling as she was to admit it, she had quite a bit of talent and enthusiasm for drawing. It only stood to reason, he guessed, given her passion for creative cooking.

Ukyou shook her head and smiled. She did hate to admit it, but he was right. She liked drawing, a lot. It was probably the only thing she had found that she and Aaron could do well together. She was going to miss some of her sketches.

"Ukyou? Are you here?"

"Back here, Akane," Ukyou called over her shoulder. She stepped back from the coat and weapons, drawing a deep breath as she did. Ukyou would have to take the day off from helping the doctor. Today she needed to go and make sure her affairs were still in order, shop for new clothes, and while she was out she would acquire a few things to help in the days ahead.

"Ah, good morning," Akane called cheerfully as she walked into the room. "Here, you better take this: he's a bit of a handful."

Ukyou reached out reflexively to take the thing Akane thrust at her before even looking at it. She blinked when she realized she was holding a small black piglet, that appeared to be quivering and trying to retreat up her arm. "Oh, H-chan..." Ukyou said as the memory of her conversation with Akane came back. She looked down at the piglet, giving it a quick visual inspection. "What's a matter, pig, did Akane scare you or something?" she said as she looked into his strangely human eyes. He nodded rapidly. Well, at least the pig hadn't fallen in love with her. "Heh. Good for her."

On an impulse Ukyou stored the piglet under her arm like a football (heh, pigskin, Aaron thought) before turning back to Akane. The cursed man struggled a bit, but Ukyou just squeezed a little to keep him from getting too excited. Akane was dressed for school, but that wasn't a surprise. "Where's Ranma?"

"He's out looking for that guy Ryouga," Akane said with a shrug. "He was chasing around the neighbours' dog this morning with a tea kettle, screaming something about his curse."

Ukyou blinked, than sniggered, then coughed as she tried to keep herself from breaking out into fits of laughter. She pounded her chest a few times, wincing as she coughed again. "Never mind then," Ukyou coughed a third time. "I think we won't have to worry about Ryouga disappearing on us." She looked down at the pig under her arms. "Isn't that right, H-chan?"

Ryouga stared back at her with his little piggy eyes, obviously confused. It was amazing how human his expression looked, considering he was an animal at the moment. That tickled something, made Aaron do a mental double take, but the feeling passed quickly.

"I have this guy well in hand," Ukyou said to Akane. "You should probably run off to school..." Ukyou considered teasing Akane about visiting with Doctor Tofu, but let the idea pass unvoiced.

"Right," Akane stepped back towards the door. "Oh, just one thing." Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen Nabiki at all this morning?"

"No..."

"Funny, she wasn't in the dojo when Kasumi got up," Akane muttered. "I thought she might have snuck off to spy on you again." Akane didn't bother trying to filter the exasperation from her voice.

Ukyou smirked. "No, your sister hasn't made a serious effort to catch me with my guard down for the past two days or so."

"Well, I'm sure I'll catch them at school," Akane sighed. "See ya later, Ukyou!" Akane waved cheerfully over her shoulder as she jogged from the room. Ukyou waved goodbye and smiled to herself. Something about Akane's visits always made her feel better. Then she remembered the cursed boy tucked under her arm.

"Hey, let's see if we can't find you some clothes," Ukyou grunted as she stepped out of the room. Damn, how was she going to ask Doctor Tofu for yet another loan of fresh clothes?

01010

The morning finally came, in the form of strong enough sunlight that Chris's flashlight was no longer necessary to see the words on the page. He switched it off and tucked both it and the journal back in his backpack. As it turned out, he had practiced for awhile, further learning the nuances of Kodachi's art, but had eventually decided to continue writing his memories of various anime into one of the journals he had brought for that purpose. Even spending eight or so hours doing so, frustratingly, was only scratching the surface. He'd filled up one book already, and he estimated at least three more would follow before he even got a decent overview of everything that was reasonably possible to exist here.

He straightened to his feet, wryly thankful that corpses didn't experience discomfort due to staying in one place for long periods of time. Once he returned to Japan, he'd have to see about finding a less vulnerable method of storing all his thoughts and information. Unfortunately, it'd be quite a while before CD burners would be commercially available, and he couldn't trust anyone else to take dictation. Maybe tape-record himself...? Well, he'd cross that bridge later.

He glanced down at the Nyuuchezu village from the same hilltop perch he had first seen it the previous evening. Forms were beginning to move through the streets, doing whatever it was they did in the early morning. He jogged down the slope, angling at the inn. Bath struck him as the sort who would be an early riser; hopefully his intuition was correct. He still didn't know exactly where to look for Cologne, after all.

Nobody accosted him as he made his way to the long building he remembered, for which he was grateful. He didn't recognise anybody, but then, that wasn't surprising. Shampoo shouldn't have been there anyway, and while that left her father and Mousse, the chances of stumbling upon them was probably pretty low. Especially since Mousse had a decent chance of not being here either.

He stepped into the open door of the inn...and stopped. Bath was indeed there. So was Cologne. Both of them were sitting in the stuffed leather chairs, enjoying a morning smoke on their long pipes.

Well, well. How very convenient. He wondered if Cologne had really been asleep the night before after all.

The old woman looked at him as he hesitated in the doorway. "Come in, child, have a seat. You wanted to talk, yes?" Her voice was old, scratchy, and very, very canny, much like he expected (and remembered). It also didn't give away much. He set himself, walking in. This was it. Ranma was one thing, but he seriously doubted his ability to get away if Cologne decided he had to be destroyed. Hopefully she would be more curious than revolted by his condition.

As he entered, Cologne made a shooing gesture at Bath with her pipe; the old man swiftly arose and drifted out of the room, nodding slightly to Chris as he passed. As he left, Chris sat down and tried somewhat unsuccessfully to relax. He looked over at Cologne. "Well, it seems you've been expecting me. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Not really." Cologne eyed him carefully, taking a long draw on her pipe. He felt a tingling, a sense of...-something- at the back of his head as her eyes seemed to stare past him...and then it passed. "I get so few visitors, and have so little else to do I leapt at the chance to have a conversation. Please, tell me what wisdom it is you seek."

He shifted a bit. Well, she hadn't attacked him yet. "Well...I have a bit of a problem, and I was hoping you might know something that would assist me in it. However...the nature of my problem is a bit personal. If we talk here, are we likely to be overheard?"

"Not any more than the rest of the village. And it would be unusual for business to be conducted elsewhere in the village or outside of it. Curiosity is a powerful lure, the mundane far less so."

"As you say, then." he nodded. Oh well. Best to be as cooperative as possible. He settled himself in the chair, collecting his thoughts. "Well, I rudely have not introduced myself as of yet, for which I apologise. My name is Chris McNeil. You were probably told something different by Bath, which was not precisely an untruth. This person whose body you look upon was called Kodachi. But I am not her."

"Ah." she said, in a tone which indicated a complete lack of surprise. "An interesting statement, but not exactly a request for wisdom."

"You'll have to excuse me; it's my nature to try and explain things one point at a time." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "To the best of my knowledge, I'm dead. I believe myself to have died in a car accident. But, that car accident was not here, in this world, but in a world similar in some respects but very different in others. I 'woke up', so to speak, in a body in this world. But it too was dead. It seems I am some sort of spirit, as I'm able to possess and animate other dead bodies, something I am unfortunately forced to do, as the bodies I inhabit start decomposing over time, a process I find quite unbearable as it progresses. However, I don't really want to do this. I want to find a way to be in a living body, or failing that, at least halt the decomposition of the body I'm in so I can stay within it indefinitely. I know you to be wise, and learned in many different subjects, both mundane and...not so mundane. Thus I came to you in hopes you might be able to help me, or even just point me in the right direction."

Cologne took another long draw on her pipe, savored the flavour for a few moments, than exhaled an acrid cloud of smoke. "Interesting." She paused, looking him up and down. "You are no spirit, or ghost, or elemental, or demon." She tapped the ashes out into a small dish near her chair. "You are, as far as I can tell, a nothing. Ambulatory flesh with no more animating essence than a rock or a stream. Either you are an automaton, like those 'robots' I have heard about, or you are impelled by a force I can neither detect nor have heard the least amount on." With that, she began elaborately and carefully stuffing her pipe again.

He slumped. "Well. That doesn't exactly sound very hopeful, I must admit."

"Wisdom rarely does."

"Touche. Well, is there anything you can suggest? Any avenue I might take, source of information I might seek out, expert I might consult?"

"I never said I couldn't help you," Cologne noted as she finished lighting her pipe. She took another puff before continuing. "You came seeking my wisdom, and I gave it to you. Which is to say, I know nothing about what you are or how to solve your problem." Cologne smiled, more to herself than to him. "But the far better question for you to ask yourself now would be: why should I do anything at all to help you?"

He chuckled a bit. "Well. I am willing to do what I can to repay anything you might do for me. Whether that repayment be through usage of skills or information. But I'd need to have an idea as to what you might wish in return for helping me."

"I have no needs you can fulfill and few wants these days. Retirement after a long life of prosperity and respect has left me with not much to want that you can give me that I can not get, for much less effort, from virtually anyone else." She took another puff. "You say you can provide me with information. What kind of information?"

"I know a lot of things. Some of which are likely to be of interest to you, because they relate to you, or your people, or your family. How I know these things is, however, part of the information. However, as proof that I am perhaps more knowledgeable than the average person, I will point to the fact that I came here, knowing who you were, and where you lived, and that you were indeed very wise and knowledgeable, despite you not particularly advertising these things to the Japanese public."

"I've never made my existence a secret. People who know where to look can find out my name and living arrangements. Though one thing I am curious about... the question of 'why me?' In this world, there are people who are both wiser and more widely known than me."

"Perhaps that is so. But I knew about you, and knew enough to know how to find you. I can't say that for any others."

She chuckled. "Then let me rephrase that. Answer my question, the question of 'why me', or walk out the door now."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure what you mean. The reason was that I knew about you, and didn't know about anyone else who had remotely the same sort of experience in odd, magical, unnatural things. Truly, that's the only reason. Hmm, well, actually, to be fair, I have to say there's other things I wish to look for while I'm here in China, but the reason I'm here right now is because you were my best hope for being able to help, not because of anything else."

"Allow me to clarify the question again: HOW did you know about me, and not about others who are both more famous and more wise?"

He sighed. "Fine. As I'm coming to you for help, I suppose I have to also put my good faith in you first. As I said, I do not come originally from this world you're in. I know about you because I've read about you. I've read about many things that have happened in this world, and about many that will happen in the future. I know about many people in this world, and many more who may be in this world but I am not yet sure of. That's how I know of you, and the source of most of the relevant information I could impart to you."

"Interesting," Cologne muttered. "Tell me about this world of yours. Is it a spirit realm? Are you a god of some kind who knows my future?"

"Quite the contrary, in fact." He leaned back, grateful that she seemed to be interested again instead of hostile. "It's a world much like this. Except there are no unnatural things. No magic, no martial artists who can defeat legions of men singlehandedly, no cursed springs, no bird people, no gods, no spirits. A world of, for lack of a better term, normalcy." He paused. "Mmm. I'll qualify that it's possible that there may be spirits, or gods, or other supernatural phenomena there...but there's no proof, and that's not for lack of looking on the parts of many people. If there is anything, it's far less visible, accessible and common as such things are here."

"Sounds very boring," she said with an amused chuckle. "But how can such a world know my future?"

"That, I really don't know," he responded. "If I were to guess, I suspect that events in this world - and perhaps others as well - might resonate somehow in the minds of people of that world, leading them to write down or otherwise create stories they think are made-up but are in fact chronicles of this world's events. But that's just a wild guess...I really have no idea either way."

"Then what reason do I have to trust your information?" she pointed out easily with a tip of her pipe. "Nothing you have said to me so far indicates a knowledge of the world beyond that which other mere mortals can come to possess. Why should I take time from my hard-earned retirement helping you, when I have no reason to believe that anything you tell me will be accurate?"

"Well, for starters, I know my information is accurate up until the point where the events I know will or have occurred are interfered with. I've seen that myself. For instance, I have never met your great-granddaughter Shampoo. But I know that right now she is searching for a girl who first ate the prize she was supposed to receive at a tournament in the recent past, and then defeated Shampoo when she understandably challenged the girl to combat. I know that she is searching because the law of your village is that a woman defeated by an outside woman must kill that woman." He leaned forward, and raised a finger. "But perhaps I could learn that through another source, you think. Well, I know something that neither of you know, and that I could not learn from another source, namely that the girl Ranma who defeated Shampoo is in fact a man, who had recently fallen into the cursed springs of Jyusenkyou before coming to your village. Indeed, he was not the only one, for the pet panda that was with him and also ate at the prize buffet was in fact that man's father, also recently a victim of the cursed springs." He sat back again, and spread his hands. "That is the sort of thing I know. What has happened, and to an extent what will happen. I know a few other things I expect will be of interest to you, and perhaps other things that I do not realise will be of interest to you. I can't say how much they will be of interest, but since as you say you do not NEED anything, that is seemingly all I have to offer. But, you also said you have little to do and are bored. If nothing else, I daresay I present a riddle that is interesting. Wouldn't that have some value to you?"

Cologne raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "I think you overestimate my boredom. If what you say about my great-granddaughter is true, then that is worth an equal share of information, at the very least." She took another long draw on her pipe. "I can not revive the dead. I am certainly not skilled at creating souls where none exist. I think, in fact, that there will prove to be nothing I can do for you at all. This is because you obviously exist outside the limits of the Two Circles."

She paused, obviously waiting for a response, which he did not disappoint her in. "What are the Two Circles?"

"So, you're unfamiliar with the term." She nodded as if expecting that. "Don't feel bad. Most martial artists are. Indeed, so are most who practice the mystic arts." Cologne hopped down from the chair, making a large circular gesture with her staff. "The term refers only to the difference between the two disciplines, and as such has no use to those who practice one or the other exclusively." She made a somewhat smaller circle in the air with the tip of her staff. "The First Circle is the power of Chi. It is the animate force of will and life. All things have chi, and all can learn to access its secrets. The Second Circle is most often referred to as magic. Unlike chi, it is a force which exists outside of life. Also, only certain beings may weild the energies of the Second Circle. These two forces comprise the totality of the universe as we understand it."

"Hmm. And thus, since I am from outside the universe as it is understood, I'm also outside these two circles?"

"That would be the logical conclusion," Cologne nodded. "Of course, it is also possible my skill with mysticism is not so advanced that I can detect the subtle strands of Second Circle working on you. But I doubt that."

"I doubt it as well." He grinned slightly. "But what does that mean? I mean, it's obviously the case that I can interact with this world. And I can use the skills of this world, including the martial arts you say are First Circle-related. So why would you be unable to help, aside from the fact you can't raise the dead?"

"In the same way that the currents of the ocean will never influence the orbit of the moon," Cologne said, making another circle with her staff. "The First Circle may never influence the workings of the Second Circle, even if the second can influence the first and often does. It is a sad fact, but magic is just MORE than chi. I suspect that since you CAN influence the First Circle, and exist outside it, then much the same laws might abide in what you are as well."

He spoke carefully. "So. What you are saying is... that, essentially, being from outside this universe I'm like a 'third' circle. And thus, while I might be able to use chi or even magic, none of these things, nor anybody who wields them, can affect that which is ME in any way. That in fact, nobody except someone who could also wield that same kind of energy, that is not native to this universe, could help me?"

"I would not go so far as to say that with certainty," Cologne said, but she nodded her head at the same time. "However, if what I suspect is true, then you are a person not of 'this' universe and such, you may exist beyond its laws."

"Well, that's...rather disheartening, to say the least. Uh...let me think. Hmm. Well, if there's one, there may be others. Have you ever heard of anything, or anyone, who might do something similarly inexplicable, that might be related to this third circle of energies?"

"No, not really," Cologne said. "I wouldn't get too disheartened. Just because you may exist beyond the laws of our world doesn't mean you are necessarily beyond saving. For instance, magic can create a stone from nothing. No amount of chi mastery can -unmake- the stone. But if you want the stone gone, then crushing it to dust with the power chi can give you is almost as effective."

"A good point, and thank you. Well, is there any course you might be able to suggest to me?"

Cologne paused, looking thoughtful. "I would suggest looking for that which exists outside the two circles yourself." She tapped her staff on the floor. "To know the limits of things will help you in that. Know this: the power of chi is mighty, but it may not raise the dead, it can not reverse the flow of time, nor create things from nothing or the reverse, it can not linger beyond the will of its master, and in finale it can not influence effects of the Second Circle. The Second Circle has far fewer limits. It can do those things I mentioned. Its only limit is that magic may not alter the fundamental laws of reality. It can bend them, suspend them, even break them for a time. But it can not change things so that rocks fall up. This means that magic can not create something that is eternal. All things end: that is a law of existence. Magic can not break that final law." Cologne taps her staff on the ground, frowning. "I can't be of much more help than that."

"Something eternal..." he mused. Might be worth talking to Akio about. If he existed. "All right. Thank you very much. You gave me rather more information than I gave you, so I should tell you something else, at the very least. One thing does occur to me immediately. When you were young, you knew for a time a man named Happousai - indeed, you knew him well enough to call him by the nickname 'Happy'. That man, after being rejected by all the girls of this village, stole many of the village treasures and ran off into the night, never to be apprehended. I believe my memory is correct in that?"

"Yes," she responded, in a short and curt voice. Well, she'd been annoyed about that in the manga too.

"Hmm. Well, as it turns out, that self-same man was also the martial arts master of Genma Saotome, who is the father of the faux girl Ranma I mentioned earlier. Genma and his friend, Soun Tendo, both disliked Happousai about as much as most people seemed to, so about ten years ago they got him drunk and sealed him in a cave. I don't know where the cave is... however, within a few months at the most, Happousai - who is apparently rather too tough to be more than inconvenienced by being sealed in a cave for years - will escape from his confinement. He will go shortly afterwards to find his old students, both of whom are at Soun Tendo's dojo in the Nerima ward of Tokyo, in Japan. He still has many, perhaps all, of the things he stole, and will bring them to that dojo shortly after arriving there."

"I see," Cologne said slowly. "Thank you. That is even more valuable information, should it prove to be true."

"I'm glad to have been able to help. In a related note, I should say that Genma's son Ranma is also at the same dojo, where Shampoo will likely find them both shortly in her search for the girl Ranma. Given Shampoo's lack of knowledge about the true situation, things are likely to get complex. It probably does not help matters that Ranma has two other fiancees at the moment."

"I see..." Cologne paused. "Then I have a piece of advice for you, too." She waved her staff. "Things such as you... they do not 'just happen'."

"I agree. I've been wondering what - or whom - might have brought me here. But I haven't been left with very many clues to answer that question."

"I can't be of any help with that."

"I understand." He rose from the chair. "You've been a lot of help already, and I thank you for it. If I may, then, I'd like to ask one more favour of you. As I mentioned before, there are a couple of other locations I'm looking for, which are both in this general vicinity. Could I trouble you to give me directions?"

"If I know the way," she nodded.

"You should, I believe. The first I am going to is Jyusenkyou. The second, which I wish to go to from there, is a herbalist's village which I do not know the name of, but which you have gone to in the past. There are twin girls there, named Pink and Link, who are excellent herbalists and whom are decidedly unfriendly with your great-granddaughter Shampoo." He rummaged around in his backpack and took out one of the empty journals and a pen.

Cologne paused, frowning. "Jyusenkyou will not solve your problems. Its waters do not change the dead." She tilted her head to the side. "And I've never heard of anyone named Pink or Link. The best herbalists in this region are a day's long walk from here. You go north through the mountains along the trails which travel downward, only going up when you have no other option. You should reach the village if you stay to that course."

"Hmm, that's probably it. As for Jyusenkyou, I guessed as much, but there's other reasons for me to visit. I'd like to get some samples of various waters from it."

"It is best not to toy with the waters there. Forces far too dangerous to trifle with have interests in that place."

He smiled a bit. "Heh. I know of the Phoenix, if that's whom you're referring to. But it's for my own good, as well as that of others, to be blunt. As I said before, eventually the bodies I am in start to decay, something which nearly drove me insane before I escaped from my first body. I can't help myself from seeking out new ones. If I can get access to Jyusenkyou's waters, I can create new bodies from animals. It's a far better solution than the alternative."

"You were warned then," Cologne said with a sigh. "The place you seek is further into the mountains, about three days travel on foot. When you leave this place, head towards the setting sun. Stay away from the paths which lead into forests or large valleys, take the left fork at the foot of the mountain of howling stones, always keeping the mountain to your right or over your right shoulder. Eventually you will walk into a large valley filled with a thick, unnatural mist. Travel through that mist and you will reach Jyusenkyou."

He carefully wrote that down, then looked back up at her. "All right. Thank you. Not just for the directions, but for listening to and attempting to help me. Given what I am, there are many others that wouldn't. While I did give you some information, I still feel indebted. In the admittedly unlikely event that I ever can do something for you, you need but ask."

"I sensed no evil from you, and you made no hostile action towards me or my community," Cologne snorted. "Besides, you more than paid back your debt to me, if your words are truth."

"Well, that's good to know." He packed the journal again and shouldered the bag. "But thank you nonetheless." He bowed deeply. "I hope that you will be able to make good use of the information."

"I will, I will..." Cologne muttered.

He grinned. "Take care of yourself, then. Perhaps we may meet again."

01010

"Don't tell me you got lost in there," Ukyou called over her shoulder. She laced her fingers together behind her head, tapping one foot rhythmically against the wall she was leaning against. The door next to her was closed, and she could hear the sounds of shuffling and grumbling from inside. At least he hadn't wandered out of the room. Not that she really expected he would. Ryouga's sense of direction was not nearly as bad as it tended to be portrayed in the fanfics Aaron had read.

"Don't tell me you need help getting dressed," Ukyou called over her shoulder again.

"Dammit! Leave me alone! These pants don't fit!" Ryouga snapped from behind the door.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Aaron commented philosophically.

Finally the door banged open as Ryouga walked out into the hallway. Ukyou raised an eyebrow as he strode into view. The pants he were wearing did not fit, so Ryouga had torn the seams a little to fit his muscular legs into Tofu's considerably slimmer trousers. Not only that, the doctor appeared to have longer legs, so the boy had a huge mass of rolled up cloth above his ankles. Thankfully, he hadn't even bothered to try on the loafers Tofu had been kind enough to lend Ukyou. He was also doing his best to wear Tofu's shirt, which was both too long and too tight, so the boy had left it unbuttoned and it trailed out behind him like a miniature cape. Ryouga grunted and tugged on the collar of the garment.

Ukyou did the only thing she could do in the situation: she burst into laughter.

"Hey! You're the one that gave me clothes that are two sizes too small!" Ryouga growled. Ukyou continued laughing, Ryouga's serious frown only causing the giggles to roll up from her lungs even harder. "Fine, I don't have to stand here being mocked!" Ryouga grunted, and turned to storm out of the clinic... and straight back into the room he had just left, of course. Ukyou slid down the wall, clutching her stomach and laughing so hard that nothing came out but a few shallow gasps for breath.

Ukyou spent a breathless minute trying to regain control. This was one of the few times Aaron wasn't of any use in that regard, since he was, if possible, even more amused by the mental image of Ryouga than she was. Finally she succeeded in at least standing on her feet and putting on Aaron's standard emotionless expression. Taking a deep breath she walked into the room.

Ryouga was standing in the center of the room, obviously aware he had walked in the wrong direction, but unwilling to admit it. For some reason, he reminded her very much of a cat, standing there proudly after it had just fallen off the couch, staring at you as if it had meant to do that. The urge to laugh again was rising, but she squashed it with brutal efficiency after getting a good look at his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay," Ukyou held her hands in front of her, trying to calm down the boy in front of her. He gave her a long glare, then grunted and nodded.

"I'll forgive you, but only because you saved me from that crazy devil girl," Ryouga said sullenly.

"Crazy devil girl?" Ukyou blinked, cocking her head to one side.

"The one with the long hair who took me here this morning," Ryouga explained.

"You mean Akane?" Ukyou said incredulously.

"Yeah, her... the crazy devil girl," Ryouga nodded, wincing slightly. "I have never met anyone more scary in my life." Ukyou allowed the corner of her mouth to quirk up. It appeared her little plan had worked, Ryouga was certainly not in love with Akane at this point. Now all that remained was letting him and Ranma get this silly feud out of their system, and the so called 'lost boy' would become a minor player in the drama that was her life.

"Whatever, not important," Ukyou said as she walked into the room. Seeing Ryouga wasn't sitting she hopped up onto the bed and sat lotus-style. She gestured for him to take a seat in the chair provided. Reluctantly, he did so. "I'm sure you have questions."

"Huh?" Ryouga blinked.

"You do have questions for me, right?" Ukyou said in a leading tone.

"Oh... you're right, now that I think about it, how did you know that was me..." he paused. "And who on earth are you? We've never met, have we?"

"Nope," Ukyou nodded and crossed her arms over her hidden breasts. "We haven't met. I know you strictly by reputation, actually. But I've heard about your problem, and once I heard you were in town gunning for Ranma, I decided we needed to talk."

"Reputation?" Ryouga groaned and placed his face in his palms. "Great, I haven't had this curse for two months and everyone in Japan knows about it already."

"Nah, just people who have their ear to the ground when it comes to the supernatural," Ukyou shrugged. "I doubt anybody else in this town knows about your condition yet, except Doctor Tofu. As far as I'm concerned, we can keep it that way too."

"So, you'd be willing to keep my secret?" Ryouga looked up at her. Reading his expression was painfully easy as hope blossomed there.

"Yup, for a small favor," Ukyou said with a nod.

"Oh..." Ryouga's face fell, then he sighed and nodded. "Okay, I see how it is. What do you want from me, anyway?"

"Just some conversation really," Ukyou said as she unlaced her arms and began to tap her fingers along the mattress. "I'm known as a bit of a peace- maker around these parts, and I was hoping I could play that roll again."

"Peace-maker?"

"Between you and Ranma, obviously," Ukyou pointed out.

"Ranma?" Ryouga leaned forward, growling again. "So you're his friend?"

"Indeed," Ukyou ran her hand through bangs. "You could say that. But I'm not here to help him ruin your life, or to aid him in beating you up, or even to get you to leave him alone." Ryouga stared at her, obviously unsure how to take that. "Quite the opposite in fact, I want to see you two really go at it, beat each other to a pulp... whatever you want."

"You mean you don't mind if I beat Ranma bloody?" Ryouga said, a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"He's a martial artist. Getting into fights like this is something he does," Ukyou pointed out. "I understand that, I'm not about to stop a fight of honor. In fact, I heard you disappeared in the last fight, so I just wanted to make sure you stuck around for the next one."

"I never-"

"Not that I'm accusing you of running from a man to man fight," Ukyou smiled happily and leaned back on her arms. "I wouldn't accuse you of ditching Ranma in the middle of a fight because of cowardice, especially since it probably wasn't your fault." Ukyou watched Ryouga squirm a little. "I know I would be annoyed if someone suggested I ran out on a challenge, when I had no choice in the matter. So I'm not about to leap to conclusions."

"What do you really want from me?" Ryouga said in a low voice.

"Just to see this thing worked out between you and Ranma," Ukyou pointed out. "I need Ranma, I need him focused and ready... he's helping me with something very important and I can't afford to have you attacking him in the middle of a sensitive operation."

"Huh?"

"You wanted my reason, I gave you it," Ukyou noted with a shrug. "I don't really care what you have against Ranma, but I need him at one hundred percent and not worried about this little feud of yours. So the sooner you get it out of your system the better, as far as I'm concerned."

"But you said you wanted something out of this, didn't you?"

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded. She leaned forward slowly, staring hard into Ryouga's face. "I want your promise, your sworn oath, that this is the end of it. If you beat Ranma, then you've had your revenge. If you lose, you swallow whatever problem it is you have with him. And that's it." She held up one finger between the two of them. "One fight, one outcome, one decision. Period."

"What? That's-"

"Do you intend to lose?" Ukyou noted in Aaron's most dangerous tone.

"Of course not!"

"Then what do you care?"

"I... that... you..." Ryouga grunted and crossed his arms. "What if I don't agree to this condition of yours?"

"Then..." Ukyou sat back and shrugged. "I guess we find out how many other people want to know about your curse."

"That's blackmail!"

"Perceptive, aren't you?"

"I... you..."

"Don't make the decision right away, Ryouga," Ukyou slid off the bed and walked over to the combat spatula leaning against the wall. "Take a few hours if you want."

"No... I get you," Ryouga stretched to his feet. "I can-"

"Ukyou, you finished back there?" Tofu's voice suddenly called from the front of the clinic. Ukyou frowned as Ryouga trailed off. She shrugged and stuck her head out the door.

"Almost, I just need a few more seconds..."

"Well there's some people here to see yyyARGH!"

Ukyou gasped as the entire front of the clinic suddenly shuddered with a ear-ringing explosion. The shockwave funneled down the hallway, forcing her to clutch the doorframe to keep from collapsing. Her hair snapped in the brief wind.

"TOFU!" she cried. There was no response. "Oh great, oh just fucking perfect..." Ukyou leapt back into the room and snatched her coat and weapon from the wall. "You," she called over her shoulder. "Stay here for a minute."

"What? Are you insane!" Ryouga stalked forward. "That was an explosion! What's going on out there..."

"I'm not sure..." Ukyou admitted, but she had her suspicions.

"I'm certainly not staying here!" Ryouga growled and clenched his fists.

"Fine, but stay behind me..." Ukyou grunted and slid carefully out into the hallway.

01010

Jadeite smiled as the human doctor flew across the remains of the office and impacted the wall. A spiderweb of cracks materialized in the gyprock. He lowered his hand, the mystical discharge seeping from under his glove as a cloud of firefly-like motes. Behind him, he felt more than saw Tethys drop her human guise and assume her warform.

He was glad the youma commando had come with him on this operation. She had been trying to curry his favor for centuries, but he had always brushed her off. Now he needed her to ensure his victory over the boy, Ukyou. But the fact that it had come to this annoyed him to no end. He was well aware that this would be his last chance, Beryl hadn't said as much... but she cared for Tethys in a way the witch queen did not about many other servants. Not that he doubted success... he just wished he could have found some other way to deal with this. Direct confrontation was not his preferred style.

"I sense two more humans coming down the hall towards us," Tethys reported as she stepped up beside him. He forgave the presumption, but noted it away in the back of his mind. "You're right... their energy is so vast compared to a normal human's... Even the doctor has an exceptional life force."

"Yes," Jadeite grinned. "This shall prove most useful an excursion." Jadeite left unsaid that a far more important goal than getting the human's energy was getting back in the good graces of Queen Beryl. The blue-skinned youma woman nodded; she knew exactly how serious the situation was for him.

The door into the back of the office opened violently and two figures rushed out. One was Jadeite's new nemesis. Ukyou was much as Jadeite remembered him, dressed this time in a long black coat and carrying his bizarre polearm in one hand. The boy that came in behind him was new, not the one that had been with him that day. He was shortish, muscular and wearing clothes that were poorly tailored, to say the least.

"Ukyou," Jadeite smiled and bowed mockingly. "Good to see you again. You left before we could be properly introduced last time and..."

"Ryouga, take my hand!" Ukyou called as he whipped something out from within the confines of his coat. Jadeite blinked as a cloud of white dust erupted all around him. Then he roared, raising his hand and unleashing a potent blast of electric pink magefire. Something beyond his range of sight exploded, but there was no shout of pain.

"Tethys, get rid of this cloud!" he roared.

"Right away!"

At first the water came in lightly, then with increasing force. Soon a virtual torrent of rain was pounding down on him, and driving away the white cloud about him. Once his vision was clear he scanned the room, noting only that the boy had fled.

"He can't have gotten far," Jadeite barked as he spun to face his lieutenant. For a being with nothing but a pair of glowing red eyes for a face, Tethys did a good job of cringing at his expression. "Find them!"

"They're..." she paused, staring upward into the miniature downpour she had created. "That way, heading down the street."

"Good," Jadeite growled. He wasn't about to let them escape so easily. "I need a portal to cut off their escape." She nodded wordlessly and drew magical energy out of her body with a deceptively simple gesture, forming a whirling blue portal in front of them.

01010

Aaron grunted; someone had to tell Tofu to go on a diet. Thankfully, whatever attack Jadeite had used had blown open a significant hole in the wall, allowing him to get out of that office without rushing past Jadeite or his youma. Ryouga had even managed to keep up with them as Aaron sprinted down the road.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ryouga cried from behind them. Oh well, too much to hope that he would leave the questions until later.

"Not really much time to explain," Ukyou hissed. "Just leave it at this: that was a bad man who wants to hurt us."

"Why didn't we stay and fight?"

"Because Doctor Tofu is hurt, and I happen to live in that office, so I'm not going to get him or it hurt by brawling there..." Ukyou commented. Of course, there was also the fact that they were running towards Furinkan High School, where Aaron hoped their reinforcements were. But considering who those reinforcements consisted of, Aaron thought it best to keep that fact a secret for now.

Aaron was reacting even before he saw the attack, leaping up and tucking as the bluish humanoid dashed through the space he had been in seconds ago. His eyes narrowed. That wasn't like the youma woman from before. This one could be called humanoid in only the vaguest sense of the term. It was more like a blob of water than a real human figure... wait, this reminded him of an episode!

"Get away from me!" Ryouga roared as he smashed out towards the blob with one fist.

"No!" Aaron shouted. He was still in mid-air, carrying the doctor on his shoulders, and that left his options limited. Thankfully the boy was within kicking distance and so a good swift one knocked the lost boy's attack off course. It did throw off his balance enough that the boy was sent skidding along the pavement.

"You bastard!" Ryouga growled as he kicked to his feet. Ukyou was just setting down, and didn't have time to answer him. The blob-like thing twisted its whole body like a towel as it swung to attack her. She tapped her foot to the ground only briefly, just enough to push her back out of range of a clumsy swing. Then her other foot came up in a air-cracking snap kick, neatly bisecting the beast. Its faceless head stared at her for a slow instant as it drifted apart, then the entire creature burst into a spray of water, dousing Ukyou.

"That's why I stopped you," Ukyou commented as she delicately landed, making sure not to jog Tofu too badly. That burn on his back looked pretty serious, but at least he was still breathing.

"It was made of water..." Ryouga muttered as he starred at the puddle on the ground. Aaron was already scanning ahead of them, however.

"Not it, them," Aaron pointed out in a resigned tone. Ryouga spun in place and saw the small army of gel-like water men crawling out of the alleys, and sewers, and over the nearby canal fence... or more accurately through it. Ryouga began to back up towards Ukyou, his fists going up into a boxer's stance.

"How am I supposed to fight these guys?"

"You don't..." Ukyou blinked and backed away suddenly. The puddle at her feet was slowly growing in size. She could see the beginning of a hand reaching out of it. "These things aren't that dangerous by themselves, but it looks like they're hard to put down."

"Yeah," Ryouga whispered as he backed towards her some more. The golems were slowly surrounding the two of them.

"Take Tofu for me, I can fight them better without my arms occupied," Aaron pointed out sternly. Ryouga wordlessly pulled the man off Ukyou's shoulders, and she grabbed her spatula from its harness. A few quick slashes bisected some of the golems that had gotten too close, but Ukyou knew better than to hope that was the end of them.

"Having a bit of trouble, boy?"

Aaron turned their attention to a nearby rooftop. Jadeite stood on top of it, his arms crossed and his neatly pressed uniform pristine. An arrogant smirk had etched itself firmly across his face. Behind him stood the youma whose name Aaron couldn't remember. He got a better look at her this time. She was blue-skinned, with no facial features except a pair of slitted red eyes. Some sort of antenna-like golden tiara held back her long blue bangs while the rest of her hair flowed freely down her back. She wore a skintight costume in a deeper blue than the rest of her body. Aaron didn't recall her specifically, but he remembered the episode of Sailor Moon she had appeared in.

"Not really," Aaron feigned a yawn as he slashed a few more of the mindless creatures in twain with expert slashes. He could already see a few of the ones Ukyou had destroyed earlier reforming. But he needed to play for time. Jadeite... what weaknesses did Jadeite have... think, goddamn it. Of course, he was arrogant. "These things are no threat to me. I've dealt with their kind before."

"You seem to be at a disadvantage," Jadeite pointed out in amusement.

"Only because I have to protect these helpless idiots," Aaron called back with his own smirk. Ukyou saw Ryouga about to say something and kicked him, hard. He shut up. "If they weren't holding me back, you'd already be dead."

Jadeite laughed. "Oh, I like your spirit, boy. If you hadn't annoyed me so much, I might even be sorry I have to kill you." Aaron's eyes narrowed. This was going to be a long shot, but if it worked...

"Ryouga," he hissed softly in the lost boy's direction. "When I make the signal, clear us a path with those bandannas of yours."

"A path..." Ryouga hissed back. "Where?"

"Anywhere... just away from here." Aaron hissed back and stepped forward. "Come on, Jadeite!" Aaron shouted as he put on the most condescending expression he could manage. "This is child's play and you know it. You're not up to taking me on face to face, so you're hiding behind a woman..." Aaron put enough stress on the last word that Jadeite couldn't help but snap his eyes back at the youma. "Are you so used to taking on little girls that you're not used to fighting man to man anymore?"

Jadeite ground his teeth together and pointed his finger at them as they walked forward. The golems backed away from Aaron as he walked. "So you want to take me on yourself? Is that it?"

"Normally I don't stoop so low as to fight obviously inferior opponents," Aaron yawned theatrically. "But in your case, I guess I can make an exception."

"Jadeite, don't!" The youma sounded distressed as it moved in front of Jadeite. "Let me destroy this impudent human..."

"Tethys-" Jadeite began but Aaron cut him off.

"Just as I thought, hiding behind your minions again." He ran his hand through Ukyou's bangs and shook his head silently. "We've all seen how well that's worked for you in the past. How many youma has Sailor Moon killed... oh wait, that would be ALL of your youma, wouldn't it?"

"Very well," Jadeite growled as he stepped around the youma. "I'll crush you with my bare hands!"

Aaron resisted the urge to make a Transformers quote, and just stood expectantly. Jadeite leapt from the roof, his body floating more than falling as he descended onto the pavement. The golems pulled back, forming a neat circle around the two of them. Ukyou pulled her spatula up into a defensive stance. Damn, why did she have to be out of flour bombs now, of all times?

Jadeite didn't move like a martial artist, but he definitely knew a thing or two about fighting. He walked forward, cautiously, his hands in front of him curled into fists. Ukyou held her ground. She had to hope she had a speed and strength advantage over him, and could keep the duel on a purely physical level. She wasn't sure she could handle him if he began to blast about with magic.

But the point of this fight wasn't to win, it was to buy them a chance to escape. Which meant playing defensive wouldn't do any good at all. Releasing a deep breath Ukyou allowed her chi to flow through her limbs unrestricted. Suddenly everything began to move in slow motion. Jadeite's approach became a crawl, the swaying of the monsters virtually ceased, even her own heartbeat seemed to ring slower in her ears.

The sensation shattered like a mirror as Ukyou drove them forward. Dust flew up in her wake. Her spatula snapped out to her side, its blade trailing a path of sparks along the pavement. Jadeite's eyes widened, but it was too late. Her attack came in so fast the weapon was a silver blur. Water golems disintegrated into geysers as Jadeite flew through them like a cannonball. Finally three of them caught him before he smashed into the fence blocking off the canal.

Ukyou skidded to a stop. Aaron couldn't believe it had been that easy. They were completely flat-footed as they stared at the slowly rising Jadeite. The youma general was rubbing his side where Ukyou's spatula had caught him. They could hear the youma woman (Tethys, wasn't it?) calling out her obvious concern over his well-being. They could see him waving it aside. The man was mad. Very mad. Ukyou had caught him by surprise just as much as she had caught herself.

Then it suddenly struck her. She could win this. Not just buy time, or escape, or even get Ranma's help. She. Could. Win. Aaron would have preferred to stick to their original plan, but she overruled him with a vicious thought. Ukyou needed this. This victory would be hers.

"You'll pay for that, you brat," Jadeite growled as he stalked back into the makeshift circle. Ukyou didn't have to pretend to smirk this time.

"Do your worst," Ukyou said in a low, emotionless tone. She spun her spatula around her wrist, then spread her legs and shifted the weapon behind her back with a flourish.

"I'm about to!" the man cried as pink energy began to seethe around his hands.

Ukyou leapt, seconds before an electric pink lightning bolt slammed into the ground where she had been standing. She soared into the air, a gracefully gymnastic flip. Jadeite snapped his other hand at her, releasing another lightning bolt. Ukyou twisted in mid-air, allowing it to pass under her. Dust blasted out in a circle as she landed behind him. Jadeite tried to turn but Ukyou spun her spatula like a baton. There was a sickening crack as the ring collided with his skull. The man blasted across the road, momentum holding him up as his heels dragged the pavement. Finally the inertia died out and he collapsed to the ground.

"Jadeite!" the blue-skinned youma growled and gestured towards Ukyou. "I'll kill you!" Several of her golems sprung at Ukyou, but they were destroyed shortly thereafter. Ukyou skipped forward, out from the press of monsters. Jadeite was beginning to regain his feet, but Ukyou had no intention of letting him do so.

Jadeite, however, was more resourceful than Aaron had thought. With a roar he pushed downward. The air around him seemed to bend and warp, and then he blasted into the air like a rocket. Ukyou passed underneath him. With another roar he lashed out, two bolts snapping from the ends of his fingers. Ukyou wouldn't have been able to dodge them, if Aaron hadn't seen him charging up. Guessing correctly, he snapped Ukyou's leg forward. The pavement exploded in a geyser from the force of his kick. They flew backwards, momentarily dizzied by the sudden g-forces. But the blasts of lightning impacted harmlessly into the pavement, doing nothing but kicking up concrete and dust.

"You are... annoying," Jadeite growled. Aaron landed a few meters back, crouching and spinning the battle spatula to his side. Jadeite was now floating five meters above the street. Ukyou frowned. She could make that jump, but not quickly enough that Jadeite couldn't float away. "But this ends here!"

Screaming, Jadeite launched another wave of energy at her. Ukyou was moving even before he finished the gestures, the blasts exploding behind her. Ukyou found her focus narrowing as she propelled herself along the road. The sounds of explosions raced her, and she could feel the heat and concussions on her heels. Again and again the blasts rained down around her, and Ukyou kept zigging and zagging just enough to throw off Jadeite's aim.

Aaron, however, could focus beyond that. He could see Ryouga grinding his teeth, prevented from attacking by the ring of water golems surrounding him on all sides. He could see Tethys standing on her rooftop, glaring down at her, but unwilling to interfere in Jadeite's duel any further. He could see the telephone pole only a meter away from where Jadeite was hovering.

Jadeite's attacks stopped for a second as Ukyou snapped her legs forward, creating a small furrow in the pavement as she changed directions. But soon enough his attacks began to slam down around her again. Then the telephone pole was in reach. With a cry she leapt, the pavement exploding underneath her. Her legs bicycled through the air, until finally one of them touched the thick concrete shaft. But Ukyou didn't push off, she snapped her foot down, pushing herself up. Then again. Soon she was racing up the pole. A blast echoed beneath her. She almost slipped as the pole began to sway to the side. But she was already high enough.

Jadeite only realized what she was doing a second too late, and tried to fly higher. Ukyou somersaulted forward, stretching her weapon out. Her spatula flew out like a giant fly-swatter. Jadeite was caught dead-on, driven down by the metal peel. He hit the ground with enough force that a crater formed around him. Ukyou continued her somersault and landed on top of a wall.

For a few moments the street was quiet. Then a groan rose from Jadeite's crater. Sluggishly the man managed to get a hand under him, then another. He pushed himself to his feet, and swayed there groggily for a few seconds. His face was a bloody mess, having caught Ukyou's attack full force. Trails of blood leaked from his nose and the edges of his lips. He spat, and a red stain appeared on the shattered roadway.

"This... this is... impossible!"

"Famous last words, Jadeite," Ukyou leapt to the ground. "You can't beat me. Surrender!"

"Never!" Jadeite roared and lashed out with another set of lightning bolts. Aaron had already dashed to the side, and Ukyou reached into their coat. Her hand came out holding a half-dozen spatula shuriken. With a cry she launched them. Jadeite gasped in pain as the weapons streaked past his body, leaving shallow cuts through his uniform in several places.

He didn't stop, however, striking out again with his lightning bolts. Ukyou tossed another handful of spatulas at him... and frowned as Jadeite waved a hand and vaporized them in a blast of lightning.

"Hah! You merely caught me off-guard," Jadeite hissed. His voice had a slightly nasal quality from his injury. "Now I'm ready for you!"

"Indeed..." Aaron murmured. The inkling of an idea was forming in his head. Ukyou dodged another blast of lightning and tossed some more mini-spatulas at Jadeite. These ones he again disintegrated with a wave of his hand. Then Aaron began to smile. Not a pleasant smile. "I'm pretty sure you'll run out of energy eventually," Aaron called out in his most taunting tone. Jadeite growled, and fired again.

This time while Ukyou dodged, Aaron reached into their coat and retrieved their weapon. Except it wasn't a mini-spatula. It was a small grey tank. With a roar, he lobbed it towards Jadeite as fast as he could. The man didn't have a chance, he only saw another grey blur. Reacting quickly he waved his hand and produced another field of electricity to destroy the tank. Of course, the compressed oxygen inside did not react well to this.

The explosion was strong enough to throw Ukyou off her feet. Aaron blinked as they landed on their back. Then he heard Jadeite's scream, an agonized scream. Flexing their back, Ukyou managed an elegant kippup back to their feet.

Jadeite hadn't just fallen down, like Aaron had hoped. His entire left arm, from the elbow down, was simply gone. The grotesque red shreds of his sleeves dangled from the stump while blood poured from his wound. Jadeite's good hand reached up and clutched futilely at the flow. Ukyou could see the bloody gashes traced along his entire body now. Shrapnel, she guessed. But that had definitely knocked all the fight out of the man. Aaron couldn't help smiling. He felt like laughing.

"Jadeite!" the blue-skinned youma cried in shock and horror as she landed beside the man. She grabbed his head and cradled it in her lap. "You'll be okay!" she insisted, her voice filling with an odd choking. Then she snapped her head towards Ukyou, and her blazing red eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You want to be next?" Aaron said, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. Apparently she didn't. With a gesture she formed a swirling blue portal behind her, and leapt through it with the injured Jadeite. Aaron didn't even try to stop them.

01010

Akane burst into the hospital room, her breath coming in short gasps as she skidded to a halt. The lights overhead buzzed and hissed fitfully, and a number of machines near-by contributed there own whooshes, pings or beeps to the disconcerting ambiance of the room.

"Ack! Scary devil girl!"

Akane snapped her head to the side and saw someone slipping behind Ukyou. Despite wearing a outfit that appeared both too large and too small for him at the same time, Akane had no problems recognizing Ryouga. He was still wearing that yellow and black headband of his, and his boyishly rugged face still had a mouth accented by pronounced canines. Ukyou smirked in her passive, distant way at the boy's antics.

"She isn't going to hurt you," Ukyou pointed out to Ryouga. "Are you afraid of someone half your size?"

"I... of course not!" Ryouga barked as he stepped out from behind Ukyou. Ukyou herself was sitting in a chair. Her black trenchcoat had been hung across the back of her seat, with her spatula and harness leaning against it.

"Where is he?" Akane asked breathlessly. It had taken her almost an hour to run across town to the hospital. She clutched her stomach, trying to force air in and out of her burning lungs. Ukyou gestured further into the room and Akane turned her attention away from the two martial artists.

Doctor Tofu did not look well. His face was pale and covered in a light sheen of sweat. His eyes were closed, but pinched as well and his lips twisted downward every now and then in a grimace of pain. His normally enticing messy hair seemed greasy in the harsh hospital light. It was impossible to see most of the rest of him, covered as he was in a green hospital sheet. Only his arms were uncovered, and one of them had a small tube hooked up to it. Akane walked over hesitantly, not wanting to disturb him.

"What... what happened?"

"He was shot in the back by some kind of magical lightning bolt," Ukyou pointed out from her chair. Akane turned and stared at her. "I think." Seeing Akane's expression, Ukyou frowned and ran her hand through her bangs. "He'll be okay. The blast knocked him out, and he might not be up until a few more hours, but he'll live. Basically, he got the equivalent of a really good electrical shock. Most of the stuff hooked up to him here is precautionary."

"That's good..." Akane sighed, honestly relieved. She turned her eyes back to Tofu, examining his face. Where had the handsome, charming man she'd fallen in love with disappeared to? This man lying on the bed seemed far too hurt, and vulnerable and... human to be Doctor Tofu. It made Akane shudder inside, but she wasn't able to pin down why.

"Where's Ranma? Didn't he get my message?" Ukyou asked.

"Ranma's coming here?" Ryouga said from where he had wandered over near the door.

"Yes, and if you want your clothes back, you won't wander out of the room," Ukyou pointed out.

"Whatever," Ryouga grunted. He squatted by the door and crossed his arms. He eyed Akane warily, but looked away sharply when she noticed him doing it.

"Ranma said he had to pick up that package you mentioned," Akane pointed out in the wake of Ryouga's statement. She turned from the supine form of the doctor and took a long breath, trying to return her breathing to normal. "Now, what on Earth happened to him? I went by the clinic on my way here. The entire front office has been gutted and the place is crawling with firefighters."

"Must have shown up after we left," Ukyou muttered. Seeing the question on Akane's lips, Ukyou waved her to silence. "I'd rather not tell the story more than once, Akane. We'll wait until Ranma shows up."

"Ukyou, I really want to know what happened!"

"Don't bother, he isn't talking," Ryouga said in his teenage tenor. "He won't tell me the whole story, and I was there." He? Akane blinked. Then she remembered that most people didn't know Ukyou's little secret. With that in mind, Akane decided to watch her words for the rest of the conversation.

"Ukyou..."

"Don't give me that look, Akane," Ukyou said, staring at her with her intense, but distant, eyes. "I fully intend to tell you guys everything, but I need everyone here first. It's a long story, and I don't want to have to tell it three times."

"Hmph," Ryouga grunted. "He really just wants a chance to rest because he pulled all his muscles in the fight."

"Ryouga!"

"Well, it's true," Ryouga laughed. "I was almost impressed. Then you collapsed halfway here once your adrenaline ran out."

"I'm recovering from very severe injuries!" Ukyou sniffed and crossed her arms, looking away out the window. Akane chuckled a bit, and decided it would be best to wait. In the meantime, at least she could introduce herself to Ryouga properly.

"Hi! I'm Akane Tendo, pleased to meet you!" Akane moved towards Ryouga and bowed just a bit.

"Ack! Scary devil girl!" Ryouga shouted and leapt away from her. Akane blinked. What was his problem?

01010

"Get away from me!"

Tethys reeled as a wave of energy slammed her back. She staggered, unable to maintain her balance, and finally collapsed onto the floor. Her eyes squeezed shut, half-expecting a follow-up attack, but it never came. Timidly, she opened one eye to a slit, then the other.

Jadeite was leaning against the wall of his personal chamber. Sweat dripped from the edge of his perfectly formed nose. His lips had peeled back from his teeth, but his mouth refused to open as his breath came in deep, body- shuddering hisses. The left side of his body was still covered in rapidly drying red gore, some of which had flecked onto his face. The blood caked his normally severe grey uniform against his impressive physique. At least he wasn't bleeding any more. The magic of the Dark Kingdom wasn't meant for healing, but Tethys' control over water had helped a little. Blood was basically water, after all.

Seeing that he wasn't paying attention to her, Tethys slowly climbed to her feet. She had once again assumed her human guise, appearing to all eyes as an attractively svelte blue-haired woman in a tight blue mini-dress. The glamour was, literally, skin deep. But Jadeite preferred this appearance to her more economically designed warform, so she assumed it whenever she wasn't required to do battle.

"Jadeite..." she began slowly. She flinched as he turned his quivering, rage-filled eyes on her. Thankfully the rage in those eyes was not directed at her. If they had, Tethys would have gladly committed suicide on the spot. For centuries, she had quietly adored this man from afar. The thought of him despising her made her flesh crawl.

"That bastard... he took my ARM!" Jadeite roared. The sound echoed throughout the massive chamber, and the youma commando felt the ground tremble slightly at his rage. Dark energy leaked from Jadeite's body like wisps of steam. There was a sharp crack, and Tethys saw the black marble at his feet crack slightly. "Nobody has ever... ever dared to..." Jadeite stalked forward, his movements swift and certain.

"I am going to kill that boy." His voice came out a dangerous hiss. Tethys forced herself to smile, but inwardly she felt her soul (or what passed for it with her kind) shrivel slightly at the thought. Knowing it would probably do no good, but still unable to prevent it, she opened her mouth.

"Jadeite... Master... perhaps you should wait until you are fully recovered. The boy already bested you at full strength and..."

The blow came swiftly and sharply, catching Tethys right above the cheek. Her vision exploded into a series of black stars and pain rocketed up and down her face in the stars wake. She collapsed to the ground again. A shudder ran up her body, and she reached up, rubbing a thin trickle of green youma blood from the edge of her mouth. She smiled.

That was the Jadeite she had fallen for. Cruel, ruthless and very, very dangerous. He had survived millennia in this twisted hell-prison beneath the Antarctic ice, and through sheer cruelty and twisted imagination had risen to the position of Queen Beryl's most trusted general. It had been during this rise in the rank that Tethys had grown first infatuated, then... something deeper with him. She wasn't sure if it was love or not; youma were not designed to love. But it was close enough for her.

"Don't question me," Jadeite commanded in a quiet voice.

"Yes, Master," Tethys murmured submissively as she sat sprawled on the ground beneath his feet.

"I still have my trump card," Jadeite informed her as he turned to walk away. He hadn't given her leave to rise, but Tethys did so anyway. She may have submitted to him, but she was still one of Beryl's favored servants. He could only treat her so much like lesser youma. "My mistake was challenging this boy in his own element. This time, I will control the field of battle."

"A trap?" Tethys cooed.

"Yes, a trap."

"What about my idea of the cruise ship..."

"No," Jadeite snapped over his shoulder. He was rubbing the stump of his arm, channeling dark energy through it in slow, steady bursts. "I already have in mind the place I will fight this boy."

"Master... I know this isn't my place..." Jadeite turned his eyes to her. They no longer quivered with rage, but their cold, seething hatred silenced her for a moment. The silence dragged on for a second, and it became clear he was still waiting for her to finish. "I think that we should confront this boy, Ukyou..." Tethys trailed off, unable to say the word without spitting. It was too bad Jadeite would surely claim the boy's life for his own. Tethys would have very much liked to drag him under the sea and watched him futilely struggle to breathe for a few minutes as she crushed him... but such pleasant thoughts could wait until later. "But given that he seemingly has many allies, it might be prudent to counter them with our own. I know some of the youma in the kingdom, many of whom would gladly assist us at this time."

"Hmm," Jadeite turned from her and strolled across the deceptively large room towards his furnishings. "Perhaps you are right. A few more youma could help balance this confrontation in my direction." He raised his stump and stared at it for a few moments. "It is certain that if the boy expects me to fight him 'fairly' this time around, then he is quite misinformed." He spun on her. "Go, fetch a few more of your siblings. I need time to recover my energies and plan."

Tethys nodded. With an arcane gesture she raised her arm and formed a swirling blue portal into the depths of the Dark Kingdom. Then she vanished through it. She would not fail Jadeite this time.

01010

"... and then Queen Serenity raised her hand, the silver crystal flaring to life as her tears dripped down her ivory cheeks. With her last breath, she willed the Ginzuisho to activate, and its power was awesome to behold. Like a nuclear explosion, its energy flooded the entire battlefield. In an instant the Dark Kingdom, which had stood on the cusp of ultimate victory, was no more. Those survivors of the initial onslaught were driven deep under the Antarctic icecap, where they dwell in darkness to this day.

"At the same time, the Queen wished for her daughter and court to be sent to the future. Their spirits floated forward, bubbles in the streams of time, travelling millennia into the future to be reborn as normal young women and men. And so it would have been forever. But such a happy ending was not to be. Now the Dark Kingdom stirs once more, its tendrils seeping out into our world. Its servants seeking to gather the life force of humans to shatter the seal placed on their Empress by the Silver Crystal."

Ranma leaned back as Ukyou wound up her story. He hadn't realized how caught up in it he had been. It was... he struggled for the word... epic? Like a fairy tale, or something. And Ukyou told it well. Her voice had been... quiet, yet firm. It made him kinda sleepy, and he could almost see the images in his mind.

"So..." Ryouga said, breaking the comfortable silence that had descended on them. He was dressed in his yellow tunic and black draw-string pants once again. The jerk hadn't even thanked Ranma after Ranma had gone through all the trouble of lugging his deceptively heavy backpack half-way across Nerima. "This guy, Jadeite, he works for the Dark Kingdom?"

"Indeed," Ukyou leaned back, running a hand through her bangs. It was impossible to read her expression, but that wasn't unusual. "Jadeite is one of four generals of the Dark Kingdom, and likely the weakest of them."

"He doesn't sound so tough," Ranma said as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "If you can do that to him, the two of us should have no trouble beating him up again."

"Maybe..." Ukyou rubbed her chin and stared at the still unconscious form of Doctor Tofu. "I still wish you hadn't been dragged into this."

"Dragged into this?" Akane spoke up for the first time since Ukyou had started her explanation. Ranma noted that her face was a little pale, and she looked somewhat green. He shrugged. The girl must not be familiar with life or death battles. Not that Ranma had ever done that much damage to another human being... but he knew he could, if it came to that. Accepting that was a part of being a martial artist.

"That's why I asked you to stay around after the story, Ryouga," Ukyou didn't take her eyes from the man on the bed. "I owe you an apology. Those two monsters were after me, and now I think that you may also be a target."

"A target?" Ryouga blinked.

"I told you, they need human life energy to revive their Empress," Ukyou reminded him. Ranma nodded as understanding struck him. "I see Ranma's got it. We martial artists have exceptional life energy, or chi, and they want it."

"So, we're like giant walking buffet tables!" Ranma crowed excitedly and raised a finger proudly into the air. Everyone else gave him blank stares. Ranma lowered his finger slowly.

"Great," Ryouga grumbled and rubbed his fist into his jaw lightly. "Ever since I've met you, its been one thing after another." Ryouga glared at Ranma. "This is all your fault, you know."

"Stop being so cliched, Ryouga," Ukyou sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's my fault. I did the same thing with Ranma when I took him to Juuban. He's probably a target now, too."

"Bring it on!" Ranma grinned. "I've been looking for a decent challenge for months."

"Oh, and what about the beating I gave you the other day?" Ryouga snapped.

"You must have selective memory," Ranma pointed out in his calmest and wisest tone. "I clearly remember handing you your ass."

"Don't make me prove who's better on your face right here, right now!" Ryouga growled through clenched teeth. Ranma wasn't intimidated, but he admitted that toothy maw of his had probably won the lost boy a bunch of fights before they had started. "I'd rather not break the hospital."

"We can always take this outside-"

"Children!" Ukyou barked, bringing everyone's attention back to her. "This isn't the time or the place." She leaned forward and poked Ryouga in the chest. "Remember that deal we made?" Ryouga stared at Ukyou for a moment in defiance, then sighed and nodded his head in defeat. Ranma blinked. He had never seen Ryouga back down like that before. "Good. You can have your fight with Ranma later. For the moment, I need him in good health."

"Hey, guys," Akane called out. She was leaning against the window. "Does anyone know what's happening outside?" Curious, Ranma walked over to the window.

"Just looks like it's getting cloudy out," Ranma pointed out. It wasn't like sudden rainstorms were uncommon in this part of Japan, which Ranma could point out with bitter familiarity.

"No clouds I've ever seen look like that," Akane shot back with a bit of acid in her tone. Ranma looked again, and had to agree with her. The clouds appeared to be... blooming from a single point over the center of the city. As the dark, roiling mass expanded, blasts of grey-green lightning shot through them. He could hear the rumble of thunder growing steadily closer.

"Let me see," Ukyou said as she pushed between the two of them. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her fingers into the windowsill. "This... doesn't look good."

As the three of them watched, the sky slowly grew clogged with the dark clouds. The unnatural lightning continued to streak across the sky. For a moment, Ranma thought he saw a pattern in the movements. Then he blinked, because he saw a giant face emerge on the underside of the mysterious clouds.

"Jadeite." Ukyou's voice was cold and steady.

Ranma recognized the guy now. It was the same jerk from the temple they had visited. He had curly blonde hair cut short, and a cruel, angular face. Ranma could just see his shoulders before the image dissolved beneath them into grey mist.

"What is it?" Akane breathed softly.

"An illusion," Ukyou pointed out. "Jadeite is about to tell us something."

"Why not come here in person?" Ryouga asked evenly from behind them.

"He probably doesn't know we're here," Ukyou answered with a nod. "We'd best listen to this."

"Ukyou Kuonji," Jadeite's voice boomed out across the city. "You have foiled my plans for the last time, boy. It is time we finished this once and for all. I'll be waiting for you at the Narita Airport at exactly midnight tonight. If you don't show up..." Here the image paused and reached to the right. Ranma gasped. The titanic vision had just dragged another face into view. The girl was clear for all to see, and appeared unhurt. But her eyes, they were empty, like she was drugged. Jadeite curled his fingers under her chin and lifted the unresisting head. "Friend of yours?"

"Nabiki!" Akane cried out. She reached towards the window, but her hand fell away.

"It's just an image, Akane," Ukyou pointed out in a calm, but sympathetic tone.

"Come and face me tonight, or your friend here faces a slow and painful death." The last words devolved into a loud cackle that crashed like thunder over the city. Then Jadeite smirked, and with that the entire image faded from view. Even the clouds disappeared, revealing the soft blue sky and the cheerful sun once again.

"I'm coming with you," Akane growled. Her tone left no room for argument. Ukyou nodded quietly.

"I'm coming too," Ryouga added. Ranma backed off from the window and stared at the slightly shorter boy. "Don't give me that look, Saotome." Ryouga stretched his neck, causing a sharp crack to resound through the room. "Ukyou told me that I'm involved with this whether I like it or not. Besides, I'm not going to sit back and let some innocent girl die just because I don't like any of you."

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded, as if expecting no less. She turned back to the window. "We have less than ten hours to get ready, I'll tell you everything I know about Jadeite's abilities in the meantime." Everyone nodded. Ukyou said something next, and Ranma had the distinct impression it was not addressed to anyone in the room. "Ask and ye shall receive, that's what I always say."

01010

"This sounds like fun," the youma yawned and stretched. A thin mask of lilac-colored fabric covered half her face, leaving only her black eyes and her long elfin ears uncovered. Her straw-colored hair has cut in an efficient bob- cut with a long widow's peak down her forehead. She raised her right hand, a hugely distorted claw of interwoven wooden tendrils, and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "It's just a bunch of humans. I don't see why you even need our help, Tethys."

"Don't underestimate this human, Grape," Tethys all but hissed. She was still wearing her human glamour, and thus looked out of place among her more obviously inhuman companions. The other two youma in the room both might have passed for attractive human female from a distance, but up close their chalk- white skin, pointed ears and the floral-themed unitards they wore marked them as something more. "You three are the best assassins I know, and I need your help."

Admitting such a thing was anathema to most youma like herself, but Tethys was willing to go that extra step. Jadeite was obsessed with the human boy, and she was going to stack the deck in his favor as much as possible when their inevitable confrontation occurred.

"Say no more," Suzuran, Grape's taller green-clad companion added from where she was lounging idly in a chair of carved basalt. The third of the youma assassins was leaning against the wall just within hearing range. Housenka had always been the least outspoken of the trio, preferring to defer to Grape's lead in most situations. "We'll be sure to help you with your pest problem."

Tethys glared at her, but kept her lips shut. How was she supposed to convey how dangerous this mission could potentially be, without revealing how badly Jadeite had been mauled? Not that the fact could be kept hidden forever, but it would look much better once Jadeite handed Ukyou's head on a platter to Queen Beryl. But at least with the three of them willing to come along, Tethys felt much better about the confrontation. It was rumored that this squad had the power to defeat even one of the Generals in a fight, though of course nobody had dared test that theory. Of all the youma in the Dark Kingdom, only the DD Girls had a more fearsome reputation.

"Good, I need you three to come with me," Tethys added sharply. She refused to allow her relief show in her voice. The three gave her stony looks for her tone, but she ignored them. Tethys spun on her heel and started to walk out of the chamber, but paused when she saw the figure floating nonchalantly in the entrance.

"Tethys," Zoicite said as he tossed his blond ponytail over his shoulder with a flip of his head. The deceptively young-looking Dark General gazed down at her with an amused grin on his face. "I leave for five minutes, and you're leading my servants off on some wild goose chase." His tone was flippant, but his eyes were icy.

"I thought you were busy looking for the Silver Crystal," Tethys said cautiously. She knew better than to be rude to Zoicite, he was known to hold grudges for a long time.

"I'll bet you did," Zoicite said and raised his hand daintily to his lips. He laughed behind his palm for a moment. "Weren't you supposed to be helping Jadeite with his energy-gathering operations? What are you doing commanding my servants?" Zoicite's voice had suddenly lost all the mock humor.

"This is a part of Jadeite's operation," Tethys countered hastily. "He... he ordered me to collect these three to help him destroy some pesky humans."

"Those Sailor Senshi?" Zoicite grinned once more and laughed behind his palm again. "What a laugh. Fine, if he needs my troops to kill some little girls, then go ahead and take them."

Tethys bowed quickly, then stepped rapidly around the floating general and out of the chamber.

"But I expect them back in perfect health," Zoicite called over his shoulder. "Or I shall be most cross."

"Yes... General Zoicite," Tethys responded coldly as she stepped down the hall. She lingered when she realized that Grape and her sisters weren't following immediately. Of course. Zoicite must be interrogating them and giving them last-minute instructions. Tethys ground her illusory teeth. If Zoicite played things right, he might be able to get some of the credit for this operation. Tethys dismissed the worry with a wave of her hand. There were bigger things to worry about.

01010

Chris trotted at a swift pace across the Chinese countryside, idly watching nothing and everything. He hoped he'd be there soon. As much as he'd appreciated the view upon arriving, a few days of lonely overland travel made pretty much everything old hat. He wondered briefly if the Kunou family was rich enough to afford a private jet, then dismissed the idea. Too conspicuous. And besides, he didn't know how to fly one.

His lack of attention caused him to stumble a bit at a rise in the ground. His superhuman reflexes easily avoided falling, but the slight lurch caused his backpack to jangle. He smiled a bit. That was the result of his trip to Jyusenkyou. Well, and some smart packing and forethought, taking as many sturdy leather-and-steel canteens as he could shove in the backpack with his other things. Now, all of them were full, as well as labelled with various cryptic references that would likely only make sense to him. And their contents, of course, were precious indeed.

He'd gotten water from the springs of Man and Woman first, after contracting a day's services from the guide to get a proper tour of the springs. An elementary precaution; aside from making himself spare bodies, there were more than a few people in Ranma 1/2 he could bribe either to help him or get off his back with those waters, which would allow him to cure their curses. He wondered idly if Ryouga had arrived in Nerima as of yet... he, certainly, would want it, and Chris liked him personally (as personally as he could a previously- fictional character he had not met) as well as respecting his top-class martial arts skills. It might be a good idea to help him out.

Several other springs from the manga he'd found and gotten samples from. Tarou's spring, Yeti-Riding-Bull-Carrying-Crane-And-Eel, was first, and a no- brainer; having the ability to turn any ally into a giant flying minotaur-like beast couldn't help but be possibly handy. By the same token, he'd gotten the Spring of Asura, Rouge's "curse", but the manga wasn't very clear on how much that affected the mind of the victim. The guide didn't know either, unhelpfully, so he'd be cautious if he ever used that.

Spring of Octopus, which Tarou would use later in the series to enhance his cursed form. Might be similarly handy if he ever gave someone that form. Spring of Twins, which Tarou had mistakenly tried to splash Happousai with in the same story. Could be VERY handy. If only it worked on someone already dead, he could have solved his body problem. Still... it presented possibilities. Spring of Virtuous Person, which Tarou had been looking for. The guide assured him anyone splashed with that water gained the personality of a true good samaritan. He grinned at that. Maybe it would have done Ukyou some good. And finally, Spring of Youth, used by Happousai's "old friend" Lukkosai. A true fountain of youth, at least as long as one avoided hot water. The guide didn't know, irksomely, if someone affected by the water would remain permanently young in their other form, or if it would age from that point on. Apparently no one who used it had stuck around long enough for him to check. Still, the number of people in the world who would want something like that was enormous. If he needed to bribe someone - or several someones - in order to get help with his condition, this was a pretty damn good one.

The others he had gained weren't from the manga, and were the result of careful questioning from the guide. Spring of Lecherous Person was fairly self- explanatory, as were the springs of Beautiful Woman and Amnesiac. The first and third could once again be pretty handy if used right; the second was another good bribing possibility.

The last two he had gained were a bit more worrisome, but too potentially useful to pass up. Spring of Suicidal Person was just that. The guide explained, in no uncertain terms, that any human or animal cursed by that spring would immediately try to kill themselves by the most expedient method possible, and continue trying until the curse was lifted or they died. Dangerous, dangerous stuff, and the guide had tried hard to persuade "Miss Customer" not to take any. He almost hadn't. But while it was an awful weapon, it was also a very good one. And he did have the springs that could cure any human of it, so finally he had taken it. He just wouldn't use it unless he had to. Spring of Slave was the final spring he'd found interesting. The guide didn't really know what it did, but like the spring of Suicidal Person, he had been even more wary of it than most of the other springs. Chris had wondered, and accordingly taken some. Did it make anyone splashed with it perfectly obedient? Or something else? Hard to say. But it -might- come in handy, so he took it just in case. Better to have it than not.

He returned his gaze to the road he ran along, straining to look around the curve of an upcoming hill. He should be almost there, if the directions he had received were accurate. The Jyusenkyou Guide knew of the village he'd been given directions to from Cologne, which shaved a good day from his travel time.

As he moved around the hill, he slowed down, gratified, as the path opened out onto a cheerfully pastoral scene. The village was built on a plateau in the mountains, only as wide across as two buses stretched end to end, though rather longer than that. The village was thus (not unexpectedly) small, consisting of barely two dozen houses, none more than a story tall and most built of sturdy-looking wood that must have been quite a chore to carry all the way here from the nearest forest. No rice paddies or huge fields of produce could be seen; instead, the ground was littered with dozens of small gardens, stretching between every house and full of plants of every color and size Chris could imagine and some he could not have.

The plateau abutted a gentle rocky slope that formed the rest of the mountain, and Chris could see several goats walking about on it. A disinterested-looking boy with a long staff sat watching them, his attention idly turning to the newcomer every now and then. Further up the slope, at the apex of a series of carved stone steps, was a huge windmill. It was made of blocks of quarried stone, and stood nearly five stories tall, with blades that dipped all the way down to its base and stretched high into the sky above it. The canvas creaked and moaned audibly even from this far away.

A single path wound through the village, disappearing around the edge of the mountains on the other side. Each house had a small path leading to this one, and all faced inward. Maybe ten or twelve people were strolling between the buildings, stopping to chat or hurrying without pause as was their business. Maybe half again that number could be seen moving among the gardens, harvesting or tending or planting or doing a dozen other tasks. Unlike the Nyuuchezu, there was no evidence of modern conveniences around this village. But then again, it was still sunny out.

He walked into the village, looking for an inn. Though small, it was almost certain the economy of this place was trading herbs, so maybe... ah, yes. To his left, on the cliffward side, one of the small buildings had a sign, the Chinese characters on it recognisable from the inn he had seen in the Nyuuchezu village. No Japanese on this one, though, which could be problematic. Still, he knew Pink and Link spoke fluent Japanese; if nothing else, he might be directed to them.

The room was small, but not cramped. There was a number of small rugs laid out on the floor. An old woman, bent and crooked with a face covered in fine lines, sat yoga style on a green mat. She had her face balanced on one hand and was snoozing softly.

"Hello?" Chris called in Japanese. The woman stirred, but didn't immediately respond. "Hello?" Chris tried again, a little louder. The woman hissed something in Chinese, and it was impossible to tell if her eyes had opened a bit or if the wrinkles on her face had just relaxed slightly. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Chinese," he said with a sigh.

"Room is booked for tonight," the woman snapped out in heavily accented Japanese. "You will have to camp outside."

"That's all right," he said, slowly and carefully, trying not to use any complex words. "I am looking for Pink and Link. You know them?"

"Pink? Link? Aiya. No good troublemakers. Everyone knows them. They outside."

He smiled. That was a good sign. "Could you show me where?" He fanned out a few yuan. "I would be grateful."

The woman's demeanour shifted so fast Chris could almost feel the wind from her bad attitude flying out the window. "Aiya. I can tell you where to find them," she said in what was still badly accented, but now obsequious, Japanese. "They live in small cottage around side of mountain. Not allowed to live with other peoples. Powerful enemies they have, always bring trouble they do." The woman grinned. She was missing several teeth, but they had been replaced by ivory that glittered slightly in her shark-like smile. "Can't miss it."

"Thank you." He smiled again and handed her the money, which vanished even more quickly than her former attitude. Then he headed out in search of the cottage. So much for melodramatic fanboy fantasies about the village living too much in fear of Shampoo to save the twins. They might fear Shampoo, but it was pretty obvious they weren't overly concerned over the fate of their own.

Or it might just be that old woman. But somehow he didn't think so. He shrugged. Considering Pink's personality, at least, he probably couldn't blame them.

The rest of the village was rather interesting. In front of about half of the houses, men or women in elaborate silk robes sat behind mats filled with unguents and ointments and baskets full of unidentified substances. They called out in Chinese, and once or twice in Japanese, to Chris as he passed. When he glanced over, they smiled boastfully and pushed forward a jar or flask, babbling something at him.

Halfway across the village, the steps of the windmill descended. A woman stood in front of it, her long hair blowing behind her. She wore a Takahashi- esque female Chinese breastplate and skin tight leggings, an outfit remarkably similar to Pink and Link's. There was no kanji on it, however, and she carried her staff and body stiffly. Her dangerous eyes did not invite idle conversation. There was one other foreigner in the village that he saw. A man in a white gi, sleeves torn from his bulky shoulders, sat dickering with one of the merchants in Chinese. His back was to Chris, but white strips hung down to his mid-back from the headband in his short brown hair.

He had almost started to walk past when he did a doubletake, and then stared at the man. "Ryu?" he said out loud, not really thinking in time to stop himself.

The man turned his head slightly, looking over his shoulder. Chris blinked. It certainly looked like Street Fighter's seminal character Ryu. His eyes were disinterested, but still gazed steadily at Chris. The man behind him seemed agitated by the interruption.

"My apologies," Chris said, bowing. "Seeing you, I was startled slightly. Are you, in fact, Ryu?"

"That's my name," the man said in a clear voice. It didn't sound exactly like Chris pictured it would. It took him a moment to figure out this must be a voice from the video games, and not any of the numerous anime made out of the franchise. He waved the man to silence behind him. "And you are?"

"Kodachi Kunou," he replied easily. "I wasn't searching for you or anything, but I am something of a martial artist, and your name and likeness is rather well-known in some circles. Again, my apologies for interrupting your business."

Ryu just gave Chris a long, odd stare for a moment. Chris could see the man's muscles tensing, and saw his pupils dilate the tiniest fraction. But then he breathed out, and seemed to calm down. "Okay." His gaze lingered for a moment, then he turned back to his negotiating.

Well, somebody just noticed his deadness. He walked on, deciding it best not to give Ryu any more reason to worry. He'd considered asking the man to spar - the fight with Ukyou and Ranma aside, he hadn't really gotten as much chance to 'field test' his abilities as he'd like - but the body wouldn't heal from any wounds he took. Best not to risk it. Odd coincidence for him to be there, though.

The village ended as the plateau curved around the mountainside, and with good reason, as the amount of land suddenly went from 'not much' to 'practically nonexistent'. The path dipped down back towards the valleys again, and Chris could see what looked like more herd animals through a thin layer of mist from a waterfall which gurgled merrily a dozen or so meters down the path. Next to that waterfall was a small cottage, partially built into the surrounding mountain. It was obviously well-cared for, but showed signs of wear and tear. A woman was sitting in the doorway, strumming on a lyre-like instrument.

Chris paused to take a better look at the woman. She was tall for an Asian, with long black hair that flowed gracefully down her body. She had a willow-like figure under a provocatively cut, but not especially revealing, blue and green silk pantsuit. She looked vaguely familiar, but Chris couldn't place from where. The twins' mother, maybe? He shrugged, and stepped towards her.

"Excuse me. I am looking for Pink and Link."

The music stopped as the woman seemed to notice him for the first time. She stared at Chris, her blue-black eyes unreadable, and she murmured something under her breath before speaking aloud. "Whatever Pink did, I apologize." She spoke in an oddly deep voice for a woman, but it had a pleasant musical quality to it. Her Japanese was flawless.

He laughed lightly, with genuine humour. "I'm sorry, you've mistaken my intent. I don't wish any ill towards either of them; indeed, I've never met them before. In fact, I only want to talk with them."

"I see..." the woman said. He noticed her relaxing, and in so doing realised he'd failed to notice the tension in her posture until this moment. "They're in the back, experimenting on something." She paused. "If you want to buy something from them, you'll have to wait. They don't like being disturbed about that." The woman gestured slightly inside the cottage. "I have a number of herbs and potions for sale, however."

"Thank you, but I'll wait, if you wouldn't mind." He smiled a little bit. "Do so many people come here seeking retribution?"

"Only the really determined ones," the woman pointed out with a weary sigh. "If you want, we can step inside...?" She stood up and moved into the cottage. Chris could now see past her into the room. Plants hung from every conceivable location, and some inconceivable ones as well. The walls appeared green and wet, with bright plumes of every color imaginable appearing in a haphazard, yet strangely intriguing manner. A curtain led off to another room, and in the back a dark tunnel seemed to bore further into the earth. Out of it spilled a light green mist that clung to the floor like a cloud of creeping insects.

"Impressive," he noted, looking at the walls with interest. Of course, where Pink and Link lived -would- be niftier than the makeshift garden they'd set up at the Tendos. Stood to reason.

He continued to follow her until she came to a small table, where she gestured for him to sit down, and offered to make tea. "Thank you, but no," he said. Not wishing to seem impolite, he added "I'm currently fasting." Which was certainly true, after a fashion.

She nodded and made herself some on a small stove nearby, humming to herself as she moved, her every action graceful and with purpose. Time flowed onward as the woman finished her tea, seemingly content to merely sit and enjoy the ambiance.

Eventually, he broke the silence. "So, if you don't mind my asking...what is it they're working on at the moment? Or would you know?"

"Some sort of poisonous concoction, no doubt," the woman replied easily enough. "Its only a few weeks until..." she trailed off and coughed into her hand. "Well, they have odd habits, you see?" She laughed a little uncomfortably.

Hmm. Did Shampoo come on a regular schedule? How egotistical of her. Perfectly in character, he supposed, if so. "I see," he nodded. "They and you seem very talented and imaginative. The gardens and plants I'd seen elsewhere in the village were impressive, but this seems even more so."

This caused the woman to smile, and her voice swelled with pride. "They try twice... no, three times as hard as anybody else here," she noted with a nod. "None of the others admit it, but they do the best work in the entire village." She laughed, not nearly so uncomfortably this time. "Not that I really would know the difference, I suppose. They have quite surpassed my meager skills."

"I understand," he noted. "I know a bit about such things myself, but I see this is far beyond my own level of knowledge. It makes me glad I made the trip here."

"So..." the woman nodded. At this point there was a resounding explosion from the cave and a pair of shocked squeals. Chris blinked as a rush of air flowed from the cave mouth, causing his hair to flip and twist. A huge bead of sweat appeared on the woman's head, and she lowered her face to the table.

He stood up. "There seems to be some sort of trouble. Should we go see if they're all right?"

"They'll be fine," the woman waved him back down. "They should be out in a few seconds now."

"All right," he said, sitting back down. He was curious as to what they were working on that caused something like that. They didn't have any sort of explosive plant in the manga, that he recalled. Of course, the experiment seemed to have not been a complete success.

The sounds of bickering and approaching footsteps grew louder as he waited. In a few short moments, the two girls came into view. They looked much like Chris had pictured them. They each had the short hair, the color coded breastplates and tight leggings under floral skirts. The being covered from head to toe in some sort of viscous green slime part was new, admittedly. They were waving their hands at each other and chattering back and forth in Chinese, and what few words Kodachi's schooling provided him with told him the conversation was not a pleasant chat, even if their shouting and finger-pointing wasn't enough of a clue.

He couldn't help but grin a little; synchronization on many things aside, they looked remarkably similar to any other squabbling sisters. He stayed silent for the moment, though...best not to introduce himself by interrupting them when they were already annoyed. The twins continued to yell and bicker and shoot recriminations back and forth as they stalked purposefully into the room... and just as purposefully back out again. They hadn't even looked to one side or the other as the stepped out of the cottage. The sound of their yelling seemed to circle around to the side of the house, then a loud splashing commenced.

He chuckled, looking at the woman, who smiled apologetically at him. "Distracted, aren't they?" he noted. "Then again, I might be too if I was just blown up and covered in green gook."

They were a little different than he expected, even aside from the squabbling bits. But it made sense: the shift from manga to reality was a pretty major one for everyone else he'd seen so far. Pink was not PERPETUALLY smiling while her sister perpetually frowned, for instance; he'd noticed their expressions had a bit more variety, but it was still a strong tendency... even arguing with her sister, Pink's expression could best be described as an 'angry smile'.

Still, their knowledge could be useful to him. Or it might not. But there was more to it than that. Having little else to do during the long trips overland in China, he'd given a lot of thought as to why meeting Pink and Link and 'recruiting' them was such an attractive prospect to him. After speaking to Cologne, he had serious doubts whether something so simple as herbal embalming could even do much for his body, especially in light of the fact it was obviously somewhat supernatural how long Kodachi's was taking to decay. He'd hoped for that... but it also meant, realistically, that it'd probably take supernatural means to further prolong it by any major amount. Granted, Pink and Link's plants -were- more or less supernatural... but he still didn't think the solution would be that easy.

But there was more to it than that. Chris was never one to enjoy being surrounded by people all the time; he liked his privacy. But he didn't appreciate having NO human contact either. Ukyou was out, and by extension that cut out most of the rest of the main Ranma crew as well. Few others did he want to approach; he'd explicitly rejected the idea of contacting Pantyhose Tarou even before he'd arrived in China...too anti-social, and too powerful. If he reacted badly to finding out Chris's nature, or even worse, noticed before Chris could even make it clear he didn't want to fight Tarou, he might attack, and that was a fight Chris had no doubts he'd lose. The Sailor Senshi, an even worse bet, given his status as... well, basically, an undead monster. Plus he didn't want to mess with their plotline, if possible.

But Pink and Link were a perfect choice. He could help them with their overriding character motivation, which meant he could actually talk and confide with them without (likely) driving them off. Also, Link was a nice person, and Pink was, if nothing else, interesting. He was himself interested to find out more about them than what the manga showed. Neither of them were particularly stupid, though they were typically short-sighted in that Takahashi character way. And they were no threat to him whatsoever, no matter what happened... poisons and noxious gases didn't bother corpses much.

And who knew? Maybe they -could- help him. He couldn't help but feel a little manipulative in his plan to gain some companionship, but hey, he was going to (hopefully) help free them from the endless cycle of being beaten up by Shampoo, so it wasn't as if they wouldn't benefit.

And besides...he really felt he needed someone he could talk to, who he didn't have to put up a false front against. Just the thought of it made him feel a bit better about his situation. And anything that made his situation more bearable was probably good for everyone.

The girls walked back into the cottage a few minutes later, now dripping wet and free of green gook but otherwise still going at each other like the proverbial cat and dog. They paused for a moment, yelled something loudly at each other simultaneously, and turned their back with symmetrical snorts. Pink was smiling and Link was frowning. He grinned a bit at the sight.

"Girls," the woman called out into the sudden silence.

Pink, who was facing in their direction, replied in Chinese through her angry smile. "This young woman came a long way to speak with the two of you," the woman informed them. "She's Japanese, so you might want to use her language."

"If you say so, over," Pink said flippantly. She gave Chris a thorough once over then seemed to lose interest in him. The smiling twin walked over to the curtain while the frowning twin sat down at the table.

"Where are you going, over?" Link asked.

"To change outfits. This one stinks, over," Pink pointed out over her shoulder. Link shrugged at that as her twin stepped through the curtain. Then she turned to Chris.

"What would you like, over?"

He leaned back, smiling a bit. If only Pink knew. "As she said, I've come a long way. I've heard of Pink and Link. I've heard you two are about the best there is when it comes to knowledge of exotic plants, herbs, poisons and medicines." He glanced around idly at the jungle-like walls of the room. "It would seem those rumours are correct."

The girl blushed prettily. "We're very dedicated to our craft, over."

He nodded. "I can tell, and I'm glad I came. I'd like to make a proposition for you two." He glanced apologetically at the woman who had shown him in. "I'm sorry, but if you wouldn't mind, could I speak briefly alone with the girls? I'd rather only they knew about what I wish to tell them."

"Not at all," the woman replied. She retrieved her lyre-like instrument (the name of it danced on the tip of Kodachi's memory, but refused to solidify) and stepped out of the hut. Link didn't give her a second glance, staring intently at him. That was one possible obstacle removed. The woman, almost certainly the twins' mother, might not like the girls' 'association' with Shampoo - not that he could blame her for that! - and wouldn't necessarily be nearly as confident as Chris was that he could help the twins out in that area.

He leaned back, stretching his arms out. "We'll just wait for your sister to come back, if you don't mind. Out of curiosity, what was it you two were working on just now?"

"Fertilizer," Link replied, then wrinkled her nose and looked at her sleeve. "Pungent fertilizer." Chris took a reflexive sniff, but frowned a bit when the smell failed to reach him.

He paused a moment, not quite having planned to make this much small talk before getting to the point, then suddenly laughed a bit. "I'm sorry, how very rude of me. I know your names, but haven't given my own." Rising from the table, he bowed at Link. "My name is Chris."

Link nodded and bowed her head slightly. A minute or so later, the rustling in the other room stopped. When Pink re-emerged from the behind the curtain, she was no longer wearing her archetypal breastplate and bodysuit. Instead, she was clad in a tight red Chinese dress with elaborate green piping up the right hand side. It was hemmed to mid-thigh but cut to the hip. Over her heart was sewn a tiny kanji. She looked incuriously at Chris as Link introduced them then sat down herself. Seeing some tea was prepared, she helped herself.

"What is this all about, anyway, over?" Pink asked her sister.

"I believe she was just waiting for you to arrive before she got to that, over," Link pointed out. There was a bit of scorn in her voice.

"Indeed," he noted, sitting again. He leaned forward, steepling his fingers. "Let me cut right to the chase and see if you're interested in what I have to offer." Pausing a moment for effect, he then continued, "I know about your problems with Shampoo. I know where Shampoo is going. And I can help you defeat her."

That certainly got their attention. Or so he guessed, from the way Pink was shaking his head by the neck. "What do you know about Shampoo! Did she send you! Are you a spy! Over!"

He stopped his head from shaking, leaving Pink grasping it rather impotently. Gotta love that Martial Arts Death Machine strength. "The same way I knew about you two, no, and no, respectively. I'd be an awfully poor spy if I was offering to help you beat her, wouldn't I?"

Pink didn't seem to notice his resistance to her efforts to strangle him, at least until Link pried her hands off. "Excuse my sister, over" Link pointed out with a bit of acid in her tone. "Shampoo has... what is the word... joked? Played? Tricked? She has made us think we had friends before when we did not, over."

"Hmm. That is a problem, isn't it? Now, how to prove I'm sincere..." he paused for a moment. "Well, how about this? I'll give you two a freebie. I'll tell you where Shampoo's going, and why. You could track her down and make trouble if you wanted, or you could stay here and relax in the fact she won't be coming around for awhile, if you wanted. But if you want to go and -defeat- her... well, for that, you might still want my help. And just to make it even more fair, you don't have to do anything for me until after I've helped you. Sound fair?"

Pink and Link skimmed back like they had rollers on their knees before spinning their backs to Chris. They talked for a few minutes in hushed tones. Finally Pink said something final-sounding. Link leaned away from her, her frown becoming somewhat worried. Pink repeated something in Chinese harshly. Chris grinned to himself as he realized he had figured out which word meant 'over'. Link nodded, and walked down the tunnel in the back.

"My sister will be back in a moment, over," Pink pointed out happily. She was leaning forward, rubbing her hands together and chuckling just under her breath. When she caught Chris staring at her, she forced herself to sit still... only to start chuckling and rubbing her hands again the moment she thought he was distracted.

"Are you going to try and drug me?" he said, bemused. "You can try, if you like, but I don't think it will work very well."

Pink's smile cracked, and her entire body slumped to the side. "But... my plan was perfect! How did you see through it, over?"

He laughed out loud. "Call it a hunch. Also, I know about you from reputation. Very fearsome in certain quarters, you understand. So I made sure to be prepared." He couldn't help but grin.

"Then you'll have no problem submitting to our whims if you want our help!" Pink recovered with the speed of one of those blow-up punching dolls. "I refuse to listen to anything you have to say until you submit, over!"

He shrugged amiably. "Sure. I'll let you drug me, or even hit me if you want. I won't try to stop you. But I'll expect you to trust me just a little bit because of it. After all, if Shampoo sent a spy, would they let you try to drug or beat them up?"

"No..." Pink mused. "I suppose not, over."

Shortly thereafter Link returned from the cave. She carried a clear glass flask filled with a thin blue liquid. Pink pointed out that Chris had already agreed to take the potion, and Link nodded. She turned to him and flashed him an apologetic frown (wow, that was a new one) before asking him to roll up his sleeve. Chris agreed amiably enough as the girl uncorked the flask with a small pop of displaced air. Then she frowned in concentration, produced a cotton swab from inside her outfit and carefully extracted a bit of the concoction. Chris watched this in mild fascination as the girl scanned along his arm, dabbing the swab here and there. The touch was so light that Chris couldn't even feel it through his dimmed senses. As Link continued her application, she seemed to pause longer and longer between applications. Her eyes kept flickering to Chris' face, then back to his arm, and he saw increasing concern each time she did so.

"Sorry," he noted, "but I did mention that while I'd let you try to drug me, it probably wouldn't work. I'm pretty well-defended against that sort of thing."

"The-" she used a Chinese word here Chris didn't understand "-isn't... it isn't even absorbing into your blood stream, over!"

"That's impossible," Pink snorted. "You must be doing something wrong. Here let me try, over." Pink snatched the flask from her sisters' trembling hands. The other twin staggered back, her eyes widening as she continued to stare at Chris. He felt something jab his arm and looked down to see Pink applying the concoction liberally and carelessly over his arm. She stopped suddenly, the swab she was using fell to the floor with a wet splotch. He watched the girl reach out and touch his skin with expert fingers. "But... there's no coating... that isn't possible... over..."

He sighed. "Well, I at least know I came to the right place. I didn't think there was any way for you two to notice that quite yet, but you surprised me." He spread his hands. "As you've noticed, I'm a little...different. That's part of why I came to you."

"What are you, over?" Link said, her voice trembling.

"What magic is this, that lets a dead woman walk..." Pink mused aloud as she touched Chris' arm again. Chris blinked as she failed to end her phrase with the usual code.

No point trying to be coy now, he supposed. "Well, Pink just said it. I'm not alive. Or rather, this body isn't. I had some sort of accident, and via a process I don't know, I'm stuck in a corpse body until I can find a way out of it. That's bad, because corpses, as I'm sure you know, don't last forever. The help I wanted to get from you, because you two are the best herbalists I know of in the world, was some research and perhaps experimentation in a preserving or embalming process. Don't worry, I don't feed on the blood of the living or anything painfully stereotypical like that. I'm mostly harmless." He smiled, he hoped reassuringly. "But. I -know- I can help you two. I'm strong. Stronger than Shampoo. And like I promised, if you want, you two don't have to do anything for me until I help you beat her. I'll admit I'd prefer it as soon as possible, but I want your help, and I'll be patient if that helps you trust me."

There was an uncomfortable silence as the girls digested that. Sensing it would probably be better to remain silent as they thought, he did so. Link had stopped backing away, but she hadn't relaxed or returned to the table either. Pink, on the other hand, was eyeing him directly. There was no fear in her expression, only mild curiousity. The kind of curiosity a cat has for a bird with a broken wing. Chris repressed a frown at that analogy. What level of his subconscious had that bubbled out of, uninvited?

"I say we trust her, over," Pink said finally.

"But why, over?"

"She just told us the complete truth," Pink shrugged. "And I don't think Shampoo has access to this kind of magic. Nothing that could fool us, anyway, over."

"But this doesn't-"

"I just want to listen to her!" Pink cut her sister off harshly. "What harm does listening to her do, sister, over?"

Link rolled her eyes but stepped forward as well. Chris noted idly that the fear had evaporated from her posture as well. She was not looking at him like a monster to be avoided. Her eyes carried more... disgust? Pity? It was hard to tell with her expression being that nearly monotonous frown all the time.

"Well, thank you. I'm relieved, really. I didn't know where I'd go if you two had freaked out." At least not for any sort of compatriots. "All right, so is there anything else you'd like to know? You know what I want, and what I'm offering."

"I'm very interested in-"

"Why don't you start with what you were going to tell us before, over?" Link cut her sister off. Pink glanced over her shoulder, but then shrugged.

Hmm. Looked like Pink wasn't quite the obviously dominant one of the two she'd seemed to be up until now. "Ah, yes, that. Well, Shampoo was, say about a month ago, defeated by a female foreign martial artist. You know about the Joketsuzoku law regarding that sort of thing?"

"Yes, over," Link nodded. Pink leaned back, idly gazing at the ceiling. Obviously she was content to let her sister run the conversation as she pleased, at least for the moment.

"Mm. Well, the female martial artist in question wasn't interested in a duel to the death with Shampoo, so she fled China, and went to Nerima, which is a ward in Tokyo, Japan. Shampoo hasn't followed her trail all the way there yet - or hadn't when I left, anyway - but she's persistent. She's going to show up there pretty soon, and I think she'll be there for awhile." Well, unless Ukyou decided to remove her from the equation, too. But he doubted she'd kill her, so Shampoo being a Nerima regular was a pretty safe bet.

"Aside from moving our problem across the ocean for a few months, how does that concern us, over?" Link asked sharply.

"Ah, well you see, that's the fun part. The female who defeated Shampoo isn't actually a female, but rather a guy. That's going to come out sooner or later, and I'm sure you know what that means. But the guy in question already has a fiancee. Plus he's too strong for Shampoo to simply force to do what he wants. So I suspect rather strongly that Shampoo's going to be in Japan for quite a long time. She might even end up living there permanently." He leaned back. "That's good for you; you might want to leave it at that. Of course, that lets Shampoo get away with everything she's done up to now. But it's up to you, naturally."

"The girl... is really a guy... over?" Link blinked. She shared a long look with her sister.

"And Shampoo is going to have to marry him, over?" Pink chuckled.

"That's kinda..."

"Hilarious, over?" Pink broke out into a sudden fit of laughter, clutching her stomach.

"I was going to say disturbing, over," the frowning twin harumphed and crossed her arms.

He grinned. "Quite, on both counts. I'm a little sorry I can't see her expression when she finds out. But that's where she's going, and where she's likely going to stay for awhile, given the...weirdness of the situation."

"Well that's nice of you to tell us, over," Link said with a tone of finality.

"She has offered to help us, over," Pink pointed out in between giggling fits.

"We can take care of Shampoo ourselves," Link replied. "Now that we know what's going on, we can come up with some sort of suitable revenge. We don't need her help, over." Link's voice was stern, but there was a hint of a question in her tone.

"Well," Pink leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and grinning predatorily at Chris. "I want to find out what she proposes to do to help us with Shampoo. We know what she wants from us. But in any good bargain, you find out how much the customer is willing to pay before closing the deal, over."

"Fine," Link grumbled. "But I think that this is our business, Pink. Our revenge is our revenge, over." Pink glanced at her, but said nothing.

"Hard bargainers," he noted. He reached down and retrieved a ribbon, drawing it between Kodachi's slender fingers. "I understand that your revenge is your business. Something you want to accomplish on your own. And I have no doubt you can do it." A flick of the wrist, and the ribbon slashed out between the twins, flew into the mouth of the cave, and then was back in the blink of an eye. He flipped the small rock thus retrieved up and down in one hand. "Persistence pays off. Eventually, everyone makes mistakes. But in the meantime? It's not been very pleasant for you thus far, has it?" He caught the rock in his hand one last time, held it out. "Sometimes it's nice to know someone's got your back. To know that if something goes wrong, if there's a problem..." He clenched his fist, squeezed. It took a bit of effort, but not really that much. Turning his hand over, he let the rock dust fall onto the table. "...you have a problem-solver. I only have one condition. You can't kill her with my help. You'll have to do that on your own, if you want. But I can beat her. And once she's beaten, helpless...you can do whatever you want. Hit her a hundred times. Five hundred. And, you know, there's worse things than death, especially for a warrior like Shampoo. Things like knowing she's been beaten by people she thinks so little of. Things like knowing that everything she's done, all the bad karma she's gained, has come back and she's paid for it. Wouldn't that be the right thing? The just thing?"

Pink smiled dreamily, and even Link's frown lessened as they listened to Chris' words. But Link shook her head and threw the effects of his speech off. "That isn't a big deal," Link pointed out with a flip of her finger towards the pile of rock dust. "I've seen Shampoo crush rocks before... usually with our heads." Her perpetual frown deepened. "You might be strong, but I bet she's stronger, over."

"You have so little imagination, sister," Pink pointed out. "Think about it. This girl isn't just strong like Shampoo is. She's also DEAD, over."

"And that means... what, over?"

"You saw it yourself," Pink shrugged. "She's immune to most of our herbal attacks, more than likely. How often have our plans gone awry, just because our ambushes blew up in our own faces? With her helping us, we don't have to worry about that. We don't even have to worry about how safe any of the plants we employ are, over!"

Link was wavering, Chris could see it in her eyes, but she remained firm for the moment. "I still don't think we should trust her," Link pointed out. "We can handle Shampoo ourselves..."

"Then let's do that," Pink laughed, cutting her twin off. "What harm could it be, following this one to this Nerima and laying a trap for Shampoo? If things work out as you say, then we hardly lose anything. If we fail, we have an ally to fall back on so we can try again, over."

"It sounds good to me," he nodded. "Although, just to note. Shampoo might be as strong as me, true. Maybe even a bit stronger. But you see, there's more to fighting than just that. I don't feel pain. I don't fall unconscious. I don't get tired. And not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm a lot smarter than Shampoo." Insulting Shampoo would never go down poorly with this particular audience. "So, rest assured, if it comes down to it, you're in absolutely no danger from Shampoo. Not when you fight her, and not if she comes after you later for revenge."

"And if you can't trust the undead, who can you trust?" Pink said as she burst out laughing. Link grumbled under her breath and leaned back with her arms crossed.

He laughed too. "I think I like your thinking, Pink. Hmm. So, then, I'll take you to where Shampoo will be. When she shows up, I'll let you do what you want. If you want my help, I'll give it, and if not, I'll stay out of your way. That sound like a good deal?"

Link hesitated, but Chris could see Pink's smile transforming into a smirk. In a sudden epiphany, the living dead boy realised he had already won this round. Sensing the need to remain silent, he once again did so. Link took almost a minute to think everything over, her eyes looking everywhere but directly at Chris while she did so. Then she stood up.

"Yes, I'll go to this Nerima," Link agreed. "Now if you excuse me I have to go change. I feel unclean in these clothes, over."

Well, Pink seemed to like him better. No surprise. But hopefully Link would come around soon. She wanted revenge on Shampoo just as badly. He stood up as well, brushing the last of the rock dust from his hands. "All right, then. You two get whatever you need to go, and we'll be off. No time like the present, after all." The side of his mouth quirked up. "And thank you, once again. This, as they say, could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Epsilon: Well, we already thanked Elin in our last author's notes, and Jenn in an author's notes before that...

Blade: But let's thank them again anyway!

Epsilon: We'd thank other people, too, but nobody else is prereading for us.

Blade: Except Rob.

Epsilon: Oh, right, since he HASN'T HAD ANY COMMENTARY FOR THREE CHAPTERS NOW, I completely forgot.

Blade: Actually, you just forgot because you forget everything.

Epsilon: Well, yes. So, what issues to cover this time?

Blade: Well, a lot of people are saying Hybrid Theory is unrelentingly depressing.

Epsilon: Hey, Hybrid Theory isn't unrelentingly depressing! We keep giving you moment of humour and joy, so when the inevitable depression crashes in on you, your guard is down!

Blade: Ignore him. Though it's true to an extent. Hybrid Theory ISN'T unrelentingly depressing. But, to paraphrase the unintentionally ironic comment from a reader, "it isn't Ranma". Because... well, it ISN'T Ranma. It's not Sailor Moon either.

Epsilon: It's the result of self-inserts and multi-crossovers, treated and taken seriously with attention paid to actual consequences.

Blade: Amongst other things.

Epsilon: And with that, there isn't much else to say, soooo... NEXT EPISODO!

Akane threw her arms in front of her eyes as the explosions rocked the hangar. The light turned the whole world red for a second, and she could hear the blasts echoing in her ears long after they stopped. Cautiously she lowered her arms. Ranma appeared to have leapt back at the last second, but he had still caught the brunt of the blast. His entire shirt was burned off, leaving a nasty looking red and black burn on his chest. His pants had escaped the brunt of the damage, but scorch marks swirled up his neck and onto his face. He was moaning, lying spread eagle on the concrete.

Akane wanted to run to him, but she remembered the monsters were still here. She turned her eyes back in their direction, just as the smoke from the attack was clearing to reveal them. She heard more than saw Sailor Mercury step up beside her. The petite girl seemed to bring an aura of calm with her presence, and Akane breathed a little bit easier.

"Just two more pests to go," the tall youma informed her partner laconically.

"Let's finish them quickly then," the shorter one grinned visibly through the half-mask covering her face. Akane gasped as she thrust her palm at them and another cloud of cherry bombs flowed out. She backed up a step, knowing that there was no way she could leap away from the attack in time. Not to mention the fact that Sailor Mercury was slower than her. Gritting her teeth, Akane stepped forward, determined to absorb as much of the assault for the smaller girl as she could.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 7: Carousel


	7. Carousel

B'WAHAHAHAHAHAHA! At last, my revenge is nigh!

Oh, excuse me. I am Jadeite, soon to be supreme commander of the Dark Kingdom Generals! But first, I will pay Ukyou back for TAKING MY ARM! First, I will slaughter all her friends before her eyes, then slowly torture her to death, while taking out all her delicious 'chi' energy to revive our Empress Metallia!

Oh, wait, those are the events of THIS chapter, not last chapter. Last chapter, that arrogant fool Ukyou dared to defy me, as she has been doing since Chapter 3. But now I am holding the sister of her friend Akane hostage, and thus she will come to me on MY terms!

Also, other people did things, though it hardly matters, since soon Metallia shall scour the earth CLEAN! I give a best estimate of "next Tuesday", so thus the actions of that fool Chris, who talked with Cologne and then recruited Pink and Link to his cause, are MEANINGLESS!

No, Tethys, I have NOT had too many painkillers!

Bah! You all shall perish too, so I feel no need to narrate further! Also, that was pretty much all the events! Now, it is time for Ukyou to PAY!

V'WAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA...

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 7: Carousel

"The sky over the Narita airport was clear that night. The stars shone down from the heavens - what few could be seen through the omnipresent glow of Tokyo's nightlife, that is. The moon was but a slit, tainted a sickly yellow by the thick layer of smog that hung over the city. The waters of Tokyo Bay were calm tonight, almost glassy. Only the gentle sound of the tide relentlessly lapping on the shore gave lie to the seas' seeming idleness. In the sky above, there was no whine of jet engines. All traffic into and out of the airport had been halted earlier that day, to deal with the 'terrorist threat' against the nexus of global traffic.

"The masses came in droves that night. Hundreds of officers from the Tokyo police were standing guard over the various entrances to the airport, their blue uniforms contrasted by the drab greys of the official security. Dozens of fit young men walked the perimeters of the fences surrounding the massive ocean-abutting runways with flashlights in hand, searching out any threat. And the last of them wore dark green, armed with weapons of war usually not seen in the placid Japanese isles. These few tens of members of the Japanese Self Defence Force were not on patrol or barricade duty, but were instead waiting next to their armored personnel carrier to be rapidly deployed to any threat that might appear."

Click. Click. Whirrr.

"And time ticked on.

"As the sun set, the forces of order had finished securing the battleground. Then it was just the long wait. There was nothing to break the seeming monotony except the occasional polite refusal of entry to the curious or the foolhardy. The image in the sky had been like the foot that overturns the anthill, and it seemed all the crazies had wandered out that night. The chief operations officer had been fielding calls all day from 'demon hunters' and 'concerned citizens' that wanted to assist in the 'battle to come'. Always for a price. They were told politely - but firmly - that this was none of their business.

"The general consensus, after all, was that this was some large scale hoax. Perhaps, at worst, a warning of a massive terrorist operation. But nobody really believed any of that. This was Japan. Things like that just didn't happen here. Certainly nothing so ludicrous as a magical man challenging a brave young hero to a duel to the death over his lady love."

Click. Click. Whirr.

"Hmm. Note to self: Use less flash bulbs. I think they saw me that time... oops, yeah, best move on!"

Ran Hibiki dashed from her hiding place, her mini-recorder bouncing against her vest as she sprinted across the tarmac. The police gave chase, but they were no match for her speed and youthful vitality, just like they hadn't been a match the other ten times they had spotted her so far today. She didn't really blame them: you didn't grow up in the most violent school district of all Tokyo without getting in pretty good shape. You especially didn't spend your time documenting the frequent and spectacular brawls of her neighbourhood (and running away from those who objected to that documentation) without learning to be quick on your feet.

Once she had safely left the well-meaning but misguided police behind, Ran slowed down and started looking for a better place to hide. There was no way she was going to miss the fireworks tonight. And she didn't doubt there would be fireworks for one second. She smiled, remembering some of the spectacles that she had witnessed at her own Taiyo High School. When you saw people summon lightning from the ground, light each other on fire with their kicks, leap two stories into the air and other such things with casual ease... the idea of a man in the sky holding a pretty girl hostage to provoke a young hero into a final duel became a lot more plausible.

Ran leapt up onto a convenient outbuilding to get herself a better glimpse of the area. It was almost midnight, and she figured that was when the excitement was most likely to start. She reached down to the recorder strung around her neck and flipped it back on. Now, where had she been?

"The entire airport seemed to be holding its breath. An unnerving quiet had descended upon the place, settling over the plaza like a funeral shroud. The mist began to roll in from the..." Ran paused. She had never seen mist roll out of a building before. She took a few quick pictures, hoping the flash didn't give her away. Still, something didn't feel right. She reached up to the zoom and twisted it, bringing the distant figures of the SDF troops into sharper focus. "They're... they're falling asleep?"

Ran watched, unable to fathom what she was seeing, but that was definitely what was happening... and all the police seemed to be falling asleep as well. She panned her camera in a wide circle, and everywhere she watched the rent-a-cops and soldiers were toppling over on their feet. A few more pictures of that later, she began to wonder what could be causing it. Then she remembered the one constant companion of all the falling guards. The mist.

Unease suddenly clenching her stomach in a clammy hand, she peered over the edge of the outbuilding she was standing on. The mist, a viscous, almost black morass, had risen to the very edge of her perch. She eeped and backed away from the edge as the noxious miasma lapped at the corners of her station like a dark sea. She could feel something about that mist, something inherently wrong. In her job, she had developed almost by necessity a 'sixth sense' for danger, and it was screaming at her now, sending that muted electric tingle up and down her spine.

"I never..." Ran spoke aloud and then frowned at the quaver in her voice. She cleared her throat and when she next spoke it was in the firm tones of the Professional Reporter. "The evil mist seemed to come from nowhere. Crawling across the tarmac and along the edges of the airport like a thief in the night. Where it went, brave men and women fell silent, their bodies toppling over in the darkness and their weapons scattered uselessly about their unconscious forms. It appeared that, whatever force had chosen this day for this meeting, it was not going to let the good intentions and valiant heroics of mortal man prevent the confrontation that was happening this night."

Ran spoke a bit more into her recorder. As always, the sound of her own narration calmed her. She was the Professional Reporter. She existed outside the conflicts, above them, beyond them. Hers was the voice and the eye of the everyman, and she would be there, no matter how dangerous the situation. She was in no danger here. She wasn't even involved. She just observed.

After an interminable time spent crouching on the top of the little out- building, Ran watched as the mist began to recede. She followed its progress with her camera, and watched it retreat back into the hangar where she had seen it first emerge. Reflexively she glanced at her watch. Five minutes to midnight.

01010

Tethys would have grinned, had she still had a mouth. Her eyes did narrow in pleasure as she watched the mist slowly retreat into the huge blue orb hanging in the air before her. To her right, Jadeite watched the display without emotion. His good hand rubbed absently at the stump of his left arm. To her left was the human girl, hanging from the ceiling on a simple rope. The three youma assassins floated in the air behind her, affecting bored expressions. Tethys almost wished they could see her smile. It might have put them on edge.

With this, there was going to be no chance of failure. All the energy of every human in this pitiful 'airport' had been collected here, for their use. For his use. And Tethys had prepared another special surprise, one that even Jadeite didn't know about, just in case.

"Is it ready?" Jadeite said once the mist had ceased its flow.

"Yes," Tethys said with a nod.

"And our prey?"

Tethys waved her hands over the orb, causing it to resonate and pulse with eldritch energy. She flicked her fingers delicately and precisely, pulling on the subtle strings of magic that connected the orb to the space around it. In short order the center of the orb became clear, and through it one could see the world outside the cavernous building that Jadeite had chosen as his sanctum.

Four figures were visible through the window in space. One was that damnable bastard Ukyou. He walked in a steady stride in front of the other three, his long black coat flapping behind him. One of the others Tethys recognized from that morning, except he had changed his clothes to something more fitting, and walked with a red bamboo umbrella propped on his right shoulder. Tethys chuckled a bit at that. As if an umbrella could save him from her power.

The other two, Tethys did not recognize. One was a girl, shorter than all the others, with long hair. She wore a yellow uniform of some sort. The final one was dressed in a red shirt and black drawstring pants. He was the tallest boy there, and strode near the front with Ukyou, talking to the lead boy animatedly. Tethys wished that her scrying extended to sound.

"Four of them," Grape pointed out unnecessarily.

"I recognize three of them," Jadeite hissed. "But not the girl." He frowned and shook his head. "It is of no matter. They aren't important. If they have any energy to them, we'll turn them over to Queen Beryl. The truly dangerous one is the lead boy." He tapped the image, causing ripples to spread across it as if he had touched a pond. Which, in a way, he had. "I've seen enough. How soon until they get here?"

Tethys glanced at the filaments of eldritch energy wrapped invisibly around her outstretched fingers, and did a few quick calculations. "A matter of minutes. It looks like they'll be right on time."

"Good," Jadeite grinned ferally. He placed his right palm on Tethys' sphere and began to concentrate. Tethys quickly released her connection to the node before he painfully ripped it from her. The image went dark, but the pulse of the orb did not quiet. Instead it began to grow louder. A circle of blue light emerged from it for a moment, then retreated. A moment later this repeated, but with a larger circle. Then the light in the room dimmed, and Jadeite screamed.

Tethys watched as the sparks of unholy light leapt from the node up along his arm. The stolen energy here was not being stored for transportation to the Dark Kingdom: it was being channeled, straight into Jadeite's body. His back arched, twisting to the point where a human would break. His mouth opened, but instead of sound, an awful white light emerged. Sparks shot along the length of his body, and for a moment Tethys feared for his life. Then it ended, so suddenly she felt a moment of vertigo.

"Heh." Jadeite grinned and reached up with his good hand, curling it into a fist. "This is perfect. Come along, it's time to greet our guests."

01010

"They're asleep."

Akane nodded as Ukyou stood back up. The police officer at her feet looked almost peaceful where he had fallen. Ukyou looked through the chain link fence at the others and nodded her head once. Ranma and Ryouga both looked at each other and leapt up with a deceptively simple push. They both easily vaulted the five meter fence and the meter of barbed wire on top of that. Akane watched this and gulped. But she set her face and leapt herself. She only made it half as high, but her hands caught in the links of the fence easily enough. Navigating the barbed wire was a bit tricky, but when Ranma offered to help she nearly kicked him. So she made it over with only a small scratch (or ten).

"So what now?" Ranma asked as he walked towards the tarmac.

"Jadeite will play his hand soon," Ukyou pointed out as she pulled her spatula from the harness on her back. "There isn't much we can do except wait for him to do so. This is a big place, and we don't know where he's keeping Nabiki. Just remember the plan."

Nabiki. Akane's pulse quickened. She had never really gotten along with her sister, but she loved her nonetheless with the fierce loyalty only siblings had. She couldn't help picturing Tofu lying unconscious and vulnerable in that hospital bed. The thought of Nabiki in that position, or worse... it ate at her inside. But she was determined not to let that show. Everyone else here was ready for battle, and she would be too.

"We have company!" Ranma shouted as he spun to face the end of the runway. Akane glanced in that direction sharply. At that end of the asphalt, the surface gave away suddenly to the choppy ocean. And out of that ocean crawled... THINGS. They couldn't be called human, even if they did affect human form. They were nothing so much as human-shaped blobs of water. Ryouga growled beside her and she heard him unfurl his umbrella.

"They're no threat to us," Ukyou pointed out with a wave of her polearm.

"That's easy for you to say," Ryouga muttered, almost too low for Akane to hear. She dismissed the odd boy's comment almost as soon as she heard it.

"Where are those girls, anyway?" Ukyou growled as she looked across the tarmac. "Well, we'll see how they like this. Remember the plan, Ryouga."

Ukyou stepped forward, reaching into her coat with one hand. The moaning horde of water-men slowly approached, but Ukyou didn't look worried. Once they were within two meters she snapped her hand out, sending a spinning grey packet into the air above them. Almost simultaneously Ryouga snapped his hand forward, launching a spinning projectile after the packet.

The buzzing shuriken-like weapon ripped the packet to ribbons. A cloud of grey smoke exploded out in all directions. It quickly fell among the shambling golems, obscuring them from Akane's vision. As the dust settled the sound of shuffling slowed, then stopped altogether. When the last of the cloud settled, Akane stared out into a small army of perfectly still grey statues.

"Quick drying rubber cement," Ukyou answered their unspoken question. She raised her hand and ran it through her bangs. "Just add water."

Ukyou stared at the still figures for a moment, making sure that none of them started moving. Then she smirked and turned towards the airport. With a gesture for them to follow, she walked further out onto the tarmac.

"I hope that isn't the best you can do, Jadeite!" Ukyou cried into the darkness.

The response was almost immediate. Akane felt it. It was like someone had run a livewire up her back and stabbed it into her neck. She spun in place, suddenly on edge. And she saw them coming.

Akane had never seen a jumbo jet up close before. Oh sure, you saw them all the time on TV. But you never got an appreciation for how BIG they were until you saw one in person. And considering that one was rolling straight towards them, Akane felt a sudden satisfaction with having seen one quite close enough, and no desire at all to take a closer look.

"This old trick," Ukyou grunted. "Ryouga, could you do the honors?"

"What?" Ryouga cried out in shock. "Are you nuts? I'm strong, but not that strong!" He pointed to the accelerating airliner. Akane had to agree. No human could be strong enough to stop one of those in its tracks.

"You don't have to stop it," Ranma piped up happily. He grinned and shook his head. "I get what Ukyou means. Ryouga, you just have to stop its WHEELS." Ryouga blinked at this. Ranma sighed, then reached over and tapped the shorter boys umbrella with one finger. Suddenly Ryouga's eyes widened, before his face settled into a feral grin.

"Heh. Of course, why didn't I think of that!" Ryouga spun in place and drew back his umbrella with one hand. With a ferocious snap of his arm, he sent the ungainly weapon spinning forward like a top. Somehow the weapon flew in a perfect graceful arc, its top spinning so fast it produced a loud hum like a buzzsaw. But it didn't just sound like a saw. With deceptive ease the edge of the umbrella sliced through the strut of the airliners front wheel. The weapon reversed course a fraction of a second later, but it was still almost crushed as the front of the airliner collapsed into the ground with a thunderous boom.

Ryouga reached out with one hand and caught his weapon, stopping its spin with uncanny ease. The airliner ground forward, a sea of sparks erupting from under its nose, for a few more seconds before friction overcame inertia.

"You're more resourceful than you appear," Jadeite's voice boomed out from behind them. Everyone spun to face the waves of Tokyo bay. Jadeite was floating a few meters above the now choppy water. His left sleeve was pinned to his side, but his right arm was gesturing grandly. Akane tore her arm away from his empty sleeve with some effort. Beside him floated a woman only barely more human-looking than the water-men from before. Her night-black hair stood sharply against her pale blue skin. Her clinging outfit too was blue, leaving only a golden wire headdress and a small golden symbol under one eye contrasting her favoured colour. And those eyes...Akane shivered a bit. The woman had no mouth, no nose, no recognisable facial features whatsoever... except those glowing red eyes, staring at them with undisguised malevolence.

"And you're too predictable for your own good," Ukyou shouted back. "Where is Nabiki? What have you done with her!"

"She's alive," Jadeite almost purred in an amused tone. "Perhaps not for long, but she is alive." Akane felt her temper flare. A white hot rush of emotion that blotted out all thought.

"You bastard!" Akane roared and charged forward. Ranma and Ukyou reached out and restrained her, or she would have leapt from the end of the airstrip to reach him. She struggled half-heartedly against their grips. "That's my sister! If you harm a hair on her head, I'll break you in two!"

"Are all humans like you so spirited?" Jadeite mused. He tossed his head. "It doesn't matter. The girl lives only so long as I let her live."

"Don't think you can make us surrender by threatening her," Ukyou pointed out in a calm voice. She gestured with the hand that wasn't currently holding back Akane. "As Akane just pointed out, you hurt her and we hurt you right back." Ukyou stepped away from Akane and left the task to holding Akane back solely up to Ranma. Akane was breathing deeply, forcing back her anger, so Ranma had no trouble preventing her from doing something stupid.

"I'm in control of this confrontation!" Jadeite roared suddenly, his eyes brightening with furious mania. "Don't think you can talk me into surrendering my advantage! I'll destroy you and all your little friends-"

"And your little dog, too," Ukyou said with a loud yawn, cutting Jadeite off yet again. "I've heard it all before, from much more eloquent speakers than you."

Jadeite growled and clenched his fist. A strange purple light flared between his fingers for a moment. Then he let out a long breath and smiled. "You're trying to anger me into making a mistake again," Jadeite purred as he floated back in the air. "It won't work this time."

"It doesn't have to," Ukyou explained calmly, spotting something over her shoulder. "I was just stalling for time, you see."

"Stalling for..."

"Hold it right there!"

The new voice rang across the airport, sharp and clear. Akane turned and saw three figures standing in the nearby shadows. They were short, and had the obvious figures of young women. As the light from the moon overhead slowly drifted across the field it illuminated them one by one. They were all girls, in color-coded short skirts and body-hugging white leotards. Each was standing in a slightly comical pose, arms and legs akimbo as they stared with fierce determination towards the nearby confrontation.

"Airports are places where people come to meet loved ones, not to fight for their lives! For spoiling this purpose I, Sailor Moon, will-"

"NOW!" Ukyou shouted.

Akane glanced over her shoulder only long enough to see Ukyou and Ryouga dashing forward, their arms blurring as they launched their buzzing projectiles towards the floating figures. Jadeite gasped and raised his hand, almost too late. A few of the weapons slashed through the fabric of his uniform and drew blossoms of red in their wake, but the remainder of the attacks bounced harmlessly off a hemisphere of yellow force. The youma woman next to him was not quite so lucky. She screamed as a half-dozen of Ukyou's spatulas caught her in the chest and sent her spiraling into the harbour.

But Akane couldn't afford to waste any more time watching the battle. She hated it, but she had another, more important job to attend to. Ranma was running beside her, keeping step easily as they approached the trio of startled young girls. Akane didn't waste any time locating the one with the short blue hair.

"Sailor Mercury!" Akane called out quickly.

"Oh... yes..." the girl stammered, her eyes shifting from the battle behind Akane to the martial artist in front of her. A trinity of explosions erupted in the silence, but Akane refused to turn her attention away. "You seem to have me at a disadvantage..."

"No time for introductions," Ranma pointed out, looking over his shoulder at the battle. "We're all on the same side here, though."

"Wait, I think I remember you..." the blonde-haired girl with the ridiculous dumpling-style ponytails gasped.

"Whatever," Ranma dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "You and... uh," he looked helplessly at the tall brunette.

"Sailor Mars," Akane offered. "Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars are supposed to help Ukyou and Ryouga fight Jadeite."

"Wait a minute," Sailor Mars growled, stepping forward. "We don't just take orders from anyone-"

"Please!" Akane stepped in front of her, throwing her arms to her side. Ukyou had warned her that Sailor Mars would be the most obstinate. "Those monsters kidnapped my sister! I need your help if I'm supposed to save her. You have to agree to help us, and we don't have time to come up with a different plan!" Akane could feel wetness on her cheeks and inwardly cursed herself for crying. Yet she couldn't stop herself. She had already lost... no, she wouldn't lose any more of her family!

"I think we should listen to them," Sailor Mercury said softly as she stepped up beside her partner.

"Yeah." Sailor Moon walked over and patted Akane on the shoulder. "We'll help you save your sister. Sailor Moon stands for love and justice! Saving families in need is what I do best."

"Thank you," Akane breathed.

"Besides, I want to introduce myself to that hunk in the trenchcoat," Sailor Moon giggled. "We never really got to talk before..."

"Can't you ever stop thinking about boys!" Sailor Mars berated her.

Akane and Ranma shared a long glance.

"Uh huh," Ranma coughed into his hand. "Yeah, you can do that later." He paused and glanced at the short-haired girl. "We need your computer thingie. It can tell us where they've hidden Nabiki, can't it?"

"Uh, yes..." Sailor Mercury nodded. "It should be able to locate her." The other two Sailor Senshi nodded to each other and dashed from the small cluster to help Ukyou and Ryouga. Immediately the number of explosions behind Akane increased. Sailor Mercury reached up and tapped her right earring. With a synthesized hum, a visor of some clear blue material materialized across her eyes. Akane blinked when she realized the girl was holding a small pocketbook- sized device. Where had she gotten that from?

"Let's hurry," Ranma grumbled. Akane glanced at him and saw his eyes continue to glance in the direction of the battle. The boy hadn't liked being told to go with Akane. Ukyou had been insistent, however. And her argument about how he lacked a convenient projectile attack had finally won him over. But that didn't mean he liked it. Akane was kind of resentful herself. She didn't need a bodyguard.

"I think I've found her, over in that direction," Mercury raised her hand and pointed. Akane was already sprinting before she finished. Ranma caught up with her a moment later. A few seconds later, they were joined by the blue- haired Senshi as well.

01010

"Fire Soul!"

Rei raised her hands in front of her, concentrating the energy she felt burning inside her. The power sparked, then ignited at the tips of her fingers. With a mental push she launched the ball of flames across the air, only to watch it impact harmlessly on the force field that Jadeite had erected. The man kept his arm extended and she saw him wince as the fire dissipated around the orb he had created.

"Keep it up!" the boy, Ukyou, shouted as he dashed to the side and launched a series of his shuriken-like weapons with one hand. Jadeite shifted his aim, deflecting the weapons with his shield once more. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that their enemy couldn't maintain the shield and launch his energy attacks at the same time.

Sailor Moon launched her own attack in the wake of Ukyou's distraction. The glowing yellow frisbee streaked like a comet through the air. So far, it had been the only attack Jadeite seemed unwilling to meet head on, and this time proved no different. The man growled and seemed to flicker, then vanish into a haze. The discus passed harmlessly through the air before cycling back to Sailor Moon's waiting hand.

"Watch it," Ukyou shouted as she tackled the so-called leader of the Sailor Senshi from behind. Usagi screamed as she was thrown to the ground, and Rei saw a blast of pink lightning flash through the air above the duo. A few meters away the ground disintegrated in a hemisphere of light, the explosion loud enough that it drowned out Usagi's panicked cries for a few moments.

"That was fast," the other boy grunted as he leapt towards Jadeite's new position. His hand snapped up to his forehead in a blur almost too fast for Rei to follow and came away with a dozen of those yellow bandanas he wore.

"He teleported," Ukyou said as she got off the suddenly quiet Sailor Moon. Rei glanced down at the blonde and saw her giving the boy a dreamy stare from her position on the ground.

"I thought he couldn't do that in the middle of a fight," the boy growled as he spun the bandanas in his hands. They began to buzz, then hum as they became spinning disks in his hands. The Dark Kingdom general was just standing with his arm held loosely at his side, smirking down at them.

"I guess the boy doesn't know everything about me," Jadeite reported calmly.

"Let's not get caught up in talk," Ukyou warned the other boy in a voice that was both cold and hard. He pulled the starstruck Usagi to her feet and pointed at the bandana-wielding boy. "Remember the plan."

"Plan?" Rei snapped.

"Just keep him occupied," Ukyou stepped forward, his coat flapping in the breeze. Jadeite only smirked, then thrust his palm forward. Rei could feel the mystic energy gathering before the strike, but still could hardly move in time. Ukyou, however, moved in a flash. The lightning struck the ground and exploded under the leaping boy's feet. Ukyou flipped, riding the shockwave with the skill of a dancer before landing gracefully a few meters away. Jadeite's follow-up shot was aborted when several of the other boy's spinning bandanas cut through the air, forcing him to pull his arm back. Rei shouted herself, summoning another blast of Martian fire from her fingers. Once more it was absorbed by his shield.

"We'll never beat him like this!" Usagi cried, apparently having recovered herself. Jadeite teleported away from another swarm of Ukyou's miniature spatulas as if to demonstrate her point. Rei closed her eyes and breathed out, focusing her energy inward. She could feel his magic permeating the air around them. Flowing like a river through the entire airport. She felt a sudden pulse in the flow of that river, like a stone hitting a pond.

"Over there!" Rei shouted as she spun to face the reappearing general. She was already charging her Fire Soul attack once more, but Jadeite was faster. His magical energy lashed out at her like a striking snake, and Rei cursed as she threw herself to the side. The heat of the explosion rolled up her legs, and the concrete rubbed harshly against the flesh of her arm as she landed hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

"Careful!" the other boy suddenly appeared over her. He was thrusting his red umbrella with inhuman speed, so fast that all Rei saw was a red blur. Then she felt and heard a thunderous boom and the world around her shook. She screamed and clutched the boy's legs, as they seemed to be the only stable things in the world. The boy only grunted, and slowly pulled back his umbrella. Rei stared up and saw that he had unfurled the bamboo and used it like a shield to absorb Jadeite's follow-up. "This guy's faster than he was this morning," the boy warned his friend.

"Indeed." Ukyou cocked her head to the side and stared up at him. "Well, we still have the advantage."

"Not for long!"

Ukyou noticed the attack too late. Rei had once seen a firehouse used to put out a fire, and had been impressed by the sheer force of the white water. But this stream of water was easily ten times as large as anything man had ever harnessed. It wasn't a stream, it was a virtual river of destruction. Ukyou disappeared in the white foam, his cry cut off by the overpowering roar of the torrent.

"Ukyou!" Usagi cried in sudden despair.

"Who?"

Ryouga and Rei turned and saw that this was no longer four on one. The blue-skinned woman from earlier was floating above the ocean now, flanked on both sides by huge, spinning waterspouts. She gestured with one hand, and another torrent blasted out with pinpoint precision at them. Ryouga yelped in shock and dismay and leapt to the side, barely avoiding the pulse. Rei tried not to stare as the water tore a trench nearly a meter deep into the concrete runway.

"I can take this one," Rei shouted as she pulled her hands before her. She frowned as she reached for the energy that was within her. The fire within had dimmed considerably since the battle had started. It appeared that there was a limit to how much magic Sailor Mars could call upon in one battle. But it was still more than enough to see her through this.

Rei didn't even see the attack coming. It blasted into her back with a force stronger than anything she had ever felt. For a moment her world dissolved into a cloud of white-hot pain and echoing explosions. The real world returned slowly, and only with frightening effort. She was on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. She couldn't feel the asphalt under her hands, or anything at all besides the burning agony on her back.

Her ears were filled with a high pitched whine. She tried to stand, but her balance deserted her and she ended up sitting down hard. The world lost focus, everything doubling then trebling. Rei stuck out her tongue and bit down on it, hard. The sweet pain caused her vision to snap back into focus. A few seconds of concentration later and the whining in her ears dimmed until she could hear the echoing explosions once more.

Rei staggered into a half-crouch, glancing over her shoulder. It became clear that the only reason she hadn't been finished off was because Ryouga and Usagi were drawing the attention of the enemy. The girl and boy weren't able to do much but dodge frantically as Jadeite and his youma took potshots at them. Yet somehow they stayed one step ahead of the attacks, Ryouga moving with a grace and agility that seemed the total opposite of Usagi's frantic and clumsy leaps and dives.

"Are you okay?" a voice whispered into her ear. She felt an arm wrap itself under her shoulder and pull her fully to her feet. Rei looked to the side, seeing Ukyou's drenched face. The boy was wincing slightly, but seemed able to move.

"I think," Rei frowned. She focused her attention inward. She could feel the burns on her back and knew they were bad. Some instinct told her that the wounds weren't life-threatening, however, and that given time the magic of her costume should repair the damage. "I can still fight!" she hissed. That was true: Rei could still feel the magic of Mars burning in her soul.

"Good," Ukyou grunted. "They must think they KO'd us with those hits, so they're ignoring us. This is a perfect chance to end the battle quickly." Ukyou stepped away from Rei, but remained close as the girl swayed on her feet for a moment. "Charge up one of those wards of yours," Ukyou ordered briskly. "If we can get it on Jadeite, they should disrupt his control."

Rei bristled at the commanding tone, but reached down and extracted one of her ofuda wards from her storage pocket. Ukyou had a point: this was a good chance to catch Jadeite unguarded. Working swiftly, Rei spun the ward in her hand, channeling her chi and the magic of her patron into it at the same time. She acted partly on pure instinct, and partly with the calm certainty that only came from years of dedicated training. One short chant later and the ward snapped in her hands, an aura of fire flickering briefly along its edge before it became as stiff as a sword.

"I can't get up to him to use it..." Rei started and was cut off as her words suddenly became a small cry of panic. The ground had disappeared from under her feet and she felt a sudden rush of vertigo. Then she realized that the boy had grabbed her in both arms and then leaped. Rei pulled in her breath as they almost flew into the air. As a Sailor Senshi, she and the others could make impressive leaps, but this boy put them to shame.

"Stop daydreaming!" Ukyou hissed. Rei snapped her eyes forward and saw that they were approaching Jadeite with startling speed. The air around them screamed, but Jadeite couldn't see them coming. Grinning fiercely, Rei pulled back her hand, channeling the last bit of mystic energy into the ward.

"Akuryu Taisen!" she cried as they passed within inches of the floating man. Rei's hand darted out, neatly affixing the paper to the back of his jacket. As they descended Rei flipped her head back, throwing her luxurious black hair out of her way as she looked back at the man. He screamed and plummeted towards the pavement. Jadeite shouted something in some strange dialect, and waved his arms, but his eyes widened when nothing happened. He landed badly, one of his legs turning at an unhealthy angle under him. His yell of pain was strangely satisfying.

01010

Ranma wasn't even breathing hard when the cavernous hangar came into view. Akane was still in the lead, but he could have easily outdistanced her. Behind him the other girl in the embarrassingly short skirt followed.

"This is definitely the place," Sailor Mercury called out. "She's been affected by some sort of magical field, and is only a few meters from a massive energy source."

"Good," Akane shouted back over her shoulder. Her long hair snapped behind her as she ran full tilt towards the shadowy entrance. Ranma frowned as they approached. He could feel something, something dangerous from that place. It was that same noxious feeling he had felt from back at the temple. On top of that, he could feel the familiar electric tingle on the back of his neck. Considering the battle was now hundreds of meters away, that shouldn't have been the case. That was, unless...

"Akane, duck!" Ranma put on a burst of speed and slammed his palm into the small of Akane's back even before he had finished yelling. He saw the shadows twitch and suddenly a long green tendril emerged from them, almost too fast for Ranma to follow. Almost. His head cocked back and the tendril passed harmlessly through the divot formed by the angle of his jaw and neck without touching him. Akane tumbled to the pavement in front of him, a shocked gasp escaping her lips. He could hear the girl behind him stagger to a clumsy stop. Ranma almost snorted. It was apparent this Sailor Mercury didn't even have rudimentary martial arts training.

"Well, what do we have here?" an amused feminine voice emerged from the shadows. Ranma flipped backwards as the tendril beneath his chin jerked suddenly. He completed an elegant backflip, feeling the pressure of the air displaced by the sudden whipping of the bark-like weapon. When he regained his feet it was just in time to see the tendril vanish back into the shadows.

"He's fast," a different voice pointed out.

"I'm the best," Ranma grinned. He slid his legs apart, snapping his arms out in a complex pattern as he settled himself into a northern horse stance. Out of the shadows stepped three feminine figures. Each was clad in a variety of foresty colors, wearing skin tight leotards with silly floral motifs. The lead one was the shortest, with straw colored hair and a purple leotard. Her left arm seemed to be made of intertwined branches that Ranma figured was the tendril he had seen earlier. To her right was a taller woman with long black hair and a green leotard. The other one came in on the leader's left, with a single lock of red hair in an otherwise purple head and a light yellow leotard. "Normally I don't like hitting girls," Ranma pointed out with as much arrogance in his tone as he could summon, which was considerable. "But considering you gals ain't even human, I'll make an exception."

His eyes and mind were already working, flickering over the new battlefield intensely. He memorized the angles and distances to the door, the walls, the nearby cart full of abandoned suitcases and everything else he could see with practiced ease.

"You three are between us and an innocent young woman!" Sailor Mercury shouted as she stepped up beside Ranma. "I won't let you prevent us from saving her. I am Sailor Mercury, and in the name of the planet Mercury, I shall punish you!" The entire speech came complete with silly poses.

"Don't sweat yourself with these three," Ranma spoke softly. "You and Akane go in there and help Nabiki. I'll handle them by myself."

"Isn't he confident?" the tallest of the youma women noted with a chuckle.

"We're going to kill all three of you, boy," Purple-suit said with a slash of her wooden arm. "We thought we were going to miss out on the excitement, but thankfully you walked right into our trap."

"Ranma, I can help with this..." Akane began but trailed off when she saw Ranma's expression.

"You go and save Nabiki," Ranma said, his voice suddenly serious. "Once she's safe, you can come back and help me." He smirked, his voice taking on its usual taunting tones. "I even promise I'll leave one of them conscious for you."

Akane nodded and grabbed the short blue... bluette? Whatever. She ran with Sailor Mercury towards the hangar.

"Stop them!" the leader hissed. Yellow-suit leapt into the air, pulling back her hands and causing a number of small red objects to appear between her cupped palms. Ranma was already moving. Two long strides carried him over to the baggage cart. His leg lashed out, kicking one of the heavier looking suitcases into the air. He flipped in its wake, his other leg coming up in an arc. He caught the bag in a perfect soccer kick and sent it spiraling into Yellow-suit. The youma cried out in pain as the alligator skin suitcase crashed into her cheek. The orbs in her hand fell down among her allies. With twin screams they leapt away as the orbs exploded in a series of staccato bangs. Ranma landed in a crouch and whistled when he saw the crater her aborted attack had caused.

"Now, ladies." Ranma languidly flowed to his full height. "I thought we had a date."

"Fine," Purple-suit shouted. "Get him first!"

The three came at him with speed that would have been impressive to a normal person. But they faced Ranma Saotome. He faded to the left, avoiding the leader's suddenly expanding arm as it punched a neat hole in the metal cart. A series of bomblets followed. Ranma was already in the air. The flames licked at his feet as he flipped gracefully.

His feet came down on top of the branches that made up the leader's arm. She gasped and began to retract them. Ranma dashed forward, light-footing it along the length of her arm. He frowned as a wave of vertigo suddenly hit him. His foot almost slipped... but Pops had trained him to fight on a greased tightrope hanging over a canyon in the middle of a windstorm. He could now see Green-suit with her arms extended, projecting waves of disorienting energy outward. He snorted and continued running, barely missing a beat.

The end of the woman's arm came up quickly and Ranma was ready. He backflipped, transferring all his momentum into a single perfect kick that caught her dead on the chin. He didn't pause to see what happened to her. As soon as his foot hit the ground he was pushing himself toward Green-suit. Her eyes widened and she leapt backward, but too slow. Ranma pushed free of the ground, soaring into her fist-first. Green-suit's stomach gave and her entire body folded over his fist.

He landed, his hands curling into the fabric of her leotard. He spun around, dragging her with him. He could see Purple-suit dragging herself out of the dent in the metal wall Ranma had knocked her into. Beyond her, Yellow-suit was holding her hands down, building up a shot but obviously unwilling to strike while Ranma was so close to her friend. Ranma grinned.

"Catch!" he yelled and flung the youma at Yellow-suit. The woman cried in panic and dodged to the side, and Ranma was already sprinting to meet her. He had to shift his trajectory slightly as Purple-suit shot her thorn-arm at him again. But he ducked under the attack with barely a thought. Yellow-suit saw him coming. Using one hand, she launched a cloud of cherry bombs at him.

Ranma flipped forward. The blasts tore up the pavement. The hot wind brushed against his face and the acrid smoke tickled his nostrils. Then he was past it. His leg shot out, coming down in a vicious axe kick. The woman-thing gasped and tried to throw up her arms to protect herself. Ranma came down on her forearm with enough force to shatter stone. He heard a sharp crack, then pushed away from her. The smoke of her explosions hadn't yet settled, and Ranma skipped back through it, disappearing from the vision of all three enemies for a precious fraction of a second.

When he emerged he saw Green-suit slowly and shakily regaining her feet and Yellow-suit collapsed on the ground clutching her broken arm. Purple-suit was dashing towards him, pulling back her distorted "arm" of thorns for a punch. Ranma almost laughed and slowed down enough so she could catch him. Her attack came in fast, the air cracking in the wake of her strike. Ranma leaned to the side and it flashed past his cheek without touching him. His counter did not miss. She staggered back, the breath knocked out of her by his knee. He stepped forward, twisting his entire torso at the hips and caught her straight on the chin with the ball of his hand. This time when she hit the metal wall of the hangar, it buckled and gave. Razor sharp bits of debris were thrown out in a blossom of destruction as the youma punched a hole straight into the hangar.

Ranma turned, pirouetting on one toe, to face the other two. He assumed his northern horse stance again. The two youma backed away from him, their eyes wide and quivering in fear. He didn't blame them. Man, he envied Ukyou if she got to do this kind of thing all the time. He stretched one hand forward and made the ancient 'come on' sign.

"Come on, don't run away yet!"

01010

Tethys focused her magic behind her, skimming across the water as fast as she could. Jadeite was trying to stand again, but his legs was turning under him badly. She could see the strange paper on his back fluttering and sparking as the Dark General tried to gather his energy. The edges of the paper were beginning to burn, and in time he might have overwhelmed the ward, but time was one thing he did not have.

Tethys gestured, drawing on the magical connection between her and the water and one of her waterspouts collapsed across the runway. It formed a makeshift barrier between Jadeite and the four humans, enough to prevent them from taking advantage of his weakened state.

"Master, are you well?" Tethys crooned as she landed beside him.

"Of course I'm not!" he roared back. "Get this thing off my back!"

She nodded, slipping around behind him. Her hands reached out and grasped the edges of the ward. Immediately she felt a terrible heat radiating out from it and hissed in pain. Her fingers wanted very badly to release it, but she refused to listen to her survival instinct. Instead she clenched tighter, focusing all her energy into her limbs. She could see the barrier she had erected slowly dissolving as she lost the strength to maintain it, but that was of no importance. Sparks began to leap from the ward, blasting up the length of her arms. She screamed then, as the pain grew, but refused to let go. She would not fail him!

Finally there was a loud rip and Tethys staggered backward. The ward had come free in her hands, and it immediately vaporised in a flash of silver light. But Tethys collapsed to her knees. She was almost spent, and could even feel the edges of her being starting to unravel. She focused her mind, trying to hold onto the sense of herself. She was determined not to end up a pile of dust like so many of her sisters, but she felt so weak...

Jadeite didn't even thank her as he floated to his feet. But she didn't expect him to. That wouldn't have been the Jadeite she had grown so... fond of. The four humans spread out, their faces mixes of anger and a bit of fear. All except one. The boy Ukyou was circling to Jadeite's left, holding that bizarre polearm of his. His face was completely void of any kind of feeling, making it impossible to read. Tethys wished for a moment that she had put her whole strength behind her earlier attack. She had thought the strike she used would be enough to knock the boy out. And it would have, if Ukyou were a normal human.

Tethys watched as Jadeite fired a few more of his eldritch lightning blasts at them. Ukyou and the muscular boy were closing on him rapidly, both their weapons coming up for attacks. Sailor Mars was kneeling on the ground, but still building up for her Fire Soul attack. Even Sailor Moon was stepping forward with a frown on her face, her magic gathering for the deadly Moon Tiara attack.

Tethys had no choice. It was now or never. Even as she began to lose consciousness she reached out, her arms stretching forward and catching the metaphysical strands of energy she had laid in wait for this moment. She began to chuckle, then laugh at the irony. She could feel the aggressive energy flowing from all the humans in waves. Well, she had planned for that. With a harsh tug she pushed the last of her energy into her magical trap. She collapsed, her eyes closing slowly. She might die here, but these humans were finished.

01010

Akane could hear Ranma fighting the youma-things outside, but forced herself not to pay too much attention. She had a much larger problem to deal with.

"How do we get her down?" Akane wondered aloud.

Nabiki was hanging from the ceiling. Akane thought her sister would have been mortified to realize that her skirt left nothing to the imagination from this angle, and suppressed a sudden surge of the giggles at the thought. She forced herself to focus. She could see the rope tying Nabiki to the rafters, but there was no obvious way to get up there to her. She wondered briefly how they had even gotten her up there in the first place. Then she remembered these maniacs could fly.

"I'm not sure," Sailor Mercury said slowly. She was looking up at the sky through her transparent visor; odd figures seemed to keep appearing on the inside of it. Her fingers were moving quickly over the pad on her miniature computer. "But that orb next to her is very fascinating. Its like a giant energy pump of some kind. I think it's directing energy to someplace. If I can get a better reading, I can figure out exactly how it works and then..."

"That's great," Akane interrupted the rambling girl. "Can you leap high enough to get to Nabiki?"

"Hmm?" Sailor Mercury looked over at Akane as if just remembering she was there. "Oh, I'm sorry, no." She gestured with her computer. "It's a bit too high for me. Maybe there is a ladder or something else we can use to get up to the rafters?"

Akane nodded and began to look around. She kind of liked the blue-haired Senshi. She seemed practical and intelligent, qualities which Akane could admire. Akane walked away from her a little bit, peering into the shadows of the hangar in the hopes of seeing something that could help her reach her stranded sister.

Her search was interrupted by a loud crack from behind her. She spun and saw one of the youma women smash through the metal wall with enough force that it sent fragments spinning off in all directions. The disturbingly human figure collapsed on the ground in a heap. Well, she guessed Ranma was doing well. She was about to turn back to her search when she heard a sharp gasp from the Sailor Senshi.

"Oh no... this isn't good!" the girl cried. Akane looked over to see her looking back up at that floating blue orb. Her mouth had fallen open, and she was staring at it in obvious shock.

"What's going on?" Akane called over.

"This orb, it's not an energy pump... it's an energy trap!" Sailor Mercury cried back.

"What?"

"Someone just accessed it remotely, triggering a hidden function..." Mercury began to rapidly tap at her computer. "It was dormant, but now it's drawing in energy again!"

"Drawing in energy?" Akane frowned and walked towards her. "That doesn't sound good."

"It isn't... the magic is limited to only one type of energy, but..." Sailor Mercury snapped her head to the side, looking out the hangar doors. "Oh dear, I think Ranma's in trouble."

"What?" Akane blinked. "But he was winning..."

"This device, its absorbing all the aggressive energy in the area, just like the kind Ranma was channeling! Its... drawing away all his strength!" She turned her eyes back to Akane, and they were wide with fright. "Whatever you do, don't get angry!"

"What are you talking about..."

Then she saw a figure fly through the hole in the wall again. But this time it wasn't a youma. Ranma smashed into the floor like a sack of potatoes. He groaned and pushed himself up with both hands. But Akane could see the energy leaking from his body. It looked like a thick vapor, flowing from his entire form and up into the sky. She followed the path of the vapor and saw it vanish into the orb.

"Ranma! Don't fight it!" Akane shouted.

"What?" Ranma looked up at her blearily. "Are you crazy? I'm not about to surrender!" he shouted, and Akane saw the vapor around him begin to flow faster as Ranma tried to fight the drain.

"Not so tough anymore, are you?" one of the youma women said as she stepped into the hangar through the open doors. Akane slid into her favored kempo stance, trying to force her anger down. The woman was cradling one arm, and wore a yellow leotard with floral accessories. Behind her walked a taller woman with long black hair and a green outfit.

"Hey, Grape, are you okay?" the other called to the third woman, who was thankfully still lying on the floor. The woman didn't rise or make any response.

"Guess not," the yellow-suited one said with a shrug. "But that's okay; she isn't dead or she'd have dissolved already."

"Yeah," the other responded. "Hey look, he's getting up again."

"Heh," Ranma smirked and stood shakily on his feet. His body swayed dangerously as he tried to raise his fists, but couldn't seem to get them up past his waist. "You're not taking me down so easily. I don't know what you did, but it isn't going to work on me a second time."

"Oh shut up and die already!" the shorter youma roared and thrust out her good hand. Ranma stumbled back as a swarm of tiny red beads launched from her palm. But he wasn't able to dodge.

Akane threw her arms in front of her eyes as the explosions rocked the hangar. The light turned the whole world red for a second, and she could hear the blasts echoing in her ears long after they stopped. Cautiously she lowered her arms. Ranma appeared to have leapt back at the last second, but he had still caught the brunt of the blast. His entire shirt was burned off, leaving a nasty looking red and black burn on his chest. His pants had escaped the brunt of the damage, but scorch marks swirled up his neck and onto his face. He was moaning, lying spread eagle on the concrete.

Akane wanted to run to him, but she remembered the monsters were still here. She turned her eyes back in their direction, just as the smoke from the attack was clearing to reveal them. She heard more than saw Sailor Mercury step up beside her. The petite girl seemed to bring an aura of calm with her presence, and Akane breathed a little bit easier.

"Just two more pests to go," the tall youma informed her partner laconically.

"Let's finish them quickly then," the shorter one grinned visibly through the half-mask covering her face. Akane gasped as she thrust her palm at them and another cloud of cherry bombs flowed out. She backed up a step, knowing that there was no way she could leap away from the attack in time. Not to mention the fact that Sailor Mercury was slower than her. Gritting her teeth, Akane stepped forward, determined to absorb as much of the assault for the smaller girl as she could.

"Shabon Spray!"

Akane felt a sudden cold rush and goosebumps leapt up along her arms. A thick mist settled in front of her, a fog so thick she couldn't see more than a few meters in front of her. But she did see the small bombs spin harmlessly past her, a few even bouncing without effect off the front of her martial arts gi. Akane turned her head and say the blue-haired Senshi slowly lowering her hands to her side. She smiled at Akane's startled expression.

"I wasn't sure that was going to work, either," she explained with a shrug.

A string of mild curses drew Akane's attention back to the problem at hand. She could see vague shadows walking through the fog towards them. She squinted, trying to make out what was happening, but no mater how she focused, the fog was impenetrable.

"They're coming this way," Sailor Mercury explained as she consulted her computer again. "We had better make a run for it."

"No!" Akane shouted back, then winced as she felt her legs begin to buckle underneath her. Akane took a deep breath, forcing her flare of anger back. "I mean... we can't abandon Nabiki or Ranma here. Those monsters will kill them."

"You have a point," Sailor Mercury sighed. "But I don't have an attack powerful enough to hurt them. Maybe if Sailor Moon was here..." the girl trailed off.

"Well, she isn't," Akane pointed out pragmatically. She raised her fists in front of her in a boxer's stance. "I can fight them."

"But if you draw on your aggressive energy-"

"Then I'll have to fight them without getting mad," Akane pointed out. She could see the duo approaching now, their bodies fading eerily into view as they exited the thickness of the fog.

"There they are," the short youma snapped.

"They didn't even run," said the tall one, sounding surprised.

"I'm not going to run from you," Akane affirmed.

"You should have," the tall one cried as she charged forward. Akane gasped as the distance between them vanished. She raised her arm, absorbing a punch with her forearm. Pain shot up the length of her limb and she could almost feel the bones vibrate in shock. She staggered back, her eyes fixing with the black eyes of her opponent. Akane saw only glee and malice in those eyes.

The creature smiled, the fabric of its mask twisting with the expression beneath. It drew back its arm slowly. It was mocking her. Akane breathed out, and punished it for its arrogance.

Her free hand came up and grabbed the thing just above the elbow. She stepped forward, twisting the youma's arm, causing it to make a sharp squeal and forcing its entire body spin away from her. Akane followed up quickly, lashing out with her leg and catching the thing in the back of its suddenly exposed knees. She released her grip on the monster as it flipped into the air and came crashing down on its back.

Some instinct warned her to back off, so Akane was already backpedaling when the other youma struck at her with a wild haymaker. The thing moved so fast! She saw the fog part in the wake of its punch. A bit of resentment at not being able to finish the first youma was strangled stillborn as Akane forced herself to remain calm.

The fallen youma floated to her feet and Akane backed up a few more steps. She could feel Sailor Mercury behind her now, but the girl seemed at a loss for what to do. The two woman-things split up, circling around them in different directions. Akane tried to shift to keep them both in view, but it became harder with each passing second.

"Little maggot," the tall brunette hissed as she stretched her arms out to her sides. "We'll teach you to challenge your betters." Akane frowned slightly, but resisted the urge to retort. Then the first wave of vertigo hit her like a freight train. Akane reeled, her vision doubling for a moment. Before she could regain her footing, another wave of dizziness flowed over her. She gasped and staggered back, colliding with Sailor Mercury and sending the other girl sprawling.

Akane felt an intense flash of static from her danger sense, and spun her head. She saw a blurry form rushing towards her, and grunted. Another wave of vertigo slammed into Akane and she staggered, just in time for the youma's fist to collide with her face. Her mouth opened but her voice refused the scream as pain blossomed across her cheek and temporarily blotted out all thought. She felt herself slam into something hard, but the pain and increasingly disorienting vertigo prevented her from identifying it.

"Akane! Are you alright?" Sailor Mercury said from somewhere nearby. Akane shook her head, trying to clear it and focus on the other girl's voice. But it was impossible. Everything kept doubling or trebling, then snapping back into focus only to have changed its position radically in the meantime. Akane could even see the waves of energy that were doing this to her, but could do nothing to prevent it. Her stomach roiled as she forced herself back to her feet, standing in what she guessed was a half-crouch.

"Uppity human!"

Akane threw herself backward, away from the voice. But the attack came from behind. She screamed as something rammed into her back hard enough to bend her backward. She felt her feet leave the floor, and for one terrifying instant floated in a world with no up or down, only slowly fading pain. Then she collided with the ground, skimming along it painfully. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking unbidden from behind her lids. Frustration welled up within her, but she fought it back as best she could. She couldn't get angry! Nabiki was depending on her! It didn't help that both those monsters were laughing at her.

Akane pushed herself up on her arms, her eyes still squeezed tight. Thankfully the nauseating disorientation seemed to have stopped. Akane felt hands settle on her shoulder, and almost lashed out, but she forced herself to remain calm.

"Akane? Please be okay..."

"Sailor Mercury..." Akane allowed herself to be helped to her feet. She opened her eyes to try and look at the girl, but immediately the vertigo returned. The blue-eyed girl's face distorted and doubled in Akane's eyes, and Akane could feel her legs betraying her again. "I can't fight them..." Akane admitted ruefully.

"Of course you can't," the voice of the green-garbed youma rang out from somewhere nearby. "Surrender to the inevitable, and maybe we'll make your death short and painless."

"But I wouldn't count on it," the other added with a malicious chuckle.

"We have to get away from here," Sailor Mercury was saying as she guided Akane with her arms. Akane closed her eyes shut in frustration, not caring that she could feel the strength seeping from her limbs as she began to let her anger surface. A sharp breath later, Akane was pushing her pain back again. She had just noticed... the vertigo had vanished again. Akane blinked her eyes open again, confirming what she guessed. The youma's magic only affected you if you saw it!

"Sailor Mercury... can you see through this?"

"What?"

"Can you see through it? You seem to be able to move around. Does your magic protect you?"

"My visor screens out the distortion waves the youma is producing, yes," Sailor Mercury said. Akane nodded and suddenly pulled herself from the other girl's grasp. She stepped forward, her eyes clenched shut, but her strides steady. "What are you doing?"

"You have to be my eyes," Akane said as she slid into her most defensive kempo stance.

"Oh look," the green-clad woman's voice rang out from in front of her. "The little warrior wants to continue fighting."

"I guess I'll just have to beat her to death then," the other said from Akane's right with a hint of amusement in her reply. Akane shifted herself to face to the right, and she heard the youma's footsteps suddenly hesitate. Akane grinned, but forced herself to remain calm. She focused her thoughts inward, trying to forget the outside world. Her sister Kasumi had once told her how she got through most of her chores by just letting her body move, without really thinking about what she was doing. Akane tried to follow that advice now.

Akane heard the footsteps speed up again, becoming a steady beat. A run! Akane stepped back, raising her hands to her face. The blow sneaked in under her guard and caught her in the stomach. Air exploded from her mouth as her lungs emptied all at once. The soles of her feet slipped and skidded as the force of the blow knocked her back. She managed to retain her balance, however.

"Akane!" Sailor Mercury shouted.

"A little warning next time..." Akane hissed with a chuckle.

"I don't know what to do." Sailor Mercury sounded ashamed. "I don't know the first thing about fighting."

"Don't let your confidence waver!" Akane shot back as gently as she could. "You know how to do this." Akane raised her arms again. She could hear the youma circling to her left, and she did her best to follow it using just her ears. Thankfully the concrete here echoed nicely to the woman-thing's footsteps, at least. "I believe in you. I trust you won't let me down." Akane breathed out, hoping that worked.

"I'll... I'll try..." the girl said as she stepped up behind Akane. Suddenly the youma's footsteps changed beats, speeding up again. Akane forced herself to calm down. There was nothing she could do unless- "To your left!"

Akane waved her left arm in a wide circle. She felt something strong glance off her arm, then back away. Akane smiled.

"Now in front!"

Akane nodded and stepped back, feeling the air in front of her swish.

"Your legs!"

Akane hopped, and as she did so she snapped her foot forward. She was rewarded with a sharp crack and the feel of flesh striking her heel. A moment later there was a dull thud as the youma struck the floor. But that didn't last long, Akane could already hear it clawing its way back to its feet.

"I can't win at this rate..." Akane pointed out. She tried to remember more about the monster-woman. She had been cradling her left arm, and Akane hadn't felt her attack with that arm either. Maybe Ranma had crippled it earlier? Akane hoped so...

"She's coming back!"

Akane could hear that for herself, as the youma screamed loud enough to wake the dead as it charged. Akane gulped and shifted to her right. She had to take it down in one good shot. She would only have the one chance.

"It's leaping!"

"Which direction!"

"To your left- No, straight above!"

Akane dived to the side and felt the thing pass through the air behind her. The ground cracked and Akane heard the Senshi scream. She dared not open her eyes to see what was happening, and almost cursed as her anger rolled up from her stomach again. Then Sailor Mercury was shouting that it was behind her. Akane caught herself as she landed and pushed herself forward, tumbling as best she could. She did it badly, and lost control of her spin half-way through. With a startled yelp she smashed into the metal wall and something sharp dug into her side.

Her frustration was getting harder to bottle up. It was building like a pressure cooker, threatening to explode. Akane couldn't hold it back for long. But for now, she maintained control. She winced and reached down to her side. Something sharp and cold had torn a small gash in her side, and it was sticky with blood. Her fingers rolled along it... it was a strip of metal. A very sharp strip of metal. Akane frowned, and quietly palmed it as she raised herself to her feet again.

"You're okay!" she heard Sailor Mercury sigh in relief.

"This one is pretty tough," the short youma commented as Akane heard her closing in.

"Just finish her off quickly," the taller one barked. "You're embarrassing us."

"I don't see you helping much!"

"Shut up, I'm the only reason she hasn't knocked you reeling yet."

"Feh. I'll show you. This human is no match for me!"

Akane heard the creature running towards her again, the footsteps echoing lightly in the giant hangar. Akane tensed and pushed her back to the wall. It gave her less room to maneuver, but also gave the creature less room to attack her.

"High right!" Akane blocked, deflecting a palm strike with her forearm.

"Low left!" Akane snapped up her knee, absorbing a kick with her shin. The force sent an exquisite spike of pain through her body, but she ignored it.

"Your head, in front!" Akane ducked and felt her hair snapping as the creatures hand passed through it. But seconds later she heard the shriek of tearing metal, and smiled. There was a moment's pause, and Akane could hear the metal twisting as the monster tried to pull her arm free.

"Now I have you!" Akane shouted and thrust forward with the palmed metal shard. For a moment, she felt resistance, then the creatures skin gave as Akane's weapon plowed through. A sickeningly warm wet fluid spurted over her hand. Flecks of the foul-smelling liquid struck Akane's face. The creature gave a sharp gurgle of pain, but Akane refused to relent. Nabiki, Ranma...even Sailor Mercury's life depended on this. She pushed her legs against the wall and thrust with all her might, bracing the metal fragment with both hands. She roared, letting her rage lose for a moment, focusing the power behind it into her strike.

The wall behind her tore apart as Akane flung the creature from her. She staggered forward, feeling a lot of her strength ebbing away. She bit back the rage, damming the flow. A moment later the creature hit the floor in front of her with a loud crash. Akane dropped, placing her hands on her knees and breathed deeply. The monster did not rise.

"Hou-housenka..."

"I think your friend isn't going to be able to help you, anymore..." Akane grinned. She opened her left eye a sliver, and saw the world had returned to normal. The last of the mist was drying up, and the youma had dropped her arms. Whatever she had been doing to produce those waves, she had stopped. She was backing away, casting glances between Akane and the rapidly approaching Sailor Mercury. "This isn't possible! You're just a human! You don't have any magic in you at all!"

"I may be just a human," Akane forced herself to stand up straight and curl her hands into fists. "But you seem to have underestimated humans!"

"No!" the monster roared and raised its arms. "I'll tear you apart!"

"Try it," Akane bluffed. She didn't have anything left in her. She couldn't have fought to save her life. But somehow, she felt exhilarated! The creature before her would likely beat her silly even without her magic vertigo, but Akane didn't care. She laughed, and something in that laugh caused the youma to back up a step. "I'm not going to wait all day!"

The monster took one last look at her, turned, and fled. Akane breathed out, not sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, the thing was escaping...

Akane's eyes snapped wide as a ball of purple light streaked out from the shadows and caught the fleeing youma in the side. The thing gave a horrified yell as the ball collided with its body. Akane stared, unable to believe it as the youma's body seemed to... unravel as the ball advanced. An endless instant later the ball exploded outward, sending a ring of dust and wind that blew Akane's long hair back and forced her to cover her eyes with her arm. When she dropped her arm, there was nothing in front of her but a scorched circle in the ground.

"Where... who..." Akane stammered.

"Over there!" Sailor Mercury pointed. Akane watched as a woman stepped out of the shadows. She was dressed much like the other Sailors, in a bizarre skin-tight fetish costume with an embarrassingly short skirt. But somehow she wore it with an unstated dignity and grace the other girls lacked. It didn't hurt that this was obviously a full-grown woman, with agate eyes and perfectly coiffed green hair that tumbled to her waist.

"Who are you?" Akane asked softly. The woman didn't respond. Instead she lifted one hand, leveling the strange key-shaped staff she carried. Akane tensed, but realized a moment later that the woman wasn't pointing it at her.

"Dead scream," the woman whispered. Akane gasped. A ball of indigo light bulged from the tip of her staff, before blasting forward like a rocket. Akane tried to follow the attack with her eyes, but it moved faster than she could see. She turned her eyes only in time to see the explosion, and watch it clear to reveal a scorch mark in the floor. Akane took a moment to realize that mark had been where the wood-armed youma had fallen earlier.

Akane snapped her eyes to where she guessed her own opponent had fallen. She paled a little at the sight of the frighteningly human-looking youma lying on the ground. The strip of metal Akane had used was sticking grotesquely from its stomach, purple blood oozing up around it. Akane looked down, seeing her hands covered with the substance, and felt a wave of repulsion. She barely heard the third whispered attack, and only looked up when the explosion had ceased and left a mercifully sanitary ring of scorched concrete.

"Wait, who are you? Why are you helping us?" Sailor Mercury shouted. Akane saw the woman walking calmly from the hangar. She paused, staring back over her shoulder at the young Senshi.

"I'm not here to help you," the woman replied in a level voice. "I'm here to clean up this mess." And with that she walked out of the hangar. Sailor Mercury looked about to chase after her, but it was just then that Akane's legs decided to give out on her. With a worried gasp, the blue-haired girl ran back in Akane's direction.

01010

Ukyou slipped backwards, her arms quivering as she tried to maintain her grip on her spatula. The creeping numbness was emptying her limbs of strength, a sensation which she was already familiar with. She refused to panic, even as the chi exited her body in a visible cloud of blue vapor. When Ryouga took two steps in front of her before going down like a pole-axed steer, she still didn't panic. She snapped her weapon down, burying the edge into the concrete and leaning against it to keep herself upright.

When she saw Sailor Mars crumble to her right, the long hair of the fire Senshi pooling around her head, Ukyou began to worry a bit. Human beings were vulnerable to the energy draining traps of the Dark Kingdom, but didn't she remember that the Sailor Senshi were immune? Ryouga was still struggling, clawing at the flattop, the cloud of vapor only growing as he growled and cursed. A few moments later, his struggles ceased.

"Sailor Moon, he's using some sort of energy drain..." Ukyou called over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she looked back and saw the girl swaying in place. Her skirt billowed around her legs as she staggered back a few steps. The magic frisbee slipped from her nerveless fingers, clattering to the ground as an unremarkable golden tiara. The girl's other hand reached up and clutched at her temple as she squeezed shut her eyes. "Sailor Moon! Stay with me!"

"What... but I feel so sleepy..." the girl murmured groggily.

"Don't give in! You're stronger than their magic!"

"I..." Sailor Moon opened her eyes, steadying herself with a shake of her head that sent her long pig-tails whipping. "I think I can stay up..." the girl gasped. "What happened to the others?"

"They almost fell victim to his magic," Ukyou pointed out, unable to keep the relief out of her voice.

"You mean the one which is making him glow like that?" the girl pointed out with a gulp. Ukyou spun her attention back to the floating Dark General, and felt the first real tremblings of fear since she had arrived. Everything had been going so well up until a few seconds ago...

Jadeite threw his head back, cackling insanely as the blue vapour of chi energy flowed into his body. A halo of purple light was flickering and pulsing around him, his limbs stretched out and his body shaking as if struck repeatedly. Ukyou shifted her grip on the spatula, pushing herself more upright. This was much too Second Stage Final Boss for her tastes. And Ukyou was still weak; not collapsing weak, but she could barely keep herself propped up. Most of her chi must have been gobbled up by the trap.

"This is magnificent!" Jadeite crowed as he bent forward. The flashes of energy around him ceased, but his hair and clothes rippled in an invisible breeze. "I never guessed there could be so much power in such small vessels." He stretched his hand forth, arcs of white-hot lightning snapping between his fingers like an electric ladder. "It's exhilarating... my body can hardly contain it!"

"Can you still fight?" Ukyou called back to Sailor Moon over her shoulder.

"Y-yes..."

"Good," Ukyou grunted. She stepped forward, pulling her spatula up in front of her. Her legs felt like rubber bands, her arms like lead weights, but she managed to pull together enough strength to stand upright and unshaking. Jadeite only grinned.

"I would have been so disappointed if the two of you had fallen with your friends," Jadeite purred. "The two biggest thorns in my side. I would have hated to kill you both in your sleep."

"I'll hold him down," Ukyou called back as she took a few steps forward. "You get that magic frisbee of yours ready-" Ukyou snapped her mouth closed as Jadeite vanished in a blur of energy. She felt a tingle from the back of her neck, and was just turning her head when Jadeite reappeared behind her. She watched, able to see his attack coming, but unable to move herself in time. The world felt like it was filled with molasses, and her leaden limbs pulled her sluggishly through it. His palm thrust right into her back, a ball of light floating at the ball of his thumb like a soap bubble. She didn't even get a chance to scream before it exploded.

Her world was white and painful for a timeless instant. Then she felt her eyes open, and became aware of the strange vertigo of flying upside down. Ukyou groaned, her back aching fiercely as she tried to spin herself to correct her course. The sudden collision with the chainlink made her scream in pain. Her voice was mainly drowned out by the repeated pangs of metal wires snapping. Space spun about her and the ground rushed up to greet her, blasting the last of the air from her lungs.

Awareness beyond the pain returned reluctantly. Ukyou groaned while struggling to free herself from the blanket of metal her crash had wrapped her in. In the distance she could hear the explosions of Jadeite and Sailor Moon fighting. A part of her wanted to just lay back and let the Senshi handle this. It was her battle. But that part of her was the part she had begun to associate with Aaron. And she wasn't about to let his personality overwhelm her own. Gritting her teeth she channeled her chi with as much focus as she could, ripping the metal segments from her. It didn't matter how logical, or sensical or proper it was to let Sailor Moon fight the villain she was destined to defeat. She had sworn to not sit back and let the world pass her by like Aaron had been so content to do, and she meant to live up to that promise no matter how stupid it turned out to be.

There were some principles more important than logic.

"... believe in your own power, Sailor Moon, and you can defeat any enemy," a new voice rang out across the tarmac as Ukyou stumbled forward. Ah, that would be Tuxedo Mask, or Kamen, or whatever he was called in this continuity. She scanned the air, easily spotting the flapping black cape of the tall man as he stood atop a convenient floodlight. Jadeite was saying something back now, but Ukyou was too far away to hear it. How far had that blast thrown her? An exploratory probe revealed that the explosion hadn't burned through the back of her coat: it seemed the leather had saved her from more severe damage.

Ukyou's attention snapped back to the outside world as a bellow of pain pealed across the airport. She was just in time to see the dark cape of Tuxedo Whoever falling to the ground. Floating next to the floodlights was a grinning Jadeite. Aaron couldn't help but roll Ukyou's eyes at this. At the very least, Jadeite had made the mistake of getting Sailor Moon mad at him by attacking her fantasy crush.

"You monster!" Sailor Moon screamed as she reached down to retrieve her tiara. "How can you do that to people?"

"With ease, apparently," Jadeite laughed. Ukyou had stumbled close enough to be able to make out his words, even if he wasn't shouting them.

"I won't forgive you..." Sailor Moon shouted through a choked sob. "In the name of the moon, I shall punish you!" The moon senshi stepped forward, pulling her enchanted tiara to her side. Energy began to stream out of her body, a steady blue mist. That wasn't right... "MOON TIARA..." Sailor Moon began her shout, but for some reason her tiara wasn't transforming. Her words had also begun to take on a slurred sound. "...ACTION!" The girl flung her weapon forward, but it was nothing more than a spinning metal decoration. Jadeite slapped it from the sky with contemptuous ease.

"What's the matter, feeling weak?" he laughed.

(She's losing her energy... but why?)

Ukyou frowned at the unbidden thought from Aaron's half of their psyche. She couldn't doubt his conclusion, however. Sailor Moon had already fallen to her knees. Jadeite didn't seem inclined to let the girl recover, either. He was already gathering a ball of energy in one hand. Ukyou cursed silently, forcing back an annoyed frown, and dashed forward with as much of her chi as she could muster. Jadeite laughed and launched the ball at the unmoving girl, shouting "Die!"

"Sailor Moon!" she cried. The girl looked back over her shoulder. Ukyou grabbed her as she sprinted past. A wave of heat rolled along the back of Ukyou's jacket as the ball passed within centimeters of her. The explosion, when it struck the ground lifted both her and the blonde into the air. Ukyou was much better prepared this time. She rolled with the shockwave, letting it lift her. Somehow she came down on both feet. The tarmac skidded by underneath her as she tried to slow their momentum without jostling Sailor Moon right out of her arms.

"Are you okay?" Ukyou asked once they had stopped. She cast a nervous look over her shoulder, but Jadeite had vanished.

"Soo, sleeeppy..." the girl in her arms murmured. Ukyou frowned slightly, resisting the urge to shake the girl. "I can't stay awake..." her voice trailed off as her eyes slid closed.

"Damn..." Ukyou cursed. There was no way she could carry the girl. She had lost far too much chi to keep herself mobile. There was always the possibility of tapping into Aaron's chi... no. No. That was stupid. It would do more harm than good.

"Don't you two make a cute couple?" a voice purred practically in Ukyou's ear. She snapped her head back instantly. Her reward was a sharp crack and a muffled curse, followed seconds later by the sound of someone collapsing. A vicious grin bloomed briefly on her face, but she was already moving before she had a chance to enjoy the small victory. She hated to admit it, but her only hope was keeping Sailor Moon alive long enough for her to recover and finish off the Dark General.

Decision made, Ukyou stopped long enough to gently lay the girl on the ground, then stepped quickly away. Jadeite was rising to his feet, a scowl of annoyance on his face.

"You wanted this to be between you and me from the start," Ukyou called out in her most mocking tone.

"Yes..." Jadeite hissed as he rubbed his nose. "Sailor Moon is a nuisance, but no real threat to me. You..." He reached over and touched his stump. "I have much more to pay you back for."

"Good, then you have to catch me first!"

Before she had even finished the phrase Ukyou had sprinted past him. The ground flashed by under her feet, the air snapped and roared as she forced her way through it at speeds man was not meant to reach. There was an instant's warning before Jadeite appeared in front of her. His hand snapped out in a backhand. She threw herself back, the palm of his hand flashing scant centimeters from the tip of her nose.

The next thing she knew, Ukyou was flying backwards. Her ears rang and her eyes refused to focus. What had happened? Then she recalled the spherical blast of energy that had erupted from Jadeite's hand. Even as she recovered her senses, she cursed inwardly. It appeared that he had learned to compensate for her speed by attacking with blasts she simply could not dodge.

Somehow Ukyou got her feet under her again before she landed. The soles of her shoes hissed as they skidded across the tarmac. She snapped one hand down, her fingers digging small trenches in the pavement as she slowed herself down. She licked her lip, and tasted the sharp copper tang of blood. She wasn't fast enough. She had lost too much chi. The lingering beat in the back of her mind beckoned her, but Ukyou frowned and rejected his help. She would live or die on her own.

A tinkle on her back later Ukyou was leaping skyward. The ground beneath her disintegrated in a massive ball of light. Rubble showered away from it, producing a sound like a downpour as small stones collided with the pavement. The smoke cleared, and Ukyou looked down to see Jadeite smirking up at her with his hand extended. She snatched her spatula from her back and flipped it in front of her, driving it down like a spear as she descended.

A blur of distorted light later and Jadeite was gone. The blade of her weapon dug into the crater as she landed. Ukyou grunted and landed a split- second later. The sky to her right blurred and a sound like air popping out of a corked bottle hit her ear. Her hand shifted on her spatula. A microsecond later she snapped it up, ripping loose a bit of concrete as she dragged the weapon in a tight spiral. The air around her flared with light, oven-hot air flashing past her cheeks. Her spatula shuddered and waved as it absorbed the brunt of the attack.

Even before the blinding flashes of the light blast's aftershocks wore off, Ukyou was moving. A cry escaped her lips and she shoved herself forward. Jadeite's confused face came into focus in front of her for a moment. Then she heard the air exit his lungs violently, followed a moment later by the satisfying quiver of her spatula that informed her she had hit home. She blinked the last of the afterglow from her eyes as Jadeite landed several meters away.

"You'll pay for that..." the man hissed as he rose to one knee.

"Send me a bill," Ukyou shot out. She winced. That hadn't been very witty. Oh well, they couldn't all be winners.

Jadeite roared and vanished. Ukyou sprang forward. Her hair snapped in the air as she looked back over her shoulder. The Dark General materialized behind where she had been standing, cursed, and vanished almost as quickly. Ukyou snapped her feet forward, digging into the pavement. With all her might she flung herself sideways. Moments later, the air she had been about to enter filled with blistering heat and light. She pulled her spatula in front of her, deflecting the blinding light away.

The ground touched her feet again and Ukyou let her sneakers skid along the pavement for a precious second to reduce her momentum. Then she was leaping again, this time backward. Jadeite appeared in the air in front of her, roared something and thrust his palm at her. Pink lightning flashed from his palm. She had only moved her weapon halfway there when the blast ripped through the air in front of her and collided with her stomach. Pain dissolved the world into a white haze, and she heard someone screaming. Only when her back smashed into the tarmac did she realize it was herself.

She couldn't wait to recover, and was already kicking herself to her feet. But the sound of Jadeite fading in to her right filled her ears. One arm raised desperately to block, and was rewarded with a blistering wave of heat. She forced down a squeal of pain as the shockwave sent her skidding across the runway. Her eye opened slowly and she hissed as the throbbing scorches that extended up her forearm. The fabric of her coat had been entirely burnt away.

Clenching her teeth, Ukyou ignored the pain and thrust her spatula down. It caught in the concrete. The metal shaft bent as Ukyou slid into it, then she kicked down, propelling herself up. The entire weapon became an improvised pole- vault, snapping from the earth as she soared into the air. The ground exploded under her again, and this time she could hear Jadeite's curses over the sound of concrete vaporizing.

Jadeite recovered quickly, his arm flashing through the air so fast it appeared as nothing more than a blur to her eyes. She pulled her spatula in front of her, and somehow deflected a blast of pink plasma. The blow sent her reeling, and her graceful landing turned into an undignified collapse on the hardtop. While she was waiting for the world to stop spinning a jackboot rammed into her gut with enough force to drive all the air from her lungs. Her eyes snapped wide as she rocked forward, right into the increasingly bright glow of Jadeite's hand.

Ukyou had thought she knew pain before, but this time the blast drove all thought, all sanity from her mind. For an agonizing, endless moment there was nothing but the echoes of pain and the roar of the explosion. The only pain that had ever compared to this was the pain of Aaron's fatal accident. And for a moment, she thought she WAS dying. Then the pain slowly released its clutches on her mind, and the world returned.

One hand stretched out and clawed at the blasted earth. Finding purchase, she levered herself into a sitting position. A moan escaped her lips. This was just great, she had just finished over a week in the clinic, and this guy was threatening to put her back in a coma. She opened her eyes, wondering why everything seemed to have a reddish tinge. Then she realized that was the blood seeping into her eye. With a sigh she rubbed the back of her good hand against it, clearing her vision.

Jadeite was floating a few meters away, his head thrown back and his entire body shaking as he laughed like a madman. A sharp, cold beat of anger welled up in Ukyou's heart. She pushed herself to her knees. That bastard was laughing at her. He was enjoying her torment. She knew that he had been holding back, playing with her like a cat. She rose slowly to her feet. It was just like the other one. Just like Chris. Beating her without caring about her. She spat, a gob of blood striking the pavement.

She leaned down and picked her weapon off the ground. Who cared about morality? She was taking that fucker down! A silent plea later and Aaron's previously marginalised presence returned with full force. With a roar, she dashed forward, dipping into the well that was Aaron's chi. And for a moment, there was no pain, no crippling numbness that slowed her.

Her attack came in low and without warning. She drove her entire weight, and all the energy she could muster, into one spear with the blade of her spatula. Jadeite's laugh cut off into a scream of pain as the long blade bit into his side. Blood sprayed out, some of it falling on Ukyou's face. His floating saved him from a deeper wound as Ukyou's attack sent him careening through the air. If he hadn't, that attack would have sheared all the way into his spine.

Ukyou huffed, taking a few steps forward. Aaron focused his attention on Jadeite, who was growling and raising to his feet. They both felt refreshed and powerful. It was like fighting at full strength once more. Like all the damage and fatigue of the last half-hour of fighting had simply vanished. Even the world around her seemed clearer than it had before. Edges of people and objects seemed cleanly defined. She could see the energy around Jadeite as he gathered it, like lines of force pushing inward. But no matter how good it felt, Aaron knew they couldn't afford to draw on this chi for too long. Already it must be burning up their body, and they had barely recovered the last time they had done this.

"You FOOL!" Jadeite snapped his head up, his eyes literally burning with energy. "You think you can defeat me?"

"Indeed," Aaron breathed, then flashed forward. Ukyou readied their spatula as the world flashed by. She could almost see the speedlines as the airstrip blurred past. Jadeite only laughed and vanished. Aaron could see the lingering afterimage of his body for a split-second.

They skidded to a stop, and Aaron threw them to the right. Somehow Jadeite had anticipated them. He appeared right in their path. Ukyou swung out with the spatula, but his hand blurred and a hemisphere of force blasted the attack away. A moment later she gasped as his hand shot out and clutched around her throat. When the hell had he gotten so fast?

"You should have stayed down," Jadeite hissed as he pulled them closer. Ukyou tried to swing her weapon at him but he cast it a glare and lightning leapt from his pupils. Her hand spasmed as the blast struck her wrist and the weapon clattered to the hardtop. Aaron was already lashing out with their other hand, the burned one. It collided with Jadeite's gut. "That hurt," Jadeite informed them.

Aaron's eyes widened for a split second. Pain exploded across his body as Jadeite roared and pushed a corona of lighting into them. He could see the lightning arcing through his body, leaping from limb to limb. White afterimages burned themselves onto their retinas and Ukyou forced their eyes closed, but even that didn't keep the blinding arcs from flaring through her eyelids. Aaron became dimly aware of their feet rising off the ground. The pressure on his throat eased all at once and he gasped in air, only to have it pushed back out by his scream a second later.

Then the lightning faded, and they opened their eyes. Nearly twenty meters below them, the tarmac was a pockmarked ruin. Aaron brought their line of sight up, and saw Jadeite smirking while he hovered just out of arm's reach. Ukyou hissed and struggled to swing at him, but invisible bands of force kept her in place.

"You know, I think its time I repaid you for this," he smirked as he waved his stump at them. Ukyou gulped and felt her left arm jerk out to her side. Both her and Aaron struggled, pulling in the remainder of her strength and all of his, but it was no use. Whatever magic Jadeite was using, it was beyond their ability to counter. Jadeite stretched his hand out and gently, almost reverently, wrapped his fingers around their forearm. Light began to gather along the lines of is fingers. "This... is going to hurt a lot."

Ukyou screamed as his fingers clamped into a fist, with her arm still held between them. Her fingers twitched once, twice, then fell limp. He released her... and the arm fell numbly to her side. For a moment she wondered why it didn't hurt more. Then she dreamily realized she must be in shock.

Her eyes focused on the laughing Jadeite. He thinks he's won, the part of her that was Aaron pointed out. This was the part of the story where the hero made the ultimate comeback. Where he found the last reserves of strength and guts, and drew on powers he didn't even know he had. This was the part of the story where the hero called upon the secret trick his sensei had taught him, or the clever tactic he'd come up with at just this last second. This was the part of the story where despite all the odds against him, the hero managed to perform a miracle.

Ukyou was beginning to realise... she was no hero.

01010

Pluto leaned down, her fingers deftly locating the pulse of her Princess. The girl was drained of energy and had fallen asleep, but would be fine. So far she had confirmed that all the Sailor Senshi and their unexpected human allies were all right. That ended her first priority. She looked across the airstrip towards her second priority.

Ukyou was being slowly but surely overwhelmed by the power of the Dark General. Sailor Pluto gripped her staff tightly as she watched the man hit her with another of his spherical explosions, sending her skidding across the runway. Instinctively she raised the business end of her staff and sighted where Ukyou should land. It would be so simple to catch the young woman off-guard. One 'Dead Scream' should be all that was required to finish her off.

Yet again Pluto hesitated. The girl was fighting valiantly, drawing the man away from Sailor Moon. It was obvious she was fighting the good fight, just trying to save her friend. She wasn't even emitting any of that frightening energy that Pluto remembered like nothing else.

As the two continued to battle, Pluto let her mind drift. She had to remember why she was here. Her job was to safeguard time itself, and this Ukyou Kuonji was the greatest threat it had ever faced!

Those few who knew about the Gates of Time and Sailor Pluto's special connection to them tended to think that Sailor Pluto could foresee the future. In truth, she was no more precognizant than anyone else. In fact, she was specifically forbidden from looking forward in time by a promise she had made to a woman who had once meant more to her than life itself. If she could have looked forward in time, she could have foreseen the tragic end that would befall that woman and her glorious silver kingdom. It was a testament to her respect for her Queen that Sailor Pluto had never broken that vow in the millennia since her death. Never except once.

She recalled the first night she had woken up screaming in her bed. Oh, she spent a good deal of time in the Gates of Time. In fact, a part of her was always there, in that elusive neverwhen. But she also had a home, a career, a life outside of her stewardship. That, too, had been part of her promise to the Queen. "What use is a Guardian of Time, who forgets the very thing she is guarding time for?" the Queen had once said to her. And she had been right. Being grounded in the real world, enjoying its simple pleasures, acting like any other mortal... it all kept her mission tolerable. Without it, she guessed she might have gone insane. She might have become the kind of being she was sworn to oppose.

But she was digressing. She watched as Jadeite planted his foot in Ukyou's stomach and unleash a blast point blank into her face. Sailor Pluto winced. She really wished no ill will to the girl. It was obvious she did not know what she was destined to become, not yet.

That brought back the dream full force. Pluto shivered and clutched her arms around her breasts as the horrific images played themselves back in her mind. The images were vivid and indelible, which stood to reason as Sailor Pluto had woken up with them screaming from her lips every morning for the past three months.

"...I send you these images as a warning!" she could hear the temporally distorted voice which was still unmistakably her own. "You must not allow the events you see before you to come to pass!" In her mind's eye she was a young woman standing beneath a bank of clouds, three circles of light rotated around her body, the symbols that marked them rendered illegible by the speed of the rotation. "This is the final moment of our universe! And of hundreds of others besides!" The woman was clad in skin-tight black pants wrapped about the ankles with cords, her torso was covered in a turtle-necked skin-tight white shirt and over that she wore a long black trench-coat which was blown back and flared in an unseen wind. Her sleeves were rolled up and both arms were reaching out towards the heavens. On her left arm five parallel scars glowed with eldritch light, on her right arm a tattoo of some kind snaked up to disappear under her sleeve. A power radiated from her, a power that Sailor Pluto could neither place nor understand. "The woman before you is Ukyou Kuonji. She has given herself to the darkness inside her! She prepares to battle a force of evil like none you have ever seen, a force without a face or a name! Their battle will tear our world apart!" Now Sailor Pluto saw the woman's face, and it was undeniably Ukyou's face, though a bright light flared from her forehead, and there was something terribly wrong with her eyes. "I know this because I have already seen it! I am the last survivor, and soon my small bubble of reality will fade away and my very being will be torn to shreds. You must stop this battle from happening. Do whatever is necessary! Damn the Queen's laws! Damn your own morality! Prevent this, or it all means nothing!"

And from the clouds descended another human figure, but this one Sailor Pluto could see no details of. All she could feel was a terrible, mind-numbing WRONGNESS radiating from it. Ukyou looked up at this horror made flesh, and smiled. And as Ukyou smiled, her hands reached up and clutched a dreadfully familiar weapon that had not been there before, and Pluto felt her intention to strike... Then the dream was ripped from her, becoming nothing but a flare of static and pain as her future self was torn apart. Sailor Pluto only felt a distant echo back through the streams of time of what happened to her counterpart, but what she felt made her blood run cold. For her other self was not killed, or destroyed. She simply ceased to be. Her, and everything else. For a horrifying instant she knew what it was to feel absolutely nothing. Then she always woke up screaming.

Sweat was forming on Sailor Pluto's brow as she forced the sensation away. But something had snapped her out of her reverie. She could feel it. The strange energy, that unplaceable power. Ukyou was attacking Jadeite again, and it appeared she was tapping that 'darkness within' the future Sailor Pluto had warned her about. Instantly the Time Key snapped up in her hand, and she was about to unleash her magic when Jadeite easily knocked aside Ukyou's attacks and grabbed her about the throat. Sailor Pluto sighed in relief.

It appeared Jadeite was going to finish off the girl for her. That was good. It was small comfort to know that she would not have to step in and deliver the killing blow herself. Technically Ukyou was still an innocent, and imposing such a harsh sentence for uncommitted wrongs went against everything the Sailor Senshi stood for. Maybe she was fooling herself by thinking that sitting back and doing nothing was any better than actively helping Jadeite do the deed, but it was the kind of self-deception she could live with.

Besides, it wasn't as if she couldn't finish Jadeite off the moment he finished with her. And if somehow Ukyou did survive, then she would be weak and in no condition to fight the Senshi of Time. Sailor Pluto smiled. This looked like a perfect win/win situation.

01010

Akane dropped the tarp she had found over Ranma's unconscious body before turning back to the Sailor Senshi. An unexpected side effect of her fog attack had triggered Ranma's curse, and now Ranma was not only covered in light burns from the waist up, she was also not decent. Sailor Mercury had been a bit nonplussed seeing Ranma's cursed form. Akane had tried to explain it away, but the blue-haired girl was still giving the unconscious former boy a lot of weird looks when she thought Akane wasn't looking.

"Did you find a ladder?"

Sailor Mercury returned her attention to Akane with a blush. Akane rolled her eyes. For someone who was supposed to be the reincarnated princess of a magic kingdom, the girl had a hard time accepting the supernatural.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't think there is a way up to the rafters," Mercury explained with a contrite grimace. Akane sighed and walked over to pat her on the shoulder. It was hard to remain mad at the girl; she seemed to obviously mean well. An explosion rang outside and Akane took a quick peak out the door. It was impossible to tell what was happening at the battle proper from this distance.

"Don't worry about it," Akane sighed and sat down slowly. Her legs still felt like someone had filled them with rubber bands. Most of her chi had already been drained away by the orb floating up next to her sister. She shaded her eyes with one hand and looked at Nabiki hanging up there. Her eyes were open, but the girl was staring sightlessly across the hangar. The thought of Nabiki being awake enough to see what was going on gave Akane goosebumps. For some reason, she didn't want her sister to have seen her fight earlier. Akane had already used Mercury's powers to help clean the blood off her hand, but she still felt soiled. "We'll figure out some way of getting her down."

"Hey, is there anyone in here?"

Akane thrust herself to her feet and almost immediately regretted it. The world swayed as a dizzy spell threatened to send her toppling back to the floor. She clutched the wound in her side, the sharp pain bringing back focus in an instant. Sailor Mercury had stepped protectively in front of her. The gesture both annoyed and relieved her. She may not be in much shape to defend herself, but she still had her pride.

"Whoa! I come in peace!"

The girl in the door was short, maybe about as tall as Sailor Mercury. She had black hair cut short in front, but had a large bouncy ponytail. She was wearing what looked like a blue and white school uniform, covered by some kind of blue... vest? It looked almost like a lifejacket. In her right hand, she carried a very large and expensive-looking camera.

"Who are you?" Sailor Mercury called out cautiously. She had relaxed, but not completely. Akane dared not allow herself to relax. From the feel of her chi, the tension was the only thing keeping her standing.

"Uh, my name's Ran Hibiki..." the girl gulped. "But that isn't important!" She stepped forward, pointing frantically over her shoulder. "I know you two are the friends of that guy in the trenchcoat. You better get out there and help him, he's in a lot of trouble!"

"What... Ukyou?" Akane stepped around the Senshi, her voice trembling. "What do you mean, in trouble?"

"The blonde in the black suit is torturing him to death!" she cried. "Normally I just try to stay impartial... but... this isn't a very good end to the story? You know?"

"You're a reporter?" Sailor Mercury said with a slightly disapproving tone from behind Akane.

"Of course!" she smirked and sucked in her gut, thrusting out her chest. "Well..." she deflated. "Not really. I'm just a reporter for the school newspaper at Taiyo High..."

"Never mind that!" Akane barked. The others stared at her for a moment and she forced herself to calm down. She could see the wisps of chi leaving her hands from her brief temper flare. "What do you mean torturing he... him to death!" Akane frowned, she had almost let Ukyou's secret slip in her haste.

"Well, it looked like your friends were winning but then they all sort of collapsed. The only ones left standing were this Ukyou guy and the chick with the blue mini-skirt. But her and the guy in the tuxedo who showed up both went down and then it was just Ukyou versus the evil floating head demon guy!" Ran burned through the words almost faster than her mouth could keep up. She waved her camera around as she narrated, forcing Akane to duck back to avoid being struck. "I got some really great shots. But I thought this Ukyou guy was going to make a comeback, you know? But he didn't, and the blonde just kept blasting him around. Now he's hanging him up in the air and shocking him and... and..."

"It's okay," Sailor Mercury said soothing. "You did the right thing and came to us for help."

"But how are we supposed to do that?" Akane cried, tears of frustration leaking from her eyes. "I can barely stand, and you said yourself you don't have any offensive techniques."

"I know..." Sailor Mercury tapped her earring, summoning her visor again.

"Wow! Could you do that again? I'd love to get a picture!"

"Uh... no time now..." Sailor Mercury blushed and stammered. "I have to see something." She pulled out her mini-computer and tapped on it. "It's just like I thought. The orb up there is feeding its power directly to Jadeite, even as it drains power from everyone else. If we could destroy the orb, Jadeite would lose all his extra power, and everyone else would probably get theirs back."

"How do we destroy it?" Akane sighed.

"I don't know..."

"Destroy what?" Ran piped up.

"That orb up there," Akane gestured.

"Oh that thing..." Ran stepped past the two of them. "Hmm. Pretty high up, but I think I can hit it."

"What?" Akane blinked. But Ran wasn't listening to her. The girl had reached into the lining of her blue vest and pulled out several pages of newsprint. She smirked and snapped her wrist, the floppy pages flickering rigid between her fingers.

"I call this my Extra Edition!" Ran cried as she wound up and spun, the pages flashing from her finger tips and buzzing like shuriken. Akane stared as the papers spun through the air, passing neatly through the orb and disappearing into the shadows of the rafters. Several metallic clangs informed her they had hit the ceiling. For a moment, the orb hung in the air unaffected. Then a trio of perfectly parallel lines appeared along its flawless surface. Slowly the sections of the sphere began to drift apart. "Piece of cake!" Ran cried excitedly. Her camera flashed as she took a few pictures... and then the orb exploded.

"Nabiki!" Akane cried. She watched as a humanoid figure flew across the hangar in the wake of the explosion. She dashed after it, knowing she was too weak to catch it. But she was proven wrong. Even as she sprinted she could feel her strength returning. A gleeful grin spread across her features and she poured all her chi into her legs, focusing her energy on her speed. She arrived underneath her sister in plenty of time to catch her oddly limp form.

"I'm sorry!" Akane could hear Ran calling. "Nobody told me it would explode!" Akane shook her head, not really caring about that at the moment. She laid Nabiki gently on the floor and stood back up.

"Come on," she called out. "We have to go help Ukyou!"

01010

Ukyou barely realized she was falling until she heard Jadeite's yelp of surprise. Everything seemed to have taken on dream-like qualities, and she couldn't even feel the vertigo as the scarred battlefield rushed up to embrace her. Aaron felt the same dizzy shock, but refused to embrace death so easily. He had died once already, thank you very much. With a burst of renewed strength he snapped their good arm down and used it to absorb the force of the landing. It still sent a painful vibration through their body, but nothing more.

A moment later he heard a thud, and looked up. Jadeite had landed only a few meters away, and was lying prostrate, with half his body in a small crater. Aaron frowned as he stood up. He could feel strength returning to them: in fact, he could see it. A blue mist rippling into their body, filling their limbs with vitality again. It took a few seconds for his pain-fogged brain to realize that someone had reversed the flow of Jadeite's trap. All the energy he had stolen was being returned.

Ukyou smiled, and if she could have seen her own smile, she might have hesitated then. With a mental shrug she released her tap on Aaron's chi... and almost immediately collapsed screaming to her knees. Aaron gave a mental start and then tapped into that dangerous power again, and once again their senses filled with that wonderful clarity. The pain seemed distant and unimportant now. They could acknowledge it, but they could move despite it. Ukyou cast a quick glance at the wreck which was her left arm and winced. No wonder she was in so much pain. She didn't even know if that would ever heal properly.

But more important things were happening. Jadeite was getting back to his feet. Ukyou and Aaron turned their attention back to him.

"My power..." Jadeite gasped as he stood up shakily. "All that wonderful power..."

"Heh." Ukyou stepped forward, flexing her good hand and grinning again. Jadeite looked up at her and his face paled at what he saw. Good. Let him be afraid. "You made a classic villain mistake, Jadeite."

Ukyou dashed forward, and the world literally flowed around her. She didn't need to even think, her feet blasted across the ground at speeds even she hadn't thought possible. Jadeite was five meters away one instant, and the next she was sailing past him. Aaron had lashed out, burying their fist in his gut. The man screamed, carried on the momentum of their blow for a fraction of a second. Then Ukyou stopped. There was no screech of dust, she simply stopped moving with the same ease that she would cease a leisurely walk. Jadeite did not stop, he flew fast and far, tracing a lazy parabola into the hard pavement.

"You should never swallow an energy field larger than your head."

Ukyou laughed as she ran forward again. Jadeite hadn't even climbed to his knees before she reached him. Her kick struck him in the jaw and sent him flying straight into the air. Aaron curled their hand into a fist, watching with fascination as Jadeite flowed into the sky. He seemed to be moving in slow motion. But he only watched for a second. His fist drove punishingly into the man's sternum, right where the ribcage connected. There was a loud crack. Jadeite tried to scream, but couldn't.

Jadeite was driven back through the air by Aaron's punch, and Ukyou took off after him. To her surprise she flitted past him as he floated sluggishly through the sky. She smiled, then turned and spun their leg up into the small of his back as the man passed. His body folded backwards, and she saw blood fleck from his mouth. Then Aaron laughed and drove their fist in a tight arc, catching Jadeite on the back of the neck with both knuckles extended. There was a snapping sound and Jadeite's head flopped forward like a ragdoll. That last shot should have paralyzed him from the neck down for at least a while.

The momentum caught up with the body as Jadeite flopped to the ground again. Ukyou took a long deep breath, feeling better than she had since this whole fight began. The monster shaped like a man lay face-first in the shattered concrete. Time seemed to have returned to normal as well. She ran her good hand through her bangs, the joy of beating him filling her like a pure light. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her spatula. An impossibly quick duet of leaps later she was standing back over him with the weapon in her good hand.

"Are you still awake, Jadeite?" she purred down at him. Aaron probed out with one foot, nudging him over onto his back. His eyes were wide and staring, flickering back and forth between her and the rest of the world. His mouth opened and closed. "Good. I wouldn't want you to miss the coup de grace." She snapped the edge of the spatula along the ground, drawing a series of sparks.

"No... please..." Jadeite whimpered.

Ukyou smiled down at him and raised the spatula over her head. One perfect slice later and this bastard would be dead. It would be so easy. And it would feel so good to finally finish something. To win!

"Please, have mercy..."

"You, who are without mercy, now plead for it?" Aaron laughed as he quoted. "I thought you were made of sterner stuff!" Yes, it would feel so good to kill Jadeite... so...

"No..." Ukyou allowed the weapon to fall to her side. "I can't... I can't kill you..." For a moment Jadeite's eyes filled with relief.

"But I can," a new voice caught Ukyou's attention. She leapt back as a ball of purple magic flashed in from the near distance and caught Jadeite full in the chest. The man let out a silent howl as the ball seemed to... unravel him. Ukyou could see, with her enhanced senses, the very fabric of his being dissolving at the touch of the time-based attack. Then there was a burst of violet light. When the afterimages faded from her eyes, all that was left of Jadeite was a scorched circle in the shattered airstrip.

"Sailor Pluto," Ukyou said without looking. She looked up in time to see the woman raise her staff to face them. Aaron tensed their legs.

"Don't think you can escape me this time," Sailor Pluto said in a disturbingly conciliatory voice. "I have to end this here, you see. It is the only way."

"You won't even explain why?"

"You know why," Sailor Pluto replied sadly. Her red eyes locked with Ukyou's for a moment. "You just resisted it yourself. Your power... it can not be allowed to be fully unleashed."

"My power..." Aaron frowned.

"I'm sorry!" Sailor Pluto cried, tears literally streaming from her eyes. "Dead scream," she whispered the attack. Ukyou pushed backward, wishing for that mysterious speed from before. Maybe it came, or maybe it didn't. But the sphere of deadly magic closed with her so fast she could barely move. It only barely registered that she would never dodge it in time. Then Aaron snapped her battle spatula forward, launching it like a trident. He watched, fascinated as the weapon began to unravel... then exploded in a flash of light. Ukyou landed a meter away, breathing heavily.

"You only delay the inevitable," Sailor Pluto pointed out. Ukyou reached up with her good hand and rubbed at her lip. It came away slick with blood, blood she could feel pouring from her nose as well, and god knew where else. She didn't have any time left. There was no escaping this. She almost laughed at the injustice of it all.

"Charge!"

Pluto didn't know what hit her. Then again, Ukyou wasn't sure either. It looked like a giant plunger with little muscular legs and a giant toothy maw. The Senshi of Time shrieked as it collided with her with enough momentum to send her and it tumbling to the ground. Ukyou blinked as the Senshi began to wrestle with the two pairs of dainty arms that had extended from the thing's body.

"Oh, right..." Ukyou sighed and slapped her forehead. "I should have known he would show up."

"Get off me!" Sailor Pluto cried as she kicked up, driving Tsubasa off her. The cross-dresser smashed into the ground, his costume breaking apart with the force of the impact. There was a few muttered, and unladylike, curses as Tsubasa freed himself from the damaged bodysuit. He was wearing a frilly pink dress with taffeta trims and had large ridiculous bows tied into his well- groomed hair. He also looked mad enough to spit a devil.

"You lay off my darling Ukyou!" Tsubasa warned in a feminine shriek.

"Who said I was yours?" Ukyou grumbled and tried to cross her arms. Pain flared up her left side, reminded her that she was critically injured.

"You can't stop me," Sailor Pluto said as she flowed gracefully to her feet.

"No," a voice interrupted the Senshi as a hand clasped onto her shoulder. Pluto turned to see a very steamed-looking Akane with her other hand cocked back. "But I can!"

Ukyou almost cheered at the ridiculous look on Pluto's face just before the punch hit home. The force behind it sent her flying nearly five feet. Sailor Mercury was walking up behind her, her expression much more fretting. Another girl, one who looked vaguely familiar but who Aaron couldn't immediately place, was following her. She raised a camera to her face and took a few snapshots. Then it clicked in Aaron's mind. Even as Pluto was climbing to her feet again, Ukyou could see the others approaching. Sailor Moon led them, with Mars and Ryouga following. In the back she could see the tall figure of Tux-boy.

"Sailor Pluto?" Sailor Moon asked, her voice contained no malice, only gentle curiosity. "Why are you attacking my friend?"

"No... I never wanted it to be like this..." Pluto hissed as she stepped back. She was virtually surrounded on all sides by Ukyou's allies. Once again Ukyou repressed the urge to laugh in relief.

"You wear the same costume as us, and you said you were our ally." Sailor Moon asked gently. "If so, you don't have to fight this boy, he's our friend and..."

"Ukyou is not your friend!" Pluto snapped out. "He will be the death of you all!"

"Damn it, Pluto!" Aaron snarled. "Stop being so goddamn cryptic and just tell me what's going on!"

"I see now..." Pluto sighed and stepped back. "It can't be helped. You are too well-protected for our duel to continue." Pluto waved her staff in a short, but intricate pattern. Aaron watched as she vanished, seemingly to... fold sideways into space. It was fascinating.

"My god, Ukyou, your arm!" That was Akane. Ukyou nodded and looked down at the bloody mess of her arm. She certainly hoped it looked worse than it was. But she was safe now. So thinking, she released her tap into Aaron's 'chi', and let the pain and darkness claim her.

01010

The air was crisp, the wind off the waters of Tokyo Bay making him shrug a little deeper into is coat. He sighed and pulled the binoculars away from his eyes, rubbing the fatigue from his face with the back of his other hand. He really hated stakeouts. Especially ones taking place so close to... well, he didn't know how to describe it. He pulled the binoculars back to his eyes and watched some more.

Things seemed to be winding down. They were carrying the boy in the trenchcoat off the field now, obviously all preparing to disperse in different directions. The one in the tuxedo had already vanished; to where, he wasn't sure. He grunted and spat into the grass next to him. He wasn't prepared to deal with this kind of thing. But, he had made a promise to an old friend, and that promise he was keeping. Even if this was going to be the last favor he ever did the man. There came a point in your maturity where the prospect of getting involved with people who could casually blast holes the size of Minis in concrete was no longer exciting.

So thinking, he reached into his pocket and flipped out his cell phone. A single button press later and he held it up to his ear. The other end didn't even ring, there was just a click as it was automatically picked up.

"Kunikida?"

"You were right."

"I see..."

"It's over now."

"How did it go?"

"I think the good guys won."

"That's a relief."

"Its not going to be cheap to clean up the place, however."

"I see... I guess I'll have to deal with that."

"Glad I don't have your job."

"Did you get it all?"

He looked to the side at the camera mounted on a tripod. The red light that indicated it was recording was still humming strong. Just like the other three cameras nearby.

"Yes."

"Good. I'll pick it up first thing in the morning."

"I'll meet you at the diner. You owe me a breakfast special for this."

The man on the other end laughed.

"I do, I do. Thank you..."

"Don't mention it. Just don't ask me to sit out in the cold again for you, okay?"

"I won't. You're... a good friend."

"Yeah. Well, I think you're going to need good friends."

He hung up the phone, watched a star fall in the southern sky, and said a silent prayer that this wasn't, as he expected it would be, just the tip of the iceberg.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Well, once again we're updating with less than half an hour to go before we're late, so these will be short.

Epsilon: Not that there's much to say.

Blade: Hey, did anybody else notice this entire chapter, except for the last bit, was one giant fight scene?

Epsilon: That's because this chapter and Chapter 6 used to be one chapter, until we realised it made Chapter 6 'OMGWTF!' huge.

Blade: Anyway, that'll be the only time THAT happens for, like, awhile. At least not for five more chapters.

Epsilon: Yeah, all future chapters will contain at least TWO fight scenes!

Blade: Rejoice! Also, for those concerned by the disturbing lack of me in this chapter, worry not, I'm just in transit. Also, I wasn't in the fight scene.

Epsilon: Maybe all the EXP Ukyou earned here will give her a level up so she'll beat you next time. After all, she has the double EXP advantage!

Blade: Bah. Akane, Ran and Ami did all the real work.

Epsilon: But Ukyou was still conscious! She gets experience just for that!

Blade: Also big gougy scars on her arm.

Epsilon: It's a character flaw! She bought it for more EXP!

Blade: Okay, that's roleplaying geekery for now. So, anyway, see you next time! And, on that note, it's time for our next chapter preview!

Epsilon: YAAAAAAAY! (run around flailing arms like Kermit the Frog)

Blade: You know, every time I watch the Daily Show, I want to see Jon Stewart do that. "It's the Daily Show, with our very special guest, John McCain! YYAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!"

Epsilon: ...right. Next chapter, then, will not have Daily Show jokes. But it WILL have this!

The figure above her was mainly hidden in the shadows, but was still clear to an alert viewer. She was spread-eagled. bracing her limbs against the beams in Akane's ceiling. Her long ponytail dipped down over her shoulder and she was wearing a loose white t-shirt and tight blue jeans. Her skin appeared remarkably pale, but that might have been the light. Chris. He... she... it was back. Akane opened her mouth to scream for help... then snapped it closed.

Maybe it was the weariness, or the sincerity of the note, or Akane's own recent thoughts about building bridges with her sister... but Akane remained quiet.

"Hi," the dead woman above her whispered in Kodachi's voice. "Mind if I come down?"

Hybrid Theory Chapter 8: Pushing Me Away


	8. Pushing Me Away

Hiiiiiiiii~~~! Usagi Tsukino here, and I am just SOOOO excited to be your recapper! Are you reading, my dearest-

-what do you mean someone did that already?

Tsubasa?

Grrrr, I HATE that girl! Wait, he's a guy? And Ukyou's a girl? But... but... I just watched Ukyou be all heroic and everything last chapter, and I totally thought he... looked... but he's a she... and...

WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

It's even worse because I won't remember any of this!

Well, anyway, last chapter was the big, dramatic showdown between us and Jadeite! "Us" being myself and the other heroic - but not quite as beautiful - Sailor Senshi, not to mention our friends from Nerima! Also this girl named Ran showed up, but she was just doing a piece for her student newspaper or something. She took lots of pictures; I hope she got my good side!

Back to my dramatic victory! Well, actually, I have to admit it was Ukyou's dramatic victory. Well, actually, to be honest, it was kinda Akane's dramatic victory. But I helped! Well, actually, I ended up helping the bad guys, when the trap set by that youma Tethys took away all my energy and gave it to Jadeite so he became superpowered and things looked really scary and he ripped up Ukyou's arm and things looked really bad...

But we won! Because the good guys, powered by love and friendship, will always prevail! So, yay! Jadeite has been defeated, Nabiki was rescued, and Tethys vanished somewhere along the way, so everything should be just fine from now on!

And that was pretty much it, since Chris and Pink and Link and everybody else who wasn't in the fight didn't appear. Maybe they will this time!

Thanks a lot for reading, and remember, friendship and cooperation always triumphs over evil disco balls that steal aggressive energy! Sailor Moon says! Tee-hee!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 8: Pushing Me Away

What was it Dave Barry had written about flying JAL first class? 'Feeling like one of the more decadent Roman Emperors'...yeah, that was it. Of course, there were probably more luxuries involved in a trans-Atlantic flight, but this was still pretty damn nice.

Pink, sitting 'next' to him (or the closest equivalent in the wide, semi-private seats), certainly seemed to be enjoying the experience, helping herself to the complimentary treats with gusto. She'd been more than willing to help herself to the complimentary alcohol as well, but Chris has hastily waved the flight attendant on with a 'no thanks, we're underage' before that could happen. The smiling twin had pouted briefly - seeing the two expressions juxtaposed was odd - but had apparently gotten over it. Which was good, since the last thing Chris (or the other passengers) needed was a tipsy sadistic poisoner around.

Honestly, he hadn't expected to be returning to Japan by such a mundane method of transportation, instead thinking vaguely of crossing the Sea of Japan by some plant-assisted means, or perhaps the twins and he would bribe/drug their way onto a ship. He'd been surprised to find the twins in fact had papers in good order, but hadn't looked a gift horse in the mouth. A few bribes and two more plane tickets later, and they were on their way. He wondered how they'd gotten to Japan in the manga.

Overland, the trip had been uneventful, if rather longer than his solo one. Since the twins couldn't match his pace and of course had to sleep, he rented carts and later cars for them as much as possible, and passed the idle times writing in his journals. Of course, Pink had promptly tried to peek at those when she thought his attention was elsewhere, but had been disappointed to find the contents were written in English.

"And what are you thinking about, over?" came the voice next to him. He glanced over and met Pink's gaze, seeing amused curiosity in her eyes.

"About you," he replied honestly, and smirked a bit himself as Pink looked taken aback. "Nothing too serious," he reassured her, "Just wondering if there was anything else I needed to tell you. Which, in fact, there is. When we arrive, you should know that people we meet probably won't know my real name. So they - and you when around them, please - will call me Kodachi."

Pink nodded, but on the other side of her, Link looked over at him for the first time since the flight had begun. "If that's not your name, who's the real Kodachi, over?"

Chris sighed. He knew this had probably been coming. "I am. Or rather," he corrected, looking down at Kodachi's body, "this is." For a moment, the twins stared at him uncomprehendingly. Then Link's eyes widened as realisation sunk in. She opened her mouth, but he cut her off before she could say anything (or scream). "Hear me out. That's why I want to preserve this body for as long as possible: so I don't need a new one. However, you needn't worry. Kodachi was a nasty, nasty person. At -least- as bad as Shampoo. That's the only sort I could bear to take the body of, you understand?" Or at least that was the plan from here on in. "And that's why I'm looking for a cure, as well. So hopefully it won't even by a problem for much longer."

Link didn't exactly look reassured. She hissed something in Chinese to her sister, and the two quickly got into an argument in hushed voices, the contents of which he could guess. He waited silently for the outcome, thankful there weren't so many people in first class that anybody had likely caught more than bits or pieces of the conversation. As for the disagreement between Pink and Link, there was no help for it. They would have figured it out sooner or later anyway, and if the promise he'd given them wasn't enough, there was nothing more he could do to make them stay. Hell, he wouldn't even blame them if they dropped the whole thing. He wasn't sure -he- would have stayed with himself, no matter what the promise was.

The argument had heated up. He heard 'Shampoo' several times, mostly from Pink. Finally they seemed to reach a resolution, as Pink declared something with finality. Link still didn't seem pleased at all, but made a sound that might generously have been construed as affirmative and then resumed not looking at him.

Pink, however, turned to him and grinned. "You'll have to excuse my sister. She's a little bit...nervous, over."

"I don't blame her. I'd be nervous too."

Pink shrugged. "It's not your fault what you are. You have to do the best you can. In your situation, I'd do the same, over."

Well, do the same minus the 'only kill bad people' part, he more than suspected. But then, that -was- the same as him, wasn't it? Still, he relaxed, feeling a weight lifting from his shoulders. "Thanks," he said, and meant it. "Though I wish I hadn't dumped all of this on you so suddenly."

"Don't worry-" Pink began, and then cut off as the plane hit some turbulance. Some clanking came from the bag Chris had under his seat. He wasn't letting that - with the journals and cursed water cargo - out of his sight, and yet another sizeable bribe had kept the customs official from giving it more than a cursory glance. Chris had decided there were definitely some advantages to corrupt dictatorships.

He glanced back at Pink, expecting her to continue her previous sentence, but she was now looking at the bag with undisguised curiosity. "So what exactly do you have in there? I wouldn't think corpses needed to carry much in the way of supplies, over."

He laughed. "Well, that was direct. Well, I'll tell you, but keep out of it. The contents are rather dangerous, and besides, I plan to keep it permanently within eyeshot. And I don't even blink." Pink didn't look too concerned about the warning, but he'd expected that. "Before I came to your village, I stopped off at a place called Jyusenkyou, and-"

He was cut off by a piercing shriek that DID get the attention of the few other first class passengers, and proved himself a liar by blinking as Pink shot out of her seat and backed away from him to stand beside her sister. Link was also looking at him once again, but the expression of horror and disgust on her face this time wasn't directed at him, but instead at the bag.

"Keep that away from us, over!" Pink snapped.

"Sure..." he said slowly, "But what's the big problem? I guess you've heard of it, but the water I took is in sealed containers."

"Not good enough," Link growled. "Jyusenkyou is... it's cursed. Nobody with any sense goes near it, over."

"I have many dollars, but few sense," he quipped, but then seriously added, "It can't affect me. But it IS magical, so I wanted to take some samples. It might be able to help somehow, or to bribe someone else who can help."

The twins exchanged glances; something seemed to pass between them, but he couldn't tell what. A really extreme reaction. Was Jyusenkyou that ill- rumoured? Or something else? He made a mental note to find out later, after they hopefully trusted him a bit more. After a moment, Pink returned to her seat, though her good mood had seemingly evaporated and she had slid a little farther away from him. "I understand," she said shortly. "But just make sure you be careful. And keep it away from us, over."

"I was planning to anyway, so don't worry about it." The conversation seemed to be at an end for a moment, so he leaned back, preparing to relax for the rest of the flight. Strange girls. But then, he knew that. And he was pretty strange himself. Chris smiled a bit. Things would be fine.

01010

"... and then the battle became serious when... ah damn," Ukyou groaned out loud. She had just reached the end of the page, and the article had one of those handy little 'continued on page A-5' notes. In a way it was flattering. Almost a week later and still appearing in the papers. It was also the best free publicity she could ever ask for. If she ever got around to opening her restuarant,

(Hey, remember that, my dream before you screwed up my life?)

(Yeah, yeah...)

then she would hardly need to advertise. It was also annoying, because her other hand was currently occupied with her lunch and that made flipping the paper with one hand, especially her bad one, rather difficult. Normally, eating an okonomiyaki with one hand was nearly impossible. But Aaron had suggested thinning up the crust and rolling it up like a burrito, stuffing it full of all the meatstrips and vegetables, and for once, Ukyou had listened to him. The result was rather nice, actually. The batter was a little soft; maybe she could crisp it up, make it more like a crust... add noodles...

Ukyou cut off that line of thought. Speculating about food was nice. It was still her greatest dream, and something she planned on throwing herself into fully once this whole mess was resolved. But it wasn't what she came out here for. So she focused her attention back on finding a way to flipping the pages of the newspaper while keep the grip on her lunch. The trouble was she couldn't just put one down to free up a hand. That was the problem with sitting in a tree, no storage space.

Aaron spotted their targets approaching. Ukyou sighed and folded the paper up before deftly depositing it in one of the many interior pockets of her trenchcoat. She took a large bite of her lunch while sliding to her feet. She had to bend slightly to avoid hitting her head on another branch. Thankfully, Ukyou wouldn't have to stand like this for long, as the two were approaching quickly.

"Hello, can I have a minute of your time?" Ukyou called down once they were directly below.

Usagi stumbled to a halt with a startled squeak. The street she was walking down was practically abandoned at this time of day, a fact Ukyou was well aware of. The girl must be wondering where the voice that had called out to her had come from. Not really wanting to play with her too much, Ukyou cleared her throat loudly and called down, "Up here."

Usagi looked up, her long blonde pigtails whipping audibly and her large blue eyes blinking in confusion. The cat cradled in her arms looked up as well. It had human eyes. They weren't even slitted like a cats. For a moment, Ukyou's focus drifted, and she felt like she was falling. Then she shook her head and the feeling evaporated.

"Do you mean me?" Usagi asked in a small voice. Sometime during Ukyou's mental hiccup, Usagi had recovered from the shock of seeing a boy standing above her in a tree. She was even pointing timidly at herself, and her cheeks were red. Ukyou wondered if the wind made it seem colder when you weren't sheltered by a tree.

"Actually no, I was talking to your cat," Ukyou pointed out in a deadpan voice. Usagi laughed. The girl probably thought Ukyou was joking. Ukyou chuckled herself, remembering her brief conversation with Ranma this morning.

("I'm going with you!" he insisted.

"You really don't want to do that, Ranma."

"Yes I do."

"Trust me, you don't."

"What makes you think that?"

"I'm going to have a long conversation with a talking cat."

"Have fun! See you this evening!")

"I guess I have a few minutes to talk..." Usagi breathed with a small giggle. "If Luna doesn't mind." She held up the cat towards Ukyou, and the beast obligingly meowed. Ukyou rolled her eyes. She stepped out of the tree, plummeted four meters to the pavement below and landed on one foot without so much as a tremble. She felt her coat flap and billow behind her as it settled in the breeze her fall had created. Usagi made a small gleeful noise.

"That was so cool!"

"Uh, if you say so." Ukyou transferred her lunch to her bad hand and ran her freed fingers through her bangs. Seeing Usagi's eyes follow the motion, Ukyou held the surprisingly tasty concoction towards her. "I'm pretty full. You want the rest of this?"

"Sure!" Usagi cried and snatched it from her hand. Luna gave a screech of protest as she was unceremoniously dropped. Still the cat managed to land with some semblance of grace. Usagi was blushing even harder now as she sniffed the okonomiyaki roll and bit into it. "Wow, this is really good," she said after chewing for a few seconds.

"Thanks," Ukyou replied with a short laugh. Maybe she should look into refining that recipe after all. "It's just something I came up wi-"

"Oh god! Your arm!"

Ukyou blinked at the girl's sudden exclamation. Then she remembered and looked down at her left arm. She guessed it would stand out. It wasn't like she could roll her sleeve down over it, with the fifty needles sticking through it at every angle, making it look like someone had turned her arm into a pincushion. Then again, if Doc Tofu hadn't been able to use his techniques to hold the arm together while it healed, it was likely it never would have. But even when the bones fully healed, the scars would remain. Five parallel gouges, the phantom remnants of the fingers of Jadeite as they had melted into her flesh.

"It looks worse than it is," Ukyou explained as she curled and uncurled the fingers of her wounded arm. "The needles are actually quickening the healing process."

"Wow..." Usagi stretched a finger towards on of the delicate silver needles and Ukyou jerked her arm back.

"They're very sensitive," Ukyou lied quickly. Remembering just how much of a klutz Usagi was, she wasn't about to risk it even if Tofu said touching them was safe. "I have to keep them relatively undisturbed."

"Oh..." Usagi backed away. She looked up at Ukyou's face and then down again, blushing suddenly. Ukyou tilted her head to the side, wondering what that was about. "You came to see me? Aren't you that boy from the papers and..."

Oh. That must be it. "Ah. Well, we've already been introduced but I guess we can do it again, if you insist," Ukyou shrugged. She stepped back and made a short bow. "I'm Ukyou Kuonji. And you are Usagi Tsukino, also known as Sailor Moon, also known as Princess Serenity also known as etcetra etcetra..."

"What?" the girl shrieked and stepped back, her hands flying up. Ukyou watched her okonomiyaki-roll fly into the air and tumble towards the pavement. With a sigh she snapped her hand out and snatched it.

"You dropped this," she pointed out as she handed the food back again. Usagi blushed again and grabbed it, clutching it with both hands so it wouldn't slip from her grasp again.

"You must have me confused with someone else..." Usagi mumbled out.

"No. No, I don't," Ukyou shrugged. "But I didn't come to speak to you. Like I said, I came to speak to the cat." Ukyou turned her attention from the flustered girl and quickly spotted the small black cat standing nearby, watching her warily. Ukyou kneeled down and held her good hand out, palm up while she flashed her most winning smile. Luna quirked her head in a distinctly cat-like gesture, her ears flicking slightly. The golden cresecnt on her forehead caught the afternoon rays of the sun just right to make it sparkle a bit.

"Meow?" Luna said inquisitively. Ukyou let Aaron take over for a bit: he was always better with animals than with people. He fished a little treat from his coat and held it out to Luna, still smiling.

"Don't be coy with me," Ukyou said with a mock pout. "We can hardly have a civil discussion if all you do is meow at me." Aaron offered the treat again and Luna seemed to consider it before walking over and licking it from her hand with her ticklish little red sandpaper tongue. Aaron flicked her fingers quickly and began to scratch the cat behind the ears. Luna rolled her head to the side, nudging a little closer and purring. "As much fun as this is, Luna, we really need to have an adult conversation."

The cat merely meowed and purred a bit more as Aaron used hands trained from twelve years of cat ownership to scratch and pet the moon cat with practised ease. Ukyou looked up at Usagi, who shrugged helplessly.

"Well, how do you get her to talk to you?" Ukyou said with a smirk.

"Its getting her to shut up that's usually the problem!" Usagi laughed nervously.

Aaron scooped up the cat in the crook of his arm before it had a chance to scamper away and used Ukyou's bad hand to get to some serious petting. Not too hard, but not too soft either. In smooth, rythmic strokes. That was the ticket. The little hedonist stretched and purred at the attention, occasionally shooting an accusatory 'why don't you do this' glare at Usagi.

"Luna, there's really no need to play at being a normal cat," Ukyou explained patiently. "I know all about you, the Sailor Senshi, the Silver Millennium and on down the line. In fact, I know more about all this than you do, which is the point of this meeting." She paused but Luna only looked at her and meowed. "Okay, if you don't want the Ginzuishou, I guess I can find some use for it... maybe a paperweight or something..."

"The Ginzuisho!" the cat in her arms screeched aloud suddenly. Ukyou was taken aback for a moment. Luna sounded much too young... then she remembered that in the original Japanese the voice actress had gone for the typical saccharine headache-inducing voice, rather then the English version's mature, vaguely British matron's voice.

"It does speak," Ukyou laughed.

"Uh, surprise?" Usagi gulped.

"Don't worry, kid," Ukyou shrugged and allowed Aaron to resume petting Luna. "I'm on your side. Up until Jadeite decided to make this personal, I was content to sit out this little war. I think... no, I KNOW that you're more then capable of winning it on your own. I just want to tip the odds in your favor to repay this little debt the Dark Kingdom owes me." Ukyou waved her needle- perforated arm.

"How do you know all this?" Luna asked. It was weird watching the cat talk.

"I've seen the future," Ukyou shrugged easily.

"Really?" Usagi gasped. Luna looked more doubtful.

Addressing the cat, Ukyou explained. "You know about Sailor Pluto and the time gates. It's possible to travel back and forth to the future, so why can't I have seen it?"

"I suppose it's possible," Luna mused. "But the question then becomes how..."

"I just woke up like this one day." Ukyou frowned and looked up at the sky. The sun was drifting behind some thick white clouds. She hated thinking back to the day she had woken up with Aaron trapped in her skull. The day her life as she had known it had ended. "I didn't ask to be who I am now, I guess. Who does, really? I just have to learn to move forward, stop asking 'why?' and keep thinking 'what next?'"

"That's so deep," Usagi sighed. Ukyou shot her a look, but the girl had her eyes closed so she missed it completely. Ukyou shrugged it off, however. Usagi was destined to fall for Tuxedo What's-his-name, so it wasn't like she could be developing anything besides a harmless crush on her. And Ukyou was fine with women who let their gazes linger on her from afar. As long as it never really went beyond that... but that line of thought was making both her and Aaron uncomfortable, so she quashed it.

"The point is that I can help you, a great deal," Ukyou continued. "Now you can look this gift horse in the mouth, or you can trust me and make this war of yours a lot shorter and easier."

"I suppose we can trust you..." Luna murmured uncertainly.

"Great!" Ukyou scratched her just under the chin as a reward. "I don't blame you for being apprehensive, I certainly would be, if the roles were reversed."

"What do you want for this help, anyway?" Luna asked sharply.

"Nothing," Ukyou replied with a shrug.

"Nothing? You can't expect me to believe that." Luna frowned. It was a far too human expression. She really did look nothing like a cat at all, at least when it came to her face.

"Believe what you want," Ukyou responded coolly. "Let's get down to business. First Luna, we'll need the... uh, Rainbow Moon Wand? Cutie Moon Dream Rod? I keep forgetting the name of that thing..."

"The what?"

"Just a sec..." Ukyou knelt down and deposited the cat on the ground. Once her good hand was free, she slipped a hand into one of her many interior pockets and retrieved her small sketchpad. "This thing," she said as she flipped it open to the correct page. She displayed the picture to Luna. It was crudely done, by her standards, but showed all the important features. The crescent moon top, the delicate handle, the circular connection with the three gems inset and so on.

"The Moon Stick..." Luna blinked.

"That's it!" Ukyou smiled. "Could you do the backflip thing and give the... stick to Usagi here? We're going to need it if we're going to fetch all the Rainbow Crystals." Ukyou paused and looked over at Usagi. "You might want to transform, we're going to be busy today and it'll require a lot of explaining if I have to carry you from place to place."

Ukyou turned back to Luna before she could note Usagi's reaction. She was just in time to see the cat finish her graceful backflip. A swirl of silvery sparks floated in her wake like a tiny galaxy, coalescing together in a single point. With a final flash the 'Moon Stick'

(God, what an awful name)

materialized. The gaudy device floated just above the pavement.

"Well, it's your royal heritage, Sailor Moon." Ukyou stood up and ran a hand through her bangs. Usagi stepped forward, reaching out with a trembling hand, and retrieved the device.

"This stick is a very dangerous weapon," Luna pointed out to Usagi as she held it up. "But also a miraculous tool for peace. Its function depends on the character of the user as much as the magic within it. Having it and using it are great responsibilities, and you should take them seriously."

"And you work on remembering how to use that thing to remove the Rainbow Crystal from someone without turning them into monsters," Ukyou shot to Luna as she put away her sketchbook while retrieving a similar note-pad from one of her other pockets. "Now, we have to meet with a man known as Game Machine Joe..."

01010

Shampoo sat in the small room. The chair was uncomfortable, and she knew that was deliberate. She had been waiting, she guessed, for over two hours, and that too was certainly deliberate. That, however, wasn't what made her angry.

Angry? No, that wasn't a strong enough word. Enraged. That was what she was. Every time she closed her eyes, even to blink, she saw that face, that face she hated more than anything else in the world.

Ranma. Ranma. Ranma. That damnable foreign girl. Who had come to her village uninvited, eaten the feast Shampoo had won for once again becoming the champion of the Nyuuchezu's village tournament, and...

Humiliated her. Humiliated HER. Shampoo! The greatest, most promising warrior of her village! That damn girl had accepted her outraged challenge, and, before she had known it, Shampoo was beaten. Just like that. In front of the entire village, her victory had turned to ashes, her pride into shame.

She had thought she couldn't possibly hate Ranma even more, that there was nothing the foreign girl could do to possibly shame her further. But she had been wrong. Which was why she was sitting here now. Because of Ranma. That damn coward! But it wasn't the end. Not yet. She wouldn't let it end like this, no matter what happened. She closed her eyes, seeing that smirking Japanese face before her.

Shampoo was going to enjoy watching Ranma die.

"Great-granddaughter, have you come home to fight a battle? I warn you; I won't tolerate your wrecking my furniture."

Shampoo's head snapped up, her eyes opening again. Great-grandmother Cologne was there now. She hadn't heard the old woman enter, but that was normal. Great-grandmother was perched on her staff; Shampoo couldn't read her expression, but she got a sense of displeasure from her body language. But then, that wasn't surprising, under the circumstances.

"Let us get straight to the point, great-granddaughter. Why have you returned?"

Shampoo felt her cheeks burn. She hadn't wanted to come back, to compound her humiliation. But the only alternative was unacceptable. "I had no choice. The girl, Ranma," she spit the name, "escaped across the ocean to Japan. I..." She gritted her teeth. It was hard to admit her failure. "I am unable to follow her there, as I don't know their language. I need help if I'm going to find her."

Great-grandmother took a long draw on her pipe, and then exhaled slowly. Her face crinkled a bit. "I believe there once was a little girl who informed her elders that she did not NEED to learn Japanese."

Shampoo flushed further. But then, great-grandmother was right. She hadn't thought anything like this could happen. "I am sorry, great- grandmother."

"Sorry about not learning Japanese, or sorry for invoking an ancient custom you now cannot wriggle your way out of?"

"I will NOT wriggle out of it!" Shampoo snapped. "I will hunt down-"

"Then, if you are not trying to wriggle out of it, why have you returned empty-handed to ask for my help?"

Shampoo swallowed her anger as best she could. "I want to find Ranma. I will find Ranma. But in that foreign country, I can't ask anyone of her whereabouts. I need some way to communicate. I know you can help me with that, so I am humbly begging..." She rose from the chair and then kneeled before the elder. "I am humbly begging for you to help me."

Great-grandmother paused for a moment, obviously considering. Shampoo remained in her supplicant position. She had almost prostrated herself, but... even for great-grandmother, even for this, she couldn't do that.

When the elder spoke again, her voice was toneless, revealing nothing. "Precisely what do you know of this... Ranma?"

Shampoo blinked. Why did she ask that? "I... don't know very much, great-grandmother. She is a fast, tricky one. Many times I thought to have caught her, but she and her pet panda would vanish right from under my nose." She paused, considering what else she had observed. "She's a shameless one. Once I found her after bathing; she was strutting around topless for anyone to see."

"Right after bathing, you say?" Cologne's voice was sharp. "Bathing where?"

"Umm... why do you want to know?"

"Because there are things about Ranma that I suspect."

Shampoo was beginning to worry about her great-grandmother. Perhaps old age was finally beginning to tell? "I... don't really know where. It was in a river...close to Shanghai?"

"A river, hmm? Interesting..." The old woman puffed seriously on her pipe.

Perhaps it would have been better to simply sneak in at night and borrow what she needed. Except Shampoo didn't really know what she needed...

Cologne looked at her again. "Tell me... you've fought this girl several times. Has she ever done anything... strange in your battles?"

"Umm... strange?"

"Things that normal girls don't do to other girls. Especially when fighting."

At first, Shampoo had thought great-grandmother was acting a little senile, focusing on meaningless trivia. Now, she didn't know -what- to think. "Umm... no. Not that I ever noticed, no."

"What about the panda?"

"Umm..."

"Stop saying 'umm', child, it's undignified."

"Great-grandmother, are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, yes, perfectly fine," she snapped impatiently. "Now answer the question."

"I never... uh... noticed the panda doing anything strange, no. Except for the fact it walked around on it's hind legs and talked to Ranma using signs. And ate human food. And drank human tea... in fact, it also MADE the tea." Now that she thought about it, it really was a very strange panda. But why on earth did great-grandmother care? "It kept running away with Ranma, too. It was very fast, for a panda."

"Shampoo, what would you say if I told you that this person you've been trying to kill is actually a man?"

Shampoo stared. Wonderful. Great-grandmother had totally lost it. Why couldn't she have waited just one more day for senility to set in? "Great- grandmother," she said in her most patient tone, "That is silly. I told you, I saw this girl almost naked."

"Yes, yes, but that hardly matters, child."

Shampoo felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, but kept her voice steady and tried not to grit her teeth too much. "Yes, great-grandmother, it does. She was not at all fat enough to have those on her chest. It was definitely a girl."

The old woman chuckled. "Ah, the naivete of youth. Just for a moment, Shampoo, forget what it was you saw and believe what I say. What would you do, if Ranma were a man?"

She decided to play along, for now. Needed to get the help. Had to remember that. "Well... I guess, if Ranma were a man, then I'd have to marry him." Except it would be hard to marry a corpse, which Ranma was very soon to be, but she kept that to herself.

"So that would be your decision?"

"No," she said firmly. "That's the law. My decision is to hunt down Ranma and pin her to the ground like a squealing pig, then-"

"Yes, yes, child." She waved absently. "But what I'm saying is that if this Ranma is a boy, you are going to marry him, for that is the law, and you chose to observe the ancient laws?"

Shampoo sighed. "If somehow that was true, I... suppose I would have to do it. But I'd rather just kill him...HER! Now you've got me saying it!" she added a little resentfully.

"Well, then, that settles that, I suppose." Cologne nodded vigourously.

"Now that this game of make-believe is over, can you please help me, great-grandmother? I want to be back after Ranma as soon as possible."

"Of course I can help you, child. We leave in the morning."

Shampoo blinked. "We?"

"We."

"But why would you come along?"

"If you can tell me the true secret of Jyusenkyou, I will answer that question for you."

Shampoo wanted to break something. A lot of somethings. Violently. She wished her favourite identical twin punching bags were here. "Jyusenkyou is a forbidden place. Nobody goes there, so who cares what secrets it has? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I fear that is a question you will have to discover the answer to yourself, child."

01010

The water rolled over her body in a gentle river. The soft trickle of it was soothing, almost hypnotic. Her eyes almost closed from their own weight once or twice as she lay there waiting. Her body felt weak. Weaker than it ever had before. She could feel her physical self, her very essence, threatening to unravel. That was why she could not allow herself to fall into sleep. Sleep was death. Sleep was giving up. Sleep meant she would never have her revenge.

Her hand clawed at the porous stone around her, finding thin handholds. Moaning, she pulled with all her strength and slowly her face and then her entire body emerged from the soft trickle of the grey water. Her other hand reached out blindly, groping until she felt it settle on one of the iron rungs of the nearby ladder. The ladder led up to the light. The unforgiving light...

She took stock of her surroundings with a single glare. Tethys was not familiar with human customs, but even she could recognize a sewer when she saw one. She snorted. It was an appropriate place. She hardly even remembered dragging herself to this dank pit to escape. The last clear memory she had was of ripping the ward from Jadeite's...

A shudder ran up her body. What was this feeling? Sorrow? A human failing! No, it must be anger and rage, but unlike any she had felt before. And the reason for that was equally clear. Always, in the past, she had been the cat with the mouse. When her anger grew, she merely killed the mouse and was done with it. But now that was beyond her ability. The mouse was beyond her reach, and her anger was growing. This feeling, then, was anger gone sour from age. The all-consuming need for revenge. Yes, if she could revenge herself upon those who had taken everything from her, she would feel better.

She tapped her critically low reserves and forced herself to begin climbing. She would never get her revenge in this sewer. Tethys needed energy to restore herself to her full strength. And she needed more than that. Jadeite had been brimming with power, power she had hardly seen even in the hands of Queen Beryl, and he had still lost. Clearly, power alone was not enough.

So what secret did this Ukyou command that would allow her to topple so mighty a man as Jadeite? Tethys forced down another bout of sour rage at the thought of his ignominous death. She had not seen it herself, but she knew the truth of what had happened. All she needed to know now was the method.

Metal rasped against stone as Tethys lifted the cover of her sanctuary free. As she climbed into the air, she noted it was dark out. That too suited her mood. She stumbled over to the nearest wall and leaned against it. She was taking a great risk by coming out in the open like this. In her natural form, she was quite conspicuous and lacked any ability to blend in with the humans. But the need outweighed the risk. She appeared to be in some narrow, dirty, untraveled backroad of the city anyway. There were no humans to see her.

As if summoned by her thoughts, she felt two radiant energy sources enter the alleyway. She shied back, hiding behind a trash receptacle. She need not have bothered. The humans were totally intent on each other. The male was draped over the female. His rumpled suit was partially removed. The female wore very little herself, and what she did wear seemed designed to come off with very little force. Tethys would have sneered, had she a mouth with which to do it. It appeared she had stumbled upon a human mating ritual.

That was good. She knew from long study that one of the human energy peaks occurred during their mating. It was so unlike mating with her kind. For the youma, sex was about dominance and power. You took who you wanted when you wanted, to show that you were higher on the magical food chain than they were. Humans seemed to get some bizarre pleasure out of it for its own sake, without it proving anything. She almost pitied them.

She would have no better opportunity than now. Gathering up the very last of her reserves, Tethys stepped around the dumpster and strode purposefully towards the pair. They were much too involved in their activity to notice her. That suited her fine. Once she reached them her hands pistoned out and grabbed both by their necks. Screams died stillborn in their throats as Tethys cut off their oxygen. Then she began to feed.

The essence of the two humans flowed into her body in a viscous cloud. She felt the strange tang of human arousal in their energy, now mixed with the sweet ambrosia of human terror. She drank in their power, growing slowly in strength. She continued feeding long after the humans had lost consciousness, long after their bodies died. She continued feeding until there was nothing left of these two fools but withered husks that she dropped to the pavement.

It was glorious. She hadn't fed like that... since... since before Serenity had banished all her kind beneath a cold arctic prison. She paused to exult in the feeling of it. Why had she denied herself like this for so long?

The answer came to her immediately. Because for millennia, there had been nothing to feed off of but her fellow youma. And while destroying your fellows was permissible in certain circumstances, it had become a serious crime once Queen Beryl realized that such cannibalism only weakened her forces in the long run. So they had all learned to feed in moderation. To hold back their hunger. They had become so good at it that ritual had become habit had become instinct. Now, if she had a mouth, she would have smiled. To hell with that lesser feeding. From now on, she would feast!

Tethys laughed as she evoked her glamour and cloaked herself in the appearance of a human being. She then strode out into the neon-lit streets of the human city. So many meals... no. She had to be quiet. The Sailor Senshi still patrolled this city, and they had an unsightly talent for turning up at the worst possible times. She would have to feed sporadically, never in the same place twice. It would not do to encounter her adversaries again until she was ready.

That left her only with the need to find some place to stay. Once, she could have simply returned to her home, but she knew that would now be suicide. Even if Queen Beryl did not vaporize her on the spot for being part of such a disaster, Zoicite would never forget what Tethys had cost him, and his revenge would involve a much more agonizingly slow demise. She was on her own. Just her versus the human Ukyou.

She started down the street, whistling a tune that had ceased to exist on this planet thousands of years ago. She would find out the secret of Ukyou's power and turn it against the boy. Strong and resourceful he might be, but he was still just a human. Once the playing field between them had been leveled, there could be only one outcome to their next encounter.

01010

"Mysterious Hero Saves City!"

That's what the headline said, emblazoned in a huge typeface right above the picture of Ukyou battling with Jadeite that took up about half of the front page. The other, more "respectable" papers had been a little less overtly enthusiastic. They'd also cribbed from Ran Hibiki's - that added Rival Schools to the series' he knew existed - original story without shame (or credit). Chris wondered if that backhanded acknowledgement had pleased or annoyed her.

The other papers had toned things down, left out a few details, or given different spins on the facts of Ran's article, but they were faithful enough that Chris figured Ran's original 'extra special publication issue' had to be fairly accurate. And that was something that worried him a great deal.

From the story and accompanying photographs, he had gotten the gist. Nearly a week ago, Ukyou, Ranma, Akane, Ryouga and the Sailor Senshi (well, the first three Senshi) had fought Jadeite and some youma, to rescue Nabiki. That -should- have been an unholy beatdown, and in fact it was, but on the wrong end. Jadeite was somehow superpowered, and he took out pretty much everyone before Ukyou had made a 'miraculous' come-from-behind victory. The next part, only Ran had mentioned, and she was very vague on the details, but apparently there'd been some sort of argument between Ukyou and her friends and the Senshi, then they'd gone their separate ways.

He leaned back in the chair, massaging his temples. What a lovely mess to come home to. First off, Ukyou was apparently assembling herself a nice little army to go fight menaces with, which didn't exactly make him feel terribly secure. Even more importantly, Ukyou was messing around in the Sailor Moon plotline. Chris really didn't know the series very well - certainly not compared to Ranma 1/2 - but he did know that they would be responsible for saving the world from destruction not once, but several times. As well, the sort of foes they fought were generally paranormal magical beings of great power; not, by any stretch of the imagination, Ukyou's area of expertise. So what was she thinking, messing around with the plot of a series upon which the fate of the world rested?

"Hey," came the voice from over his shoulder. "You've been staring at those papers ever since you got that weedy little guy to get them. Do you know that person, over?"

He glanced back, unsurprised to see Pink. "Yeah, I know her, more or less. I just don't know what happened, or why."

"Well, seems like what happened is pretty weird," Pink noted. "Does stuff like this happen in Japan all the time, over?"

He turned around in the chair with a shrug, noted idly from the corner of his eye that Link was at the back of the room, apparently talking in a low voice to a potted plant. "More or less," he replied to Pink, "It's pretty weird here."

"So what's the problem? If you know her, go ask her what happened, over."

He chuckled. "I'd try, but she'd probably attack me on sight. Not everyone's as tolerant of my condition as you are." Pink seemed to find that very amusing. "I take it you two have looked around by now, then. How did you find the gardens?"

"Acceptable, over," noted Link curtly. She didn't look at him.

"You have some interesting plants," grinned Pink, "even if they're all pretty normal, over."

"Good good. You two can plant whatever you like, as long as you leave the plants I noted alone. I need them on occasion."

"So you need to paralyse people," Pink smirked. It wasn't a question. "I wonder what for, over?"

"Not for what you think," he quickly replied. "It's simply a good way to keep me out of fights I don't want to get into."

"Of course," came the smug response. "And speaking of that, what are you going to do about your little problem, over?"

"Actually," he said, rising to my feet, "I think I have an idea about that." It was true Ukyou probably wouldn't even listen to him, much less answer his questions...but there was someone else who might. "I'll need to go out for a little bit. Don't get into trouble while I'm gone."

"Of course not, over," said Pink, and smiled.

01010

"...the only thing that makes sense!"

"Ranma, first off, that's crazy. Second off, you're crazy for thinking that up. Third off, you're even crazier if you think I'm going to entertain the idea for a minute."

"Then I hope you have a better idea, because that's all I can come up with."

"Don't you believe the explanation Ukyou already gave us?"

"Of course I do but... oh, hi, Nabiki."

Nabiki nodded in acknowledgement. Ranma had come around the corner first, followed shortly thereafter by her little sister. The two rarely even talked to each other during school hours. Except to talk about HIM. Nabiki felt her neutral expression turning sour as she thought about it.

"So, uh, nice day and all, huh?" Ranma shot his mouth into the uncomfortable silence that had descended over the three of them. Nabiki just turned around and began to walk in the other direction. She did not need their empty pleasantries. She definitely did not need to be reminded of how conversations about Ukyou stopped the moment she entered the room.

"Nabiki, wait up!"

Nabiki didn't stop at her sister's shout. She did not stop until Akane grabbed her elbow and pulled on her gently. Only then did Nabiki pause and look down at the offending hand. Akane snapped it away quickly, a distinct metallic 'ching' sound accompanying her movement. There was some sort of bulge under the sleeves of her uniform, something she was hiding.

"What do you want, Akane?" Nabiki allowed a layer of frost to coat her words. Akane blinked but smiled.

"I just wanted to talk. We are still sisters, aren't we?" Nabiki refused to look at her little sister's smile any longer. The smile was infectious. Akane had been flashing it all over the house the last few days. She was always finding some excuse to be close to Nabiki and talk to her like they were suddenly best pals. And the topic of conversation always returned to how Akane was going to 'be there' for Nabiki when she needed her. It always focused on how Akane wanted to 'look out' for her and 'make sure you're safe' and how 'thanks to Ukyou, I'm a lot stronger now!'

"I think your friend is waiting for you." Nabiki pointed with her chin over Akane's shoulder. Sure enough, the man of the hour was standing at the gate, or on it to be more precise. Everyone was gathered around the pedestal he had climbed up on, shouting and waving for his attention, but he ignored them. His attention was entirely fixed upon Ranma and Akane... and her. Nabiki knew that it was impossible at this distance, but she imagined their eyes met for just a moment and Nabiki saw mockery in those eyes. It wasn't much of a stretch. Ukyou had made no secret of his feelings for her.

Nabiki remembered clearly how she had walked, alone, into Ukyou's hospital room. The boy had been leaning against a pillow, his arm filled with tiny needles. He had looked over at her, and before Nabiki could say anything had opened right up with "You don't need to apologize, Nabiki. Just never fuck with forces you can't understand again. Okay?"

Apologize! The nerve of that arrogant little prick. Her hand tightened on her bookbag until her knuckles turned white.

"Nabiki, it doesn't have to be like this," Akane sighed. "Ukyou is a nice... guy, and if you just give him a chance..."

"I'm certain he is," Nabiki stepped away from her sister and turned her back. Hearing her sister defend that man made her nauseous. "So go have fun with him, if he's so nice. And take my 'fiancee' with you."

Nabiki heard Akane call out to her a few more times before she rounded the corner of the building, but there was no pursuit this time. Once she was out of eyesight Nabiki turned and placed her hands against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back the tears she knew were threatening beneath her eyelids. Nabiki hated feeling like this. She hated feeling like she didn't know what was going on. She hated being lied to. She hated...

She hated feeling afraid.

There, she'd admitted it. She felt afraid and helpless. She knew better than to blame her recent string of humiliation and life-threatening dangers directly on Ukyou, but he was their source nonetheless. He was the one who had dragged her kicking and screaming into his world. He was the one who had made her - Nabiki! - into the victim in his little dramas. Well, it was time to stop being the helpless one.

She took one final cleansing breath and stepped away from the wall. She glared around her at the few loitering students who had been watching her, and they scattered. She dismissed them from her mind. Her reputation in this school was already shot to hell; there was little else she could do to ruin it now. Despite her best efforts, her 'engagement' to Saotome had leaked out, and his curse had also leaked out. Now that she found herself tied to him, and through him to Ukyou, she was the target of all the school's gossip and not the source. She had heard every rumor imaginable. From those which suggested that Nabiki was Ukyou's secret lover, to the ones which suggested that the only reason she was with Ranma was because of his female side. The latter had grown a strong set of legs, considering how much Nabiki went out of her way to avoid Ranma at school, where he managed to maintain his manhood most of the time.

These thoughts flew through her head and were dismissed as unimportant. She quickly strode back into the school. The halls were empty but not silent, as the unlucky students were still within their classrooms cleaning them up. She walked briskly past the doors to all the classes without pausing. Then she walked straight into the library.

The library was one of the few parts of the campus that was open after school hours. Along with the gymnasium, the library had its own entrance and exit into the school grounds, and students were allowed - indeed, encouraged - to come after hours to cram for finals or work on near-due projects. The librarian was a sleepy, fat little man with an awful comb-over and a nasal voice. But he spent all his time behind his desk playing solitaire and ignored everything that happened in the rest of the small library. So Nabiki was not worried about him interfering with her.

She spotted her prey easily and walked quickly over to him. Zaitochi was a rabbit of a boy. His build was slim, his eyes beady and his nose had a tendancy to twitch when he got nervous. He was also a fabulous sprinter, thanks to his years of evading pursuits from bullies in one school after another. Despite all that, he was a gregarious and intelligent boy. He often helped others with their homework, charging only mild fees for his impressive tutoring skills.

"Zaitochi," Nabiki called once she was standing behind him. The boy started and spinned his head to see her. His nose twitched, and his entire body tensed as if to flee. Then he saw her and relaxed.

"Nabiki," he sighed. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"I need it."

Zaitochi raised an eyebrow at her simple statement. Then his eyes widened and he thumbed the side of his nose as comprehension dawned.

"I'm not finished translating."

"How much have you finished?"

"Almost all of it, actually," he admitted as he turned back in his seat. He produced a bookbag from under his table and placed it next to him. A few seconds of blind groping within and he pulled out two manila folders. Nabiki strode around to the other side of the table and sat herself down. It would look to any curious onlookers as if she was just getting homework advice. "The trick is reassembling all the damaged portions. Some of it is beyond retrieval, but not all of it. I have to use a lot of educated guesswork to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, the fire left it so that without that educated guesswork, a lot of it's been useless."

"You've been reading it," Nabiki said with a frown. Of course he had been reading it. How else was he supposed to translate it? She had also forgotten about Zaitochi's inquisitive streak. But he was the only person she knew who spoke fluent English - a legacy of his grandfather, who had been an American soldier.

"Some of it is very fascinating," Zaitochi explained as he flipped open one of the folders and pointed to the top page. "This, for instance, seems to be a timeline... for events that haven't happened yet."

"What?" Nabiki grabbed the paper and swung it around to face her. Zaitochi's neat, simple handwriting had translated a list out in kana, with dates and notes attached.

"Yes," the boy leaned forward and his nose twitched. "It talks about the election in America this fall. Claims Clinton is going to win." Nabiki only paid passing attention to American politics, but since she knew Bush was the current president, she guessed Clinton was the other guy. "It also has the results for the next two elections, and the elections in Canada as well. It also has some data on who is going to be prime minister of England, Germany and even Japan. Though the data is missing or lax on a lot of countries, but that might be because of the damage."

"That isn't anything special," Nabiki pointed out. "Just someone playing at politics."

"And sports, and economics, and warfare," Zaitochi pointed out. "Look at this." He tapped a part of the paper.

"Tokyo, 1996... Sarin Nerve Gas Attack In Subway...?" Nabiki read aloud. "What is this?"

"I don't know," Zaitochi admitted. "But there is a lot of other stuff in there. And a lot of it is pretty specific. Stuff about a 'dotcom crash' on Wall Street, some sort of big terrorist attack in New York in 2001, wars in Serbia and Mogadishu and Afganistan and Iraq... pretty scary stuff."

"Scary stuff," Nabiki repeated as she read down the page, and the next five pages as well. There was too much data here, covering too many different things, for this to all just be speculation. But what did it mean? "What else was there?"

"A profile of you," Zaitochi said as he flipped the page for her.

"Nabiki Tendo; Age Seventeen, Middle Tendo Daughter... Mostly Harmless?"

"That's what it says."

"But... mostly harmless?" Nabiki didn't know whether to feel insulted or not.

"There was a picture that accompanied the profile," Zaitochi pointed out. "From what survived of it, it looked like a good likeness."

"Were there more?"

"Yes. profiles of your sisters, and Ranma, and Kunou... and profiles of people I've never met before." He looked up at her. "Do we have a principal? I can't recall ever meeting him."

"He's on some sort of extended leave of absence." Nabiki shrugged. "Has been since before I came here. The vice-principal runs the school, and seems to be doing an okay job. I think there are statues of the guy somewhere on campus."

"Well, I think whoever wrote this has met him," Zaitochi flipped a few pages. "Here: Principal Kunou; Age Unknown, Father of Tatewaki Kunou, Hawaii fetish, obession with haircuts, general nuisance." Nabiki gave him a long look. "I'm not the one who wrote all this. A lot of the profiles were badly burned. I have some names to go with some pictures and a few snippets of descriptions."

He leaned back and laced his hands behind his neck. "But you may want to keep flipping forward. I put a special surprise a few pages in. I'm sure you'll realize what it is when you get to it."

Nabiki gave him a long look but complied. He was right, it didn't take her long to figure out what the surprise was. It was a single piece of the burned notebook, almost intact. On it was a picture of a man, or three pictures. One facial shot, one full body shot and a profile. Next to it was a stream of neat little english letters. Zaitochi hadn't translated the english to kana on a seperate page, he'd just written down the translation in the ample white space left over.

"Jadeite," Nabiki read to herself as her stomach sank. She recognized that face. She still saw it in her nightmares. Saw it leaning across the table from her with dark hunger in his eyes... She shook off the image and continued reading. "The first of four Generals of the Dark Kingdom. Prefers to engage opponents through proxy by use of 'youmas', a sort of parasitic malevolent entity. Jadeite is defeated for the final time at the Narita Airport..." she trailed off. "No way."

"Heh, my thoughts exactly," Zaitochi said from behind a grin. "You gave me this notebook three whole days -before- the battle at Narita."

"Who are you?" Nabiki said as she looked down at the notepaper in her hands. Zaitochi didn't catch the meaning of her question, so he remained silent. Finally Nabiki stood up, reached into her pocket and extracted a large roll of bills. She slammed it down on the table. Normally, getting her to actually pay her own money for something was like pulling teeth. Not this time. "Have you finished translating all the text?"

"Technically, yes," Zaitochi said with a frown.

"Then I have no further need of your services."

"But what am I supposed to do about..."

"Nothing," Nabiki said as she gathered up both folders. "Forget you ever saw these."

"I can hardly do that," the boy chuckled.

"I suggest you figure out a way," Nabiki advised icily. "I have a little sister and a fiancee who can help me survive this insanity. Do you know anyone willing and able to do the same for you?"

Zaitochi blinked, staring at her for a moment. Then slowly his face drained of all color. "You mean..." he croaked.

"Keep this to yourself, don't speak of it to anyone but me." She paused. "In fact, you'd best not ever speak to me again. You should forget you ever saw this. It's too dangerous."

"I see..."

Nabiki didn't wait to see his reaction. She had already stowed the papers in her bookbag and started towards the exit. She really did hope the boy followed her advice, and never tried to follow-up on what he had learned from this notebook. Just being associated with Ukyou Kuonji was dangerous, triply so for mere mortals like herself and Zaitochi. What danger could you lead yourself into if you knew his secrets?

Nabiki fully intended to find out. She would go carefully, but she would go forward. There was simply no other conceivable direction.

01010

Tofu Ono balanced the tray of drinks with one hand, pocketing a jar of burn ointment with the other. He nodded politely to one of the workmen as he stepped out of the way. The men Ukyou had hired to work on getting his clinic rebuilt were decent, hard-working fellows from what he could tell, and they seemed to be working ahead of schedule. He called out a cheerful greeting to a few of the people in the neighbourhood as he walked around the block to the vacant lot. He was glad everyone had understood his circumstances. It meant he wouldn't lose any customers, at the very least.

"Doctor Tofu!" Tsubasa cried out as she stepped out of a mailbox along his route. Ono took her appearance in good humour. After seeing the young Saotome boy change gender at the slightest shower, he figured there was no reason to be surprised about how strange Ukyou's friends were. "Are you going to visit Ukyou?"

"Bringing her friends and her a drink," Ono replied as he continued along. Tsubasa fell into step behind him. She was a rather cute girl, with her long brown hair decorated by a single large yellow bow. She was wearing a deep navy blue school uniform, which fit her well but left her looking curiously underdeveloped for a girl her age. At least she wasn't wearing the giant mutant street sign with the suction cup feet outfit. That one had been vaguely disturbing.

The first thing Ono heard as he stepped into the clearing was the crackle of the bonfire. Ranma sat cross-legged in front of it, staring into the flames that roared slightly taller than his head. Sweat rolled down his cheeks, but whether it was from the heat or from his obviously intense concentration, Ono couldn't say. He noted the boy's aura was much more focused today than it had been the day before. Despite his own incredulity, Ukyou's training seemed to be producing results.

"Hey, Doc," Ranma called out as he looked up for a minute. He grinned, and cracked his knuckles. "Check this out!" Ono obliged him and paused while Tsubasa stepped around the fire without stopping. Ranma reached back with one hand and then thrust it into the bonfire, again and again. Ono could follow the motion of his hand, but only after reflexively enhancing his vision with a bit of chi. To a normal human, Ranma's arm would have disappeared into a red blur.

"Gotcha!" Ranma cried triumphantly as he held up a double handful of steaming chestnuts. "Heh. This ain't so tough."

"Very good, Ranma." Ono coughed politely. "Your sleeve is on fire."

"ACK!" Ranma dropped the chestnuts back into the flames and began to beat at his burning clothes. Unfortunately, his frantic waving was only fanning the flames. Sighing, Ono flipped one of the glasses from his tray towards the boy. Seconds later Ranma was female and covered in sticky lemonade, but at least he wasn't on fire.

Ono still found the transformation itself fascinating. If he could study how it worked, he could expand his knowledge of magic a great deal. Of course, he doubted Ranma would like being treated like a guinea pig. Therefore, the subject had never been brought up.

"Thanks, Doc," Ranma grumbled. She rolled up her charred sleeves, trying to salvage some of her outfit. Ono noted the burns on her palms and knuckles and refrained from clucking his tongue in disappointment. His father had passed that habit along to him, but Ono always made sure to repress it. The less he acted like his father, the better, all things considered.

"Don't worry about it, Ranma," Ono called. He fetched the burn ointment from his back pocket and handed it to the boy as he passed. "Here." Ranma thanked him as Ono stepped past the bonfire into the clearing wasn't really worried about the boy injuring himself. Not only did he have a chi- enhanced resistance to damage, but he healed with amazing alacrity.

"-don't think so much about your attacks, Akane," Ukyou's voice faded into hearing as Ono stepped away from the roaring flame. The girl was dressed in a pair of loose slacks and a button-up shirt. As usual, she was concealing her feminine traits with remarkable ability. Akane was on the ground at her feet and Ukyou was offering the other girl a hand up. Akane's yellow training gi was stained with dirt and sweat, and her forehead shone with a light sheen as she took deep breaths. Ukyou appeared immaculate in comparison.

"Easy for you to say," Akane groused good-naturedly.

"It isn't about knowing your enemy, Akane," Ukyou pointed out once the other girl was back on her feet. Her voice had taken on the strangely gentle steel edge that Ono had begun to call her 'teaching voice'. "It's about knowing yourself, and trusting in that. You can't be second-guessing yourself in the middle of a battle. You have to commit yourself totally to an action. If you don't... your chi won't respond."

"So when I try to hit-"

"Do or do not, there is no try," Ukyou quoted happily. "You can't doubt that your attack is going to hit." Ukyou stepped away from her and began a slow kata. Ono watched her, as her aura snapped tight and focused. "The key to accessing your chi is knowing that it will respond." She began to speed up her technique. Her aura snapped and crackled around her body. It was taut and focused, with barely any leaking away from her body. Ono was impressed. He had never actually gotten a chance to see Ukyou use her aura like that. All his tutelage had focused on imparting knowledge of the accelerated healing techniques to her. He hadn't even taught her about his Five Chakra theory, but she was defintely focusing almost solely through her Wind Chakra. "Chi is not a force we bend to our will, Akane. It does not come to our command. It flows to match our desire! You can't just want it, or wish it... you have to need it, rely on it... make it a part of you!"

By the time Ukyou completed her speech she was blurring through the motions of her kata. Her aura had leaked into the visible spectrum and it sheathed her body in a quiet white glow. But there was something... an emptiness in her spirit that Ono could just barely make out. But before he could focus further, she had ceased her exercise and turned back to Akane. Her aura returned to its normal state.

"Wow! That was way too cool, Ukyou!" Tsubasa cried as she ran up to her old friend. Ukyou seemed to brace herself for the girl to leap on her, but Tsuabasa stopped a few steps away and just clasped her hands together as she bounced on her heels.

"Hey, Fungus," Ukyou said in her deadpan tone. Akane had asked Ukyou about that nickname a few days back, but Ukyou had just responded that it was 'a long story' and refused to explain further. Tsubasa always frowned when Ukyou called her that. "Okay... let's go through the list." Ukyou held up five fingers. "One; I will not go out with you today. Two; I will not change my mind. Three; yes, just going for a walk counts as a date. Four; I am flattered by your love letter, but can not accept it. Five; I am not interested in talking about any of the above." Ukyou lowered a finger after each point until she was holding up a fist. "Does that about cover the usual idiocy?"

"Ukyou, you can't mean to be so mean!" Tsubasa pouted. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. "Ever since I found you again, you've done nothing but be mad at me."

"Ever consider the reason I didn't leave a forwarding address was because I didn't want to be found by you?" Ukyou grumbled and sat down. "Ono," Ukyou called as she turned her attention away from the girl. "Why don't you sit down while I start up lunch?"

"Ukyou, look... you're making Tsubasa cry," Akane pointed out in a slightly chiding tone.

"Some people just don't understand gentle rejection," Ukyou said with a glare at her old 'friend'. "I've been turning down Tsubasa for almost three months."

"But I love you, Ukyou!"

"Indeed?" Ukyou crossed her arms. "The only reason you pursued me so much was because you were the only person at my old school that knew my secret."

"Wait a minute..." Ono was slightly surprised to see Ranma sitting nearby. He had missed the boy's approach somehow. "You know Ukyou's not a guy?"

"Well, of course," Tsubasa said. She then did a double take and stared hard at Ranma's breasts. "Wait... weren't YOU a guy?"

"And I still am!" Ranma growled and made a fist. Ono smiled, but concealed it by pretending he had lost his grip on the lemonade tray. Ukyou didn't bother to conceal her smile as she set up her mobile grill.

"Wow... that's impressive!" Tsubasa smiled and leaned forward. Ranma sat in a sort of stunned horror as the girl reached out and began to massage both of Ranma's breasts vigourously. "They feel so real!" she chirped. "Soft and warm and-"

"Ah, that's quite enough..." Ono cut the girl off as he snatched her hands away from Ranma. The girl had turned as red as a fire hydrant and her eyes had taken on a hollow quality. Her left eyebrow twitched, once. Akane took one long look at Ranma's face, then broke out into a fit of laughter. This snapped Ranma out of her stupor.

"I wouldn't laugh, you! Don't think I forgot about what happened in the dojo!" Ranma snapped at her. Akane's laughter choked off and she blushed deeply.

"Wait? Who did what in the where now?" Ukyou cried in confusion as she looked up from their lunch.

"I see now..." Tsubasa had, at some point during all this, begun to glare at Ranma. "So you think you can replace me in Ukyou's heart, do you? Just because you have better breasts than I do!" Tsubasa stood, pointing accusingly at Ranma. Ranma blanched.

"What? Are you insane?"

"Don't deny it! Well I know you won't replace me! You're ugly and have absolutely NO sense of fashion!" Tsubasa accused imperiously. She ended her brief tirade by smirking and placing her hands on her hips.

"You take that back!" Ranma shouted and leapt to her feet. "I'll have you know I am incredibly sexy!"

"Oh please, you couldn't even get a guy to ask you out on a date..."

"I could too!"

"Ranma," Ukyou interupted in a flat, laconic tone. "Think for just a second about what you are saying."

"I knew he was a pervert all along," Akane stage-whispered to Ukyou.

"Like... take the Doc here!" Ranma grabbed Ono's collar and dragged him down to her eye level. "You've seen me mostly naked. I have a fantastic body, one that any guy would drool over. Agreed?" From the tone and the dangerous glint in her eyes, Ono thought it best just to nod. Ranma smirked and let him go.

No sooner was he released than Tsubasa was holding him by the lapels and pulling him towards her. "Yes, but that's just because of his massive chest. You agree that far more men would be interested in a girl with an adorable face and killer fashion like me. Correct?" Her tone and the glint of her eye almost exactly mirrored Ranma's. The mute nod Ono gave her exactly replicated the one he had given Ranma.

Ono found himself released again, only to feel someone tap on his shoulder. It was Akane. She was staring at him with earnest, wide eyes. "Doctor Tofu... do you... really find girls like them attractive?" Her tone wasn't dangerous, but Ono somehow sensed there was a deeper subtext to her question. What that subtext could be, he hadn't a clue.

What had he done to get dragged into the center of this?

Ono looked to Ukyou for support. Ukyou had always shown a remarkable level of maturity for her age. Sometimes, when they talked late into the night, Ono felt as if he could close his eyes and he would be sitting across from someone his own age. But Ukyou was no help. Her face was a stony mask. Except for the violent twitching of her lips as she tried to suppress her smile. Her hand continued to go about the mechanical act of preparing her specialty food without pause, but the rest of her body shuddered slightly as laughter attempted to squeeze out her mouth.

"There's only one way to settle this..." Tsubasa hissed dangerously as she glared at Ranma. Ranma glared back. Ono scrambled back a few steps as he saw their auras clashing and sparking off each other like two storm fronts.

"Is that a challenge?" Ranma grinned. "Because if it is... then I'm more than ready for anything you got!"

"Then it's agreed? We'll settle this like honorable men!"

"You're on! Name the time, name the place!"

"WHAhahaHOAHAHAHAHAAAH!" Ukyou collapsed, unable to keep it in any longer. She had managed to finish everyone's meal first, even Tsubasa's. Everyone turned to her as she rolled about helplessly on the ground, clutching her stomach. She was laughing so hard now that nothing but a strangled whistle escaped her lips. Her cheeks were turning blue, Ono noted with some concern.

"She can't breathe!" Akane cried in alarm.

"I'll give her mouth to mouth!" Tsubasa shouted and leapt for Ukyou. Ranma intercepted the girl by catching the back of her collar.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Saving her life?" Tsubasa offered hopefully.

"I think she made it clear she don't want nothing to do with you," Ranma noted dryly.

"So I was right, you ARE trying to replace me!"

"Okay... okay... I think this has gone on long enough," Ukyou gasped between breaths as she finally recovered. She rolled to a sitting position. "Ranma, are you really feeling your femininity is threatened by Tsubasa here?"

"What? No... I..."

"Good. Because I can assure you that you are more of a woman than Tsubasa will ever be," Ukyou said with a chuckle.

Tsubasa backed away from Ukyou, her body frozen and her hands held up in demon-warding gestures. "Can... can it be..." she gasped.

"Because Tsubasa is a guy," Ukyou pointed out when she saw Ranma's obvious confusion.

"A guy?" Akane gasped.

"Yes... in drag," Ukyou chuckled. "You know, dressed up to look like a girl."

"So you mean she, I mean he... I mean... Tsubasa is really a MAN!" Ranma waved his hands helplessly in the tranvestite's direction. Ono gave the 'girl' another look. How could he have missed something like that? He was a trained doctor. He was supposed to have developed skills of observation, both mundane and mystic, that should have made such a ruse impossible. But as Ono focused his attention on the boy, he began to see how he had pulled it off. It was... a field of chi. Very unfocused, totally uncontrolled. It was the same kind of unconsciously strong chi aura he had seen in concert violinists or exceptionally well-liked politicians. Tsubasa wasn't aware of it, but he was using chi to 'smooth' out his disguise. Now that Ono knew what to look for, he could see past the subtle illusion to the boy's adam's apple and other physical features. Ono had never considered such an application of chi control... the repurcussions were fascinating.

"Oh, like you didn't know," Tsubasa said cattily. "With the amount of work you must have put into that, you had to have picked up my tells."

"Put into what?"

"He's trying to imply that you're a cross-dresser, Ranma," Ukyou explained in level tone. But she was smiling in a manner that reminded Ono of a cat playing with a mouse.

"I am NOT!" Ranma shouted and picked up Tsubasa by the lapels. "I don't care if you are a guy or a girl or whatever, nobody calls me a fairy!"

"Geez, you should come out of the closet..."

"You freak! Take that back!" Ranma shouted and pulled the boy in girl's clothes off his feet. She held Tsubasa up with one hand, seemingly without effort. Tsubasa had begun to look distinctly nervous. Ono stepped forward, intending to intervene before this got out of hand.

"You're just a violent brute!" Tsubasa shouted back. "You don't deserve Ukyou!" Apparently his nervousness wasn't going to hold back Tsubasa's tongue. Ono reached out and gently placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. His artful fingers prodded a few pressure points there without being seen and Ono let his chi flow into the Saotome boy's. Almost immediately the angry energy began to shrink in Ranma's aura. Ranma was beginning to lose her furious scowl.

"And who said I was yours?" Ukyou replied calmly. At the same time, she bapped Tsubasa on the back of the head. Ono blinked, having completely missed her standing up behind the cross-dresser. He saw Tsubasa's eyes loll back and then the boy went limp. Ono recognized the technique: he had taught it to Ukyou himself. "Stupid fungus, never could take no for an answer..." Ukyou walked back to her grill. "Just get rid of him, Ranma."

"Uh... right..." Ranma began to look around for someplace to 'get rid of' the unconscious body in her arms. Ono ignored him and considered having a very stern talk with Ukyou about how she was treating Tsubasa. He even remembered the first time they had met. Ono had managed to get out of his own bed and into Ukyou's room. There, with all her friends (including some girl with a camera whose name Ono couldn't recall) he had waited for her to awaken. When she had, she had seemed pleased to see everyone. And they had been pleased to see her recover.

Then a nearby cardiac monitor had sprouted arms and a face and joyfully proclaimed how glad it was that Ukyou was okay. That had been Ono's first introduction to Tsubasa, though he hadn't have learned her... his name until a few days later. Ukyou had stared at the cardiac monitor/girl hybrid that had clutched onto her for a few seconds, then calmly raised her good hand and hit it about ten times in the head until Tsubasa was thoroughly unconscious. Ono was still trying to digest what was going on when Ukyou had asked Akane to open the window to her hospital room. Mechanically, Akane had done so. This allowed Ukyou to toss Tsubasa out the window... her third story window.

Horrified, Ono had asked what was going on. Ukyou had only laughed and said "That's just the Fungus. He'll be back. Unfortunately." Ono hadn't been able to think of anything to say to that. Considering he had been ambushed by extra-dimensional energy vampires only a day ago, he was willing to accept anything. And the thing was that Tsubasa HAD come back, the next day and every day since. And always Ukyou would put up with him for about ten minutes, then she would hit him and toss him away. Ono wasn't sure if that was a decent way to treat another human being, but he really had no idea what to say about it.

Finally, after seeing Ranma toss Tsubasa onto the back of a passing truck, Ono sighed and resolved to deal with this problem like he dealt with so many other problems: he ignored it. He sat down and enjoyed the fine meal that Ukyou had prepared for the four of them. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Ranma taking a triple serving that Ukyou was more than pleased to serve. She was a very good cook, especially when it came to her favorite food. She obviously enjoyed it, too. Once she had told him that when 'this' (whatever this was) was all over, she was going to open her own restaurant. He fully believed her. She hadn't let him cook his own meals since moving in with him, and he wasn't about to complain.

"I'm glad to see everyone is doing so well with their training," Ono said to break the post-meal silence. He still couldn't believe that his student had two students of her own. Especially one that was so obviously more advanced in the art than she was.

"Heh, this is a snap," Ranma grinned as he wolfed down his second helping. Well, that might have been what he said, it was hard to tell from behind his mouthful of food. Ranma swallowed. "I'm just not sure what the point is. Grabbing chestnuts and all, I mean."

"I already told you," Ukyou said in a level tone. "It's tantric training. Half the point of doing it is to figure out WHY you are doing it." Ukyou allowed a grin to emerge on her usually impassive face. "Or are you saying you can't get it?"

"No way!" Ranma growled and slammed a fist into the dirt. "I can handle any training!"

"Uh, doesn't that hurt?" Akane asked, pointed down at the large burn Ranma was grinding into the dirt.

"Not at all," Ranma moaned as tears emerged in the corners of his eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Well, I wouldn't want to step on Ukyou's toes..." Ono mused aloud. "But I think she's trying to increase the chi flow through your Wind Chakra."

"My who in the what now?" Ranma blinked.

"You never taught me about anything like that," Ukyou said as she blinked.

"I didn't, did I?"

"No."

"Huh," Ono removed his glasses and cleaned them on the edge of his shirt. "Well, that's odd. The Five Chakra theory is just the entire basis of my theory on martial arts and chi control." He grinned and put his glasses back on. "I guess, with all the excitement, I kind of forgot about teaching you about it!"

Ono's head rocked back on his neck as Ukyou bapped him lightly on the forehead. The girl rolled back to a kneeling position, her fist still clenched and her eyes narrow and dangerous.

"In my own defense, you seemed so intent on learning the rapid healing technique that I didn't really want to slow you down with a lot of pure theory," Ono cried as he held his hands in front of him to ward off another attack.

"I wanted to learn chi theory!" Ukyou grunted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "That was the point of you teaching me. I know about specific training techniques..." she trailed off into a sigh. "No, it's not your fault." Ukyou gestured with her left arm. "I'd still be in the hospital if you hadn't taught me as much about accelerating healing as you did."

"Wait... Chakras? Chi theory? Accelerated healing?" Akane waved for attention and everyone turned to her. Strangely, once everyone was, she blushed and refused to look at Ono directly. Instead she addressed Ukyou. "I think you've lost me. Dad never taught me anything like this."

"Yeah." Ranma tapped his fingers against his knees. "Pops never mentioned nothin' about Chakra either. He just sort of... taught me stuff, ya know? Like he kept punching me until I learned to block or dodge it."

"Hmm, well I guess a little primer wouldn't hurt for everyone," Ono said before chuckling to himself. He looked around and located a long thin piece of wood. He snapped it up and tested it in the dirt, finding it served as a good pencil. Nodding, he quickly sketched in a human diagram. "Let's see... well you all know what chi is, right?"

Seeing everyone nod, he proceeded, "Beyond the basic concept that chi exists, people have always been working on finding ways to measure, classify and otherwise divide chi down into a more useful form. The ways they have done this have variated across the cultures. Western theory proposed four alchemical elements; fire, water, wind and earth. Chinese alchemy had five; wood, metal, fire, water and earth. Taoist philosophy divides all chi into yin and yang. Other theories divide chi into hot and cold flows, heavy and light and every flavour in between.

"I think that all these theories understood a part of the truth, but not the whole picture. I started from the base of the old secrets and worked from them. I combined them. I've come up with my own theory, through rigourous application of the scientific method and years of trial and error. The difference between my theory and the old ones is mine always works!"

Ono coughed and chuckled. "Sorry if I sound a little egotistical. But I am very proud of my work. I've been trying to get it accepted for years and..." he trailed off. "Never mind that, I'm rambling now. Back to what's important."

"My theory seperates chi into five natural channels in the human body, each of which is linked to a certain type of chi and a certain type of natural task." Tofu drew a line to the brow of the diagram and quickly labeled the line with a symbol and some text. "This is the Wind Chakra, located in the temple. It's through this chakra that we draw the energy which enhances our intellect and our speed and agility." He drew a second line to the sternum of the figure. "Just here, is the Water Chakra. Water chi is our link to health and vitality. Next, we have the Earth Chakra." Ono drew a sign linked to the stomach of the figure. "Traditionally seen as the seat of chi itself, I believe this is because of the stability of the Earth Chakra. This chi leads to stamina and resistance to disease." He drew a final line, this time into the crotch of the figure. "And here we have the Fire Chakra, which is the link to passion and strength."

Ono leaned back, making sure he had gotten all the details right. Not that he needed to worry in such a crude picture, and there was a lot more to it then he had said, but the basis was all there.

"Wait, you said five chakra points... where's the fifth one?" Ukyou asked. There was something about the way she asked the question that made Ono look at her sharply. Akane was looking at the diagram in puzzlement, and Ranma was only giving it a passing glance. Ukyou, however, was staring at the diagram intently.

"The fifth Chakra is not actually located in the body." Seeing everyone's puzzled expression, he elaborated, "The fifth Chakra is an invisible one that surrounds us from every direction." He drew a circle around the diagram. "It is the barrier that seperates what is US from what is not us. Our sense of this chakra is what makes for our perceptions of things outside our body. Mainly, this Chakra is defined by what it is not. So I named it the Void Chakra." He labelled the final part of the diagram and put the stick aside.

"Earth, Fire, Water, Wind and Void..." Ukyou said, her voice taking on a slightly incredulous tone. "You're not serious... are you?"

"Quite serious."

"Stop pulling my leg, Doc," Ukyou said from behind a deep frown. "It isn't funny. You must have taken a peek at my journal and I don't appreciate that. Rubbing it in my face like this is kind of low."

"I.. have no idea what you're talking about," Ono said with a blink. He was genuinely cofused. This was the first time Ukyou had ever been mad at him directly. Looking into her impassive eyes, he felt just slightly intimidated.

"You mean... you really did come up with this totally on your own?" Ukyou suddenly shifted from anger to confusion.

"That's what I said," Ono agreed. "Though I also spent a good deal of time studying previous theories, refining them and..."

"No," Ukyou shook her head. "That's not possible..."

"What isn't possible?" Akane asked, her tone curious.

"It's just that..." Ukyou looked up at the sky. "It's nothing. Not important."

"No, it is something," Akane insisted.

"It's nothing!" Ukyou growled back. "Just that what Ono was describing sounds remarkable close to... something someone told me once."

"Really?" Ono asked, enthused. If someone else had come to the same conclusions about chi, entirely separate from him, that was great. It would be like parallel development. It would reinforce his own theory. And maybe if this person was well-respected, it could even allow Ono to bring his theories to the mainstream! "Can you tell me who?"

"He's dead now," Ukyou said softly.

"Oh..." Ono trailed off. There was no sorrow in Ukyou's voice. More... a kind of quiet anger. He probed her aura and saw it swirling with the familiar kinesthetic greens and reds, all in dark shade... some so dark they had turned black. It was an aura that looked sickly to his eyes. He had seen that aura on Ukyou the first time she had woken up in his clinic. Not before that. When she slept, her aura calmed down to a uniform grey. But that aura had been with her since the first time he had met her, and it had only grown more violent since. But Ono had spent so much time looking at books and studying arcane history that he didn't know how to talk to her about it. He could be polite to people, even charming in his own way. But the thing was that he didn't really -understand- them. He had barely passed his mandatory psychology courses in university. So, like most problems related to people, he ignored this one too.

After all, Ukyou would be fine.

"Well, like I said, the type of chi determines what kind of activity it's best suited for," Ono continued his explanation, deciding to let Ukyou's odd statement pass. "That isn't to say that you can't use one type of chi to accomplish virtually any task... but you will find it's really inefficient. The reason I've been teaching you to meditate on your heart beat and the flow of your blood is because that ties into your Water Chakra, which is linked to your overall health and makes it easy to regenerate the damage you have taken. But if you wanted to increase your speed, you'd be focusing on your Wind Chakra, your Fire Chakra is for strength and your Earth Chakra is for stamina. The Void Chakra is used for esoteric skills and perception."

"Indeed..." Ukyou nodded, but her nod was perfunctory. It was like someone hearing something they already knew confirmed.

"So, all you have to do is learn to use the right Chakra to do the right skill?" Akane asked.

"Well, it's more complex than that." Tofu sat back and rubbed his chin. "You see, each person has a natural inclination towards one kind of chi over the other types. Whether this is an inborn trait or a result of personality and development I can't say, as I don't have enough data. But the important thing is that this inclination exists. What that means is that it is much harder for a person to use chi not compatible with their natural inclination and much easier to use chi techniques based on it. For instance: if you were a natural Wind aspect, you would find yourself hard-pressed to gain access to Fire aspect abilities. Both because your Wind chi is not suited to using Fire abilities, and because your Wind chi opposes Fire chi and makes it harder for you to draw on that Chakra."

"So it's just a fancy way of saying everyone has strengths and weaknesses," Ranma pointed out with a shrug.

"Can you determine your own aspect, Doctor?" Ukyou asked pointedly.

"Uh, yes... quite simply in fact." Ono picked up his glass. "I'll be right back." He walked over to the water tap and cleaned out his glass before filling it half-way with cold water. Finding a leaf on the ground, he placed that atop the glass and walked back to the group. Ukyou blinked as he set the glass down.

"Wait! Wait!" Ukyou shot her hand up. "We test our chi with a glass of water and a leaf?"

"Yes..."

"You don't read comic books, do you?"

"No..."

"Just checking..." Ukyou murmured and sat back.

"What you have to do is release your chi and hold your aura over the glass for about a minute. Depending on how the water reacts, that determines what your most natural Chakra aspect is. Allow me to demonstrate."

Ono closed his eyes and focused inward, synchronizing his breathing and the beating of his heart. When he opened his eyes he could see the chi flowing down the length of his arm, gathering in-between his palms. With an incandescent flash, the chi passed the critical point that allowed it to be seen by the untrained eye. He heard Akane gasp, but didn't let that distract him. Moving skillfully, he slid his hands around the glass without touching it. His aura flowed over the water as he breathed slowly and easily. Finally the leaf atop the water twitched once, then twice and at last it began to spin around in tight circles. Ono released his hold on his aura and the light vanished while the leaf's spin stopped.

"As you could see, the leaf moved," One pointed out. "That means my best aspect is the Wind Chakra. If the leaf had sunk, that would have been a sign of a strong Earth Chakra. If the water level rises, then you are strong in your Water Chakra, and if it lowers you are strong in your Void aspect. With a Fire Aspect there is no obvious visual sign, but you can tell by the fact that the temperature of the water increases. Why don't you all give it a try?"

He was then subject to three blank stares.

"Uh... how do we do that?" Ranma asked, finally seeming to have taken an interest in the conversation for the first time.

"Oh, uh... you just sort of release your aura between your hands..." Ono gestured lamely. "Let's see." He paused to think about it. "Okay, try to clear your mind and focus all your attention between your hand. Don't try and force anything, just let yourself go. If you have any personal ritual for when you access your chi, you might want to try using that first."

He watched as the three shifted position and pushed their arms in front of themselves. For the next few minutes the lot was silent save for their slow breathing and the soft rustle of the breeze through the grass. Ranma was the first to open his eyes with a cry of glee as the nebulous white light formed between his palms. Ukyou followed shortly thereafter, though she greeted her achievement with only a satisfied nod. Akane opened her eyes to gaze at them, only to close them again and screw her face up into a frown. Her brow furrowed and a bead of sweat trickled down her nose.

"You can do it, Akane," Ukyou said softly as she clapped the other girl on the shoulder. "Like he said. Don't force it. Just feel it."

Akane looked at her friend, grinned and nodded. A minute later, Akane cried out in delight as the light began to flicker between her hands.

"Well, let's all see what we are." Ukyou gestured for her friends to go first.

Ranma eagerly slid forward and placed his palms around the cup. He smirked and summoned up his aura. It didn't take long before the effect became obvious, as water began to spill over the lip of the cup. Ono stopped him by pulling the cup away before the leaf could float off.

Ukyou let Akane take the next turn. It took a little longer for Akane to summon up her chi than Ranma, but she seemed much more comfortable doing it the second time around. Ono waited as a minute passed with no obvious effect, then stuck his finger in the glass. He nodded at what he had suspected all along.

"You're a Fire aspect, Akane," he said with a smile.

"Oh... I was kind of hoping for Wind..." She frowned.

"There are no good or bad aspects, Akane."

"Yeah, you should be proud to have the crotch chakra!" Ranma chuckled. Seconds later he was chuckling through a layer of dirt with Akane standing over him brandishing Ono's discarded drawing stick. Or at least part of it. It must have splintered in two when she hit him.

"I guess it's my turn," Ukyou said from behind a wry smile. She retrieved the glass and placed it in front of her. Ono watched as she summoned her aura, noting with some pleasure that while Ranma had created a chi aura far faster, Ukyou had created one that was much brighter and more stable. Then Ono's eyes widened as the water in the glass suddenly turned from a pristine picture to spinning maelstrom. Everyone stared as the leaf spun like mad around the glass, before it suddenly hit the bottom. There was no water left. "Huh... what does that mean?"

"Do it again," Ono ordered as after he filled the cup with more water. Ukyou complied and the results this time were much the same. But Ono distinctly saw the water both spinning and shrinking away. He stopped her before the water could disappear entirely. "I've never seen anything like that before. Now granted, I haven't done it on a wide scale... but it looks like you have an equally strong Wind and Void Chakra. Which shouldn't really be possible."

"But I guess it is," Ukyou pointed out. "Because we just saw as much."

"It's still strange..." Ono murmured.

"If you say so." Ukyou stood up and dusted off her hands. "But we really should get back to serious training now, don't you think?" The question was addressed to Ranma and Akane, who both nodded. Ono sat back and watched them drift off towards their various pursuits. He was sure what he had just seen was not possible. Maybe he could talk with her more about it later...

01010

Akane groaned as she stepped into her room and slid her door closed behind her. Ukyou, she decided inwardly, was a madwoman. And Doctor Tofu, good, sweet, friendly Doctor Tofu, was a madman. And when the two of them got together, they were madness incarnate. Case in point, the huge lead weights that Akane was even now removing from her arms. She was tempted to let the damnable things fall, but she wasn't convinced the floor could survive the impact. So instead she crouched down and gently laid them down. Thankfully, this gave her easy access to the weights attached to her ankles, and Akane gratefully took the chance to remove them. She spent the next few minutes trying to rub the feeling back into her legs.

Akane wasn't sure she was ready to go through with this. All this talk of chakras and mantras and sutras and tantras and foci and dragon paths and... it made her head rattle when she tried to grasp it all. The worst part was how easily Ukyou seemed to be grasping it. Akane had even caught Ranma staring in befuddlement as Ukyou and Tofu threw ideas back and forth like pros at a tennis match. She definitely wasn't used to working out this much, which was to say she wasn't used to working out constantly.

But Ukyou had insisted. 'If you want to break past the limits of your art as it exists, Akane, you have to go beyond seeing martial arts as a tool or a means to an end, and more as a lifestyle,' Akane heard her mental reproduction of Ukyou say (perhaps the voice was slightly more condescending than the real one, but Akane wasn't being fair at the moment). 'These weights will turn the act of walking, of picking up a pencil, even the simplest acts into training. Once you can move around in them like you could without them, we increase the weight. And then again, and then again. Eventually when you take off the weights, you'll be ten times as strong as before.'

Akane could almost see the logic in it. But that hardly mattered to her now. What mattered was that she was sixteen years old, and this kind of physical exertion was only the tip of the torture sessions that was her daily training with Ukyou and Tofu. She just hoped they never expected her to stick her hands into a bonfire like they were making Ranma. No chestnuts could be worth that.

Akane smiled a little and shook her head. Now that she was thinking more clearly, she realized how... childish? Yes, childish, that was how she sounded even to herself. Akane had asked to be trained in the same level that Ranma and Ukyou trained, and she would just have to endure the pain to do so. The way Ranma hadn't even batted an eye while he was set to his own tasks made Akane just a bit cranky, however. It would help if Ukyou didn't spend her days either sitting with Tofu in quiet meditation or getting them to attack her while she danced around that spiral she had drawn in the ground.

Akane yawned and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Fatigue hit her suddenly and she felt the concerns drain from her mind. She realized she was even too tired to change into her nightclothes. Oh well... she would just have to iron her dress in the morning. Stretching and yawning she half-walked, half- crawled over to her bed and pulled back the covers.

The paper that fell from them to the floor almost escaped her attention, but Akane still caught it out of the corner of her eyes. Some note from Kasumi? Maybe even Nabiki? The latter thought sent a thrill through Akane. Maybe Nabiki was finally willing to start talking to her again. The cold shoulder treatment her sister was giving her, and everyone else, was beginning to worry Akane. She would have raised the issue with the others, but to what end? Ukyou made her dislike of Akane's elder sister plain, and Ranma's distrust for his 'fiancee' was nearly legendary around the school.

She picked up the note and sat on her bed. Oh man, this bed was comfortable. Maybe she could read the note in the morning and just sleep a little right now? Her muscles said yes, but the better part of her nature said no. Thus Akane scanned the note, her eyes widening with every sentence.

"Akane Tendo,

I really need to talk to you. Ukyou or Ranma would likely attack me if I tried to talk to them, so I'm hoping you'll be willing to listen. Just listen, that's all I want. I'm not going to attack you or kidnap you or try to harm anyone. If I wasn't sincere in this, I wouldn't write this note, would I? So please don't scream or try to get Ranma, because then we'll never be able to speak peacefully. I am above you.

Chris"

Above her? Was that some sort of backhanded insult? Then the meaning struck Akane, and her head snapped up, her long forelocks flashing in the corner of her eyes, as she stared at the ceiling.

The figure above her was mainly hidden in the shadows, but was still clear to an alert viewer. She was spread-eagled, bracing her limbs against the beams in Akane's ceiling, removed shoes clutched in the tips of her left hand's fingers. Her long ponytail dipped down over her shoulder and she was wearing a loose white t-shirt and tight blue jeans. Her skin appeared remarkably pale, but that might have been the light. Chris. He... she... it was back. Akane opened her mouth to scream for help... then snapped it closed.

Maybe it was the weariness, or the sincerity of the note, or Akane's own recent thoughts about building bridges with her sister... but Akane remained quiet.

"Hi," the dead woman above her whispered in Kodachi's voice. "Mind if I come down?" Akane shook her head mutely. Chris dropped feather quiet to the floor, landing with grace and panache. From the way he was smirking, he was obviously enjoying the abilities he had stolen from the girl along with her life. Akane forced that thought aside. True as it was, getting into a shouting match here would do no good. She would never forgive Chris for what he did, but she would... forget it, for now.

"Thank you," Chris said in a low voice. He sat cross-legged on the floor, carefully setting his shoes aside. "I'm sorry I had to sneak in here like this, but I couldn't think of another way to talk to you alone."

"If you want me to trust you" - Akane crossed her arms, trying not to let the wince of pain the motion caused show on her face - "this wasn't the best way to do it." Akane kept her voice low. "Now what do you want?"

He sighed, and sounded genuinely regretful in so doing. "I can see you haven't exactly forgiven me. Well, I suppose I can't blame you. I'll try to make this short so I can let you get to sleep." Akane nodded curtly, and he sighed again before continuing. "Shortly after we last saw each other, I headed to China in order to look for some people and places that might help me find a solution to my problems. This took me about a week, so I only got back earlier today. Shortly after returning, I found out about what had happened at the airport, and it concerned me quite a bit."

"Why would it do that?" Akane asked, partly suspicious and partly genuinely curious. Akane wondered how much Chris had heard about it, or about her own involvement. She blushed a bit as she thought of getting to be the hero for a few minutes there. It was that night, more than anything else, which kept her putting on those damn weights every morning. A part of her even resented being almost entirely left out of the articles Ran had written about the fight except as 'the poor victim's sister' and 'Ukyou's true and loyal friend'.

"I'll admit I was a tad concerned about the fact Ukyou seemed to have a large ally group now, but I think that's just paranoia on my part. The real problem is bigger than that, and bigger than me. The Sailor Senshi..." he paused. "Did Ukyou tell you who they... no, she probably didn't. I'm not sure what she told you about how I knew so much about you guys, either. But I know about them, too. The Sailor Senshi are...important. Very important. That's what really concerns me. Because if someone messes with them, and it goes wrong...it could doom the entire world. You, me, Ukyou, everyone else, gone. So I don't understand why Ukyou's getting involved in their..." he paused again. "Let's say affairs. Please note, I'm not saying Ukyou's trying to kill everybody or anything, but she might not realise how dangerous the situation is." He frowned, as if suddenly thinking of something, but seemed not about to say anything further for the moment.

Akane rolled her head to the side, and irritably reached up to push one of her hairlocks from her face. Man, long hair was a pain... But Akane didn't know what the living dead girl was meaning. Ukyou had warned them about the Sailor Senshi, about the Dark Kingdom, and told them the entire history of their conflict. "Ukyou didn't choose that fight," Akane said slowly. "It chose her." Akane considered elaborating, but decided against it. Friendly as he was being now, Chris was still a dangerous enemy and a potential threat. She decided to keep things close to her chest, for now.

"So I heard. Jadeite kidnapped Nabiki and all that. I don't blame you for going to the fight then. But...it doesn't explain why Ukyou was involved with the Senshi in the first place. I mean, they're from a different," another pause, "...part of Tokyo. Why would she be involved in their battles?"

"You wouldn't know... I guess," Akane frowned slightly. What harm would it do in telling him just this much? None that Akane could see. Maybe it would even scare him off. "The Dark Kingdom is after the energy of human beings. Or, as we martial artists have learned to call it, our chi. And we martial artists are like giant batteries of chi to them. Just one of us seems to have more energy than an entire roomful of normal people. So they come after us." Of course, Akane didn't even bother to voice Ranma's particular opinion of that. The idea that Ukyou was secretly some sort of demon-slaying legendary warrior was... patently ridiculous. The idea that she was training the two of them to be her partners, even more so. Ukyou certainly wouldn't keep something like that from them. She certainly would NOT drag them into that kind of situation without at least asking them what they thought first. Would she?

Chris, meanwhile, seemed to be greatly relieved, and his whole frame relaxed and slumped visibly. "Superhuman martial artists are chi batteries... that makes sense. Wonder why they didn't notice before...? But anything could make the difference, I suppose." He looked up at her, smiling a bit. "If that's the case, I feel a lot better about it, and I'll trust Ukyou to have the discretion not to screw anything up for them. Thank you for telling me."

Akane had a brief moment of hope that this would be the end of the whole conversation, so she kept silent. When it became clear from the thoughtful frown on Kodachi's face that Chris wasn't finished, she remained quiet more out of social inertia than anything else.

Finally, he spoke. "Just one more thing, then. I was thinking about something. I'd like to share a secret with you. If you know it, it might make things a bit easier on both of us, and may even help prevent any further conflict. Or it might make no difference. But because it involves things I and Ukyou know are going to happen, it might make you uncomfortable. So I won't force you to listen. It's up to you if you want to hear it." He looked up at her, his expression unreadable.

Akane stared. Wow. Maybe he could have been more vague, but he would have had to try hard. Akane tried to parse the sentence, figuring out eactly what she was or was not saying no or yes to. Finally, she gave up. "What are you talking about?" she snapped in frustration.

He blinked in confusion, then laughed a little. "I'm sorry. Okay, I'll try to phrase that in a less convoluted manner. Something is going to happen. Ukyou and I know about it. What Ukyou doesn't know is that I have to do something about it. If I tell you what I'm going to do, hopefully you can help make sure Ukyou and I don't end up butting heads. But because it requires me telling you what's going to happen in the future, it might make you uncomfortable, so I wanted your permission to tell you. Did that help?"

Akane remembered now... Ukyou's ghost was supposed to be from the future. Just like this boy. Maybe... maybe he was trying to do something to prevent the accident that would kill him in that future? Something that would stop the whole awful series of events before it even started? Possible... but still, there seemed to be something wrong with that conclusion. It was impossible to read the eyes of this dead woman, but her voice didn't betray any sense of urgency about it like Akane would have expected.

Once she dismissed the possibility of this being an urgent thing, Akane began to really consider the proposal. She had never really thought about it up until now, but Ukyou, and Chris, they had knowledge of the future. They might know many things about her and everyone else. Things that Akane could learn and... and what? She remembered once, when Ukyou and she had been brawling in the park, back before Ranma arrived. Ukyou had put her to the ground once again, overwhelming her with her superior speed and strength. Akane had asked, half- jokingly, why Ukyou was so willing to spar with Akane when she obviously wasn't at her level. Then Ukyou had stopped, and her face had grown serious and thoughtful. She reached out and clasped Akane firmly on the shoulder and had said to her, 'Because I see potential in you, Akane. Potential that goes beyond how fast you throw a punch, or how well you take a hit. I see you not just for who you are, but for who you could one day be. And I want to be the friend of that person, just like I'm your friend now.' Akane had walked away from that interlude with a deep and secret joy in her heart. Now... now she wondered if Ukyou was speaking metaphorically. Or was Ukyou instead talking about some future Akane she had seen...

Akane held her hand to her forehead. The implications of this... did she really want to know her future? "Before I answer you, I want to ask one question," Akane said slowly. "Is the future you know... is it... fixed? Stuck? Can we change our future?"

He bit his lip, seeming to consider his words carefully. "I can't say for certain whether you can, but I expect, with knowledge of what will happen, you could change nearly anything. Ukyou and I can, I know. I, of course, have already changed the future. And Ukyou...Ukyou has already, apparently, changed one of the biggest things your future was going to hold. So no, I don't think it's fixed for either of us." "Then I don't want to know," Akane said before she realised it. "The future... if the future isn't fixed, then I don't care what you saw in it." Akane waved him quiet as she continued. "If you want to give a message to Ukyou about this, I have some paper and pens on the desk next to my school supplies. Write it down, fold it up and I'll deliver it to her in the morning. Then she can decide whether she wants to listen to you or not."

He stood up, shaking his head. "No. I'll just do my best to stay out of Ukyou's way. It's not a large thing...it wouldn't even concern Ukyou much, except I think she's inclined to think the worst of me and thus could try to stop me without even trying to find out what I was doing, or why." He looked down at her with a small, sad little smile. "It's not your problem, in any case. I don't blame you for not wanting to know. It's probably an intimidating thing, or at least one with vast implications, to know even the tiniest bit of your own future."

Chris stepped towards the window, white fingers reaching up to slide it open. A few strands of Kodachi's black hair flipped in the breeze as she stared out into the night. "As I promised, I'll leave you alone. And I'll try my best to make sure not to intrude upon your life from now on. Nonetheless, thank you, Akane. Thank you for listening, and for telling me what you knew honestly. You're a good person. And, I realise, I don't know that because of anything I read, but because of what I've seen, and it means more for it. I'm sorry we couldn't have met under different circumstances."

And with that, he flashed out the window and was gone.

01010

Ukyou leapt over the wall of the Tendo compound in a single bound. The door was usually closed this early in the morning, but Ukyou had never let that stop her from visiting. Usually, if she did, she brought along some breakfast okonomiyaki to treat the house to, but today she was getting ready for other business, so hadn't bothered. Today was a day to be keeping promises.

"Good morning, Ukyou," Kasumi called from the kitchen window as Ukyou strode past. "I was just making breakfast, did you want to join us?"

"Nope," Ukyou shook her head and stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Got some serious business today with Ranma. Thanks, though." Ukyou didn't really like Kasumi, but she admitted the girl was nice, and treated her kindly in return. Aaron was as close to despising Kasumi as he was capable of, but as with so many of Aaron's desires, Ukyou ignored this.

Ukyou found Ranma behind the main building, sparring with his father. She spent a few seconds watching the two of them hover in mid-air. Each stroke and counter was meant to steal momentum and lift from the opponent, tricking gravity into allowing them a few more seconds of flight. Ukyou felt a touch of jealousy at the ease they showed.

Noticing that Genma was gaining something of an upper hand, Ukyou smiled diabolically. "Genma!" she shouted in her angriest tone. The man somehow spun in mid-air, his entire body tensing to flee. Ranma's eye glinted as Genma turned from him.

"An opening!" the black-haired boy shouted as he spun his body in a perfect mid-air axe kick. Genma didn't have a chance as the blow struck him in the back of his skull and sent him plummeting into the reflecting pond. Ranma had used the rebound from his strike to propel himself back, so he avoided the geyser of water. Ranma clutched his stomach and laughed at Genma. "Take that, old man!"

The panda looked none too pleased as it crawled out of the water. Ranma gave it a wide berth as he strode over to Ukyou. The dawn light caressed his unblemished face, and the breeze caught his hair with just enough grip to make his bangs dance along his brow. Ukyou reflected that the shadows and light made him seem as a person caught between two worlds. And maybe he was; caught between male and female, child and man. He certainly looked attractive, but not heart- rendingly so.

"Heya, Ucchan," Ranma greeted as he got close. Ukyou smiled at the use of the childhood nickname. "Thanks for the assist. Not that I needed it..." Ukyou chuckled. Ranma Saotome: the ego that walks like a man.

"Indeed," Ukyou agreed. "Just because they don't need it doesn't mean friends can't help each other out."

"I guess," Ranma shrugged. "So... you bring breakfast today?" Ranma grinned and tried to look behind her. Ukyou pulled out her hands and showed him how empty they were. His face fell briefly, but he recovered quickly.

"I actually came to fulfill a promise today, Ranma," Ukyou explained obliquely.

"I won't allow it!" Genma shouted as he ran out of the house. His head was still steaming, which matched his expression perfectly. "You can't..." Genma trailed off.

"I can't what?" Ukyou asked flatly as she glared at him. Genma backed away from her a step. Ukyou felt a dull rage whenever she looked at the pathetic man. It was a dark and dangerous anger. Ukyou bit back some harsh words she wanted to shout. She couldn't allow herself to get angry at him, not really. For months she had been avoiding him, despite wanting very badly to beat him into a bloody pulp. All because she thought that if she started... she might not stop. "This has nothing to do with what is between me and you, Genma." She spat the name out like she had tasted something vile. "This isn't even something between Ranma and me. This is about Ranma, and Ranma alone."

"Very well... but I have my eye on you!" Genma grunted as he began to walk away. Ukyou frowned slightly as he turned his back to her. It was a perfect opportunity. Her hand lashed up and caught him on the back of the head, just at the perfect pressure point. Genma wasn't even able to sense it, much less react in time. She watched as he staggered forward a few steps and then collapsed on the porch. Ono had taught her that attack a while back, and she was already finding good use for it. Granted, such a precise attack was virtually impossible to pull off in the heat of battle. But it worked wonders when you wanted to knock out someone without hurting them.

"So what's the big deal?" Ranma asked as they stepped away from the house.

"It's a surprise," Ukyou said back with a cheerful smile. She had to resist the impulse to quote Xelloss.

"Hey guys?"

They both turned and looked up to see Akane leaning out her window. She was dressed in a pair of pajamas, but during the night the first few buttons had come undone and that, combined with her leaning forward, gave them both an unobstructed view straight into her cleavage. The sunlight was shining directly onto her face, and the breeze came from her right. Her long hair hung free and billowed around her body in the wind. She was smiling, in that dazzling way she had. She was so beautiful. Ukyou was glad she had manipulated everyone so she didn't have to compete with that.

Not that Ukyou thought she was ugly... except for the scars that would now mar her arm forever. She just... never felt as beautiful as Akane looked right now. Oh, who was she kidding? Ukyou had spent so much time being a boy she had basically forgotten what being a woman meant. She could probably put on a good show. But in her heart, it wasn't beauty and wifely devotion that she was dedicated to. She had dedicated her life to...

To Ranma? To being a world class chef?

Yes, they were both true. She still loved Ranma. And it was her dream to be a chef. But in the last few months, she hadn't exactly been going out of her way to win his heart. And while she made lunch for Akane and Ranma every day at school, and had taken over the cooking for Ono... she hadn't opened up her restaurant. Her dream had been put on hold. It had to be put on hold, until this hitchhiker could be forced out of her skull.

That was it. She wasn't losing touch with what was important. It was all Aaron's fault! He had forced her to hold back her feelings from Ranma. He had put her in a position where opening a restaurant, and declaring her location to the world, would be nigh-suicidal. She allowed the hatred against the bastard to build, and she felt Aaron writhe under the assault. But as always, the hatred peaked and burned away quickly. It was impossible to hate him intensely all the time, because even as she forced him to experience her hate (and thus, forced him to hate himself) she could feel his pain and guilt and loss. But she had every right to hate him!

So why did she still feel like what she was doing was wrong?

Ukyou tore herself away from her reverie and forced those thoughts back into her subconscious. Ranma was talking to Akane now. Or more accurately, he was shouting insults at her while dodging various thrown accessories. From the way Akane was clutching her collar closed, she guessed he had told her about her compromising position with his usual lack of tact. Ukyou sighed and reached back to get her spatula so she could deflect a few items and...

Oh, right. She would have to remember to replace that. But getting ahold of a specialty battle spatula was more difficult than it sounded. Ukyou had never bothered to learn where her father had bought the things. Occhan, a good friend who had allowed her to apprentice in his okonomiyaki restuarant, might know, but he was unfortunately still living in Kyoto. She knew, from Aaron's memories, that he would move to Nerima sometime in the future. The problem was she knew neither when nor why. Well, maybe some simple replacement could be found... but first, other matters were more important.

"Akane, you're getting your stuff all dirty," Ukyou pointed out. It was enough to make Akane pause and look at her. "I need Ranma in one piece today; you can break him tomorrow." Akane grinned at the small joke, Ranma reacted with an offended exclamation. "We'll see you later," Ukyou waved at Akane as she grabbed Ranma and leapt to the top of the Tendo's exterior wall.

"Wait! I want to come with you!" Akane shouted. "Just let me get dressed..."

"Sorry, Akane," Ukyou chuckled. While seeing Akane's reaction to what she had planned might be funny, it was also a bit too likely to blow up in Ukyou's face. "This is... a personal thing. Just Ranma comes along. Don't worry, we're not going off to fight monsters."

"No, wait! I have something I need to tell-"

Ukyou ignored Akane and leapt away across the rooftops. She noted how much easier it had become. Apparently she was improving. Ranma caught up with ease, then slowed to match her pace.

"I think Akane's a bit upset," he shouted over the wind that rushed past their ears.

"She'll get over it," Ukyou replied flippantly. "I meant what I said, Ranma. This is a very personal errand. Having Akane around... while not bad, it just doesn't strike me as right."

Ranma murmured something that sounded like an agreement, but whatever it was got drowned out by the wind.

01010

Pink wasn't sure exactly what had happened when Chris had gone out to act on her 'idea', but the results had clearly not been good. The undead girl had returned quickly last night, as promised, but had been distracted and noncommital. Today, if anything, she seemed even worse. If Pink had to guess, she'd say their unusual ally was depressed. She was basically spending the day staring out the window, responding only to direct questions and then only with short, curt responses.

Well, this wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all. Link was already skittish enough about working with Chris: if the dead girl continued being so moody, Link might just decide to leave. That wasn't a bluff Pink wanted to call, and she certainly wasn't willing to give up this weapon before she'd had a chance to use it.

She walked over to her, peering over the top of the large chair Chris was slumped in. The dead girl slowly raised her head to peer at her. As always, Pink felt a small surge of mingled trepidation and fascination as she looked into those glassy, dead eyes. "Would you like something?" Chris asked drily.

"Actually, yes," Pink replied. "You've been upset and depressed ever since you got home last night, over."

The girl's eyebrow quirked up, and she looked faintly amused. "Oh, were you concerned about me?"

"No," Pink answered honestly. "But my sister is, and she already is worried about this entire operation. So why don't you tell me what the problem is, over?"

Chris looked back out the window, the afternoon sun reflecting from her eyes. For a long moment she was silent, and Pink was just considering what tactic to try next when she finally spoke. "I'm not sure you'd...well, never mind. Consider, for a moment, then...think of someone with a heart of gold. Someone so generous, so giving, so full of kindness that it's sometimes hard to believe. Someone who, if kidnapped by an apparent lunatic, would instead of hating them try to help them and find out their problems. Someone who would help their worst enemy without a second thought, and would try to get others to help them too. Someone like that." She looked at Pink again, soulless eyes revealing nothing. "And that someone, that someone who can not hate, who can forgive anything... hates YOU. Can not forgive YOU for what you have done. And looking at them, you somehow feel there's nothing you can do, nothing that can make it up, nothing that could make the person who doesn't hate stop hating you. Maybe what you've done - no matter the reasons - can't be forgiven. Maybe... maybe you deserve to be hated."

She fell silent again, and glanced away, seemingly in embarrasment. Pink, for her part, could barely keep from laughing. Here was this undead monster, wearing the skin of a girl she'd killed (was Chris even originally female?), and getting mopey because really nice people didn't like her very much? It was too funny. Guess some people were just not cut out for certain jobs. Still, he said it might be a week or two until Shampoo would show up, so best to put a lid on this situation. She smiled at the dead girl, considering carefully what to say. "Well, it's like I said before, over...it's not your fault what you -are-. What could you have done, other than what you did? You seem to be doing the best you can, over."

Her expression didn't change. "Am I? Have I? I don't know."

This wasn't working, so Pink changed tactics. "Well, if it's bothering you, maybe you should do something that will make you feel better about yourself, over."

That got her attention; she looked over. "Okay...like what?"

"Well, if it's the opinion of that person that bothers you, maybe you should do something that proves they were wrong about you, over." Pink almost giggled as she thought of the undead girl passing out candy to children or helping kittens out of trees.

Chris, however, looked thoughtful, tapping the side of her jaw with a single finger. "I'm not really sure what-" she began, then cut off as Link rushed into the room.

"Are you listening to the news, over?" she asked, so preoccupied she even seemed to be ignoring the presence of the dead girl.

"No. What is it, over?"

"There's some sort of giant plant monster, over," Link said with a trace of excitement in her voice. "It's attacked a subway!"

A giant plant monster? It really was weird in Tokyo. Pink wondered who created it... but who cared? "I want to go see it. This could be interesting, over."

The noise of the chair scraping back caused both twins to look in Chris' direction. She was suddenly grinning. "Do something, huh. Yes, I think I want to go look at the ara... I'd like to see the plant monster too." She looked apologetically at Link. "Do you still want to come along?"

"We go everywhere together, over," Pink said instantly. That was all their ally needed to know.

"Fair enough," was the response. "Then let's get going."

01010

Ranma walked along uncomfortably. The girl on his arm wasn't quite cutting off his circulation, but she kept pulling and tugging and throwing him off his stride. That and she wouldn't shut up. Ranma allowed his ears to tune back into her words again-

"...so Joshi was saying that I can't possibly be a good mother, and I was so not going to let her get away with that and the next day I asked Davin about it and he got all bluefaced and refused to talk about it and then I realized he thought I was talking about us and I explained it and we laughed but he never quite looked at me the same way and so we broke up and now Joshi, that slut, is going out with him and I think that she set it all up in the first place and I really wish I could prove it because I know that she's a bitch and I don't want to talk to her anymore but we are both on the cheer squad so I don't know what to do and we have been friends since grade school back when she gave me her ice cream when mine fell on the beach and we played together all afternoon and neither of us had a care in the world and it was great but this is just unforgiveable if it is true because its the biggest betrayal ever and she had to know that because I really liked him and..."

Ranma allowed her voice to return to the high pitched buzz in the background. Trying to follow what she was saying was harder than trying to follow a fish swimming underwater in the middle of a monsoon so you could catch it, and Ranma knew this from personal experience. The girl, whose name started with a A or E or something, was pretty to look at and seemed pleasant. She had long black hair, with brown roots and a freckled but slender face. She wore some sort of shirt with a huge collar that fell down over her entire bust and most of her forearms, but incredibly tight jeans.

Ranma might have been interested in her, if she ever shut up. He would have much prefered to be with one of the girls that Ucchan was talking to. Frankly, the idea of his best friend helping Ranma pick up girls was kind of unnerving. Especially when that friend was a girl. It was even more unnerving that Ukyou was proving to have more success at it than Ranma. Not that she was better at it. Ranma was just off his game today.

"Ranma, you having fun back there?" Ukyou called over her shoulder. The two girls walking on either side of her took the chance to glare at each other. Either Ukyou didn't notice the growing aura of imminent violence, or she chose to ignore it.

"...can you believe that she wanted to wear pink on her first date and that Joshi didn't seem to care at all and we won't even get into how Davin has no fashion sense and he shouldn't be giving advice to anyone about how well they look with his little mustache that he thinks is so cool but really makes him look like a caterpillar crawled onto his lip and died so you can understand why..."

"I'm overjoyed..." Ranma moaned. Ukyou tilted her head slightly and smiled, just a little bit. He could tell from the sparkle in her eyes that she saw just how uncomfortable he was, and apparently didn't care. Ranma harumphed and crossed his arms... or tried to. He had forgotten that his 'date' had glomped onto his arm almost the moment they had left the mall.

"Don't worry, Ranma," Ukyou laughed as she turned back to her companions. "We're almost to our real destination." Ranma let the comment pass as he concentrated on saving his few remaining brain cells from the assault of his date's high-pitched, endless rambling. Ever since Ukyou had led him to the small mall, Ranma had been asking her what they were doing out today. Ukyou refused to answer with anything more definite than 'it's a surprise' or 'you'll enjoy it when we get there'.

Ranma had been willing to let her lead him around from then on. He hadn't even protested that much when the girl had begun to (literally) push him in the direction of eligible-looking young women and crow on about how Ranma needed a date for today. Ranma had actually kind of liked chatting with girls his age who didn't seem to want to fight or fleece him. He had grown kind of worried when Ukyou had started picking her own girls out of the crowds... was it possible Ukyou was... that way?

The more Ranma thought about it, the more it kind of made sense. Ukyou was a tomboy, and had gone out of her way to get in a relationship with Akane. Then there was the whole Tsubasa thing. Why else would Tsubasa think Ukyou was interested in girls... and Ukyou be so rejecting of him despite the fact that he was actually a guy underneath his disguise? Plus there was the ease with which Ukyou had picked up the girls. Not that Ranma was jealous of how quickly his friend was able to charm the ladies. Ranma, after all, hadn't really had his heart in it.

Ranma perked up when he saw Ukyou turn back to him and allowed his ears to open...

"...it was getting dark out and no matter how much I hated the guy I wasn't about to walk home in the dark and the rain so I insisted he drive me home and can you believe how much of a jerk he was because he said no and I just had to slap him and he yelled at me and I yelled back and well one thing led to another and you know how these things go and we ended up kissing but I want to assure that this is over between us, by which I mean Davin and me and not you and me after all..."

"I'm sorry," Ranma muttered as he cleared out one of his ears. "Could you repeat that, I didn't catch it."

"I said, 'We're here,'" Ukyou pointed out with a wave of her hand. They had stopped in front of a traditional Japanese house behind a low wall. It was two stories with a sloping roof. It didn't look like anything special to Ranma, but Ukyou looked excited. Well, excited by Ukyou standards, anyway.

"What's this?" Ranma scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.

"You'll see," Ukyou called over her shoulder with a mischievous wink. "You girls wait here with Ranma, I just have to talk to someone on my own."

"Ack!" Ranma didn't feel a string of panic as the other two girls gave one last glance at Ukyou before turning to face him. Ranma Saotome did not panic. Especially not because of girls. Even if they did have predatory gleams in their eyes. Even if he could no longer feel his hand because his 'date' was squeezing too tight. Ranma tried to think of a way to call out to Ukyou... not for help... certainly not! No, just to... remind her that she was responsible for all these girls and that it was her job to look after them! That was it.

Ukyou, however, was ignoring Ranma's plight. She had marched briskly up to the door and knocked just loud enough to draw attention. Ranma was forced to juggle the attentions of the three girls they had picked up this morning, and could only watch what happened next.

The woman who answered the door seemed... vaguely familiar to Ranma. She was just slightly taller than Ukyou and dressed in an elegant, but threadbare, kimono. She was pretty, in a motherly sort of way, with black hair pulled back so it looked shorter than it was. She seemed surprised to see Ukyou, and soon the two were talking. Ranma strained to hear...

"...oh please Kairi don't give me that excuse like the last time you tried to poach on my man back when we were twelve and you couldn't stand to see Davin with an actual girlfriend for once instead of someone who was just looking for a boy with a cute ass since we know perfectly well that is what you are..."

...but found he couldn't hear what they were saying over the din of the girl's talking. Even the two girls who had been with Ukyou seemed to have been stunned into silence by the sheer volume of words that came out of his 'date's' mouth.

Ranma saw the woman look at him closely. Then look at Ukyou and ask something. Ukyou nodded and the woman looked back. Ukyou nodded in Ranma's direction and waved slightly. Ranma, not sure what was going on, waved back as best he could. The woman took one stumbling step forward. Ranma found himself suddenly loose from the pack of girls, an unbidden fear gripping his heart as he thought the woman might fall. But the woman was walking towards him, mouthing something to herself but no words were coming out.

"RANMA!" the woman cried and before he could react Ranma found himself enveloped in her arms. He stiffened, but the woman's embrace was not possesive or romantic... it was... soft and hesitant, like the woman believed that if she squeezed too hard Ranma's body would dissolve into mist and dreams under her touch. Ranma found himself relaxing. There was something... nice, nice and strangely familiar about the way she held him. "Oh, Buddha be praised... Ranma, it is you! Isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah..." Ranma blinked.

"My son! After so long, you've finally come home..." the woman had to stop as her voice grew choked with tears.

"M... mom?" Ranma stammered. His mother? No... that couldn't be... his mother was dead! Wasn't she? He had always just assumed, since Pops never talked about her, that...

"Yes..." the woman who Ranma found himself hugging replied. Ranma wasn't sure how to feel. He had thought, for so long, that he was alone except for his father. But here was this woman, and he could see the approval in Ukyou's eyes. She believed this woman was his mother. And she just might know... and... and Ranma felt it. Somewhere buried under twelve years of memory was some primal feeling.

"Mom!"

Men didn't cry. So that must have been something else Ranma felt on his cheek as he leaned in to embrace this woman who, until three seconds ago, had been a stranger. He didn't know how much time had passed until he felt them break apart. Mom was patting her sleeve against her cheek, drying the moisture there.

"Oh, you've grown so well... you must be so manly..."

Ranma fidgeted a bit as she ran her eyes appraisingly up and down his body, a small satisfied little grin on her lips. "But how rude of me," Mom cried out as she looked over Ranma's shoulder. "Here you are with all your girlfriends and I'm forcing the group of you to stand on the street. Come in, come in. Everyone come in and we'll get a chance to catch up over tea?"

01010

The three of them bounded over the rooftops, following Link's lead. Pink noted that Chris certainly seemed to be in a hurry; after Link had come in with the news, she had only paused long enough to grab a large bag of some sort, and had then urged them to run as fast as possible 'or we'll miss it'.

"Hey," said the dead girl as they leaped to the next building, "What sort of plant creature was it, anyway?"

"Actually," said Link, breathing a little heavily from the exertion, "the news first reported an anomaly in Tokyo's water supply. But then they showed a monster looking like it was made of water attacking the subway line near Ichigaya station, over."

Pink looked oddly at her sister. "So where's the plant, over?"

"That's just it, over," said Link. "It looked like water, but it was a plant. Some sort of algae. I was sure of it, over."

"Talented," murmured Chris. She, unsurprisingly, wasn't breathing heavily. "It must have moved, though...this isn't the way to that station."

"I don't know where it's going," Link said, "but it's moving." She frowned. "I can...feel it, somehow, over."

Chris laughed. "Well, aren't you a regular little Kushinada. Can you feel it too, Pink?"

"Not like that, over." Though, as they moved, Pink was beginning to feel -something-. She wasn't sure what it was yet, but... "Link's better at the empathy stuff. But, what did you mean when you said she was a Kushi-"

She was cut off as Link cried out, pointing directly ahead. Even as they looked, streams of water exploded from a large building in front of them.

As they watched, the streams of water coalesced into a vaguely humanoid shape. It was at least twenty metres tall and translucent, with recognisable limbs and head. Pulsing within the head and chest of the creature were some sort of green organs. And between the organs...something...something warm...

"Right, I remember this," Chris noted. She put the bag down and rummaged around inside, retrieving a large gymnastics hoop. She swirled it around the inside of her wrist, and there was a metallic gleam from the outer rim. "Should be a snap."

Then she leaped, soaring through the air with practiced grace and ease. The distance to the creature, whose attention seemed currently occupied by something else, was crossed in an instant, and at the apex of her leap, Chris hurled the hoop. The gymnastics tool sliced through the monster with ease, separating the right arm at the shoulder. But even as the limb crashed to the ground and dissolved into liquid, another one grew in its place.

The dead girl, however, now had the creature's undivided attention. It lashed out at her, one limb flashing into a torrential cascade of water that whipped out at its opponent. Chris, however, quickly flipped out of the way. Several following attacks were similarly easily avoided. Pink thought that their ally must be enjoying herself... her huge grin was visible even at this distance. She was also fairly impressed with the undead's martial prowess. Dodging, leaping, and rolling out of the way, she flowed seamlessly from defence to offence. Her motions combined dodge and counterattack, chopping chunks from the creature with ribbon and baton. Pink felt a tiny thrill of exultation. Chris' graceful dance around the creature looked effortless: she was playing with it. Pink was sure of it. With that kind of power... she didn't get tired, or feel pain, couldn't be knocked out... Shampoo would fall. HAD to fall. Victory was within their grasp.

Pink started to laugh, long and loud and hard. Or at least she would have, if Link hadn't almost immediately waved a hand at her to shush her. Pink opened her mouth in curiosity, but her sister impatiently waved again. She seemed to be concentrating, holding her other hand up as if trying to listen to something. Pink recognised the technique her sister was using, even if she'd never bothered to develop it herself. Why was she trying to get a focus on a plant's health? What plant? The monster?

Link suddenly swore in Chinese, causing Pink to look over inquiringly. "It's... communicating," Link explained. "It's intelligent! Not as much as a person, but I can hear it. It's like it's speaking, saying something about 'its place'. I was trying to talk to it, but it's too angry! It's not listening, over!"

Intelligent? Interesting. Pink had talked to plants... but they didn't generally talk back. "Should we get Chris to back off, over?"

Link shook her head, frustrated. "That's not what it's angry about. It's taking out the anger on her, but it's something else, over..."

There was a loud sound, and Pink looked back to see the monster dissolve its entire form into a vortex of water. It arced through the air, forcing Chris to leap to the side as it smashed into and through the street, disappearing into the hole it created.

As she watched, a girl in some sort of uniform ran up and began talking animatedly at Chris. She seemed young, rather plain, with shoulder-length brown hair. And... Pink started. She could feel that -warmth- from her, that same feeling as from the monster.

"There's something strange about that girl, over," Link stated.

"You feel it too, over?" Her sister nodded in response. "I want to know what that is."

"Me too, over," Link agreed. "Let's go talk to... her. To both of them, over."

They leaped down from the rooftop. Just as they touched down, the earth rumbled. The creature, still looking like a swirling waterspout, exploded from the ground beneath Chris and the brown-haired girl. Chris appeared to have anticipated this attack, however, and had nimbly leaped out of the way at the last moment. She also seemed to have yanked the other girl out of the way with her gymnastics ribbon. The girl was struggling to untangle herself (while showing her cartoon-animal-decorated panties, Pink noted with amusement) as the twins approached. Chris looked at them, raising an eyebrow. Pink bypassed the undead for the moment, however, to focus on the girl.

"You," she said. The girl, who had been rearranging her skirt to a more modest position, looked up at her. "There's something strange about you," Pink said bluntly. "Something... strange that I can feel from you and the monster both. Who are you, and what are you doing here, over?"

The girl gasped, backing up a step and reaching up to her chest. "You know... you know about-"

Chris cut in. "Huh, you two can sense it? That's the mitama, the 'soul' of the monster. It's what's animated and changing that algae. Momiji here has one implanted in her chest, but since she's somewhat more intelligent than algae..." she grinned, "...it can't affect her mind."

The girl, Momiji's, eyes had widened at every word. "How do you know all that!" she burst out. 'Who are you people? Do you work for the TAC too... oops... I'm not supposed to say... I mean..."

Pink ignored her, looking seriously at Chris. "Can you get that mitama thing, over?"

"Sure, I was planning to anyway. You want it intact?"

"Yes," Link responded instantly. "I want to talk with it, over."

Chris nodded. "Problem not. So where is it right now?"

She looked around. She could feel the warmth of its 'mitama', the trembling of the ground from its movement. But not underneath... instead... she looked up, just as Momiji screamed "It's in the building!"

A column of water exploded like a spear from the side of a building on the other side of the road. Pink didn't even have time to scream before the sheer force of the water's passage hurled her through the air. As she landed and rolled back to her feet, she saw Link and that Momiji girl climbing to their feet, but Chris was gone. Looking over, she saw a dark, gaping hole in the side of the building that had been behind them. The monster had already left: she could feel it once more moving beneath the earth.

At that point, a military jeep screeched down the road and pulled up alongside them. At the wheel was another woman, this one in a loud pink jumpsuit, with orange hair that was held out of her eyes by a headband. She seemed quite agitated: also, Pink couldn't help but notice, her back seat was occupied by a variety of military-type weapons. "Momiji!" the new girl cried, "I've been looking all over for you! Get in already!"

"Koume!" Momiji cried in obvious relief. "I'm so glad to see you! But...these people..."

"Huh?" said the new girl, and looked at them. "Oh, okay." She stood up in the seat and glowered at them. "All right, you civilians, get outta here!" she barked. "Let us professionals handle this!"

There was a slightly derisive laugh, and everyone turned to see Chris emerge from the hole in the building. She was soaked, and her t-shirt and jeans were torn in multiple places, showing a greater but not quite obscene amount of pale skin. She had a wide, almost maniacal grin on her face. "Civilians, huh?" she said, walking over to a nearby lamppole. "That barely cracked a few ribs." Almost casually, she gripped the pole in one hand and swung her fist, smashing through the metal as if it was made of glass. Hefting the improvised weapon, she grinned first at the monster which had regenerated itself down the street, and then at the girl in the jeep. "Whattaya say, Koume? Shall we see who beats it first?"

Koume glared at him. "Another freak, huh? You're on!" With a squeal of tires, she took off towards the monster with Chris in pursuit, leaving Pink, Link and Momiji behind.

"Oh dear," said Momiji, looking even more flustered. "This isn't good... umm, who are you people? How did that girl do that?"

Pink looked down the road. Chris was leaping around slashing at the monster with the pole, the Koume girl was firing at the monster with some sort of big gun. They'd probably win, but... Pink exchanged a glance with her sister. They both nodded and then turned on Momiji, who was still looking at them expectantly.

"We're curious, over." Link began.

"Yes." Pink added. "Very curious about that mitama you have on your chest, over."

Momiji backed up a step. "Um... yes?" she squeaked.

"We'd like to see it, over."

"Yes, so please take your shirt off, over."

Momiji turned red. "Why... I mean... no, I couldn't..."

She was going to be difficult. Pink stepped forward. If the mitama thing was alive, she didn't want to risk harming it. No Mandragora, then. Guess just a regular old knockout poison... boring, but effective.

Pink was just starting to step towards the girl when an orange and red blur interspersed itself between them. The new arrival was a man, tall, wearing a shirt, slacks and a red trenchcoat. Somewhat more notably, he had green hair, orange skin, and eyes with pupils slit like a cat's. More notable still... Pink looked at her sister and recieved a nod in acknowledgement. This man, or whatever he was - radiated that feeling, that warmth, of those mitamas, like Momiji, but far, far stronger. He had more than one. Five, six? Pink couldn't tell, exactly. But there was a lot.

"Hey, there you are!" the strange man (?) said. "I've been looking all over for you, Momi-"

"Kusanagi!" the girl broke in. "These people just... they came and said... she's -really- strong..."

The man apparently wasn't paying much attention to the girl's babbling, instead looking over at the developing fight. "Looks like you brought some company. Who's the new girl?"

"I don't know! That's what I'm trying to tell-"

"Heh," the orange-skinned man grinned. "Then I guess I'd better go up and introduce myself!"

Before Momiji could protest further, the man ran towards the fight. Pink glanced after him, then found herself staring in amazement: as Kusanagi ran, some sort of thorn-blades... -grew- from his arms, sliding out almost like a switchblade. Definitely unusual. Chris had also noticed the newcomer: as Kusanagi ran towards the fight, the dead girl redoubled her efforts to kill the watery monster.

Well, all that ought to prove a useful distraction. And Momiji was still staring after that orange-skinned man... Pink moved forward, dipping her hand into a hidden pocket for a Lullabye Blossom-

Pink paused as she felt a dull echo of pain. For a moment she wondered what it was, and then she heard and felt her twin cry out. Turning, she saw Link fall to her knees, her hands flying up to clutch her temples. "Link, Link, what's wrong, over?" she said and rushed over to her sister, Lullabye Blossom forgotten.

She was vaguely conscious of the girl, Momiji, also beside her, asking Link if she was all right. But both twins ignored her. "There's something..." Link said slowly, to set her teeth. A fresh throbbing flashed through Pink's head. "Something they feel," her sister continued, "It's moving... it's in the earth... it's hurting them, over!"

"Hurting who? What's hurting?" Momiji asked, obviously confused.

"The plants," Link hissed between clenched teeth. "Something's in the ground... their root systems can feel it. It's shredding the roots, over!"

"The roots?"

"Shut up, over," snapped Pink. The throbbing in her head was annoying, and the pain Link felt was worse. "What is it? Another one of those monsters, over?"

Link made a tiny shake of her head. "No mitama. That's what she said: the mitama animates it, right, over? There's not one. It's almost like there's an earthquake... but it's moving, and only in one place at a time, over." She pointed down the road, where a small green space was still undisturbed by the melee. "There! It's following the fight, over!"

Pink looked where her sister indicated. Now that she knew where, she could see... something. The lawn of the small park was rippling, ever so slightly, like the surface of a pond. She moved a step towards it. What -was- that...?

She felt more than saw Momiji run past her, towards the fight. Before Pink could react, the girl was shouting out to that strange man. "Kusanagi! There's something else here!"

"Momiji!" he yelled back. "Where is it? Where's the mitama?"

She paused, looked at the monster for a moment. "It's... it's between the head and the chest! But I think you should look at-"

Kusanagi ignored her as he grinned viciously and plunged his hand deep into the monster's head. He reached out, seemed to be straining...and then leaped back to avoid the swing of a lightpole. "What're you doing!" he demanded.

"I made a bet." Chris grinned. She raised the pole high, preparing to thrust down...

And then there was a loud retort and a projectile streaked over Pink's head before smashing into the throat of the monster. It shrieked, and something glittering flew out of its back...something she could feel... "That's it, over!"

"I know!" responded Chris, leaping from the monster even as it began to shrink and steam, still roaring unintelligibly. Kusanagi flashed past her, but Chris reacted quickly, whipping out one of those ribbons and lashing out. It streamed past Kusanagi, wrapped around the tiny gleaming object... and then one of Kusanagi's arm blades slashed through it as he dropped past. Almost instantly, Link cried out.

"You killed it! You killed it, over!"

Kusanagi and Chris both landed lightly, and the orange-skinned man brushed the dust off his hands, grinning. "Looks like I win the bet."

"Oh no you don't!" came a female voice. The other woman walked up, still brandishing a smoking bazooka. "I got that one fair and square!"

A screech of tires drew Pink's attention; a car had pulled up behind them. Two people emerged: a balding older man and a woman with glossy black hair that covered one eye. They held guns, which were levelled directly at Chris, but she noticed the woman looking suspiciously at her and Link. Who were they?

"Freeze!" the man barked. "Who are you! What are you doing here!"

Chris glanced back. Her lip twisted up. "Tch. Next you'll be asking me to 'state my business'." Turning around fully, she glanced at Pink and Link. "Later, TAC."

Before anyone could react, her hand twitched suddenly and a thick cloud of white smoke suddenly enveloped her. The smoke wavered, as if a strong breeze passed, just as shots rang out from the two newcomers...and then Pink was flying. And just as suddenly, set down again, which was when she realised she had been grabbed. And so had Link, who was standing behind her. "What, over-"

"Run!" said Chris in a low voice. "Before they think to start looking!"

She took off, running down the alleyway she had deposited them in, and the twins followed her. After a few moments, they reached a narrow blind alley, only dimly lit by a crack of sunlight filtering from the rooftops overhead. Chris slowed to a stop here. "Kusanagi's faster than me, but I caught him off- guard. They'll stop looking in a few minutes and start comparing stories, at which point we can head back."

"Who were they, over?" Pink asked.

Chris shrugged. "The TAC. A governmental organisation devoted to dealing with problems such as the one we just saw."

Link took a deep breath. She clenched and unclenched her fists. And then she looked up to the nearly invisible sky and began cursing. Not so loud as to carry beyond the alley, but loud enough to clearly show her displeasure. She walked in circles, gesticulating angrily with both hand while cursing Kusanagi, his ancestors, his descendants, his manhood, his father's manhood, and throwing in several unkind insinuations about his mother, her sexual proclivities, and her choice in species to mate with.

Pink watched all this with bemusement. Link didn't get angry often, but when she did, it was... colourful.

"Oookay..." came a somewhat hushed voice, and Pink glanced over at Chris. The dead girl was staring at the ranting Link, eyes wide, with a large bead of sweat on her head.

"What're you staring at, over?" Pink asked, further amused by the reaction. Link also looked over, a dangerous gleam in her eye, and obviously also interested in why their undead companion was staring.

"Uhh... it's just... I'm a little surprised," Chris finally said. "I didn't think you swore... I mean-"

"Of COURSE I'm fucking swearing, over!" Link snapped. "That son of a bitch killed it! KILLED IT! And he's got so many! I didn't even get to LOOK at it, over!"

Chris held her hands up placatingly. "Okay, okay, just relax. It's not that big a deal. Those monsters, the aragami...there'll be more of them. Don't sweat it. I'll be able to get you one before the TAC even get there next time, with any luck. All right?"

"It's more than that, over!" Link growled. "It was ALIVE, and now it's DEAD. You of all people should understand THAT. It was alive..." she paused, considering. "It was alive in a way I'd never felt any plant before. And now it's dead. Getting another won't replace THAT. It was like... it was like killing a child. How DARE he!"

Chris pursed her lips, apparently thinking carefully about her response. "Very well. But it was hurting people, so you have to consider their position-"

"Who gives a damn, over! Lions can hurt people, but they're endangered; you just can't kill them out of hand! That 'monster' was just looking for... it was LOOKING for something! Something humans took away! Whose fault is that? Why shouldn't it be angry, over!"

"I don't necessarily disagree with you," Chris said seriously.

"Well, who gives a flying fuck about what you think! It's not like you understand anything about the natural order, over!"

"Now now, over," said Pink soothingly, stepping between the two just as Chris's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Let's just calm down here. What's done is done. If there are more of those plant creatures, like Chris said, we can get to them before that group does, and both get our own mitamas AND save them from being killed. That's the best option, over."

Link's lip twisted, but she nodded in assent. Chris shrugged, and the anger faded from her expression. "Sounds good to me," she noted. "Anyway, they've probably gone back to talking by now. Let's go."

01010

Ukyou leaned back with a smirk on her face and let the events of the scene play themselves out. Nodoka had reacted exactly like Ukyou had known she would. Being overjoyed at Ranma's arrival, not to mention the company of three beautiful young women, had driven all thoughts of that stupid contract from the woman's head. Ukyou had basically let everyone else do the talking, and kept her eyes out for possible disasters. It hadn't taken much effort to keep Ranma away from cold water.

Not that Ukyou thought she could conceal Ranma's curse from Nodoka forever. It would just be much easier for Nodoka to accept if she already thought of her son as a playboy. Ukyou wondered if she could conspire to make it so that Nodoka caught Ranma trying to sneak into a girl's locker room in his girl form. It might take a bit of doing... but Ukyou thought she could pull it off.

The three girls were playing their part perfectly, even without a script. Ukyou had picked them out specifically for the traits that would best serve Ranma here. Of course, she had been forced to walk around in circles basically talking Ranma up to the other two so that instead of focusing their attentions on Ukyou, they would both go after Ranma. The third had taken to Ranma right away.

Right now their jealousy was starting to win out over their sympathy for Ranma's situation. The catty comments and acidic snipes were coming out in full force. Nodoka was looking on in approval as Ranma tried to play peacemaker between the three girls. Ukyou was enjoying Ranma's discomfort so much she almost wished that Akane could be here to see it with her. But Akane would have been a stumbling block in the plan, so she would have to come along to meet the Saotome mother later.

"That's just shameful behaviour," a voice whispered into Ukyou's ear. She found herself nodding along... until she recognized it. Then she gasped and leaped away from the potted plant she had been leaning against.

"Ukyou?" Nodoka said with a blink.

"Fungus! What are you doing here?" Ukyou growled and pointed at the plant.

"No, that's a fern," Ranma pointed out helpfully. Even as he did, his words were made lies when the plant sprouted a head and two arms. "Oh... it's just Tsubasa," Ranma grunted.

"That's right, Saotome!" the Fungus laughed as he pulled himself completely free of his hiding place. He had changed since this morning, and was now clad in a dress that contained far too much pink and far too many frills to be considered legal. "At last, I've seen your true personality! How could you do this, you two-timing lecher!"

"Oh no!" one of the girls cried.

"You already had a girlfriend?" another whined reproachfully.

"...this is just like the time Joshi and Azako found Mina in the cloest and..."

"Are you really dating behind your girlfriend's back?" Nodoka asked in an entirely too cheerful tone. Sometimes that woman scared Aaron.

"Oh no you don't," Ukyou growled as she grabbed the Fungus by the lapel. "You are not ruining this," she informed him as she dragged him towards the backyard.

"Ukyou!" Nodoka cried out, forcing the girl to stop. She looked over her shoulder to see Nodoka glaring at her. "Gentlemen don't treat ladies with such disrespect! Especially not in my house." Ukyou was in the process of weighing the danger of potentially pissing off Nodoka versus the damage Tsubasa could do to her plan when the point became moot, as the Fungus slipped free of her grip.

"Tsubasa is not... ," Ukyou hissed as the tranvestite slipped into a comfortable position between Ranma and her. Nodoka offered the Fungus tea without pause, which he gratefully accepted. Ukyou considered just giving up the ghost, as far as the Fungus' gender went, but decided against it. Too much possibility of backfiring.

"You wound me!" the Fungus moaned dramatically, holding his forearm against his brow as if he felt faint. "What about all the times we have spent together? The exchange we've had between our deepest hearts? All the secrets we share?"

"Go to hell!" Ukyou shouted. She hadn't wanted to shout. She hadn't wanted to do anything but glare and try to figure out how to get him to leave. But... it had just slipped out. It was probably Aaron's fault again. She had never had so much difficulty controlling her temper before he showed up.

"Wow, sounds like they had a bad break up..." one of the girls stage- whsipered to her friend.

"Oh yeah, they have all the signs," the other answered while nodding vigourously.

"...Davin wasn't about to let that big guy run off with Azako and Mina watching, so he assumed the Spitting Cobra Stance and charged at the guy with the bandolier..."

"Really, Ukyou, you'd think you'd be glad I showed up when I did," the Fungus smiled and waved a finger in her face. It took all her self-control not to break it on the spot. "Look at this cad, stringing along three different girls!" Nodoka sighed and smiled. "Even if he is much better at dress up than I am, that's no reason to hang out with him considering all his other flaws."

"Dress up?" Nodoka frowned slightly and looked at Ranma.

"Maybe Ranma's a secret fashion designer!" one of the girls cried.

"Just my luck, a hunk and a great fashion sense and he's already taken... by someone with even better fashion sense!" Ukyou gave the other girl a long look. She hated to see what the girl considered bad fashion sense if Tsubasa was considered good.

"...I couldn't just stand by and let Davin unleash the full power of the Seven Seals of Set Style without moral support so I had to go along with him to the warehouse where Master Dingo was holding Joshi hostage..."

"Hey pal, don't even compare me to you! I ain't got no choice, you're just sick!" Ranma growled. Uh-oh. Ukyou had to put a halt to this before it spiraled out of control. Aaron was convinced that if Nodoka had a chance to get to know her son well beforehand, then learning about the curse would only give her a slight pause before she ripped up that stupid contract. The trouble was giving Ranma that time before his curse, and the Fungus, ruined any chances he had. Ukyou searched her mind frantically for an answer... and leapt at the first choice that came to mind.

"My god! It's Tom Cruise!" Ukyou shouted, pointing out the door.

"Where?" Nodoka cried as she spun in place. Everyone else did so as well, turning to look quickly out through the patio door. Ukyou smiled and lashed out, her backhand catching the Fungus high on the temple. There was a crash as the wall behind the two of them gave out when the unconscious body went flying through it. So it wasn't an elegant solution, but it would shut the Fungus up for a few minutes. During that time Ukyou knew she could come up with some way of dealing with him. If she grew desperate enough, maybe she would even let Aaron try and come up with a solution.

"Where did the young lady go?" Nodoka asked as she turned back.

Ukyou was in the middle of a shrug when she heard the shorter girl shriek practically into her ear.

"You... you killed her!"

"What...?"

"I saw it all!" the girl pointed at her accusingly. "I was turning to look, but you... and she flew through a wall! A wall! People don't go flying through walls!"

"They don't?" Ranma asked, in genuine confusion.

"I certainly have never seen it happen," the taller girl said to him. Ukyou frowned as she tried to recall their names. But she seemed to have inherited Aaron's talent for names, which is to say she couldn't recall them for the life of her.

"...nobody was expecting the zombies (really, who ever does expect zombies?) but we were all grateful for them as long as it meant Master Dingo couldn't complete his evil experiments on Joshi, so Azako, Mina and I looted the armory..."

"I did not kill hi... er, her!" Ukyou shouted back. The girl cringed away from her, eyes wide and shaking.

"Don't bully poor Hayako!" the less whiny one yelled back at Ukyou. Ukyou turned her passively dangerous eyes on her and the color drained from her face.

"Ukyou, did you kill Tsubasa?" Nodoka asked, in the same tone of voice one would use to ask if it was raining outside.

"No!" Ukyou groaned. "H...she's just outside, perfectly fine!" Ukyou stood up and walked over to the hole in the wall and stuck her head out. A fine drizzle immediately coated her hair and face. Great, it was raining out. This was just wonderful. "See, she's right..." Ukyou trailed off. There was no sign of Tsubasa. "Great, now he's hiding..." she murmured.

"The body disappeared?" Hayako moaned.

"How convenient!" her friend said with a smirk as she crossed her arms.

Ukyou pulled her head in and glared at them both.

"Ah, Ukyou, is it raining outside?" Ranma asked in the same tone of voice one would use to ask if you had just murdered someone.

"Just a little, don't worry, I brought an umbrella..." Ukyou began to reach into her trenchcoat.

"No!" Hayako shouted and dived behind Nodoka. "He's got a gun!"

"You do?" Ranma blinked.

"No, I don't!" Ukyou growled as she pulled free the umbrella. The handle did look kind of gun-like, with its 'trigger' style opening mechanism...

"Young man, I won't have you frightening young ladies or killing them in my house," Nodoka informed Ukyou.

"But I didn't kill anyone!"

"...there was nothing to do but hope Davin's unlocked potential was enough to face down the Zombie Master Dingo, since we were all occupied sealing the doors to the Secret Government Alien Lab with blowtorches..."

"A likely story!" Hayako's friend smirked and pointed at Ukyou. "If so, where did that girl go?"

"She probably turned into a clock or a painting or something..." Ukyou murmured. She ran a hand through her bangs and looked around for anything that seemed out of place.

"...Space Nazis are a pain in the butt, I tell you from personal experience, what with their Nazi Death Borg Commandos and everything, I swear if I hadn't been carrying that Personal Fighting Familiar that looked like a ball of lime jell-o I would have been in a lot of trouble..."

"She probably has someone helping her!" Hayako cried from behind Nodoka.

"Like who? A ninja assassin death squad?" Ukyou growled. This was getting seriously annoying.

"Aha! See, she admits to having a ninja assassin death squad!"

"I did no such thing!" Ukyou began to wave her arms as she rebuked Hayako's friend. "Haven't you ever heard of sarcasm?"

"Yeah, Ukyou isn't a ninja, she's a demon hunter!" Ranma backed her up. Ukyou paused. Wait, what? She looked at Ranma askance.

"Demon hunter?" Nodoka said with a blink.

"You mean... you're -that- boy!" Hayako's friend gasped.

"Waaah! The hero of Narita is a murderer!" Hayako sniffed from her position behind the elder Saotome.

"Then again, maybe Ukyou is training me and Akane to be part of her Anti-Demon Ninja Death Squad?" Ranma said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure I approve of you joining a ninja clan, Ranma," Nodoka opined primly.

"Wah! We know too much about her now! She'll kill us all like that poor girl with the great fashion sense!"

"C'mon mom, it would be cool!"

"I'll protect you from her, Hayako!"

"She's scary!"

"Ranma, I am your mother and I say you are not joining a ninja clan, even if they fight demons."

"...so then we had Space Nazi Zombie Commando Borgs made out of green Jell-O (tm) coming out of the woodwork and even with Davin's Invincible Serpent Uncoiling Technique it looked like we were all about to be eaten and that was the absolute WORST possible time for Joshi to accuse me of being a bad mother, I mean, you lose one little Fighting Familiar to the forces of darkness and everyone is all over you..."

"ENOUGH! Everyone SHUT UP!"

Blissful silence fell over the room, except for the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. Ukyou was standing now, partially hunched over, breathing deeply. She felt... cold. It was like her entire body had dropped ten degrees. She wanted to not say anything. She wanted to apologize and explain. But she felt her control slipping. She realized with a shock that she didn't care about these people's feelings at the moment. She realized she didn't care about Ranma or his mother or the three idiots... it was remarkably freeing.

"You idiots don't even bother to listen, do you? Tsubasa is not dead! I just punched him, and not even that hard! I wished I had punched him harder, but he's still awake. And you..." she pointed at Hayako. "You shouldn't leap to conclusions about people you know nothing about. And you, whoever you are, I don't know where you get off being such a bitch to me but I am about this close..." Ukyou held her fingers a centimeter apart. "...from shutting your mouth the hard way. And you, I don't know what the hell kind of sugar rush you're on... but shut the hell up!"

"But I was just getting to the end of my story..."

"What did I just fucking say!" Ukyou roared. A flash of shame surged from her gut at the way the girl cringed, but Ukyou was far too angry to really care.

"Ukyou..." Nodoka's voice was cold and hard. Ukyou spun towards her like a cat and met the woman's cold glare with an equally dangerous gaze. "I think I've heard just about enough. This may be my husband's house, but I am in charge of it! I forbid you from setting foot in it again!"

"You... you forbid me..." Ukyou growled. "After all I went through to take your son back to you, after everything your stupid husband did to me..."

"And furthermore, I won't have you associating with my son any more." She turned to Ranma. "Ranma, I don't know how you came to meet this person, but I ask you never to speak to him again."

"Mom!" Ranma gasped. "Ukyou's... Ukyou's my best friend!"

"Forget it, Ranma," Ukyou hissed. "She's having a power trip. Let her do what she wants, I don't give a shit about her anymore."

Ukyou stormed out of the house, not bothering to look back.

01010

"That was kinda fun, you guys!"

"You would think so..." Usagi whined.

Rei shook her head and allowed the others to lead the way. She didn't know what to think of the new girl. Makoto was both taller and more physically capable than any of the girls, as proven by how well she had taken on that tennis-ball-throwing youma. But she was also supposed to be a violent thug. In fact, she was in the middle of an expulsion hearing from her old school because of all the fights she was getting into. Makoto had laughed off the subject when Ami had brought it up, saying she probably wouldn't fight it like she usually did. After all, if she was expelled from her current school, the next closest was Juuban.

Rei adjusted her umbrella, shifting it to her left hand for a moment. No, it wasn't that which set Rei ill at ease. It was... that boy. Ukyou. Ukyou had led Usagi and Luna right to Makoto Kino, and apparently convinced her that her help was needed fighting the Dark Kingdom. With her height, cocky attitude and (from what Rei had heard) love of cooking, Makoto reminded her a bit too much of Ukyou.

"I'm just glad you were there," Ami said in that shy, self-effacing way she had. Rei had considered trying to get her to come out of her shell a bit, but Usagi had adopted that task and was doing... an almost competent job. Besides, they needed someone with a level head in the group.

"Yes, goodness knows we couldn't count on Usagi," Luna said in a sing- song voice.

"Luna, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"Waaah! Luna, stop being harsh to me!"

"You know, I think I should be freaked out by a talking cat, but I'm really not. This strikes me as very... familiar somehow," Makoto called over her shoulder. "Anybody else get that feeling?"

"Now that you mention it..." Rei mused aloud. No matter how she had felt about Makoto, there was no doubting the fact that they were all getting along famously. Makoto had integrated herself into their new little clique almost immediately. Her and Usagi and Ami were all talking like they had been friends for years, not just days. It was almost eerie.

"Plus being a kickass Sailor Senshi has other perks," Makoto laughed. "Like all the cute guys! First that Ukyou guy from yesterday, and then that Tuxedo Kamen guy!"

"Hey! Tuxedo Kamen is mine!" Usagi shouted.

"Oh, I thought you liked Ukyou?"

"I... oh... I can't decide between them!"

"Hmm, you may have a point there," Makoto mused. "Do you go for tall, dark and mysterious, or beautiful, cool and a great cook? I can't decide myself..."

"I wouldn't get too hung up on Ukyou, if I were you two," Rei warned. Now seemed like a good enough time to bring up her worries.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Yeah, Rei. You just want to stomp on my fun again."

"Be serious, Usagi!" Rei hissed. "Tuxedo Kamen is one thing, but he is clearly on our side. He always shows up to help us. Can we say the same about this Ukyou? Where was he when we fought that youma that had possesed your friend, Usagi?"

"But he helped us a lot! You saw him fight Jadeite. Amd he got us all these Rainbow Crystals..." Usagi reached into her pack and brought out one of the six crystals she and Luna had collected yesterday.

"And there are supposed to be seven of them," Rei pointed out. "What about the last one?"

"The guy doesn't live in Tokyo..."

"Maybe... but Ukyou has admitted he has an hidden agenda! He doesn't really care about... how did he put it Luna?"

"'Our little war'," Luna chimed in. "And I agree with Rei on this one. We can't trust Ukyou. Something about that boy raises my hackles."

"Plus, there is Sailor Pluto," Rei said, crossing her arms to signify the argument was over.

"Who?" Makoto blinked.

"'The Guardian of Time, Mysterious Woman Representing the Planet Pluto, Sailor Pluto,'" Ami quoted. "She's a fifth Senshi, but we don't know much about her. Luna seems to recall that she was a very important person and one to be trusted implicitly. The strange thing is that she and that boy Ukyou appear to be enemies. Neither one has really been forthcoming with why this might be."

"Ah, maybe its just a lover's spat?" Makoto grinned and nudged Rei with an elbow. Rei raised an eyebrow and gave her a long hard stare. Makoto coughed into her hand and backed up. "Or not."

"Well, I don't care what Sailor Pluto or Rei says," Usagi declared while pointing into the sky. "Ukyou is too cute to be evil, and I'll trust him with my life!"

"You're hopeless," Rei groused and started walking again. She heard the others begin to talk again in the background. Luna and Usagi were arguing about boys. Ami and Makoto were talking about possibly getting her transferred to Juuban so she could be closer to Usagi, the Princess they needed to protect. That is, if you believed Ukyou.

Rei sighed. She hoped Usagi was right about that boy. But something had struck her as wrong about him from the first time they had met. And when they had met again the other day, after Usagi introduced Makoto to the group, Rei had done something she usually didn't do. She had focused her chi and tried to read the spirit of this Ukyou Kuonji, much like Rei read the spirit of her fire or read the spirit of her youma opponents to discern their weaknesses. There had been a layer of cold energy, like a shell around Ukyou's spirit. And when Rei had probed further she had been forced to stop, because Ukyou had started looking directly at her. Not like she knew what Rei was doing, but more like she was curious.

And Rei had let herself stop. Because she had felt enough to just pierce the tip of Ukyou's cold shell. And what she found under that shell scared her more than all the vague suspicions or Sailor Pluto's attacks ever could. Because under that shell, Rei had sensed... nothing.

Nothing at all.

01010

Ono wisely stayed out of Ukyou's way when she walked into the small apartment they shared until his clinic could be rebuilt. Or, he did once he pointed out that she was dripping wet, despite carrying an unfolded umbrella in one hand. Ukyou had taken one look at it, and let out a vulgarity so loud that it had woken up a neighbours dog (who was still barking) and smashed the umbrella over her knee. Then she had growled something about making his own dinner and retreated to her room. So Ono was willing to let her have her privacy. All he did was set out a box of Midol in an inconspicuous location.

Hey, he was a doctor, but he wasn't suicidal.

Ono had been almost reluctant to answer the door. But he could feel the urgency in the other person's chi, even through the door. So, he had answered. Akane had blushed a bit at seeing him answer. She must have forgotten that he and Ukyou shared quarters. The girl had begun to stammer something out, fumbling over her words.

Ono had saved her from embarrassment by saying he would fetch Ukyou for her. Akane was really a nice girl. Not a beautiful girl like her eldest sister, but... He paused in the hallway, shaking his head to clear the fog from it. Hmm? When had he removed Ukyou's door from its hinges? And why was Ukyou pressed against the wall?

"Ono, are you okay?" Ukyou asked slowly.

"I'm fine... but it appears someone broke your door," he chuckled.

"Yeah, someone..." Ukyou walked towards him. "Kasumi isn't here, is she?"

"Huh? No. Akane is, though..."

"Great..." Ukyou sighed. "Listen, I'm in no mood to have a civil discussion with anyone... tell her to come back tomorrow."

"It seemed rather urgent," Ono pointed out. He felt that whatever was troubling Ukyou, talking would probably help her more than brooding in her room. Besides, Akane was a girl. Maybe she would have better advice about that then Ono would.

"Indeed..." Ukyou ran her fingers through her hair, then nodded. "I'll go get rid of her then. It's probably nothing serious. Thank you."

Ono allowed her past him and down the small hallway to the living room- slash-foyer. For a second his gaze lingered in her wake. His better nature warred with his curiosity and lost. Soon enough he was pulling a cloak over his chi and stepping down the hallway as quietly as he could.

It wasn't really eavesdropping. It was just looking out for his charges. How was he supposed to help, if they kept him in the dark all the time? Look where that had gotten him last time. And maybe if he kept thinking about it like that, he would eventually justify it to himself.

"...no, I haven't seen Ranma all day," Akane was saying. This was close enough; Ono didn't want to risk getting any closer. His cloak wasn't exactly reliable, and nothing close to true invisibility.

"Damn... have him call me the moment he gets in, okay? I need to talk with him about what happened at his mother's..."

"Mother?"

"It's a long story. You had something you needed to talk to me about?"

"Ukyou... I don't know how to say this so I'll just come straight out with it."

"Indeed?"

"Chris visited me last night."

"WHAT! That bastard! Are you hurt? He didn't do anything to you...?"

"NO! No... I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes... I'm sure. You can let go of my arm, Ukyou. Your grip is a little tight."

"Sorry..."

"I had to talk with him, Ukyou. He surprised me in the middle of the night-"

"Why didn't you call out to Ranma?" Ukyou's voice had taken on an edge of anger.

"He asked me not to... he was actually very nice about it."

"Damn! Akane, you can't let him talk to you. His words are poison. He is very good at earning people's sympathy."

"But Ukyou, I think he..."

"Don't think about him! Trust me, Chris is a monster! If he's trying to win your trust, he's only using it for one of his own twisted purposes. Either that, or he wants to get you to believe in him to make himself feel better. He's sick like that. He can justify anything to himself, as long as someone he respects believes in him."

"He respects me?"

"Yes, yes... that isn't important! No matter what, you can't believe anything he says. Chris is from the same place as Aaron. He knows more about you than you may even know about yourself! Using that knowledge he can manipulate you, make you think you're doing what you want when all you're really doing is playing into his hands!"

"I don't think it was like that. He was just asking us to leave him alone..."

"US! Leave HIM alone! That bastard!" Ono jumped as something cracked sharply. "He has no right! Wasn't beating me to a pulp once enough? Does he have to play these games with my friends as well?"

"Ukyou, calm down," Akane's voice had taken on a frantic tone.

"I'm sick of being fucking calm! I'm not calm and I don't want to be. That monster ruined my life! You have no idea... no idea..."

"Ukyou..."

"Tell me everything he said!"

"I... I don't know exactly..."

"Fuck! What did he say, Akane? You do realize what this is about? He's probably going to kill someone else! Do you want that on your conscience?"

"Of course not!"

"Then tell me! Everything you know may help."

"He said something about the future, and you knowing what's going to happen, and Chris having to do something about it... it was very confusing."

"Damn it... riddles. Wasn't he more specific?"

"Well, he could have been. He actually asked me if I wanted to know exactly what was going on but I refused. I don't want to know about-"

"You refused! What kind of an idiot..." There were a series of loud stomps. Ono frowned.

"But, Ukyou-"

"We could have know exactly what he was going to do, and you refused to listen? That's... that's the stupidest thing you've ever done, Akane!"

"I... I..."

"I mean, I've seen you pull some bone-headed stuff, but even I never thought you would be this dumb!"

"You just told me to never listen to a thing he said!" Akane cried. Her voice was a mixture of fury and despair. Ono felt he should do something. But what? He really had no idea how to deal with people. What if he did step out there? What would it accomplish?

"Don't try and make this about me," Ukyou hissed. "I'm not the one who screwed up. Fuck! Why is everything unraveling NOW?"

"Ukyou..." Akane was fighting back a sob now.

"Get out of my sight!" Ukyou shouted. "Just... get out! I'll find some way to fix this mess you created." There was a pregnant pause. "And you wonder why I leave you behind all the time..."

"Ukyou... you... why?"

"Didn't I just tell you to get out?"

A few seconds, and a few hiccuping sobs later, and the door to Ono's apartment slammed closed with dreadful finality. Ono stood dumbstruck, and was still standing there like a statue when Ukyou rounded the corner. She gave him a look. It was filled with cold anger. He could literally feel the wind chi pouring off her body in nearly visible waves. Then she pushed him aside and stalked over to her room. Ono turned towards her and opened his mouth at her retreating back. But what was he going to say?

To be continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Man, Ukyou/you is a real bitch/bastard.

Epsilon: Well, that's what you keep telling me, anyway, so I thought I'd just be true to character.

Blade: Meanie. Akane's totally gonna be MY friend now.

Epsilon: Maybe if you stopped killing people.

Blade: But... but... there are so many people with kickass supernatural abilities for me to steal that noone will miss anyway! Like Kodachi! Who needs her? Pink is like Kodachi, only better!

Epsilon: ...right.

Blade: Well, okay, Kunou probably cares, but that presupposes anybody caring about what Kunou cares about.

Epsilon: Well, much as I hate to interrupt you demolishing whatever goodwill you built up with readers this chapter... it's convienent segue time! So, speaking of people with supernatural abilities that other people care about... like the readers...

Blade: That was a really lame segue.

Epsilon: Lame segues are my middle name!

Blade: So you're Aaron Ukyou Epsilon Lame Segue Peori Kuonji? That sounds like some retarded college fraternity.

Epsilon: A college fraternity where a bunch of anime characters go! And, speaking of anime characters...

Blade: (facepalm)

Epsilon: ...I hereby warn the readers that Hybrid Theory contains... yes, SPOILERS!

Audience: 01010gasp 01010 01010shock 01010 01010amazement 01010

Blade: Yeah. Specifically, there will be spoilers for Sailor Moon, Blue Seed, Ranma 1/2...

Epsilon: Like they needed to be told that.

Blade: Hmm. Well, there's also going to be spoilers for other series' the readers don't as of yet technically know exist! Indeed, the fact they exist in Hybrid Theory are in and of itself spoilers for Hybrid Theory!

Epsilon: So we can't tell the readers what series are going to be spoiled for them until you've already been spoiled?

Blade: Umm...

Epsilon: I see. Our recommended solution, then, is to watch every anime series and read every manga and play every video game ever made before the next chapter comes out. That way, you will be protected from all spoilers. (checks watch) Which gives you... 28 days. Better get moving.

Blade: Way to kill off our already pitifully small readerbase. Actually, in truth, the spoiler problem is NOT so bad... Blue Seed will get sort of spoiled, but who really cares about Sailor Moon or Ranma spoilers? I mean, really: if you care, you know them already. However, this is one series I feel obligated to warn people about and it ISN'T much of a problem to note it's here somewhere: Revolutionary Girl Utena. It will, unfortunately, be spoiled the HELL out of. Since it's the Greatest Anime Of All Times, I recommend you try and check it out if you haven't already: you've got more than a couple of months before this becomes any sort of issue. Sorry!

Epsilon: Or you could just do what I do and not care about spoilers.

Blade: Or that, yeah.

Epsilon: And speaking of things people don't care about, how about the preview for the next chapter?

Blade: I'd like to remind you I once again possess a bokken and the will to use it.

Epsilon: But can your bokken get the Hybrid Theory cast and crew out of THIS situation!

"Oh, Ranma!" The voice was Kasumi again. "A kind lady is here, and she says she's your mother. Isn't that nice?"

"GAH!"

Ran blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes. Then she blinked again. Yes, Ranma had really disappeared. Ran hadn't thought anyone could move faster than her eyes could follow. Ran shrugged and looked around, quickly locating the young martial artist clinging to the ceiling directly above his former position. She sighed. The boy had a lot to learn about a sucessful vanishing act if that was the best he could think of doing.

"Ranma, what are you doing up there?"

"SHH! I don't want her to find me!" Ranma hissed insistently.

Akane was now looking up at him as well. "Don't want who to find you?"

"My mother!" Ranma hissed back down at her.

"Wow, some juicy family problems you have?" Ran grinned as she whipped her pad and pencil into her hands.

"Ran!"

"Sorry, Akane. Force of habit." Ran put away her pad. She did not, however, turn off her tape recorder.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 9: Hit The Floor

Blade: Yeah. I bet the readers are TERRIFIED for poor Ranma's fate. He'll never make it out of THIS one alive, folks!


	9. Hit The Floor

Greetings, my name is Nodoka Saotome. I want everyone to know I am here under protest; I really want nothing to do with the awful man who is inhabiting that equally awful girl who is ruining my son's life.

Look at the trouble Ukyou keeps getting my darling son into! She gets him involved in some foolhardy scheme to win my affections, and explodes at everyone, including her closest friend Akane, when it doesn't go her way!

Then there are the nasty people Ukyou hangs around with. Like that boy Chris. He keeps trying to fool me by being sympathetic when he talks to Akane or fights monsters, but I can see past him! I just know he's going to mean trouble for my precious child down the line.

Plus there is that girl my son is supposed to be engaged to, Nabiki. Which is all Ukyou's fault, I would like to point out. Nabiki seems to be getting into quite a snit with everyone else. Plus now she has access to most of Ukyou's notes about the future. And there is that youma-girl Tethys, who is still alive and I just KNOW is going to be nothing good for dear Ranma. And speaking of nasty girls, apparently this one named Shampoo is on her way to Nerima along with her great-grandmother.

I can't seem to blame that on Ukyou... but that's only because I'm not trying hard enough!

So, you'll have to agree with me: Ranma would be much better off if Ukyou just vanished. Well, let's hope that will happen this chapter, shall we?

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 9: Hit The Floor

"Ah, Akane Tendo, my one true love. Come, now that your oafish companion is no longer here, there is nothing preventing you from..."

"Could you leave this until later?" Akane asked, allowing only a hint of her exasperation to surface. Even with all he had done to her, Akane made it a point to at least be civil to Kunou. "I really just want to get home..."

"Then allow me to escort you, my lady fair!" Kunou shouted as he swung himself in front of her. His arms opened wide, as if he expected her to leap into them.

"No, Kunou, I'd rather be alone..." Akane kept her voice level. She was really not in the mood for Kunou's own special brand of idiocy today. After what had happened yesterday... no, don't think about that. Let Ukyou apologize if she really wanted to. Akane wasn't going to dwell on how much of a jerk the girl was turning into.

"Foolishness! Am I not Tatewaki Kunou, the scion of the great Kunou legacy, the unrivaled master of the great art of Kendo, the undefeated master of the martial arts? Surely that is so! So there can also be no doubt that, in comparison to any other situation, my presence can only improve a person's life. Who, then, would turn down the chance to be near my magnificent visage? None! None I say! Therefore, you must be mistaken and in fact, truly desire to be with me this day."

Akane opened her mouth to reply to that. She closed it when she couldn't really think of anything to say. There were times when Kunou said something, and the best option was to just smile and nod and back away slowly.

"Thus I shall accompany you back to your abode. And perhaps there I shall inform your father that I intend to woo you. Thus can our true courtship begin..."

"Kunou!" Akane raised her voice just enough to catch the upperclassmen's attention. "I just want to be left alone today. I had a very hard night last night and I need to think about it, alone."

"A hard night..." Kunou mused. Then he leaned forward, his eyes squinting as he deeply examined her face. Akane backed away, not really sure if she wanted to be close enough to feel Kunou's breath on her cheek. "I see... you have been crying, and deeply. Truly the tracks and shadows on your face tell the dark tale of yesterday."

"What?" Akane reached up and touched her cheek. It was times like this that Akane wondered if Kunou was actually very observant, and just refused to exploit that talent for some reason.

"It must be... that you had a fight with that vile cad, Ukyou!" Kunou declared as he snapped his body into a heroic pose. Akane grimaced. That was a little too close to the truth for her taste. "Fear not, fierce tiger Akane Tendo. I shall always be here with open arms for you!" Akane guessed what was coming, but still wasn't fast enough to avoid it. Before she could protest, Kunou was enveloping her in a fierce embrace, his arms forcing her face against his shoulder. She could feel more than see the tears rolling down his cheek. "Cry on my shoulder! Unburden your wounded heart to me, my love, and I shall bathe you in the hot passionate healing energy that is my pure emotion!"

Kunou folded up nicely when Akane smashed her fist into his gut. His grip loosened up just enough for her to smash her forearm into his chest, sending him tumbling away. Akane growled something she would never admit to saying and flipped one of her long forelocks back over her shoulder. Kunou remained sprawled on his back only briefly, unfurling from the ground to his naturally impressive height in a matter of seconds. He smirked at her in that way she hated the most and brushed a hand through his short black hair.

"I see being subjected to that fool Kuonji's presence has not dimmed your spark overmuch, my dear."

"Just get lost, Kunou. You're not half the man Ukyou is." She smirked herself. Even if Kunou didn't get the joke, Akane found it personally amusing. Especially since, from what she had seen, it was mostly true.

"You two there!"

Akane jerked her head as a new voice broke into her confrontation. It was deep, but strangely hollow. Kunou followed her gaze as well, and saw the new figure standing in the school gate. For a brief moment he was silhouetted by the sun, and all Akane could make out was that he was tall and clad in a bulky coat.

"Did you say the name Ukyou? Ukyou Kuonji?"

"Yes..." Akane answered slowly. Her suspicions rose. It seemed unfair, but every time something had happened because of Ukyou it had led to trouble. And... Akane was worried about her. If this person was here to hurt Ukyou, Akane would stand between him and her friend. No matter what problems they might be having just at the moment.

As the man stepped forward, the first thing Akane noticed was the mask. It was rather hard not to, after all. He was wearing some ridiculous children's mask, an octopus face with giant eyes and a snout, complete with a silly headband tied into a neat little bow. His upper body was clad in a checked coat that seemed a size too large for him, and dipped down almost to his knees. On his back was a bizarre apparatus whose purpose Akane could not immediately guess. It resembled some cross-breed of a screwdriver and a club, with a huge weighted end and a long slender spear coming from the other end. One of his arms was held crooked to his side, and on that arm rested a tiny octopus no larger than a pet cat.

"Tell me... tell me where Ukyou is, right now!" he demanded in that strange echoing voice.

"Heh, you are too late," Kunou said as he strode forward. Akane blinked, having forgotten for a moment that he was still there. "I have run that miscreant out of town."

Despite his eyes being hidden behind that huge childish saucer of his mask, Akane could feel the newcomer measuring up Kunou quickly. Then he leaned back, and Akane could hear the smirk in his voice. "I don't think so."

"You would call me a liar?"

"I'd say you aren't a very honest person. I can tell by your stance that you aren't a match for Ukyou."

"Tatewaki Kunou shall not stand for such an insult! Defend yourself!"

Akane frowned. Kunou was moving slightly slower today. She could easily follow him as he drew his bokken and sprinted across the field towards the newcomer. She remembered watching many of Kunou's fights with Ukyou, and how she could barely follow most of Kunou's strikes. It had annoyed her at the time, proving how far behind she was compared to all the serious fighters in the district.

Apparently the masked man was at least as quick as Akane. He hopped back and casually freed his strange weapon from its harness. Kunou swung his sword down with all his strength, and Akane could see the wind ripple and snap in his wake. That attack could shatter concrete from ten meters away. And still the boy deflected it with an deceptively elegant swipe of his cumbersome weapon. Akane's frown deepened. He was no ordinary fighter.

"Just as I thought," the boy chuckled darkly. "You're nothing but form."

"I have mastered the subtle perfection of Japanese swordplay," Kunou growled as he forced the boy into locking up with him. Kunou growled and shoved with all his might, but against the boy's implacable strength it was in vain. "It is the greatest technique in all the world, and nothing can stand against it."

Akane blinked. She hadn't seen the masked boy move, but somehow Kunou had ended up flying over his shoulder to collide with the wall. The boy swirled his weapon in one hand... and it was only then that Akane realized he hadn't yet moved his other one. His pet octopus hadn't even been disturbed by the fight.

"Unfortunately for you, I've studied the technique of Kendo and I know all its flaws. You don't stand a chance against me using such a rigid style!"

Kunou pulled himself free of the wall, leaving behind a man-shaped dent in the concrete. "Ha! I hardly felt that." With a graceful flourish Kunou spun to face his opponent again. Then with a fierce kaia the taller boy charged in for his classic Kendo overhand strike. The masked boy shifted his stance, gripping his weapon by the very tip and met his charge with a single thrust.

Kunou's sword came down in a powerful chop... only to find itself hovering in the air a good four centimeters from the tip of the mystery boy's 'snout'. Kunou, meanwhile, was dealing with the massive bulk of the warclub that had crashed into his chest. Kunou's mouth worked silently for a few seconds. Finally his eyes rolled back into his skull, and he collapsed.

"Heh, too easy." The mystery boy shouldered his weapon again. "With the reach of his weapon, he was no match for me."

"W-who are you?" Akane called, impressed despite herself. She had seen both Ukyou and Ranma defeat Kunou, and beyond that had fought real monsters, but the sheer casualness of that fight had been surprising.

"My name is Hayato Myoujin," the boy introduced himself. "I have come for Ukyou, and won't leave until I defeat her and pay her back for this face!" He gestured angrily towards his mask. Akane blinked. Then she heard a sharp crack and saw a small line bisect his mask. "What... my mask? The air pressure from his strike..." Desperately Hayato reached up with his free hand and clutched the mask, holding it together.

"Your face... what did Ukyou do to your face?" Akane wanted to believe that Ukyou would have not done anything bad to this man... but she remembered hearing about her brutal battle with Jadeite, and found her mind filling with doubts.

"Damnit, this mask is useless now..." Hayato growled and looked at her. "You're Ukyou's friend, aren't you?"

"I..." Akane knew she was, but didn't feel like saying as much now. She was still mad at the girl, after all.

"Tell her to meet me here tomorrow, or I'll destroy everything she holds dear!"

Before Akane could say anything, the boy vanished. Akane blinked. She had seen nothing more than a blur of lines, like the afterimage of a photograph, then Hayato was gone. Her eyes then came to rest on Kunou, who was laying spread-eagled upon the pavement. Finally her eyes settled on the crowd. At least half of the student body had stuck around after school just long enough to watch the show. Akane sighed. She was right: it seemed that everyone who showed up looking for Ukyou was nothing but trouble.

01010

"Don't turn your back on me, Saotome!"

"Look, Ryouga, I really don't need this right now," Ranma informed his old rival, not turning around. "I have to find somebody, so if you could just..."

"NO! We've already delayed your defeat long enough!" Ryouga cried. "Vengeance demands blood!"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ranma grimaced. "I got it just as bad as you at Jyusenkyou, if not worse."

"You dare compare your tragedy to mine? I'll show you tragedy, Ranma!" Ryouga roared. Ranma heard the boy's feet shift and was already starting his dodge by the time the first of Ryouga's footfalls fell like hoofbeats behind him. The air behind him ripped and tore, violent gusts teasing at Ranma's shirt as he nimbly avoided the strike. The sky and ground somersaulted in Ranma's vision before he landed behind his opponent. Ryouga wore the same travel-worn shirt and pants as always, and his left hand held tightly to the deceptively heavy bamboo umbrella he used as a weapon.

Ranma danced back on his heels, raising his arms loosely before him. Ryouga was already turning to face him, but had made a mistake and came in facing right instead of left. Ranma grinned. He stepped forward. His fist lashed out. Ryouga's head snapped back and the heavier boy followed it a second later.

Ranma didn't give him a chance to recover. His fists blurred out and caught Ryouga on the chin once, twice, three more times. Finally Ryouga collapsed. The heavy umbrella rolled from limp fingers. His body was shuddering, but the fight had leaked out of him. Still, he was trying to rise to his feet as best he could. Ranma shook his head and decided to take pity on the poor guy. He was obviously out of his element.

"C'mon Ryouga," Ranma crouched down and offered his hand. "Let's call it even. I'll even swear to help you out with your curse, kay?"

"Don't touch me!" Ryouga snarled and slapped his hand away. He did a sloppy push-up followed by a tighter forward flip to land on his feet. "This fight isn't over!"

Ranma leaned back, feeling only another harmless puff of air as Ryouga's fist sailed over his head by inches. Man, when had Ryouga gotten so slow? When they'd fought only... three weeks ago? Well, when they'd last fought, Ranma had been pushing himself to the limit to stay a step ahead of him. In comparison, Ryouga was fighting underwater today.

"Man, you got real slow real fast, pal," Ranma pointed out as he crabcrawled back away from a devastating looking axe-kick from the lost boy. Ryouga snarled wordlessly, his tiny fangs poking over his lip. "No offence or nothing, but are you sick today? Maybe we should hold this off?"

"First you ruin my life, and then you mock me!" Ryouga charged forward. Ranma turned his crabcrawl into a backflip, staying a half-meter away from all of Ryouga's wild strikes. Oops, that wall was coming up fast. That might have been a problem for a lesser man, but for Ranma Saotome, it was an opportunity! "I don't care you fast you've gotten, I still only need one clean hit!"

"That ain't happenin'!" Ranma informed him. At the last second, Ranma sprung back and planted both feet against the wall. Rebounding like a superball, Ranma shot over Ryouga's head. Ryouga was a black and yellow blur under him as he tried vainly to halt his forward momentum. "An opening!" Ranma declared. Moving with fluid grace, Ranma somersaulted in mid-air and pistoned both feet into Ryouga's broad back. For some reason, Ranma swore he saw a flash of light just as his feet struck.

The wall exploded as Ryouga cannonballed through it. Bricks and mortar started pelting the ground, but Ranma avoided the debris with almost unconscious ease. He was guessing that his little joyride wouldn't be enough to take Ryouga out, and he would have been right. But when the dust cleared, there was no sight of his rival. Not even his stupid bandana.

Ranma sighed and poked his head into the massive hole. No water, so Ryouga's curse hadn't been activated. Ranma had been surprised to learn about his old friend... er, enemy's condition. Mostly because he hadn't even thought Ryouga would be stupid enough to follow him all the way to China. Heck, even Shampoo appeared to have given up now that he was safely out of her homeland, and she had some crazy blood feud thing going on.

The only other conclusion was that Ryouga must have gotten lost. Ranma never really had a hard time believing that. He'd heard people that claimed that Ranma, and the people he hung around with, were 'weird'. But he really had no idea what they meant. To him, Ryouga's direction sense, Ukyou's cross-dressing and mood swings, and even Akane's perversions and temper... they were all just normal. Like his mother. Ranma shuddered. Best not to think about that for now.

"Hey, Ranma!"

Ranma looked up. He knew the girl approaching him, but couldn't place a name. She'd been with Akane and that Sailor chick when he'd woken up at the airport. She was still wearing her ridiculous blue life-preserver vest and had a huge camera dangling from her neck.

"Uh... hey... uh..." Ranma rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ran, Ran Hibiki," the girl introduced herself with a short giggle. She was kind of cute when she laughed, Ranma noted. "Thanks for the shot, by the way."

"The shot..." Ranma blinked. "Oh, you mean you were taking photos of my fight?"

"'Never miss the good shots!'" she replied while thrusting her finger into the air.

"Uh, right..." Ranma decided to let that one slip by. After all, she was just acting like pretty much everyone else he had ever met.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions about the fight? Gotta flesh out the article with something resembling the truth," she said, with a grin to show she was kidding. Ranma shrugged and told her fine, but it would be best if they could talk while they walked. He was busy today.

"So, who was that you were fighting, anyway?"

"Name's Ryouga..." Ranma trailed off and looked at her. "Hey, you don't happen to be related to a Ryouga Hibiki, do you?"

"Huh? No." Ran paused and tapped her pen idly against the pad she had produced from one of her numerous pockets. "I have a cousin Ryuchiro, but he's like sooo over the hill, almost thirty. Definitely not a young stud like the guy you were fighting. So, his name's Ryouga Hibiki?"

"Yup."

"Hah! Must be a curse on the Hibiki name. The other biggest loser in martial arts also has that last name," Ran commented idly as she wrote things down furiously. Ranma tried to see what she was writing, but couldn't make out a word of it. "Good thing I decided to dedicate myself to journalism first."

"Nah," Ranma shrugged. "Ryouga's a decent fighter. One of the best I've ever seen, really. He just ain't no match for Ranma Saotome, but then, no one is."

"Wow, humble and arrogant in the same breath," Ran giggled again. Ranma shrugged, not sure what she meant, so he assumed it was a compliment. "So why were you fighting?"

Ranma opened his mouth, remembered his promise not to spill Ryouga's secret, and closed it again. "Personal reasons," he replied easily when Ran repeated the question.

"That sounds like a challenge!" Ran grinned and Ranma could see a twinkle in her eye. "But if you don't have anything else to say, I should get on to my real business."

"Oh?"

"Have you seen Ukyou around? I really need to talk to him."

Ranma deflated a little. He would never tell his best buddy Ucchan that her getting all the headlines in the local papers was a bit annoying. Because it wasn't, really. Ranma didn't need recognition for the fact that he was a better fighter than her. Just that it would be nice to have been mentioned in more than passing in any of the articles.

"Actually, I'm looking for he...him myself," Ranma informed her as they approached the Furinkan campus. "After what happened yesterday, I really need to talk and..." Ranma trailed off, realising that Ran was writing all this down in a flurry. He wasn't sure if he wanted his personal life splashed all over the papers. Even if it was just school rags.

"So that was you three yesterday? Fighting the giant water monster in Shinjuku?"

"We did what to the who in the where now?" Ranma blinked.

Ran snapped her hands and produced a newspaper. Ranma blinked again. Where the heck had she been keeping that? She handed it to him wordlessly. Ranma skimmed over the article which was plastered all over the front page. Some sort of monster made of water, fought by a bunch of martial artists, a guy in a trenchcoat, and a paramilitary group?

"Uh... this wasn't me or Ucchan," Ranma pointed out. "We were busy with... personal business yesterday."

"What about Akane or the Sailor Senshi?"

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't Akane," Ranma mused, scratching the side of his neck. "The girls in the skirts could have been some of the Senshi, I suppose. I don't really know them personally."

"Ah... damn," Ran muttered. "Still, my nose for news is twitching. And your friend is news, whether he likes it or not. Mind if I stick around with you until we find him?"

"Uh, I don't see why not." Ranma wasn't really sure he had much choice in the matter. If he wanted to ditch Akane, he could just go roof-hopping. But from what he's seen, Ran could keep up with him if he tried that.

01010

"Hayato Myoujin

First Appearance: Volume 30+

Age: Sixteen

Features: Mask, Pet Octopus, Takoyaki utensil (giant)

Class: MADM..."

Nabiki frowned. She had seen that term "MADM" written out in English on quite a few of the entries, but she still had no idea what it meant. The rest of the entry was laid out much the same. There was even a well-done sketch of the boy that had only been partially burned away, which made it impossible to mistake him for anyone else.

Nabiki had watched the confrontation in front of the school with a great deal of interest. Normally she would have been long gone by the time Akane and Kunou had begun their little dance, but lack of petty cash had forced her to take her own turn in cleaning up the classroom. When everyone had paused to gawk at the fight, Nabiki had as well. Of course, none of the other students had a file folder full of information to consult so they knew exactly what was going on.

According to the files, the boy was a former enemy of Ukyou's, a master of a martial art style based on the preparation and use of takoyaki balls. It sort of made sense, Nabiki supposed, since takoyaki was made from much the same ingredients as okonomiyaki, which was Ukyou's culinary specialty. The problem was that the data seemed to indicate that his goals were pretty standard. He wanted to defeat Ukyou to resolve an old debt concerning his face mask, and that was it. Which meant that he was useless to Nabiki.

She needed someone who was both strong, and easily manipulated. Someone who hopefully had a reason to dislike Ukyou or his friends from the start. She needed, in other words, a patsy. Which the book seemed to be full of, but only one had actually appeared so far.

Nabiki flipped pages in the book until she came to the entry for one Ryouga Hibiki. A cruel smile curled across her lips as Nabiki ran her finger down the partially obliterated data. This boy would be perfect for her. Now... how to find him?

Nabiki had never been a big believer in Fate. If pressed, she might have said that life sometimes threw people the oddest curves of coincidence on occasion. But Fate was a concept which made her skin crawl. Nabiki's future would be determined by the actions and choices of Nabiki Tendo, and no one else! Yet, in the next six seconds, she would have reason to question this conviction.

Because, even as she was closing the file folder and turning the last corner on her way home, Nabiki ran into Ryouga Hibiki. At first she didn't know who she had run into. She was far too busy cursing herself for not paying more attention to where she was walking. Not that she was doing so externally. Externally she put on her most disappointed frown and began to quietly gather up the scattered sheets of papers that had fallen out of her folder.

"Can I help you with that, Miss?"

Nabiki nodded. "Sure, if you wouldn't mind." She didn't really recognize the voice, but it sounded familiar somehow. Nabiki was thus defaulting to her most polite and deferent tone. The boy crouched down beside her and began to gather up the papers in his large, calloused hand. Nabiki could just see the yellow edges of his sleeves.

"I'm very sorry about that," the boy told her, in a voice that was deep but trembling. Like that of a boy who had been thrust into manhood far too soon. "I have this... problem with directions, and I guess I didn't see you because I was paying too much attention to my map."

"It's fine..." Nabiki grumbled. Some of the papers had landed in a gutter that was still half-full of rainwater from yesterday. She hissed in disgust and began to fish them out and dry them out as best she could. This was just great... "Hey, could you get some of these papers out for me? I really don't want them to be ruined, and they're already kind of delicate."

"Uh..." a nervous tremor entered the boys voice. "I'm... busy with these ones here!" He spoke in a rush, and Nabiki turned to give him a dark glare. She was not in the mood for some boy who was just using this as an excuse to crouch behind her and peek up her skir...

"Ryouga Hibiki!" Nabiki gasped before she could stop herself.

The boy stared at her in confusion. He had a wide, honest face with thick, wild black hair that was only partially tamed by the orange and black checked headband he wore. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" Ryouga asked between a pair of startled blinks. One could just make out his fangs.

Nabiki spent a few seconds catching her mental balance and studying him. He wasn't at all bad-looking. His features were just wild enough to be called rugged, but not so messy that he looked like he had never been taught about hygiene. Despite wearing a pair of loose black pants and a long-sleeved orange tunic, Ryouga's muscular figure was quite obvious. Nabiki smiled. Well, if he wasn't that bad looking, this would be much easier. She took a quick glance around: the two of them were alone in the street. Perfect.

"R-Ryouga..." she put a deliberate catch in her voice. As the boy sat, expression totally clueless, Nabiki carefully arranged her own face into an expression of wide-eyed devotion. She dropped her papers almost carelessly and clasped her hands beneath her chin. Bat the eyes. Smile. Blush. Force out a crocodile tear by biting lightly into her tongue. Perfect.

"Uh... Miss..." Ryouga stammered.

"You... you don't remember me?" Nabiki turned her face away and looked into the pavement. "I guess. I guess I understand."

"What?" Ryouga gasped. "No! I... I remember you! You're... you're..."

"Nabiki Tendo," Nabiki eased out her name like she was fanning a small flame. "You... you rescued me from a fate worse than death!"

Before Ryouga could react Nabiki 'fell' forward and leaned against him. Ryouga had gone stiff as a board. Thankfully he couldn't see her vicious grin. Maybe someday Nabiki would thank Ukyou for telling her, in a roundabout way, of how hopeless Ryouga was with girls. But then again, maybe not.

"I've been dreaming about you ever since," Nabiki stage-whispered. "Your flashing smile, your thick hair, your..." Nabiki blinked. Oh damn, what color were his eyes? Forget it, cover yourself quickly. "Your strong arms... encircling me..."

"Ah! Ah!" Ryouga seemed incapable of actual words at this point.

"I've been trying to think of the best way... the best way to reward you for your selfless actions..." Nabiki pulled back and artfully bit her lower lip. She could see Ryouga still crouched nearby, looking like nothing so much as a pole-axed cow. "But I don't have anything to offer you..." Nabiki had already started her skillful maneuver before pulling back, so that her hands were now resting on her shoulders without making it seem like she had placed them there deliberately. "Except... except..."

"Except..." Ryouga choked out. A thin red trickle was running from his nose.

"Except... for my body..." Nabiki cried and pulled down her blouse in a single, seemingly spontaneous and apparently unpracticed motion. There was a thick liquid gurgle, followed by a thud. Nabiki had closed her eyes (it was expected) and when she opened them, she saw that Ryouga had collapsed face-first into the pavement. A thick pool of blood was growing around his head. Nabiki smiled and carefully pulled her blouse back up over her exposed bra. Thankfully, she had been wearing one of the frillier and skimpier ones today. "What a dope," Nabiki muttered to herself.

Now all that she needed to do was move him to the next location for part B of her plan and... and...

"What the...?" Nabiki tugged on the boy's arm again, but he refused to budge. She licked her lips and set herself with both feet this time. A few seconds of heaving later and all Nabiki had accomplished was gaining a sheet of sweat on her face and losing her breath. Growling, Nabiki shifted her stance again. What was this guy made out of? She doubted Akane could move him!

Nabiki was getting desperate now. She needed to move him to the next location... or her entire plan would fall to pieces. Taking a deep breath, she curled her fingers into the fabric of his tunic. It was coarse, but the texture was oddly comfortable. She spread her feet as wide as her hips would allow. She pulled in a deep breath and tried to recapture those lessons in the martial arts that Daddy had taught her so long ago. She would not let this lump ruin her plan just by being heavy!

With an almost primal roar Nabiki pulled... and for a second she felt the body shift. Then she realized that it wasn't Ryouga moving, it was his sleeve. She wasn't sure if she heard the rip or her own curse first, but either way she fell ass-first into the gutter before she could recover. A small cloud of grey water erupted around her. Nabiki sighed... that was just her luck.

"This is all your fault..." Nabiki began to berate the unconscious Ryouga, only to realize he was no longer there. Instead, buried partially under his huge backpack and the empty folds of his clothing was a small black piglet. It was dripping wet. Nabiki opened her mouth, and sat there for a second. Her finger came up, then down. Finally she closed her mouth.

"I see... just like Ranma and his father, huh?" Nabiki laughed. Well... that was actually a bonus. It would make things work much more smoothly. Nabiki reached down and jerked her new pawn free. Yes, much more smoothly.

01010

"Would you come here for a moment, Momiji?"

Momiji smiled and nodded as she walked across the room. Mrs. Matsudaira was smiling in a pleasant manner, which she seemed to do a lot when she wasn't frowning in concentration at the computer screen or one of her numerous research projects. Mrs. Matsudaira was a older woman, clearly past her prime but retaining most of her youthful beauty. She might have looked better, but she had a distracted quality to her, and her clothes and hair seemed to always be maintained at the minimum level of cleanliness to not be considered actually disheveled. That, and she always had subtle bags under her eyes from the many sleepless nights she spent up studying the latest data on the Aragami.

Momiji really didn't know what the woman found so fascinating about science or her research, but didn't begrudge her that fascination. Momiji had sometimes wished that she had the kind of ambition that Mrs. Matsudaira had, towards something. It would have made her feel more useful when surrounded by such a group of competent professionals.

"I have some presents for you," Mrs. Matsudaira explained as she reached under her desk and began to pile a variety of bizarre (to Momiji's layman eyes) devices on the surface.

"Oh... wow... I don't know what to say?" Momiji said as she watched the woman place more and more objects on the table. Was she supposed to know what most of these things were? Did she miss some pamphlet along the way explaining what she was supposed to do with them? She was curious about what most of it did, but after yesterday's disaster with Ms. Sagakuchi's personal arsenal, Momiji was just slightly afraid to touch anything until she knew exactly what it was.

"These will help us track down and deal with the Aragami," Mrs. Matsudaira explained. "It's all highly experimental, but quite sophisticated."

"Oh!" Momiji exclaimed with relief. So she wasn't expected to know what Mrs. Matsudaira was talking about here. Momiji smiled keenly and nodded vigorously as her colleague explained what most of the stuff on the counter did. She used a lot of jargon and technical talk that Momiji hadn't the slightest hope of understanding, so Momiji just tried to appear cheerful and attentive. She even carefully packed each piece of equipment into her backpack, where she would probably never touch it again. Except maybe to show it off to Kusanagi. That would show that big jerk that she was an important part of the TAC!

"There you two are..."

Momiji turned and called out a happy good morning to her host and boss. Mr. Kunikida was still mostly a mystery to her. He looked like a decent enough man. Definitely approaching the distinguished end of the age spectrum, with a growing widow's peak and a long face. Momiji could never look him in the face for too long without staring at the giant wart on the side of his nose, so she tried to look away a lot without seeming to. He treated her well enough, but there was always a hint of sadness behind his smiles and encouragement. Was he seeing her sister when he saw her? The sister Momiji herself had never known? Was Kusanagi?

"I somehow knew you would be here, Matsudaira, and I think I'm going to have to get used to you showing up early, Momiji," Mr. Kunikida laughed.

"Just doing my duty!" Momiji called and tried to snap into something resembling a disciplined military stance. Not that she was that sure that the military was disciplined, after spending yesterday with Ms. Sagakuchi...

"But seriously, Momiji, you have to wait for the rest of us to leave before coming here. As much as I appreciate your efforts, I don't want you walking the streets alone, even if it is just to work and back," Mr. Kunikida declared in his most somber tone. That was the other thing that put Momiji ill at ease with her mentor... his sudden shifts in mood. "Anyway, I was wondering if you two would come up to the office for a few minutes; I have something I want to discuss with the entire staff."

"Uh, yes, of course..." Momiji declared cheerfully. She heard Mrs. Matsudaira agree from just behind her as well. Before Momiji knew it, she was back upstairs in what passed for the TAC's office. When Momiji had first arrived, the place had been a mess of papers and garbage and other assorted knickknacks. Her first duty, and the one she still relished because it made her feel... useful, was to clean the place up. Everyone but Ms. Sagakuchi had thanked her for that. A short glance at the buff redhead confirmed that they probably still weren't on the best of terms. Momiji just flashed her a smile. She had really hoped to use yesterday to clear up any bad air between them, but then the Aragami attack had come along and... oh well. Maybe tomorrow?

"Is everybody here? Good." Mr. Kunikida sat behind his desk at the head of the office and leaned forward. "Everyone please have a seat. I have something I want to ask you all about." Momiji noticed that he had set up a small television and video player behind his desk. She briefly wondered why as she sat behind her own desk.

"I hope that this doesn't take long. I have important research to get back to," Mrs. Matsudaira pointed out.

"It won't take long," Mr. Kunikida pointed out. "First, let me bring everyone up to speed. Yesterday, Momiji and Koume encountered an Aragami." Everyone nodded. "At the same time they met up with our mysterious 'friend' Kusanagi, and a trio of new faces."

"Ah, I see where this is going," Ms. Takeuchi said, nodding to herself.

"Yes. During the confrontation with the Aragami, this trio displayed superhuman physical prowess and an ability to sense the movements and... moods of the Aragami. They also attempted to capture the mitama for themselves, but were prevented from doing so by the intervention of Kusanagi, am I correct?"

It took Momiji a second to realize he was addressing her. Repressing the urge to gulp or grin nervously, Momiji nodded.

"Yeah," Ms. Sagakuchi drawled while stretching in her chair. "So what's your point, boss-man? We told this to you yesterday."

"I was just making sure that everyone knew what had happened," Mr. Kunikida informed her. "Now, I want you all to take a careful look at the following tape. Tell me if anyone you saw on it was at all familiar."

Without looking, Mr. Kunikida pointed a remote over his shoulder and clicked a button. He stared forward at them intensely as the word "Erase" began to flash quickly in the corner of the otherwise black screen.

"Uh... Mr. Kunikida..." Momiji trailed off, not quite sure what to say.

"Boss," Mr. Yaegashi cleared his throat quickly. "I think you hit the wrong button."

"I... did?" Mr. Kunikida turned to look at the screen. His eyes bugged out. He shouted something very naughty that made Momiji blush. He began to beat on the tape machine and yell for help. Mr. Yaegashi ran to his aid, while Ms. Sagakuchi nearly fell out of her chair laughing. The other two members of the TAC seemed to be more blase about the affair, though Ms. Takeuchi looked mildly concerned.

A few minutes later Mr. Yaegashi had cleared up the problem. He even did something to fix the damaged portions of the tape. This time Mr. Kunikida allowed him to run the machine.

Momiji wasn't sure what she was seeing at first. It was a long grey field with a large group of people walking across it. Teenagers, about her age from the looks of it. Three guys and four girls. Three of the girls were dressed in similar... uniforms. Though Momiji wasn't sure she would call them that. True, she wore a short skirt with her TAC uniform... but at least she wasn't wearing it over a body-hugging leotard. Then the area seemed to fill with a fine mist and the view panned left to show a large number of humanoid... things climbing out of the bay and...

"Hey, that's Narita Airport!" Ms. Takeuchi pointed out.

"Indeed, this was taken about ten days ago," Mr, Kunikida pointed out.

"That would make it..." Ms. Takeuchi trailed off and Mr. Kunikida nodded. Momiji briefly wondered what they were talking about... then it hit her. The terrorist attack! The heroic face-off between that boy - what was his name? - and the Evil Kingdom! It had been all over the news for almost a week.

"Everyone please pay attention," Mr. Kunikida pointed out. They all did. Momiji found herself enthralled by the events that unfolded on the screen. She had seen the pictures in the paper and read the stories, but there was something different about seeing the (almost) real thing. She found herself cheering when the boy and his allies foiled another one of the evil mastermind's plans, and wincing in sympathy as the monstrous man vented his anger on the young hero. She couldn't watch when the man had him held in the air, torturing him. And even though there was no sound, she swore she heard the final snap. But good triumphed in the end. And even when the hero had the villain at his mercy, he chose to let him live. Even if one of the woman in the mock-school uniforms decided to take matters into her own hands. The tape continued past a confrontation between the schoolgirls and the heroic boy that Momiji had never read about in the papers, and then stopped.

"What... where did you get that?" Ms. Takeuchi asked once Mr. Yaegashi had popped out the tape.

"Connections," Mr. Kunikida explained. "The important question here is, did any of you recognize any of the people on that tape from the fight yesterday?" The question was addressed to the group, but he was looking directly at Momiji when he said it. This time she did gulp, a little. She had never seen Mr. Kunikida so... intense.

Surprisingly, it was Mr. Yaegashi who answered. "The girls in the school uniforms are called the Sailor Senshi." Everyone turned to look at him. His face burst out in a fierce blush and he began to twitch and stammer as they continued staring. "They... uh, they're kind of superheroes... uh... that is... not really superheroes... they don't fight crime... just monsters, really... and... they... well..."

"And how do you know so much about them?" Ms. Sagakuchi asked in a suspicious tone.

"I'm... kinda a fan," Mr. Yaegashi pointed out. He was sweating slightly now. Mr. Yaegashi was a short, unassuming man; the kind your eyes would have passed over without pause in a crowd. He wore a neat suit, a neat pair of glasses that seemed one size too small for his face, and had a neat, unassuming hairstyle. "Well, not really of them, but I'm a big fan of Sailor V! And it's almost the same thing..."

"Sailor V?" Mr. Kunikida asked with a frown.

"I know that one," Momiji declared. "Sailor V is a character from a popular comic and animation series! She even has video games, and they're supposed to be working on her movie." Momiji had never really been into the 'magical girl' genre, but it was hard for a girl her age to not be familiar with the Sailor V phenomena. Especially how it had appeared out of virtually nowhere only a few months ago. Well, at least to Momiji it had.

"Actually, her exploits are based on those of an actual girl from England," Mr. Yaegashi pointed out. He gestured to a small statuette of a girl in a comically sexy sailor suit uniform on her desk with huge opera glasses. "She fights crime and monsters there, just like the Sailor Senshi do here. Some people think that the Senshi based their own uniforms off of hers, due to the obvious similarities..."

"Yes, I see... but you didn't see either them or this Sailor V at the fight yesterday?" Mr. Kunikida interrupted him just as Mr. Yaegashi began to trail off.

"Nah," Ms. Sagakuchi pointed out. "Two of the girls wore weird outfits, and the third was in a leotard, but nothing like those Sailor Scouts..."

"Senshi," Mr. Yaegashi corrected her.

"Whatever," Ms. Sagakuchi rolled her eyes. Momiji wouldn't have accused anyone else of dressing in a weird manner if she habitually walked around in a pink jumpsuit, but wasn't about to say as much. "My point is, I didn't see them, or any of the people on the tape there."

"I see..." Mr. Kunikida leaned back and cupped his hands together in front of his mouth. "So... it appears we have more of these... meta-humans out there. Three more, plus this Sailor V girl, if Yaegashi's claims can be believed."

"If I may ask, sir... what is the point of this?" Ms. Takeuchi was always all business. Her dress-suit was all business. Her personality was all business. Her actions were all business. Even her hairstyle was almost all business, except for a long bang which seemed to have gotten out of her control and covered half her face.

"I was hoping one of you could tell me," Mr. Kunikida explained with a soft chuckle.

"Well, from a scientific standpoint it really is quite intriguing," Mrs. Matsudaira pointed out, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "The people on that tape seem capable of performing feats of strength, speed and energy manipulation that quite exceed even the most well-trained Olympic athletes or combat experts." She turned to Ms. Sagakuchi. "No offense intended."

"What? By Jojo the jumping man and his girlfriends in the skirts of fetish fantasies?" Ms. Sagakuchi laughed. "I don't think that any of them are a match for an AK-47 or even a good Glock, much less a TOW missile."

"Uh... yes..." Mrs. Matsudaira coughed. "I would love to know more about how they accomplished those feats. Or whether they are even human at all. After all, the only beings we have encountered who can exceed conventional abilities so far are the Aragami. However I wouldn't even want to speculate on how they accomplish what they do, or whether they are connected to the Aragami, without more evidence." She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Though, actually, I'm not surprised. If the Aragami exist, can it really be that much of a stretch to posit the existence of other seemingly mystical forces in this world?"

Momiji found herself nodding along with Mrs. Matsudaira's words. Even if she had no idea what 'posit' meant. Then again, for her, all of this was new. It was only two weeks since she had first even heard the word "Aragami", much less found herself helping a (semi-) secret Japanese agency fight them. She wouldn't have been that surprised at this point if Buddha himself had appeared before her.

"Nonetheless, the evidence exists. These people are real, and powerful, and potentially dangerous..." Mr. Kunikida was back to frowning now.

"Once again, sir. What is the point of this exercise?" Ms. Takeuchi broke in.

"Hmmm?"

"It's not our job to worry about random supernatural beings," Ms. Takeuchi explained. "Our mission mandate is the find a way to defeat the Aragami and protect the Kushinada." She smiled at Momiji when she said that last part, and Momiji smiled back. Okay, maybe Ms. Takeuchi wasn't ALL business. "The fact that these people exist is irrelevant. Until and unless they begin to interfere with our mission, that is."

"I see..." Mr. Kunikida nodded. "So you're suggesting we just sit on this for now?"

"Precisely," the woman nodded. "The ones that Momiji and Koume encountered yesterday seemed to be on our side, at least. But we can't really do anything until we know more, anyway."

"You have a good point..." Mr. Kunikida trailed off. Momiji could sense something else on the tip of his tongue, but he cut himself off. "Nevertheless, I would like you to do me a favor, Ryoko."

"Yes, sir?" Ms. Takeuchi responded.

"Contact your friend Sugishita at the police department," Mr. Kunikida said as he stood up. "I want to find out everything I can about the person all those articles talked about at the airport..." He paused and consulted a small notebook. "Ukyou Kuonji." Ms. Takeuchi nodded. "Good. Even if this isn't part of our mandate... I'm still concerned because we have had people step into the fights with the Aragami. If it happens again... I trust you can handle this little side project without it interfering in your duties here. You've never disappointed me in the past."

"I understand, sir," Ms. Takeuchi said with a deep smile. Momiji stared at her for a moment. Was she blushing? Could she be...? Nah.

"Good," Mr. Kunikida said, then started smiling again. "Now let's all get back to work. We have a country to save, after all."

01010

Link regretted the fact that they'd never gotten the chance to look at Momiji's mitama. Chris had described them: a blue, seed-like object in the shape of half of a yin-yang symbol. But that wasn't the same as actually seeing it, feeling it... Link felt vexed once again over what had happened the day before. Not just that that orange-skinned man had so callously killed the aragami - his own kind! - but the reactions afterwards. Even her sister didn't understand the importance of what was lost, and that undead monster certainly couldn't. If a child was killed, did you say "That's all right - there's plenty more"!

She stared down at the chrysanthemum. It was beautiful, well-cared-for, and yet seemed so... inadequate. She could feel its life, its simple wants and desires, but all she could think of were those -others-. Those plants that were mobile like animals, and whose thoughts... if not on the level of humans, were close enough. They could SPEAK, not just convey primal desires. She and her sister had been developing and experimenting with plants all their lives. They were considered geniuses, their creations nothing short of astounding. But this... this was beyond anything she'd ever dreamed. Ever even conceived of.

How could she have possibly never heard of these before?

The sound of a throat clearing interrupted her thoughts. Turning, she saw Tatewaki Kunou standing in the entrance to the room. They hadn't had much contact with the dead girl's brother since arriving; Chris had introduced them as 'my dear friends from China' and laughed in a disturbing fashion. She later explained that that would keep Kunou from bothering them. It seemed to have worked - since then, the extent of their interaction had been a curt nod in passing in the hallway. So what did he want now?

For a few moments, there was silence as Kunou merely stared probingly at her. She had almost decided to ask him what the hell he was doing when he finally spoke. "Are you the one named Pink?"

Link frowned. Pink was, as usual, out in the gardens, but it wouldn't be very safe for Kunou to go there. "No, I'm Link. My sister is busy. What did you want her for, over?"

Kunou seemed to consider his words before speaking slowly. "My sister is... unwell. She requested that I bring the one called Pink to her."

Link felt her frown deepen. If Chris was unwell, why would she ask for Pink? Healing illness wasn't her sister's specialty - and what illness could affect a dead thing, anyway? She made a decision. "Where is she, over?"

"In her room." Link knew the way, but allowed Kunou to lead her. He kept glancing at her as they walked, but said nothing. Did he think she and her sister had something to do with 'Kodachi's' illness? Link could almost have laughed. The illness Kunou's sister had was incurable.

They reached the door to the dead girl's bedroom, and Kunou stepped aside to let Link enter. Inside, the room was dimly lit. She could make out a form on the bed, presumably Chris, hidden behind gauzy curtains. Link's nose wrinkled. There was an unpleasant odour permeating the room. It reminded her of meat that had been left out too long and spoiled-

Oh.

"Please close the door." Chris's voice sounded wet, almost choked, like she had a bad cold. Link complied with the request, feeling somewhat numb. Of course, the undead had told them about this, but smelling... she felt nauseous. What did Chris look like? And how fast had this happened? Link hadn't noticed any particular odour the day before.

"Thanks," the moist voice responded as Link turned to face the shadowy figure again. "As you can see, a bit of a problem has..." she paused, and Link say her silhouette shift. "You're Link. Did Kunou get confused? I asked him to get your sister. Sorry if he bothered you."

Link shook her head, trying not to think about the eyes watching her. "No, my sister is occupied in the garden. When he said you seemed unwell, I thought I'd come see what was wrong with you, over."

Chris paused for a moment before responding. "Well, thank you. I appreciate the thought."

"It was habit, over," Link replied coldly. She was not this abomination's friend. "I had forgotten about your...problem."

A moist chuckle, and a shadowed hand reached to the curtain. "So had I, almost."

The curtain peeled back, and Link steeled her expression, staring impassively. It wasn't as hard as she feared it would be. The creature that stared out at her was not quite the putrid, rotting corpse she had anticipated. But she definitely was not well, either. The skin of Kodachi's body was no longer uniformly pale, but instead was covered by multiple dark, wine-coloured blotches. The hand touching the curtain was not the smooth, supple one Link remembered; the skin had shrunken back around the fingers and split in several places. Indeed, all of Kodachi's skin seemed to hang almost loosely, as if the muscles underneath had shrunken overnight. And her eyes...that almost did make Link shudder. They were milky white, the pupils and irises all but invisible behind the necrotic coating. They were now truly the eyes of a corpse.

"As I was saying, and as you can see, there is a problem. Not unanticipated, but unwelcome nonetheless."

"Yes, I see that. So what did you want my sister for, over?"

The dead girl spread her hands. "I figured Pink would be more comfortable. But I wanted to tell her, and let her know I had to go out. And..." she hesitated.

"Going out, over?" She knew why. She could hardly have forgotten. But she needed to hear. Hear it from the monster's own mouth.

The milky eyes stared unblinkingly at her for a few moments, then closed. "Going out. I'm going to need...I need a new body." She opened her eyes again. "I'm sorry."

Link repressed another shudder. 'Need a new body'...it sounded so casual, like needing new clothes. Has this walking corpse looked at them hungrily, considering how well -their- bodies would fit?

No. No, that wasn't possible. Chris wanted them to help her, that was why she had found them. Except... they hadn't even TRIED to do anything to preserve the body yet, and even with this happening, Chris didn't seem upset. Unhappy, yes, but she had not even mentioned preserving the body since they'd met in China, and she didn't seem even slightly resentful now.

But if getting them to try to preserve her body wasn't that high a priority for Chris, then why did she seek them out in the first place?

At that point the door banged open, and Link spun to see Pink stride in, smirking. "So there you are," she began, and then looked at Link. "And you too. This is a surprise, over." She raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"I had asked Kunou to get you, but Link came instead," Chris explained. "She said you were occupied."

Pink shrugged. "I was out in the garden, but I finished." She grinned, adding, "Now I just need someone to test it out on, over."

"That'll have to wait," Link said. "There's something that needs to be dealt with first, over."

"Wait, over?" Pink grinned. "No need. Someone left a perfectly good brother out in the hallway, over."

Chris chuckled. "Nothing lethal involved, I hope."

"Hard to tell until it's been tested, over."

"Stop it," Link snapped. It was so hard to get Pink to take anything seriously sometimes. Except Shampoo, of course. "I told you, there's something we have to deal with first, over."

"Yeah, yeah, I noticed. It stinks in here, over." Pink wrinkled her nose. "You should thank me. Before I took care of him, that Kunou guy was trying to listen at the door." She put her hands on her hips and stared at Chris expectantly. "Well, over?"

The dead girl blinked. "Well... what?"

"The urgent problem is obvious - you told us about it before. We'll have to go get you a new body. So are we leaving or what, over?"

Chris chuckled wetly, seeming to find her reaction amusing. "Well, there's a few things to be taken care of. You two should get your things together. I'll go out and see about the body situation, and when I get back, we'll have to head out."

"Wait a moment," Pink said. "Why are we leaving? The only person that lives here is Kunou, right? It'd be easy to take care of him, so why not stay, over?"

The dead girl sighed. "Yes, we could do that, but that would hardly be very nice to him, would it?"

"Neither was killing his sister, over," Link interjected coldly. Not that she really cared about what happened to Kunou, but it was disgusting watching this monster quibble about what was 'nice'.

Chris looked at her expressionlessly, and she met the undead gaze without flinching. "You are, of course, correct. Thus, it is all the more important that we don't do anything else to him."

"So what are WE going to do?" Pink complained. "You brought us here, so it's your responsibility to get us a place to stay, over."

"Don't worry about it," Chris said. "I was dealing with that most of the morning, after I realised what happened. There won't be any problems."

"All right," Pink said. "Link and I will get some things together, and then we'll go, over."

"We?" Chris replied, arching an eyebrow. "I was thinking I'd go alone on this one."

"Won't do, over," Pink said. "You'll be gone goodness-knows-how-long, and you won't be coming back as Kodachi. Kunou already saw you, right? So he'll be suspicious, and you didn't want us to do anything to him. If his sister vanishes after speaking to us and then some strange person shows up, there'll probably be trouble, over."

Link stayed silent during this. She'd agreed (reluctantly) to this before they had even arrived in Japan. Pink wanted to see 'how she did it'. Link didn't want any part of this, but... it would happen anyway. At least she wouldn't have to watch.

Chris looked hesitant. "You have a point, but still..."

"What are you worried about?" Pink interrupted. "We -know- what's wrong and what you're going to do. Why get so squeamish about it now, over?"

"It's more consideration than squeamishness," the dead girl drawled. "But fine. If you want to come that badly, I can certainly use that." She turned towards Link. "Maybe we can find someplace for you to stay..."

"No," Link said immediately. "I'll stay with you, over."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked, obviously surprised. "I didn't think you'd want to..."

"Don't worry about me," Link snapped. It wasn't any of this creature's business. "I can take care of myself. So let's just hurry up and go, over."

01010

"The sky was a dagger of clouds, stabbing into the horizon. It was going to rain. The citizens of the city stared up at the dark storm with rueful apprehension. Everyone could feel the tension in the air. That tingle on the tiny hairs of your arm that sweeps in just before the big one. But there was something beyond the storm, something everyone could sense but no one could name.

"Life-stealing monsters in Minato ward. 'Terrorist' explosions destroying schools and offices around Mount Narisawa. Sentient tsunamis tearing up the Tokyo Dome. Ghosts haunting the national museum. UFO's spotted in the vicinity of the bridge that was destroyed last week. But look even further out and see the chaos expand. Occult slayings throughout London. The White House and Library of Congress destroyed by 'freak lightning storms'? A valley in Romania where they say the sun hasn't shone for over a month!

"We can all feel it, tickling at the back of our skulls. That strange sensation that the Americans call 'someone walking on your grave'. And maybe that's exactly what's happening. Some primitive reptile brain reaction to the supernatural in our world? Could that be the reason for the anxiety I see in the face of my father when he opens his copy of the paper in the morning? Is that the only reason for the blank stares I see staring at the evening news as the talking heads tell us how the amount of violent death in Tokyo over the last three months has now equaled that recorded over the last three decades?

"Or maybe it's because we realize that we are just seeing the first gusts. That the few squalls that have hit our shores are nothing more than warning signs. We as a race have always been fascinated by stories about the end of the world... why should we act so surprised when it seems the harbingers of the apocalypse keep popping up in prime time?

"But I personally don't believe this is the end. I think there are people out there, standing against the storm. You've heard the rumors, probably know someone who knows someone who was there the day the Sailor Senshi destroyed a monster, or the night the stranger in the white gi destroyed a Shadowloo cell. But perhaps the best known of the stormwardens is Ukyou Kuonji. The hero of Narita. The saviour of Cherry Hill. A man of mystery. A man of few friends and many enemies.

"And now, Ukyou has vanished.

"Fear not. This mystery shall not go unsolved! This reporter will dig into the soft loam of this enigma and unearth the truth! Has Ukyou fallen foul to the forces of darkness? Or perhaps he has abandoned his protection of our city?"

"Hey!"

"Or maybe its something more prosaic? A good old-fashioned romantic tryst with one of the many female admirers..."

"Hey! Ukyou ain't like that!"

"...female admirers all across Tokyo. Or it could be that Ukyou never intended to save us, that maybe he is just as much a victim as..."

"You shouldn't be talkin' about Ukyou like that."

"Shush, you! I'm trying to do the dramatic narration!"

Ran snapped off her recorder and glared at Ranma for all she was worth. Her hands were on her hips and her face in the innate feminine expression of disdain. She had known that expression to cow even the most macho jerks into silence. But apparently Ranma was a step above your usual macho jerk.

"I didn't agree to let you tag along so you could write some stupid trash story about my friend!" Ranma started waving his arms around in frustration. Ranma wasn't tall, or TOO handsome. His hair was mussy and his clothes travel-worn. But on the other hand, his body was taut with muscle and his motions as smooth and hypnotic as a cat's. If Ran had to think of a single word to describe him... it would be... 'sidekick'. He just didn't seem like the kind of guy who could carry his own stories. But as the friend of a main character? Yeah, Ran could see him like that.

"You're just afraid of me unearthing the truth!"

"No I ain't!" Ranma shot back. "Listen, Ukyou just had a bad day yesterday and she probably needed a day or two to cool off. I just wanted to find her and offer my support."

"A likely story," Ran murmured as she adjusted her equipment. She wasn't really paying attention to Ranma. He was making a bit too much sense. But Ran NEEDED this story. For nearly a week she had seen her name in the big papers. She had talked with eager editors, been interviewed live on national TV and written enough follow-ups that her poor old typewriter had finally conked out.

Then... the stations and syndicates had figured out the truth: it had been a fluke. She had just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Ran had sat by the phone for three days straight, like a pathetic ex-girlfriend. No one had called. None of the promises of contracts had panned out. She had blown all her advances on a fancy new computer and professional photography equipment. For everything she had earned, she had practically nothing to show for it.

Ran needed a story. Any story. But something preferably big. She was not a one hit wonder. She would prove those idiots wrong about that. They would rue the day they doubted the talent of Ran Hibiki. She would show them, she would show them all!

Wait. Where had Ranma gone?

Ran spun around on her heel. Then blinked as she heard a creak overhead. Pivoting her neck back she saw Ranma clinging to a lamppost right above her. His eyes were quivering like jell-o molds and his pig-tail standing straight out from his neck.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" Ran asked slowly.

"N-nothing! I certainly wasn't afraid of your laughter, if that's what you're implying!"

"I didn't imply that at all..." Ran blinked. Laughter. Well, she had been chuckling a bit.

"Good. Because I wasn't," Ranma said as he landed beside her.

"If you say so," Ran muttered and shrugged.

"I damn well do say so!" Ranma growled as he waved his fist at her.

"Woah, yeah, yeah!" Ran backed off and waved him calm. "I believe you... you must have really been... uh... been..."

"Getting a bird's eye view of the area!" Ranma insisted vehemently.

"That's it exactly!" Ran agreed.

"Because that would help me look for Ukyou!" Ranma added, just as forcefully.

"Makes perfect sense," Ran nodded.

"Good... just keep that in mind," Ranma muttered and started down the street again. Ran discreetly made a note about his violent bouts of paranoia. Was that related to Ukyou's disappearance? Possible. Must investigate further.

While she was writing and catching up with him, Ranma had entered a large complex. Well, large for Japan. It appeared to be a form of traditional dojo. There was even a sign asking all challengers to please use the back entrance. Cute.

"Oh, Ranma, you're home!"

The voice belonged a tall brunette with a willowy figure and a conservative dress. She was pretty, in that way someone's mother was pretty. Her face contained the kind of smile which you couldn't doubt she used often and without restraint. She approached Ranma, who paused uncomfortably in the middle of the main path. For some reason, he wasn't able to look her directly in the face.

"Yeah, Kasumi. I actually came to see Akane. She back from school yet?"

"She actually just got back a few minutes ago. She's in the dojo, I believe."

"Thanks!" Ranma started to run past her.

"And who's your friend?" Only to find himself tripping over his own feet as Kasumi's question caught off guard.

"Huh? Wha? Oh, you're still here?" Ranma blinked as he looked back at Ran.

Ran gave him her best feminine scorn look again, but it was like water off a duck's back with Ranma. "Of course I'm still here! I still haven't gotten my story."

"I thought you weren't going to write any more lies about Ukyou!"

"I don't lie in print!"

"Would you like some tea?" Kasumi asked in the middle of the shouting match.

"Oh no, thank you very much for asking," Ran smiled and bowed to her. "You won't threaten me away from this story!" Ran shouted at Ranma strongly enough that his face became covered in a fine layer of spit.

"Gah! I didn't threaten you, crazy chick!"

"You're interfering with my right to a free press! I'll have you charged! I have friends in big places!" After all, Ran had only told him she didn't lie in print. In person was a whole other kettle of fish.

"Ah! You're impossible! Fine, you can tag along." Ranma threw up his hand in defeat.

"Victory!" Ran shouted, jumping lightly.

"You don't have to rub it in," Ranma grumbled.

"But where the fun in that?"

Ranma apparently had no reply to that, so he just turned and walked past Kasumi and towards the dojo. Ran, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, followed him. She vaguely heard Kasumi saying something about not being introduced behind her...

In the dojo proper was Akane. Akane looked at first glance to be a traditional Japanese schoolgirl. Even when she was wearing her bright yellow workout gi, she looked very... normal. Her face was a kind of neutral beautiful, the kind of face that looked just at home whether it was smiling or screaming. That was until you scratched under the surface and found out she was a martial arts expert with an iron will and a personality that was best described as explosive.

"Ran!" Akane called out happily. "Wow, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in ages!"

Ran found herself resisting the urge to struggle against the sisterly hug Akane bestowed upon her. But Akane let her go quickly enough and backed off. She actually liked Akane, mainly because Akane seemed to like her a great deal. Ran guessed you earned that kind of adoration when you saved a person's sister from a Fate Worse Than Death. Not that Ran liked to think about that. She was an objective observer. She reported, she didn't participate. As far as the world knew, Akane had saved her sister all on her lonesome. And Ran was quite comfortable letting them believe that.

Plus, she had promised herself never to save Akane's sister again. Lest she tempt fate to have Akane send her another batch of 'thank you' brownies.

"Just following my nose for news, Akane," Ran replied easily. Ranma gave a terrific snort at that, but Akane ignored him. Akane, from what little she had seen of her, was very good at ignoring Ranma.

"She's helping me find Ukyou," Ranma spoke up when it became clear Akane wasn't going to acknowledge him. The long-haired girl's face darkened. Ohhh... now what was that about?

"I see..." Akane knelt back down behind a pile of concrete blocks. "Ukyou's very popular recently, it seems." With a loud kiai Akane smashed all five cinderblocks to a fine mist. Ran, who had seen people summon lightning from their fingers and drive volleyballs through brick walls, was only slightly impressed.

"Yeah, and... uh... seeing as how you're Ukyou's... girlfriend, I thought you might know where... he is?"

Ran glanced sharply at Ranma. The boy had to be the worst liar she had ever heard. Even as she watched him, his face broke out into a cold sweat, and his grin grew until it swallowed up most of his face. He stopped blinking entirely.

"Uh... right..." Akane sighed. "I'm not really sure if that's true anymore."

"What?"

"Ukyou... he made it clear he didn't think much of me last night," Akane muttered as she finished setting up another five blocks. They followed their brethren into that great dust cloud in the sky. Literally. Ran had to pinch her nose to keep from sneezing.

"Wait, what do you mean? Ukyou yelled at you, too?"

"Did she tell you off?" Akane asked with a blink.

"No... more my mother..." Ranma's body pulsed as a shiver ran up and down the length of his body. "And a buncha girls she wanted me to date or somethin'..."

Ran drifted back and started taking notes.

"Well, I don't know where Ukyou is. Last I saw, she was still at Dr. Tofu's."

"Nah, I tried there, first. Tofu said she wasn't in her room this morning. He also wants to talk with her really bad, but he wouldn't tell me about what."

Akane sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Of course." She sat back. "I guess I can't stay mad at Ukyou about last night. How many times have she calmed the two of us down? Maybe I should find her with you and we can talk about-"

"Oh, Ranma!" The voice was Kasumi again. "A kind lady is here, and she says she's your mother. Isn't that nice?"

"GAH!"

Ran blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes. Then she blinked again. Yes, Ranma had really disappeared. Ran hadn't thought anyone could move faster than her eyes could follow. Ran shrugged and looked around, quickly locating the young martial artist clinging to the ceiling directly above his former position. She sighed. The boy had a lot to learn about a successful vanishing act if that was the best he could think of doing.

"Ranma, what are you doing up there?"

"SHH! I don't want her to find me!" Ranma hissed insistently.

Akane was now looking up at him as well. "Don't want who to find you?"

"My mother!" Ranma hissed back down at her.

"Wow, some juicy family problems you have?" Ran grinned as she whipped her pad and pencil into her hands.

"Ran!"

"Sorry, Akane. Force of habit." Ran put away her pad. She did not, however, turn off her tape recorder.

"Why wouldn't you want to see your mother?" Akane asked with a tilt of her head. Her tone adopted a wistful sadness as she continued. "I would give anything to see my mother again..."

"Yeah, well your mother ain't no psychopath!"

"And yours is?" Akane shot back, raising one eyebrow in a challenging manner.

"The woman wanted me to... ya know... well, she was telling me to... it was three girls... at once..."

"Most guys would see that as the perfect mom," Ran pointed out with a laugh. Then the expression on Ranma's face told her he hadn't been joking. "Wait, you're not kidding?"

"No! I don't think its a joke when your mother starts herding you and the girls upstairs!" Ranma growled out. "She was practically undressing us the whole time..."

"Wow..." Ran blinked. She had never quite heard of mothers that bad before. A few dads, maybe a grandfather or two... but no mothers. "So you and your mother were undressing with three girls upstairs..."

"No! I didn't want to have nothin' to do with any of 'em!" Ranma shouted as he tugged at his hair in frustration. His expression went from frustrated to panicked quickly when he realized that he had just lost his handholds on the ceiling. His arms pinwheeled crazily for a few seconds before he was able to recover his old position. "I just wanted to go find Ukyou. But Mom has this thing against Ukyou. I think it was the whole killing girls with the ninjas thing..."

"Wait... Ukyou kills girls?" Ran coughed out.

"NO! That's just the thing! She doesn't, but that's why Mom's so mad at Ucchan..."

"So your mother was trying to get Ukyou to kill girls, and you to have sex with three of them?"

"Huh?"

Akane, who had been growing steadily more red as the conversation continued, decided to break in at this point. "For crying out loud, Ranma! Are your whole family perverts!"

"Hey! Are we forgetting who molested who when I first showed up?"

"I thought you were a guy!"

"I was a guy!"

"That isn't what I meant!"

"Is it, Akane? Is it really?" Ranma asked sagely.

Akane threw a cinderblock at him. Somehow Ranma managed to dodge while still clinging to the ceiling.

"Isn't that expensive?" Ran said, pointing to the new skylight.

Akane threw up her hands in frustration and stalked away to the other end of the dojo.

"But anyway, that isn't the worst part. It all went downhill when Mom found out about my curse when I went to chase after Ukyou, and that was when she got all those weird ideas about those three-"

"Curse?" Ran perked up.

"Uh... nevermind!" Ranma gulped and rubbed the back of his head.

"Never mind what?" Ran narrowed her eyes and stared directly into Ranma's. Somehow, despite her being three feet below and in the wrong orientation, he managed to shrink back from her glare. She smirked. She hadn't lost her interrogator's edge.

"Just never mind!" Ranma snapped back. "The point is that she can't know I'm here!"

"Who can't know you're here?" a new voice announced to Ran's right. Ran looked over her shoulder to see a tallish, matronly woman wearing properly coifed hair and a expensive but threadbare kimono. Ran's keen photographer's eye immediately processed her soft features and noted the resemblance to Ranma's.

"M-mom!" Ranma gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was having a nice tea with this darling young woman Kasumi, waiting for you to come out and greet me. I came to check when you took so long, and was ready to be quite cross. But I see you had a good reason to be so busy." The woman nodded happily. "I commend your technique, son. But if you want to look down a woman's shirt, you have to make sure she doesn't notice you."

Ran stared at the traditionally dressed woman for a second. Then turned her stare to Ranma. He was suddenly blushing. Then Ran looked down. Yes, from that angle he would have just enough clearance to...

"YEEK!" Ran leapt away, clutching her collar tight with one hand.

"MOM!" Ranma cried. "Will you stop it with the girl stuff?"

"But Ranma," his mother cried back earnestly. "I just want what's best for you. And with your condition, you need all the manly reinforcement you can get!"

"Condition?" Ran, who had calmed down, asked casually.

"Oh, my son turns into a girl when you splash him with cold water," the perky woman explained. "But he can fix it with some hot water, so don't let that scare you off... Miss...?"

"Oh! How rude of me!" Ran stepped forward and clasped her hands in front of her before bowing slightly. "Ran Hibiki, Ace Reporter! At your service."

"Nodoka Saotome," Ranma's mother introduced herself with a slightly more curt bow.

"I'm Akane!" the long-haired girl introduced herself with a cheerful smile and a bow.

"Pleased to meet you both," Nodoka said with genuine good cheer. "I'm glad to see my son is still able to attract such beautiful young women, despite his condition."

"I wouldn't say beautiful..." Akane stammered, blushing. Ran smirked at her embarrassment.

"I'm not dating them either, Mom!" Ranma shouted again.

"Dear, why don't you come down from the ceiling? I'm getting terrible neck strain talking to you like this."

"Oh, sorry." Ranma monkeyed himself down to the floor. "Better?"

"Much."

"Now... where was I?"

"You aren't dating us," Ran helped.

"That's it exactly!" Ranma shouted into the air.

Ran tilted her head to the side, watching as a robust man in a dirty white gi stepped into the dojo. He was wearing a kerchief over his baldness and a pair of wire-rim spectacles which he was adjusting with one hand. His mouth opened to say something...

"Are you saying, Ranma... that you aren't interested in girls?" Nodoka spoke softly and began to stroke a wrapped bundle on her back. Ran did a double- take. How had she not noticed that before? Replaying her memories, Ran realized that the woman moved so easily with the bundle that it almost seemed a part of her. The room had gone quiet in the wake of Nodoka's question, except for the near-inaudible sound of a pair of glasses falling to the floor.

Ran turned to see that the heavy-set intruder had vanished from the doorway, leaving behind only his glasses on the threshold.

"Huh? No! That ain't what I'm sayin' at all!" Ranma beat his chest with one fist. "I'm as red-blooded as any guy! Why, I even find Akane attractive, and she's barely a girl!"

Ranma rocked forward as Akane beaned him on the scalp with on fist. "Gee, thanks," Akane said acidly, veins bulging on her forehead.

"Well, that's good..." Nodoka said in her usual perky tone. Ran shifted, wondering why the room suddenly felt like a lot less oppressive then it had a few seconds before. "It means that your nasty curse hasn't messed with your mind. But we have to be thorough in stamping out any womanly impulses! That's why you have to start fooling around as soon as possible!"

"I ain't foolin' around with nobody!"

"Nonsense, you have two perfectly attractive young women here to fool around with!"

"Hey! Leave me out of your Saotome perversions!" Akane shouted.

Ran wondered if it was a good idea to do a quick fade. She backed up to the wall, trying to get out of Nodoka's line of sight. She was beginning to see what Ranma's point about her was. As she pressed against the wall, she could just barely hear a pair of voices coming from the house.

"...what are you doing, Saotome?"

"Just packing up, Tendo."

"I see. Why?"

"Going on a quick training trip. Nothing to worry about, certainly no reason to tell anyone which direction I went in at all!" This was followed by nervous laughter.

"I see. That explains why you are packing. But not why you are packing up MY things."

"I am? Oh, sorry, Tendo. Force of habit."

"Speaking of your curse... where is your father? I really came to speak with him..." Nodoka asked casually. Ran shivered. That oppressive feeling was back in the air now.

"I dunno. Off somewhere, I guess," Ranma shrugged. He seemed to have calmed down, now that the subject had moved off his sex life.

"I guess I'll have to look for him," Nodoka frowned. "You three have fun now. And remember to be safe."

"Be safe with what?" Ranma asked as Nodoka walked out. Then his face turned red when it hit him. It took a few seconds for it to return to normal once she had left. "Man, I'm glad Pop has to deal with her and not me. I can't take anymore of that girl talk..." Ranma's voice changed pitch in mid-sentence and he trailed off as he realized he was now a she.

Ran stared, fascinated, as she replaced the cap on her water bottle. "Wow, she wasn't kidding. You really do turn into a girl!" Ran reloaded her camera with a practiced flick of her wrist and began to buzz around her, snapping pictures. "This is amazing! How do you do it? Does it hurt? Where do you put all the extra mass? Is the change just physical?"

"ARGH!" Ranma shouted and threw his much more slender arms into the air.

01010

Nabiki was quite satisfied with how her preparations had turned out. One of Akane's uniforms had been torn up artfully and tossed at the foot of the bed. It would have been her own, but Nabiki was nothing if not pragmatic. Her own clothing was stored safely in a small duffel bag in the closet, except for her underwear, of course. The bed looked suitably... abused. And the seedy motel room she had found was both dirty and battered enough that it would be impossible to tell if there had been a tornado inside it, much less a struggle.

Satisfied with the room, Nabiki examined herself in the full-length mirror. Stripped to her underwear, with her bra barely hanging on by one strap, she cut quite the fetching figure. She fingered the torn strap, making sure it looked authentic. It wouldn't do for Ryouga to think it had ripped merely due to neglect, rather than violence. She also schooled the smirk from her face, forcing herself to feign shock and dismay. It looked pretty good, if she was a good judge of facial expressions (and she was). The creative use of make-up to give her a black eye and a bit of a bloody lip only helped to add to the illusion she was projecting.

That left only one ingredient yet to be added. The pig was sleeping peacefully next to the bed. Nabiki had worried the cursed boy might stir while she prepared, but he had been strangely quiescent. In fact, things had been going very well for her today. First, everyone had become so distracted by that Hayato boy to notice her sneaking off. Then she had found Ryouga; then she had found this place and everything had fallen into place without a hitch. If Nabiki believed in luck, she would have been thanking her stars.

Nabiki gently slipped the boy-pig under the sheets and used a small glass of water to gently turn him back into a man. Once again she found herself almost entranced by the transformation. It happened so fast that her eyes couldn't catch more than a flicker of motion; a brief afterimage of pig that lingered for a fraction of second where the boy now was. The blankets were only now settling down, having been billowed into the air by the sudden introduction of Ryouga's mass.

Ryouga hadn't woken up, which was good. Nabiki took a moment to study his features. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, not much like the confusion or anger that had dominated his face all the other times she had seen him. He looked so... gullible. Nabiki chuckled. Just like a child. A naive, trusting child.

Nabiki slipped under the sheets with him, making sure she wasn't touching him. She cringed herself into a fetal position, erased her pleased expression with one of fear and began to shiver. It took a few minutes for Ryouga to notice the vibrations in the bed. When he did, he came awake slowly and groggily. His hands fumbled out awkwardly, pawing at the blankets and pillows and finally trailing his fingers along her naked back.

That's when he froze.

"Wha-what?" Ryouga's voice was strained and still groggy. "Where? Who?"

Showtime.

"NO! Please! Please don't hurt me again! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't hurt me!"

01010

"So there you are..."

Ukyou glanced over her shoulder as Doctor Tofu walked up behind her. She didn't deign to respond with anything more than a nod. Her headache was making it hard to think, and the fucking voice in her skull just wouldn't shut up, which made it worse. She rubbed her temples, trying to will Aaron silent, but he wasn't cooperating today. His thoughts kept running a mile a minute. They had been ever since last night.

"You haven't been sleeping," Tofu noted chidingly.

"Inde..." Ukyou cut herself off. "No, I haven't."

"You need to rest. It's beginning to effect your judgment..."

"NO!" Ukyou shouted. Tofu went silent. Aaron was pointing out how the man just wanted to help her. Well, what did he know that could possibly help her? Aaron had no answer to that. He wanted to sleep even less than she.

"Fine," Tofu said as he eased down next to her. They sat in silence for a few minutes, looking out over the length of Tokyo. Ukyou wondered briefly how the man had known to look for her here. She had come to this park specifically because it was nowhere near her usual stomping grounds. It was a quiet place, far from Nerima and Juuban, far from the hell that was her life. It should have been a place where she could relax her guard, let herself be... normal for a few minutes.

But even as she had arrived she had seen her. Sailor Pluto, in the near distance. The woman had been in her civilian form, and from the way she noted Ukyou and left, must have thought Ukyou didn't recognize her. But she did. She always did. Not a day had gone by when Ukyou hadn't seen some sign that the so- called "Guardian of Time" was nearby. Just waiting for a chance to kill her.

Why?

Fuck that. Who cared about why anymore? She could just join the list of enemies. Sailor Pluto and her stupid vendetta. The Dark Kingdom and their insane plans. Nabiki and her irritating snooping. Tsubasa and his annoying obsession. And Chris...

Chris.

Ukyou released her grip on the arm-rest. The metal had twisted and deformed in her hand. Aaron was always silent on the subject of Chris. He knew how dangerous his former friend was... but refused to condemn him. Why couldn't he just go along with her on that one judgment?

Because...

Because there was something deeper to her hate than just Chris's condition and his deeds. Aaron knew that. Aaron had an all access pass to the deepest secrets of her soul. He knew what she wouldn't admit to herself. And because he knew, Ukyou knew.

"We need to talk," Tofu said finally.

"I'm sorry about last night... I just need time to think about what I did... find some way to make it right with you and Akane..."

"That isn't what we need to talk about," Tofu noted simply.

"Oh so?" Ukyou felt relief and apprehension stirring in her gut. Relief, because Tofu had distracted her and Aaron from a confrontation that Ukyou did not want. Apprehension, because his tone did not carry the hint of good news.

"I've been looking into what you did the other day, and I think there is something... special about you."

"What I did?" Ukyou sighed. There were so many things she did. She was having trouble keeping track of them now. It was getting hard... hard to tell the lies from the truth.

"With the water, when we tested your chi," Tofu explained.

"Oh... that," Ukyou responded flatly. Aaron's interest perked up, however. Ever since Tofu had told him about his 'theory', the young man had become... curious. It had amazed him that Tofu had come up with a way of explaining the working of chi that was not seen in any anime, manga or video game that he had ever seen. Oh sure, there were plenty of justifications that came close... but none were quite the same.

Plus, the fact that his five elements theory matched the one Aaron had come up with in his world was also interesting. And not that it matched it slightly, or that it used similar terms. It was the fact that it was perfectly the same. Aaron had brainstormed that system over a few weeks, cobbling together bits and pieces from a variety of role-playing games, anime and myths into what he saw as a coherent whole. He had grown quickly enamoured of it, and had planned on using it as a basis for the powers in one of his online games... until his accident.

It struck him as awfully convenient that Doctor Tofu, a previously fictional character to him, had stumbled upon exactly the same explanation, without any of the references.

"What you did was simply impossible," Tofu pointed out. "You tapped into two types of chi at once, on the primal level."

"Isn't it possible to do that, though?"

"No... not on the unconscious level. We all have a balance of chi within us. One of the chi aspects is always dominant. Even if they all were in perfect balance, your chi should have read as Void, which it didn't. It read as some combination of Void and Wind..."

"What are you saying?" Ukyou had a pretty good idea why she could accomplish the 'impossible' in this case, but wanted to hear his thoughts. Maybe, a part of herself that might have been her, or Aaron, or maybe both.. maybe they should tell him the truth.

"I think I know what might be wrong with you," Tofu pointed out. "Why you have seizures and injure yourself when you tap into your deepest wellspring of energy." Ukyou held her breath. "Your spirit... is touching into a new level."

"A new level?" Ukyou blinked. This was beginning to sound like a bad Dragonball Z episode.

"Somehow, your spirit is channeling something that isn't chi... something that I can't sense or even understand. Something that your body is rejecting. You've tapped into a force I've never even heard mention of before, and if you continue to tap into it... it will tear you apart."

Ukyou and Aaron thought back and forth furiously for a fraction of a second. To Tofu, they would have just looked thoughtful and distant. "Can I cut it off?"

"I don't know..." Tofu said. "I don't even know what caused it, or what it is."

"Can I push it out?" Ukyou hissed, determination filling her voice. "Excise it? Like a tumor? Is there some way you can slice it out of my soul?"

"What? I'm not sure what you mean..."

"Nothing... I... nevermind..."

"Ukyou... I just wanted to tell you for now, that you can't use that energy like you would chi. It's dangerous."

Yet he didn't say we couldn't use it, just that we couldn't use it like chi, Aaron thought before she could stop him.

"Ono... I think I need to tell you something now," Ukyou sighed. "It may help you-" Ukyou cut herself off in mid-sentence. Aaron had sensed something. He had been pushed to the back of her mind so much, that his attunement with her senses had perhaps become deeper than her own. Ukyou snaked a hand into her trenchcoat, and waited for him to spot it again. Tofu went silent, sensing the sudden tension in the air as easily as she did.

"There!" Ukyou shouted, releasing a spatula towards the flitting shadow in the nearby bushes. There was a meaty thunk as the metal collided with something fleshy, followed by a bizarre squeal of pain. Ukyou shot to her feet. Her long strides carried her to the bushes before the squeal had even died down. She flicked her hand out, grabbed something small and rubbery within the shadows, and dragged it into the light.

"An octopus?" Ukyou blinked.

The creature in her hand was about the size of a human head. It looked like nothing so much as one of those monsters from the Zelda games... then it clicked.

"HAYATO!" Ukyou shouted and held the animal up in the air. "I know you aren't far away! Come out and face me in the open!"

"What's going on?" Tofu had risen to his feet. His face had become pinched and his eyes flickered around the park. Was he afraid?

"Some jerk is trying to be cute..." Ukyou growled. Damn that bastard for showing up now. Ukyou had hoped to have... a good twenty or thirty volumes worth of time before she even needed to think about him. "Hayato, if you don't come out, I swear I'm going to make sushi out of your pet." Ukyou was not in the mood to deal with him. She had enough problems on her own. Plus... Tofu had sounded like he might be onto a breakthrough.

"You can put Patoratsyu down now," an unfamiliar voice told her coldly.

Ukyou spun on her heels. Somehow Hayato had managed to appear in the center of the park without her noticing. Her eyes narrowed. Once she could see him, the image clicked in Aaron's memory. Parka-like shirt, bulky pants, giant takoyaki-balling awl/screwdriver thing and, of course, that stupid kiddie octopus mask all became instantly familiar.

"You still haven't taken that stupid thing off, I see," Ukyou sighed and tossed the octopus across the air towards him. Hayato snapped out one hand and easily caught his pet. The thing shivered in his grasp as Hayato soothed it with calm strokes of his hands before placing it on his shoulder. Once placed, the thing started glaring at Ukyou. How on earth did octopi glare?

"I see you remember our battle," the boy hissed in a peculiar, vaguely muffled voice. "Which is good, because I have been forced to think about it every day since then!"

"Actually you haven't, you're just an idiot who takes childhood promises too seriously and..." Ukyou trailed off.

"You just don't understand what I've been through," Hayato told her. He shifted his stance, spinning the giant awl from his back and pointing its tip at her. "This is about more than a promise now!"

"Whatever," Ukyou sighed. She eased herself into a fighting stance. "Let's get this over with, then..." Ukyou knew that this wasn't really a problem. She'd throw the match to him, let him get his revenge and that would be the end of that.

"Heh. Not today, Kuonji," Hayato spun his weapon back into its harness. "I don't want anyone to think I weaseled you out of victory because you weren't ready for me. I'm sure the 'hero of Narita' isn't afraid of making this match... a little more public?"

Ukyou frowned. What did she care about losing? She had never asked to be glorified in the press, or by anyone else. So why did the thought of throwing the match to him in public make her stomach quiver uncomfortably?

"Fine, name the time and place and I'll be there," Ukyou grunted.

01010

Ryouga finally stopped running when he felt the asphalt turn to grass under his feet. He opened his eyes, looking around, hoping for the first time in his life that he was lost. There were trees and the sky was dark with clouds. It was threatening rain. His umbrella... it was gone. Lost somewhere between meeting her and... and...

"NO! It didn't happen!"

Ryouga fell to his knees. He needed to think. His hands gripped at his temples, fingernails digging uncomfortably into his scalp. Maybe the pain would clear his mind, let him focus.

But everytime he tried to think back his mind kept flashing to that face. That battered face, staring at him with horror and shame. Could he have really...

No. Ryouga didn't... couldn't think of himself like that. He wasn't a monster. He was a victim, but he was a good person despite that. Sure, Ranma had ruined his life, and that guy Ukyou had been dicking around with him and he was angry about that and he knew that he tended to underestimate his own strength... but he couldn't have!

Ryouga looked up. He had heard the first few drops of rain falling to the ground. The sun had fallen, and now the skies would weep. Maybe it would feel better, to be an animal for a little bit. Just like when he had been fighting Ranma and...

The fight. The fight this morning. Ryouga had finally returned to Nerima and found Ranma. He had been so excited. He could feel his heart race at the very thought of the battle. It always felt so good to be filled with the righteous anger. The anger that cleansed away fear and doubt and sadness. And it was so easy to give into it because it was so right. You didn't have to think. You just had to be RIGHT.

Then the fight had turned against him. Ranma had been so fast! He was mocking Ryouga, taunting him as he slipped through Ryouga's guard and away from his best strikes. Ryouga had felt a deep thrill run through his body at that time. The thrill of battle against a superior opponent, he guessed. But then there had been that voice in the back of his mind, the voice that sounded mysteriously like Ranma's friend.

("If you lose this fight, that's it.")

But Ryouga knew that even if he lost, Ranma wasn't that far beyond him. Maybe he could train, come back stronger and faster and better overall...

("If you do that, everyone will know your secret.")

And that had been it. The turning point. Because if Ryouga lost his fight with Ranma, there would be no second chance. There would be only humiliation and then... what? Beyond that... what?

So Ryouga had fallen through a wall, and spotted a small trickle of water. A single, thoughtless, action later and Ryouga had vanished. How could he be expected to fight as a pig? Obviously the fight was over, but there had been no victor. He could challenge again, later, when he was better. He had thought to himself at the time that it had been an accident, a lucky break.

But he knew it hadn't been. He had deliberately reached out, he had deliberately vanished. He had run away.

He had run away, because losing was unacceptable.

If he was capable of that... what else was he capable of?

The downpour came and Ryouga barely noticed the change. He crawled out of the puddle of his clothes. He wasn't even sure where he had gotten them. All he could remember was the girl, Nabiki... her name was Nabiki. All he could remember was the look on Nabiki's face and the fact that he had woken up... excited. Then everything was a blur. Somehow he had run away, gotten dressed, arrived here.

But he couldn't run away from his own conscience. The longer he sat there, on top of the soaked pile of clothing, feeling the heavy drops pound into his skin, the more convinced he became that he really had done that. He couldn't remember it. He couldn't even think about it. He must have lost control, like he had sometimes lost his temper. Except this time someone had been hurt.

Well... Ryouga wasn't going to live as an animal. Even if he looked like one. He was a human being. He would find her. He would apologize. He would accept whatever punishment she and society deemed necessary. There was no forgiving what he had done... but Ryouga wasn't going to let himself run from it either.

Setting his eyes in what he hoped was the direction of Nerima, Ryouga began to walk.

01010

Pink sat in the bushes, watching with interest as Chris twitched. She had observed the dead girl fairly closely in the week they'd been together. This was partially for self-preservation purposes: the existence of one undead body-swapper implied there might well be more, and Pink wanted to have a more reliable method of detecting such irksomely poison-resistant creatures than the paleness of their skin.

One of the more noticeable things Pink had observed was the dead girl's lack of unnecessary movements. No blinking (except when surprised) she had expected, as well as the lack of breathing at any time Chris wasn't actually speaking. But those could be easily faked by a savvy undead. The other strange behaviour - or lack of it, more accurately - seemed more promising. Chris didn't MOVE like a living being. A normal person would cough, fidget, tap their foot, shiver, or twitch their fingers... any of a thousand little unconscious movements. Chris, however, did none of those. When she stood, she was truly, unnaturally still, with only a slight movement of their air through her long black hair distinguishing her from a statue.

But not now. The dead girl couldn't seem to stop moving: shrugging her shoulders repeatedly, shifting her sitting position, and clenching and unclenching her hands. It looked as if she had an itch deep inside and couldn't scratch it.

Hmm. So the dead couldn't be poisoned, but COULD be made uncomfortable. Pink considered what sort of plant could take advantage of that. Perhaps something to create an irritating powder? No, she remembered Chris saying something about how physical sensations were dulled for her. So she'd need to go to the source somehow, accelerate the rotting process. That would take some experimentation. She wondered if there were many rats or domestic animals on the loose in Tokyo.

Putting that thought aside for the moment, she looked at Chris again. The three of them were hidden in a copse of trees on a small hillock overlooking the street. Chris, for all her fidgeting, appeared to be intently focused on watching the road, a somewhat disturbing sight with her milky white corpse-eyes. "I'm curious, over," Pink said in a low voice.

She couldn't see the eyes move, of course, but the undead's head turned in her direction. "This person we've come for," Pink continued. "Who is it, over?"

"That's a pretty ghoulish question," Chris gurgled. Her voice was getting worse. She sounded like someone choking to death on noxious fumes. Pink giggled a little at the thought. Too late.

"No more ghoulish than what we're here to do, over," she responded, still smiling.

"Touche," replied Chris. Pink blinked. What language was that? French? Before she could ask, the dead girl continued. "Well, I'd have had to tell you sooner or later. The person we're waiting for is a man named Sentarou Daimonji."

"A man?" Link said, turning suddenly to face them. "Why a man? What were you when you were alive, over?"

"I was also male," Chris said. "Not that it matters much now."

"I suppose not," Pink said. "So, this guy... does he have a nice house too, over?"

"As it turns out, yes," Chris replied. "But it doesn't matter, since we won't be staying there."

"Why not, over?"

The dead girl - boy - waved his hand. "It's dangerous there. Not so much for me, but I wouldn't want to put you two in any danger. Don't worry, I'll make sure we're set up properly."

Pink noticed Link had once again turned away, looking intently at one of the trees. Her stance was stiff and cold; Pink could tell her sister was even less happy knowing their ally was actually male. But it wouldn't be a problem. She turned back to the undead. "So how'd you pick this Daimonji guy, over?"

Chris shrugged. "I knew how to find him, and he fit my criteria."

"So he's an evil person, over?"

"Yes, he is," Chris said. He paused a moment, as if thinking. "He's ruthless and amoral, with no care for anyone in the world but himself. He'd kill his own fiancee without hesitation, just because he saw a girl he liked more."

"Sounds like scum," Pink agreed. "I've been thinking about that. If it's only evil people that you're willing to kill... why don't you just let us kill Shampoo, and then take her body, over?"

"I have my reasons."

"And what are they?" Pink smiled. "Shampoo is just as evil as these people, right, over?"

Chris smiled slightly. "Possibly, but beside the point. No Shampoo- killing on my watch. That was the deal, after all. Besides," he noted, leaning back, "killing her, while no doubt satisfying, is a poor repayment for years of suffering, isn't it? Think about it. After you do it, what then? It's over, and you've taken years of torment and exchanged it for a few minutes. When it comes down to it, wouldn't it be more satisfying - more RIGHT - if she had to go on, a proud warrior having to live with the shame of knowing she'd been beaten?"

"Yes, yes, you've given us that line before. Sounds marvellous, until Shampoo comes back and beats us up, over," Link groused.

The corner of Chris' mouth quirked. "Yes, well, we'll see about that. At least you're safe with me around." Link made an inarticulate growl, but Chris smoothly continued, "Plus there's those mitamas you're interested in. I can help you with those, remember."

Link glowered, but fell silent. Pink decided she'd have to have a talk with her sister. At first her irrational hate for their ally had been amusing, but now it was starting to become annoying. It was as if Link wanted to drive Chris away. Wanted to, when he was providing them such a service for essentially nothing! Link needed to remember what was important; then she'd come around.

Pink stared at Chris speculatively, watching the dead man in the female body shudder and twitch. Why WAS he so set against killing Shampoo? He didn't seem to object to classifying her with the other 'evil' people he selected as victims, so what was saving her?

Her musing was interrupted by a commotion from down the street; people shouting in surprise and alarm, and some sort of repetitive clicking sound Pink couldn't quite place. Chris's head snapped to the side, the dead eyes narrowing. "At last," he breathed.

Chris stepped to the edge of the trees. His movements, despite the condition of his stolen body, were once more fluid and graceful; the twitching had vanished. As Pink moved up behind him, the reason for the noises and the shouts become apparent: there was a rider on a horse barrelling full-speed down the street, forcing pedestrians to leap out of the way.

As the rider drew near, Chris held up a small cloth pouch. Just as the rider passed below them, Chris hurled the pouch. Pink saw the man on the horse suddenly look up towards them, but he was too late to react as the projectile struck the ground in front of them. Instantly both man and beast were enveloped in a thick cloud of noxious green smoke. As it cleared, she saw both bodies sprawled on the pavement, unmoving.

Chris wasted no time in slashing out with Kodachi's ribbon. The long strip of cloth wrapped around one of the fallen man's arms, and a single yank sent him flying towards them. As the unconscious man hit the ground, Chris quickly dragged him into the copse of trees, which gave Pink a chance to get her first good look at him.

Sentarou Daimonji (or so she assumed) was a young Japanese man, fairly tall, fairly handsome, not outstanding in either respect. He wore old-fashioned Japanese clothing and sandals, and his plain black hair was in a bowl cut. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be sleeping deeply.

"Why put him to sleep?" she asked the undead. "Just poisoning him in the first place would have made more sense, over."

Chris shook his head. "That only makes more sense if I'm willing to risk poisoning any bystanders, not to mention the horse. This was safer."

Pink shrugged. "Whatever. So now what, over?"

Chris reached into a pocket of his jacket and retrieved a small, opaque bottle. "You should know," he said shortly.

Pink watched with keen interest as Chris opened Sentarou's mouth, unscrewed the top of the bottle, and carefully poured the liquid inside. Holding the unconscious boy's nose and mouth shut, the undead then massaged his throat until he swallowed. Then he sat back, expression unreadable, and waited.

It only took a few moments before Sentarou began convulsing. Chris watched this for a second, then suddenly swore (in English, how odd) and whipped his leather jacket off, shoving one sleeve into Sentarou's mouth. "Won't do me much good if the tongue's bitten off," the undead said, mostly to himself.

All told, it took about two minutes. Pink was impressed - a normal human would have been dead in under fifteen seconds. Chris hadn't exaggerated about the resiliency of these 'martial arts death machines'. The dead man-in- woman's-body crouched grimly over his victim, holding down the spasming limbs and keeping the jacket shoved firmly in his mouth. The unconscious man's flailing, Pink noted, knocked several large gouts of earth from the ground. Chris had picked well. Despite his unassuming appearance, this Sentarou was obviously formidable.

Then, all of a sudden, it was over. Chris seemed to know instantly when death occurred, stepping back and releasing Sentarou even as the boy was still twitching. He removed the jacket from the mouth; Pink noted idly that it had teeth marks embedded deeply in it and was flecked with foam.

Pink felt... strange. Of course, she'd tested out many deadly plants and poisons before, but Link was just as assiduous in using her medicines and cures to save those victims. Aside from the odd small animal, this was the first time one of her lethal creations had been permitted to run its natural course.

This was the first time Pink had watched a human being die.

Standing there, looking down at the corpse, she felt somehow distant, detached, as if her feet were a hundred miles away, and she was staring down from the clouds. She couldn't see Link, but could feel her presence, her closeness, strangely strongly. She had to know what happened. A tingling ran through Pink's limbs, electric, as if she was awaking from sleep. All of it, the confused mix of feelings rushing, the sensations, made Pink feel almost light-headed. She wondered what Chris felt like when he killed someone. Was it like this?

And just as that thought crossed her mind, Chris collapsed in a heap, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Except that was no longer Chris, but Kodachi, for at that moment Sentarou's eyes snapped open and he sat up. The corpse wrapped his arms around himself, closing his eyes again, whispering a quick, fast mantra to himself. "Ohgodohgodohgodohgod..." The language was English, this time.

"Are you all right, over?" she asked. Chris seemed to be... something. Upset? Relieved? The dead man opened his new eyes once more and looked at her, but as usual, there was nothing to be read in his gaze.

"Better than fine, really," he said. The new voice was somewhat high- pitched for a man, but not unpleasant, especially compared to the sickly wetness of moments before. "It feels so...solid. So real. I didn't realise how far, I mean, I didn't realise how empty it was..." he shuddered, then quickly stood up and moved his arms and legs experimentally. "But I'm fine now. This worked great, thank you."

Pink heard the sharp intake of breath from her sister, saw her spine stiffen. She could almost feel the wave of anger flow hot, as if Link was glaring at her back instead of facing resolutely away. Pink ignored it. There was no reason for her sister to be upset. She'd just indebted their ally to them a little further, that was all.

Smiling secretly to herself, Pink turned back to Chris. "So what do we do now, over?"

"Well, first, I'm going to have to deal with Kodachi," he said, glancing down at the crumpled corpse.

"Why bother?" asked Pink. "Just leave her here for the police to find, over."

Chris shook his head. "They'd investigate. And Kodachi's been actually dead for so long, and yet still walking around... I don't know what they would do, but it's probably best avoided. Besides..." he paused, and then spoke in a softer tone, "It's kinder to her brother this way. More practically, it'll hopefully ensure he doesn't come looking for us."

"You mean he'd come looking for US," Link noted acidly, still not looking at them. "He wouldn't have any reason to be looking for 'Sentarou', over."

Chris sighed. "True, but on the very off-chance that ever happens, go ahead and tell him the truth, and then he can come for me."

Pink laughed. "I doubt it'll be a problem. That idiot couldn't track anyone down. Besides, he only knows our names, over."

"You'd be surprised how persistent people here can be," Chris noted, then shrugged. "But I agree, it probably won't be a problem." Kneeling down, he scooped up his formed body, placing the jacket over her staring eyes. "Thanks for your help, by the way."

"No problem, over," Pink said, and almost rolled her eyes as her sister spun to face her. Of course, Link knew it already, but this confirmation seemed to have enraged her even further. "What is it, Link, over?"

"You...you HELPED this..."

"Correction," Pink broke in. "Chris was looking for a suitable agent that would not harm the body, but could deal with someone this strong, over." She held up a hand to forestall Link's response. "Sister. He would have died anyway. All this did was make it quicker and safer. And the better shape the new body is in, the longer until he needs another one. Everyone wins, over."

He sister didn't have a reply to that, turning away again. Pink smiled at her back. All this protest was silly. There was no question of being more or less deeply involved with this. Once they had agreed to take the undead's help, and help him in turn, they'd become involved. The reward was worth it.

Link would realise that. Sooner or later.

01010

"It is hard to find a more excited crowd then the one that has gathered here today. The entire student body of Furinkan High School must have come to this deserted construction site to witness what will surely be an epic struggle between two lifelong, bitter rivals.

"Awaiting the challenger is none other than Ukyou Kuonji, the hero of Narita. He stands in the center of the site, away from all the crowds. His friends and proteges, Ranma and Akane, also wait along with the others..."

"Protege?" Ranma snapped at Ran. "What do you mean, protege?"

"It means you're his student and stuff like that," Ran explained carefully as she waved her tape recorder at him. "Now shush, I'm trying to write a story."

Akane giggled at Ran's teasing. Doctor Tofu just sighed and adjusted his glasses. Akane was standing next to him, just enjoying his presence. Even if he barely noticed hers.

"But I'm not really Ukyou's student!" Ranma protested. "I'm actually the better fighter!"

"Whatever you say, stud," Ran giggled.

"No, really, watch!" Ranma picked up a I-beam and threw it into the air. "I'll break this thing in half with one punch!"

"NO! Don't kill me!" The I-beam pleaded.

"Huh?" Ranma blinked and stopped dead. That was when the beam landed on his foot. Ranma's eye bugged out as it toppled off him. Seconds later he was hopping around, clutching his foot and howling.

"Impressive," Ran deadpanned. But Akane could see the twinkle in her eye.

"You jerk, you scared me half to death!" the I-beam complained. Akane gave it a level glare, but could see Ran glancing at it curiously. Seconds later Ran's curiosity was answered as Tsubasa unzipped himself from his newest costume. Ran took the scene of a cute young girl climbing out of a giant metal bar rather well, Akane thought.

"Uh... who are you?" Ran asked, thrusting her recorder into Tsubasa's face. "And how did you do that?"

"Ohhh... you're with the press!" Tsubasa cried happily, his face looking much too cute to ever be mistaken for a guy's.

"Well, yes..."

"I..." Tsubasa cleared his throat and posed dramatically with one foot on the pile of I-beams. "I am the one and only true love of Ukyou Kuonji." He drew a microphone out of somewhere and began to talk into it. "The lovely and talented master of disguise, and the only person worthy of Ukyou's heart: I am Tsubasa Kurenai!" Tsubasa paused then pulled the recorder from Ran's suddenly nerveless fingers. "Take that, Usagi! I got here first! Nanny nanny poo poo!"

"Give me that!" Ran shouted, snapping the recorder from Tsubasa's hand. "I recognize you now, from the fight at Narita..."

"That's right!" Tsubasa tried to wrestle the recorder from Ran's hand again, which was turning out to be more difficult than it looked. "You see I, unlike certain blonde-haired bimbos, am willing to fight beside my one true love!"

"Get off!" Ran shouted, trying to dislodge Tsubasa with one foot while viciously clinging to her recorder with both hands. Veins were bulging in her forehead and her teeth were grinding together. "What are you, a lunatic?"

"I won't let go until you agree to print my interview verbatim!"

"This isn't an interview, this is assault and theft!"

Akane turned her attention from the impending catfight back to Ranma, who had returned. Ranma shook his head. "Man, this place just keeps getting nuttier."

"I should say," Akane sighed. "You should see this guy Hayato; he's even loonier than Tsubasa."

"Hey, I resent that remark!"

"Stop shouting into it! You'll ruin the mic!"

"Children, if you don't stop you'll hurt each other," Doctor Tofu pleaded.

"Whatever. I bet I could beat this jerk Hayato with one hand tied behind my back," Ranma grumbled and crossed his arms. Ukyou looked up sharply at the mention of Hayato's name. Akane nodded to her, and Ukyou barely acknowledged her presence. Akane still hadn't found a chance to talk to her. Doctor Tofu had told her about the fight this morning, and that Ukyou was back at the clinic... but Akane hadn't had the time to get away from school until now. Ranma would have, but he had spent the day hiding in the school from his mother.

"Oh yeah," a guy that Akane vaguely recognized from her class called from nearby. "Prove it, Saotome!"

"Nah," Ranma waved his hand dismissively. "This is Ukyou's fight. I wouldn't even think of stepping in."

"So you think Ukyou's going to win?" Ran asked in her 'reporter voice'.

"Of course," Ranma chuckled, leaning back against a pile of I-beams. "I've had my doubts about Ukyou's fighting spirit since we met each other again. But back at Narita, s... he was the only one still fighting. There is a strength in Ukyou I don't even think he realizes he has. I don't just think Ukyou will win, I -know- it. I believe in Ukyou."

Akane could only stare at Ranma. Ran was also speechless, unable to do anything but move her tape recorder away from him. Ranma was staring across the site, straight into the eyes of Ukyou. Akane could see the young woman's face had gone slack. She had heard every word he said. And it had hit her like a physical blow. Why?

"Are you ready?"

Everyone looked up to see a large figure standing on the second story of the skeletal construction. The angle of the sunlight was just perfect to cast his face into shadow, except for the gleam off the tiny eyeholes in his mask. In one hand he carried his strange awl-like weapon, and on the other hand he supported his pet octopus.

Ukyou stood beneath him for a long time. She was dressed for battle, her legs clad in loose denim slacks, her body wrapped in the rippling folds of her trenchcoat. Her long hair billowed gently behind her in the stiff breeze, and her bangs fell forward, covering her eyes. She wasn't even looking up at him. Instead her gaze seemed fixed on some invisible point between her feet.

"I don't have all day," Hayato growled. "The only reason I brought all these people here was so that your defeat could be as humiliating as you made mine!"

"I'm ready to fight," Ukyou said in a soft voice that carried surprisingly well. When she looked up, he expression was hard and cold. She reached behind her and pulled out a long wooden staff, taller than her. Akane had never seen Ukyou with such a weapon before, and briefly wondered where Ukyou had acquired it. "I have friends who believe in me. I'm ready to fight you with everything I have." The air whined as Ukyou spun her staff in a tight circle before gripping it behind her back. Her free hand came up and she gestured in the universal signal for "come on" at her opponent.

"About time," Hayato grumbled. He lowered his arm and let his pet crawl away to safety before leaping down in front of Ukyou. His stance was strange, not quite like anything Akane had ever seen before. There was a flash as Ran documented the moment. "You don't stand a chance, Ukyou. I know exactly how to defeat you!"

"Just shut up and attack me," Ukyou growled.

So he did.

Akane gasped as Hayato sprinted across the dirt towards Ukyou. The girl barely brought up her staff in time to deflect his first three strikes and couldn't reverse her parry fast enough to avoid the third. A meaty smack echoed across the construction yard as Ukyou was propelled into the air. The crowd sat in silence for a second, then erupted in a chorus of cheers.

The only ones not cheering the battle were herself, Ranma, Ran... and one other. Across the yard Akane could just see Nabiki standing on the edge of the crowd. But then she vanished from Akane's thoughts as the din of battle drew her attention back to Ukyou.

Somehow Ukyou had recovered and was now dancing along the girders, Hayato in hot pursuit. Akane could see that he was taking two meters for every meter she travelled - there was no way Ukyou could get away. Akane turned to ask Ran what she thought, only to find the girl gone. A quick scan showed that she had leapt up to the second story herself, her body spinning acrobatically, camera flashing nearly continuously as she did.

"Happiyaku Randa!" Hayato screamed as his hand flashed. A swarm of tiny balls streaked through the air at Ukyou, threatening to catch her in mid-leap. Ukyou only smirked and kicked out, catching a beam and bouncing clear. Akane blinked as the balls drilled dents into the thick steel girders. Ukyou didn't even give them a second glance before landing on the third story of the building to be.

Hayato hesitated for a moment, then leapt to join her. He shifted his grip on his weapon, clutching it by the needle-thin point. He landed and began to swing his weapon like a mace. Ukyou backflipped, avoiding each strike by a hair's breadth. Metallic clangs echoed across the yard as his misses knocked welts into the I-beams.

"We better get moving," Ranma sighed as he leapt up. "We'll miss everything unless we keep up!"

"Hey! Wait for me!" Akane frowned. He knew damn well she couldn't leap that well.

"Hurry up, Akane," Ran called down as she sprinted after the departing fighters. Akane could hear the crowd moan and whine in disappointment. Well, she wasn't going to hang around to bear the brunt of their complaining. Sighing Akane adjusted the weights on her arms and jumped... only to land easily on the second story. "Stop looking so shocked," Ran called back as she continued to pursue the battle.

"Uh... right," Akane mumbled. It was only a second before she caught up with everyone else. Ukyou and Hayato were now fencing back and forth on the third level.

"You can't run away!" Hayato shouted as he drilled his needle at Ukyou. Ukyou only smirked and faded to the right. The dodge took her feet off the beam, but she just let herself drop. A quick flip of her staff and it caught firmly between two beams. Ukyou spun, looping around her weapon like a gymnast and launched herself airborne again. Hayato had already leapt down to pursue her. Akane almost regretted not being able to see his expression when her feet rocketed into his gut.

"What's the matter, Hayato?" Ukyou called as she landed easily on the fourth story of the building. This level was only half-completed, and huge gaps existed between several of the upright beams. Hayato had still managed to land on one of them. He crouched there, clutching his gut and glaring at her through his mask. "Afraid I might leave the site, and take away your advantage?"

"W-what?" the boy shouted.

"You don't think I didn't know your plan?" Ukyou sneered. "You knew I was at a disadvantage here, that's why you set the fight in this site."

"I see..." Hayato chuckled. "You saw through my plan. But you still can't win. I've spent eight years studying your style! You can't possibly defeat me!"

Hayato exploded from his perch. His needle drove towards Ukyou's chest, and she casually snapped her bo to intercept. Hayato crowed in triumph and twisted his weapon, spinning it so fast Akane only saw a blur. Ukyou's staff spun with it, and for a moment Akane thought the spin had wrenched it out of her hands. But Ukyou didn't look like she had been caught off-guard. In fact, she was already dropping to her knees and driving a perfect sweep into Hayato's unguarded shins.

"NO!" Hayato shouted as his balance left him. He released his needle, and grabbed desperately for the beam. His hands grabbed it just seconds before Ukyou finished her second rotation, swinging her other leg up into his face.

The retort of her foot driving into his mask echoed in the silence of the yard for a second. Then Hayato started shouting in pain as he flew across the site. Still he managed to right himself and land on his feet instead of dropping four stories to the ground. Ukyou was already leaping down, retrieving her bo staff before it clattered to the floor.

"Go Ukyou!" Akane shouted. She had landed next to Ranma, but could see him looking on with a frown on his face. "Hey, what's the matter, Ranma?"

"Huh? Oh... nothing..." Ranma mumbled in distraction.

"How...?" Hayato adjusted his mask as he began to walk towards Ukyou. "I know all your moves..."

"You knew the moves I used ten years ago, idiot," Ukyou chuckled. "Did you really think I wouldn't improve in the meantime?"

"I guess I underestimated you," Hayato called back. Akane could hear the smirk in his voice. "Then this time, no fancy tricks!"

Akane could only barely follow as Hayato sprinted across the beams towards Ukyou. Ukyou met him, blocking a flurry of punches and kicks with her nimble staff. Akane cheered. Ukyou was holding her own, even beating him back!

Then Ukyou rocketed back, her body going limp until it collided perfectly with a horizontal beam behind her. Hayato was left standing, his fist extended from his punch. He drew back his hand even as Ukyou slid down to sit straddling another I-beam. Hayato was massaging his knuckles.

"We should step in, Ukyou's in trouble," Doctor Tofu said, startling Akane with his proximity.

"What? But she's doing so well..." Akane responded.

"No, watch the fight. Ukyou's just... weaker than Hayato," Tofu answered softly. Akane turned to Ranma, but she could see him staring intently at the battle. His fingers quivered, wanting desperately to form into the fists that he was refusing to let them. "Hayato is faster and tougher; stronger, too, from the looks of it."

"You're wrong," Akane hissed back. "Ranma just said that he knows Ukyou can win."

"Ranma doesn't know what I know," Doctor Tofu informed her. "She could win. But her heart isn't in this battle. She's not willing to risk what it would take to achieve victory. And that's a good thing."

"I hope you're wrong, Doc," Ranma muttered. Nearby, Ran only took pictures. But her expression was worried too.

01010

Ukyou leapfrogged over Hayato's kick. Her staff sung through the air. Its arc should have connected with Hayato's temple. Somehow, he blocked with one forearm, leaving the other arm free to grab her ankle. The world flashed and spun as he threw her towards the ground. Aaron regained his balance before her, and turned a potential face-first crash into a merely painful feet-first collision. They'd managed to hold onto their staff, however.

Acting on instinct, Ukyou rolled forward. The ground gave off an almost musical crash behind her. Aaron could feel Hayato, like a breath of hot air, turning to strike them. Ukyou flattened them against the ground and felt something heavy pass through her hair. Hayato had retrieved his needle-like weapon, it seemed.

Ukyou handsprung backward, hoping to catch Hayato off-guard. She almost did. Her foot connected with his chest, but it didn't drive him from his feet. Bouncing off his rock hard muscle, Ukyou spun in the air to land a few meters away, facing him.

Hayato wasn't taunting now. His needle came in fast and often. Its vicious metal point scrapped the fabric of her coat as she backpedalled furiously. Her counterstrike drove Hayato back. He backflipped away as a cloud of dust billowed in the wake of Ukyou's slash.

Unwilling to surrender more of the momentum, Ukyou charged. Aaron had trained with the staff, and Ukyou knew the fundamentals from her own polearm techniques. That was the reason they had paused to purchase this weapon before the fight. It had been a strange impulse, considering that until Ranma had made his speech they had been planning on throwing this fight. But now she was just as glad she had given into that impulse.

Hayato was now on the defensive. The synergy of her and Aaron's skill was something Ukyou could draw on. It allowed her to spin the weapon about her and strike from odd and deceptive angles. Again and again she seemed committed to an attack, only to halt the motion with one of her own limbs and suddenly reverse it back at him. The staff bent and warped like a piece of rubber in her grip and Hayato's cumbersome needle could barely keep up.

But it WAS keeping up.

Ukyou knew she wasn't getting anywhere three seconds into her assault. When her arms began to tire and the breath in her lungs began to burn, she knew she had to change tactics. But she couldn't think of anything else to do. Hayato knew all her okonomiyaki-based tricks, and had trained for years specifically to defeat them. Aaron was no help, his vaunted tactical expertise having failed them.

He was too fast to catch! Maybe... maybe with Aaron's chi supplementing her own Ukyou could meet or exceed his speed. But it wasn't worth it. It was just Hayato. Even if she lost, it was just humiliation that awaited her. So what if she disappointed Ranma? Killing herself to defeat one man was not a good bargain.

When Ukyou made her first clean miss Hayato punished her with a vicious thrust to the gut. Even as pain exploded through her brain Ukyou was grateful she had forced him to switch to his blunt end. Her face and side screamed and burned as she was sent skidding across the dirt.

Ukyou clawed into the ground, dragging herself to a stop. She was already rolling to her feet as she did, and thus avoided a swarm of takoyaki balls. Unthinkingly she snapped her hands into her pocket and flung some of her spatulas in return. She didn't even see how Hayato dodged them, she just assumed he did. Even as she threw she turned her roll into a backflip.

The world rolled as she arched up into the second story. The metal she landed on quivered. She couldn't see anything except the stretch of the girders in all directions. Then Aaron felt her danger sense twitch in the back of her neck and she ducked.

A second later she was tumbling forward to the ground. As she did she saw Hayato with his needle jammed into the girder she had been standing on. The veins in his neck bulged as he tried to withdraw it. He was vulnerable!

Acting on impulse, Ukyou swung her staff in a tight circle and flicked it towards him. The bo spun in the air like a buzzsaw. Hayato gasped a milli- second before it collided with his face. Ukyou smirked in victory. Thankfully Aaron had the presence of mind to finish their tumble and land feet first on the hard-packed dirt.

Hayato was plummeting in front of them, stunned by the face shot. Ukyou could see their weapons tumbling just behind him. She dashed forward, ignoring her weapons, hoping to catch him still vulnerable. She saw his face jerk in her direction too late, and his kick caught her dead in the chest.

Ukyou stopped cold. The air had been driven from her lungs and her breasts had exploded in agony. Hayato wasn't finished. He caught her chin with a simple but effective haymaker. Ukyou collapsed, flashing stars blurred everything out of her vision. Somehow she found the presence of mind to roll away. All she needed was a few moments to catch her breath. Just a few moments!

Amazingly, she found them. Ukyou blinked the stars from her eyes, and gulped air until her lungs felt steady. She rose to her crouch, then, using a beam for support, fully to her feet. She even managed to pull herself into a competent stance once the world stopped rocking under her feet.

"I'm very impressed, Ukyou," Hayato called from behind her. Ukyou turned around to face him. He had retrieved his weapon and stood with it balanced on his shoulder, samurai style. Ukyou narrowed her eyes, able to see her own staff lying in the dirt at his feet. "You want this?" Hayato nodded his head towards it. Ukyou paused, unsure how to react. "Have it."

Hayato kicked the weapon into the air and Ukyou caught it just before it collided with her. She spun it a few times and then settled herself down with one tip pointed straight at him.

"Thank you," Ukyou said sincerely.

"It won't matter," Hayato replied with a chuckle. "You fight with it like an amateur!" Ukyou felt anger rising in her chest. "In fact, this style you are using now... you're even more sloppy with it than you are with your old one!"

"If the only reason you stopped was to make fun of me, we might as well begin fighting again," Ukyou growled.

"I'm not making fun of you," Hayato switched to an aggressive stance. "I'm just honestly curious about why you would abandon your art. I thought your family's art meant something to you. I thought this fight was about a noble dedication to your fighting and your cooking. But you have abandoned that."

"Abandoned..." Ukyou gasped. "I haven't abandoned my cooking! It's still my dream to open an okonomiyaki restaurant!"

"Is it?" Hayato cocked his head to the side. "Maybe it is, but you certainly don't have the respect for it you once did! I bet your cooking is terrible."

Ukyou felt her knuckles straining as she gripped her staff tightly. How dare he! What did he know about her life? He couldn't judge her and her dedication to cooking! She loved cooking. She just... hadn't had enough time to focus on it. It just... didn't seem as important anymore.

"Listen, Hayato," Ukyou strained out. She was getting angry, and she knew that probably wasn't healthy. She pulled the rage back. Forced it down, deep into her soul and buried it. She didn't want to lose her temper over this jerk. "Listen, Hayato," she repeated much more calmly. "This fight is meaningless. I came here intending to throw it. It's only about a stupid childish promise. I have no grudge with you, and you have no reason to fight me. If it makes you feel better, than consider this my submission. You win the fight. Now you can take off that stupid mask."

Ukyou breathed a sigh of relief. She could see that her words had caught Hayato off-guard. He was standing there like a man who had just had just discovered his most trusted ideals were a pack of lies. Ukyou didn't really care about what he thought. This fight was over. She wasn't going to get beaten up anymore over it, and she couldn't win. So why bother?

Ukyou turned away. She could see her friends gathered nearby now. Akane and Ran and Tsubasa and Tofu and, especially, Ranma. Ukyou wasn't sure if that was disappointment or relief she saw on Ranma's face. She wasn't sure if it mattered. Either one struck her to the core. But she knew that it was pointless to continue. She wasn't the hero. There was no need to win this battle. There was no point...

"FINE! Abandon your honor, you asshole!"

Ukyou glanced idly over her shoulder. Hayato had steadied his stance. Now his shoulders quivered and his head shook with rage. Ukyou could even see it, his aura, rippling lightly around his body, a deep and angry red.

"You're right, I was stupid to come here. I was stupid because I expected to meet an honourable opponent! I thought you would be the same fighter who defeated me all those years ago. I thought you would be proud and dedicated and strong in your belief. I didn't come here to challenge you just because I wanted to get rid of this mask!" Hayato jerked a thumb towards his face. "What do you think I am? A fool? Sure, every day I lived with this thing on my face was a year in hell. But I endured it! I endured because I believed that it reminded me that you were out there, ahead of me. I knew that when you defeated me that day, it was because you had achieved a higher level of commitment to your art than I had.

"How could I ever take this mask off, until I had achieved that same level of commitment? That same level of attunement to the essence of cooking and fighting that you had? I wore this mask because I respected you too much to ever take it off. Everyday I woke up with it on, I knew I had yet to exceed you. I respected you, I admired you... I think, a little bit, I wanted to be you. But I see that was a lie."

Hayato's voice had grown melancholy as he spoke. Ukyou could only stare at him. There was nothing like this from Aaron's manga memories. There was no depth to Hayato beyond his joke and his fighting style. Was there?

"Seeing you like this... I know how pathetic you really are. You're a fraud, Ukyou!" Ukyou staggered as if struck. Hayato's voice contained so much menace. "The warrior I once knew is dead, if that Ukyou ever even existed." Ukyou stared at him. Her mouth opened...

(Kodachi froze. "The Chris... you knew..." she repeated slowly. "Who's the Chris you knew? Who the fuck ARE you?")

"I AM UKYOU KUONJI!" Ukyou roared. She could feel her temper unraveling, slowly, like a fruit peel. And she didn't care.

"You may be," Hayato spat. "But you aren't the person I grew up with. You're a fraud, and an embarrassment to the memory of your ancestors."

"SHUT UP!" Ukyou screamed, her voice cracking hoarse. Aaron moaned in the back of her mind. She could feel his anxiety, feel him getting wrapped up in her anger. He knew what was coming, but like Ukyou could do nothing to stop it. It was like watching a train wreck, unable to stop it, too horrified to turn away. She could feel darkness creeping in at the edge of her awareness...

"Don't like to hear the truth?" Hayato said with a sneer in his voice. "Now you know how I feel. I believed in you, Ukyou, even as I hated you. Imagine how I feel, knowing that I spent my life dedicated to the defeat of a person who no longer exists."

In the stories, when the hero finally snaps, finally loses all control it is usually accompanied by words like 'explosion', or 'inferno' or even 'break'. The hero usually feels that mental snap, like a twig cracking in their mind. Then it's all screams and roars and bloody battle to the death.

But Ukyou was no hero.

She recognized this feeling. This odd disconnect that came over her. She couldn't remember from where, but it must have been one of Aaron's memories. It was like all her rage, her pain had been snuffed out at once, leaving only a icy emptiness. The world, her problems, everything... it was like they had suddenly become crystal clear. Everything seemed so simple, so small and pointless. Even Aaron's presence, his incessant pressure in her brain, had been eased. He was still there, but it seemed like they were clashing less. Then she realized why... they were thinking less contrarily now. Not two minds in one, constantly battering thoughts and emotions and impulses off each other. Instead, it was like they were running along the same tracks now. Beyond the darkness she felt suddenly free from anger and fear and pressure.

She liked it.

When Ukyou began to laugh, Hayato stopped cold. Ukyou dropped her eyes to the ground and closed them, still chuckling. What did she care what Hayato thought now? What did she care what anyone thought? Even Tofu. She could feel that place inside her now. The strange energy that she had called Aaron's chi throbbed there. It seemed to be... resonating with her thoughts. With Aaron's thoughts as well.

Hayato dodged Ukyou's attack, but only barely. Her staff cut the air, shaving a few hairs from his head. Ukyou could see the air ripple, then break before the force of her attack. She stared, fascinated. The wind was ripping apart in front of her. It wasn't some cheap special effect. It was the very air, parting for her strike!

Hayato thought she was vulnerable and stabbed his needle at her side. Aaron smoothly rolled their staff into position to block. Hayato was moving slower now; it was easy to deflect his attack. Even as he did so, Ukyou shifted her weight. Hayato stumbled, suddenly thrown off-balance as his staff was caught and released. Then Ukyou stepped behind him and elbowed him in the spine.

The boy's feet floated off the ground, a bubble of dust blasting out in front of him as his body went limp. Aaron knew Hayato was going to fly forward any second, but before he did Aaron drove a vicious palm into his kidney. The palmstrike was like a cannonshot, and Hayato flashed across the construction yard. He crashed face-first into a horizontal beam, just like Aaron had planned.

"Ukyou, no!"

Ukyou turned to see Tofu running towards them. His face was so concerned. Ukyou turned away from him and began to walk towards Hayato again. Aaron had seen him stirring. It looked like she would get to beat him up some more. She smiled at the thought.

"Ukyou, you have to stop using that power!" Tofu grabbed her shoulder. "It'll kill you!"

"Remove your hand," Ukyou informed Tofu coldly. "I have a fight to finish." Hayato had already risen to his feet. Somehow he had managed to retain his hold on his weapon, and he was using it to brace himself.

"Ukyou, you have to stop... you're already bleeding..."

Ukyou rubbed her lips with the back of her hand. The blood she saw smeared on her fist confirmed his statement. She couldn't keep this up much longer. But everything was working now...

"Ukyou, if you keep using that non-chi you'll kill yourself!"

"Thank you, Doctor," Aaron said slowly, then removed Tofu's hand. That was it. It wasn't chi. They couldn't use it like chi. In fact, they shouldn't be able to use it like chi. Ukyou started them forward. She could see the anger and fear radiating from Hayato in waves.

Aaron concentrated, focusing chi through their body. In a moment they could feel it seeping out of their skin. Their aura must have become visible just then. Their muscles and nerves sang as they became supercharged. Then Aaron focused that strange energy... and he felt no more chi seeping from Ukyou's skin. It wasn't chi. But it was altering the chi... forcing it through channels that Ukyou had never conceived of before. It wasn't working like chi, it was altering the way chi worked... that's what was hurting them.

"So I see you were a fraud all along," Hayato hissed once they were within earshot. He had managed to regain his balance, and stood ready to face them. "Come on then, let's finish this!"

"Yes... let's," Ukyou murmured. Aaron already had an idea. A dangerous idea. But neither of them could care less if it turned back against them. They laughed. "Come at me, Hayato. I'll finish this fight with one blow!"

"So will I!" Hayato screamed and dashed towards them. He was no longer moving in slow motion, now that they had stopped forcing their chi to work ten times as hard. His speed was startling, and Ukyou could see the glint of his needle as he drove it at her. Aaron reached out; he could still see the angry chi radiating from Hayato. He could touch it, moments before Hayato himself approached.

It was a bit more Wind Scar than Hiryuu Shoten Ha, but Aaron let the energy collide with Ukyou's. Hayato's hot spirit rolled and sparked against the cold detached energy that flooded Ukyou's body and her aura. It formed a crack, a void where the hot and the cold cancelled each other out. Aaron drove his own chi into that crack like a wedge, felt it widen as the Hayato's aura split apart around him. It was working! The power of Hayato's aura swirled around them, a plume of dust tracing its path as it spiraled away from Ukyou's outstretched hand.

"It's over!" Hayato shouted as he reached them. His needle thrust forward, coming within an inch of Ukyou's stomach before she completed the technique. It took only one uppercut, a single strike with all her chi focused right through that crack!

"SPIRITUS FRACTA TURBONIS!"

Ukyou timed her attack just right. Her strike not only caught the crack, but flashed past and impacted dead center on Hayato's mask. For a fraction of a second, time seemed to stand still as the boy hung in the air on the edge of her fist. Then the maelstrom came. To call it a whirlwind would have been an insult. The air literally sheared apart, forming a funnel of complete emptiness around which the winds of the earth shrieked and circled. Hayato floated for a second in that void, the flakes of his mask falling from his squashed and ugly face. His mouth gasped for precious air that wasn't coming... then the laws of nature reasserted themselves and all the air rushed in to fill the vacuum Ukyou had created. For Hayato, it must have been like being hit by a Mack truck from every direction at once.

Ukyou threw her hand in front of her face, her feet digging briefly into the ground as it threatened to drag her in. Then the maelstrom ended, and there was a deceptively quiet thump as Hayato collapsed to the ground. Ukyou pulled down her arm and looked at him. He was finished. His eyes were still open, but he had curled up into the fetal position and was moaning in agony.

"You... won..." Tofu called out breathlessly.

"Woah... Ukyou... how the... how did you do that?" Ranma cried as he ran over. Ukyou just stared at him, feeling odd as she watched him approach. He seemed so excited, so proud, so curious all at once. But for some reason Ukyou didn't feel as... concerned about his feelings as she had before. She realized the mental numbness was only now beginning to wear off. She felt... woozy and strange.

"That was quite the finishing move," Ran said as she moved in behind Ranma.

"It's... not over..."

Ukyou looked down. Hayato had grabbed weakly at her ankle. His face was squashed and covered in dark circles and smudges from the years it had spent hidden by his mask. Thin red lines oozed across his cheeks from where Ukyou's attack had driven shards of the plastic into his skin. He had crawled over to her on his belly, like a worm. She felt a flare of hot annoyance and a bit of fear.

"I won't let a fraud like you... beat me..." Hayato gasped. "I'll be back... stronger..."

"No," Ukyou informed him. She kicked her ankle free and raised it up. It was really the only convenient solution to the problem. "You won't." With a brief burst of Aaron's chi, she drove her heel straight into his spine, right at the shoulders. The crack was almost silent, and yet echoed deafeningly across the yard. Hayato's mouth opened but no sound came out. His eyes seemed to fade, then he collapsed in front of her. Ukyou pulled her foot away.

"UKYOU!" Tofu shouted. He moved faster than Ukyou had ever seen him move, virtually materializing by Hayato's side. "He's... not dead..." Tofu sighed in relief as he checked the boy's vitals.

Ukyou didn't mention how she had altered the trajectory of her kick at the last second. It would have been so easy to kill him. But breaking his spine would be just as effective in getting rid of him. Still... Ukyou didn't feel right. The numbing cold had mostly vanished from her brain. The action she had taken a few seconds ago had seemed so logical, so right... now... now...

"My god, Ukyou, you broke his spine!" Tofu looked up and glared at her, and she couldn't meet his accusing eyes. "He was defeated! You didn't have to..." Tofu trailed off.

"I... didn't mean to..." Ukyou lied. Aaron shuddered inside her mind. They had meant to. They had meant to do more than that, but hadn't. Thank whatever gods existed, they hadn't.

"Ukyou..." Akane's voice was full of fear. Ukyou couldn't look at her either. She stumbled away. She felt nauseous. Her staff was lying nearby, and for some reason she tumbled to her knees beside it. She had dropped it before her final attack. "Ukyou, what happened there, it was like you became a maniac..."

Before Aaron's final attack! It had been his idea! He was to blame!

(And who decided to break Hayato's spine?)

"SHUT UP!" Ukyou shouted to the air.

She turned, realizing that the others must have thought she was talking to them. She could see everyone standing away from her. Even Ranma. Sweet, forgiving Ranma. He was looking at her in a way he never had before. She couldn't stand that look in his eyes. Unable to endure their stares, Ukyou scooped up her staff and fled.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Well, there goes our readership.

Epsilon: What readership?

Blade: The readership we had that though the fanfic was too dark back in chapter, I dunno, three.

Epsilon: Maybe if we start with Ukyou having hawt lesbian SEXXORZ each chapter, they'll come back!

Blade: What an odd suggestion, coming from you.

Epsilon: Well, since I don't have any interest in sex, I don't write the sex scenes, which means you have to, which means less work, which means... BONUS!

Blade: ...

Epsilon: In other news, I remember promising you (the readers, that is, not Blade) way back in Chapter 1 that I'd explain any of the special move names that needed to be translated. Sure, it wasn't in Japanese, but hey, if you're going to have a pretentious move name, why not have it in the most pretentious language of them all: LATIN!

Blade: ...

Epsilon: Spiritus Fracta Turbonis means "Spirit-Breaking Tornado", or close enough. So now you know!

Blade: ...I hate you.

Epsilon: Apparently I have to do all the talking this time, so I'll also point out that we've now added summaries at the top of each Hybrid Theory chapter, some of which are amusing! Assuming you find our brand of humour amusing.

Blade: ...I still hate you, you spine-snapping jerkoff.

Epsilon: Also, we've gotten someone to reformat the fics so they are legible on and its ilk. Not that we LIKE that formatting, and we still encourage people to come to triple-w dot bladeandepsilon dot com (spelled that way because fanfiction-net strips out URL, even non-clickable ones) and see the PROPER book formatting, as well as all our neat extras... but at least if you're reading from and other such places, you can actually READ it now. Which has to be considered an improvement.

Blade: Thanks to David Barbour for his hard work and tireless attempts to tell me that it doesn't matter how its formatted! Okay, only for the former. Thanks also to anybody who actually had the tenacity to read it on these sites up until now, because god knows -I- wouldn't have. Also, I still hate you. By "you", I mean Epsilon.

Epsilon: I'll live somehow.

Blade: Next time we meet in the fic, I'm TOTALLY going to kick your ass. Again.

Epsilon: Sure. Perhaps that will happen... NEXT CHAPTER!

HER 'OLD FRIEND' OCCHAN HAD A FUCKING SPATULA FOR A HEAD! Where did he put his goddamn -brain-!

Hybrid Theory Chapter 10: One Step Closer

Blade: Wait. That's it?

Epsilon: I thought it was poignant and moving. Also, everything else is a big spoiler.

Blade: ...I hate you.


	10. One Step Closer

Extra! Extra! Catch it here first, folks! This is your one and only chance to get THE straight scoop. One hundred percent pure authorial oversight perception is what this plucky reporter has been granted, and since these meanies tell me I'm going to lose it soon, I better make it count!

Your humble narrator, the beautiful and eloquent Ran Hibiki, has found herself increasingly drawn into the world of Ukyou and her friends. It appears Ukyou has problems, as her bizarre split personality is getting to her and making her more violent. Just last chapter, she went nuts and broke the spine of her old arch- rival Hayato Myoujin. This is after she went totally uber-bitch on Ranma's mother, then Ranma, then Akane. And now, she has vanished!

Meanwhile, Chris, the undead body-stealer is up to his old tricks, so to speak. He got Pink and Link to help him kill Sentarou Daimonji so he could replace his rotting old body and steal the boy's martial arts tea ceremony mad wind ninja skills! In exchange for their help, Pink and Link are looking to grab some of the mitama... which are these funky blue seeds that turn things into monsters and which Chris failed to retrieve last time he tried because this carrot- skinned guy named Kusanagi broke it.

In other news, Nabiki is trying to acquire Ukyou's title of queen bitch by tricking Ryouga into thinking he raped her. Also, Cologne is trying to defend her old title by toying with her great grand-daughter's destiny by using the info Chris gave her way back to push Shampoo into a confrontation in Nerima Shampoo isn't really prepared for. Darn, that sentence ran on... oh well, that's what editors are for!

So lay down your bets folks, because the Tokyo bitch-fest contest continues! Who IS the most vile, manipulative customer in all of Hybrid Theory? Find out next, because your humble reporter does not have a clue!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 10: One Step Closer

"Hey, stud, you heard the latest news?"

Ranma looked up from the spiral he had etched into the sand in the lot behind Tofu's. Ran was leaning on the fence, her head resting on her folded arms. Her ever-present camera was hanging down in front of her, and she was carrying a rolled-up newspaper in one hand. Seeing she had his attention, Ran vaulted the fence, her long black ponytail streaming out behind her as she landed in the back lot.

"I thought that was your department," Ranma grumbled. He wasn't very happy with Ran at the moment, and let that show in his voice.

"What's your problem?" Ran asked, puzzled. She knelt down next to him.

"You're the one who printed that stuff about my best buddy going psycho and breaking somebody's spine!" Ranma accused.

"Uh... Ranma. Ukyou did go psycho and break somebody's spine," Ran pointed out mildly. "I just told the truth. That's kind of my job."

"Oh..." Ranma blinked. "I guess I hadn't thought about it like that."

"Well, do so next time, you lummox," Ran snickered as she rapped his head with her knuckles good-naturedly. Ranma made a show of rubbing his head and frowning at her, but there was no real malice behind it. Ran was right. It was just the truth. Heck, he wasn't sure he really wanted to think that deeply about it himself. So... he didn't.

"Anyway," Ranma said, dismissing the previous subject. "What brings you here?"

"The giant monster attacking the ship out in the middle of Tokyo Bay," Ran pointed out with a shrug.

"Well, Tokyo Bay is all the way over on the other side of town, so what... did you say giant monster?"

"Yes," Ran giggled.

"Oh." Ranma nodded. "Just checking."

"I just thought I'd come over to see if you guys knew anything about it," Ran shrugged, adjusting her thick vest with her free hand. "With all the weirdos that keep showing up around you guys, I just thought I'd check before heading over."

"You're going to the monster attack?"

"Naturally," Ran smirked and held up her camera. "Of course, I won't get the scoop on this one. But I plan on at least getting some good shots I can sell to local papers."

"Well then," Ranma stood up from and dusted off his knees. "Let's get going, then?"

"Us?" Ran blinked.

"Yeah, us," Ranma frowned. "You want a scoop, right?" Ranma smirked and rolled his neck. "How does, 'Ranma Saotome kills monster! Saves city!' sound to you?"

"Heh. Trying to follow in Ukyou's footsteps?"

"Nah. I'm just thinking, you know. Ukyou is a monster hunter. There is a giant monster to kill. So if I show up and help, I'll probably get to talk to Ukyou again. Which I kinda need to do after what happened yesterday. The fact that I will get some of the glory never entered my thinking at all!" Ranma shot out the last part in indignation.

"Right," Ran drawled and rolled her eyes.

"Besides, you're going and it could be dangerous," Ranma said as he led the way out of the lot. He and Ran leapt up to a neighbouring rooftop, where they paused to orient themselves. "If anything goes wrong, I want to make sure someone's there to protect you."

"I'm capable of defending myself," Ran pointed out as they took off at a brisk pace across the rooftops. It might have been faster to go by car or bus, since Ranma still hadn't learned how to maintain top speed for an extended period of time. Yet Ranma preferred the direct approach, and Ran didn't seem to have any objections.

"I know that," Ranma chuckled. "I didn't say I needed to protect you, Ran. I said I wanted to protect you."

"I..." Ran trailed off oddly. Ranma looked over at her and saw she was blushing a little and giving him an odd look. Ranma shrugged it off. Girls always acted weird, and just because he turned into one on occasion didn't mean he understood them any better. "Right..." Ran cleared her throat. "But you're mainly going to try and find Ukyou?"

"Yeah," Ranma nodded seriously. Their conversation paused as they both sprinted to build up speed for a leap over a wide road. Ranma made it with ease, but Ran only got her toes on the edge of the roof. He caught her hand and pulled her up, accepting her silent nod of thanks with a nod of his own.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"What do you see in him? I mean, besides him being a better fighter than you and you can learn from him..."

"Ukyou isn't a better fighter than me," Ranma interrupted her. Seeing her disbelieving look, Ranma decided it was time to remove a few false impressions from her mind. "It's true. Ask anyone who knows the two of us well. Tofu, Akane... I'm just faster, stronger, tougher, more skilled. I am better, in every way, than Ukyou." Ranma said it without a hint of conceit in his voice. It wasn't bragging if you were just telling the truth.

"But you were studying under him, weren't you?"

"Yes," Ranma nodded. "Just because I'm better than Ukyou doesn't mean I can't learn from... him." Ranma swished his tongue around in his mouth, searching for the right way to say what he meant. "I respect Ukyou, as a fighter. He may not be as good as me... but he has the same spirit. The same drive to win. Maybe even more. The people Ukyou has fights with are... good. Real good. They're tricky and strong. Yet... Ukyou wins. Not by being strong or tough, but by sheer force of will. By thinking fast and never giving up, ya know?" Ranma wasn't sure if he was getting across, so he tried rephrasing it one more time. "When I win, it's because I'm better than my opponent. When Ukyou wins... it's because she wants it more than the other guy." Ranma nodded. "That's why I respect Ukyou's skill. That's the talent I want to pick up."

"I see..." Ran trailed off again. "Wait, did you just say 'she'?"

"Did I?" Ranma laughed nervously. "Wow! That was stupid! Why would I say something stupid that might suggest Ukyou is really a girl? That's just silly!"

"Ranma..." Ran drew out his name menacingly. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"No!" Ranma insisted, starting to sweat.

"Aha! I knew it! Sorry to say, but you are a terrible liar, stud," Ran smirked. "So spill the beans. You know I'm just going to get you to tell me anyway, so why fight it?"

"Fight what?" Ranma laughed, quickening his pace so he was slightly outdistancing Ran. She pushed to catch up.

"You can't escape from the free press!"

"We'll just see about that!" Ranma upped his speed a notch, and Ran continued to chase him across Tokyo.

01010

Chris hopped down from the rooftop and began walking along the street. A quick glance back confirmed that Pink and Link were there, though he couldn't tell which was which under the cloaks they were wearing.

"Why are we slowing down, over?" An irritated tone; that one on the left would be Link, then.

"We're close," he replied. "I saw a police helicopter, so I want to avoid attracting attention until we're closer." Link made an impatient noise, but seemed to acquiesce for the moment. Chris, however, was a little anxious himself. Police helicopter, or the TAC? If they beat the jellyfish aragami before he could get there, it wouldn't be good. Still, he was pretty sure that in that episode, they hadn't succeeded until very late at night. It was only around one in the morning; plenty of time, with any luck. Maybe.

Hopefully this would help smooth things over with Link. She was his favourite of the twins, and more importantly, definitely the NICER of the two, always running around saving people from Pink's poisons. She'd even saved Ranma's life twice in the manga...granted, once was when she didn't know the female Ranma was 'Shampoo's husband', and once was to save her own skin, but still. Link was essentially a good person, unlike her sister. She was no Akane, but it still bothered him how much she disliked him. Was his very existence that distasteful to her?

He shook off those thoughts. With any luck, he'd be alive again soon. But first things first. They were growing near to Tokyo Bay now. In the distance, he could spot the target, though he couldn't make out any other details in the gloom. Still, there was no mistaking it: a single ship in the water, with nothing else anywhere near it.

Nothing at all? He saw police boats moored nearby, but nothing visibly near the ship. They must have been pulled back. Irksome, but not a big problem. "Pink? Let's get a boat."

He could almost sense her grin. "No problem, over."

He glanced around as the poison-loving twin did her work. Nobody seemed to be around other than the police; cleared out, or was this just not a popular spot for drunken salarymen? Maybe a bit of both. In any case, he stepped forward as the last few police slumped over, sleeping peacefully. None of them had had a chance to raise any sort of ruckus. After removing the occupants of one of the small boats, he and the twins climbed in. Good thing he could drive a boat. Well, sort of. Well, at least enough to go in a straight line.

"Are you two ready to go?" he yelled over the roar of the engine. Another reason to be glad the twins were here. He remembered from the anime Blue Seed that this monster Link had sensed was like a monstrous jellyfish, and its flesh was very acidic, styming all attempts by Kusanagi and the TAC to defeat it until Matsudaira (the scientist) had come up with the idea to solidify its mostly-liquid form with a large quantity of the polymers they used in diapers to solidify liquid waste, thus rendering it able to be destroyed. He'd at first been thinking that he'd get some large bags of salt to do a similar trick, but Pink and Link pooh-poohed the idea upon hearing it. After all, they pointed out, water was something plants consumed. They were confident that they could come up with something to suck out the fluid from the creature, making its mitama easy pickings.

"Don't worry about us," Pink yelled back. "Just make sure you keep that plant-guy out of our way, over."

Oh well. Wouldn't be too glorious-looking for him this time, fighting off the heroes. But worth it for a little peace of mind with his allies. "I'll make sure of it, but you two be careful. Remember, that thing has lots of tentacles to attack with, and it's acidic enough to eat through steel." It was true...as they drew nearer the afflicted cruise ship, he saw the dark shape looming over the bow. The metal there was quite damaged from the creature's corrosive form, the hull eroded and split. Not down to the waterline yet, though.

"Don't worry about us. Just do your job, over," Link called back. She didn't sound as annoyed or standoffish as usual, though. More... excited. She must have been already looking forward to finally getting her hands on the mitama...or maybe it was simply the thrill of the moment.

Either way, it made this worth it. Chris smiled. "Can do. You two ready to jump?"

"Ready, over!"

"Then let's do it!" Wheeling the boat parallel to the cruise ship and cutting the motor, he stepped back, grabbed the twins around their waists, and leaped. Legs far stronger than any on the Earth he'd been born to carried them easily up and over the railing. He landed lightly on a walkway just behind the bow and released Pink and Link. This was it.

The first thing he saw was Kusanagi. The orange-skinned man was standing about eight meters in front of them, one hand in the pocket of his red trenchcoat, the other rubbing the back of his head. Before him was the likely object of his consternation. The jellyfish aragami was about two stories tall, and twice that wide. It was a dark purple in colour, aside from the dozens of glistening red eyes (well, eye-like things) ringed around its 'lip'. And there was the tentacles. Thankfully, none of them were phallus-shaped, but there were dozens of them, pale, and flailing around threateningly. It seemed to still be agitated from Kusanagi (presumably) attacking it before they'd arrived.

He stepped forward. Time to be a suitable distraction. "Hey, Kusanagi. Having a little trouble with this one?"

Kusanagi whipped around, glanced at him, obviously dismissed him in an instant, and started to turn back around again. "I don't have any idea who you are, but unless you want to get hurt, you should probably get out of here."

Chris rolled his eyes. Kusanagi was such an arrogant twat, at least before Murakumo showed up to kick his ass every other episode. "I don't think so. Actually, I'm here to retrieve the mitama from our translucent friend over there. I trust you have no problems with that?"

That got his attention again. "You -what-?"

He smiled. "Just what I said. I'm here to beat the aragami and take its mitama."

Kusanagi ran a hand through his short green hair and blinked oafishly a few times. Then he raised one finger and pointed it at Chris. "Okey-dokey. I have no idea who you are, but you obviously have some sort of problem, so for your own good I'm going to knock some sense into you and then, I dunno, drop you off the side of the ship." He paused, then added sarcastically, "If that's okay?"

Well, that was easier than he'd expected. Grinning, he leaped back onto the superstructure of the cruise ship. "Bring it, carrot-boy!"

01010

Link glanced idly in the direction Chris had drawn the strange hybrid plant/man with his taunts. She resisted the urge to follow. While the... whatever that boy Kusanagi was seemed fascinating, it wasn't their objective. Also, she had spotted at least two of those mitamas on the backs of his hands. Maybe once she had her hands on one of them herself, she could figure out everything she needed to know.

"Stop daydreaming, over," Pink hissed in her ear as she strode out onto the now empty deck. The crew of the ship had obviously been evacuated already. Link frowned more deeply than usual and followed her. Her sister paused just out of the reach of the aragami's tendrils. Link joined her, pulling back the hood of her cloak so she could more easily reach her stores of unguents and powders.

"It seems to be content to just sit there and dissolve things," Pink pointed out as she shook her head. "What a waste, over."

"You would prefer it start attacking us, over?" Link said as she rolled her eyes. Pink had, by now, joined her in laying out a selection of their most potent potions and infusions. Link ran a trained eye over the selection her sister was offering up, and began to remove those she saw as worthless for the current situation, while replacing them with ones she thought applied more. Pink mimicked her actions, correcting Link's mistakes even as Link corrected hers. This silent and comfortable exchange continued for a few seconds while they talked.

"Well, it needs to have a strong root system, over."

"Yes, but... it needs to also be able to drill through its hide and resist that acid, over."

"Unfortunately, most hardy plants like that don't absorb water quick enough, over."

"It can't rely on topiary, because there's not much sunlight, over."

"So, how about... if we splice something new and interesting together, over?"

"You always want to splice things. What's wrong with the tried and true approach, over?"

"Unless you missed it, this is not exactly a situation we have dealt with before, over."

"Yes, but you have to look at it from a different perspective! There are no plants that deal with this situation... but there are plants that suck up a lot of water because there isn't much available. We just have to... hypercharge one, over."

"Right, like a cactus! And it has spines, for the drilling! But for protection against the acid... we'll need something like the ironwood tree! Only... more iron-y, over."

"Hmm, I'm not sure about that, over..."

"You're right! It'll need to defend itself against the attacks of the aragami. So we mix in a little venus flytrap. You know, to eat the tentacles, over."

"No, what I meant was... is it really a good idea to randomly use an untested superweapon plant on this plant-based acidic monster whose origins and powers we do not even begin to understand, over?"

"What sort of nonsense is that, sister? We are the masters of plants and all things flora! What could possibly go wrong, over?"

"You're right. How silly of me. So, you ready now, over?"

"Yep, over."

"Then on three. One... two..."

01010

"Stupid ocean," Ranma complained as she hauled herself out of the water. Ran snickered down at her and couldn't resist getting a snap-shot of her expression. Ranma crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Ran. Ran dutifully ignored her and scampered up the anchor chain to the deck. It had been Ranma's idea to swim out to the ship, after all. She had no one to blame for her current gender but herself. Besides, she deserved a gentle ribbing for calling her carefully selected and economically useful Vest of Many Pockets (tm) a lifejacket.

The deck itself was deserted. Ran backed away, letting Ranma vault onto the woodpaneled deck. Ranma spent a few seconds wringing the sea water out of her shirt... a process which made Ran raise an eyebrow since it consisted of removing said shirt.

"Ever hear of feminine dignity, Ranma?"

"Is that the thing that makes girls always act stuck up?"

"Yes," Ran replied flatly. "That's it exactly."

"Then I guess I have," Ranma murmured as she replaced her shirt. Ran rolled her eyes at Ranma's casual insensitivity while checking to make sure their swim hadn't damaged her precious (and expensive) equipment. From what she had seen, there were no other reporters on the cruise ship. That meant only one thing...

Exclusive!

"Hey, earth to Ran," Ranma snapped her fingers in front of Ran's face. "We're on the other side of the ship and if I want to, ya know, save the day and everything... we'll have to go that-a-way." Ranma jerked her thumb towards the curve of the ship's hull.

"Lead the way then... look out!" Ran leapt back, only a fraction of a second slower than Ranma herself. The huge wire-mesh frame crashed down between them a moment later, caving in the wooden floor and sending a shower of sparks flying in all directions. Ran landed, shaking the ringing aftertone of the impact from her ears. It looked like a radar... thingie of some kind.

"What the..." Ranma muttered and looked up towards the top of the ship.

"STOP SITTING DOWN AND MOVING SO FAST, YOU JERK!" a voice echoed from on high.

"Friend of yours?" Ran asked.

"Uh..." Ranma rubbed the back of her neck. "Hang back a second while I check this out, will ya?"

"I thought I told you-"

Ran was cut off by a pair of feminine shrieks of pure terror. You know, the kind that always filled the soundtracks of horror films.

"Oh man," Ranma grumbled. "And it sounds like there's a cool battle going on up top, too." Ranma shook her head and dashed around the side of the ship. Ran glanced up, then after Ranma. Well... follow the story, you know.

Ran pursued Ranma. It took them only a few seconds to cross the deck and come along the bow of the ship. There Ran paused.

Well, she could certainly understand the shriek now. The thing that was perched on the bow was about four stories tall, covered in a thick purple shell that had thousands of spiny needles growing out of it in all directions. Each of the spines was dripping a noxious ooze that, when it hit the ground, ate through the steel with both disturbing speed and a painful-sounding hiss. Out from under that shell stretched dozens of tentacles, each tipped with a horrible, slime- covered mouth large enough to swallow a cow whole. A heart-stopping alien screech was being blasted from each of the mouths... reminded Ran of nothing so much as King Ghidora. A comparison she did not find exactly comforting.

"I thought it was supposed to be a jellyfish," Ran said through a nervous gulp.

"Sure don't look like no jellyfish I ever seen," Ranma felt the need to point out.

"...'what could go wrong', over! That's what you said, over!"

"There you go, blaming me for your own lack of forethought, over."

"MY LACK, OVER!"

"You're supposed to be the cautious one. It's your job to stop us from doing stupid things like this, over."

Ran looked down to see two teenage girls, wait, make that two identical teenage girls, huddled nervously just under one of the creature's many mouthy tendrils. Gobs of lethal acid were raining down about them, a fact they seemed to be ignoring in favor of continued recriminations.

"You two! Hold still, I'm coming!"

Ran didn't even bother to glance in Ranma's direction as she sprinted across the deck towards the... Cthuloid Monstrosity. Oh, she liked the ring of that. "Cthuloid Monstrosity Attacks Tokyo Bay!" Ran quoted into her recorder. That would sell a few papers.

Ran then realized she was missing the show. Flipping up her camera, she began to click rapid-fire pictures of Ranma's dramatic rescue. She had to admit, the boy-turned-girl had quite a few tricks up his sleeve. She zigged and zagged, flipping over and rolling under the flailing limbs of the Cthuloid Monstrosity with the ease of a trained circus monkey. The girls didn't even notice Ranma's approach until she had scooped them up, one in both arm. With a deceptively simple twist of her step Ranma somehow reversed her momentum and backflipped away from the creature, seconds before one of the gibbering mouths slammed into the girls' previous position with enough force to send a shower of debris three meters in all directions. Ranma then made her way back through the hell of swirling tentacles, the wide-eyed passengers on her arms clinging tightly to her (and flinging accusations at each other, but Ran would leave that part out of her article).

With a final grunt, Ranma flipped clear of the Cthuloid Monstrosity's reach. She spun elegantly, landing with a flourish directly in front of Ran. Somehow, she had twisted the two girls out of their vicelike grips on her and placed one on either side so Ranma could pose with her arms around their shoulders and fingers on both hands making "V"-signs. Ran lowered her camera.

"Hey, this is a great shot!" Ranma complained.

"I'm a reporter, not a PR rep, Ranma," Ran pointed out. Then she took the picture anyway.

"Hey, you're not Chris, over!" the one on the right shouted accusingly.

"Who are you, over?" Lefty added.

"Are you trying to steal my mitama, over?" Righty continued.

"Hey, I just saved your lives. You could be grateful," Ranma grumbled.

"Oh, fine, if you insist. Thank you for saving our lives. Now go away, over." Lefty said through her sneer.

"Yes, thank you, but we have this totally under control, over," the other frowned seriously.

"Uh-huh... right..." Ranma drawled sarcastically.

"Uh, guys..."

"We did! I'll have you know we had the perfect plan for killing that thing, over!"

"There were a few unexpected variables. But nothing outside our area of expertise, over."

"Guys..." Ran said, backing up a step.

"You have to be the most ungrateful chicks I have ever saved since that... wait... did you say 'Chris'?"

"GUYS!" Ran shouted, waving from her safe position ten meters down the deck.

"What? I'm busy!" Ranma shouted back.

"Monster!" Ran pointed.

"Oh, right," all three said simultaneously. With the twins adding "over". Then Ranma leapt straight up, barely avoiding another giant maw as it tried to swallow them whole.

"Geez," Ran muttered as she snapped pictures of their... 'heroic' escape. "Can't a girl remain a neutral observer around here?"

01010

"STOP SITTING DOWN AND MOVING SO FAST, YOU JERK!" Kusanagi spat as the radar tower tumbled down behind him. The boy was smirking at him and sitting only a few meters away, looking calm and collected in his jeans and black t- shirt. Kusanagi was beginning to hate that insufferable grin, and most of the face it was attached to. He smiled as he thought about how entertaining it would be to rearrange it into a more pleasant configuration.

"Hmmm. Let me consider your proposition carefully and... NO!" the boy snapped his arms up, and Kusanagi dodged this time. He had learned his lesson the hard way last time, and still had some of those damn tea spoons embedded in his right arm. But really, who the hell threw -spoons-, anyway? Kusanagi landed a few meters away in a crouch. He grimaced and flexed his left arm, extending his second arm-blade with a wet popping sound. The boy only smirked wider.

"You have a lot of fancy tricks," Kusanagi grunted. "But that won't save you... I have tricks of my own!" he roared and punched towards the boy. The boy would be caught flat-footed when Kusanagi's arm extended forward with the power of a battering ram and... "HEY! You're not supposed to dodge!"

The boy spread his hands apologetically. "Well, you keep dodging my teaspoons. So it's only fair."

"But... they're TEASPOONS!"

"What, you don't like tea? What sort of half-plant mitama-implanted Japanese citizen are you?"

Kusanagi responded by whipping his still extended arm towards the boy, only to shout in frustration as the boy seemed to fade away from his attack. Kusanagi blinked. The boy had vanished into thin air! How the hell did he do that? And for that matter, how did he move without even standing up? And how did he know so much about the mitamas? And... and... Damnit! Why couldn't more people just be simple idiots he could intimidate into obeying him? Like the TAC?

"Yoo-hoo, up here," the boy's voice called, drawing Kusanagi's line of sight up along the side of the nearby smokestack. He was kneeling on a gantry that surrounded the top of the stack. Except he was underneath it. And upside down. And still sitting there, defying gravity. Kusanagi mused that it took a special kind of arrogant bastard to ignore the laws of physics when they didn't suit him.

"Aw, man..." Kusanagi moaned. "Can't you just fight like a normal person?"

"Have you ever heard of the word 'irony'?" the boy called back. Then for some reason his eyes widened and his attention slipped away from Kusanagi for a second. A perfect opening!

With a cry Kusanagi propelled himself from the ship, spreading his arms out. The boy didn't even notice Kusanagi until it was too late. With a bone- jarring thud they collided and Kusanagi clamped his arms around the slippery bastard with a cry of triumph. "Dodge this, you little worm!" Rebounding from the smokestack, Kusanagi flipped down at the deck, screaming in joy all the time.

"Oh fuck off, Kusanagi! We just got a bigger prob-" the rest of the little worm's sentence was cut off as Kusanagi drove him headfirst into the metal deckplates. The retort of the roof buckling under their impact caused Kusanagi's ears to whine annoyingly. But he could barely notice over the rushing blood of triumph!

It was about that point that the worm kicked him off and rolled to his knees. Kusanagi thumped to the ground a few meters away and rose slowly, rubbing his gut. The insufferable little worm was fingering the top of his head gingerly.

"It doesn't look like you split the skull..." he muttered in obvious annoyance. "Thanks a lot, Kusanagi. Do you know how much of my time you would have wasted if you'd killed me?"

"Huh-what?"

"Never mind that!" he growled, waving his hands. "Look. Bigger problem!" The worm pointed over Kusanagi's shoulder.

"Like I'm gonna fall for that," Kusanagi growled and rose to his feet.

"Oh for crying out... don't tell me you're using that old schtick?" the worm groaned and put his palm to his forehead. "Listen. I will use small words. Giant. Monster. Eating. Ship. Behind. You. Look. Now."

"Oh that, it's not really a big threat..."

"It is now."

Kusanagi was about to retort again. But then he became aware of an odd sound. It was like... tearing. And dripping. And shrieking. Inhuman shrieking. Also some human shrieking, come to think of it. Well, maybe a quick peek...

"HOLY CRAP! That ain't no goddamn jellyfish!"

"That was about what I was thinking when you cheaply attacked me from behind," the worm offered.

"This is all your fault, isn't it?" Kusanagi accused.

"Well... no. But I think I know whose fault it is."

"Great..." Kusanagi frowned. He had to warn those jerks at the TAC not to come on the ship. He could... feel the energy off that thing. It was resonating with the seven mitamas embedded in his hands, feet and chest. And it was still growing. If those idiots brought Momiji too close... "Stand back," Kusanagi shouted and waved his arm towards the little worm. "I'll handle this thing." For a moment, he considered using his battle form. But then again... It was just an aragami, still.

"Of course you will." The worm had somehow moved up next to him, still kneeling. "I'll just come and observe."

"Whatever..." Kusanagi grunted. "Just don't get in my way and..."

Kusanagi trailed off as someone landed on the roof two meters in front of him. Well, actually, it was three someones. It was some punk kid and two girls on her arms. Twins, actually. Twins clinging tenaciously to the girl in the center, the reptilian hindbrain portion of his mind noted with interest.

"You two can let go now," the girl in the center pointed out dryly. "I kinda need my hands free."

"Oh, sorry, over," the one on the left replied. The girls let go simultaneously and stepped away... only to be grabbed back a moment later.

"Wait a second! I'm not finished askin' you about Chris yet!"

"Make up your mind, over!" the one on the right said with an annoyed smile.

Wait a minute.

"Hey! You're those girls that tried to molest Momiji!" Kusanagi shouted and pointed.

"Huh?" the girl in the oversized (but wet!) shirt glanced at him. "Who are you? And why do you look like a walking carrot?"

"None of your business, little girl!" Kusanagi snapped. "I want to have a -talk- with those girls-"

"CHRIS!" the worm shouted from behind him. Kusanagi blinked, wondering who he was calling out to. Had some -other- idiot decided to go aragami hunting today?

"AHA! I knew it! Where is he!" the punkette released the girls from her grip.

"Girls! You've found a mighty warrior. Thank god!" The worm pointed at Kusanagi. Kusanagi blinked again and pointed his thumb at his chest. "Please, you have to help us stop Chris. That undead BODY-SWAPPING monster is too strong for the likes of us!"

Everyone stood still for a moment. The only sound was the horrible crunching of the aragami eating the front half of the ship.

"Uh... what are you talking about-"

"Right, girls?" the worm shouted as he seemed to teleport to the smiling girl's side and elbow her in the ribs. "That's Chris, the evil monster that has tormented us for days and unleashed this mutated horror upon the earth!"

"Oh... right. Him, over."

"Yeah, beat him up for us, will you, over?" the frowning one asked the punkette.

"Heh. My pleasure," the girl grinned maliciously and cracked her knuckles. "I've been waiting a long time for a rematch with you."

Kusanagi felt that the situation was slipping through his fingers. "But we've never fought before!"

"You fool! When you last fought me, I was a man!"

"HUH?"

Kusanagi was totally flat-footed when the fist slammed into his cheek. Stars exploded across his eyes and he could feel the metal of the deck skimming away under his toes. Oh. He must be flying backward at an improbably dangerous speed.

Oh shit.

The smokestack Kusanagi collided with actually held, right up until the punkette slammed her shoulder into his chest with the force of a freight train. As Kusanagi emerged from the blossom of shrapnel, pain radiating from his chest, he reflected that some days it just didn't pay to get out of bed.

01010

Chris almost felt like dancing as he rushed away from the impending Clash Of The Gullible Morons, but he was still practicing Sentarou's 'glide around on the tips of his toes while sitting in proper Martial Arts Tea Ceremony position' technique, so he stayed seated. Still, that couldn't really have worked out better if he'd planned it. His new body was fast, even faster than Kusanagi, especially when he really hadn't been trying to hurt the plant-man. And now, those two would likely be keeping each other busy for a good long time. It would probably end with Ranma beating Kusanagi to a bloody pulp, in his expert opinion, but that was okay, since Ranma wouldn't kill him.

Which left him to deal with the aragami. Or whatever the hell it was now.

"What exactly did you two DO to that thing?"

"Merely failed to take into account a few minor variables," Pink said defensively. "It'd work perfectly next time, over."

"Right." Chris sized up the situation. Giant, protected by shell, still acidic, tentacles more dangerous, drill-like spines everywhere...oh, and it could SHOOT them at things, he mentally corrected as he dodged. Great. "I think next time I'll just bring the salt, if it's okay with you."

"Excuse me! Could I get your names on the record, please?" This was accompanied by the bright flash of a bulb going off.

The voice wasn't one he knew, but it was definitely a familiar character... hey, it was Ran Hibiki! What the hell was she doing here? Oh, right, she wrote the articles about Ukyou. Must've whetted her appetite for this sort of thing. Wait, if she was here, and Ranma was here... "Hey, is Ukyou here?"

"Hey, I thought I was asking the questions! And watch out, it's trying to eat you again." They both casually dodged another tentacle strike.

Chris grinned a bit. "Perhaps you were, but it's a cardinal rule of news that information is traded, stolen or bought, hardly ever given for free."

"Well, I guess you don't keep up on the news much," Ran shrugged. "Ukyou hasn't been seen since he broke that guy's back this afternoon."

Oh, well, that made sense- WHAT! The hell?

"Monster, over!" Pink yelled from the twins' relatively safe perch below. Chris waved in acknowledgement as he dodged another spine.

"Wait a minute," he said, landing. "Broke a guy's back? Who? Why?"

Ran grinned maliciously. "What were you just saying about the exchange of information?"

Well, he'd walked into that. "Fair enough. I'm Chris, and those two are...hmm...the Astounding Chinese Floral Mistresses."

"We're the WHAT, over?"

"Do you want you-know-who to know who's waiting for her when she gets to Japan? She CAN read."

"Are you certain, over?" Pink asked skeptically.

"Pretty certain, yeah." He flipped over another tentacle slash, and as he landed, Ran was waiting with a newspaper in her hand. He found himself staring at an article headlined 'Is Mystery Hero In Fact Mystery Psycho?' Riiiiight. He filed that away for later. Giant monster first, Ukyou acting un- Ukyou-like (again) later. And there was suddenly a microphone in his face to replace it.

"And just who exactly is this mysterious stranger that your sidekicks don't want to reveal their location to?"

"I am NOT that thing's sidekick, over!" Link yelled, indignantly and predictably.

"Never mind that," he said, waving the microphone away. "Sorry, Ms. Hibiki, but I must stop this monster before it causes even more damage." That ought to play well, he thought, striking a dramatic pose, and was gratified by an immediate camera flash.

Well, with the playing to the press out of the way, he hopped down to the twins' sides. "Okay. Is this thing still basically an aragami?"

"It still has that mitama thing, if that's what you mean, over," Link said.

"Good. In that case, it's alive, because the mitamas attach to unintelligent host organisms. Sometimes more than one host organism, it seems. But it's still a host organism, plant or animal, and that means you guys should be able to whip up something to kill it rather thoroughly, no?"

"But we don't want to kill the mitama, over," Pink objected.

He shook his head. "Not a problem. It's separate from the host; the TAC's beaten at least one that I can recall by poisoning and killing the organism it's inhabiting."

"I guess we can work something out," Link frowned. "But we'll need a sample of it, over."

Chris nodded. "All right. Any particular part?"

"Not really," said Pink, "but the fresher the better, over!"

Without bothering to respond, he leapt up, unfolding his legs beneath him. Kodachi's techniques would serve him better here. Judging the position of the tentacles, he angled himself towards one stem. From there, he could leap nearer the main body and...

...a huge spotlight shone from above, glaring in his eyes. His dead eyes didn't need to squint, but as he looked over at it, he could only see the silhouettes of helicopters.

"HALT WHERE YOU ARE!" shouted an authoritative-sounding voice.

Chris considered the difficulty of doing that in mid-leap for only a moment before he touched delicately down on the stem of one of the tendrils. Before the acid had a chance to eat more than eat through the soles of his socks he was away again, threading a ribbon through his hands.

"THIS IS THE TERRESTRIAL ADMINISTRATION CENTRE. BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, YOU ARE ORDERED TO CEASE YOUR CURRENT ACTIVITIES AND LEAVE THIS AREA IMMEDIATELY!"

He continued to ignore them, on account of doing otherwise in his current position was to invite...well, not death, but at least severe unpleasantness. He located a spine on the thing's...hide? carapace? whatever...and snapped out his ribbon. The moment it wrapped around the protrusion, he yanked with all his might, causing it to pull free and skitter across the deck.

Well, couldn't get much fresher than that. Flipping in the air, he avoided a tentacle strike and landed back on the deck. Spotting the spine he'd dislodged, he hurled a baton at it, sending it careening towards where Pink and Link were hiding, though not so fast they couldn't dodge it, probably.

Okay. NOW to deal with the TAC.

One of the helicopters was closer than the rest. A door was open in the side, and a figure in it. She was holding some sort of long tube...oh, that must be Matsudaira, with her diaper-polymer-gun-bazooka-thingy. He watched with idle curiosity. There was a flare of light, he saw the projectile arc gracefully into the hide of the monstrosity...and then explode harmlessly in a burst of orange smoke.

Well, that wasn't surprising: it was a mite tougher now than the jellyfish aragami had been. Wait, Matsudaira (he assumed) had lost her balance and fallen from the helicopter. But then, he remembered she'd done that in the anime too. Well, no problem, Kusanagi would rescue her just like he had in...

Aw, shit.

Also around then, the aragami reminded everybody of its projectile weapon capacity by blowing the helicopter out of the sky with one of its spines.

Chris mentally retracted his earlier comment about how everything was working out perfectly. Or even well. Or even 'not half-bad'. He looked around for Ran. She wasn't hard to spot, given the large flashes of light emanating from her position. He leaped beside her. "Okay, I need a favour."

"Is it worth the name of your friend's mystery nemesis?" she called cheerfully, continuing to take pictures of the Helicopters vs. Aragami battle.

He felt a headache coming on, and that was quite a feat in his current state. "Ran, I know you're a good person. Really. So listen. That woman just fell from the helicopter into the water over there. Someone has to rescue her before she drowns."

Ran arched an eyebrow at him. "Annnnnnd...you can't do this...why?"

Because I'd sink like a stone, he thought sardonically. Out loud, he composed his voice and said patiently, "Because there's you, me, and two non- combatants here. Someone has to swim a little ways to save someone, and someone has to fight the giant monster. Do we have to rock-paper-scissors for this, or do you have a preference?"

At this point, Ranma walked up beside them, the unconscious form of Kusanagi draped over her shoulder. Her clothes were in tatters and she had a few bruises on her face, but otherwise seemed fine. Actually, seemed pleased as punch. "Heya, Ran!" she enthused. "This bastard wasn't so tough. Well, maybe a little tough, but no match for me! See, I told you! Want a picture?"

"Sure."

*CLICK*

"By the way, Chris here was just saying someone needs to swim out there to save a woman, and somebody needs to stay to fight the Cthuloid Monstrosity."

Ranma blinked, and Chris felt that headache intensifying. "Chris?"

Think fast, oh yeah, okay. "YES, CHRIS! IN A NEW BODY, RIGHT OVER THERE!" He pointed dramatically behind Ranma.

Ranma, being, well, a Gullible Moron, promptly turned to look. That was when Chris grabbed Ran by her vest and hurled her out in the general direction of Matsudaira.

"HEY YOu jerrrrrrkkkk..."

So much for his good writeup in the paper. Ranma whirled, dropping Kusanagi, who landed on the ground with a grunt of pain. "There was nobody there!" she declared.

"That's because he threw Ran into the ocean!" Chris cried, hoping desperately Ranma would actually care. "You have to rescue her! And the other woman, too!"

Ranma waved that aside. "Aw, Ran can take care of herself." Then she leaned forward, staring intently at his face.

"But the other girl can't...aw, the hell with it. Ranma, go talk to the two girls over there; they've got something that can kill the monster instantly, or close enough. Just please let them get the...uh...blue thing, okay?"

Ranma backed up a step, pointing accusingly of him. "Hey! YOU'RE Chris, aren't you!"

Headache...increasing... "Ranma...just...hit me later, okay? There's a ship and two innocent women to save, and I don't really care if you kill the monster or go save them, but they're both more important than revenge, right?"

"How do I know this isn't some other trick, like last time?" he said suspiciously.

Well, there was a fable about 'crying wolf' or somesuch that applied here. "Because, Ranma, there IS a monster, and there IS two women in the ocean, and... frick." He stepped forward, and pointed at his chin. "Okay. Tell you what. Hit me. Once. Then go save something. Anything. I don't care. But act like a hero. You don't need ME to tell you how to do that, do you?"

Ranma considered that for a fraction of a millisecond, and then Chris felt himself flying back into the ship's railing with enough force to dent it. His jaw was apparently dislocated. But, he noted with a vague pleasure, he'd actually seen the punch coming. He also saw when Ranma leaped past him and into the water.

Huh. He would've figured Ranma would have gone for the glory of beating the monster. Maybe he didn't trust Chris to actually save them. Oh well. He ran over to where Pink and Link were, dodging spines and popping his jaw back into place as he went. "You guys done?"

"Yes, over." Pink handed him a giant bead, roughly the size of a chair.

"Wow, that's pretty big. But then, it's a big monster. Anyplace I need to apply it?"

"Internally, over," Link noted.

One of the big problems with being dead was that aspirin wouldn't work. "Okay...uh...would shoving it into one of those mouths work?"

The twins exchanged glances. "Maaaaaaaaaybe, over."

The fact that the headache was, literally, only in his mind wasn't a comforting thought. "Right." He looked around. The monster had actually eaten most of the bow at this point, and the ship was starting to lean forward as it took on water. How to insert, how to insert...ahah.

Walking forward, he took hold of the edge of some of the exposed metal plating of the deck. Yanking off a good-sized chunk, he rolled it into something approximating a cone. That ought to do.

Running forward, he dodged another spine and leaped a tentacle swipe. Touching down only a few meters away from the thing, he pushed into the air once more. Raising the makeshift 'hypodermic' over his head, he drove it into the thing's hide with all the force he could muster. The glistening carapace, looking like nothing so much as thick, knotted wood that just happened to be purple, cracked and split around the funnel. The fluids oozing out quickly began dissolving it, but he only needed a moment. Shoving the ball down inside as far as it could go, he used the funnel as a perch to leap back from, sighted, and hurled a baton down at the ball, pushing all his energy down into the strike.

Wait a second. When he did that, it felt...weird. Like a jolt had just run up his arm. Glancing down at it, he didn't see anything, and it now felt fine, meaning it felt like nothing at all. What the hell?

He touched the ground once more, and looked up to see the result of his attack. His eyes widened.

He had intended the baton to smash the ball of poison and drive as much of it as possible into the wound through the crack opened by the funnel. Which, he supposed, it had. And then some. Where he had thrown, he had apparently ripped a enormous hole in the creature, at least three meters wide, with no sign of either funnel or ball. The creature staggered back, and his ears picked up another loud retort as something exploded from the other side of it.

Was even Sentarou that strong? Maybe...

The mouths of the creature shrieked as if they were in pain. Its surface turned from purple to an unhealthy-looking red, first in a blotch surrounding the wound, but quickly spreading throughout its form. Then, as he watched, the creature... rotted. That was the best description he could put to it. The flailing tendrils slapped wetly against the deck, pieces breaking from them. The spines turned a sickly yellow, and started falling off, raining upon the deck. It thrashed around, but grew weaker and weaker, and now the skin of it had lost its shine, and was collapsing in great mushy craters as it could no longer support itself. In an astonishingly short time, its mass halved, and halved again, and finally its last structural integrity failed it and it dissolved into glop, tumbling into the ocean.

"THERE, OVER!"

Link dashed up beside him, pointing frantically. Chris lashed out with the gymnastics ribbon before even thinking, but his eyes caught the tiny gleaming object with ease. A moment later, the end of the ribbon snapped around it before it could hit the water, and he yanked it back towards him. He wiped the remainder of the slime off on his shirt and presented it to her.

"Well, it didn't exactly work out great, but it worked out. Now let's get the hell out of here."

01010

"Geez, one of you needs to go on a diet," Ranma groaned as he hoisted himself up onto the dock. This was more difficult than it sounded, considering he was carrying an unconscious person over each shoulder. Water sloshed over the wooden planks as he slumped down and gently placed each of them on the dock. He sat down and eased back, stretching the kinks out of his back. He frowned as his breasts bounced uncomfortably under his wet shirt.

"Stupid curse." If Ranma had been a man, he could have won that fight against the guy in the red trenchcoat sooner. That might have prevented Chris from getting away with tossing Ran out into the ocean. You'd think the girl would have been able to stay conscious after such a short throw, but she had been sinking almost as fast as the old broad.

The lady was obviously middle-aged, but still something of a looker. Her hair was plastered all over her sodden lab coat and she was pale and shivering from her plunge into the icy waters of the bay, but she was breathing. Which was good, because Ranma knew about as much about first aid as he knew about the socioeconomic impact of the Tokugawa era on modern fiscal policy.

Well, he knew enough to figure it'd be best to get them warm. Ranma reluctantly rose to his feet and located some tarps that nobody but a few crates were using. They'd make good blankets to help keep the ladies warm, he guessed. At least they weren't shivering as much. Ranma tucked in Ran first, then moved to the older lady.

As if cued by his attention, the woman began to cough and roll on the ground. Ranma reached out and steadied her shoulder as she moaned her way back to consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open and she began to brush vaguely at her forehead.

"What... happened...?" she muttered weakly.

"You went for a swim," Ranma chuckled.

"I did?" the woman tried to sit up, but Ranma's firm but gentle pressure on her shoulder held her down.

"Whoa, you better not be moving around too much," Ranma pointed out. "You might be hurt. The ambulance should be here soon." Ranma wasn't sure about the ambulance part. But since the docks had been crawling with cops when he had shown up, he figured it was only a matter of time before one of them stumbled onto them.

"I... thank you, you're probably right," the lady agreed. "Did you rescue me?"

"Yeah." Ranma smirked, but his smirk faded quickly. The fact that he had saved the two of them was fine. But more importantly, Chris had used them against him. Chris... Ranma was going to get another shot at that jerk. Next time, there would be no innocent victims for him to use against Ranma.

"I'm sorry, I must be such a bother... I thought I could help fighting the aragami..."

"Aragami?"

"You don't know?"

"Uh-uh."

"Then what were you doing out there? Aren't you with the... no... you're too young to be with the police or the coast guard..." The woman was looking at him oddly now. Ranma felt a kind of self-consciousness under her gaze that he was unfamiliar with. She looked at him like he was a specimen, not a human being. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Ranma Saotome," he said without hesitating.

"I'm Azusa Matsudaira," the woman replied, nodding politely. "Thank you for saving me..." Matsudaira turned her head and spotted Ran lying nearby. The other girl was shivering slightly and sneezed when their attention focused on her. "And this girl as well? You've been busy tonight."

"Yeah, just comes with the territory, I suppose," Ranma shrugged. "Frankly, dragging you two out of the water was nothing compared to fighting that carrot-skinned guy." Ranma pulled up his shirt to display the swallow cut up his ribs. "Damn jerk should watch it with those blade things. Almost ripped my guts open. I'm kinda glad I punched his lights out. Even if it was because I thought he was that body-stealing undead monster guy. Guess I owe him an apology, really..."

"Wait... are you saying you fought Kusanagi... and won?" The woman seemed more animated all of a sudden.

"Kusanagi?"

"He's tall, has orange skin and green hair, wears a red trenchcoat..."

"Oh, him." Ranma rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Yeah. He was pretty tough. But I'm the best."

"But... you're just a human being!"

"Well, duh." Ranma rolled his eyes.

"That's simply not possible!" Matsudaira insisted.

"Neither was turning into a girl with cold water a few months back."

"What?"

"Nevermind," Ranma waved the question aside.

"Ugh, please tell me someone got a shot of the truck that hit me?"

Ranma scooted over to Ran. He helped her cough herself awake with a few encouraging pats on the back.

"Man... you'd think you could have taken a fall like that, Ran," Ranma joked once she was fully awake.

"Hey, I was busy trying to protect my camera..." Ran trailed off and began to pat down her vest. She shot up so suddenly that Ranma could do nothing to stop her. "MY CAMERA! NO!"

"What about it?" Ranma scratched his neck.

"I lost it... no... you saved me. So... YOU lost it!" Ran pointed at him. Her eyes quivered with rage and sadness. Ranma backed up, unsure how to deal with this. "How could you save me and not save my camera? Do you know how important that was to me? Do you!"

"Uh... no..." Ranma admitted slowly.

"Of course you don't, you insensitive jerk!" Ran moaned and rubbed her face with both hands.

"I'm sorry, miss," Matsudaira spoke up. "I'm afraid your friend was too busy helping to pull me out of the bay to catch your camera."

"Yeah, what she said!" Ranma gave a grateful look to the scientist lady. She smiled back. Hey, she didn't look half-bad when she smiled. If you were into the middle-aged woman type, he guessed.

"You were..." Ran blinked and looked at Matsudaira. "I... that still doesn't excuse you! You... you have to get it back!"

"What?" Ranma shouted.

"Go back in there and get my camera back!" Ran pointed imperiously out towards the water.

"One camera? That's all of Tokyo Bay you're talking about..." Matsudaira pointed out.

"I know... but... but that camera was everything to me..." Ran crossed her arms over her chest and hunched her shoulders. "It cost me... I can't possibly replace it. Especially since without my shots, I don't even have a story and..." Ran began to shudder. "...and..." Ran began to sob and hiccup. Ranma stared, unable to do anything but watch the tears begin to flow out of the corners of her eyes.

"Oh man, stop crying," Ranma stood up and began to stretch. "I'll go get your stupid camera." He turned and walked over to the edge of the dock. In the distance the ship was still finishing its long slow sink into the ocean. Helicopters and coast guard cutters flickered the surface of the dark water with spotlights. Too bad none of them would cut all the way to the bottom of the bay. It was really going to suck stumbling around in the dark for the next few hours. Oh well, best just to jump in headfirst and get it over with...

"Ranma, stop!"

"What is it now, Ran?" Ranma called over his shoulder.

"You're... really going to do it?"

"I said I would, didn't I?" Ranma rolled his eyes. Ran just didn't know that a promise from Ranma Saotome was worth his weight in gold.

"No... Ranma, don't do it."

"Can't you make up your mind?" Ranma grumbled, while inwardly sighing in relief. That job might have tested even his considerable limits.

"Yes," Ran was smiling at him now. Her wet hair was plastered along the simple curve of her cheek and her eyes shone with the sparkle of fresh tears. Ranma blinked; wow, how did someone go from so angry to so... cute so quickly? "Thank you, but I'll live without it."

Ranma shrugged and sat down. Then spent the next few minutes fending off Matsudaira's endless questions until the ambulances arrived.

01010

Shampoo was impatient. She was standing in the living room of this 'Tendo Dojo' great-grandmother had brought her to. The nice girl with the brown hair had served tea, and was now sitting at the table looking pleasant and... well, that was about it, really. The other girl, with the shorter brown hair, was staring at her oddly, and flipping through some sort of scrapbook. Shampoo was preferring to ignore that. Maybe that was the perverted girl great- grandmother had asked about?

And yes, great-grandmother. She was perched atop the table, talking in that damn islander babble-talk at two old men. They were sweating heavily and obviously nervous, while great-grandmother was insistent. This was supposedly a training hall, but if there were any real warriors here, Shampoo didn't see it.

Shampoo also didn't see Ranma, and that was what was making her impatient. She hadn't followed the elder here so she could watch her talk to broken-down old men, she had been told this was where Ranma was! So where was she?

She stamped her foot. "Ranma!" Everyone in the room was looking at her, now. The fat old bald man, especially, was looking even more nervous than before. Did he know where she was? "Where... Ranma?" She knew at least that much of their primitive gibberish.

The brown-haired nice woman started talking. She heard 'Ranma' mentioned at least once, but couldn't really make out most of the rest. Something about her being somewhere... "Great-grandmother," she said, reverting to her native tongue. "What did that girl say? Where's Ranma?"

"Not here," Great-grandmother said simply.

"But they know her! They know that name! Where is she?" Shampoo was feeling frustrated. "And what's with that old fart? He looks like he's about to run away any minute!"

"He's afraid of Happousai." she explained, which didn't really explain anything.

"Who's that? Do they have something to do with Ranma?"

"That is what I'm attempting to discover. Really, child, you should have been taking the time along our trip to practice your Japanese. That is why I gave you the Stone of Acclimation, after all."

"I had you with me, Great-grandmother," Shampoo replied. "Why bother learning Japanese then? I was training! Now, can we hurry up and find Ranma, whereever she is?"

"Ranma will be here soon enough. This is HIS home." The emphasis was clear.

Shampoo rolled her eyes. Again with the 'Ranma is a boy' garbage. But she remained quiet for the moment. Around that point, the short-haired girl went, "Ah-ha!", closed her scrapbook and tapped it on the table a few times, and walked out of the room. What was -that- all about? Japanese people were weird.

Just as the short-haired girl left the room, she apparently ran into someone. Shampoo heard her footsteps stop, and she said "Hello," and then something else. From her voice, she obviously didn't like the person she was talking to very much. Shampoo turned to size up the new arrival and...

And.

It.

Was.

"RANMA!" she cried in a mixture of joy and fury. At last! Whipping out her twin bonbori, she assumed a battle position.

The sopping wet girl's eyes widened in fear. Sweet, sweet fear. "Shampoo! Uhhhh..."

Before she could say anything further, Shampoo attacked, whipping one of the beachball-sized maces at her enemy's head. Ranma bent back like a reed, allowing it to whistle harmlessly through the air and take a large chunk out of the doorframe. All the more room to maneuver. Shampoo pressed the attack, swinging down the other bonbori to crush her.

Ranma scuttled backwards on her hands and feet like a crab. Ripping the mace from the splintered remains of the floor, Shampoo pointed it at her. "Ranma... Shampoo kill!" she threatened in Japanese.

Ranma seemed distracted, however, as the short-haired girl with the scrapbook was yelling at her, pointing angrily at the holes in her house. Ranma turned somewhat away, yelling back. An opening! With a fierce yell she leaped forward, whipping both bonbori together as she did. Ranma's chest would be crushed like a overripe melon between the two mace heads.

Or that was the plan, except a staff was suddenly thrust out before her, and the heads of her weapons bounced off it harmlessly. "Great-grandmother!" Shampoo screamed in rage.

"Calm down, child." the old woman said from her perch on top of Ranma's head.

"I will NOT be calm!" she roared. "Great-grandmother, you are my revered elder, but this is going too far! You cannot interfere in my quest of honour! Remove yourself from the field of battle at once!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the old bag said, adroitly dodging Ranma's attempts to remove her from her head. "You do not quite have all the information necessary to fulfill your actual obligations."

Shampoo's hands were shaking in rage. "Not this again! Look, you stupid old woman! That is a GIRL! Her breasts are bouncing around more than you are as she moves!"

The old woman ignored her! She turned, instead, asking the nice girl for something, and received a happy acknowledgement as the girl bustled off to the kitchen.

A noise caused her to whip her head back around towards Ranma, just in time to see her foe get knocked to the ground by the old woman in the middle of trying to escape. "I don't need your help!" she growled. "Get out of my way and let me kill her! Or take her shirt off if you have to! Hell, strip her naked! But then she's mine!"

"Fine," the old woman said, grinning that obnoxiously smug grin. "I shall strip her naked, and afterwards, you may do as you like. But first... I want my tea."

Shampoo roared in pure rage and punched through a nearby door like it was made of paper. Actually, it WAS mostly made of paper. Stupid Japanese, that wasn't satisfying at all. She smashed her fist through a wall, which was made of sturdier building material. That felt better. But only slightly. "Great-grandmother, you can't do this! This is against every law and protocol to interfere with me for your own insane ends!"

"Actually, great-granddaughter, you gave me the right when you made the promise to me back at the village. If Ranma is a boy, you will marry him, correct?"

Shampoo gritted her teeth. At that point, great-grandmother whipped around and yelled something at Ranma while casually deflecting the girl's latest attempt to knock her off her head. Ranma was shouting something that sounded insulting back, about her being old. Well, she was. Old and stupid and senile. First thing Ranma had ever been right about, probably.

The brown-haired girl arrived a moment later, smiling and bearing a pot of tea. Shampoo waited impatiently as the old bat picked up the teapot and...poured it over Ranma's head? Whatever, at least this idiocy... would be... over... wait, something was wrong here...

A fraction of a second later, great-grandmother waved her staff and disintegrated Ranma's clothes.

"Oh dear," the nice girl said, and walked quickly out of the room.

"You... you're not Ranma!" Shampoo said, staring as the obvious boy tried to cover himself up. "Where's the real Ranma!"

"Right here," the elder said, tapping the not-Ranma-boy on the shoulder.

"Wrong," Shampoo growled. "I told you, I SAW HER ALMOST NAKED. That was a girl, and this... is..."

Shampoo trailed off as great-grandmother poured a bucket of water over the man's head, and he... ceased being a man. Shampoo didn't quite know what to say to that. A moment later, the old woman poured the rest of the tea, and Ranma was a man again. He was also yelling at the elder, but they both ignored him.

"That's... that's not possible."

"It's quite possible, Shampoo. There is, as you know, a place near our village called Jyusenkyou. What you did not know was, if you fall into one of the springs at that cursed place, you temporarily take on the form of whatever creature perished within it. If you are splashed with hot water, you will be returned to your natural form, but cold water repeats the process forevermore."

Shampoo stared. But what the old woman had splashed Ranma with... "Then that means... Ranma was originally..."

"A man. Just as I told you. Perhaps you should start listening to your elders with more respect."

Shampoo clenched her fists. This was impossible! "Why didn't you tell me about this?" she demanded.

"I tried, but you didn't want to listen."

"You didn't tell me anything about Jyusenkyou!"

"Yes I did."

"Nothing that would have helped! You just fed me this ridiculous story about a girl being a man!"

The old woman tore Ranma's hands away from his groin. "Ridiculous story, eh?"

Shampoo wanted to punch something really, really hard again. Thankfully, there were more walls around. With that done, she turned her back on the sobbing long-haired old geezer (the bald one had apparently disappeared) and pointed an accusing finger at the elder. "It was ridiculous how you told it! You tricked me!"

"You tricked yourself, Shampoo." Great-grandmother knocked away another frantic attempt by the boy/girl to attack her and escape. "You should have known better than to assume I was either a fool or mistaken." She grinned that insufferable grin again. "I haven't lived this long by being either very often."

"Well, it doesn't matter!" Shampoo snapped. "Stand aside, so I can kill her, him, whatever!"

"Ah ah ah," she responded, waving her staff like the proverbial finger in her face. "You made a promise, on ancient tradition and sacred honour."

"I didn't make any damn..." Shampoo trailed off. But she had. And it was as inescapable as the Kiss of Death. "No. NO! I won't marry this half-man cowardly freak!"

Great-grandmother didn't even respond. She knew she didn't have to. She sat on Ranma's head, and began smoking her pipe, still with that unforgivable smirk on her face. She was still fending off Ranma's attempts to attack her with her other hand, too. Damn her! She'd led Shampoo right into this! Her own flesh and blood!

And now she had to marry him. HIM. The person she despised more than... well, right now he felt like only her second-worst enemy in the world, but that didn't make it any more palatable!

And her first-worst enemy was looking at her again expectantly. Oh, right, just like the Kiss of Death, the law meant to seal the tradition she'd have to...

Oh NO.

But there was no escape. She walked forward, stiff steps carrying her towards her... betrothed. Even thinking the word left a vile taste in her mouth. She tossed her weapons aside. The old woman 'helpfully' propped Ranma up to receive her.

"Ranma..." Shampoo forced through gritted teeth.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Ranma cried, waving his hands frantically. Shampoo agreed with the sentiment completely. He then babbled some other crap, but she cut him off by grabbing his head in a vice-like grip and dragging his lips to hers.

A moment later she shoved him away. He was staring at her, scratching the top of his head. Like a monkey.

"You... I... love." Then she turned to the side and spat.

01010

Nabiki sat down lazily on the park bench. Her luck seemed to be on the rise. First, Ukyou had proven how ruthless he was, vindicating Nabiki's feelings. It even seemed to have finally struck to Akane's heart. At least, the girl had seemed shocked and disgusted by what had happened. Of course, Nabiki had no idea how she was taking it now. The youngest Tendo had spent the entire night at the hospital with Nerima's newest cripple. 'I need to do something about it' had been Akane's reason. Personally, Nabiki just thought she was trying to make time with Dr. Tofu.

Now that girl Shampoo had shown up. With any luck, Nabiki would be able to use her as a way to get rid of this nagging engagement with Ranma. True, it hadn't really inconvenienced her that much. In fact, with the amount of time she and Ranma spent actively avoiding each other and refusing to interact, they barely even talked. Even the rumor mongers at school had let the torrid tales of their tryst diminish.

But it was the principle of the thing. Nabiki was used to playing her tune, setting her own rhythm. Ranma's engagement had forced her to adapt to his presence. Getting rid of him would be a more symbolic step than a necessary one, but Nabiki would enjoy it nonetheless.

"Father... it is obvious that Ranma and Shampoo love each other very much and I, being a true lady, can not stand between such affection so I must... BWAHAHAH!" Nabiki clutched her gut and shook her head. No, this would never work unless she kept a straight face. Her father was a gullible idiot, but even he would catch on to her scheme if she was laughing like a loon. That was why she had come out here to practice. She had to make sure her speech was perfect. That she disarmed all his objections before he even had a chance to raise them. The problem was that Shampoo so obviously hated Ranma, it was hard to take their pairing seriously.

Nabiki smirked. At least she had advance notice of what all the commotion had been about. She had read the data on Shampoo. In time, Shampoo would fall madly in love with Ranma. Although why Ukyou had bothered to list Shampoo as his 'main rival' was still something that perplexed Nabiki.

Nabiki was deep in thought, trying to figure out what to say when she returned to her home when the sound caught her attention. It was a small, pathetic sound. Nabiki wouldn't have even noticed it, were it not for its persistence.

Glancing down, Nabiki spotted the little black pig sitting patiently at her feet. Nabiki resisted the urge to smile. Her luck was really on the up. She hadn't expected to see him back for at least another week. Now that he had her attention, the pathetic creature was gesturing to the side. Nabiki turned her head and blinked. There was a tea stand not far down the pathway. Two and two became four and Nabiki knew what Ryouga wanted. Of course, she had to play dumb. Technically, she didn't 'know' about his curse yet.

"What do you want, you cute little piggy?" Nabiki leaned down, letting loose with her most sweet and innocent tone. Her position would also give Ryouga a nice peek down her blouse. The pig's eyes crossed and then, quite deliberately, he shook himself and looked away. Nabiki smiled, genuinely. Good. Shame was what she needed. Shame and honour.

Nabiki allowed the man-turned-animal to play charades with her for a while longer. She knew her make-up from the other day had mostly faded, but it appeared Ryouga hadn't picked up on that. Good. That might have ruined her plan. After about fifteen minutes of tormenting Ryouga with her false niceness and the occasional naughty glimpse she finally had carried the pig to a more secluded area of the park with a cup of hot tea.

As the pig indicated she should place them both down, Nabiki did so. She then crouched down, making sure her back was to the soft grass. "Well, Mr. Pig... this is what you wanted?" The pig nodded. "I don't see why. You must be a very smart pig."

Ryouga bent his head, unable to meet her eyes. She watched, fascinated as the pig began to drag the cup of tea towards a nearby bush. Of course. He didn't have any clothes. Oh, that would make this even better.

A second after the pig disappeared into the leaves the entire bush shuddered. Ryouga popped out of it like some X-rated jack-in-the-box. Nabiki screamed on cue and fell back. His expression at her scream was just the right combination of shame and horror.

"NO! You... stay back! I'll scream!"

"No! Please!" Ryouga cried. Literally. Fresh tears trailed down his cheeks. "Don't scream! I won't... I won't hurt you again..."

"Haven't you already done enough..." Nabiki said in a tiny voice. She began to scramble backward, but not very quickly.

"Please... don't leave. I..." Ryouga crouched, disappearing up to his chin in the bush. "I have to say this to you. Then... you can leave. You can summon the police, or do whatever you want. I won't resist."

"Say what?" Nabiki was proud of the fearful but hopeful tremble she put into her voice.

"I'm sorry." Ryouga ducked his head, planting both fists into the dirt in front of his concealment. "I know... that means nothing. After what I did to you. I know it can't take back what I did. I just wanted to say that."

Nabiki remained silent. Her poise had to look agonized but also sympathetic. Yet even so, she had to let a bit of anger show on her face. It was a delicate balancing act of emotional manipulation, and Nabiki always cursed the fact that you couldn't figure out how well the performance had gone until the mark reacted.

"You hate me..." Ryouga moaned. He rubbed the balls of his hands into his eyes. More tears leaked down his cheeks.

"Of course I hate you," Nabiki said in a small voice. Ryouga only looked at her slowly. His eyes were filled with anguish. "You... ruined me. You destroyed me. I can't talk to anyone about it. Just remembering that... makes me sick and mad." Nabiki's voice had been slowly rising as she spoke. Now it was time to approach the crescendo. "Of course I hate you! I hate you because now I hate myself! I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror. I know I'm never safe. I thought... I thought people like you were here to protect me. I hate myself because I trusted you!"

Nabiki turned away, sobbing on cue. She mainly turned away because even she couldn't force out enough crocodile tears to look realistic. Instead, a few dabs of water ruined her light makeup, making it look like she had been crying much more than she had.

"Whatever punishment you want," Ryouga croaked. "I'll accept it. Exile. Jail..." he paused. "If you want me to die... I will."

"Die?" Nabiki snapped her head around to face him. "Death is too good for you. You think I want you dead? I want you to suffer like I have!"

"I'm suffering..." he trailed off. Nabiki snarled.

"If I had my way, you'd suffer ten times more."

"Name it..."

"No..." Nabiki sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I can't. Even asking you to die. I can't." She stood up. "I'm not taking you to the police. I haven't told my father about this. It would kill him to know." Well, it would kill someone if he 'knew' about this. "The police... everyone will know." Nabiki shook her head. "I'm taking this secret to my grave. Nobody needs to know. Nobody can ever know. If you want to promise me anything, promise me that."

"I will..." Ryouga nodded. "But... is that it? I..." He looked down again. "I can't... just this can't be the end of it!"

"Isn't this better for you?" Nabiki hissed. "You've cleared your conscience. You've offered contrition and penance. Now you can go back to being a monster in peace. You never have to fear me revealing to anyone what you did."

"I can't... I won't let it end like this!" Ryouga cried. "I have to do something. I can't live with this..."

"Do what?" Nabiki snapped. "I won't live with your death on my conscience. And I'm never letting this go beyond us. Get lost. There's nothing else for you here."

"But..."

Nabiki began to walk away. She took seven measured steps. Then she stopped. She tilted her head to the side. When she spoke, her voice was soft. "Do you mean it?"

"Mean what?" Ryouga replied.

"Would you die for me?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation.

"You would die for me... would you die to protect me?"

"Protect you?"

"This world... is a dangerous one. Monsters. Psychos... rapists..." she allowed the last word to linger. "I'm just a normal girl. I can't fight like my sister. I don't have magic powers like a Sailor Senshi. I need... someone to stand up for me."

"I... I can do that! I'm good at fighting!"

"Yes..." Nabiki hissed. "I know how good you are at hurting people." That shut him up. "Never mind. I don't know why I told you. I can never trust you to protect me..." Please let him say what needed to be said next. It would be so much more reasonable if he said it.

"Wait!" Ryouga gasped happily. "You can trust me. In fact, I can guarantee that you will never need to fear me. All you need... is cold water."

"Cold water?" Nabiki said slowly. Inwardly she was doing mental cartwheels.

"I have a curse. When I'm splashed with cold water... I turn into that helpless and harmless pig you saw me as earlier."

"Like Ranma and his father?"

"Ranma's cursed?"

Uh-oh. Better not distract him. "Show me."

Ryouga snapped his attention back to her. "I'll need some cold water."

"Then stay right here. I'll be back."

Nabiki walked away slowly. Her back was to Ryouga, so she could safely smirk. Things were going exactly as she planned. Now... she had her own patsy. A strong patsy. She flipped out the notebook containing all the information recovered from Ukyou's files once she was out of his sight. The page she needed was already dog-eared. "Bakusaitenketsu..." she read the title aloud. Yes. Ryouga would be a strong patsy, one that Nabiki was going to make even stronger.

01010

"You should go home."

Hayato didn't open his eyes. The doctor wasn't talking to him.

"I want to be here when he wakes up. He needs... someone to help him. Even if I don't know what I could possibly do to help."

Hayato felt nothing special as the girl's words reached his ears. He didn't even know her name. What did he care about her empty platitudes, anyway? They only left ashes in his mouth.

"You need to rest. Go home."

"But..."

"Go home," the doctor's voice was gentle. He was forgiving her. For what?

"I guess..."

"Here, take this note to your teachers. They'll forgive you for missing the class time."

"Thank you."

The sound of the girl's footsteps rang across the linoleum, followed shortly thereafter by the opening and closing of the door. Hayato heard the doctor drag a chair over next to the bed and settle himself down.

"You can open your eyes now. She's gone."

"How did you know I was awake?" Hayato asked slowly. He wasn't really curious.

"I have a knack for it," the doctor explained with a chuckle. "But could you open your eyes?" The sudden seriousness in the doctor's tone prompted Hayato to open his eyes and look. The doctor was much as he remembered him before he had lost consciousness; tall, young, with short brown hair and a pair of thin glasses. "Good. How long have you been awake?"

"A few hours," Hayato answered. "I'm paralyzed, aren't I?"

The doctor took a second to respond. "Yes. One of your vertebrae was driven into your spinal cord, almost totally severing it. The damage has resulted in a complete loss of motor function in all four of your limbs."

"I guessed as much when I couldn't move..." Hayato replied neutrally.

"You... don't seem that upset..." the doctor said in confusion.

"No. More I'm... so upset I don't know how to feel."

"Excuse me?"

"Nevermind," Hayato sighed. There was no way he could explain it to the man. Hayato was more than just upset. He was... enraged. He had come to this town, seeking to absolve a debt of honor. He had come here to find a worthy opponent, and what had she done to him? She had destroyed him. It would have been kinder to kill him.

What good was his years of training now? He had dedicated everything to his art. Perfecting his fighting skills, his cooking skills... both at the cost of everything else. He had no friends. He had no skills beyond cooking and fighting. He had dropped out of school, forsaken everything else in his quest to gain the power and technique that would take him above Ukyou.

Now... now what? He would never walk again. He would never even cook again. What difference was there between this and death? But Hayato was not the kind of person who allowed himself to get depressed. He had not let his humiliation and daily hell of living with The Mask bring him down. No, Hayato had channeled all his frustration and sadness into rage. That was how he had survived. Rage had driven him forward where lesser men might have faltered. Rage had allowed him to keep his word and remember that he was wearing The Mask as a lesson.

So when he had discovered his condition, Hayato had done the thing that came most naturally. He had channeled his depression into anger. But he had found, finally, that there was a limit to anger. A point where the rage had built up so much that his mind simply couldn't handle it anymore. He felt that, maybe, his mind had snapped. Maybe he had gone mad. He didn't feel mad. He felt calmer, more in control then he had ever felt. Which was ironic, considering he was totally helpless.

"Hayato... I'm sorry about what happened. I know it's a difficult time for you. But you are actually in a better situation than most would be if they were you." the doctor said after a minute of thinking.

"How so?" Hayato replied.

"Most quadriplegics require assistance of some sort. Thankfully, you have a very intelligent little friend to help you out."

"Patoratsyu..." Hayato sighed. The girl had shown up earlier, carrying his faithful companion under her arm. Now the little octopus was sprawled on the foot of the bed, looking as forlorn as one would expect. The girl had explained that Patoratsyu had fought like a demon to keep from being separated from him. Hayato had even smiled a little bit at that. He had not lost everything, it had seemed at the time. But as the hours rolled by and the gravity of the situation came down on him... "He is very smart, I'll admit. But even he knows that I've lost everything."

"You're alive," the doctor intoned formally.

"Am I?"

The doctor seemed to have no good answer for that. The man said some more things after a minute of silence. Hayato tuned him out. He was probably explaining the specific medical problems that Hayato would have to live with. Hayato hadn't even begun to think about them, and didn't want to. Eventually the doctor left.

Hayato was alone for only a few minutes. When the nurse sauntered into view, Hayato blinked. She was beautiful, with long blue hair and entrancing sea- green eyes. Her white nurse's uniform was next to skin-tight, and she wore it with a sensual awareness of exactly what was going on. Hayato found his breath catching at the mere sight of her. He especially noted the golden amulet she wore on a chain around her neck. It appeared to be a crescent, open at the top, with a stylized lightning bolt on the bottom. He did notice that despite her beauty, he wasn't reacting much like a man should. Great. One more thing to blame Ukyou for.

As the nurse approached, Hayato's attention was distracted by a sudden hiss. He looked down to see Patoratsyu had raised himself up on his tentacles and was hissing at the woman.

"You humans are such fragile creatures," the nurse purred as she sat down beside him. The woman made a production of crossing her legs, allowing her skirt to ride up her thighs. Hayato blinked. Wait, had he heard her correctly? "And so pathetic as well. I can't believe they didn't just kill you the moment they discovered your injuries were permanent."

"Excuse me?" Hayato frowned.

"I mean, what good are you to anyone now? You can't fight. You can't even move." The nurse ran a finger along her cheek. "Rather a pathetic state. I could kill you. My people aren't very big on mercy. But I could use a snack, and you are still full of life energy."

"What are you talking about?" Hayato snapped. This woman was surreal.

"Oh?" the nurse smiled seductively and leaned forward. "I suppose I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tethys. I am... well... we call ourselves 'Youma' but you humans have so many names for demons, what is one more?"

"You must be kidding me! Did you walk out of the mental ward or something?"

Hayato had no trouble tracking the blow, but could do little to dodge as the woman slapped him, hard. "Don't risk my ire, human. Or else I'll leave you like this."

Hayato snarled. That slap had barely hurt at all. He twisted his head back to look at her. "That's your big threat? That you'll leave me be? Fine. Go ahead."

Tethys chuckled. "You won't be saying so once I tell you what I came here to do for you."

"I'm not interested in your insanity now..."

The nurse stretched out a hand and gently grabbed his forearm. He couldn't feel a thing as she began to rub her fingers along his flesh. He opened his mouth to protest... then stopped. He could see beads of water trailing in the wake of her fingers. But more importantly, he could feel them now. Slowly, he felt the numbness receding from his arm. His fingers jerked once, twice... then he could wriggle them freely.

"My god..."

"This has nothing to do with your god," Tethys snickered. She released his hand. Instantly, he felt the numbness return. His fingers went limp and his hand flopped to the ground like a dead fish.

"What did you do!" Hayato shouted.

"It's a little complex... but I'll try to explain." Tethys chuckled and leaned back in her chair. "We youma are not flesh and blood like you humans. We are energy beings. Our matrix, if you will, inhabits physical matter. This gives us form and substance. The matter we inhabit need not be inanimate, either. In fact, we can... share our energy with a human. That is what I did. I granted animation to your flesh when it had none, just like I can do so with water."

"I don't care how you did it," Hayato growled. "Do it again!"

"Why?" Tethys grinned seductively. "You seemed to want me gone a few minutes ago."

"I... take it back..." Hayato replied. He swallowed the bile in his throat. This woman... could -heal- him. He could walk again. He could cook again...

"Good." Tethys sat up straight. "I came here, to you, because we share a common enemy. The boy, Ukyou. He took away the things most precious to both of us. I want to destroy him. I want you to help me."

"Heal me and I'll defeat Ukyou-"

"No. I want more than to defeat Ukyou. I want him dead." The woman stretched herself to her feet. A dark, malevolent red light began to pour from her eyes. Hayato could feel all his instincts screaming at him now. They warned him of danger. They wanted him to flee. Patoratsyu suddenly leapt in front of him. The little octopus began to flail its tentacles in a threatening manner. "Get out of my way..." Tethys hissed and swatted Patoratsyu aside. Hayato gasped.

"How dare you-!"

"Shut up," Tethys shot out, cutting him off. "Understand this, human. I did not come here to form a partnership. I have the power here. I can give you your legs back, or I can kill you with equal ease. Your existence to me is merely a convenience."

Hayato swallowed his anger. He nodded. He needed to at least hear her out. The prospect of being cured, of not having to spend the rest of his life in beds like this one - it was too good an opportunity to pass up. And if her price was too high... Well, what did he care if she killed him?

Tethys raised her arms and a dark aura formed around her. As the energy flowed up her body, her image rippled like water. Then she was transformed. Her hair grew darker, her skin turned a light blue and her outfit became a skin- tight body stocking. The most dramatic change was to her face, especially as she no longer had one. Only a pair of demonic red slits existed where normal people had eyes, a mouth and a nose. Her golden amulet had somehow migrated to her forehead and trebled in size.

"Because of what I need from you, I can't just take it. So I propose a deal. I will grant you my power. I will animate your limbs and give you abilities you have not even dreamed of. In exchange, I will gain from you knowledge... of your fighting art. I will learn everything you know." Tethys lowered her arms. "Don't fool yourself, boy. I am not an angel. My intention is to destroy Ukyou Kuonji. I will destroy him, his friends, his family... and anyone who stands in my way. You will help me do so. You will do so willingly." Tethys chuckled. "I have heard tales on this world that you think demons want your souls. I have no interest in that. I want your body, your skill... your life and your obedience. You will serve me and I will give you the ability to do so. That is the deal. No negotiation." She leaned over him and ran a long-nailed finger across his cheek. "Choose."

01010

Akane caught her breath as the elevator rose up to the tenth floor. She should have been half-way home by now. But... she had forgotten her bag in Hayato's room. Not that she really minded running all the way back here. She still hadn't much liked the thought of leaving in the first place. Maybe the boy would finally be willing to talk to her. He hadn't said more than a few perfunctory thank yous after she had returned with his pet octopus.

The hallway Akane took to Hayato's room was nearly deserted. Akane did not like being alone in hospitals. They always gave her the chills. So long as she could be around people... she was fine. But the thought of standing by herself in one of those sterile-smelling, stale lighted corridors caused goosebumps. It was really too bad that Akane had been forced to spend so much time in hospitals ever since she had met Ukyou.

Ah. There it was. The thought she had been avoiding. Akane stopped. She might as well admit it to herself. She had decided to stay with Hayato because she knew that was the one place Ukyou would not show up. Oh... there was something to say about being there for the boy. But Akane knew there was nothing she could do for Hayato. Hayato didn't know her and he neither wanted nor needed her comfort. But Ukyou...

Akane wasn't sure she knew who Ukyou was anymore. And the person she was beginning to see Ukyou as frightened her.

Akane dispelled those thoughts as she opened the door to Hayato's room. Her cheerful greeting died on her lips. The bed looked to have been torn apart. Pieces of it were scattered to the four corners of the chamber. Puddles of water lay among the debris. The rest of the furniture was intact but toppled about. Akane gulped and stepped inside.

"Mr. Myoujin?" Akane whispered. "Are you okay?" A short search of the room revealed no sign of Hayato. What on earth could have happened here? Akane started as a piece of furniture fell over behind her suddenly. Swinging about into a martial arts stance she shouted "Who's there?"

'Who' turned out to be 'what'. The tiny octopus pet of Hayato lay beneath a pile of furniture, quivering so much it was sending tiny ripples through the puddle of water it was in. Akane sighed and walked over to it. "Hey, I'm sorry, little guy. Are you okay?" she crouched down and reached out her hand towards it. The octopus cringed back and Akane froze in place. "Patoratsyu? Isn't that your name? I don't want to hurt you..." Akane said in her most soothing voice. Slowly the animal opened its big black eyes and looked at her. Then, moving almost too fast for Akane to follow, it pushed forward into the nook of her arm. Akane cradled the poor creature and stood up. "Where is your master? Hmm?"

Patoratsyu merely blinked a few times. Akane saw its eyes shimmer. It was crying? Well... that couldn't be good. It was time Akane got some help.

"Dr. Tofu!" Akane cried as she ran out of the room, still cradling the octopus to her chest.

01010

Ukyou frowned and readjusted her new staff in its harness again. One of these days, she was going to learn how to store these things in the aether, or a subspace pocket or hammerspace or wherever it was that all these huge weapons disappeared to when martial artists weren't using them.

(Maybe if we use that strange energy...)

Ukyou pushed that thought out of her mind with a snarl. There was no way she was even touching that damnable power again! It was Aaron's tainted chi that had pushed her into going too far in the fight against Hayato. She had been... corrupted by him. No. Let him rot without his precious power.

Ukyou felt Aaron's mental cringes as she directed her rage inwards. She knew how much it hurt him, this constant barrage of hatred and accusations. But she couldn't stop it. Aaron had no one but himself to blame.

Ukyou sat down and began to breathe deeply. This would get her nowhere. There were more important things to do than lose herself in recriminations. Like finishing what she had started a few weeks ago. Ukyou looked up, watching as the trains passed by. The rhythmic clatter of their wheels and the gentle whoosh of their engines seemed to fill her with a tenuous peace. Here was the place to where she had tracked the boy down. The last of the holders of the seven Rainbow Crystals. All she had to do was find him and drag him over to Sailor Moon so she could use that stick to remove the crystal from his heart. Then, with the Silver Crystal in her hands, victory for the Senshi would be assured.

That was the least Ukyou owed the Dark Kingdom for putting her through so much trouble.

Ukyou turned around quickly, having sensed a brief tingle of danger on the edge of her awareness. Had Pluto decided to show her face again? Apparently not now, as there was no sign of the green-haired annoyance. Ukyou just wished Pluto would stop dicking around with her and confront her. They both knew it was coming. Whatever reason Pluto had for attacking her, Ukyou had long since ceased to care.

For a moment Ukyou's eyes settled on a young woman standing near the entrance to the train station. She was nothing special, but Ukyou couldn't help but feel she should know her from somewhere. Some anime that Aaron wasn't very familiar with? She was young, maybe seventeen at the most, with a short feathered bob cut and a serious expression. She wasn't even looking at Ukyou, instead focusing all her attention on the schedule. It occurred to Aaron that this was what was making her stand out. Unlike everyone else, who was glancing conspicuously at Ukyou in her leather trenchcoat with accompanying bo staff, this girl wasn't even giving her a first look.

Ukyou dismissed her after a moment and whirled to find the boy. More important matters now, she had to remember. It had taken forever to track down this 'Ryo Urawa', especially considering he should have been one of the easiest to find. Now, Aaron's memories of the story were sketchy and he had only seen the DIC hackjob dub, but he knew that Ryo had been one of the smartest kids in the nation, competing in some sort of genius contest when he had first met Ami. Japan was not exactly the kind of place that kept genius kids a secret.

Still, every time that Ukyou had thought she had tracked him down, the boy had moved out of his home to some other part of Tokyo. But today was not going to be such a day. Ukyou had managed to get one step ahead of him by tracking down his father. A short conversation with the man and a bit of the Kuonji charm had allowed her to learn where the boy would be this afternoon. Now, Ukyou just had to wait for him to show up.

The only problem was that waiting left her with nothing to do but think. Think and remember. Remember the sweet sound of Hayato's spine snapping. Remember Tofu's harsh words. Remember Ranma's blank face and Akane's horrified stare.

Thankfully, before her memories could grow any more painful the boy's train arrived. Ukyou drifted away from the wall, the bottom of her coat swishing around her slacks as she walked forward. She could spot Urawa stepping out of his car now. Now that she saw him again, Aaron's memory crystallised and she knew this was the right boy. He had short brown hair and a sallow complexion. He was short, probably not having hit his second growth spurt yet. Ukyou smirked to herself at how young he looked. She kept forgetting she was only two years his elder. She felt so much older now.

As Ukyou stepped out of the crowd, Urawa looked up and spotted her. Their eyes met. Ukyou knew something was wrong when she saw the fear in them. Her forward momentum ground to a halt. The boy stepped back, trembling. His bookbag fell from nerveless fingers. Ukyou raised her hand towards him, slowly. The boy took another step back. Suddenly he was pinwheeling his arms. His left foot had slipped from the platform and his body balanced precariously on the edge of the tracks.

Ukyou summoned her chi, bursting across the distance so fast that quite a few people fell over in her wake. Her fingers snapped tight around his wrist but he didn't latch onto her. Instead his mouth opened and he began to scream.

"NO! NO! You're a dream! A nightmare! You can't be real!"

"What?" Ukyou dragged him back onto the platform. A few armchair good samaritans began to approach, asking if everything was okay. Ukyou waved them off. "What are you talking about? Why are you so afraid-" Then Aaron remembered. Urawa could see the future...

"Let me go!" Normally the bookish boy's attempts to escape Ukyou's grip would have been laughable. Yet when he yanked, his arm slipped free of Ukyou's grip like it had been greased. "I won't let it happen!" Then Urawa was sprinting away.

Ukyou took a few seconds to gather her faculties. Then she frowned. She could see the crowd parting around the racing boy. A single bound carried her up and over them, so she could land directly in front of him.

"You aren't leaving here yet. Not until you answer my questions..." Ukyou realized she was growling when she talked. She tried to force her face to look pleasant and remove the anger from her tone, but she was finding very few pleasant things to think about at the moment.

"I won't help you do it..." Urawa gulped and backed away. "I won't let you bring about that future!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" Ukyou shouted. "What future?"

"The one where everything goes wrong... the battles, the war, where everyone dies... where time itself ends..." he trailed off. He was gulping for air and his eyes shimmered on the verge of tears. Ukyou glanced to the side self-consciously. She suddenly realised that perhaps this wasn't the best place to have such a private conversation.

"You're coming with me," Ukyou said and grabbed Urawa's wrist again.

"NO!"

"You misunderstand," the vicious little part of Ukyou made her say. "It was not a request."

Ukyou snapped Urawa forward, clamping her arms around him tightly and leapt. A few bounces later and she was alone with him in a small park. The park wasn't deserted at this time of day, but Ukyou felt the boy would be more comfortable here than on top of a building where he thought he would have nowhere to run. As she released him, Urawa collapsed to his knees.

"It's all going to come true..." he gasped. His eyes had become distant, and tears ran down his cheeks.

"Oh no," Ukyou crouched in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You aren't freaking out on me that easily. Explain yourself."

"You already know..."

"About your precognitive powers? Yes." Ukyou backed away. "But I swear, I don't know what it is you've seen." She reached out slowly and cupped his chin in her hand. Delicately she lifted his eyes to hers. "Look into my eyes and know I'm telling you the truth. I have no idea what kind of horror you've seen. And the only thing that will guarantee it comes about is keeping it to yourself."

"You..." Urawa stared into her eyes for a minute. Then he blinked and rubbed his tears away with the back of one hand. "You really... don't know what's going to happen?"

"I know some of it." Ukyou admitted as she released his chin. "I know about the crystal in your heart and the monster in your soul. I know about how you feel about Ami and how much you don't want to hurt her. I came here to help you with that... you have to believe that."

"I think I do." He chuckled weakly. "You're not nearly the monster I thought you would be."

"Thanks... I think." Ukyou forced herself to chuckle as well. She had to keep him talking.

"You're right. I have had the ability to see the future, ever since I was little. For the most part it's been little things, vague glances and nothing really useful. But over the last few months my power has been growing, and I keep getting stronger and stronger visions." Ukyou nodded. Aaron knew this part. "Then, three months ago the real visions began. I thought I knew what nightmares were before, but I had no idea.

"It starts with a woman's voice. Every night, the moment I close my eyes. She is telling me that she is sending these visions as a warning. Standing before me is a young woman. You... but older. I can't tell how much older. You're different in some ways... the same in some others. You wear that coat, for example... but you have on tight leggings and a kind of shirt that doesn't hide your body nearly as well. You have the scars on your arm... but your right arm has some kind of tattoo on it. Like... ribbons? No. More like circuits. Three glowing circles, full of figures and symbols rotate around your body. The voice of the woman tells me your name... tells me that you have surrendered to some great darkness inside of you. You are preparing to fight an enemy... then I see your face. There is a bright symbol on your forehead. So bright I can't make it out. And your eyes... they're so wrong...

"The woman gives one final plea. She claims to be the last survivor. I believe her. I don't much understand what she's saying, but her voice is too urgent... to sincere to be faked. Then the clouds part and out of the sky comes a figure whose features I can't make out. It just... it just feels -wrong-, in a way that words can't describe. You reach up and I think you're grabbing or creating some kind of weapon... a staff or something... then you smile. And then it ends."

Ukyou stared at him. "The dream? The dream ends?"

"No... everything ends. I see what happens next and I see the result of the first blow. The entire world... no... the entire universe! You destroy it! You unmake it! I feel it," Urawa cried and beat his chest. "In here. I feel the ultimate nothing. A complete emptiness. Mercifully, at that point I always wake up."

Ukyou staggered back as if struck. That... wasn't possible! He must be mistaken. Something had gotten to him. Something that wanted to turn him against her...

"Every night, I have that nightmare. But that is only the worst. I keep getting visions, clearer and clearer, during the day. A dead prince giving life to three young women... The return of a pure light, deep inside a lonely mountain... A blonde girl crying in the flaming ruins of a great city... You standing over a bloody mask... Two serpents with eight heads devouring each other... A girl born to death, who will be abandoned to endless life... A laughing man with blue eyes and the girl who kills for him... A woman with two faces standing over a dead queen... One child is lost, another is found, and the world trembles..." Urawa trailed off. Ukyou had fallen backwards, her jaw gaping. "I can't make sense of any of them. There are places I haven't been... people I haven't seen. I can't tell what order they come in. That's why I've been avoiding you."

"Avoiding... me?"

"I saw you coming to me." Urawa sighed and stood up. "I wanted to avoid it, my fate. I knew that THIS moment, it was important, like one of the dominos that has to fall. But you can't sidestep fate... Every time I saw you coming for me, I would try to run, but it appears the future can't be so easily turned aside." He paused and looked up at the sky. "I only wonder what changed this time. Every other time I saw you coming. Why I didn't see it this time..."

Ukyou stood up slowly as well. Only one thing had been different this time: Aaron had been the one who had found Urawa. Ukyou had guided the investigation all the other times. But she had been too busy trying to figure out what to do about her... accident to concentrate on it. So Aaron had guided her hands when locating the boy. He had walked them here.

It was his fault.

(...no...)

It was all his fault! He would cause all

(...no...)

the pain Urawa had described. After all, what was he but some stupid pretentious self-insert asshole? He even had the powers! That strange energy of his! What other dark force could the warning from the future refer to but Aaron himself? He was

(No.)

a dangerous man. He admitted it himself. He didn't care about human beings. He didn't feel the same way that normal people felt. For him, killing was no more important than stepping on a blade of grass. He had never done so in his world...

(I haven't. I won't.)

But who cared? She knew he talked big. Liked to frighten people with how crazy he was. What little it would take to push Aaron over the edge... Ask anyone who knew him. 'He was such a quiet boy. Never did anything wrong...'

(NO! THIS IS NOT MY FAULT!)

Ukyou screamed and clutched her head. Urawa started and backed away.

What right... what gall did Ukyou have to blame Aaron for this? She was right about one thing: you could only push him so far before he snapped. Even Aaron's self-control could not last forever. And this was too far. He would not sit mutely in the back of her mind, absorbing her hate and bile until he became the monster she wanted him to be!

Who was behind the mess they were in now? Ukyou was. It was Ukyou that had been the acting force. It was Ukyou that had decided to lie to her friends. It was Ukyou that had hid the truth from them. It was Ukyou that had pushed away Chris. It was her that had turned the closest thing Aaron had to a one true friend into a bitter enemy. Ukyou resisted Aaron's will, but Aaron kept attacking her with the one thing she could not deny. The truth. Aaron knew it. Ukyou knew it. Until now... he had been content to let them deceive themselves.

But no more.

Ukyou had chosen to fight Jadeite. Ukyou had chosen to fight Hayato. Ukyou had chosen to attack them both when they were down. Aaron was to blame as well. He had liked breaking their bones as much as her. But he had not decided to do so. That had been all Ukyou. Ukyou had yelled at Akane, driven her away. Ukyou had gone ahead with that 'cute' plan involving Nodoka... Aaron had thought of it, but never would have done something so inane. Ukyou had decided to go with that plan, almost as if she wanted to do so to spite him. Ukyou had done all these things... and why? Because she hated Aaron. Not for stealing her life. Not for drawing enemies to her.

It went deeper than that. Ukyou hated Aaron because he was REAL.

Silence filled the small park. Ukyou had been screaming. Roaring for Aaron to shut up. Urawa had tumbled down and was staring at them in horror. But neither of them could care about that. The final fatal thought had entered their minds, and there was no denying it now.

Aaron was real. He had been born and raised and lived in a world that was nothing like her own. In his world, Ukyou was a figment

(not gonna think about this)

of the imagination; nothing more than ink on paper, or dots chasing each other across glass. Aaron had seen all her adventures. Discovered

(not gonna think about this)

a great deal about her. But Ukyou had never read "Aaron Peori", the manga. There was no way she could have created him out of whole cloth. She knew too much about him. She knew English through him. She knew his life, intimately.

But could the same be said in reverse? Was it possible that this was all a fever dream? Maybe Aaron was on a bed in a hospital,

(Please please please please)

comatose and wasting. Without input from the outside world, his mind had snapped. Maybe it was Ukyou who was the intruder in his mind... rather than the other way around?

"STOP IT!" Ukyou shouted and fell forward. She curled into the fetal position. She was real. She was real. She wasn't a dream. She wasn't -less- than him. She had a family... who were all dead. She had memories... wacky adventures... but how many had not happened in Aaron's manga? And how much sense did it all make? Her one true love was a boy she barely knew who spent half his time as a girl. She had mastered a style of fighting based on bad puns and okonomiyaki cooking. Her enemies were strange. Her friends even stranger.

HER 'OLD FRIEND' OCCHAN HAD A FUCKING SPATULA FOR A HEAD! Where did he put his goddamn -brain-!

Aaron felt her pain, her uncertainty. How could he not? He realized that he was just doing what she had done to him for so long. Ever since they had met Chris... but knowing and wanting were two different things.

And speaking of Chris. Oh yes. Don't think that Aaron had forgotten about that. The real reason Ukyou hated HIM. Ukyou hated Chris because he was like Aaron. He was from outside. But he was safe to hate. Hating Chris didn't echo in her mind. Her special hate for his potential realness had blossomed into true rancor. It had festered in her mind... and in Aaron's. Aaron forced himself to admit it. He had let that hatred gather so deep in their shared psyche that he could no longer see Chris as a friend.

That was his fault. He was willing to accept his share of the blame. He had always been a great hypocrite. He encouraged people to vote, to step up, to intervene and to care. Yet he did so little of that himself. For Aaron, responsibility was a burden to be avoided at all costs. He saw ambition as a waste of time and energy. Thus... it had been so easy. When he had arrived in her mind, Ukyou had been so full of conviction and ambition. It was so easy to do what he always did and let somebody else take the reins. And look where it had gotten him. Look where it had gotten them.

Ukyou might not like it, but Aaron was through taking a backseat to her desires. He wasn't going to live as her sinkhole for all her hate and self- doubt. Aaron opened Ukyou's eyes.

Sailor Pluto was standing over them. The tip of her key staff was an inch above Ukyou's nose. The woman looked sad.

"Now you know why this has to happen. You deserved at least that much."

01010

Pluto walked over to the thrashing form of Ukyou. She spared a glance at the boy she was with. Pluto knew about him, of course, and his ability. She always knew that his ability would cease functioning long before he became a possible threat to the fabric of time. He wasn't a priority. Still... best to play it safe.

"Ryo Urawa," Pluto intoned as she held up her staff. "You must leave this place. Go... to Juuban Middle School. There you will met the woman of your destiny. She will heal you and bring you peace. Go."

Urawa didn't really need more than that. The boy shot off like the hounds of hell were at his ankles. Pluto smiled. At least, with him getting to Sailor Moon before the Dark Kingdom discovered him, there would be no chance of unleashing his true monstrous nature. Pluto drove concerns for him from her mind. There was one final thing to do... and this time there would be no chance of failure.

"Dark Dome Enclose!"

Pluto staggered as the power radiated from her key staff. This was the one truly forbidden power of her office. By driving her staff into the streams of time, she could halt its flow. Even now the leaves halted their rustling and the wind ceased its howl. The trickle of a nearby fountain went silent as the droplets froze in mid-air.

The strain of maintaining this power was terrible. If she had been forced to hold more than this small area out of the flow of time, it might have killed her. As it was... she knew she was going to die from this. Because she still had to deliver the final blow. Normally the Dead Scream would strain her no more than walking. To cast it now, however, was suicide. But it would be suicide with a purpose.

At least, if she died, she knew that she could not be the last survivor to witness that horror at the end of time.

Pluto stopped over Ukyou's head and leveled the staff at her face. She was so still now, compared to her thrashing and screaming from earlier. Sympathy threatened to unmake her, but Pluto reaffirmed her resolve by thinking of Urawa. He, too, had seen the future. There was no doubt now. There couldn't be.

"Now you know why this has to happen. You deserved at least that much," Pluto sighed. "Dead-"

Pluto's voice cut off as Ukyou's hand clasped around the edge of her staff. How?

Suddenly the earth escaped from Pluto's feet. The sky tumbled back in her vision. Pain blossomed up her shins. Ukyou had kicked her. Pluto could see a bird floating overhead, its wings caught between beats in that eternal instant.

Her head collided hard with the ground. She felt the time key staff fly from her hands. Her connection to the gates weakened and time rushed back forward. Pluto gasped as the force of all that time collided with her body. It was like a thousand trucks striking her at once. Unconsciousness threatened to consume her...

Then Ukyou was picking her up by the collar and shaking her awake. Pluto gasped. She was alive. Her body has survived the strain of stopping time... but just barely.

"You bitch," Ukyou hissed into Pluto's face. "Setsuna... why couldn't you just TELL me! If you had told me sooner... so much could have been avoided..." Ukyou released her and Pluto collapsed to the ground. "You secretive little psychopath! You knew about those visions. That's why... what's why you want to kill me. For something I MIGHT do! What gives you the right?" Ukyou clenched her fists and her posture became calm... colder somehow. "Why don't you go back in time and kill Hitler? Or some other monster?" Ukyou leaned down over her. "You want me to guide you to Osama Bin Laden? Kill him and you'll prevent the death of three thousand people... and a series of pointless and evil wars."

"This is different..." Pluto gasped, barely finding her voice. Who was this Bin Laden person, anyway? "Those are wars. Man always has wars. People always die. But time... time is eternal. It goes on. That is what defines it." Pluto propped herself up on one hand. Anger was beginning to restore her strength. "I am the Senshi of the Ninth Planet, Sailor Pluto. I am Guardian of Time, holder of the key to the Gates of Time. My task is not to guard a princess. My task is not to protect our world from invasion. My task is not to slay the enemies of peace and justice. My task is to protect the one thing that can never be allowed to end! I must forever ensure the continuum of time itself! Without it... there is no universe! That is why you must die. Because you will destroy it. You will bring an end to time!"

"No," Ukyou said with cold finality. "I don't believe in destiny or fate. My future... everyone's future... Time is what we make of it! I refuse to bow my head down and die because you think I will become a monster! I refuse to become a monster because a voice from the future tells me it is so. I refuse to believe that fate can not be changed." She backed away, smirking. "I've already changed it, after all. I've changed the destiny of those around me. I will do so again."

Ukyou stepped away and pulled her staff from the harness on her back. "This world... there is something terribly wrong with it. I know that it can't be a coincidence that I am here and this is happening to me. I'm no hero. I don't intend to save the world. But I sure as hell won't destroy it either. First I'll have to learn about this world. I've let it pass me by. I was too focused on my own goals..."

Ukyou swept her staff at Pluto. Pluto's eyes widened. There was nothing but a blur of motion... and then the staff came to a quivering halt a centimeter from Pluto's throat.

"We don't need to be enemies. But if you choose to be my enemy... I will no longer fight to escape or to turn you aside. If you come after me again, Pluto, I'll defeat you. Don't make me do it."

Ukyou spun, her coat swirling as she restored her staff in a single smooth motion. Pluto watched as the young girl strode purposefully out of the park. She had never TRULY understood it until now. That Ukyou could somehow destroy everything. But Pluto had now seen the proof. She had stopped time itself... and Ukyou had still moved. That was impossible. Not just hard. Not just improbable. Literally impossible. Pluto knew that Ukyou had within her a power that could threaten all existence, now. And now... Pluto would risk facing that power directly if she wanted to confront Ukyou again.

"So be it," Pluto intoned calmly.

01010

"Not again..."

Rei stumbled as she landed, holding her stomach. Her lunch lurched dangerously inside of her and she strode dizzily into the deserted park where her friends were waiting. She couldn't have stood another minute of that. That was why they had all fled. The police, the witnesses... the body... the missing girls... it all added up, didn't it?

"Why didn't things turn around... we did so well the last time..."

That was Usagi, again. She was taking this the worst of anyone. Luna was trying to console her, telling her there was nothing they could have done. They had just arrived one step too late. Again.

"DAMNIT!" Makoto screamed and smashed her fist into a tree. Her magically enhanced strength knocked a dent into the wood. Rei felt like joining her, but instead sat down. Luna was right: this wasn't Usagi's fault. It was Rei's.

Shibakawa had gone to the school near hers. She had known about him. She should have seen the signs. Maybe when he suddenly started doing portraits instead of landscapes? Maybe Rei would have known something was up, if she had been paying attention. But nobody had been paying attention to Kijin Shibakawa lately. His first place in a national photography contest had been buried deep in the local papers and wasn't even being reported elsewhere. The news was too full of disasters lately for something as... normal as that to catch anyone's attention.

"I thought we did so well last time..." Usagi murmured. She was crouched on the ground, her arms wrapped around her knees. The tails of her hair were lying in the dirt. Rei frowned. She didn't state the obvious fact: that the victim of that attack had been Usagi's own home economics teacher had been all that had allowed Usagi to act in time. This time... they had been too distracted to even notice what was going on. Just like the time before.

"We can't let this stop us," Rei declared suddenly. She stood up straight, catching the attention of all her fellow Sailor Senshi. Even Ami, who hadn't looked up from her computer since they'd stumbled out of the indoor pool. Rei knew she struck an impressive figure in her red and white Sailor uniform, so she played it up a bit. After all, somebody had to take charge, and Usagi didn't seem up to it. "The Dark Kingdom has been one step ahead of us a few times. But we can defeat them... we just have to change strategies. We can't joke around about this anymore. We're going to have to get serious about protecting these people if we ever want to be able to do it!"

"Rei has a point," Luna confirmed with a nod. "It is about time you girls started getting serious about being Sailor Senshi."

Usagi just looked at Luna then went back to burying her face between her knees. Rei could hear her crying. Her heart felt for Usagi, it did. She didn't want to be cruel. She had to be. It was for Usagi's own good.

"Snap out of it, you airhead!" Rei shouted. "You're useless to everyone if you just sit there crying!" Usagi's head snapped up and her eyes shook with fear. Then her face vanished as the green-skirted Makoto interposed herself between her and Rei.

"Rei! That was uncalled for!" Makoto was the kind of person who wore her emotions on her sleeve, and her anger was obvious. Her face, her posture, her voice... Rei knew she was treading on thin ice. But she couldn't afford to let up now.

"It is exactly what's called for. We've all been distracted lately. I'm as much to blame for what happened here as all of you, if not more. I admit that," Rei said, the words leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. "We can't just keep hoping to randomly run into the Dark Kingdom's agents anymore. Three times they've escaped clean..."

Rei trailed off. Her voice had been on the verge of cracking. Why her? She was fourteen years old. Did she really have it in her to save the world?

"And who made you the boss!" Makoto shouted back. "Last I checked, Usagi was the princess reborn. She's our leader."

Rei narrowed her eyes. Yes. She had it in her. She had it in her because Usagi was crumbling. One more lost life and the kind-hearted girl might not be able to take it. Rei wouldn't let that happen.

Before Rei could shout something back, Ami cut in. "Perhaps Rei has a point," the normally unobtrusive girl said simply. Rei turned to her with a smile. You could always count on Ami to be the voice of reason. "According to my data... all the people that have been targeted by the Dark Kingdom have been people with high levels of talent in a single field. People that have either had their work go unappreciated, or who are on the verge of reaching their full potential. I speculate that our enemies must be seeking to harvest this potential, this unrealized talent, as a source of energy."

"How can you say that so coldly? Aren't these people, not crops?" Makoto muttered. Ami recoiled as if slapped. The smaller girl blinked rapidly, her eyes shimmering.

"Mako!" That shocked Usagi out of her self-pity. She was standing up with her face thrust into Makoto's now. The much more physically imposing Senshi backed away from something she saw in Usagi's face. "In case you're forgetting, one of those people was Ami's friend."

Rei looked down. She had been too busy with a date that day to be there to help the old man. The kicker of it was that she had been about to walk right into the park with Mamoru that day, but then the two of them had run into Makoto and Rei had gotten jealous when the other girl started flirting with her man and... Rei sighed. No time to regret the past now.

"Of... of course... I'm sorry. Ami... you have to believe I didn't mean to imply..."

"It's okay, Makoto," Ami said with a forced smile. "I know you're just upset. I know you want so much to aid us in fighting. It must be frustrating to not be able to even show up for the battles." Makoto nodded. "As I was saying. I think I can figure out a pattern from this. Maybe predict who the next target is going to be..."

"How?" Rei sighed and leaned back against a tree. "What you've just described probably covers hundreds... if not thousands of people right here in Tokyo. Unless there was some other connection?"

"None," Ami sighed, then immediately added, "That I'm aware of. Maybe with more data..." Ami trailed off. Everyone let the implications of that statement pass unremarked upon.

"Maybe what we should do is have Ami get a list of these people, and then we can..." Makoto raised her fists. "Do something. Limit the Dark Kingdom's options."

"Huh?" Rei blinked.

"You know... break their legs or something. Make sure they never reach their potential. What? Why are you all staring at me like that? It's better then them dying, isn't it?"

"Mako! The Sailor Senshi stand for love and justice! Not random acts of senseless violence!" Usagi cried.

"Do you have a better idea?" Makoto sighed and tugged on her ponytail briefly.

"Maybe we can ask for help. Tuxedo Mask or that boy Ukyou..."

"Will you stop it with Ukyou!" Rei snapped. "He's a dangerous man! I showed you that article on how he crippled a boy, didn't I?"

"But still..."

"But nothing. I want nothing to do with Ukyou. He's dangerous," Rei growled out. Rei wasn't even sure where her anger at the boy had come from. There was just something about that boy that frayed at Rei's nerves. It was dumb and without reason, but Rei couldn't help but feel like somehow Ukyou was the cause of all their troubles. Her entire life had been spent honing her trust in her instincts, a necessary part of her Shinto training. Yet she couldn't quite pin down why she distrusted him.

While the others debated what to do about the situation Rei strode a little bit away. She had tried before to pin down the feeling that made her dislike Ukyou. Yet she never could. Rei focused on her feelings... trying to discover some truth and-

The earth had eyes!

Rei snapped her head back. What was that? She stared down. She had been looking straight into the earth when she had felt it. An overpowering feeling of being watched. Being watched from all over. Being watched from all angles. Something heavy and oppressive and... alien. Rei closed her eyes and spun slowly on one heel. Yes... the feeling was still there. It was still everywhere.

"Everyone! Get out! Get out of the trees!"

"What?" Luna cried back.

"There's something here!" Rei was already running towards them. They were just standing there, like sheep. Couldn't they feel it? Rei knew it was moving now. It knew it had been discovered. "Don't just stand there... run!" Rei reached out and scooped up Usagi in both hands before leaping free of the small copse the Senshi had concealed themselves in. Shortly thereafter she heard the leaves rustle as Ami and Makoto followed her. She could only hope one of them had thought to grab Luna.

"What's going on, Rei... have you gone nuts?" Makoto said as she landed and released Luna. Rei tried to release Usagi, but the girl had been frightened into a statue by Rei's outburst and was clinging on tight.

"No... I can see it too," Ami said, staring back into the trees. She had her clear blue visor on, and arcane symbols traced a path across her vision. "Some sort of bio-energy pattern infused with all the trees and the ground..."

"Wh-what is it?" Usagi gulped.

"I don't know..." Rei frowned. The feeling had not lessened. But it wasn't moving anymore. In fact the entire copse had become eerily silent and still. Rei reached behind her and withdrew a ward.

"Fascinating... this is like no Youma I've ever seen. It appears to be a bio-entity... very similar to human in fact from the readings and-ah!"

Ami flew back as a root burst from the ground and smashed into her like a whip. Her compact computer flew from her hand and clattered to the ground. Rei watched as the root rose into the air above it. In a moment of clarity Rei knew that this attack wasn't against Ami. It was against the computer.

"Oh no you don't! Fire Soul!" Rei snapped her hands forward, gathering her energy at the tips of her fingers. With a flash fire erupted from them and Rei screamed, sending the ball spiraling into the root. Thankfully it was no more resistant to flames than normal wood.

"This is more like it!" Makoto cried. "Supreme Thunder!" Thunder crashed as a bolt of lighting fell from the heavens and collected around Makoto's head. Then she released it into the trees. There was a burst of fire and a shower of wood chips, but not much else. "Did I get it?"

"No..." Rei frowned. "It's still... underneath!" Acting on instinct Rei leapt into the sky, a second too soon for the sudden hole in the earth to swallow her.

"Sailor Moon, don't just stand there, help them!" Luna cried.

"But how? Where do I fire?"

Rei landed. She could sense the thing homing in on her landing spot but could do nothing to halt her momentum. Sure enough, as she touched down the earth around her erupted. She threw her arms in front of her face as the liquid earth rose around her in undulating waves. In a second it would have crashed down on her, but then a blast of thunder rang out and Rei was surrounded by a shower of stones.

"Sailor Moon..." Ami gasped. She was lying on the ground, and clutching her side. But she had managed to retrieve her computer. "The enemy is permeating the earth. It's a bio-chemical agent. You'll have to hit it all at once!"

"How?"

"The moon stick!" Luna cried. "Use the power of the moon stick!"

Usagi nodded and snapped her hand out. Suddenly the pink and gold crescent moon wand was there. Rei had never seen the thing used. For all she knew, its only purpose was to locate and retrieve the fragments of the Silver Crystal... apparently it had more martial uses. But even as Usagi began to spin in place, gathering the energy for her attack, the earth roared and struck.

And Rei meant that literally. A huge face, a distorted earthen parody of a man, formed from the sediment and let loose an inhuman roar. Fingers of stone burst from the ground, encircling the distracted Moon Senshi in a giant brown fist. Usagi screamed, her head cracking back and her hair whipping about wildly. Rei said something very unladylike and raised her hands. She could see Makoto doing the same nearby.

With twin shouts they both unleashed their attacks. Somehow Rei knew just how to sync up with Makoto so that their attacks collided in mid-air. Instead of exploding against each other the magic combined, becoming a roaring ball of flame with flashing sparks along its surface. The doubled attack struck the fist, blowing it into chunks. Usagi was sent flying from the explosion and Rei wondered for a moment in horror if they had accidentally hurt her.

Then she landed and began to cry. "Rei, Mako! That hurt!" Rei sighed in relief. Usagi was fine.

"Stop crying and finish it off!" Rei shouted angrily.

The giant face looked worried now. It was sinking back into the earth. Rei turned to face it, unsure how to stop it. She could sense fear now. It was retreating. Damn... if they didn't stop it now... It had overheard their entire conversation! It knew their real names!

Rei blinked when the red rose stabbed into the forehead of the monster. She whipped her head back, following the projected flight path of the weapon. Sure enough, there was Tuxedo Mask. Standing with his cape rippling atop a nearby lightpost.

"Sailor Moon, this wicked monster is using the very forces of nature against you. Believe in yourself and the friends you have to protect you, and it cannot win!" the masked man declared eloquently once he had everyone's attention.

"Right!" Usagi snapped her arm out, holding the moon wand in ready position again. The monster seemed to have been stunned by Tuxedo Mask's attack, and wasn't able to respond as Sailor Moon completed her pirouette. "Moon Healing Escalation!"

Rei shaded her eyes as Sailor Moon suddenly became a beacon of blazing silver light. She could barely make out orbs of energy flowing from the tip of the moon stick and pouring into the face of the monster on the ground. The monster's face grew incandescent, blurring out of Rei's sight. Then the light began to fade.

When Rei could see again there was a man on the ground. He was curled up in a fetal position. He was totally hairless... a fact that was easy to tell since he was also totally naked. Rei felt her cheeks burn and she spun away. She heard more than saw Tuxedo Mask leap down behind her.

"It's okay... you can look now," he said after a moment. Rei turned and saw that the masked mystery man had taken off his cape and draped it over the man like a blanket.

"Who is that?" Makoto was the first to speak. "What just happened?"

"He's... totally human." Ami declared after a moment of consulting her visor. "His genetic code is almost exactly identical to that of the monster..."

"How is that possible?" Luna stated as she approached the man.

"I don't know," Tuxedo Mask declared and stepped back. "But I'll leave him in your capable care. Until next time." With a flourish the man in the top hat leapt away, despite Usagi's protests for him to wait. Rei ignored his departure, more concerned with the strange man. She focused her senses on him, but could sense none of the oppressive presence from before in him.

"I think... I think he used to be human and then someone, or something, turned him into that monster," Ami said slowly into the silence that followed Tuxedo Mask's departure.

"How horrible!" Makoto hissed.

"He's coming around..." Luna pointed out. "Perhaps he might be scared if he found himself suddenly surrounded by several hostile looking Sailor Senshi..." she hinted.

"Yes," Rei nodded. "Let's not give him any more shocks. He probably doesn't even remember anything about what happened." Or at least, Rei hoped he didn't.

Transforming from Sailor Mars back into plain old Rei Hino always left Rei with a vague feeling of loss. Like she had been on the verge of something profound, and then turned away from it. Even so, she often felt better as plain old Rei instead of a superheroine. She brushed out her skirt and sat down next to the man, thinking about what to tell him.

"AHHH!" the man sprang up like a punching dummy. His hands grasped his head as he sat on the grass and screamed again. "NO! What happened? What have you done to me!"

"Calm down, sir," Rei said, laying a soothing hand on his shoulder. "You're safe now."

"Safe? What?" the man turned and blinked at her. "Who are you? What happened to me? Where did the Sailor Senshi go..."

"You shouldn't be straining yourself," Ami said from where she was sitting nearby. She was still clutching her side from where the monster had struck her. "You seem to have been through quite an ordeal. We only came because we saw all the fireworks. The Sailor Senshi said they transformed you back into a human, then left you with us."

"With you..." the man blinked. "Wait... human... human..." He kept repeating the word 'human' over and over again. He wrapped his hands around his bald head again and began to hyperventilate. "No... I'm human... I'm human..." Rei patted him gently. The poor soul. It must have been very traumatic being turned into a monster. He still couldn't believe his nightmare was over.

"Don't worry, sir. You're safe now. We'll go get to the police and they can help you get back home... though, what is your name?"

"Name?" the man turned to her and blinked. "I... I am Dyme..."

"Well, Dyme, I'm Rei. I'll stay with you while my friends go get help."

"Rei..." the man stared at her. His face suddenly grew calm. "Yes, Rei. I think I would like that."

01010

Ranma stared into the flames. They were hot. His hands kept telling him this. Stupid hands. They would learn. Heat was nothing. Blistering, burning, skin-melting heat would not stop Ranma Saotome! He would have those chestnuts. He had never wanted any food so much as he wanted those chestnuts now.

Except for that soup he'd stolen from that guy in China.

And the time Pop had starved him for a week as "endurance training" and...

Well. Let's just say Ranma wanted those chestnuts -really- really badly, and leave it at that. He raised his hands, cracking and popping the joints as he flexed in preparation. Oh yes... they would be his. It was just a matter of speed and accuracy... focus... concentration! Just one perfect movem-

"Ah, there you are, Son-in-law."

"AHHHHH! MY HANDS!" Ranma ran screaming from the fire and dunked his burning digits into the convenient Koi pond. He turned a glare back over his shoulder at the old troll that had interrupted him. She was sitting, no, she was perched like a vulture on top of that stick of hers. She didn't seem to be paying attention to him. She was more interested in staring into the flames.

Did she want his chestnuts? No! They were Ranma's!

"Hey, back off old hag!" Ranma shouted in what he was hoping to be his most intimidating tone. He grimaced as it came out about two octaves too high. Stupid curse.

"What... exactly are you doing here, Son-in-law?" the old hag asked, still not bothering to look in Ranma's direction. She had at least leapt down from her walking stick. Ranma wanted to walk over and punt her away like a football, but he kept a healthy distance. The old lady was fast, and like nearly every girl he had met, seemed interested in ripping off all his clothes. Not that he was afraid of her beating him. But he had been naked quite enough today, thank you very much.

"None of your business, old hag!" Ranma shouted.

"You weren't trying to do this, were you?"

Ranma blinked. He saw something. A blur of motion around Cologne. Then she turned to him, holding a double-handful of roasted chestnuts. She was smiling. Ranma's mouth opened.

"How'd you do that?" he demanded.

"Maybe if you tell me what I want to know, I'll tell you what you want to know," the old hag said through her smirk. Ranma was beginning to see why that girl Shampoo was always yelling at her. Not that he agreed with much else Shampoo wanted. Especially since her two motivations seemed to be 'kill him' and 'marry him', possibly in that order.

"I was trying to get the chestnuts, okay. Now tell me how you did it?"

"And where did you get such an idea? From your father? Or perhaps a friend of his?" The old hag's voice had lost all its amusement, taking on a deadly serious tone.

"Huh? No." Ranma laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "My Pop is too dumb to come up with anything like that."

"Then where?"

"My buddy, Ucchan." Ranma said with a shrug. He couldn't see the harm in talking about her training here. It wasn't like Ukyou had ever sworn him to secrecy or anything.

"'Ucchan' is it?" Cologne narrowed her eyes. "And why did 'Ucchan' teach you this?"

"To make me stronger. Something about wind and fire and chakras or some junk. I never really understood it." Ranma shrugged again and knelt down. Now that the old hag wasn't trying to strip him or make him marry that psychopath, she was almost tolerable to talk to. Besides, talking shop always interested Ranma. "I think Ukyou must have already mastered that technique, though. She was working on some spiral thing while she had me doing it. Then she did this neat thing with a tornado to that octopus guy." Ranma grinned and stared into the sky. "Now -that- was a technique. I'm definitely going to learn that from her once I get this one down pat."

"Spiral... tornado..." Cologne said. Ranma didn't miss the dangerously level way she said that. Ranma simply didn't think much of it. After all, even Kunou could -sound- dangerous.

"Now you do your part, old hag," Ranma insisted. He pointed accusingly at her handful of rapidly-cooling chestnuts. "Teach me how to do that!"

Ranma recoiled as the old woman beaned him off the head with one of the nuts. "Not until you can speak with respect," she informed him with a smirk.

"Hey! We had a deal you little frea-ow!" Ranma rubbed his forehead. "Stop doing that you crazy old-ow!" Ranma shielded his head with his hands. "Hah! Try to hit me now... ah! MY CHEST! That hurt!"

"I should hope so, it was meant to."

Ranma had the best comeback ever. He was going to deliver it with such wit and panache that it would have left Cologne stunned and unable to recover. She would have bowed down to his superior skills and instantly taught him everything she knew. Too bad the moment he opened his mouth his words were drowned out by a giant explosion that literally rocked the entire Tendo complex.

"Not again," Ranma grumbled and turned to look at what was causing the ruckus this time. "I hope this isn't those Dork Kingdom losers again..."

Ranma stared as the smoke from the front of the house cleared. There was a giant, unopened rose where the front gate to the Tendo home should be. It stood nearly three stories tall. The afternoon light glinted off its perfect bulb.

"Oh, it's those plant things again. Come back for a rematch, huh?" Ranma stood up and began to roll up his sleeves. Then he paused. The bulb was unfolding, and standing in the middle of the delicate leaves were two girls. Twins really. They even had identical outfits and...

Wait a minute. Where had he seen those two before? As he wondered about this, the girls rose up, striking mirrored poses like circus acrobats about to perform an elaborate stunt.

"At last the flower of justice has bloomed, over!" the smiling one on the left sung out triumphantly.

"And so quail, Shampoo. Quail, for this flower of vengeance has been growing for ten years, over!" the frowning one on the right added in.

"Beware, the hundred blows of pain! The hundred times one hundred blows, even, over!" the first girl declared and, as if one cue, both girls spun in place and pointed down into the courtyard of the dojo.

"Uh... Shampoo's inside." Ranma told them and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

There was a long pause as the duo stared at him.

"We knew that, over!" the smiling one shouted angrily.

"It was all part of our plan, over!" the other said as they both stood with hands on hips.

"You didn't really expect us to unleash our deadly sneak attack after declaring our intentions openly, did you, over?"

"I dunno. Maybe?" Ranma shrugged. More fruitcakes, he supposed. Surprisingly familiar fruitcakes, but still just another pair of psycho girls. Why were all the women Ranma met crazy? Even Ukyou was a little nuts. At least they weren't his problem.

"Come along, sister. The time to strike is nigh, over!" the smiling one informed her twin in a voice that still rang out over half the neighbourhood. The other girl nodded and both turned around and began to sneak down the enormous stem of their three-story tall rose bloom.

"Friends of yours?" Ranma said, turning back to Cologne.

Cologne, who was back on her stick, only shrugged. "I think I might know who they are. But I've never met them personally."

"Shouldn't you go save your great-granddaughter?" Ranma paused. "Not that I care." He paused again. "Don't mistake that for concern or nothin'."

"Whatever you say, boy," Cologne shrugged and pulled a long pipe out.

Ranma would have gone back to berating Cologne at that point. He might have even used his Comeback Of Doom on her, but he never had a chance. Because at that point another figure bounced over the wall of the Tendo dojo and landed right beside Ranma.

"YOU!" Ranma shouted.

"Oh, uh... Hi Ran-ya! Watch it!" The undead bastard ducked under Ranma's opening punch. He looked just the same as before. And hey, that's where he'd seen those two girls before!

"Of course! I knew it all along!" Ranma growled as he backflipped away and settled into a horse stance.

"Of course what?" Chris said mildly. He looked confused. But Ranma wasn't fooled.

"You know what! I don't have to spell it out to you!" Ranma grinned. He had been hoping that something like this would happen.

The undead thing quirked his head to the side and stared at Ranma for a second. Then he sighed and threw up his hands in a defeated gesture. "You're right, Ranma. I should have know I couldn't fool you." Ranma smirked. "There's just no way to hide it, is there?" Ranma nodded and flexed. "I have come here... for one reason. And one reason only, as you know." Ranma gestured for the undead creep to bring it on. "To NOT, in any way shape or form, get into a fight with you," Chris said forcefully as he stared right into Ranma's eyes.

"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "But that's not how it's supposed to go!"

"Sorry, Saotome. Other business today. Come on, you got to punch me the other day."

"That doesn't count! You weren't fighting back!"

"Okay, fine. You know, your honour as a martial artist requires that you issue a formal challenge before beating me into a pulp."

"Oh, right." Ranma slammed his fist into his palm. "Great. Then I, Ranma Saotome, challenge you, Chris uh... whatever your last name is, to a duel of honour!"

"Sorry. I refuse," the boy-thing said with a shrug.

Ranma gaped. Ah man. Now what was he supposed to do?

"Friend of yours?" Cologne said as she leaned in front of Ranma.

"Uh... no. Not really. More like bitter lifelong enemy... really. When I think about it."

"Uhh..." Chris trailed off. Ranma looked over and saw the undead boy's formerly smug face had fallen into wide-eyed staring at the old ghoul.

"And you..." Cologne spun in place, not even noticing when her hair whipped across Ranma's cheeks harshly. "I can't help but feel your arrival is uncoincidental with that of those girls."

"Hey, old hag! Watch where you're...oof!" Ranma clutched his stomach in pain. He only realized he was spiraling back through the air when he landed in the koi pond.

"Let the adults speak for a moment, Son-in-law," Ranma heard her say as he emerged.

Chris was rubbing the back of his head and grinning like an idiot. "Heheh. So... I guess you recognize me? Long time no see." He bowed respectfully to the hag.

"Suck up," Ranma muttered as he strode to shore. "OW! Hey, I thought you dropped those chestnuts!"

"One does not encounter many like you. No matter what face they are wearing."

"Indeed..." the boy replied heavily. "Yes, well... about those two... It's sort of a long story."

"I'm sure we'll find time to talk about it," Cologne stated ominously.

"AIYA, OVER!"

"AGH, OVER!"

"THE PAIN, OVER!"

"MY SPLEEN! MY, PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS SPLEEN, OVER!"

"That's my cue," Chris said with a nervous chuckle. "Why don't I explain everything to you on the way in?"

01010

Shampoo twisted the old bald man's arm behind his back. "I'm NOT marrying your son," she hissed.

He said something in that damn islander babble. She twisted his arm even further, savouring the sound of Ranma's kin's tendons straining. She reached for the words in Japanese. "You... kill... Ranma." It made perfect sense. Father could atone for the sins of the child, and Shampoo wouldn't have to marry him.

The old fat man started blubbering like a baby. Shampoo thrust him away in disgust. Wasn't there a single Japanese man with a sack? She needed SOMEONE to do the job, since the damn laws - and that twice-damned old woman - kept her from it.

After a few minutes, she gave up on the other old man too. He was, if possible, even more pathetic. What kind of rotten martial arts training hall was this? No wonder she didn't see any students.

The girl with the long black hair who'd recently arrived shouted something at her, tending to the long-haired old man. Oh right, that was her father, wasn't it? Shampoo shrugged. "Sorry," she said.

The girl didn't seem to be mollified. As if some temporary discomfort to her pathetic father was in any way comparable to the lifetime of hell Shampoo was looking forward to.

The girl was still talking, and gesturing angrily at her. Oh, wait, she was taking a fighting stance. Was she challenging Shampoo? She looked almost competent, too. Shampoo grinned viciously, flowing to her feet. If she couldn't kill Ranma, she could at least indulge in some satisfying violence. Just what the doctor ordered, that's what it would be.

At this point, there was a tremendous explosion that literally rocked the dojo, causing dust to fall lazily from the ceiling. An earthquake? Bomb? Great-grandmother doing one of those weird ancient techniques?

The long-haired angry girl looked back towards the source of the explosion, back at Shampoo, then waved her finger at her and shouted something about "waiting" before running off to investigate. How disappointing.

And then, the most wonderful sound came to Shampoo's ears.

She didn't know what they were saying (why on earth were they speaking in Japanese, anyway?), but THOSE voices were ones she'd never forget.

Forget the angry girl. There was no more therapeutic violence, when Shampoo was having a bad day, than the violence she could inflict on Pink and Link.

Shampoo settled back down, lacing her hands behind her neck. They'd be here soon enough. Shampoo had trained them well.

Ah, she could hear them coming. They were walking on tip-toe. They were even saying "sneak, sneak, over". What, did they think they were ninjas? The long-haired girl was yelling at them. They yelled back at her, and then went back to 'sneaking'. Oh, this was too funny.

They had stopped near the door. Actually, they were peeking through, one on each side, staring at her. Shampoo feigned a theatrical yawn, and watched as the two idiots darted through the entrance and hid, one under the table, one behind the cowering fat bald guy. Shampoo continued to pretend she didn't see them, as they darted from stupid hiding place to stupid hiding place, gradually converging on her location.

The long-haired girl was still in the doorway, only now she was staring at Pink and Link. She said something to them, and they both turned and shushed her. Shampoo successfully disguised her laughter as a cough. This was their most ridiculous attempt to take her by surprise since the time they'd 'disguised' themselves as wish-granting fairies.

They finally managed to reach their positions, standing triumphantly behind her, one on each side. They were pulling out smoking, poison-covered knives. They were raising them high in the air. They cried out in triumph and plunged the knives downward.

With a single lazy motion, Shampoo disarmed them and grabbed both their throats. "Hello, Pink, Link," she said pleasantly. "It was nice of you to come all the way to Japan to see me."

"Oh, Shampoo, that's you, over!" Pink said with a weak smile. "We thought you were...were..."

"Someone else, over!" Link finished.

"Someone bad, over!" Pink agreed enthusiastically.

"Ah, but Pink, Link, you forget..." Shampoo smiled reassuringly, and pulled them close, in a gesture that might almost have looked like a friendly embrace except for the fact her hands were still firmly gripping the two idiot's throats. "I AM someone bad. Bad for you."

Shampoo proceeded to engage in some senseless, rather basic, but highly satisfying violence. She noted idly that for some reason their screams of pain were in Japanese, but ignored that minor quirk.

And then she was flying backward, the wall of the living room cracking as she collided with it. Who? Oh, the long-haired girl. She was pulling her hands back from her palm thrust and shouting something angrily at her again. Shampoo wanted to tell her she didn't speak her stupid language, but it didn't really matter anyway. This was really just an opportunity to have twice as much fun.

Seeing Shampoo glide slowly and dangerously to her feet, the long-haired girl assumed her martial arts stance again. Pink and Link, not quite as much idiots as they usually seemed, hid behind her. Shampoo grinned. It wasn't as if they'd even try to escape, as long as they thought their new friend could fight Shampoo. And by the time they figured out the futility of their hopes, it'd be too late.

Shampoo had just taken a step forward when something silver flashed in the corner of her eye. She jerked back her head involuntarily, but the projectile was clearly not meant to hit her, as it flew by a good half-meter in front of her to embed, quivering, in the wall. Everyone in the room followed the path of the weapon back to its source.

She wasn't impressed by the boy. Japanese, bowl cut, casual clothes that didn't look at all suited to fighting, and something about his face that she instantly didn't like. He was standing in the doorway, and... great- grandmother was there, too? Why had she let him attack her? Or stop the fight, anyway. And also there... Shampoo snarled. Ranma backed a step involuntarily from where he, actually now a she, had been peeking over the new boy's shoulder.

"Who are you?" Shampoo demanded.

The boy grimaced, and looked at Great-grandmother, who said something in Japanese to him. Great, another ignorant islander who couldn't speak a proper language. What did he want? And why was Great-grandmother with him?

The boy beckoned Pink and Link over. They paused for a moment, still cowering behind the now-confused black-haired girl. But then they rushed over and hid behind him, instead, pushing Shampoo's (ugh) husband out of the way. Oh, so that explained it. A protector. How quaint.

The boy spoke to Link briefly, who nodded and peeked her head out at the side. As he spoke, she translated it to Chinese. "Hello, Shampoo. As you've probably guessed, I'm a friend of Pink and Link. That being the case, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop what you've been doing to them for the last ten years, over."

Shampoo was bemused. Another lamb to the slaughter. Where DID they find them? "I see. And how do you plan to do that?"

Link started to say something, but Great-grandmother interrupted and seemed to translate for the new idiot. He nodded, and turned back to face Shampoo. "I'm challenging you. If I win, I want several promises. One, that you will never again raise so much as a finger against Pink or Link unless they attack you first. Two, that in order to atone for the ten years of torture you've inflicted on them, that you become their servant for one year, obeying any order they give you that isn't directly harmful to you, over."

Shampoo noticed her... ugh... 'husband' had crawled from underneath them and gone over to the long-haired girl. He was whispering in her ear, pointing at Pink and Link's guardian. The girl looked, in turn, shocked, and then concerned. They didn't seem to be interfering, though. Looking back at the presumptuous boy, Shampoo smiled slowly. "That's a lot to ask. And what will I get when I win?"

The old woman translated once more. The boy shrugged. "Ask for it. Anything. Anything at all, over," came Link's translation of his words. She didn't seem happy, though. In fact, both her and Pink were staring at the boy. Didn't they even know their own pathetic plan? What idiots. But it was going to work out well, anyway. For Shampoo.

She whirled and pointed at Ranma. "Fine. If I win, you have to kill him! Or her! Whatever! Kill it!"

Cologne translated. The boy blinked at Shampoo. And Ranma... began to cheer? Shampoo gaped at him. He was jumping up and down, and pointing at the newcomer, shouting cheerfully. The long-haired girl seemed about to protest, but Shampoo's imbecile betrothed clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent her.

The mystery boy was still staring at her. Then his eyes narrowed, and he said something to the long-haired girl. The long-haired girl couldn't reply due to the idiot covering her mouth, but the selfsame idiot certainly could, waving his finger at Pink and Link's friend and crowing something joyfully.

The boy turned back to Shampoo, and his words came through Link. "As you wish. If you can defeat me, I swear that I will kill Ranma Saotome, over."

Shampoo smirked. It wouldn't be such a bad day after all. She could just help the mystery man a little. Maybe she'd even steal some of Pink's poisons (the non-lethal kind) to do it, just for fun. She opened her mouth to agree to the duel-

"Child." The old woman's voice was deathly serious. "Were I you, I would think long and hard before you accept those terms."

Shampoo gritted her teeth. Always, always interfering! The stupid old bat! This mess was all HER fault to begin with! "Great-grandmother, with all due respect, stay out of my affairs."

"Are you absolutely certain you do not wish my aid or advice in this matter, Great-granddaughter?" she said formally.

"You've 'aided' me quite enough, thank you," Shampoo snapped. "Tell this idiot boy I accept his terms."

"So be it."

01010

Akane followed the quiet procession into her family's dojo. This was just too much. First, Ukyou had gone psycho yesterday on that poor Hayato boy. Then, that same boy disappeared from his room in some sort of explosion, leaving nothing behind but his pet land-octopus. He could be dead, for all Akane knew. And then, worried sick about that Akane had walked home to discover this.

First, there was the crazy Chinese girl with the purple hair who was supposed to marry Ranma and wanted to kill him. Plus, she had her annoying old grandmother with her, who had spent most of the time Akane had been there intimidating Dad into accepting Shampoo's betrothal to Ranma. Then that psycho had attacked her father, and just when Akane was going to teach her a lesson, those two retarded (?) ninja (?) girls had arrived in their giant rose and tried to kill Shampoo.

Of course, Akane couldn't stand by and let Shampoo torment them, even if they had initiated the fight. She had already watched one fight go too far. She would be damned before she watched more people get hurt that didn't need to be.

And now Chris was here. And he was in a new body. Akane's mind shied away from the implications of that. Of course, Ranma seemed happy at the prospect of having to fight the boy to the death if Chris lost this duel.

Which about brought her back to the present, and the two figures standing in the middle of her dojo. She stared at the combatants. Who was she supposed to be rooting for? Everything seemed to have been turned upside down lately. Ukyou had seemed so nice... and now she wasn't. Chris had seemed so much a monster, then he'd been so sad when they'd talked. And he seemed so reasonable now. Ranma had...

Well, okay. Ranma had always been an idiot.

Chris rolled his neck and sat down, kneeling on the wooden floor. Shampoo was standing a few meters away from him, twirling a pair of over-sized, brightly colored maces in her hands. She seemed amused by his position, and gestured for him to rise.

"I'll stay like this," the undead boy said, opening his arms invitingly. "Come whenever you're ready."

One of the ninja twins translated this to Chinese. Well, that's what Akane thought she did. She yelled something at Shampoo anyway. It seemed to take a considerably longer time and involve a lot more rude gestures then the boy had made.

Akane narrowed her eyes as Shampoo darted forward. The girl moved fast, but not as fast as Ranma did, and Akane could still easily follow her attack. Apparently, so could Chris. A fraction of an instant before Shampoo's mace would have crushed his head, the boy vanished in a blur. Shampoo's eyes widened and she stumbled through the space he had occupied a second before, pinwheeling her arms for balance. Akane snapped her eyes to the side as she heard Chris chuckling from the other end of the dojo.

Shampoo steadied herself and spun in place to face the boy. He was still kneeling on the floor, as if this were some formal dinner and not a fight to the finish. Shampoo grit her teeth and charged again. This time she moved faster, but was still no match for his speed. That time, and three more times thereafter, Shampoo growled and charged, and each time the boy simply faded away before her strike, only to reappear behind her.

"Not bad," Ranma muttered. She was stroking her chin and examining the fight with a critical eye. "You have to be really fast to move like that."

"Can you follow him?" Akane whispered back.

"Of course!" Ranma laughed. Akane gave him a sidelong glare before turning her attention back to the important stuff.

Even as Akane watched, the boy vanished away from another of Shampoo's charges. Only this time his chuckle came not from behind, but from above. Everyone looked up to see him sitting in calm defiance of gravity, upside down on the ceiling.

Shampoo gasped out something, causing her grandmother to chuckle and respond in their language. Shampoo shot something over her shoulder at the old lady and turned back to Chris. This was just in time for Chris to flick his fingers at her negligently. A silver streak passed through the air next to Shampoo and the girl leapt aside. Akane saw the quivering teaspoon... Teaspoon? Oh, never mind. If she could accept spatulas and octopus balls, who cared about teaspoons?

A clatter brought Akane's attention back to Shampoo. The purple-haired girl was staring at the shaft of one of her maces, from which the head had fallen off.

"Ah, I see." Ranma said with a smirk. "He's using his toes!"

"To decapitate Shampoo's weapon?"

"No, stupid. To cling to the ceiling. It's how he's moving without walking, too."

Akane resisted the urge to elbow Ranma in the gut.

"Getting worried yet?" Chris called down in amusement. One of the twins shouted something rude-sounding in Chinese to follow him up.

Shampoo merely shrugged and snapped her arm up, releasing her shaft like a javelin at the undead boy. He vanished out of the way, and Shampoo gasped as suddenly her feet flew out from underneath her. Chris was sitting behind her, holding a rigid napkin out in one hand. Shampoo flopped forward and rolled away from him before springing to her feet.

"Translate this one accurately, Link." Chris said over his shoulder in an unconcerned tone. "It's not very much fun, fighting an opponent you have no chance of defeating, is it?"

Shampoo didn't wait for Link's translation to finish before she was rushing forward again. This time she leapt up, snapping out a perfect thrust kick at Chris' head. There was a crack as her foot collided with a ceremonial teapot that appeared in his hands. Shampoo bounced away from him and landed in a crouch only a meter away. She didn't pause, immediately swinging out her leg in a sweep.

Chris skittered backwards, his hands flashing as streaks of silver leapt from his fingertips. Shampoo gasped as her leg suddenly stopped, pinned to the ground by a series of teaspoons through her pantleg.

"Stop playing around and beat the hell out of her, over!" the smiling girl screamed at Chris. The undead boy glanced at Cologne, whose expression was unreadable. He turned back as a loud rip rang across the dojo. Shampoo had escaped in the most expedient way possible, by simply removing her pant leg.

Shampoo rushed in again. Akane frowned. Didn't she see that tactic wasn't working? Shampoo seemed to have a lot of speed and power, but not much in the way of experience of fighting someone with more of either. As if to prove her point, instead of dodging this time, Chris tripped her with a tea ceremony ladle. Shampoo had thrown everything into her rush, and wasn't able to recover before her face slammed into the wood and she skidded a half-meter down it. Akane winced in sympathy.

Chris paused and looked at Akane. His unreadable dead eyes met her for a moment. He deliberately stood up as Shampoo did the same. The girl's beautiful face was covered in smudges and her red eyes were blazing with hate. She began to yell at the boy in Chinese, gesturing angrily with her remaining weapon.

"It's over," Ranma declared. He leaned back and crossed his arms. "Heh. Looks like I'll need another excuse to drag him into a fight."

Chris crossed his arms and looked down his nose at Shampoo. "You may, if you wish, surrender."

Cologne translated that before either of the twins could. She even glared them into silence when they tried to follow up.

Shampoo frowned and walked over to Chris. She paused within arm's reach of him and opened her mouth... then spit into his face. Chris raised an eyebrow and, all bemused, wiped it off with the back of one hand.

Shampoo waited only a moment, obviously hoping for more of a response. She shouted something unkind-sounding in Chinese at Chris and swept her mace up at his stomach in a vicious backhand. Her attack didn't even get close before the boy's hand snapped firmly around her wrist. She blinked, then gasped as he yanked her forward and cut her legs out from under her.

As Shampoo plummeted he slid to the side, almost ghostlike, and extended his free hand. A familiar black ribbon unfurled between his fingertips. With a quick motion the ribbon had spiraled firmly around the falling girl's ankles. Shampoo shot her hands down, trying to brace herself for the impact. Chris only chuckled and then twisted his ribbon between his fingers again. Somehow he shot forth the free end and twirled it around her wrists as well.

Shampoo's breath burst from her lungs as she smashed into the floor. Akane watched as Chris flipped elegantly over her, spinning the ribbon in place and wrenching Shampoo's wrists and ankles towards each other. Before the Chinese martial artist could recover her wits, she found herself lying face down on the floor, hogtied.

"Tricky," Ranma muttered. "It would've been kinder to knock her out..." Akane glanced at her. Her voice sounded... more thoughtful than it normally did. The boy in girl's flesh stood up and walked from the room. Akane felt like saying something to her, but found her attention drawn back to Shampoo.

The girl was thrashing and screaming to wake the dead as she struggled to escape her bonds. Chris was standing over her, his arms crossed and his expression oddly neutral.

Akane blinked. For a moment, just a moment, he looked remarkably like Ukyou.

The boy glanced over inquiringly at Shampoo's grandmother. Cologne raised an eyebrow at him. Something seemed to pass between them, then Cologne sighed and shook her head in resignation. Slowly she made her way over to Shampoo. The old lady took her time sitting down in front her granddaughter. She tapped her staff on the ground to get the thrashing girl's attention. Then spoke in Chinese for a second.

Shampoo snapped something angry back. Cologne shrugged, then pointed at Chris and said something back. Akane tensed up, expecting another violent outburst.

But it never came. Shampoo's entire body shuddered for a moment, as if she had just swallowed something repellent. Then she slumped, no longer struggling against her bonds. "You... win..." Shampoo's accented voice was taut.

Chris looked as if he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a raucous cheer. Akane stared as the twins began to swing each other around by the hands, singing (offkey) as loud as they could.

"DING-DONG! THE BITCH IS DEAD, OVER!"

"Not so much," Cologne said, appearing between them. With twin gasps they released each other and fell promptly onto their behinds. "This is still my great-granddaughter. And I mean to hold you both to the -exact- terms of the agreement." Akane's eyes widened as the dojo grew dim, even as Cologne began to radiate a quiet but ominous blue aura.

"Umm... yes ma'am, over," the girls gulped out in unison.

And then the lights returned to normal and Cologne was suddenly smiling at them. "Good, good. I think this will be quite a learning experience for everyone, then." Cologne chuckled and hopped over to Shampoo. Chris had swept out one of his teaspoons, neatly severing Shampoo's bonds.

Shampoo rose slowly to her feet. She was looking down at the ground, her back to Akane and everyone else in the room. The twin ninja girls danced over to her and began babbling back and forth between each other.

"She's going to carry my bags back to the condo, over!"

"No, she's going to carry MY bags, over!"

"Wait... we don't HAVE any bags, over!"

"Then we'll have to borrow some, over!"

"Hey you, over." Akane pointed at herself in response. "Yes. Can we borrow those big rocks in your backyard, over?"

"Uh..."

"Thanks, over!"

The two latched onto Shampoo's wrist and began to drag her out of the dojo, babbling at her in Chinese. Akane wasn't sure who to feel sorry for anymore.

"Hmmm? Do you want to stay with us too?" Chris asked the old lady.

"It would seem the wisest decision," Cologne pointed out as she started towards the door. "After all, I said this would be a learning experience. For everyone involved."

"Fair enough," Chris said, tapping his cheek. "I'll catch up with you guys in a little while, okay?"

"Hmmm?" Cologne paused and looked at Akane meaningfully. "I see." Without another word, the Chinese grandmother bounded from the dojo after her kin.

Then Akane suddenly realized she was alone with Chris. She backed up a step involuntarily and turned to look at him.

The boy's expression became sad. Everywhere except his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I won't bother you for long. I just wanted to know if you were all right."

"I'm fine," Akane said, unable to keep the confusion out of her voice.

"Are you sure? I heard what happened with Ukyou."

"I'm... I'm fine. Really." Akane insisted. She looked down suddenly. Hayato's pet octopus had reappeared again. Apparently after Shampoo had scared him off he hadn't run away, he'd just hid until she was gone. The little creature was staring up at Akane with wide, forlorn eyes. She crouched down and scooped him up into her arms again. "Poor guy..." she said soothingly.

"That's... Hayato's pet, isn't it?"

"Yes. His name is Patoratsyu." Akane paused. "I'm... taking care of him for a while, I guess."

"What happened to Hayato? Is he in a coma or something?" Chris didn't sound so much concerned as confused.

"He... vanished. This afternoon, in the hospital. There was some sort of explosion..." Akane sighed and sat down, stroking the amazingly dry skin of the land octopus. She wasn't sure she really wanted to start thinking about that again.

"Explosion?"

"It's... well. You know about as much as me. He was alone in his room, and when I went in to find him, his entire room had been destroyed and only Patoratsyu here was left."

Chris let out a long breath. "Do you think it was Ukyou?"

"NO!" Akane snapped her eyes back to him. "How can you even suggest that?"

He grimaced sardonically. "Well, Akane... mmm... I know you like her. But she's snapped his spine in cold blood. And she's the only enemy he has. Who else could it have been?"

Akane opened her mouth to protest. Then she forced it closed. She had to remember that Chris didn't see Ukyou the same way she did. To him, that was a perfectly reasonable assumption. To anyone else, it might have been a perfectly reasonable assumption.

To Akane...

"Akane," Chris began, dragging her out of her reverie. "Look. I'm concerned about you. Ukyou... I don't know what's going on in her head. It seems obvious she's..." He sighed. "Well, to put it bluntly, she's not what you think she is."

Akane shook her head slowly. But now, what he was saying made sense in a bizarre sort of way. Not that Akane believed him. She could just see where he was coming from.

"Ukyou is still my friend," Akane told him. "She believed in me. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't do the same?"

Chris twitched as if he'd been struck. "What kind of friend..." he trailed off ominously. Akane quirked her head to the side. The octopus in her lap had noticed Chris now and seemed to be curious about him. She restrained it gently. "Akane, you're a great friend. I have no doubts about that. But..." Chris crouched down next to her. "Ukyou is not the friend you think she is, and she never has been," he declared with solemn finality.

"Chris..." Akane sighed. "I know you believe that. But you and Ukyou, you don't exactly have any reason to believe in each other, do you?"

"It's not that, Akane!" he snapped in frustration. "I know what she's done!"

"Done?" Akane blinked. "I do too. And while I think it's wrong, I think even Ukyou knows that and that-"

"No, no, you don't know," Chris cut her off insistently. "Because - damn it, I didn't want to say this. Ukyou's been using you since the moment she met you. Don't you get it? SHE KNOWS THE FUTURE!" Chris let that hang in the air for a second. Akane recoiled a bit. That... that was exactly what Akane had thought to herself many times.

"Do you think it was a coincidence that she met you?" Chris asked. Akane started to respond but paused. Chris took that as a cue to continue. "No, it wasn't. Remember, I told you. Ukyou loves Ranma. You can see that now, right?"

Akane nodded slowly. She had known it for a while now. Everything Ukyou did seemed to be about Ranma somehow. Only the time she spent with Akane wasn't related to him in some way. Except when it was.

"That's right. And Ranma came here to be engaged to a Tendo daughter. And I know. I KNOW, without even knowing exactly what happened, that Ukyou did something. When you first met, Ukyou did something to make sure that -you- wouldn't be the one engaged to Ranma. Right?"

"Actually, she did that to help me out with the boys at school," Akane pointed out weakly. Then she started. "Wait. Why would she want to make sure Ranma and I never got engaged?"

"Because, Akane, in the future that Ukyou and I know, you got engaged to Ranma. And your engagement made you two fall in love. Now I know that seems strange to you. I know you can't believe you could ever love Ranma, but just think about it. Whatever Ukyou did that was her idea, wasn't it? She came up with it. She came here, and deliberately met you, and then did this before he arrived so he -couldn't- be engaged to you. Because it doesn't matter if YOU believe it, Akane. UKYOU believed it. And she was willing to take away your love so that she would have a chance at her own."

Akane stared at him, aghast. That was... "No." Ukyou was her friend. She had said as much. They had trained together and laughed together, fought together and cried... no. Ukyou had never cried together with Akane. Ukyou had never cried at all. But that was just Ukyou. Ukyou 'The Machine' Kuonji was what they called her at school. Because her expression was always cold, flat and watching. And most of the time, when she did laugh or smile or get angry... it was so sudden. It was like Ukyou was just turning on a switch inside, without going to any of the emotions between. "That can't be right..." Akane murmured.

"It is, Akane. It is." Chris paused. "If you doubt it, go up to her and ask her. Look into her eyes when she responds. You'll see it. Ukyou knew what she was doing. She did it to trick you out of the competition without you even knowing it. She did it because she knew that Ranma could never fall in love with your sisters."

"If that's true..." Akane said reluctantly. "Then why hasn't she done anything about it? She still dresses like a guy. She refuses to even try to attract Ranma to her. Heck, she gets sick when she even thinks about it."

"Is that true, Akane? Is that really true? Or is that just what she's told you? Have you been there whenever she and Ranma are alone? How often has she gone somewhere with him and found an excuse to leave you behind?"

Too many times.

"But Ranma... he's so... he doesn't act like he likes Ukyou that way, or that Ukyou is trying anything..."

"Does he strike you as perceptive enough to notice?" Chris smiled. "Here's the thing. He likes Ukyou, doesn't he? She's his best buddy. And isn't that what Ranma would like? A girl that could keep up with him, that could challenge him? That he could hang around with, just like one of the guys?" Chris tapped the bridge of his nose. "Sounds like someone trying to get in good with him, doesn't it?"

Akane stood up, nearly leaping to her feet. This was too much. She had to get out of here. "I'm sorry... I can't... It can't be true." Akane began to spin on her heel but stopped at the sound of Chris's voice.

"Akane, when we first met, I tried to tell you the truth. But Ukyou, you found out, was lying to you from day one. Have I ever failed to tell you the truth, Akane? And can you say the same for Ukyou?"

"No..." Akane said, not sure which question she was responding to. Or if she was responding to any. She wanted to believe in Ukyou. No. She wanted to believe that Ukyou believed in HER. "Please... I've been awake all night..."

Chris sighed. "I'm sorry, Akane. I didn't want to hurt you... But I didn't want to see anyone else hurt you either. Just... I don't know..."

Akane searched for something to say. There had to be something. A magic phrase that would make everything better again. That was the way it worked, wasn't it?

"Go get some sleep." Chris stepped back. "Just... please think about it, alright?"

"I will..." Akane whispered too low for anyone to hear and walked from the dojo.

End Hybrid Theory Book 1: High On Emotion

Have I ever thought of this before? Did I have a look behind the door? Have I ever tried to understand? Did I listen to the other hand?

Have I ever tried to see? Points of view that are not part of me? Did I ever really wanna know? Or am I just drifting with the flow?

(chorus) Lead me to the angle of your eye Let me see from there Lead me to the angle and I try To see your world from there

Why is it that I'm so full of hate? Why am I so dumb and so afraid? Have I ever tried to understand? Did I listen to the other hand?

Why am I so dumb? Why am I so blind and narrow-minded? Why am I so dumb?

(repeat chorus x2)

Lead me to the angle Lead me to the angle Lead me to the angle and I try To see your world from there...

-"The Angle", by Core

01010

Before Link could come up with another excuse, he walked over to the door, kicking away a few of the more aggressive plants as they attempted to devour/poison/fertilise him. As he made his way into the hallway, he listened carefully, but surprisingly didn't hear much in the way of brutal violence. Maybe Pink hadn't sprung her trap yet.

It didn't take him long to find Pink. He immediately looked around, and felt vastly relieved to see Shampoo sitting near the corner of the living room, looking kind of pissed off but otherwise seemingly not harmed or threatened in any way. In fact, Pink looked almost benign, sitting studiously reading a book. The only thing that was odd was the strange monocle-like thing she was reading through.

Though, wait a sec, that book looked familiar. He took a step into the room, opening his mouth to ask what was going on, but at that moment Pink looked up and saw him. She smiled.

"This Rumiko Takahashi bitch is a complete hack, over."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 11: Papercut


	11. Papercut

Hey, readers. Shampoo here, being forced into doing some crap I don't want to, which is a feeling I'm REAL familiar with lately.

What? Why the hell are you staring at me? "Baby talk"? What the hell is that crap? I speak perfectly good Chinese, thank you, and the translation is also good, since it's not like any of my predecessors were narrating in English. Don't be stupid.

Anyway, like I was saying, I showed up to kill off that bitch, or I guess bastard, Ranma and then found out he was really a guy, and really my husband to be, and that's really annoying, and it's all really the fault of my stupid great-grandmother. Then, as if my day wasn't bad enough, those idiots Pink and Link showed up with their new undead friend, who... well, anyway, I'm going to have to serve those two cretins for a year. Yay.

In addition to providing me on a silver platter, Chris is also dancing to the stupid twins' tune by fetching the mitamas of those plant monsters for them. About the only thing he ISN'T doing for them is mooning over Akane Tendo - that one's pretty much his own little thing.

Checking in with the supposed main character, Ukyou has been a busy little bitch. A little too busy, actually, since she's having to deal with the consequences of going nuts and breaking Hayato's spine a bit back. Not only has Hayato vanished after talking with that youma Tethys, but Sailor Pluto is still after her because Ukyou's gonna destroy the universe or some crap. I say: give Ukyou to me. After I'm finished working out some frustration, the universe will be totally safe. Promise!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 11: Papercut

"Okay, Ran, so we sneak around the bastard's blind side and then infiltrate the Compound of Evil."

"...the what?"

"His Compound of Evil. From the blind side."

"Ranma, that's an apartment build-"

"It's... a... Compound... Of... Evil!"

"Ooookay. And then the 'blind side' would be... the back?"

"Right. Now we have to be careful, and make sure we sneak around all the guards. Like that one there. Watch him."

"Ranma, that looks like a superintendant. Who's taking out the trash."

"That's only what he WANTS you to think! Trust me, Ran, this guy's tricky. You can't take your eye off him for a minute, or trust what he says, or believe what he wants you to believe! And he wants you to believe that's a superintendant."

"Sure, stud, sure. Whatever you say. It'll make better copy anyway."

"You got it. Now, we gotta find some way to make it to the top floor without settin' off any alarms."

"What about the fire escape?"

"Feh. Too easy. And he's gotta have it bugged- hey! Ran! Get off that!"

"Doesn't look bugged to me. No alarms, either."

"...well, be more careful from here on in. We're dealing with a master of deception here."

"Gotcha. Hey, I'm on your side. That bastard wrecked my camera, after all."

"Wrecked your camera 'cause he's afraid of the TRUTH!"

"Ranma, the superintendant, I mean guard, is looking this way."

"Quick! Act normal!"

"Yeah, just like that. Try to look like you're confused and don't know what's goin- hey, stop dragging me!"

"Take it from a pro, stud: keeping away from the authority figures - and guards - is the best way to get your story. Or perform a thrilling rescue. Or both!"

Ranma only allowed Ran to drag him a few steps up the stairwell before pulling his hand free and sliding in front of her. Man, she had a grip. Ranma snuck forward, putting all his years of experience under the tutelage of Genma Saotome to use. Ran followed him at a sedate pace. He couldn't help but feel she wasn't taking this seriously.

Of course, she hadn't seen Chris in action as much as Ranma had. There was no way Ranma was letting that smug undead jerk get away with... whatever diabolical plan he had for Shampoo. Not that he particularly liked the psycho Chinese chick. But damn, nobody deserved to be that guy's prisoner!

Plus, it gave Ranma an excuse to kick the jerk around a little. Ranma smirked as he thought about the epic battle to come. He was pretty sure that he had the guy's measure. He had seen all his new techniques the other day, and spent the last three coming up with what he figured would be perfect counter- arts.

"Uh, Ranma, we're on the twelth floor. You can stop climbing now."

Ranma jerked to a stop and cast a look over his shoulder.

"I knew that... I was just... making sure that there were no surprises up above."

Ran seemed about to reply, but then apparently decided to just shake her head. The pony-tailed journalist simply gestured for him to follow and backflipped from the stairwell, her skirt rippling behind her, and landed in a light crouch on a nearby balcony. Ranma shrugged and followed her. Of course, he did so with a triple axel reverse spin and single-foot landing, but there was no need to go into that.

Ran rolled her eyes at him for some reason. "We should be quiet," she whispered. Ranma nodded. "Now, exactly who was it you were here for?"

"My Chinese fiancee," Ranma explained as he stepped past her. "She should be in this place somewhere." He paused. "Hey Ran, are you going to stand there all day?"

"Uh... yes... I mean no. I mean... Chinese fiancee?"

"Yeah, it's this cute psycho chick that I'm supposed to be married to because I beat her up and she saw me naked or something. I never really understood what the old troll was talking about."

Ran stared at him. Seeing she had nothing important to add, Ranma turned back to peeking in the windows. The first window was the bedroom of those twins, who were thankfully sleeping. Ranma moved on quickly. The second window was his target. It was hard to miss her, as she was lying on the floor. Of course, Ranma didn't know why she wasn't just sleeping on the comfortable-looking bed less than a meter away. Also, he didn't know why she wasn't wearing anything.

"Ranma!"

His head bonked against the window pane and he rebounded with a muttered curse. He turned to glare at Ran, rubbing the scalp where she had hit him. "What?"

"She's naked!" Ran pointed out in a loud hiss.

"I noticed," Ranma said, rolling his eyes.

"Well... it's not very polite to stare then, is it?" Ran crossed her arms and huffed.

"Fine." Ranma leaned back. "That's going to make rescuing her pretty annoying, though. I mean... even I might have trouble fighting Chris with my eyes closed."

"Well, take your shirt off then!"

"What? She's naked, so I have to be too?"

Ran turned crimson. "N-no! You idiot!" She stammered. "For her!"

"I don't think she likes me that way..."

"For her not to be naked!"

"Oh. Right. Good plan."

Ranma turned towards the window, taking off his shirt. He simultaneously noticed three things: first, that the window was now open. Second, that Shampoo was now standing in the window with an annoyed frown. Third, that her fist was approximately two centimeters from his nose and approaching rapidly.

When Ranma shook the stars out of his vision he noted absently that the guardrail had prevented him from flying into the abyss. Also, that Shampoo was yelling something at him in Chinese. Once she noticed he was paying attention, she spat in his direction and slammed the window closed.

"Huh?" Ranma said. He got up and began to check to make sure his nose wasn't broken. For a girl, Shampoo could punch.

"She said, even if you are her husband, you don't get marital privileges. More or less. She used more colorful words."

"You speak Chinese?"

"Among other talents you have yet to discover, stud."

Ranma shrugged and walked over to the window. It appeared Shampoo had locked it. Oh well. He used one of the tricks Genma had taught him and had it open in seconds. As he worked, Ran began to ask him questions.

"So... exactly what kind of a relationship do you two actually have?"

"She wants to kill me. I want to never see her again. Her grandmother wants me to marry her. The undead jerk wants her to serve him..." Ranma put a diabolical emphasis on the word 'serve', just to get across the point.

"Uh huh. I think I need the whole story on this one, Ranma."

Ranma was about to respond, but was distracted dodging Shampoo's three strike combination.

"She's telling you that you never learn."

"I figured as much." Ranma muttered as he continued evading Shampoo's assault. The crazy bitch was still screaming at him, but Ranma ignored her mouth and concentrated on slipping in under her attack, sliding along the edge of the window, and landing easily inside the room. It took Shampoo a moment to notice he was no longer in front of her. She spun on him with a kick, which he blocked this time. "Hey Ran, tell her I'm here to rescue her, will ya?"

"If you think it'll help, stud." Ran shrugged as she leaned against the windowsill and began to speak to Shampoo. Shampoo paused, obviously surprised by Ran's fluency. Ranma sighed and released her leg. Then she kicked him in the groin when he let his guard down. "She says she doesn't want your help."

"I figured as much," Ranma wheezed as he rolled around on the ground for a second.

Ranma recovered quickly, however. He kicked to his feet and stretched his arms. He had figured Shampoo wouldn't come along quietly. That's what the rope was for. Ranma grinned and snapped a length of it free from the coil on his belt. Shampoo raised an eyebrow, as did Ran.

Then the lights turned on.

"Ranma, why exactly are you in my condo molesting Shampoo?"

"Hah!" Ranma spun in place. "Wouldn't you like to know!" He pointed accusingly at the undead jerk. The jerk was standing in the doorway, dressed in jeans, a leather jacket and gloves. Ranma was all ready to say something impressive when Shampoo kicked his knees out from under him. Ranma recovered admirably. His face only touched the carpet for a second before he sprang to his feet, this time facing Shampoo.

"You are NOT making this rescue easy!" he shouted. He tossed the rope to Ran. "Here. You deal with her or something." Ran caught the rope and stared at him like he had grown another head. Ranma was too busy spinning to face the treacherous Chris to deal with her, however.

Chris was smirking and placed his hands on his hips. "So... it's a rescue, eh?" Ranma allowed his body to relax. Chris stretched forth his hands and cracked the knuckles theatrically. "Well, Ranma, then you leave me no choice." Ranma began to wiggle his fingers in anticipation. Oh yeah. This was what he was waiting for. "No choice... but to ask you to leave peacefully."

"Aww, man!" Ranma slumped. "Not this again!"

"Well, if you don't leave, I'm going to have to call the cops." Chris shrugged apologetically. Ranma's eye twitched.

"But... you're an evil undead body-stealing monstrosity that forces young girls to serve your diabolical purposes! You CAN'T call the cops!"

"I am also the evil undead body-stealing montrosity that owns the legal lease to this condominium. And you are the brave young hero that is breaking and entering in the middle of the night to try and kidnap one of the residents."

"Hate to break this to you, stud, but he has a point."

"You stay out of this!" Ranma snapped peevishly. "And aren't you supposed to be tying her up?" Ranma pointed accusingly at Shampoo, who was lounging at the foot of the bed and buffing her nails.

"Uh... maybe later."

Ranma turned his head as a sleepy voice yelled loudly from the next room. "Shampoo! That noise is waking us up! I don't care who's causing it, beat them up and get them out of here, over!"

Shampoo obviously recognized the voice. Ranma froze. Then he remembered that Shampoo didn't understand Japanese! She was still confused...

Then Ran was saying something to her. Shampoo looked at Ran, then at Ranma. She grinned. It was not a pleasant grin. Ranma suddenly decided that he had, perhaps, not thought this plan out as much as necessary. Ranma glanced at Chris, who was waving cheerfully at him, the undead jerk.

"Don't think I won't be back!" Ranma shouted as he dodged the thrown bed. It tore through the wall behind him with a collosal crash. Ran eeped and briefly skidded over the top of it before landing with an 'oompf' on the balcony. Ranma flipped over the angry purple-haired girl's next few strikes and landed outside the condo proper.

"Now look what you've done, Ranma. Poor Shampoo's going to freeze tonight, and it's all your fault," Chris called out in a sing-song voice.

"Oh yeah... well... I bet they revoke your lease for that! And then let's see you call the cops on me next time!" Ranma didn't wait for Chris's response before bounding down the fire escape. Ran paused on the balcony to shrug apologetically to everyone inside before following him.

Ranma led her a few blocks away. They stopped on a bridge over one of Nerima's many canals. Ran leaned on the railing next to him and patted him on the back.

"Cheer up. Sure, you were utterly humiliated and didn't accomplish a single thing you set out to do, but at least you weren't flattened by a flying bed."

"Uh... thanks." Ranma turned around and leaned back on the railing. "It just pisses me off. I know that jerk is up to something. Ukyou would have known how to get it out of him, I think." Ranma paused. Ran didn't have anything to add to that, so they stood together in silence for a few moments.

"Hey, Ran..."

"Hmmm?"

"Thanks, by the way."

"You already thanked me."

"No. I mean, for helping me find him."

"It wasn't hard." She shrugged.

"Yeah, well... it was something I couldn't do," Ranma admitted ruefully, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh... you're welcome then."

"Oh, and I almost forgot in all the excitement." Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled free a tiny red and yellow box. "This is yours."

"Mine?" Ran took it. "It's... an instant camera?"

"I promised I'd get you a camera back." Ranma explained. "And I keep my promises."

"I..." Ran looked down at the little box, and then she began to grin. "Ranma, this is a five hundred yen disposable camera..."

"Yeah, it's not as big as that clunky old thing you had before." Ranma pointed out proudly. "Plus it has a clip for your belt, so you won't drop it like your last one."

Ran gave Ranma a strange look for a moment. Then she grinned. "I guess it is almost as good." She began to chuckle. "When you look at it like that."

"See. Never doubt the word of Ranma Saotome!"

"Don't worry. I won't."

01010

"You look troubled."

Pluto looked up from her magazine. She was about to tell the waitress that she was fine when she stopped. Whoever this woman was, she was no waitress. At least not for this restaurant.

"Perhaps I can help you ease your mind," the mystery woman said calmly. Pluto examined her more closely as the woman slid around behind the tiny cafe table. She was tall, with smooth Roman features. Her most striking feature was her hair. It was a deep purple, and styled into two wild locks that zig-zagged through the air in stark defiance of gravity. She wore a wine colored dress jacket and a long yellow sash. "You must be carrying great burdens. Perhaps the cards can show you the path that lies before you?" The woman stretched forth her hand and suddenly a long, decorative card appeared between her fingertips.

"Ah, a fortune teller," Pluto said with a wry chuckle. "I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of money." It was true. As Setsuna, Pluto earned a modest living by working on and off in the fashion industry. It was enough to afford a home and the ability to move about pretty much as she pleased. She just wasn't in the habit of carrying money around with her.

"You've already done more than enough to earn my help." The fortune teller glanced at the other chair and then at Pluto. Pluto gestured for her to sit. As she sat she removed a tarot deck from her sash. "I never really bothered to learn the origin of the tarot deck. I have always just felt a sort of connection to it." She began to shuffle the cards in a slow, deliberate manner. "Something about the many facets, each representing the same thing in different ways. They're like masks we place on the future, you see. The cards, I mean. The key is to look behind the masks. Reveal what is beneath and hidden."

She dealt a single card onto the table. "The Empress. This is your past. Interesting. I did not know that." Pluto wondered what she meant. She'd never bothered to study the various myths regarding fortune-telling. It all seemed so irrelevant when you could simply turn your head and see the way the world would unfold for the next ten thousand years. After aeons of resisting that temptation, playing at knowing the future simply didn't appeal to her. "This next card is your present. Death. Hmm. Ominous but not entirely bad. It means change and transition, or so I've been told." The woman pushed the two cards forward on the table. "But this isn't what you're interested in, is it? The next card is the future." The woman drew a card and held it between her fingers for a moment before placing it on the table. "The Tower. Now that is dangerous. Disaster looms." Pluto smiled wryly.

"But I think we can be more specific then that, no?" the fortune teller drew another card and held it up. She gestured and the card began to spin about a corner on the tip of her index finger. "This is the source of your trouble." The card fell to the table. "The Hermit. Some people think that it is a male card, but I've always preferred to think of it as female. It is associated with wisdom, after all." Pluto chuckled along with the woman. "And here is another card for you. Hmm... the Devil. And see how it lies next between the Hermit and the Tower. A great battle, I think? And next is... The Sun. Ah, a revelation. A message? I think so. You are worried about a message of a great battle, a wise woman and a disaster." Pluto slowly lowered her teacup. The woman waved her hand across the table, and suddenly the faces of the cards had changed. "I begin to see what you see. Look, there is the Fool, the Lovers and still, and always, the Tower. Compassion has misled you, and now disaster seems even more certain." Pluto reached out and plucked the Fool card from the table. Her eyes had not been decieving her. On the card was a picture of her. Or, more accurately, a picture of Sailor Pluto.

"Who are you?" Pluto whispered.

"I came to help you." The woman gestured and the Tower card rose from the table and began to spin idly in mid-air. Pluto looked at it. She had seen the card before. It had been the picture of a great stone turrent, cloaked in shadow and being shattered by a lightning bolt. Now it looked almost the same, except the cloak of shadows was a black coat and the lightning bolt was an outstretched silver weapon. Hidden in the shadows of the card was a face Pluto knew well. "Four months ago, I began to have nightmares." The fortune teller reached down with one manicured finger and halted the motion of the card with a gentle touch. "I did not know what they meant. Until I read a story in the newspaper about a great battle. But even then I did not come here." Pluto's eyes met the mystery woman's and some shared fear passed between them. "I knew another was here, one whom the message was meant for. I thought she could handle it. A few days ago, I sensed a power like I never have. I suspected that there had been a confrontation. But the dreams did not go away. So I came."

"Who are you?" Pluto demanded as she leapt to her feet. There was a loud clatter as her chair landed somewhere behind her. The other patrons were staring now, but Pluto didn't care. Her hand was already gripping her transformation wand.

"I am a friend, perhaps the only one you have." The fortune teller stretched to her feet, The Tower gripped firmly between two fingers now. "I am Rose." She gestured sharply and the card burst apart in a flash of startling purple light. "I am here to help you do what must be done."

01010

Tsubasa spotted Ukyou before she spotted him. This wasn't unusual. Tsubasa was very good at not being spotted when he wanted to be. What was unusual was that he wasn't even trying to conceal his presence. Ukyou was striding briskly out of the high school, barely paying attention to her surroundings.

Tsubasa could have ignored her and moved on. He wanted to. But... he remembered that day a few years ago well. Ukyou had stood up for him, had defended him when no one else would. She deserved at least some closure. She deserved at least an explanation.

"Ukyou!"

Ukyou's head turned slowly in his direction. Her expression was not kind, but neither was it cruel. It was... oddly neutral. It was like she didn't even recognize him. A second later she put lie to his thoughts.

"Ah, Fungus," Ukyou said evenly. "I knew it was a mistake coming back just yet..."

Tsubasa frowned. He didn't know where she had picked up that nickname for him, but he didn't like it. It reminded him too much of the catcalls of the other boys. It reminded him of being chased down the street by outraged women with cries of 'freak' and 'pervert' echoing in his ears.

"Coming back?" he asked slowly. As he approached, he self-consciously smoothed out the pleats in his skirt and adjusted the bow in his hair. He had put a good deal of effort into his outfit today, and he wanted Ukyou to appreciate it.

"To Nerima," Ukyou responded. "If not to Furinkan. I should have known I'd run into someone."

"I see..." Tsubasa did not, really.

"No, you don't." Ukyou glanced away from him. "You don't know why I ran away that day. You don't know why I haven't come back yet. I have... things on my mind."

"Okay..." Tsubasa sighed. He looked down and began to grind his toe into the ground. "Listen, Ukyou, I need to talk to you."

"Fungus, I'm not really..." Then she paused. Her head quirked to the side and her eyes gazed off into the distance. "Wait. Check that. I do need someone to talk to."

"Huh?"

"Come with me," Ukyou ordered as she reached out and grabbed his wrist. Tsubasa gasped as she leapt up, carrying him roughly into the air. Her long black coat rippled and snapped in the wind for a second before she alighted atop a phone pole. Without pausing for an instant she was off again, bouncing over the wall of the school and landing on the tip of a tree. Then a third bound took them to the roof of the school. Tsubasa collapsed to his knees as she released him and began to rub his wrist ruefully. "The door's locked," Ukyou said as she returned from checking it. "We can talk without anyone overhearing us up here."

"That's good..." Tsubasa said as he shifted to a more comfortable position. Ukyou stretched and sat down next to him, eyes staring across the expanse of Nerima towards the distant high rises of Tokyo. His heart ached at the sight of her. She was so beautiful. Her hair had grown longer, her bangs now reached down to almost cover her eyes. She was still dressed in the same dress shirt and slacks combo she had favored back at their old school. Her thick ponytail hung down to the small of her back, a stray hair here and there caught idly in the breeze. She no longer carried her spatula. Instead, a long staff was slung in a simple harness over her shoulder.

But those weren't the big changes. The big change was her face. It was still as pretty as ever, but now seemed to have grown cold. Her expression seemed carved of stone. Her beautiful brown eyes, once so full of passion, now focused icily on whatever was before her.

"Do you mind if I go first?" Tsubasa snapped out of his reverie at her words. She sounded tired. Like she hadn't slept in days. Now that he looked, he could see the dark lines around her eyes. "I've been debating things in my head for the past four days. Tossing ideas around. But there's a point where your thoughts just begin to travel in circles, you know. Even if you do have two perspectives on the same thought. It helps just to say it out loud. It's a kind of magic, isn't it? Speaking it makes it real, somehow. Acknowledging it to another human being. Even one who has no idea what you're talking about."

Tsubasa blinked in confusion. Ukyou didn't seem to be talking to him, really. She was more addressing the world, and he just happened to be the only part of it paying attention.

"Do you know the name of this high school?" she asked suddenly.

"Uh, no?"

"It's Tomobiki," Ukyou pointed out. "I'd heard stories about this place. Tall tales, really. Stories about aliens and demons and boys with the worst luck in the world." She gestured idly down towards the thinning crowd of students. "None of them are true. At least, not in this world."

"Ukyou, what do you mean...?" She held up a finger and stalled him.

"But not all the stories are untrue. There are children running around this city with the power to shatter steel, summon lightning and run like the wind, literally." Ukyou was saying that as if Tsubasa should be surprised. "You've met the Sailor Senshi, haven't you?" Tsubasa frowned as he thought about them. He nodded, but Ukyou had already started speaking again. "They're going to save the world, you know. In the most literal sense of the word. In fact, there is a lot of that world saving going on. I met a young man the other day who can summon fire from his fingertips. He'll save the world, because that's what his family does. In America there is an airforce captain named Guile who's going to save the world. I haven't met him, but I have seen some of his... contemporaries about. I even fought one of them to earn some spare cash last night." Ukyou fingered her arm gingerly. "Lots of people are saving the world these days."

Ukyou paused and her voice became bitter.

"I am going to destroy it."

"What?" Tsubasa gasped.

"So everyone keeps telling me." Ukyou reached out and laced her fingers through the chainlink that surrounded the roof of the school. "Two days ago, I went to consult an old gypsy woman. She predicts the future for money, you see. I know she's legit. I've seen her guide one of those heroes to the monsters that prey on mankind again and again. Not really a world-saving hero, this Ayaka, but a hero nonetheless. She fights demons and ghosts for money.

"The gypsy was afraid of me. She recognized me the moment I walked into the room. She even tried to run away." Ukyou clenched her hand into a fist. There was an ear-piercing shriek as the metal links crumbled and tore in her grasp. "I intimidated her into telling me what I wanted to hear. I'm not proud of it, but it confirmed what I had already heard from other people."

"What did you hear?" Tsubasa said with a gulp. Ukyou no longer looked indifferent. Her eyes had narrowed and her icy gaze had intensified. The air around her had filled with a palpable cold, and Tsubasa found himself rubbing his shoulders and shivering. Clouds began to form in front of his lips.

"You don't pay attention, Fungus," Ukyou pointed out idly. "I'm going to destroy the world. Literally. I am the end of all things, according to every psychic I have sought out. It's written in the stars. It's in the cards. It's even at the bottom of a teacup." Ukyou drew back her hand, tearing more of the chainlink free as she did so. "What none of them have been able to tell me is why."

"Why?"

"Why I'll do it. I don't want to destroy the world. I don't care about the world! All I care about is... myself, my friends... Why would I do it?" Ukyou leapt to her feet, her voice a cold hiss. "It can't have been me. There's some mistake. Or there is something out there I'm not aware of. Some series or video game come to life that I don't know about yet. Something that can produce something so horrific that it will make me want to destroy everything..." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs and her voice and expression returned to normal. "But I can't think of anything that bad. No matter who writes the story, there's always a happy ending. The hero always triumphs over evil in the end. Unless Manabe is writing it... but since I detect a significant lack of anthropomorphs and nearly naked chicks with swords in this world, I doubt he's involved."

"Manabe?"

"A storyteller." Ukyou looked up. "One of many. I learned a lot about this world from them. More than I should. It turns out some of the fairy tales were true. And I have to learn which ones. I have to figure out what it is they do to me, to turn me into what everyone else sees. I have to prevent it. I'm going to figure out what is wrong and fix it, Fungus."

"Fix it?" Tsubasa had finally heard enough. He stood up, smoothing his skirt and shaking his head. "Are you even listening to yourself, Ukyou? You're not making any sense."

"Only because you don't know the whole-"

"NO!" Tsubasa cut her off angrily. "I think I know what you're talking about. You're afraid of the future. You've seen it somehow, and it's not turning out the way it should. Am I right?" Ukyou nodded mutely, her expression stunned. "And you think you're going to fix it? Are you even listening to yourself? Can't you hear it in your tone?" Tsubasa stepped away from her. "You think this all revolves around you somehow. You see enemies everywhere, and when you don't see them, you're making them up." Tsubasa's voice caught. "I remember that day we first met. Do you?" Ukyou paused... then slowly shook her head.

"You saved me from the boys at school," Tsubasa reminded her. "They hated me because of what I am, you see. Everyone I've ever met has. I'm used to that. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt when they caught me outside of a disguise and beat me bloody. But you stepped in, out of the blue, and drove them away." Tsubasa sniffed and rubbed his nose. "I thought you were a guy then. I thought you were just protecting me because you didn't know I was, too. I thought you'd turn on me. But then you showed you knew, that you'd seen through my disguise. You even gave me advice that day, on how to look more like a girl."

Tsubasa reached up and brushed a bothersome tear from the corner of his eye. "I liked you then. I only fell in love with you later. When I learned the truth about you. And learned that you didn't save me because you were like me. You saved me because it was just the right thing to do at the time." Tsubasa couldn't halt the flow of tears anymore. "The boys at school never harassed me again, Ukyou. They were afraid of you, I think. But you never tried to... to FIX them. You just did the right thing. You didn't expect it to turn out well. You just wanted to help me, and wanted nothing in return.

"But you've changed."

Ukyou flinched. Then her expression grew angry and she turned to shout at him.

"I have not changed!" Ukyou screamed in his face. Even her anger was icy now. He felt the air about him chill further. "I am the same girl I've always been!"

"No, you're not!" Tsubasa shouted back into her face. Ukyou opened her mouth but Tsubasa spoke first, cutting her off. "You won't shout me down, Ukyou. I loved you once and I think you deserve to know this. So I won't let you intimidate me into stopping. The only way you'll stop me is to attack me. And will you do that, Ukyou? Will you break my spine, just because I'm telling you the truth?"

That cut the wind out of her sails. The temperature returned to normal and Tsubasa noted that even the air seemed to have grown brighter. Ukyou backed a step away from him.

"I would never attack..." Ukyou trailed off.

"Would you?" Tsubasa shook his head. "Ukyou, I watched you that day you took Ranma to see his mother. You were -playing- with those people. You didn't have to. You just did. Did you want to 'fix' their lives as well? Is that what you wanted?" Tsubasa didn't wait for a response. "I've seen you with your friends. You order them around like a general. You control them. You never tried to trick people before like that. Oh, you've always wanted things... but you're straightforward about it. And now you want to fix the world. What makes you think you're going to do a better job with it than you did with Ranma and his mother?"

Ukyou's face was as frozen as a statue. The wind rippled her long coat about her ankles, but otherwise she was a study in stillness.

"I loved you once, Ukyou. But I don't love you anymore. You're not the person I fell for. This is goodbye, Ukyou. You'll never see me again."

Tsubasa didn't look back as he walked away. He refused to brush the tears from his cheeks. His makeup was probably ruined, but he didn't care. It hurt so much, but it felt so good too. It felt right. He knew his heart would always ache for Ukyou, but maybe he had helped her, in his own way.

01010

Kusanagi lounged in the tree, impatiently waiting for that little worm to show his face so he could pound it in.

The TAC milled around below, doing whatever it was they did. It involved a bunch of cops surrounding the building. Like THEY'D make a difference. The scientist lady, Matsudaira or whatever, kept checking the readouts on her equipment, but didn't look concerned, so Kusanagi wasn't concerned either. At least these guys seemed just as interested in keeping Momiji alive as he was.

Of course, they might have been more concerned if they could hear the sounds of battle that he could from inside the faux-fairytale castle. Normally, Kusanagi would have been in there taking part in the fun, but that old fart Kunikida had asked him to wait outside until the target emerged, or they were convinced he wouldn't show up.

Kusanagi yawned. He knew the target would show up. Nobody hunting down mitamas as religiously as this little worm and his friends were would pass up a chance for two in the same building.

He perked up a bit as the sounds of combat ceased. That had been quick. But then, the worm was good enough to give Kusanagi trouble, so that was to be expected. He moved from his lounging position to a pre-jump crouch. The TAC could handle those two girls they were so interested in. All he really cared about was his rematch with the little worm.

And there he was. First the worm, walking out of the building. He looked exactly the same as Kusanagi remembered, except he was wearing a jacket and gloves now. He was rubbing one of his wrists idly. Had he gotten hurt? All the better.

Behind him were those girls the TAC wanted. Riiiight, he'd forgotten they were sexy identical twins. They were arguing back and forth in Chinese over some crap.

And... somebody ELSE stepped out behind them. Kusanagi took a look. Then he took another look. A nice, looooong look. Man, she was hot. Long, purple hair delicately framing the face of an angel which was marred only slightly by the spatters of green blood across her cheek. Her nearly skin-tight Chinese pantsuit flattered her figure, and man, it was a figure that deserved flattering. Why couldn't Momiji look a little more like that?

She was even carrying a sword. Which was also splattered in green blood. Whoops. Looked like those twins had gotten ANOTHER flunkie to help them hunt down the aragami. She might be trouble-

The floodlights switched on with an electric hiss, transforming the early morning darkness into blinding light. The three girls shielded their eyes. The worm didn't even flinch, but he looked surprised.

Kunikida was holding a megaphone to his lips. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" he commanded, his words punctuated by the clack and clatter of dozens of small arms (and one really big arm held by the crazy TAC chick with the pink jumpsuit) being readied.

Kusanagi didn't feel the need to step in -quite- yet.

The worm paused for a long moment, but didn't raise his hands or anything. Finally, he spoke. "The TAC. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The old man lowered the megaphone. "Your actions are in direct violation of the authority of the Japanese government. You are ordered to surrender the mitamas you have collected and come peacefully with us."

One of the twin girls was whispering to the worm. She pointed right at Kusanagi. That was right, those two could detect mitamas, just like Momiji. Well, no use hiding now. Kusanagi casually dropped from the tree and strode forward with his hands in his pockets, his trenchcoat flapping behind him.

The worm smirked a little bit. "I see. However, Mr. Kunikida, it seems you have a slightly bigger problem, as it appears we are joined by a rogue known to hunt aragami outside the authority of the Japanese government, and who is in possession of no less than seven mitamas. That would make him three sevenths more of a problem than me, wouldn't it?"

"Don't try and change the subject," Kunikida growled. "If you know that much, you know Kusanagi is working with the TAC."

"No I'm not!" Kusanagi snapped.

"Shut -up-," the old man hissed sideways at him.

"Tsk tsk, Mr. Kunikida, such intellectual dishonesty. If he's 'working with you', it's only because you choose to ignore his blatant flouting of the Japanese government's authority. After all, I don't see his TAC uniform, nor do I believe he carries any credentials authorising his actions."

"I've got all the credentials I need right here," Kusanagi informed the worm, snapping one of his forearm-blades.

The worm spread his hands, smiling broadly. "So, if you can let one mysterious stranger helping you out slide, why not two?"

The black-haired TAC chick that had the hots for the old fart spoke up, her tones clipped and businesslike. "An important difference is that Kusanagi has been destroying the aragami. His vigilante actions, while not exactly approved, appear to have no ulterior motives. Your group, on the other hand, seem somewhat more suspicious in your actions."

The worm sighed. "I don't suppose a protestation of my innocent intentions would do, huh?"

"Perhaps we'll give you a chance to explain your intentions, and if we are satisfied, you might even go free," Kunikida said, rubbing his chin.

"Well, then, let me propose a compromise. If you name a place and time, Mr. Kunikida, I'll be happy to come speak with you. But given that Kusanagi already destroyed one of the mitamas before, I'm afraid I would be... how shall we say... unwilling to turn those I've collected over to your custody at the moment."

"That is unacceptable," Kunikida said gravely.

"Does that mean I can beat him up now?" Kusanagi said loudly. "Like, are you finished blabbing yet? He's not gonna surrender, you know."

The black-haired TAC chick glared at him. "-Some- of us operate within the bounds of the law. We are required to at least give them a chance to surrender before we open fire."

The worm began to lean back, opening his mouth to talk to the hot twin chicks. Though they definitely weren't as hot as that other girl, who mostly looked bored and annoyed with all the talking. Kunikida wasn't an idiot, though, he never took his eyes off the worm. Even as one of the twins opened her mouth to respond, the old man brought his hand up sharply.

Kusanagi barely hear the gentle 'phut' of the two snipers firing. The worm's eyes widened, he spun too fast for a human eyes to follow, his hand twitched up... and he hesitated, not sure which twin to protect. Just the slightest fraction of a second, but it was enough. The twins made a slight exclamation of pain (and then said "over" for some reason) and slapped the sides of their necks in perfect synchronisation. One of the twins' eyes widened, and she reached towards her waist. She frowned and fumbled with her skirt for a second, but the tranquilliser was very quick, and before she could do whatever it was she was doing, both twins collapsed in a heap.

"Shit!" the worm swore in English. He looked back at the TAC, and there was none of the relaxed arrogance of his earlier expression. "You sneaky little bastards."

"We have to be, when dealing with people as powerful as you," Kunikida noted with a hint of pride in his tone. "Do you wish to surrender now?"

"Please say no," Kusanagi piped up, cracking his knuckles.

"I think..." the petulant worm said, eyes narrowing, "that you all should be more concerned with Momiji. She's been kidnapped, and being held in this same building. Isn't that your first priority?"

"Oh, Momiji is fine," Matsudaira smiled cheerfully. "We know where she is, and all her vitals are perfectly normal."

The worm stared at her for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "Oh, right, you bugged her! I totally forgot about that! No wonder you got here so early."

Kunikida exchanged a look with Kusanagi. Kusanagi shrugged. Wasn't his problem if the TAC had lame-ass security for their plans.

"Take Pink and Link. Go!" the worm barked sharply over his shoulder at the hot babe. She looked at him, looked down at the unconscious duo, smiled and crossed her arms.

"They boss. You no boss," the babe said in heavily accented Japanese.

"Shampoo, you're being annoying," the worm said, his voice a mixture of annoyance and amusement. He turned back to the TAC, and drew a long strip of black cloth out of somewhere. Hey, that looked kinda familiar, somehow. Where'd Kusanagi seen one of those before...?

"Kusanagi, take him NOW!" Kunikida snapped.

Well, he didn't need to be asked twice. Kusanagi launched himself forward, his other blade snapping to readiness. The worm wasn't even paying attention; he was wide open. He was doing something with the cloth - it was a ribbon, actually - spinning it around his body. Rose petals, black (?) rose petals were scattering everywhere. Was that supposed to be some sort of attack? Maybe the guy was a little light in the boxers or somethiiiiiiiiing...

Kusanagi slammed his hands over his mouth and nose, crumbling to his knees as his vision doubled and his balance deserted him. He vaguely noted the hot chick collapsing to the ground out of the corner of his eye. A loud clatter behind him indicated the TAC's rent-a-guns weren't faring much better.

The worm stepped past Kusanagi as he tried to cough whatever poison it was out of his lungs. Some of the TAC soldiers were still up, but the worm was doing something; a bunch of shouts and thumps. He looked up through teary eyes to see the worm snapping the ribbon back into his hands, threading it between thumb and forefinger.

Wait a minute. That girl. The one that had been helping out the twins first. That was HER technique.

He no longer had doubling vision, and the vertigo appeared to be wearing off somewhat, so Kusanagi began to rise to his feet. He could still win. The worm looked down at him, and shook his head. "Damn MADMs," he noted.

"'Madame'? Are you calling me gay or something?" Kusanagi growled.

"Nope." The worm's fingers flashed; something white flew from them. Kusanagi swore, tried to dodge, but his limbs were still rubbery and he was at point blank range. A sharp pain exploded in his chest, immediately followed by an eerie numbness which rapidly spread across his body.

Kusanagi toppled forward, his limbs frozen. He wanted to swear, to get up, to struggle, to rip the worm limb from limb. He even tried transforming. But all he managed to do was drool a bit.

Out of the corner of his vision, he could see that goddamn obnoxious worm picking up one of the girls. Kusanagi rolled his eyes furiously at him. Why couldn't he MOVE, goddamnit? The worm walked right past him after he'd collected all three of his companions, and stopped for only a moment. "Better luck next time," he called cheerfully.

Oh, that was IT. No holding back from here on in. No "waiting" for the TAC to "talk" with the little fucking worm. Next time, he was a dead worm.

01010

The soft wood felt cool underneath Ukyou's fingers. It was almost summer, but in this wood a bit of the winter still lingered. That was the way of wood. It echoed. Echoed with the warmth of lost life, and the cold of lost days. As her fingers traced a path along the whirls and knots of the floor a fine trace of white frost formed.

Cold. When had everything become cold?

Ukyou rose to her feet, adjusting the fall of her coat as she did. The dojo was exactly as she remembered it. A quiet, comtemplative place that belied the chaos that existed within this household. It was a good place to practice your skills, to focus on the perfection of your own chi. So why had she spent the last four days picking fights in dark pits with hundreds of screaming men on all sides? She and Aaron knew that fighting would gain them new skill with their chi, the focus on the 'wind' and 'void' that Ono had recommended for them.

"Oh my, Ukyou... I didn't even know you were here."

"I'm sorry, I came in uninvited," Aaron said to Kasumi without turning. He took a deep breath and tried to assure Ukyou that this was for the best. She couldn't run away from Akane and Ranma just because she was scared of what they would think of her. And he couldn't continue to pretend that running around tracking down psychics and fighting people in poorly lit-pits surrounded by hundreds of screaming men was what they needed to do.

"Can I get you something?" Kasumi asked, her voice becoming proper and controlled again. Ukyou chuckled. Kasumi sounded so sweet and kind. But was that all there was to her? Ukyou wasn't so sure anymore. This world, it was alive in a way she had somehow forgotten. Hayato, Tsubasa... both had surprised her. Not by being strange, but by being human. How badly had she misjudged everyone around her because she 'knew' about everything Aaron knew?

"Kasumi..." Aaron asked as he turned. "Can I ask you a serious question?"

"I... suppose," Kasumi agreed with a blink. She was taller than Ukyou, and wore a modest but attractive dress. She looked so feminine... so archetypically Japanese, that for a moment Ukyou envied her. Then Ukyou sighed. She was not like that, and never could be.

"I want you to tell me what you really think about me, Kasumi." Aaron continued intently: "Don't hold back because you think you'll hurt my feelings, either. I need to know..." If you are really human, too, Aaron didn't finish.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Ukyou," Kasumi said in surprise.

"Never mind," Aaron waved the question away. "It was just... never mind. Tell me, where is everyone?"

"Father is in the family room, reading the newspaper," Kasumi replied brightly. She sounded relieved that Aaron had let up on his previous question. And maybe that was proof enough that there were layers underneath her housewife persona that Ukyou and he had never guessed at. "Nabiki is gone for the day again." Here, Kasumi almost frowned. "She's been absent from school the last few days. She only comes home at night to pick up supplies and then leaves again the next morning. I've no idea where she has gone." Kasumi sounded worried, and this caused Aaron to worry. Nabiki had no reason to skip classes at all. It was something he and Ukyou would have to check into later. Perhaps it was time to stop seeing Nabiki as an enemy... "Ranma is off with his mother again, looking to track down his father. Akane is, I believe, up in her room studying."

Ukyou suppressed the surge of disappointment. So Ranma wasn't available. It wasn't just him she had come back to talk to, after all.

"Could you go tell Akane I'd like to speak with her?" Aaron requested as he strode across the dojo to the pile of mats. He kicked up onto them and sat facing the eldest Tendo daughter. She nodded and agreed to his request before striding briskly from the room.

Aaron spent the next few minutes mentally preparing himself for what was to come. Ukyou and he had royally screwed up with Akane. Things had been said, and not said, that needed to be addressed. Ukyou didn't like the idea, but admitted that it needed to be done.

The fact was, Ukyou had really grown to like Akane over the last few months. She was so... genuine. Akane's friendship was one of the few shining sparks in what had grown to become a harsh and bitter darkness. Ukyou wasn't willing to resign herself to the idea that the damage that had been done between them was irreparable.

Aaron looked up as the door to the dojo whished open almost soundlessly. His senses had grown sharper the last few days. He could focus and hear the rasp of Akane's breath, and wasn't sure if he was imagining the sound of her heart beating. If he wasn't, then the girl was nervous. When she stepped in, her demeanour almost confirmed Aaron's suspicions.

Akane was dressed in a simple blouse and overall/skirt combo. Her black eyes focused on Ukyou for a second, then looked away. She began to toy with one of the long forelocks that fell in front of her ears. Her forearm was still covered in the practice weight Ukyou had gotten for her. Aaron smiled. He wondered for a brief moment if Akane knew how beautiful she was. Then he noticed the tiny creature that was sliding around at Akane's feet.

"Akane... is that Hayato's pet octopus?" Ukyou asked slowly. As if to answer her question the creature slid out from behind Akane's feet and hissed at her. Since when could octopi hiss?

"Yes," Akane said with a sigh. "I found him in Hayato's hospital room. After he disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Ukyou said with a blink.

"Somebody destroyed his room and Hayato vanished. Only little Patoratsyu here was left. And he hasn't been exactly talking about what happened." Akane sounded relieved somehow. Aaron frowned, wondering why. Then it hit him. Akane suspected that Ukyou had done something!

"Akane, you can't believe I would do that to Hayato!" Ukyou gasped out. Then she paused. Why shouldn't Akane believe it?

"I don't know," Akane sighed and walked towards Ukyou. The octopus followed her, but kept a suspicious eye on Ukyou. "Ukyou, I don't know what to believe anymore. Things keep getting more complicated. I wish it could be like it was at the beginning..."

"If wishes were fishes..." Aaron chuckled. "Akane... we can deal with Hayato later. Right now, I came here to talk to you-"

"Did you?" Akane said quickly, cutting Aaron off.

"Hmm?"

"Ukyou... I have to ask you a question."

"Anything, Akane." Aaron nodded. Ukyou didn't like this. This wasn't right. But Aaron and she had talked about this on the way over. It was time to stop hiding and treating these people like pawns on the board that was her life. Akane, Ranma... everyone, they were people. They weren't characters in her drama or bit players in her story. It was time to start treating them like people.

"Do you love Ranma?"

Ukyou started, stunned by the question and the look in Akane's eyes. She sounded so sad, almost lost. Her eyes quivered slightly as they stared into Ukyou's. Aaron opened his mouth to respond, then stopped. It wasn't his place to speak about this. He didn't love Ranma.

Ukyou reached up to her heart, placing a palm over it she listened briefly through Aaron's senses to its steady beat. She thought for a moment about Ranma. Then she smiled. "Yes, Akane. I love Ranma."

"I knew you did," Akane sighed. She looked away. "I could see it in the way you looked at him, when you knew he wasn't paying attention."

Ukyou supposed a normal girl would have blushed at this point. But she wasn't a normal girl. She didn't feel embarrassed or ashamed by her feeling about Ranma. Even Aaron's distaste for sex had only helped to crystallise her feelings. Without tying her emotions to his looks or gender, Ukyou realised that she had grown beyond infatuation for Ranma.

"Ukyou..." Akane turned back to her and looked her straight in the eyes again. "You have all of Aaron's memories, right?" Ukyou felt that feeling of foreboding returning. But Aaron nodded silently. "You know what is going to happen... what would have happened to me and Ranma in the future if you hadn't shown up, isn't that right?" Now Aaron felt it too. Akane was proving the point Tsubasa had rammed into their head this morning. These people weren't pawns. Still, he nodded again.

"Ukyou... did you want to become my friend just so that I would never end up engaged to Ranma? Did you want to prevent us from falling in love? Is that the only reason?" Akane's eyes sparkled now with nascent tears.

Ukyou flinched as if slapped. She opened her mouth to protest. Akane, I'm your friend. I believe in you. I want to be with you. I want to hear your laughter. I want to share your pain. I want to make your life better. I've grown to care more about you than I ever would have imagined possible. Not a day goes by that I don't wonder how you are. Not a sleepless night has passed in the last four days that I have not wanted to call you up and say I'm sorry. I can't imagine a world where I don't get to see you smile. That's what she wanted to say. But she couldn't. Because that wasn't what Akane had asked.

"Yes," Aaron answered for her. His voice was cold. "I manipulated your friendship to bring me closer to Ranma and cut you out of his life." Aaron paused. "And I'd do it again, if I had it to do all over."

This time it was Akane who reeled back. Now she was crying. Ukyou lifted up her hand to comfort her, but realized what cold comfort her words wold be now.

"You... really did... just manipulate me?"

"Yes," Ukyou admitted. Her voice too was cold. But not because she didn't care. Because if she allowed her emotions to show in her voice she would break down. "Akane... I'm sorry."

"Sorry you did it, or sorry you got caught?" Akane shouted. Now she was angry. She wiped the tears off with the back of her wrist. Ukyou just looked down, unable to respond to that. Her silence was all the answer Akane needed.

Aaron's newly heightened senses heard her storm out of the room. The dojo door slammed shut in her wake. Akane was sobbing, her heart racing as she fled across the covered walkway into her home. Aaron wanted to get up and follow her. He wanted to explain that there was more to it than that. He felt like the hero of a bad teen romance now. Watching the tragedy unfolding, but unable to say the few simple words that would make it all right.

Why? Why couldn't he just get up and explain what he and Ukyou really thought about Akane?

Unable to answer that question, Ukyou finally picked them up and walked out of the dojo. They had one more confrontation today. Then... maybe then she could see if she could help Nabiki, and Hayato. Or at least, she could make sure that things didn't get worse.

01010

"My Queen... You summoned me?"

"Yes, Zoicite," Queen Beryl hissed sharply from behind her crystal globe. As always, she was tracing her fingers slowly through the air about the orb, tapping into some sort of arcane commands that Zoicite could not as yet comprehend. "I wanted you to report to me on the status of your search for the Ginzuishou."

"Ah..." Zoicite had enough self control to keep from gulping and sweating. That did not mean he wasn't nervous. "You can be certain I understand the urgency of your request, My Queen. However..."

"In other words, you still haven't found it," Beryl hissed dangerously. Zoicite resisted the urge to talk further. Beryl was in one of her moods, and inviting further pain would be foolhardy. "Zoicite, you know how important discovering that crystal is to us. With Nephrite gathering large amounts of energy, we need the crystal soon. Without it, all the energy in the world can not serve to revive Empress Metallia. I can not afford to fall behind schedule with her resurrection!"

Zoicite winced as Beryl's voice reached a particulary shrill note. "Yes, my queen. It is only that I can seem to find no trace of the Silver Crystal."

"I will not suffer your excuses, Zoicite!" Beryl screeched. "You must succeed. If you do not... I will have to find someone more capable of succeeding."

Zoicite let that ominous statement hang in the air. He felt a drop of sweat drip from his armpit and run along the inside of his uniform. So far, Beryl had not raised a hand to harm him or pronounced some other form of punishment, but neither had she ordered him out of her presence. With nothing better to do Zoicite knelt before her, his face on the flagstones of the dark cavern Beryl used as a throne room.

"But I have decided you deserve another chance," Beryl informed Zoicite, her voice having calmed much in the long silence that had passed between them. "I shall deliver the energy Nephrite has gathered for her this evening. When I do, I will ask her for some clue that can help you in your search."

Zoicite ground his teeth. Nephrite. That damnable man had become Beryl's pet ever since he had taken over Jadeite's old job. It almost made Zoicite wish he had lent more support to the dead fool, so that he would be alive now to continue to keep the heat off him!

"My queen... before you dismiss me," Zoicite stood up slowly. "I do have some interesting news to report."

"Oh?" Beryl raised a dark red eyebrow. Her voice, however, was incurious.

"While I have been searching for the Ginzuishou, I have begun to discover some strange things..." Zoicite looked up and locked eyes with his queen. It was an audacious manouvre. Such direct looks could be considered a challenge. But Zoicite was nothing if not audacious. "For instance, did you know that there are far more monsters in this world than we first thought?"

"Monsters?"

"Yes..." Zoicite raised his delicate white-gloved hand and snapped his fingers. A cyclone of pink rose petals sprang into being behind him. "When we first managed to breach the seal on our prison, we had thought that all the youma and monsters of the solar system had been sealed away behind Queen Serenity's magic." Beryl nodded, though her eyes had flashed with anger at the mention of her old nemesis. "But I have seen things out there across the world." Zoicite snapped his fingers again and an image formed amidst the blossoms. It was a tall regal man, with pale skin, short spiky hair and dangerous red eyes. "This is a creature called a... vampire. He has used his power to block out the sun over a small portion of this world. And there are others." Zoicite snapped his fingers again. This time a picture formed of a large, ape-like creature with a bat-like face. It was facing off against a quartet of girls in skimpy sailor suits. "For instance, I have discovered why the Sailor Senshi have not been opposing Nephrite. They seem to be busy fighting some other form of monster that appear to be transformed humans-"

"Why should I care about any of this?" Beryl asked sharply, cutting Zoicite off. Zoicite managed not to wince, but he lost enough concentration that his illusion faded away. "Whatever monsters have risen in this world without the Moon Kingdom to police it, they will be like chaff before the scythe that is Metallia! None of them matter, once she can unleash her might."

"Yes..." Zoicite coughed into his fist. "But... I think that this may be the key to Nephrite's success."

"What?"

"These creatures just happen to conveniently show up as soon as Nephrite takes over Jadeite's duty? Not to mention how Jadeite was killed by humans with powers we little understand... but these same humans have not so much as shown up to bother Nephrite."

"What are you saying, Zoicite?"

"Nothing, my Queen." Zoicite bowed. "But I just find it strange. Nephrite claims that his method of attack is to locate beings with the highest potential energy and release it, then gather the total. It just seems strange to me that he would focus on normal humans, when there are beings like those martial artists or monsters like that vampire out there. Why would he aim so low?"

Beryl had nothing to say to that. But her eyes had narrowed dangerously. It was impossible to tell if she was annoyed with Zoicite for raising this topic, or Nephrite for the implied sins Zoicite was laying at her feet. It was time to sweeten the bait a little.

"I would never think to suggest that Nephrite were incompetent, my Queen. In fact, he is very intelligent and capable. He has always been the most independent-minded of your generals, as you know. He is quite capable of running his own affairs well, and in fact has often expressed to me a desire to improve the organization of our own forces... pending your approval, of course." Zoicite resisted the urge to smile. Beryl's hands had stopped their constant motion. "I just would like to know what sort of arrangement Nephrite has with these other powers that exist. Certainly, he must have some contact with them, for these monster that aren't youma to be so occupying our former enemies. Perhaps he even plans on bringing them here, to swell our own ranks for the coming war? If so, he has been doing so in private... I have heard nothing of this plan. I only mention this because if he has, then I am sure you would know and could direct me to their positions. Perhaps one of them can aid me in the search for the Silver Crystal."

Zoicite bowed, mainly to hide his grin. He heard Beryl clear her throat.

"You are dismissed, Zoicite."

Zoicite nodded and stood up, getting one good look at Beryl's dark expression before vanishing into a swirl of rose petals. He materialized in his own chambers a fraction of a second later. Unable to resist the urge, he rose his fingers to his lips and laughed softly to himself.

"You play a dangerous game, Zoicite."

Zoicite turned with a wicked smile and addressed his paramour. "Oh, don't worry about me, Kunzite." He strutted over to the tall general and ran a finger through his long, platinum-blonde hair. "Beryl will not destroy Nephrite on the strength of my rumors and innuendo."

"Still..." Kunzite gathered Zoicite into his arms and the smaller general lay his head against the larger's chest, listening to the soothing sound of his heartbeat. "Remember that we are all on the same side. Nephrite is succeeding where Jadeite failed. Every mote of energy he brings us brings us closer to our ultimate goal."

Zoicite frowned. Kunzite was beautiful, powerful and excellent in bed, but he could be such a stick in the mud when he put his mind to it. "Oh don't worry so much. I needed to draw some heat off myself. Nephrite is just so prominent now that he makes a good target."

Kunzite began to run his hand along Zoicite's back. "I understand. And I too find his recent smugness a little annoying. I think he is beginning to forget which of us is the stronger." Zoicite nodded. "But you have a youma keeping an eye on him, and until he actually makes a move that could be seen as treason, I suggest not trying to undermine his position. He is high in the Queen's esteem, and you do not want him as your enemy now."

"You would protect me..." Zoicite murmured into Kunzite's chest.

"Yes..." Kunzite lifted up the smaller general's chin and kissed him gently on the lips. "Always."

01010

"Crescent Beam!"

The thin line of light traced a path across the warehouse. It punched through three of the shambling creatures in a row. They moaned, barely acknowledging the smoking hole in their chests. They managed to take three, maybe four more steps before a wave of golden light exploded out from the hole, washing over their bodies and leaving nothing behind but a fine ash. Just like the last ten.

"And hopefully the next... oh, three hundred or so," Minako muttered to herself in disgust as she ducked back behind the crates. The tarps protecting the huge wooden boxes rustled as she pressed against them. She heard the distant drip of water, leakage from the rain outside. But under all of it was the constant sound of the things. Their feet shuffled across the floor. Their hungry voices moaned wordlessly. Their dessicated claws scrambled and raked across anything they came across.

Minako wasn't used to this kind of fight. Ever since she had donned the mask of Sailor V, champion of justice and fashion sense, she had spent her time dealing with two type of foes. Either they were common criminals, terrorists and mobsters... or they were the youma monsters of the Dark Agency.

"Artemis is so getting an earful about this when I get back home," she muttered as she leapt up onto another pile of crates. A quartet of zombies had just turned the corner, and even with her enhanced speed and strength, Minako did not fancy getting into close quarters combat with those things. For one thing, they were strong and deadly. More importantly, they were disgusting. Their skin was the color of rotten fruit, and was wrinkled and pulled taut across their skulls. They wore the clothes they had died in, many showing signs of their violent deaths.

Truth be told, despite how much she protested about it, Minako had really grown to like being Sailor V. She was a heroine, adored by the people at large and at the same time saving those who couldn't save themselves. What little girl didn't want to feel like a magic princess, able to deal with evil using her pure heart? But the evil she was used to was nothing like this. She stretched forth a finger, aiming carefully. It took two shots, but all of the monsters were disintegrated by the energy of her Crescent Beam.

This was mopping up. Whatever evil had befallen these poor people, Minako was too late to stop it. All she could do was lay their poor souls to rest. That didn't sit well in her stomach. She should be able to save people. She was a champion, not a soldier. This was heroism, not war. Wasn't it?

"They just keep coming," Minako moaned as she adjusted her glasses. They may have looked like an ostentatious opera mask, but they had the power to see far away things and also reveal the true form of her enemies. Through them she saw another ten of the creepy dead guys wander into the building. "Just what are they, anyway?"

"They are called ghouls."

Minako didn't shriek, even though every instinct she had was telling her to. Whoever had just said that, they had the creepiest voice she had ever heard. It was smooth, like velvet... no, smooth like blood. It trickled into your ears, and flowed into your mind, drowning out all other thought. She turned slowly, trying to hide her fear.

The man who was sitting there was no less intimidating then his voice. He was tall, and rapier-thin. Even though he was lounging idly on the edge of the stack of crates Minako had ascended to, his very presence screamed violence. A wide brimmed red hat was perched jauntily atop his head and thick, lustrous curls of black hair flowed out from under it. His pale face was thin, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses. She couldn't make out much of his body, because he wore a thick red leather trenchcoat that flapped and snapped about him like a living thing, barely restrained from striking out at her.

"They're the product of inferior vampires. Barely stronger than humans, but much harder to kill. Normally they perish when their master does, but this type seems remarkably resilient to that." He stretched out a hand, and Minako gasped. He was carrying a Gun, a capital-G gun. It was silver and huge, at least as long as her forearm. He idly aimed it and there was a deafening concussion as the weapon fired. Minako barely followed the path of the bullet, saw it smash through a crate across the warehouse and into the cluster of ghouls on the other side of it. The ghouls exploded. This wasn't the clean death of her own magic, but far more violent and bloody. "Still, they are just ghouls. You, now... you are something new. I have never heard of a you before. And I've heard of most things."

He was looking at her, and although she couldn't see his eyes, she couldn't help but feel like he was staring right through her flesh and into her soul. Minako backed up a step.

"I am Sailor V, the champion of justice," she declared once she was sure her voice wouldn't shake.

"So the papers tell me." The man tipped back the brim of his hat with the barrel of his gun. "But I am not interested in the who you are. I am interested in the what you are."

"Why should I answer your questions?" Minako shouted. Her initial fear was beginning to wear off. And while she still felt like a rabbit sitting in the shadow of the wolf, she was Sailor V, damnit! She wouldn't be scared of this guy!

"A valid point." The man flowed to his feet. Minako had underestimated how tall he was. "My name is Alucard. I am... a hunter of the things that hunt mankind. Call my interest... professional curiosity."

"A hunter of... some sort of champion, like me?" Minako frowned. There was no way this guy was a hero. Not with the bad news vibes he was giving off. "Yeah right, and next thing you'll want to sell me the docks over Madison County." Wait, was it 'docks' or something else? Not important.

Alucard quirked his head to the side. "Excuse me?"

While he was distracted, Minako reached up and touched her glasses. She wanted to see what this guy's true form was. If he was human then maybe she'd...

"MY GOD!" Minako fell backward and scrambled away from the horror.

"Hmmm? What is it? Are my fangs showing?" the monster before her took a step forward. It wasn't a man. It was a cloud, a cloud of eyes and teeth and crawling insects. Ten times ten million eyes stared unblinkingly at her, all around her, from all sides. There was no escaping those eyes.

"Get away from me!" Minako held her hands before her. Normally she would have called on her Crescent Beam, but somehow she sensed, she knew that wouldn't be enough. No single beam of light would shine brightly in that darkness. Her hands quivered. "What are you? What kind of monster are you?"

"The worst kind," the man-creature said with the same care you would describe your shirt.

Minako reached down, towards her heart. She had to find the power to fight this thing. It was inside her, she had to believe that.

"You are frightened, champion of justice?" the horror took another step forward. She sensed more than saw a hand reaching out from the darkness. "Don't worry, I am under strict orders not to kill you. At least, not permanently." It paused dramatically. "Tell me... 'Sailor V', was it? Are you... a virgin?"

Even as he said it, the power of her glasses faded and she saw once again the man standing over her. Her heart skipped a beat. Somehow, she felt even more in danger now than when she had seen his true form. She reached her hand up to her heart and clenched it into a fist. She sensed a slumbering force there, greater than her current power. It was waiting... waiting for a threat grave enough to need it. Well... she needed it now!

"LOVE..." she stretched out her palm and suddenly a floating golden heart appeared rotating over her palm. Alucard shaded his eyes. "AND BEAUTY..." Minako rolled backward, spinning her arm in a cirle and drawing a line of golden hearts in the air. As she completed her retreat the golden hearts cascaded into each other, becoming a brilliant orb of light. Alucard began to smile.

"Yes... let's see what you can do, champion of justice..."

"SHOCK!"

Minako thrust her hand forward, pouring all her desperation and courage into a single strike. The blazing golden ball shot from her hand like a miniature sun. Alucard threw his arms wide and began to laugh. He wasn't even trying to dodge it! The world erupted in a blaze of light when the orb struck and Minako was forced to shield her eyes.

"That was most entertaining!"

Minako's eyes snapped open. He was still alive? Sure enough, the monster in the shape of a man was standing at the edge of the crate. He was chuckling, completely uncaring of the basketball-sized hole where his heart used to be.

"In fact..." Alucard stepped forward, but his voice seemed groggy now. "That was quite a bit more entertaining..." He fell forward onto one knee, the tarp bending beneath his weight. "Than I-"

Alucard's voice cut off as he slumped to the side. Minako lowered her shaking hands. She had won?

"Master!"

Minako snapped her eyes up as a new person entered the scene. The first thing Minako noted was that she was female. Her skin-tight police uniform and envy-inducing attributes left that fact abundantly clear. The next thing Minako noted was that the girl was armed with a rifle that was almost as large as she was. The third thing Minako noted was that she had red eyes and fangs.

"Another one?" Minako activated her glasses again... but they only showed the same young woman. She turned them off before she had to watch her cradle the form of Alucard protectively in both hands. Minako had once heard that there were some images that could drive men mad, and wasn't willing to test how close Alucard's true form was to those images.

"Master... wake up..." The police girl didn't seem to have noticed Minako yet. She looked desperate and sad. As Minako began to watch her struggle with the body, she even began to cry. They were tears of blood. "This is nothing, Master! Regrow, transform... you know you can... I know you aren't dead..."

Minako wanted to say something. But she heard shouts and gunfire from below now. She looked down. Men in uniforms with automatic weapons were streaming into the warehouse, mowing down the ghouls with military efficiency. Minako's eagle eyes caught the insignia on their uniforms. It was the same as that of the young woman cradling Alucard.

For the first time since she had seen him, Minako began to wonder if attacking Alucard had been the right thing to do. She saw the girl look up at her. Their eyes met.

"I'm... I'm sorry?" Minako breathed. Then she leapt away. The girl didn't follow.

01010

The cafe was full of the scent of cigarettes and the tiny noises of idle conversation. Kusanagi wrinkled his nose at the scent. Sometimes his enhanced senses worked against him. Still, he was able to pick out the old man quickly enough. He was hunched over his table, reading a newspaper and sipping on some tea. The table he was in was near the back. Kusanagi shrugged, adjusting his coat, and strode over to him.

"Yo, old man. I'm here."

Kunikida looked up over the rim of his paper. His expression was intense, with narrow eyes and furrows gracing his brow. Even his wart seemed intense somehow.

"Kusanagi. I'm glad you could make it."

"Momiji told me to meet you. Said you had something urgent to talk about?"

"Yes." The old man stood up, dropping some bills on the table. "But not here. The walls have ears, you know." Kusanagi raised a set of eyebrows. "Walk with me, would you?"

Kusanagi shrugged and followed the old man out of the cafe. The streets outside were close to deserted. The wind today was warm and soft. Kusanagi looked up at the bright yellow sun. Summer. The world was filled with the promise of summer now. It would only be a few more days. Well, not by human reckoning. But Kusanagi could feel a much older calendar moving, even in places like this, where men had sealed the earth beneath cement and chemicals.

"Are we being followed?" Kunikida asked after they had walked a few blocks. Kusanagi glanced at him, about to make some comment about how paranoia must have crept up on him in his old age, but the look on the old man's face told Kusanagi this was no laughing matter.

"No, we're not," Kusanagi answered after taking a few minutes to casually glance around the streets they were traveling.

"Good. Listen, Kusanagi. I barely know you, but I feel as if I do."

"What are you talking about?"

"Kaede..."

Kusanagi glanced at him sharply. The old man would raise that specter. Just the mention of her name was enough to fill his heart with bittersweet memories.

"You loved her, didn't you. By the end, I mean? It wasn't just a job for you anymore."

"I..." Kusanagi growled and slapped his hand against the wall, barring the old man from walking any farther. "What makes you think I want to talk to you about this?"

Kunikida was not intimidated. His gaze was level as he stared into Kusanagi's eyes. "I wanted to know the truth, Kusanagi. From your mouth. I need to know if I can trust you."

"Trust me?" Kusanagi pulled his arm back, flecks of broken concrete falling away from the handprint he had left in the wall. "Why should I care if you trust me?"

"Because I need you to protect Momiji," Kunikida told him softly.

Kusanagi blinked, unsure how to react to the sadness in the old man's voice.

"What are you talking about?"

Kunikida didn't answer right away, instead he began to walk away down the lane. The old man's trenchcoat rippled and flicked at his ankles, his hands having been swallowed by his pockets. He was hunched over like this was the middle of winter. Kusanagi took a few seconds to catch up to him.

"I don't think I can trust anyone else," Kunikida started explaining without prompting. "Don't get me wrong, I trust all my own people without hesitation. I hand-picked them. But they won't be enough."

"Enough?" Kusanagi chuckled. "Come on, old man, you're beginning to worry me..." Kusanagi had never really trusted the TAC. At least not to do anything right. But over the last few weeks, he had begun to see that they were decent enough people... for humans.

"Last night I was visited by some people from the government. They had all the right papers and IDs. They confiscated copies of all of my files." Kunikida paused. "All of them. Everything we had about the Aragami, the Kushinada project, even the files we started on those mitama thieves." Kusanagi grunted at the mention of them.

"So... those aragami that were posing as members of your government are dead now, aren't they? They were killed by those thieves." Kusanagi still felt sore about that. Sure, things had worked out well enough. Both Momiji and the little girl had survived without harm, and the aragami had been killed. Or, more accurately, they had been taken.

"I don't think that this was the aragami," Kunikida said softly. "The information they wanted... it was information that the aragami would have already had. No, I think someone else is poking their nose into our affairs. Someone with the political clout to do basically anything they want. I tried to track them down with my contacts on the inside, but all my leads dried up... or vanished when they asked too many questions."

"Vanished?" Kusanagi said, frowning.

"I don't like this. I smell something dangerous," Kunikida said while tapping his nose with one finger. "That's why I need to know... did you love Kaede?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kusanagi growled out. He didn't like to think about Kaede. It hurt too much to think about Kaede.

"Because if you do, then we have something in common," Kunikida announced. "I loved Kaede. She was like a daughter to me. Losing her that night... I still can't sleep at night because I dream about her. I won't lose Momiji like we lost Kaede. It's not fair to either of these girls, just because they were born the Kushinada, that they have to die."

Kusanagi remained silent as Kunikida turned to face him.

"Will you do it? Protect Momiji, if I'm not able to? Will you do it for the memories of Kaede?"

"Yes..." Kusanagi said thickly.

"Take this then," Kunikida reached out and handed Kusanagi a small silver box. "It's a beeper. Don't worry, I don't plan on tracking you with it. But if you ever hear it go off, then things have gone down. If you hear it, I want you to come as quickly as you can and take Momiji away. Somewhere safe. Out of Japan if you have to."

"I... okay." Kusanagi took the device and slipped it into one of his interior pockets.

"But if I do call you, you can't trust anyone. No one in Japan. Not anyone abroad either. The Americans have been acting oddly lately. They've stopped asking us for reports about the aragami incidents. The Chinese are behaving strangely as well... everyone seems to be caught up in this." Kunikida turned and began to walk away. "Those martial artists out there... they're nothing compared to what I sense is on the horizon. I think there are monsters worse than the aragami in this world, Kusanagi. Monsters that won't hesitate to kill Momiji if they think it will eliminate the competition." He drew a breath. "Protect her."

Kusanagi nodded, even if Kunikida couldn't see it. He watched the old man disappear around the corner. His hand reached into his coat and pulled out the beeper he had been given. Kusanagi knew the old man better than he knew just about any other human being, except Kaede... He had seen him raise the blue- haired girl from an infant. He knew that Kunikida never worried without reason.

"Worse monsters?" Kusanagi grinned. "I don't believe they know just how bad I can get. But if you're right, old man, I guess I'll get to show them."

01010

Pink stroked the mitama softly. It felt warm to her touch, and she imagined that she could feel the life welling inside. It was definitely something... special. But if it was trying to talk with her, she couldn't hear it.

Both her sister and Chris had been surprised when Pink insisted that she get the latest two mitamas. But it was only fair, since Link had gotten two beforehand: one from the jellyfish-creature on the boat, the second from the aragami they had tracked down and slain in the sewer. Of course, up until today, Pink hadn't shown that much interest in the mitamas.

That last fight had changed her mind about them. She had watched, fascinated, as the two government bureaucrats had transformed into monsters before being efficiently cut down by Chris and Shampoo. They had been different from the earlier monsters, for they wore the bodies of humans. What had they been originally: human, or aragami? Chris said the mitamas couldn't possibly control human-level minds, so it suggested those two had been willing collaborators who received power in exchange for helping the plant creatures.

Power, indeed. Though they had stood no chance against Chris and Shampoo, those men-turned-monsters had clearly been more than human. As well, she remembered that other: that man, Kusanagi. He had been strong; strong enough to fight toe to toe with Chris, and he had those mitamas implanted in him. Seven of them, Chris had said, supporting what Pink and her sister had sensed.

Could anyone unlock that sort of power? Pink smiled in anticipation. There didn't seem to be any reason why not. Ordinary humans, with the power of these mitamas, had a shortcut to the sort of power that Shampoo had, and more. Of course, Pink and her sister were far from ordinary. And the mitamas were, at some level, still plants. There was no plant in the world they couldn't improve. All it would take was time to unlock the mitamas' secrets. And they had plenty of that.

She looked up, intending to draw her sister aside for some experiments on their new acquisitions. Link was there, of course, tending to her tiny herb garden on the windowsill. Pink almost opened her mouth to call out to her, but something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and without knowing quite why, she looked in that direction instead.

Shampoo was lounging on the other side of the room, reading a magazine. That wasn't unusual - well, aside from the surprise of seeing that imbecile actually READING anything - but something about the scene seemed odd. After a moment, Pink realised what it was: the magazine was Japanese. Shampoo didn't know that language, as she'd made abundantly clear. But she was squinting at the pages, as if trying to make them out. As Pink watched, the purple-haired girl brought something up to her eye, looked through it at the pages before her, then put it down again and resumed squinting.

What was that?

Shampoo had noticed Pink staring; she put down the magazine, looked at her warily. As always, Pink felt a mixed thrill of fear and joy at seeing her hated nemesis this close, knowing Shampoo would kill them at any opportunity, but also secure in the knowledge she could not. Pink loved pushing at that, giving her needless little orders, shivering in thrilled delight as the hatred grew in Shampoo's eyes even as the girl obediently performed whatever degrading task was required of her. But, for now, Pink pushed that feeling aside, standing up and walking to her servant. The mysterious object was still hidden in Shampoo's hand. "What are you doing, Shampoo, over?"

Shampoo's eyes were flat. "Reading," she answered shortly.

"I see," Pink nodded. She let her gaze travel downwards. "And what are you holding in your hand, over?" Link was looking at them now, but said nothing.

Shampoo's hands twitched, but her face remained calm. "It's none of your... it's nothing important," she amended. "Just a trinket from home."

Pink's smiled widened. She knew that the Joketsuzoku had more than a few 'trinkets' of great power; tales of some of them were legendary, and added to the warrior women's village feared reputation. "It was helping you read that, wasn't it, over?"

Shampoo licked her lips, casting her eyes around. But the meddling old woman wasn't there to intervene: she and Chris were out on the roof, having one of their talks. Even so, the ever-so-slight appeal for help caused Pink's soul to sing with joy. She was right. That WAS what it was. It had to be.

A moment later, Shampoo reluctantly confirmed her hopes. "Yes."

"Let me see it, over." Shampoo's face was still calm, but her eyes blazed with hate as she handed over the 'trinket'.

In fact, it did sort of look like a trinket. It was a small loop of highly polished black stone; bigger than a ring, perhaps about as big as a large hoop earring. Examining it, Pink saw that it was in fact two loops of stone, joined together by some unknown mechanism. The two loops were stuck as solidly together as if welded, but as Pink touched it, she found she could rotate the front one without severing the connection. Chinese characters were inscribed on the back hoop at intervals: English, Japanese, Spanish, and other names of languages.

Link had come to them now, and she was looking at the item, but her expression was a perplexed frown. Didn't she realise? Pink felt like laughing. She looked at Shampoo. "Tell me how it works, over."

Shampoo stood up. "I don't know. I'll go get great-grandmother to tell you."

"Stay right there," Pink purred. No chance she'd let Shampoo go fetch that annoying old woman to take back their village treasure. "You may not know how it was created, but you know how to use it. Tell me. That's an order, over."

Shampoo sat down again slowly. "It's the Stone of Acclimation," she explained reluctantly. "A device to help travellers from our village in the outside world. Twist it to align with what language you desire, and when spoken through, it can translate your words... to a certain extent. It's more a learning tool than anything."

"And?" Pink prompted. "How were you reading with it, over?"

"Put it to your eye, look through, and it will seem to cause any writing to become Chinese."

Pink grinned. "Any writing? It doesn't need to be Japanese?" Shampoo shook her head. "Excellent. Stay put, then, Shampoo. I'm going to borrow this for a little while, over."

"What is it that's so important, Pink?" Link asked her. "You're way too pleased about this to be just taking away Shampoo's toy, over."

"Of course I am," Pink responded. "Don't you remember, Link? Our dead friend keeps that extensive library of journals with him, over."

Link's eyes lit up, and she looked over at the small pile of Chris's possessions in the corner of the room. As the dead man didn't sleep, he hadn't bothered to occupy one of the bedrooms. "Of course. Now we can read them, over."

"Now -I- can," Pink said smoothly. "Link, you're going to have to make sure to keep him away until I can look through these, over."

Link's good cheer fell away extremely quickly. "Me? I don't want to talk to him. You do it, and I'll read the journals, over."

"Now now, sister, that doesn't make any sense, over," Pink chided. "He's talking with the old woman now. Wait until he comes back in and keep him busy as long as possible." She held up a finger to stifle Link's protest. "It has to be you. If I do it, he'll know we're up to something and investigate. But he trusts you. If you go talk to him, he won't dare to offend you, over."

Link obviously wanted to protest, but couldn't. She knew it was true. Chris wanted them, especially Link, to like him. It was one of his weaknesses. "All right," Link finally said. "But what am I supposed to talk to him about, over?"

Pink shrugged. "Whatever you want," she said cheerfully. "He'll listen. Tell him you hate him less now that he's gotten us mitamas, over."

Link frowned. "I'd rather not say that, over."

"Then think of something else. That's your job, over."

Her sister nodded and strode out of the room. She'd do her best. She might not like Chris, but that only meant she would want to know his secrets as much as Pink. Knowledge, after all, was another form of power.

Pink moved towards the large backpack in the corner. She kept an eye on Shampoo; but true to the letter of her order, Shampoo was staying put. Pink resisted the urge to giggle with glee at this chance which had fallen into her lap. She'd wondered, so much, about what Chris could possibly be writing in those journals so much about. Well, now she'd find-

She froze as she touched the bag. A metallic clank? Damn! She'd forgotten about that Jyusenkyou water the dead man had also been carrying. Jyusenkyou... Pink shuddered. Even for this, even for power, she wasn't sure if she'd risk sticking her hand in that bag.

Fortunately, she didn't have to. Reaffixing her grin, she turned and beckoned Shampoo over. After all, what were servants for?

01010

Chris leaned against the balcony, staring up into the starry night sky of Tokyo. Ahhh, that anime starry sky of Tokyo. He was pretty sure the real one wouldn't be quite so... vivid. But then, maybe it was. How would he know? He'd never been to the real world's Tokyo. Or maybe dead people could see through smog. Or maybe Sailor Moon had cleaned up all the city's pollution in- between episodes. Though that wouldn't really explain why he could see stars in the backdrop of one of the most brightly-lit cities in the world.

Cologne was gone; off to see Ranma, or so she said. His talk with her had been, once again, a little disappointing. Really, she didn't know that much about the Musk or Phoenix that she hadn't revealed in the manga; they WERE legends to her, and not much more. She knew even less - essentially zilch - about any other legendary things he knew to exist. Not even a tale of the long- lost matriarchal Moon Kingdom.

The old bat had sure picked HIS brain with enthusiasm, though. Not that that was a problem. Talking about Ranma, and Sailor Moon, and Blue Seed and Street Fighter and so forth helped gel their plotlines and detailings in his brain, and also jarred a few factoids to the surface that he'd forgotten up until now. Such as the fact that one of Bison's supersoldierette "dolls" was in Japan somewhere (or at least was FROM Japan, making it a reasonable assumption). He wondered what she was doing; what the whole Street Fighter plotline was doing, in fact. Probably being troublesome to somebody.

His arm itched. He swore under his breath and scratched at it. Talking with Cologne, he'd been able to forget about the constant irritation, but now it was back with a vengeance. Taking off the jacket he now wore constantly, he looked at it, his nose wrinkling in distaste.

It wasn't exactly zombified rotting-flesh-falling-off-the-bones, or anything like that. But even a casual viewer would have noticed something very wrong with the deathly pale skin that was dotted with sores and the splotches characteristic of congealed blood. Even more unusual, when compared with the still-fairly-pristine shape of the rest of Sentarou's body. Or was it pristine? It was so hard to tell until the outward signs happened; he only knew the feeling, the RELIEF he'd had other times he'd entered a fresh body and only then realised how horribly hollow and... liquid the previous one had been.

But it wasn't itching. Only the arm was. He remembered when he'd fought that super-aragami, throwing the baton, that strange jolt that had run up that arm, and the spectacular results it had had. That had to be what had done this. But what, precisely, had he DONE?

"So that's why you're wearing that. I should have guessed, over."

He supposed, for someone else, it might have been hard to tell the difference between Pink and Link, especially without even looking them in the face. But he could hear the distaste, the veiled (and sometimes not-so-veiled) hate in every word Link spoke to him. "What would you like?" he said with a sigh.

"Well... in fact, I suppose I want to talk to you about that, over." She walked up to the railing, and pointed at his arm. "You should come to the lab with me, over."

Chris raised an eyebrow. He'd almost forgotten that, technically, Pink and Link were supposed to be looking for a way to help his condition. Had she actually stumbled onto something? Hard to believe... but she must have found out SOMETHING, to seek out his company. So... "Lead on, then."

The "lab" was not so much an actual laboratory as another condo Chris had purchased with Kodachi's trust fund (and other inheritance-type monies). Like their dwelling, it was on the top floor; more convienient, and he didn't really want it TOO far away lest Pink do anything uns-ensible to the other residents. Link was apparently in a hurry; not bothering to go through their dwelling and down the hall, she simply hopped from balcony to balcony to get there. Chris followed, a little pleased even now with the ease at which he could.

Once they were safely ensconsed in a side room (a little less plant- choked than the rest of the condo), Link sat down and gave him a serious look. Not that that was much of a change from her usual perpetual frown. "So, I see that your arm seems to be decaying faster than the rest of you. Did you do anything unusual with it, over?"

He shrugged. "When I fought the aragami on the ship, I used this arm to throw the baton through it and use your herbicide. It was a really powerful shot, as you saw."

Link nodded knowingly, as if that confirmed her hypothesis. And then said... nothing. Actually, she seemed to be hesitating.

"Sooo... you discovered something?" he said hopefully.

Link opened and closed her mouth a few times. "It's... nice weather. For growing things, I mean, over."

Oooookay. Was she reluctant to tell him because it was an awful, awful truth? That didn't really make much sense, given who this was. But what else could it be? "Uh...well, if you're a little hesitant to have this talk, why not get Pink to explain what it is you found?"

"NO, OVER!" She waved her hands at him. "Pink's... uh... too impatient. She'll take shortcuts and muck the whole thing up. I'm just collecting my thoughts, over."

Chris leaned back. "Okey-dokey. Well, collect away, and I'll wait."

Five minutes later, he got a little tired of waiting, and informed her as much.

"Ummm... okay. Well, basically, you see, that your arm is rotting doesn't surprise me, over."

He nodded, gesturing for her to continue.

"Annnnd that's because... well, I've done a lot of research into various methods of preserving human corpses, over."

"And you found something?" he asked, trying very hard not to let impatience show through in his voice.

"Well... yes and no, over."

"So what's the yes?"

"There's plenty of ways to preserve corpses. Probably thousands. Some of them even work, over."

It was getting harder to keep calm. He liked Link and all, but this was being pointlessly annoying even for one of the twins. "So what's the upshot of that? Spit it out."

Link stared at him for a moment, then sighed and shrugged. "I've given up looking into it, because it won't help you at all no matter what I do, over."

"What! But you just said you found-"

She held up one finger, taking on a lecturing tone. "There are many ways to preserve human corpses, yes. But you aren't one. Well, I suppose you ARE, but only in the same sense that both you and a normal human corpse are lifeless objects made of chemicals. In that sense, you share about as much in common with a rock, over."

"So why can't you preserve this body?"

"Because you're the one destroying it, over."

"Well, the arm sort of gives that away. But maybe I can try and hold back a bit more in fights..."

She shook her head. "That isn't it. You seem to be under the impression that it was the powerful martial arts strike that prematurely rotted your arm. But that's only half the truth, over." She stood up, pacing back and forth in front of him like a university professor trying to explain an especially difficult problem. She'd lost all the hesitation in her voice, too, he noticed. "It's like this: from my observations and the results of the tests Pink conducted, I can tell that whatever's happening to your bodies has little, if anything, in common with what happens with natural decomposition. It's superficially similar, but that's all. Your bodies, as soon as you inhabit them, in fact seem to go into a sort of temporary stasis. They don't rot at all, over."

He held up his arm. "Sooooooooo...?" He thought he knew what she was getting at, but might as well get it from the horse's mouth.

"Yes, that. That's not natural in the slightest. But... it's not just doing martial arts that causes it. Even if you never did anything out of the ordinary, you'd rot. You start rotting from the moment you start moving. Walking, looking at things, breathing. It all adds up over time, everything you do that makes that body unnaturally move in any way also breaks it down. The only difference is that your more superhuman feats break it down faster. Surely you've noticed: from what you told us, Kodachi's body took almost a month to rot... and when did it finally do so? Right after you got into that fight with the algae aragami, over." She spun and pointed at him. "But in this body, despite the fact you say it's even stronger than Kodachi, you've been fighting repeatedly. Your arm may have been hastened somehow, but the rest of your body isn't as far behind as it looks. I've been watching, and I doubt it'll last out the week, over."

He leaned back in his chair. It did make sense. In a cripplingly depressing sort of way. "So... no solution?"

"Even if you don't fight, your bodies will always break down, though it will take much longer, over." Link shrugged. "But beyond that, I can't really help you. Any preservatives I use will be ineffectual. Even some sort of process with replacing your limbs with animate vines wouldn't likely work. Even if you could control them somehow, the rest of your body would still decay until you had to leave it, over."

Chris rubbed his chin and stood up. "I see. Well, I have to thank you for making the effort, Link. I guess I'll-"

Even as he turned towards the door, she was suddenly in his way. "That's... not all I've been researching, over!" she blurted.

He blinked. What was WITH her? "Oh?" he said out loud.

"I want, um, er, your... professional opinion of what I've discovered about the mitamas, since you know so much about them, over."

He shrugged. "Sure. Least I can do, though I've pretty much told you most of what I know."

She led him out of the room and into her section of the lab. He didn't need to be told what WAS, precisely, her section of the lab, because moving into it was like stepping into a different room entirely. Pink's portion of the room was chaotic, with a jungle-like plethora of plants scattered haphazardly fighting each other for light and attention. Noxious fumes hung visibly in the air, and everything felt wild and aggressive. It was the very picture of a mad scientist's (botanist's) garden.

Link had a smaller portion of the room to herself. But it was HERS, no doubt about it. Perfectly square, with every plant in a separate pot and nothing co-mingling. Nor was there anything random about their placements: flowering plants were here, leafy ferns there, creeping flesh-eating vines just so. There was nothing sickly-looking, deformed, or in the process of being consumed by a larger plant. Even the mushrooms (which weren't plants, the pedantic bit of his mind pointed out) grew in picturesque mushroom shapes in their carefully climate-controlled nurseries.

The very centre of Link's space, directly beneath the skylight, was the predictable home of the mitamas. A small, spotlessly clean table held them. One was by itself, in a small dish. The other, presumably the first she had gotten, had obviously been experimented on more. It gleamed in the loamy soil of the small glass-enclosed terrarium into which it had been placed. Some small plants and shoots grew around it, though none touched the mystic blue seed.

Link wasn't even looking at him, now, but instead staring at her two specimens, a thoughtful frown on her face. "I've discovered a few things," she began. "First, the mitama are not inherently hostile to humans, over."

"Not really, no," Chris agreed. "But lions aren't inherently -hostile- to humans either."

Link nodded absently at his comment. "In fact, it seems that they act almost entirely on instinct. Their own, or the instinct of their host species, whichever happen to be more dominant. While not unintelligent, their intelligence doesn't seem to work in quite the same way ours does, over.

"What's interesting is that when in close proximity, their power and awareness seems to be heightened. It becomes something of a collective consciousness, working together in symbiosis, over."

Chris nodded. That fit with the way Kusanagi's multiple mitamas worked... not to mention Momiji's ability to detect them, and her own ability to synch herself with Kusanagi later in the series.

Link tapped her fingers on the table. "I've found that, by putting them together within a plant's structure, their intelligence and capability expand dramatically, and they can use human language apparently instinctively. Of course, at that point they quickly become... excited, and I've had to abort the experiment, over."

"Well, I'm glad it didn't get away and start wrecking the neighbourhood, anyway," he grinned.

"There was no chance of that," Link said a little indignantly. "I had several safety measures in place after the fiasco at the ship, over."

"Safety measures including 'keeping Pink away from it'?"

She gave him an odd, sidelong glance. "Yyy-es, something like that, over." She tapped the glass of the terrarium. "Still, I've been making a lot of progress with communicating with these two. They have a sort of memory, and they're starting to recognise me as an individual entity, over. I think pretty soon I'll be able to properly talk with them, find out more about what they know, where they're from, what their history is." She turned to Chris with an excited frown on her face, which caused him some cognitive dissonance, but as usual he ignored it. "What their CULTURE is. And where they've been hiding all this time, so no one even suspected they existed, over."

"That's pretty interesting," he nodded. "But what did you want my opinion on, precisely?"

Her excited frown became a... well, it was sort of a regular old frown, really, and she stared blankly at him. "Uhh... well, that is, over... your opinion... of..."

He sighed. Should have known. "Okay, what is Pink doing? Is she trying to kill Shampoo? I'll just remind you that if she does something stupid, Shampoo can defend herself, and that can only end badly. For you."

Link tried very hard to force an enormous grin onto her face, but succeeded only in looking like she was eating something extremely sour. "W-what are you talking about? Pink's not up to anything, over!" The beads of sweat running down her forehead didn't help her already shaky attempt at sincerity.

"Of -course- not," Chris drawled. "But I think I'll mosey on over and take a look to make sure everything's fine, okay?"

Before Link could come up with another excuse, he walked over to the door, kicking away a few of the more aggressive plants as they attempted to devour/poison/fertilise him. As he made his way into the hallway, he listened carefully, but surprisingly didn't hear much in the way of brutal violence. Maybe Pink hadn't sprung her trap yet.

It didn't take him long to find Pink. He immediately looked around, and felt vastly relieved to see Shampoo sitting near the corner of the living room, looking kind of pissed off but otherwise seemingly not harmed or threatened in any way. In fact, Pink looked almost benign, sitting studiously reading a book. The only thing that was odd was the strange monocle-like thing she was reading through.

Though, wait a sec, that book looked familiar. He took a step into the room, opening his mouth to ask what was going on, but at that moment Pink looked up and saw him. She smiled.

"This Rumiko Takahashi bitch is a complete hack, over."

Chris froze.

"I mean, 38 volumes, and my sister and I only appeared ONCE, while this bimbo - nice description, by the way - was in practically every one? Didn't she realise what true entertainment value was, over?"

Now he recognised the book. And the five other ones strewn about her feet. "But... you don't read English..." was all he could think of to say.

Pink's smile was like a shark's. She raised the black stone monocle- thing. "I do now, over."

"But... where..."

Tossing the journal aside, Pink stood up. "I'm certain you wondered about how Shampoo gained a semi-competent mastery of the Japanese language in such a short time, didn't you, over? Or maybe you didn't." She laughed shortly, tossing the monocle to the ground at his feet. It spun around twice, as he stared blankly at it, before coming to rest. "Well, there's your answer. Plot fiat. Did Takahashi never write about it? I told you - what a hack, over."

Chris looked up, looked at her face. Those journals contained everything. His nearly encyclopediac knowledge of the Ranma manga, and every detail he could dredge from his memory about all the other series' he knew to exist, and many he only suspected did. He'd written them during weeks of work in the dead of night, when living people sleeped, trying to capture his memories before the inevitable creep of time washed the details away.

It was a treasure trove of knowledge more valuable and dangerous than the most powerful ki blast, killer plant or power armor. He knew that more than anybody, because both he and Ukyou had used that power to attain their goals. But in the wrong hands (and he wasn't so sure that didn't include Ukyou), that kind of knowledge could cause any amount of disaster.

You could kill the Sailor Senshi and doom the world.

You could find the Battle Dougi and become an invincible fighter.

You could unleash ancient horrors from their tombs. Blue Seed's Susano- oh... King of Fighter's Orochi... without the specific mix of circumstance and opposition necessary to seal them back up again.

You could wreak such havoc on the world there could be no recovering.

Pink was smiling.

She knew. She knew exactly what things she could do with what she had just learned.

He took one step forward. Pink had to... she had to... his hands were clenched into fists, though he couldn't remember when he'd done so.

It was PINK. She was utterly selfish. No, selfish was too small a word. She was sadistic, enjoyed hurting people, was willing to kill anyone who got in her way or just happened to be around when she was in the right mood. He knew that from the manga and from living with her for weeks. She was no genius, but she was plenty clever enough to use any advantage that fell into her grasp. And worse, she was manipulative, and with the knowledge he had let fall into her hands, she could manipulate a great many people. A great many POWERFUL people. Just like Ukyou.

Chris realised he was holding one of the batons in his hand, now. He heard Link's startled gasp from behind him. Shampoo was watching him with the fixed intensity of a tomcat watching a bird fall from a tree. And Pink... Pink was still smiling.

"Oh dear, it seems you're a little upset, over." She shrugged cheerfully. "Sorry about looking through your things... sometimes my curiosity gets the best of me, over."

He took another step forward. His finger rested on the hidden switch that would cause the spikes on the head of the baton to extend.

She couldn't be trusted - no, it was worse than that. She couldn't be ALLOWED to have this. Couldn't be. Could not.

Pink's smile never wavered. "You look like you have something on your mind. Maybe we can talk it out. We share so many things in common, now, over."

He liked her... liked her as a CHARACTER. It was different in reality. You could admire someone from a distance, and still despise everything they stood for. You could admire the resolve of a soldier on the other side as they charged your trench, and still fire the shot that cut them down, because it was the right thing to - no, it was what you HAD to do.

"But you know what's even more amusing about these journals? It's the stuff that hack writer DIDN'T know, over." Pink picked up one, flipped to a page, casually ran a finger down it. "Pink and Link, Volume 28, twin sisters, hate Shampoo, blah blah blah... but there's something very important you didn't know, over."

Link was beside him, now. He glanced over almost involuntarily. Her expression wasn't what he expected. Panicked, he'd expected. But she was horrified. And not at him.

"NO!" she shouted at her sister. No 'over'.

"Link, Link, Link," Pink said smoothly, still smiling, "Now that we know all our friend's secrets, isn't it only fair that he knows ours?"

It was the wrong thing to do. Listening was the wrong thing to do now. He knew that. But it was like watching an onrushing train, unable to turn away. "What... secret?"

Pink turned to him again and spread her hands in a gesture very similar to his own. "You were wrong in your description of us. Link and I are not sisters, over."

"What?"

"We aren't sisters... but we are TWINS, over." Seeing his expression, she laughed lightly and walked across the room. Reaching his opened backpack, she gingerly tapped it with one foot, eliciting a metallic clank from the canteens of Jyusenkyou water inside. Then she quickly moved a few steps away.

Jyusenkyou water?

"Come on," she said, striding arrogantly back towards him. "Didn't you wonder why it was so easy for me to accept all this? You're intelligent enough to put two and two together, over."

They were so scared of Jyusenkyou water. They wouldn't go near it.

Pink stopped barely a meter away from him. "Oh, are you still not catching on? It wasn't obvious?" Her tone became mocking. "'Link's pain is my pain, over'."

She was tricking him. "That's ridiculous," he snapped. "When could it have happened? When you were kids-"

"Approximately one year old, actually. From what I've been told." Pink tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You see, our village has long used the waters of Jyusenkyou for various botanical experiments. It has quite interesting effects when used to water plants. Usually children aren't allowed on water-gathering trips, but Mother was poor and couldn't afford to have us watched. Not that there was an 'us' then, over."

He didn't need to be told more: the scene was easy enough to picture, and so... Takahashiesque.

Pink looked up at him and laughed again. "You still don't believe? Silly boy. You thought your comic book told you everything? You didn't know about Shampoo's little toy. You didn't know about Link's temper. Lots of little things you probably weren't told. And with such... minor... characters as us, how could you possibly expect that our lives would be so fleshed out and robust as, say... Ranma Saotome's, over?"

Link stepped forward, almost pushing him to the side. "Why are you TELLING him this!" she shrieked in her sis... in Pink's face. "You know what will happen if we, if one of us..."

"That's precisely why I am," Pink said calmly. She stared into Chris's eyes. "We were one year old. Of course we don't remember a thing. How could anyone tell, from that age, who was real and who was a shadow? But Chris... ah, yes, Chris. Chris would never do anything to harm YOU, Link. You're... an innocent, over." Her smile nearly split her face. "Victims of the Spring of Twins, which are mostly small animals, of course, don't usually endure very long. There's excellent reason for that, you see... even though water won't reserve the effect, if the original perishes, the copy can't sustain. But you probably guessed that. Another thing your comic didn't tell you, though, is that the two can't move too far away from each other. Outside of a certain range, the magic weakens, and the false twin fades away forever, over."

He stared, wanting to say something, but couldn't. Pink stepped past her twin, standing right next to him. Her hand dropped to casually caress the head of the baton. "So, Chris, am I really enough of a... 'capital V villain' to risk Link's life? Over such a little thing as this? Just over a little... knowledge, over?"

He remembered Link frowning, lecturing Pink.

He remembered her joy, showing even through that perpetual frown, when she realised he'd beaten Shampoo.

He remembered her swearing a blue streak, comically stalking back and forth, stamping her foot.

He remember how animated she had become, talking about the mitamas.

Pink was right. He couldn't. Just like with Akane. No matter what the reason, having seen her, known her, looked into her living eyes and seen the person inside, he couldn't kill her. Couldn't even risk it.

Pink took the baton from his nerveless fingers and moved back two steps to stand beside Link. "I didn't think so. You're a good boy, over."

01010

"So... that's it then?"

Aaron kept Ukyou's hand from shaking as she took the letter from the table. Ono watched her. His expression was grim and his eyes were hidden behind the glare of his glasses. Ukyou looked away, unable to meet his accusing gaze.

"I can't continue this, Ukyou. Not if you're going to use my teachings for such violence..."

"I understand..." Aaron stood up. Truth be told, he didn't believe that he needed Ono's teaching anymore. Ever since he had revealed the existence of the five chakra techniques, Aaron had been having more success helping Ukyou enhance her skills without him. It helped that, in a very real sense, Aaron understood the concepts behind the five element theory of martial arts much better than Tofu Ono. He still didn't know why, but he did.

"I don't think you do, Ukyou!" Ono snapped as he stood up. Aaron started involuntarily. Ever since he and Ukyou had met the man, they had never seen him so upset. Not even after the fight... "You need help. Real help. Professional help."

"I don't need a psychiatrist," Ukyou informed him coolly. No shrink in the world could solve her problem.

"You need more than that, Ukyou. You need to stop using this power of yours. It is hurting you, and I don't just mean your body. I think it's doing something to your mind..."

"You talk like I've had a choice..." Aaron cut Ukyou off. She had had a choice. She could have accepted her loss to Hayato. It had been her choice to fight him all-out. Nothing would have been lost there but her pride. Ukyou felt a brief stir of resentment, but it was empty fury. Aaron was right, and he refused to be blustered into silence anymore. "Maybe you're right, Ono." Ukyou leaned over the table, tapping her fingers on the wood next to Ono's hand. "Maybe I am doing damage to myself, permanent damage that will never go away. I think I'm beginning to accept that now. That choices have consequences. But I can't leave this alone. This power... it is the cause of my problems and I think, maybe, the solution."

"As long as you continue to explore it... I can't be your mentor."

"Is this the end of everything between us then?" Aaron asked, his voice cool.

"It is if you want it to be, Ukyou."

"I don't want it to be, Ono. You're... the most mature friend I have. I thought we were becoming close, in our own ways. But I just can't do what you ask. This world... it is turning its back on me. If the only way I can survive is to use that power, I will."

"Ukyou..." Ono stood up. "I think you need more time to think about this."

"So this is the end?"

"My door is always open for you when you need me. But..."

"Thank you..." Ukyou said sincerely and strode out of the room.

Forget needing him for his teaching. She would miss him for... him. But she wouldn't cry over him. It had taken her all night to work up the courage to come back here after yesterday's disaster with Akane. She still had to find Ranma. And if Ranma turned his back on her...

Ukyou wouldn't cry over Tofu Ono.

Aaron sensed the figure in the door to Ono's clinic before they sensed him. He had recognized that his own affinity for the Void chakra could enhance his senses, and had been working on that. Just like Ukyou had drawn on Aaron's knowledge to enhance her Wind chakra. She had proven how much that had enhanced her fighting abilities the other night when they had fought E. Honda in that pit. Of course it still hadn't been a very easy fight, but Ukyou had won.

Aaron, however, could sense the power of the person in the doorway. They radiated it through the walls of the clinic like a miasma. It curdled the blood in Ukyou's veins. Aaron had never experienced anything that he would have ever described as 'evil' before, but this power made him want to use the term. Was it some new enemy, drawn to Ukyou and him by that damn prophecy? Or perhaps an old enemy?

For a moment Ukyou and he considered just ducking out the back. But Aaron knew they could only duck this confrontation for so long. He just hoped that if there was a fight, he could lure them away from the clinic. Destroying their ex-mentor's livelihood once was enough for them both.

"I knew if I waited here long enough, you would return."

Ukyou stopped in her tracks as she rounded the corner. That voice... no. She looked across the reception area. It was Hayato. He was standing, arms crossed and face uncovered, his frame blocking out the doorway. He had changed, and not just his clothes. His eyes were dangerously narrow, and his posture like that of a restrained hunting cat. Light glinted off the golden ornament he now wore around his neck, some sort of stylized crescent and lightning bolt.

"Hayato... you're..."

"Walking?" the boy sneered.

That wasn't possible. Ukyou knew his spine was broken. Even the martial artists of Ranma's caliber didn't get up from things like that! And she knew that he had been crippled. She knew because everyone had told her. She knew because she had done it. She had felt the bones shatter under her heel. Even now she could recall the feeling.

"Don't look so surprised, Ukyou." Hayato stepped into the room. "I told you this wasn't over between us. I told you I would find a way to defeat you, and I have."

"No..." Aaron shook his head. He should say he was sorry. He suspected it would do no good, but it was still the right thing to do. Except something was holding him back. Something even he didn't want to admit.

"What, not going to apologize? Plead for understanding?" Hayato lashed out with one hand, crashing his fist through a wall with enough force to leave a basketball sized hole. "Aren't you even going to pretend you feel sorry for me! Don't think just because I am walking that the injury you inflicted on me wasn't real. Don't think this washes away your crime!"

"Pretend to feel sorry..." Aaron said coldly. That was it. He could say he felt sorry to Hayato, but it would be an act. Telling Hayato he felt guilty about what he and Ukyou had done would be another lie, another facade. But it was time to abandon facades. The truth was he didn't regret the act of it. Nor did Ukyou. They regretted the consequences, but not the crime. In fact...

They had enjoyed it.

Ukyou recoiled from that thought. But it was the truth.

"Hayato, I can't say anything to you that would make up for what I did," Aaron admitted. "And I suspect nothing I can say will stop you from attacking me."

"Attacking you?" Hayato grinned. "I am going to kill you, Ukyou. This isn't about honour anymore. What is between us now is not the honour of martial artists. What is between us now is a much older law. The law of vendetta!" Hayato began to chuckle and raised his hands. "What is between us can only end in death."

Aaron nodded. A part of him, and a larger part of Ukyou, thought that perhaps they deserved this. But the far larger part refused to accept that. He would not roll over anymore. Ukyou refused to accept death. They would fight, if it came to that.

"I will not kill you," Ukyou informed Hayato. She meant it. No matter what... there would be no killing. Aaron agreed. That was a step he would never take. No matter what. There were some lines that could never be crossed. If it came down to it, she and he would die first.

Or so they believed, honestly and truly. But they had to believe that. Otherwise...

"No, you won't kill me." Hayato stretched his neck, producing an audible crack. Aaron felt the dark aura around him intensify.

"Can we do this somewhere else?" Ukyou asked suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because you want to fight me, not all my friends. If you attack me here, trying to kill me, they will step in."

"Hmmm... you're right." Hayato stepped to the side and gestured at the door. "Fine. Lead me to the place you want to die, Ukyou Kuonji." Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me if I don't feel like turning my back on you."

Ukyou nodded wordlessly. Hopefully Aaron could sense if Hayato grew impatient and attacked them from behind. Though he seemed more interested in an honest confrontation. Ukyou stepped out of the clinic, leading him down the street. There weren't very many places she could think of that would make a good, private battlefield. She might have to lead him out of Nerima and-

Aaron reacted an instant before the explosion. His leap carried them above the blast. Ukyou took over, already focusing her chi into her Wind chakra. She rode the shockwave like a skydiver, gaining altitude and sliding over to a nearby lamppost. Ukyou caught the hanging light in one hand and swung around it like a gymnast before perching atop the pole.

"Hayato!"

"That wasn't me." Hayato informed her. He was standing next to the crater, completely untouched. Ukyou frowned at the vague shimmer in the air before him. Aaron focused his senses on it... but it collapsed to his feet before he could see much. And the residue it left on the pavement looked like nothing more than water.

"Then who..."

"Soul Spark!"

Aaron dropped backward, plummeting through the buoyant air as a flashing ball of scintilalting green and yellow light passed above him. Ukyou spun them, landing in a combat crouch, her staff now held out next to her.

"Rose?" Aaron murmured, having recognized the voice a bit - and more importantly, what the voice had said.

"Hmm. You've heard of me."

Aaron narrowed his eyes, focusing in on the voice. She was standing on the top of a nearby building. Her ridiculously coiffed hair was twitching slightly in the air. Her long yellow shawl was wrapped about her shoulders, covering the top of her double-breasted wine coat. She stood with one hand on her hips and the other fingering the trailing edge of her shawl. How had he missed her? His senses had been on high alert ever since he had first felt that dreadful aura back in Ono's clinic.

"In a manner of speaking." Aaron stood up. "I take it from your introduction that this isn't a social call?"

"No." Rose stepped idly off the edge of the building, floating gracefully to the ground. A wave of dust pulsed out from her feet as her heels tapped down on the sidewalk. She pulled her hand from her hip, and was holding a long tarot card there. Aaron couldn't make out what was on it. "I've seen your fate in the cards. It is time someone put a stop to that."

"Wait just a minute!" Hayato stepped into place between Ukyou and Rose, his arms thrown wide. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I am going to kill that girl behind you," Rose said calmly. As she spoke, she elegantly unfurled the shawl she wore, revealing that her coat only came halfway up her breasts. The rest of her torso was covered in some sort of skintight purple spandex leotard. "Step aside, boy. I don't want to hurt you."

"Oh no... Ukyou is MY enemy! I won't let you take my vengeance from me!" Hayato growled. "I gave up everything for this fight!"

"Do as she says," a new voice interupted them.

Aaron had sensed Sailor Pluto's arrival before she spoke. Now she had stepped out of the thin crowd that had gathered. She leveled the business end of her time key staff at Hayato. So that was it? Pluto couldn't kill Ukyou on her own, and had found help. Would they have to fight their way through every psychic on Earth before they could dispel this damned prophecy?

"Sailor Pluto..." Hayato hissed, his voice taking on an odd quality. Aaron glanced over at him sharply. When had Hayato learned that name? "Damn it... I can't risk..." He reached up and fingered the medallion around his neck. "Ukyou, do not die on me." Hayato looked over his shoulder at her. "If you do, I will have to take out my anger on your friends!"

With that he leapt up, practically vanishing from view. Aaron didn't bother to follow his escape. Nor did Ukyou try to follow him. Instead she backed up, placing both Sailor Pluto and Rose in front of her.

"I'm sorry that this has to be done," Rose said as she stepped forward. Aaron could see a green glow begin to form along the edge of her skin. That would be her Soul Power. He searched his memories, recalling all of Rose's moves. He wasn't exactly sure how far she was up on the Street Fighter food chain, but he knew it was definitely a tier or two above E. Honda.

"So... two on one?" Ukyou replied coldly. She didn't relish her chances if such were the case. After her last confrontation with Sailor Pluto, she had almost fallen unconscious. The Guardian of Time must have done something to her, because Ukyou could not recall even a single blow being landed in that 'fight', but yet the damage had come close to putting her out.

"If needs be," Rose started walking forward. "But I doubt it will come to that!"

Aaron didn't feel the attack coming, and only Ukyou's honed reflexes allowed them to dive aside. The spiraling green vortex of energy skimmed along the edges of her shoes, but she rode the impact and used it to propel her into a handvault. She spun in mid-air, watching as Rose drew her shawl back, the green energy fading from it as she finished her attack. Damn... she was fast. And for some reason, Aaron couldn't focus on her moves.

Rose gracefully spun on her heel and charged after Ukyou. She would catch them coming down at this rate. Ukyou stabbed her staff down, using it to vault away again. Rose's shawl whipped out in a brilliant green and yellow arc just beneath her.

They needed breathing room. With a single motion, Ukyou drew spatulas from her coat and let fly. Rose waved her scarf before her, contemptuously batting the weapons from the air. But it allowed Ukyou to get her feet under her again.

Aaron frowned and rushed forward. Ukyou slipped her hands along the length of her staff. Rose was much better at ranged combat than close in. If they could get under her guard, keep her off balance... that was their best chance.

Rose saw them coming, and ran forward to meet them. This time Aaron saw her draw back her scarf. Ukyou ducked. The psychically enhanced fabric passed within a hairsbreadth of her head. Her staff skipped along the ground just before she slashed it up. The blow was aimed at Rose's midsection. Rose wasn't there to receive it.

Ukyou cursed and finished her follow through. Aaron could feel the pressure of the wind as Rose flipped over them. He still couldn't 'sense' Rose. Ukyou captured the momentum of her swing, using it to spin them about without halting their forward momentum. The world tilted as she allowed her legs to fly out from under her. Her controlled fall kept the gypsy woman's leg from striking her as it thrust through the air.

Ukyou caught herself and Aaron snapped up their legs. With a triumphant cry he locked their knees around Rose's calf. The gypsy was pulled off balance, and Ukyou used her hands as a pivot, tossing her into the air. Ukyou dug her fingers into the pavement and spun in place, pulling her legs under her again.

Rose was directly above them, quickly recovering her balance. Aaron gripped their staff in both hands and thrust it up with all their might. The blow hit true, catching Rose in the gut and propelling her further into the air. Ukyou was already leaping to follow up.

Even as Ukyou rose into the air, Rose somehow recovered. Her shawl flashed down, glittering with emerald light. It hit the side of Ukyou's face with the force of a battering ram. Black starbursts flared in her vision and for a moment Ukyou felt like her head had been caught in a vice. She barely felt herself slam into the ground with enough force that she dug a short trench in the pavement.

Aaron let his instincts take over for a second, rolling to the side. Even as he did so he heard the ground explode where he had been. But where was Rose? He spun to his feet, trying to shake the dizziness away.

Rose caught them from behind. They screamed out in shared pain as the edge of Rose's scarf parted the back of their coat. The blow hadn't cut their skin, but it felt like it had. Ukyou staggered forward even as Aaron lashed out behind them with their staff. He felt it connect, but from the way it bounced he knew that the strike had been blocked. Ukyou used the time his desperate strike had gained them to push them into a forward roll.

She skidded to a halt on the edge of the sidewalk, her foot digging into the gutter. Rose was flying across the pavement towards them, a wake of dust behind her. Aaron didn't even have a chance to ready the staff before Rose was upon them. Gracefully Rose spun her hand forward, her shawl forming another vortex of psychic force.

The window of a shop yielded to them as they flew back. A glittering rain of shattered glass fell down about them as they crashed through a table. The phantom pain began to fade away as they came to a halt. Ukyou took a few precious moments to recover her wits before she rose.

"Aura Soul Spark!"

"Oh shit..." Ukyou crossed her arms in front of her. Aaron was already busy shunting all of their chi there, focusing through their Earth chakra in the vague hopes that his limited skill with it could help. The blast caught him dead center, and waves of green yellow flames erupted across him. He felt the sleeves of their coat shred and the dreadful heat of Rose's attack. But it was more than that. The Soul Spark seemed to send some sort of psychic resonance up the length of his body: a primal, formless pain that caused them both to scream.

But when the flames cleared they were still standing. The ground around them was scorched, and both of her sleeves had been vaporized from the forearm down, but Ukyou was still standing. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the quintet of scars Jadeite had left her. She hissed.

"New plan..." Ukyou dashed forward, vaulting the bottom of the shattered window. Aaron agreed with Ukyou's quick plan. It was obvious his own sensory skills weren't helping much, so they both shunted all Ukyou's available chi away from that and into her Wind chakra. As they did so the world around them seemed to slow down a bit. Aaron focused all his will, trying to channel all of Ukyou's chi into that one chakra as best he could. It should give them a lot of speed, at the expense of pretty much everything else.

Rose was surprised to see them. Ukyou dashed across the road towards her. Dust and wind exploded up in her wake. Ukyou thrust her staff out like a spear, catching Rose in the gut. The gypsy doubled over, her breath exploding from her lips. Before she could even finish folding over Ukyou's weapon, Ukyou was beside her. Her fist rocketed out and caught Rose in the chin. The woman's hair swirled in her wake as she was flipped backward.

But Rose caught herself, using one hand to somehow push off the ground without even touching it. Ukyou snapped her hand forward, a half-dozen shuriken- spatulas flying from her fingers. Rose twisted elegantly in mid-air and once again used her scarf to bat them aside. Then the woman landed, her heels clicking against the road, and her scarf spinning around her.

With another shout Ukyou was forced to dodge a Soul Spark at near point blank range. She pivoted, dragging her staff behind her and trying to counterattack. But somehow Rose anticipated and blocked with one arm, a skin- tight aura of green light shielding her forearm.

Ukyou stepped back, and Rose followed her. Again and again the gypsy's scarf struck out, a graceful percussion of blows. Ukyou spun her staff about her in a complex pattern of defense, barely parrying each of the strikes. Aaron was beginning to lose focus. He couldn't force their chi to flow so strictly to just one chakra for much longer. But Rose was still moving faster than her, and if Ukyou lost her speed-

It happened in an instant. Aaron's concentration collapsed, Ukyou stumbled back, her momentum lost, and Rose smiled. Aaron saw the light flash around Rose, pulling in towards her. But he couldn't do a thing about it as Rose glided forward and neatly planted her fist into Ukyou's jaw. The blow propelled Ukyou skyward and for a moment she lost all orientation and her grip on their staff. Then she felt Rose's manicured hand clamp like a vice around her neck.

"Goodbye," Rose whispered as she leaned in slightly. Ukyou couldn't answer, her voice cut off by the lack of air. Even as she was raising her own hands to pry Rose's fingers from her neck, Rose released them.

Ukyou screamed, a wave of pain rolling across her entire body. Then she collided with the ground. She barely even felt that, only becoming aware of it as a lingering ache in her back from where she had crashed into the pavement once the psychic pain receded.

Aaron groaned and reached out, scrambling for purchase along the edge of the crater they now found themselves in. He could hear the click of Rose's heels as she approached to finish them off.

No.

No more holding back.

The wind tore apart around them as Aaron leapt into the air. Rose was below him, her head tilting back in slow motion. He could see the fabric of her aura stretched taut around her. It shimmered softly, sinking into the gypsy's scarf. He could see the look of surprise on her face. He smiled.

Ukyou landed beside Rose, her body moving with elegant speed. Rose was able to twirl and face her, but Ukyou still caught her cleanly with a perfect roundhouse. The blow nearly caved in Rose's cheek, and the woman skidded back to smash into parked car with enough force to crush the hood. Ukyou dashed after her.

God, why did she fear this feeling? Even as she closed on the gypsy- psychic, Ukyou felt as if her entire soul had been cleansed. She felt refreshed, alive and clearheaded. In fact, the entire world seemed clear and simple now.

Ukyou's fist tore through the hood of the car. Somehow Rose had rolled away from her attack. Aaron shrugged and latched onto something inside, then yanked. The engine block of the car tore free of the metal with a protest of screaming metal. Rose's eyes widened as Ukyou pivoted and swung the engine with a trail of oil forming an arc in the attack's wake. Well, Ukyou had to make up for dropping her staff somehow.

Rose's scarf rose up and slashed into the engine, smashing it to fragments around Ukyou's fist. Aaron stepped into the plummeting debris. He could see the trajectory of each tiny scrap of metal, and so wasn't even touched as he ducked between them. Ukyou lashed out with her other fist, and this time she struck home, catching Rose in the gut.

Rose flew back, unable to recover as she landed sprawling in the pavement. Ukyou chuckled coldly. Then she leapt up, Aaron's warning allowing her to vault the purple ball that was Sailor Pluto's attack. As Ukyou landed she looked over her shoulder at the Senshi of Time.

"I'll deal with you soon enough," Ukyou informed her in a voice like an arctic wind. Tha reminded her that she couldn't afford to toy around. Even now she could feel her body rejecting the power she was using. It wasn't pain, so much as an acute awareness of the injury she was doing herself. Aaron knew where each capillary had burst and where each muscle fibre had torn.

Ukyou spun back to Rose. She could see the woman rising to her feet. She dashed forward, clenching one hand into a fist. The wind split around her as Aaron focused the strange power they had down towards it. He could feel the pulse of Rose's aura now, brushing against their own. Ukyou pulled back her fist, as Aaron willed his strange chi into a wedge between the clashing auras.

"Spiritus Fracta Turbonis!" Ukyou screamed as she unleashed the uppercut that would trigger her technique. Her eyes widened as her hand passed neatly through Rose's face. For a single instant Ukyou thought she had crushed Rose's skull. Then she realized there had been no resistance.

Even as the tornado formed around the figure of Rose Aaron realized what had happened. The illusion of Rose dissolved, its image ripping apart into the vortex. Aaron spun. Where had Rose gone?

As Aaron focused on it, he sensed the real Rose. She had come up behind him. He could feel her aura compressing along the tip of her scarf. He continued to spin, but now the slow motion speed of the world mocked him as it seemed to take forever. He was only able to turn his side to the blast when Rose hit him with her fully charged Soul Spark at point blank range.

Ukyou felt her ribs crack, felt the blast burn away the fabric of her coat - but there was no pain. It was just an awareness that she had taken horrible damage. For a moment she wondered what had happened to the psychic pain that accompanied each of Rose's attacks. Then she was flying through the air.

The wall they smashed into exploded and then they were moving past that, hitting the wall ten meters beyond that with enough force to put a dent the size of Ukyou into it. Ukyou collapsed to the ground. Her left hip refused to move. Her breath came in short, sharp gasps. Worse, she could feel the blood trickling from her nose, her mouth, her eyes... they couldn't afford to keep up this trick any longer.

Reluctantly, they released the power. The world of pain and terror crashed back in on them like a tidal wave. Aaron wasn't able to keep a groan from escaping his lips. It would have been a scream, but his lungs burned too much for him to draw deep breaths. The next few moments seemed to draw out forever as the pain and despair warred for dominance.

But Ukyou refused to give up. Aaron felt her force their hand down and begin to prop themself up. He felt a sudden burst of shame. He had felt defeated. But Ukyou was refusing to accept that feeling. She was rejecting it with every fiber of her being. So, Aaron joined her. Together they managed to somehow get back on their feet. Ukyou's hip hadn't broken, but it was so stiff that it was all they could do to move it.

"You're still alive?" Rose called out as she stepped into the building. A piece of masonry crashed to the floor behind her as she walked into the room. Ukyou narrowed her eyes.

"In all my years, I don't think I've ever encountered someone as surprising as you. But I guess that stands to reason. You would be no threat to existence, if you did not have something special to you."

"Rose..." Ukyou spat, her blood hitting the floor. "I would have thought that, of anyone, you would know better than to blindly follow fate."

Words had never been Ukyou's strong point. Nor had they ever been Aaron's. But that was all they had left. Rose... was a class above them. A class above Ranma, even. Even going all out, they couldn't beat her.

"I do not follow fate, I defy it," Rose explained calmly.

"Do you?" Ukyou's voice was like ice. "You judge me a monster for what I might do one day? How can you call that fair!"

"Life is seldom fair." Rose said cooly as flipped her scarf around her neck. "Willing or not, one day you will be a threat to the life of this world. It is my duty to protect this world from such threats."

"Oh... so you plan on killing yourself next, is that it?"

"What?" Rose frowned.

"You too have a destiny, Rose." Aaron took over the narration, but his voice and tone was no different than Ukyou's. "One day, one day soon, you shall serve evil and bring destruction upon those things you care about."

Rose just smiled. "You seek to confuse me-"

"Don't you find it strange that Bison had the same power as you, that he knew exactly how to teach you how to use yours?" Aaron smiled thinly. "Don't you find it strange that you keep feeling yourself drawn to him?"

"Bison is dead..." Rose said, her voice cool, but she hesitated. Aaron had struck a nerve.

"You don't believe that, Rose," Aaron insisted. "Tell me Rose, do you dream about him? Does his madness creep into your mind when you aren't looking?" Rose's eyes widened slightly. "How does it feel being the discarded garbage, Rose? How does it feel being the part of Bison he threw away because he found it too weak?"

Rose was standing before them, her shawl and hair floating serenly in the air. Her eyes were narrowed ,and she was staring levelly at Ukyou. She could have made an attack then, struck and killed Ukyou. But she hesitated. Was she curious? Was she afraid? Was she angry? Nothing showed on Rose's face.

But while Aaron had been talking, Ukyou had moved them. Aaron had spotted the pipes on the wall. He had briefly noted the inflammable sign. It was gas. Ukyou was now standing with them directly behind her.

"This changes nothing," Rose said crisply. "I will kill you, then I shall deal with Bison."

"Bison is your destiny, Rose," Aaron said grimly. "I wonder, when someone comes to kill you for the crimes you will one day commit, will you go softly into that good night?"

"We shall see..." Rose said. Then she slashed up with her scarf and a blast of purple-blue flames flew towards them. But Rose's speed had been lessened, her concentration broken just enough. Ukyou dropped as the blast traveled over her head. She rolled forward, pushing past the pain.

Rose gasped. There was a bang from behind them and a brief hiss that turned into a burning roar. Aaron grabbed a piece of debris and pulled it up behind him. The next thing he knew, the world was filled with flame and sound. He felt himself flying.

He landed in a heap, back out on the roadway. The debris was in flame. He discarded it. He rolled to his feet. It had protected him, but only enough to just survive. He looked into the flames of the burning store.

Among the orange-red flames, purple-green sparks floated. They were coming closer. Rose was still alive. She was still coming. Aaron looked down at his feet... then did the only thing he could. He fled.

01010

"Mom, I don't think this is really me..."

Ranma grimaced, holding up the wire mesh shirt. His mother was kneeling there, the perfect picture of domestic Japanese femininity, with this enormous smile on her face. Therefore he couldn't just toss it in the garbage can, which was what he really wanted to do.

"But Ranma, it's all the fashion," Mom said, gesturing towards the rest of the outfit that she had picked up for him. "I spent many hours watching the... music video channels and other things. All the men who attract the most girls were wearing them."

"You want me to dress like a heavy metal singer?" Ranma managed not to squeak. He was very proud of that.

"Well, not that I doubt your skills at wooing the finer sex, Ranma," Mom said, tapping her chin. "But I have noticed that you and your fiancee don't seem to interact very much. Now, Ranma, I don't blame you or her. Girls need to be properly seduced, you see. The first step is the wardrode. Now, in my day that was a tuxedo and flowers, but from what I saw on the television these days it involves things like this and-"

"Mom!" Ranma cut her off. He needed to find an excuse to get out of this... Aha! "But what if I'm wearing this thing when I get hit by cold water?"

"Oh dear," his mother muttered. "I guess I hadn't thought of that." She paused. "Maybe you could wear it just the once, until you've made love to Nabiki?"

"MOM!"

"Ranma, I'm just so worried that this curse is going to dilute your inner manhood. You should really find a nice girl and sow your oats. It will make a nice man out of you. Then, secure in your masculinity, you can settle down with a nicer girl - after all, nice girls don't have sex before marriage - and have a little family." She paused. "And I suppose if you need a concubine or two on the side to combat those feminine feelings, then I can live with that."

"MOM!"

"Well, somebody has to look out for you, Ranma." His mother stood up, brushing a stray lock of black hair off her forehead as she did. "It's not like your father is doing much of a job with it." She stepped up to him. "Getting you engaged to this Tendo girl was a good step, but you really need a girl who doesn't vanish for days at a time."

"Er, yeah..." Ranma sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe the gods would send him some salvation if he prayed hard enough and promised to do them a few favors. Like beating up some demons or something.

"You there, you're Ukyou's friend, aren't you?"

Ranma blinked. He looked up. On the top of the Tendo's compound wall, a boy was perched. Ranma wasn't sure he recognized him until the boy spoke again.

"Ranma, isn't it?" The boy leapt down into the yard where Ranma and his mother were talking. "Yes. I remember you. From the fight the other day."

"Hayato?" Ranma blinked. "But... you were in the hospital!"

"I got better," Hayato grinned, fingering a strange golden medallion hanging around his neck. "You are Ukyou's friend, aren't you?"

"He most certainly is not!" Nodoka shouted, stepping between Ranma and Hayato. "I will not allow my son to associate with that violent maniac. Tell him, Ranma. You haven't seen that boy since I banished him from your presence."

Ranma began to sweat.

Hayato frowned and stepped up next to Nodoka. "I don't believe I invited you into this conversation."

"I invited myself," Nodoka stated simply, crossing her arms. "Ukyou Kuonji is a dangerous young man, and Ranma doesn't associate with his kind." She nodded her head. "I even heard that boy put someone into the hospital, paralyzed him for life. Ranma doesn't need that-"

Hayato began to laugh. Ranma frowned. He felt... danger. That feeling at the back of his neck was so strong he wanted to scratch it away. In fact, he could feel an aura of menace flowing off of Hayato. An aura that struck him as strangely familiar. He narrowed his eyes, trying to place where he had felt this particular sense of danger before.

"Young man, I think this is very serious and-"

"Shut up."

"What did you-"

"I said SHUT UP!" Hayato screamed. "I don't have time for your idiocy!"

"Hey!" Ranma pulled his shocked mother back by her shoulder. "Nobody yells at my mother! I don't care how much of a cripple they are!"

"You're angry... good." Hayato stepped back. "You're going to need that anger to help save Ukyou's life."

"What?"

"Ukyou is currently being attacked by Sailor Pluto and some witch who can fire balls of energy," Hayato explained calmly. "I don't think she can win, and I know they don't plan on letting her live."

"Where?" Ranma accepted the boy's words at face value. After all, he knew about Sailor Pluto. And whoever this other enemy was... well, Ranma would deal with that when he arrived.

"I..." Hayato paused, and tilted his head to the side as if listening to something. "Follow me. We don't have much time, and I know the fastest way there." Ranma nodded and followed Hayato... further into the yard. In fact, the boy who really should have been immobilized for life was making a beeline for the Tendo's koi pond.

"Uh... this isn't taking us any closer to the fight..."

"Be quiet," Hayato snapped over his shoulder. He stepped up to the edge of the pond and gripped his new medallion in one hand. "This way is faster."

Ranma hadn't really gotten over the shock of seeing Hayato walking around. Thus, he couldn't really say he was shocked when he saw the boy gesture over the pond and cause a long, thick tendril of water to slowly rotate its way free of the surface. It was like watching a whirlpool in reverse. Once the water had reached the height of Hayato's hand, he flicked his wrist and thrust his palm out. The waterspout snapped into a new shape, thin as paper but forming a wide circle the size of a small doorway. Ranma blinked as he watched ripples form in the pond... then he could see images in those ripples.

"Ukyou!" he shouted. He reached out. He could see the young woman running down a street, somewhere in Nerima. Her trademark coat was nearly burnt off her: both sleeves were in tatters, and half the waist was missing. As he watched she vaulted up over a car... only to be caught in midair when the car exploded into a violent fireball. Ukyou spun through the air, obviously completely out of control, then crashed into the side of a parked van with enough force to send the van skidding onto the sidewalk.

Around both sides of the flame, two figures strode. One Ranma recognized. He had seen Sailor Pluto back during the Narita fight...

THAT was where he had felt that aura before.

"Step through the portal, it will take you there instantly."

"How the hell are you doing this?" Ranma spun on Hayato.

Hayato smiled, his ugly pug face looking slightly perverse for the expression. "You ever hear the expression 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth?'"

"Ranma!" Nodoka caught his attention by tapping him on the shoulders. "What are you doing? You can't go there!"

"Mom... I have to."

"Ranma, why? That boy is dangerous..."

"Because... I don't care, Mom." Ranma turned back towards the portal. He wasn't sure he trusted Hayato as far as he could spit. But he would risk this journey. "I don't care what Ukyou's done, or what Ukyou's said. I care who Ukyou is. And Ukyou is my friend. Nothing you can say will change that."

"Ranma." Nodoka's tone forced him to look at her. She smiled at him. "If you have to do this. I understand. Go."

"Heh." Ranma patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm not about to fail!"

Passing through the portal was like leaping through a thin but freezing waterfall. Ranma didn't even notice the sudden disorientation until his feet touched down on the dry asphalt of the roof. He snapped his hand up to his head, trying to overcome the vertigo that leaping several kilometers across the city in a fraction of a second apparently caused.

With his bearings regained, Ranma took off in the direction of the battle. Two leaps had him within sight of the street where Ukyou had fled. As he watched, she skipped down the street like a stone across a pond, green-yellow flames trailing from her limbs. Sailor Pluto and the other woman were striding down the street towards her. The other woman was spinning her long yellow scarf about, drawing some form of green light into it. Sailor Pluto was raising her staff.

Ranma cursed. He jumped to the street, but he was still a few blocks away. Ukyou looked up at the two women, her eyes unfocused.

"AURA SOUL SPARK!"

"DEAD SCREAM!"

Ranma snapped his hand out, tearing a hood free from a parked car. He heard somebody yell in protest. "Sorry!" he shouted back and spun forward, launching the hood like a shuriken. The metal caught both blasts before they got even halfway to Ukyou and disintegrated in a spectacular blast of light.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted, grabbing both women's attention. "Two on one seems kind of unfair, doesn't it?"

"Stay out of this," the tall woman with the bizarre hair said, turning slightly to face him. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Ranma shouted as he ran down the street.

"Handle this," Pluto told her companion. "I'll deal with Ukyou."

"Very well..." the other woman replied.

Ranma frowned. The woman in the burgandy jacket had slid into place between him and Ukyou. She was already swinging that scarf of hers towards him. Of course, Ranma had already seen her fling a blast of energy from it, so he slid forward, skimming under the ball of light she flung at him. His elbow caught her in the gut and she flew back... directly into Pluto, who had been about to finish off Ukyou.

Ranma cartwheeled to the side, placing himself between the two of them and Ukyou. They were rapidly untangling themselves, and Ranma saw that the newcomer was barely hurt.

"Ranma..." Ukyou coughed out.

"I'm here now, Ukyou." Ranma gave her a quick smile. "I won't let anybody hurt you."

The girl's eyes widened. He saw her begin to smile, a gruesome smile under the blood that from her eyes and lips, but a smile nonetheless.

"I almost gave up..." Ukyou said, slowly rising to her feet.

"If you think I won't kill you to get at her, you are mistaken."

"Oh shut up, Rose," Ukyou hissed icily.

"I'll give you one last chance to escape..." the woman raised one hand, a flare of green light pulsing down her arm.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Ranma grinned.

"Do you realize who you are protecting?" Sailor Pluto suddenly spoke. She brushed a lock of green hair away from her forehead, her tiara glinting in the sunlight. "This girl is a messiah of darkness. She will destroy us all. Even now she has the power! It twists and writhes inside of her, and she cannot control it."

"Whatever," Ranma yawned theatrically. "Are we going to fight, or what?"

"Then you leave us no choice but to..."

Rose cut off, swinging her scarf to the side. There was a metallic clang and a white rectangle fell to the ground at her feet. Ranma blinked. It was a newspaper.

"Hey now," Ran said, walking down the street. Ranma wondered briefly how she had gotten there, then saw Hayato appear seemingly from mid-air in a splash of water. "I can't let you two get killed now. Where would I get all my stories?"

"That power..." Sailor Pluto murmured just loud enough to be heard. She was looking at Hayato. The boy grinned at her, that same almost perverse grin. "Rose. The tide has turned against us."

"We can still win..." Rose insisted, trying to keep everyone in sight at once. Ran began to circle to her left, making that difficult.

"We can win another day," Pluto pointed out, turning her staff to point at Hayato. Hayato merely raised his arms up as if in surrender, but never stopped smirking.

"Every day we let her live, is another day for her to master that power!" Rose snapped.

"Ladies..." Hayato's voice was oily. "Sailor Pluto... You know who I am, what I am. You can destroy me, perhaps. But you know that if I am protecting her, then someone you can't defeat has also taken an interest in this girl. Do you really want Beryl's entire army here?"

"Beryl?" Rose narrowed her eyes.

"Damn..." Sailor Pluto cast a long glare at Ukyou. "Is this the sort of person you ally yourself with, Ukyou?" She turned back to Rose and raised her staff. "If we continue this fight, the damage to the city will be unacceptable."

"Very well..." Rose nodded and slid her scarf back around her neck. Pluto waved her staff once and Ranma was forced to shield his eyes as a flare of light blinded him. When his vision cleared, the two women were gone.

Ranma sighed. Not really relieved, but more disappointed. Then he felt a sudden weight collapse against his back. He turned and patted Ukyou on the shoulder. She smiled up at him.

"So... uh... Ukyou's a girl?" Ran called out suddenly, catching Ranma's attention.

"Uh..." Ranma considered disputing it. But everyone had been calling her a girl, and half of Ukyou's clothes had been burnt away by her ordeal, leaving her gender in little doubt. "Guess I never got around to telling you that, huh?"

"Ukyou!"

Ranma snapped his head back towards Hayato, who stood nearby with arms crossed.

"Make sure you get better soon," Hayato grinned and raised his arms, forming another portal out of the water in a nearby gutter.

"Wait a second..." Ran turned to Hayato. "Just answer me one question, please! Ukyou nearly destroyed your life. Why are you going through so much trouble to save her?"

"Because I intend to kill her myself, of course." Hayato smiled that almost perverse smile again, then stepped through the portal. Once he was through, the portal collapsed into a brief downpour.

"We'll deal with him later," Ranma announced. "First, let's get Ukyou to Doc Tofu's..."

"No..." Ukyou said, almost too softly to be heard. "Not Doctor Tofu..."

"But he's the best..."

"No!" Ukyou insisted softly.

Ran stepped over and helped Ranma lift Ukyou back to her feet, lacing one of Ukyou's arms over her shoulder. Ranma did so as well, only realizing he had been female for the entire confrontation when he turned out to be shorter than both girls.

"I know a school nurse who's very good," Ran pointed out. "She can help out Ukyou a bit."

"Kyoko..." Ukyou murmured.

"You know her?" Ran sounded surprised.

"By reputation..." Ukyou coughed.

"Well, she can help you out. Justice High isn't that far from here, maybe an hour on the bus..."

"Damn," Ranma growled as the began to walk down the street together. "Ukyou, you should know better than to keep running off by yourself like this. How am I supposed to know when to come help you if you're half a city away?"

"Heh. I'll keep that in mind, Ranma..."

"OH! That reminds me." Ran reached down with her free hand and pulled something out of her pocket. "This is for you, Ranma."

Ranma blinked and accepted it. It was a small device of some kind, with a series of numbers on it and some sort of antenna on the top.

"Uh, gee, thanks Ran... but what is it?"

"It's a cell phone, stud."

"Cell phone?"

"Uh, like a regular phone, but you can use it anywhere?"

Ranma blinked at her. She was grinning at him cutely. "It's so you can call me when you're about to get into a fight. I don't want to rely on the magnanimity of revenge-obsessed guys to help me get my stories. Plus, we can use it to make sure we get you involved in all the heroic stuff."

"Wow. Gee, thanks, Ran!" Ranma laughed and grinned back at her.

Ranma shivered, glancing at Ukyou. She was staring at Ran, her eyes wide. But why was it so cold, all of a sudden?

01010

His arm itched. Chris knew scratching it would do more harm than good, so he tried to ignore it as much as possible, staring up into the sky above the condo's balcony. A few small, wispy clouds drifted thousands of meters above - there wouldn't be any rain today, at least. The sun was just starting to drift towards the western horizon.

And his arm was still itching. Chris swore and straightened himself into a sitting position, folding both arms in front of him. It was getting harder and harder to ignore it. It reminded him that he'd need a new body soon. As of yet, he hadn't decided on a candidate. Unfortunately, most of the truly vile people he knew of were either in locations he had no idea how to find, or not in Japan and thus hard to reach on short notice. He supposed he could travel to find one of the latter before he rotted too badly, but the thought of travelling to another country just to murder someone and take their body left him with a great deal of distaste. Even more than thinking about who was a good 'choice' did. But he had to think of someone suitable soon. He'd taken it easy as best as possible, but Link had told him flat-out he'd be rotting away within a week.

Thinking of Link brought his mind to the twins. They were in their "lab" somewhere, still experimenting with the mitamas. In the two days since Pink had stolen his journals, he'd somewhat come to grips with what had happened, and decided he probably hadn't pulled the trigger on the end of the world after all.

It boiled down to the fact that while Pink had dangerous knowledge, and she was effectively immune to any threat of his to kill her or even imprison her (since forcing Link to stay in a single small area for her entire life was hardly better than killing her), she was far from free to do as she pleased. He could definitely stop her from acting on the information he'd inadvertently given her. And who better than him? There was no conceivable way for Pink and her poisons to defeat him.

It sounded like an excuse, even to him. Chris shrugged and grinned. It was the truth, though. He COULD put a stop to any plan Pink might cook up - it'd just require keeping a careful eye on her. And in a few years at most, her information would be so outdated and changed by circumstance that any possible danger she might pose would be reduced to acceptable levels.

In addition, Link had been helping keep her twin under control since... well, since they were twins, he guessed. She probably still could - especially if he was alive again, at which point she might actually work WITH him.

Being alive again. It was high time he got back on the path of working towards that goal, especially since his Martial Arts Death Machines bodies were turning out to not be quite as durable as he'd hoped. He needed to find out more information. Lacking any leads as to the identity of the person or force which had led to him ending up in this world, he'd thought of two... 'people' who might be able to at least shed some light on what his situation was and what to do about it.

The first was Saffron. God-king of the Phoenix People, last antagonist of the Ranma 1/2 manga. He was immortal, Chris was pretty sure, and earned the "phoenix" moniker by being born again after death. The manga hadn't explained his origins, but there had to be some secret to it, something Saffron knew or discovered or was born with that allowed him to be reborn after dying. And that might help Chris do the same.

The second was Akio Ohtori. Chairman of Ohtori Academy, from Revolutionary Girl Utena, both of whom he had found to exist after some quick detective work the day before. Also the villain of that series, and also very likely immortal. But the immortality was a secondary interest in this case. Cologne had told him when they'd first met that the Second Circle, the realm of all mystical power, had few theoretical limitations, but one of those was that it could not create anything eternal.

Well, the theme of "something eternal" was prevalent in the Utena series, being one of the things represented by the castle in the sky and by inference the goals that the characters in that series fought for. If there really was something eternal, Akio would know what it was. If he would talk.

Of course, Akio was also pretty profoundly evil: not in the cackling destroy-the-world sense of many anime villains, but pretty damn evil nonetheless. And the scope of his knowledge and power was very vaguely defined. He'd be far more dangerous to talk to than Saffron, who at this point was still a virtually powerless small child, months away from the time when he would undergo the ritual to become his immensely powerful adult self.

Nonetheless, after considering the options, Chris still decided that his next move would be to visit Ohtori Academy and its chairman. Just as he had when he'd first considered it the night before. It simply felt more... likely. Saffron's powers of resurrection, while impressive, still seemed... "normal" for this world. A Second Circle effect. And Cologne had said a Second Circle effect, no matter how mighty, would be unlikely to solve his problems: just like a First Circle-using martial artist could not undo magic with his power, the power of magic would not directly be able to combat whatever otherworldly (otheruniversally?) force had put him in this state.

Besides, Akio was closer. And as his arm continued to remind him, time was of the essence.

A shadow fell upon his face, dimming his view of the sky. Given the shortness of it, not to mention the fact it was perched on a staff like some sort of lollipop on a stick, the identity of the intruder was fairly clear. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"That depends on your definition of the word, boy."

He leaned his head back, now able to see the old woman looming above him. "And you complain I talk too cryptically."

Cologne chuckled wryly. "I actually wanted to ask -your- advice on a matter, for once."

Well, that was fair enough, considering how many times he'd been asking her things... though they more often were requests for information than for guidance. "Certainly. But about what?"

"I was wondering if it was common, in this country, for people to have such a great deal of interest in the affairs of others."

Wow. So THIS was what talking to him felt like to everyone else. "Can we just skip ahead four or five sentences until we reach the part where you actually spit out the point?"

"Ah, the impatience of youth."

"I know. You'd think death would have lended me some gravitas, wouldn't you?"

Cologne dropped off her staff to the balcony, and used the selfsame gnarled wooden cane to point down at the street below. "I was wondering if you were aware of the reason why those people in the van down there have been watching us for several days."

Chris blinked and peered over the edge of the balcony. True to her words, there was an unmarked black van, with tinted windows and the general look of some incredibly conspicuous Spying Vehicle to it. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. Too much staring at the sky, he guessed.

Stepping back from the edge, he looked at Cologne. "Did you see who was in it at any point? Or how many of them there are?"

"Men in some sorts of suits and helmets. They rotate in shifts, every twelve hours or so. I believe there are four in each shift."

He frowned. That could be almost anybody, but was highly unlikely to be anybody with good intentions. "I think I'll go pay them a visit. Especially since, if they're watching us, we just clued them in that we've noticed them."

Cologne sat back, pulling out her pipe. "You're welcome, boy."

He chuckled a bit. "Sorry, I was immediately a little distracted. Thank you for telling me."

So, how to approach? He decided the direct route was in order. He could always find another condo. Actually, chances are he'd have to anyway, depending on what Evil Conspiracy these goobers represented.

With that in mind, he knelt down for the briefest of moments before leaping up, flipping gracefully in the air as he sailed over the railing of the balcony. Two teaspoons spun through the air to puncture the tires of the van on the side facing him, precisely 2.3 seconds before his feet impacted with its roof.

There were yells and screams from inside the van. Tsk, sloppy work, no organised response. He leaned over, yanked open the back door of the van (it was locked, but that wasn't really much of an impediment), produced a highly toxic flower arrangement, and threw it inside. Then he shut the door again.

As the gratifying series of coughs and thumps from inside the van began, Chris was already in motion. There'd be a driver; he'd have the radio, but likely NOT the surveillance equipment, so he'd be a bit behind the ball on what events were actually happening. But that wouldn't last long, so he had to take him out hard and fast.

Almost on cue, the driver's side door of the van opened and a figure leapt out in a cloud of noxious fumes, coughing slightly but not out yet. Chris prepared a baton to rectify that, and...

And.

And.

That was a Chronos soldier.

The outfit was unmistakable: a blue, skintight bodysuit with white piping; shoulder, knee and elbow pads, and a thick ceramic helmet with a bulging set of almost snowgoggle-like eyepieces in front.

It was a Chronos soldier.

As Chris sat there, staring, the soldier was shouting, pulling off his helmet. Chris was vaguely aware that some other people were on the street, also shouting. A door slammed somewhere, or maybe opened.

The Chronos soldier looked up and spotted Chris. He was average- looking, with short brown hair. He was snarling something at Chris. Even as he watched, the soldier's features began to twist, deform, eyes turning yellow, skin green, inhuman musculature erupting outwards as his outfit ripped away from his flesh. It was a Gregole, some dim voice in the back of Chris's brain told him.

The baton was still in his hand. The creature was rapidly getting bigger: its head was almost level with Chris's feet now, and a large horn was beginning to protrude from its forehead. That was as good a target as any. Lightly, he hopped down, and as the half-transformed monster drew breath to - what? Shriek? Roar? Shout? - he casually, almost fastidiously smashed the baton into its head, driving the tip like a piledriver into the horn.

The baton, as well as the horn, hit the back of the thing's skull all of a moment later, and the fairly predictable gout of gore followed. The monster collapsed, its intaken breath escaping uselessly, before quickly beginning to dissolve into bubbling goop, as all its kind did when killed.

As all its kind did. As all zoanoids did.

Zoanoids. Chris's mind raced. He'd thought of this, considered it, and dismissed it. The zoanoids were from the Guyver series. A series containing an evil organisation, Chronos, who had created the monster dissolving at his feet. An organisation which ruled the world in all but name, who had infiltrators in every level of government and civilian authority in the world, even down to schools and newspaper offices. An organisation that was planning to use their genetically-engineered supersoldiers, such as the one he had just killed, to take over the world IN name.

An organisation that was going to SUCCEED in doing so, because they were already far too powerful and widespread for the heroes of the Guyver series (or, indeed, anyone else) to stop.

It was a series that could not possibly exist in this world. Because this world had Sailor Moon in it. Sailor Moon, who would go on saving the world from extraterrestrial menaces for years, who would eventually take over the world herself and turn it into a perfect utopian paradise, but before that happened would finish out school and marry her destined love and do other things he was not familiar enough with the series to list, but he was DAMN sure did not include fighting the uncountable armies of monstrous killing machines that would enslave the world within a year or two.

There was a light tap on the ground next to him; Cologne landing on her staff. "Well, that was a bit excessive, boy."

"No," he said softly. "No, that wasn't excessive enough."

There were at least three others in the van. This time, he ripped the door completely off its hinges. Three, yes. They were sprawled across the various items of surveillance equipment; the bouquet of black roses in the centre of the vehicle, just where he had thrown it. The zoanoids were all still human.

Chris killed them far more neatly than he had the Gregole, snapping their necks and hurling the corpses from the vehicle in the same easy motion three times over. Their bodies began to dissolve on the pavement, but that meant they wouldn't damage the equipment.

Time enough to figure out how Chronos could possibly exist in this world later. First, he had to find out why Chronos was watching him.

Cologne's silhouette appeared at the back of the van; her voice was more serious than he'd ever heard it. "Boy, would you like to explain what is going on?" It wasn't really a question.

He couldn't make heads or tails of the readouts on the equipment. He wasn't an expert at this stuff, damnit. Nor was Cologne, he'd wager. If only he could have taken the bodies of one of the zoanoids, but their removing-evidence dissolving feature made that impossible. "I will explain, but for the moment suffice it to say we're in very, very big trouble. So is the world."

Cologne seemed to accept that, for the moment. "In that case, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find something, anything, to tell me why these-" At that point, he cut off. He heard something, a crackle of static, and as he fell silent a voice came on a nearby speaker.

"Team Beta, report. What was that disturbance?"

He was in the front of the vehicle in a flash, picking up the radio receiver - it at least was normal enough. He didn't try to disguise his voice, hoping that the man on the other end of the line didn't know any of the soldiers personally. "There's been a problem. One of the targets appears to have noticed our presence, sir."

There was a long, soul-chilling pause from the other end. He stared at the receiver. His heart couldn't skip a beat, it didn't matter if he was unable to breathe, and he felt no cold sweat. But the feeling underlying those reactions he could experience, and did. Acutely.

The voice came back on the line, speaking slowly and deliberately. "I see."

He was able to keep his voice calm, crisp, professional. "What are our instructions, sir?"

"There's no help for it. We'll insert another team in that area later. For now, you can assist in the other operation we are running."

Other operation?

"In what capacity should we assist, sir?" Of course, they would have known about the other operation. But maybe...

"Proceed to Juuban Middle School and assist Team 5 in escorting their captives from the city once they've completed their objectives."

Juuban Middle School.

Usagi Tsukino's school.

Team 5.

Oh shit. Oh SHIT.

But he was still dead, and his voice was still level. "Acknowledged, sir."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Epsilon: Well, first off, we'd like to give our thanks to C.M. Aeris, for finally finding a way to make these fanfics halfways legible on .

Blade: And we'd like to thank everybody still reading at this point. We might as well reveal now that Hybrid Theory will be a 30-chapter piece: that means you've now stepped into the second third of the fanfic, and since we divided each chapter into "books" as an accurate representation of their length, that's no mean feat. Kudos, and thank you for continuing to read!

Epsilon: It's also worth noting that these break points aren't quite arbitrary. Each "book" has a theme, a tone, and a focus. So book 1 had a certain theme, and book 2 will have a different theme.

Blade: Of course, we can't reveal what that theme is: it'd be spoilers! Besides, it will either come across in the writing, or it won't. It's up to us and our dubious talents!

Epsilon: I'd also like to remind readers that, once again: we do NOT expect you to have read/seen any given series involved here, including Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon, much less anything else. If you feel we're not adequetely introducing and differentiating characters so that you can recognise and remember them, it either means a) We're not trying to, because they're too minor to Hybrid Theory at the moment, regardless of their importance in their own original series, or b) We're failing miserably as writers, because they are important. If the latter, feel free to let us know!

Blade: And that's pretty much a wrap for this month. Don't forget to check the webpage for character guides and other fun-ness! And join us next month, when we're no longer bankrupt! Aside from morally.

Ran pulled a newspaper from her vest, snapping it rigid with a flick of her wrist. "Put her down..."

Even as she spoke, Hayato spun and flung Ukyou. Ran's eyes widened and she dove for the girl, but her fingers fell short as Ukyou impacted the upright whirlpool and vanished. Ran grunted as she skidded along the ground. Then she felt Hayato's boot on her back.

"You don't think I'm foolish enough to fight her here?" Hayato said, laughing. "I have a special place just perfect for her demise." Hayato leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Make sure you get her friends together and come looking for her. In about a half-hour, she'll be dead. But I would hate to see you all lose the chance to bury her."

Ran tried to buck Hayato off of her, but was rewarded with a stunning kick to her side. The air exploded from her lungs and she rocked back, clutching her ribs. Hayato laughed and walked across the roof, stepping idly into the portal. Ran wanted to scream, but was too busy trying to catch her breath. Then Hayato, and his portal, were gone.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 12: High Voltage


	12. High Voltage

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, OVER!

It is only fitting that I, the beautiful, brilliant, stupendously talented herbalist Pink, should be doing this narration, over. After all, it was last chapter that I discovered this was all based on a comic book (and video games and crap) anyway!

So, discovering that this is all a written story based on them instead bothers me not at all, over! Am I your favourite character? I should be! I have risen above one-shotdom to a position of true grandeur befitting me. Well, I'm on my way, anyway. I'm the real main character now, over!

But, speaking of the OLD, boring main character, now that nobody likes her anymore (including the readers! HA! Over!), she's pretty much been moping around and getting her ass kicked. That guy she crippled (Haya-whatever) was going to do it, but then Sailor Pluto and her new ally Rose stepped in to do it even better! Except they got driven off by Ukyou's friends when Hayato gathered them up with his new magic water powers, since he wants to kill Ukyou himself. I like the cut of his jib, over!

In England, Sailor V killed some vampire guy. Wait, in England, over? Who cares? I'm nowhere NEAR England, so it's probably not important, over.

So, back onto events concerning ME, which should concern YOU, because they're obviously the most important ones, over. Some world-spanning conspiracy of god- like beings and their uncountable hordes of monsters, called Chronos, was watching us or something. Now they're going to go kidnap the Sailor Senshi, so Chris and Cologne and MY SLAVE, Shampoo, went to stop them, over.

Sailor Senshi? Bah! As if anybody cares about those third-stringers when they could be reading about me, over! But don't worry, my adoring public: I'll be doing stuff this chapter too, promise, so pay attention, over!

OR ELSE. OVER.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 12: High Voltage

Harold Kramer had to die.

He was a nobody, really. A businessman on a trip to Japan, traveling first class on the Pacific overnight. He looked like he had a bit of wealth to his name, the kind of wealth that came from hard work rather than noble birth. His suit was expensive and in the latest fashion, but not by the right designer to indicate he came from old money. He was constantly jabbering into his cell phone, despite the stewardess politely insisting he turn it off. He was rude and dismissive to the woman, who was simply doing her job.

But all this wasn't why he had to die. He had to die because he was FAT.

Fat, and sitting next to Vega.

Vega held up his arm and rubbed it. He had been forced to keep it on his lap for the duration of the flight, and now it was sore. But being sore was better than touching the rolls of Harold Kramer's flesh. Huge, fleshy folds covered in fat-sweat and the remains of his many meals enveloped the armrest the two of them shared. Vega smiled, wondering if the fat dead man knew that his vocal insistence on having a window seat was signing his own death warrant. It was ironic, in that poetic way Vega so enjoyed, that his own focus on creature comforts would be Harold Kramer's undoing.

Vega turned his eyes away from his victim, idly scanning the rest of the plane. It wasn't hard to spot the two Dolls that accompanied him on this flight. Fevrier was sitting three rows down, glancing idly at a copy of the in-flight magazine. She didn't look like anyone out of the ordinary, nothing remarkable about either her simple traveling dress or her short glossy red hair. Then again, she was trained in the art of not drawing attention to herself. She would have stood out much more in her black body-stocking uniform with the guns at her hips, but they were traveling incognito for this trip. Marz was even further back, packing away her laptop and getting ready for landing. She had dark purple hair, which did stand out slightly on the plane, despite how much she was trying to look like a simple office woman.

Vega rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the front of the cabin. He didn't know why Bison insisted he take along two of the Dolls for what seemed like such a simple operation. Vega had trained all of Bison's little pretty-girl super-soldiers so that any one of them could have probably carried out this mission. And if they couldn't, then Vega himself was here.

Ah. Now the seatbelt sign was flashing. Vega smiled, a secret little smile. Soon, his misery, and that of Harold Kramer, would be over. He reached up and brushed at his long blonde hair, using the elegant gesture to conceal the act of plucking one perfect strand. It pained him to so mar his immaculate coiffure, but Vega could not stand to actually touch the noxious man that some damnable computer had seen fit to place him next to. That left precious few ways to kill him.

Well, precious few ways to kill him without letting anyone else in the plane know about it.

Vega's heart began to pump more rapidly. That was the trick, wasn't it? Oh, he could kill the corpulent social parasite with ease. His claw was hidden among his luggage, and it would gut the slob with far more swiftness than he deserved. But if he did so, Vega would be noticed. Then he would have to kill everyone on the plane. It would be an inelegant and tedious job, and he wasn't sure if either of the Dolls could pilot the behemoth they traveled in to a landing. But, more importantly, it would put an end to The Game.

Vega sighed as the pressure changed. He flicked his hair in a short arc, looping it around Harold Kramer's fat neck. They had begun their descent.

He caught the hair between two fingers and pulled it tight. The slob's hand reached up and brushed idly at his neck. He had no clue what was about to happen. Vega smiled and let the pressure ease. He could kill the fool slowly or quickly. But garroting could be a messy and loud business if Vega went the slow way.

That would be just as bad as gutting him. Everyone would know. They would know that this young noble, the only surviving son of a long line of Spanish dukes, was a killer. The police would descend upon his home and his life. Not that Vega feared them. More, he feared an end to the chase. How exciting it was, to know that he was a killer, a feared assasin, yet noone else except those he chose knew it. It was intoxicating.

Vega jerked his hand into the walkway. He timed it perfectly, such that the sound of the lowering landing gear concealed the sound of Harold Kramer's neck snapping. Vega heard it, however. He also heard his hair snap. He sighed. Such a waste. He dropped the hair onto the blue carpet, wanting nothing more to do with it.

The landing after that was uneventful. Vega waited patiently for the rest of the passengers to disembark before he even got out of his seat. He adjusted the collar on his suit - his was from the right designer - and glanced back at Fevrier and Marz. They had, of course, waited for him. He was their commander. They would do anything he wanted.

Vega gestured idly at his things. They were in the overhead, along with the effects of the late Harold Kramer. Vega would have them burned. All except his claw. That would merely have to be sterilised.

He noticed the stewardess going to talk to the dead man just as he was leaving the plane. He wondered idly if the woman would put two and two together. She couldn't help but remember the beautiful, charming stranger that had made her job such a delight during the flight where Harold Kramer had done his best to make it such a hell. Maybe she would tell the police enough that they would have a solid lead. Maybe...

Vega smiled. Maybe The Game was up? Had he finally slipped?

"Marz."

"Yes, Vega?"

Vega hit her. Not hard. It was more a poke really, and came and went so fast that the pathetic people that walked about the terminal only saw her stumble.

"Yes, Don Alvaro?"

"Better," Vega said, smiling and patting her reassuringly. Vega was a name whispered in the underworld. Don Alvaro was a name spoken openly in airports. "Find me the name and address of my stewardess. I feel in the mood for a seduction." Or perhaps... well, he'd see what he felt like later.

"Don Alvaro!"

Vega looked to the left and saw Satsuki walking towards them. She was dressed in the manner of a Japanese teenager, her dark brown hair spilling down her head in a messy bob-cut. Ah yes. The Doll who had alerted him to the strangeness here.

"Satsuki," Vega purred. He took her hand and brushed her knuckles with his lips. "I see the months away from me have not dimmed YOUR lessons."

Satsuki blushed and stood there nervously as he rose up from his bow. Vega stifled the urge to laugh. It always surprised the other members of Shadowloo that Vega would spend such much time being polite and seductive to the Dolls. After all, he was their immediate commander. He could have just ordered them to pleasure him. He could order them to commit suicide, and they would do so without hesitation, though Bison would perhaps be vexed. But what fun was that? Better the chase. He had even ordered them never to give themselves to him, under any circumstances. It made the moment of their surrender to his charms all the sweeter.

"My lord, I..." Satsuki looked around. Vega raised an eyebrow, before realizing she wanted to tell him something best said in privacy. Vega gestured for her to lead on. They walked out of the arrival area, the four of them easily bypassing the security of the Japanese. Once they were alone in the morning-dim corridors of the airport, Vega indicated she should speak. "My lord, I have news about those you have come to deal with."

Vega didn't yawn. He smiled and ran a finger along her cheek. He gazed meaningfully into her doe-brown eyes.

"Speak..." he said slowly.

"The... boy... Ukyou. He is really a girl."

"A girl?" Vega backed up a step from her. That was unexpected. He could see Marz entering that information into her laptop out of the corner of his eye. "How do you know this?"

"She is staying at a school in a different section of Tokyo now. She has been spending the last two days recovering in the infirmary. Since the infirmary windows are not as well-guarded as those of the clinic she was staying in before, she can no longer hide her true gender."

"So... this girl was going through a great deal of trouble to be seen by the world as a man?" Vega raised one hand and began to undulate his fingers slowly in the air. "I wonder why?" His words contained genuine curiosity.

"Also, Rose and her companion Sailor Pluto have made no attempt to attack her since she arrived at this new location."

Vega nodded. Rose was probably the real reason they were there. A quirk like Ukyou Kuonji was notable, but not really important to Shadowloo when there were more important matters to pursue. Like the missing Doll, Cammy. But Rose had once defeated the 'Almighty Lord Bison', and her actions were noted with great interest. For her to go out of her way to kill such a small-time hero drew all kinds of the wrong attention.

"What of the others?"

"The Sailor Senshi?" Satsuki looked slightly uncomfortable. She had been ordered by Bison to observe Ukyou Kuonji and her friends, and had been doing so for almost a month now. It had been Vega who had ordered her to observe the Sailor Senshi. To Bison, magic was a curiosity. To Vega...

"I have learned only a little about them. They do not register on any of our scanners. I have learned a great deal about the man, however. This Tuxedo Kamen is a powerful martial artist, but seems to have some other power that I can not identify. I tracked him back to the address of his civilian identity..."

"Yes, yes..." Vega waved dismissively. "Perhaps he is as good a place to start as any." Vega turned and began to walk down the hall. "Satsuki, Fevrier, put on your working clothes. I want you to find this Tuxedo Kamen and bring him to me. And Marz..."

"The address you wanted, Don Alvaro?" The purple-haired Doll handed him a slip of paper. Vega smiled.

"Yes. Thank you. I think today I shall entertain myself. You keep an eye on Bison's little girl who likes to pretend she is a man." Vega heard their acknowledgement of his orders, but didn't bother responding. Soon enough he was alone in the basement of the terminal with his thoughts. He adjusted his immaculate suit again. Yes. This city, Tokyo, would prove most entertaining.

In the dark, his laughter echoed long after he had vanished.

01010

'To Whom It May Concern,

I saw your ad in the paper. I am the "spiky-haired loser who's looking for a former master with a big scar on his chest and also for a demon with stupid palm-tree hair who wanders around killing people or something, over". I am on my way to the meeting place you suggested and will arrive shortly after you read this. I also do not like jokes. This had better not be one.

Adon.'

Link stared at the letter, her fingers gripping it so tightly the paper began to tear at the edges. Her twin was smiling at her.

"See, Link? I told you he'd answer, over."

"Yes, he did... over," Link answered mechanically. She couldn't take her eyes off the letter. The reply had been almost immediate. They'd just put the ad in the Thailand papers yesterday, after scamming money off of Chris for 'communications home'. Adon had read it, replied, and apparently left on the same day.

Just like Pink had said he would. Because he existed.

"What's your problem, over?" Pink said, waving a hand in front of Link's face. "You look like you swallowed one of my experiments. Well, one of my tamer experiments, over."

Link growled something inarticulate, crumpled the paper into a ball, remembered to say "over" after her growl, and then tossed the telegram into the trashcan.

Pink rolled her eyes. "Geez, why the big reaction? Is it really that shocking to you that the information from Chris's books was right? It's obviously how he found us too, over."

"The fact that his information was correct is the PROBLEM," Link snapped. "This information is about... COMIC BOOK characters, over!"

"Well, actually, spiky-haired loser is from a video game, over."

"Like that matters! The point is..." Link paused. What WAS the point? The idea that she was, in some other universe, a character in a comic book, made her feel... wrong inside. It was like reality had suddenly plummeted out from beneath her feet, and she was still experiencing vertigo. "The point is that this doesn't make sense, over."

"Oh?" Pink grinned. "Seems to make sense to me. Adon wants to find those losers, so when we waved the bait in front of his face, he came running like an idiot. All the people in Street Fighter are idiots, running around in circles like a rat with a leg cut off, over."

"No, not Adon, I don't really care about him. It's... it's more..." Link struggled to articulate what she was feeling. She felt like she was in freefall, and couldn't find anything to cling onto. But her twin wouldn't understand. Pink obviously ACCEPTED the idea of this 'comic book' reality. In fact, she seemed to be thrilled with it, and her newfound knowledge of it. And she wasn't wrong - Link, too, felt the thrill of knowing that apparently the whole world was playing a game, and only they knew the rules. There were so many uses, so many things to find, so many things they could DO.

So why did that make her feel so disoriented?

Pink's smile lost some of its smugness, and her voice took on a note of concern. "Okay, it's more than Adon. So what's wrong with you? Whatever hurts you hurts me as well, so you should let me in on the secret, over."

Link glared at her. "Obviously, what's affecting me ISN'T affecting you, since you seem so damn happy with everything, over."

Pink's eyes flashed for a moment, then she shrugged exaggeratedly. "Then wallow in your self-pity if you like. You're probably just angry that I believed Chris's secrets, and I was right, over."

"I don't care about that undead abomination's secrets! It's your fault we're mixed up with that -thing- in the first place, over!"

"Oh, so you don't like Shampoo waiting on us hand and foot, over?"

"I'd rather she was just dead! But we can't do that NOW, can we, over!"

Pink smiled. "Patience, my dear twin. Good things come to those who wait, over."

Link wasn't mollified. "Good things like getting killed in turn by that stupid old woman, over?"

"She's -old-. She's just a small pebble in the road, over."

"I'm not willing to wait-" Link cut off as the loud crash from outside echoed through the building. "What is he DOING out there, over?"

Pink walked over to the window and glanced down towards the street. "Interesting. I wonder who that is, over."

"Who what is, over?"

"Who that is who is associated with the van Chris just smashed onto its side. I don't see enough to figure out who they could be, over."

Link felt her forehead throbbing again. "Not everything in the world is about his stupid comic books, over."

Pink turned back and smiled. "You're wrong. Everything IS. But we'll have to talk about it later - he's leaping up the building along with the annoying old bat, over."

After a few moments, Chris stalked in from the balcony. His arm had gotten worse, Link critically noted: it was now obvious even to a casual glance something was seriously wrong with it. It was not yet as decayed as Kodachi's body had been when it was discarded, however.

That old woman was hopping along behind him. She looked very grim and serious, a big change from the normal expression of smug amusement at everything that her great-granddaughter had also inherited.

There was something seriously wrong, at least to Chris. That was obvious. His dead eyes revealed nothing, but everything else about him practically screamed it. What could it be? Link couldn't remember ever seeing the undead man looking so... off-balance before. Her frown lightened almost imperceptibly. Maybe he didn't know the world as well as he thought.

"Where's Shampoo?" Chris asked, looking around the room.

"She's manuring the gardens with her bare hands, over," Pink offered with a smirk.

"Call her back."

Link almost thought Pink was going to push the point that Shampoo was THEIR servant, but they were not Chris's... but she didn't, and simply called out loudly to Shampoo to clean up and come here. Pink must also have noticed how upset Chris was - not the best time to test the bounds of their relationship.

Chris paced back and forth impatiently while waiting for Shampoo to arrive, rubbing absently at his rotting arm and muttering to himself. Shampoo's great-grandmother sat on her staff, unmoving and seemingly perfectly calm, though still looking very serious. What had the two of them seen down on the road? Link frowned with impatience. Chris had better tell them the truth.

Shampoo strolled into the room, wiping her hands off with a towel. Chris saw her and promptly snapped back to attention. "All right then," he said. "Cologne, please translate for Shampoo."

The old woman nodded. Pink was staring at Chris with an intrigued smile. Nobody but her, Link and Chris knew what Pink had found in those journals. Was Pink wondering if this was some new tidbit Chris hadn't written down? Probably. Link felt her stomach churn a bit.

A moment later, her fears came true. "I'm going to make this quick, because we don't have a lot of time," Chris began. "In essence, there is a huge, world-spanning conspiracy of... hmm, let's say monsters. But monsters who look exactly like men, who are MADE by altering men, and who in their human guises control every aspect of government, every military, every major installation of any kind in the world. The monsters are called zoanoids, men who have been engineered to change into vicious killing machines. The conspiracy, the organisation behind it all, is known as Chronos." He held up his hand to forestall comment. "I'm sorry, but I don't have time to answer any questions now. Just take my word for it. The reason for this is two-fold. First off, they have been watching this building, and it's obviously because of us. They must be looking for... unusual people. They are utterly ruthless, can call upon hordes of killing machines, control the police, and would think nothing of blowing up this building or even this entire neighbourhood if they thought we were a threat. We have to get out, now, and hide from them.

"But that's not all. Unfortunately, they've also found out about some other people, and as we speak, are planning to attack them. I have to go stop them, but they've sent some of their most powerful monsters, and it's not going to be an easy fight. Time is of the essence, so I have to leave as soon as possible." He looked around at them. "Any questions?"

"Sure," Pink said. "What makes these people they're going after YOUR problem, over?"

Chris sighed. "First off, I'm the only one who can do something about it. More importantly, the people they're after are the Sailor Senshi, a group of, uh, I guess you'd say holy warriors who are destined to save the world, and I'm not talking about sometime when they grow up, I'm talking about NOW, as in they are in the process of saving the world as we speak. Unless they get captured by Chronos. Which is why I'm not going to let that happen."

Pink grinned, and gave a meaningful look at at Link. Link felt more nauseous. Of course, she knew everything Chris had written down about those Sailor Senshi. This was just as important as he said it was.

Shampoo, after Cologne translated for her, merely shrugged unconcernedly. "Okay," she said in Chinese. "So you've got a problem. Whatever my mistresses want me to do is what I'm doing, I guess." She glanced idly at them. "Well?"

Pink smirked at her. "It's your problem now too, because you're going to be helping him, over."

Shampoo shrugged again. "Whatever. Monsters? I can deal with that."

Cologne translated the exchange to Chris, who frowned. "Shampoo, these monsters aren't as weak as the aragami. You might be in over your head."

Shampoo cocked an eyebrow at him once she was told the meaning of his words. "That may be, but it isn't you who gives me the orders, corpse."

Pink broke in before Cologne said anything. "As she says, it's we who give her orders. And I have just as much to lose as you do if you fail to save these world-savers, so take her help. I'm sure she'll be good for something, over."

Chris sighed. "Maybe you're right. But I assume Cologne will want to look out for her great-granddaughter's safety, and I don't want to leave you two alone..."

Pink smiled again. "I wouldn't worry. You took out the ones watching the building, right? So if we get out of here quick, no problems. You'll need the help, but we can get out of here on our own, over."

Of course, Pink WOULD want him out of here. What she had planned for Adon wouldn't work if he was around. Link felt her frown deepen.

Chris looked appealingly at Cologne. "Well? What do you think?"

The old woman sucked on her pipe for a moment. "Precisely how dangerous are these 'zoanoids', boy?"

"They come in many levels of danger. The weakest, the cannon fodder-"

She broke in sharply. "Precisely how dangerous are the ones you will be facing TODAY?"

"The Hyper-Zoanoid Team 5..." he paused. "Dangerous. Hmm. The strongest of them has armor sufficient to protect against a tank shell with ease, can regenerate from damage, can fire blasts with enough power to smash holes straight through buildings or set forests on fire, and is generally equivalent or better to even a strong martial artist in strength, speed, endurance and skill. The other four, not as strong as him, are each specialised in a certain area: one is immensely strong, one can fly and produce incredibly powerful electrical shocks, one is a living artillery battery that can fire guided missiles, and the other is as fast and skillful as, probably, let's say Ranma, and he has swords that cut through anything with ease. They are experienced at working together, and the leader is an intelligent tactician and strategist. They will have as much support as they need, especially if they have any time to summon it. In short, they are very, very extremely dangerous."

Shampoo's great-grandmother puffed on her pipe again for a long moment, then put it down. "Well, I suppose I'll have to come along to make sure you don't screw up, then, boy."

Chris nodded. "Very well. In that case, we'll need a place to meet up afterwards. Can't be someplace they're likely to have seen us... ah yes. Meet me where we found Sentarou. I know, I know," he said apologetically to Link, "but it's the only place I can think of that you've been to and I'm pretty sure Chronos wouldn't know anything about. You can hide in the trees pretty easily, too."

Pink laughed suddenly. "Sure, sure, no problem. Good luck saving the world, over."

Chris gave Pink a worried look, then shrugged it off. "Then Cologne, Shampoo, grab whatever you need and let's get going."

01010

Rei placed the phone back on its cradle, sighing to herself. Normally she would have been happy to suddenly discover that she had the entire afternoon to herself. But something... didn't feel right. It wasn't that unusual for Usagi to be held back after school. It wasn't even that unusual for Ami to have to go to cram school, though having to cancel because of some sort of 'emergency test' was something that neither Ami nor Rei had heard of before. But, being Ami, the shy blue-haired girl had called in to cancel their meeting.

Rei realized she had begun to feel weird then, but had shaken the feeling off. The way she had seen it, it would have been a good chance to get to know Makoto better. Maybe the two of them could have gone off to the mall together and watched the boys walk by. Not that Rei would have really admitted that was what she was doing, but she knew Makoto well enough that as soon as the idea of going to the mall was raised, the topic of boys would be also.

But now Makoto had cancelled as well; apparently because she needed to go downtown to deal with some sort of emergency concerning her parents' estate. Rei shivered, the little hairs on the back of her neck stirring. Most times like this she would have gone outside, done some sweeping. Something nice and mechanical that didn't require thinking very much, so she could clear her head and try to puzzle out what was bothering her. But even that wasn't an option. She glanced out her window at the work-crew that had descended upon the shrine this afternoon. Apparently there was some sort of gas main that needed maintenance. Thus, the Senshi couldn't have held the meeting here even if they had all been available.

"Grandpa!" she called over out of her open doorway. "I'm going out for the afternoon." She paused, waiting for a response. "Grandpa? Oh, never mind... old coot probably can't hear me..."

Rei sighed and stepped into the hall. She couldn't help but feel a hint of worry about Grandpa. Ever since they had pulled that Rainbow Crystal from his heart a few weeks ago, she had felt a nagging in the back of her skull about him. She knew that all the other 'holders' had lost something when the crystal was removed. For instance, as soon as they had managed to get the last crystal out of that Urawa boy, he had lost his ability to see the future.

Rei frowned and turned on her heel, now heading for the center of the shrine... and the sacred flame. She had been putting off examining that boy's 'vision' long enough. She didn't know why. It wasn't like she had ever really liked, or even trusted, Ukyou. But somehow the idea that Ukyou was the real enemy just struck her as wrong. Also, the idea that Ukyou was really a girl.

Rei chuckled. At least it had been amusing to see Usagi's reaction to that little verbal bomb.

The sacred fire's chamber was as pristine as always. Rei smiled at the soft glow of the well-oiled wooden floor and the pleasant smell of cherry that permeated the room. She slid across the floor, glancing at the large bonfire that was kept perpetually lit in this room. In the past, Rei had tried to use it to gain access to visions of the future... but her visions had always been cloudy and unreliable. The closest she had ever gotten to actually seeing the future was when she had successfully predicted that it would rain tomorrow... not really a feat, considering it was also what all the weathermen predicted.

Rei knelt in front of the flame, clasping her hands in front of her. She tried to will away that ominous sense of foreboding, but it had been growing more and more pronounced ever since she had hung up on Makoto. Rei forced her eyes closed and concentrated. She could feel her heart beating, the steady rhythm of her life force. Her center. The source of her energy, her chi... she breathed in, gathering all her power there even as she chanted the mantra that focused her will.

When Rei opened her eyes, she did not see the future she was looking for. There was no image of Ukyou, or of some terrible battle or the horrid silence that followed... instead, she saw a man. He was tall, built like an olympic weightlifter, with black skin and short, curly grey hair. He had a strange lump on his forehead. He was walking towards her, clad in the same blue uniform all the humans-turned-monsters she had been battling lately had worn. He grinned at her and suddenly...

Rei gasped and feel back. What had that been?

"Rei Hino?"

Rei glanced up. As she turned her head she felt as if the whole world was moving in slow motion. Somehow she knew what she would see behind her. Seeing the man there only confirmed her fears. Her heart was running like a rabbit as the huge man stooped to step into the sacred chamber.

"It is you," the man said in a gravelly voice. "You look just like your pictures." He stepped into the room, and a loud crack accompanied each of his footfalls. Rei stood up slowly. "You are going to come with me. You can come with me the easy way, or the hard way." He grinned. "Personally I hope you chose the hard way. I've never had a chance to fight a 'Sailor Senshi' before, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do."

Rei reached down, gripping her henshin wand. That man, he had mentioned the Sailor Senshi... He knew! He knew her identity already. She opened her mouth-

"Go ahead and scream," the man said, chuckling. As he did his body began to bulge and distort. "No one can hear you." Suddenly his shoulders exploded, great gouts of flame erupting along the length of his body. Rei shielded her eyes. "We made sure you were all alone." Huge bulges of grey skin emerged from the flames, which now consumed the man-monster's whole body. Rei backed up a step, raising her henshin above her head. "You see... you can't win, little girl. We know everything about you."

"Mars Power, Make Up!"

By the time Rei completed her own transformation, the beast had finished his. He resembled nothing so much as a humanoid rhino, complete with horn and thick, wrinkled skin. The floor cracked and split under the weight of his massive frame, and the tip of his horn was tearing a gouge in the ceiling as he walked forward. Rei stepped into her favorite pose and pointed a finger at him.

"I don't know who you monsters are, but I am Sailor Mars, champion of love and justice. I will not forgive you for defiling this sacred sanctuary with your evil!" The monster only laughed at her. Rei growled. She would show him.

"Fire Soul!" Rei grinned as the flaming sphere formed at the tip of her fingers. With a wish she sent it forward, spiraling and growing in size until it hit the monster. Rei's grin widened as the magic exploded against him and a pillar of flame briefly concealed the creature-

Its hand reached out of the flame. Then the rest of its body followed. Its movements were ponderous, but deceptively quick. And it was emerging from the flame without so much as a single char mark or a speck of ash on its body. Rei backed up a step.

"Heh. I told you, little girl, we know everything about you. You and your friends can't hope to beat us! We are much stronger than any regular zoanoid!" The monster opened its mouth, and Rei saw a faint red light flickering deep down its throat. "I am a member of the Hyper-Zoanoid Team 5, Derzerb! And you are mine!"

Rei's eyes widened and she leapt to the side. A jet of flame erupted from Derzerb's mouth, washing across the length of the sanctuary. Rei landed roughly, but well away from the creature's flame. She rebounded to her feet as quickly as possible.

"I hope you have more tricks than that," Derzerb said, and his laughter seemed to shake her bones. "We're supposed to take you girls intact, but nobody said anything about me not being able to play first..."

"Whatever you are, I don't care how you resisted my attack! I will defeat you!" Rei just wished she felt as confident as she sounded. Especially considered she now knew why she had felt so strange all day. This was a trap. But not just for her. They had been separated... weeded out. She needed to defeat this thing quickly. Oh gods, she prayed silently, please let Usagi be alright until she could get to her!

01010

Ukyou hissed, resisting the urge to tense up as Kyoko probed at her side. The nurse glanced up at her, her eyes flashing briefly over her glasses. Ukyou grimaced and looked away sharply, distinctly aware of the fact that she was naked from the waist up. Why did Kyoko have to act so much like a stereotypical naughty-nurse from a thousand schoolboy fantasies? Ukyou was trying very hard to see people as deep, emotional beings and not as the one or two note jokes that Aaron recalled from his years of fandom... but Kyoko was making it hard. Plus, it was really making Ukyou uncomfortable.

"It seems to be healing up nicely," Kyoko said in her sultry voice as she leaned back, arching ever so slightly, and smiled at Ukyou. "I really don't think it needs another treatment."

"Humour me," Aaron drawled out, turning his full attention back to Kyoko. He found it funny that he was more comfortable being naked in Ukyou's body than she was, especially in this situation. Not that he didn't consider Kyoko attractive: she certainly had the body of an attractive woman, and her face was very mature and could have been considered alluring, but Aaron just didn't think of her in a sexual way. Aaron had been the closest thing to a complete and total asexual human being before his death, and much of his attitude had carried over despite Ukyou's obvious teenage hormones.

"If you say so," Kyoko laughed a bit and gestured towards the bed. "Then assume the position, young lady." Aaron obliged, laying facedown on the hard- stuffed bed. Kyoko leaned over and laid her hands on Ukyou's back. "I'd almost think you enjoyed this."

"Actually, I'm just using it as practice," Aaron pointed out.

"Practice?" Kyoko laughed. "For what?"

Aaron didn't answer right away. He was too busy focusing his chi. He focused on his void aspect, trying to pin down that ethereal energy that was the chi of balance and perception. He could feel Kyoko's fingers rubbing along Ukyou's flesh and as he focused the sensation seemed to grow more acute. Then at some point he began to feel the energy of Kyoko's technique. He could feel the chi flowing from her fingertips, lacing into Ukyou's flesh in gentle lapping waves. He closed his eyes, willing away all the other sensations of the world. Now he felt the foreign chi sinking deeper into Ukyou's body, moving with patient purpose through the layers and veins of her physique until it came to the injured ribs. There the energy began to collect, and...

And what? Aaron frowned. He focused, drawing his attention deeper, trying to block out everything but the chi he could barely sense at the edge of his soul. But the more he focused, the less clear it grew. It was like trying to glimpse the shadow in the corner of your eye. He could feel the sweat dripping from his brow as he pursued the elusive chi through the fields of his consciousness. Time slowed to a crawl as Aaron fought with his own limitations... and ultimately was defeated.

"Damn..." Aaron said, panting to catch his breath as the real world returned in full force to his senses. Ukyou reached up and rubbed her face with both hands. She absently noted that her hair had grown so long that the bangs now fell far down her face. She guessed that stood to reason, since she hadn't bothered to get a trim since this whole mess had started.

"I must admit," Kyoko said, reminding both of them that she was still there. "I have never seen someone react so... strongly to one of my massages before."

Ukyou sat up slowly, trying to look nonchalant as she reached for her shirt. "Actually, I'm trying to focus my senses. Honing them to the point where I can feel exactly what you are doing to me when you use that theraputic technique of yours."

"Trying to steal my secrets?" Kyoko said in an amused tone, tapping a pen against her chin.

"Not at all," Aaron picked up the conversation while Ukyou quickly pulled on her shirt. "My previous teacher was also a doctor. His techniques of healing are very similar to yours. His aren't quite so immediate, however." Aaron stretched up one arm and touched the ribs that had been broken only two days ago. "He could have healed this, but it would have taken him days. You managed to do most of the work in minutes." Aaron chuckled. "You aren't quite as well-rounded as he is, however. You're very good at fast healing, but not quite so good at long term care."

"I don't know whether to feel complimented or insulted," Kyoko mused, mainly to herself. She stood up and walked across the warm little nurse's office to her desk. "If your teacher is a doctor, why did you come here for help?"

"That... is a long story," Ukyou said coldly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

Ukyou rolled her eyes. Kyoko never meant to pry, despite doing it constantly since Ukyou had arrived at her office. Granted, a little curiosity was to be expected, but Ukyou had already made it quite clear she didn't want to 'share' with the nurse.

It wasn't like Ukyou didn't think she wanted, even needed, to talk. It was just that she couldn't seem to make herself comfortable around Kyoko. The woman was much too... sexually charged. It kept putting Ukyou on edge, and made it hard to look past that.

Ukyou finished buttoning up her top as Kyoko left to answer a knock at the door. Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs and slid off the bed to go and stare out the window. The grounds of Justice High School stretched out below her, pristine and immaculate. Also huge. How could such a large school campus exist in the middle of a city so desperate for space as Tokyo was?

"Ukyou, you have a visitor," Kyoko called out cheerfully.

Ukyou turned quickly, half-expecting to see Ranma or Ran. Both of them had come to see her daily since the fight. But it was still a bit too early for Ranma to be here unless he was skipping school, and Ran rarely came around unless it was with Ranma. So she wasn't really surprised when it turned out to be neither.

The girl who walked into the room was short, a little shorter than Ukyou herself. She was also underdeveloped, with a physique that more resembled a young boy's than an adolescent girl's. She was tomboyishly pretty, however, with a long messy bob cut and a cute face. She was wearing a camouflage t-shirt and tight leather biker pants. A leather jacket was tied securely about her waist. Ukyou knew her, or more accurately Aaron did.

"Akira," Aaron piped up with a half-smile. "I expected you to be taller."

"You-you know me?" Akira Kazama stuttered, blinking. She suddenly looked like she wanted to turn around and slink out the door, and the only thing preventing her was how terribly impolite that would be.

"I know a great deal about you," Aaron shrugged and crossed his arms. He leaned back against the windowsill, enjoying the play of the breeze outside as it toyed with Ukyou's long hair. "I'm a little surprised to see you, however. You never struck me as the gawker type. Gan or Edge, sure. I've gotten a lot of people showing up to pay their respects the last few days, but you were one of the last I expected to meet."

It was true. Aaron had met a surprising number of the Rival Schools' cast since he'd taken up temporary residence in Kyoko's office. Of course running into the students and staff of Justice High School was to be expected, but the visits from the kids of other district schools had been surprising. Apparently Aaron had underestimated how influential Ran's stories were in this part of Tokyo.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you," Akira said, bowing awkwardly. "I can come back later, if you..."

"No," Aaron waved her objections aside. "You obviously came here for a reason, and it wasn't just to gawk."

"Umm..." Akira titled her head to the side and rubbed her chin ruefully. "If you say so."

Ukyou rolled her eyes and stepped away from the window. "Come on. Let's walk together."

"Walk together?"

"Yes, it's too stuffy in here..." Ukyou cast a meaningful look at Kyoko, who was leaning forward eagerly on her chair. "And the walls have ears."

"Hey, I would never snoop into student affairs!" Kyoko protested indignantly.

"But I'm not your student," Ukyou said with a smirk. "So that makes it okay in my case, indeed?"

"Of cour- I mean, no!"

Akira giggled a bit as Ukyou walked across the room to the door. She made to grab her coat, before remembering that she had been forced to dispose of it. The battle with Rose had burned too many holes in it for it to be of further use.

Akira fell into step beside Ukyou as she made her way down the halls. There were still plenty of students in the building now, even though school was out. It always gave Ukyou and Aaron a bit of cognitive dissonance, since he was so used to schools being virtually deserted once classes ended, and Ukyou was used to the opposite. But moving through the throngs of Justice High students was no problem, as they all parted neatly to allow Ukyou to pass.

Ukyou smiled as she remembered why. On her very first day she had been visited by Hyo Imawano, the president of Justice High's student council. The two of them had gotten into a long discussion. It had started out well enough. He had accused her of being a freeloading inferior glory hog, and she had accused him of being a pompous self-deluded hidebound sociopath, and they had degenerated from there into increasingly shrill and vulgar profanities. Ukyou had enjoyed the whole encounter a great deal. Mainly because it had been a good outlet for the frustration she had been feeling for months, but also because it had just felt GOOD to reduce Hyo from his usual solemn, samurai-movie resolve to childish namecalling. Especially when he considered her a 'guest' and wouldn't lift a hand (or sword) to harm her.

Apparently nobody in the entire school, including all but three of the staff, had ever stood up to Hyo before. It had given her a reputation and a great deal of unspoken respect.

She was just glad that she had popped into the Rival Schools' part of this universe when its own timeline seemed to be 'on hiatus'. She had half- expected to have been dragged along for the ride as either Hyo, or later Kurow Kirishima, attempted to take over Japan by brainwashing the fighting students of the Tokyo high school system. It had only taken her a few quick questions to learn that Hyo's plan had been foiled only a couple of months ago, right around the time she had fought Jadeite...

"What's wrong?" Akira spoke up suddenly, reminded Ukyou that she was there.

"Oh, nothing..." Ukyou sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I just remembered something that happened a..." Ukyou blinked. Had it really been so short a time ago? It seemed like years had passed since that climactic battle, but in reality less than ten weeks had crept by. "Anyway, it's nothing you need to worry about."

Ukyou and Akira walked in silence for a few more minutes. They left the building and began to walk out into the grounds. Ukyou led Akira on a circuit of the school, circling back until the large empty lot behind the school could be seen. In a few months, they would begin to build a new part of the campus on that lot. A few months after that, Akira would have a dramatic confrontation with her brother in the construction site... and Ukyou wasn't sure if the boy would survive the battle.

"What did you come here for?" Ukyou said as she leapt up and sat on the top of the wall, still looking out over the vacant lot. Akira hopped up beside her, easily reaching the top of the ten foot tall wall. She stood on the thin strip of concrete, shading her eyes from the afternoon sun. Her hair blew softly in the breeze.

"I wanted to talk to you..." Akira said slowly. "But I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure about what."

"Oh?"

Akira shrugged. "Ever since I started reading about you... I've felt... compelled to do something. Even when you did bad things, I still couldn't seem to blame you." She paused. "I think it's because my brother is the leader of his own gang. He means well, and he does his best to protect me... and even Edge and Gan have good hearts deep down inside. But they do bad things. They steal things, worthless things, they vandalize property, they even get into fights. They've never done anything serious... but they could."

"Ah." Aaron nodded. "You're afraid that your brother may end up 'falling to the dark side' as it were? Like I did."

"I'm not saying that!" Akira turned suddenly and crouched beside Ukyou. "You must have had a good reason for what you did-"

"I didn't," Aaron said sharply, cutting her off. "I did a very bad thing. I can't make excuses or apologies for it. And now my actions are going to come back and haunt me. And I deserve it." Aaron looked away from Akira. "I was stupid, and I made mistakes. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe because I know what I did was wrong, it means I'm not." Aaron laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "But maybe it does. Because I knew they were bad things before I did them, too. I knew they were bad, and I did them anyway. Sometimes I don't know why I did. But I did."

"I..." Akira shifted position and sat next to Ukyou, but trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Akira," Ukyou said into the awkward silence. "I'm not a hero or a role-model. I don't know what to do about your brother..." Ukyou cocked her head to the side and decided to play a hunch. "I also don't know how to help you out with what you feel inside."

"What? Me?" Akira's hands fluttered nervously. Ukyou cracked a smile at how comical that looked in her huge biker gloves.

"You want to fight too, don't you?" Ukyou glanced at Akira out of the corner of her eye and saw the smaller girl blush. "Ever since you fought to save your brother the first time. It's gotten into your blood somehow. The thrill of it. The power and the rush of winning and losing, living or dying on your strength and skill alone. I can see it in your eyes. My friend Ranma has that look about him, and you do too."

"No way!" Akira shouted, suddenly more forceful then she had been since Ukyou had first seen her. Her hands curled into fists. "I'm just a normal girl. I like bikes, maybe, but I'm not a fighter like my brother!"

"It's a bad thing to lie to yourself," Ukyou said philosophically. "Before long, you find yourself lying to everyone else as well. In this world, we are who we are and we can't really change that. I could no more stop feeling the way I do than I could cut out my own heart, and you can't stop your own feelings either. Dreaming that we are people we aren't, or people that we used to be and aren't anymore, can only lead to ruin. If you ever want to live with yourself, you have to learn to stop trying to be someone else, and learn to start being who you are."

"You... aren't talking to me, are you?" Akira said slowly, calming down.

"Not really." Ukyou stretched her neck. "I'm sorry I said what I did earlier. It's not right of me to burden you with my amateur psychology."

"No. I don't mind... really." Akira smiled. "I guess what you said does sound right." She reached up and clutched her shoulders before gazing out over the vacant lot again. "I do feel restless. Like I'm just waiting for something to happen. It's as if this life I live now is just a waiting room, and the life I will live is rushing towards me. I don't know whether I should be excited or afraid."

"That's up to you," Ukyou said slowly. "This is just part of growing up, I guess."

"You sound like you're not my age, too," Akira accused with a laugh.

"Indeed... heh." Ukyou nodded and scratched her temple. "I keep forgetting. I was forced to grow up so fast... I feel like I'm almost forty years old. Like I've lived two lives."

"I guess so," Akira hitched up one leg and placed her hands on her knee. "In a way I envy you. A few months ago was the first real adventure I've ever had. I met so many people, and learned so much. You... you seem to be having a constant adventure."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Aaron pointed out ruefully.

"I'm sure it isn't," Akira agreed, deeply serious.

Aaron opened his mouth, then closed it again. Akira was a nice girl. She didn't deserve a lecture on how horrible Ukyou's life had been. So instead they sat in companionable silence again. When Akira broke the silence her voice was calm, confident. Her shyness had vanished sometime during their conversation.

"Ukyou..."

"Indeed?"

"When you did it, when you hurt that boy I mean, can I just ask why you did it?"

"I'm not really sure..." Ukyou said honestly. "I can only say I did it because I wanted to. Because I enjoyed it. I was in the middle of a rush, a sort of bloodlust, I guess... except it's not really the right way to describe it."

"Oh?" Akira turned her head and regarded Ukyou again. "How would you describe it?"

Ukyou frowned. Well, Aaron was supposed to be such a great writer. He would have to fiqure out a way to explain the feeling. "I felt... free," Aaron told her, and Ukyou nodded along. "That's it exactly. I felt like I was free. I had stepped beyond my normal life. I didn't experience fear, or pity or regret. When I step beyond myself, I exist in a state where everything is pure: beautiful and terrible, but so unimaginably real. Like someone wiping the fog from a mirror, I saw much clearer than I ever had before, and I loved what I saw. I lost myself in the ecstasy of the fight." Ukyou frowned and added, "But the reason I am afraid now is because when I think back on it, when I totally lost control... I liked it."

"Ecstasy of the fight..." Akira shook her head. "I'd never really say I ever felt that way before. When I fight... I'm afraid and excited and a thousand other things. Every moment of the battle is a struggle against myself as much as it is against my opponent."

"It's like that for me most of the time, too," Ukyou admitted. "It's just when I tap..." She had been about to say 'when she tapped Aaron's chi' but Akira would have no idea what she meant. "There is a power inside me. A power that I don't think anybody else has. Something special. When I tap that power is when I feel that way."

"You mean you've felt that way before?" Akira said, sounding surprised.

"Yes..." Ukyou rose her head from her hands. "Before and since. In my fight against Jadeite, and the fight with Rose."

"Did... anything bad happen?"

"Bad?" Ukyou looked at Akira, perplexed. "Aside from me being beaten half to death?"

"No..." Akira rolled one of her hands in the air, looking for some words to express what she was trying to say. "I mean. Did you do anything during either of those fights that you regret now?"

"Not really..." Ukyou paused. "I mean. Rose beat me pretty soundly even when I tapped my full potential, and Jadeite had basically already been beaten when I got the full effect. All I did was hit him when he was helpless..."

"And you don't regret that?" Akira sounded surprised.

"Huh? Should I?" Aaron scratched his chin. "I mean, Jadeite barely qualified as human. And he was Evil with a capital 'E'. And I spared his life in the end. I could have killed him..."

"Spared his life?" Akira turned her eyes away and gazed down at the ground. "What did you do to him?"

"I broke his neck..." Aaron said slowly.

"You mean you crippled him, just like you did Hayato?"

Neither Aaron nor Ukyou had any response to that.

"Are you sure that's all you've ever done with this power?" Akira asked, her voice taking on a sort of solemn excitement.

"Those are the only times I've ever felt that way..." Ukyou mused aloud. But it hadn't been the only time she had ever used that power. She had first tapped into Aaron's chi during the first fight against Jadeite's minion at the Cherry Hill Temple... "No. Wait. I used the power a few other times. But I was drained of my normal chi at the time..." Aaron closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to recall that first fight. "I... I did sort of brutally attack that monster. But... it was a monster..."

"It was?" Akira prompted.

"And then I did that thing to Sailor Moon..." Aaron opened his eyes. "Then there was the fight with Chris. I was using the power during most of that confrontation. And I just couldn't let go of my anger. Everything else seemed to drift away but the fact that Chris was hurting me... hurting me deep down inside and challenging who I was..." Ukyou had taken over narration somewhere along the line. "I never... I never even considered his feeling. I just... he was a monster..."

"Ukyou? Who is Chris?"

"No..." Ukyou stood up suddenly, almost lost her balance. "That can't be right." But the more Ukyou and Aaron thought about it the more it began to make sense. In every confrontation which involved that unnamed power, it had gotten progressively worse. First justified anger, than unjustified... then righteous punishment, then meaningless brutality... it was a steady progression. How could they have been so blind? How could they not have SEEN it before?

"Ukyou?"

"Akira! I could kiss you!" Ukyou shouted. Akira's eyes snapped wide and she almost tumbled off the wall. Ukyou laughed and caught her before she fell. "You opened up my eyes."

"I did?" Akira said, obviously confused. Ukyou smiled down at her and lowered her safely to ground level.

"Yes. I can see it now..." Ukyou said, hopping down. "This power inside me... it hurts me. It always has. But I've only ever seen what it did to my body. I never considered what it did to my mind!"

"I'm... glad I could help?" Akira said nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

"And what if the effects linger?" Ukyou mused. "That would explain why I've gotten so callous lately. I mean... I used to care a lot more. I'm pretty sure I should have felt sorry about what I did to Hayato..." Aaron shook their head. "No. That doesn't explain it all." Akira just stared at them. "I actually did a lot of shitty things before I started using that power. No... I can't just blame the power for it. That's the easy way out." Aaron frowned and looked up at the sky.

"But it makes too much sense to ignore it," Aaron admitted aloud. "This hidden potential. Whatever it is... it's damaging my mind. I can't use it."

"Come again?"

"I'm sorry, Akira," Aaron turned and bowed slightly. "I was talking mainly to myself the last few minutes."

"Oh..." Akira shrugged. "I guess you're entitled."

"Heh." Aaron shook his head. "But I can't thank you enough." He turned and gestured for her to follow him as he started back towards the school. "It seems I'm not nearly so smart as I allowed myself to believe. First the Fungus, then you... It appears that not listening to people has been my problem all along. Well, that's about to change. If I can't be the hero, I can at least not be a monster."

"Can... can I help?" Akira said slowly.

"You..." Ukyou looked over her shoulder at Akira. "No, Akira. I can't ask you to fight these battles with me." She stopped and suddenly grabbed the smaller girl by the shoulder. Akira's eyes widened. "Listen to me. Your brother is in great danger and needs you much more than I do. Not now, but soon, he is going to run afoul of a monster of a man named Kurow. You have to be there for him now, protect him. I can't take you away from that."

"My brother... wait, what are you talking about?"

"Come with me. I'll tell you everything I know as we walk back. I have some phone calls to make."

01010

Chris scanned the school, shielding his eyes unnecessarily from the mid- afternoon sun. It certainly didn't look like anything was happening. There were no soldiers surrounding the place. Instead a single unmarked black van was parked outside the entrance, partially blocking it off. The entire place seemed to be deserted, however. Not a single soul could be seen on the grounds, and the windows of the school reflected too much of the sunshine for him to see inside. The parking lot where all the teacher's cars should have been parked was also deserted, except for another unmarked black van.

Chris sighed. Well, it wasn't like Chronos really grasped the concept of 'subtle' when it came to their operations. Then again, since they controlled the media... and the police... and the government... they didn't really have to.

No explosions yet, though. Hopefully that meant the battle hadn't started, and the vans meant it also probably wasn't over already. He glanced over: Cologne was sitting calmly on her staff as usual, and Shampoo was sharpening the edge of her sword with a whetstone. He'd made it clear that killing the enemy was not only an option, but practically a necessity on this mission: it looked like her weaponry reflected that.

"They're here, all right. I don't know where the Senshi might be, though. Do you notice anything, Cologne?"

The old woman shook her head. "I sense nothing unusual."

He looked back at the school. "Then they probably haven't transformed yet. In that case, let's move. If you notice anything that's a clue to them - the zoanoids and the Senshi will likely be the only ones in the school - just change directions and I'll follow."

Without waiting for a response, he leaped from the building down to the street. There were a few trees within the grounds of the school; he leaped over the wall into the midst of them, hoping they provided enough cover so they wouldn't be noticed approaching. It was almost summer, and a few of the school's windows were open: only on the top floor, though. Irksome. Climbing up there with his huge backpack full of clattering canisters of Jyusenkyou water would be a pain to try to do quietly, even though that's probably where the Senshi were being led to in order to prevent easy escape.

No help for it, then. There was a fire exit door on the side of the school. He ran up to it, then looked back at Shampoo. Motioning with one finger to his lips, he made a gesture at the lock.

The Chinese girl paused for a moment, then sauntered forward and casually shoved her sword through the lock. It did make a small sound not unlike that of a sword sliding into a sheath, but nothing compared to breaking a window. Nodding to her, he walked up and pried the door open.

Inside was a stairwell, of course, which was just what he wanted. He ran lightly up the stairs, reaching the third and final floor in seconds. He paused for a moment to listen at the door, but heard nothing. Carefully opening the door a crack, he peered down the hallway, but it was deserted.

Slipping through the door, he dashed down the corridor, pausing to peer briefly into each classroom that he passed. Or at least that was the idea, but in fact he never got past the first one. Inside, he saw the bodies of several students splayed across their desks, their eyes vacant and horrible wounds gaping through their school uniforms.

"Well, if you had any doubts of what I said..." he whispered, letting the sentence trail off.

Cologne frowned, while Shampoo looked faintly nauseated.

Had they already done this to the Sailor Senshi? No, they planned an "extraction". They had to be wanting to get their hands on the Senshi's unusual abilities to study. So the girls had to still be alive, for the moment.

Moving forward again, he resumed checking out the various classrooms. A few were deserted, but most contained at least one, if not several bodies, both students and teachers. His lip curled. More of that lack of subtlety. And, oh yes, that unremittant evil.

To his mild surprise, there didn't seem to be anything on the third floor. He was about to head towards the stairwell when he felt something tapping his shoulder. He looked over at Cologne.

"Something's happening outside," she hissed. "I sense violent energy."

He swore. "What direction?" he began, but Cologne was already moving off to the nearest window. He followed. A quick flash of the old woman's staff shattered the window soundlessly. Well, that would have helped in getting in, if he'd known about it. Putting that aside, he followed her as she leaped through the opening created.

As he was falling through the air, he took a second (about exactly that, actually) to look around, but didn't see anything in the immediate area. Cologne landed and started running towards a large outbuilding that he immediately recognised as a gymnasium. His second choice for an ambush site... and one that made the slaughter of the schoolchildren even more pointless. Bastards.

As they reached the door to the gymnasium, he flicked out a teaspoon and snapped the padlock, then yanked the door open, hoping the hinges were decently oiled. Not enough time to be subtle here, though.

Emanating from the entrance came the welcome, relieving sound of Usagi Tsukino protesting, "-go of me, you creep!"

He held up a hand to Cologne and Shampoo. The Hyper-Zoanoid Team 5 were probably in reserve in case the regular ones failed - he wanted to take them off guard. Had to wait a bit longer. For the moment, he looked inside: he saw the gym floor, but a long string of bleachers were blocking his view of Usagi and whoever was assaulting her. Of course, it would be blocking their view of him, too. He slipped inside, glancing around to see if any Chronos soldiers were in eyesight, then upon seeing the coast was clear for the moment, creeped up to the bleachers to get a better look.

At the far end of the gymnasium, there was a large set of open double doors. About a dozen Chronos soldiers were standing there as guards. In the exact middle of the floor was...

ZX-Tole.

Well, he'd expected that. The giant humanoid rhinoceros-beetle-like leader of Team 5 was standing in the middle of the floor. His chitinous hands swallowed up Usagi's shoulders and most of her arms, holding the loudly protesting girl (she had transformed, he noticed) nearly three feet off the ground.

There were no other hyper-zoanoids that he noticed. Though there was a naked man near ZX-Tole and Usagi, sitting on the floor and looking dazed. Odd.

He couldn't splash ZX-Tole with the Spring of Octopus water he was holding without risking hitting Usagi as well. But ZX-Tole was the one member of Team 5 he was sure he couldn't defeat. Damnit.

Thankfully, the hyper-zoanoid didn't appear to be doing much of anything at the moment. His glassy, emotionless insectile eyes were staring at the ceiling. Receiving psychic instruction from one of the Zoalords? Possible. In any case, it gave Chris a chance to get the advantage of surprise.

He tossed the rest of his bag to Shampoo. "Take care of this. I'm going to get their attention. If you get a chance in the confusion, take Usagi and get the hell out of here."

Cologne started translating in a low voice, but Chris was already focusing his attention back on the hyper-zoanoid. Tucking the Spring of Octopus water into his pocket, he threaded a ribbon through his fingers. He didn't expect to impress ZX-Tole and his armored carapace which could absorb hits from gravity wells much with his batons or teaspoons, but if he could lure the hyper-zoanoid into giving up Usagi and fighting him, he could hopefully hit him with the water. And hope it worked.

Where were the other Senshi? And the rest of Team 5? Well, no time to worry about that now. He leaped up, touched off the bleachers, and soared into the air directly above Usagi and ZX-Tole. His ribbon lashed out, curling around the zoanoid's conveniently prominent beetle-like forked horn. Plunging to the ground, he yanked on the ribbon with all his might, hoping to pull the massive monster off-balance.

It almost worked. ZX-Tole staggered back a step before bracing himself with one foot, causing the gymnasium floor to crack.

"Heh heh," the hyper-zoanoid laughed in his insectile buzzing voice. "I knew you'd show up sooner or later."

Knew he'd show... oh, ZX-Tole must think he was Tuxedo Mask. How insulting. Even as he thought that, ZX-Tole yelled "GET HIM!" and the zoanoids at the door began to transform.

Five of them went down instantly, caught in mid-transformation by his hurled batons. "Not quite," he informed ZX-Tole dryly.

He really, really wished either of his learned combat styles included a strong hand-to-hand weapon, or even proper training in how to fight with fists. But hindsight was 20/20. ZX-Tole was turning, hopefully providing an opportunity. Flicking out a teaspoon into his fingers, he dashed in fast and low, driving the utensil into the back of his knee at the chitinous joint, where it... promptly snapped like a toothpick while not doing any noticeable damage. Aw, shit.

ZX-Tole kicked backwards, catching Chris with his deceptive speed and sending him flying back into the bleachers. Well, he'd figured he couldn't beat the hyper-zoanoid leader. But he'd at least gotten his attention.

As he climbed out of the shattered bleachers, ZX-Tole had completed his turn to face him. He'd also shifted his grip on Usagi, and was now holding the Sailor Senshi by the wrists with one chitin-covered hand, letting her dangle off the floor. His other arm was pointing at Chris. "Hah!" he rasped. "Your pathetic flowers are- huh? Who the hell..."

Usagi meanwhile, had gone from panic to joy. "Yay! Somebody's here to save - hey, who're you?"

He dusted himself off as he returned to his feet. "Just your wandering friendly neighbourhood dead guy. So, ZX-Tole, Chronos has stooped to sending you out to kidnap little girls? How... pedestrian. Aren't you bored?"

The hyper-zoanoid paused, quirking his head to the side. Then he laughed/hissed. "Oh, it's just one of those... martial artist things." The central horn on his head slid back, revealing the glowing crystalline 'eye' underneath. "Well, we have enough of your kind already, and I don't need YOU in one piece."

This, Chris decided, would be a good time to dodge, and accordingly did so just before the flashing arc of lethal red light sliced out and smashed into the remains of the bleachers, reducing them to ash in a huge explosion.

Since he didn't believe in wasting movement, Chris aimed his dodge to take him towards the group of remaining zoanoids, who were... well, they weren't quite clapping and waving flags, but they didn't seem eager to rush into a hyper zoanoid's line of fire, either. That was okay - Chris brought the fight to them. Also the line of fire.

They were all Ramotiths. Cannon fodder. Hairy monkey-bat cannon fodder. Chris treated them as such. Of course, being as he was the one doing the fighting, he actually DID get to see all the blows he was landing, instead of just flashing through them and then watching them all slowly crumpling into piles of dissolving goop. But the effect was much the same, except for the 'slowly dissolving' part, since just after he'd passed through them, ZX-Tole's next blasts ripped out the front of the gymnasium and disintegrated their bodies in a cascading series of explosions.

Sailor Moon screamed "My god, you destroyed your own people!" Well, that was an expected sort of response from her, Chris guessed. ZX-Tole, for his part, continued to ignore her, opening up the pod on his arm to reveal the triple-bank of organic lasers there. He promptly used them to take another shot at Chris, who barely got out of the way in time.

He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever - or even for long. And ZX- Tole was being very careful not to let Sailor Moon out of his grasp. Well, he was the smartest of Team 5 by far, too.

Chris landed near on a relatively smooth portion of the shattered landscape that used to be a gymnasium, prepared to move again... and then heard a distinctive whine in the air. Oh. Shit.

He jumped forward towards ZX-Tole, hoping that Gaster had been erring on the side of caution with his shot. His gamble paid off as the staccato explosions of the artillery hyper-zoanoid's liquid missiles ripped apart the ground behind him. Of course, that brought him into reach of ZX-Tole, who swung out his massive fist and knocked Chris back again.

Thankfully, being dead, Chris was neither dazed nor stunned by the blow, even though it had caught him straight on the temple. But the hyper-zoanoids wouldn't know that, so he tumbled when he reached the ground and sprawled out on his back, feigning being stunned. One of them would make their move, and that would leave them vulnerable... hopefully.

A whine in the air answered the question of "whom". The missiles were coming from above, and annoyingly in all directions. For a split second, he followed the vapour trails back and saw Gaster's crimson demonic face leering from a hole in the ceiling before he was forced to spring back to life and roll away from the missiles before they impacted.

ZX-Tole was between him and the main doors, so he rolled towards one of the side doors. He couldn't kill ZX-Tole, but he was pretty sure he could destroy Gaster if he could go mano-a-mano with the artillery zoanoid. Gaster was continuing to fire, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, since it would obscure ZX-Tole's view of him. He feinted to the side towards ZX-Tole, hoping Gaster would lead his path with the missiles, then made a mad dash for the door, so he could get outside and-

And there were twelve missiles streaking in through the ceiling, the holes in the wall, the shattered remains of the main doors, converging on... well, given the blast radius of a single missile, they were pretty much converging on "the entire half of the gymnasium". Chris had just enough time to think that that was a pretty bad thing before-

Before there was a streak through the air, and a half-dozen missiles exploded harmlessly above Chris's head, the rest detonating a relatively safe distance away. Cologne landed in front of him. Chris spared a nod for her before resuming his mad dash, smashing through the side door.

Out of the corner of his eye, he barely saw a flash of red light arc out... and then bank to the side sharply, cutting yet another chunk of gymnasium wall out. Wow. Cologne had those mad wind ninja skillz, no doubt. Not that he had HAD any doubts.

He leaped up, found purchase on a windowsill, and leaped again, reaching the roof. Gaster was turning to face him. The crimson hyper-zoanoid was raising his arms, bulges on his forearms pulsating as the nozzles on his wrists opened. That meant... yes! Chris smirked as he saw that the enormous, distended sacks of flash on Gaster's shoulders contained only crater-like pockmarks. No missiles left, which left only the sprayers on his forearms as conveyors for his explosive liquid stores. For at least a few moments.

Chris charged, and let fly with several batons, but Gaster managed to blow them out of the air, leaping backwards. The roof, Chris noted, was filled with holes, making footing treacherous, and it also creaked dangerously as he put his weight on it. That was to be expected too, he guessed.

Back to Gaster. Best to goad him into an attack. Chris poured on the speed, flashing up to the hyper-zoanoid as fast as he could and waiting for the telltale signs of an oncoming liquid spray. One hand dropped to his pocket, grasping the canteen of Jyusenkyou water.

The artillery zoanoid wasn't entirely stupid. He whipped his arm around as if delivering a backhand, pouring out a thick wall of explosive liquid. Chris took a step and then leaped straight up as straight and true as only a martial arts death machine could. Mentally crossing his fingers, he ripped the top off the canteen and turned Gaster's trick against him, holding his thumb partially over the opening and whipped his arm across his chest. A sheet of cursed water splashed out.

Gaster had enough time to look up. His distorted, only vaguely human- like bat-face twisted into an approximation of confusion as he saw the water approach him. Then he became an octopus.

Chris breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been absolutely sure that would work. But it had. Gaster hadn't turned into a cute little octopus like Hayato's pet: it was a big, ugly, sea-dwelling sort of thing, with flailing suckered tentacles and big bulging eyes that had a distinct sense of, well, continued and now acute confusion.

Chris put an end to the confusion in the most decisive way possible by putting his foot through Gaster-pus's brain. Three times, just to be sure. Then he punted the slimy remains away and dropped through one of the holes in the ceiling.

Sometime while he had been occupied with Gaster, Sailor Moon had somehow escaped - or, more likely, been helped by Cologne - from ZX-Tole's grasp, and was now being hustled by Shampoo out of the room. Still in the middle of the gym, the old woman and the leader of the Hyper-Zoanoid Team 5 (4?) were facing off. All of ZX-Tole's laser eyes were exposed and glowing with terrible energy. There seemed to be so many MORE of them when seeing them in person, as opposed from the comfortable distance of a TV screen or comic book page.

As he landed, the zoanoid rasped, "If you think you're going to get away with her, you fools obviously have no idea what you are up against. Nothing can prevent our victory!" The laser eyes' glow intensified. ALL of them intensified, and Chris could now feel a little of that 'terrible violent energy' in the air himself.

Well, this was hardly any better than them succeeding at kidnapping Sailor Moon, so he sprang into action. Once again mentally crossing his fingers, he hurled the canteen and its remaining contents at ZX-Tole.

One of his insectile arms changed trajectories and blew the canteen to vapour with a flash of scarlet light. Well, so much for that.

But the distraction proved enough for Cologne. Even as the Jyusenkyou water vanished, she flashed forward almost too fast for him to follow, her staff snapping out in a circular motion. Then ZX-Tole was flying backward, his enormous bulk tearing an equally enormous hole in the wall.

That seemed to be about it for the gym: a ominous-sounding rumble emanated from the structure, and progressively larger chunks of the ceiling began crashing to the floor. "Run!" Chris snapped, taking off after where Shampoo and Usagi had gone. ZX-Tole was definitely a fight that could wait for another day. Or never, with any luck.

They fled the collapsing building, leaping over the wall and to the roof of a nearby building and then the next and the next. All the time, his mind was racing. There had been only two of Team 5 there, and only Usagi. There was only one conclusion he could draw.

After they'd cleared about five buildings, he held up his hand to stop their flight, and looked over at Sailor Moon, who Shampoo was still carrying. "Wait. Usagi. Where are the other Sailor Senshi?"

"They're... hey, wait, how do you know my na- I mean, the name of that beautiful junior high school student who I have no relation to and-"

"Usagi!" he broke in. "There is no time for this - there's more of those things, just as strong, attacking your friends. Where. Are. They!"

Sailor Moon stared at him for a few seconds, looking faintly intimidated - at his tone, his demeanour, or his rotting arm, he didn't know. Probably all three. "I- I don't know..."

"Don't you have some sort of Sailor communicator or something?" Did they have it at this point in the series? He couldn't remember...

She snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah!" Shampoo chose that moment to drop her in an undignified heap on the rooftop. "Ow! You people don't act much like heroic saviors!"

He sighed. "I'm sorry, but those things killed every single student and teacher that were still in your school. They are not nice, so at the moment, I can't be taking time to be nice either, understand?"

"K-killed?"

"Killed. Violently."

"Chris, you're frightening the poor girl," Cologne pointed out.

"She performs better under pressure," Chris explained shortly. "Usagi, your friends' lives are in danger. We need to act as quickly as possible."

"Ri... right." Usagi fumbled her communicator out from... somewhere. She began to tap wildly at the buttons. "Ami! Mako-chan! Rei! Come in! Somebody, anybody!"

There was a hiss of static from the tiny credit card-sized device, and a voice he vaguely recognised came through. "Usagi..." the voice groaned. She sounded like she was in pain, confirming his fears.

"Mako-chan, where are you? We'll come help you!" Usagi cried.

"No! Usagi, stay away! They're too strong!"

There was a sudden, violent electrical crackle over the line, and Sailor Jupiter screamed. So, Elegen at least was there. Thinking over it, Chris realised how perfectly suited Team 5 was to specific Senshi. Elegen was immune to Sailor Jupiter's thunder attacks, and his incredibly powerful electrical field would prevent her from using hand to hand attacks against him. Derzerb was impervious to flame and most everything else, making him easily able to take out Sailor Mars. And that left Thancrus for Sailor Mercury. Could he use those eel-like antennae of his to find her through her sight-obscuring mist? Even if he couldn't, Ami had no offensive capability worth mentioning at this point in the series. It would only be a matter of time.

Usagi was screaming for her friend through the communicator, but got no response. Damn it. "Was Rei going anywhere that you knew of today?"

"We were all supposed to meet at her shrine," she said absently, looking up at Chris with a shell-shocked expression.

He put a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled away in horror, and he realised too late he had used his rotting left arm for that purpose. But he pressed forward. "All right. Usagi, you need to point us to the temple so we can get there as soon as possible. If we can at least rescue Rei, that's something. We can save Ami and Makoto later. Chronos won't kill them yet, but we need to move NOW. Can you do it?" Of course she could. Usagi always rose to the needs of the moment.

And she did. Usagi stared at him, then stood, rubbing tears from her eyes, and pointed imperiously into the distance. "That way," she said, with the voice of a queen.

01010

"So, why was Akira rushing out of here in such a hurry?"

"Hmm?" Ukyou was leaning against the chainlink wall that surrounded the roof of Justice High School. She flicked a hand through her bangs, brushing the hair away from her eyes before turning to look at Ran. "She's rushing to try and find her brother. He's in danger..." Ukyou crossed her arms. "I forgot that he left right after Hyo's little failed coup attempt." Ukyou glanced over her shoulder at the main gate of the school. "I hope she finds him."

"Brother in trouble?" Ran perked up. Her reporter-senses were tingling.

"If you want, I can tell you all about it. Later." Ukyou turned her attention back to Ran. Ran shrugged, considering that as good as a promise for an exclusive interview. She stretched slightly and walked further across the roof.

"So, why exactly did you cal me? You never bothered to do so before."

"Indeed..." Ukyou shrugged, absently cracking her knuckles. "Actually I called you and Ranma. You just got here first because you live closer."

"Heh." Ran grinned. "I knew it. And I bet he's rushing over here as we speak." Ran shook her head and walked over to the chainlink. "He'd drop everything to come help you out, if you asked. You know that?"

Ukyou gave Ran a long, unreadable stare, but said nothing. Ran chuckled to herself. Ukyou must think her expressions were hard to decipher, but Ran was beginning to get into her head. That cold look meant she didn't really want to talk about the subject; at least, not that she would admit to herself.

"He really likes you. You're probably the best friend he has," Ran said, chuckling. "Too bad he doesn't have a clue that you're in love with him."

"I..." Ukyou sighed. "Okay, Ran. You're right. We need to talk about that." Ukyou shifted her stance. "I'm not blind, Ran. I saw how you and Ranma were..." Ukyou searched for the right word for a moment, waving her hand in the air. "...interacting."

"Well, if you don't want to pussyfoot around, I guess I don't either," Ran said with a smirk. "I like Ranma. A lot. He's cute and endearing in a dumb jock kind of way." Ran adjusted her vest. "I think he likes me, too."

"Good for you," Ukyou replied in a cold tone.

"You still haven't admitted that you like him. Much less how much you do."

"It's... hard for me." Ukyou said, suddenly sighing. The ice melted from her voice as she continued. "A part of me really loves Ranma. It has for... over a decade now. I'm not sure what true love is, Ran. Or even if it exists. But this is a feeling I know is as close to true love as I will probably ever get. The funny thing is... I can't really explain why. I mean... he's attractive, but for some reason that means less to me than it probably should. He's kind and loyal and honest, in his own way... but is he really something that special? I don't know if he is or not. I'm beginning to realise I barely know him at all." Ukyou crossed her arms over her breasts. "And maybe that's part of it. I want to know about him. About what he really is. I want to laugh with him and cry with him and spend the rest of my life trying to understand him." Ukyou chuckled wryly. "It sounds so stupid when I say it out loud... but I can't help the way I feel."

"It... doesn't sound stupid," Ran admitted. She was a bit taken aback by the sudden intensity in Ukyou's voice. Her tone was so calm, so warm and casual but at the same time there was a power there. Listening to her talk was like stepping into a strong current.

"Yes it does," Ukyou argued half-heartedly. "Believe me, I know." Ukyou looked up at the sky, but her eyes were closed. "Because a part of me can't help but see it as that." Ukyou frowned. "Love is an illusion to that part of me. A word society made up to make us all feel like we aren't just animals, rutting in the dark. Love at first sight? Love everlasting? Fairy tales. Wishes. Nothing but a thin veneer we put on lust and desire. And when the lust runs dry, and it ALWAYS runs dry, what happens to love then? It fades away." Ukyou grimaced in disgust. "And the thought of it disgusts me. Sex. Is that the big excuse for all the pain and idiocy? It makes me sick, thinking that us humans waste so much of our lives obsessing over such a trivial thing."

"That... is a real big load of crap." Ran chuckled. Man, for a minute there, she had almost felt sorry for Ukyou. Ukyou blinked her eyes open and looked at Ran in startlement.

"What did you say?"

"Oh please." Ran rolled her eyes. "Is that your big excuse for not telling Ranma how you feel?" Ran stepped away from the chainlink, shaking her head. "I've seen some people stuck up about sex, but you take the cake."

"It's more than that..." Ukyou hissed. "You don't understand-"

"Oh, I understand," Ran cut Ukyou off, chuckling. "The thing is, you don't." Ran spun to face Ukyou, hands on her hips. "What your real problem is, is fear."

"Fear?" Ukyou's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You think I'm afraid to tell Ranma how I feel? You don't have a clue."

"Oh yeah?" Ran said, smirking. "Prove it, then. He's on his way here. When he gets here, tell him."

"What?" Ukyou blinked.

"Tell him how you feel." Ran paused and ran a finger along the side of her neck. "No. That's too much. How about just asking him out on a date?"

"A... date..." Ukyou said slowly.

"Yes. Just a simple date." Ran smiled maliciously. "It's just a single date. Maybe dinner and a movie. No sex need be involved."

"I..."

"Heh. I thought as much." Ran walked up to Ukyou and poked her between the breasts. It was easier to do so now that Ukyou hadn't bound them up. "I tell you what: You ask him out on a date, just one date, and I'll back off. But if you don't do it... I'm going to. And if he says yes... well." Ran smiled. "I guess you have noone but yourself to blame then."

Ukyou stared into Ran's face for a long moment. Ran pulled her finger back, shaking it to try and work out a sudden chill. Ukyou opened her mouth to respond...

"Hey, there you two are!"

Both girls turned at once to see Ranma standing in the stairwell. He stepped out onto the roof, smiling like a loon. Then he stopped, suddenly moving self-consciously. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, then patted himself down.

"What? Is something going on that I should know about?" Ranma said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Nothing much, stud," Ran said, smiling and walking over to him. "Ukyou and I were just talking about girl stuff."

"Oh..." Ranma glanced at Ukyou, then back at Ran. "Whatever. I keep forgetting Ucchan is a girl."

Ran saw Ukyou wince slightly out of the corner of her eye. She smiled. "I think Ukyou has something she wanted to ask you, though."

"Well yeah," Ranma said with a grin. "She told me on the phone that we need to find Sailor Moon so we can take care of this Hayato guy. Personally, I don't see why..."

"No. Not about that." Ran glanced down, seeing that Ranma was still carrying his phone on his belt. "Isn't that right, Ukyou? Didn't you have something you wanted to ask Ranma?"

Ran took an involuntary step back at the look Ukyou was giving her. It was a look of such pure, cold hatred that Ran could feel it at the bottom of her gut. For a moment, Ran was sure Ukyou was going to attack her. Then she saw the young woman visibly relax, her fists uncurling and her body slumping.

"No, Ran." Ukyou sighed. "I..." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs. "I guess I don't have anything to say."

Ran opened her mouth, about to say something teasing. Then she stopped. For some reason, she felt bad. But she shook off the feeling. If Ukyou didn't want to fight for Ranma, she wasn't going to lose any sleep over it. Besides... it's not like she planned to marry the guy. Ranma was fun and all, but they HAD just met. Maybe if Ukyou decided to get over whatever her problem was, they could have a proper competition.

Suddenly, Ran felt she was looking forward to that.

"We have important things to discuss though," Ukyou pointed out, her voice suddenly all business. "We do need to go find Sailor Moon, Ranma. Because that is the only way we can save Hayato."

"Save him?" Ranma said, blinking. "But the guy is trying to kill you!"

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded. "And Hayato has every reason to do so. I destroyed his life. I don't blame him for wanting me dead." Ukyou frowned. "Nonetheless, I have to save him."

"Save him from what?" Ran asked leadingly.

"I never told you about the Dark Kingdom, did I?" Ukyou asked. Ran shook her head. "Hmmm. Well, to make a long story short, they are ancient monsters that want to take over the world. Jadeite, the guy I fought at Narita, was one of their leaders."

"I see..." Ran nodded, pulling a pen and notebook from her vest. "So, they have a reason to want to get back at you, since you killed one of their leaders?"

"I didn't kill him!" Ukyou snapped, then sighed. "Sorry. But... Pluto killed Jadeite. Uh, Sailor Pluto, that is. You were there."

"I'm guessing that the Dark Kingdom isn't the kind of group that splits hairs on that kind of thing," Ran deadpanned.

"You're right, they aren't." Ukyou nodded. "I'm guessing that they've been waiting for a chance to get back at me, and Hayato offered them a perfect chance."

"How so?" Ranma prompted, leaning against the chainlink and crossing his arms.

"The Dark Kingdom can... turn human beings into youma, a type of monster." Ukyou paused. "I'm not sure if that's what they've done to Hayato, or something else. But I remember him mentioning Queen Beryl: that's the ruler of the Dark Kingdom. He must have struck some sort of deal with them to overcome the damage I did to him." Ukyou's voice took on a melancholy air. "I can't blame him. But I can't... let him do this either."

"Especially since he wants to kill you," Ranma pointed out. "Listen. I can see why you have mixed feelings, but c'mon. The guy is a jerk, Ucchan. If we have to beat him down, we do it."

"Ranma... nevermind." Ukyou rubbed her neck absently. "We won't have to. Sailor Moon has the power to undo whatever the Dark Kingdom did to Hayato. If they turned him into a youma, she can heal him. If they did something else, I'm sure that she can save him."

"And what makes you think I want to be saved, Kuonji?"

Ranma reacted first. He was already launching himself into the air, pirouetting... but not fast enough. A sudden wall of water washed over them. Ran felt herself slam into the fence, the metal links pressing painfully against her cheek. She opened her mouth to scream but only swallowed water.

As suddenly as the water had come, it was gone. Ran fell to her knees, coughing and gasping. She glanced out and saw that Ranma hadn't been as lucky as her. The blast had sent him spiraling over the fence and plummeting three stories to the school grounds below. He had formed a small crater upon landing. But she could see him stirring.

"You didn't think I would give you too long to plan, did you?"

Ran turned her attention back to the roof. Hayato was standing in the center of the wide rooftop, his arms crossed and his ugly face sneering. Behind him a swirling disk of water flickered in the afternoon sunshine. Ukyou was getting to her feet next to Ran.

"Hayato..." Ukyou said slowly. "This was very stupid. Do you realize that this school is full of people as strong, if not stronger, than Ranma?"

"Of course I do," Hayato said, cocking his head to the side. "I can sense their energy. Like the bouquet of a fine wine, it drifts around this entire building."

"Then why would you be stupid enough to think-"

"Shut up."

Ran blinked. Somehow Hayato had crossed the roof without her noticing. He was now standing next to Ukyou, his hand wrapped around her throat. She coughed and clutched at his wrist.

"I did this because I wanted to prove I could kill you anytime I wanted. No one can stop me." Hayato smirked, an ugly, dangerous smirk. "And no one will."

Ran pulled a newspaper from her vest, snapping it rigid with a flick of her wrist. "Put her down..."

Even as she spoke Hayato spun and flung Ukyou. Ran's eyes widened and she dove for the girl, but her fingers fell short as Ukyou impacted the upright whirlpool and vanished. Ran grunted as she skidded along the ground. Then she felt Hayato's boot on her back.

"You don't think I'm foolish enough to fight her here?" Hayato said, laughing. "I have a special place just perfect for her demise." Hayato leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Make sure you get her friends together and come looking for her. In about a half-hour, she'll be dead. But I would hate to see you all lose the chance to bury her."

Ran tried to buck Hayato off of her, but was rewarded with a stunning kick to her side. The air exploded from her lungs and she rocked back, clutching her ribs. Hayato laughed and walked across the roof, stepping idly into the portal. Ran wanted to scream, but was too busy trying to catch her breath. Then Hayato, and his portal, were gone.

01010

Rei didn't even notice the wall giving away, nor did she notice hitting the hard tile of the shrine's courtyard and skidding across it. She didn't even notice crashing into the tree that finally halted her momentum. She was too busy feeling the aftershocks of Derzerb's casual backhand.

She groaned, trying to get her legs to work. A string of mild curses escaped her lips. She had underestimated him. She had been doing so well, dodging madly, hoping to slowly wear him down... only he had suddenly laughed and then with a casual flick of his arm had nearly killed her. If he had hit her in the head, instead of in the back, she wouldn't have been alive right now.

Somehow Rei found the strength to rise to her feet. She used the tree as a brace, but that wasn't important. She was on her feet. She could still fight...

"Heh, you're still awake!" Derzerb's gravelly voice shouted out across the courtyard. Rei looked up, glancing through half-lidded eyes at her opponent. The monster casually stepped through the wall, as if the thick oaken planks were mere paper screens. "Can you do that again? This will get boring if you go down too quickly."

"Monster..." Rei spat. She noticed that there was a bit of blood on the ground afterwards. "I can..." Rei grimaced as a sudden spasm ran up her back and her legs almost gave out. How was she supposed to fight like this?

Rei felt the ground shake beneath her. Her attention shifted back up to the huge grey-skinned monster. He had already crossed half the distance between them, his head held down so that he very much resembled a charging rhino. Rei reached down, forced the strength back into her legs, and lept.

The tree exploded. Not just fell over: the trunk literally burst into a thousand splinters flying in all directions. Rei cried out as one flashed past her face and drew blood. She twisted in mid-air, kicking off one of the surviving upper branches as it flew through the air. She landed badly, but managed to roll with it and put precious distance between her and the beast.

And the monster was laughing. She shook the dizziness from her head and rose to a combat crouch. Derzerb was shaking off the splinters of the tree like a dog shaking off water. His massive body twisted so he could glance at her.

"I wonder if you can do that again?"

"Damn..."

Rei had to face it: there was nothing she could do here. Derzerb was a monster unlike any she had ever faced before. He had even ignored her wards when she had tried to use them earlier. And at this rate, the injuries he had inflicted with that one casual blow would take her out long before he even worked up a sweat. Rei glanced around. They were in the open, and she knew she was faster than him... not much, but maybe enough...

"Ah. Thinking of running away, I see."

Rei glanced back at the monster, almost guiltily. The rhino-like creature was stalking towards her slowly, his footsteps leaving small craters in the once-pristine shrine grounds. It was impossible to tell what kind of expression his mockery of a human face was trying to form, but she could hear the smirk in his rumbling voice as he spoke.

"Foolish girl! You don't realize the enemy you face, do you?" The monster raised one hand and snapped his huge fingers. Rei frowned, wondering what he was up to. Then she heard the sound of one of the shrine's doors opening behind her.

Rei knew what she would see before she turned. A part of her told her not to look. A part of her already knew how things would go next. But like the victim in a horror movie, Rei found herself turning around anyway.

"Grandpa!" Rei shouted. Rei had never really seen her grandfather as small. She was aware of how short he was, but he had always seemed so... large and powerful to her eyes. Now, as he rested in the grasp of a hideously grinning gorilla-like creature, he looked very small indeed. He looked so small and frail. A thin trickle of blood flowed down his scalp, but Rei could see his chest rising and falling.

Derzerb laughed again, a gravelly sound that sent chills down her spine. "You didn't think we had forgotten about him, had you?" Derzerb said in the closest thing he could get to a whisper. "We know all your weaknesses, Sailor Mars. Certainly, you might be able to run. But if you do, we WILL kill him. Slowly. Painfully." Derzerb chuckled. "I am so looking forward to our fight, I would hate to think what I would do if you disappointed me." Rei turned on Derzerb. Somehow, she could no longer feel her wounds. "There's no escape!" The rumble of his laugh echoed throughout the courtyard.

"Monster..." Rei hissed. But it seemed so small, even to her. She closed her eyes, fighting back tears. She would not cry in front of that beast. She would not give him the satisfaction! There had to be some way that...

No. She couldn't defeat Derzerb. Even if she somehow destroyed that other monster and grabbed her grandfather, he would slow her down when she tried to escape. She wasn't that much faster than Derzerb, as he had already proven. Plus she was injured.

But she had to get away. Rei could not defeat this monster... but Sailor Moon could. His impenetrable shell, his massive strength... all his advantages would be like dust in the wind before Sailor Moon's ability to return him to his human state. Rei opened her eyes, and looked at Derzerb again.

He hadn't moved. He was standing in the courtyard with his arms crossed, waiting for her decision. He was reveling in her agony. Maybe being turned back into a human was too good... no. That wasn't the way. Rei let out a long slow breath. She couldn't afford to let her emotions cloud her judgement here.

Any of her emotions.

"Come here, girl," Derzerb growled, gesturing with one giant hand. "Bow at my feet, and maybe then I'll spare your grandfather."

Rei turned her head, brushing a few stray locks out of her eyes as she took a long look at her grandfather. The creature holding him saw her and it raised one clawed finger up to the old priest's neck. And then Rei did cry. But just one tear. She wiped it away with one finger.

"I'm sorry."

Rei didn't really remember the next few minutes. When she could see anything else beside flashing memories of her grandfather, she was already on a rooftop somewhere else in the city. She forced herself to a stop.

Rei collapsed to her knees, unable to breathe. No. She couldn't let this stop her. She couldn't let it be in vain. She rose up, orienting herself. Somehow, in her rush, she had run in the correct direction. Rei looked in the direction of Usagi's school. As she did she focused, the same way she always focused when she was using the sacred flame. The focus that required you to put aside all transient mortal concerns was what she needed now.

Rei took off, faster than she even knew she could. She would get there in time. She had to get there in time. Somehow the pain of her injuries had faded away. Was this some power of her Senshi heritage, or just a result of her focus? Rei didn't know, or really care. As long as it worked, she would be grateful and leave it at that.

Rei was probably only a few blocks away from Usagi's school when she heard Sailor Moon call out to her. At first, Rei wasn't sure she was hearing correctly, but a quick glance confirmed it. Sailor Moon was bounding across the buildings towards her. Rei opened her mouth, but words failed her. Thought failed her.

"Rei! You're okay!" Rei stood like a statue as Usagi crashed into her and enveloped her in a ferocious hug. "You escaped! Oh, god, I was so worried!"

Rei felt the tears that fell from Usagi's cheeks as they dropped onto her chest. She reached up with one arm and awkwardly patted the girl on the back.

"It's okay," she said, and was surprised at how calm and happy she sounded.

"Rei, the monsters... they attacked me at the school! They know who I am!"

"I know." Rei wondered who it was that was sounding so sympathetic and... normal. It certainly wasn't her. But whoever was speaking was using her voice, was comforting Usagi. Someone was making her go through the motions.

Then Rei felt her heart skip a beat. It WAS her that was doing this. She was acting like this was just the aftermath of another of their fights. She was acting like she hadn't just sacrificed her grandfather to the monsters she had sworn to oppose.

Because if she didn't act that way, Usagi would know what she had done.

And Usagi must never know.

"I apologise for interrupting, but we can't stay here."

Rei only realised there were other people present when the unfamiliar voice spoke up. She looked up from Usagi's shoulder and saw them. There were three of them.

The leader was a boy, slightly older than Rei, with a messy bowlcut and vaguely aristocratic features. He was dressed in a leather coat, t-shirt and jeans and stood on the roof nearby with an air of impatient energy about him. But there was something WRONG about him. Rei could see how pale his skin was, and how glassy his eyes seemed... but there was something wrong about him that went beyond that, and Rei wasn't sure she could pin it down.

His companions seemed more normal. Well, at least the girl did. She was obviously Chinese, with an extremely generous figure clad in a silk pantsuit that was designed to do little to hide that fact. The only thing odd about her was the sword she held casually in one hand. The little old... woman? Yes, woman. The old woman that stood nearby was perhaps the oldest and most shrunken person Rei had ever seen. But she was human. Even if Rei did feel her mystic senses tingling in the old woman's presence almost as much as they did when she was near her sacred flame.

"That's right," Usagi pulled away from Rei suddenly and turned to the boy. "We have to go help the others now!"

The boy crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, we already know that Makoto was defeated. Ami doesn't really have any defenses, and we can assume she has already fallen as well."

"But-"

"I'm not planning to leave them, Usagi!" the boy said in a half-shout. "We are going to rescue them. But we can't do anything now. Especially because we don't know where they are."

"Excuse me," Rei broke in. "But who are you? What is going on here?"

The boy looked at her and bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself right away. I'm afraid this is a little confusing." The boy rose up and Rei noticed that one of his arms was twitching spasmadically, but he didn't seem to notice. "My name is Chris. And this is Shampoo and Cologne." He gestured to the girl and the old woman in turn.

Rei nodded her head. "And you already know who I am," she said, her voice coming out a bit more icily than she would have liked.

Chris's lip quirked up a little bit, as if at some private jest. "Yes, well, we rescued Usagi from the attack on her and were coming to your place to do the same."

"I see."

Rei's voice remained level. But inside, she felt a little bit of herself die. It had... it had... Grandpa...

But outside she remained calm and in control. No matter what, she would NOT let her decision be in vain.

"Anyway I know you probably have some questions about who we are, but let's just say that we are concerned citizens who decided to lend a hand when we heard about the attacks." The boy sighed. "Longer explanations will have to wait. For the moment we need to get to a safer place than this, before Chronos can find you again."

"Wait a moment," Usagi piped up. "Where is Tuxedo Kamen?"

"How should I know?" Chris barked in exasperation, throwing his arms to the side.

"Hey," Rei shouted, stepping between Chris and her princess. "She's just concerned. If this Chronos is after us, it may be after him as well." Rei paused, thinking. She hated to say it, but it was the truth. "They might also be after Ukyou and a few other people that have helped us out on occasion."

The boy visibly calmed down, sighed and rubbed his twitching arm absently. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just under a bit of stress right now."

"These discussions can wait until we have found shelter and safety," the old woman broke in smoothly.

"Also right," the boy said with a nod. "Follow me."

01010

Seras stumbled to her feet, her breath coming in short gasps, despite the fact that she no longer had to breath.

"Ah, Miss Victoria, I see you made it..."

"W-walter?" Seras looked up. She didn't need to. She could smell the blood. Walter's blood. She didn't know how she could tell it was his blood, but she knew, in that deep secret part of her mind that she preferred not to think about. Sure enough she could see him leaning against the wall. His right hand was clenched onto the side of his neck, and she could see the blood pouring out from between his fingers.

"Oh, this?" Walter smiled. Sometime since they had parted ways in the basement he had lost his monocle. His face looked even older and wearier without it. Or perhaps that was because of how dramatically pale he was. "It's just a flesh wound. Nothing to worry your pretty head over."

"But Walter, there's so much blood..."

"Heh." Walter winced, but his smile never faltered. "I've fought on with worse before. I can do so at least one more time. I'm just not as fast as I used to be. Didn't expect that young pup to catch me so off-guard..."

"Walter, we have to get you to a doctor..." Seras moaned, clutching her fist in front of her mouth. It wasn't just because she was worried about him. It was also because she wanted to keep her mouth closed, to keep herself from... thinking about the dark, thick liquid that was oozing between his fingers. But a part of her couldn't stop thinking about it.

"No!" Walter suddenly shouted. "Listen, we don't have much time. There are two of them. They only slowed down because I collapsed the roof on them. They should be here any second. You have to get to Sir Integra and protect her."

"Protect her?" Seras blinked.

"Hey, you two bitches!" a voice shouted from down the hallway. Seras ducked involuntarily as the retort of a machine gun filled the air. Woodchips and plaster flew around the corner as the bullets chewed apart the wall they had taken shelter behind. She could hear the unsteady shuffle of the ghouls as they stagger-marched down the hall towards them. "Is this what Hellsing does? Hides and prays? Huh, fuck that, man! You two get out here and fucking die like good little cows!" There was a burst of manic laughter. "I know you can hear me, old man! Don't think I won't pay you back for what you did to my eye!" Another burst of gunfire roared down the hall.

"Miss Victoria... no, Seras..." Walter reached out with his free hand and Seras stared at it. His sleeve had been torn off, and a vicious-looking bullet wound was pumping blood steadily from his shoulder. "Sir Integra must survive this day. She is strong and smart and powerful, but she isn't ready for this..." Walter coughed.

Gunfire roared again. Seras shouted and ducked around the corner. She spotted a line of the undead steadily approaching up the hallway. Two figures were standing in front of the pack. On the right was a tall, blond man in an immaculate white suit. The other was a shorter man with a swarthy complexion. He wore a snow-cap with an eye symbol on it, giving one the illusion he had three eyes. Or it would have, had his left eye not been missing.

"Oh, a she-bitch..." the shorter man said with a leer. "Maybe I'll pause for some fun..." Then his words trailed off as the grenades Seras had rolled down the hall came to a stop at his feet. He blinked.

"Yan, you idiot!" the other shouted. Then there was a blur of white and both of the men vanished. The line of ghouls behind them was gone a moment later, torn apart in the explosion. The pieces of their ceramic riot shields went flying in every direction from the force of the blast, some cutting into the ranks of ghouls marching further down the hallway.

"Walter, we have to hurry. I don't think that got them..." Seras said, turning back to Walter. She paused, seeing that he was standing up again. His face was calm, and showed no more sign of pain.

"Seras, you got Alucard to safety?" Walter asked slowly. Seras nodded. There was something about Walter's voice that was almost hypnotic, and she couldn't work up the will to speak. "Good. Find Sir Integra and bring her to the same location." He stepped towards the corner, his shoes clapping along the hardwood floor of the Hellsing mansion. "She'll be with the Round Table. She won't want to leave them. The men at the table represent the most powerful nobles, businessmen and military leaders in England, and she sees it as her duty to protect them."

"Wait, Walter, you have to come with..."

"Hush now." Walter said.

"Damnit, Yan, stop being such a loudmouth!" the voice of the other monster, much more sophisticated-sounding than the first, came around the corner. "You were so busy talking you almost died, again!"

"Aww, bro," Yan said, laughing maniacally again. "Don't spoil my fun!"

"We don't have time to debate," Walter said, frowning. "You HAVE to get Integra out of here. She has the strength to save England from what is coming. But not now. She learned to rely too much on Alucard, but given time..." he trailed off.

"Walter, what are you saying?" Seras began to shake.

"Do whatever it takes." Walter took another step towards the corner. "Oh... and take this." He reached into his coat and pulled out a long black gun. It looked like the one her master used, but slightly different as well. "It was meant for Alucard, but with him indisposed..." He grimaced and a sudden spurt of blood flew from between his fingers, drawing a long line across a portrait on the wall. "Damn... just take it, Seras! Take it and go!"

Seras lurched back as Walter shoved the weapon into her chest. She stumbled and dropped her own machine gun, struggling to catch the massive handgun as it bounced off her breasts. By the time she had regained her balance, Walter had stepped fully around the corner. He dropped his hand from his wound, and Seras saw flashes of silver unraveling between his hands. She took a long look at the vicious bite wound on his neck and gulped.

"Heh. Hey, old geezer! Not so mouthy now, are you?" Yan shouted from around the corner. "I was planning on finishing you off slow, but your blood tastes like shit. I want a taste of that girl you're hiding. And maybe when I'm through with her, I can rape that whore you call a master, huh?"

"You will never lay hands on Sir Integra," Walter said slowly. He glanced over at Seras meaningfully. She stepped back, shaking her head.

"No," she mouthed silently. She wouldn't leave him. He was in no condition to fight. Not against two vampires. She had to help. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the huge firearm in her left hand.

"Oh, come now," the other voice said, sounding bored. "Is this the best you have to offer? Where is Alucard? I came here to have my match against the best there is!"

"Go ahead," Walter taunted, but his eyes slipped in Seras' direction again. "I'm the only opponent you need to fight tonight."

That was when Seras hand went slack. She almost lost her grip on the gun. Before she knew it she was dashing down the hallway, blinking away tears. Walter had always been so nice to her. He was the only one, the only one that treated her like she was still a human being. The only one that didn't seem to care if she drank the blood or not...

Behind her there was a single gunshot. A second later this was followed by the thump of something falling wetly against the floor.

Seras was already several hallways away, but her superhuman senses heard this anyway. She kept running, and soon found herself in front of the doors to the round table room. Normally she would have knocked, but Seras didn't waste time on that. Drawing on strength she didn't even know she had, she brought up one foot and smashed in the door with a single boot. The door crumbled and clattered inside. It was nearly five centimeters thick and had a core of solid steel.

"Victoria!" Integra Hellsing shouted as she stood up. Behind her the long table of the meeting room stretched. The twelve members that held most of the reins of power in England sat in their chairs, each holding a pistol. They looked like men. Not giants of industry, or commanders of armies, but just men, holding pistols. And under their stoic faces, Seras could smell their fear.

Sir Integra was the only one who wasn't afraid. She strode forward, her black suit causing her form to blend partially into the shadows of the room. Her long blonde hair billowed around her head, and her eyes flashed behind her glasses. "You'd better have an excellent reason for doing that," Sir Integra growled as she stepped up to Seras.

"Yes." Seras looked into Sir Integra's eyes and saw that there was no fear there. There was only determination, and rage. Rage at what had happened to her men? Rage at Seras for breaking the convention's last line of defense? Rage at her own impotence? Seras would perhaps never know. But she knew, looking into those eyes, that Sir Integra would never abandon this room. She would fight the vampires and their army of ghouls when they arrived. Fight them with only a pistol and her courage. She would die defending these sick, fat cowards. "I'm sorry, Sir Integra."

From the way the other woman's eyes widened, Seras knew that Sir Integra had guessed her intention. But Seras moved with inhuman speed, and delivered a sharp rap with the butt of the black handgun to the side of her commanding officer's head. The woman staggered to the side, her eyes rolling back, and collapsed like a marionette with its string cut. Seras knew she would be okay. She had been trained for years by the English police, and knew how to subdue a suspect without inflicting permanent harm.

"You there! What are you doing?"

Seras looked up at the fat man who had shouted at her. She had already lifted up Sir Integra with one arm. She flicked her gaze over the twelve men inside. Only one of them wasn't staring at her in shock. He was taller than the others, thinner and somehow more distinguished. He nodded at her when her eyes paused on him. Somehow, that made her feel better.

"Escaping." Seras told them shortly and began to sprint away down the hall. She heard one of the men dash into the hallway after her.

"Wait, come back here! What about us?"

There was a single crack of a gunshot. Seras turned and saw one of the round table members collapsing to the ground, his left leg missing below the knee. Further down the hallway the two vampires stood. The one in white was still pointing his antique-looking pistol at the man, smoke drifting from its muzzle. His dark-clothed companion was laughing.

"You all get to DIE!" Yan screamed, laughing hysterically. "But that's not all! Let's tell them what they've won! Yes, you too have won a chance to be slowly and brutally tortured to death by a pack of cannibal undead! And as a take home prize, you get to rise as our new slaves and help us burn this fucking city to the GROUND!"

"Damn..." Seras paused in an intersection. The two brothers had noticed her, and she was sure if she tried to sprint to safety that she would get shot in the back. She had to get out of here...

"RUN!"

Seras blinked as three of the convention members jumped into the hallway, pistols blazing. Seras recognized the tall one leading them. She didn't wait to see what would happen. She dashed to the nearest window and was through it a second later. She almost screamed as she plummeted three stories to the ground, but her vampiric strength came to her rescue again as she landed lightly, without so much as jogging the unconscious woman over her shoulders. Seras then began to run, run away from the sounds of gunfire and screams, run like the devil himself was on her heels.

Because, maybe he was.

01010

"Damn, he got here early, over!"

Link peered around the corner as well, and saw that Pink was correct. Adon was a tall man, wearing little besides a pair of boxing shorts, a red and blue armband on one arm, and tape on his hands and feet. His ferociously red hair jutted backward and forward almost like the crest of a bird, held out of his face by a yellow headband. If there was an ounce of fat on the man's body, Link couldn't see it: all of his considerable amount of exposed skin seemed filled almost to bursting with rippling, steel-hard muscle. There was nothing casual about his posture: he was here ready for and willing to take part in a fight.

In a word, he looked dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Every inch the God of Muay Thai he was said to be. And Pink planned to kill him? Link would almost have laughed, were her own welfare not so dependant on her twins'. "Well," she whispered, "at least his back is turned. But don't count on a martial artist like him not noticing us for long. I hope you have a plan, over."

"Of... of course I do, over!" Pink hissed back. "You just watch. He won't be expecting the mandragora, and no matter how strong he is, that will defeat him. After all," she said, her usual smirk resuming, "I have it on good authority even the mighty Ranma Saotome fell to it in Volume 29."

Link rolled her eyes, and stepped back. "Go ahead. Just don't get yourself killed, over."

"You aren't going to help, over?"

Link's lip curled just a bit. "I don't want anything to do with this. I'm here because I have to be, over."

Her twin stared at her for a moment, then her expression hardened. "Fine. See if I care, over."

Link peeked around the corner as her twin strode towards Adon. The martial artist noticed her almost immediately, of course. As he turned, Link got her first view of the face of the man they had come here to kill. He looked... well, like a bird. His beady little eyes and sharp nose added to the impression she'd gotten from his hair; Link almost expected him to have a beak. But he had a mouth, a wide mouth twisted into what looked like a permanent sneer, teeth bared more in challenge than greeting.

Link chuckled a bit to herself. What a cute couple Adon and Pink would make, with those two ever-present smirks.

Adon was speaking now. "Who are you, and what do you know?" His voice was high-pitched, a hint of whining in it even as he was obviously being threatening.

"I'm Pink, over," her twin said, bowing slightly. "And I'll tell you everything I said I could. But first-"

Adon cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. "No 'but first'. Talk, or I'll break your arms."

Pink gave him a disgusted look. "You're in Japan. Things work a little differently here than in Thailand. Patience and calmness... you know, Zen stuff, over." She took out a jar and began sprinking water around the area. Link prudently pulled out a pair of earplugs. She didn't want to be caught by the mandragora herself, after all. "So first," Pink continued, "We purify the area like so, over."

"Cut the crap," Adon snapped. "You're no more Japanese than I am!"

"Yes, but I am entranced by the beauty of... you know, their culture and crap," Pink explained, throwing the rest of the water around. "And now..." she smiled slowly. "EARPLUGS IN, OVER!"

Adon stared at her as Pink pulled out a pair of earplugs and shoved them in her ears. Then she took out a handful of seeds and scattered them. When the small black seeds drifted to the ground, touching the water Pink had scattered out previously, the small white human-shaped roots of the mandragora instantly erupted all over the area. Link hastily put in her own earplugs just as Pink bent down and ripped one of the mandragoras from the ground. Faintly, Link could just barely hear the blood-curdling scream the root emitted at being ripped up, but the earplugs blocked out the lethal effect that scream had on all who heard it clearly. Which would definitely take care of Adon...

Except that sometime around then, Adon had apparently ripped off some of the tassels attached to his headband and shoved them in his ears. He was glaring down at her twin.

How on earth had he known to put earplugs in?

Pink was staring at the martial artist, gaping open-mouthed. That didn't last long, however, as Adon then punched her in the face. Hard. Link winced, feeling an echo of her twin's pain as Pink skidded back along the grass and crashed into the wall. Before she had any chance to recover, Adon stalked forward, grabbing Pink by the collar and jerking her into the air. He cuffed her across the face twice, knocking the earplugs out, and removed his own as he began yelling something at her.

Well, no matter how Adon had figured out the secret of what to do, best to put a stop to that. There was a mandragora which had grown near her. Link leaped out at it, and Adon noticed the movement and spun, but he was a martial artist, and his instinct was to strike a defensive position. Which was his undoing, since this time he didn't have a chance to put in earplugs before Link tore the mandragora from the ground. A moment later, Adon's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.

Of course, so had Pink. Link removed her own earplugs and carefully secreted them away as she walked over to stare down at the two bodies. Well, this had worked out remarkably well. Link ALMOST smiled. Then she got to work.

A few moments later, Pink raised herself to a sitting position, then immediately groaned and raised a hand to her face. Her eye was already swollen; there'd be a nasty bruise there and on her cheek for awhile, Link guessed. "Thanks, over," Pink grunted as she returned to her feet. She kicked the unconscious Adon in the side, then staggered from a combination of vertigo and the fact the martial artist's side was probably as hard as stone. "Stupid spiky-haired loser! How dare he! I'm going to enjoy watching him die, over!"

"Maybe," Link said smoothly, "but not yet, over."

Pink stared at her out of her good eye. "What, over?"

Link held up the other half of the mandragora antidote she'd mixed up. "You said we didn't have time to talk about this on the way over. Well, now we have time, and we're going to talk, over."

"Talk... about what, over?"

Link folded her arms. She'd been letting Pink take the lead in this situation for too long. But no more. "You dragged me into this. I don't want to kill this man just to deliver that undead freak a new body, over."

"You don't have to," Pink snapped back. "I'm going to do it, over!"

Link shrugged. "It's almost the same thing. And I won't let it happen, over."

"And what do you plan to do, over?" Pink sneered at her.

"Give him this antidote and let him hit you a few more times before I explain we were sent by Chris and lead the guy right to him. I'm sure Chris can tell our friend what he wants to know, and if not... well, I don't really care. I can drag you out of the way, over."

Pink blanched. "Now... wait just... I'll kill him before you can-"

"I'll just give him the antidote to anything you use. You know I can, my dear twin," and once again, Link almost smiled. "Since, after all, isn't that what I spent much of our childhood doing for random strangers, over?"

Pink stared at her for a moment, her fingers clenching and unclenching. She looked down at Adon, plots obviously running through her mind, but Link wasn't worried. Pink had been working on the lethality of her poisons, but given Adon was apparently stronger than Sentarou or Kodachi had been, Link estimated he'd take at least thirty seconds to die. Plenty of time to whip up something.

Finally, Pink stomped her foot. "Fine! What do you want from me, over?"

"Now we're getting somewhere," Link said. "You told me about Ryugenzawa, from Chris's journals. Remember, over?"

"Ryugenzawa? That place with the giant animals and the guy who forgets everything, over?"

Link nodded. "Precisely. But it also had something called the Moss of Life, which can heal any injury. I want to study it. So we're going there, over."

And that was true; she did want to study a plant like that. It wasn't the -whole- reason... but it was all Pink needed to know for the moment.

Pink thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay. How do we get Chris to go, over?"

"That's your problem," Link said coldly. "I'm sure you can think of some way to convince him... you've been so good at that up until now, over."

For a moment, Pink's eyes burned with hate, but that quickly died. There wasn't much point, when it came down to it, to either of them holding a grudge against the other. "Fine, you win. Now can I kill him, over?"

Link turned away. "Be my guest. And then we haul him to where Chris said? Won't he be surprised. It's getting to be a regular body-dumping ground, over."

She could hear the smile in her twin's voice back in full force even as the sound of her rummaging around in her pack for poisons rose ominously. "Oh no. You said it yourself - Chris's body is on its last legs. And he's going to go fight some sort of horrible monsters, over?"

"Yes," Link said after a moment's thought, "that will probably accelerate the process more than he wants, over."

"Exactly. I'm thinking he'll be VERY happy to see us. So he'll owe me another one. Which ought to get us to that Ryugenzawa, over."

"But do you know where he's going, over?"

"Hee hee. Don't worry. I know EXACTLY where - and who - he's going to go to, over."

01010

Chris landed lightly in the Tendo's backyard. He looked around, but still saw no evidence of surveillance placed on the dojo, and Cologne had also said it seemed clear. Guess the Tendo Dojo was still below Chronos' radar. Which was good. If they'd been spotted here, the Tendo family was all in the same sort of danger that all of the Senshi and their families were in, and he didn't want to feel responsible for that.

All the more reason to conduct his business quickly. Well, as quickly as would be possible. He hadn't really wanted to come here. He didn't like or trust Ukyou much; not only for deceiving him back then, but also from everything he'd heard about her since, she had definitely turned into quite the not-nice person.

But he needed her here. If they were going to rescue the kidnapped Sailor Senshi, they'd need to raid Mount Minakami, Chronos' main base of operations in Japan. It would be incredibly dangerous and difficult, not only because of the remaining Hyper-Zoanoid Team 5, but the fact that at least two of the nigh-omnipotent zoalords, Reichmann Gyro and Doctor Valkus, resided there. Carrying off something like that... it was beyond his abilities, even with his allies. Ukyou KNEW what they'd be up against in a way he couldn't explain to the others, and Ranma's skills would be invaluable. He didn't like it, and she probably wouldn't either, but the fate of the world literally hung in the balance. They could work together this once, at least.

He heard the others landing behind him as he strode towards the back porch. That reminded him he'd have to warn the Senshi about what had just happened to their lives, too. But later.

Soun and Genma were on the porch, playing shogi, in a scene that might as well have been straight out of the manga. Or it was until they turned around and stared blankly at the small army of colourfully-clad characters who had descended upon their home.

"Hi there, sorry to barge in, fate of the world at stake," Chris said before they could question him. "Where's Ukyou?"

"I wouldn't know," Genma said, crossing his arms.

"Fine, well, Ranma should. Could you call him down?"

"Ranma ran out when one of his friends called him on that... phone-thing he picked up." Soun said, then turned back to Genma. "By the way, Saotome, I've been meaning to ask... where DID he get such a strange contraption?"

"I don't know," Genma said, pushing up his glasses. "But the ungrateful boy refuses to let me pawn it, and I'll bet it's worth-"

"Excuse me," Chris broke in, a little impatiently. Just his luck, neither of them here. "Is Akane here, at least?"

"Oh yes," Soun nodded. "She's in the dojo practicing." Then his eyes widened, and he smacked a fist into his palm. "Wait! I know now! Those two... those are the Sailor Senshi girls that helped save my precious Nabiki!"

The old man leaped to his feet and ran over to embrace Usagi and Rei, tears predictably coming from his eyes. Chris ignored him, and stepped close to Genma. "Look. If anyone comes to the door and asks, make sure NOBODY mentions any of us were here. There's very dangerous people after those girls. VERY DANGEROUS. Kill-you-dangerous."

Genma began to sweat. Visibly. Very visibly. "And you brought them HERE?"

"Like I said, fate of the world at stake. I meant that literally. We'll leave as quickly as possible to avoid endangering you, I'm just warning you not to talk about it."

Genma stared at Chris, recoiling a bit. Well, he'd sure make certain nobody put his hide in danger. One step hopefully accounted for. He turned around, started heading towards the dojo. Usagi seemed to be a bit taken aback by Soun's teary affection. Rei, on the other hand, almost seemed to not be noticing. Strange, but not very important. Cologne was calmly smoking her pipe on the rock by the koi pond, while Shampoo was standing at the wall, as far away from the dojo as she could, looking grumpy. That was right, she hated Ranma's guts. 'Funny' turn of circumstances, that. He wondered how Ukyou had managed it.

Putting that out of his mind, he stepped into the dojo. The damage from his battle with Shampoo had been repaired, unsurprisingly. Akane was indeed in here, dressed in her yellow gi and flowing smoothly through a series of violent- looking katas.

Actually, she was flowing VERY smoothly. More smoothly than Akane should have been, from his estimates. Obviously the changed events had caused her to train a lot harder - he guessed she was probably around... well, Shampoo's level. Surprising.

As he gazed at her, Akane noticed him. She finished her kata nonetheless, and turned to look at him for a long moment. Then she walked to the side of the room, and grabbed a towel to dry the sweat off her forehead before walking towards him. "Hello, Chris," she said. Her voice wasn't hostile, at least: just a little questioning. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Actually, and unfortunately, yes. There's a very big problem, and I'm going to need help with it. I was hoping you'd know where Ranma and Ukyou are."

Akane looked down at the floor, and sighed for a moment before raising her head up to meet his gaze again. "I really... have no idea where Ukyou is. We've... fallen out of touch."

Damn. Hoist by his own petard. Of course, what Ukyou had done to Akane was reprehensible, but he still could really use her help. "Hmm. Well, it can't be helped, I guess. How about Ranma?"

"He said something about going to help Ukyou find Sailor Moon and then rushed out of the house... like, about a half hour ago."

Chris stared. Then he laughed. It wasn't quite a Kodachi laugh, but it was still pretty hearty, enough so that he leaned against the dojo wall for a moment for support.

Akane blinked, then continued to slowly dry herself off with the towel, giving him a "you are weird" look out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "It's just that's so ironic. Since, as it turns out, Sailor Moon is here with me, in the backyard."

"Oh?" Akane said, walking towards the exit to the dojo. "Is Sailor Mercury here too? I actually kind of wanted to see her again."

His laughter ceased, and he spoke seriously. "No. That is in fact the problem. The Sailor Senshi were attacked by a huge, powerful, evil organisation that wanted to kidnap them."

Akane broke in at that point. "You mean, a different one than the Dark Kingdom?"

"Considerably. Let me put it this way: comparing the Dark Kingdom to these guys is like comparing Kunou to, say, Jadeite."

Akane raised an eyebrow as she slid open the door. "In terms of how dangerous they are, or how nasty they are?"

"Both," he said grimly. "I managed to save Sailor Moon, and Sailor Mars escaped somehow, but the other two were captured. And that's very bad."

"Okay, what are these bad guys going to do with them?"

Chris gave her the quick rundown on Chronos as she led him into the backyard. Or started to, until about his third sentence, where she froze, and then swung around to stare at him with eyes that increasingly widened through the rest of his explanation.

As he finished explaining the horror that had occured at Usagi's school, he was cut off by a loud clatter. Both he and Akane turned to see Kasumi's back retreating into the interior of the house. A tray carrying tea - of course - lay forgotten on the ground.

He turned back to Akane. "Anyway, you see this is a big, big problem. I don't think, even with my allies, I can handle this alone. I don't want to risk leaving them in Chronos' clutches. I didn't want to put you guys in danger, but I didn't know who else I could turn to on such short notice."

Akane gazed at Chris for a moment, then stepped around him and moved towards Sailor Moon. "I'm not strong, I'm not fast, I'm not brilliant," she said, almost to herself, but loud enough for everyone to hear. "But I owe you for what you did for my sister. I'm going to help you save your friends... and your family."

Usagi stood straighter, sort of shrugging off Soun without seeming to do so. Her stance... it changed. Chris knew it was just her going into her Regal Mode; aside from half an hour or so ago, he'd seen it plenty of times even in the limited amount of Sailor Moon he'd watched, but in reality, and this close, it was still impressive. She hardly seemed like herself, really.

She stepped forward and put her hand on Akane's shoulder; her face was solemn, determined, and yet cheerful and radiant at the same time. "Thank you. But you're the one who really saved all of us back then. Whatever help you offer, I'll accept without hesitation, and be honoured for it."

Akane blushed. And then was almost dragged to the side as her father's clutching grasp impacted her side like a missile. "Akane! I forbid you to go out to fight evil murdering organisations of monsters that control the world from the shadows!"

"Dad..." Akane started, seeming even more embarrassed. And then she staggered again as Usagi, all semblance of dignity vanished, glomped onto her from the other side.

"But she prommiiiiiiised!" Usagi cried, tears streaming.

At this point, Cologne coughed, not loudly, but in such a way that everyone automatically stopped what they were doing to focus on her. "As much as I enjoy the emotional spectacle, children, I must point out that this girl alone will not be able to make the difference in this struggle."

Chris nodded. "That's right. We do have some time before we can rescue Jupiter and Mercury, because it's a long trip to Mount Minakami. However, other matters demand more immediate attention." He turned and affixed the two senshi with a serious look. "Usagi. Rei. I know you don't know me, and I'm not trying to give you orders. I'm just telling you the truth. You, with our help, have to immediately, and I mean -immediately-, go and rescue your families. And by 'rescue', I mean you are going to have to take them from your homes, and they are going to come here, and they are never going home ever again. Neither are you."

They had nothing immediately to say to that, so he continued. "You must understand that your lives, as you knew them, are over. Chronos knows your identities, and they won't forget. Your families will be leverage against you. They hopefully haven't done anything yet because they were expecting to capture you, but they WILL target your families. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon. There is nothing they will not do to get at you. They will kidnap your families, torture them, turn them into zoanoids, or kill them. Whatever it takes. They have to vanish. So does Ami's family. And so do you."

Rei gave him a long, expressionless look. Then she turned around and walked to the back of the yard.

Usagi's expression was considerably more animated. And wet. "But... I don't wanna vanish! I was just about to ask Motoki out!"

He wanted to snap at her, but tried to keep his temper this time. Still, his voice had a edge of hostility even to him. "Usagi. Remember what they did to the people at your school. You can't let them near your family. You understand, right?"

Sailor Moon shook her head violently, her pigtails whipping about her in an absurd fashion. "No no no, I can't do this! If I tell my parents about all of this, they'll ground me for-"

"Usagi!" Rei barked. She still hadn't turned around. "Stop being such a crybaby and get ready to do what he says!" Then she turned, stalking back towards them. "We'll disappear from here, but we can set up new lives somewhere else. We'll just have to be more careful, so they can't find us out again."

Usagi seemed to be cowed by Rei, at least for the moment. Chris nodded, thankful the raven-haired priestess had lost her temper before he had. "All right. That's step one. Since Ukyou's actually looking for Sailor Moon, she or Ranma should come to us soon; if nothing else, Ranma will come home. Then we can set out to save Ami and Makoto."

"Ukyou is looking for me?" Usagi said, tilting her head to the side.

"We don't need her help!" Rei snapped instantly.

"Hmmm? From the way Chris has described this Ukyou, I for one would think her help would be invaluable," Cologne pointed out, waving her pipe in Rei's direction. Rei frowned at her.

"Granny is right," Akane said with a sigh and crossed her arms. "Ukyou may be... a bit of a bitch, but she's very good at winning. She also knows the future, so she probably knows as much about this Chronos thing as Chris here does."

"The future?" Rei's eyes flashed. "You mean the future she is going to destroy?"

A long silence filled the Tendo's backyard in the wake of that verbal hand grenade.

"Rei! Don't tell me you believe that..."

"Face it, Usagi, that boy was telling us the truth. He tried to warn us, before we took his Rainbow Crystal." Rei tossed her head, her long locks flying behind her. "He warned us that evil wanted to separate and destroy us. And we dismissed his warnings. Just like you dismissed his warning about Ukyou."

"Warnings about Ukyou?" Akane said loudly. Chris turned his gaze to her, but remained quiet. For some reason, he couldn't think of anything to say, even though he had a million things he wanted to say.

"You haven't heard them, then?" Rei walked up to Akane. "Ukyou is going to be the end of us. Of this world. Of everything. That's why Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time, is after her. One day Ukyou will be fighting a terrible opponent in the future and she will tap into some sort of dangerous power... and when she unleashes it at full force, it will unmake everything!"

"You can't be serious!" Akane insisted.

"I can and I am," Rei snarled. "I don't see why we should place our faith in someone who is destined to become our enemy!"

"Ukyou would never hurt..." Akane suddenly trailed off. Rei frowned and stepped closer to her.

"You've seen it, haven't you?"

"No. I have no idea what this whole destiny thing is-"

"No. I mean... you've seen something about Ukyou. You've seen her use it. The dangerous power Urawa warned us about." Rei nodded. "You don't have to confirm it, I can see it in your eyes."

Akane had nothing to say to that.

But Chris did. "You're serious? Sailor Pluto and... that psychic guy, whatshisname, told you Ukyou is going to destroy the future?"

"Sailor Pluto didn't tell us directly," Rei said, her voice a little calmer, but still smouldering with anger underneath. "But she told us Ukyou was the Enemy. And she's been trying to kill Ukyou ever since we first met both of them."

"But... why? I don't like Ukyou, but... what is she supposed to do? Why?"

"Like I said. She gets into a fight against some opponent, and she's got scars and tattoos and such by then. The details don't seem to be important. But what she does is... some sort of attack that unmakes the universe. Turns it into complete nothingness. The end of Time. Whatever you want to call it."

Chris stared. This made no sense. Ukyou was drunk with her power, manipulative, selfish... but there was no reason for her to do that. None at all.

Rei tapped her chin. "He also said it was going to happen because Ukyou gave in to some sort of force. Something inside her."

Something inside her...

Unmaking everything...

A memory suddenly snapped into Chris's mind, as clear as if it had been yesterday, and not years and lifetimes ago.

He remember walking back into the living room of the apartment he'd shared with his girlfriend Jenn and Rob Kelk. Aaron was on the couch, then, watching the TV. Super-deformed Oh My Goddess characters cavorted around it in mildly amusing fashion. Neither of them liked that series (to say the least), but Rob had enthusiastically "encouraged" them to watch the Mini-Goddess offshoot while Aaron was up for his annoyingly brief visit. And, of course, Aaron would watch pretty much anything someone turned on in front of him, rather than argue, so that's what they watched. It helped that it wasn't THAT bad. At least Belldandy wasn't in it much.

Chris popped open the can of Coke, and sat down again on the couch. He shifted position to get the weight off his bad hip. Mini-Goddesses was all right. But not so enthralling he wouldn't talk through it. "You know, the whole premise of Oh My Goddess was the first thing that pissed me off about it."

"Everything pisses you off," Aaron said unconcernedly, leaning back and closing his eyes. He did that a lot. Mostly to be annoying.

"Well, consider - Keiichi got a wish. A WISH, from the closest thing to God that exists in that world. Does he wish for peace for mankind? For a cure for cancer? To be a god himself? For anything even remotely useful? No. He wants an effing HOUSEMAID cum sex toy. This is supposed to be a guy who deserved a noble reward? He's supposed to be the hero I support? He's worse than Tenchi."

"Well, I suppose the wish could be given to worse candidates," Aaron noted drily.

"Yes, but it sure as hell could have been given to better. 'I want someone to cook for, clean for, and screw me.' I mean, seriously. Even most no-life geeks could pretend to something a little more meaningful."

"Maybe that was the whole point. Maybe the god of the OMG universe doesn't WANT anything meaningful to happen, so the wishes go to useless dorks like Keiichi, who wish for things so meaningless they will have no impact."

"But WHY? What's the points of wishes, then?"

"I guess it's the only way to explain how the universe exists without 'D&D-style screw-you-over' wishes."

Chris leaned back and took a gulp of Coke. Aaron was fidgeting with some little metal thing. Not that that was unusual. The man was never STILL. "Yeah, well, if you gave ME a wish, I'd do something a little better than that."

"Like what?" Aaron drawled. "The ability to instantly create anime-to- order whenever you envision it? I can see how that would make the world a better place. I'm SURE you'd donate all your profits to meaningful charities."

Chris affected a look of mock indignation. Anyone else, that tone of voice would've meant contemptuous insult. But, after all, it was Aaron. Par for the course. "Puh-leez. For starters, if wishes exist, the supernatural exists. If the supernatural exists, the world has far less boundaries than we've been led to believe. So why waste a wish on something so mundane?" He paused for a moment, thinking.

Aaron broke in. "The supernatural doesn't exist for a good reason."

He countered immediately. "The supernatural doesn't exist because it doesn't exist. There's no 'reason' for it, unless you've converted to a religion lately."

"I'm just saying the supernatural -couldn't- exist. Not in a world..." he waved his hand, searching for the right words, "Not in a world that makes SENSE. Not in a world that's -right-."

"Interesting supposition. How do you back it up? Why couldn't a world have the supernatural?"

Aaron opened his eyes again and looked over at Chris for the first time since the conversation started. "That means there would have to be elves or goblins or demons or mages or gods or martial arts death machines or whatever, that were powers unto themselves. That were MORE than people. And not 'more' as in richer, or having more resources. These beings would be WORTH more than you or me. Our opinions would suddenly not matter. The entirety of society would be dictated terms to by those who had the magic."

Chris grinned. "Really, that's only a macrocosm of the real world. Our opinions DON'T matter, here and now, in any significant sense if we don't have resources or money or some other form of influence available to the privileged few. When was the last time a President of the US, or one of our Prime Ministers, wasn't rich? When was the last time an ordinary person changed the world? Only way I can think of is to assassinate people... pretty much anybody can pull that off if they want to badly enough. But even that isn't much of an influence; you can just catalyse events that will sooner or later spiral out of any control or prediction."

"And you say making the god-kings of the world invincible would somehow improve this situation?" Aaron countered, his voice taking on a solemn tone.

"Heh. It would CHANGE the situation. See, the thing is, when one man can truly become an island, society changes beyond recognition. Because talent isn't really hereditary, and nearly all the fantasies carry that thought. Sure, the god-kings would be even more powerful. But also more vulnerable. In a world like that, one man - or woman, or alien, or it, or whatever - CAN truly make all the difference. One being can come from rise out of the muck, through talent and dedication and hard work, and change everything. In a world like that, EVERYONE can have wishes. Of course," he added with a shrug, "not everyone will get them."

Aaron leaned back on the couch again. The little metal thingie had been dropped off the coffee table, and he was still. THAT only happened when he was thinking seriously about something.

Chris continued his earlier thought. "Sure, I recognise that there'd be huge problems with that world - it'd be NOTHING like ours, really. And it would be even rougher than ours on the people on the bottom. But the possibilities! The possibilities, the dreams, the wishes in that world would be so much brighter, rise so much higher, accomplish so much MORE than anything that could happen in reality. It's selfish, but I'd prefer a world like that. Where I could shoot for something. Something greater than a college degree, or a job I can hold onto, or even publishing a book. Where I could aim to do ANYTHING, and know I had a chance of succeeding."

"Good for you," Aaron said with even more than his usual lack of anything resembling tact.

Chris rolled his eyes. His friend was taking this way too seriously. "This isn't really a philosophical debate, dummy. Lighten up. Say YOU were in a world like that. What would you do with wishes at your fingertips?"

Aaron opened his eyes, leaned forward, and ran a hand through his bangs in that oh-so-familiar gesture. When he spoke, his voice was deadly serious, utterly calm. "I'd make them go away."

"Huh?"

"If I had access to the power to make wishes, I'd use it to get rid of all the other wishes. I don't ever want to be in a world like that. It shouldn't exist."

"Bah. You're no fun."

"Indeed," he said, and they turned back to watch Urd suckering the rat into some inane scheme again.

And in the reality he knew now, Chris blinked. Rei was standing there, staring expectantly. It had only been an instant. But it felt like hours.

Ukyou was going to unmake the world?

No.

Not Ukyou.

How could he have not figured it out? How could he have been so STUPID? Her cold demeanour. Her far more brutal fighting. Running her hand through her bangs. Saying "indeed" all the time.

She never acted like Ukyou. He'd known that from the beginning.

But he'd never put two and two together until now. Why?

Because she'd told him Aaron was dead.

Which he was. Dead like him. But not like him at all.

She'd LIED. And Chris had believed her lies, because it wouldn't make sense for Aaron to treat him like that. Aaron was his best friend.

But he had.

Chris snapped out of his reverie at the sound of a shuffling step. Rei was backing away from him, and her angry confidence appeared to have half-melted in the face of whatever she had seen in his expression.

Good.

His voice was perfectly calm, emotionless. "Now you know what you have to do. You don't need me for the moment. I have things to do."

Cologne piped up. "Where are you going, boy?"

He turned around, walked towards the wall. "I thought it was clear. I'm going to find Ukyou. I can handle that myself. Nobody needs to follow me." He let a little extra coldness bleed into the last part.

Nobody said a thing to him as he leaped over the wall and to the nearby rooftop.

He was going to find Ukyou, all right. And once he did...

They would discuss the topic of wishes.

01010

Ukyou collided with something metal and thick with enough force to cause it to bend. A gasp of pain escaped her lips and she slumped to the ground. She blinked her eyes open and saw Hayato stepping out of a swirling disc of water. He gestured absently behind him with the talisman around his neck and the portal vanished.

"Where are we?" Aaron said as he eased to his feet. Hayato seemed content to let him regain his footing, but his eyes never wavered off Ukyou. They appeared to be in some sort of construction site. Did Hayato just have a thing for them? They were at the bottom of... whatever it was. Huge walls rose up about them on all sides, a stiff salty breeze drifted down from the open roof, tall spires of beams and girders rose in all directions, decked with half- dimmed floodlights and the catwalks of the workers hung about with plastic sheets rippling in the breeze, giving the impression that Ukyou had fallen into a cavern of ghosts. In the distance, Ukyou could hear the electric hum of powerful generators.

"A suitable place for your demise," Hayato said slowly. "I looked long and hard for it." He stepped forward and spun with his arms outstretched before facing her again. "I knew that this battle had to be more than just a brawl in the street. Such an epic end to our rivalry demanded an epic location."

"Hayato..." Ukyou clenched her hands into fists. Her coat was missing, and with it her collection of throwing spatulas. Her staff was missing as well. In fact, she had none of her weapons. This was not good. "Hayato, is there any of you even still in there?"

"Hmmm?" Hayato quirked his head to the side.

"Are you still even Hayato at all, or are you the youma that has possessed him?" Ukyou shifted stances, trying to lower her profile as much as possible.

"Oh, I'm still Hayato," the ugly-faced boy said with a grin. "You see, you were half-right. I am in league with a youma, but not one that still serves the Dark Kingdom." He folded his arms across his chest. "She needs me. Not just my body, but me. She wanted my techniques, my knowledge of the martial arts. So we made a deal. She gives me back my body, and I give her all my experience and training in return."

"I see..." Aaron said softly, frowning.

"NO, you don't!" Hayato suddenly shouted. Aaron could see him sprinting forward, but Ukyou couldn't move in time to avoid his backhand. Her cheek exploded in pain, and she found herself flying through the air again. Somehow she righted herself and managed to land before crashing into another wall. Hayato was still standing with his fist extended when he spoke next. "You think you're smart, don't you, Ukyou? But you never realized the trail of enemies you were creating." He chuckled. "How many people's lives have you destroyed? You crippled me. You killed her lover. Because of these sins, both of us are as good as dead."

Hayato turned to face Ukyou again. "In a moment, I'll introduce the two of you. But first, I get to have a bit of fun. That was the deal."

Ukyou didn't wait for him to attack. She was already sprinting forward, bent low to the ground, by the time he had started his second sentence. Hayato smiled and leapt up, and Ukyou leapt to meet him.

They met in mid-air in a flash of fists and feet. Ukyou was a vortex of blows, striking mostly on instinct. But Hayato simply flowed and swayed around her attacks, delivering stinging but undamaging counterblows. With a curse, Ukyou kicked off him and backflipped through the air. She landed on one of the platforms scattered about the cavern. Hayato had been knocked back by her kick, but landed with equal ease on a platform across the center of the gaping cavern.

"Heh. I can't believe it." Hayato shook his head. "I'm... even stronger than before." He rose a fist up and slowly uncurled his fingers. "I guess draining all those people dry gave me more strength than I thought it would."

"Draining..." Ukyou gasped.

"Heh. What did you expect?" Hayato spread his arms and laughed, but there was no mirth in it. "She IS a youma. Draining humans dry is what she does. I just didn't expect to have so much chi afterwards."

"Hayato, what have I done to you..." Ukyou said slowly.

"DON'T PITY ME!"

Ukyou dove to the side, barely avoiding Hayato's flying thrust kick. His blow snapped the wooden platform in two and he sailed past her, still flying with the momentum of his cavern-spanning leap. Ukyou caught a girder and spun about it like a gymnast before launching herself in the other direction. She came to a rest on the floor of the chamber.

Hayato was standing up on the floor almost thirty meters away. Aaron did a few quick calculations in his head. Unless Hayato had been holding back, he could reach them in a few seconds. He was much too fast for them. Not as fast as Rose, but a bit stronger... They needed weapons. There was no way they could win fighting barehanded.

Hayato wasn't talking anymore as he charged them, his form practically blurring out of view. His face was a mask of anger. Apparently Ukyou had hit a nerve. But there was no time to consider that. Instead she dashed to the side, leading him into the forest of steel beams.

As Aaron had hoped, Hayato was forced to slow down to avoid crashing into one of the beams at full speed. But still he pursued her relentlessly. Ukyou sidestepped and backpeddled, always moving to place a barrier between her and him. But he flowed through the forest with ease, and within three moves had caught her with a kick. Ukyou collided with a girder, but didn't pause as she rebounded into a flip over his head. His hand snagged her foot and then she was crashing facefirst into the floor.

"This is where pity gets you," Hayato insisted, tightening his grip on her ankle. "Let's see how nimble you are after I break your leg." There was a savage glee in Hayato's voice as he spoke, and Ukyou cried out as he twisted her ankle viciously.

Aaron focused through the pain and saw a discarded piece of cloth nearby. With a desperate lunge Ukyou snatched it up and flipped, launching herself into the air. Her ankle nearly snapped as Hayato refused to release her... but a second later he let out a startled scream as Ukyou whipped the cloth into his face. The blow hadn't really hurt him, just surprised him. It was enough to get him to release her.

Ukyou handsprung away and landed badly, her ankle almost twisting out under her. Aaron frowned. Their foot couldn't take much more. Ukyou agreed with him silently and limped backwards. Then Aaron spotted what he hoped would help even the odds.

"You little bitch," Hayato hissed as he stepped towards them. "I'm going to enjoy this..."

"I'm sorry, Hayato," Ukyou said slowly. "I never meant for it to end like this."

"Never meant..." Hayato's eyes bulged and he trailed off, choking on his own rage. "NEVER MEANT! Don't give me your empty platitudes!"

Aaron had focused his senses down to a pinprick, and sensed the motion of Hayato's blow before it even started. The boy's punch rolled by in front of her nose as Ukyou faded away, continuing on to shatter a metal pole into a million splinters. Hayato winced and leaned back as the razor-sharp cloud drew angry red lines on his face. Ukyou didn't. Closing her eyes and mouth she leapt through the cloud, a dozen lines of pain etched across her body, then she was clear.

Hayato wasted no time pursuing her. Ukyou pushed everything she had into her wind chakra, pouring on the speed. Aaron was her eyes, barking silent orders that somehow allowed her to run at full tilt through the closely packed metal girders, weaving and flashing within millimeters of collisions every moment. Hayato was no longer running around the girders, but through. Aaron could hear the metal snapping and tearing as he gave chase. Then Ukyou reached their destination.

They skidded to a stop, kicking up a dome of dust, and the sheets around them snapped and cracked in the sudden wind. Hayato was upon them a moment later. Ukyou ducked his first blow, but didn't even try to dodge his kick. Instead she let the blow throw her into the air. She sailed up, blinking away tears of pain as her stomach protested. But up here was where the toolbelt had been.

At the exact peak of their flight Aaron snapped out his hand and grabbed the belt. Hayato frowned up at them, and as Ukyou plummeted he stepped aside. Ukyou threw the belt aside. She now carried a screwdriver in each hand.

"You think those little toys will help you?" Hayato said, laughing.

Ukyou didn't reply. She stepped forward, spinning the tools in her hands. Hayato twitched to the side as she stabbed once, then his forearm crashed into her side. Ukyou winced, but her ribs didn't break. She slashed out with her other hand and Hayato hopped away. Even as he did, Ukyou stepped back and flicked both hands forward. The screwdrivers spun forward, buzzing through the air at him. Hayato laughed and leapt up, the weapons flying under him.

Good.

Ukyou dashed after her projectiles, passing under Hayato. Aaron heard him land lightly behind them. The ugly-faced boy was dashing after them a moment later, and Aaron could feel the air pushing against his back as the boy's blow came in. Then Ukyou ducked and Hayato's blow went wild. Her hand snapped out and snatched a long metal bar. The bar which her flung screwdrivers had neatly bisected a fraction of a second ago into the perfect length for a staff.

Hayato's eyes widened as Ukyou spun to her feet and whirled the staff around her. She pushed with her chi, capturing all her momentum in the swing. The bar caught Hayato on the cheek and for a second his face distorted comically with the impact, then he was flying away. He crashed into a metal pole, snapping it like a twig. A second later, half the structure collapsed on him. Ukyou couldn't help but appreciate the irony, since that wouldn't have happened if Hayato hadn't been smashing apart the supports so wantonly.

Ukyou spun the makeshift staff around her a few times, testing its balance, then settled into a stance with the weapon held just behind her. The metal pole had a spiral of thin metal around its entire length that cut lightly into her hand, but beggars couldn't be choosers. After all, Aaron could still feel the pulse of Hayato's chi from under the debris. This wasn't over.

"Hehah," Hayato's laughter came out of the pile. "You are as clever as you always were. I... urg... had hoped to be able to play with you more. But... it appears my time is up..."

Ukyou shifted her stance, moving back a few steps. Aaron could feel Hayato's chi suddenly spike, so strong it almost gave him a headache. The explosion didn't catch him off guard, and Ukyou was able to deflect the girders and debris sent her way with a few elegant twists of her bar. For a moment, the only sound was the loud hum of generators in the distance. Then a tremendous splash as the bubble of water that had burst out from the center of the shattered pile fell to the floor.

As the curtain of water descended, Ukyou's new opponent was revealed. She wasn't tall, but seemed to somehow have a presence to her that Ukyou couldn't deny. She had short black hair that fell wetly behind her, and a tiara with huge golden spines rising from its apex that gave her the illusion of horns. Her eyes were red and glowed with infernal light, and her skin was the color of the sea on a sunny day. Her face was beautiful, with soft flowing lines. She was clad in a pair of skintight navy leggings, with the inner thigh just below her crotch cut free. She wore a metallic blue breastplate that hugged the curves of her chest, and barely covered anything else. At first, Aaron thought the trio of quill-like horns that came out of her upper arms were decorations, but then he realised that they were growing from her flesh. Her forearms and hands were wrapped in strips of bright blue leather. Something about her tickled at the back of Aaron's memory.

"So... I guess you're my real enemy..." Ukyou said leadingly, hoping to buy time.

"Don't try to fool me, girl," the youma-woman said as she stepped forward gracefully. "My name is Tethys. You killed the man I loved. I shall kill you... no, I shall BREAK you!"

"Tethys..." Ukyou frowned. "Wait... you're the youma that served Jadeite!" She pointed at the youma-woman. "But I thought you died..."

"Oh no..." Tethys chuckled. "An oversight that is going to destroy you, I'm afraid."

Aaron felt Tethys gathering power, and Ukyou knew the time for words was over. She snapped into a defensive stance as the woman dashed towards them. Tethys moved fast, and skillfully... but no faster or better than Hayato had. Ukyou leaned to the side, avoiding her first punch and then cartwheeled away from the rest. Tethys came after her, easily closing the distance, and Ukyou was forced to resort to more dodging.

But Aaron couldn't help but think there was something else. The youma that Hayato had turned into was strong... still faster and stronger than Ukyou, but no more so than Hayato had been. Maybe he had been watching too much Dragonball, thinking that any transformation should involve a massive jump in power...

The thought cut off as Tethys finally managed to tag them with a sharp kick as Ukyou's ankle briefly betrayed her. Ukyou staggered back, then lost all track of time for a moment as Tethys stepped in and delivered a combination that sent Ukyou spiralling to the ground.

Thankfully she hadn't lost her grip on her makeshift staff. As Tethys stepped towards their prone form, Aaron gauged her exact distance... then Ukyou was up and spinning. Tethys was fast, but had already committed herself to an attack. Ukyou's staff swung up and into the youma's waist... and right through it without pausing.

Ukyou barely had time to register this before Tethys' punch crushed her nose. The blow drove Ukyou into the ground with enough force that it cracked around her in a spiderweb. Ukyou gasped for air, blood flowing from her face. Tethys picked her up by the collar with one hand.

"Surprise," the woman said, grinning. Ukyou kicked up, only to feel her leg pass through Tethys body. It was like kicking a lake, even to the point that her leg came away soaked. "You can't hurt me, little girl!"

Tethys smashed Ukyou against the nearest girder with enough force to crack it in two, then proceeded to smash her against another, and another. Ukyou began to scream after the third blow, and she couldn't even feel her back after the seventh. She lost count after that. Finally, Tethys let her collapse to the ground.

Aaron reached out and his fingers clamped around the pole. Tethys had been arrogant enough to drop them within reach of it. He could hear her laughing, but chose to ignore that. Ukyou and he worked together, slowly regaining their feet.

"Come now, Ukyou," Tethys said smoothly. "Is this the best you have? Where is that precious power of yours? The power that let you kill my master, and destroy Hayato?"

Ukyou choose not to answer. Instead she leapt back, away from the youma. The blue-skinned woman hopped after them, easily keeping pace in mid-air. As they floated backwards, Tethys took all the time in the world to wind up for a haymaker. Ukyou snapped her staff up, and easily intercepted the clumsy strike... only to have Tethys fist part around it like a rushing river. Ukyou cried out in shock and pain and was smashed into the floor again.

"Really, this is pathetic." Tethys stalked over as Ukyou struggled to lift herself. A swift kick caught Ukyou in the ribs and she felt them snap again, before she was lifted and sent flying into another pole. Somehow, she kept her grip on the rebar. Though she didn't know why she bothered. "You little bitch, don't ruin this for me," Tethys growled. "I want to humiliate you, destroy you, defeat you utterly. Nothing less will satisfy me!"

"You seem to be doing a good job of that," Aaron hissed as he used the pole as a support to rise to his feet.

"Not good enough!" Tethys roared and flashed forward. Ukyou threw herself to the side, barely escaping another haymaker. "Come at me with everything you have, Ukyou." The youma turned and regarded Ukyou coolly. "Use that power you have. Fight me full out. Only when I defeat you at your peak, will you truly understand that I have destroyed you. Only once your spirit is totally crushed will I let you die!"

Ukyou stared back up at Tethys. She rose up from her knees. Tethys was faster than her... stronger than her. She was faster and stronger than even Hayato had been originally, and Ukyou hadn't grown even to his level in the time since their fight. She had been training, trying to master her chi using the five chakra theory, but her progress had been so slow...

But it didn't have to be. Aaron closed his eyes for a moment, and had no trouble feeling that power inside of them. It didn't pulse, or do anything else inviting. It was simply there. If they tapped into that power, they could become stronger and faster. They could even exceed Tethys. Aaron knew this was true.

It would only have to be for a moment. Just a few seconds. How much harm could it do? And what choice did they have? Tethys would kill them, and there was no hope that Hayato's human heart would sway her to mercy at the last second. Tethys had dragged them to a very private battlefield. There would be no cavalry charge this time. The only person who had a habit of finding Ukyou at times like this was Sailor Pluto...

And that was the fix, wasn't it? Aaron opened his eyes. He could see Tethys lips curling expectantly. The youma-woman settled into a fighting stance that exactly mirrored Hayato's. Ukyou and Aaron could tap into that power, but what then? How many times would they have to make this choice, between death and using that unnamed force inside of them? A force that, Ukyou now knew, had tainted them somehow. Every time they had used it, they had come away a little worse as a human being. How many times would they have to do that, before the vision Sailor Pluto had seen came true?

"No," Aaron said.

"What?"

"No," Ukyou said.

"What do you mean, no?" Tethys growled.

"I mean, I will not fight you with that power." Ukyou straightened herself and eased into her combat stance. "I will not give myself over to darkness like you did, Hayato. I am no hero, but I refuse to live if that means I become a monster like you!" Tethys took a step back, obviously confused. "If I must die, I will do so as a human being! So come on then and bring your best shot. I will fight you. And if I die, then I died as ME!"

Ukyou charged. Tethys' eyes quivered with rage, her lips peeled back from her teeth. Ukyou wasn't sure what she was going to do when she reached Tethys... but it became a moot point. With a gesture there was suddenly a wall of water between them. Ukyou screamed as the wall crashed over them with the force of a tsunami. She tumbled in the water for a second, before crashing against the far wall of the chamber.

Aaron coughed as the water receded. He rose up to all fours and heard Tethys stalking towards them over the loud hum of the electric turbines. He looked up and saw her raising one hand slowly into the air over her head, the fingers curled into a bowl. As he watched, the water around them began to spin and draw away. Ukyou rose them up to their feet as Tethys continued to work her magic. The water continued to spin and withdraw, until it was a thin river that spun around Ukyou on all sides about a meter away. Occasionally the water snapped up in quick sheets, but it never splashed inside the circle Tethys had created.

"You say you won't fight me with your full power because you are afraid of what it will do to you?" Tethys' voice was almost calm now. "Well, well, well... Let us test that resolve of yours, Ukyou Kuonji. Your death will be all the sweeter if I can break your will, force you to use that power, and then defeat you anyway." Tethys chuckled. "I will make you die a monster."

"Nothing can make me!"

"We shall see." Suddenly Tethys snapped her fingers together... and the river around Ukyou smashed inward. She tried to jump away, but her ribs protested the sudden movement, then she was caught.

Ukyou wasn't sure what was happening at first. The cascade of water hadn't hit with any real force. It simply slammed in on all sides and she found herself trapped in a pillar of water. She tried to step forward... and then was thrown back as the liquid began to spin about her. She struggled to maintain her balance as the entire pillar became a cyclone, twisting her about in currents that would have put a whirlpool to shame. Her mouth opened involuntarily, and water suddenly streamed into her lungs. Aaron clamped their mouth closed, but too late. They had lost most of their precious air.

Ukyou flailed about, but the current had carried her off the floor. She was now floating in the cyclone, spinning so fast the vertigo was making her nauseous. There was no purchase, no stable surface to grab onto. All she could do was spin and clamp her hand over her mouth and nose, trying to hold in the air. She felt herself growing dizzy, growing faint.

Spots of darkness began to dance across her eyes.

It was growing harder to think.

She was dying.

A part of her paused at this thought. A part of her wondered if that was really so bad. Didn't it mean an end to all the pain, an end to all the constant battles?

But a much larger part of her roared in silent rage. She would not die! Not like this! Not when there was so much left to do! She still had to redeem herself for what she had done to Akane, and Ranma and everyone else. Aaron railed with her, unwilling to accept this. They would NOT die here!

The power rested deep in their shared psyche. Ukyou brushed her will against it, not tapping in. The world around her was growing faint. She had lost control of her mouth. The water was flowing freely into her lungs. She realised that drowning really was like falling asleep.

Aaron brushed his will against that power, his power. It was his birthright, wasn't it? As his mind began to drift, as the world seemed to flow away he felt like he was dreaming. How wrong could it be, to use a power that was rightfully his? How much of a monster was he, that just using his own chi made him into a worse one?

The power remained untouched. They could feel their wills hovering at the edge of it, almost there but not quite.

And Aaron realized that his will was outside it. How could his will be outside of that power, if it was somehow 'his'? As he felt the dream beginning to give away to darkness at the edges, as he felt Ukyou and his own mind begin to sink away, he realized that the power was not within HIM. It was BETWEEN them, in some sharp cleft between his soul and Ukyou's...

The power was not of him, not of her. It was Other. It was Outside.

What was it?

They had gone completely still. Only the spinning motion of the water kept their body moving. They couldn't breathe. The world was dark. They would die without knowing.

No.

Please no.

Oh god, I don't want to die.

For some reason they saw Ranma now, and Akane beside him. There was no way to tell if this was their memory, or something from the anime, or just a phantasm. Ranma and Akane were laughing, and they looked at them. They reached out.

There was something cold preventing Ukyou from reaching them.

Cold...

Wind and Void. Motion ceases. Cold.

The answer...

Suddenly their hand latched onto something. It was cold and sharp. There were dozens of them, all around her. It was real, not a phantom. Their eyes snapped open.

Ice. There was ice everywhere. It was forming along Ukyou's skin. It was swirling in the whirlpool around them.

Without thinking about it, they shoved down with all their power. Suddenly there was ice at their feet. Not much, but enough. It was purchase. With a thrust, they kicked off the ice. Then they were free. The water parted around them. The air of the construction site was cold against their waterlogged flesh.

They collapsed on the ground, vomiting water and swallowing the sweet, beautiful air in ragged gulps. Their limbs quivered. Their strength was all but gone. The cold chi had saved their life, but exhausted them. They raised their head, hearing the footsteps approach.

"You escaped," Tethys declared evenly. "But you still haven't used that power of yours. I can tell." She raised her hands and water began to spin around the youma in a tight spiral. "I will not let you escape with clever tricks!"

Somehow, they found the strength to avoid the blast. It was shaped to a point, exactly like Hayato's needle-weapon. The blast tore a hole in the floor. Then they were flipping away, staying a centimeter ahead of the hundreds of needle-tipped jets of water. They ran out of space, and ducked under the last few.

"Heh. It's useless to run..."

With a wordless scream, they charged Tethys as she started her speech. The woman cut off, but only chuckled and stood still. She didn't even move to block as they swung their fist up at her cheek. The look of surprise on her face as the blow sent her flying back across the cavern was priceless.

"How the hell..." Tethys roared and reached up to touch her cheek. She was too far away for Ukyou to see clearly, but she heard the youma hiss and saw her hand withdraw. "Ice? Ice!" Tethys stood up. "You somehow froze me even as you struck..." the youma speculated. "Heh. I guess you do have some fight in you..."

But they knew that wasn't true. Their knees felt like rubber. Their ribs were screaming, they could barely stand on their ankle. There was no more strength left to give. That had been the last of it. There wasn't enough chi to force her aura to become cold enough for that to work again. If they had tapped that Other power, focused all its strength into the blow... it could have frozen Tethys solid. They knew it could have. It would have frozen her liquid body and shattered her.

Killed her. Killed Hayato.

"Come on, Ukyou," Tethys raised her arms to the heavens. "It's time for the end game!"

There was a sharp crack of thunder, and then it began to rain.

01010

Akane glanced down the street. She was sure she had seen something, but the street was empty. Still, the back of her neck was tingling, and that always meant trouble. She glanced over at the quartet of people that was following her and frowned.

"Mr. Tsukino, I suggest you wait until we're inside," she suggested as she pushed open the gate to her family's home. Mr. Tsukino looked over at her, breaking off from the lecture he was giving his daughter. He was a middle-aged man, his receding hair and his nose-pinching glasses adding nothing to his average looks.

"I'm certain you are a responsible young lady," the gentleman told her in a short voice. "But this is between me and my daughter. I want to know why she felt the need to keep these little superheroic excursions such a secret!"

"To prevent exactly what is happening now," Akane guessed aloud. "Now get inside."

Akane didn't like to be rude, but she couldn't get that irritating feeling to go away. So she shoved the man lightly to get him to move inside. He stumbled into the yard, a look of adult shock on his face. Akane bowed her head apologetically then gestured for the rest of his family to follow him in. Mrs. Tsukino did so, the same shell-shocked look on her face that had been on it ever since Usagi had transformed for them. The little boy (Shingi? Shogo?) guided her in, holding one of her hands. He kept glancing at Akane with the weirdest expression on his face. Usagi entered last, cradling her talking cat (talking cat!) in her arms.

"Thank you very much," the cat said as Usagi passed by Akane. Akane just nodded and smiled thinly. She didn't know which was more weird, the fact that there was a talking cat, or the fact that by now she accepted this as par for the course. Usagi only nodded mutely, looking browbeaten. Akane might have too, if her father had been lecturing her ever since they had left his home.

"You're back."

Akane glanced up as she closed the gate. Cologne was sitting on a rock near the side of the house, smoking her pipe. It had been her who had spoken.

"Everything went fine." Akane wasn't sure she believed that. "Where are the others?"

"Shampoo and the Mars girl retrieved Sailor Mercury's mother. They are all inside, having some of your sister's hors d'oeuvres."

"Woah, who's the old troll?" the little boy called out. A moment later his head rocked back and he cried out in pain. When he bent forward again he was rubbing at a red welt on his forehead and muttering.

"Show some respect, boy," Cologne said in mock indignation. Or perhaps real indignation, it was hard to tell with Cologne.

"Did you just hit my son?" Mr. Tsukino shouted. Akane sighed. Just what she needed.

"Yes," Cologne answered calmly.

"You apologise right now, or... or..." Mr. Tsukino waved his hands in the air in frustrated anger.

"Mr. Tsukino, you have to calm down," Akane insisted in a calm voice. She placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "I know this is all hard to accept, but if you don't take a deep breath and start thinking about what's best for your family, you all might be in grave danger."

"I am thinking about what's best for my family!" the man shouted, his glasses practically vibrated off his nose as he shook in place. "This is insane! Monsters? Evil conspiracies? My daughter, some superhero!"

"You should believe it," a new voice broke in. Akane saw Sailor Mars step out of the house. Unlike Usagi, she hadn't bothered to return to her civilian identity. "Because these monsters are real, and they will kill you to get at Usagi."

"Who are you?" Mr. Tsukino shouted and pointed at her. "How can you..." The man trailed off as Sailor Mars suddenly changed back. Akane's eyes widened, since this involved her costume turning into completely transparent pink ribbons before her own clothing appeared. Then she was standing in rumpled shinto priestess robes. "Rei? Usagi's friend Rei?"

"Yes," Luna spoke up. "And Ami and Makoto, too." The cat leapt down from her 'owner's' arms and paced up to the distraught father. "We wanted to keep you out of the battles. But it appears that the enemy has decided to bring the battles to you."

"I can't accept this," the man said, but at least he wasn't shouting. Akane noted that he was completely ignoring Luna's presence. "I have a job, and there is the police..."

"The police can't help us," Rei insisted.

"Have you even tried?" the man shouted.

Nobody in the yard could answer him right away. Except Akane. She stepped up into his line of view and let a bit of her own anger leak through into her face and voice. "No, we haven't," Akane snapped. "And you're lucky. The police can't handle this. Even if they aren't in the pocket of these monsters, there is nothing they can do!"

"What do you know?"

"I know people like them took my own sister," Akane hissed back. "The police showed up there, too. They thought it was a terrorist threat, or maybe even a hoax. All they did was end up as fodder for the magic that the enemy wielded against us. In the end, my friends and I were what had to stand up and save her." Akane stepped forward and the man stumbled back again, his eyes wide. "You may not want to believe this, but you should. I don't want to believe this. The fact is you are scared... not of the monsters, but for your daughter. You can't accept that she may be in danger. I understand that. But you are going to have to learn to accept it, because your daughter is a hero, a champion. I haven't known her for long, but even I can sense that."

"Akane, please..." Usagi interrupted Akane's diatribe with a soft hand on her elbow. Akane released a breath and let her anger die out. Mr. Tsukino had fled back against the wall of the courtyard and was staring at her in mute horror, his glasses hanging askance on his face. "He's just worried about me."

"I know, Usagi..." Akane sighed. The truth was, she really wanted to lash out at someone, and the near-hysterical parent had been the most convenient target. Her own worry hadn't died down, in fact it had grown increasingly more potent.

"I... I just don't want her to be hurt..." Mr. Tsukino said, sobbing. His wife broke away from her son and rushed over to him. The two wrapped each other up in their arms, clutching to their shared warmth and emotion. The woman began to cry and somehow that turned Mr. Tsukino's sob into a steady stream of tears. Akane watched as they embraced and shared the burden of their pain. She tried not to envy them.

"So, is that everyone?" Cologne said, drawing all the teenager's attention. "Sailor Moon's family, Sailor Mercury's mother, Makoto has no surviving family..."

"What about you, Rei?" Usagi said, turning to her friend. "We should go out and pick up your grandfather."

"That..." Rei trailed off. "That won't be necessary, Usagi."

"But... why not?"

"Because... he is... he is already dead."

Akane gasped, an action Usagi mimicked.

"When did this happen, child?" Cologne asked.

"When..." Rei stopped. "They killed him when they attacked my shrine. They did it to show how cruel they were. When they threatened to do the same to you, that's when I ran away, Usagi."

"Oh Rei..." Usagi suddenly embraced her friend. Rei stiffened. "I... no... your grandfather can't be dead! He can't!"

"He IS!" Rei suddenly shouted. A quick shove sent Usagi sprawling to the ground in an undignified heap. Usagi's face was covered in tears, but they had stopped as the shock of Rei's shove caught her off guard. "He is dead, and nothing we can do will change that!"

"Rei, I'm sorry about..." Akane began to say as she stepped between the two girls.

"Everybody, look out!"

Akane reacted first, spinning and grabbing Usagi before diving back. Cologne's warning came just in time, as the walls of the compound suddenly exploded inward. For a moment the air was filled with nothing but dust and screams, then Akane was free of the cloud and rolling to her feet. She was carrying Usagi in her arms effortlessly, but placed the girl down so she could check out the rest of the yard.

Rei had gotten clear of the blast, and was holding a small wand in one hand. Cologne was standing further down, the two Tsukino adults standing behind her, unharmed. Akane glanced about, where had the boy gone? She had lost track of him during all the drama...

"Heheh," a voice chuckled from out of the dust. Akane glanced up and watched as a large group of men stepped into the yard. The dust was settling down, so Akane got a good look at them. Most of them were dressed in body- hugging blue jumpsuits, with strange helmets on their heads. The leader was taller than any of them, with slicked-back greasy hair and a pair of thin black sunglasses that partially covered the enormous puckered scar running down the left side of his face. He wore a simple business suit. "Well well, it appears that the mighty Hyper-Zoanoid Team Five has an overblown reputation, if they couldn't capture four little girls!"

"Chronos..." Akane hissed.

"Hmmm," the man cocked his head in her direction. "You know about us?" He smirked. "Too bad for you. I might have let you live, otherwise."

"You won't harm anyone in this household, monster!" Rei shouted. Akane saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye, but dared not take her eyes off the men standing in front of her. There were almost two dozen of them, by her count. She clenched her fist and shifted into a better position to launch an attack.

"The child is right," Cologne said, pointing her staff at the man. "You monsters have made a grave error, underestimating us."

"Heh." The man smirked. "Like I care about you, old woman." The man stepped forward, pointing at Akane. "I came for HER."

"Me?" Akane said, surprised.

"No, the one cowering behind you."

"Uh... you mean me?" Usagi's voice sounded very small from behind Akane.

"Yes." The man threw his arms wide. "I am Aptom, the leader of the Lost Units." Aptom clenched his fist and snapped his head down to stare at the ground. "Dyme was my brother. And you... you destroyed him!"

"Dyme..." Usagi sounded confused.

"The man we saved?" Rei spoke slowly. "But we turned him back into a human!"

"Of course you did," Aptom said with a sneer. "But we are called the Lost Units because unpredictable mutations arose during our creation that cannot be duplicated. Dyme could never be what he once was, because of you." Aptom rose his shaking fist up to his face and snapped his eyes up to stare at Usagi. "I asked them to let me put him out of his misery. I swore to him even as I killed him that I would avenge his death!"

"You... killed your own brother?" Akane hissed, disgusted.

"He wasn't my brother anymore, just a HUMAN!" Aptom pointed at Usagi. "Transform, you little witch! I want to enjoy killing you."

"But boss..." one of the others suddenly spoke up. Aptom's fist swung out and caught him in the chin. The man staggered.

"Shut up," Aptom hissed. "You are here to handle the others, and that alone." He turned his attention back to Akane and Usagi. "I would have come in here by myself, but even I am not that strong. I was only lucky that my task of spying on this 'Ukyou' led me straight to Sailor Moon!"

Akane was about to shout something back, asking him what he knew about Ukyou, when suddenly she realized Usagi was stepping around her.

"If you have come for a fight, Aptom," Usagi said, her voice level and proud. "You have come to the wrong place. I don't want to fight you. I can help you... heal you. But I will not fight you."

"Oh you'll fight..." Aptom sneered. "Or I'll slaughter everyone in this dojo!" The greasy-haired man snapped his fingers.

Akane backed up a step involuntarily as his thugs began to change. Clothes split and hair sprouted along bulging muscles. Within seconds they were a small army of hulking gorillas, gorillas with huge claws and fang-filled maws. Akane shifted her stance, moving so that she could dash around Usagi.

"You poor man," Usagi said, sighing. "Is your heart full of such hatred?" The girl suddenly stood taller, prouder. "If you really want me, then leave my family out of this! Moon Prism Power, Make UP!" Usagi thrust her hand into the air, clutching her locket. Akane shielded her eyes as the girl vanished in a expanding sphere of light. When the dazzle cleared, Usagi had transformed into her Sailor Senshi form. "I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"

Akane wasn't sure what to think of the posing Sailor Moon went through as she gave her speech, but Aptom apparently found it amusing. He held up his own hand.

"Now we can really begin this battle... Moon Prism Power, Make UP!"

Akane stared as the man in front of her changed. Aptom's body seemed to shrink and compress in on itself. His clothing went slack and crumbled around his feet. Except they weren't his feet for long. For soon enough they were HER feet. Somehow Aptom had transformed into a perfect mirror of Sailor Moon. Akane blinked, but the image didn't go away. Every detail, every curve of Aptom's body now resembled that of the sailor suited fighter. Even the costume was perfect... or was it? Looking closely, Akane thought there was something a little odd about it. It looked... leathery.

"Heh," the girl that had once been Aptom said as she struck a triumphant pose. "Now you see why you can't beat me, Sailor Moon. I have the ability to perfectly imitate the forms, and abilities, of all my opponents!" Aptom's voice sounded just like Sailor Moon's, except that there was some sort of terrible reverb to it that sent chills up Akane's spine.

"Heh. How useless."

"What, who's there?" Aptom shouted as he turned to stare into the shadows. Akane followed his gaze. She had recognized that voice. What was SHE doing here?

Nabiki stepped out of the shadow between a tree and the wall. No, not just walked, strutted. She was wearing a tight sweater and jeans, but walked as if she were a queen.

"To think, you have such a useful ability, and you use it on such a worthless opponent," Nabiki said, chuckling. She began to slowly clap her hands. "Bravo. You just made my job much easier."

"Nabiki! Get back inside!" Akane shouted, waving wildly at her sister. What was Nabiki thinking? She wasn't trained for these kinds of confrontations!

"Oh no," Nabiki replied acidly. "This man has threatened my home and family. It's only right that I step in and assist."

"Girl, if you want to die..." Aptom began to hiss in her distorted little-girl's voice. But Nabiki cut him off as she raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

"SHISHI HOKO DAN!"

Akane gasped as a brilliant ball of green light arced out of the shadows. Aptom had long enough to let her jaw drop before the blast struck. She screamed and was sent spiraling over the wall. Akane stared. Her arm had been blown clean off, and most of her chest as well. For a moment the entire yard was silent. Then a figure strode out of the shadows.

Akane barely recognised Ryouga. He didn't really look different. But there was something about the way he walked, about his expression. Then it snapped into place. The Ryouga she had met had always seemed filled with rage or energy. The young man that stepped up next to Nabiki was a broken man, his eyes those of a person who had lost all hope.

"Ryouga, these monsters are annoying me. Remove them."

"Yes." Ryouga stepped around Nabiki and pulled his umbrella free of his pack. "I'm very sorry about this," he addressed the assembled zoanoids. "But... I have to kill you."

Then Ryouga sprung into them. Akane could only stare in horror as the boy's first blow caved in the skull of one of the monkey-men. She heard Sailor Moon gasp. But others were already moving. She saw flames arcing from her right, immolating one of the beasts where it stood. A second later the purple-haired girl Shampoo was dashing into the fray, her sword cutting a zoanoid in two. At least the old woman wasn't bouncing into the battle as well.

"Stop!" Sailor Moon cried. "Please stop! I can HEAL them!"

Nobody was paying attention to her. Sailor Mars had run into the battle now, her hands conjuring more flame to burn one of the creatures to a crisp. Shampoo was smiling as she dodged two of the monsters and killed a third with a flick of her bloody sword. But neither of them held a candle to Ryouga. He simply moved through the ranks of the zoanoids like a lawnmower. He wasn't even trying to defend himself, but the monkey-men's attacks seemed to bounce off him without him even noticing. His face was grim, and soon the monsters were running from him in a blind panic.

"NO! STOP!" Sailor Moon wailed. "It doesn't have to be this way!" Then the girl turned to Akane. "Make them stop! You have to!"

That broke Akane out of her stupor. She nodded and ran forward. She wasn't sure why she did it later, but she caught Ryouga's wrist and set herself as firmly as possible. God! He was strong! His swinging arm nearly tore her shoulder out of their sockets. But she stopped his blow short. He paused and glanced at her. The entire battle had stopped. Everyone was looking at her. Akane felt that this moment was somehow pivotal, and for a moment imagined that the universe was holding its breath in anticipation of her next words.

"You don't have to do this," Akane said slowly. She almost winced. She knew she had lost the moment. She stared imploring at Ryouga, but the boy was looking past her, at Nabiki. Akane looked over her shoulder and saw Nabiki was just smirking.

"We can't let any of them live," Nabiki said. "They'll just draw others." Nabiki pointed at. Akane turned to see the last two of the monkey-men fleeing down the street. Ryouga jerked his hand free and stepped forward, dropping his umbrella. He pulled a duo of bandannas from his forehead. Akane knew what was coming next. She had seen Ryouga use this trick against Ranma. She knew the zoanoids wouldn't dodge.

She turned away, trying to block the sound of the buzzing scream the hurled bandannas made from her mind. She met Sailor Moon's eyes and saw the sadness in there. Akane looked away. She had tried. She had tried to step in and do the right thing. That was enough. Wasn't it?

"Ah. Now that we're finished with that," Nabiki's voice broke into Akane's thoughts. "I have a question for everybody here." Akane turned and glanced at her sister, who was still smirking like she was the queen of the world. "Where is Ukyou, pray tell? I SO want to have a talk with him."

01010

Tethys stood in the rain for a few moments, reveling in the feeling of it against her 'skin'. Ah, this power was intoxicating. She knew now how Jadeite had felt. But she wouldn't make the same mistake he did. Even with all of Hayato's considerable chi, and that of the humans she had killed minutes before confronting Ukyou, she knew she still had limits.

But that was why she had made her deal with Hayato. If all she had wanted was his power, she would have taken it. But instead, she was now sharing his body. It repelled her. She knew that Kunzite forced many of his youma to co- habit with human vermin, but she had always refused to even consider that. And even they simply subsumed their human hosts, effectively overwriting the human's personality with their own.

Tethys, however, had been forced to let Hayato retain his mind. She could feel him now. She couldn't sense his thoughts, but she knew he was aware of every action, of every sensation of their shared body. But even if he existed back in the depths of his own mind, he was a mute voice unless she allowed him to speak. Their 'partnership' existed only at her leisure. Once she was finished with Ukyou, Tethys would discard him like the trash he was.

She watched as Ukyou suddenly started to leap. Her jumps didn't even cover a third of the distance they usually did. The little girl was bouncing up, bounding from platform to platform as she raced to the top of the cavern. Tethys chuckled.

She could have knocked Ukyou from the air, but she felt that what Ukyou would see when she got up there would be even more demoralizing. Tethys raised her arms and willed herself into the air. She floated leisurely after Ukyou, easily keeping pace. She didn't get too close, since Ukyou appeared to have a way to hurt her now.

Soon Ukyou had reached the top of the cavern. Tethys' nemesis stopped and stared out over the top of the wall, stunned.

"Surprised?" Tethys said as she floated up into the air above Ukyou. She gestured outward. Beyond her hand the ocean extended in all directions. The shore of Japan could be seen, almost five kilometers distant. It was connected to the structure they were in by a concrete bridge. In the other direction, there was nothing but the unending waves of the Pacific Ocean. "I told you I looked long and hard for this place."

"What... what is this?" Ukyou gasped, clutching her side.

"It is going to be called, 'The Ocean Cathedral', or some such nonsense." Tethys shrugged. "I have no idea what purpose it serves for you mortals, but for me, it is the perfect battleground."

Tethys lifted her right hand and suddenly the swells of the ocean waves doubled. The rain continued to pelt into the concrete. "As you can see..." Tethys clasped her hand into a fist, and the ocean mimicked her action, crushing the bridge in five fingers of water, each nearly ten meters thick. The destruction was spectacular, and noisy. Tethys smiled, satisfied, as the crumbled concrete sunk beanth the waves. "There is no escape."

Ukyou turned to face her. The girl raised her fists, her face set and determined. Tethys frowned. She still couldn't sense anything special about her. Hayato had only felt Ukyou tap her unusual chi once, and only briefly. But he knew it felt... different, somehow. Tethys was sure that her more refined senses would sense the moment Ukyou decided to finally get serious.

"You can't fight me as you are," Tethys hissed. "Why do you persist? Use your power! I will crush you at your peak!"

Tethys clenched her fists and shuddered in rage. Ukyou was mocking her. The girl KNEW. She knew that no matter how this fight turned out, it was the end of Tethys. Certainly she would destroy Ukyou, but then what? Going back to the Dark Kingdom meant a death sentence. And it was only a matter of time before Metallia, her real master, her creator, was unleashed. Then Tethys would be wiped out like all the other chattel.

This was it. This was what she had been working towards ever since Jadeite had died. She would not let Ukyou ruin it for her!

With a gesture Tethys caused the rain to condense and crash into Ukyou from behind. The girl cried out in surprise and staggered. Then Tethys gestured again, and Ukyou's head rocked back as a force like an uppercut suddenly hit her without warning. Tethys began to wave her hands about, weaving the chi and magic into a series of punishing blows. Ukyou rocked from one to the next, not even able to so much as recover from one blow before the next struck her. Then Tethys doubled her speed. Then tripled it.

She heard one of Ukyou's bones crack and smiled at the sound. But it wasn't enough. Why wasn't Ukyou fighting back? Tethys knew she could!

With a final cry of rage Tethys pushed all her power into a final blow. The strike knocked Ukyou off the wall and sent her plummeting back into the cavern that had only recently been sunk into the ocean. The girl's body plummeted limply the nearly six stories before colliding with the floor. Tethys growled and floated down after her.

The rain pattered down about her, and the machinery of the site hummed on.

Ukyou was on her feet again when she arrived. She could barely stand. Her body was hunched, her right eye half-closed from the swelling of one of Tethys' blows. Dried blood spilled from her partially shattered nose. She wasn't putting any weight on her right foot, and her left arm hung limp.

"She's all but dead," Hayato said to her in the silent reaches of their mind. "Finish her."

"No," Tethys hissed back, also silently.

"Why? We can't break her. She will stand defiant against you until you kill her. Look into her eyes."

Tethys did as the boy suggested. She saw no defeat in those icy grey eyes. They were cold, and tired, but not broken. They still defied her to attack.

"Once she is dead... I have no more use for you," Tethys informed him as she raised her hand.

"I know," Hayato hissed in the depths of her mind. "But I've become enough of a monster for the purpose of revenge. I let you use me to kill the workers of this place. Maybe she's right. Maybe it is better to die a man, but I can't go back now. Kill her, then discard me and kill me too if you must."

Tethys hesitated, unsure how to respond to that. There had been such venom in Hayato's mental voice. But it hadn't been directed at Ukyou. Nor had it been directed at Tethys. It was self-loathing, she concluded in startlement. How could he hate himself? If there was any emotion foreign to the existence of youma, it was that one. Even love, of a twisted kind, could exist in the Dark Kingdom. But to hate YOURSELF?

Tethys snapped out of her stupor as she saw Ukyou suddenly sprint away. The girl ducked and rolled, then came up holding the iron shaft she had used as a weapon. Tethys quirked her head to the side. Then she smiled.

Perhaps Ukyou would draw this out further, after all.

Tethys floated after her. She gestured, causing the rain to form into orbs that pelted and battered at Ukyou. Somehow, Ukyou was dodging them this time. She wasn't moving any faster, but she seemed to know where the blows were going to come from now. And Tethys couldn't force the water to move faster enough in turn to compensate. She shrugged, and doubled the number of orbs. This time, Ukyou was sent spinning into the darkness.

Tethys touched down as Ukyou came to rest near the edge of the room. Here, the hum of the turbines was almost deafening. Tethys gazed idly at the large generator that was half-embedded in the wall. She could feel the water flowing behind that barrier, spinning the turbines that generated the power to this place. How clever, she mused with a smile.

"Tethys..." Ukyou said as she regained her feet. "And Hayato..." The girl stood suddenly straight, her face wincing, but her posture perfect as she adopted her fighting stance. "Let's finish this. Come at me, with everything you have."

"Are you finally ready to fight back?" Tethys said, frowning. She still didn't feel anything different about Ukyou's aura.

"Not the way you mean," Ukyou said. Then Ukyou was running towards them. Tethys dodged the first blow of her pole-staff with contemptuous ease. She responded with a backhand that sent Ukyou flying. But Ukyou bound to her feet and came in again, but considerably slower. Tethys grinned and reached out, catching the girl's staff with one hand. Ukyou tugged at it futilely, but Tethys grew bored quickly and kicked her in the ribs. Ukyou gasped and collapsed to her knees. She rolled away, though, spinning around behind Tethys.

Tethys turned slowly, facing the girl. She hadn't felt any of the cold aura that Ukyou had produced the one time she had been able to hurt her. It appeared that Ukyou was all out of tricks. Tethys sighed. Such a waste of time. She raised her hand and pointed it at Ukyou.

"Goodbye, Ukyou..." Tethys said with a hint of melancholy.

Ukyou suddenly shifted her grip on the staff. She was now holding it like a javelin. Tethys clenched her fist, and a ball of water formed there. Then Ukyou hurled the staff at her. Tethys didn't even flinch. The metal passed through her chest without resistance. She grinned. Then she felt the staff stop. She looked down, and saw it quivering between her breasts.

"Goodbye, Tethys." Ukyou said.

Then Tethys' world was pain. She screamed, the water in front of her crashing to the ground. Her body twitched and spasmed. She saw a bright arc flash from the tip of the pole to the ground. Another blinding arc ran up the length of her arm before flashing away to hit a metal pole nearby. A shower of sparks exploded over her shoulders.

The generator!

Tethys realized too late what had happened. Her hands reached down to try and pull the pole free, but the blinding white flash of man-made lightning knocked them away. She screamed again. The pain was intense, all-encompassing... soon it blocked out all thought.

She tried to absorb it, but this wasn't life force. This was artificial, and it burned her very soul. She could feel the power run up and down her body, and as it did she felt the massive chi within her hum in sympathy. Soon she was losing control of even that. The chi flashed and roared, exploding out from her skin in brilliant white arcs. She couldn't even hear herself screaming anymore. She felt her body loosing cohesion.

Then the pain stopped.

Tethys collapsed to the ground, shuddering. She looked up, and saw Ukyou standing over her. The young woman's body was smoking, and she was holding her pole in one hand. Ukyou's body shuddered as she took a deep breath.

"No... not even you... not now. Not ever," Ukyou said slowly.

Ukyou had saved her life. Tethys wanted to laugh at the tragedy of it. But she was too weak. Her mind was sinking away. All her power had exploded out of her. She barely had enough to maintain her own life.

And did she want to?

A part of her accepted this. She knew she had lost. This was the way it should be, that part of her said. She had lost to a greater opponent. It was time for her to fade away. She smiled, and felt herself giving into that impulse. Somehow, as she began to relase the last bonds on her very being, she felt fulfilled...

It was Hayato who saved her. With a roar, he pushed to the front of her mind. She could feel the blistering power of his will and shied away from it. His instinct to survive, his basic human desire to live, overwhelmed that part of her. With a shudder and a sigh, she lay back. Her body changed, morphing slowly back to Hayato's human form. It was still the same youma body, but when he was in charge, it conformed to his expectations and not hers.

But even he didn't have the power to move. Only to live.

Then they were being lifted off the ground. It was Ukyou. She had grabbed Hayato by the collar and lifted him into the air so his eyes were level with hers. Tethys stared through Hayato's eyes into those of Ukyou. They were cold. Defiant. Undefeated.

"Remember this, Hayato," Ukyou said in a voice like ice. "Remember this, Tethys. I won. I defeated you. You were stronger, and faster. You had more tricks. You were my superior in every way. But I won." Ukyou let them drop. "I didn't even go all out, and I still defeated you."

Ukyou began to walk away, but as she did Tethys heard her say one last thing over her shoulder.

"When you look back on this day, remember that the only reason you still live, is because I CHOSE to let you do so."

Then Ukyou vanished into the darkness, leaving Tethys and Hayato alone with each other.

01010

Ukyou thought she must have been making quite a spectacle of herself. She couldn't imagine how awful she looked as she staggered down the street. Her clothes were sopping wet, and on the one day she had decided to forgo chest wrappings. Her nose was at least not bleeding anymore, and most of the blood had been washed clean by the swim back to the mainland. Hitching a ride over the mountains back to Tokyo had been difficult, but the capacity to grin and bear the attentions of some lecherous salaryman had eventually seen her through.

She winced as her foot came down badly again. Frankly, the first place she should be going was to the nearest doctor. Kyoko might be able to patch her up, as could Doctor Tofu. Plus, she knew Ranma and Ran would be looking for her, and that going to those places would be the most likely way to find them.

But, for some reason, she didn't feel like meeting Ranma at the moment. It struck her as odd, but after her victory she felt strangely ambivalent. She should have felt like celebrating. She had triumphed. Even if... at the end there...

But she didn't feel like celebrating. She had defeated an enemy, two enemies, that she never would have fought, had she not been such a grade A bitch. So why should she be happy about it? Perhaps the thought of trying to explain her feeling to Ranma was why she wasn't rushing back to meet him.

Besides, there was still Hayato's soul (or body, or whatever) to save. If she fetched Sailor Moon now and brought her back to the... Ukyou winced at the very thought of it. Who was building such a ridiculous thing as an Ocean Cathedral three kilometers off shore from one of the most impassable cliffs on the Japanese shoreline?

Nevermind. That way lay madness.

The point was that Usagi could heal Hayato, drive the youma out of him.

And then... what?

Ukyou shook those thoughts aside. Usagi's house was dead ahead. She stumbled towards the door, heaving a sigh of relief. She could lay the entire problem at Usagi's feet, she guessed. Aaron certainly wasn't being a help. Ever since the adrenaline of the fight had worn off, he had been busy thinking about other things.

The first thing Ukyou noticed was that the house appeared deserted. The front door was hanging ajar and the driveway was empty. But there was more than that... the place felt deserted somehow. Aaron's attention returned to the outside world as he tried to put a finger on that feeling, but it stayed just at the irritating edge of his perception.

"Hello?" Ukyou called as she stepped in front of the door. "Is anybody home?"

There was no answer. Aaron frowned and focused his senses, but he sensed no life forces inside the building. Ukyou tapped the door open and stepped inside. It was after school, though: Usagi could be with her friends. Maybe her father was still at work. Maybe the brother at a friend's place. The mother might have even gone out shopping. But why leave the door open?

Aaron paused at the threshold. Why were they even considering this? It was the quintessential horror movie mistake. The smart thing to do would be to turn around, walk away and come back with a posse of friends. But... Usagi's family missing? That sent warning bells peeling in his mind. If someone had decided to get more serious than your standard Sailor Moon villain did, he might not have time to get help...

"Hello?" Ukyou called again as she stepped inside. She limped slowly down the hall and finally came to the living room. She immediately noticed the person sitting in the chair with his back to her. He had black hair and was hunched forward, perfectly still. Aaron could sense... something about him. It felt familiar, but he didn't know why. "Hello?" Ukyou called, louder this time.

"I knew you'd come," the man said in an oddly distorted voice. Ukyou blinked, running her good hand through her bangs. Aaron knew that standing here was a bad idea. But... he was mentally exhausted, and couldn't come up with a better plan.

In a smooth motion the figure rose to his feet. One hand immediately fell limp at his side, and Ukyou grimaced in disgust at the sight of it. Also the smell, which hit her nostils at that point. It was sweet and sickly, like meat that had been left in the sun. The figure slowly turned. He might once have been a handsome young man, but he was barely recognizable as one now. His hair still clung to his scalp, but much of his flesh was only doing so by force of habit. His eyes were sunk under his brow, and were milky white and unreadable. The lips had peeled back from the teeth, giving him the illusion of a smile. Most of the rest of his body was hidden under a leather jacket, T-shirt and jeans. Only his hands were exposed: the left was barely more than a skeleton, and even the right had a long strip of flesh hanging from the index finger.

"It's been a long time, Aaron."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Brains... brainsssssss...

Epsilon: You're not actually a zombie. Well, uh, not that type of zombie, anyway.

Blade: Brrraaaaaaainnns... are one of the few delicacies I have not tried...

Epsilon: Hey, do I have any attack names to put out?

Blade: Well, uh, no. Which is good, since if Ukyou had yelled "ICE PUNCHU!" while running at Tethys, you might not have hit her.

Epsilon: Don't be ridiculous! We would have yelled it out in Pretentious Latin. What makes you think Tethys understands Latin?

Blade: Her name is Latin.

Epsilon: Pfft. (waves hand dismissively) Pure coincidence. All evil diabolical invaders from beyond space and time speak Japanese. That's also what they spoke millennia ago on the Moon.

Blade: It's also what they speak in the Jurai Empire!

Epsilon: That's why you know Earth's so damn backwards. Only one small island nation speaks Japanese.

Blade: Yep, Japanese is actually the One True Tongue that existed before the Tower of Babel fell. I'm pretty sure that's in Evangelion somewhere.

Epsilon: Along with an angel who blasted gospel music at a pubescent girl until her brain broke.

Blade: Back on the subject of brains again, huh?

Epsilon: And on that note... UNGRACEFUL SEGUE!

Blade: Uh... readers with... BRAINS... will undoubtedly have figured out we have nothing profound to say about the fanfic, and are even now, using their BRAINS, to scroll down to what's coming up NEXT MONTH...

Ukyou stood up straight, pushing off the wall, her fists finally clenched. She looked down at the ground, and Chris... FELT something. It was like a tuning fork, vibrating in time to something inside her. Something alien... something Other... and something oh so familiar.

Of course! Aaron had the Third Circle too. Of course he did. He WAS Other. Just like Chris. That was the power. The power they had, that could destroy the world... or save it. All that mattered was intent.

It was still dormant, but he could feel Aaron reaching for it. For their last gasp. It looked like there was no way out of this but for them to fight it out. Aaron just hated it too much. Hated this freedom he considered so wrong.

Well, too bad.

He raised his hand, and a baton slipped into it. Spikes extended, covered with glistening death.

No paralysis this time.

No rematch.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 13: Points Of Authority


	13. Points Of Authority

Unlucky thirteen, huh? I guess it figures it'd be my turn...

Uh, hey. I'm Ryouga, but you don't really care about that. Trust me, you don't want to know me, because I am the lowest scum on earth.

Wait a minute... if I have authorial oversight perception... then...

I KNOW NABIKI TRICKED ME!

But I'm just gonna forget anyway. Sigh...

Well, anyway, there are other people's lives who are almost as dark and hopeless as mine. Ukyou's one of them, as she basically spent most of last chapter getting the living crap kicked out of her by Tethys. But Tethys wouldn't kill her until she made Ukyou use the Third Circle stuff, which allowed Ukyou enough of a chance to eventually pull off a plan to defeat Tethys. And then Ukyou spared her life, which was probably a bad idea, I guess. But it was nice!

Around the same time, this evil group of monsters called Chronos attacked the Sailor Senshi. They kidnapped two of them, but with help from that undead guy Chris, Sailor Moon managed to escape. So did Sailor Mars, but only by abandoning her grandpa to the horrible monsters. Man, I wish I'd been there to help... but... well, anyway.

That wasn't the only bad thing happening. This jerk called Vega showed up, supposedly to look for Ukyou, but he seems to be interested in the Sailor Senshi too. And some really bad guys killed a bunch of government muckety-mucks in England, and only a vampire girl and her, I guess boss, managed to escape them.

And to top it all off, Chris found out by accident about Ukyou's evil prophecy thing, and figured out that that meant Ukyou had lied to him, and his ex-friend Aaron wasn't dead, so he went to look for them. He seemed pretty... uh... how to put this... psychotic? Man, Ukyou can't catch a break, and that's coming from ME, here.

Which... is pretty much where we're at. I guess things can't get much more depressing, right?

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 13: Points of Authority

"It's been a long time, Aaron." the rotting corpse said, in defiance of all natural law, as it stood before them.

Aaron's eyes widened. Ukyou stepped back.

"Chris?"

Chris flashed across the room. Ukyou might have been able to dodge, or even block. She might have been able to defend herself... if she had not just been beaten half to death. As it was, all she could do was stare as Chris' skeletal fist ran into her face. For a moment, the world went black and she felt the wall behind her give way as the force of the shot knocked her from the building. She skidded to a halt on the rough pavement, stinging her hands as she grasped wildly in an attempt to slow down.

Ukyou was just lifting her head up again when the wall to Usagi's house exploded outward. She scrambled to the side, barely avoiding the refrigerator that crashed to the street, spilling foodstuffs all over. Some inane part of Ukyou's mind tsked at the waste.

Ukyou pulled herself to her feet using a nearby mailbox, and stared as the decaying body strode out of the hole it had created and into the street. He was wearing a black leather jacket, T-shirt and jeans, all standard apparel for Chris. But his body... it had reached a level of decomposition that bordered on horrific. His glassy, milky eyes flicked towards her, but there was no emotion in them.

"You know," Chris said in a conversational tone, seemingly to himself. "I really feel like a complete idiot. I mean, I knew you lied to Ranma. Lied to Akane. Lied to yourself. But for some reason, I didn't think you were lying to me."

"Chris..." Aaron said slowly. "I think you need to calm down." He had little hope it would work, but longshots were all he had at the moment.

"Now, why would I believe you, when you told me that Aaron was dead?" Chris continued, ignoring her. "Why? When I knew you were so dishonest?" The corpse-boy snapped his fingers, his skeletal fingers producing a sickening clattering noise. "Oh! That's right, now I remember! Because the alternative was that Aaron, my BEST FRIEND, was lying to me." Chris' voice began to rise, an angry hiss escaping through his non-existent lips as the words edged closer and closer to shouts. "Lying to me, and leaving me to ROT! ALONE! In this GODDAMN CORPSE!" By this time, Chris had closed to within a few paces of Ukyou. She stood transfixed. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

Chris turned his head and regarded her. His voice lowered, and had taken on a dangerous, brutal sort of calmness. "But silly me. I guess I was wrong. So, Aaron, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I..." Aaron sighed and fixed Ukyou's eyes on those of the corpse body that Chris inhabited like a parasite. "Nothing I can say will make it better. The words 'I'm sorry' sound hollow even to me."

"Just like you," Chris said, his face twitching as he tried unsuccessfully to sneer.

Ukyou bent forward as Chris rammed his foot into her gut. Pain raced up and down her body as her already broken ribs reminded her of their existence. She coughed and collapsed to her knees, dry-heaving and bracing herself with her hands. Chris loomed over her.

Ukyou's head snapped back as Chris' foot snapped up again and caught her in the chin. The force of his blow lifted her from the ground. But as suddenly as she started moving, she stopped. The jerk of the sudden stop sent sharp spikes of pain through her neck as Chris' rotting corpse-hand clenched around it like a vice.

Ukyou gasped. She could still breathe. Chris hadn't tightened his grip yet. Aaron began to focus, searching their body for some store of energy. There had to be a wisp of it somewhere, didn't there? Wasn't there always enough strength for one last defiant stand? There had been against Tethys. There had been enough to force their battered body to walk back to Tokyo. But this time the well was dry.

The only power inside them now, was that Other power.

Ukyou winced as Chris lightly slapped her with his non-skeletized hand. "No, no, no. You don't fall unconscious that quickly."

"Chris, it doesn't have to be like this..." Ukyou hissed. Her jaw moved painfully. She thought maybe Chris had come very close to breaking it.

"Doesn't it? You didn't answer my question. You do that a lot."

Huh? What question was that? "Uh..." Ukyou said, her voice still coming in a high-pitched squeak because of her half compressed trachea. "Could you repeat the question?"

The hand around her neck quivered and the pressure increased almost imperceptibly. But you perceived a lot of things when they involved your air supply. Chris' eyes closed, and Ukyou stared down at him through her half-lidded eyes. Then his other arm vanished in a flash, and there was a metal shriek. Ukyou hadn't even seen the strike, but she saw the mailbox sail off into the distance. The sidewalk pavestones rippled like a pond in its wake, then exploded up in a line of concrete geysers. Ukyou's jaw would have dropped, had Chris not been supporting it. She watched the mailbox sail through a parked car like it wasn't even there. The car's two halves remained perched in space for an absurd second before gravity finally decided to notice there was nothing connecting them and they collapsed in on each other. The mailbox didn't even seem to slow when it disappeared into the wall of a house four blocks away.

A shriek rose in the distance.

Aaron frowned internally. He had felt that. Up until now, Chris was as dark on his senses as any other dead thing. But... something inside of him had reacted to that strike.

Chris drew in a long breath, and let it out again. The sound of it was oddly liquid, like he was gargling. "Pay attention this time," Chris ordered her coldly. "The question is, 'Why, Aaron? Why would you do this to me?' Did you get that?"

"Do this to you?" Aaron said slowly. "No. Never mind. I don't have an answer that will satisfy you. I did it because a part of me hates you, and wanted you to suffer. I did it because a part of me is afraid of you, and wants you to disappear from my perception. I did it because I was stupid and confused and going through my own crisis. But none of that really matters. I did it to you. It was wrong." Aaron sighed. "I can't take it back. I wish I could, but I can't."

"Wrong," Chris said in an oddly happy tone. "That satisfies me completely."

The next thing Ukyou knew, she was colliding with a wall. Her back screamed at her. And it was only as she started to slide to the ground that she saw the lamppost she had been hurled through topple neatly to the side. Well, on the bright side, she hadn't really felt that. But again, Aaron had sensed something during their near instantaneous flight.

The lamppost stopped toppling. Chris was now standing under it, supporting it with one hand. His hideous, grinning face stared at her as he shifted his grip on it until he was holding it by the narrow end. Then he began to line it up on his shoulder.

"Aw, shit..." Ukyou groaned.

Aaron focused, and he sensed the same sympathetic pulse form inside him. With no more warning needed, Ukyou dodged... well, more accurately collapsed quickly, and the lamppole snapped through the air over her head. There was a cascade of crashes as the pole tore through the wall with enough force to send the debris flying back. Ukyou spun around on her back and stared as the arc of debris cut into the house behind her like a machine gun. Glass sprayed and plaster exploded outward. A moment later, there were screams.

Ukyou glanced to her left and right. People.

Oh god. This was the suburbs. All these people were just coming home for, or already at, supper. She had barely noticed them as they shrunk back from her while she had been approaching. But now that they were screaming and fleeing in all directions, she couldn't help but notice.

"Chris, stop!" Ukyou yelled, turning to face him and holding one hand up.

"Stop? Why Aaron, can't you take it as well as you dish it out?" Chris stepped forward, swinging the pole idly. "I heard about Hayato. Real Ukyou-like response to a problem there," Chris said sarcastically.

Ukyou's face flushed with a sudden surge of anger. She grabbed the remains of the wall and levered herself into a standing position again. "Chris, you have no idea what I've gone through, so don't talk. Maybe I'm not exactly myself anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not the same person. People change, I guess." Ukyou couldn't resist the urge to sneer, just a little. "Look at yourself, for instance."

Chris' face darkened as he stepped forward. With a casual flip he tossed the pole over his shoulder. Ukyou gasped as she watched it arc into the roof of a house, and through that roof with barely a pause. Chris didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were all on Ukyou. Ukyou only noticed how close he had gotten when his backhanded slap sent stars spiraling across her vision.

"Excuse me, bitch, but I'm not talking to you."

Ukyou coughed as she reeled from the blow. Aaron had felt it again, that brief surge from inside of them just before Chris struck. It had been much smaller this time, but still there.

Ukyou didn't care. Chris was a menace. If they didn't end this, more innocent people would be hurt. She clenched her fist. She could find the strength to fight back. They were still breathing. They didn't need to do that for a few seconds...

Aaron pounced on that idea with all his willpower. His mind boggled at what Ukyou had been considering. He felt her anger. He understood it. But there was no way he was going to let her give into it. Mostly because it wouldn't work, and would likely just get them hit again. All they had to do was endure until Chris came back to his senses...

Which, really, should have happened a while ago.

Because Chris, while he had always had a temper, had also always been the kind of person whose temper flared strong, but briefly. Usually, once he smashed his fist into some convenient inanimate object, he would calm down. Besides, even he had to notice how badly Ukyou was hurt. He had to realize that one or two more strong blows... and they might not wake up-

"Aaron," Chris said sweetly, startling them out of their reverie. "Please pay attention to me when I'm speaking to you." Then he swung his arm up and rammed it into their stomach. Ukyou lifted off her feet and flew breathless through the air, before she crashed hard onto the roof of a sedan parked nearly four houses down. The roof gave way and Ukyou plummeted again, landing badly on the car's steering column. She felt something in her hip crack.

By the time the pain cleared away, they could hear Chris stepping next to the car. The car rocked, and Ukyou gasped as she realized what Chris was doing. She started to scramble, but the car was already in the air by the time she got to the door. It flipped lazily through the sky and Ukyou could do nothing but grab onto any purchase and fight the vertigo. The car landed with a deafening crash, and Ukyou watched as plaster and glass flew by the window.

Somehow, she had managed to remain in one piece. Miraculously, she hadn't even taken a scratch. The car had survived mostly intact as well. With a groan, she crawled out of the window above her. She stopped. Well, apparently falling on the couch had broken the car's fall. Luckily, it appeared the young couple cowering in the nearby corner had not been on the couch at the time.

"Run," Ukyou gasped. They just stared at her. "RUN!"

One of the walls exploded inward. Ukyou rolled off the car, shielding herself from the blast of debris. She heard the couple scream in pain and shock. "Knock, knock," Chris called as he strode into the house. Ukyou watched as Chris' eyes scanned the room, passed over the couple without pause, and stopped when they spotted her.

Chris... didn't even see them. The young woman was lying on the ground, a small pool of blood forming under her chest. The man was screaming and clutching her. Chris didn't even notice they were there.

This wasn't Chris.

Not at his worst.

Aaron gasped.

"No..." Ukyou said slowly.

The problem with epiphanies was that they always occurred at the most inconvenient times.

Aaron rose to his feet, and stared over the top of the wrecked car at Chris. The undead boy's face twitched as he tried to smile again. Aaron could feel it now. It was like someone had turned on the proverbial light switch in his mind. The power radiated from Chris. The Other.

The same power that had nearly turned him and Ukyou into monsters, and Chris was using it. Of course he was using it. He had to be. How else could a corpse walk around? How else could he steal the memories and powers of his hosts? Chris had never had those abilities, to say the least.

Chris was using the same corrupting power.

And he was using it all the time.

"Chris," Ukyou began, her voice suddenly hitching. "You... you're going to kill me, Chris. If you don't stop right now. I'm going to die. Do you really want that? Or is it already too late for you to care?"

01010

"Do this to you?" the being that looked like Ukyou repeated mockingly. "No. Nevermind. I don't have an answer that will satisfy you. I did it because a part of me hates you, and wanted you to suffer. I did it because a part of me is afraid of you, and wants you to disappear from my perception. I did it because I was stupid and confused and going through my own crisis. But none of that really matters. I did it to you. It was wrong." It sighed. "I can't take it back. I wish I could, but I can't."

And that was it. All that, all the pain, everything that had been done since then, and all it came down to, for Aaron, was the same thing it always had: apathy.

He hadn't changed at all.

Chris had always wanted to do this, just a little bit.

"Wrong," he said, and meant it. "That satisfies me completely."

Chris knocked the Ukyou-Aaron back. They hit a wall and slid down. They'd knocked over a lamppost, he noted idly. Perfect. He grabbed it, wound up like a baseball batter.

"Aw, shit..." it griped.

He swung, but it dodged out of the way. Aaron looked side to side for a way to escape, then held up a hand at him. "Chris, stop!"

Chris sneered. It wasn't even fighting back yet. Did it thinkhe wasn't serious? He stepped forward, prepping the pole for another swing. "Stop? Why Aaron, can't you take it as well as you dish it out?" He paused, remembering everything he knew 'Ukyou' could, in fact, 'dish out'. Jadeite's arm ripped off, Hayato's spine broken. Chris had barely even hurt it yet. "I heard about Hayato. Real Ukyou-like response to a problem there."

Ukyou - it was hard to think of it as being Aaron, he guessed, given the body - stood up straight, and snarled at him. "Chris, you have no idea what I've gone through, so don't talk. Maybe I'm not exactly myself anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not the same person. People change, I guess." It... SHE smirked. "Look at yourself, for instance."

This old song and dance. And making fun of his tragedy, to boot. Chris said a silent apology to many newsgroup debating opponents over the years. Ukyou Kuonji WAS a fucking bitch.

He discarded the lamppost and cuffed her across the face. She'd had her chance to tell him the truth before. He wasn't planning to listen again. "Excuse me, bitch, but I'm not talking to you."

She stumbled back a bit, and he saw her face light up with rage, but then she calmed down again, standing there, not even seeming to pay attention. She didn't even attempt to defend herself, much less strike back. Just like she had been this whole fight.

Did she think he was so beneath her?

No. HE did.

But he was stronger than Aaron now.

"Aaron," Chris said softly, causing it to notice him again, "Please pay attention to me when I'm talking to you."

He knocked them away and followed. They'd landed on a car.

A car?

Heh.

He'd wanted to try this sometime.

He easily lifted the car with Aaron-Ukyou in it and hurled it away. His arm was itching at the edge of his consciousness, but he ignored it. He'd deal with it later. He was still fine.

The car had fallen behind a wall. He casually strolled up to it, and made himself a door. "Knock, knock," he called as he walked in.

THERE it was.

"No," it said, and he could tell it was Ukyou again by her voice. What, did she think he was Ryouga or something, not to be able to find her again?

And it still wasn't fighting him. It was just staring at him.

Well, he'd MAKE it fight back.

It wouldn't be so smug when he was done.

Not this time. Not like the last time. Not like when they'd met for the first time in this world, and Ukyou (Aaron?) had taunted him and dangled her knowledge and left him to ROT.

It was talking. "Chris," Ukyou said, a theatrical catch in her voice. "You... you're going to kill me, Chris. If you don't stop right now. I'm going to die. Do you really want that? Or is it already too late for you to care?"

"Spare me the melodrama," he snapped. "I've barely even touched you so far." She was hiding behind the car. He tossed it out of the way. "You won't even fight back. Why not? Because you know I'm stronger now than I was when I beat you before?" He grinned, knowing the REAL reason. "Or are you waiting for RANMA to save your little ass? After all, he could probably beat Sentarou. But he won't. He's occupied, I think. You can't play damsel in distress for him this time."

Ukyou was still just looking at him, not even striking a defensive stance. "You really can't see what you're doing, can't you? I know! Everything seems so simple, doesn't it? All those little problems you had before you started-"

He cuffed her again, and she stumbled back and fell down. "Shut the fuck up, Ukyou. You think I can't tell it's you? You HAD your chance to talk to me. I'm talking to HIM." He glared down, feeling the anger build. "You. You goddamn little son of a BITCH. Everything I've done for you, every time I've supported you, every person I've defended you to... and you spit it back in my face the first chance you get. Did you have a good laugh about it? You always liked that, making people suffer, right? That's what you always said." He clenched his fist, and shooed away the itching again. "Well, congratulations, Aaron. You win. And here's your prize."

"And maybe I deserve it," Aaron said. It was definitely him; that apathetic, uncaring, slightly mocking tone was oh too familiar. "So what happens next, Chris? Do you just keep beating me until I'm dead?"

As if he was even HURT. He wasn't even trying to dodge! "Funny. But not very." He stepped over to it, and saw it flinch just a little. He smiled. "Kill you? Maybe I should. I mean, this is cathartic and all, but really, your assholishness isn't the real problem here, is it? Or maybe it is. But it's assholishness on a whole different level than you've showed me."

"Chris, listen to yourself. You're not even making sense. You're sick. You need help. You need-"

He wasn't even trying to sound sympathetic. What, did Aaron think he was an idiot? He kicked his arm out from under him, which he apparently didn't expect, and Ukyou's body flopped satisfyingly. "Shut up. Do you know how I figured out it was you?"

It paused for a moment, then said "No," in Aaron's cold tones.

"It was a coincidence, really. I was actually going to ask for your help. But Rei doesn't like you. She told me about the prophecy. And I asked myself, no matter how much of a bitch she was, no matter how much she twisted and used people for her own selfish ends, WHY on earth would Ukyou Kuonji want to end all existence?" It didn't have a reply to that. But, of course, what could either of them say? "And then it came to me. Do you remember the talk, Aaron? At Rob's? Do you remember when we discussed what we'd wish for?"

"Wishes?" Aaron said. Then he looked up, Ukyou's eyes widening. "Wishes? That was just idle talk!"

Chris smiled. "No, I don't think so. I think you took it very seriously. Too seriously." He jerked it to its feet, since it couldn't be bothered to do so and he wanted to look Aaron in the eyes. "It made perfect sense. Ukyou would never destroy everything, never destroy this beautiful world. Why would she? It was HER world. It was what she knew! It wasn't, to her, a world that... 'shouldn't exist'. She'd never take all the wishes away." He held it up to his face, nose to nose, smiled as it flinched backwards. "You would. YOU would, Aaron. But I won't let you. You'll never take the wishes away from everyone. I'm going to stop you. Right here and now, if I have to."

"Chris," it said, and it was Aaron again. "You have to listen to me. Even if you hate me, even if you think I am going to destroy the world, you have to listen to just this: there is something inside of you. A power that isn't of this world. And it's destroying you, piece by piece."

Chris laughed. "Welcome to last month, Aaron. What, did Cologne tell you about the Third Circle too? I KNOW why my bodies rot. But it hardly matters now, does it?"

"No, listen, not your bodies, it's destroying-"

He shoved Aaron back into the wall. He wanted to smash that glib little mouth in. But not yet. In a moment. He wasn't finished talking. "No, YOU listen. I'm not going to kill you... at least not right now. Why? Because now you know. You know I'm going to stop you. And I'm stronger than you. I beat you when I was Kodachi, and I'll beat you here when I'm Sentarou. And do you know why? Because I WANT it more. Because I want to be able to save this world. Save it from people like Susano-oh, and Queen Beryl, and Arkanphel... and you." He smiled to himself. It seemed so obvious now. "Because that's why I'm HERE. A very wise person told me that things like me don't just happen by accident. And she was right. I have a PURPOSE. This world is going to tear itself apart. Unless I stop it. And I can. I have the knowledge, I have the power, and most importantly, I have the will."

He dropped Ukyou-Aaron, and stepped back. The sun was shining down, and he looked directly into it. It felt good. "I won't let what you promised happen. All the happy endings CAN still come true. Everybody who wants to dream can have it." He looked down into Aaron's eyes. "And do you know why? Because I BELIEVE. I believe in the perfect possible future." He held up one hand, clenched it. "And I can bring it about. That's what I'm here to do."

Ukyou stood up straight, pushing off the wall, her fists finally clenched. She looked down at the ground, and Chris... FELT something. It was like a tuning fork, vibrating in time to something inside her. Something alien... something Other... and something oh so familiar.

Of course! Aaron had the Third Circle too. Of course he did. He WAS Other. Just like Chris. That was the power. The power they had, that could destroy the world... or save it. All that mattered was intent.

It was still dormant, but he could feel Aaron reaching for it. For their last gasp. It looked like there was no way out of this but for them to fight it out. Aaron just hated it too much. Hated this freedom he considered so wrong.

Well, too bad.

He raised his hand, and a baton slipped into it. Spikes extended, covered with glistening death.

No paralysis this time.

No rematch.

It was time to get serious.

Ukyou was still standing there, waiting for him to make the first move. She hadn't drawn out the power yet. Well, he wasn't waiting for them to get ready. He lunged forward and-

And his arm was being held back. Chris blinked. What?

Hey, it was Ryouga. Standing there, holding his arm, looking grim- faced.

Where had Ryouga come from? How hadn't Chris noticed him?

"This fight is over." Ryouga's voice was much colder than Chris had ever thought it could get.

01010

"This fight is over," Ryouga informed the monster, his voice filled with cold rage. The thing blinked at him, its eyes widening slightly. But Ryouga didn't give it a chance to recover. He brought his free hand up with all the force he could muster, and did his level best to take its head off.

There was a sick ripping sound, and a crash, blended seamlessly into a single sound. Ryouga watched as the thing fell through the hole the force of his punch created for it in the wall. Ryouga then realized he was still holding the thing's arm. He dropped it with a soft retch.

He glanced over at the young woman standing opposite him. Was this really Ukyou? First off, she was a she. That was new. But more importantly, she was barely recognisable. Her face was covered in bruises and welts. Blood was smeared across her features from a dozen small cuts. Her hair was matted with it. A red welt encircled her neck, and her sopping wet clothes did nothing to hide the bruises and cuts that covered her torso. Normally, Ryouga suspected he would have passed out at the sight of her cleavage, but either the ruin that was her body, or his own recent experiences gave him the strength to resist that.

Barely.

More importantly, Ukyou was almost dead. He was no doctor, but he had seen enough battlefield injuries to know the signs. He guessed some or all of her ribs were broken, and probably one of her arms as well. One of her legs wasn't doing as much to support her as the other. Yes, Ryouga knew the signs. One more attack... and Ukyou would be dead.

Sometimes, deep down inside where he refused to admit it to himself, Ryouga hated what Nabiki asked him to do. Like this afternoon. He hadn't wanted to slaughter those monsters. But he had tried to turn off his emotions and obey.

He owed it to Nabiki. He owed her everything.

But this time, he was more than glad to step in. This time, he would be saving a life. He glanced to the side, where he could see a man cradling his wife? daughter? lover? It was hard to tell. But from the look of her she also needed a doctor, and soon. This time he would save two lives.

"Are you alright?" Ryouga said to Ukyou.

"I..." Ukyou stumbled back and slumped against the wall. "I don't know..."

"Can you walk?" Ryouga asked insistently. "I don't think this house can stay up much longer." As if to emphasize his words, the structure creaked ominously. "I have to get them out of here..." Ryouga ran over and pulled the man away from the injured woman. The man tried to fight Ryouga, but the young boy simply overpowered him and then scooped up the woman in his arms. He didn't like the way she was bleeding, but there was no help for it.

"Yes, I can walk..." he heard Ukyou say. He nodded and dashed out the way he had come. Then he felt something ping off the back of his head and stopped. "This way, Ryouga." Ukyou said, gesturing out a hole through which the street could be seen.

"Right."

Ryouga leapt free of the building, Ukyou stumbling after him. Once they were on the street, Ryouga put down the woman and released the man. Now that he was clear, he could hear the sounds of sirens growing closer. The police would be here soon.

"Where is the zombie?"

Ryouga looked up as Nabiki stepped up to him. She crossed her arms and stared down at him.

"I knocked it away," Ryouga explained.

"Good, now..." Nabiki turned to look at Ukyou. Then she paused. Ukyou looked up at her through eyes half-closed by swelling. The young woman was leaning against a utility pole, obviously all but out of it. Nabiki stared at her, gape-mouthed. Ryouga watched her step lightly over to Ukyou. Then he watched Nabiki lean down over Ukyou. Then he watched Nabiki fondle Ukyou's left breast.

He slapped his hand over his nose.

"Do you do that to everybody?" Ukyou asked flatly.

"You're a girl!" Nabiki accused.

"Indeed." Ukyou grimaced. "That hurts. Please stop."

Nabiki pulled her hand away as if burned.

Ryouga spun as a crash and roar echoed up from down the street. He stared as a fire hydrant arced into the air atop a geyser of water. With a single motion he snapped his umbrella over his head, deflecting what few drops came near him.

A fraction of a second later, Ryouga's eyes flicked to the side as a glob of water sailed past his left cheek. Then one hit at his feet. Cursing, he jumped back, using the umbrella as a shield. He felt a dozen water balls pelt off the bamboo in a matter of seconds.

"Ryouga," a distorted voice echoed up from down the street. "I like you and all... but mind your own business."

"Fat chance," Ryouga shouted back.

"Ryouga," Nabiki said stiffly. He glanced up at her. "Don't talk back to him, okay. I do the talking here." Nabiki shifted to look down the street. "Hey, whoever you are. I'm not sure what your problem is with Ukyou, but he... she and I have a little unfinished business to discuss first. So why don't you come back later?"

Ryouga heard the response before Nabiki did. He was familiar with the buzz of projectiles flashing through the air. With a snarl he stepped up, placing himself and his umbrella between Nabiki and the attack. He felt something much stronger than water bounce off the bamboo this time.

Behind him, he heard a clack of metal on metal.

He looked back, and saw the long metal arm of the lamppole plummeting to the ground. Nabiki was standing directly beneath it, oblivious to her danger. Not on his watch. With a growl he leapt back and spun sideways, catching the pole with a kick that sent it spiraling off harmlessly into the middle of the street. He landed facing Nabiki and grabbed her shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

"Look out, you..." Nabiki began, but cut off as Ryouga felt something smack into his back. He blinked and reached around, brushing at his shirt. There were a few tiny holes in it, and he thought he felt a little bit of blood. But not really much at all. He looked back over his shoulder.

"Uh, I should let you know," Ryouga said. "I'm basically invulnerable..." he trailed off slightly. His back was burning slightly. Huh. He shrugged it off and turned around again.

"Ahhh, the Bakusai Tenketsu," the thing said, its distorted voice partially drowned out by the geyser of water it was hiding behind. "Just to let you know, Ryouga? Tough and invulnerable are not synonyms."

"Heh." Ryouga moved his umbrella in front of him again. His back was really burning now. It felt worse than when he had woken up two mornings ago and realized he was still in that damn harness.

And still being hit by rocks, too. Nabiki, apparently, did not believe in 'rest breaks' for training.

But by now, Ryouga was hardly able to concentrate, the pain had grown so intense. His eyes began to water, and he blinked them rapidly, trying to see or sense where the undead thing's next attack was going to come from. But it appeared content to wait. Ryouga stepped sideways, as the pain began to creep down his leg. He felt dizzy. He used his free arm to wipe the sweat from his brow.

"Ryouga?" Nabiki said, sounding annoyed.

Ryouga wanted to respond, but couldn't seem to find the strength. His leg suddenly gave out, and he fell to one knee.

"RYOUGA!" Nabiki shouted, sounding concerned now. Funny. He could still hear fine, even if his eyes had gone blurry. He could feel her grabbing onto his shoulders and trying to support his weight. He realized he was going to topple onto her at this rate. Moaning, he pushed Nabiki away from him. She made an indignant noise as she stumbled back. Then he allowed himself to collapse to the pavement.

Ryouga heard the soft clap of footsteps as the figure began to approach them at a gentle pace. "He'll probably live," the creature began. "I don't know you what you have over him, Nabiki, but you should know better than to play with the big boys."

"Who are you?" Nabiki snapped in an agitated voice. "How do you know me?"

The creature laughed, a hideous liquid sound. "We've met before. I have been Sheila, Roger, Greg, Takashita, Kodachi, and now Sentarou. You can call me Chris." The creature chuckled and its footsteps stopped only a half meter away from Ryouga. Which put it dangerously close to Nabiki.

"Chris?" Nabiki said softly. "Wait, Kodachi..." There was a hesitant step backward from Nabiki's position. "You're... the thing that attacked Ukyou and... Ranma?"

"That beat them, actually," the Chris-thing noted. "Last time we met, I believe I left you bawling like a little girl." Then the thing's voice became hard and dangerous. "Now. Get out of here. Before I do it again."

Ryouga heard Nabiki choke. He felt his hands sink into the pavement. His fingers dug small tracks in the rock underneath. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth.

No.

No one would hurt Nabiki.

Not ever again.

Not while he was alive!

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The first thing Ryouga saw was Chris spinning on him in surprise. Then his fist was burying itself in its chest. Almost literally, as the chest caved in and it went flying across the street. Ryouga watched as the thing flew, its ribs and sternum compressed inward like a pothole in his torso.

Ryouga stepped forward. He felt the ground crack around his foot. He held up his arms, and vaguely realized he was glowing bright green. The thing was rising to a sitting position, not even stunned by Ryouga's strike. Ryouga growled and bared his teeth.

"Damn, must not have gotten as big a dose as I thought," Chris said in a serious tone.

"I guess not," Nabiki said in a sing-song tone. "Hurt him, Ryouga." She paused. "Make him cry... 'like a bawling little girl' was his turn of phrase?"

Ryouga dashed forward. The zombie shifted and blurred sideways, appearing not even to move its feet. Ryouga spun, kicking into the ground with enough force to create a small crater, and dashed after the retreating figure. His world had narrowed down to a small green tunnel with only one thing on the other end, the thing that had to be HURT.

Then Ryouga paused, he saw the thing vanish backward through a blue spray. Oh wait, the waterspout. It was about then that Ryouga remembered he had dropped his umbrella a little while back.

He kicked to the side, trying to put distance between him and the water. Chris, however, was not about to let him. It had pulled a small ladle out and was flicking it through the water as fast as it could with its one arm. Ryouga managed to dodge the first three water bullets, but had no hope of dodging the next five. He roared in impotent rage as they smashed and washed over him.

Ryouga landed, bracing himself and closing his eyes. He reached up and wiped the water from his face... wait, face?

"Ryouga!" Nabiki yelled from down the street. "You idiot! Remember, we used the soap earlier?"

"Oh..." Ryouga blinked. "Right." He turned on the startled zombie. It was just sort of staring at Nabiki. Somehow, this thing knew about Ryouga's secret weakness... but not about the waterproofing soap Nabiki had purchased from Jyusenkyou Magical Springs Products to counter just that.

"How does she know about..." Chris said slowly, then trailed off into a growl. "More of Ukyou's tricks!" It spun to face Ryouga. "Fine!" it hissed. "I'm still ME! You could beat Sentarou, but I'm another story!"

"Ryouga!" Ryouga turned his head and saw Ukyou staggering to her feet. "Look out, he's about to..."

Ryouga flicked his eyes back to the zombie. It was staring at him, holding its fist next to his neck. A small broken teaspoon was in its hand. Ryouga raised an eyebrow.

"Oh..." it began, but Ryouga was sick of it talking. He grabbed it by the shoulder and smashed it into the ground. Then he stepped down HARD on its shattered chest cavity, almost putting his foot through. The creature didn't pause, continuing to flail at him with an increasingly bizarre array of weaponry. Ryouga recognized some martial arts rhythmic gymnastic stuff, and tea ceremony stuff, but decided to cut it off before it could get much further. He whipped off his belt, hardened it with a flick of his wrists, and set about the grim work of removing its limbs one by one, starting with the legs.

He flicked the gore off the belt, grimacing at the thing. It tried to knock the belt-sword out of his hand, but he just poured on the strength and cut straight through its block.

"No, no! NO! You can't defeat me! You CAN'T!"

Ryouga didn't reply and grimly raised the belt-sword. If decapitation didn't work, then he would have to resort to more extreme methods. With an inarticulate howl of rage the creature flicked its stump of an arm, sending a spray of gore at him. Ryouga flinched back, preventing it from getting in his face. Ryouga slipped back, and when he looked down the thing was crawling like a worm away from him. Of course, his foot was still on a part of it.

"I won't die like this! I! Have! A DESTINY!"

"Sorry," Ryouga grunted and stepped forward, preparing to finish it off. Then he saw a form slide between them. He glanced up.

"No, Ryouga, leave him be," Ukyou said, holding her arms out to her side. She was wobbling slightly.

"What?" Ryouga blinked. "Are you serious?" he roared.

"Indeed," Ukyou said in a voice like ice.

"But that thing was trying to kill you!" Ryouga pointed behind her. Chris was very slowly getting away. "It's a monster!"

"No!" Ukyou shouted. "It's a human being! A scarred and damaged human being. But he can be saved." Ukyou's voice suddenly went so low Ryouga had trouble hearing her. "He has to be able to be saved..."

"No, Ukyou," Ryouga growled. "I don't care. It's a menace. All the people of this neighbourhood..." He trailed off. "I won't forgive it!"

Ryouga began to step around her. Ukyou tried to intercept him, but moved far too slow-

"RYOUGA!"

Ryouga snapped his eyes over to Nabiki, who had wandered over. "Let it go," she said, smiling.

"I..." Ryouga sighed. "Yes, Nabiki."

Ukyou cast a sharp glance at Nabiki, but then nodded in thanks.

"Just remember, Ukyou," Nabiki said, raising one finger. "You owe me." Ukyou just raised an eyebrow. "Now let's get out of here before the police show up."

Ryouga took a moment to realize this was directed at him. He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, then picked her up and leapt away. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ukyou turning back towards Chris.

01010

"Faster, over!" Pink shouted at her mount.

Shampoo, with some difficulty, managed to give her a glare. "If I weren't carrying your fat asses and this stupid corpse, I could move a LOT faster... 'mistress'."

Pink glared right back. "And I gave you an order, so obey your order and move FASTER, over!"

Shampoo growled something inarticulate, but her legs did pump a bit more quickly as they leaped from building to building.

Link was looking backwards. "I think we're leaving the police behind," she observed. "They're about three blocks back now, over."

"Good, over," Pink grunted. Stupid nosy Japanese police. What business of THEIRS was it whose body they were dragging through Tokyo? Adon wasn't even Japanese! It was a good thing Shampoo had been sent by her slightly-less- annoying-today old bat of a great-grandmother to fetch them; Pink was a LITTLE concerned about the sheer number of armed officers that had been surrounding them at that point.

She was also concerned about what was ahead. The police they saw were no longer just the ones chasing them, but appeared to be in fact most of the city's population of cops. Not to mention the significant contingent of Japanese Self-Defence Force troopers that were swarming in. But they were being pretty cautious in their approach, so Shampoo was easily putting distance between them.

The reason for the uproar was obvious, now - the whole block looked like a disaster area. Pink was impressed despite herself. Even Shampoo couldn't have done that much damage. At least not very quickly.

Pretty much everyone had fled the area, seemingly, except for some of the wounded and possibly dead. Pink dismissed them. There'd be someone fighting. Another body in the street-

Wait, that body was moving! And considering what was left of it, it shouldn't have been...

"Wait!" she shouted at her mount and pointed. "Over there, over!"

As Shampoo grunted and changed directions, Pink noticed there was another girl near Chris's remains - man, he was in bad shape, even compared to what Pink had expected. Looked like they were just in time. Hey, the other girl was looking in their direction.

She looked like crap too. Slightly less so than Chris, but not by as much as you'd expect, given that she was presumably still alive. She definitely wasn't a threat, Pink concluded after a moment of expertly sizing up the girl's extensive injuries. But who was she?

Shampoo landed, and Pink lightly hopped off her shoulder.

"Pink," the girl said, slowly. It wasn't friendly-sounding.

Pink quirked an eyebrow. She definitely didn't know this person. She didn't recognise her from Chris's journals, either... but, then, at this point, the girl's own mother probably couldn't recognise her.

Behind her, Link also got down, followed by a thump as Shampoo dumped the (stolen) travel bag that was now hiding Adon's remains. Well, except for his legs - stupid kickboxer was too tall, so they were sort of dangling out the top. But that had annoyed Shampoo even more than carrying him had, so it was all good.

Chris was thrashing on the ground. He was shrieking and gurgling and seemed, well, pretty much upset and deranged. He was smashing his head against the ground, thrashing around with the one stump of an arm that appeared to be his only remaining limb. Something disgusting was oozing out his ears.

Pink heard her sister's retch and Shampoo's quick backsteps. The girl glanced at Adon's body, but said nothing. Pink smiled, and walked right past her, towards Chris. A toe flipped his body over, and she saw the dead man stare wildly at her from his sunken eyesockets. Chris gibbered incoherently, his stump waving at her.

Pink grinned. They were indeed just in time, it seemed. "Poor, poor, Chris," she said aloud. "You just go to pieces whenever I'm not around, over."

Chris gurgled, but Pink ignored him for the moment. Turning, she snapped her fingers. Shampoo, holding a hand over her nose to ward off the stench, saw the gesture and nodded. She tore open the bag, revealing the body.

The strange injured girl slapped her forehead, muttering "Adon," to herself. Innnteresting. The girl was another Street Fighter character? Not one Pink knew of. Well, she'd deal with her in a moment.

Pink turned back to Chris, and gestured. His eyes locked on her as she moved, and she directed his attention to the body Shampoo dropped next to him. For a moment, he fell silent, then the entire remains of Sentarou's body LUNGED, and his spirit apparently lunged with it. Instantly, Adon's body jerked to (un-) life, its eyes shooting open and then closed again. The huge martial artist curled into the fetal position, wrapping his arms protectively around itself. Chris's shoulders quivered, and he shook and sobbed and made small inarticulate infant noises.

Well, he'd be all right. Pink turned back towards the strange girl, who had walked a bit away to sit down. "Link, Shampoo," she called out, "Go delay the police until Chris has a chance to recover, over."

Link looked at her for a long moment, but Pink met her gaze stonily. Link had won one today. She realised that, and nodded and headed off with Shampoo.

Leaving Pink alone with the girl. Well, and Chris, but he hardly counted right now. She stepped towards her. "Hello there. You know me, but I don't know your name, over."

"You're right, you don't," the girl replied flatly.

Pink stepped towards her. She almost fingered for something in a pouch, but... not yet. She was curious. "So, who are you, over?"

"Ukyou Kuonji," came the response.

Now Pink was really curious. She knew of Ukyou, of course. But only because she had been mentioned repeatedly in Chris's Ranma 1/2 journal. Mentioned in stories, mentioned in biographies of others. Even her fighting techniques had been examined.

But unlike seemingly every other character from that comic book, Chris had said nothing about the character Ukyou Kuonji. Pink wanted to know why then, and now that the girl was before her, she wanted to know even more. Especially since she and Chris had been fighting... and the girl had apparently won.

"I've heard of you," Pink smiled. "But how have you heard of me, over?"

"I've read unflattering things about you," Ukyou said icily, staring her down with her cold grey eyes.

Read...

Of COURSE.

"You're like HIM," Pink said triumphantly. "You're from the other world, aren't you?"

There was a long pause before the next reply. "Something like that."

Pink stepped even closer to her, looking her up and down. The girl didn't flinch. "But you're not dead. How very curious. I thought there'd be more of you, but that they'd be like him, over."

"If you want more details, ask Chris when he recovers," Ukyou said shortly.

Pink glanced at Chris, who was still huddled up, then looked back and smiled slowly. "So. You're like Chris, but alive. That's a good trick. How'd you'd avoid your power making the body rot away, over?"

Ukyou frowned, obviously thinking. "Using my power DOES cause my body to rot away. So I don't use it... all the time, or at all anymore." The girl adjusted her position, wincing slightly, and looked seriously at Pink. "You're Chris's... friend, aren't you? By some definition of the term?"

Pink grinned. "Sure I am. I like him a lot, over."

"You would," Ukyou muttered. "I don't have much hope that this is going to change things, but I have to try, so... the power. This 'Third Circle' stuff, as Chris calls it. It rots his body... but it also rots his mind. You have to find some way for him to continue 'living' without relying on it, because otherwise he's going to go insane. And I know, you might think you want that, but when he's torturing you to death, you'll probably have second thoughts."

Pink paused, then glanced over at Chris. He was still muttering softly to himself, still shaking. Obviously not listening. Then she looked at Ukyou, and broke out the smile she reserved for special occasions. "Live without relying on it, over? That's impossible, silly otherworlder. EVERYTHING Chris does uses it. Walking. Talking. Thinking. We've been observing the effects for weeks. He can't escape it... except by replacing the body. It's like a buffer, you see. He'll be feeling a LOT better, now, over."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Ukyou said in a slightly despondent tone, then turned her eyes back up to Pink. "But there's one problem with your argument: I'm just like Chris, and I don't have to rely on it."

"Are you, over?" Pink chuckled. She stepped until there was only a hair's-breadth of distance between them. "You're ALIVE. I feel it. You're nothing like him. You don't use the power, because you don't have to, over." She smiled, and raised a hand to touch Ukyou's throat, feeling the beat of the pulse there. Silently, Pink willed the girl to step back, to flinch, to swallow nervously. After all, she knew Pink could kill her in a second if she chose.

But the damn woman didn't move. Her cold grey eyes could have been staring at a smudge on the wall, for all the reaction she gave. Pink tried to match her gaze, but there was something... there... something unrelenting about those eyes boring into her that even Chris's dead ones didn't match.

She found herself several feet away and still backing up before she stopped. She snarled something almost Link-worthy under her breath. What reason did she have to back off? She had all the power in this situation.

She was in CONTROL.

"You think you've got everything figured out. But this reality isn't just what you read about. You don't know things as well as you think you do, over."

"I figured that out the hard way," Ukyou replied with a slightly sardonic tone. Her eyes were still boring into Pink, daring her to do something. "I suggest you take your own advice. Don't begin to think that just because you know what happened in a comic book, that you can get away with whatever you want in this world."

Pink felt her smile fraying. "Don't get smart with me. You know what I could do to you, over." She looked around theatrically. "Nobody could stop me. No friends will help you. You're completely at my mercy, over." Beg, she silently sneered at the girl. Beg just a minor character like me for your life, you high and mighty traveller from the 'real world'.

Ukyou had the nerve to not even blink. "I'm not afraid to die right now. Perhaps you'd be doing the world a favour. But what you should ask yourself is if you're prepared to deal with the consequences."

A jolt of pain shot up Pink's toe as she kicked Ukyou in the gut. But the reaction was satisfying - the girl doubled over, gasping for breath. As Pink leaned over the helpless martial artist, she palmed a special little something from her pouches. "Well, Ukyou, I think the real question is: do you want to deal with the consequences of continuing to annoy me, over?"

That was when Ukyou looked up and smiled. SMILED! Clutching her gut, she once again met Pink's gaze. Her eyes were no longer flat, but were filled with a sort of almost manic intensity. "You're going to do whatever you want anyway. It doesn't matter what I do. So get it over with, because I'm tired of listening to you try to intimidate me."

Pink inhaled once, then let it out slowly. "I told you not to make assumptions, over." Grabbing a handful of hair, she jerked Ukyou's face up. "You think if you live you'll just walk - well, maybe crawl - away from here and ignore what I said. You think this means nothing. You still think of me like I'm just a bit role in a story. Well, you're wrong. You're going to remember me. Every day for the rest of your life, you'll remember you met me, over."

Ukyou probably wanted to make another clever comment, but Pink cut that off by hurling the powder she had palmed in her eyes. The sound of Ukyou's cry of pain and her falling over were immensely satisfying. "That's the Eyes of the Black Lotus," Pink explained in a calm tone as Ukyou writhed. "Made from the nearly-mythical plant, as well as a few extra ingredients. Don't worry," she sneered, "it won't do any permanent... damage, over."

Pink continued watching Ukyou twitch and moan in pain until it got boring, at which point she walked over and kicked the still-huddled Chris in the thigh. "Stop sulking. We've got to get out of here, over."

Chris's head snapped up, the spike's of Adon's fiery hair flapping up and down comically. "Pink?"

"Who else, over?" she smiled.

Chris rose to his feet and looked down at his new form. "Adon..." he said softly.

"You'll have to forgive me for getting ahead of things," Pink said smoothly, "but I guessed you'd need this, over."

Chris looked at her, his eyes blank as always. "You did... of course you did," he sighed. "Never mind. It'll do. Thank you."

Pink smiled at him, and patted him on the back, since Adon was too stupidly tall to pat on the head. "You're welcome. Now, police are coming from everywhere, so we should get out of here, over."

"Police?" Chris repeated. "But why..." He looked around, and Pink heard a sharp intake of unnecessary breath. "All this damage..."

"Yeah," Ukyou said sardonically. "It's impressive, the property damage you can inflict when you put your mind to it, Chris. Or, more accurately, when you don't notice anything but me."

Chris spun as if burned, and glanced at Ukyou for a moment before turning sharply away. The girl had gotten back to her knees, and was still holding one hand over her eyes, wiping away the last of the powder. Her mouth was a thin, tight line, but she no longer seemed to be in much pain. Pink clucked to herself. She'd have to readjust the formula.

When Chris spoke, it was soft and measured. "I don't even remember much of what happened after I saw you. But I remember enough." He stared down at his body, and then his eyes flickered to the desiccated remains of Sentarou.

"Chris, since you seem to be a bit more rational now-" Ukyou began.

"Then you should realise we have to get out of here, over," Pink finished smoothly for her. No need for Ukyou to scare the poor thing.

"Yes," Chris said slowly. "Yes, we should." He gazed around the battlefield again, his eyes lingering on everything but Ukyou, whom he still refused to look at. "This is over for today. But it isn't over between us. I'll be watching for what you do. Hopefully we'll never have to meet again." He turned away. "Let's go."

"Chris!" Ukyou shouted as he began to move away. "Stop! Listen to me for just one second!"

He didn't turn around; his voice was sharp, almost but not completely hiding the edge of bitterness. "You had your chance to talk to me."

Ukyou almost looked like she was going to say something else, but then her arm lowered, and her face became an expressionless mask. "Goodbye."

Chris just kept walking away. Pink looked at Ukyou, and even though the woman couldn't see her just yet, she smiled that special, secret smile at her.

"Goodbye, Ukyou, over."

01010

"Minako!"

Artemis was frozen. The car beneath him was warm, uncomfortably so. The flames behind him were licking along the street almost at his heels. London was a burning hell, and yet he stood frozen.

The building in front of him wasn't intimidating. Even for a small cat, it would have appeared almost humble. It was a simple two-story home in an affluent section of the old city. He knew it well. Over the year spent living here with his young ward, he had grown to love the place. He loved the smell of Mrs. Aino's cooking that never seemed to leave the kitchen. He loved the soft spot on the carpet near the TV where the family gathered for an hour or two each night. He loved the people inside it.

The door was hanging ajar. Bullet holes traced a rough line across the front. One window was shattered.

'Stay here, Artemis,' had been what she had said to him. She had been frozen like him. Frozen in front of the shattered home. Then she had stepped past him, her skirt swishing softly, and disappeared into the building.

They never should have left. It had been foolish. But Minako was a hero. She heard about the attacks on TV, saw the enormous zeppelins floating above London. She had rushed off without hesitation, and he had rushed off with her.

They had found an enemy Minako could not hope to defeat. Vampires. A legion of vampires. A hundred, a thousand of them... dropping from the skies. Armed with weapons that Artemis barely recognized, and clad in the symbols of a regime that should have been scoured from the face of the Earth fifty years ago.

Minako could kill them. Her holy golden light could pierce their hearts and reduce them to dust. But there had been so many. They attacked in squads. They threw grenades and used cover fire. Minako had been fighting a running retreat ever since she had first announced herself. Artemis' side still hurt from where a bullet had skimmed him when he had knocked her out of the way of the machine gun fire.

Then he realized that the vampires were destroying everything in their path. Everything underneath those immense black airships erupted into flame and chaos. He had realized that Minako's home was right in the path of those ships.

Minako had vanished into the home almost five minutes ago. Four minutes ago she had screamed. Artemis would have run to her. His mind told him that she was in danger. But that scream... it had frozen him to the spot. Minako had screamed for almost thirty seconds. Then he had heard her firing. And firing. He had seen the lances of holy light tearing through the side of the house and disappearing into the sky. Then silence.

"Minako!"

No response.

Artemis gulped. He sprang from the toppled car. He landed lightly on his paws and crept up to the doorway. His sensitive nose retreated from the nasty smell inside. It was the smell of death. But he forced himself to keep walking. He could hear her now. Hear her crying. She was alive. She needed him. He had been too frozen by the horror to run to her, but he could at least creep up to her.

He found her in the living room. The place was a ruin. One wall had been completely torn out, by either Minako's attacks or some other tragedy. She was curled on the floor, fetal and sobbing. There wasn't a scratch on her. His eyes drifted along the floor away from her...

He didn't want to see it. But there it was. Two piles of dust, swirling in the wind. Each almost touching her. They must have almost reached her when some instinct took over and she started firing.

"Oh, Minako... no... no... I'm sorry..."

Minako didn't hear him. She continued crying, the broken, hitching sobs of sorrow and horror. Artemis pawed over to her. He wished he was human. He wished he could wrap her up in his arms. He wished he could brush her tears away with human fingers and draw her to him. He wanted to protect her. To seal her away from the harsh world. It was the first time he had ever wished to be human.

He placed a small white paw on her thigh. It was so small. She was so big.

"I'm here... Minako, it will be okay..."

"No..." Minako said harshly. Her head lifted up and she stared down at him. Her voice was cracking and hoarse. Her opera mask had fallen away somewhere. Her eyes were unfocused and covered in liquid sheen. Her face was an ugly mess from crying. "No... it won't be okay... they..."

"Minako, we have to get out of here. The monsters are coming..."

"THE MONSTERS TOOK THEM!" Minako roared. "They took my parents and made me kill them!"

"Oh, god... Minako, don't think that..."

Artemis had seen the abominations. The victims of the vampires, those they didn't shoot to death or tear apart with their bare hands. They rose and walked and stumbled with hungry maws into the living. They weren't human anymore. They couldn't be.

"We have to destroy them..." Minako said slowly. Her voice was beginning to sound less harsh now. The sobbing was beginning to trail off. "They can't get away with this, Artemis."

"We have to concentrate on getting out of here first..."

"I can't do it alone..." Minako said. Her voice was drifting now. Her expression was far away. "I'm going to need help."

"Minako," Artemis pressed more firmly with his small cat's paw. He was afraid for Minako now. Afraid in an entirely different way.

"Get the others," Minako said, her voice still strangely absent. She was talking in the musing way of a child conjuring fairy tales on a cloudy afternoon. Talking like someone planning a picnic on a rainy day. "Sailor Moon. The Moon Princess. The person we came here to protect. She and the others. We have to do it together, Artemis. There are a thousand vampires out there, and we have to kill every single one of them."

"Minako, we can talk about this later..."

But Minako wasn't listening. She was standing up now. Her wrist was wiping away the tears in her eyes. Her eyes didn't seem to see anything that was happening.

"You have a way of talking to them. Go. Use it. Summon them here."

"I..." Artemis looked up at her, and he realized argument was futile. "It's... in the basement. I can contact Luna through there. You go upstairs, pack some clothes. We need to get out of the city tonight."

Minako nodded and strode away. Her Sailor V costume evaporated into pink ribbons around her naked form for a moment, until she was clad in her nightclothes again. Artemis said a silent prayer for her and then dashed downstairs.

To his surprise, Luna was already at the terminal. He had long ago used his knowledge of the ancient Moon Kingdom to create a transmitter, one that would send images to the nearest machine to Luna's spectral signal. He wondered where Luna had found an out-of-the-way complex computer to receive the messages. He guessed it didn't really matter.

"Master Control!" The voice on the other end was frantic. There was no picture of Luna, only the blank screen. The voice would have been inaudible to human ears, but Artemis had advantages that humans did not. "Master Control, respond please. This is an emergency!"

"I'm here," Artemis said slowly as he stepped on the transmit button. An image of Luna appeared on the screen. Like him, she was a small cat marked with a golden crescent on her forehead. Only she was black where he was white. "What is it?"

"I need help! Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter have been kidnapped! There are monsters called zoanoids attacking, and..."

"Luna!" Artemis cut his old friend off. Even if he could barely remember her, he knew he could trust her with anything. He flipped a switch, and the usual projection would be replaced with his image on her screen.

"Ar-Artemis?" Luna gasped, her voice partly shocked and partly relieved.

"Luna, listen to me," Artemis said quickly. "I don't have much time." He took a deep breath. "I have listened to you tell me about the other Sailor Senshi, about the Moon Princess and about everything happening there. I know things look grim... but you have to keep faith. You will prevail, somehow."

"Artemis, you were Master Control all along?"

"This is more important than that!" Artemis roared, and the cat on the other end of the screen cringed back. "You have to survive without me for now. Something terrible has happened, and this is the last order... no, this is the last favor I can ask you."

"Artemis?" Luna sounded concerned now.

"Do NOT come to England!" he shouted.

"What?"

"London is in flames. Nazi vampires roam the streets. Everyone is dying." He emphasized every sentence with a stamp of his paw. "Sailor Venus almost died tonight. And even if the others came to help her, they would all just die together!" Artemis ducked his head and spoke now in a strong, calm voice. "We made a promise, a promise to someone I can't remember, but a promise I plan to keep nonetheless. We will protect them. We MUST. You have to guide them and keep them safe. One day, when Usagi has reunited the Ginzuisho, and is fully matured into her power, she can come to this island and cleanse the darkness from it. But until them, all she would accomplish is being eaten alive!

"Luna. Keep the Sailor Senshi away from England, away from Europe. Persuade them. Trick them. Lie to them. Use whatever means you have to! But they must NOT come here." He saw her about to protest, so he cut her off. "Please. For me. For the Queen. And remember, I love you."

He brought his paw down on the switch again, cutting off transmission.

He slumped to the controls, exhausted.

Luna would understand. She had to.

Artemis' head snapped up as he heard the stairs creak behind him. He turned around slowly. Minako was there. She was holding a daypack in one hand. Her eyes bored into his. He knew instantly that she had heard every word.

His only regret was that when she killed him, he wouldn't be there to protect her.

"Are you just going to sit there all night?" Minako said after a minute of silence. "We have work to do." Artemis shivered. There was something gone from Minako's voice. Something that had been there since the first day he had met her. Something he had grown to love and hadn't even realized was there until this moment, when he knew it was lost forever.

"Didn't you hear what I..."

"Of course I did." Minako turned around and slipped on her daypack. "You were right. This place will eat them alive." She paused. "They're just little girls."

Then Minako climbed up the stairs and out of his sight.

01010

"Akane... I'm... I'm sorry... I..."

"Doctor Tofu," Akane said and stopped. The line went silent for a few minutes. Akane could hear the clatter as Tofu sat down suddenly. "I know it's a big favor I'm asking, but we really need a place to go at the moment and I don't know anyone else and-"

"Akane," Doctor Tofu cut her off suddenly. "I really..." He sighed, the sound becoming something distorted over the telephone line. "I want to help out. But this is a little big for me, Akane."

"It's... a little big," Akane said hollowly. She blinked. She wondered who was chuckling, then realized it was her. "I guess you could say that. But... I don't know what to do, Doctor-"

"Akane!"

The line went silent again.

"Listen, I think that maybe you're a little too young for this kind of thing, Akane." Tofu was beginning to sound calm and reasonable again. "These girls, the Sailors? They sound like the kind of people this kind of situation needs. But you're still a child, Akane. You shouldn't have to fight this kind of battle. I know you gave your promise to help them, but you can't do that. Look what happened to Ukyou. She got caught up in this-"

"Thank you, Doctor." Akane hung up the phone. She stared down at the receiver for a long moment. She simply couldn't think of anything else to do. Yet, at the same time, she felt a burning need to do something. Anything. Action had to be taken. Her friends, her family, the entire world was in danger, and the longer they stayed here ignoring it, the closer everything got to the point of no return.

Why wasn't anyone doing anything? It was insane. Cologne was supposed to be old and wise, but she was just sitting there on a rock, smoking a pipe and chuckling as the people in the dojo spun around her in circles. Father was arguing with Mr. Saotome, saying Ranma's father should go and 'rescue' his wife. Mr. Tsukino kept saying that they had to contact some kind of authority, that someone had to be responsible for fighting monsters other than his daughter. He sounded a lot like Doctor Tofu. Rei was sitting in a corner, brooding.

And Nabiki was gone. And Cologne had sent that girl Shampoo off to meet some of Chris's friends. And Chris had vanished. Vanished looking for Ukyou. And where was she? Where was Ranma?

Akane walked back into the yard in a daze. She watched as everyone continued bickering and shouting and not doing anything. Didn't they realize that their lives were over? Akane did. She believed Chris. She hadn't before. Not really. But then the monsters had attacked her home. Now she believed. She knew they had to leave. After today, she would never see the Tendo Dojo again. She knew that, and she had no idea what to do about it.

Wasn't somebody supposed to have the answer here? Some adult?

"Why aren't you people doing anything!"

Everybody stopped. They were all staring at Akane now. She flushed.

"And exactly what would you have them do, child?" Cologne rasped into the silence. "They have no better idea how to handle this than you do. What in their lives do you think has prepared them to deal with this?"

"Then why aren't YOU doing anything?" Akane snapped, spinning to face the old woman. "You're supposed to be wise, aren't you?"

"I am doing something," Cologne smiled and took a long puff of her pipe. "I'm thinking."

"And that's doing us a LOT of good, isn't it!" Akane wasn't sure why she was shouting. But it felt good to be shouting, so she continued. "Any minute now, more of those monsters could show up and kill us all! We have to get out of here!" Akane waved towards Usagi and Rei. "We have to find and rescue their friends. We have to locate a safe place to hide for a few days, find some way to slip out of the city without being noticed, set up new lives..." Akane trailed off, the power behind her outburst fading as the enormity of the situation reasserted herself.

"Hmmm," Cologne said slowly. "I think you have put your fingers on exactly what we have to do, child." The old crone nodded. "On the face of it, your ideas are good ones. We should first get everyone here to a safe location. Then deal with rescuing the others. Then we can deal with other matters."

"It isn't that simple," Akane said, sighing. "I already tried to find a safe place, and..."

"Well then," Cologne said as Akane trailed off. "I think I can help with that. As widespread as this 'Chronos' is, I doubt they know enough about me to track my movements. Especially since I have... old friends that might be able to hide a few families for a few days."

Akane looked at the old woman for a long moment. "Why didn't you suggest this earlier?"

"Honestly?" Cologne shrugged. "It simply didn't occur to me." The old woman waved her staff at the gathered families. "My concern, you must understand, is solely with the safety of myself and my great grand-daughter. I simply wasn't thinking much about your lives. But you are right, Akane. For now, we are in this fight together and I will offer what assistance I can." The old woman drew her pipe back to her lips, then paused. "After that, you are on your own."

Akane wasn't sure how to respond to that. Her father was, however.

"We are not abandoning our ancestral home!" he thundered. Akane stepped away from him as a dangerous aura radiated from his body. "Fourteen generations of Tendos have spilled blood for this land and the honor of our name. I will not crawl away into the shadows like a thief!"

"And if you stay, then the fifteenth generation will get to spill its blood for this land too. Which will be a great comfort to them in the afterlife, I suppose." Rei sneered. "I will have to remember to say prayers to placate their spirits whenever I am in the area."

"That's too harsh, Rei," Usagi groaned.

"It's the truth," Rei pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Calm down, Tendo," Mr. Saotome said, cutting off her dad before he could start another good rant. Ranma's father was the picture of collected composure as he adjusted his glasses with one finger. "Remember, my old friend, that this place will always be here. Someday, Ranma and Nabiki will return after their years of exile. Stronger. Faster. Smarter. And they will reclaim this land!" Genma clapped Akane's father on the shoulder and pointed off towards the setting sun. "There will always be a Tendo Dojo! The strength of our children, and our children's children, shall hold this sacred earth against all the monsters of the world!"

"You... you're right, Saotome!" Dad shouted, his eyes glittering with tears. "Like Liu Bei at Chang Ban, we shall retreat for now, but like Liu Bei, we shall have our Chi Bi!"

"Huh?" Usagi blinked and rubbed the back of her head.

Cologne chuckled. "Didn't Liu Bei die heartbroken, never having fulfilled his dream of unifying China?"

"Well, regardless..." Genma coughed into his fist. "We still have to wait for Ranma to arrive, along with your granddaughter and that other boy..."

Cologne looked up and, as if on cue, four figures dropped into the yard. Akane recognized the purple haired warrior girl Shampoo, and also the two silly ninja girls she was carrying that had, until recently, been her sworn enemies. The final figure was a mystery.

He was tall and Asian, but not Japanese. He was wearing not much more than a set of blue boxer shorts and bandages around his wrists and ankles. He also had fire-engine red hair that formed a raptor-like crest atop his head. He also had cold, glassy, lifeless eyes.

"Chris..." Akane said, sighing. She wasn't sure if she should feel relieved... or disturbed. When Chris had departed he had been in a different body. That meant... whoever this person was, that he had died. Was that why Chris had left in such a hurry? Had he sensed the imminent collapse of his previous host?

"Ah, so that is what you two were up to," Cologne said dryly.

"Relax, Rei, we're not here to hurt you," the new Chris said in a high- pitched voice. It still sounded a lot like Chris, however. Akane glanced back and saw Rei lowering her hands. She was still tensed up as if she expected an attack at any moment. Akane could hardly blame her.

"You recognize Shampoo, at least. And I am Chris, even if I look different than the last time you saw me."

"Oh... wow, cool!" Usagi shouted in glee. "That is one neat trick. I can do something like that too."

Akane spun and stared at the girl. Did she just say that- Oh wait. Usagi couldn't possibly know what Chris actually was. Akane was just opening her mouth to try and find a way to explain it when Chris himself beat her to the punch.

"No, Usagi. You can disguise yourself. This is the corpse of a man that was alive yesterday that I am wearing like a suit."

"A shiny, pretty, superbly POWERFUL new suit, over!" the smiling twin shouted happily as she hopped down from Shampoo's shoulder. Usagi blinked.

"Uh?" the girl who was supposed to be the saviour of the world said, tilting her head to the side. She hadn't quite stopped smiling yet.

"So that's your secret!" Rei growled and strode forward until she was nearly touching him. His new body towered more than a foot over her, and his forearms were so thick with muscles they almost equaled her thighs, but Rei stood so firmly, her eyes flashing so dangerously, that they almost seemed to be nose to nose. "I knew it. I sensed it right away. You're not human, either."

"Not anymore, no," Chris said softly. Akane glanced behind her and saw that everyone's attention was now riveted on the confrontation in the middle of the yard. Even Cologne was staring intently.

"You're just another monster," Rei snarled. "You kill people, just like those THINGS you warned us about." Sailor Mars thrust her fingers into his chest, punctuating each word. "Why should we trust you, when you're no better than them?"

"Because I'm the ally you have," Chris pointed out in a flat, uninflected tone. "And right now, you need all the allies you can get."

"The Sailor Senshi don't make deals with the devil just because there are bi-" Rei stopped. Not just trailed off, her words actually disintegrated into a harsh choking gasp and she stepped away from Chris's new body as if struck.

"Rei," Akane stepped forward and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"NO!" Rei snapped and pulled away.

"I see..." Akane didn't really believe her, but she knew there really wasn't time to deal with that now. "I think what Chris was trying to say, however, is that he isn't really a monster. He's..." She struggled for a few seconds, trying to find the right words. "He's a human being trapped inside a monster." Akane frowned. "I used to think like you did. I used to think he was a bad guy, but he isn't. At least, not most of the time."

Akane and Rei held each other's eyes for a moment, and Akane felt some sort of understanding pass between them. It was something different than words, something deeper. Rei knew that Akane trusted Chris and thought he would help protect them, and Akane knew that Rei didn't really care about Chris. She cared about something else. But Akane had no idea what that could be.

Maybe when they had time to sit back and talk, Akane would get to the truth. But for now, Rei seemed willing to accept what was going on.

"Now that you're back," Akane said, turning back towards Chris, "we have to start figuring out what to do. Did Shampoo tell you what happened?"

Chris shook his head absently. "Akane, I need to talk to you."

"Chris, we don't have much time..."

"Please, Akane." he said sincerely. "Please."

Akane paused. Then she nodded her head and gestured towards the dojo.

Chris began to walk towards the dojo proper, and Akane followed. After about three steps Chris spun in place and stared behind Akane. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the smiling twin sneaking up behind them. The Chinese girl looked past Akane and saw something on Chris's face that caused her to step back. Akane looked back at Chris, but he was already moving again. Giving a mental shrug, Akane followed.

"Well, make this quick," Akane said once the door was closed. She kept her impatience under control.

"Akane, what you said back there... thank you. I'm..." Chris trailed off.

"Well," Akane coughed and flipped a long lock of hair out of her face. This hair was really getting annoying. "I... don't want to sound like I... uh... condone... no, that isn't the right word... it's just that I think killing is wrong, and it IS. I just... I understand that you... that... uh... well... oh, I wish I had paid attention when we were doing creative writing... uh..."

"No, I understand," Chris said, holding up both palms. He hissed an unnecessary breath in between his teeth. "I guess... I guess I'll just come out and say it."

Akane took a step back as Chris bowed gracefully forward, ending up on both knees with his forehead pressed firmly against the floor. "Akane, please help me."

"Help..." Akane said softly. "How can I help you?"

"What happened when I..." Chris started, then trailed off. "Nevermind." He paused. "Something about this... this being dead or whatever. It's too much for me. Something is happening to me. I'm afraid that I'm actually going to end up the monster Sailor Mars thinks I am."

"Chris..." Akane knelt down and grabbed his shoulder. "I don't understand. And look at me when you talk to me, okay?" She added the last part in as cheerful a tone as she could muster.

Chris sat up, but refused to stand. So Akane knelt across from him. He sighed. "Akane, I'll tell you honestly. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I can't control myself. That I won't... that I can't always think clearly. I don't know if it's the rotting, or the Third Circle, or... well, it doesn't matter what it is." He gnawed on a nail for a moment. "I can't trust myself. I need someone..."

Akane waited a few moments for him to finish, then she sighed herself. "Chris. I..." Akane thought back. She could have had this conversation before, she realized. She could have seen something in Ukyou that would have pointed out that there was something wrong. But Ukyou had cut her out of her life. And when Akane had confronted her, Ukyou had raised a wall between them.

Chris was no Ukyou. He had never been her friend. He had been her enemy, once. But... But he was afraid. He was vulnerable and hurting. There was a part of Akane that had never been able to stand idly by when other people were in danger. And even as she realized that, Akane knew she was hooked.

Chris might be a monster, or a man. But Akane wasn't going to let him become one because she scorned the other. She wouldn't live with that on her conscience. She'd find a way to help him. Somehow.

"Akane... I know that I am asking you something I have no right to ask. I am asking you to put yourself in danger. I am asking you to leave your family. I'm asking you to give up on a normal life. But... I swear I am asking you this because you are the only person I trust. The only person I believe in. I will do anything. I will do anything you ask me to. I will let you guide me and teach me how to live with this, until I don't have to live with it anymore. I don't deserve your help, but I need it. I need you, and I'm sorry."

"I..." Akane reached out and grabbed Chris by the shoulders. She stood up, dragging him to his feet. "Chris, I think you put a little too much faith in me." She began to chuckle. Because, what else could she do but laugh? It was too big not to laugh a little. And laughing helped. It made the tension ease. She let herself chuckle for almost a minute before she continued. "I can't promise you anything, Chris. Once we're done... done with this. Then I can answer you. But for now... I just can't think about all of it at once. Okay?"

"Okay..." Chris said neutrally.

"Don't get me wrong," Akane said, still chuckling. "I'm not saying no. I'm saying... maybe. But first, come on. We have to go save the Senshi, right? The only people we're missing now are Ukyou and Ranma." Akane paused. "And Ran, I guess."

"You're right." Chris straightened up, his voice taking on the same commanding edge that Akane found more familiar. "But even with them not here, we have to start planning. So, like you said, we should get started."

01010

Aaron woke up quickly. Ukyou was surprised at how much faster these transitions were going. But Aaron knew that humans were incredibly adaptable beings. The first time they had been forced to... integrate their psyches, for lack of a better description, it had taken them hours. Over time, the process was becoming more efficient, cleaner and faster. Heck, they hardly even jerked and spasmed when they awoke anymore.

Aaron wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.

They only opened their eyes for the brief moment necessary to confirm they were in the hospital... and confirm that they could still see. Their vision had been blurry ever since they had wiped that stuff out of their eyes. An immense feeling of relief came over them both when they were able to see the area around them. The thought of being trapped in darkness for the rest of their lives... was not a pleasant one.

Aaron wasn't surprised that the hospital was where they would end up. Not only because the injuries they had taken today put all their previous beatings to shame, but because the people he had been with before fainting had been the police.

It had been slightly surprising to see Kunikida there. It had taken Aaron a moment to recognize the man, until he had spotted that distinctive wart on the side of his nose. Aaron had even recognized the black-haired girl friday that accompanied him, even if her name eluded him.

Ukyou and he laid back in the lumpy hospital bed they had been placed in, thinking to themselves. The whoosh and beep of the equipment formed a monotonous soundtrack to their thoughts. Ukyou, immediately, began to grow maudlin.

Her thoughts were threatening to run in circles. She kept thinking about how she had drawn these problems upon herself. How her enemies seemed to keep growing in power, while she was standing still. How her one trump card was turning out to be the one thing she could not dare use. How she had taunted Pink...

Aaron forced his own thoughts away from that self-destructive angle. Though, that would be overstating the case. He could no more separate himself from Ukyou's thoughts and feelings than he could will away his own identity. She was always there, different and discernable but at the same time a part of him. Their mind was like a picture, a drawing. He could see the various lines, tell from the shape and texture and size which lines made up 'Ukyou' and which ones made up 'Aaron', but if you removed one or the other, the picture ceased to be a picture.

It didn't really surprise him how used to this he was becoming. The equilibrium he had reached with Ukyou's psyche was harsh and fragile, but becoming almost the norm. It had been... the end of January when he had first entered her mind. It was mid-July now. Seven months. Was that so long a time, that he should be having trouble remembering what thinking used to be like before he had been forced to share the process with Ukyou?

Aaron grit his (Ukyou's) teeth and shook his head. There it was again. Ukyou's emotions bleeding into his mind without him even noticing. He concentrated; if he could not force them away, he could at least work past them.

His first priority was determining exactly how bad off they were. He focused his chi, surprised and pleased to note that much of it had returned. Focusing on the Void Chakra was becoming second nature to him now. Causing the invisible threads of his life to infuse the aura that surrounded his body, he focused his attention inward and magnified his own self-perception.

They were in bad shape. He started to list off their injuries, but the process only threatened to make him as depressed as Ukyou, so he stopped. It was better, he decided, to focus on the positives. For one, most of his chi had returned. For another, the techniques and methods he had been trying to learn from Tofu and Kyoko seemed to be having some effect. At least, he was pretty sure he had been in much worse shape when he had fainted in the back of the ambulance.

His arms were barely injured, being covered mostly with superficial wounds. He could probably move them with no problem, now that he was no longer exhausted. His legs were also well off. His ankle was broken, but there were no other major injuries down there. They hurt like hell, but would be fine. The worst injuries were in his chest. Most of his ribs were broken, probably all of them. His spine hurt, which was never a good sign. His heart was beating steady, but his breathing was ragged and it took him a moment to pin down that the reason was because one of Ukyou's lungs was badly bruised up. It was a miracle the thing hadn't collapsed. There were a few other internal injuries, but no bleeding. He checked thoroughly, aware that even a minor injury could lead to major complications in time.

His head was almost as bad as his torso. The blows he had taken hadn't quite cracked the skull, but Aaron could feel tiny stress fractures running along it. He redirected the healing flows of his body to there as best he could. It was the most he had learned to do. In truth, he wouldn't heal much faster, overall. But he could choose to heal a portion of his body much faster while leaving the rest unhealed.

Since there seemed to be no immediate life-threatening crisis, Aaron focused his attention on their other problems.

Chris.

Now there... was a problem. Chris was now their enemy. Any hope of reconciliation was gone. He had to accept that. The fact that it was very easy to accept that worried him, but he moved on. Chris was dangerous.

But that wasn't all that worried Aaron. What worried Aaron was how easy it would be to blame Chris' insanity on that alien power. What had Chris called it? The 'Third Circle'? As good a term as any. The Third Circle was a problem. It twisted Chris, just like it had twisted Aaron and Ukyou. But it had not been like an invader into their minds. Using it just seemed to make things... easier. Touching it focused thoughts in such a way that things like consequences and complications didn't occur to you. It was like the Third Circle was a lens, one that reduced the world to simple black and white. And a portion of that perception leaked into your normal mind.

No... not leaked into your mind.

That was the wrong way to think about it.

The Third Circle didn't infect you like a cancer. It was more that it... drew away portions of you. Aaron tried to remember exactly what it had felt like, to lose himself into the clutches of that seductive force. After a moment, he had it.

Using the Third Circle was losing something small and warm and wholesome, and filling that void with something huge and cold and awesome.

And once that part of you was gone... did it ever come back?

Maybe not. Ukyou had made some dramatic leaps in power, growing faster and stronger. But every leap had been in the wake of one of those Third Circle incidents.

Aaron opened his eyes and sat up. The weight of such thoughts was threatening to sink him into the depths of Ukyou's depression. He needed to focus on something else. He needed a third party, someone he could talk to.

"So, finally ready to admit you're awake?"

Aaron started, jerking his head to the side. Kunikida was sitting in a hard plastic chair not three feet away. He was wearing a brown trenchcoat, and had a newspaper folded in his lap. Aaron cursed inwardly. How had he forgotten the man's presence? Then he remembered that he had been focusing all his senses inward.

Aaron closed his eyes, and changed his focus with a thought. It was like the world suddenly came into sharper relief. Things didn't become simple and obvious, instead the world filled with startling detail. Scents became more intense, lights brighter and sounds louder. Letting your senses grow to this level was almost painful, but it was also beautiful.

Aaron always needed a moment to regain himself, lest he lose himself in the beautiful complexity of it all. He wished for the words to describe it, or the skill to draw it. The artist in him wanted to let others experience it. He had tried to explain the idea, the concept of it to Ranma, back at Justice High School... but Ranma hadn't been able to understand.

Oh well.

Aaron noted as Kunikida stood up that there were more life forces nearby. Sensing a life force wasn't like using your eyes or ears. Instead, it was like a resonance in the heart. Every being, all life, seemed to be connected in some inscrutable fashion. The movement of life through the world acted like a spider threading upon the webs that connected everyone. If you were sensitive enough, you could feel the vibrations of the world in that part of you that was part of everything else.

A good number of the life forces were clustered around the door. They were human, though Aaron could tell little beyond that. One of them seemed to be stronger than the others, and also something else. It seemed to be just More. Momiji? Kusanagi?

"Are you well enough to talk?" Kunikida asked as he sat down next to them. He had moved his chair closer, and now sat on it like a boy, with the entire thing backwards and his arms resting on the headrest.

"Indeed," Aaron replied evenly.

"Are you certain?" the man asked more seriously. "You seemed to be in bad shape and..." Kunikida trailed off. "What... what happened to your eyes?"

Aaron blinked. He looked deeply into Kunikida's eyes. The man wasn't flinching back, but he looked surprised. Aaron slowly rose up his one useable hand. "Could I have a mirror, please?"

The middle-aged man nodded shortly and walked away to a nearby table. He returned after a few seconds with a small hand mirror. Aaron grabbed the handle and held it up in front of him. He didn't recoil from what he saw, but instead stared into the mirror with a sort of shallow apathy. He opened his eyes wide so he could get a good look. The eyes still looked human, but the shape and color of the iris had changed drastically. Now they looked like some sort of six- petalled flower, and were a black as deep as midnight. The pupil was nothing more than a slightly darker shadow in the center of that black flower.

"Black lotus..." Ukyou hissed, her knuckles turning white as she clenched the mirror. The handle cracked ominously and Ukyou forced the image away from her. So this was what Pink had meant. She grimaced. She had no one to blame but herself. She had taunted Pink, all but dared her to do something... and why?

Because... because she was not taunting Pink... she was taunting something bigger than Pink. That had been the thought in the back of her mind as Pink had stood over her. That had been what had made her smile. 'Fuck you, Destiny... get me out of this one, if you can!'

Aaron and her both took a deep breath. They had survived. Despite everything, they had survived. Tethys had not killed them. Chris had not killed them. Pink had not killed them. She would live. And now, there was something terribly wrong with their eyes...

"A gift from my enemies." Aaron placed the mirror on the bed. "A reminder that some things shouldn't be taunted. Despite these, I am still human... if that is what you are wondering."

"I see," the man said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Daitetsu Kunikida. I run a special government investigation group called the Terrestrial Administration Center." He flashed her an ID, but Aaron gave it only a passing glance. He already knew Kunikida was legitimate, though he had thought the man was interested only in the aragami. "Our task force deals with unusual phenomena. So... dealing with you has become my problem."

"I see..." Aaron nodded. "Well then, I suppose this is the part where you either inform me I am under arrest, or you begin to pester me with questions I probably don't have the answers for."

Kunikida chuckled. He slipped his ID into one of his inner pockets, and when he pulled his hand back out he was carrying a small notebook. He began to read. "Ukyou Kuonji, age 16. Only son of Masamatsu and Yahiko Kuonji. Mother died when he was one year old due to complications relating to surgery. Father died six months ago due to cardiac arrest. No fixed address. Last legal residence was at the Yuukari Private School for Boys. Other known residences include the clinic of one Doctor Tofu Ono, chiropractor and general practitioner with a focus on holistic medicine. No known aliases."

He flipped the notebook closed. "You were also an instrumental player in what has become known as 'The Narita Incident'. We also have several signed affidavits about the fight you had with one Hayato Myoujin. Most of the eyewitness accounts say you broke the boy's spine, a story that can be confirmed by the hospital staff that looked after him until his disappearance a little over a week ago."

Kunikida placed the notebook back in his pocket. He was looking at Aaron out of the corner of his eye, looking for a reaction. Aaron didn't allow any to rise to his expression, though in fact he was mildly surprised with the amount of information Kunikida seemed to display.

"As you can see, we actually could arrest you, if we wanted to. We probably even have enough that we could successfully prosecute."

"Are you trying to intimidate me?" Aaron asked flatly. Ukyou mentally groaned. All they needed was to be on the wrong side of the law.

"A little bit," Kunikida said absently.

"It won't work," Aaron informed him. "For one, I've stared death in the face. I didn't buckle against more dangerous enemies than you. For another, I'll let you know that you are basically inconsequential to me." Aaron raised both hands in front of him. "These hands can snap metal bars." He balled the hands into fists. "These fists can crack open stone walls." He let his hands fall. "I can dodge bullets. I can shrug off all but the largest calibers, even if they do hit." Kunikida was staring at Aaron, his eyes hard. "Normal systems of justice only apply to me if I want them to."

Aaron closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He consulted with Ukyou briefly. The two of them agreed. "On the other hand, it is unnecessary. If you want to arrest me, go ahead. I confess. I broke Hayato's spine. I did it in cold blood, and not as an act of self-defence. I will not resist prosecution. If you really think what I need is to be locked up, then go ahead. I won't fight you."

"I..." Kunikida cleared his throat. "I don't think that will be necessary."

Aaron smiled thinly. "Then why don't we get to what it is you want me to tell you?"

Kunikida looked at Aaron seriously. "Very well." He stood up and walked over to a table. Aaron had noted the folder there earlier, but not paid it much attention. The thin-haired man flipped through the pages of it for a moment, then pulled out a picture. He placed the folder down and walked over to Aaron.

"Do you know these girls?"

"Pink and Link?" Aaron said, surprised.

"So, you DO know them?"

"By reputation..." Aaron said slowly. "I've only ever met them once."

"This afternoon?"

"It's only been a few hours, then?" Aaron chuckled, but the action hurt. "I would have have thought I'd be unconscious for days."

"We were as surprised by that as you. It's barely midnight. We expected you to be out for days, not hours," Kunikida admitted. "But if you could answer my question... ?"

Aaron nodded absently. "These two are botanists, herbalists really, from a remote village in China. They have the ability to rapidly grow plants from seed to maturity in a matter of moments. They also have access to a lot of exotic and dangerous plants that you won't find listed in most encyclopedias. Many of their plants can produce noxious and deadly poisons, some airborne. Some of the plants have rudimentary animation and are capable of attacking people. Others have much more exotic properties. For example, they have access to plants that can cause complete personality changes, like a form of hyper-fast brainwashing or very specific hallucinations."

"Oh..." Kunikida blinked. Aaron knew why the man was so interested in them, now that he had a moment to think about it. Ranma had told Ukyou that Chris had been fighting the aragami. But Aaron had never thought about why. It was obvious that Pink and Link must be pulling his strings, now. The only thing that surprised him was how quickly Kunikida had leapt to that conclusion.

"That one there," Aaron said, tapping the picture for emphasis. "Her name is Pink, and she is the more dangerous of the two. She's a certifiable psychopath. She specializes in poisons and is very good at them. I have her to thank for my new eyes. The other is less dangerous, specializes in medicines mainly. But both can be deadly if cornered."

"Do you know anything else about them?" Kunikida insisted.

"Such as?"

"Do they animate their zombies with these plants?"

"Zombies..." Aaron blinked.

"It doesn't take a genius to put things together," Kunikida explained. He walked over to the folder and flipped it open. He leafed through the pages for a few seconds. "Here we are. Kodachi Kunou. Disappeared in February of this year. She was spotted assisting these two. A few weeks later, one Sentarou Daimonji vanished without a trace. Since then, the boy has been seen at several of these girls' crimes, assisting them. His body was recovered from the scene of your earlier battle, damaged almost beyond recognition. Strangely enough, the body was largely damaged due to accelerated decomposition, much more so than could be accounted for then in the time since his disappearance. The two were also seen running down the streets of Tokyo with a third dead body just this afternoon."

The man spun on them. "Tell me... are they using the aragami to animate these corpses somehow? Is that their secret?"

"No," Aaron said softly. "The zombie you refer to is a distinct entity. It is called 'Chris'. It has the ability to leap from one body to another. In so doing, it gains all the memories and abilities of its new host."

"What about this other girl?" Another familiar face on a photograph.

"Shampoo?" That was a good question. From what Aaron remembered, Shampoo and the Chinese twins were mortal enemies. Aaron remembered something Ranma had said about Shampoo showing up when he had come to visit Ukyou in Justice High School. "I don't know what their relationship is. Shampoo is not a zombie, like Chris. She is, however, about as powerful as me in the martial arts."

"I see..." the man said softly, rubbing his short beard. "I take it these people are your enemies?"

"In a manner of speaking," Aaron said dryly. "We have... philosophical differences."

"Oh, really?" Kunikida grunted and walked over to Aaron again. He stepped to the edge of the bed and loomed over her. "And who are 'you people' anyway?"

"You'll have to be more specific," Aaron replied. He knew what Kunikida meant, but felt the need to buy time. Ukyou wasn't being much help, but he wanted to at least seek her input before he revealed more than was good for them.

"You martial artists," Kunikida explained sharply. "Every time I dig more into this, I come up with more questions. I keep locating more of you, and it doesn't make sense. Most of you aren't even trying to hide yourselves, but you were barely even mentioned in the papers or in any governmental reports until four months ago. Its like you all just showed up out of nowhere one day, but with complete histories, friends, family..."

"And a thousand years of corroborating evidence," Aaron said, crossing his arms. "We are what we seem to be, Kunikida. We are martial artists. We are martial artists who are faster, stronger, tougher and better than any human has any right to be. Depending on the person, we can leap tall buildings, fling energy blasts, teleport and read minds." Aaron glanced up into Kunikida's frustrated eyes. "We are your worst nightmare."

"What do you mean?"

"What you saw this afternoon was only a fraction of the destruction we could cause." Aaron held up his hands, fingers measuring out a small distance. "That was just two of us, and not even two especially strong ones. I wasn't even fighting back, since I had been too injured by a previous encounter to put up much of a fight.

"We are meta-humans. We have powers that men were probably not supposed to have. We are like ancient gods, striding about the landscape. No mortal can hinder us, or keep us from our desires. The only opposition we face are those of our own who would oppose our goals.

"And there are a frightening number of psychopaths among us. Entire armies of monsters and demons exist, ready to overwhelm normal humanity like chattel. Thankfully there are also a larger number of heroes than normal among us. There are people who will step in and protect the mundanes from the predations of our more anti-social fellows.

"But welcome to the world you never wanted, Kunikida. This world is a world where you live only at the mercy of those of us who have the power. Law and government and society only mean something to us if we choose to let it mean something. For years, it seems that there has been a war going on under the surface of your world. But now it is coming to the surface. And when it does, the results are not going to be pleasant for those of you who live at the bottom of the food chain.

"This world is not pretty. It is not fair. There is no justice except what someone likes me chooses to call justice. The only authority that matters is the authority of the mighty."

Aaron slowly fell back onto the bed. He felt drained. The entire speech had somehow slipped out of him. He wasn't sure if it was even him who had been talking. Ukyou wasn't sure if she herself hadn't said the words. But they struck a chord within them. They seemed right.

Kunikida was staring at her, his eyes wide, quivering.

"You don't really believe that?" he asked slowly.

"I do," Aaron said. "Trust me, I know how you feel. Even with my strength, I'm still low on the food chain. Today, I nearly died because I had stepped on the toes of people who are much stronger than me. These people still want me dead. Frankly, I'm not even convinced I will live out the week. In my condition, I'm a sitting duck. And there is nothing you could do to save me." Aaron smiled, a thin, cold smile.

"I'm just like you, Kunikida. We are both caught up in winds we can't predict or control. We are the toys of the gods. The only difference is that I know it."

Aaron closed his eyes, and a moment later Kunikida left.

In the darkness of his own thoughts, he and Ukyou mulled over their outburst. It felt so right to them. All they wanted were normal lives. All they wanted was to be left alone. This world, it seemed, would not let them. He reached up and brushed his fingers against his eyelids. The future looked black.

But Aaron would not become what it wanted him to become. He would not be a pawn of prophecy. He would not be the enemy Chris wanted. He would not be the hero Ranma wanted. He wasn't a monster, or a hero, he was a man.

He would live his life by his own choices. He might not be able to change who he was... but he would choose who he would become.

"We are, who we choose to be," Aaron said aloud.

01010

Vega glanced idly over at the two Dolls. He considered asking them to be more quiet, but they hadn't seen each other in such a long time that their love-making was getting a bit enthusiastic. He rolled his eyes and decided to let them have their fun.

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the beauty of it. It was two lovely young women engaging in the second most beautiful act two people could engage in, after all. But Vega had seen it all before. Personally, he didn't see why Bison had bothered to twist their minds so that they all felt such feelings towards each other. He knew, for a fact, that most of the Dolls hadn't been interested in other women that way before Bison had begun to brainwash them.

Oh well. To each their own. Still, Vega didn't wish to interrupt the Dolls, because he knew that soon they would be unable to enjoy such a simple pastime again. After all, it was rather hard to do so when you were dead.

Vega stood up and walked over to the nearly naked man that was hanging chained to the wall. Now this one was far more interesting. He was tall, for a Japanese, with short black hair and a face that was crude, but not at all NOT beautiful. Maybe with some polish and work, he could actually become someone Vega would enjoy killing.

Vega cupped his fingers around the young man's chin and tilted his head up. His eyes were tired, half-lidded, but still alive.

"Please..." the young man moaned. "Let me go... I have to... I have to..."

"Have to what?" Vega said eagerly. He let his hand drop, but the man's head remained up. He was staring at Vega now. His eyes slowly grew more lucid, and with the return of consciousness came a steady, smoldering anger. Vega smiled, even if his victim could not see it under his immaculate white mask.

"I have to get out of here!" the young man shouted. "She's in danger!"

Vega watched, fascinated, as the boy transformed again. There was a flash, and a swirl of rose-petals shot across Vega's vision. He tried to see the final moment, but as always, one particular petal passed directly before his eyes, and when it was gone the young man was dressed in his costume again.

Vega stepped back as the boy began to struggle. The chains clattered and cracked as he strained them to their limits. His face, even hidden behind his opera mask, was a study in enraged passion. His dapper tuxedo could not hide the bulge and flex of his muscles as he strained against his bonds.

"I have to save her! I have to help her!" the tuxedo clad youth was shouting now. "Let me go, or so help me I'll..."

"You'll what?" Vega hissed and raised one fist into the air. The light caught just so on his claws, flashing a blinding glare into the man's eyes. He winced back and Vega elegantly uncurled his arm and let the tip of the claws rest humbly next to the man's neat little bowtie.

The man's breath caught as he tried to draw his quivering neck away from the razor-sharp blades. Vega played with him for a moment, allowing the tips of his claws to draw closer and closer to his neck the further the young man tried to withdraw. Vega stopped only when he saw true panic in his prisoner's blue eyes. Then he laughed and pulled the claws back.

He flicked a tiny drop of blood the tip of his claw had drawn away and then strode back to his chair.

"You bastard!" the young man Vega knew only as Tuxedo Kamen shouted. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Vega flicked his hair off his shoulder with one hand before looking back. "This is a game, 'Tuxedo Kamen', a game for the greatest stakes there are."

"A game?" Tuxedo Kamen's face furrowed in hate. "Is that all this is to you, a game? What kind of monster are you?"

Vega flashed back across the room and backhanded the boy once, sharply. Thankfully, he had enough self control to use his unclawed hand. Not that he cared if the 'superhero' lived or died, but spilling his blood would ruin this beautiful carpet.

"I am not a monster," Vega explained as the boy tried to recover from the stunning blow. "Monsters are ugly, hideous things. They represent the worst of our fears and desires." Vega stepped back. "I am an artist. No... more of a connoisseur. I appreciate beautiful things."

Vega walked back to his chair, to the vase of roses that was being held on the side-table there. "Take this rose. Beautiful, is it not?" Vega held up the long-stemmed wonder and walked back towards the boy. He could see the boy's eyes flash. Vega smiled under his mask. "But it is also dangerous, as you well know." He wondered if the boy would try to use a rose to escape again. It had been so entertaining to shatter his petty dreams by slashing the flower from the air, then dancing untouched through the shower of petals to deliver the knockout blow. "All true beauty mixes such danger with such allure. The most beautiful animals in the world are often the most poisonous. There is nothing quite so compelling as watching a great cat on the hunt. 'Fearful symmetry' indeed, no?"

"What are you talking about?" Tuxedo Kamen hissed painfully.

Vega sighed. "You don't understand."

"Lord Vega." Vega turned his attention to the third Doll. She had been performing her task soundlessly and quickly while Vega had been talking. "I have located the data you were looking for."

"Oh, excellent, Marz," Vega said in satisfaction. "So, let us have the good news then."

"My sensors have managed to track down the cause of his transformations," Marz explained as she typed on her laptop. She turned the screen so that Vega could see it. On the screen there was a wireframe model of a man. "I believe the transformations are being caused by some sort of external stimulus. An energy wave, quite different than any conventional chi field I have ever studied, projected from an outside source." As Vega watched, a silver line floated in and struck the figure. The figure rotated and a black light overtook it, then when it was gone the wireframe looked different. A small army of numbers scrolled up and down the edges of the screen. "It acts like a trigger, causing the power inside this man to activate in response."

"So... that is it?" Vega mused. He turned his attention back to the man. He was growling and shifting in his bonds again. "This one, then, doesn't have much magic of his own?"

"Well," Marz shifted in place. "If you believe in magic, I suppose he does. He certainly displays a different energy form than I am familiar with, and I am familiar with every waveform located in Shadowloo's archives. In fact, the only reason I can even detect it with my equipment is because his waveform seems to interact with his chi as a form of crude booster."

"I see..." Vega agreed, even if he barely understood what she was saying. He didn't really care about the science of the matter. He almost wished Marz did not feel the need to prattle on so, but Bison had not been able to strip her of as much human personality as he had his later subjects. "So he does have magic?"

"But not nearly as much as the external source," the Doll explained.

"Who are you talking about?" the man hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, be silent," Vega snorted and kicked up, catching Tuxedo Mask cleanly in the chin. A moment later his head fell down bonelessly and his transformation reversed itself. "Those signals must be the way that our guest can sense the danger he keeps mentioning. Perhaps one of those Sailor Senshi has a signaling device that activates him as a sort of safeguard?" Vega had to admire their genius, if that was so. Creating a human slave who was both instinctively drawn to you in moments of danger and empowered by such moments was a handy tool.

"Yes and no," Marz explained. "I think that in actuality the waveform I detected is a constant link between the two of them, that is only amplified by certain conditions."

"Oh?" Vega raised his voice slightly.

"Yes. Now that I have narrowed it down, I can detect the waveform itself. Or, at least, its influence on the natural chi fields. I can even sense a number of similar waveforms."

"Similar waveforms?" Vega prompted.

"Yes," Marz explained. She pushed a button on her computer and the screen now showed a veritable rainbow of colored beams radiating out from the wireframe man on the screen. "Nine waveforms in total. They are all connected to this man in some way. They all have a weak connection to each other, but all seem to share the same connection to the strongest waveform." She tapped the silver stream. "By triangulating off of his position and the strength of the connection with the silver waveform, I believe I can track the physical location of any of the others."

Vega smiled. "Show me."

The screen faded away, and was soon replaced by a relief map of Tokyo and the surrounding suburbs. Vega leaned down. Seven dots, each a different color.

"I thought you said there were nine?"

"There are..." Marz said slowly. "Two of them appear to have left the Tokyo area, and are beyond my ability to track down with any precision. One was an incredible distance away. I would guess in another country. This dot here..." she tapped the screen above a black dot. "This represents Tuxedo Kamen. Each of the six others represents one of the other waveforms. I have assigned them colors based on the frequency of the-"

"Yes, yes," Vega waved away her tedious explanation. "These two are moving."

"Yes, they are approaching the edge of my ability to track them. They appear to be heading in the same direction as the other two that left my tracking range, however."

"So that leaves... four Sailor Senshi still in play..." Vega said and ran a finger along the edge of his claw.

"Yes, if these are indeed the Sailor Senshi," Marz pointed out.

"I believe they are," Vega said. "And they have true magic. I truly believe that."

"Master?" Marz sounded worried. "I believe our job was to locate and capture this girl, Ukyou Kuonji?"

"Hmmm..." Vega stood back up. "Yes. You're right. Bison entrusted us with a mission, after all. We could hardly fail him."

Marz sighed in relief. "According to Fevrier's surveillance, she is being held at Tokyo General hospital and is not in the best of shape. She should be an easy target for acquisition."

"Acquisition?" Vega chuckled. "Tell me, Marz, does it bother you to do this? To drag these hapless young girls off to the same fate you yourself suffered?"

"I..." Marz glanced at Vega, confused. "But serving Lord Bison is the greatest joy I have, Lord Vega. I only barely remember my life before he took me into his presence, but I know it was a shallow and hollow one. Bringing others into his service is a duty, and a joy as well."

Vega laughed. "Yes, it would be." He shook his head. "Bison wants slaves. I wonder if this 'magic' is beyond even his ability to enslave? I suppose there is only one way to find out."

"Lord Vega?"

"Nothing." Vega said, shaking his head. He clapped his hands. Immediately, Fevrier and Satsuki ceased their lovemaking and turned their attention to him. "Clean yourselves up. This afternoon, you go and fetch Bison's newest toy."

"Yes, Lord Vega," they said as one and began to untwine from each other. He turned his back on the erotic display. He had to get rid of them for a time, after all. It would hardly do to plan their murder with them present.

He smirked as he stepped out of the room into his private bedchamber. He slowly removed his mask and glanced at his pristine reflection in the mirror. Vega did not want slaves. He was a connoisseur of great beauty. And when he finally managed to kill Bison in their destined duel, it would be a thing of beauty. This 'magic' - it was the key. Up until now, the psychopower that Bison controlled would have trumped any weapon Vega could use. But now... now he had a wildcard.

It wasn't time to play his hand yet, however. Vega sat down in a plush leather chair and gazed lovingly into his own reflection. It wouldn't do for Bison to suspect just how 'real' this magic was until it was too late. It was really a pity that the Dolls were so psychotically loyal to their true master. They would report Vega's suspicious activity instantly.

And after Bison had ordered the missing Doll Cammy terminated for merely showing a spark of willpower, Vega did not believe he would be afforded much compassion. Which made leaving the Dolls to go free a terrible risk.

But that was the Game, wasn't it? And what fun would it be, if there was no risk?

01010

Chris stopped digging and stepped back a bit. He was, he guessed, about half a kilometer away. The sounds of the people in the village carried even through the trees he was surrounded by; cars driving, a few whoops as school let out, a snatch of laughter carried on the air.

He hadn't learned its name, or asked where to find it. He didn't have to. A village by Mount Minakami. He knew what it was. A "sleeper" cell, so to speak, filled with once-people who had been turned to zoanoids by Chronos. As far as he knew, they were ignorant of their nature, probably brainwashed. The perfect trap to spring on an enemy, with the aid of a zoalord's absolute mental control over all zoanoids. And, of course, there were two zoalords in the mountain.

And yet, from here, it sounded so much like an ordinary place.

He clenched his fist. He could have laughed at the irony. Yesterday, he'd begged Akane to help him, to give him the benefit of her impeccably aligned moral perspective. He couldn't afford to lose sight of things like he had with Ukyou. Anger wasn't enough of an excuse. Neither was stress. It was too dangerous for him to lose control, as he'd proven.

Now, a day later, he was planning to eradicate an entire community.

Of course, they were zoanoids. But that was an excuse. He knew Sailor Moon could heal them. They no longer had to die, they were no longer doomed to be hideous monsters under the control of Chronos.

But really, they did. Even if he brought Sailor Moon here, had her turn them back to humans, what then? Left here, Chronos would either just process them again or, more likely, kill them all. They liked the "kill them all" solution to problems, generally. And there was no way he could hope to feed, shelter, protect or hide hundreds, maybe thousands of people.

No, these people were doomed. That couldn't be helped. The only difference was that HE was their doom. He was the one planning their cold- blooded murder, not Chronos. But it was necessary. Necessary to draw Chronos' attention away, to hopefully have them send Team 5 to battle him, because he'd make sure to send a message that nothing else could.

Except a zoalord. He didn't think either of them would come unless he did more than destroy a village, though. They tended to stay aloof. He hoped that was the case anyway. He wanted their attention on him, but not their PERSONAL attention. Even with the weapon he had planned for this little operation, he couldn't dream of defeating something like that.

The mouse in his hand shivered as his hand clenched a bit. He looked down at it. The creature had tried to escape several times, and he'd considered using the knockout drug on it, but it was better to wait until the last moment, just to be on the safe side. Besides, there was no danger of it escaping. He was a martial arts death machine, and it moved in slow motion.

A MADM, yes. Even more of one with Adon's skills. Thinking of that set his teeth on edge. He hadn't expected Pink to take initiative like that. But then, she'd surprised him before, so he should have known better. He wondered how she'd forced Link into accompanying her. Still, at least Adon was definitely not a good guy. He could deal with it. And Adon DID add a huge amount of hand to hand skill to Chris's abilities, which could come in handy...

Chris shook his head. He was stalling. He looked down at the shallow pit he had dug in the earth, at the mouse he carried, at the large black bag that would protect Adon's body from vermin while it was abandoned... and at his own backpack, which contained his precious Jyusenkyou water, a small amount of knockout potion for the mouse, and a huge dose of Pink's latest and most potent batch of poison. 'Enough to kill any monster, over' she'd promised.

He pulled out three canteens of the magical water. One was Pantyhose Tarou's chimaerical spring of yeti-riding-bull-carrying-crane-and-eel. The second, his other canteen of the spring of octopus, also used by Tarou in a future that hadn't happened yet. The third, the spring of Asura used by Rouge.

Time to get started.

01010

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to care?"

"Miss Teluno." Professor Yaragano sounded annoyed. He was towering over her now, his palms flush against the desk. His jowls quivered with rage, and his eyes flashed menacingly.

Telulu yawned and inspected her fingernails. This man was doing nothing but eating up her precious time.

"You were admitted to this very prestigious academy based solely on your work with botanical engineering," Yaragano growled. "What do you expect your parents will say when they find out what you have been up to?"

"I imagine they would be quite displeased," Telulu said nonchalantly.

"I imagine so!" He gestured down at the folder in front of him. "In the past three weeks, everything about you has changed. You no longer pay attention in classes. You bully the other students, even your upperclassmen. Worst of all, you are letting your responsibilities in my laboratory-"

"Shut up," Telulu told him. The tone of her voice ended his prattling immediately. "You are wasting my time." She stood up. "It is not my fault that you were trying to take advantage of the advances I was making in producing viable, edible fruit from normally inedible species of plants. The fact that your reputation and project are falling apart without me to babysit your mistakes is the result of your pride."

Yaragano's face had turned red now, but Telulu didn't want to waste more time with him. "Don't think you can bully me around like you used to." She smiled malevolently, and something in her face drove all the wind from his sails. "I'm not the same weak, naive little girl who was impressed by your degree and age that I used to be." Of course, she was much more different than he would ever know, but she was under strict orders not to reveal to anyone else exactly how much more.

"Miss Teluno..." he began weakly, trying to recapture the initiative in their 'talk'. She cut him off by cracking her own palm against the desk.

"Listen to me, you small-minded, pathetic little man," she snapped. "I have no time for you. I have had my eyes opened to things you can not even begin to understand. I am working directly for Professor Tomoe now." She smiled again. "His projects... they will truly change the world. I can guarantee you, that when we are finished with our work..." She laughed. "You won't care about your petty little project." She turned and gathered up her bags.

"If you have a problem with my behaviour, I suggest you take it up with Professor Tomoe," she shot over her shoulder before leaving.

Telulu was getting tired of this. Three weeks. Three weeks since Professor Tomoe had... gifted her with the power and knowledge that had so changed her life. Three weeks and she was still walking these same halls, still dealing with these same pathetic humans.

Where was the glorious destruction she had been promised? After the Professor had lifted her from the ground where her transformation had left her weak and confused, he had told her of the glory that was to come. His voice had winnowed into her soul, explaining how the coming of Pharaoh 90 would wipe weak, juvenile humanity from the world. All that would be left was the Silence. Cold, pristine Silence without any life to mar the perfection of the Earth.

She had walked away from her initiation into the Deathbusters a true believer. But now her patience was wearing thin. Three weeks had passed, and so far they had not made a single step towards their goal.

What kind of crusade was this?

"Telulu." A voice snapped her out of her reverie.

Telulu looked back over her shoulder. She brushed a lock of green hair out of her line of sight. Eudial was walking towards her. She was wearing the same green and black school uniform with the plaid skirt that Telulu was, but wore it with a bit more poise and confidence. Her red hair tumbled down her back and her glasses glinted in the afternoon sunlight. Telulu glanced around, making sure they were alone.

"Eudial..." Telulu greeted slowly. Eudial smiled and walked straight up to her... then Telulu's head rocked back as she was slapped with enough force to send stars spinning across her vision. Telulu growled and turned a vicious glare on Eudial, clutching her burning cheek with one hand. "What? You dare-"

"Oh, be quiet," Eudial said with a sneer. "You deserve much more than that." Eudial gestured to Telulu to follow as the elder girl started down the hallway. She paused after a few steps and glanced back over her shoulder. "Well?" Reluctantly, Telulu fell into step behind her. "You think this is a game, Telulu?"

"I'm not sure what you mean..."

"I've been in the Deathbusters much longer than you," Eudial pointed out. She never failed to point that out. Telulu glared at her back. "I know how this works. We leave the Professor alone. You take care of your own problems." She led them down the stairs, deeper into the hidden and forbidden secrets of Mugen Academy. "Like that professor of yours. He may well call your bluff. Professor Tomoe will be most displeased to have his work interrupted."

"What was I supposed to do?" Telulu said heatedly. "That man was a constant drain on my time and my work. How am I supposed to get anything done if I must constantly pretend to be the same pathetic human I was-"

"I don't care how you get your work done," Eudial cut her off. Again. That was growing very annoying. "The fact is you do. We Deathbusters have to keep ourselves from being noticed. At the moment we are few and weak. In time, we will grow strong enough that we won't need pretenses anymore. Until then, I suggest you use your talents to appease the humans."

"Appease?" Telulu sneered. "Why should we? We are better than them!"

"So?" Eudial paused in front of the door to their personal laboratory. "Remember our plan. We must succeed in bring Pharaoh 90 to this world. To do so, we must empower the Messiah of Silence." She opened the door and gestured for Telulu to enter. "For now, the Messiah is too weak to take up her mantle. It is her we must protect. Until she has gathered enough strength to summon our lord, then we have to remain cautious and unobtrusive."

"And how long will that take?" Telulu barked. "This world... it OFFENDS me." She gestured towards the door. "Beyond that door, nothing but chaos and shallow people concerned only with their own personal problems and minor concerns. Living among them makes me feel dirty." She pulled her hand back.

"So?" Eudial tossed her hair and smiled maliciously. "Learn to deal with it. We have nearly two years, by the Professor's best estimate, before the Messiah is strong enough for us to begin searching for the Talismans." Eudial stepped deeper into the lab, her body partly disappearing into the shadows. "Work on your old project. Or find a new one. Or spend your time watching television. I don't care what you do, as long as it doesn't bother Professor Tomoe. Or me."

Eudial vanished and Telulu stared after her for a long moment. Then, she sighed and stepped over to her own workstation. Eudial, much as she was loathe to admit it, had a point. There was nothing Telulu could do until the Messiah of Silence was strong enough. Maybe she was right, maybe she should just watch TV or something to while away the long wait...

"...attack at the idol singer auditions was prevented by one of the contestants, a Ms. Momiji Fujimiya. Ms. Fujimiya was also involved in solving the recent kidnapping case by the monsters known only as 'the aragami'. When asked to comment on the similarities between the monster attacks..."

Telulu's eyes narrowed as her hand slowly moved away from the small TV set. She watched as the reporter went into a quick recap of the past few weeks, the monster attacks, and the strange plant-like monsters known as aragami. She raised a hand to her still sore cheek and smiled.

"Well now," Telulu said. "Maybe... I don't have to wait so long after all."

01010

ZX-tole kept his eyes closed. He hoped that if he did, the others would leave him alone. Or at least, leave him out of their bickering. Of course, it was hard to ignore them all when Elegen had his hand on ZX-tole's thigh. Again.

Even after having it swatted off the first three times.

ZX-tole wished he could somehow cross his arms more than they were already crossed. He didn't know why, it just felt like the thing to do.

"You're so tense..." Elegen murmured sweetly from far too close to his ear.

"..." ZX-tole replied.

"He has good reason to be," Thancrus said obliviously. "It's about time we got an actual fight again. I mean, this... whatever, killed an entire VILLAGE full of zoanoids. This should be a battle."

"Hmmm," Derzerb commented softly. Well, as softly as his enormous bulk would allow.

"Not like LAST time," Thancrus said with that familiar undertone of whining that always put ZX-tole's teeth on edge. "Here I am, the best hand to hand combatant on the team, and you send me to take out the WIMP. A wimp whose only special ability is making FOG. FOG!" Thancrus sounded disgusted now. "I had to KICK her unconscious just to keep from accidentally chopping her head off!"

"At least it would have been accidental," Elegen added cattily. "Derzerb seems to get his jollies out of turning old men's skulls into petroleum jelly."

"She pissed me off by running away!" Derzerb protested, his voice nearly causing the van to shake. "B-besides! At least I didn't get any of us killed. Not like the high and mighty ZX-tole here."

"Yeah," Thancrus added with a little bit of malice. "I would have gotten that girl and taken out those party crashers AND kept Gaster al-"

"Shut. Up." ZX-tole opened his eyes and gave the wiry little weasel- faced Japanese man The Look. The look that said 'Do not mess with me, or I swear to god, despite the years of training together, and intense combat side by side that have made us as close as brothers, I will kill you in your sleep'.

He glanced to his side at Elegen and gave him The Look as well. Elegen slowly withdrew his hand and began to nervously rub his bald head with it. He grinned mechanically and slid back a handspace. ZX-tole continued to stare at him. Elegen slid back another space, until there was a full arm's length between them on the bench.

Finally, ZX-tole turned his eyes back to Derzerb. The huge black man wasn't grinning. He was, in fact, tugging at the collar of his skintight blue 'travel suit' and trying not to meet ZX-tole's eyes.

"You idiots don't take anything seriously, do you?"

There was no response to ZX-tole's question, so he pressed forward. "Yes. Gaster is dead. I know that better than any of you. I know his death makes you all want to break things. I feel that too. But you have to understand that we can't get on each other's nerves right now." He slammed a hand into the bench, and this time the van did rock. "Gaster is dead because we are fighting a war with an enemy we do not understand!

"That is why we have been going on these 'pathetic missions', as Thancrus likes to call them. We have to find out about these people who can fight zoanoids and win, like no human ever could before. Doctor Valkus thinks that even the Guyver units are not as much a threat to Chronos as these unknowns are.

"And we are going to fight one of them. If you want to get anything out of Gaster's tragic death, then get this: We can not afford to think we are the greatest warriors on the planet anymore. We can not underestimate our enemy! Whoever this is that has decided to pick a fight with Chronos knows enough about us to hit us where it hurts, and is strong enough to do so. Do you really want your stupidity and infighting to jeopardize that?"

The other three human-form zoanoids in the van stared at him.

"Well, do you?"

"No!" they shouted as one.

ZX-tole nodded and crossed his arms again. He smiled, and the others took up his cue and smiled with him. Suddenly they were brothers again. Which was good, because he had kind of meant that bit about killing them in their sleep if they kept getting on his nerves.

It wasn't long after that when the van slowed to a gentle stop. The access door to the driver's compartment slid open and the trooper inside peered back. "We're within a half-kilometer of the town. There is still no contact with anyone inside. The place is quiet, however."

"How quiet?" Elegen asked.

"I think the fight is over."

"I hope they didn't run off," Thancrus said as he stepped towards the back. A moment later he and his teammates were standing on the deserted mountain road.

"They haven't," ZX-tole assured him.

"How can you be sure?" Derzerb asked.

"Whoever did this..." ZX-tole said, pausing as he strode around the van. "Wanted our attention." ZX-tole flexed his arms. He felt off. His instincts told him that he was missing something. That this was a trap somehow. But not a trap for him. He wished he knew what that feeling meant. "Transform. Stealth is not our friend. He knows we're coming."

ZX-tole screamed and allowed his transformation to overcome him. It was like sweet release. It was like you spent your entire day holding back a raging river, and then just let it go. He could feel the power exploding through every cell in his body. It was immense.

When he was finished he lowered a foot to the pavement, cracking it with his weight. He gestured over his carapace to the others. They were already transformed, of course. With that, they sprinted into the village.

ZX-tole didn't bother trying to conceal his approach. Even so, he kept his many-faceted eyes moving. If anyone tried to ambush him, they would regret it. But no ambush came. The streets were deserted. The buildings on either side were the only sign that there had been any fight. And from the looks of it, it had been quite the battle.

He would have sneered, had he the anatomy for it. So much needless destruction, for just one nest village of minor zoanoids? Whoever they were here to fight was powerful, but lacked finesse.

Thancrus spotted the boy first. He was standing nonchalantly in front of what had once been the town hall, the largest building in the village. He was a typical Japanese teenager, perhaps a little shorter. He was wearing a torn and burned school uniform, and ZX-tole could see a nasty looking burn running up the side of his face. But the boy didn't seem to show any sign of discomfort. He only quirked his remaining eyebrow when the four biological war machines ran into the town square. He barely even moved as ZX-tole continued to charge towards him.

But ZX-tole stopped. Because his instincts still said something was wrong. He had to throw out his arm to keep Derzerb from charging past him, but his other two lieutenants stopped on their own. For a moment, the only sound was the gentle hum of Elegen's electrical aura as he hovered behind ZX-tole.

"Ah, so you've come at last," the boy said in a smooth, confident voice.

"Did you do this?" Elegen snapped.

The boy looked casually from side to side. "What... this?" He raised his arms in a mock shrug.

"We're in no mood for your games," Derzerb roared in his gravelly voice. "But maybe if you tell us who you are, and why you did this, we'll kill you quick."

"Well, it wouldn't do to have this place too crowded for when you show up," the boy said mockingly. Then his voice grew suddenly serious, and he looked down at himself. "But, I wasn't expecting only about two-thirds of them to be zoanoids."

ZX-tole glanced to the side and saw the occasional human corpse strewn about the rubble. Young people, not yet ready to be processed, for the most part. He shrugged. He guessed he had overlooked them on his way in.

The boy was looking at his hands now. "But I guess in wars, sacrifices have to be made. For the greater good," he said unhappily.

"Fine." ZX-tole said in his usual high-pitched buzz. "I don't really care about your philosophical crap." He gestured to his teammates to fan out. "Take him alive. Valkus will want to... talk to him."

The man looked up. He smirked.

"Take me alive?" He chuckled. "ZX-tole. ZX-tole. Poor, ignorant ZX-tole. Just like last time, you don't know what you're dealing with."

"What's he talking about?" Thancrus snapped.

"Ignore him," ZX-tole commanded. "He's just playing mindgames."

By now, the hyper zoanoids had formed a half-circle with the arrogant loudmouth in the center. ZX-tole stayed in front, with the hulking rhinoceros- like Derzerb to his right. Elegen floated to his left, his long eel-like neck and prehensile tentacles writhing sinuously in the blaze of his ten thousand volt aura. Thancrus was further to the left, his thin body bent forward in a combat crouch with his blade-hands weaving in front of him.

"Hmmm. No more talking, eh?" the man said, rubbing his chin. "That's fine. That IS why I brought you here, after all." The loudmouth spread his arms and tilted back his head as if in prayer. "First Gaster. And now the rest of you in one fell swoop."

"Take him," ZX-tole ordered curtly. The hyper zoanoids began to charge.

The man began to laugh. He continued to laugh as the zoanoids closed. Then Thancrus burst past him, and the air literally flashed as his hyperfrequency swords carved through the air. The loudmouth's laughter cut off abruptly as his body fell to the ground in two pieces.

But... it had begun to slump a fraction of a second before Thancrus struck.

"Well, damn," Thancrus snarled and kicked the loudmouth's corpse, cursing. "I expected him to dodge."

Thancrus was caught completely flatfooted when the town hall exploded.

Rubble streamed past ZX-tole, some of it bouncing off his raised forearms. He grunted and lowered them as the chunks were reduced to pebbles by his armor. Thancrus was lying stunned on the street. Derzerb was standing. Elegen was still floating.

Then ZX-tole turned his attention to the monstrosity. It was three stories tall and almost as wide. It had three heads, each shaped like a bull's, and each snorting flames from their nostrils. Huge, black, oily tentacles sprang writhing from its back, so many that ZX-tole could not easily count them. Six huge arms, each with hands as large as Thancrus, swung through the wreckage, clenching and unclenching their fists as thick gobs of oily flame dripped to the ground from their fingertips. It strode forward on the hind legs of a bull, with its thick pelt covering it from heads to hooves. Its eyes, all six of them, were black and cold as stones.

"Holy shit!" Derzerb roared and backed up a step.

"It's so... BIG!" Elegen exclaimed.

"So?" ZX-tole stepped forward and allowed his laser pods to open. "Just an easier target."

01010

Akira forced herself to smile cheerfully. She looked up at the guy and carefully folded the paper. He was, by any standards, not really that bad- looking. His short black hair could use a little more personality, maybe, but he was thin and fine-featured and wore his school uniform with a panache that many boys his age could not. He was standing in front of her, stiff as a board, his eyes closed and his hands clenched into fists.

It was like he expected her to hit him.

Which was totally unfair.

She had only ever hit the one boy.

And that was because he had touched her.

"Thank you very much, uh..." she checked the note again. "Taikamatsu. It was a very lovely sentiment."

"It was?" Taikamatsu gasped. He suddenly sounded hopeful, and his eyes opened up for the first time since he had handed her the note. "I really meant it! Every word of it!" He bowed slightly. "I just... never had the courage to say any of it out loud..."

"I see..." Akira smiled back at him. Outwardly, she was the picture of calm. Inside her mind was scrambling, trying to find some way of letting the poor sa- er, young gentleman down easy. "I really do think you flatter me a bit too much, however."

"No! No!" Taikamatsu held up his hands and waved them at her. "It's all the truth." He slowed down, and a slow smile crept across his face. His cheeks began to flush slightly. "You really are very pretty, Akira. I mean, I only ever see you when you are walking home from school, but even in those brief glimpses I can't help but be in awe..."

Akira chuckled nervously and resisted the urge to scratch the back of her neck. She should have been flattered by his praise. It wasn't every girl at her school who had her hair compared to 'the weeping willow, dipping gracefully in the summer breeze' or so Akira thought. But she couldn't help feeling more embarrassed than enthusiastic.

"Taikamatsu, I really appreciate the thought," Akira said, swallowing slightly. "But I'm... I'm really not... that is..."

"Is there some problem here?"

"Ky-KYOSUKE?" Taikamatsu gasped.

Akira turned and watched as Kyosuke walked towards her. His white school uniform jacket was unbuttoned as usual, and it billowed slightly behind him. It made him look thin, almost gangly. His face was stern and severe, with sharp eyes behind small glasses and short blond hair. His gaze was fixed firmly on Taikamatsu, who was shrinking back a little with each step that Kyosuke took.

"Taikamatsu," Kyosuke said by way of greeting. His voice was cold and harsh. "Is this boy bothering you, Akira?"

"Huh?" Akira blinked. "No... he just..."

"Because I don't like it when guys bother you, Akira." Kyosuke stretched slightly and cracked the knuckles on his right hand. "You remember that, right?"

"Huh?" Akira blinked again.

"Oh..." Taikamatsu stepped back, his face suddenly downcast. "I see how it is."

"Huh?" Akira said to him, beginning to feel a bit like a strange parrot.

He smiled at her, a wistful kind of smile. "I understand, Akira. What good am I compared to Kyosuke?" Taikamatsu turned and began to walk away. He shuffled despondently. Akira felt that she should be more concerned that he was walking away. But she couldn't really think of what to do about it.

"W-wait!" Akira ran after him. He paused and let her catch up. "Your letter..."

"Keep it," Taikamatsu said after a short pause. "Just because it can never be, doesn't change how I feel."

This time Akira could do nothing but watch as the boy shuffled out of sight. Once he was gone she turned to Kyosuke, who was chuckling to himself with his arms crossed.

"What on earth was that all about?" Akira said slowly. She wanted to use harsher language, but managed to control herself.

"You don't have to thank me," Kyosuke said, still chuckling.

"Thank you?" Akira stepped over to him and poked him with enough force to cause him to stagger back a step. "For interfering in my personal life? For implying that you and I are an item?"

"Well, yes," Kyosuke said, sounding slightly surprised. "I'd thought you appreciate me getting you out of a situation you obviously didn't want to be in." He smiled then. It was the trademark Kyosuke suave smirk, the one that was supposed to make girl's hearts melt. All it ever did for Akira was make her want to punch him. "That boy will come away from that now thinking nothing but good thoughts about you, and move on. If you had really turned him down, his heart would have been crushed."

"What makes you think I was going to turn him down?" Akira snapped.

Kyosuke raised an eyebrow.

"It was only the one time!" Akira said forcefully. "And he touched me!"

"On the shoulder."

"He still touched me..." Akira replied defensively. Kyosuke threw up his arms in surrender. "You just like being a busybody."

"Guilty," Kyosuke said, chuckling again. "But... I really try to help you out because I can sympathise."

"Sympathise with what?" Akira said slowly.

"With how you feel," Kyosuke shrugged. He started walking away, and Akira fell into step beside him.

"And how do you think I feel?" Akira asked slowly.

Kyosuke opened his mouth to reply, glanced at her, and thought better of it. They walked on in companionable silence for a few minutes until he started talking again.

"I hear you've been causing quite a ruckus lately."

"Hmmm?"

"Rushing over to Gedo High School and rounding up your old gang. Going and fetching your brother. You even went to Batsu and warned him about some guy that was trying to start the same kinds of problems as... my brother."

"Oh, that..." Akira paused. She shrugged. "I told him to tell you about that sword when he next saw you, didn't I?"

"Yes," Kyosuke said evenly. "Though, I haven't thought of what to do with it yet. Convincing my brother that he is in danger... well, let's just say Hyo has always been quite difficult when he puts his mind to it."

"Well, good luck with that," Akira said, shrugging.

"Not going to offer to help?"

"Why should I?" Akira replied quickly. Then she paused, and moderated her tone. "You guys should be able to handle anything bad that happens. Edge and Gan are bodyguarding my brother, and I made them swear not to let him out of their sight..." Akira trailed off, realizing she was sounding just a bit too wistful there. She injected some good cheer into her tone before continuing. "I just want to go back to being a normal high school girl. I'm not really the heroic warrior type."

Kyosuke stared at her for a long time. "So... is that why you spent all last night helping Ran and her friend look for Ukyou?"

Akira snapped her eyes back to Kyosuke's face. "How did you..."

"I know all, I see all," Kyosuke said mockingly, holding two fingers to his temple. "Actually, Ran told me about it."

"I see..." Akira sighed. "I just felt I kind of owed it to them. If Ukyou hadn't warned me about the kidnapping attempt, I might not have been able to get to my brother in time."

"I see," Kyosuke said, nodding. "That makes sense."

"Well, it's all your fault!" Akira snapped, before forcing her tone to be cheerful again. "If you hadn't encouraged me to go talk to her, I wouldn't have learned any of this, and I wouldn't have felt the need to stay up all night."

Kyosuke flashed her his heart-melting smirk again. "So I guess you can thank me for helping to save your brother, too?"

Akira resisted the urge to hit him. Her fist uncurled and she sighed. "Yes. I guess I can."

"Don't be so grateful," he said slowly.

"Kyosuke..." she warned.

He chuckled and adjusted his glasses. "Okay. I'll stop teasing you."

"Thank you."

"I never thought that my suggestion would lead to so much, however," Kyosuke said after a few more minutes of walking. "I really was just interested in..." He waved one hand, looking for the proper word. "I just remember Ran telling me about this Ukyou, and thinking that she sounded a lot like my brother. Right around the time when he started to... change." He smiled wistfully. "I really wish someone had thought to have a friend talk to Hyo, maybe help straighten him up like you did with Ukyou."

"I don't think I straightened her up..." Akira said slowly. "Ukyou doesn't need straightening up." Akira paused. "All she needs is someone who can see her for who she is."

Kyosuke remained quiet after that. It was only then that Akira thought to look around to see where he was leading her. They had walked right out of their own neighbourhood, and were rapidly closing on one of the more industrialized districts.

"Where are we going?" Akira asked. She wasn't afraid. But Kyosuke was a manipulative little... friend, and you had to stay on your toes near him.

"I'm leading you to Ukyou, of course."

"Huh?" Akira blinked. Then she inwardly cursed and outwardly winced.

Kyosuke chuckled. "Some guy named Kunikida apparently got in touch with Ran, and she and Ranma went off to see Ukyou in the hospital. She asked me to let you know when I saw you."

"How long ago was that?" Akira asked quickly.

"Thirty minutes ago..."

"Wait, you couldn't have possibly run into me by accident that quickly!"

"No, probably not."

"Kyosuke..." Akira almost growled, but forced her voice to be level instead. "Can't you just ever be direct? Why did you assume I would want to go see Ukyou?" Akira looked away from him. "I only wanted to help her out because I owed her. If she's in the hospital, she must be okay... now."

"Well, it's too late now." Kyosuke paused. "We're over halfway to the hospital. Turning back would take just as much time as going forward." He stopped. "So I hope you remember to thank her properly."

"I remember..." Akira walked on a few more steps before she realized that Kyosuke wasn't accompanying her anymore. "What? Aren't you coming?"

"Me?" Kyosuke pointed at himself and smirked again. "Why would she want to see me? I'm not her friend." He turned around. "Besides, you saved your brother. I have to save mine." He waved over his shoulder. "Ciao."

Akira watched him walk away. Outwardly she only appeared confused. Inwardly she was fuming. That... guy always got on her nerves. He couldn't just be open and honest with anyone. It was all a game to him. Did he really think that Akira was going to dance to his little tune? She didn't even know what hospital Ukyou was in...

Of course, there was really only one hospital in this part of town. Akira had been there a few times. Mostly to visit her older brother. She remembered sitting on the edge of his bed, starstruck and listening to him describing the fight that had put him in the hospital. She wondered if he knew that she had learned everything she knew about martial arts by acting out the fights he described behind their parents' backs.

Akira shook her head. Fine. She would go visit Ukyou. Thank her 'properly', whatever that meant. She started walking. She just wondered what kind of game Kyosuke was playing. Her pace sped up a little. What could he possibly hope to gain from this? Because he was always up to something. Akira began to jog. Maybe he wanted Akira to pick Ukyou's brain about the cursed sword that Hyo was supposed to be carrying around. Well, fat chance of that happening. Akira was just going to thank Ukyou for helping with her brother and then get out of there. Ukyou was just the kind of person that proper girls like Akira didn't hang around with, after all.

Yeah. Just in, thank you, and out.

Akira nodded to herself and began to run.

01010

Akane dragged the last of the soldiers deeper into the forest. Shampoo was already undressing the one she had captured. The others were standing next to the small pile of unconscious Chronos flunkies. Usagi and Link had strangely identical expressions as they held up the dark blue body suits: both looked vaguely disgusted. Akane had to agree with them. The suits were made of some sort of thick, rubber-like material that still somehow clung to the body. The thought of wearing one of those things was a little unpleasant.

"I don't know..." Usagi said slowly. "I could just use my disguise pen, couldn't I?"

"Don't be an idiot, Usagi," Rei snapped. "First, that won't help out the rest of us. Unless you plan on sneaking into that mountain alone?"

Usagi's eyes widened and she shook her head violently, her pigtails snapping dangerously about the small clearing.

"Watch it with those, you moron, over!" Pink shouted as she ducked under one of the wildly flying tresses.

"Sorry..." Usagi murmured and calmed down.

"More importantly," Rei continued as if she had never been interrupted. "Even when you use the pen you still appear like... well, you. And female."

"So?" Usagi blinked and tilted her head to the side.

"Haven't you noticed anything about all these Chronos soldiers by now?" Rei egged Usagi on.

"Uhhh..." Usagi held up the suit. "They have bad sense in fashion?"

"ARGH!" Rei slapped her forehead. "No. They are all guys!"

"Oh." Usagi blinked again and tapped her chin. "Hey, you're right. I guess they aren't equal opportunity world conquerors."

"What Rei is trying to say, Usagi," Akane said softly, catching the ditzy blonde's attention, "is that we're going to have to look like guys too if we want to be able to sneak around inside the base."

"I feel the need to point out that there are some flaws with this plan," Cologne said from her perch on top of the pile of unconscious bodies.

"Yeah, no amount of disguise could even make you look human, much less like a man, over." Pink's head rocked back and she shouted out in pain (and added 'over', Akane noted incredulously) as Cologne dinged her with one of the helmets.

"Actually, I saw Ukyou do this all the time." Akane smiled and reached into her daypack and retrieved the rolls of bandages. "We just need a little of this stuff to tie ourselves down. Sure, we'll all be kind of PRETTY guys, but no one should suspect anything for the hour or so we need to get in and out."

"Maybe you need little," Shampoo grumbled and crossed her arms under her breasts, 'accidentally' causing her impressive cleavage to bounce about like a jello mold. "What?" Shampoo snapped in mock indignation as everyone started glaring at her.

"Right," Akane grunted, fighting down the urge to hit Shampoo. "Just get your clothes off and get changed."

Akane didn't have much trouble with the suit or even the bandages, but she spent almost five minutes getting all her hair up under the Chronos helmet. As soon as she shoved one end up, the other came spilling out. Finally, Akane just yanked the entire mass into as tight a bun as she could manage, wrapped it in a spare bandage and shoved the helmet down over it. At least it wasn't getting in her eyes that way.

"Everybody finished?"

"Can't... breathe..."

"Oh, shut up, Shampoo, over."

Akane rolled her eyes. She had to admit that the plan had worked out a little better than she thought it would. True, they all had curves that men did not have, curves that the tight bodysuits did little to conceal... but they looked more like really REALLY effeminate guys now. Except Usagi.

"Usagi," Akane said in her most diplomatic tone. "You have to tuck your pigtails up under the helmet."

"I do?"

"Yes. And hurry up." Akane glanced back out towards the roads that lead to the entrance into Mount Minakami. "Chris said he would start his distraction almost an hour ago." Akane had no idea what the dead man's plan was. All she knew was that he had wandered off with a mouse he had bought at a store and given them a timeframe. Whatever it was, it appeared to be working. For the last hour, the entire mountain had been a beehive of activity.

"Are you sure you can find them once we get inside, Luna?" Akane asked while waiting for Usagi to finish. Rei and Shampoo were 'helping' her now.

"Yes..." Luna said slowly. Akane glanced down at her. The talking cat had been surprisingly quiet ever since she had returned to the dojo after disappearing right after the zoanoid attack. "I can track down those girls anywhere on the planet."

"Good..." Akane sighed. She glanced up through the canopy of the forest and saw the mountain towering over everything from the near distance. She clenched her fists and nodded to herself. Ukyou wouldn't be here. Neither would Ranma or Chris. This time, everything depended on her.

01010

The man collapsed to the ground. His body was desiccated. Tethys had not just drained him of all his energy, she had also drawn out most of the water in his body. She stared down at the corpse for a long moment.

If the workers had not come along when they did, she might have died. Hayato had forced her to live. His raw human instinct and willpower, his overwhelming need to survive, had forced her body to continue. The energy that was Tethys' 'soul' had been forced to remain coherent.

"Was that really necessary?" Hayato said silently from the back of her mind.

"Don't presume to lecture me," Tethys hissed back aloud.

She had needed to feed. Hayato had saved her, but she had still been hemorrhaging energy ever since Ukyou had left her. If the humans had not come along to check out what destruction the 'freak storm' had inflicted on their still-under-construction ocean cathedral, Tethys would have faded away. It would have taken weeks, but it would have happened. But even just a little bit of feeding off their life force had been enough to stabilize her.

Killing the entire five man survey team had been unnecessary.

She sneered.

"Besides, they are just humans," Tethys shot back silently to her host. "They exist merely to feed my desires."

"Really?" Hayato said telepathically. His tone was dubious.

"Yes, really." Tethys started to walk towards the edge of the structure. "Don't make me remind you who is in charge of this union by ejecting you. Maybe I should dump your crippled body in the ocean? Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Go ahead."

Tethys paused.

"Aren't you the one who wanted so badly to live?" Tethys hissed.

"Yes. I want to live. I want to live more than I ever believed possible." There was a long pause. "Even if you left me a cripple now, I still think I would want to live." He chuckled through their telepathic bond. "But I don't think you'll do it. You won't do it because you still need me."

"I don't need you..." Tethys retorted without much force.

"I know. You're the superior youma, aren't you?" Hayato came back instantly. "That's what you kept telling me. But it isn't true, is it?" Tethys didn't respond. "You were nothing compared to Ukyou. If you hadn't merged with me to gain my knowledge and techniques, you would have still been nothing to her." Hayato chuckled again. "And even when you did, when you had every advantage, you still lost, didn't you?"

"Ukyou is something different... she has a power..."

"No. She held back," Hayato cut her off. "You know it and I know it. But more importantly, so did she. You toyed with her. Up to the end, you kept toying with her. You wanted her to break out that power I felt her use. You knew it might defeat you, and you didn't care."

There was a long pause.

"I don't think you wanted to win."

"Take that back!" Tethys snarled.

"No. I really don't think you wanted to win," Hayato insisted. "You could have killed her at virtually any time, but you kept holding back." He chuckled. "Maybe we humans have something that does make us superior to you youma. Maybe you have power, and magic, and other advantages. But we fight to win. When we want something, we take it. We do not give the enemy a chance to fight back. We would as happily kill them in their sleep as on the field of battle.

"You may be better weapons, you youma. But we humans are better warriors. And that is why you lost."

Tethys wanted to rail and scream at him. She knew he was lying. More importantly, he was being impudent. She was the master in their relationship. She was the one who could live without him. She had no more need for him. She should destroy him.

Tethys rose one hand up and wove her fingers briefly. Magical energy weaved around her form, and the matrix of her effect snapped into being. In seconds, a swirling disk of water was before her. It was a portal to a safer location.

She could not destroy him. Without him, she would be dead.

Gratitude was a feeling that was alien to her kind. In the Dark Kingdom, you were as likely to reward those who served you with a swift and brutal death as praise and thanks. She was not grateful to him for saving her life. No. She DID still need him.

Because her mission was not complete. Ukyou would be destroyed. And if he hadn't been there, she would have died. There was something she still needed to learn from Hayato. And he had just told her what it was. He had just told her about how humans could be ruthless and dangerous in a way that youma never could. That was what she needed to learn.

She smiled.

"Perhaps you're right." Tethys said back to Hayato. "Humans are better warriors than we youma. And if that is true, then I am going to learn to fight as a human."

Tethys stepped through the portal and was gone.

01010

"It appears to be locked, over." Link said, frowning at the door.

"I can see that. How do we open it, over?" Pink snapped back.

"I think this keypad here is how you unlock it," Akane said, squinting as she leaned down and gazed at the complex-looking device. It had all the numbers and a dozen other symbols besides that Akane didn't recognize.

"Well, anybody here know how to hack a computer?" Rei asked, crossing her arms.

"I wish Ami was here!" Usagi muttered sullenly.

"Shampoo have better solution," the warrior girl said leisurely as she stepped forward. Akane was about to ask what that was when Shampoo kicked out, hitting the door hard enough to send it flying into the hallway seven meters. Akane stared, bug-eyed, as the huge metal plate came to a clanking halt. Sparks shot from the doorframe where the electronics had been severed.

"Shampoo..." Akane took a deep breath and continued diplomatically. "Have you ever heard of the concept of an alarm?"

Shampoo cupped her ear, which looked ridiculous since she was wearing a Chronos helmet. "Shampoo no hear alarm."

"SILENT alarms, Shampoo," Akane hissed, losing a little of her composure.

"That's stupid," Pink declared with her hands on her hips. "If the alarm is silent, how is anyone supposed to hear it, over?"

Akane raised a finger to respond, but decided that she needed to keep from hitting any of her allies, at least until they were out of danger. "Never mind."

Everyone just nodded at that and pressed further into the complex. Akane trailed along behind them. She couldn't help but glance over her shoulder every now and then. The strange thing was, they hadn't been confronted by a single Chronos soldier since getting inside. The guards at the main entrance had given them all long, flat looks when they approached and spent a few minutes talking into their commsets... but had waved everyone inside without any real hassle.

Akane kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Thankfully, that hadn't happened. They had even passed groups of scientists running about the facility, some of which had given them odd looks, but none had stopped to question them. Akane felt a slight tingle on the back of her neck. She knew that danger was around. She knew that things seemed to be going too well... but at the same time she couldn't think of anything else to do but continue forward.

Sighing, Akane marched up through the group until she was level with Usagi. The leader of the Senshi glanced over at her, but Akane wasn't interested in her. Instead she tapped on the pack that Usagi was carrying. The pack shifted slightly, and Luna's head popped out of the slightly open zipper.

"Are we still heading in the right direction?" Akane asked quickly. She didn't want Luna to be out in the open for that long.

"Yes..." Luna paused. "Sailor Mercury and Jupiter are still below us and towards the center of the mountain. Once we find a way down, we should take it."

Akane nodded and motioned for Luna to retreat before stepping up to the front of the group. Shampoo was taking the lead until Akane replaced her, and the large knapsack she carried rustled a bit as Akane passed.

"Akane," Cologne's voice emerged from the pack. Akane slowed down.

"Granny?" Akane whispered back.

"This is not good," Cologne hissed. "This is... perhaps the most incompetent infiltration attempt I have ever heard of, much less participated in. It is inconceivable that someone doesn't know something is wrong by now."

"Hey!" Pink shouted loudly, her voice echoing down the halls. "We are the queens of infiltration! Nobody has anything on our spying skills, over!"

"Pink," Akane growled. "Shut. Up."

Pink looked about to protest, but then crossed her arms instead.

"I don't disagree," Akane said softly, turning back to the bag Cologne was packed in. At least it was no longer radiating a baleful battle aura like when Shampoo had first shoved the old woman inside. "But I don't understand why they haven't sprung a trap yet if that's the case. Plus... well... we are getting closer to our objective." She shrugged, then realized Cologne couldn't see that. "I don't know what else to do."

"Hmmm..." Cologne paused a moment, then sighed. "Perhaps you are right. If worst comes to worst, I have a way to get us all out of here quickly. Hopefully the enemy has sufficiently underestimated us that they will be caught off guard."

Akane voiced her agreement, then continued forward. A moment later, they came to a large open area. It wasn't exactly packed, but more than a few Chronos scientists and soldiers were wandering around the area. In the center of the room were a trio of huge elevator tubes. Every now and then a door would open in one of them and people would step in and out. The activity in the room seemed agitated somehow. Everyone was rushing, moving with a strange alien intensity about them.

Akane motioned everyone to a halt. They stopped easily enough, but immediately started talking amongst themselves. Akane glared over her shoulder at them all, but her expression was dulled by the face-concealing helmet she wore. She was too busy figuring out how to get through the room without drawing attention to themselves to worry about how much attention they were drawing to themselves now.

"Exactly what do you think you're doing?"

Akane jumped and spun to face the voice that had whispered to her from around the corner. The first thing Akane noticed were the young man's piercing grey eyes. Then she took in his handsome slanted features and slicked back black mullet. He was also wearing a boy's high school uniform, minus the blazer. His arms were crossed, and he was staring at Akane with those penetrating eyes.

"Well? Do you realize how dead you would be if I weren't helping you?"

"What?" Akane asked, playing dumb.

"Hey, Akane, who are you... Ohhh. Who's the hottie?" Usagi nudged Akane in the ribs.

Everyone stared at Usagi. The newcomer's right eyebrow twitched.

"He gay," Shampoo explained unhelpfully, nodding at Usagi.

"I am... uh..." Usagi paused, realizing that she had been about to blow their 'cover', such as it was.

"I should have expected nothing less of the Sailor Senshi," the boy said with a sneer. "Follow me, unless you want to die."

Without another word the boy strode past them and back down the hall they had been travelling. Akane glanced at everyone, and saw that most of them were looking at her to make the first move. Shrugging, she followed him. It was obvious he had seen through their disguises, and if he was leading them into a trap, at least he was staying close enough for Akane to get in a few good shots.

The young man led them to a room off the hallway and checked outside for any stray Chronos staff before closing the door. The room appeared to be some sort of lab, and Akane resisted to urge to groan as Usagi immediately leapt up and sat on one of the tables, dangling her legs playfully.

This was the girl that was supposed to save the world?

"I don't have time for your silly questions about my motives," the boy snapped as soon as they were alone. "My name is Agito Makashima, and my family has worked for Chronos for years." He gestured to himself. "I, however, don't like them. They trust me enough around here that I was able to hear from one of the commanders of this facility about your friends being held hostage and was placed in charge of 'intercepting' you."

"Good job, over!" Pink said, giving him a thumbs up.

Agito's eyebrow twitched again. "Yes... suffice it to say, I want out of Chronos. They want me to be... one of them." He loaded his sentence with enough emphasis that Akane could guess immediately what he meant. "I don't care about you or your friends, but if you can help me get out of this facility, then I will help you rescue them."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Rei snapped.

"I guess you don't," Agito said, sneering back. "I guess I'll just leave you to your own pathetic devices. I'll also stop intercepting all the alerts everyone who has been spotting you has been calling in. I'll also stop diverting all the standard patrols away from your path. I'll also stop..."

"We get it," Akane stopped him, holding up one hand. "I believe you. I was surprised we got in so far by ourselves."

"Good," Agito said slowly, crossing his arms. "I know a quicker route to the detention areas. One that can evade detection. I even know a few ways out of this place that aren't exactly on the blueprints anymore."

"You know an awful lot, and have a awful lot of clout, for just another son of an employee," Rei hissed.

"Leave it be, Rei," Akane said shortly. "Agito, if he's telling the truth, is taking a big risk for us."

Agito snorted. "Hardly." He turned his attention to Rei. "You may not trust me, but believe this. I hate Chronos. They destroyed my life. I will destroy them." Akane stepped back. The intensity the black haired youth spoke with was slightly unnerving. "If I have to assist you fools to do it, I will." He held out one hand and uncurled his fingers slowly. "But I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. You assist me, I assist you." He smirked. "If you can't believe in the basic goodness of my actions, believe in that."

"I..." Rei stared into Agito's icy grey eyes again. "I... understand." Akane glanced at Rei sharply. There had been something in her voice...

"Good." Agito stepped past them all and walked to the back of the room. "There are electrical service tunnels all throughout this facility. We can take one of them most of the way down to your friends." He glanced back over his shoulder. "After that... well... we'll have to improvise."

01010

Akira watched in fascination as Ranma changed forms again. One moment, he was a not-unattractive young man... the next he was a petite and voluptuous girl. The fact that she looked pissed off really didn't do much to conceal how pretty her facial features were.

"Are you finished yet?" Ranma snapped.

"Just one more time..." the doctor woman said eagerly. She was holding up a small device that was connected to the wrist bands she had made Ranma wear by a series of tiny wires. "This is absolutely fascinating. It completely defies the law of conservation of energy!"

"It defies the laws of nature, lady," Ranma murmured and crossed her arms.

"Let Matsudaira have her fun, Ranma," Ukyou chided softly. Akira glanced at her eyes and forced herself to look away a moment later. "The TAC is kind enough to pay for my... accommodations, after all," Ukyou continued, her voice slightly playful.

"Whatever," Ranma said, sighing. She kept shooting worried glances at the scientist when she thought no one was looking, however.

"I'm just surprised they let us all in here," Ran said, chuckling. Akira turned her attention to the young reporter, who was sitting next to Ranma. They were sitting very close together, now that Akira thought about it. A fact that should have been obvious when Ran dragged her chair over next to Ranma's. How could Akira have overlooked that until now?

"If you're through getting over your Jyusenkyou shock, Akira..."

Akira flushed a little and spun to face Ukyou. The young woman did not look to be in good shape. She was sitting upright in her partially elevated bed, but did not look comfortable doing so. From what Akira could see under her covers, Ukyou's entire upper torso was covered in bandages. And her eyes... Akira couldn't help but stare at them. Ranma and Ran had kept saying how different they were. Ran had insisted on taking pictures. Ranma had been insisting that they could track down that Pink girl and get a cure. Akira wasn't sure why, but she didn't see them as different. Maybe it was because she had only known Ukyou for a very short time, but when she looked into those black flowers, she saw the same person that she had seen before. Ukyou looked into Akira's eyes, but she didn't seem to be affected by Akira's stare.

"I'm sorry," Akira said, bowing. "I didn't mean to embarrass your friend."

"Ah, Ranma's used to it by now," Ukyou said, smiling. Ukyou looked like a completely different person when she smiled. "Isn't that right?"

"I wish everyone would stop gawking, is all..." Ranma said, her voice switching register midsentence as the doctor upended another kettle over what was now his head. "And maybe if you could make that water a little less hot."

"Sorry..." Matsudaira said absently, obviously paying more attention to the blood pressure reader she was consulting.

"Anyway..." Ukyou brought Akira's attention back to her. "Was there something I could help you out with?"

"Oh..." Akira looked down at her feet. She wished she had gotten a chance to change into her street clothes. Not that her school uniform wasn't attractive. It just was a little too... powder-blue for her tastes. Also it had a string for a tie. A string. Akira tugged at the red string tie absently. "Actually, I just wanted to say thank you."

Ukyou's face had become cold and distant again as she tilted her head to the side and looked at Akira. Then she snapped her fingers and nodded. "Think nothing of it," Ukyou said. "I suspect things are working out well."

"Well, yes, I suppose," Akira released her tie and sighed. "I did save my brother, thanks to you. And the others are going to get together and deal with this Kurow person you say is behind it all."

"Indeed."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Hey," Ranma called attention to himself. There was a splash as Matsudaira upended a bottle on her. Ranma didn't seem to notice anymore. The floor beneath her was very wet. "I wish I could help you guys out with that. From what Ukyou told me, this Kurow jerk could use a patented Ranma Saotome butt-whupping. But I guess I have to stay here, make sure nobody starts anything funny with Ukyou being in the hospital with her unable to defend herself."

Akira saw it. Nobody else was paying attention, so none of them saw it. Akira wasn't even sure how she could tell she saw it. But Ukyou's cold eyes flashed, and for a moment she looked helpless and afraid. Akira had never seen the eyes of a person who has come to accept the inevitability of their own death, but she thought that they would have looked very much like Ukyou's did in that brief moment.

The moment passed so quickly. Akira was left wondering if she had imagined it. Ukyou looked firm and in control now.

"I guess..." Akira pulled at one of the sleeves of her uniform and sighed. "You're going to stay here too, Ran?"

"Maybe," Ran shrugged. "Ukyou is news, but she isn't very interesting news if all she's doing is being held at a hospital." Ran smirked. Her freckles always stood out a lot when she smirked. "I might drop by and see what kind of trouble Ukyou has brewed up, however."

"That would be good." Akira stepped back. "I guess... this is goodbye, Ukyou."

"Uh, yeah..." Ukyou was looking at Akira strangely now. "Goodbye."

Akira stepped out into the hallway with a final bow and began to walk away. It was really none of her business. She started to walk out of the hospital, staring mainly at her feet. Her mind kept cycling back to that instant. Something had changed in Ukyou since Akira had last seen her. Something profound.

It was none of Akira's business. She would just go home and maybe watch those shows her mother kept telling her the other girls her age were watching. Maybe then she would have something to talk to the other girls at her school about.

Akira staggered back as she collided with someone.

"Watch where you're going!"

"I'm sorry..." Akira mumbled and stepped aside. She looked up and saw three young nurses start to stalk past her. She had collided with the lead nurse... an athletic young lady with flaming red hair who was carrying a tray with a covered dinner plate on it. Akira's eyes met hers for a brief moment...

Akira staggered back again and stepped to the side.

"Those eyes..." she hissed to herself. She glanced at the others. Yes, they all had the same eyes. Not really emotionless, more just... staid. They were eyes that had been dulled somehow. She remembered seeing those same kind of eyes on the faces of her friends. Of course, they hadn't been her friends at the time. They had been just other students, victims of brainwashing.

Akira watched the nurses walk down the hallway. Her eyes narrowed. The other two nurses didn't look normal. The brunette was carrying a long wrapped bundle. The one with blue hair was carrying a laptop computer. All three had long black stockings on their legs. The other nurses wore only white.

They were heading towards Ukyou's room.

Akira considered just ignoring it and leaving. It was none of her business. Kyosuke would have stuck his nose in. Kyosuke was the kind of guy who didn't let anyone keep him from doing what he thought was necessary. But Akira was just a young girl. She shouldn't even be here. She should be at home, talking to other girls her age about the boys that couldn't go to her school.

Akira pulled at the edge of her skirt. She didn't belong here.

The three nurses stepped into Ukyou's room.

A gasp.

A thud.

A gunshot!

"Oh... forget it!" Akira ran forward.

Akira wanted to break through the doorway... but caution overcame valor and she slowly slid the door open instead.

The scene inside was frozen. Ukyou was sitting up in her bed, her eyes darting about nervously. She looked helpless, but not afraid. Ran was standing in front of her, holding a rolled up newspaper like a dagger. The not-quite-a- nurse facing her was holding a much longer blade. The light glinted off the katana the girl wielded, and Ran's eyes were fixed on that sharp point... and the three centimeters that had been chopped off the end of her makeshift weapon.

None of the nurses were wearing their uniforms anymore. They were all dressed in identical black bodystockings that covered them from neck to toe, except where it scooped low on their backs. Ranma was facing the other two. He was male again. He stood exactly between them, in a modified horse stance. A trickle of blood was running down his cheek. The redhead was covering him with a pair of pistols. The nurse that had been holding the laptop was now holding Doctor Matsudaira up against the wall by the neck.

"So you can dodge bullets," the blue-haired girl was saying. "But can you get to me before I snap this woman's neck?" Matsudaira's eyes widened at the threat, and she began to gasp as the girl's hand tightened slightly.

"You bitch!" Ranma snarled, his body tensing. "Guns and hostages? What kind of martial artists are you?"

"The kind that win battles," the red-haired girl explained. "Satsuki, grab the girl. Marz... if either of the heroes interfere, kill the hostage."

"Oh no you-"

A loud bang cut off Ranma in mid-sentence. His head snapped back, so fast that all Akira could see was a fading afterimage of his head for a moment. The glass behind him exploded.

"Don't think we can't kill you," the redhead stated coolly. "We have studied your techniques and abilities. You are formidable, Ranma Saotome. But even you can't hope to defeat all three of us at once."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Ran snapped.

"Should I kill her, Fevrier?" the sword wielding girl, Satsuki presumably, said as she raised her katana to point at Ran's throat.

"Your presence was unfortunate, but not unexpected..." the leader said. "Now you can choose to either surrender Ukyou to us, or you and this woman will die..."

"Ranma, go low!" Akira shouted as she smashed in through the partially open door.

Everything happened at once. Akira leapt up, spinning with a fierce warcry into one of her strongest roundhouse kicks. Ranma ducked down, the twin retorts of Fevrier's guns coming a second too late to catch him. Satsuki stepped forward, slashing at Ran... who was suddenly pulled off her feet as Ukyou grabbed her and yanked hard on the girl's skirt. Akira's kick caught the blue- haired girl right in the elbow. She screamed and released Matsudaira. Ranma landed on his hands, and shot both legs up in a blindingly fast split kick that knocked both the guns from Fevrier's hands. Satsuki stumbled forward, off- balance, as her blade passed harmlessly an inch over Ran's head. Ran reacted fast and punched straight up, catching the girl in the jaw with enough force to send her flipping back into the wall.

As Akira landed, she could feel her skirt swirling about her legs and cursed. The damn thing had gotten her legs caught up and she hadn't been able to put her full strength into that blow.

"Who are...?" the blue-haired girl gasped, staring at Akira.

"A friend!" Ukyou shouted. There was a flash and the black-clad girl slammed against the wall. She reached down and gingerly removed a small metal spatula from her side. It was red with blood.

"Retreat!" Fevrier shouted. She somersaulted forward and up over the crouching Akira. Akira knew she was heading for the door. She figured she should stop her... but hesitated. Even as she did, the girl made good her escape. Satsuki followed quickly. Ranma was about to strike down Marz as she turned to run, but the girl tossed something over her shoulder at Ukyou. Ranma dove away from her and neatly backhanded the small sphere out of the shattered window. A second later there was a loud explosion from outside.

Silence filled the room.

"Matsudaira," Ukyou said slowly. "Please contact Kunikida. I'll need to be taken to a more secure location. Immediately."

"I..." Matsudaira gasped and nodded. "Yes. I see that." *

ZX-tole buzzed in annoyance and violently swept his arms outward, sending the flaming oil splattering across the pavement. The town was an inferno already, the flames licking at the heels of all the hyper zoanoids as they tried to pin down that flying monster. Even as ZX-tole cleared his vision, he heard Elegen shout out a warning.

He tried to dodge, but the creature was so huge its fist was just too big to completely avoid. But his efforts turned what could have been a crushing blow into a glancing strike that merely knocked ZX-tole off his feet. The creature roared, flames erupting from all three of its mouths as it smashed down at him again. ZX-tole roared back and snapped his hands up, catching the fist by the knuckles. He felt the pavement crack beneath him as the sudden impact grounded through his body.

A second later the monster was knocked aside as Derzerb charged into it. Gore gushed from its flank as the creature staggered away. The blood was thick and black and smelled of rot. Even as it fell backward, one of its remaining tentacles whipped out and caught the grey-skinned hyper zoanoid across the chest, sending him flying back into a building with enough force to cause the burning structure to collapse like a house of cards.

"What is this thing made of?" Thancrus whined as he rose to his feet nearby. One of his arms was hanging limply now. But at least he had taken off ten or so of those tentacles before the creature had finally caught him.

"It... isn't alive," ZX-tole replied as he got to his feet. The creature was recovering quickly, as it always did. Its eyes, all six of them, locked solely on ZX-tole. ZX-tole would have grinned, if he could. At least the thing's mad obsession with defeating him first was keeping the others mostly out of danger. ZX-tole was not sure Thancrus or Elegen could have survived the kind of punishment he had been forced to shrug off throughout most of the fight. "Look at it. The body is practically rotting away as we watch." ZX-tole pointed at the haunch of the monster, where most of its matted fur had fallen away and revealed disgusting, purpling flesh.

Apparently this caught the attention of the beast, since it glanced down at its own side. ZX-tole saw a look of disgust flash across its inhuman features. Interesting.

"All we have to do is outlast this thing," ZX-tole informed his companions. "Just stay out of its reach and it will defeat itself in time."

The creature roared and sprayed another wall of fire at Team 5. ZX-tole just shrugged it off as Thancrus and Elegen nimbly dodged aside. Elegen was floating so far back that he was practically out of the fight. Not that ZX-tole could blame him, after how completely ineffectual his one electrical attack on the thing had been.

Still, ZX-tole couldn't help but feel he was missing something. He raised his arms, preparing to give the chimaera something more to think about than attacking them. The creature tensed its rotting body to reply.

Then the explosion occurred.

ZX-tole would have blinked if he could have, and snapped his attention back towards Mount Minakami. He watched in mounting horror as the huge white beam erupted from the side of the mountain, flashing up into the atmosphere and out of sight. The light was so bright that the mid-afternoon sunlight seemed pale in comparison. It faded away slowly, first shrinking steadily until it was a pencil-thin line of brilliant energy before vanishing into a line of swirling silver motes.

"The mountain..." ZX-tole said and cursed himself. "Dammit! Retreat! This was just a distraction!"

ZX-tole was starting to turn around when the world went dark around him. He looked up to see the entire mass of the creature, all three stories of it, descending on him in a swan dive. ZX-tole roared and raised his arms but he was much too weak to catch it as the foul flesh smashed into him. The impact nearly stunned him, but ZX-tole was not so easily captured. The beast had foolishly left itself open!

The blast that ZX-tole produced was less impressive than the one he had just seen, but then it didn't have to be. A dozen crimson lasers flashed up and out, vaporising the meat of the beast with ease. A second later the entire monster exploded as the heat reached critical. ZX-tole climbed to his feet as the shower of gore that used to be his opponent fell down about him.

"Damn..." Derzerb said, grunting as he climbed out of the rubble. "I wanted to finish it off."

"Elegen," ZX-tole said, ignoring the grey-skinned hyper zoanoid. "Is there anybody else nearby?"

"Huh?" Elegen glanced around from his vantage point nearly ten meters above the street. "No. Nothing but corpses."

ZX-tole nodded, but for some reason did not feel jubilant. Just before he had struck, he had felt the muscles of the monster go slack. He gestured for the others to get moving, but stayed there for a few seconds, glancing about with his insectile eyes. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he knew he would know it when he saw it.

After a minute, he sighed to himself. Somehow, he felt that this wasn't truly over.

01010

Shampoo watched the Sailor Senshi tearfully embrace the other Sailor Senshi with an air of bored indifference. This was easy, since she was pretty much bored and indifferent, aside from the fact it now looked like they weren't going to fight anything, which meant her 'charge off into battle and concentrate so singlemindedly on her foe that Pink and Link's incredible incompetence would hopefully get them killed without Shampoo breaking her word' plan had to be left for another day.

She squinted at 'Sailor Jupiter' and 'Sailor Mercury', but no matter how she looked at them, they just didn't look like horrible Chronos monstrosities. She guessed that was a good thing... but she'd REALLY hoped this was an opportunity to get rid of her dearly beloved mistresses.

Oh well. There'd be another day.

Agito was looking impatient. Or perhaps that was just how he ALWAYS looked like, since he'd been looking impatient since they'd met the young man. Shampoo had immediately pinpointed him as someone who badly needed to learn to relax, and he hadn't yet done anything to prove her wrong.

Ah, Akane was impatient, too. The girl was running around, trying hard to get everyone moving and trying to escape, while at the same time trying not to offend the tearfully reuniting Senshi.

Shampoo sighed. Why hadn't great-grandmother put HER in charge of this mission, if it was so important? Akane was weak. Too weak to be a leader. Of course, Shampoo supposed her own leadership would be somewhat hampered by Pink and Link ordering her to do stupid shit... but great-grandmother could have just knocked them out and left them in the woods outside. They liked plants, didn't they?

But that was great-grandmother. Always, always complicating things that were really simple. Shampoo had enjoyed grabbing her by the hair and stuffing her in that backpack. It was the only way to sneak in, and protesting at the treatment would have been beneath her, so the old bat had simply had to stew in her own juices for awhile. Shampoo grinned a bit at the memory.

Well, if they weren't going to fight anything, Shampoo was tired of all this hugging and crap. Walking forward, she yanked the Sailor Senshi apart. "Say 'hi' later. Escape now."

Akane actually gave her a grateful look. The Sailor Senshi gave her reproachful looks, but backed down... except for the tall brunette one, Sailor Jupiter. The girl stepped up to Shampoo, towering a few inches over her. Shampoo raised her eyebrows and met the girl's gaze. She was tall, and seemed to be toned, but if the other Senshi were any indication, Shampoo wasn't precisely worried. Besides, Akane would put a stop to any incipient fights.

Sailor Jupiter didn't say anything, obviously just trying to stare her down. Shampoo, bored with this, let her gaze wander downward. The girl was, like pretty much everyone else in Japan as far as she could tell, flat as a board. Well, maybe she was a little less flat than the others. Still, she had nothing on Shampoo. Grinning a bit, Shampoo deliberately stepped forward, knocking the girl back a step. A double insult! She could see Sailor Jupiter flush with both anger and embarrassment at the same time.

Although, doing that reminded Shampoo she could hardly breathe. She grimaced, but then returned to her smirk. Wouldn't do to let Sailor Jupiter think she had the upper hand. "You want something?" she asked sweetly.

The girl glared at her a moment later, but then her head forcefully snapped to the side. "Just to say thank you, I guess."

"You welcome," Shampoo grinned. And that was that. She turned to Akane. "We go now?"

"Yes," the girl said, then turned to Agito. "You said you know some ways out of here?"

The dark-haired man was still looking impatient, but had added a shade of 'annoyed' to his expression. "There's a freight elevator nearby. It can take us to a level where there's some construction occurring. From there, we can make our escape through an access tunnel."

Akane nodded. "Okay, let's go."

Since Akane and Agito were obviously determined to take the lead, Shampoo fell to the rear. She considered sticking a sword through the unconscious soldiers that had been guarding the cells the Senshi had been held in, but Akane had raised such a fuss about that LAST time...

What was the girl thinking? That the soldiers they'd stripped these uniforms from would simply conveniently remain unconscious for the amount of time they'd need to infiltrate the base? That even if they did, the numerous patrols in the area wouldn't stumble across the bodies? Shampoo's solution had been simple and elegant: killing them not only would keep them quiet, but the Chronos trick of making their monsters dissolve upon death would also effectively hide the evidence.

But no, for some reason, not killing homicidal world-threatening beasts was somehow a GOOD thing. Shampoo snorted.

Those big double doors up ahead were obviously the elevator Agito had mentioned. So, that was it? Shampoo wasn't very impressed with this organisation Chris had referred to as the greatest threat facing the world. Misfits, incompetents, and moderately dangerous monsters? One could find all of that just wandering around the Chinese countryside, and the world hadn't ended yet.

Agito punched a code into the keypad by the elevator, and waited - impatiently, of course - for it to arrive. And, after a moment, it did. The doors opened, and the elevator waited invitingly.

Of course, there was the small matter of the guy who was waiting inside it.

He was pretty tall, with skin tanned to gold and white hair that was slicked back, revealing a widow's peak. He wore a double-breasted suit that did little to conceal his impressive physique. His eyes... were inhuman. Not like Chris's dead ones, these were definitely alive, but... they were a vivid purple, with sickly yellow irises, and seemed to almost glow with malevolent power. Shampoo unconsciously snapped into a defensive stance. This man fairly radiated menace.

"Why Agito, here's where you've gotten off to." The man's voice was just as alien as his eyes. It was low-pitched, almost too much to hear, but at the same time she could hear it perfectly clearly, the sound of it reverberating in her bones. "And you seem to be with our guests. How convenient." He chuckled menacingly.

"Damn you..." Agito growled. "You knew when you summoned me here, didn't you, Gyro?"

The man chuckled again. "Of course I knew, Agito... or should I say 'Zeus'? The son of Chronos, who rose up against his father... I should have known from the moment you said that to me! I was planning to wait until the first Guyver appeared to expose your treachery, but the arrival of these fools seemed too wonderful an opportunity to waste." Gyro stepped forward into the hallway, and everyone almost involuntarily backed away to keep their distance from him. "And now, with you exposed as our traitor, and your friends all here at once, I shall sweep you all from this world!"

Sailor Jupiter was the first to react. With a cry of defiance, she charged towards the man... but at the same time, Shampoo was thrown off-balance as her backpack exploded and a small blur intercepted the Sailor Senshi, knocking her from her feet.

"Don't be foolish, child!" Cologne said, now perched on her staff between the group and Gyro. "I sense a tremendous energy from this one... far more than you can hope to defeat!"

The man chuckled, adjusting his lapels. "Intuitive, old woman. It's too bad I plan to kill you all here... but I am not nearly so curious about your abilities as that old fool Valkus."

"Valkus? Here?" Agito declared. He narrowed his eyes. "I see... but don't think you'll take me so easily!" He spread his arms, and his impatient look vanished, replaced by a vicious grin. "Stand back, everyone, unless you want to die."

Cologne looked at him for only a fraction of a second before leaping away with Sailor Jupiter in tow, which led to everyone else deciding to follow her example. Shampoo ripped off her helmet, drew her sword, and then quickly pulled out the front of the uniform and sliced away those damned bandages. She'd need air if she was going to fight. The uniform was a little tight, but... oh well.

Gyro, watching all this, merely smiled and continued walking forward.

"GUYVER!" screamed Agito. The walls, floor, and ceiling around him were punched away as if he'd unleashed some sort of enormous concussive force. For a fraction of an instant, the young man floated in mid-air, and then THINGS appeared, floating behind him. They looked almost like some sort of black, insectile armour. A moment later they flashed forward, snapping into place around his body. Agito landed, but no longer looked even remotely human. He was covered from head to toe in chitinous black plates. The gaps between them were filled with alien, pulsing, wormlike flesh. Two small blades jutted from the elbows of each arm. His face... was even less human. It was covered with dark insectile armor, small spikes, and twitching silvery spheres, the largest of which was on his forehead, directly below a huge, spine-like crest. His eyes were glowing red demonic slits.

Agito's voice, while still recognisable, has taken on an inhuman buzz. "Your plan is for nothing, Gyro. You dare face me alone? You do not realise the true power of the Guyver unit!"

The man in the suit's smile never wavered. "Don't I?"

"Ummm, excuse me," Usagi broke in. Everyone turned to stare at her. "Before you guys fight," she said holding up a finger, "could I just ask, um, what exactly is going on? Because you sort of lost me at the Guyver-whatzit and the Zeus thing..."

"Shut up!" Agito roared, then leaped at Gyro.

"Fool!" Cologne shouted. "Don't-"

Gyro laughed. And, even as the Agito-monster leaped towards him, the skin in the centre of his forehead pulled back, revealing a large crystal underneath. The crystal glowed with light, light that started glowing so bright that Shampoo had to turn away.

The explosion that followed sent her tumbling backward, but she quickly rolled back up to her feet. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the others, even great-grandmother, all struggling to their feet as well. But standing before them...

The creature Gyro had become was at least three metres tall, the tips of the gnarled, organic-looking spines that crested its head brushing the ceiling of the hallway. It was only barely more human than whatever Agito had become: most of the skin had torn away from its body, exposing huge pulsing knotted muscles. Some parts, mostly on the chest, were covered, but now with a white exoskeleton. Six lens-like objects were embedded in its torso. And its face... Shampoo couldn't help but shudder a bit. It was the face of a monster. Not in the same way the 'Guyver' was - the armor didn't have facial features, really. But this THING did. They were just twisted, almost perverse mockeries of that of a human.

"What the-" she heard Agito mutter.

Shampoo sidled over next to Akane. "Hey," she whispered.

Akane glanced sidelong at her. "What?"

"We in middle of something no our business. Why not leave two boyfriends to settle problem?"

"Fool!" the monster-Gyro roared. "None of you shall leave here alive!"

Shampoo rolled her eyes and turned back to face him. None of this, she mentally reminded herself, would have happened if great-grandmother hadn't made Akane be in charge.

The monster-Gyro was prattling again. "None of you insects can comprehend the magnitude of my plan. In this single moment, I shall show the folly of Valkus and his useless Hyper Zoanoid Team 5, eradicate the traitor in our midst, secure the Guyver III unit, and become one step closer to ruling all of Chronos, and thus, the world!" He spread his arms to the sky, well, ceiling, and laughed.

"You're mad, Gyro!" the Agito-armor-thing snapped. "You're gloating before your victory is secured. That's always been your weakness!"

"Weakness?" Gyro laughed. "I am a Zoalord! Do you not understand what the means? Of course not. You think the little bits of knowledge your dead father trickled down to you is enough for you to comprehend what Chronos IS? Do you think, because you wear that ancient biobooster armour of a fallen race, that you are a threat to one such as I?

"I've known you were the third Guyver unit ever since you ambushed me in your home, when nobody knew I was there but you. Did you think I would allow you in my presence if you were any sort of threat?"

"We shall see," Agito said darkly. He raised up his arm, and the paired blades jutting from his elbow suddenly extended to over two feet in length. A low hum filled the hallway, setting Shampoo's teeth on edge. Agito roared, leaped forward... and was swatted aside with contemptuous ease. The young man crashed into the wall with a sickening crunch, creating a large crater on impact. The monster called Gyro vanished, and suddenly reappeared gripping Agito around the neck.

He lifted the armoured boy from the ground as Agito clutched impotently at the hand choking him, feet kicking helplessly. "Agito, Agito," the monster laughed. "Only now, when it is too late-"

"GET HIM!" Sailor Jupiter yelled. Shampoo, more than happy to put an end to his speeches, ran forward, holding her sword low. The others followed suit. There was a flash of fire and lightning as twin attacks from the Sailor Senshi flew over her shoulders, only to explode harmlessly in midair, not even having reached Gyro. Akane was by Shampoo's side, running as fast as she was. The girl took to the air, so Shampoo stayed running along the ground, hoping Gyro would be taken off-guard by the attack from two different directions.

They had just enough time to see Gyro turn his head to look at them before they were flung back by an invisible force, and just enough time to realise that had happened before the painful collision with the wall stopped their flight. Shampoo pulled herself up to one knee, wiping a trickle of something wet from her lips. She still had her sword, thankfully. But how to attack a monster like this?

Gyro smashed Agito's head against the wall once, sharply, then tossed his limp body to the ground as he turned completely to face them. "Very well," he said, and chuckled again. "The only person I care about here is Guyver III, but demonstrating my omnipotence on you insects will serve to show him the folly of his ambition."

Shampoo grimaced, raising her arms to try to block the attack, but it never came. Instead, she saw great-grandmother flash between them and the monster. She was glowing visibly, her battle aura stronger and more vibrant than Shampoo had ever seen it before. With a cry, the old woman plunged her staff forward, directly at Gyro's chest.

A titanic roar filled the hallway, a flash forced Shampoo's eyes closed, though even through her eyelids, it was bright enough to leave spots dancing in her vision. But what staggered Shampoo the most was how the blast shuddered through her body. She could feel all her energy cringing backward, and all of her martial instincts told her that this was a fight she wanted no part of.

But she was Shampoo.

She opened her eyes.

A blur flew across the room. Gyro was laughing. If the strike had caused the zoalord any damage at all, Shampoo couldn't see it. Her eyes tracked the path of the blur. Her great-grandmother was buried nearly a foot into the wall. Her limp body spasmed slightly, and blood ran from her ears, the corner of her mouth, and from a shallow gash that crossed her face.

She stared at the old woman for a moment. Though Shampoo had found herself hating her great-grandmother, resenting her for using and tricking her own family and fully planned and expected to pay her back for it... Shampoo had never seen her beaten. She had never considered defeating her great-grandmother in a duel, because that was impossible. Cologne was indomitable. None in the village could hope to match her. Her strength, her skill, her knowledge, all legendary. She was the pinnacle of the Nyuuchezu warrior tradition.

She had been defeated in a single blow.

Shampoo was still staring as Sailor Moon crossed into her field of vision, picking up the old woman and cradling her in her arms. She was crying.

It was at that point that Shampoo realised she was going to die.

She stood up, feeling strangely refreshed. She hefted her sword again, and felt a grin spread across her face. She glanced over at Pink and Link, who were whispering back and forth at each other, searching impotently through pouches of herbs. Jupiter and Mars were flinging more blasts as the Zoalord, but all of them crashed harmlessly against his shield. Agito was starting to rise, but his limbs were shaky. Akane... Akane had grabbed Sailor Mercury by the arm, and was speaking into the Senshi's ear with intensity.

But there was something wrong. The way Akane was speaking... it wasn't with the desperate passion the twins were using. It wasn't even the same sort of resigned calmness Shampoo felt herself.

It was intense, but calm. It was... something Shampoo couldn't quite put her finger on. She looked at Akane, and as the girl finished speaking with Sailor Mercury, she returned Shampoo's gaze.

Something passed between them.

Shampoo knew. She knew what Akane had planned. A part of her wanted to protest, to chide her with how stupid it was. But a part of her, a part deeper and truer, understood. Understood the part Akane needed Shampoo to play.

She made the smallest of nods towards the Japanese girl.

"SHABON SPRAY!"

Shampoo barely saw Sailor Mercury spinning out of the corner of her eye before fog sprang from her fingers and instantly enveloped the corridor. She moved immediately, remembering in her mind's eye the locations of the others.

"NOW!" Akane yelled. "Into the elevator!"

Shampoo heard the others starting to move. Usagi was the slowest, as Shampoo had known she would be, so with a single sweep of her arm she threw the girl over her shoulder and ran. Thankfully, Usagi had enough presence of mind to keep hold of great-grandmother.

There was a loud crash off to the side where Agito was. He was obviously making his own escape route. Shampoo wasn't surprised. The man probably hoped Gyro would be too distracted with killing the larger party to follow.

They reached the elevator. She could hear Gyro, who had hesitated for an instant, turning towards them. Her fingers fumbled for the buttons. One of them had to close the damn door!

Then she heard Mercury's voice. "Wait! Akane isn't in yet!"

The sound of a step as Gyro turned towards them. And then there was a crash as he was knocked off his feet by an unseen blow. She heard the zoalord grunt in surprise.

She thought she'd found the right button, and pressed it. A rush of air brushed across her cheek as the massive doors began to slide closed, and she felt a surge of relief.

"No!" Usagi cried. "Akane isn't-"

"Shampoo know."

"We can't leave her behind!" Usagi wailed. "She'll be killed!"

Shampoo's voice was flat. "Akane know."

There was a moment of silence. The doors were halfway closed now. Why did it take so long?

"NO!" Usagi screamed, and Shampoo felt her running towards the doors. Shampoo reached out, grabbed the girl by the back of her ridiculous costume, and hurled her into the back wall. The doors clicked shut, and she felt a strange sense of vertigo as the elevator rocketed downward.

The magical fog was clearing, and after a moment Shampoo could see all of her companions. Sailor Mercury now had great-grandmother's limp body, and was examining her wounds, but it seemed almost an excuse not to look at Shampoo, or any of the others. Sailor Jupiter's fists were clenched in frustration. Mars... Mars was staring directly at Shampoo, an odd, expressionless stare. Usagi ran forward, breaking the stare, and slammed her shoulder into the doors, but they held firm.

"What an idiot. You would never catch me doing something so stupid. But, then, MY life is worth something, over."

Everyone, Shampoo included, stared for the slightest moment at Pink. The poisonous twin's permanent grin was somehow wider, her eyes almost danced with delight, her cheeks flushed with some hidden joy. Even Link was staring at her twin aghast, but Pink met all their gazes without flinching. Somewhere inside, Shampoo felt a flare of hatred towards the girl, one that ran far deeper than rivalry, even deeper than humiliation.

There was an incongruously cheerful chime as the elevator came to a stop, and the doors slid open, somehow seeming much swifter this time. The area outside was obviously under construction. Huge piles of building materials and half-finished walls were scattered around; ghostly sheets of transparent plastic billowed slightly over most of it. Shampoo thought she saw a bit of light down a distant corridor.

"Come on," she growled, ushering the others out the door. "We no have time."

"No!" Sailor Moon cried, her face glistening with tears, and her hands still red from hitting the door. She whirled on Shampoo. "We have to go back to save her!"

"Don't be an idiot, Usagi!" Sailor Mars snapped, moving between her ostensible leader and Shampoo. "Don't you get it? Akane sacrificed herself for US. We can't let that sacrifice be in vain!"

Something... changed in Sailor Moon's face as that was said. She rose slowly and gracefully to her full height, and Shampoo found herself almost unconsciously intimidated in a way that Jupiter, nearly a foot taller than Sailor Moon, never could have done. Her eyes seemed to lock on those of Shampoo, and those of everyone else at the same time.

She spoke, and somehow, when she did, Shampoo knew that Sailor Moon spoke directly to HER.

"No." Her voice was firm and brooked no argument. "Nobody has to sacrifice themselves. Nobody will ever sacrifice themselves for me."

And then, when Sailor Moon turned around and strode back into the elevator, Shampoo found herself following her. The others tried to follow, but with a sweep of her arm, Shampoo barred their entrance.

"No need," she said. "Run. Either we enough, or nobody enough."

The door slid closed before there could be any argument.

As they rose, Shampoo once again felt a calmness spreading over her. But it wasn't the doomed calm of before. It was... a peace. She felt peace, and she felt a sort of hope that clutched at her heart and made her long to burst out of the elevator and rush to defend... Usagi? Akane? Either. Both.

She felt that if she wanted something, if she wanted it badly enough, that she could somehow accomplish it. She felt that all things were possible.

The door slid open.

The corridor was much as they had left it, aside from the new hole that decorated one of the walls near where Agito had lain. Gyro stood nearly two metres in front of them, holding Akane off the ground. She was still alive, and Shampoo's heart sung to see it. Her hands still clutched at him, her body still struggled, her eyes still flashed defiance.

But she was covered in shallow, oozing gashes from head to toe. Her clothing was almost disintegrated. One of those flashing eyes was nearly swollen shut. She was not dead, but she was on the brink of it.

Gyro glanced at them. His eyes widened in surprise, and then he grinned, the jagged fangs of his maw flashing in the light. "You came back," he hissed in malevolent joy. "How delightful! I was getting tired of punishing this one for briefly delaying my triumph."

Gyro's fingers released Akane. The girl floated in mid-air, her body slowly succumbing to gravity. Shampoo was stepping forward, but she was moving far too slowly. Time crawled forward, as Akane gently descended towards the ruined floor. The only thing not moving in slow motion was Gyro.

With exaggerated casualness, he lifted up one hand. A bright, shining arc of energy trailed behind his fingertips. Shampoo opened her mouth, not sure what she was about to scream. Just as Akane's toes began to touch the ground the crescent light sprang from Gyro's body. Shampoo saw it pass through Akane, seemingly without even touching her. The wall behind Akane was not so lucky, as a huge gash appeared.

Shampoo stared as Akane slowly toppled to the floor, in two different directions. Her body had been sliced cleanly in two from crown to hips. Hideous red splatter showered back, driven by the force of the blow, painting the walls and floors. The sound of her body striking the ground was oddly soft. Within seconds, the floor was a pool of liquid red horror. Blood and... worse things, spilled forth.

Shampoo fell to one knee. Her stomach heaved. She slapped a hand over her mouth.

They were too late.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Sailor Moon was screaming. She was raising a small wand with a thin golden crescent moon on it towards Gyro. Silver light flashed out from the device, a spray of millions of shining crescents... all of which bounced harmlessly off of Gyro.

Gyro roared with laughter, his inhuman glee shaking something deep inside Shampoo. "Pitiful maggots! You cannot face me. I am Reichmann Gyro! I AM A GOD!"

Sailor Moon had fallen to her knees. She was staring down at the wand in her hands. Where had that power Shampoo had sensed disappeared to?

"She is nothing to you," Sailor Moon said, her voice choked with emotion. "She is just a girl. A girl protecting her friends." Sailor Moon's head slowly rose and her eyes locked on the baleful, inhuman eyes of the zoalord Gyro. "No. Not her friends. I barely know her. I can't even tell you what school she goes to. She probably doesn't even know my last name. I never really understood why she came here." Sailor Moon slowly rose to her feet again. "But none of that matters. Because this girl is special. There is a fire in her that I will not let your evil extinguish."

"It's a little late, don't you think?" Gyro taunted. He raised both his hands. "I grow tired of your pretty words. Prepare to go straight to hell!"

Sailor Moon raised her wand again. A glow was now surrounding her body.

"I won't let you win!" Sailor Moon screamed in defiance.

Shampoo wasn't sure what she was seeing. They were lights. Seven glowing, multi-hued lights that spiraled away from the Sailor Senshi's body. Gyro paused, his eyes narrowing. An instant later, the seven glowing motes snapped inward, converging in the hollow of the moon wand.

The light that sprang forth was brighter and stronger than any light Shampoo had ever seen. Yet staring into it did not hurt her eyes. It was a white so pure that it made the word pure seem dirty. It washed out from Sailor Moon, flowing back across her body and as it did the girl changed. Her costume, previously a skimpy parody of the school uniforms Shampoo had seen the girls of Japan wearing, was erased to be replaced by a flowing white gown, trimmed with silver lace.

As the transformation finished Shampoo felt the light flow over her and... she knew they were going to win. That feeling could not be denied.

"What?" Gyro screamed. "What... what power is this!" He was shielding his eyes, his mouth twisted in a grimace of pain. "It can't be! Nothing! Nothing is stronger than me! I am a zoalord! I am power incarnate!"

"MOON PRISM POWER!"

Shampoo watched in awe as a shockwave of pure, glowing white light raced out from Sailor Moon. Gyro stepped back, his arms raising up. Shampoo could see the strange lenses on his body flare. Then the attack impacted with him and for a brief moment his entire body was concealed from view. Shampoo felt a cheer rising up in her soul...

And the light began to waver. The cheer died on Shampoo's lips as, inch by inch, the light started to retreat. Gyro was still standing. His body was nothing but a blur, a distorted image through the flare of the energy surrounding his body. Shampoo could dimly see his grimace of pain and concentration.

"Nothing!" Gyro roared, and only then did Shampoo become aware of how loud the clash of forces between the two of them were, as his voice sounded distant and muffled. "I will not allow you to shatter my ambition!" Gyro stepped forward, setting himself more firmly and thrust both his hands forward. "Disappear!"

Shampoo flew backwards, her body suddenly feeling fifty times heavier. She could see the walls and floors buckling. Huge cracks raced across the corridor, causing chunks of the ceiling to collapse. Sailor Moon was staggering backward. Her light was faltering. She was crying.

"No... I can't do it alone!" she screamed. "I need your help! Everyone! Please! Help me!"

Shampoo struggled to her feet. She took one step forward. The weight was incredible. It was like the earth was trying to swallow her. She could feel her bones straining, the blood rushing down to the bottom of her feet. She refused to give in. In two more steps she was behind Sailor Moon. She did not understand magic. She did not understand this battle at all. But she understood brute strength. Placing her shoulders firmly against Sailor Moon's back, she braced the girl, taking all the pressure of Gyro's attack.

For a moment, it seemed that wouldn't be enough. Then Shampoo saw two beams of light emerge from the floor. Blue and green, they converged in the center of the white glow. A fraction of an instant later, and the intensity of Sailor Moon's light redoubled.

"NO!" Gyro roared.

This time, the light did not stop. It flowed over him like an ocean crashing over a rock. The light expanded outward in concentric waves for almost a minute. Slowly, it drew back. When it did, Gyro, and everything behind him, was gone. Sailor Moon had carved a tunnel that bore straight out into the sunlight.

"Nobody sacrifices for me."

Shampoo snapped her attention back to the moon princess. The power that was flowing around her had not ceased. Instead, it seemed to have concentrated even brighter. The twin beams of energy still followed her as she strode over to the ruined body of Akane. She knelt next to the girl's corpse and gently touched the tip of her wand to her.

"Breathe," the moon princess commanded softly.

Nothing Shampoo had ever seen had prepared her for what she saw next. Akane rose from the ground, and silver lights began to orbit around her sundered form. Then the lights became a blinding shimmer that faded slowly to reveal Akane, whole and undamaged. Her long black hair billowing about her naked body. The recreated girl slowly drifted to the ground, and this time landed on her feet with enough strength to stand. Shampoo blinked. Akane was breathing.

"Thank you," the moon princess said. Then she staggered forward. Shampoo watched as her form shifted, the layers of her magic seeming to peel away one by one. First she became Sailor Moon, then she became Usagi. The light vanished without a trace. Usagi stumbled and fell bonelessly into Akane. Instinctively, the dark-tressed Japanese warrior wrapped her arms around the very small and fragile-looking Usagi.

Akane's eyes opened. Shampoo met her gaze.

"Let's get her out of here."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Had you going, didn't we?

Epsilon: C'mon, we're not going to kill off major characters like that until at LEAST a few more chapters down the line.

Blade: At least not at the hands of villains who showed up in the exact same scene. Who do you think we are, Akira Toriyama?

Epsilon: Yeah, it's not like we rely on some magic Macguffin wish-granting stone to write us out of corners. Oh. Wait...

Blade: Uh, yeah, well, regardless of that, we're happy to be back to a more reasonable number of new characters after last chapter. We're just not so happy at the length of this one. But after this, we made a pact to try and keep each chapter to a 200K limit, so all should be good. In the meantime, thank you for your patience, and try to remember you don't need to read the entire thing in one sitting.

Epsilon: Unless you're one of those people who can read a chapter this size in an hour or less, in which case, I hate you.

Blade: Blade's girlfriend, who can in fact do this, excluded.

Epsilon: Oh... yeah... whatever you say.

Blade: Well, not too much to say in this chapter, seeing as how every scene was a major plot point, pretty much, but hopefully the ride kept you interested. Until next month, then, where things get even MORE cliffhanger-like and important! Well, okay, actually, not really...

Akira wasn't doing well. The blue-haired chick was keeping her busy, but the real problem was the brunette. She kept appearing on Akira's blind side, striking whenever it appeared that Akira was gaining the upper hand. The biker girl was forced to abort her attack, and just narrowly avoid being gutted. Then her other opponent would step in and deliver a punishing strike.

Kusanagi stepped forward, ready to put a stop to that-

"Kusanagi! Behind you!"

Momiji's warning came a second too late. With a pain-filled roar Kusanagi's entire body jerked forward. A geyser of green blood erupted from his chest. He gasped for air and fell forward onto his knees.

He was able to turn and stare incredulously behind him. The girl was still standing. Granted, she was hunched over slightly, and her face was a mess of bruises and small cuts, but she was still holding her gun as steadily as ever.

What did it take to put these people down?

Hybrid Theory Chapter 14: Don't Stay


	14. Don't Stay

The problem with young people nowadays is that they have far too much time on their hands, and no attention spans at all!

Hmph. When I, the young and beautiful Cologne, was growing up, we kept ourselves busy! Going outside and getting fresh air, exercising AND studying. Why, we would have thought nothing of reading through books ten times the size of this entire fanfic to date. Plus we remembered what we read! None of this needing to drag an old woman out of her sick bed in between chapters so she can tell the slower readers what they should already know.

Take, for instance, the entire running rivalry between Chris and Aaron. The main characters, remember them? I bet you expect me to tell you all the details leading to their fight last chapter. Well, I am not here to make your life easier. Struggling to overcome adversity makes us stronger. Suffice it to say they really didn't like each other and Chris beat Ukyou/Aaron almost to death. I swear, that girl should really learn to start avoiding this kinds of things. Has she gone two chapters without being beaten nearly to death yet? You know I never would have been in that kind of situation.

Then again, I am not insufferably rude to everyone I meet.

What?

I assure you, I know how to handle myself. I know that I was rendered insensate by that crude supervillian poseur Gyro, but how was I to know, when he claimed to have the power of a god, he was telling the truth? Thankfully all the young ladies I was escorting failed to die and that girl Sailor Moon showed him that it is foolish to underestimate the so-called 'weaker sex'.

Now, to once again bring the easily distractiable readers up to date, don't forget that Tethys is still alive and is now exploring 'humanity', while this young boy Vega, who would be nice enough if he could stop killing people, has arrived with his brainwashed all-girl commandos to kidnap Ukyou.

*sigh*

I guess it really is a curse, to be living in interesting times.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 14: Don't Stay

Kaorinite placed the serving tray down on the bedside table. The little brat was ignoring her again. Her face was buried in her palms, and she was trying very hard to keep in the shadows of her lamp-filled room. Oh. She must have had another 'episode'. Kaorinite smiled.

"Hotaru," Kaorinite said, keeping her voice as smooth as silk. "Your tea is ready." Hotaru continued to ignore her. That was all right. Kaorinite had spent the last two years learning which buttons to press. "Your father is out of town today, so I guess when he comes back, I'll tell him you were refusing to eat again?"

The little girl shifted slightly. There were twin flashes of white, not quite enough light to see her eyes, but enough to tell she was glaring. Kaorinite smiled and stood up, crossing her arms under her ample cleavage. Being reminded how much growing up she had yet to do was another one of Hotaru's pet peeves.

"Just leave it," Hotaru said, her voice hoarse.

"You know I can't do that," Kaorinite said in her most mockingly apologetic voice. "You have a habit of not doing things that are good for you. And I'm stuck making sure you do."

The girl shifted in place, but made no move to approach the tea set. Kaorinite just continued to smile mockingly and waited. Hotaru would break. She always did.

Of course, it was just a little demeaning that she had to find these small pleasures in breaking the spirit of a little girl. She would have much preferred to be helping the Professor in his research, or even just tormenting a human or two to death. But Professor Tomoe had asked her, her specifically, to look after his daughter.

There was nothing she would not do for the Professor.

Moving slowly, Hotaru eased out of the shadows. She was slight and frail, and short in that way that only children on the cusp of puberty are. Her shoulder-length black hair reflected the half-dozen dim lamps, and her violet eyes were glaring at Kaorinite with brimming hatred.

Kaorinite waited until Hotaru had poured herself a cup of tea before dropping the next bomb. "By the way, Hotaru, the school called today..." She trailed off meaningfully. Of course, the school had not called. They never called. Hotaru was the daughter of the headmaster AND owner. She could probably have burned down a building, and they wouldn't have called.

Hotaru froze like the proverbial deer in the headlights. The tea kept pouring, until it began to leak over the edge of her cup. With a small gasp the child dropped the cup, kettle and all. It made a surprisingly loud crash in the unnaturally silent room.

Kaorinite didn't pause. She just tsked and leaned down to start cleaning up. She was half finished before Hotaru started speaking.

"Kaori... what... did they say?"

"Hmmm? I don't really recall off hand. More of the same, I suppose." Kaorinite stood up. "I wrote it all down."

"Wrote it down...?" Hotaru gasped. There was real terror in her voice. Kaorinite allowed what could have been mistaken for a sympathetic smile to grace her features. "W-why...?"

"So I can give the message to your father," Kaorinite explained matter- of-factly. "Really. I can't keep concealing these violent outbursts of yours from him forever, Hotaru." She flicked a hand through her luxurious hair. "I swear, the trouble you put your father the Professor through. Do you know how busy he is, looking for a cure for your condition? If it wouldn't break his heart to hear about how you keep mistreating your classmates, I never would have agreed..." She trailed off into an artful sigh and shook her head.

It was really a fine art, carving away at a child's feelings like a surgeon. The trick was to make it seem like none of it was done out of malice. Only when Hotaru was convinced that she was the one in the wrong would her self- loathing grow. The self-loathing would feed the presence inside her. The very presence that created her violent outbursts, and their accompanying amnesia. It was really a vicious, and perfect, cycle. But then again, the Professor was a genius, and he knew exactly what a nascent little Messiah of Silence needed.

Hotaru was close to tears now. Kaorinite turned away slightly, looking for a garbage can. "But this is really too much. I think it's time you stopped treating your father so cruelly, wouldn't you agree?"

Hotaru was about to start begging, Kaorinite could see it in her eyes. Then all the lamps went out. Kaorinite blinked, and felt her skin shiver as a sudden cold breeze filled the room. She flicked her eyes towards the window, and saw the white lace curtains fluttering like ghosts in the breeze. And silhouetted behind the curtains was a menacing figure. He was upside down, only the torso visible within the sunlit rectangle. His arms were crossed in an X over his chest, with three long thin shadows extending from his right hand. As the curtain rippled in the breeze, the shadows occasionally cleared away to reveal the silver glint of three metal claws.

"Who's there?" Kaorinite hissed, sliding in front of Hotaru. She heard the girl gasp and fall back on her bed.

With patient grace, the figure slid into the room. He landed in a soft crouch on the black carpet, his arms extended out to either side. The open window now let in enough of the afternoon sunlight that the lamps were no longer necessary. Kaorinite narrowed her eyes and sized him up.

He was tall, which was obvious even in his crouch. His body was covered in taut, lean muscle, all the more obvious as he wore no shirt. A tattoo of a snake curled around his torso and arm, with the head resting just above his heart. His entire face was hidden behind a simple white mask, featureless except for the eyeslits and a strange rune beneath his left eye. It wasn't any mystic symbol that Kaorinite was familiar with, however. The man slowly rose to his feet, his soft brown ponytail flicking in the breeze. Once he was fully upright, Kaorinite could see he was wearing some sort of ritual costume she vaguely recognized as European.

"My apologies for interrupting," the man said in an elegant, cultured voice. He had a European accent, but spoke Japanese flawlessly. "Allow me to introduce myself..." He slid his right arm across his chest and bowed deeply. "I am known as Vega. It is truly a pleasure to be in the presence of such beauty."

Kaorinite sneered. If this intruder thought flattery would stall her wrath, he was greatly mistaken. She eased herself into a more comfortable stance, and slowly let the limits on her magic release. Behind her, she could feel her hair begin to whip and snap. For now, it appeared to be just the result of the wind.

"What are you doing here?" Kaorinite demanded.

"Ah," Vega held up one finger. "Allow me to check one thing first. I wasn't expecting two of you." He reached into his red sash and withdrew a small black object. She saw his ice blue eyes flicker down towards it. "It appears that you, my flame haired beauty, are not the one I am looking for. That is... delightful." He looked up at her, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks and his voice growing... hungrier. "That child is but a budding rose, but you... you are in full bloom. Your perfect beauty demands to be plucked, now, before it can fade away."

"What..."

Vega vanished.

Kaorinite barely had time to register this before pain exploded across her cheek. She screamed, but her voice was overshadowed by the crash the bed made as she smashed through it. A hand rose involuntarily to her face and touched the tender flesh as she lay briefly in the wreckage. Then she snarled and opened her eyes, using her other hand to prop herself up. Vega was standing where she had been, his arms crossed as he chuckled at her. She could hear Hotaru gasping somewhere nearby.

"Get up," Vega said pleasantly, his mad pinprick eyes boring into hers. Kaorinite allowed a smile to cross her face again. Pathetic human. He was fast, but had no idea what he was up against.

Kaorinite exploded to her feet and thrust her hand at him, screaming and focusing her magic. Like a wave of lava, her brilliant red hair erupted from behind her and swept into him. He had just enough time to blink in surprise before he vanished under the mass of her magically expanded tresses. A second later there was a tremendous crash as she hurled him through the wall.

Her hair shrank back and Kaorinite began to laugh. Vega was lying against the wall of the other room, which had been dented by his impact. But he was still. Kaorinite raised her hand, ready to follow up, when she heard a small gasp.

"K-Kaori?"

Kaorinite turned and glanced at Hotaru. The girl was huddled in the corner, her eyes wide and focused on the woman who, up until now, she had thought was only her governess. Well, this would be inconvenient. For two years, she and the Deathbusters had worked meticulously to keep the truth from the still-developing Messiah.

Unfortunately, it appeared someone else knew of their plans. Someone had sent that man. Well, she would make him talk. He would experience exquisite pain for upsetting Professor Tomoe's carefully prepared timetable. She glanced back...

He was gone.

Kaorinite frowned and spun in place. There was no sign of him.

"Kaori... you... you're protecting me?"

"Hush, child!" Kaorinite snarled and looked back at her. "Of course I'm..."

"LOOK OUT!" Hotaru screamed, pointing behind Kaorinite. Kaorinite blinked. When had Hotaru developed those vivid crimson freckles? And why did her chest sting so?

She glanced down slowly. The blades that emerged from her left breast were slick with blood. It dripped from the tips in a steady, inevitable manner, forming a dark pool on the carpet. Kaorinite tried to gasp, but found her breath escaped her. She felt a soft pressure on her shoulder. Her eyes flicked to the side and she saw the white mask of Vega as he began to whisper into her ear.

"So beautiful, isn't it? The colour matches your hair. Sad that I am forced to cut our dance so short, but my new charge and I must be off soon." He chuckled, and Kaorinite's eyes returned to Hotaru's face. The girl's eyes quivered in fear and horror, and in that moment Kaorinite found herself loathing the brat more than she ever had before. She was... she was... for this brat? For HER? She wanted to scream against it, but she couldn't breathe and everything was so cold...

"When you see all my other lovelies in the afterlife, be sure to give them my regards," the voice whispered in her ear just before the darkness filled her vision.

01010

Pink glared at Akane's back. The group of them were moving steadily through the woods away from the mountain. There had been some Chronos patrols around, but they were so disorganised and panicked that they had been easy to slip by. The old woman and Sailor Moon were still unconscious, and being carried by Shampoo and Akane respectively.

Every time she saw Akane still walking, Pink almost felt like attacking her. Or something. Anything. Why did she have to be alive? It had all been going so PERFECTLY! They'd rescued the precious Sailor Senshi Chris was convinced were important, they were going to escape, and Akane was oh-so-nobly sacrificing herself to make it all possible.

When Pink got to the rendezvous, she would have told Chris about it. The dead man would have been horrified; even heartbroken. But it would be done. Akane, that girl whose opinion he'd been obsessing over ever since they'd gotten to Japan, would be dead. Nobody could blame Pink for it, either. There was simply no downside.

But somehow, Shampoo - Shampoo, ALWAYS Shampoo! - and Sailor Moon had ruined everything, and Akane was still alive.

Worse yet, she was... changed. Neither had talked about what had happened in Mount Minakami, but it was obvious that whatever had happened had affected them deeply. Shampoo and Akane walked in silence, their eyes far away and yet simultaneously focused sharply, as if they could see some destination in the distance that was invisible to the rest of them.

Of course, it seemed everyone had been oh-so-deeply affected by Sailor Moon's display of sheer power. Pink's lip curled. She'd even caught her twin looking at the unconscious girl in... awe? wonder? reverence? More than once. Pink had thought better of them... well, some of them. That light that had washed over them, that feeling of... of SOMETHING...

Power. That's what it was. Power, plain and simple. Anybody could inspire awe if they had enough to back it up. Pink spitefully crushed an insect under her foot. To that bug, SHE had been a terrible, vengeful god. Sailor Moon wasn't some pure and holy saviour. She was a girl, a klutzy stupid girl. Who had power. But anybody could have power, if they knew how.

Not that Pink wasn't impressed by the show. Like the others, she had felt the force of the titanic struggle above. She'd heard Sailor Moon's plea for aid, and the sheer force of it had even made her want to help. Briefly. She'd watched as Sailor Mercury and Jupiter had raised their little wands and given their own power to the effort. And she'd seen that light, that overwhelming light.

They'd walked out of the mountain without incident. There had been a patrol of what was probably zoanoids once, but were now nothing but stunned humans, staring blankly at the wall as they group moved past them. Pink chuckled darkly. Too much 'purity' for them to handle all at once.

She tore her eyes away from Akane's back and towards the only other person who could keep herself staring at the unconscious bimbo in awe. At some point when Pink hadn't been looking, Sailor Mars had transformed back to her civilian self. She was still holding the wand, though. Every now and then she'd stare at it and mouth something to herself, before quickly turning her eyes to anything other than Sailor Moon.

It had taken Pink three attempts to overhear what she was saying. "Why couldn't I...?" Pink had noticed, of course, that when Rei tried to offer her power up to her precious princess, it hadn't come. But in the midst of the other events, she hadn't thought about it.

Rei obviously had. Every movement she made, every nuance of her face shouted as to her shock, shame, and fear. Pink smiled secretly to herself. Just more proof there was no such thing as 'purity' the way idiots like the Sailor Senshi believed in it.

There just wasn't. Pink knew better.

A movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye just as she saw Akane and Shampoo swing around and begin to draw back into defensive stances. But they almost immediately relaxed as Chris walked into view. The new body she had given him was, Pink noted with approval, still in fairly pristine condition. It was covered in dirt, and a few twigs and leaves were stuck in the fiery hair, but there was no actual damage that Pink's practiced eyes could see, and no sign of rotting.

"Well, I see you made it," Chris said. His tone was slightly inquiring, but mostly filled with relief.

"Yes," Akane said immediately, "but we need to get out of here quickly. Chronos won't be distracted for long."

Chris nodded. "Let's walk, then." He fell into step beside them, but his glassy eyes kept wandering over to Sailor Moon. Pink almost laughed at that. Just like everybody else, Chris couldn't tear his eyes away from her for more than a minute.

Of course, that meant he wasn't paying attention to Pink, which wasn't acceptable. She stepped up her pace slightly, drawing up to behind him. "We didn't see those Team 5 zoanoids you talked about, so I suppose your side of the plan worked too, over."

He was forced to crane his neck back a bit to look at her. His eyes were typically unreadable as they stared down at her - that body was so TALL - but his expression was neutral too. Very carefully neutral. "Yes, it worked," he said shortly. "But what happened with you guys?" He looked at Sailor Moon again. "I can guess the 'what', but I don't know the 'why'."

Akane didn't reply for a long moment, so Sailor Mercury jumped in. Probably because she was feeling useless and wanted to reassert her role as the team's exposition expert, Pink thought to herself with a smirk. "After we were rescued from our cells, we were confronted by someone called Reichmann Gyro."

Chris swore suddenly and hit a tree, causing it to splinter. "Damn it! I'm sorry. I though you'd be safe from them. They don't normally act personally."

"They?" Mercury inquired.

"Zoalords," Chris explained. "There are two of them in the mountain. They're the leaders of Chronos, the upper council. They're also unbelievably powerful, far more than even Team 5."

"Well, I can believe it," Makoto said, punching a hand into her first. "That guy laughed off all of our attacks. If it weren't for Akane, we might all be goners."

Akane gave Makoto a weird look. It wasn't angry precisely, more... stern, like a parent glaring at a child who had spoken out of turn.

Chris, meanwhile, had turned his attentions to Akane. Pink's smile didn't change, but once again she felt hatred for the ought-to-be-dead girl swell. "Akane?" Chris repeated. "I thought Sailor Moon had done something..."

"Sailor Moon did," Akane explained. "I just helped." She looked at Shampoo, and the purple-haired girl nodded, as if understanding something. Pink ground her teeth, wondering not for the first time what had actually happened up there. She'd have to force the story from Shampoo as soon as possible.

"Sailor Moon summon glowing silver stone," Shampoo said shortly. "Help from friends, she blew away Gyro-monster."

"Right..." Chris said slowly. "I guess that could happen. Very lucky you got away. I'm sorry. Obviously I should have planned this out better."

"Yes," Akane agreed. After a moment, she added, "But we all learn from our mistakes."

"So what now, over?" Pink spoke up, drawing Chris' attention back. "We've rescued them, but we're going to have to go somewhere with them." Suddenly, she felt her twin's eyes on her back, and she felt a surge of bile in her throat as she remembered the promise Link had extracted from her. "Maybe we should leave Tokyo for awhile. There's some other places to go where we could hide these people from Chronos, over."

"Maybe..." Chris said. "We'll talk it over when we get back."

01010

Akane glanced up at the overcast sky. It would probably rain soon. The sun was dipping below the clouds now, turning the western heavens a brilliant crimson. Beside her, Usagi was sitting on top of a small dumpster. Akane shook her head as the girl gave a squawk before sliding off and onto the dirty alley floor.

"Are you okay?" Akane said, without looking.

"I'm fine..." Usagi murmured petulantly. She stood up, rubbing her backside. "Why do we have to wait here, anyway?"

"Because Chris and Cologne need to make sure that the area is clear before we head over." Akane nodded towards the end of the alley. Just beyond, barely visible through the metal mesh fence and the piles of garbage, a small building was visible. It was an abandoned Chinese restaurant that Cologne had led all their families to before they had started out on their quest to Mount Minakami.

Almost two days ago. Akane shielded her eyes as the first drops of rain began to fall. It seemed like a lifetime ago. She looked over at Usagi. It had been a lifetime ago.

"Usagi?"

"Hmmm? What is it, Akane?"

Akane glanced around. Pink and Link were at the opposite end of the alley, arguing with each other. Ami and that new girl, Makoto, were a little closer, but both were crouched under one of the only available pieces of cover as the rain started. Rei was up near the fence. The only person within earshot was Shampoo.

"Usagi..." Akane coughed. "I've been meaning to ask you, about... what happened... at the mountain."

"Huh?" Usagi blinked and looked at her. Then her expression slowly faded from vapid to sympathetic. "Oh. That. Well... I don't know exactly what happened myself, Akane..."

Akane held up a hand, silencing her. "Why... isn't really important right now, Usagi." The blonde blinked, and Akane continued before she got any more confused. "I just want you to promise me... that you won't tell anybody about what happened."

"Won't tell anyone... but why?"

"It's just..." Akane struggled to find the words. She had never been a poet, so how could she explain it? The feeling... the finality of death? It was like nothing anybody ever experienced, and Akane just couldn't think of anything that felt or seemed quite the same. So, as usual, her mind shied away from it. Already the entire experience was growing hazy in her memory. She knew that she had felt something... something BEYOND, but her mind could no longer hold what that something was anymore. It was like smoke: the harder Akane tried to hold on to it, the more it slipped away. "I can't explain it, Usagi. I just don't want everyone to know." Akane looked up. The sky had filled with a fine drizzle now. "I don't want that to be how everyone... defines me."

"Okay..." Usagi said. It was clear she didn't understand.

"Just do it to me as a favor, okay?"

"Uh-huh!" Usagi nodded her head rapidly. "Anything to help out a friend, Akane!"

Akane smiled and clapped her on the shoulder. But when she looked down, the first person's eyes who she met was Shampoo. The purple-haired girl smiled and nodded as well. Of course, they had already come to an understanding, but it was nice to see that Shampoo still understood.

Two blurs landed in the center of the alley. Akane didn't flinch. Her danger sense hadn't even twitched. Chris and Cologne stood up, the former much taller than the latter in his still-unblemished body.

"The coast is clear," Chris said in Adon's distinctive nasal voice.

"Are you sure?" Akane asked as she slid down from the dumpster. The rain was making her long hair damp now, and it lay limply on her shoulders. Annoyed, Akane pushed it away.

Chris smiled slightly. "Cologne is."

"There are no zoanoids hiding in wait for us to lower our guard this time," Cologne assured everyone. The only signs of her injury that remained were a darkening of the skin around the side of her face, no worse than a sunburn. Apparently Cologne knew a thing or two about those healing techniques Dr. Tofu was supposed to be teaching Ukyou.

"Well, let's not wait here any longer." Akane started towards the building, gesturing for the others to follow. "We'll catch cold if we stand around in the rain."

Chris stepped aside as Akane brushed past him and took up the rear as everyone crossed the street. They were about halfway across when Akane heard someone snap their fingers loudly. She turned back just in time to see Pink smirk and hear her declare, "Of course. It's the Nekohanten, over!"

"Excuse me?" Cologne asked her. Everyone else just gave her mildly annoyed glances, except Chris, who sighed in a long-suffering fashion. Pink just shook her head, waving aside everyone's looks. Akane shrugged and stepped up to the door.

She had barely set her fingers on the knob when the door flew open. Suddenly someone was dragging her inside! They swallowed her up in a bearhug! Akane reacted without thinking, driving her knee into that of her attacker with as much force as she could. In a second she was free, as the figure arced across the room and impacted with the wall.

"Well, that's Akane, all right."

"Nabiki?" Akane looked to the side. Nabiki was sitting at one of the tables, drinking tea and nibbling on some cookies. That boy, Ryouga, was next to her, using his huge backpack as a seat with his bamboo umbrella balanced on his shoulder. He was staring out the window at the rain, a frown on his face.

"Is he alright?" Mrs. Tsukino asked mildly. She was near the kitchen, a tea set and plate of cookies balanced in her hands. Akane followed her gaze to see her father slowly sliding out of the Soun-shaped dent he had created in the wall.

"Dad!" Akane gasped and ran across the room. She grabbed her father and cradled his head in her lap. His eyes didn't seem to want to focus on anything, and he was moaning slightly and clutching his... uh... Akane looked away.

"Akane..." he said in a squeak. "I'm so glad you're safe..."

"Yeah..." Akane coughed. "Sorry about that, Dad."

"Let me have a look at him," Mrs. Mizuno said as she shooed Akane aside. The blue-haired woman examined her father while Akane stood back, feeling more embarrassed than anything else. While she did, everyone else started gasping and running up to hug each other. Ami walked up and stood next to Akane, giving her mother a slight smile. Akane looked at the girl for a long moment.

"Aren't you... going to say hi?" Akane asked in a whisper.

"She's busy," Ami pointed out, a slightly wistful look in her eyes. "I'll give her a hug when she's finished with your father."

"I... yeah..." Akane nodded. She looked around and wandered away. Dad would find her as soon as he could walk again. Kasumi had taken over serving tea now that Mrs. Tsukino was busy hugging and crying over her daughter. Mr. Tsukino was satisfied to be looking stoic as he gazed on lovingly. They actually looked to have calmed down quite a bit, thankfully. Chris was standing opposite Ryouga and Nabiki, with Pink at his right hand and Link having left him to sit by herself at one of the tables. Mr. Saotome was sitting in one corner, rubbing his neck nervously as Mrs. Saotome sat next to him, chatting amiably with him in a one-sided manner as she polished a katana. Rei had wandered away from everybody else, as had Makoto. Cologne had vanished into the back, leaving Shampoo to guard the door. Akane went over to join her.

"So... now what we do?" Shampoo asked once Akane was next to her.

"I wish I knew," Akane said slowly. "We can't hide here forever. And we can't confront Chronos directly. Usagi can beat one of those zoalords... but twelve?" Shampoo nodded and gripped the pommel of her sword. "Making sure Usagi is somewhere safe until she can master that crystal is the most important thing, I guess."

Shampoo just nodded. Akane glanced back at the group.

"...don't worry about a thing, Dad!" Usagi was saying happily. "I can handle myself against these monsters. No sweat!" Akane winced and began to walk back in. She believed in Usagi, in Sailor Moon, but that didn't mean she needed the girl getting an unrealistic idea of what exactly was going on.

"Right, Da," the little boy standing next to Mr. Tsukino piped up. Akane recognized him, knew he was Usagi's brother, but couldn't remember his name. "Usagi is a for real superhero."

"That's right," Usagi said, chuckling as she reached down and ruffled his light brown hair. "Your big sis is a genuine saviour and everything!"

"Of course," the boy said in a mockingly sweet tone as he pushed her hand off, "you're more of a second-rate superhero. I mean, you run around in like a ballerina costume and everything and use love powers." The boy made a sick face. "Yuck. If only I had a big brother like Ukyou. Now there's a man's man! He'll break your spine just for looking at him funny!"

Chris burst out laughing. Akane winced. Usagi's eyes narrowed and she placed her hand on her brother's head, ruffling his hair with perhaps a little bit more friction than last time.

"Is that right, twerp?"

"Yes it is!" The boy made an attempt to grab his sister's arm, but she somehow avoided that. "I can't help it if you're such a girly wuss! Who wants to be a hero like that? I want to be like Ukyou when I grow up!"

Usagi blinked. "I certainly hope not..."

"Quite so," Mrs. Saotome broke in primly. "Ukyou is a delinquent and a bad influence. Not to mention he lacks manners, respect and common courtesy!"

Akane took one look at the boy's star-struck eyes and sighed. "I think you're having the opposite effect..."

"Well," Mr. Tsukino interrupted with a soft clearing of his throat. "It doesn't really matter, either way." He clapped his daughter on the shoulder. "Everything should be okay now. You don't have to fight the monsters anymore."

"Huh?" Usagi said in confusion. The man's declaration had grabbed the attention of everyone else in the room as well. "What are you talking about, Dad?"

"Well," the man cleared his throat nervously, obviously not comfortable with all this attention. "It appears that I was right. The authorities are going to help us out... just not our authorities."

"What are you talking about, Mr. Tsukino?" Akane asked directly.

"Actually, that sounds like my cue!"

Everyone turned and stared as the front door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was a girl, who obviously knew everyone was paying attention to her and didn't mind one bit. She reached up and flicked her long blonde hair off her shoulder, causing her star-shaped earrings to jingle in the light. Her eyes were smoldering crimson and her lips were curled in a delicate smile. She wore a tight, shoulderless, low-cut red dress with a hemline that barely reached halfway down her thighs. She stood with one hand on her right hip, and allowed everyone in the room to get a good look before she started speaking.

"I guess my sense of timing is just too perfect..." the girl started in a slightly American-accented voice.

"Actually, you had us wait outside..."

"SHHH!" she turned and made shushing gestures to someone outside. Akane blinked. That couldn't have been the voice she thought it had been.

"Can I come in now? It's cold, and..." the familiar voice said.

"No!"

"But..."

"NO!"

"Fine..."

The girl turned back to everyone, and struck her pose again. "As I was saying..."

"You're Sakura Yamazaki," Pink said with a yawn. "So what does the CIA want with us, over?"

Sakura stared at Pink. "But... how... who?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, over?" Pink replied, smirking. Chris gave her a long look, to which Pink responded with an exaggeratedly innocent shrug.

Sakura gave the Chinese twin a glare and then shook her head slightly. She closed her eyes, struck her pose again and started to open her mouth.

"Heya, doc! What you doin' out here in the rain?"

That had not been Sakura's voice, Akane noted.

"The young lady asked me to wait outside while she introduced herself," the voice which Akane was now sure was Dr. Tofu's responded.

"Oh. Really?" Ranma's female voice replied. "Well, forget that. I ain't waiting out here for some chick to finish talking. We'll catch cold before she's finished!"

Akane's eye twitched, though only about half as much as Sakura's did.

"Hey, move it, would ya?" Ranma asked needlessly as she shoved Sakura aside and stepped into the room. "Hey guys."

"Where have you been, boy?" Genma demanded loudly.

"Uh..." Sakura said, standing beside the door with one finger raised.

"None of your business, Pops!" Ranma snapped.

"You will respect your father, boy!"

"Yeah, right..."

"Father? Boy?" Mr. Tsukino said.

"Uh..."

"IT'S A TEMPORARY CONDITION!" Nodoka screamed as she grabbed the tea from Kasumi and flung it at Ranma. Ranma blinked and her head snapped back as the kettle bounced off her forehead before the ceramic broke apart and the hot tea splashed over him.

"Well, now I've seen everything," Ami's mother said mildly.

"It really is quite cold out there, I hope you don't mind if I come in and... Oh hi there Ka-K-Kas..."

"Oh, no you don't!" Sakura snarled, then slammed her fingers into Dr. Tofu's forehead with a meaty whack. A small paper ward hung rigid in front of his face for a second, before the doctor fell back out of the door like a toppling statue.

"So, now that I've saved all your lives... AGAIN! Maybe you'll let me speak..." Sakura hissed in a tone that brooked no argument.

"By all means," Ami said, gesturing for her to start.

Sakura nodded and, once again, assumed her pose. She glared at everyone, daring them to interrupt her. No one did.

"My name is Sakura Yamazaki, and I am the answer to your prayers."

"Eh, I've seen hotter."

Ranma yelped and ducked as the girl flung a chair at him.

"If you are QUITE finished," Sakura said, then sighed. "Fine. I'll make this short." She held up one finger in the air. "I have been sent to this city on a special executive order directly from the President of the United States. I am hereby authorised to offer every single person in this room asylum with the United States government, effective immediately."

A short silence filled the room.

"That's right," Mr. Tsukino said, sighing. "This girl found us while you were gone and offered us all safe haven. So, it all works out for the best. Right, Usagi?"

"Wait a minute!" Akane interrupted before Usagi could respond. "How? Why? What is going on here?" She glanced at Sakura. "Do you even know what it is we're running from?"

Sakura made a show of buffing her nails on her dress before responding. "Oh, of course I do, Akane Tendo." Sakura smiled smugly and flicked her eyes across everyone in the room. "Chronos. A conspiracy of monsters that has infiltrated the highest offices in almost every nation in the world. A conspiracy so wide-ranging and so powerful that for most people, confronting it is nothing less than a death sentence." She flicked her hand through her hair again. "But I... am not like most people.

"It's been almost three months since I pretty much started saving the world single-handedly," she explained without a hint of self-deprecation. "You see, I am a trained spiritualist, with senses far more advanced than most of you can imagine." Akane glanced at Rei, who seemed not to be paying attention. "It was only a matter of time before I started discovering the zoanoids that worked for my superiors. Of course, as the youngest active field agent of the CIA ever, it didn't take me long to convince my supervisors of their existence.

"From there, I spearheaded the US's secret war against Chronos. One zoanoid at a time, we've been cleaning house. Zoanoids and... other things." Sakura tossed her head and stared at the ceiling. "I would have to say the turning point was when I personally saved the President's life from Chronos assassins in a dramatic battle in the Oval Office. I'm up for a congressional medal of honour for that one. You DO know what that is, right?

"But the most important thing, to you..." Sakura looked down and pointed, sweeping her hands across the gathered people. "America is perhaps the only nation in the world that is now free of Chronos control. If, no, WHEN those monsters come, they will find us a people ready and willing to defend ourselves." She lowered her arm to her side. "Of course, we can't fight these kinds of battles with JUST my dazzling abilities. That is where you come in. In exchange for safe haven and political protection, the US needs people that can help them defeat Chronos."

She looked at Usagi. "People like Sailor Moon, who can transform zoanoids back to human form."

She looked at Ranma. "People like Ranma Saotome, who can fight monsters with his bare hands and win."

She looked at Chris, and her eyebrow raised as she smirked. "Even people like you, whom most would call a monster, but who we can and will help."

She stepped forward and opened her arms wide. "So, you can see why this is such an important opportunity. If you come with me to America, you will be safe. Your families will be protected. You will gain full American citizenship and be paid and treated well for your service. And your service will be in the noblest cause of them all! Together, we will save this world from the monsters!"

Sakura's voice reached a crescendo before dying off suddenly. The entire room was silent in the wake of her speech. But that didn't last long.

"Count us out, over," the Chinese twins said in eerie unison.

Akane glanced at them. At some point during the speech they had gravitated back towards each other. Chris was standing slightly behind them, his expression unreadable. But he was staring at her. As his glassy eyes met hers, he looked away sharply.

"It's obvious we're going!" Mr. Tsukino said sharply. "This is exactly what we need, Usagi. You'll be safe, and we don't have to worry about Chronos anymore."

"I don't know, Dad..." Usagi said softly.

"Well, it's a nice speech," Akane picked up as Usagi trailed off. She turned back to Sakura. "Your plan will do a lot of good for America. But what about Japan?"

"Japan?" Sakura said, her voice dropping slightly.

"You know what I mean." Akane stepped forward. She knew everyone was paying attention to her, but didn't really care. "Who is going to stay here and protect Japan? These monsters are everywhere, and without people here who know the truth, Japan is ripe for the plucking. If you take all of us away, who will stand up to the monsters?"

"Well..." Sakura reached up and pinched at something immaterial in front of her nose. "You aren't the only people in Japan who can fight this..."

"But, I am guessing that you plan on making this offer to as many as you can," Cologne said. "I'm right, aren't I? This is just a particularly good catch. But if you've been at this for any length of time, you've already been finding people and smuggling them out of the country for weeks, if not months."

"The old troll is right, we can-ow! What did you do that for, I was agreeing with you, ya crazy old bat! OW!" Ranma rubbed at his forehead and glared at Cologne. The old woman smiled at him and shrugged.

"I see..." Sakura sighed and nodded. "To tell you the truth... I can see your point. And, I do sympathize." She folded her arms under her impressive cleavage. "My mother is Japanese. This country is part of my heritage. More than that, it has a place in my soul." She closed her eyes. "But fighting Chronos here is a losing battle. The Americans have weapons, troops, and resources that the Japanese simply don't have. There are a lot of people like you that live there already, martial artists and psychics that they are recruiting to the cause one by one. America, quite frankly, stands a chance. Even if you alerted everyone in Japan... I don't think this country can survive a war with Chronos."

She looked up, and Akane saw a deep, passionate determination in Sakura's eyes. "When I say America is planning to save the world, I mean it. They have to save themselves first, but then they will start to bring the fight to Chronos. We will free Japan, and all the other countries. I will MAKE them do the right thing, if I have to."

"I believe you will," Akane stepped up so that she was within arms reach of the blonde girl. "But this country is my home. There are things here that need to be saved." Akane turned back and looked at Chris as she said that last sentence. "I, for one, plan on staying here."

"I won't hear of it!" Dad yelled, dashing up from the back of the room. Akane dodged his attempt to grab her in a bearhug of fatherly love, but didn't manage to avoid him altogether. "Akane! We have already decided. It is SAFE in America! You'll be safe there!"

"I can't live with just being safe," Akane informed him placatingly. "Dad... I've seen what kinds of monsters Japan is facing now. I can't run away from that now. I have to fight and protect people, here. In America... I'll just be one person. Here, I can make a difference!"

Dad paused and looked into her eyes. Akane stared into his, willing him to understand. She couldn't tell him that... that she had died. That she had come back. That SHE had come back. There had to be some reason for that. There had to be a purpose, a reason that she had not been allowed to move on to whatever fate awaited her. And she knew that whatever that purpose was... it was not in America. She had brought something back with her, and whatever that was... it didn't feel RIGHT to leave Japan with it.

"I..." Dad sniffed, and his eyes began to blur with tears. But they weren't his usual tears. There was no hysteria or despair in his face. He was smiling as the tears traced paths down his cheeks one drop at a time. "Akane... I understand." He nodded. "You do me proud, my daughter." He pulled her into an embrace, but not one filled with fierce possessiveness. It was gentle and intimate, in a way Akane had almost forgotten her father could be.

Akane realised she was crying as she hugged her father back. She almost relented there, in his arms. The enormity of what she was doing almost crashed down upon her. She knew that it was very possible this would be the last time she saw her father. She could die. But death no longer seemed so awful anymore. Because Akane knew that there were some things more important than death. Because she knew that, if she tried hard enough, she could win no matter what Sakura said about her chances.

"Yeah, I'm staying behind, too," Chris said as he stepped away from the wall. "I wish you the best of luck, Miss Yamazaki. But I can't be tied down to one country right now."

"I'm staying, too!" Usagi declared proudly.

"No!" Mr. Tsukino said at almost the exact same time that Akane did.

Akane pulled free of her father and walked over to the ditzy girl. Usagi was smiling at her, and her eyes were filled with so much hope and... respect? Usagi respected her? The idea that Usagi was looking up to her made Akane feel uncomfortable.

"I know what you're going to say, Akane," Usagi said in a calm, clear voice. "But it isn't true. I'm not too important. I am just a girl, like you are. And I believe we can win this battle, just like you can. Would you deny me the opportunity to help the people I have come to love here?"

"No..." Akane said, grimacing. So this was what the expression 'coming back to bite you in the ass' meant.

"Young lady, I can't accept this!"

"Dad..." Usagi turned back to her father, and touched the side of his cheek. His mouth opened and closed for a few moments as he gazed into his daughter's eyes. Slowly, the fight drained out of him. Usagi just gave him an infectious little smile. "It's okay, I know you're worried. But you don't have to be. Just trust me. It will all turn out okay. Nobody has to be sacrificed. Especially not the entire nation of Japan."

"I..." Mr. Tsukino reached up and his hand twisted futilely in the air an inch from his daughter's cheek. "I just love you too much, Usagi. You're my little girl. You can't be the saviour of the world. You're just the same girl who kept your mother and I up all nights when you were teething..."

"I love you, too," Usagi drew him down and embraced him. She whispered something into his ear, and the man seemed to crumble into her. It was amazing that she could support his weight. After a moment, Usagi released him into the arms of her mother. The woman leaned over and pecked her daughter on the cheek.

"I love you," Mrs. Tsukino said. "Promise me you'll be safe."

"Everyone will be safe," Usagi replied with a voice that made you believe it was the truth.

"Well, uh..." Ranma coughed and shrugged. "I'm stayin' too, ya know? I mean, I believe in all this stuff Akane said. But, really, all my friends are still here and I need to help 'em out."

"I suppose that includes that Ukyou person as well," Mrs. Saotome said in a level tone.

Ranma turned to his mother, scratching the back of his head. "Aw, Mom, didn't we already talk about this?"

"Yes... we did," Mrs. Saotome walked up to him, her eyes narrow and her stride brisk. "I still think that Ukyou won't do anything but get you in trouble. He is nothing but a bad influence."

"Mom, don't be like that..." Ranma groaned. "Ukyou isn't..." Ranma stopped talking as his mother pressed a finger against his lips.

"But you are determined... and I understand how you feel," Mrs. Saotome said softly. "I just wish you weren't going to be leaving me so soon... not after we just found each other again."

"Ah... don't get all mushy on me, Mom," Ranma stepped back and rubbed his neck again. "It's not like this is goodbye or anything. I'll still, ya know, write, or visit... or something, when I have time..." Ranma slowly trailed off. Perhaps he was embarrassed, perhaps he had nothing more to say, perhaps it was the deathgrip Nodoka had with his other hand that was slowly turning his fingers white.

"You WILL write, won't you?" she said pleasantly.

"I..." Ranma gasped and tugged futilely at his hand.

"Not like how your father promised to write, I mean." Mrs. Saotome smiled in a vapid, malevolent way. "You really will write, and visit?"

"Ah! Ah!" Ranma began to nod frantically. "I'll write! I swear!"

"Good," the kimono-clad woman said and released his hand. "Now give me a hug."

Akane, feeling a bit embarrassed, turned away as the two embraced. She glanced at Shampoo, who was mainly ignoring everything that was happening around her. Except she kept casting annoyed glances at the door. Akane blinked and followed her gaze. Dr. Tofu's legs were still sticking in through the doorframe.

"Can Shampoo just kick him out or drag him in?" Shampoo said to Akane with a grumble. "It annoying watching rain make him only half soggy."

"Oh, drag him back in," Sakura said, waving her hand. "He's coming, whether he knows it or not." She jerked a thumb in Kasumi's direction. "After all, she is coming."

"Yes," Soun said, sighing and stepping away from Akane. "I'm just glad my other two daughters will be safe with me. They don't have any reason to stay..."

"Actually, Daddy," Nabiki cut there father off and rose to her feet. "I won't be coming with you."

"W-what?" Soun gasped. "But... but you can't..."

"Take care of myself?" Nabiki smirked. "Like Akane can? Is that what you were about to say?" Nabiki shook her head. "You've always been a short-sighted man, who didn't realise that power doesn't just come in the form of a fist." Nabiki walked up to him. "I'm not going to America, because I CAN take care of myself. I have unfinished business in this country."

"Oh..." Dad backed away from her, his expression briefly fearful. Then, in a flash, he began to smile. "Oh. I see." He chuckled. "You just want to stay behind to be with your fiancee. I can certainly underst-"

"Shut up!" Nabiki growled. Soun blinked, and everyone else turned to stare at the confrontation. "This has nothing to do with Ranma. In fact, if I never see him again, it will be too soon." Nabiki turned away and started walking towards her table, where Ryouga waited patiently.

"Nabiki..." Dad took a deep breath. "Are you walking away from me? From your family duty?"

"Yes, Father, that is exactly what I am doing."

"I won't allow it!" He pointed firmly at the floor in front of him. "I may let Akane endanger herself and leave my sight... but hers is an honourable goal! You are walking away from your family's honour, and I won't allow that. I am your father and you are still a child... you will obey me!"

"Make me," Nabiki shot back, not turning around. Soun opened and closed his mouth for a moment. Nabiki continued before he could recover. "What kind of honour would you have me follow, old man? Ranma is a jerk, and a sex-changing freak..."

"Hey!" Ranma and Nodoka shouted in unison.

"...and I would marry him for... what? To carry on the dojo?" Nabiki gestured around, towards the walls covered in peeling old wallpaper. "Look around, old man. There isn't a dojo anymore! There is no ancestral home, and no ancestral honour either. If you want your precious heir so badly, put your faith in Akane. I, for one, have had enough of this family!"

"Nabiki, you don't mean that..." Kasumi said, her voice catching.

"Don't think I don't, Kasumi," Nabiki shot back. "It's about time all of you started opening up your eyes. This isn't a world where we can afford to be soft or oblivious. And all running and hiding is going to do is make you stay that way." Her eyes turned to Akane. "At least Akane, I can respect." She flipped her hair and smirked. "I just came here because I wanted to pick up my stuff, anyway. Come on, Ryouga. We're leaving."

"But it's still raining..." the boy said. Akane thought he looked very sad, especially when he was looking at Nabiki.

"That's what your umbrella is for," Nabiki shot back as she stalked over to the door.

"Nabiki!"

Akane's sister ignored her father as she waited for Ryouga to meet up with her. Then, with a soft click, they were both gone from sight.

01010

"Why do we have to keep them separated, over?"

"Because," Chris whispered back, feeling that phantom headache coming on again, "if we don't keep Tofu and Kasumi apart, he'll... well, you KNOW what he'll do."

"Exactly!" declared Pink with a smirk. "That's his only character trait! I want to see it! Come on, it'll be fun, over!"

"No," he grated. "Go bother Shampoo or something; that's what I gave her to you for."

"And don't think I don't appreciate it," Pink nodded. "But what have you done for meLATELY, over?"

Chris gave her a withering look, and Pink raised her hands in mock surrender before striding from the common room with a light laugh. Chris shook his head. She liked knowing about the manga WAY too much. You'd think that someone who found out they were apparently a fictional character would be bothered, at least somewhat. But Pink, it seemed, was no ordinary nutcase.

He glanced over to the other side of the room. Akane and a still-soggy Dr. Tofu were sitting across from each other at one of the dusty tables, having a conversation. Despite his best intentions, Chris sidled a little closer to them. He was just a bit curious as to how Akane planned to say goodbye.

"-are you trying to say, Akane?" Tofu was saying. He was still rubbing absently at the lump on his head.

"I'm saying that, ever since I was a little girl, I've always looked up to you, Doctor Tofu. You were the only man - no, the only boy I've ever met who I really thought was an adult. I guess I've just sort of... well, I did have a crush on you for years, and I just couldn't tell you about it."

"..." was Tofu's response. Chris couldn't really figure out his expression; it was sort of blank, like he was trying to figure out how to respond without either hurting her feelings or encouraging them. For his own part, Chris was a bit surprised. Akane'd never confessed her feelings in the manga.

But, then again, this was a different Akane, wasn't it?

Akane chuckled a bit. "I know exactly what you're thinking, doctor. You're looking for the way out of this, aren't you?" She smiled up at him. "Don't worry about it. It was just a schoolgirl crush. You'll always be a friend, but I don't think I'll ever see you in quite that way anymore."

"Well, um..." Tofu cleared his throat. "I'm glad you... told me about that, Akane. I know you've grown up to be..." he paused, obviously carefully choosing his words, "...an attractive young lady..."

Akane started giggling again, but suppressed it with one hand while waving the other at him. "No, no, I think you've got me all wrong. It's not YOU, Doctor Tofu. It's me. I'm just not the same blushing schoolgirl that had a crush on you. You understand?"

Tofu smiled a bit whimsically. "Not particularly."

"It doesn't really matter." She patted Tofu on the shoulder. "Listen. All I want you to do is work up the courage to ask my sister out sometime. I think you and her will make a good couple... really, you've got lots in common."

Doctor Tofu laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Well... I guess taking relationship advice from a sixteen-year-old isn't the strangest thing I've done in my life!"

"No, probably not." Akane smiled, a little sadly, and stood up. "I'm certain we'll say goodbye again before you leave with Sakura, but I want to wish you all the best of luck. Someday, when this is all over, we'll all..." She paused, and looked out one of the windows for a moment. When she spoke again, it was slow and thoughtful. "Some day, we'll all sit down, talk about all of this, and laugh. All of us."

Tofu didn't have much to say, and Akane pushed away from the table. She didn't seem surprised to see Chris. As her eyes fell on him, she quirked her head to the side and walked past, towards the kitchens. Chris shrugged and followed.

They passed through the kitchen where Kasumi and Mrs. Tsukino and Nodoka were all preparing dinner and chatting. It looked good, and Chris's lips twitched. Eating was definitely one thing he missed about being alive.

Akane led him back to the pantry, which was empty except for a musty smell Chris could barely notice and what looked like an ancient bag of potatoes spreading roots in the corner. Once they were inside, she turned around and looked at him, crossing her arms. "So, where are you planning to go now?"

"There's a school called Ohtori Academy. I want to speak to a man there, so that's my next destination."

"What about the Sailor Senshi?" she asked. "They're staying in Japan. Are we just going to leave them here?"

Chris considered that. "No, that'd be too dangerous. They should come with me, get them out of Tokyo and away from Chronos until this blows over a bit." He paused for a moment. "You said 'we', not 'me'. Is that significant?"

Akane nodded, and Chris felt a vast wave of relief wash over him. "But I have conditions, if you want me to come along," she said seriously.

"I told you I'd do whatever you wanted me to," he replied. "I meant it. Anything. Ask."

"First off," she said, holding up a finger, "we have to find a safe place for the Sailor Senshi. I have a feeling you're going to be moving around a lot, and that's not going to be good for them."

Chris nodded. They were kind of young to be trekking all over Asia on foot, fighting god-knows-what. Of course, Akane was young too, but she was a MADM and thus much tougher. Besides, he needed Akane. "I'm not sure where, but we'll find someplace. Japan's a big country, and if not here, maybe somewhere in China."

"Maybe..." Akane said noncommittally. "But beyond that, are you really serious about doing anything I say?"

He stepped forward, and tried to look her in the eyes, WILLING her to understand what this meant to him. He needed her. He needed her moral centre. Without it... he thought back to the slaughter of the Chronos village, and shuddered. "Akane, I know it's strange, but I really feel I need your help. NEED it. I can't think of someone else to turn to. And because of that, and because I'm taking you away from your own life, and because I trust you, I swear on everything I hold sacred I will do my absolute best to do whatever you ask me to do."

The reply was short and simple. "Don't kill."

He paused. He knew what she meant, of course. He almost immediately wanted to protest, remind her about the rotting, remind her that it wasn't his choice. But... he had figured she'd make a condition like that. If that was the price of her help... maybe it was twice as good for him. "All right," he said. "I won't."

She smiled and nodded. "Good." She reached over and tugged absently at a strand of her long hair. "By the way, when do we leave?"

Chris shrugged. "I figure I'd wait for Sakura to come back and pick up the others, so everyone can have some time with their families."

"Good," Akane repeated. "I'll have to get Kasumi to cut this before she goes."

He raised an eyebrow. He'd only really just started to get used to seeing 'long-haired Akane', as he'd once thought of her. It was sort of ironic, her breaking off her attraction with Tofu then getting her hair cut, as she'd grown it out to try and attract him in the first place. Reversed order from the events of the manga that would never happen. "Oh? What made you decide to do that?"

Akane tugged at the lock again, stared at it with an unreadable expression. "This is the kind of style a schoolgirl wears."

01010

"No, really, Mom, I'm cool with sleeping on the floor, really."

"Nonsense!" Nodoka replied, chuckling to herself as she pushed Ranma along the floor. Ranma sighed and started actually walking. Besides, his heels were getting rug burn.

"Fine, whatever." Ranma shook his head. He was not looking forward to tonight.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic," Nodoka chided him sarcastically. "I'm sure this Shampoo girl is a nice person and the two of you will have a lovely time together."

"Mom, she's tried to kill me, repeatedly."

"That reminds me of how I met your father..." Nodoka sighed. "And now you two are betrothed. So it is very important for you to spend at least some private time with each other."

"All she'll do once we're alone is try to kill me again!" Ranma complained loudly.

"Well, put that training of yours to good use then!" she replied cheerfully.

"Besides, Son-in-law, I have it on the best authority that Shampoo will not attempt to kill you tonight."

"AHH!" Ranma screamed and began to wave at Cologne, who remained perched on his head despite his best efforts. "Where did you come from?"

"China," Cologne explained. "And I am going to be spending tonight keeping two mischievous young girls from interrupting you, so I expect my efforts not to be wasted, eh, Son-in-law?" She nudged him in the shoulder with her staff.

"You're both crazy!" Ranma shouted as they shoved him in the doorway. The door slammed closed in his face. He heard them yell something encouraging through the wood and then their laughter receded down the hallway.

There was a long, metallic rasp behind him. Ranma felt his pigtail levitate away from his neck. Maybe, if he didn't turn around, she wouldn't be there.

Not that he was scared.

Just... uh... just that he didn't like hitting girls.

Ranma stood there for almost a minute. The rasping continued, slowly driving a spike into his mind. He gritted his teeth, but it didn't go away. He closed his eyes, but it didn't go away. He covered his ears... okay, then it became softer, but still didn't go away.

Finally he sighed and turned around.

Shampoo was sitting on the single-width cot, running a whetstone up and down the length of her wickedly curved Chinese sword. She looked up at him and narrowed her red eyes. "Hello," she said evenly.

"Wow... fancy meeting you here," Ranma grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. His pigtail refused to settle down.

"Stupid," she said, hefting the sword. "Catch!" she grunted and hurled it towards him. Ranma's eyes widened and he clapped his hands together, capturing the blade with only a few centimeters to spare. He blinked, and slowly lowered the blade.

"Uh... don't you need this for the killing?"

Shampoo gave him a disgusted look. She shifted in place, the hem of her short Chinese dress riding a bit up her thigh. Ranma started looking at other things, until she rose to her feet. "No, it for provoking."

"Provoking?" Ranma shifted his grip on the sword so he had one hand free. "Uh... provoking what? I ain't gonna attack you." Ranma was beginning to think that the chances of tonight turning into a mad struggle for survival were growing slimmer. He wondered why he felt disappointed.

Shampoo glared at him and stalked straight up to him. Ranma backed up, but the door got in the way. Soon, she was standing only a half-meter away from him. She stared into his eyes, her red eyes flashing like little flames. "Yes you do." She gestured at her chin. "Counter-attack! Right here!" Ranma raised one eyebrow. "Or Shampoo hit you!"

"Uh... no?" Ranma attempted.

The purple-haired girl sighed and slumped a little bit. "Fine. No have to hit hard." Shampoo paused and looked at him again. "Hit here..." she gestured at her chin. "Fast as you can."

"Oh, I can do that without hitting you!" Ranma said, grinning. He leapt up, bounced off the ceiling with one hand and landed across the room. Shampoo stood still for a moment, then slowly turned to look at him. "See, watch!" Ranma said as he lifted up the pillow on the cot. He flipped it in the air and swung Shampoo's sword in a flashing arc. The pillow exploded as he neatly bisected it. Ranma grinned and narrowed his eyes. Then the sword became a grey flash, a whirling tornado of metal around him. He finished with the sword held at his side, and every single feather in the pillow drifted to the ground, neatly divided in two.

"Stupid!" Shampoo threw up her arms. "Now we no have pillow! Why not just hit Shampoo?"

"Uh..." Ranma started to scratch his neck, but realised he was holding the sword in that hand and decided against it. "I guess I just don't want to muss up that pretty face," Ranma said with a shrug.

Shampoo rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Whatever. Give back sword."

Ranma flipped it towards her and she caught it easily. He watched her for a second to see if she would come at him but instead she just leaned it against the wall. Ranma nodded and walked over to the corner and sat down.

"You can have the bed," Ranma nodded towards the cot. "I'm used to sleeping in awkward positions."

Shampoo gave him an odd look and walked over to the bed, before sitting down again. Ranma looked away again, since her hemline was riding up again. "You learn Tenshin Amaguriken, is right?"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "Amaguriken?" He paused. "You mean... that chestnut in the fire thing?" He quirked his head to the side. "Yeah. Ukyou taught me it."

Shampoo nodded. "You fast. Strikes too fast for Shampoo to even follow."

"If you say so," Ranma shrugged. "I just found out today that was the point of all that." He grinned. "Course, I guess I would have thought the idea of training that way was stupid if Ukyou told me that was the goal."

"Ranma strong, fast, tough... more than Shampoo," the girl said evenly. "Shampoo no beat you, no matter how many time she try."

"Well, yeah..." Ranma grinned. "Don't feel bad. I do that to a lot of people."

"Lot of people no have to marry you."

"So... uh... I'm sorta gettin' the idea you ain't into this marriage thing as much as your granny wants you to be, huh?" Ranma said, chuckling nervously.

Shampoo ignored his question. "Great-grandmother realise you no come with us. You no like Chris. And twins no leave him."

"Uh..." Ranma sighed. He guessed that Cologne had probably figured it out pretty easily. After challenging Chris eighteen times so far tonight (and being turned down nineteen 'just in case') it had been pretty obvious the two of them had... issues to resolve. "Guess not." Ranma shrugged. "I'm not really ready to settle down yet, I suppose. Not that I don't think you're cute, in that exotic, emotionless killer way, but I just don't think I need to be thinking about girls is all."

Besides, girls just tied you down. Ranma needed to get together with a girl who wouldn't get in his way and could maybe follow him on his adventures. Some girl who wouldn't want him to stay home and do all that responsible boyfriend stuff. Somebody like Ran, maybe.

Ran?

Ranma shook the thought aside.

"Stop complimenting me," Shampoo told him flatly.

"Uh..." Ranma shrugged. "You have fat calves."

She threw her sword at him again, and he caught it. "Hey!"

"No insult me either, stupid." There was a brief pause as Shampoo readjusted her hair. "You staying in Japan. She look for you later," she continued matter-of-factly.

"Uh... okay," Ranma replied. "But you don't want to marry me or nothin', right?"

She gestured for her sword back again. Reluctantly, Ranma handed it over. Then she leaned forward and thrust it so the tip hovered a millimeter in front of Ranma's nose. "Shampoo use this to cut her heart out before she marry you."

"Well..." Ranma smiled thinly. "At least it's sharp."

Why was every girl he knew a psycho?

"But..." Shampoo pulled back, settling her sword on her shoulder neatly. "Shampoo no can do anything. Was tricked into promise."

"Well, that isn't right..." Ranma said. He frowned and smacked his fist into his palm. "I know! I'll just never agree!"

Shampoo's eyes narrowed happily and she leaned back against the wall, smiling like the c... dog who ate the canary. "Good," she said. "Just no get married, or Shampoo have to kill wife."

"Oh..." Ranma blinked. "I'm cool with that, I guess."

Shampoo nodded, reached up, grabbed the collar of her dress and pulled it off. Ranma's eyes bugged out. She wasn't wearing a bra. He snapped his eyes shut.

"What are you doing!" Ranma screeched. "I thought we weren't getting married!"

"Keep down, stupid," Shampoo said. Ranma felt something soft slap into his head. "Wrap this around head if no want to see."

Ranma inched his eye open. She had thrown her dress at him. He groaned and tossed it aside, still keeping his eyes closed.

"You like doing this, don't you?"

"Yes. Don't forget, Shampoo still hate you. Your fault all this happened." There was a pause. "And also your fault Shampoo sleep in bed filled with feathers. Stupid."

Ranma sighed. It was going to be a long night.

01010

ZX-Tole flung another hunk of machinery away. Behind him, he could hear the crack and groan of shifting rubble as Derzerb and the few remaining Gregoles continued to dig through the destruction. At least Derzerb was no longer complaining that the work was 'beneath him'. Telling him that they needed to pitch in because nearly half the zoanoids in the mountain had suddenly been transformed back into normal humans hadn't worked, but slapping him down just once had.

ZX-Tole kept his own doubts to himself. The blast had nearly gutted the mountain, practically breaking it in two. Even Commander Gyro could not have possibly survived something so apocalyptic. But Doctor Valkus seemed convinced that the commander was still alive underneath all this rubble. So they dug until they found him, or his corpse, one of the two.

"I found something!" a Gregole yelled from nearby. ZX-Tole dropped the concrete slab he was carrying and jogged over. The Gregole was pointing down at the twisted wreckage, and ZX-Tole's segmented eyes immediately saw the human arm pinned beneath a large chunk of metal. He snorted and crossed his arms as best as his huge carapace would allow him. "It's a human arm. The commander would have been in his battle form. Just pull it free and take it to all the other corpses. Doctor Valkus wants to study them..."

"Yes, sir," the Gregole replied crisply. He knelt down and began to pull on the arm. ZX-Tole was half-turned around when the hand jerked to life and grabbed onto the Gregole's wrist. The unfortunate zoanoid only had a chance to gasp... before its body spasmed once, sharply. Its body curled so far back that ZX-Tole heard its spine snap like a twig. Blood gouted from its mouth before the creature fell back. ZX-Tole backed up a step.

Then he felt it, the overwhelming presence in the back of his mind. He groaned as the telepathic force pushed at the inside of his brain with so much force he thought his skull would crack. He knew what the force wanted, and with a roar he reached down and tore free the last of the wreckage that covered Commander Gyro.

The commander lay still for a moment, his naked human body covered in numerous small cuts. Then his eyes snapped open and he sat upright as if he had been spring-loaded. He reached out and snapped his hand around ZX-Tole's wrist, his fingers pushing so hard it made the chitin there turn white from stress.

"Did you see it!" Gyro gasped in awe.

"See it?" ZX-Tole replied in a quavering voice. He had never seen a zoalord's full power. But considering what the commander was doing to his normally impervious armor in just his human form... "Is there something wrong?"

Gyro turned his head slowly, his strange inhuman purple and yellow eyes boring into ZX-Tole's red segmented ones. He grinned. "The crystal..." the commander said slowly. "That magnificent glowing crystal..." He began to grin. "It was stronger than me. Stronger than any zoalord!"

"That's impossible..." ZX-Tole began, but the man cut him off with a wave of his hand and a stinging psychic rebuke.

"No, I saw it..." He smiled, his eyes flashing. "It was so beautiful... it almost destroyed me!" He laughed. ZX-Tole was beginning to wonder if the commander had perhaps lost it. The idea did not comfort him. Zoalords were terrifying beings, the closest thing to a zoanoid god. The idea of an insane god-being made his stomach twist in knots.

"You think I'm mad, but I'm not," Gyro explained, his voice suddenly cool and collected. "I'm more sane than I have ever been." This time, his smile was dark and serious, filled with malicious glee. "I've finally found the thing I've been looking for all these years. The one power that can defeat a zoalord." This time, his laugh was brief, but dangerous.

"Go. Tell Valkus that he doesn't need to spy on me anymore." Gyro stood up. "I'll open up all my files to him. I'll reveal every bit of my secret research." He laughed. "What does the guyver unit matter anymore? When there is a crystal like that in this world, after all?"

ZX-Tole had no idea what the commander was talking about, but he was just as glad when the man released him. He walked away from the closest thing he had to a god, and worried.

01010

Telulu walked up the stairs, shifting the files she was carrying from one arm to another. The house was quaint, almost prosaic. She certainly wouldn't have pictured it as the home of the leader of the Deathbusters. The door at the end of the upstairs hallway was open, so she strode briskly inside.

Or that was the plan. She stopped in mid-stride at the sight which greeted her. The room was destroyed. The bed was shattered. One of the walls was missing entirely. Plus, of course, the bloody corpse on the floor.

"Kaorinite?" Telulu said, disbelievingly.

"Yes."

Telulu looked up and saw the Professor standing at the far side of the room. His body was only partially revealed in the shadow-casting light of the lamps in the room. His face was entirely concealed in dark shadows, except for the silvery gleam of his glasses and the flash of his teeth.

"Kaorinite is dead," the Professor declared grimly.

"Worse, they took the child," Eudial said as she stepped in through the hole into the other room. She was carrying a jury-rigged scanning system which consisted of a long television antennae wand and several other common household items.

"Child?" Telulu asked.

"The Messiah," Professor Tomoe informed her. His voice shifted and cracked, wavering from mania to deadly earnestness. "Somebody attacked us where we were most vulnerable and stole our most precious commodity!"

"I see..." Telulu said. "Well... that isn't so bad, then."

There was a long silence in the room. The Professor turned towards her slowly. Eudial did so less theatrically, but her shocked expression told how she was feeling.

"What... did you say?" The Professor's voice was nothing but calm now.

"While losing the Messiah of Silence is a blow to our plans," Telulu replied, her voice confident - she adjusted her glasses with one hand while she held out her file-folder with the other - "I've been up all night doing research, and I believe I have discovered another way to allow us to draw master Pharaoh 90 into our dimension.

"You see, the Messiah is the only one who can access the power of the Holy Grail... but I propose that we don't need the Grail at all. Any sufficiently large concentration of spiritual energy can serve as the proper beacon. My scan of the bio-etheric current through the plant life around here shows a marked increase in the quantity of ambient spiritual energy..."

"You must be joking," the Professor said in an odd, gentle voice. It was like he was talking to a child. "You want to use plants to summon Pharaoh 90?"

"That oversimplifies my proposal..."

Telulu gasped and staggered back as the Professor slapped the papers from her hand.

"Your proposal is meaningless," the Professor told her in a strong voice. "I'm certain you believe in it. But the plan for the Messiah WILL work. Your theory is nothing more than a hypothesis. It is untried, untested and unproven." He stepped forward, just enough so that his face remained in shadow. He lifted his arms up, spreading them like wings. "It is more obvious to me now than ever that we are vulnerable. I was right to keep our operation hidden. We have strong enemies, who are more ruthless than I imagined." He titled his head back. "She is not dead... I would know instantly if she were. So there is no reason to abandon our timeline. All our resources must be directed towards rescuing her."

Telulu bowed her head and knelt down. She began to recover her papers. She had to admit that the Professor was, technically, right. She had no actual proof that her theory was correct. He knew the Messiah was their one sure way to succeed. But still, she had stumbled upon something. Her research had proven that there was something immense and powerful beneath the land of this city. How could she ignore it?

"I see you are still hesitant to believe in me, Telulu," the Professor said softly. He patted her on the shoulder and she looked up into the gleaming reflection of his eyes. "Very well. I see that your heart is not in this, and I understand."

The man looked over at Eudial. She stood up straight, and smiled. "Eudial, I will entrust you with the responsibility of locating the Messiah."

"You can count on me, Professor!" she replied crisply. She flicked a long red lock over her shoulder and smirked towards Telulu.

"I too, will be devoting most of my time to the search," the Professor continued. Then he turned towards Telulu again. "To you, Telulu, I delegate the Daimon Project."

The Daimon Project. Telulu frowned. They had still not found a way to mass-produce Daimon in this world. Pharaoh 90 had been able to send only a handful of his children to Earth to pave the way for his coming. For the most part, the Professor had been spending his time working on that very same project. Normally, Telulu would have been overjoyed to work on it.

But she knew what it was: busy work. They didn't trust her anymore.

"I will do my best..." Telulu said softly.

"Excellent." The Professor nodded and stepped past her and out of the room. "I will be in my lab."

Telulu finished collecting her research as the leader of the Deathbusters strode away. There was a click as Eudial stepped in front of her. Telulu looked up into the senior Deathbuster's menacing scarlet eyes.

"You should know, that just because I'm going to be busy being the Professor's right hand, that doesn't mean I won't be keeping an eye on you."

"I will succeed in the task that has been set before me..." Telulu forced out from between clenched teeth.

"See that you do." Eudial strode around her and out of the room.

Telulu rose to her feet, clenching and unclenching her fist.

Then she smiled.

She looked down at her research.

The Professor had told her to locate a way to mass produce Daimon. He had never told her how she should work on that project. Her smile widened. Perhaps... there was more than one way to prove her theories were correct.

01010

"That's it... relax. Don't try and force it. Just let it flow naturally."

Aaron nodded as Akira cupped her hands around the glass. Her breathing was deep and even. Aaron could feel her chi flowing around her body, radiating out from her in waves. Her aura was deep, but hard to decipher. He was beginning to learn that a person's mood was often reflected in the quality of their chi, but Akira's wasn't easy to discern. While he watched, the girl created a tiny but intense ball of white light between her hands.

The leaf in the water twitched, then steadily rose. The water began to dribble over the rim of the glass. Ukyou reached in and pulled the glass away. Akira's eyes snapped open.

"Water," Ukyou explained. Akira nodded, but her face was still confused.

"How did you do that?" Matsudaira asked, her voice awed. She wasn't even looking at the two of them anymore. Instead, her eyes were locked on the screen of one of the high-speed cameras she had set up.

"You'll have to be more specific, Matsudaira," Aaron responded.

"The water. You created more of it!"

"Not really..." Aaron picked up the glass again. The water level had returned to almost normal. "The chi Akira produced is water-aspected. It interacted with the water in the glass like pumping air into a balloon, causing the liquid to expand. But, as the chi... evaporates, the water returns to its normal state."

"Fascinating..." Matsudaira muttered.

"As for you..." Aaron turned his attention back to Akira. "The water aspect means that you have an affinity for health, vitality and change. Also good for social interaction and adaptation."

"Okay..." Akira frowned and picked up the glass. "I still don't see how this is supposed to help me."

"Well..." Aaron ran a hand through his bangs. "Your aspect is more supposed to be a guide than a straightjacket. The idea is to identify what your strength is, as well as your weakness. For instance, earth is the aspect opposite water and thus probably your weakest trait. Earth is all about resistance and stability. It's up to you how you want to work with that knowledge. You can train to emphasize your strengths, or shore up your weaknesses. You can even go for a more well-rounded regime, like Ranma has."

"Ranma..." Akira grumbled. "I don't think I'll ever catch up with him."

"I know the feeling." Ukyou smiled. For some reason, Akira had taken an instant dislike to Ranma. Every time they were in the same room together, the girl kept giving him the evil eye. Ukyou attributed it to their first sparring match, where Ranma had simply outclassed Akira in almost every way.

"Hey, people!"

The three of them turned to see Ran and Ranma walking down the park path towards them. Ukyou felt a surge of jealousy at how close Ran was to him. Ranma, for his part, didn't seem to notice. He was lost in thought. A rare condition if there ever was one.

"Ah, I see Ukyou is using her magic water trick on you," Ran said once she was a little closer.

"You tried this, too?" Akira asked. She was deliberately not looking at Ranma.

"Nah, not my cup of tea," Ran said, waving her hand dismissively. "All this serious martial arts stuff I leave to you guys. I just want to be able to keep up enough to get all the pictures." As if on cue, Ran's eyes drifted over the equipment Matsudaira had set up. "Oh. My. God." She squealed in delight and ran over to crouch beside it. "Is this the Nokia test bed model? And is that a five function auto/manual zoom? And..." Her eyes sparkled and she touched one of the components in awe. "A complete Swiss-crafted timing modulator with integrated computer-assisted shutter control?"

"Uh... yes..." Matsudaira blinked.

"They aren't even supposed to be MAKING these yet!" Ran cooed. "You HAVE to tell me where you got it!"

"Actually, I have no idea..."

"Well, that won't do!" Ran stood up and thrust a finger under the brown- haired scientist's nose. "I've been looking for a replacement for my old model for too long. And if you have access to state of the art equipment, then I must find out how!"

"Well, it's something to do with military clearance..." Matsudaira coughed into her hand. Obviously she was not comfortable being the one at the RECEIVING end of a barrage of questions.

"Military, huh?" Ran rubbed her chin. "Now, most people would think of that as a challenge. But then again, most people can't offer you the kind of things I can."

"Things you can..."

"Like exclusive info on the martial artists of Tokyo!" Ran leaned forward, thrusting her face right next to the frazzled woman's. "You want to know how these people function, right? Well, I can get you access to some of the best this city has to offer. Not just Ranma and Ukyou, but the greatest fighters of the Tokyo high school system! But wait, there's more!" She stepped back. "I also have extensive files on all the fighters across the globe. I am your one- stop shop for all the latest information on the underground circuits and the exclusive tournaments!" Ran smirked and crossed her arms. "Now isn't that worth just one little piece of cutting-edge military-grade photographic equipment?"

"Well..." Matsudaira adjusted the cuffs of her labcoat. "If it were up to me, I would say it is. But I was told in no uncertain terms not to..."

"Ah, c'mon!" Ran threw up her hands in disgust and walked a few steps away. "You're going to let something like rules hold you back?"

"Leave the poor woman alone," Aaron chided Ran. She rolled her eyes and sat down next to Ranma. He was grinning like a loon and shaking his head.

"As it is, I'm already breaking a few rules," Matsudaira pointed out. "You aren't even supposed to be out in public. Especially given that you aren't fully recovered."

Ukyou glanced briefly at the crutches that had allowed her to come out this far. Three days of healing, and she still was hardly able to even walk on her own. If it hadn't been for the techniques she had learned from Doctor Tofu, she probably still would have been bedridden. But even after all her training, she was still years away from being able to recover half as fast as Ranma did from even minor injuries.

"We can't train all-out if we're stuck inside," Aaron explained. "It's bad for the furniture."

Matsudaira chuckled. "I guess not. And if I want to see more of this chi in action, I have to let you train, right?" The woman smiled. She looked remarkably kind when she smiled. "Besides, what Mr. Kunikida doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Ah, you guys don't have to worry anyway." Ran began to flip a pen between her hands. "Those girls, the Dolls? They don't seem that interested in attacking Ukyou at the moment."

"What makes you think that?" Ranma asked.

"The fact that they followed us here and then split?" Ran replied with a shrug.

"Followed us?" Ranma gasped.

"Yeah, didn't you guys notice?" Ran looked around, raising an eyebrow. As everyone shook their heads, Ran whistled. "Well, I can understand in Ukyou's case. They haven't been coming within a city block of her. But they've been following all of us around ever since that confrontation three days ago." Ran stretched and yawned. "I guess they're doing standard information gathering. You know, trying to figure out our habits, our strengths and weaknesses."

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Ukyou snapped.

Ran blinked. Then she paused and tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Guess it didn't occur to me to be concerned." She shrugged. "I mean, it's not like I'm one to object about other people prying into my life, huh?"

"Maybe we should be getting out of here, then?" Akira said. She looked distinctly uncomfortable. Aaron reflected on how easy it was to forget the unassuming girl was even there. She had a tendency to fade into the background when you weren't paying attention to her.

"Nah." Ranma waved her down. Akira gave him a slight glare, but didn't protest. "The four of us can handle those three. They know better than to attack us out in the open."

"I guess," Aaron mused. He still rose to his feet. "I just don't like the idea of having an enemy out there and not being able to confront them."

"Once you get better, you'll be able to help us track them down, Ucchan. No worries."

"That isn't what I meant, Ranma." Aaron sighed. He glanced up at the mostly clear sky. Summer had arrived. The wind was brisk but warm now.

"Well..." Ranma rose to his feet and started stretching. "We should begin training, right? You up to sparring yet, Ukyou?"

"No."

"Oh." Ranma turned to Akira. "Well, since I know Ran is going to turn me down, I guess that leaves you?"

Akira rose to her feet. She dusted off her leather pants and adjusted her slightly oversized motorcycle gloves. Then she looked up at Ranma and nodded, her short brown hair bobbing with the motion.

The two walked out and assumed stances, before they began to strike at each other. Aaron watched, his eyes critical. He could feel their auras flaring and snapping about their bodies. He closed his eyes, and could still feel the energy flowing about him.

"Matsudaira, maybe you can help me out."

"What?" There was a click as the woman adjusted something on her equipment. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"I need you to help me out."

"Oh. Yes. I see." She paused. "But how? I'm not able to fight like they are..."

"I want you to quiz me."

"Quiz you?"

"Ask me questions. The topic doesn't matter. Obscure trivia. Science. History."

"Uh, Ukyou, that sounds more like school than training," Ran said briefly. "I thought you and Ranma were avoiding the whole school thing."

"It is training." Aaron opened his eyes. "Of a sort. You see, the way I figure it, chi has got to be good for more than just making us strong and fast, right?" He gestured towards where Ranma and Akira were still sparring. Ranma was flowing elegantly around all of Akira's attacks. Gouts of dirt and grass exploded as Akira's missed shots ripped up a bit of the landscape. "I'll never catch up with Ranma on pure physical ability. I know that now. Not to mention the people who are better than Ranma out there." He clenched his fist. "But suppose chi can also enhance other talents? I've already met people who seem to be more amazing prodigies than they have any right to be. Guys who can disguise themselves as pretty much anything. Girls who can do things with plants that would amaze botanists. What if they were ALL using chi?"

Aaron lowered his hand. "I've already grown good enough that I can sense minute changes in my own chi. I want Matsudaira to quiz me so that I can see how channeling my chakras affects how quickly I can learn, retain and remember information. Maybe I can unlock a whole new study of the principles of chi..."

"I don't know..." Ran tapped her lips and shrugged. "If it was possible, you'd think somebody would have thought of it by now, right?"

"Maybe." Aaron sighed and sat down. "But it's all I have." He pointed at Ranma, who had just sent Akira flying across the small clearing they were using as practice. "I can't be as good as Ranma. Not quickly enough for it to matter. Too many people want me dead, and they keep showing up with too much strength for me to fight." He smiled. "But so far I've been able to outthink them, and... with a bit of luck, I survived. But maybe if I concentrate on my own strengths, I can compensate for my body's weakness."

"That sounds logical," Matsudaira agreed with a nod.

"I just wish I was still on speaking terms with Doctor Tofu." Ukyou ran her fingers through the grass. "He would have been a great help in developing this new field of study. He probably would have enjoyed it too."

"Ah, don't worry about him, Ucchan," Ranma called as he helped Akira to her feet. "He's probably half-way to the States by now."

"Oh. Well then... the WHAT!" Ukyou stood up too quickly and her body protested the ill-treatment with many small painful flashes.

"Didn't I tell you guys?" Ranma said, blinking.

"No..." Ukyou said slowly.

"Yeah." Ranma shrugged. "It's the reason I've been able to go pretty much where I want the last few days. Mom and Dad, the Tendos, Tofu... and uh..." He snapped his fingers a few times. "You know, those people who the Sailor Senshi are related to?"

"The Sailor Senshi's families..." Aaron blinked.

"Yeah, I don't know their names. Anyway, they all went off with this chick from the CIA."

"Whoa, whoa," Ran held up her hand. "Back up, stud." Ukyou glared at her. "First, what exactly is going on? And second, why didn't you tell us about it?"

"Well, because it wasn't really important, was it?" Ranma sat down and rested his chin on one fist. "I mean, I can live without Pops just fine. And it's not like I ever really got attached to any of the Tendos, or even knew the Senshi's folks at all." He shrugged. "I guess I just got distracted with guarding Ukyou. I'm the only one who can stay with her at night, after all."

"Why?" Ran asked, then immediately amended, "I mean, why did they leave?"

"I never really got the scoop on that," Ranma shrugged. "Apparently they pissed off somebody pretty important and the CIA was offering... uh... what's that word for when people give other people a safe place to stay?"

"Asylum?" Matsudaira provided.

"Yeah, that."

"So, Akane and everyone are gone?" Aaron felt a slight pang at the thought. Not that he would have protested them leaving. Akane deserved better than the kind of life that being a friend of him would give her. Aaron and Ukyou had too many enemies. There were too many battles they had to fight. Akane would have fought them willingly... but he and Ukyou had treated her like dirt for her friendship.

"Nah. Akane was going to help out that Chris jerk."

Ukyou's jaw dropped.

"Tell me you just didn't say that."

"Chris?" Matsudaira frowned. "You mean, the same animating intelligence that has been raiding the aragami lately?"

"Uh... I guess." Ranma scratched the back of his neck. "I just know he's a cowardly bastard who won't even give me a man-to-man fight. Why Akane would want to hang around with him is beyond me. But hey, chicks are crazy."

Ranma looked up, obviously wondering why everyone else present was glaring at him. Ran hit him first. He glared at her and rubbed his brow, but there was no real anger behind his expression.

"Akane went with Chris..." Aaron clenched his fists. His knuckles turned white. That wasn't good. Chris was... Chris was dangerous. Akane had no idea what she was getting into. She would just be playing into his hands. He wanted to leap to his feet, to charge off. He didn't know where he would be going, or what he would do when he got there. Yet he needed to do it. Akane was getting in over her head. Chris had something inside him, something dark and uncontrollable. A worse darkness than the one inside he and Ukyou. He rose to his feet, ready to order everyone to get ready to move out...

No. Ukyou looked down at the dirt. Akane wasn't a fool. She had the right to make her own decisions. Chris was still capable of reason. He might still be saved. Maybe Akane could help him? It was clear he wouldn't let Ukyou come near him as anything but an enemy.

"Ukyou?" Akira brought Aaron's attention back to the outside world.

"I..." Aaron sighed. He consulted Ukyou and they agreed. There was nothing they could do about Akane. But Ranma, on the other hand. "Ranma. Think hard. I want you to tell me everything that happened."

"Uh, okay..."

And so Ranma told them.

01010

Tethys hated eating.

It was such a disgusting practice; to actually physically devour your food. She picked up another takoyaki ball and placed it in her mouth, savouring the taste of the expertly-prepared morsel. She hadn't even had a mouth for most of her existence. It was only since she had merged herself into Hayato's shell that she had developed it.

But eating allowed her to regain energy without having to drain it from humans. True, absorbing the life essence of human beings was more efficient and faster. This method, however, had one major bonus.

Tethys smiled and thanked another customer. He smiled back, took another circumspect look at her breasts and paid for the meal before wandering off to eat it. Tethys shook her head and popped another takoyaki into her mouth.

The real benefit was that it didn't draw attention. Here she was, in the center of one of the greatest concentrations of humans in the entire world, and they weren't even noticing her. Well, no more than they paid attention to any other attractive woman in a slightly revealing vendor's outfit. She resisted the urge to sneer. She was even getting more business than Hayato ever had.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, all these little people unaware of the wolf that was standing in their midst. Yet, even so, they looked scared. People walked in hurry. Their eyes darted into every shadow. Whenever they bumped into each other, they would jump back and stood stock still. They were afraid.

Hayato had never remembered his world being like this. In the Japan he knew, people generally walked around without fear. But that had changed. His world had changed. Tethys knew why.

The monsters.

They were always in the news now. Battles between beasts and humans with the strength of beasts that destroyed buildings, shopping plazas and even entire neighbourhoods. Stories from across the oceans that were even more frightening, of cities, mountain ranges... even entire countries losing contact with the outside world. Filtered stories from those who had fled of 'demons' and 'vampires' and 'zombies' that were slowly settling into all the minds of all these little people.

There would be a war soon.

The humans would find out about the Dark Kingdom, or some other enclave of monsters. Or maybe another one of those enclaves would attack in force... and there would be war.

And the humans would be ready. They already had the martial artists. People like Hayato and Ukyou who could fight monsters. And the Sailor Senshi.

Tethys frowned and popped another ball into her mouth. She could no longer ignore it. That had been what she had felt. The Silver Crystal reborn, the legendary Ginzuishou active once again. She had been alive once to feel the harsh light of that magnificent weapon. She knew that it alone had defeated an entire army of youma, every general in its army, its leader and their invincible goddess Metallia with one fell swoop.

Against the power of the Ginzuishou, the Dark Kingdom would perish again. With the Ginzuishou and all the soldiers that humanity could muster from the ranks of martial artists, they would be crushed.

Yet they were continuing as if nothing was wrong. Hayato had pointed it out to her, when she had run into Nephrite. He hadn't even recognized her. He wasn't even aware of what was really going on. She could see it in his smug eyes. She had followed him, and watched him gloat over stealing the life force of a single human. She had almost laughed at the pitiful harvest his plan had yielded.

The Dark Kingdom was stuck in an old war, playing a hand that was already doomed to lose. Even in her present state, with what little she had learned and all she had mastered of human strategy, Tethys alone could probably destroy the Dark Kingdom...

Her hand stopped. She stared down at the takoyaki ball in between her fingers. She really hated eating. It was so... so human. She threw the ball into her mouth and smiled.

Then again, these did taste really good.

01010

Fevrier knelt and bowed her head. She knew exactly the angle her head was supposed to be at in relation to the floor. Her right fist was planted exactly the proper distance from her left knee. She had stopped before even entering the room to adjust her hair, so that not a lock was out of place. Her posture and pose were perfect.

Vega wasn't even paying attention to her. He leaned back in his chair, one hand elegantly rolling a glass of wine while the other stroked the end of the armrest. It was impossible to read his expression behind his white mask, its only feature being the mark below his eye. But his eyes could be seen. They were not focused on Fevrier, or the other two Dolls that were in the room.

They were focused on the girl in the corner. She had been here three days, and the only time she had stopped crying was when she was feeding herself or sleeping. Her constant whining - which ranged from barely audible sobs and moans to ear-splitting wails and plaintive cries for her 'Papa' and every nuance inbetween - annoyed Fevrier. Vega would not let Fevrier or her sisters discipline the brat. He just kept watching her. Marz had told her, when they were alone, that she suspected that Vega was not planning on taking the girl to Lord Bison at all.

Not that Fevrier could blame him. The girl was not a suitable candidate for their ranks. To be a Doll was to be perfect. To be a Doll was to be chosen. You were the elite. Hand-selected, molded by the most intense training, driven by the most cutting edge technology and fueled by the greatest force in existence; all these things were what made a Doll. Few could withstand the demands. There was no 'acceptable' level of performance. Every Doll either achieved their goals, and achieved them perfectly... or they Washed Out.

Fevrier had known a girl who had Washed Out... but such things were best not thought of.

"Lord Vega," Fevrier said meekly, her head bowed still. Vega turned his eyes towards her. He did not bid her speak, but she did so anyway. "We have collected the data on Ukyou Kuonji's new allies. Marz has compiled the information, and we know everything there is to know about Ukyou, her friends and this Japanese paramilitary unit, the Terrestrial Administration Center."

"I see..." Vega said with a sigh. He swirled his glass absently.

"We finished our data collection almost two days ago. As it stands, we have waited three days since our initial assault."

"I see..."

"If you would forgive me..." Fevrier did not cringe. Her expression and posture remained perfect. Her voice remained exactly at the most pleasant tone and pitch. Perfection was something lesser beings sought. It was what a Doll WAS. "Can I ask why we have not initiated a new assault plan? We have more than enough data to pull off a successful extraction. If you would assist us, we would not even need to requisition supplies from any of the local Shadowloo cells."

Fevrier had not wondered why Vega had ordered her and her sisters not to contact any of the local cells. It was a common command, since Vega often traveled in his civilian identity and went to great lengths to conceal his connection with Shadowloo activities. Fevrier just wished it wasn't required in this case. Shadowloo was a global syndicate, which could provide a staggering level of hardware and human resources in any large city. Having access to any of that would have made her job much easier.

"The assault will wait for now," Vega informed her. Fevrier did not question his decision, she only nodded. But Vega started to explain himself anyway. "Don't think I don't sense your impatience. But I know of things that are happening that you do not. There are plans in place that a rash action could disrupt." He was looking at the girl again.

"Yes, lord..."

"Marz." Vega snapped his fingers. The blue-haired doll snapped to her feet with an affirmative shout. "Are you certain that girl is one of these... Sailor Senshi?"

"Not one hundred percent," Marz noted cautiously. "The girl has the exact same effect on the chi around her as the Senshi do, however. If my readings are correct, she has a great deal of 'magic' to her, if such a thing exists."

"I see..." Vega swirled his glass again. "Then why hasn't she manifested any special abilities?"

Fevrier looked over at the girl. She was sitting in the corner. Her eyes kept drifting across the room. Her face was stained by tears. She was in one of her quiet moods, but still hiccuped in sorrow every now and then. Fevrier did not break her perfect composure to frown at her, but nonetheless felt vexed. The girl was upset over nothing. She wasn't even being mistreated. Vega was treating her practically like a princess. She had full freedom of movement within the suite... just not to anywhere outside it.

"I don't know, Lord Vega." Marz hesitated. "Perhaps we should contact Thailand. The scientists there are better suited to the sort of exhaustive testing you require." The girl's eyes widened slightly at the word testing.

Vega stood up slowly and started walking towards her. He let his glass fall from his fingers, and Satsuki caught it without a sound. Satsuki did almost everything without a sound, however. He stopped less than a meter from the girl. She cringed away from him. His face was still hidden by his mask, and now his back was to Fevrier.

"Lord Bison is occupied at the moment and not to be contacted." Fevrier looked up. Disregarding the fact that Marz had suggested contacting the lab, not Lord Bison, the news was still strange.

"You have been in contact with him then, sir?"

"Yes." Vega chuckled. "He contacted me yesterday. Remember that powerful transmission two days ago?"

"The one from the doomsday cult?" Marz asked for clarification.

"Yes." Vega reached out and ran a hand through the girl's dark hair. She shied away from him. "Bison seems to think that the cult has access to a superior form of genetic science. And considering their transmission came from a floating fortress in the middle of the ocean, and that they were immediately besieged by the American naval fleet, he decided to investigate the matter... personally."

"Ah." Marz nodded.

"Of course, he also plans on checking into some other matters soon after." Vega looked back at Marz. "Like how he has lost contact with all the Shadowloo cells in Britain, and so forth." He chuckled. "I suspect he will be unavailable for quite some time."

Marz nodded and knelt down again. Vega did not want them to contact Lord Bison. Fevrier could read him like she could a book. He may have trained them, taught them all they knew of fighting... but he was not their true master. Lord Bison had taught them to look for the signs. He had always suspected one day Vega would betray him. Vega did not know they had their own ways of communicating with their master. Ways that did not require Lord Bison to have access to mundane lines of information. Ways that involved their connection to Lord Bison's very life force through the power of his Psychodrive.

"And you, little mouse..." Vega crouched down. He reached out, and this time he ran the stiff blades of his claw through her hair. So gentle was the metal caress that not a single strand fell. "What secrets do you have locked inside you? What will it take to unlock them? Perhaps something more than mere imprisonment, then..."

"Leave her alone..."

Fevrier turned without much surprise. The boy on the wall hadn't moved in almost a day. He was in his 'mundane' form. His clothes lay in tatters about his frame, and he was naked from the waist up. His physique was moderately impressive. It was not the hard, lean muscle of a martial artist, but still showed signs of superb conditioning. Now those finely maintained muscles were criss-crossed with scars and fading bruises. His chin was slowly raising, and his hard blue eyes fixed on Vega's back.

"Back away from her, you monster!" Mamoru hissed. He had been more vocal ever since they had returned from their mission and... it had happened. Fevrier wasn't sure how to describe it. The boy had simply opened his eyes and suddenly transformed, but not in the manner he had before. Instead of a top hat, domino mask and formal wear, he had morphed into an elaborate and archaic set of armor. Marz had been alarmed by the sudden rise in his power level. Fevrier, being cautious, had rendered him unconscious. He had transformed back shortly thereafter. Marz had explained that someone had apparently been trying to tap him for magical power, or perhaps he had been trying to transmit it, but couldn't be sure. Either way, Fevrier did not regret her decision.

Ever since, Mamoru had been more vocal. He constantly insulted and goaded Vega, or made demands of him. Fevrier did not know why Vega tolerated his presence. Perhaps he found him amusing. Perhaps he realized that if the girl he had kidnapped Washed Out, then he would need the boy to find another. But Vega's patience could only be pushed so far. He had given the Dolls leave to work out their frustration on the boy whenever they felt like it. Since that amounted to whenever he tried to talk to them, he had learned to stay quiet with only them in the room.

"What business is it of yours, boy?" Vega stood up and began to walk towards the bound prisoner. The boy gritted his teeth, and as usual there was the soft groan of his ropes straining to hold him. Fevrier looked and saw the little girl's eyes staring at the boy. They were filled with shock and worry.

Of course. Fevrier had caught the two of them talking often when she walked into the suite. She had shooed away the girl and punished Mamoru, but they were always at it.

"It's my business to stop monsters like you!" the boy reared back his head and, with a loud gurgle, spat at Vega. The glob of spit struck the side of Vega's mask and began to slide down. Vega paused.

Fevrier and the rest of the Dolls moved back.

Vega reached up and touched the offending substance. He flicked it away with graceful, elegant disdain. His voice was calm and measured when he spoke. "To touch this mask, is like unto touching my face." He reached out, his fingers hovering mere millimeters from Mamoru's face. "So... did you really just intend to spit in my face, boy?"

"Yes." The boy smiled. "I don't back down from monsters like you."

"So be it."

Mamoru screamed as Vega lowered his hand almost casually. The cuts he left in the boy's chest were shallow but savage, and bled freely. Then Vega proceeded to disassemble him. It was like a hypnotic dance. Vega moved with a grace and beauty that made his violence, his cruelty seem almost like art. The blood that spurted from Mamoru showered out, and Vega bobbed and weaved through it so that not a single drop touched him. He was laughing.

Fevrier raised her hand, ready to signal Satsuki to go prepare suitable arrangements for disposal-

"STOP IT!"

Fevrier saw the girl running before she collided with Vega, of course. But she had been ordered to not harm the child. A Doll was perfect, and obeyed orders perfectly. She did not interfere as the girl rammed all her eleven-year- old mass into Vega's legs. It was not enough to knock Vega more than a step, but it did cause him to stop.

He looked down. The girl was clutching onto his legs. Her arms were shaking and she was barely standing. She was crying, of course. Vega could have removed her with ease. He wouldn't even have had to hurt her.

He didn't.

"Stop hurting him! Stop!" she cried.

"So... the mouse reacts to something after all." Vega stretched his arm over her. His claw hovered above her head. Drops of blood slowly dripped from the tips of the blades to splatter in her hair.

"Please! Please stop hurting him!"

"Hotaru!" Mamoru gasped. Fevrier looked at him in some surprise. He was still alive, even if he could barely lift his head. "Get away... from him..." The strength was draining from his voice.

"Please, mister... don't hurt him!" The girl was shaking even more violently now. "He's the only one... the only one here... the only kind..."

"Do you have something to ask me, little mouse?" Vega's voice was kind. The girl looked up at him, and didn't flinch away as drops of blood fell on her pale, tear-streaked cheeks. "Just ask me, little mouse." He gestured at the boy on the wall. "Ask me."

"Please stop hurting him." Hotaru gasped. "I ask you to please stop hurting him."

Vega paused.

"No."

Fevrier did not even see him move. There was just a flash and suddenly Vega's claw was buried up to his fist in Mamoru's stomach. The boy screamed. He continued to scream as Vega laughed, a high-pitched, joyous laugh. Then Vega twisted his claw, and the boy's scream grew louder.

"STOP! NO!" The girl began to pull and bang at Vega's shin. He ignored her, still laughing and continuing his grim business. "You're killing him!" The girl was screaming now, her voice louder than it had ever been before. "Please! PLEASE! Don't do this! I'll do anything! Oh god, don't kill him because... don't kill him... not like..."

The girl's voice was dissolving into chokes and sobs now. "Not protecting me... not again... please don't... oh... no... not again... not protecting me..."

"Lord Vega!" Marz screamed, a second too late.

Vega was blown back. He sailed over the heads of the Dolls. Fevrier shielded her eyes. The girl had just erupted with some sort of strange force. A bright field of burning scarlet energy surrounded her. She was standing, her back hunched. Her breathing was slow and deep. Her eyes flickered with red light. Fevrier reached down and pulled her pistols from their holsters. She heard Satsuki draw her sword.

Vega grabbed them both by the shoulder. Fevrier looked over her shoulder. He was unharmed. He did not even have so much as a scorch mark. He said nothing, but his eyes told them to wait and watch.

The girl was turning towards them. Her eyes were flickering crimson and her hands were twisted into claws. She was smiling. The scarlet dome still surrounded her, and on her forehead flashed a small purple symbol, like an inverted 'h' of some kind.

"Hotaru..." Mamoru groaned. He was staring at the girl, his expression full of shock and something else... Awe? Fear? Pride? Then his eyes rolled back in their sockets and his voice rattled once before he slumped in his bindings.

For a long moment, the silence in the room reigned supreme. The girl's face seemed to be twitching, her smile seemed to fade and reappear. It was as if two people were trying to form entirely different expressions on the same face. Then, as suddenly as if someone had flicked a switch, the light around Hotaru vanished. She slumped forward to her knees. But her eyes flashed around to stare at Mamoru, and her face filled with horror.

"NO!"

She leapt to her feet with more speed than Fevrier would have given her credit for. Her hand slapped over the vicious, mortal wound in the boy's stomach. Fevrier shook her head at the futility of it. Even Aprile, the best medic Fevrier knew, would have been able to do nothing for such an injury.

When the light began to leak from between Hotaru's fingers, Vega's hands tightened their grip on Fevrier's and Satsuki's shoulders. The pressure quickly passed from uncomfortable to painful to nearly bonebreaking. Neither Doll so much as changed expression.

The light was soft and white, and it flowed out from Hotaru. It started small, just a bauble of translucent energy. Then it began to expand, exploding out in concentric waves of energy. The light creeped first up Mamoru's stomach, then his chest, then slowly across his entire body. Fevrier could see Marz typing frantically at her computer.

Finally the girl gave a small whimper and collapsed. The light faded from around Mamoru gradually, as if reluctant to cease its work even with its master no longer commanding it. When it cleared away, Mamoru was healed.

Not completely. His body was still covered in shallow scratches, and a tiny bruise could be seen where Vega's claw had entered him, but all his serious injuries were gone. He was unconscious.

"See to the girl."

Marz leapt to obey Vega's order. She crouched beside the girl, took her pulse and checked her breathing. "She's exhausted." Marz looked up at Vega. "Her body is entirely drained. She has the minimal level of energy to maintain autonomic functions..." Marz checked her computer. "She should live. Her energy is recovering, if slowly."

"Excellent." Vega stepped forward. "Now... now I know what I need to do."

01010

Vega watched the girl. She was pretending she was asleep. She was hoping he had forgotten about her. Vega had given her every indication that he had. But unless she started acting soon, his plan would fail. The Dolls were enthusiastic, but even they couldn't spend all night with their love-making. He needed her to move before they finished...

Vega smiled to himself. Hotaru was standing up. She kept flicking her eyes about the room. She couldn't see Vega, of course, but then she was a little girl. A useful little girl, but still a child.

She trod lightly over to the wall. Mamoru was hanging there still. He had only regained consciousness once since this afternoon's little drama, and then only briefly. Hotaru leaned down by his leg and her little fingers began to work at the clasps on his bindings. They groaned softly in the dark, but the girl started as if they had been a cannonshot.

"Hotaru..." Mamoru said softly. Maybe he hadn't been as asleep as Vega had suspected he was.

The girl shushed him. She leaned down and began to undo his binding again. "Be quiet. You have to get out of here," she whispered harshly.

Mamoru nodded in the darkness and waited. Hotaru finished with his right leg and moved quickly to his left. Her fingers moved more deftly the second time and soon the boy's legs were free. Hotaru looked up and stretched, but her tiny fingers could not reach the bound boy's wrists.

Hotaru gave a little gasp as Mamoru's legs suddenly encircled her. She looked up into his face and he smiled, his teeth flashing white in the darkness. With a long groan the boy strained and struggled, steadily lifting Hotaru upward with just the strength of his legs. His body sunk and the bindings on his wrists creaked dangerously as he placed all his weight and hers on them.

Reaching the wrists, the girl began to quickly work on his left hand. Vega shook his head. He could see where this was going. It took her a minute to get his wrist free. Then she yelled out as Mamoru suddenly arced down the wall. He lost grip on her and the frail girl landed harshly on the plush carpet (recently cleaned). Mamoru cried out in pain and concern as all his weight suddenly fell on his other wrist.

But Vega had to give him credit. He snapped his free hand down and was suddenly holding one of his roses. With a deft flick of the wrist he shot the flower upward and it cut him free. He fell with some grace to the floor.

"Get out of here!" Hotaru whispered harshly as she rose to her knees.

"Not without you..." Mamoru extended his hand towards her. The girl reached her own hand up hesitantly, but paused. It was time for Vega to step in.

Vega fell from the ceiling like an avenging angel. The boy didn't even have a chance to react before he was kicked away from the girl. The window behind him broke apart spectacularly as Mamoru flew through it and onto the balcony.

Vega landed elegantly next to Hotaru, his arms spread to his side. Mamoru was climbing to his feet. Even as he did, rose petals flashed around him. In a second, he was clad in his tuxedo and top hat. In one hand he held a gentleman's cane as if it were a sword. Vega tilted his head. He could hear the Dolls coming.

"Get away from her, monster!" Mamoru roared.

Vega stood up slowly, and calmly extended his left arm towards the petrified girl's neck. Mamoru went still.

"Run away, boy," Vega offered.

"I'm not leaving without Hotaru!"

"You are not leaving with her unless you challenge me," Vega said with a grin. "We both know how that went last time."

"This time will be different!" Mamoru stepped half-way into the room, his eyes determined behind his domino mask.

"Ah ah ah!" Vega gestured for Mamoru to stop, which the boy did. "Since you were such a insignificant challenge last time, I think I shall change the terms of this fight. First, I shall defeat you without moving from this spot." Vega raised his left hand slightly. Hotaru bent back her chin to keep the tips of his claws from digging into her flesh. Even so, they brushed against the skin of her neck with enough force to turn the flesh white. "Then I shall fight you with just my right hand." Vega curled said hand into a fist.

Mamoru's eyes widened in shock and horror. So the boy had guessed the game, then. Vega had meant every word of his pronouncement. Truth be told, he wasn't even sure he could defeat the magically empowered young man with such harsh limitations. But that was not the point. The point was that if Vega was hit, jostled even the slightest bit... the result could only be bad for poor Hotaru.

Vega grinned. He could hear the Dolls charging up the hallway now, and so could Mamoru. A part of Vega wanted the boy to accept the challenge. He wanted to test himself, not just in the fight against Mamoru, but his control over his left hand to prevent all his work with the girl from going to waste.

"Choose quickly, Mamoru Chiba," Vega said eagerly. "In moments, it shall all be academic."

"You monster..." Mamoru backed away, one step. His eyes turned to Hotaru. Vega glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Leave me," Hotaru pleaded stiffly, trying not to move her chin as she talked. Brave words, but only words, Vega knew. Her mouth said one thing, but her eyes pleaded for him to save her. Vega had seen such pleading too often in the eyes of others to mistake the look for anything else. The girl wished for mercy.

Mamoru might have done the stupid, heroic thing, but Vega distracted him. Mamoru spun and caught the black disc that almost slammed into him. He blinked as he saw that it was not a disc at all, but a small black notebook computer with the Shadowloo winged skull emblazoned on it. Vega had been keeping it tucked in the back of his sash until now, but the Dolls were almost here.

"All my data," Vega told him. "All my hideouts. I expect you to come back for her, after all."

"Why are you..."

The door crashed inward. The three Dolls had dressed hastily, but were all prepared for combat. Fevrier led them, her pistols already drawing a bead on Mamoru. Satsuki came in behind her, her body partially vanishing into the shadows as she ran. Only the light glinting off her blade made seeing her possible. Marz was about to charge, but she paused when she saw what Mamoru was holding. Her mouth widened.

Mamoru took one look at Fevrier's pistols, then he stepped back. With a deceptively simple push of his legs he vanished from Vega's sight. Fevrier cursed and stared down at her guns.

"What is the matter?" Vega said calmly.

"Jammed..." Fevrier replied in disbelief.

"Then clean them more thoroughly in the future!" Vega snapped angrily. "After him. You're letting him escape!"

"Yes, Lord Vega!" Satsuki and Fevrier cried out as they ran onto the balcony. They both vanished upward, leaping after the boy. There was a chance they would catch him. There was a chance they would learn everything that Vega had done from him. Fevrier would figure out that her guns had been deliberately jammed... even if Vega had used a scrap of cloth from Hotaru's dress to do it.

Vega caught Marz's shoulder as she charged past. She turned to look at him.

"He has your computer."

"Yes, Lord Vega."

"He knows too much. Kill him. Kill anyone he talks to. This is your maximum priority." He paused. "I expect to either hear of your success when you return, or be reporting your death to Bison."

Marz stared at him for a second. She understood the order. Vega rarely gave it, but it was his authority to do so. He released her shoulder and the blue-haired Doll leapt away into the darkness. He watched out into the darkness for a moment, chuckling softly to himself.

Those Dolls, they were too dangerous to have around for what he had planned. Hotaru was not destined to become the latest of Bison's slaves. She would instead be the key to his undoing. Bison was the greatest challenge, the one force that Vega could never have bested. But perhaps, with her magic, he could even the odds. However, the Dolls would never have allowed that. Already they were on the verge of reporting his activities to Bison.

That wouldn't have done. It would have ended the game too soon. Vega had served as Bison's toady for too long to let the game end like that. But the battle of wits was about to end. The true, final battle would soon begin.

And oh, what a glorious battle it would be. It, and all the beautiful battles to come.

01010

Kusanagi heard the bike approach before he saw it. The roaring engine sent pigeons scattering in all directions, and the mutt from three doors down began to bark and whine. Then the motorcycle skidded around the corner. The rider was bent over the controls, the entire weight of his machine threatening to spill over at any second. His leather-clad knee skimmed along the pavement, leaving a black streak across the road.

A car that had been innocently taking some salaryman home screeched as the driver brought it to an abrupt halt. The bike skimmed along the road, and the edge of the rider's skull-adorned helmet came within centimeters of the car's grill. Then the bike righted itself and shot down the street again.

Kusanagi smiled. It was a nice bike. He had never been much into machines. But he understood the appeal of motorcycles. He had never really had a use for them, since he could get around town much faster on his own... but he had always wanted an excuse to ride one.

The rider reigned in his bike like a horse, pulling it around in a complete one-eighty in order to park in front of the house. Kusanagi raised an eyebrow as the boy kicked down the stand and shut the machine down.

With a single leap Kusanagi sprung from his tree and across the road to land in front of the rider. The boy started when Kusanagi dropped down in front of him. Kusanagi grinned as his long red trenchcoat fell down behind him. The boy had fallen back into some sort of martial arts stance.

Kusanagi chuckled and rose up to his full height, which put him at least a head and a half taller than the rider. He couldn't have been much older than fourteen, and had the figure of a little boy. His tight leather biker gear creaked slightly. Kusanagi crossed his arms.

"And what are you doing here, kid?"

"Who the hell are you?" the kid demanded in a gruff voice.

"Just a friendly neighbour," Kusanagi explained. "I just thought someone like you seemed a little out of place in this neighbourhood." It was true, to some extent. Kusanagi wasn't really a neighbour. To be so, he would have required a home. But he had spent so much time in this part of Tokyo that it felt more like home than anywhere else. This was where he had watched over Kaede. This was where he now watched over Momiji, so that she wouldn't suffer the same fate as her sister.

"I'm here to see a friend of mine," the kid explained.

"Which friend?" Kusanagi smirked and crossed his arms.

"None of your business, carrot-head," the kid said with a growl. Kusanagi felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It was like the kid was surrounded by an invisible aura of menace that he could feel in his gut. But Kusanagi didn't let scary things he couldn't see slow him down.

"Now get out of my way," the kid demanded.

"Are you gonna make me, pipsqueak?"

"I don't want to hurt you..." The kid shifted forward a bit. "...but I will."

"Akira, Kusanagi!"

Both turned to look as the newcomer exited the house. Kusanagi sighed. It was Kunikida's new 'houseguest'. She was dressed in a long black trenchcoat and baggy black pants, contrasted by a thin white t-shirt.

"Ukyou..." the kid turned towards the houseguest and seemed to calm down. "You know this jerk?"

"Indeed." Ukyou sighed and ran a hand through her bangs. "Akira, this is Kusanagi. He's a... friend of Momiji. You know, the girl who lives here?"

"Oh..." Akira turned to face Kusanagi. His mirrored visor stared into Kusanagi's face for a long moment, and Kusanagi found himself suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Ohhhh..." the kid said meaningfully. He shook his head and shrugged.

"What 'ohhh'? What do you mean?" Kusanagi snapped.

"Nothing." The kid turned to Ukyou again and reached under his neck to undo the straps on his helmet. "Listen, Ukyou, we need to talk..." With a clean jerk, the kid removed his helmet. He shook his head, letting his short brown hair flow free. He smiled, his pretty face lighting up and...

Whoa. That was no dude.

"You're a chick!" Kusanagi yelled, pointing accusingly at Akira.

"Uh... yes..." Akira backed away from him.

"For cryin' out loud!" Kusanagi threw his hands into the air. "Aren't any of you people normal?" Ukyou raised an eyebrow at his comment, but didn't respond. Akira just sort of looked down at her feet and shuffled them. "First that Ranma girl is actually a guy, and then you turn out to be a girl, and now the biker kid is a girl and... augh!"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Kusanagi," Kunikida said as he stepped outside. He was chuckling to himself. "These martial artists seem to be an eccentric lot by nature."

"I don't know why you put up with them..." Kusanagi growled and crossed his arms again.

"They needed my help," Kunikida sighed. "Anyway, I suggest the three of you come inside." He grinned reassuringly. "After all, Momiji made cookies!"

"Yay, cookies!" Akira cheered and dashed inside.

Kusanagi blinked. "'Yay, cookies'?"

"Akira is a complex girl..." Ukyou explained with a little smile before she turned to follow her friend. Kusanagi glanced at the old man, who could only shrug.

Momiji had indeed made cookies. She was standing over the stove, placing the last of them in a small paper-lined basket when Kusanagi made his way in. She looked over at him and smiled. He paused, his breath catching temporarily. Damn... why did she have to look so much like her sister? It made his heart hurt. Momiji then turned and started towards the table... and her feet caught on something, and then she was falling.

Momiji screeched as she plummeted and Kusanagi couldn't help but chuckle. That was the Momiji he knew. Kaede would have never fallen like that. Of course, he could have caught her, but then she wouldn't have fallen with her skirt flapping about in the breeze and he would have lost a perfectly good chance to peek at her panties. It was then that Akira shouted and sprung into action. Kusanagi stared as the black-clad girl moved like a flash, her hand reaching out and... catching the basket of cookies. Then she snapped the basket back, catching a small black morsel that had been sent flying. And then another, and another. Her free hand shot out in the other direction, snapping bits of cookie from the air with lightning-fast precision.

Momiji collided with the floor face-first. She lay on the ground, backside thrust into the air, her skirt spilling hopelessly down her body. Oh, she was wearing the little penguins today.

"Thanks..." Momiji said with a groan.

"Not a problem..." Akira said with a sigh, then she looked down at Momiji... and froze. Her eye twitched, and the basket fell from her suddenly nerveless fingers. The sound of the basket striking the floor caught her attention and she stared down at the spilled contents in horror. "Ah! No! Five second rule! Five second rule!" In another flash Akira bent over and quickly began to pluck the spilled cookies from the ground and place them in the basket. She sighed once she was finished and reverently placed them on the table. Momiji slowly picked herself up. The cookies were black as charcoal, but a quick sniff and a tiny bite proved that they were edible... if not spectacular.

"So?" Momiji said as she sat down across from Kusanagi. Well, except Ukyou. Ukyou seemed to be distracted by the papers she was reading. Kusanagi glanced at them out of the corner of his eye and saw they were all printed on the TAC's stationery. He also saw a few folders marked 'secret' or 'classified' sitting next to her.

"Not bad, princess." Momiji blushed and clasped her hands together. She really did look cute when she wasn't trying to be all serious.

"But I can't take all the credit. Miss Ukyou helped me out a lot..."

"I didn't do anything," Ukyou responded quickly. Kusanagi looked at her, she was staring mainly down at the papers. Then he blinked.

"What the hell?" He reached across the table and grabbed Ukyou's chin and pulled her face up to look him in the eyes. Yep. They were definitely black little flowers there instead of the usual human iris.

"Do you mind?" Ukyou snapped, knocking his hand aside.

"I thought you were human," Kusanagi said accusingly.

"She is," Kunikida reported. "According to every test Matsudaira could run on her, Ukyou here is one hundred percent biologically human. The shape of her eyes seems to be some sort of strange scar tissue or allergic reaction."

"Mmm... cookies..." Akira announced as she threw two more into her mouth. Everyone turned to stare at her, as the girl had already put five others in there. She closed her lips with some difficulty and began to laboriously chew. Her blissful look never left her face, even when she began to choke and turn blue as something went down the wrong pipe.

"I'm glad you like them..." Momiji grinned absently, sweating just a little bit.

"Just like mom used to make," Akira explained. "Mind if I have more?" Momiji nodded needlessly as Akira had already started piling more onto her plate.

"Where did Mr. Ranma go, anyway?" Momiji asked as Akira began to annihilate her plate. "I made so many because of him..."

"He and Ran are out exploring some leads for me," Ukyou explained. She didn't sound happy about her statement for some reason.

"Leads?" Kunikida asked pointedly

"I told you about the Sailor Senshi leaving town?" Ukyou explained. "And their families. I wanted them to check up on some other people I know that are involved with those girls." Ukyou tapped her fingers on the table absently. "If Chronos is involved... I want to know how much they know."

"Chronos?" Momiji asked.

"Never mind," Kunikida said a little too quickly. He looked significantly at Ukyou, who slowly closed her mouth instead of explaining. Kusanagi raised a set of eyebrows. They were keeping something from Momiji? He frowned.

He had never really trusted Ukyou. Kunikida seemed to trust her, though why was beyond Kusanagi. She was dangerous, and her enemies apparently even more so. He thought it was stupid for the old man to let her stay in his own house. But when Kusanagi had asked about it, the old man had just said 'This is the only place where I can keep it secret', and refused to explain.

"Oh!" Momiji sprung to her feet. "I forgot! Does anybody want some tea?"

"Yesh pwease," Akira managed to say as she pounded on her chest to try and drive down some more of the cookies she was eating.

Kusanagi stood up, shaking his head. While watching the kid try and choke herself to death was amusing, this was all getting a little too domestic for his tastes. Hanging around the house was just no fun without that guy Ranma to rib off of anyway. He began to turn to make an exit. Maybe he would come back a little later and finally get around to seeing just what that 'martial arts prodigy' could do when he wasn't sucker-punching you.

There was a harsh clatter as Ukyou stood up suddenly. Kusanagi looked back over his shoulder at her. She was staring at one of the walls. Kusanagi turned his gaze in the same direction but only saw the spice rack. Then he heard it. Gunshots.

"You hear it, too?" Ukyou asked.

"Yeah..." Kusanagi stepped around the table and began to roll up his sleeves.

"Hear what?" Kunikida asked, concerned. The two girls were also blinking at the standing duo.

"A battle..." Ukyou explained. "It's getting closer!"

"A battle..." Kunikida blinked. Then he leapt to his feet. His chair clattered to the floor behind him as he sprinted over to his trenchcoat. He began to fish in his pockets.

"What's going on?" Akira said somberly. She was standing now too. Momiji hadn't yet risen to her feet, but her expression was becoming more serious by the second.

"Four blocks away... no, three and a half..." Ukyou cocked her head to the side and closed her eyes. "Four life forces, powerful ones. Whoever it is, they aren't holding back."

"Martial artists?" Kunikida said as he pulled his cellphone from his pocket. "But you heard gunshots. I thought you people didn't use guns."

"Some of us do. Like that Doll from the other day." Ukyou said and stepped forward. Then she stopped, wincing. She reached down and clutched her side.

"You're still not recovered," Akira pointed out.

"I know..." Ukyou sighed.

"I'll protect you!" Akira shouted and sprinted from the room.

"Wait!" Ukyou held up her hand, then let it drop with a sigh. "Kids these days..."

"I think she can handle herself." Kusanagi said with a shrug. "She seemed pretty tough."

"Kusanagi!" Momiji yelled as she stood up. "You go out there and help her right now!"

"Hey, this sounds like one of those martial arts things..." Kusanagi threw up his arms. "I'm strictly concerned with aragami hunting. Which is what keeps you alive, in case you've forgotten, princess."

Momiji glared at him, her cheeks puffing out as she held her breath. He sighed. If he didn't do anything, she would be giving him that look all week.

"All right, all right..." Kusanagi walked over to the window and flipped it open. "Did anybody ever tell you you're a brat, Momiji?" Kusanagi smirked and chuckled, leaping away before the girl could start screaming at him. It was just too easy to get a rise out of her. Not like Kaede-

Don't think about that.

Kusanagi leapt onto the roof and scouted the area. It didn't take long to spot the fight, although it was more of a chase. A single man was dashing along the rooftops, his long black cape flapping like a flag in the bright afternoon sunshine. Behind him were three girls, all dressed in skintight black bodystockings. Kusanagi leered. He wouldn't have been running from three girls that looked like that and...

Oh. The redhead in front was shooting at him.

Well. Whatever, then.

The man in black had reached their street and he leapt again. It was an impressive leap, and probably would have helped him clear the entire street. It was just that about halfway across the redhead leveled one of her pistols and fired again.

The bullet must have grazed him. He gasped in pain and spun out of control. With a painful-looking crash he fell just short of one of the houses on the other side of the road. Kusanagi bunched his legs and leapt, flashing across the distance to land next to the guy.

He was tall, and wearing a tuxedo and top hat, of all things. He was also wearing a domino mask. He had landed sprawled out on the lawn, but was trying to regain his feet. The shoulder of his outfit was ripped open, and an ugly red line ran across his exposed flesh. Kusanagi glanced across the street.

The redhead was standing there, calmly leveling her weapons. Kusanagi had never been afraid of guns. His partially aragami physique could shrug off trauma that would kill a human being, and he regenerated much faster from such severe injuries. But the girl wasn't aiming at him.

Then she staggered back, dropping one of her pistols. Kusanagi's eyes flicked, following the path of the acorn that had knocked her weapon loose. Akira was standing in the street, her hair billowing around her head in the breeze. She did not look pleased.

"Hey!" Akira shouted. "Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?"

The girl glanced at her. She was a bit taller than Akira, and much better developed. Not that this was saying much, considering Akira apparently hadn't 'sprouted' yet. Even so, she couldn't have been over seventeen years old. But her eyes... they weren't the eyes of a girl. They were the eyes of a killer.

"Satsuki, Marz... deal with her," the girl said quickly.

Akira ducked suddenly. Another of the girls, a brunette this time, seemed to materialize from the shadows. A silver flash was all Kusanagi saw, and a few strands of hair were suddenly floating in the air above Akira's head. The tree she had been standing beside toppled over, cut cleanly.

Akira spun on her heel, and suddenly her duck turned into a leap as she came up foot-first and caught her opponent square in the chin. The older girl flew backwards, losing her grip on the old-fashioned sword she was carrying. But another girl leapt down behind Akira, her elbow coming in steep and catching the biker chick off-guard. With a cry, Akira fell to the ground.

Kusanagi was about to run over, when he heard the gunshot. Acting on instinct, he threw himself back. He felt the bullet roll along the edge of his chest and hissed in pain. A small geyser of dust exploded from the grass behind him, and the front of his shirt shredded in the wake of the bullet's passing.

He glanced up, and saw that the girl had retrieved her other pistol. She was also leaping down from the rooftop, and suddenly both guns were blazing. Yelling a choice curse, Kusanagi leapt backward. The ground he had been standing on shredded.

The girl landed on the ground. Then she stepped sideways and cartwheeled off a tree, still firing with both weapons. Red flashes followed in the wake of her motions, and Kusanagi saw roses seemingly sprout up in the wake of her steps. He glanced back, and saw tux-boy flinging a steady stream of the flowers at her.

"Idiot!" Kusanagi shouted as he took cover behind a car. The windows exploded around him, showering him with glass. "Get out of here!"

"I'm not going to run away from people trying to help me!" Tux-boy explained as he dived to the side. Without Kusanagi in the open, pistol bitch had turned her attention back to him. Kusanagi growled and flexed his arms. With a painful jerk his blades tore free of his forearms.

"Just stay down! I'll handle this!"

Kusanagi leapt over the top of the car. Bullets whizzed by him as he rolled forward. He kicked sideways, but not fast enough to avoid a bullet that tore a gouge along his side. Green blood flashed out behind him in an arc as he charged. He was roaring at the top of his lungs. The girl met his charge with one of her own.

They met in the street. She leapt up and Kusanagi responded in kind. Her feet flashed up and she struck him in the chest, kicking away. He fell back. She flew up. Her pistols trained straight downward. Kusanagi caught the oncoming ground with one hand and pushed it away.

The pavement tore apart. She fell back down, vanishing behind a geyser of veins in Kusanagi's arms bulged. With a roar he launched himself through the dust.

The girl was caught off-balance. She had been trying to slip sideways on him, but he barreled into her with a flying bearhug. The air exploded from her lungs and she skidded backwards along the ground. Kusanagi latched onto her waist and grit his teeth as some of the skin was rubbed off the arm trapped under her.

Kusanagi had caught one of her arms, pinning that gun uselessly to her side. The other was free. Her pretty face was twisted in a grimace of pain as they came to a stop. She still managed to swing her other hand around and place the barrel of the pistol against Kusanagi's forehead.

A rose appeared, its stem sticking straight through the barrel. The girl's eyes widened. Kusanagi grinned. With a roar he stood up, then flipped backward. The woman had time to gasp before he drove her face-first into the pavement.

Kusanagi let go slowly and rose to his feet. "Thanks," he shot towards tux-boy. He wasn't sure if he could have survived a headshot, and was glad enough that he hadn't been forced to find out.

"Anytime..."

Kusanagi turned to see how the other fight was going.

Akira wasn't doing well. The blue-haired chick was keeping her busy, but the real problem was the brunette. She kept appearing on Akira's blind side, striking whenever it appeared that Akira was gaining the upper hand. The biker girl was forced to abort her attack, and just narrowly avoid being gutted. Then her other opponent would step in and deliver a punishing strike.

Kusanagi stepped forward, ready to put a stop to that-

"Kusanagi! Behind you!"

Momiji's warning came a second too late. With a pain-filled roar, Kusanagi's entire body jerked forward. A geyser of green blood erupted from his chest. He gasped for air and fell forward onto his knees.

He was able to turn and stare incredulously behind him. The girl was still standing. Granted, she was hunched over slightly, and her face was a mess of bruises and small cuts, but she was still holding her gun as steadily as ever.

What did it take to put these people down?

Tux-boy tackled him from the side, and Kusanagi was pushed out of the path of another bullet. The girl hissed, but Kusanagi wasn't about to let her get off a second shot. Ignoring the pain he leapt sideways, pulling tux-boy along for the ride.

Behind him he heard Akira cry out in pain. He glanced over and saw her staggering back towards the house. She was clutching her left shoulder, and blood was oozing between her fingers. Her luck appeared to be running out.

"Go help the girl!" Kusanagi yelled at tux-boy as they landed behind another car.

"But you're injured..."

"I'm fine!" Kusanagi grunted and clutched the hole in his abdomen. "I can survive something like this a lot better than she can." The boy looked at him skeptically. "Go, damn you!"

Tux-boy frowned, but nodded. He dashed away, sprinting only a few steps ahead of a barrage of gunfire. Kusanagi carefully took off his trenchcoat. He frowned at the hole in the back of it. He really, really liked this coat.

He dropped it on the ground and stood up. He glared at the girl. She was about to see what kind of a terrible mistake she had made.

"Okay, bitch." Kusanagi growled. He clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "It's time to put you down!" Kusanagi threw back his head and let his power release.

His body exploded. Blue fire surged from all seven of his mitama. His shirt disintegrated as his muscles suddenly expanded and great, bony spines erupted from his back and sides. His green hair whipped about in the wind. His shoes were torn apart as his feet became nimble claws. He roared in relief and excitement.

The woman only stared at him for a moment. Then she started firing. Kusanagi grinned and slid sideways. She might as well have been throwing sticks, as he completely encircled her before the bullet even reached his previous position. The girl paused, and he let her notice him before he struck back.

With a roar he thrust his fist at her. A bolt of blue lightning flashed from the mitama on the back of his hand and straight into her chest. The explosion threw her back with enough force that she crashed through a concrete wall surrounding someone's house.

"Kusanagi?" Momiji gasped. Kusanagi turned and saw the others all staring at him. Kunikida and Momiji were both standing in front of their house, with nearly identical shocked expressions on their faces. Ukyou was standing behind them, but her expression was only a dark frown.

"This is just my battle form," Kusanagi explained, mostly for Momiji's sake. He turned and started to walk towards the other two girls. They had both turned away from Akira and settled into combat stances in front of him. "You two had better give up. I can't completely control how much damage I dish out in this form." He raised a hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. "I've never killed a human before. But don't think I won't start now."

"Satsuki," the one with blue hair said as she started to circle right. "I will give you the time to deal with him."

Then with a roar she charged. Kusanagi shrugged and flashed forward. His knee caught her in the chin, and she floated backward for a moment before he thrust his palm into her face. Grabbing her around the skull, he continued running along the street. Her body flapped in the air behind him until he reached a large tree. With a roar he bound forward and cracked her head against the tree with enough force to nearly shatter the trunk.

Kusanagi's elation was short lived. Even as he released the blue-haired girl's head, she sprang to life again. She snapped her arms and legs around him, pinning his limbs to his side. He stared in shock. She was ramming her own arms into his spines and blades. Already blood was beginning to run as his battle-form cut at her.

"Are you insane?" Kusanagi growled. "I could tear you apart without even trying!" But Kusanagi hesitated, because unless he WANTED to tear her apart, there was no way for him to escape her vicelike grip. Even as he realized this, he looked behind him.

The brunette had appeared soundlessly there. She was already swinging her wickedly sharp sword in an arc that would neatly bisect his neck. But her teammate was holding him so tight she couldn't possibly avoid killing her too...

Kusanagi had a moment of terrible realization. They were willing to die to kill him. He closed his eyes, realizing he had been caught flat-footed. Even if he tore free of her grip, it would be too late to prevent the other girl's blow. He said a silent prayer to whatever gods would listen, that he would find Kaede waiting for him in the afterlife.

Kusanagi never got there.

He opened one eye, unsure why he wasn't dead. Then he saw the brunette completing her swing, but with most of the blade gone. The rest of it was stuck point-first in the soft loam nearby. Kusanagi blinked, and then he saw a tiny spatula quivering in the bark of the tree.

He glanced over to see Ukyou giving him a thumbs up. He also saw Akira standing just behind the brunette, her entire body bent forward.

"Take this!" Akira screamed as she stepped forward and thrust with both hands. Her palms collided with the brunette. Blue light exploded in the wake of her strike, and Kusanagi could swear he saw a flaming blue skull in the flash. The next thing he saw, the brunette was skidding down the street.

Then Akira turned her attention to the girl still holding onto Kusanagi. "Allow me," she offered in a cheerful tone. She grabbed the girl by both shoulders and somehow twisted her limbs so that she was forced to let go. The blue-haired girl screamed out as Akira practically wrenched her arms out of their sockets. With his arms free, Kusanagi reached up and grabbed her head, then brought his own forehead down with as much force as he could.

The collision hurt a little, but it caused her legs to loosen. With a stiff cry Akira tossed the girl back, and she landed sprawled out on the road. Her uniform had been torn in many places by the razor-sharp spines of Kusanagi's battle form. Akira was breathing hard, but there was a nasty little smile on her face.

"Marz, Satsuki, withdraw!"

Kusanagi turned around in shock. The redhead was not only still standing, she was running away. He growled and stepped forward, about to pursue.

"Kusanagi, stop!" Ukyou shouted. He glanced at her.

"Why?"

"You can't chase them down like that!" Ukyou gestured around the neighbourhood. "If you start attacking her all out, you're going to tear apart half of Tokyo!"

"So?"

"People will get hurt, you moron!"

Kusanagi paused.

"They'll get away..." Akira pointed out. Already Marz and Satsuki had gotten to their feet and were leaping away. Kusanagi boggled. What would it take to keep them down?

"Let them..." Ukyou crossed her arms. "I suspect they'll be back." She turned to glance at tux-boy. "They haven't finished their mission."

Tux-boy looked at Ukyou for a moment. "Are you Ukyou Kuonji?"

"Yes..."

The man in black sighed and slumped a little. "Good." He stepped forward and reached into his cape. "I need your help. I need you to help me save a little girl."

Ukyou's face was expressionless, but she nodded solemnly.

01010

"...once I eluded the Dolls, I went to ground for a few hours.

"I was trying to find Sailor Moon. But for some reason, I can't seem to find her. I've never really had a problem doing so before. I've always felt connected to her... even more so since I felt her call out for help a few days back. But, it just didn't matter how I looked, Sailor Moon was gone."

"Sailor Moon left town a few days ago," Ukyou explained. Akira glanced at her again. Ukyou was standing at the window, staring out into the street. Her back was to everyone else in the room.

"Left town?"

"I'll explain later, Tux-boy. Continue."

Akira sat back and tried to absorb the story. It seemed so strange, like everything else that she had learned about since meeting Ukyou. Magical warriors? He looked so normal now that his fancy clothes had faded away. He was wearing a sweater and pants borrowed from Mr. Kunikida that were slightly too large for him. Which was better, Akira supposed, than walking around in the shreds of his pants and no shirt. Momiji was still blushing when she looked at him.

"I decided to come here because Vega and his Dolls have been talking about you a lot. They've apparently been sent here to capture you for some sort of experiments..." He trailed off, but Ukyou didn't even react to his announcement. "And since you've helped out the Sailor Senshi in the past, I knew I could trust you to help me."

"So..." Kunikida leaned forward and lit a cigarette. "You want us to help you rescue this girl, Hotaru, I take it?"

"Yes! Of course I do!"

"We have to help him out, Mr. Kunikida," Momiji stated firmly.

"I don't really think this is our problem at all." Kusanagi frowned. He was leaning against the wall, his hands laced behind his neck. His shirt hadn't been replaced since he had transformed back from his 'battle form', but he was at least wearing his trenchcoat again.

"How can you say that, Kusanagi?" Momiji asked in shock.

"I'm just saying that this isn't our problem!" Kusanagi barked. "I'm here to protect you, princess, and to destroy the aragami."

"But it's a little girl, and she needs our help!"

"No!" Kusanagi pushed off the wall. He pointed at Ukyou's back, but she didn't even glance at him. "She needs their help!" He turned to face Momiji, and held up one clenched fist. "These martial artists ain't like normal people, and they ain't like aragami either. Ukyou said it herself: normal people have no business getting involved in their battles. The only thing you would accomplish by stepping in, Momiji, is getting yourself hurt!"

"Kusanagi..." Momiji's voice was soft, almost wounded.

"Damnit, old man!" He spun on Kunikida in a fury. "How could you get Momiji involved in this foolishness?"

"We don't have much choice..." Kunikida leaned back in his chair and puffed on his cigarette for a moment before continuing. "This battle, or one just like it, would have found its way to us eventually. There are forces at work here that run deeper than one little girl."

"He's right, Momiji," Ukyou spoke up suddenly. "Kunikida, you should stay out of this fight. We'll deal with the Dolls. And Vega."

"Ukyou, you're still injured!" Akira stood up suddenly. "You shouldn't get involved."

"I don't think I have much choice." Ukyou shook her head. "I can't leave Hotaru with that maniac, much less with Bison. They are playing around with forces that are far more dangerous than anything they can imagine."

"How dangerous?" Kunikida asked seriously.

"Apocalyptically dangerous. End of the world dangerous."

"You're exaggerating," Kusanagi scoffed.

"I wish I were." Ukyou shook her head. "Either way, Ranma and Ran are on their way back. Once Yaegashi finishes hacking that computer Tux-boy brought, we can track down Vega."

"I don't think you quite know what you're dealing with," Kusanagi said with a sneer. "Those three chicks aren't just tough, they're suicidal. Even I couldn't knock them out."

"That's because they're more than just martial artists." Ukyou walked towards the table. "While you were fighting them, I examined their auras. They aren't like normal human auras. They're tied together somehow, and drawing their life force from some sort of outside source." Ukyou sat down, grimacing as she bent her legs. "With a normal martial artist, you damage them enough and eventually they run out of chi, or life energy, to continue fighting. But every time you damage one of the Dolls, they just draw in more power like a sponge. I'm not even sure if it's possible to knock them out."

"What are you saying?" Akira asked pointedly.

"She's saying what I already knew." Kusanagi sighed and walked away from the group. "If you want to stop them, you're gonna have to kill them."

"Well..." Kunikida stroked his beard and sighed. "It would be regrettable, but if it is necessary..."

"NO!" Ukyou punctuated her outburst with a stiff strike to the table. The wooden table bounced in place. "We aren't going to kill them!"

"Why not?" Kusanagi shrugged. "They're suicidal, and want to kill all of you. Or worse."

"Because they're victims... they're just..." Ukyou stopped. She closed her eyes.

"No. It's deeper than that." Ukyou's voice had taken on a strange intensity. Akira, and everyone else, grew quiet as she spoke in a soft but forceful manner. "I just won't be a party to it. Not to save my life. Not to save Hotaru's. Murder is the ultimate sin. Killing in self-defence? Killing to protect? These are justifications." Her eyes opened, and Akira saw more fire in her gaze than she had ever seen before. "It's too easy to justify murder. One life to save your own. One life to save another. Then where next? How many steps down the road to hell do you have to walk before you say 'I've gone far enough'? Because I don't think that there is any turning back. I don't think innocence, once lost, can ever be regained.

"You have to draw a line. A bright shining line and say, 'This far, and no further!' I refuse to compromise myself, by allowing myself to commit murder, no matter how justified. That is my bright shining line. That is the one boundary I will not cross. Not just because I think it's the right thing to do, but because I need to. I won't pretend I'm a perfect person, I've done plenty of things I'm not proud of. I can't take them back. I've already compromised too much of myself. Not one step further."

Ukyou looked up at Kusanagi. The orange-skinned man was gazing at her intently. His expression was not condescending, or angry, or joking like all the other times Akira had seen him. He looked impressed.

"Okay," Kusanagi nodded and stepped back over to the table. "You've convinced me. I'll help you out." He looked over at Momiji, who was watching Ukyou with a slightly awed expression. Akira felt the way she looked. "But Momiji stays out of this."

"Agreed."

"Wait-"

"Don't argue with them, Momiji," Kunikida said sternly. "Remember that you have your own responsibilities. As the Kushinada, your duty is to protect the people of Japan from the aragami." His voice and face softened considerably before he continued. "I know you want to help, but you can't save the world. Part of being an adult is realizing that there are some problems that you simply can't solve. If you keep trying to pick up every victim, eventually you'll be carrying so many people on your back that their weight will drag you down with them."

"It's just... unfair..." Momiji sighed and cupped her chin in both hands. Ukyou smiled a little at that.

"Life usually is," Kusanagi said. He was trying to sound gruff and cynical, but his tone was too gentle to carry it off.

"That still leaves us with what we're going to do," Akira pointed out.

"She's right..." Tux-b... er, Mamoru said into the silence that followed her statement. "The Dolls won't give up. They've been hounding me relentlessly for over a day now." He frowned and clenched his hand into a fist. "This is just like Vega! That monster wanted this to happen!" His knuckles turned white. "I should have stayed and fought!"

"What do you mean?" Ukyou asked directly.

"Vega and the Dolls, they've been at odds with each other for days." Mamoru gritted his teeth, his words coming out in a hiss. "He keeps trying to get them out of his way, so he can do whatever it is he has planned for Hotaru." He stood up with a yell. "I should have seen it! He LET me go! He gave me something that the Dolls can't possibly return to him without. He wanted them to come after me. He knew I would come to you. He wants us to fight them to the death! He planned it all! Monster!"

"Calm down, Mamoru!" Ukyou barked. Mamoru didn't seem willing to calm down, he kept shaking with anger and guilt. Akira stood up slowly, drew back her hand, and slapped him. He gawked at her.

"You won't do anybody any good if you can't think straight," Akira said. "So you walked into your enemy's plot?" Akira slowly began to sit down. "Earlier this year, someone kidnapped my brother. To save him, I took control of his old gang and went out looking. I was angry, and let my anger get control of me. I fought a lot of people, let the violence between the gangs escalate. I didn't realize I was playing right into the hands of the person who had kidnapped my brother." She sighed and rested her chin on her hands. "I'm not proud of what happened. It took a good friend of mine to tell me what I was doing wrong, how I was working for the enemy even as I tried to thwart him." She looked up at Mamoru again. "But I learned something. In these kind of situations, you have to stick together. Together, as friends, we can defeat Vega and do so without killing the Dolls."

Mamoru paused, looking down at her. Then he smiled, an act which lit up his face. Akira saw Momiji blush out of the corner of her eye. She smiled back at the young man, but her smile was small and shy.

"You're right." He shook his head and sat down.

"Then it just remains to decide how to deal with the Dolls without killing them..." Kunikida said. He pulled his nearly vanished cigarette from his mouth and snubbed it out in a small bowl.

"Well..." Momiji tapped the table. "If they're drawing on some sort of outside energy source, why don't you just shut off their connection to it?"

"Heh." Ukyou shook her head. "Simple and elegant. I like it." Then she frowned slightly. "The problem is how. The source of their energy is the Psychodrive... and forgetting that I don't even known where that is with any more precision than 'Thailand', it's also guarded by Bison, the other nine Dolls, and the rest of Shadowloo."

"Maybe there's a way to do it on this end?" Mamoru suggested.

"If Sailor Moon were here, maybe." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs. "Basically what Bison did to them was take normal girls and brainwash them, then fill them with his own energy. Sounds like exactly our errant moon princess's cup of tea." She looked at Mamoru. "I don't suppose you have any way to unbrainwash people in your bag of tricks?"

"Not that I'm aware of..." Mamoru laced his fingers together. "Granted, my memories of Tuxedo Kamen are still vague, but I don't think I have any mystical powers like that."

"Brainwashing?" Akira asked.

"Yes." Ukyou nodded. "Pretty sophisticated stuff too."

Akira frowned. Her mind flashed back to the beginning of the year. She remembered Roy and his friends attacking her and that absent, savage look in their eyes. Even after they had been driven off, the American students had still been enemies. But later, Batsu and his friends had fought them and driven the evil from them somehow. And Ms. Kyoko and her friend the teacher had also been dangerous. But nothing Akira could do could snap them out of it, not until Batsu and Kyosuke showed up looking for Hinata.

Kyosuke.

Kyosuke, whose brother had been behind the brainwashing.

Kyosuke, who knew a lot about what had been going on, but always played things close to his chest.

Nobody else had questioned how it was that only Batsu and Kyosuke seemed able to knock people back to their senses just by defeating them. Akira had always found the idea strange. But now that she thought about it...

"I know someone who can help." Akira stood up. "If someone is controlling these girls against their will, I know someone who can put an end to that."

01010

Fevrier held up her hand. It was shaking. She took a long breath. She could feel the power inside her. Every cell of her body was singing. Even her hair hummed with the invisible force. It was pure, awesome and magnificent.

If she didn't get control over it, she would die.

Fevrier released her breath. The hand began to shake less. It wasn't good enough. Her body ached. The beating she had received at the hands of Mamoru Kusanagi would have crippled, even killed a normal person. Only the power had kept her from crumbling under the assault... the same power which would rip her apart unless she mastered it.

Fevrier closed her eyes and concentrated. The Psychopower. It was pure. It was unfiltered, unrestrained aggression. It was passion and power to a level that was inhuman. This was both its blessing, and its curse. Psychopower was unrivaled power, as much more potent than chi as chi was more potent than human muscle alone.

But the human body was not designed to handle it. Even Lord Bison could not stand to channel too much at once, lest his body disintegrate under the strain. Fevrier and her sisters had been altered, perfected, so that they too were able to channel that power. But they were nowhere near Lord Bison.

Fevrier opened her eyes. Her hand was still. She would have smiled, but the instinct had been so thoroughly eradicated that it was easy to repress.

Opening their bodies to so much of the Psychopower at once had been dangerous. But Vega's orders had been clear. The young man known as Tuxedo Kamen had to die, regardless of the consequences. She curled her hand into a fist. The amount of Psychopower she had been forced to absorb should have killed her. All the scientists had told her that she should have fallen apart long before that.

The scientists were fools. They thought that Fevrier was the last of a failed series. Dolls incapable of manipulating the Psychopower at the level that Lord Bison wished. They were obsessed with their experimental new toys. But Fevrier had just proven them wrong. She was perfect. Her body could handle more than they thought.

"They're moving."

Fevrier glanced up as Satsuki faded out of the shadows nearby. The Japanese Doll was still shaking slightly. Satsuki was another of the old guard, and hadn't even drawn in nearly as much as Fevrier had been forced to in that battle.

"Where?" Marz asked. The final Doll of their task force was sitting in a chair nearby. Her torso, arms and upper thighs were covered in bandages. The bleeding had stopped, however.

"They've split up into two groups," Satsuki explained. "The girl Akira left with the primary target. The others remained at the house and took an unmarked white van to another location, a warehouse by the waterfront."

"Why didn't you follow the primary target?"

"Because that wasn't the primary target," Fevrier said as she stood up. "It was a ruse."

"So I suspected."

"Prepare yourselves." Fevrier held up her arm again, the red gauntlet that covered her entire forearm glinting in the light. "We'll attack while they think we are chasing their deception."

"Is that wise?" Marz asked, but she was also standing up. "Our bodies haven't recovered entirely from the last combat. Our battle abilities are not at one hundred percent."

"We will do it." Fevrier looked into her sister Doll's eyes. "Vega is up to something. He sent us out after the boy, knowing full well we would encounter resistance we couldn't overcome." She lowered her fist. "But he underestimates us. We will accomplish our mission because we are perfect! Once we are finished, then we shall report Vega's activities to Lord Bison."

The other two Dolls nodded. A second later, the room was empty but for a curtain blowing restlessly in front of the open window.

01010

"The sun had set, and not a soul could be seen walking the streets of this forgotten corner of Tokyo. The city lights glowed faintly in the distance, and flickering pools of light descended from the unreliable street lamps. On all sides nothing but black, windowless, uninviting warehouses loomed. The air was damp, and the daylight heat was now fading away.

"The building was modest, like any other around it. Outside, you couldn't have told it from any of the others. Inside it was practically empty, except for a pile of boxes covered in a tarp in one corner. The only other object of note was the large white van parked in the center. It could have been a scene from any of a thousand other warehouses, anywhere in the world.

"But it wasn't. In this room, an epic battle was about to be waged. A blow that would be struck in silence and darkness would be made against the predatory forces of the underworld. Shadowloo, a criminal cartel so large it astounds the imagination, was after something here. But the government of Japan was not about to let them have it. Brave law enforcement officers, working with concerned citizens, were preparing for a confrontation with this enemy.

"The tension in the room was reaching a fever pitch..."

Ran sighed.

"Man. This is so BORING!"

She threw up her hands in frustration and leaned back in her chair. She was already balancing it on the back two legs, and the shift only further threw off her balance. With a small eep Ran began to pinwheel her arms and kick her legs in a futile attempt to regain her center. But her years of martial arts training via observation deserted her and she tipped backward-

Ranma grabbed her arm and she came to a halt. Ran stared down at him. He was smiling and shaking his head, his deep blue eyes flashing. Ran grinned back at him.

"Well?" Ranma asked.

"Well what?"

"Thank you, maybe?"

"Hey. I had it under control." Ran put on a mock pout.

"You did?" Ranma's smile turned into a grin and his eyes began to flicker mischievously.

"I will have you know, stud, that I have trained long and hard at looking like I wasn't in control so that I- ACK!"

Ran should have seen it coming, but was still caught off-guard when Ranma released her. The back of her head collided with the concrete floor and she cried out in pain. Ranma was laughing at her. Well, two could play at that game.

Ran rolled over and made an exaggerated moan. She grabbed the back of her head and curled partly into a fetal position, moaning and groaning all the while. She even managed to squeeze out some crocodile tears. Ranma stopped laughing instantly. He was suddenly standing over her, his own chair clattering to the floor.

"Ran?" Ranma gasped out. "Aw, man. I didn't mean to really hurt ya! C'mon Ran... it ain't that bad, is it..."

"I think..." Ran groaned. "I think you broke my... medulla oblongata..."

"Ah shit! Not your oblong!" Ranma began to wring his hand in worry. "Quick, someone get that doctor chick over here and..."

Ranma trailed off. Perhaps it was because Ran's tears were no longer faked, but instead caused by her overwhelming case of the giggles. She turned over and watched as his face went from shocked, to annoyed, to bemused in a matter of moments.

"Geez, Ran," Ranma said as he offered her his hand. "Don't go scaring me like that. I thought you might be really hurt."

Ran let him pull her to her feet. She also made sure to stagger forward as she did so, forcing him to catch her in his arms. "I was hurt, you dumbass." Ran felt her chest pressing against his. He was warm. His scent was much stronger here, when she was next to him. "I'll be lucky if I don't have a bruise there and..." Ran trailed off. What was that smell? It was... soft. It tickled at the back of her memory.

She looked up into his face, and he was looking down at her. His cheeks were slightly flushed. Ran felt heat rising in her own.

"If you two are QUITE through..."

Ranma and Ran shot apart. Ranma started whistling off-key and rubbing the back of his neck, trying to look nonchalant. Ran, for her part, gave Ukyou a glare.

Ukyou was sitting at the small table set up behind the van. She and Mamoru were playing a game of cards. But her new black lotus eyes were staring expressionlessly, fixed totally on Ran. She resisted the urge to smirk or stick her tongue out. There wasn't anything really hostile about the way Ukyou was looking at her. It was just... uncomfortable to be stared at like that. It was like Ukyou was peering straight into her soul, but just didn't care. Getting new eyes had only upped the creepy factor of her gaze.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to, Ran," Ukyou explained. "I'm certain you have school tomorrow."

"And miss this story?" Ran chuckled. "You're getting a little transparent, Ukyou." She held up one finger and waved it at the girl. "I gave you a chance. In fact, I gave you a lot of chances. Three days worth." Ran winked at the girl. "No use getting jealous now."

"Jealous of what?" Ranma asked obliviously.

"Nothing, Ranma," Ran responded easily. "Just girl talk."

"Oh. Right." Ranma shrugged. Ran chuckled and shook her head. Whenever Ranma wasn't being annoyingly pig-headed, he could be endearingly dumb. Really, he and her made a perfect couple. The only thing Ran had to do was decide how best to break the news that they were dating to him. Ranma, she figured, needed a light touch.

"I think Miss Kuonji wants you to at least keep the noise down," Mamoru said with a shrug. He placed a card on the table. Ukyou, without even looking, picked it up, shuffled her hand, and placed down her cards.

"Gin."

"How do you do that?" Mamoru asked with a sigh.

"I cheat," Ukyou replied matter-of-factly.

"I can't help it if I'm bored out of my skull." Ran retrieved her chair and sat back down at the table. "I've gone three days without a major scoop. The anticipation is getting to me, is all."

"Ran, this isn't about a newspaper story," Ukyou explained calmly as she began to deal out the cards again. Mamoru stared down at the cards on the tiny table for a moment, then sighed and picked up his hand anyway. "Lives are at stake."

"I know that, Ukyou," Ran replied a little sarcastically.

"If you're really bored, tell me more about what you found out this afternoon."

"What's there to tell?" Ran shrugged. "We couldn't find any of them."

"Could you be more specific?"

"Well..." Ranma broke in as he sat down opposite Mamoru. "We went to all the addresses, and none of them were there. The racer chick, the violinist or the little kid."

"I know where Hotaru went..." Ukyou said slowly. "But the other two Outer Senshi..." Ukyou frowned slightly. "They shouldn't even be awake yet. Chronos would have no reason to attack them. Are you certain it was only four girls that Chris took with him when he left?"

"Uh... if you mean four besides all the ones from China and Akane..." Ranma paused and looked down at his fingers for a moment. "Yep. Four of 'em."

"What about you, Tux-boy?"

"Could you please stop calling me that?" Mamoru asked plaintively.

"Force of habit," Ukyou said with a shrug and continued without pause. "Did Vega mention anything about the other Senshi while he was holding you?"

"I think he did..." Mamoru frowned. "Apparently the device that the Dolls built for him detected nine Senshi, only eight of which were in the country. He never mentioned anything about going to check on the Outer Senshi..."

"Well, if he did, there is little we can do about it for now..." Ukyou sighed. "Isn't that right!"

Ran blinked as Ukyou suddenly whirled in her seat. Her trenchcoat flared out and her hands flashed out from under it. Spinning silver flashes crossed the room and embedded themselves in a shadowed corner of the warehouse. The tiny sound of their impacts echoed in the silence for a moment. A figure faded into view, standing in the corner. Her body was exactly in the middle of the cluster of throwing spatulas.

Ran watched the figure stepped forward, It was one of the girls from the hospital attack. She was still dressed in a skin-tight black bodysuit. On her arms were a pair of red, open-fingered gauntlets that covered her entire forearm. She was also wearing a tiny military cap on top of her short brown hair. There was a hiss as she drew the katana she was carrying sheathed on her back.

How had Ran failed to notice her? She glanced at Ukyou, who was standing but still using the back of her chair for support.

"Stealth compromised... Proceeding with mission. Primary target acquired!"

The girl gave a shout and charged forward. Ranma was already running to meet her. There was a clatter as Mamoru rose to his feet, and in a swirl of rose petals (rose petals?) was suddenly clad in a top hat, tuxedo and opera mask. He was about to follow Ranma when Ukyou grabbed his arm.

"There are still two more..." she explained.

Ran watched him nod in understanding out of the corner of her eye, but most of her attention was riveted on Ranma. Her fingers twitched. She wished she still had her camera.

Ranma had reached the Doll with amazing speed, but she was not caught off-guard by his charge. She crouched and thrust her hand at the ground. A plume of smoke erupted around her. Ranma cursed and barreled through it, but the Doll had already leapt high into the air. She came down at his back, her sword glistening in the electric lights. Her blow didn't even come near Ranma, as he continued out from under her at full speed.

With a cry, the boy flipped forward. His feet caught the wall and he spring-boarded back at her. The girl landed. Her eyes turned to him. His fist caught her solidly in the side of the face. She didn't even cry out in pain as she was driven off her feet.

Ranma caught himself with one hand and cartwheeled past her. Her hand flashed up and Ran saw a half-dozen tiny daggers leave her palm and start speeding towards Mamoru.

Acting on instinct, Ran kicked the table. The plastic object flipped forward and caught Mamoru in the back of the knees. He cried out and toppled over, but the throwing daggers passed harmlessly over his head. Ukyou stepped neatly to the side, avoiding his collapse.

As she did so, Ukyou's hand flicked upward again. Her own shuriken-like weapons flew up into the rafters. Ran followed their path, and saw two more black-clad figures leaping apart. They fell the two stories from the roof, landing in graceful crouches. One had vivid fuchsia hair, while the other's was a sharp blue. Otherwise, they were practically identical, in build, outfit, and expression.

Mamoru rose to his feet. He was now holding a cane in one hand, almost like a sword. Ran slipped into her own combat stance. Even if Ukyou's senses were more acute than hers, Ran noted with a grimace, Ukyou was still too injured to fight. Ran would have to help keep her alive.

"Main priority objective is also present," the blue-haired girl noted to her companion as she stood up.

"Excellent. We can complete both objectives at once," the redhead replied. "Satsuki, Marz..." The leader drew a pair of pistols from behind her back. "Keep the others busy while I deal with the primary target!"

"I don't think so!" Ranma roared. He was already airborne, his body flipping in a neat arc as he flew over the leader's head. The girl snapped her guns up and fired, but Ranma was already landing. With a cry, he burst forward and sunk his fist into her gut. Her entire body buckled over his fist, but her expression did not so much as flicker.

Even as their momentum carried them forward, the leader swung up her hand and pistol-whipped Ranma. He cried out in shock and stumbled to the side. She continued flying straight and smashed with a deafening bang into the boxes at the back of the warehouse.

"Ranma!" Ran dashed forward. As she did, she reached into her bulky vest and drew out a few spare papers. With a flick of her wrist she snapped them straight, and another flick sent them flying after the redhead. The Doll looked up, but didn't even flinch as the sheets flashed past her on all sides. She might have been right not to worry, if Ran had been aiming for her.

With a creak, the boxes the redhead had crashed into began to groan. Her head snapped up and her eyes widened. Ran grinned. The cables that had been holding the boxes in place made wild cracking sounds as they whipped through the air freely. The boxes, already shaking from the redhead's impact with them, didn't need much more convincing to start tumbling out of their neatly arranged piles. The girl had only enough time to throw her arms over her head before the entire mass washed down on her like an avalanche.

"Hah! Take that!"

"Ran!"

The air exploded from Ran's lungs as she was tackled to the ground, She heard the whish of more throwing daggers flashing over her head. She looked down, half-expecting to see Ranma. Instead it was Mamoru who was rising to a crouch over her. He turned and grinned down at her.

"One good turn deserves another, hmm?"

"Thanks!" Ran laughed and flowed to her feet.

Ranma was busy nearby, dueling the blue-haired Doll. He was flowing with amazing grace, his body dancing around her blows. Even as he did, his limbs flashed forward and struck her. Her body would jerk and snap backward with each blow, but she was simply not going down. It was eerie, as the only sound from their battle was the meaty thunk of Ranma striking her. Ran could see from his expression that it was beginning to unnerve even him.

"Akira..." Ran looked over to see Ukyou speaking into a small walkie- talkie. "Tell Kusanagi it's time."

Ran's attention was wrenched away as Mamoru gave a war cry and suddenly met the brown-haired Doll in mid-air. His cane met her sword with a metallic ring and sparks flew between them. They passed each other, their weapons flickering in an intricate exchange before their paths diverged. Even as they landed, the two immediately turned and sprung back into the air, directly towards each other.

But just as he prepared to strike, Mamoru was suddenly blinded as the Doll threw a smoke bomb in his face. He gasped, and his defense fell. Ran cursed and drew back her hand, snapping taut another paper. But she wouldn't be fast enough, that ninja Doll was lightning-quick and her blade was already arcing in towards the boy's abdomen...

Then the wall exploded. The shockwave was enough that Ran was knocked off her feet. The world tumbled end over end before she found purchase and halted her roll. She glanced up, but the air was empty. She heard a masculine groan from nearby and turned to see Mamoru getting to his feet. He was clutching his stomach, and an angry red line traced its way down his chest. But the cut was shallow, and while bloody, was far from life-threatening. It didn't take her long to find the ninja Doll, who had been blown further into the warehouse by the blast.

"Hey, everybody!" a new voice roared. A figure strode into the room through the hole that had been blown through the wall of the warehouse at floor level. He was inhuman. It wasn't just the orange skin and green hair: his body was simply not human. Huge overlapping blue plates covered his shoulders, and green bony spines emerged from his back to form a fork over his head. Wickedly curved green blades emerged from his forearms, and even his elbows had dangerous looking spikes thrusting from them. He was naked from the waist up, and three small blue objects glowed eerily from the center of his breast, matching the ones he had on each palm. The cuffs of his pants had been torn to shreds, and he was standing on two clawed feet. "Time for round two, isn't it?"

With a roar, the newcomer flashed forward. Ran blinked, and missed his entire charge. All she saw was Ranma's and Mamoru's opponents go flying. They both collided with the back wall with enough force to leave a huge dent in the concrete, before falling to the ground less than a foot from each other. The monster landed a few feet away from them, grinning. His sharp teeth flashed in the light.

The Dolls got up. They rose in silence, their expressions not changing.

He roared again, and snapped his hands out. Blue lightning exploded from the gems on the back of his hands and caught both girls in the chest. A titanic concussion drove all sound from the room and caused Ran's skirt to flap madly around her legs. She was able to brace herself and keep from being sent flying.

When the dust cleared, the orange-skinned monster was standing where he had been. A five meter wide section of the back wall had simply vanished. The Dolls were lying in a crater his attack had melted into the floor, black scorch marks radiating outward from their bodies. Their body-stockings had been partially disintegrated by the blast, with only barely enough left to preserve their decency.

The Dolls got up.

One had blood leaking from the corner of her lip. The other couldn't open one eye. But they both moved with the same ease. The monster growled, and flashed forward again. Ran literally didn't see him move, just saw him suddenly materialize with his fist embedded in the gut of the ninja Doll. His palm came up and caught her in the chin, and she was sent flying outside. The other Doll was moving to strike him from behind, but the monster simply vanished out from under her fist. He appeared behind her and his knee came up and caught her in the side. Her body bent in a way Ran thought the human body wasn't supposed to. Then his fist smashed into the back of her skull and she flew out of the building to crash into the body of her companion.

The Dolls got up.

"Oh c'mon! This is insane!" the monster growled.

"Kusanagi! Back off!" Ukyou yelled.

"I have them..."

"You're going to kill them at this rate!" Ukyou shouted back. "Don't you have any control at all?"

"I can hold back..." Kusanagi replied, but his voice sounded unsure.

He looked back suddenly as the Dolls charged him. He snapped his arms up, his wicked blades coming into ready position. Then he snarled, closed his eyes and vanished. Ran gasped, half-expecting to see the two girls suddenly cut in two. Instead she heard a metallic clatter as Kusanagi landed on the van behind her. The Dolls carried through their attack, but without a target they stumbled to recover.

"Their bodies are still absorbing Psychopower..." Ukyou said as the Dolls regrouped. "No matter how fast you injure them, they compensate with more power. We can't defeat them with brute force."

"We can," Kusanagi replied with a snort. "You just have to kill them."

"We can defeat them without killing them," Ukyou said in a way that made you believe her.

The Dolls had walked over to the fallen crates, and with a series of slashes from her sword, the ninja doll freed their leader. The redhead slowly climbed free of the wreckage.

"That's what you're here for, right, Kyosuke?"

Sometime during the commotion Kyosuke and Akira had stepped through the hole into the building. Akira had obviously ridden here on her bike, as she was still wearing her helmet. Kyosuke was looking as dapper as ever, his white school uniform pristine even with the jacket unbuttoned. He strode towards Ukyou purposefully, adjusting his thin glasses easily with one hand. He was as handsome as Ran remembered, with his refined features and well-trimmed blond hair.

Ran remembered the time she had asked him out, only to be gently but firmly turned down. She sighed and shrugged.

"You must be Ukyou," Kyosuke said evenly, his voice pitched so as not to carry far. He was addressing her, but his eyes were on the Dolls. The three were spreading out, but obviously unwilling to make the first move. Ranma and Mamoru had fallen back to the van, and both held themselves in front of the others in a wary posture. Without a word, Akira stepped up and placed herself between the two guys, forming a wall between the Dolls and everybody else.

"Indeed." Ukyou replied in a near whisper. She glanced at Kyosuke's face but then back at the Dolls. "Akira tells me you can unbrainwash people."

"Akira thinks highly of my abilities."

"I need to know if you can or not," Ukyou said in a voice like frost. "I don't have time to be coy. Those girls are victims of mind control. If we don't find some way to break it, they will literally fight us until we kill them."

"I see... that is serious..." Kyosuke frowned and stood up straighter. "But I'm not being coy. I know a thing or two about how to break the spells my family uses to temporarily control others. But this... this might be out of my league."

"I don't have time for it to be out of your league," Ukyou informed him. "Listen... I'll explain to you how they are connected to the power that is controlling them. If you know how it works... can you undo it?"

"I can certainly try..." Kyosuke raised both hands and cracked his knuckles.

"Ranma, Akira, Mamoru!" Ukyou shouted. "Keep them busy, we need time!"

"You heard the lady..." Mamoru said as he stepped forward. "We best-"

He cut off as Akira stepped forward and barred his passage with her arm,

"You're injured. Stay out of this." Akira's tone of voice brooked no argument.

"But..."

"Ranma and I can handle this," Akira insisted, her voice echoing from under her helmet.

"Yeah, take a breather, Tux-boy," Kusanagi called down playfully. "If things start going bad, I'll just step in and mop up anyway!" Everyone gave him a quick glare and his expression turned to one of honest confusion.

Just at that moment, the Dolls burst into action. Everyone dove for cover as the redhead started firing. But Ranma and Akira both rolled along the ground and started sprinting towards the Dolls, who were closing fast. Ran rose up from behind the overturned table.

"Take the redhead, Ranma!" Akira shouted. "I have the other two!"

"Right!" Ranma agreed.

The redhead gestured with two fingers towards Akira and then turned her full attention on Ranma. Her companions nodded, then broke off to close in on Akira.

Ran clenched her fists and observed. She didn't really want to get involved anyway. She was the impartial observer. She shouldn't even have interfered in the first place.

But dammit, these were her friends. Ranma and Akira, Kyosuke and even Ukyou were all people she liked. But she wasn't as good a fighter as any of them, and she knew it. So Ran forced herself to breathe, and watched. And waited.

Ranma approached his opponent more cautiously this time. She bounced back, both guns blazing. Ranma danced between the bullets. His body was barely moving as he avoided her attacks. One shot he eluded just by tilting his head to the side.

But the Doll was making it hard for him to close. She moved with nearly as much grace as him. He chased her up against the wall, but she only ran straight up the side of the warehouse. She never missed a beat, her guns always tracking on Ranma's position. But Ranma followed her, his own feet moving so fast he practically flew up the side of the building.

The Doll pushed off, spinning herself into a headfirst dive towards the floor. Even as she did, she laced her guns behind her back and fired up at Ranma. He responded with an elegant backflip. The fabric of his shirt rippled in the wakes of the bullets as they traced paths around his spinning body. But he landed without a scratch on him. The Doll had to tumble forward when she reached the ground, and then Ranma was upon her.

Ran stared. She hadn't even realized that Ranma could move that fast. It wasn't the blinding, impossible-to-follow speed of Kusanagi, but it pushed that boundary. Ranma's face was a mask of concentration, his forehead gleaming with sweat.

He caught the redhead as she rolled to her feet. His hands flashed out, and suddenly she was disarmed. Her guns went skittering across the concrete floor. Seeing her chance, Ran yelled and sent a paper flying. It caught one of the guns dead-centre, slicing it in two. She looked and saw that the other was now stuck to the floor by a red rose.

After that, Ranma simply took the Doll's defenses apart. She obviously wasn't as good at hand-to-hand, and it showed. Ranma caught both her arms and with a twist of his wrists, flipped her onto her back. He drove his knee into the small of the redhead's back and twisted both arms behind her until Ran could see her shoulder bending at an unnatural angle. Her legs kicked feebly, but she was pinned, and from her expression, she knew it.

Only then did Ran realize she had completely forgotten about Akira. Feeling guilty, she turned towards the other battle.

It was obvious what the Dolls' strategy was. The blue-haired Doll would attack Akira directly, while the ninja Doll would sneak around and attack her from her blind side when her defense slipped. Except Akira wasn't even fazed by this tactic. Every time the brunette would come in with her sword, Akira would snap around with a backhand or sidekick and send her flying.

The blue-haired Doll didn't fare much better. She tried to charge in and attack Akira while she was distracted, but Akira must have guessed her exact move. With a twist of her body, Akira would flow away from the strike. Then her body would uncurl and drive a devastating blow into the Doll, sending that one flying too. Akira would then resume her stance, and calmly wait for the two to approach her again.

This happened three times while Ran watched, until finally the blue- haired Doll made a major mistake. She punched with too much force and was thrown entirely off balance. Akira grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward. Her leg came up and pummeled the girl along the side five times, then Akira flipped her into the air. With a cry, Akira followed her up and struck. She was moving so fast, Ran could see flashing after-images of her body as she lashed out with more punches and kicks than Ran could count. A final blow sent the Doll hurtling straight down, where she collided with her partner.

The two Dolls fell together in a heap. Akira plummeted down on them like a meteor, hitting them in the back. Even as she did, her fists drove down on either side of them like pistons. The ground cracked as Akira's blow turned the floor into another crater, and cracked again as Akira pushed her fists into the concrete. It took Ran a second to realize that Akira had just pinned both of the Dolls, one under the other.

"Could someone give me a hand here?" Akira called out.

There was a light tap as Kusanagi landed beside her. He nodded and reached down. Sometime during the fight he had changed into a more human form. The spines and blades and shoulder pads were gone now. He helped Akira drag the two Dolls to their feet, and both were soon holding one in a firm, unyielding grip.

"Score one for the good guys!" Ran said before she whooped and bounced into the air, swinging her fist victoriously.

01010

Aaron was missing something.

He kept trying to pin it down, but it was elusive. Whatever it was, it kept fading away when he tried to recall it exactly. It was like a name that you had on the tip of your tongue. He knew it was there, he knew it was important, but he just couldn't put the concept into words.

And he knew that if he didn't, something was going to go horribly wrong.

The trouble was that his line of thought kept getting distracted. Ukyou and he were still reeling from the psychological blow of finding out that Chronos was here. The Guyver plotline... it was too dark, too awful. There was no way that it could have co-existed with the same kind of world that spawned Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon.

Heck, there was no way that Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon should have co- existed, when they thought about it. How could no superhuman martial artists have shown up for the entire five years of Sailor Moon? And Street Fighter, and Rival Schools... heck, with them and King of Fighters and a dozen other series out there. None of it should have turned out the way it did.

And, in fact, it wasn't.

Here they were, watching characters from four different series' interact. Vega had kidnapped Sailor Saturn. It was like someone had just taken as many series as they could and put them in the same world, without taking any time to phase them together. And now.. they were busting up against each other. The whole thing was tearing itself apart. Plotlines and characters were being sent off in strange new directions.

Aaron's knowledge of everything that had come before, all his precious knowledge of the manga, and anime and video games... it was almost useless now. How could he predict the future, when things were interacting in such unpredictable ways?

And still, he was forgetting something. Something important.

Kyosuke took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was attractive, in a refined and intellectual way. Ukyou wasn't exactly blushing and fawning over him, since Aaron had forced her to repress those instincts. But even so, he wasn't unpleasant to look at.

Aaron looked away, and found himself finding Ranma. He was standing near one of the holes Kusanagi had blown in the building, with Ran at his side. Ukyou's eyes narrowed, but her anger was short-lived.

She wanted to get up and walk over to him. She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to confess what was in her heart... but how could she? Her heart was divided. Ukyou loved Ranma, but Aaron emphatically did not.

"I think I can do it," Kyosuke said without much conviction.

Aaron turned his attention back to the young man. He had replaced his glasses and was looking down at the papers Aaron and he had been using. Together, they had been hashing out the basic arithmetic of mind control. They had been at it for over an hour, and Aaron was feeling mentally exhausted.

"Are you certain?" Ukyou looked into his eyes. "We might not get a second chance."

"I'm as certain as I ever will be." Kyosuke tapped the papers. "I can use the spell to sever their connection to this outside energy. If what you told me is accurate, their entire psychology has been custom built... a long and complex system of brainwashing above and beyond anything my family has ever attempted.

"The key is that the energy in their bodies is Psychopower, which is really just Bison's own chi amplified to inhuman levels. They feel such a fanatic loyalty to Bison because their life force is tied to his. His will has essentially turned them into extensions of his body, with no more freedom than a hand or a foot. By severing that connection, we should force their own will to take over."

Kyosuke placed one hand on the table, and his voice became hard and serious. "The problem is, that this will only sever them from the Psychopower. They've been so conditioned to obey Bison that their own wills are weak. It is likely that even after I break the connection, they will continue to follow his commands."

"We'll worry about that bridge later," Ukyou said, waving her hand. "For now, we just have to break them free of Bison. We can worry about helping them rediscover their humanity later."

Ukyou stood carefully. She grabbed her crutches and started over to where they were keeping the prisoners. Kyosuke followed her wordlessly. He didn't comment about her weakness, which she appreciated.

The Dolls were all tied up in the center of the warehouse, far away from anything they could have used to escape. Tux-boy, Kusanagi and Akira were all standing guard, and Ukyou had personally searched them all for hidden weapons. Finding all the items hidden on the brown-haired Doll had been quite a chore, but Aaron's senses had finally discovered them all. The Dolls sat silently, their expressions stoic and unconcerned. Ukyou wondered how much of their humanity was left. She didn't have time to babysit them until they were capable of their own decisions, and at the same time couldn't just let them loose because they would just return to Bison.

And... Bison would kill them. Somehow, Aaron knew that he would.

"Do it," Aaron ordered with a nod at the girls.

"Everyone, stand back a bit," Kyosuke said as he gestured for more room around the Dolls. "I've never tinkered with this technique before."

Everyone stepped back a respectful distance. Except Ukyou. Aaron just opened his senses as wide as he could, trying to take in everything that happened.

Kyosuke walked up to the three of them, and placed his hands on their foreheads one at a time. As he did a thin, invisible trail of chi formed between his fingers and their foreheads. It was small, and impossibly complex... a mix of wind and water and void chi in some sort of helix shape that Aaron couldn't quite see clearly. It was sinking directly into the Doll's heads, rooting itself in the center of their Wind Chakras.

Aaron could see the Psychopower reacting already. To say the Dolls were connected to it was a misnomer. The Psychopower was not being beamed directly into their skulls like some sort of laser. Instead, the power just seemed to permeate the area around them. It had taken Aaron a moment to figure out what was happening, but when it became clear he only got more worried.

The Psychopower was everywhere. It flowed through the world like an ocean... and like an ocean it was full of constant waves. And all those waves flowed across the world from over the sea, from Thailand, from the Psychodrive.

But in most cases, the Psychopower was weak, barely noticeable. Around the Dolls, it grew stronger. Their bodies were actually acting like tiny Psychodrives, gathering and enhancing and transmitting the venomous chi.

Kyosuke gestured abruptly and the chi helixes he had been forming briefly sparked into visibility with a phosphorescent flare. The Dolls all screamed, and the Psychopower around them seemed to waver... then it simply fell away. Like watching a tide recede, the dark chi sunk into the depths of the earth until there was no more there than normal.

Ukyou began to grin. Then the redheaded Doll fell over. Her eyes were glassy. She wasn't breathing. A second later, her companions collapsed one by one.

"What?" Tux-boy shouted.

"What's going on!" Kyosuke roared.

Akira knelt down beside them, and her hands touched the blue-haired Doll's neck. She looked up, her eyes quivering. "No pulse..." she breathed.

"Oh no..." Aaron dropped his crutches. That was what he was forgetting! Bison... Bison had done more than give them a fraction of his power. He had tied their very life force to his own. Without him, without the Psychodrive and the power it would provide them with... "...they'll all die," Ukyou said slowly.

"All this for nothing!" Kusanagi growled. "You should have just let me-"

"Shut up!" Ukyou roared. She staggered over and knelt down next to the blue-haired Doll. "I won't let this happen!"

"Ukyou..." Akira sounded concerned.

Aaron placed both hands over the Doll's heart. He began compressions. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. He stopped and tilted her head back and began to breath into her mouth. He repeated that again. And again.

"Ukyou, that won't help..." Kyosuke said slowly.

"Shut up and help me!" Aaron roared. He would not lose them. He would not be responsible for this. They would live!

Wordlessly Mamoru knelt and began to do CPR on the redheaded Doll. Akira started on the last one. Aaron stared down at Ukyou's hands as they went through the motions of keeping them alive.

He could see it. The chi in their bodies, it was so feeble. The best doctors in the world could not have saved them. No amount of medicine could undo the damage done to their souls. With such a small life force, they simply would not survive. But he refused to give up. His hands keep pushing. The brain could survive what... two minutes without oxygen? Five?

He had to keep them alive until some solution could be found. He had to. There had to be some way of bolstering their life force. Like a transfusion would keep the heart pumping...

Ukyou looked up at Mamoru. He was back in his civilian identity. He was wearing almost the same clothes as that one episode, the time in Sailor Moon S when he had been forced to use his own life force to keep Chibi-Usa alive after her heart crystal had been stolen. Aaron's eyes narrowed.

"Mamoru!"

"What?"

"You have to save them!"

"Huh?" Mamoru looked up at them. His expression was confused. "Me? But how?"

"You have it in you!" Aaron barked. "Your magic. You can bolster their life force with your own. Share with them a bit of your chi, enough to keep their hearts beating!"

"What are you talking about?" Mamoru frowned and stared down at the chest of the girl he was trying to save. "I have no idea what kind of power you think I have... but I don't have it!"

"Yes you do!" Aaron roared. But his mind was saying something, something about the moon cats and... he ignored that part of his memory. He needed this to work.

He wouldn't let it not work.

It had to work.

"You can do it, Mamoru!" Ukyou snapped out her hand and grabbed him by the wrist. Something inside of Aaron stirred. He stared up at her. "Find it in yourself! Somewhere in that swiss cheese memory of yours is the secret to saving their lives!"

"You don't think I wish I knew?" Mamoru roared back. His eyes glistened. "These girls will die because of me! Because their death was more useful to Vega than mine! I don't want them to die, but I just can't do anything about it!"

"Yes! You! Can!" Ukyou and Aaron roared as one.

They needed it. They needed it to work.

It could work.

It would work.

It will work.

"Do it, damn you!"

Mamoru's eyes widened, and Ukyou gasped. Something seemed to ground through her. For a moment, she felt light-headed, as if she were falling. Aaron mind reeled back... There was something there, for a moment, just a moment. It was so huge, so profound... It was like seeing the face of God. And then it was gone.

Ukyou blinked, and only realized someone was holding her when she heard Akira shouting her name. She shook her head clear, and pushed herself free of the smaller girl's grasp.

Mamoru was kneeling in front of her. His eyes were staring upward at the heavens, and his face was filled with a sort of religious awe. A soft golden glow was fading from around his body, the same golden glow that was sinking into the bodies of all three Dolls.

And they were breathing.

"What happened?" Aaron asked.

"I don't know..." Kyosuke knelt down next to Mamoru and began to examine him critically. "You were yelling at Mamoru to do something, and then suddenly the two of you exploded with this blinding golden light." He looked back at Ukyou. "I don't know how to describe it. It felt so... strong. So full of life and energy. But at the same time... it felt wrong, too."

Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but his voice failed him.

What had happened?

Had Mamoru done it?

Yes. That had to be it. He must have found his secret power. Aaron smiled. That was the only explanation. Tux-boy must have found that part of himself after all. Trust a Sailor Moon character to come through like that when the chips were down.

"They'll live?" Ran asked.

"Yes... I think they will," Ukyou responded with relief. Mamoru had obviously fainted, but he looked okay. It appeared that everything had worked out. They had won.

Everything would be fine now.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: One chapter more to halfway! Woo-hoo!

Epsilon: Yep, it actually looks like we almost might finish this!

Blade: Provided they don't release any more KOTOR games, since we've dropped from five chapters ahead to two!

Epsilon: But... the HK-47!

Blade: I know... I know. Also, Mission. I should totally introduce Mission in Hybrid Theory, don't you think?

Epsilon: Right. All we have to do is come up with is some completely logical and non-asinine reason for characters several thousand years before "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" to show up.

Blade: Hmm... hey, we have Sailor Pluto! What else is she good for if not deus ex machina? She can totally hire them to kill Ukyou. Except Carth. Carth sucks.

Epsilon: Well, yes. Carth could get killed. Pluto can blame it on Ukyou, and then all the Jedi will go "screw this Revan shit" and charge over to destroy Ukyou, Dark Lord of the Grill.

Blade: Then we can have the Jedi versus the Aragami versus the Vampires versus the TAC versus the Americans versus Chronos versus the Dark Kingdom versus the Deathbusters versus Shadowloo versus a small cute kitten!

Epsilon: And then, just when things can't get any worse... BROLLY shows up!

Blade: And it'll be the best fanfic EVAR!

Epsilon: We are teh awesome!

Blade: We're so awesome, we can totally write author's notes without saying anything about the story!

Epsilon: Let us consult our Jedi prophecies to see what will happen in Chapter 15.

Blade: "One who will bring apathy to the Force"? Huh.

Epsilon: Also, this!

"You children," Vega said, laughing in a slow, refined manner. "You always think you know everything." He shook his head, then raised his clawed hand into the air and gestured them forward. "I think this will be a glorious battle. Don't you?"

Ukyou opened her mouth to respond, but she suddenly stopped. She turned slowly, her eyes widening. Ranma watched her mouth the words 'not now' as she turned. Then Ranma heard it. A loud, repetitive chopping sound. Growing louder every second.

No. Not louder.

Closer.

Ranma stepped back and shielded his eyes as the helicopter burst up from the side of the building. The wind tore at his shirt and he felt his pigtail snapping, occasionally flailing back and slapping him painfully on the back of the neck. The others had all turned and stood in shock as well. The helicopter was small, no larger than a large van. It was pure white, and spun gracefully in place so that it presented its side to them.

There were four women in the helicopter.

"Deep Submerge!"

"Soul Spark!"

"Dead Scream!"

"Ukyou!"

Akira tackled Ukyou to the side. A moment later three balls of light slammed into the roof where she had been. An explosion ripped up the roof. Wood and shrapnel flew in all directions. Ranma stood his ground, deflecting it with a hundred perfect jabs. Nearby, Ryouga just frowned as the debris bounced off him.

As the echo of the explosion died down, Ranma could hear Vega laughing. His face was turned skyward, and his arms were spread out as if he were trying to embrace the heavens.

"This is just too perfect!" Vega laughed again.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 15: Easier To Run


	15. Easier To Run

Yo. Mamoru Kusanagi here. It's about time that these stupid authors got a MAN in here. A REAL man. A man that happens to be part plant, but a MAN nonetheless!

Unlike Ranma, who isn't a man. And I don't mean that water thing. He had a perfect chance to sleep with that bundle of lovejoy Shampoo, and he pussied out! Sure, she probably would have stabbed him a few times, but what kind of man lets that slow him down?

Speaking of getting stabbed, everybody was getting stabbed and shot and bludgeoned and crap when we ended up fighting these three hawt chicks that worked for that prissy twat Vega. I totally owned them, of course, with a little help from my friends. I was talked into helping save their lives, which turned out to be difficult, cause they started dying as soon as we freed them from the mental control they were under. But then Ukyou and Tux-boy flashed with light and suddenly they were breathing again. I don't understand what happened, but I know I was kinda turned on when Ukyou was giving the chicks CPR. Is that wrong? Nah.

Oh yeah, that prissy fag-boy Vega was not just limp in the wrist, but also some kinda creepy pedophile, cuz he kidnapped this Hotaru kid after killing her evil (but hot!) nursemaid. I wish I'd had a nursemaid like her growing up... ow!

Hey Momiji, buzz off! This is my recap!

Oh, fine, I'll stop. Anyway, some other girls did stuff. Akane (mildly hot), for instance, joined up with that worm Chris, which was really kinda dumb. I'll try and make time in my busy schedule of being the sexiest and most powerful superhero in this entire story to kick his ass and knock some sense into her.

This chick Telulu (disturbingly hot) has some sort of big evil plan to destroy the world, which is different from the plan proposed by her Professor and his assistant Eudial (red hot). This'll probably be trouble.

Then there was that youma babe Tethys (creepily hot), who decided the Dark Kingdom was doing things all wrong and she knew a lot better. Oh yeah, baby, call her queen!

The families of all those Sailor Senshi (hot, but kinda young) as well as Ranma's mom (old, but still hot) and dad (just plain groty) agreed to go with this chick from the CIA, Sakura Yamazaki (smoking hot) to America. Pretty much all the kids decided to stay, though. One of them, Nabiki (ice queen hot), pretty much just threw a temper tantrum and told everybody off before leaving.

Damn, there's a lot of chicks in this series. I'm not even sure if Kusanagi has the stamina for all these fine-

OW!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 15: Easier To Run

The laboratory door was ajar. Telulu paused and stared at it. The room beyond was dark, and a stale, acrid mist seeped out along the floorboards. The door had been closed when Telulu left, of that she was sure. Being a careful and habitual creature, Telulu always made it a point to secure her work area before she went out into the field.

She frowned and pulled on her lab coat, concealing her field gear. She pulled a pair of glasses from her pocket. Not that she particularly needed them anymore. Being a Witch did have advantages, one of them being a loss of her human weaknesses. She also concealed the blue seed-like object she had procured in the same pocket. It had been a bit of a bother to kill the huge spider- creature and the girl it had brainwashed to acquire this, and it wouldn't do for some intruder to know she had it.

Telulu stepped into the room as if nothing was amiss. The room was massive and filled with dark shadows. Pipes snaked through the entire place, creating a jungle-like maze of dead ends and filling the entire room with an ominous cloud of fog. Telulu had already mapped out the entire area, and she moved efficiently to the place she had chosen as her private workstation.

She was not at all surprised to see Eudial. The red-haired elder Witch was sitting in Telulu's chair, her expression bemused as she played with one of the four daimon eggs that had been placed in Telulu's care. The other three were still floating in the miniature magnetic containment rings that had been devised to hold them and prevent them from merging with random bits of the laboratory.

Telulu kept a look of studied indifference on her face as she stepped into Eudial's line of sight. The redhead glanced at her from over the rim of her glasses and smiled. Telulu decided to let her start the conversation, since she was obviously here for a reason.

"And aren't you supposed to be working on these?"

"I am," Telulu replied. She just didn't add that she now believed that finding a way to replicate the daimon effect was no longer necessary.

"You have a funny way of doing so. You've been out for over two hours."

"Is that what you've been doing instead of finding the Messiah, waiting for me?"

Eudial only smiled wider as the venom crept into Telulu's tone. She placed the egg down easily. The oblong grey shape bobbed precariously in midair, threatening to spill onto the desk and be ruined before the magnetic field secured it.

"I already found her," Eudial said calmly as she stood up. Telulu's eyes narrowed. "You look unhappy."

"I am overjoyed." Telulu placed her hands in her lab coat's pockets to conceal the fact that she was clenching them into fists. If they had retrieved the Messiah, then Professor Tomoe would likely reclaim the daimon eggs for his own research. Telulu needed those eggs. If she was to be proven correct, only the eggs could do so. "So... where is she?"

"In the city, nearby," Eudial replied as she buffed her nails. Telulu did not sigh, although she did feel relieved.

"Ah..." Telulu smirked a little. "So that is what you are doing here. You are scared."

"What?" Eudial snapped.

"The person who kidnapped the Messiah apparently killed Kaorinite with contemptuous ease. You are afraid to confront them yourself, aren't you?"

Eudial's eyes narrowed as the words struck deep. But she shook off the effects quickly and ran a hand through her long scarlet locks. "I am merely being cautious, Telulu. Unlike you, I know that we have time to accomplish our goals."

"As you say," Telulu nodded and stepped around Eudial, towards her machines. "I suppose I will get back to doing my work until-"

"Actually, that is why I am here," Eudial interrupted her.

Telulu glanced over her shoulder at her rival. Eudial was now standing with her hands in her pockets as well. The air between them virtually crackled with energy as their eyes met dangerously.

"I am constructing a device to allow me to combat an opponent capable of defeating Kaorinite. I will require your assistance."

"My assistance?" Telulu frowned.

"Yes, you are the one most familiar with the powers of these metahumans that dared to stick their nose into our affairs," Eudial said with a smile. "I require all your files on them."

"I'm so glad you asked my permission," Telulu said with a thin smile. She guessed her encryption had been too complex for Eudial to hack, or else the other Witch would not have so openly confessed her need for Telulu's help. "Aren't you the one who said we didn't need to worry about the puny powers of this planet?"

"Don't be insubordinate to me," Eudial warned, her voice dire. "You will give me those files, and you will do so immediately."

Telulu inclined her head in the briefest of nods. She would give Eudial all the information she needed... but not all the information Telulu had. Maybe it would be just enough for the woman to hang herself with.

01010

Matsudaira looked tired as she puttered around the lab. She usually looked tired, but today she was especially disheveled. Her tied-back hair had strands sticking up from it in more than a few places, and she had dark bags under her eyes. It was a shame, Ukyou reflected, Matsudaira could have been a real beauty if she put any thought into it. Then again, she had apparently attracted a husband once, and she certainly hadn't done that with as little attention paid to her appearance that she displayed since Ukyou had met her.

"When was the last time you slept?" Ukyou asked.

"You're one to ask that question," Matsudaira said with a polite chuckle. "I think you must be afraid of sleep, from how little of it you do."

"Something like that..." Ukyou trailed off. The nightmares continued, and the terrible price as well. In truth, it was probably less than a hundredth of her entire life that had been forced to 'integrate' in her memories with Aaron's. But she felt the loss of those memories keenly whenever she was reminded of it. At least she didn't wake up violently anymore. "But I'm not entirely normal. You're just a woman. You need sleep like I don't."

"Oh posh," Matsudaira said with a dismissive little flick of her wrist. "If anything, you need more rest than I do. With the injuries you've taken, you should be bedridden." Matsudaira turned her head slightly to bring Ukyou into view again. "And I was right to worry. From what I can tell, your condition has deteriorated. That fight last night must have injured you."

Ukyou frowned and looked down. That last fight... she hadn't even been hit once. But even so, she had nearly collapsed a few hours later. Matsudaira had told her that she had been suffering from internal bleeding, and it was a wonder she was even alive. But Ukyou shook her head. This wasn't about her.

"Don't try to change the subject," Ukyou said quickly. "You need your rest."

Matsudaira paused. She sighed and placed a hand on her cheek. "I know. But there is so much to be done and so little time to do it." The scientist gestured towards her workstation, which was a study in chaos theory. "I still have all my research on the aragami, and my work on this chi phenomenon and I'm working shifts as a medical doctor for you and your friends..."

"You're stretching yourself too thin..." Ukyou said slowly. "When was the last time you went home?"

"Home?" Matsudaira laughed. "Three weeks? A month? I don't know..." She slumped a little. "It's just all so important. This world is much more than I believed it could be, and I feel like every minute I'm not standing here, I'm letting it get that much further out of my reach."

"What?" Ukyou stood up. "The world? It will still be there tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Matsudaira grinned impishly. She could look amazingly young when she forgot herself like that. "But I don't mean the world. I mean the answer... the truth behind this all. I just don't know how it all works, anymore..."

"What if it doesn't?" Ukyou whispered softly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing..." Ukyou waved her aside. "I still think we are done for today, though. You should get some rest." Ukyou allowed herself to grin a bit impishly herself. "Doctor's orders."

Matsudaira laughed. She had a rich, vibrant and friendly laugh. "Okay. Okay." She smiled and shook her head. "I think you might be as stubborn as I am."

"Indeed."

The door to the lab opened and a man stepped in. He was short, and had the kind of stocky body that verged on being pudgy but didn't quite get there. His face was wide and... 'soft' was the best way that Ukyou could describe it. He had a bowlcut and wore unfashionable glasses. He looked, basically, like a geek.

"Yaegashi," Ukyou greeted him with a nod. He looked a bit nonplussed for a moment, since he had never really met her before today. "Are you having any luck breaking into that computer?"

"No..." Yaegashi said slowly. He looked at Matsudaira and she nodded almost imperceptibly. "That is, the encryption on that laptop is very complex. I'm not even sure if I have anything powerful enough to crack it."

"That's too bad..." Ukyou mused as she tapped her finger against her chin. "I thought I heard that the computer was used by a young lady with a very... active interest in other young ladies... if you catch my meaning."

Yaegashi blinked owlishly behind his thick glasses. Then his cheeks turned red. He made a little mouse-like sound and leapt back a step. "I... I have no idea what you could be implying!"

"What, you don't find that motivating?" Ukyou said with a chuckle.

"Not in the slightest!" Yaegashi defended himself.

"Too bad," Ukyou shrugged. Although she meant it. They needed to get into that computer as quickly as possible. Vega was still out there. He still had Hotaru.

"Anyway, I'm here because there... uh, appears to be somebody here to see Ukyou."

"Me?" Ukyou frowned and crossed her arms. Ranma and Ran were out trying to track down Sailor Pluto. Akira and Kyosuke were in school. Nobody from the TAC was really her friend...

"Yes." The brown-haired man said as he adjusted his glasses. "She was... actually quite insistent. She said that you owe her your life, or something."

"I do...?" Then it hit Aaron. "Nabiki."

"Ah, yes!" Yaegashi pounded his palm. "That was her name."

"Is she alone?"

"Hmmm? Oh yes..."

"Good. Send her in."

"Is that okay? Kunikida said that nobody was even supposed to know you were here."

"It's okay, Yaegashi." Matsudaira broke in. "Ukyou seems to know this girl, and I'll stay here in case anything happens."

"Right!" Yaegashi appeared much relieved now that Matsudaira had taken responsibility for the situation off his hands. He rushed out of the room with barely a goodbye. Aaron sighed. Something about Yaegashi leaving actually made him feel... sad. It wasn't an emotion he was really used to. Ukyou thought it might have been because Yaegashi reminded him of so many of his friends from his old life. But that couldn't be right. He had never really... liked them enough...

Aaron's reverie was cut short as Nabiki walked into the room. She was smiling, and dressed in a fashionable skirt, blouse and leggings combo that accented her hair. Cradled in her arms was P-chan. Ukyou's eyes narrowed.

"Ukyou," Nabiki said with false cheer. "So good to see you again!"

Aaron was about to respond curtly when Ukyou stopped him. He closed his mouth and forced his tone to be civil. "I don't believe I ever got a chance to thank you for helping me out the other day."

"No, you didn't." Nabiki smiled and met Ukyou's gaze. Her eyes widened but she didn't flinch away. Aaron had to give her credit: the only other person who had managed that was Akira. "You look like you haven't really recovered completely from the beating you took. It seems you have had some... side- effects. " Nabiki dropped P-chan to the floor. The little black piglet landed gracefully. Nabiki pulled a small thermos out from under her blouse. "That's too bad, really."

Ukyou was expecting what happened next. Matsudaira, however, stared in shock as the small trickle of water turned the little piglet into a tall, muscular young man. A tall, muscular, naked young man. Aaron snapped his eyes up abruptly when he felt them wandering.

Ryouga was red as a beet, and tried desperately to hide himself with his hands. He did not exactly strike an intimidating figure. Nabiki sighed in a frustrated manner and produced a pair of pants. Ryouga put them on so hastily he ended up tripping over the legs and sent himself sprawling onto the ground. Ukyou bit back a laugh, allowing only a hissing cough to escape her lips.

"How did you do that?" Matsudaira asked, her voice full of childish excitement. "Is it like that transformation that Ranma Saotome undergoes? I can't believe there is another subject with the same kind of curse... would you mind if I took samples?"

"Ranma?" Ryouga said. He was still flushing, and was not recovering quickly with Matsudaira literally thrusting her face at him to the point of nearly touching his.

"Ryouga, stop playing around," Nabiki snapped.

"Uh, right..." Ryouga coughed and backed away from the older woman.

"I don't know who you are," Nabiki directed her comment towards Matsudaira, "But Ukyou and I would like some privacy." Nabiki turned her attention to Ukyou with a nasty little smile. "She owes me a favor, and I am here to collect."

Matsudaira looked at Ukyou's face, then back at Nabiki. She frowned and stood up straight, crossing her arms. She did manage to tower over everyone in the room. She even topped Ryouga by a few centimeters. "This is my lab, young lady. I think I shall stay, if I do say so myself."

Nabiki's face twisted into an annoyed frown. She glanced at Ryouga, then back at Matsudaira. "I'm afraid I'll have to insist."

"If you intend to attack this girl, I'm afraid you will have to deal with me first."

"Attack?" Nabiki laughed. "Ukyou and I are old friends. I wouldn't think of hurting her." Nabiki smiled maliciously. "At least, not if she gives me what I want."

"I think you should leave," Matsudaira said ominously.

"I think you shouldn't push me!" Nabiki snapped. Ukyou frowned. What bee had crawled into Nabiki's bonnet? It wasn't like her to so flagrantly defy authority. At least, not when there were obvious consequences. She couldn't have been so stupid as to think that Ryouga beating up Matsudaira wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass. Heck, it was hit or miss whether or not Ryouga would even lay a finger on the older woman. Even if Nabiki was helping him with the waterproof soap to fight off his curse, or whatever it was that had caused him to be helping her, he shouldn't have been that much under her thumb.

"I think this is going a bit too far," Matsudaira said calmly. "Don't you agree with me, young man?"

"Wha? Who? Me?" Ryouga gestured to himself as Matsudaira spun on him.

"Yes, you," Matsudaira poked him in his bare chest. "You strike me as a reasonable sort. Not like your friend here at all. I believe that this situation doesn't need to come down to violence. Don't you agree?"

"Well... yeah..." Ryouga rubbed the back of his neck and looked anywhere but at Nabiki or Matsudaira. "That would be nice..."

"Now I'm sure that we can come to a reasonable and adult solution to this whole problem," Matsudaira continued to address Ryouga. Nabiki's eyebrow was beginning to twitch violently. "We should all just sit down and discuss this over a cup of coffee. I have a specialty blend."

"That sounds lovely!" Ryouga responded enthusiastically.

"Ryouga!"

"What? I like coffee..."

"We're not here for coffee. We're here to beat information out of Ukyou!"

"Can't we do both?"

Nabiki stared at him for a moment. Then she rubbed her forehead and started saying something to herself under her breath. When she was finished, she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Forget this. The entire mood is ruined. We're leaving, Ryouga."

"But..."

"We'll just jump Ukyou and beat her up another day."

"Maybe you should just ask me?" Ukyou piped up.

Everyone looked at her suddenly. Ukyou raised an eyebrow and stared back at them.

"Just ask you?" Nabiki smirked. "You've never exactly been forthcoming with me in the past."

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded. "Things change."

Nabiki frowned. Then she reached into her blouse again. She pulled out a file folder. It was badly burned, with black-edged holes all through it. She flipped it through the air. Ukyou snapped up her hand and caught it. She brought it down and looked at it. She flipped it open.

Her eyes widened.

"My journal..."

"Yes." Nabiki crossed her arms. "Incomplete in many ways. But it contains the information you knew about the future."

"You read this?" Aaron asked slowly.

"Of course I did," Nabiki replied with a sneer. "And I want the sword."

"The sword..." Aaron trailed off.

There could only be one sword Nabiki was referring to. Ukyou flipped through the pages rapidly until she found the page. 'The Wishing Sword is the solution!' the page said in English text. 'When the one millionth person attempts to pull it from its stone slab, it shall come free. That lucky person will get the sword, and more importantly, the three wishes that are granted to the true holder of the artifact. These wishes will only work for the person who truly drew the sword from the stone and are, as far as I can remember, without limit. The only tri-' and the words disappeared as the page became a charcoal smear and then nothing.

"Don't try to tell me you don't know where it is," Nabiki said evenly. "You talk about it all over that little journal of yours. Your magic cure-all. The solution to all your problems. The Wishing Sword. I want it. You know where it is." Nabiki grinned. "Somehow, I didn't think you'd part with that information willingly."

Ukyou stared down at the page. Nabiki was right. There was no way she was going to let the sword slip through her fingers. It was her hope. One wish, and she and Aaron could lead normal lives again. No more voice in their heads. No more lost nights of sleep. No more merged memories.

One wish, and Chris didn't have to be their enemy.

One wish, and she could fix anything.

Anything.

The pages began to wrinkle as Aaron squeezed the paper.

One wish and Chronos could be defeated. One wish and the aragami could be stopped. The Dark Kingdom could be destroyed. Aaron wasn't a fool. He had read the news. All contact with England had been lost. The city of Cairo had been nearly destroyed by a sandstorm the authorities blamed on a group of terrorists called 'Anakaris'. Aaron had watched as President George Herbert Walker Bush break down and cry on international TV as he told the public that he had ordered a nuclear strike against Raccoon City just two hours ago.

'May God have mercy on us all...' had been the words he had said. Aaron had watched that address just this morning. For the first time in his entire life, he had felt the desire to pray along with a man he despised.

One wish...

He looked up at Nabiki. Nabiki wasn't the kind of person who would do the right thing. Nabiki was selfish and, in the end, foolish. She didn't DESERVE the Wishing Sword. It was HIS. He had suffered so much. Ukyou had suffered so much. They needed that sword. They would do the right thing. They could-

("Because that's why I'm HERE. A very wise person told me that things like me don't just happen by accident. And she was right. I have a PURPOSE. This world is going to tear itself apart. Unless I stop it. And I can. I have the knowledge, I have the power, and most importantly, I have the will.")

"I'll tell you," Ukyou croaked out. Her voice was brittle.

Nabiki almost fell over. She reached up and tapped her ear.

"You heard right," Aaron continued. "I'll tell you where it is."

"You're... not kidding?" Nabiki sounded shocked. "You'd really just give me that?"

"Ukyou..." Matsudaira sounded concerned.

Ukyou wasn't sure what the woman was about to say, but she held up a hand to forestall her. She needed to get through this. "I'll tell you where it is. I even figured out about how many more days there are left before we hit the magic number, a while back." Ukyou took a deep breath. "But I want something from you, in turn, Nabiki. Quid pro quo."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed. "Why should I do anything for you?"

"Because it will cost you nothing?" Ukyou looked into Nabiki's brown eyes. "I just want you to help me with one thing. I don't even want you to do it. I want Ryouga to do it."

"Ryouga?"

"Me?"

"Yes. I need to save a little girl from a fate worse than death. I need all the help I can get." Ukyou held up one finger. "Just the life of one little girl. You help me save her, and I'll tell you everything I know."

Nabiki paused. Her eyes remained dangerous slits. Ryouga and Matsudaira stood back, silent. Then Nabiki smiled.

"If all I have to do is let Ryouga help you save a little girl?" She laughed. "Fine, Ukyou. Perfectly fine."

01010

"Catch you later, stud," Ran said as she waved good-bye to Ranma. He smiled and waved back. Ran sighed and stood in the doorway, watching as he strode casually over to the wall of the school and, just as casually, leapt over it. He was certainly impressive, in a purely physical sense. Too bad he was dumb as a post.

Then again, it was kind of endearing. Ran chuckled and turned to stride back into the school. There were a few dozen students milling around the hallway at this hour, and none of them gave her a second glance. Only one teacher took notice of her, but it wasn't the teacher of the class she had skipped today, so she felt fine. Once she reached her 'office', she felt much better.

Ran frowned at the state of the room. The office of the Taiyo school newspaper could barely be called that. It shared the same room with the A/V club and the manga club. Ran had been lobbying the student council to get more room, but even she realized she didn't have much of a leg to stand on. Especially considering the paper currently had one member, that being her.

But could she help it if she was just so good at her job that she didn't need help? Ran rubbed her eyes and sat down at her desk. Someone had left a pile of papers on her desk. It looked like tech designs and other stuff, with enthusiastic notes in bad handwriting. It could either be refuse from the manga geeks' latest blow-up over which Gundam series was better, or perhaps the A/V club's latest project to get a camera into the girls' shower. Ran took whatever it was and threw it in the garbage.

She rubbed her temples and looked up at the wall. There, framed in bullet-proof lucite, was a copy of the front page article that had been printed in the Tokyo Sun. It was a copy of The Story, the pinnacle of her success. Narita.

Ever since then, it really had been a bit downhill, hadn't it? Her story about Ukyou's blow-up in the construction yard had only been barely picked up as page ten news. Her story about the assault on the ocean liner had been relegated to the back pages of tabloids due to her lack of pictures. And since then... nothing.

She had to face facts. Stories about a bunch of martial artists fighting each other just weren't selling anymore. How was she supposed to compete with what seemed to be a full-blown apocalypse? The front page of every newspaper this morning had all been President Bush, Raccoon City and the nuclear holocaust. 'Reports from England have a disturbing similarity to what is happening on our own soil. Given how devastating the plague was there, we can not allow it to spread beyond the quarantine zone-'

Ran's mental recall of the press conference cut off as she heard a knock on the door. She stood up slowly, wondering who it could be. The geeks from the other two clubs didn't bother to knock, and nobody else wanted to be anywhere near them, so nobody came. She opened up the door and was caught staring at the two people who greeted her.

One was tall, with short blonde hair in a page-boy cut. She had a slender athletic build, but nonetheless looked elegant and refined in her high class slacks and jacket. Her face was just on the feminine side of androgynous beauty. Her companion was slightly shorter, with shoulder-length wavy aquamarine hair and a kind, bright face. She wore a more traditional blouse and skirt combo that looked like it had just stepped off the runways of Paris.

Something about them sent alarm bells ringing in Ran's mind.

"Ran Hibiki?" the tall one asked in a gruff voice.

"Yes..." Ran shifted her stance slightly. She noticed the blonde's eyes following her motions and mentally reevaluated her. Blondie carried herself like a fighter. "I don't believe I have had the pleasure, however."

"My name is Haruka Tenoh," the blonde said.

"And I am Michiru Kaioh," her companion said with a tiny bow.

Ran's eyes widened as she stepped back. "You're... you're..." She gulped. "Uh... famous racer and violinist! Wow!"

"No need trying to cover it up," Michiru said with an impish little smile. "There is no one around to hear us. I am Sailor Neptune, and my companion is Sailor Uranus."

"You're coming with us," Haruka said forcefully.

"And if I refuse?" Ran snapped, her stubborn streak flaring up. She stepped back into a defensive stance.

"I think Haruka is being a bit too forceful," Michiru said as she laid her hand on the other's shoulder. The taller girl gave her hand a cold look and then shrugged it off. "This is a request, not a demand."

"Why should I come with you?" Ran asked. She needed time to think.

"You have been looking for us for days now, haven't you?" Michiru said calmly. "Do you really want to turn down the chance for such an exclusive interview?"

Ran opened her mouth, then closed it. She should get help. She still had Ranma's cell phone number. Ukyou had warned her that the so-called Outer Senshi could be dangerous. Ran didn't know why, but she believed her. There was something about the two young girls, neither of which were older than her, that seemed menacing. To all appearances they were just ordinary girls, but there was something in their eyes...

"This is a waste of time!" Haruka snapped. "She won't believe it!"

"She will," Michiru said with certainty. "We have to give this a chance."

Hearing their words, Ran knew what it was. They believed. They believed in something. Ran wasn't sure what, but she could tell it from just their eyes. They had seen something profound, and it had changed them.

This could be a trap. It could be a trick. Some elaborate plan that was meant to destroy Ukyou. But Ran knew she would go along, because to not do so was to lose The Story. Because they had seen something profound... and Ran needed to know what that was.

Because curiosity killed the cat, so to speak.

"Okay." Ran visibly relaxed. "Let's go have a talk, then."

01010

"Land!" Ran screamed as she fell out of the car. She wasn't sure what maniacs had given Haruka a driver's license, but they deserved to be shot. Maybe she should write a story about the incompetence of the motor vehicle bureau...

"It wasn't that bad," Haruka said as she stepped out of her cherry-red convertible. She was frowning and had her arms crossed indignantly.

"You did cut it a little close at the intersection," Michiru pointed out mildly.

"The light was yellow!" Haruka snapped.

"For about a tenth of a second," Ran complained.

"Fine, see if I give you a ride home..." Haruka said with a glare. "Either of you."

"Really?" Ran leapt up and clasped her hands in front of her face, "Is that a promise?"

Haruka threw up her arms and stalked off, muttering unladylike words under her breath. Somehow, even as she did this she seemed elegant and refined.

"Where are we, anyway?" Ran asked, looking around. The house they had parked in front of was so huge that it must have cost a small fortune, especially with the land prices in Tokyo. The privacy wall was pristine white, with gold-leaf covered gates and rose bushes along the top. The house was two stories, built in a modern style with a huge bay window that, Ran confirmed by glancing over her shoulder, had a spectacular view of Tokyo harbour. Ran upped her estimate of the price by a factor of ten.

"You are at my home," a new voice said. Ran turned to see a beautiful woman step out from the doors of the huge home. She had long green hair and an almost Indian complexion, and her face was serene. She wore a green mini-dress with a midriff-length coat on over it.

"Who are you?" Ran asked.

"Ah," the woman nodded. "You know me, though my magic prevents you from recognising me in my current form." She reached out and was suddenly clasping a small rod with a knob on the end and a tiny symbol. "Representing the dark god, I am the Guardian of Time. I am Sailor Pluto."

"Sailor Pluto..." Ran stepped back and clenched her fists. "You... you tried to murder Ukyou!"

"Yes," the woman replied without even a hint of concern or regret in her voice.

"I knew this was a trap!" Ran shouted. She glared over her shoulder at Michiru. Michiru just shook her head innocently.

"This isn't a trap," Pluto said as she approached Ran. Ran backed off and she stopped. "Quite the opposite. I am here to help you."

"Save it," Ran said.

"I suggest you listen to her, child."

Ran jumped as the new voice came from right behind her. She stared at the woman who had appeared there, wondering how she had managed to sneak up so close. Ran's eyes immediately focused on her hair. It was purple, and in perhaps the most improbable shape Ran had ever seen. Other than that, she looked almost normal. Her outfit was wine and yellow colored, and her face had the same kind of sereneness that Pluto's had. She was holding up a long playing card. No wait, there were three of them. And they were floating in space above her fingertips.

"The Fool, The Lovers, The Tower..." the newcomer, who had to be Rose, said solemnly. "Past, present and future." She looked at Ran for the first time. "You should not tie your future so tightly to that of Ukyou Kuonji."

"Hey," Ran pointed a finger at the purple-haired woman. "Ukyou is my friend. And I haven't tied my future to hers."

"We know," Pluto said. "We have been watching you, and all those who have gathered with Ukyou, for some time now." The Senshi in disguise walked around in front of Ran. "That is why we chose you. You, alone among her friends, have the ability to step back and see what is really happening." Pluto gestured towards the house. "But it is chilly out here. We would be more comfortable sitting inside."

"And doing what?" Ran said, but the fight was leaving her. There was no overt threat in what they were saying, after all.

"Just talking," Rose replied.

Ran didn't see the harm in that.

01010

Fevrier rubbed her knuckles as she glared at the wall. It was made of concrete and covered in a thin layer of paint. In many countries, it would also be covered in graffiti, but in Japan only a few obscene pictures were here. One punch should have gotten her through the wall. It should have created a hole big enough for her to walk through without ducking. Failing that, she could have torn the bars out of their foundations and flung the entire cell wall out of her path. At the very LEAST, she should have been able to bend the bars out of the way.

Fevrier glanced over her shoulder. That orange-skinned man, Kusanagi, was sitting at the desk just outside the cell. He was chuckling. His feet were propped up on the edge of the desk, and the legs of his chair were tilted precariously backwards. He was grinning at her. Fevrier was used to such lecherous looks. Her uniform left very little to the imagination even when it wasn't torn up from a mountain of crates falling on her.

"Satsuki, Marz... come here."

Satsuki walked over quickly. The right side of her face was covered in bandages, as was most of her torso. Her cap had been lost somewhere during the battle. Marz looked like she was in better shape, but she moved stiffly. Fevrier waved them all into a huddle.

"Hey... are you girls going to get naked and all that?"

Fevrier glanced over her shoulder at Kusanagi. He was still grinning. "I mean, I've seen all the movies. That's what chicks do in jail, isn't it?"

"Maybe later," Fevrier informed him coolly.

He laughed. "Man, I am glad I got this job!" He winked at her and Fevrier turned around to ignore him. Why did he have to be much stronger than her intelligence had indicated, and a brazen idiot at the same time?.

"We have to escape," Fevrier told to the other two Dolls in a whisper.

"Why?" Marz asked.

"Why?" Fevrier blinked. "What do you mean, 'why'?"

"I do not wish to escape," Marz told her flatly.

"You don't wish...?" Fevrier hissed as loud as she dared. "Are you insane? Master Bison would skin us alive if he found out you were thinking for yourself!"

"Perhaps you are right," Marz said with a nod. "And yet, I seem not to care."

"Neither do I." Fevrier glanced over at Satsuki. The other Doll looked slightly embarrassed that she had spoken up.

"Besides, we are in no condition to escape from here," Marz pointed out. "Kusanagi would defeat us handily if we tried."

"We are the Dolls!" Fevrier insisted.

"We seem to have lost our superior abilities, in case you haven't noticed," Marz pointed out.

Fevrier glared at her. The fact that Marz was right was no excuse. Her hand still ached from where she had punched the wall. She could still hear Kusanagi's laughter. She flushed with anger. But it felt different. Always before, anger had been accompanied by the sweet, burning, deadly rush of Psychopower. Now, there was nothing. Just... anger.

"There is no reason to antagonise Kusanagi," Marz pointed out. "Isn't that right, Satsuki?"

"I think Kusanagi is cute," Satsuki said, her face flushing.

"CUTE!" Fevrier roared.

"Hey, if you girls are starting the festivities, can I set up a camera first?"

"Shut up, you!" Fevrier barked as she turned to face the man.

"What?" Kusanagi blinked. "I distinctly remember you promising me you would get all hot and bothered later."

"I did not!" Fevrier growled out through clenched teeth. If she had her strength back, or at least a high-calibre firearm...

"I do not find him cute," Marz informed Satsuki.

"Perhaps you are right," Satsuki said. "He reminds me of the other boy, Mamoru."

"Ah, yes." Marz nodded. "Mamoru is cute."

"And sexy," Satsuki added.

"Hey, I am Mamoru!" Kusanagi added unhelpfully.

"Not you, the other Mamoru!" Fevrier snarled. Then she snapped her mouth closed. Where had that come from? She closed her eyes and tried to screen out all the annoyances around her. She should concentrate on Bison's teachings. His will should guide her back to the Psychopower. But, for some reason, every time she tried to find that little part of herself that was Bison... only that imbecile Mamoru's face kept intruding.

Mamoru hanging on the wall, looking beaten and vulnerable.

Mamoru in his top hat and cape, looking dashing and brave.

Mamoru smiling...

Fevrier shook her head. Her cheeks were burning. What was wrong with her?

"I don't see how he reminds you of Mamoru, he is brash and stupid and lecherous."

"But they are both tall, and have a similar penchant for lurking."

"This is true..."

"SHUT UP!" Fevrier roared and punched the wall again as hard as she could. Dust filtered off the wall. She drew back her hand. She nodded to herself in a dignified manner.

Then she started screaming and cursing and leaping about as she waved her arm in a vain attempt to get rid of the pain. Kusanagi was laughing again.

01010

"...you're trying to tell me that the reason you all want Ukyou dead is because she is going to destroy the world?"

Ran stared down into her teacup. That was preposterous. Ukyou didn't have that kind of power. She wasn't that important. Heck, Ran had just been thinking how little Ukyou meant to the big picture right before Haruka and Michiru had shown up.

"Essentially," Michiru replied. "Although, it's much worse than that."

"Much worse?" Ran didn't bother trying to hide the skepticism in her tone.

"Ukyou will not just destroy the world, she will destroy... everything," Pluto explained before taking a measured sip of her tea.

"You can't expect me to believe this," Ran said rapidly. "You can believe in fortunetelling all you want, but I stopped putting stock in horoscopes when I was very little."

"I knew this was pointless," Haruka said. She was sitting apart from everyone else. "She's under the girl's spell, too. Just like all the others."

"Spell?" Ran asked, but her question was ignored.

"You'll have to show her," Rose told Pluto. Pluto nodded somberly.

"I suspected as much," Pluto said. She sighed, and suddenly her face did not look serene anymore. Instead, it was filled with anguish. Ran was taken aback by the abruptness and the intensity of the transition. "But... to show them I must re-experience it myself. I had just hoped..."

Rose put a calming hand on Pluto's shoulder. "You feel it more keenly then any of us. But we all share your pain."

"She's right," Michiru added. "Ever since you showed Haruka and I, we've been sharing the same dreams..."

"Leave me out of this," Haruka barked. But her face did not look angry. It looked scared.

What had they all SEEN?

Pluto reached out, and she was now holding a long staff. It was as tall as her and shaped like a key, with a heart on top that had a garnet-coloured sphere in its centre. Pluto held out her free hand and the orb detached itself from the staff and floated down towards her palm.

"This is the Garnet Orb," Pluto explained. "One of the three talismans. Its power is ancient beyond understanding of the word. With it, I have mastery over the Gates of Time and can travel up and down the timestream with the same ease you can walk up and down the street. It can also serve as a viewer. With it, I can call up images of the past... or the future, and show them to those who are willing to see."

"So... you plan on showing me this future, then?" Ran crossed her arms. "I don't think so. How do I know you haven't created some elaborate fantasy for me? How can I trust what you show me will be the truth?"

"The Orb can only show you what you are willing to see," Pluto answered sternly. "To view the prophecy, you must open your mind. If you do not wish to see lies, all you have to do is will away untruth and so it will be."

Ran sat back and took a long time to reply. Really, she knew her decision the moment the offer had been made. This was... this was capital 'B' Big. How could she turn down a chance to see this? But still, she couldn't help but feel... well, like she shouldn't. But such petty feelings of unease weren't going to stop her from seeing the Truth.

"Yes," Ran said reluctantly.

"Then look into the Garnet Orb and open your mind..." Pluto explained in a hypnotic voice. Ran looked and tried to let her mind open. She focused, trying to bring all her senses to bear. Her chi-enhanced awareness had been honed for years to uncover the truth, to probe what was hidden. She willed herself to see it.

And she saw...

Ran collapsed to her knees. She held up her hands. They were shaking. She was crying. Her legs refused to support her. She was barely aware of Michiru and Haruka helping Pluto to lie down on the couch. The woman's face was pale as death. It looked like Ran felt.

"What... how..."

Something that profound could not exist. Ran's mind shrank back from it. She could remember everything up to it. All the little details of the prophecy were clear, from the anguished plea to the exact details of Ukyou's condition. But then, the final blow and... and...

Ran's mind simply refused it. Because it wasn't destruction, or death or anything so mundane. It was oblivion. Nothing so pure could exist...

"Now do you understand?" Rose asked, her voice was soft.

"Yes... no..." Ran took a deep breath. "This... this doesn't change anything..." Ran knew she was lying, but she had to. "Why not just talk to Ukyou? Why not convince her to stop?"

"Because that can't be done," Pluto said. "I know, because that other me tried and failed."

"There has to be some other way..." Ran stood up. The strength was returning to her limbs now. The vision was fading, like a nightmare in the daylight. "Ukyou is a good person. A little bit of a bitch, but she has a good heart. She's even trying to save one of you."

"One of us?" Pluto said.

"Yeah, the little girl..." Ran waved her hand. "Sailor Saturn, Hotaru or whatever. She's trying to save one of you Sailor Senshi types, and she doesn't have to."

"I see..." Pluto said. But there was something in her voice. It was there and gone in a flash. If Ran had been more clear-headed she might have called it raw, naked fear. But she felt the vision might have clouded her judgment.

"And besides... if you're so all-powerful with your time powers... why do you even need help to kill Ukyou?" Ran challenged.

"You don't think I haven't tried?" Pluto said with a sigh. She rubbed her forehead. "I tried stopping time, but Ukyou just defied my will like it was nothing. I've tried going back in time and killing her as an infant... but it seems that all I do is just spawn an alternate timeline. In this timeline, in this singular timeline alone is Ukyou the threat. And if this singular timeline reaches its conclusion, then nothing that happens in any other will matter, because they will all end."

"We do need your help," Rose said. "But we aren't asking you to help us kill Ukyou."

"Then what?" Ran was shaking.

"Just... step aside." Haruka explained. "The four of us are more than a match for her. But she keeps gathering friends to her. We just want you to step aside. Just don't be there when she needs you."

Ran stared at the blonde for a long time. Then, without a word, she turned and walked out of the house.

01010

Zoicite was shaking. He couldn't help it. His knees felt like they were made of jelly. Yet every step he made was with leaden feet. He swore he could feel the echoes of his own footfalls.

"You're afraid," Kunzite said. He stopped. His cape ceased flapping behind him as he came to a stop. Zoicite looked up and saw him glancing back over his shoulder. His long silvery hair fell about his beautiful face, and for a moment Zoicite ached to see it. "There is no need to fear."

There was, because this could be the last time Zoicite saw it.

Kunzite was holding out his hand, and Zoicite took it. He could feel the warmth of the other man's hand even through both their gloves. He squeezed, drawing strength from that warmth. He wondered if Kunzite would stand with him, in the end. Kunzite had always warned him against toying with Queen Beryl, and never once promised to aid him. But... what use was love, unless it brought aid when it was needed?

"I don't see why you are worried, Zoicite," Kunzite said calmly as he continued leading them down the hallway. "Queen Beryl is executing a traitor today. That usually puts you in such a high spirit."

Zoicite smiled thinly. Kunzite was beautiful and powerful, but dumb as a post. Couldn't he see the signs? Zoicite had spent the last few weeks trying to poison Beryl against Nephrite... an attempt to undercut the General's growing power. But that had all changed when the Silver Crystal had returned.

The very Dark Kingdom had shuddered with it. All the youma had felt the outraged roar of Metallia, deep in her icy tomb. There could be no doubt about the fact that the mythic Ginzuishou had returned.

And that Zoicite had failed.

For hadn't it been his task to locate the crystal?

Before Zoicite could work up the courage to flee, they were there. He had hoped that walking would buy them more time. The massive throne chamber of the dark queen was filled almost to overflowing today. It was a virtual who's who of those who had risen highest in Beryl's favour. The entire crowd of them parted like a whisper before the two generals. None of the youma dared raise their eyes.

Zoicite smirked, but the smirk was painful. He would probably miss this most of all, he supposed.

Then they were standing before Queen Beryl's dais. The queen was looking particularly murderous today. Her pale skin was flushed with rage, and her dark eyes quivered with the same emotion. Her blood-red hair was a flash of colour in the darkness of the shadows she sat in. In her hands she held her staff of office. While it looked ornamental, Zoicite could feel the immense power of the magic that flowed through that scepter. With it, she could shred souls asunder.

"It is about time you two joined us," Beryl said quickly. But there was no real menace in her tone, just impatience. Zoicite blinked, confused. If this was to be his execution, he would have expected a more dangerous greeting. "Nephrite, is our prisoner still awake?"

"Yes, my queen." Nephrite was standing nearby. His smug smile went perfectly with his arrogant stance. His long brown hair was immaculate, and his grey uniform without so much as a loose stitch. He spared a quick, infuriatingly mocking look for Zoicite before turning his attention back to the queen. "I would not let her escape your wrath so easily." Then Nephrite was raising his hands and clapping loudly. "Bring forth the prisoner."

The crowd parted again, and two youma stalked forward. They were huge hulking beasts, the kind of nameless brutes that were useful for nothing more than physical labour. Between their barely feminine shapes was being carried a third figure.

It took a moment for Zoicite to recognize her. Her appearance had changed significantly. She had an actual face now, for one thing... a smooth face with aquiline features. Her outfit now consisted of a skin-tight metallic breastplate and equally tight-fitting chaps. From the looks of the bruises forming along her body, she had not been treated well.

"Tethys!" Zoicite exclaimed before he could think.

The youma looked up at him. Her eyes were still red slits, but now they had human pupils within them. They narrowed at seeing Zoicite, and Zoicite slammed his mouth shut. He had been about to accuse the youma of leading his three best assassins to their doom. He had been about to call her unkind things and perhaps let out a little of his own anger... not enough to upset Queen Beryl, but enough to allow Zoicite to relieve some of his own worry. And yet...

There was something in the air. Something that had entered the chamber with Tethys.

Zoicite kept quiet.

"Yes, it does appear to be Tethys..." Beryl said, her voice a barely restrained fury. "And what brings this traitor back to this place?"

"She attacked me," Nephrite said with a small laugh. "I don't know what she was hoping to accomplish, but I showed her the error of her ways. No mere youma is a match for me."

Tethys was looking down at the ground. Her eyes were closed. She was smiling.

"Perhaps she would like to speak for herself?" Beryl asked sharply. "Certainly you must have a wonderful story for us! Can you explain why you allowed one of my Generals to be killed, and three of my youma? Can you explain why you abandoned your queen? Can you explain why you attacked her servant?"

"Because you are a fool," Tethys said simply. Her voice was not the voice of a broken creature.

Zoicite opened his mouth. He should tell Queen Beryl. He should tell the queen to kill the upstart now. There was something wrong here. Tethys wasn't beaten. Tethys was dangerous. Zoicite closed his mouth, and grabbed onto Kunzite's hand more tightly. The taller General only looked at him in confusion, before turning with a smirk back to the held youma.

"What did you call me?" Beryl roared. To emphasise her question, she gestured with her staff and a bolt of ebon lightning sprang from its top and grounded through Tethys' body. So powerful was the blast that the brutes holding onto Tethys were evaporated by the backlash. Tethys fell to her knees, her scream echoing majestically across the chamber.

But she still wasn't beaten. "I called you a fool," Tethys said into the silence that followed.

"Such impudence!" Kunzite growled.

"Allow me to slay her, your majesty," Nephrite offered with a bow. "I will harvest her power and add it to our reserves."

Beryl would have replied, but she was cut off by an improbable sound. Tethys was laughing. Beryl's eyes narrowed to slits as she turned back to the traitor.

"More power?" Tethys said as her laughter died down slightly. "Is that going to be your solution to everything, Beryl? How much energy have you already gathered? Certainly you must have enough to revive Metallia by now. Then why haven't you?"

Zoicite didn't like where this was going, but he kept quiet.

"We need more power..." Beryl explained in a mocking manner. "To undo the seal which was placed upon her, we need power equal to that of the Ginzuishou."

"A fool's errand," Tethys snapped. Her head raised up, and her defiant eyes came to rest on Beryl. "You will never succeed!"

"Be quiet!" Beryl roared. With a gesture and a twist of her magic Beryl formed a vortex of glittering crystal shards. They spun around Tethys and lifted her into the air. Her body bent and danced as long gashes and blue blood appeared on her body. Finally Beryl finished tormenting her, and the youma collapsed. "You are not worth my time..."

"And that is why you will fail..." Tethys gasped. Zoicite was impressed that the blue-skinned woman was still holding herself up. "Because you can't see the danger that lies right in front of your face."

"Are you suggesting that you are a threat to Queen Beryl?" Kunzite said with a mocking laugh.

"Yes." Tethys looked at him, then back at the Queen. "You asked me why I came here? I have come to kill you, Beryl."

"What?" Nephrite and Kunzite gasped almost simultaneously. Beryl only stared at the youma, her hatred almost palatable. Tethys was smiling now, her face grim but oddly triumphant.

"You aren't fit to lead us anymore, Beryl." Tethys grunted and stood up slowly. "You can't even see the danger that threatens your people anymore. The ultimate enemy that will be the undoing of the Dark Kingdom."

"The Sailor Senshi?" Nephrite said with a smirk. "They are so scared they haven't even bothered to try and stop me for weeks. Months, even."

"No..." Tethys held up her hand. "Humanity. Humanity will stop you."

"You can't be serious..." Beryl said, now smirking herself.

"You still don't see it?" Tethys clasped her hand into a fist. "Who was it that defeated Jadeite, Beryl? Was it our ancient enemies from the Moon Kingdom? No. It was humans that defeated him so utterly. He had power unimaginable, power to rival even yours... and still he died." Her face suddenly became serious. "The power you have gathered, you will use it to throw open the gates of this Kingdom and then you plan on leading your army on a grand charge across the world again, don't you? Just like last time."

"And just like last time, humanity will fall before us like chaff before the reaper," Beryl replied. She was smiling now. Zoicite could see it in her eyes. She was no longer thinking of Tethys as anything more than a fool. Kunzite had the same expression. Only Nephrite seemed to be taking pause at Tethys' words.

"Things have changed, Beryl," Tethys insisted. "Humanity will rise up to oppose you. And they will defeat you. Without Metallia, you are nothing more than a speedbump to them." The youma glanced at Nephrite and smirked again. "The power you have gathered. It is a fraction... a tiny fraction of the power you will face when you rise up from this cold prison and try your hand at conquest."

"We will have Metallia-" Beryl started.

"No!" Tethys interrupted her with a snarl and a snap of her hand. "Metallia is dead! Her power is a fading echo. All your precious power... it is nothing more than a bandage that slows her decay. The Silver Crystal defeated her and she can never be again." Tethys began to laugh again. "And even if she did step forth once more, the Silver Crystal would be her undoing this time just like the last."

"I have had enough of your prattle," Beryl insisted with a blast of magic that sent Tethys back to her knees. "It is obvious that living among humans has unbalanced your mind..."

"No... it has freed it," Tethys said, and there was a hint of awe in her own voice. She stood up again. "This is your last chance, Beryl. Prove me wrong. Ask yourself why I attacked Nephrite if I couldn't defeat him. I've let you have one last chance, in the hopes that I am wrong."

"Let?" Beryl said. She was slowly gathering power on the tip of her staff. Enormous power. Zoicite began to back away, and Kunzite and Nephrite did likewise. Beryl was truly infuriated now, and was about to show why she was the queen. Zoicite hadn't seen her gather that much raw power since the War. If she unleashed that on Tethys, all that would be left of the youma was the shattered crater where she had stood.

"But it appears I wasn't," Tethys said and nodded. Then she held up her hands...

And the entire chamber shook. Zoicite cried out. The wall, the right wall was exploding! The entire length of it just shattering into a million pieces. Zoicite saw figures landing among the wreckage. An army?

Beryl spun in place, a smirk on her face. She unleashed her power, and the orb of darkness exploded across the room. Youma too slow or stupid to get out of the way were annihilated in its wake. When the blast struck, it vaporized all the shrapnel.

Zoicite realized what must have happened a second later. Tethys had used her power over water to try and animate the ice. But Beryl had shattered her attack like it was nothing.

It was then that Zoicite heard the crack.

He turned slowly. Tethys was standing in front of Beryl. her fist was extended out in a punch. Her fist was embedded in Beryl's neck. Beryl's eyes were still looking away from her, and they didn't even look surprised. Nobody had seen Tethys move.

Beryl's body didn't even twitch as it slumped to the floor. Tethys drew back her fist, and placed her foot on the head of the body. She turned and looked out over the gathered youma and the three generals. As she did, wisps of power began to flow up from Beryl's body. Tethys' aura grew stronger and stronger as it absorbed the force of Beryl's magic.

Zoicite was the first one to react. He stepped forward, his eyes narrowed. Then he fell to one knee and bowed his head, one arm crossed in front of his chest.

"The queen is dead..." Zoicite said softly, then raised his eyes and his voice so that it very nearly shattered the walls with just its force. "Long live the queen!" And slowly, one by one, the other youma began to fall in line behind him.

Tethys only looked upon them all, her expression grim.

01010

ZX-Tole strode into the house. The two guards at the gate didn't even bother trying to detain him. They were dressed in civilian clothes, and looked like nothing more than construction workers taking a break. Chronos needed to be circumspect these days, it seemed.

The house itself was large, a sprawling example of traditional Japanese design spread out over a large plot of land. The gardens and yards were attractively arranged, but had the signs of disarray that usually crept into such things after a few weeks of neglect. Chronos troopers moved about the area in small groups. They looked as tense as rabbits strutting through a field full of sleeping tigers.

"You there," ZX-Tole snapped. The trooper practically leaped out of his skin before turning to face ZX-Tole. He looked relieved. "What on earth is going on here?"

"Sir?" Chronos didn't use insignia of rank and office, but everyone could recognise when someone higher on the food chain had arrived.

"This should have been a routine snatch and secure mission," ZX-Tole said as he gestured towards the mansion. "But you all act as if this is a warzone."

"It's the traps, sir," the trooper said nervously.

"Traps?"

"The place is full of them," a new voice said. ZX-Tole turned to see Thancrus walking towards him. He was adjusting his long black hair with one hand as he moved. and was smirking slightly. "It seems the previous owners left a lot of dangerous things around."

"Dangerous?" ZX-Tole frowned. "To zoanoids?"

"You'd be surprised," Thancrus said as he gestured for ZX-Tole to follow. "The single martial artist who resided here was easily subdued, but this entire mansion is filled with extremely potent bioweapons."

"Bioweapons?" ZX-Tole said, surprised.

"Nothing like zoanoids," Thancrus clarified quickly. "Plants, mostly. Toxic plants. Poisons. Plants that attack anything that comes near them. Plants with exotic effects..."

"Plants..." ZX-Tole shook his head. "I don't care about plants, Thancrus."

"Really?" Thancrus gestured towards a door. ZX-Tole glared at him and opened it up-

"TEA?"

ZX-Tole closed the door.

"That was a Gregole," ZX-Tole informed Thancrus. The smaller man nodded. "It had two cute little flowers on its horn." Thancrus nodded again. "It was trying to serve me tea." Thancrus nodded again, then opened up his mouth. ZX-Tole forestalled him with a wave of his hand. "Never mind. I don't want to know." He took a deep breath. "Is there any sign of our targets?"

"No." Thancrus shook his head. "They must have abandoned this place months ago."

"Damnit," ZX-Tole growled. Commander Gyro was not going to like this. "We need to find that... Chris, wasn't it?"

"There is one group we haven't tried to question."

"You mean the TAC?" ZX-Tole stood up straight and shook his head. "So long as they continue to report everything through official channels, they are no threat to us."

"I still don't think allowing humans to deal with these rogue bioweapons..."

"The Zoalord Council is far wiser than you, Thancrus," ZX-Tole informed him as he turned around to walk out of the compound. "They will determine what our next move will be." He paused at the threshold. "Though this house will make a good base of operations. Call in about another two dozen zoanoids to clean up the rest of the place."

ZX-Tole didn't wait for his teammate to respond before stepping out of the door. He frowned to himself. He should have been somewhere else. He should have been helping to hunt down the Guyver Units. He should have been helping to deal with the situation in Europe or America. Instead... he was stuck here hunting little girls.

He glanced to the side of the gate as he walked out. The sign said that this was the Kunou estate. He frowned and ordered the guard to tear that sign down.

Soon, he wouldn't need to hide among the humans and worry about exposing the truth. A war was coming. He could sniff it on the wind. Then, he could fight his enemies the way they were meant to be fought, in the open.

01010

"I guess you're wondering why I called you all here." Kunikida grinned and rubbed his head. "Sorry, I always wanted to say that."

The joke did not go over well. Kunikida had the good grace to be embarrassed as everyone groaned at him. Aaron only smiled a little. Kunikida had a sense of humour that was almost as bad as Dr. Tofu's. Or perhaps his own, since Ukyou reminded him he had made the exact same joke with Ranma and Akane once. Well, that awful sense of humour was one trait they hadn't seen much of since she had met Kunikida. But then, most of the times they had talked, it had been about very serious subjects.

Aaron glanced around the room and took note of the heroes collected there. He paused and smiled thinly. He had used the term without even thinking, but he guessed it was true in one way or another. Everyone here was a good person, the kind of person that would risk their lives to save a friend or save the world.

Ranma was the first person that Aaron's eyes fell upon. The brash young man was near the back of the room, and he was glaring at Kyosuke. Kyosuke, for his part, was looking back with an innocent expression as he adjusted his pince- nez glasses with one finger. Ranma was rubbing his elbow. Then he grinned viciously and placed the elbow on the small table that was between them. Kyosuke sighed and leaned down to place his own hand firmly into Ranma's grasp.

A second later, there was a loud thunk and Ranma was glaring at Kyosuke again.

Not far from the two of them were Akira and Momiji. Akira had arrived on her motorcycle and was carrying her helmet at her side as she chatted with Momiji. Well, really it appeared that Momiji was talking and Akira was smiling and nodding and looking vaguely lost.

Then Kusanagi stepped past her and flipped up the back of Momiji's skirt. He whistled as the girl's white panties flashed into view for a moment... then it promptly turned into a cry of pain as Akira elbowed him in the side of the face.

For a moment, it looked like Momiji was torn between thanking Akira and yelling at her. Meanwhile, Kusanagi just groaned and rubbed the side of his face as he lay on the floor. He was glancing up Momiji's skirt, still. Aaron decided not to say anything about that.

Matsudaira was across the room from the little melodrama, examining Tux- boy. Mamoru was in his human form, wearing a green shirt and black pants that looked especially dorky but that somehow he carried off due to sheer good looks. He looked uncomfortable as Matsudaira told him to turn his head and cough.

The rest of the TAC was sticking mainly to themselves. Yaegashi was sitting in a corner, working at the Shadowloo laptop with a sort of feverish intensity. Koume was standing near the door, the stock of an assault rifle resting on her shoulder as she gazed with disinterest out the door. Her red hair and pink jump-suit rippled slightly in the dry breeze. Ryoko was standing near Kunikida, giving him meaningful looks when she thought nobody was looking. The man himself was sitting in traditional style in the centre of the room, and was even wearing equally traditional gi and baggy pants. He seemed content to let everyone settle down before he started talking.

Ran was the only person that really stood out. Usually she would have been near Ranma, probably talking up a storm. Instead she was sitting by herself. She looked away sharply as Aaron's eyes reached her. Aaron knew she had been watching Ukyou ever since they had arrived, and she had been very quiet.

It was probably nothing. But Ukyou made a note for them to see if they could talk with her later, alone preferably. Little nothings had a way of turning into big somethings if you let them fester, as Ukyou had learned the hard way.

Even as Aaron finished his scan of the room, he couldn't help but feel that he was missing something. It was like someone was missing... someone important. But Ryouga and Nabiki weren't even supposed to be here, and he could think of no one else that should be. Still... it hurt. It was like he wasn't just missing something, but missing a piece of himself.

"If I could have everyone's attention," Kunikida said just forcefully enough to draw the attention of everyone in the room. "The reason I've called you all here is because you are the only people I really trust, and this is the only place I can think of that is likely not being watched or monitored in some way."

Kunikida stood up and rubbed his temple absently. Suddenly he looked twenty years older, and he was no spring chicken to begin with. His eyes were weary, and his shoulders slumped slightly. The man looked up and his eyes met with those of Momiji. She was staring at him with... something close to awe. Ukyou recognized the look. It was complete and absolute trust. Momiji believed in Kunikida. The old man smiled and pulled in a deep breath, and Ukyou watched the vitality flow back into his body.

"As of this moment, the TAC no longer works for the Japanese government," he announced in a solid voice.

"What?" Koume shrieked.

"Sir? You can't be serious!" Yaegashi added as he stepped forward.

"This is some sort of bad joke, isn't it, sir?" Ryoko said as she glanced at the man in worry.

"I mean exactly what I said," Kunikida replied to all three of them as he looked around the room. "I have suspected for some time now that there are elements of our own government that are not exactly working in the best interests of the citizens of Japan. However, the corruption runs far deeper and has a far more sinister agenda than I had ever thought possible."

"But we defeated those aragami!" Momiji burst out suddenly.

"You're right, Momiji," Ukyou added. "But the monsters out there aren't limited to just the aragami."

"The young lady is right," Kunikida said, regaining the attention of everyone in the room. "For months now I have been getting increasingly more worrying orders. The original mandate of the TAC was to deal with the aragami and protect the Kushinada, and that was all. But increasingly my superiors have been ordering me to engage in investigations into the various other supernatural phenomena that have been affecting Japan. Our resources have been strained so tightly that we haven't been able to accomplish anything meaningful in months. Even our attempts to confront the aragami have been mostly hindered by the interference of outside forces." Ranma chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "They've also been demanding I release far more information as of late. Until recently, I was allowed a much freer hand in dealing with these situations, but now my every move is closely monitored. Even the people in charge have have changed. Old friends I had in the government at various levels have disappeared, or seem completely different..."

Kunikida frowned and shook his head.

"What does this mean, sir?" Ryoko asked. "Are we disbanding? Or something else..." Left unspoken was the fact that if Kunikida decided to go rogue, Ryoko would follow him without question. Aaron wondered how it was that Kunikida could fail to see the way that woman looked at him.

"No, we aren't going to disband, Takeuchi," Kunikida declared. "As far as our superiors know, we are still going to be doing our jobs the same as we always have. But I already started falsifying the reports I gave to them long ago. I sensed this day was coming, and what I learned from these young people has only cemented my belief that now we need to act with the utmost discretion. Our mandate hasn't changed, but our methods will have to, slightly. We'll have to work a little more... outside the official channels then we have before."

"You mean illegally, don't you?" Kusanagi said. He was smiling and leaning back against the wall.

"Yes, Kusanagi, that is exactly what I mean..."

"Sir!" Matsudaira piped in. "I'm not certain I can be a party to this. I need access to materials and data that I can't get without going through official channels. Not to mention I have a family..."

"We all have families, Azusa," Ryoko said quickly. "And if you need resources, we can still get access to them. I learned quite a bit about the black market when I worked for the PD."

"This is highly irregular..." Matsudaira sighed. She looked very tired.

"If I may ask, sir... why the hell do we have to do this at all!" Yaegashi stepped forward his fist clenched. "If there are corrupt elements in the government our duty is to expose them, not hide from them!"

"It won't work, Yaegashi," Ukyou broke in. "The syndicate that controls your government is called Chronos. They have strings tied to the heads of every major government in the world. They have access to an army of monsters that make the aragami look like plush toys. If you try to confront them openly, they'll crush you like an ant and no one will even notice."

"This is insane!" Yaegashi announced. "Do you even have any proof, or are we just acting on rumor and hearsay?"

"I have all the proof I need," Kunikida said as he crossed his arms. "I know this is hard to believe, but Ukyou is right. I've done some digging on this Chronos since she told me about it." He paused, and his voice became slightly hoarse as he continued. "Three of my friends are dead since they started looking into this. Two more are missing. One of them was killed when a train derailed and exploded, killing his entire family and a hundred more innocent people."

"The train derailment?" Kyosuke said in surprise. "You're saying that was caused by this Chronos?"

"I don't have any direct proof..." Kunikida's hand clenched into a fist. "I've told all my contacts to stop digging. Since then, there have been no more incidents."

"This is really serious..." Yaegashi sat down suddenly. "You really mean that someone has taken over the entire Japanese government?"

"And most of the rest of the world as well," Ukyou said. "I hear the Americans are putting up quite a resistance, however."

"Which bears out with what I heard as well," Kunikida said with a nod. "The Americans have been silently pulling their forces out of Japan. The base in Okinawa is staffed by a skeleton crew, just enough people to present the appearance of a fully manned base to the outside world. They've even left most of their equipment behind."

"Hmmm..." Kyosuke nodded and adjusted his glasses with one hand. "You may be right about that. I didn't think much about it at the time, but a few months ago Pacific High School started to close its doors. The student body there was almost entirely made up of the sons and daughters of American businessmen and diplomats. But over the last few months, all the students have started to vanish. When I checked on it, I was told that Pacific was being closed due to some budget cuts in America and they were simply transferring the students to other schools throughout Japan. But if what you say is true, I wonder..."

"Which only underscores my point," Kunikida said. "We also have to be careful about dealing with this. The aragami are still a danger to Japan, and we are the group who is trained and equipped best to handle it. I won't let someone destroy our chances to deal with the problem I have dedicated my life to solving!" The man was breathing heavily by the end of his speech, his face flushed. The room was quiet for almost a minute.

"I'm with you, Mr. Kunikida," Momiji said as she stood up. "I don't understand what's going on. But I trust you."

"I do too," Ryoko added immediately. "I work for you, not the government."

"Ah, for crying out loud..." Koume said with a grimace. "I'm in too. If what you say is true... it's probably not like I could just transfer back to the SDF."

"I'm in as well," Matsudaira said, her voice hard. She looked up at Kunikida and her eyes narrowed slightly. "I may not like it, but I like even less that the research I've been doing has all been going to help some shadow conspiracy."

"And you, Yaegashi?" Kunikida asked.

Yaegashi pulled off his thick glasses with one hand and rubbed at his forehead with the other. He looked up at Kunikida and nodded once, silently.

"I suppose I'm in too," Kusanagi said with a sigh. "Hey. It's not like I'm not used to being a little bit outside the law."

"Good..." Kunikida looked at Kusanagi significantly. "As long as you don't forget the promise you made to me." Kusanagi's inhuman eyes widened and he suddenly reached a hand into a pocket of his long red coat. He grabbed something in there and his eyes narrowed before he nodded solemnly.

"Promise?" Momiji asked.

"Nothing important, Princess," Kusanagi said dismissively.

"Which I suppose brings this around to us," Kyosuke said as he stood up leisurely. "I don't exactly work for the government. So I was wondering why you felt the need to include us..." he gestured at the young martial artists gathered in the room, "in your little counter-conspiracy."

"Because I think you children have a right to know," Kunikida said without hesitation. "This doesn't just affect us adults, although I wish it did. Plus there is the fact that you have strengths and abilities which most of us didn't even realise existed until a few weeks ago."

"So you want our help?" Kyosuke said. "Fighting a giant faceless evil conspiracy..." he chuckled. "It certainly makes handing out tardy slips and checking for hall passes seem rather petty in comparison."

"Uh... I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing I want to be a part of," Akira said. She blushed and retreated back against the wall a little bit as the group's attention focused on her. "I mean... I'm not really... that is... I just wanted to help out my friends... just a little bit..."

"I'm not asking for your help," Kunikida said, crossing his arms. "Just the opposite. I'm offering all of you mine."

"Your help?" Ranma asked skeptically.

"Up until now, we've been working at cross purposes. The problem is a lack of information on both sides." Kunikida nodded to Ranma and Kusanagi. "That can lead to... misunderstandings.

"But the idea I have is that we share information. Organise ourselves. Circumspectly." Kunikida held up a finger. "If we can start to gather together, we may be able to withstand the storm that is coming. You kids have power, but no organisation or discipline. We adults have plenty of that, but not the kind of power we need.'

"It's an interesting proposal," Kyosuke said. "I'll have to think about it. I'm still not entirely certain I believe in this Chronos, or most of this. I'm just here because I heard a little girl needs saving from a deranged psychopath and I thought I could help." Aaron smiled. If anybody would join up with Kunikida, it would be Kyosuke.

"Kyosuke has a point," Ranma said. "I'm all for this yay Japan stuff and saving the world. But all this stuff went over my head when that chick from the CIA tried to explain it to me." He grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Can't you guys just point me in the direction of someone who needs a good old fashioned Saotome School ass-kicking or something?"

"I agree," Mamoru piped in for the first time. He had been quiet since Kunikida had started speaking. "I gave my word to Hotaru that I would come back for her. I mean to keep it."

"Hmmm..." Kunikida sighed and sat back down. "I suppose we should move along in business. Have you made any progress in cracking into that computer, Yaegashi?"

"No, sir," Yaegashi sighed. "The code in it is... just beyond me. It doesn't even make sense."

"Maybe if we asked the girls you captured to unlock it?" Momiji asked. "They must have the password, right?"

"I don't think they'll be exactly helpful," Mamoru said with a frown. "They are our prisoners."

"Heh. Just give me five minutes alone with them!" Koume burst out.

"Don't you dare!" Mamoru shouted at her. The woman gave him a strange look and backed away a little.

"I was only kidding, pal," Koume said half-jokingly. Aaron frowned.

"It's nothing to joke about," Mamoru said, his voice serious. "They're victims in all this, and we shouldn't be mistreating them."

"Where are they, anyway?" Mamoru said as he turned from the slightly annoyed Koume to Kunikida. "I thought they needed to be guarded at all times."

"Not anymore," Aaron pointed out. "They don't have any superhuman abilities anymore."

"What do you mean?" Mamoru said as he spun on Aaron. The boy's short black hair flashed as it shifted under the diffuse light. Out of the corner of his eye, Aaron saw Kunikida get up and leave, Ryoko following him.

"What I said," Aaron replied curtly. "Without the Psychopower, they don't have access to the skills they had as Dolls. They've been reduced to the same power as any other human being."

"How can you tell?" Mamoru asked shortly.

"I examined them earlier," Aaron said with a sigh. "They don't have any more chi in their bodies than any other normal human. Much like you."

Mamoru stopped, his eyes widening slightly. Aaron nodded to himself. "I could tell the moment you came in. That power you had inside you, the one I could only slightly sense before. It's gone. I think your magic has deserted you, hasn't it, Mamoru?"

"I..." Mamoru clenched his hands into fist. "Yes. I tried to transform. I did it when I woke up, and a lot of other times besides. But I can't do it!"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of-" Ukyou began, but Mamoru cut her off.

"Yes it is!" he shouted. "I promised Hotaru I would rescue her! I knew that as Tuxedo Mask I could track her down... even without the data in that stupid computer!" He slammed his fist into the floor, sending up a small cloud of dust. "But how can I save her now? I feel so useless..." He looked up at Ukyou again, his eyes meeting hers. This lasted a second before he flinched away. Aaron smiled thinly. "You know, don't you? You know why I can't use my magic anymore... tell me!"

"Indeed..." Aaron stood up. "The bodies of the Dolls aren't living on chi. They are living off the power of your magic. Somehow, the other night... your power was transfused into them. I don't understand it, but you must have shared with them your life force." He nodded towards the back of the building, where Kunikida and Ryoko had vanished from the room. "Can't you feel them, back there? The connection between you must have gotten stronger the closer you got to them. I can practically see the energy snapping back and forth between you and them."

Mamoru looked at Ukyou again, then at the back wall. He closed his eyes, and his body slumped slightly. With a long sigh he nodded. "Yes. I was wondering what that was..." He looked up again. "Whenever I used to transform into Tuxedo Mask I always felt this... beacon, like a primal urge inside my heart. It always used to lead me to Sailor Moon when she was in danger. But now... I feel that same beacon in this building. Not as urgent, and more diffuse... but it's still there."

"Uh, excuse me, but what are you two talking about?" Ranma asked.

"She seems to be saying that Mamoru and the Dolls share a psychic bond," Matsudaira mused as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "They are living off his life force. That's why he can't access his powers, since the girls are draining away the energy necessary for him to do so."

"Indeed," Aaron agreed.

"Well, let's see if these girls react any to him, then?" Kunikida said as he walked into the room. Behind him came the three Dolls. Ukyou only vaguely recalled their names. The one in the lead with the red hair was Fevrier, if she remembered correctly. The redhead was glaring about the room, her fingers twitching as they kept reaching for guns that weren't on her hips. Behind her came the blue-haired girl whose name escaped Ukyou. She looked nervous until she spotted Mamoru. Then she smiled, a huge energetic grin. The final Doll's name was Satsuki, Ukyou believed. She moved with a sort of quiet grace despite her injuries. Her eyes flashed across the room, instantly noting everyone. They too settled on Mamoru. Instead of smiling, she looked down just enough that he remained in her vision and she blushed slightly. The redhead glanced back at her companions and snorted as she crossed her arms. But she also kept glancing at Mamoru despite herself. Ryoko came in last, moving with her hand on her pistol.

"If you plan on interrogating us, we'll tell you nothing!" Fevrier snapped as she was led into the center of the room.

"But we could really use your help!" Momiji said eagerly. "These people helped save you, right? They broke that man's hold on your mind. Shouldn't you want to help them out?"

"No one asked them to help us!" Fevrier spun on Momiji. She paused as Kusanagi slid silently in front of the slightly cowed girl. Fevrier smirked and her expression became cooler. "Because of you, I have lost everything," she said, turning on Mamoru. "Don't expect me to be grateful. You should have let me die."

"I couldn't do that..." Mamoru said. "Vega tricked you into fighting me to the death. I wasn't going to have your lives on my conscience."

"How could such a weak-"

"Thank you," the brown-haired Doll said, cutting off Fevrier. Fevrier glanced at Satsuki in surprise. The girl had knelt on the floor, and was looking down and away from Mamoru. Her cheeks were still flushed slightly.

"Yeah, thank you for saving our lives!" the blue-haired girl added enthusiastically.

"Marz..." Fevrier said as she clenched her fist. "I thought we agreed on a united front here."

"You agreed to that," Marz said innocently. "Besides, there is no reason to be mad at Mamoru."

"And why is that?" Fevrier groused, but there was a hint of hope in her voice.

"Can't you feel it?" Marz said, quirking her head at Fevrier. Fevrier frowned and shook her head. "Hmm, and I thought you were always so proud of your connection to the Psychopower." Fevrier growled but said nothing. "Search your feelings, Fevrier. How does that boy make you feel?"

"He makes me feel..." Fevrier glanced about. Her eye twitched when she noticed everyone leaning in with anticipation on their faces. "I am not talking about that here!"

"Well, I'm not afraid to say it," Marz said with a wink in Mamoru's direction. "He makes me feel exactly the same way Bison used to. When I'm near him, I feel like I'm part of him." She paused and quirked her head to the side. "Though I suppose the feeling is different. I don't feel nearly so violent when I think about him. I just feel kind of warm and tingly. Like I am experiencing the afterglow of a major orgasm or," there was a loud clap as Koume slapped her hands over Momiji's ears. Akira also turned red as a beet, "...perhaps something else. I can't seem to find any experience that quite matches it."

"You..." Fevrier stuttered for a moment. Then her head dropped. "You're right." She glared at Mamoru sharply. "Damn it. Now I have to obey him without question?" Her face softened slightly, but she was still frowning. "No offence, but you're a wuss."

"None taken..." Mamoru said slowly. Then he did a double-take. "Did you say 'obey without question'?"

"Yes," Satsuki said with a nod.

"We have to," Marz added happily. "Our lives are yours. We have been programmed to respond to your desires."

"But... I don't want that!" Mamoru said aghast.

"Man, you ARE a wuss," Kusanagi said. Momiji glared at him and he shrugged. "What?"

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Marz said, waving her hand at him. "You'll find we are very useful! We can kill anybody you want us to, and Satsuki here is a trained ninja. Plus I'm really good with computers. See, I have a neural interface and everything..." She pulled a small thin wire from her hair. "Plus there is the sex, of course." She looked at Mamoru critically. "Then again, I'm not certain if you'll be able to keep up with all three of us. You don't look as... virile as Bison was."

"He will be able to," Satsuki added quietly, still looking away from Mamoru. The young man in question's face was doing a good impersonation of a fire hydrant, complete with liquid dripping out of his nose.

"Would you two stop talking about sex for one minute!" Fevrier shouted.

"Sorry," Marz and Satsuki said with a smile. But Marz was giving Mamoru a wicked little look, and Fevrier was also blushing heavily.

"Congratulations, Tux-boy, you are now the star of a harem comedy!" Ukyou said, laughing aloud. She couldn't help it, really. The thought struck her so quickly and so acutely that not laughing was impossible.

"But... but..."

Kunikida cleared his throat. "As fascinating as all this is... we still need to decide what to do with them."

"I'll take them if he doesn't want them," Kusanagi said, raising his hand. Everyone glared at him. He shrugged. "What?"

"We can't just turn them over to the regular police," Aaron said as Ukyou got over her giggle fit. "Even if they are normal humans..."

"For now!" Fevrier snapped.

"...they're in too much danger," Aaron continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "If Bison doesn't track them down, Chronos will. Either way it's probably a fate worse than death." He looked down. It was really a perfect solution to the Doll problem, and it had fallen into his lap so neatly. "Mamoru should look after them. They can't hurt him or disobey him, so he can keep them under control. Plus he's a decent guy, so he can help them rediscover the person they used to be before Bison raped their minds."

"That sounds reasonable..." Kunikida agreed with a nod. "If we're going to be doing things not quite by the book, I suppose letting them go without actually punishing them is fine."

"I never agreed to this!" Mamoru shouted.

"Ah, don't be a sap, Tux-boy," Kusanagi said as he walked over to Mamoru. "Any guy with a pair would dream of this opportunity. Besides, it's not like you can help us fight anymore. So you might as well play nursemaid." Mamoru glared at him. Kusanagi shrugged. "What?"

Sometimes Ukyou wondered what Momiji saw in him.

01010

The corridor was cold and refreshing. Ono had found it hard to believe a place could grow so hot. The streets literally steamed, the waves of heat rising from them so intense it almost made seeing impossible. He took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, rubbing the sweat from his brow with one arm.

"You okay, Doc?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, I'm fine..." Ono looked at her then away. He adjusted his glasses to hide his sudden embarrassment. Sakura had insisted on wearing something 'appropriate for the weather', and the sheer fabric was now combining in a most disturbing manner with the air-conditioned building.

"You sure? You look a little flushed," she continued, grinning wickedly. She stretched a little. Ono looked away some more and coughed.

"I'm fine, Ms. Yamazaki," he replied earnestly.

"Good, come along with me then," she said and began to sashay her way down the corridor. Ono tried not to look at her as he followed.

Ono glanced behind him to see Soun trying to prod Genma into moving. The man had thought to try and alleviate the heat by dousing himself with a bottle of water earlier. They had been forced to drag the huge ball of fur into the building before he perished of heat stroke. "I think we'll need a few seconds..." he called after her as politely as he could.

"Oh, is he unconscious again!" Sakura sighed. "I'll have someone get him later. You two follow me. We have too much to talk about for him to slow us down."

"Uh, right..." Ono looked at Soun. Soun sighed and straightened, rubbing the excess sweat from his own brow with his gi sleeve.

"I don't feel right about just leaving him lying in front of the door like this..." Soun grumbled. "He is my oldest friend, after all."

"Nobody will mistake him for a wild animal," Sakura shot back. She was now considerably further down the hall.

"Right..." Ono sighed and followed her reluctantly. Soun cast a last reproachful look at his friend and then followed a step behind.

Sakura led them into a small room. It was mercifully dark and cool, with the shades drawn tight. The room wasn't large, maybe three meters long and twice that wide. In one corner was an American flag, complete with golden cords holding it in place. Ono was sure that was significant in some manner. The rest of the room was well-appointed. There was a polished wood desk, a luxurious leather chair behind it and three more well-stuffed chairs arrayed across the room. Empty bookshelves lined the walls, and a large water cooler was in the corner opposite the flag.

Sakura walked in like she owned the place. She smirked at the furniture, running a finger along the top of the desk and then checking it idly for dust. Satisfied, she slid up onto the top and sat with her legs crossed.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked, tossing her head so that her long blonde hair glimmered in an arc behind her.

"Is this your office?" Soun asked, looking mildly impressed. Sakura laughed.

"Actually, no." She turned her eyes towards Ono again. "It's yours."

"Mine?" He blinked.

"Perhaps I can help explain?"

Soun and Ono turned at the new voice. Two strangers were standing in the doorway. They were men, and had the look of fighters about them. The taller one was definitely stronger. His aura was practically burning like a bonfire to someone as sensitive to such things as Ono was. Yet he moved with a sort of easy, careless quality. It was like he wasn't aware of the violent power that resided within him. And Ono couldn't have called it anything but violent. He had never seen a spirit so refined to serve as a weapon.

Physically, the man was a little short for an American. He had blonde hair he had tied back in a ponytail that stretched down to his waist. His figure was heavily muscled, but more in an athletic way than that of a body-builder. He wore a green vest, open in the front and with a knife strapped to one shoulder and a gun strapped under the other. Under that he wore a white short-sleeved shirt with a badge of some kind sewn onto the shoulders. He also wore jeans, kneepads and boots. On his head he wore a red cap with a metal plate riveted to the front.

His companion stepped forward first. He was also smiling and he reached out to take Ono's hand. Ono met him half-way and shook it. His grip was firm, and his spirit was powerful as well. But it was unrefined. Ono had met people like him before. They had strong willpower and led extraordinary lives, but had never gotten proper training. Where the blonde was a living weapon, this man was a sleeping dog... just waiting to be woken up.

"The name is Chris Redfield," the man introduced himself as they shook. His Japanese was heavily accented but very good. His build was less lean than his companion, but he was taller, and definitely liked to work out. He had short brown hair that seemed to be naturally spiky and a sort of everyman handsomeness. "You would be Doctor Tofu Ono?"

"Yes..." Ono replied.

"The big guy here is Terry," Redfield said, releasing Ono so he could gesture towards his friend.

"Terry Bogard," Terry said, stepping forward to repeat the ritual greeting. His Japanese was flawless. Tofu took his hand with some trepidation, but to his surprise the man's aura felt surprisingly gentle. "Welcome to Southtown, Doc."

The two introduced themselves to Soun as well. From the way Sakura greeted them, Ono guessed they had already met.

"Why don't you both sit, make yourselves comfortable?"

"Sure..." Ono sat down and Soun followed him. "Can I ask what is going on here?"

Redfield glanced at Sakura. She just grinned impishly and shrugged. He sighed.

"I didn't introduce myself fully. My name is Lieutenant Chris Redfield, US Army special forces unit STARS." He tapped the badge on his shoulder. It was a circle with three stars in it and the word "S.T.A.R.S." written above it in block letter. Around the patch was the Latin phrase 'pro patria mori.'

"You're with the army?" Soun asked, surprised.

"Yes, now..." He trailed off and shook his head. "This is my staff sergeant, Terry. I wanted him to be in charge since he's stronger than me, but he refuses to accept it."

Terry shrugged easily from where he was leaning against the wall. He had retrieved an apple from somewhere, and took a bite out of it before responding. "You have the actual field experience here."

"I still say I should have been put in charge," Sakura said with a mock pout.

Terry laughed. "The day you let them give you a desk job like this is the day you start attending confession."

"Oh, wouldn't you like to hear my confessions," Sakura purred, sitting back languidly.

"Sorry," the man responded and put his palms forward. "You're a little young for me."

"As fascinating as this is..." Ono said.

"Oh, right," Redfield smiled at him. He walked over and sat behind the desk. "Basically, STARS is the government's response to Chronos... and the other things that go bump in the night."

"The monsters?" Ono frowned. He had never seen any of these so-called monsters. But Akane had told him that they were very real before they parted ways. He had to believe Akane, didn't he?

"Yes..." Redfield leaned back and laced his arms behind his head. "We're already striking back. They fished me and a few of my friends out of Raccoon City before everything went to hell. Thanks to Miss Yamazaki here, they believed my story about the horrors that Umbrella had unleashed on the city..." He trailed off. "Mainly we've been gathering forces. Recruiting people like you and Mr. Tendo and..." He trailed off, again: "Where's Saotome?"

"Cooling down," Sakura explained lazily.

Redfield frowned. "Shouldn't he be here?"

"Trust me, we don't need to win him over." She chuckled. "I'll just convince his wife that her husband should repay our kindness and she'll get him to fall in line."

Redfield looked at her again, but her smile was unfazed so he shook his head and turned back to Tofu. "We've also been striking back. We already have enough forces to mount raids. Chronos fronts, Umbrella labs, vampire infiltrators on Capitol Hill... taking out the beasts one by one. For now, we work from here."

"Why here?" Ono asked idly.

"Southtown is a city full of martial artists," Terry broke in. "Most of the people we've recruited either live here or know people who do. Plus, as far as we've been able to tell, this is the only town in the entire country that was never touched by Chronos. I'd never even heard of Umbrella. Sure, we had a few bad apples here, but they've fallen in line now that they know what's at stake." He smiled. "The important thing is that this city is the only totally free city in America. So until we can move more openly, this is where we work from."

"I see..." Ono murmured. He bowed his head. "Gentlemen, I'm sorry. I don't think I'm the man you're looking for. I'm a healer, not a fighter. I swore an oath to bring no harm. Even if what you say is true and these monsters are as bad as everyone says they are... I don't think I could raise a hand against them."

"We're not asking you to," Terry replied softly.

"You're not?" Soun replied, looking baffled. "But Miss Yamazaki told us back in Japan that-"

"That we need you?" Redfield interrupted, smiling. "She was right. We do need you." He stood up. "But there is a reason she didn't fight harder to convince all the young people with you to come. You were the real prize all along. The three of you, actually."

"Us?" Soun said.

"Yes," Redfield nodded. He stood up and walked over to the window and continued talking with his back to them. "Gentlemen, there is a war coming. It is a war that America can not currently win. The enemy is too numerous and too strong." He reached up and touched the patch on his shoulder. "People like Terry and I... we're here to buy you time."

"Time... for what?" Tofu didn't like the sound of this.

"To get us ready for the future." He reached up and pulled on a cord. The shades flew open, letting in a blinding sunbeam. Ono shielded his eyes. When he finished blinking away the spots from his eyes, he saw Redfield gesturing for him to come forward. Ono did so slowly, Soun remained where he was.

The building they had entered had been massive, but now Tofu saw that was only because there was a huge courtyard in the middle. It was easily a hundred meters on each side, and in that courtyard stood children. None of them could have been older than ten. There were boys and girls, caucasians, blacks, hispanics and asians... hundreds of them.

"Children...?" Ono said slowly, not sure what he was seeing.

"Picked from the most promising students all across the country. They all passed rigorous tests: physical, mental and psychological. We looked for the qualities that stood out the most among those people we knew made good martial artists: willpower, drive, individualism, creativity... and talent."

"Children?" Ono wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"One thousand, two hundred and thirty, give or take." He tapped the glass. "And now they are yours."

"Mine?"

"We need an army," Redfield said slowly. "You three are among the best we could find. Teachers. You know how to teach others how to fight. How to harness their chi. How to fight on an even foot with the monsters. You are our only hope."

"You want me to teach..." Ono broke off, aghast. "You want me to turn them into killers!" He stepped away from the window. "They're only children! This is inhuman!"

"They won't be children forever, Doc," Terry said, his voice soft but filled with an edge of steel. "I've seen what we're fighting. I've watched these monsters blow buildings to dust. I've seen creatures out of old horror movies walking around in broad daylight. I didn't want to believe it at first either... but I know that unless we do this, these children have no future."

"I can't build you an army!" Ono shot back.

"We're not asking you to do it overnight," Sakura said, her voice mollifying. "The president realises you may need time."

"Time..." Ono looked back out the window. They were just children... "I'll need years."

Terry stood away from the wall. He pulled his gloves on tighter. "That's what we're here for." He grinned. "To give you that time."

01010

"Ukyou, wait up..." Daitetsu Kunikida called as the young woman started towards the door. She paused and looked back over her shoulder at him. Her eyes were as black as her long coat. Thankfully, Daitetsu was too far away to be distracted by the 'interesting' shape of her eyes. "I was wondering if we could have a word, for just a moment?"

Ukyou looked over back out of the temple. Her friends had stopped in the courtyard. The wind swirled maple leaves around their ankles as the young martial artists stood on the messy gravel, leaving the TAC inside the temple. Daitetsu couldn't believe that the fate of the world might rest in the hands of such young children. They didn't act like warriors, they acted like teenagers. Only Ukyou, ironically enough, looked like she understood what it was to be an adult. Perhaps, she looked too much like she did.

"We'll all meet back here in a few hours," Ukyou called to them. "Once we know which of the hideouts Vega is using, we can begin to decide how to take him down."

"Right," the tall, blonde-haired boy said. He nodded to the others and they all started walking out of the temple. Ukyou turned around and started back into the temple, her hair and coat swirling behind her. Daitetsu saw the others, his people, all getting ready to leave as well.

"Please, I want you all to stay for this as well," he said, waving for them to sit down. Ukyou raised an eyebrow, and the others all sat down... some more grudgingly than others.

"What is it you want, Kunikida?" Ukyou said when she was a metre or so away from him. She crossed her arms, but her expression was as clinically neutral as all the other times he had seen it.

"You're not in a hurry," Daitetsu explained as he sat down and motioned for her to do the same. "Even if you have ditched your crutches, you're in no shape to be going around town looking for a dangerous psychotic with superhuman powers." He smiled ruefully. "With the list that girl Marz drew out of her computer, your friends should find him in no time."

"Indeed..." Ukyou sighed and sat down. "I suppose you're right."

"I just thought that..." Daitetsu paused and fished in his jacket. He pulled out a thin Polaroid picture. It was an original shot he had secured from a friend he had in the newspaper. He knew what it was. It looked like a giant brown skin that encircled the top of a skyscraper downtown. "That you might know what this is?"

Ukyou's eyes widened, and Daitetsu grinned. He had thought as much. She reached out and took the picture in her mechanically steady fingers. He didn't resist her taking it. She stared down at the picture for a long time. Finally she said one word, spitting it out like a curse. "Kaede."

"What?" Kusanagi said, standing up suddenly. "What did you say?" Ukyou didn't respond, and Kusanagi stormed across the room. Momiji stared after him, her expression confused... maybe even hurt. "Let me see that picture!"

Ukyou wordlessly handed it to him. He lifted it up and squinted at it. Then he snorted and dropped it. It floated innocuously to the floor. "This just looks like another aragami."

"Indeed..." Ukyou replied. She ran a hand through her bangs. Her lotus- shaped eyes had a far away look to them.

"It was found this morning." Daitetsu explained. "Nobody knows how it got there, or what its purpose might be."

"It's a part of a ritual," Ukyou explained. She sat back and crossed her arms. "The aragami that created this will place two more on similar buildings throughout Tokyo. When it finishes, they will create a mystic focus of energy. That energy will be directed into a single point, used to revive a dead god."

"A what?" Koume said, disbelievingly.

"A god," Ukyou repeated sharply. "Do you really have that much trouble believing in that, Koume?"

"Maybe I do," Koume said just as sharply.

"We don't have time for this," Daitetsu pointed out mildly.

"You're right, sorry," Ukyou said. She looked at him strangely for a moment. "The name of the god is Susano-oh."

"Susano-oh?" Momiji gasped. "You mean, like in the original legend of the Yamato-no-Orochi?"

"One and the same," Ukyou agreed.

"That's how all this started, isn't it?" Matsudaira said slowly. "The ancient legend of the Orochi. Susano-oh slew the demon beast and took the Princess Kushinada as his bride for payment, and this must be some metaphor for what happened centuries ago when the Orochi and the aragami were forced to go dormant." She nodded to herself. "And then, when the twins Momiji and Kaede were born, it broke the bloodline of the Kushinada in two, and the power that had been sealing the aragami was released."

"Exactly," Ukyou said.

"But wait..." Ryoko said. "We destroyed the Orochi already. It attacked Momiji at her school. That's how she got the mitama implanted in her body. If the Orochi was slain by Susano-oh back then, how could it have been alive there?"

Kusanagi said nothing, but he too looked skeptical. Daitetsu couldn't blame him. The only partially human young man was carrying seven of the eight 'souls' that had made up the power of the Orochi himself, and had been ever since he was a young child.

"Still alive, actually," Ukyou said with a sigh. "The Orochi was not killed when you saved Momiji. He is still very much alive, and in Tokyo right now. He calls himself Murakumo, as long as he is walking around in his human form."

"Murakumo?" Kusanagi said.

"Yes, haven't you met him already?" Ukyou asked.

"Nope," Kusanagi said.

"And that's where assumptions get me, as usual." Ukyou grimaced to herself. "The timeline has been so badly altered that events are beginning to diverge extremely from what happened before."

"Timeline?" Yaegashi asked.

"It's not important..." Ukyou raised up her hand to stop any questions. "The damage has already been done, and nothing I can do can undo that now. I can make sure you know what you're about to step into." She looked significantly at Kusanagi as she spoke. He blinked, and pointed his thumb at his chest. She nodded to him. "Yes, you, Kusanagi. I'm afraid what I'm going to tell you is going to be difficult for you to deal with, especially. You should sit down."

"I'll stand, thank you," Kusanagi said, his voice level. He crossed his arms and glared down his nose at Ukyou, but she didn't flinch. Momiji walked up behind him, and Ukyou looked at the young girl for a moment. For a moment, her hard expression softened to something that could have been sympathy, then she looked back at Kusanagi and her face was an icy mask again.

"Suit yourself." Ukyou picked up the picture from where it landed on the floor. "Kaede is the one who did this. She is the one trying to revive Susano- oh. She is the one who is in control of the aragami. She is the enemy."

"You... lying BITCH!" Kusanagi grabbed Ukyou's collar and lifted her off the ground. Everyone else was so stunned by her statement they could only watch in shock as the orange-skinned man held her like she was a doll. The cords on his neck stood out and the muscles on his forearm bunched dangerously as he drew back one hand. "What did you say about Kaede?" he screamed in her face.

"You heard me, Kusanagi," Ukyou said, not intimidated in the slightest. "Think back. You know what I'm saying is true. Remember that night she vanished. She wasn't taken, Kusanagi. She went of her own free will. Remember what she said to you."

Daitetsu stood up quickly and grabbed the young man's shoulder. "Is this true, Kusanagi?" he shouted, barely able to keep his own emotions under control. "Did she really say something to you that night?"

"She's lying!" Kusanagi roared and threw Ukyou back roughly. The girl managed to land on her feet, but winced and grabbed her side. "Kaede would never join up with them!" His hands were shaking. "I knew her! I watched her every day! She loved this country! She loved her life! She loved... she loved..." he trailed off slowly.

"Kusanagi..." Momiji said, grabbing his sleeve in a gentle grip. "What... what do you mean, Kusanagi?"

"I..." he glanced at Momiji, then shrugged off her hand and turned his back on Ukyou.

"Kusanagi!" Momiji gasped. Her eyes quivered. "Kusanagi... what do you mean by what you said?" Kusanagi put his hands in his pocket and walked over into the corner. "Why won't you answer me? Kusanagi?" Momiji's voice caught, and her eyes glistened.

"Momiji..." Daitetsu walked over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, and there were tears on her cheeks. Daitetsu smiled and bit his tongue. He had to be strong. How Kusanagi had reacted... it had... it had... He couldn't allow himself to look sad. It felt like his eyes were burning. His jaw hurt. His heart felt cold and empty.

Kaede? She couldn't have...

He had always loved her.

He had shown her nothing but kindness.

She was closer to him than anybody else ever had been. She was family. She was his daughter in everything but blood.

But Momiji had just learned that the man she loved still had feelings for another woman. Her own sister. Momiji needed him to be strong. He wouldn't let himself cry in front of her. He drew her into a soft embrace.

As he held Momiji, he heard Ryoko speak up, asking Ukyou for details. Good, level-headed Ryoko... she could always be counted on keeping her focus. He sent out a silent thanks, because he didn't trust himself to speak without his voice cracking.

"What does Kaede want? Why is she trying to resurrect Susano-oh?"

"That's... complicated..." Ukyou said levelly. "On the surface, she wants to resurrect Susano-oh because she believes that Japan has become corrupt. She thinks that humans are a plague that have infected our country with machines and pollution and soul-crushing cities. She wants to use the power of a god to destroy every living human in Japan and wipe out all traces of our civilization. If she succeeds, Japan will be turned into a pristine wilderness with nothing but plants surviving."

"That's insane!" Yaegashi yelled. "I knew Kaede, she would never do something like that!"

"She can and she will, unless someone stops her," Ukyou said forcefully. "That's why I said it's complicated. I never could figure out why she wants to accomplish that. If you're looking to me for answers as to why she started this mad quest... I can't help you. Something must have made her decide to do it, to change her from the kind person you all knew into... what she is now." Ukyou paused. "Or maybe you just never could see what she really was. Maybe you all loved her too much, to see the malice that was growing inside of her."

"You take that back!" Momiji shouted as she suddenly broke free of Daitetsu's grip. The girl stormed over to Ukyou, and held up her fists. "Mr. Kunikida has never been anything but a sweet and gentle man to me! He wouldn't have raised my sister to be a monster like you said..."

"I never said-" Ukyou started, her voice inflectionless.

"Apologize!" Momiji insisted.

"Momiji..." Daitetsu said softly.

"I won't apologize for the truth, Momiji," Ukyou replied implacably.

"That may be..." Momiji sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. But her eyes were quivering now, not with sadness but with anger. "You might be right, but you don't have to be so cruel!"

"It's okay, Momiji..." Daitetsu said as he walked up and grabbed her shoulder. "I understand."

"It's not right!" Momiji insisted.

"Yes, it is," Daitetsu said. "You can't see it... but Ukyou is being cruel because she wants to prepare us." Ukyou started and looked at Daitetsu sharply. He smiled thinly. He could still feel his entire face aching from how hard he was holding in his emotions, but he managed to smile. "She's right. We do love Kaede. She wants to prepare us because if she is right, we will have to fight her. We will have to fight Kaede with as much passion and drive as we would any other enemy." He looked Ukyou in her intimidating, emotionless black- lotus eyes without flinching. "Ukyou wants to force all the pain out of us now, make us confront our own feelings, because if we don't... and she is right... we may be helpless to fight when we need to." He paused. "And then good people will die."

Ukyou inclined her head slightly.

"To hell with you and your emotions!" Kusanagi roared. There was a loud crash as he put his fist through the wood of the temple. He was snarling. "I won't believe this! How the hell does this girl know anything about us? About Kaede?" He turned his eyes on Ukyou. "I don't care what you think you know, but I won't just take your word on that. I would rather... I would rather... If Kaede had to be my enemy... I would rather she was dead!"

"Kusanagi," Momiji murmured into Daitetsu's chest as he held her tightly.

"If you don't act soon, she will be," Ukyou said, folding her arms.

"What?" Takeuchi blurted out. "But you just said that unless someone stops her..."

"I know that." Ukyou cut off Takeuchi with one hand. "Listen. When Susano-oh is reborn, he won't be brought back with his full strength. He'll be only an infant. In order to regain his full strength, Kaede must take the child on a pilgrimage to holy sites throughout Japan where he can gather energy to eventually mature to his adult form. Then his power will be fully restored and he could, emphasis COULD, destroy every human in Japan." Ukyou paused. "But this isn't the world Susano-oh left behind centuries ago."

"Would you care to explain that?" Koume snapped.

"Chronos, Shadowloo, the Dark Kingdom..." Ukyou held up her fingers one at a time. "Organizations and powers I haven't even discovered yet. Japan is a land under siege by monsters. When Kaede finishes this ritual, she is going to create a massive signal, a surge of power that none of them could possibly ignore. She'll also be announcing her location for everyone who wants to find her." Ukyou frowned, her face grim. "The monsters will descend on her like locusts."

"So if we do nothing..." Matsudaira mused. "Kaede will still be stopped? You're saying that Chronos and these other conspiracies will do everything in their power to stop her, since they don't want all of Japan to be rendered uninhabitable any more than we do?"

"Indeed." Ukyou nodded towards the middle-aged scientist, but her voice was still cold and Daitetsu could tell she had more to say. "But she won't go without a fight. Murakumo is the legendary Orochi, and he has powers that dwarf anything you people have ever seen. He could defeat Kusanagi without even working up a sweat... and that's in his human form. In his eight-headed dragon shape... I don't even know how powerful he is. He could probably level Tokyo."

"No way..." Yaegashi gasped, his glasses slipping off his nose.

"Yes way," Ukyou nodded. "And Chronos has powers as strong as him. Hyper-zoanoids, or even zoalords. If they attack, Murakumo will fight like a demon to protect Susano-oh. And so will all the other aragami." Ukyou paused a moment, to let that sink in. "It will be like the proverbial spark in the fireworks factory. The war will spill over into the streets of Tokyo. Monsters with the power of gods slugging it out without a care of how many innocents get caught in the crossfire. At the very least, Tokyo will go up in flames. And who knows how far the devastation will spread?" Ukyou sighed. "Murakumo and Kaede would lose. Chronos is too much for them. But they could end up doing far more devastation than they ever would have had it just been you six trying to stop her."

"This is unreal..." Yaegashi said, resetting his glasses.

"Ukyou, are you truly serious about this?" Daitetsu asked.

"I am." Ukyou turned to look at him. "You have to find her and stop her now, Kunikida. If she completes this ritual, then all hell could break loose." Ukyou looked at him, her face softening into the same almost sympathetic expression she had given Momiji earlier. "That's why I wanted to prepare you. Because we don't have time for you to wrestle with your feelings. You have to go down there and stop Kaede... no matter the cost."

"You want us to kill her!" Kusanagi shouted, tearing his hand free of the wall. Boards clattered to the floor as he sent them scattering across the temple. "What a fucking hypocrite! You won't kill three bitch assassins, but you want us to kill a girl we've known all our lives! Is that what you want? Is it! Answer me, damn you!"

Ukyou didn't answer, but her silence was all the answer Kusanagi needed. He stormed past her, shoving her aside. She staggered, but kept her feet. Kusanagi's jacket swirled in his wake as he stepped out into the courtyard of the temple. Momiji held her hand out towards him, and for a moment it looked like she was going to follow him. Then her hand went limp and fell to her side. She stifled a sob and moved away from Daitetsu. He wanted to follow her, to show her that she was still safe with him.

But he couldn't. He just... couldn't. Ukyou was asking him to take her word, her word alone... and go and do everything he could to stop his own daughter from destroying Japan. Even if he had to kill her.

He stood in the center of the room, stunned.

This was too big.

Ukyou was right. He couldn't afford to be stunned. If Chronos was as dangerous as she said, a war between it and the aragami would devastate Japan. Not to mention all the other powers she had mentioned. A five, or six, or seven- way war between the monsters that wanted to enslave Japan...

What was he supposed to do? He was just a man.

He looked into Ukyou's eyes. Beyond her black-lotuses, beyond her cold expression... he could see his own reflection. He could see the terror and uncertainty on his face. He suddenly knew that this was exactly how Ukyou felt. Even when she was at full strength... she was still just a woman. He remembered back to their first conversation, and that strange mix of resignation and determination he had heard in her voice. He had wondered, at the time, how anyone could feel that way.

Now he knew.

"How do we stop her?" It was Ryoko again.

"I'll tell you!" Koume roared. "We blow her up!" She smacked her fist into her palm. "A few hundred pounds of C-4, maybe some thermite... We find this ceremony and we blow the living hell out of it is what we do! Then we blast this Chronos away! And Shadowloo, and anybody else that wants to mess with us humans!" She grinned, a manic grin. "We'll show those monsters that humanity hasn't been idle for the past few centuries. There is no problem that can't be solved with enough high explosives!"

"Somehow, I don't think it will be that easy..." Yaegashi sighed.

"Shut up, dorkwad!" Koume snapped.

"Be quiet, both of you!" Ryoko burst out. Her own nerves looked like they were beginning to fray. Daitetsu looked at her for a long time. Her face was white, and her eyes and mouth were thin, almost pinched with pressure. But her eyes shone with determination. She glanced at him, and her tension seemed to melt away when she noticed he was looking to her. "We need to think about this rationally. First, Ukyou... tell us how we can find Kaede, and everything you can about this Murakumo. Once we know more... then we'll decide what to do."

"She's underground," Ukyou explained. "In the exact center of the perfect triangle her aragami is building for her. I think... I think I know how to find her. It involves using Momiji."

"No!" Daitetsu snapped instantly. But Momiji had turned around at the mention of her name, and he found the fire he had felt spring up die at the look of quiet determination on the young girl's face. She wanted to do this.

"What about you, wonder-girl?" Koume asked with a snort. "Aren't you going to use your magic powers to help us find her? You seem to know everything else."

"I can't..." Ukyou said, bowing her head. "I have to find Hotaru. If we lose her... then none of this matters. Sailor Saturn will make everything we do moot."

And if you're off saving the life of a little girl, that just happens to make you too busy to help us kill another girl, doesn't it? the spiteful part of Daitetsu's mind snapped silently. But he didn't say anything. He reached into his kimono shirt. He could feel the cold metal of his service pistol there. Ukyou might be right, the more sensible part of his brain said as Ukyou started to explain her plan.

They might have no choice. His fingers shook as he tried to grab onto the grip of the weapon. Could he... would it come down to that?

He looked up at the ceiling and wondered what gods he should pray to for salvation.

01010

"The modifications we made seem to have exceeded even our greatest expectations."

"Hrm. I see."

Aptom slowly opened his eyes. His world was green. He was floating, weightless. It tasted bitter, metallic... it made his nose itch. He was in a processing tank. He knew the sensations well. Most of his life since he had been... processed the first time had been spent in one of these tanks. Far more than any other zoanoid. The scientists had never stopped tinkering with him. He was their favorite toy, always moving in and out of the tanks and the testing rooms.

He hated it. He hated the way the fluid leeched all the warmth from the world until everything was a uniform, bland, 'acceptable' temperature. He hated the taste of it, and he anticipated his hate of the smell of it lingering on him once he was set free.

He glanced down and saw that his arm had been regrown, as had the rest of his flesh. He was once again in his 'base form', as the scientists called it. He vaguely remembered crawling away from the disastrous battle in Tokyo, still in the useless form of that pathetic Sailor Senshi. He must have made his way to some Chronos personnel, and been rushed back here. He would have chuckled, if he could breathe in this green hell.

"So tell me, Doctor, why take me down here for all of this?"

Aptom realized that there were voices outside his tank, and that they had awoken him. He glanced up slowly. They hadn't realised he was awake, so he could watch.

He recognized Commander Gyro immediately. The man looked like some twisted anachronism in his suit that barely fit over his muscular frame. His features was weathered, and looked like the face of a man who would have been at home in some ancient barbarian horde. Commander Gyro had been his salvation from the tanks. He had hand-chosen him as the leader of the 'Lost Units'.

The other man with him was new to Aptom. He was shorter than the commander, and looked much older. He was bald with a long flowing beard, and wore body-concealing robes of white and purple. Out of his wrinkled forehead a single gleaming gem emerged like some hideous egg, surrounded by the ruptured and scarred tissue of his scalp.

A woman was in the background. She had short hair, and wore an artfully cut skirt and jacket that was just decent enough that her beauty was enhanced by it. Her eyes were large, and lacked any form of pupil. Aptom had seen such creatures before... customised genetic servants of the Chronos elite.

"I wanted your opinion on my project," the old man said, smiling grimly. "You spent the most time attempting to apprehend the Guyver. Now that the responsibility has been passed on to me, I was wondering what you thought of my new toy."

"I think you are wasting your time, Valkus," Gyro snorted and crossed his arms. "This creature was a complete failure. Even when assigned to a simple surveillance mission, all it did was get destroyed by mere humans."

Valkus laughed. He walked away from Gyro. "Don't be so quick to dismiss my work, commander." There was a hint of sarcasm in Valkus' voice, and Gyro's face became briefly dangerous. But then the zoalord calmed down.

"Show the commander some of the improvements we have made," Valkus continued.

"Yes, Doctor Valkus," the woman responded. She tapped at a handheld screen and a large screen on the far wall flickered. Aptom's eyes narrowed. They still didn't know he was awake. He watched as a picture of his own face and a rotating model of his body appeared on the screen. Text began to appear, seemingly at random, with small green lines leading from the data to various points on his body. "As you know, the Aptom series was designed to be a superior metamorphic model. It was the hope of the Japan branch that it would be able to change its body to adapt to any form of battlefield condition or opponent. However, in its original implementation the model was unable to become a perfect imitation of the other zoanoids it mimicked."

"Yes, yes..." Gyro growled.

"Doctor Valkus has improved on this," the woman explained. "Via means of cellular communion, the Aptom unit can now sample the DNA of its opponents. With this DNA, it should be able to perfectly replicate the combat abilities of any creature it is exposed to. In theory, it has limitless power growth potential and the ability to assimilate a nearly infinite number of genetic templates."

"I'm supposed to be impressed?" Gyro snapped.

"You are such a simple man, Gyro," Valkus said with a laugh. "It is good that you saw the light when you did. I think that this model shall be more than a match for the Guyver, don't you?"

"This is only distracting me," Gyro snapped. "I am supposed to be in charge of the capture operation for the Sailor Senshi, am I not? That was what you... assigned me, wasn't it?" Gyro's voice grated. "What does this have to do with me?"

"Nothing," Valkus responded. "Like I mentioned, I simply wanted your input."

"I think it is an impressive killing machine," Gyro replied evenly. "But I also think you take too much pleasure in tinkering for the sake of it, doctor."

"Perhaps you are right!" Valkus laughed loudly. "Come. There is no need for hostility between us. We are both on the same side, here." He grinned. "Let us go upstairs and enjoy a fine meal. Then you can tell me how progress goes in the search for those escaped Senshi. I believe you tracked them to Tokyo, did you not?"

Gyro nodded wordlessly and allowed Valkus to lead him to the door. Aptom followed them with his eyes, making sure to remain as still as possible. The assistant turned to follow the two, but Valkus gestured for her to stop.

"I want you to contact Dr. Shirai and correlate all his data on the Unit Remover: have it prepared for me in two hours."

"Yes, sir," she replied with a tiny bow. She waited until her superiors had left the room before walking back over to the large screen to begin her work. Too bad she would never get a chance to finish it.

There was a loud crash as Aptom put his fist through the thick glass of the processing tank. He wasn't worried about the noise. He knew from painful experience that these labs were soundproofed. The woman spun around, startled. Aptom grinned as he tore his way free of the tank, the viscous green fluid spilling in a tiny waterfall onto the metal floor.

"You are... awake?" she said slowly.

Aptom chuckled and he walked over to her. "Yes. And I have no intention of wasting my time fighting the Guyver." She gasped, but he moved quickly and his hands snapped around her throat before she could scream. He dragged her away from the console as her arms flailed vainly for the alarm. "Maybe later, I will have my revenge on him for killing my brother Somlum... and maybe later, I will destroy that bitch Sailor Moon for what she did to Dyme..." He grinned. He could feel her. Not just her flesh under his fingertips. He could feel his flesh on her neck... and then he began to feel the hot sweat rolling down her cheeks and the burning pain in her lungs as she tried to get air.

He was feeling her... more and more of her with every second. Her eyes widened. She knew what was happening, but it was far too late. An instant later, and her eyes changed. They weren't her eyes anymore. He was looking into his own eyes. He could see himself. He was looking back at himself through her eyes. With a sort of twisted epiphany he realized that he had completely absorbed her. Her body was now a part of his body.

He looked down and saw that his hands had fused grotesquely with her neck. He frowned, and willed her flesh to withdraw. As he watched, her body unraveled like a ball of twine. The fleshy tendrils of her slowly sunk into his own naked form. In a moment, he was alone in the room. He raised one hand, and stared at it in fascination.

One touch...

He looked over at the panel. She had been about to contact someone. He tried to picture who it was in his mind, but aside from the name he had already heard, nothing else became clear. So... he had not absorbed her memories. Just her body. Still, that should be good enough.

He smiled, and slowly his body twisted. The transformation wasn't painful, as it had always been before. It almost felt pleasant as he compressed and expanded parts of his body on command. He would have to thank Doctor Valkus for his improvements. He glanced into the viewscreen and saw the woman's face reflected back at him. Always before, his imitations had been imperfect... scarred as he was. But now the duplication was exact. He glanced up and down her naked body, but got no pleasure out of it. Zoanoids had such distractions designed out of them. It lessened the bloodlust.

He chuckled and began to pick up her clothes. With his new abilities, it would be child's play to sneak out of the mountain. Then... then he would find the boy. The boy who had humiliated him. He would be first. Once he was dead... the rest would follow.

It was only a matter of time, now.

01010

Ran wondered why her famous reporter's instincts were deserting her. This was the perfect moment. It was like a scene out of a western, or a samurai epic. She should have been taping all this, recording it for future generations.

The street had cleared. Everyone could sense the sudden tension that filled the air. People hurried along, disappearing down the side streets. It left a string of six teenagers, lined up in a neat row. The wind blew a cloud of dust in front of them as they stared grim-faced at the building in front of them.

Ukyou stood in the middle. Her expression was stony... and her eyes, they looked so much like the eyes Ran had seen in the vision. She stood with her staff held on her shoulder. Ran knew she was still too injured to be of much use in the fight. But Ukyou had insisted on coming along anyway.

Next to her, and on either side, were Ranma and Akira. Ranma was standing still, but you could feel the energy flowing from him like a river. He was smiling, and his energy was infectious. Akira was opposite him, and her face was hidden behind her motorcycle helmet. The intimidating skull and mirror sheen of her helmet reflected the morning light. Her motorcycle was parked behind her.

Kyosuke was next to Akira. He looked out of place, almost, among all the others there. He was taller than anyone else present. His eyes were clouded as he adjusted his glasses with two fingers. Ran herself was next to Ranma. Her vest was overflowing with papers she had picked up from the street corner this morning. She had only read a few of them. She had been too nervous.

Ryouga stood next to and slightly behind Kyosuke. He kept looking at Ranma out of the corner of his eyes. But his expression was dark, brooding. In one hand he carried a bamboo umbrella. Behind him stood Nabiki. The girl had insisted on following them here. She had no intention of going in, but she claimed that she also had no intention of letting Ryouga too far out of her sight. Nabiki was a attractive girl, and Ran supposed she understood why Ryouga kept glancing at her. She wondered why his face was filled with such longing and disgust when he did, but this wasn't the place for that.

"Hey, Ran, you okay?" Ranma said. Ran glanced up at him. He grinned and slapped her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I could take this loser out by myself. With five of us here, he doesn't stand a chance."

"Don't get cocky," Ukyou warned. "Vega is dangerous, and will kill. Our best bet here is overwhelming force. If we take him down with sheer numbers, nobody should be hurt."

"A logical plan," Kyosuke agreed. Ran nodded weakly. Ranma patted her on the shoulder again, trying to bolster her confidence.

"The plan is simple," Ukyou said, stepping forward. "We go in the front and draw Vega out. He's arrogant, so he might be stupid enough to confront us all directly. If not, we don't get separated no matter what! He can't run fast enough to escape if he carries Hotaru. If he tries to use her as a hostage... let me do the talking."

"Right," Ranma, Akira and Ryouga all said simultaneously. Kyosuke nodded. Ran did so as well, but without as much force.

"I guess I'll see you in a bit then," Nabiki said as she waved at the group. "Just bring Ryouga back to that cafe down the street. Oh, and don't forget our deal, Ukyou."

Ukyou nodded. Ryouga glanced at the departing Nabiki. His fists clenched and he murmured something under his breath. Then his face set into a violent stare as he looked at the building.

As Ran turned her attention from him, she saw Ukyou whispering something into the side of Akira's helmet. Akira paused, then nodded sharply. It was very hard to tell she was even a girl, under that helmet... even with her tight, black leather riding clothes.

"No more delays then!" Ukyou shouted, and began to march across the street. Ranma quickly moved in front of her, as did Kyosuke. Akira and Ryouga stayed just behind her. Ran took up the rear guard. She tried to focus. She couldn't be thinking about unimportant things. A girl's life was at stake. She needed to be on her toes.

The front door of the abandoned apartment burst apart as Ranma kicked it. He rolled inside, and Kyosuke followed him. Ukyou's eyes had that faraway look to them, but Ran knew she was looking with senses far sharper than her own.

"He's on the roof," Ukyou said, almost instantly.

"Are you sure?" Kyosuke asked.

"He's not even trying to hide," Ukyou explained. "Hotaru is with him."

"Straight up then!" Ranma shouted and started up the stairs one at a time.

01010

Vega held up his claw. It caught the rising sun and created a brilliant slash of white in a nearby shadow. He smiled. Today was a beautiful day for a battle.

He glanced over his shoulder. Hotaru was crouched against a large air- conditioning duct. She had gotten her dress dirty. Vega tsked. He had gone through such trouble to pick out a colour that brought out her eyes, too. Her skin was fine, with the healthy glow of the well-fed and well-treated. Her hair shone slightly purple in the sunlight. Her terrified eyes stared at him.

"Your friend Mamoru hasn't come for you," Vega explained in a cultured tone. "I must say I am most disappointed. It was my hope he would not abandon you. I guess I just put too much faith in him, don't you think?"

Hotaru didn't respond. She almost never did. She had spoken only once since he had sent off the Dolls to their fate.

"Don't worry," Vega said in a soothing tone. He walked over and stroked her cheek with one finger. She no longer flinched back. Not with her body. Only her eyes flinched. She had learned that he wouldn't harm her. "That girl Ukyou, that Bison is so interested in, do you remember her?" He didn't wait for a response. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. She has come for you. She has brought friends with her. Quite a few of them." He licked his lips. "I'm not certain if I can beat them all."

He reached up and touched the edge of his mask. Hotaru's eyes followed his motion. In all the time he had been with her, he had never once let her see his face. Vega had, after all, made a vow long ago that only those who were going to die could see the true face of Vega. He had explained that to her, in those long nights waiting for the Dolls, or Mamoru, or someone, to return. It was so hard keeping himself entertained when she didn't talk.

Thankfully, he was such an interesting subject that he never really grew tired of it. Especially not when he had such a receptive audience.

"Do you want to see?" he asked. "They'll be here shortly. Do you want me to show you before they arrive? Do you want them to see my face, as well?"

Hotaru's eyes widened. She knew what he was asking her. She shook her head side to side. He laughed. Then he drew the mask slowly from his face. She stared up into his eyes. Then she closed hers sharply and tilted her head to the ground. He sighed and tilted her head up with one hand, while he used his other to pry open one of hers.

"Look, Hotaru." He smiled. "I am Vega. You are mine, no matter what happens here today. This is my promise to you. You know what it means. Look."

He heard the door to the roof crash open. He smiled and stood up straight. He winked at Hotaru and elegantly placed his mask back in position. He turned with unconscious grace and bowed slightly to his new audience.

01010

Ranma kicked out, splintering the door with a single shot. For a moment the falling splinters and dust blocked his view, then sunlight shone into the narrow stairwell. He leapt out, glancing to both sides.

He needed have worried. Vega wasn't lying in ambush. He was standing in the open. A huge clear space surrounded him on all sides. Ranma took a moment to study his opponent. He was wearing a mask, just like Ukyou had said he would be. He was also tall, with a body covered in taut, sculpted muscle. A tattoo of a serpent curled around his torso, and on one hand he brandished a wicked-looking claw. Ranma grinned.

He could take that jackass.

He could hear the others spilling onto the roof behind him. But Ranma's eyes were only locked on Vega. Vega, in turn, looked straight at Ranma. Their blue eyes met. Vega had been in the middle of a mocking bow, but suddenly he changed. He bowed more deeply. Ranma inclined his own head slightly.

The message was clear. If only there weren't so many other people here... they could really have a fight. Ranma's fingers itched as he curled and uncurled them. It was too bad. Ranma suddenly realised he hadn't gotten the real fight he had wanted. The fight he had needed ever since he had met Ukyou. She had proved herself again and again...

"Vega!" Ukyou barked. "Let Hotaru go!"

"No," Vega said after a moment's thought. He had turned his head to regard Ukyou.

"You don't have any choice," Kyosuke said evenly. He held up one hand, slipping into a stance that gave Vega his profile. For a moment, sparks danced along the tips of Kyosuke's fingers.

Ranma glanced behind Vega, and he could see the girl now. She didn't look like she had been hurt. She just looked scared. Ranma smiled at her, trying to tell her that everything was all right now. Ranma was here.

"You children," Vega said, laughing in a slow, refined manner. "You always think you know everything." He shook his head, then raised his clawed hand into the air and gestured them forward. "I think this will be a glorious battle. Don't you?"

Ukyou opened her mouth to respond, but she suddenly stopped. She turned slowly, her eyes widening. Ranma watched her mouth the words 'not now' as she turned. Then Ranma heard it. A loud, repetitive chopping sound. Growing louder every second.

No. Not louder.

Closer.

Ranma stepped back and shielded his eyes as the helicopter burst up from the side of the building. The wind tore at his shirt and he felt his pigtail snapping, occasionally flailing back and slapping him painfully on the back of the neck. The others had all turned and stood in shock as well. The helicopter was small, no larger than a large van. It was pure white, and spun gracefully in place so that it presented its side to them.

There were four women in the helicopter.

"Deep Submerge!"

"Soul Spark!"

"Dead Scream!"

"Ukyou!"

Akira tackled Ukyou to the side. A moment later three balls of light slammed into the roof where she had been. An explosion ripped up the roof. Wood and shrapnel flew in all directions. Ranma stood his ground, deflecting it with a hundred perfect jabs. Nearby, Ryouga just frowned as the debris bounced off him.

As the echo of the explosion died down, Ranma could hear Vega laughing. His face was turned skyward, and his arms were spread out as if he were trying to embrace the heavens.

"This is just too perfect!" Vega laughed again.

"We missed," a voice shouted from the helicopter. Ranma spun his eyes back in that direction. He could see Sailor Pluto sitting half inside the machine. Her long green hair was being pulled out in front of her by the pressure of the vacuum. Her staff was angling towards Ukyou's new position. Beside her was that woman Rose. Her shawl, like her hair, was unnaturally stiff in the downdraft. A third girl was beside them, but Ranma didn't recognize her. She had green hair and was dressed like another Sailor Senshi.

"Of all the times..." Ukyou growled as she rolled to her feet. Akira had bounced off of her and landed between her and the helicopter. The pilot was spinning the machine around the building. Ranma instantly knew she was trying to get a clear shot at Ukyou.

"Vega!" Kyosuke shouted, pointing.

Vega had grabbed Hotaru by the lapel. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear as he held her up easily with one hand. He turned his face in their direction for a split second.

Then he threw her off the side of the building.

"RYOUGA!" Ukyou shouted.

"Right!" Ryouga screamed, and charged after her. He vanished over the side of the building a fraction of a second later.

Ranma caught a flash of blue as Vega leapt across to the next building. It was three stories up, and ten meters across to the next roof. The man cleared the jump as if he had been skipping over a puddle.

"He's getting away!" Ranma screamed. He could hear the helicopter behind him. He heard the sound of Pluto and friends opening fire again. He didn't look back. Ukyou would survive. Ukyou would win. It was what Ukyou did.

Besides, she had Akira and Kyosuke and Ryouga with her.

Ranma made the jump. His feet touched down on the edge of the roof. He pinwheeled his arms for a second as he threatened to fall backwards. But he had made the jump.

Vega was two roofs away, but he stopped and glanced back. He saw Ranma running after him. Their eyes met across the distance. Ranma grinned. He wondered if Vega was doing the same thing.

01010

"RYOUGA!"

"Right!" Ryouga screamed, and charged forward. The girl had already vanished over the lip of the building. He ran like the devil, he ran as fast as his legs would let him.

He didn't know this girl Hotaru from a hole in the ground. She was nothing more to him than a scared girl who had been taken from her family. She was lost. She was afraid. That was all Ryouga knew. It was enough.

He dived over the side of the building without a second thought. The air screamed around him. The girl was screaming below him. She was falling in slow motion, her dress billowing out around her. Above him, the sound of explosions echoed.

He briefly wondered why it had been him that Ukyou had chosen. Ranma was faster than him. But then he saw why. It was a fifteen story fall to the pavement. He grimaced and willed himself to fall faster, trying to streamline himself like a diver.

It worked. He reached Hotaru as she passed by the eighth floor. By the sixth floor he had her in his arms. By the fourth he had pulled her against his body. By the second he had spun himself so that she was on top.

The ground gave way underneath him. Pavement and rock compressed so fast it gave off a cloud of steam and a sound like a cannon. It wasn't fast enough. Ryouga screamed, his eyes squeezed shot as pain shot up the length of his back. If Nabiki had not trained him, he probably would have died.

One more thing he owed her.

He opened his eyes slowly. Hotaru was curled up on his chest. She was shivering. He was holding her gently. The crater he was lying in the bottom of was nearly two meters deep. The shockwave of his impact had blown out a nearby store's display window. Glass covered the road.

Ryouga groaned and started to get up. He had taken worse hits in his life and kept on fighting.

"You're... you're okay..." Hotaru said. She sounded awestruck. Ryouga looked down at her.

"That was nothing," he said with a wry grin. She looked at him, her eyes shimmering with tears of relief. He wanted to share her joy... but he couldn't.

Monsters like him didn't deserve the awe of little girls.

He glanced up the building. The helicopter was still spinning around it, the occasional blast rocketing out to hit the roof. Ryouga knew he was out of the battle. Even discounting how much time it would take to climb back up, and the fact he was likely to run up the wrong building while he was at it... he had Hotaru to protect.

There was a screech as a car pulled to a stop beside Ryouga. He turned, shamefaced. He was about to apologize to the person for blocking the road when he saw her step out of the station wagon.

She was beautiful, and wearing a red and black outfit that did little to conceal that fact. She had long, brilliant red hair and eyes that matched perfectly. She smiled at him, then stepped around to the back of her vehicle.

"Miss?" Ryouga asked. There was something wrong here. The little feeling on the back of his neck that warned of danger had started up. But this woman was the only one nearby. She was rummaging in her backseat. Finally she stepped out, holding what looked like the components of a stereo system.

Ryouga only watched as the woman began to do the strangest thing. She began to put on the stereo. Like a suit. The speakers clamped onto her forearms, the tuners onto her torso (still leaving her cleavage exposed, Ryouga noted shamefully), and the tape decks onto her shoulders. She spent a second adjusting the entire contraption until it was snug. Then the girl in what was possibly the most ridiculous thing Ryouga had ever seen turned to him, and held out one hand as if she expected him to hand her something.

"I believe you are holding my Messiah of Silence," she explained in a polite, almost enthusiastic voice. "Hand her over or I will kill you."

"What?" Ryouga said. He really wasn't sure he had just heard that. Maybe he had hit his head in the fall.

"You're very tough," the woman explained with a smile. "I saw your fall. Thank you for saving her. But hand her over or die."

Ryouga frowned. He slowly put down Hotaru. She was staring at the woman, but glanced up at Ryouga as he placed her on the street. He had no idea who this woman was, and from the look in Hotaru's purple eyes, neither did she. His hands clenched into fists.

"Just who do you think you are?"

"Eudial," the girl said. She gestured impatiently with her outstretched hand. "I'm getting tired of waiting."

"Hotaru... step back away from me," Ryouga said out of the corner of his mouth. The girl released his leg and he heard her shuffle back. Ryouga held up his hands and curled them into claws. He glared at Eudial. "I don't think I care who you are. Hotaru doesn't want to go with you."

Eudial hmmed and nodded. She pulled back her hands. "You martial artists are supposed to be fast. Frighteningly so. Also strong and tough and generally superhuman." She tapped the tuner on her chest and adjusted a dial. "That's why I built this."

Ryouga started to charge her a fraction of a second too late. Suddenly, all his balance left him. He gasped and collapsed to the ground. There was some sort of high-pitched screech in the air, hovering just on the edge of his perception. Ryouga growled and clapped his hands over his ears, but it didn't help.

"Goodbye, hero." Eudial raised her arms at him, pointing the forward mounted speakers at him. He clawed at the ground, forcing himself to his knees. But the world refused to right itself. It was spinning. He could see fine, but his body refused to react like it should have. "Sound Buster!"

Ryouga flew back through a wall. He was screaming, but he couldn't hear anything. His hands were still clamped over his ears. He could feel blood on his fingers. There was no sound. No sound at all.

01010

Ran ran across the roof, the explosions erupting behind her. She felt the roof move under her feet, like a wave travelling away from the blast. There was an ominous creak. She leapt, and landed on the edge of the roof. Her hand shot out and clamped onto the fire escape ladder with a deathgrip.

She glanced back. Ukyou had taken cover behind a piece of machinery. Akira was with her. The latter was trying to peek around the machine to get a view of the helicopter spinning through the air above them. Ukyou was staring off across the rooftops. She was looking in the direction that Ranma had run.

Kyosuke leapt into view suddenly, sweeping his hands apart. Five flashing blue fires flew from his fingertips, spreading out in a wave as they flashed up towards the helicopter. They exploded in mid-air. As the dust cleared, Ran saw Rose falling through the smoke, her shawl held in front of her. The woman touched down on the roof with supernatural grace. Her ridiculously long forelock snapped and whipped in the downdraft from the helicopter.

Kyosuke landed in front of her. She spun to face him. His hand snapped forward and she dodged. Her shawl slashed out and he ducked. He planted his hands on the ground and spun both legs, trying to blow her legs out from under her. She merely floated over his attack.

Then she cried out and thrust her shawl down. It spiraled, blue and purple flames racing along the length of it. The roof exploded underneath Kyosuke as the blow sent him flying down into the building with enough force that a geyser of dust erupted in his wake.

The helicopter was turning the corner of the building. In another second, Pluto and Neptune would have Ukyou in their sights again. Akira stepped out from behind the machine, her hands held at her sides. She faced Rose. Rose walked towards her, implacable.

Rose had just defeated Kyosuke like he was a child. Kyosuke! Akira didn't stand a chance.

Ran stood there. She had a newspaper in her hand. Her hand was shaking.

She kept seeing Ukyou's eyes. Her eyes... and that terrible nothing...

Suddenly Ukyou was standing beside Akira. She grabbed the girl by the shoulder. Akira turned her head to look at the taller girl, but Ukyou wasn't looking at her. Rose stopped her march. The women in the helicopter held their fire.

"Akira, I'm going to ask you a favor," Ukyou shouted to be heard over the roar of the helicopter.

"They're still at the bottom of the-"

"No!" Ukyou roared. "I want you to go off, and save Ranma."

"Ranma?" Akira screamed back. "But..."

"Rose just reminded me. Vega is out of Ranma's league. He'll die." Ukyou was shouting, but her voice had a sort of quiet strength to it. "You're the only one who can catch up to him. You have to go!"

"Ukyou! That's insane! You'll die!"

"I won't die," Ukyou promised as she turned and looked directly into Akira's faceplate. Ran could tell that somehow, Ukyou was seeing straight through that mirrored glass and into Akira's eyes. "Please. Hurry."

Akira paused.

With a cry, the leather-clad girl pushed Ukyou aside. She sprinted across the roof. Ran took a moment to realise that Akira was sprinting directly at her. Then she looked down and saw she was still holding the fire escape in a vicelike grip.

Akira was pushing past Ran, when Ran snapped to action.

"I'm coming too!" Ran screamed. Akira was sliding down the ladder, and she looked up at Ran as an leaped over the side and landed on the first platform of the fire escape. "He's my boyfriend!" Ran explained.

She meant it too. If Ranma needed help, she would be there to help. He... he meant too much for her. And Ukyou was right, he was in trouble. She was always right about things like that, wasn't she?

She wasn't abandoning Ukyou. She was saving Ranma.

Right.

That was it.

Really...

01010

Sailor Pluto felt her heart soaring inside her chest. Her vision threatened to blur, as tears of joy welled up. All the pain, all the suffering... it was going to end. She was going to win.

Ukyou stood alone in the center of the roof. All of her friends were gone. Rose was circling her, cutting off any hope of escape. Sailor Uranus kept a firm hand on the controls of the helicopter, keeping it perfectly steady as she moved into optimum firing position for her companions. Sailor Neptune's eyes never left Ukyou, as she held herself ready. The time key staff was pointed right at the woman who haunted Pluto's nightmares. Then, after that... they could kill Sailor Saturn as well. It was almost too perfect...

No more hesitation!

"End it!" Pluto cried, loud enough to be heard on the roof.

"Flour bomb!" Ukyou cried, her hand snapping into the air. Rose was already charging her. Neptune fired. The roof exploded somewhere in the cloud. Pluto's eyes widened. No.

"Neptune, the mirror!"

"Right!" Neptune snapped her hand forward and she was suddenly holding an ornate mirror with gold trim and a blue back with the symbol for Neptune marking it. "Submarine Reflection!" Neptune called as she spun the mirror in front of her. "She's... inside the building, she's going down!"

"I heard," Rose called up. The flour had been blown clear quickly by the helicopter. Rose ran up and leapt up, before falling straight through one of the holes blasted into the roof. Pluto said something unladylike and stepped off the edge of the vehicle. Neptune gasped, but Pluto merely gestured with her staff and her magic buoyed her fall. She landed with grace on top of the roof, and ran over to the door. She heard Neptune land on the roof behind her. The helicopter turned sharply and veered away from the building as Uranus looked for a suitable landing sight.

Pluto allowed Neptune to catch up with her. The girl was still gazing into her mirror, which glowed with mystic light. "Still down, about four floors. She must be injured, she isn't moving as fast as she can."

There was an echo of an explosion from below them.

"Rose caught up with her," Neptune said with a wicked smirk.

"Is she...?"

"No. Let's hurry."

Pluto nodded.

The stairwell opened up after just one flight into the interior of the building. The entire building had been built around a single core column, a huge empty pit that travelled fifteen stories down to ground level. The stairwell circled the pit, a wooden banister preventing anyone from falling into the abyss. The apartment doors were along the walls.

Pluto looked down and saw a flash of purple as Rose leapt across the gap. Her hair snapped in her wake and she flicked her shawl. A ball of psychic fire shot off on a tangent to her path. There was a flash of black as Ukyou dodged the shot, but barely. The explosion sent a cloud of debris into the abyss. A few other clouds were slowly drifting down the passage.

Pluto gathered her courage and ran to the banister. She placed a single hand on it and flipped over the top like a gymnast. The sensible part of her brain was screaming at her. She didn't need to do this. Rose could handle Ukyou by herself. But she was not about to leave anything to chance.

There was too much at stake.

Her staff flashed out and she caught herself after falling four floors. She grunted and hauled herself over the banister. Ukyou and Rose were still below her, but only by one floor now. She watched as Ukyou kicked out a door and flipped it over her back, sending the whole thing spiraling towards the gypsy woman. Rose only smirked and batted it aside with her shawl.

But Pluto's eyes widened. She saw the door behind Rose break open. The boy in white stepped out. His jacket was singed, but his face was focused.

"Rose!"

Rose turned too late. The boy stepped forward and gestured imperiously into the air. Lightning answered his call, springing forth from the floorboards like a white hot snake erupting from the grass. Rose screamed as the electricity coursed through her body.

"Dead Scream!" Pluto whispered. She released the ball of magic, but a trio of spatulas caught it in mid-flight. The boy glanced at Pluto and smirked. Then Rose kicked him in the stomach. He gasped and flew back into the room.

Ukyou stepped forward, walking up onto the banister with balletic grace. Pluto spun on her, but Ukyou was already throwing something her way. Pluto knew the tiny bags were filled with gunpowder. She had studied her opponent well.

A blue-white ball of energy flew from above and intercepted the bombs. The explosion was enough to knock Pluto off her feet. She gasped and cleared her eyes. There was the sound of grunting below her. She looked down to see Rose and the boy locked in a clinch. Lightning rolled up the length of her body as blue flames licked up the length of his.

But where was Ukyou?

Down below, in the abyss, Pluto saw her. At first she saw (hoped?) that Ukyou was plummeting. Then she saw the thin lines trailing from her hands that were connected to the banister. Pluto's eyes narrowed. Her 'special noodles', of course.

With a soundless cry Pluto blasted the ends of the noodles off the banister, but it was too late. Ukyou had throw out dozens of the super-strong noodles, hooking them around every banister on every flight of stairs. As she fell rapidly downward, she just kept releasing them. Pluto pointed down her staff and began to try and track the girl, but her blasts were took too long between shots and Ukyou could swing herself from side to side. Even as Neptune joined in the attack from above, Ukyou spun around both attacks like they weren't even there. How could she anticipate their attacks so easily?

"It's no use," Rose said. She was breathing heavy, and scorch marks covered her clothes. But the boy was only being held up by her grip on his right wrist. His eyes had rolled back into his head, and smoke drifted up from his body.

"Is he...?" Pluto asked, afraid of the answer.

"No," Rose answered with a small smile. "But he will have a very impressive headache when he wakes up." And with that, Rose flipped elegantly over the edge of the balcony. Pluto envied her grace and prowess for a moment, then began her own descent. She dared not use her magic too much. Already she was beginning to feel the strain.

Rose reached the ground floor only a moment after Ukyou did. Ukyou had sprinted out of the door, and Rose followed her.

An instant later, Rose flew back into the room. She crashed through the reception desk. Pluto stopped, wondering where Ukyou had gotten such strength. Then she dismissed it. They were too close. They would never have a better chance than this!

Pluto reached the ground floor a few heartbeats later. She turned and saw Rose getting to her feet. The woman was clutching her ribs. Pluto ignored her and turned to the door.

A man was standing there. No, a boy really... but he carried himself like a man. He was tall, with a long scar that crossed his missing eye. He had short black hair, and was wearing a black boy's school uniform with a long jacket. He was standing in the doorway like a mountain, cracking his knuckles as he glared at Pluto with his one good eye.

"Sailor Pluto, I'd like you to meet Daigo Kazama," Ukyou explained. Pluto could see her standing in the street just behind the big man. She was hunched over, panting and sweating. "He's the brother of my friend, Akira." Ukyou gestured to the side. "This is Gan and Edge. They are friends of Akira's."

A huge boy stepped into view. He dwarfed everyone else there by almost half a foot. He had a huge square head and the build of a sumo wrestler. He was also wearing a barrel around his waist, over his green school uniform. He grinned at her. "Hi!" he said and waved cheerfully, before laughing. "I just hope you're tougher than that blonde chick. She was a real pushover!"

"Gan..." Daigo said in a soft, dangerous voice.

"Uh, sorry boss..."

Ukyou glanced to the side. "I'd leave that alone, Edge."

"But it's such a pretty-looking blade..." a high-pitched voice said from off to the side. "The blonde chick really won't mind if I just take a look- YOW!" There was a screech like electricity and a boy with huge spiked blonde hair and a purple jumpsuit ran past the door waving his hand and blowing on it.

"Damn you..." Pluto hissed.

"Let's just say..." Ukyou smiled thinly. "I believe in plan B." She cocked her head. "Shall we call it a day?"

Pluto glanced back at Rose. She was standing, slumped. She shook her head from side to side slightly.

"You win, for now," Pluto said flatly. She turned around, and as she did she heard Ukyou say one last thing.

"Daigo... where is Hotaru?"

01010

Ranma stood up slowly. He clasped a hand around his forearm, but the blood didn't slow down. In truth, it was just a shallow cut. Nothing more than a flesh wound. The blood dripped down, splattering against the glass underfoot.

Ranma had to admit that Vega could certainly pick his battlegrounds. He glanced down, and saw all the milling people underfoot. Up until a few minutes ago, they had been peacefully shopping. They had been enjoying the summer sun shining through the huge glass sunroof atop the mall. Now they were getting the show of their lives.

Vega shifted position, sliding across the glass like an ice-skater. Ranma carefully spun to keep him in sight. He had to be careful. If he put too much weight on one place, the glass would shatter and he would plummet three stories. At least the crowd had the good sense to stay out from underneath the battlefield, where they could be showered with broken glass if he or Vega slipped.

"You are better than I thought you were, boy," Vega purred. "You avoided my last attack."

"I'm full of surprises." Ranma smirked. "And the name is Ranma Saotome!"

"Marvelous!" Vega spread his legs and pointed his claw at Ranma. "Then let us dance, Ranma Saotome!"

Ranma dashed as Vega pounced. The world became a blur as they flashed back and forth across the glass. The light glistened around them. Vega's claw was a silver flash. Ranma's form was a red streak.

Again and again they crossed paths, in mid-air, along the 'ground', and in some dazzling mix of the two. Ranma spun and twisted. He flowed and snapped. His heart raced in his ears. His breath came in short gasps. Sweat poured down his face. He was pushing his body faster and further than he ever had before.

It wasn't enough.

"Damn," Ranma said as he skidded to a stop after one exchange. He had to use his good hand to brace himself, as the glass shuddered ominously underfoot. He glanced down and saw that there were now three red lines running up the length of his hand. When had that happened?

He looked all around and saw that the glass was covered in tiny flecks of blood. His blood. Vega had caught him once across the small of his back, and once along his shoulder. His right thigh was burning as well.

Vega was standing on one foot, balanced like a ballerina at the intersection of four glass plates. His eyes were locked on Ranma's. They had narrowed to pinpricks. He was laughing.

"Damn you!" Ranma charged. Vega neatly flipped over him, and as he came down his claw ripped a foot-long gouge in Ranma's back. Ranma screamed out for the first time since the fight had started. He staggered. The glass creaked. He skidded forward on his knees, somehow keeping himself from going through. His hand reached out and caught a flagpole that was sticking out of the atrium roof.

"Don't give up now, Ranma Saotome," Vega said with a laugh. "This is just getting exciting." He began to walk towards Ranma. "You aren't the most beautiful of opponents... but the way you fight! It is pure poetry! Such grace and ferocity! It inspires me. Come... dance some more with me! I will make your trip to the next world a spectacle that those little people below shall remember for the rest of their lives!"

Ranma got to his feet. He looked around. He needed an edge. Somehow... somehow, Vega was faster than him. More agile as well. And that claw of his... Ranma didn't gulp. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't outclassed.

He was Ranma Saotome! He. Did. Not. Lose.

"Come and get me, you freak!"

"Such vulgar language. Perhaps I should cut out your tongue?" Vega laughed.

Ranma charged him, and this time Vega danced back. He was leading Ranma back out into the center of the glass ceiling, but Ranma didn't care. Ranma grit his teeth and pushed himself. But his blows never came within more than a few centimeters of Vega. Worse, the man kept flicking out his claw. Not actually striking Ranma. Just nicking him. Here, there... a little bit of pain. He was pointing out the flaws in Ranma's attacks, Ranma realized in an instant.

Vega was better than him.

He was on a whole other level.

Ranma ground his teeth and pushed that thought aside.

Ranma missed seeing Vega's foot arc up entirely. It caught him dead in the jaw. Stars exploded across his vision. He flew back almost gently. He knew if he hit the glass like this he would plummet three stories through a rain of razor-sharp shards.

He landed on his stomach. He landed with all four limbs spread out, his hands and feet just touching the glass. The glass beneath him shook and made a soft hum. He could see it starting to buckle... then it bounced back.

Ranma looked up. Vega was walking up to him. He was shaking his head.

"Your heart isn't truly in this," Vega said regretfully. "You need motivation. Too bad, really. I don't have time to wait for you to find it."

Ranma grimaced. Then he heard it. The sound of an engine. An engine approaching fast. An engine approaching really fast.

He looked over his shoulder. A motorcycle was screaming along the parking lot of the mall. It ran up to a long sculpture in the shape of a giant wave. It ran right up the wave. It ran straight into the air. And now Ranma could hear something over the sound of the engine. A girl screaming.

"AKIRA YOU'RE INSAAAAAANEEEEEEEEEE!"

Ranma's eyes widened and he rolled to the side. Vega was standing there, staring at the descending motorcycle in absolute shock. Two figures were on the back of it. One in black, her face hidden behind her helmet. The other in blue, clutching on for dear life, her brown hair whipping behind her.

"JUMP!" Akira ordered, moments before she did. Ran obeyed, well, she more fell off the bike in a controlled manner. Vega cried out, realising even he was too slow to avoid the plummeting bike now. His hand flashed up... and the bike snapped in two along its length. The two halves crashed through the glass beside him.

The entire ceiling went.

Ranma slid and pushed off. Ran was screaming as she fell. He grabbed her in his arms. He caught a banner on the way down and swung with it, snapping it loose of its fastenings. The glass fell all around him. Ran was still screaming. Ranma might have been screaming too, he was too scared out of his mind to tell.

He landed in the fountain.

"Why does it always have to be water?" Ranma moaned as he sat up. He frowned down at his shirt. It was too shredded to be really considered decent anymore, but what did he care? Ran emerged from the water beside him, spitting water from her mouth. The water had plastered her hair to her scalp and it ran down between the freckles on her cheeks in tiny rivers.

"So, uh... I came to rescue you," she explained.

"Thanks," Ranma said.

"Anytime."

Ranma leapt to his feet. His back protested, but he ignored it. He had heard Vega laughing. He could see the man standing in the middle of the food court, on top of one of the tables. He wasn't even scratched. Akira was standing in front of him, on another table.

"You broke my bike," Akira said in the same tone of voice you would use to say 'you killed my brother'.

"You throw it at me first," Vega explained.

"Die!" Akira leapt across the table. Ranma watched as Vega dodged around her attacks. He kept slashing at her, but somehow she evaded his attacks. Ranma stopped in mid-stride as he watched the exchange. There was no way Akira was that good. She was moving with a speed and certainty that Ranma had never seen her do in all their sparring sessions. Vega was still outpacing her... but only by about as much as he had outpaced Ranma.

That was impossible. Ranma wondered what could be different about Akira... then he saw the light flash off her helmet. He blinked. She had never once worn it when they were sparring. He also remembered that, when she was fighting the Dolls...

"Ranma, snap out of it, she'll be cut to ribbons!"

"Oh, yeah," Ranma said slowly as he started running again. "Thanks, Ran!"

"Anytime, stud!"

Ranma and Ran reached the battle just as Vega kicked Akira into the air. The man screamed, a wild yell, and flashed into the air. His arms locked around the girl's midsection and he spun her about. With a tremendous crash he slammed her face-first through a table.

With a roar, Ranma leapt and kicked. Vega had just sprung to his feet, and couldn't avoid the boot that caught him straight in the chest. He flew back into the salad bar, which exploded around him.

Akira groaned and rolled over. Ranma landed in front of her. Ran crouched beside her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." There was a tapping sound. "This thing comes in handy."

Ranma chuckled. "Let's go, Akira!"

"Right..." Akira said as she slipped up beside him.

Vega had paused to fussily pick the bits and pieces of food off his body. He looked up as Ranma and Akira charged. Ranma couldn't see his face, but he knew he was smiling.

This battle was far less one-sided. Vega was still faster than both of them, but they were two and he was one. Akira came in on the ground. Her strikes were violent and short and direct. Ranma came in from the air, his blows fast and coming from seemingly all directions. Vega dodged and blocked and danced between them, but never once could he attack.

Then Ran stepped in, throwing a paper at his back. Vega backflipped over it. Ranma followed him, caught his legs with both hands and threw him back at Akira. Akira charged in as Vega flailed to recover and her palms flashed forward straight into his face. She roared.

There was a giant blue flash. Vega's body flew back and he crashed through the window of a shoe store. Ranma blinked away the light as he landed lightly on his feet. He could have sworn he'd seen a giant skull in the middle of that light, but he dismissed that as silly.

Akira stepped forward and fell into a stance. "It isn't over," she said gruffly. Ranma nodded as Vega stood up. The man was staggering. His hand was on his mask... and as he pulled the hand away, a large crack suddenly bisected it. With an innocuous little clatter, the two halves of his mask fell to the floor.

Vega looked surprised. There was a flash.

Ranma turned his head and saw Ran holding the little camera he had given her. She looked at him and shrugged. "Instinct." He grinned.

Vega started laughing again. "Oh, this is too beautiful!" He looked at them all. His face was pretty, but twisted by arrogance. "I shall have to make sure we meet again. Goodbye for now."

"You aren't going anywhere!" Akira roared. But even as she ran after him, Vega slipped out of the store and sprinted down the mall. He was moving far too fast for her to hope to catch. Ranma took a step to pursue, but then gasped and collapsed to his knees. He suddenly felt dizzy.

"Ranma! Your back!" Ran gasped.

"He's getting away again..." Ranma hissed, struggling to remain upright.

"Let him! We have to get you to the hospital!"

"But..."

"She's right," Akira said. She turned to him. "Besides, I have to get back to Ukyou."

Ranma winced, not in pain. He had left Ukyou behind... but she would be alright... wouldn't she?

01010

Ukyou tightened her grip on Daigo's stomach as he took a turn so fast his wheels screeched, leaving a long black streak in the pavement. She grit her teeth and tried to focus on keeping her stomach in one place.

"Which way?" Daigo shouted over the roar of the wind. He didn't turn around to look at her. She was thankful he was keeping his eye on the road, so to speak.

"Two blocks down, then hang a left!" Aaron shouted back. He could feel Hotaru, receding steadily into the distance. Her aura stood out among the people of the city like a sore thumb. Just as it had been on the roof, the aura flickered and boiled with negative energy. It was also immense, but not in the same way that a martial artist's was. He had glimpsed something... something larger than chi, flickering dangerously through Hotaru's aura.

Daigo took the next turn even sharper, then the next, and Ukyou focused on keeping herself steady. Daigo's bike was much bigger than Akira's, and probably twice as powerful, but not nearly as nimble. Its engine roared as he streaked down the street. Ukyou's eyes widened as she realised he was driving the wrong way down a one-way street at about the same time all the other motorists did. Daigo just frowned and gunned the engine, slicing between the oncoming traffic like a downhill skier.

Aaron left trying to keep them aboard the maniac motorcycle to Ukyou as he tried to focus in on Hotaru's exact location. He was still surprised by how... precise his senses had grown. He had begun to notice it after the other night, but now it was clear to him. Even back when Ukyou had been running for her life from the Outer Senshi, it had been his ability to exactly pinpoint where each of their magical blasts would hit that had saved their lives.

He also knew he shouldn't have been able to sense Hotaru from this far. But it seemed like his skill had taken another leap. He frowned, not really wanting to think about the implications of that.

"There... on that overpass!" Ukyou shouted as Aaron fed her the information. She pointed up. Her eyes narrowed and she could see a small car running haphazardly down the highway.

"Right... hold on!" Daigo roared. Ukyou gulped and tightened her grip.

Daigo pulled on the bars of his bike like a man trying to wrestle a bull to the ground. The bike reared and spun nearly on a dime as Daigo launched it up a grass-covered embankment. Sod flew up in their wake as the bike charged up the incline. Then the concrete crashwall was before them. With another roar Daigo brought down the front wheel of his bike on the top of the wall. The entire bike flipped forward, spinning in mid-air. Ukyou didn't scream, she was too stunned to.

With a loud clatter the bike set down on both wheels, only three car lengths behind the mini that Aaron could sense Hotaru in. He could feel the other presence in the vehicle now. That aura also was filled with something larger... no, not larger... that was the wrong word. It was denser and deeper. Aaron realised he had felt the same sort of strange power in the auras of Pluto and the other Outer Senshi as they had fired at him.

The car jerked to the side suddenly and passed a delivery truck with a squeal of burnt rubber. Daigo twisted the accelerator in his hand and his bike shot forward like a rocket. The truck had come up parallel to a sports car, but Daigo flew between them without pausing.

Then Ukyou saw her. Her long red hair flapped behind her as she poked her head out the driver's window to stare in disbelief behind her. Eudial. Ukyou grit her teeth. Of course. Trust her luck to run into one of the competent Death Busters. Why couldn't it have been Mimete?

"Daigo, bring us up alongside her!" Ukyou shouted. She released him with one arm and dug into the pockets of her coat. Most of her equipment was gone, having been expended in her mad dash to the bottom of the tower. But she still had enough throwing spatulas to take out the wheels of Eudial's car and force her to stop. Then Daigo could deal with her.

Daigo nodded and gunned his engine again. He ran up alongside the car as if it were standing still. Ukyou saw Hotaru curled up in the back. The girl looked out the window of the car. She looked so young... Aaron's head snapped to the driver as he felt a sudden spike in that strange deep energy in her aura. She was fiddling with... was she wearing a stereo system?

Ukyou suddenly felt her balance abandon her. The spatulas slipped from her hand. Daigo's bike began to lean heavily... and it was hard to tell how close they were coming to the ground. And they weren't the only ones. A van two cars up suddenly lost control and spun out. A car plowed into its back at over a hundred kilometers per hour and flipped into the air in an almost graceful manner. A truck slammed into the crash barrier and screeched along the length of it, sending sparks flying. There was a loud crash from behind them, followed by an explosion.

The highway had become a death trap, and Daigo was spinning his bike straight into the path of the descending car. Aaron screamed and focused. A high-pitched whine was hovering at the edge of his hearing, but he ignored it. Instead he focused his Void chakra, willing his balance to remain. His hands slammed over Daigo's and he pulled at the controls. The bike skidded and almost fell over, but the car landed in front of them. The cab crushed inward as it landed on its roof before skidding another dozen meters and spinning to a stop.

Ukyou stared in mute horror. They had stopped, but the highway in front of them was rapidly becoming a wasteland. Then suddenly the buzz vanished, and her balance returned.

"What... what happened?" Daigo gasped. "I couldn't steer..."

"Sound..." Ukyou guessed. "She must have used sound to throw off our inner ear. It completely destroyed our sense of balance. Clever."

"Clever?" Daigo grunted. "You don't have to sound so respectful. Look at what her clever plan did... all these people..."

"I know!" Ukyou snapped harshly. She took a deep breath and calmed down. "She's not using it anymore, see?" She pointed at where the car was receding into the distance. Aaron could no longer sense the sharp spike in what he assumed was her magical energy, but he had locked onto Eudial's 'signature' as firmly as he had Hotaru's. "If she uses that recklessly she could get herself into an accident." Ukyou leaned forward. "Get after her, but stay back. If we don't get too close, we won't spook her into panicking!"

Daigo glanced back at her. Did he ever do anything but frown meaningfully? He nodded sharply and wordlessly gunned his engine. His bike slalomed easily between the wrecks on the road. Ukyou did her best to cut out the cries of the wounded. She could hear the whine of approaching sirens.

Daigo followed Eudial, but managed to stay back just far enough that she didn't notice him. Aaron was glad he could feel their signatures through that strange web of energy the world seemed to be made up of. It made their task much easier.

Her car pulled off the highway and rocketed into a much more residential part of Tokyo. Ukyou knew there was only two places that Eudial could be going, and so wasn't surprised when she pulled with a screech into the parking lot of a simple-looking two-storey house. Daigo pulled his bike to a stop five houses down, and they sat there for a moment, the engine idling.

"We should get help," Daigo said matter-of-factly. "Even I can sense the bad energy coming out of that house. It's dangerous."

"You're right..." Ukyou leapt off the bike. Her jacket flapped behind her as she landed. She grimaced and made Aaron shift a bit more of their chi back to her physical body. Their energy was still dangerously low from how much she had pushed it just trying to evade Rose for a few minutes. With that and the injuries that still hadn't fully recovered, she was in no shape to be taking on potentially all of the Death Busters.

"But if Hotaru goes into that house, we will never see her again," Ukyou said softly. Sailor Moon was gone. The Outers were more concerned with killing Ukyou than fighting a threat that should still be two years away from maturing. Worse... there would be no Crystal Tokyo, no daughter of the royal family sent back into the past. There would be no one to save the soul of Hotaru Tomoe now. Things had gone too far off track already. "If we don't stop this now, I won't be able to live with myself!"

Ukyou was running before she finished talking. Daigo grunted and followed her. He moved quickly for a man of his size, but Ukyou moved faster. She reached the front lawn of the house just as Eudial was dragging Hotaru out of the backseat by the wrist.

Eudial turned slowly as she heard Ukyou approaching, but not fast enough. Ukyou ran right into her, fist first. The blow sent the woman spiralling over the top of the car. The long black strips of her skirt rippled behind her as she slammed into the ground.

"Hotaru..." Ukyou gasped. That had taken a lot out of her, and the ribs that Chris had nearly pulverized were burning. But Hotaru wasn't looking at her. The little girl's eyes were fixed on the house behind Ukyou. Ukyou suddenly realised that to Hotaru, this was home. This was safety. She had no idea what bargain her father had made for both their souls.

"Daddy!" Hotaru screamed and dashed around Ukyou. Ukyou raised her hand up, but what was she going to do? Hotaru didn't know Ukyou. She had no reason to trust this stranger. Nothing Ukyou could say would stop her from running into those doors.

"Little bitch, that hurt!"

Aaron whirled to face Eudial, but it was too late. She had already flipped the switch on the controls arrayed across her chest. The world suddenly filled with a high-pitched buzz, and Ukyou's legs gave out underneath her. As she fell, she saw Daigo collapsing at the edge of the lawn. He struggled to get up, but his body kept rocking and his arms sliding out from underneath him. He grunted and didn't stop struggling.

Hotaru, too, had fallen to the ground. She was trying to crawl; crawl to what she thought was safety. Ukyou could hear her crying her for her father over and over. There was a soft sound as Eudial stepped around the car onto the grass of the lawn. Ukyou looked up and saw blood leaking from the side of Eudial's lip. The vicious little part of her smiled.

"Smile all you want," Eudial snarled. "But hitting my face! I'll kill you!" The woman slowly began to level her arms at Ukyou. There were speakers on her forearms. This must have been how she had taken down Ryouga. If so... Ukyou didn't much like her chances of surviving this attack.

Aaron ground his teeth. He would be damned before he gave up now! With a simple, desperate mental lunge he channeled all his chi into his Void aura... and simply willed his ears to stop working.

Suddenly the world went silent. Ukyou's balance returned to her. The vicious little part of her smiled again.

Eudial's mouth was moving: she was about to fire. Ukyou simply rose to her feet, spun in place and roundhouse-kicked the Witch in the gut in the time it took her to say a single syllable. The woman rocked back, her body crashing into her car with enough force that the side of the vehicle smashed in around her. Then Ukyou stepped forward, willing her energy into one good punch. She caught Eudial in the face again. Eudial was caught in the car, but the force of the strike sent the car flipping over three times before it landed in the neighbour's yard. All of this happened in eerie silence.

Aaron felt a powerful aura step out of the house. He turned slowly. Professor Tomoe was standing on his front porch. His lab coat fluttered in the breeze around him. His short white hair was unkempt, and his glasses shone in the morning sun. Ukyou couldn't see the bizarre symbol scrawled into the glass over his right eye through the glare. Hotaru was running towards him. Aaron could feel Daigo getting to his feet.

For a single mind-numbing moment Aaron struggled to undo his self- imposed deafness. But then the world of sound started slowly seeping back in. A relieved sigh escaped his lips, and he felt suddenly grateful for the ability to hear it.

"... can't believe it! Hotaru, you're home!" the Professor said as he started down the stairs, his arms outstretched. Hotaru was sobbing his name and running to him.

"Hotaru, stop!" Ukyou said, realising it was useless.

"Daddy, daddy! I was so scared!" She ran up into his arms. He pulled her off her feet and hugged her fiercely. But he was looking straight at Ukyou. His eyes were cold and dangerous.

"Are you the monsters that kidnapped my daughter?" Tomoe said, his voice accusing.

"We were just trying to rescue her, sir," Daigo explained. His voice sound weary, like he was used to being treated like trash no matter what he was doing.

"Is that so..." The man glanced at the remains of Eudial's car. "Then why were you attacking my assistant?"

"Enough of this, Germatoid," Ukyou snapped. "Don't think I don't know exactly what you are. I'm not leaving here without Hotaru."

Tomoe flinched at Ukyou's words, but then he smiled. "I have no idea what you are talking about. But I love my daughter very much, and won't let you take her from me!"

"Ukyou?" Daigo said, confused.

Aaron cursed inwardly. He had never had a chance to explain everything to the young man. He had never even met him until he had run past him in the lobby. It had been Akira's idea to ask for his help. It had been Ukyou's to keep him in reserve.

"This isn't going to happen," Ukyou said, her voice low and dangerous. She looked down at her feet. Aaron made their face cold. They focused their aura, but not for power or perception. Instead, they just let their power build. Slowly, wisps of energy began to circle up from her feet. "Hotaru is not going to enter that house. You are a monster, Germatoid. You have stolen that man's body. You can continue to play the loving father all you want, but I will not let you have her!" Ukyou snapped her head up and as she did, her aura snapped to writhing life. Cold white flames erupted around her body, bleaching the colour from the air around her. She fixed her eyes on those of the daimon that was inside Professor Tomoe. His visible eye widened slightly as their gazes met. "I am taking Hotaru away. If you want to play at being a man, then that won't stop me." Ukyou started forward, her footsteps calm and unstoppable. "If you want to stop me, you'll have to fight me. You'll have to reveal to Hotaru what you are. And then I'll defeat you and take her anyway. You saw what I did to your witch. And once I take her from this place, you will never, ever see her again." Hotaru was looking over her shoulder at Ukyou now. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear. Ukyou kept her face cold, her expression dangerously expressionless. "Decide, Germatoid. Either fight me now, or surrender the girl to me."

Ukyou had reached him by the time the last word left her mouth. She didn't pause. She simply reached up and grabbed onto Hotaru's shoulder. The girl screamed. Ukyou's stomach twisted into knots at the sorrow and pain and terror in that scream. But her face remained implacable. She kept her eyes fixed on Germatoid's.

She reached up with her other hand and grabbed his wrist. She twisted his hand off Hotaru. He gasped in pain and collapsed to his knees as Ukyou forced him back. Aaron drew Hotaru in with their other hand. The girl was struggling, but even in Ukyou's weakened state they had more than enough strength to restrain her. With a final shove, she sent the man stumbling back into his house. He cried out Hotaru's name, but Ukyou was already turning her back on him. Aaron kept a focus on the man's energy... but nothing happened. He was just sitting there, half inside the building.

Daigo was looking at them coolly. He wasn't frowning anymore, but his expression was unreadable. His eyes met Ukyou's... and he flinched away slightly. Hotaru was still screaming, struggling to reach back for her father. Ukyou felt lower than she ever had. This was not how a hero dealt with things...

But Ukyou was no hero. She knew that.

And if she needed to play the villain to save this girl's life... so be it.

"Let's go," Ukyou said coldly once she had reached Daigo.

"Right..." Daigo said and nodded.

Agito leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. He needed to sleep more. He just wished he could afford to. He looked up when Shizu set the teacup down in front of him. He smiled gratefully, and she blushed and backed away.

Sometimes he wished he could spend more time with her. The girl had been with him almost since the beginning. He had saved the lives of both her and her father years ago, back when Chronos had taken everything that had belonged to his father. His real father.

His hand clenched tightly around the cup. There was a sharp crack as the porcelain broke in his grip. He cursed as the hot tea and shattered porcelain hurt his hand.

"Are you okay?" Shizu called, her voice filled with concern.

"I'm... fine..." Agito murmured, wiping off his hands on the edge of the table.

"I could get you some bandages..."

"No, it will be fine," he replied. His voice was cool and soft, dignified and suave like he had practiced for years. "Could you please get me another cup?"

She nodded wordlessly and retreated into the kitchen. Agito stood up and walked away from the table. He paused at the window and pulled aside the curtain just enough to see outside. There was nothing out there, like the last fifty times he had checked. But he had to be careful. Chronos could be anywhere. He could never let his guard down, ever.

The city was crawling with them. Zoanoids. Vermin. His lip curled into a sneer. He knew what they were after here. It was the same thing he was after.

Sailor Moon.

Agito let the curtain fall back into place. He needed to find her first. His own personal quest for vengeance... all the sacrifices he had made... the fate of the world... they all rested on him finding her first. He had spent nearly a decade working until finally he could acquire his tool for vengeance, the Guyver unit.

He clenched his hand into a fist. He could feel the organisms on his back. The symbiotic growths that connected him mentally to the Guyver in the extradimensional space that existed just behind him. With them, he could summon the unit. But what good was it?

Gyro had been a god. Agito had never expected such power. It made any other zoanoid look like a kitten. He had done the only thing he could do when faced with such might... he had ran.

But Sailor Moon had not. She had defeated a god. Somehow. He needed to know how. She was the only person in the world who could defeat a zoalord. Without her...

He shook away dark thoughts. They would do him no good. He needed to concentrate on his objective. He was just too tired. He needed rest. But every moment he rested was another step they got ahead of him in the chase.

Sailor Moon had vanished, that much was clear. She hadn't been seen since the attack on Mount Minakami. She was either hiding out, or had fled. But she hadn't fled with all her friends.

He turned his eyes to the table. On it was a newspaper. The fourth page was about the battle that had occurred today. Three Sailor Senshi, and some of those suddenly ubiquitous martial artists he had somehow missed in all his years of plotting against Chronos. If anyone could lead him to Sailor Moon, it would be those three. He grinned mirthlessly. Thankfully, they had already given him the first key to their trail.

Not many people in Tokyo owned helicopters.

01010

The fence had been repaired since the last time Ran had been up here. The wind was cold now, with the sun long gone. She glanced around the roof of Justice High School and immediately saw Ranma.

He was standing in the centre of the roof. His shirt was off, and his bandages were almost glowing in the darkness. Sweat poured down his half-naked form as he pushed his body through the same motion over and over again. He kept stepping forward and thrusting with both palms, then stepping back and repeating the process. Ran found herself caught up in the beauty of him for a moment.

"You... are supposed to be resting," Ran said sardonically as she stepped out of the shadows.

"Can't," Ranma said, his breath coming in puffs. "I need to train."

"Ranma, you haven't recovered enough to train!" Ran accused as she stormed over to him.

"Kyoko stitched me up and did that magic touch thing of hers," Ranma said, obviously confused.

"But that's only like a band-aid!" Ran stepped in front of him and he finally stopped his exercise, but only because she was literally standing in his way. She placed her hands on her hips. "If you strain too much, you could reopen your wounds!"

"I'm fine..." Ranma said, but his voice was soft. "I need to train, Ran." He held up his fist. "Vega... is on another level. If I'm going to defeat him, I have to reach that level. I won't stop until I've surpassed him." He smirked, and Ran saw the old-fashioned Saotome confidence return to his face. "Because I am the best. If someone comes along that looks like they might beat me, its only because I haven't tried hard enough to win yet!"

Ran found herself chuckling. She bent forward, clutching her gut, as the laughter continued. Ranma smiled, but his expression slowly became confused as her laughter began to be mixed in with sobs. Then, for some reason, she was crying. She just couldn't stop it. She felt so sick, so tired.

Ranma stepped up to her. His hand fell on her shoulder. She looked up at his face. He reached down and rubbed a tear from her cheek.

"Don't cry," he said softly.

"I can't help it..." she sobbed. "I... just can't stand the thought of you hurting yourself. It just... I can't stand it..."

"Ran..." Ranma sounded nervous.

"Not over stubborn pride!" She grabbed him and pulled him to her. She rested her head against his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat. Ranma's body went stiff as a board. "Ranma... I want to see you do such great things. I want to watch you be a champion and a hero. You have it in you. I've spent my entire life, looking for a hero like you... someone that the world has to know about. Someone that I can feel pride in telling the stories of."

Ranma slowly relaxed, and his arms drifted around Ran's midsection.

"I want to watch you do great things, Ranma... not throw away your life chasing down a man who we've already defeated."

"Ran..." Ranma whispered into her ear. "What is this?"

"I don't know," Ran lied, and suddenly she was laughing again. It was like her body couldn't decide how to feel. Was she giddy or sick? She was hot, but Ranma's warm body felt refreshing as he pulled her a little tighter.

"Ran... I'm not just doing this for me," Ranma said cautiously. "I'm doing it for Ucchan."

A white-hot spark of jealousy flared through Ran's mind, but she viciously snuffed it out. "Ranma... the world doesn't revolve around Ukyou."

"Yeah..." Ranma sighed and he released her. "But she said Vega would be back. She said that the Death Busters would be after Hotaru. And you heard what she told Nabiki about that sword..."

Ran nodded. She still had trouble believing that story. A sword that granted any wish? Just for being the one millionth person to try and draw it? But Nabiki had looked very annoyed when Ukyou had told that story to everyone after they had gathered together to celebrate their victory. Ran drew in a deep breath, because that reminded her of why else she was here.

"Maybe Ukyou isn't always right, Ranma," she said softly. She looked down. She loved him. She had to admit this now, because she had just said the one thing that might drive him away. But Ran wasn't sure she could trust Ukyou anymore. Holding a little girl against her will... it just seemed wrong. And then there was the vision. She couldn't forget that.

No matter how much she wanted to.

"Maybe she isn't," Ranma said as he stepped forward and lifted up her chin. His kind blue eyes looked into hers. There was no anger or disappointment there, only acceptance. "Ukyou makes mistakes. But I think she has a good heart. I trust her."

"Ranma..." Ran reached up and clasped his hand in between hers. "I want you to promise me... promise me you won't let her control your life!"

"What?" Ranma was confused again.

"I want you to seize your own destiny, Ranma..." Ran was crying again. "Just promise me that you won't spend your life in her shadow. Be your own hero." She stepped into his embrace again, and her sobs stopped. "Don't abandon her. But... you've got to be yourself. Be the hero you were born to be."

"I..." Ranma looked down at her, and his breath caught suddenly. "I promise."

Ran nodded quickly, then pushed away from him. Ranma stood there, stunned. He was half-caught between reaching out for her and waiting for her to come back to him. But Ran was walking away. She had gotten what she had come up here for. Now...

Now she needed to think.

She stepped into the stairwell and closed the door behind her. Ranma didn't so much as call out for her to stop. A part of her wanted him to chase her. A part of her wanted to be caught. But a larger part realised that there were more important things than hormones.

The night wind was cold as she walked the streets of Tokyo. She idly played with the camera Ranma had bought her way back in what seemed like a million years ago. Her mind seemed as unable to settle on a thought as her body was. Her emotions kept flaring and dying.

How was she supposed to make the kind of decision that Pluto had forced on her? Because a part of her did believe in Ukyou. She believed in Ukyou because Ranma believed in her. Ranma believed with such a fierce certainty that it spread like wildfire. A part of Ran wanted to tell him about what she had seen. A part of her wanted him to see it for himself.

She walked into Taiyo High School. The building was locked up this late at night, but she had a key. Nobody knew she had a key, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. She made her way up to the room she shared with the A/V and manga clubs and she stood outside the door for the longest time, thinking that she needed to make a decision.

But she wasn't even sure what decision it was she was supposed to be making. Finally, she sighed and opened the door.

Vega was sitting at her desk. He was drinking a glass of wine. He slowly turned his arrogantly beautiful face towards her. He smiled, a dashing smile. The kind of smile that would make most women swoon. He raised his glass towards her.

"Miss Hibiki. Do come in. Have a seat."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: It's time once again for the "Blade and Epsilon don't have much to clarify so they desperately fill up some space with lame humour" section!

Epsilon: Why did Daigo cross the road?

Blade: I don't know, why?

Epsilon: FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

Blade: ...okay, that's lame, granted, but can we keep to a certain minimum standard?

Epsilon: No. There are no depths to which we will not sink.

Blade: Au contraire! I will not sink to the depths of NOT warning our readers (Kusanagi sends his love, all you fine ladies!) that next month is when we start getting to some of the plotline spoilers we mentioned a few chapters back. Specifically, Utena.

Epsilon: Yep. We spoil the HELL out of it. We spoil it so much, you'll never be able to watch it without getting sick! You'll become some sort of anti- Utena, such that if you and Utena ever come in contact, there will be a violent reaction!

Blade: So make sure you watch all of Utena before next month!

Epsilon: Yeah, because otherwise, you'll get spoilers like THIS!

The witch-

Blade: (BEAT EPSILON TO DEATH WITH A STICK) Yeah, like that one.


	16. Step Up

I am doing this, you must understand, under protest.

I, Telulu, am a very busy Deathbuster. Bringing about the Apocalypse isn't going to happen on its own, you know. It especially isn't going to happen if you sit around in a house teething some mewling brat and promising that yes, she'll grow up to be a nasty little Messiah some day. That cretinous Professor couldn't even hold on to his supposed trump card! A far more competent (if laughably short-sighted) villain named Vega kidnapped her from right under his nose!

Then she was re-kidnapped by my fellow witch Eudial, then re-re-kidnapped by Ukyou just when the Professor thought she had been returned. Having no contingency plan, he was forced to just let Ukyou take his precious saviour away. Not that taking her away from her "father" endeared Ukyou much to the little brat.

Speaking of brats, apparently some girl named Kaede is trying to destroy this island nation before I, I mean we, can destroy the entire world. Ukyou made a big deal about how her friends and loved ones might need to kill her and conviently excused herself to go re-re-kidnap the brat Hotaru so she wouldn't have to break her contemptible vow against killing.

One person not so burdened is the youma Tethys, whose use of the human Hayato's martial arts skills and physical prowess allowed her to kill her former queen when the foolish woman let her guard down. Now she rules the Dark Kingdom... for whatever good that will do her when the Silence comes.

It pleases me that that moron Chris has dragged Sailor Moon and her friends out of Tokyo, heading for an unimportant school named Ohtori Academy somewhere in the north. Just two less problems standing between me, I mean us, and universal destruction.

One problem I'll have to deal with, perhaps, is the overly self-confident wench Nabiki Tendo and her imbecilic bodyguard. They extracted from Ukyou the information about a sword that grants wishes to the one millionth person to attempt to draw it from its resting place. In exchange, they - well, rather Ryouga, for Nabiki has laudable good sense in sending disposable flunkies to do her own work - helped Ukyou re-re-kidnap Hotaru. I understand Vega was most cross about this whole situation, not to mention his being obliged to retreat by the combined forces of Ran, Akira, and Ranma.

Hmph. Really, that ought to suffice for even the most dull-witted of readers. The more so since none of this matters. All the characters you love, you hate, or are indifferent to will perish soon enough!

On that note, I'm leaving now. Apocalypse to choreograph, and all that...

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 16: Step Up

Akira slid off the end of the bike. She slipped her helmet off and shielded her eyes from the sun. It was a bright sunny morning. The air was heavy, almost stagnant, and the heat had crept up so high that it felt like an oven. It was the first heat wave of the summer, and true to its name Akira could literally see the air rippling as it rose off the pavement. She sighed and undid her jacket, pulling off the tight leather so that her torso was clad only in a blue and yellow t-shirt.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Daigo said. He was still sitting on his cycle. He looked pristine in his long black coat. The heat didn't affect him in the slightest: not a hair was out of place in his short black mane, and not a bead of sweat stood out on his brow. He frowned down at her, and to most people his scarred face would have been intimidating. But Akira could see the worry there, the concern and sense of responsibility. He wasn't frowning because he was annoyed, he was frowning because he cared.

He reminded her a bit of Ukyou.

"I'll be fine," Akira said as cheerfully as she could.

"Akira..." Daigo reached out and clasped her on the shoulder. She shifted slightly, but his touch was gentle and kind. "You don't have to do this."

"I think I want to," Akira said, although she didn't know why she felt that way.

Daigo stared down at her for a moment. He released her and sighed. The hand that had been holding her rose up and stroked the length of his scar, not flinching away from the ruin that marked where his eye had once been. "I just don't want you to end up like me," he said. "The only thing fighting does is lead to more fighting."

"Brother..." Akira said plaintively. "We aren't fighting today." She smiled. "This is a victory celebration. The good guys won, yesterday." She patted him on the arm. "Can't you just be happy for once?"

"Maybe." He smiled thinly. His was a face not much used to smiling. He didn't say anything more before kicking his motorcycle to life and riding off down the street. Akira looked after him wistfully. It would be years before she could afford to replace her own.

"Hey, that your brother?"

Akira turned and saw Ranma walking up to her. He was wearing a yellow t- shirt with a little bow-tie and a pair of slacks with his hands thrust into the pockets. Her lip twitched a little.

"Yeah..."

"He looks strong," Ranma said with a nod in the direction he had left. There was a sort of eagerness to his voice.

"He is," Akira nodded. "Much stronger than me." She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Ranma. "Probably stronger than you, too."

"Me?" Ranma laughed. "I'd like to see him prove it."

Akira poked him in the ribs. Ranma's toppled over with a cry, clutching his side. Akira giggled.

"That... was a dirty low down trick," Ranma muttered as he got to his feet slowly.

"Sorry," Akira said, feeling a little bad. "It's just..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma grinned at her. "Everyone wants a shot at the guy on top." Suddenly Akira didn't feel so guilty anymore.

"Didn't Ukyou come with you?" Akira asked, changing the subject.

"She said she'd meet us here." Ranma said. "She didn't want to be walking around with the kid all day." Ranma grinned again. "I guess she's afraid Hotaru will try to make a break for it in a crowd."

Akira didn't have any response to that. She believed Ukyou. Ukyou wasn't lying when she said that Hotaru's father was a monster... but still... How did you deal with that? How did you save a girl like Hotaru without coming off as the bad guy? Well, maybe Ran had done like she promised and come up with some way to prove Ukyou right.

"C'mon," Ranma said as he started towards the gates of the school. "Ran is probably inside working on the big story already."

Akira followed him with a nod. Taiyo High School was virtually abandoned at this time of day. The sun had risen not a half-hour ago, and it was still three hours before first bell. Not even the teachers and other staff would be here this early. Ran had once joked that it was the only time she could get any work done. Akira just marveled that the girl could still manage to produce a daily paper, by herself, and run around helping Ukyou and Ranma out. The newspaper at Seijyun ran about once a month, and anybody asking about the Gedo High School paper would be directed to gossip scrawled on the bathroom walls.

Her office was up on the second floor. Ranma led the way, obviously familiar with the trip. Akira lagged behind him a little bit. She supposed Ukyou would know to come in when she arrived. She glanced behind her, out one of the windows at the hot pavement. She grimaced - somehow it was even hotter in the building. She did not look forward to attending classes today... especially since she would have to explain her absence yesterday.

The door to Ran's office was open. The hallway was deserted except for Hotaru. The girl was sitting against the far wall. Her black hair gleamed in the hot light. She was wearing the same dress she had been wearing yesterday. She was crying. Large hiccuping sobs. Her face was buried in her hands.

Akira slowed down even as Ranma sped up. Something was wrong.

Ranma reached her and bent down. He asked her if she was okay, but she didn't look up at him. She just kept crying into her hands. Ranma turned to look into the office...

Looking back, Akira realised that was when she knew. It was his eyes. Not just the way they widened, not just the way they flinched back... it was how they changed. The moment they looked into that room... Ranma's eyes changed.

Ranma stepped forward, his entire expression twisting. His lips pulled away from his teeth as if he was trying to scream. Akira was running now, but it was like a dream and everything moved in slow motion. The only sound was Hotaru's pained sobs and the loud echo of her footsteps. It was so hot.

"Ran..." Ranma said, his voice a whistle as he forced air from his throat. He vanished into the room, moving like an automaton.

Akira skidded to a stop in front of the room. She didn't want to look. She already knew what she would see.

It was worse than that.

Ukyou was inside. Her hands were pressed against the window as she leaned against it for support. Her hair hung down over her face. Her jacket fluttered in the hot breeze. It was covered in blood.

On the floor...

Oh god.

"Ran..." Ranma was on his knees. He reached out and grabbed a hand. The hand was too pale. "No... no... this isn't happening..."

Akira felt the wall hit her back. She couldn't back up any further. The air was too hot. She couldn't breathe. It was too hot.

"Wake up!" Ranma screamed. He pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Her arm... oh god... it flopped to the ground at his side. Just flopped. It was almost comic. "Wake up, Ran!" Ranma's jaw was trembling, his words kept stuttering. "W-Wake up... oh g-god... this is t-too much.., d- don't do this to me..."

Akira closed her eyes. She looked away. She couldn't stand it. She wanted to cover her ears. To block it out. But Ranma kept talking.

"Do something!" he roared. "She needs help! We need to get her to a doctor!"

"It's too late..." Ukyou's voice; soft, cold...

"Don't give me that!" Ranma screamed. "Do something! My God, she isn't breathing... Ukyou... she isn't breathing... DO SOMETHING! Please! Anybody! Please!"

"It's too late..." Ukyou said again. "I tried. I saw... I tried... I..."

There was something wrong with Ukyou's voice. Akira opened her eyes and looked. Ukyou had turned around and was looking down at him. Her hands were covered in blood, and they hung limply at her side. Akira remembered briefly the ruin that had been Ran's chest.

"Hotaru!" Ranma snapped suddenly. "You said she could heal people, right?"

"Ranma..." Ukyou reached up toward him but he wasn't looking at her anymore. Ranma was staring out the door at Hotaru. The girl was sobbing. She was curled into a ball against the wall. Ranma stretched a hand out toward the little girl.

"Help her," he begged. Akira had never heard Ranma beg. She had honestly thought that it was something he couldn't do. But he was begging now. His voice was full of anguish. Akira's sides hurt. Her eyes burned. Ranma was crying too. The tears were streaming down his cheeks. He didn't notice. He didn't care. He was begging. "Please! Use your power! HELP HER!"

"Ranma!" Ukyou snapped harshly. But Ranma wasn't paying attention to her.

"She isn't breathing!" Ranma said, his voice catching. He tried to say something else, but for a moment all that came out was a series of choked 'huh' sounds. "You huh-have... you have to... she's too cold... we have to..."

"Close the door." It took Akira a moment to realise that Ukyou was talking to her. Akira looked up mutely, meeting Ukyou's cold black lotus eyes. "She can't do anything. It's too late. She doesn't need to see anymore of this. Close the door."

Akira walked over. Her body was moving of its own accord. She had no control over it. She couldn't think. It was too hot. She couldn't breathe. The door clicked shut under her hand. She spun around and leaned back against it. Hotaru had changed position. She had stopped crying. She looked up at Akira. Her little girl eyes looked far too old. Akira could still hear inside the room.

"Damn you, Ukyou!" Ranma screamed, his voice wavering. "Open the door!"

"It's too late for her," Ukyou said softly.

"It's not... it's not..." Ranma's voice trembled. "I'm Ranma Saotome, damn it!" Now his voice had regained its strength. "Ranma Saotome does not lose! Not this battle!"

"Please... Ranma, please... listen to yourself..." Ukyou's voice grew closer to the door. "Feel her, Ranma. She's cold. She's dead. She's been dead for hours. I found her... I tried to help, but it's too late. There is nothing anyone could have done!"

"I can do something!" Ranma roared.

"No... no, you can't... nobody can..."

Ranma tried to say something, but his words kept dissolving. Finally he gave up and just screamed. It was loud and primal and Akira sobbed to hear it. His voice grew hoarse and then his scream trailed off. It faded into sobs. Sobs that continued for Akira didn't know how long.

Finally there was silence.

The heat hung on the air like a specter. Akira could see it out the windows. It was all she could feel, the heat. Her mind was numb.

"Who did this?" Ranma said. Akira started. That couldn't have been his voice. It was cold. So cold that even Ukyou at her worst sounded warm in comparison.

"Ranma, you have to put her down... the police are coming..." Ukyou said slowly.

"Who. Did. This?"

There was a pause.

"Vega," Ukyou answered simply.

"Where is he?"

"He... left a note..."

There was a soft sound as Ran's body slid to the floor. Akira fell away from the door and was suddenly on her knees. Her breakfast came up.

"Give it to me."

"Ranma!" Ukyou sounded desperate. "You can't do this! It's just what he wants-" Ukyou cut off, crying out in pain, and there was a thud as she fell against something. "Ranma!" Ukyou sounded more desperate now.

A moment passed. Then the door opened. Ranma stepped out into the hallway. He wasn't looking at anything. He didn't even notice Akira or Hotaru as he stepped out into the stiflingly hot corridor.

"Ranma!" Ukyou appeared in the doorway. She grabbed the frame to hold herself up. Her eyes were staring at him and shaking. "Ranma, it isn't worth it!"

"Ukyou..." Ranma said, his voice still cold. "I am going to kill him."

"NO!" Ukyou shouted. "You can't... not like this!"

Ranma didn't respond. He just turned around and started walking down the hallway. He dropped a piece of paper on the floor as he walked. It was curled into a ball. Ukyou started after him, but her steps were slow and unsteady.

Akira reached out and grabbed the note. Her body was moving of its own accord again. She didn't want to read it, but her hands unfurled the note and her eyes fixed on it. The handwriting was neat, even beautiful... like the work of a master calligrapher. "Ranma Saotome, Akira Kazama, Ukyou Kuonji. Please excuse the drama of this message. I'm afraid you left me little choice. I was far too disappointed by our last encounter to let it go at that. Perhaps you can meet me again soon?

"I would also suggest you bring along the thing you took from me. I have grown attached to her. If you do not, I shall have to take something precious from you. Miss Hibiki told me an amazing story, about a fabulous sword. Perhaps if you do not meet me, I shall console myself by acquiring it?

"I'll be waiting.

"Vega."

Akira stood up slowly. She wasn't moving like a robot anymore.

That monster.

He hadn't just...

He had tortured...

Despite the heat, Akira pulled on her jacket one arm at a time. Ranma was disappearing down the stairwell now. Ukyou was caught halfway down the hall. She kept glancing back at Hotaru. Akira buttoned her collar in place. Ukyou's eyes met Akira's, and she mouthed 'no' at her. Akira ignored her. She pulled on her helmet.

She had to catch up to Ranma, so she moved quickly.

Alone, he might not be able to kill Vega.

01010

Telulu stood on the tarmac, looking over the base with a critical eye. Azuma had been right: the place was nearly deserted. She hadn't even been accosted since she had walked through the front gate. It was wonderful having a friend with access to nearly any military equipment she wanted. It opened a lot of doors.

She paused as she heard a light, musical beeping coming from her coat. Azuma wouldn't be calling her so early. Then she remembered that only one other person had access to this number. She smiled and pulled the cell phone from her pocket.

"Yes, Professor?"

She listened to him rant and rave. Apparently he had used the device Eudial had built to track down the Messiah again. He wanted her to come with him and help liberate the Messiah from the clutches of the martial artists who had kidnapped her. Telulu clucked her tongue.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but I'm rather busy at the moment." She tilted her head to the side. "Perhaps we can meet up when you are finished doing your own dirty work... for once?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone, but that was all right. Telulu was hanging up anyway. She smiled. Did that fool really think she would let him pit her against the martial artists alone? And end up in a hospital bed for the next week like Eudial? She had bigger things to do today.

Destroying the world, for example.

Which reminded her that she had a schedule to keep. She walked jauntily down the tarmac, looking at each of the war machines in turn. The only problem was: which one to pick? She needed something mobile, but still powerful.

"You there!"

Telulu looked over her shoulder. A half-dozen soldiers were walking towards her. They were heavily armed. Ah, dependable Americans. She shrugged. She hadn't expected to have the run of the base forever. Besides, she had picked out her target.

"Stop! Identify yourself!" the man in front ordered. He was reaching for his sidearm by now, but Telulu had already finished. She held up the grey ribbed daimon egg and blew on it gently. It floated forward almost lazily. The guards shouted something and leveled their guns at her.

The egg touched the nose of the jet fighter. Immediately, pink webbing erupted from it and adhered to the machine. Slowly the egg sunk into the machine until there was no trace of it.

"On the ground, or we will open fir-fi..." the leader's voice trailed off as the transformation began. The entire jet was consumed by a swirling nimbus of light that stretched over its form like a skin. Then it began to twist and distort, slowly shrinking down as it did so. The humans stared at it in wonder and horror as it began to take on recognisable shape and form. Slowly it became humanoid.

Then, with a blast of light and a sound like a thunderclap, the daimon was born. She stood two meters tall and was made of white metal that glinted in the morning sunlight. Her face and body were feminine, but extremely thin and angular, like a rough-hewn sculpture of a woman's proportions. A large metal plate descended from her head like hair, and the cockpit of what had once been the plane emerged from her crotch. She stretched her arms up to the sky and her mouth opened in rapturous joy. "VALKYRIE!" she cried, naming herself.

"OPEN FIRE!" the guard yelled, finally snapping out of his stupor. It was too late. Telulu leaped up and back out of the line of fire as the humans opened up with their machine guns. The bullets pinged harmlessly off of Valkyrie's armour. The daimon looked over at them. Her sky blue eyes narrowed.

"Valkyrie... kill them," Telulu said mildly.

"Valkyrie acknowledges her command!" the daimon roared and turned to face the humans. They continued firing. One of them reached down and pumped a cylinder under his gun. There was a soft exhalation of air and a small black object flew directly into the daimon's face. An explosion tore across the tarmac, and for a moment the monster was hidden from view by the smoke.

Telulu smiled. She had used the most powerful of the daimon eggs to create this weapon. Eggs that the Professor had intended for the creation of others like Telulu down the line. She watched as Valkyrie stepped out of the smoke, not even scratched.

"Valkyrie is locking on target!" the daimon cried happily as she stared at the humans and leaned back, thrusting out her chest. The humans had stopped, stunned by the lack of effect their weapons were having. "Valkyrie is firing!" the daimon declared.

Telulu quirked an eyebrow as Valkyrie's breasts exploded off her body. The nipples became nose cones, and long shafts extended from them as they transformed into missiles. The humans screamed and began to turn and flee. They were hopelessly slow as the missiles tracked in on them.

The explosion was quite a bit more spectacular than what their grenade had caused. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing but a two meter-deep crater and the gore of the dead humans. Sirens and alarms were ringing out. Valkyrie turned to gaze at the base proper. Dozens of soldiers were pouring out of it now.

"Valkyrie has spotted new targets!" she declared as she leveled her arms at the base. Her breasts had regrown, and now her fingers locked forward as their tips opened, revealing the bores of miniguns. She roared and her fingers twisted around in circles as a hail of bullets flew forward. A line of torn tarmac traced across the ground to the base, and a dozen soldiers died on their feet as their bodies were literally sliced in two. Then the assault climbed up the side of the base. Valkyrie stopped when her hands were both pointed skyward. A second later, the side of the base exploded.

"Excellent," Telulu said with a smile. "But as entertaining as watching this is, we don't have time to waste here."

Valkyrie turned and looked at Telulu. Her body snapped rigid and she gave a crisp military salute with her still-transformed hands. "Valkyrie is awaiting orders!"

"Come along," Telulu gestured. "It's a long way back to Tokyo, and we have a schedule to keep."

"Valkyrie will escort the commander!" the daimon yelled as she blasted forward, the flare of her jets coming out from just behind her cockpit. She scooped up the startled Telulu in both arms, and then without missing a beat adjusted her aim so that they were both flashing into the sky. Telulu looked down at the flaming base as it rapidly vanished behind them. Then she began to laugh.

Things were working out entirely on schedule.

01010

Kusanagi landed on top of the office building. He glanced to the side. Another giant ward encircled the building across the way. The second of three, if Ukyou was to be believed. Even now, the others would be on their way. He wanted to be below the city with them. He wanted to see for himself what was happening down there.

He wanted to know the truth.

But he had felt it. A power on top of this building. It had been mostly dormant, but it had been incredible. Momiji was usually the only one who could sense the aragami, but not sensing this would have been like not spotting the sun. Ukyou had been right: there was something up here he needed to do.

There was a man standing on the other side of the roof. He had one foot up on the raised edge of the roof and was gazing favorably at the giant brown centipede skin that encircled the other skyscraper. His long black hair blew behind him, falling to his waist as the morning sunlight tinted it purple. He was clad in a grey and orange jacket with white slacks. Kusanagi clenched his fists. Every instinct that he had was telling him to run, but he wasn't about to do that.

"So, Kusanagi, we meet at last," the man said, his voice a chilling, reverberating mockery of a human's. He looked back over his shoulder. His skin was pale, almost chalky, and he had black irises. His face was pretty, and he smiled arrogantly before he spoke. "I suspected this would be inevitable, however."

Kusanagi already knew the answer, but he had to ask the question. "Who are you?"

"I am called Murakumo," the man explained. He turned and bowed, his hair flowing neatly behind him. "And you are Kusanagi. The traitor who has abandoned his duty to serve and protect the humans. Now we are introduced."

"What did you do to Kaede?" Kusanagi shouted. He couldn't play pretend. He wasn't about to deny what he had been told. Kusanagi raised his arm and clenched his fist. His blades painfully tore themselves free of his arms and locked into position. Damn Ukyou and her plan. He was going to beat the information out of that bastard!

"Ah..." Murakumo crossed his arms. "I've done nothing to her. And I don't respond well to threats." He smirked, shadows creeping across his features. "Especially from a low class soul like you."

"Low class?" Kusanagi snarled. "I'll show you low class!"

He charged. Murakumo vanished. Kusanagi slashed through empty air. He stumbled to a halt, his foot teetering on the brink of the building. He gasped. That had been fast!

He looked behind him and saw Murakumo standing on the opposite edge of the building. He hadn't even uncrossed his arms.

"You're too slow and weak to fight me, Kusanagi," Murakumo informed him. "You only have seven pieces of your own soul." He grinned again, a sinister grin. "I have eight: a complete set. I am as much beyond you as you are beyond the human worms you fight so desperately to defend."

"Yeah, right!" Kusanagi turned around. Ukyou had told him that if he confronted Murakumo, his sole job would be to buy time. Kunikida had told him that they needed to make sure the most powerful of the aragami was occupied while they went down there to deal with Susano-oh before he could be awakened. Momiji had begged him not to get in over his head. Everybody agreed that Ukyou was probably right and Murakumo would be a lot more powerful than him. The best he could do was keep him busy. That was his job. That was the plan.

Fuck that.

"Let's see you beat this!" Kusanagi roared. He grit his teeth and flexed his muscles. He reached down inside and pulled aside the mental block that kept his powers in check. His head flew back as pain and energy crashed through his body, contesting for control. His body shifted and transformed as great spines ripped free of his back and his feet became twisted claws. His jacket and shirt were torn asunder and his shoes dissolved under the onslaught. He stepped forward, breathing heavily as the transformation completed itself.

Kusanagi grinned. He would beat the truth out of this bastard. He would find out what the aragami had done to Kaede. He would make them pay for it.

"Well, well..." Murakumo smirked. "Perhaps I shall have to show you how truly pathetic you are?" The man spread his arms, and his eyes turned black.

01010

Vega let the monk fall to the ground. He had been unhelpful, so his death had been long. That had pleased Vega a small amount. On the other hand, he had been unhelpful, and that had displeased Vega far more. Perhaps he shouldn't have killed all the other monks in a fit of pique?

He looked around. The field next to the small temple was empty. There were only the corpses of the monks that had served the place strewn about here and there where Vega had chased them down. There was no other living soul in sight.

There was no wishing sword.

All that trouble to torture the location out of the reporter...

According to the monk, this was the right location. There was even a dead spot in the middle of the lawn where something large had obviously stood until very recently. The same monk had told him that they had opened up their doors this morning just to find the entire wishing sword, stone and all, gone.

How bothersome.

Vega walked over to the place where the stone had been up until now. He flicked his claw, expertly cleaning all the blood off with the motion. He looked around for some clue as to the sword's new location.

He stood up sharply.

Two of them, approaching fast. Vega held up his hand and turned to face the temple. He watched as two shadows appeared atop it, silhouetted against the rising sun. One was taller than the other. They paused as they noted him below, and with a single leap they landed on the lawn not three meters away.

Vega relaxed.

"Juni, Juli... what a pleasant surprise," Vega said. His annoyed frown was hidden behind his mask and his voice was perfectly calm, almost happy sounding.

The two Dolls stared at Vega. These were Bison's pets. His most favoured and trusted servants, aside from that one Doll that had gone missing a couple of months back. He had... done things to them.

"Lord Vega," Juli said as she stepped forward. She was the taller of the two Dolls, with brown hair combed into long bangs that framed her face. She was also the more well-developed of the pair, a fact that her skin-tight Shadowloo uniform left in little doubt. "We have been ordered by Lord Bison to assist you. He felt the death of the other Dolls that had been placed under your command, and thought it best to send reinforcements."

Vega chuckled. He just bet that Bison had 'sent reinforcements'. Oh, these Dolls would obey him. But Bison must have suspected something. Why send more Dolls? Why not send someone like Balrog who was far more capable of fighting?

Because the Dolls were perfectly loyal. No. Vega had just been handed a pair of watchdogs. Bison must be suspicious. Well, there was no help for it.

"What are your orders, sir?" Juli said as she knelt in front of Vega. Her companion knelt as well.

Vega paused.

"How did you find me here?"

"Juni tracked your signature, sir," Juli informed him.

Vega looked at the other girl. She was shorter than Juli by about half a head, and had straw-blonde hair. She was less developed than her counterpart, but had a certain tomboyish appeal to her nonetheless. That was understandable. They were two of the later Doll series. Vega had screened the candidates for that series himself. The Doll stared up at him mechanically. Her eyes were empty. Not calm or controlled... just empty.

"Explain," he said.

"Juni can acquire an individual's chi signature," Juli explained. "She can then trace their trail like a bloodhound. She simply acquired your trail at the location of the fight you participated in yesterday and followed you here."

Vega chuckled. He turned and walked over to the raw spot in the center of the lawn. He knelt next to it. "Juni, come here."

"Acknowledged." The Doll stood up and walked over to his location. She stopped and stood over him, looming robotically. Vega wanted to sigh, but resisted the urge. He had told Bison that not implanting a personality in her would make her terribly boring.

"Locate a chi signature that was here... sometime last night. It would have had to be strong. A person capable of carrying a large rock, say about my size, for an extended period of time."

Juni stared down at the ground for a minute. Without seeming to change expression at all she turned to him and spoke. "Signature acquired."

"Can you follow it?"

"Affirmative."

"Then do so, at best speed."

01010

Ryouga sat down heavily and flexed his fingers. That thing wasn't that heavy, but Nabiki had kept hounding him through the entire trip not to let it jostle in the slightest. He glanced at it. It looked simple enough. Just a long katana, thrust halfway up its blade into a rock about half as big as Ryouga.

He wasn't sure he believed it was magic, much less that it granted wishes. But Nabiki's eyes had lit up at seeing it. She had started chuckling and rubbing her hands together. She wanted it badly.

"So, now what?" Ryouga said.

"Heh. Now, Ryouga, we win," Nabiki said. She walked over to his pack and began to retrieve the items she had stored there before they left last night. "Ukyou thinks she is very clever. She wants us to have a nice fight over this little wonder." Nabiki pulled out a long scroll and unfurled it slightly. "Only one thousand, two hundred and five people left to go before we hit the magic number. Less than a week if we had left it where it was." Nabiki turned to Ryouga and winked. "But unlike Ukyou, I am capable of lateral thinking."

Nabiki gestured for Ryouga to help her pound some stakes into the ground. He shrugged and did so. Now they were really getting attention. The students of Todai, aka Tokyo University, the most prestigious school in Japan, were staring at the two people and the giant rock that had appeared in the middle of their school commons. Ryouga tried to ignore them as he worked.

Once he was finished, Nabiki attached some poles to the stakes and then unfurled a banner which she had Ryouga hold in place while she pinned it up. She stepped back to admire her handiwork. Ryouga shrugged and did so as well. The banner was now hanging just over the wishing sword, with the poles framing it for all to see.

"Test of Strength!" the banner read. And under that in much larger kanji. "One MILLION yen to the first person to successfully pull the sword from the stone. Ten yen per try."

"This will be over before noon," Nabiki declared with a twinkle in her eye as the students began to whisper and move towards them.

01010

"So this is it," Kunikida whispered as he peered around the corner. Two aragami stood at the far end of the tunnel. They were tall, monstrous parodies of human shapes with too many eyes and long clawed limbs. He inched his head back and looked at his people.

They were all here. Ready to plunge into the heart of the enemy, right where Ukyou had told them it would be. Two points of a perfect equilateral triangle, with the sanctuary of Susano-oh lying in the exact center of that triangle. There had been only two possible places it could be. They had guessed right on the first try.

So far, everything Ukyou had told them had been the truth.

He looked at Momiji. She was staring off through the walls of the musty, dark tunnel. Her face was lit up from underneath. Not by a flashlight, but by the soft blue glow of her mitama as it reacted in sympathy to whatever power lay dormant down that tunnel. Kunikida caught her eyes and she nodded.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out his pistol. He had never liked guns. The weight and the cold of them always made his skin crawl. He glanced around at the rest of his crew, making sure they were ready.

Koume was grinning. She held a bazooka over her shoulder with one hand and a heavy machine gun slung under her other arm. She was wearing a backpack filled with ammunition. Ryoko was next to her. She slid back the top of her own pistol and let it lock back into place with a soft click. She frowned and looked up at Kunikida. Next to them, Yaegashi looked almost comically out of place. He had a rifle, but was holding it like he had never even seen one before. When Kunikida looked at him he gulped and adjusted his glasses with his free hand, but nodded.

Matsudaira was standing just down the corridor, her body half-concealed in shadows. Kunikida squinted as he looked at her. Was she on a cellphone? Yes, he could hear her voice just barely over the soft drip of water falling somewhere in the distance. The woman nodded once, then snapped her phone closed as she walked back into the light.

"What was that?" Kunikida whispered harshly.

Matsudaira blinked as she looked at him suddenly. She cleared her throat and answered in a soft whisper back. "I was... leaving a message. For my son." She paused. "In case I don't come back."

Momiji smiled and patted the woman on the arm. Matsudaira looked down at Momiji, her expression perplexed. Kunikida sighed. He guessed he could understand the woman's concern.

"Okay, everyone, on three..." He held up his gun. "And remember. Shoot for the mitamas. If you destroy them, you destroy the aragami." Everyone nodded as he turned back to the corner.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

01010

The first sign that something was wrong was the people loitering outside the gate. Stout-looking men (and the occasional woman) milling about in a confused fashion. Normally, all shrines in Japan were open to the public. The giant red arches that served as entryways did not even have doors. But someone had strung a rope covered in rice-paper wards across the entryway. A small sign hung from the rope.

"Due to technical difficulties, the shrine is closed for today. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Ukyou only paused long enough to note the message before she leapt up and over the crowd. It wasn't a long leap, but in her condition and carrying Hotaru's weight it was a bit of a task. She landed on top of the tori arch and looked into the shrine proper.

It seemed like only yesterday she had been here. She and Aaron had found this place even before they had arrived in Nerima. They had snuck into the place in the dead of night a dozen times again after that. Always to check the roll. They watched as the countdown to the magic number continued, slowly but surely.

It should have been only another week. One week, and then the sword would have been hers. Then she and Aaron could have been two people, like they had been before. One more week...

Someone up there was laughing at her.

"Are you still there, Hotaru?"

The girl didn't reply, but Aaron could feel her breath on the back of his neck. He could feel her aura. It was troubled and turbulent, filled with that strange deeper power that Aaron had begun to sense only recently. Hotaru was awake, he could tell that. He really wished they had been able to leave the girl behind.

It had all been going so well. They had rescued Hotaru. They had driven Vega off. In only a week... they would be cured. Ukyou was beginning to feel like a human being again. It had felt good to be the winner again. Not fighting for her own survival or living at the mercy of lost friends. Things had been looking so good...

Why hadn't they seen this coming?

"Hold on tight for just a while longer," Ukyou told the girl on her back. Hotaru didn't reply, but her grip tightened just a little. Ukyou leapt into the courtyard. It was deserted. But the real action was behind the building. She dashed across the well-kept lawn and over the roof with only three hops.

She knew Ranma and Akira were there before she saw them. Aaron felt them. Them and nothing else.

They landed and looked around. Ukyou almost dropped Hotaru. The yard was full of corpses. She heard Hotaru make a small mouse-like sound before going quiet. Ukyou kept her face calm as she looked at Ranma and Akira.

Ranma was standing next to the temple. He was staring at the ground. His hands were curled into fists. Akira was standing further out, in the middle of the lawn. She was crouched next to a bald spot in the grass and...

"The sword!" Ukyou gasped.

"Gone," Akira said as she stood up.

"Vega?" Ukyou asked.

Akira shrugged. "He isn't here."

"Damn him!" Ranma roared. There was a crash as he lashed out, punching a hole a good three meters across in the wooden walls of the temple. "That bastard!" Ranma turned around and walked into the yard. "VEGA! You said you'd be here!" He raised his fists to the sky. "Come out and fight, you bastard! Isn't that what you want?"

"Ranma, we have to look at this rationally..." Ukyou began.

"No!" Ranma shouted back. "We find him. We kill him!"

Ukyou staggered back under the force of his words. She knelt down and let Hotaru climb off her back. Maybe he was right? Ukyou and Aaron could see where this was heading. They should have seen it all along.

Vega was not the kind of opponent who ran away. Not unless he planned on springing a trap. And Ran had been the one to take his picture. Ukyou should have seen that! She should have been prepared!

Ukyou grit her teeth. She clenched her eyes shut.

(...Ukyou looked down at Ran's body and knew she was dead. She heard Hotaru gasp behind her. She knew Ran was dead and all she could do was stare and think...)

No.

There was no way she could have known. There was no way she could have done anything. She had to believe that. She looked back up at Ranma. He was literally seething. His aura was burning with fire chi as his rage flooded through his body, eradicating all emotion. Ranma would fight Vega. He would fight Vega and he would die, or he would kill the other man. That was what Ukyou had to concentrate on now.

"Why would he challenge us, and then not show up for the challenge?" Akira asked to the air. She, at least, sounded more reasonable than Ranma. Her aura was burning with anger too, but it had not filled her like it had him. Maybe Ukyou could talk sense into her.

"He wouldn't," Hotaru said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. She was sitting on the ground, staring absently at the grass as it blew by. "He's a monster, and he'll kill you all. He'll kill you all because you saw his true face." Hotaru sniffed and rubbed her nose. "He will wait for you to come to him and then he'll kill you like he did that girl and like he did these men... like he'll do to me."

"Hotaru?" Aaron whispered.

"He showed me, just before you came..." She sniffled, and tears began to leak from the corner of her eyes. "His face. He'll kill me one day, too. But first he'll kill all of you. Just for being near me. Because of me. Because of what I am." Hotaru looked up, her eyes searching each of them in turn. "Why? WHY?" She was really crying now, the tears coming down in steady streams. "What am I? What kind of monster am I that everything I touch dies? Why do monsters fight over me? WHY!"

Ranma just turned away. Akira looked at Hotaru for a long time. Ukyou stepped forward and knelt next to the girl. "I'm sorry, Hotaru."

"Sorry?" Hotaru clenched her hands into fists and scowled at Ukyou. "You're sorry? For holding me here? For treating me like a... like a thing, just like him? What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry this all had to happen," Ukyou said and reached down, but Hotaru flinched away from her grasp. Ukyou let her hand fall to her side. "Whether you believe me or not, I want to help you. I'm sorry I took you away from your father, but he is a bad man... a sick man, who needs help. I'm sorry that I have to take you with me now, but there is no one I can trust you with. Kyosuke is still in the hospital and I don't know anyone else well enough to think they can protect you."

"You're going to him again," Hotaru said as she pulled her knees to her chest. "You're taking me right to him."

"Yes," Ukyou sighed. "And I'm sorry about that, too." She stood up. "The world is harsh, Hotaru. I want to be a better person, to make this all just go away. But I can't. All I can do is be who I am and do what I think is right."

Ukyou turned and walked towards the place where the wishing sword had been. Aaron had sensed the aura almost as soon as he'd gotten here, but it had been driven from their mind. Now... now he knew what it meant. It was the psychopower. It lingered in the air like noxious smoke and trailed off into the distance like a scar. He glanced in the direction the power had vanished.

It was too weak to be Bison. It had to be too weak to be Bison.

"Vega went this way," Ukyou said. "He either has the sword, or is chasing the person who does." She turned and looked back at Ranma. "I won't help you kill him, Ranma, but he can NOT get his hands on that sword. He has to be stopped."

"You can follow him?" Akira asked.

"Indeed."

01010

"Are you okay, Yaegashi?"

"Don't worry about me..." Yaegashi grit his teeth and clenched his hand over his shoulder. The blood seeped through his fingers and his face was pale, but his eyes were focused and clear behind the rims of his glasses. "I can still move. We have to hurry. They know we're here."

"He's right..." Momiji gasped. The light was still shining from within the breast of her jacket, bathing her in an eerie blue glow. Her eyes had taken on a disturbing far-away look, and her voice seemed to be echoing slightly. "I can feel them coming. Many angry souls closing in on us..."

Kunikida nodded and gestured for everyone to start down the tunnel. He paused and grabbed Koume as she started moving.

"We need to stop them from following us more than we need to get out of here quickly," he explained. The woman blinked at him, then a slow, happy grin spread across her face.

"I know just what you're thinking, boss man," she said slyly. She turned around and dropped her machine gun to the floor with a clatter. Using her now free hand, she levelled her bazooka at the roof of the corridor dozens of meters down the stretch. Already Kunikida could hear the clatter and shuffle of the approaching aragami. "Fire in the hole!" Koume roared. Her red hair snapped back behind her as flames erupted from the back of her heavy weapon.

Kunikida shielded his eyes as the dust and smoke thrown up by the backblast temporarily blinded him. He could hear the low-pitched whine of the rocket as it flew down the subterranean tunnel. The explosion was almost anti- climactic, but the thunderous roar of the cave-in that followed was deafening. Kunikida stumbled and fell to his knees as the shock wave raced back down the length of the tunnel.

He looked up as the dust cleared. There must have been fifty tonnes of earth and rock blocking the path now. It should be enough.

"Good enough," he barked. "Let's go!"

Everyone nodded and started sprinting down the corridor. Yaegashi trailed slightly behind, but Koume fell back with him and began to urge him on... perhaps with slightly more insults and profanity than Kunikida would have used, but it got the job done. Momiji took the lead. In fact, it was hard to keep pace with her.

Her eyes kept staring straight ahead and she began to take turns and branches in the tunnels without pausing. Her feet were barely touching the floor as she sprinted. Kunikida didn't like that. He didn't like that at all.

Suddenly, as they turned a corner, there was a door in front of them. Less a door really, and more a sort of organic valve... like the kind found in a heart. It was dark purple and pulsated in the light cast by the TAC's lamps and Momiji's radiance.

Everyone paused at the doorway... except Momiji. She walked straight up to it and the opening irised apart. Kunikida shouted for everyone to follow him as he charged off after her. He almost broke his neck when the doorway opened up a good two meters above the floor of the chamber beyond.

The landing was harsh, but almost-forgotten training saved him from a more vicious spill as he rolled with the impact. He grunted in pain. He could hear Ryoko calling out his name in concern. Looking up, he saw Momiji floating towards the floor. Her radiance had formed a bubble around her body now. Her eyes were staring at something only she could see.

"MOMIJI!" Kunikida roared as he climbed to his feet. He heard a grunt as Koume leapt down beside him. Momiji landed a few meters away... and as her feet touched the ground, the aura around her, and her far-away look, both vanished.

"What... what is this?" Momiji asked softly.

They were in the center of a large circular room, like the inside of some alien flower. The green-purple walls pulsed slightly and glimmered organically. The center of the room was a raised dais, out of which grew a short slender stand like a weed. On top of this was a huge glowing blue seed: a mitama as large as a human baby. A baleful blue glow, almost too bright to look into, radiated from the mitama.

"Susano-oh," Kunikida said breathlessly. He heard the other members of the TAC climbing down behind him. "Step away from it, Momiji!"

"R-right!" the girl gulped and ran back, placing herself behind Kunikida and Koume. Ryoko stepped in front of him, kneeling and levelling her pistol at the giant blue seed that was the incubator of a a god.

"This is it?" Koume grinned. She pulled her bazooka into place again. "Let's not waste time then! I'll blow that thing to kingdom come!"

"NO!" Matsudaira cried and pushed the barrel of her weapon into the air. "We have no idea what attacking it will do. The explosion could kill us all!"

"We don't have time for this..." Koume began to bark back, but she was cut off as a wet, viscous noise alerted them all to a new arrival.

Kunikida turned his head slowly. He watched, stunned and unable to speak as the girl stepped from the opening that had grown in the wall. Kaede. She was dressed in long virgin white robes, and moved with an almost inhuman grace. Her short blue hair was exactly as he remembered it. Her face, so much like Momiji's and yet so unlike that of her fraternal twin's... it was smiling. She looked so happy and at peace.

"Father..." Kaede inclined her head slightly. She turned to Momiji. "Sister..." She looked at the others in turn. "Everyone. Welcome to my home."

"Kaede..." Kunikida said, his voice cracking. He could feel the gun trembling in his hands.

"You are alive!" Ryoko called out.

"Very much so," Kaede said with a stern nod. Her smile transformed into a dangerous frown. "Something I can't promise of the rest of you if you disturb this sacred place."

"Oh yeah?" Koume stepped forward and swung her machine gun into place. "You and what army?"

"Koume, no!" so many people screamed at once that it was hard to tell exactly who had spoken.

"This army," Kaede said as she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "Did you really think that..." She trailed off and snapped her fingers again. "That I would..."

"What's going on?" Ryoko whispered.

"I..." Kunikida had no idea.

A dark shadow appeared in the portal behind Kaede. Koume growled and levelled her firearm at it. Kaede smiled and turned her attention back to them. "As I was saying..."

Everyone gasped as the creature stepped into the chamber. It was tall, almost three meters so. It was covered in pristine white and grey armour and looked like nothing so much as a sculpture of a human woman made out of the parts of a jet fighter. The creature looked down at all the humans in front of it and smiled. Then its eyes locked on the giant mitama in the center of the room.

"Valkyrie has located the primary objective!" it roared.

"What?" Kaede spun in place, her robes flapping about her. Underneath she was wearing some sort of strange outfit that Kunikida caught a glimpse of. "Who are you?"

"She would be my servant," a new voice said. A woman appeared, literally fading out of the shadows behind the giant mechanical woman. The newcomer had vibrant green hair done up in two large buns with small, thin locks dangling from them. She was dressed in a tight black dress cut low on her chest with a short skirt and strings that criss-crossed her bare arms and legs. Her vivid green eyes flashed in the blue glow of the chamber. "I'm sorry none of yours could make your summons. Valkyrie is very enthusiastic about her work, you see."

"Who are you?" Kaede gasped. She was backing up towards the giant mitama.

"My name is Telulu," the woman said imperiously. She glanced over and her eyes locked with Kunikida's. "I want to thank you for leading me straight here, Daitetsu Kunikida. Without your help, it might well have taken me weeks of waiting to distract her bodyguard and set up just the right circumstances for my mission."

"Your mission?" Kunikida asked, but there was a sour taste in his mouth. He began to raise his arm, trying to bring his gun to bear on the newcomer, but his arm felt like it was made of lead.

"Yes..." Telulu laughed into the back of her hand. "I'm afraid I can't let this girl be the Kushinada anymore." With a flick of her wrist, she gestured at Kaede and two long green vines snaked forth like whips from her wrists. Kaede gasped as they encircled her and snapped tight, trapping her arms and legs together. "There can only be one saviour!"

Kaede screamed. Black lightning was flashing from the vine whips, running along the length of her body as her back twisted in pain.

"Kaede!" Kunikida stepped forward. "Open fire!"

All further words were drowned out by the hail of gunfire. Every member of the TAC was firing, from the loud constant roar of Koume's gun as it chewed through a long belt of bullets to the small, almost comical pops of Momiji's little derringer. Telulu didn't even move. She didn't have to. The huge white- grey form of the mechanical monster landed on its knees between them and her and the lead bounced off it like rain drops.

Kunikida gestured frantically, signalling for Ryoko and Koume to try and flank the beast. He could easily see the horror show just beyond the giant metal creature. Telulu was reeling in Kaede like a fish. The girl was screaming, but her screams were lost under the roar of gunfire.

"Valkyrie is commencing suppression fire!" the mechanical woman cried. Her hands snapped up and her fingers locked forward. Bores opened on the ends of them. Kunikida gasped and dove to the ground. He could only hope everyone else did the same. The roar of the monster firing made the retorts of their pitiful guns seem like firecrackers. He could hear bullets tearing into the wall and rock behind him, chewing it up and causing echoing explosions. Dust and debris began to rain down across the chamber.

Kunikida looked up. Telulu had dragged Kaede over to her, and had raised her hand. Something glittered from her fingers, some sort of device. She reached back, and then calmly shoved her hand straight into the screaming girl's chest. "KAEDE!" Kunikida roared, but he couldn't hear his own voice. He could only watch in horror as the woman drew back her hand, and instead of gore she was carrying a small floating crystal. It was pink and white, formed like a star, and glowed with an internal radiance unlike any Kunikida had ever seen before. The soft, warm light of it seemed to echo across something precious inside of him. He instantly knew that it was Kaede's soul. He couldn't tell how he knew, but the certainty was so sharp and acute that there was no doubting it. "Kaede!" he cried again.

Heedless of the danger, he leapt to his feet and charged. He was firing. He realised dimly that he was out of ammunition, but he kept pulling the trigger as he screamed and ran. The green-haired witch turned to look at him. She smiled as she looked him straight in the eye. Then she pulled the crystal up to her lips and... swallowed it. She licked her lips.

Momiji screamed and the room was suddenly bathed in a brilliant blue glow. Everything faded into that blue light. Kunikida stumbled and fell to his knees. The world had gone silent. He blinked and the glow slowly receded from his eyes, leaving only dark spots that lingered until his vision cleared entirely.

Telulu was standing at the back of the chamber. Her head was thrown back in exultation, and in her hands she was carrying the glowing blue mitama that was the unborn Susano-oh.

"Yes!" she declared to the sky. "Just as I suspected. The Kushinada effect was tied directly to her soul." She looked down. "With the consumption of her heart crystal, I have become the new Princess Kushinada."

"Kaede!" Kunikida yelled. "What did you do to her?"

Telulu gestured at the body lying at her feet. Kaede's eyes stared into the sky. Unblinking. Unmoving. Her skin was pale.

"Do not grieve. I only gave her peace."

"You monster!" Kunikida somehow flipped a cartridge from inside his jacket and reloaded with one motion. He was already aiming when Telulu pointed at him.

"Valkyrie, kill them all aside from the other Kushinada. Then bring her to me."

"Valkyrie confirms the command!" the monster roared. It threw its body in front of Telulu again, and Kunikida's bullets bounced harmlessly off its shell. He kept firing, roaring mindlessly. It wasn't supposed to end like this! The machine-woman raised her hand and pointed it at Kunikida, her fingers locking into place for firing again. Kunikida could feel tears rolling down his cheeks.

Then a weight impacted with his side. He heard the ear-shattering whine of the monsters miniguns as they opened up. He also heard a scream. The ground smashed into his side so hard the breath was knocked out of him and his gun was sent flying.

"Sir, are you alright?" Ryoko said from on top of him. But her voice was a pain-filled hiss. He glanced up and saw her looking down at him. Her face was drawn and pale. He saw blood drip down her arm. He could see that the back of her jacket had vanished and her entire back was a bloody ruin.

"Ryoko!" he shouted.

"Dammit!" Koume roared. "Fall down and go boom, bitch!" She had replaced her machine gun with her bazooka again. She gave a wild yell as the rocket blasted forth. It streamed in on Valkyrie in a short arc. Valkyrie's arm snapped up so fast Kunikida couldn't see her move. The rocket crashed into the palm of her hand and Kunikida saw the warhead breaking and deforming around her fingers before it mushroomed into a titanic explosion.

The blast didn't even completely obscure the monster. It just grinned. Koume stared in shock. There was a snap as the fingers of the beast turned into guns again, pointed straight at Koume. He could see Telulu vanishing into the same portal that Kaede had entered through, still cradling her giant mitama. Ryoko had fallen unconscious in his arms.

"Valkyrie will kill the human!"

"STOP!"

For a moment, everything did. All eyes turned to the far side of the room. Momiji was standing there. The wall behind her was a blasted ruin from where the creature's initial assault had torn it apart. The dust and wind of the battle blew her long brown hair around her. She was staring straight at Valkyrie, and holding her derringer to her temple.

"Momiji, no!" Yaegashi shouted, but his voice cut off into a pained gasp. Valkyrie just blinked at her.

"If I pull this trigger," Momiji said, and her voice was deadly calm, "then the power of the Kushinada will activate. All of the aragami will be sent back into stasis! Even Susano-oh!" Valkyrie paused. Obviously it was not the brightest of monsters, but even it could fathom that there was something wrong with that. "Unless you let everyone here live and leave right now, I'll kill myself! Then your master won't get her prize! The power of the Kushinada means nothing without Susano-oh and the aragami!"

Valkyrie stepped back. Then it slowly lowered its guns. "Valkyrie will report back for further orders!" A high-pitched roar filled the chamber as the jets on Valkyrie's back ignited. It spun in place and bent forward before blasting out the still-open portal.

Momiji stood strong for a moment longer, then slumped to her knees. Her pistol collapsed from her suddenly nerveless fingers. Koume ran over to her. Kunikida looked back down at Ryoko. She was bleeding so badly... but the attack had not been deep. It looked worse at first glance than it did now. At least, he hoped it did.

"She needs a doctor!" he cried. "Matsudaira, get over here!"

Everyone looked up. Yaegashi was leaning against the wall. His shoulder was still bleeding and a piece of debris had fallen on his leg, trapping him. Koume was holding the shivering Momiji. There was no sign of Matsudaira anywhere.

"Matsudaira!" Kunikida yelled again.

"Matsudaira?" Yaegashi added his own voice. "I haven't seen her since..."

A cold chill ran up Kunikida's spine. "Azusa? Matsudaira!" He looked around. But she was gone.

01010

Ukyou sprinted across the rooftops of the university. Ranma and Akira were two steps behind her, Akira moving slightly more slowly since she was trying not to jostle the little girl she was carrying on her back. Ukyou tightened her grip on her staff. Her hands were slick with sweat. The heat was only growing worse as the day continued.

The university was packed today. Below them, thousands of students milled about. None of them looked up to see the three shadows flick across the roofs in the midday sun. The trail of the psychopower was growing stronger. They were here, somewhere on campus.

She clenched her teeth. Too many people. Too many ways that people could get hurt.

Then Aaron felt it. It was like a beacon. It blazed with repressed power, hissing through his consciousness like a pressure cooker screaming in the dark. He pulled them to a close and stared off to the side. He could feel a large concentration of life forces off in that direction, but nothing specific enough to pin point.

But the beacon... it was much like the power he had felt from Hotaru, Eudial and Pluto. Except it was different. It wasn't as... alive. It simply was. Focused, held, bound...

"The wishing sword..." he said softly.

"What was that?" Akira asked as she landed. Ranma was standing there too, but he wasn't looking at Ukyou. His eyes darted around what he could see of the school. Looking for Vega.

"This way!" Ukyou called and charged off in a new direction. Ranma followed her without question, but Akira paused before she leapt off.

They came to a large common area on the school grounds, and Ukyou saw the booth almost immediately. Her eyes focused in and saw Nabiki standing beneath a banner next to the sword, collecting money as a line of students made their attempts at the sword. A long line of students.

"Clever girl..." Ukyou muttered, leaping down, landing on the grass with a soft thump. Nabiki wasn't going to relinquish the sword easily, and Ryouga was with her. He had been wearing cotton in his ears when Ukyou had watched him go last night, but now he appeared fine.

"Nabiki?" Ranma said as he landed.

"Come on," Ukyou shouted. "She has no idea Vega is coming!"

"Coming?" Akira said sharply. "I don't think he's coming."

Aaron cursed. He could feel it now. The power of the wishing sword had temporarily driven all other concerns from his mind. Stupid. Those kind of mistakes could get people killed.

Ukyou turned and saw what Akira saw. Vega was standing on top of a flagpole. The rising sun standard of Japan snapped and flickered in the hot, dry wind beneath him.

She heard Ranma snarl as the boy spotted Vega. Ukyou wanted to shout, but it would do no good. Ranma was charging. What students were unlucky enough to get in his way he jumped onto and over, sprinting across the heads and shoulders of the crowd like they were stepping stones. Akira placed Hotaru on the ground and ran after him.

Ukyou took a step forward, then looked back. Hotaru was standing on the grass, looking at her calmly. She hadn't cried since her outburst at the temple.

Then Ukyou realised she had other problems. She snapped her head to the side as Aaron pinpointed two psychopower signatures moving through the crowd towards him. He spotted feminine figures in black leotards with blonde and brown hair. He recognized them.

"Juni, Juli..." he said with a groan. Of course, Vega didn't plan on making this a fair fight. Suddenly the two Dolls emerged from the crowd into the calm spot that had formed around Ukyou. The students still milled about, but they gave Ukyou and her two provocatively-clad enemies a wide berth. Their expressions were curious, but not worried. Not yet.

"Hotaru, stay behind me," Ukyou said softly. Hotaru nodded and moved behind her. The Dolls watched this impassively.

In the distance, the students began shouting in panic. Aaron could feel the auras of his friends flaring. Juni and Juli stepped forward, mirroring each other's movements. Then Ukyou heard a god scream.

01010

The world was a tunnel of darkness and pain, then it exploded into hot air and bright sunlight. Kusanagi flew across the street. A car was sent flying as his shoulder slammed into it. He screamed, but his voice cut off as he rammed into a telephone pole and came to an abrupt stop.

The thick concrete pole cracked and snapped, before tumbling lazily to the side. He could hear people screaming, but only barely over the ringing in his ears. The coppery taste of his own green blood filled his mouth.

An electric whine was his first warning. He was already leaping by the time the blue lightning flashed out, passing through the tunnel his body had plowed through the high rise. The mere passage of the blast was enough to shatter all the windows and send a hail of razor-sharp glass into the streets. The impact, as it struck where Kusanagi had been, created a blast so large it flung a parked bus half a block away.

Kusanagi gaped at the destruction below him as his leap carried him into the air. Then the side of the high-rise burst open in a geyser of dust and debris. Murakumo shot forth from the explosion like a bullet. His long blades flashed out and Kusanagi roared and brought up his own. He parried the attack, but just barely.

The force of the impact was enough to send him careening into the building opposite. The window he hit gave way without preamble and the desk he crashed through only slowed him down. The floor stopped him, but dented in the process. He groaned and stood up.

Office ladies and salarymen were screaming and fleeing from the room. He paid them no attention. He was staring out the window at Murakumo.

The man was floating over the street, framed perfectly by the window Kusanagi had blown through. That just wasn't fair. Kusanagi couldn't fly in his battle form! But Murakumo was just laughing as he floated lazily in the air. He had assumed his own battle form. It looked much like Kusanagi, with the same shoulder pads, spines on the back and deformed feet. But where Kusanagi had swept-back blades on his forearms, Murakumo had straight swords extending forward from his wrists, and a sort of organic gauntlet over his forearm. His eyes had become more inhuman: they were now completely black, with white specks where his pupils should be.

And on his chest were four mitamas, where Kusanagi had only three. Kusanagi could see all the others glowing on the man's body. He had eight. Kusanagi had seven. One seed. How could there be such a difference between them because of just one seed?

"I know what you're thinking," Murakumo called out in his disturbing and smug voice. "But I am simply superior to you in every way. You are imperfect, incomplete. I will give you points for sheer stubbornness, however."

"Shut up!" Kusanagi roared. He held up his arms, flexing his blades again. Parrying that last blow had shaved a nick out of them. "I'll find a way to defeat you!"

"I don't think so..." Murakumo said, almost sadly. "But I have no more time to waste with you. I-"

Murakumo cut off, his head snapping down and to the side. Kusanagi grinned, ready to start his attack while the man was distracted, then he felt it too.

He screamed. It was like a voice was roaring in his mind. A voice so huge and loud it blocked out all thought. And as quickly as it came, the feeling vanished.

Kusanagi came to his senses on his knees, his hands clenched over his ears. What on earth was that?

"Lord Susano-oh!" Murakumo shouted. Kusanagi snapped his head up and saw the man flash downward. He cursed and leapt forward, falling out of the twenty- story building without a care. The others had done something. Something big.

Kaede! Momiji! He prayed they were safe.

01010

Ranma's foot flashed out and the metal flagpole suddenly had a leg-sized hole cut straight through it. The pole toppled. He saw Vega flip gracefully from the top and fly toward the ground. Ranma spun in place, kicking out at the toppling pole and bouncing away. He bounced right past Akira and charged at Vega.

Vega.

The man was waiting for Ranma when he arrived. He moved with the same grace, the same speed as before. Ranma didn't care. He cried out in wordless, unexpressable rage and did his damnedest to take Vega's smirking head off his shoulders.

Vega ducked the blow. Ranma followed him, kicking and punching. Vega slid along the ground, kicking up gouts of dirt. Ranma flashed through them, his body striking out as quickly as he could.

All Ranma felt was the pumping of his heart. His breath felt acrid in his own mouth. He didn't feel his wounds. He didn't feel tired. He didn't feel the pain. Any of the pain. He didn't dare. Vega had to die.

Suddenly Vega's foot connected with Ranma's jaw. Ranma grunted as he was thrown back. He focused through the pain. He pictured Ran in his mind. He pictured her dead eyes.

Ranma handsprung from the ground. He saw Vega land where he would have been. The assassin's claw flashed through the air. It brushed so close to Ranma that the pressure of its passage tore a hole in Ranma's shirt. Ranma was twisting even as the strike missed. His foot caught the ground and he shot forward.

Vega floated back, his chest unbearable millimeters from Ranma's punch. The man laughed and snapped his hand back, trying to gut Ranma. Ranma saw Vega's foot sliding back. He was a bit off-balance. Ranma had to strike NOW.

Ranma could have dodged the blow, but it would have wasted the opportunity. Instead he continued his twisting spin. The tips of Vega's claws brushed up against his ribs rather than his gut and peeled off a shallow strip of flesh. Ranma continued spinning, his blood arcing out, and then drew all his momentum into a backhand blow.

Vega took it straight in the side. He gasped in pain and was sent flying. The grass rippled in his wake as Vega flew ten meters back before rolling to a stop. Ranma was already moving after him.

He didn't feel the pain.

"Wonderful!" Vega laughed and leapt away. Ranma bounced up after him, but he couldn't even get half of the other man's height. Vega spun in place and bounced off the side of a building Randa hadn't even noticed was there, then flashed off again. Ranma growled and rolled into a ball, conserving momentum just enough to bring him to the wall of the same building. He copied Vega's trick and was bounding after him.

Vega landed on the ground again. "This is the battle I was waiting for, Ranma Saotome! It appears I have truly discovered your motivation!"

"What?" Ranma roared. He fell on top of Vega but Vega slipped out from under him. Ranma's kick ripped a chunk out of the earth. He kicked back as Vega came in, thrusting at the boy's heart. Ranma slipped to the side at the last instant, and turned that into an elbow strike. Vega somehow flipped up and over the blow.

"Come now, Ranma," Vega said, laughing as he landed with a flourish. "Haven't you guessed? Don't you know the real reason she is dead?"

"Don't you mention her, you monster!" Ranma roared. He charged in again, and his fist lashed out again and again and again. He just kept punching, pumping his arm as fast as he could. Vega fell back under the onslaught. It was all he could do to block the blows. But it didn't shut him up.

"I didn't care about her, Ranma Saotome," the man said, his voice calm even as he struggled to weather Ranma's attacks. Ranma could feel the strength leaving his arm. He grit his teeth. Just a few more seconds! Just a few more and Vega's guard would open! "But had I known that killing her would produce such a spectacular battle, I would have done so weeks ago!"

Ranma stopped. Vega slid back, his breathing fast and shallow. Ranma's fist was still extended from its last strike. Ranma couldn't breathe. He wanted to, but couldn't. His eyes were fixed on the end of his fist.

Ran had died... because... because that bastard...

Ranma's eyes drifted up and settled on Vega. Vega was chuckling. He held up his unclawed hand and gestured for Ranma to continue the battle. Ranma's eyes narrowed to slits. The world fell away. Suddenly there was nothing but a narrow red tunnel and the man that had to die at the end. Ranma didn't even hear his own wordless roar as he met Vega's challenge.

01010

Ranma was so fast! Akira sprinted to keep up, but he was flashing along the heads of the crowd. The crowd was scrambling and screaming as they tried to get out of his path or fell tumbling in his wake. Akira vaulted and slalomed through the chaos. There was no way she was going to catch up to Ranma at this rate.

But Ranma needed her help. She grimaced and forced herself to move faster. The crowd was shifting and tumbling like molasses and she ran through it like a deer in a forest. Ranma couldn't fight Vega alone. He couldn't win.

And Vega had to die. He was a monster.

There was no other solution.

Akira heard her brother's voice in the back of her mind. She heard him talking to her about his battles. She remembered the starry-eyed awe she had held for him back then. Then came the day when he hadn't come home. When her parents had taken her to the hospital where her brother, her strong brother, her invincible big brother, had been lying unconscious on the bed, bandages wrapped around half his face.

He had won the fight. He always won the fight. Everyone Akira had asked confirmed that. Daigo had simply grown to possess a skill that seemed almost inhuman. He never lost a brawl, he never lost a battle. His reputation grew, and so too did the number of challengers who came looking for him. Then one of them had taken his eye. According to witnesses, Daigo had kept fighting after that, and put the boy through the side of the school. He had won the fight.

But after that, Daigo never told her stories anymore. When she asked, he just looked down at her. She was just old enough to get into school herself then. She had even been in a few tussles. Like her brother, she had not lost. She couldn't have lost. Daigo had looked down at her from his hospital bed and refused to tell her the story. He had told her that fighting was pointless. He had told her that all it brought was pain.

He still got into fights. He still won. He had proceeded through school, the unconquered champion. But he never talked to Akira about fighting anymore. Any requests about the subject only prompted a lecture on the evils of it, or a clumsy segue into another subject. The only thing they had been able to really talk about after that was motorcycles.

Daigo had never forbidden her from getting into fights. He had never said a word when he heard about her brief tussles at school. But the look of sadness in his eye when he did was enough. The fights at school stopped for Akira, but not for her brother. He was trapped, trapped by his own invincible reputation and talent.

Akira hadn't really fought for years, not until Daigo had vanished one day. Not until she had learned that only she could save him. Only she could fight for him. That had changed everything between them, somehow.

But now she heard Daigo's voice. It was rough and calm, filled with brotherly affection and sadness. It wanted to know why she was doing this. It wanted to know why she had chosen to kill. Daigo, in all his fights, even in those that had tested his limits and cost him his eye, had never once taken a life. He had even beaten that urge out of all the boys at his school. Gedo High was notorious for its gang wars, but when they fought, everyone involved walked home.

Akira tried to block out the voice. Vega had to die because he was a monster. He had killed Ran! He had tortured her and butchered her like a pig! He was a wild animal that had to be put down!

Her heart, her rage, her mind, they all told her that this was the truth. Even if Daigo's eyes would never look at her again, she knew she had to do this. Except...

Akira was just pulling free of the crowd, just watching as Ranma destroyed Vega's perch when she heard the scream. She skidded to a stop as Ranma flashed past her, after Vega. Her eyes scanned back and she saw Ukyou.

The young woman was screaming and clutching her ears. She had fallen to her knees. Two girls in skin-tight black bodysuits were converging on her. The Dolls? No, these two looked slightly different. But they must have been more of Vega's minions.

Akira stood, caught for a moment. Ranma needed her. But Ukyou was injured, and unaware of the two women about to attack her.

As the two Dolls grabbed Ukyou by the arms, Akira struck. She roared, spinning up in a violent roundhouse kick that pulled her body off the ground. Her foot caught the taller, brunette Doll right in the cheek. The Doll creid out and released Ukyou as she was sent flying. Akira touched down for a fraction of a second, then spun up with another roar and another roundhouse. The other Doll was also caught flat-footed and sent spinning off to land on the ground a few meters away.

"Ukyou? Are you okay?" Akira asked as she stepped in front of the fallen girl.

"I'm..." Ukyou looked up. "I'm fine. It was just... something powerful screaming through the energy of the city. But it's over now."

"Good," Akira said with a brisk nod. "Get the hell away from here, then. I'll deal with these two!"

The Dolls had kicked to their feet and noted Akira. They raised their hands and started closing in. Akira waited for them. She could handle them. She had defeated two of the other Dolls by herself with no real problem. These two didn't even have any weapons or fancy tricks, just their fists. She could hear Ukyou backing off, and taking Hotaru with her.

The crowd was running screaming in all directions. There was plenty of room. Akira grinned, raised her gloved hand and gestured for the Dolls to make their move. They looked at each other and then flashed forward, high and low diving jump kicks. Akira roared and met them head on.

01010

"What on earth is going on?" Ryouga shouted.

"I don't know and I don't care," Nabiki snapped from beside him. "But it's driving away all our business." Ryouga glanced at her askance. She was frowning as the crowd scattered in all directions. Her beautiful eyes flicked across the area and finally latched on one person. "Ukyou," she hissed.

"Ukyou?" Ryouga followed her gaze. Yep, that was Ukyou alright. She was screaming and clutching her head as she fell to her knees. The little girl he had saved the other day was there behind her. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her then: Nabiki had dragged him off before his deafness had worn off. There were two girls in black, almost indecently tight, bodysuits converging on Ukyou. But Ryouga's attention was suddenly caught as he saw a flash of red spring by in the distance.

Ranma. He was fighting that creep Vega. He was moving faster than Ryouga had ever seen him move. He was snarling. Vega was just backing up, doing his best to deflect the boy's blows.

"How did they all follow us?" Nabiki asked slowly.

"I don't know..." Ryouga said. His fists curled and uncurled. He could feel the intensity of the fight from all the way over here. The air was filled with a dangerous power that he couldn't pin down. A part of him wanted to join this fight.

"It was a rhetorical question," Nabiki snapped. Then she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Four to go. Just three more people, and then..." She shook her head. "Grab the stone. We're getting out of here."

Ryouga glanced at the fight again. However large the part of him that wanted to join in was, a far larger part knew it was Nabiki's. His own desires didn't matter in the face of his overwhelming debt to her. He nodded and reached for the stone.

"Ryouga, drop it," Nabiki said.

"But you just told me..."

"Nevermind what I said!" Nabiki sighed. "We have company."

Ryouga released the stone and it settled to the ground with a clatter. He turned and saw Ukyou sprinting towards them. She was carrying Hotaru under her arm. He frowned. Nabiki gestured for him to step forward. Reluctantly he did.

"You aren't getting the sword," Nabiki called out as Ukyou skidded to a halt a couple of meters away. Ukyou frowned, her black lotus eyes narrowing as she glanced at Nabiki. She put down Hotaru and rose up to her full height.

"Nabiki, I don't think you know how important that sword is," Ukyou said.

"Oh yes, I do," Nabiki laughed. "But don't insult me by trying to talk me out of this. Ryouga, if she tries anything... break her."

Ryouga stepped between Nabiki and Ukyou. He cracked his knuckles. He really didn't want to fight Ukyou. She was a girl, an injured girl. It wouldn't be right. He would destroy her. "I don't want to do this, Ukyou," Ryouga growled. "But I will if I have to."

"If all you want is your curse cured, I can do that for you too, Ryouga," Ukyou said calmly. "But I need that sword. If I get it, I can... I can save things."

Ryouga's eyes narrowed. Of course, Ukyou didn't know the truth. Nobody knew his shame. Nobody knew his undeniable karmic debt. Against that, what did a little curse matter? Turning into a pig with a touch of cold water was a better curse than he deserved.

"What kind of power does she have over you, Ryouga?" Ukyou said slowly, curiously.

"It doesn't matter," Nabiki said quickly. "Either back off now, or Ryouga will make you back off."

"Nabiki, I don't want to debate this..." Ukyou trailed off. Then she looked over her shoulder. "Akira!" she shouted in sudden concern.

Ryouga followed her gaze. He watched as the girl in the black motorcycle leathers staggered back as the taller brunette punched her. The smaller girl with the blonde hair suddenly materialised behind her like she had teleported. The two were striking and pummelling at Akira, bouncing her between their blows like a human tennis ball. Finally they backed off and launched a set of flying drop kicks that caught her torso like a vice. Akira screamed and slumped to the ground.

"Their auras..." Ukyou hissed. "Damn. Ryouga, look after Hotaru!" Then she was sprinting forward, her staff held out behind her. Ryouga glanced at Nabiki. She was frowning at the fight. He glanced at Hotaru. The girl was looking not at that battle, but on the one taking place between Ranma and Vega across the commons.

Ryouga clenched his fist. He knew what Nabiki was going to say. He would order them to leave. But Ukyou would be little help in that fight. He closed his eyes. "Nabiki, look after the girl!"

"What?" Nabiki shouted, but Ryouga was roaring at the top of his lungs as he ran so he couldn't hear what followed. He flicked his umbrella open and launched it with a flick of his wrist. Ukyou slid to the side as it passed through where she had been, its spinning shaft carving a furrow into the lawn.

The two black-clad girls noticed it and leapt away, both just clearing the top of the weapon. They landed with easy grace. Akira watched as the weapon curved around her in a tight circle, the spinning edge of the bamboo coming within centimeters of her. But Ryouga's aim had been true, and it didn't touch her at all. He reached out and caught it as he ran on.

"Thank you," Ukyou said as she skidded to a halt on one side of Akira. Ryouga came to a stop opposite her. He turned and faced the taller black-clad girl.

"I just... couldn't sit back and watch," he explained.

"The newcomer is unlisted," the brunette said as she circled to join her companion.

"Evaluating combat power..." the shorter blonde said.

"Don't let them touch each other!" Ukyou suddenly shouted. She stepped forward and swung her staff down, cutting between them. The girls cartwheeled in opposite directions. Ryouga frowned. He didn't want to fight these girls. But they were bad guys. He could feel it. It was like the air around them was sick with darkness.

"Back off!" he shouted and stepped forward, swinging at the brunette. She slipped to the side of his attack, but just barely. Her knee pistoned up and caught him in the stomach. He grunted and backed up. He had felt that, but only a little. With a snarl he swatted at her with his other hand. She managed to just roll enough that a solid hit only nudged her, sending her flying into the ground.

"Warning, new combatant has structural reinforcement energy at 170," the blonde said mechanically. Ryouga glanced back at her. She was dodging around as Ukyou thrust her staff. Ukyou was moving too slow to tag her. Akira was shaking her head and getting back to her feet.

"I already discovered that..." the brunette said simply. She rose to her feet, rubbing the cheek Ryouga had tagged her on. Ryouga turned to face her. He held up his umbrella, waiting for her to make the first move. "Designate primary target!" she shouted.

"Acknowledged," the other replied.

Ryouga growled. He didn't know what they were planning, but he had to prevent it. He dashed forward and the girl charged at him, moving low to the ground. He swung his umbrella up, hoping to catch her if she tried to jump over him.

His umbrella was about to connect with her chin. He grunted and tried to pull a bit of the blow. She was supposed to dodge! He didn't want to take her head off! A split second before his blow connected, the girl seemed to blur and shift, the air around her rippling. Then she was gone. Ryouga's eyes widened as his weapon swung up through empty air. Then the air blurred again and suddenly the girl was there, but running away from him now.

Ryouga blinked as he got a fantastic view of her behind before she plowed to a stop and spun to face him. But this was the blonde. Where had the brunette gone? He stood there, stunned, as the girl rose to her full height. She clenched her fists and crossed her arms.

"That surge of..." Ukyou said. "Ryouga! Get away from her!"

"What?" Ryouga cried back over his shoulder. But then he felt it.

It was a presence like nothing else he had ever felt. It was huge, powerful and full of hate and malice. Ryouga had felt strong fighting spirits in his time, but nothing like this! It was like someone had ripped open a hole into hell.

Purple flames shot out from the blonde's body. They focused and grew in front of her. Ryouga could only stare. He wanted to move. He wanted to do something but he couldn't. His mind had locked up. He felt like a man staring up at the sky and watching a rocket fall from the heavens. Out of the fire he heard a sudden burst of laughter. Loud, deep, malicious laughter. Following the laughter there was a face, then a whole body seemed to form out of the flames.

He was huge, almost seven feet tall. His body was a mass of muscles, clad in a red military outfit. A blue cape flapped in the air behind him. He was wearing a red cap with a skull and wings emblem on it, with the bill pulled down so his face was cast into shadow. Only his burning blue eyes and the flashing whites of his teeth were visible. Ryouga backed up a step. The power flowing from him was staggering. But Ryouga realized he could see right through him, like he was a ghost.

No, not a ghost. A projection.

"Psycho Crusher!" the man roared, and then he was flying towards Ryouga hands first. A huge shockwave of burning blue flames exploded out in front of him. Ryouga threw up his arms. He screamed as the flames washed over his body, but they only singed his flesh. Instead, they shot straight through his flesh and seemed to burn through his nerves. His brain exploded with pain; burning blue pain.

He felt somebody catch him. He blinked, trying to focus as the pain slowly faded. He could hear the person holding him grunting, then fling him to the side. He was about to protest the harsh treatment when he saw the blonde girl fly through the air where he had been, corkscrewing feet first. He watched Akira take the flying kick in the chest and she fell back.

Ryouga forced one hand down and began to prop himself up. His brain still hurt, all his nerves were on fire. He could see he hadn't even taken so much as a singe from the assault... not that that helped any. But that overwhelming presence was gone. He forced himself to his feet.

"It will take more than that, to put me down..." Ryouga gasped.

He felt Ukyou land beside him. She was holding her shoulder, and her arm hung limply. She frowned as the blonde and brunette cartwheeled across the lawn. They landed next to each other and posed, both thrusting an arm at the sky so that their forearms crossed and formed an X. Akira rose to her feet, clutching her chest and moaning softly. The sound came out eerie and distorted as the helmet gave it a strange echo.

"Akira... back off," Ukyou said suddenly.

"What?" Akira gasped.

"Go help Ranma," Ukyou said levelly.

"Not this time!" she growled back.

"I can handle this," Ukyou said. "I've seen how they got so strong. I can beat them."

"You're injured!" Ryouga pointed out forcefully.

"Doesn't matter," Ukyou said. "But I need both of you away from here. What I'm going to do... I don't think I can control it that well. It'll hit everyone, friend and foe."

Ryouga was about to argue, but then he heard Nabiki screaming.

01010

Nabiki cursed as Ryouga ran forward. He obviously wasn't listening to her. Then she sighed and covered her eyes. She should have expected as much. The whole reason Ryouga was so loyal was because he was such a naive idiot that he couldn't let a girl be hurt. That was bound to come back and bite her in the proverbial ass sooner or later. She wiped some sweat from her brow and cursed again.

"Ryouga..."

Nabiki looked down. The rugrat was standing now, staring after Ryouga. She looked concerned. To be fair, she wasn't exactly a child. She looked to be on the cusp of puberty. Still, it was annoying to have to look after her. Not that Nabiki really cared.

"Hey, kid," Nabiki said as she knelt down next to her. "Wanna do me a favour?" The girl looked at her. Her large purple eyes had a strange, mournful quality to them... Nabiki resisted the urge to grimace. The last thing she needed was to start feeling sorry for her. "Could you pull that sword there out of the stone for me?"

"Excuse me?" Hotaru said softly, obviously confused.

"Just give it a good yank," Nabiki explained as she picked up the kid. She grunted at the effort. The brat was heavier than she looked. Hotaru glanced back at Nabiki, but shrugged and grabbed the hilt of the sword. She gave it a yank. Of course, nothing happened. But Nabiki put her down with a smile. Now, if only two more people could do that, then Nabiki could draw the wishing sword, and make all this stop happening. "Thanks."

"Okay..." Hotaru said, still sounding confused. Then she gasped. Nabiki looked down at her. That hadn't been a startled gasp, or a frightened gasp. It had been a happy gasp. Nabiki looked up. The battle was still going on. In fact, Ryouga was being propped up by that Akira girl as Ukyou was being battered around by one of Vega's stooges. There was nothing to be happy about happening at that fight.

"Daddy..." Hotaru said softly, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears. Then Nabiki realized Hotaru was looking behind her. Nabiki turned.

A man with white hair was walking towards her. He was smiling. His visible eye was wide and filled with glee. The other was hidden behind an elaborate symbol etched onto the lens of his glasses. He was wearing a long white labcoat which billowed behind him. The air was so hot and there was barely a breeze, yet his coat seemed to move with a life of its own. He had his hands in his pockets.

"Daddy!" Hotaru called again and started to step around Nabiki. Nabiki frowned, and some instinct made her reach out and grab Hotaru's shoulder. The girl looked up at her in surprise. Nabiki wasn't looking at her. Her eyes were fixed on the man. There was something not right about him. Something in his smile and his eyes that sent off the creepy alert in the back of Nabiki's mind.

Then it hit Nabiki. She had seen that kind of expression before. Jadeite had looked at Nabiki like that. That same smile, and the same flashing insane eyes.

The man pulled his hands from his pockets. He was holding a gun. Just a gun. Not even a large one. Nabiki froze. She heard Hotaru gasp. The man raised it, and fired.

Nabiki didn't scream as the bullet tore through her shoulder. She didn't scream as she tumbled to the ground. She was in too much shock. The ground hitting her snapped her out of that and the pain hit her all at once. But she still didn't scream. She just moaned and lay on the ground. She reached up and clutched her shoulder.

The man stopped over her. He looked down at her and he was still smiling. The sun was behind his head now, but Nabiki could see his gleaming glasses and the flash of his teeth despite the shadows.

"Daddy!" Hotaru screamed, but she was no longer sounding relieved or happy. "Daddy, stop!"

"Back away, Hotaru," the man said, his voice eerily calm.

"No, Daddy!" The girl ran up and grabbed his leg. "She isn't one of the bad people! She isn't the one who took me away from you!"

"It doesn't matter," the man explained. "I can't let her live. She must die, or she'll tell the others that I took you." He glanced at the girl. "We're going far away, Hotaru. Away from all this. I'll hide you from them. They won't stand between us again!" His voice had grown higher and higher pitched as he spoke, until it was a literal shriek.

"D-daddy..." Hotaru stared up at him. "No... you can't do this... you're not my father!"

"Of course I'm not," the man said and turned his face back to Nabiki. She stared up into the barrel of his gun. "And you are not Hotaru Tomoe. You are a vessel. But I love you all the same. I will protect you, until the Messiah inside of you awakens to cleanse this awful world."

Nabiki screamed. Her paralysis had worn off, and she screamed. The man's smile only brightened and he squeezed the trigger... and the end of his gun went flying away as a yellow and black blur streaked through where it had been. Nabiki stopped screaming. She turned her head to the side.

Ryouga was charging. His body was covered in a nova of green light, his hand still extended from his throw. His eyes were focused directly on the man. His lips were pulled back in a vicious snarl. Hotaru's father was turning slowly to face him, but it was too slow.

Ryouga pulled his hands down to his side. The aura around him suddenly condensed, snapping into a flickering light behind his palms. He skidded to a halt, his feet tearing tracks in the ground. His hands started up.

"You bastard! I'll kill you! SHISHI-"

"NO! Don't kill him!"

Hotaru threw herself in front of her father, her arms extended to prevent any attack from getting past. Ryouga hand kept rising. He couldn't stop it, Nabiki saw that. The energy of his attack, his depression, was too intense for him to hold it back. "-HOKO-" Ryouga lifted his arms, and kept lifting them. He pointed them skyward. "DAN!"

The blast exploded from his palms like a depth charge. It rose into the sky, hovered briefly like a balloon, and then fell. Ryouga had already leapt to the side, and his attack fell into the earth. The ground heaved as the ball sunk into it. With a final puff and a sudden draft the energy dissipated, leaving a crater almost a meter deep.

Ryouga was getting to his feet. He looked at Hotaru, then at her father, then finally at Nabiki. His eyes fixed on Nabiki's shoulder. They fixed on the gun in the man's hand, or the half of it that was still there.

"Move, Hotaru," he said. He was beginning to glow with green light again.

"No!" Hotaru shouted back. "I won't let you hurt him!"

"Hotaru, you said it yourself, he isn't your father!" Nabiki said as she backed off.

"I... I didn't mean it!" Hotaru was crying now. But there was something in the air around her. "I don't care what he did! He's my father!"

"That's right..." the man said, cackling with the light still silhouetting his face. "If you want to hurt me, boy, you will have to go through this girl first."

Nabiki was aghast. Couldn't Hotaru see what the man was saying? Couldn't she see what he was doing? He was using her as a shield. His own daughter!

"Get out of the way, Hotaru," Ryouga repeated. His hands were clenched into fists, and the aura around him was pressing all the grass for a good meter around flat against the earth.

But the man leaned down and cupped Hotaru's cheek with one hand. He rubbed a tear from the side of her cheek. "Messiah..." he said softly. "I know this is a strain. But you must awaken. For one moment. Just one moment..." He began to laugh. "Just long enough to kill these fools! Just kill them, Messiah! Then we can be together!"

Hotaru's eyes stared forward, and they filled with shock and horror. Nabiki felt herself sympathise. She hadn't cared much for Ukyou's explanation that the girl was a pawn in a game far bigger than her, but looking at her now, she couldn't help but feel bad. How would Nabiki handle this? How could anyone handle the sudden brutal realization that your father was a monster and was raising you to become a worse monster yet?

01010

Akira lingered as Ryouga sprinted back towards Nabiki. Aaron could feel the power back there. More magic, if that was what the strange energy he could now sense was. Another of the Witches 5? Likely. Maybe even Pluto and her lot. But Ukyou couldn't afford to go help them now.

Ryouga would do the right thing. She had to trust him.

The Dolls were standing ready, waiting to see what happened. Aaron could see the psychopower swirling around them. It laced through their bodies, connecting them together like a web. Pure power. Far more than any of the other Dolls had been capable of calling forth. They must have been reinforcing each other somehow like a catalyst, their shared power far greater than either could control alone.

It made them stronger than Akira. It made them perhaps even stronger than Ryouga. But that power would be their undoing. Ukyou frowned and clenched her fist. Her aura was still under control. Her focus was perfect. The heat of the day had vanished. The ground around her was covered in a thin layer of frost. She continued focusing her power, all of it into her wind chakra. The temperature continued to drop.

"Akira, get out of here," she asked again, her voice like the ice she was calling.

"Ukyou, I won't abandon you..."

"If Ranma dies at Vega's hands, none of this matters!" Ukyou said levelly. "Vega will kill us all, just for the sport of it. Go. Help him. Win!"

Akira glanced at Ukyou again, then at the Dolls. Aaron could feel the conflict in her aura. Her rage had not vanished.

"If not for me, then for Ran!" Ukyou shouted.

Akira looked at her again. Then she nodded and ran away. The Dolls watched her go impassively.

"Proceed with primary objective," Juli said as she started forward. "Non-lethal attacks only."

"Acknowledged," Juni said mechanically.

Ukyou didn't have to wait long. They were on her in a second. She flickered to the side, avoiding Juni's initial kick and just barely ducked under Juli's backhand. Ukyou continued like this, dodging as fast as she could, deflecting what attacks she couldn't avoid with as little force as possible. Juni and Juli came in like twin infernos, their motions perfectly coordinated.

They were two halves of a whole. As one moved, the other moved to complement her perfectly. To avoid one attack was to set yourself up for the attack of the other. Their feints and strikes were synchronized to a level that no human could have hoped to achieve. Keeping ahead of them was like a game of chess, played out at the speed of sound where you had to stay fifteen moves ahead to even have a chance.

Yet Ukyou and Aaron were doing just that. Alone, neither of them would have been able to survive the assault. Aaron could feel their strikes coming, he could almost feel their intentions in their aura. Ukyou could focus and move faster than them. It took their entire concentration to do just that. If one had been forced to break their focus for even a micro-second, the battle would have been over. But they didn't.

They didn't struggle against each other. For a short time, they just let go and worked together. One feeding perfectly into the other, depending entirely on the other.

They retreated and retreated, always turning back slowly. The Dolls came at her. As the fight dragged on, they only intensified their attack. The power they shared flared and roared. Pure aggression, pure anger linked their bodies together. The psychopower was nothing but unbridled passion. Ukyou continued backward, leaving a slowly closing spiral of frost in her wake.

They couldn't doubt themselves now. They had never actually managed to pull off this move. They had twisted it once, using the Third Circle. They had practiced it endlessly, but then they had abandoned it.

But now was not the time for doubt. They had to focus too sharply. Either it would work, or it wouldn't.

"HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!"

The moment of truth. They stood in the center of the spiral, their fist raised skyward. Juni and Juli were both leaping at her, from opposite sides. They couldn't hope to dodge the Dolls' attack. The Dolls had guessed their course, and had led them into this single unblockable strike. For a moment the air was still and heavy and hot.

Then the tornado came. It sprung from the earth, and Ukyou stood in the eye of the whirlwind. She could see why the Chinese had called this a dragon rising to heaven. It swirled and twisted around them with serpentine savagery. It roared, a deafening animal roar like an enraged beast. The power of it was primal.

Ukyou lowered her arms. Aaron could feel the Dolls above them now. Their auras were weak, fluttering on the verge of unconsciousness. But the tornado had spat them out, almost a kilometer up. They would not much like the fall. But the storm lingered, still fed by the swirling ribbons of the psychopower as the tornado leeched it from the earth and ejected it into the sky above.

The storm didn't just fade, it flashed out of existence with a suddenness that was almost unnerving. Ukyou stood in the center of the devastation, the one spot for almost ten meters that had not been torn or shredded by the savage winds.

She grinned, then fell to her knees. Her arm ached. Her body was on fire. She had pushed it too hard, too fast. She could feel blood seeping from several wounds that had reopened.

She wanted to rest. She needed to rest. She had defeated the Dolls, right? That had to be enough for one day, right?

But Aaron had felt something change. The aura of the wishing sword, the brilliant spike of unimaginable magical force. It had changed. It was no longer straining or twisting like a force penned up. It was humming cleanly through the air. It was free. No... it was READY.

Aaron didn't know how he knew that. He just did. With a groan, Ukyou rose to her feet.

01010

Vega ran along the side of the building, angling steadily upward. His sheer momentum and skill carried him higher and higher in defiance of all natural laws. Ranma rose with him. The boy was exceeding all his expectations. He matched Vega stride for stride, his strikes never stopping.

It was taking everything Vega had to keep ahead of him. Such a battle was something he had dreamed about for years.

Ranma made a small mistake: his fist went a fraction of a millimeter too far. Vega slipped to the side, through the suddenly appearing hole in Ranma's defense, and slashed out with his claw. Again, the boy did not dodge. He simply leaned back, letting the tips of the claws brush across the flesh over his heart. The blood flew out. It was beautiful! Vega was struck by the poetry of it. And Ranma struck him.

The blow sent him through the wall. The concrete crumbled and exploded as Vega flew into the classroom. Pain burned in his chest from where Ranma's fist had hit. His ribs ached. They had almost broken. Almost.

Vega landed gracefully, balancing on the back of a chair. Ranma came after him, down the gently sloped classroom on the tops of the desks. Vega flipped back, kicking the chair he was on into Ranma's path. Ranma just punched through it without stopping.

Vega rose through the cloud of splinters. The two were moving so fast that to them the debris was like a drifting mist. Vega's fist lashed out, and Ranma blocked with his forearm. They exchanged five more blows, blocking and parrying each, before the wood settled to the floor.

Vega retreated again. He was breathing quickly. His heart was racing. He had never felt so challenged! He felt what might have been a tingle of fear, a small bit of doubt in the back of his mind. He might lose this fight.

Vega laughed and backflipped, easily outpacing Ranma's attacks. The boy growled wordlessly and followed, somehow speeding up. But Vega matched his speed. He reached down, drawing on his reserves. Ranma's foot drifted past Vega's face, and Vega grabbed it with one hand. The other came up, and his claw sunk into the boy's calf.

Ranma screamed. Vega grinned. He pulled his blade free, twisting it at the last second so that he tore a bloody chunk from the boy's body. The boy stumbled back, trying to balance on one leg. Vega slid forward, kicking the boy's foot off the floor. Ranma fell backward, his body crashing through a desk as he fell.

Vega leapt up, twisted, bounced from the ceiling. He dove claw-first towards the fallen boy. Ranma saw him and rolled to the side. Vega's claw sunk into the floor. Vega laughed and slapped his palm against the ground. The floor cracked and Vega was pushed into the air again. His feet touched the ceiling and he pushed down, angling for Ranma's new position. Ranma rolled again, his good leg kicking out and knocking a desk from his path. Vega only laughed again and did the same trick.

This time, as he descended, Ranma rose to meet him. He kicked to his feet and thrust his fist into the air, a strong uppercut. Vega realised that the blow was angled so that his own claw would just brush against Ranma's shoulder, but Ranma's would catch him full in the face. Vega frowned and tried to change his trajectory, but the speed of his assault was too fast for even him to compensate.

Then Ranma's leg betrayed him. He screamed as his wounded leg spasmed under him and he fell. Vega landed, his claw sunk into the ground a centimeter away from Ranma's throat. Vega allowed the momentum to carry his legs down, and he rammed both knees into Ranma's gut, curling him forward.

This time the impact was too much for the floor. It gave way around them and in a shower of drywall and piping they fell to the next floor. Vega's eyes widened as, even while they were falling, Ranma increased the arc of his folding body and brought his forehead into Vega's.

There was a sharp crack, and Vega was sent flying back. He landed roughly, tumbling into a desk which shattered around him. He groaned in pain, and rose slowly to his feet. He shook his right hand, dislodging a fragment of wall that was still stuck to his claws. He could see Ranma rising across the room. His forehead was bleeding slightly from the cut Vega's mask must have caused. But Vega grinned. The boy could barely stand.

Vega only realised he was standing with his back to the window when it exploded inward. He twisted in place and a black form crashed into him knee- first. He cried out, and was sent flying across the amphitheatre, careening down the sloping desks and into the chalkboard. The board snapped around him.

He slapped his hands against the wall and kept from falling. His eyes narrowed at the black-clad figure standing on the top of the amphitheatre. Of course, Akira. How could Vega have forgotten about her? She had been part of the reason he had killed that girl. He chuckled.

"Welcome to the dance," he greeted her.

"Shut up and die!" she roared and sprinted down the aisle of the classroom. Vega stepped away from the wall to meet her. Ranma was moving to join them, but he was hobbling on his bad leg.

Akira came in with a jumpkick. Vega caught her ankle and twisted it. She was sent spiralling towards the ground. She landed on both palms. An instant later, she pushed off and came at him foot first. He ran backward, feet propelling him up the wall, and flipped gracefully over her attack. She hit the wall and kicked off. Vega spun to the side as she arced past him, fist extended.

His claw came up, and caught her in the side. She cried out in pain as the metal easily sliced through the thick leather and the flesh beneath. But the cut wasn't deep. Vega watched, amused, as she landed badly. She rolled and came up, clutching her side.

"That was pathetic," Vega admonished. "You can do much better than that!"

"Damn you..." Akira hissed.

"Your fight's with me!" Ranma roared. He grabbed the edge of a desk and flipped himself forward. He cartwheeled through the air and came down on Vega, axe-kicking with his good leg. Vega slid to the side and stabbed down, but Ranma deflected the blow with a chop to Vega's wrist that sent a stinging flare of pain up his arm. Vega backed off, barely avoiding a follow-up punch.

"This one is much more entertaining," Vega pointed out to Akira. "Your heart obviously isn't in this as much as I thought it would be." Vega snorted. "Perhaps I will have to find what motivates you as well?"

"You won't get the chance!" Akira retorted, and she charged.

01010

Ryouga grit his teeth. His hands were levelled at the madman. He could feel the depression welling up inside him. It was like the earth was rising up and pulling down on his body with fingers of doubt and sorrow. Every time Ryouga caught a glance of the blood leaking from Nabiki's shoulder, he wanted to scream. And he couldn't stop glancing at her.

He had failed. He was supposed to protect her! He had promised to protect her! He had failed!

But Hotaru was between them. Her father was crouched behind her. He was holding her kindly, almost cradling her to his chest with a fatherly hug. His lips were near her mouth and he was whispering into her ears. Ryouga couldn't hear what he was saying, but he could guess. Hotaru stood rigid in his grasp. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Every now and then, a red light flickered from behind her eyes.

That feeling on the back of his neck warned Ryouga that he was in danger. Something was happening, something was happening to Hotaru, and if Ryouga didn't do something he would be in danger. But he couldn't fire. The Shishihokodan was too indiscriminate, too large to hit the madman cradling her and not Hotaru as well. She was small and frail, she would be hurt... maybe even killed.

"Professor Souichi Tomoe, you are under arrest!"

Ryouga started. He looked up. A woman was standing behind the madman. She was tall, older, with mussed-up black hair and wore a grey and red jacket. She was standing with a pistol which she held to the back of the Professor's head. The man froze. Ryouga found her very familiar, but couldn't place her.

"Who...?" the madman said slowly.

"Azusa Matsudaira," the woman introduced herself. "I have full authority to arrest you, and will use this weapon if you force me to. Now, release the girl."

"Matsudaira?" Nabiki asked. She had risen to her feet. Her face was contorted with pain, and she was using her good hand to prop herself against the top of the wishing sword's stone. Then Ryouga remembered her, the nice scientist lady from the other day. He hadn't recognised her without her labcoat.

"Sorry I'm late," the woman said. "But I was taking care of some other business until recently."

The madman looked up, and Ryouga allowed more of his aura to seep into the air. He made it clear without words how badly it would go if the man tried to do anything stupid. The madman slowly uncurled his arms from around Hotaru and rose them above his head. Ryouga stepped forward and grabbed Hotaru, pulling her to him.

She grunted, and the red light in the back of her eyes snuffed out suddenly. She began to hiccup and sob into Ryouga's chest. Ryouga felt his depression melt away as he held her. What was his life and his failures compared to what she had gone through? His heart filled with a strange, comforting warmth, and he held her gently.

Tomoe turned and suddenly blinked as he got a good look at the woman holding him at gunpoint. "But you're-"

"The person holding you captive!" Matsudaira pointed out sharply, cutting him off. The man paused at this, then began to chuckle softly, his body quaking a bit as he did.

"Of course, of course..." he said when his laughter receded for a moment.

"Ryouga," Matsudaira addressed him. "I have him under control now. Why don't you..." She trailed off, and Ryouga spun around.

A tornado roared in the center of the commons. It stretched down from the sky like the finger of a god. Ryouga's mouth gaped, but he saw that the cyclone was perfectly stationary. Ryouga took a step forward, then there was a sudden gunshot.

He spun back around. The Professor had collapsed to the ground. He was staring at Matsudaira. His hand was clutching his chest. Blood welled up between his fingers. "W... how..." he said, his voice a choking, liquid gasp.

Matsudaira was just staring down at him, her expression impassive. Ryouga heard Hotaru gasp, and he gently grabbed her chin and turned her face away from the scene. He was glad he did.

As the man lay on the ground, he suddenly started spasming. Ryouga backed up as a bright light shot forth from his eye. The eye with the symbol on it, Ryouga realised a moment later. Matsudaira just stood calmly, looking at this without any visible reaction. The man spasmed again and coughed blood onto his lips. Then there was a flash of yellow as something shot forth from the madman's eye. It was thin, like a vine with a large bulb on the end. The bulb had a parody of a human face painted on it, nothing more than a cyclopean eye in the shape of a star and a red half-circle for a mouth, with a black star on its forehead.

The thing shot up from the man's body, then spun in the air before landing with a crash a few meters away. A huge cloud of dust arose from the landing, and Ryouga watched as a giant... thing climbed out of it. It was huge, almost two stories tall, and shaped like some giant alien flower mixed with an insect. It had a huge red bulbous body and pink petal-like things extending from the top to frame a head made of some sort of molted green material. Two limbs of the same material stretched from its 'neck'.

On the ground, the man the monster had come out of spasmed once before he fell back. The symbol had vanished from his glasses, but now his eyes were glassy and stared lifelessly into the air. In the distance, the roar of the tornado suddenly became muted. It seemed to have shifted so it was now just hovering in the air somewhere. It also sounded different now... but Ryouga shook that out of his mind.

"Oh, Hotaru..." Ryouga moaned. He was still holding her face away, but his tone was enough to start her screaming. She kept yelling for her father, again and again.

"Why do you cry, child?" the thing said in a voice like madness incarnate. "All I did was discard that useless shell of a human body. I can find another. This changes nothing!"

"It changes everything, daimon Germatoid," Matsudaira said as she turned to face the monster. The creature swung its stalk-like head to face her.

"And who are you?" it hissed. "I never authorised this!"

"No, I did it myself!" a new voice shouted over a sudden roar.

Suddenly Ryouga felt the heat in the air double and a powerful wind was blowing down. He shielded his eyes with his free hand, trying to keep his grip on Hotaru with the other. The roar was like an engine, or a jet, and Ryouga looked up to see that his guess was not far off.

A huge woman made of white metal was floating in the air. From the small of her back two thrusters emerged that pushed hot air straight down into the ground, sending the grass billowing out in all directions. The metal woman had what looked like a cockpit emerging from her crotch. Another woman, this one clad in green and black with bright green hair in buns, sat on this cockpit. She was cradling a huge blue seed in her lap.

"Telulu!" the beast roared.

"Of course," the woman said, laughing. "Germatoid, you have failed yet again. Your plan was foolish. Whereas I, on the other hand, have achieved in one day what you couldn't in four years." The woman smiled down at the seed in her hands. "Look at it! This soul is a heart crystal, as powerful if not more powerful than the Holy Grail! Not only that, it is alive! With my will, I can guide this unborn god and summon Pharaoh 90. There is no need for your Messiah, your plan... or for you."

"Damn you, Telulu!" the creature roared and started forward. But the woman only pointed, and suddenly the metal woman reared back.

"Valkyrie is deploying missiles!"

Ryouga could only stare in shock as the woman's breasts exploded from her chest, fell past Telulu - barely missing clipping her head - then reshaped into missiles and spun down into the beast. It roared impotently before the explosions blew it into pieces. Ryouga shielded himself as bits and pieces of the thing fell down across the area.

He watched as Matsudaira walked over to where the centre of the blast pattern, where the creature had been standing. Ryouga caught a glance of a strange grey-ribbed egg near her foot before there was a retort from her gun and the egg shattered. A wisp of black smoke emerged from the pieces, briefly formed into what could have been a face, and then vanished.

Ryouga backed up a step. He had no idea what was going on, but his instincts told him that he wasn't finished here yet. The metal woman was descending to the earth. She set down and knelt to allow her passenger to disembark.

Telulu looked around, before her eyes settled on the wishing sword.

"Is this the sword you told me about, Azuma?"

"Yes," Matsudaira said, her voice cold. She walked towards the sword. Nabiki gasped as the woman shoved her roughly aside. "I can feel the magical energy inside of it as we speak."

"It can grant any wish," Telulu mused. Ryouga slowly put down Hotaru. She ran over and knelt over the body of her dead father. He ignored her pain. He started gathering his depression again. The metal creature slid to the side, placing herself between Ryouga and the green-haired woman.

Matsudaira reached out and gave the sword a good yank. She frowned and released it. "There appears to be no way to determine exactly how many tries it will take to get to one million. It could be one, or a thousand. We could take it back to the labs and..."

"One good try, then..." Telulu nodded and tried the sword once herself. She shook her head regretfully. "Forget it," she said calmly. "It would be useful to have, but I'm more concerned with somebody using it against me. Just back away and I'll have Valkyrie destroy it."

"NO!" Nabiki shouted, but Telulu ignored her. The metal woman turned, taking her eyes off Ryouga.

He struck. With a roar, he leapt and punched, throwing all his strength and all his emotion into one blow. He didn't care about holding back against this monster! "Shishi Hoko DAN!" he roared, and his fist exploded with green light just as it struck the metal woman. The blast caught Valkyrie in the side and sent her flying back. She struck the ground with enough force that her body carved a five meter long trench in the lawn before she came to a rest.

Ryouga landed and stepped in front of Nabiki. The two women looked at him and backed off. But Telulu was smiling. He turned to the side and watched as the creature slowly got to its feet. It wasn't even scratched... and it looked mad.

Ryouga grit his teeth. That had been everything he had, literally. He didn't think he could produce a blow much stronger than that. Maybe if he used the perfected Shishihokodan... but Nabiki and Hotaru were too close. And despite appearances, the thing seemed to be alive, so he doubted the Bakusai Tenketsu would work either. He heard a rustle behind him. Nabiki was moving, crawling towards the sword. She was grinning. Ryouga tore his eyes off her.

01010

Aaron took in the scene with a sweep of his eyes as he ran. He noted the magical aura permeating Matsudaira. He noted the giant mitama in Telulu's hands. He noted the huge daimon made out of a fighter jet squaring off against Ryouga. He noted the dead body of Souichi Tomoe and Hotaru kneeling over it, her eyes shocked.

But he only noticed these things in passing. His full attention, Ukyou's full attention, fixed on the sword. It was humming in their minds. It was like it was calling to them. Ukyou stretched out her hand.

Nabiki was pulling herself up the stone. Her hands also reaching for it. She knew. She knew it had reached the magic number. Ukyou poured on the speed. She was faster than Nabiki. She could cross the five meters in the time it would take Nabiki to reach the hilt! She had to!

It was their salvation! No more dreams! No more lost memories! No more...

Ukyou's hand snapped around the blade and she smiled. Then she realised that Nabiki had grabbed it too.

They stared into each others eyes. Neither of them moved. Neither of them breathed. Aaron blanked his mind, blocking out his senses. They must have grabbed it at the same time.

But it didn't matter. Nabiki's eyes were filled with fear. She knew that Ukyou could take the sword from her. Tired and injured, Ukyou was still much stronger and faster than the short-haired girl. Sweat started to form on Nabiki's brow as the seconds stretched out.

Ukyou could tear Nabiki's hand off the hilt. Break it off if it came to that. Nothing could stop her from taking the sword. So what that Nabiki had grabbed it first? So what that Aaron had felt it shifting up a little as his palm had settled on it? It wasn't proof that she had gotten there first!

Even if it was...

Ukyou felt the power down inside of them. Quiet and alien and there for the taking. She NEEDED this sword... just like she needed a solution to the problem of the Dolls a few nights ago. It would be hers. The sword could belong to them if they just wanted it badly enough!

No more living as one person. They could defeat Telulu. They could bring Ran back to life. They could do anything.

Just... take it. That was all they had to do. Take it. It was theirs. It had called out to them! It was their Destiny!

Who was trying to convince who? They couldn't tell anymore.

Ukyou closed her eyes. Aaron looked deep inside of them. The Third Circle, its power was there... quiet inside them. Would it bend the world to their will like this? Was that how it worked?

And what cost? A bit of strength in desperate times had cost them so much... how much would virtual omnipotence cost them?

Neither one of them could tell who slowly unlaced their fingers from the sword. They both stepped back. They both opened their eyes and watched as Nabiki, eyes flashing with rapture, slid the sword free. She was laughing.

Only then did Aaron see everyone else in the clearing again. They had all stopped, all except Hotaru, and looked at the confrontation over the sword in silence. Telulu's face contorted in surprise and rage. Ryouga's expression was unreadable.

"Valkyrie!" Telulu pointed. "Destroy..."

Ukyou flung a flour bomb at the daimon. It exploded and filled the hot air with a white cloud. The daimon squawked. The flour wouldn't delay it for long, but Ukyou didn't need very long.

"Snap out of it, Nabiki," Ukyou barked. "Or your victory will be very short-lived." Nabiki nodded and turned, wincing but holding the sword aloft.

"I suggest you get out of here," Nabiki said with a sneer. "I wouldn't want to waste a wish on you, but I will blow your bodies to the four corners of the globe if you make me." Nabiki chuckled. "Unless you think you can stop me before I say a few simple words, that is?"

Ukyou stepped around the stone, placing herself to one side of Nabiki. Ryouga stepped back and flanked Nabiki on the other side. They both let their auras go. They flashed and flared, Ukyou's cold aura sapping the heat from the air, Ryouga's heavy aura causing the grass around him to wilt.

Telulu frowned. "Very well," she said. "Consider this a draw, then." She gestured and Valkyrie stepped forward as it rubbed the last of the flour from its eyes. The daimon glared at Ukyou before picking her mistress up. Matsudaira also reached up and climbed aboard. A moment later, the monster shot into the sky.

"As for you, Ukyou..." Nabiki said, trailing off.

"Save it, Nabiki," Ukyou said with a sigh. "You win. Okay? I just want to go help my friends." She let her aura die down, but slumped. She had been pushing her injured body too much. With the adrenaline no longer flowing, it was going to start catching up to her. Ukyou turned and looked at the university proper. Aaron could sense the battle now. He began to walk towards it.

"Ukyou..."

They paused at the sound of Hotaru's voice. They glanced back over their shoulder. The girl was walking towards them, absently wiping the tears from her eyes. Her face was so cold and adult that it made a part of both of them want to cry. The girl stopped a hand's breadth from them.

"You tried to tell me the truth, to warn me," the girl said.

"Hotaru, I... don't know what to say..."

"I hate you for that," Hotaru said, her voice calm. "But I understand." She reached up and touched Ukyou's hand. Aaron gasped as he felt the magic inside her flash to life. For a moment, he thought she was attacking him, then he saw the white light spreading up their body and felt the warmth and strength returning to his limbs.

A moment later, Aaron blinked as the sparkles of Hotaru's magic faded away. He raised his hand. His strength was back, his injuries were gone. Hotaru didn't even look tired. He gazed down at her in wonderment.

"Go. Help your friends," Hotaru urged. Ukyou didn't need any more prompting.

01010

The battle was not going well. Ranma was injured, the wound in his thigh too deep and bleeding too badly to ignore. He could barely stand, and every moment more and more of his strength bled away. Vega must have severed an artery.

Akira tried to make up for him. She tried to push herself, to fight at her full strength. She knew she was always able to fight better with her helmet on. The confidence always brimmed in her when she had that reflective sheen between her and the world. Even the sound of her own breath echoing in the enclosed space was familiar and comforting.

But it wasn't enough. Vega was able to dance around her attacks. His claw slashed out playfully, tearing at her leathers and cutting lightly into the skin beneath. Not one of the attacks he inflicted on her were as bad as the one he had done to Ranma, but they were adding up.

It didn't help that with how mobile Vega was, Akira was being forced to fight him virtually alone. The best she could do was pin him down for a few seconds while Ranma made his way to them and struck.

Vega leapt away from her suddenly and turned his head to the window. He shook his head. "Ah, I think this game has to end now," Vega announced. Akira immediately leapt away, but he was too fast.

He snapped out one hand and forcibly yanked her hand away from her body, then sunk his claw into her gut. She screamed as the metal pierced her. It was pain worse than any she had felt. She had taken spills at a hundred kilometers per hour. She had been hit hard enough to crash through brick walls. None of that compared to this.

All she could do was gasp and grab at Vega's wrist. He was staring into her faceplate. From this close, he could probably see through it and get a good look at her gasping pale face. Akira could see nothing of his face behind his featureless white mask, except his eyes. His eyes were smiling.

He kicked her free of his claw and she stumbled across the room, clutching her gut. She collided with the wall and sat down hard. She couldn't help thinking of her brother. 'All fighting does is lead to more fighting. All it does is lead to pain.' Maybe she should have listened.

She tried to rise to her feet, but the strength deserted her. She could feel her energy flowing out of her body. She tried to resist it, but the wound was deep and wide. He must have tagged an organ, something important. She struggled to rise again, but all she got for her efforts was a scream of pain as she bent forward.

She hadn't been good enough.

"I can feel your friend Ukyou approaching," Vega announced. He was standing in the center of the room. Ranma was opposite him, slowly working his way forward. It was unclear who exactly Vega was addressing. "She's moving at good speed. Perhaps she can be more of a challenge? Bison was so interested in her." He laughed. "I think that, if I kill one of you... it will really get her in the spirit of the fight!"

"NO! You bastard!" Ranma leapt across the room. He punched at Vega, but Vega sidestepped with ease and kicked Ranma to the floor. Ranma grunted as he landed, but rolled to his feet.

"Oh come now, Ranma Saotome," Vega said with a slightly pitying smile. "Our fight was beautiful, but even you must see it is over. You've lost too much blood, and this young lady never really had her heart in it to begin with." He raised his claw. "Maybe I'll let you pick, Ranma Saotome? Which of you do you think killing will motivate Ukyou more? The girl, or you? Please tell me swiftly. We haven't much time."

Ranma stood silently. He looked down at his leg. He closed his eyes... and the anger seemed to drain out of his body. All the tension, all the energy seemed to seep down and out of him. When he opened his eyes, he was serene. His eyes were clear of hate and pain. He smiled.

"Me. If you want to kill somebody, kill me."

"Ranm-!" Akira shouted, but cut off as she began coughing.

Vega chuckled. "Very well then," the man raised his claw. "It was a beautiful battle. I shall cherish it always. Do not regret. You are simply slower, less experienced and less skilled then me. You are just no match for me!"

Vega thrust his claw right at Ranma's heart. Akira winced, either in pain or anticipation, she wasn't sure. But she blinked, and thus missed it.

When she opened her eyes, Ranma was standing with his hand outstretched. His fingers were laced between the blades of Vega's claw, just touching the razor edges but not actually being cut. His hand was clasped firmly onto Vega's. Vega stared down at his hand in shock.

"I am today," Ranma said simply.

Ranma roared and with a vicious twist pulled and broke Vega's arm. Vega screamed in pain and the sound of the bone cracking retorted across the room. Ranma continued yelling, punching his fist into Vega's face. There was another crack as the man's mask shattered into shards. Vega's head snapped back, blood flying from his cut lip and nose. Ranma's hand moved like a snake, twisting and grabbing Vega's ponytail. He yanked the man forward, even as he twisted the man's shattered arm with his other hand.

Akira watched, unblinking, as Ranma buried Vega's own claw in the man's stomach.

Ranma released his grip on the Spaniard. Vega stood there for a second, staring at Ranma in shock. His eyes blinked once, twice. With a groan he fell backward, toppling a chair as he crumpled. He coughed, blood flecking his lips. Akira tried to smile bitterly, at the pain she knew Vega must be feeling. But she could feel no real joy.

Ranma stood there, looking down at Vega. The man coughed again, and grabbed his claw with his good hand. The claw was still attached to the arm that had been twisted at an angle arms were not supposed to twist. Vega screamed as he began to drag the blades from his stomach one centimeter at a time.

Akira heard a gasp and turned her head slightly. She saw Ukyou standing in the window. She was covered in dirt and her clothes were tattered, but she looked healthier than Akira had ever seen her.

"Ranma..." Ukyou said, her voice barely above a breath.

"It's over..." Ranma said, his voice calm. "I win." He turned around, and began to stumble away.

"It... isn't... over..." Vega croaked. He had pulled the claw from his gut and was climbing to his knees. "I'm still alive, Ranma Saotome..."

Ranma paused but didn't respond.

"Do you have it in you, Ranma?" Vega said, and laughed. His laughter turned into painful coughs. "You could have hit my heart. You aimed for it, but I saw you change your aim at the last second." Ranma closed his eyes. "I don't think you can. This wound... it isn't bad." Vega coughed. "A lesser man might die. But I will live!"

Akira stared at him. Ukyou knelt beside her suddenly, her hands probing the cut. Akira winced, but said nothing. Ukyou's hand flickered out and touched Akira's body in several places. The pain numbed. Not entirely, but Akira was grateful for what little the girl could do. Ukyou stood up and began to circle around behind Vega.

"Come now, Ranma Saotome," the man coughed. "How can you call yourself a man? This fight isn't over until one of us is dead!"

"I defeated you," Ranma said. "I can do it again." He frowned. "I won't put you out of your misery. The shame of your defeat... that's the worst possible revenge I could inflict on you!" Ranma's voice snapped sharply at the end.

Vega's face twisted with anger. His bloody lips pulled back from his teeth. "You think this is over? I'll be back!"

"Maybe," Ranma said. "But not for a while. I'm better than you. Maybe not yet, but soon. I'll defeat you again."

Then Vega's eyes narrowed. He smiled and coughed. "I never did tell you how she died. Did I tell you that she begged? Did I tell you I made her scream?" Ranma spun around, his eyes flashing, his fists clenching. "She would have given me anything, in the end. My claws can inflict quite ex-" He coughed. "Quite exquisite pain. She betrayed you all, in the end." Ranma's mouth worked soundlessly and he raised his fists. "She offered me everything... her knowledge, her bod-"

Two hands settled on both side of Vega's head and twisted sharply. There was a soft crack. The madman's eyes went calm, then blank. His body slumped lifelessly to the floor. Ranma stared, his hands still balled into fists.

Ukyou looked down at her hands. Her black lotus eyes were calm.

01010

Tethys had almost forgotten how cold it was. The walls of ice, the arctic howl outside, the darkness... they were just symptoms. The Dark Kingdom, or the pathetic dregs of it that huddled here in a pit under the uninhabitable wastes of the Earth, was a cold place. What warmth existed was what you stole from the beings around you.

She raised her hand and called forth her magic. The walls of the room changed: the satin curtains and the ostentatious ornaments vanished, to be replaced by bare ice. It was heady, having all this stolen power. She had to remember what had allowed her to get this far. She had to keep perspective. She gestured again, and the weaves of magic shaped the room once more. The room that had once been Beryl's private chambers was now much different. A single desk of polished stone with a comfortable but simple chair sat in its center. A stand next to it held the long black scepter that had once been Beryl's badge of office and, Tethys had learned through experimentation, a focus for much of her power. The walls were bare for now, but Tethys didn't plan on them being so for long. She had already chosen a few of the more... intelligent youma for special missions. Subtle missions, to extract human technology and devices.

If she was going to fight a war, then she needed the right tools.

And the right people.

She slid around behind her desk and into her seat. With another gesture she conjured a book into her hands. It was a book she had read before, otherwise the magic would not have been able to weave it for her, but that was not important. The very act was more practice. Beryl's power was immense compared to what she had before, and the abilities it granted were intoxicating and made it easy to lose perspective. But she had to maintain tight control.

"We're ready," Tethys said aloud. Hayato was the only one who could hear her, and he could have heard her inner thoughts had she allowed him to. He sent her a feeling of encouragement. She frowned and put down the book. Once again she contemplated ejecting him from their union. But he had been useful. Without his plan, his honed sense of timing, she would never have been able to kill Beryl. She had almost expected him to grow sick at the thought of feeding on Beryl's power, like he had whenever she drained a human. But he had been oddly quiet on the subject.

Tethys simply shook her head and tried to ignore the feelings he stirred in her. Instead she waited until the appointed hour.

The three Dark Generals materialised together. Each was accompanied by the distinctive anima of their power, like a fingerprint in their magic. For Zoicite, the youngest and weakest of them, it was a swirl of rose petals. For Nephrite, the one she had allowed to pummel her into unconsciousness, it was a flickering light filled with star signs. He was looking particularly nervous. For Kunzite, the strongest and highest-ranking, it was a white glow that faded into darkness.

They all stood at attention, stiff and not looking anywhere but at her. Tethys resisted the urge to sigh.

"Have a seat," she invited, and conjured some chairs behind them. It was a wasteful display of magic, but served to remind them of the power she now bore. They all obeyed her command.

"Te... my Queen... why have you summoned us here?" Kunzite spoke first. Tethys had leaned forward on her desk, steepling her fingers in front of her face. It was times like this she regretted how her merger with Hayato had given her a face. It was much easier to hide your emotions when you had no expression to speak of.

"To talk about what happens next," Tethys explained. "I thought it was time I had a talk with the people who are supposed to be in charge of my armies."

"I'm glad you wanted to speak to us," Nephrite said, his voice hiding his nervousness well. "But Queen Beryl always took audience in the throne chamber."

"I'm not Beryl," Tethys explained sharply. "I do things differently." The general gulped. "Don't worry, I have no intention of killing you for any of your actions in the past. I don't like to waste valuable resources, and you three are my most powerful agents, for now."

Kunzite glanced at Zoicite, who noticeably relaxed.

"That doesn't mean I won't kill you if I believe you are a threat to my plans, either through treachery or gross incompetence," Tethys said into the silence. That had them all on edge again. "But I believe in giving you all a chance." Actually, the plan had been Hayato's suggestion... but she decided not to share that with these three. "I'm giving you all one month to prove yourselves to me."

"Prove ourselves?" Kunzite said sharply.

"Yes," Tethys nodded. "I'm going to be starting a whole new kind of war soon. I want you three to prove to me that you can follow the new order. Each of you must go out into the world and do something for me." She stood up and looked down her nose at them. "I don't really care what you do, but understand that your choices might well determine your ultimate fate." She held up her hand and Beryl's sceptre levitated into her clutch. "I only have one order for you to follow during this assignment. There is a woman out there named Ukyou Kuonji. She is my enemy, and dangerous. I want you to avoid her. I want you to do nothing to her. I want you to not even go near her. She is to be left completely alone. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my queen," the three said, standing up and bowing slightly.

"Then be gone..."

"Just one thing before we go, if I may?" Kunzite said, holding up a finger. The other two paused, halfway through the act of weaving their teleportation spells. Tethys nodded to the platinum-haired man.

"You are still planning on freeing Metallia, are you not?"

"And if I am not?" Tethys asked.

"Metallia is not a force to be trifled with," Kunzite told her evenly. "She is our god. She made us all what we are. Every youma, including you, are her children. Beryl herself would spend a great deal of time conferring with the Empress. But I have not heard a word about you visiting her crypt."

"That's because I haven't been there," Tethys responded.

"I see..." Kunzite bowed slightly. "Just because she is crippled, doesn't mean she isn't fearsome."

"I believe you," Tethys replied dryly. The man nodded and the three started up their teleportation again. Tethys halted them with a gesture. "Kunzite, you said that Metallia made the youma?"

"Yes..."

"We are magical constructs, are we not? We could have been designed any way she pleased."

"Yes."

"And she chose to make us as we are?"

"I believe so," Kunzite sounded unsure of himself. He obviously had no idea where she was going with this. "You would have to ask her."

"Perhaps I will..." Tethys mused aloud. She waved them away and they vanished. Tethys sat down at her desk again. Metallia was her maker. She had known that, inside somewhere, all along. But something didn't feel right. Hayato said it before she thought it, his silent voice echoing from the depths of her mind.

"If Metallia made you... did she simply forget the survival instinct? You can not deny that if I had not stepped in, you would have gladly drifted away into oblivion..."

And that was a question Tethys did not have the answer to.

01010

Akane's lungs were burning. Her arms felt heavier than the lead weights she wore. Sweat dripped down her cheeks. She steadied herself and raised her sword. The metal glinted in the sunlight and she adjusted her grip until the razor-sharp blade was pointed directly at Shampoo.

"Don't insult me, Akane!" Shampoo roared as she charged forward. Her larger sword flashed and Akane screamed. Her own blade rang and almost shuddered from her grip. Akane jerked her hands around, trying to keep her grip. She only realized that she had dropped her guard when Shampoo's heel connected with her temple.

Akane blinked away the stars and blackness. She groaned and sat up, clutching her head.

"You okay?" Shampoo asked. She was standing over Akane, offering her a hand up. Akane took it gratefully.

"I think so..." Akane mused, then hissed as she probed gently at the bruise that was forming on the side of her head.

"You could have blocked that if you had not insisted on wearing those weights," Shampoo said in a slow and careful manner.

"That would defeat the entire point of this training," Akane grinned. She held up her sword again.

"You..." Shampoo shook her head. "You should rest for today. I'm getting tired of beating you up."

"But I think I was just getting the hang of it!" Akane insisted. "I have to learn how to use this sword..."

"I don't see why..." Shampoo rested the back of her blade on her shoulder. "You aren't even taking this training seriously."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Shampoo frowned, obviously searching for the best way to phrase her thoughts in Japanese. "You hold back. A sword isn't a defence weapon, Akane. It's meant for killing. You always wait for me to attack... you have to strike at me first!"

"Well..." Akane sighed. "Maybe if you hadn't insisted we train with steel blades. I have some perfectly suitable bokken..."

"Bah!" Shampoo swung her sword down. The grass rippled in a wave in the wake of her swing. "If you want to train with a sword, train with a sword. If you want to train with a stick, get a dog."

Akane lowered her weapon, letting the tip rest on the earth in front of her. "I'm not really training with a sword so I can kill people, Shampoo. I'm training so that I can have an edge in the fights against... well, zoanoids, youma, take your pick I guess." Akane frowned and stared down the edge of the blade. "I never plan on using a steel blade against a human opponent. But if the monsters out there think I can cut their arms off, they might think twice before attacking somebody I'm protecting."

"Huh." Shampoo looked at Akane for a long moment. "You changed. Couple of days ago you were crying because we were chopping up zoanoids."

Coming back to life does that to you, Akane failed to say. "I guess I have," she agreed.

"It's not like I... uh... how do you... unapprove?"

"Disapprove," Akane corrected her gently. "Your Japanese has really improved since I first met you, Shampoo," she added, mainly trying to make Shampoo feel better. Then again, it was considerably better, now that Akane really thought about it. Especially since Shampoo had still been using broken Japanese only yesterday.

"Akane, actually... about that-" Shampoo began, but cut off abruptly.

"Shampoo, over!" Pink yelled as she walked out of the treeline into the small clearing Akane and Shampoo were using. Akane was always amazed with how unhappy a person who only smiled could manage to look. Pink paused when she noticed Akane and gave her the evil eye. Akane just blinked and stared back. She never knew how to treat Pink.

"You should know better than to wander off, Shampoo," Pink said sweetly. "That hotel Chris booked us into is absolutely dreadful. The bathroom is a mess and needs immediate cleaning. I suggest you get started immediately. Oh, and since there are no cleaning supplies, you will be using only your tongue, over."

Shampoo's eyes narrowed, but she looked like she wasn't going to protest so Akane felt the need to step in. "Wait a minute," Akane held up a hand. "What about all the towels and soap and stuff?"

"They all vanished. Mysteriously. In a fire." Pink paused. "You'll also have to clean the ashes of the fire out of the bathtub, Shampoo. Using only your tongue, over." Pink's smile widened.

"I don't think so," Akane said quickly. "Didn't Chris specifically ask you two to leave Shampoo alone when she was training with me?"

"You don't look like you're training to me, over," Pink replied skeptically.

"We is training still," Shampoo said. "Shampoo just let Akane take break. Go away. Shampoo no stupid twin's slave today."

Pink glared at Akane, her smile twisting into a hate-filled grimace. Then she took a short breath and her expression became calm. "Fine, have your fun, but I'll be waiting for you to return, servant." Pink smiled. "And who knows what other problems might have turned up in the meantime for you to attend to, over?"

Pink waved jauntily and stepped back out of the clearing. Akane sighed and waited for the sounds of her passage to vanish before she spoke up again.

"I'm sorry," Akane said sincerely. "I think I just got you in more trouble." Shampoo waved that off. "Well..." Akane chuckled. "At least we seem to be in the same boat. I think about the only person Pink dislikes more than you is me. At least, if the number of times she's tried to poison me are any indication."

"It's because Chris likes you," Shampoo pointed out. "Pink wants to be the only one he listens to."

Akane shifted uncomfortably. Chris' faith in her was one of those things that she didn't like to think about. So, she didn't. "Hey! Weren't you just uh... using really bad Japanese when you were talking with Pink?" Akane said, letting the first thing that came to mind shoot out.

"Yes." Shampoo turned to look at Akane, her expression serious. "Akane, please don't tell anyone else that I'm speaking better now."

"Uh... why?" Akane blinked. Shouldn't Shampoo be proud of how quickly her Japanese was advancing?

Shampoo turned away a bit, her sword held loosely in one hand. "Because they all think I am stupid. They think they know more than me." She paused. "They think I don't understand. And I didn't. That is why I..." She struggled with the word for a moment. "Why I am trapped like this. But I learned that the people who keep secrets from others are the ones in charge. Now I don't want anyone to know my secrets. If they think I am stupid, they think I have no secrets."

Akane was taken aback by the bitter softness of Shampoo's voice. The purple-haired girl had never sounded so... vulnerable before. Yes, that was it. It was the complete lack of confidence in Shampoo's voice that was making her sound so different now.

"I think I understand..." Akane walked around Shampoo until she was back in the other girl's line of sight. "I had a friend who once lied to me and kept things from me as well. I know how powerful having that kind of information can seem..." Akane hesitated. She also knew how dangerous keeping those kinds of secrets could be to a friendship. But who among their group could Shampoo really call a friend? Even her great-grandmother and her barely spoke. "I'm glad you trust me enough that you wanted to tell me," Akane said and smiled. "But then again, trusting each other is something friends do."

Shampoo flushed a little and began to stammer. Akane just stood, smiling and waiting patiently for Shampoo to get whatever she had to say off her chest. It was obviously important, so Akane wanted to make sure Shampoo felt satisfied.

"Akane, I can see why Chris trusts you so much. You're nice. I use to think you were too nice. But, ever since the mountain..." Akane's smile faltered slightly, but she resisted the urge to interrupt Shampoo. "...I've seen that you're more than just nice. You're not that strong. You're not that smart. But you're a warrior. You really want to make things better and you fight to make that happen. I respect that. I... want to have that kind of strength myself one day. I want to trust you."

"Shampoo, all you have to do is ask," Akane said with a friendly laugh. She took a few steps away and snapped back into fighting posture with her sword. "Now, since you said you were just letting me take a break, and you already have enough secrets to carry around..."

Shampoo blinked, then she smiled when Akane let out a fierce battle cry and attacked her.

01010

Rei pushed absently at her plate with her chopsticks. It wasn't that the food wasn't good. She had just lost most of her appetite lately. Her plate was only half-empty. She tried to work up the will to finish her food, but sighed and gave up.

Wordlessly she pushed her meal in front of Usagi. The girl didn't even pause before she started devouring it. Rei wasn't sure Usagi actually noticed. The girl was chatting amiably with everyone else at the table at once. Not that anyone was paying particular attention to what she was saying. Usagi just sort of filled the background with a happy kind of white noise that put everyone else at ease.

Like nothing had really happened.

Everyone was relaxed. Even the old woman, Cologne, was sitting on top of the table, happily smoking her pipe and looking for all the world like she had drifted off into a deep slumber. Rei guessed that everyone was just glad to finally be having a decent cooked meal for once. At least Ami had managed to confirm that the entire restaurant was zoanoid-free before they had entered.

Now Ami seemed more taken with the pair of little... things that Link had brought with her. They were small, about two hands tall, and looked disturbingly cute for creatures that Rei had personally seen tear a large rat apart in seconds. Things with claws and spines were not meant to be cute. Not only that, but there was something about them that set Rei's nerves on edge. It was like there was an energy around them that Rei felt she should recognise, but that she couldn't place her finger on.

"Are you certain you have those under control?" Ami asked softly.

"Yes, quite certain, over," Link said with a happy little frown on her face. She was dangling scraps of meat from her fingers and making the mewling creatures leap and beg for them. The large blue seeds on the backs of the tiny monsters glistened in the dim light of the restaurant. "As we moved further away from Tokyo, I found it easier to get them to listen to me, over."

"Listen to you?" Ami said, blinking. "You can actually talk to them?"

Link clucked at them (adding an 'over' to the end of it) and the two monsters immediately snapped their heads towards her, then they knelt submissively. "I can talk with pretty much any plant, but none of them understand as wonderfully as these, over."

"As long as you keep them away from me," Luna said primly. She was lounging as far away from the little creatures as the table would allow her to. Akane's pet octopus was flopped down next to her, studiously ignoring everyone else as it ate its own meal with a pair of chopsticks. Rei preferred not to think about the octopus.

"Ah, is Luna a little scaredy cat?" Usagi said as she patted her cat roughly on the head. "I think they're kind of cute." Luna endured the treatment with a mechanical-looking smile.

Makoto seemed to be the only one not paying attention to Link's little creations. Instead she was chuckling softly to herself and rubbing her knuckles as she stared at the slumbering Cologne. With a smirk she leaned back as far as her chair would let her then snapped forward like a cracking whip, her fist practically blurring in the air as she attacked the old woman.

Cologne was on the other end of the table by the time Makoto's fist reached the space she had been. Everyone paused to glance at her. She was still slumbering. There was even little puffs of smoke coming from the bowl of her pipe in perfect time with her deep, peaceful snores. Makoto blinked, then frowned. She stuck her tongue out and clenched her teeth around it as she re- oriented on Cologne's new position. Rei watched her miss three more times before Makoto threw her hands up in frustration.

"Is she even asleep?" Makoto asked sullenly.

"Probably," Link noted shortly. "She's an annoying old-ow! Over!"

Link rubbed her forehead as the chopstick tumbled down to the table. It landed between the two creatures, which had turned on Cologne and were now hissing like annoyed cats. The old woman's eyes eased open just enough for Rei to see the whites of them, and she stared at the monsters. They began to whimper and ran around behind Link.

"You weren't asleep!" Makoto accused.

"I never said I was," Cologne replied, closing her eyes again.

"How am I supposed to hit you if you aren't asleep?"

"Not my problem," Cologne informed her. "You are the one who has to hit me if you desire my tutelage. I am not the one in pursuit of a new student."

"This isn't over, old tro-ow!" Makoto rubbed her own forehead, her expression eerily mirroring Link's.

Rei stood up. She felt slightly ill. Everyone here was so happy. They were laughing and joking and enjoying themselves, just like they always did. Rei didn't belong here. She just couldn't work up the strength to laugh anymore.

She excused herself politely and started away from the table. She had vague plans of going back to the hotel. She had vague plans of going down and walking by the seashore. The city they were in was certainly beautiful. Maybe walking through it would help clear her head.

Perhaps just being away from the others for a while would do it. Two days journeying through the wilderness had forced her to constantly stay near Usagi and the others. It had forced her to hear them laugh and joke with each other as they slowly got over the anxiety of being separated from their families. It had forced her to watch them as they grew closer.

"Rei, wait up!"

Rei turned, surprised, as Usagi ran across the restaurant towards her. The girl banged her shin on someone's chair and fell in a heap across the floor, but she looked up at Rei with only her normal irrepressible smile in place. Rei shook her head slowly and waited for Usagi to join her.

"Where are you going?" Usagi asked.

"For a walk. I need to clear my head," Rei explained.

"Mind if I come with you? We haven't had much of a chance to talk lately." Usagi's good cheer was something that you couldn't just turn down. Even if Rei had wanted Usagi to leave her alone, the girl would have just kept pouring on the charm until all her defenses crumbled under that incessant good will. Besides... Rei maybe did want to talk to Usagi.

"Sure," Rei said and led the way out. It was much brighter outside. The air was warm, but the breeze off the ocean kept it comfortable. The people walked about on this beautiful summer day, their faces nothing but smiles. Rei didn't walk long before Usagi began to talk.

"Rei, have you ever had dreams?"

"Uh... yes..." Rei said. That hadn't been quite what she expected. She suspected that Usagi had noticed Rei's... emotional absence lately and was cooking up some harebrained scheme to get her to feel better.

"I used to have these dreams..." Usagi said as she walked along the promenade. "Some ancient place was always in them. There was a handsome man, whose face I could never see very well. We were dancing together in a magnificent palace and I knew he loved me..." Usagi looked down at the ground and smiled. It wasn't her usual happy smile. This one was a deeper, more personal smile. It was the kind of smile that Usagi reserved for herself, Rei could tell.

"And..." Rei prompted the girl. As a priestess, Rei had been trained a great deal in dream interpretation. Mainly because as her powers grew, her dreams were supposed to subconsciously reflect the future. But Rei had never gotten anything useful out of her dreams. Besides, all her dreams lately had been nothing but a garbled view of a figure on a plain and a muffled voice yelling at her and then... ...something bad happened, but she could never remember what.

"Well, last night I didn't have the dream," Usagi said as if that explained everything.

"Okay... so?" Rei tried not to sound cross.

"It's just... last night, I felt like something was missing." Usagi's face had become a soft frown. "I just... I felt like there was something I was supposed to have. And now... I feel like it's gone."

Rei paused. Then she shook her head. "Forget about it, Usagi." She turned sharply. "It's just a dream. They don't mean anything."

"But this felt really important!" Usagi protested.

"It wasn't," Rei snapped. "Listen... Usagi, I just would like to walk by myself for a little while. I just need time to deal with... with what happened, okay?"

Rei tried to mollify her tone, but Usagi still looked slightly hurt. But she nodded and walked away. Rei watched her leave and sighed to herself. There was no surer way to get Usagi to leave her alone than to raise the spectre of Rei's grandfather. Rei allowed a sardonic smile to cross her face. If only that were the problem.

Rei gestured and suddenly she felt the weight of her transformation wand settle into her palm. She looked down at the small red stick with its golden 'Mars' symbol for a long moment. She remembered watching Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter raise their own, similar wands. She remembered the light of their power blasting out in thin, perfect lines as they lit up the cave they were hiding in. She remembered them offering their own power up to Sailor Moon when she needed it most.

She remembered how she had failed. She had stood there, her wand raised, and nothing had happened. She had wanted it to happen. She had needed it to happen. Yet, the power had never left her. Something had held her back.

And she knew what. She didn't belong here.

Usagi, Makoto and Ami... they still believed. They had left their families, but they had not lost them. Rei had taken a step away from them, somehow. All she could hear while she had been trying to summon her power to aid Sailor Moon was her grandfather's voice. She had heard him pleading with her. She had heard him asking her not to abandon him.

Of course, that had never happened.

But still...

Rei sent the wand back to whatever place it came from. She turned her eyes across the skyline of the small city. In the distance a thin white tower on top of a hill loomed over the city. Beyond it, a giant forest grew. Chris was up there now. He had insisted nobody come with him. He had warned them all against following him. Rei almost gave into a sudden, intense desire to ignore his warnings. But she shook her head clear.

Still, as she walked away towards the ocean she could feel the shadow of the tower on her. This entire city, it felt so beautiful... almost cloyingly so. It was like she was being wrapped in its tender arms and somebody was whispering into her ear that she didn't have to worry about all that anymore. But that was silly. Places weren't like that.

01010

Ranma stood on the street corner, looking down the row of middle-class homes. The sun was setting slowly, turning the sky into a brilliant cascade of purples and blues. The heat had finally broken, a cold wind blowing in off the sea as afternoon crept into night. Ranma looked down and held the tiny camera in his hands.

He had found it there... he had taken it without thinking.

He felt Ukyou walk up to him. She wanted him to feel her coming, her aura was much too strong. She was becoming like a whisper.

"Ranma, what are you doing here?" Ukyou asked. She looked concerned. To most people, she would have looked indifferent, maybe even callous. But Ranma had learned how to read her. He could see the emotions in her by the twitch of her lip or flicker of her pupils. New eyes, scars... none of that mattered. Ranma knew Ukyou... or had. He refused to meet her gaze.

"Where's Hotaru?" Ranma changed the subject.

"Akira is looking after her," Ukyou explained.

"Good," Ranma nodded. "I still need to thank her. Both of them. But Hotaru especially..." He glanced down at his leg. His pants still had a hole in them. The blood had dried, leaving a maroon stain. He would have to get rid of them. Hotaru had touched him and healed him without a word. Ranma hadn't been able to thank her. He just hadn't been able to say the words.

"Hotaru... is stronger than she has any right to be," Ukyou said. "Losing someone like that, it just isn't right."

"Yeah," Ranma said. Ukyou had somehow dragged the subject back to where she had wanted it. He shouldn't have been surprised. Ukyou always managed to do that, to turn things around on him. He felt a flare of annoyance at her. But not his comfortable, hot annoyance. This annoyance... it came from somewhere deeper. "You know... all those pictures she took, and I don't think I have a single picture of her." Ranma tried to keep his emotions out of his voice as he flipped the camera into the air and let it settle in his hand.

Ukyou looked away. Her voice grew softer, warmer. But he could tell she had read the resentment in him. "Did you love her?"

"I don't know," Ranma replied after a second's thought. "I think... I think I would have liked to find out, though." He closed his eyes. Men didn't cry. Men didn't cry. He gritted his teeth behind his lips as his eyes burned.

"I'm sorry," Ukyou said lamely.

Ranma almost exploded at her. But that wouldn't have been right. Ukyou... she had just done what she thought was right. She couldn't be blamed for Ran's death. So why... why did he feel this sudden anger at her? It was like she had stolen something from him, but he didn't know what. But he fought it down. He strangled it with his will. Ukyou was his friend. He liked her.

"What are you doing now, Ukyou?"

She seemed surprised by the question. She stepped back, and her dark eyes looked away. It was that strange far-off look that meant she was thinking hard, in one of those internal moments she had.

"I don't know," Ukyou admitted after a moment.

"You're going to take care of Hotaru?" Ranma asked.

"Someone has to," Ukyou said. "Telulu may say she isn't interested in her, but..." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs and sighed. "Plus Chronos and Shadowloo and a thousand other problems. Too many people want her for what she is."

Ranma nodded. He turned to face Ukyou fully. He held the camera tightly. It was like a talisman. "I'm through drifting, Ukyou." He looked down at the camera. "You can flow from problem to problem if you want. You can wait for evil to come to you... but I'm not."

"Ranma..." Ukyou looked up at him, her eyes wide. He still refused to meet her gaze. He wanted to... he just couldn't.

"What's the worst place now, Ukyou?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Ukyou's voice was worried.

"The worst place on Earth." He furrowed his brow. "Where are the worst monsters? The ones that make Vega look like a child. I want people I can kill, Ukyou."

"Don't say that, Ranma," Ukyou said sharply. "You don't really mean it. It's the grief talking."

"Maybe..." Ranma kept his eyes on the camera. He had made a promise. "But I have to start somewhere, and I want to start at the bottom and work my way up."

"What if... what if I don't tell you?" Ukyou's reply was hesitant.

"I'll find out on my own," Ranma said sharply. He looked down at her. "I'm doing this for myself, Ukyou. I don't really care about Japan. It isn't my home. I've never really had a home. But I'm not going to stand here and wait for the bad guys to get around to me while more people like her die. Her, and Hotaru's dad, and everyone else..." He trailed off and closed his eyes. The breeze was cool against his skin. "I need to start somewhere. The worse the better. Because I'm Ranma Saotome. I'll find a way to win."

Ukyou paused. "England."

"England?" Ranma asked.

"It's the place with the worst monsters."

Ranma didn't bother to ask how she knew. He knew better than to doubt Ukyou. He nodded.

"I'll follow you," she said after a moment.

"And Hotaru?" Ranma thought to ask.

"Getting her out of Japan is probably a good idea..." Ukyou said half- heartedly. "Honestly, I can't think of anywhere that will be safe for her."

Ranma nodded again. "We leave tomorrow morning." He turned and started down the street.

"You never answered my original question, Ranma," Ukyou pointed out mildly.

"They deserve to know," he explained.

"The police already told them," Ukyou said. "They don't need more grief, Ranma. They lost more than you did, if you can understand that. Maybe it's best you leave them alone."

"No, Ukyou," Ranma replied, shaking his head. "Ran would want this. She would want them to know, to know everything. Somebody has to tell her story."

He took five more steps before Ukyou turned and walked away, fading into the twilight like a whisper. Ranma continued walking until he came to a simple door. He knocked. Eventually, a man with dark bags under his eyes opened it. He looked like he had seen hell. Maybe he had. Ranma took a deep breath.

"Mr. Hibiki, you don't know me, but I knew your daughter..."

01010

"If a chick cannot break out of its shell, it will die without ever being born."

The man sat in the chair, staring out into the rain. A flash of lightning caused him to blink and shift slightly.

"We are the chick. The world is our egg."

The bolt's answering roll of thunder shook the entire mansion. The man wondered momentarily how long he had sat there, staring out into the rain without actually seeing it. An hour? A day? Then he remembered that it didn't matter.

"If we don't crack the world's shell, we will die without truly being born."

And yet something was keeping his attention from sliding back into the abyss of dark and twisting thought. What was it? Something was different. Something was wrong.

"Smash the world's shell!"

The windowed door swung open smoothly, and the lightning illuminated the huge figure that stood there, who a moment ago had been nowhere to be seen.

"For the revolution of the world!" the figure said, echoing the words of the recording as if he had heard them a thousand times before. His voice sounded both smug and joyous. The man could do nothing but stare as the figure took a step into the room, water rolling off his coat to splash carelessly upon the carpet.

"Good evening, student council president," the intruder said conversationally. He was clearly massive, both in height and musculature, wearing jeans and a black coat with a hood that hung low ever his face. His eyes were nowhere to be seen, but the wide grin that shone from the shadow cast by the hood was almost predatorial. "I apologise for my rude interruption."

The man in the chair merely stared for a moment. The intruder grinned at him.

His sword wasn't within reach, so the man didn't bother looking for it. Was this intruder a thief? But the way he'd echoed the recording...

"We are the chick. The world is our egg."

The stranger appeared to have lost patience waiting for a response. "I won't keep you long. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to know where the dormitory room of Keiko Sonoda is."

The man stared.

"...we will die without truly being born."

"Come now," the intruder said. "I'm sure you know where it is."

The man in the chair pointed. What else was there to do?

"Many things are in that direction," the stranger noted. "Where, precisely?"

"...of the world!" the recording broadcast into the following silence.

"It is... in the second building, the west dormitory. First floor, the third door from the right of the entranceway." The man's voice sounded dusty, disused, alien even to himself. How long since he had spoken to anyone? A week? Two? Ever since...

The stranger's smile widened. "I thought you'd know. Thank you for your assistance, student council president. I'll let you get back to talking to yourself now."

"Smash the world's shell!" The man in the chair's voice, sounding strong and confident, emanated from the recorder, echoing throughout the room.

The intruder turned around, a few final splatters of water from his coat whipping onto the floor. He walked out, slid the door carefully shut, and looked back at the man in the chair.

Then he vanished.

No, not vanished. There was a movement, almost too fast for the man's eyes to follow. But he had shot upward. And there he was, for the briefest of instants, just on the edge of vision, before he shot upwards into the air, leaping higher, farther and faster than should have been possible, and vanished into the night.

"If a chick cannot break out of its shell, it will die without ever being born."

The red-haired man spent another moment looking after the intruder. Then he stood up suddenly, moving over to the recorder, and sharply pushed a button, silencing it.

He needed to think.

01010

The temple was quiet as the first stars began to emerge. Akira sat at the foot of the tall Buddha, her hands on top of one knee. Her helmet was beside her. Her undershirt and jacket were in the garbage; they had been too torn up to salvage. Ukyou had loaned her a shirt to wear.

How had she gotten here? How had a simple favour done for one boy - that, truthfully, Akira didn't even like very much - gotten her here? The stars didn't answer. Akira wished she could hit the open road; drive so fast that the feelings didn't catch up with her. It hurt too much. All this fighting...

And for what?

Ukyou emerged from the darkness. She moved soundlessly across the courtyard to stand near Akira. Her face was covered in shadow.

"Where's Hotaru?"

"Inside, sleeping," Akira explained. "How was Ranma?"

"As well as can be expected," Ukyou explained. There was something in her tone, her posture, that Akira knew was important but couldn't place. Ukyou was hard to read when she wanted to be.

"I don't know what I would do if... if someone I loved..." Akira looked away from Ukyou, unable to look at her for a moment. Ukyou sighed and sat down as well, placing her back against the great Buddha. They sat together in silence for a long time. It was cold now, and Ukyou wasn't exactly a bastion of warmth on the best of days. But Akira nevertheless felt warmer sitting here with her in the shadows than she had during the hot day.

"Ranma is leaving in the morning," Ukyou said. "He's leaving Japan. I'm going with him."

"I..." Akira coughed and blinked. That had been sudden. "Wow. Where are you going?"

"To hell," Ukyou said. "To fight demons."

"You're... speaking metaphorically... right?" Akira said shakily.

"I'm not so sure," Ukyou mused aloud.

Akira lowered her head and ran her finger through the rocks that covered the courtyard. They made soft clicking sounds as she shifted them. "You really do love him." She looked up at Ukyou's face. "You would follow him into hell and back."

Ukyou looked at Akira for a long time. Then she nodded. When she spoke, her voice was choked with emotion. "Yes." She looked down at her hands.

"You did it for him..." Akira trailed off. She couldn't express the feeling she had inside. She wasn't entirely sure what it was. She just knew it meant something. She knew why Ukyou had done what she had done this morning. She just couldn't explain it.

"Yes," Ukyou said softly. "I'll do anything for him."

Akira looked down at the ground again.

Minutes passed.

"I'm not coming with you," she pointed out.

"I know," Ukyou said.

"I want to explain!" Akira shouted suddenly, spinning in place to face the other girl. Ukyou looked at her sharply and nodded towards the temple. Akira hushed her tone. "I don't want you to think it's because I'm a coward, or I don't want to help."

"It's okay, Akira," Ukyou stepped smoothly into a pause in Akira's speech. "You have friends and family here." Ukyou smiled wryly. "Plus, you're not sure if you want to go anywhere with a monster."

"No!" Akira hissed softly. "Ukyou, you aren't a monster! That has nothing to do with this."

"Doesn't it?" Ukyou looked down at her hands. "What good am I? The one principle I said I would never break... and I don't even have that to cling to anymore. No. You shouldn't be around me, Akira. Everything I touch turns to ashes." Akira opened her mouth, but Ukyou cut her off without even looking at her.

"Akira, before you try and defend me, let me tell you one thing." Ukyou looked up at the stars. "This morning... when I was in that school, and I saw her body... when I looked down at it the first thing I thought, the VERY first thing, my immediate reaction," Ukyou slowly trailed off. "My first reaction was relief." She looked at Akira. "Relief that she wouldn't be there to stand between Ranma and me, anymore."

Akira clenched her fists. "You're too hard on yourself, Ukyou." The other girl blinked. "You can't blame yourself for Ran's death! You aren't God! You can't blame yourself for your feelings!" Akira kept talking, quickly. She hated talking. She was bad at it. She preferred to stay quiet. But she knew that if she stopped, that if she let Ukyou stop her, then she would never start again. Then it would be too late, because Ukyou would be gone. "And I know you did it all for him!" Akira said the words and they tasted sour in her mouth. "You killed Vega... because someone had to. He was a rabid dog. You killed him for that reason... and Ranma wasn't going to. Ranma would have killed... because... because..."

"Because Vega hurt him," Ukyou finished.

"Yes..."

"That doesn't make it right, Akira." Ukyou looked away, into the darkness. With her strange eyes, Akira wondered what she saw. "I... I really tried. I thought that if... that if I held on... that if I refused to give away just that last bit of me. That if I was true to my promise, that it wouldn't be true."

"What..." Akira knew that Ukyou wasn't talking about Vega anymore. She realized that Ukyou had come to a conclusion sometime today, sometime after all the violence and the terror. Something had changed in Ukyou, and not for the better.

"Ukyou..."

"Go home, Akira." Ukyou stood up, and helped Akira to her feet. She kept a hold on Akira's hand even after they were both standing. Akira felt her cheeks flush for some reason. "I'm sorry I can't be the girl you want me to be, Akira."

"What?" Akira gasped.

Ukyou smiled enigmatically.

"What do you mean?" Akira said harshly. Ukyou released her hand and stepped back.

"I thought about it for a little bit, but it just isn't in me," Ukyou said. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Akira wanted to shout, but controlled herself. Ukyou cocked her head to the side and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"You..." Ukyou shook her head. "It doesn't matter. My mistake. I was leaping to conclusions again." Akira blinked, not sure what that had all been about. "But you should be going home, it's late."

"I'll..." Akira gulped. Why did this sound like more than a goodbye? A flicker of fear entered Akira's chest. Her eyes widened slightly as Ukyou took a step back again. "I'll come by to see you off..." she began.

"No need," Ukyou replied crisply. "We'll be gone by morning."

Akira stepped forward until she was almost touching Ukyou. "Then one day, we will meet again." Ukyou looked at Akira strangely. "We're friends, Ukyou. I won't let us lose that. One day, we'll meet again. Promise?"

"I don't make promises I can't keep," Ukyou replied softly.

"Then you'll keep this one!" Akira insisted.

Ukyou didn't smile. "No, Akira. I can't promise you anything."

Akira wanted to shout something, but couldn't. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth. What had changed behind those icy black lotus eyes? But now Ukyou was turning away, entering the shrine. Akira waited until she was out of sight. Then she looked down at the gravel and up at the great Buddha.

"I promise then, Ukyou. I promise we'll meet again."

01010

Keiko Sonoda was asleep, of course. Her hair had been let down from its trademark pigtails, floating around her head like a mousy-brown cloud. The blankets were dishevelled and her limbs flung out awkwardly: she wasn't sleeping restfully, not surprising in this thunderstorm. Still, for all that, she still seemed... elegant, somehow.

Chris wondered if that was some inner beauty the plain girl rarely displayed, or if it was a side-effect of being a resident of Ohtori Academy, where fairy-tale elegance covered everything like a fine glaze. Or perhaps it was just his own bias: after all, Keiko was his favourite character from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Perhaps it was all three.

He wouldn't wake her up, of course. Keiko was a normal girl - by Utena standards - with normal problems - again, by Utena standards. She served a girl whom she despised, in order to be close to said girl's brother, Touga, the object of Keiko's desperate, doomed love.

It was impossible to overstate the importance of this love to her; it, in fact, defined much of how Keiko lived her life. And yet it was so very, very small. Chris smiled a bit to himself. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had to deal with such a small, innocent problem as unrequited love.

No, Keiko was normal. Painfully so. Chris would not wake her up now. Most likely he'd never even speak to the girl. And that was obviously the kindest thing he could do for her. She didn't deserve to be wrapped up in the sort of problems he had to deal with.

Turning away from the window he had been looking through, Chris focused on his real goal. Even in the rain, the Chairman's Tower was impossible to miss. He'd seen the tall, pristinely white structure hours before he had reached the Ohtori grounds, towering at the center of both the campus and the city surrounding it. He had been putting off going there.

Of course, he knew why. Akio Ohtori was dangerous. He might not be able to smash mountains like a zoalord, but he made Chris at least as nervous. Brilliant, ageless, cunning, manipulative, silken-tongued, and without the slightest shred of comprehensible humanity. He had been God, once, or so the Utena backstory would have it. He sought to reach that height again.

If he fought a zoalord, Chris could at least try to find bigger guns as backup, like Sailor Moon and her deus-ex-machina crystal. But Chris didn't know of any character who could out-think Akio, or out-talk Akio, or had more experience than Akio, or would be able to out-manipulate him. It didn't help that he wouldn't trust any straight woman to be objective about the preternaturally - if not flat-out supernaturally - sexual being. And that was why Chris was on his own for this one. He was pretty sure he could handle it. Maybe.

But Akio knew the truth. Akio knew, to a greater extent than anyone else Chris had consulted, what something eternal was. The Third Circle. The power of miracles. Whatever you called it. Akio had once commanded it. Or at least it seemed more likely that he had than anyone else Chris could think of.

If it meant taking a risk like this in order to gain that information... well, Chris had promised never to kill anyone again. He was on borrowed time.

He glanced back through the window. Keiko had rolled over, clutching a pillow to herself. Was she dreaming of Touga? Probably. Chris smiled a bit. At least his appearing out of nowhere to ask Touga for her dormitory room and then leaping away had probably gotten Keiko the attention of her love. And, since Chris didn't plan to pursue any further connection to her, hopefully she wouldn't get any undue attention from higher up. That was the best he could do for his favourite character.

Well, aside from saving the world.

Chris began walking towards the Chairman's Tower. Cologne had said the Third Circle would most likely trump everything else, and Chris lived, moved, and walked with the Third Circle... so if nothing else, Akio's dear younger sister probably wouldn't be able to turn him into a cow. Nor could they make him see whatever they wanted to. If nothing else, Chris could threaten to tear their whole damn little paradise around their ears.

Or threaten to kill them. They didn't know about his promise. If they even could be killed. Well, it wouldn't come to that, anyway.

Probably.

01010

"Anthy, what is it doing?"

The witch opened her eyes, and a thousand blades skewered her. "He's finished looking in the girl's window. I believe he's coming here, brother."

"I see."

"Nothing is having an effect on him. And nothing he is doing is directly affecting the projection, either."

"Did it react to the wall?"

"No, he walked right through it. I don't believe he noticed it."

"I see."

The witch watched as her brother fell silent, pensively staring at the wall of the planetarium room. A fire greater than any sun scorched her flesh and bones, and the witch wondered dully what her brother planned to do.

A long moment passed.

A doorbell rang.

"He's here," the witch said unnecessarily.

"Then I should go greet our guest." Her brother rose smoothly to his feet and walked to the elevator. A moment later, the witch watched the door close, cutting off her sight of his face.

The witch was left alone with her thoughts.

She wondered if the creature that waited at the door of this tower was here to kill them. It was a tempting thought.

But she didn't have hope in such a miracle happening.

How many millennia had it been since she'd last let herself have hope for release? She pondered that thought for a moment, as her bones were perforated by burrowing maggots, and realised that she didn't really remember. She'd stopped keeping track of time a long time ago too, come to think of it.

But she knew how long it had been since she had last encountered a being like the one below. That was easy to remember. Because this was the first time since her Betrayal.

If the creature hadn't talked to Touga Kiryuu, she might not have noticed him until he had knocked upon their door. But the Kiryuu boy was one of the ones she had been told to keep an eye on, and the disturbance to the natural order of things had been like the quiver of a spider's web. As of yet, the witch couldn't tell what consequences that touch might have on the Kiryuu boy. But such things weren't very important compared to the much larger problem that was rising up through the elevator shaft.

A cheerful chime announced their arrival. She stepped forward, smiling as acid ate through her skull, and noticed the creature look at her and flinch. Her brother noticed it too. "Why hello there!" the witch said brightly. "I'm afraid I don't have anything prepared - it's very late to be entertaining guests. And such a frightful night, too! Should I go make some tea?"

"No," the creature said, having regained his composure but still not looking directly at her. "I don't... rather, thank you, but no."

"Perhaps you'd like to ease your burden for a time," the witch's brother invited, gesturing towards the couch.

The creature looked at her brother, as if expecting something else to be said. After a moment, he shrugged. "Why not?"

"An interesting question," her brother quipped.

The creature laughed a bit to himself, and sat down, his muscular form squeezing awkwardly onto the cushions. "I apologise in advance for soaking your upholstery. As you said, it's a nasty night out there."

"All the more reason a host is obligated to offer shelter," the witch's brother noted, settling himself on the coach opposite the creature. The witch remained standing.

"As you said, it's late, so I shouldn't waste too much time with this," the creature said. The witch saw her brother tense, though the signs would be invisible to anyone else. His smile never wavered, his eyes never blinked, his muscles didn't even so much as twitch. But the witch heard the faintest pause in the beating of his heart, the pressure of his breath. Again, she wondered idly if they were about to die.

"You can call me Chris," the creature said after a hesitant pause. "I guess from my reception that you noticed that I'm... unusual."

And just like that, the moment passed. The witch wasn't disappointed; after all, she'd never let herself hope. To his credit, her brother's smile didn't widen one iota.

This was no Prince.

She listened with mild interest to Chris's story. It at least had the value of novelty. If the witch hadn't long ago grown to hate stories, it might even have intrigued her.

"I see," her brother said finally, when Chris reached the proper narrative stopping point. "So, if that is the situation, what brings you to this school?"

Chris leaned forward. Before, he had been hesitant, carefully choosing his words, obviously telling them only what he thought safe. Now, however, confidence radiated from him. Blank eyes and lack of pulse didn't hide it. He expected a reaction to this statement. "Because I'm interested in what's beyond the Rose Gate."

Her brother, of course, didn't disappoint the creature. He paused, leaned back, raised one eyebrow ever so slightly. "Ah. I'm afraid to say I'm not accepting any new Duelists at this time."

Chris's lip twisted. "That's not what I'm here for, of course. I'm not interested in messing with your current game, Akio. You know about eternity. Miracles. The Third Circle. Whatever you call it, you're closer to it than any other being around here. And I need to know what you know, if I'm to fix this situation."

And so the verbal fencing began. The witch paid only passing attention, since the way it would go was clear from the first few sentences. The creature, while not entirely incompetent, obviously believed that as long as he kept whatever secrets were important to him, he had won. So her brother allowed him to win, probing enough to reassure Chris that he was interested, and otherwise simply let whatever information he wanted to divulge be extracted piece by piece.

"So you want me to tell you of miracles?" her brother said at one point, leaning against the couch and spreading an arm over the back of it.

"Yes," Chris said. "What is the essential DIFFERENCE between them and what else exists? How can that barrier be crossed? Who could cross it?"

"The barrier cannot be crossed," he replied. "The difference is like comparing the portrait of a rose to the jungles of Brazil." He paused long enough to allow Chris an opportunity to ask something, then moved smoothly on when the dead creature did not. "You already know of the other two ways, if you call this the 'Third' Circle. I'm guessing the First Circle is the least of them, that which gives strength and life. The Second Circle, then, would be the slightly larger, the one that gives possibility. But do you know what they are?"

"Maybe. Explain what you mean, please."

Her brother leaned forward, fixed the dead man with an intent gaze. "How do you think of time?"

Chris thought for a moment, then shrugged. "As an ongoing thing. A dimension that we partake in, but can't truly alter."

"A scientific explanation. Allow me to tell you a story, then.

"In the beginning, there was a small village. The people who lived in this village were industrious and good-hearted. They worked together, and over time their village grew. But one day, there was a child of this village who found that his place was no longer among them, and so he left to found his own village. And this happened many times, so that the valley was filled with villages.

"However, these villages, one and all, were essentially the same. They all were populated by decent, hard-working people. And although they never talked to people from other villages, and in many cases did not even realise the others were there, they all nonetheless lived within the same valley.

"Eventually, however, things change. A child was born who was neither decent, nor hard-working. He stole, and he begged, and refused to work, and otherwise made the lives of all those around him uncomfortable. And so he was forced to leave the valley, as there was no place for him there.

"Outside the valley, he founded a village of slothful, deceitful people. And their children grew up slothful and deceitful, and sometimes they left, to found new villages in the place outside the valley. Things continued thus with them, until eventually a child was born who was neither hard-working and decent, nor slothful and deceitful, and he could find a place with neither people.

"And so he moved beyond, and this continued for eternity, until humankind spread across the world. Millions of villages, none of which knew the others existed. And that is the story of time."

As her brother paused, Chris nodded thoughtfully. "I follow you - time isn't linear, alternate worlds, et cetera. But what does that mean?"

"Because there are people who live in the valley, who know how to call on their distant family and friends for help with the harvest. If they call their family from within the valley, that is the First Circle. If they contact the family they have from those who are outside the valley, that is the Second Circle, because after all, those who live outside the valley have a completely different way of doing things from those within."

"And the Third Circle, then?"

"Therein lies the difference. There is no story about the Third Circle, for its story is not the story of the valley. Its story cannot exist at the same time as the story of the valley. Say, in our story, before the first person left the first village, a great plague fell upon them, and all the people died. And yet, the slothful and deceitful village continued to send off people to found all the other villages of the world. Can you see what is wrong with that?"

"If the first person never leaves the first village, the slothful and deceitful village doesn't exist yet. It can't send anyone anywhere," Chris replied.

"And it certainly couldn't send someone with medicine back to the first village to cure the plague. That is the story of the Third Circle."

"Okay..." Chris said. "So, basically, the First Circle could be called the possible, if perhaps implausible. The Second is that which is impossible. The Third, then, is... the thing that isn't only impossible, but also contradicts its own existence?"

"People use the world impossible too often, I find," the witch's brother said smoothly. "There is a student at this academy. I expect you know his name. He knows a great deal about quantum physics, and he will tell you that, in fact, it is quite possible for the impossible to happen. Instead, it is simply so unlikely that it never does."

"Granted," Chris replied. "But while I understand what you're saying, I'm not sure how it relates to my situation."

"Because thermodynamic miracles - as I understand they are called - could happen. They simply don't. So while something such as, say, demons could just happen, something greater than that requires an outside agent. The barrier between the Second and Third Circles cannot be crossed... unless someone already has."

"If it can't be crossed, how did they cross it?" Chris asked dryly.

Her brother's tone grew slightly chiding. "That personage could likely answer the question much more accurately than I, for reasons you have demonstrated yourself to be aware of."

"And, of course, you would undoubtedly be very interested in whatever information I might gather about just who that personage might be, I'm guessing?"

"Is there, perhaps, something else other than information you might be looking for within my sanctuary?" the witch's brother asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chris pursed his lips a moment, obviously thinking furiously. "Maybe. How safe is Ohtori?"

"It is as safe as those inside want it to be."

"Not the clearest answer," Chris countered.

"The correct one, however."

"Well, there are no zoanoids here, so I'll take that at face value. That being the case, and given that you'll want me to pop back by occasionally, I was wondered if I could get you to look after some girls I've been shepherding."

"Hostages?" her brother replied, his tone one of faint distaste.

Chris shook his head. "No, no. Heroes. But ones in over their head, who couldn't stay in Tokyo."

"Ah, heroes in over their heads. But then, isn't that the state of any hero?"

Chris chuckled. "Probably. It's not that they're incapable. But they're YOUNG. I promised I'd find a safer place for them to stay. If this place is a sanctuary as you say, it might fit."

The witch's brother shrugged. "The only rule I have ever insisted upon is that any child who lives at Ohtori Academy also attend Ohtori Academy."

"Of course," Chris said flatly. "However, let me be bluntly honest with you, Akio. I'm happy to work with you, but as I said, I know you. And before I let them in here, I'm going to tell them exactly what sort of school they're walking into, and who runs it. In other words, they'll be forewarned. And I'll be keeping an eye on things, too."

Her brother spread his hands in mock surrender. "Then I'll give you my word, for whatever you feel that may be worth: I will never speak so much as a single untrue word to our new students."

The dead creature sighed. "Well, that'll do. And thank you for your help. I do appreciate it." He stood up, and his eyes suddenly glanced at the witch before flicking away again. "As was said before, however, it's late. I should leave you two and prepare to bring them in in the morning, I think."

"I'm certain you'll have entertaining stories for us when you return!" the witch said brightly.

Chris looked at her for a long moment, then looked away again. "Hopefully."

The witch watched the blind, pathetically self-important creature leave with a blank, innocent smile. She hated him. But not, in the final measure, any more than she did anyone else.

Except that he had almost, for a moment, given her hope.

But she would forget that too, with time.

The door closed behind Chris, and he travelled down and away.

"An interesting turn of events, isn't it, Anthy?"

She turned around. Her brother was still sitting on the couch. His shirt had come undone at some point. "If you say so, brother," she said sweetly, her eyes boiling in their sockets.

"Come here, Anthy."

The shutters of the planetarium slid closed.

01010

Eudial must have sensed something was amiss the moment she stepped into the lab, because her body froze up like the proverbial rabbit in the shadow of the hawk. She twisted one way, and then the other, looking through the gloom and smoke for any signs of what could be there. But she didn't see anything wrong, so she stepped forward anyway. The door closed behind her with the sound of finality.

She was still injured. Her arm was in a cast, and she was using a crutch to hobble along. Telulu sneered. A part of her wanted to strike down the little pest now. But the far more practical part of her avoided that line of thinking.

"Eudial, it's good you returned so promptly," Telulu said from beyond the safety of the mists. "I have a job for you."

"Telulu?" Eudial asked slowly. She narrowed her eyes and gazed into the darkness. With one hand, she adjusted her glasses. Telulu's sneer turned into a smile and she stepped out of the fog. "Where is the Professor?" Eudial asked as soon as she could see Telulu clearly.

"He's dead," Telulu replied simply.

"What?" the other Witch gasped.

"I had no more need of him or his pathetic failure of a plan," Telulu informed her new assistant as she removed her glasses. She breathed on the lenses and carefully wiped them off on the edge of her labcoat. "I am in charge of the Deathbusters now."

"You... you can't be serious!"

"Oh, I am." Telulu smiled and raised her fingers. With a single snap, the mist parted and the towering frame of Valkyrie stepped free of the shadows. The lights gleamed off her body with its sharp angles and dangerous curves. "You see, Professor Tomoe was blind. He couldn't see the war coming. But I can. I am prepared."

"Daimon..." Eudial said, eyeing the monster warily.

"Yes, one of the eggs you entrusted to me," Telulu replied. "I must thank you. They have proven quite useful so far."

"So..." Eudial's eyes flashed as she glanced at Telulu. "Is this to be my end as well?"

"Far from it," Telulu laughed haughtily. "Unlike you, I believe in converting enemies into my allies." Telulu snapped her fingers again.

Out of the mist stepped Azuma. She had discarded her human clothes, and was now wearing a sultrily-cut dress. In her hands was a large metal box.

"Pleased to meet you, Eudial," the newest Witch said, bowing slightly. "I am Azuma. I will be working with you from now on."

"A... convert?" Eudial glared at Telulu. "So, you think to take the place of the Professor now, is it?"

"I already have, Eudial," Telulu replied, her smile turning from amused to predatory in an instant. "Don't you see? I have accomplished in one day what our former master could not in two years!" She raised her hands up high, fingers bent into claws as her head tilted back to stare into the dark, mist-shrouded ceiling. "I can feel it in my breast! The beating heart of a sleeping god! Enough power to destroy a nation! Enough power to reshape the world in our image!" Telulu began to laugh, her voice echoing eerily across the cavernous chamber. "Don't you feel it, Eudial? The beacon that will summon Pharaoh 90 to this pathetic world? It is ours... and soon it will be active!"

"What are you talking about?" Eudial hissed.

Telulu looked down her nose at the red-haired woman. Her smile became mocking. "I told you. I found it. The god of this nation. It connects all the living things of this land. It reaches through the roots, you see. They stretch everywhere, a billion tiny channels through the earth. Drawing in the power around them, transferring it all. Through him, I shall harness the power of this planet. I shall open the path for Pharaoh 90. No need to struggle for the Holy Grail or place our hopes in the hands of a little girl."

"I don't see any god," Eudial replied softly.

"He's in here," Azuma explained. "This, my anti-aragami detection device, is a miracle of chemistry! With it, we can prevent the god's servants from tracking down their master until it is too late."

"That... looks like a simple lead box..." Eudial said, beads of sweat forming on her brow.

"Uh..." Azuma was also sweating. "It's really more complex than that."

"Valkyrie likes the anti-aragami detection device!" the daimon roared, her voice echoing across the room. Everyone turned to stare at the creature. She blinked and leaned down next to Azuma. "Valkyrie wonders if she said that correctly? Valkyrie was told to say that, right?" Azuma sweated some more.

"I'm so impressed by your little army..." Eudial said, snorting.

"You should be," Telulu turned around. "Because you are a part of it."

"What do you need me for?"

"My god is not yet awake." Telulu held up her curled fingers towards the sky again. "He must feed to gain his full strength. For that, I shall feed him the souls of his people."

"Heart crystals?" Eudial asked.

"Of course," Telulu glanced over her shoulder at her. "I want them. Take as many as you can. From the homeless, the dregs of society. Capture the souls of those people humanity will not miss. You are now the thing that lurks in the shadows to take them to hell. Take them all. Take them quickly. Quantity over quality is what I want." Telulu paused. "Just do it without attracting the wrong kinds of attention."

"The wrong kinds of attention?" Eudial replied.

"Ask Azuma. She actually knows more about your new enemies then I do, for the moment," Telulu said, chuckling. "Understand that I need your help in this, Eudial. Do a good job, and you will be rewarded with a place by my side when the Silence comes. Turn on me..."

Valkyrie roared and her fingers snapped forward, transforming into deadly weapons. "Valkyrie likes killing things!" it informed them all needlessly. Eudial swallowed.

"You should know that just because I'm going to be busy bringing about the end of the world, that doesn't mean I won't be keeping an eye on you," Telulu shot over her shoulder just before walking into the darkness.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Epsilon: I suppose we have to say something about killing Ran.

Blade: Well, for the love of Dios, I hope Obsidian Fox is happy now. Fricking bloodthirsty reviewers.

Epsilon: Now, now, were it not for the readers comments, not nearly as many people would die as are going to.

Blade: For instance, next chapter we're gonna kill eight or nine people! And we're not talking second-stringers like Ran!

Epsilon: That's right! Because next chapter is when we finally start crossing over into Elfen Lied!

Blade: Yeah, baby! Everyone's gonna get killed and their limbs ripped off... but don't worry! There'll still be lots of comedy with Akane and her prosthetic limbs! Also, BANDO!

Epsilon: Bando and Yan!

Blade: One is a bloodthirsty mercenary working for a corporation that deals with genetically modified killing machines that also happen to be cute chicks!

Epsilon: The other is a smartass vampire with chips in his head!

Blade: Together, they fight crime!

Epsilon: Stay tuned for future chapters of the all-new Hybrid Theory!

Blade: "Hybrid Theory... FUCK YEAH!"

Epsilon: But before that, this boring crap with your character!

Blade: Damn straight... wait just a-

There was something wrong with the cottage. Even before it came into view, Chris could tell that. The traps they (and Pink and Link in particular) had been encountering so often up until that point were conspicuously absent in a large radius around the one-room shack. Even that, however suspicious, wouldn't have Chris as certain as he was that something was wrong. It was the animals. They had not seen any of them, giant or mundane, for several minutes of walking. Even the constant buzz of insects had faded, leaving them walking in complete silence.

Chris exchanged a glance with Cologne. She had obviously noticed something was very wrong as well. But for the moment, they stayed silent. Not much point in making a big deal until they knew more - warning Pink was just an invitation for her to loudly call out whatever dared threaten her, anyway.

Finally the trees broke, and he saw the dwelling. It looked the same, as far as his vague memories of the Shinnosuke story arc from the series told him. A run-down wooden structure, with a traditional ricepaper door and not much else in the way of notable characteristics.

His senses prickled, just as Cologne raised her staff sharply. "There is a great evil here," the old woman hissed.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 17: Somewhere I Belong


	17. Somewhere I Belong

Well hello there, all you beautiful readers! It is I, the gorgeous and talented Sakura Yamazaki, here to provide your recapping experience! I noticed this fanfic was suffering from a severe lack of me last chapter, which is undoubtedly why everyone is depressed!

Well, it's possible people were also depressed because of the body count last chapter. First it started off with Vega killing Ran, which of course did not endear him to basically everyone else involved, and made that studmuffin Ranma so angry he wanted to kill Vega. But he didn't! Except he almost did after Vega said something really far too nasty for this ladylike priestess to repeat here, but then Ukyou killed Vega instead. Didn't she say something about killing being the one line she'd never cross no matter what? How wishy-washy! Just more proof that what this fanfic needs is more ME.

Speaking of things that would have been helped by me being around, those losers at the TAC clearly can't accomplish anything if I'm not around to hold their hands like I was in the original Blue Seed series. I mean, not only did that admittedly handsome but amusingly dumb Kusanagi fail to beat Murakumo, but all of them were left impotent when Telulu showed up with her new superweapon Valkyrie and proceeded to eat Kaede's soul... literally! Also, they didn't even notice that that Matsudaira woman had been secretly working for Telulu for goodness knows how long!

At least we can respect Nabiki. A woman after my own heart, who knows what she wants and sets out to get it, even if she has to pretend she was sexually assaulted! Not that she had to do that to get the wishing sword, which she managed to do even after being shot by Professor Tomoe. Not that he'll be doing any more of that, since that ever-present Telulu showed up and had her superweapon kill him. Now that's a hostile takeover! It really was beyond the pale for that poor little girl Hotaru to watch her father get killed, even if he was evil. (sigh) Once again, if only I'd been there to exorcise all the demonically possessed scientists that seem to abound in Japan, this could have been avoided. But I'm already saving America and by extension to world, and even someone as beautiful and talented as myself can't be everywhere!

I also could have exorcised those two dolls that came to "assist" (read: keep an eye on) Vega before his untimely demise. Thankfully, Ukyou defeated them, but let them get away afterwards... tsk tsk, sloppy work. And now Ukyou and Ranma are running off to England to fight vampires.

See, I would clearly totally kick some tail fighting vampires! So why am I not front and centre here, too!

I'll pass on going to Ohtori Academy, though. That guy Chris was there talking to this creepy - but DEAD sexy - guy Akio and his even creepier sister about... uh... villages and how children are raised there and how this proved the existence of God. Or something.

While Chris was pretending to understand this, Akane and Shampoo were training together. We learned Shampoo might be brighter than she looks! Not in my league, of course. The sort of brains and beauty combination possessed by me comes around only once in a generation. But Shampoo and Akane seem to be becoming friends, which is nice for them I guess. They're more pleasant than that Pink girl, anyway.

Or than that Rei girl, who has been moping for, like, EVER about how her grandfather's dead. My mother's dead, and you don't see ME whining about it. Stupid Shinto priestess wannabe. Not even a tenth of my talent, of course. I kill monsters - and save the world - WITHOUT magic reincarnation powers! Just more proof that I should be the star here!

Now all you readers who want the beautiful and charming Sakura Yamazaki to assume her rightful place in this fanfic, make sure you email the authors ten thousand times each and get their heads back on straight!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 17: Somewhere I Belong

Akane was alone in the forest. It was dark and the mist obscured anything more than a few metres away from view. She was frightened, but that didn't really matter. She knew she had abandoned her friends and that they weren't here to help her any more. She was alone, and it was her fault.

She looked up at the tall trees. They were impossibly large. No, she was just smaller. She was a child again. She was a child lost in the woods and the mist stretched off in all directions. This place was so familiar and so vivid. Was this a memory?

Before she could think on that any further, the ground below her exploded. She screamed and tumbled. Her skills abandoned her, or maybe they had never been there, but for whatever reason she was thrown to the ground and collapsed in a heap. Her body ached and there were cuts on her arms. She started to cry.

The sound of harsh breathing drew her eyes up. The monster loomed over her, its wicked claws hovering in the air. It was a creature she had never seen before, some hideous combination of bird and rodent. The rational part of her mind tried to tell her that such things existed, somewhere in the world. But she knew they were never so big. It was big as a transfer truck. No normal animal grew so large.

Akane could do nothing but cower. Even as she did, she felt something else there. It was larger, deeper and just beyond the giant platypus. It was something that defied the definition of the term large. It tickled a far more recent memory, but this was a memory she did not want to remember. She pushed the thought from her mind as the monster animal closed on her.

The shadow leapt from her right and swung a long staff, clobbering the beast with a single expert strike. It collapsed to the ground, a large lump forming atop its skull. Now that it was not looming so large, it did not seem nearly so intimidating. In fact it seemed slightly silly.

The shadow was standing on top of the skull now. It was another child, holding up a bizarre weapon on one shoulder. Akane stared at her saviour. There was something wrong here. This wasn't the way it had happened. The figure stepped into the light and Akane saw a gleam off her spatula and the little girl smiled at her.

"Hey, idiot, you know you shouldn't be wandering around by yourself in such a dangerous place, right?"

"What...?" Akane asked. She knew she was supposed to say something else.

"Listen, I gotta go," the girl turned slightly, making as if to leap away. "Here, take this. It belongs to a friend of mine."

The dream girl tossed something at Akane, who caught it with reflexes she knew she had never had as a child. She glanced down at the thing. It was a helmet, like the kind a motorcycle rider would wear.

"If you ever need help, give that back to her, okay?" the dream girl said before leaping away into the darkness again.

"Wait!"

Akane gasped as she woke up with a start. She glanced around the dark room. Her pajamas were clinging to her body by the cold sweat. She saw a flash of light in the darkness. The moonlight flickering of the edge of a sword.

"No, Akane, we're leaving now. Are you awake yet?"

"Shampoo?" Akane's eyes adjusted a bit more to the darkness and she could see the Chinese girl sitting on the bed opposite her. She was holding two swords, one of which she tossed at Akane. Akane grabbed it reflexively, caught by a sudden surreal feeling. "Leaving? What...?" For some reason Akane couldn't concentrate. Dreams were supposed to fade when you woke up, weren't they?

Shampoo blinked, looking concerned for a moment. Then she got up and slowly walked over to Akane. She leaned over and looked into her eyes. "Akane..." Then Shampoo rapped the hilt of her sword against Akane's forehead. Akane yelped in pain. "Wake up!"

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Akane waved her hands at the girl to stave off further violence.

"Good. Then get dressed, we're leaving." Shampoo turned and strode purposefully out the door. Akane watched the taller girl leave, her long purple hair rustling in her wake. Finally Akane sighed and slipped out of bed.

She really needed a shower, but there probably wouldn't be time for that. She remembered vaguely the time Akane had stopped at that one motel for a good long shower and Shampoo had shown up and dragged her, still naked, covered with soap and screaming, back to the rest of the group so they could get moving. Akane reflected that it was really not the easiest thing in the world to be Shampoo's friend.

Akane merely slipped into a fresh set of clothes. Her weights were still on, of course. She didn't even bother to take them off when she slept anymore. As she got dressed, the memories of the real world filtered back to her. The dream didn't really fade. In fact, she kept having to look down into her hand to make sure she wasn't carrying a helmet. But it grudgingly retreated to the back of her mind.

She glanced out the window. In the distance, a dark mass loomed in the moonlight. It was impossible to make out any details now, but Akane remembered it clearly from when they had arrived in the small village earlier today. It was a forest, a great mass of trees with streams of mist pouring from between the gaps so that the entire thing looked like it was floating on a cloud.

And Akane knew she had been here before. She didn't know when, and the memory remained teasingly at the tip of her tongue. A slight weight settled on her shoulder and Akane glanced up at her pet octopus. She smiled and scratched underneath Patoratsyu's snout, causing him to close his eyes and make that strange yet calming sound he made when he was happy.

"One dream to another then..." Akane said to him as she turned away from the window. "Does Chris just have a thing for these kinds of places, boy?"

The octopus gave a very good impression of a shrug, considering he didn't have shoulders. Akane shook her head. At least they were out of that city. Something about Ohtori and its surroundings had just struck her wrong. It was like there was a part of her that knew she wasn't supposed to be there. That even lingering as close as she did was dangerous. But like all the strange feelings she had been having lately, it was hard to pin it down.

She wondered if Ami and the others were okay. It had taken Chris a long time to convince them all to stay at the school. Not that Akane could fault his arguments. He had just been doing exactly what she had asked him to do, after all. Ohtori was a place where Chronos would never find the Sailor Senshi. It was a place they could launch strikes into the world from and then retreat to for safety. It was a place where they could have something resembling a normal life. And if it was run by the next best thing to the Devil himself? Well, Chris had spent most of that hour drilling into everyone's head in no uncertain terms what he thought of Akio Ohtori and how everyone should interact with him.

But that was the past. Akane shook those thoughts clear as she emerged into the street in front of the small inn they were staying at. Everyone else was already waiting for her. She waved cheerfully, and they all nodded or called greetings. Well, everyone but...

"Took you long enough, over," Pink snapped, her arms crossed over her Chinese breastplate.

Akane considered replying. Pink was always trying to get under her skin. One part of her wanted to lash out verbally in return. Or even more than verbally. But Akane settled for just grinding her teeth and glaring at the smiling twin. She was better than that now. She didn't have time to be worried about grudges with her companions.

Akane reminded herself to have a talk with Chris about Pink's behaviour. Next time she broached the subject, she would just have to ignore his excuses and not let him sidestep the issue.

"So, do you think it's dark enough now, Cologne?" Chris said once Akane had joined them.

The little old woman wasn't paying much attention to him. Her eyes were staring off in the direction of the forest. Ryugenzawa, Chris had called it. "Yes..." Cologne frowned and scratched at the ground idly with her staff. Akane had never seen her looking so nervous, not even when they had been trying to sneak into the heart of Chronos. But then again, ever since that day Cologne had been more withdrawn. "If anything, the feeling of evil from that place has only increased since we arrived here." She looked at Chris. "But if you insist on walking into the dragon's maw, boy, then now is the best time to do so. I would just remind everyone that our best option here is stealth."

"We have to go. Pink was right," Chris said firmly. "We have to retrieve the Moss of Life. Not just for what it might do for me... but for what anyone else might misuse it for."

"I warn you that we might already be too late for that," Cologne intoned.

"All the more reason to get involved quickly," Akane insisted. She shifted her sword on her back, making sure the handle would be in easy reach.

"Then let's get going, over!" Link practically growled as she started marching down the street. Shrugging to themselves, everyone followed.

01010

There was something wrong with the cottage. Even before it came into view, Chris could tell that. The traps they (and Pink and Link in particular) had been encountering so often up until that point were conspicuously absent in a large radius around the one-room shack. Even that, however suspicious, wouldn't have Chris as certain as he was that something was wrong. It was the animals. They had not seen any of them, giant or mundane, for several minutes of walking. Even the constant buzz of insects had faded, leaving them walking in complete silence.

Chris exchanged a glance with Cologne. She had obviously noticed something was very wrong as well. But for the moment, they stayed silent. Not much point in making a big deal until they knew more - warning Pink was just an invitation for her to loudly call out whatever dared threaten her, anyway.

Finally the trees broke, and he saw the dwelling. It looked the same, as far as his vague memories of the Shinnosuke story arc from the series told him. A run-down wooden structure, with a traditional ricepaper door and not much else in the way of notable characteristics.

His senses prickled, just as Cologne raised her staff sharply. "There is a great evil here," the old woman hissed.

"This place looks... familiar..." Akane said, as if she hadn't heard. She was staring at the cottage, trying to place the memories in her mind. No time to wait for her to recall Shinnosuke and their childhood meeting now, though.

"Everybody get down," he said sharply. There had been movement inside, he was sure of it.

The group all crouched behind the underbrush. Pink did, in fact, open her mouth, but a single look from Cologne caused her to close it again into a tight, irritated grin.

A moment later, the door slid open with a gentle whoosh, letting out the flickering light of the firepit burning within. It also let out two shapely silhouettes, momentarily framed against the light from the doorway. Chris cursed under his non-essential breath.

Vice and Mature walked away from the cottage, thankfully not in the direction of his hidden companions. Their easy banter, however, easily carried through the eerily silent forest.

"You really should stop teasing the poor boy," Mature complained in a cultured, sultry voice. She tossed her long blonde forelock back with a flick of her head.

"Awwwwwww..." moaned Vice, her low, throaty alto sounding a little too openly sexual for decency. "I'm not allowed to HURT him. What else can I do?"

"He's a child," Mature said with clear distaste. "It's disgusting. He's also the chosen one, which makes it practically sacrilegious. I know Goenitz never says anything, but-"

"Mmm, sacrilicious."

"You're not even listening to - did you just say 'sacrilicious'?"

"I'm going to do something..." Vice ran her hands down her body-hugging scarlet and black dress. "...profane to him when we get back." She laughed.

"You're hopeless," Mature sighed. She brushed a stray leaf away from her dress, which was black and white but otherwise identical to that of her companion. "Save it for later. It's a long walk to the lake, and you know how HE hates being kept waiting."

Chris waited until the two demon-worshippers were safely far away before relaxing. "Well, that's about as bad news as I could have hoped for."

"Friends of yours?" Cologne asked wryly.

He opened his mouth to respond, but Pink broke in. "They're secretaries. EVIL secretaries, over." She walked in front of the group, her confident smirk reasserted with gusto. "The blonde-haired bimbo is Mature, and the slut with short brown hair is Vice. They both worship the Orochi, some evil death god or something, and they and the Goenitz guy they mentioned are trying to revive him, over."

"Wait... the same Orochi we came to find?" Akane asked. "I thought he was the source of the Moss of Life and all the gigantic animals here."

"He is," Chris replied. "They worship a different Orochi, but they're probably here because they don't know that yet."

"How... convenient," said Link, then laughed quietly to herself. Everyone glanced at her, but she waved them aside. "And who is the other person they were talking about, over?"

"I have a strong suspicion, but it's a few years early," Chris said. "Well, only one way to find out." He started to walk towards the cottage. "Besides, with them and Goenitz away, this is our best chance to investigate the situation."

They hadn't even bothered to close the door when they left. Perhaps no one was there? But as he walked up to what was once Shinnosuke's home, he knew that wasn't true - there was definitely someone still present. Dispensing with stealth, he slid the door all the way open and stepped inside.

The boy looked maybe ten years old. His short milk-chocolate hair was unruly, and his clothes those of a ragged street urchin. He was curled up against the wall, only drowsily looking up to see who had arrived, and as he moved, the firelight glinted off a silver medallion that hung from a chain around his neck.

"I thought so. Chris."

"Ooh, ooh! I want to see, over!" Pink shoved him aside and rushed in. "Oh, isn't he adorable? Doesn't look much like a pretty-boy band member though, over."

"You're... you're not them. Who are you?" the boy who was destined to inherit the power of the Orochi asked.

"Who is this boy?" Cologne asked from her newly-acquired perch on Chris's head.

"I said already," Chris noted with a sigh. "That's Chris."

"What?" exclaimed Akane as she filed in with the rest of the group - except Shampoo, who remained outside, arms folded, presumably keeping a lookout. "You mean he's your past self from before you died?"

"Huh?" Pink stared at Akane. "Wow, you're really some kind of idiot, over."

Chris cut in before that could degenerate. "No, he's not. No such luck."

At this point, the boy, who had been looking confused, suddenly stood up and began waving them away. "You guys have to get out of here before they get back! You can't stay around here! He'll kill you! Or... worse..." the boy suddenly looked pale.

Akane turned towards the boy, her motherly instincts kicking in so strongly it was practically visible. "Well, whoever he is, we're not going to just run away and leave you here." Then she bowed. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude, aren't I? You're Chris, right? My name is Akane Tendo. We're here to, ah, rescue you!"

"What a load of bull," snorted Pink. "We are not, over."

"We are NOW," Akane insisted.

"You don't understand," the boy protested. "These people... they aren't human! If you don't leave, they'll kill you... just like those guys that used to live here! They did such horrible things... you can't stop them!"

Well, that explained the absence of Shinnosuke and his grandfather. Not that Chris hadn't expected as much as soon as he'd seen Vice and Mature. "Don't worry about it, kid. If everything goes as I hope it will, we won't even have to fight them."

Cologne snorted loudly, but Chris chose to ignore that. "Anyway, Akane's right. We can't leave, uh, little Chris here." That would get them pursued for sure, but it wasn't like Akane could be persuaded otherwise, and in any case getting the Orochi heir away from Orochi's disciple was probably a good thing. "So we'll get out of here and-"

"Little Chris?" Pink squealed like a schoolgirl. "That's so CUTE, over!" She ruffled the young boy's hair, smiling at him. There was something familiar in her eyes...

"Please don't do that," the boy snapped, slapping her hand away. Remarkably, Pink took that in relative good humour, her smile still broad. "Anyway, just get out of here. I can't leave."

"We can guide you safely through the forest, boy," Cologne said.

"No, I mean... I can't leave. I mean..." The boy sweated, suddenly looking very young, and chewed his lip. "Vic... that lady... she said to me..." He began to sweat even more heavily, rocking back and forth on his heels, and looking anywhere but at the door. "I can't. I can't leave. I can't go outside."

Link walked up to the boy and roughly grabbed his face, staring deep into his eyes. "Brainwashing," she declared after a moment. "He's been drugged, and probably compounded with some post-hypnotic suggestion technique, over."

"Yeah, I think Vice can do something like that," Chris said, a little uncertain. King of Fighters had never been his favourite series. "Anyway, we can't forget the real reasons we're here."

"I assume," Cologne intoned, now smoking her pipe, "that the lake those young ladies mentioned would be the same one you intend to visit?"

"Of course," Chris groused. "But that just makes it more important. Whether that's the Orochi they're looking for or not, Goenitz is decidedly one of those people we shouldn't let the power of this place fall into the hands of."

"So we'll split up, then," Akane said. "Link can stay here and unbrainwash little Chris, and we can go fetch the Moss of Life."

"No, I'll go," Link immediately insisted. "Pink can handle what's wrong with the child, and I need to make sure... the moss is properly taken care of, over."

"Sounds like an excellent plan, over," Pink enthused.

Chris shook his head. "Not workable. We're going to need to sneak in, grab the moss from under their nose, and get out without being seen. We don't want to risk a fight with Goenitz and those two girls, and that means we have to limit this to only the most skilled people."

"Do any of you even know how to collector secure the Moss of Life?" Link snapped instantly. "Of course not. You need me. I'm going, over."

Chris sighed, but Link did have a point. The Moss was too valuable to risk wasting. "Very well, we can cover for you, but otherwise it should only be me, Cologne, and I guess Shampoo."

"Shampoo isn't trained for this sort of activity," Cologne replied. "She will only slow us down."

"Fair enough," Chris nodded.

"You're all going to die," the boy predicted dourly. "You have no idea how horrible these people are."

"Goenitz probably isn't quite a zoalord, but he could blow an entire stadium to rubble," Chris said as Cologne glanced at him. "The other two are less worrisome, but I wouldn't ignore them. They're vicious, and they won't think twice about killing an opponent."

Akane nodded, grabbing the hilt of her sword. "Okay. In that case we'll stay here and guard little Chris if any animals show up or they come back." Hayato's octopus, perched on her shoulder, comically nodded along with her pronouncement.

"Right, that works," Chris said. "Just don't let the octopus drink the water."

01010

The doorbell rang. Nanami answered it, as she always did. The man handed her a newspaper. "This is the latest issue of the Tokyo Sun, as ordered." She took it and thanked him graciously, because she was well-bred and it was expected.

Her brother was sitting in his chair, as he always was. The recording was still off, as it had been for three days. "Here you are, big brother!" she said cheerfully, and smiled at him.

Touga took the paper without a word or a look, as he always did, and began reading it silently. Nanami waited for a few moments before leaving the room. Like always, she felt a slight feeling of disappointment, but she was happy to help her brother in whatever way she could.

The doorbell rang.

"This is the latest unabridged dictionary, as ordered." The delivery man handed Nanami a book about the size of her head. She thanked him, he left, and she brought the book to her brother. Touga took it without comment, and after a few moments, Nanami left.

The doorbell rang.

This time the delivery man was holding a large box. "This is 1992's Encyclopedia Britannica, Japanese Edition, as ordered."

Nanami huffed and puffed and tried to carry the box along, but finally had to just drag it along the floor. It scraped the floor, and Nanami made a mental note to have Keiko, Aiko, and Yuuko revarnish it later. Finally, she got it to Touga's chair, and he opened the box, selected the first volume, and began to read without comment. Nanami stumbled out of the room and leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

The doorbell rang.

Nanami felt very put-upon as she opened the door, but then stared at the piles upon piles of boxes being unloaded from the back of the van.

"This is the entire print run of the Mainichi Daily News since its inception on March 28th, 1872, as ordered..."

Nanami screamed.

And sat bolt upright in bed. She peered around blearily for a moment, but realised it had all been a dream. She sighed. The dream wasn't that far from reality. She was glad her brother had stopped moping around listening to that recording of his voice, but she didn't think sitting in the same chair doing nothing but read newspapers and magazines was much better.

She looked at the clock. 2:46 a.m. It had definitely been a nightmare. Nanami still felt very tired.

But...

If it was still that early, why was the room lit up as if it were daylight out?

"I see. But is that truly your dream?"

Oh, that explained the light. Nanami looked over at the glowing white pegasus - or was it a unicorn? - that had spoken. "Of course not. I have beautiful dreams." The glowing pegasus merely looked at her quizzically, as much as an equine could be said to look quizzical. Nanami had a fleeting thought that something was rather strange about glowing talking horses with wings and golden horns, but dismissed it.

"Maiden, in that case, what is your true dream?"

Nanami felt faintly insulted. Why would anybody think her dreams were about pointless drudgery? "Well, my dream is about my big brother, of course."

"The man with the red hair?"

"Naturally. Can't you tell we're both born of the same noble bloodline?"

"But he is not even here."

Nanami sat up, frowning at the talking horse. "Where is he?"

The pegasus looked out the window for a long moment. "His dream is elsewhere, and not here with you."

"Well then," Nanami commanded, "take me to him." At some point she had gotten out of bed and sat upon the back of the horse, though she couldn't quite remember how. Her long lavender nightgown rippled in the wind from the window, which was now open.

The pegasus was now looking back at her over his own shoulder. "Very well. I will do my best."

Two steps and suddenly they were out the window. The ground fell away so fast that Nanami felt dizzy, though not scared. She watched the mansion she had lived in shrink away until it looked like a dollhouse, and saw all the tiny, perfect little buildings of Ohtori Academy arrayed below like so many toys. She laughed a little. "Who are you?"

The pegasus didn't look back, though its golden horn dipped in acknowledgement. "I am Helios, maiden."

That name seemed to perfectly sum up everything about the creature that Nanami needed to know. She watched as they left the city, flying over the countryside of Japan. And even though his wings beat slowly, and the landscape seemed to pass by with so much lazy ease that Nanami could gaze at whatever she wished, in a remarkably short time they found themselves over a city. The million, billion lights of the city glittered through the night sky, and Nanami lost her breath in wonder for a moment.

"Here. This is where your brother's dream lies now, though I cannot know where it will take him."

"Here?" Nanami looked over the city in all its brilliant glow. And there, right beneath, where the moon should have cast its light, was darkness. A darkness greater than the blackest night, the deepest cave. And as she watched and felt the first stirrings of fear, the darkness crawled outward, yawning like an opening wound, threatening to swallow up the entire city, the entire country, maybe even more.

Nanami cringed back, but the great shining light of Helios surrounded her, and she felt warm. "You need not fear."

"Is that where my brother is headed?" And though the pegasus did not answer, Nanami knew it to be true. "But why? That's awful! And he... he didn't take me with-" She couldn't finish the sentence. It was too terrible.

Helios was looking at her again, and his large brown eyes were so serious and solemn that Nanami felt like crying. "Would you follow him into that darkness, then?"

"Of course!" Nanami said without hesitation.

"Even though he left you behind?"

"No matter what! He and I are the same! I couldn't ever let him be alone and lost in a place like that!"

"I see," said Helios, and with two lazy flaps of his wings, they were back in Nanami's bedroom, and he was easing her back to the bed. "That is a beautiful dream, young maiden."

"See, I told you so!" Nanami said triumphantly. But somewhere in the back of her mind, the gnawing fear remained.

"Indeed you did." Helios dipped his head towards her, and the top of his horn - which Nanami suddenly realised was the source of his warm radiance - touched the palm of her hand. She felt a gentle weight settle there.

"This is a gift," the pegasus said. "If you ever find yourself alone in the darkness, use it, and I shall come for you."

"Well... thank you very much," Nanami said, because she was well-bred, and that sort of thing was expected. However, this really was beginning to seem rather confusing. There was a throbbing in her head. What was it she had seen, while on Helios' back?

And she lay back, and thought about that question, and woke up.

The room was completely dark, but Nanami remedied that by reaching over and fumbling for the lamp switch. Blinking her eyes painfully against the sudden electric radiance, she peered over at the clock. 3:21 a.m. The house around her was silent, maybe a little abnormally chilly for such a hot summer.

What a strange dream. What had it been about?

Nanami blinked and held up her hand to the light, suddenly realising she had been clutching something. She looked at it curiously. It was a golden bell, with a heart-shaped jewel inset. The bell had a larger handle, also heart-shaped. The bell fit easily into the palm of her hand, and felt a little warm in the chill of the room.

Now, where had that come from? Nanami had a lot of jewelry, but she kept pretty careful track of it, and she'd never seen this piece before. Also, all the hearts were a little juvenile for her age and image.

Suddenly, Nanami smiled. "Big brother!" she whispered. He must have given it to her in her sleep. No wonder she had woken up. She leaped out of bed, clutching the bell to her breast. How thoughtful of him!

She ran to the music room. She knew he would be there - he'd not left the room in weeks, not even going to school, except for that one night earlier in the week when there had been a terrible storm, right before he began reading the magazines and newspapers.

The lights in the room were on. The stacks of reading material were arrayed here and there in some pattern which always eluded Nanami. But his chair was open. The patio door was open, and a chill wind suddenly blew in through it, rippling the nightgown around her ankles. Nanami wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly taking an obscure comfort in the bell she held.

"Big brother?" she called, at first with trepidation, but then louder: "Big brother!"

But no answer came.

Stepping into the room, Nanami espied a sealed envelope on the seat of the chair. Her own name was written on it, in handwriting as familiar to her as her own reflection.

And suddenly, Nanami knew, somehow. Touga was gone. Gone from the house, gone from Ohtori. Gone from her.

And he wasn't coming back.

Suddenly, viciously, she pinched her arm. She winced at her own effort, and felt tears in the corner of her eyes.

But she didn't wake up.

01010

"What on earth are those two young ladies doing?"

"At a glance, swimming around in the lake in their underwear, carrying bottles of sake."

"I know that, boy. I'm asking what, precisely, is to be accomplished by this."

"The Orochi - well, this Orochi - is attracted to two things: beautiful young women, and alcohol. Presumably Goenitz intends to get its attention, but it isn't working yet. Must be still asleep... lucky for us."

"Yes..." Link replied in a whisper. "Lucky, over."

The three of them paused for a moment, considering their options. Link, for her part, looked over to the far shore of the lake, where Goenitz, the Heavenly King of Orochi, stood bathed in moonlight. He was accurate to Chris's description - a middle aged man with short blonde hair and black beard, clad in a long coat like a Christian priest with a short cloak over his shoulders and glossy black military boots - but that didn't really do him justice. Goenitz was tall, and... regal in a way unlike any other person Link had ever met. He radiated a sort of savage nobility, a presence that could not be captured in the words Chris had used. He was the sort of man, Link supposed, who could form and lead cults on the strength of his fanatical charisma alone. Not that his power would be a detriment.

Link was glad he was here. This was the most perfect test possible.

Mature's voice called out as she treaded water, sounding equally annoyed and plaintive. "Master Goenitz, is this really necessary? We've been doing this 'ritual' for five nights with no results."

"Or is this just some sort of weird fetish?" Vice added. She didn't sound like she particularly disapproved of the notion.

Goenitz chuckled urbanely. "As a matter of fact, it is. But not mine." His voice was like himself - regal, noble, a clear, piercing tenor that cut through the night.

"I sense a primal power in this one, boy," Cologne hissed. "You'd be wise not to test his defences."

Chris nodded. "With any luck, we won't have to. I'm worried he might be waking up the Orochi, though."

Oh, too, too perfect. Link almost smiled. "I can help with that," she whispered. "I can whip up something which should hopefully keep it asleep. I'll also include something that ought to help leave this Moss of Life vital and easily retrieved, over." The last part was true, at least.

"Can you do it quietly?" Chris asked.

"Don't worry about it. Worry about how you're going to dive in there without alerting those three, over." Link felt a little irritated at the undead thing questioning her competence, but put it aside for the moment. Sitting back, she rummaged through her pack of herbs. A little of this, a little of that...

"That's a good point," Chris said. "Cologne, can you make some sort of distraction for when I go? Nothing that'll put you in danger, but maybe ensure Goenitz isn't looking so I can slip in?"

The old hag sucked on her unlit pipe for a moment. "No sharks around here, are there?"

"Probably not. And thank god for that, considering the size they'd be."

"I'll suppose I'll have to make do, then." The old woman wandered off noiselessly into the forest.

Chris was keeping a wary eye on Goenitz, but it appeared the mock priest was more interested in the lake than anything else. But then, why wouldn't he be? He'd killed the only other humans that lived here, and Link doubted he was too worried about the giant animals of the forest.

"Alright, here you go, over," she said.

"All this?" Chris said dubiously, looking at the giant barrel of vivid red powder.

"Yes," Link said coldly. "A creature as big as this Orochi requires a rather large dose, over."

Chris nodded and began to slip towards the shore. It was odd to see the giant, muscular body moving with the grace of a gymnast, easily hefting the huge container.

Link shook her head, and almost smiled again. Poor, trusting Chris. Along with the promised agent to help with the harvesting of the Moss, the barrel actually contained purified caffeine and a herb generally efficacious for problems of male potency, both in quantities larger than necessary for several dozen adult humans... or elephants.

She sat back against a convenient tree, ready to watch the show. Her eyes fastened on the face of Goenitz.

Here was where the real answers lay.

01010

"Are you feeling okay, little Chris?" the short-haired lady asked him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, stop calling me that, please." Chris asked with a grumble. He didn't really dislike the lady, and he supposed he was actually smaller than the giant red-haired man also named 'Chris'. But it was the principle of the thing. He'd grown up on the cold, indifferent streets of Stockholm, and his 'cute' looks always caused more trouble than they were worth. He didn't like to feel talked down to.

Besides, all these people would be dead soon. No sense getting attached to them. That was a lesson he'd also learned, ever since that nun who'd taken him in had died of that illness... Chris realised he couldn't remember her name. It made him feel a bit sad, and he tried to dredge it up from his memories, but couldn't.

"Hey, there's no need to cry," the girl said, brushing off his cheeks. "Listen, we're going to get you out of here and to someplace safe. I know this really nice girl, a little older than you. I think you'll be good friends-"

"Stop talking like we're going to get out of here. We're not, you know. Even if we did, he'd hunt us down. You don't know him."

The girl grabbed his chin and pulled his eyes up to hers, and suddenly her expression was very serious. "I know his type. And believe me, he can be beaten."

There was so much conviction in her voice, and for a single moment, Chris almost believed. Then he turned away. "We'll see."

The nice lady hovered over him a few moments, obviously wanting to say something, then left to go talk to the purple-haired girl that was guarding the door. Good, maybe they'd leave. The lady WAS nice. Chris didn't want to see her die. Not like... that other guy. The forgetful guy. He'd been nice too. He had said they'd get out of this. Of course, he had been wrong.

Chris kept staring at the two girls talking in the doorway, hoping they would leave, but mainly so he didn't have to look at the Other Girl.

Of course, that became hard when the Other Girl came up behind him, looming, not quite touching but too close to be comfortable. "So you're going to become a god, huh, over?"

Chris glanced up at her, then looked away sharply. He didn't like how she smiled at him. "That's what he said." If he answered her, maybe she'd go away.

"So, have any godlike powers yet, over?"

"No," he began to answer sharply, then lowered his voice. "If I did, why would I be staying here?"

"Because you're scared," she laughed, leaning down until her chin almost rested on his shoulder. "Aren't you? I think I see you trembling, over."

Chris realised he was the moment she said it, and stilled himself. He wanted to leap away, but where would he go? He couldn't... leave the cottage...

Besides, compared to Vice, she wasn't so bad.

Compared to Vice, nothing was so bad.

"Pink, are you bothering Chris again? I asked you not to scare him," the nice lady said, walking back inside the shack. She looked like she was about to say something more, but then all noise was drowned out by a tremendous roar and an ear-splitting crash. Everybody ran to the door - though Chris didn't put so much as a toe outside - staring at the spectacle in the distance.

The trees were huge here. Chris remembered that. So huge that most times you couldn't even see the enormous animals that wandered, crawled, or flew among them until they were almost next to you. But what was rising out of the forest now was even larger. Seven serpentine stalks twined up from the treeline, silhouetted against the silvery moon. They were so large that even the other animals looked like pygmies in comparison. Chris figured one of those heads could eat a giant platypus like the one Goenitz had killed in two bites. A burst of flame flared from one of the mouths, the light briefly glinting off its violet scales. A haunting roar echoed across the forest, echoed from seven mouths.

"How ridiculous-looking is that, over?" the Other Girl sneered.

"Shampoo no think plan worked," the purple-haired girl noted.

"They must be in trouble!" the nice lady shouted, and took a step forward before she stopped, and looked back at Chris. Her expression looked torn for a moment.

Chris wasn't really paying attention to her, though. He was watching the seven-headed serpent. Several of the heads abruptly darted down into the forest, and he could hear a few other indistinct noises. Shouts, or something?

But why did that serpent look so... wrong to him?

"You should go help them, Akane," the Other Girl said suddenly. She smiled, trying to look nice, not really succeeding. "They must be fighting all those guys, plus the Orochi itself. They'll need all the help they can get, over."

Akane looked back and forth between Chris and the creature again. "But, we can't just leave him alone..."

"Don't worry about it!" the Other Girl laughed. "Take Shampoo too. I'm not going to help much in this fight, so I'll stay here with him, over."

The purple-haired girl looked at the Other Girl for a moment, and her eyes narrowed. "Shampoo no think-"

"I never told you to THINK," the Other Girl said, and for a moment her voice snapped like a whip. "There's no time to debate. Shut up and go, Shampoo. That's an order, over."

The purple-haired girl glared for a long moment, and then gave Chris a long, unreadable look. Then she turned around sharply, drawing her sword from the sheath on her back. "Shampoo have orders. You coming, Akane?"

The nice girl looked confused for a moment, then her expression firmed up. "Alright. Pink, if any of them come back, I want you to shout for help. Don't let them lay a finger on Chris, okay?"

She waved her hand. "Don't worry about that, Akane. They won't, over."

Chris had been too busy staring at the strange wrong-serpent to really pay attention up until this point, but suddenly realised they were going to go, and leave him with the Other Girl. He opened his mouth to protest, but at that point the Other Girl slipped a bit in turning around, falling partially into him and sending him stumbling... through... the... door...

He Had To Stay Inside.

Vice had told him to Stay Inside.

He was sitting in the corner, rocking. He could feel moisture in his eyes. But he wasn't going to cry. He wasn't.

A shadow fell over him. "So, we're all alone, over."

He buried his face in his hands. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He didn't care about the Orochi, or about this forest, or about the nice lady, or anything else. He never thought he was lucky to live on the streets, but he wanted to see Stockholm again more than anything else in the world.

"Oh, we don't have time for your blubbering. Somebody could be back at any minute," the Other Girl snapped, jerking his head up by yanking on his hair. "I need you to do me a favour, kid, over."

He hated people touching his hair. He tried to pull away, but she was holding him too tightly. "What do you want?" he said petulantly.

"Take this and stop asking stupid questions, over," she said, handing him something. He stared at it. It was a knife, with a simple design, but it looked very sharp.

"I don't know how to fight," he said simply.

"Is there anything you're good for, over?" the Other Girl asked sarcastically. She let him go and sat down again, and her hands began to work at something at her sides. After a moment, she took her breastplate off, tossing it to the side where it landed with a soft clunk.

"W-what are you doing?" Chris asked. Maybe she was more like Vice than he thought. That... wasn't good.

The Other Girl smirked at him. "Don't get your hopes up, kid." But then she undid the top button on her red-trimmed white shirt, and the next, and the next. Chris shrank back. This wasn't happening wasn't happening not again not her too-

But thankfully, she stopped when just the top of her breasts were exposed. She reached up, touching a spot directly between them. "Right there, over."

"Right there, what?" he said, now just confused.

"Cut me open, you idiot. What do you think I gave you the knife for? You're really nothing worth mentioning until you become a god, over."

Chris stared at her, then down at the knife, then back at her again. "Wh- but I couldn't hurt you!"

"That makes two of us," the girl sneered. "I've been trying for awhile, but it's harder to cut yourself than you think. I was going to get Shampoo to do it, but she had to not get any satisfaction, so it'd be hard... anyway, those idiots are totally outmatched against the Orochi and those other three, so I'm not going to waste any more time. Cut me. A nice shallow cut, about as long as your thumb." Then she smiled, a vicious little happy smile. "Do it now, and do it right, or I'll hurt you. And I have much nastier drugs than Vice, over."

Chris's hand was shaking again, and he tried to catch his breath, but he couldn't seem to stop taking little shallow gasps. This woman was crazy. Why had they left him with her? Were they all just as bad as Goenitz? Was he just going to be dragged around, traded back and forth, until he became... whatever they said?

But she was staring at him, her eyes flashing dangerously, so he forced himself to step forward. He put the knife against her smooth pale skin, and hesitated. He'd been in fights, more than a few times on the street, but... he'd never really HURT anybody. He'd only fought long enough to get away. That was what you did, when you were 'cute'. If you didn't, well...

He swallowed, and then... for a moment, he felt the urge to drive the knife into her heart. Drive it in and twist and tear and laugh as she fell down and retched and bled and died, just like that forgetful boy and-

What was he thinking?

The Other Girl's hand fastened on his wrist, her nails digging painfully into his skin. "We don't have all day, over," in a tone that said she'd lost all patience.

Just do what she wanted. Do what they wanted, and they'd eventually stop hurting you. That was the most recent lesson he'd learned. She released him, and he resisted the urge to close his eyes as he slowly drew the knife down the centre of her chest. She hissed in pain, and a vivid scarlet line appeared, slowly swelling in the wake of the glinting silver blade.

He stared in fascination until she knocked his hand away. "That'll do, over."

She was holding something in her other hand now, and as she brought it up, Chris could see it. It was like a blue... stone, or maybe like a seed, he couldn't decide. It glinted in the firelight, a bit too brightly.

"Just like that stupid Kushinada, over," the Other Girl said to herself, and then pressed the blue seed into the bleeding cut on her chest.

For a moment, nothing happened. And then, Chris could hear it. It was... like the sound of a heartbeat, only louder, echoing throughout the room. The blue seed sank into her chest, the veins around the cut suddenly bulging grotesquely. The girl screamed and fell back, her hands clutching at the stone. It looked like she was trying to both pull it out and push it in at the same time.

She spasmed on the ground for almost a minute, but the screaming died off eventually, as did the coughing that followed. Chris wanted to shrink back, run away from her, but something about the whole thing kept him watching, fascinated. Besides, there was nowhere to run.

Finally, the Other Girl sat up. For a moment, she just stayed still, eyes closed, the smile on her face slowly widening until it became both funny and frightening. "So that's what it's like..." she said softly, then her eyes snapped open. Before, they had been a sort of earthy brown, but now they glittered a brilliant green. "I understand it all now. Oh, why did I wait this long, over?" She glanced over at Chris, and her grin widened still further, almost inhuman. "Thanks, kid." She pulled another of the seed-like things from a pouch. "I know exactly where I'm putting this one. I won't need your help this time. Just turn around, over."

Chris thought about saying something, but then just did as he was told. He didn't want to talk to the Other Girl. Especially not now. There had been something... different about her. Not just her eyes. Something... it reminded him of Goenitz. He shuddered.

He heard a soft sound of cloth rustling behind him, and then she cried out. But this time, she didn't scream in pain... at least not like the last time. Chris felt uncomfortable listening to the sounds she made, and stared at the wall.

Abruptly, her noises stopped. Chris didn't turn around. Maybe she'd just leave now. After a moment, his nose wrinkled. There was a sweet scent in the room. Like... flowers?

A hand fell on his shoulder. "You can turn back around now, over."

He didn't want to look, but for some reason he did anyway. The Other Girl looked even stranger than before. Her eyes weren't just brilliant green anymore, but were slitted, like a cat's. Her entire face seemed different, just a little more angular, nose a little sharper, cheekbones higher. The tops of her ears now came to delicate points, and there were some sort of strange bulges on her shoulders, under her shirt.

The smell of flowers was stronger now, and she smiled at him, and Chris felt like running, but he couldn't move.

"Little Chris," she said. Her voice hadn't really changed, but something had been... added to it. It sounded older, somehow. "You've been so helpful. Here, give me your hand, over."

She held out her own, and Chris stared at it. The tips of each finger... something was emerging from them, lunging out of the flesh like claws. Except they were more like thorns.

He wouldn't touch that. He wasn't frozen, he wasn't scared of Vice, he was going to run, he stood up, but then she grabbed his hand, and he felt a prickling sensation, and then... then...

... everything was okay. He felt it all fall away. Ten years in the street, fighting for scraps of food... none of that mattered. Being kidnapped, tortured, abused... who cared? His destiny to become the horrible god Goenitz worshipped... what difference did it make?

He was happy.

He realised he'd never been happy before. Oh, sometimes he thought he had been. When the nun had taken care of him, or when he'd had a good meal because a stranger took pity on him... but he hadn't been. He'd never been happy. Not like this.

Because there'd always been pain. Or the memory of pain. It lurked in the background, like a snake in the grass, and nobody could ever be really happy like that.

But not anymore.

He was happy. He was perfectly, wonderfully happy.

And it was all thanks to Pink.

He wished he knew poetry, so he could tell her how happy he was. He wished he could sing, so he could tell her how much he loved her at that moment. But he couldn't think of any words that could describe it. How could he have ever been afraid of her?

She was a goddess. Her touch was happiness.

And at that point, she drew her hand away, and Chris felt a sense of almost unbearable loss. All the pain and misery and memory came crashing back all at once, and it was a thousand times worse. He gasped and his body spasmed as if struck, and then he fell to his knees, clutching Pink's legs, sobbing.

"Did it feel good, over?" the goddess asked him lightly.

"Please..." he sobbed. "Please touch me. Make the pain go away again! I've never... I've never felt that way before..."

She drew his head up, and her beautiful emerald eyes looked into his. "Of course I will. Just as soon as you do something for me, over."

"Anything." He meant it. He would kill for her. He would kill Vice. He would kill the nice lady. He would give her anything, if she would only touch him again.

She held out a tiny bottle. The liquid inside was dark, churning green. "Drink this. Drink it all, and then I'll touch you again, over."

His fingers almost fumbled the bottle, he grabbed it so hastily. He pried the cork loose with his teeth, and even as he did, the acrid fumes it released burned their way down his throat. Pink was looking down at him. She was smiling. Her hand beckoned invitingly. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Every instinct he had told him the liquid in the bottle was bad; even breathing in the fumes made him feel sick. But it didn't matter. For her, he'd make it delicious.

And it was.

01010

"Perhaps you do not realise exactly who I am?"

The man in the torture chamber was thin, but athletic. He had short black hair and unshaven stubble on his gaunt cheeks. He had once been clothed in the robes of a Buddhist monk, but now he was dressed only in rags. His eyes stared down at the floor, seemingly empty.

"Don't think you fool me." The hand was huge, the fingers thick as they jerked the man's head from the ground and forced him to look into the eyes of his new master. "I must admit, you have a remarkable will. Most would have cracked under the pressure of my Psychopower by now."

"Go... to... hell..." the man said softly, his voice barely carrying enough strength to escape his lips.

Bison smiled. This man had a power, a certain purity of purpose, that Bison could admire. It was really too bad he was such a fool. Bison may have let him live otherwise. He might have served the glorious future that was Shadowloo.

"I am Bison, my power is supreme," Bison informed him, not for the first time. "Your will shall crack, and your spirit shall be broken. None can resist me. I am your master, and you shall call me as much."

"Never..."

Bison released his head, which slumped again. The loud, happy sound of Bison's laughter filled the small room. He had not had this much fun in ages. The very thought of this contest filled his blood with boiling vigor. At first he had thought that these 'I-Jin' carried no great challenge for him. He had stormed their metal island with his Dolls and a few dozen of his lesser servants. They had not stood a chance. Compared to the battle he had fought to capture the aircraft carrier they now wandered the sea in, it had been nothing.

But this was a contest of wills. There were no crude physical battles to be had with this man. His was a refined spirit.

Bison's laughter cut off sharply.

He had no time to suffer fools.

A loud crack echoed across the chamber as Bison reached out and casually shattered the man's shoulder in five places. The I-Jin's pupils shrunk to pinpricks and his breathing became shallow, but he did not scream.

"Do you think you can escape my will?" Bison shifted, settling his cape over his shoulder. "Or do you hope for rescue?" There was the slightest shift. A normal person might have failed to see it. But Bison could see directly into the heart of this man. He could see the hope flickering there, hidden behind walls of serenity and peace. Bison grinned again. "Ah, so that is it. You think one of your fellows will save you?" Bison walked over to one of the walls. "Another of your cloned brood? Or perhaps the mysterious people who created you?" Bison grinned. "Don't be a fool. They are already finished."

"You... lie..." There was a bit more strength in the man's wheezing now.

"No," Bison said simply. "Bison never lies." He reached up towards the ceiling. As he willed it, purple flames burst to life around his grasping fingers. They flickered and sparked in the dim light, casting his face into sharp relief. "I have already learned all I need to about you and your organization. The minds of your fellow clones were not nearly so strong as your own. Even as we speak, my forces are seeking out these... Dokusensha. Soon, all your precious cloning technology will be in my hands."

For the first time, doubt was forming in the man's eyes. Bison grinned further. A chink in his armor. It was time to crack him open like a ripe melon. "They gave up their memories to me willingly, after a time." He snapped his fingers and sent out a mental summons. "This one, for instance..."

The wall next to Bison seemed to shimmer, and a woman walked through it as if the solid metal were nothing but illusion. She was beautiful, with a dancer's build and generous cleavage. Her chin-length blue hair framed a face that might have sent lesser men to sleepless nights. She moved with a sultry grace, her every motion containing hidden promises. Bison thought she looked particularly fetching in the abbreviated Doll's uniform. Maybe a little too old for his tastes, but every now and then he was willing to make an exception.

"N-nancy..." the man croaked.

The woman eyed the captive for a short moment. Then Bison flexed his Psychopower. He funneled it into her body, an invisible hand that flowed down deep into the core of her being. Her back arched, and her eyes turned upwards in rapture as the power flooded her body. With a hungry smile she walked to Bison and draped herself across his arm. He held her at his side as a trophy of his victory.

"Mine," Bison informed him. "Her mind was so simple, it broke like candy glass." He laughed again, deep and joyous. "Her... sister, is it? She is proving harder to break. This one is newer, I think. But do not fear, already she is succumbing to the power of the Psychodrive." Bison gazed at the man, but he let his attention drift. He could feel the woman struggling in his power, her body and identity trapped within the Psychodrive like a fly in a spider's web. Beneath her struggles he could sense her relief, the relief she felt at having let her 'friend' escape. Such foolish hope. No one could escape Bison. They could only delay their inevitable surrender.

"No..." The man was close to breaking now. So it was that Bison almost destroyed the intruder when the door opened, interrupting his pastime. He glared at the door with his full strength, willing his presence to humble the fool who had walked in on him.

Juni and Juli cringed under the psychic assault. Their bodies bent like willows and they fell to their knees in supplication. Words of remorse and regret fell from their mouths like rain, but Bison did not hear them. He cut them off with an angry chop of his hand and a a mental command to be silent.

"What do you want?"

"Master Bison..." Juli began, "We have grave news."

"Very well, make it quick."

"Vega is dead." Bison raised a single eyebrow at the news. He really shouldn't be surprised. Vega was a fool who got in over his head far too often. Still, Bison had been looking forward to his betrayal. The look of complete horror in Vega's eyes when his futile hopes were dashed would have been something to see. If it had been sufficiently entertaining, Bison might even have let him live.

"He was killed by the girl, Ukyou."

"Was he now...?" Bison murmured. He released his new Doll and walked towards his previous favorites.

"The girl also defeated us," Juni informed him. There was no shame in her declaration, merely a statement of fact. "Somehow she turned the force of the Psychopower against us." That perked Bison's attention even more, and he grinned again.

"More and more I hear about this Ukyou," Bison said with dreadful enthusiasm. "I think I should meet this young woman." He reached down and placed his hand on Juni's shoulder. "Where is she now?"

"England."

01010

Well, the Orochi was certainly just about as big as he'd imagined it.

Maybe a little bigger, actually.

Chris took the efficient route of dodging the first set of snapping jaws and grabbing onto its furred crest, letting the awakened monster's head carry him out of the water. As he emerged, he heard twin shrieks as Vice and Mature scrambled out of the way, barely avoiding being swallowed.

For a moment, the Orochi's head towered out of the water, and Chris flipped into a more stable position atop the creature. The other six 'lesser' heads had also emerged from the lake, and all seven weaved and bobbed, searching for the sake-carrying underwear-clad vixens that had been offered to it.

Four noticed the two desperately swimming towards the shore and lunged. One irritably tried to shake Chris from atop it, but he held on with all of Adon's strength and Kodachi's grace. The other two... were shooting down so fast the air screamed in protest. Their target, a blurry female figure on the shore, who he could faintly hear laughing in a familiar voice.

Swearing, Chris leapt from the head, his feet landing on one of the two slippery scaled necks snapping towards Link. He didn't even think, letting his stolen instincts guide him as he dashed, pushing his body to move faster and faster as he raced towards the head in a desperate attempt to reach it before it reached her.

Then he was past its nose, diving in a football tackle, driving the air from her lungs and almost smashing her into an enormous tree. But the massive serpentine heads crashed impotently into the ground behind him, sending up a cloud of dust and shattered rock.

Link gasped back her breath, and then immediately resumed laughing. Chris sat up, and stared at her. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I believe in God, over!" she yelled triumphantly at him, even as he pulled her out of the way of another lunge from the now-recovered heads.

"You WHAT?"

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

That wasn't Link. Dropping her, Chris spun around to face Goenitz. The Heavenly King of Orochi was standing calmly on one of the heads that had just attacked, calmly stroking his beard and shifting his stance only minisculely as the creature attempted to throw him off.

This could definitely be considered the worst case scenario. Chris wondered briefly why he hadn't planned for the worst case scenario. Then he remembered the only plan that made SENSE was to run. "Get out of here, Link. I can't watch you and deal with this at the same time."

She was still chortling to herself. "Don't worry about me, over."

Chris leaped into the air, bounced off the tree behind him, and kicked directly at Goenitz's face. He didn't actually yell 'Jaguar Kick', but it was Adon's technique nonetheless. Maybe he'd take Goenitz off-guard and-

A small tornado rose from the ground and hit Chris in the back, sending him spiralling into the air. Goenitz hadn't even moved. "Fighting me in the air is a fool's gambit," he noted calmly.

As Chris crashed into the ground, he noticed that at least Link had vanished in the woods. But even as he picked himself up, Goenitz raised one hand and elegantly flicked three fingers. Three trees - each at least a metre thick- tumbled apart, and huge gouges were ripped out of the ground behind Chris, cutting off his escape.

Chris stepped into a Muay Thai stance. Not much choice but to fight.

"I don't know who you are, nor do I truly care. I must thank you for awakening this beast for me. To show my appreciation, I shall make your death painless." Goenitz thrust one arm forward, and for a moment a swirling vortex of some sort began to form... and then a green blur appeared from the right and knocked the arm aside. Goenitz backed up a step, clutching his forearm with a grimace of pain. Before him stood Cologne, balanced on the end of her staff at the tip of the increasingly-annoyed Orochi's snout.

"Flee, boy," Cologne intoned. "This battle is beyond you."

"And beyond you as well, old woman," Goenitz noted in a bemused tone. He raised his injured hand, clenching his fist. For a moment, the wind swirled around Cologne, but she leapt up, her staff slashing out and into the cyclone, tearing it into a dozen harmless dust-devils before it could do any harm.

She landed in the same position as before, her eyes narrowed. "You are not the only one who has studied the wind."

Chris was just considering his options for the upcoming battle when a movement caught his eye. At the far end of the lake, the figures of Shampoo and Akane emerged from the forest. The Orochi, naturally, noticed as well. Six unoccupied heads dived down towards them. Both managed to dodge the initial attacks, however.

This was as good an opportunity as Chris could hope for to accomplish what he'd come here to do. Running past the now ominously-glowing forms of Cologne and Goenitz, he dived into the dark water.

The dark, looming mass of the Orochi's final head bobbed beneath the surface of the lake. To call it huge would be an understatement. It was as massive as all the other heads and necks put together, a giant reptilian maw as big as a house. The other necks snaked from the back of the enormous head, making the whole Orochi look like some sort of freakishly monstrous squid.

It also wasn't paying even the slightest bit of attention to a male corpse that wasn't carrying alcohol, a fact which Chris had been counting on. It did seem sort of oddly jittery for some reason, jerking around a bit, its eyes darting from side to side, but it wasn't giving Chris more than a passing glance. As long as he didn't attack it directly, he could approach it. Would it be so sanguine when he stole the Moss of Life that grew on its primary head? Well, only one way to find out.

He swam up from behind the thing's crest, straining to see in the murky water. The Moss ought to be right on the top of the head... ah, there it was, the strands swaying slightly from the motion of the water.

Unlike Akane in the manga, he wasn't planning to leave any. The squarish patch of moss was about half a metre on each side, which was a little more than he'd thought. Drawing to a stop, his churning legs threw up a corkscrew of water as he fought his lack of living buoyancy. Still the creature didn't seem to care. Pulling out a sharpened teaspoon, he cleanly stripped the entire patch of Moss of Life from its scalp and flipped it into the bag Link had given him in one motion.

Both eyes, each easily as big as a SUV, instantly snapped to him. Uh- oh. A titanic roar filled the water, the creature's tremendous bellow sending waves of pressure through the lake, buffeting Chris with disorienting force. He found himself struggling against the current, blinded by the foam as the Orochi's breath filled the water around him with air bubbles. A second later, he felt the disturbing tickle of danger along the back of his neck. He grunted, forcing the last of the air from his lungs, and spun in place.

A second later the monster's massive teeth emerged from the foam. He kicked out, just barely hitting one of the giant incisors. Each was the size of a full-grown man. But he wasn't aiming to hurt it: instead, he used the tooth as a launch, kicking off with all Adon's power to send himself flying clear of the blinding foam. Even as he did, he felt the pressure of the thing's tongue approaching. He struggled to dodge, but all his momentum was too much for even him to change. Still, all it did was slam into him with crushing force and send him spiraling off in a new direction, rather than curling about him and drawing him in to be its latest snack.

He collided with the side of the lake, forming a small crater underwater. He grunted again, but all that came out was a soft gargling sound. Chris realized vaguely that the ribs along his left side had been snapped like kindling.

No matter. He crawled up to the shore, carefully cradling the bag in the crook of one arm. With all the trouble he was going through for this, Link had better appreciate it. There was a flash of movement in front of him, and Chris half-fell into a defensive stance before realising it was in fact the selfsame Link.

Except something was wrong. She was leaning up against a tree, breathing heavily, her hands curled around her midsection. Her two small aragami pets, mewling plaintively, were clustered around her legs.

Chris began to ask what was wrong, then realised he couldn't take in any air to speak. Oh, right. Turning away, he spent a moment coughing and hacking up the water from Adon's lungs. When he could speak again, he turned back to Link, but Akane was already there.

"What's wrong?" he heard her ask.

"I don't know... something with Pink, over..." She raised a hand to her chest gingerly, as if it had been burned.

Pink?

Chris looked around. Two great glowing lights flashed through midair, occasionally crisscrossing each other, while the seven smaller Orochi heads darted around them as if in some sort of intricate dance, trying to slay the two annoyances. Occasionally the lake was lit by great gouts of flame erupting from one of the Orochi's maws. But neither Cologne nor Goenitz appeared to even notice the monster's attempts to slay them, often using the shifting coils of the great dragon to launch themselves in fresh directions.

Shampoo had emerged from the forest near Akane, her sword glinting in the moonlight. There was a large dent in it, shaped roughly like a toothmark.

But Vice and Mature were nowhere to be seen.

And Pink was in trouble...

Damn it!

"Here, take this!" he yelled, throwing the Moss to Akane. "I've got to go help Pink!"

Before anyone could respond, he dashed into the woods.

01010

What did it feel like?

Pink couldn't describe it in mere words. She was full of life, of energy, of power. All around her, she could feel the presence of her faithful servants. Trees, flowers, grass were all around, and she could feel each and every one of them. They knew her, and she heard in the back of her mind their murmuring, an incomprehensible chorus of respect and awe. She knew that with a thought she could reach out and wrest away their vitality. She didn't know what she could do with it, but she could DO it.

So, maybe she could describe it with words after all. Pink laughed. What a marvellous, wondrous feeling.

She threw the knife down, and gazed lovingly at herself in the small mirror she had found by the cottage's futon. She was still recognisably herself, which was good. But the changes were unmistakable, too. Ears pointed, brilliant green eyes slitted like a cat's. The mitama on her chest, now visible due to the just made-alterations to her outfit, glowed faintly in the dusky light. The new growths on her shoulders were also now unencumbered by her shirt. They were large petals, a beautiful crimson like roses in bloom. Their - HER - faintly sweet scent filled the room, but Pink knew instinctively she could make something far more interesting emanate from them.

Oh yes. Even at first glance, she'd never be mistaken for someone ordinary. Pink laughed again. Everything had gone so perfectly. Now Chris could thank her for the body of a god-to-be, indebting him further and reminding him how much more useful Pink was to him than Akane ever would be. And the powers Pink felt... just a taste, the merest tip of the iceberg compared to how high she now realised she could rise. What a beautiful relationship they had, the dead man and she. Perfectly symbiotic.

First, she'd need to ensure they got more mitamas. But that wasn't all...

"Well, now, I never expected such an exotic bird to fly into our little cage."

Pink spun around, then instantly relaxed. Just the evil secretaries. Vice was lounging against the entranceway, arms crossed and an inquiring smile on her face. Her hair had a glistening sheen of water on it.

From beside her, Mature gasped. Her hair was also damp, though had lost none of its typical elegance. "Vice, the boy!"

Vice glanced over at the crumpled body in the corner, and her smile instantly vanished. She glanced back at Pink. "Did you do this?"

Pink smirked. "I didn't do anything he didn't want me to, over."

"There's no mark on him - he was poisoned!" Mature snapped. "Vice, see what you can do. I'll wring the information out of the intruder."

Now Vice looked even more disappointed, but quickly rushed to the kid's side. Pink's smile didn't waver. "You think so? I think you two will make a great experiment, over."

Pink stretched her arms forward, and the growths on her shoulders lifted. The sweet smell in the room rose, becoming cloying, as a scarlet mist leaked from the petals. Vice snarled and rose one sleeve to cover her mouth and nose, but it would be useless. Soon the two would barely be able to stand, and once Pink touched them, they'd be her devoted-

Mature snapped one arm out, and the air screeched in protest. The scarlet mist seemed to funnel into the path behind her hand. Then she lashed out with her other arm, and more of the mist followed. Her hands danced in a complex pattern, and only after a moment did Pink realise that the obnoxious wind-using bitch was catching the mist and hurling it harmlessly out the doorway to dissipate.

Well, it didn't matter. She willed the thorns on her hands to extend, a process that was slightly painful but nothing she couldn't ignore. Doing that did cause her to stop producing the mist, but it wasn't working anyway. Grinning, she dashed towards Mature. "Stupid secretary! The merest scratch of my ambrosial thorns, and all of your precious martial arts skill will be useless, over! Then you'll serve me-"

Pink had barely noticed the movement, but abruptly Mature was holding both of her wrists in a grip of iron. Pink jerked to a stop, her threat cut off, as her forward momentum was brought to a crashing halt. She struggled with the other woman's grip, but her fingers couldn't curl down enough to touch any flesh, and Mature wasn't moving.

The blonde woman smiled slightly. "I assume you meant these thorns?" she said, nodding towards Pink's immobilised hands. "I don't think I need to worry about them."

The world flipped around, and Pink suddenly found herself crushed into the floor with enough force to drive the air from her lungs. She tried to scrabble for purchase, but one of her hands stopped moving abruptly with a loud, unpleasant crunch as Mature stepped on it with enough force to drive one of her stiletto heels through it and almost an inch into the floor. Pink stared dumbly at it for a moment before the wracking spike of pain made her scream.

Mature elegantly stepped out of her shoe, the slight movement causing Pink to cry out again. She knelt down, her knee pinning Pink's uninjured forearm to the ground. Her fingertips brushed delicately against Pink's neck. "And now, you will begin talking. Or I shall begin removing body parts. Starting, perhaps, with these things growing from your shoulders."

Pink had been bullied by the best of them, and was not unduly intimidated. However, she was starting to think that, perhaps, she had somehow ended up a bit over her head.

At that point, she saw Vice stand in the corner of her eye. "He's dead," the Orochi-worshipper declared. "There's nothing I can do." Her voice was not particularly angry, or even annoyed. Just slightly disappointed, like a petulant child who had misplaced a favourite toy.

Mature's breath hissed through her teeth. Her voice was terse. "Then I see no reason to keep this one alive." Her grip tightened around Pink's neck.

Then the world exploded in a cacophony of sound. The sharp crack as the wall exploded into fragments. An inarticulate howl of rage. A feminine scream of pain. All three so close together they seemed almost the same sound. The pressure on Pink disappeared at the same time, and an instant later she heard the other wall explode, and a soft whistle as a heavy object flew through the air to crash into the soft loam outside.

Pink felt herself being lifted from the floor. The shoe was removed from her crushed hand, gently, but still sending another stab of pain down her arm. She looked up. Adon's face wasn't handsome even before it was dead and soaked, and even less so with that worried scowl. But she felt a swelling surge of joy inside her breast at the sight of it. Not just for saving her life, although that was part of it. It was what it MEANT.

"Thank you, over," she said softly. She resisted the urge to break out in another peal of laughter. It would ruin the moment.

"Are you alr-" the undead Chris started to say, but suddenly was ripped away and his voice turned into a wordless howl as he smashed through a third wall. Unsurprisingly, a large chunk of the roof caved in at that point, but Vice elegantly sidestepped it, stretching her arm languidly. Her long sleeves billowed in the gust of air caused by the collapsing roof.

Pink landed uncomfortably on the floor, and gasped a bit as she instinctively tried to break her fall with her injured hand. Vice spared her a glance.

"It looks like I will get a chance to kill you after all," she said, her voice far more chipper than it was a moment ago. "Since Mature seems to be..." she pursed her lips, glancing out towards the slumped, quivering figure of her partner. "Well, yes. But first." She twirled around gracefully, just as Chris leaped towards her.

The two started that whole tiresome martial artist thing, but Pink ignored them as she gingerly climbed to her feet. Chris would win anyway. But in the meantime, Pink had a small loose end to tie up.

Stepping out the hole in the shattered wall, she rooted around in her pouches with her usable hand. Mature wasn't quite completely unconscious, but probably wished she was. She was quivering slightly, lying face-down in the dirt, her torso twisted and one leg bent in a direction they generally weren't supposed to. Pink's trained eyes quickly looked her over and concluded that aside from the obviously broken leg, most of her ribs had been reduced to splinters. The unhealthy sound of her breathing and a bit of red splatter on the dirt near her mouth only confirmed that. She was sobbing softly, involuntarily, each slight motion obviously causing her even more pain. If she wasn't a superhuman martial artist, she'd already be dead. Even then, Pink estimated her chances of survival at less than fifty percent without prompt medical attention.

Pink clucked her tongue as she knelt down. She pinned one of the woman's arms under her knee, and reached out to caress her neck with her good hand. No thorns this time. This mewling little wretch didn't deserve to be a slave.

"Mature," she said softly. The woman didn't respond, so Pink wrapped her fingers around the woman's throat and squeezed just hard enough to be uncomfortable. "Oh Mature, over," she continued.

Mature twitched almost involuntarily to look in Pink's direction, but her eyes were glassy and unfocused with pain and shock. That wouldn't do at all. Pink released the woman's throat, drew back her hand, and struck her sharply across the face, sending a gob of crimson spittle flying away.

When Mature looked back, her eyes were fully focused. Ahhh, what a wonderful thing, that martial artist concentration. Pink smiled her special, secret smile. "Now that I have your undivided attention..." She lifted her hand, letting the little packet she'd retrieved earlier slide into her palm. "Memorise this face. It's the last thing you're going to see, over."

She hurled the packet into Mature's face. It exploded, of course, coating the woman's beautiful features with a fine viridian powder. A moment later, Mature tried to scream. She couldn't quite do it, but a horrific gargle forced its way from her punctured lungs and out her throat. As Pink stepped back, Mature's spine arched sharply despite her injuries, and seemed for a moment as if she were going to snap in two. Her arms jerked to life, moving so fast the air snapped around them, trying frantically to claw and rake the powder off her face.

Really, it must have taken a rather exquisite amount of agony to distract Mature so completely from her previous injuries. Pink felt rather proud of herself. She watched for a few minutes as the woman desperately, mindlessly tore gouges in her beautiful features, nails leaving long red tracks on the milky skin. When the woman's eyes were nothing more than gore-filled pits, Pink lost interest in her and turned back to more important things.

The fight behind her had been a little more equal than Pink had expected, since Vice was still standing. She was sporting a nasty-looking bruise on the side of her face, though. The woman didn't seem to mind, however, as she eagerly licked the blood off her lips.

A loud creak echoed through the forest as Chris catapulted himself off the tree, leaving the meter-thick trunk shuddering like a reed. He slashed towards Vice with a cry, one leg extended, but the woman laughed lightly and slashed her own arm forward to meet him. There was a blur of red on black, and Chris was somehow snatched in midair long before he was in striking distance of Vice. He didn't even let out a sound as she slammed him into the tree behind her, leaving a dent of Adon's not-inconsiderable size. Chris didn't even hit the ground, instead sliding onto his feet as he tumbled from the trunk.

Vice took a step back, her expression becoming petulant. "You don't even feel pain, do you?" she asked in a whining, childish voice.

"No, I don't," Chris responded coldly.

Pink was just considering her options when most of them were rendered moot as a middle-aged man in a priest's outfit - obviously Goenitz - suddenly appeared, standing a tree branch. Both Chris and Vice glanced over at the newcomer, Chris looking far less pleased. Goenitz elegantly floated down from the branch, buoyed by the wind. His cultured voice rang across the clearing. "Don't you? I suppose we shall have to test that." He spared the slightest of glances for the cottage, his eyes narrowing slightly, and Pink felt every living thing in the forest suddenly shrinking in fear from the cold aura that abruptly surrounded him. "Who has slain the scion?"

Vice flowed over to her master's side and took up position beside him. "It was the girl. Poisoned him while the others distracted us. But I don't know who she works for." She sank to the ground beside him, stretching languidly like a cat, her dress puddling around her like a pool of blood. "Should I get her to talk?"

"No, that won't be necessary." Goenitz noted. He raised his hand, looking directly at Pink. "I think this shall be her best possible use."

A raging whirlwind sprang into being underneath his outstretched palm. Flashes of silver light circled inside, and the ground was torn to shreds and sent spitting in all directions, turning the interior of the cyclone into a brown geyser. A loud roar, like the buzz of a thousand bees, filled the clearing. It drifted towards Pink almost lazily, leaving a narrow band of destruction in its wake.

It didn't take some high-and-mighty martial artist to dodge that. Pink smirked and leaped to the side. Except the whirlwind turned sharply without pausing. In fact, it was getting faster. And it was pursuing her. Goenitz was chuckling to himself, though Pink wasn't sure how she heard it over the roar. She continued to back away, but the tornado followed her every step, and was starting to overtake her-

Hands encircled her waist from behind, and the world flipped around for a moment as she was yanked through the air so quickly the wind whipped around her. As she landed, slightly dizzy, Chris was yelling at her. "Get over to the lake and the others! I'll handle this-" which was right about the point that the whirlwind slammed into his back. Pink flinched back, but the tornado stopped dead at that point, and after a moment dissipated into thin air. Most of Adon's legs were actually still in the spot where Chris had been standing. Only a few feet away was his right arm. Most of the rest of the body, including the head, was flung up against a tree on the side of the clearing nearer the cottage.

Goenitz dusted off his lapels, smiling slightly. Then he raised an eyebrow as Chris attempted to use his remaining arm to struggle back to an upright position. "I see 'doesn't feel pain' is rather an understatement." He shook his head. "It seems that you are, in fact, more trouble than you're worth."

He began to walk, slowly and deliberately, towards Chris. This wasn't good, but could be a benefit too. Pink began sidling towards the cottage. Except Vice was suddenly drifting towards her with an unpleasant smile. Could be a problem.

Pink's eyes snapped away from Vice abruptly. The mitama on her chest was pulsing, sending a sharp echo through her mind. Something was coming. Something big. Then everyone in the clearing paused, as a series of cracks and roars echoed out of the forest. A dark shadow was charging through the underbrush, its huge eyes flashing red in the darkness. Two trees toppled down in front of it, massive ones that threw up a cloud of dust in their wake. The thing leapt over the collapsing trunks with surprising agility for something that was as large as an elephant.

It landed on four legs, its reptilian claws digging great chunks out of the loamy soil. It resembled a turtle, but with a shell covered in dozens of pyramidal spines. Bony plates extended over the shoulders and hips of its limb, and from these jutted a series of long thin piercing barbs. Its head was short, with a snapping beak and great insectile red eyes. In the air behind it waved the monster's club-like tail, long and whip-thin compared to the rest of the beast. The club itself was a ball of spikes.

Pink could feel the mitama in it, even if she couldn't see the thing. It was also oddly colored, with a blue shell and black scaly skin, but the shell turned redder the closer it got to the tips of its spines. It roared, its voice like a dozen lions, and stepped deliberately into the space between Goenitz and Chris.

"Well," Goenitz frowned almost imperceptibly and flicked his hand, causing the dust from its arrival to puff from his coat. "This forest is just full of surprises."

He glanced idly behind him as the trees cracked once again, announcing the arrival of another aragami. Pink raised an eyebrow as Link walked casually in front of the other beast. Her twin did not even glance in Pink's direction.

The thing that followed her resembled a two-story-tall praying mantis. Its body was thin, skeletally so, and seemed to be made of some sort of thick, ropy plant material. It strode forward on four thin legs and had two more raised in the air before it. The long, vicious-looking claws that descended from these legs framed Link as she walked. It had no mouth, but only two tremendous over- sized eyes sticking out of its almost comically small head. They spun and whirled in place, looking off in seemingly random directions.

"Friends of yours?" Goenitz asked Pink's twin.

Link stared at him for a moment, her expression oddly blank. Then suddenly she chuckled, almost looking as if she wanted to smile. "Oh, it's you. They're my friends, yes. The Water of Life is really quite exceptional, even more than Jyusenkyou water in some ways, over." She caressed the bag she held under one arm. "Let's cut right to the chase. You've lost already. Why don't you save your life and run away, over?"

"And if I don't accept your summary of my chances?" Goenitz asked mildly.

Link shrugged. "I don't really care. You're going to fail. You might win, or think you do. You might kill some of us, even me." She looked over at the remnants of Adon's body, and laughed to herself. "But you've lost already. You can't beat him, over."

"But railing against fate is such a fascinating pastime. I do not believe I can tear myself from it so easily."

Link spread her arms wide. "I couldn't agree more. Then let's see what happens, over!"

Her two creatures lurched into movement, circling around Goenitz. Before the battle could be joined, however, two more figures emerged from the forest, although with less destruction than the two aragami. Pink smiled. This was all going just marvelously, really. Vice had paused to look at the group of newcomers. Shampoo and Akane had also stopped upon entering the situation, their naked blades gleaming in the moonlight. Shampoo's eyes immediately locked upon Vice's. Akane, however, was looking around, as if searching for something.

"Shampoo!" Pink barked. "Get rid of that stupid secretary. Keep her away from me, over!"

It wasn't really an order Pink expected Shampoo to hesitate at, and she was not disappointed. The stupid Joketsuzoku bitch screamed a war cry and charged, her sword flashing through the air in an arc intended to behead her opponent. Vice, however, merely laughed, and snapped forward, first with one arm, then the other. In a blur of black and red, first Shampoo's sword was ripped from her hand, then Shampoo herself was tossed in the other direction.

Akane, realising her "friend" was in over her head, stopped whatever it was she was doing and leaped into action. Pink immediately dismissed all the idiots from her mind - no one was paying attention to her anymore. While the sounds of battle erupted behind her, she strode over to the ruined cottage. It was a bit of a hassle to try and drag the kid's body with only one hand, but even without his legs, Adon's body would have been a larger burden.

As she reemerged into the night with her surprise, she noted Vice was holding off Akane and Shampoo rather handily with that annoying throw-at-a- distance trick of hers, but hadn't managed to land a decisive blow yet. Meanwhile, Goenitz was dodging casually between the lightning-fast sweeps of the mantis creature and the slashing club of the reptile. He and Link were still chatting, as if nothing was happening. All the pieces were in place... except for the annoying old bat. Had Goenitz gotten rid of her? Pink would have to thank his corpse after this was all over, if so.

And then all the sounds of the melee were drowned out as a roar louder than anything Pink had ever heard in her life filled the entire forest. Something was ripping up the life force of the forest! She spun, dropping the body in her startlement. Above the treeline, a huge vortex had suddenly appeared, like the finger of some god lancing down from the sky. In its titanic mass swirled blue streaks of water and the dark forms of the huge trees as they were swept up into it. Then, both were drowned out as the gargantuan form of the Orochi - or so Pink assumed - was hurled up in the centre of the tornado, helplessly flailing heads occasionally breaking out of the storm only to be inexorably drawn back in.

Oh. Well, that explained where the annoying old bat was.

The whirlwind rose up in the sky, carrying the howling eight-headed serpent with it. Even as the tornado dissipated upon reaching the clouds above, the Orochi continued flying up and away, its enormous bulk temporarily blotting out the light of the moon as it hurtled out towards the horizon.

Pink made a mental note not to call the old bat an old bat to her face anymore. At least, not until she could be taught her place.

The next sound Pink heard was the sound of someone charging across the field. She turned, to see everyone still staring in astonishment at the horizon. Everyone except Akane, who was dashing into the treeline. Then there was a flash of silver, and Akane stepped behind a particularly large tree, hitting it with her elbow. Ponderously, the tree slid down on the angled cut. Around that time Vice snapped out of her stupor and spun to face this new threat, sleeves dangling; but from her expression, the colossal tree toppling towards her was a little beyond her ability to hurl aside as she had her foes. Perhaps she might have dodged, but it was right about that point that Shampoo slid in, her legs sweeping Vice's out from underneath her, then rolled away.

The boom of the great tree landing on top of Vice was suitably impressive, Pink grudgingly had to admit. At the other side of the clearing, Goenitz was thoughtfully stroking his beard, his head tipped forward and his face in shadows. "My word. What a surprising lot you are. I suppose I shall have to stop holding back so much." His eyes snapped wide open, their brilliant blue flashing through the darkness, and he grinned, a savage animal smile. With two casual sweeps of his arms, the aragami on either side of him exploded in a shower of green gore. He hadn't destroyed the well-hidden mitamas within their bodies, however - Pink still felt them pulsing with life.

Well, it seemed things were just about to get out of hand. Time, then, to save the day. "CHRIS!" she cried as loudly as she could. "You can't fight him in that wrecked body! You'll have to take this one, over!"

At that point, both Chris and Akane looked at her, and at the limp corpse she was holding up, and their expressions could not have been more different if they had tried.

A fraction of a second later, the remains of Adon's body collapsed and the one she held by the hand was not nearly so limp. Pink tightened her grasp around Chris's new hand and helped him up.

"It's whole, but it's not nearly as strong as any martial artist," Chris muttered, staring down at himself, but there was no accusation in his voice.

"It doesn't matter!" Pink trilled triumphantly. "He was a god! You know the power that slept in that kid, over!"

"Maybe..." Chris grunted.

And then Link was there, clutching her mitamas and the bag to her chest. "You'd better figure out something quickly, Chris!" she snapped. "Goenitz isn't going to be stunned into silence for long, over!"

Pink smiled, looking over the battlefield. Shampoo and Akane were running towards them, and both of them were staring at Chris. Shampoo's eyes were flinty, but Akane's face was full of open horror. Chris wasn't paying attention, however, as he clenched his fists and stared at them impotently. Pink wasn't too concerned. Vice was still buried under the tree, though the massive trunk was quivering slightly as the woman struggled to gain the leverage to free herself.

And Goenitz... Goenitz was just recovering, smoothing over the naked shock with indiscriminate rage. "This..." he said, his voice filled with anger for the first time. "This goes beyond everything. This is more than an outrage. This is blasphemy!" A cold white aura built around the Heavenly King of Orochi. The air around him slashed and snapped, great trees and giant rocks around him were ripped into the air and fell apart, cleaved in twain.

And Link leaned in close to Chris, closer than Pink could ever remember her twin voluntarily getting to the dead man. "Chris," she said, her voice hissing into his ear. "If you don't do something now, Pink and Akane are going to die, over."

Chris raised his head. The childish features of the other Chris were set in hard, determined lines. His cold, dead eyes flashed from blue to red. "No. I won't let that happen."

Goenitz was rushing in, his mouth open in a scream of rage, the wind swirling around him tearing the ground up in his wake. He was moving so fast, even Pink's recently enhanced senses could barely follow him.

Chris raised his childlike hands, almost in slow motion.

And there was fire.

A giant wall of purple flames roared from the earth, hissing four stories into the air. Instantly, a wave of heat struck Pink almost like a blow, sending her staggering a step back. The earth around the flames disintegrated, and Pink felt a sick, bloated tear in the vital force of the forest, like a festering wound had erupted from under it.

Nobody was looking directly at the barrier of flames. Nobody could have stared directly into that blindingly bright abyss. Except Chris. Pink stared at him, instead, and saw him looking out into the flames he had created. She laughed with delight, and that seemed to snap the dead man out of his reverie. He spun on his heel, and the voice of the dead child carried over the hissing roar of the flames.

"That won't stop him forever. Let's get out of here. Now!"

01010

Rei had to admit, after thinking it over, that it had been a complete success. Even Usagi had managed to get through it without once falling over or looking like an idiot. The entire fight had an almost dream-like perfection to it. They had shown up, just as the huge hulking monster - Rei assumed it was a zoanoid - had been about to level a building, posed, shouted at it and blasted it back to wherever it came from. Then they had left without any incident, and here they were again.

Rei glanced around the school as she wandered through it. The architecture was strange, not quite like anything Rei had ever seen before. But even as she thought that, she knew it was a lie. This place very much reminded her of somewhere, somewhere from her past, maybe even her past life. It had an air of elegance and refinement to it. The whole campus existed with almost a fairy tale quality.

Perhaps that was why Rei wasn't comfortable? She frowned and looked down at her feet, keeping her eyes away from the buildings as she passed them anonymously. This entire place gave her a headache. The buildings, the people inside them, even the uniforms that had been handed out to her... they all felt wrong. Tainted.

It was the same feeling she had when the zoanoids, or youma, or whatever other demons were out there came too close. But then again, that did make sense. Chris had told them that this place was run by the next best thing to Satan himself. Rei believed him. She had felt the taint on the man when he had come to speak to them. They had only talked the once, and even then it had been nothing more sinister than what you would expect any school chairman to lecture a group of strange young girls regarding attending a new school. He had talked about grades, and attendance, and dress codes and other mundane things. Nobody had mentioned magic or demons or evil schemes.

Rei had spent two hours scrubbing herself off after the meeting.

But things seemed to be going well. They had settled into this strange school. It had only taken them three days. Makoto had already challenged the school's judo team and won herself a place on it; no doubt she would be captain soon. Ami had shyly mentioned a boy she had met and was talking to. He was apparently very smart, and an accomplished pianist. Rei didn't think she had ever seen Ami even look at a boy before. And Usagi...

Usagi was a princess.

Everywhere she went, Usagi dazzled and charmed. Her clumsy enthusiasm and goofy good-natured humour, which had actually made her something of a social outcast back in Tokyo, seemed to be winning over half the school. Usagi was even now throwing a party at a local ice cream shop. For everyone else, it was just a routine get together. For the Sailor Senshi, it was supposed to celebrate their stunningly one-sided victory over the forces of evil.

Rei had declined her invitation.

She sighed. She really had to stop doing that. Usagi needed her. She was still young and needed to master her powers, and until then the Senshi would have to-

Rei collided with something going very quickly in the opposite direction. She screamed and fell back, landing painfully. The world swam for a few seconds as she rubbed at her scalp. Rei had no idea what had happened, but reacted instinctively.

"Watch where you're going, you stupid moron!" she snapped.

"Hey! You should... well, I guess it was my fault. But there's no need to be rude!" Rei's eyes focused on the speaker for the first time. She would place the girl at around her own age, although she was a little shorter. Her burgundy hair fell to the nape of her neck, with one lock settled artfully between her violet eyes. Like Rei, she was dressed in the Ohtori girl's uniform: a typical sailor suit with huge puffed shoulders but no sleeves and a shirt cut so tight it made every girl look like they had a stick for a waist. Instead of the bow sported on most school uniforms, this one had an oversized red tie with a single yellow stripe slashing across it. The girl was sitting on the ground like Rei, also clutching her forehead.

Rei considered her words for a minute and methodically reined in her anger. She gave a long sigh. "Apology accepted," Rei said, getting to her feet. She held her hand down towards the other girl.

"Um, thank you," the girl said, accepting the help up. She stood weakly for a second and when Rei released her, she stumbled back and almost fell again. Quick instincts let Rei catch her before she would have suffered another nasty spill.

"Are you alright?" Rei asked, suddenly concerned.

"My ankle..." the girl said, looking down at her leg. "I think I twisted it..."

Rei bit the inside of her lip. She had really been planning on spending the evening alone. Without the sacred fire, it was hard to find her centre. She needed it, in this strange place with its... its overwhelming 'it'-ness.

"Here, lean on me," Rei offered, then proceeded to pull the girl into a position where Rei could support most of her weight without waiting for a response. The girl only blinked and stared. "Now where were you headed, exactly?"

"I can get there myself!" the girl cried indignantly and suddenly pushed Rei away. Rei was caught off-guard by the smaller girl and stumbled back. The shorter girl sniffed and turned her head sharply away. Then she made it two steps before her ankle gave out and her legs flew out from underneath her.

Expecting this, Rei caught her from behind. "What are you, an idiot? Don't you know to accept help when you need it?" Rei frowned as the girl stiffened in her grip. Then she suddenly relaxed and her head dipped down. Rei blinked as the girl began to tremble in her arms, slowly at first and then with increasing intensity. Soft sobs echoed back over her shoulder.

Oh great. This was all Rei needed, another crybaby.

"Ah, I didn't really mean it..." Rei said lamely. Apologies were not her strong point.

The girl let out a loud hitching sob, trying to rub the tears from her cheeks with one hand. "I'm sorry, I feel so stupid!" She sniffed again, but this time the sound was far less arrogant. "It's just-" she cut off sharply.

"Just what?" Rei asked. She was running mostly on autopilot now. Whenever Usagi started crying, Rei just yelled at her louder until she stopped. She somehow sensed that was not the course to take with this girl. So she fell back on what little she could remember of her shrine maiden training, at least the parts that had not dealt with meditation and predicting the future.

"Nothing, it's stupid..." the girl said, finally having gotten her sobbing under control. Rei could still sense the despondence in her voice; despondence and something deeper. "I was going to Nemuro Memorial Hall. I'd be glad if you could take me there."

"Sure," Rei agreed, glad herself that there finally was something to do. "Uh... just one problem..." She coughed as she adjusted her grip on the girl to one more suitable for a long walk. "Where is that?"

"Just down this way, on the other side of the campus from the dormitories." Rei nodded, and the two began to walk.

"I'm Rei Hino," Rei introduced herself. "As you might have guessed, I'm new here."

The girl laughed a little. "That's a coincidence, I'm new here too." She paused and reconsidered her statement. "Well, I used to go here awhile back, but I transferred away and just returned recently." She paused again. They passed by a rusty gutter as they turned a corner, the water from the storm still dripping out of it slowly. It looked like blood. "My name is Shiori Takatsuki."

"Pleased to meet you," Rei said. She knew she should have left it at that. She had much bigger problems to think about than this girl she hardly knew. The entire world practically rested on her shoulder, and she was wasting time propping up a crying schoolgirl? But Rei couldn't help it. The world was vast and terrible, and maybe there was nothing Rei could do about it...

But she could guide this girl to where she needed to go.

"So what's his name?" Rei asked.

"Huh?"

Rei rolled her eyes. She had seen Makoto in a similar huff once too often. "The name of the boy. The one who dumped you, or you caught with another girl before you could ask him out, or who stuck your love note up on the school bulletin board..." Rei trailed off invitingly.

"It's nothing like that at all!" Shiori replied irritably.

Rei could sense Shiori's indignation. This close, Rei could hardly help but feel it. She also sensed a spark of resentment nestled down under her chaotically swirling emotions. It was the only thing that had remained constant since they had met, Rei realised.

"I still don't think it's that important," Rei said, putting more dismissiveness into her tone than she really felt. Shiori's brow wrinkled, and her lip twisted slightly.

"Not important? I suppose it's common for the person that has always been around you, that's always been there for you, that's been your only friend since childhood, that it's common for HER to be secretly lusting after you for years?"

Rei had to admit, she wasn't expecting that. Taking Rei's confused pause as a signal to continue, Shiori continued to vent.

"I thought as much. And you know what the worst part is? It isn't just that you've always been together. It isn't just the sleepovers and the baths and the clothes shopping. It's not the secret picture of you that she... she kept in a locket next to her heart and touched when she thought no one was looking!

"I thought she was better than that! I trusted her. I told her everything. When I felt low and worthless, she was the one I confided in. Then... when I..." Shiori's voice began to lose some of its bitter edge. Rei kept her features carefully neutral. "When I betrayed her because of some stupid boy, I just made myself feel worse. I asked for her forgiveness. But she was betraying me all along! She was the snake! Using our friendship like that, always making me feel inferior..." Shiori's voice was beginning to grow stronger and harsher again, and Rei decided she had heard just about enough.

"Oh, is that all?" Rei said and smiled. "Well, that isn't so bad then."

Shiori cut off as if she had been shot, and gaped at Rei like a landed fish. Rei chuckled a bit at how comic she looked. Rei guided them over to a set of stone steps and sat Shiori down.

"Shiori, my grandfather is dead. He was killed." Rei clutched her hands into fists, but willing the anger away. "Some... very bad men killed him. And I had to sit there and do nothing. I couldn't help him. All I could do was run. He DIED." She looked straight into the girl's violet eyes, willing all her emotions into her gaze for a split second. She frowned and closed her eyes. She wouldn't cry. But it hurt so much. "If... if I could have him back, even for a moment... I think about all the times I yelled at him for being a fool. All the times I hated him for making me get him out of messes. I'd gladly take those feelings back again. I wish I could get annoyed and frustrated at him, just one more time.

"But I can't. Because he's dead."

Rei opened her eyes again. Shiori was staring up at Rei, wide-eyed. She was leaning back a bit, as if the force of Rei's grief was pressing down on her. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't realise-"

"No," Rei cut her off. "I'm not telling you this because I want your sympathy. I don't want you to feel sorry for me..." Rei had enough of that from the others. They never said anything, but Rei could see their sympathy in their eyes. "I just want you to stop feeling sorry for yourself."

"Sorry for myself..." Shiori repeated slowly.

"There are bigger problems out there than what you went through, Shiori," Rei said, crossing her arms. "The world is a vast and terrible place. Today, you found out that it isn't always fair. That sometimes it hurts. That sometimes it lies to you." Rei looked away, towards the campus. The chairman's tower rose from the center of the school, casting its shadow as the sun set. "Once you realise that, I guess that means you get to be an adult."

"Well... I see what you mean..." Shiori pulled her legs to her chest. "But just because there are bigger problems out there doesn't make me feel better."

"It isn't supposed to," Rei agreed, sitting down next to her. "You're what, fifteen years old?"

"Sixteen," Shiori corrected, but Rei waved that away.

"You have every right to feel betrayed and angry. But this girl, she sounds like she's always been there for you. She must really care for you, like a true friend." Rei paused. "Did she ever... touch you?"

"No!" Shiori gasped in shock. "Nothing like that!"

"Then what's the problem? She never made you feel uncomfortable by bringing it up, right?" Shiori nodded absently. "You have every right to feel betrayed at the moment. I doubt you could stop yourself. We... we can't really control how we feel, I guess. And neither can this girl. She's different from you and me, but that doesn't make her less human." At that point the sun, travelling its eternal path, emerged from behind the chairman's tower and cast the entire stairwell in a warm red light. "You could stay angry and bitter. But ask yourself... if she died tomorrow, would you really care about all this?"

"I guess, if you look at it like that..." Shiori trailed off again. She looked away from Rei.

Rei smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "So obviously, what you need to do is go find her and demand an apology. Then, what happens next... I guess that's up to the both of you, isn't it?"

Shiori turned and stared at Rei for a long time. Her eyes were so intense, it began to make Rei feel nervous. Then her lips parted in a small smile. "But I still can't walk."

"Oh... right," Rei chuckled, and they shared a short laugh. "So, why was it you were in such a hurry to get here again?" Rei pointed up the steep staircase towards the building they were sitting in front of.

"I..." Shiori laughed a bit again. "Actually this building is where... I guess you could call him the school's guidance counselor lives. Students come here when they need someone to talk to." Shiori smiled again, the first real, genuine smile Rei had ever seen her give. "But I think I'll just think about it first."

"Guidance counselor?" Rei looked up at the building. The red glow of the setting sun was slowly creeping up the side of the building, leaving it in shadow. Rei realised suddenly she had dredged up feelings she had been keeping locked inside since... that day. Maybe she did need somebody to talk to?

Rei felt a sudden chill pass through her. No. This place... it was wrong. Ohtori was overwhelming, like a warm but smothering embrace that followed you everywhere you went. This place... it was like the embrace of the grave. Equally smothering, but in a far more sinister way.

"Come on, I'll help you home then," Rei said slowly, standing up and offering her hand to Shiori again.

01010

It was another hot day in Tokyo. The people moved about slowly, many of them frowning, most of them sweating. The engines of industry kept moving, regardless of the weather. People had jobs. People had lives. They worked them and they lived them as best they could. What other choice did they have?

Nabiki almost pitied them. She stood at the window of her air- conditioned suite and stared down at the street. Her fingers tapped out a slow rhythm on the glass. How they could stand to be so small, she did not understand.

She didn't really think of herself as better than they were, not really. She'd started out at the same level as any of them: no special powers or training. But she understood something that they did not. She understood the game.

In life, there were winners and losers. Money, lovers, favours were how you kept score. Business cards, bank statements and contracts were the score sheets. The key to victory was understanding the rule, to knowing the way the pieces moved. A long time ago she had thought that she could be happy with petty victories and small awards. She hadn't been really willing to risk it all. In time, she might have become one of them... old, timid. She would have just lived out her life as another cog in the machine. A successful cog, a happy cog, she had no doubt. But still content to win only those games that had come her way.

She had to thank Ukyou, the next time they met. It had been hard, at first. She had been playing a game she didn't know the rules to, thinking it was one with much lower stakes. So she had been kidnapped and humiliated and almost died.

But that had not hurt. What had hurt was losing the game. Nabiki had never lost before. There were games she could not win, but in those games she had refused to participate. Now... she was in the greatest game of all. A game where the stakes were so high it made her dizzy in a way being fifty stories over the city could not. And she was winning.

She reached down and touched the sword. It was cool to the touch, innocuous to look at. Wrapped in a simple cloth, it merited no more than a passing glance from the people outside. She wondered how many of them desired it?

Well... there was no need to wonder anymore, was there?

Nabiki narrowed her eyes and concentrated. There was a man on the street. He was going home after a long day of work. He was hungry and wished that his wife would remember to cook dinner tonight. She hadn't for the last three nights, because they had gotten into a silly fight the point of which he could no longer remember. He bowed his head and realised he should probably apologize. He had no idea if he was in the wrong, but it would work. And he couldn't eat take out again. Besides being expensive, it was beginning to give him a bit of a gut. Maybe he should renew his membership at the gym? He certainly...

He passed out of Nabiki's sight and she let him pass out of her mind. She sighed and stepped away from the glass, spinning in place. She felt like dancing. She felt like singing. She settled on laughing. It was so easy! She had not imagined that it would feel so good! Just a flicker of concentration and... and everything was at her fingertips. Names, addresses, account numbers and other brands of ID.

Still laughing, Nabiki fell back onto her bed. It gave out a sound like an elephant sighing as the plush fabric bent beneath her. It was like falling into a cloud. She kicked her legs in the air, giggling with girlish glee. In all her life she had never stayed in a place so fancy. And she hadn't paid a yen for it! It was amazing what a few words whispered in the right ear could get you, when you could know everything about anyone you wished.

She dropped the sword onto the bed beside her. It would never be out of her reach. Not until she had spent her other two wishes, at least. To think she had doubted it, even up to the end. All that work, just to get this little sword, and she had doubted if it was real... truly real right up until the end. Then it had spoken. "Wish Granted," it had said.

She would have to be careful with the other two wishes, she supposed. There were things out there. Monsters and witches and martial artists. If any of them came too close to defeating her, she would need a trump card. Not that she pictured she would ever need it now.

Not now that she could read minds.

She giggled to herself again and crawled further up the bed, sitting up when she reached the people liked to think of themselves as modest, but Nabiki knew better. She was clever. She was brilliant, in fact. Oh sure she could have wished for many things. Money. Power. Why not? But there were a lot of martial artists in the world. There were a lot of monsters.

And they just kept getting bigger.

She could have wished to be the strongest woman in the world. Heck, she could have wished for power like a god. But that was not Nabiki's style. She didn't particularly think she had either the temperament or the inclination to godhood. She also didn't picture herself enjoying all that tedious violence. But she now had a power none of them could match. She had knowledge.

"Ryouga!" she called.

"Yes?" He was sitting in the corner. Just sitting on the top of that ratty backpack of his, his chin resting on one fist and his eyes staring out at nothing. He had been doing that for hours. Ryouga, she reflected, was very boring company. He didn't talk or joke. He just sat like a land-bound hawk, and fought like a demon. As usual, he radiated a heavy depression. It was always there, on the corner of her awareness. She was still having trouble blocking off the empathy that seemed to come with her new gifts. That was part of the reason she was fifty stories up.

"Come here a moment, will you?" she said, making her voice slightly more sultry than normal. He turned red as a tomato and stammered something before nodding and approaching. She resisted the urge to laugh. About the only thing Ryouga was good for aside from fighting was teasing. His buttons were too easy to push. She stretched slightly as he approached and he turned redder, and stopped at the base of the bed, turning away.

He must have noticed by now, that there was only one bed in the room. Not that Nabiki had any real intention of sharing it with him. Ryouga was... too thick for her. Oh, he was nice enough to look at, and his earnestness and loyalty were kind of cute... but he was dumb as a sack of rocks. She was certain he wouldn't mind sleeping in the closet again. He never had before, especially not when he was a pig.

"Is there... something I can help you with?" Ryouga's voice was thick with emotion, and Nabiki scanned him visually for a moment.

"Just stand there, would you?" she asked lightly. Ryouga nodded and Nabiki smiled again, giggling to herself. She supposed it was time to test her new abilities.

After all, she was not narrow-minded enough to think she was going to get by on just mind-reading. That would have been a waste of a wish. No, she had wished to be 'the most powerful telepath on Earth.' She was slightly surprised with the results. She had suspected that telepathy must be a rare talent, considering how much it should have affected the world if even a few people had it. But she had found herself able to casually read the minds of people with a moment's concentration.

She didn't even need to see them, really. All the minds around her, they seemed to radiate their feelings like an aura into the air. She could... feel the emotional miasma of the world. She had spent most of today walking through the streets, just bathing in the radiated emotion of the people. It had been like nothing she had ever experienced before. It had been beautiful.

Now... now was the time for more serious testing. She coughed and settled her face into a more serious expression. Ryouga, she decided, was a good test case. His surface thoughts were minimal. He mainly spent his time analyzing everything like a fight would break out any minute. Everything he saw was cataloged as either a threat, an obstacle or a weapon. Every person that approached Nabiki was evaluated with cold efficiency. When they had stayed in one place for too long, his thoughts would drift randomly.

He thought of her a lot, which pleased Nabiki. Some of his thoughts were disgusting, but Nabiki couldn't really blame him. It wasn't like he would ever have acted on them in a million years. Besides, what girl didn't like to be admired?

But she wanted to see how far beneath the surface she could go. She had never cracked open a psychology book in her life, but she knew that the mind had to go deeper than just the surface. It would be very useful if she could probe into the memory, the subconscious... a thousand avenues of knowledge. A thousand ways to gain power over someone.

Besides, how deep could Ryouga go? He was a sap with a brain the size of a walnut. Probably the deepest thought he had ever had in his life was wondering where he was.

She chuckled and focused.

'...hope she finishes this soon. I can't stand being this near her. Why is she chuckling like that? Oh god, am I doing something stupid? I certainly hope not... if she sends me away I can't protect her...'

Pretty standard stuff, that. Nabiki narrowed her eyes and focused more. For a few minutes, nothing happened and she began to grow frustrated. Then she found some sort of mental key, a way of thinking she hadn't tried before. It just sort of slipped into her mind out of the ether. And in a flash she was beyond the top of Ryouga's mind and into what lay beneath.

Pain. It was pain. Nothing but pain.

Nabiki gasped and her body stiffened. Her fingers dug into the silk covers. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in a soundless scream. It was like a maelstrom, a cycle of despair and pain and self-loathing. Memories floated up... no, not memories... one memory. Her. She saw herself lying on the ground before him. She was bloody and battered and crying. He was standing and staring at his hands and he was despair.

Nabiki wanted out. The emotion, the raw naked force of it, had hit her like a physical blow. She was stunned. She had thought that she could feel him, but she had no idea what he was. He was pulling her down, pulling her in.

Another memory, triggered by some need of hers. Nabiki had just taught him the Shishihokodan. He had taken to it like a fish takes to water, and why not? What did he have to be happy about? He was a rapist! He had hurt a woman! A woman he... He couldn't think it, he wasn't worthy of thinking of her like that! Why couldn't she have just asked him to kill himself?

But this was better. She had taught him what he was. He was pain. Nabiki was asleep and he wandered. He knew that he could lose her forever, but also knew that he would not. He would never leave her, ever. Not as long as she needed protecting.

He came across a field, empty... alone. Nabiki had to be kilometers away, asleep. He rose his face to the sky and screamed. It was wordless. It was all his despair. The green light flashed up from him in a pillar. He was blinded by it. It was the world. The ground around him buckled with the force of it. Then it was gone, and he was empty. He didn't even notice the force returning. When he looked up he was standing in a crater five meters across. He frowned.

Not enough. He raised both hands to the sky and roared again. This time he dredged it all up. A life without friends or a home. A friend who became an enemy. A curse. And Nabiki. Always Nabiki. She was everything. She was his sin. The rest was the world. She was him. HIS FAULT. When the energy was finally spent, he stood staring up into the sky and felt the emptiness fill him.

Not enough. He roared and willed his anger and self-loathing back. He felt his body fill with it. The sphere was like a second sun, mad swirling green. It dwarfed him. It fell with ponderous inevitability. He screamed his defiance at it and it came down on him like the wrath of god.

Then he knew no more. It was still dark when he woke up. The moon had hardly moved. A few minutes of blissful unconsciousness, of forgetting what he was. His body hurt all over. It was like he had fallen asleep on a highway or been run over by a train.

Not enough. He rose to his feet. He raised his head to the sky and screamed. The depression roared around him..,

ENOUGH!

Nabiki pulled herself free of the memory by force of will. She could see Ryouga shake a bit, like a leaf on a breezy day. He had felt the memory return. He wasn't aware of her inside him, but he knew something was happening. The thoughts of that night increased the strength of the aura around him.

'...too much of a coward, aren't I? All this strength? Can't even kill myself properly with it! I guess it would have been the coward's way out, though. Not what I deserve. Not what she needs me for. The only reason I die, is for her... Wait!'

Nabiki felt the sinking depths of Ryouga at the edge of her mind. He was worried about her now. He had noticed her discomfort. He was walking along the side of the bed now, softly saying her name. He was asking if she was alright. Nabiki couldn't answer. As he stepped closer it grew stronger.

There was light in there, somewhere deep under the pain. Something he was pushing down in himself, battering with his pain and his loathing. She willed herself towards it with the desperation of a drowning man.

He was getting closer. The pain, the despair, it was getting stronger with every step. In a few seconds, he would touch her. If he did, she would go mad.

She never quite made it to the light. But she felt it. It was warm and brilliant. She had felt the emotion by now. It was love. Not lust, which was hot and hard like a stone from a volcano. This emotion was soft. She had felt a little bit of it, just a little, as she walked through the city. Mothers with their children. Husbands and wives. Something warm and precious. In their presence, Nabiki had lingered a little longer.

He loved her. That was what was under all that pain and misery. He loved her and he hated himself for it. He would never touch her. He would never say anything to her. He believed he owed her everything. He would die for her.

She began to cry.

She hadn't cried this way since... since mother had...

The thought snapped her back to herself. She shook her head. Ryouga was standing, his hand a few centimetres from her cheek. She could feel him, but only his usual aura of depression. Nothing more, not anymore.

"Go away, Ryouga," she pleaded, her voice hoarse.

"Nabiki?"

"Just go away!" she begged.

"I..." She didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. She was rejecting him, and his comfort. Did he think that she was remembering a rape that never happened? Did he think she was disgusted by him?

"I can't leave you..."

"I'll find you," she said softly. "Just go... go away... I need... alone..."

Ryouga took one last look at her, his face falling. Then he turned and stumbled to the door. He only got turned around once before he was out of the suite. She shuddered, as she could still feel him even as he moved down the hallway. She was right, she would have no trouble finding him now. He was like a black bruise on the emotions of the city.

Nabiki pulled her knees up to her chest. That had... that had to be some...

She couldn't accept it. It had been a joke. Just part of the game. Ryouga was thick as a brick. Ukyou's journal had said so. Goofy and depressed and with the worst luck in the world. But hadn't the book also said something about being nice, and heroic and kind? Facts that Nabiki had passed over when reading about him. She had been looking for weaknesses. That was how you won the game. You learned what would hurt the other player, and you ruthlessly exploited it.

That was how it worked.

She hadn't made the rules.

You couldn't blame her for playing the game too well! It wasn't right! She wasn't at fault! He was just too stupid, was the problem. There was no need to take it so seriously. It was Ryouga's own stupid fault for believing her. It was his fault for keeping all that rage and pain bottled up inside. She hadn't asked him to fall in love with her! She hadn't asked!

Nabiki continued crying.

"What have I done?"

01010

Chizuru sat on the balcony overlooking the city. Kyoto was the ancient capital of Japan, and a city of shrines. Perhaps that was why she had always felt so at home here? It was a lovely place, nestled in the heart of Japan's great mountains. The very air was filled with spiritual energy. The hot sun did not bother her as she stared down at the city and smiled.

She raised a hand, extending one finger. In a flutter of wings and a flash of brown her pet settled onto his perch. He chirped at her inquiringly. Perhaps he could sense her mood. She only shook her head and smiled wider. Chee- chan was a very exceptional sparrow, but he was still a sparrow. His primary concerns were the building of nests, the chasing of worms and the singing for mates. What did he understand of the life of an eighteen-year-old who also happened to be one of the richest women in all Japan?

Not that she was overly concerned about that. She had been preparing for these days for years now, ever since... She sighed and flicked her finger, sending Chee-chan to go rushing off into the blue sky. She turned and strode into her office.

It was the very model of a modern Japanese office. The desk was glass, with dark metal piping supporting it. The walls were polished granite, grey and imposing. The floor was pristine white marble and her heels clicked on it, echoing throughout the massive chamber. And massive it was. In a place so starved for space as Japan, such a chamber was a sign of ostentatious wealth.

She hated it. She resolved to get some trees in here, perhaps even give her an excuse to practice her bonsai. She sat down at the desk and sighed again. There were only a few papers piled atop her desk, but they were imposing nonetheless. She had managed to put off this for six years, but now that she had graduated high school, the stockholders would not take no for an answer. She was going to lead the company her family had founded, or she was going to have it dismantled around her.

It was too useful a tool to let it be wasted. The Clan of Yata had served Japan for centuries, and this organization was the heart of what had once been their power. Now, as the only survivor, she would need it more than ever before. While her mirror could discover much, there were only so many things she could focus on at once. Not that she wanted to think about the mirror right now. Having the resources of one of Japan's economic powerhouse zaibatsu at her beck and call would serve her work well.

Especially if she ever planned on defeating Goenitz, and sealing away the power of the Orochi once and for all. She stared down at the files and shoved them aside. Underneath were the dossiers on two young men, as much information as her company had been able to gather. One was labeled 'Kyo Kusanagi' the other 'Iori Yagami'. Two boys, barely old enough to shave. But they were the only hope of the world. Then again, she thought with a smile, she was only eighteen herself.

Even as her thoughts began to turn towards more mundane matters, Chizuru felt the woman enter. She snapped to her feet, her soft leather chair clattering behind her. The woman had not just stepped into her office, she had literally appeared at the door. Chizuru had left express orders that she was not to be disturbed. Her security force was one of the most well-trained in the world. No intruder who got past them could be anything less than a deadly threat.

The two women examined each other for a moment. Chizuru flowed into a martial arts stance. She stood with one hand extended towards the opponent, calmly rolling her wrist. She wished that her dress suit allowed her freedom of motion. It would be very hard to fight like this.

The other woman hadn't moved. She was just standing in front of the closed double doors. She had the largest and most ridiculous hairstyle Chizuru had ever seen. It was a garish lavender and stuck out from her head in two huge bangs. She was wearing a wine-colored coat and a yellow shawl. She had made no move as yet, instead just examining the woman behind the desk.

"I expected someone taller," the woman said. Her voice had an odd power to it. Chizuru could feel the energy flowing from her. It was cold but active, like a chill wind that ran from her body in all directions. But it felt oddly peaceful. Yes, Chizuru realised with a start, there was no hint of aggressive intent anywhere in this woman. She radiated peace... and a deep, almost primordial focus.

"I'm sorry to disappoint," Chizuru responded.

"You are Chizuru Kagura." It was not a question. "At eighteen years old, you are the head of a large multinational corporation, inherited from your parents."

"And you are?"

"I am Rose, but that is not important," the woman said with the same sort of resigned tone one used to talk to overly enthusiastic children. "You are also the last of the Clan of Yata, an ancient bloodline of Shinto priestesses that have maintained the seal on the power of the Orochi for centuries."

Chizuru did not gasp. She did not stammer and ask for an explanation. The secret history of her family was just that, secret. That did not mean that it was impossible to discover. She had learned that lesson six years ago, when Goenitz had tracked down and killed her elder sister to release the power of his foul god. She did narrow her eyes slightly.

"And I take it you have interrupted my privacy for some reason?"

Rose inclined her head, as if she respected that question. "I have come at the behest of necessity."

"You need me for something?" Chizuru did not relax. Even if she could feel no hostile intent, the power of this woman still put her on edge.

"I do not need you." Rose's voice was full of contempt. But then she paused, and her features softened slightly. "I apologize for my tone and my rudeness." She bowed, but only slightly. "I am not much used to dealing with... people." She gestured towards the balcony. "Perhaps we can sit and discuss this like civilised folk?"

Chizuru considered her offer for a moment, then accepted. A few minutes later they were sitting beneath an artfully placed umbrella and sipping tea that Chizuru had sent for.

"I am afraid I might have started out on a bad foot, so to speak," Rose admitted. "I have come to you because I do, in fact, have need of your help."

"My help?" Chizuru asked. She was having trouble placing the woman's accent.

"Yes." Rose had drained her tea and was staring down into the dregs of it. "A... comrade of mine has fallen. I need your help to revive her."

"Excuse me?" Chizuru blinked. "You might know about my heritage, but I assure you that even I can't bring back the dead."

Rose laughed, a soft sound that didn't even require her to open her mouth. "If death were all I was worried about, then this would be a much simpler task." Rose rolled her fingers over the teacup. "No, the wounds my ally has taken are not physical. They are wounds of the spirit." She frowned, and for the first time Chizuru felt a hint of frustration in her aura. It was small, barely enough to even be noted, but until now her aura had been as calm and focused as a strong northern breeze. "I find myself unable to help her, and I do not enjoy the feeling. I have come to think of this woman as my friend, as my trusted ally." Chizuru guessed that Rose did not make such admissions easily.

"And why me?" Chizuru asked. She could honestly see no reason why she should help this woman. Not that this would have stopped her from trying. Chizuru had spent too many years alone, aching inside for her own spiritual wounds, not to have some sympathy. But she was not trained at counseling. Her skills were in the boardroom and the battlefield.

"Because it is your time," Rose informed her. She gestured down into her cup and Chizuru's eyes followed. She saw nothing but a few scattered leaves. "Your destiny stands before you, Chizuru Kagura. You have already felt it move, and soon it will draw you down into it. And from the depths of this fate, I fear there can be no escape."

"I'm sorry, I've never been much for fortune-telling," Chizuru explained politely.

Rose nodded, as if expecting this answer. "You can feel it, the power of the Orochi." Rose seemed to prefer to speak in statements. Chizuru stiffened slightly, but nodded. "Then you felt what happened a week ago." Again, she stated instead of asked and again Chizuru could only nod.

She remembered it well. Sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night, her body covered in a cold sweat. Her family had been the guardians of the Orochi's prison for centuries, ever since her family and the clans Kusanagi and Yagami had defeated the dark god and sealed him away in a mirror. That mirror had been her family's terrible responsibility ever since. Over time, they had grown attached to it. They had learned to touch its power, to feel the moods and strength of the dormant god within it. They had also mastered other talents that drew on the mirror, but that had been the first night she had ever felt the mirror scream.

She had walked over to it, shaking like a leaf. The mirror itself was simple, almost prosaic. When Goenitz had slaughtered her family and freed the Orochi from the mirror's confinement, a single great crack had run down its center. But the prison had been imperfectly broken, and still the power of the beast was linked to it. So Chizuru had constantly been reminded of her loss.

Whenever her heart faltered, it was there. In the long lonely nights when all she could do was cry for her dead sister, it was there. When she lay on the floor in a pool of her own blood, her body a mass of bruises from her instructor's merciless beatings, it was there. When she had walked coldly back into her home, having just broken the heart of a young man she was certain she had loved, it was there. All she had to do was touch it to feel the power of the Orochi. She could feel it growing. She could feel it yearning to be free. She knew that the insane god's darkness was coming, and that she was the only person alive who could stand before it. So she had dried her tears, she had picked herself off the floor, she had turned her heart off... and kept going.

Somehow.

But that night was the first night she had not wanted to touch the mirror. That night was the first time she had truly been afraid of it. Because what she had felt was the Orochi's pain. She had felt a god's outrage. She had felt its fear. She had looked into the cracked surface and her heart had skipped a beat. Something had hurt the Orochi. Something so terrible that a god quailed at the thought of it.

As far as she knew, nothing could harm the Orochi. Seal it, maybe even destroy its mortal shell, but harm it? The metaphysical it, the essence of the darkness that was its soul? If there had been anything under heaven that could have done that, her ancestors surely would have sought it out and used it long ago.

In the end, she had not touched the mirror. And she had not touched it since.

"You are afraid," Rose stated. Chizuru shook her head free and stared at the woman. An enigmatic smile had crept across her features. It was a smile with no warmth, only cold humour. Chizuru did not doubt that Rose knew exactly what she had been thinking. "You are right to be afraid. Go... take up the mirror. Probe it. Anything I say to you will be meaningless. You must see for yourself."

Chizuru hesitated for a long time, but Rose's eyes were insistent. So she drew a deep breath and gathered all her courage and walked into the office. The mirror was behind a hidden panel in the wall. It was wrapped in cloth that was etched through with wards against evil and darkness. With trembling hands Chizuru undid the knots and peeled away the cloth.

All she saw in the mirror was her own face. Rose hadn't even left the balcony. She had poured herself another cup of tea. Chizuru forced down a lump in her throat and steeled herself. Then she reached out and placed her palm against its surface. She felt the Orochi's fear. She willed the mirror to show her-

Rose was holding her, fanning Chizuru's face with her shawl. She wasn't moving the shawl with her hands. Chizuru blinked and pushed her away. Rose merely stood, looking down at her impassively.

"I saw..." Chizuru took a long breath. "A woman... a field, a long weapon, a voice crying out in horror... and... and..."

"Nothing." Rose nodded. "You saw it. The thing which we are fighting. The end. The very end. That is destiny, that is fate." Rose stretched down her hand. "The voice you heard was my ally. She needs help, because her spirit is wounded. She is the one that will rail against fate. She is the only one who might change it. Will you help us?"

Chizuru didn't hesitate. What was the Orochi, compared to this?

01010

They were monsters. They stood in the darkness, watching the rain fall down on the streets of London. The fires sputtered here and there, fighting against the downpour. The larger fires had stopped burning a while ago. They would have kept them going, let it all burn to the ground... but they needed the shelter.

The sun was down now, but in too short a time it would be back. Rising from the east, heralding the long periods they would have to spend inside. It itched at their souls, hiding away like this. Even the darkness no longer brought the release they needed. London belonged to them. There was nothing left here but vampires and an army of ghouls.

"This is boring!" one of the vampires declared. He was wearing a German uniform from a war that was nearly fifty years dead. But then again, so was he. He snarled, his huge fanged maw flashing white teeth in the darkness.

"Be quiet!" Richler snarled back and back-handed the offender. The vampire flew backward with the force of the blow. He collided with the side of a nearby van with enough force that the vehicle skidded back a few meters and developed a man-sized dent. The vampire flopped to the ground next to it. Richler reached up and adjusted his monocle with one hand. He no longer needed it, but he had grown attached to it in life and he found he preferred the image it cast about him now. "Do your duty. That is what is required of you."

"This is not duty," one of the other men commented. Like all the others, he was clad in the bulky uniform of a German soldier. His mushroom-shaped helmet and the wrapping around the lower half of his face hid most of his face from view; all of it but his blood-red eyes. Richler glared at him too, but the man glared back. The officer slowly unclenched his fist. The problem with vampires was that they were creatures of instinct. You had to be very careful how you pushed them, or they just might push back. And considering the squad outnumbered him four to one, and none of them looked happy, he decided to try diplomacy.

"We have our orders," Richler stated first. That caught all their attention. The concept of orders was one they understood well enough. They were soldiers. They fought and killed and died on orders. But they were also monsters. Monsters obeyed because you pleased them. The Major had the ability to win their loyalty... Richler did not. He was only in command here because the Major had told the others he was.

"This is hardly the war we were promised," one of the soldiers complained. He tugged on the chain he was carrying in one hand. There was a chorus of moans as the line of ghouls attached to the chain by collars reacted to the sudden motion. The group had eight such chains, each with over a hundred of the mindless walking dead attached - and room for a hundred more. "Collaring ghouls... it is drudge work."

"It is necessary drudge work," Richler shot back. He frowned. "If we do not get these beasts to a dark place, come morning they will burn up. Then what use will they be?"

"Who cares what use they will be?" the original soldier roared. He was standing up now and swung his arm back, his fist tearing through the metal of the van like it was tissue paper.

"The Major does..." Richler responded. He closed his eyes. He could still see the image of the man clearly. It had been the night of their ultimate victory. He had been standing on a balcony suspended from the glorious airship Ex Machina and declared all of England theirs. Victory had been complete and final. The humans left on the island nation were now outnumbered by the dead twenty to one. But this was not the war he had promised them. That would come soon, he had said. But the element of surprise was no longer theirs. They would need an army... "You all remember his orders as well as I do. We need an army. In a few weeks, we march on the fatherland and every ghoul we can drive before us will make victory all the more sweet."

The men began to grumble, but none of them met Richler's gaze. He smirked to himself. "Now come on, the sooner we fill our quota tonight the sooner we can get back to the feast halls!" That at least seemed to cheer them up. He turned to lead them forward, but paused.

There had been a half-dozen ghouls up ahead. He had seen them, idling around in that mindless manner near the upcoming intersection. True, the rain made it hard to see very far in front of them, but his superior senses should have pierced it like it wasn't there. But there was only one human shape up ahead now. It was moving towards them.

He held up his right hand and instantly the soldiers were on alert. Their hands tightened around firearms that had been lovingly maintained for five decades, and could still kill with brutal efficiency. He heard one of his men sniff. Surreptitiously, Richler followed his example.

A dark, vicious smile split his features.

He smelled blood. Warm blood.

He could now make out more of the figure walking towards him. It was a girl. She couldn't have been more then fifteen years old. She was puny, with the build and features of an Asian except for her impressive breasts. Her black hair and red silk shirt were plastered to her by the relentless downpour, leaving not much to the imagination. Even her thick pants were waterlogged, but they appeared to be several sizes too large for her.

"She is alive!" one of his men exclaimed happily.

"I thought everyone in the city was dead?" another crowed back.

"Be quiet," Richler ordered sharply. He smirked. This was a most fortunate turn of events. By turning over this young thing to his men, he would allow them to work off the frustration that weeks of drudge work had built up in them. He just wanted to wait until she got a little closer. Not that a pack of vampires couldn't chase down one little girl... but he was curious why she was walking right towards them. Surely even a human could see them by now. Any human who had survived this long in London must know what they were, and what they would do to her.

"You there!" Richler roared into the night. The girl only looked at him idly. He frowned and cursed himself. Of course, she didn't speak German. He switched to English, despite finding the language vaguely distasteful. "Stop right there, girl!" he ordered.

The girl either didn't understand him or didn't care. She kept walking forward, her pace slow and deliberate. A prickle of fear ran up the back of his neck. This wasn't right. He had heard rumours of a girl, a girl who hunted his kind... but she was supposed to be quite distinctive. This girl looked nothing like 'V'. Even so, some primal instinct told him something was wrong here.

"Take her!" he barked sharply once she was within a dozen meters. He snapped his hand forward and pointed. The four vampires didn't need further prompting. They streaked through the rain like grey lightning, the clatter of their equipment forming an almost musical rhythm.

Watching vampires on the hunt was fascinating. They moved with savage fury, their movements almost unnatural as they raced through the flashing rain. Their speed was beyond human, more like sprinting stallions or roaring trains. The only thing more frightening than their speed was their strength. Put simply, once a vampire closed in with a human, the contest was over. No mortal could hope to defeat them.

The girl took one step forward in the time it took the undead soldiers to race the twelve meters to her position. The first leapt at her, thrusting with his bayonet, meaning to take her through the gut and pin her to the pavement like a butterfly.

Richler didn't even see her move. One moment his soldier was in the air, the next he was flying past her, and his head was flying in the other direction. The girl was holding his rifle by the stock in one hand, the bayonet blade gleaming as she flicked it once to snap off the blood. She hadn't stopped moving forward at the same pace.

The second vampire wasn't able to halt his momentum before he reached her. This time Richler saw the battle, however brief. The vampire swung with his rifle, which the girl parried without breaking stride. She let the force of his blow knock the rifle from her hands, but caught it easily with the other as it sailed past. Graceful as a ballet dancer, she spun in place, brought up her weapon and thrust it through the vampire's chest. Her heart shot was perfect. She released the weapon and stepped past the poleaxed soldier. The vampire took a few moments to open and close its mouth, wondering what happened, before it realised it was dead.

"SHOOT HER!" Richler roared, bringing his own pistol to bear. The remaining vampires skipped back from her and brought up their machine guns. The sound of raindrops striking pavement was drowned out by the roar of firearms. A virtual wall of lead bullets filled the air. The girl was simply not there to meet them.

Richler looked up, his superhuman senses barely able to follow as the girl leapt into the sky. She spun in place and thrust out towards a lamppost with both feet. Already the bullets from the soldier's machine guns were tracking her, but she hit the post and flew away. Her body skimmed through the air like a striking eagle, her chest a fraction of a centimeter above a stream of bullets being fired from one of the vampires.

If he had raised his weapon a fraction higher, he might have hit her. He had even tried to. His vampiric reflexes put normal humans to shame, and the barrel of his gun blurred as he raised it. But he was still too slow. They collided with enough force that Richler watched the shockwave push the path of the rain around them away. The ground under the vampire cracked as the petite girl smashed him down into it. He roared in pain.

Before she could finish him off, the other vampire brought his gun to bear. She slid to the side, seeming to fade between the rain drops. The blaze of gunfire did nothing but tear a dozen holes into the vampire's fallen comrade, eliciting another cry of pain.

"V!" the remaining vampire roared. "It's her! It must be V!"

Richler knew when he was outmatched. That was no girl. He had no idea what sort of monster she was... but no human could move like that! No human could strike with that much power! He grabbed the lengths of chain from the road and tugged violently. With eight hundred clatters the ghouls were unlocked from their restraints. Richler turned to them and pointed behind him.

"Kill her!" he commanded.

Ghouls were simple creatures. They were really nothing more than mindless eating machines. Normally they resulted when a vampire drained the life of a non-virgin, or a virgin of the same sex. They were nothing more than failed vampires. As such, they were as bonded to their sires as actual vampires were, but with even less will to resist. The doctors of the Letztes Battalion had experimented with this until they devised a way for all vampires to command ghouls in the same way their actual sire could. Thus, while the beasts were stupid and slow, they obeyed his order without question.

He ran through their ranks, moving in the other direction as they shambled forward to ruthlessly attack their victim. When they were done, they would disperse. He would have to round them up again later. But he had to live until later to do so.

Richler turned and sprinted down an alley. He moved with all the inhuman speed of a vampire fleeing as if its life depended on it. He didn't even see the staff coming.

A roar of pain escaped his lips as the wooden shaft shot through his chest. It missed his heart, but came so close he could feel the cold wood brushing against the organ inside him. The force of the blow pulled him off his feet. He was able to see a dark shape in the rain spinning him in place as it held the staff. A second later he heard the wall behind him crack as his assailant drove the staff into the brick. He kicked his feet. He was now pinned to the wall, his feet inches above the pavement.

Now that the flurry of motion was finished he could see his opponent. It was another girl. She too was Asian, but taller and with much longer hair, which she kept tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing a black leather trenchcoat that kept most of the rain off her, but her shirt was still soaked and clung tightly to her less generous curves.

But none of that mattered. The girl was looking straight at him and her expression was cold and merciless. Her eyes weren't human. The pupils were shaped like black flowers in bloom, and they gazed at him in such a way that he felt like they were staring straight through him. Like he didn't exist. Worst of all... she was cold. Richler had known cold, ever since he had turned. The only heat he felt was the warm flush that came with feeding. But the cold that radiated from this girl was somehow worse that the cold of undeath.

"I missed the heart on purpose," she informed him in English. Her voice was even, and promised more pain. "Who is V?"

"I don't know vat-" Richler's words cut off in a scream of pain as the girl reached out and twisted the staff grimly.

"Who is V? What do you know about her?" she asked again.

"I von't tell you a thing!" Richler spat. A dark splotch of red appeared on the girl's cheek, but she didn't even react. Instead she reached into her coat and came out with what looked like a tiny spatula.

"Silver," she explained, then cut off his left hand. He screamed again. "Tell me what I want to know, and I'll finish you quickly."

"Go to hell, Asian whore!"

The girl sighed. "I guess that answers that..." she said. Her hand swung up towards his nec-

01010

Ukyou grabbed her staff, but then reconsidered and left it where it was. The thought of pulling it free made her stomach churn. She turned away and walked out of the alley, dropping the silver spatula from her fingers. Now that nobody was watching, she reached up and clutched her forehead.

So, maybe there were lengths she was unwilling to go. The thought of torturing that... thing... to death... She shook her head. It had disgusted her. It had disgusted Aaron. They had pitied the monster.

As they reached the alley Aaron reminded Ukyou that they couldn't think of the vampires as human beings. They were rabid beasts: nothing but insane, uncontrollable killing machines. They had to be put down. Unless Ukyou and Aaron dehumanised them, they wouldn't be able to do what needed doing.

Ukyou looked down the street. Hundreds of ghouls were shambling down the road, moaning. Aaron grimaced. From the safety of a warm couch, where the things were comfortably stuck behind a TV screen or caught in the images of a comic book... these things weren't all that disturbing. He remembered laughing with friends through some of the most gruesome zombie movies. He had always enjoyed telling sick jokes about the things, making fun of the very concept. But the reality was something different.

They were corpses. Their flesh was rotting off their bodies as he watched. Their hollow, sunken eyes stared without seeing. Their lips peeled back from their teeth, forming rictus smiles full of vicious teeth. But worst of all was the smell. It was everywhere. It soaked into your skin. It crawled down deep into your lungs and refused to go away. It sickened and mocked you. For the first time since their merger, Ukyou wished she had somehow gotten Aaron's abominable sense of smell, rather than her own well-developed chef's senses.

Ukyou closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to breathe through the mouth. None of the things had seen her yet. They were all going after Ranma, anyway. She wasn't that worried about him. When they had first made landfall on this damned island almost a week ago, Ukyou had watched him like a hawk every time he engaged another group of the horrors. But now she was confident he knew how to handle them; how to put them down once and for all.

Still, even Ranma would take a long time destroying what had to be almost a thousand of the things. Ukyou leapt up, landing on a partially collapsed building. Lightening her footfalls with chi, she ran down the unstable row of houses until she could see the epicenter of the violence. Ranma was a whirling dynamo of carnage. As the things reached him, his fists and feet lashed out, crushing bone and rending limbs. He was screaming, shouting and roaring in his feminine register.

There was something wrong, but Ukyou couldn't put her finger on what. He was in no danger. She could see that every ghoul Ranma put down, he put down for good. Not one of them came near him without having its head knocked from its shoulders or its chest crushed so savagely by his blows that the heart had to be utterly destroyed. They weren't even scratching him.

Ukyou shook away the bad feeling. It was the same bad feeling she'd had ever since... the same bad feeling she had now that Ranma had stopped calling her Ucchan. She drove the feeling away. Instead she leapt down and approached the bodies of the soldiers. She retrieved what she needed in short order and then walked towards Ranma. She gave a sharp whistle. Ranma looked at her, but didn't stop his one-man killing spree.

"Ranma, this will take forever," Ukyou shouted through the rain. "They'll send reinforcements here if we take too long."

"Let them!" Ranma shouted back.

"Ranma..." Ukyou hissed. They had talked about this. There was no way they could topple Millennium by just attacking head-on. Ukyou very much doubted that the two of them could make any real difference at all.

But Ranma was here. Ranma was going to fight the good fight. She would fight it alongside him.

"Just let me handle this, okay, Ranma?"

He glared at her again, then sighed and leapt up. He landed on a lamppost and then backflipped away from the horde. He landed behind Ukyou and she sighed in relief. The horde was approaching her, but Ukyou took her time. She carefully lobbed her goods into the crowd one at a time, arming them as she did so. She wanted to get as much coverage as possible. Of course, slow and careful for her was a blur to the untrained eye, and the last of the grenades touched down in the crowd just as the first was going off.

Ukyou leapt backward, taking cover behind a van with a large dent in it. Ranma joined her as the explosions continued to roar behind them. His arms and legs were covered in gore, a thick red coating that stretched up to his elbows. Splatters of it decorated the rest of his body. Ukyou looked away.

"Will that get all of them?" Ranma asked. He sounded like he hoped it wouldn't.

"It will get enough of them," Ukyou said. "Come on, we have to get back to Hotaru. I don't like leaving her alone for too long." That caused Ranma to draw a deep breath. Ukyou hated using the presence of the little girl like that. But so far the only thing she had found that could pull Ranma back was her. "Just clean up first, okay?"

01010

It was the kind of dark that scared children at night, the kind that man had stared into with blurry eyes since the beginning of time. It was the reason man had made fire. It was the reason there was such a thing as fear.

Hayato felt his entire being crawl as Tethys walked into the chamber. Here was where she had lain in wait for millennia, waiting for the chance to revive herself. Far from trying to ignore his fear, Hayato embraced it. It was the warning inside him, the warning that he was getting in over his head. It warned him that despite everything, he was still human. This battle was beyond him.

How had it gotten so far? Fighting a dark god was not his plan. He had only agreed to this union because Tethys had promised him vengeance. Vengeance he had never managed to get. Now... now they were here preparing to battle for the fate of a nation of monsters. Why was he here?

He had told Tethys not to go into this battle unprepared. He had forced her to dredge up all the memories about Metallia she could. He had insisted they learn all the histories of the youma about her. They had to find her weakness, her achilles' heel. But Tethys' memories of the days before the final battle had been woefully cloudy.

Tethys had shown them to him. She had watched Metallia raise a dark hand, nothing more than a claw shaped out of the black and red miasma of her being, and smite a city from the face of the moon. It had not even been an act of effort. She had done it with the same ease a human might swat a fly. An entire city, not quite so large as Tokyo but still large enough that hundreds of thousands must have lived there, gone in a flash.

But she was weak now. Injured. Sealed. The silver crystal had blasted her apart and sent her crashing down here. Tethys had not been to her chamber, but she knew what it looked like. It was large, with a single dark, membranous sack in the center connected to the floor and ceiling between thin black columns of rock. Inside that rock pulsed the terrible power of Metallia. Shattered and weakened, but still stronger than any youma or human.

To call her a god was a mistake. The youma did not offer her worship, they did not revere her or pray to her. Metallia was a creature of fear. She was as much beyond the simple youma as the youma were above human beings, according to their twisted view of the world. While she was their creator, she was not offered thanks. The only words spoken of her were in hushed tones, away from prying ears.

Hayato wished they had been able to discover more. The youma were not, it seemed, a race given much to scholarship. Tethys' efforts to discover the history of her people had turned up almost no details. There were no texts, or stories or fables. The only person who even bothered to keep a journal was Nephrite, and they were full of rants about the stars and his own inevitable ascension to the top of the Dark Kingdom food chain. Still, in between his mad ramblings one could discern a nugget or two of truth, if one knew how to look.

"Why have you come here, little youma?"

Metallia did not so much speak as project her voice. The dark miasma within her healing cocoon trembled and flashed as her words echoed through the vast chamber. Her voice was female, but sibilant and inhuman. Hayato knew instantly that this was not the true voice of Metallia, but merely one she had chosen for herself.

"I thought it was time we met," Tethys informed Metallia evenly. There was no sign of the fear Hayato could feel from her in her outward appearance. Recently her barriers against him had been growing thinner and thinner. She was not maintaining them as steadfastly as she once had. So Hayato was getting a great insight into her being.

What he found disturbed him.

Tethys gestured with the staff of office she had taken from Beryl's dead hands. It was a long staff with a black and red orb at the top, flanked by projections not unlike the wings of a bat. Hayato had seen Tethys use it to view the world from afar, and supposedly it had other powers as well. He had watched as Tethys followed the course of her minions, many of which had been sent into the human world to retrieve books and items of technology. Some of them had fallen while Tethys watched; killed by Sailor Senshi, or a man in dark organic armour, or simple humans with heavy weapons. Hayato wished any of them were here now.

Through his link with Tethys he could feel the oppressive force of Metallia's attention. It was like the world had suddenly grown much heavier, and darker. It was pure, undiluted fear. Panic and terror had been given a physical sensation, and that was the presence of Metallia.

If Hayato had been able to, he would have lost control of his bowels. For him to feel the effect of this monster so keenly, he shuddered to think what Tethys must be feeling.

But she remained unbent.

"I have killed your witch," Tethys said, holding up the staff for Metallia to see. "I am now the ruler of the youma, and the entire Dark Kingdom."

"You think I was unaware?" Metallia's voice was filled with contempt. "Nothing happens to my children that I am not aware of. This changes nothing. You, like Beryl before you, will serve my will."

"And if I refuse?" Tethys said coldly.

Metallia laughed. "You cannot refuse."

Then Tethys screamed and fell to one knee. Her back arched and Hayato felt her pain. He shrunk away from it.

"Such a pathetic little creature you are," Metallia informed her. "Did you truly think that you, a mere weapon, could face against my will?" Tethys didn't answer, her voice could do nothing but scream. "I am surprised that you can hold the power you stole from Beryl's corpse." Now Metallia's voice had taken on a lazy, almost sing-song tone. "I had thought I had stripped from you such potential. The only reason I left so much humanity in Beryl was because of her need to govern you lot..."

The pain suddenly stopped and Tethys collapsed onto her side. She took long, slow breaths. Hayato knew she must be in great pain, he could feel it dimly through the body they shared. It did not much please him that she was doing this to his body. She had already twisted it, reshaped it into one more fitting her own needs. Now she was fighting a god in all but name, and might get them both destroyed.

"What... did you say?" Tethys gasped and rose to her feet again. Hayato paused in his reflections. The barriers Tethys had erected around her feelings and memories had all but crumbled under Metallia's psychic onslaught. He could feel her anger, her resentment... but also something he had never felt from Tethys before.

"You are a part of me, youma," Metallia said coolly. "I stripped away anything in you that was useless to me, leaving only a weapon. If I had known it was possible that you could still wield such power despite this, I would have done so to Beryl a long time ago."

"Stripped away..." Tethys breathed. A memory rose unbidden from the depths of her mind. A memory of the time Before. She had been fighting in the Dark Kingdom's army, wielding sword and shield against the forces of the Moon Kingdom. Her commander, Jadeite, was in front of her and she fought because she loved him. But that was impossible. Hayato knew that youma felt nothing of love, but he could not deny the memory. Tethys fought because she loved that man...

"You... stripped away... what?" Tethys rose to her feet again.

"Do not be so ungrateful," Metallia projected, her voice filled with anger. "In the end, you would have been dragged away like all the others, reborn as a pitiful human again. When the Silver Crystal struck, I saved that part of you that was useful to me and made you my child. Now, be gone from my presence. Bring me the Silver Crystal and enough energy to maintain my health, or face my wrath again."

Tethys frowned up at the god-being in front of her. Then she turned and left. Hayato was silent the whole time. She wasn't paying attention to him anyway.

01010

Rip Van Winkle was a hunter. She had been one in life, and she continued to be one in death. She moved with the casual grace of the predator. Her every movement was filled with the confidence of knowing she was at the top of the food chain. The other vampires were monsters. They killed for pleasure and sport. But they melted out of her path like rabbits before the wolf. She grinned.

The halls of the Ex Machina were particularly busy today, so she got to see a lot of her lessers scrambling to find a safe place out of her path. She didn't give them a second glance. Soon enough, her steady pace brought her to the bridge of the massive flying fortress that served as the Letztes Battalion's home base.

The bridge was massive, a cavern in the sky. Shadows cloaked the distant walls, making it impossible to tell how far away they were. Figures lurked just out of sight, working at stations on unseen tasks. On one wall, a large map displayed the whole world. Silhouetted figures moved icons around on the map with long rods. In the center of the room was a raised dais, and upon that dais was the Major.

Visually, he was unimpressive. The Major stood barely five feet tall, with a plump, stocky body. His face was chubby, almost childlike, and his short blonde hair was cut carelessly. He wore glasses. Even if you saw his fangs and blood-red eyes, you would still see him more as a oddity rather than the true threat he was.

Major Krieg was the Letztes Battalion. Major Krieg was Millennium.

"Herr Major!" Rip stopped just in front of him, clicked her heels together sharply and saluted with arm outstretched. He glanced at her and smiled. She felt her spirit rise just from the presence of his smile. It was the same confident smile he always gave her, the one that showed he believed in her skill. Just thinking about it made her believe.

"No need for such formality," the Major said. His voice was cool and mellow. He gestured idly for her to relax and Rip did so. She swung up her matchlock musket, the long barrel almost taller than she was, and rested it on her shoulder.

"You summoned me, Major?" she asked.

"Yes, but just a moment..." He gestured off into the darkness. "Get me ze Valentines."

There was a shouted acknowledgement from the darkness. Rip frowned. Why he still trusted those foreign jackals, she did not know. They weren't German. They were 'instants', 'freaks'... little more than cannon fodder that had gotten lucky. But she would never think of denying him, at least not aloud. He had given her everything. He had taken her from the ashes and made her immortal.

A moment later there was the crackle of radio static and a voice rose from out of the darkness. It sounded eerily disembodied, even though Rip knew it was really just a radio.

"Major Krieg?" The voice was sophisticated, almost gentle. Though Rip could not see the man attached to it, she immediately pictured him as handsome and well-groomed. She shook off the image. In the background there was some sort of annoying wailing sound, but it was distant. "I am honored... how may I be of service?"

"Well, Mr. Valentine... I seem-"

"Hey!" a voice that sounded distant on the transmission shouted, cutting the Major off. "Is that the Major?"

"Yes it is..." the first voice said.

"Cool!" There was a sound of running footsteps. The wailing grew louder. Rip could almost place it. "Hey, gimme that! I want to talk to 'im!"

"Yan! This is no time for your-!"

The transmission shrieked and whined as the microphone on the other end was tugged and jostled in the struggle that followed. Rip closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"Major! Dude!" the second voice yelled, his high-pitched voice echoing loudly as he shouted into the microphone. "I have GOT to thank you! Deeply! This whole vampire thing is the shit! The absolute shit! Like right now, me and my bro are tracking down the survivors... you know, shooting screaming people in the head and fucking them in the holes and all that jazz. It's great!"

"I'm certain it is..." Major Krieg responded. His voice was unreadable, and he sat back in his command chair with his fingers steepled in front of his face.

"Yan, he doesn't want to-"

"Yo, quiet down bro! Me and the Major, we're commiserating here! Making ourselves all buddy-like. Anyway... the best, the FUCKING best part is yet to come!" Yan screamed like a singer at a rock concert. "These assholes were hiding out in a fucking old orphanage! With real live orphans still inside!" He laughed, a sound devoid of any kind of sanity. Now Rip could recognize the wailing sound. A child crying.

"And we sicced the ghouls on them! It was like all Night of the Living Dead but in real technicolor complete with 3D! I laughed so hard I almost pissed myself. Of course, we kept a few of the stragglers for ourselves!"

"Yan, what are you..." The wailing cut off suddenly, with... a sound. The sound was... it was... Rip decided she didn't really want to think about what it was, even though her mind insisted on presenting all sorts of possibilities. Suddenly, she felt rather ill.

"OH, MAN! I can't believe I just did that! Sometimes I'm so fucked up I even scare myself!" He laughed again. "I mean, seriously, this is some fucked up shit! And I just wanted to dedicate that one to you, Major." There was a pause as he cackled over the transmission. "My next piece, I dedicate to every girl who ever laughed at me in high school! Yeah, you know who I mean, bitch!"

"Marvellous," Major Krieg said, his voice level. "Could you put your brother back on ze line, now?"

"Oh, sure thing boss!" There was a wet splat from the other end. "Just wanted you to know you have my support!"

"I'm very sorry about that, Herr Major..." the other Valentine began as the sound of Yan's laughter receded into the distance.

"Zink nothing of it," the Major replied. "I take it you two are enjoying yourselves?"

"Yes..."

"Good," the Major said, grinning and leaning forward. It was unnecessary, as the microphones would pick up his voice just as well from wherever he choose to speak. "In a matter of hours, I shall be leaving zis city. Since you two did such a marvelous job, I am placing you in charge of it."

"Me?" the man asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes." Major Krieg chuckled to himself. His voice was cheerful, almost playful. "I recognise talent when I see it. You and your brother toppled Hellsing, defeated ze mighty Alucard! Fifty years ago, he destroyed everything I had been vorking on... but you defeated him and his human master in one evening."

"T-Thank you, sir..."

"Of course..." The Major's voice grew more melancholy. "I zink I vill have need of your particular expertise again."

"Expertise, sir?"

"Vy, monster hunter hunting, of course." The Major grinned. "You haf heard of 'V', haf you not?"

There was a pause. "Yes, Herr Major."

"Good, zen this will be short." The Major sat up stiffly. "She is disrupting my troops, killing my men. She is a thorn I want removed. Find her. Kill her."

Another long pause. "I understand, sir."

"Gut, gut..." The Major's voice was cheerful once more. "I vill be sending along an additional expert to assist you in your efforts. I expect prompt results." With a gesture the Major terminated the connection before the more sane Valentine could respond.

"So, what do you zink?"

Rip glanced at the Major. His eyes were sharp and focused on her. She chose her words carefully. "I zink they are animals. Vild dogs. I believe zat had Alucard actually been capable of fighting, zey would have been nothing more zan chum in the vater."

"Hmmm, perhaps..." The Major nodded, mostly to himself. Then he grinned. "But zey certainly are entertaining! The younger Valentine has a spirit and enthusiasm I zink reminds me of myself ven I was his age."

"I take it you vant me to assist zem?" Rip said, forcing the words out of her lips. Her stomach was churning again.

"Yes..." He smiled. "You find zis task... unpleasant?"

"With all due respect, Herr Major..." Rip turned her eyes away, unable to continue staring into his piercing gaze any longer. "I am a Verewolf, an elite! I vould be much better used on ze new front. All this city has left is busy work. This 'V' is no threat to us. I have studied her attacks, her patterns and her so-called powers. Vile she could certainly do damage to the unprepared, her attacks are random and unfocused. She does not strike useful military targets, and even when she does hit something important she doesn't follow through. She is alone, hitting targets of opportunity and vithout any sort of support at all." Rip pulled her rifle from her shoulder and gestured with it. "To vaste my 'magic bullet' on such a insignificant target is almost a tragedy."

The Major was grinning again when she looked back. "Yes, I know." He chuckled cheerfully. "But call me a perfectionist. Instead of leaving her in ze capable hands of the Valentine brothers, I prefer to strike her with overwhelming force immediately. She may be insignificant now... but in time she could grow to be a nuisance. The game is changing even as ve speak. Kill her for me, please."

Rip inclined her head slightly and turned to walk away. There was no need to vocally acknowledge the order. She would do her duty, even if she had to work with those foreign dogs to do it.

01010

"You shouldn't be up here."

Hotaru jumped and glanced over her shoulder. For a moment Aaron was worried she might lose her balance. The footing on the roof was precarious, especially when one was standing on the edge like the little girl was. But Hotaru managed to regain her balance and turned slowly to face them. The sun was rising behind her and it briefly put her body into silhouette, only her large purple eyes flashing through the darkness.

"It's daybreak," Hotaru said in a soft, resentful tone. "The monsters are supposed to fear the sun, aren't they?"

"Most of them," Aaron agreed. He took another step forward. "But it's still not safe. You should come inside." He extended his hand, but Hotaru made no move to take it. The sun rose over her shoulder, and her body slowly came into view again, She was dressed in a black body-stocking with a purple ballerina skirt, and the similarity to her animated incarnation struck Aaron to the quick. She had the same large eyes, the same hair and the same face... but not the same body. She was smaller, whole years younger and just beginning to grow out of her baby fat. And she wasn't smiling.

In the months Aaron had been forced to live in Ukyou's skull, his memories of his past life had begun to fade. One by one, things that he could have recalled with ease had begun to be reduced to simple icons. For some reason, the image he had carried around of this young girl had been of her smiling. He remembered that she did frown and pout and occasionally even look like she was being crushed by the world, like she did now. But mostly Aaron remembered that she had smiled.

She never smiled now.

Aaron let his hand fall. "Who were you talking to?"

"You were eavesdropping?" Hotaru asked, but her voice lacked any real accusation.

"Not really..." He frowned. It would be hard to explain it to Hotaru. Ever since they had come to England... ever since they had left Japan, he had been focusing all his energy into the Void Chakra. It was the spiritual center of his perceptions, the part of his chi that governed how well he could sense the world. He knew what would keep them alive here was knowing what was going on before it burst upon them. He had to keep his senses acute, no matter how much this place sickened him. Aaron had walked up to this rooftop and knew that Hotaru was talking, but because he had been keeping his senses diffuse and spread across as wide an area as he could, telling what she had been saying would have been impossible.

"I wasn't talking to anybody," Hotaru responded after a moment. She turned around and stared out across the city again. It was eerie, to see it abandoned and shattered like a wasteland. But the view during the day was much better than the view at night.

"Hotaru..." Aaron sighed and slipped up onto the small wall that ringed the edge of the rooftop. He sat and dangled his legs over the edge. It was a five story fall to the pavement, but he wasn't really worried. "We talked about this."

The girl flashed him an angry glare. He shook his head. He supposed he deserved a bit of that. But he had to know. If Mistress 9 was somehow clawing her way up from the depths of Hotaru's psyche, he needed to know. He remembered well the last time. She must have thought Ukyou was asleep when she came into the tent. She had been carrying a knife, taken from the cooking supplies. Hotaru's eyes had glowed like smoldering candles, and her lips had been twisted into a vicious smile.

Ukyou had disarmed her handily, but received a nasty shock as Mistress 9 discharged her energy. Hotaru had collapsed into their arms, weak and trembling. He remembered the cold lump of fear that had settled into their hearts as they held the little girl and tried to comfort her. Long hours, spent waiting in the darkness, trying to figure out what to do.

How could he or Ukyou fight an enemy that hid itself in the mind of a little girl? He didn't know the first thing about exorcism. But he would save her. He knew there had to be a way. He and Ukyou would find it. That was why they were here. Aaron couldn't let this girl be lost to darkness. It was his responsibility. He would find a way, somehow... if only he could find them...

"I know..." Hotaru sighed and looked off into the sunset. She sat down too. "I wasn't talking to Mistress 9." Aaron felt a wave of relief flood through him. He had broken the news to the girl as gently as he could, explaining everything. She had taken it with remarkable aplomb. Then again, maybe the tragedy that was her life had simply left the girl numb. "I was praying."

"Praying?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"To God..." Hotaru reached up and clasped a small silver cross that now hung around her neck. Aaron could feel the power in it. It was tiny, barely even worth mentioning, but it was there.

He had figured out that the power he had started sensing recently was magic. It was a force that seemed more profound than just chi alone, like it was denser. But it was also rarer. Chi was everywhere. It was literally everything. The air was chi, the water was chi, the earth was chi... even the empty spaces where there was nothing else was chi. It connected, flowing back and forth like the tides of an ocean. If you could read the ripples in the ocean, you could learn a great deal.

Magic wasn't like that. It was like it was grounding into the world through certain things and people. It was from Elsewhere. But even so, it seemed to belong in a strange way. Where it came in, the world seemed to bend and shape to accommodate it. The very nature of the chi near the magic was changed, becoming a part of it.

The cross around Hotaru's neck had been acquired by accident. Aaron had been leading them through the streets of a small European town. The people there had been afraid. They had looked at the strangers as if they might be monsters. Who could blame them? England was a charnel house, and all their governments were trying desperately to understand what was going on before they became the next victims. Aaron had sensed the magic at the periphery of his senses. Surprised, he had led them to a small church at the edge of town.

The man who had come out to greet them was old, probably in his sixties. His hair was white and he had the kind of fat, lined face that only came from years of healthy living. He had called a greeting in English, not hesitating a moment to invite them inside for refreshments. Aaron had been reluctant, but Ukyou had overridden him. Besides, Ranma and Hotaru were already walking inside.

Aaron had never been a religious person. He had been raised Catholic, but never truly believed. The skeptic in him refused to accept that there was a God, sitting on a cloud somewhere, staring down in omnipotent benevolence on the world he had created. His arguments against it were the same old catspaws; war, disease, hatred and misery. How could God exist and let humanity do such things to itself?

Ukyou, on the other hand, had been raised in a very spiritual society. It was one that did not believe in a single God, but in many small gods. Ukyou prayed at temples, and had even done volunteer work for them on occasion. Sometimes, during the darker times in her life, when she had thought that she would never find Ranma again and that it would all be meaningless, religion was her only comfort. She didn't believe that the gods would solve her problems, but she believed that they listened.

The kindly priest had served them and he and Ukyou had talked, comparing their separate religions. They found more to agree about than Aaron would have thought possible. But he had not participated in that conversation. He had spent it all examining the man.

He had magic. Compared to the immense untapped well that resided inside Hotaru, his magic was a pittance. It was a candle being compared to the sun. Even the magic that Aaron had found lingering over Ranma from his curse outshone the magic of that priest by a significant margin. His magic was barely anything, probably not even enough to float a pencil if he even knew how to control it. When they had made to leave, he had blessed a small silver cross and given it to the little girl among them. Ukyou had asked him why and the man had only smiled.

"She needs all the love that God can bring her," had been his reply. The words still lingered with Ukyou and Aaron now, even as the little spark of his blessing still lingered in the cross around Hotaru's neck.

"Why are you here?" Hotaru asked suddenly.

Aaron's head snapped up and he stared at the girl. But she was looking at him innocently.

"I came to bring you inside..." Aaron started to explain, but trailed off as a small frown traced across the girl's features. "That isn't what you mean, is it?" Hotaru shook her head. "I'm following Ranma. He wants to fight... fight evil. I will follow him."

"You love him, don't you?"

Aaron looked away, but Ukyou answered quickly enough. "Yes, I do."

"But you're lying."

Aaron glanced at her again.

"You aren't following him." Hotaru looked out across the city. "You chose to come here. You're right that he will try to fight, but you chose the battleground for him."

"You're very wise for your age, aren't you?" Aaron replied flippantly.

"Maybe..." Hotaru looked away. "I just don't understand why."

Aaron looked down. There weren't even birds in the air, or animals in the streets. You'd think with the humans gone that the animals would have taken over. But there was nothing. Just emptiness. Perhaps the ghouls chased them down? Aaron smiled grimly. That was one way of solving your city's pest problem. He didn't think that it would catch on.

Suddenly he felt sick. He squeezed his eyes shut and clutched his stomach. He reeled. How could he joke about this? How could he laugh at all this carnage?

He hadn't expected this. It was too big. It was too real. This wasn't a darkened theatre with the quiet sound of people eating popcorn. This wasn't a soft bed at night, the only light shining from a flashlight, when your parents thought you were asleep. This was here and now. It was all around him. He could see it and touch it and smell it... and feel it.

The very spirit of this place was polluted. Whatever foul magic that the vampires had brought with them, whatever it was that gave them their macabre unlife, it was shaping this place. The chi itself was sick with it, and walking with his senses wide open was like swimming in a cesspool. Magic had a way of molding the chi around it, and unless they did something, it would taint this land.

That was why there were no animals, he realised suddenly. They knew enough to flee. This place no longer belonged to them. In this city of the dead, it was people like him and Hotaru that were unnatural.

"Are you okay?" Hotaru asked, but there was only politeness in her voice. Ukyou forced them to smile at the girl. Hotaru only gazed back passively. It was like the joy had been driven from her.

'She needs all the love that God can bring her.' The words stung. He remembered the red-eyed thing in Hotaru's body holding the knife as it slipped open the tent flap. The cold pit in his stomach would not go away.

He really wanted to save her. He cared for her, he thought. Not deeply, not really. It wasn't a very deep connection he felt to her. He couldn't tell if his feelings for Hotaru were his own, or were Ukyou's. They mixed together, blossoming from deep inside them somewhere. Given time, maybe he would come to really care for Hotaru. No, not maybe, he knew he could. She was kind and helpful. She never said a harsh word now that she accepted what Ukyou had done for her.

But there was a wall between them. Neither he nor Ukyou could offer the friendship and support Hotaru needed. There was too much history between them. Not even Ranma could be there for her. He was too busy with his own pain to be the happy, cheerful kind of person that Hotaru needed.

"I'm fine," Ukyou lied cheerfully.

Hotaru either didn't notice, or choose not to mention it. "Can you answer my question, then?"

"I'm here..." Aaron briefly considered saying he was here for her. But how would it sound, when he told Hotaru the whole truth? How would Hotaru take it when she learned that Ukyou had dragged her all this way, through all this pain and literally half-way across the world... just to abandon her with a person they had never met? The words died in his throat.

"I'm here to answer a question," Ukyou said slowly. Hotaru raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "This shouldn't have happened..." Ukyou gestured out across the quiet city and its sickened, dying chi. "This place had heroes... a hero at least. A man, a violent and dangerous man, who should have been here to stop all this. But he wasn't. I want to know why."

"What do you mean?"

"Somebody interfered," Ukyou tried to explain. But how could she? Ukyou herself didn't want to believe it. She woke up, sweating from her nightmares and tried to drive it form her mind. How do you try to tell a little girl she was nothing but a character from someone's imagination? A fantasy given form? You couldn't, not when you didn't really believe it yourself. Ukyou had to believe she was real, so she couldn't tell Hotaru that she wasn't.

"He should be here, but he isn't," Ukyou said slowly. "I want to find out why."

She meant it too. She did want to know why Alucard hadn't risen up in the night and scattered Millennium like ten pins. But... that didn't seem as important as the girl in front of them.

"Maybe that's just part of God's plan," Hotaru said, clutching the cross around her neck again.

Ukyou looked at the girl, and she saw her haunted face reflected in the girl's purple eyes. "I don't want to believe that. I can't..."

She was real. Her life was her own, wasn't it? God didn't own her, or control her. No more than she was a fiction, a shallow reflection of a woman. Nothing more than two dimensions of ink and paper. But... she looked down at her hands. She heard, for the millionth time, the sharp crack of Vega's neck breaking.

She had done it.

THEY had done it.

Aaron had been with her. He had worked with her. They had done it without hesitation.

They hadn't wanted to.

They had sworn not to.

But they had.

"If I believe that," Ukyou said, her voice barely audible. "I have to give up all hope."

Hotaru only looked at her, then she leapt from the edge and landed on the roof. She walked away, entering the door that would lead down into their safehouse. Aaron followed her progress, his eyes closed. Ukyou raised her face up to the sky.

The sun was still rising. Its steady warmth beat down on them. Aaron could feel it, the warm, healthy chi of it. It was life, beating down on the world. An endless font of strength and vitality. It battered vainly against the sick city, trying to scour it clean.

"Why am I here?" he asked no one in particular, and so he got no answer worth mentioning.

01010

Pluto sat alone. It was not a new feeling. To measure the time she had spent alone was an exercise in futility. In the Gates, the concept of time was meaningless. There was no sun to set and rise, there was no clocks or calendars or even anything worth scratching away the days in. Standing in the swirling white mist of the Gates of Time was to stand in the endless now, the perpetual point between the future and the past. There was no going forward, and no backward. In the world outside, an instant or an aeon could have passed, and those standing inside would neither notice nor care.

That was how you survived, standing guard over a power that was not to be touched. Some would think the loneliness would drive you insane. They would think the epochs of temptation would fall upon you like great weights until you finally cracked. Nobody understood the reality. The Gates of Time was the one place time never passed. You simply existed, without momentum or inertia, until something happened.

Invaders, accidents and unwanted visitors could intrude, but then once the crisis was dealt with you existed again, simply going on until the next crisis came.

How she wished she could go back there. She wanted to stand in that endless field of white mist, and let herself forget. Forget her failure, forget how she had let everyone down.

Again.

But she was not in the Gates of Time. She was in a house owned by a false identity she had been forced to go back in time thirty years to create. She could hear the music of her fellow housemates as it drifted through the home. Michiru's violin ached with sweet sorrow, and Haruka's piano played a counterpoint of soft hope. The music was time. Any note, held too long, was just noise. It was the change that made music, the movement from one moment to the next.

Abruptly, the music cut off. Pluto raised her head. It was light outside, the sun shining through her open window and flooding her bedchamber with soft light. She could sense no danger, so she assumed that it was merely another minor crisis. Perhaps their senses picking up another monster's attack. Then they would go out and fight the good fight, saving lives as much as they could.

Pluto felt wetness on her cheeks. What good would it do? Save a life? Save a million lives? Save a billion? A trillion? It was a fool's errand. Fate existed for all things. It was rushing towards them with a speed that was uncanny.

A soft knock on her door was ignored. Pluto did not want to be seen like this. She did not want to be seen crying and wallowing in her own misery. The others needed her to be strong. They needed someone to look up to. They needed to believe they could win.

Rose knew. Rose always knew. Her piercing eyes could see into your soul and draw out all your pain. Pluto had never told her what she did in this lonely room when the others were gone, but Rose knew. It had only been a few days ago that she had come inside without invitation and spoken to Pluto. Her words had been stilted and cryptic, full of words like 'duty' and 'necessity' and 'fighting the good fight'. They had rung hollow in Pluto's ears.

All she could see, when she closed her eyes, was the girl's face.

Pluto had been at her funeral. She had sat among the mourners unnoticed. Her friends and classmates, her distraught parents, none of them had even so much as glanced at this stranger in their midst. But even as one of her friends, a girl with short brown hair, had said a few words, Pluto had been mourning her own mistake.

Ran had been going to turn. Pluto was certain of it. She had seen the horrible duty fill the girl's eyes even as she fled the house. Those eyes would haunt her forever. Because now Ran was dead. Ran was going to turn, in time, and now she was dead.

How convenient was that? How perfect?

She remembered her own joy, that day. She remembered sitting in the expertly flown helicopter and watching as Ukyou's allies abandoned her, one after another. She had been so certain they would win. She had tasted it. Then, it had slipped from her fingers. Like catching mist, Ukyou was under their guns with nowhere to go... then she was gone.

Perhaps she could have survived that. But then everything else came up. First Ran died, then Ukyou vanished, taking Sailor Saturn with her. And shortly after that, the hunt had begun. Pluto did not know who hunted her. They were powerful, with access to many resources. Already the homes of Michiru and Haruka had been struck. Their families had been taken. Creatures attacked, seeking to draw them out... and some figure in dark armour pursued them as well.

If Pluto had not stepped in, had not cheated and changed the very course of history, then they would probably already be dead. Whatever enemy she had called down upon their heads, it was powerful and implacable. But she knew that the source of the monsters was not her true enemy.

Her true enemy was fate. How had she ever believed she could win against that? She had seen it, had she not? She had seen the future with her own eyes. And she would see it again. Every time that she should have changed the future, something had interfered. At first Pluto had thought it was luck, or skill or perhaps even some strange quality of Ukyou herself... but now she knew better. Fate protected her. Fate had its own plans.

How else did you explain how many times Ukyou should have died, but had not? In every battle she escaped by the skin of her teeth. Pluto had seen her friends, or even her enemies, arrive at the nick of time once too often to discount it anymore. But the last time had been too close... hadn't it?

She sneered, the tears still rolling hot and wet down her cheeks. Yes, she had come too close. And even if she hadn't succeeded, she had gotten to Ran. She could have defeated fate... but now Ran was dead. Now monsters hunted her. She was certain they had nothing to do with Ukyou. But she and her friends had barely escaped with their lives the first time.

Except that Pluto knew she could survive, that she would survive. She had to be there at the end to see it, after all.

The door opened and someone walked into the room. Pluto looked up sharply, about to snap at the interruption, but paused. She did not recognize the young woman who stood in the doorway. She had long, straight black hair and a classical Japanese beauty. She wore a white suit jacket with matching skirt. Pluto could sense a maturity and power in her that did not often exist in women her age. Then Pluto saw her eyes.

Ah. That explained it.

"Why have you come here?" Pluto asked.

The woman nodded out of the door and Pluto watched Rose close the door slowly. Just beyond her, she could see the two young senshi watching anxiously. But the door closed on them, and she was alone with this stranger.

"You know that," she said in a refined voice. She walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, uninvited. "My name is Chizuru Kagura."

"So you've seen it, have you?" There was no need to mention what it was.

"Yes, all of it..." Chizuru reached into a pocket and offered Pluto a handkerchief. "You look awful."

Pluto smiled grimly. "I feel awful."

"You were the one who sent the message, weren't you?" Pluto nodded, and Chizuru pursed her lips. "I see..."

"I'm sorry you came all this way," Pluto said, beginning to clean under her eyes. She held back her sorrow for now. Pluto had always been a private person. She did not feel the need to share her soul with this stranger. "But you should go back to your old life. This battle... it is not for you."

Chizuru's eyes flared, and for a moment she looked outraged beyond words. Then her expression calmed, and she took a deep breath. "Once, long ago, my sister told me the same thing. We were twins, and she was born only a minute ahead of me. Our clan have been the guardians of an ancient evil for centuries, and always the eldest girl of my bloodline has had the responsibility to maintain that seal." Chizuru leaned back, looking at the ceiling. "I always used to argue with her about that. I felt that, because we were twins, it was obviously our destiny to guard the seal together. We should fight together, and live together and die together to preserve it. But she would always smile and tell me that she was the eldest, and that she was the heir. 'This battle... is not for you,' she would tell me. And when she did, I would feel better. I would stand out on the plains and play with butterflies and birds while she was inside breaking her back with her training and responsibilities." Her warm smile slowly dissolved. "Then one day a man came to our home. He was powerful, a demon- worshipping priest... a monster in the shape of a man. He wanted the power of the Orochi that we guarded. My sister fought him alone. She died."

Pluto gazed at this strange woman for a long time before Chizuru worked up the will to continue. "Ever since that day, I knew that those words meant nothing. It WAS my battle. Maybe, maybe if I hadn't let her fight alone..." She shook her head, her black hair shining in the sunlight. "But that is the past. I cannot change it." She gazed at Pluto. "So do not tell me that this isn't my battle. This is everyone's battle. I may not be able to change the past, or the future, but I control NOW. This is the moment that matters, and I refuse to look back on this day and say 'maybe if I hadn't...'"

Pluto locked gazes with the young woman. Her gaze was hard steel. She nodded. "You're right, I apologise."

"Very well."

"So... what did you want to do?" Pluto smiled grimly again. "Rose too came like you, offering salvation. What brilliant plan do you have to save us all?"

"Plan?" Chizuru looked away, "I have no plan. I came here to help you. To give you a good swift kick so that you would stop moping in here and DO something!" She stood up, throwing her arm to the side dramatically. Pluto was not overly impressed by her performance.

"And what would you have us do?"

"It doesn't matter," Chizuru said stiffly as she crossed her arms.

"Doesn't matter?" Pluto was standing herself now. "Doesn't matter? Of course it matters!" She stepped up to the young woman, towering over her. "I have watched everything fail! Even as I struggle, I find myself only pushing things closer to the edge. How can I know that I have not pushed Ukyou further to what she will become? Even when I interfere, it only seems to grow worse! I am a PART of this! Don't you see? I can't change the future!"

Chizuru did not back down. "Listen to yourself." She took a deep breath. "You've lost hope, haven't you?"

"Yes... yes, I have." Hard words. But true, and Pluto realised that saying them aloud was oddly necessary.

"You're lying."

"What?" Pluto's eyes narrowed. She might not always tell the whole truth, she might sometimes misdirect and mislead, but she was not a liar.

"You haven't lost faith," Chizuru said slowly. "So you failed. Pick up and go back at it."

"So are you Rose too? Do you claim to see into my heart like she does?" Chizuru frowned. "Or perhaps you are like those two children? What do they know of hopeless causes? And who are you to..."

Pluto's head snapped back and she stumbled away from Chizuru. Her cheek burned and she placed a hand on it dumbly. Chizuru was crying now. "Take that back."

"What?"

"I'll let you insult yourself, but don't you dare insult them." Chizuru turned towards the door. "They love you. I can see it in their eyes. Didn't you hear the music they played for you? How can you listen to that song and not understand that they believe in you? And Rose? She came to me for you. She destroyed my life... for you. I have never met a person so devoid of passion as Rose is, but she loves you. She doesn't understand it, but you can hear it in the way she talks about you... in the way they all do. They hold you in awe." She looked over her shoulder at Pluto, who was still struck dumb. "This pity you wallow in is destroying them. They are losing hope." She straightened her hair and turned around to face her. "If you can't do it for yourself, fight on for them."

"For them...?" Pluto lowered her eyes, unable to meet Chizuru's gaze. "I can't... If it were that easy."

"You believe in yourself," Chizuru insisted. "I've seen it. You know it's true."

"No... it..."

"THINK!" Chizuru hissed sharply. "You've heard it!" She walked up to Pluto and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Who sent the message?"

"What?" Pluto gaped.

"WHO?"

"I did... from the future..."

"And who did you send the message to?"

Pluto stared at her dumbly.

"I was not called. Rose was not called. You didn't send a warning to Haruka or Michiru. You didn't send it back to the girl who died, or to anyone else. Some others have seen it... but the message was for YOU."

Pluto fell back when Chizuru released her, barely aware of the bed catching her fall.

"In the end, when you had already failed... you still believed! There was something that future you knew that you do not! There was some way to kill her, to prevent the end of everything!" Pluto backed away as Chizuru stepped forward and loomed over her. "You have a destiny. You must fight. You must believe. Believe in yourself. Trust that you will know what to do when the moment comes. Because if you don't, then you are betraying yourself. You are betraying these women who believe in you. You are betraying everything you stand for."

Pluto lowered her eyes, and heard the soft click of Chizuru walking to the door. The door opened and closed behind her, and she was gone without a word. Pluto could only stare at the sheets of her bed. Here and there, the stains of her tears... like freckles. She felt a weight settle down next to her.

She looked over and saw Rose sitting next to her. She smiled. It was a smile without real warmth or passion. But she stretched out her arm and circled it around Pluto's shoulder. Pluto let herself be pulled into a rough embrace. She began to cry again.

But these tears were not bitter. They were not pain. They were cleansing. They were relief. Even on Rose's cold, almost inhuman, shoulder she found comfort. "We fight fate, don't we?"

"Yes," Rose answered.

"Then we'll defeat it." Pluto smiled through her tears. "Because we believe."

01010

Ranma awoke with a start. His body was covered in cold sweat. His heart was racing. He looked to his side and saw Hotaru standing there. He was sitting, and he still came up to her chest. She was gazing down at him impassively.

"Geez, Hotaru..." Ranma panted. It was hot in London, especially during the day. "You startled me."

"I'm sorry," Hotaru replied. Her voice was soft and hard to make out. She turned and walked into the murky apartment that they were using as a temporary shelter. It was hard to see anything, since all the windows had been covered with thick curtains and the electricity was out. If they were pulled aside, he knew the sun would shine in brightly, but Ukyou had insisted that secrecy was their best defense for the time being.

"Don't apologise," Ranma said, forcing false cheer into his voice. He threw off the blanket he had been using. Despite its thinness, the fabric was soaked with sweat. He grimaced and reached around blindly until he found his pants and shirt. He would have felt uncomfortable dressing with anyone else in the room, but Hotaru was really too young to worry him. "Sometimes I think that's all you do, is apologise," Ranma tried his best to put a note of humour into his joke.

In the darkness, he couldn't tell how Hotaru reacted. She walked back into the light a few seconds later. Balanced on her hands was a tray filled with leftover okonomiyaki. It was cold, but Ukyou was such a fantastic cook that it hardly mattered. He grinned at Hotaru and ruffled her hair before sitting down to dig in. She looked mildly annoyed with the treatment. At least it was a reaction.

"You didn't seem to be sleeping well," Hotaru said softly as she crouched down nearby. Ranma paused in mid-bite, then hastily swallowed before he choked.

"Just the heat," he said dismissively. Hotaru gazed at him levelly. He grinned weakly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, okay... geez, Hotaru. You're a little monster when you don't get your way, ya know?"

She blinked at this.

"Just kidding," Ranma laughed. He shook his head. The kid needed to lighten up. "It was just another nightmare."

"About her?"

"Yeah..." Ranma looked down at his food again. He screwed his eyes shut.

He took a deep breath. "Yeah." He forced a grin onto his face. "But I can't dwell on it, right?" He flipped a piece of food towards his mouth, making sure it spun acrobatically along the way. Before it could get there, he snapped another piece at it, bouncing the first piece of food higher. A fraction of a second later a third morsel joined them, slamming into the second so that it knocked that one back up and into the first, keeping all three airborne. As Ranma continued to add more and more food to his little show, he talked as if nothing were happening. "I mean, I can't lock myself away and get all blubbery about it. Ran d... died and nothin' ain't gonna change that, right?" He didn't wait for Hotaru to respond: her eyes were following his display with something approaching fascination. "Besides, I made a promise. I'm gonna make a difference! I'm gonna see to it that even if Ran can't be the one, I'll be known as a hero who -AH!"

Ranma finally lost control and the entire display, now consisting of three dozen morsels ranging in size from a grape to a hamburger, fell straight down onto his face. He stared upward for a moment, blinking bits of okonomiyaki out of his eyes. He looked down at Hotaru.

Nothing.

"Ah, c'mon! That was funny, damnit!"

Hotaru's perpetual frown lessened, but she didn't smile. "It was a waste of food."

"But a FUNNY waste of food!" Ranma pointed at her, trying to look as dignified as he could with a meal plastered over his features. Still nothing. Tough audience. "Besides, Ukyou can always make more. Where is she?"

"Out patrolling," Hotaru replied as she moved away. Ranma waited and a second later she returned with a wash cloth. He grudgingly accepted it and began cleaning himself off. Ukyou was always patrolling during the day when he was asleep, trying to find new targets for them. Sometimes he envied her the ability to go literally days without sleep.

As if summoned by the conversation about her, the door swung upon and Ukyou strode in briskly. She had changed her appearance slightly on their trip. She still wore her hair long and tied back at the nape of her neck, and she still wore the same long black trenchcoat. However, she now wore a slightly tighter shirt and slacks, giving more emphasis to her feminine curves.

She glanced at Ranma and one of her eyebrows shot up. He grinned at her and waved. A piece of food fell from his cheek to the floor with a wet smack.

"Never mind," Ukyou said before either of them could. "Ranma. We have to go."

Ranma stood up, cleaning himself with a single superspeed swipe of the cloth. He recognized that tone of voice. "What is it?" he asked quickly.

"I felt something," Ukyou explained. "Magic, coming out of nowhere. Magic a lot like Hotaru's."

"So..." Ranma trailed off.

"I don't have much time to explain," Ukyou said quickly. "I think we should go help her immediately. Now that I've caught her scent, so to speak, I should be able to track her down."

"Track who down?"

"V," Ukyou said simply. Ranma frowned. He had heard the 'name' before. He'd killed a dozen or more vampires since getting here, but the person they really seemed to fear was this 'V' woman. "Hotaru, stay here for a few hours!" Ukyou called over her shoulder as she stepped out.

Ranma shrugged and followed her, glancing back over his shoulder as he did so. Hotaru just sat on the floor and looked out after them with an unreadable expression. He struggled for something to say, but sighed and just shot out a quick "Later," before dashing off after Ukyou.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Yeah, that did end a little abruptly, but it's not our fault. We're not ourselves. And do you know why? Can you even comprehend what we've gone through? For YOU?

Epsilon: We watched THREE seasons of Sailor Moon, from beginning to end, every single episode, as research for this.

Blade: And as you can see, that included Super S. But it did not just "include" Super S. It included us watching ALL of Super S within a WEEK. A GODDAMN WEEK.

Epsilon: Nobody should be exposed to that much concentrated Amazon Trio.

Blade: I would not wish such a fate on... Saddam Hussein. I mean, he was bad and all, and yeah, torture rooms and he thought really mean thoughts about getting a nuclear weapon program once, but even HE did not force people to watch Tiger's Eye. And I think that's a lesson to us all.

Epsilon: Also, the other two idiots. Also, Nehelenia. Also Zirconia. Also the entire goddamn plotline and how it made no sense whatsoever! Also Helios! Why the hell couldn't he just SPIT IT OUT already in the first half of the series? He had to wait until the world was literally being destroyed until he told the heroes what was going on or how they could stop it, and there was never the slightest iota of good reason why! And don't even get me started on Mamoru's mysterious illness which unlike the manga never had any explanation or any payoff, or any point! And the time-management! 23 episodes for the fricking Amazon Trio, who advance the plot not even the slightest iota, and besides which, we're suddenly supposed to believe malevolent roaming pedophile Fish-Eye is the sympathetic one, and-

Blade: I think you get the point. No fanfic authors have ever sacrificed so much, suffered so much, for the sake of their art!

Epsilon: And we're even more mad than we seem, but we can't tell you why, because it's a massive spoiler. Goddamn us and our desire to actually make proper usage of continuity and characters! Why couldn't we just make up shit about Sailor Moon and Ranma like everyone else?

Blade: So, uh, that's probably enough bitching then, huh?

Epsilon: Not nearly enough! Go to our website this month, and you can see us bitch even MORE about Sailor Moon!

Blade: What a tempting prospect! And not at all a gratuitous plug! There's more Hybrid Theory fanart this month, too. But just in case you're only here for the ficcage, here's your tempting prospect for next month!

"But nights like this are waluable beyond price, you see," the vampiress said, her voice suddenly deadly serious. She stood up. "A bright night, perfect for hunting." She paused and turned to stare directly at the roof V was hiding on. "Don't you agree, fraulein?"

V froze up. She heard the vampires cursing and hissing as they all spun to face her, drawing their weapons. She narrowed her eyes, but stood up slowly. As she did, she raised her hands into the air. The vampires all leveled their weapons at her. Her new armor couldn't hope to stop so many bullets, and she didn't fancy her chances of dodging them all.

She resisted the urge to smile.

"You must be 'V', ja?" The vampiress said as she waved cheerfully at her. "You haf been making yourself quite a nuisance. Killing our men, ruining perfectly good ghouls. Shame on you." V didn't reply, she just stood on the roof, her hands still raised. The woman hadn't made a move to remove her own weapon from its resting place on her shoulders. V could see the light glinting off a medallion she wore around her neck, a swastika that hung on a chain that came down almost to her navel. "I haf been instructed by Major Krieg, commandant of the Letztes Battalion, that I am to personally escort you to no less than fifty separate locations across the city simultaneously." She grinned, a huge pleasant smile that made her look like she was much younger than she probably was.

"Come again?" V said, speaking for the first time.

"Ah." The woman bowed slightly. "I'm sorry. I shall haf to explain it in a vay you can understand." She paused, making a grand gesture of thinking about it. "Bang bang. You're dead. Is that clearer?"

V smiled now. "Better than you have tried."

The woman's grin disappeared. "No. No, they haf not."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 18: A Place For My Head


	18. A Place For My Head

Valkyrie is recapping! Valkyrie has no idea what this means! But Valkyrie's head hurts from all the... stuff in her brain that she never used to have in her brain! Valkyrie has been told that if she tells some of it to you, the pain will stop! Valkyrie likes that plan!

Valkyrie enjoys some of these memories! Valkyrie remembers when she and Mistress Telulu killed Kaede fondly! Valkyrie actually pretty much only did that, but she remembers it fondly! Valkyrie doesn't care much for other memories of unimportant people!

Valkyrie dislikes that girl Nabiki! She defied the mistress! Valkyrie is glad she tried to read the boy Ryouga's brain and got sad! Valkyrie is amused! Valkyrie dislikes that brat Hotaru! Valkyrie is glad her dad is dead! Valkyrie is glad she is sad and Mistress 9 is eating her soul! Valkyrie fills with happy thoughts when she thinks of that!

Valkyrie also dislikes sailor senshi on general principle! Valkyrie is glad Sailor Pluto was sad! Valkyrie is glad Sailor Mars was sad! Valkyrie is NOT glad they are getting over it! Valkyrie doesn't like that! Not at all! Valkyrie wishes Chizuru and Shiori had let them continue to suffer!

Valkyrie is pretty certain "V" is a sailor senshi, too! Valkyrie hopes Rip Van Winkle kills her! Valkyrie likes Rip Van Winkle! She is very good at killing things! Valkyrie appreciates that! Maybe Valkyrie can invite her over? Valkyrie and her could kill things together! Valkyrie wants her to kill Ukyou and Ranma, too! They defied Mistress Telulu! Shame! Valkyrie also knows she dislikes that girl Nanami! She has a magic horse! Valkyrie doesn't know why, but this offends her!

Valkyrie also likes that girl Pink! She also kills things! Like little boys! Valkyrie wants to kill little boys, but Mistress Telulu keeps telling her no! It makes Valkyrie sad! Valkyrie is glad Pink has better magic plant powers now! Mistress Telulu has magic plant powers too! Valkyrie hopes they get together! That would be fun! Valkyrie thinks Pink's friend Chris just needs to start killing people more! He would feel better! Valkyrie thinks he should start with that whiny girl Akane! She never opposed Telulu, but you KNOW she wants to!

Valkyrie is not certain how to think about Bison! This confuses Valkyrie! Valkyrie thinks he is evil, but doesn't seem to kill people! It makes Valkyrie's head hurt! Maybe Rip Van Winkle will kill him when he shows up in England? Valkyrie hopes so! Go Rip! Valkyrie supports girl power!

Valkyrie is also not certain how to feel about Chronos! Valkyrie likes Aptom for killing good, and Gyro for killing loudly, but Mistress Telulu says we have to stay hidden from them! Valkyrie is also confused about the Dark Kingdom! Valkyrie is wondering why the "Dark Generals" are wandering the world looking for ways to prove themselves to a woman who can't even kill an unstoppable all- powerful god-like entity of death! Valkyrie has no respect for people who can't do that!

Valkyrie really misses Alucard, however! Valkyrie never met him, but he killed people really well and everyone seems convinced he is an unstoppable killing machine! Valkyrie is also an unstoppable killing machine! Valkyrie wonders if he and Rip would have gotten along? Valkyrie will never know, since Sailor Venus killed him! Shame!

Valkyrie... wait... is "V" Sailor Venus? Valkyrie hopes so! Valkyrie could watch Rip kill them both, at the same time!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 18: A Place For My Head

"Bestaubt sind die Gesichter,

Doch froh ist unser Sinn,"

V could make out the words of the singer now. The woman singing didn't have any formal training that V could discern, but she made up for it with sheer enthusiasm and raw talent. V couldn't understand the German words, but she could tell from the tone they were sung at that this was a song of war. A song meant to boost the spirits of your allies before battle.

"Ist unser Sinn;

Es braust unser Panzer."

V smiled grimly as she moved. It was dark, the sun having just dipped below the horizon a few minutes ago. Hunting at night was a dangerous business. The vampires were strongest without the sun overhead. But V had learned that now was the best time for hunting. They kept too close together during the daylight, fortified in bunkers and deep in the tunnels of the Underground. Trying to launch an assault on such places was suicidal.

"Im Sturmwind dahin."

No, the best way to fight them was on their own time, but not on their own terms. The trick was that they were arrogant. They believed themselves immortal, invincible... and why shouldn't they? Compared to mortal men, they were. But V was no mortal. She was an avenging angel, a sun-born knight... a hero. She now knew why she had come to England.

"Mit donnernden Motoren,

Geschwind wie der Blitz,"

It was not to fight the Dark Agency. It was not to draw away a crippled enemy's eyes from a princess. She was here to fight the vampires. She was here to rain holy light upon them. She was here to bring that light into every dark hole they tried to crawl into and burn them away. And she was very good at her job.

"Dem Feinde entgegen,

Im Panzer gesch tzt."

She had made her share of mistakes at first. She had struggled along, fighting them like a child. But even when they thought they had won, V had always found a way to escape. And she had returned to the field wiser, stronger... better at her job. For awhile she had joined up with the small militias, the survivors of that first apocalyptic night, and fought by their side. But they were gone now, and she was alone.

Almost alone.

"Voraus den Kameraden,

Im Kampf steh'n wir allein,"

The people had cheered her. She was a symbol and a weapon. The Shining Knight, the Golden Champion... she had even altered her costume once again to further emphasize her new role. But one champion did not win a war. She had watched too many good people die. She had let too many die because of her foolish childish incompetence. The last of the fighters had fled the city almost a week ago, seeking what small refuge they could in the countryside. Most of them that had left spoke bleakly of abandoning England.

"Steh'n wir allein,

So sto en wir tief"

She had watched them leave and wished them well. Perhaps there were survivors in the small villages. She knew the vampires, the Nazis, had launched a perfect attack. She knew that no community of over five hundred people had been spared. Even a single vampire was more than enough to destroy a town. And the enemy's numbers seemed endless. They could create more of themselves... how, V did not know.

"In die feindlichen Reihn."

V touched down soundlessly on the roof of what had once been a doctor's clinic. There was now a large hole in the side of the building. The crater next to it still had the partial remains of one of the V2 rockets in it. The streets were littered with rubble, and fires still burned fitfully up and down the street. V had seen the photographs of the Blitz, like every other child in her class. She had seen the devastation this once proud and defiant city had endured during the raids of World War II. They paled next to the carnage she had seen here, with her own eyes.

"Wenn vor uns ein feindliches

Heer dann erscheint,"

V crawled over to the edge of the building carefully. Her armour was very bright, but despite that it only tended to catch the light when she wanted it to. The monsters down below didn't notice her. There were five of them. She had quickly learned the meaning of their uniforms and medals. She had learned more about the Nazis in the last few weeks then the rest of her life combined. They had always been such a small thing for her until then. Like every good Japanese student, she was taught only the basics of the real truth. Her people tended to whitewash history, downplaying the atrocities of their allies, and that they themselves, had committed in war.

"Wird Vollgas gegeben

Und ran an den Feind!"

Not that any other country was any better. V resisted the urge to sneer. Where was America now? Where was it while its ally died? And all the other enlightened countries? Nobody had come to England. There was no cavalry. There was only her.

"Was gilt denn unser Leben

F r unsres Reiches Heer?"

She examined her targets and shoved down her disgust. Too much emotion left you vulnerable. You had to think clearly, cleanly. You didn't win the war by letting your emotions get the better of you. There were three soldiers below, below, all in the standard bulky gear they usually wore. Each was carrying a weapon that would have been an antique if it hadn't been so lovingly maintained. She noted three assault rifles, a pair of sidearms, ten grenades and miscellaneous bladed weapons among them. The fourth was a sergeant. He wore no helmet and his face was scarred. Something he must have gotten before he had been turned.

"Ja Reiches Heer!"

None of them were paying much attention to their surroundings. They were all instead watching the woman sitting nearby. V took a long look at her as well. She was nothing like any vampire, or any Nazi, she had ever encountered. She was tall and willow-thin, with a face that belonged on a girl studying shyly in a corner, not in the middle of a war zone. She had freckles and thin glasses and long black hair that fell in messy tendrils, like an oil slick, down to her knees. She was wearing a black suit and sitting on an overturned bus, her long legs crossed.

She carried a long musket on her shoulders. Not an antique rifle, a musket. V had learned a lot about guns, bombs and the other weapons of war since... since that terrible night. This wasn't just an antique, it was obsolete. It was one of the old-fashioned kinds that needed to be loaded before each shot with powder and bullet and... what kind of an idiot carried such a useless weapon onto a battlefield?

"Sergeant, it is un beautiful night, is it not?" the woman asked, as she stopped singing suddenly. Her English was thickly accented. The vampire with the scar nodded and looked up. The stars could be seen overhead, and the thin sliver of the moon shined feebly down from the heavens. On a normal night they would have been blotted out by the lights of London, but in the unnatural darkness that had settled over the whole city, the stars now shone in a dazzling display overhead.

Had V been a different person, she might have found such a display breathtaking. She had never seen such a brilliant sky before, in all her city- dwelling life. As it was, she gave it only a passing glance. The light would aid her more than the vampires. They did not fear the darkness.

"Ja. It is good to get some fresh air, for a change." He laughed. "This town is stuffy und cold und it rains too much."

"Vat a terrible place this is." The female vampire sniffed the air. "Ve did it a favor by burning it to the ground, don't you agree?"

The vampires all laughed. "As you say, Lieutenant," one of the soldiers agreed cheerfully.

"But nights like this are waluable beyond price, you see," the vampiress said, her voice suddenly deadly serious. She stood up. "A bright night, perfect for hunting." She paused and turned to stare directly at the roof V was hiding on. "Don't you agree, fraulein?"

V froze up. She heard the vampires cursing and hissing as they all spun to face her, drawing their weapons. She narrowed her eyes, but stood up slowly. As she did, she raised her hands into the air. The vampires all leveled their weapons at her. Her new armour couldn't hope to stop so many bullets, and she didn't fancy her chances of dodging them all.

She resisted the urge to smile.

"You must be 'V', ja?" the vampiress said as she waved cheerfully at her. "You haf been making yourself quite a nuisance. Killing our men, ruining perfectly good ghouls. Shame on you." V didn't reply, she just stood on the roof, her hands still raised. The woman hadn't made a move to remove her own weapon from its resting place on her shoulders. V could see the light glinting off a medallion she wore around her neck, a swastika that hung on a chain that came down almost to her navel. "I haf been instructed by Major Krieg, commandant of the Letztes Battalion, that I am to personally escort you to no less than fifty separate locations across the city simultaneously." She grinned, a huge pleasant smile that made her look much younger than she probably was.

"Come again?" V said, speaking for the first time.

"Ah." The woman bowed slightly. "I'm sorry. I shall haf to explain it in a vay you can understand." She paused, making a grand gesture of thinking about it. "Bang bang. You're dead. Is that clearer?"

V smiled now. "Better than you have tried."

The woman's grin disappeared. "No. No, they haf not."

"We'll see." V judged that enough time had passed by now. She drew a deep breath and yelled. "Artemis!"

A white streak dashed out from under the bus. It was small, and it wove between the feet of the vampires. In its wake, tiny balls clattered to the ground. V smirked and snapped her wrist down, the detonator falling easily into her palm.

The vampires were yelling now, beginning to fire their weapons. The bullets marched steadily up the wall towards her. The vampiress was only grinning to herself, not even moving. V leapt and hit the button.

They were just flash bombs. Nothing more than loud bangs and bright flashes of light. But just as darkness was the vampire's ally, light was their enemy. The monsters gasped and staggered, shielding their eyes from the dozens of blinding flashes all around them. Given time, they would recover.

V did not give them that time. She brought her other hand down as she sailed over them, spreading out her fingers. "Crescent Meteor Shower!" she roared.

Avenging light fell from her fingers. Beams of pure holy gold light speared down like pinpoint rays falling from the sun. She drew her hand across the intersection, the beams firing from her fingers like a gatling gun. The flares of the flashbombs and the dust kicked up from her attack obscured the entire intersection from sight for a moment. But V could hear the screams of dying vampires.

She landed with a flourish on the building opposite her starting point, having easily cleared the entire intersection in a diagonal leap. She glanced back at the wreckage from her attack. There was nothing but a billowing cloud of dust from where her attack had burned all the vampires into ashes. The bus and the pavement were littered with small holes. She grinned to herself.

She turned and leveled a finger at the bus. With a thought she unleashed a beam of light, carving a 'V' into the side of the vehicle with two quick slashes of her arm. She shook her head. That would make them think twice about trying to defeat her. Now all she had to do was collect Artemis and rearm him with some more flash grenades and...

Why was somebody clapping?

V turned in shock to see the Lieutenant sitting calmly on the edge of a nearby building. Her musket was now resting in her lap, and she was using her free hands to clap, slowly.

"Wery good! Wery good!" The vampiress laughed. "I vas beginning to think this vas a vaste of time."

V didn't gape. She only turned to face the woman grimly. But now she knew something was wrong. She hadn't even seen the woman move! From the looks of her, she hadn't even been so much as nicked by the beams. V dropped her detonator and began to summon her magic again.

"Who are you?" she asked, trying to buy time.

The vampiress stood up and bowed once, holding her musket in one hand. "I am the huntress, Rip Van Winkle." She grinned again, but there was no humanity in this grin. It was all sharp teeth and her eyes blazing yellow in the moonlight. "My varhead... vill punish all vithout distinction."

Then she raised her musket and fired.

The shot was louder than it had any right to be, and a wake of dust parted before it. The ashes of the vampires V had slain scattered in opposite directions. V didn't think, she only dodged. She heard a tremendous crack from behind her as she flew down into the street. She looked to see the brick wall she had been standing on shatter.

She landed well and rolled, coming up to face Rip again. But the woman wasn't even moving. She simply stood, her face partially obscured in the shadows from this angle so that all you could see were her eyes and teeth, holding her weapon loosely in one hand.

"Run," Rip Van Winkle advised.

Then V heard it, a high-pitched whine in the air. She spun and saw it, a black streak flashing across the street. It spun and turned, moving in arcs impossible for any mere projectile. V realised dimly that it was the same bullet, twisting back through the air towards her. She leapt again, dodging as it flew under her. But it was already spinning around in a sharp angle. It would come straight up after her.

Her opponent doubtless hoped to catch her in the air, where she had no chance to dodging. V was not about to die so easily.

"Love Me Chain!"

With a flick of her wrist, a long chain of golden, heart-shaped links sprang from the tips of her fingers. She snapped her hand around one end even as the other shot out and snapped tightly around a still-intact lightpost. She pulled hard, dragging herself to the side as the bullet shot through where she had been.

Or, that was the plan.

Pain exploded through her body. She gasped and watched in horror as her right thigh simply dissolved into a geyser of red gore. Some part of her kept a hold on her chain, and she pulled even tighter, turning her momentum into a swing. This saved her life as the bullet whizzed back at her. It clipped through her long hair, sending several strands billowing away on the wind.

V landed on the pavement again and her injured leg simply folded under her like it was made of rags. She screamed and rolled along the ground. Her armour sparked and dented as she skipped along the pavement before crashing into the remains of a car. The car's alarm went off.

V felt the sudden absurd urge to laugh at that, despite her wound. She realized dimly she was going into shock. She could see that her thigh was intact, but that there was a hole the size of a grapefruit through the center of it, only centimeters from her hips. Her yellow skirt was torn around the hole.

"Minako!"

Artemis? No, that didn't sound like Artemis.

She glanced up, dimly seeing a young man land on the pavement near her. He was Japanese, short compared to the boys she was used to seeing here in England... and had a kind and worried face under a messy mop of black hair. He had blue eyes. She groaned. Why was she looking at his eyes? She felt groggy.

"Get her out of here, Ranma!"

"But..."

"Do it!"

V looked vaguely in the direction of the other voice. A woman was standing in the street, between Rip Van Winkle and the boy. She was wearing a long black coat and was staring up at the woman. For her part, the vampire looked down at the young woman with the long black hair with the glee of a hawk that had just spotted a mouse in the middle of an open field.

V felt herself being lifted into the young man's arms. He carried her with ease.

"Senshi or not, she'll die with that wound!" The woman called back over her shoulder. "You know where to take her."

Ranma nodded.

"I'm afraid that von't be happening," Rip stated as she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Her bullet, which had gone flying off into the air, spun back around and flew straight down at V again. V groaned. The boy tensed, obviously trying to figure out which way to dodge as the deadly lead shot spun erratic circles through the air as it closed in.

Then there was a loud snap and the bullet fell limply to the ground. V stared at the palm-sized silver spatula imbedded in the tiny lead shot. It had cut halfway through the ball-bearing sized projectile. Something so small had done so much damage... V groaned and almost fell out of the young man's hands.

"I'll be your opponent," the woman declared in a voice as cold as ice.

"Damn," Ranma swore softly. "Hang on, lady!"

V wanted to thank him, but at that point she slipped away into darkness.

01010

Rei rolled her teacup between her hands. The tea inside it was cold. The air in the courtyard was hot. The tables and chairs in this place were metal, and a bit uncomfortable to sit in.

"You have that look again," Shiori said.

Rei looked up at her. "What look?"

"Like you don't want to be here," Shiori replied.

Rei blinked. "It's not like that," Rei explained slowly. "I just..." She paused. "It's just today, I guess."

Shiori smirked and took a sip of her own tea. "So, what did Usagi do this time?" Rei gave her a long look. "You always look like that after one of your infamous study sessions. And you usually blame it on Usagi."

"It was nothing she did..." Rei replied. Really, Usagi and her hadn't said two words to each other on the entire mission. Well, maybe exactly two. Rei had just been too busy trying to figure out why her spiritual senses had been screaming at her the whole time.

"If you say so," Shiori said, backing away from the subject.

Rei considered briefly bringing up Juri, but decided against it. That was still a sensitive subject, and she wasn't that annoyed by Shiori's questions.

"Hey, you're Usagi Tsukino's friend, aren't you?"

Rei looked up at the new speaker. It was a girl, a little younger than Rei, with not-quite-curly hair that fell to her shoulders. She wasn't dressed in a school uniform. Instead, she wore some sort of vaguely military pantsuit that was cut a little too tight for a girl her age, all in a garish yellow with black trim. She was looming over Rei with her arms folded. Her expression was cross and had just the right amount of haughty upperclass snobbishness that reminded Rei of all the girls she used to hate back at her old school.

Rei opened her mouth to say something snappish back. Then she closed it.

There was... something about this girl. It brushed at the back of her awareness. Ohtori was a place that felt wrong. Everywhere Rei went, it smothered her. Everywhere she breathed the air felt too fresh, the colors too vivid. The people who laughed here did so with a genuineness that rubbed Rei's nerves raw. But this girl... there was something right about her. Rei felt herself relaxing.

"You could say that," she replied after a moment. "My name is Rei Hino. And you would be?"

"Nanami Kiryuu, acting student council president!" the girl proclaimed proudly.

Rei groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Okay, what did Usagi do this time?"

"Oh..." Nanami said after a moment's pause. Her voice continued, sounding slightly confused. "I'm not actually here about... well. I did hear about the results from the last tests and was... but that... I actually just wanted to talk to her..." A longer paused. "And you, come to think of it."

"Well," Rei drew her hands away and gave Nanami another long look. What was it about this girl? "Have a seat then, if you want to talk."

Nanami pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. She looked at Rei. Rei looked at her. Shiori sipped her tea.

Nanami continued to stare at Rei. Rei continued to stare back.

This continued.

"I have class," Shiori excused herself.

Both Rei and Nanami said goodbye. She left.

They stared at each other some more.

"Damnit!" Rei slammed her hand into the table hard enough so the table bounced slightly. "Talk already!"

Nanami flinched, only a little. "I.. um..." She trailed off. "I'm not quite sure what I wanted to talk to you about."

Rei sighed. This was getting them nowhere. "Was it about school?" Apparently not. "Was it about the student clubs?" No, not that either. "Okay... sports?" No. "Politics? The weather? The price of tea in China?" No. No. No.

Rei grumbled and leaned back, crossing her arms. "So what... was it about an ancient society of magical princesses on the moon or something?" she asked in frustration.

Nanami snapped her fingers. "Yes!"

Rei's jaw dropped.

"Although..." Nanami started, sounding contrite, "I'm not certain why."

Rei slowly collected her wits, and took a deep breath. This didn't make sense. The only people that knew about the Moon Kingdom and the Sailor Senshi were them, Ukyou and her friends, Chris and his friends, Akio and all of Chronos... wait, well, maybe it could make sense. "And where exactly did you hear anything about that?" Rei asked, suddenly suspicious.

Nanami shrugged. "I don't know." Nanami's expression grew somber. "I just have to talk to Usagi. I just know I do. It's important."

"What ab... nevermind," Rei waved her quiet. "Listen, I don't know how to get in touch with Usagi. We barely speak to each other."

"But... you four are friends. You all transferred in together. Everyone knows that." Rei raised an eyebrow. She hadn't really been paying attention to school rumours. "I've been trying to get in touch with her for weeks now. But everytime I try to schedule a meeting something comes up, and either I have to take care of student council business or she's off on some errand or vanished with friends." Nanami tapped the table with her nails lightly. "So I tried to talk to that girl, Ami. The one that's hanging around Miki. You know him, right?" Rei didn't really, but she nodded anyway. "He's on the student council too, so I thought could get him to set us up in a meeting, but she's always busy with something else, and then Miki himself started having to run more and more errands for the fencing club, and with his piano recital coming up he's always busy..." Nanami was beginning to sound frustrated. "So I talked with Juri, do you know Juri?" Rei's expression darkened and she nodded slightly. "Anyway, she's also on the student council and apparently that friend of yours Makoto has been chasing her around trying to get her to teach her how to fence so, of course, I thought I could get Juri to introduce us. But Makoto never showed up because of some stupid study session, and now Juri keeps getting distracted because some friend of hers is back in school and she's moping around all the time..." Nanami's voice was now taking on a hint of desperation. "So finally I came to you."

"I... see..." Rei wasn't quite sure how to react to all that.

"So could YOU please introduce me to Usagi?"

"I..." Rei pinched her nose. "I have no idea where she is. We get together for... study sessions every couple of nights but that's it. We're not as close as we used to be."

Nanami screamed and threw her hands into the air. Then she slammed her head into the table.

"Did that hurt?" Rei asked.

"Yes..."

Nanami pushed herself upright again. She rubbed her forehead. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear the entire school is conspiring to keep me away from her." Nanami laughed to herself, but Rei had gone stiff as a board. "But that's just silly."

"Is it now..." Rei said slowly. Chris had told them that Akio was evil, that he was tricky and that this was his domain. All of Ohtori was a place he controlled. That was why the Senshi could hide here without fear of discovery. A zoanoid could wander right past them and it wouldn't see them. Not that zoanoids even made it into Ohtori. "Nanami, can I ask you a question?"

"Hmmm? I suppose..."

"Does anything at Ohtori ever strike you as... wrong?"

"Wrong? What do you mean?"

"Like Nemuro Memorial Hall, or that forest out behind the school, or the rose garden in the courtyard?"

Nanami's eyes flashed a little at the mention of the forest and she rubbed a ring on her finger. It was a rose signet ring. Rei focused on it, narrowing her senses she had been training on for years. The ring... yes, the ring was a part of this place. It was like a brand, a little piece of Ohtori that this girl was carrying around with her. But the ring didn't seem to be a part of her. There was something like a layer between her and it. A pure, golden light that separated the wrongness from her person.

Rei gasped and jerked her head back. Nanami had been saying something but Rei had missed it. Whatever that girl had in her, it was immense. She hadn't felt anything like it.

No. That was wrong. She had felt something like it.

The Ginzuishou. It was like that.

Rei stood up.

"Excuse me, I have to leave now."

"What? But we aren't finished..."

"I have to be going, I'm very sorry," Rei stated in a hard voice, then turned and left.

01010

V woke up slowly, her entire body filled with a pleasant sensation. It was warm and strange, sort of like that feeling when her feet would fall asleep if she sat on them too long, only comfortable and reassuring. She moaned and lifted up her head, and saw a soft white light flowing around her thigh.

The light was cupped in between the hands of a little girl. She couldn't have been much older than twelve, as she hadn't yet begun to bloom in the way that all young girls did eventually. Her short black hair was in a bob-cut, and her vivid purple eyes were staring intently down at the light she was projecting into V's leg. Beads of sweat were running down her cheek.

Suddenly she gave a great sigh and her hands fell down to her side. The light lingered along V's leg for a short time, before fading away into sparkling afterimages. V blinked. She remembered clearly that the vampire's bullet had torn a hole through her thigh, but there was nothing there now but smooth, unmarred flesh.

"You shouldn't stand on it right away," the girl said in an out-of- breath monotone. She sat down heavily next to the bed that V had been laid out in. "Your strength will return, but I don't think I healed it all."

"Healed..." Then memory returned to V. She glanced down at the little girl. "There was a fight. I was injured..." The girl nodded. "Who are you?" she asked sharply. "Where am I? Where is the guy who... saved me..." The vigour drained out of her voice as she spoke. Vivid memories of being swept up in his arms filled her mind before V brutally beat them back. She couldn't afford to be distracted by such girlish things...

"My name is Hotaru." The girl sat down. "You are in an apartment in the suburbs of London." Her voice sounded oddly empty, like the girl didn't really care about anything she was saying. The poor thing was in shock. V quite understood. She had been forced to deal with a lot of people like that while they were still trying to smuggle the few survivors out of London. "You just missed Ranma. He just stepped out a few seconds ago to go look for..."

"AHHHH, CAT!"

"Ranma, wait!"

"Ah, that would be them now..." Hotaru sighed and looked at the door.

A fraction of a second later the door to the apartment burst open, literally. Fragments of the shattered wood flew through the air. V blinked as the splinters embedded themselves in the walls, but miraculously missed her and the girl. The boy from earlier leapt through the debris and landed in a crouch behind a couch. He had looked so strong and confident when he had shown up to save her, but now he only looked like a tiny frightened child. V had seen that panicked, mindless look of sheer terror too often. She had seen it on the ones who freaked out, the ones who lost it.

She had no patience for them. She glared at the boy as he shivered.

A moment later a young woman rushed into the room. She had long black hair and was wearing a long trenchcoat which flapped in the air behind her, although the entire left sleeve was missing and blood was running freely from her shoulder and down the limb. Five strange parallel scars were on that forearm, the blood running down through them like little rivers through tiny canyons. Other than that she wore a tight white shirt and black leggings. She was carrying a white cat under her good arm like a rugby ball.

"Artemis!" V called out. The cat looked at her and smiled, in that strange way Artemis could smile like no other cat could. His eyes sparkled in the light from the hallway, and his golden crescent mark also glittered.

"Art..." The young woman cut off mid-way through his name. It was hard to judge her age. She looked not much older than V, but carried herself as if she was. "Oh damn... his cat phobia. Sorry about this."

Then, without preamble, she tossed Artemis out a window.

"Artemis!" V roared and leapt to her feet. She tried to summon up her power, but realized vaguely that she had transformed back into mortal form sometime while she was unconscious. She reached for her henshin wand.

"Whoa!" The young lady backed a step away from V. "He's okay! There's a balcony out there."

"A balcony..." V paused, her wand in hand, but not yet raised for transformation.

"I just needed to get him away from Ranma," the woman in black said as she held up her hands defensively. V glanced over at the boy, who was glancing carefully over the edge of the couch.

"Is it gone?"

"Yes, Ranma, it's gone..." the young woman began.

"Now see here!" Artemis pushed his head in through the window. "That was rude!"

Ranma made a strangled sound and fell back behind the couch, then grunted in pain as the back of his head clunked against the wood. The young woman whirled on Artemis, faster than V could follow, and kicked him outside again.

"Don't come in again!" she shouted. Then she grabbed the window and slammed it shut with a bang.

"Hey!" V protested as she stalked towards the woman. "Nobody mistreats my cat but me!"

The woman gave a long suffering sigh. "This is not the first impression I wanted to make."

"You always have a problem with that," Hotaru spoke up for the first time since all this had started. She walked over to the woman and tugged on her bloody arm. "Sit down," she ordered in a placid tone.

"It's not that serious, Hotaru..." the woman seemed suddenly nervous.

"What use am I to you except as a walking med-kit?" Hotaru returned, her voice placid but filled with a deep resentment. "Now sit down."

"Hotaru..." The woman closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath. "You know I don't feel that way about you."

Hotaru only stared up at the woman and the woman could only stare back helplessly. Finally she relented and sat down, letting Hotaru reach the wound. Now that V could get a good look at it, it was really nasty. Something had cut a deep groove up the back of her arm and into her shoulder.

"How can you even move with that injury..." V breathed.

"I've had worse," the woman explained, not looking at V. Her eyes were locked on Hotaru. Her expression, however, was cold and distant, impossible to read. Hotaru, for her part, moved efficiently to place her hands over the wound. She began to concentrate and the white glow of her power spread from her palms and down into the woman's wounds. The woman shivered, as if someone poured icewater on her.

"Is it gone now?"

V turned at the voice. Ranma was still hiding behind the couch. He had addressed her, however. She turned to see Artemis sitting in the window. He did not look happy, but there was little he could do with the window closed to him. She sighed and motioned for him to get out of sight. He frowned at her, but did as asked.

"Yes, he's gone now," V answered.

The boy gave a relieved laugh and scratched the back of his neck as he stood up. "Not that I was worried or anything... Ranma Saotome don't worry bout nothing!" He glanced at the window, but it was free of cats. "I was just... uh..."

"Hey, you're speaking Japanese," V pointed out, suddenly realising this herself. It was her native tongue, and she had slipped into it so easily she hadn't even noticed.

"Shouldn't I be?" Ranma asked, confused.

"Well, no..." V frowned. "This is England. You know, birthplace of the English language? How could you be living here and not speak it?"

"I don't. Live here, I mean," Ranma explained. He straightened up suddenly. "We're here to help."

"Help?"

"That's enough, Hotaru," the woman said in a soft, gentle voice. She reached over and grabbed the girl, pulling her hands away. The girl blinked owlishly at the woman, then slumped forward slightly. "You're exhausted. Sleep." Hotaru nodded weakly and let her eyes close. The woman in black picked up the little girl easily, cradling the pre-teen like she was a baby. Her icy expression had vanished, to be replaced by one of wan sympathy... but even so, her eyes were...

"Demon!" V shouted, snapping up her henshin wand again. The woman cold only stare at V, her arms occupied as she called out her transformation phrase. "V Crisis Power, Make Up!"

V floated off the floor, her body singing with the raw power of her transformation. Ever since that terrible night, she had forced Artemis to teach her more and more about her own powers. Dragging information from the cat was like trying to catch water in a sieve. Not because he wasn't willing, although sometimes that was part of it, but mainly because he couldn't seem to remember most of the important things. But V had learned to control the transformation. Just like she had learned to alter her regular Sailor Venus attire to the more anonymous Sailor V, so too had she learned to access more hidden depths and build a stronger battle form from them.

She landed, the golden lights around her dimming to nothing. She was clad now in a reinforced breastplate of molded gold, with armored gloves and knee high metal boots. She pointed two fingers at the black-eyed woman, her eyes narrowing behind her golden half-mask.

"Not this again..." the woman moaned.

"Hey there!" Ranma grabbed her arm and pulled it up. V hadn't even seen him move, and while his grip was gentle, it was as firm as steel. She could no more have moved her arm than she could have parted the ocean.

"Let me go!" V insisted.

"I'm not lettin' another of you crazy Sailor chicks try and kill Ukyou!" Ranma shouted at her. "She's human, just like me and you. She just got her eyes messed up in a fight awhile back, is all."

"Messed up..." V looked at Ukyou again. The girl was gazing back at her levelly. Her eyes weren't that inhuman. At first they appeared to be totally black, but you could just make out the subtle change in hue as her iris became her pupil, and even if the whole thing was shaped like an exotic flower... "Let me go," V requested, her tone more mild.

Ranma considered her request for a moment, then nodded and stepped back. "No funny business, okay?"

V nodded and reached up to the side of her facemask. Ukyou quirked her head to the side. "I can see the truth, look past illusions using this," V explained.

"Indeed..." the black-clad woman said slowly. She was still holding Hotaru, but her posture and tone had changed somehow. "I'd be interested to find out what you see." V blinked, but dismissed the odd statement. She triggered the magic with a tap of her fingers and looked at Ukyou's true nature.

At first, V wasn't sure what she was seeing. She looked exactly human, exactly as she appeared right there in front of her. But it was like there was another Ukyou there as well, two of her in the exact same space. Yet at the same time there wasn't. V felt a headache coming on as she tried to squint and focus her eyes on what she saw as the 'other' Ukyou.

She looked almost exactly the same. She was the same age, the same height and weight and hairstyle; even the same clothing. But a series of strange tattoos trailed down the right side of her body, looking like circuit diagrams V had once seen in her textbooks. Three circles of light floated around the young woman, made up of mathematical figures and formula. She was also carrying a weapon, a long and vicious-looking polearm that nonetheless looked slightly silly and vaguely familiar at the same time. Then there was the symbol on her forehead. It was flaring brightly, and V had to look away, unable to see what it was.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was what seemed to be between the two Ukyous. It was like there was some terrible, formless nothing there. V couldn't even call it a void, because even voids had boundaries and definitions. There was something between the two Ukyous, something separating them that was both there and not there at the same time. It was what let there be two of them. It was what made them one and the same. V could feel her mind shying away from it and she suddenly wanted to look at something, anything but Ukyou...

She gasped when she looked down at the girl in Ukyou's arms.

"So you see her, do you?" Ukyou asked, her voice calm.

"What is that?" V asked, pointed at Hotaru. There was something evil there. It was coiled through the little girl's body like a snake, a miasma of distilled evil. It pulsed and throbbed, weakly, but alive nonetheless. V thought she saw the centre of it in the girl's heart.

"It calls itself Mistress 9," Ukyou explained as she put Hotaru down on the bed. She paused for a second to tuck the girl in. The girl was asleep, but her face had not relaxed. If anything, she looked sadder now that she was unconscious. "Hotaru was caught in a deadly accident two years ago. Her wounds would have killed her. So her father made a deal with... a monster, a demon that seeks nothing less than the annihilation of all life on this world. It placed one of its servants into her body, healing her but also turning her into its vessel." Ukyou ran a hand through the girl's hair. "Mistress 9 is still weak. She can force control over Hotaru, but only when the girl is exhausted or emotionally vulnerable. Even though she saved Hotaru's life, now all she is doing is leeching it away, making Hotaru weak and sick. And in time, as it feeds on her pain and life force it will grow stronger until..." Ukyou trailed off ominously.

"I... that's terrible!" V knelt down and grabbed the girl's hand as she slept. She looked up at Ukyou. "Isn't there anything that can be done for her?"

"I was hoping you might be able to help with that, actually," Ukyou said softly.

"I..." V sat back. "My power is strong against evil, but it's more in the direct attack kind of way. I don't think I could harm the thing inside her without harming her first."

"Indeed," Ukyou said with a sigh.

"So is that why we found her?" Ranma asked, crossing his arms.

"Found me?" V asked.

"Yeah, Ukyou tracked you down specifically." Ranma glanced out the window. The sun would be rising soon, from the looks of the sky. "I just wanted to find the bastards that did this and hunt them down."

V gave him a long look. "You came from Japan... to help fight Millennium?"

Ranma nodded. "I made a promise to..." he trailed off and cleared his throat. "I promised someone that I would help people. Fight my own battles the way I choose to." He grinned at her. "And I choose to fight here."

"That... that's it?" V shouted suddenly, leaping to her feet. "Vampires destroy England... burn down the cities, eat the people, unleash hell in a way that I didn't imagine possible and this is all that comes?" V clenched her fists and turned her back on them. "Two martial artists and a little girl with a demon in her? This is all the help we get? Can't the people out there see what is happening here! Don't they realise what it MEANS?" She walked over to the window and pointed out to the east. "They won't be satisfied with this country! They'll spread! I've seen it! They're already preparing for the next war, and the next, and the next! We have to stop them here or millions... billions of people will suffer! Don't the fools out there realise what is going on!"

"MINAKO!"

V turned back to look at Ukyou, startled. "How did you-"

"First, I'm going to ask you to keep your voice down," Ukyou insisted, cutting her off. "Next, I'm going to ask you to take your head out of your ass."

"My... you..." V sputtered.

"Do you think they don't want to help you?" Ukyou crossed her arms. "I can forgive you for not knowing what is going on. You must have lost contact with the outside world fairly quickly once Millennium attacked." She glanced at Ranma, who looked somewhat uneasy with the scene that was occurring around him. She sighed. "This isn't the only place that has fallen on hard times, Minako. The Americans dropped a nuke on one of their own cities to prevent a plague of zombies from destroying their country. They are also desperately scrambling for resources to fight a war against an army of monsters that has secretly controlled their government for decades, if not centuries. They aren't the only ones. Japan too is infested with monsters who walk around as men and control everything from the shadows. No less than three other demonic cults out to wipe humanity from the face off the planet are also making Japan their first target. There are places in Romania where the sun never shines, the sands of Egypt are striking against the people who live there, and in the dark places of every country of the world things stalk... werewolves, ghosts, psychopaths with the ability to kill with a thought or twist your mind to their own purposes..."

Ukyou trailed off, then her expression softened before she continued. "I'm sorry about what you must have gone through here, Minako. It was terrible. I could never understand it, and I'm not going to insult you by saying I do. But the sad thing, the really sad thing, is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. The reason England fell and nobody came to help isn't because nobody cares, it's because it's all anyone can do to hold on anymore."

V could only stare at Ukyou. She had forgotten to turn off her mask's power, and thus she knew that every word the girl had spoken was the truth. She reached up and dismissed the magic, then calmly fell to her knees. "That..." She took a deep breath. "That doesn't change anything. I'm still going to stop them." She looked up at Ukyou. It was much easier now that she looked like just another girl. "I'm going to destroy Millennium by myself if I have to!"

"Hey," Ranma stepped forward. "That's what we're here for." He offered her his hand. "To fight monsters. The worst of the lot. And now that you have Ranma Saotome on your side, you can't lose!"

V glanced up at him. She let him help her to her feet but walked away, crossing her arms. He shrugged.

"I hope you've got something to back that up," V said after a long moment of silence. "Millennium isn't something you can fight with just fists and feet. I've seen other people like you, in the resistance here, before everyone either gave up London to the monsters or..." She trailed off and fought down the memory of Birdie. His mocking laughter as she had been forced to flee. The screams and pleas of the people she had been forced to leave behind. "Or worse," she spat. Ukyou's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. "Two martial artists aren't going to change the course of this war. I'd be better off on my own."

"Hello, we did save your ass today, didn't we?" Ranma groused.

"Ranma..." Ukyou said softly, but the boy immediately calmed. She looked at V. "Listen, Minako..."

"Stop calling me that." Ukyou looked at her oddly. "I don't know how you learned that name, but stop calling me that."

Ukyou seemed to consider her request for a moment, then she nodded. "V, we have a secret weapon. Somebody who will turn the tide of this entire war."

"Who? The girl?"

"Hotaru is not a weapon!" Ukyou snapped, her voice containing more force than V had heard up until now. She took a moment to calm herself. "No. A man, a vampire-" V glared at her. "Not just any vampire, Mina... V. His name is Alucard, and he is the closest thing to a living god you will ever encounter. He is as much above other vampires as vampires are above mortals. He can't be killed, he is literally unstoppable."

V frowned. Why did that name sound so familiar? "Who is he? Where do we find him?"

"Well, that's the strange part," Ukyou admitted. "He should already be here. He should have already stopped all this... or at least the worst of it. He's been in England all along. He works for an organisation called Hellsing that specializes in fighting and destroying vampires and other creatures of the night. I would have suspected he would have already come into play." She thought for a moment. "You said you worked with a resistance at first? Did you ever meet a woman named Integra Hellsing? No? Maybe you've seen Alucard himself... he's about this tall, wears a red trenchcoat and matching fedora and sunglasses and... Minako... why are you looking so pale?"

"Oh... oh god..." V began to tremble. "You mean... he would have stopped this?"

"Minako..." Ukyou stepped towards her, suddenly looking worried.

"No... he couldn't have." V began to laugh nervously. "I killed him with one shot."

"You WHAT?" Ukyou's mouth gaped open.

"Alucard, I remember him now. Back before all this started. I fought him in a warehouse..." She paused and looked down. "Well, not really fought. But he was threatening me!" she snapped suddenly. "I hit him with one of my attacks and that put him down."

Ukyou paused, then she began to laugh. She clutched her stomach and sat down, she was laughing so hard. "Oh, thank you, you had me worried for a moment."

"What are you..."

"I seriously doubt anything you could have done would have more than inconvenienced Alucard," Ukyou explained, still chuckling.

Now V was feeling a little peeved. "I put a hole through his chest the size of a beachball!"

"He once had his head chopped off and his body crucified," Ukyou replied with a shrug. "I doubt that really hurt him. He must just have let you go because you're a human, and he can't kill humans unless Integra orders him to."

"I have holy light energy!" V shot back.

"The person who beheaded him had blessed silvered bayonets," Ukyou replied confidently. "No, Alucard is still out there. I'm sure of it." Then she frowned. "I just have to find him and find out why he hasn't joined the fight." She frowned deeper. "It's possible something might have happened to Integra..." She shook her head, then stood up.

"No use wasting our time with what-ifs," Ukyou pronounced. "I suggest you get some rest. Today we're going to go pick up Alucard's trail at the only place I know for sure he's been."

"Hey, who put you in charge?" V asked as she stepped forward.

"Do you have a better plan?" Ukyou asked directly.

"I..."

"I didn't think so." Ukyou turned around. "Don't worry... 'V', you'll get plenty of chance to kill vampires. The place we're going is where Alucard used to live and where the vampires have established their most powerful stronghold in the city... the Hellsing Mansion."

01010

It was on a small hill, with a cherry tree hanging over it. The sun rose behind it each morning, and set so that the words written on it would be illuminated. It was quiet and alone. You could see the city from the hilltop, but it seemed far away. It was some other place, filled with other people's problems. This was a place where you were alone, alone to mourn.

'Kaede Kunikida

1976-1992

Daughter'

Kusanagi rested his hand on the grim stone marker. It was cold and rough. It was stone, worse than a dead thing, because it had never even been alive.

"I thought I'd find you here."

"Leave me alone, old man," Kusanagi said without looking back.

"You weren't at the funeral," Kunikida pointed out. There was a rustling sound as he resettled his trenchcoat on his shoulders. "I was wondering where you were. Where you have been." Kusanagi just leaned forward and looked at the stone marker for a long moment, as if trying to discern some hidden meaning in the words. "I've come here every day, waiting for you." Kusanagi nodded absently. "You turned off your phone."

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Kusanagi responded finally. The old fart wasn't going to leave him alone.

"Where have you been?" Kunikida asked. Kusanagi glanced over his shoulder. Kunikida was standing just outside of the shade of the tree. He had a fedora pulled low on his face to block out the glare of the sun. The loud and angry words Kusanagi had been about to say died in his throat.

Kunikida looked like hell. His face was pale and drawn, lines had etched themselves into the corners of his eyes and his forehead. His cheeks were thin, almost hollow. His eyes were bloodshot. There were grey hairs sticking out from under his hat. He looked like he had aged twenty years in three weeks.

"You look half-dead," was all Kusanagi could say.

"I'm... tired..." Kunikida sighed and walked over to the cherry tree. He leaned up against the trunk and slid down until he was sitting. He reached absently into a few pockets until he fumbled out a pack of cigarettes and matches. There was a short hiss as he lit up. "Filthy habit," Kunikida said after taking a long draw. "I should give it up. It'll be the death of me."

Kusanagi stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned to face the old man. He looked down at his feet.

"Where have you been?" the man repeated.

"You know where I've been!" Kusanagi barked.

Kunikida nodded. He breathed out a cloud of smoke. Kusanagi's nose itched at the acrid scent of it. "Any luck?"

"No..." Kusanagi admitted after a moment. The word came out forced, regardless. "She's an elusive bitch, I'll give her that. Three weeks, and not a peep."

"I see..." Kunikida said with a sigh. He paused. "We need your help."

Kusanagi nodded his head. He knew. He wasn't blind. It was all over the news. Constant attacks, every day. The death toll was in the hundreds now, and growing by three or four every day. Not much in a city of millions, but for a place where the annual murder rate could be measured in the double digits just last year?

"It's Murakumo," Kunikida explained. "Him and the rest of the aragami. He's looking for her, too." He glanced at Kusanagi, and there was reproach in his eyes. "They're even less careful than you are."

"It was only one building!" Kusanagi protested.

"It was a school," Kunikida pointed out needlessly.

"It was at night," Kusanagi growled out. "Nobody got hurt."

"Did you find anything useful?"

Kusanagi didn't respond.

"We can't afford to be wasting energy like that," Kunikida said, his voice hollow. "Chronos is working too. Monster attacks. The media thinks they come from the same place as the aragami, and nobody is making them think any different." Kunikida paused to take a puff of his cigarette. "I wish I knew what they were after. This general confusion... it's not their style."

"Who gives a shit?" Kusanagi cut him off. "I don't care about Murakumo or Chronos or any of that! I want that bitch who killed Kaede! I want her dead!"

"You think I don't!" Kunikida shouted suddenly, standing upright with a spryness that belied his worn appearance. "That woman killed my child. MY CHILD! You didn't have to watch, Kusanagi! I watched her tear out her soul and swallow it! And worse yet, she used ME to do it! She turned one of my people. She took a kind and decent woman and turned her into a monster, and made me trust her. I should have seen it! I should have stopped it, but I didn't!" Kusanagi backed off, the back of his knees banging into the top of Kaede's monument. Kunikida was practically in his face now.

"But I can't afford to live for revenge," Kunikida continued, his voice calm again. "I have a city to protect." He looked down at his coat. "I've been fighting a war with children, Kusanagi. You remember that girl Akira, and her friend Kyosuke? They have friends, a lot of them. Entire gangs of them." He grimaced. "I'm their coordinator, a glorified dispatcher. Yaegashi combs the police bands, finds the latest attacks; I contact the nearest group." He turned around and walked away, thankfully giving Kusanagi some space. "I send them to fight monsters, to protect people. They do it willingly. They're good kids, all of them." He paused. "But they aren't enough. If it weren't for the Sailor Senshi, a lot of people would be dead that we couldn't get to in time. Even with..."

He spun, his coat flaring behind him. "You want revenge? So what? People are dying out there, Kusanagi. We need you. You have speed and power that none of those kids have. You could save lives."

Kusanagi frowned at him. Then he crossed his arms and bowed his head. He closed his eyes. "No."

"Kusanagi-!"

"I don't care about saving people, old man," Kusanagi replied flatly. "I will find her. I will kill her." He turned around.

"Why?" Kunikida asked suddenly. "You thought she was dead before... why is this time so different?"

Kusanagi didn't say anything. How could he? He had known, even when he had thought she was dead. There had never been a body. And there had been her words, on that cold night at the construction site. He had known. Now...

"What about Momiji?" Kunikida asked, his voice full of bitterness. Whether it was directed at Kusanagi, or himself, wasn't clear.

"Tell her..." Kusanagi trailed off. What was there to say?

He leapt up, landed atop the cherry tree and with another bound was gone.

01010

Artemis leapt up onto the roof. The sun was glaring down on it, having just reached its zenith, and he shook off the heat. He was just glad he shed during the summer, else the temperature would have been unbearable. Of course, the alternative, in this city, was gloom and rain and darkness. He supposed he would rather the heat.

"Hello, Artemis," Ukyou said calmly. She was sitting lotus-style in the center of the roof, her hands cupped on her knees. She hadn't opened her eyes.

"Isn't that jacket a little hot for this weather?" Artemis joked.

She shrugged. "It's as cold as I want it to be."

He sighed and walked over to her.

"I'm sorry about earlier..." Ukyou opened her eyes a fraction to regard him. He glanced up into her strange, inhuman eyes for a moment. Then he tossed his head and flicked his tail, letting a smirk cross his features.

"Don't worry about it," he responded. "You haven't done anything worse than what Minako usually does on a daily basis."

This caused Ukyou's mouth to twitch upward, but just for a moment. "I take it the others are asleep?"

"Yes." He laid himself out in front of her, stretching to get the kinks out of his back. "That Ranma boy can sleep like a log, and Minako has learned to sleep whenever she can catch a few stray minutes."

"Good..." Artemis blinked in surprise as he found himself lifted up unceremoniously into her lap. She then began to pat him, her hand firm but soft. She even expertly scratched that stubborn spot he could never reach just before beginning her stroke. He sighed and purred, absorbing it like an utter hedonist. "At least you haven't changed that much," Ukyou noted wryly.

"Pardon?" Artemis didn't shift position, since Ukyou was lavishing such an expert amount of affection on him. "Have we met before?"

"No," Ukyou replied swiftly. "I... used to think I knew you. I'm not so certain, anymore." She shrugged. "Did Luna ever mention me?"

"A little..." He chuckled. "Mainly to say that she didn't trust you, and to complain about how rude you could be."

"Yeah..." Ukyou's voice went suddenly cold again.

"Do you... want to talk about it?"

"What?" Ukyou started. "About what?"

"You didn't like being the person I saw downstairs." He forced himself to stand and step gingerly off her lap. She was glancing down at him now, her expression unreadable. "Don't try to deny it. You aren't nearly as cold-hearted as the things you said to Minako would make you seem."

Ukyou clenched her hand into a fist and looked away. "You have no idea what kind of person I am."

"Ah, to be young and foolish again..." Artemis sighed dramatically.

"As opposed to old and senile?" Ukyou said with forced venom.

He waved his paw at her in a tsking manner. "I may be thousands of years old and have a memory made of swiss cheese, but don't expect such a shallow ploy to get me to back down."

Ukyou seemed to consider this for a moment. "Why are you even bothering to talk to me? Shouldn't you be more worried about Minako?" Artemis's heart caught in his throat. He glanced down as Ukyou continued: "This way she's acting... it's not healthy for her. I would think your first priority would be helping the person you love rather than a complete stranger... or are you abandoning her?"

Damn her! Artemis arched his back and hissed under his breath. She knew. She knew how much this was tearing him apart. But he forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down. Getting mad was just what Ukyou wanted. She wanted him to be full of anger and guilt and leave her alone. He wasn't about to play into that game. The young woman had taken a bullet for him, literally. She had saved Minako's life. She had stood up against an enemy that could easily have killed her without a hint of fear.

He owed her. If she didn't like how he chose to repay it, then that was too bad. He wasn't an advisor and guide for nothing!

"She won't let me in, anymore," Artemis explained. "She's too afraid that I'll die too. That she won't be able to save me. So she just refuses to let me get in anymore." He scratched at the roof absently. "In time... I know I'll get through to her."

"Or she'll end up being the evil she opposes."

"That will never happen!" Artemis whirled on her, his back arching again. Ukyou merely raised an eyebrow. Her expression said 'had enough yet, cat?'. He calmed down again. "You're very good at this," he commented.

"At what?"

"Being an ass," he replied absently. "Must have had a lot of practice."

"Indeed," she replied without inflection.

"Ukyou, I came up here to speak with you because you saved my life and you saved Minako's." He walked over and sat in front of her, schooling his expression to seriousness. "I know you aren't a bad person. I saw the way you treated Hotaru, I saw the way you looked at Ranma when he wasn't paying attention. I've listened to all of Luna's stories about you... and while she wasn't the most complimentary, she did insist that everything you had done, you did for good reasons. Why are you pretending you don't care about any of this? Why are you deliberately aggravating Minako?"

"Because I'm not a good person," Ukyou explained, and her voice was soft, but warmer than it had ever been in the entire conversation.

"Why do you think that?"

Ukyou paused. "I killed a man." She looked straight into his eyes, and he forced himself to remain steady despite how unnerving those cold black lotus orbs were. "You think I came here to help you?" She snorted. "No, Artemis. I came here because you are going to help me. The girl I have with me is Sailor Saturn." Artemis gasped. He staggered back a bit. He wasn't sure what the words meant, but he knew they were bad. "I see at least part of you remembers. I needed you to help fix her. She's broken, in her soul. There is a demon there. Unless I exorcise it, it will destroy the world. And I can't. Only Sailor Moon can. So I need you. Because you know Luna. You can find her. And where Luna is, so shall be Sailor Moon.

"So you see, I didn't take a bullet for you because I thought it was the right thing to do. I did it to save my own skin." She stood up. "That's why I did everything, Artemis. I see that now. I told myself it was because I wanted to be a better person, or because I wanted to save my friends, but I don't think that was true. It was all because I wanted to save my own skin and protect my precious ego. I ranted and raved about morals and ethics and the abuse of power... and for what? To make myself FEEL better!" Her voice was rising in volume and pitch, slowly turning into a shriek.

"And I can't even cling to those pretty words anymore. Because when the chips were down, I killed a man. And if I did it once, I will do it again." She glanced down, as if her eyes could pierce the ceiling beneath them and peer at the sleeping figures below. "I would do it for him. Because..." She trailed off, and her voice returned to an even tone again.

"You're a good... person, Artemis," Ukyou said finally. "I can see you just want to help. But save it for people who are worth saving. Minako needs you. I'm already doomed." She closed her eyes and chuckled. "I just don't want anyone else to be dragged down with me, at the end."

"Ukyou, are you even listening to yourself?" Artemis shouted back. She glanced at him. "I've heard Minako make the same argument a thousand times. She thinks she's going to die in this fool's quest. Maybe she's right. But that doesn't give her an excuse to close off her heart! The only thing you'll accomplish by driving away everyone who can help you is making sure you end up exactly where you think you'll go!"

"I don't think anything can stop that, Artemis," Ukyou replied. "One day, I will stand on a field under a cloudy sky and I will destroy the world." She grinned mockingly. "Or so that's what they tell me." She looked away. "I swore I would never end up like that. I clung to anything that would help me prevent it, but nothing seems to work. I can't trust my own judgment. Who can? Who can control the way they feel? Who can control love and hate?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Ask Sailor Pluto, if you ever meet her again." Ukyou grinned. "I'm certain you'll see her again. She's on her way here already, to kill me." Ukyou looked around the city. "And she will try. She has allies and strengths I can't fight. She should win, but she hasn't yet." Ukyou shook her head. "I won't let her win. I have things I have to take care of first."

"Let her win..." Artemis balked. He had heard that tone of voice before. The man had been a punk. He wore a leather jacket and a bandana with the union jack on it. In the resistance, he had been a devil on the field. Artemis had once watched him shove his multi-section staff through a brick wall with lazy ease and stake the vampire on the other side. But then, one day, he returned from a rescue mission. He had been carrying a tiny locket in one hand, a locket covered in blood. That was when he began to talk like Ukyou was now.

Artemis wished he could remember the punk's name. All he could really remember was the man standing in the center of the burning warehouse they had been using as a base. The massive form of Birdie looming over him, the traitor's demonic yellow eyes wide as he stared at the staff sunk deep into his stained walnut skin, right over his heart. Minako had long since left, pursued by the dozen other vampires that Birdie had taken with him. This fight had been private. Artemis had begged the man to flee with her, but he just looked down at Artemis with dead eyes and patted his head once.

Artemis tried to shake away the memory, but couldn't get the image of the bloody gash in the punk's neck from his mind. He couldn't forget that last, quiet and empty pat on the head. He had never told Minako what had happened.

"What are you planning, Ukyou?" he asked, almost breathlessly.

"Nothing..." Ukyou walked over to the fire escape. "Stay up here. I'm going to get the others. We had better finish this before we lose the sun."

Artemis stood up on the roof for awhile longer. The sun beat down on him. He closed his eyes. "I'll remember your name..." he said to himself.

01010

The witch waited by the door as the wind of razor-sharp bones moved through the room, ripping her flesh but leaving all else untouched. Presently, the doorbell rang, as the witch had already known it would, for that was why she stood there.

The witch opened the door, and gazed upon the princess, putting nothing of her hatred into her gaze. Instead, she smiled cheerfully. "Why hello there! You must be Usagi Tsukino. Can I help you?"

The princess smiled back, rocking back on her heels, her Ohtori uniform well-suited to her blue eyes. "Right! And you must be... uh... Anthy, wasn't it?"

"That's right," the witch replied. "And what brings you here today?" Probably she should have led the conversation back to that only after a certain amount of small talk, but every moment the witch spent in the princess' company was a greater torment than all the shredding of flesh, powdering of bones and boiling of vital fluids the witch had endured for countless centuries.

"Umm, yeah..." the princess said, a little nonplussed. Then she laughed nervously. "Well, I'm actually here to see your brother... you know, about school stuff. That is, if he's not busy doing something, uh, evil."

"Oh," the witch said brightly. "Well, I'll have to see if he can make time, in his schedule of burning down orphanages and causing wars, to corrupt your soul."

The princess' only response to that was a single, long, slow blink.

"Just kidding," the witch said. "He always has time for students. I believe he's gazing at the stars now. Why don't you follow me to the planetarium?"

The witch turned, walking over white-hot razors towards the elevator. After a moment, the other girl followed across the marble floor. As they waited for the door to open, the princess leaned in conspiratorially.

"He's not REALLY evil, is he? I mean, Chris said he was, but he can't be that evil, not really evvviiiilll evil, right?"

The witch paused thoughtfully for a moment as they stepped into the elevator. "I suppose that answer depends on how evil you consider burning down an entire building full of students merely to accomplish your goals is." The princess gaped in shock at that, and the witch turned to her and smiled cheerfully. "Just kidding."

A small chime announced their arrival, and the door swung open to the planetarium.

Her brother, anticipating the arrival of this specific guest, was not in his usual state of casual undress. Instead, he was sitting upright on one of the couches, gazing up at the projected stars on the ceiling and occasionally leafing through a notebook.

The princess looked at the witch's brother for a moment, and then a longer moment, with the slightly dreamy expression the witch had seen in uncountable others. Abruptly, however, she shook herself out of it, bopping herself on the head with both hands. For his part, the witch's brother appeared not to notice.

Steeling herself, the princess marched forward, finally stopping in front of the man. With one hand on her hip and the other pointed accusingly, she demanded, "Aren't you in charge of discipline at this school?"

The witch, her part in the matter done for the moment, sank back into the shadows between the projected stars.

"Yes," the witch's brother answered, not raising his head. "And don't think I haven't heard about the trouble you've caused for your teachers."

This caused the princess to flush in embarrassment, and hastily strive to move the topic back under her control. "This isn't about me!" she stammered.

"Of course not," the man responded, finally raising his head and gazing at her with his fathomless turquoise eyes. "I'm certain you're not the sort of girl who would come here complaining about your own problems."

The princess visibly grew more confident. "That's right. I remember you said you would protect us here! Well, one of my friends is being bullied, and I want you to protect her!"

The witch appreciated for a moment, as much as she was capable of appreciating anything, the irony of her brother being asked to rescue a princess. Her brother appreciated it as well, though it did not show on his face. In fact, his eyes narrowed slightly, as if annoyed.

"I see. Has she been physically hurt, or molested in some way that I should be aware of? As you may now, we take such infractions very seriously at this academy."

"Uh, well... no, not really." The girl paused and collected her thoughts. "It's this girl, Kozue is her name. She keeps stealing Ami's notes, burning her schoolbooks, and vandalising her term papers. It's really upsetting for poor Ami, and I want you to stop her!"

The man nodded thoughtfully, putting aside his clipboard. He then leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. "That does sound like something that might require my involvement. However, have you made every effort to resolve this matter without getting teachers involved?"

This caused the princess to cross her arms and stomp around a bit in frustration. "I've tried talking to her, but Kozue is so... so... she has this idea her brother Miki and Ami are in love, and that's just silly, because they haven't even been on a single date yet! I mean, they've studied and played piano together, but that was just for classes! But Kozue won't listen to reason! And she's accusing ME of trying to set them up as a couple, now, and says she'll do the same things or worse to me if I don't back off!"

The man arched an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Well, of COURSE I am!" the princess declared. "But that's no reason to threaten me like that!"

The witch's brother leaned back, resting one arm on the back of the couch. "I see. It seems this is indeed a problem. I know the girl you speak of, and her twin brother. It is quite possible reason will not work." He smiled slightly, a dangerous smile. "I could intervene. I could certainly MAKE her stop. Is that what you're asking me to do, Miss Tsukino?"

The princess opened her mouth to declare her agreement, then her eyes fell upon the man's smile, and her mouth snapped closed like a trap. Her posture slumped, and then she began waving her hands in front of her. "No, no, nothing like that! Can't you do something without being, um, evil?"

The man chuckled softly in the back of his throat, the sound almost like a purr. "I'm afraid I am only capable of doing things for wicked purposes, Miss Tsukino."

The witch frowned. There.

For a long moment, the words hung in the air. Then the princess spoke, and her next words would have caused the man to smile, had she been unable to see his expression. "You're not serious about that, right? You're just kidding like your sister was."

"I'm not lying to you, Miss Tsukino. Indeed, I swore not to do so to our mutual friend."

The princess looked slightly embarrassed at that. "Well, I know Chris said a lot of... stuff about you, but we've been here a while now, and I haven't seen you go out and hurting children or attacking the Earth with your evil empire or anything."

"Empires, and the fate of random ten-year-olds, are no longer concerns of mine."

"You see? I knew it! You're not all bad! You talk like it, but it's like the super evil-pretty-boy-angsting-mystique thing you've got going, right? I see characters like that in comic books all the time!"

The man sighed, and the sound carried layers of meaning. "I'm afraid not, Miss Tsukino. While I will admit to putting on displays for the benefit of certain students, with you I promised to say nothing but the truth. If you leave this meeting with any notion, the one that would be most helpful for you is to understand that I am evil to the core, can never be redeemed, and should not be trusted under any circumstances."

The witch could see the impact of his words on the princess. With each declaration, he only succeeded at convincing her more and more of the opposite conclusion.

"Everybody can be saved," the princess said stubbornly, and for a moment, the undiluted, primal faith in her voice caused even the witch to pause. Then reality came crashing back down, and the witch hated her all the more.

The man smiled indulgently. "I once thought as you did. Back before the words 'time' and 'place' had meaning, I believed there was goodness in all people. Shall I tell you a story of that time?"

The princess, not quite knowing what else to do, simply nodded.

"Very well. Once upon a time, there was a prince. He stood in a high castle, and all the world was without. And atop the tallest parapet, the prince would gaze into the world, and see the troubles that plagued mankind.

"The people loved the prince's benevolent gaze, for when it fell upon them, their troubles were no more. Even though many of their hearts were filled with malice and jealousy and greed, the prince loved them all, and he aided them all equally. For he saw in them the pure things they could be, rather than the base things they were.

"And of all the peoples of the land that loved the prince, those who loved him most were the girls. For in this land outside the castle walls, all girls were either princesses or witches. And no matter how dark their heart was, any girl the prince's gaze fell upon became a princess, and she need not be a witch any longer.

"And yet, there was one girl who was always a witch. The prince took her into his home behind the castle walls, and he loved her like a sister. But no matter how much love and affection the prince gave her, she remained a witch. Perhaps a happy witch, but who can say what lives in the hearts of witches?

"In time, the witch, who was the only one to see the prince in his own home, came to understand the prince's great sadness. For all other things he could elevate, but he alone had to endure the malice and greed and jealousy he was taking from the world.

"And the witch, seeing this, decided that she loved him, and wanted him to endure it no more."

The princess was rapt in the man's words, which had the measured cadence of a master storyteller. She had fallen back upon the couch, her legs unwilling or unable to support her. The witch's brother's velvet voice encircled her, and he drew her ever deeper into the story.

"One day, while the prince was resting from his heroic endeavours, the witch stepped outside his castle doors, and barred them forever. She declared in a loud voice: 'You people of this world, who give nothing to him but malice and jealousy and greed, do not deserve the prince any longer. I alone have not burdened myself to him, and so I alone deserve his love.'

"A great uproar rose across all the lands beyond the castle, and the people came to the castle, drawing their flashing blades and demanding entrance, but the witch was adamant. And so, in their rage and grief, they fell upon her. And that would have been the end of it, except such sins can not be punished merely by simple death. And so the witch has lingered, forever tormented by the swords of those who had been deprived of their prince, since time started again. And with each passing day, she grows more twisted by her punishment."

The man's voice died away, and there was a moment of silence almost immediately broken by a loud honk as the princess blew her nose. Then she threw her head back, wailing, "That's a terrible story!"

The witch's brother smiled slightly again. "Only storybook authors should believe in happy endings."

"But... but what happened to the prince? Can't he come out of his castle and help the poor witch?"

The man shrugged, holding up his hands helplessly. "I tried." The princess' eyes widened, but the witch's brother continued regardless, "But I found that the only way to escape the castle walls was to leave behind all that made me a prince." Now he did pause, and his next words sounded reflective. "At first, it was quite novel. I enjoyed living without having to take all the burdens of the world upon me. At first, I truly believed the witch had done it to save me, out of love. And for awhile, I thought that my belief in the goodness of all things had been justified." His expression darkened, lip twisting slightly. "In time, however, I came to understand: what she had done had not been done out of love for me, but out of the same malice, jealousy and greed that all other people had within them. And I hated her for it. With each passing day, I grew less and less interested in saving her from her eternal punishment, and more and more interested in saving me from mine."

The princess suddenly bolted to her feet, her long hair and skirt rippling around her as she stood. Pointing her finger toward the projected image of the moon, she declared loudly, "I can't stand leaving it like that! That's a terrible ending to a story! I'm going to make sure you have a happy ending, whether you like it or not!"

"That is a fool's quest, Miss Tsukino," the man noted simply. "There are some battles that cannot be won, even by a princess."

The princess looked down upon him, and pity shone in her brilliant blue eyes, somehow unmarred by the tears that still glittered there. For a moment, the witch again felt the pure power of her belief rushing through the room like a torrent. Dimly, she realised she had never felt such a strong faith before, in all her centuries. "You're wrong," the princess stated, and her voice no longer sounded like that of a fourteen year old girl. "Winning battles like that is why I'm here."

Without another word, the princess turned on her heel and strode from the observatory.

01010

Rip Van Winkle stormed down the hallway. There were a few other vampires here. More instants, more freaks. Not everyone had been killed. The Major needed an army, and just ghouls would not have been enough. So he recruited. Men of power, prestige and skill. He pressed them into service with the promise of immortality, and made them monsters.

She glanced coldly at one of them and the pathetic limey rushed out of her path. What did these people know of monsters? She wished she had the control, the little device that Doc carried around. With it, he had access to all the freak chips he had implanted in each and every one of them. He could read the senses of them, examine their bodies... and destroy them. For a moment she reached up and clenched a fist over her own chest.

She wasn't sure where the chip was in her own body. She suspected it was the heart. It was funny how such a tiny thing could make so great a difference. Her mind shied away from the operation. She only remembered being led by the Major into a dark room, deep underground. Her keen hunter's nose had made her sick at the smell of the place, so like a charnel house. She remembered standing up, her cheeks burning. She couldn't stand appearing so weak in front of him, the man who had believed in her when no one else would. But he had only laughed.

'Fraulein, it is not a bad thing to admit to your own weaknesses,' he had said, and gently lifted her head up, wiping the vomit from her chin with a pristine white handkerchief. 'To understand what is weak about us only makes us better warriors. For in understanding it, we can excise it. As I shall excise all human weakness from you.'

But he had left her alone in that terrible room. The room full of dark tubes and sparking machines and terrible ominous darkness. The man who had greeted her was tall, with stringy blond hair and a leather suit stained with awful substances. His eyes had been hidden behind a pair of goggles and he had grinned at her the way a spider does. Beyond him had been the table...

And Rip remembered nothing more. She only remembered waking up and feeling power. It had coursed through her dead veins like cold fire, accompanied by the terrible certainty of her own death. But in her death she had found the scent of life, all the world's flavours, increased a thousandfold in contrast. She had been excised of all her human weakness and made into a monster. She had waited patiently, almost fifty years, for these glorious days. Her inhuman strength, her 'magic bullet', her hunter's uncanny instincts... all of them paid for gladly with prices that would make others sick just to think of them.

And for what?

Her boot kicked open the door with enough force that it flew off its hinges. The heavy mahogany crashed to the ground with a deafening clatter. All motion on the other side of the door ceased for a few moments.

But only a few.

"Whoa, chill, bitch. If you wanted me that badly, all you had to do was ask." Rip's eyes narrowed as the sick little man leered at her. He wasn't very tall, and he had dark skin that made him look almost Mediterranean. His hair was short and greasy, but mainly hidden under a cap with an Egyptian eye stitched into it. She wondered briefly if he wore the cap to make up for the hideous ruin that was his left eye. The eye had obviously been badly damaged at some point, and now there were only twitching remnants of it. But other than the cap, he was completely naked. A young woman with crew-cut blond hair was sitting on his lap, wearing a black leather outfit of some kind. "Just let me finish with this thing and I'll be right with you."

Rip walked over to him slowly and methodically. Then she reached up and adjusted her glasses with one finger. She smiled, a demure and childish expression. "I'll allow myself to overlook your wulgarity und lack of sufficient discipline for now. I only ask zat you refrain from talking to me in such a disrespectful manner und conceal your shame, post haste."

"Huh?" the man blinked, a sickening process. "Shit. I don't think I have any idea what you just said, bitch."

"Ja... I see..." She took a deep breath. Then she reached out and grabbed the vampire whore by the neck. With a single twist she ripped the creature's head from her torso and tossed the bloody body away. "I said stop talking like zat und put some clothes on now or I vill kill you!" she said sweetly, this time smiling with all her fangs showing.

The man looked at her for a second, then he laughed. "Oh yeah. I think I like you."

"Vat part of 'now' do you not understand?" she hissed. The man only flowed off the couch and stood in front of her, an irritating smile on his face. She would have loved to wipe it off, and most of his face with it, but the Major had ordered her to not harm these fools.

"Mainly the part about obeying orders," a new voice said. In comparison to the dark-skinned vampire's annoying high-pitched whine, this one was cool and collected, almost regal. She gratefully took the chance to glance away from the wretch in front of her. The man standing in the doorway was tall and handsome, with long blonde hair and country-club good looks. He wore a richly tailored white suit and stood with the grace of a male model. He flashed perfectly white teeth at her. "I guess you would be the help the Major sent us to deal with-"

He cut off sharply as Rip threw the object she had been holding in her other hand at him. He leaned his head to the side almost lazily, the object imbedding itself into the doorframe mere centimeters from his ear.

"Hmmm? What's this?"

"Oh, a present," the other man said. "I think she likes you, bro." He continued under his breath, "He gets all the chicks."

Rip choose to ignore him. The tall, handsome one had pulled her projectile from the wood with a bit of effort. He was looking down at the thing in his hand with idle curiosity.

"It is exactly vat it looks like," Rip said, approaching him. "A lead shot, with a silver-coated spatula embedded in it."

"I see..." The man continued to inspect it, as if expecting some great revelation to come from it any moment.

"I haf another, just like it, if you vish to see," she offered sweetly. He glanced up at her, then his eyes widened as she snapped out her hand and grabbed him around the throat. She easily lifted him up, banging his head against the top of the doorframe. "Now kindly tell me vhy you haf never reported this to the Major."

The one-eyed man was laughing now.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" he said, force slowly returning to his voice. Rip held him up for a minute longer. He looked down at her coolly, no fear in his eyes. Finally she released him and he landed on his feet with a dancer's grace.

"I believe you," she said simply and turned to walk away.

"Wait!" he called. She paused in mid-step. "What is this about? If it is something affecting my city, I think I should know."

Rip kept her disgust from showing on her face. The thought of these two... but she dismissed it. The Major had ordered her to work with them, and she would obey his orders until her mission was complete. She was the huntress, Rip Van Winkle. No prey escaped her.

"Earlier today, before daybreak, I escorted a small squadron of wampires into the city. Ve ambushed und nearly killed the girl known as 'V'. At the final moment, her life was saved by the sudden appearance of two martial artists. Vone of them used a throwing spatula to knock my bullets out of the air." Rip did not elaborate on how impossible that should have been. Discounting the fact that her bullets traveled at almost Mach 3, discounting the fact that they could rip apart a tank or pierce the armour of a battleship, discounting all that, she still could control the speed and path of her bullet as if she were directing her own hand. No martial artist, no matter how strong, should have been able to do that.

She knew this for certain. She had been one of the special elites, the unit known as Werewolves, that had been sent into that pitiful military camp in the country they had been hiding in for nearly fifty years. The Major had grown concerned. The mercenaries had somehow learned of his infiltration of the Brazilian government and begun to hamper his movements. Their man on the inside, a worthless cardshark by the name of Tubalcain, had even been fool enough to get himself killed in a one-on-one duel with their leader, a man named Heidern.

Rip allowed herself to grin. It had been great fun to splatter Heidern's brains across the grey tarmac of his base. Especially with that blue-haired girl screaming at her the whole time, unable to do anything as the Captain held her down. She could do nothing against his relentless strength. But then, they had been ordered to take as many of them alive as possible.

"So... you attempted to kill V, did you?" the tolerable one said smoothly.

"Ja," Rip replied. She reached behind her and unlimbered her long musket.

"And you failed..." he continued. Rip narrowed her eyes.

"I vas not told about the continued actions of martial artists vithin the city. According to all the reports you sent to the Major, the only active resistance in this city was from V. Are you saying zat you sent faulty intelligence, Luke Valentine?"

"Nothing of the sort," the man replied quickly. "This is a new player. I have seen nothing from any of my intelligence to indicate who this person could be. Martial artists tend to be quite unique in their choice of weaponry and styles." He looked down at the spatula in his hand. "I suspect we are dealing with a newcomer to the city and..."

He trailed off as Rip began loading her weapon. It was a long process. First one had to place the powder, then one had to ram down the wax. This was followed by placing in the lead shot. She had learned to do this all with a speed that was impossible for mortals, but still took some time at it. She bitterly remembered the desperate rooftop battle as she struggled to keep away from that implacable woman in black, who simultaneously tried to prevent Rip from reloading her weapon with all her considerable skill. It was like the enemy had known all her tricks beforehand.

"What are you doing?" the man asked.

"I am preparing a veapon of var, little man. It is generally done on the presumption that one shall use it in the near future for the fulfillment of var's primary objective. That is, it shall be utilised in the removal of the capacity for recovery, resistance and retreat from an opponent." She smiled pleasantly at him.

"Dude, she's talking like a dictionary again," the intolerable one replied. Rip glanced at him. At least he had put some clothes on while she wasn't paying attention.

"For the benefit of those of considerable unintelligence, I shall explain..." She spun her gun and aimed it at one of the walls of the venerable old house. She took a deep breath, drawing in the scent. "I am preparing to kill someone. I suggest you do the same, for we haf company."

Rip grinned. It appeared that this hunt would be over very quickly.

01010

Ranma knew something had gone wrong with the plan the moment the window blasted outward. A high-pitched whine shot through the air, and Ranma could just barely see a streak of grey as it curved through the sky and fell towards them. Ukyou cursed something and grabbed him and V, jerking them to the ground. A moment later the tree Ranma had been hiding behind shot out a geyser of woodchips and sawdust, a hole boring through the thick wood. He flicked his eyes, trying to follow the path of the projectile as it curved through the air away from him, but even so it was out of sight quickly.

"It's too fast..." Ranma muttered.

"Doesn't matter!" Ukyou snapped as she stood up. Her hand dipped into her coat as she ran forward, angling her steps to run nimbly up the side of a tree. The underbrush she had just left was torn up as the bullet passed beneath her. Before she even fell her coat snapped behind her as she threw her hand down. There was a silver flash and then the buzzing stopped as the bullet spun harmlessly into the trunk of another tree. "Get going."

"This is insane," V said, climbing to her feet. "The Hellsing mansion is the base of operations for these people! There must be thousands of ghouls in there, and some of the strongest vampires!"

Ranma keep his eyes on the mansion. It had the look of age to it, with several sprawling buildings arrayed around the complex and linking gardens. Most of the windows were busted, and hundreds of small holes decorated the walls. Statues and gardens had been torn up, vandalised or otherwise destroyed. It didn't look like a place where people would live. But then again, nobody did live there.

"All the more reason to only stay as long as necessary," Ukyou pointed out.

V shook her head and clenched her fist. "If you want to level the place, I can do it. A few shots and I should be able-"

"NO!" Ukyou grabbed V's wrist and pulled it down. "If you fire indiscriminately into that place, you'll erase the very thing I'm after."

"What? This Alucard?" V shook her head. "This is a fool's errand. I'm..."

"Get down!" Ukyou commanded, pushing her down. A moment later a grey blur blasted through the air over V's head. V blinked. "We don't have time to argue. Just... keep them busy!"

And Ukyou leapt up into the air again, bouncing from one treelimb to another. The bullet arced through the air, but followed her. Ranma stared at his friend as she reached the end of the forest and took one long leap across the open space between it and the mansion. The distance must have been close to thirty meters, but he could tell Ukyou would clear that with ease. She was getting stronger, he reflected.

Her coat cracked as she flung another spatula at the pursuing bullet. He could just barely see it juke right to dodge her attack, but she had already thrown another. The second caught the bullet, sending it plummetting to the ground.

"Come on," Ranma reached out his hand, helping V to her feet. "We can't stay out here forever."

"This is suicide..." V groused. Her eyes were hidden behind her beak- like mask, but Ranma could see the annoyance on her features. He laughed.

"No, it isn't," Ranma said, serious again. He turned and looked at the mansion. The windows were being kicked open, and he could see dark figures lurking in the shadows inside. Long slick barrels began to be pointed out of the mansion towards the forest. Ranma started towards the edge of the woods. "Ukyou has a way of surviving. She has a way of winning, even when you think she has no right to. And she thinks bigger than us." He began to pick up speed, and V had to rush to keep up with him. "We'll win this, just you watch."

"Right... I just wish Artemis was here..." V murmured, just before Ranma burst out of the woods and into the clearing around the massive mansion. Then her words were drowned out in the roar of machinegun fire. Ranma laughed and tucked himself low. With each looping step he pushed himself left and right at random. The unmowed lawn flickered and blurred under his feet as he poured everything he had into his legs. All the speed training Ukyou had made him do paid off, as he sprinted across the ground too fast for the enemy to get a bead on him with their guns.

He was coming up to the wall now, and briefly considered which window to go through. They were all full of dark figures firing hundreds of rounds a second. Then he laughed again. Who needed a window?

The wall shattered as he burst through it, his arms crossed in front of him to protect his face. The pulverised masonry floated around him like a cloud as he drifted into the hallway. It was made of wood. He grinned. There were probably fifty ghouls in the hallway, all moving slowly to draw a bead on him. Before he even landed his hands lashed out, fifty times. Each time, a hand-sized piece of the destroyed wall was sent flying with uncanny accuracy to embed itself in the heart of one of the creatures.

He landed in the hallway, dust kicking up from his slippers. The remains of the wall clattered around him. The ghouls landed a second later, with more final-sounding thumps.

A second later he was joined by V. He could hear the sound of the machine guns still firing outside and he wondered idly how she had run through the gauntlet. Then he saw her lower her arms. There was some kind of golden shield there, but Ranma realised as soon as he looked that it wasn't a shield. It was a series of crisscrossing links, each shaped like a golden heart. In both fists she clenched an end of the glowing chain. She looked at him and smirked.

"Wink Chain Shield," she explained. "Not quite as suicidal as running thirty meters across no-man's land."

"Neat trick," Ranma commented. Then he paused, and spun, knocking V against a wall with his shoulder.

The report of the gun going off was almost deafening, and he only had a second to feel the sudden pain in his shoulder before he was spun in the opposite direction and fell off his feet. He rolled expertly and came to his feet further down the hallway.

At the intersection further down a man was standing. He was tall, with long flowing blonde hair and an immaculate white suit. He was standing side-on, one hand extended. Gripped in his gloved hand was an old-fashioned pistol. He was smirking.

"That should have taken your shoulder off, and most of your arm," he said in an urbane tone. Ranma frowned and probed his shoulder. The shirt was gone, torn to shreds where the bullet had hit. But aside from what was going to be a huge bruise, the skin was unbroken.

"I'm tougher than I look," Ranma commented.

"You martial arts types always are..." the vampire commented. V was rising beside Ranma now, Ranma knew the shot had been meant for her, but he had felt the rise in the chi just in time. Whoever this was, it was no ordinary vampire. Ranma hadn't even sensed him approach.

"Get out of here," Ranma told V calmly.

"We're supposed to stick-"

"This is my fight," Ranma informed her. The monster at the end of the hallway raised a manicured eyebrow and his smile widened slightly. Ranma felt his spirit rising inside him and he didn't even try to hold it back. The air around him began to shimmer as his hot chi radiated out.

"I see you are well-trained," the man said, stepping forward. Ranma narrowed his eyes. "But don't think you intimidate me. I'm not just any instant monster. I studied your ways, before I was turned. I know all about the secrets of the spirit." He began to laugh. "No mortal martial artist can hope to fight me and win."

"I can," Ranma said. He felt his anger swelling inside him, and he embraced it. But at the same time he felt the excitement... the NEED of the battle filling him. This monster that stood before him, with his cultured words and pretty-boy face, he was drawing something out of Ranma. Ranma had felt it simmering inside ever since he had come to England. He had tried to draw it out in every fight since, but it had refused to come. But something about the way this man moved, it blew past that barrier.

"Ranma, if we fight together..." V began.

"I'll have a hundred ghouls here in a few seconds," the man replied. "No, you run along, girl. This is the kind of fight I've been looking for for a long time. If I can't have my duel with Alucard, maybe you will do in his place?"

Ranma frowned. V was hesitating. "Remember the plan," he hissed. "Get going, we have a job to do here." That seemed to force her decision. With a nod, she took off down the hallway. The fair-haired vampire had stopped approaching, his polished leather shoes only a few centimeters from the sunbeam Ranma's hole had let into the building.

"I am Luke Valentine," the man introduced himself. He lowered his gun hand and bowed fractionally, crossing the gun hand across his chest as he did so. Then Ranma saw it. He was just like Vega.

Ranma smiled. "I don't care," he shouted, and leapt across the beam. Luke met him, and Ranma couldn't have been happier.

01010

"Stupid idiots," V shouted as she ran through the Hellsing mansion. The ghouls around her were not like normal ghouls. They carried guns and knew how to use them. Most of them wore body armour, and carried large riot shields. Not that that protected them. The Love and Beauty Shock flew in front of her. Its mere passage blasted through metal and flesh alike without slowing, and the monsters exploded into showers of ash and dust in its wake. A second later the hallway in front of her was clear.

She skidded to a stop at the next corner. She glanced around, and just managed to pull back before a stream of gunfire tore her apart. There were another hundred of the things marching down this hallway. "Stupid Ukyou, with her stupid plan." Make a diversion. Make a diversion? What kind of plan was that? She had no idea why she had even agreed to come along on this suicide mission.

No, she knew. Because it would HURT them. In all her time with the resistance, nobody had dared suggest something so reckless as this. But she had been itching to do it for weeks. So, she had leapt at the chance. She clenched her hands.

The ghouls were almost to her location, by the sound of it. Time for them to learn why they should fear her. She dropped her hand to her side and wordlessly summoned the Love Me Chain. Then with a cry she snapped it out and the links snapped around the corner. She heard and saw the gunfire start, but she ignored it. She had learned that the chain did not act as normal chains did. It had no momentum, no inertia unless she wanted it to. The entire thing moved only in reaction to her thoughts. So she controlled it as one would an arm, causing it to dart around the corner and strike like a snake.

She felt the chain snap through their bodies like a hot knife through butter. She grimly continued her work, waiting until there was no more gunfire. Then she smiled and stepped around the corner. The problem with ghouls was that they were stupid. They kept firing, even when there was no hope of winning. And they never retreated or found cover. Against normal opponents, their supernatural resilience was enough to make up for this. But the slightest touch of her magic reduced them to ash.

She strode briskly through the mansion, stopping only briefly to eradicate any ghouls she found along the way. But she knew it couldn't be this easy. The real enemy wasn't these pathetic beings she was sending along to the next life, but who had made them.

Just as she was thinking that, V stepped into the grand foyer of the mansion. It was like something out of a period novel, with two arching staircases leading up to a balcony overlooking the marbled ground floor. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and along the walls were a series of tall iron candelabras. She frowned and paused in the entranceway.

Directly across from her, sitting on top of a couch that was covered in unidentifiable gore, was a vampire. He was short, dark-skinned and wore a black outfit. He was draped casually over the couch, smoking an cigar. He turned to look at her, and V's mouth tightened. One of his eyes was missing, but he hadn't bothered to hide this fact behind an eyepatch. A golden Egyptian eye stared out from the rolled up brim of his ski cap.

"About time you got here, bitch," the vampire said. He tapped the cigar, knocking ashes onto the couch. "I've gone through half this thing already, and I was not gonna light another. Do you know how expensive cubans are?"

"No." V glanced around. She could see the ghouls lurking in the shadows. They waited in all the entrances, just waiting for the command to enter. She grinned. Let him think they would save him. She stepped inside. "I don't really care. I'm here to kill you."

"Wow. That is, like, so strange!" He stood up. "I mean, here I was, about to say the exact same thing, when you just stole the words right out of my mouth." He smiled and stuck the cigar in his lips again as he said that, continuing to talk around it.

V raised her hand and pointed it at him. "Are you going to shut up, or do I shut you up?""

"Oh, a test!" the vampire replied, grinning. "Wait, wait, I never did do much good at multiple choice." He closed his eye and tapped his chin, pretending to think over the answer. "Ah fuck it. School is for chumps, anyway. I'll just take option C: I kill the fuck out of you, so you don't have to listen to me anymore!"

He snapped his fingers and the ghouls filed into the room with military precision. The clatter of their boots and the echo of their guns being trained on her blocked out all sound for a second. V didn't move. She knew she wasn't really as fast as Ranma, or some of the other martial artists she had met. Her armour couldn't block bullets. But she had advantages that none of them had.

V was made to kill them.

She didn't even say a thing, instead her hand merely snapped up. The Love Me Chain materialized above her, snapping into the chandelier. The ghouls began firing, but they were too slow. V didn't have to climb or swing up the chain, she could just will it shorter, and it was. It lifted her right out of the line of fire and into the chandelier in an instant. Then she snapped both hands to her side, extending her fingers in all directions.

"Venus Full Circle!" she roared, and light flew from each of her fingertips. With a kick, she sent the chandelier spinning, and so the beams spun around the room. Where they passed, ghouls became dust. They didn't even have a chance to adjust their aim to fire at her.

She grinned and stopped the chandelier with a hand she pressed against the ceiling. Then she saw the dark-skinned vampire grinning at her. He was rising from behind the couch, which had shielded him from her assault. And on his shoulder he was carrying a rocket launcher.

"Dodge this, bitch!"

V's eyes widened and she let herself fall from the chandelier. The rocket flew up into the ceiling, leaving a trail of smoke. The vampire was laughing so loud his braying voice could be heard just over the roar. V landed on the ground easily, and the ceiling above her exploded. The chandelier fell, burning shards of crystal raining down around her. She rolled to the side, trying to get out from under the debris. That was when she saw the man drop the first rocket launcher and raise his other arm over the couch, where he carried a second.

The next thing V knew, she was lying on the ground groaning. She was buried under a pile of rubble, only her head and one arm free. She looked down and saw her outstretched hand gripped around her flickering chain. The other end was tied around a bannister rail on one of the stairwells, only a few centimeters from her hand. Her ears were ringing, and she had a splitting headache. But she had avoided the other rocket...

There was a crunch as something heavy stepped onto the rubble she was under. She looked up and blanched as she stared into the barrel of a rather large gun.

"Fuck yeah," the vampire said. "Totally fucking beat you like a bitch, didn't I? Can't believe anybody had any trouble with you." He grinned around the cigar in his mouth. V frowned.

"You going to gloat all day?"

"Nah." He grinned. "I think I'll just shoot you. Who the fuck cares if you're still screaming when I eat you, anyway?"

01010

Ukyou's lungs were burning. Sweat was pouring down her face in sheets, and it was all she could do to keep it out of her eyes. Not that she was really using her eyes to navigate anymore.

A split-second warning was all she got. Reacting to Aaron's mental shout, she kicked up the wall, backflipping as the lead shot tore through the wall beside her and then vanished again through the other side. She didn't pause, she just kept running. A pair of ghouls were in the hallway, but she just charged between them, her hands flashing out and beheading them with the spatulas she held.

She had to fight the ghouls on her own, but it was no real challenge. She was moving too fast for them to really manage to gang up on her. And while she was nowhere near as fast as Ranma, she was still fast enough to close in and finish them before they could draw a bead on her with their guns.

It would have been easier, if she could have spared to energy to enhance her Wind Chakra to its maximum. But Aaron needed every spare mote of power they could spare. He was keeping track of too much at once to let his concentration slip for an instant, so most of their chi was being delivered into their Void Chakra. Even now he was following the path of the bullet as it curved through the mansion to try and get them. He was also keeping a mental note of Rip Van Winkle. She was easily the strongest source of dark energy in the mansion, and he could follow her as she ran from room to room. He also kept tabs on Ranma and Minako, as much as he could. All that, and he was still looking for some sign of Alucard.

It was a deadly game of cat and mouse they were playing with the vampire sharpshooter. He focused in, locking on the trajectory of her magic bullet. As he did so, he pictured the myriad paths it could take in his mind, a thousand imagined lines flickering through the air to show where the thing would come from. With each split second, more and more of the lines vanished as the projectile grew closer. Until at last there was only one line it could travel.

Ukyou flipped a spatula from her coat, throwing it at an innocuous part of the hall. The bullet hadn't even cleared the drywall before it was struck and went dead in the wall. But even as he did that, he felt Rip fire another shot from deeper in the mansion. She was good, and getting better.

He had almost missed a few key feints already. A shallow nick on their leg and a bloody gouge across their ribs proved that. This was nothing like the battle they had fought last time. Then it had been him chasing her across the rooftops, desperately trying to prevent her from reloading before she could fire. Then he had enjoyed the benefit of wide open space to move. Now there was no way he could reach her before she could reload her musket, and Ukyou's dodges were getting razor-thin. In a few more minutes, Rip would have their number.

It was a good thing he had never planned on fighting Rip Van Winkle.

Ukyou paused for a moment in her flight as they passed by a ornate door. The door was off its hinges, and the mahogany had been burned and covered with gore, but you could still tell the value of it. Aaron had told her to stop, to go inside, and she did so.

The door crashed down as Ukyou walked into the large bedroom. A four- poster bed stood as the centerpiece, its upholstery ripped and torn. Corpses, too mangled to even serve as ghouls, had been left to rot here and there. The wardrobe and closet had been torn to shreds and the remains of clothing fluttered feebly in the draft from the shattered window. All the clothes were masculine, but of a feminine cut.

Aaron took a moment to focus on the bullet. It was buzzing around the room, circling them. Rip was biding her time. Aaron had discovered that she was not quite as good as telling where he was as he was with her. Her senses must have been keen, but she seemed to have some trouble homing in on him specifically. More than a few times, Ukyou had not even had to dodge as the bullet flicked by them. It was his only advantage in the fight, and it seemed to grow when he was moving slowly. Now, standing still, was she having trouble focusing on him?

Whatever the reason, he decided not to waste it. He closed his eyes and felt the world around him, shifting all the energy they had left into the mental ethereal chakra that fueled his senses. He could feel the tremors of the chi around them, sick and tainted. It was like sticking your head into a cesspool, or something worse. He could feel the tremor as Ranma fought somewhere in the mansion, his hot energy vibrating through the building like a beacon. His opponent was all cold, dead force. Whoever it was, they were matching Ranma blow for blow.

That was not good.

They could feel Minako. Her magic stood out as well. For a brief moment it flared, spiking much higher than it had before. Almost immediately there were two explosions, one after the other. The chi didn't react much, so they must have been mundane. He felt Minako's energy suddenly weaken. He frowned and reached into his pocket.

No... they couldn't call Artemis yet. They still had a job to do. Ukyou personally doubted the cat's ability to pull off his part of the plan with only his paws... but then again, Aaron remembered that Luna could manipulate computer disks and type with them, so maybe he could do it. He had agreed with her idea, after all.

Aaron thrust those thoughts aside. He probed deeper, deeper into the spirit of the place around him. If the chi of the world was a web of connection, Aaron was brushing aside those webs, reaching deeper. And under those webs were more webs, but they were dry, faded with time. The echoes of the past. He grit his teeth and pushed deeper. He pictured the data like a tickertape in his mind. This echo he labeled with a single symbol, and a figure. Measuring the intensity and the location. The mathematics of chi, a process he had been working on with Tofu and Matsudaira... he allowed the world to slowly settle until all he saw was the data.

Then he found it. It was deep, but strong. It was a taint on the chi of this room. A taint of darkness that was so strong it made the taint that had crept over London appear pitiful in comparison. There could be no doubt. He had found it.

"Alucard..." he said, opening his eyes and grinning. He burned the signature of the taint into his mind. It could be noone but Alucard.

Just as he opened his eyes, the wall exploded. The bullet whizzed by, just in front of his nose. Ukyou reacted without thinking, already knowing where it was going. Her spatula hit the thing and stopped it dead. She resisted the urge to count her remaining throwing spatulas. She was beginning to discover that if she didn't think too much about it, then she always seemed to have just one more.

But she did flip the communicator out of her coat. It really belonged to Minako, but Ukyou had borrowed it. She tapped the button he had shown her and the cat's white face appeared on the screen.

"Sunlight," she said, and clicked the device off. She was already running, because the bullet was coming. And she needed to get to Minako.

01010

Rip Van Winkle snarled and tore another packet of powder open with her teeth. Her hands went through the mechanical motion of reloading her musket, even as her feet steered her on auto-pilot from room to room of the great empty mansion. Her mind was occupied elsewhere.

She could feel her magic bullet, a tiny sliver of her soul, spinning nimbly through the mansion. But it was getting harder and harder to find the girl. Rip could smell her, her expert nose picking up the slightest hint of her on the drafts of the house. She could hear the soft thump of her footsteps, the slow rhythm of her heart. She could feel the vibration of her motion as the young woman ran through the house, seemingly at random.

But not as well as she had. With every step, the black-clad woman's presence seemed to... diminish. And now she could hardly feel her at all. She could still scent her, still hear her heart beating, but the scent seemed to flow from nowhere and the sound echoed strangely. And how was she pinpointing her magic bullets with such precision? At least that last shot had forced the woman to reveal her exact location again.

Rip had no real doubt she would win this duel. She knew the woman - Ukyou, hadn't she called herself? - was weakening. Her bullet had scored blood twice now, and even as she focused she could feel the woman's presence beginning to return. From her sound, she was moving faster now, but Rip didn't care about that. She could hear her laboured breathing, and she was still making no progress towards the huntress herself. Despite her preternatural senses, Ukyou was still human. She tired.

Rip Van Winkle did not.

She raised her musket in front of her, aiming vaguely in the direction of her prey. This time, she swore silently, there would be no escape. She flooded her energy, her very spirit down the barrel of the weapon. It was like putting on a well-worn glove. Rip knew every inch of her gun intimately. "My varhead will punish ALL, vithout distinction!" she cried and fired.

But the blast was not supposed to be that loud. She staggered as the entire mansion shook. She grimaced as her concentration broke and the bullet plummeted from the air, having barely travelled half-way to her target.

"Vhat vas zat!" she roared, propping herself against a wall. The vampire that had been carrying her spare ammunition only stared at her dumbly, his mouth opening and closing. She snarled and grabbed his radio from his belt.

"Valentine!" she roared into it. There was a screech of static, then Yan's voice came over the receiver.

"Yo, tall, dark and flat-chested! I'm kinda busy at the moment..."

"Vhat vas zat explosion?"

"Fuck if I know." There was a chuckle. "Would have loved to see it, but I have a woman to shoot in the head..."

The radio crackled again and a voice came over it. "Sir, the munitions!"

"Vhat?"

"Somebody snuck into the munitions and set them off!" the voice replied.

Rip blinked. "All of them?" From what she remembered, the Major had taken every single piece of salvageable equipment and stored it in the catacombs under this house...

A second explosion rang through the mansion. This time, it was much closer, and Rip felt a wave of heat as a geyser of fire burst through the floor somewhere not far away. The voice on the other end of the line screamed, then there was only static.

Rip stared at the radio. She knew how much ordinance was under this mansion. Enough to start a small war. Some fool... some fool had set it all off. The explosions and fire would spread. She realised, as another explosion rocked her off her feet, that this entire place was about to go up like a fireworks display.

She could hear her prey escaping, running towards where she knew Yan to be. It had been her... Rip snarled. She could survive the explosions, she knew. Ukyou and her friends would too. But outside, the sun had not set. Soon, there would be no building left to protect them from its harmful rays. While she herself was powerful enough not to burst into flames with the merest touch of the hated sun, she knew trying to fight under it would severely weaken her.

"Yan, get out of there!" she ordered into the radio. Then she dropped it. Either he would hear her, or not. There was no choice. She would have to survive this encounter. If she thought for a moment that she could have killed her targets at the same time, she would have stayed, but she could not be sure.

So she ran. For the second time she ran. But she swore she would not flee a third time.

01010

It felt anticlimactic. Akane was certain, when she had left, that they wouldn't be in Tokyo again for months, maybe even years. She wasn't sure what she had been picturing that morning when they had left the abandoned restaurant. Something like out of the storybooks, she supposed. Well, in the storybooks, the heroes didn't come crawling back home with their tail between their legs. They certainly didn't hide like frightened schoolchildren.

Akane slid open the door to the bath and stepped inside. The room was dusty, like it hadn't been used in weeks. The entire house had that feeling to it. The closets were empty, and only the larger appliances still remained. Here and there things were knocked over as if someone had moved through the house in a rush. The place was abandoned.

Akane began to undress. The water, at least, worked here. The electricity was still on, as were the phones if they cared to use them. Chris had cautioned against that, however. Whoever the family had been that had lived here, they had departed in great haste. Akane couldn't blame them. Tokyo was not a safe place to live anymore.

It was on the news each night, in the papers each morning. The radio broke into emergency broadcasts once or twice a day now. The monsters were in Tokyo, and they weren't hiding anymore.

That was why they were here. Akane paused, letting her weights clatter to the ground. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and repressed her frustration. Not that they were here because they were trying to make a difference. Akane would have been in favor of being out there, rushing off and fighting the good fight, so to speak. But they weren't. They were here chasing the people who did... or at least one of them.

There was a splash as Patoratsyu leapt into the tub. Akane glanced at her land octopus idly as it swum around in contented circles. A small part of her mind pointed out that octopi were seawater creatures, but she had long since learned to ignore such thoughts. He, at least, had the right idea. A relaxing bath - the first one she'd had in weeks - would hit the spot right about now.

It was hard to keep clean when you were constantly fleeing for your life from a psychopathic madman. Goenitz was like a bloodhound, always one step behind them. He was tireless, and they'd escaped only by the skin of their teeth more than once. Cologne's arm was still in a sling from their last encounter. Akane shook her head as she walked across the bath towards the cleaning station. She herself was getting rather tired of fighting Vice all the time. That woman was possibly even more insane than her boss.

At least Chris had a plan now. Akane sat down. He had seen some woman on the TV, a woman that was with some other group of Sailor Senshi as they fought off the daily monster attacks. Apparently this 'Chizuru' could help them with their Orochi problem. Akane certainly hoped so.

But the bath was supposed to be relaxing. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about any of her problems-

"Hey, let me wash your back, over!"

Akane stiffened. She glanced over her shoulder, hoping that it had at least been the other one. No such luck. Pink was standing with her back to Akane, sliding the door closed. Up until Ryugenzawa, Akane had always found it difficult to tell the twins apart at a glance. From the back, it had been all but impossible. Not anymore.

Pink had a new outfit. More specifically, she had gotten Chris to acquire a new outfit for her. It was a short, gold-trimmed cheongsam of light green silk. The tails of the dress fell to her mid-thigh, and on her otherwise bare limbs were loose arm and leg warmers of the same fabric and trim. Wrapped around her waist was a tight scarlet sash, the same kind one might use with a kimono except it didn't have the traditional bow in the back.

But her outfit was the least of the changes. The sash was exactly the same shade as the flower petals that now grew, in a grotesque but somehow still oddly natural way, out of her shoulders. As Akane looked at them, Pink spun to face her, posing slightly as if she were fully aware of what Akane was doing. She was still human. It would have taken most people a moment to notice what was wrong with her. The vivid green eyes, slitted like a cat's, and the tiny points at the tips of her ears might have gone unnoticed, and even the petals might have been mistaken for a part of her outfit. But the blue seed embedded between her breasts, artfully displayed in a chevron-shaped opening, with the pulsing flesh that surrounded it... no one could mistake that for anything natural.

"I hope you don't mind, but I felt like a bath and it's big enough for two, over," Pink said as she began to undress. She gave Akane a sidelong glance, smiling a wicked little smirk as she did so. Akane felt something bump into her thigh and looked down to see her pet shivering and trying to keep her between him and Pink. Akane patted him idly and her free hand twisted slightly. Unfortunately, her sword was over with the rest of her clothing.

"Then don't let me disturb you," Akane said slowly. "I have no problem waiting."

"Nonsense!" Pink laughed and began walking towards Akane, naked now. She was keeping herself between Akane and the door. "Without anyone around, we can have a girl to girl chat. It'll be fun, over!"

Akane frowned. She had been meaning to talk with Pink... well, ever since the two had met, actually. But up until now, Pink had been avoiding her like the plague. Akane's hands curled into fists. Oh yes, she did have a lot to talk to Pink about.

Killed by Mature and Vice in the confusion. That had been Pink's story. Chris had swallowed it whole. Pink was the only witness. She had been alone with him. Akane managed to keep her anger out of her expression, but only barely. The worst part was that Akane knew, KNEW, that leaving the boy alone had been a bad idea...

Pink was suddenly looming over Akane, smiling expectantly. Her hands raised from her side, the fingers uncurling as she reached for the soap. Akane started as she remembered Pink's initial offer.

"NO!" she shouted. Pink didn't pause, her smile only widened. Akane fumbled desperately and grabbed the nearest thing she could. It wasn't a weapon, but her mind came up with some use for it anyway. "That's what he's for!"

Akane snatched up the soap and lathered Patoratsyu's tentacles with manic energy. The land octopus made a small, disapproving sound before she slammed it against her back. Pink raised an eyebrow. Patoratsyu began to slide slowly downwards. Then suddenly he picked up the idea and began to spin and crawl along her back. Akane blinked. Wow. He was pretty good at this.

Pink laughed suddenly. "Are you scared of letting me touch you, over?"

"Frankly? Yes." Akane narrowed her eyes. "I saw what you did to those police in Nikko."

"Oh, Akane..." Pink shook her head slightly and made a tsking sound. "If I wanted to make you my slave, I wouldn't do it like this." Her smile widened slightly. "You're such a sound sleeper. One could walk right into your room at night and caress your cheek and you wouldn't even notice. Especially when you're having one of your nightmares, over."

Akane blinked, taken aback a bit. She hadn't told anybody but Shampoo about her nightmares. Pink, however, wasn't paying attention to Akane anymore. Instead she was glaring at the cat-sized octopus. Patoratsyu paused, sliding a bit down Akane's back, and then leapt from her and scurried off into the corner, leaving a trail of suds.

"Now stop being silly and let me help you wash. That's what you Japanese do, isn't it, over?"

Akane opened her mouth, closed it, then grabbed the rinsing bucket and dumped it over her head. "Actually, he did such a good job that I'm done," Akane lied badly. Not giving Pink a chance to object, she stood up so fast she knocked over the stool.

Pink's smile shrunk a little and she leaned over to set the stool right. She shrugged, causing the petals on her shoulders to billow, and then sat down smoothly. She turned her back to Akane. "Okay, then you can do mine. Being polite is also something you Japanese do, isn't it, over?"

Akane stood over Pink for a few seconds, not sure what to do. Then she uncurled her fists and let her anger seep out. It was actually getting a bit easier to do that, now. "Fine," Akane agreed, grabbing a handcloth and a bar of soap. Still, the vicious little part of her mind made her work with a bit more pressure than would have been strictly necessary.

After a few seconds of this, Akane decided that there was no need to dance around the issue. Pink knew what Akane had been trying to talk to her about for weeks now. If she didn't want to talk about it, she never would have come into the bath.

Akane's hands stopped moving. She looked at the floor. She needed to say it. "Pink... did you..." She paused a split second. "Did you kill him?"

Pink paused for a moment, then she spoke in a voice that was apologetic only on the surface. "Oh, Akane. I didn't realise that was still bothering you. Such a tragic end for a boy so young. If it makes you feel any better, he was just going to be killed in another few years regardless, over."

Akane grit her teeth. She stood back. "Just say it, Pink. If you're so damn proud of it, just say it!"

Pink glanced over her shoulder, her expression a study in mock concern. "If you're so certain I did it, why even ask, over?"

"Because I know you did it!" Akane insisted loudly. "I know you killed that boy, and I'm going to convince Chris you did it. And once he knows what kind of a monster you really are... he'll... we'll..." Akane trailed off. She had no idea what came next. Imprison her? Drive her off? Kill her?

That last thought left a bitter taste in Akane's mouth.

Pink snickered. "Akane, Akane, Akane... Chris already knows I did it. He'll never admit it, of course." She turned her back on Akane again. "He does need his illusions. They comfort him. Speaking of which... you missed a spot, over."

Akane was caught flat-footed. She just stood there in the bathroom, naked and dripping, for a long moment. "How..." Akane whispered. "How can you be such a cold-hearted monster?" Pink just glanced at her, smiling enigmatically. "Don't you realise that was a person's life you took? Your sister, she understands. She may be a little cold, but she studies medicine, not poison! She understands the value of life! Why... I don't understand how you can be so different!"

"You don't understand anything, Akane. But of course, nobody does. So let me explain it to you, over." Pink rinsed herself with the bucket of water, standing up. She turned to face Akane, and her emerald eyes gleamed. "Link isn't my sister. She's my TWIN. We were born one person, and fell into the Spring of Twins at Jyusenkyou when we... I was a child. A very young child. Too young to even understand. That's what split us into two. But we're the same person. Do you understand that, over?

"No, of course you don't. We're the same. Two in one. Do you wonder why we end everything we say with 'over'? When we were children, we used to complete each other's sentences, interrupt with what the other was going to say, finish each other's thoughts. Sometimes we nearly lost track of who was who. We needed some way to stay separate, to signal when one of us ended and the other began. Of course you don't understand. You, growing up with your normal family and your normal life, how could you, over?"

Akane just stared, transfixed, as Pink turned to step into the bath. As she sat down with a deep sigh of contentment at the far end, the petals on her shoulders lifted slightly in the steam from the hot water. A sweet scent, like flowers in spring, filled the room. Pink opened her eyes, which had been closed blissfully, and met Akane's gaze again.

"Even that was something somebody could learn to live with, I suppose. But, you see, it's not just that. The magic of the spring isn't infinite. We can never get too far away from each other, or one of us will disappear forever. They told me it happened once, barely a week after the initial time we fell into the spring, but we had been accidentally splashed in cold water again before anyone could return to the springs to 'cure' us, and in any case Mother liked the concept of twins, over." Pink's lip twisted into a sneer of contempt as she mentioned her mother. "I hate her for that. Because of that, because of her stupid desire, we've lived out our lives never knowing which of us was the real one, which of us was the illusion. Knowing that every single day, every moment, one of us could vanish, and it would be like we had never existed, over."

Akane fidgeted uncomfortably. She wasn't supposed to be feeling... sorry for Pink. "But couldn't you just... whichever one of you was left after... just use cold water again?"

Pink chuckled dryly. "Of course. But the twin that would come out of that wouldn't be the one that disappeared. It would just be a twin of the one that remained. The one that vanished would be gone. All of her memories, all of her feelings. She doesn't exist. Every day, I look around and wonder if I exist, or if I'm just a wrinkle, a reflection, a shadow that can fade at any moment. If I'm REAL. That's what we've both always had on our minds, our whole lives. At least until now, over."

Pink lifted a hand from the steaming water and pointed at Patoratsyu. "Look at that pathetic creature, quivering in the corner. A stupid little animal. But he's REAL. He knows that. You know that. Everyone knows it. He can be hurt, he can die, even his body can be burned to ashes, but he'll always have been there. He'll always have BEEN. I don't have that comfort, and neither does Link." She curled her hand into a fist, and smiled viciously, causing the octopus to squeak and scuttle even further away. "But look at him. How he reacts to me. I've never even touched him once, but he fears me. And he'll carry that fear with him for the rest of his little life. Try telling HIM I'm not real. He won't believe it. To him, I'm a great and powerful predator, over."

Pink looked at Akane again, and now her smile was small and secret. "He'll never forget me, even if I vanish tomorrow. Neither will those police in Nikko. Neither will the blonde secretary bitch, or her stupid priest master, or their oh so very dark and terrible god!" Her voice was rising towards a crescendo. "The scars I leave will never fade, even if I do! They make me real! Every time I reach out and touch the world, I'm proving it, over!"

Akane was aghast. "That's monstrous!" she shouted. "Just because... just because you... you hurt all those people just so they'll remember you?" Akane felt the water on her skin drying as her aura filled the room with heat. "You think that excuses what you did! How could you! Your sister-"

"Oh, yes, my 'sister'," Pink sneered, cutting Akane off. "Chris thought she was so much different and more noble than me, too - at least until he figured out she hated him. Link really isn't different from me at all, Akane. You think Link gives a damn about anybody she's ever saved? You're an idiot. She's ME. And I'm her. The difference is just how we deal with being US, over.

"Link is really very simple once you know her. She just wants to understand. Always studying life, and ecology, and evolution, and religion, and science. Looking for answers, over." Pink's voice became sing-song, dripping with contempt. "Why am I here? Where is my place? Why did I fall into that spring? Link thinks that when she can answer every question, she'll look at the big picture and see where she fits into it. But she's a fool. There is no big picture, just the stories we make for ourselves. The only reason she isn't just as 'monstrous' as me is because she can't stand being like me. The first step she took on the path to knowing her place was the step she took away from me, so she could tell what was her and what was not, over."

Akane's voice came out in a low growl. "You think this changes anything between us? If you thought this would make me forgive or forget what you've done, you're wrong. Chris isn't an idiot. I'll make him see that you're... you're evil!" Akane couldn't really think of a better word to sum it up.

Pink laughed derisively and shook her head. "Up until recently, Akane, that might have scared me. I hated you, you know. You can't believe how angry I was when you somehow came out of that mountain alive, over." Akane couldn't help but flinch, causing Pink to smirk. "I hated you before I ever saw you. Ever since I got to Japan, and all Chris could do was moon over you, and think about you, and angst and whine and snivel about how you thought what he did was so wrong." Pink's nostrils flared with the memory of the past anger, but then her expression became placid, almost cheerful. "Ah, dear Chris. At first he was just a tool - a powerful one, but one you were making so much harder to use. But I've come to realise that I love him. I really do. We're such a perfect pair. He's a killing machine, and I'm a killer. He NEEDS me, over."

She laughed again, at some private joke. "And you know what? You don't need him, Akane. That's why we're having this conversation. It's your consolation prize, to know why you've lost, over."

"Lost?" Akane said slowly. Her mouth felt dry. "Chris isn't some sort of prize."

"True. He's more like an angel. He fell from the sky and gave me everything I could ever have dreamed of. And I give him everything he needs in return. The things you never will. Comfort. Support. Love." She stood up, stretching languidly. "I see now how stupid I was to hate you. You were never a threat, because you were never his friend. You were just his keeper. You didn't come along because you believe in him, and you're not planning to share his life. You just want to 'help' him. You think he can't see that? Like you said, Akane, he's not an idiot. He abandoned you to Goenitz - all of you! - to rush to save me. That's when I knew." Her smile was triumphant. "He doesn't need a 'moral compass'. He needs me, over."

Akane stepped forward, opening her mouth to shout-

'Trust me, Chris is a monster! If he's trying to win your trust, he's only using it for one of his own twisted purposes. Either that, or he wants to get you to believe in him to make himself feel better. He's sick like that. He can justify anything to himself, as long as someone he respects believes in him.' The memory of Ukyou's voice flooded into her mind.

"No." Akane's voice came out far more shaky than she'd intended. "I can't accept that."

"Well, then, that's your problem," Pink said, striding past Akane as she wrapped a towel around herself. "I really don't care what you do anymore. But I'm glad we could have this nice girl to girl chat, over."

Behind Akane, the door opened and closed.

01010

The wind blew a dark fog down the narrow valley. The clouds hung low overhead, black and ominous. The ground was moist, the water still and brackish and the trees hung with moss from their thin bony branches. Ranma put up with it all without complaint. He was wet and female and this place was far from the places he knew, but he'd been through worse.

The girl Minako was with him. She was dressed down, wearing a simple pair of hiking pants and a leather jacket instead of the golden armour she wore into battle. Her long blonde hair had been tied back after one too many encounters with the twisted branches of the fen.

Between them sat Hotaru. The girl seemed right at home in this dismal place. When she walked, it was without a sound, her casual steps causing less disturbance than Ranma's despite his years of training. It was eerie.

Ukyou and the cat were gone. They were somewhere up ahead, trying to find the mysterious Alucard. Ranma wasn't sure he knew how that made him feel. On the one hand, it meant he didn't have to deal with the cat. It also meant he didn't have to deal with Ukyou.

Ranma fed a twig into the pitiful fire he had managed to get going. It barely offered light, much less heat, in this forsaken place. "So... where are we?"

Minako looked at him. She looked fairly miserable. "Scotland, I guess." She crossed her arms and leaned back on the log she was using as a stool. "We've come far enough north, anyway."

Ranma grunted. Hotaru merely stared into the fire, her eyes not even blinking. It gave her normally deep purple eyes a dangerous red glare. Ukyou had asked him to keep an eye on the girl. She had told him to watch for signs of her 'turning'. Ranma had no idea what to look for, but he felt dangerous red eyes were a bad sign.

"The better question is why are we here?" Minako hissed into the silence.

"Ukyou is-"

"I know!" Minako glared at him as she cut him off. "I know why she's here. Why are WE here?" Ranma wasn't sure what she meant, and his expression must have said as much because the blonde continued, "We should be back in London. Millennium is still there. You think blowing up one mansion even slowed them down? We should never have left." She unlaced her arms, clenching her hands into fists. The veins stood out along her neck as she gritted her teeth. "We've been walking for DAYS now, and still nothing! No magic saviour capable of killing all the bad things in one fell swoop. Not even so much as a trail." She gestured around them. "Look at this place. Do you honestly think anything lives here?"

Ranma kept his opinion to himself. He merely grunted and crossed his own arms.

"You agree with me." Minako leaned forward. "I saw your face when she dragged you out of that mansion. I saw the way you looked at the pretty-boy vampire as he laughed while we ran." She pointed at him. "You knew that we should have stayed and kept fighting. We had them off-balance."

"Ukyou saved your life," Ranma pointed out. He hadn't been there, but Ukyou had said she had arrived just in time to prevent one of the vampires from blowing Minako apart with a rocket launcher. If it hadn't been for the ceiling of the room collapsing in, pouring in sunlight, she probably wouldn't have even arrived in time to do that.

"And I thanked her," Minako pointed out. "But that doesn't mean I have to waste time with her crusade."

Ranma silently clenched his own fists and said nothing. He had gotten into this exact same argument just after the fight. He had screamed at her, and waved his arms. He had told her that he could have won that fight. He could have killed that pretty-boy bastard despite his speed and his guns. Ukyou had weathered his words without comment. Then she had calmly and methodically picked his position apart point by point.

One vampire didn't win the war, she had said. Even if he had won, there were still dozens of other vampires in the place. Millennium was huge, a power of one thousand vampires and countless ghouls. They had weapons - rockets, flying fortresses and whatever they had scavenged off the British army - and the will to use them. Three people, even three people as powerful as Ranma, Ukyou and V, couldn't hope to win against that. They needed allies. They needed to find the remains of the resistance, to forge them again. Organise, build, strengthen and strike with decisive force. She had quoted Sun Tzu and Musashi at him.

She was right.

"Let's not talk about this, okay?" Ranma asked, sounding more tired than he wanted to.

"Ranma, listen. You saved my life too," Minako said slowly. "And I've seen you fight. You're a step above other martial artists. I could use your help... but if I don't get it, I'll head back on my own." She paused. "Someone needs to fight..." Minako trailed off as Ranma stood up suddenly, holding up his hand for silence.

His eyes narrowed, and his ears flicked slightly as he strained to hear it again. He could have sworn he'd heard a branch snap, not that far away. He glanced side to side, trying to pierce the gloom. There was nothing. Then he felt it, that tickle on the back of his neck.

Danger.

Ranma relaxed, his muscles untensing. Minako was standing as well, holding the tiny rod that would transform her into her magical battle form. He wondered idly if it was special just to her, but maybe all the Senshi could do that. Like that Ami chick and her visor thing. "What is it?" V mouthed. Ranma shrugged and gestured to her and then to the right, then to himself and to the left. He glanced at Hotaru and motioned for her to get down. She did so.

Ranma had taken two steps when the shot rang out. The trunk of the tree next to him exploded in a brief cloud of sawdust and splinters.

A voice shouted out something from the darkness. It was a woman's voice, but Ranma couldn't understand a word she was saying. But her tone and the manner in which she introduced herself made her meaning clear. Ranma considered his options. He could dodge bullets, with effort, but even he would be hard-pressed to do so if he had no idea where they were coming from. He knew that most bullets couldn't even pierce his skin, but that didn't mean the things didn't hurt. If it weren't for Hotaru, he would still have welts from all the times Luke had tagged him in their brief battle.

If it had been just him, he probably would have made a fight of it. But Hotaru was here. The thought of what a few stray bullets would do to her was all Ranma needed to make him put up his hands.

A few seconds later they materialised out of the fog like ghosts. There were four of them, all women. One of them couldn't have been more than Hotaru's age, wearing a red hooded cloak over a lacy white dress. She had short unruly blonde hair and was carrying a pair of automatic pistols which were trained on Minako. Minako still had her rod in her held-up hands.

Another was a short brunette with glasses one size too large for her. She had a mousy, but cute, face and wore a tan trenchcoat over a vest and a short skirt. She wasn't carrying a firearm, and looked almost distracted, glancing curiously at the three people in the clearing. In her left hand she was clenching a few pieces of paper. Despite the moisture and the breeze, they remained rigid. Some sort of variant on the iron cloth technique? Ranma pegged her as the weakest link, should he need to do something.

The third one was a tall and busty blonde wearing a blue police officer's uniform that was tailored to hug her curves. Combine this with the hemline of her miniskirt and her thigh-high boots, and Ranma figured she was more likely an exotic dancer than an actual policewoman. She was carrying a huge gun with ease in one hand, even though it was fully as tall as she was and had to weigh over a hundred kilograms. There was something off about her. Besides the gun, anyway. She had a vibe that made Ranma's gut twitch, and her red eyes made him nervous.

The apparent leader was taller than any of them. She had long rose- coloured hair that trailed down to her waist and matched the colour of the petals sewn into the white silk shirt she wore. Her skirt trailed down to her knees. Her face was beautiful but cruel, with green eyes that flashed in the light of the fire. In one hand she carried a long sword made out of crystal. Far more than the blonde, this woman set Ranma on edge. There was a feeling of... nastiness that seemed to flow from her like a bad stench. It was familiar, annoyingly so. Ranma had felt something just like this before.

Why did it make him think of shrines?

The leader stepped fully into the clearing, saying something sharply to Ranma. It was the same voice as before, but she was still speaking English. Then she got a good look at him.

Her eyes widened and her face drained of all colour. She just stared at Ranma, eyes unblinking. Ranma frowned right back at her.

"Listen, lady, I don't speak English, okay?" he explained. She either didn't hear him, didn't understand, or ignored him. Minako translated for him, her own English sounding slightly stilted and unsure.

"You have any idea who these people are, Mi... V?" Ranma asked over his shoulder.

V shook her head, but she wasn't looking at him. Her gaze was on the girl with the red eyes. The blonde seemed nervous under Minako's stare. She backed up a step, shifting her weapon from one hand to the other. Then a flash of recognition passed across Minako's face, followed by pure rage.

"Vampire!" she screamed. "V Crisis Power, Make Up!"

"Aw, shit," Ranma grumbled as the clearing suddenly filled with light shortly before all hell broke loose. He stepped forward, then rapidly ran up the still-stunned leader of the ambush party. He made sure to hit every pressure point as he climbed up her and she fell like a log. Using the momentum of his run, he backflipped, spinning in mid-air and aiming himself at Glasses.

She shifted to the side and his kick made a gouge in the soft earth. Her hand flicked up and Ranma swayed back. He felt one of the ties on his shirt come loose and saw a few strands of black hair fall as her razor-sharp paper almost clipped him.

Gunfire filled the air behind him as Red Riding Hood opened up with both her weapons on full auto. V had leapt back, just out of the stream of fire, and was pointing her fingers at Police-girl. Beams of golden magic lanced out from her, peppering the fog and forcing the vampire chick to dodge like mad.

And Hotaru was crouched behind a log that was being chewed up by bullets.

Ranma cursed and backed away from Glasses. She followed him, her hand coming clear of her coat and flinging a dozen spinning white disks at him. Ranma made a quick decision and moaned to himself.

He ran through the projectiles, twisting and spinning so they only left shallow cuts along his arms. He was thankful that his female form was so much smaller than his male one; he was certain he would have lost a limb trying this insane stunt as a guy. His hand flicked out and he caught the last one just before it bisected his skull. But he fell back, conserving the momentum of the paper and just pulling it down with him. He flung his arm to the side, creating a wide arc before releasing it again. It whizzed through the air on its new path.

A moment later Red Riding Hood's guns stopped firing. She blinked and frowned down at them as the barrels slowly toppled from the grips. Glasses was staring at him, totally open, but Ranma didn't have time for her. He landed on his back and immediately rolled back, coming to his feet again. With the help of a convenient tree he launched himself forward, grabbing Hotaru in his arm and shooting safely from the clearing into the cover of the swamp.

He landed in a pile of mud. Hotaru groaned underneath him. "Are you okay?" he asked frantically.

"I'm fine," she said softly, but Ranma could see a fine red line forming on her arm from where a bullet had grazed her. He grit his teeth and rolled off her, looking back towards the clearing.

There were a few more flashes of yellow, followed by a series of explosion and the by now familiar roar of gunfire. Into this cut a loud crack, then the gunfire slowly petered out. Ranma stared. There was no more light.

No.

Not again...

"Please come out." It was a new voice, softer and with a British accent but speaking perfect Japanese. Ranma frowned and crouched protectively next to Hotaru. He could see the shadows of the people in the clearing but not much more. "We didn't hurt your friend. I just restrained her. Please, we promise not to hurt you." The woman sounded so earnest that Ranma found his legs responding before he realised it. He turned to Hotaru and briefly motioned for her to stay put. She just stared up at him emptily and placed a hand over her wound.

Once Ranma was in the clearing, he saw what had happened to V. She was against a tree, with what looked like half a library's worth of paper wrapped around her body like a tight blanket. It was also covering her mouth. She looked pissed off, but unharmed.

Glasses was standing at the front of the group now. She had both hands held at her sides. They were empty. The vampire policegirl was sitting against a tree behind her, trying to revive their former leader who was still out cold from Ranma's attack. The little girl grinned, a dangerous manic grin, and leveled a bazooka at him.

"B.B.! NO!" Glasses said.

"She broke my guns!" the girl replied in Japanese.

"She's not a monster," Glasses insisted. "Did you see what she did for that little girl? Those wounds were caused because she chose not to dodge. And she could have hit you with that paper, not just your guns."

"I want to kill her!" B.B. growled.

"You will not."

Ranma turned as a new presence entered the clearing. She wasn't tall, but she carried herself with a regal bearing that made her seem so. She wore a long green trenchcoat and a pair of man's pants. Her long blonde hair was styled so one lock fell across her face, just brushing against her thin glasses. In her lips was a cigar, and on her hip was a rapier. The cigar looked like it belonged there more.

"But boss!" B.B. whined.

"You have your orders," the newcomer snapped. B.B. sighed and somehow tucked the bazooka away under her cloak. Glasses sighed in relief.

The newcomer looked at Ranma, the kind of look one warrior gave to evaluate another. Ranma respected her with a similar glance. She didn't look like much, and she carried herself like a person who dabbled rather than truly learned to fight. But she had the bearing of a warrior... no, a general.

"You are Ranma," the woman said, her Japanese as stilted and accented as Minako's English. "I am not impressed." Ranma grinned. The woman glanced at V, then at Glasses. "Cut her down. We have a long walk back to camp."

"Camp?"

"Yes." The woman glanced at Ranma. "Your friend said she needs to see something we're storing there."

Ranma followed the woman's gaze as it shifted off him and he saw Ukyou walking out of the mist. She was carrying Hotaru in both arms. She glanced at the clearing and sighed. She said something to the regal woman in English. The woman grinned and chuckled, nodding. Then she glanced at Ranma. "Do you just start fights with everyone you meet, Ranma?"

"I..." Ranma paused and shrugged. "Well, yeah, pretty much..."

01010

ZX-Tole stood at attention, despite the wind. The rotors of the helicopter pushed his short hair back and swirled the grass around him in concentric circles. The machine wasn't large, only big enough to fit about three passengers and a pilot. He kept his face carefully neutral as the craft descended into the section of the yard they had cleared hastily only a few moments ago.

It was a little too obvious for his tastes. He would have preferred to keep a low profile. With the executive towers of Chronos Japan having been destroyed by the Guyvers months ago, this was their only real base of operations in Tokyo. And it wasn't nearly as defensible as he would have liked.

Plus, who knew how any of the plants in this place would react to strange things? The clean up crews were still being very cautious with them.

The helicopter settled to the ground with a mechanical hiss. The rotors started slowing down, their roar dulling to something that was only partially deafening. Before the blades could come to a complete stop, the side door opened.

The man who stepped out of the doors was tall, with Aryan good looks. His blond hair was slicked back, and it looked like his hairline might be receding slightly. Aside from his elfin pointed ears, there was nothing inhuman about him. ZX-Tole knew better. He could sense the man's sheer presence, even though he was doing a lot to suppress it. He wore a long white cloak pulled around his body. The cloak descended from two huge gleaming metal shoulderpads and a wide metal collar.

"ZX-Tole," the zoalord said, stepping down to the ground. He didn't speak up. There was no need. Any zoanoid he wanted could hear his voice, and none he did not want. "Where is Commander Gyro?"

ZX-Tole fell to one knee and bowed his head. He grit his teeth. "I don't know, Lord Purgstall."

"Don't know?" Frederick von Purgstall said softly.

"Commander Gyro doesn't see the need to share his plans and location with me," ZX-Tole explained.

"Rise," Purgstall suggested, not commanded. "I want your opinions and loyalty, not your reverence."

"Y-yes, Lord," ZX-Tole rose to his feet.

"And call me Purgstall, or even just Frederick."

"Yes, Purgstall," ZX-Tole agreed.

The zoalord gestured towards the house. "What is it the Japanese do at times like this? Have tea?" ZX-Tole nodded. "Good. Let us do that while you report what is going on."

"Yes, sir," ZX-Tole agreed and led him into the house. At least most of the house had been cleared out by now. Purgstall sat down in one of the chairs provided and ZX-Tole caught a glimpse of the skintight black bodysuit he was wearing under his white cloak as he did.

"I assume you have already read all the reports I sent in, sir," ZX-Tole said as he stood nearby. Purgstall did not wave for him to sit, which ZX-Tole was grateful for. He was too much of a soldier to be comfortable with the kind of atmosphere this new zoalord seemed to radiate.

He was completely unlike Gyro and Valkus, the only two zoalords ZX-Tole had ever met. Valkus was distant, god-like in that ineffable way that wise men whose minds were concerned with matters beyond you were. He spoke in a tone that carried no hint of command, but every expectation of instant and total obedience. Gyro was a tyrant, a man who liked order and control. He micromanaged his zoanoids, constantly changing his orders on a whim. He rewarded obedience and punished failure.

Purgstall seemed to be a whole other type of animal, and it put ZX-Tole on edge.

"Yes," Purgstall said, accepting a plate of tea that a servant brought for them. "That is why I am here. The increasing chaos in this city is not something we can well afford right now. I'm certain you're aware of the situations in Europe, America and Africa, are you not?"

"Only vaguely..." ZX-Tole admitted.

Purgstall frowned. "It's getting worse out there. Too many people are finding out about Chronos and fighting us. Worse yet, too many of them are winning." He frowned into his cup. "Zoanoids are a match for any conventional army, but not for what else seems to be out there. Even hyper-zoanoids are hard pressed."

"Certainly you must be exaggerating!" ZX-Tole gasped.

"I never exaggerate," Purgstall's voice was cold.

"I see..." ZX-Tole frowned. "But even then, we still have the advantage of numbers and we still have you." Purgstall looked up at this last statement. "The zoalords, sir. You have to be more than a match for anything else out there."

"Perhaps," Purgstall said. "But there are only twelve of us, and we can't be everywhere at once." He sighed. "Plus, orders from on high have come on down. 'Zoalords are too valuable a resource to risk in direct confrontations at this time. Barring an emergency or unavoidable situations, every effort must be made to keep zoalords out of battle.'"

"Orders from on high?" ZX-Tole had been under the impression that there was nothing higher than a zoalord.

"We all have our masters, ZX-Tole," Purgstall commented cryptically. "Now, I've read the reports, but I want to hear what is really going on."

ZX-Tole hesitated. Then he sighed. "The monsters attacking Tokyo are not zoanoids, per se. They are called 'aragami' and appear to be based on plants rather than humans like we are." He frowned. "We haven't figured out much about them, or why they have increased their attacks so much in the last few weeks. We do know that they are reporting to a new commander, some being known as Murakumo. That's all we know.

"As for Commander Gyro... well, he is pursuing the Sailor Senshi, sir."

"I was aware," Purgstall commented dryly. "Valkus thought sending him to deal with the girl that humiliated him would be a good lesson in obedience."

"You think differently, sir?" Purgstall looked at ZX-Tole sharply and ZX-Tole realised he had stepped over a line. "Not that I would ever suggest anything..."

"Don't be so defensive, ZX-Tole," Purgstall suggested mildly, his expression warming. "Your loyalty and value to Chronos is without question." ZX- Tole relaxed. "The problem is not Gyro's mission, but how he chooses to go about it."

"Yes, sir." ZX-Tole paused. "I don't have any proof, but I believe he is using zoanoids as bait. He keeps setting up attacks throughout Tokyo, each one bigger than the last. He wants to draw out the Sailor Senshi and capture them like that." ZX-Tole paused and felt it only fair to add, "Our own efforts to locate them through more traditional methods have failed. The Senshi seem to have the ability to disappear into the system without a trace. No sooner have we tracked them back to their current hideout than we find that the place seems to have been abandoned for years.

"The commander isn't sharing his plans with me, sir. I have been able to piece it together, since all his requests for new zoanoids have to go through me. But he's been getting them into constant battles with both the Senshi, Guyver III and the purely human 'martial artist' protectors of the city."

"This is unacceptable," Purgstall said coldly, his eyes flashing.

"He is wasting a lot of..."

Purgstall waved ZX-Tole silent. "That isn't the problem. Gyro's methods might have been tolerated before, but the Council has reached a new decision on how to proceed from here on in." He stood up. "Attacks by zoanoids on innocent human targets are to stop at once."

"Excuse me, sir?"

Purgstall walked over to the patio doors and slid them open. The view from the doors fell down a gently sloping hill, and just over the walls you could see the rooftops of the Nerima district stretching lazily into the distance. "Look at all those people. Do you know what they are, ZX-Tole?"

ZX-Tole figured it was a rhetorical question, but answered to the best of his ability anyway. "Humans?"

"No," Purgstall said simply. "They are us. They are the nation of Earth. Inside every zoanoid, every hyper-zoanoid... and even the zoalords, is the same DNA. We are all born from the same stock. Our race is one. We..." He gestured to ZX-Tole and himself. "...are simply more enlightened. We have unlocked the mysteries of our DNA. In so doing we have elevated ourselves above the masses, but not apart from them.

"We live in this world as examples. It is our responsibility, as greater beings, to guide and nurture humanity. Of course our natural place is at the top. That does not make us gods. It makes us kings. They are our subjects, our responsibility. We exist not to rule them like cattle, but to elevate the whole human race from the mud." He clenched his fist. "This is the thing Gyro does not understand. The thing you must never lose track of. We are not monsters, ZX- Tole. We are prophets of the new age."

"I see..." ZX-Tole bowed his head. He didn't, really. He was a soldier. He understood the chain of command. He understood loyalty. He understood brotherhood. Philosophy was something best left to people like Purgstall.

Purgstall laughed. "You don't," he said with a chuckle. "But you will, one day." He continued to gaze across the city for a long moment. "Now, about the other problem..."

"The rogue zoanoid, Aptom?"

Purgstall nodded.

ZX-Tole frowned. "We have no idea what he's after."

01010

It wasn't much of a camp. There was one building, an old church that was covered in mold. There were holes in the peeling walls. The steeple was leaning to one side. The tents they were using for camp were set up further into the treeline. They were brown and covered with green netting, but they looked clean.

There were probably about fifty people there. Aaron didn't recognize any of them, and from the feel of their chi they were just normal people. Each of them moved about the camp with grim faces and quiet intensity. Here and there they sat in twos and threes, cleaning weapons, preparing food, consulting charts.

"This few?" Ranma muttered.

"They're enough," Integra replied sharply.

Ukyou glanced at the woman. She stood straight, her shoulders held back and her jaw firm. But her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks and brow flushed as if with fever. Ukyou wondered when Integra had last slept.

"Ranma, why don't you take Hotaru over to the food tent?" Ukyou turned to face Integra. "If that's okay with you?"

Integra nodded absently and gestured for the boy-turned-girl to leave. Ranma gave Ukyou a long look, then took Hotaru's tiny hand in her own. "C'mon, let's get you some food."

"Very well..." Hotaru replied softly.

"Let me help!" Yomiko said brightly, grabbing Hotaru's other hand. Ranma glanced at her and the girl flushed in embarrassment. "It's the least I can do, after nearly getting you both killed."

"Don't think nuthin' of it," Ranma replied cheerfully, waving the past aside. After a moment of standing there, Minako threw up her arms and followed them. At least she had gotten over being papered to a tree quickly enough.

"Um, Miss Hellsing..." Victoria began, her voice almost trembling.

"Spit it out, vampire," Integra growled sharply. Her eyes fixed on Victoria and the young woman seemed to wither slightly. She bowed her head and rubbed her feet into the ground.

"I just thought I should take Crystal to the medical tent-"

"Yes, yes..." Integra cut off Victoria's hesitant words with an angry snap of her hand. "Do it and then take Hood on patrol. There's no guarantee these four haven't been followed."

"But it'll be light soon..."

"Then I suggest you find a way to deal with that." Integra crossed her arms and glared at Victoria. The girl shuffled and nodded, before turning to pick up the prostrate form of her rose-haired friend. Aaron frowned, wondering who that was. Somebody from the later Hellsing manga he had never read?

"Why do you always have to pair me up with her?" B.B. Hood complained as she sat down on a log nearby. She pulled out a knife from her cloak and began to sharpen it on the side of a moss-covered rock. It made an irritating scraping sound with each pass.

"I need someone who knows what they're doing," Integra explained, her voice much more level than it had been when dealing with her own ally. B.B. seemed to consider this, then shrugged and continued to sharpen her knife. Her expression was prosaic, almost cheerful. Except for the knife, and the dank swamp, she might well have been an innocent child from a storybook.

Ukyou gestured for Integra to step away from the child, and the young woman followed easily enough. Once they were out of earshot, Ukyou began.

"How did you meet up with her?" she asked directly.

"She came to England when she heard about the vampires." Integra smiled grimly. "She may not look it, but she's an experienced monster hunter. She was looking to make a few bounties and got caught here when everything went to hell."

"Do you trust her?" Ukyou said after a the moment. She had been about to summarily declare that B.B. Hood could not be trusted, but decided against it. In the Darkstalkers games, she was a human with such a vile and deranged mind that she had been mistaken for a demon. But Ukyou and Aaron had learned that the 'canon' only told the surface of a story.

"I understand her," Integra replied coolly. "She wants money, and I am willing to pay. The pound sterling may not be worth anything, but Hellsing has a lot more assets than just paper money and a single mansion. A few tonnes of gold and silver buy her loyalty."

"Indeed..." Ukyou glanced away. She saw a flash of white on the steps of the church. It was Artemis, and he nodded at her. Ukyou let out a sigh.

"Ah, yes..." Integra nodded at the cat. "Your talking cat."

"Not mine, Minako's."

"You mean V?"

"You've heard of her?"

Integra snorted and crossed her arms. "Who hasn't, in this part of the world?" She glanced at the young lady as she sat at the table nearby. Minako was looking at Ranma and Yomiko. The former was holding a napkin in one hand and flicking it now and then, incessantly asking Yomiko questions. Yomiko, for her part, ignored him as she tried to read a book to Hotaru. "Everyone who escaped from London has seen her at least once. Many of them owe her their lives."

"So you've met a lot of them?" Ukyou asked. She shook her head. "We didn't get much chance to talk before I sensed the fight, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm curious. I understood that Hellsing was England's first line of defense against things like this... why weren't you there?"

Integra's face darkened and her eyes traversed the camp, locking on the form of Victoria as she and B.B. departed into the mist-filled swamp. "I was there." Her voice was as hard as diamond.

"And Alucard?"

That caused the woman to glance at Ukyou. "You certainly seem to know a lot for a foreigner."

"The existence of Alucard is an open secret to those who know what to look for," Ukyou replied. It wasn't really a lie.

"I suppose so." Integra rested one hand on the hilt of her rapier. "If you came for him, you're out of luck. He's useless to us."

"Maybe." Ukyou turned to stare at the church. "I still want to see for myself." Ukyou's eyes narrowed. "I can't believe Minako alone could kill him."

"Neither would I." Integra didn't sound at all surprised.

"You're not angry at her for what happened?" Ukyou asked as they approached the rundown building.

"Why should I be?" Integra glanced at Minako again, then back at Ukyou. "From what Victoria told me, she was being menaced by him. She struck out at what she thought was the enemy. Such things happen in war."

"You sound bitter."

Integra paused, her hand on the door. Then she pushed it open. "The only person to blame for what happened is me. I should have known what I was sending him into. I failed as a commander."

Ukyou would have responded, but she found her attention drawn to the coffin in the center of the room. It was jet black, with gold trim. A prayer was etched into its lid, with a small golden cross just above it. But it wasn't that which caught her breath.

It was the power of it. She stepped forward, her hand outstretched - and Aaron felt the currents of the place wash over him. Standing in that distant room, under fire from Rip Van Winkle, he hadn't even touched the surface of this. He realised suddenly that it was exactly like the wishing sword. A well of power seemingly without limit. But unlike the sword, this power was chaotic, dark, necrotic... evil. There was no other way to describe it. If there was such a thing as distilled, refined, purified evil... then this was it. It seeped into the world like a tumour.

"What are you doing?" Integra asked, but her voice was far away.

"Ukyou?" That was Artemis, and he was even further.

Ukyou was moving on auto-pilot now. She had to SEE. Her hand reached out and grabbed the lid of the coffin. It crashed to the ground a second later. The body inside was desiccated, its long hair thin and black. There was a hole where its heart should be, and from that hole sprang a soft golden light. Ukyou felt something inside her quicken. It was a feeling that was at once familiar and at once strange.

She reached down and placed her hand over the hole. The soft light warmed her hand. But it was Wrong. It was fundamentally wrong in some way she couldn't put to words. She stared down at the body, and saw them emerge.

They were thin, black as a caved-in mine and had the forms of snakes and millipedes and other things that were long and crawling and venomous. They rose from the body, shades without substance, writhing around the edges of The Wound. She could only stare as they reacted to her hand, crawling slowly up her arm.

Then they rose as one and she knew they were going to strike her but there was nothing she could do and-

Ukyou was standing in a field under a red sky. The sky was the colour of blood, and a mad green sun whirled and twisted its way across it. The ground was made of bones, crushed and whole with blood and gore dripping from the sockets of a million grinning skulls.

No. This wasn't real...

"You have come."

Ukyou turned and saw him. He looked young and vital. His face was exotically handsome, with long black hair and intense eyes that stared right through you. He was naked, his body crucified to a structure made of interlaced skeletons. The Wound glowed softly where his heart should be.

"Alucard?" Ukyou asked. Her voice echoed strangely, as if she were hearing it from outside her own head. "You did this?"

"No, you did," Alucard said with a grin. "I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"Waiting..."

"You are the one who will end my suffering, and free me from this hell."

"I..." Ukyou blinked. That was what she had been hoping for, but his tone had not been the way she had expected it to be. Alucard was supposed to sound happy, even enthusiastic. But when he spoke of being freed, it was with resignation.

"Come, girl! You have the power inside you! Take what is mine and let me die!"

"Let you die?" Ukyou frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I have no time for your games!" Alucard snapped. "Do it! Consume me! Even now, my power sinks into your flesh. But you hold it at bay. Why? Isn't this what you came for, to finish the job He started?"

"He?" Ukyou stepped forward. "Who did this to you?"

Alucard laughed, a bitter sound. "You don't know?" Seeing her expression he laughed louder. "Another pawn!" He smiled at her, the smile of a very bad man explaining something to a child. "God."

"God..." Aaron clenched his fists. "I don't believe in God."

"He believes in you," Alucard said, laughing. "Don't tell me you haven't seen it? I can see into your heart, Aaron Peori. I can see everything that is happening in this world." He paused. "This world... Should. Not. Exist."

"No..." Ukyou murmured.

"One Sailor Senshi, defeat me?" He laughed. "As if it would have ever gotten that far? Why was she even here? I thought mankind was engineered by aliens as weapons... or perhaps descended from Jurai? Maybe they all came from the moon? So much history..." He trailed off and let his head fall. "Do it. Do what you were brought here for. You can feel it, inside you. The same power that caused this wound, it beats in your breast."

Aaron staggered back, shaking his head. But it was true. The reaction, the reaction to that wound. It had been the same with Chris. It was the Third Circle. The alien other that had been with him and Ukyou since the beginning. The power that seemed to break all the rules. The power that consumed his flesh and soul in exchange for it.

"Use it!"

Ukyou made a sound halfway between a sob and a shout.

"It's your Destiny! You know it! Consume me!"

Alucard's eyes rose, and there was nothing but madness in them now.

"I have felt His will. I will be part of the end. You can take it, my power. Use me. You know you can!"

"No..."

"Do it!"

"No!"

"DO IT!"

"NO!"

"DO-"

Ukyou screamed and fell back. She continued screaming and scrambled away, moving on her hands and knees. She needed to get away, away from it... away from him and...

She crashed into a pew. It was old and fragile and cracked under her weight. But it brought her back. She was in the church. The coffin was lying almost three meters away. Ranma was sitting next to it, looking like he had been thrown to the ground. Integra was next to him, and so was Artemis. They were all staring at her with worried eyes. None of them seemed to notice the dark things slowly retreating into the body.

Ukyou looked down at her arm. It was the arm with no scars. For a moment, she feared that something had been tattooed there by the dark shapes... but the shadows faded and were gone.

"Ukyou," Ranma said, standing up. "What the hell happened? I came when I heard you screaming..."

"I think..." Ukyou gulped. "I think I'm okay now..."

"Oh, good." Ranma heaved a sigh of relief. Then he looked behind him. "AH! CAT!"

The walls of the church proved no more sturdy then the pews.

01010

"...then the dragon looked down at the princess and in a voice like rolling thunder, said 'And I suppose you know nothing about this?'

"'I wouldn't know what you are talking about, your dragonship!' the princess gasped in mock surprise.

"The dragon shifted and groaned, writhing his serpentine body and rubbing his long whisker with his vorpal claws. 'I leave to sack one village and somehow, while I am gone, my tapestries burn down, and my fine horses run from their stables and my crystal goblets are shattered...'

"'A most unfortunate series of coincidences!' the princess gasped again.

"'Perhaps I should eat you,' the dragon threatened.

"'But you yourself said that a dragon is nothing without a lady princess or a treasure hoard for her to attend,' the princess pointed out shrewdly. 'Plus you choose me in particular because I am, as you say, the most vain and snobbish princess in all the kingdoms of the world, so I could never bring myself to destroy such priceless treasures.'

"To which the dragon could only sigh and nod and slump off to his cave for another night..."

V looked back at the pair. Yomiko made an excellent storyteller. Little Hotaru sat in her lap as the woman sat against a tree. The book was open in front of them, and Yomiko was reading from it intensely. She would deepen her voice, making it growl and snap like the dragon for the proper lines and soften it, making it high and squeaky for the lines of the princess. Hotaru was fascinated, her eyes riveted to the page as Yomiko flipped through the tiny book. It helped that Yomiko was doing something to the pages, making them twist and fold like the pages of a children's pop-up book but with far more animation than V had ever remembered such things having.

From what she knew of Hotaru's age, she suspected the book was a little too... young for her. But Hotaru didn't seem to mind. She would start and stare as Yomiko guided her through the passages of the story. She looked far more normal than at any time since V had met her. For the first time, the perpetual cloud of doom that seemed to hover about her seemed to have lifted.

Then the wall of the church exploded outward and Ranma came flying out. She was screaming something about a cat at the top of her lungs as she vanished into the swamp. V could only stare.

She really had no idea what to think about Ranma. He was certainly strong and skilled. But at the same time he was so vulnerable. A little thing like a cat made him flinch, and then there was his curse. It was hard to take his macho posturing seriously when a splash of cold water turned him into a buxom girl a head shorter than V. Seeing him change the first time had been a shock, but after a moment it had actually made her laugh for the first time she could remember since...

A moment after Ranma's departure, the door to the church reopened and Ukyou walked out. She was leaning on the older woman (Integral? Integra?) for support. Her long black hair clung damply to her head and she looked drained, like she had just run all the way to London and back. V idly wondered what the scream had been about. Whatever it was, it was enough to get Ranma to come running.

V chuckled. Perhaps the mighty Ukyou had a secret weakness too? Puppy dogs? Spiders?

Whatever it was, V didn't see why Ranma was so loyal to her. She could sense the tension between them, but Ranma seemed willing to follow her into hell and back. V found herself disliking Ukyou. She had met a few people like her in the London resistance. They liked to think they were in charge, that they knew better. But they were just scared and lost like everyone else, clinging to a veneer of authority to hide it as much as possible. She obviously had some issues, but V couldn't care less what they were.

Ukyou slumped into a chair with a mumble of thanks. The leader of this merry band nodded and sat down beside her. Artemis jumped up onto the table. He gave V a long look and then walked over to Ukyou. He placed himself beside her hand and she began to pat him, her arm obviously moving on autopilot. V frowned. She hadn't been able to spend much time talking with Artemis ever since those three had walked into her life. With Ranma's fear, he couldn't stay within eyesight.

She found herself... missing his company.

"What happened in there?" Integra asked, pulling a cigar from an inner pocket. It wasn't really a question so much as a demand.

"I..." Ukyou trailed off. "Integra... do you believe in God?"

Integra snorted. "Of course I do." She ripped off the end of her cigar with two fingers and lit the stump. "I am Integra Wingates Hellsing of the Royal Order of Protestant Knights. Our purpose is to defend the Church of England from the dark things in this world."

Ukyou looked up, and seemed to notice V for the first time. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't think Minako was responsible for crippling Alucard."

"Not this again..." V murmured. Integra and Artemis merely waited patiently for Ukyou to elaborate.

"At least, not wholly." Ukyou frowned and looked up at the sky. "Something interfered with their confrontation. Something changed the way it should have gone. Not just who won and who lost, but on a fundamental level. The power of Sailor Venus, it might have hurt Alucard, but I don't believe it could have hurt him as much as it did." She turned her gaze back to Minako sharply. "Minako, what attack did you use on him? Specifically."

"Attack?" V sighed and closed her eyes, trying to remember. It seemed a lifetime ago. But then, once she focused, it was easy to remember. It had been the first time she had unlocked the depths of her sailor senshi abilities. "The Love and Beauty Shock, it's basically-"

Ukyou cut her off. "I know what it is." Ukyou pulled her hand away from Artemis and crossed her arms. "The problem is that the Love and Beauty Shock is your Super Sailor attack. You shouldn't have been able to access it until you were infused with power from the Golden Crystal."

"Golden Crystal?" V wanted to deny Ukyou's words, but something about what she said rang true in her head. She knew... something about the Golden Crystal. It struck a chord in her memory that refused to make itself clearer. Artemis had once told her she was a reborn princess from an ancient and forgotten magical kingdom. Perhaps this was a memory from her past life? Yes. Yes, that seemed right somehow.

"Something interfered. It unlocked Minako's full potential, and I think it altered Alucard in some way..." Ukyou trailed off. "No, not just Alucard. All of them..."

"What are you talking about?" Integra snapped. "You're not making sense."

"All the vampires!" Ukyou stood up suddenly. "I've seen it. The way her magic slices through them like a hot knife through butter. The way it vaporises them instantly. I've seen vampires hit with silvered knives blessed by the Pope, I've seen them hit with bullets forged with fragments of the true cross, I've seen them struck by attacks considered the holiest in the world, but none ever reacted the way these ones did!" Ukyou was ranting now, her voice reaching a fever pitch. "It didn't just change Alucard. It changed ALL of them! Every vampire! Every ghoul! The very nature of what they are!" She spun and pointed to the church. "And in there is where it happened."

Suddenly the energy seemed to drain out of Ukyou again. Her arm slumped to her side. "One wound, not in Alucard, but in the very nature of what he is..." She reached up and clutched her hand over her heart. "Just like the one inside..."

"You're saying..." Integra frowned. "Something has altered all vampires, all at once? That's insane. It would take a power beyond science or sorcery to accomplish something like that. It would take..." Integra trailed off.

"It would take God," Hotaru said softly. Everyone glanced over, just now realising the girl had approached. Yomiko shrugged helplessly, still carrying the storybook. Hotaru was looking at the church, then she turned to look at Minako. "He chose you. He made you a weapon against them."

"Me?" V blinked. She opened and closed her mouth. She had never really believed in God. She had been raised Shinto, like her family. But she knew what it meant to be chosen, to be the shining knight standing against the innocent. She saw it as a great destiny. She knew it was a purpose she could never abandon. But Hotaru had not sounded like she was happy for her. She sounded like she was pronouncing V's doom.

"Don't be ridiculous," Integra stood up. "God helps those who help themselves. I don't need your heresy."

V couldn't help it, she just blurted it out. "God helps those who help others. Not those who hide like children."

There was a flash as Integra turned on her, pulling her blade from its sheath. V was aware of Artemis jumping in front of her, screaming her name. Yomiko was yelling as well. Then there was a loud clap and Integra's blade halted only a few centimeters out of its sheath. Ukyou was holding her wrist. For a moment, Integra struggled. Then she seemed to calm down.

"Don't EVER say that to me," Integra hissed at V. Her eyes were full of feverish intensity. "I am not running. I am fighting a war. Unlike you, and your petty acts of guerilla justice." She glanced at Ukyou, who released her and stood back. "At first, I had ten thousand people here. Survivors. Military. Police. Navy. Those who escaped the purge. I knew where to find them, I gathered them together. We found martial artists, psychics, magicians... I forged an army.

"Then they began to slip away."

She bowed her head slightly. "Bloody fools. They lost their heart. They said there was nothing here worth fighting for. Millions dead. Entire towns, entire counties cleansed of all life. We fought a retreating war, and they lost their heart. They left, one after another. For Europe? For America?" She snorted. Her eyes raised. "But I will remain. Even if the Queen is dead, even if the only thing left of my country and my church is me, I will fight these things to my last breath. And I will WIN. I will drive them from my soil and I will PUNISH them for their temerity!" Her voice had risen until she was screaming. "If you think I'm a coward, then get the hell out of my camp or I will kill you where you stand. Go fight a one woman war. I will say a prayer over your corpse when I stand victorious."

V had risen to her own feet by now, and was glaring at the woman. "We can't win by hiding. Can't you see it in the faces of your men? They're scared and tired. You need to take the battle to them! All staying here is doing is wearing down their spirit!"

"Calm down, both of you," Ukyou snapped. They glared at her in unison, but she weathered their looks with cold indifference. "Neither of you will win if you turn on each other."

V crossed her arms and raised her nose, turning away. Integra spat out her cigar into the mud and began to walk away.

"Wow, what did I miss?"

Ranma had walked up behind V so silently she screamed and leapt when she talked. There was a loud yowl as Ukyou grabbed Artemis and shoved him under the table so fast he became a blur. Ranma glanced at her, and Ukyou grinned tightly and nodded.

"They were just discussing... uh, spirit," Yomiko pointed out.

"Ah." Ranma nodded. Then she laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. These guys are pretty down in the dumps. I guess I have to show them how to be a man about it!" She grinned, thrusting out her chest. It bounced.

V laughed. "Ranma, at the moment, everybody with any spirit in this place is female."

Ranma gave her a glare.

"Everybody?" Ukyou chuckled herself. "What about him?" She pointed across the camp. V turned and looked. The woman with the rose-colored hair was standing near the church, glancing into it. She was doing a very bad job of trying to look inconspicuous.

"You mean Crystal?" Yomiko blinked.

"Yeah," Ukyou nodded. "He seems to be spirited enough, though he is avoiding me..."

"Ukyou," Yomiko coughed. "That is a girl."

"What?" Ukyou frowned at her. "No he isn't." She turned her attention back to Crystal, and her eyes narrowed. "That is a male chi I sense..." Then her eyes narrowed further. "Yomiko... when did Crystal join you here?"

"Uh... actually only a few weeks before you showed up." She laughed. "We were lucky, actually. An extermination squad had found one of our patrols, even though there weren't supposed to be any in the area, and she showed up out of nowhere and destroyed them all with some kind of magic. Saved Integra's life personally, if I recall the story correctly..." Yomiko trailed off. "Uh, Ukyou..."

But Ukyou wasn't listening. She charged across the field, her coat snapping behind her. She moved like the wind, her footsteps tearing divots from the ground. Ranma started and then followed her. V blinked, then took off as fast as she could.

Ukyou reached Crystal and her hand snapped out like a piston. Her fingers clamped down on the woman's neck and she lifted her into the air. With a cry she leapt forward, across the yard and smashed Crystal into a tree. It shuddered, and Crystal cried out in pain.

"Ukyou!" Ranma gasped.

V had already retrieved her transformation wand. She could hear Yomiko following her, and saw that most of the camp was looking this way.

"Zoicite!" Ukyou hissed.

"I..." Crystal gasped as well as she could with her throat in Ukyou's iron grip. She glanced down into Ukyou's inhuman black lotus eyes and V saw Crystal begin to tremble with fear. "I have no idea-"

"Don't toy with me," Ukyou cut her off, tightening her grasp and causing Crystal to choke. "I can see through your disguise." Ukyou smiled grimly. "Not just an illusion... some sort of physical disguise? Not shapeshifting... ah, of course. Just like in the series."

There was a loud click and V turned, seeing Integra standing nearby with a gun in one hand. It was pointed at Ukyou. "Put her down."

"This isn't who it looks like," Ukyou informed Integra without looking. Her free hand was fumbling at the back of Crystal's neck. Integra was about to say something else, but her words died in her throat as Ukyou gave a small 'aha' and pulled up. Crystal's face distended then lost all shape as Ukyou pulled up the back of her neck. Her hair, scalp and face pulled away like a hood.

Underneath was a pretty-faced man. He had straw-blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and cruel green eyes. Ukyou smirked at his look of shock, then she pulled down further. Crystal's clothes peeled from his body, and his entire form seemed to melt and shift away. Finally there was only a pile of white silk at his feet, and 'Crystal' was revealed. It defied logic. He was taller, for one, and even given the false woman's bust size, he was now thicker around the chest. He wore a coal-grey uniform with green piping.

"That's..." Integra lowered her gun.

"Uh... isn't that still a chick?" Ranma rubbed the back of his head.

Ukyou ignored her. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. Cryst- Zoicite stammered something. Ukyou's eyes flashed, literally flashed with cold white light. "Answer me!"

"I... was sent here!" Zoicite's voice was deeper than Crystal's, but not by much.

"Sent?"

"Well..." Zoicite seemed nervous, but Ukyou had reduced the pressure of her grip. She still held him against the tree. "Not really. I was supposed to scout the world. Discover what was happening. I..." He glanced at Integra. "I couldn't infiltrate Millennium. I could disguise myself and get access to the next best thing... an expert on vampires and a powerful sample I could bring back to my Queen."

"Alucard," V said dourly. Why did everything come back to him?

"What does Beryl want with vampires?" Ukyou asked. "I thought she was only interested in the Ginzuishou."

"Not Beryl..." Here Zoicite grinned. "Tethys."

Ukyou reeled back, releasing Zoicite. She looked stunned. "Tethys..." Ukyou shook her head. "That isn't possible."

"I believed it less than you," Zoicite was grinning now, rubbing his throat. "I can't believe she's scared of y-" Then there was a flash and Zoicite stopped in mid-word. He glanced to the side, at the silver spatula imbedded in the wood. A few hairs fell on his shoulder and a drop of blood trailed from his ear. "You cut me..."

"I'll do worse." Ukyou promised. "You are going to leave here. You are going to tell Tethys that this place isn't for her. Tell her that if I even think she's anywhere near me I will go up to the North Pole, track her down and kill her in her sleep." The words came out so cold that V did not doubt Ukyou meant every word of it.

"Leave?" Integra held up her gun again. "I think not."

"Let him go, Integra," Ukyou said, her voice brooking no argument. Integra looked like she was about to argue anyway, but then Zoicite vanished in a swirl of rose petals.

01010

Aptom was, at heart, a simple man. He had a few basic desires. He desired vengeance, for instance. He wanted to have his revenge on the Sailor Senshi, for killing his brother. He wanted to have revenge on Chronos, for tormenting him and enslaving his mind. Most of all he wanted revenge on that boy, Ryouga, the boy with the yellow tunic and the fangs. The boy who had defeated him like he was nothing.

He had come here looking for him, but couldn't seem to find him. So he spent his time indulging his other principal desire: power. He rose up in front of the remaining zoanoid, a Vamore. It was shaking as it stepped back from him. Its rodent-like face twisted into as close to an expression of fear as its inhuman features would allow. The large pods on its shoulder were open, revealing the stunted bio-laser weapons it carried. Aptom could hear the low bass whine of its system recharging the weapons.

He grinned and stepped forward. He could have killed the Vamore in a second. One touch and his infectious DNA would have invaded its body, corrupting it and transforming its flesh into nothing more than another carrier for Aptom. He would have gained its strengths, its ability to mutate into a powerful biological artillery piece. But Aptom preferred to toy with his prey.

He had already absorbed a Vamore once, and he would get nothing from this one except more flesh. The thing twitched. Its weapons were almost recharged. Aptom only smiled, his dangerous leer splitting the scar that ran down half his face. He could have willed the scar away, but it amused him to carry a reminder of his torment. There was no injury that he could not survive now. The Vamore had already vaporised him once, after all.

"Back away from him!"

Aptom spun at the new voice. He saw two people rushing down the street towards him. One was a leggy woman with long black hair and stylish glasses in a short white coat and even shorter mini-skirt. Her partner was a middle-aged man with thick glasses and short hair. His outfit would have looked perfectly normal on any Japanese wage slave, except for the thick fingerless sparring gloves and insewn metal shoulderpads.

They were moving so fast it was hard for Aptom to believe. They had just rounded the corner, almost five blocks away, and in the time it had taken Aptom to notice them had closed to only two blocks.

The man screamed something, thrusting his hands forward. A ball of blue- white light erupted from his outstretched palms. It roared across the black asphalt, sending up a wave of dust. The blast struck the Vamore in the chest, sending it staggering back.

Then it hit Aptom. These were martial artists. Just like the boy who had beaten him.

Aptom felt more than saw the Vamore getting to its feet. It roared and fired again, twin lances of angry red light flashing out from its shoulders. Its target was Aptom. He had inherited enough strength and speed from his victims to easily dodge the blast, but he deliberately slowed his reactions. The lasers tore through his arm without pausing, shearing it off and sending the limb falling to the ground. Aptom did not have to fake his gasp of pain. He had to remember to turn off the nerve-endings in his body if he was going to do stupid actions like this.

He fell back, staggering against the wall.

"Kyoko!" the man yelled, charging straight at the Vamore. The woman nodded and broke off, coming in towards Aptom. The Vamore had no time to react as the man smashed into it with his shoulder. A roar escaped the man's lips and the light around him seemed to dim even as his own body grew brighter, flashing with blue light. Then he was flying into the air, his fist rising as if it were carrying him upward with the sheer force of his blow. The Vamore fell back, blue and black light trailing down its body. Aptom could see it was dead. Its neck had been snapped by the force of the strike.

"Don't move," the woman named Kyoko said as she approached. Her face was filled with concern. Aptom lay on the ground, moaning and clutching his stump. "I'm a nurse, but I need to see your wound if I'm to do anything..." She knelt down next to him, stretching out a hand for his wound.

Aptom grabbed her wrist. "You don't need to see my wound," Aptom said sweetly. His voice was not filled with pain, but triumph. The woman had stiffened in his grip. "But then again, you don't need to see anything anymore, do you?" Kyoko jerked, and her eyes clouded over a moment later. "At least, nothing that I don't see as well."

Aptom stood up, detaching his hand from his new body. He felt his connection with the brain of the other Aptom severing. Already it was reconfiguring the brain into his own, even if for the moment he allowed it to retain its original form.

"Kyoko..." Aptom faced the man, who was walking forward hesitantly. Behind him, the Vamore was already finishing its own self-destruction as Chronos engineering eliminated all evidence of the monster. "You. What's going on? How are you still standing?"

"Kyoko is dead," the Aptom in the form of the woman said. She crossed her arms under her breasts and smiled wickedly.

"Her body and power are now a part of me," Aptom explained. He shrugged, and a surge of organic material burst from the stump of his arm. It pulsed and expanded grotesquely before suddenly contracting into the shape of an arm. Aptom held up the limb for examination. It looked exactly like the arm of the woman he had just killed. He then shrugged again and the arm expanded, the flesh darkening until it matched the rest of his base form.

"What?" the man screeched. "I don't believe you!"

"Then believe this, old fool," the Aptom-as-Kyoko roared as she charged forward. But her movements were slow, her steps unsure. Kyoko herself had run in these high heels like it was nothing. She had moved like the wind. But the body was moving clumsily, as if it were unfamiliar with how to fight in such awkward footwear. That was impossible. Aptom hadn't changed a thing about her. Every muscle and nerve and tendon was exactly the same as it had been before he had taken her. He should have had all the woman's speed and strength, but from the way the man was easily sidestepping the clumsy strikes, it was obvious he did not.

The man finally growled and struck out, his backhand catching the Aptom- as-Kyoko across the cheek. He flew back five meters before colliding with a mailbox hard enough to rip it from the sidewalk.

"You monster!" the man screamed, charging at the male Aptom. "What did you do to her?"

Aptom frowned. The man was rearing back for a punch. Then he grinned, and braced himself. With a roar the man struck out, his fist smashing into Aptom's head with enough force to shatter steel. Aptom's skull cracked and blood began to trickle from his mouth and nose. If he had been a normal being, he would have been dead. But his grin hadn't even faded.

The man stared, his eyes slowly clouding over. The bare skin of his fingers was twisted and deformed as the skin of Aptom's cheek sunk into it. Aptom chuckled to himself as the man died before he even realised his mistake. Then he stepped back and shook his head.

"Why didn't it work?" he asked his new body.

"I..." The body flexed its hands, the old man's face looking frustrated. "This is just a normal human body. There's nothing special about it at all. Not in the DNA, the arrangement of organs or muscles... just perfectly normal."

"It must be something else..." Aptom mused aloud. "Perhaps a learned skill that allows these martial artists to challenge a zoanoid?" Aptom grunted to himself as he considered that. His only limitation was his inability to absorb the memories and skills of his hosts. It seemed he would have to limit himself to zoanoids and those plant beasts if he wanted to gain more power...

Aptom spun around at the sound of someone clapping.

The woman was standing in the middle of the street. She was tall, with shoulder-length black hair that flowed sensually down her scalp. She wore a dress cut from a thin black fabric that hugged her understated but feminine curves. Her vivid brown eyes had no pupils. However, Aptom was not really watching her: he was more concerned with her companion.

It was a giant creature, standing over two meters tall. She looked like nothing so much as a modern art statue, a parody of a woman made out of the parts of a jet plane. Her eyes glowed and she shifted on her tiny feet as she looked down at Aptom.

"Very, very good," the smaller woman said. "I must say, you were everything we've heard you were."

"Heard?" Aptom said. His new body moved to stand beside him.

"Oh..." the woman tilted her head at the former human's movement. "Well, I do so hate talking to a large class." She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "Valkyrie?"

"Valkyrie is engaging!" the metallic woman screamed. There was a roar as hidden jets on her back fired and the thing raised into the air behind her commander. The backwash sent the loose skirt of the woman's dress rippling around her thighs.

Aptom leapt to one side and his other self went the opposite way. The thing roared and its breasts detached. A moment later that had morphed into missiles, streaking in on his old man body with uncanny speed and accuracy. The body couldn't begin to dodge. Aptom was blown against the side of a nearby building by the shockwave, the bricks cracking.

He fell to the ground and looked at the crater where his other self had been. There was nothing there except smoke and vapour. The body had been completely atomized. Even as he was recovering from this, he felt something falling towards him.

He snapped up his forearm to block and there was the crystalline sound of glass shattering. He felt a warm liquid splash over his entire body. It smelled vaguely of apricots.

Aptom looked up as the woman approached. She came to a stop with her hands on her hips, only a few paces from him. Her war machine settled down just behind her.

"I don't believe I have introduced myself," she started. "I am Azuma; Master of Chemistry and chief researcher of the Deathbusters." She smiled. "You are Aptom - close to the perfect killing machine. I have been watching you for some time now, ever since you arrived in Tokyo. I've been impressed by your efficiency and your ability to absorb the qualities of your opposition."

"You have?" Aptom asked slowly, changing his position subtly.

"Oh yes," she responded, laughing. "You see, we need you to perform a certain task for us-" Her voice cut off as Aptom launched himself forward, his hand slamming around her throat.

"Shut up, useless woman!" Aptom growled.

But Azuma was smiling. Aptom blinked. He could feel her skin beneath his hand, but it was like he was touching it through a thin layer of fabric.

"That would be Azuma's Ultra Strength Biohazard Prevention Gel, patent pending, that you are experiencing," she said, smirking.

"What?"

"A creation of my own design. It coats your entire body with a molecular sheath that your infectious DNA attack can not penetrate," she explained, then raised one hand to her mouth. "Now you realise the power of chemistry!" She laughed. Aptom remembered the vial shattering against his arm now.

"Fine, I'll just kill you the old fashioned way!" he growled, and willed his body to morph into a powerful combat form so he could snap her neck like a twig.

Nothing happened.

"That would be the optional Azuma's Anti-Zoanoid Demutagenic Enzyme," the woman said with a smile. Then her face went stonily serious. "Now, if you won't remove your hand... Chemical Buster!"

The woman waved her hand and for a moment Aptom saw a small tube concealed in her dress, then he fell back, screaming as his arms dissolved. He stared dumbly as the limbs simply liquefied into puddles of goo in a matter of seconds. He fell to the ground, staring up at the woman.

"Don't worry, none of this is permanent," Azuma stated. "We need you at your best if you are to be any use to us."

"I am not your servant!" Aptom roared, rising to his knees.

"Oh, not even a little?" Azuma frowned. "I swear you'll enjoy it. After all, the reason we picked you was because you have a personal grudge against one of our problems. We know where Ryouga is, you see, and we want him - or more accurately the girl with him - taken out of the picture. Plus we're going to turn you into an even more perfect killing machine. No more weaknesses at all!"

"No deal," Aptom said, smiling. Then Aptom-as-Kyoko jumped onto the back of the metal woman. The woman's eyes widened as the second Aptom began to laugh. Then her laugh died down.

"What..." Aptom-as-Kyoko was stunned. "But I was never touched by the liquid! I should be absorbing all your abilities!"

"Valkyrie is made of space age materials!" the machine-woman stated enthusiastically. Then her jets came to life, and the lower half of Aptom-as- Kyoko was vaporised by the flare. She roared and released Valkyrie, but the machine moved too fast. It grabbed her and flipped her into the air. "Valkyrie is deploying nipple nukes! Fox-three!"

Aptom could only watch in horror as his other body vanished into a plume of fire and smoke when the breast missiles slammed into it.

"Now, before we were interrupted..." Azuma mused as she turned back towards Aptom. "I believe I was making you an offer you couldn't refuse." She gestured and suddenly there was a small object in her hand. It looked like a small grey egg, ribbed along its length. "Welcome to the team, Aptom."

01010

"And who are you?" The man swirled his cape around his shoulders. "More importantly, why should I not kill you where you stand?"

Zoicite grinned. He could sense the power of this man from where he stood. It was immense, like a dark inferno. With power like that, one could rival Beryl. No, with power like that, Beryl could have been crushed like an ant. But Zoicite kept his back straight and his grin confident. He was not afraid. He could see the figures encircling him, a half dozen young women in scandalous outfits. He ignored them.

"Because I have what you want," Zoicite informed him.

"What could you have to give me that I could not take?"

"I believe you are searching for a young woman, with long black hair and scars on her arm, goes by the name of Ukyou?" Zoicite paused and held up his hand, weaving an image of the bitch over his outstretched palm. The man's glowing blue eyes narrowed, and on some unseen signal his warriors ceased their movement. "Do I have your attention now, Lord Bison?"

"You do."

Zoicite's grin blossomed into a full blown smirk. It had been so simple, once Tethys had given the order. Dangling such a limitation in front of him had been an irresistible temptation. Plus, this Ukyou had managed to destroy Jadeite as well. So Zoicite had learned everything there was to learn about her. Including the names of most of her enemies.

Zoicite reached up with his free hand and brushed back a few locks of hair. He could feel the tiny cut on his ear. Such an insult could not go unanswered. While he had been commanded not to directly attack or interfere with Ukyou, there had been no explicit order to avoid her enemies.

"Then I suggest you go here..." Zoicite summoned up a three dimensional map of the island, marking Ukyou's location with a glowing silver light. "But I suggest you hurry, Lord Bison. Otherwise, your rivals at Millennium will get to her first."

Zoicite didn't wait to see his reaction. He raised his wrist to his mouth and laughed delicately as he vanished in a swirl of rose petals.

01010

Rip Van Winkle walked into The Major's command center with her head held high. She knew she was going to die, but she would walk to her death with dignity. Her companions could choose to face death in whatever manner they preferred, and her only real hope was that the Major would have her killed last, so she could watch.

Yan strode casually beside her. His hands were in his pockets and he was hunched forward. He was grinning that irritating grin of his. His brother moved with more dignity, but with obvious fear in his eyes. His normally immaculate clothes were dirty and wrinkled, his hair in as close to disarray as Rip had ever seen.

As usual, the command deck of the Ex Machina was almost totally in shadow. Even Rip's vampiric eyesight had a hard time piercing the perpetual gloom. Figures moved just out of sight, updating the boards and computer displays that doted the walls.

The Major himself sat on a dais in the center of the room, his fat and unthreatening form perched comfortably in his command chair. A single spotlight shone down on him from above, making him the only thing that anyone could rest their eyes on. Sprawled at the Major's feet, his head resting just underneath the man's right hand, was the deceptively young form of Schrodinger. His boyish face split in a fanged grin on seeing her, and the cat-like ears on his head twitched.

"Lieutenant Rip Van Winkle, reporting as ordered, SIR!" Rip shouted once she was within a dozen paces of the command chair.

"Yo, Major Krieg!" Yan did not stop with her. He walked forward, grinning impudently as if he owned the place. His hand fished out from his pocket and extended towards the ultimate commander, the very heart, of Millennium. "Pleased to finally meet ya face to face! Nice digs you got here." He grabbed the Major's hand and shook it vigorously.

"Charmed," the Major said with a laugh.

"Though the place could use some lightening up." Yan used his one good eye to examine the command center. "Maybe some bitches pole-dancing, or a few snack bars with children chained down... ya know, down to earth touches that really make a house a home."

"Yan..." Luke said dangerously.

"Oh right, this is my brother Luke," Yan explained, gesturing at the man as if the Major did not already know this. Then he stage-whispered, "He's kinda antsy about this meeting you wanted. Practically wet himself on the way up."

At least Luke seemed properly mortified, his face draining of what little colour his undead flesh had. The Major, for his part, was merely grinning.

"Yes, Mr. Valentine, I vill take zat under advisement." He cleared his throat. "But ve haf business to attend to and miles to go before ve sleep, and all zat."

"Sure, boss," Yan said, stretching and walking back towards Rip. She glared at him for a moment, then fixed her gaze on her ultimate superior.

"Lieutenant Van Winkle," the Major nodded. "Report."

Rip took a long breath. "I haf failed in my mission, Major." She bowed her head. She would offer no excuses or apologies. They already knew everything she knew, through the chips implanted throughout her body. They knew about her effort to defeat V, and the rescue by... that woman. They knew about the confrontation at the mansion, and the escape of the resistance... apparently with whatever it was they had come for. They knew about Rip's pursuit across the English countryside, her constant pursuit. How she had put every minute bit of her hard-earned training and vampiric prowess to the test, trying to find the trail of the fleeing rebels. How she had found their trail numerous times. How she had come so close, SO CLOSE, to finally cornering them. How that woman - the damnable woman! Always that woman! - had always managed to find a way for them to escape. Her fists tightened, but she kept all her thoughts inside.

"Raise your eyes, Rip Van Winkle," the Major said. She did so, and saw he was smiling. "I do not sacrifice useful officers for no good reason. And I did not summon you here because you failed." His smile split further, revealing his fangs. "In fact, I haf learned exactly vere your target has fled."

"You... you haf? How?"

"A little bird told him," Schrodinger spoke up. "In fact..." He looked at the Valentines and grinned. "He told us many things. Like how ze rumours of ze death of Integra Hellsing vere greatly exaggerated."

"She... has joined up vith Hellsing..." That worried Rip for reasons she couldn't quite put to words.

"Yes," the Major explained, extending both hands to his sides in a placating gesture. "So I have called you here to expand the scope of your orders. You will track down V, all her friends, Integra Hellsing, all her companions, and wipe them out to the last man."

"Now we're fucking talking!" Yan screamed. "I've just been itching to get another shot at that bitch!"

"With all due respect, Major," Luke said slowly, "why take us here to do that? You could have just told us our new orders and given the locations of the rebels via the radio."

The Major nodded approvingly at the blonde vampire. "Very astute, young Valentine," he said. "I think perhaps your team shall require slightly more support for such an important operation." Suddenly he brought his hands together, clapping loudly once.

A light shone down on another part of the command center, one of the side entrances. It was a massive door made of metal with strong bands. Beyond that door, Doc did his work. There was a hiss as the doors unlocked, and the massive deadbolts slid away. In a cloud of steam they opened.

From the steam stepped a woman that Rip did not know, but who immediately set her on edge. She was tall, with ethereal blonde hair that flowed down her body to her hips. She wore a dark evening gown and white opera gloves. Her face was aristocratically beautiful, despite the slightly iridescent green veins that shone just under her eyes. Rip could sense a power in her, something primal and dangerous but also tightly restrained.

Then Rip staggered as the next presence entered the room. It was in a cage, a giant box with bars so thick they would have rivaled tree trunks. The cage rolled into the room behind the woman, who smiled and strutted as if her presence was a favour she gave them. But Rip no longer cared about her, because something moved in that cage. The shadows made it impossible to make out, except the fact that it was human-sized, and the occasional flash of its mad red eyes.

Whatever it was, it reeked of power. A terrible, dark power into which all other powers sank like stones into the abyss. It didn't radiate, it consumed. It was madness and hunger and terrible, terrible purpose.

"Zamiel..." Rip whispered reverently.

"Ah, Lady Alexia, I take it she is complete?" the Major asked calmly.

"Yes, Herr Major," the woman said, inclining her head slightly. "Your lab is crude, by modern standards, but serves very well. I doubt we shall ever have a better test subject, but the experiment in combining our techniques seems to have worked out well."

"Excellent, excellent," the Major said, clapping. He turned to Rip. "Alexia here represents a concern of certain corporations amenable to our cause and who have found recent events in the world not to their liking." He smiled, a vicious and dangerous smile. "In exchange for our harbouring them, she has offered her expertise in weapons manufacture. And I can think of no better way to test our prototype than on your mission."

"J-ja..." Rip Van Winkle nodded, not really taking her eyes off the cage. She had stopped praying to God a long time ago, but she almost wished He would have mercy on whoever that thing was unleashed upon.

Almost.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Well, I can't imagine us getting any complaints about this chapter. I mean, it had Akane and hot wet tentacle action! Seriously, people, what more do you want?

Epsilon: Plot? Poetry? Pugilism?

Blade: We always have lots of the latter. And, uh, the former. Mostly the latter.

Epsilon: Yup, we have so much of the latter that we won't have any room for the former for the next couple of chapters!

Blade: Yup! Next chapter is when we officially run out of ideas and start the tournament arc! Just like Naruto! Except with less sexism!

Epsilon: Yup! And just like Dragonball and Yuu Yuu Hakusho, we're certain this will skyrocket us to popularity! Plot and character are passe. TOURNAMENTS! That's where it's at!

Blade: So, the next few (dozen) chapters will be us taking every possible faction in Hybrid Theory and turning them into three-person teams, which will then fight each other in 100K battles until we run out of combinations!

Epsilon: So which of your henchbabes are on your team?

Blade: Well, y'know, I'd like to take Pink and all, but... uh... I think I want to win. So I'll take Cologne. And, eh, I dunno, Tethys.

Epsilon: Okay. But only if I get Arkanphel and Resurrected Alucard.

Blade: Hey, that's cheating!

Epsilon: When you write two thirds of the fanfic, you can cheat all you want to!

Blade: I wrote two thirds of LAST chapter!

Epsilon: Okay, fine, we'll leave it up the audience. So okay, audience, this is the FIRST OFFICIAL HYBRID THEORY POLL!

FIRST OFFICIAL HYBRID THEORY POLL!

"Who do you want to end up on Chris' and Aaron/Ukyou's teams?"

Rules:

#1: Blade and Epsilon get votes.

#2: You do not.

#3: Ha ha ha ha ha.

Blade: Remember to tell us your opinions now, so we can print them off! These Canadian winters, after all, are pretty brutal and you need tinder from somewhere.

Epsilon: On a related note, here's an excerpt from next month's chapter, which may change according to your vote! But probably won't!

Artemis could only stare in horror. Everyone else had stopped moving too. They were all staring at the little girl now. Her transformation had blown away most of the church, letting everyone see the end coming. Sailor Saturn stretched her arm up, holding the Silence Glaive up to the sky. When it fell, her power would destroy the entire world. Sailor Saturn's mouth opened, and she began chanting the final thing anyone would ever hear.

"DEATH..."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 19: And One


	19. And One

Hello all you bitches! This is Yan (and Luke's) Hybrid Theory Paper Phallus Recapping Special!

Of course, you'll just have to imagine that me and bro look like paper phalluses... cause this stupid thing is in text only. Who reads fucking books these days? You can't even see any tits! Except for that Yomiko chick. She reads books and has great tits. Too bad she, and everyone else, is going to die soon!

Oh man, is the shit about to hit the fan this time! Rock on! First off, yours truly, the inestimably cool Yan Valentine made his big reappearance last chapter. I totally punked that stupid golden bitch V! I rock! Unlike that homely chick Rip Van whatever. She couldn't kill V or Ukyou! Twice!

But we may get a rematch, which I am so going to totally win! First Ukyou runs into a bunch of soldiers out in a swamp with number one virgin bitch Integra Hellsing, then she finds out they've been inflitrated by a servant of some stupid Dark Kingdom called Zoicite. And Ukyou, after learning all this... lets Zoicite go!

AH HA HA!

Is she stupid or what? So, of course this guy immediately turns and sells out the location of Ukyou to both the righteously evil armies of Millennium and Bison. Oh, Bison is this guy I can kinda admire. Use my unstoppable psychic powers to kidnap hot barely pubescent girls and turn them into my stripper lesbian ninja hit squad? I would SO be there! Maybe there'd be a bit more killing, but I could totally hang with Bison.

Anyway, I got kinda distracted, where was I? Oh yeah. Hot chicks. Turns out V is having issues or some shit. But who cares? Also that little girl Hotaru is having issues 'cause her daddy died and everyhting she cared about was killed. And there's Sailor Pluto, who was also moping even though the girl that got killed had nothing to do with her family. Course, she got her head back on straight when this chick Chizuru showed up. That one kinda reminds me of Integra, ya know. Hope she buys it this chapter. Geez, these Sailor Senshi do nothing but mope around about their families getting killed. Maybe I should go to America, pick off Usagi's mom and dad and send her their heads? That would be awesome! Write that one down, bro.

Speaking of travelling the world, I think when I do I'll go find that Pink chick. She is really hot in that creepy 'call me queen' way. Anybody whose goal in life can be pretty much summed up as 'I am going to hurt everyone else so badly they'll never forget meeting me' gets double As in my book. I hope she turns on Akane like a rabid dog!

But really, the big thing you have to remember is that Ukyou confronted Big Red last chapter, and he just confirmed that she is going to destroy the world. I guess I can see it. But the girl has all the wrong attitude! If I was destined to destroy all creation, I would be living it fucking UP! Personally I plan to petition God. He did a totally piss-poor job choosing an antichrist. I think I would make a much better final villian than Ukyou.

What do you think, bro?

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 19: And One

The summer wind blew down the streets of Tokyo. Today the sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. The sun was rising bright and strong in the east, the water of the bay turning a brilliant scarlet. The moon hung low in the sky, ghostly against the azure air. According to the newscaster, today would be a once in a lifetime event, a perfect solar eclipse. Already there were stands along the streets, selling the box-glasses used to safely view the astronomical miracle. Not miraculous so much because it happened, but because the scientists and astronomers were baffled by why it was happening today.

Akane brushed through the crowd as she walked down the street. Today, even at this hour, the streets were filled with people. Children and teenagers and adults, all laughing and joking. The city had adopted a festival air. As far as they were concerned, the eclipse was an excuse to hold a party. For the first time since she had arrived back in the city, Akane felt like the tension had begun to lift.

This was the spirit of Tokyo, of Japan. Monsters and demons and violence in the streets? It would not keep these people down. Not for one moment.

Akane was grateful not just for the chance to enjoy herself, but for the opportunity it gave her to move about freely. With the streets so packed with people, she did not fear being discovered by Chronos spies nearly so much. Besides, she couldn't spend any more time in that house all by herself.

Chris had left even before sunrise. He was looking for Chizuru, the woman who could help him defeat Goenitz. Cologne had left shortly thereafter, claiming she needed to explore the city. Akane could see that something worried the old woman. When asked in private, Cologne had only looked at her oddly. 'I sense a storm coming,' had been her words, then she had left.

Akane had shrugged and considered asking Shampoo to come with her, but Pink had grabbed the girl and ordered her to come along. She and her sister had left before Akane, claiming to have 'errands' to run.

Akane frowned at the thought of Pink. She needed to be dealt with. Akane still believed that Chris could be saved. He just needed to get away from that girl.

And so she was out here, looking for Ukyou.

Patoratsyu scuttled along in front of her, and Akane glanced down to make sure she was still following him. Akane still remembered confessing to the land octopus her admittedly sketchy plan. She hoped to find Ukyou. Ukyou had been at least partially right about Chris, and she did have a tendency to at least have a clear plan... maybe she could deal with him. More importantly, maybe she could figure out what to do about Pink before the girl hurt more people.

Even more then that, it felt right. She had just woken up this morning, her mind reeling from another nightmare. But she had woken up with the feeling that she had to find Ukyou. No, not just the feeling, the certainty.

Akane had been wondering aloud how she could find the girl, when the octopus had grabbed her arm and started tugging her towards the door. She had looked down at him, asked him if he could find Ukyou. He had nodded. Then she had asked how. Akane was surprised that an octopus could stare at someone with such open contempt.

Then Akane remembered that he used to belong to a man obsessed with finding Ukyou and getting revenge. She had felt pretty silly, right about then.

Patoratsyu was leading her into one of the seedier parts of Tokyo. The buildings were run-down, with rusted iron girders appearing through the broken facades here and there. What walls weren't filthy were covered in gang signs. The people lingering on the street corners gave her long, dangerous looks as she passed.

Akane met their gazes unflinchingly. She allowed her aura to flicker and flare if any of them didn't look away quickly enough. They all turned away. A few months ago, she would have been scared to be alone in a place like this. But now... now she had learned to fight and survive. She carried a sword like it belonged on her.

A soft pained squeak caught Akane's attention. She looked down to see a foot stepping on Patoratsyu. The foot was connected to a leg in a purple jumpsuit. The boy in the jumpsuit was short and thin, with blond hair that flew up from his head in a series of long spikes. He was grinning down at the captured animal, his hands in his pockets.

Behind him loomed a man larger than any Akane had ever seen. He was a green mountain, with a barrel strapped about his immense midsection. But he looked like a solid wall of muscle, with a face to match.

"Heh heh. Look, Gan, lunch!"

"Uh..." Gan scratched the side of his head. "Edge, I don't think..."

"I've never been one for octopus sushi, but maybe I'll make an exception today and..."

There was a sharp hiss as Akane drew her blade. All eyes in the road were suddenly on her.

"Release him," Akane said with as much force as she could. The big guy gulped and backed up a step. The little wiry one only seemed to grin.

"Nice blade..." he said. His voice was high-pitched, slightly manic. "Wanna see mine?" He pulled one hand from his pocket and with a flip of his wrist readied a butterfly knife. It snapped into his palm with a metallic clack.

Akane didn't want to fight this boy, but he was clearly asking for it. She frowned and assumed a stance Shampoo had taught her. "I don't want to fight. I just want you to get your foot off my pet."

"Your pet?" Edge grinned and chuckled. "Maybe I should take him as payment, for letting you walk through our territory with the blade-"

"Edge! Leave her alone!"

The new voice brooked no argument and Edge immediately stepped away. Patoratsyu skidded back behind Akane now that he was free, rubbing his scalp and glaring at the boy. The newcomer was even shorter than Edge, with the body of a slender young man. He wore tight black motorcycle leathers with spiked shoulder pads and a helmet emblazoned with a skull motif. He moved with the confidence of a man three times his size.

"I wasn't gonna do nuthin', Akira!" Edge whined.

"What did Daigo tell you about picking fights?" Akira snapped.

"But she can take care of herself!" He pointed at Akane with the hand not currently holding a knife. "Look at her stance! She knows how to use that thing!" Akane might have taken some pride in that statement, but she was too busy staring at the newcomer.

She should know him. She had seen him before. Akane could feel something around her, like a pressure in the air. It was a deep tension, a rolling sense of impending purpose. She realised dimly she had woken up with it this morning. It had grown stronger, minute by minute. There was something here she was supposed to do. She knew it.

"Besides, Daigo said it's okay to fight if the other person agrees..." Edge trailed off lamely under the hidden stare of Akira. He had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot.

"We don't have time for this, Edge," Akira said flatly. "With this many people around, we have to step up patrols. Kyosuke's group is taking the day off so they can actually attend classes for once, and we're going to have to pick up the slack."

"Geez, Akira, you're no fun anymore..." Edge kicked idly at a stone on the sidewalk.

Akira shook his head. Then he turned to Akane, unlacing his arms. He bowed slightly. "I apologize for my friend's rudeness..." he trailed off. Akane realised that he could feel the tension in the air too, now. The other two just looked around dumbly, wondering why Akira had paused. "I... I'm sorry. I lost my head for a moment. This really is a bad neighbourhood, though. If you want, I can escort you to your destination."

Oh great, a pick-up line. Akane smiled politely. "No thanks." She sheathed her sword. "I'm actually looking for a friend of mine... my... uh..." She blinked. Well, it had been a long time since she used this excuse, but it would work just as well. "My boyfriend actually."

"Oh?" Akira tilted his head to the side, the light glinting of his visor. "And who would that be? I know most people in this part of town."

"His name is Ukyou..." Akane trailed off as Akira suddenly stiffened. Akane backed up a step, not sure what to think, as Akira stared at her. Then the boy reached up slowly and undid the clasps on his helmet.

When he lifted the helmet away, Akane saw that he was not a he. He was a young girl, younger probably then Akane, with hair in a short bobcut and an earnest face. "Did you say... Ukyou?"

01010

Ukyou woke up with a start. She was shivering. Her body was covered in a cold sweat. She clutched her arms around her naked chest, trying to slow the beating of her heart. It was the same dream. The same sacrifice. Again and again, every night. But the shakes died down quickly. Her pulse returned to normal.

The tent she was in rippled slightly in the breeze. She reached out and grabbed a shirt, slipping it on mechanically. Aaron no longer even cared about her flesh. Months of living in her body, of living her memories, had dulled his sensitivity to the strange sensations of her female physiology.

Ukyou stopped, her pants halfway on. They were getting used to this. It had been abhorrent to them at first. She had despised him, and all he represented. She despised the concept of being 'unreal' with every fiber of her being... but she was getting used to it. Aaron just couldn't seem to get that niggling thought out of the back of his mind, that feeling that everything in this world was from a fairy tale. That none of it was real. But Ukyou could only see it as real. It was everything to her. It had been all she had ever known.

But they were getting used to it. It chilled her to the bone. She looked back, wondering when the last time she had cared, truly cared, about Aaron being trapped within her had been. Weeks? Months? The wishing sword, surely? But no... if she'd been as fanatic about a cure for her 'curse' as she had been at the beginning, she would have taken the sword and damn the consequences. She had been more concerned with other things. Ranma, and Hotaru, and Akira and Ran. Defeating Vega.

Ukyou doubled over, retching suddenly. Her hands curled up in front of her and she stared at the palms of them. In her mind, there was a sound, a deceitfully small crack, like a peanut being crushed. She hated that sound. She hated what it meant. She hated it with all her being.

But she was getting used to it.

Her hands wouldn't stop shaking for a long time.

When she exited her tent, it was dark out. Not that this was a surprise. Most of the people in the camp slept during the day and worked at night. They had to move slowly, limited by the darkness and their need to not use too many lights. Not that this was a problem for Ukyou. She could see fine. Aaron wondered idly if the chi they were focusing through their eyes could be seen. Did Ukyou's eyes glow dimly in the darkness, like a ghost's?

They shook aside such thoughts. With a thought, they scanned the web of chi, the spiritual ebb and flow of energy that connected all things. Locating the strand that would lead them to Integra, they set off. They had to meet with Integra today, for a plan. Integra wanted to make a decisive strike. If Minako could really kill any vampire, she suggested, they should strike at the very heart of Millennium: the Major. Sneak into his flying fortress and give her the opportunity to take out the fat psychopathic demagogue with one shot.

It just might work. Who could say if the Letztes Battalion could survive without its commander? But it was also a suicide mission. Even if they succeeded, they would likely die. Integra didn't seem to mind.

Ukyou was going to volunteer. She smirked. Of course, she had no intention of dying. She would go because Ranma would go. Ranma would go because he needed to protect someone, and to strike at the evil. She would go because she would keep herself alive. It was all she was good at, after all. She had driven away every friend she had. Even Ranma was cold and distant to her now, for reasons she couldn't understand. Reasons that made even Aaron feel hurt and betrayed. But she could survive. Jadeite, Pluto, Chris, Rose, Tethys... how many times had she survived despite all odds?

Ukyou was halfway to the table where Integra was sitting when she paused. Aaron quirked their head up and to the side. He had heard something. It was distant, but growing closer. It was a whine, a shrill shriek of tearing air...

His eyes focused, chi-enhanced vision cutting through darkness and distance with disturbing ease. What he saw made his face drain of all color.

"Incoming!" Ukyou screamed, running through the camp. The still-groggy soldiers began to look at her. She saw B. B. Hood glance up from cleaning a rifle. She saw Integra putting down her fork. It was all happening in slow motion.

She ran, and the people around her were moving in molasses. She dashed forward, guided blindly by Aaron's senses. She saw Yomiko a second later. She was with Hotaru. Hotaru looked up at Ukyou, and Aaron saw her face register Ukyou's panic. Hotaru knew something bad was about to happen, but her expression did not change at all.

"Yomiko! A shield! Quickly!" Ukyou gasped out.

"What?" the bookworm blinked, idly flipping back a lock of chocolate- brown hair.

Before Ukyou could answer, the first missile hit. The explosion drowned out all sound. The shockwave of it hit Ukyou as she pulled on her coat. Yomiko's mouth was open, she was screaming, her hands clutched around Hotaru. Ukyou grunted. She had stepped between the girl and the blast instinctively. The heat pushed against her back.

Then sound returned, and everyone was screaming. Screams of panic, screams of pain, screams of confusion... Aaron ignored them, filtering them out one by one.

"Yomiko!" he shouted.

"R-right!" The woman threw a briefcase into the air. It snapped open and for a moment it looked like it was snowing. Then she gestured and the floating sheets of paper began to spin and twirl. With an elegant gesture she flicked towards the camp, and the sheets began to expand into a dome. Aaron's heart fell. She could never shield the whole camp.

"To the left!" he shouted, "Seven o'clock!"

Yomiko reacted instantly, and her paper dome moved. The next missile hit it and there was another deafening blast. But this time the only thing sent flying were harmless bits of flaming paper, not corpses. Aaron's pleasure was short lived. A third missile struck in the trees nearby. Water geysered into the air, flaming wooden shrapnel rained from the sky. A fourth missile struck just north of the camp. Too far away to hurt anyone, too close for comfort.

"What's going on?"

Ranma was running up to them. Minako was trailing behind. Ukyou ignored him, grabbing the golden-armored senshi's wrist and pulling her forward,

"Minako, we need a shield! As large as you can make!" He turned to Yomiko, who was staring at the carnage, making little mewling noises in the back of her throat. "Yomiko, help her! Your paper isn't as tough, but it's more malleable."

Ukyou released Minako and started running again. She had no time to waste seeing if her plan worked. It had to work. She had to trust that they could stop the barrage. Or at least hold it off for long enough to... to...

What?

Aaron's mind went blank. He had no idea what.

He ran blindly, finding Integra. She was hunkered behind the picnic table, which she had thrown up on its side to serve as a makeshift shield. Victoria and B.B. Hood were with her.

"...provide cover fire," Integra was saying to the red-cloaked girl. She grinned and nodded. Ukyou shuddered. That grin was devoid of compassion. B. B. Hood might have be on their side, but she was not an ally Ukyou would trust. Integra turned to Victoria. "Vampire, can you see where the missiles are coming from?"

Victoria peeked up over the table. There was a trinity of explosions, but the golden net that had erupted over half the camp caught them, sending the plumes of flame and shrapnel harmlessly into the air. Victoria narrowed her eyes, looking beyond that.

"Yes." She slipped back down. "An airship."

"An airship..." Ukyou hissed.

"This isn't a random patrol," Integra snarled. "This is an assault. They wouldn't commit one of their flying fortresses to anything less."

Aaron couldn't help but agree. But he knew there was more coming. He turned to Integra. For some reason, he felt ashamed, looking at her. No, not ashamed. Guilty. He felt guilty.

"It's worse," he informed her. "We have incoming helicopters. Two dozen, at least. Packed to the gills with vampires."

Integra nodded grimly. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a cigar. She tore the end off with a twist of her fingers and lit it in a small fire that one of the explosions had ignited not far away. She took a long puff. "Then I suppose we fight."

01010

Batsu frowned up at the sun overhead and shaded his eyes. Couldn't that damn eclipse start already? It was too hot. For that matter, couldn't summer break start already? He grunted and crossed his arms, trying to move further into the shade. It was hard, considering there was nothing that really cast any shadows up on the roof.

Ah well, he might as well enjoy the fresh air while he could. Pretty soon Hinata would be up here looking for him, dragging him to class. And if not her, then Kyosuke. Couldn't those two appreciate the fine art of ditching?

"Attention all students," a voice called out faintly beneath him. Batsu quirked his head to the side, listening as the pleasant voice of the school secretary called mildly through the PA. She sounded even more spaced-out than usual. "There will be a school-wide assembly in the auditorium starting immediately. Attendance is mandatory. That is all."

Batsu was half-way to his feet when he blinked and smacked himself in the head. "What am I doing?" he muttered and sat back down. His entire body was sore, his muscles ached and his left side still burned from where that one monster had tagged him. He had no idea where Kyosuke and Akira had learned about those things, but fighting them was getting annoying. He rubbed his side and sighed. At least it got him out of classes... well, except for today.

Thinking about fighting always made Batsu hungry, and today was no exception. He pulled his pack towards him with his feet and rummaged in it. The box lunch inside was not the most appetising thing in the world. The chicken looked burned and was all mixed in with the vegetables, and all the sauces had coagulated in one corner. Batsu made a face and sighed.

Really, Hinata wasn't a half-bad cook, he mused as he started into it with fervour. It even tasted okay. She just really had to work on her presentation. Mainly because she kept insisting on presenting him with these lunches in front of everyone, and Batsu couldn't stand the looks of mingled horror and pity anymore.

Once he was finished Batsu stood up and began kicking around a bit. Damn, Hinata was late. She should have been here before he was halfways finished, then she would have yelled at him and he would have yelled back and she could have dragged him kicking and screaming down to the assembly and Kyosuke could have laughed at him and...

"Aw, for crying out loud..." Batsu couldn't believe he was doing this, but he actually started down towards the auditorium willingly. The halls of the school were deserted. Batsu slowed down. It was eerie. There weren't even any teachers around. Worse yet, there was no sound. He felt his body tensing up, like he was about to be attacked.

By the time he got to the auditorium he was sprinting again. Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones. The doors ahead were closed, closed and barred.

From the outside.

Batsu pulled back his fist, channeling his chi. His voice began to rumble deep in his throat as he focused. His fist began to glow faintly. Batsu charged forward, ready to blast the portal into splinters with one strike.

"It'd be stupid to burst in like that."

Batsu skidded to a halt, his fist coming to a rest only a millimeter or two from the door. He looked over his shoulder and saw a girl standing there. She was Chinese, with long purple hair and wearing a form-hugging dress with a skirt so short it made Batsu blink. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning against the wall. On her back she wore a curved broadsword. She wasn't looking up at him.

"Who are you?" Batsu shouted. "What's going on in there?"

"Look for yourself, but open up the doors like a normal person." She smirked at some private joke. "The auditorium is packed. If you blow open the doors like that, you'll hurt somebody."

Batsu considered interrogating her more, but frowned and turned his back on her. With a twist of his hand he snapped the mop-handle barring the door and pushed them open.

He coughed and fell back, covering his mouth. Red mist poured into the hall, briefly obscuring his view. He felt suddenly exhausted, like he had spent ten hours straight fighting, and all his wounds felt fresh. He groaned and fell down, barely managing to land in a sitting position.

The mist cleared and Batsu stared into the auditorium. The students were all sitting around, most of them looking like they had been drugged. A teenage girl dressed in green walked among them. She floated between the rows of seats on clouds of scarlet, her fingers caressing the faces of all whom she passed. In her wake, the people... changed.

Batsu had never seen anything like it. They went from groaning and struggling to just sitting there. Their eyes shone and their lips smiled. They stared after the girl in adoration. She smiled back at them. Even Kyosuke, whom she was just now passing, wasn't immune. Batsu would never have thought the dour boy could look so happy, so filled with bliss.

"What's... going on..." Batsu struggled to his feet, panting. The mist had thinned and he could breathe easier now. His strength was returning, but slowly.

"She's enslaving them," the mystery girl explained, still not looking up. "Everyone she touches is her slave."

"What!" Batsu groaned and took a step forward. The girl in the auditorium was closing in on... "HINATA!"

Batsu was about to rush forward again, when he heard a hiss of metal on leather and felt something cold and sharp press against his throat.

"You..." he snarled.

"I've been ordered not to let anyone in or out of that place," she explained coldly. Then she smiled, a grim smile. "But I was never told I couldn't help you."

Batsu blinked, and she capitalised on his confusion to pull him away from the door. She pushed him against the wall roughly, and he gulped as the blade drew a bead of blood. "You want to save your friends? Rushing into that mist will only sap your strength, and those students will kill to protect her. All you'll do is play into her hands." She drew the sword away from his throat, and with a flourish planted the tip into the tile floor. "But I can help you save them. All you have to do is exactly what I say."

01010

Ranma felt his blood pumping, his breath coming quickly. Beside him, Minako cried out and fell to one knee. Her hands were extended skyward, and above them a great golden shield shimmered and flowed. It was made up of thousands and thousands of tiny golden hearts. He could hear the explosions just beyond it, five of them in rapid succession. But the shield held. Minako held.

He couldn't stand there all useless. He had to do something. He snarled and leapt to a nearby tree. His fist lashed out, his voice roared and the trunk exploded under his knuckles. He darted under it, and caught the massive trunk with both hands. It was heavier than he thought. His muscles strained, burning as he pushed them.

"Minako, make a hole!" he shouted.

A second later, a hole appeared. Ranma took only a second to line up the shot. He could see the next stream of missiles incoming. He roared again, pushing everything he had into his arm. The tree flew straight and true. The missiles caught in its branches, dozens of meters in the air, and exploded... one explosion taking out another and another in turn. He grinned.

"Good idea!" Yomiko cried. She too had been building a shield, but now she tugged down and it collapsed into a rain of falling white. With a series of sharp gestures, she grabbed pieces as they fell. She whirled gracefully, her long hair trailing behind her, her brown trenchcoat flaring slightly, then she snapped her hands up. A dozen paper airplanes flew from her fingertips, flashing through the sky with the speed of bullets. The next barrage met with the same fate as Ranma's. Minako smiled and slowly climbed to her feet.

Then dark shapes flashed over the clearing. The wind blew up in their wake, pushing everything down. Yomiko's paper scattered as she struggled to keep it under control. They were huge, each the size of a city bus. The helicopters were brown and grey, big boxy things with huge rotors and they did not move especially fast. On their sides, some monsters had painted the Nazi swastika.

Ranma was gawking, and thus he didn't react until the sides of the helicopters unfurled like paper doors, revealing dozens of dark shapes inside. They howled inhumanly as they fell from the sky. The air was filled with the roar of their bloodthirst, the deafening drone of the helicopters and a small buzzing sound. A sound that tickled at the edge of Ranma's memory.

Minako dropped her hands, the shield vanishing in an instant. There was no way she could have covered them from those things anyway. Instead, ten points of light began to form at the tips of her fingers and she spread them into the air. She would cut them out of the sky. There was no way this suicide drop could work, not as long as Minako was alive.

And the vampires had to know that.

"CRESCENT BEAM SH-"

"GET DOWN!" Ranma grabbed Minako by the back of her neck and pushed. A moment later a small black shape shot through the space her head had been. Her long golden hair was tugged violently to the side, and a dozen strands flew free as the projectile cut them free. He landed next to her, hearing her cursing.

Then he heard the monsters land. He growled and rolled to his feet. One of the things was only a meter from him. It carried a more modern-looking firearm than he was used to seeing them with. It was firing wildly into the crowd of humans, laughing and howling. Ranma beheaded it with a single strike.

He grabbed the gun before it fell from its nerveless fingers. He spun the weapon along his fingertips, then launched it like a boomerang. It scythed through the air and struck another vampire in the head. Ranma had not learned the trick of making dull things sharp like his friend Ryouga had, so that vampire survived.

For about the two seconds it took Ranma to close on it.

Then Ranma spotted him. The elegant pretty boy vampire from the mansion. His long flowing blond hair and immaculate white suit. He had pinned a man against a tree with one loafer, and was holding his ornate pistol against the man's head. Ranma felt his heart racing further. He kicked a stray stone up. It flew true, and struck the vampire's hand the moment he fired. The bullet tore a good hole through the tree, but the man lived.

Luke looked over at Ranma. His eyes narrowed.

"Come back for more?" he asked.

"No running away this time," Ranma told him.

The vampire smiled, his fangs glistening in the light of the fires. "I'm afraid I have another engagement. We have something special planned for you."

Ranma was about to ask what that was when he felt it. His jaw clenched tight and he felt his heart stop for a mind-numbing instant. He turned mechanically and saw it.

The airship was huge, a giant blimp as grey as a storm-filled sky. It hovered only a few hundred meters away. Black shapes - more helicopters, Ranma dimly realised - flocked about it. But Ranma barely saw any of them. His eyes followed a seemingly tiny black shape as it fell from the bottom of the airship. He could barely make it out with his eyes, but he could feel it. He could feel its rage. He could feel its hate. He could feel its hunger.

It crashed into the forest floor, and for a moment Ranma hoped it had died. Then an ear-splitting shriek broke free of the forest. It wasn't human. Nothing human could make that sound. Ranma backed up a step.

"You can feel it, can't you?" Luke was saying. "It's magnificent. A perfect killing machine. Of course, I don't plan on being here when she shows up. They can't control her, you see. Not even with the chips." He chuckled. "It didn't used to be this way. She was just another chip job until a few weeks ago. Then... then one day, she just went mad. Tore her captors to pieces, nearly killed Dok. Made quite a mess."

Ranma looked back at him, and he could see the worry in the vampire's features. Nearby he could see Minako and Yomiko fighting. Golden light and white flashes surrounded them as they held the vampires at bay. But he could see that this was what they wanted now. The vampires weren't trying to fight them, just pin them down.

So that it could find them.

Ranma cursed under his breath and ran toward them. They couldn't sense it. They couldn't feel it. They had no idea what was coming. He heard Luke laugh behind him, but he ignored it.

Just as Ranma reached them, the creature emerged from the woods. He skidded to a stop, and both Minako and Yomiko stopped in mid-strike as well. Now that they could see it, they could feel a part of its malice. It didn't look like much. It was a young woman, medium height, athletic build. She had hair the color of dried blood tied back in a topknot that flared in all directions. She wore a green military vest and matching shorts, with military boots that rose halfway to her knee.

But her eyes, they were pits of red hatred. And her mouth was painfully distorted, and like a shark's it was nothing but row after row of sharp teeth. She was taking deep, body-shaking breaths, like a hunting hound panting slightly after a long chase.

"W-what is that?" Yomiko gasped.

"I don't know, and I don't care!" Minako gestured and a golden heart formed on her palm. "LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" She thrust her palm at it and her attack flew forward like it had been shot from a cannon. The swampgrass parted in its wake. The thing just stared at it. Ranma felt his body tense up. Closer and closer the magical blast approached. Ukyou had said that Minako's magic was the death of all vampires. Even a touch would kill it. The blast was moving in slow motion, the thing just gazing at it idly.

Then it vanished. Ranma's head jerked to the side, just barely able to follow it as the woman blurred to the side, a millisecond before the blast would have hit. She roared and charged.

Minako's arm was still extended, her lips had not even closed from her shout, when it reached her. Ranma somehow threw himself between them. The thing's hands clawed out once, twice. Ranma smashed his wrists into its, and he felt the bones there ring out in pain. But it had worked, the monster had been rebuffed.

Minako fell back, startled. Yomiko grabbed her before she collapsed. Ranma could only concentrate on his enemy. For all her animal ferocity, she fought with a skill and discipline that surprised Ranma. Her moves were tight and controlled, vicious and brutal. He realised almost instantly that this was not an animal. This was a weapon. A walking implement of death.

He also knew, after the first three blows, that he had no chance against her. He struck, and she faded back. He parried, and his arms bruised from the pain. Even near-misses left shallow red lines across his flesh. When she struck, streaks of purple light followed in the wake of her fingers, and those wakes could cut and maim as easily as her limbs could.

"I can't get a clear shot!" Minako screamed.

"Ranma!" Yomiko called out in concern.

"Get out of here!" he roared. But even that much distraction cost him. The monster leapt forward, spreading her arms wide. A ball of violent light formed in front of her and Ranma could only cross his arms and absorb it as best he could. The blast threw him off his feet. He skidded across the wet grass and fell into a pool of stagnant water.

He coughed and rose to his feet. For a moment he was afraid, then he saw Yomiko fighting the woman. She was good. Her movements were not those of a martial artist, but of a person who had learned to fight the long and difficult way... by painful experience. She wielded a sword and shield made of paper. The shield was enough to balk the savage woman's claws, and the sword enough to keep her at bay. But Ranma saw the weakness in her technique almost instantly, and the monster was not far behind.

It backed up, and Yomiko fell for the feint, stepping forward to slash. The thing let the sword cut into her side. But then her hand snapped down, catching Yomiko's wrist. Yomiko gasped. Her sword had cut halfway through the creature's chest, a diagonal line starting at the hip and working up towards the heart... but it got no further. With a smile and a hiss of pleasure the thing pulled Yomiko forward, her other hand snapping past the woman's shield.

Ranma's foot collided with the vampire's neck and she snapped back, her claw halting bare centimeters from Yomiko's throat. He didn't pause, letting the moment of his impact push him away. He spun, coming back instantly and striking at the thing's hand. The blow knocked loose its grip on Yomiko. At the same time he pushed at her with an open palm, adding just enough of a cushion of chi that she was blown a few meters away. He allowed his hand to touch the paper sword still imbedded in the body, but it disintegrated into harmless sheets at his touch. He could feel an energy there, though, for just a moment. It was like the energy Ryouga used to turn his belt hard, but different... more refined.

The vampire reacted quickly to his assault. Still reeling backward, she stabbed her elbow down. It caught him in the side and his ribs almost cracked. He smashed into the ground hard. But he didn't pause. His legs scissored out, tripping her. She fell, but caught herself with both palms. She flipped away from him, and he flipped to his feet as well.

The wound in her chest was healing. Purple fire was leaking from the cut, and as it did, he could see the flesh reforming in its path. There was a flash of golden light, and another. Both of Minako's shots went wide as the thing bobbed and weaved between them. It was coming at him again. Ranma readied himself to meet it...

Then the creature halted and danced backwards. Ranma wondered why, until he saw the spatulas embedded in the ground at its feet.

Ukyou landed next to him, her long coat flaring behind her. For a moment, he saw the battle behind him. The people were screaming, the vampires were swarming over them. Integra and her two other soldiers formed a core of resistance, with a couple of dozen other men around them. Anything that came near them died, but those outside of their protective bubble were not doing so well. He ripped his gaze away from them, but it was hard.

"Leona..." Ukyou breathed. Ranma could feel the cold radiating from her body, but her voice was soft. "I'm... I'm sorry. You deserved better than this."

It took Ranma a moment to realise she was talking to the vampire. The thing was crouched in front of Ukyou, its lips curled back from its long sharp teeth and its fingers leaving furrows in the ground. But that's all it did. It held itself there. It crouched and snarled, but was not attacking. What was it waiting for?

"Are you okay?" Ukyou asked.

"Fine..." Ranma mumbled. Minako and Yomiko nodded as well. Then Ukyou's eyes widened.

"Where is Hotaru!"

01010

Kusanagi ran along the rooftops, his coat snapping behind him. The trail of his passage was a vortex of torn air and funnelled dust. Tile and shingles flew up as his footsteps tore apart fragile roofing. He barely noticed.

For weeks he had hunted. For weeks he had walked around the city alone, trying to find her. Now... now he could smell her. His face was split by a terrible grin. He had her scent now, and he was not going to let her go. Straight downwind he charged. There was no way that bitch would escape now.

Matsudaira. Not as good as the one who had actually done it. Not as good as the bitch that had killed Kaede. But she was a traitor. She had led the evil to her, allowed it to happen. Kusanagi would let her live long enough to get where the witch was hiding from her, and no longer.

He came to a park. It was full of trees and on the slopes of the hill people sat about in small packs, laying on picnic blankets and sharing laughter and jokes. He leapt, his bounds taking him from tree to tree as a red blur. A few spotted him, and they began to whisper and murmur. They sounded afraid.

Everyone was afraid of him now. They thought he was one of the monsters. His smile tightened. Maybe he was. But he was a monster with a very specific enemy.

He landed in the middle of the park, his eyes scanning the crowd. It took him only a few seconds to spot her. She wasn't even trying to hide. She was standing under a cherry tree, her face dappled by shadows. She wore the clothes she had worn in her previous life. He growled and flexed his arms, the blades of his heritage tearing free of his limbs painfully.

He stalked towards her, walking straight between a couple. He had never trusted her. He had never liked her. She was one of the ones who had experimented on Kaede, driven her away. She was to blame! She would have done the same to Momiji... wouldn't she? It didn't matter!

Matsudaira had spotted him by now, and she was turning to smile at him. There were two other people with her. One was a leggy brunette with short hair and a red dress that clung to her scandalously. But Kusanagi's eyes instantly fixed on the other.

He was tall, regal, European. He had short black hair and a blonde beard. He wore a blue uniform with a high collar like a priest's. But Kusanagi could sense a power from him, a power that made the very wind around him shrink in fear. It filled the air like noxious mist. Kusanagi noticed that even Matsudaira was stepping away from him, even she smelled of fear in his presence. The man fixed Kusanagi with ice-blue eyes and smiled, a smile filled with neither warmth nor caring but something that mocked both.

"And what have we here?" he murmured. Kusanagi did not respond to him.

"You're coming with me!" he growled instead, reaching for his target. In a flash the man's hand snapped around Kusanagi's wrist. His grip was iron and his touch burned like frost.

"I'm afraid I'm not through with this one yet," the man explained in a calm voice that carried within it hidden layers of menace.

Kusanagi met his gaze. "Do I look like I care?"

The man grinned, his white teeth flashing. Kusanagi pulled and the man released him without a struggle, forcing the shorter man to fight to retain his balance.

"Kusanagi..." Matsudaira said, actually sounding relieved. "It's a good thing you came."

"Kusanagi?" the man said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, well... any relation to Saisyu Kusanagi or his brood, by chance?"

"Never heard of 'em," Kusanagi said, glancing from side to side. He had backed off a step or two. His eyes narrowed. He could hear people beginning to leave now, slowly. The park would be empty in a few moments. But he could sense the caged animal fury in the air around this man, a smell like blood that filled the air with its foulness. He would not keep up this pretense long, but Kusanagi had to delay him for a few more minutes. "What do you want this witch for, anyway?"

The man smiled. Then he sketched a short bow. "How impolite of me. My name is Goenitz, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi." He raised a finger and pointed delicately at Matsudaira. "She, I have heard, knows where I can find a god called Susano-oh. I wish to talk with her about it."

"You can have her after I'm finished, then," Kusanagi growled. "Or what's left."

Goenitz's face darkened, and the air around him began to whip and flash. "No. I think that I am very interested in this. And I also think I'm not going to risk letting someone who just happens to be named Kusanagi and who just happens to also be looking for the god live."

Kusanagi felt something slam into him with the force of a bullet train. He screamed the air out of his lungs and flew back, tearing a deep gouge in the earth and crashing through two trees before he came to rest imbedded in a chainlink fence. He groaned and staggered forward, coughing up blood. What had hit him...

A flash of instinct later and he was leaping away as a small cyclone slammed into where he had been. It bore a perfect circle into the ground, like a drill into wood. The wind... Goenitz controlled the wind!

Kusanagi was transforming even before he landed. His power rippled, his muscles surged, pain flooded his limbs and he felt his clothing tear away. When he came to the earth he was in his full battle form. He saw Goenitz looking at him in some surprise, then Kusanagi flew forward like a rocket. The grass flew up on both sides of him and he screamed.

The tree Goenitz had been standing in front of stood for a moment. Then its top half began to slide from its bottom half, slowly at first then toppling with a startling suddenness. Goenitz was nowhere near it. He was standing not far away, on the remains of a couple's picnic. The people around him were fleeing, most of them screaming. Matsudaira and the brunette were sprawled near the tree, both having leapt away. But on Goenitz's cheek was a thin red line. He reached up and rubbed his white gloved hand against it, then glanced disdainfully at the blood on his fingertips.

"Vice, guard the woman," Goenitz commanded, his eyes fixed on Kusanagi. From the looks of him, he wasn't taking this nearly as casually anymore. That suited Kusanagi just fine.

"Kusanagi!" Matsudaira yelled as Goenitz fired a blast of razor-sharp wind. Even as he did, Kusanagi returned with a shot of blue lightning. The ground exploded behind him and Goenitz as they both dodged. Before the dust and debris had settled they moved in, each striking at speeds that defied human comprehension. Kusanagi's blades were deflected by some sort of skin-tight vortex, and Goenitz's hands produced tiny slashes of wind that could tear stone as easily as flesh. They both landed apart, covered in small scratches. Superficial damage, nothing more. "We can defeat him if we work together!"

"Shut up!" Kusanagi roared. He jumped back, powering up. He felt the energy gather in the tines behind his head. It swelled and shrieked as it scorched the air. With a roar he released it. A cerulean line crossed the park: where it touched, the earth vanished into geysers of sod and rock and shattered chunks of trees. Goenitz grit his teeth and threw out both hands. A vortex formed between them and the beam caught there before shattering in all directions. The lances of light peppered the park, reducing the pristine lawns into a cratered wasteland in a fraction of a second.

Kusanagi backed up, staring in horror. He could see bodies among those craters. Then Goenitz hit him, a blade of air that nearly tore his arm clean off. He screamed and staggered back, green blood spraying from his wound. Goenitz was taking deep breaths, but he was smiling.

"You are powerful, boy, perhaps even more than I..." He laughed. "But your compassion is a weakness. I do not think you can fight full force against me."

Kusanagi grit his teeth, clamping one hand over the vicious wound. It would heal, eventually.

"Chemical Buster!"

Goenitz leapt aside as a stream of acid flew at him. With a single wave of his hand he deflected the acid harmlessly. Matsudaira paid for her attack as Vice ran into her from behind. She clamped a hand on the back of the scientist's head and rammed her into the dirt. Matsudaira coughed.

"Oh no, none of that from you," the red-clad woman purred.

"Kusanagi, I can lead you to her..." Kusanagi paused as Matsudaira spoke, her words muffled by the dirt in her mouth but still comprehensible to his enhanced hearing. "Just save me from these beasts, and I will take you to the woman who killed Kaede."

Kusanagi dodged another attack. He struck once or twice more, but his heart wasn't in it. Goenitz could sense his hesitation, and he struck without mercy or restraint. His power was awesome, it tore the park to shreds. It blasted away trees and stones and people like they were made of paper. He was nothing compared to Murakumo... but even so, Kusanagi doubted he could defeat him with such a serious injury.

When he struck, it was without warning. The sultry woman screamed and fell to the side. She would live, the blade had only cut into her leg. But she would not be walking anytime soon. He reached down and helped Matsudaira to her feet. Goenitz had paused in his attack.

"How do we beat him?" Kusanagi said. He thought of Kaede. He kept her face in his mind.

"Just get me close," Matsudaira answered, and for a moment a sinister smile crossed her face. It was a smile of triumph. But it was gone quickly, and Kusanagi chose to ignore it. "I just need to touch him once, on the heart... and this will all be over."

01010

"I... I don't know," Minako said, her voice horrified.

"You don't KNOW!" Aaron roared, spinning on her. Behind him, Leona shifted and growled, but he knew he was safe. He had felt the power of the creature Leona had become long ago, but had not been able to move away from the other battle. The other vampires were bad enough, but Luke and Yan were leading them and Ukyou had been forced to help Victoria and B. B. Hood fend them off.

Yet here she was, because she had felt Ranma pushing himself. She had felt his chi reaching a peak that it hadn't since his fight with Vega, and she had felt him beginning to lose. So she had come, instantly.

And Leona had taken one look at her, and backed down. Aaron could feel her staggering power. He had never experienced anything quite like it. It was rage and hatred and pain, an endless well of darkness. But underneath it all, he had felt something else. Fear.

Leona feared her. But even as the thought had crossed his mind as he looked at her he realised that wasn't true. The thing Leona had become did not know fear. The fear came from somewhere deeper, hidden behind the source of that well. For some reason, the Orochi feared Ukyou. And because it knew fear, its puppet did too.

Ukyou had wanted to laugh, when Aaron reached that conclusion. But then she had realised that Hotaru was nowhere nearby.

"I... I just lost track of her..." Minako's knees were shaking, and her face had drained of all color. Aaron wanted to yell at her. He wanted to accuse her of being a fool. How could she lose track of Hotaru in this? He wanted to strike her, and for a moment his arm twitched as if he would, then the anger drained from him.

"I think... I think she fled into the woods," Yomiko was saying. Ukyou glanced at her. The woman was peering into the woods now, as if she could magically make the girl appear.

"No..." Ukyou moaned. A few minutes ago, Integra had given the order for her soldiers to retreat into the woods. Out in the open, they were sitting ducks against the vampire's superior speed and strength. But even as the first of the men reached the treeline, dark shapes had burst out from them. The men had screamed as the stiffly moving figures had dragged them to the ground. What happened next, Ukyou would rather not remember.

A quick probe of chi and Aaron had confirmed it. The woods were full of ghouls. Hundreds of them. Thousands. For a brief moment, he had wondered how they had been moved into position, then he saw that the ghouls were wearing shiny black gear that covered them head to toe except for the face. Gear that could protect them from the light of the sun, Ukyou wagered.

Ukyou took a few steps towards the woods, her heart falling. But then she smiled. She could feel Hotaru. She was in the woods, but she was alive. A wall of ghouls were between Ukyou and her, but that was no barrier at all.

Ukyou took two steps forward, when she felt Leona shift. She looked back over her shoulder. The vampire paused and hissed at her, its red eyes gleaming balefully. It had moved away from her, towards the heart of the larger battle. The Orochi was not brave enough to have its servant attack Ukyou... so it would attack something else. She could feel its frustration, its rage and pain. It needed to lash out at something.

If she left, Leona would start killing.

"I'll hold her," Ranma announced.

"You can't!" Ukyou turned on him. "You can't beat her!"

"I..." Ranma ground his teeth. "I have to. If I don't, everyone over there will die."

"I can hold her!" Ukyou protested.

"You have to find Hotaru, protect her." He grabbed her shoulder. "You're the only one who can."

"He's right," Minako said. "I don't know why that thing won't attack you. But we can fight it." She held up her fist. "Together."

"Yes..." Yomiko frowned and looked down. "The three of us, together. We can fight it."

Ukyou closed her eyes. They were right. She had to leave. Ranma had to fight it. Ranma had to face it. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Live," Aaron said, surprised that the word tumbled from his lips. Ranma grinned, that arrogant Saotome smirk. The smirk that said 'Hey, I'm Ranma Saotome! What else could I possibly do but be the best?' And just like that, as they stood staring into each other's eyes for a long instant, the entire world coming apart around them, Aaron realised he loved him.

The thought struck him like a freight train, left him stunned beyond words. This was not just Ukyou's feelings creeping into his psyche, or if it was they had wormed their way so far in that Aaron could no longer tell the difference. It helped, but only a little, that Ranma was at least female at the time.

But he shook off the thought. They needed to find Hotaru. And so he turned and ran into the woods, running away from Ranma.

01010

Ryouga grunted and shifted his arm, pushing the debris off him. It cracked and groaned and shifted to the side in an avalanche of dust. He stepped forward, unable to see where he was going but trusting himself not to get lost. He never got lost anymore, not since Nabiki had made her wish.

He could feel it, on the back of his mind. A subtle urging, drawing him forward. She only touched his mind lightly, not even enough to read his thoughts. Just enough so that she could compensate for his own lack of direction. He grinned oddly at that last thought as he stepped out onto the street.

The battle was going well for the heroes, he noted. The monster was reeling back, half its crab-like legs missing. Its carapace was dented here and there, sometimes so much that small rents appeared and leaked green fluid on the asphalt. In the near distance the flashing lights of the police cars hemmed the street in on both sides. Ryouga had to admit, they seemed to be getting good at getting the civilians away from these battles now. The only person who didn't look like she belonged here was Nabiki.

She was crouched behind the remains of a news van. Her face was smudged with dirt, and her blouse was torn. In one hand she gripped the wishing sword, 'just in case'. Her eyes were closed, but then she hardly needed them anymore. Her powers had been growing steadily for the last few weeks. She had never looked more beautiful to his eyes.

For a moment he let his gaze linger, but then she frowned slightly and her head turned in his direction. He grimaced and suppressed his thoughts, buried them beneath his depression. Nabiki did not need his lust to pollute her mind like he had polluted her body. In the last few weeks, he could almost have begun to think that maybe she had forgiven him, but he knew better.

She had started treating him differently. She gave him little kindnesses. A 'thank you' here, a small present there. Lending a bit of her concentration to make it so that he never had to get lost again. That had been a miraculous feeling. She had simply looked at him and told him to wander Tokyo as he would, and he had. He had visited places. He had gone back to his old house, played with his dog. He had visited old friends from school. The sheer freedom, the joy of being able to simply go where he wanted, had been overwhelming.

But then he had returned to her, and he had seen the truth. She had bought them a fancy dinner, and over the course of it she had started asking him questions, strange questions. Questions about what he wanted to do with his life, what his hopes and dreams were. She had never asked him about them before. He had wondered why, until he had looked into her eyes and saw fear.

It was always there now, behind her expression. She was always afraid of him. He was not a stupid man. He could see what she was doing. She was trying to get him away. To focus his mind on something else. She had heard that he wanted to help the people being attacked throughout Tokyo and had started letting him do that. She even guided him to the places he was most needed. Because she wanted him away.

He knew why. It had all changed that day, the day she had looked into his mind. He knew that she had seen something inside him, something so awful that it shook her to the core. Now she was afraid of him.

Ryouga used these thoughts to fuel his power, until his chi was a bonfire of green light around him. The asphalt cracked beneath his feet as the weight of his aura multiplied. He rose his eyes.

He was ready to fight.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

A blast of aquamarine light flashed across the street and into the giant crab. It shrieked and staggered back, another dent appearing in its body. The woman who had fired it was panting, her pretty face covered with a sheen of sweat. Her partner dashed in at the staggering monster, her yellow-white sword flashing in the sunlight. Ryouga knew these two, he had been at the scene of many of these battles with them. He idly wondered where their other partner was, the woman with the white coat and long black hair, then snarled and drove that thought aside.

The fight mattered now. Protecting Nabiki mattered now.

He was already moving before he even finished the thought. The woman with the sandy blonde hair got to the monster first. Her sword flashing out once, twice. The thing screamed inhumanly, one of its legs cleanly severed. The Sailor Senshi was leaping back, but the thing was swinging its large claw at her. Maybe she would have gotten clear, maybe not. Ryouga made the point moot.

He caught the claw with one hand, snarling. The thing fought his grip and Ryouga placed his other hand on it, his fingers cracking the armour. Then he roared and wrenched his arms, pulling suddenly and at the same time blasting out with all his aura. The monster was pulled in two directions at once and its joint was not up to the pressure. He snapped the claw free and with a grunt heaved it over his shoulder where it crashed into the already destroyed storefront he had been smashed into.

The blonde landed next to him. She smiled grimly and nodded once. Ryouga held up his hands, charging for a Shishihokodan, and acknowledged her thanks with a similar smile and nod.

The light came from the sky with the suddenness of lightning. It was bright red and Ryouga's eyes burned as he staggered away. A moment later there was an explosion and he was flung from his feet. He landed well, and was standing again a fraction of a second later.

When the smoke cleared he saw he had been blown away from the Senshi. The place where the crab had been standing was nothing more than a smoking crater now. Then a man-sized shadow fell from the sky and landed in the center of the crater with a loud crash. Ryouga held up one hand, wondering if this was friend or foe.

"Well, well..." a mocking voice called. "Four birds with one stone."

"Who's there?" the aquamarine-haired Senshi called out. She was standing ready to launch another blast of torrential water.

"My name?" The figure stepped free of the smoke. He was not tall, and his hair was slicked back. He wore a pair of mirrored sunglasses and a skin- tight navy blue bodysuit with yellow piping. A horrible scar crept down half his face. "My name is Aptom, little Senshi."

That certainly didn't sound like one of the good guys. Ryouga clenched his fists and began to focus on his chi, building up a fresh charge. The blonde stepped towards him, brandishing his sword.

"You killed that monster, but what do you want?" she asked.

"Careful, Uranus, I sense great evil from him!" her partner warned. Uranus nodded.

"Evil?" Aptom chuckled. "I guess you could say that." He stepped towards Uranus. "I am an engine of death, and I have come for vengeance. Vengeance for the brothers that your kind slew, and vengeance for the humiliation and pain I was caused, vengeance on the whole world for being so sick and twisted that it would produce a being like me!"

Aptom snapped his hand up, and the flesh on his palm peeled back, revealing a lens there. Ryouga shouted a warning and grabbed a convenient street sign. With a roar he pulled it from the ground and swung, knowing he'd be too late. The blast of crimson light lanced from Aptom's palm. The aquamarine Senshi dove under it, landing roughly. The beam walked up the side of the building behind her, leaving a molten line in its wake. The energy then vanished like it had never been: the building stood for a moment, then shuddered and exploded.

Ryouga's blow struck just as the building sent a rain of plaster and glass across the street. He hit just above the elbow, and he saw the arm deform around the metal in a way arms were not supposed to. Aptom gasped as his arm broke. Then Uranus was dashing past him, her sword flashing brightly.

"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"

Aptom gaped. Then slowly his torso slid away from his legs. He toppled to the ground in two pieces. There wasn't even any blood, as her sword instantly cauterised the wound. Uranus stopped and sighed. Ryouga lowered his sign.

"Neptune, are you alright?" Uranus called.

Neptune picked herself up slowly, but nodded. "I'm fine." She glanced at Ryouga. "And you?"

"Okay," he grunted. He was still staring at Aptom. The man looked dead, but Ryouga still felt... something. It was the unease he felt just before an attack. That lightning tingle on the back of his neck. It just wouldn't go away.

"Let's get out of here, Ryouga," Nabiki said as she came around the corner. He glanced at her.

"Ah, there she is."

Ryouga's eyes widened and he spun to face Aptom. The man was picking himself up, despite being in two pieces! Neptune and Uranus also stood, stunned for a few precious seconds. Then Aptom smiled and his broken arm snapped towards the blonde Senshi. Ryouga tried to scream a warning, but it came too late. She was too close, and Aptom's arm suddenly deformed and melted like wax, becoming a slick tendril that wrapped itself around her shin.

Uranus cried out in pain, her eyes closing. She staggered back.

"Don't worry, girl," Aptom said slowly. "I could have killed you with a single touch... but I don't just want your body!" He began to laugh.

"Let her go!" Ryouga shouted. As he roared he pressed his hands forward, a car-sized ball of brilliant green light erupting from them. Even as his blast flew, the air also rippled as a blue orb smashed into Aptom from the other side. His laughter cut off as his body was crushed mercilessly between the two forces until there was nothing left.

But Uranus was still screaming in pain. Ryouga stared in horror. The tendril was still wrapped tightly around her leg... no, not just around. It was IN her leg. The flesh of her shin was twisted, the veins pulsing and throbbing as it merged horribly with the remains of Aptom. From her calf sprang a dozen more tendrils, flailing and snapping before firmly encircling her body, pinning her arms. Uranus screamed again and fell on her back. One of the tendrils hovered above her heart.

"Haruka!" Neptune screamed, charging forward. Ryouga heard Nabiki retching behind him. He saw the legs of Aptom twitch and grabbed the Sailor Senshi as she passed, pulling her back. "Let me go!" she screamed and hit him with surprising strength. He actually felt it. "I have to get to her! Haruka!" she stretched towards her companion, but Ryouga leapt back. He watched as the legs began to stretch and distort, slowly regrowing the entirety of Aptom.

Uranus was completely bound now, and the tendril above her heart had ceased swaying. It shifted, and a black star appeared on its end. From that star, an awful black light emerged. It struck Uranus in the chest, creating a ripple of darkness above her heart. She shrieked, but only for a moment. Then a eight-pronged crystal star, glowing with pink light, popped from her body. Her eyes went blank. The tendril shot down, and a mouth formed on its end. It swallowed the star without pause.

"HARUKA!"

"Ryouga!" Nabiki screamed. "We have to get out of here!"

Ryouga glanced at her. She was backing away, slowly. He began to tighten his grip on Neptune, ready to leap away again. The woman had gone limp, her eyes staring deadly at the body of her comrade.

"You leave..." Aptom said, "And I will kill every human in a two mile radius."

Ryouga stopped. Aptom was standing there, his clothes having regenerated with his body, his arms crossed. Behind him, the body of Uranus lay limp. The tendril were sinking slowly back into her flesh, until she was left unmarred. For a moment, when she began to stir, Ryouga felt hope. But then it shattered as her body changed. Her costume vanished, becoming the same bodysuit the other Aptom wore even as her body also came to mirror his.

"Let me down..." Neptune said hollowly. Ryouga did so without thinking. The woman stood on her feet, her posture strong but her eyes blank. "You, killed... you killed... YOU KILLED HER!"

"And I'm going to do the same to you." The new Aptom raised both hands. "WORLD SHAKING!"

Ryouga leapt one way and Neptune leapt the other. The coruscating orb of magical energy blasted a hole into the street, but otherwise did nothing. That was, until Ryouga saw the first Aptom sprinting towards where Neptune would land.

"NO!" he shouted, and his hands snapped out. A dozen buzzing projectiles spun through the air, passing through Aptom in a dozen places. His body collapsed to the ground, cleft into chunks. But Ryouga paid, as the second Aptom snapped out his hand, and a laser shot from his palm. Burning pain erupted from his chest as he was flung back and through the van Nabiki had been hiding behind. It exploded as he passed through, and he choked as he was forced to breath flame for a fraction of a second.

He groaned and rose to his feet. The front of his shirt was gone, and a scorch mark had darkened his abdomen. Another second, and it would have burned through. He ignored the pain and rose to his feet. Nabiki was rushing up to him, her eyes concerned.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Another explosion from behind the van, followed by another. Then a scream, a woman's scream.

"No..." Ryouga moaned. He smashed his fist into the ground, cracking it. Wasn't he good for anything? Couldn't he save one person!

"Ryouga, we have to run!" Nabiki was saying. She was holding his shoulder. "We can't win! I've seen into his mind! He's still toying with us!"

"You're right, Nabiki Tendo."

Ryouga pushed Nabiki behind him. Aptom walked through the flames, all three of him. The one on the left was holding a blade of yellow light. The one on the right held a hand mirror. The one in the center spoke.

"I have come for you, today," he explained. "You're too much of a risk, Nabiki Tendo. The fact I get to kill the man who humiliated me is only a bonus."

"Damn you!" Ryouga growled. "I won't let you win!"

"Ryouga! Don't fight him!"

"We can't run, Nabiki," Ryouga shot back over his shoulder. "He'll kill until he's stopped. And if he found us once, he'll find us again."

"Then..." Nabiki shifted her hand, touching the sword.

"Ah ah ah!" Aptom sneered.

Then the ground around them exploded. Ryouga shielded his face as a dozen tendrils erupted from the ground all around him, waving in the air. Nabiki gasped and pressed herself against his back, her warm body trembling. Ryouga stared over the top of his arm, looking at Aptom's feet. He could see it, the way the soles of his shoes melted into the ground. He could see the earth twisting around beneath him.

"I'm the perfect killing machine, Nabiki," Aptom explained. "One touch, and you die. In the time it would take you to say 'I wish...' your body would be mine. And my body is everything. This flesh. The rocks beneath me. I can absorb anything I wish!" He threw back his head, laughing.

Ryouga grit his teeth, but restrained from summoning his aura with Nabiki so close. Aptom suddenly stopped laughing, and he looked at them sharply. "But I don't just want your body, Nabiki. I want everything that is you. These two... they know something marvellous and fantastic about a friend of yours." He smiled. "Yes. Once I swallow your soul, I think I shall use that sword of yours to find this girl Ukyou and perhaps pay her a visit."

"Ukyou..." Ryouga hissed. What did any of this have to do with Ukyou?

"But first..." Aptom smiled. "I think I'll play with you." The tendrils shrank back, disappearing into the street once more. "Come at me, boy. Bring everything you have."

Ryouga needed no more invitation.

01010

The woods were dark, filled with a thick mist that clung to the trunks of the trees like shrouds. Dark shapes moved among the trees, moaning, grasping, endlessly hungry. Ukyou moved among them like a ghost. None of them saw her; none of them even noted her passage.

Hotaru was far from the camp. The swamp they were in abutted a mountain, and the place Hotaru was was under the shadow of that mountain. Aaron felt something familiar as he approached. It was an energy, like chi, but different. It was pure in a way normal chi was not. It was cold, focused, intense... like wind chi without any sort of balance. Whatever it was, it was next to Hotaru.

Ukyou stopped just short of the clearing. Aaron enhanced their eyes, their ears. It was a simple trick now. The clearing was almost eight meters across, an irregular circle with moss-shrouded limbs stretching over it from three directions and a wall of craggy rock leaning over it from the other.

Rose stood there, her back to the rock. She was tall and regal, the very picture of exotic beauty. Her long purple hair flicked restlessly in the slight breeze, her scarf hung limply around her neck. One delicately manicured hand rested on the shoulder of Hotaru. It did not hold her, but the restraint was obvious.

Hotaru was standing, looking forlornly up into the sky. The full moon shone down from overhead, a beam of moonlight cutting through the only opening in the dense canopy and haloing the two of them in it. The light caused Hotaru's expressive purple eyes to shine softly as if from within.

For a moment, Ukyou looked up, wondering what could hold Hotaru's attention so. Aaron gasped softly. The moon... was vanishing. A sliver of darkness crept slowly across its face, too slowly for the human eye to really follow. But he was certain that earlier it had been full and now it was half gone. And he felt something, a terrible tension. It was like the force of two magnets, placed too close together, pushed and pushed despite their tendency to repel, until the magnets shattered.

"Powerful, isn't it?" Rose said into the empty air. Ukyou held her position, trying her best to blend into the shadows. Rose couldn't have detected her, could she? But where was Pluto? The two would never be that far from each other. "You can sense the power up there. And I can sense it too. I wouldn't be able to, except for the child. I can sense the darkness inside her. It is responding to it, rising up to it, calling it. It has a terrible purpose." Rose paused. "I can see why Pluto thinks she has to die. Sailor Saturn has the power to unmake the world. One sweep of her Silence Glaive, just bringing it from the sky to the earth, and all life here perishes." Ukyou said nothing. "This is what Sailor Saturn was meant to fight. The darkness that is coming with that dark moon. The darkness that grows even stronger now, far across the other side of the world. Even if she weren't tainted, she would not hesitate to destroy the world to stop evil. That is, after all, her purpose. The reason she was created."

"Leave her alone!" Ukyou cried out, unable to restrain herself further. Hotaru was looking up at the gypsy woman, her face placid. But her eyes... Hotaru knew what Rose was saying. And she was dangerously close to believing it. If that happened, then all hope was lost.

Aaron felt it a fraction of a second too late. The world around him seemed to buckle and flow. It was like everything around him was slowing down, while anything further away sped up. Time, he realized suddenly. She hid herself in time. Even as he thought of it, he could see the weave of the magic, how it knit a bubble in reality, a bubble in which time flowed the way Pluto wished it to. A bubble separate from the rest of the world, something that flickered in and out so fast he could not have sensed it. Then she was behind him.

Ukyou cursed herself for a fool. She had fallen right into the trap. Hotaru had not been the bait, Rose's words had been. They only needed to know where she was. She was trying to dodge, to pull her head down and away, but she felt the strangely warm end of the time staff press flush against the back of her head. There would be no avoiding this, no surviving it.

Aaron screamed inside. It couldn't end like this! Hotaru needed them! Ranma needed them! They couldn't die yet!

And Pluto gasped, the staff suddenly quivering in her grasp. For a fraction of a second, it moved a little away from Ukyou's head. The blast that would have ended her never came. "Uranus... Neptune... no..." Pluto murmured.

Then Ukyou's elbow caught her in the gut. Her words turned into an explosive breath as the air blasted violently from her lungs. Ukyou's other hand came up, catching onto the time staff. It felt warm, timeless and mighty. Aaron ignored the feeling. Using his shoulder as a pivot, he yanked, pulling Pluto from her feet. The stubborn Senshi refused to let go of her talisman until it was too late.

As Pluto flew up, Ukyou fell down and kicked with both legs. She caught the green-haired woman in the back as she passed. The added movement flung her through the air, straight at Rose. Rose had a choice: strike at Ukyou while she was vulnerable, catch the plummeting Pluto, or restrain Hotaru.

Ukyou screamed as the blast of soul power smashed into her side. It burned up her chest, sending tendrils of icy pain shooting through her brain far out of proportion to any injury the blast had caused. Ukyou crashed into a tree, and it shook but remained standing. Rose was not so lucky: the impact with Pluto had knocked them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Aaron grimaced and focused, and with a single sharp thought he focused his chi through his void chakra. Just like he had once done to his hearing, his sense of touch turned off like he had flicked a switch in his mind. The pain and discomfort vanished. Ukyou seized the chance. She rebounded from the tree, catching her feet instantly.

Rose would have expected the attack to cripple Ukyou for longer. Ukyou knew she had put more emphasis on the pain than on the physical impact this time. It was an attack that had been meant to make sure she didn't escape. But Ukyou had no intention of escaping. It was time to end this.

Hotaru was in danger. Ranma was in danger. People were dying, every second. No more. Once and for all, this was the last time she and Sailor Pluto would face each other. Too many lives hung in the balance for Ukyou to let this happen again!

Rose extracted herself from Pluto with grace. She floated to her feet, her shawl clutched in one hand. Her eyes widened as she saw Ukyou charging her. Ukyou briefly saw her own form, her coat flowing behind her like a shadow, reflected in the other woman's eyes. Her hand came up, and she slashed with her shawl. The thin fabric glittered with psychic power, and Ukyou leapt up, over it.

They had no chance of beating Rose head on. She was just a level above Ukyou. But Ukyou's target was not Rose. She spun in the air, planting her feet against the rocky cliff. For a moment she hung there, in defiance of gravity, like a fly on the wall. Then Rose was spinning around. Her shawl came up in a long arc. The gypsy had filled it with tremendous power. It sang through the air, glittering like a beam of light. Ukyou dropped and the shawl slashed through the rock just above her head.

The cliffside exploded in the wake of Rose's attack. Rock dust and debris showered down and for a moment all Ukyou could see was darkness. She knew some of the debris was hitting her, maybe even doing damage, but she felt nothing. But Aaron could see. He could feel the position of everyone. He dashed forward, pressed low to the ground.

There was a blast behind them as Rose fired blindly into the concealing dust cloud. But Ukyou ignored her. She emerged from the cloud with one hand already outstretched. Pluto was just getting to her feet. Her red eyes flashed wide, then Ukyou latched onto her shoulder like a vise. She cried out, and Ukyou spun around her. Her free hand flashed out, and there was a flash of silver in the vanishing moonlight.

She stood up, holding Pluto in front of her. The razor-thin edge of her throwing spatula brushed lightly against Pluto's neck. The woman stiffened. Rose turned to face them, her expression calm. Ukyou backed up a step, keeping Pluto between them.

"You think this will stop me?" Rose asked.

"You aren't firing," Ukyou replied grimly. "You could blow a hole right through her body. Compared to us, Sailor Pluto is fragile." Ukyou chuckled darkly. "But that wouldn't take me out. You might wish it, but you can't kill me in one shot, can you?" Rose's eyebrow twitched, but her expression remained calm and calculating. "And you just saw that I can resist your pain trick. There's no guarantee that you could incapacitate me long enough to deliver a killing blow. With Pluto dead, I might just get away. And then what?"

Rose paused a long instant. "You're right," she said slowly, her voice level. "I can't risk it." Then she raised her hand, and gestured toward herself briskly. Hotaru flew from the woods, and jerked to a halt in mid-air. She hovered there, above the forest floor, surrounded by a nimbus of purple light. Her expression was a grimace of pain.

"LET HER GO!" Aaron roared.

"Why?" Rose asked, as if she genuinely expected an answer.

Aaron was about to answer when he felt a surge of power in Pluto. He snarled and pressed the blade against her throat just enough to draw blood. "Don't even think it," he warned her in a whisper. "I can feel your power now. If you try anything stupid..." He trailed off. He really had no idea what he would do if she tried anything stupid. Could he kill her? Just lop her head off like she was a doll? The thought revolted him, revolted them both.

"She won't let the girl go," Pluto said softly. "And you know why."

"Damn you..." Ukyou hissed. "Why do you have to be so stubborn? Can't you just leave me alone!"

"I can't." Pluto closed her eyes. "You know I can't. And you know why, too." Neither of them answered. "You can tell what's happening now, can't you? You know all about the prophecy... but more importantly, you BELIEVE now, don't you?"

"Shut up!" Aaron growled. Ukyou looked at Rose. "Let Hotaru go," she ordered in a voice as icy as she could.

"Or what?" Pluto asked. "You'll kill me? I don't think you have it in you, Ukyou." The words stunned them both, and they almost lost their grip... almost. "Surprised? I know you're a decent person, Ukyou. Even if sometimes you don't believe it yourself. I've watched you. I can't always see your present, but I can always see your past. I've watched each of your battles, each of your struggles, over and over again. I've watched you gain friends and lose them. I've watched you save lives, and end them. I know your heart, Ukyou. Maybe better than you know it yourself."

Aaron wanted to yell at her to shut up again, but the words wouldn't come out. He could only listen, as Pluto's voice slowly grew in strength and conviction. "You've seen it, the future. But not in some prophecy, not in some dream. You've seen it in yourself. You know you can't fight it. You want to, but it's Destiny. It is the hand of God. Oh, you know how this will all end, Ukyou. You won't just snap one day. You won't watch horror after horror until your mind simply can't take any more. This doesn't end with Hotaru's death, or Ranma's death or Akane's death and you going insane and deciding to end the world.

"It erodes you, from the inside. It wears you down, this world. You're like a mighty stone in the path of a raging river. Every day a little bit more of your morality wears away. A little bit more of the person you are vanishes and you can't get it back, no matter how hard you try. It won't happen today, or tomorrow, or probably for several decades, maybe even millennia. But it will happen. You know it will."

"That isn't true..."

"Why do you think you came here, Ukyou?" Pluto continued mercilessly. "Why are you fighting these monsters? You know that this battle is meaningless. You can't defeat them. This battle itself... it means nothing! All you can do is survive, Ukyou. If you kill every vampire here today, destroy every ghoul, it will mean nothing."

"Stop..."

"You can't bring yourself to do what's right. That's why you're here. You looked down at Vega's body and you realised you had it in you. You had been clutching to that one belief so hard, that when it fell out from under you, you gave up inside. You knew you could not win against Destiny. You had it in you to do anything, even those things you swore to yourself you wouldn't do. Even those things you knew you couldn't do. But you don't have the strength to put an end to it."

"Please stop..."

"So you came here. You choose a battle you couldn't hope to win, against an enemy that would not hesitate to kill you. You want to die, Ukyou. You want to find an enemy who will kill you. One that will end your threat to the world. That's why you came here. That's why you let Zoicite go, so that the Dark Kingdom would come after you too. That's why you took me hostage."

Aaron stiffened, but said nothing.

"You did it because you know there is no way out of this for you. Rose won't let you go, even if she does have to kill me. You can feel her soul - you know she doesn't have the passion to care about me that way. She'll decide on the needs of the many over her own preferences. No... you want to end this, and you want us to do it for you. The only thing you want out of this, is the girl."

Ukyou was shaking her head, but she couldn't deny it. She just... she couldn't.

"And if you let me go... if you do that, I will order Rose to let the girl go. We'll even take her safely back to Ranma. He and Minako and the paper woman can take care of her. I won't harm a hair on her head, Ukyou. All you have to do, is surrender."

01010

The phone snapped closed with a dull snap. Akane glanced up at Akira, who was looking down at the cellphone with an intense frown. One of the girl's heavy boots was resting on top of her helmet, which had been placed on the ground in front of them. Akane herself was leaning against the railing, holding the two frozen treats.

She felt oddly prosaic, standing here next to a park holding snocones. The people were gathering now. The moon was drifting ever closer to the sun. Vendors had set up stands, pitching everything from food to special eclipse- themed toys.

"Who was that?" Akane asked.

"Mr. Kunikida," Akira explained. She slipped the phone into one of the pockets of her nearly skintight riding leathers. Now that Akane looked closer, she could see the hints of Akira's feminine curves, but the thick leather and the spikes and the skulls emblazoned on it effectively hid her gender. In fact, if you didn't look at Akira's delicate features and cute bob-cut you'd be hard- pressed to guess the truth. "I was informing him that I wouldn't be able to patrol today."

Akane blinked. For a moment, she was struck by the startling similarity between this girl and Ukyou. Not just the way both could pass so convincingly as men, often more convincingly than some men Akane knew. Her posture and her tone were also, for a brief moment, strikingly familiar. She had that same weary gruffness to her voice. She had that same guarded humour in her expressions.

Then, in an instant, it was gone. Akira was smiling and grabbing her snocone. She swallowed the entire thing with one gulp. Akane stared. Akira smiled back. Then her face turned slightly blue and her smile faltered slightly.

"Good..." she said, her teeth chattering.

"Right..." Akane took a bite of her own. "Thanks for the help."

"Anytime!" Akira kicked her helmet into the air and caught it on one finger. She skipped a little bit out from the fence. "So, where are we going, anyway?"

"I'm not quite sure..." Akane looked down at her half-eaten treat, shrugged and tossed it towards a nearby garbage can. Akira intercepted it, giving Akane a reproachful look. Akane gestured for her to finish it, and Akira did so. "With Ukyou gone, my plan is kind of shot."

Akira made a low sound of agreement, nodding despite her teeth chattering. "At least I'm certain she'd be more than willing to help," she offered cheerfully. "Given how much she told me about you, kept on referencing your training when we were trying to study together, and... uh..." She trailed off. "Well, I think, that is... she really regretted that things didn't turn out better between you two."

Akane nodded. "Yeah, me too..." She started walking, idly choosing a direction that would lead them back to Chris's safehouse. "I think I'm beginning to get over how she lied to me..."

"She must have had a good reason," Akira asserted.

"Yeah," Akane replied with wry amusement. "She wanted to make sure me and Ranma wouldn't get married."

Akira stopped dead in her tracks. "Uh..." Akane looked at her. "I thought you said that whole boyfriend thing was a trick..."

"Because she likes Ranma, dummy."

"Oh..." Akira chuckled and rubbed her neck. "That makes sense! After all, while Ukyou may dress and ACT like a boy... she certainly doesn't... eheh... you know..." She dissolved into bouts of nervous laughter.

They walked on in silence for a few more minutes, each lost in their own private thoughts. Akane couldn't help but think about how strange things had turned out. Not only with herself, but with Ukyou as well. And Ranma. And Ran...

"Ran..." Akane sighed.

"You knew her?" Akira asked.

"I... briefly," Akane responded after a moment. "She... was nice." It was hard to believe that someone she knew was dead. Even if Akane was becoming intimately familiar with death. It seemed to linger everywhere now, just out of sight. It was like that strange sense of purpose she had been feeling all day. If there was anyone who should have been able to face death, it was her. She HAD been dead. She had passed over and felt... something. Something humbling. The thought of other people facing that filled Akane with a kind of nameless emotion that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to rise.

"You could go after her."

"What was that?" Akane only realised she had been walking for a long time, staring at the ground, when Akira snapped her out of it.

"You should go after her," Akira reiterated. "If you still have any pull with Chris, convince him to go to England with you." She paused, rolling her helmet back and forth between her palms. "He doesn't even have to know why, if you don't tell him."

Akane blinked. "Akira, that's a great idea!" She pumped her hand once. "Even if Ukyou acts like a bitch sometimes, she has a habit of... knowing what to do." She nodded to herself. "She was right about him, at least partially. They may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but they were friends once. Or at least, that dead guy Aaron was Chris' friend..."

"Who?" Akira asked sharply, but Akane ignored her.

"If I can just convince Ukyou to get over her irrational hatred of him, maybe she can get him to see what a monster Pink is!"

"Wait, Akane..."

"I bet Ukyou can even think of something we can do about her, too."

Akane smiled and increased her pace.

"Akane, I really think..."

"It'll work, Akira. He DID promise to do anything I say, so this should be a snap. You worry too much."

"No, Akane." Akira grabbed her shoulder and dragged her to a stop. Akane blinked and looked around. There was a crowd in front of them, blocking their path. They looked like high school students, with the occasional adult mixed in. "I think we have a problem." Akira gestured over her shoulder, and Akane saw a similar crowd catching up behind them.

And in the side streets, more of them. And more still. There were hundreds of them. They were all staring at the two girls. Their eyes were intense, focused and dangerous. But that wasn't what disturbed Akane most. They were all smiling. Not menacing grins or lustful leers, but happy complacent smiles. She'd seen those smiles before.

"I think I have a solution, over."

Akane's eyes narrowed and her head snapped up and to the side. Pink stood on the edge of the rooftop, her arms dangling loosely at both sides. Two students were kneeling on the edge facing Pink. One was a girl with short brown hair held back by a headband, wearing a uniform like all the other girls except for her fingerless orange karate gloves. She was looking down at Akane and Akira with the same blissful smile and intense stare as the rest of the mob. The other was a much taller boy with neat reddish-blonde hair and an immaculate white uniform that did not match any of the others. Pink was running a hand through his hair, like you would a dog.

"Kyosuke! Hinata!" Akira shouted. She took a step forward and Akane barred her path with one arm.

"I don't think that would be a good idea..." Akane advised, her voice frosty. She was glaring up at Pink.

Pink smirked, her gaze sweeping away from Akane and settling on Akira. She looked the other girl up and down for a moment. "Ah, Akira Kazama. What a coincidence! I was just about to go looking for you and your friends next, over."

"What did you do to them?" Akira demanded, but Pink's attention had already left her.

"Oh, Akane, setting up a little conspiracy, are we?" Pink tsked, waving a finger on her free hand chidingly. "I know what you're thinking, Akane. 'Didn't she say she didn't care what I did?' Well, you're right." Pink laughed. "I lied. I was planning on killing you anyway, and under the circumstances I feel no need to waste such a marvelous opportunity." Her smile turned suddenly predatory. "Kyosuke, Hinata, kill them. Make it painful, over."

"Yes, Mistress Pink," the two said in eerie unison, and rose to their feet. Overhead, the edge of the sun began to vanish.

Akane growled and pulled sharply on the cord tying her weights to her arms. They clattered to the street, and that was the signal for everyone to rush at her at once.

01010

Chizuru thanked the young woman, who bowed politely and backed out of the room. The room was well lit, the authentic ricepaper walls were painted with traditional Japanese watercolors - scenes of rivers, cranes and fishermen, mostly. The tea was good and the service even better. She inhaled the aroma and knelt in silence before the low table, wondering what she was doing here.

Well, she knew exactly what she was doing here. She was responding to a letter, sent straight to her main offices and addressed to her specifically. It said, 'I wish to talk to you about Goenitz and the Orochi. Please meet me at the Green Turtle Tea House at ten o'clock. Thank you.' There were no subtle meanings or hidden clues. The meaning was obvious, and her showing up was never really in doubt.

But hadn't she moved beyond the Orochi now? Pluto and Rose had departed for parts unknown, and trusted her with a greater task. Haruka and Michiru had a great destiny. Even if they weren't Sailor Senshi, you could feel it if you were sensitive to such things. Guiding them and protecting them until they were ready to accept the mantle fate had thrust upon them was an awesome responsibility. It was made even harder by the fact that both of them were bound and determined to fight, to challenge the monsters at every turn.

Chizuru couldn't fault them for that. She had just been doing her best to help them learn and develop, to protect them when they needed it. But she supposed every child had to take steps on their own eventually. That was why she was here. She could let Haruka and Michiru take care of the demons for one morning while she dealt with the ghosts of her own past.

As Chizuru took another sip of her tea, the door slid open almost soundlessly and a boy stepped in. He was very young, no more then ten. Small and cute, he had short milk chocolate hair and wore a leather jacket several sizes too large for him. His jeans and t-shirt fit better, however. He moved like no boy she had ever seen. There was something unmistakably adult about his gestures. There was also something wrong with his eyes that Chizuru couldn't quite pin down.

He filled her with unease. No, it was something deeper than unease. Chizuru shifted uncomfortably. Every instinct in her body was screaming for her to do something. Something NOW. But she couldn't figure out what. So she sat there, and stared at the boy as he walked over and knelt opposite her. Some servant closed the door after serving him tea. He didn't so much as touch it.

"Thank you for coming," he said, giving her a smile meant to break the ice. His voice had the high pitch of a boy not yet through puberty, and it had a pleasant musical quality to it. But his tone and expressions were those of a man much older. Chizuru wanted to stare at him, to try and discern what was wrong. Instead she took a sip and nodded.

"I was honoured," Chizuru indicated. "It's not every day I'm invited to speak with someone with so much knowledge at their disposal."

He chuckled. "Yes," he said, waving that aside. "You'll have to forgive my presumptuousness. I make it my business to know as much as possible about all the important people in Japan. Plus, you are a hard person to get in touch with."

"A hazard of celebrity," Chizuru replied dryly. "But my manners desert me. I am Chizuru Kagura. Pleased to meet you." She bowed slightly.

He returned the bow. "My name is Chris." Chizuru smiled politely and waited for him to get to the point. "Right..." he murmured slowly. "Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time, so I'll get straight to business." He shrugged a bit, adjusting his jacket. "In fact, I'm here to request your assistance. I'm being pursued by a man of your acquaintance, one of the Heavenly Kings of Orochi, Goenitz."

"Oh?"

"As you also have a certain hostile interest in him, I was hoping that we might be able to pool our forces," he finished.

Chizuru considered his words for a moment. They seemed straightforward enough on the surface, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to trust him. It wasn't his appearance. Despite his odd pallor and his expressionless eyes, he was not that strange. Chizuru herself was familiar with the fact that children could often act much older than one might expect, having been slightly precocious herself. Nor was it his proposal. Truth be told, Chizuru may have accepted a new position, but she had not abandoned her old quest. The Orochi was one of the things she was certain her charges would have to help deal with. If doing so led to her getting to watch Goenitz die for what he had done to her entire clan, so much the better.

It was that feeling. She tried to pin it down, but it remained elusive.

"I see..." She drained the last of her cup to buy herself some time. "Do you mind if I ask why he is pursuing you?"

Chris allowed an almost cocky smile to cross his features. "That is something of a tale..."

Chizuru listened intently as Chris outlined a long and dark story. He told her how he had awoken in this world trapped in a rotting corpse, how he had been forced to exchange bodies to avoid the creeping rot. He told her how he had sworn off killing, and been drawn to a certain woods in a search for a cure for his condition. There, he had run afoul of Goenitz and the chosen incarnation of the Orochi on the mortal plane. The boy had been accidentally killed in the ensuing fight, while Chris had been occupied elsewhere. When his former body had been destroyed, Chris had been forced to inhabit the incarnation's body, and discovered he had inherited some of the Orochi power with it. It was easy to piece together why Goenitz would be so interested in him, from such a story.

And with each word he said, Chizuru's unease grew. She tried her best to school her features, but from the way he kept glancing at her and pausing, some of it must have slipped through. It was like something was missing...

Exactly like that, she realised suddenly. There was no certainty. The moment the boy had walked into the room, Chizuru had felt a strange sense of vertigo, like she was walking a tightrope that stretched off into the distance with no end in sight. Her entire life, Chizuru had always known that she had a purpose. With the death of her sister, that purpose had only crystallised. With Rose's visit, that purpose had changed, but it was still there.

In fact, it had only grown stronger. Talking to Pluto, teaching the Outer Senshi, it had all felt so right and good. Like this was part of her destiny. Sitting here, in this room, she felt like the world was unraveling around her.

"Tell me..." Chizuru was surprised at how dry her voice came out. She cleared her throat, and continued more forcefully. "How long ago, exactly, did this confrontation with Goenitz happen?"

"Three weeks ago, give or take..." Chris tapped his cheek. "I've been on the run so much, I think I lost track of the date there for a few days."

Three weeks ago.

The blood drained from Chizuru's face.

Three weeks ago when she had woken up from a nightmare. Three weeks ago when the mirror had cracked. Three weeks ago when she had felt a god scream in mortal terror.

Chris looked concerned, he leaned slightly over the table. "What's wrong?"

And she felt it. The power around him. Pluto and Rose had taught her to feel it. The wrongness of it. "The end of everything..." she whispered and then jerked back. She wasn't certain what she was doing, except getting away from him. She heard more than saw the table tumble to the side as she kicked it away in her haste. She backed up against the ricepaper wall and stared at him. He was kneeling there, stunned.

"Chizuru, don't worry!" he said, trying to appear as small and harmless as possible. "I have it under control. There's no chance the Orochi is going to drive me insane."

Pluto had to know. Chizuru stood up, slowly. Two of them. Pluto was wrong. She didn't know the truth. There were two of them. God help them all.

And that thought gave her strength. She took a deep breath. She had a purpose again. She had to get out of here, and she had to make sure Pluto learned about this abomination.

"I'm not worried about that," Chizuru explained coldly, crossing her arms. "But you will get no help from me." She frowned. "If I thought I could do it, I would destroy you myself. Now get out of my sight." It was a bluff, but Chizuru was used to intimidating people who technically had more money, power or influence than she.

Chris stood up, his expression a mixture of surprise and anger. "Listen, Chizuru, let's be reasonable about this."

"I don't reason with monsters like you and Ukyou." She let her arms drop and assumed a stance. "However, I'd rather not destroy these expensive furnishings."

Chris stared at her for a long moment, his emotionless dead eyes boring into her. Then his lip twisted into a sneer of disappointment and he left without a word.

01010

Rip Van Winkle moved through the dark forest at the head of a pack of ghouls. The battle was nearby, the last of the pathetic human resistance being crushed like bugs. Even if the Valentine brothers were leading the offence, even if that abomination Leona was defeating the human super-fighters, she still found that thought enjoyable.

But not enough. Her hand clenched around the shaft of her rifle. She had to find her target. That woman, Ukyou. She mocked her. She had torn Rip's prey away twice now. She had eluded her, deceived her, played her for a fool. She had forced Rip to retreat in disgrace. Such insults could not be forgiven. Rip would find her, and her magic bullet would end that woman's life tonight.

She grinned. Even if Ukyou could sense it, she knew her magic bullet was the superior weapon. After all, hadn't Major Krieg himself praised it? Hadn't he told her it was a fantastic technique? That was why he had taken her with him.

She had been nothing but a village girl, back then. During the War. Her people had known nothing of politics or policy. They had merely come when Hitler had called, like all loyal people should stand for the sake of their country. All of them but her. She had always been the best hunter in the village. The best eye. The best shot.

But the fatherland did not need female soldiers. They had told her that flat out. And so her brothers, elder, younger, all... had gone off and died on some meaningless clump of mud trying to invade an arrogant little island nation called England. And her rage had grown. She had trained. She had decided to show them all. She had found her final inspiration in an opera, of all places. The "Freeshooter". A tale of a young hunter and his deal with the demon-worshipper Caspar to learn the technique of the Magic Bullets. Bullets that could be guided wherever the shooter wished. But Caspar had betrayed the young man, and meant to use the bullets to kill a princess and save himself from hell. In the end, true love won out over all, and Caspar was thwarted. The demon king Zamiel rose from the underworld, and Caspar was torn apart by wolves.

Soon after, she had perfected the art of the magic bullet. Then, she had snuck into the army, meaning to find any excuse, any way to get even with the English pigs who had butchered her family. Then he had found her. He had seen through her disguise instantly. And he had smiled, because he saw something special in her. On that day, the Major had given her a new purpose.

And she would not fail him now. She would fulfill her mission. She would find Ukyou and kill her by her own hand!

"Curse you, Ukyou!" Rip shouted, slashing out and cracking her gun against a nearby tree. "Come out! Zere is no escape! I vill find you! I vill KILL you!"

"Kill her?"

And suddenly Rip was afraid.

She turned around, slowly, very slowly. Her fingers rattled. Her knees shook. Her breath came in sharp gasp. The power she felt... it couldn't exist. She had felt Leona's power, the unbridled animal chaos of it, but this put the power of the beast to shame. This power was as primal as a volcano, as deep as the liquid core of the earth. It was as cruel and merciless as a firestorm.

She turned around, and saw him. Even though he was standing in shadows, she could see him clearly. His body was outlined by a thin halo of light, blue- purple St. Elmo's fire that traced the shape of his body. He wore a red uniform, military cut with thick black boots and cuffs on the sleeves. The fabric strained to contain his massive bulk, a wall of muscle that rippled visibly with every breath he took. Over his shoulder he wore a velvet cape, which swirled in the fog behind him, vanishing into the darkness. On his head was a cap with a skull-on-wings emblem, the brim tilted so that the top half of his square-jawed face was cast into shadow. Out of that shadow burned two blue sparks. His eyes, a part of Rip vaguely realised.

"Zamiel..." Rip breathed.

Her ghouls moaned and charged the man, her control of them having slipped. He didn't take his eyes from her. He didn't so much as blink. The ghouls just vaporised, vanishing into swirls of purple flame that left nothing behind, not even ash.

"You mentioned Ukyou," the man said softly. "Tell me where she is?"

"I... I..."

His eyes narrowed dangerously and before Rip knew it, his hand was around her throat. The fire of his aura burned into her, but her flesh was unharmed. The pain raced into her mind, into her soul. She wanted to scream, but could draw no breath. She felt him, his aura, leaking into her, burning a tight beam straight into her mind. She couldn't keep him out. Sooner ask her to blot out the sun.

"You were going to kill her, weren't you." It wasn't a question. "But that is not my will." He raised her up. "Your mind is so weak, so open. You believe so fervently in your Major, don't you?" He grinned. It was a grin full of malevolent joy, sheer insane glee. "Even now you are praying for him to save you. To send help." He shook his head. "You foolish vampires, so petty. Your ambitions, so shallow and meaningless." He turned and began to float through he trees. "Allow me to demonstrate the futility of resisting my will."

The world seemed to rip apart. One moment, she was floating along in his grip, then the world and everything in it was gone. She floated in a sea of fire and pain. Her world was lines of blue-purple light. She knew, instinctively, that she was in his world now, the part of it he had claimed for himself. Then she was back in the real world, with its cool, comforting mist and stable up and down. Best of all, the fire in her mind was gone. He still held her, but only to restrain her. There was no burning, unstoppable force beating at her psyche anymore.

They had appeared floating above the clearing. The battle rolled and shifted below them. On one side of the field, the Hellsing witch and her vampire flunky and some normal humans fought the Valentines. The humans were dying, slowly, but the strength of Alucard's spawn and a small girl that fought with her kept them from being overwhelmed. On the other half, three humans fought the vampire Leona. She was a force of destruction, her movements crisp and brutal as she beat down at the three of them. The short girl in the red shirt held her at bay, while the other two tried to strike... but they were losing. Rip could see this clearly.

"That..." The man pointed at Leona. "That is a power your Major barely understands. To him, it is but a weapon. Her kind may be a supervampire, her blood may let him drown the world in flames and chaos." His pointing hand uncurled the other fingers until he had a palm open towards the girl now. "That power is nothing. I fought a man who claimed it could defeat me. He had one eye, and this same power raged in his blood. It was too awesome for his frail body to withstand, but he used it against me because he knew I would destroy him otherwise. It was not enough." A tiny ball of purple light popped into existence in front of his palm. A line of blue light shot from the sky, intersecting the orb as it grew marginally bigger. Then another, and another. For an instant, all action on the ground ceased. Everyone could feel it. Even those dead to such things, even those blind to the power of the human spirit, could sense this. It shot straight into some primitive reptile brain instinct. "I... I am Bison, and I am the only power that will control this Earth!"

The orb suddenly trebled in size, becoming as large as a medicine ball. It shot forth from his hand like a rocket. The air screamed in protest. Leona hissed and leapt to the side, and for a moment it looked like she would clear the attack. Then it erupted into an explosion almost five meters across, then another, and another. A series of blasts, each larger and more destructive than the last, ripped apart the ground, sending loam and rock flying in all directions. For a moment there was only the sound of the explosions.

Then the flashes cleared from Rip's vision. She looked down. The only thing left of Leona was an outstretched hand, the rest of her body having vanished just past her elbow. Steam rose up from the severed limb. The three women who had been fighting her were scattered across the ground moaning; alive, but scorched and steaming from their proximity to the blast.

"That is my Psychopower," Bison informed her. He snapped his fingers and shadows emerged from the trees. Rip saw they were women, all of them young and all of them with stunning figures. They wore skin-tight black leotards with jaunty little yellow neckties. "Find the one called Ukyou. The others I do not care about," he yelled over the clearing.

Bison spun Rip around to face him. The hand not clutching her neck reached up and grabbed her musket. It shattered at his slightest touch. Then he touched her arms, each in turn. She felt the bones crumble in her flesh. She whimpered, unable to scream due to the death grip he had on her throat. "Now go. Crawl back to your master. Tell him Bison has claimed these humans for himself. They are not for him."

And he dropped her.

01010

Nabiki's mouth was dry. Her knees were weak. Her palms were cold and sweaty. She knew the signs of terror well now. She had been kidnapped and held hostage and threatened and shot and chased from her home by monsters. She was familiar with panic and pain.

But she had never been so scared in her life. Aptom was a demon. She could feel them, the revolting emotions of his mind. Anger and jealousy and hatred and a twisted sort of glee all wrapped around a central core of alien darkness, a nihilistic impulse that made Nabiki sick just to be near it.

But she was not only near it, she was inside it. She narrowed her eyes and focused, willing her way into his alien mind. Surprisingly she found defenses, for the first time since she had made her wish. His mind was shielded, blocked from outside interference by some strange protean barrier. Nabiki's mind slicked along the edges of this barrier, searching for a weakness that wasn't there.

Ryouga was fighting all-out. He struck with a speed and ferocity she had only seen once before, back when he had defended her from Chris. His entire body was covered in a thick aura of sick green light. The ground he ran across was pockmarked with craters from where his feet tore gouges in it. The buildings nearby were shattered and hollow. The eerie light of the half-devoured sun cast the scene in sharp relief.

Ryouga had struck first with his umbrella, sinking it into one of the Aptoms' chest. But the monster had only sneered. Tiny creepers of his alien flesh had snapped out, sinking into the weapon. Nabiki had screamed a warning, but Ryouga had already leapt away. A moment later, the beast consumed the umbrella like it was nothing.

Ryouga had been trying everything, his attempts growing more desperate with each exchange. His belt could slice them in two, but that only slowed the triplets down. His bandanas barely slowed them. He grabbed lampposts, signs, cars and chunks of walls, using them to bludgeon or drive back the three monsters. Aptom never even stopped grinning.

'Behind you!' Nabiki warned him telepathically. Ryouga got the perfect impression of the Aptom reaching for his shoulder. He ducked under the blow, spinning and landing on his back. Both hands thrust upward and with a roar he unleashed the full power of his Shishihokodan. It vaporised the Aptom from the waist up, but Ryouga was not finished. He yanked his hand down, dragging the glowing sphere behind his palms. It crashed down into the sidewalk with a deafening roar, the legs of the monsters disintegrating under the pressure.

Aptom clapped as Ryouga rolled away, coming up breathing heavily. Nabiki could sense Ryouga's desperation, his fatigue. It wouldn't be long now. It would already have been over, had Aptom been going all out.

"Damn you!" Ryouga screamed. He reached over, grabbing a van four times his size with one hand. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE!" Ryouga spun, pulling all his weight and strength into the effort. He flipped the van forward, towards the duo of Aptoms. They only watched, smirking.

'Ryouga!' Nabiki prompted mentally. 'The gas tank!'

Ryouga received her mental instructions perfectly. He continued his roll, and came up flinging one of his bandana's. It snapped through the van like the van wasn't even there. A second later amber liquid began to pour out of it. The Aptoms narrowed their eyes as it came crashing down on top of them.

Nabiki was moving as quickly as she could. Her free hand came up, and with a flick she snapped the lighter she kept in her pocket to life. It spun towards the van and Nabiki held her breath. Please don't miss, she prayed silently to whoever was listening.

And it didn't. Just as the two monsters caught the van in their arms, her lighter fell into the waterfall of gasoline. The van went up like a new year's bonfire, flames exploding along its entire length in a second. The Aptoms screamed as the fire raced down their bodies, consuming them.

Ryouga relaxed, but Nabiki only stiffened. She did not feel pain from Aptom. She felt amusement. And it was coming from all around them. Nabiki informed Ryouga of this and he stood up slowly, looking around.

The crowd was watching them silently, police and civilians that had been forced out of their homes or otherwise drawn. They were all smiling, the same menacing grin that Aptom always wore. One of them, a young woman, spoke with his voice.

"Did you really think it would be so easy to kill me?"

"I am anyone I want to be," another said.

"I am anywhere I want to be," a third said.

"I am anything I want to be," this voice came from a nearby storefront as the face of Aptom emerged from the wall.

"You cannot defeat me, you cannot even hope," all the voices said in unison. Nabiki fell to her knees, covering her ears and screaming. Ryouga placed himself over her. She could feel something from him... something she didn't want to register. "I think I've taught you enough about humility. Now... both of you, prepare to die!"

Nabiki had no other choice. She closed her eyes and let loose with all her power. She had no idea what she was doing, or how. But she was not going to die here! She would win this game! She gathered up every bit of her will and lashed out in all directions, and the barriers of thought around her crumbled.

Aptom's mind became an open book to her. She could see into the depths of him. She could see everything that had led him to where he was. Down inside him, she felt that part of him that was human struggling against the demon Matsudaira had implanted within him. She knew the true Aptom would win in time, absorb the monster into his being just as he had absorbed everything else. But even if he won, it would be no help for them. Aptom himself was insane, a product of year after year of abuse and the worst kind of enslavement. He felt nothing but depression and rage. He wanted nothing more than to lash out against those he judged responsible.

But far worse was Ryouga's mind. Because she felt the same sort of depression inside him. The same sort of need to lash out. Nabiki choked down her own bile. She knew that she was responsible for that. It was her lies. It was her desire to turn him into her slave. She had found something good and noble about him and twisted it around her finger.

Ryouga twitched. He turned his eyes down towards her. Nabiki's eyes widened. "No..." she whispered.

But then there was no time. Aptom was coming in towards them, from all sides. Nabiki forced thought from her mind, and let herself serve as a conduit. She could see Aptom's every thought, experience his every plan and strategy. Even as he decided to strike here and there Nabiki knew it. And through her, so did Ryouga.

He dodged and weaved, avoiding attacks before they happened. He struck back, his aura flaring and blasting. Bodies tumbled around him, trees and stones and other shapes broke against his fury. He was one step ahead of the monster, his aura held tight against his skin, the only barrier between him and the thing's deadly touch. But there was nothing between him and Nabiki. She could not hold back. Perhaps if she had been more skilled, more comfortable with her new powers, she could have held some part of herself back. But she had to let him see everything, learn everything even as she herself did. It was the only thing keeping them both alive.

Even it wasn't enough. Ryouga was tired. His energy was spent. He was fighting on sheer willpower now, and even that drained away with every strike. Aptom closed in from all sides, his bodies mutated and monstrous. Every sort of horror from their nightmares was on display. reaching and grasping and striking. Ryouga carried her in one arm, dancing between them. He leapt away as the ground turned into a mass of writhing tentacles. He bounced off a car moments before it grew giant hands that grasped at him. He came down in the center of them, roaring and blasting outward.

The explosion sent dozens of the creatures flying, dozens more were vaporised instantly. Ryouga knelt in the center of a five meter wide crater, his fist just touching the epicenter. He was spent. There was simply nothing left to give.

And as the sun vanished, and the entire world was plunged into twilight, the shadows of Aptom fell over them. Nabiki fell as Ryouga released her. By some miracle, he rose to his feet. Nabiki could sense his plan forming.

"NO! Ryouga!" Nabiki screamed.

"What do you care?" he shot back.

"There has to be another way!" she said, and she realised she was crying.

"Another way..." Ryouga chuckled grimly. "No, Nabiki. This is it." He looked at her, and in his face Nabiki saw nothing but hatred. He knew everything now. Every lie and every scheme. "This is what you wanted, right? Somebody who would die for you. Isn't it!"

"Not like this," Nabiki's face fell. "I never meant for this to happen... I never thought..." Hot tears fell from her cheeks onto her hands.

"I wish you could get what's coming to you," Ryouga spat. "But I saw him too. I saw him through you. He has to be stopped."

Ryouga didn't say another word. He merely started walking up the side of the crater. The Aptoms waited for him. Nabiki clenched her hand around the wishing sword. The ground around her pulsed. Tendrils like veins throbbed all around her. Aptom would not let her save him. Her mouth filled with a bitter taste as she bit her tongue. She withdrew from Aptom, from Ryouga, from everything until the only thing left was her.

Ryouga was going to die for her. Even after everything she had done. He would die for her. She stared up at him. She had to stop this.

One Aptom had assumed his true form. He waited for Ryouga calmly. Ryouga threw wide his arms and his aura dimmed, vanishing completely. The Aptom laughed. "Yes boy, surrender is your only option!"

The thing lashed out faster than Nabiki's eyes could follow. Its palm struck Ryouga just over the heart and Ryouga screamed. It was a sound that Nabiki knew would haunt her nightmares forever. Ryouga continued screaming as, with a wet sucking sound, Aptom tore out his soul. Then, and only then, did Ryouga fall silent. Aptom grinned as he held up the glittering multi-faceted crystal star.

"Ah, sweet revenge," he murmured. The star began to vanish as the tendrils of Aptoms being coiled around and through it. Then they stopped as Ryouga's hands snapped up, grasping the star between his palms.

"You want my soul..." Ryouga's voice was soft, devoid of strength and hope. His eyes looked up, and they were the eyes of the damned. Aptom had just enough time to be afraid. "Then eat it all, you bastard! JISATSU BAKUHA!"

"NO!" Nabiki screamed, even as the world flooded with light. The explosion was so large, it drowned out sound. It turned night into day. She saw the shadows of Aptom's horde, desperately running to escape. But this attack was not physical. This attack was straight into Aptom's soul. Ryouga had known this, that Aptom would swallow him, and their souls would briefly be connected. He had taken all his anger and pain and hopelessness with him, directed it into that abyss and turned it against itself. Aptom's own despair, his own rage only fuelled the suicide blast. Like a chain reaction, it sprang from body to body, to the ground, the walls, everything that Aptom had infected burst from inside as the green light of the ultimate Shishihokodan consumed them.

But Nabiki was not going to live with this. She would not have his death on her conscience. She could feel her retinas burning as she stared into the light, watching Ryouga's body disintegrate. Her hand raised high. The sword snapped aloft.

"I WISH HE WOULDN'T DIE!"

01010

The mob fell back after a few moments. They were no threat to Akira, or Akane. But they just stood there, grinning. It was like they didn't even feel the blows. Akira had bit her lip and struck back, glad she'd managed to get her helmet on before the rush had hit. She had tried to go easy on them; most of them weren't even trained. But her strikes didn't faze them, and she was seriously debating whether she should step up the violence a notch when they all suddenly withdrew.

Now Akira knew why they had rushed. It was simply to keep her and Akane busy while Kyosuke and Hinata closed in. Both moved steadily forward, their auras just beginning to register on the naked eye. Akira glanced over at Akane. The girl had yet to draw her sword. She hadn't even made a move to. She was good at hand to hand, very good at handling the crowd, but Akira felt she had her measure.

She was no match for Kyosuke. She might not even be a match for Hinata. Akira clenched her fists and made her decision quickly. Akane would just have to be able to hold her own. There was no way the two of them could fight together with the kind of skill Kyosuke and Hinata would. They had fought together so much that it was habit. If Edge or Gan or Daigo had been here, Akira would have trusted her partner to back her up. But Akane and her would not fight together smoothly.

So Akira roared and charged, pushing all her chi into her wind chakra. Kyosuke was caught off-guard by her rush and she slammed into him like a freight train. Students flew past them like tenpins as Akira drove them both through the crowd and into a wall. The wall parted like water and Akira continued running and pushing. She was halfway through the store when Kyosuke regained his wits.

His hands came up calmly, grabbed her shoulders and he flipped her off him with the casual ease he would wipe dirt off his lapel. Akira went through the wall behind him, and this time she felt the brick and mortar part around her painfully. She landed in a storage room of some kind. Boxes were piled here and there. Mannequins were leaning against one wall, looking eerie in the half-light that crept in through the hole Akira had created.

She got to her feet slowly. The light dimmed as Kyosuke stepped up to the hole. He placed one hand on the edge of the wall, and used the other to adjust his glasses. He was smiling.

"If you wanted to fight me by yourself, all you had to do was ask," he said cheerfully. His voiced sounded lighter, brighter than she had ever heard it before.

"Kyosuke, you don't want to do this," Akira tried. Akane had explained about Pink's so-called 'ambrosial thorns', but Akira did not believe her. She did not want to believe her. She had been forced to fight friends before. She had seen what people were like when they were brainwashed. Her own brother had fallen to such mindgames before... but he had been brought back to himself.

"Yes I do," Kyosuke said with a chuckle. "I have to say, this is probably the first thing I've wanted to do in my entire life."

But there was something wrong here. Kyosuke didn't sound brainwashed. He didn't move like someone whose mind had been defiled. There was no mindless drone to his voice, no violent intent in his eyes. There wasn't even the fanatical gleam he had seen in the eyes of the Dolls. No, those eyes belonged to Kyosuke and Kyosuke alone.

He came at her quickly, dashing across the room. Akira spun, kicked off the wall, came down at him with a cry. He caught her shin on his forearm, pushed her away. She twisted, turning his parry into her punch. He caught her hand. She twisted again, kicking with the leg that was only now leaving the wall. His head swayed back. The cleats of her boots scraped along the rim of his glasses. Then he thrust his hand and she was thrown back against the wall. She caught herself with one hand, spinning herself so her head was once again aimed upward.

"You're looking for the secret of what she did, aren't you?" Kyosuke said. His palm came in, she dodged to the side as it broke open the wall behind her. "You won't find it, Akira. I can't be 'saved' like that."

"I refuse to believe it!" Akira stepped into him, her elbow connecting with his ribs. He fell back, and his legs scissored up, catching her and sending her into a pile of boxes. She threw them off her and backflipped to her feet. "You're under her control, can't you see that?"

The air between them was split by a flash of blue. Akira ran forward, sidestepping the waves of chi as they cut into floor and ceiling. The air was filled with ringing and a sudden downpour of water. She caught him with his arms still extended. Her fist sent him flying into the mannequins.

"You're wrong, Akira." Kyosuke rose up from the shattered bodies. "She has set me free!" He leapt onto a mannequin and gestured up sharply. Akira fell back as lightning suddenly erupted from where she had been. But the blast sizzled and raced along the floor, spreading in all directions. The water, Akira realised too late. The electricity hit her soles and she screamed as it ran up her body.

It was too diffuse to do any real damage, but it stunned her. He came in, striking unrelentingly. Her body jerked and twitched as he pounded away, his body a blur, his arms and legs hitting with impunity. And as he struck, he told her things.

"All my life, I've been chained by my own will," he related calmly, even as his hand nearly dislocated her shoulder. "By my fear, Akira. I've always known I was different than them, different than my brother, than all the other children. But I couldn't stand the thought of them hating me. So I hid it, buried my desires deep down inside." He stopped, holding her briefly. "But you know all about that, don't you, Akira?"

"W-what?" Akira coughed out. He threw her back against the wall, boxes fell in her wake.

"All about lies, don't you." He smiled. "But while I've been lying to everyone else, I at least knew what I was inside. I never had a need to wear a mask, unlike you."

Kyosuke roared and thrust his hand forward. She deflected it with her palm, and skidded to the side. "I don't lie to myself, Akira. I know what I am, and I'm proud of it. I may not have chosen to tell anyone, I may have let my fear keep me private and alone, but I knew how I felt all along. You... you just sicken me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Akira shouted, striking at him in a sudden fury. He backed up, his blocks and dodges becoming increasingly desperate. She was like the waves, crashing again and again against him, steadily wearing down his defenses. Sooner or later, he would slip.

"Yes you do, Akira," Kyosuke purred, his voice calm even as his defenses began to crumble. "I've seen the way you react to the boys. I've seen the way you react to the girls. You think this is all about violence, all about playing the perfect sister, don't you?" He smirked. "But it isn't. You're afraid of what you are, of how you feel. How do you really feel about that girl, Ukyou?"

Akira's heart skipped a beat. Her offence stalled for one split second. Her defences dropped for the slightest instant. It was enough. Kyosuke's hand flashed forward. There was a crack, like thunder, and she felt his fingertips against her forehead. She jerked back, her instincts kicking in at the last second.

She fell on her back, scrambling away from him. Her helmet clattered to the floor on either side of her, split in twain. Kyosuke withdrew his hand. There was blood on his fingertips. Akira reached up, brushed her forehead. She could feel the cut there. It was small, but deep. It bled freely.

Another split second, and he would have cracked her skull just like that helmet. Another split second and she would be dead.

"No more masks, Akira," Kyosuke chuckled, and kicked away Akira's helmet with his foot. "Now it's just you. Just a scared little girl, praying for her big brother to save her." Akira couldn't speak, she merely backed away. "Praying for him to save her from the bad men, from the bad feelings she has inside."

"No..." Akira mouthed.

"You don't think I haven't listened to him talk?" Kyosuke sneered. "The 'seven correct actions of the upright man' or some such nonsense?"

He came in at her again, and Akira defended herself mechanically. Kyosuke was better than her, she knew that. There was no hope for her to defeat him. She could only delay it, the finishing blow. He had been toying with her all along. More and more of his blows slipped through, and she felt her body beginning to break under the onslaught.

"I bet he had a lot of things to say about women too, about how they should be." Kyosuke smashed Akira across the face, and she fell to the ground, stunned. "They shouldn't feel the way you felt, right? They shouldn't like motorcycles and grease and fighting. They should be there for their men. They should accept their lot. And they certainly shouldn't stare at the other girls and blush and think naughty things."

Kyosuke grabbed Akira, lifting her up. She blinked drunkenly in his grasp. "And that's the difference between us, Akira. I may have always been afraid of what I was, about how I felt. I may have hidden my true self from my brother, I might have let the distance come between us and helped him become a monster. I may have hidden it from everyone, but never from myself. I was never ashamed. I was never so sick of being who I was that I created a whole new identity for myself, to let those feelings out!"

He slammed her into the ground suddenly, viciously. Akira could only gasp and moan. He had slammed her right next to the remains of her helmet, forcing her to look at her own reflection in the cracked mirror visor.

"THAT is who you are, Akira!" he hissed in her ear. "A scared little girl, who can't take being what she is. So scared that you made this man, this biker boy who could fight for you, and say the things you wanted to say but never could." Kyosuke chuckled grimly. "Those are your chains."

Kyosuke's hands wrapped around her neck and he lifted her up once more, lifted her up off her feet. Her mind reeled with pain and confusion. He was lying. He was trying to confuse her. Kyosuke excelled at mind games. But... but a part of her...

"And this is what I am, Akira," Kyosuke explained. He wasn't smiling anymore. He drew in a deep breath. "Pink has set me free. She has shown me that true happiness, that pure happiness exists in her. I don't have to feel pain anymore, Akira. I don't have to be afraid. It all just melts away. I wish you could feel that touch. I always did like you; I saw you as a kindred spirit. But she says you have to die. And I would do anything for the person who saved me from pain." His grip tightened suddenly and Akira could not breathe. "I'm sorry it had to end like this, Akira."

Then she was screaming. It came out a sharp whistle as her body jerked, and writhed. He had summoned the lightning, right under her feet. He squeezed her throat and the lightning coursed through her body. Her vision blinked, black spots dancing across her sight. Her limbs flailed uncontrollably. She could feel her heart. It was jerking and starting like the rest of her.

She had to survive!

But how? Her body was tortured, broken. Ukyou would have found a way. She had seen Ukyou fight in worse situations. She had heard how the young woman had never given up, had found a way out of anything. When Akira had first met her, Ukyou had been recovering from one of those battles. And then she had been attacked again, and nearly killed. Then again, and again. The enemies just kept coming, and Ukyou survived. She had gone on, when her world had been crumbling around her.

Because Ukyou knew herself. Ukyou might not be open to others, but she knew herself. Ukyou looked down into her own heart and sometimes she saw things that scared her, and sometimes she saw things that disgusted her, but she never turned her eyes away. Ukyou was the only person Akira knew that was that honest. Not to others, but to herself.

That was why Akira loved her.

A wall broke down in Akira's mind. She heard someone cry out in pain, then she was on her feet. Her hand reached up and she rubbed at her throat. It was sore. Her body smoked, the leather of her outfit was covered in scorch marks. Kyosuke was lying on the ground, clutching one of his wrists. Akira had broken it, she remembered now. Her hand had reached up, and snapped the bones like kindling.

"You're right, Kyosuke," Akira said, her voice weak but growing stronger. "I haven't been honest with myself." She raised one hand, clenching it into a fist.

"No..." Kyosuke kicked to his feet, ignoring his injured hand.

"I can't die here today, Kyosuke," she explained, summoning up her aura. She smiled ironically. The energy that flowed through her body was pure water chakra. Ukyou had been the one who had taught her about it, about how it was the energy that brought about change, adaptation... and healing. "I have a promise I have to keep."

"You're not strong enough," Kyosuke growled, and she knew he wasn't talking about her physical strength. She smiled.

"I am now. She showed me the way."

Kyosuke came at her, but she intercepted him. She wasn't holding back now. Kyosuke was her friend, but he was also her enemy. She struck with a viciousness she hadn't even known she was capable of. It flowed through her like a river. His striking arm snapped back as she slammed her palm into his elbow, cracking the bone. Her shin came up against his knee, popping it. He screamed. She came in, hitting him in the sternum with all her might - right above the heart.

For a moment, a terrible moment, his eyes went blank. Then he blinked and coughed and fell to his knees.

"I'm sorry, Kyosuke," Akira said. "But I didn't have time to be gentle. There are monsters to slay."

She struck him in the forehead with enough force to crack the concrete floor underneath him. His eyes rolled back in his skull and he lay still. Akira was moving before he even hit the floor, running for the exit onto the street.

Akira landed on the sidewalk in a crouch. Her eyes flashed through the crowd. There was no sounds of combat, no sign of a struggle. The sky was a black shadow, the sun was nothing but a sliver of purple light around the edges of a black well. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Akane slumped in the center of the road. Hinata was holding her from behind, restraining her arms and bracing her palms against Akane's neck, holding the girl's head up. Akane looked dazed.

"Sometimes you make it too easy for me, Akane," Pink mused, standing only a few meters away from the girl. "I know I said I'd never touch you, but that was before I had such a perfect opportunity." Her hand came up and tiny thorns unfurled from the tips of her fingers. "Now, what would you hate to do? What would compromise those precious morals of yours so much? What can I make you beg me to let you do, over?"

"Let her go," Akira ordered, rising to her feet. Pink looked over, one eyebrow raised. She didn't look so much shocked or afraid as disappointed.

"It's so hard to find good help these days," the green-eyed girl said with a sigh. She snapped her fingers. "Kill, over."

The students rushed in. Akira narrowed her eyes. These people were her friends. She knew many of them by name. They had thanked her for helping them. She struck without thought. Bodies flew in every direction. One hand planted on the shoulder of a girl a year Akira's senior, then Akira was flying into the air. She came down, her cleats smashing into the skull of a boy who had once asked her out. She ran forward, the screaming bodies and their flailing limbs serving as her path.

Hinata had enough time to blink before Akira came down at her. Akira's hair whipped around her, bright light flashing along the edges of her vision. She landed right beside the girl, her aura roiling around her like a whirlpool. Akira had once admired Hinata, admired her for doing so casually what Akira could only accomplish with hours of soul-crushing effort.

Akira's hand came up, and her palm gently touched Hinata in the side, just under her arm. Like a tidal wave her aura exploded, sweeping the girl away with a scream. Akira spun around, catching Akane with her other arm. Hinata flew through the crowd and smashed into a storefront with enough force that the entire building shuddered, then collapsed on top of her a second later.

Akira looked down at Akane, smirking slightly. That had felt strangely satisfying.

"Akira?" Akane murmured. Then her eyes widened, and Akira felt the other girl kick out at her legs. For a brief moment, Akira was afraid she was too late. Then she fell, and felt something flash through the air above her head. She spun them both around, landing on her back with Akane held above her.

Pink stared down at the two of them, her outstretched hand clutched impotently at thin air.

"Well, fuck, over."

Akane growled, and her hand snapped down to her sword's hilt. Pink backed up a step as Akane rose. The crowd was rushing in on all sides, but Akira struck the ground with one foot. The tremor was enough to throw off everyone's balance. Even Pink stumbled. But Akane didn't.

The air was filled with a loud hiss. Akane stood for a moment, her knees bent slightly forward, her sword hand extended up and to her side. Pink toppled forward in front of her.

But the sheath was still on the sword.

"OW! MY FACE! OW, OVER!" Pink was screaming. She was clutching at the welt on her face, a thick red line that had almost caved in her exotic features.

"Shut up, or next time, I use the blade," Akane said, letting the sheath slide to the ground as she lowered the blade.

"You don't have the guts, over!" Pink said, sneering through her pain.

"Maybe she doesn't," Akira said solemnly. "But I do."

The crowd was screaming, but in fear, not rage. Akira looked up... and up some more.

It was three stories tall. A praying mantis with fierce clicking mandibles and claws that were as long as Akira was tall. On its insectile head was perched a girl that was Pink's twin, except human. She wore an outfit exactly like Pink's as well, except instead of the blue gem growing into (or perhaps from?) her chest, there was a shadow shape of it there.

"I think this is the part where we leave, over," the newcomer said, her eyes fixed mainly on Pink. Pink, for her part, was too busy scrambling underneath the protection of the giant monster to offer a snappy comeback.

"Link," Akane said, her voice uncertain. "Why are you letting this happen?"

Link switched her focus to Akane, her frown twitching slightly as if she was amused by some internal joke. "Because I know the truth, Akane. None of this matters, over."

"You think that thing's going to stop us?" Akira said, frowning herself. "I've fought bigger."

"Stop? No. Slow down so we can escape? Yes, over." And then Link was leaping back, her hand extending up, and suddenly a shape buzzed out from a side alley. It was a wasp, if a wasp could be said to have been molded from amber and flower petals. Also, it was ten feet long. She caught one of its legs and swooped down, picking up her twin.

"And don't any of you useless fools follow me, either!" Pink screeched as the wasp rose into the air. "Damn pathetic high school students! Next time I brainwash something useful, like accountants, over!"

Akane and Akira both leapt to follow, but the mantis knocked them from the air with twin sweeps of its claws. They landed in a heap, and Akane moaned, sitting up slightly. Akira saw Akane's eyes fix on a nearby rooftop, where a woman with long purple hair was watching silently. Then the woman vanished over the side of the building and was gone.

01010

Pluto waited.

She had said everything there was to say. She knew that this was the moment of truth. It had all come down to this. Either Ukyou would see the wisdom in her words, or she would remove Pluto's head from her body. Either way, it ended here and now. She could sense it. It filled the air around them. It was a terrible pressure, the weight of Destiny. It was the feeling that all the time stream had been building up to this moment, that everything now hinged on what would happen.

Slowly, so slowly Pluto was not even aware it was happening, the blade at her throat eased. When Ukyou spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. It had none of her cold certainty, none of her iron confidence. It was the voice of a scared little girl.

"You have to get her out of here," Ukyou said.

"Hotaru?" Pluto asked.

"Get her to safety. Get her away from this place."

"NO!" Hotaru screamed. She was still floating in Rose's telekinetic grip, her body squeezed just enough to be uncomfortable. "Ukyou, no! Don't do this!"

"Hotaru...?" Ukyou sounded surprised by the girl's reaction.

"Don't surrender because of me! Please! I can't st-"

"SHUT UP, HOTARU!" Ukyou roared. The girl's mouth snapped closed, her chin trembling and her eyes glistened. "You don't understand. I'm not worth saving. Pluto is right. But you... I won't let you come to harm. If my dying can save you, then so be it."

Hotaru looked at Ukyou for a long moment. Then her head slumped to her chest and her body began to shake with silent sobs.

"Get her out of her, Pluto!" Ukyou hissed. "Before I change my mind. Send her somewhere safe."

Pluto nodded and stepped away from Ukyou. She pulled up her time key staff. Through it, she was connected to the Gates of Time. With the gates, there was very little she could not do. Normally, she could send Hotaru back or forth in time with ease... but not now. Her power had already been tested to its limit. Creating the sector of null time in which she had hidden for her futile ambush had nearly killed her. No, breaking down the barriers of time was out of the question. That left space. Unfortunately, Ukyou thought more highly of her ability in this regard than Pluto was actually capable of.

If all three of the Outer Senshi had been here, then they could have teleported anywhere in the entire solar system. But that would never happen now. So much loss... she shook that thought aside. They would not want her to hesitate now. She couldn't send Hotaru absolutely anywhere, but she could send her somewhere safe. A building near the battle, a building all the vampires avoided. A building they feared. Pluto didn't know why, but it would be safe enough for the girl for the moment.

Hotaru's body faded slightly, then vanished in a flicker of green light.

"Pluto, look out!"

Pluto was too slow. Ukyou came up with the speed of a whirlwind. Her hand shot out and clamped onto the haft of the time key staff. But even as she did, Rose appeared behind her. Ukyou's body jerked forward, her back bowing as Rose focused the full force of her soul power into her. Her coat burned away, the leather disappearing into a swirling mass of blue flames. Pluto could hear the ribs in her back cracking, one at a time.

But Ukyou's eyes were focused. Her cold black lotus eyes gazed straight into Pluto's, and Pluto knew she had been fooled. Ukyou had never surrendered. She would fight on, to the bitter end. There was no hope for her to win, not like this, but Ukyou would fight on.

"Sorry, Pluto, but this ends today!" Ukyou screamed. Then her grip around the time staff tightened, her knuckles turning white. Rose screamed, pouring a constant stream of energy into Ukyou, but she wouldn't fall. Then her fingers closed into a fist, and for a moment time stopped.

Pluto stared. Time had literally stopped. Everything in the world had simply ceased moving for a moment, except for her and Ukyou. Overhead, the moon had vanished into the shadow of the earth. Pluto held the end of the time key staff in her hands. The other end, its haft shattered, was caught in mid-fall. The tiny fragments and splinters of the staff floated in the void of time for an instant eternity.

Then time started again. Pluto screamed as the pressure of it grounded through her body like a bolt of lightning. She heard Ukyou scream too, and knew the woman had experienced similar pain. Pluto slumped to her knees. Beside her, Ukyou fell on her side, her body twitching.

Pluto looked up dumbly. The clearing had been destroyed. The force of the temporal implosion had scoured the soil down to the bedrock. The tree line had been moved back five meters. The cliff wall had shattered, now nothing more than a mass of rubble. Rose lay on top of the remains. For a heart-stopping instant, her chest was not moving.

Rose's mouth opened and she gasped. Pluto felt relief flood through her like clear spring water. She did not know if she could have withstood that. Not so soon after losing the Outer Senshi as well. It wouldn't have been worth that cost.

Rose was regaining her feet, and Pluto was as well. Ukyou, however, lay still. She was unconscious. The skin on her back was scorched black from Rose's assault. Her body obviously hadn't been prepared for the backlash of what she had done. Pluto could only marvel at her tenacity. She hadn't believed destroying her staff was even possible.

"Pluto, your staff..." Rose said.

"Gone..." Pluto dropped the now useless metal. It was cold and lifeless, like any other stick now. The garnet orb had vanished, disappearing back to the Gates of Time no doubt. "I can no longer access the Gates of Time."

"I see..."

"But I am still a Sailor Senshi," Pluto pointed out, holding up her hand. "I still have the seed of the guardian star, the planet Pluto who stands at the gates of death, within me." A purple orb began to form around her fist. "I can finish what I started."

Then the world exploded again.

Pluto came to a second later. She was laying near the trees. She looked up, dazed.

Rose was standing in front of her, her body cloaked in power. Just beyond her a massive man floated, his heels held smartly together, his arms crossed. He was grinning.

"Did you truly think that you could deny me, Rose?" Bison said. Pluto felt her heart sinking. She recognised the man. She knew who he was from Rose's description and her own examinations of the time streams.

"I will always deny you, monster!" Rose said, her voice cool.

Bison laughed. "And that is why I discarded you."

"I am not part of you!" Rose declared. She raised her shawl and a blast of soul energy ran along its length, flying from the tip towards Bison. He held up one hand, and it popped against his flesh like a balloon.

"Oh please, useless fragment, do not fool yourself." He lowered his hand. "You are the weakness I saw in myself. The doubt and limitations on my great Psychopower. I cut you from my soul like a surgeon would a tumor, and cast you aside. I must admit, I was surprised when you sought me out, first drawn to me as a student, then as an enemy."

"I defeated you once," Rose pointed out.

"Why would I want to defeat you, Rose?" Bison smiled again, his glowing blue eyes flashing dangerously. "We are the same, you and I. If I were to go all out against you, kill you, I might risk your weakness creeping back into my spirit. So I let you believe you could defeat me, rather than risk such a foolish confrontation." He chuckled, a menacing sound. "But now I am at my full strength. The Psychodrive feeds my power, purifies it. I am power incarnate now. You cannot hope to prevail."

"I..." Rose paused. "I do not have to." She looked up at him sharply. "All I have to do is hold you long enough for Pluto to finish what she started!"

Rose charged forward, and Bison laughed as he vanished from in front of her. Pluto could only stare as a battle like none she had ever witnessed unfolded in front of her.

Rose was a dynamo, an elegant tornado in the centre of the clearing. Bison was like a phantom, fading away from her assaults. He teleported with wanton abandon. But even as he faded, Rose would spin, launching an attack at seemingly empty air. Only a moment later Bison would materialise, his arm just blocking her strikes, or his body just barely dodging. And he struck too. His blows came in from all angles. He flew back, and came at her in a tight cartwheel. She dodged. Even as she did, he struck out. She caught his limb and pivoted around it, landing safely away. He vanished, appearing in the sky, coming down at her from unexpected angles. He would teleport in the middle of a punch or kick, and she would spin to block at nothing, only parry his incoming thrust.

Pluto realised that she was watching a fight that was occurring on a whole other level than the physical. Rose and Bison were fighting a battle that was as much spiritual as actual. Each was reading the other's minds and intentions. Each was battering at the other's will with their tremendous psychic force. The clearing was filled with the tension of the battle of wills. That was why neither was filling the air with the pyrotechnics Pluto knew them capable of. They needed every mote of power they could spare for the telepathic contest between them.

Except Bison did not. He was vanishing and reappearing without a care, spending energy like it was water. Rose did not have his reserves. She would lose this fight.

Pluto held up her hand. The Dead Scream began to form again. She couldn't let Rose fight in vain. She had to find Ukyou. She almost missed her.

The woman was crawling away, into the trees. Pluto circled the battle, trying to get a good shot. But as she did, she felt something inside of Ukyou. It was there again, that terrible power. Not yet active, but closer to the surface now. Everything else that Ukyou had, her chi, her will, her body, had been worn away. It was all she had left. But Ukyou was not grasping that alien power. She crawled away.

No, not away.

"Ran... Ranchan..." Ukyou coughed. "I... I'm coming..."

Pluto hesitated.

There was a sudden burst of laughter behind her. Pluto spun. Rose had been caught. Bison held her by one arm. She was dangling over the ground, his massive frame easily able to hold her above the ground. Her face was haggard. She was almost completely out of energy now. Bison was holding up his hand, and a blue-purple sphere was growing atop his palm.

He was going to kill her. He no longer feared her being able to weaken him, or maybe he was just so far gone in his bloodlust he didn't care. He would kill her. Ukyou was rising to her feet, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Hotaru... no..."

A second after Ukyou said it, Pluto felt it. Sailor Saturn. She was awake. Pluto looked at Ukyou, whose eyes were closing. Pluto knew this was it. She could fire now, while Ukyou was distracted, while Bison was occupied. Her Dead Scream would kill the woman. It would end it.

And Rose would die.

"DEAD SCREAM!"

Always before, the words had been spoken in a whisper. Now Pluto roared. The ball of purple light flew across the clearing. Bison screamed as it slammed into his back. His grip on Rose snapped open, and Pluto was already there to catch her.

"You... fool..." Rose murmured.

"What good is saving the universe..." Pluto spoke softly, "If I lose my soul in the process?"

"Foolish woman!" Bison roared, levitating to his feet. "You will pay for that insult!"

Behind him, Ukyou was looking back at Pluto. Her eyes were unreadable. Her face was set in a grim frown. Her fingers were curled into fists. She spoke, but the words were not really meant for Pluto, or anyone else. "Please forgive me, for what I must do."

And the alien power filled her. It exploded through her body, and the world around her shuddered. Bison stopped in mid-speech, turning to stare, but Ukyou was already gone, vanishing into the woods with impossible speed.

"Now!" Pluto cried, pushing Rose forward. The woman needed no other prompting. They struck at Bison, throwing everything they had, the last of their magic and spirit.

Together.

01010

Inside, the tent was as dark as the sky overhead, the place cavernous, an empty auditorium with no audience. In the centre they danced, their costumes bright and colorful. They swayed to the beat of the pleasant music that was being played expertly off-key. There were dozens of circus performers. Here a knife juggler, there a fire-eater, here an acrobat and there a clown. They cavorted and performed for an audience of no-one, and as they did they chanted loudly.

"They didn't notice!" they cried. "They didn't notice!" They repeated it like a mantra, over and over. "Such blind beings these humans are!" one of them said, and this new chant was mixed in with the others. They laughed and danced and the twisted music filled the cavern.

Cologne tapped her staff sharply against the stones. It made a sound like a thunderclap, and instantly the entire procession fell silent. She crouched silently in the entranceway, gazing out at this troupe of buffoons through half-lidded eyes.

"Who are you?" one of them said, sounding surprised.

"I'm the one who noticed," Cologne introduced herself. It really hadn't been hard. She had heard the story of the sudden eclipse and had felt the dark energy rising. It was a simple matter, for someone sensitive to such things, to track them down. She was actually amazed that they thought landing a giant tent in the middle of downtown Tokyo would not be noticed. "Now it is my turn. Who are you?"

Cologne was not afraid of these clowns and freaks. Oh, she could sense their power. They had potent magic, whoever these invaders were, that was for sure. Much more potent than even the magic Cologne had felt from those girls the child Akane seemed so concerned about. But while they had power, Cologne could see that they lacked spirit. There was no true purpose to this bunch, just mindless malice and greed.

"We are the Dead Moon Circus!"

Cologne looked up at the high-pitched voice that responded, and allowed herself one slow, careful blink. There were four of them, girls no older than twelve by the looks of them. They each wore outfits that made the ridiculous costumes of their brethren look sane in comparison. Each was colour-coded, with a small orb appropriate to their costume hanging near them as they hovered in space. One was riding hers.

"And what kind of old grandmother are you?" The red-head girl and apparent leader spoke up again.

"Yes!" the one with pink hair added primly. "You are obviously unworthy of our attention, old woman. Especially when you are dealing with such youth and beauty as us."

"You should mind your elders, child," Cologne said, even though she could sense ancient power here. She knew instinctively that these children were no older than they appeared... no matter how old they actually were.

"Elder, elder, elder!" the blue-haired one cried in a sing-song voice. "You're too old to understand what kind of trouble you're in."

Cologne sighed, having grown tired of this. She leapt into the air, propelling herself with the speed of a chi long cultivated and well-maintained. Her staff lashed out four times, and the girls toppled to the ground, more surprised than hurt.

"She... she hit us!" one of them complained.

"And I'll do so again if you don't show more respect next time," Cologne offered. The entire circus was silent for a moment at this affront. All the performers were backing away in fear. If these four were what those monsters feared, then Cologne was not impressed.

"We'll show you, granny!" the one with green hair growled. She climbed to her feet and held up her hands. Her orb began to pulse with power, and the others all giggled and followed her example. Cologne willed her body to relax, to be able to burst into motion at any instant. She felt the magical aura around them rise. She would have to draw them outside, away from their home turf. Maybe she could drag in a few of those young monster slayers to help her. Certainly a big enough commotion would draw in somebody, right?

"I just want to know what you plan to accomplish here," Cologne replied grimly.

The girls just laughed.

Then Cologne felt someone step up behind her. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his aura flow over her. She had only felt such an aura once before, when that creature Gyro had confronted them. She kept herself from trembling. The energy of the thing behind her was immense, but she could not show fear. For a moment her own desire to have somebody else notice the descending balloon seemed to mock her. Why did it have to be one of THEM?

"I think I would like an answer to that question myself." The voice was cultured, European. Unlike Gyro's, it did not demand obedience, merely expected it. Cologne turned to look at the man behind her.

He was tall, with blonde hair cut regally short. He wore a long cloak that was held fast in front of him, concealing his body. On his shoulders were large elaborate decorations. His face was angular, with piercing eyes and thin lips.

"Another old geezer!" the blue-haired girl said, tittering.

The man's eyes narrowed. "I am Frederick von Purgstall. I rule here, and I demand to know what you plan on doing in my city."

His voice brooked no argument, but the girls ignored him. They laughed and mocked him, pointing at him derisively. Cologne felt his power building, and she leapt to the side. He frowned wordlessly. Then his forehead split apart, a great shining light too bright to look into spilling forth from the wound. In an instant, it lanced forward, a beam of raw destructive power that filled the air with the stench of lightning.

The beam passed almost a meter above the ground, but in its wake the stone floors buckled, cracked and then exploded. The circus freaks too slow to move out of the way screamed as the bolt tore through their bodies without pause. First giant holes appeared in them or entire limbs vanished as they came too close to that blinding light, then their bodies vanished like shadows. The beam flashed across the room, striking a peculiar platform on the other end of it. Cologne didn't have much time to examine it, for as the beam rose up its length, it was blown to bits. Then, impossibly, there was a second surge of light, even larger than the first. A great bulge of energy that pulsed out from Purgstall's forehead and whipped across the room too fast for Cologne to follow. It hit the far wall, and the sound of it hitting was like a thousand cannons going off at once. Cologne covered her ears and closed her eyes but even that didn't block out the sound and light of the explosion.

When she opened them again, she was still blinking away spots and her ears were still ringing. The circus was a shambles: the stands had been blasted to splinters, the floors were a rubble field and the entire back wall had vanished like it had never been. She looked down, almost bemused to see the four girls kowtowing to the large man. Cologne couldn't make out what they were saying, but from their frantic movements and their expressions, she guessed that the 'Dead Moon Circus' was surrendering.

Which left no one for the zoalord to focus his attention on but her. She sighed and gripped her staff tightly. Her only regret was that she wouldn't live to see if her great-granddaughter became the kind of woman Cologne hoped she would be.

"You would be Cologne," Purgstall said. He had waited until the ringing in Cologne's ears had stopped. She nodded. "You broke into our mountain, if I understand correctly." She nodded. "Well then... I think I would like very much to talk to you. Would you care to join me for tea?"

Cologne blinked. From his tone, it wasn't an order. But from his expression, she wasn't certain she had much choice in the matter. Cologne lowered her staff. She nodded again.

01010

"That was so stupid, over," Link commented. They were buzzing lazily over the rooftops of Tokyo. The darkened sun cast the city below into an eerie twilight. Many people were out on balconies, rooftops, and the streets. Most pointed and stared at the wasp-like aragami the twins rode, but there wasn't much they could do, of course.

Pink had hesitated a moment before responding. The skin around her eye had turned an ugly purple, and she was gingerly touching the swollen lump just beside it. "It was an opportunity. Besides, those two were conspiring against me, over." Perversely, her smile widened as she said the last.

"You could have died," Link snapped at her twin. "I wasn't fast enough to stop Akane, over." And if Pink had died... Link suppressed a shudder. She couldn't risk that. Not now. Not when she had finally cracked open the truth of the world.

"But I didn't," Pink snapped right back. "And don't think you can lecture me, Link. You seem to forget who holds the power here, over!"

Link turned. Her brown eyes met Pink's emerald ones. "Oh, am I, over?" The wasp made an angry humming sound.

Pink's lip curled. "Please. You'd no sooner drop me than yourself." She levered herself into a more casual position, daring Link to order the wasp to hurl her off. "And you won't do anything else, either. You'll do what I tell you and be happy for it, over."

Link's frown deepened. She knew, of course, where Pink was going with this. But that had never stopped Pink from bragging before, and this time was no different.

"You know why? It's because I have HIM. You'll never be able to salvage your relationship with him now. And even if you did, you'll never be what I am to him. Just like Akane Tendo. Don't think you'll ever again be able to threaten me into doing what you want like you did with Adon, my dear twin. If anything happens to me, Chris will make sure you regret it for the rest of your life, over."

"That doesn't change anything, over."

"It changes everything," Pink laughed triumphantly. "I don't NEED you anymore, my dear twin. I have Chris, and I can get any number of other slaves. Oh yes, I suppose you still have to live." Her smile bared a flash of white teeth. "But whether you'll get to tag along behind us on our many adventures, or whether we'll carry your limbless, eyeless, tongueless torso in a bag of broth from that moss you worked so hard to get is entirely up to you, over."

Her eyes gleamed feverishly, and Link almost involuntarily nudged further away from her. "I wouldn't tempt me, if I were you." Pink laughed at her own joke, but her hungry eyes never left Link's. "You, my shadow. Always echoing me. Always DENYING me. But you're not even my reflection anymore. When I'm listening to you scream, which of us will be more real, over?"

Link sat, frozen, for a moment, before turning away. She felt the aragami's confusion and anger, but calmed it with a thought, then directed it down towards the ground. The wind rushed around them as they dove.

"I think you can make it back to the house from here. I'm going to go see if I can get my mantis, or at least the mitama, over."

Pink laughed to herself and dismounted. "Sure, sure. You go do that. I think when Chris gets back, we'll go round ourselves up a little army. There's still enough delinquent martial artists around for that. And then we'll gather up a few more mitama for me... twenty, thirty maybe. What do you think of that, Link, over?"

"I can't see a problem with it, over." Link didn't turn around.

"I didn't think so, over."

The dust whipped around as the wasp lifted into the air again. Link waited until they were well away before allowing herself to chuckle. The aragami sent an inquisitive feeling into her mind. "Pink really doesn't understand anything about the situation she's in, over." The aragami indicated it didn't understand either, but Link soothed it with a soft sound, rubbing its head right above where the precious mitama gleamed. It didn't matter. Pink could be a threat, but she had a short attention span. And there was plenty of people she hated far more than her twin. Shampoo came to mind. And at this point, quite likely Akane as well. Keeping her distracted wouldn't be difficult.

She concentrated, searching for the telltale signature of her other pet. Surprisingly, it wasn't far at all, and was growing nearer. Link relaxed a bit. The mantis must have escaped. Not unexpected - Akane was anything but bloodthirsty. The wasp angled around a tall building, speeding towards its brother-

Link blinked. She had just enough time to do that, and realise that the purple flash she had seen wasn't just an optical illusion of the eclipse, before the head of the wasp lazily, almost casually spun away from the body. And then they were plunging towards the ground, the body withering away underneath her, the darkened world spinning. Link's stomach rose, and she was screaming, or at least her mouth was open, and then the ground filled her vision and she had only time to close her eyes-

And she was stopped. Not by the ground, but by a pair of arms. Link's eyes snapped open, and she looked up at the face of the girl she'd once hated more than anyone else in the world.

Shampoo was smiling slightly. "You alright?"

"Yes, what..." and then Link looked over, and saw Shampoo's sword on the ground. It was covered in green ichor: both from the wasp, and from having cut the mitama from the mantis, which lay in a small puddle next to it. Her eyes narrowed, and she ripped herself from Shampoo's grasp, backing up a step. The Joketsuzoku merely continued staring at her, eyes half-lidded lazily. "Shampoo. What did you do, over?"

"Shampoo not cause any harm to you, as promise. No promise anything about plant monsters."

Link scowled. "What are you up to? If you're trying to scare me, don't even try. Your great-grandmother can't protect you from Chris, over."

Shampoo laughed. "The last thing Shampoo care about is being protected by great-grandmother." She looked to the side, and her smile widened. "About time."

And at that point she vanished. Again, it took Link a moment to even follow what had happened, and by the time her head snapped to the side, Shampoo's limp body was tumbling from the crater it had made in the concrete siding of the building. She hadn't even tried to defend herself. She staggered up to one knee, and then Link realised in a flash of terror what was happening.

"Shampoo, get the mitamas to..." she trailed off as a blue flash smashed Shampoo into the ground with enough force to make the entire street shake. This time, Shampoo did not rise again.

Link slowly raised her eyes from Shampoo's unconscious body. The boy looked like a thug. His navy blue school uniform strained to contain his muscular form, and was ragged and threadbare from poor care. His short, spiky brown hair was just starting its retreat up his forehead, leaving bare the x- shaped scar there. His expression was grim as death. He raised one red-gloved hand, curling his fingers into a fist.

"Batsu Ichimonji..." Link murmured. "So, you weren't just absent. I should have known, over..." He saw her edging to the side. His muscles tensed. Link made a desperate lunge towards the mitama. Two steps towards it and he was in front of her. She opened her mouth, though whether to threaten or plead she never knew. Red flashed before her eyes, and she fell into darkness.

01010

Artemis hated this feeling, the helpless feeling of standing on the sidelines. He wanted to do something so badly it hurt. He wanted to help everyone, but all he could do was watch. He ground his teeth and forced himself to stand still. He would accomplish nothing by rushing out into that war zone, nothing but getting himself killed.

He was crouched in the doorway of the old church. With his superior feline senses and psychic powers, he could follow the entire battle from here, without being noticed. It was the one place the vampires dared not approach. He had seen a few of them run towards it, only to stall in their tracks, their faces open-mouthed gapes of terror. They could sense something in this church, something that scared them more than anything. He had watched vampires charge straight into artillery fire. He had seen them leap through walls of flame. He had watched them fight on even as the sun rose, laughing as they burned beneath its cleansing rays. But the thing in this church, the corpse, frightened them beyond anything else.

So he was safe here, for now.

He felt something in the air behind him, and turned. The girl, Hotaru, had just appeared in the church, leaning against one of the pews. She was clutching herself and crying softly, her sobs shaking her whole body. He wondered briefly what it was that had brought her here, then he felt the explosion.

Sensitive as Artemis was to magic, he could not fail to feel it. A rip in the time stream, a temporal backlash of monstrous proportions. As quickly as it came, it was gone. He gasped and ran out the door, looking off into the woods. He saw the man in the sky hovering for a second, looking in the direction of the explosion. Then he grinned and chuckled, before vanishing into a shower of purple light.

"Sailor Pluto..." Artemis murmured. He had no idea what had just happened, but he was certain it was bad.

Even as Bison vanished from the sky, his servants moved in to attack. There were ten of them, Artemis realised quickly. Each was a young woman, wearing identical black skin-tight uniforms. They were not identical; each had distinct features and hair, but they all moved in eerie unison. The vampires had ceased their attack for the moment, wondering what to make of these new threats. Then the one nearest the back, a young woman with pink hair, raised a microphone and began to sing.

It was a song with no real words, just her voice rising up and down from tone to tone. It was a soft aria, a song with no emotion, only mechanical precision. One by one, the other women began to pick up the tune, each opening their mouths and adding her voice to the chorus. In no time at all they were singing in perfect unison, and Artemis felt the energy between them all growing. He realised they were linking up with each other, synchronising their power in a way that went beyond the tone of their song.

When they struck, it was like a tidal wave washing over the clearing. They came in fast, each coming in by a separate route but all moving with the same purpose. The vampires roared and opened fire, their weapons creating a wall of lead. The women moved through it without pause, dodging and parrying the bullets with their thick red metal forearm guards. They fell into the vampire ranks, striking with fist and spear and staff. Where they struck, the monsters fell.

Integra opened her mouth, about to shout in triumph at the turning of the tide, when one of the women appeared in front of her. She was short, with long blonde hair in a ponytail and a thick iron mask hiding her face. She glanced at Integra for a second, then her voice emerged, breaking the aria for a moment.

"Identity confirmed," she said. "Hellsing, Integra. Not target. Proceeding to eliminate." She stepped forward, thrusting her fist with inhuman speed. All Integra could do was gasp, then she flew back. The fist emerged, bloody, from the back of the girl vampire, Victoria.

She grinned, blood leaking out of the corner of her mouth. "Not... today you don't," she said. The woman reacted only by withdrawing her hand and swinging it up at the policegirl. She snapped her hand up, catching the wrist. With a roar, she drove her other hand into the masked woman's chest. The woman buckled back and Victoria released her. She flew through the air... and was caught neatly by two other of the Bison-women. They set her down, and the woman stood as if she had not been hit. All three turned on Victoria, who wiped the blood from her lips. "Miss Integra... stay behind me."

"NANCY!"

Artemis' eyes flashed from one confrontation to another. Yomiko had risen to her feet again, Ranma and Minako not far behind. The bookworm was staring into the melee, her mouth quirking up into a smile. Her eyes flashed with hope. She began to walk forward. Artemis saw her destination, an identical pair of the Bison-women. They seemed slightly older than the others, but no less attractive for it. They had short black hair that gleamed in the firelight. As Artemis watched, one of them swung her hand through a vampire, as easily as you would pass your arm through a thick mist. When her hand emerged, she was clutching the thing's heart. The vampire slumped gracelessly to the ground. The other was walking toward a cluster of humans, who were firing futilely at her, their bullets harmlessly emerging from her back with a flash of gold sparks.

"Yomiko, come back!" Ranma cried, trying to grab her. But her fingers slipped along the edge of Yomiko's coat and the woman was running now. Ranma grimaced. "They aren't your friends anymore! I've seen what Bison can do to people!" She realised Yomiko wasn't paying attention. "Damn. Minako, we have to stop..."

Ranma turned around, only to gasp. Artemis felt his own hackles rise, felt himself hissing. The blonde vampire, Luke, was holding Minako by the neck. He had one of his antique guns pressed against her temple. Minako was pulling futilely at his hand, her expression panicked.

"You monster! Let her go!" Ranma cried.

"Or you'll what?" Luke grinned. "Kill me? No, I think I will take this one." He nodded his head towards the battle between the vampires and Bison's female servants. "The tide of the battle has turned against us, and it's time to make our leave. But we need some trophies, to appease the Major. Don't you agree, brother?"

"Oh, fuck yeah!"

Ranma tried to turn around, but her attention had been so focused on finding a way to free Minako that she hadn't noticed the other Valentine sneaking up behind him. The dark-skinned young man grinned, his horrible missing eye widening, as he pressed the barrel of a machine gun into Ranma's back. There was a loud roar as the vampire emptied the entire clip into the boy-turned-girl. Ranma's cry of pain was almost drowned out by the weapon. Almost.

She stood up straight for a moment once the only sound the gun was making was dry clicks. Then she toppled forward like a felled tree. Her back was a purple ruin, a mass of bruises and welts, and the back of her shirt had vaporised under the onslaught. Yan frowned as he looked down at her.

"Well fuck, she's bulletproof," he complained. Ranma could only groan as Yan reached around his back and pulled out a massive rocket launcher. "Let's see if you're rocket-proof, bitch!"

"RANMA!"

Luke cried out in pain, stumbling back as a golden halo suddenly burst out from Minako. She stood there for a second, her arms crossed in front of her, her lips pulled back in a grimace, her eyes closed. The light around her became blinding, and Artemis was forced to turn his gaze away.

When he looked back, Minako was leaping away, carrying Ranma's semi- conscious form over her shoulder. Luke fired a few times after them, but he must have been still partially blinded, because both shots went wide. Minako vanished into the trees somewhere. Yan was growling, rubbing his good eye and about to charge after them when his brother barred his path with one arm.

"Let them go, Yan," Luke advised.

"Fuck that shit!" Yan growled. "That bitch is why we came here!"

"Yes, but I think we can get an even better trophy."

"Huh?" Yan looked back towards the battle. "You mean Hellsing? No offense bro, but I ain't goin' anywhere near those luscious little ass-kickers again."

"No, I meant Big Red," Luke said, grinning.

"Big..." Yan trailed off.

"Can't you feel him?" Luke turned, and for a moment Artemis feared he was staring directly at him, but no... it was the church he was looking at. "He's weakened, but still there. That why no one will go inside."

"Oh yeah... oh FUCK yeah!" Yan pumped the arm holding the rocket launcher once. "Alucard! If we take that bad boy back so Doc and that hot chick can take him apart..."

"Then this battle will still have been a success," Luke nodded. Grinning, the two began to walk towards the church. Artemis cursed under his breath, and ran inside.

Hotaru was still there. She was curled up in a fetal position, rocking back and forth. She was murmuring something under her breath, just audible enough to hear but not loud enough to make out. Artemis ran up to her.

"Hotaru! Hotaru, snap out of it!" He pawed at her leg.

"...she's dead... she's dead..." Hotaru spoke more loudly this time.

"Who's dead?" Artemis shook his head. "No matter, we have to get out of here, Hotaru!"

"All dead... all of them dead... everyone dead..."

"Hotaru..." Artemis felt his heart tearing. What was he supposed to do? He wanted to comfort her, but any second the Valentines would kick in that door and poor helpless Hotaru... no. It was too terrible to think about.

"HOTARU!" Artemis leapt up onto her knees and slashed out with his claws. The strike was not enough to do any damage, not even enough to do really hurt. But it caught Hotaru's attention. She stopped rocking and stared at him. Deep in her purple eyes flickered a soft red light. "We have to run, Hotaru! It isn't safe here!"

And Hotaru laughed. It was the first time he had ever heard her laugh, and it made his soul wither. It was a child's laugh, but completely devoid of cheer. "Nowhere is safe, kitty-cat. They all die, no matter where I go. Everyone dies... for me... for ME!"

"Hotaru..."

"The world... is a terrible place, kitty-cat. All it does is hurt and hurt and hurt..."

The door exploded inward. Artemis stared in horror as the two vampires strode casually into the church. Their eyes fixed on the casket for a moment, then slowly, inevitably, they settled on Hotaru.

"What's with the jailbait?" Yan said.

"I don't know," Luke shrugged. "Maybe they hid her here thinking we wouldn't come in."

"Guess they underestimated the testicular fortitude of the Valentine brothers!" Yan screeched.

"Yes." Luke smiled, and it wasn't a human smile. It was a smile full of long sharp teeth. "I guess I could use a snack too. If you don't mind, brother?"

"Nah," Yan waved his arm. "You go ahead, bro."

Luke took a step forward and Artemis leapt in front of him, hissing, his back arching. "Get away from her, you monster!" he yelled as loudly as he could.

"A talking cat?" Luke blinked.

"Hey, I've never had a talking cat before," Yan said. "Wonder what they taste like? If you get the girl, give me the cat."

"I won't let that happen!" Artemis roared and leapt. But Luke caught him with ease. He screeched and clawed at the man's arm, but Luke held him calmly.

"Here, have fun," Luke threw the cat back at his brother. As he flew, Artemis saw Hotaru following his path with her eyes. She was mouthing his name, but no words came out.

Artemis felt the younger Valentine catch him, but he couldn't look at his fate. He could only stare as Luke leaned down neck to Hotaru, his mouth still a rictus grin of fangs. He patted her head. "Don't worry little girl. I can promise you, this will hurt a great deal!"

His mouth yawned wide and it snapped forward, seeking her exposed neck. Artemis gasped, and he saw something in Hotaru' eyes just give up.

There was no sound. No scream, no cry of pain, no sound of flesh being torn or of wood splintering. The sound of the battle outside had vanished. All sound had vanished. He could no longer hear his own screams. He could no longer hear his own heart beating.

Then Luke was unmade. He was simply torn apart from the inside out. Bits and pieces of his flesh ceased to be, revealing that there was nothing but a great yawning void within. Slowly he vanished, his back arching and his mouth opening as he tried to scream, but it all happened in complete silence. Then there was nothing left of him but a Luke-shaped hole in the world.

Hotaru was rising to her feet now. The air around her rippled. The floor beneath her peeled away, the rotted wood simply unmaking itself. The wall next to her, the pews, the ceiling above her, it all unraveled into nothingness. Her face was turned rapturously toward the black moon. Her body seemed to be shifting and flashing. Her clothes rippled and unwove themselves, then back into something else, then unwove and reknit and on and on. It was like she was trying to transform into two shapes at once. On her forehead there was a black light shining, a dark symbol forming there that Artemis could not make out.

Artemis felt himself dropping. Yan was screaming something, something lost in the absolute silence. He snapped up his rocket launcher, bracing it with both hands. A plume of silent flame exploded from the back of the tube and the rocket itself fired forward into the soundless world. Hotaru's head snapped down suddenly, her purple-red eyes focusing on the incoming rocket.

Artemis could suddenly hear the roar of the rocket, Yan's scream, the sounds of the battle outside. He could hear himself breathing again. Hotaru raised one hand and a weapon wove itself out of nothing, bits and pieces appearing until a long shaft was resting in her hand. It was a polearm, easily two meters tall. It ended in a pair of wickedly curved blades. Artemis recognized that weapon, and he slumped to the ground.

"Sailor Saturn..." he breathed. So... all hope was lost.

She flicked the end of the Silence Glaive, and Hotaru unmade the rocket in mid-air. It popped out of existence, leaving nothing behind. Yan stared at her, his mouth opening and closing. "Fuck this shit, I didn't care that much about him anyway!" Yan hurled the rocket launcher at Hotaru, spinning as he did, and ran like a bullet into the woods. Sailor Saturn, her form still caught halfway between two shapes, gestured the weapon into nothing before it could reach her.

Artemis could only stare in horror. Everyone else had stopped moving too. They were all staring at the little girl now. Her transformation had blown away most of the church, letting everyone see the end coming. Sailor Saturn stretched her arm up, holding the Silence Glaive up to the sky. When it fell, her power would destroy the entire world. Sailor Saturn's mouth opened and she began chanting the final thing anyone would ever hear.

"DEATH..."

01010

ZX-Tole leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. The sky overhead was black as pitch, the sun nothing more than a fading ring of light. It was unnatural, and it set his teeth on edge. He had seen a few eclipses in his time, but they always lasted only a few moments. A minute or two at most. Then the sun came back, and the ghost moon continued on its own orbit around the world. But today was different. Today the sun was not coming back.

It had been a half hour. Something was wrong. The problem was that he had no idea what was happening. Despite everything, he was just a soldier. A soldier with the ability to turn into a giant beetle, perhaps. A soldier who could devastate an entire division of troops by himself, yes. Yet he understood things the way a soldier did. He knew about troops and battles and resources. He knew about logistics and tactics and propaganda. This alien eclipse, it worried him in a way even an enemy ten times his equal in battle could never have.

The door to the mansion slid open and ZX-tole looked up. The rest of his squad did so as well. Immediately they began to scramble to their feet. Lord Purgstall had returned. ZX-tole snapped to attention and resisted the urge to demand to know what had happened. Purgstall had left with barely a word, merely an order for ZX-tole and the others to stay put while he 'dealt with the situation'.

"ZX-tole, tell the servants we have guests for lunch," Purgstall said softly, in that voice that was not ordering, simply expecting obedience.

It was only then that ZX-tole looked down. Balancing somehow on a simple wooden stick was an old woman, almost comically shrunken to the point where she looked barely human anymore. ZX-Tole blinked, then recognition hit him like a thunderclap.

"YOU!" he screamed. He was about to trigger his transformation, when suddenly an overwhelming weight settled on his mind, and his power fled him. He collapsed to his knees, suddenly exhausted.

"ZX-Tole, this woman is our guest." Purgstall did not look angry, merely disappointed.

"She's our enemy, Lord Purgstall!" ZX-Tole protested. Normally, he would have never dared raise his voice to a zoalord, but that witch... she had been there when Gaster had been killed! He had to take revenge for his brother in arms!

"I know exactly who she is, ZX-Tole," Purgstall explained coolly. "And I know what she means to you. But she is under my protection and no harm will come to her. Now, I believe I gave you an order." There was no friendly expectation in the man's voice now, only cold command. ZX-tole bowed, and walked out of the room.

When he returned at the head of a pair of servants, the old woman and the zoalord were sitting across from each other. Her staff was leaning against the wall, and Purgstall's cloak had been thrown back to reveal the black bodysuit he wore underneath. She was puffing on a long pipe, which he could not see how she could possibly have stored in her green robe. The other members of Team 5 were sitting nearby, each looking at the scene with curiosity. Even the normally dull-witted and vicious Derzerb.

"You are nothing like the other zoalord I met," the old woman was pointing out as ZX-tole entered.

"You mean Reichmann Gyro, I suspect?" At her nod, Purgstall continued. "No, I am not. Gyro is young, the youngest of the zoalords. He has not yet reached the maturity that comes with power and age." Purgstall allowed himself to be served before he continued. "More importantly, he has not met with our true leader, Arkanphel."

ZX-Tole blinked. He had never heard the name before. As far as he knew, there was no force on earth greater than the Zoalord Council of Twelve.

"I see..." the old woman mused. "Perhaps I was misled about you. I was under the impression that Chronos was nothing but a pack of slavering monsters, beasts little better than rapid dogs."

"Do you really think we could have lasted so long if our control was so limited?" Purgstall laughed. "Our people have worked their way into every level of government, in every nation of the world. We are not monsters. We are humans, merely more evolved." He smiled. "But you must know what it is, to be older, wiser and stronger than other people. To know what is best for those weaker than you. To have to deal with their jealousy and ignorance."

The woman took a puff of her pipe. "Perhaps you are right," she admitted. "I have not given you a chance to tell your side of the story. Though, one wonders if that is the whole reason you brought me here. Surely I am not so important that I rank a personal audience with one of the greatest elites of Chronos?"

Purgstall smiled again. "No, you alone are not." He shook his head. "But what you represent is. Our top scientist has discovered something fascinating about you martial artists. He calls it 'self actualised auto-evolution', or some such thing. To put it frankly, you have accomplished through training what it took scientists hundreds of years to replicate, based on half-understood fragments of alien technology. You have evolved beyond humanity." He held up his hand. "I believe that if we were to combine your teachings, with our science, we would be unstoppable." His hand suddenly clasped into a fist. "That is why I sought you out personally, Cologne of the Joketsuzoku. Don't look surprised. While we did not have any records of your tribe until a few months ago, our agents work fast. We have already visited your village. A few of our people are still there."

Cologne's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is that what this is? Blackmail? You demand my cooperation, or my village suffers? Why not just shove me into one of your tubes and be done with it?"

Purgstall chuckled. "Because I do not want a slave. A want a scientist, a teacher. An explorer of the human condition. It is our duty, as evolved beings, to guide those beneath us along the path to the stars."

"And if I say no?" Cologne said coolly.

She never had a chance to find out. Just then, an explosion shook the entire mansion. ZX-Tole was already up and running out the door before the tremors had died down. His squad followed him in tight formation. He felt Purgstall rising up as well, and even saw the old woman bounding rapidly forward. Not so rapidly that she outpaced him, but he got the impression she could have done so had she wanted to.

They approached the edge of the compound just as the dust cloud was settling. The entire north wall was gone, now nothing more than a rubble heap. A single man was walking through the wreckage. He was tall, with pale skin and long oily black hair. He wore a colorful jacket and slacks, into which he had thrust his hands. His eyes were nothing more than black pits out of which tiny white specks gazed.

"Who are you?" ZX-Tole growled as he landed from a leap, a few meters away from the man. Derzerb and Elegen landed on his right, Thancrus on his left. The old woman kept slightly behind him. He could feel the awesome power of Purgstall, but he was hanging back.

"My name is Murakumo," he introduced himself. His voice carried a strange distortion to it, like a hollow echo. "I have come to order you to release my god to me."

"Your god?" ZX-Tole frowned.

"Do not toy with me." The man frowned, drawing out his hands. There was a flash and a sound like a sword being drawn. On the ends of both of Murakumo's arms were meter-long blades. "I can sense the power of Susano-oh coming from this shack like a beacon. Release him to me, or I will shatter you and this entire city to rubble!"

"I have no idea who you are talking about," ZX-Tole growled, but he was grinning. At last. At long last. "But you chose the wrong place to attack."

ZX-Tole's form jerked and spasmed as he transformed, his body expanding in fits and spurts with blasts of smoke and flame. Soon he had risen up into his full battle form. The other hyper-zoanoids had followed his example. And still Purgstall hung back. ZX-Tole knew that he would not involve himself until and unless this madman turned out to be more of a threat than he looked.

"So... the man-beasts?" Murakumo smirked. "Why am I not surprised? Humans, thinking you can attain the same perfection we aragami did centuries ago. Now I understand. It is your jealousy of his divine nature that has left you with no choice but to kidnap Susano-oh." Murakumo threw back his head, laughing. "Very well. If you want a war, so be it!"

He reached up into the air, snapped his fingers, and all hell broke loose.

01010

Tethys stood on the great icecap. Around her, the cold wind blew. Snow blew around her like white ash, traveling at speeds that were approaching those of a hurricane. All around her roared a white vortex, the ice spinning around the aegis of her power. She had woven the shield as strong as she could, and still it shuddered, still the occasional white puff blasted through, chilling her to the bone. She looked up into the sky.

This far north, the sun set but once a year. For six months, the sky was filled with brilliant light. But not today. Today the sky was dark, and the stars winked down mockingly at the world. The sun was dark, nothing but a purple corona. But it was much more. Tethys could feel it.

"How..." she whispered. It was just like Metallia, but even greater. Stronger. A force like that couldn't exist. Beneath her the icecap trembled. The youma of the Dark Kingdom were cowering in terror as their empress raged in her prison. Metallia couldn't see this dark spectacle, but she could sense it. She could sense the approach of... of what?

Tethys frowned. Metallia wasn't the only one. She could feel it in the very fabric of her being. Whatever was approaching was Metallia's kin. It was filled with the same terrible purpose, the same chaos and hatred as her empress. If Metallia was a god, then this was... a sibling? Yes. That felt right to her. A brother or sister to Metallia.

Tethys clenched her fist. She could feel the dark tension increasing, feel Metallia's anxiety. The power was flooding the world now, from two locations, on opposite sides of the globe. And Metallia trembled. She was afraid. If there was any time to strike... it was now. While the god was off balance. While the god was afraid. While the god wasn't concerned with her.

Tethys laughed. How could she hope to win? Metallia had made her. Every fabric of her being was part of Metallia. She could unravel Tethys with the same ease that she could speak. Even if Tethys struck with all the power she had stolen from Beryl, there was no hope for her.

"There is hope."

Tethys looked up. It would have been impossible to hear any speech in this blizzard to end all blizzards. But this voice came from within.

"Be quiet," Tethys snorted. "You can't hope to help me defeat something like her. Beryl? Yes. But Beryl was human too, in her own way. She had human weaknesses."

"It's my humanity which can beat her," Hayato said in their mind. Tethys wanted to snap at him, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. She sneered at herself. To think she had trusted him. She had thought that his ideals, his methods could bring her the... power she craved. That he would give her life purpose now that Jadeite was dead and Ukyou seemed beyond her grasp. She had been a fool. "When you confronted her, she struck at you with her will... but she didn't touch me."

"What?" Tethys snapped.

"I could feel her power, but only through you." He paused. "I don't think she can touch me. I'm not a part of her, like you are. I'm immune to her power."

"So you propose to fight her?" Tethys sneered. "I could throw you from this body, and what good would that do? Even if you weren't crippled, you don't have the force, the power to destroy her. Not in your wildest dreams."

"But you do."

"I cannot go near her." Tethys lowered her head. "Even if I allowed you to be ascendant, she could still reach beyond that facade. She could rip me from you and unmake me in an instant."

"Then we need to do this together."

Tethys blinked. Then, slowly, his meaning became clear.

"No..." she breathed.

"It's the only way." Hayato insisted. "Do you want to be a slave forever? Or do you really want to understand what it means to be human? To fight as one. To live as one. To be one. And more than human. I can feel you holding back. Our merger could be more complete than it is. If you do that, I don't think she can touch you. I'll be a part of you, and she can't unravel me."

"There... there would be no going back..." Tethys voice quivered. "I could do as you say, but there would be no going back for us. Either of us. We would cease to exist as separate beings."

"I... I can live with that." Hayato paused. "My life, the life I led as a human, was a lie. A fantasy. I lost everything that day at Ukyou's hand. But since I've been with you, I've had a purpose again. I have something to fight for beyond revenge. Something I'd be willing to die for. Someone I'd be willing to die for."

Tethys closed her eyes.

"That... I think that's what it means to be willing to fight as a human. To care so much about living, to care so much about surviving, that it overpowers everything else. And then to be willing to give it up.

"That's how Ukyou beat us. Because she had something to fight for that meant more. That's how we can beat Metallia."

Tethys turned around, looking at the black pit which was the physical entrance to the Dark Kingdom. Miasmic smoke rose from the hole in plumes. Tethys could feel Metallia's anger and fear, like a fire in her soul. She narrowed her eyes.

"You're right." She closed her eyes, and began to walk forward. As she moved, she began to unweave the barriers between them. She had spent hours crafting them, and countless more sustaining them. She had worried over them, constantly adjusting them and patching the wears and tears in the spiritual wall that kept the two of them apart, even though they shared one body. If she was ever going to surpass Ukyou, she had to do this. She had to face her own demon. But she would not face it alone.

01010

wake up ukyou

She had no idea where she was. She floated, like a balloon. Wherever she was, it was warm. Comforting. This endless oblivion, in which there was no care or worry. It was nice being here.

wake up

She could remember everything that had happened, but it all seemed so unimportant now. It was like remembering a promise of childhood. Looking back at a promise sworn with a child's mind. How important it seemed, back then, to swear never to eat broccoli or never let a girl join your club or never step on a crack or it would break your mother's back. Promises that had meant the entire world, but looked at with the jaded eyes of adults, were really so empty. That was how the world seemed now.

please wake up

She reflected that her actions had been phenomenally stupid. What had she hoped to accomplish? Was Hotaru really safe now? She still had to deal with Mistress 9, with her own destiny, with a world full of darkness and monsters. And destroying Pluto's key staff. It had seemed so important then, to remove that weapon. It had flashed through Aaron's mind the moment she had revealed how she tracked them. Without it, Pluto would be as blind to them as any other. Of course, he hadn't considered the consequences. The attack by Rose that he hadn't even felt, the temporal backlash that had knocked them out.

you have to wake up

Or had he? Was Pluto right? Had they wanted to die, just been unwilling to quit to the bitter end? Had they struck out like that as one final futile bit of defiance? It seemed possible now. They floated in this void together, where the trials and problems of the world seemed so distant and far away. Was this death, then? Or something else... something worse?

if you don't wake up

And what if it was? Why fight it now? All that fighting, resisting, had ever brought them was pain. They had resisted Chris, and he had beaten them half to death with Kodachi's power. They had resisted Jadeite, and his scars were still on her arm. They had resisted Hayato, and lost their closest and dearest friend. They had resisted Pluto and Rose, and been repaid in pain. They had resisted Tethys, they had resisted Chris again, they had resisted the Dolls and Vega and everyone, and always they ended up half-dead. And they survived. They had resisted their own darker nature, and Ran was dead. What good had fighting done them? What good had struggling accomplished? Why even bother to wake up ever again?

ranma will die

Ukyou gasped. Oblivion vanished and pain returned. She was alive. Her body lay on the ground, at the edge of a crater the destruction of the time staff had scoured into the earth. It hurt. Her hand hurt, it refused to open or close. Her arm hurt, like someone had wrenched all the muscles free of her bones. Her back hurt, a storm of pain. But what worried her more was what didn't hurt. Her legs didn't hurt. Her legs didn't feel at all. They were numb... worse than numb. It was like they weren't there.

She croaked, a brief bitter laugh. Her spine was probably broken. Rose's soul power might have fried all the nerves in it. Maybe it had been severed. It hurt to laugh, so she stopped.

Aaron could feel the fight behind them. He knew instantly that one of them was Bison. His psychopower was unmistakable, and even more awesome than he had feared. He couldn't sense much beyond that. His senses refused to focus. He had no chi to channel into his Void Chakra. The mystic world that had been growing so familiar to him of late seemed to hover just out of reach. He snarled internally and seized at it with his mind.

There. He could sense a familiar pattern. It was a comforting pattern. Ranma's pattern, he realised. It felt nice, to feel it. But it was weak. He was injured, or worse. His energy had drained away to a level Aaron had never felt before. Aaron grimaced, and reached out with one hand.

Their fingers sunk into the soft soil and they dragged themselves forward. Inch by inch, they struggled on. What they would accomplish when they reached him? It didn't matter. Aaron loved him. He didn't want to, but what person had ever been given the luxury of choice when it came to their own heart? He could only curse himself for a fool. He had been so against it, against embracing any part of this body, that he had not seen Ukyou's feelings moving gently into his soul and taking up residence. He did not even really regret it. It felt... warm, when he thought of that love. He had spent his whole life unable to feel this way, and it felt good in a way he hadn't believed possible, to feel it now.

"Ran... Ranchan..." he coughed. "I... I'm coming,,,"

Inside them, the third circle waited. It was the oblivion. The alien thing inside them. With it, they could rise up and run to Ranma's side. But they would not.

Then it happened. They felt the power spike, even with their reduced senses. Hotaru. The power inside her, opening up like a dam collapsing. It flooded into the world. Enough power to destroy the world. It was happening. She was going to unmake everything. End all the pain, all the misery with one sweep of her glaive. He grit his teeth, and pushed down, trying to rise up. His legs still refused to respond. Ukyou took chi from places she shouldn't. The life force that kept their heart beating, their lungs breathing, the very spark of their being. She channelled as much of it away as she could, and flooded it into her legs. Aaron grabbed at it, jerking it like a puppeteer would strings, forcing her legs to grow rigid, to support his weight. "Hotaru... no..."

They would never make it. It had taken them almost fifteen minutes to reach this clearing. Even at top speed in pristine condition, they couldn't make it in time. Three steps, maybe five... that was all they could make before their heart stopped. God DAMN you, Pluto! Couldn't you have sent her somewhere safe? Anywhere but here?

"DEAD SCREAM!"

For a moment, Ukyou entertained the idea that the choice had been taken out of her hand. One strike, and she would die. But she heard Bison roar in pain. She turned her head back, watching as Pluto skidded along the ground, catching Rose as she fell out of the megalomaniac's grip.

"You... fool..." Rose murmured.

"What good is saving the universe..." Pluto spoke softly, "if I lose my soul in the process?"

"Foolish woman!" Bison roared, levitating to his feet. "You will pay for that insult!"

Ukyou looked back at them for a long moment. She frowned, clenching her hands into fists. Why had Pluto done that? Was she hoping the Death Reborn Revolution would destroy Ukyou, along with everything else? Then their eyes met across the distance. Ukyou saw something in her red eyes. Hope. She realised that Pluto had thrown away her chance to kill her, to save her friend.

Pluto had thrown away everything that meant anything to her, to save her friends. Ranma. Akane. Akira. Tofu. All her friends. Everyone she cared about would die. No. Even if it led to the end of the universe. Even if she would stand on that plain one day, and strike everything out. It wasn't worth it. What good WAS saving the universe, if you lost your soul in the process?

"Please forgive me, for what I must do."

And they embraced it. The alien power rushed through them. It all dropped away. The pain, the hopelessness, the confusion... like a bad dream they vanished into mist and smoke. Now they could feel much more of it, of what it was doing. It was not magic, it was not chi. It was remaking the world around them. She could feel it unraveling and reweaving. It wasn't power. It was potential. Pure, limitless, eternal potential.

Their minds shied away from it. It was too huge. It was too insane. It was everything and nothing and it threatened to drive them mad. But it gave them strength. A moment's thought and the power in their legs trebled, then cubed. Their control of it became as fine as a surgeon's. They turned and started running.

Trees blurred by on either side. But it was still too slow. They needed to go faster. They needed more time. Instantly Aaron's mind remembered Pluto's time control. He focused, clearing the image of the bent time in his mind. He translated it, making it into data he could understand. It was all data. Just a model of the universe in his mind. Like a scorecard, like the stats for an RPG, like the words of a book... it wasn't real. But then again, what part of this world was real? He focused, and willed it REAL.

He felt the change ripple out from him. He felt time itself slowing... no, not slowing. It was skipping. He was skipping back and forth in time, moving forward one second, then back again. He was outside of time. Suddenly, it was meaningless. He burst into the clearing an endless instant later. His eyes scanned everything, picking up the entire scene.

Minako and Ranma were at the edge of the woods. He had one hand on a tree trunk, supporting his weight. He was staring straight forward, about to break out into a run. Minako was trying to hold onto his other arm, she was saying something. Pleading for him to run away.

Integra was leaning against an upturned table. Her face was covered in blood, but she was alive. Her rapier lay at her side, it too was covered in blood. She held a gun in one hand. Aaron could tell it had one bullet left in it. She was going to fire it at a vampire nearby. Victoria stood with her, her body ripped and bloody, but standing defiant against three of the Dolls at once.

Yomiko was nearby, standing in front of... Nancy? Yes, it was Mata Hari, the phasing woman from Read or Die. She was wearing one of the Doll uniforms, and from the looks of it, was about to tear out Yomiko's heart. Yomiko, for her part, was screaming at her, her eyes glistened with tears. She was doing nothing to defend herself.

Nearby, a second Nancy stood with her hand inside the chest of B.B. Hood. Hood was grinning, blood dripping from the edge of her lips. Her hands had raised, and she held a grenade in each, their pins drifting slowly to the ground.

Yan Valentine was running away, towards the only edge of the clearing that was currently unoccupied.

And in the centre of the ruined church, the Silence Glaive held high, her form caught somewhere between that of Sailor Saturn and Mistress 9, was Hotaru.

Ukyou could feel their trick catching up with them. The ground around them was splitting, great shears appearing in the trees and stones. Time was shifting too fast, the environment couldn't keep up. She realised with a heavy heart that they had somehow shifted the normal damage their body took to the outside world. If they kept this up for long, they would probably rip a hole in time.

So they stepped out of it. Aaron's eyes flicked closed. He remembered the data of the world. It was much harder now, undoing what had been done. He could feel the change continuing to expand, the edges of it fraying. It was imperfect. It was incomplete. He didn't understand the whole of it, and it was unraveling around him. Except where it touched the world he could see the spaces forming, spaces into something ELSE. If he didn't stop it, it would tear up everything...

And Ukyou was there. She knew his model was a fiction. She believed that this world was real. It was her everything, it was all she knew. His lie, his belief in the fundamental unreality of this place could not affect her. And she unwilled it, because it was a lie. The illusion shattered and drifted away, like it had never been.

There was an explosion to one side, and Ukyou was already moving. She was sprinting like the wind, crossing the clearing in a black streak. Aaron flicked one hand to the side, a spatula flying from his fingers. It would hit the Nancy Doll, knock her out before she could kill Yomiko. He knew it would. It had to.

"DEATH..."

Ukyou's legs pumped, she was almost to Hotaru now. But how could she stop her? Her fingers curled into claws. It could be done simply, with one strike. Enough force, and she would die instantly, painlessly. It was the simple solution. It would be a mercy.

"...REBORN..."

No! There had to be another way! The Glaive was falling now. When it completed its arc to the earth, its power would unmake the world. The power was already building. It was Silence, the end of all life. Nothing could stop it now. Except her death. But Ukyou refused. Aaron refused. They would not kill this child, ever! Under any circumstances! Let the world burn, they would not kill her!

"...REVOL-"

Hotaru cut off as Ukyou appeared in front of her, crouched low. Her hands snapped up, catching the haft of the Silence Glaive. The blade stopped a centimeter away from her head. She had placed herself directly in its path. If Hotaru was going to end the world, she would have to cut Ukyou in half first.

"HOTARU!" she screamed, but Hotaru didn't respond. She wasn't even looking at Ukyou. Her eyes were fixed on the dark moon overhead. Her eyes that glowed red from within. Ukyou grit her teeth and held on.

The Silence Glaive was not heavy. Ironically, it was as light as a feather. Nor was Hotaru doing anything to push it down. She was not straining to force the blade through Ukyou. She was not struggling at all. But Ukyou could feel the power of the Silence behind it. It was the power of inevitability. It was the thing waiting at the end of the time, when all the stars had guttered out. When the universe had stopped expanding. When there was nothing left. The natural entropic end of the universe.

Ukyou was not fighting gravity or strength, she was fighting the end of everything. It bore her no malice. It was not sentient or demonic. It was just the end. It had been summoned to here from the end of all things, and it would fulfill its purpose. Ukyou fell to one knee. She could feel blood flowing from her lips, her eyes, her ears. The Third Circle was tearing her apart. She was losing the battle, within and without.

"Why do you struggle?"

Ukyou looked up, her eyes widening. The voice had been Hotaru's, but it was much too vicious, much too cruelly happy to be her.

"Mistress 9..." Aaron growled.

"It's useless," Mistress 9 said, her eyes still staring up at the sky. "Even if this child doesn't summon the Silence herself, my master is coming. The tunnel through space is opening, in that dark moon. The shadow of darkness. He will come and bring an end to this world!"

Aaron wanted to deny her, he wanted to denounce her. He wanted to say she was lying. But he could sense the truth in her words. He could feel the power of something trying to force its way into this reality from the other side of that dark moon. There was no way they could stop it all. No way they could save everything.

For a moment, Aaron despaired. His legs were failing. He would fall...

"I don't care!" Ukyou screamed. "I'm not fighting to save the world!" Ukyou pushed back, straightening them. "I just want to save one person!"

"Who?" Mistress 9 cackled. "The boy? He despises you, even if he would never admit it."

"No..." Ukyou growled. "I'm not fighting for him. I'm fighting for her. One soul. One life. I won't fail her now. Now let her go, you BITCH!"

Aaron suddenly realised how to do it. Like he had almost done to the Wishing Sword, like he had done to Mamoru and the Dolls. All he had to do was understand the way things were connected. The model. The way the universe linked itself together. All he had to do was change who owned the Silence Glaive. All he had to do was take it from her... and everything that went with it.

It was done with a thought. They rose up, pushing Hotaru back. She gasped and fell. Her hands slipped free of the Glaive as she toppled. Aaron could see the power of Mistress 9. She was clinging to the Glaive with ethereal strings of power, fighting to retain control. So he let her, he let her pour everything she had into the Glaive. But there was no buffer for her, anymore. No little girl's soul to serve as a wall between her soul and the terrible Silence. She screamed, when she realised what he was doing, but it was too late. Her essence, everything that she was, poured into the Glaive as light pours into a black hole. She vanished into the Silence with a scream that only he heard.

They stood in the ruins of the church, the Glaive held high. He had cut off the link to the Silence, but much of its terrible power was still there, trapped within. Aaron didn't know how to send it back. He didn't think he could. The long shaft was vibrating, producing a single tone, a perfect E. It would shatter under the strain of holding in the Silence if he didn't do something with it.

He turned slowly, and saw it. The vampires were all fleeing. They were running towards their ship, a giant white oblong in the sky. Aaron and Ukyou nodded, and flicked the Silence Glaive once, sharply.

"SILENTIUM ABOLEO EXERCITUS!"

The ground in front of them was scoured clean as the Silence sprang forth. It flashed forward, muting all sound, the world in front of them vanishing one piece at a time. Grass, soil and rock all peeled away. Trees and mist and water, all gone. Those vampires caught in it simply ceased to be. It stretched out, a cone with Ukyou at its apex. It started out as thin as a razor and by the time it reached the zeppelin it was almost four hundred meters across. The ship shuddered for a moment, great rents appearing in it. Then it too simply boiled away, the fabric of its being unravelling into nothing.

Ukyou collapsed. The Glaive fell from her nerveless fingers. She pushed the Third Circle away. She felt her legs give out instantly. She had not felt this bad since Chris had worked her over. But she was grinning.

Everyone was moving towards her. Integra and Victoria, Yomiko and Ranma and Minako and the few dozen remaining mortal men and women. But they all halted when they heard a loud clapping from the edge of the clearing.

Ukyou looked up, blinking. It took everything she had just to do that. Bison floated there, in the center of the path of destruction the silence had carved into the world. He was clapping, grinning from ear to ear.

"Splendid! Fantastic! That is a power I can respect!" he shouted.

"Damn..." Ukyou's hand flailed, and settled on the Silence Glaive. It was still cold, but its charge was gone. She didn't think she had the strength to summon another attack with it, and she was certain nothing else they had could even phase Bison. But he simply nodded at her.

"We will meet again, Ukyou Kuonji. Enjoy this victory." He raised into the air, gesturing with his hands. As Ukyou watched, the Dolls floated into the air with him. There was only one missing, the Nancy clone that had been striking at B.B. Hood. Bison laughed and vanished, the Dolls all disappearing a second later. But his laughter lingered over the clearing for a long time.

01010

Spring of Man. Spring of Woman. Spring of Twins. Spring of Youth.

Chris frowned as he carefully checked each bottle. None of them had been tampered with, as far as he could tell. Of course, Pink and Link were terrified of the Jyusenkyou water, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

Spring of Yeti-Riding-Bull-Carrying-Crane-And-Eel. Spring of Asura. Spring of Octopus. He had only half of one flask of the latter left, after the battles with the Hyper Zoanoid Team 5. How weird, that he'd used more of that than any other water.

Spring of Virtuous Person. Spring of Lecher. Spring of Beautiful Woman. All still carefully sealed and labeled.

Chizuru. She was going to be a problem. What had made that meeting go so badly? Sure, he was technically capable of using the Orochi power, but it wasn't like Chizuru hadn't been willing - quite ready, in fact - to work with people who were actually tainted by it. The only explanation was Ukyou. She must have been yet another of the people who had seen that prophecy. But why instantly connect him to her? Even if they both wielded the Third Circle, he wouldn't destroy the world. Hell, he was trying to protect it. But the vehemence of Chizuru's reaction... she was irrational about it for some reason. And the last thing he needed was to be hounded by random lunatics like Ukyou was. If Chizuru tried gathering allies to attack him with...

Spring of Amnesiac. Spring of Slave.

He lingered over those two for a moment. But neither looked like good solutions. Amnesia that only lasted until she got splashed with hot water wouldn't solve the problem. And whatever the actual effects of Spring of Slave were, Akane certainly wouldn't approve. Chris's slender fingers dipped into the backpack, pulling out the last bottle.

Spring of Suicidal Person.

He gazed at it for a long moment.

A pair of arms flung around his shoulders, accompanied by a cheerful voice. "Hey there, over!"

"Pink," he said needlessly, smiling slightly. "I was wondering where everyone had gone off t-" He broke off with a start as he looked upwards. "What happened to your face?"

Pink's smile was intact as always, of course, despite her blackened and swollen eye She raised a hand to gingerly touch the welt on the side of her head. "Nothing important. It's dangerous out there. A whole bunch of fighting broke out a little while after the eclipse, over."

"I heard," Chris said with a nod. "I was thinking I might go out looking for you guys soon."

"How thoughtful!" exclaimed Pink, and giggled, tousling his hair. "Although it's funny to think of you as my knight in shining armour in that adorable little body, over."

"Do you know where the others are?"

Pink shrugged, the soft petals on her shoulders bouncing slightly. "Link is just fetching something. The others went out to check out things in the city. I wouldn't worry about them. They can handle themselves, over."

Chris nodded, looking back down at the bottle in his hand. A thought struck him. "You know, I thought you were afraid of the Jyusenkyou water."

"Oh, I was," Pink smiled, letting go of him. "But I feel safe around you now, over."

He laughed, and began packing the bottles back into the bag. "Fair enough."

Pink crossed back into his vision, throwing herself down to lounge on the sofa. "So what's bothering you, over?"

"What?"

Her emerald eyes twinkled slightly. "You can't hide things from me. You were doing that mopey expression when I came in. Plus, you don't have that Chizuru chick with you. I'm guessing the two are related, over."

"More or less," he admitted.

"So, again... what's the problem, over?"

He tapped his cheek. "She reacted badly. Not sure why. I think she'd seen the prophecy about Ukyou, and assumed that she and I were the same."

"Stupid bitch. So what are you going to do about it, over?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It's a problem I can't really ignore. She's certainly capable of gathering allies, and that's assuming she hasn't already. Who knows how much Ukyou altered her timeline? But she wasn't even willing to work with me to take down Goenitz, and that means she's serious about how much of a threat she thinks I am. Even alone, she's powerful enough to be a lot of trouble."

Pink flashed him an impish grin. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, dear. These problems have a way of... taking care of themselves, over." She laughed a little to herself.

Chris sighed. Pink was right, though. Since he couldn't do anything about it at the moment, there was no point wasting time worrying.

"So what are you going to do now, over?"

"Not quite sure. Once we've dealt with Goenitz... honestly, I'm not certain. I need to try to find out more about the Third Circle. How to use it. And who used it in the first place. What exactly is the real difference between it and magic..." Pink looked bored, so he changed the subject. "How about you? Any ideas? Plans?"

She sat up slightly. "Well, I want to get more mitamas. Now that Link and I can use them, there's no reason to let Murakumo keep them, is there, over?"

"I don't really feel like fighting Murakumo," Chris noted, but Pink waved that aside.

"You won't have to. The aragami are swarming everywhere ever since we got back to Tokyo, and they're even more agitated today for some reason. It'll be easy to pick up a few dozen in the fighting, over."

"Hmm..." Chris mused. "Not a bad idea. That would make you and Link much more able to defend yourselves, anyway. We do still have to deal with Goenitz before we can move forward."

"Of course," Pink smiled. "We should be able to recruit some more people to your side. If you're worried they might be more Chizurus, I can help make sure that doesn't happen, over."

Chris considered the notion. Akane wouldn't like it, but there was definitely some appeal in welding together a smallish army. On the other hand, Pink's ambrosial thorns were a little close to mind control. Not that those police officers had seemed to mind...

"Well, I wouldn't quite go that far yet. But we can keep it in mind if things get out of hand-"

He was cut off by a scream. His head snapped up. Pink had suddenly sat bolt upright. Her arms were wrapped around herself as if she were in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"I... I don't know, over..." she said slowly. "It felt like something had wrenched my insides or some..." her voice trailed off as she raised one of her hands, and her eyes grew steadily wider. Chris stared as she did. Little bits were flaking from her hand, like strips being grated from a block of cheese. But no blood emerged, and the strips of flesh, instead of falling, simply vanished. Pink paled.

Chris was now by her side. He hadn't really been conscious of the transition, nor did he care. "What's happening!"

"It's broken..." Pink whispered. The slow unravelling was spreading up her arm, both hands now, touching her chest where it was exposed around the mitama. "It's broken. Link went too far away. How could she..."

He gripped her by the shoulders, spinning her to face him. He felt little bits of her shoulder petals falling away beneath his hands, but drove it from his mind. "Listen to me! Where is she? Where is Link? What direction?" He could fly. He was sure of it. He could push this body to the limits.

She stared at him. Tears were in her eyes. Her smile hadn't quite disappeared, a sickly slash in the white skin of her face. "It doesn't matter. The connection is broken. She's not there anymore. And I'm... it's me that..."

He stared at her. A strip of flesh tore from her cheek, bisecting one glistening track of wetness, and vanished into nothing.

No.

He would not let it happen.

Power flowed through him. Orochi power, chi power, the Third Circle, he wasn't sure. All of it and none of it at once. He sent it flowing outward into Pink, hardly aware of what he was doing, only willing it to work, somehow, anyhow.

And for a single moment, it did. A strip of her arm in the process of dissolving clung to creation, hanging in a timeless instant.

But could he reverse this? He didn't know anything about magic...

It was slipping through his fingers. He fought, he drew up more power, more reserves, but he didn't know what he was doing and it slipped away from him. The unravelling continued. It was accelerating now. Pink was becoming a ghastly patchwork, a tottering jenga tower of a human being. She was still staring at him, watching his efforts. Her eyes were wide and fearful, but they trusted in him. They trusted him to keep her safe. He drew back, and could hardly bear to look as that hope died.

"I can't," he said, barely able to force the words out. "I don't know how. Oh my god, Pink, I'm sorry..."

She leaned forward, pieces of her falling off into oblivion as she moved. She clutched herself to him, but her touch was feather-light, no more substantial than a soft breeze. "You have to do something! You have to stop it!" Her voice was panicky now. "Chris, I love you! I'm the only one who loves you! Don't let this happen to me!"

She was crying in earnest. Why wasn't he? "I'll find something. I'll figure out how to bring you back to life!" He knew he could. Death wasn't immutable. He was proof of that himself.

"You can't! I'm not dying, if I vanish I... I'm not... I've never..."

He looked down at her. She was a shadow, a wire-frame, but he could still see her emerald eyes. "I can. I will. I've got the Third Circle. Even if nobody else in the universe can do it, I can do anything. Believe me, Pink. I'll find a way, no matter what it takes!"

Did she hear him? Her gaze was unfocused, as if she was looking past him. Suddenly she recoiled in terror. The last parts of her were vanishing. He felt the last vestiges of her being departing. Her mouth was no more, but from somewhere her voice emerged. "DON'T FORGET ME!"

And then she was gone.

Chris stayed kneeling for a long moment. He still wasn't crying. He felt like he should be, he felt the pain inside, but his dead eyes refused to produce even a single tear. In front of him, Pink's clothes, the ones he'd had designed for her, settled gently on the in them were two mitamas, glittering eerily in the dusky half-light.

She was gone.

She'd loved him. And she was gone.

Why wasn't he crying? Why couldn't he?

And then he was. Liquid dripped from the side of his face, staining the silk of Pink's clothes. But only one side. He slowly lowered his arm. It was covered in gore from where it had ripped into the side of his head. But he was crying now. Tears of black blood and crushed eye and other fluids dribbled down slowly.

Of course, he didn't feel any pain. He was dead.

Chris stood up. When he reached the backpack, he carefully put away the two mitamas that had been Pink's. Then he shouldered it. He walked to the door, and after opening it, turned to look back into the house that had been his shelter. Purple flames sprang to life, consuming everything they touched and setting off more natural fires. Japanese construction had inordinate amounts of wood and paper. The house would go up like a tinderbox.

He turned and walked away. Up until now, he'd spent too much time pitying himself and his problems. He'd spent too much time running around accomplishing nothing. There were worse things than death. And there were more important things that needed to be addressed.

01010

Akane walked slowly, leaning on Akira for support. The fight with Hinata had taken a lot out of her. Scorch marks adorned her clothes, and her muscles screamed in protest now that there was no adrenaline to support them. But she moved on. Akira had insisted they go to her school, check up on her brother. Pink had indicated she was planning on attacking them next, so Akane did not begrudge her that.

But Akane was far more worried about Shampoo. That had been her, standing at the edge of the battle. Akane was certain of it. But why had she stayed back? Was her honour, her word really so precious to her that Shampoo would let her friends be killed, or worse, to protect it?

Akane didn't want to think so. She wanted to believe that Shampoo was her friend. That they understood each other. They had both been there, for that moment, that moment when Akane had returned to this world. And Akane knew that she had come back with a purpose. She could feel it swirl around her.

Even as the city itself was going up in flames, she could feel it beating ever louder. And Shampoo was part of it. Akane knew it.

"Akira!"

Akane looked up. A large man was running towards them. He wore a black student's uniform, and had a long scar that crossed one of his eyes. Akira put Akane down, and ran up to him. She cried out in joy, leaping up and embracing him. He held her gently for a few moments, then slowly put her down.

"Akira... I was worried..." he murmured.

"I know, brother. But I'm okay now."

The young man looked at her with his one good eye for a long moment. "There's something different about you."

"Is there?" she replied, quirking her head to the side.

"Your voice... your posture... your spirit..." He shook his head. "Later. We have to get back to the others. The monsters are coming out in force." He clenched his fists. "It is our duty to protect this place from them."

Akira looked at him for a long moment. "Aren't you going to tell me to stay behind? Aren't you going to protect me? You've been against me fighting these things ever since Ukyou left..."

Her brother smiled slightly. "No... no." He ruffled her hair, a brotherly gesture and one Akane somehow knew she was seeing him use for the last time. "I don't think that's necessary anymore."

"Right..." Akira turned to look at Akane once more. "But I have to actually help her."

"Help her?" the man said.

"Hi," Akane waved weakly.

"We have a terrible new enemy," Akira pointed out to him. "And we have to help Akane stop her."

Akane was about to answer, when she felt the tingle on the back of her neck start up again. Danger, and nearby from the feel of it. She forced herself to stand upright, and her blade hissed as she drew it from its sheath.

"Are they here?" the man cried, assuming a wide-legged stance.

"Danger..." Akane murmured. "But not immediate... more like..."

"We're being watched," Akira confirmed a moment later. She closed her eyes and raised a pair of fingers so they hovered just between them. "Ukyou tried to teach me some tricks... like how to tell when..." Her eyes snapped wide. "THERE!"

Akane spun, and saw nothing at first. Then the wall of one of the buildings seemed to fold, shift, like a wave of heat distorting the air. Then just as suddenly, it was gone and there was a creature there. It was taller than a man, with a body that was thin-limbed but covered in spiked and bony armor. It had a hook-shaped beak for a nose and two large eyes with bat-like ears extending out from the side of its head.

"ZOANOID!" Akane shouted, rushing to face it. Akira and her brother were one step behind. The creature, however, didn't hesitate. Its invisibility shattered, it turned and scrambled up the wall like a lizard. Then with a bunch of its long legs, it was up and flying away. Akane hissed. There was no way they could catch it...

And suddenly there was a purple blur. Akane gasped as the thing's head fell back, its body continuing to fly forward on its initial arc. She stumbled to a halt. Shampoo had landed in front of her in a crouch, her sword held to her side. As she rose Akane could see that her body was a mass of bruises, her clothing a torn mess. She had been in a battle, and not the winning side from the look of it. She glanced at Akane once, then flicked her blade. The blood snapped off the sword, vapourising before it even had a chance to reach the ground.

"Shampoo?" Akane breathed out, but wasn't certain if she was relieved or angry.

"Akane." She sheathed her blade. "Pink is not a problem you have to deal with any more."

"What?"

Shampoo held out her hand. "Come with me. I have one last thing to show you."

01010

It was little wonder no one noticed her there. The city was a war zone. In the distance, a skyscraper began to topple into itself, collapsing in a shower of dust. Out of it rose a enormous creature, a giant flatworm with a million legs. From its body a brown mist descended, mixing with the dust. Here and there, monsters fought in the street. People were screaming, fleeing, begging, dying. It was so nice when a plan came together. One custom-made plant, designed to send out a signal much like that of Susano-oh... and this chaos was the result.

Telulu sat on a wooden bench. Above her, the sky was ebony. The black hole sun was now directly overhead. She could feel the energy of it, of something beyond it, trying to enter this world. so much like the power of Pharaoh 90, and yet so different. Telulu resisted the urge to laugh. Little did it realise that it was merely paving the way, creating a tunnel through which her master could enter this world. Then all the world would be consumed in glorious silence.

The tiny baby in her lap twitched in his sleep. He sensed the powers gathering here, and in his still childlike brain he was afraid. Telulu reached out with her new abilities, soothing him with the power of the Kushinada, and he fell into fitful slumber again. She cooed a lullaby to him. The timing could not really have been better. Susano-oh was almost prepared.

There was only one thing missing.

Telulu looked up as there was a light tap in front of her. The man Kusanagi had arrived. Eudial's spy cameras didn't really do him justice. He really was quite impressive in his full battle form. His orange skin glistened with sweat, his green hair was slick with it. In one hand, he held a pink multi- faceted crystal star. Telulu smiled.

"You came," she said.

"You knew I would," Kusanagi growled. "Don't think I'm here to play your games."

"Oh?" Telulu tilted her head to the side, easing the child on her lap. "Is that why Azuma is not with you?"

"The witch got what she deserved," Kusanagi growled. He held up the crystal. "You think I didn't see through that plan? Tricking me into getting this for you... what kind of moron do you think I am?" he shouted, holding it up higher. "The only reason I brought this here was to shatter it at your feet!"

"I don't think so..." Telulu gestured with one hand.

"Kusanagi!"

The half-man half-aragami stiffened, He turned to the side and stared as Valkyrie stepped out from behind one of the titanic metal supports that held up the tower. The gleaming metal daimon was grinning evilly, and in her hand she held the struggling form of a young brown-haired girl.

"Momiji!" Kusanagi stepped forward, then halted as Valkyrie began to tug on the girl's arms. She screamed as they were wrenched violently and almost torn from their sockets.

"Valkyrie thinks this is fun!" the daimon said in her enthusiastic, inhuman voice.

"If you destroy Goenitz's heart crystal, I'll have Valkyrie destroy the girl." Telulu stood up. "Or you could hand it over, and I'll let her go."

"You BITCH!" Kusanagi turned and faced her. His hand curled around the core of the heart crystals. It flickered and shimmered in his grasp, but did not break. "How? How did you get her!"

"Oh really..." Telulu sighed. "It was all too easy. A quartet of normal humans against a daimon and a witch? Did you really expect they could protect her?" Telulu smiled again. "It's actually rather ironic, don't you think? If you hadn't been so focused on hunting me down, you might have been there to stop me from kidnapping her."

Kusanagi's jaw clenched, the tendons on his neck straining.

"Now drop the crystal... or Valkyrie will kill her," Telulu said with solemn finality.

Kusanagi slowly uncurled his hand, and the crystal drifted to the ground. Telulu smirked and flicked her wrist. A pair of vines snapped out lightning-quick and snapped up the heart crystal. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat as she finally held it.

She could feel the power inside it; Goenitz's power, the power of the Orochi. She had not believed it when Azuma had first told her about them. But Azuma had done her research well. With access to magical powers, and Eudial's tiny spy robots, she had gathered up all the data on everyone in Tokyo. Including the newcomer Goenitz, and his power. Power so much like that of Pharaoh 90, the power of chaos and destruction. But also power like that of the aragami, power tied to this world. It was the perfect link. The perfect key.

"Now... Eudial," she breathed.

Kusanagi screamed as the world filled with terrible sound. He slumped down to his knees. The witch Eudial walked up behind him. Her Sound Buster armour had been modified since her last battle, and she held up one arm. From the speaker over her wrist a high-pitched whine emitted.

"Heh. What an idiot," Eudial said with a smirk. Kusanagi tried to stand, but Eudial adjusted a knob on her suit and he screamed and fell to the ground again. Across the tiny park, the girl Momiji screamed too. "Don't stand up. This device is emitting a certain frequency of sound, the sympathetic frequency of those precious blue mitama embedded in your skin. If I turn it up to full, they'll shatter like glass. And I'd be very interested in finding out what happens then, wouldn't you?"

"Momiji..." Kusanagi gasped. He stretched his hand towards the girl, who was screaming still as the Sound Buster threatened to shatter the mitama embedded in her own chest. "You said you'd..."

"I lied." Telulu laughed now. It felt good to win. "Oh, I won't kill her. Not yet. But as soon as we're out of range, Eudial here will put you out of your misery." Telulu smirked at her subordinate. "After all, she has to be useful for something." Eudial frowned at her, but said nothing. What could she say?

Telulu turned around and started to walk away. She closed her hands around the crystal and it shrank. She closed it further and it was no larger than a tiny seed. She stroked under the chin of her tiny child god and his eyes opened. They were old, far older than they seemed. The giant mitama on his forehead gleamed. He could sense what was happening, but he was helpless before it. He could not resist her, and in a few seconds, he would not want to.

She forced the crystal into his throat, and for a brief moment time seemed to stop. Then the child began to cry, but no sound came out. Telulu felt the world shift, and a terrible presence suddenly filled her thoughts. It was focused on her, on this spot. It was coming. A hole in the sky would be its doorway, and a child would be its guide. And she would greet it laughing.

Smiling to herself, Telulu walked into Tokyo Tower to prepare to meet the end.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Blade: Hey, you used Latin again. What's it mean?

Epsilon: The Silence That Abolishes The Army. Literally!

Blade: Thas cool. So, uh, now what?

Epsilon: I don't know. We've kind of written ourselves into a corner, haven't we?

Blade: Yeah, everything's pretty much screwed, all the heroes are dead or insane or impotent or all of the above.

Epsilon: Or Ukyou, and nobody wants to see her save the world, since they're still pissed off that she yelled at Nodoka.

Blade: Hey, you just don't disrespect senior citizens when you're Japanese, man.

Epsilon: True. But we can't rely on our readers for help; nobody responded to our LAST poll for some reason.

Blade: Ah, maybe they were just scared of the possibilities inherent in holding such power over the story. Let's give them another chance!

Epsilon: Yes, readers! Come on! Give us your responses; we'll take 15 days to tally the results, and then write all 327K (just to pick a random number out of thin air) of next chapter centreing on the person that YOU want to save the world in Hybrid Theory!

Blade: That's right! Somebody needs to defeat Millennium... and Chronos... and Bison... and Tethys... and Telulu... all at the same time! But only one person can possibly do that!

Epsilon: Out of the following list, that is!

*1*

SECOND OFFICIAL HYBRID THEORY POLL!

"Who is going to defeat every single villain in the series and become the new main character?"

1) Pantyhose Tarou 2) Doorknobder 3) Adon 4) BANDO! 5) John Cena, after no-selling the Death Reborn Revolution 6) Vash the Stampede 7) Super Vegeta 8) George W. Bush (hey, he exists, you know! It's 1992!) 9) Jesus 10) Doctor Tofu (Evil is optional)

*1*

Blade: I'm voting for Doorknobder!

Epsilon: You would.

Blade: So make sure to vote, because if you don't, or if you do but for some reason we don't pay attention, THIS will happen!

"AH HA! I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST!"

All four of them went as stiff as statues and began to reach for their henshin wands. Then Rei got a good look at the person and sighed in recognition. She was shorter than Rei, with bright yellow hair and a garish tight pantsuit of the same color. She was pointing imperiously at them.

"Usagi Tsukino! I am Nanami Kiryuu, Acting Student Council President, and I have finally found you!" the girl sneered. "What have you done with my brother? Did you lure him away to some sort of evil shadow city? Also, what is THIS?" Nanami gestured and suddenly there was a pink bell in her hand, attached to a heart-shaped handle. "I CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY! Did you do this to me? Did you steal my brother..." The girl trailed off as she noticed everyone staring at her.

"I'm sorry, let me start over." She cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Nanami Kiryuu. I've been looking for you for awhile now. Can we talk?"

Hybrid Theory Chapter 20: Faint


	20. Runaway

"My fellow Americans, it is with great sadness that I speak to you today. But it is also with a sense of great hope.

"Even as I speak these words, special forces under my direct command are already engaged in battle at many sites across our great nation. They are the finest men and women of our country, each one dedicated to fighting an enemy that is more dangerous than all the madmen of history. My fellow Americans, we are at war.

"This war is not against communists, or terrorists, or drug dealers. It is not a war against a nation, a society or an ideal. We are at war with monsters. Yes, you heard me right, monsters. Vampires, shapeshifters, demons and all the terrors of childhood. For centuries, they have walked among us, hidden. Their immortal masters have oppressed humanity, culling us like they would herds of sheep, guiding our destiny. You've seen the signs, over the last several months.

"Entire cities, overrun with plagues of the living dead. Our longest and greatest ally fallen to darkness, natural disasters and fighting in the street. The monsters have declared war on each other. Even now, the nation of Japan burns. Even now, the darkness that destroyed England spreads into Europe like a cancer.

"But we will not go gently. We will fight. No more will the monsters that stand over us shape our destiny. We have learned to defeat them, with science and sorcery and the power of the human spirit. With the weapons we have, and the weapons we will build. Our own special forces, the newly formed S.T.A.R.S., are fighting as we speak. They will drive every last monster from our shores. Our allies in Canada and Mexico stand with us, and I can only hope that the rest of the world rises up with us as well.

"We WILL win this war. This is a cause that goes beyond politics, beyond race and religion and economics. This is a battle for the bodies and souls of every living American, and I will not let us lose. The battle can not be won with one strike, over even one year. It will go on for a long time. It will be hard, it will be painful, and many fine people will die. But they will die human. They will die to preserve our way of life. They will die to preserve freedom.

"We can not let their sacrifice be in vain. We must all rise up. We must stand together, shoulder to shoulder. Not everyone can be a soldier, but everyone can help. We need the doctors and nurses, the scientists and diplomats, we need those who plan and those who build and those who cook and those who serve in whatever way they can. Everyone will have to sacrifice, if we are to win.

"As of this moment I am invoking the emergency measures and powers of the presidency and declaring martial law. I am freezing all prices and all employment. As I speak, representatives of the US Government are contacting industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical companies with orders for new forms of production. I am grounding all international flights, and sealing the borders of this country. I am invoking special executive orders to aid in this fight. All able-bodied citizens who are not employed in vital industries will shortly be contacted by the select service committee for enrollment in the war effort, in whatever capacity they can best serve.

"These may seem like harsh measures, but they are necessary. Understand that this is still America, this is still our home. The newspaper will be delivered tomorrow on time. Any data not vital to the war effort is now being transmitted by wire to every major news organizations across America, and the rest of the world. This is not a war that will be fought in secret. This is a war that we will fight in the open, in the bright light of the sun. The elections will still occur on time four months from now. The stores will remain open. Life will go on.

"Even in this unnatural darkness, there is still hope. Like the stars, we each carry the light of hope within ourselves. We will pass through the long dark night together. And when we emerge on the other side, our heads held high, we will do so together. Stand together, and nothing can stop the power of the human spirit.

"Any questions can be answered by my chief of staff. If you'll excuse me, it is going to be a very busy day. Thank you, and may God have mercy on us all."

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 20: Runaway

The first clue that they were nearing their destination was the loud swearing. Akane frowned. That was definitely one of the twins, although which one she couldn't tell. She hadn't realised they had such a... advanced vocabulary. She winced at one particularly nasty epithet. Then they burst into the clearing and Akane staggered to a halt.

Link was tied to a tree, her arms held above her head and her feet tied so that they were a few centimeters off the ground. She was struggling against the ropes, cursing up the proverbial blue streak, until she spotted Shampoo and Akane. A loud sigh of relief escaped her lips and Link slumped as much as her bonds would allow.

"So Akane's here. I suppose you weren't planning on killing me after all," Link said.

"Huh," Shampoo replied, rubbing her chin. "I guess you were the real one, then?"

"Excuse me?" Akane asked.

"Good plan, Shampoo," Link said cheerfully. Then her expression grew serious. "Now cut me down."

Shampoo considered it for a few seconds then shrugged and walked over. There was a loud rasp as she swung her sword once, twice and resheathed it. Link fell over, barely catching herself.

"Plan?" Akane asked.

Link sneered. "Oh, you didn't let little Akane in on this? Somehow, I'm not surprised." Link stood up, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists. Akane noticed that the shadow that had adorned her chest for the past few weeks had vanished. She glanced at Akane, then looked at Shampoo sharply. "Shampoo, I forbid you from leaving this clearing for the rest of your service to me. Nobody can rescind this order, not even me."

Shampoo also considered this for a moment, then shrugged and sat down on a convenient rock. Akane turned to face her. "Shampoo! What's going on here?" Suddenly, Akane wasn't certain it was a good idea for Akira to have stayed behind to help her brother.

"I killed Pink," Shampoo shrugged. Then she looked contemplative for a moment. "Really, I would have settled for either, but Pink was the unlucky one, I guess."

Akane couldn't find the words to respond to that. She just stood, hovering over her friend, unable to understand.

"Taking too much credit, as usual," Link corrected. "She actually got a patsy to kidnap me and move us so far apart that the bond created from the Spring of Twins was severed. And since I'm here, that means Pink isn't."

"I..." Akane spun to face the frowning twin, except she wasn't frowning anymore. She was just leaning back against the tree, and she was smiling. It wasn't a very good smile. It looked wooden, and forced. "You're... you're HAPPY?"

"Of course I'm happy!" Link snapped. "Not that I didn't already know I was real. But after all this time, it's still pretty satisfying when the universe supports you like this. In fact..." The Chinese girl walked over and rummaged in her bag. Akane tensed up, her hand dropping to her sword, but Shampoo didn't so much as bat an eye. Link stood up and tossed a small brown bottle to Akane. Akane caught it easily. "There. One drop of that in any food they eat will cause any of Pink's victims to forget everything that happened to them for the last week." Seeing Akane's expression, Link chuckled. "What? You'd prefer they remembered it and remained her slaves forever? Constantly striving to relive an experience they can never have again? Oh, I'm certain they'll wake up every now and then crying at what they lost. But at least living with what they forgot is better than constantly being a slave to something like that."

Akane stared down at the bottle. Constantly being a slave to something that they had only experienced once? Her grip on the bottle tightened slightly.

"Why are you doing this? Shampoo killed your sister. Shouldn't you be mad? Shouldn't you care? You act like this doesn't mean anything at all!" Akane accused.

"Oh, it means something, Akane." Link gave her wooden, unpracticed smile again. "EVERYTHING means something. Like the fact there were two of me. It means I was split, copied perfectly down to my every memory while I was very young. It was Jyusenkyou and the magic that did it to me. That I can explain away: that, I can understand what it means.

"But this world is full of things like me, Akane." Link stood up, gesturing towards the city. "Things you've never even thought about. Like the Orochi, for instance. What is the Orochi, Akane? You're Japanese, you ought to know. Is the Orochi the great eight-headed serpent we fought at Ryugenzawa? Is the Orochi currently calling himself Murakumo and leading the aragami as they rampage across Tokyo? Or maybe it's the god that Goenitz worships and that Chris has trapped in his body? Just how many Orochis WERE there in your legend, Akane?"

"I..." Akane frowned. "One. Just one."

"Precisely!" Link threw up her arms in triumph. "Yet every one of them is the Orochi. They are all the Orochi of legend, the basis of all your myths. Undeniably. And at the same time, they are completely different. How could one being be simultaneously a near-mindless monster, a chaotic energy being and a conniving ruler of a race of plant people?

"You just don't see it, Akane. You don't see what I saw back on the shore of that lake in the forest. You don't see the world the way I do. You haven't spent your whole life trying to put it all together. You haven't been trying to understand the MEANING of it all. You just... do things. You just run around guided by your feelings and your conscience like a blind, deaf puppet.

"I could have been like that, too. I could have been struggling here, trying to find some way to make it all make sense. But it was when I saw the aragami that I knew the truth, even if it took me awhile to accept it. Our village is renowned for our accumulated knowledge of plants. Villagers have travelled all over the world searching for exotic plants and traces of lore. And I've studied it all. Every single book, every single tale. And nobody, ever, had heard even a hint of the aragami. Intelligent, monstrous plant beings that once ravaged Japan, and we, maybe the world's greatest experts on plants, living so close, knew NOTHING of them. Do you understand what that means, Akane?"

"I think it means you're not as smart as you thought," Shampoo noted.

"Oh, you would," Link sneered. "But this isn't a matter of wrong information, or incomplete information. There was NONE. At all. Hundreds of villagers over centuries going to Japan, and not even the slightest whiff of information of giant plants that stomped all over your country. I could list you every single plant, mundane or mystical, that has ever grown in these islands. But giant centipedes made of trees? That somehow slipped past all of us."

"Okay, fine," Akane said. "So there was no evidence of it. What are you getting at?"

Link turned back to her, and her eyes gleamed feverishly. "It's IMPOSSIBLE, Akane. It's impossible. The aragami cannot exist and I not know about them. It's as impossible as three Orochis who are all Orochi and yet are completely different, it's impossible for there to be an ancient kingdom of moon people when the moon was thrown at this planet by aliens to blow it up, it's impossible for a world-spanning conspiracy of monsters and a world-spanning conspiracy of martial artists and a world-spanning conspiracy of chthonic death- god worshippers to all be ruling every country from the shadows at once and just not notice each other until now, just like it's impossible that up until seven months ago, the man on the street didn't know ANY OF THIS EXISTED! It doesn't make the slightest iota of sense. It just doesn't fit! It can't have happened!"

"But... it DID, Link." Akane said slowly. "Because we're living it. And yeah, sure, it's a mess-"

"Exactly," Link interrupted. "It happened. It can't have happened, but it did. And who can make the impossible happen? God. Well, he or she might go by some other name, but SOMEONE created this world and all of us in it. And they created it not making sense." She stared down at Akane and Shampoo, her lip curling. "You think I'm crazy. But let me ask you something: when exactly did your world start going wrong, Akane? When did you start finding out things were completely different than the way you always believed them to be?"

Akane stopped herself from saying the first word that came to her lips. But Link saw her reaction, and her expression turned triumphant.

"Oh, we both knew what - or rather, who - you were going to mention. It all happened at the same time for everybody. Which just so happened to be the same time that Ukyou and Chris started entering our lives, knowing everything about our futures... futures that could never have happened! Futures that didn't involve me ever noticing the aragami, or you getting married to Ranma Saotome while Chronos took over the world, or the Sailor Senshi battling the vampires in England!"

"Link, are you even listening to yourself?" Akane asked. "Do you understand how insane that sounds? If what you're saying is true, then the entire world was created... what, six months ago? That's crazy! I'm sixteen years old, just like you! I remember it all!"

"How very little faith you have in God," Link chuckled. "He can create the world and all the millions of things in it, he can create the particles in the air, he can set the stars spinning in the sky in a pattern so complex that man's mind cannot comprehend them, but you can't believe he could create sixteen years worth of memories? Well, I do." She crossed her arms. "I believe God created this world seven months ago. I believe he created it in such a fashion that it would explode as it is right now, that every power would fight each other until there was nothing left. And that the only people who could stop it, who could do anything about it except watch as it crumbled around them, are also the only people who know something is wrong. Who know a thousand impossible futures that were nonetheless supposed to happen. Chris and Ukyou. We know of those two. But it's a big world: there could be more. However many of them there are, this world was created for them. And you, and I, and Shampoo, and everyone else are nothing but players on their stage. Our reality is defined only by how big a role we have to play in God's plans. And I don't know about you, Akane, but I plan on playing my role to the fullest. If that means I have to work with Chris, despite how much he disgusts me, then I'll be his most loyal ally for the rest of my life. Because that makes me REAL."

Link cocked her head to the side in the stunned silence that followed. "Speaking of which, I believe he'll be here shortly. And quite put out, no doubt. Shampoo's little role in life is just about over. I suppose it's time to choose what yours will be, Akane."

Akane's eyes widened. She turned and looked at Shampoo. The Chinese woman was staring back at her. Her expression was stoic, determined. She rose to her feet, and her sword rasped from its sheath once again. But the blade was shaking, ever so slightly. Shampoo stared down at it, looking offended. Growling, she gripped her sword hand tightly, steadying it. But not completely.

"Shampoo! You have to get out of here!" Akane shouted. She realised Chris might be able to hear her, but she didn't care. She had vague plans of delaying him, of holding him back long enough for Shampoo to get away.

"I can't leave, Akane," Shampoo replied.

"Forget your stupid honour!" Akane shouted again, pushing her blade to the side and grabbing her by the shoulders. "This is your LIFE. He'll kill you! You have to get out of here!" Shampoo looked at Akane, and her eyes shifted away. She took a step back. She was going to do it, she was going to run away! Akane felt relief flood through her. It would work out. "That's right. If you're not here, I can talk him down. He's mad now, but if I get him to look at it-"

"No." Shampoo's voice was as hard as her eyes. She pushed Akane back. "I'm not leaving."

"Shampoo, I don't care about your honour..."

"This isn't about honour," Shampoo snarled. "I told you, I have one last thing to show you. One last thing you need to see." Her sword came up again, and pointed at the forest. Akane could see the flames now, a steady plume of purple light burning its way through the small park. "We saw it together, Akane. There is a perfect light in this world. But that means there is also darkness."

"WHY?" Akane screamed. She couldn't understand. "Why not just wait the year? Why do it now? What was so important that you had to risk everything for it!"

Shampoo smiled. "Pride." Akane stared. "Maybe Link's right. The world stopped making sense for me six months ago. I had everything, and then I lost it all. I lost my reputation, my confidence, my freedom, and my pride. They took it from me, because my great-grandmother thought I could use it. She wanted to teach me a lesson, Akane. Well, she did. She taught me that some things are more important than victory or strength. She wanted me to become someone else, to be who she wanted me to be. But I learned that you become the person you choose yourself to be, and I'll be damned if I'll let Cologne, or Chris, or Link or even you say who that is!"

"Shampoo..." Akane clenched her fists in impotent rage. "There has to be another way!"

"No, Akane." Shampoo smiled. "Because I chose. Back under that mountain, I chose to be your friend. And you need to learn something that only I can teach you. And this is the only way I know how."

Akane wanted to scream, scream something, anything... but suddenly it was too late. The wall of brush Akane and Shampoo had stepped through parted as a curtain of purple flame burnt it away. The flames spread, encircling the grove, rising high into the sky. Higher than any of them could hope to leap.

Chris came through them. The flames licked across his body as he passed through. His feet hovered above the ground, his toes lazily pointed downward. His skin was jaundiced, streamers of flame swirling and snapping across and between his open palms, collecting into balls every now and then. He was still in the body of a child, a child no more than ten, but he did not look so young and small anymore. His short brown hair whipped around his face and his one eye glowed red, an awful dead glow. His other eye was gone, nothing but a torn ruin leaking black gore down the side of his cheek, most of which had crusted solid. A spark of red light flickered within the empty socket.

Akane didn't think, she acted. Her blade hissed from its sheath and she leapt between Chris and Shampoo. Chris gazed at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. The awful deadlights of his eyes bored into her. Then he looked past her, to Shampoo. His eyes scanned across the clearing and found Link.

"She did it," Link offered, pointing at Shampoo.

"I should have known," Chris said. His voice sounded older now. "Pink told me I should have just let her kill you. I should have listened to her."

Akane clenched her teeth. "Don't do this, Chris!"

Chris didn't even respond. He simply raised his palm and a tongue of flame leapt forward. It swirled and twisted through the air like a striking snake. Akane desperately raised her blade as it homed directly in towards her face. She screamed and closed her eyes... and the heat passed by Akane's cheek. Akane threw herself to the side and stared as Shampoo leapt in the other direction. The purple flames traced a path across the ground as they swerved to catch her, but were not quite fast enough.

Shampoo was sweating, not just from the heat, but also from fear. Akane knew the look of a person who was facing death. She wished she didn't, but she recognised that expression. She had worn it once herself, after all. But Shampoo still moved with skill and grace. She tapped her foot against the stone she had been sitting on and backflipped, arcing over the flames. With a wordless cry she came down towards Chris, her sword gleaming in the purple light.

Chris's form just blurred. Akane couldn't see it, but she could hear it. She could hear Shampoo scream. She could hear the sound of tearing flesh and cracking bone. Shampoo fell limply from the sky. Her sword landed point first in the ground. Shampoo moaned. Her arm... oh god, her arm. It was torn to shreds. Fragments of bone jutted gruesomely here and there, and the entire thing was bent in several odd angles. Blood pooled on the now-parched grass.

Chris stared down at her oddly. The corner of his lip twitched upward a bit. He floated down, kneeling in mid-air. His hand reached out, stretching for her throat.

Akane roared and her hand clamped down on the stone. With a one-handed heave she ripped it from the earth, soil and loam dripping from it. It was much larger, and heavier, than she had imagined. Good. Akane spun and hurled it at Chris like a fastball pitch. He paused and looked up. His hands came up and caught the stone. Then it exploded as flames shot out from within it.

"Chris, stop!" she roared, charging forward.

"I thought you didn't like murderers, Akane," Chris replied. His voice was calm, eerily calm. Akane stopped, her sword pointed at him.

"And what about Pink, Chris? She murdered that boy! You can see it for yourself! You can see it in his memories!" she yelled.

"So?" Chris stared at her blankly, like she had just told him the sky was blue or things fall down. "He was only going to die in a few years anyway."

Akane opened her mouth, but no words came out. Chris stared at her expectantly, the deadlights of his eyes boring into her. Then he jerked slightly as the long point of Shampoo's sword emerged from his heart. Akane started and Chris looked down, blinking. Shampoo was grinning ferally, clutching the hilt of her blade in her unruined hand.

"Please," Chris said. And the blade flashed white. There was the sweet- sick scent of burning flesh and Shampoo screamed again, falling back. The sword melted, the hot metal oozing down the front of Chris's shirt, tracing a passage of destruction as it fell towards the earth. He didn't seem to notice. Instead, he had turned back towards Shampoo. He snapped his arm out and Shampoo's cry cut off as he latched onto her neck. He floated into the air, dragging her off the ground. Waves of heat rose up around him. The skin of his arm was turning charcoal black, lines of red heat tracing where his veins should be and patches of purple flame bursting from the skin here and there. "You murderous little bitch," he snarled.

"No... STOP!" Akane shouted. "You... you promised! You promised me, Chris! You would never kill anyone! ANYONE!"

There was a long pause and everything but the sound of the flames went silent. Shampoo fell to the ground, gasping and moaning. Chris floated there for another moment, then nodded to himself. "You're right, Akane. I'm better than that. I'm better than her."

Akane slumped to her knees, releasing a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. She felt so tired, but it had to be over, right? Right?

There was a clattering sound, and Akane looked up. Chris had removed the backpack he had been wearing. It was huge, and bulged with odd shapes. He searched through the pack for a long time, then his hand came up holding a leather and steel canteen. Akane blinked. It looked familiar. He had shown her something like it before...

Before she could catch the fleeing memory, it was too late. He stretched out his hand, holding the canteen above Shampoo. Then his fingers clenched and the container exploded. A shower of water fell down on Shampoo's body. She paused, as the cool water rained down on her.

She sat up slowly. She didn't look like she was in pain anymore. Her expression was just clear, calm, centred. She levered herself up, hissing a bit as her ruined arm dragged against the ground, leaving a trail of gore in its wake. She began to stagger towards Akane, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Akane could only stare, open-mouthed, as the girl came towards her. Chris just floated back, his arms crossed, his lips curled upward in a slight smile.

"Akane..." Shampoo croaked when she reached her. "I'm... I'm so sorry... None of this happened the way it was supposed to..." Akane blinked as Shampoo moved in to embrace her and part of her wanted to back off from the gruesome creature in front of her. But Akane let her sword drop and moved to complete the embrace.

Then Shampoo's knee slammed into her gut with enough force that Akane's breath exploded from her lungs. She curled forward, and Shampoo let her fall to the ground. As Akane fell, Shampoo snatched the sword from her suddenly nerveless fingers.

"Please forgive me," Shampoo said. Akane fell face first into the dirt. She didn't see it. Thank god she didn't see it. But she heard it. She closed her eyes and started crying. She just lay there for a long time, sobbing. When she finally worked up the courage to look back, Shampoo was laying on the ground. The katana was buried up to its hilt in her chest. Her eyes stared up at the sky, unmoving.

"You... You BASTARD!" Akane rolled to her feet. Chris was just looking at her, still smiling slightly. "You killed her!"

"I did not." Chris tossed the remains of the canteen at her feet. "Spring of Suicidal Person. One of the many treasures I took from Jyusenkyou. Shampoo killed herself. I just... helped her make the right decision."

"You... sick... MONSTER! I can't believe I ever thought you could be saved!"

Link stepped up to Chris's right hand, her smile looking slightly more natural now. "Oh dear. How irrational."

Akane wanted to grab her sword. She wanted to charge forward and lop her smiling head from her body. She wanted to tear Chris in two. She wanted revenge! She wanted them dead.

But she didn't.

Not just because he would stop her. She fell to her knees, staring at the ground. She knew Shampoo wouldn't have wanted that. Shampoo had said she had one last thing to show Akane, and she had. She had shown her that there were some things in this world that could not be saved. She hated it. She hated this feeling. It felt like hopelessness. It felt like ashes in her mouth. She cried out and slammed her fists into the earth, hot tears leaking from her eyes. "You... monster..." she said softly, because there was nothing else she could do.

"Well, I'll give you some time to recover while I take care of other business," Chris said, his voice still calm. He snapped his fingers and the heat suddenly vanished. "Be careful out there, Akane. The city is dangerous."

01010

The sun should have been rising. The black moon had set, its orbit spinning it inexorably around the earth. In the east, the sky was darkness. The thing that was rising was not a sun, but a hole in heaven. It radiated darkness. It radiated despair.

But it was not here. It was in the east. Half-way across the world. The dark sun was rising, and the dark moon had set. On the other half of the world, the opposite would be happening. And when the dark moon reached its apex, right above the city of Tokyo, Pharaoh 90 would enter this world.

Ukyou leaned against a windowsill, watching the black sun rise. It was too far away. She could not get there in time to make any difference. Or maybe she could. Maybe she could just use the power she had stolen from Hotaru and be there in the blink of an eye. Maybe she could look up into Telulu's smirking face and watch as the woman realised that she was facing the awesome power of Sailor Saturn, wielded by a woman who had trained her entire life to turn polearms into deadly weapons.

Together, she and Aaron could stand under that dark moon and wait for the monster to come. They could stride into it, wielding the Silence Glaive. They could destroy it.

But they stood there, staring at the sun.

Because that could be it.

They could evoke the Third Circle, traverse time and space and be there just as the clouds parted and something horrible came down. They could reach up for the Silence Glaive and then... what? Would they lose control? They almost had, back at the fight. Aaron had tried to duplicate Pluto's power, and it had been growing out of his control. They had seen it opening up the world, tearing it apart. And that had been when they had tried to only do something as simple as travel a few hundreds of meters to rescue a child. What would happen if they tried to strike down a god?

I could be just like that, Ukyou knew. She didn't have to want it anymore. The Third Circle, it destroyed everything it touched. When they had held it in their body, tried to use it to focus around them, it had destroyed their body. When they had focused it outside their body, to manipulate the flows of the world, it had destroyed the world. Chris held it in his mind, using it to feed on the memories of those whose bodies he inhabited, and it was destroying his sanity piece by piece.

It was anathema. It was rejected by all the world. This power inside her was unnatural and wrong. No matter how it was used, it destroyed. Something was always lost. And if the gamble was big enough, if the odds were high enough and Ukyou reached for too much... it would destroy everything. Every time she evoked the Third Circle, she was putting the entire universe at risk.

And she wouldn't stop.

Ukyou turned around. Hotaru was lying on a bed. She had been dressed in new clothes and cleaned up. Ukyou walked over to her and her hand hovered over the child's face. She stroked her hand through the air, following the curve of Hotaru's chin, her nose; resting just above her brow. She looked so peaceful. There was no darkness to haunt her dreams now. There was no Destiny to hang over her head anymore.

"One life..." Ukyou murmured, too silently to be heard. She had saved this small life, this one soul. It had almost cost her everything, almost cost everyone everything. But she would do it again, without hesitation. A part of Ukyou, a part of Aaron, a part they both shared now... it loved Hotaru. It wanted to protect her. It wanted her to be safe. They would risk anything for her.

And Ranma. Yes. They loved him too. And Akane. Yes. They loved Akane, like a sister loves a sister. It seemed strange, to suddenly realise these things. Maybe it had to do with Aaron finally accepting his feelings for Ranma? Once the genie was out of its bottle, and all that. But they couldn't deny it. They loved all three. They would risk anything for them.

Hotaru. Ranma. Akane. Three lives. Three people. For those three people, she would destroy the world. She knew it was true. She could see it, stretching out in front of her. How many more times would she draw on the Third Circle for them? How many more times until it was one time too many?

No way of knowing. No way of turning back. She could no more let them die than she could cut out her own heart. She closed her eyes.

The poets said that love was the most powerful thing in the world. They were right. She just wished... wished it didn't have to hurt so much, what she had to do.

"Yomiko," Aaron said, opening his eyes.

The woman was standing in the doorway. She was blushing slightly, obviously feeling like she had stepped in on something private. She had, but Aaron didn't really care.

"I'm sorry, I just heard you wanted to talk to me and..." she trailed off, her shoulders slumping slightly.

"It's okay," Aaron said, gesturing for her to enter. She did so hesitantly, but with more force once she was closer to Hotaru. She looked down at the sleeping child, her sad brown eyes shining behind her glasses. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small book, half as big as a paperback. It was weathered and worn. The once-pink covers had almost come off entirely. The pages were dog-eared and fraying at the edges. She smiled and leaned over Hotaru, placing the book gently between the child's sleeping hands. Hotaru clutched the book reflexively.

Seeing the question in Ukyou's eyes, Yomiko chuckled a bit. "It's... Treasure Island. It's the first book I was ever given, as a child. My father gave it to me just to shut me up one day. I wasn't even old enough to read at the time. I've... always treasured it. It's precious to me. But... I think she needs it more."

"So she can return home..." Aaron smiled. "Her adventures with the pirates are finished now, are they?"

Yomiko laughed a little. "I guess they are."

Aaron sighed. "I wish it was that simple." He looked down at the girl. "She is still Sailor Saturn. I don't think I could take that away from her. Not without killing her. Maybe she'll never awaken to her power. I hope she doesn't. But it's inside her. She is a Sailor Senshi." He held up one hand. "All I took from her was the Glaive, and all it represented. Without the Silence Glaive, Hotaru can never call the Silence. Without it, she will never be a threat to the world. She won't be the target of so many madmen and psychos and tyrants. I've given her a chance at a normal life, but that's all."

Yomiko nodded. Of course, she knew that Hotaru was still not entirely normal. Her curative powers had been used extensively after the battle. She had healed whatever Rose had done to Ukyou's back, and then moved on to everyone else. Many of the soldiers had been too far gone for her healing to help them, and those ones Ranma and Yomiko had carefully kept out of her sight. Hotaru had moved among the soldiers, her touch granting release and health. She had been smiling. She had been laughing. She had pushed herself so hard, she had fallen unconscious after the last man was healed.

Ukyou had been there to catch her. She had carried her all the way out of the swamp. She had ordered them to stop in the first town they reached. Ukyou had simply taken Hotaru into the first clean house she found and laid her to rest.

"Yomiko, I have a favor to ask you."

The woman looked up. It was hard to tell if her gaze had been lingering on Hotaru, or on the book. Oh well, some things never changed. "Considering what you did back there in the swamp, ask away."

"I want you to take Hotaru. Get her out of England. Away from this war. Away from all this pain."

"I..." Yomiko was stunned, not just by the request, but by the cold voice Ukyou delivered it in. "I don't understand."

"I can't leave here." Ukyou frowned. "But she doesn't belong here, and neither do you." Yomiko started a little bit. "I know you came back to England, after Bison... after whatever happened on the I-Jin base when he showed up. I know you wanted to find Joker, or the Gentleman, or someone to help you. But they aren't here, Yomiko. This nation is a charnel house, and the only things that belong here are dead things."

"I..." Yomiko sighed. "You're right. I just... I wanted to visit the library, one last time. And I was chased, by all the vampires... and Miss Integra found me. She helped me out. She listened to me. It was hard... with what happened to Nancy... and Drake... and everyone else."

"Bison is a monster," Ukyou agreed. "He may not be a vampire, but he makes up for it with a soul that is even darker."

"I'm not leaving Nancy with him." The words came out with more force than Aaron would have suspected the mousy bookworm to be capable of. "I can't take Hotaru with me, because I'm going after him."

"You'll die, or worse," Aaron pointed out coldly. "None of us can beat Bison." He paused. "But he has a weakness. A way you can save Nancy." Yomiko looked up, her eyes glittering with hope. "If you help Hotaru, get her away from England..." Away from me, Aaron didn't add. "If you find somewhere safe for her, then come find me again and I'll tell you how to save her."

Yomiko blinked. "I..." She looked at Ukyou oddly. "You're a very strange person. You very much like getting your way, don't you?"

"When it comes to people I love, I'll do anything I need to."

That made Yomiko smile. "I'll do it. I have a friend who lives in Japan. She's an author, a very good one. She can look after Hotaru."

Aaron nodded. That would be good enough. He would have preferred that Hotaru end up somewhere safer. But where was safe?

"Thank you," Aaron reached out and cupped Yomiko's hands in her own. "Take care of her." He released her and started towards the door.

"Wait, aren't you going to wait until she's awake... to say goodbye?"

"I..." Aaron didn't say that he was scared to. He didn't say that if he looked into those purple eyes, eyes full of laughter for the first time since he had met her, that he was afraid his will would crumble. He had dedicated his life to saving Hotaru, and it had grown into love, and he was too afraid he would never let her go. It hurt too much, even just leaving her now, knowing that they would never see the girl again. "Tell her I'm sorry for everything."

They left without another word.

ZX-Tole fell back, the laser cannons on his right wrist unloading a constant stream of energy. Murakumo parried the blast with his blades. The energy split, arcing along the edges of a translucent blue shield that bubbled around him. Then he was blasting forward, the ground literally parting in his wake.

ZX-Tole snarled and raised his left hand, catching the blade on his own armour. It bit deep, but not deep enough to strike the flesh underneath. The chitin rang with the impact, and then Murakumo was flying back. This wasn't working out well. He couldn't overpower the creature in front of him, nor was he fast enough to duel it in hand to hand. Unfortunately, he couldn't gain enough space to engage it with all his lasers, like he had hoped.

"Thancrus! I need your help here!" he shouted.

Thancrus didn't respond, and ZX-Tole risked a quick glance to see how the rest of his team was doing. The answer was not well. Thancrus himself was on one knee, his blade-like hands crossed above him as he held off a giant scorpion intent on skewering him. Elegen was floating back, his tentacles whipping around him, holding off a dozen or more swarming mosquitoes the size of pitbulls. Derzerb was the only one of them currently having any effect on the enemy. He was holding a giant snake between his massive hands; with a roar, he tore it apart, sending a shower of green blood spraying across the yard.

The problem was that there were hundreds more where that came from. They rose up out of the ground, burst in through the walls and fell from the skies. Even if one fell, it would only rise again if the thing's soul was left intact. "DERZERB! The seed, you have to destroy the seed!"

Then there was a green and white flash. ZX-Tole couldn't blink, his segmented insectile eyes were not designed that way. But he saw out of the corner of his hive-like vision the shape of the little old woman passing through the melee. Her staff was flashing out here and there. Then he saw blue flashes, clouds of dust like you might see from tiny firecrackers in her wake. She was taking care of the mitamas for them? Why?

But ZX-Tole had been distracted for too long. He felt the blast of energy building up, but could only turn in time to see it blazing in towards him. He screamed and crossed his arms, catching the attack against the thick armour there. The chitin began to flake away, burning and blasting apart. He felt the energy singe against the soft flesh underneath and begin to burn through, then mercifully it stopped. He let out a long breath, collapsing to one knee. Murakumo was smirking at him. There was another ball of energy forming between the horns that rose from his shoulders. ZX-Tole did not like his chances of surviving the next attack.

"I think that's quite enough!"

Purgstall stepped in front of ZX-Tole, and the blast that was meant for him slammed harmlessly into the man's palm. The soil under his feet rippled and furrowed as he was pushed back almost a meter by the force of the attack. But he stood firm.

"I see you finally stepped in, old man," Murakumo observed wryly, crossing his arms.

"Enough of this farce," Purgstall declared. "You are an abomination. Your species has declared war on humanity. I view it as my genetic duty to eradicate you from existence."

Murakumo only smirked as the flesh on Purgstall's forehead peeled back, revealing a glowing yellow-white slit. An aura of energy flooded the air around him, and the smell of ozone accompanied it. Then Purgstall raised one hand into the sky, and clenched his fist sharply.

ZX-Tole had seen many lightning storms. He had once watched a blast strike a tree and reduce it to splinters and charcoal. He had seen Elegen deliver electric shocks that could flash fry humans in seconds. He had never seen something like what happened next.

The first bolt of lightning came down on the scorpion that was fighting Thancrus. It didn't just strike the beast: it smashed through it in its relentless quest for the ground. The entire midsection of the aragami exploded outward. A second later another bolt struck down, hitting another of the creatures dead in the head, vaporising it. A dozen more came down, striking the insects hovering around Elegen with pinpoint accuracy and precision. The rain of lightning accelerated, faster and faster with each beat of the heart, until there was nothing left of the world but endless blinding white-hot flashes and the roar of a million thunderclaps at once.

When ZX-Tole regained his senses, he was kneeling in the middle of a hundred craters. What had remained of the estate they had taken over had been razed to the ground, as well as most of the neighbourhood out for the next two dozen meters. Purgstall was standing, silent and calm, in the centre of it.

Murakumo was the first one to rise. His body was singed, his hair standing at odd angles here and there. Green blood dripped from a cut on his forehead. He was smiling.

"An impressive display," the aragami noted softly. His eyes flashed red. "But it did not kill me. And you will not get a second chance like that."

Murakumo threw back his head and roared, and his body changed. It happened quickly, his clothing exploding outward in all directions as he expanded too fast for it to accommodate. His human flesh seemed to melt and harden at the same time, large spines erupting from his body at all angles. His head faded away, becoming a huge thing with too many teeth. It looked like the head of a dragon made of white bone. Two more heads erupted from his back, then two more. Eight heads in all, each growing away from his body at the ends of long serpentine necks.

"Don't just stand there!" the old woman shouted. "ATTACK HIM NOW!" She charged forward and thrust her staff. White hot light exploded around the tip, slamming into Murakumo. ZX-Tole needed no more prodding, he raised his arms and deployed all his bio-lasers at once. Twelve streams of light followed the old woman's charge in. But they all bounced harmlessly off the shell being formed around the thing now. Murakumo didn't even seem to notice.

And he grew. He grew and grew. ZX-Tole stopped firing and fell back one step, then five. Then he was running, just trying to keep from being crushed under the massive weight of the thing. Finally it stopped growing, and ZX-Tole could only stare. His wide segmented eyes could take in the entire thing at once, and he felt a shudder run up his spine. He had never seen anything so huge. He had never believed a creature so massive could exist.

It looked like a turtle, a massive shell out of which eight dragon-heads emerged. The shell itself had to be ten, fifteen stories tall and the heads that climbed into the sky rose up higher than the tallest buildings in Tokyo. Purgstall stood in front of it, looking very, very small.

The thing laughed. Its voice was as massive as it was, and ZX-Tole watched windows all across the district exploded at the deep rumble of his laughter. "I am the Yamato-no-Orochi! You can't stand against me, men who play at being GODS!" All eight heads yawned their mouths open at once, and brilliant blue orbs of light began to grow between their teeth. ZX-Tole yelled for Purgstall to run, but the man simply held up his hands and the blasts came down at him.

Some of them missed, and those that did traced a line of destruction across the landscape. Buildings exploded like they were made of glass if the beams came anywhere near them. One ran along the ground and touched the base of a fifty-story skyscraper. A massive cloud of dust erupted across the city and the building fell down, suddenly missing its bottom ten stories. Only five beams struck the shield Purgstall had formed, but those five were enough to drive him to his knees.

The other three heads were drawing a bead on Purgstall. He was putting everything he had into his shield. ZX-Tole was about to order his men to attack, when he felt a cry echo through his mind.

"This is Reichmann Gyro, commanding ALL zoanoids! As of this moment, your number one priority is the capture of Akane Tendo, Mamoru Chiba and all those associated with them! This edict supersedes all orders! You will find them at these locations..." ZX-Tole felt information cram itself into his skull with the force of a sledgehammer. "Capture them at once! I must have them!"

"Gyro!" Purgstall growled, and ZX-Tole could hear the other zoalord's mental power sweeping across the city as well. "What are you doing? We don't have time for this!"

"On the contrary, Purgstall," Gyro's mental voice called back. "This is the perfect time. During the confusion of the aragami attack on the city, we shall capture the friends and relations of Sailor Moon. Once I have them, I shall find out where that girl has been hiding!"

"We need to defeat these monsters!"

ZX-Tole grabbed the sides of his head, rocking back and forth. With each exchange he felt the wills of the two zoalords smashing into his psyche. Gyro trying to force him to leave at once, and Purgstall ordering him to stay and fight.

"You can do that yourself," Gyro sneered. "Transform into your battle state and annihilate that creature."

ZX-Tole looked up: the rest of his team was already scattering. With Purgstall distracted, they were scrambling to fulfill Commander Gyro's request. He held on, however. Gyro had not won the contest of will, and ZX-Tole did not like being told to abandon a battle to chase down children. He preferred to fight here, where there was an enemy worth facing.

"Very well," Purgstall replied. He stood up, throwing back his cape and closing his eyes.

"NO."

ZX-Tole wanted to cry, but lacked tear ducts to do it with. That single word, that one imperative mental command had been delivered with a psychic force he had thought impossible. The world was suddenly filled with a presence so awesome, so mind-numbing that ZX-Tole thought he would explode.

"L-lord Arkanphel!" Purgstall gasped.

"You will not transform, zoalord Purgstall." The voice was calm, and beautiful. So beautiful that ZX-Tole could hardly breathe. "You are too valuable to me to risk against such an opponent."

"But my lord..." Purgstall stuttered out.

"I have sent a new combatant."

ZX-Tole looked up. Murakumo had not been idle. Once he noticed that Purgstall was distracted, he had begun to charge up his deadly breath weapons again. Purgstall had no clue he was about to be struck. ZX-Tole wanted to yell for him to look, to run away, to defend himself. But with that supreme presence filling his mind, all he could do was kneel in awe.

Then a blue streak flashed across the sky. Murakumo roared as the small object struck it, hurling the monster's enormous bulk almost five city blocks backward. As it descended to earth, the blue flash tumbled back through the air toward them. It landed in a crouch in front of Purgstall.

It was humanoid, with soft purple skin covered in thin blue plates that ran up and down the length of its body. Out of its biceps, forearms, thighs and shins eight strange-looking organs grew. Each of these glowed, radiating a soft blue light into the air that rose up around the creature in waves. It had a human face, complete with short blue hair that looked artistically tousled. It was certainly more human-looking than any zoanoid ZX-Tole had ever seen.

The zoanoid rose to its feet. "Lord Purgstall, I am the pinnacle of Doctor Valkus's new research: Neo-Zoanoid, Ikazuchi." It smiled, an arrogant and proud smirk. "Allow me to handle this pesky beast for you."

01010

Ranma was moving through the streets of the small Scottish town. The streets were deserted, empty. There were no signs of violence or bloodshed. The people here had been far enough away that they must have heard of the coming evil and fled long before it arrived. He could picture it now, families pouring into cars, clutching only those possessions they could carry. They would have run north, away from the evil.

He wondered if they made it. He liked to think they did. He liked to think that they had found a ferry across the sea to the continent. What country was it that was near here? The one where all the Vikings came from? It didn't matter. He liked to think that they had taken in those families, protected them.

It was nice to think that the good guys won, even a small victory. In all this horror, every small victory mattered even more.

Ranma passed by a group of soldiers. They were cleaning weapons, stocking supplies. All of them were busy, filled with a frantic energy. They moved about constantly, obviously uncomfortable being in one place. They wanted to move on. To fight. He could feel it in the air, the sharp vibrant air that only existed when you were preparing for battle.

Ranma could appreciate their feelings. He felt... agitated, himself. It was a feeling he was only beginning to get a grip on. Feelings were complex things, and Ranma was not a complex man. He enjoyed thinking about things in simple terms, in the here and now. He didn't like considering how they would unfold.

But he felt like something profound had happened: not to Ukyou, but to himself. It had happened while he was fighting Leona. He played through the battle constantly in his mind. Her disciplined strikes, her elaborate tactics, her complex maneuvers... they had been the product of years and years of study. The kind of study Ranma had dedicated his life to. But she had been little more than a machine, a weapon that killed whatever came in front of it. He knew he couldn't have beaten her. She was as skilled as Vega, but even faster, even stronger. Ranma had trained every step of their journey and he still hadn't been a match for that killing machine.

He was close to something. Fighting her had been like waking up from a long nightmare. He had seen something during that fight, and it had changed him. He just wished he understood it. He sighed and pushed those thoughts away. It wasn't his style to worry so much about stuff. Besides, he was almost there.

Ranma blinked as he saw Minako leaning against a doorway in a building just down the street from where Ukyou should be. She was in her civilian clothes. Her attention was entirely focused on what was happening inside, and she didn't even notice him coming up to her.

"Hey, Minako, what's up?"

She gave a little scream and leapt a few centimeters into the air. She almost came down striking, but his easy smile and relaxed posture caused the tension to drain away from her in moments. She gave him a hard glare, which he returned with a smirk. Sighing, she turned back to the door.

"I'm eavesdropping, obviously," she hissed at him softly.

"On who?"

"Keep it down!" she whispered harshly. "Integra and Ukyou, if you must know."

"Oh great, I just have to talk to them both and..."

He was about to step around her, when he felt her hand clamp onto his bicep like a vice. He gave her a confused glance, but she wasn't looking at him.

"No, don't go in there."

"But I..."

"Just don't!" Her grip tightened and he fidgeted uncomfortably. She was pretty strong. "Listen, this shouldn't be interrupted."

"Why not?" Ranma couldn't think of anything that important they could be discussing.

"I..." Minako faltered. "I don't know. Just don't. Something important is happening."

"Something..."

"I just know, okay!" Minako hissed releasing his arm. "I just know."

Ranma frowned at her, resisting the urge to rub his arm. Finally he shrugged and pushed her a bit. "Make room then. I wanna hear, too."

"..don't tempt me, woman," Integra was saying. She did not sound happy. Then again, Ranma guessed she didn't have much reason to be. Over half her men were dead. That other girl, the blonde one with the guns, the human one... she hadn't made it either. It was a devastating blow.

"You think I'm just a weapon, don't you, Hellsing?" Ukyou replied. Her voice was cold, cold and brittle like sheet ice. "That's all any of us are to you. Resources to be expended. Lives to be squandered, fighting a losing battle..." Ukyou trailed off, like she had just noticed something. Then she continued smoothly, before Integra had a chance to get a word in edgewise. "This is meaningless anyway. I wasn't here to ask permission."

"You think I care?" There was a loud slamming sound. "You are the weapon we need! With you and V, the magic you wield, we can destroy Millennium once and for all. I will not let this opportunity slip through my fingers."

"I can't do that."

"Can't, or won't?" Integra shot back.

"You don't realise what you're dealing with, do you?" Ukyou's voice had grown warmer, but only fractionally so. Her voice was filled with pity now. "I'm not like Minako, or Hotaru. I'm not like Ranma or Victoria or anything else you've ever seen. I am the end of the world, Integra Wingates Hellsing. I know that I will destroy the world one day, and there is nothing I can do to stop it."

Ranma was about to reach for the door when Minako grabbed him and stopped him. He looked at her, and she shook her head. He pulled his hand back slowly. He knew he should be in there telling Ukyou that she was wrong. He should go in there and support her. It was what friends did, right? But he just couldn't work up the will to resist Minako's suggestion. Sighing, he settled back in to listen.

Integra had paused, but only momentarily. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said," Ukyou replied. "I've seen the future. In the end, I destroy it all. I will raise up this Glaive I stole and the universe will unravel around me. I am a threat that is more dangerous to anything on this earth than a million vampires and a thousand Bisons."

She spoke with such finality, such stoic acceptance, that Ranma did not doubt she believed it. His hands almost curled into fists, and then relaxed.

"If that's true, then I should kill you where you stand." There was a pause, then a loud click. Ranma recognized it. A gun being readied. There was another pregnant pause.

"Go ahead and shoot," Ukyou said slowly. "You won't kill me. I won't even try to defend myself. All my chi, all the power I have... it's gone. I can turn it off like a switch. At the moment, I am as human as you. One bullet to the head, and I'll die. So go ahead and shoot me." There was a pause. "You won't succeed. I can't be killed. Not here. Not until I do it. It's fate. It's destiny. Something will happen to stop you."

Integra began to chuckle. "You think I believe this?" She chuckled again. "I've seen you, Ukyou. You aren't that kind of monster. You risked everything for that girl..."

"And I let another die."

Ranma felt his heart skip a beat. He felt Minako's hand clutch tighter on his shoulder. He could feel it, that energy that happened just before a battle. It had reached a fever pitch.

"I can watch as people die, Integra," Ukyou's voice had regained its arctic tone. "Back in Japan, I let a young woman die. I had the power to save her, and I didn't use it. There was a sword, a sword that could have saved her life and a billion more besides and I could have taken that sword from its owner just like I took the Glaive from Hotaru and..."

Ranma wasn't aware he had entered the room until the door fell clattering into the center of it. Integra had spun on him, her weapon drawn, but he ignored her. Ukyou was gazing at him. Her eyes were level and betrayed no emotion. He crossed the floor to her.

"Is that true?" he asked.

Ukyou inclined her head slightly, then nodded once. She didn't say anything.

"You..." Ranma's hands did curl into fists now. He felt something inside him, something burning. His stomach twisted. His jaw ached. He could barely breathe. "You could have taken it. The Wishing Sword... you could have taken it back."

"Indeed."

"You could have wished her alive."

"Indeed."

Ranma took one step forward. Suddenly he was in Ukyou's face. His nose hovering a hair's breadth from hers. She didn't back away. She didn't show fear. She didn't show anything.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU!"

"Because it wouldn't have been right, Ranma."

"Right... RIGHT?" Ranma couldn't believe she was saying that with a straight face.

"I'm not God, Ranma." Ukyou now backed up a step, and looked down at her hands. "I'm a human being. I was never meant to be given that power. To choose who lives and who dies. I can't, I won't, accept it."

"Won't accept it..." Ranma pushed forward, and suddenly Ukyou was backed against the wall and his palm had slammed into the wood panel next to her. "It was just RAN! You could have saved her!"

"And where does it end then, Ranma?" Ukyou replied coldly. "Do I bring back Akane's dead mother? My dead father? What about Hotaru's? I could bring back Integra's father too, with that power. I could save every life that was ever taken. I could end DEATH."

"This isn't about that!" Ranma screamed.

"Yes it is!" Ukyou roared back. And suddenly she pushed him and he was stumbling back. "This is exactly about that! Because that's the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Ranma. Choice. Because when we can make choices, we can make the wrong ones. Every time we get to make a decision, we can choose to do evil. Except we might not always realise it!

"Except I don't make the kinds of choices you make, Ranma. I don't just choose to let one person live or die. I choose to let the universe live or die. That's the kind of power I have! But I can't make that choice, because I know I won't do the right thing!"

And Ranma stared at her, because Ukyou was crying. He had never seen her cry, not since she had been a child. Long streams of tears leaked from her eyes and ran down both cheeks. Her cold voice had cracked, and it was worn and dry with pain.

"I never have! I manipulated Akane because I had the power to do so, I broke Hayato's spine, I killed Vega, I let Ran die... I did it all because I had the CHOICE! And every time it was wrong, every time I knew it was wrong. But I did it anyway. Because I'm not God. I'm just human, and I make mistakes. I can't do it! I won't do it! Not anymore!"

But Ranma wasn't really listening anymore. He closed his eyes, and felt his body shake. The anger was inside him. It roared and it raged. It had been building ever since she had died. Ever since Vega had died. He had just wanted to end it, end it clean. Avenge her. And Ukyou had taken that away from him. She had chosen to do it, and leave him with this feeling inside. He didn't care about her reasons. He didn't care about her logic. He wasn't listening to her anymore.

"Would it have been so wrong, to just save one person?" he asked, very softly.

"Yes," Ukyou replied, her voice broken by sobs.

"Get out of here."

"Ranma..."

"I... I can't stand to look at you!" Ranma squeezed his eyes shut tighter, so tight it hurt. He could feel the tears welling up, but he willed them away. He burned them away with the heat of his anger, and they didn't come.

"Ranma... I..." Ukyou was hurt. He didn't care.

"Ran was right about you." Ranma snapped. "You're a poison. You destroy everything you touch!"

"Ranma...no..."

"I don't know who you are, but you aren't my friend." Ranma turned away from her.

"No, Ranma, I didn't mean it! I was just trying..."

"SHUT UP!" he roared. And he did turn to look at her one last time. She was kneeling on the ground, staring up at him. Her alien black lotus eyes quivered, tears ran down her face. Her expression was one of anguish, her mouth twisted into a gasp of denial. Her hand was stretched towards him. "No more words, Ukyou! " Ukyou tried to say something, but all that came out was a dry whistle. He knew he would regret it before he said it, but he couldn't seem to care, so he said it anyway. "I hate you! I wish you would just vanish forever!"

And he turned and sprinted from the room, before he really did begin crying.

01010

Rei was tired. Her arms would have been dragging behind her, had they been long enough. It was times like this she wished she could just walk back to campus in her senshi form. When she was Sailor Mars, she didn't notice things like fatigue and pain. They existed still, but faded to the background.

The worst part was knowing they would have to go out again soon. The sun was still gone, and the monsters out there would still be rampaging. It had taken all three of them to convince Usagi it was best to return and get a bit of rest before their next mission. They had been fighting for four hours, travelling from town to town with a speed Rei found almost unnatural. At each town, the monsters had been there. Dire beasts, not zoanoids, something else. They'd been made of plants and shaped like insects or hunting animals but on a giant scale.

The senshi would arrive, confront the monsters and, after a tense battle, destroy them. This had continued until Rei had lost count of the number of places they had been. By the end, she was running on automatic.

"How much further is it?" Usagi whined.

"Not much further now, Miss Usagi," Anthy replied with hollow good cheer. She had always been the one to lead them in and out of Ohtori. Akio had greeted them once, when they were leaving. He had informed them that without a guide, they would never find their way back into his school. His enchantments were too powerful for the monsters of the outside world to penetrate, and would work equally as well on the Sailor Senshi.

"I just hope we haven't missed too many classes," Ami said, sounding genuinely worried.

"I think they would have cancelled school today," Makoto pointed out.

"Oh? Why?"

Everyone looked at Ami for a moment.

"Don't worry, Ami," Usagi said conspiratorially, sidling in close to her. "I'm sure if you missed any classes then Miki would have taken notes for you."

Ami blushed and tried to shoo Usagi away. "That isn't the point!"

"Oh, I've been told to ask you," Anthy broke in with her usual cheerful vapid tone. "Since I've been so busy helping you, I've fallen behind in my studies. Could you do my homework for me, Ms. Mizuno?"

Ami blinked. "Well, it really isn't supposed to work that way. I'd be happy to..." Ami trailed off. Anthy had stopped in the middle of the street, beaming a high intensity smile at her. Everyone just sort of stumbled to a halt. Rei resisted to urge to sit down. She was tired but not about to admit it. She would have gone ahead, but she had no idea how to get back to the academy without Anthy. "Uh... Anthy... we should get going." Anthy just stood there, her hands lowered and clasped together. Ami looked at her a moment later, and finally sighed. "I suppose I could... it really isn't a good idea, though."

"Great!" Anthy turned and started walking again. Rei and the others followed her.

"Don't worry about it, Ami," Makoto said, clapping the shorter girl on the shoulder. "Anthy's just weird like that. Juri told me all about her."

"Oh?" Ami said. Rei frowned slightly. She had never met Juri, so she knew it was unfair to dislike her, but her friendship with Shiori almost compelled her to. Not that Shiori disliked Juri that much. The girl was adapting well these days. It was just that the subject was still a little tender.

"Yeah, Juri says that Anthy just does stuff like that. She's weird, and you have to accept it." Makoto paused and tapped her cheek. "She also said something about the 'Rose Bride', but then clammed up when I tried to ask her about it."

"You shouldn't talk about Anthy like she isn't here," Usagi said reproachfully. Anthy didn't acknowledge the defence.

"Juri says Anthy doesn't mind." Makoto looked slightly offended.

"If Juri said it was a good idea to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" Rei snapped.

The other three glanced at her askance. Rei knew she should apologize, but didn't feel like it. It was just that Makoto constantly talking about how cool and smart and skilled and perfect Juri was kept getting on Rei's nerves. They didn't spend a lot of time together as it was and it didn't help that all the tall brunette wanted to talk about was her fencing instructor.

Rei was so busy ignoring her fellow senshi, that she almost missed it when the girl leapt out of a bush and landed in front of them with a shout of "AH HA! I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST!"

All four of them went as stiff as statues and began to reach for their henshin wands. Then Rei got a good look at the person and sighed in recognition. She was shorter than Rei, with bright yellow hair and a garish tight pantsuit of the same color. She was pointing imperiously at them.

"Usagi Tsukino! I am Nanami Kiryuu, Acting Student Council President and I have finally found you!" The girl sneered. "What have you done with my brother? Did you lure him away to some sort of evil shadow city? Also, what is THIS?" Nanami gestured and suddenly there was a pink bell in her hand, attached to a heart-shaped handle. "I CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY! Did you do this to me? Did you steal my brother..." The girl trailed off as she noticed everyone staring at her.

"I'm sorry, let me start over." She cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Nanami Kiryuu. I've been looking for you for awhile now. Can we talk?"

"Oh... what seems to be the problem?" Ami finally broke the stunned silence that followed.

"Geez, Nanami," Rei muttered. "You just do NOT know how to make a good first impression."

"Hey!" Nanami protested.

"Don't worry about Nanami," Anthy pointed out in her annoyingly cheerful voice. "She's just excitable."

Nanami frowned at the girl. "Oh, Anthy Himemiya. I didn't know YOU were here." She crossed her arms. "I should have suspected as much. You are associated with just about everything weird that happens at this school."

"Why is everybody so mean to Anthy?" Usagi asked. "She seems like a nice girl to me." Anthy smiled.

"I think we're missing the point," Ami insisted. "She did ask for our help."

"I asked for HER help," Nanami said, pointing at Usagi.

"Oh?" Usagi blinked and laughed nervously. "How could I possibly help you? I'm just plain old everyday Usagi! I'm certainly not magical or legendary or anything!" Rei rolled her eyes.

"I just want to get rid of this thing," Nanami pointed out, holding up the little bell with the heart-shaped crystal in it."And find my brother. Also, maybe get rid of the dreams. But really, I like them... the horse is nice. So I don't want to get rid of them. Just mainly I want to find my brother. Well, except maybe I don't. The horse told me I shouldn't look for him, and he seems trustworthy. After all, he's in MY dreams, so that means he's part of my mind, right? So I have to trust myself."

Rei stared. As Nanami had rambled, she'd been shifting from pose to pose. The entire thing reminded her bizarrely of a kabuki play she'd seen once.

"Oh-kay..." Ami said slowly, blinking. "So, basically you want to get rid of the bell?"

"Well, if you want to simplify it, of course I do!"

"If it bothers you that much, why not just put it down?" Anthy suggested vapidly.

"You think I haven't TRIED that, Anthy Himemiya?" Nanami snarled and stalked up to her. "It just keeps coming back!"

"Oh..." Anthy placed a finger by her lips. "Like the cat in that old children's rhyme?"

Nanami turned white. Not from rage, but from something else. Something deeper. Finally she shook it off and the red fury appeared on her face again. "If you know so much about it, here, YOU take it!"

She shoved the bell forward. Anthy tried to back up, tried to dodge the bell, but she stumbled and her fingers brushed across the edge. There was a flash of golden light and a cry like a wild horse bucking, followed by a scream.

Rei staggered back, her mouth opening, but she couldn't breathe. She could hear the other senshi falling back as well. The person that was screaming was Nanami. How could she be the one screaming? How could Anthy not be screaming?

There were thousands of them, millions of them. Swords; long and straight and glittering in the light. As Rei watched they continued to appear, again and again and again without end. Soon, she would no longer be able to see Anthy for them. But she had seen. She had seen the girl's clothing disintegrate as the swords tore into her. Her hair, unbound, had fallen down to her waist in lustrous violet waves. Blood had poured down her naked flesh in rivers. Her head had been bowed. Her arms raised pliantly into the air above her, a single sabre pinning the hands together and nailing her to the sky.

The swords had been tearing at her, piercing her from every angle. Blood had flowed like water. Her body could not possibly survive it. But that had not been the worst. Rei could still see Anthy's eyes. Anthy was looking straight ahead, and her eyes met Rei's.

Those eye were not eyes in pain. Those eyes were not eyes pleading for release. They were empty. They were hollow. Rei had looked into those eyes and seen nothing human. They just stared back at her, empty of everything except some alien, inhuman emotion.

And suddenly Rei understood. This was the secret of Ohtori Academy. All the deceptions and layers had been designed to conceal this. Not that this girl was in torment. Not that this girl was the source of it all. They were concealing that this girl DESERVED the torment. Maybe she hadn't, at first, but there was nothing left there to save now.

Rei turned away, unable to look any more. She heard Usagi gasp, finally catching her voice. "No... no! I won't let this happen!" Rei felt the power surge. She spun, trying to stop her, but Usagi was already holding forward the crystal. It glowed, and like the golden light before it, the silver light filled the world. "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" Usagi screamed at the top of her lungs.

The light of the crystal washed over Anthy in waves. There was nothing there anymore, nothing but a cocoon of steel the size of a woman. Blood ran from it, tiny gruesome waterfalls falling to the earth. As the light of the silver crystal flowed over it, the blood on the ground vanished. But the crimson liquid never stopped flowing. The power of the crystal washed over the prison of swords and the prison did not so much as waver.

Usagi was gritting her teeth. There was sweat on her brow. Her hands were trembling. She screamed again, "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" Nobody could do anything. Ami was knelt against a building, shielding her eyes. Makoto was crouched nearby, her face a mix of awe and horror. Nanami... Nanami was right in front of them, standing before the prison. The light of the silver crystal was washing around her, tracing out a dome that had somehow covered the girl. Every now and then the dome flashed gold and Rei thought she saw a phantom figure, a tall horse with a golden horn. Its feathered wings were stretched down to protect Nanami.

"WORK!" Usagi screamed.

"Usagi, stop it!" Rei yelled.

"I won't!"

"You'll kill yourself!" Rei warned, taking a step forward, "It isn't doing anything!"

"IT HAS TO!"

Rei didn't realise what she had done until Usagi fell to the ground. The girl looked up at her, her eyes wide with pain and shock. She touched her red cheek gingerly. The silver crystal had fallen at her feet. Rei lowered her hand, taking deep breaths.

"It won't work," Rei explained. "You can't save her with that."

Usagi looked up at Rei for a long moment, until Rei couldn't stand it any longer. Finally, she turned and left. She had no idea where she was going, except away.

01010

The red sports car skidded to a halt with a screech, leaving a trail of burnt rubber along the road. The monster dwarfed the vehicle by several orders of magnitude. It was a tremendous lizard, a creature like a dinosaur come to life. It stood almost fifteen meters tall, standing upright on two legs, with tiny arms and a head surrounded by flaring horns that spiraled off in all directions. From those horns hung trails of moss and lichen. Its flesh was thick wood. Its eyes were one meter diameter pools of almost liquid amber. On its face, just above its eyes, was a tiny blue seed.

It roared and reared back one foot, bringing it down on the car. A man flipped out the door at the last second. He had long brown hair and wore a pair of tan slacks and a matching jacket. The car exploded in a fireball as the thing's clawed foot smashed through its hood. A moment later the tyrant lizard reared back and exhaled sharply. A cloud of green mist flooded over the area. Metal and concrete melted, dissolving into sludge at the slightest contact. A dozen people, too slow or scared to get out of the path, died screaming.

The man had somehow dodged to the side. For a moment, there had been a flash around him. It was like a shield of starlight had deflected some of the damage away from him. He leaned on one leg, and faced the beast.

There was a commotion from the other end of the street. Hundreds of people running, screaming. The cause was another of the tyrant lizards. It screamed, something like a lion and a bear but more primal. As the crowd ran, a dark van rolled down the street. It came to a halt in front of the fleeing crowd. The top of it exploded, and the sides fell apart. Inside were half a dozen creatures. They had red skin and the heads of hairless rats. On their shoulders were massive pods that snapped open, one after another. There were weapons in those tubes, weapons unlike anything the watcher had ever seen before. They glowed with sharp red light.

Then lasers lanced from the smaller monsters, a dozen rays of violent light. They slashed through the air - and the crowd - without hesitation. The beams converged on the second lizard, and it roared as its body burst into flames. A second later the barrage ended with a ear-shattering bang as a hole the size of a city bus erupted through the lizard. It fell over. A few people who had begun running from the humanoid artillery platforms were caught and crushed under its weight.

The crowd had scattered in all directions now. The people were screaming. In the distance, a lance of blue light as wide across as a city block traced across the skyline, annihilating everything in its path. The top of a nearby skyscraper exploded upward, a giant flatworm rising through the blossom of dust and raining deadly debris. It was immediately surrounded by a small army of winged creatures. They screamed, the sound muffled by distance, but still piercing and painful. The flatworm rocked back and forth, then a geyser of green blood spurted from its forehead and it fell. Its weight tore the side off the building.

"Back, beast!"

The watcher's attention refocused on the man who had escaped the ill- fated sports car. He was holding up a single hand towards the monsters. Sometime in the moments when other things had served as a distraction, the man had acquired a sword and shield and changed into a grey uniform. A flash of starlight flared from the man's hand and the tyrant lizard staggered back, a crater as wide across as a truck appearing in its hide. It roared and tried to crush him, but he leapt back, his sword coming up. There was a flash of green blood as the sword bit through thick wood like it was nothing. The creature pulled back. With another cry the man gestured again, and this time the thing fell back a few paces.

The observer had seen enough. He stepped forward, out of the screaming crowd. Others were following him. They could see his confidence. They could sense that he was not going to die. They wanted him to protect them, to guide them. Very well, it would do for now.

"You have to strike the seed on its forehead," the observer noted once he was within earshot of the man. The man looked at him, but turned back almost at once. Another spray of deadly green mist had descended from the monster. Somehow, he held it off with his shield. Then he leapt up, traversing the space like a bird. His sword flashed and he landed on the other side of the tyrant lizard. It swooned, then fell back, missing him by inches.

The creatures in the van had begun to disembark. They were moving in their direction now. The pods on their shoulders were still open. Lines of light were beginning to trace along their bodies, converging on the strange battery- shaped guns inside.

"You had better deal with those ones, too," the observer told the warrior. The man glanced back at him. He had piercing eyes that went well with his long brown hair. He snorted and turned to the approaching humanoids. They launched their blasts, all at once. The man gestured and the blasts curved around him at all angles, flying clockwise and widdershins to carve long glowing lines into the glass towers. The creatures could only stare as he gestured again and a field of stars seemed to surround them. Suddenly out of the stars a lion formed. It pounced and sunk its claws into the nearest creature. Then there was another lion, and another. Soon, the laser-bearing monsters were too busy to concern themselves with the warrior anymore.

"Thank you," the man said, walking towards the crowd. The observer nodded. "But if you think I'm here to save you, then you are mistaken." He turned to leave and the observer grasped his shoulder. The man stiffened.

"I don't want you to save me," the observer noted. "But..." He glanced back at the crowd that was forming. There were hundreds. This was a sea of calm. The entire city had become a killing field in less than an hour. This was one of the few safe places. "A wise man knows when an opportunity presents itself. A wise general knows that of such opportunities, armies are born. These people, all of them, will be grateful to the end for respite from this chaos."

The man looked at the observer for a long moment. When he spoke, it was mainly to himself. "'Find out how humans make war', is this what she meant?" He looked up at the observer, his eyes narrowing. "I can take only so many. My magic has been strained. But I can offer respite. All I ask in return is obedience. Obedience to myself and my queen."

"They will offer it." And the crowd roared its assent. Anything was better than this. Anything was better than anonymous death in a war between monsters. At least, for now.

"Good. I am Nephrite. And you?"

"Me? You can call me Touga. Touga Kiryuu."

01010

The streets around Gedo High were quiet. The wind blew through them. There was not a soul in sight. The distant ring of explosions, the distant echo of screams, they were the only sounds. Inside the building, hundreds of people crouched and prayed. To Buddha, to God, to the Kami, to a thousand names. To whoever was convenient.

Akira stood on the wall, one foot raised up on the gate. Her brother stood beneath her. The ends of his coat rustled slightly around him. His two lieutenants stood on either side. Gan's head rose up so high his eyes were level with Akira's boots. Edge was running the edge of a switchblade along the brick wall, causing a stream of sparks.

In the walls of the school, in the courtyard, there were the students. They held bats and planks of wood, they carried sticks and rocks. They had all gathered here. Hundreds of them. Not just from Gedo, but every student that felt they could fight from the entire ward. There were many adults among them too: teachers, parents, and others. Akira had spent the last few hours screening them, looking over them. She had learned the trick of sensing battle spirit from Ukyou. Those that had the power, she let stay. Those that did not, she sent back into the building. No matter how well-intentioned, they would be nothing in the fight that was coming.

The only thing that worried Akira was that there were no aragami. Certainly she and the other fighting students of the ward had cleaned out a lot in the last few weeks, but surely not all of them. Yet, even though Akira could see them in the distance, none had come here. It was well enough. The giant war machines that were plaguing the other parts of the city... she wasn't certain they could have dealt with them.

Akira snapped her head to the side. She could see them. They were just a shadow, growing closer under the black sky. But they began to become more distinct. More and more joined the advance, sliding in from side streets and alleys, coming out of buildings and vehicles. Some started out human, but quickly shed such pretenses.

It was an army. There were apes with wicked claws, giant men with horns and skin the color of jade, creatures covered in spines and other less pleasant things. There were hundreds of them.

"This is it," Akira muttered. She saw her brother nod. He stepped forward. Just him, by himself. Akira resisted the urge to jump down with him. That wasn't part of the plan. Daigo continued forward, until he was halfway between the horde and the school.

He threw open his coat and clenched his fists. With a stamp of his foot, the entire street shook. The horde stumbled to a stop.

"This is OUR school!" he declared, his voice ringing so loudly it could probably be heard a dozen blocks away. "We will protect it with our lives! Now turn back!"

"We aren't interested in your lives," a voice replied. It sounded like a buzz, like the hum and crackle of great turbines roaring to life. A glow was stepping through the crowd of monsters. It was accompanied by a sizzling sound, like a live wire snapping at the ground. The creature was like a humanoid eel, its body purple and silver with a long neck and rainbow lights floating across his body. Four long tendrils extended from its back, snapping through the air. "We've come for Akane Tendo. We know she's here. Hand her over, and none of you humans need be harmed."

Akane? Why could Akane be so important? Akira clenched her fist. When Shampoo had arrived and taken Akane with her, Akira had chosen to stay here. It was more important to save people, to gather them to safety within these walls, than to deal with Pink and Chris. For now.

Daigo chuckled grimly. "I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said she wasn't here," he said stoically.

"Not really," the creature snarled, its voice raising an octave. "Besides, I'll enjoy tormenting the information out of you, human."

"Okay." Daigo held up his hands. Akira tensed. She could feel the energy of the situation rising. It was like a thick mist, filling the air all around them. But this mist was hot. The fog of war. Akira smiled grimly. "Then I guess that's that." And with a second roar he brought his foot down again. The ground shook. The monster pointed and his army charged. Daigo stood firm, and brought his foot down once more. The pavement beneath him buckled. The roaring horde grew closer.

The fourth blow did it. With a sound like an avalanche the entire street collapsed in. Akira cheered. This entire neighbourhood was old, run down. The sewers here were large, from before modern construction. With his last strike, Daigo had caved in the entire thing. The monsters roared in pain as they tumbled into the sudden moat. Daigo himself was running back, his footsteps two paces ahead of the collapsing street. He leapt at the last moment and Akira did as well. She felt Gan catch her legs, his huge hands swallowing her entire shins. Her hand caught Daigo's. He smirked at her. Then Gan was swinging them back up onto the wall.

They landed gracefully and locked back. The approach to the school was now a sea of wreckage. While Daigo and the others had been rounding up as many people as they could, Akira had been in the sewers, weakening key locations. With Daigo's action, it had set off a chain reaction. Even now, Akira could hear it encircling the school, spreading out on both sides. It would form a moat, and the walls of the school a battlement.

But the leader of the zoanoids floated above the wreckage, his body sheathed in electric light. The zoanoids that had fallen in were rising. None of them were harmed. None of them out of the fight. Akira clenched her fists.

"And I was just going to show you snot-nosed punks a little humility," the leader said in his buzzing electric voice. "Kill them! Kill every last one of them!" And with a roar, his army rushed to obey.

"Stand together!" Daigo shouted, and the students within the walls roared back.

01010

Kunikida looked up as the door slid open. There was a large shadow blocking the way. A huge mountain with coarse grey flesh stood there, carrying a woman by the arm. It laughed and threw her inside.

"Koume!" Ryoko cried.

"Even she couldn't get away..." Yaegashi hissed. His glasses had been broken and hung oddly off his nose. But he was moving over to her carefully. The girl had landed badly against the wall and lay on the floor moaning. Her arm was bent at an angle arms were not meant to bend.

"Of course she couldn't," the monster laughed, its voice cruel and mocking as it rumbled. "Did you think mere humans were any match for a hyper zoanoid? You can't possibly defeat us."

"So is that the way it is?" Kunikida sneered. "We're just supposed to give up and make way for you? Evolution in action, is it?"

"Heh, just that, human!" the creature laughed once more. Kunikida looked away as it slid the door closed. He unclenched his fists. It was useless to fight back now. He just wished there was something he could do, something he could accomplish!

He had been such a fool. Did mere humans have any strength at all in this world? He had thought he could at least help the champions, the warriors organise and fight when this moment came. But he couldn't even protect Momiji from one monster. He felt bile rise in his throat as he remembered the metallic creature that had burst into the safehouse. They couldn't even dent it. Just like the day that Kaede had been taken from him, he had been able to do nothing. Nothing but watch.

In the chaos that had followed the attack, the entire TAC had been easy pickings for the zoanoids that had come for them. It appeared that now, with the need for secrecy gone, they had no more use for him or his team. But...

Why not just kill them?

He remembered the massive creature picking up Yaegashi, its paw almost large enough to wrap completely around his waist. The computer specialist had gasped and cried out as he was drawn into the air by the rhinoceros-like monster. When it had asked where 'the girl' was, Kunikida had first thought it meant Momiji. It was the obvious solution for the zoanoids. Why bother fighting the aragami openly, when they could just kill one girl and end it all? The truth of the matter had surprised Kunikida.

Yaegashi's pain-filled confession about how Momiji had been captured didn't seem to faze the beast. It had asked about 'the other girl', the martial artist. Then Kunikida had thought it meant Ukyou. But that also wasn't the case. It meant some girl named 'Akane'. Whoever this Akane was, she was very important to Chronos. They wanted her badly. Enough that they were keeping the TAC alive because they felt they MIGHT have some connection to her.

Kunikida wanted to laugh.

"I think she'll be okay." Yaegashi looked up. "She's unconscious, but not too badly hurt aside from her arm. They're being surprisingly gentle with us."

Kunikida nodded and sighed.

Minutes passed. It was hard to tell how many. The room they were in was dark, lit only by what light leaked in from under the door. He could hear the distant sound of explosions. He remembered what little he had seen as the zoanoids dragged them to this place. Tokyo was being torn apart. He wondered if anything of it would survive. No matter who won, humanity was going to lose.

The door opened again, and the massive figure was there again. He was carrying another dark shape over his shoulder. With a flip of his arm he sent it stumbling into the room, where it came to rest in a pool of light.

Ryoko gasped. Yaegashi growled. Kunikida just stared.

The door closed, and the face of Matsudaira was once again plunged into shadow like everything else. From what he had seen of her, she had not fared well. Her face was a mass of bruises, purple and black welts eradicating what remained of her beauty. Her body was little better: thin cuts covered her from head to toe, and her dress had been torn and bloodied. But she was breathing.

"What is SHE doing here?" Yaegashi snarled.

"They must have captured her, just like they did us." Kunikida stood up. "I kept sending reports to my superiors, reports that Chronos must have intercepted. I never mentioned Matsudaira's betrayal. I just kept saying that everything was going on as normal. They must have assumed that she was still with us."

"Good," Yaegashi said with finality. He was moving towards the woman, but Kunikida stopped him with one arm. "What are you doing!" he demanded.

"I was going to ask you that," Kunikida replied.

"I'm going... I'm going... to get back at her!" Yaegashi snarled. "She works for THEM now. If we can interrogate her, we can find out what they plan! What they want Momiji for!"

"And what good would that accomplish, stuck in here?"

"You should let him go, Kunikida." He looked down, and Matsudaira was rising up to a sitting position. Her eyes flashed brown in the half-light. "If he wants to throw his life away, then let him."

"You're awake?" Kunikida said needlessly.

"Of course I am," she answered. "I don't have the same human weaknesses you do." She looked pointedly at Koume, who was resting as peacefully as she could with a fractured arm.

"Yes..." Kunikida sighed. "Can I just ask why, Matsudaira?"

"That isn't my name anymore." She pushed over and leaned against a wall. "I am Azuma, of the Deathbusters. The heralds of Lord Pharaoh 90." She hissed and winced when she had to shift her leg.

"I see that Chronos did as good a job on you as you did on us," Yaegashi snapped.

"Chronos?" Azuma chuckled. "This was done by Kusanagi. He was quite upset with me."

"Kusanagi found you?" Ryoko replied. "I'm surprised you're still alive."

Azuma snorted. "That boy is too soft-hearted for his own good." She sneered, nothing more than a flash of white teeth in the darkness. "Back before all this started, back before I met Ranma and we found all the other martial artists, do you know what he did? He threatened me. He was warning me away from Momiji. He thought I was going to do diabolical experiments on her." She laughed. "But I knew he didn't have the guts. I knew that was just a show. Even when he had me helpless, after all I've done, he didn't finish me off."

"You underestimate him," Kunikida said. "But I'm surprised you're still here. Don't you have magic powers, the kind that could break you free from here?"

"Why bother?" She shrugged. "It's all over, Kunikida. I can feel it. He is coming. Pharaoh 90 is finding his way to this world, and when he arrives, everything ends." Her voice began to grow rapturous. "It will all be made so simple. A complex, flawed, broken world that makes no sense, all brought down to a single truth. The grand unifying theory, Kunikida. The principle on which the entire universe turns. The holy grail of science. I discovered it from him. I discovered the truth."

"And what did you discover?"

"Everything ends."

"Was it worth it, then?" he asked.

"What?" She tilted her head at him.

"Giving up everything, abandoning your friends, your family, your free will, your humanity. Was losing all of that worth it, Azuma? Was the answer you got one that made you happy?"

"Happy?" she chuckled. "I KNOW, Kunikida. What does happy matter? I know, and soon the entire world will know with me." She paused. "Besides, what I lost hardly matters. Friends? Family? Illusions we craft around our lives. Chemical processes in the brain that have been hard wired into us by thousands of years of evolution.

"Free will? A pathetic grasp at straws. Ever since the universe started, it has all been cause and effect. One thing leading to another, inevitable. From the movements of the largest galaxy to the smallest particle of matter. It's all predicted by formula. At the beginning of time, all this was set in motion by the first collision between two things. Ever since then, it's all been an unstoppable and predictable chain reaction leading to this moment, to this point. It's destiny, it's fate, it's chance... whatever you want to call it.

"And humanity? Nothing but a word we created to separate ourselves from animals. A word that makes us feel good about ourselves when we slaughter our brothers and sisters, because we do it in the name of 'humanity'. A word that divides. You should be happy I'm helping to put an end to it, Kunikida. Finally this hypocritical human race, and the even more hypocritical zoanoids and aragami and everything else... finally, it will all come to an end."

"So that's what they did to you," he said, sitting down.

"What?"

"They took away your faith, Matsudaira."

"Don't call me that," she snarled.

"The woman I knew, she had faith. She knew that she could never learn all the answers, but it wasn't about that. Because she knew when she moved on, someone else would take her place. She knew she wasn't the best mother, the best person, but she struggled on because she knew that she loved her family and her friends, even if she didn't always know how to express it. Azusa Matsudaira was one of the best people I knew, because she believed in something that couldn't be defined by science, or society or even words." He looked down at his hands. "That's why I chose her. Because she would never accept the final answer. She struggled every day to find a way to save Kaede's life. Even when Kaede was gone, she kept struggling. Even though it looked like there was no hope. Even though it looked like there was no way to save Momiji, she continued fighting. Because she knew that it wasn't winning that was important. It was fighting. She had faith, that in the end, if she fought, it would all work out."

"A... a foolish fantasy." Azuma crossed her arms. "I've moved beyond such things now."

"No." He looked at her. "You haven't. This thing, this alien monster inside you. It consumed your faith. Or you think it has. But that's the thing about faith, Matsudaira. It can't be consumed. It can't be exhausted. Even when all you can see around you is darkness. Even when everything seems lost, you still have faith. All you have to do is believe.

"Just like I believe in you, Matsudaira." He lowered his eyes again. "I have faith that you're here for a reason. That I'm here for a reason. I believe in you, wherever you are inside that monster that is trying to eat your soul. I forgive you. Please, come back to us."

"What nonsense," Azuma sneered, but her voice was not filled with conviction. Kunikida said nothing, and so they waited a long time in the darkness.

01010

Chizuru walked through the crowds of screaming people. They were all running in all directions. It had happened so fast. One moment, it had been a festival. An eclipse that nobody had expected, and suddenly all the people of Tokyo had a reason to celebrate. Then this. Chaos, destruction, death...

A monster was in the crowd, dueling with another beast. Chizuru walked up to them casually. She grabbed one by the back of its neck and snapped it with a single practiced motion. The other staggered back, stunned by this sudden intrusion. Chizuru moved forward, gliding across the blood-slick pavement. Her hand came up and caught it in the sternum, right above where she could sense its heart lay. The blow looked gentle, almost feather-light, but she could feel bone shatter. The creature continued stumbling back, blood trickling from its mouth. It was staring... behind her?

Chizuru spun in place, her long hair spinning about her. The thing that rose above her was massive. It was humanoid, but its body was covered in grey plates. Dozens of thick spines rose from those plates in all directions. It looked like a grotesque humanoid spiked club. Its arms were coming down at her, the spikes on its forearms threatening to crush her to death.

She made to move back, but stopped. The creature had stopped moving. A fist had emerged from its torso. A fist made of black chitin. The fist retracted and the thing vomited up blood before it was shoved aside. Chizuru frowned at the thing that faced her now.

She had seen it only a few times before. It was humanoid, like all the zoanoids. But it was also not like a zoanoid in many other ways. This one had bits of metal on it, a circular medal in its forehead and an orb on its waist. Despite its organic appearance and demonic bearing, it reminded her more of a suit of armour than a monster. Steam jetted from an exhaust port on the thing's right cheek.

"Are you alright?" the thing asked, its voice human if distorted slightly.

"I'm fine." Chizuru flicked her hand, sending a few stray drops of blood flying. "I've seen you before. You've been stalking Uranus and Neptune."

"I wouldn't quite say that," the man inside the armour replied. He glanced towards the outskirts of the city, where a titanic dragon with eight heads was ravaging everything in sight. Chizuru stared at the spectacle, a mix of wonder and horror filling her. "I've been trying to contact them for weeks. I need to get in touch with their leader."

"Sailor Pluto?"

"No, Sailor Moon."

"Who?"

He paused, staring at her through the glossy black eyes of the armour. "Listen, do you know how to contact this Sailor Pluto?"

"Pluto..." Chizuru sighed. "Yes. I know exactly where she is."

"Is she in the city?"

"No. Not anymore..."

"Good." Chizuru's eyes snapped up at the sudden relief in his tone. "Listen, we have to get out of here. This city is going to explode. We don't have much time. I can get us both safely out, if you promise to lead me to Sailor Pluto."

"I..." Chizuru looked around. A crowd of people had gathered. Why wouldn't they? These two had killed monsters and weren't trying to kill them. Who else could they trust? Where else were they going to go? "But what about all these people?"

The armoured man looked at them. The demonic mask that covered his face was expressionless. "What about them?"

"We can't just leave them!" Chizuru snarled.

"Yes we can, yes we will." He held out his hand towards her. "This isn't a battle we can win. It's a tragedy, but we have to leave to fight another day. Gather our forces. Find allies. Then, then we can take Chronos down, once and for all. But not today. Today all we'll do if we stay here is die."

She knocked his hand aside. "I have to find Neptune and Uranus." She began to walk away. "Do whatever you want."

"Isn't there something more important you have to fight for, Chizuru Kagura?"

She stopped at the sound of her name. Then she sighed and ducked her head. He was right, just not about what he thought he was. There was something more important to fight than Chronos today. There was a message she had to deliver. If Pluto didn't know... if she didn't know that there were OTHERS. That there were things beyond Ukyou that had that terrible power... then she would go on fighting a war with one eye blinded.

"Very well." She looked back over her shoulder at him. "But I do have to find Uranus and Neptune. They are under my guard. They are my responsibility."

He nodded. "Then meet me there." He pointed at the shadow of Mount Fuji, floating serenely on a blanket of mist despite all the chaos. "I can get us out of Japan, away from Chronos, without them being able to track us. I'll wait for you until midnight."

With a single leap he flashed up onto a nearby rooftop, and then was gone. Chizuru watched where he had vanished for a moment, then returned to her search.

01010

Akane moved forward, step by step. She was swaying a bit. Or was that the world? It was so hard to tell. There was an overturned police car nearby. It was on fire. A woman was curled up in a doorway, rocking back and forth and muttering. There was smoke in the sky, and the sun was still dark. In the distance the moon was rising, a pale ghost shadow in the darkness.

The moon... Akane stared up at it. It had brought her back. She had been dead. She had been saved. Sometime between the two, she had been changed. She didn't know how, or why. She just knew.

Akane suddenly started yelling. She kicked a nearby vending machine and it exploded, scattering merchandise across the street. "Damn you!" she roared, her face turned towards that ghost moon. "What do you want from me? Why me? What did I do that was so special? God damn you!" She fell to her knees. "Why not someone else? Why not Shampoo? Why not anyone else! I'm not ready! I can't do it! Whatever you want from me, I can't do it!"

Akane wasn't sure who she was yelling at, but it felt good. She had been keeping it inside. Ever since... ever since Narita. Ever since her sister's life had depended on Akane holding in her temper. She had been holding it in and holding it in. She had to be strong. She had to be in control. Ukyou had said that to her. Tofu had said that to her. She had to be the strong one, the one to take charge, the one who knew what to do. The Sailor Senshi had trusted her. Cologne had trusted her. Chris had trusted her.

So she had kept it inside. But why? Why bother? Why not just charge down that street, screaming? Why not find the first zoanoid or other monster and behead them? Her hand curled around the hilt of her sword. It was still stained with Shampoo's blood.

Akane would never let this sword go. She would never forget. Sometimes... sometimes there were things that just had to be defeated. Some evils were so insidious, so pervasive, that the only solution was destruction. Akane rose to her feet again, lifting the blade in front of her. The fire glinted off the steel, turning it red.

It felt good to be angry again. It felt good to not have to think about being in charge, about setting an example. It felt good to just seethe and rage against it. It felt good to lash out. She stalked down the street, kicking a car to the side as she did. There were tears running down her cheeks again, hot tears, but the pain felt better now.

Akane could see the monsters in the distance. There was a battle occurring around the corner. Akane slid the sword down behind her. She would give them no warning. She would strike without mercy. It would feel good to have something she could fight and kill. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the tears.

She had to do this. It was the way. She could feel the pulse of destiny around her again. The invisible hand of whatever higher power had touched her when she had died. She could feel its hands on her, steering her. It wanted her to fight. It wanted her to win.

She just had to take one step forward. She just had to turn the corner and strike. It was just two steps away now. Her heart was beating so loud she could hear it echoing in her chest. Her breathing was so sharp it hurt. Her knuckles turned white as they gripped the shaft of her sword. Just be angry, Akane. Wasn't that what a fire aspect was? Fury and rage. The power of unbridled passion. She could master that power, if she just stopped resisting it in herself.

The sword fell from her fingertips. It clattered on the street. Akane slid against the wall, slowly lowering herself to the ground. She placed her head in her hands and wept. She couldn't... she just couldn't go through with it. She needed the kind of power it would give her. If she was ever going to protect this nation. If she was ever going to defeat Chronos. If she was ever going to stop Chris. She needed that power.

But she couldn't. She was too weak. She was too human.

Akane heard the battle around the corner come to a close. Two monsters turned the corner. Akane looked up. They were zoanoids. Chris had given them all files about them. Descriptions of what they looked like. Descriptions of their powers. But for the life of her, Akane could remember none of that now. They were just monsters, monsters that served Chronos. They paused when they saw this pathetic human girl, crying against the corner.

"Hey, look at this..." the one on the right said. "Let's have a little fun!"

"We don't have time for this," the other responded.

"But..." Then it paused, and looked closer. "It's... it's her!"

"Her?"

"The Tendo woman!" the thing pointed. "Quick, we have to tell Commander Gy-"

Akane blinked. The zoanoid had stopped in mid-word. Its body had frozen. It looked like a statue of a beast, just standing there in the middle of the street.

"Akane..."

Akane started to her feet.

"Nabiki!"

Akane ran towards her sister. She looked like hell. Her hair was mussed and her clothing was ripped and torn. She was clutching a sword in one hand. No, not just clutching, cradling. She wasn't even looking at Akane. Her eyes were focused on the two zoanoids. Akane was about to throw her arms around the other girl but stopped. Nabiki was sweating, little beads of effort trickling down her brow.

"Get out of here, meet me around the corner," Nabiki said through clenched teeth.

"Nabiki, what are you?"

"Just go! I can't keep this up forever!"

"I..." Akane nodded. "Right."

Akane ran down the block, turning a corner. A moment later Nabiki came running as well, as if the devil was on her heels. She grabbed Akane and walked up to a door. She twisted the handle and led Akane inside, then slammed it behind her.

"Nabiki, what's going on? What happened back there?"

"A little trick I'm beginning to pick up," Nabiki said idly. She was leaning against the wall, taking deep breaths. "It... takes a lot more out of me than I thought it would."

"Those monsters..."

"As far as they know, you just vanished." Nabiki looked up, as if she was listening to something. "We don't have much time. Gyro is already sending more zoanoids here. Lots more. We have to keep moving."

Akane only nodded as Nabiki led her down to the basement. Nabiki didn't hesitate, didn't pause for an instant. She opened a grate in the basement floor and led Akane down into the sewers. Nabiki began to move through them at a brisk walk, and Akane followed.

"What are you doing, Nabiki?"

"I picked the information out of a sewer worker's mind," Nabiki explained. "In case I needed to make a quick escape."

"Picked the information..." Akane trailed off. That sounded entirely too much like what Chris did for Akane's taste. "What's happened to you, Nabiki?"

Nabiki looked back, but it was impossible to make out her expression in the gloom. "I wished for it."

"Wished?"

Nabiki gestured with her sword. "Three wishes. I got them from this sword. It's why I stayed in Nerima. Why I didn't leave with Daddy." She paused. "And I wished I could read minds."

"Psychic?" Akane blinked.

"Don't worry," Nabiki said. "I wouldn't look in your mind." She chuckled grimly. "God knows what kind of mental diseases I could pick up from you."

"Hey!"

Akane suddenly staggered to a stop. She grabbed Nabiki's sleeve. "You still have wishes left! You only used one, right?" Akane could feel hope welling within her again.

Nabiki looked at her. "No. I used two."

"Two..."

"Never mind." Nabiki pulled herself free. "I know what you're going to ask, Akane. I don't need telepathy to do that. The answer is no."

"But the city, all these people!" Akane grabbed her again, and this time it wasn't a tender sisterly touch. This time it was an iron grip, like a vice. "You could end it, right? Just one wish and you could end this entire stupid war!" Nabiki stared at Akane levelly. Akane snarled and slammed her against the wall of the sewer. "Damnit, Nabiki! This isn't a game! People are dying up there. Real people, with real lives. You have the power to save them!"

"Don't lecture me about real people, Akane," Nabiki snarled, pushing Akane back. Akane let go, surprised at Nabiki's sudden resistance more than actually moved by her strength. "You think I can't feel it? It's impossible to tune out. All this fear and horror and death, it's pounding into my skull like a thousand sledgehammers! I KNOW it's real, Akane. I know it in a way you never will." Then she straightened. "But I have to think in the long term, Akane."

"The long term..." Akane's temper was rising again, but Nabiki cut her off.

"Yes, the long term!" she snapped. "You think this is the worst it's going to get, Akane? This little war here is NOTHING!" She gestured up at the ceiling. "Up there is a creature with a mind so filled with twisted greed and malice it can't even be called human anymore. That mind happens to be the mind of a man so strong he could shatter this entire city! You've met him, Akane. Reichmann Gyro. Familiar?"

"Gyro..." Akane shuddered. She remembered him. His cold, manic laugh. His deadly incision wave...

"And he's just the tip of the iceberg." Nabiki looked down. "There are twelve of them, just like him. Just as strong. I could feel it when two of them battled. I could feel the psychic duel all the way across the city. I thought my head was going to explode. I wanted to tear out my own eyes and die, just to make it stop." Nabiki looked down. "And then there's Arkanphel..."

"Arkanphel?" Akane recognized the name. Chris had mentioned it.

"His power..." Nabiki shuddered. "He makes them seem like ants, Akane." She looked up. "And I don't think he's the only one. I know he isn't. There are forces in this universe that are so awesome we humans can't begin to compare." Nabiki held up her sword. "And you want me to waste this on one little opening skirmish in the war? Maybe I could wish away all the zoalords. Maybe I could wish away Arkanphel and Murakumo and a dozen other threats. But there are a dozen more I don't know about. I can't waste this wish! Not unless everything is on the line!"

"Nabiki..." Akane was torn. She was making sense. But then again, Chris had always made sense too. Something in her told her that there had to be something Nabiki could do. "Can't you just... wish that everyone would be alright?"

"It doesn't work that way..." Nabiki said almost too softly. Akane was about to ask something else but Nabiki cut her off. "It just doesn't!" she snapped. She took a deep breath and pinched her nose. "Just drop it, Akane. Unless you want to start breaking my arms you aren't going to get me to change my mind. And I don't think you have it in you."

Akane hated to admit it, but she was sorely tempted. Instead she sighed and nodded.

"Good." Nabiki started down the tunnel again. "Because I didn't just come here to rescue you." Akane blinked. "Remember, I'm tuned in on all Gyro's commands. He wants you, Akane. He wants to get a hold of you badly. He wants to know how you came back to life. He wants to know what secrets you can tell about the silver crystal." Akane blanched. "He doesn't know I can read him. He can't feel me yet, because I've been subtle. But I know that if he catches you he'll do... things to you. To your body. To your mind. You'll become one of them, and his slave." Nabiki sighed. "He'll make you turn on Sailor Moon, lead him to her." Akane shuddered.

"But we have a bigger problem."

"How is that possible?" Akane groaned.

Nabiki stopped and looked at Akane. "It's easier if I just show you. Show you what I saw." Nabiki reached out and grabbed Akane's forehead, and Akane saw.

It was the memories of a monster. The monster Aptom. His memories of everything Telulu had done to him. And the memories of the thing inside him. The memories of their mission. Pharaoh 90. The end of the world.

Akane staggered back, blinking away tears. "What... what was that?"

"You have to stop it, Akane." Nabiki grabbed her hand and Akane felt her push something into her palm. "I could feel it the moment I touched these. It's all that's left of Sailor Uranus and Neptune. They... they were meant for you."

Akane looked down at her palm. There were two glittering oval seeds there. One was a soft aquamarine, the other a hot orangish-yellow. They felt so... right. It was like a key fitting into a lock. It felt perfect.

"You can stop Pharaoh 90." Nabiki said, beginning to walk down the left- hand passage. "But not alone. There's someone you know. Someone else who is important that needs the other one. Together, you can save the world, Akane."

"Wait, Nabiki, how do you know this?"

"I..." Nabiki reached up, flexing her hands. "The seeds told me, Akane. I could feel... something. Something through them." She paused. "You'll need to find Telulu. Aptom was never trusted with the location of her final plan. There's a woman who can tell you, but she's been captured by Chronos." Nabiki looked down the path. "You better hurry, Akane. When the sun would have set... it will be too late."

"Nabiki, where are you going?"

"Away," Nabiki replied shortly.

A final thought struck Akane. "What about Ryouga? Wasn't he with you?"

Nabiki stopped dead in her tracks. When she next spoke, it was with a voice so thick with pain and sorrow that Akane had a hard time believing this was her sister speaking. "He isn't anymore. Go, Akane. Go now!"

01010

"Come out, Mamoru Chiba!" The creature's voice was forced out of distorted, inhuman vocal chords, and had a gurgling liquid undertone. But the arrogance in it was as clear as any human's could be. "Don't think that building can protect you from me."

Mamoru stepped out of the door. The long black cape swept around his feet. It was heavy. In fact, the rented tuxedo was heavy in general, and he had to raise a hand to keep the wind from sweeping the top hat from his head. The whole getup wasn't ill-fitting, but it was hideously impractical. Had his previous outfit somehow been less restrictive? Or had he just not noticed?

The zoanoid had been staring at the upper floors of the building, but the tendrils on the side of its head twitched as the door swung open, and its gaze dropped to regard him. The unblinking red eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement, and the teal armour plates that covered most of its body shifted slightly as it moved. A faint hum, like that of electrical equipment, surrounded the zoanoid; its source were the two giant blades, each a meter long, that took the place of its hands. The bony material that formed the "stem" of the blades was reminiscent of a claws of a crab, but the edge itself was impossible to see except as a humming blue blur.

"How boring." the zoanoid commented. "I thought you'd at least leap from a balcony."

Mamoru was sweating under the tuxedo. Even though the sun had long since vanished from the sky, it was unseasonably hot. Or was that nervousness? He fingered the rose in his hand, managing not to react when a thorn pricked his palm. "And I'm surprised you came alone."

"Don't underestimate me, human," the creature sneered. "I am no mere zoanoid, but a member of the elite of Chronos! A hyper zoanoid, Thancrus!" It crossed the humming blades across its chest. "Lesser zoanoids would merely have slowed me down. Will you come quietly with me, Mamoru Chiba? I truly hope not. After the disappointment of the Sailor Senshi as opponents, I have looked forward to a challenge."

Mamoru smiled with all the confidence he didn't feel. "Then I hope we won't disappoint you."

At that point, the explosives went off under the monster's feet. Mamoru stumbled back a step at the detonation, but the charges had been set to be a "focused" explosion, and nothing more than a few pieces of debris bounced off his formerly immaculate lapels.

Unfortunately, Thancrus was hardly any more inconvenienced. The hyper zoanoid had landed in a crouch across the street. The blood-red eyes locked on Mamoru. One blade dropped low, slicing through the asphalt of the street like a hot knife through butter. And then it was in motion.

Or so Mamoru assumed. In fact, he never saw the attack, and it wasn't because of the annoying reduction of his peripheral vision from the (slightly lopsided) domino mask. He literally didn't even see the zoanoid move until it stopped short halfway to Mamoru, just as a hail of bullets screamed through the path it was presumably going to travel. The creature's head swung to face the source, a low-lying window at another nearby apartment, and then it leaped backwards gracefully as Marz tried to track his movements with the machine gun.

Mamoru felt a chill run down his spine. Neither he nor the girls could hope to match that thing's speed. It was as fast as Vega had been, and none of them were anywhere near what they had been. None of them were at Vega's level even back then, either, came the unbidden and unwelcome thought. But they had to stick to the plan.

Thancrus was running now, the claws of its feet tearing divots in the mangled asphalt of the road. The bullets came close to it, tantalisingly close, but never quite touching the teal armour. The hyper zoanoid was laughing. It could move faster than that. It was playing with them.

Well, that at least was going according to the plan. Abruptly, Thancrus tired of the game and vanished. Mamoru's eyes relocked onto it just as its blades tore into the building. The machine gun fell silent. Marz had assured him she had predicted its attack vector. He could only hope she was right.

Loud cracks echoed over the street, and Thancrus slid to the side like greased lightning. One bullet had grazed the hyper zoanoid's armour before it had moved, but only a small dent marked the impact. Both Thancrus and Mamoru looked up. At the balcony Mamoru had not jumped from stood Fevrier. Her short fuchsia hair tossed in the wind as she coolly adjusted her aim and fired her pistol at the zoanoid again.

"Useless!" Thancrus sneered. Five cracks from Fevrier's gun followed, but the zoanoid didn't bother dodging. Instead, its blades blurred before it, and there was a sizzling pang as each bullet went flying away, cut precisely in two.

That was his cue. Mamoru dashed forward, desperately concentrating on not tripping on that stupid cape. He held the rose high. He wasn't even looking at Thancrus, but the zoanoid had to have glanced at him. Between his attention to what he thought was his true opponent and Fevrier's bullets, he had to be distracted...

"And what's this?" the zoanoid said mildly. Mamoru looked up.

Satsuki had leapt from the alleyway as planned, but was now sprawled on the ground. Her sword lay next to her. If she had struck at all, she hadn't even dented the monster's armour plating. One more bullet from above was casually swatted from the air like a bothersome fly. Mamoru's heart sunk, even as he saw Fevrier duck to frantically reload her pistol. Thancrus had not been distracted enough.

"Was that your plan, Mamoru Chiba?" the monster laughed. "To throw little girls at me? Pathetic." Satsuki was scrambling to her feet, grabbing her sword, but Thancrus was raising his own blade. The zoanoid's lithe but massive frame, easily over two meters tall, towered over the former Doll. "See the consequences of defiaAUUUUGH!"

The hyper zoanoid screamed as the elbow joint of its raised arm simply disintegrated. The now lifeless blade fell to the ground as it spun. "How..." and then it cut off with another cry of pain as Satsuki took advantage of its distraction to dash in low. Her blade, which she had proclaimed "adequate" after she had sliced three concrete blocks in two with it, sunk deep into the back of the creature's knee, where a gap in the armour plates revealed tightly- wound black muscle fibres. The hyper zoanoid attempted to turn again, but its leg crumpled beneath it and it toppled, yanking the sword from Satsuki's hands. She rolled backwards, barely getting out of the way before Thancrus's massive frame crashed to the street.

With only one functional arm and leg, the hyper zoanoid struggled painfully back to a sitting position, levering itself up on the backside of its remaining arm. "I'll kill you..."

"No, you won't," Marz said. She has clambered out of the crumbled ruins of the window. A large bruise decorated the side of her face, but she was smirking. She held a large pistol in one hand, trained on the zoanoid.

Thancrus eyed her for a long moment.

"Don't even try," Fevrier stated. Both hands grasped the pistol that had blown off the zoanoid's arm, far larger than the one she had first shot with. "In your current condition, we'll kill you before you can even attempt to attack."

Mamoru blinked. That wasn't part of the plan. Satsuki was also staring at Fevrier, and Marz glanced slightly at her before returning her attention to the enemy. Marz was supposed to be the distraction that let Fevrier land the decisive second hit. But now the zoanoid was fully focused on her.

"Impossible!" snarled Thancrus. "You're... you're just humans!"

"Humans who have defeated you," Fevrier stated simply. "Transform, zoanoid. Go back to your human form, pick up your bleeding carcass, and limp away from here. Don't give me time to change my mind and kill you here and now."

Thancrus snarled, but Marz took a single step forward. "All right!" His form blurred, collapsing in upon itself with a disgusting wet sucking sound, punctuated by a clang as the sword fell to the ground. The human Thancrus glared at them. He was a small, weedy Japanese man, not rendered any more impressive by his lack of an arm or clothing. "Don't you think I'll forget this! Enemies of Chronos end up-" he broke off with a yelp as one of Marz's bullets impacted the ground next to his head.

"We don't care!" she explained cheerfully. "Now run along like a good little whipped dog."

When the limping, naked Thancrus had vanished down the street, Mamoru was nearly knocked down as Marz jumped into his arms, giving him one of her all- too-familiar bone-crushing hugs. "Oh, Mamoru dear! You were perfect! So dashing! The zoanoid didn't suspect a thing!"

"Are you unharmed, sir Mamoru?" a tentative voice asked. Satsuki wasn't actually touching him, but was hovering solicitously so close to him that it was somehow just as uncomfortable.

"I'm fine," he said , levering Marz off him. "How about you, Marz? That's a nasty bruise."

She blinked, then laughed. "Oh, that? Absolutely nothing, Mamoru dear. I simply slightly miscalculated the vectors of his probable attack pattern." Her eyes gleamed naughtily. "But for you to be so concerned for me..."

"Yes, yes," he interrupted hastily before she could try to force herself on him again. He turned a suspicious eye on her. "Speaking of that... since the fight's over... what was the ACTUAL chance that plan had of working? Just out of curiosity?"

Marz smiled brightly. "Oh, Mamoru, you're so suspicious. Just like I told you, there was an eighty-six percent probability of us all emerging more or less unharmed, and-"

"Sixteen percent was what you said to us," Satsuki interrupted softly. Marz's smile froze.

"Satsuki, you idiot! That wasn't what I told you to... uh..." she trailed off and looked nervously back at Mamoru. "Well, it worked and we're all here, right Mamoru dear? What's a few percentage points matter now?"

"You..." Mamoru sighed. He should have guessed. "No computer hacking for a week. Do combat practice instead."

Marz's mouth dropped in dismay. "But..."

Satsuki was suddenly sidling beside her, smiling ever-so-slightly. "I think that's probably best. I mean, if your aim had been better, he could have been lured further to the right, closer to my ambush point."

"But Mamoru deaaaar..." Marz protested, then her voice trailed off at his gaze, which he was trying to make as stony as possible. She kicked a rock sullenly. "It's not fair! Fevrier departed from the plan more than I did, anyway..."

"Don't blame me for your incompetence, Marz," Fevrier snapped as she drew near them.

"Though it's a good question," Satsuki noted. "Why did you let the zoanoid live? That was unusual for you."

"I guess Fevrier's getting soft," Marz noted cattily.

"Shut up!" Fevrier snapped.

"Stop teasing her," Mamoru ordered, feeling - as was not uncommon - as if he were managing a children's daycare. "There's nothing wrong with not killing when it's not necessary. In fact, I think it was very brave of you to let him go, Fevrier." He turned and smiled at her, then paused. "But are you all right?"

Fevrier was pale and sweating, a fact hidden somewhat by the angry blush that had covered her features. "D- don't insult me!"

He blinked. "What?"

"I didn't let that thing live on purpose!" She painfully raised one hand. "The recoil of the first shot fractured my wrist. I wasn't sure I could follow any movement it made, so I needed to bluff it into thinking it'd lost."

"Oh dear," Satsuki said. "I guess that pistol was intended for metanormal use. Well, Marz said it was experimental when we stole it from the Shadowloo base."

Mamoru rushed forward and began examining Fevrier's arm, then suddenly looked at her suspiciously. "Fevrier, how did you get down here so quickly?"

"I... that is..." her angry expression wavered slightly, then returned in full force with its usual dose of stubbornness. "I climbed down the fire escape."

"With a broken wrist?" he snapped, feeling his patience fray again. "Why do something so stupid? The danger was over!"

"I was just checking to see if you were, I mean, if the situation was secured!" she declared back, face still flushed with anger... or something.

Mamoru felt a headache coming on. Or perhaps it was the stupid hat. He tore it off his head and tossed it to the side, then ran one hand irritably through his damp hair. Damn, this tuxedo was stuffy. "We'll need to bandage this up tight. Satsuki, could you go get the bandages?" A quick nod of assent and Satsuki was dashingtowards the apartment. He considered telling Fevrier she was banned from target practice, but considering the condition of her wrist, she couldn't do that anyway. She still wasn't back at the level where she could fire a gun with her off-hand, much to her irritation.

"Getting a lot of attention from Mamoru dear there, Fevrier," Marz said slyly, stepping closer. "My head is really starting to hurt, actually, now that I think about it..."

"Shut up!" Fevrier snarled again. "Stop being foolish and go start packing up. We'll need to be out of here before Chronos can send a second force."

Marz laughed lightly and began sashaying back to the apartment. Fevrier was glaring ferociously at the back of the other ex-Doll, but her voice suddenly emerged, taut and controlled. "Hey, wuss. You are all right, aren't you?"

Mamoru sighed, but then he suddenly found himself grinning. The former Dolls might argue like children, but they'd certainly made life more interesting. And even though they were all now at far more human levels, they'd still faced one of the monsters... and won decisively. No matter how tragic the events of this day were, he suddenly felt a lot better about the future. "Yeah. I'm fine, actually."

"Good."

Akira retreated as Gan finally arrived. The massive green-clothed man was like a living mountain. With a loud shout and a single thrust of one of his shovel-sized hands, he sent a dozen zoanoids flying. Then a dozen more. He could hold the gap in the wall, especially with Edge to provide ranged support and keep them from flanking him. Akira herself had to leave: she would be needed elsewhere.

There were going to be other fires. Zoanoids that had broken through the lines. Wounded that had to be covered while they could be evacuated into the school. Thrusts that had to be parried. Feints that had to be countered. She moved, running towards the closest disaster. Her body was aching all over, but she continued on. It was like there was an infinite spring of power in her, a well she could tap without limit. Her body was moving purely on the power of her chi now. It had long ago exhausted every other reserve she had. But no matter how endless it seemed now, she knew her power wouldn't last forever.

But she had to hold out. Hold out long enough for the tide to turn.

That had been the plan. She was going to be defence. Daigo was supposed to be offence. She had lost track of him a long time ago. She could only hope he knew what he was doing, that he could turn the tide of the battle somehow. As it stood, they were going to lose. The zoanoids just kept coming. Worse, they fought intelligently, with feints and flanking and even more advanced tactics. They had artillery and air support. The best the humans could do was endure.

Akira came to the latest war zone, and had no more time for idle thought. A cadre of the bio-laser zoanoids were on a building across the street, firing with impunity into the schoolyard. The wall had been blown to shreds and the defenders were pinned down by the larger and faster skirmishers. As she watched, one ripped a boy who couldn't have been older than twelve in half. She resisted the urge to avenge him. Akira wanted to help the students, but her priority had to be those snipers.

She grit her teeth. She couldn't think about the people she couldn't save. She had to think about the people who would die if she failed. She flashed out of the school. The monsters were reaching for her. She snapped her hand up, deflecting one paw. The other hand caught a beast by the shoulder. She levered up over it, and landed on the back of one of the big green ones. It tried to shrug her off, but she pushed down viciously with both feet, knocking it down and sending herself rocketing over the head of the others. One of the flying ones was directly in her path, and it smiled, thinking it had her. It opened its mouth, ready to unleash one of its sonic screams, but Akira thrust her hand forward and roared. A blast of blue light erupted from her. It didn't travel far, extending her reach maybe a half-meter, but it was enough. The strike caught the monster completely off-guard, knocking it back and down.

Akira continued forward, and as she fell she grabbed the plummeting zoanoid. She tucked her legs up, close to her chest and pushed down with all her might on the falling monster. Once again there was a flash of blue light and then she was flying up and across the street again. The creatures below could only stare as Akira deftly cleared their entire army.

She landed on the roof, skidding along the tar-covered tiles, and the zoanoids turned to face her. One had a blast ready, but foolishly snap-shotted. She dug her fingers into the tile, halting her movement, and the blasts blew a crater into the roof where she would have been a fraction of a second later. Akira was already moving in low and fast towards them. Two tried to meet her in unarmed combat. Her right hand deflected one's clumsy blow and caved in its throat with a single motion. Her left hand caught the other's wrist and jerked the thing to the ground. Akira ran up its falling body, twisting its arm and spun-kicked into a third, sending it flying over the side.

When she landed, the remaining three zoanoids had backed off. She frowned. They weren't trying to charge up their ranged attacks. Something was wrong. That's when Akira heard the loud electric hum behind her.

She moved, not even sure which way she was dodging. It wasn't quite enough. Something soft stroked the sole of her boot and white hot pain arced up her leg, through her chest and straight into her brain. She fell to the ground, moaning.

"Heh. That was better than I expected," the electric voice of the leader zoanoid murmured. Akira rolled away from it, managing to come up in a defensive stance. She took long breaths, trying to control her chi, draw it into the damaged areas. The eel-like zoanoid floated just off the edge of the roof, his long tentacles flailing around him. "You've been quite a nuisance, girl. But I figure once I deal with you, the tide of this battle will turn quite quickly."

"A trap...?" Akira hissed. The creature inclined its head slightly, as if trying to smile with its hideous inhuman lamprey mouth.

"Astute as well," the zoanoid said and floated forward. "I am Elegen, an elite hyper zoanoid. Now you know why you humans can't hope to defeat us. We have all your strengths, all your skills. We surpass you in every way!"

Akira took a long breath and slowly rotated her arms about her body. She had to find her focus. The aura around that thing was deadly. She would need all her power, every ounce of her remaining chi, just to keep up. She finished her centring kata and opened her eyes to face it, one hand held up towards it, the other balanced just behind her. She raised her fingers and motioned Elegen forward.

He didn't disappoint her. She flipped and spun and slid away from him, always keeping just barely out of reach of his snapping tendrils. Yet there was nothing she could do. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up just from his aura. Every time she tried to move in, it began to snap and spark around her. She had struck at him once. The air had flashed white and she had screamed. Her body had locked rigid. She had felt her heart stop. She could smell her flesh cooking. His tendrils had snapped in towards her, to finish her off.

Somehow she had thrown herself back, but even now her arm refused to move right. Her steps were staggering. Elegen laughed at her, hovering just out of the range of her chi blasts. She clenched her fists. Even they would do little good. Her power grew too weak at range. She needed to get in close, practically touching him, to deliver enough force to defeat him.

Akira knew she was losing, but could scarcely believe it when she realised she didn't care. Because she knew she wasn't going to lose. She was going to survive. She was going to win. She began to laugh. It was a low, happy chuckle.

"Why are you laughing?" the hyper zoanoid snapped, beginning to float closer.

"Because I'm going to survive," Akira explained.

"What makes you think that?" Elegen's tendrils were snapping angrily around him.

"Because I made a promise." She gestured for him to come forward again and he obliged. Akira didn't even try to dodge. She would only have one shot at this. He might strike her, but taking him out at the same time seemed a fair trade. She began to gather her power, all her power, focusing it on the palm of her hand. A blast like this, it would take down Elegen, and probably the building they were on too.

"I have you!" the monster screeched and his tendrils began to spin and coil around her body. She shifted so that he caught all of her limbs but one. It would be enough. There was a loud whine, like a turbine powering up. Akira began to thrust...

And then something long and silver passed between them. Elegen screamed and fell back. Akira stumbled and curled her palm into a fist, forcibly reabsorbing her chi. It hit her like a wave of warm water, flooding up through her body. Akira glanced to the right, towards the school, and saw a long slim katana embedded in the tile of the roof. Around her feet the severed tendrils of Elegen twitched a few times on the ground. The purple zoanoid was staggering back, the last few feet of his tendrils spasming wildly.

Then Akira looked left and saw the person who had saved her.

Akira barely recognised her. Even if she had only met her briefly, even if she barely knew her, Akira knew something in Akane had changed. She stood on a slightly higher rooftop, her body partially silhouetted by the black hole sun. She wore the same skirt and leggings with yellow blouse as before, but it was now rumpled and burnt, covered in filth here and there. Her shoulder-length black hair flicked in the wind, the long bangs held out of her eyes by a length of purple fabric that looked like it had been torn off some larger garment instead of her hairband from earlier.

"I think you're looking for me," Akane said in a loud but calm voice.

"It's... it's you!" Elegen snapped. He snarled. "Get her! Everyone!"

Suddenly the entire zoanoid army had turned. The students in the school found themselves staring at the retreating backs of the beasts as they spun en masse and charged towards Akane. Akane turned and looked at Akira. Their eyes met.

Akira nodded.

Akane vanished as she leapt behind the building.

Elegen began to run past her, completely ignoring Akira now. Akira let him go. Instead she walked calmly over to the sword. She pulled it free of the roof and turned to face where Akane had vanished. Hundreds of zoanoids, maybe even a thousand, swarmed the streets as the chase began. Akira frowned and leapt to the street. She had to find her brother. She needed his bike.

01010

Zoicite was shaking. He couldn't help it. His knees felt like they were made of jelly. Yet every step he made was with leaden feet. He swore he could feel the echoes of his own footfalls.

Kunzite was in front of him, moving with easy calm. His white cape fluttered behind him, Zoicite was suddenly caught by a sense of deja vu. It had been just like this the last time he had come to this place. Then, he had been certain his queen was going to have him killed for gross incompetence. This time, he was certain that his queen was going to have him killed for disobeying a direct order.

It had been rather simple. Just leave Ukyou Kuonji alone. Zoicite had not intended to break the rule. He had travelled half a planet away from the woman to ensure that he would have no contact with her. Then, she just fell into his lap. Even then, he had planned on sneaking away as quickly as possible. But she had penetrated his disguise like he wasn't even wearing it. Then she had humiliated him. She had tormented him with her power and treated him like a lapdog.

Zoicite could not stand it. He had betrayed her to the two forces seeking her out. He had disobeyed his queen's direct order. Oh, he could claim that it was Ukyou who had stumbled into his life. He could claim he had obeyed the letter of the order, if not the spirit. He could come up with flimsy justifications and excuses for days, and would if called upon. He rather doubted he would have a chance.

"Zoicite, you shouldn't worry," Kunzite said, pausing just before the doors to Beryl's old audience chamber. Zoicite found it strange that Tethys would call for them to attend her there, after all the effort she had put into dispelling the idea she was going to be just like the old ruler. "I will protect you, if it comes to that."

Zoicite wanted to ask how, but kept his mouth shut. If Kunzite was willing to throw himself in front of Tethys' wrath for him, then Zoicite wouldn't stop him. He would mourn. But he wouldn't stop him.

The doors opened and they marched down the aisle towards the dais. Zoicite was surprised at what he saw there. Humans, dozens... no, hundreds of them. Large humans, small humans, humans of all shapes and sizes. They were milling about idly, most of them looking stunned or shell-shocked. Some of them had the presence of mind to be afraid. None of them got in Kunzite's way, and Zoicite followed crisply in his wake.

Nephrite was standing at the head of them. His long brown hair fell in cascades down past his shoulders, and he was staring at the floor. His arms were crossed, his mouth a thin slit. He didn't even acknowledge the arrival of his fellow generals.

Zoicite only glanced at him for a moment before turning his eyes to Tethys. The queen looked different, even more different than before. Her skin had grown more pale, a shade of blue that verged on white. Her hair was an even deeper blue to make up for it, a blue that reflected the light so that shining highlights played through it. Her face was more defined now, more human, with an aquiline nose and lips the color of sapphires. Her eyes were human, with irises that were the same black as the deep ocean, where no light could penetrate. Those eyes fixed on Zoicite for a moment, and Zoicite trembled. Then they moved on. There was something ancient in those eyes now. Something terrible. This was not the same woman who had sent him away only a short weeks ago.

Tethys wore an elaborate dress, the sleeves clinging tightly to her arms before exploding into lacy cuffs that hid much of her hands from view. Similarly, the top of the dress clung almost indecently to her torso, so much so that Zoicite could make out the shape of her nipples under the fabric. The neckline dipped down to just between the breasts, but no further. The skirt was folded and creased to ripple down her legs like a cascade of waves, with a long slit up one side that parted to reveal her long, shapely thighs when she moved. On her brow she wore a golden tiara with that strange crescent and lightning symbol she favored.

"Good, you're all here," she said simply, moving to stand in front of the throne where Beryl had once held court. "Then let's get straight to the business at hand. I'd linger longer, but I'm afraid I have some family business to take care of soon."

"So this is it, then?" Nephrite grumbled. "The moment of judgment, so to speak?"

"Yes." Tethys turned to look at him with her ancient, powerful eyes and even he couldn't repress the quiver that ran up his spine when they focused on him. "So let's start with you, Nephrite." Tethys gestured behind the generals, to the collection of humanity milling about the throne chamber. "I told you to go out into the world and do something for me. You... did not much of anything. Except you saved a large number of humans from the chaos in Tokyo."

"Yes... yes, my queen." Nephrite sighed. "I have spent my time meditating on the stars, trying to understand what the future holds for us. I have spent many hours trying to figure out what this new kind of war you plan on making us wage will be. I have to admit that answers have not been easily forthcoming."

"I see... then why should I spare you?"

Nephrite opened his mouth but no answer came out. He just stared at her. Tethys seemed to sigh, and began to raise her hand.

"My queen, if I may?"

Zoicite looked up as a new voice broke into the conversation. A human boy had stepped forward, right into the midst of the four of them. He was startled both by the boy's bravado, and his beauty. He was like a Greek statue come to life. His face was regal and fine-featured, with fluid lips and a delicate nose. His eyes were intense blue and framed by wide lashes. His long red hair fell around his shoulders, with one lighter, almost translucent lock draped roguishly in front of his left eye. He wore a fine-tailored uniform of white with gold trim and knotted ropes around it. It made him look like a prince. Zoicite could only stare at him, his fingers tapping the side of his chin as he smiled.

"Don't overlook what your man Nephrite has delivered to you," the boy said with a smooth, almost rehearsed cadence. "We may be mere humans, with no magical powers, and all refugees at that. But if treated well, we can be exceptional allies. You will find no better case study of humanity than this cross-section here. And if trained and equipped properly, they will be effective servants in your kingdom." He bowed slightly. "All we ask is a chance to survive and prosper. Nephrite had the foresight to see how this would aid you."

"Did he now?" Tethys smiled slightly, looking the boy up and down. "Is this true, Nephrite?"

"Um... yes?"

"Good enough, then." Tethys turned to Zoicite, and Zoicite looked anywhere but at her eyes. "Zoicite." The voice was like a crashing wave. "You... I should have expected, of the three, that you would be the only one to disobey me. You think I didn't learn of your adventures? How you taunted the girl Ukyou, perhaps even turned her against us? Do you know what she is, Zoicite?" There was a pause. "DO YOU?"

"N-no..." Zoicite quivered. Tethys' eyes bore into his and Zoicite hastily added, "My queen."

"She is a force not to be trifled with." Tethys turned around. "Because of what you did, because of your actions alone... she now carries the weapon of Sailor Saturn, the Silence Glaive."

Kunzite stiffened. Nephrite sucked in a breath. Zoicite, for his part, could not get more afraid than he was now. He made a valiant effort, however.

"Of all the people on Earth," Tethys said slowly, "the one who could most upset my plan is her." She let out a long breath. "But that is neither here nor there." She turned back to Zoicite and raised her hand. "What do you have to say in your defense, Zoicite?"

"I..." Zoicite stared into the face of oblivion. He could beg for mercy. He could try to excuse himself. He could fight stupidly. But none of that would matter. Zoicite wanted to live. "I can't say anything to defend what I did." He stood up, proudly. "I won't say anything. I did what I had to do. It wasn't my fault Ukyou arrived where she did. And so what if I attacked her? She threatened me, threatened you! I had to try and deal with her! She was a fool for letting me go, and a greater fool for threatening me!" Zoicite clenched his fists. "My only regret is that she lived!"

Tethys looked at Zoicite for a moment. Then she smiled a small, secret smile. "Very well." She lowered her hands. "You live."

Zoicite had too much dignity to swoon. He settled for merely returning to a quivering wreck, but from relief rather than fear this time.

Tethys, meanwhile, had moved on to Kunzite. "And you?"

Kunzite placed one hand before him, palm up. A swirling ball of white light appeared. It was so bright that Zoicite could not look at it. He could feel its power, however. It was ten times, no... a hundred times stronger than any power Zoicite had ever felt before. It was pure concentrated life force, the likes of which he hadn't seen since the height of the Silver Millennium.

"I have been gathering power from the humans of this world," Kunzite explained. "From the places where nobody looks. The villages of the African deserts, the steppes of Russia. I have gathered here enough power to fuel our Dark Kingdom for a hundred years."

"Is that it?" Tethys said, sounding disinterested.

Kunzite frowned. "Yes. It took me a great deal of effort to gather this much power without any of the forces in this world noticing. With this much power, we could shatter mountains."

"I see." Tethys shrugged. "I don't need more power, Kunzite. You better defend yourself well, or I'll have you killed."

Kunzite smiled. "Very well, my queen... how about... THIS!" He thrust his palm forward and the ball suddenly snapped out at her. Zoicite gasped. He had never seen a spell cast that fast before. Converting all that ambient energy into destructive force in an instant was no easy task. The ball streaked in towards Tethys, who had enough time to raise a single eyebrow before the blast erupted all around her. The entire throne room shuddered, pieces of rubble detaching from the ceiling. The humans screamed and bolted and clung to the walls. As the light cleared, the only thing left where Tethys was standing was a crater almost ten meters across and a large cloud of vapour so thick it blocked off all sight.

"I learned that sometimes, one must grab opportunity when it presents itself," Kunzite sneered. "It took me days to prepare that energy. Carefully constructing it so that it would transform from harmless essence to dangerous power in an instant." He turned to Zoicite. "I told you, you had nothing to fear."

"Kunzite, Kunzite, Kunzite..."

The oldest and strongest general spun, his cape fluttering around him. His mouth dropped open in shock. Tethys was walking out of the mist. There wasn't so much as a scorch mark on her.

"You always were dumb, Kunzite. Pretty, but dumb," she said. "I told you there were only two things I would not forgive: treachery and gross incompetence. You, I'm afraid, are guilty of both."

"H-how? That's impossible!" He threw up his hands. "That amount of energy would have blown through any spell Beryl could have used to shield herself! Only Metallia at the zenith of her power could have withstood such an attack!"

Tethys smiled. "Metallia is not as frightening as her reputation would have led you to believe." She looked down at her hands. "It was a very difficult battle, I'll admit. Even if she wasn't able to will me out of existence, she put up a terrific struggle. Sealed and weakened and almost dead after what Queen Serenity did to her, she was still almost more than a match for me." She held out her hand towards Kunzite, who could only stare in shock. "And that's how I won. Because of what you are doing right now. You are just waiting for me to strike the final blow, aren't you? Your plans failed, your ultimate attack was nullified... and now you have nothing left. So you just wait for the mercy of death. I thought at first that she had built us that way deliberately. That we were designed flawed, so that we could never rise up against her.

"But I was wrong. What use did she have for such a massive flaw in her army, when she had the power of a god over our very existence? No. The answer was more insidious. She did not realise that we had all been built that way, because that flaw had also been made into her. Oh, we fought a great battle, but all I had to do was endure. In time, she ran out of attacks, out of gambits. Every time I survived, she lost a bit more of her will to fight. In the end, she wasn't even trying to defend herself. She screamed defiance to the end, but she let me consume her.

"Because that is how she was built. Her mother, her father... whatever you wish to call it: it is Chaos. It is a force of darkness born in the hearts of every evil deed a man has ever committed. It feeds on conflict, on war, on struggle. So it created Metallia, and all her brothers and sisters and seeded the universe with us." She chuckled. "So that we could draw out champions. So that we could wage fantastic wars and Chaos could feed. We were all, each and every one of us, designed not to WIN wars... but only to fight them. To cause them."

Tethys eyes narrowed. "That ends now."

With a snap of her fingers, Kunzite simply exploded.

She looked at the assembled horde. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my brother is about to arrive uninvited. I must be there to greet him properly."

01010

The door opened once more, letting in an intense stream of light. Kunikida held up his hand to block out as much as he could. A woman stumbled into the darkness, the two massive green zoanoids that had been holding her chuckling evilly. Between them was a tall eel-like monster with dark purple skin. The blinding corona of light was coming from it. The woman staggered across the room and braced herself against the wall.

"You led us on a nice chase, girl," the eel zoanoid said in a voice distorted by a buzz like a transformer. "But don't even think of escaping. This room is surrounded by zoanoids on all sides. Any attempt to escape and we will be forced to take... measures." The thing snickered, prompting its two huge compatriots to break out into harsh braying laughter. "I don't know what Commander Gyro wants with you, but he only said to take you alive. Intact was optional."

The door slid closed again. Kunikida stood up and walked over to the newcomer. Her short black hair was rising and falling as she took deep calming breaths. There were bruises up and down the length of her arm and her blouse was torn here and there.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied. She turned to look at him, her black eyes flashing in the darkness. "But I don't have much time. I'm very sorry to be rude, but I'm looking for a woman who was captured by Chronos. She's tall, with long brown hair she wears in a ponytail, and she calls herself Azuma. Have you seen her?"

Kunikida didn't look over to where the woman was. But he could feel the eyes of his ex-friend on his back now. They bored into him from behind.

"Why are you looking for her?"

"I need her help." The woman, who Kunikida could now see had to be no older than Momiji, sounded serious. She also looked very familiar. Kunikida was certain he had seen her somewhere before. It was like when he met one of those tiresome politicians. The ones that you constantly see across the room at parties but thankfully never get the pleasure of actually being introduced to.

"Wait a minute..." Yaegashi looked up. "How can you be looking for someone? You were captured, just like us, weren't you?"

"No." The young woman looked down, at something she was carrying in her palm. Kunikida could make out a small pair of lights there. Then she clasped her hand again, cutting the light off. "I let myself be captured. I need to speak with her, and I didn't have time to waste searching. This was just the quickest way."

"You're... you're serious?" Yaegashi was dumbfounded.

"Who are you?" Ryoko asked, cutting straight to the point like always.

"My name is Akane Tendo," she introduced herself.

"You're the one they're looking for!" Yaegashi burst out.

"You're... Ukyou's friend," Kunikida murmured.

"You know Ukyou?"

"Well enough..." He paused. "We worked together, for awhile."

"Listen, we only have a few hours left. Is Azuma here or not? If she isn't... then I need to get out of here before Gyro shows up."

Kunikida stepped aside and pointed at the tall scientist. Akane nodded her thanks and walked across the room to her. She stood over the woman for a long moment. Azuma just stared back up at her, an amused smile on her face.

"You know why I'm here," Akane said simply.

"Of course," Azuma replied snidely. "But don't expect I'll help you just because you ask."

Akane took another deep breath, and her form seemed to loosen. She knelt down, placing her eyes level with the woman whom Kunikida had called friend. She reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Matsudaira... Azusa. This doesn't have to end this way."

"Don't call me that!" Azuma angrily slapped Akane's hand away. Akane's hand halted in mid-air and curled into a fist. Then it loosened and she let it fall to her side. But she never once lost eye contact with the other woman.

"I know what you're going through," Akane said. "I've seen it. My sister showed me." Akane opened her palms and Azuma gasped at the lights there.

"Those are..." she trailed off.

"The star seeds. Aptom is dead. My sister survived the attack, but before she did she saw into his heart. She showed me what she saw there. I've seen what the demon is doing to your mind. I know how it can twist and pervert every good thing inside you. How it snakes into your thoughts, whispering dark things only you can hear. But that isn't you, Azusa."

"You... deluded little girl," Azuma stood up, forcing Akane to retreat. "Do you think showing me the corpses of the Sailor Senshi changes anything? Aptom was never meant to survive. Before he was even sent on his mission, everything was in place for this day." She smirked. "Everything, everything since the beginning of time has been building up to this moment."

"Listen to her, Azusa!" Kunikida shouted. "This isn't the answer you've been looking for!"

Akane glanced at him, then stood up and faced Azuma. "You're right." Kunikida and Azuma both stopped, stunned by her words. "I've seen it. I've been to the other side and back. I think I saw it there... Call it God. Call it Buddha. I saw the thing that exists in a state so perfect that it can not even be fully remembered in this profane realm." Akane clasped her hands around the star seeds. "Ever since I have come back, I have felt its hand on me. I've seen the world moving according to its plan. I KNOW that this is destiny." Akane lowered her head. "It's huge. It's bigger than you can imagine. It is fate. It is purpose beyond anything we understand. Against it, we are nothing. Against it, we'll be like dust on the wind."

Akane snapped her head up, and suddenly she was rimmed by a soft red glow. It cast a fiery light on everything in the room, reflecting in Azuma's brown eyes. "And I don't care!" She walked right up next to Azuma, pushing the taller woman against the wall. "My name is Akane Tendo! I am not a pawn! I refuse! I once told a man that I did not want to know the future, because I intend to write my own. This is the moment where I start doing that! If God himself wants to strike me down, he better start, because I'm not going to stand by while the world tears itself apart anymore."

She reached out and latched onto Azuma's arm. "YOU can choose your own destiny, Azusa! We all can. You didn't choose to be like this. You had your will stolen from you by a demon. But you have a choice. You can fight it. Nothing can take your soul from you. Nothing! If you believe you can fight this thing, you can! The only way you lose your soul is if you choose to let it go!"

"I..." Azuma faltered. "You don't know what you're dealing with, little girl..."

"I know exactly what I'm dealing with." Akane stood back. "You have to make a choice, Azusa Matsudaira. Take the easy road, or struggle and fight and perhaps lose it all."

She was doing it, Kunikida saw. He stared in wonder. Who was this girl? What was this power she had? It wasn't the strength of chi. He had seen Ukyou and Ranma and a dozen others use that power. This was something deeper, more primal. It wasn't magic. It wasn't something mystic or arcane.

Was this the strength of conviction? Kunikida looked down at his own hands. He had known what that power felt like, once. The strength that came from truly believing that what you were doing was the right thing. That you were fighting evil. That you could make a difference with your own hands. He had lost that, somewhere along the way. He had lost it to age and a life of bureaucracy and compromise. He had lost it in the face of a world that grew darker and more dangerous with each day.

He had lost it when he had watched his daughter die...

No.

He had lost it when he had went beneath the earth with a loaded gun, prepared to kill her.

He raised his head, and saw that the power of Akane's words had affected everyone else. Even Koume, who was barely conscious with her injuries, was sitting up and taking notice. Azuma could only stare at Akane, rattled to the bone by her sheer presence.

"NO!" Azuma shrieked. Her hand came up, so fast that you could barely follow it. She was holding something there, some kind of weapon. Akane was too close to see it. Too close to do anything about it. Kunikida made his choice. He would do something with his own hands.

He grabbed Akane from behind and threw her to the side. Even as he did the hand came up and pointed at him.

"CHEMICAL BUSTER!"

01010

"DAITETSU!"

Akane looked up, then looked away again quickly. Her stomach churned. She saw a woman running towards the man, but the man with the glasses jumped in front of her, trying to wrestle her back. She was struggling, however. Soon she would overpower him.

"RYOKO! There's nothing you can do for him!"

"Let me go, Yaegashi!" she screamed, tears burning down her cheeks as she reached over her shoulder towards the smoking form that lay on the floor.

"You'll only hurt yourself!" he responded, and with one last heave he sent her stumbling back. She collapsed against the side of the room, her eyes never leaving the gruesome image in the center of it.

Harsh sobs began to fill the chamber, and for a moment Akane was confused. Ryoko seemed heart-broken, but she was just crying silently, her face a mask of anguish. Then Akane turned to see Azuma. She was curled into a ball in front of the body. The sobs came from her. Akane stood up and walked over. She laid a hand on her shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she shrieked and snapped her arm up. Akane caught it in a grip as strong as steel but as soft as silk. She twisted the end of the lethal weapon away from her. Azuma stared up at her, her brown eyes shimmering. "Let me go... just let me go... oh god... I'll hurt you, too... let me go..."

Akane was sickened. She was angry. She was scared. But none of that showed on her face as she smiled. "I forgive you." She pulled Azuma to her feet. The gesture stunned the woman, who could only stare. "Now come on. We have to get out of here."

Azuma nodded dumbly. Akane wrapped her fingers around the other woman's hand, clasping it like she would that of a childhood friend. She turned to the other three captives. "Follow me. Stay close. One of you will have to carry the injured woman."

"The hell with that..." The woman with the red hair began to lever herself up. She only had one good arm, the other was in a makeshift splint. And when she stood up one of her legs refused to stop shaking. But her eyes fixed on Akane. "Nobody is carrying me! If we're making a break for it, I do it on my own two feet."

Akane smiled and nodded. Then she turned to the door. "Azusa, can you use any of your powers?"

"I... I don't think... I don't want to touch..."

"It's okay." Akane took a deep breath. "Everyone stay close."

The door wall exploded out with a single kick. She was moving before the splinters had even stopped falling. Elegen had been true to his word. There were dozens of zoanoids in the hallway. They were those big green horned-lizard ones, and a few of the smaller ape-men. The first one was caught off-guard. Her fist doubled it over. She kneed it back, sending it sprawling down the hall. She turned and pivoted, launching her foot upward. It caught one of the green ones on the chin. The thing flew up into the ceiling.

Then Akane was past them and her elbow blew another hole in the wall. There were more zoanoids here. They were not so surprised. She screamed and struck out. It was just like back at the school, a million years ago when it had still just been her and Kunou and dozens of stupid boys. The monsters were much stronger than that crowd of jocks and geeks had ever been, but Akane was much stronger too.

She burst through the next wall with barely a delay. She could see the others running behind her. The zoanoids were about to close ranks behind her, cutting them off. Akane snarled and grabbed an ape-man by the hair under his chin. With a roar she spun and released him like a missile, bowling over the creatures that had been attempting to form a blockade.

But she had lost precious time. There were more of them coming. Akane couldn't take them all on. She closed her right hand tighter around Matsudaira's. In her left hand she clenched the star seeds. They pulsed. It was like a heartbeat that ground through her body.

"CHEMICAL BUSTER!" Matsudaira yelled, and a spray of green acid washed across the charging ranks of the zoanoids. Akane turned away from their screams. She heard Matsudaira whimper. She squeezed Akane's hand, and Akane tightened her own grip.

One more wall, this one not thin wood but thick concrete, and they were outside. Akane shook her hand as they ran, trying to force away the pain of punching a hole the size of a human being into almost half a foot of concrete. Yet another reminder that she wasn't as superhuman as Ukyou, as Ranma... as Chris. She felt the star seeds pulse in her clenched fist again.

They had been taken to the section of the city nearest the Orochi Murakumo. The signs of the battle with it were clear. Entire buildings had been gutted, the skeletal remains of homes and offices were everywhere. The streets were torn and cracked. There were flames everywhere, and the wind was full of white ash. The rampaging behemoth was not that far away. Akane could see the back of its massive shell. In front of it was an army of zoanoids. Lasers and blasts of sound flashed into it. Explosions roared around it. But it just kept advancing.

But now that they were out in the open, everyone could see them. There were hundreds of zoanoids on the streets, but Akane mainly ignored them. The hyper zoanoids were here. The tall grey-skinned rhinoceros, the recently mutilated Elegen and their black insectile leader. The only one missing was the one with swords for hands. Akane quirked up her lips, finding it odd that she would find pleasure in such a small fortune.

"Okay, Akira..." she whispered. "Now is a good time for that rescue..."

Then a light flashed from the sky. It was a blue bolt, a strike like lightning that fell from heaven and smashed into the earth halfway between Akane and the hyper zoanoids. The elite bio-weapons stopped their advance, and Akane paused in shock.

"Ikazuchi!" the one that resembled a beetle roared. "What are you doing here? Get back to the fight!"

"A moment, if you please, ZX-Tole," the newcomer said in a voice as smooth as silk. "I would have a moment of time for this young lady." He walked towards her. He had changed. His skin was a soft, almost royal, purple. Thin blue plates were positioned around his body. They served not so much as armour, but as decoration. They looked almost like they might be clothing, instead of growing straight from his flesh. The only truly inhuman thing about him was the organs growing out of his limbs. They pulsed like beating hearts, giving off a fine blue glow into the air. Akane could feel the power radiating from him. It was more fighting spirit than she would have thought possible.

But his face hadn't changed. Even his hair was styled the same, though it was now neon blue. It had that same arrogant smirk. The eyes had that same frenzied gleam of mixed adoration and lust. He even stood exactly the same, offering her his hand.

"Kunou..." Akane breathed. "Oh, Kunou... I'm so sorry. What have they done to you?"

"Done to me?" Tatewaki Kunou laughed. "Akane Tendo, I have been elevated! Look at me!" He gestured to himself. "I am beyond a mere man. I have realised the ultimate promise of the human genome. Billions of years of evolution and the greatest science in the universe had combined to produce the creature that stands before you." He smirked, and raised his hand. The organs on his arm began to pulse more rapidly and a shimmering blade of sparking blue energy emerged from his fist. "I have become a god among men, a higher being. I am no longer Tatewaki Kunou. I am Ikazuchi!" There was a sound like thunder as he drew down his blade. "The first of a new race. I am neo-zoanoid. I am the future!" He held out his free hand to her. "Come and join me, Akane Tendo. This is surely the sign of destiny. Together, we will be the Adam and Eve of the world's salvation."

Akane looked over at Matsudaira, who was blinking in confusion. Then she turned her eyes back to Kunou. Her eyes narrowed and when she spoke, it was with focused anger. "I'd rather die."

Kunou paused. Then he sighed and rubbed his temple. "I had hoped that time would temper your fiery spirit, Akane. But I am afraid that you will not see the truth until it is shown to you by force."

Akane shifted, setting herself into a defensive posture.

It was then that a hand clapped onto his shoulder. Kunou blinked and looked behind him. Daigo smiled, the expression making his scarred face only look more grim.

"I believe the lady said no."

"Who dar-"

Daigo backhanded Kunou with enough force to send him through the remains of a nearby building. There was a roar and the huge rhino zoanoid was charging at Daigo's exposed back, bending his head down so his deadly horn would bury itself in his unprotected flank. Then the world shuddered as a huge green form fell from the sky and landed right in front of it. Gan screamed something incoherent and his hands snapped up and wrapped around the charging monster. It grunted and wrapped its own arms around him. The ground beneath them split apart and cratered.

Elegen was floating up and over the rhino when several silver flashes filled the air. The eel man snapped up his hand and his aura sprang to sparking life. Three switchblades hovered in the air in front of him, trapped in a field of electromagnetic force. "That trick only works on me once," he snarled, his voice an electric buzz. The blades fell to the ground.

"Heh," Edge said as he too leapt off a nearby rooftop and set down between Akane and the hyper zoanoids. He smiled, his manic eyes flashing. There was blood on his clothing, on his cheeks. He didn't seem to notice. "Then I guess I'll just have to take you down the hard way." He laughed, a loud high- pitched sound. "To tell the truth, I've been looking forward to that since you showed up!"

Daigo, meanwhile, was facing off against the leader of the hyper zoanoids. ZX-Tole towered over the imposing young man, but Daigo wasn't backing down. He set himself firmly, raising his arms. ZX-Tole looked down at him with his strange red insect eyes, his inhuman expression unreadable.

"Back away, kid," ZX-Tole said. "This has nothing to do with you."

"I'm afraid it does." Daigo cracked his knuckles. "I don't know what you want that girl for, but a true man, a virtuous man does not leave a person like that in your clutches!"

"Akane!"

Akane turned. There was Kunou again, emerging from the building seemingly unfazed. He was running right for her. Akane turned to face him, and heard the roar of an engine. Her eyes snapped to the side just in time to see Akira skid around the corner. She was leaned over so far on her bike her shoulder-length hair skipped across the cracked asphalt. She snapped upright, her machine zigging and zagging between the potholes and craters without slowing down. In fact, she was speeding up.

She hit a overturned car and the motorcycle went airborne. Akane gasped as the bike flipped end over end, and even Kunou could only stare in stupefaction. But Akira wasn't even fazed. She twisted her body, turning the tumble into a controlled spin. The rear wheel of the bike came down on Kunou's gaping face, flattening him. There was a screech of burning rubber as Akira came to a halt, twisting to land in front of Akane.

"Get on," she said.

"R... right..."

Before Akane could react there was a loud grunt of pain and Daigo flew past them. Akira gasped and turned to face where he had landed. He crashed into a wall with enough force to crater it. "Daigo!" she shouted.

"Don't worry," ZX-Tole said, his insect voice sounding reserved. "He'll live." The massive hyper zoanoid was approaching them now, and to demonstrate his resolve he snapped up one hand. A line of red light erupted from a lens that had been hidden under his armour, blasting a hole in the road just behind Akane and Akira. "But you aren't going anywhere."

Akane felt Matsudaira squeeze her hand. She tightened her grip on the star seeds. They were digging into her palm. They pulsed. Akira paused suddenly. Her eyes slowly left ZX-Tole and turned to Akane. They traveled down Akane's arm and settled on her clenched fist. The star seeds pulsed again, and again. They were beating now.

Akane grit her teeth. "We don't have time for this."

"Commander Gyro has ordered us to capture you," ZX-Tole told her. "I would rather be fighting that beast, but I have my orders."

"You don't understand!" Akane shouted at him. "If we don't leave now, none of this matters!"

"What?"

"Tell him, Matsudaira!" Akane looked at the woman, then back at ZX-Tole. "In less than an hour... when the sun would have set, none of this will matter. Gyro, the Orochi, Kunou, me, you... the world will end! We have to stop it!"

"She's... she's right..." Matsudaira clutched her head with her free hand. "Even now, Pharaoh 90 is coming through the portal, called by Susano-oh's power like a beacon. When he arrives, he'll merge with this planet. He'll be unstoppable. Every living thing on earth will only serve to feed his nihilistic energy. Not you, not any zoalord will be able to stop him from bringing Silence to this world."

There was a a short pause.

"I'm not even sure he can be stopped. Not even now."

"We have to try," Akane insisted. She looked into ZX-Tole's inhuman eyes. "We can't waste time fighting each other."

ZX-Tole stood over them for a long time, the sounds of the battle around him raging. In the distance, the Orochi unleashed another volley of breath weapons, blowing dozens of zoanoids into dust. ZX-Tole looked over at it.

"That battle isn't going well." He paused. "No number of normal zoanoids will defeat Murakumo. It will be necessary to deploy Team 5 and our new neo- zoanoid against the threat. If... if you happened to escape while we were busy, I could hardly be blamed for that, could I?"

Akane smiled. She looked at Akira, who was already gunning the bike. A moment later, the three of them were streaking down the street at breakneck speeds. Just before they turned the corner, Akane saw Kunou stand up again. He was about to chase them, when ZX-Tole backhanded him through a building. Then, as they began to vanish from sight, Daigo walked up to ZX-Tole. The scar-faced young man looked at the hyper zoanoid. Then he turned and pointed to the raging dragon.

Akane got the impression that if ZX-Tole could have smiled, he would have.

01010

Yomiko Readman had read about heroes. In the stories they were brave and true, never backing down. She had crawled into bed with them at night and walked down the street in their embrace. Heroes were good people, strong people who made the world better just by being there. She had always been in the company of heroes, but she had never really been one herself.

Yomiko had read stories about how heroes didn't realise they were heroes until everyone else already had. She wondered if someone would read the story of her life and label her a hero. She had just been a girl who had loved books. She had loved them so much that they spoke to her, and when she spoke to them they listened. She had thought she was strange, but one man had changed that.

He had been a hero. He used to write a journal. In it he told tales about his adventures working for the British Library as their top agent. Tales of intrigue and battle and adventure in exotic locales. She had read them and loved him in the telling. He had taught her with his stories, taught her to understand herself, her powers and her place.

When he had died, it had only been natural that she would step into his shoes. His story wasn't finished, as far as she was concerned. So she continued on as The Paper, despite that all she really wanted to do was curl up with a book and while away the years. So had she found herself involved in her own tales of intrigue and battle and adventures in exotic locales. But she had never starred in those tales. Looking back at them, they always seemed like a story told about someone else. She was not that brave, not that clever, not that lucky.

She had really begun to believe that she might have been living in a world like those in the stories. That maybe good would triumph over evil and true friendship would prevail no matter what. Then reality had come crashing down.

Her friends were all dead, or worse. She had returned to this country seeking solace, and found only worse horrors. She had read in many books about how horrible war was. But reading the stories, and experiencing them... they were two different things.

So she drove down the country lane, her eyes firmly on the road. In the back of the jeep there were five suitcases, four of which were full of books. She kept her mind off them and on the road ahead. It was dark. The sun had risen hours ago, but the darkness had not left the land. The only lights were the glorious sea of stars overhead and the hollow balefire that was the sun's corona behind the unnatural eclipse. It was so dark she could barely see five meters ahead, but she did not turn on the headlights.

Headlights would attract attention in this darkness, and she didn't want attention. She had a precious cargo to transport. The girl in the seat next to her was sitting back. Caught in the hollow of her neck was a small flashlight which flickered slightly with every bump Yomiko hit. It was focused on a book in the child's hand. A book Yomiko didn't dare look at.

Well, not after she had almost crashed them into the tree. When Hotaru had offered to drive after that, Yomiko had laughed and assured her that wouldn't be necessary. She had read the entire operator's manual all the way through, after all. She was certain she knew how the vehicle worked.

In a way, she was glad she wasn't reading. She blinked owlishly at the thought and chuckled. She would never have pictured herself thinking such an absurd notion. But not reading did give her a chan-

The explosion came out of nowhere. Yomiko screamed, and she could hear Hotaru yelling too. They were rising up into the air. The entire front of the jeep had become a plume of smoke and flame. Yomiko snapped her hand out, grabbing Hotaru's book. With a thought and a swiftly yelled "Sorry about this!" she willed the book asunder. Her free hand wrapped around the girl.

A moment later the world went black as the paper surrounded them both in a protective cocoon. She felt the ball bounce and tumble as it was thrown across the landscape by the explosive force. When they came to a rest she lowered her arms and the shell dissolved around them in a swirl of white, like feathers blowing on the wind.

"What... what happened?" Hotaru sounded calm. She looked up at Yomiko expectantly, but not with fear. Yomiko still wondered at the girl. When she had woken up, Yomiko had told her about Ukyou's decision and the girl had accepted it without a word. Yomiko had asked her about it, and Hotaru had merely shrugged and said that she had faith. 'Faith'... what did she mean by that?

"YEE-HAW!" A voice cried from the darkness. "Now that is what I call a Bar-B-Que!"

Yomiko stood up, her hand slipping from her coat with three sheets of paper held stiffly between her fingers. "Stay down, Hotaru," she said softly.

"Stay down, Hotaru," the voice called back mockingly. "Lady, you should be worried about yourself!"

Yomiko frowned and spun, sending a pair of airplanes flying into the darkness. She heard them strike trees, but nothing more. She saw a dark shape skip by in the shadows. The fire of the burning jeep was far away. She had been blown back deep into the trees. She squinted behind her glasses, wishing she had some light, any light.

"Not that I ain't gonna kill that bitch," the voice shrieked. This time Yomiko did see a shape dash between two trees. She flung another volley, and both trees toppled over, their trunks split. They landed with a resounding crash, but the voice only laughed. "Almost got me that time! Wanna try again?"

"Damn you..." Yomiko threw again, but again the shadowy voice was not there.

"I tell you what. I just want the girl. You leave her. Run away like a bitch, and I won't eat you too." The voice sounded calm, almost urbane.

"Not a chance!" Yomiko called back. "I've dealt with vampires before."

"Oh I know," the voice replied. "Yomiko Readman. Also known as, 'The Paper'" He said her codename in a deep, mocking tone, then laughed hysterically. "What kind of fucking lame codename is that? 'Oh no, look out, its THE PAPER! She's gonna collate us to death! And there's her partner Captain Stapler, and his sidekick Pencilneck!'"

Yomiko wanted to tell Hotaru to run, but she knew nowhere was safe. This vampire was fast, faster than the others. And it wasn't planning on fighting fair. If the girl went too far away from Yomiko's protective influence, it would be all over. So she just tensed herself and waited.

"I read all about you in the files of that big library they got hidden under London," the man said, chuckling. Yomiko paused, her heart skipping a beat. She had never made it back to the British Library. She had never even made it back to London before Integra had found her. "Now that place was a gas. And by that, I mean gasoline." He laughed. "Man, the only thing that went up faster than those moldy old books was that moldy old man who was down there with them!"

"BASTARD!" Yomiko shrieked and ran towards the voice. The paper in her hand snapped out, forming into a lance. She swung it around her once, twice, and ten trees fell down about her. She saw a figure high above, coming down at her from the light of the stars. She braced herself and thrust the halberd upward.

Then the sky was lit by fire. A tongue of crimson flame that roared down the length of her weapon, burning it to ash before it could reach him. She gasped and rolled back, just barely escaping the flame. When she came to her feet, he was standing in the clearing she had created, surrounded by hundreds of tiny fires.

He was short, with dark skin and a black jogging suit. He wore a black knit cap with an Egyptian Eye of Thoth inscribed on it in gold thread. His face was a ruin of piercings. One eye was missing, and he was grinning viciously.

"This entire forest is fucking bone dry after this hot summer," he explained as he stood there. "Whole shitty county is a fire hazard." He held up one hand, and there was a wand gripped there. Yomiko gasped and leapt back as another wave of flame erupted from the nozzle, creating a line of burning vegetation between them. But even as she dodged, his other hand came up. In it he was carrying a large blue and yellow contraption that looked like a gun. She snapped up a small shield of paper, but only felt something wet splash harmlessly against it. The stream covered the paper, running the acrid liquid down the length of her arm. She sniffed. It smelled awful, with thick fumes.

Then she recognized the smell.

"That's right, bitch. I came prepared for you." He held up the nozzle. "In the one hand, may I present my best friend, your world war two surplus retrofitted and fully serviceable American-style flamethrower! Useful for cleaning out machine gun nests and getting rid of pesky household stains!" He held up his other hand. "In the other, may I present a Super Soaker (tm) filled with good old-fashioned gasoline! Or petrol, as you snotty British bastards like to call it."

"Hotaru, run!" Yomiko yelled.

"She ain't goin' anywhere," the man grinned.

"Damn you!" Yomiko backed up a step. She was running low on paper. She had expended most of the stuff she was carrying on that last attack. "Why are you doing this? She's just a little girl!"

He laughed. "I guess I just have issues. Too bad for you!"

Yomiko closed her eyes. In the stories, this was the point where the hero came up with a clever plan to save the day. But this wasn't a story.

01010

It should have been obvious, in retrospect. It was at the centre of the darkness. The one place in the city directly under the black hole sun. The tower was huge, a massive skeletal pyramid of interlocking girders. The park that surrounded it had once been beautiful but was now a mass of blighted plants. The grass had turned black, the flowers had wilted and withered into white husks. And at the very top of the tower, where the massive communications antennae were, there was a dark force.

Akane could feel the star seeds responding to it. They were still beating steadily in her hand. She could see nothing, but knew the darkness was up there. That was where it would all be decided, one way or another. It was almost over. The dark sun overhead seemed to loom closer to the earth. How much time was left? Enough. There had to be enough. She placed the seeds in her pocket, trying to forget about them for now. They made her uncomfortable.

Akira gunned down on the tower, her body bent over the bars of the bike. "You know, I've lived in this city all my life, but I've never been here once," she observed.

"Really?" Akane braced one hand on her shoulder and stood up. Matsudaira clung to the back of the bike for dear life, and Akane could hardly blame her. Akira had a tendency to throw caution - and the laws of physics - to the wind when she drove. Personally, Akane would have found another way around that zoanoid/aragami fight that didn't involve driving along the SIDE of a building for nearly twenty meters... but she wasn't driving. "I went here with my class once." Akane thumbed the hilt of her sword free from its sheath, gripping it with her free hand.

"Yeah?" Akira swerved to avoid a crater in the road. Up ahead the blighted mass was beginning to stir, just as Matsudaira had warned them it would. Akane could see the bleached white skeletons of the unfortunates that had wandered too close to Telulu's first barrier. "Remember anything useful?"

"Not particularly," Akane replied. She removed her hand from Akira's shoulder and took a steadying breath. She let her chi flow through her as she rested one hand on the sheath of her sword. Then they were into the park. The plants came at them from all angles, long white vines with black blotches of blight running up their lengths. They twisted and snarled through the air like mobile roots, some of them as thick across as her head. Akane spun her sword around her in a tight arc and the closest attacking plants were sent crashing to the ground. But those were replaced quickly.

Akira wove and spun the bike and for a moment it was all that Akane could do to keep her footing. But Matsudaira grabbed the back of her blouse, steadying her. Akane didn't have time for thanks, her sword was too busy singing through the air around them. But no matter how fast she cut or how well Akira dodged, there were always more tendrils. For a single heart-stopping moment Akane was sure they wouldn't make it.

Then they burst through the mass and into the clear air. Akane looked up. The massive bulk of the tower was directly overhead. Akane could see the elevators and stairwells. It all looked so mundane, so banal. Just like when she had been here almost five years ago.

There was a screech of rubber as Akira spun the bike on its side, trying to stop its forward momentum. For a moment it looked like the inertia she had built up on her suicide run into the clearing would skid the bike right past the safety of the tower and into the toxic jungle again. Then her foot came down with startling force, halting the bike instantly and smashing a lopsided hole into the ground. Akane nearly lost her balance, but Akira caught her arm.

"How do we get up?" Akira said as she helped Akane down.

"Up the stairs," Matsudaira replied. "There's a barrier, but Telulu won't activate it unless she feels threatened. Secrecy is her best defense at this point, and she isn't about to announce herself to the world yet."

Akane looked around, then spotted a single form slumped against one of the support pillars. He wasn't human. He had orange skin and short slicked green hair. He was shirtless and his head was lolled against his chest. His arms hung lifelessly at his side.

"Kusanagi!" Akira shouted in concern. She ran past Akane and towards him. Akane hesitated a moment then sheathed her sword and followed, but kept one hand on the hilt. Akira knelt next to him and grimly bit onto her glove, removing it with a tug of her head. She placed her fingers on his neck and frowned. "He's alive... barely."

"You know him?"

"He's one of the good guys," Akira assured Akane. "Damn. I wish Kyoko was here. Or even Tiffany." She placed her hand on his forehead. "I don't know the first thing about first aid."

Akane sighed. A few months ago she would have pushed Akira aside and done her best to help. But... she knew her limits now. Akane's knowledge of medicine was pretty much limited to knowing how to inflict injury.

"I... I can help."

Akane nodded to Matsudaira, who approached Kusanagi with some reluctance. The woman hovered over him, her eyes afraid. Then she took a deep breath and knelt before him. She sat there for a moment, just placing her hand on his chest. Then she reached into her tight black dress and withdrew a vial full of some strange green liquid. Akane watched her closely but said nothing. She had to trust Matsudaira. She had to trust that she was keeping the monster inside her at bay. Matsudaira tilted Kusanagi's head back and held his nose closed with one hand. When his mouth lolled open she poured the contents of the vial down his throat.

The result was instantaneous. Kusanagi screamed and threw her back. Akane caught her, falling back with the force. The orange-skinned man stood up, clawing at his throat and gurgling. Then he began to spit and shudder. He slowly calmed down, taking deep breaths. His head lowered and he began to rub his throat, his eyes closed.

"God damn... what the heck was that stuff?" he muttered.

"Are you okay?" Akira asked.

"Akira?" He opened one eye a fraction and looked at her. "I think I'm alright... my head feels like I spent all last night inside a bottle of vodka, but otherwise..." He trailed off. "Momiji!" He began to push past her. "They have Momiji! I have to go!"

"Wait!" Akira clapped her hand on his shoulder, halting him. "We have to come up with a plan. Charging in blindly won't accomplish anything."

"Let me-" Kusanagi stopped short. His eyes had focused on Matsudaira. She was kneeling in front of Akane, her eyes downcast. The young man's eyes narrowed and the three gems on his chest began to glow faintly. "What the HELL is she doing here?" he roared.

"She's with us," Akane informed him, standing up.

"She's with that witch!" Kusanagi corrected her. He clenched his fists and flexed his arms, long backwards curved blades tore free of his forearms. "I knew I should have finished her off when I had the chance! If I'd known she was going after Momiji..."

"STOP IT!" Akane stepped in front of him, throwing her arms to both sides to block off his advance. "She saved your life!"

"She can't be trusted!" he insisted.

"Kusanagi..." Akira began, but he silenced her with a glare before turning his attention back to Akane.

"I don't know who you are, little girl, but I am not about to let that witch live!" he insisted.

Akane didn't have time for this. She ground her teeth, trying to keep her temper from exploding. She needed Kusanagi's help. She would not let him hurt Matsudaira. Not while the woman could still be saved.

The question suddenly became moot as a high-pitched whine filled the air. Akane winced and slapped her hands over her ears, as Akira did likewise. Kusanagi, however, roared. His hands crossed over his chest and Akane could see the mitamas on the backs of his hands vibrating slightly. He collapsed to his knees, his screams petering out to dry heaves.

"I should have guessed that you'd turn on us, Azuma."

Akane spun at the sound of the voice. A woman with long red hair stood at the base of the stairs. She had a cruel but beautiful face, with flashing pupilless red eyes. She was wearing some sort of strange outfit that looked like it had been pieced together from the remains of a stereo system. The speakers were over her hands like oversized gloves, with the system controls arrayed across her chest. She was holding up one arm, and Akane could see the speaker pulsing as it released the sound. She began to walk towards the group.

"Eudial." Matsudaira stood up, seemingly unaffected by the sound. "I'm not Telulu's slave anymore."

"Like I am?" Eudial laughed.

"We can fight it," Matsudaira pleaded. "The daimon inside doesn't have to control us. We're human. We have souls. You don't have to do this."

"No, I suppose I don't." Eudial smiled. "But I want to. I'm not like you, Azuma. Before I was chosen, I was nothing. Just a worthless woman, wasting her life teaching useless, ungrateful brats." Her smile transformed into a sneer. "How I hated them. How I hated them all, with their pride and their ignorance. I watched the news every night and I saw nothing but decadence and filth. This world isn't worth me giving a damn about it, Azuma. I'm not about to care if Pharaoh 90 consumes it all." She threw back her head and laughed. "So don't think I'm like you."

"If that's your choice, fine!" Akira shouted, and suddenly exploded past Akane. Small clouds of dust kicked up in her wake and her hand trailed back as she twisted her entire body. Eudial only had time to blink before Akira reached her. With a single motion that spun her entire body like a corkscrew Akira smashed her fist into Eudial's face. The woman was sent flying back, followed by a contrail of dust - straight into one of the massive metal supports. The metal rang like a bell and Eudial slumped to the ground. Akira stood up straight, rubbing her ungloved hand. "Sorry about that. But you shouldn't be dead..." Akira trailed off.

Eudial was standing up. She was chuckling, and there wasn't a scratch on her. Lines of red light were radiating down from her face, snapping and shifting at strange angles before vanishing into two small gems on her torso. "Surprised?" Eudial asked. She straightened. "This is the Sound Buster armour, Mark 2, patent pending! I removed the flaw of the original design and have now come up with the perfect weapon for defeating you righteous martial artists." She smirked. "The Sound Buster absorbs any vibrations sent against it, even from your most powerful attacks. Those vibrations only add to its power, which I can release at will... like THIS! SOUND BUSTER!"

Akane grabbed Kusanagi and leapt to the side as Eudial thrust both her speakers towards them. A sound like thunder, but continuous and ear-splitting, rushed across the plaza. The ground split and exploded in its wake as the wave of sound tore across the landscape, creating a trench almost a meter across. The blast hit the support of the tower and the entire structure seemed to vibrate for a second. Akane landed, hissing in pain. She hadn't even been close to the actual destruction, and she could feel the waves of the weapon still thrumming inside her.

She dropped Kusanagi and looked around desperately for the others. Akira had easily moved to safety, but Matsudaira appeared to not be so lucky. From the looks of it she had managed to dive away from the worst of it, but her leg was bent at an odd angle. Either she had landed badly, or the Sound Buster must have caught her a glancing blow.

Eudial was laughing. "The only one of you I have to worry about is Kusanagi," she pointed out as she reached for the dials on her chest. "But this weapon is perfect. With a mere adjustment I can change the frequency of my sound waves and shatter his mitama like glass."

"No!" Akane roared and her sword hissed from its sheath as she ran towards the woman. Akira was two steps ahead of her, but neither would reach Eudial before she finished. Then they all stopped.

The toxic mass of creepers surrounding the plaza exploded outward. Akane skidded to a halt. The air filled with an electric buzz as the tall form of the hyper zoanoid Elegen stepped into view. A few vines tried to snatch at him, but any that came too close just exploded as the massive field of power around him ground through their wooden flesh.

"Elegen..." Akane growled. Her heart sank. For a moment, she had hoped it was reinforcements. Eudial watched the newcomer with narrowed eyes.

"You..." He pointed at Akane. "ZX-Tole may have let you go, but I'm not about to let him make such a mistake. Gyro will drag the truth out of his mind and he'll be destroyed for disobeying." He stretched his body, the aura intensifying around him. His long eel like neck twitched. "I have sworn to protect ZX-Tole with my life, and if that means disobeying him on this, then so be it!"

Akane turned to face him, but suddenly Akira was in front of her, blocking her way with one arm.

"I have this, Akane."

"Akira?"

Akira smiled thinly. "After fighting Kyosuke, this freak is nothing." She sighed and frowned. "You have to get past Eudial, Akane. Someone has to make it to the top of the tower and stop this."

Before Akane could respond, Akira shouted and her body was sheathed with a thin corona of blue light that flickered like waves. She rushed past Akane and straight at the hyper zoanoid, who only stood there and opened his arms wide to accept her charge. Akane grit her teeth and turned to face Eudial, who was looking at her strangely.

"I have to get past you!" Akane pointed out, emphasising this with the tip of her sword.

"You... you don't have a chance of defeating Telulu. Or even her pet daimon." Eudial smirked and reached up to her chest; Akane gasped as she realised what that meant for Kusanagi. But when she turned the dial there, the whine cut off. Kusanagi coughed and stood up, glaring at her and rubbing the seeds in his chest. "That boy, however, might have a chance."

"What?" Akane blinked. "But I thought you said..."

"That I don't care about the world dying?" Eudial smiled. "Oh, don't mistake me. I don't." Her smile turned into a frown. "This is far more personal. Telulu... I don't care what happens to the world, but that bitch will PAY for humiliating me. For stealing my rightful place. For... for killing..." She took a deep breath and her smile returned. "Needless to say, I'm in this solely for revenge now. It's not like anything can stop Pharaoh 90. He's already on his way. He knows where this world is now." She glanced up. "In less than thirty minutes, he'll arrive."

She chuckled. "He'll merge with this planet. The waves of his being will infect the entire world. Every living thing will become a part of him, and die. He will bring the Silence... the absolute end of everything. No power on Earth can stop him." She looked down at them again. "So you better hurry, carrot-boy. Your revenge is waiting for you."

Kusanagi glanced at Akane. She looked at him.

"Go."

He nodded sharply and leapt straight up, vanishing into the tower in an orange blur. Akane took a step towards the stair but Eudial moved to block her path.

"Not you," she said pointedly.

"Why not?" Akane shifted her sword around. "You said it yourself, what difference can I make?"

Eudial's mouth became a thin line. "No. I don't think so. You have something you're holding back." She pointed the speaker of her weapon at Akane. "I think I'll find out what it is."

Akane could feel the star seeds beating. She had placed them in a pocket right next to her heart. She placed her hand over them reflexively. They wanted to help. They wanted her to use them. She closed her eyes. She didn't know how. But she didn't need to.

She suddenly understood that THIS was why she had come back. For this moment. The seeds stopped pulsing. Akane could take them. They were meant for her. They were meant for Akira. Together... the two of them could defeat Eudial and Elegen with their power. Akane glanced back. Akira was floundering. She was retreating from the flying form of Elegen as he snatched at her, just one inch outside of his deadly field.

Akane didn't need to know how to use them. The souls of the Sailor Senshi would come to her. All she had to do was give in. All she had to do was surrender. Just go with the flow of the power...

"NO!" she roared and pulled her hand away. She gripped her blade. "Not like that!"

"What?" Eudial looked at her strangely.

"I'll defeat you as a human being!" Akane screamed. "I won't devour them! I'm not like him!"

"Like who?"

But Akane didn't answer. She just charged in, and her sword slashed through the air faster than Eudial could react. The blade smashed into the side of her head and she staggered back. But she was smiling. Red lines of light were trailing from the point of impact to the collectors on her chest. Akane could only stare, seething in futile rage.

"Heh. Fool. Fight as a human, then. And die as a human! SOUND BUSTER!"

01010

The blood was cold. It still clung to her, the heavy stickiness of it plastering her hair to her scalp and staining her clothes, but it was cold and dead and really not very interesting at all.

Vice sighed. She'd dreamed of ripping apart Goenitz with her bare hands more than once, but she'd always envisioned it being far more satisfying than this. The body the man and woman had left was nothing more than an empty shell: a lifelike enough statue, but there was nothing vital in it.

Mature had been better. Vice closed her eyes, leaning against the side of a building to take the weight off her mauled leg. That had been marvellous. The smell and taste of it, the feeling of Mature's broken body convulsing beneath her, all of it had been far more... exciting than any other kill that Vice had performed. Was it because Mature too had carried the blood of the Orochi? Laughing joyously atop the ruined body, she had felt so close to it, so close to the god, that she could almost have reached out and touched him. Her heart had beaten in her ears, her blood sang in her veins, almost, almost she had lost herself in the joyous dirge of the blood and pain and death.

But not quite. It had left her almost unable to stand for half an hour, however.

She had hoped Goenitz would be it, his power what she needed, his blood her ticket to rapturous communion. But there was no power left in the soulless husk the man Kusanagi had left in the park. Just disappointment. Like butchering a side of beef.

So she opened her eyes and continued limping forward. The chaos of the city swirled around her, but aside from one unlucky police officer who had tried to lead her to safety, she didn't participate in it. Kusanagi had knocked her out for several hours, but precisely how long she didn't know. The unnatural, unholy eclipse hung directly overhead, having not paused in its motion since it began, making estimation of time near-impossible. But from the coolness of the body, Vice estimated it must be late afternoon by now.

Presently Vice slowed to a stop again. The leg Kusanagi had torn apart throbbed. The blood had long since clotted, but the muscle of her calf hung only by tatters. Forcing it to bear even the tiniest iota of her weight as she limped was agony, but Vice was not a woman to shrink away from pain. Quite the opposite, in fact.

No, she wasn't stopping for the sake of her leg.

She raised her eyes to the sky, focusing on the black disc of the sun. She drew in a deep breath, scenting the chaos and blood and screams of the city, orienting herself. Tempting as that was, the chaos that flowed from the silhouetted sun was an order of magnitude greater. It flowed over her in waves like warm water, causing her to breathe more deeply and her face to flush. And it was connected, somewhere. With time, she could find where that chaos had its anchor on Earth. She was sure of it.

Vice didn't truly expect to live out the day. Her god had fallen long since, her master was dead, and she was alone and crippled in a city gone mad, where alien titans and monsters risen from the primordial earth were clashing. She didn't really welcome the prospect, but leaving this glorious cauldron of death was even more unacceptable. But before the day ended, she was going to find the architect of this. She was sure she would find them beneath that unearthly black disc. And then she would see what their blood tasted like.

She drew in a breath, shuddering slightly, her nipples pressing painfully against the sticky fabric of her dress. That would be it. It had to be. That blood would bring her to where she was searching for. To the Orochi.

But to succeed, she had to hurry. So she opened her eyes, and looked down, and found herself, all unexpectedly, gazing at her death.

"So it was you," Chris noted. He floated in the air before her so he was at eye level. Every so often a tongue of purple flame licked around him. His intact eye gazed at her with the cold certainty of the grave. The burnt hole in his chest, the blackened and split skin of his child's arm, the ruin of his face and the hollow flickering eyesocket, all seemed as bothersome to him as stray hairs out of place.

Vice wondered how she could not have sensed his approach. His power, the Orochi's power tainted by death, radiated from him like a furnace. She knew instantly that she could no more have defeated him than she could have snatched the sun from the sky. Even trying was utterly futile.

She laughed and attacked. Before she had taken a single limping step, he raised one hand, and her world was briefly consumed by flame and pain. She found herself lying in a crumpled ball next to the crumbled remains of a building. She raised her eyes, and the godling was there again.

"Instead of attacking me, Vice, why not listen instead? I'm not here to kill you, actually."

She grinned. Her lower lip was split and bleeding. The familiar coppery taste set her pulse to racing, but in excitement rather than fear. "Oh? I don't believe your finding me was a coincidence."

Chris smiled slightly too, although he obviously found her distasteful. "I could feel you. Whatever it was you were doing was tugging slightly on the Orochi's power. I actually thought it was Goenitz, so I came to investigate."

She levered herself to a sitting position. "Goenitz is dead. That's his blood on me. Mostly."

He nodded. "I should have guessed. But that's alright. You'll do fine."

"And what will I do?"

His lip quirked up. "I told you, I could feel you tugging at the Orochi power. And I've felt you do it before, too. You're trying to reach it, to embrace it fully, to let it consume you. But you can't. Your temperament, your dedication, your effort... nothing wrong with that. But the Orochi's blood in you is too thin. His power in you may smoulder, but you will never kindle it into the bonfire you're looking for."

She laughed. "So, did you come here to taunt me? I didn't think you were the sort."

"I'm not. In fact, I'll help you."

Her laughter cut off sharply. She levered herself up against the wall, leaning hungrily towards the dead child. "How?"

"Don't be dense. You know how. Goenitz could do it. You knew what he did to Rugal, infusing him with the Orochi power. And Leona... did you even know about Leona? Well, it doesn't matter." He held one hand out. In his palm arose a swirling ball of purple flame. "I have mastered the power of the Orochi far more than Goenitz ever could have. I can give you what you're looking for, Vice. But for a cost."

"And what cost is that?" Vice purred. The irony of the body of the child she'd once tormented offering her this power was delicious. Of course, this being was far from that child, no matter what he looked like.

"You'll die," he said matter-of-factly. "Of course, you probably knew that. Like Rugal, your body can't handle channeling the fire of the Orochi. Unlike him, you're at least of the Orochi blood, so how long you'll last, I don't know. A day, a week, maybe two. But take this power and use it, and it will kill you eventually. I can't lie to you about that."

Vice laughed. "This city is full of the dead and dying. It's only appropriate."

"So it doesn't bother you?" He arched his remaining eyebrow, and though his gaze was as opaque as ever, she could hear the need in his voice.

She narrowed her eyes. "You knew it wouldn't. Just like you and your friends knew who the avatar was. Don't try to deceive a deceiver, my dear little boy. You knew exactly what I'd answer. But very well. If it helps your conscience, I'll take your power and I'll take it freely." Yawning, she stretched the kinks from her back. "Now that that's through... what do you really want in return?"

Chris was laughing slightly to himself. "Touche. I want a favour, Vice. Just one favour, and then you can do whatever you want."

01010

"DAMMIT!" Ranma shouted and punched. The tree exploded in front of his fist. The top of the tree crashed to the ground and there was a raucous explosion of feathers as a murder of crows burst up from the forest canopy and went wheeling away into the unnatural darkness. Ranma watched them go for a moment, then sighed and shifted his pack on his back.

"Did that make you feel better?" Minako asked acidly.

"Yes," Ranma replied truthfully. Hitting things always made you feel better. He glanced at her oddly, wondering why she didn't know that.

She was sitting on a stump nearby, massaging one foot. The shoe that belonged on it sat next to her, looking odd as it rested on the dark green grass. Her pack leaned against the stump beside her. And behind it Ranma saw a flash of white. A long slim tail vanished from sight as it skittered behind Minako. Ranma ignored it.

"I just think it might not be the best idea, making such a big noise," she pointed out.

"If you're just gonna complain the whole trip, you didn't have to come with me," Ranma pointed out in return.

That brought her up short. Ranma nodded and crossed his arms, smirking. Served her right for upstaging him back at the village. Ranma had stormed out of the room, packed up his meagre possessions and started marching out of the town. When Minako had stopped him to ask where he was going, Ranma had been forced to think. Then he had told her he was leaving England. He was going to train. He was going to learn how to fight the monsters.

Minako had glanced at him strangely. He remembered the next conversation clearly.

"You already can fight the monsters, Ranma," Minako had told him. "You're a better martial artist than any I've ever met. You can kill them with your bare hands. They fear you."

"That ain't the point," Ranma had grunted out, shifting his pack. "Sure, I can KILL 'em. Sure, I can HURT 'em. But I can't BEAT 'em." He had struggled for the words for a moment. He was never good with words. "It ain't enough. Ya kill a dozen monsters, kill a hundred even, and what difference does it make? Not much. Everyone in this place is just waiting for the axe to fall. They just wanna spit in the face of death one last time. They just wanna yell and fight and struggle because that's all the monsters left 'em with.

"Even Ukyou is like that. I used to think she'd never give up. I used to admire her spirit. But she ain't fightin' anymore. She just wants it over. She's tired. Well, she can drag herself down, but I ain't falling in with her!" He had smacked his fist into his palm. "I'm Ranma Saotome! I win! That's what I do. I have to back down, but just to learn how to really fight these guys. Not just how to kill 'em, but how to beat 'em. How to end them. How to make sure no other place ends up like England. I'm gonna learn what it takes. And I ain't gonna learn it here, with these people who just wanna wipe that smug grin off Millennium's face before they die."

Ranma hadn't realised he was drawing an audience. He hadn't realised that most of the soldiers had been listening to him talk. Not until he heard them begin to mutter amongst themselves. Not until he saw Minako look back and forth among them. Many of them had looked angry, but a few had looked shocked. One had been smiling at Ranma. He had nodded.

"Wait here." That's what Minako had said. Then she had run back into the town. A few moments later she had returned with her own pack. He had raised an eyebrow, and she had looked at him with the same expression she used when she was fighting vampires. "I'm coming with you. Because I want to learn how to do that too."

"You aren't going anywhere!"

Ranma and Minako had turned, and there had been Integra. Her long hair had been blowing behind her. Her glasses had glinted in the darkness and her eyes were narrow slits behind them.

"You are the weapon I need to end this war," Integra had said to Minako. "I won't let you slip through my fingers." Minako had gazed at Integra, unable to answer. "You think you have any choice in this, girl? This is WAR! You will fight because it is what you will do! All the people of this country, their ghosts cry out for vengeance! The blood spilled on these shores must be repaid in turn!" Integra had raised her arms and brought them down sharply, her voice slowly reaching a fever pitch. "I will not let this land be ruled by freaks and mutants and the unholy hordes of the undead! For every pain they have inflicted on us, I will return it threefold! In the name of God and the glory of the Church of England I will smite these monsters from the face of the Earth! And YOU, girl, are the lightning bolt I will wield. You are my seven plagues. You are my great flood. You will cleanse this world of evil!"

"No." Minako had stood there, looking at Integra calmly. "I never realised it, until I met you. My mother... my father... they never would have wanted this for me. Fighting and fighting until all that's left is killing them." She had looked down. "I'm not going to end up like you. Not leading good men to their deaths on a fool's crusade."

Integra had raised her hand, and there had been a gun in it. Ranma had started to move. Minako had started to flinch. Then there had been a flash of cold grey steel and the gun had fallen in two pieces.

Ukyou had stood next to Integra, the long menacing shaft of the Silence Glaive resting easily in her fingers. Her coat had blown out behind her. Her black lotus eyes were cold as ice. Ranma was struck for a moment by how right she looked. Ranma had never paid much attention to religion. But he would carry that image with him for the rest of his life. To him, it would always be the thing he thought of when someone talked about avenging angels.

"You don't need them," Ukyou had told Integra. The slightly older woman had spun on Ukyou. Both stared into the others eyes. "I'll kill him for you."

"You?" Integra rolled the word in her mouth.

"I can destroy a thousand vampires with a wave of this Glaive," Ukyou had assured her. "I just need one good shot."

Integra looked down at the remains of her weapon. She thought for a long time, then she reached into a pocket and withdrew a cigar. She lit it and took a long draw from it. She breathed out the acrid smoke through clenched teeth; the cloud flowed right into Ukyou's face. Ukyou didn't even blink.

"Alright." Integra had turned and walked away. After a moment, Ukyou had followed her. Ranma had been left standing in the middle of the street.

"She's gonna kill herself."

"What was that, Ranma?" Minako was working back on her shoe with one hand.

"Ukyou, she's gonna kill herself..." he said, slightly louder.

Minako looked down. "Probably." She sighed. "It's a suicide mission. Sneak into the heart of Millennium, strike it down with one blow. No matter how many vampires she takes down with that strike, there will be ten more ready to kill her."

Ranma looked at the tree he had broken. He looked at his fist. He had been so angry. So angry that when Ukyou had not spoken a word to him, he hadn't said a word back. Everything between them had been said. The hot anger had simply drowned out all reason, and he hadn't been able to see it in front of his face.

"She drove me away..." Ranma muttered, awe creeping into his voice.

"What?"

"She knew I wanted to go on that attack... she knew what would happen." He looked at her. "She drove me away. She cut me out."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed," a sarcastic voice said from behind the stump. Ranma tried his best not to think about who that voice belonged to.

"What are you two talking about?" Minako looked confused.

Ranma looked at her, then down at his fist again. "Damn it. I shouldn't have left."

"But what about that speech you made-"

"This isn't about that!" Ranma interrupted her. "She's my friend. My oldest friend! She's gonna get herself killed over nothin'!"

"Wait. I'm confused, I thought you hated her..."

"I did... I do..." Ranma grabbed his head. "I hate this feeling crap!" He took a long breath. "Listen, just cause she's a bitch, doesn't mean she isn't my friend. What happened between us, back in Japan... with Vega and Ran... I..." Ranma couldn't figure out how to say it. He knew his temper. it tended to burn bright, but burn quick. He just didn't have the temperament to carry a grudge for too long. And screaming at Ukyou, screaming at her and breaking a few trees, had been... he felt cleaned out. Like something toxic was gone now. Now that he had said it. Now that he had done something about it, it just didn't seem as important.

"I have to go back for her," Ranma said, turning to head back the way he came.

"Oh, fine..." Minako threw up her arms. "You know what they say, 'boys will be what will be, will be'."

Ranma glanced at her strangely. "What?"

Minako blinked, then cocked her head to the side and smiled. "I'm pretty sure that's it..."

Ranma grinned. Then he turned around.

He felt it a fraction of a second before she screamed. He was spinning, spinning and reaching for her, but it was too late. The blast had come literally out of nowhere. It just caught her from behind. She flew forward, her body going limp. He caught her, the breath exploding from her lungs. He felt the ground smash into his back and he rolled with it, careful to keep Minako safe.

When he came to a stop he frantically checked her pulse. He drew in a sharp breath when he felt it. It was weak, but there. Minako was tough, even when she wasn't in her V form. Ranma frowned and slowly stood up. He could feel the power nearby. It was impossible not to. Even if Ranma had been blind and deaf, the source of that power forced itself on you. It wanted you to feel it. It wanted you to know it was there, and that it made you look like an insect.

"Bison..." Ranma growled.

This was the first time Ranma got a good look at the man. He had heard so much about him. He had been behind Vega. He had been behind the Dolls. But he had never been there. Last night, in all the explosions and fires and death, he had been a dark figure looming above the battlefield. There and then gone in an instant.

He was huge, a towering mountain of a man with a body that was probably almost three hundred pounds of muscle. He wore a red military uniform with a blue cape that flickered in the wind behind him. A cap was pulled low on his brow, the bill shadowing his eyes. They still glowed, a deadly blue shining from the darkness. He was grinning, a giant grin of gleaming white teeth. There was joy in that grin, but not any kind Ranma ever wanted to experience. He was floating, his heels a half-meter above the ground and his arms crossed.

"Ranma Saotome," Bison acknowledged. "My Dolls told me a great deal about you. So you are the one Vega became so obsessed with. I can see why. You have great potential, boy."

Ranma gave a single dry chuckle. "I'm Ranma Saotome," he said, assuming a stance and summoning his chi. "Of course I have potential."

Bison laughed, a loud, manic sound. "You amuse me, boy. Rarely have I seen such bravado when faced with my true power." He unfolded his arms. "I like that." He offered his palm to Ranma. "Why don't you come with me? I can unlock your true potential."

"No chance." Ranma frowned.

"Pity." Bison shrugged. "I guess we go back to the original plan." Then he frowned, and Ranma felt his knees weaken. His stomach twisted. He was sweating. This was Bison's power, beating against his will. Trying to wear him down. He snarled and forced his hands to remain clenched, his stance to remain firm. "You will serve my purposes, Ranma Saotome, one way or another."

"Over my dead body!" Ranma screamed and leapt forward. The air between them flashed and cracked as their aura collided. The grass around them was blown out in concentric waves. Bison laughed and caught Ranma's fist in mid-air.

"That... can be arranged."

01010

Chizuru knelt at the edge of the crater, her fingers resting on the lip. The psychic backlash here was so intense she couldn't ignore it. Whatever had happened here, it would probably linger for years. And here... the trail ended. The Outer Senshi had come to this place and then... simply vanished.

No.

That wasn't true.

There was something here. A trail of something that clung to the world. It wasn't the Outer Senshi, but it was a part of them. Chizuru couldn't quite understand it, but she nodded and stood up. She could follow that trail to wherever it would lead her. She brushed her hair back over her shoulder and turned to follow the psychic path.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Chizuru remembered this woman. She had been there, six years ago. She had stood in the center of the village, little more than a slip of a girl then, surrounded by burning buildings and bodies piled five high. She had been laughing. Chizuru had never learned her name. She had been too busy hiding. Too busy running.

The woman did not look well. Her clothing was torn and shredded, barely clinging to her body now. The blood caked across her body was probably doing more to hold it in place than any of the remaining seams. She was leaned over, her head tilted to the side and her eyes fixed on Chizuru. Clouds of blood- flecked steam erupted from her mouth with each shuddering breath she took. Her eyes were the same scarlet colour as her hair.

Chizuru faced her for a long second. Then she took a step back. The woman sprang forward. Chizuru had trained to fight for six years. She was a master of several disciplines of martial arts and could perform feats that some would call superhuman. She didn't even see the blow coming. It just slid past all her defenses and tore into her chest. She flew back, a stream of blood tracing her path through the sky. She passed through the remains of a store and out into the next street.

Her hand came up and Chizuru hissed and she clamped it over the wound. Five vertical slashes, right above her heart. They were deep and blood flowed from them freely. She didn't want to see them. She knew that bone must have been visible, bone that had been the only thing that kept her heart from being torn from her chest. She staggered to her feet, forcing her body to respond despite the pain.

The woman exploded through the rubble. One of her legs was a bloody ruin, but that didn't seem to bother her. This time Chizuru met her rush with more caution. Somehow she caught the woman's outstretched arm and redirected her to the side. The woman screamed and slid along the ground, leaving a red smear. She collided with a building with enough force that the three-story structure shook visibly. Chizuru stared as the woman leapt to her feet instantly, not even stunned.

"Riot of the blood..." Chizuru breathed. There was no way she could beat this opponent. Not in a straight fight. But even as Chizuru watched, she could see the power consuming her enemy. The energy of the Orochi was surging through her veins, and blood was dripping from all her wounds in a steady stream. Chizuru nodded to herself.

She didn't need to fight this opponent.

Chizuru waited for the woman to commit herself to another charge, and then leapt. Like a red streak the Orochi-kin passed underneath her and Chizuru alighted on a rooftop. She was taking another leap, having no time to pause, when it happened.

He appeared before her like a vengeful god, which, she supposed, he was. She only saw a glimpse of his ruined face before she passed by him. Then the pain exploded up her body. She screamed. Her body plummeted. She could do nothing to control her fall as her side slammed into the corner of a building with enough force to drive the air from her lungs. She tumbled like a ragdoll into a narrow alley, landing badly on the hard ground. Something cracked deep inside her.

She was still screaming. She hadn't even noticed the impact with the building, or the fall. She bit her tongue and the coppery taste of her own blood flooded her mouth. It choked off her scream and brought her back to her senses. She forced one hand under her and pushed herself up.

Her legs were gone. Where her knees should have been, there was nothing but blackened stumps. She stared at them for a long moment. The pain was slowly fading. She felt light-headed, like she had just woken up from a restless slumber. She vaguely realised she was going into shock.

Chris floated down between the walls of the alley. His child's body was a ruin, torn apart by the power he was wielding with such abandon. His feet never touched the ground, and he just hovered above her. Chizuru saw the Orochi- kin standing at the end of the alley, but Chris was between her and Chizuru.

"I'm truly sorry about this," Chris said, and his voice sounded reasonable and sincere. It was like he actually believed it. Chizuru stared at him, and clenched her fists.

"SORRY!" she snarled. "You're SORRY!" She wanted to strike him, but couldn't. She couldn't even push herself up. Her strength was draining away. The wound in her chest and the loss of her legs... she was dying. Hot tears began to flow down her cheeks. It wasn't fair! It wasn't supposed to end like this! "Don't mock me with false pity, you monster!"

"Monster?" The scarred face of the dead boy looked faintly offended. "Chizuru, you said yourself back in that restaurant that you would have killed me if you'd been able to. You can hardly complain about the same logic being turned against you."

Chizuru wanted to say something profound, something pithy. She wanted to spit defiance back in his face and die with a smile on her lips. It was one of the ways she had always pictured it ending. Hadn't she told herself she would defeat the Orochi or die trying? Oh, but that tasted bitter now. What was death to a twelve year old girl? Even one who had watched her entire family die?

She didn't want to die. It hurt. She was afraid. She was eighteen years old! It wasn't fair! She just wanted to live! She didn't care about the Orochi anymore! All she cared about was the creeping feeling of darkness on the edge of her vision. She was cold.

Chris was turning away. The Orochi-blooded bitch howled and began to stalk down the alley. In a few seconds they would pass each other, and it would be all over. He was going to have her do it. She was going to die here.

She began to reach toward him. She wasn't certain what she was going to do. Beg for mercy? Swear fealty? She didn't know. She just wanted to live. It couldn't end like this. Not here in some refuse-filled alley. Her mouth croaked something that might have been a word, then she slammed it shut.

No.

She wouldn't give him the pleasure.

"Sister..." she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. She had fought on to the bitter end. Chizuru could do no less. Pluto, Rose... the others... everyone... "I'm sorry..." she breathed, and lay back.

01010

Kusanagi bounded through the tower with the skill of an acrobat. His feet never touched down for more than a split second before he was off again, slaloming through the girders, missing the massive metal tines by inches. He had transformed halfway up, the blast of his transformation tearing a hole in a half dozen girders. He snarled as he came up to the observation deck.

Blue lightning exploded. The thin floor blew upward. Kusanagi rose through the seething light and geysering shrapnel like an avenging angel. He could feel the energy flowing through his entire body.

Kusanagi landed on the floor and took it all in with a single glance. The room had become warped. The floors and ceiling were impossibly far away, their edges rippling and twisting when you didn't pay attention. The inside of this space was much larger than the observation deck of Tokyo Tower had any right to be. The walls were black, with liquid patches of red light pulsing rhythmically along their lengths. The windows showed a twisted, corrupt cityscape beyond.

In the center of it was the form of Susano-oh. He was an adult, a tall bare-chested man whose body disappeared beneath the torso into dozens of twisted feathered snake-like coils that sunk into the floor. His eyes were raised to the sky rapturously, black light leaking from their corners like tears. Around him were a dozen jagged pieces of what looked like ceramic. It looked like the ceramic that had been developed by the government to block the Kushinada effect, the one material that could shield him from the crippling effects the Kushinada's death would have on the aragami.

Standing directly in front of the man was her. Kusanagi had never met Telulu, but he still knew her on sight. She was gazing out across the city, her arms raised and outstretched like wings, and she was laughing. Her tight green and black dress hugged her slender figure, the threads that wrapped about her arms and legs glittering in the half-light.

"KUSANAGI!" He turned and saw Momiji. She was attached to one of the impossible walls by some sort of cocoon of hardened green slime. She was smiling at him. "I knew you'd come for me."

"Unfortunately, he has not," Telulu cut in, the echoes of her laughter still lingering in this strange space. "He has come for me."

Kusanagi looked away from Momiji. He didn't want to see what they would look like when he started to walk towards Telulu instead of her. He said nothing, only flexing and deploying his deadly blades.

"Nothing pithy to say, Kusanagi?" Telulu had yet to look at him, but she crossed her arms. "Why not just take a moment to enjoy the view with me? A front row seat to the end of the world. It's not something you get to see every day."

"Shut up!" He roared and flashed forward. A second latter he slammed a foot into the ground and leapt backwards. The floor where he had been exploded. He snarled and swept away the dust cloud with his arms. His eyes narrowed as he looked up at the woman floating just above Telulu.

"Valkyrie, kill." Telulu snapped her fingers.

"Valkyrie is engaging the enemy!" the metallic woman shrieked and the jets on her back roared as she blasted towards Kusanagi.

"YOU ARE IN MY WAY!" he roared back and met her head on.

01010

By the time Tethys arrived, the battle was almost over. The titanic dragon, its body immense even by the standards of the skyscrapers of Tokyo, was still rampaging. But it was fighting a losing battle.

The forces of Chronos were arrayed around it on all sides. Salvos of energy launched like broadsides from the zoanoids burned deep scars into its turtle-like hide. Whilst its breath could vaporize an entire legion of enemies, they were not allowing it time to do so. Small specks, like ants, ran across its body. Humans. Martial artists. They struck with virtual impunity, their blows not strong enough to do more than annoy the beast. But together they were slowing it down, distracting it just enough for the army that was facing it to assemble.

And assemble it did. Thousands of them, with more arriving every minute. Chronos was throwing everything it had at the dragon. Everything but the important ones.

She hovered in the air for a moment, looking down at the hill from which the commanders of the zoanoid army were monitoring the battle. There were two of them, alike in power but otherwise like reflections in a funhouse mirror. One was a stately man, tall and fair-featured with a long regal cloak. The other was a beast of a man, his face weathered and his clothing a more modern business suit. They were directing the battle below, coordinating the zoanoid army with silent power. As they watched, the beast tried to unleash another blast of hellish energy against them.

They rose their hands in unison and the beam shattered around an invisible globe dozens of meters away from them. The stray sparks of the blast burnt holes the size of homes into the ruins of the city.

Tethys sighed. There wasn't much left of Tokyo. The part of her that was human regretted that. It was strange, to feel that way about people she had never met. But those feelings, those emotions, they were a part of her now. Hayato was not gone: he had become a part of her whole. She could remember his life, his purpose, with crystal clarity, even as she could remember her own. She could have just as easily have adopted his form as this one, but she knew the power of symbols and names. Getting the Dark Kingdom to accept a former youma as their Queen would be hard enough, if Kunzite was any indication. Expecting them to accept a human would be pure folly.

As she watched, a blue streak flashed across the battlefield, smashing into the monster. It reeled back, more stunned than injured. It seemed Chronos was willing to commit some powerful resources to this fight. She would have to hurry if she wanted to make an entrance before the matter became moot. After all, there was a play to be performed here.

Tethys willed herself through space and appeared in front of the two generals. They stopped, stunned by her sudden appearance. She was not worried about attack. It wasn't just that she overpowered them - although she did - but that she knew that they could little afford to turn their attention away from the beast. She smirked, keeping her back to them.

"Who are you?" the bestial one demanded.

"My name is Tethys," she responded. "And I am here to deal with this."

"What do you mean?" the more civilised one asked.

"I have bigger fish to fry than this one, and can't allow myself to be distracted," she explained as she began to walk forward. She allowed her magic to flow at its fullest glory. To all eyes, she appeared no different, but now even the most base and dense creature could sense her full majesty. All eyes fixed on her as she strode across the ruined landscape. All activity ceased as Tethys allowed them to feel the full presence of a god. She was no wounded, mewling creature trapped in a cave. She had power, and the will and talent to wield it well.

"You." Tethys didn't raise her voice, but her words boomed across the entire city. The behemoth paused, all eight of its heads craning to examine her. She allowed it a moment to observe her before raising a single finger and pointing at it. "If you surrender now, I will spare your life and the life of your people."

"Who are you, to make such a foolish demand of the Orochi?" the thing bellowed.

"If you do not, I will kill you now."

"Do not try my patience, puny woman!" The eight heads laughed and, as one, they unleashed their powers. Tethys could have met the blast with main force, but she chose not to be there. Her body evaporated like mist before the sun, condensing again a half-kilometer above the battlefield. The breath of the Orochi melted a hole into the earth, leaving nothing but swirling magma in its wake. Tethys sighed.

"You know what the remarkable thing about life on earth is?" Tethys asked the thing, drawing its attention. It looked up at her, its eyes widening. She raised one hand, and its body went rigid. She raised the other, and slowly the Orochi began to rise into the air. The great beast began to jerk and spasm, its body futilely trying to fight her grip. "All of it consists mostly of water."

Tethys threw her hands to the side violently, and the Orochi exploded. Great geysers of green blood tore it apart from the inside. The necks swelled, the skin stretching taut and then bursting in all direction like a shattered balloon. One head screamed as it was sent flying into the air. Tethys idly snapped her fingers and that too was blasted into nothing as she violently seized control of its internals.

Great thuds resounded across the battlefield as the remains of the Orochi rained down on the city. A section of Tokyo almost three kilometers across had been painted green by the explosion of gore. Tethys smiled grimly and floated back down to the hill where the masters of Chronos awaited her.

The bestial man, with his white hair and weathered skin, was giving her a much more wary look now. He backed up a step when she landed. The other was only gazing at her calmly. He inclined his chin slightly in silent thanks and she allowed a more genuine smile to grace her lips.

"You know I could do the same thing to either of you?" Tethys asked. It wasn't a threat, just a declaration. She had never met the regal man's companion, but she knew his type well enough. The Dark Kingdom was full of youma who only respected power and those with the willingness to wield it with brutal efficiency. The regal man, conversely, would understand from her words that she would be satisfied with her display of power.

"Perhaps you can, but I would rather thank you not to. It will take weeks to get the stains out as it is." Tethys looked over in surprise. An old woman was approaching them, her body so shrunken with age that Tethys might have mistaken her for a youma if she could not easily tell different. Her body was covered in green blood.

"Yes, quite..." the tall man's lips quirked up in a smile. "So, to what do we owe your sudden intervention?"

Tethys was about to respond, when she was interrupted. She backed up a step, falling into a martial stance. As she did, her clothing swirled and shifted around her into something more appropriate for battle. Her weapon materialised from thin air in her grip. Once, it had been Beryl's staff. Now all that remained of that was the orb that made up the pummel. Otherwise, the entire thing had been reformed into a lance of black metal.

The air literally ripped as the newcomer arrived. He exploded into the world, and the world shuddered in turn. The first thing Tethys felt about him was his power. It was immense. It didn't just rival Metallia's, it surpassed it. The gulf was not so vast that she was truly afraid, but she was nonetheless cautious as the man stepped out of the swirling light.

He was of medium height, with elegant, alien elfin features. His hair was short and his eyes large and expressive. His ears were long, tapered to a point. His lean body was clad in a pristine white suit, with a kerchief tucked into the vest pocket, and simple black gloves. He floated in the air before her for a moment, then his feet settled on the ground.

For a long moment, the air between them grew tense. His expression wasn't exactly hostile, but neither was it friendly. It was the expression of a man who has met his equal and never expected to. It was an expression of confusion and curiosity. Tethys relaxed her pose, the tip of her lance dipping to the ground.

"LORD ARKANPHEL!" the regal man exclaimed. He fell to one knee, bowing his head before the man. His more bestial companion paused a moment, his expression growing briefly angry, before he followed suit. Arkanphel looked at her a moment longer, and then gestured for them both to rise.

"Who are you?" he asked. His voice was human. The accent was odd, and the tone of his voice was strange, like he wasn't much used to asking questions.

"My name is Tethys, I am the Empress of the Dark Kingdom." She didn't bow, but she did nod her head slightly.

"You... are powerful..." He raised a hand. "A strange anomaly. You should not be here. Even more than the other anomalies."

Tethys narrowed her eyes. "Are we going to fight, then?" She raised her lance. Arkanphel paused, then turned to look behind him. He had felt her use her power. He looked out across the city towards the ocean. There, a huge wave had risen. It was fifty stories tall, its immense form suspended in front of the city.

"Impressive," Arkanphel murmured. "But I have seen better."

Tethys smiled. "I'm certain you have. But I didn't come her to fight, Arkanphel. I came here to save the world." Arkanphel turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "One of my brothers is coming to this world." She pointed up at the eclipse. "Through the tunnel in time and space he burrows like a maggot. When he gets here, he will try to merge with this green Earth."

"I see..." Arkanphel looked up at the eclipse for a long moment, not bothering to shield his eyes. He raised his hand again... and Tethys grabbed it.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," she warned.

"Oh?"

"The power required to destroy that gateway with brute force... the backlash from it could very well crack the crust of the planet. At the very least, this entire country will be sunk beneath the ocean. Millions, maybe even billions, will die in the aftershocks."

Arkanphel shook off her hand. "I will not let this world be destroyed. I am not finished with it yet."

Tethys smiled. "Then I suggest we wait."

"Wait?" the old woman bounced forward. "For what? If that creature is as powerful as you say, won't a fight on this end of the portal do just as much damage as attacking it now?"

"Yes." Tethys looked across the city, to the only building as yet untouched by the battle. The Tokyo Tower looked almost pristine, directly beneath the black hole sun. "But I don't think that will be necessary. My brother does not realise it. But his kind is destined to lose. It is... his nature to be defeated."

"And is that also your nature?" Arkanphel asked.

She narrowed her eyes. "Not anymore."

01010

Link cooed softly at the mitama in her hands, gently lulling the consciousness inside to sleep. She cradled it against her cheek for a moment, savouring the living warmth, before placing it in the sack with the others. She hadn't quite kept count, but she estimated they'd gathered nearly a hundred of the precious treasures from the battlefield that was the city. Some of them had still been in shape to resist, of course, but Chris took care of that.

Reminded of that, Link frowned and moved to take a closer look at the corpse beside her. She carefully lifted the plasters, glancing underneath each of them, then nodded, removing each in turn. After redonning the corpse's clothes, she turned to the bag behind her. "It's done." How delicious it was, she reflected, to not say 'over'. How wonderful, to never have to say it again.

Chris's eyes opened, and he sat up. He looked down at himself. The clothing was still frayed and torn, particularly the large hole in the chest where Shampoo's sword had run him through, but the skin underneath was pale, ever so slightly pinkish, and whole. Chris raised his hands, flexing his fingers, causing the muscles to twitch under the now unblemished skin of his arms. "A superb job."

"It's not perfect," Link felt obliged to point out. "I'll need more time and a better method of exposure to completely reverse the deeper cellular damage, and of course there's minor damage in the places I didn't apply the solution to."

Chris chuckled. "Still, it will do. Thank you, Link. This will make life a lot easier."

"Well, you provided the Moss of Life for me, so it's only fitting I make use of it for you. However, I have to admit that this process may not be perfect. This reconstituted flesh may not have the durability of the original."

"That won't be a problem, as long as you can continue to cultivate more of the moss. I suppose I'll just have to keep you around." He laughed.

Link couldn't keep herself from smiling, though she had found doing it made her face hurt. "Of course you will."

Chris reached up, feeling the smooth lines of his face... then his fist suddenly dug into the unmarred skin. Link blinked as, with a sickening sound of tearing flesh, the dead man ripped out his eye and some of the flesh surrounding it. Black traces of blood and clear fluids from the moss plaster leaked down the torn cheek.

"I... take it that wasn't a wound you got in some fight?"

Chris turned to face her for the first time. His remaining eye was glassy and cold. "No. Just something to help me remember."

"I see. Doesn't it affect your peripheral vision?"

He blinked, the ruined eye twitching spasmodically, then laughed again. "I hadn't thought of that. Apparently it doesn't, in fact."

"Interesting." Link made a mental note to study the phenomena later. "So, what did that woman know?"

Chris glanced over at the small, damp bag, his expression becoming serious. "That was a close thing. She was associated with Sailor Pluto. But now I know what that group is up to. It won't be difficult to avoid them."

Link nodded. "And what about what's going on here today?" She glanced up at the still, silent, darkened sun. She could just barely feel the resonance of the power behind it. Another fascinating phenomena.

Chris snorted. "She didn't know anything useful. I'm pretty sure it's some Sailor Moon villain. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh?" Link raised an eyebrow. "There's a lot of power being organised here."

"More than you know," Chris smirked. "Arkanphel's here. And someone else near his level, as well as a few zoalords. Which is why I'm not worried. Even if whatever it is escapes, they're going to destroy it. Eventually."

"And you're not going to help?"

Chris shook his head. "Not practical. It's obvious I've been lucky up until now, but I can't risk letting news of my existence spread. I'll end up like Ukyou, being attacked every time I turn my back and never accomplishing anything." He glanced out over the burning ruins of the city. "I think it's clear that I'm here to accomplish something. And it's not to fight with the likes of Sailor Pluto, or even Arkanphel. Not directly, anyway, and not yet."

Link leaned back, one hand idly stroking her bag of mitamas. They slept fitfully, not yet completely under her control. But since Murakumo's insistent calls to all the aragami had abruptly vanished, it would only be a matter of time. "So, should we be getting out of the city just in case?"

"Oh no, I think I'd like to watch a bit longer yet." He grinned lopsidedly. "I just wish some of those idiots would figure out to go to the Tokyo Tower and stop this before it really starts."

Link raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Whatever's behind this is at the Tokyo Tower?"

Chris laughed, rising to his feet and straightening his jacket. "Of course, Link. It always is."

01010

Ukyou was moving on auto-pilot. She responded to questions she didn't really hear. She moved around obstacles she didn't really see. She fought battles she wasn't really aware of.

The Glaive sang in her grasp. It felt like it was molded to her hands. It was an extension of her arms. For over a decade, Ukyou had dedicated herself to learning how to fight with a weapon many considered bizarre. It was unwieldy. Its head was too large, its shaft too long. It failed in every evaluation of a weapon, But Ukyou had made it work. She had trained against the raging sea, day in and day out. She had made that weapon work.

For him. Oh god it hurt. It hurt worse than she had ever thought possible. She had been through every torment she could think of. She had been on the brink of death more times than she cared to admit. But this pain in her heart, this empty black pit hurt more than anything else. It was all she could feel, it was all she could acknowledge. She was amazed she was still moving, still walking, still talking. But she had trained so many years for a greater purpose. She had mastered that weapon, bizarre as it was, for a reason.

For a while, she had thought that she could transfer that hard-earned skill to a simple wooden staff. But that hadn't been why she had trained. She had trained for this. Its shaft was too long, its head poorly formed for striking. But Ukyou could wield it like it had been in her possession for years, not hours.

A dozen vampires in under five seconds. She had moved into them, and the Glaive had appeared in her hands. She wasn't even certain how she had summoned it. It just came when she called now. She had made it a part of her. As much a part of her as her hands or her eyes or her heart. The long shaft had spun between her fingers, cleaving two monsters in twain. She danced back, dropping the weapon and kicking it back up so it rebounded off the face of a creature trying to claw at her, toppling it back into its peers. She caught it and bent backward, striking a monster behind her. Another grabbed her from the front, a savage bearhug. She twirled the Glaive around her neck and beheaded it.

A second later and it was all over. She hadn't even needed to draw out any of its deeper powers. She could feel them through the blade. It hummed, a constant low key pitch. Just under the range of human hearing, but Aaron could hear it. That sound, that constant perfect tone was all that stood between this world and the Silence. All she had to do was will it still.

"Are you alright?"

Integra was asking her a question. Ukyou responded that she was fine. Aaron focused, just a moment. No-one had heard the commotion. It had happened too quickly. They weren't aware. He informed her of such.

"Good." Integra moved over to the helicopter the vampires had been guarding. With a flick of her hand Ukyou banished the Glaive back to wherever it remained when not in use. A few seconds later and they were rising into the air. A dozen commandos were in the back. The best Integra had.

They were all going to die.

Victoria had been left behind. Her orders had been simple. Keep the men alive. They probably could have used her firepower, but Ukyou had argued that this mission required stealth. Victoria was many things, but a well-trained thief she was not. Ukyou herself remembered the time she had not been so good at this kind of thing. Everyone in Furinkan had known Ukyou was following around Akane, back when she first arrived.

Then she had just kept getting better at it. The void chakra, she supposed. It wasn't only the font of perception and understanding, it was also the source of deception and illusion. Working it was like working a muscle. As it grew stronger, it was only natural Ukyou became better at these kind of things.

The Ex Machina came into sight ahead of them. Ukyou would have been impressed by the sight, if she had really been looking at it? It was almost a kilometer long. Ukyou might have been able to destroy it from afar. But then she would be testing the limits of her control. There was too much chance of the Silence growing out of her control. Plus she knew that wasn't how it worked. Blow the zeppelin out of the air, and the Major would not die. It just didn't work that way. He would survive everything but a final confrontation. The only way he would be dead was if Ukyou saw him die.

That was the way the stories worked.

They managed to get very close before they were spotted. They got even closer before the enemy guns opened fire. Integra was a fantastic pilot, much better than Ukyou would have thought. But even she wouldn't be able to dodge so much incoming fire. Ukyou slid out onto the landing struts. She stood there for a moment, the wind blowing through her hair and causing her coat to flip wildly about her. The missiles and cannon fire flew in. They travelled in slow motion.

Then her hand snapped up and the Glaive was there. "AEGIS SILEO!" The incoming fire exploded harmlessly against a wall a few meters in front of them. Integra wheeled and dove right through the suddenly empty sky. Missiles were chasing them and Ukyou blocked all she could, but she couldn't be everywhere. They were coming in from all angles now.

"Disembark!" The order cracked like a whip.

Ukyou leapt, and the commandos leapt with her. They were above the zeppelin, so they all landed on it. The helicopter went up like a firework behind them. A few of the men didn't make it. Integra did. She barked some more orders and the men split up.

Their orders were simple. Mayhem and destruction. They had bombs and they were to set them off whereever they could. Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war. They wouldn't accomplish anything. Any damage they did could be repaired. They would be lucky if they lasted five minutes. But they didn't need to survive. They only needed to distract. Give Ukyou and Integra enough time to make it to the command center undetected, unseen.

He would be there. Ukyou knew it. He would be sitting back in his chair, his hands steepled in his lap. He would be smiling. He would be laughing. Right now, he was probably praising his enemies for such a bold strike. He would be picking apart their strategy. He would be unravelling their plan.

"We don't have much time," Ukyou said automatically.

Integra nodded and Ukyou picked her up. She almost flew across the top of the zeppelin. Then she was running further and further down it. Her feet barely touched the metal shell as she ran. She was the wind. All her energy was in the heart of her wind chakra, pumping it up. She moved so fast, her body became so light, that gravity lost its grip. She ran down the edge of the great machine, angling down. She came up underneath it.

Even her skill could not let her run along the bottom of the ship. So with a mighty leap she pushed herself one last time. Her free hand snapped out and caught the handle of a door. Her foot kicked it in. She was through a moment later, placing Integra against the wall. There was a vampire there. He didn't get a chance to be surprised.

"Which way?" Integra asked.

Ukyou closed her eyes for a moment. "Up, and right. This way."

They moved through the vessels like ghosts. Once again, Aaron was surprised at how skilled Integra was at this. They moved quickly. The ship was rocked by the occasional explosion, but they were all far away and moving further with every step. The vampires were swarming towards the attack. It was going to work. They would get their one shot.

Ukyou's hand tightened around the Glaive. One shot. She had to focus on that. She had to remember how much was riding on this. The pain in her heart was nothing compared to that one shot. It was too important. They had to succeed. They HAD to succeed. With the Major gone, Millennium would be broken.

Then what?

Don't think about that. It was just another thing. She would deal with it when it came, just like everything else. Besides, everything important had been done. Akane was gone, gone a long time ago. She could only pray the girl would be safe. Hotaru was gone, gone with one of the strongest people Aaron knew. She would be safe. Her destiny was over. Ranma was gone. He hated them... oh, god how that thought hurt, but the important thing was that he was leaving. It had worked exactly like she had wanted it to. He had been driven away, away from her, away from England. Now the only thing left was her.

Ukyou held up a hand. Integra stopped. There was someone up ahead. He was coming closer. He hadn't sensed them yet, but he would soon. Ukyou gripped the Glaive tighter, debating whether to strike or flee. They didn't have time to flee. This had to be finished now.

Ukyou dashed into the hallway and her blade came up. The enemy dropped back, screaming in surprise. He was faster than the other vampires. Not much, but enough. What should have been a fatal blow only tore his cap from his head and sent a few oily black hairs falling to the ground.

"Aw fuck, and that was my favorite hat!"

Ukyou paused, staring. Yan Valentine stood in front of her. His missing eye stared grotesquely at her. The entire right half of his body was now also a ruin. Horrible burns traced down his arm and leg. Her blade dipped slightly. There was something wrong here... something Aaron could sense at the tip of his tongue.

"Hey, you're that Ukyou chick!"

"Yan Valentine..." Ukyou growled. "You're dead."

"Not yet," he laughed. "I take a lickin' and keep on tickin'." He smirked. "So that's what happened to that thing. I was wondering why the wonder girl didn't use it!"

Ukyou stalled, the blade falling. She recognised it now. It wasn't a taste, it was a smell. A scent that was familiar. He reeked of it. It permeated his being. She backed up a step, mouthing 'no' over and over, but no sound would come out.

"Heh," Yan gestured with his ruined arm. "I know, I'm just not the stud I used to be. Blame that bookworm bitch. Blew up my motherfuckin' flamethrower! I LOVED that thing! And she set me on fire!" Then he laughed. "Of course, I just grabbed her at the same time. You know, all that paper she carries around, all those dry old books in her pockets, she went up like a candle!" He smirked. "Women burn better than men, you see. It's all the fat in their tits. It took me a few weeks of experiments to figure that one out."

Ukyou didn't want to hear this, but she couldn't block it out. This was real and was happening now. This wasn't something she was just doing. This was something here and now, something that could not be denied.

"Sucked she was so friggin' crispy by the end that she couldn't even make a good after-battle snack. Of course, there was still that little gir-"

There was a loud hum, as sharp as a whip cracking. Ukyou stood on the other side of Yan now, the Silence Glaive still extended from her strike. For a moment everything was silent. Then the ship began to creak. A long line appeared in the walls. It extended across the entire hallway, bisecting it perfectly. The walls and floor and ceiling began to drift away from each other.

"Fuck, bitch, I wasn't finished yet!" Yan growled as his own face began to slowly inch apart. Then he simply vanished, his body unravelling in all directions at once. Ukyou didn't care. She barely even noticed. She could feel the power of the Third Circle flowing through her. It made the pain stop. It made all the pain stop.

She had failed. She had failed at everything.

01010

Akira slipped back, the soles of her boots leaving a skidmark on the stone floor, and just kept out of range of Elegen's deadly field. The hyper zoanoid snarled and reversed direction to float towards her.

He was slow. Without his tentacles, he had no way of attacking her at range. But with his aura, she couldn't even approach, and he was fast enough to dodge if she tried to launch a chi blast at anything other than point blank range.

Akira began to chuckle as she cartwheeled away from him again. She was certainly getting her fill of electricity today. But Elegen was as much more powerful than Kyosuke as a powerline was above a nine-volt battery. Still, maybe she didn't have to get close to affect him.

Akira landed from her cartwheel and as she did, her fist slammed into the ground. Her fingers dug into the thin crack between two flagstones. Elegen was bearing down on her again, and Akira met his inhuman eyes and waited.

Then she screamed and leapt up, her arms pulling the entire flagstone free. A thin square of white rock, almost a meter on each side, flew up into the air and towards the monster. He chuckled and snapped out his palm. The energy of his aura coalesced and there was a loud crack like thunder. The stone shattered into a thousand pieces, the harmless rubble showering down around him.

"Nice try, kid."

"I'm not finished yet," Akira replied as she began to slowly circle around him. Elegen was content to watch her for now. He even crossed his arms as he waited for her to try her next gambit. The problem was, she didn't have many advantages here. The only thing she had going for her was room. There weren't enough things around to use as weapons. The occasional park bench or trash can were all made of metal, meaning he could stop them in mid-air. Then her eyes settled on her brother's bike.

She smiled again, and looked up. It would be a risk. It would be a huge risk. She might not survive. But... water was all about adapting. Fitting yourself to any situation.

"Okay, tough guy." Akira smirked and spun her arms around her in an elaborate flowing kata, before snapping them in front of her and releasing a slow breath. "Let's finish this!"

She leapt straight up. Elegen's eel-head jerked in surprise, then he rose to follow her. Akira landed on a girder, coming down with enough force that she bent the steel slightly. Elegen was chuckling as he landed a few meters down the girder from her.

"Idiot girl, did you think this was a good idea?" His perpetually open sucker-fish mouth quirked in what might have been a smile. "Up here, I can do... THIS!"

His aura surged, and the lightning snapped down the length of the girder towards Akira. She felt it licking along the bottom of her feet as she leapt away. She latched onto another girder just above, her fingers bending the metal slightly. Elegen laughed and reached up to grab that one too. Akira was away before he did, her fingers slipping free just a second before the deadly electricity caught her.

She kicked to the side, knocking a small hole in a girder and sending herself flying in a new direction. Elegen cursed and floated to follow her. His arms snapped out, tapping a metal I-beam here and there. Electric arcs snapped and flashed around Akira as she rebounded from position to position, always a second ahead of Elegen's attacks. She circled him, her breath beginning to come harder and harder.

She was slowing down.

The flash of an electric arc ran up her leg. She screamed and bounced away, flipping around a beam like a gymnast. Tears leaked from her eyes.

No. She couldn't run out of energy now. She was so close.

Two more evasions later, Elegen guessed her pattern and there was a deadly shock waiting for her when she grabbed another pole. She screamed again, trying to pull away as her body froze up. With an effort of will, she pried her hands free and somehow dodged the next three strikes, just keeping away from him on instinct alone.

She had been fighting too long. She was exhausted. There was nothing left to give.

No. Just a little longer. Just a few more steps ahead of him!

"Give it up, girl!" Elegen cried. "There is no escape!"

01010

Akane tried to block, but the sound ignored her blade. It smashed into her and she was sent flying. She might have cried out, but she could hear nothing. The blast had deafened her, a part of her realised. It was a small mercy.

She landed poorly, her sword skittering away from her hand. It was visibly vibrating as it came to a stop almost five meters away. Akane let out a long groan and rose to her feet. Eudial was coming towards her, adjusting the controls on her chest plate.

Akane assumed a stance. Her bones hurt. Her body felt like it had been crushed from all sides at once. She couldn't hear a thing. Eudial's mouth was moving, but no sound reached Akane's ears. Akane just waited.

The woman dashed forward, her right arm striking at Akane from a few meters away. Akane leapt, leapfrogging as high as she could. The ground below her was reduced to a fine mist. She came down at Eudial, locking her fists together and bringing them down like an axe. The woman didn't even try to dodge. The blow smashed into her shoulder and she just bent down slightly. Red lines of light formed at the impact, and began to travel to the collector jewels on her chest.

Eudial smirked and said something. Akane smirked back, and grabbed her by the neck. Eudial's eyes widened and she might have screamed as Akane picked her up. Akane spun, once, twice... again and again and as fast as she could, until the world was a blur and she couldn't stand it anymore. Then with a cry of rage she let go. The centrifugal force sent Eudial flying like a discus, her body careening out into the man-eating jungle around the tower.

Akane spun a few more times and staggered, dizzy. Finally she slumped to her knees and clutched her head. She could feel blood on her palms as they covered her ears.

She started as a hand settled on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Matsudaira looking down at her. She had crawled over on her ruined leg. She was holding some sort of salve in her other hand. She pulled her hand away from Akane's shoulder and indicated Akane should do the same with her ears.

The salve tingled as Matsudaira applied it, and Akane felt the pain in her head suddenly triple. She gasped and doubled over, clapping her hands over her burning ears.

"...moments to fully recover," Matsudaira was saying. "My powers aren't well-suited to healing. I'm sorry..."

"I..." the pain began to lessen. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"SOUND BUSTER!"

Akane grabbed Matsudaira and rolled away on instinct. Still, the blast was close enough that her controlled roll was transformed into a short flight. The two women landed in a mess of arms and legs. Akane quickly began to extract herself, and Matsudaira hissed in pain as her leg was turned under her.

"You little bitch," Eudial snarled as she stepped free of the last creepers that had been trying to hold her. "Did you really think that would stop me?"

"I had to hope," Akane said, rising. She reached up and clutched her hands over her heart. She heard a scream from overhead. It was Akira. The scream didn't stop, it just kept going on and on. Oh god... she sounded like she was dying. The star seeds pulsed in her grip.

They were meant for her. They were meant for Akira. With them, they could win this battle. Akane closed her eyes, trying to will the certainty away. It filled everything. It was a tension, like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point. If she didn't release it soon, it would snap.

"BUSTER KNUCKLE!"

Akane opened her eyes just in time to see that Eudial had closed in on her. She was punching at her, the speaker on her wrist vibrating with potential energy. Akane could do nothing to dodge at this range. If that punch hit, she would be killed.

Akane began to scream.

"URANUS-"

01010

The world had narrowed and narrowed. There was only her and the maze of intersecting girders. Just her and the girders and him. She couldn't afford to waste concentration on other things. She couldn't waste time with the rush of the air, or the sounds of the battle below and above. She couldn't waste time thinking about how damaged she was, how exhausted.

She had to keep going. Anything else was unacceptable. So she did. She didn't think about it. She just did.

Akira landed sideways on a final girder. It bent and popped, rivets snapping out of it. Then she was away, the flash of electricity a millisecond behind. But she had miscalculated. She came down too close to him, too close to escape. He shouted in joy and snapped both hands onto the girder she was on, and the power came to her.

Her back arched and her mouth froze open. She was screaming. She could smell her hair burning. Elegen just laughed, pumping more and more energy into her.

It couldn't end like this.

She wouldn't let it.

For the second time that day, her heart skipped a beat and she was almost convinced it wouldn't start again.

But it did.

Akira reached up, fighting through the pain, fighting past the nerve- frying energy. She had to trigger it. Her plan had to work. Anything else was unacceptable.

She grabbed the final girder, just a hand's reach away. She screamed and her fingers sunk into the metal like it was made of soft clay. Her arm twisted, ripping it free. She tossed the metal chunk at him.

It halted in mid-air, a half-meter from his head. "I thought I already told you that was useless," he sneered.

"Maybe..." Akira hissed. "But... maybe the rest of it, is too much for you?"

Elegen quirked his head to the side. Then he heard it. A snap here, a pop there. An ominous creak that turned into a loud crack. His head looked around and he realised too late what she had been doing.

Every landing, every evasion, had all been directed. Each rebound had inflicted a little more structural damage on the tower. Popped joints, bent supports, broken girders. All of it around him, drawing him in. The electricity cut off abruptly as Elegen floated back, but it was too late.

Akira chuckled as she allowed herself to collapse off the side of the girder. It was a long fall to the ground, but she was chuckling the whole way. Elegen roared in defiance as almost a third of Tokyo Tower just suddenly collapsed on him. It was a spectacular sight, an avalanche of grey metal pouring down on him. He raised his arms up defiantly, and his aura expanded.

Akira hit the ground, the air exploding from her lungs, just as the cascade of metal met his power. "I will not let this beat me!" he screamed, and his aura pulsed out even further. She could see sweat dripping down his purple flesh. For a moment, she thought he would hold it.

But then again, it didn't matter if he did or not. Akira reached over, grabbing onto the bottom of her brother's bike. It was a massive thing, much larger than the kind you usually got in Japan. He had gotten it custom-made. Akira herself had spent days, weeks... years painstakingly crafting pieces, tuning it, refining it until it was a perfect machine.

It was much heavier than she had expected. She struggled to lift it, but lift it she did. A single strike with a finger and the gas tank was punctured. It was half full, but it would be enough. Above her, Elegen was laughing. The avalanche had stopped. But he had directed all his power above him. His aura was directed entirely into the air over his head. His lower half was totally exposed.

Akira screamed and threw her brother's bike like a javelin. It flew up, trailing a stream of amber liquid. Akira reached down, literally and spiritually, dragging up the very last of her reserves. With a cry she pushed out her chi, blasting a wave of force up into that amber trail.

It ignited, and chased the ascending motorcycle. It caught it just as the bike reached Elegen. It caught it just as Elegen looked down to see what was happening. His inhuman eyes widened ever so slightly. Then the bike exploded.

Perhaps the explosion took him out. Perhaps not. The point was rendered moot a moment later when several hundred tonnes of steel smashed through the space he had been, pouring into the ground and shattering the flagstone courtyard, throwing up a cloud of dust.

01010

Akane cut off, slamming her mouth shut.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't swallow the senshi's soul. Even if it meant saving the world. Even if it meant living. She couldn't profit from another person's death.

Eudial's fist was a fraction of an inch from her face now. Akane heard a titanic roar behind her. She only hoped Akira survived. Someone had to.

Then she was falling to the side. She gaped as Matsudaira pushed her away with one hand, stepping forward to meet Eudial. Her other hand raised up.

"CHEMICAL BUSTER!"

There was a flash of green and a loud bang, like a cannonshot. Then Matsudaira was flying back like a marionette with its strings cut. She fell down at the base of a twisted mass of fallen girders that had formed in the center of the courtyard. She lay there, unmoving.

Akane gaped, then she heard Eudial scream. The woman was pulling at her smoking armour. Her fingers desperately clawed at buckles and straps. Piece by piece her armour fell to the ground. Eudial stepped away from the smoking mass, taking deep breaths. Underneath her armour, she had been wearing a red and black dress with a skirt made of thin strips of cloth.

Akane stood up and walked over to Matsudaira. She knelt next to the unmoving woman and placed her fingers on her neck. The pulse fluttered weakly.

"Matsudaira..."

"I'm... dying..." she said. Her eyes were closed, and there was blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. "Massive internal injuries... punctured lung... ruptured organs..."

"Don't talk..." Akane grabbed her hand.

"No..." The woman squeezed Akane's hand. "Not much time."

"Matsudaira..."

"...better this way..." she coughed. "Can't fight the demon forever. It consumes. Always consumes. What it does... its nature..." Her back arched and she hissed in pain. "Better this way. Thank you..."

"Don't say that!" Akane screamed. "You deserve to live!"

"Thank you..." Matsudaira was either unable to hear, or ignoring Akane now. "You saved me... now... my boy... my family... you have to save him for me... please?"

"I..."

"I won't be there for him... you have to be... help him... please..."

"I..." Akane bowed her head. "I promise."

When Akane looked up, Matsudaira had opened her eyes to smile at her one last time. Then the light in her eyes faded and her head lolled to the side.

Akane knelt there another second, holding the limp hand. She had never met this woman before today. She had no idea who she was, not really.

Akane stood up and walked to her sword. She drew it from the ground and turned to face Eudial. The woman was standing at the edge of the forest, frantically looking for an exit. Akane took a step towards her and she stopped. She turned slowly as Akane approached. The knuckles holding the blade turned white. Eudial stared at her, sweat forming on her brow. She held up her hands.

"I surrender!" Akane kept walking. "I surrender! Please!" Akane lifted the blade. "Oh god! I surrender! Don't kill me! PLEASE!"

Akane brought the tip of her blade up and rested it in the hollow of Eudial's neck. The woman swallowed. A long moment passed.

"You're not worth it," Akane said finally, and withdrew her blade. Eudial let out a deep sigh of relief.

Then her head flashed to one side, a geyser of blood erupting from the stump. Her body stood motionless for a moment, then slowly toppled.

Akane stared as the figure of a woman walked through the blood. The newcomer tilted her head back, and her tongue darted out, catching a few drops of the liquid. Her back arched and she moaned like an animal as she swallowed. Akane backed up a step.

"Vice," she hissed.

Vice did not look well. Her clothes had been all but torn to shreds. Her body was coated in blood. Her hair had turned a deep scarlet. Her eyes shone with dark light as they fixed on Akane. Akane raised her sword in front of herself. Vice smiled.

The first blow was too fast for Akane to follow. She merely felt her sword shake and she fell back. The second blow traced a line of pain up her arm. She hissed and fell back further. When had Vice gotten so fast? What was she even doing here?

Akane fell to her knees and Vice charged in again, her clawed fingers reaching for the other girl's neck.

01010

The line of blue light traced a path of destruction along the wall. Valkyrie skimmed along, a second ahead of the beam. Her hands snapped down, and bullets roared from her fingertips. Kusanagi cursed and aborted to dodge, flinging himself to the side as her attack chewed up the floor where he had been.

The observation deck was in tatters. Huge holes had been blown in the walls, floors and ceiling. Jagged twisted metal stuck out here and there, with each second becoming more and more of a hazard to his dodges. The only things untouched were Susano-oh's cage, Momiji's cocoon and Telulu, who was laughing the whole time.

Kusanagi snarled and leapt to the side, projecting another duet of energy blasts at her. Once again Valkyrie darted down with supersonic speed, intercepting the attack before they could reach her mistress. And so the battle had gone. Kusanagi trying to get in a shot on Telulu, her abomination blocking and then the two of them duking it out for another few seconds until he felt he had another shot.

Then an explosion blasted through the metal right next to Momiji. She screamed, a piece of shrapnel cutting a line across her cheek.

"MOMIJI!" he roared, and leapt up. He bounced off the ceiling and came straight down at that metal bitch, heedless of anything but hitting her with his full force. Valkyrie only smiled.

"Valkyrie detects an opening! Fox-three!"

"KUSANAGI!"

The breasts of the monster detached, their supple curves morphing into the shapes of missiles. Kusanagi had seen this trick before, and he smiled. With a roar, he pushed himself back. He wasn't certain how. He just did it. He felt a power flow through him, and he knew he could fly.

He laughed and the spines on his back glowed as they unleashed his most powerful attack. A beam of concentrated bio-energy lanced down from him and straight into the missiles, catching them only a few feet away from the metallic monster.

The explosion echoed across the chamber, and the metal woman screamed. She flew back, her body creating a crater in the metal floor. Smoke rose from her, and bits and pieces of her armour had been twisted or destroyed by the blast. Kusanagi could see wires pumping like veins, pistons and pulleys flexing like muscle under the damaged metal armour.

Kusanagi laughed again. He looked down. His mitamas were glowing, each and every one lit up and burning brightly. The ground hovered four meters beneath him. He was flying! But how? He knew that he didn't have the perfect set of eight "souls" like Murakumo. He shouldn't have been able to fly.

Then he saw the light out of the corner of his eyes. He turned and looked at Momiji. The light was coming from her. It was shining through the thick cocoon she was bound in. Shining from the eighth mitama embedded between her breasts.

"Kusanagi..." she breathed.

"Valkyrie is not finished yet!" the machine-woman declared. Her engines roared and she flashed across the room... straight for Momiji! Kusanagi cursed and pushed himself towards her, not sure how, but moving through sheer force of will. He wasn't fast enough. Valkyrie reached the girl first, and her hands snapped up, tearing Momiji free of her prison.

The girl gasped in the monster's arms as she hugged her to her chest and spun to face Kusanagi. He stopped, floating in mid-air just in front of her. Valkyrie smiled and began to circle around him. "Valkyrie thinks this is the perfect shield! Valkyrie thinks you are not brave enough to shoot through this one! Shame!"

Kusanagi glared at her helplessly, his fist clenching and unclenching. Momiji stared into his eyes, her big soft brown eyes glittering with tears.

"Do it, Kusanagi," she said.

"Mo... Momiji, no!"

"If you kill me, you'll take her out too. And if I die, then all the aragami in the city will go back to sleep. The battle will be over. The suffering will end."

"I..." Kusanagi closed his eyes, fighting back sudden tears. "No, Momiji! I won't do it!"

"You want to kill Telulu, right?" Momiji said. "For what she did to my sister? This is your chance!"

"NO!" He roared. "I would never... I would never hurt you..."

"Valkyrie has had enough of talking!" the monster declared. She pointed her machine-gun fingers at Momiji's head. "Valkyrie thinks you will surrender or Valkyrie will blow her head off!"

01010

Akane rose slowly to her feet. Blood dripped down one arm. The other clutched her blade loosely. Her left leg was twitching uncontrollably; a quintet of slashes had torn into her thigh. They had missed a vital artery by centimeters. She could barely breathe.

Vice was torturing her to death. The woman, more animal than human now, stalked around Akane. She was practically purring. Akane kept her in sight and tried to think.

But her mind kept going back to the star seeds. Because she had been unwilling to use them, Matsudaira had died. Was it worth it, just to preserve her own morality? If she didn't use them, Vice would kill her. Slowly. Painfully. How was she supposed to keep her promise to the woman then?

But...

She had seen what happened when you started letting such things justify your life. Chris... Chris had taken Adon's body, had taken the boy's body... He hadn't killed them with his own hands, but he had taken them. And because he had, other people had died. If Pink hadn't been stopped, she would have kept on killing for him... again and again and he would have never stopped her.

Akane did not doubt that some things needed to be stopped. Some evils did not deserved to be spared. Some monsters could not be saved. That was the lesson of the steel in her hands. That was what Shampoo's blood had taught her.

But could you defeat monsters, without becoming one yourself?

Vice tired of waiting, and came in again. Akane parried the first blow, but the second slammed her back. She smashed into one of the giant supports of the tower. She coughed, and saw blood splatter across the flagstones. Vice unfurled her long sleeve. Akane was familiar with her trick, but could barely rise, much less counter.

She just couldn't get the star seeds out of her mind. Every time she thought she had been pushed to the edge, given a choice to use them or die, she had chosen no.

And she hadn't died yet.

Akane felt something hit her. Something primal. She didn't understand it, but she just went with it.

She didn't even bother to raise her blade. She didn't try to stand. She just sat there and waited for the end.

Vice roared and her sleeve snapped forward...

A black shape materialized in front of Akane, her feet snapping up a cloud of dust as she landed. Akira caught the sleeves between her palms, the sound of her clap echoing across the plaza.

Akane didn't pause. She sprang forward like a coiled spring. Vice was stunned for a precious second, uncertain what to make of this newcomer. She never got a chance to decide, as Akane's blade buried itself up to the hilt in her heart.

Time seemed to stop for a moment. Then Vice slowly turned her head to Akane. For a moment, Akane thought she would strike back. That even this hadn't done it. Then Vice smiled, a last, final smile. It was a smile of utter contentment.

Then she died. Akane let her slide off the tip of her sword. The sword clattered to the ground a moment later. Akane turned around and fell to her hands and knees, dry heaving. She squeezed her eyes shut. 'Remember this feeling,' she told herself silently. 'Never forget it.'

Akira slumped down behind her. Akane spun and ran to the girl. Akira reached up and clasped Akane's hand when it came to rest on her shoulder. She looked like hell warmed over, but she was smiling.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll... live..." Akira sighed. "I... I want to fight on, but I can't..." She slowly laid back, and Akane helped her. "There's just nothing left to give, Akane."

"I understand..."

"You'll have to go on alone..." Akira murmured sleepily. "You're the only one left, if Kusanagi fails..."

"I understand..." Akane thought one last time about the star seeds. Then she stood up and began to walk away.

"Wait... how are you going to fight them?"

"I... I need a weapon that can kill a god," Akane explained, and left it at that.

01010

The sky overhead was the colour of blood. The black hole sun was near its zenith. The flames of the fallen zeppelin rose into the sky, their glare reflected in the clouds. The storm was coming in quickly, sweeping in from all sides, spreading across the globe. Angry fingers of lightning rained down on the earth. The sea rose up, smashing against the fragile land. The world was shuddering. It was in pain.

Ukyou stood in the center of the conflagration, looking up into the fragile lights of the stars as they winked out one by one. Aaron could feel it coming. It was rushing towards them with the speed of a freight train. The end of the world. The Silence Glaive rested softly in their hands, its tip buried in the ground in front of them.

Integra was behind her, leaning against a piece of debris. Her face was charred and there was blood dripping from her side. Her breathing was coming in short, sharp gasps.

"Heh..." She smirked. Ukyou didn't even turn to look at the woman. There was a hiss as she lit another cigar. "Quite the show. I never knew you had it in you."

Ukyou just continued staring up at the sky. This didn't feel right. Her strike against Yan had sheared through the entire Ex Machina. The great machine had come apart around them. Ukyou had grabbed Integra and fallen, the debris around her. The massive airship had gone up. The explosion had torn down the buildings beneath it. It had deafened out all sound. It had blinded out all light.

Ukyou had just fallen between the raining debris, a dark shadow among a rain of flame. She had landed here, and not moved one step since. They had come for her, the vampires, those that survived the explosion, those that hadn't been on the ship when it went up. Her Glaive had sung a song for them until they stopped coming.

She was covered in wounds. Blood still flowed from where a rocket had blown shrapnel into her thigh. The Third Circle was tearing her apart inside. She wouldn't be able to continue much longer. She knew, in the rational part of her mind, that she should let it go. But she couldn't. It made the pain stop.

It was all useless. She had set out to do one thing. She had decided to make one stand. Just Hotaru. Just one little girl. Just let me save her, had been her silent plea. But everything she touched was destroyed.

"It isn't over," Ukyou said as Integra tried to stand. The woman looked at her. "It doesn't end like this."

Integra was about to answer when a voice began to laugh. Ukyou had never heard the voice before, but she knew instantly who it was.

"Remarkable! Fantastic! Un amazing show!"

"Major Krieg," Ukyou turned around. There was a boyish young man lounging against the side of a rather large piece of debris. He wore a Hitler Youth uniform and had short blonde hair with two black tufts shaped like cat's ears. He smiled and waved at her. In his lap was a laptop computer. On the screen was a shadowy figure. He was round, almost obese, his silhouette filled with darkness. Only the glint of his glasses, his teeth and his pristine white gloves came through the screen. He was clapping. "I must say, young woman, you certainly surprised me."

Integra cursed and snapped up her arm, her pistol gleaming. Ukyou caught her arm. "It's no use. He just wants to brag."

"I can kill the messenger!" Integra snarled. Schrodinger just smiled at her. Ukyou considered letting her do it, but as amusing as the thought of seeing a cat-boy get his head blown off was, it would serve no purpose.

"Schrodinger?" Ukyou smirked. "As he would tell you, he is 'Everywhere and Nowhere'. It will take better than a pistol to finish him off."

"Vhat a vell-informed woman you are!" Schrodinger said, laughing.

"Quite a spectacular specimen," the Major said, his teeth glinting as they settled into a rictus grin. "Und I vas beginning to think zat vithout Alucard, there vould be no opponent vorth fighting."

"I'm not going to play your game, Major," Ukyou pointed out. She looked up at the sky.

"Ah, still full of sentiment and youth, I see," the Major said, chuckling dryly. He folded his hands. "You vill learn to see zat I haf a better understanding of these things zhen you. In time, I'm certain I can bring you around to my point of view."

Ukyou ignored him.

"Fraulein, vhat vill it take to motivate you?" He laughed. "Perhaps I should slaughter all of Germany? Even now my troops are moving into my old homeland, punishing those who haf descended from the defeatists and deserters."

"But... your ship, we destroyed it!" Integra shouted.

"'Ve?'" The Major opened his arms. "You certainly did a lot of damage, I'll grant you. But that was my reserve force, merely a second brigade. I haf already left England."

"I know," Ukyou said. "I could feel you weren't there."

"Then... why?" Integra shouted. "Why all this?"

"A signal," Ukyou explained. "For the one who is coming."

Integra, the Major, Schrodinger... they all fell silent as a new sound flooded the burning plain. The shape that was approaching was black, the size of a small building. It hovered through the air on the roar of a dozen engines. It came in low, approaching straight towards them. Ukyou slowly lifted the Silence Glaive. Blood trickled from her lips. She didn't have much time. Keeping all the damage inside her, forcing it not to leak out into the world - it would tear her apart.

"Who?" Schrodinger murmured.

The ship came to a halt only a half-dozen meters away. It was a plane, a giant black cargo craft. The front of the mammoth gravity-defying machine opened up, unfolding in both directions. He stood in the center of the doorway, an aura of blue energy lining him like St Elmo's fire.

"Bison," Ukyou said.

"It is time, girl," Bison said. He frowned slightly and his body seemed to blur and shift, then he was standing within arm's reach of her. "I will give you one chance to surrender to me willingly." He held up his fist. "There is no escape from my power, from my destiny to rule this world! Submit to me, Ukyou Kuonji, and rule it by my side. Do not submit, and you shall still serve me regardless."

"No." Ukyou shifted the Glaive so it was between them.

"You think that toy can defeat me?" Bison smiled.

"I think we'll find out."

"Excuse me," Schrodinger said, standing up and holding his hand forward in a little half-wave. "I'm afraid ve haf first crack at breaking her soul, then-"

"Shut up, insect!" Bison roared. His hand snapped up and a blast of light engulfed the cat-boy. He screamed as it burned a hole the size of a beachball through his chest. He staggered back, coughing up blood, and collapsed to the ground. Ukyou looked at him for a moment, but she blinked and his body was gone when she opened up her eyes.

"Vell, vell," the Major murmured. The laptop had fallen on its side, but he had somehow adjusted the picture so that he was still oriented correctly. "You vould be Bison, zhen. My huntress told me about you. Such a violent introduction."

"I have no time for you, coward," Bison snarled at the screen. "You are a worm, a carrion-feeder that survives by supping on the anguish and pain of war. You consume and consume without purpose. But I... I am BISON!" He swirled his cape around his shoulders, clutching it with one hand. "My will is my purpose! I am as much beyond you as a god is above the things that crawl in the dark bowels of the planet. I will not stand for you to interfere in my dominion over this world." His free hand rose and the laptop rose into the air with it. "You hide behind your minions and your technology. You do not have the true strength, the power to seize what you wish with both hands. To never let go! That is my way! That is my will! I will hold this world, and all you insects that crawl and mewl and kill each other will either bow at my feet or burn away in the flames of my Psychopower."

The Major was laughing. "Superb! An excellent var declaration! Very vell! I accept. Please take the girl, I so look forward to facing you both again one day."

Bison's glowing blue eyes narrowed. "So be it." He clenched his hand and the laptop imploded in a shower of sparks.

Ukyou was already moving. The Silence Glaive shot out, straight and true. Bison wasn't there to receive it, but that was fine. Ukyou spun, halting the momentum of the weapon with a thought. It moved as an extension of her. There was no over-extending, no missed shots. The power of the Third Circle made it all so simple and clear. Aaron could feel Bison's actions, and Ukyou could move in response to them.

He was appearing again as Ukyou came back, driving the point towards his face. There was no way he could teleport away fast enough. And not even he could survive if she struck with the weapon's full fury, perhaps even tearing apart half the landscape in the process.

There was a loud clap. The Glaive hummed. It was the only sound. Ukyou stood, holding the end of it. Bison stood, his palms firmly placed on either side of the tine, holding it in place. A tiny line traced down his face, welling with blood.

"Remarkable," Bison commented. "That actually hit me. You drew blood."

"I'll do more!" Ukyou declared.

"You will not."

Ukyou felt his will strike out at her. It was like he gathered up all the Psychopower at once. It rose up like a roaring dragon, swirling about him. For a moment, he was the sole focus of all his insane power that had spread across the globe. It crashed down on her psyche like a landslide. He was trying to batter down her will by sheer force.

But Ukyou felt Aaron joining her. She felt him somehow channelling the brunt of that attack into the alien darkness inside them. It fell into the Third Circle like a drop of water falling into the ocean. Ukyou grinned.

"You can't control me, Bison," Ukyou informed him. "You can never break me. I am beyond you."

Bison frowned, but then his smile returned. "Nothing is beyond the will of Bison, girl."

"No matter how powerful your will is, you can't break me." Ukyou pulled back. "You are stronger than me. I can't kill you. But I will never lose to you. The only way this can end is if one of us dies."

Bison laughed. "Poor, deluded fool. You think you have it all figured out, don't you?" He smiled at her, a smile full of mad joy. "Your will is stronger than anything I have ever seen. You alone, of all the things I have ever seen on this earth... you alone can stand up to the full force of the Psychopower. Even now it floods into your body, and you stand. You are the vessel I have been searching for. You think I will let that slip through my fingers?"

"You won't have any choice!" Ukyou cried, charging him. They exchanged blows. Her every strike was deflected with a palm. He was good. Not just powerful, but skilled. He could read her moves. She was moving with all the speed of her desperation, her training and the Third Circle, everything she could throw at him. He was playing with her like she was a child.

"You are right." Bison grinned again. "The one with the choice here is you." Ukyou blinked, and slowed enough for Bison to teleport back a few meters, just out of her reach. "You see, even the strongest enemy, the mightiest enemy, has a weak spot. There is a way I can break you, Ukyou Kuonji. There is a way to make you mine, willingly and without resistance."

"Keep talking, asshole," Ukyou growled, standing up straight. Then Bison gestured and something appeared next to him.

"RANMA!"

"Now, now..." Bison gestured as Ukyou leapt forward and she was sent flying back by a wave of force. She collided with a bit of debris. The sharp edge cut into her. She cried out. Ranma floated next to Bison. He was unconscious. His body was a mass of bruises. His head hung limply.

Bison looked at him. "This boy is an astounding specimen. His soul is so alive with confidence and potential." He clenched his fist and Ranma's body jerked, his mouth opened and he coughed out a stream of blood. His eyes didn't even flutter. "I hold his heart in my hand. One thought, and he will die."

"Damn you..." Ukyou reached out, grabbing the edge of the shrapnel and pulling herself up. It cut into her palm, but she didn't care. "Let him go..."

"He is no match for me, of course. But he reminds me so much of my own youth. He has the same drive, the same potential." He chuckled. "It would be a shame to let such potential go to waste. Plus, he apparently can perform this wonderful trick with cold water and I AM currently missing a few of my Dolls thanks to you and him..."

"NO!" Ukyou rushed forward again, only to be blown back by another wave of his hand. She growled, reaching into her reserves, only they weren't there. No... there was one last option. She might be able to defeat Bison. If she could summon the Silence, if she could strike with enough force with just one blow, he would be unmade. Even he couldn't stop the end of everything.

He would never see it coming. He couldn't read her mind, and he thought she would never risk it with Ranma so close. It would strike him down, his eyes staring at her in surprise. It would destroy Bison. She could do it.

All she had to do was kill Ranma, too.

"What are you waiting for!" Integra roared. "Get back up! Fight him!"

Bison only watched silently, ignoring her.

Ukyou's hand was shaking. Her eyes were beginning to water. The pain, the pain she had banished, it was creeping in. Her grip on the Third Circle was wavering. Was it because she couldn't hold it until she died, her instinct just refusing to let her kill herself, like a man trying to hold his breath until he fainted?

"Strike, damn you!" Integra roared. "Get up and fight!" There was a click. "Get up or I'll kill you right now!"

Ukyou survived, that's what she did. She was good at it. Even in the darkest hour, she survived. She won. She had survived every comer until now. She had done it all. Why should she stop fighting now? Why not kill Ranma? It would be a mercy. He would not have to live in this world, this world that was exploding as every kind of monster clawed at it. Overhead the sun had reached the zenith. She could feel the darkness clawing its way into the world. It wasn't like any of this mattered.

It wasn't like any of it was real. Ranma, Bison, Ukyou... they were all just fictions. Just characters from a story Aaron had read once. Hotaru wasn't dead. She had never existed. His feelings for her, they were no more real than anything else in this insane world. Alucard had said it. This world should not exist. It could not exist. It was nothing but pain.

"NIHILO..." Ukyou murmured, rising to her feet. The Glaive glittered in her hand, its hum fading slowly. Bison's eyes were narrowing. She saw his feet shift back. He was afraid. He doubted.

How could he doubt? He was Bison, a caricature of a villain. He was insane, and never doubted. He was nothing but bad theatrics. Just like Jadeite. Just like Vega. Just like Hayato...

"No..." The Glaive fell from Ukyou's suddenly nerveless fingers. "No, it's real..." And just like that the Third Circle was gone, and they were just mortals once again.

"What?" Integra snapped.

Ukyou fell to her knees, bending her head. "I surrender. I'll do it. I'll do anything. Just please..." The hot tears rolled down her cheeks now. "Let him live. Let him go. I'll do anything you want, if you just let him live!"

There was a loud bang and a gasp. Ukyou looked up. A bullet was spinning in the air, a fraction of a centimeter from her head. The smoke of the blast, it too was caught in Bison's psychic grip. He chuckled.

"Very well, Ukyou." He pointed at Integra. "Kill that woman for me."

Ukyou clenched her hands into fists. "Please don't..."

"If you want him to live, you will do as I command!"

Integra stared down at Ukyou. Her expression held nothing but contempt. She spat, the spittle impacting with Ukyou's cheek. "Do it, then." She crossed her arms. "I, at least, will die with honour."

Ukyou tried to stand, but she couldn't. Her legs wouldn't respond. She slumped forward, pounding her fists into the dirt. "I... I can't... please don't make me..."

There was a long pause. Finally Bison snorted. "Fine." He gestured once, sharply, and Integra flew back. Her eyes grew dim as a sharp crack filled the air. She was dead before she hit the ground. "But I do not suffer well disobedience, slave." He looked at Ranma, and in a flash of light the boy was gone. "Now rise, and greet your master properly."

01010

Kusanagi could feel the tension in his limbs. He wanted to leap forward. He wanted to rip Momiji away from that thing. He wanted to blow its inhuman face off. But it was faster than him. If he made a move, it would sense it. Momiji would die.

But it couldn't defend itself. Not and hit her at the same time. Then the only thing left would be Telulu. Telulu and an insane god.

"Kusanagi..." Momiji breathed.

"Damn you..." Kusanagi growled.

"Valkyrie is counting down to one... five, four, three, tw-"

The monster cut off abruptly, its eyes widening. A hollow sound, like a shriek echoing from the end of a long tunnel, erupted from its mouth. Its arms went limp, and Momiji was falling. Kusanagi screamed and flashed down, catching her just above the floor.

He stood up, cradling her in his arms. She threw her arms around his neck. She began to cry. He held her tighter. But he looked up at Valkyrie.

Telulu was standing behind her, a trio of vines that extended from her fingers retracting from Valkyrie's back. They held a grey-ribbed egg. Valkyrie gave a deafening squeal, then her form flickered and flashed, before it was suddenly replaced by a fighter jet. Kusanagi's eyes widened as the massive war machine fell to the floor. He flew back, the world blurring, and the jet smashed into the space he had been seconds before.

Telulu pulled the egg down until it rested in her palm.

"It's so hard to get good help," she noted indifferently, then crushed the egg in her hand. As the shard fell to the floor a tiny black shadow floated free from between her fingertips, making a sound like a child laughing cruelly, before vanishing into the darkness.

"You... you destroyed her!" Momiji exclaimed. "But... but why? Wasn't she on your side?"

"Of course she was," Telulu replied easily. "But she was going to kill you. And I can't have that yet, dear sister."

"Sister?" Momiji blinked.

Telulu smiled and stretched one hand out towards them. "Of course. Kaede's soul lives on inside me. I have within me everything that she was. Not just the crude matter. The very essence of her being. I am your sister, the Princess Kushinada."

"You're lying!" Kusanagi roared. He set Momiji down, gently but firmly removing her hands. "You're nothing like her!"

"Really?" Telulu closed her eyes and stretched her fingers along her cheek. "Or maybe I'm everything she ever dreamed to be?" Her pupilless green eyes opened, focusing on him. "Think about it, Kusanagi. I am merely fulfilling her dream. She wanted to cleanse this island, this corrupt nation of bigots and hypocrites, and replace it with beautiful primeval life." Her hand outstretched once again. "But I realise that her vision was limited. Human life is not the problem, Kusanagi. It is all life. An endless progression of petty things, concerned only with feeding and fornication. Reproducing themselves without restraint or control. Fools speak about balance and the natural order, but that is only because they cannot see it for what it is. It is suffering, Kusanagi. A cycle of suffering that cannot be allowed to go on!"

"SHUT UP!"

Kusanagi flashed across the room, moving faster than he had ever believed possible. He heard Momiji crying out his name, but paid her no heed. There was a loud clang as he slammed Telulu into the back wall of the twisted observation deck. She gasped in pain, her head rocking back. He settled the edge of one of his blades against her neck.

And he paused.

"Go ahead, then..." Telulu sneered. "Kill me. It will do no good. Look up, Kusanagi." He did so. The roof had come off, and he could see up into the sky. The sky was swirling around the deep endless black hole that used to be the sun. Not clouds, not winds, but the very sky. It was like reality itself was being poured down the drain. "He's here! There is nothing you can do to stop it! Even if I die, Susano-oh will continue to sustain him! Killing me will release the Kushinada effect, but the ceramic around him protects my darling god-child from it! The barrier I placed around him prevents any attack you can produce from harming him. Give up, Kusanagi! Accept oblivion!"

"NO!" he roared back, his throat hoarse.

Her hand reached up, and caressed his cheek. "Then why haven't you killed me yet?" Her lips tilted upward in a brief smile. "The same reason I haven't killed you, Kusanagi. Because Kaede's soul is a part of me now. For good or for ill. I love you, Kusanagi, just like she loved you. You love her... and could never kill me. It would be like destroying her forever. If we die, our souls will be consumed by oblivion forever... you don't want that..."

Kusanagi growled. His body trembled. The edge of his blade drew a thin trickle of blood from her neck. Then it pulled back. It slumped to his side like it was made of lead. Telulu's loving smile twisted into a cruel smirk and he saw her hand reach back, vines snapping out. But why fight on?

"KUSANAGI, LOOK OUT!" Momiji screamed.

In a flash he had jumped away from her. The vines of her attack flickered uselessly through the air a few inches in front of his face. Telulu stood against the wall, looking surprised. Then her head toppled from her shoulders, still looking surprised.

Suddenly the Kushinada effect hit him. He groaned, and slumped to his knees. He could feel his mitamas burning. They were tearing into his body, tearing into his humanity. They were draining him of power, draining him of spirit, grabbing onto anything, ripping away any bits and pieces of life they could to stay alive. He moaned, placing his hand over his heart. He could feel it slowing.

Then he felt arms encircle him from behind. Warm arms. He leaned back, allowing her to support him. He felt the soft warmth of her infusing him. The power that they shared, the energy of their mitamas. Eight mitamas. One for each head of the Orochi. Eight souls in two bodies. He didn't know how, but she was keeping him alive. An effect of the Kushinada?

He didn't care. There were something warm and liquid falling on his shoulder. He reached up weakly and brushed away her tears. "It'll be alright, Princess..." God, he sounded awful.

"No it won't..." she murmured. "We still haven't stopped it."

He looked over and saw she was right.

And then the door exploded. Kusanagi watched as the woman walked into the room. He had met her exactly once before, but not really seen her. Looking at her now, he knew this was how he would always remember Akane Tendo.

She wore a yellow blouse and a short grey skirt with matching leggings. Her clothes were torn and stained with blood, clinging to her frame. She moved steadily into the room, her eyes locked on the figure of Susano-oh. Her shoulder-length black hair rustled behind her as she moved. Her body was rimmed with light, a soft red light that drove back the darkness. A power like fire, primal and intense, radiated from her being as she moved. She was carrying a half-melted piece of black lacquered stereo equipment in one hand, and on the other she was wearing a bulky glove that was mostly made up of a speaker that was fitted over her wrist.

"Susano-oh..." Akane said, stopping just in front of the god. She looked straight up into his eyes. Eyes that seemed to be looking down at her, eyes that leaked liquid nothingness. On his forehead, the giant blue mitama of his godhood, a seed-shaped icon nearly a foot across, glowed softly with a blue- black light... like a bruise in the air. She glanced over, noting everything else into the room.

"Kusanagi..." She held up her hand and began to adjust something on the half-melted controls. "You better get out of here."

"What?"

"This device can destroy mitamas." Akane held up her hand and pointed it at the god-being, who only stared at her passively. "I think if I turn it up high enough, it will shatter the ones in your body like eggs."

"Will... will that even work?" Momiji asked.

"I... It has to." She looked up into the sky. A thick tendril, a tentacle as thick as the moon, was crawling its way out of the hole in the sky. "If we kill Susano-oh, it should close the passage."

"Will that be enough?" Kusanagi stood up. He was tired. Momiji had saved him, but all his energy was gone. He felt... he felt weaker than he had ever felt before in his entire life. "He's already here."

"It will be enough..." Momiji murmured. Then she was running towards Akane. "But you can't kill him!" She grabbed the woman's arm, and Akane lowered the speaker. She looked at Momiji.

"What is it?"

"The demon!" Momiji said. "You have to kill the demon!"

"The demon?"

"The one inside him! You have to shatter the darkness inside him. He... he's in pain. But... he doesn't hate us. Susano-oh..." She closed her eyes. "He is the god of destruction, but also of rebirth. He is the cleansing storm that sweeps aside a dying forest to make way for new growth. He is an end to corruption. He doesn't want this world to die anymore than we do!"

Akane stared at her.

"You have to believe me!"

"I do..." She looked down at the device in her hands. "I'm just not certain I can do that..."

"Of course you can," Kusanagi walked up to her. "Think about who built it. Those witches. They turn on each other like dogs. I've seen them do it again and again. They hated each other more than they hated us. I bet that red-haired witch made a way to kill this thing. Just to spite Telulu."

Akane looked down at the device. Then she smiled. "I think you're right." She suddenly grabbed Momiji's hand and placed it on the controls, she began to turn the node with her fingers. "Say when."

"Uh... when?"

Akane removed her hand and stepped forward.

"What?" Kusanagi blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Trusting in God," Akane said, but there was a trace of irony in her tone. Then she raised her hand and took a deep breath. "SOUND BUSTER!"

Kusanagi slapped his hands over his ears and he thought Momiji screamed. The sound erupted across the room, a loud tone like the ringing of a temple bell. A egg-shaped wall of green light blazed into being around Susano-oh, but it shimmered and flickered. The jagged ceramic pillars around him cracked and shook, finally exploding into a hail of debris. Ironically, the force field protected them from the blast. Susano-oh's mouth opened wide and a cry like a million animals dying erupted from his mouth. Then... then the giant mitama on his forehead cracked.

He slumped to the ground, and from the cracks in the mitama a dark shadow issued. It was tinged with purple, flames leaking from the thin lines, and there was a sound like cruel laughter... then nothing.

"Did it work?" Momiji asked, but Kusanagi could barely hear her. Akane was lowering the weapon again. And then Susano-oh stood up. He looked at them for a long moment. His eyes shone the colour of the sky after a storm. He smiled.

Kusanagi yelled as a wave of force hit them. He snapped out his hands, gathering up Akane and Momiji as they were thrown back. The god's body had exploded, turning into a column of blue light. The column rose into the sky, smashing into the dark sun overhead.

For a moment, the tendril of darkness fought it. But then, it was pushed back, back into the black sun. A second later the bottom of the column rose after it, the speed defying description. Then it smashed into the darkness and a sound like a million thunderclaps echoed across the city. The light flashed across the sky, trailing along the edge of the horizon. In its wake, blue sky could be seen. In its wake, the sun emerged, shining bright and clear.

Kusanagi smiled in relief, but then he saw the tower. He could hear it groaning. That final blast had been too much for it. Cursing under his breath, he picked up the two women and dashed for the nearest window. He only hoped he had enough strength left to survive the fall.

01010

"-understand it! Why? Why can't I help her?"

"I have told you already. Without the Power of Dios, she may not be saved."

The witch entered the room, soundless despite the thousands of hooks which slowly tore off her flesh. The last act, of course, was already in progress. She remained in the shadows between the stars for the moment, awaiting the time to play her part.

The princess was upset. Tears rimmed her eyes as she shouted at the witch's brother. "But I have the Silver Crystal! It can do anything!"

"Hmm. I often wonder: if a star seems dim, is that the fault of the star, or our own fault for not seeing clearly enough?"

The princess gave a long, slow blink. The witch's brother smiled indulgently at her, and continued, "Perhaps the crystal itself is indeed flawless. But a heart which has a flaw in it cannot hope to bring out the power you need."

"What's flawed about my heart?" the princess protested. "I'm the one who's supposed to use the crystal!"

"You have no need to convince me of that," he said calmly. "Perhaps, however, the universe has yet to be convinced of your worthiness." He leaned forward, cupping his hands in front of his face. "The nature of my sister's torment is a flaw in the fundamental fabric of reality. To mend it, you would need to be larger than reality itself. That crystal alone will never take you there. Indeed, nothing can. Except..." he trailed off meaningfully. "But no. You do not want to walk that path."

"What path?" she demanded. "I'll do anything!"

"I have no doubt that you would," he replied, "but this isn't a path that I should show you. Our mutual friend would undoubtedly disapprove."

"So... you won't help me?" The princess didn't seem to quite believe it.

"No. Indeed, all I could do is throw obstacles in your path. After all," he said with a sad little smile, "I don't want you to save her."

"I'll overcome any obstacle!" she insisted. "And I don't believe what you're saying! Looking at that kind of suffering... even you have to feel something! I know you do! You're her brother! You loved her! You told me that!" She was standing imperiously again, talking with the full force of unshakable conviction. "Love isn't so easily extinguished."

"If you believe you can prove that to me-"

"I can and I will!"

The witch's brother leaned back, frowning at the princess as if considering something carefully. Finally, after a long and tense moment, he spoke. "There are already several students in this school attempting to find the path to the Power of Dios. They know that the only way to get there is to possess the one thing here that is, like the power, an eternal miracle."

"And what is..." the princess began, and then noticed that the witch's brother was staring beyond her. She slowly turned, and as she did, the witch came out of the shadow. Her red dress flowed behind her like a trail of blood. "...that..." the princess finished in a half-whisper.

"You already know," he said solemnly. "My sister, Anthy. Her suffering, her torment, is eternal. It is a miracle that could not have been created by the powers of man. She is the Rose Bride, and through her, you may learn the way to the Power of Dios."

The witch met the gaze of the princess with a calm, unflinching detachment. The princess stared at her for a moment, as if trying to pierce the illusion, but finally looked away as she realised she didn't, in fact, want to. The witch felt an ever so slight moment of satisfaction. In the end, she too was just another shallow, petty, flawed human.

But Anthy would miss Utena. A little.

She blinked as the thought rose unbidden, then shook it off. Her brother was glancing at her with an expectantly raised eyebrow. The princess was on the verge of turning away. The witch hurried to seize the moment before it slipped away. "I will lead you to where you must go, Miss Tsukino."

The princess nodded, her face set in determined lines. "I understand."

"However," her brother interrupted, "this is not a trial to be undertaken by just anyone." As the princess turned back to him, he held out one hand. Nestled in the centre of his palm was a small white ring, with the insignia of a rose. "Take this. It is a symbol of the covenant you have formed this day. With it, you will open the gates to the castle where eternity dwells. But I must warn you one last time, this path..." he trailed off as the princess snatched the ring away.

"You don't need to warn me. I'll show you that there is nothing that can't be saved."

01010

The light was fading again, but this time it was not a cold darkness that crept into the world like a cancer. This darkness was a gentle one, like the soft darkness of sleep. Kusanagi quirked up his lips in a thin smile. Man, he was beginning to sound like Kunikida. If he didn't stop all this philosophy he'd end up balding with a giant wart on his nose too.

They'd spent several hours of time here, lingering on the ruins of the tower. Mainly, they'd spent it unconscious. Only Momiji had stayed up the entire time, nursing their injuries as best she could. Kusanagi didn't really have the heart to tell her his arm wasn't broken, and so he wore the sling she had crafted without complaint.

He looked at Momiji now; she was smiling and talking with the other two. He paused, just examining her features for a moment. For the first time ever, he didn't see her sister when he looked at her. Just a girl, a normal human girl. Even if she was the Kushinada, she'd never had any real powers. Not any that could have shaken the world. But in the end, she'd played as much a role in the outcome as he, with all his strength.

Akane was the only one being quiet now. She merely gazed off across the field of man-eating vines, her hand on the hilt of her sword as the tip rested on the rubble in front of her. It was where they had placed Matsudaira's body... until they could make sure she got a proper burial.

Kusanagi sighed and stood up, walking a bit away from the group. Matsudaira... she'd turned out good in the end. He'd never trusted her. Never trusted any of the TAC, truth be told. He'd always cut them out. He wondered briefly if Telulu could have been saved.

He closed his eyes. He saw it again, the head toppling slowly off her body. As she had died, she had not looked like a demon. She hadn't looked like a monster. She had looked like a girl. A girl Momiji's age. He had hated her, hated her more than he had thought it was possible. But in the end, when she had died by his hand he had felt...

Nothing. Not regret. Not satisfaction. Just oddly hollow. The feeling had still not receded. He wondered if it would ever go away.

He wondered if he wanted it to.

He chuckled. Damn, he could feel that wart forming. He scratched his nose, just to make sure.

"No, Momiji, it isn't over."

Kusanagi looked over. Akane had spoken, and her voice had been full of the same conviction he'd heard up in the tower. She was glancing back at the girl, who was staring at her.

"The aragami will go to sleep... most of them." Akane held up her sword, the red sunset reflecting along the polished metal. "But Chronos is still our enemy. And there are other things out there. Worse things."

She paused. "And something... something more."

"You're going to keep fighting, aren't you?" Akira asked. Kusanagi looked at her. Somehow, she had crawled out from under the tower before it collapsed on top of her. She was remarkable. A few hours ago, she had barely been able to stand, now she was moving around like she had slept a week. He'd asked her about it, and she'd just smiled and said 'The river always flows' and refused to explain any more.

"Yeah." Akane looked at her. "I'll need help, though. I can't fight alone."

"I'll help!" Momiji instantly volunteered, throwing up her hand. Akane looked at her, smiling in a way that made all the worries of the last day fade from her face.

"Hey, Princess, don't go throwing yourself into something without knowing what's going on!" Kusanagi protested.

Momiji puffed out her cheeks and narrowed her eyes at him. He threw up his hands. Akira chuckled.

"I wish I could stay, Akane."

"But you're going after her, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Akira looked towards the sunset. "I made a promise, after all."

Momiji gasped and clutched her chest suddenly. Kusanagi was by her side in an instant. Akane and Akira stood up quickly. "This... isn't possible!" Momiji said, her face a mix of confusion and fear.

"What is it?" Kusanagi asked sharply.

"Him," Akane said, looking across the field. Kusanagi followed her gaze and saw the two figures rapidly approaching. One was a small child, barely four feet tall and obviously no older than ten. He floated through the air, his legs hanging limply beneath him. His clothing was torn and frayed, stained with blood and burned. His features might have been attractive, but the ruin that was his right eye caught all of Kusanagi's attention.

His companion was another girl. She wore a tight, revealing outfit with a Chinese style to it. She was sitting astride a wasp the size of a small horse. The wasp was a creature of beauty, a creature composed of amber and wood and leaf-like wings. Kusanagi's eyes narrowed when he saw the mitama suspended in the centre of its golden body.

"Wait a minute," Kusanagi said, pounding his fist into his palm. "That's one of those crazy hot Chinese twin chicks!" He paused as the two of them came within earshot. "That means... you're the WORM!" Kusanagi pointed accusingly at the little boy.

He took a step forward, but Akane settled a hand on his shoulder. Kusanagi looked back at her, but she was staring at the boy as he floated to the ground, or at least a few inches above it. "You're exhausted," she said. "And we can't beat him in a straight fight."

"Oh, hello there, Akane," the boy said cheerfully. "Good work. I should have guessed it was you."

"What do you want, Chris?" Akane said. It wasn't a demand. She just sounded tired. Not angry or afraid, just tired.

"Congratulations for saving the world, or at least Japan." Chris knelt in front of the largest pile of rubble, raising one hand over his head. "I'll take it from here." His words were mild, but what happened next was not. A bright purple flare raced down his arm, and he smashed his fist into the twisted mass of steel. It exploded up around him, sprays of molten metal arcing across the rubble and sizzling where they landed. As the smoke and debris cleared he was floating up into the air again, and clutched in his hand was the foot-long cracked mitama that had been Susano-oh's soul.

"The mitama!" Momiji stepped forward. "What are you doing with that?" she demanded, balling up her little fists.

Chris glanced at her idly and smiled. "It's a gift for my friend," he replied, floating over to the girl on her hovering wasp. She took it from him eagerly, clutching it to her chest. "We felt a Kushinada die. Glad it wasn't you, Momiji."

"Wait a minute," Akira said. "Doesn't that mean all the aragami are supposed to be dead?"

The girl on the wasp chuckled; a manic, happy chuckle. "Obviously, there are ways around that. Especially when you are dealing with a genius herbalist like myself."

"So..." Akane looked at Chris again, her expression still tired. "Are we done here?"

"It doesn't seem like anything else useful is here," Chris mused, tapping his unmarred cheek. "So, Akane... coming?"

Akane stared at him a long moment. And then her eyes flashed. The fatigue vanished from her expression. Her lips thinned. Kusanagi could feel the sudden heat pouring off her. "You... you have the nerve to ask me that? After everything that happened?"

Chris floated slightly over her, staring down at the young woman with an expression that was equal parts confused and slightly offended. Akane just met his dead-eyed gaze unflinchingly. Finally, he shrugged. "Fine. I'll manage. I hope you appreciate that I keep promises rather better than you do."

Akane's expression fell then, and she looked down. "Chris... for what it's worth now. I'm sorry I couldn't help you like you wanted." She paused. "But we all make our own choices in life. I see that now. Whatever you choose now, whatever paths you take... you do it for yourself, for your own reasons. I can't do anything but make my own choices, and I can't follow you where you're going."

"You're right, Akane. I write my own destiny." Chris began to float up and away from her. "Stay alive, Akane. One day, I'll show you that future."

01010

In the thick, creeping darkness, Hotaru lay naked. She was vaguely aware of what was happening to her. She knew there was pain and worse things than pain. But her mind had gone Away. She had retreated, away from the pain and darkness.

Alone with nothing but herself, she reflected on how Ukyou should have just let her end the world. She had been happy then, for a moment. But she had learned that hope was a cruel and fickle thing. It existed only to weaken you. It existed only to allow the pain to strike deeper and truer than it had before.

Hotaru had learned this lesson, not when the vampire had come. Not when the nice woman had died. Not when the monster had come for her. No, she had learned that hope was a cruel thing when she had finally died. Her body had given up. Tortured to the breaking point, she had finally just given in and let herself die. She might have smiled at the end, knowing that at least she was not going to have to live in this vicious world any more. She had died and been Somewhere Else, somewhere where she had felt peace.

Then she had woken up.

The doctor was a tall man, thin in that way only those who have spent years hunched over books and lab tables could be. His hair was oily. His face was gaunt. His eyes were always hidden behind a pair of thick goggles. He had smiled at seeing her and turned to his companion. His companion was a blonde woman with a haughty face who wore an immaculate white lab coat.

"Ze process vorked, you see," he had pointed out.

"Yes," the woman had agreed. "But she is still just a child. The chip has revived her, but she carries none of her potential, none of her power."

"Ja, ja..." The Doctor had agreed. "It shall take more experiments to unlock her." He chuckled. "The Major wants her to be a fine weapon. A weapon to wield against this woman Ukyou. A weapon of unparalleled destruction."

The woman had agreed, and so the two had set to work. Hotaru had been quiescent through the whole process. She didn't know how long she spent there, in that stinking blood-soaked lab. Her mind floated apart from her body and the horrors that were being inflicted on her. They were remaking her into something inhuman, and she knew that life was cruel and vicious and pointless.

But Hotaru didn't care. She was beyond caring now. With her mind safely Away, she was immune to any torment life chose to inflict on her. She knew it would fall away. Soon the things they were doing to her would break through even that last defense and then she would live in torment forever. That was the way of the world, and she had no doubt it would happen. It filled her not with sadness but with regret.

If only other people could understand this. If only other people had touched the heart of Oblivion. If they could, they would understand. The Buddhists were right. Existence was suffering.

Hotaru jerked in her restraints. Someone had said her name. The Doctor looked at her oddly. The woman had left. She had injected Hotaru with chemicals and fluids, then left on some other errand. The Doctor had stayed. But Hotaru knew that it was not him who had addressed her.

Hotaru made a sound like a mewling kitten. It had said her name again, and she could not deny it. It broke through the shell she had wrapped around her mind without effort. It was too big. It filled the world around her with tension. What was it? What was this thing? This overwhelming presence that pushed at her?

The answer came to her as swiftly as she thought it. She knew already who this was. It had all names. It had no names. Hotaru looked up at the ceiling. She mouthed the word that came to her mind, but made no sound.

Then it told her why. It told her why she had been chosen. It told her why she had been allowed to die, to find peace, then live again in this world. It had been done so she could get to this moment, so that she could hear its voice. For a moment Hotaru felt rage: blinding, monstrous rage. She hated it for doing this to her. It had allowed her to be brought to back to this hell. What had she done to deserve such a fate?

She calmed down almost instantly. Even she could not hear it, not truly. She was closer than any being in this world to it, and still its message was dimmed by her finite nature. It wanted her to be the messenger. To translate its will into reality. It was reaching for her because its other prophet had rejected it. She was the last hope for the world. She was the only one who could deliver its message. Hotaru paused, and then she understood.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice hollow.

"Vhat vas zhat?" the doctor said, leaning over her.

She reached up and Silenced him.

Her power flared. Ukyou had taken from her the Silence Glaive and with it much of her power to tap into Oblivion. But she was still Sailor Saturn. It was a fundamental part of her nature. It shivered through her as she transformed. But she knew that she would look nothing like the old Saturn. Her uniform would be adjusted to fulfill her new role.

Hotaru sat up, the dust of her first convert falling to the floor. She looked at the door for a moment. The great presence was gone, but she knew what she had to do. She had a message to deliver, a message that would change all the world. She looked to the right and saw a camera there, watching her with emotionless mechanical efficiency.

Before she left the room, before she started educating all the vampires, ghouls and other abominations that stood between her and the Antarctic surface, she gave her message to the camera and all the things that watched her through it.

"All things end."

End Hybrid Theory Book 2: Spark To A Flame

Deceived by my eyes and all I was told I should see Opinions not mine the person they taught me to be One night in the dark a vision of someone I knew And in the darkness I saw a voice say I'm you.

Inside me a light was turned on Then I was alive

(chorus) If you close your eyes your life a naked truth revealed Dreams you never lived and scars never healed In the darkness light will take you to the other side and find me waiting there you'll see if you just close your eyes

Hearts uninspired trapped inside somebody's dream Too close to the fire yet cold and so numb with the pain But the fever has broken and the river has run to the sea Washed to the ocean and saved by your voice inside me.

Inside me a light was turned on Then I was alive

(chorus)

Never thought I would be here so high in the air This is my unanswered prayer Defined by another so much wasted time Out of the darkness each breath that I take will be mine

(chorus)

If you just close your eyes...

-"Just Close Your Eyes", by Waterproof Blonde

It had been the mention of America that triggered it. A flash of memory about a man standing on a street corner with a suitcase. Nabiki had kept smiling, kept asking the right questions. But while her mouth moved on automatic, her mind had slipped into his mind like a midnight breeze. Unseen and unfelt she had plumbed the depths of his memory, dragging out the names of a dozen sleeper agents all across America. Foolish men and women, infatuated with the idea of living forever. People willing to kill for it.

It sickened her. Some things weren't worth any price.

So she had smiled and made terms with the man. She had promised to get in contact with two of the best free agents she knew. And she would. She was a woman of her word and always lived up to her end of the bargain. Those were the rules, after all. You couldn't win the game, if you didn't play by the rules.

Nabiki blinked suddenly and rose up in her bathtub. "Speaking of people who break the rules..." she grumbled and sighed. She didn't even know why she bothered keeping her 'bodyguards' around. Certainly she owed the old man a lot. But looking after two teenage martial artists for him was not her idea of fun.

At least the young, brash one with his skateboard and pigtail reminded her in an amused way of Ranma in his younger days. The other one, his taller, more serious older brother... he reminded Nabiki of... Nabiki shoke the feeling off.

Sometimes you win the game. Sometimes you lose. The game goes on.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 21: Opening


	21. Opening

- July 9, 1999, 12:00: Tokyo, Japan -

The crowd grew silent as the speaker walked up to the podium. The stage was made of marble, with fountains to each side that occasionally threw jets of water into the air. The park was green and healthy, symbolic of the great power of Chronos. In some places in Japan, the Great Famine still continued. As the man settled in at the podium he stood flanked on both sides by the almighty pillars.

They stretched into the sky like three great monuments. Each was hundreds and hundreds of stories high, the tallest buildings ever built by man. They were so large they could be seen from orbit, and their tops vanished into the misty clouds overhead. And yet they seemed small when seen behind this man, with his angular, noble features. He was tall and regal, wearing a long cloak with large decorative shoulder guards. He was flanked on the right by a beautiful young woman of Chinese descent. She had long black hair and wore a skirt-suit of white silk. Behind her sat four more young women, each as different as the other. They were each attractive, looking sharp in their colour-coded suits, despite their odd hair ornaments. The one in blue was fidgeting, but the green-haired one hit her lightly on the back of the head and she quieted down. On his left was the other guest, a shorter man in a similar outfit to the first, but he had long black hair, with a thin face and handsome lips. Behind him were a half-dozen other men in severe suits with equally severe expressions.

"People of Japan!" the speaker began, waving his hand across the gathered crowd, but really indicating the country as a whole. "I come before you today, to share in our victory. For seven years we have struggled together. I have asked you to sweat and bleed for this day, and in return I have done no less.

"Our people came to you in a time of great darkness. Monsters plagued your streets. Cults of foul demons stalked your cities. Together, they almost unmade your great island. Still the legacy of their defeat lingers. All of you have suffered because of the Great Famine. Fields in this country still lay fallow.

"Yet no man, woman or child has hungered while we were here to protect you. Our technicians each day reclaim more and more of your beautiful countryside. In the days since we have come to you, as liberators, as saviours, all who wished to provide for their families could. In seven years, there has not been a single monster attack. Zoanoids patrol the streets.

"For years, you have struggled to erect this..." He gestured behind him to the magnificent towers. "The Pillars of Heaven! They are a symbol not just of the majesty of Chronos, but of the all-powerful spirit of the people of Japan!" There was a cheer from the crowd, and the speaker smiled. "These towers are not just a symbol: they are a gateway to a new world! In these towers, we struggle every day with the secrets of our own destiny.

"We struggle to unlock the secrets of the human spirit. Many students have come to us, seeking knowledge. We give it freely to all who ask. Any who wish to can be taught the fundamentals of the martial arts, the legacy of your people. Even greater are the secrets of our very humanity. Zoanoids are but the first step in our collective ascension. Beyond them, we have mastered the art of the neo-zoanoid: the perfect blend of body and spirit!

"With these brave souls, we have saved the world. Where Chronos is master, there is no war. There is no poverty or disease. People walk freely on the streets. This was not always so.

"For seven years we have struggled with those who would foolishly resist us. Do not be fooled by their propaganda. The Americans speak of 'freedom' and 'justice', but where do they stand? They are a police state! Their paranoia is so great that they would threaten the entire earth with annihilation rather than surrender their grasp on power!

"So we leave them be. In seven years, Chronos has not once attacked American soil. Their citizens are free to enter and leave our domains as they please. And what are we answered with? Terrorism. Espionage. Murder!

"And they are the best this world has to offer? I think not! What difference is there between them and the foes we both despise? There are enemies that even Chronos can not eradicate. The necropoli of Europe, the religious fanatics of Rome, the tyranny of Shadowloo... all of you have heard of them.

"But Chronos has been your shield as well as your salvation. We have stood between you and the dark forces of the Earth. Most of the world is with us. Only fools and monsters dare to oppose us.

"This day, the anniversary of our ascendance in this world, marks not just a moment in time: it is the true beginning of the New Order. This day is the day we join together to climb to heaven! It is the day we look to the future! Let us one last time look back on the steps we have taken to get to this point, before we place it behind us forever!"

The crowd roared.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 21: Opening

-August 15th, 1992, 16:37: Kushiro, Japan-

Akira frowned and turned down the bill of her cap. The two zoanoids passed by without even glancing at her. They appeared human, at the moment, but there were always signs. Processing must have done something to them, because when they came out, every zoanoid looked alike. Not just in their battle forms, but in their human ones as well. The tells were subtle, but easy enough to spot.

Akira didn't really fear being recognised. She wasn't exactly the top figure on Chronos' hit list, plus she could pass herself off as a boy with very little effort. Tucking her hair up under a cap wasn't as dramatic as a black motorcycle helmet with a skull painted on it, but the principle was the same.

The Hokkaido waterfront was teeming with people at this time of day. Hundreds of refugees were pouring into the coastal city, trying to escape the famine that had spread up virtually overnight. Akira wasn't sure if it was the death of the aragami god, or some other thing, but the effects were profound. Nothing would grow, anywhere on the islands. Entire crops had died in the earth, long before there could be any harvest. The fields of Japan were supposed to be littered with the bodies of dead animals.

The only place to go was the cities. Chronos had stepped in immediately. Its people, always smiling and nodding, had appeared on every TV, spoken on every radio, walked to every damned village. They had food. They had water. They had safety.

Akira didn't blame people for buying it. What choice did they really have? There would be no foreign aid. Chronos was everywhere. And where it wasn't, there was only worse things.

And America.

But nobody had heard anything about them. Not since the explosion in New Mexico. The rumor was that it had been nuclear. Las Vegas was an atomic wasteland, so the stories went. It got worse with every telling. Akira figured at least the parts about zoalords personally laying waste to the entire west coast were exaggeration.

Akira turned suddenly and made her way through the crush of refugees and into a back alley. Here, in the dank, there was a marvelous lack of humanity. She stretched out a bit and walked down. Eventually she came to a set of stairs that led down to a small door.

She knocked properly and the door opened a crack. Then it opened wider and she slipped inside. The room was claustrophobia-inducing and poorly lit. Despite their best efforts, Chronos was still being overwhelmed by the sheer number of refugees. While they had food and water and medicine, anything beyond that was a second-rate priority. The power was kept off during most of the day except for essential services. The room they were in was lit by a few dozen candles.

Akira sniffed. Lilac. Nice.

"Glad you could make it," Akane said, grabbing her by the shoulder. The girl hadn't changed much since Tokyo. Other people in the room called out greetings as well. Kyosuke raised his hand to her, then his face fell when she looked away. It made her feel bad. Akane had told her that he didn't remember anything. She had told her that he couldn't be held responsible for what had happened.

But she couldn't forget. She reached up and brushed phantom fingers from her throat. She knew it wasn't fair, but there was just... it was just there between them now. Akira wondered if she should just tell him about it. Just get it all out in the open. But she agreed with Akane.

Some things people were better off not remembering.

"Is this it?" Akira asked after a moment and Akane winced. Akira immediately walked up to her and started apologising. She hadn't meant to say it like that! Akane only chuckled weakly and shook her head.

"This... is all that made it." Akane frowned. "Kusanagi and Momiji are up north, hiding in the mountains. He'd stick out like a sore thumb, unfortunately. Others weren't so lucky. Shoma and his brother were both taken. Natsu, Roberto and Nagare want to break them out... but..."

"But it's a trap." Akira pointed out.

Akane nodded. "It has to be."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Akane frowned. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Because you lead," a familiar voice said.

"Brother!" Akira cried joyfully. She threw herself at him and he caught her, returning her embrace with one arm. She let herself enjoy his warmth for a moment, then pulled away. Daigo spared her a smile.

"I brought you some cookies," Akira pointed out. She reached into her knapsack and pulled out a box for him.

He laughed. "Considering the rationing... do I really want to know how you got these?"

"Probably not..." He took them and shook them. They rattled hollowly and he raised his good eyebrow. "So I had a few..."

"Akira..."

"I left you three!" She indicated so with her fingers.

He chuckled. "I'll save them for later." He patted her on the shoulder. "I'm just glad you're safe." Then he frowned. "Though I don't approve of you running off without talking to me."

Akira chuckled and brushed his hand off nervously. "I was going to say goodbye. I just... got carried away."

"Right." Daigo crossed his arms. "This woman you're chasing after... do you love her?"

"BROTHER!" Akira protested, her cheeks burning.

"I bet she's hot," Edge pointed out to Gan.

"Huh?" Gan looked confused. He was so huge he had to sit down, and even then the top of his head kept brushing the ceiling. "I don't get it. I thought Akira was going after her boyfriend."

"Gan, Gan, Gan..." Edge made a helpless gesture with his palms. "Allow me to explain to you the exquisite beauty which is the lesbian lifestyle. First..."

Akira threw a candle, it cracked against his skull.

"You never answered my question," Daigo pointed out.

"I can't just answer something like that!" Akira insisted.

"Then I can't let you leave."

"Let?" Akira asked dangerously, raising her own eyebrow.

For a moment the two stared at each other, the tension in the air increasing. Then Akane was stepping between them.

"Calm down, you two," Akane pleaded. She turned to Daigo. "Whatever Akira's feelings are about Ukyou, she has the right to pursue them herself. Or would you stand in her way if she was a boy?"

Daigo considered this for a moment. "I just worry about you, sister," he explained. "I've talked to Akane about Ukyou and... well. I just don't want your heart to be broken."

"What, you don't have a problem with who I am?"

"Akira..." He coughed into his fist. "I think about the only person who hadn't figured it out was you."

"Oh..." Akira blinked. "Well... that makes me feel silly."

"So you're still leaving?" Akane asked. "We could still use a fighter like you."

"I am," Akira replied. "The only reason I came here was to sneak aboard one of the ships. I heard Chronos was slipping away any refugees it could, to reduce the strain on the relief efforts."

"Yeah." Akane crossed her arms. "Most of them are heading to Australia. China is a warzone, and Bison controls Thailand..." She trailed off.

"I could stay to help with Shoma, if you need me."

"No..." Akane frowned and looked down. "You need to get going now, before we make a mess."

"So, you are going after them?"

Akane frowned and looked at Daigo. He shrugged. "Don't look at me, Miss Tendo. I don't make a very good leader."

"Liar," Akane accused. Then she sighed. "Fine. We meet up with Natsu and the others at sunset. After that... we'll find some way of getting Shoma and his brother out."

"They'll be waiting for you. Probably with hyper-zoanoids. Maybe even a few of those neo-models."

"Like Kunou..." Akane gripped her fist. "I'll deal with that." She looked around at everyone. "If you want a leader, this is the kind of leader you get. I don't leave anyone behind. Ever. We all come back alive. That is my first official order, you hear that?"

Akira smiled as everyone cheered.

01010

- December 25th, 1992, 8:00: Mount Ararat, Turkey -

It was a cold, sunny day. The sun leaked through the clouds fitfully, beams slowly rolling across the land below. The three pilgrims worked their way up the mountain with the same casual inevitability. Their cloaks were pulled tight around their bodies. Their breath came out in soft clouds.

They came to the peak of the mountain and found a man standing there. He was tall and beautiful. His hair was short and blonde, with thick curls. His face was serene and inhuman, containing an alluring androgynous appeal with its rounded features and his delicately pointed ears. The eyes were perhaps too large for a human face, but they were full of such intensity that one could find no fault in them. He was dressed in a skin-tight blue suit with gold piping and a long cape that flapped in the wind. Up here, the wind was so loud that normal communication would have been next to impossible.

But the supplicants had no need for things as base as spoken words.

"My Lord Arkanphel," the lead pilgrim said, kneeling. The other two followed suit.

"Rise, I have no need of such displays," Arkanphel informed them. He turned to them and motioned them to their feet. The youngest and tallest of them did so first, followed in turn by his two companions. "You have come to me with news of the war?"

"It goes well," the one on the left said. He was shorter than his companions, with long black hair and hollow cheeks. On his forehead glittered a single jewel, embedded in his flesh. "Considering the amount of unanticipated opposition, we have still managed to pacify much of the world. Australia, Africa and South America are firmly under our control. There is passing resistance in much of what was Russia and China, but we plan on redirecting zoanoid forces from safely occupied areas to them as quickly as possible."

"I see..." Arkanphel frowned slightly. "And the rest of the world?"

Here, the zoalord hesitated. The leader stepped forward, sparing his companion the need to explain himself. "Amniculus is right to focus on the positives, my lord. Given the unexpected strength of the opposition, it's a wonder we captured as much territory as we did. Our forces emerged in those places as planned, striking with lightning speed from both within and without. Other places are much more resistant."

"Lord Arkanphel," the third zoalord stepped up, his voice rumbling loudly. "This would all be over much faster if we could just deploy our greatest weapons!" Arkanphel looked at him, raising a delicate eyebrow. "Even just three zoalords would be an unstoppable force! The Americans can only field forces of martial artists and a few psychics and mystics against us. While they can match hyper zoanoids in open combat they can't hope to stand against the full fury of a zoalord attack!"

"No, Gyro," Arkanphel said, gesturing dismissively. "The Americans have already demonstrated the willingness to unleash nuclear weapons not once but twice upon their own soil. Maybe if they had succeeded in destroying our Monument Valley installation I would allow a suitable reply, but they did not."

"Nuclear weapons are no match for a zoalord!" Gyro protested.

"No, they aren't," Amniculus agreed. "But those aren't the most powerful things we have to worry about. There is that woman, Tethys, and several other powerful demonic creatures in this world. If we weakened ourselves fighting the Americans openly, one of them might take advantage."

"Yes... and I can not afford to have a single zoalord destroyed." Arkanphel turned and looked across the valleys of the region.

"My lord, I suggest we leave the Americans be."

"Hmm? What is that, Purgstall?"

"If we aren't willing to dedicate the power it would take to crush them, then we should leave them alone. All we do by throwing more zoanoids at them is increase the number of casualties."

"You are soft, Purgstall," Gyro growled. "If we let them sit safely, they'll just breed more martial artists."

"You said it yourself," Purgstall countered quickly. "Nothing they have is a match for a zoalord. They learned that the hard way in Arizona. I don't think their President will be willing to commit his forces to any aggressive action. Not when he knows that attacking us directly is folly."

"What about you, Amniculus? Where do you stand?"

The black-haired zoalord thought for a moment. "I agree with Purgstall. We hold Monument Valley and a suitable buffer zone down to the Pacific, then shore up and make no moves against them. We can use Mexico as a border between our interests in South America and them."

"So be it," Arkanphel nodded. "And the other problems?"

"I'm afraid we won't be able to hold Europe, either." Purgstall frowned and rubbed his chin. "Even Valkus doesn't know how to deal with these vampires and their various abominations. Somebody is working for this 'Millennium', somebody with a brilliant mind for biogenetics." He paused for thought. "I think it best we deal with them now. I don't think conventional or even hyper zoanoids will be a match for this. Not even Valkus' neo-zoanoids will turn the tide. These undead creatures must be stopped!"

"Hypocrite," Gyro accused.

"These things aren't like the Americans!" Purgstall protested. "They are a threat to the very fabric of life. They aren't above using the most dangerous methods. I've heard reports of them tainting water with biological weapons, threatening nuclear attacks and worse!"

"We shall not attack them." Arkanphel declared.

"But, my lord-!"

"I have said it, and it is so," Arkanphel said with finality. "I've been in conversation with the leader of this cult. He sent an emissary to my chambers and we talked."

"What?" Amniculus coughed. "But how did he get past your defenses?"

"An interesting question," Arkanphel mused, "but irrelevant. The Major has assured me he has no interest in fighting Chronos directly, at least for the time being."

"Surely you don't believe him!" Purgstall protested. "He's a madman!"

"A predictable madman," Arkanphel pointed out. "In time, we will have to pacify him. But for the moment, he is a useful cat's paw. The French and the Iscariots are putting up remarkable resistance as well, are they not?" Arkanphel barely waited for an affirming nod. "Good. Withdraw from those countries near the land taken by Millennium. Cut them off and hem them in with enemies on all sides. Millennium will be such an implacable foe that they will not have time to concentrate on us. Covertly support the enemies of Millennium, to keep them just strong enough to resist."

"It seems risky. If you let me act, I will take responsibility..."

"I have said that I will not let a single zoalord perish, and I mean it!" Arkanphel snapped, his temper finally fraying. Purgstall whitened and he bowed his head. "You are too important to my long-term plans. Plans that will render this all moot. I don't care one whit about the insignificant squabbles of the arrogant nations of this world. Mundane warfare of this type annoys me." He crossed his arms and looked at them all again. "Purgstall, I trust you with leading the other zoalords and maintaining order in those places under our control. Amniculus, you command the army. Hem in the Americans and keep Millennium pacified. Deal with that upstart Bison in Thailand however you please." He turned and regarded Gyro for a long moment. "Gyro... you will be placed in charge of the neo-zoanoid project. Recruit all the martial artists Valkus needs. Those who resist, you kill. If there is a pest that conventional zoanoids can not deal with, you are in charge of dealing with it."

A thin, dangerous smile graced Gyro's lips for the briefest of moments. Then he bowed.

"Yes, my lord," all three said as one.

01010

- January 29th, 1993, 06:53: Ciudad Madero, Mexico -

Angel sat in the corner and waited to die. The classroom the monsters had placed them in had been stripped of all furniture; even the blackboards had been removed from the walls. A bucket sat in the corner for bodily functions, and occasionally, someone tossed food in the room for them to squabble over. The windows had been boarded over, leaving the prison an eerie twilight even in the middle of the day, and pitch black at nights.

Est ban had knocked one of the boards from the wall before the sun had risen one morning. He had found a flaw in one of the heavy boards they had used, but it had still been amazing when he had done it in one kick. Est ban said that he had worked for his parents on their farm, before the monsters had come. Angel thought he might have been a Libertador who had lied when they caught him. He was only 16 - not too suspicious. He had tried to persuade the others to escape with him, but most had been too scared. Angel had been scared too, but that wasn't the reason she didn't go when Est ban made his escape. She knew he would be caught.

The remaining eleven prisoners in the classroom had been forced to watch the zoanoid, one of the huge green ones, rip Est ban in two. The monsters hadn't given them any food that day. Nobody was very hungry, anyway.

Angel was the last one left. Three of them - the oldest ones left after Est ban - had been taken away two days ago. The zoanoid - he looked like a man at the time, but Angel knew better - that took them had laughed at the others.

"The rest of you are too young for processing," he'd laughed, and licked his lips. "Maybe they'll give you lot to us."

He'd been right. Two hours ago, there had still been eight of them. Then more men-zoanoids had come in. One at a time, they had looked at the huddled children, and then they would grab one and drag them off. Some of them cried. Some had struggled. A few had prayed loudly. Mar a-Rosa, the youngest girl - she'd just turned six, she had told Angel during one of the endless black nights - had started screaming and not stopped until after the zoanoid had dragged her from the room. Her then-muffled screams had stopped suddenly a few moments later.

Angel wasn't scared. She had been, a little, when they'd started taking them. But even if she couldn't keep her heart from jumping every time that door had opened, she wouldn't let herself be scared. Mama and Papa hadn't been scared. They'd been Libertadors, too. They'd said the Americans were coming to help them, that they'd meet the Americans when they came, having taken back the city from Chronos.

"Ej rcito Libertador del Madero," she whispered to herself. That's what they'd been part of. They'd been brave. They'd fought against the monsters that had taken over Mexico. She'd be brave, too, like them.

She knew Papa was gone. She'd watched. She hadn't seen what had happened to Mama, but she'd heard the scream, from under the bed where they'd told her to hide when the zoanoids had attacked. The night before, they'd been planning an attack, a big one, to take place on Constitution Day.

She counted on her fingers, though it was a little childish. It had been nine days since the zoanoids had taken her into custody. That meant it was a week before Constitution Day now.

She wrapped her arms around herself, though it wasn't very cold. Her parents had said the Americans had stopped advancing. All the Libertadors had been very angry and shouting about it for days. But they had been going to attack anyway. They were brave. Her father had been teaching Angel how to fight. When the zoanoid came for her, she'd fight. She'd be brave, too.

The door swung open.

Angel half-rose to her feet as the man stepped in. He was thin, with a sallow, pale face and slicked back, oily hair. He wore the same blue uniform all the man-zoanoids did, but not the helmet. He was grinning.

"Ah, and there you are," he said, his voice oily like his hair. "So tell me: what is your name, little girl?" His Spanish was thick and accented, almost hard to make out. But he spoke slowly enough for her to understand.

Angel didn't answer. She was brave. She wouldn't give him anything he wanted.

"Oh, a silent one, are you?" The zoanoid chuckled, moving forward. "Not for long. But I'm more polite than you. I am Dail, the commander."

Angel knew he wasn't, or he was only the commander of this camp. She'd seen the real commander make a speech on television once. He was a tall bald man, with a tattooed face and a huge bulge on his forehead. His name had been hard to pronounce.

She shook the thought aside, standing straighter. She wouldn't run away.

"Little girl, do you know why you were left here for last?" Dail smiled, not waiting for the answer she wouldn't give. "Because I picked you out. When I found out that Zoalord Krumeggnic had ordered all the detainees too young for processing to be executed, I realised this was a good chance to reward my men, who had worked so hard to smash the pathetic resistance in this sector. But not you, my pretty little white-haired orphan. You are MY reward, for working so hard."

Angel had her back to the wall. She wasn't scared; it just felt good to feel the rough concrete blocks at her back.

But a moment later, she couldn't help but be scared.

Dail smiled again, but this time his smile got wide, wider, wider than any smile should be, and his mouth was suddenly filled with long, sharp teeth. His hair dissolved away from his head as spikes emerged from his scalp. His face distended forward as he hunched over as if he was carrying a heavy weight; but even as he did bend, he was towering further and further over her until he was like a giant, and his uniform exploded off his body, which was now covered with green and brown scales and bony spines.

Angel had seen zoanoids, but never so close. Never ones that were going to kill her. She bit her lip to stop herself from screaming, but she couldn't stop the weakness in her legs, as she almost fell back into the corner. She couldn't stop shaking. She felt tears forming at the corner of her eyes, but blinked ferociously to keep them away as she tried to stand up straight again. She wouldn't cry. She'd be brave.

"It's no use, little girl," Dail laughed in his now-hissing voice. "You'll scream, when I pull off your limbs and eat your entrails! The only question is," he mused as he stepped towards her, "which limb will I start with?"

Angel couldn't do it. Her hands were clenched into fists, so hard it hurt, but she couldn't raise them above her stomach. The monster was stepping almost daintily towards her, its head brushing the ceiling, and she couldn't move. So she closed her eyes. She wouldn't scream. It would be easier not to scream if she couldn't see the gaping jaws or the tongue flickering towards her. She said a prayer. Not to be saved, because Papa had always told her God didn't grant selfish prayers, but for the hope that some day the Americans or someone else would stop the zoanoids.

And yet, salvation came anyway.

Her eyes were closed, so Angel didn't see what happened. She just knew that, after a moment, there was a strange sound, and she had not been touched by the zoanoid. It was a trick, she knew it was a trick, just to make her scream, but she opened her eyes anyway.

Dail had been dragged back halfway across the room, and was kneeling on the ground. One of his arms hung limply, the elbow twisted back so sharply that Angel thought it must be broken. The other was trying to claw at his attacker.

Angel stared, not quite believing, because the person attacking the zoanoid wasn't any older than she was. Maybe not even as old. But one arm was wrapped under the zoanoid's chin, forcing his head back and mouth closed, and the other had snapped onto the wrist of Dail's good arm, holding it away from his head. He had light brown hair, and his skin was pale, so pale he had to be a foreigner. He turned his face slightly, and Angel couldn't help but gasp, because the zoanoid must have hurt him badly... but no. His eye had been ripped out brutally, but the gashes in his face were dried, and no blood poured out. It must have been an older injury.

The boy smiled at her. Despite the struggles of the much larger monster, he didn't seem to be exerting himself at all. "Good morning, Angel." His Spanish was perfect; he could have grown up in the same neighbourhood.

But he hadn't. She'd never seen the boy before. And yet, he knew her name? She hadn't told anyone her name, not since the battle where her parents had died. It was the only thing she had left of them; she didn't want to give it up. But this boy knew it.

The boy nodded at her. "I will explain later. But right now, Angel, I need your help."

"M-me?" she said, speaking before she thought. The boy smiled at her again.

"Yes. You see, I cannot kill this beast. It is not my way. And yet, I can't leave it here to summon its friends."

His gaze travelled downwards. Angel looked down as well. There was a knife on the floor. At first she thought it was, anyway, but looking closer, it was very strange-looking. Almost like a huge thorn, but with a handle.

"Don't worry," the boy said. "That weapon will surely pierce even the hide of a zoanoid. Please, Angel, if you-"

He cut off abruptly. Dail spasmed. Angel paused. She stared at the hands holding the thorn-knife, which was buried deep in the exposed throat of the snake-like zoanoid. The small, tanned hands were shaking slightly, covered in the red blood that spurted from the wound. After a moment, she realised the blood-covered hands were hers, and then she remembered grabbing the knife even as he had spoken.

She wanted to be happy. She wanted to be angry. She was brave. She'd taken her opportunity. But her hands were shaking, and they wouldn't stop even after the zoanoid's body spasmed convulsively one last time, then went limp. The boy tossed the body to the side. The knife was torn from her hands when that happened, but they were still held forward, still shaking. Angel tried to stop them. But they wouldn't. She wouldn't. She was shaking, and couldn't stop. She felt the wetness at the corner of her eyes again, but she couldn't blink it away now.

So she looked up. The boy was there, looking down at her. He was smiling slightly, but his one remaining eye was cold and glassy. Not cold like the reptilian eyes of Dail had been, but cold like... like space. Like something a thousand years and a thousand miles away.

He wasn't taller than her, she suddenly realised. They were about the same height. But he was looking down at her. Because his feet weren't touching the floor. She stared at them, floating a foot above the filthy, blood-soaked tiles, and then raised her eyes to his again.

"Are you an angel?" In the Bible, God had sent angels, long ago, to punish the wicked of Egypt. She couldn't think of what else he could be.

The boy laughed slightly. "No, that's you."

"How did you know my name?" It sounded stupid to her as she asked, but it was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

"Because I've been looking for you, Angel." He turned, and walked on the air. "Come. Let's get out of this place."

Angel followed the boy out the door. When she emerged into the morning sunlight, she stared. The camp was deserted and silent. But not empty. Giant plants had grown from the sandy soil. They weren't trees, or anything else Angel had seen: huge flowers, purple and green vines, and huge stems that ended in bulbous mouths and gnashing teeth. Here and there around the plants were remnants of Chronos uniforms; a broken helmet was there, and several large damp spots dotted the ground.

Angel looked down at her hands. The blood was gone now, having disappeared sometime. She remembered seeing the body of Dail dissolving, out of the corner of her eye, when she left the room. Her stomach lurched, but there was nothing in it to come up.

A woman was walking towards them. She looked foreign too, but Asian, and was wearing strange, colourful clothes. She looked at Angel once, and then said something in some language to the boy. He replied to her in the same language, then waved her away. She shrugged and moved back towards one of the plants. Then the boy turned to Angel again.

"Angel, what happens now is up to you." He waited for a moment, but she was silent, so he went on, "I came here looking for you. But you aren't my servant. If you do not wish to follow me, I'll take you to America. You'll be safe there."

"But... who are you?" Angel didn't like the sound of her own voice. It didn't sound brave; it was weak and scared and uncertain. She didn't want to feel like that.

"I am called Chris," he said in a voice that contained no trepidation, no hint of impurity, no human doubt.

"What... what can someone like me do for you?"

Chris turned away, staring towards the rising sun. "I can't tell you that now, Angel. I can only tell you that it's important for me, but it will be extremely hard for you. And because it will be so hard, I won't force you. Again, if you want, I'll take you to America and to people who will take care of you. You can grow up and be whatever you want, and you will be safe."

Angel stared at the back of the boy. She'd never been to America, though she'd always wanted to go someday. She'd been excited when Mama told her the Americans were coming; she'd wanted to meet one.

But they hadn't come.

They hadn't saved her parents. They'd abandoned them to the monsters. Maybe they'd wanted to come, but they still hadn't.

"I want to come with you!"

Chris didn't move. "Are you certain? I will offer you the choice to leave me three times, Angel. Three times, and no more. Each time, it will be harder for you if you stay. Don't stay because of what I did for you. You will be happier-"

For the second time, Angel cut off his speech. "I don't care! I want to help you! Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it!"

And now he turned back to her, and he was smiling again. "Very well. Then we should leave, before the monsters come."

01010

- February 2nd, 1993, 13:21: Southtown, United States of America -

Shingo Tsukino tried not to cry. He rubbed his sleeve against his nose and sniffed loudly. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going. He was just walking, towards where he had no idea.

No, it wasn't towards anything. He was walking away, no, running away... he was running away from them. He passed by a group of young men lounging on the side of a building. They didn't even give him a second glance. He was just another kid, one of many that lived in the city these days. They were young toughs, the kind that would have probably wanted to make trouble only a year ago. But today Southtown was peaceful. These days, you couldn't start a fight if you tried.

The S.T.A.R.S. were here. Shingo looked up and saw one walking down a side street. The blue uniform, with the golden patch on both shoulders. Everyone gave the woman a wide berth. Everyone stared at her in awe. They knew. They knew she was the only thing standing between them and darkness. The horror stories were retold daily. Raccoon City. Arizona. Nevada. Nobody wanted to make trouble because that would draw the ire of the supermen that were saving the world. The thin blue line between them and chaos.

Shingo cursed and kicked a stray can. He hadn't really been aiming at her, but the aluminum missile flew with terrifying accuracy right at her. Shingo felt his heart stop. Why couldn't he have been that accurate yesterday?

The woman's hand snapped up and caught the can without her even looking. Her fingers curled around it, cracking the thin metal. She paused and looked at him. Shingo stared back, his heart beating a mile a minute. She was beautiful, with blonde hair in a short bob cut and a face that seemed open and honest. She narrowed her fetching blue eyes and walked towards him. He was rooted to the spot. He was afraid.

She said something to him, but it was in English. He suddenly felt his fear dissolve. He had been here almost a year now and he still barely could say 'hello'! God, he hated this country! He hated this stupid language with its rules that kept changing with every sentence! He hated being left out!

"SHUT UP YOU FOREIGNER BIMBO!" he screamed at her, tears streaming down his cheek.

Her eyes narrowed. Shingo stared defiantly back at her. Then she smiled unpleasantly and began speaking in accented but perfectly understandable Japanese. "Because you're obviously a refugee, I'll let that one pass, kid."

Shingo was so surprised by this that he felt his anger fading away. He tried to grab onto it, but it just slipped through his fingers like mist. The woman knelt down in front of him. "I heard about your homeland. Tough break, kid. But that's no reason to take it out on us."

"I..." He sighed. "I'm not angry because of that." He grit his teeth. "I'm angry because I can't DO anything about it!"

"Hmm?" she murmured, tilting her head to the side.

"My sister is over there fighting them!" he declared. "She was one of the ones that stayed behind! She had powers! She could fight monsters!" He clenched his fists and stared at the ground, the tears now beginning to blur his vision. "And what am I doing? I'm stuck here while she could be dying! I'm not doing anything but running away!"

"You're too hard on yourself, kid-"

"MY NAME IS SHINGO TSUKINO!" he declared defiantly. "I'm sick of running away! I want to do something about it. Ukyou wouldn't have run away! He was a man! He would have stayed and fought!"

"Ukyou?" The woman waved that aside. "Listen, ki... Shingo. We're making a scene. Come on inside, I'll buy you a drink."

It wasn't an invitation. She grabbed him by one ear and dragged him into what he realised was a bar only after the cigarette smoke hit his nostrils. He yelled and protested and tried not to cry harder as she dragged him up to the bar, bodily lifted him onto a stool and only released him once she was also sitting.

She ordered something from the greasy-looking bartender while he sat and fumed. A moment later she shoved it into his hand and he took a drink. It tasted bitter, but not unpleasant.

"Name's Mary, kid," the woman introduced herself. "Most people call me Blue Mary, but seeing as how you're a brat, you can stick to Mary."

"Mary..." He felt better already. Kind of mellow now that he was inside and talking to someone who wasn't treating him TOO much like a kid.

"I can understand what you feel, Shingo," she explained, downing a can of beer in one gulp and giving a loud sigh when she was finished. "It's hard watching people you care about fight and being unable to do anything about it. That's why I joined S.T.A.R.S."

"But you can fight, you have special powers or something..." he murmured. He took another few drinks and felt a bit better.

"Nothing you can't get from years of hard work, Shingo." She smiled and flexed. "Listen, this is kind of a secret, but they have a special school here. We're teaching kids about your age how to-"

"I know," he cut her off. "I... was turned down."

"Turned down?" She blinked.

"Doctor Tofu did my tests personally." He took another drink. He wasn't even noticing the taste by now. "He's a... well, not old friend of the family..." He laughed, although he wasn't really sure what was funny about that. "He said I have potential... but not enough." He sneered and swung his glass, swaying on the stool. Mary steadied him with one hand. "HAH! Apparently everyone has potential! Lots of potential! But... BUT... BUT BUT BUT! They only have time for the BEST, you see. Only the best. No second stringers. No losers!" He laughed again.

"Shingo, I'm sorry to hear that." She paused. "You have to understand that there are only so many people we can spare to teach. Chronos may have let up the pressure, but there are worse things. Shadowloo agents. Millennium sleeper cells. Darkstalkers in the forests. Every martial artist is a valuable asset at this point. Maybe in a few years..."

"Hah... HAH!" He blinked at her. Why was Mary sitting on both sides of the stool? "I don't HAVE a few years!"

"I... well, maybe I can spare some time to give you a few pointers and... Shingo?" Shingo was having a hard time focusing on her words now. "Ah, man. I think that was a little too strong for you. Sorry kid, guess I should-" Her voice cut off as the bar rapidly rose to meet Shingo's face.

It must have been some time later when he woke up because it was dark out. He moaned and clutched his head, sitting up in bed. At first he thought the loud crashes were coming from inside his skull, then he saw the flash of lightning outside. A few second later the thunder rolled again and he moaned, clutching his delicate ears. Just what he needed right now.

He glanced around. He was back in his own room. It was small, barely big enough to fit his bed and a modest desk for study. He rolled over and sat up, still clutching his head. Damn, what had that devil foreigner woman done to him?

There was a sudden bang and Shingo started. The window had flown open. He stared at it, as the rain began to fall inside. He realised he should get up and close it, but he hurt too much to.

"Ukyou would do it..." He murmured. Ukyou was something of an idol to him. Ukyou might not have been the most famous martial artist, not anymore. But he had been the first. The first big break out. A man in black who didn't take crap from anyone. A man who dealt with his enemies up front and personal. He had never met Ukyou, but that only magnified the mystique. Dr. Tofu refused to talk about him, and neither did Genma or Soun or anyone else who had actually met him. Well, except old lady Saotome. But she only complained about Ukyou doing cool stuff. Adults didn't get it.

Sighing, Shingo walked over to the window, getting his pyjamas wet. "I wish I could be as strong as Ukyou..." he murmured as he reached for the window.

"That, my boy, can be arranged." Shingo screamed and fell back as a dark figure with glowing white eyes appeared in the window. There was a flash of thunder and the newcomer's white teeth gleamed as he smiled down at the boy. "In fact, I think we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement."

01010

- May 26th, 1993, 17:03: Ohtori Academy, Japan -

"Ami, we don't have to do this!"

So it had begun.

The book she had been holding - she couldn't even remember the title - fell from her loose fingers to clatter on the ground. Ami opened her eyes as she turned around, the blinding headlights of the red sports car setting her shadow dancing across the surface of the dueling arena. The head of her shade rested directly before Usagi's feet.

Ami almost smirked at the poetic imagery of it. Games. Akio's games, no doubt. Nothing here was real. Nothing except herself, and her companion, and Usagi, and the Rose Bride. They fought in a battlefield of no more substance than a daydream. Her visor let her see it, but also see through it, as if it were no more than a light fog. She reached up to touch the side of her visor, and the memories flooded into her, viciously, like a stream of icy water-

"I don't know what to do." She was at the airport again, and Akane was in front of her. The magic of her visor screened out the distortions of the youma's attack, but Akane could only close her eyes to fight off the vertigo. She was helpless, but she was still fighting. She was relying on Ami to help her. Ami, who had never started a fight in her life, whose reaction to bullies at schools had always been quiet acquiescence. "I don't know the first thing about fighting," she protested.

"Don't let your confidence waver!" Akane shot back, but gently. There was a strength in that voice, the strength that came from knowing you were fighting for your sister and for your friends. "I believe in you. I trust you won't let me down."

"Ami!" Usagi's voice sounded desperate now. Tears glittered in the corner of her eyes. "Please listen to me! You have to see-"

With a sudden, savage jerk, Ami ripped the visor from her eyes. The blue crystal cracked in her grasp, and a hot pain ripped through her palm. She hurled it to the ground, savouring the pain of it, looking around at the illusion Akio had created, that now seemed as real as anything in the world could be. "I see perfectly fine, Usagi." Ami said calmly, as her blood dripped on the stone tiles. "Let's begin."

Miki had moved up next to her without her noticing. He grasped her, turning her to the side. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she fell back into his cradling embrace. His hand hovered directly over her chest, cupped over the blue crystal brooch of her Senshi uniform. A light, like moonlight reflected from a dark ocean, began to flow into his hands. Ami knew what was happening next. She closed her eyes, picturing the sword coming, and instead-

"Pathetic," the zoanoid sneered. The long sword of his arms slowly moved forward, the humming edge of the blade forcing Ami against the wall. "At least attempt to put up a fight!"

What was Ami supposed to do? She had done all she could. She had created her fog, and the creature had laughed at her. She had tried to flee, and it had run her down. She had tried to fight, and it had kicked her to the floor with contemptuous ease.

"I can't believe that I, Thancrus of the Hyper Zoanoid Team 5, have been wasted on such as you! Without your friends, you're nothing, little girl! Nothing!"

Ami opened her eyes when her hands settled on the hilt of her sword. She stood up straight, allowing Miki to vanish back into the background. Makoto's sword, she had been told, was a simple oaken practice sword. But not Ami's. Hers was a work of art, an impossibly precious and delicate rapier of coral and seafoam. It was as insubstantial as the dreams they fought in, but just as powerful.

She pointed it at Usagi. "Draw your sword, Sailor Moon."

Anthy reached around from behind Usagi, her hand reaching for the girl's heart. Usagi closed her eyes and fell back, and suddenly her power exploded around her. Ami could barely keep her footing as Usagi's sword was summoned. She had almost forgotten what it was like-

"No need," Shampoo said. "Run. Either we enough, or nobody enough." And then she and Sailor Moon were gone, leaving Ami and the others sitting at the base of the Chronos mountain. The old woman was still unconscious. The twins muttered to each other in a corner. Makoto looked furious with herself for not acting when the others had returned to fight the monster Gyro to save Akane. Rei... Ami couldn't tell what Rei was thinking. She didn't really know Rei well enough. But if she had to guess, she would have thought Rei was afraid, but not of the same things they were.

And time dragged on. For what could not have been more than minutes but seemed like hours, nothing changed. And then...

The power exploded over their head. It was pure. It was immeasurable. It was Good. There was no other word that fit. It was all things warm and beautiful. And Ami gasped, realising with awe that she was, in some small way, connected to it.

And then came her voice, ringing through their heads, through the room, through the entire mountain. Ami could almost see her struggling.

"No... I can't do it alone!" Sailor Moon screamed. "I need your help! Everyone! Please! Help me!"

And Ami raised her wand to the sky, and knew that this was her Purpose. To be there when the Princess needed her. To be a pillar on which she climbed to Heaven.

Usagi's sword, of course, was far grander. Far grander, in fact, than any other sword in this world or all others. Looking at it, you knew somehow that it was that primordial sword, the ur-sword, the sword beside which all others were revealed to be nothing but pale imitations.

Ami yelled as she lunged forward and attacked. It felt good. And for the briefest of moments, she drove Usagi back. But that was only because Usagi had not been willing to strike the first blow. Slowly, step by step, Ami was forced to retreat. She bit her lip as one barely-blocked blow shuddered through her body like a wave. Resisting Usagi was like resisting a force of nature. But then Usagi's attacks ceased.

"It's not too late," Sailor Moon pleaded. The pitying look in her eyes reminded Ami-

"Aren't you going to say hi?" Akane whispered, and there was pity in her eyes.

Ami tried to smile. She was used to this. Her mother had sat her down and explained this to her many years ago. She was a doctor. A healer. An important person. People NEEDED her. And sometimes that meant she needed to go away, even when Ami wanted her. It was hard. But because she did, people lived.

"She's busy," Ami said calmly, watching as her mother expertly tended to the injuries of Akane's father. They had only been separated for a few days. Ami could wait a little longer. People NEEDED her mother, after all. "I'll give her a hug when she's finished with your father."

Ami leaped away from Usagi. She clenched her sword, the hilt slick with her blood and sweat and seawater. "I never thought I could overcome you like that, Usagi. You've always been stronger; I knew that. But I don't... I WON'T believe battles are only won from strength!"

Kozue had taught her that.

And as Ami's hands whipped apart and she summoned her magic, she remember the day she hadn't been willing-

"You don't deserve Miki."

Ami clutched her cheek; it was warm where the girl had struck her. Ami knew she was Miki's little sister; the resemblance was remarkable. But where Miki's face was kind and noble and accepting of a girl who had been thrust into a situation she didn't understand, Kozue Kaoru's expression held only contempt.

"You don't have the guts Miki needs." she sneered. "You don't have the strength."

And for a moment, Ami's cheek flushed again, but this time with anger. Who was this junior high school girl to tell her she didn't have strength? She was a Sailor Senshi! She'd fought monsters that would make Kozue white with fear! She could transform right now and show her-

What was she thinking? She couldn't do that. That wasn't what she had been given her power for. She had been given it to...

...protect people. Not hurt them.

And then Kozue turned her back on her. "Stay there on the floor. Don't get near Miki again, or you'll get worse next time."

Ami heard's Usagi's cry of alarm as the fog filled the arena. She dashed forward. It wasn't quite that Ami could see through the fog she created: it was that it was HERS. She didn't need to see, when she walked through the mists of her magic: she simply knew where the enemy was.

And Usagi did not.

Usagi screamed again as Ami's sword appeared from the opaque mists and slashed out at her. The strike missed her golden brooch by centimeters, and a strip of her collar fluttered away. Usagi tried to strike back, but Ami merely melted away into darkness again and waited for her next opportunity to strike.

There was nobody here to help Usagi. Not like Ami had helped Akane. There was no pillars left for her to lean on, now. Ami smiled-

"Your smile," Akio said, leaning back in the red sports car. His long hair and his open shirt flapped in the wind. The street lights were coming by faster and faster. "It is pleasant, even if it is an illusion."

"What are you talking about?" Ami asked cautiously. She glanced back. Miki sat in the back seat, his arms huddled around himself. He had looked miserable ever since he had dragged Ami out in the middle of the night for this ride with the Chairman.

It was a trap, of course. Ami knew that. Akio had told her as much, casually, when he had arrived. But walking into a trap with eyes open, one could discern its mechanism. This wasn't real. Akio couldn't hurt her. She knew that.

"I'm talking about this life you've created for yourself, of course," Akio said smoothly. He wasn't even looking at the road anymore; instead, his gaze was directed upwards, at the stars. "Isn't that planet up there yours, Sailor Mercury?"

Ami looked. She had studied astronomy, and knew he was looking in the right general region, even if she couldn't be certain without a telescope. She said as much, and he laughed.

"The problem with Mercury is that it is so small, its light is difficult to see without special equipment. But Mercury is one of the most interesting planets. It is the one nearest to the Sun, after all. And the Sun is the source of life. So, naturally, one would think that Mercury would be the strongest of all. But it is too close to the Sun. Instead of being the strongest, it's been worn down so much by that closeness that it barely shines at all." He shifted the gears, sending the car hurtling forward even faster. "Perhaps, if Mercury moved away from the Sun, its light would shine so strongly that all the people of the world would look up at it for guidance."

Ami leaned back in the chair, the wind whipping her hair around her face. "I think Mercury is happy where it is. It knows its place in the cosmos."

"Ah, is that right?" Akio mused.

A hand brushed against Ami's cheek. She gasped, and the pale hand darted away. She turned to stare, but Miki's face was looking away from hers. He was flushed.

"Not everyone can survive being so close to the Sun," Akio said. Ami looked back at him, just as he grabbed the top of the windshield and he was flipping over it and the street lamps were coming so fast that they were a strobe light and somehow the car was going faster and faster...

Ami struck, and Usagi staggered backwards, a few golden hairs flying through the air. She retreated as Usagi clumsily counterattacked, ducked under her guard and lunged again. This time Usagi fell to one knee. But still she blocked Ami's follow-up. The two of them strained for a moment, and Ami could see the tears flowing from Usagi's eyes.

But they weren't for Usagi's own plight.

They were for Ami.

They were pleading for her to stop.

Ami felt rage flow through her, and she snarled-

Kozue was buried halfway through the wall. Plaster clattered to the floor around her, and dust filled the air enough to obscure her crumpled form. Ami was breathing heavily, standing there. Her fist was shaking. It hurt. But it was somehow the best pain she had ever felt.

"Kozue!"

Ami raised her hand, blocking Miki's path to his sister. He was white- faced and shaking. But there was something in his eyes as he looked at Ami, too. Something that had been there since the car, since he had seen her transform into Sailor Mercury.

It was what had been missing from his eyes all along. It was the weakness, the holding back, that his immature clinging to his dream about Kozue had instilled in him.

But there was a new dream shining in his eyes now, and Kozue had no part of it. His eyes were those of an adult now. And Ami knew her own eyes shone just like his. They moved towards each other, and touched as if for the first time.

With a scream, Ami hurled Usagi back. Her sword dropped to the ground as she fell. Ami realised, she KNEW, that this was it! This was the moment! If she could only cut off Sailor Moon's transformation brooch, if she could seize the victory before her, her destiny would change!

"You don't have the strength to stand alone, Sailor Moon!" Ami screamed, and it felt good, better than good. "You needed Akane! You needed Shampoo! You needed Rei! You needed Makoto! You needed me! But now all of us are gone! We didn't need you! How do you plan on making your dream come true without anyone to stand on to reach it?"

Usagi raised to one knee, and her hand rested on the hilt of her sword. There were no tears in her eyes now. Her face was set in firm, unyielding lines. "I will find a way."

Usagi could not possibly defend herself in time. Ami's blow was already falling towards her.

And then there was blinding light in her eyes. She gasped painfully, and felt her sword deflect harmlessly off the facets of the silver crystal. She staggered back, holding up her hand to block the light. But then another beam of light struck her, and another, and another, from all sides, and she realised they were the headlights of the car, and there were hundreds, surrounding her. She stood in the halo of light, blinded, and she felt her fog burning away and she tried to raise her sword to defend herself as she stepped backward and...

She heard Usagi's yell, and there was a feeling like wind passing over her skin, and something fell from her chest and clattered to the ground.

All at once, the lights went out.

Amy sank to her knees. And as she did, she felt the power of Sailor Mercury leave her with a dreadful finality. She stared for a long moment at the transformation pen that lay on the ground before her. It had snapped in two.

Usagi was walking back to join the Rose Bride. She had, at some point when Ami had been blinded, transformed again. She was now clad in a long silver gown with golden trim.

Miki was beside Ami now, but didn't have the courage to speak. Usagi turned back, and her gaze was full of compassion and love and all things warm and beautiful.

"Don't worry, Ami. I understand now. You don't have to fight for me anymore. Nobody needs to sacrifice themselves for my dreams."

And then she left, and Ami collapsed to the ground, clutching herself, and even Miki's warm comforts couldn't stop her crying for a long, long time.

01010

- November 19th, 1993, 01:21: Beloretsk, Russia -

The snow was coming down heavily outside, and the tiny fire seemed impotent against it. Donovan stood in the doorway, looking out into the deserted streets of the city. In the distance, the Ural Mountains loomed, fading in and out through the heavy snow. The city itself faded beneath the blanket of white. The only sign of life was the two sets of footprints that led up to this door. Even those were fading as the heavy snow consumed everything.

Donovan made the superior sign of the Buddha and the beads on his shoulder floated into the air. Small arcs of blue lightning flashed and licked across the softball-sized beads as they slowly floated apart and began to encircle the small home on the outskirts of what had once been a thriving town. Donovan closed his eyes and chanted sutras, the force of his holy conviction only fueled by his demon blood. The beads settled around the house, a chain of blue electricity forming. The orbs settled into the snow like corpse heads, and with a single blinding flash the energy field stopped. Donovan opened his eyes. Nothing would get in this house without his knowledge or consent tonight.

He turned and closed the door behind him. Anita was sitting next to the fire, her head bowed. Her large brown eyes were fixed on him. As usual, he could not determine the emotion behind her gaze. She still clutched the headless doll to her breast. He frowned and walked to the fire himself.

He sat against the wall, folding his legs before him and resting the massive demon blade Dylek across his knees. Then he placed his elbows on the shining metal and raised his hands before he began a few simple prayers. It was a poor position to start a battle from, but he was confident he would have enough warning from his barrier to react appropriately.

Anita continued looking at him, her doe-like eyes enigmatic. He frowned at her. "Get some sleep," he prompted. She just looked at him. As usual, she didn't speak. She hadn't spoken since he had met her. Since he had saved her from the darkstalker that had slaughtered her entire family, her entire village, in front of her. The demon had been inhabiting the straw doll she carried, feeding off her life energy. It had grown incredibly powerful, for Anita was something special. Donovan had once consulted a bodhisattva about her and the great sage had nodded and spoken of her destiny. Anita was a chosen one, a prophet. Perhaps the next great prophet of God? The wise man had not known.

Ever since, Donovan had been looking after her. It struck him as unwise, to take such a small child into such constant danger. Living as a hunter of the creatures of the night was not the safest occupation, especially not these days. The demons no longer confined themselves to deep forests and back alleys. They ruled the lands openly. They rallied armies of abominations and made war on each other.

Donovan had been busy the last few years. In his wake he left nothing but dead monsters. He did not care where they hid, or what fortresses they constructed. With his holy power, his demon blood and the dark blade Dylek he tracked them down and slew them. He did this without asking for reward or approval. He knew there were others out there who would not lift a finger to save a thousand lives unless there was money to be had. There was that Tendo woman, for instance. She was obviously concerned only with the wealth of her 'clients'... but since all the clients she had referred him to had been in dire need of salvation, he journeyed where she bid.

Now, that might well be the death of him.

Anita leaned back, her child's face lit eerily by the flames. She could sense his disquiet, his anticipation. She knew they were being hunted. When he had first arrived in this frigid city, he had thought that the Tendo woman might have sent him here to deal with a Millennium raiding party. The undead war machine was known to send out such units from time to time. Their relentless push eastward into China had left too many dead towns in their wake. Even Donovan could not stand in front of their marching armies. But a raiding party? Maybe a half dozen freak chip vampires, a horde of ghouls and zombies and whatever twisted mutants their scientists had wanted to test? Donovan knew he could hold his own against such odds.

But Beloretsk had not been destroyed by vampires. The town had been quiet when he had arrived. Even the wind had died, letting the snow fall in silent sheets onto the ground. There had not been a single thing alive in the town, no people, no animals, no plants. Donovan had stepped into the place and felt a chill run down his spine. It had taken him a moment to identify it. The very spirit of this place was dead. Not twisted and tainted like the places where the undead dwelled too long. Just dead. Whatever plague had struck this place, it had been quite thorough.

And it wasn't gone.

Donovan looked up sharply.

"Anita, get behind me."

The girl responded slowly, but with simple efficiency. Donovan did not rise. Instead he closed his eyes and chanted. The words were prayers handed down through his order for centuries, sacred sutras passed down to mortal hands by the divine Buddha. As he chanted the barrier leapt to life. Through the cracks in the door, blue light flooded. It pushed its way through the walls. It burned its way past his eyelids. He felt Anita shift uncomfortably. Sweat rolled down Donovan's brow as he chanted. Faster and faster the words came, but always in a clear and precise voice.

Hours passed.

What kind of enemy was this? The pressure on the barrier had not relented. It had not increased or decreased or varied in the slightest. It was just constant. The unyielding force of it was maddening. It was like trying to hold back the ocean, like trying to lift up an entire mountain range. Finally Donovan missed a word.

The barrier buckled instantly. The light flashed once, brighter than before, then died.

Donovan stood up. The demon blade Dylek floated up in front of him. He made a sign with his hands and the monstrously curved tip of the weapon rose to point at the door. The thick metal blade gleamed, the elaborate runes along its edge flickering with shadows. The curved-in top of the blade was serrated with long spikes on the inside, and the carved eye on top of it gave the entire weapon the semblance of life. The weapon quivered as it floated in mid-air.

Donovan narrowed his eyes and made another gesture, chaining the weapon with his will. Dylek was a terrible weapon. Not really a blade, but a demon in the form of a sword. It delighted in slaughter and death. It had taken all of Donovan's considerable skill and conviction to chain the weapon to his will and turn it against the enemies of man. As a monster slayer, the blade had no equal. As a dealer of death, it was unmatched. And yet the demon blade was afraid.

The door opened and the enemy walked into the room. Donovan had long since learned not to be deceived by appearances, but even he was taken aback by the child before him. She was short, thin, with a body that couldn't have been more than ten years old. Her face was beautiful: serene, even. She had large eyes the colour of tarnished bronze and short black hair that fell softly to her neck. Her outfit was as pale as the snows outside: white collar and skirt, boots and gloves over a leotard of shining white material. On her back, just behind her neck, was a huge bow of bleached white, with long ribbons that hung down to her knees. The only colour came from the eight-pointed crystal star that hung just above her chest, a star that glowed faintly purple. The entire outfit was torn and shredded, as if it had been dragged across a rough surface for a long, long time.

The child looked up at him. Her flesh was pale, the white of a skin without life, like that of a vampire. But a red line traced its way down her cheek, edging along her nose and dripping from the end of her chin. It was blood, blood that welled constantly from a symbol carved into her forehead. Donovan was fairly certain that the inverted 'h' was a symbol of Saturn, a Greek god.

"Leave this place," he ordered.

"Do not resist," she replied, stepping further into the room. "I am the messenger of God. He has sent me to you, Donovan Baine. I have come to deliver you from this life of agony into which you were born."

"How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"I told you, I am the messenger of God." She stretched out her hands, a gesture of peace. "You desire release. All your life you have struggled, Donovan Baine. Born the half-breed bastard of a demon, you have always felt the call of your heritage. It has filled you with rage and pain, with a constant desire to hunt and kill. You have turned to religion for relief, but it has never helped."

"I am a master of myself," Donovan informed her.

"You are lying to yourself." The girl looked at him, and her look was filled with such pity and remorse that Donovan felt his resolve crumbling. That was not the expression of a monster. "What have your chants done for you, Donovan Baine? How much has your prayer saved you? All your discipline, all your torment, it has done nothing to calm the demon in your blood. That is why you have taken up this life. That is why you struggle. Not to save the lives of the humans, but to revel in the bloodshed. You direct your rage and pain against the demons, but for you it is never enough."

"I will not listen to your lies," Donovan proclaimed, but his voice wavered. His hand was shaking. Sweat was pouring down his cheeks. How could she see so far into his heart? How could she know his secret doubts? He had mastered disciplines that should have rendered him immune to the mind tricks of demons, but this girl was saying things he had not been willing to say even to Anita... the girl whom he had slowly come to tell everything.

"The Great Buddha teaches us that life is suffering. Only by surrendering ourselves can we achieve happiness. By clinging to this life, by struggling and fighting and hating, we only prolong our pain and the pain of the world. Why do you turn your back on his teachings? Do not fear me. I am a messenger of peace. I bring an end to pain. I bring a release from this world."

"SILENCE!" Donovan roared and gestured sharply. Dylek leapt forward, screaming through the air so fast it blurred. The girl raised one hand and caught the handle of the blade. Donovan stared as the girl looked at the weapon.

"Dylek does not follow you because you defeated it, Donovan Baine," she told him. "It follows you because it recognises an evil greater than itself. It wishes to see you continue this fruitless crusade until your heart is so deep in shadow that when you turn around you will never find your way out." As Donovan watched, the colour began to seep from the blade. The shine of the weapon began to vanish, a creeping dullness that ran up the edge of the blade. Dylek twisted and snapped in her grasp, but could not get away. "But with me, it can serve a much greater purpose. The instrument of my power was taken from me, hidden from me somewhere on this globe. Until I find it, I can not bring peace to everyone. Until then, this shall do as a suitable replacement."

"NO!" Donovan gestured sharply and flames rushed out. The girl twisted the blade, parrying the flames which vanished as they touched the sword. Another gesture and Donovan summoned ice, raining slick spikes down on her. She gestured and the blade floated from her grasp, spinning above her head as the ice too vanished into smoke. Donovan clapped his hands together and changed stances, and lightning flashed around him. It struck out in streams, a dozen bolts snapping forward like thrusting swords. The girl didn't even move, as Dylek itself floated down to shield her from harm. For a moment she was hidden totally behind the blade that was nearly twice as large as she, then the sword floated back over her shoulder and hovered patiently, like a waiting dog.

The girl took a step forward. "I see you do not understand my message."

"Your message is a perversion!" Donovan snarled.

"The people of this town did not understand either, Donovan Baine. But now... now they understand. I can make you understand."

Donovan had never feared anything in his life, but he was terrified now. But suddenly the girl stopped. Donovan looked down. Anita was standing in front of him, her arms thrown to both sides to block the messenger's path. The headless doll had been thrown into a corner. The messenger looked at Anita for a long moment with her tarnished bronze eyes.

"You are not the Messiah," she informed the girl and gestured once. Dylek sprang forward and suddenly Donovan was moving. His body flew in front of Anita and the long blade buried itself deep in his gut. He screamed, because the blade was cold. It was cold like the vacuum of space. It was cold like the death of a star. He realised dimly that the weapon had become a conduit for her power, much like it had once served him. Donovan toppled forward, his head coming to rest at the messenger's feet. Dylek rose up, tearing through his midsection, ripping him in half. He coughed.

"DONOVAN!"

It was the first time he had ever heard Anita speak. He smiled and reached for the pale girl's leg. He had to stop her, give Anita enough time to run.

"She won't escape." The messenger looked down at him with pity. "God has no need for false prophets. I am the Messiah of Silence. The messenger of the End of Days." She knelt down next to him and laid a hand on his cheek. His hand clutched at her ankle. "But I will spare you the pain of seeing what must be done. I am not cruel, Donovan Baine. It is the world that did this to you. Find peace." He felt her chilling touch running through his body, and darkness began to cloak his vision. The last thing he heard was her holy sutra, the message of the end of days.

"Consign yourself to Oblivion."

01010

- April 30th, 1994, 14:05: Mount Phoenix, Qinghai Province, China -

"Go, Lady Kiima!"

"Get her, Lady Kiima!"

Angel rolled backward, barely avoiding the sword slash that would have taken her head off. She came up to her feet, grimacing at the stinging line that had been drawn across her shoulder. Shifting back a step, she took hold of her sword with both hands, and let out a long, slow breath.

Kiima hovered not quite three meters away, her huge, snow-white wings beating slowly to keep her aloft. Her short white hair was plastered to her scalp, and sweat glistened on her long, muscular legs. But her grip on her own sword, a bejewelled scimitar with an edge like a razor, was firm, and her large violet eyes flashed in contempt. "Is that it already?" she sneered. "Is that how you groundlings fight? If you don't-"

"-attack, you have already admitted defeat," Angel finished Kiima's favourite maxim for her with a grin. Kiima scowled at the impertinence, which was enough of an opening for Angel to attack. Her legs carried her up into the air, and she aimed a wild slash, but the Phoenix woman merely slipped to the side and backhanded her as she flew past. Angel rolled again on impact with the ground. That was the first thing Kiima had taught her. If throwing someone repeatedly out the windows of a mountain fortress could be considered a teaching method, in any case.

"You can't fight Lady Kiima in the air, groundling!" came the catcall from the open door.

"Was that supposed to be your idea of an attack?" came the voice of the other Phoenix outside the training aerie. Harsh barking laughter, like that of a crow, followed.

Angel rose to her feet, concealing her little smile. "Nope."

As Kiima darted in again, her silver blade flashing, Angel leaped backwards towards the wall her otherwise ineffectual attack had left her near. Her heel caught, just as she knew it would, in the divot that had been knocked from the wall by Kiima three passes ago. And then she was soaring upwards. A snort from below Kiima confirmed Angel's hopes before she even looked down. The Phoenix woman had pursued her, planning to cut off the arc of her leap.

But Kiima, who was used to fighting in the open air, had momentarily forgotten about the ceiling.

A flip, the soles of Angel's soft slippers kissed the rough-hewn stone of the ceiling, and then she was shooting back down again like a bullet. Kiima could have skewered her easily, but only at the cost of Angel slamming full- speed into her, sending her sprawling from the air. So there was the ever so slight moment of hesitation as the bird-woman considered her options before a lightning-fast beat of her wings thrust her to the side. That hesitation meant she couldn't quite get out of the range of Angel's sword.

This time Angel didn't roll, instead catching herself on the floor with one palm and flipping with her remaining momentum to her feet. She was grinning as she heard the startled gasps from outside the door.

Kiima hovered in the air above her, half-turned away. Her eyes flickered to the vivid scarlet line on her left forearm for a single disinterested moment, then settled on her diminutive opponent below.

"Are you proud of yourself?" she asked, her voice that dangerous sort of quiet.

This was the point where you should run away.

Unfortunately, behind her was only the stone wall of the mountain.

Kiima's smile bared all her teeth, including her fangs. It was never a pretty sight. "SUICHOU SENZAN YOKU!" Her wings suddenly came down so fast they were a blur-

When Angel woke up, Koruma was bandaging her wounds. She glanced around, noticing bemusedly that while she was lying on the floor of the training aerie, she was not in fact in a puddle of her own blood. It was just sort of oozing. Which meant she had in fact dodged Kiima's thousand wing attack better than last week. She grinned a little, which only lasted a moment before her body reminded her it was in tremendous pain.

Koruma had noticed she was awake, which naturally prompted him to start talking. "Ha, you thought a cheap trick like that could beat Lady Kiima?"

"No," Angel sighed. "I just wanted to actually hit her for once."

"Like that proves anything!" Masala sneered. He was standing against the wall, arms folded. His dull green hair was partially hidden by a bandage, a souvenir of his own earlier 'sparring session'. "No groundling can ever beat Lady Kiima!" He flexed his speckled wings for emphasis, then winced, rubbing one aching muscle.

Koruma laughed his crow's laugh again, tightening the last bandage on Angel's shoulder until it hurt. He also deliberately fluffed up his coal-black wings as he stood beside the other Phoenix teenager. "That's right! I mean," he said, his voice mockingly sorrowful, "I know you're jealous because you'll never have Lady Kiima's awesome body, but you're just setting yourself up for more pain!" He smirked, looking pointedly at Angel's boyish chest.

"I'm twelve," she reminded him flatly.

"It doesn't matter," sneered Masala. "Everyone knows all groundlings grow up to be fat and ugly because they're too heavy to get off the ground. You'll never have Lady Kiima's perfect chest!"

"Or her milky-white thighs!" chimed in Koruma.

"Or her slender arms!"

"Regal cheekbones and-"

"-pert behind!"

"-succulent lips... hey, what are you staring at?"

Angel only pointed, smiling. The two Phoenix stared at her for a long moment, then their faces slowly drained of colour. They spun, already babbling panicky excuses, then stopped as they realised no-one was there. They spun around again.

"Hey, she wasn't there, you little..."

That was when Angel threw the bucket of water meant for her to wash up in on them.

The two older boys coughed and spluttered for a moment. In their Jyusenkyou-curse triggered human forms, they looked much the same, though without their wings, claws and fangs, they lost much of their intimidation value.

The fact that they were clumsy, untrained, and oh-so-very-slow in those forms took away the rest of it.

"You little brat!"

"We're gonna get you!"

The bucket slammed into Masala's head as he took a step towards Angel. Koruma snarled and threw a punch that went wildly off-target as his sparring session-injured arm twinged. Angel grabbed his arm, pulled him off balance, and sent him sprawling across the rough stone floor. Masala was sitting up, moaning and gingerly touching the lump on his forehead. Angel kicked him in the side, and he went down again. Then she picked up the bucket and hurled it at Koruma, who barely scrambled out of the way.

"That was a dirty trick!" he growled, his dusky brown skin flushed with anger. He did not, however, try to get up to resume his attack.

"You two started it." She stuck out her tongue at the older boy.

He looked about to retort, but suddenly blanched. "Uh, L-lady Kiima, you're back!"

Angel rolled her eyes. "At least come up with your own trick, dummy."

"And what trick is that?"

Angel spun, her cheeks flaming. Kiima stood in the doorway; behind her, Masala looked to be trying to turn invisible. "Ooops. Didn't think you'd, uh, be back so soon..."

Kiima ignored her, looking around and fixing all three of them with a withering gaze. She obviously hadn't washed or changed yet, which wasn't normal, but explained her quick reappearance. "So what exactly happened here?"

"She ambushed us!" Masala immediately piped up.

"Yeah!" echoed Koruma. The Phoenix teenagers were always more quick- thinking when it came to trying to get out of trouble. "She must have been upset you beat her up, Lady Kiima! She jumped us when we weren't looking and-"

"And what? Thrashed you, it looks like." Kiima snorted. "Two of my finest men, beaten by a little groundling girl."

"She splashed us with cold water!" Masala protested, but his voice died to a nearly inaudible squeak when the Phoenix woman turned her gaze on him.

"Idiots! Do you think that if the mountain were invaded by zoanoids, they would fight fair and not use water on you?"

"Lord Saffron would stop them and-"

Kiima whirled on Koruma, her eyes like icy little amethysts. "So what you're saying is you're completely useless? Not necessary for the defence of our mountain? That I'M useless? Is that what you're saying, Koruma?"

Koruma, stricken mute, merely shook his head.

"Good. So, to prove it to me, I expect you two to walk the perimeter of Lord Saffron's domain, and determine that no-one has managed to infiltrate it. I think this is a very urgent use of your talents. Too urgent for you to stop to fetch hot water. Do I make myself clear?" Two silent nods. "Excellent. You're dismissed." A heartbeat's pause, and then, "Get out of my sight!"

The two Phoenix guards scrambled out of the room. Kiima rounded on Angel, who tried to shrink a little bit. "And as for you..."

Angel resisted the urge to close her eyes. Doing that just prompted a smack on the head and sarcastic query about whether she was sleeping.

"...you have a visitor."

Angel stared at her. "What?"

"You heard me."

"But... who?"

"Who else?" the Phoenix woman snorted. "After that little stunt, don't make me revise my estimation of your intelligence level downward again." She turned, striding away. "Follow me."

Angel hurried after her, her thoughts whirling. It had been almost eleven months since Chris had left her with the bird people 'while I take care of some other matters too dangerous for you right now'. She'd assumed her saviour would be back after a few days, but after Kiima started (reluctantly) training her and several weeks had passed, she wondered if she'd ever see him again, or if she'd... failed him somehow. Not been worthy. She'd spent all of her scarce free time for a few days watching for him to approach the mountain, then cried herself to sleep when nobody had come. Then she'd made a conscious decision to give up both habits. Whatever the truth was, she was going to be brave about it. After a few months, she had almost forgotten all about it. Well, not really... it was more like she had forgotten to think about it.

Kiima halted so sharply Angel nearly slammed into her, and turned to stare coldly at her. "Your friend is in audience with Lord Saffron. You can go wait for him." Angel blinked. "What, you think I care about meeting some groundling?" the Phoenix woman snapped. "I have other duties. Besides, I don't know how long they'll be talking."

Angel nodded. "Okay. Well, umm, thank you for your training, Lady Kiima."

"Don't thank me," the woman growled. "I just followed my orders from Lord Saffron." Angel started to turn away, but then Kiima's clawed hand fell on her shoulder. "Wait. He might want to see a demonstration of your abilities. You'll need a sword."

Angel froze. She'd not even thought to retrieve the scarred, ugly sword after regaining consciousness. "I'm sorry!" she blurted. "Don't worry, I know the way, I'll just go get it and-"

Kiima's grip on her tightened, keeping her rooted to the spot. "There'd be no point in that. You tried to defend yourself from my thousand wings with it. The pieces of the blade were what inflicted most of those cuts on you."

Kiima released her shoulder, and Angel turned, opened her mouth to apologise, and was cut off as something was thrown at her. She caught it reflexively, and stared. The large, sea-blue jewel on the pommel of Kiima's sword winked at her. The blade, even sheathed, was surprisingly light. Where her old sword had been a battered hunk of iron-grey metal, this was gleaming quicksilver, designed to slash through the air with the least resistance possible. It was over twice as long as the old blade, but even resting in her hands felt more than twice as easy to handle. She looked up.

"What?" Kiima snapped. "I said you'd need a sword."

"But-"

"I'll retrieve it from you before you depart. So much as scratch it, and you won't be living to do so!" She paused, looking down at the cut on her forearm speculatively. "I suppose you're not too terrible an embarrassment to my abilities. Considering you're a groundling, it's not as if much could be expected."

Angel stared at her. In all the months of training, the Phoenix woman had been impatient, dismissive, indifferent, and occasionally cruel. But that was the closest she had ever come to a compliment. "Th-thank you..."

Kiima turned away suddenly. "I told you, don't thank me. Now go wait for your friend." She was silent a long moment, but just as Angel was beginning to tentatively step away, she added, "I'll see you later." Then she began striding down the hall, the soft feathered boots that hid the claws of her feet noiseless on the polished stone.

Angel passed several other Phoenix on the way to the throne room. A few waved at her; one scowled. Most ignored her as they went about their business. They were used to her, now. And not just her. When she had come here, some Phoenix had never seen a 'groundling' with their own eyes. But over the year, more and more people had visited the mountain. Most normal humans, villagers from the area that the Phoenix had claimed; a few had been dangerous- looking men with exotic animal features and elaborate costumes. Some of the Phoenix, like Koruma and Masala, liked showing off to or teasing the outsiders. They, like everyone else, had thought better of harassing the strange animal- men, though.

Technically, the only entrance to the throne room of the king of the Phoenix Tribe was by air. It rested near the very summit of the mountain, so Angel clambered out a window when she was about as near as she could get. She had gotten very good at climbing up and down the mountain; she hardly had any choice, since the winged Phoenix had little use for stairs between the countless levels, plateaus and chambers that they had carved from the mountain over the centuries. A few careful leaps later, and she landed on the balcony that bordered the throne room of Saffron.

The massive doors of white stone and inlaid gold were closed. Angel had climbed up here before, once, just out of curiosity, and they had been closed then too. There had been guards there, then, but it was deserted now. Saffron's guards would more accurately be called his messengers, though, so that wasn't very unusual.

Angel sat on the balcony wall, her legs dangling over the precipice, and resigned herself to wait. From her vantage point, she could see where the village had once been.

It wasn't black and smoking anymore, of course. It had been two months ago. Angel hadn't seen Saffron. Like everyone else, even Kiima, she had been safely hidden in the mountain when he emerged. Nobody had seen what he had done, but they all heard and felt it. The huge roar had shaken the entire mountain. It sort of reminded Angel of one time when jets had flown very close over the roof of her home during the war. A blast of heat had accompanied it. All but the most exterior caves of Phoenix Mountain were always warm; so warm it was like Mexico in summer. But the wave of heat that had ripped through the mountain had been at least ten degrees warmer still. Mercifully, it had ceased quickly.

Neither Angel, nor Koruma or Masala, knew what Saffron had attacked. If Kiima knew, she didn't tell them, just growled when the subject had been mentioned. But afterwards, Angel had rushed out to the slope of the mountain and stared at the ruined earth still glowing with heat, the pillar of smoke rising into the sky.

There had been a mountain that the village was at the base of. It wasn't as large as the mountain of the Phoenix, but it was still a mountain. Now, it was gone. A flat, raised plateau was there instead. The top of it was smooth and almost shiny, like melted cheese.

She leaped up on the balcony ledge, spinning around, as she heard the ever so slight scraping sound of the huge marble doors opening. They were amazingly quiet, but so were all other doors in the mountain - the bird people liked it that way. She managed to catch a glimpse into the golden room beyond as the guards pulled it closed. The terribly bright glow beyond hurt her eyes a little, and the blast of heat that emerged caused her to wobble a bit on her perch. She could make out that there was... something... behind a veil at the far end of the room.

And then the doors were closed again. She blinked the spots away from her eyes, and on the third blink, she saw him.

Chris hadn't changed much. He was wearing Chinese clothing, now. But in over a year of travelling, he had not grown at all. Aside from occasional strange changes in the pattern of his scarred eye, Chris seemed ageless. His feet were motionless as he glided across the stone floor towards her. Angel had seen him walk, a few times, when they had been in populated areas. But he usually preferred to send Link into such places instead. She had never seen him sleep or eat, either.

"Angel. Not very afraid of heights anymore, it appears. I see you've trained hard here." His voice was calm and casual, as it always was when he spoke to her. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Angel suddenly felt a little self-conscious standing on the ledge, looking down at him. She hopped to the stone floor. "Yes," she responded. "Well, I guess. Lady Kiima is a tough teacher..." she broke up, flushing. She didn't want to complain.

He, however, chuckled. "I figured she would be. But I knew you could take it. I also see you've learned Mandarin very well."

Angel blinked, then laughed as she realised he had, in fact, been speaking to her in that language. Just as in Spanish, his accent was flawless. "I guess I have."

"But then," he mused, "I rather expect you might have a talent for languages. Make sure to try and pick up whatever you can. It could be useful to you."

Angel nodded. Not quite sure what to say, but wanting to say something, she blurted the first thought that entered her mind. "Where's Link?"

"Visiting Jyusenkyou. She wanted to pick up some things, and I wanted some water from there, as well."

"Oh, okay..." she trailed off, as Chris turned his head to regard her intently with his one piercing red eye.

"And lastly, Angel, I see you have Kiima's sword."

Angel started, nearly dropping it. "Oh, uh, right. She just lent this to me, if you wanted to see... she's going to come back for it..."

"Is that what she said?" Chris mused, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "But I think maybe not. I'm told she has, in fact, gone out to patrol Saffron's lands, and won't be returning until long after we depart."

"Oh..." Angel looked down at the sword in her hands.

"Perhaps she meant you to keep it. A gift, for a talented student."

"I don't think so..."

"And yet she knew she wouldn't be back for it when she gave it to you."

Angel stared at the sword for a long moment. That didn't seem like Kiima at all. And yet... and then she looked up again as Chris spoke, his tone suddenly serious.

"But the point might be moot. Angel, you've been here for a while. Do you want to remain?"

Angel didn't respond. She just looked at him. He turned, his gaze sweeping the landscape, lingering for a moment on the vanished mountain.

"I told you when we met, Angel, that I would give you three chances to leave. I have done several favours for Saffron; you'll be allowed to remain here, if you want. As I'm sure you know, it's safe here. Possibly one of the safest places you'll find. While many dark powers war over this land, none are willing to commit the resources to fight Saffron over this tiny patch of remote territory. And he has no intentions of leaving. You could stay here, Angel, if you wanted. No monsters will invade this place; they've learned better. If I take you with me, you won't have that. It won't ever be safe where I'm going."

"D... don't you want me to come with you?"

Chris chuckled. "Of course I do, Angel. I chose you for a reason. But you don't owe me anything. I won't be angry if you stay. It's the best thing for you: to grow up where you'll be perfectly safe. But the decision is yours. Think about it as long as you like, and then tell me what you want to do."

For a moment, Angel almost thought she would stay. While she didn't have any close friends, and Koruma and Masala picked on her, most of the Phoenix had come around to accepting her. She ate regularly, and while Kiima's training was harsh, she didn't have to walk all day, like she often had with Chris. And he was right... this was safe. Of course if she stayed, she'd have to give the sword back, but...

Then she looked down at the blade and scabbard, and suddenly, she remembered what Kiima had said earlier.

"So what you're saying is you're completely useless? Not necessary for the defence of our mountain? That I'M useless?"

She'd been angry. Not that Kiima didn't often seem angry, but it was always a restrained, cool temper. She almost never let loose so much unrestrained fury as she had in chewing out Koruma for what he had said.

And suddenly Angel knew why Kiima had given her the sword.

Because when the mountain had to be defended, neither Kiima nor her men HAD been necessary. They'd had to hide, just like everyone else.

Phoenix Mountain was safe. It didn't need guards.

But where Angel was going, she'd need a sword. Because it wouldn't be safe.

"I'm coming with you," Angel said firmly.

Chris nodded. "I'm glad." He smiled then, one of those slight smiles that made Angel think he was laughing to himself, and looked out at the steep precipice that was their only exit. "I'm also glad you're not scared of heights."

01010

- August 13th, 1994, 17:21: Kyoto, Japan -

Kyoto had once been a city of shrines. Nestled in one of the fertile valleys in the great mountains of inland Japan, Kyoto was a holy site. For centuries it had been the seat of religious and secular authority in Japan. But the Great Famine had changed everything. The shrines of Kyoto were empty, filled with nothing but dust and memory.

While the people of Japan had starved as the earth refused to yield fruit, they had turned to their gods. They had prayed. The lines had gone on for kilometers. But there had been no answer. Not from the gods. So the people of Japan had turned away from the gods, and to their true saviours.

Now, the men of Chronos walked these streets. They had altered their look slightly. Gone was the impersonal blue body-suit and its dehumanising helmet. Every Chronos soldier now wore friendly-looking blue and green uniforms. They wore caps. They smiled and their eyes shined. They tracked down lost children and gave directions.

You saw them on the street. On the billboards and on the TV you saw them. They smiled happily and told you about how great it was to be a zoanoid, to have the power to make a difference. "Join the struggle, help to save our land!" they said, over and over. The flag of Japan flew with the seal of Chronos safely in the background. It was a powerful message. It was a strong message.

It was a lie.

The building wasn't exceptional. It was ten stories tall, not much in this modern world and certainly nothing compared to the massive towers that were now under construction in Tokyo. The only thing strange about it was the large amount of communications equipment on top: satellite dishes and radio towers and other, stranger devices. On the side of the building was a long banner with the phrase "Japan Satellite Network" written plainly in both Japanese and English.

Inside, the anchorwoman was preparing for another crack at the bat. She was getting one of the few precious breathers during the live broadcast she could take. Her job was grueling, but she did it with a smile and a nod. She received the news and she reported it and it uplifted people. It gave them hope. It told them they were making a difference.

Akane couldn't really blame her. Nabiki's file had been pretty extensive. Shioko Konoe had been dying of cancer when Chronos had come. Her hair had been shaved off for the chemotherapy. Her cheeks had been hollow and her eyes sunken. She had been dying. Then they had given her a new lease on life. They had given her health, beauty... life. All the asked in return was her free will.

It was easy to forget that people like Shioko were not the enemy. All the woman had asked for was life, and that's what she had been given. If Chronos used her as an example of everything good that a zoanoid could be, how could she say no? Serving as a poster idol for Chronos was the least she could do. Becoming a zoanoid had changed her life. It had saved her.

Akane glanced down at her watch, brushing the strands of her wig out of her hair. One minute to airtime. She glanced across the room. Kyosuke was in the shadows, his short straw-coloured hair the only patch of colour next to his grey outfit. His glasses shone slightly. Akane glanced up. The techs were behind the thick glass of the control booth, and Akane could see a shadow moving up behind them. That would be Satsuki and Marz. Akane reached into her satchel and touched her weapon, making certain it was still there. She tapped her watch twice. The signal given, she started moving.

"Hey, you can't be in front of the..."

The man carrying the clipboard crumbled around Akane's fist and she shoved him aside without breaking stride. There were gasps and shouts. She saw two security guards reaching for their billy-clubs but Kyosuke was on them before they could even blink. They crumbled soundlessly to the floor.

"What's going on here?" Shioko exclaimed.

"I'm sorry about the interruption. But we have a message to send," Akane explained.

"You there, stop!" A man launched himself from the side of the room, moving far too fast for a normal human. Akane slipped back and her hand slipped into her bag, and she hesitated. The man came at her, but didn't transform. Akane nodded and whipped out her sword. He gave a hollow grunt and flew back, smashing into the wall with enough force to knock a few tiles loose.

"You killed him!" the anchorwoman shouted.

"No..." Akane hefted her wooden sword. "He's only unconscious."

"You're rebels!" another man shouted, and this one did begin to transform. His skin began to bulge and fur started to erupt from his flesh. The seams of his suit tore and burst apart as he expanded to twice his normal size. Before he was even finished Kyosuke was upon him. There was a flash of white light and a low groan and the zoanoid crumbled to the floor. The stink of ozone filled the room.

"Thirty seconds, Akane," Kyosuke informed her.

"Good." Akane turned to the woman, who was staring at her wide-eyed. Then she began to growl. Akane frowned and dropped her wooden sword. Her hand flashed as she retrieved a second sword and placed it at the woman's throat in a single motion. The reporter's eyes widened as the tip of the steel blade dug gently into the nape of her neck. "Please, don't." Akane sighed. "I don't want to, but I will."

"Wait a minute... you are..." Shioko's eyes widened.

"Akane Tendo, yes." Akane removed the wig with one hand. "And you've just been recruited, Ms. Konoe. I need to deliver a message to Japan, and I need you to do it for me."

"I'll never help you!"

"You already are." She turned to Kyosuke. "Time."

"Three seconds... two..." He gestured sharply to a nearby camera and the light turned on. Akane smiled. Good old reliable Marz.

"Ms. Konoe, if you would introduce me?" Akane asked calmly.

The woman growled but Akane nudged her a little with the blade. She tried not to grimace. She had hoped for more cooperation, but some things couldn't be helped.

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen..." Shioko coughed and Akane retracted the blade slightly. But as she spoke, her professional instincts took over. "It appears that the offices of the Japan Satellite Network have been taken over by terrorists. I am, as you can see, being personally held hostage by the leader of the terrorists, Akane Tendo."

"Good evening, everyone." Akane smiled at the camera. She hated being the one to do this. It should have been Hinata. Or maybe even Mamoru. Someone more photogenic. "I won't take up too much of your time here. I just thought you people should see what Chronos' true face is." Akane flipped out the diskette from her bag and dramatically slammed it home into the cardreader on the table. So far so good. "In five seconds this screen will be replaced with a rapid series of data files. If you have a record option on your screen, hit it now because a lot of this data will be sent too fast for human eyes to perceive." Akane waited a moment. "What you are seeing is reports. Reports on food and medicine distribution. Reports on zoanoid recruitment. Nothing fancy, nothing sexy... but if you examine the reports you will see one thing.

"Chronos is lying to you.

"The Great Famine ended over a year ago. Chronos already has the technology and the resources to revitalise all the farm land. They don't. They don't send more than the bare minimum amount of food and medicine to fulfill our needs not because they can't afford to, but because they know that starving people are desperate people. They want our nation to be subservient to them for the next hundred years and they have a plan to do just that..."

Akane trailed off as the light on the camera turned off. She looked up sharply at the control booth. A voice came over the loud speaker. "They finally cut us off, Ms. Tendo."

"How much got through?"

"Almost all of it." There was a pause. "I can't say how many people received..."

"It's good enough."

Akane stepped away from the woman. "Thank you for your help, Ms. Konoe." The woman hissed and rose up to her feet. Akane frowned at her and stepped back, continuing to point the blade at her throat even from this distance. "Don't do anything stupid. I didn't come here to kill you, but I will if I have to." She paused. "You have a choice to make. Either let me go, or die fighting for what you believe in."

The woman's eyes narrowed. There was a sudden explosion and one of the walls blew inward. Akane ducked reflexively, covering herself. She saw a dark figure in the dust, then there was a loud hiss and a boom. The creature exploded in a shower of gore as its body was torn apart by the rocket. A second figure, this one much slimmer and more shapely, stepped through the dust.

"Akane, move!" Fevrier shouted. "We have a hyper zoanoid strike force incoming, ETA twenty seconds!"

"Right..."

There was a loud roar and Akane spun, her sword flashing up in a long arc. The form that crumpled over the weapon wasn't monstrous. She had silver skin and long filaments of metallic hair. Her eyes were pupilless white, but still human somehow. The tips of the claws on her fingers had stopped a fraction of an inch from Akane. She fell to the ground. Akane sighed. "Wrong choice."

As she ran to the back of the building where Kyosuke waited, Fevrier caught up with her. "Did you...?" she asked.

"No..." Akane gestured with the blade, which was flawless and shining. "I used the flat."

Fevrier frowned, but said nothing.

And that's when the hyper zoanoids arrived.

01010

- September 3rd, 1994, 8:31: Masaki Shrine, Okayama Prefecture, Japan -

Rei hated being naked in a tube.

It really wasn't even the naked part. While Rei hated that, it wasn't really something she PROFOUNDLY hated. It wasn't the tube part, either. At first, that part had scared her. But, over time, you get used to anything. What Rei mostly hated about being naked in a tube was that she had, in fact, gotten so used to it.

She glared out of the translucent green goo at her captor. Rei had crossed her arms over her breasts and crossed her legs as best she could to hide as much of her nudity as was possible. Her captor didn't even have the decency to look afraid of her glare that promised a thousand hells of retribution. Rei would have even settled for her looking annoyed or even diabolically amused at Rei's futile hatred.

What also really annoyed her was how cheerful and happy her captor looked. Washuu Hakubi didn't look like a diabolical mastermind in the slightest. She appeared, to the unwary, as a precocious child. She was short, with a plump little face and happy green eyes. Her red hair was styled with several locks fanning the side of her head so that they looked vaguely like crab's legs. She wore a brown and green jumper of some kind in a fashion that Rei was not really familiar with.

She was humming happily and tapping away at a keyboard. The keyboard was actually nothing more than a thin layer of light that floated in mid-air before her. Rei often couldn't even see any icons or letters on the board. Sometimes she thought that Washuu just played with the thing to keep her hands busy while her brain did the important work.

Rei wished her captor would at least look at Rei occasionally. But aside from checking a few floating holographic displays that showed various arcane and apparently scientific facts about her, Washuu didn't pay any attention to Rei at all. Rei was about to consign herself to another few hours stuck in this situation when an unexpected saviour showed up.

"WASHUUUUUUU!" the cry began, high and plaintive with just that tiny bit of annoying childish peevishness. "I need your help, WASHUUUUU!" The woman that the voice belonged to ran into the room in a completely undignified manner. She was tall, with tanned skin and long blonde hair that was tied up on her head. Great streams of tears fell down her cheeks, and her face was distorted with childish sorrow. She wore a uniform that might have been that of a foreign policewoman, complete with badge and a jaunty little cap.

"Mihoshi, I'm busy at the moment," Washuu said in a distracted tone. Her voice was more refined and adult than any child's voice had a right to be. "Can't you come back later? I'm very close to making a breakthrough here..."

"This can't wait, Washuu!" the older-looking but considerably younger- sounding woman whined. She made a grab at the mad scientist, but Washuu's chair hovered back a few feet. Having missed her target, Mihoshi overbalanced and toppled forward. This caused her face to collide with Rei's tube. Rei winced in sympathy.

"Washuu, you have a naked lady in your tube," Mihoshi pointed out. Or Rei assumed she said as much, since her voice was distorted by the fact it was pressed against the glass.

"I know that, Mihoshi." Washuu sounded exasperated now.

"She doesn't look happy." Mihoshi leaned back and blinked owlishly. Then her face lit up and she smiled. "I know, I'll let her out!"

"No!" Washuu warned even as Rei nodded vigorously. She would have shouted, but it was hard to say anything comprehensible when your lungs were full of green goo. Mihoshi, probably ignoring both of them, was absently pulling on and prodding all the pieces of equipment attached to the cylinder in which Rei floated. For a moment, Rei dared to think this might be a good thing.

For a moment.

Two minutes, several dozen electric shocks, a few crushing impacts against the side of the tube, a couple of bone-jarring seconds of multiple gravities and one beaning in the head with a metal washbasin that Rei still wasn't certain she wanted to know where it had come from later, Rei was free. The tube was retracting into the ceiling, leaving Rei panting on the floor, lying in a pool of green slime that had been flushed from the bottom of the tube with her when the mechanism had finally begun to retract.

"My research..." Washuu sighed. "And I was so close this time, too."

"Thank you..." Rei murmured and rose unsteadily to her feet. "Mars Power, Make Up!" she shouted once she was there. The wonderful thing about her transformation was that it not only gave her clothes, it also cleaned off any refuse from her brief captivity. "Now, if you'll excuse me!"

She stormed past Mihoshi, who was just sort of watching her oddly. Washuu called out to her but she wasn't listening. She was getting out of this nuthouse and she was doing it NOW. She realised that Washuu could stop her at any time. The fact that she could repress Rei's powers seemingly at whim was enough proof of that. But she was confident that at least the little sadist wouldn't try that hard to stop her if she made it clear she had experienced just about enough of her tender mercies.

Rei had made it all the way to the door leading out of the lab and back into the house when she found her way blocked. She glared up at the man standing between her and freedom. He looked down at her impassively, his oddly young burgundy eyes flashing behind his square-rimmed glasses. He didn't look like much. He was taller than her, but not especially tall. He was old, with iron gray hair tied back at his shoulders and a jaunty little cynical moustache. His face was that of a man who had once been strong and handsome but who had shrunken with age, although he managed a little dignity in the fine lines of his cheeks and forehead.

Rei glared at him and tried to push past, but he placed a hand on her shoulder and restrained her. She snarled.

"Is that any way to leave? After I've extended you all the hospitality I have?"

"Hospitality?" Rei shot back. "I didn't see you doing anything to stop HER-" Here Rei pointed back at the figure of Washuu who had followed Rei: Mihoshi had as well, but she looked kind of absent and Rei wasn't paying much attention to her anymore, "- from doing whatever she damn well pleased to me."

"You weren't hurt." He crossed his arms. "Besides, you need to contribute something, right?"

"Contribute!" Rei took a deep breath. "For what?"

"For me training you, of course." He smirked. "That is what you came here for, isn't it?"

Rei glared at him. He was right, of course. She had come to this shrine, specifically to learn from the revered old master of it. Rei's family had been the guardians of the Cherry Hill temple for generations and she had a lot of connections in the religious world, many of which she hadn't even been aware of until she had become a hunted fugitive willing to take any offer of shelter. And they had all said the same thing, talking about the priest of the Masaki shrine. More importantly, they talked about how the lands around his shrine had been the only place in all of Japan not hit by the Great Famine.

Even more telling was the fact that Chronos had not realised this. Rei had come to this place to discover the secret of his magic. How did he resist such a catastrophe? How did he evade the all-seeing eye of Chronos? She had wanted to learn, to grow in the secrets of her own culture.

What she had found here was... disappointing, to say the least.

"More importantly, when you leave, where exactly do you plan to go?" Katsuhito Masaki pulled his hand away, his tone becoming sombre.

This made Rei pause. She glanced down at her feet. The red heels she wore shone in the soft light of the spacious lab. They were part of her Sailor Mars uniform. The uniform was a symbol of her power. But what good was that power?

Not for the first time, Rei suddenly regretted leaving Ohtori. Had it really been so bad there? Certainly the entire place was a patchwork of illusions and lies. Certainly it constantly nagged at the edges of her senses. Certainly she could never forget that Akio, their host and protector, was as vile as a snake. Certainly she had woken up screaming for three weeks straight after seeing the truth about his sister...

No. She didn't regret leaving. She regretted many things about Ohtori. She regretted the shouting match she had gotten into with Usagi before leaving. She regretted the words she had said. Words like 'head in the sand' and 'deliberately ignorant' and 'self-important deluded fool'... But it had been easier at the time to sever her ties to Usagi so finally that Usagi would have no desire to come with her.

Because what Rei had know was going to happen to moment she left had, indeed, happened. She had been on the run. She had been hunted. She tried to make a difference. She tried to fight the monsters. She could, after a fashion. But... but...

"If you stay here, you may be able to make a real difference." Katsuhito said softly.

Rei bristled and stepped back. "Oh really? How is that, then?" She took a deep breath, reviving her outrage with a small act of will. "You can't teach me anything, Katsuhito... or whatever your real name is." She pushed him aside. "I came here expecting to find a master of Shinto arts. Somebody who could teach me how to tap my chi. Teach me about the power of the spirit. But instead what do I find? A refugee from an alien empire, an intergalactic policewoman that makes Usagi look graceful and a million-year-old genius with a fetish for tubes!" She started out the door. "You aren't a Shinto priest. You're an alien from a thousand year old empire with superpowers masquerading as a human being."

"So are you," he replied dryly.

Rei rounded on him and her fist lashed out with all the speed of her magically enhanced reflexes. He caught her hand with one palm and smiled at her. "Don't even compare me to you people!" She frowned. "I may not remember the Silver Millennium, but I am damn certain that we would NOT have sat around while one of our worlds was being conquered by homicidal monsters and torn apart by demons, no matter how much of a backwater it was!"

Finally that mask of amused detachment broke and for the first time since she had arrived Rei saw real emotion flicker across Katsuhito's face. She stumbled back, suddenly afraid at the brief look of rage, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. He looked at Rei for a long, dangerous moment, then he turned to Washuu and addressed her in a calm tone.

"That reminds me of why I was actually coming, Washuu. It appears Galaxia has taken the Peliades."

This news caused Mihoshi to break out into sudden tears. "That's right, I forgot!" Mihoshi grabbed Washuu and began to swing her back and forth as she wailed and complained. "Now I can't leave, Washuu! I just came here to make a report and I was supposed to go right back and I know Tenchi was at that battle and if they lost as badly as he says he must be hurt and I know that Ryoko and the others must all be there and I can't be there to help him and I want to go back to Jurai so that I can be there to help him and I can't because Galaxia has the entire sector and there's no safe path and Washuu, Washuu please tell me you have some way of getting us there safely..."

Mihoshi finally had to take a breath. It was only then that she realised she was holding a plush doll that was merely shaped like the petite scientist. Washuu, on the other hand, was talking to Katsuhito.

"That is bad." She frowned and cupped her chin. "That means that all the conventional drives can no longer get us through to Jurai or vice versa. The entire planet is cut off from the Galaxy Police and the Alliance."

"Yes." Katsuhito sighed. "It gets worse, however. Galaxia has a new ally. A young man was at the battle, one who produced the Wings of the Light Hawk."

"You're kidding!" Washuu gasped.

"No..." Katsuhito frowned and shook his head. "I didn't believe it was possible for a human to do it until my grandson did, but now there appears to be another, and he appears to be working for our enemy."

"That means we might not even be able to Gate back..." Washuu threw up her hands. "If Galaxia has access to the Light Hawk Wings, she has access to matter conversion and could intercept a treeship in transit. It would be suicide for anyone to attempt to come here now."

"Yes..." Katsuhito murmured.

Rei frowned. She glanced back and forth between them. She had the odd feeling this conversation was mainly for her benefit. Still, her outrage would not be quelled so easily. "I'm very sorry to here about your... whatever it is. But I don't even understand half of what you said. Light Hawk Wings? Treeships? Galaxia? What does any of this have to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you," Washuu pointed out as she spun and faced the girl. "Because the enemy that is menacing Jurai and the rest of the universe is one of you."

"One of me?" Rei blinked, not certain what the odd false little girl meant.

"A Sailor Senshi," Washuu explained. She stepped back and a large screen appeared in the air. On it was projected a view of the planet Mars. Rei glanced at it, feeling an odd emotion stirring within her at the sight of the planet. "As near as I can figure, what you are is some sort of energy tap. It works remarkably similarly to the Juraian treeships. The roots of a tree of Jurai, Katsuhito's homeworld, grow into subspace... a sort of null space that exists conceptually if not actually beneath our own. These roots allow a treeship to draw on the power of the mother tree of Jurai, much like a trained mystic or martial artist can draw on their own life force. In a similar manner you - and, presumably, others like you - draw on the life force of entire planets." She gestured at the projection, which showed a little animated icon of Sailor Mars as the planet scaled down to fill only half to screen. Little animated lines ran between the two, making the childish figure dance and glow with an aura of flames. "The same thing is true of Sailor Galaxia."

Here Washuu shifted the image on the viewer. It showed a stern-faced woman now. She had blonde hair, but it was mostly hidden behind an elaborate golden headdress. She wore a suit made of gold plates that had a skirt and collar much like Rei's uniform, but there the resemblance ended. Her skin was black, as black as the void between the stars; and her eyes were red like burning suns. Her image shrunk until she was placed alongside an image of the rotating galaxy.

"Galaxia is a pirate or warlord... we're not certain. She never has made any sort of contact except random attacks on peaceful worlds. The point is that she is like you, except that instead of being a channel for the power of a single world, she is the channel for the power of the entire galaxy." Washuu snapped her fingers and the image vanished. "Except that isn't the problem. If it was, we probably could have still defeated her."

"What is the problem then?" Rei asked, curious despite herself.

"We don't know." Washuu frowned. "She has a power which goes beyond just the energy you would expect. Somehow Galaxia is tapping into a power source even greater than that of Tsunami, the first tree of Jurai. And it grows stronger every day. That... that is why I leapt at a chance to study an actual Sailor Senshi up close." Washuu turned to her. "Whatever this power is, this force she calls 'chaos', I have to find the secret to it. I was hoping that by learning the mechanism behind your own powers, I would unlock that secret, but every day that is looking less and less likely." Washuu closed her eyes and sighed. "And now... and now she might have an ally who can match our most potent weapons..."

Rei looked down at the ground. She felt for them. She really did. But what was she supposed to do about it? This was some war being fought by empires so vast they covered entire galaxies. It was a war fought across lightyears and parsecs with weapons and forces she couldn't even comprehend, much less stand up against. She couldn't even face Chronos.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "What I said was uncalled for."

"Apology accepted." Katsuhito clapped her on the shoulder. "So... do you still plan on leaving? Washuu tells me she is making fantastic headway into understanding your abilities. She might be able to tell you how to unlock even more of the potential energy within you." He paused. "Or you could run out into the world and get yourself killed. It's your choice."

Rei thought about it for a few seconds. "Fine." She looked at Washuu. "But do I really have to be NAKED in the tube?"

"No." She blinked and then a grin of manic glee crossed her features. "But you're so CUTE when you're all indignant!"

01010

- September 17th, 1994, 10:21: Tokyo, Japan -

"So how do you plan to deal with it?" Sin Rubeo Amniculus asked bluntly. His robes made a soft sound as they trailed along the polished metal floor. Purgstall paused and thought about the question for a moment.

"We don't," Purgstall said at last. "This 'resistance movement' is nothing more than barely coordinated children. Tell Gyro that since neo-zoanoids are under his command, he is responsible for dealing with them."

"Are you certain that's wise?" the other zoalord said, frowning. "Gyro tends to be rather... spectacular when he deals with something. Remember Arizona."

"Yes..." Purgstall sighed. "But I have my hands full, and with Arkanphel in seclusion again..." He trailed off. "Let us say that I rather prefer Gyro's naked ambition to the plans of the other zoalords. At least I know where he stands."

Amniculus nodded sagely. "True. But there is still the problem of how the rebels got their hands on that data, and what we will do now that it is out there."

Purgstall paused again, and then he smiled. "It's unfortunate, but I think it can play to our favour. We release some data to the media. Let them know that we have indeed discovered a way to refertilise the soil. But... we also point out that the process is still experimental and we didn't want to risk damaging the ecosystem any further. Then we point out that one of the things keeping us from deploying the solution is the harassment of the rebels." He paused. "In a few months, we'll begin the refertilisation process. We've already placed all of Japan in our pocket anyway."

Amniculus laughed. "You have a quick mind, Frederick." He rubbed his chin with the back of his hand. "Defang the resistance and gain a public relations victory all in one fell swoop. I can see why Arkanphel placed you in charge of our civilian relations."

Purgstall inclined his head briefly in acknowledgement of the compliment.

"But there is the matter of the leak."

Purgstall frowned. "I know what you're thinking."

"Really?" Amniculus walked over to a monitor and tapped a few buttons. The display flipped on, showing a large metal room deep below their location. A young girl in a skimpy outfit with a huge red braid was riding around on the back of a Gregole, laughing as she chased a green-haired young woman about. "These girls are dangerous, Purgstall. We have no way of tracking their movements. This... 'magic' they wield allows them to do practically anything. They could be leaking information to the enemy at any time."

"I don't think they are," Purgstall insisted.

"What makes you think that? Why should we bother trusting them? Especially when it would be much simpler just to accede to Valkus' request and turn them over for processing..."

"That is MY decision to make." Purgstall angrily turned the monitor off with a flick of his hand and an imperceptible pulse of electricity. "They came to ME for sanctuary, and I promised it..." Purgstall trailed off. He remembered clearly the day six months ago when the girls had simply walked into his office. He had blinked as the red-haired one had leaned over his desk, flashing him her barely existent cleavage, and winked.

"Hey! You're the guy in charge, right?" she had said. He hadn't had a chance to reply before the one with long pink hair had responded for him.

"Of course he is. More importantly, he's also the one who blew up our circus and destroyed Zirconia."

"Hey! Great!" The leader had smirked at him. "That means you HAVE to take us in! You blew up our house and everything! You owe us!"

"So, where do we sleep?" the green-haired one had broken in.

"I want a pony!" the blue-haired one leapt in.

"Yeah, give her a pony. And we'll need personal masseuses," the leader continued.

"And a manservant!" the pink-haired one added.

"And a manservant. Each."

Purgstall shook his head, dispelling the memories. Amniculus was looking at him oddly and Purgstall realised he was smiling. He schooled his features. "Those girls... they may be strange. But I think experimenting on them would accomplish nothing." He crossed his arms. "The powers they have are unlike anything we've ever seen."

"Neither was chi," Amniculus crossed his own arms. "And Valkus still managed to turn that into a weapon for our use."

"Ah, is that all you think of us as, weapons to be used?"

Amniculus started. Purgstall did not. He was used to Cologne appearing and vanishing whenever she wished. The old woman was remarkably spry. He turned to regard her. She was perched on the back of his chair, calmly smoking a pipe and looking for all the world like she had been there for the last week.

"I wouldn't think of belittling your skills," Amniculus said carefully. "But... you have to admit that Valkus' work has greatly improved the power of those martial artists we have managed to recruit."

Cologne smirked. "Yes. They make impressive killing machines." She took a puff of her pipe. "Tell me... how many died when you sent them against Saffron?" Amniculus frowned. That disaster was still a sore point for him. "Your problem, Amniculus, is that you think the answer to everything is a bigger stick. Sometimes, more can be accomplished by one you would consider insignificant than by even your mighty god Arkanphel."

Amniculus inclined his head. "An interesting premise." He turned to Purgstall and bowed. "If you'll excuse me, I have a war to run. Shadowloo just destroyed ten square blocks of Hong Kong. Plus Gill and his organisation raided one of our labs in South America last night."

Purgstall frowned. "I put a hole through him the size of a cannonball."

"Apparently Gill is harder to kill than we thought." The door hissed closed behind Amniculus, cutting off any reply Purgstall might have made. He sighed and rubbed his side.

"Does it still hurt?" Cologne asked.

"No..."

"You're lying." She tapped the chair. "Sit down."

Purgstall sighed again and did so. She hopped down onto the arm of his chair and began to poke at the area. Immediately he felt the tension and pain fade away. "There. You people are superb at treating the body, but not so much at treating the spirit. The injuries Gill inflicted on you run deeper than flesh."

"Thank you," Purgstall murmured. He looked at her. "You... look terrible."

"I see my help was appreciated," Cologne replied acidly.

"You're getting weaker," he commented. "I can feel it."

"You're not so strong with chi yet!" Cologne informed him. "I haven't taught you a fraction of what I know!"

"That only makes it more obvious." He leaned back. "It's your granddaughter... ever since you learned of her death, you've been withering away."

Cologne leapt onto the table. But she refused to look at him. After a moment, she spoke. Her voice was not the dry cracked voice of an old woman. It was hard and brilliant, like polished steel. "I can't afford to be withering away. I have a man I need to kill."

"You'll never get anywhere like this." He paused. "You've been training with the girls, haven't you?" She refused to answer. "That's why you asked me to spare them. So you could develop tactics and skills that work against people with that kind of power. But they're too much for you. You're pushing yourself too hard."

"And if I am?" she snapped back. "What is it to you?"

He paused. "Amniculus is my dear friend, but we do not agree on everything. You aren't a weapon." He looked her in the eyes. "I don't see why you won't let us help you. In the vats, we can rejuvenate you. You'll regain your youth and..." He trailed off before finishing that thought and coughed into his hand. "You'll live a long, long time."

Cologne frowned at him. Then she leapt from the table and began to hop with her cane along the ground to the exit. "I don't want to be your slave."

"I'm not talking about turning you into a zoanoid!"

She turned back, caught by the sudden conviction in his voice. He sat there, confused. He had no idea where that had come from.

"I'll think about it," she said and left quickly.

01010

- January 11th, 1995, 20:48 (Earth GMT): Imperial Palace, Planet Jurai -

The particular corridor where Seiryo finally cornered Princess Ayeka Masaki Jurai was one of the more spectacular ones. On one side was the walls, and on the other a dropoff into a chasm several dozen stories deep, with only a finely filigreed guardrail between an unwary pedestrian and a deadly fall. Seiryo had managed to back Ayeka up against this guardrail, which she was paying more attention to than she was to him, understandably.

It was easy to understand why Seiryo was so interested in the young woman. She was a picture of elegant, sophisticated beauty. She had medium-length magenta hair with two long ponytails that extended from the nape of her neck and fell down almost to her knees. Her face was soft, with the kind of smooth features that only came from cultured living and breeding. She wore a long purple kimono with gold stitching up one side forming an elaborate picture of a sunrise and a red sash tied properly around her waist. She was, in fact, the iconic princess.

Which was why she was far too well-bred to respond to the boorish fop and his bumbling and obviously unappreciated advances with the indignation she quite rightly felt.

"I hope she does clobber the pink-haired twit," Touga's unseen companion remarked silently.

"What, and ruin such a perfect opportunity? You of all people should appreciate the value of what is about to happen," he responded internally.

"Really, Lord Seiryo," Ayeka was saying in a sort of absent-minded tone. Once again, she was paying more attention to her footing than to her pink-haired prospective paramour. "I appreciate your... uh... how shall I say... attentions? Yes. But really, I have... uh..."

"You have nothing to worry about, my beautiful princess," Seiryo remarked in what might have been a smooth tone if his voice had not been three octaves too high. Seeing that Ayeka's attention was distracted he took the opportunity to seize her wrist with his hand, which he began to bring to his lips. Of course, this had the effect of actually throwing the girl slightly off balance. "Your father, in his infinite wisdom, has seen fit to betroth us as is the ancient custom of OUR people." There was, of course, a vicious emphasis on the word 'our' there, that Ayeka and her two companions could not miss. "Unlike some, I can make time off from my string of astounding military victories to spend with such a beautiful flower..." And here he began to lift her hand to his lips.

"Watch and learn," Touga informed his immaterial companion as he responded to his cue.

"Really, Lord Seiryo. I was under the impression you were rotated off the front lines by request of his most glorious Emperor Azusa after the disaster in the Peliades Cluster." Touga allowed his voice to ring out loudly, but kept it unfailingly polite and respectful. He was a guest here, after all. "I'm certain your... historical contribution to those events had more than a little to do with why you were sent back here."

"ARE YOU IMPUGNING ME!" Seiryo shrieked and whirled on Touga in such a fury that he completely forgot the princess. He so totally forgot her that he released her hand and the force of his momentum sent her stumbling back. With a small squeak the back of her knees hit the insufficient guardrail.

The milieu slowed to a crawl as everyone began to turn towards Ayeka in slow motion. And just as she was slipping over the edge Touga was there, his long arm cradling the small of her back and drawing her into him just tightly enough that he could feel the heat of her body.

"Careful, Lady Ayeka, this precipice is perilous," he said softly into her ear. A soft blush crept across her features as he placed her safely in the ground and stepped back.

"P-princess Ayeka!" Seiryo gasped. "I never..."

"I think you've done just about enough!" a crisp voice snapped as one of Ayeka's companions stepped in front of him. She was a willowy woman with porcelain features and short silver hair tied back in a ponytail. Her soft violet kimono rippled as she thrust her finger into his chest. "Why don't you go be a disaster somewhere where people WON'T get killed?"

"But, Lady Tennyo..."

"NOW, Seiryo!"

The colour drained from the fop's cheeks. He paused long enough to cast a glare at Touga, which Touga met with the most genuine and sincere-looking smile he could fake. Then, not quite running like a whipped dog, he retreated.

"Thank you, big brother Touga!" the youngest of the girls there chirped up, stepping into his view. She was the kind of girl who was irrepressibly cute, with her sweet little urchin smile and dancing childish eyes. And yet she was also on the cusp of a stately womanhood, caught in those few tender and wonderful years between awkward child and mature woman. He smiled and knelt in front of her so that their eyes could meet levelly.

"It was nothing, Lady Sasami," he responded, reaching up as if to pat her head and then allowing his hand to pause and hesitate near her cheek before he let it drop again. "I am only glad that your sister did not suffer a nasty fall." Sasami blushed and nodded.

"I probably could have taken care of myself," Ayeka said, but her tone was uncertain. "Though I will thank you for getting rid of..." And here her voice became full of resent and revulsion. "My fiance."

"I'm only too glad to be of service to the royal family," he said, turning to face her and rising in a single smooth motion. "That is why I came to this magnificent planet. The fact that I happened by when I did is... LUCKY CHANCE!"

Touga, to his credit, did not quite scowl or stand in shock as the three blinked long and slowly at his sudden uncharacteristic outburst.

Making his excuses, Touga vanished back to the quarters he had been assigned in one of the less affluent sections of the palace. Now that he was alone he did allow himself to scowl slightly as he stared into a mirror. "I told you not to do that," he said.

The youma in the mirror had the good sense to at least look slightly bashful at his evenly delivered admonishment. Kairos was pretty much the yin to his yang. While she was no doubt beautiful, with the same alabaster skin he had now, hers was a rounded feminine beauty to his slim masculine features. Her hair was done in practically the same style as his, with a long lock of darker green hair on the opposite side of her face to his own pale red forelock. While he preferred the stately appearance of his charcoal-grey uniform with its red piping and golden epaulets, she wore a body-hugging, heavily-sequined leotard and fishnet stockings that left very little to the imagination. A long peacock feather was tucked in her hair opposite her forelock. The only feature they shared now was the eyes, which constantly displayed the symbol of a card suit. Right now hers was a club. His, he knew, was likely a spade, though he never could tell.

"I'm sorry," she lied convincingly. "But you keep us cooped up in this palace all the time, and I think I'm just going to EXPLODE unless we DO something soon..."

Touga sighed and tossed his forelock to the side. In the mirror, Kairos mimicked his gesture perfectly. "Kairos, the reason we were sent here was so that our Queen could establish diplomatic ties to the Jurai Empire. Diplomatic ties require some diplomacy, which is hard to do if you have me spouting off random insanity in the middle of negotiations."

"I don't see why you need me along for this..." Kairos pouted and crossed her arms. Touga felt himself mimicking the gesture.

"It's not like we have much of a choice but to work together now," Touga reminded her. "Like it or not, we are partners forever, you and I." He paused. "Or would you prefer Tethys had left you cleaning up the refuse in the sixth level of the Dark Kingdom forever, like Queen Beryl wanted you to?"

Kairos flounced a bit and sighed. "Stupid humans always have to ruin our fun by making SENSE all the time." She looked at him and batted her eyelashes slightly. "If we're stuck here, can't we at least have sex with someone? I swear that Tennyo woman would do you in a second if you asked."

Touga only smiled. "All good things, my partner... all good things..."

01010

- February 3rd, 1995, 17:24: Mengcheng, Ningxia Province, China -

Alone on the backroads of China, one could almost forget the way the world was. The man who should have been dead huffed, breathing out a small cloud of silver mist, and pulled his cloak tighter about his neck. It was getting colder as nightfall approached. There were no more travelers at this time of night, and no traffic in this direction anyway.

North of here, the mountains and heavily irrigated valleys gave way to desert and eventually the desolate wastes of Mongolia. Beyond that was the even more sparsely-populated eastern provinces of Russia. Chronos was supposed to be in control there, but they commanded the places only in name. Certainly if you were in a big enough city, you had a large army of zoanoids and a garrison of the more advanced types to protect you... but less than a week's walk from any of the cities and you lived on your own. Things stalked the night up there. Men with the heads of beasts. Creatures that lived on blood and souls and worse things. They fought like hell and even a martial artist in his prime was hard- pressed to defeat them. The wanderer pressed his hand to the scars a werewolf had given him. The scars that by all rights should have gotten him killed.

South of here you went through the war zone. Shadowloo controlled Thailand, Vietnam, Burma and most of the subcontinent down there. Chronos controlled the entire east coast of China and most of the civilized lands. They didn't fight openly. There were no armies marching or massive battles... but war was being waged. Hardly a day went by when some experimental hyper or neo- zoanoid didn't engage in a duel with one of Shadowloo's fanatical agents. Entire towns had been leveled by just two people slugging it out without a care for the civilian casualties. The wanderer had seen two of them cut the top off a mountain and send it tumbling into the valley below, killing thousands.

No, nobody in their right mind went south. The wanderer rubbed his back. It still ached when the weather got cold like this. A memento of the fight with that neo-zoanoid who had confused him for a Shadowloo agent. Yet another time he should have been dead.

That left west. Up until last year, it had been relatively safe. Then Millennium had come. Everyone had seen them coming. They had pushed through Europe like a plague, devouring everything in their path. Their forces had cut around Turkey and through Russia and Afghanistan until they'd hit China. The wanderer hadn't been in that part of China since their tanks and their bombs and their hordes of undead killing machines had arrived, but he had heard the place was pretty bad. The living envied the dead in those places controlled by Millennium.

Thankfully they had run into Qinghai. Just like everyone else, they had been met at the borders by the golden phoenix king. Just like everyone else, their armies had perished under his all-consuming flame. It was the first time the wanderer grudgingly decided he didn't hate the guy. He might have been a bastard preventing him from reaching Jyusenkyou... but at least he was an even- handed bastard.

The wanderer watched as the sun set. Behind him, around a dozen bends in the road, was the city of Mengcheng. The people in it were afraid. So far their town had been so remote it hadn't been touched by Chronos or Shadowloo. It was far enough away from the Millennium vanguard that they were still a rumor whispered quietly at night. But they were afraid because they knew that darkness was coming for them.

It always started the same. The Cult started popping up. Those who had survived, those who had been driven mad by what had happened. They started showing up in small numbers, whispering in the dark to anyone stupid enough to hear. The all gave the same message.

Submit. Rejoice. Your suffering has come to an end. Consign yourself to Oblivion.

The wanderer had fought a few of them. He had tried to talk sense into them, but it never seemed to work. He knew that a lot of them waited for their Messiah to come. None of them were ever heard from again. Others ran ahead of her. They spread her word. They spread her gospel.

And they were growing.

That ended tonight. The wanderer slipped his heavy umbrella off the ground and balanced it on his shoulder. His pack groaned under the weight, but he just continued sitting. She would come. She always came. There were fifty dead cities in her path, a perfect straight line leading here. Any fool could follow it.

The wanderer grimaced. Once, the one fool that couldn't have would have been him. He had come to China to get lost. He had come to China to get away from Japan. To get away from HER. But for once in his life he could not get lost. He would set his goal on some backwater town he chose at random from a map and, as certain as the sun rose the next morning, he would get there. Not once in the last three years had he ever gotten lost.

He just... had no place to go.

Except here, tonight. Because he was standing between a town of over ten thousand people and the end of the world. He sighed and wished he'd remembered to bring a can of beer.

He almost didn't notice her until she was right on top of him. He had expected to hear her coming a long time before she arrived. But she moved without a sound. She walked on the ground, but her soundless stride was unnerving. Ryouga stared at her. This tiny slip of a girl. This pretty, pale faced young child who couldn't have been more than eleven... this was the Messiah of Silence?

She wore an outfit he recognised vaguely. It was familiar, but not immediately. It brought back memories of Japan. Memories of... he pushed those thoughts aside. Her clothes were not nearly so important as her weapon.

It was huge. Two meters long and as thick across as a man's chest. The tip of the blade was wickedly curved, with serrated prongs along the inside of the curve to give the impression of a mouth. The entire blade was dull, unnaturally so. The moonlight seemed to fade along the edge of the blade, seeping out of the air like a painting faded with age.

The little girl had stopped five meters from him. He just sat on his pack, balancing his umbrella on his shoulder. The wind whistled softly through the air. She gazed at him with her tarnished bronze eyes. Her expression was soft, regretful... pitying.

"You've come to stop me." It wasn't a question, but he felt the need to reply anyway.

"Yeah, I guess I have." He unlimbered his arm and stood up. "I can't let you get to those people."

"Why, Ryouga?"

He frowned. He had never used his name once since he had gotten to China. He hadn't used it once since he had left Japan. No... even further back. He hadn't used that name since that day, three years ago. To the people of China he was nothing more than a legend. Just the nameless wanderer who walked into town and set things right before moving along.

"Because it's the right thing to do." He pointed his umbrella at her. "So... you coming at me?"

"You, who have suffered so much... you already seek the release of God." The Messiah opened her arms as if to embrace him. "Your reckless wandering is over, Ryouga Hibiki. Come to me and find what it is you seek."

"I don't think so, lady," he growled.

She frowned and gestured once. Suddenly the blade slipped from her back and flew through the air. It was a neat trick, but Ryouga had fought enough demons that he wasn't too surprised. His umbrella came up and he smashed it on the side, sending it wide. One eye followed the blade as it arced back through the air towards him, while the other stayed on the girl.

"You keep seeking these reckless confrontations, Ryouga, and you've never asked yourself why, have you?"

Ryouga did his best to ignore her. The strength in that floating sword was tremendous. He made the mistake of catching the next one head on, and almost got skewered. His knees buckled and the blade bit halfway through his umbrella before stopping. He stared at the edge of the blade as it sawed methodically at his weapon. Then he snarled and kicked it free before leaping back.

"You should have died that day, back in Tokyo."

The demon blade ran along the edge of the ground, tearing a trench in the earth with its passage. Ryouga slid to the side and roared. Green light exploded from the back of his fist and the blade was sent flying off the side of the road. He discarded the useless hunk of bamboo.

"You wanted to. It was the only way to end the pain you felt inside. The pain of betrayal. The pain of knowing that everything you had believed in had been twisted and perverted. You just wanted it to end. But SHE took that from you, didn't she?"

"Shut up!" Ryouga roared. The blade had caught itself in mid-air and come back at him. Ryouga jumped to meet it. The green glow of the Shishihokodan flashed around his body. It was a tight aura, nothing so crude and simple as the blasts he had been limited to three years ago. He had not spent the last years idle. Three mighty blows sent the blade quivering back... but they weren't doing anything to damage it. Anything mortal would have been destroyed by those strikes. He knew his own strength. He had blown tanks to shrapnel with less power than he'd put into those blows.

"And ever since you've been looking for release. One battle after another. Each one a hopeless cause. How many times should you have died, Ryouga? The time you had your intestines ripped out? The time you had your spine broken? What about when the mountain had collapsed on you? Or the dozen other times? You should be dead long since, Ryouga. But you aren't."

Ryouga danced back. His technique was strong. Pulling the Shishihokodan in tight around his whole body gave him amazing strength and stamina. But he was heavy as a tank and almost as slow. He had once fallen through a poorly built bridge into a fifty story chasm because he'd forgotten about that. It was making it hard to keep ahead of the blade. And he knew that getting hit by that thing was not a good idea.

"You were taken from His embrace, Ryouga. You should have gone on to Oblivion that day, but she took that from you. Now... now you are doomed. You will wander this earth and suffer forever. That is the power of her wish. You, Ryouga, will never die."

"Then I guess I'm going to win this, right?" He chuckled, but the confidence was false. He had felt that blade dig into his umbrella. He had felt the weapon just drain away all the chi in his umbrella. It was like it was a black hole, just sucking in everything near it. He could feel even the near misses tugging at his aura. When he was forced to deflect the blade with his palms a little more of his chi was sucked down the endless well that was in that blade.

"No, Ryouga. Because you can't win. This fight is destined. You see, you may have noticed I've been coming here for a long time. I have. But not for that city you protect so well. I came for you."

"I don't believe you," Ryouga shot back. He stood in front of the blade as it came in, spinning through the air so fast it was nothing more than a blurred disc. He crouched and at the last moment pushed all his power down. There was a mighty blast as he was rocketed into the air. The demon blade continued past him and buried itself into the rock he had been standing in front of. He landed quickly and spun to face the Messiah. If he couldn't beat her weapon, he would have to beat her directly. No matter how innocent she looked.

"I know how much you suffer, Ryouga. I suffer the same way, denied the embrace of Oblivion until the end of days," she said slowly as he charged at her. He screamed and pulled back his fist, concentrating all his power. She wasn't even trying to dodge. "And releasing you from this life is the least I can do after the kindness you showed me, Ryouga."

"Ho... Hotaru?" It hit Ryouga like a falling mountain. He stalled in mid-step, his fist coming to a halt inches from her nose. She hadn't moved a finger to defend herself. Now that he could see her better, up close... he could see it. Beyond the blood welling constantly down her cheeks was a face he remembered. It was the same little girl. The little girl he had saved that day from Vega. The girl he had protected from her demon-possessed father. "My... my god, what happened to you?"

The only answer he got was when the demon-blade erupted from his chest. He screamed and collapsed, blood geysering from his mouth. He felt a creeping cold seep through him as the blade slowly supped on his life force. "No..." He moaned and reached for Hotaru. "I won't..."

"All that fighting does is prolong the agony, Ryouga." She knelt next to him and smiled, a smile filled with empathy and love. "Consign yourself to Oblivion."

And for a moment, he thought he would. Then it happened. Just like in Mongolia. Just like in the south. Just like a dozen other times. Something inside him exploded and he screamed. He rose up and reached down to grab the handle of the blade sticking from his back. With another scream he jerked it free. He could feel the still heart of the demon blade, of Dylek, in his grip. It had submitted to Hotaru. It served her willingly.

He snarled, feeling the same power overwhelm him as had every other time. It was always different, but always the same. In Mongolia, he had felt his muscles grow stronger and his fingertips sharpen to blades as he'd torn the werewolf in two. Against the neo-zoanoid, his spine had fused back together and he'd felt his chi triple, than quadruple as it rose to match his opponent. The neo-zoanoid had been surprised when suddenly Ryouga had matched its strength, and he'd broken it in half with a single blow.

Now... he could feel the Silence in him. It was bigger than anything else. It was inevitable. It waited for him. It waited for everyone at the end of time. But it would have to wait until then, because his body was already adapting, already changing. Heat returned to his limbs as his body simply assimilated the Silence like it had everything else that had ever tried to kill him.

Ryouga stood over Hotaru for a long moment, breathing heavily. There was still a gaping wound in his chest. It was bleeding onto the ground heavily. But he didn't care. He knew he would live. The question was... what did he do now?

"I see." Hotaru nodded sadly. "So this is your purpose." She turned around and began to walk away, back in the direction she had come.

"Wait a minute!" he shouted. "We aren't finished yet!"

"Of course not," she acknowledged, stopping to look back over her shoulder. "We have a lot more to do yet, you and I."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"God has a plan for you, Ryouga Hibiki, the wanderer who can never die." She turned her back to him. "I'm sorry. He can be cruel at times. But sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, so don't judge Him poorly." She began walking. "You will be my guide. I knew that once I confronted you, my purposeless wandering would end, but I didn't guess this was how. You... you are the one chosen to lead me to the end of days. Together, we will usher in the end of the world."

"Are you insane?" Ryouga shouted, because she was getting further away. "I will NEVER work with you! You may be... you may be her, but that doesn't mean I want to help you!"

Hotaru paused and looked at the sky for a moment. "Very well then. I will continue my work as I see fit then. One day I will find the Silence Glaive and bring peace to this world. If I have to slaughter every living creature on this planet until at last Ukyou can't hide it from me anymore... so be it."

Ryouga felt his heart skip a beat. "Every... single..."

"You know you can't stop me." She looked back over her shoulder at him, raising an eyebrow. "If I refuse to fight you, your power can not defeat me. Like you, I can never die." Then she turned around and started walking again. "Or you can accept your destiny and be my guide. Perhaps you can find a way to lead me to my destination without unnecessary suffering. Maybe, in the end, I will not be forced to butcher my way across the Earth. You can lead me down the path your destiny has carved for you, or I can find my own. Either way, I will get where I'm going.

"After all, I have nothing but time."

Ryouga stood in the darkness for a long time after Hotaru had vanished from sight. He thought long and hard about what she had said, about everything she had said. He shook his head. He just couldn't believe she was gone... the little girl whom he had clutched in his arms. The girl he had protected from maniacs and monsters. No... that was the one good thing he had done. The one good thing to come out of his ill-fated trip to Tokyo. He refused to accept it was over.

He released Dylek and it hovered in the air in front of him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Lead me to her."

01010

- July 30th, 1995, 8:00: Mount Minakami, Japan -

ZX-Tole didn't like these monthly reports. In the first place, he was a soldier. His place was in the field. He preferred the naked honesty of warfare to these subtle political games. Even when his prey was elusive and deceitful, they were still honest in their trickery. You knew where the enemy stood. They wanted you dead, and you wanted them dead. It was a brutal sort of life, but the kind that he had grown to respect.

But these reports were just an excuse for political gain. ZX-Tole didn't know how his reports were received and interpreted by the twelve zoalords, but he knew that the actual facts would be twisted to fit someone's agenda long before they could actually be translated into anything worthwhile. With Arkanphel having withdrawn from the world nearly a year ago, the zoalords were jockeying between each other for position and prestige.

As if any of that mattered.

"Fear not, friend ZX-Tole!" Ikazuchi said, clapping him on the shoulder in a gesture of manly camaraderie. "We have accomplished great things in the names of our lords these last days. Indeed, in fact, we have perhaps done services so mighty they will have no choice but to heap upon us glowing praise!" Ikazuchi did not look that much different in his human form. His hair was glossy black and tousled, his eyes a confident blue. He preferred large baggy pants and a gi top to ZX-Tole's own business suit. ZX-Tole shrugged out of his grasp and grunted noncommittally.

"Don't get your hopes up, kid," ZX-Tole said as the elevator continued to rise. "The higher ups are not easily impressed by a few random darkstalker slayings and ghoul hunts."

ZX-Tole wasn't certain what he felt about Ikazuchi. The kid was annoying. He had a pompous air to him at all times, even when he was being thrashed about. He saw his status as the first neo-zoanoid as marking him as the pinnacle of human evolution, a fact which he often professed. But despite his arrogance, ZX-Tole had to admit he was damn useful in a fight. He obeyed orders; reluctantly, but with a startling speed and skill. ZX-Tole frowned and bowed his head.

These neo-zoanoids were scary. He knew they hadn't been... as finely processed in the mental department as even most hyper zoanoids. Most of their original personality and memory had been left intact, because even Valkus knew that their real power came from their acquired skills, and not just the genetic modifications Chronos had gifted them with.

But they were powerful. So powerful they left most hyper zoanoids in the dust. Only the elite of the elite, the most rare models like himself, could compare. Thancrus had grown so annoyed at being outshone he had volunteered for experimental modifications. ZX-Tole grunted again. He just hoped the scientists didn't knock fifty years off his life span. ZX-Tole had already lost two friends: he planned on losing no more.

"You worry too much, commander!" Ikazuchi laughed and turned to their other companion, who took up half the elevator all by himself. "What think you, our new and dearest friend?"

"I am... RED CYCLONE!" the man shouted, his eyes bulging dangerously. ZX-Tole stared at him and shook his head. Red Cyclone was impressive: even outside of his battle form he was a wall of muscle, covered in scars. ZX-Tole just wished he would wear something besides a pair of red shorts.

Derzerb chuckled. He was taking up most of the rest of the elevator, with his massive body crammed into a suit that strained to hold him. He was slightly taller than Red Cyclone, but had much less overall mass. ZX-Tole had been surprised to learn that the neo-zoanoid had in fact been that massive before processing.

Too bad about how dumb he was.

There was a chime and the door opened slowly. There were no corridors here. The elevator opened right into the meeting room. The chamber wasn't large, and was lit only by lamps underneath the crescent shaped table, giving everything in it an eerie underlit quality. ZX-Tole strode forward and stood at the center of the table, the rest of his team moving out to flank him.

Commander Gyro sat on a raised dais, on a throne of chromed metal. The only overhead lamp in the room was directly above him, casting him in a pool of light. He had his back turned to them, examining a viewscreen that took up most of the far wall and was currently showing a mosaic of images.

"The Elite Five are reporting as ordered, sir!" ZX-Tole shouted.

"Ah, ZX-Tole, so good of you to show up," Gyro said, as if he hadn't been perfectly aware of their arrival. He spun in his chair to face them. ZX- Tole noticed he was carrying some sort of device in his hand, but aside from it appearing organic and being made of black metal, he could tell nothing about it. "Please, sit down, all of you."

The chairs made a light hissing sound as they were moved for people to sit. The chair under Red Cyclone groaned ominously for a moment, but held.

"What have you to report?" Gyro asked casually. He had probably already probed all their minds, but liked to have things spelled out for him. ZX-Tole nodded and played along.

"Just the usual, sir." ZX-Tole laid his hands on the table. "Three malefic paranormal entities, fifteen combat-modified bioweapons, fifty freak chip units and assorted reanimated corpses. We also captured two unlicensed martial artists, which have been placed into the neo-zoanoid program as per standard operating procedure."

"And the resistance?" Gyro asked, leaning forward, his eyes gleaming eagerly.

"Alas, Commander Gyro, Akane Tendo has eluded us once again." Ikazuchi sighed expansively. "I do not know what foul agency has tainted her pure virgin mind, but she continues to refuse my advances and does not accept the ultimate-" Gyro glared and Ikazuchi flew from his chair, blood spurting from his nose. He landed comatose on the ground. ZX-Tole didn't move a muscle. Derzerb chuckled. Red Cyclone snorted like an angry bull, but he always did that.

"As Ikazuchi was saying, sir, the top priority target has still been able to elude us." ZX-Tole frowned and decided to volunteer his opinion. "I think she must have a line into our plans. In all our attempts to capture her, we've only run into deserted safehouses or extremely well-prepared ambushes."

"I will not accept that a single HUMAN girl could possibly be consistently outsmarting the elite of Chronos," Gyro growled. "It is only a matter of time before you locate her."

"Yes, sir." ZX-Tole paused. "We do have other problems we could be dealing with, sir."

"I have other teams assigned to them..."

"And most of them are dead," ZX-Tole responded quickly. Seeing Gyro frown, he quickly added. "With all due respect sir, I believe these enemies may be too much for lesser zoanoids to deal with. We've lost three teams to this 'Death Messiah' so far, and an entire battle group was wiped out by her and her new bodyguard.

"Plus there is the actually active Sailor Senshi. While Akane may lead us to Sailor Moon, we have much more to worry about from Sailor Mars and Pluto. Both of them have managed to strike significant blows against Chronos facilities all over the world. Plus, I believe that the woman 'V' who works with Ranma Saotome is also a Sailor Senshi." He paused. "That might explain why both are able to slip off our radar so effectively after a strike. In fact, the two of them alone have done more damage to Chronos in terms of actual material resources and lost zoanoid units than the Resistance, the other Sailor Senshi and the Death Messiah combined!"

"I am well aware of how much damage they have done," Gyro intoned, crossing his arms. "Trust me. I have plans to deal with this... Ranma Saotome. He is nothing more than a thorn in my paw, one I can pluck out at any time."

"Yes, sir..." ZX-Tole bowed his head. "And then there is Lotus Infinite..."

"Bah!" Gyro swept his arms wide. "I won't entertain ghost stories, ZX- Tole."

"There's simply no other explanation, sir." ZX-Tole stood up. "I've seen enough evidence that I believe this assassin must exist."

"A woman who can get into any facility, no matter how well-guarded and warded? A woman who can kill any target with a single strike in absolute silence? I believe there may be an assassin working for some agency out there, perhaps even a very gifted one. But one that can be a threat on the magnitude that Amniculus suggests is sheer folly."

"What about Gill, Commander?" ZX-Tole asked quickly. Gyro frowned. "Gill had three times fought zoalords to a standstill. His army was well on its way to conquering all of Australia. Then, one day, he was just dead. Sliced clean in two. When strike teams descended on his headquarters, not a single one of his servants or bodyguards had been touched... but all the data on the genetic manipulation techniques his organization employed had been stolen and wiped clean. SOMEBODY with the power to kill a zoalord-class being is out there... and they could strike anywhere. We have to track down Lotus Infinite."

"Our first priority is Akane Tendo." Gyro stood up. "Don't presume to test my magnanimity, ZX-Tole. I will not authorize you to make a wild goose hunt. No... capture Akane Tendo. Bring her to me. I must find out what she knows about the location of Sailor Moon."

ZX-Tole bowed his head. "Yes, Commander."

"Good." Gyro strode from the room, disappearing through a door that vanished seamlessly into the wall. ZX-Tole kept his head bowed for a long moment, then sighed. He walked over and picked up Ikazuchi. "You two, head to the helipad and book a trip back to Tokyo. We start at square one again."

"And you?" Derzerb asked.

"I'm getting this idiot to the medlab. I just hope the Commander didn't blow out too much of his brain. He didn't have much to start with."

01010

- April 11th, 1996, 16:02: Masaki Shrine, Okayama Prefecture, Japan -

"I certainly appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid the answer has to be no."

The words hung in the air for a few moments. Angel tried her best not to fidget. Chris, of course, was as unflappable as ever. But then again, his feet probably hadn't fallen asleep from sitting like this. At least Link looked almost as uncomfortable as Angel felt. Angel had even heard her mutter something about 'stupid Japanese customs' under her breath in Chinese. Angel allowed herself a small smirk at Link's obvious discomfort. At least there was one thing Angel could do better than her.

"I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss him, Katsuhito!" The red-haired girl sitting behind the old fart called quickly, grabbing him by the shoulder. Angel had overlooked her at first, considering the girl was a few years younger than she was. She had just assumed that it was another of the priest's students or something. But considering how solemnly the old fart was listening to her, she upgraded her estimation. "This boy can offer us a lot more than just vague promises of protection from Chronos!"

Chris inclined his head slightly, but his expression remained unflappable and his glassy eye unreadable. Link frowned at the girl. For some reason, it always looked more natural when Link frowned.

"This boy here is a lot more than he seems," the girl explained.

"What do you mean, Washuu?" Katsuhito asked. His glasses gleamed as he tilted his head, hiding his eyes from view. Chris merely raised his eyebrow. Link's frown, however, deepened.

"He doesn't exist!" she exclaimed, standing up and pointing at him directly. "I've had my computer scanning them since they stepped onto the grounds, but you know what I learned..." There was a long pause. "NOTHING! I mean, at first I thought it was an extremely sophisticated cloaking field. But it isn't! I've penetrated every possible level of cloaking, and he just doesn't exist!"

"He's remarkably ambulatory for a figment of my imagination," Katsuhito pointed out dryly. Angel resisted the urge to chuckle, but she was leaning forward with interest. Chris, for all that she trusted him and followed him without question, had never really told her anything about himself.

"Well I certainly wouldn't presume to argue with the greatest scientific mind in the universe," Chris replied with a slight smile. "Clearly, if Washuu believes I don't exist, I must not."

Washuu nodded and slapped Katsuhito on the back. "See. He knows I'm always right." Link snorted derisively, but everyone ignored her.

"Of course," Katsuhito drawled. He removed his glasses and cleaned them with a pristine cloth. "For those of us who aren't as intuitively perceptive as you, perhaps you could explain?" He said this last part with a sort of resigned sigh, the kind of tone a man would use to describe a job he hated but had been stuck in for fifteen years.

Washuu smiled. "But of course..." Washuu coughed into her hand, cleared her throat and then, in a puff of smoke, was suddenly clad in an outfit that resembled some sort of school uniform. She was also standing behind a podium in front of a chalkboard that hovered idly in mid-air. Neither of these had been there a few seconds ago. Angel stared. The old man gave her a sympathetic sort of shrug.

"The key, you see, is cross-dimensional equilibrium," Washuu explained as the words appeared in large white kanji on the board. Angel blinked. Her Japanese wasn't good enough to get past that hiragana and katakana stage yet, but she could still somehow easily make out the words. "Though the use of the word 'dimension' in this instance is actually incorrect, or rather misrepresentative."

Washuu tapped the board with her pointer and the image chained to a spinning globe. "This is the universe. It exists in a constant state, with matter and energy obeying certain observable physical laws. Humanity is only now beginning to understand these basic physical principles, such as Quantum Mechanics and String Theory. But the fact is that this is only part of the picture."

The image shifted and the globe seemed to distort and snap apart until there were two globes on the board now. "In reality, the universe is determined by probability equations. Every event that occurs has a certain base probability of having occurred the moment before its actual occurrence. When the event occurs, it then becomes 'set', and that becomes our reality. But that is only the part of the universe we observe. You see, before an event occurs, EVERY event that could have occurred will. But we only OBSERVE one of them."

Washuu turned to tap the two globes. "However, it is also possible that we could observe the other outcomes as well. And, in fact, we do. This is what leads to the creation of 'other dimensions', or to use a term more meaningful but slightly inaccurate, 'parallel universes'. You see, we all in this universe-" She tapped on the globe and a '1' appeared above it. "-observe one action while the us in the other universe '2' see a different one. Perhaps even wildly different.

"Everyone follow that?"

There was a long silence.

"Right then, moving on.

"The reason I call the use of the term 'parallel universe' an incorrect one is that while many theorists state that these events have nothing in common, I believe they are wrong. In fact, all these events have one thing in common... the observer!"

Washuu caused a tiny little deformed caricature of herself to appear between the two globes, which began to look back and forth between them. "You see, the entire difference between the two universes is meaningless without the context of an observer. It is, in fact, the very act of observation that DEFINES reality. Not in terms of the wishes of the viewer translating into what happens, but in terms of what is happening being defined by our ability to observe it.

"The key to this comes when you realise that the observer is present in both universes, but they are still the SAME observer. All of the possibilities occur at the same time, but don't diverge. The universe is infinitely large. It's preposterous to assume that universes simply 'split off' from each other into some sort of 'macro-infinity' or other such nonsense. That means that all the observed universes, and the observers, are occupying the same space and time... but are unaware of each other."

As she had been speaking a second Washuu had appeared on the board. The two were looking in opposite directions and wandering around each other with large question marks blinking over their head. "That is... unless you learn how to look properly." The two Washuus bumped into each other and leapt up, before they turned around and began to chatter, via speech bubbles.

Angel just sort of stared. She could feel her eyes widening and her mouth opening in dumbfoundment. She realised she must look like an idiot, but she couldn't help it.

"You see, if a person were aware, even unconsciously, of an alternate version of themselves they could, in fact, CHOOSE which of the two possible universe they observe. Let's take an example:"

The screen cleared and suddenly a little deformed picture of Angel appeared on it. A brief surge of annoyance ran through her, but Katsuhito placing a calming hand on her shoulder before she could object. A gun appeared in the drawing in front of the Angel figure.

"Let's say we have an event. In one universe a gun is fired: the projectile cuts through the air and hits our poor observer, killing her instantly." Angel winced. Did she have to include the fountain of blood from the forehead? "But say that our observer was able to witness the outcome of multiple universes? Well... in most cases she would still die." Angel winced again as her avatar was ruthlessly gunned down a few more times in quick succession. "BUT, if she was very much in tune she could, eventually, observe a universe where the bullet did NOT kill her. Perhaps the bullet lost kinetic energy due to a freak wind gust or some other equally implausible event." The bullet this time bounced off of the Angel avatar's forehead and the girl in the picture began to dance around with little fans. "This is, in fact, the basis of most martial arts in this world. Students like Katsuhito here develop their own internal awareness of possible universes. As they grow in power, they can branch further and further away from the 'base' universe into the truly improbable." There was a short animation of the little Angel jumping between skyscrapers. "Of course, they are only aware of the single universe in which their efforts were successful and not the trillions of others were they experienced various gruesome demises." Angel covered her eyes, unwilling to watch. She did hear a little kiddie scream that sounded too much like her own voice fade away as if falling.

She only opened her eyes when Washuu cleared her throat.

"Now, of course, there is a limit to this. Some events are not just improbable, they are literally impossible under the current circumstances. This occurs most often because a sequence of events that occurred before the current moment have rendered it impossible." The background behind the Angel avatar changed. There were hundreds of blinking stars and a tiny little Earth spinning in the background. The avatar blinked and then began to choke and cough, right before she was fried to a crisp by the rising sun and its ultraviolet rays. Angel felt a little queasy. "See, some things are just impossible because there is no quantum possibility of them happening. BUT... there exists few rare individuals with access to something more." The avatar was suddenly replaced by one Angel didn't recognise. It was a girl with long black hair wearing a Shinto priestess' robes and carrying a hoe. She too began to choke and cough. "These individuals have access to a higher ORDER of awareness and can observe universes that are much further removed from their own in probability. Literally allowing them to choose to observe universes in which seemingly impossible things happened, like humans developing the spontaneous ability to breathe in space." The girl glowed and suddenly smiled, holding up her hands in a 'V' sign. "Of course, this too has its limits depending on the power of the individual." The sun rose behind her and this avatar too was instantly burned to a crisp. Well, better her than me, Angel thought.

Washuu collapsed her pointer and the blackboard vanished. She nodded smugly. Angel noticed Chris and Link exchange a glance.

"Fascinating," Katsuhito said slowly, placing his glasses back on. "But what does this have to do with our visitor?"

"Allow me to hazard a guess," Chris broke in. "The interesting thing Washuu has observed is that I am not observable from any other perspective but this one. There is no other universe where I have come to visit you."

"Exactly!" Washuu clapped her hands together. "This boy exists in literally only a single quantum possibility. Which is impossible, and not just impossible like the impossible things some people can do, but fundamentally impossible! His existence does not branch out into any other universe. From the perspective of every other alternate version of us but the ones observing him in this single universe, he does not exist!"

"I see..." nodded the old man, sipping from a cup of tea. "But what I do not understand is how this relates to me, or to his request to have me look after his young ward."

Angel scowled. Honestly, she hoped Chris couldn't get the old fart to agree. She'd lost track of how many martial arts masters, freakish old hermits, and other weirdos she'd been left with in the last couple of years. She wanted to go with Chris, help him with whatever it was he was doing, not sit around learning yet another language or chi trick or martial arts form. She wasn't the strongest person around yet, but she was no weakling! She could help!

But she knew she'd be just left here, or somewhere else. Probably here. She'd never seen anybody end up refusing Chris. He always seemed to know what they wanted.

"I want to study him, of course!" Washuu proclaimed. "He's not like anything else I've seen! Any favour is a fair price, don't you think?"

"You aren't the one who will be doing the taking care," Katsuhito pointed out dryly. "I have my hands full with one apprentice."

While the two had argued, Link had leaned over and was whispering in Chris's ear. Angel's scowl deepened. She didn't like Link much. LINK always got to go along with Chris. And while she was never exactly rude, every time Angel talked with her, she got the feeling Link was laughing at her. Angel bet Link knew what she'd been chosen for. But she would never say anything.

"Well, in thanks for your hospitality," Chris cut in smoothly, "I'd certainly like to help you out. Washuu, though I'm afraid I can't stay, I could certainly give you something to analyse. Would that be alright?"

"Well, maybe..." the little scientist said dubiously. "I certainly want to run a few tests, but I don't know if they'll give me all the information I want. But yeah, I definitely want to try!"

"Outstanding." Chris raised his right arm. Then he touched two fingers of his left hand to the pale flesh of the arm, right below the elbow. Then there was a sudden flash of purple flame, followed immediately by a wet thump as the severed right forearm landed on the wood. No blood emerged from it; the end was black, like well-cooked meat.

Everyone simply stared at that for a long moment. Angel looked up at Chris's face, but he didn't seem to be in any pain; he was smiling slightly.

"I trust that will be sufficient?"

"Ewww!" Washuu commented. "Just... eww!" Then she grabbed the severed limb and run off into a closet door underneath the stairs, giggling madly to herself. Angel resolved, if she did end up staying here, to avoid Washuu as much as possible.

The old fart had regained his composure quickly. He took another sip of his tea. "So... that was the power of the Orochi, eh?"

"A little bit of it," Chris agreed. Angel smirked a little to herself, feeling a bit better. Even if she was being left behind, at least she knew the truth here. Chris always told the people they met that he was the heir of the Orochi, who was some Japanese god or something. But he'd told Angel, long ago, that that was just the story he used. What he really was, he'd said to her, was a lot different than just someone with the power of the Orochi.

Of course, he hadn't said what that was. Angel sighed.

Katsuhito sat down his tea and looked at Chris. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Well, I'm afraid that, as I said before all of this, my answer to your request must be no. No matter how special you are, or how much you help out my red-haired friend, this is still my household, and no one will live here without my consent."

"Of course not," Chris nodded. "I certainly appreciate taking on an apprentice isn't easy, and that I've given you no reason to trust me. But I'd like to make it worth your while to do so."

"Do not mistake me. Your offer to protect us from Chronos is interesting. But we've avoided their attentions so far, and even if they are conducting a search of all Japanese shrines as you say, I trust in Washuu's defences to keep us unnoticed."

"It is a risk," Chris noted. "Your other apprentice has drawn attention, in her forays outside this shrine. A simple search of the pattern pinpoints this place. And Chronos has grown more and more familiar with the signs of metahuman activity, be it magical, chi-based, or technological. Even with Washuu's genius, it only takes one overlooked curious energy emission to draw all sorts of the wrong kind of attention. Are you willing to risk zoalords taking a personal interest here?"

"If what you say is true, I'd far prefer not to have a child here in any case. Forgive me, but I have no way of knowing you can deliver on your claims."

Chris chuckled. "Fair enough. But that's not the only thing I can offer you."

Katsuhito sighed. "Oh?"

"Don't be so dismissive. I know a lot of things, Katsuhito Masaki." Chris leaned forward, tapping two of his remaining fingers to his unmutilated cheekbone. "For instance, I know that's not your real name, Prince Yosho of Jurai. And I know that when some of your former houseguests left this world, they took with them three gems of incalculable power. Finally, I know that without those gems, the Juraian tree near this shrine that has been sustaining your life in your centuries on Earth has been losing power... and you, in turn, are starting to age. Mortality is hanging over your head now, and that must be a novel experience for a man who grew up expecting to remain young for eons."

Angel blinked. Remaining young? She couldn't imagine anyone calling that decrepit old fossil 'young'. But maybe he was aging really fast?

If Chris knowing all that had startled Katsuhito - or Yosho, or whatever - he didn't show it. "You do seem to know a lot." He took another sip of his tea. "There was no offer in that revelation, however. So go on."

"It's quite simple. I will, at the moment, take care of the Chronos problem. And my companion will take a sample of your very precious tree. When we return, we will know how to revitalise it... and you. So payment both on delivery and return. Would that be acceptable?"

The old man yawned, scratching idly at his ear. "You promise a lot. How do I know your companion will succeed?"

"You don't have to worry about that," Link snapped peevishly. "Space trees, real trees, there is no plant I can't understand and make grow! I've handled stranger things than your tree, don't you worry. I won't say how long it'll take, but within a few years at most - and that's if I'm busy with other things too - I will make that tree more energetic than it ever was! It'll last a thousand years more if I want it to!"

"I'll vouch for that," Chris nodded. "I'm aware of the complicated nature of Juraian trees, but Link here is a prodigy of rare talent. She will succeed. I guarantee it. And as for my promise to deal with Chronos... as you say, if I fail, Angel will be in danger. I won't allow that. No, I will make sure Chronos never comes here." His lip quirked up. "Don't worry. I have something they want a lot more than any shrine or vigilante Sailor Senshi."

01010

- April 12th, 1996, 5:08: Masaki Shrine, Okayama Prefecture, Japan -

Angel frowned down at the wooden practice sword. Kiima had never made her practice with a wooden sword. The old fart was standing in front of her, adjusting his glasses with one hand and holding another bokken in the other. The sun was rising over the mountains, glittering on the lake.

Nearby that girl Rei was standing in a long field. They hadn't really said anything to each other last night. The girl had merely entered the house, grabbed a slice of toast and walked up the stairs, presumably to collapse unconscious in her room. Angel had thought she was vaguely familiar at the time, but it was only seeing her hoeing the fields that she recognised her. It was the other girl from Washuu's lecture.

"I see you're used to getting up early," Katsuhito noted. Angel nodded and yawned slightly. "Well, from that sword you were carrying around, I take it you fancy yourself a swordswoman?"

Angel gave him a half-lidded stare. Then she shrugged. "Listen, can we just skip this part?"

Katsuhito raised an eyebrow. "Which part?"

"The part were you call me a sniveling worm who can't possibly understand the secrets of your technique and goad me into attacking you. Then after a long and humiliating fight where you roundly trounce me up and down the yard I finally learn humility and yadda yadda yadda..." Angel waved her hand dismissively. "I've been through this eight times in the past two years. Hermits and geezers and other freaks all with what is apparently the secret awesome kung fu. And frankly, compared to the hundred-year-old bald guy with one arm tied behind his back who lived in a cave and smelled like piss, you are not very intimidating."

"I see..."

"So maybe we can skip the standard beating and you could, ya know, just show me your forms and techniques and actually teach them to me?"

Katsuhito rubbed his chin slowly. "Hmm. But if I'm not going to demonstrate my technique on you with unnecessary violence... how am I supposed to display it?"

"I don't know..." Angel cast her eyes about. "What about her? She's not doing anything." She pointed at the girl in the Shinto priestess robes, who was obviously out of earshot.

"An excellent idea." Katsuhito agreed and jogged across the field. The girl turned around and blinked.

"Katsuhito? What are yo-ARGH!"

What followed was very informative. Angel took notes.

Katsuhito pointed his bokken down at the priestess's battered body. "Did you catch all that?"

"Most of it," Angel said, looking up from her notepad.

"Excellent." The old man paused and looked at Rei a moment longer. "Although it seems that Rei will not be capable of completing her chores for some time. Thus, we need someone else to hoe the carrots."

Angel blinked as he tossed the hoe to her. She stared at it. "You're kidding, right?"

The old man, however, was pulling Rei up onto his back. "There are ten fields in total. And Washuu created a special breed of carrot that grows so fast it can be harvested weekly. I expect Rei's injuries will take at least that long to heal."

"Hate... you..." Rei gasped as the two jogged off.

"STUPID OLD FART!" Angel shouted, leaping and waving her hoe and bokken at his retreating back. But he was ignoring her. After spending a few minutes creating new and inventive swear words by combining the various dialects she had learned Angel's throat got sore and she stopped.

"I don't even like carrots," she muttered and turned to the field.

The heat was oppressive as the sun began to rise. Yesterday there had been a cool breeze off the lake. Angel frowned and snarled as she hacked at the ground. She was secretly convinced that Washuu had a hand in the lack of refreshing breezes.

"Oh dear, you look hot!"

"GAH!" Angel leapt and began to swing her hoe around in a deadly arc. Only at the last second did she realise that the person standing there was just another of Katsuhito's guests. She managed to halt the momentum of the blade with an effort of will, keeping the tool from taking off the girl's head by only centimeters. The girl was just smiling.

Mihoshi was someone Angel had gotten more of a chance to meet yesterday. She was a tall beautiful woman with tanned skin and long golden hair. She was so cheerful that Angel had taken an instant liking to her. Plus, she claimed to be a 'galaxy police' officer. Angel had no idea what that was, but she didn't really doubt it. She had, after all, encountered just as weird things.

"What are you doing out here?" Angel asked. She took the chance to drop her hoe and leaned on it. Mihoshi held out a jar filled with water and floating ice cubes.

"Like I said, you look hot. Here."

"Uh... thanks..." Angel said. She grabbed the jar and took a long swallow. But that did little to fight off the heat, so she just dumped the rest over her head. Her long white hair plastered itself in front of her eyes, so she spent a few moments pushing that aside. Mihoshi giggled.

"I just heard that Mr. Masaki was forcing you to do Rei's chores. And you don't look nearly as tough as Rei does, so I thought you could use a break!"

Angel blinked. "Uh... thanks..." She bristled for a moment, but decided the blonde girl was just too nice to have meant it as an insult. Then she raised an eyebrow, and a wicked little smile crossed her features. "Say, you're from... outer space or the future or something, right?"

"Yes! But I'm not supposed to tell the natives that." She slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oops. Could you forget I said that?"

"Said what?" Angel winked.

"The part about me being from outer space."

Angel gave her a long look. "Okay."

"Thanks!"

"Anyway, do you have any... you know, secret alien technology that could help with all this fieldwork?"

Mihoshi blinked. Then she giggled and hit herself on the side of the head. "You know, I never thought about that! I wish I had! It would have helped out Tenchi a lot!" Angel refrained from asking about Tenchi. Some instinct told her that was a bad direction to steer the conversation if she wanted to get the girl to help her out. "Here, let me just call it out..."

The girl pulled a small pink cube out of... somewhere and began to twist and spin it, like a puzzle box. Angel frowned, wandering what that was going to accomplish. Then she screamed as a giant swirling hole into darkness and lightning opened up almost directly in front of her.

Out of the hole came a ship. It was a spaceship. Angel couldn't really think of any other way to describe it. It looked like a spaceship. A big spaceship. A big spaceship that had come out of a wormhole about a meter above the field.

"Oh shit..." Angel cried and grabbed Mihoshi before jumping away. A year on Phoenix Mountain had made her good at leaping, and she managed to clear the field despite the extra weight before the ship crashed into it with a sound like an avalanche. Great gouts of earth rose up on both sides of it as the nose of the ship cut a trench four meters deep in the earth. Finally the machine settled down, a large cloud of dust descending over it.

Mihoshi smiled, a few beads of sweat coming down her brow. "Oops. I forgot to adjust the vertical hold again."

"Yes, I think you did..." Angel said slowly.

"You're going to clean that up, of course."

Angel spun around to see Katsuhito standing there, his robes rippling in the breeze that had been caused by the crash. He stared at Angel, the light glinting dangerously off his glasses. Angel looked over her shoulder. There were sparks leaping from the ship. And a large chunk of rock was being melted by those sparks.

"Uh... you mean her, right?" Angel asked, pointing at Mihoshi. For her part, Mihoshi was just sort of fretting and rubbing her hands together, completely ignoring them both.

"I believe 'you' can be plural."

01010

- May 5th, 1996, 2:13: Bisonopolis (formerly Bangkok), Shadowloo (formerly Thailand and surrounding areas) -

"Rose... stop... please... I... can't..." Pluto gasped as her legs finally gave out. She fell hard, her cheek scraping along the paving stones. She moaned and tried to lever her hand underneath her.

"We have to keep going," Rose said harshly. But she knelt down and her hands were gentle as she lifted Pluto up. She draped the shorter woman's arms over her shoulder and the two began to limp down the street.

It was night, but there was no dark in this city. Even on these streets near the fetid, polluted docks, the refuse of the all-night parties wandered. They passed a band of drunk college students. Probably out celebrating their graduation, or perhaps trying to forget their failure. If it was the latter, Pluto pitied them.

Failure was not something tolerated in this city.

A few of the party-goers and flesh merchants that filled the city eyed the two women as they passed by. But none approached. None offered to help. Violence had never been a stranger to the people here, but with Shadowloo in control, it was an accepted fact. Those with strength took what they wished, those without it endured and trained until they were strong enough to take it back.

Or they vanished.

"How... much... further..." Pluto gasped out.

"Not far. The boat should be waiting for us at the pier. We can take it downriver to the ship and be out of here before dawn..." Rose trailed off. Pluto knew what went unsaid. They had failed in their mission... again. Pluto wanted to frown, but she was too busy gulping air into her burning lungs to make any sort of expression.

They turned the corner and suddenly there was the river. It glittered darkly in the night, deep and ancient. Pluto almost smiled. There was the tiny skiff that should have been waiting for them, floating innocently in the water and tied to the pier by a single rope. But... there was nobody there.

Rose stiffened. "It's a trap," she warned. Pluto nodded grimly and pushed herself away from her partner.

A body came tumbling out of the darkness. The young man was scrawny, clad in rough leather garments and had a general look of malnutrition to him. He had been one of the few people in the city willing to help them. Rose had even vouched that his intentions were genuine. But now his face was a black mess, his hair matted with blood. He collapsed bonelessly to the ground at their feet. Pluto crouched beside him and felt for a pulse.

She sighed and stood up.

Bisonopolis did not reward compassion.

"Well, ladies, you led us on a merry chase, I'll give you that."

The man that stepped out of the shadows was tall and built like a weightlifter. His skin was dark-complexioned and he a wide-brimmed red fedora was pulled low over his eyes. He wore a sleeveless white shirt and a red tie loosely around his neck. In his right hand he carried a thick brown baseball bat, matted on one side with red gore. He tapped the bat against his shoes and grinned.

"Jack," Rose intoned. "Didn't you learn anything last time?" She held up her shawl and it began to radiate soul power, the purple glow casting sharp relief on the pier.

"Ayup..." Cracker Jack held up his free hand and gestured. Out of the shadows three lithe figures emerged. They were young women, each clad in identical black body-stockings that hugged their bodies almost indecently. They differed primarily in build and hairstyle. The one in the centre was also wearing an iron mask, red pits of light glaring balefully from the eyeslits. She was flanked on either side by almost identical Chinese beauties, one carrying a staff and the other a pair of nunchaku. "S'why I brought back-up this time."

"You think three Dolls can defeat us?" Pluto asked, managing to put more contempt into her voice than she felt. Her and Rose had been on the run most of the night and were exhausted, while Cracker Jack and his Dolls were fresh. It was easy to underestimate the slow-talking Shadowloo goon, but he had a cunning brain that had caught Pluto off-guard more than once. It appeared this would be another situation they would escape by the skin of their teeth.

"Hey! Don't start the party without me!"

Pluto managed not to wince. She and Rose both looked over their shoulders with identical indifferent expressions. But Pluto could read Rose like a book. The woman was worried. The man running up the street, backed up by more than a dozen Shadowloo stormtroopers, was the reason they were both running.

Balrog was a massive black man with a face that looked like it had collided with a bus... and won. He wore a purple shirt with the arms torn off and ragged jean shorts. On his hands were the tools of his trade, large red boxing gloves. Usually they were meant to soften blows, but Pluto knew for a fact that they were lined with lead. At least she hoped so. Considering that he had nearly broken her in half with a single punch, she hated to think what his strength would be like if he ever got intelligent enough to take off those gloves.

"Jack! You were going to steal all the fun again!" Balrog accused. His voice came out with a slight lisp and it had the halting quality of someone who had received one too many concussions.

"Naw, B, just waiting for you to arrive, man..." Jack smiled and waved his bat at the duo standing between him and Balrog on the pier. "Well, ladies? I'd ask you to surrender, but I think since you worked B here into a sweat so much, he might just pummel you unconscious on general principle, ya know?" He stretched and his joints popped. "So, what say we get this party started?" He smirked. "Bangkok... uh, Bisonopolis IS famous for its nightlife, after all. No need to disappoint the tourists."

Rose glanced at Pluto and Pluto instantly knew her intentions. It was not telepathy, although Rose was capable of such things. But four years of constant fighting with each other, four years of depending on each other to survive... it had built up a subconscious link between them. Pluto knew exactly what moves Rose was planning, and Rose knew exactly how Pluto was going to act. They would have to split up. Rose would distract Balrog while Pluto tried to take down Cracker Jack and the Dolls.

It wasn't a winning plan. But then again, what other choice did they have?

As soon as Pluto and Rose broke eye contact, everything happened at once. The Dolls came in quickly, the leader flashing through the air feet-first in a tight spiral. Rose was spinning and screaming, a flash of soul power erupting from the tip of her shawl. Pluto danced to the side, putting her long practice with martial arts to the test. The Doll flashed just beyond her, but Pluto ignored her. One of the Chinese Dolls was coming in and Pluto stepped forward, ducking under her staff. The senshi's hand came up, clenched into a fist.

"DEAD SCREAM!" she roared, unleashing her magic at the last possible second. The Doll tried to jerk to the side, but the blast of purple light hit her like a cannon. She was sent flying into a stack of crates hard enough that she passed through a cloud of splinters and just kept going. Her partner was on Pluto a fraction of a second later and Pluto was forced to parry her flail with one arm. There was a loud crack and she hissed as her arm broke, but she had kept the strike from splattering her brains across the pier.

Then she heard Rose gasp. She spun and saw the woman staggering as the masked Doll struck at her with a barrage of punches and kicks. Rose finally managed to push her back, but that was when Balrog finally closed with her. His first blow caught her in the gut, bending her over his fist. His second blow was so fast that all Pluto saw was a black blur. Rose staggered back, her head snapping back. Balrog grinned as he stepped back and began to wind up.

Rose was wide open. If he hit her, she would likely go down. Pluto began to build up another magical shot... when Cracker Jack laid into the side of her head with his bat. For a moment her world was darkness and shooting pain, then she slowly opened her eyes. She moaned and pushed herself up.

And blinked.

If she didn't know better, she could have sworn someone had stopped time. Rose was sitting on the ground, Balrog's fist inches from her skull. The masked Doll was standing just behind him... no, not standing, floating. She had been caught in mid-leap, just about to perform a flip as she flew over Balrog's head at the woman. Pluto could see the dozens of Shadowloo troopers, their bulky black armour glistening in the moonlight, just standing there with their guns leveled at the fight. Not one was moving a muscle. Pluto glanced to the other side and saw Cracker Jack still standing with his bat extended, obviously not having recovered from the swing that had nearly taken her head off. The Chinese Dolls were not that far from her, both caught in mid-attack as they had been about to pounce on her.

"What's going on?" Rose asked, confused.

Pluto looked again. She could see Balrog's muscles rippling as they tensed and untensed. His eyes were bulging and rolling around madly, his mouth stuck in a rictus grin. She glanced over and saw Cracker Jack was in much the same state. His eyes were fixed on her, and she could see his body shifting ever so slightly.

"They are frozen... for now."

Rose sprang to her feet and Pluto spun around. A ball of magic gathered in her hands and she glared at the person who had saved them.

The woman was standing on the water of the river. She was beautiful, with skin that could have been either blue or white, it was hard to tell in the half light. Her long blue hair fell down onto her skintight dress, which had lace cuffs that hid her hands and a skirt that rippled like water down her thighs. She was looking up at the two of them with amusement. Pluto frowned, and then she probed the woman's power.

Her eyes widened and she gasped. Rose was at her side instantly, her hands hovering close but not quite touching. The woman on the water smiled.

"It's good to meet you again, Sailor Pluto, Rose." She laughed, a sound like water tumbling down a brook. "Though we keep encountering each other during battles."

"Tethys..." Pluto said finally. It was the symbol on her forehead that Pluto finally recognised; a golden crescent open to the air with a stylized lightning bolt on one side. "I'd heard you'd gone up in the world. Though I thought you were content to sit in your kingdom and brood."

Tethys smiled. "If that's the way you feel about me, I can unfreeze these hounds and let them tear you to shreds." When neither Pluto nor Rose responded, she continued. "Really, Sailor Pluto, I expected more from you. Bison's capital? His very fortress? Whatever made you think you could break in there undetected?"

"I..." Pluto didn't want to admit she had known it was futile from the start. But she had to try. Bison was the last person to see Ukyou alive, except possibly for Major Kreig. By all accounts, she had died in England, died valiantly fighting Millennium. But... the dreams had continued. "I needed to do it."

"Of course you did," Tethys said, smiling and gesturing towards the city with her hands. "You needed to find Ukyou. But to kill her? Is that why you're so determined to find her?"

Pluto didn't answer. Rose frowned. That was a touchy subject. It seemed strange, that Rose of all people should be the one most concerned with killing Ukyou at this point. But... Pluto shook aside the thought.

"That's my business."

"No... not if you want to live." Tethys rose into the air and began to walk towards them, the air serving as stable a base as the water had for her. "I have unfinished business with Ukyou. You... you and I might have similar goals." Once she was less than a meter away Tethys held out her hand. "If you come with me, we can work together."

"Why should I work for a monster like you?" Pluto snarled.

"Because..." Tethys' eyes flashed. "This world is harsh and cruel and full of evil. But I... I plan on putting an end to that. You see, Pluto, Ukyou is not my enemy. She is my enemy's tool. Just like you are. Just like we all were. Come with me, and I can put an end to chaos." She paused. "One way, or another."

Pluto considered her choices for a moment. She looked at Rose, but the woman just gazed back at her calmly. Rose, she knew, trusted her judgement. They could argue, and had, at length. But in the end, when it came down to it... Rose believed in her. It was a terrible burden.

"Fine." Pluto reached out, then her hand stopped a few inches from Tethys. "But don't think this makes me your slave, or that I trust you for a second.."

"I don't expect either." Tethys smiled. "I expect you to do what you know is right, Sailor Pluto. Even when it's the lesser of two evils."

Pluto hesitated a moment longer. Then she closed her eyes and took the dark queen's hand.

01010

- February 15th, 1997, 14:45: Ohtori Academy, Japan -

It never snowed at Ohtori Academy. That was the first thing that ran through Nanami's mind as she entered the grounds. She didn't know where the thought came from, but there it was, nonetheless. A part of her insisted that it wasn't true. She remembered snowfall while she had been living here.

But it had never actually been snow. It had been that kind of pristine, perfect snowfall. It was the kind of snowfall that poets wrote about and that filmmakers loved to use as a backdrop to sadness. You never slipped on a nearly invisible film of ice at Ohtori. You never stepped into a deceptively deep puddle of freezing cold slush. Snow here was storybook snow.

"You're nervous?" Helios said softly.

She reached out and rubbed her hand through his mane. His hair was smooth as silk, soft as goose down. She wondered idly if she looked strange there, stroking an animal only she could see. But she dismissed the thought.

"No, I guess I just... I'm not certain if I'm up to this?" The question flowed off her lips and she sighed.

"We could leave," Helios offered, and sounded very approving of that idea. Nanami turned to regard him. It was very hard to read his face, with its deep equine eyes. The flashing light of the golden horn on his forehead gleamed softly. She smiled.

"We need her." She patted him on the head. "After what you showed me..."

Nanami took a bracing breath and started forward. She didn't want to leave. It had been too hard to find this place. When she had left three years ago, she had always imagined that she would be returning here with her brother. She would be returning to welcoming arms and friends. But something here didn't want her returning.

Ohtori was a place separate from the dark world outside its walls. Here, dreams still existed. But if it hadn't been for Helios's ability to pierce the illusions around it, they never would have returned.

And Nanami was fairly certain of who was at the heart of these illusions.

The chairman's tower was just as she remembered it. The archaic elevator still dinged softly as it admitted her. Of course Helios had no trouble following her. His body was as much ephemeral as it was physical reality now, and he could follow her anywhere. He could always protect her. But just to be safe, Nanami removed the heart-shaped bell from her pocket, the one that allowed her to bring him fully into this world.

The elevator door opened with another pleasant chime and Nanami stepped forward into the spider's lair. He was waiting for her, draped provocatively across a low green divan. His shirt was open to his navel, exposing the strong lines of his chest. He was swirling a glass of brandy in one hand. He smiled as she entered the room.

"Nanami Kiryuu. It's so nice when old students return," Akio greeted her in a voice like sweet music.

Nanami flushed slightly, but she felt Helios nuzzle her side. She took strength from his presence and stepped forward. "Akio... you know why I'm here."

"You've come for the Princess, of course," he replied, inclining his head slightly.

"Yes, and you're not going to stop me." She put a lot of force into her words. His illusions had no power over her, not while she had Helios and the Golden Crystal to protect her.

"I would never dream of it," he replied. He straightened slightly. "But what if she doesn't want to go?"

"That's her decision to make," Nanami said, but she hesitated. She had never considered that. No... no. Sailor Moon had to come. "If I show her what I've seen, she WILL come!" she insisted sternly.

"I see." He took a drink of his brandy. "What have you seen, to make you so certain of things that haven't happened yet?"

Nanami paused. Now, Helios' touch could not bring her comfort. Her mind still shied away from the thing that he had shown her. He had never meant to subject her to that. He had never thought that Elysium could get that bad. She didn't really blame him. But still...

"Nothing..." Nanami breathed. Akio raised an eyebrow, promoting her to continue. She took a deep breath. "I've seen it, Akio. The end of everything."

Akio took a deep drink. "Once, there was once a beautiful place called Elysium," he said softly. Nanami blinked. How had he heard that name? "All the beautiful dreams of everyone on Earth came together in this place, and created a world so breath-taking, so perfect, it could exist as nothing more than a dream." Here he paused to gaze at her meaningfully. "But one day a terrible witch came to this place. She was after the heart of this world. She captured the world's protector and for a while it seemed all would be cast into darkness.

"But there was... an event. It was like something great and terrible touched the edge of Elysium, the land of dreams, and for a moment it was made real. In that moment the guardian escaped, taking the heart of the dreamworld with him. But he left behind his physical body, and could only exist in our world as a pegasus. A creature so unreal he could only survive in a beautiful dream."

The moisture evaporated from Nanami's mouth. He knew. She had no idea how he knew. It was impossible. Helios had told her that Akio's power was not based on dreams. It was a perversion of dreams. It was the blinding illusions of sin. But he knew. He had no connection to Elysium. There was no way he could know what they had found there.

"And so the guardian found a pure-hearted maiden. A maiden whose brother had vanished into the darkness. Together they set off on a long journey to find him... but in the end, all their paths led them back to Elysium. And what they found there was... nothing." Nanami flinched. "There was no evil witch. There was no conquered land. There was no guardian. There was nothing. An endless void, a silent abyss. The dreams and hopes and fears of all mankind that had once given shape to a place of incomparable beauty now poured endlessly into that ultimate darkness.

"And the maiden and the guardian stood at its threshold for only an instant, but in that instant they looked into the yawning well of the void, the face of the end. They saw Oblivion."

"Shut up!" Nanami shouted, holding out the crystal bell like a ward. "How do you know this?"

"Tsk." Akio took a drink. "Am I supposed to shut up, or answer your question?"

"You know what I mean!"

Akio smiled. "Sailor Moon can't defeat this enemy, Nanami Kiryuu. You may as well ask her to defeat the concept of death, to put an end to war. There are some things that no amount of mere power can change. Some things are just inevitable."

"I don't accept that!" Nanami snarled. She looked at Helios. "He won't be trapped like this forever! He can be human again!"

"Ah." Akio chuckled throatily. "So that's it."

"Sailor Moon will do it. When I tell her what is happening in Elysium, she'll come." Her eyes narrowed. "And she'll leave you. Once she sees what the world is really like out there, she'll never come back. She won't stand for it."

"If Sailor Moon leaves this sanctuary, it will not end well," Akio said.

"For you maybe," Nanami smirked and crossed her arms.

"For the world." Akio leaned back. "If Sailor Moon rides out to face this Oblivion she will be consumed... but worse yet, she will ensure its victory. You see, the problem with inevitable things is that nothing of this world can prevent them. It takes a special force, an impossible force to do so. But already the realm of Elysium is wounded. Another impossible thing made a part of it real... and Sailor Moon's power comes from what is real. She will draw on the power of all the souls on earth, all their good thoughts, all their pure intentions. She will call for help from the world of dreams to every living person on this planet. But that cannot stop Oblivion. Only an impossible thing can."

Nanami blinked. For some reason, she got the impression Akio was no longer talking to her.

"If she confronts it, all she will do is make it REAL for everyone on earth. And once they feel it is real... it will be. It will touch the hearts and minds of every living being. Not all of them will have a Golden Crystal to protect their fragile souls from that yawning abyss."

"You're saying that by fighting Oblivion, she'll only give it a way to attack Earth directly?" Nanami responded.

"I believe I am," Akio said. He took a sip of his brandy. "But if you want to go talk to the Princess, then by all means do so. I'm as certain as you are that she will throw away her life, throw away everything, to fight this great injustice."

"You won't try to stop me?"

"Of course not." He opened his hands. "All I have are words and illusions. I have already done everything I ever will to defeat you in this quest. There is nothing more that I can do."

Nanami inclined her head slightly, then turned around.

The boy that was floating there was pale. He couldn't have been more than ten years old, and an awful gaping wound existed where one of his eyes should be. His feet hovered a half-meter above the ground. His brown hair floated above his head. Nanami blinked.

"He's right, Nanami," the boy said softly. His tone was sad... regretful. "There are battles that the people of this world can't win. But don't worry. There will be a perfect possible future, one way or another."

01010

- July 1st, 1997, 15:03: Autonomous Region of Hong Kong -

"... yes, I'm quite certain Mr. President," Nabiki purred into the phone. She flicked at the bubbles along her knee with her free hand, popping them one by one. With each burst they released a faint smell, rose or jasmine or something. Nabiki didn't really care. It had been the most expensive one available. "No. I'm certain that no one has any idea they've been compromised."

She paused, not really bother listening to him for a few more minutes. The sunlight was creeping in past the curtains again. She frowned and made a mental note to have them replaced. She was paying good money for a luxury suite and she would be damned if there was any problem with it. She almost considered going over and fixing the shade herself, but since she was neck-deep in a bubble bath at the time, she changed her mind.

She just forced her eyes away. The light always hurt a bit after she had been forced to use her abilities at full power. Weeding out information from the minds of Millennium agents was like sticking your hand into a septic tank. It never felt pleasant, and you always needed to clean yourself thoroughly afterward.

"Listen, I hate to cut you off, Mr. President," Nabiki lied. "But what you do with the information I provided is your own decision. Eliminate the sleepers. Follow them. Send them cookies. I don't really care. Our business for the day is concluded. And speaking of business..." She smiled winsomely. She knew he couldn't see it, and she resisted the urge to send him a little mental image of it as well. There was no need for anyone to know quite how... much her abilities had grown.

"Yes, the usual accounts will be fine. As always, it's a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. President," Nabiki replied crisply and snapped the phone closed with one hand. She let the cell drop to the ground beside the bed and lay back. It was amazing how far technology had come in the last five years. That reminded her to check and make certain her tech stocks were doing well.

But later. For now, she would rest. She had to try and forget about the things she had seen in that man's head. He had met her like most of her marks. Just another man looking for business. And like most men, he knew where to go when he needed something done soon.

It had been mercenaries. A few martial artists to be hired for a raid on a Chronos-controlled lab in the Balkans. Nabiki never trusted vampires. So she had distracted him by asking hard questions. She was in the service of providing the best, of making certain that every client was satisfied. She had asked questions about what kind of raid it was, what the objective was, why they needed martial artists, and so on.

The man had been only to happy to reply. They wanted data on Chronos bio-weapons. They wanted the raid not to be traced back to Millennium. They wanted to place the blame on America, if at all possible.

It had been the mention of America that triggered it. A flash of memory about a man standing on a street corner with a suitcase. Nabiki had kept smiling, kept asking the right questions. But while her mouth moved on automatic, her mind had slipped into his mind like a midnight breeze. Unseen and unfelt she had plumbed the depths of his memory, dragging out the names of a dozen sleeper agents all across America. Foolish men and women, infatuated with the idea of living forever. People willing to kill for it.

It sickened her. Some things weren't worth any price.

So she had smiled and made terms with the man. She had promised to get in contact with two of the best free agents she knew. And she would. She was a woman of her word and always lived up to her end of the bargain. Those were the rules, after all. You couldn't win the game, if you didn't play by the rules.

Nabiki blinked suddenly and rose up in her bathtub. "Speaking of people who break the rules..." she grumbled and sighed. She didn't even know why she bothered keeping her 'bodyguards' around. Certainly she owed the old man a lot. But looking after two teenage martial artists for him was not her idea of fun.

At least the young, brash one with his skateboard and pigtail reminded her in an amused way of Ranma in his younger days. The other one, his taller, more serious older brother... he reminded Nabiki of... Nabiki shook the feeling off.

Sometimes you win the game. Sometimes you lose. The game goes on.

Then again, she couldn't really blame them for letting these intruders past. Zoanoids, vampires, darkstalkers and other horrors, that they could handle. These four required a more... delicate touch.

The door exploded inward, taking out a good chunk of the surrounding wall with it. Nabiki frowned, just knowing that would come out of her security deposit. In the smoke stood four lithe, childlike figures. They giggled, their voices echoing in the room. Nabiki sighed and waved some smoke away from her nose.

"Nabiki Tendo... we are the Amazoness Quartet! And in the name of the Dead Mo-"

The green-haired one bopped the red-head on the back of her shoulder. "That's Chronos."

"Right, in the name of Chronos, we are taking you in for question..." The red-head trailed off. "OHH!" she clapped and made a small sound of joy. "Is that authentic French bathing salt!"

"Yes, it is," Nabiki responded, gesturing to the half-empty container. "Would you like to try some?"

"Really?" she and the pink-haired one shouted, jumping up and down.

"You can't get that ANYWHERE anymore!" the pink-haired one declared.

"Not without the right connections, CereCere." Nabiki corrected.

"You get all the good stuff, Nabiki!" the short one with the braided blue hair whined.

Nabiki gave her a mocking smile. "Come now, PallaPalla, it's one of the benefits of being the queen of the black market, you know."

"You guys, why can't we be queens of the black market?"

"Because we work for Mr. Purgstall and Ms. Cologne," the green-haired one grumbled, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. She, unlike the others, was wearing her 'civilian' outfit, a denim vest and tight jeans with stars emblazoned on them.

"I keep offering you girls a chance to work for me, but you keep turning me down," Nabiki pointed out mildly.

"You do?" the red-head blinked.

"Yes, VesVes... I do."

"When?"

"Usually right before I'm forced to wipe all your memories."

"Oh..." The bluette nodded vigorously and smacked her fist into her palm. "Now I remember!"

"You do?" CereCere sounded amazed.

"Well... not really. But it does make sense..."

"C'mon guys. Let's just magic her and get back home. I'm missing the Zoanoid Hyper Wrestling!" JunJun complained.

"Fine, I guess I won't take up any more of your time." Nabiki yawned. "I've already picked you all clean anyway. It's so refreshing to dive into nice clean, unpolluted minds every now and then. Reminds me there are things worth playing for." She waved at them. "Goodbye, girls!"

01010

- July 1st, 1997, 16:03: Tokyo, Japan -

"She most definitely wasn't there, Mr. Purgstall!" VesVes concluded sharply. She and the others were standing at rigid attention. Well, as rigid as they got. Well, none of them was slouching. He eyed JunJun and she looked sheepish for a moment then straightened. None of them were slouching when they thought he was looking.

It was a start, right?

Purgstall sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Is there anything else?"

"Well, she wasn't there..." VesVes murmured, scratching her chin.

"She also said to tell you hi," CereCere added after a moment's thought. The others all agreed and nodded.

"Also, she was a penguin!" PallaPalla insisted suddenly.

"You're right!" JunJun agreed, slapping her on the back. "How could we have forgotten the best part?" She looked at Purgstall triumphantly. "It explains everything, Mr. Purgstall! We can't find her because she's not a person, she's a penguin!"

"A penguin..." He eyed them all warily.

A flush ran up their collective cheeks. "A warm water penguin," PallaPalla explained helpfully.

"Well, that explains it then..." He rubbed his temples, trying not to let the headache he always got when trying to deal with Nabiki Tendo develop. But he knew it was too late. "You're dismissed, girls."

"Yay!" PallaPalla ran around in circles, her arm outstretched. "Let's go tease ZX-Tole!"

"That sounds great!" JunJun agreed, running after her.

"No!" Purgstall let his hand drop. It was too late. They had already vanished, their magic orbs winging off through the sky.

"Don't worry, I'll go set'em straight, Mr. Purgstall!" VesVes declared just before she and the last Amazoness vanished. Purgstall groaned and leaned forward in his chair.

"She's just mocking us, now." Cologne said, speaking up for the first time since the quartet had arrived.

"Who? VesVes?"

"No, Nabiki Tendo." Cologne walked over, her long black hair whispering against the fabric of her silver dress as she came up behind him. "I don't know why you bother trying to bring her in. Nothing less than a zoalord can fight her telepathy."

"I..." He moaned softly as she began to massage his temples. Her healing magic went to work quickly and he felt his headache vanishing before it fully formed. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." She slid up onto the desk, crossing her long legs as she did so. This caused the hem of her dress to hike up, displaying far too much thigh for Purgstall's comfort. He very purposefully kept his eyes on her face.

"I just feel I have to try." He frowned. "All I want to do is talk to her. With her gifts, she could make a fantastic asset to Chronos. Her natural power... imagine if we enhanced it with even rudimentary processing! Imagine if we used a zoacrystal on her!"

"You're getting carried away again, Frederick," she chided him, her almond eyes laughing. "Nabiki is a valuable resource even out of Chronos. She works for the highest bidder. Plus... she is the only one who knows anything about... him."

Purgstall didn't have to ask. He knew who the subject was suddenly about. He frowned and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. "I understand your desire to get back at him for what he did to your family, Cologne. But... after what he did... Arkanphel himself has declared that he isn't to be harmed."

Cologne hopped down from the table and began to walk towards the door. "I don't follow Arkanphel, Frederick."

Purgstall watched as the door closed behind her. He sat and stared at the door for a long time.

01010

- October 19th, 1997, 17:09: Masaki Shrine, Okayama Prefecture, Japan -

"Mihoshi, hand me the knife, would you?"

"Sure thing! Here it- eeeek!"

Without looking, Angel whipped one hand behind her. Two fingers snapped around the blade of the knife flying towards her back, and then she flipped it over her head and caught it by the handle. She calmly started chopping the cabbage.

"Wow, Angel, that was neat!"

"Not much, really." But Angel was grinning. "Are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, I just tripped. I'm reaaally sorry! I'm just a klutz in the kitchen, I guess!"

Which was consistent with how she was everywhere else, but Angel didn't mind. She'd long since learned how to keep out of the way of Mihoshi's frequent disasters, letting someone else - preferably Rei - take the brunt of the damage. Well, usually. Somehow, the blonde girl still took her off-guard sometimes, but it wasn't like she meant anything bad by it.

"No problem," Angel replied. "Could I get you to stir the soup?"

Mihoshi answered cheerfully in the affirmative. That was why Angel found it impossible to dislike the older woman. She was so... enthusiastically nice. She really wanted to help; she was just so tremendously bad at it. But she kept trying. It was impossible to dislike someone who so obviously wanted the best for everyone, no matter how many stumbles there was along the way.

"OWWWWW! Angggggeeel, I burnt my hand!"

"That's okay, I'll get to it in a second. Do you need a bandage?"

"No, it's okay, it's just a little," Mihoshi sniffled.

Angel finished chopping the vegetables and stepped over to the pot, giving it a quick stir. She didn't exactly LIKE cooking, but it beat hoeing the fields any day. This was doubly true since Rei hated doing the fields, and also usually hated Angel's cooking. And anything that pissed off that acid-tongued, bullying, stick-up-her-ass know-it-all couldn't be all that bad in Angel's books.

"Wow! Hey, Angel, is it some sort of fireworks show today?"

"Huh? Not that I know of. But you've been in Japan longer than me, anyway." Angel peered out the window Mihoshi was staring through. At first, she thought that Mihoshi was right, but a moment later she saw that the lights in the sky weren't fireworks but rather beams of brilliant, multicoloured light.

"No, Mihoshi, those aren't fireworks. They're some sort of light beams. It isn't your ship, is it?"

Mihoshi shook her head, her blonde curls tossing. "No, definitely not! He's still in subspace, I'm sure." She suddenly looked worried. "Maybe we should tell the others about it?"

"No, the old man and Washuu are in her lab doing something or other until dinner..." Angel suddenly grinned. "And Rei's hoeing the fields. Mihoshi, handle dinner. I'll go check it out."

"Maybe I should come with you..."

"No way!" Angel said, then amended, "It's probably nothing. I'm just going to go take a look. If it's dangerous, I'll come back and get you, okay?"

"I guess..." Mihoshi began dubiously, but Angel was already moving.

"Don't turn the stove up or down, make sure you pay attention and stir, and DON'T let anything catch on fire!" Angel threw over her shoulder. Mihoshi usually didn't do anything she specifically had been told not to do. Of course, that left plenty else to go wrong, but even Mihoshi could probably handle a simmering pot for a little while. She dashed up the stairs to her room, grabbed her sword, and hopped out the window.

She hadn't been quite truthful with Mihoshi. She figured it had to be SOMETHING dangerous, some sort of intruder, maybe a zoanoid or something. Which was exactly why she was going. She hadn't had a chance to use her skills since the last disastrous raid she'd gone on with Rei, months ago.

If it did seem too dangerous, she'd go get somebody. Probably. But she wasn't going to let a little risk get in the way of finally getting a chance for some action. Even if it was zoanoids...

Her hand tightened around her sword's hilt. Especially if it was zoanoids.

But it probably wouldn't be. Chris had said Chronos wouldn't bother them when he'd left eighteen months ago, and they hadn't. So maybe some martial artist?

As she dashed towards the forest, the lights were fading. But she could also see their source - it was that one tree, the really big one with the weird ruin or whatever around it in the middle of the woods. Of course, that was the old man's tree!

Angel forced herself to run faster, and all thoughts of running for help fled her mind. Sure, the old man was annoying sometimes, sure he made her do stupid crap, sure she was positive he was holding back from teaching her all his best stuff, but no way was she letting anybody mess with his lifeforce! That's what Chris said the tree was, or something like that...

She burst into the clearing like a bullet. Though the sun was only a red globe on the horizon, the entire area was lit by a soft glow coming from the tree's branches. There was a figure standing next to the tree, with some sort of huge dark creature next to her.

Angel could've hit the two of them without making a single sound, but the old man had pounded into her that she should never attack without being certain of her enemy. So she deliberately let her foot splash into the pool of water around the tree as she advanced. The figure standing there turned around, and Angel halted.

"Link," she breathed, her mouth saying the words before she had really even realised who she was looking at. In the year and a half since Angel had last seen her, she had changed considerably. Not that she looked much older, but she was now wearing elaborate, flowing clothing of rich green silk, like an empress or something. The light from the tree illuminated a hundred glittering shards of some blue crystal that was woven into her clothes. Her hair, longer now, was drawn up in a elaborate style, and held in place by pins. Large earrings, bejeweled with the same blue crystal, hung at the side of her face. Her earthy brown eyes were the same though, and that little frown that Angel knew so well.

"Ah. I should have guessed you would come, little prodigal." Her eyes glinted, carrying across the superior smirk her mouth never quite managed to get right. "Just in time."

The monster with her had turned to face Angel as well. It looked something like a centipede, only twenty feet tall with legs of wood and a body of brambles and leaves. Its polished ebony eyes stared coldly at Angel, and a hiss escaped from its gnarled wooden mandibles. Below the head, Angel could see the blue seed-like object that was always on Link's more impressive creatures.

"What are you doing to that?" Angel said. She wished her voice sounded surer, more confident. She wasn't scared of the monster. She wasn't scared of Link either. But Link knew more. She knew more than Chris had ever told Angel.

"Don't be an idiot. I'm doing exactly what I was supposed to do when we gave you to the old man," Link sneered. "I can't reverse the deterioration - at least not under these conditions - but I can certainly halt it for a time with some tinctures. He won't age anymore, not for at least a century or so. It's simply a matter of plugging some holes in the energy loop and... well, why I am bothering explaining it to you?" Link turned away. "You have more important things to talk about, anyway."

Angel opened her mouth to ask what Link was talking about, but the older woman just gestured impatiently, her attention once again absorbed by the tree. Angel turned...

And saw him.

Chris was easy to spot even in the encroaching darkness. His hovering form was wreathed in violet flames that crackled around him, but did no damage to the surrounding vegetation. Dimly, in the back of her mind, she realised he had two arms again, but this somehow didn't surprise her. His gaze was locked on Angel. For a long moment, he merely stared at her as she stared at him. Then, without a sound, he turned and glided back into the forest. Angel, not knowing what else to do, followed.

He moved slowly, allowing her to catch up. Angel had grown a lot since she'd last seen him. Her hair was longer now, just barely falling over her eyes. Her body was filling out, and her physical prowess had grown in leaps and bounds.

But Chris had not changed. Once, they'd been nearly the same height. Now, even though he floated a foot off the ground, Angel could easily look over his head. His child's face and body were changeless, with only the torn out eye standing apart from his smooth, pale complexion.

"It's good to see you again, Angel." His voice, too, never changed. Calm, steady, ageless despite its child's tenor.

"Yes, I'd almost..." Angel hesitated. She didn't mean to say 'forgotten about him', because she hadn't, but... "...started wondering when you would come back."

"That's all right. You've changed a lot since I last saw you. But then, you've changed a lot since we first met. You're 16, now. An adult, by most reckoning. It's about time you were treated like one."

He stopped, turning to regard her. The reflections of the silent purple flames danced in his remaining eye. Angel could see her face there, too. But nothing else. His gaze was fathomless.

"So, Angel, would you like to know who I am?"

For a moment, she almost said 'no', but then caught herself and bit her lip savagely. This was what she'd been jealous of Link of. This is what she'd asked herself a thousand times. Who was Chris? What did he want her to do? Why her? But for the moment, "Yes" was all she could say.

He smiled slightly. "Answering that isn't simple. Perhaps it would be more accurate to ask what I am." He let his gaze drift upwards, to the pale orb of the moon overhead. "I am from far away. Farther away than you have ever travelled, farther even than your friends and their friends could travel on ships through galaxies and beyond the galaxies. I was born in a universe beyond this one. And there, I died as well." His head snapped down, affixing her with his gaze again. "But it was no ordinary death. I died so I could be chosen. Chosen to come here, to this place and time, to save this universe."

Once upon a time, she might not have believed it. But she'd seen 20,000 year old mad scientists and alien princes and men who could catch bullets in their chopsticks. And she knew, she'd always known somehow, that Chris wasn't like them somehow. Something different. More distant. Less human.

She licked her lips, tasting the copper of her blood from the one she'd bitten. "If... if that's so, then why... me? I mean, why have you taken me with you?"

He turned and began moving through the forest again. Not knowing what else to do, Angel followed, and then he began to speak again.

"It's been years, but I'm certain you remember how we met, and the circumstances of the time. I'm sure at the time, you could not understand what had happened to you, to your family, to your home, to your town. But now you know the sad, undeniable truth: you were merely at the wrong place at the wrong time. Caught between Chronos and the Americans, two great powers who cared nothing for you or your family, and crushed between them. The fortune of war. You weren't the only one. Not there, and not then. Millions of people have been like you. But it was you I sought out.

"Most people, in your situation, would die, or futily fight, or join up with one side or the other for survival. You wonder why I came for you, Angel? It is because I knew you could be different. Different from them, and different from everyone else. Just like I am."

"What do you mean... different? I'm not... I'm not some other universe person too, am I?"

He chuckled. "No, not at all. I'll explain what I mean.

"There are three types of people in this world that some would call heroes or warriors. You've met some of each. Kiima of the Phoenix people, for instance. She has strength and the will to use it, but she cannot, for she is so outshone by the god-like being she serves that she can take no true action of consequence. So her strength goes wasted, her will impotent.

"Katsuhito Masaki is another. He has power, more power than he has shown you. Know he is one of the great warriors of Earth. But he will never use his power. He will stay here, with his tree and his peace, and make no action except to defend himself. Though he is not evil, he is essentially selfish. He has made the decision to use his power just for himself, for his peace only.

"Rei Hino, you might think, is different. She has power, and she goes out into the world and uses it. She may destroy a zoanoid, cause damage to a factory, save a child. All of these are good things. They make her feel good."

At this, he suddenly stopped again, whipping around to face her as his aura of flames rose around him. His voice rose for the first time Angel could ever remember, cracking like a whip. But his gaze remained steady, cold, boring into her.

"That is ALL that it does! Nothing Rei does amounts to anything in the face of the world. She will never overthrow Chronos. She will never save the planet, or even this country. She has power, but she has no direction, no ambition, no stomach to do what must be done to effect real change. She does little things that make her feel good, and people call that a hero.

"It isn't enough. All it takes, Angel, is one madman with enough power. One Arkanphel driven insane by age and loss, one Galaxia fuelled with the power of chaos, one fat chuckling vampire pushing the big red button. One person could wipe out the planet despite the best intentions of all the Kiimas and Katushitos and Reis. Nor are they the only ones, or the most powerful. The entire universe is at risk, every moment. That's all it takes. One moment, and it all could be lost forever. Certainly, they can be stopped. Certainly, they have been up until now. But they only need to succeed once, Angel. In the ages between now and eternity, they only need to win once, and it's all over. Trust to these heroes, no matter how good their intentions or marvellous their skill, and the only end is destruction.

"But I am different from them. I exist on a different level. In my grasp is the power even greater than the universe. It goes by many names: I call it the Third Circle. This power which I - and nobody from this universe - can wield is greater than the sum of every power that has ever or will ever exist. I have not yet completely mastered it, but already I have made a god bow his knees to me. With it, nothing can oppose me. With it, I am eternal.

"But even the infinite power would mean nothing if I was like them. It is not just that I am more powerful that separates me from someone like Rei. Power alone, no matter how unstoppable, is useless if the wielder doesn't have the strength of character and will to do what must be done to safeguard existence.

"I do. I see what must be done. And do not fool yourself as to my intentions, Angel. What I am going to do will not be kind. It will not let me or you feel good about ourselves like Rei does. It will be terrible. It will be monstrous. Good people will die. Many will suffer. But in the end, I will do what all the Reis and Katsuhitos and Kiimas and even Saffrons and Washuus never can and never will: I will lop off the heads of every serpent that threatens this world. I will sweep them all aside, so that humanity may continue to exist. The world I create will not be a utopia. It will be a harsh existence that breeds strength and will and power, and I will make sure it is so, so that whenever a new serpent arises, heroes will arise to destroy them. And I will be there to ensure it always happens, every time, without fail. And this will continue now and forever after. No, it's not a utopia. It's not the world that Rei would like to create. But unlike her, I can create it. I will. It is not a perfect future. But it is the perfect possible future. And creating that future, saving you all, is what I've come here to do."

Angel could only stare. She hated being caught flat-footed. She liked knowing the situation, knowing the score. Kiima had told her, and she always agreed, that it was better to know you were off-balance and work from that then believe everything was under control until you hit the dirt. Angel had met a dozen different masters, all of which were far her superior. As much as she'd grown, she was always steps behind the next teacher. And though it rankled sometimes, at least she admitted it. She knew the score. She worked with what she had.

But she didn't know the score here. She couldn't even imagine it. So she asked again: "Why me? What do you need me for?"

Chris had swung around and was moving again. Angel fell into step in his wake. When he spoke, his voice was again smooth, cold, like the surface of a lake at night. "I told you, Angel, I chose you. I could have told you this right away, but in truth I wanted to keep it from you as long as I could. However, you are an adult now. You have the right to know.

"Absolute power can corrupt. Because I am so far above the lives of humanity, the danger exists that I could lose my connection to them. So I have decided, in order to keep my footing secure and always be aware of the consequences of my actions, to never take a life.

"Unfortunately, the simple fact is that to bring about the perfect possible future, people will have to die. And if I can't do it, who shall? Certainly there's many ways around this, but what I desire, what I NEED, is an ally. Powerful and reliable, who will accomplish the tasks I can't or won't personally, including killing those who need to die to safeguard the future. That is the role I hope for you to fulfill, Angel.

"No, don't say anything yet. I told you when we met, Angel, that I would three times give you the choice to leave without oweing me anything. This is that third time. You can say no, and don't worry, I won't resent you. I won't even blame you. What I'm going to ask of you is a terrible thing."

Suddenly they were out of the forest. A cool breeze was blowing, brushing Angel's hair back. She was going to say something. Something, she was sure. But his next words came first, and she would never remember what it was she was going to tell him.

"I want you to kill Mihoshi Kuramitsu."

She stopped, and so did he. She felt blood pounding in her ears, as if she'd been through a workout. Her feet felt a thousand miles away. Her mouth was dry. "What?" It was all she could say.

He didn't turn around. The purple flames burnt low, like a gas flame. "If you choose to stay with me, I will explain to you every time if you ask, why somebody - anybody - needs to die for the perfect possible future. In this case, it is because Mihoshi has knowledge, and her greatly advanced spaceship, and her dimensional technology and paraphenalia. It's barely possible I could simply take the latter two, but I need her knowledge to make proper use of it. I can get that. But only if she is dead. I need that technology to use as a bargaining chip. So I am asking you to kill her."

"Y-you can't." Angel felt tears in the corners of her eyes. She'd waited for this. She wanted to know ever since that day in the Chronos camp. She'd dreamed of what it was she had been chosen for. She's wondered what Chris truly wanted from her. It was supposed to be something wonderful. It wasn't supposed to be like this! "You can't ask me to do that!"

"I'm afraid I have."

"But there must... there's got to be something else..."

And now he did turn his head to look at her, and she flinched at the sight of the gaping wound in his head. "Of course there is. I never wanted to give you no choice, Angel. I am proud of how far you've come since I met you. I was proud of you even then, for not giving up in the face of death. I love you, as a father loves a daughter, and for that love, you will have the choice I promised you. I will leave here shortly; it's too dangerous to stay. If you don't come with me, you have my word that I will not do or cause any harm to come to Mihoshi."

"But you said you needed-"

"Of course. That was too strong a word. I don't NEED it. I will find other ways. Not getting it may set me back only a decade. A decade more of war, of killing, of more villages being crushed, of risk that at any instant someone might end it all. That is what I am asking you to sacrifice one life to avoid. But you don't have to. You can stay here. You can keep your conscience clean, just like Rei and Katsuhito. You can live the life you want. It will be easier for you, and probably happier. I will understand if you do this.

"But I'll be honest: it's not what I want. I want you by my side, from this moment onward. I want to be able to answer all your questions. I want your help, so that we together can create the perfect possible future. That is what I want.

"But you're an adult now, Angel. I won't dictate your future. So choose. Choose now, because soon I must be on my way."

01010

- March 5th, 1998, 14:21: Southtown, United States of America -

"...walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."

Ono watched as the S.T.A.R.S. began to lift the flag from the coffin. They folded it with great care and solemn ritual. He tried to keep his gaze level, his eyes from clouding over. The four of them were just children. He knew each of their names. They had been with him for seven years, graduated top of their class.

Each of them was a living weapon. A weapon forged by him. He knew well what they could do. They could leap three stories into the air from a standing start. They could punch through two-inch thick armour plate with casual ease. They could block bullets with their hands. He remembered well the time Genma had walked into his office and placed the sub-automatic rifles on his desk. The man had looked at him and said that they needed to start using them in the "pop quizzes" they threw at the academy.

Ono had been aghast at first. He had been against the idea of randomly assaulting their students at all hours of the night and day. Ambushing them at lunch, in the toilet, when they were asleep... it was too much. Genma had made a persuasive argument and Redfield had been willing to listen to him. But, in the end, the decision was Ono's. They'd both agreed to let him sleep on it.

The next day a file of footage from the recent skirmishes with Chronos troops in the Mexican no-man's lands had shown up on his computer. There had been no return address and he was pretty certain the information inside was intensely classified, much like the information on the three other academies S.T.A.R.S. supported through the Canada-American territory. The footage had been of the neo-zoanoids.

That day, the first "pop quiz" with automatic weapons had been conducted. One student had "mustered out".

Ono squeezed his eyes shut and started taking deep breaths. He couldn't keep thinking like that. It was just like graduation. He had to stand there and shake the children's hands. He had to tell them they were ready. He had to be willing to let them go. He couldn't imagine them under that flag. He couldn't imagine them never returning.

"You okay?" A friendly hand clapped on his shoulder.

Ono opened his eyes and looked at Sakura. She was smiling, that same dazzling smile that was on all the channels these days. She was wearing a black dress, but one cut so tight and with such a brief hemline that you hardly noticed. Her face had matured quite a bit in the last seven years. The baby-fat had mostly faded away, giving her a sleek, sultry sort of face with smoldering eyes and thick lips. She had grown maybe an inch, just enough so that you knew this was now a woman. That was a fact that Sakura Yamazaki never let anyone forget anyway, however.

"I'm fine..." He trailed off and then repeated himself, his voice sounding less thick this time, "It's just..."

"I know." Sakura looked down towards the casket. Seven marines were raising their rifles and the first loud crack went off as the coffin began to lower into the ground. "I'll miss him, too. Terry was... he was a truly decent man." Then she patted him on the shoulder again. "The world will miss him, Doc."

"Yes..." Ono didn't correct her. He couldn't. She was right, after all. This was a dark day for America. He glanced down the line of "important people" to Mary. She was clutching the flag to her chest and just looking down into the grave with a hollow expression. It made sense that she would get the flag. The two of them had never married, but everyone knew how deep their relationship had grown over the last few years. "Excuse me..." He pushed away from Sakura and headed in her direction.

The last echo of the rifleshots was dying out as he reached her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. He was about to ask her if she needed any help when it suddenly struck him that he had never learned her last name. Oh, he was certain he had it on one of his files somewhere. Mary had spent a great deal of time at the academy, teaching courses on espionage and sabotage. But everyone just called her 'Blue Mary' and left it at that. The absurdity of the thought suddenly made him want to giggle. He suppressed it well.

"Hey, Doc..." Mary sighed. "I... I'll be fine. It's not like..." She sniffed. "You know. For years, he wouldn't have anything to do with me. He kept telling me how everyone he had ever loved had died. Even when I finally caught him, he kept insisting that he would outlive me, how he didn't want to bury a wife..."

"Mary, I'm sorry."

She was about to say something when her words were cut off by a loud, menacing growl. Half the funeral spun to face the noise. Swords and guns and other weapons appeared in hands as if by magic. Ono himself had drawn a quintet of acupuncture needles from his pocket. He had started carrying them around ever since that Millennium assassin had snuck into his house three years ago. He still had the scar.

But the growl wasn't coming from a zoanoid, or a undead abomination or anything monstrous. The bike was huge, a massive chrome and black-leather machine that was half the size of a car. It gleamed in the sun as it raced up the cemetery, plumes of black smoke erupting from its exhaust pipe. It was the kind of machine that guzzled gas so much that they had been outlawed by the rationing boards.

But exceptions were made. The driver kicked down, swinging the bike to a stop with enough force to drag a furrow in the manicured lawn. He got off lazily, the sheathed katana on his right hip banging against the motorcycle. He wore a red bandana and black shades. His face was thin but rugged, with a good three days worth of blonde stubble. He wasn't slim or thick, but the muscles on his exposed biceps rippled as he adjusted his black leather vest. On the back of the vest, spelled out in red paint that dripped like blood, were the words 'Lone Wolf'. He walked forward, idly flipping a cigarette free from his pocket.

"Who is it?" Mary asked. She hadn't looked up from the descending coffin. The reactions of the other people here were mixed. Some people, the vast minority, were giving the newcomer poorly concealed glares. Ono was among their number, as was anybody else who had actually been forced to interact with him. Most of the others had begun to talk in hushed whispers. The students, the S.T.A.R.S., the officials and the few members of the press allowed to attend all gazed at him in open eyed wonder. Ono couldn't really blame them. It wasn't every day you saw a living legend.

"Who else?" Ono answered acidly.

"Shingo..." Mary said, sounding even more tired.

"Hey, Teach," Shingo called, waving and walking over. "Sorry, I woulda been here sooner, but I just heard."

"No doubt..." Mary mumbled as Shingo approached.

Shingo smiled, the cigarette clenched in his teeth flaring as he drew a deep breath. He glanced at Ono and his smile faded slightly. "Doc."

"Mr. Tsukino," Ono replied stiffly.

"Heh. Still don't like me?"

"You're a bad apple, Mr. Tsukino." Ono frowned. "I'm still trying to unteach the lessons you keep giving my students."

Shingo laughed and flexed a little. "Hey, Doc. Don't mess with success. I AM the top agent of S.T.A.R.S., aren't I?" He grinned wider, and Ono couldn't contest that so he stayed quiet. "Single-handedly saved all Manhattan from a T- Virus bomb, defeated three neo-zoanoids in one on one combat, the only agent every to successfully break into Monument Valley and return alive..." He trailed off at that last part.

Everybody's eyes turned to the casket. Shingo adjusted the collar of the t-shirt he wore and cleared his throat. He had the good grace to look ashamed, for once in his life. "Not that Terry was a bad agent... I mean, I idolized the guy. I didn't mean no disrespect, Teach..."

"None taken." Mary looked up at him. "You don't have to call me that. I don't have anything more to teach you."

Shingo considered this for a moment. Then he looked down. "Yeah, but you were the only one who believed in me, Teach. I gotta respect that. Listen, I know this is hard for you. Why don't we... ya know, get together later? At the old bar? You know the one. We can knock back some hard shots and remember the good times."

"You're still underage," Mary replied evenly.

"That ain't never stopped me before." Shingo grinned. "Who's gonna turn down a genuine, one hundred percent hero of the Republic?" He laughed. "No baseline has the cajones to turn us metas down."

Ono bristled a bit, thinking of his wife. But before he could say anything, a hand smashed into the back of Shingo's head, staggering him slightly.

"Hey! That hurt, you ass..." Shingo's shout died off slowly as he turned to look at a very pissed Sakura Yamazaki. She reached up and grabbed his collar, dragging him closer. Shingo was only a few centimeters taller than her, so it wasn't a long trip. "Oy! Sakura! What's your problem?"

"Don't ask me what my problem is, you lech!" She snarled. "Are you trying to get into her PANTS? At a time like this?"

"Why?" Shingo smiled rakishly. "Jealous?"

Sakura's face flushed red. "NO I AM NOT JEALOUS!"

She slugged him in the gut and all the wind blew out of his lungs as Shingo slumped to his knees. She turned and started to stalk away, muttering, her fists clenching and unclenching.

"Aw, c'mon, Sakura!" Shingo got up slowly, still clutching his gut. "Don't be that way! You know I only got eyes for you!"

"Me and any woman impressed by your real American hero garbage!" Sakura shouted over her shoulder. Shingo began to stagger-run after her and she picked up her pace so she was just fast enough to stay out of his reach.

"I'm sorry, Mary," Ono sighed. "Shingo... he means well..."

Mary was smiling now. She shook her head. "No. Don't worry about it." She looked around at all the people staring at the retreating spectacle of Shingo and Sakura. "No wonder they're America's darlings. The rags must have a field day with those two."

Ono frowned. "Yeah." He sighed. "I just wish you had told me he had such potential. The kids at my school... they may have it tough, but at least I teach them discipline. If you had let me help, maybe he could have turned out better..."

Mary glanced at him, blinking slowly. "Doc, I wish I could have said I saw it. But I hardly taught the boy a thing. God knows where he got so good."

Ono frowned, then pushed that thought from his mind. He had bigger things to worry about that the morality of one martial artist.

01010

- August 17th, 1998, 19:45: Davos, Switzerland -

It was the kind of bar that showed signs of once having been well off, but had fallen on hard times. The counter was polished wood, something expensive and artistic, but now it was covered in nicks and scratches despite the forlorn- looking bartender's attempts to polish it with a greasy cloth. The booths must originally have been very private, designed so that sound didn't carry very far. But now many of them had been ruined by various levels of damage, probably from bar fights.

In one of the booths a young woman sat, calmly sipping on a beer straight from the can. She was beautiful, with short brown hair and large blue eyes. She wore a denim vest and a blue skirt, with long white leggings on her shapely legs. She was sitting there, looking like any other young woman stopping by a bar for a drink on her way back from work. Maybe she was waiting for someone. Maybe she was looking for someone. Such things happened all the time.

But she stood out by her very normalcy. In the next booth over, three monsters sat. One was a huge man with green skin like an alligator's and a huge horn on his forehead. He was leaning back, chugging four pitchers of beer at once while the other two monsters hooted and urged him on. Further down the bar a quintet of pale-faced young men wearing military pants and muscle shirts were talking calmly. In their hands they carried several pouches filled with a red liquid that was not wine. Here and there other men and women sat. Some had animal features, the ears of a cat or bat-like wings. Some were covered in scars and muscle, carrying enough weapons to start their own war.

"Hey, check her out." It was one of the zoanoids speaking, a huge furry ape-man with huge bat-like ears. He gestured over the shoulder of the big green one at the young woman calmly drinking her beer. "Wonder who she works for?" he asked.

"Uh..." The other zoanoid, this one a creature covered in rippling muscles and a face like a dog whose skin had been peeled away, scratched his chin. "She don't smell dead."

"Maybe she's a frog?" the huge one said blearily. It had consumed a vast quantity of alcohol, and even its superhuman constitution was struggling to keep up.

"Nah." The comparatively small ape-man waved his hand. "Frogs are always nervous, ya know? Look like they're about to explode or something. She's too calm to be a frog."

"American?" the skull-headed zoanoid suggested, tapping its bony jaw.

"Maybe..." The ape-man paused. "But I don't think so. No S.T.A.R.S. patch. And she ain't a Templar. Not if she's drinking." He paused and a wicked smile crossed his inhuman face. "I think she's a mercenary."

This caused all the zoanoids to straighten and smile. They began to chuckle as they stood. The woman didn't look up as they loomed over her. She didn't even look up when the huge green-skinned monster set his giant hand down on the table, the weight of his body cracking the hardwood surface. It did make her frown slightly.

"Hey, babe, you know what the great thing about Switzerland is?" the ape-zoanoid asked while his larger companion virtually held her in place.

The entire bar had quieted by this point. Everyone was looking now. The woman took a moment to answer.

"The luxury hotels?" she responded in a bright, happy voice.

This caused everyone to laugh. "No. What's great about this place is that we can all be here." The zoanoid gestured around the room at all the occupants. "A week ago, I was trying to kill half these people. Heck, that fucking leech at the bar ripped the throat out of a good friend of mine." The vampire in question raised his bloodbag up in acknowledgement, smiling with too many teeth. "But here, in this country, we all act nice." He paused. "Do you know why?"

The woman frowned, her forehead wrinkling in an adorable fashion. "Something in the chocolate?"

A few more chuckles circled the room. "No..." the zoanoid responded dryly. "Because everyone agreed this place was neutral ground. Even that crazy Major realises he can't fight a war on seven different fronts at once. So, right here, in a country directly between four major powers, is where they set up neutral ground. It didn't take long for the Americans to send over some troops too. I guess everyone needs a place to talk to each other. Even if it's just to try and distract people while you stab them in the back."

"Thank you for the political lesson," the woman answered dryly.

"Hey, I ain't finished." The woman frowned again, but he continued. "You see, the reason I'm not over there trying to tear that vampire in two is because all the higher ups said not to. And anyone who kills someone from another team... well, the result isn't pleasant. There are two zoalords here, and that guy from the Dark Kingdom and a few other heavy hitters. You do something to get out of line and they DON'T ask questions, ya see?"

"Yes, yes. I suppose this is leading somewhere?"

He smiled. "But that particular treaty doesn't apply to free agents." The woman's frown deepened as the zoanoid continued. "And my friends and I... we really want to tear someone in two, what with that pissant leech smiling at us all night and us not able to do a thing about it."

"Hey, asshole."

There was a loud rustling as everyone in the bar shifted their attention at once. The newcomer was a handsome young man, with tousled black hair done up in a short braid at the nape of his neck. He was tall, his frame filled out with sleek muscle, and he wore a blue jacket and a pair of black silk pants tucked into heavy boots. His face was lean and cocky. He walked up to the green zoanoid and placed a small human hand on its shoulder.

"Leave the lady alone."

"Back off, hu-" The giant's words cut off abruptly as it went flying into the bar with enough force to shatter the wood into a cloud of splinters. Everyone blinked. Most of them hadn't even seen the move. Those that did were beginning to back up.

Ranma smiled.

"Gregole!" the dog-faced zoanoid roared, and swung at the intruder. Ranma resisted to urge to yawn. Instead his hand came up sharply, the ball of his thumb smashing into the Broyze's jaw with enough force that the thing's neck snapped like a twig. He sidestepped the suddenly limp zoanoid as the momentum of its swing carried it to the floor. The final zoanoid was backing away.

"You... you... you're...!"

"Ranma Saotome," he introduced himself. "And in case you haven't heard, I'm the best there is."

The zoanoid turned to run, but Ranma was on it in a flash. He tapped it lightly on the back and released just enough chi that it flashed visibly as a small white spark. The Ramotith flew through the bar, and then through the wall out into the darkness of the street without pause. Ranma calculated that it would probably go through the next two buildings before it stopped. It might even survive.

"Ranma Saotome!" one of the vampires roared, leaping to his feet. "The Major wants him dead!"

"Ah, he's just pissed cause I tore his arm off that one time," Ranma quipped as he spun to face the five vampires who were leveling firearms at him now. Ranma smirked, suppressing the anger he felt. Mentioning that had only reminded him how CLOSE he had come. If that Huntress hadn't shown up, he could have finished off the Major once and for all. But as it was, the guy who had killed Ukyou was still alive. He raised his arms, deciding to take out his frustration on these losers. "Tell you what, I'll send him some of yours. Just to celebrate old times."

The vampires were about to fire when five lances of golden light shot out from behind Ranma. They were caught so flatfooted by the unexpected attack that the beams hit them each in the heart. A moment later, there was nothing left but floating clouds of dust. The bar began to empty as everyone took the most convenient exit. Ranma turned, his smile dissolving.

"Damn it, Ranma!" Minako snarled. The last traces of her magical disguise were unraveling around her, her long blonde locks replacing the mousy brown hair that had been there a moment before. "What did I TELL you... EIGHT TIMES before we came here?"

"Uh... make certain you get a room with a good view?"

Ranma's head rocked back as Minako slapped him.

"Don't kill anyone..." Ranma said petulantly.

"That's right!" she hissed, placing her fists on her hips. "This was SUPPOSED to be our vacation! Not even we can fight monsters all year long!"

"But they were going to hurt you!" he protested.

Her expression went as cold as ice. "Are you saying I couldn't have handled them myself?"

"Uh..." Ranma decided to sidestep that one. "Come on, Mina... I'll make it up to you with one of my famous backrubs!" She glared at him a moment longer. "And a footrub!" She continued glaring and Ranma sighed in defeat. "I'll do the cooking for a week."

She smiled happily and leaned in to kiss him. Ranma was smiling goofily when she finally came up for air. "Come on, you lummox. You're going to have a hard time cooking while we're on the run from a bunch of zoalords... again."

01010

-July 6, 1999, 2:33: Above the area of Septfontaines, Luxembourg -

"You should sit down when the helicopter is moving."

Area ignored the well-meant advice and continued to move back and forth in a tight circle, her mouth set in a thin, tight line. She knew she was pouting, but didn't care. She'd been so close. SO close to cracking the secret of the T-Ashford virus. And then came the message, delivered in person by Agito Makashima: France's "secret friends" had a vaccine prepared to deliver.

Area smiled slightly for a moment, thinking of Agito. That hunk of prime Japanese beef didn't stop by the labs often enough. But then she went back to frowning. So close. So close, and yet here she was: second again.

It wasn't that she really didn't want a cure as soon as possible. There'd been a major scare as a collaborator had nearly put the virus in the Paris water supply. And it wasn't as if Area's position and prestige were in any real danger. Biogenetics wasn't even her strongest subject, whereas their "secret friends" seemed to specialise in it.

But she couldn't find it in herself to be gracious about the whole thing. Damn it, she HAD been so close! It hurt her pride as a brilliant young gorgeous (well, okay, at least above average-looking) scientist to be outdone in anything!

"Area, please sit down. I wouldn't want you to get hurt-"

She wheeled on the owner of the good advice. "Oh, leave me alone! You don't understand ANYTHING, Remy!"

He let his mouth clamp shut, looking even more dour than usual. One of the Gendarmes in the helicopter, the larger one, laughed. "Best let her be, General."

"Can't deal with any woman when she talks like that, General," the other Gendarme - a shorter, wiry man with a thin moustache - said. His eyes were twinkling.

Remy, head of the Gendarmerie des Chevaliers and hero of France, sighed, crossing his arms and fiddling with one of the zippers on the arms of his leather jacket, as he often did when he was irritated with something. "Very well. Do what you will. You always do, after all."

Area deigned to ignore them all, continuing to move back and forth. At least she could use the necessity to study the new vaccine to get out of her lecture this afternoon. It was very prestigious and all that to be a guest lecturer at SUPAERO, she knew, but she hated taking time away from her lab to go try to pound knowledge into the head of a bunch of snot-nosed brats, most of whom didn't know the first thing about aeronautics anyway. Area had made her first ornithopter as a science project in third grade - she just couldn't deal with all these SLOW people. Although, it was kind of cute when some of them asked for autographs.

Area turned again, facing towards the front of the craft, and so she got just enough time to open her mouth to warn them before the missile hit. Fire washed back from the cockpit and Area realised she was screaming but no sound came out. The helicopter jerked, spinning abruptly to the side and jerking back, flinging her off her feet. Her head smashed into the corner of a chair and stars exploded across her vision. Her glasses fell. She could hear screams and shouts, and a sharp mechanical scream as the instruments that had survived the explosion began to let off alarms and sirens.

The helicopter was in a spin, a part of her mind told her. She could picture it in her mind, the large vehicle gyroscoping through the air, a long stream of dark smoke erupting from where its cockpit should be. She had wanted to ride up front, she recalled briefly.

"...yourselves, the ground..."

The voice swam out of her consciousness again and then Area felt herself being lifted up by strong arms. She looked down and saw Remy looking at her. His long pale blue hair floated around his head, forming a halo. He was screaming something at her, but Area still couldn't hear him. He turned to shout over his shoulder and there was a flash of darkness as the side of the helicopter opened up. She saw two men jump from the falling vehicle.

They had to be insane. There was no way they could survive a fall from this height. Then a second later she and Remy were flying out of the same hole and they were in open space. For a moment she floated in the buoyant air, the vertigo of the transition almost overwhelming here.

She heard two loud cracks, and below her two paragliders opened up. Oh. Well, they would be safe. Then she realised that Remy was not carrying a parachute, and neither was she. Below them the long midnight blue line of the Eisch River was growing larger and larger.

Area heard it before she saw it. Her head was clearing and she looked up quickly. It was moving in almost faster than her eyes could follow. A small dart-shaped plane, barely five meters long and with a wingspan not even twice that across. It spun and jerked through the air with unnatural agility.

Remy was screaming, but Area couldn't make out the words over the rush of the air and the roar of the approaching rocket engines. Then she knew what he was saying. He was trying to warn the Gendarmes. It wouldn't have done any good.

Area was familiar with the design. It was the principal aerospace superiority fighter employed by Millennium. They took the chassis of an old World War II fighter, tore out everything except the darkly improved engine and guns, placed a vampire inside and let it go. They were frightening, not just in their performance either. Area knew that with a vampire pilot they could pull turns at close to Mach 4, and hit targets with unnatural accuracy. But they were also cheap and easy to build.

The paragliding Gendarmes didn't stand a chance. The Komet flashed between them like a bird of prey. Area didn't even see the thing fire. She just saw the gliders explode into a million pieces, a fine red mist erupting across the sky.

Then Remy was pulling her around on top of him and they hit the water. It was like hitting a layer of concrete. Area almost lost consciousness for the second time. But she wasn't about to give up that easily. Her hand shot down and tapped a control on her boots. A second later she was flashing out of the water, landing on the shore. She waited a brief moment. The impact had jarred her loose from Remy.

The lean young man came out of the water a second later. His jacket had come off partially and his thin white t-shirt clung provocatively to his chiseled chest. His eyes had lost that sullen dullness that usually filled them. Now they were hard, cold grey orbs like carved ice. There were soft thuds nearby as a few more of the Gendarmes landed safely. One landed in the river, but managed to cut himself free before the current carried his chute too far away. In the distance, the whine of the Messerschmitt's engine was returning.

"Four..." Remy snarled. "Out of fifteen..."

"We have to find cover!" one of the men was screaming. "That thing is coming back to finish us all off!"

"Fuck that!" another cried. "We're all going to die. They were expecting us! It's a goddamn trap!"

"Shut up!" Remy snarled, and instantly there was silence. He rose up to his full height, his cold grey eyes surveying the survivors. "If we don't come back from this mission, thousands of people die. Failure is NOT an option."

"How do we fight that thing? We don't have any anti-aircraft weapons!" the first Gendarme replied. "They went up with the helicopter."

"You idiot," Area said, snorting and crossing her arms. "I didn't just design those rifles of yours for taking out vampires personally. UV lasers may be especially effective at vapourising undead, but they're still lasers. As in speed of light. I don't care how fast that thing is, if you can see it, it's out of the sky."

"But we can't see it!" he complained.

"Give me that!" Remy snapped, grabbing the rifle from the soldier's hand. It was one of Area's best pieces of work. A compact weapon about the size of a hunting rifle, made out of space age polymers that reduced the weight significantly. The power cell could charge up the UV projector and create a sustained beam for almost thirty minutes, or more if you used short bursts and let the battery recycle between shots. She would have liked to increase the damage output; as it was, the beam was inferior to most conventional bullet weapons. But Area knew for a fact that armour was not one of the Komet's strong points.

Remy, of course, didn't care about this. He strode out to the shore of the river, his damp hair flowing down his back. He raised the stock of the rifle to his shoulder and carefully lined up his shot. Area could just see the aircraft as it began its attack run. If it had another high-yield missile, not even Remy could survive a direct hit.

It never got a chance.

The actual blast of the rifle was invisible, of course. But Area had added a visible blue 'tracer' after one too many mishaps on the battlefield. The Messerschmitt's wing therefore seemed to shear off a fraction of a second before the lance of light actually reached it. The plane veered sharply, pulling into the mountains. A moment later, there was a distant explosion.

"We can't assume that killed it," Remy pointed out, tossing the rifle back. The soldier almost fumbled the weapon, but the panic had left his features. Area smiled. Of course. Remy had not just been defeating an enemy. He had been reminding these men that they were with a Gendarme. That they were Gendarmes.

Seven years Millennium had been trying to crush France like a bug. Seven years of invasions, sabotage, bombings, and terror attacks. For seven years the only thing that had stood between France and annihilation had been the Gendarmes. Sometimes Area forgot that, working so often in the lab. Sometimes she forgot who exactly she was making weapons for.

A loud beeping grabbed Area's attention. She looked down at her gauntlet and frowned.

"I'm picking up motion nearby, but nothing on the heat sensors." Everyone knew what that meant.

"Get into the river," Remy ordered, gesturing sharply. Area and the soldiers followed suit. Remy stepped down to the shore and then turned to face the woods along the bank. It was a scant two meters between him and the darkness. Remy looked down at her gauntlet. She wished she'd thought to bring Cancer with her, but that weapon was a little too large for the confines of a single helicopter. Not when she was sharing it with almost twenty men.

The ghouls came first. The ghouls always came first. The Gendarmes didn't even bat an eye. The thin blue lines of their rifles tore through the undead like a thresher through grass. The woods behind the shamblers exploded, the laser setting off a series of fires. Remy didn't move. He was holding a pair of short grey tubes in his hands. When the light caught them just right you could see it glint off the monofilament wire that was stretched between them.

Then came the actual threats. The first one burst from the top of the trees and flew out over the river. It was a twisted parody of a human form, a corpse that had been bent and mutated until it more resembled a hunting cat than what it once was. Except, of course, for its all-too-human face and its laughing cry.

One of the Gendarmes yelled and tried to hit it, but his shot went wide. The thing was coming right down at him. Area snarled and stepped forward, the gauntlet on her hand exploding with a corona of blue lightning. It flew from her wrist like a cannon, catching the thing in mid-air and tossing it into the water. But the hit had done nothing more than scorch the thing. And there were three more coming.

Remy leapt up to meet them. He flipped, his entire body spinning backwards as his foot carved a crescent of blue light in the air. The attack cleaved one of the things in two. The others were getting past him, but he didn't pause. Even as he was recovered he snapped out his arms, releasing one of the grey tubes. The monofilament snapped out, twirling around the neck of the beast. Its headless corpse crashed into the center of the roaring river.

The third landed on top of one of the Gendarmes. He had a chance to scream before the beast's human mouth clamped down on his exposed neck. Area could only stare for a moment as blood spurted out from between the monster's lips. Her only coherent thought was that she needed to add some sort of collar to the body armour.

The other soldiers caught the thing between them with their rifles, the beams of their lasers carving it into three smoking pieces. Remy was on the shore, screaming and slashing his arm forward. There was a crack like thunder and a disc of light spun from his arm, smashing into another hound that had burst from the woods. Another followed just after and Remy charged to meet it.

Area could only stare. She had been in a few battles. Before the world had gone insane, she'd used her gadgets to fight a few martial artists. Heck, she was a fighter herself. But she had never been in any battle like this.

A roar and the sound of water erupting behind her brought her back to her senses. She spun around, watching the hound she had knocked back rearing out of the water less then a meter away. She threw her arm in front of herself. She might have screamed.

Then there was a flash of golden light. Area blinked, taking a few moments to realise she was alive. She opened her eyes all the way, half expecting to see Remy standing in front of her. But that wasn't Remy.

"Hey, you must be Area, right? Cool, take this."

Area caught the metal case instinctively, blinking. The woman standing in front of her was younger than Area, maybe eighteen or so. Using her now free hand, the woman jerked her sword from the skull of the dead hound and rinsed it in the water. It was a rather nice-looking sword, not that Area paid much attention to low-tech weapons. It had a jeweled hilt, but otherwise the slim, curved blade looked nicely effective.

The woman herself wasn't French; Area thought she looked Hispanic, not that she'd known many of those where she'd grown up in Aurora. She had skin sporting a healthy tan and stark white hair that fell down over one eye but was brushed back on the other side. The exposed side of her face sported a tattoo of golden ink; it didn't seem to be anything in particular, though looked sort of like a tribal symbol or stylised lightning bolt. Her ears were pierced multiple times, sporting studs and a dangling golden loop. She wore a scandalously tight pair of black jeans and a loose sleeveless t-shirt with a tattered bottom. She would have looked like any rebellious teenager, were it not for the odd tattoo and the sword, which she returned to a scabbard strapped to one thigh after rinsing it off. She glanced at Area, and her eyes glittered with amusement while she full lips twisted into a crooked grin. "You all right, there?"

Area flushed slightly, realising she'd been staring. "Uh, yeah. Thanks. And you are...?"

Before the newcomer could answer, Area turned sharply at the sound of more splashing, only to relax as she saw it was Remy and the rest of the team.

"We've got to keep moving," Remy said tightly. "This won't be the only group in the area. It was too well-planned an attack-" he caught up short as he saw the newcomer.

"Don't stress it," the woman said. "I took care of the rest of them for you."

"Angel?"

"Awww, you remembered me!" the woman said, splashing forward and throwing her arms around Remy. "That's so sweet, you being a big hero and all! Here, you got some zombie gook on your jacket..."

Area didn't like where this was going at all. "Remy, you know her?"

Remy now looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, she is actually a... liaison of our contact."

Angel released Remy, turning around and winking at Area. "That's right. We noticed the activity in the area and I came out to meet you. Seems SOMEBODY knew you were coming."

Remy suddenly looked worried. "Did they know where..."

Angel shook her head, cutting him off. "No, there's not been any recent vamp activity in Mersch. Too much running water in the area for their liking. And even when they do occasionally swing a scout through, they never notice anything. Don't worry, stud, we're well-hidden."

"Wait a minute," one of the Gendarmes, the same short mustachioed one as before, interrupted. "You mean to say you came here all by yourself, mademoiselle? And dealt with... them?" His larger companion from before, Area noticed uncomfortably, was nowhere to be seen. And the twinkle in his eyes was gone.

Angel seemed blithely unaware of the suspicious glares directed at her from the Gendarmes. "Well, I don't like to brag, but..."

"Angel is a special operative," Remy cut in. "Despite her youth, I have no doubt of her abilities... or of her word."

The Gendarmes relaxed slightly. Area rolled her eyes. Remy probably could tell them she was the Virgin Mary and they'd ask for blessings. Sometimes she thought she and Agito were the only ones not awe-struck by him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Remypoo," Angel purred, leaning in too close to him for Area's liking. "Anyway, you guys better start hiking back."

"We came here to get some research..."

"She's got it," Angel jerked a thumb at Area, who suddenly remembered the metal case. She stared at it for a moment, then clutched it tighter. She wanted to be back in her lab already. The nerve of that Major Kreig and Alexia Ashford, trying to murder her! HER, Area, greatest scientific genius in all France (since she moved there)? Maybe she'd been beaten to the punch for an actual vaccine to the T-Ashford, but just wait until they saw what she DID with it! They'd regret ever messing with her!

"Anyway, Remypoo, I'd love to tag along with you guys, but I actually gotta get back. You're lucky you came when you did - I'm heading out later today."

"Oh?" Remy said, pausing as he was already turning around. Area slogged through the muck of the river - it wasn't fun doing this in rollerblades - to get between him and the (obvious bad influence) woman. "Where are you going?"

Angel grinned and waggled her finger. "Sorry, Remy, we're buddies with you French and we really appreciate the use of this no man's land, but some things are still secret. I've got a special mission." She stretched her arms - a gesture that made the sodden state of her shirt more obvious - and twirled around. "So I'm afraid we must be parted, and no more peeks of this hot Mexican ass for you, sweetie!"

She patted the posterior in question, prompting a few chuckles from the Gendarmes. Area elbowed Remy sharply in the ribs, and he coughed slightly and raised his eyes skyward.

"One question, though..." Angel threw over her shoulder, grinning that crooked grin again. "Whatever possessed you guys to send your big hero, your top scientist, and a bunch of you Gendarmy guys? A lot of eggs in one risky basket, wasn't it?"

Remy paused a long moment before responding, but when he did, his voice has lost what little good humour it had, lost even its frosty air of command. It sounded tired, the same tiredness Area had only heard a few times before, when he'd talked about his past. "Because we're the only ones. I couldn't order any soldiers to go; it's suicide to take on Millennium without fortifications. And we couldn't let any Gendarmes outside the border without backup; as it is, today has already been a disaster."

"Backup?"

"Me. And Area. We're the only backup there is. I thought it was enough." He glanced over at the remains of the helicopter, and the crumpled body of the dead Gendarme, bobbing gently in the waters of the Eisch. "I was wrong."

Angel had turned her head forward, so Area could not see her face anymore. But when she spoke, she too had lost all the playfulness in her voice. Instead, it sounded hard, and older than she looked. "I understand. Make it back safe, Remy. Good luck."

01010

-July 9, 1999, 12:07: Tokyo, Japan -

"...no poverty or disease. People walk freely on the streets. This was not always so.

"For seven years we have struggled with those who would foolishly resist us. Do not be fooled by their propaganda. The Americans speak of 'freedom' and 'justice', but where do they stand? They are a police state! Their paranoia is so great that they would threaten the entire earth with annihilation rather than surrender their grasp on power!

"So we leave them be. In seven years, Chronos has not once attacked American soil. Their citizens are free-"

"Turn that off!" Akane snapped a little peevishly. There was a soft click as someone flipped off the television. The image collapsed into a single line of white before vanishing altogether. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. The chair beneath her creaked as she leaned forward and stared down at the whorls and eddys in the grain of the wooden table.

"Don't like great governor Purgstall's speeches?" Akira asked softly. Akane looked up. It was hard to believe that the young woman sitting across from her was the same girl that had left almost... seven years ago? Had it really been that long? Akane shook her head, both to answer Akira's question and to dismiss her own.

"He's a monster," Akane pointed out. She reached out and grabbed the neck of her beer bottle. The brand here was terrible, but then when you were the most wanted fugitive in all of Chronos, you didn't ask for much.

"He seems to be doing fine," Akira pointed out before she took a swig of her own. "Say what you will about Chronos and how they came to power... the trains run on time."

"We were doing fine before they showed up," Akane felt the need to insist.

Akira shrugged. She had a little frown on her face. It was the frown that had really placed her in Akane's mind. That same quietly sad little frown, like Akira was privately very sorry that you had to notice her. But at the same time, she projected a greater aura of... authority now. It wasn't really that you got the impression that she was in charge. It was just that you got the impression that she KNEW things.

Maybe she did. It had been seven years. Akira might have matured in more ways than one. Akane glanced idly at the worn black leather of Akira's outfit. It was covered in dust and creases, with the front of her jacket open so the buckles dangled. Underneath it she wore a grey muscle shirt. Akane sighed. SHE certainly hadn't "developed" that much in the last seven years.

When Akane looked back at Akira's face, the girl had a tiny little smile there. Akane flushed as she remembered another little fact about Akira. But the smile wasn't teasing or joking. Akane also remembered that smile. She could only use one word to describe it... brave. It was a brave smile. They kind you had on your face a few months after your father's funeral.

"Listen..." Akane frowned and rolled her bottle along the table. It banged up against the wrapped package in which she carried her blade and her bokken. "Chronos are not nice people. I've been fighting a war with them for seven years, I should know. Do you think there is a single nice thing they have done that we haven't forced them to?" She frowned. "We'd still be importing food if we hadn't gotten the truth out. They'd still be kidnapping potential martial artists out of their homes if we hadn't started fighting them so hard on it that even their papers couldn't cover up the truth anymore. They would-"

"Akane, Akane..." Akira held up her hand. "I wasn't being serious." She frowned. "I've had a few run-ins with Chronos."

"Really?" Akane looked up at her. "Where? I haven't heard much about you these last few years. I guess you keep a low profile... unlike Ranma. What's been happening with you?"

"I'd... rather not talk about it." Akira lifted the half-empty bottle and downed it in one gulp. Her hair was longer, Akane noted. It fell down to her shoulders now, but was still in the same bob-cut.

"So... is that why you came back?" Seeing Akira looked confused. "Have you finally decided to give up?"

Akira stared at Akane for a long moment. "No. I'll never give up." The words weren't said with any special conviction or resignation. She said them with the same tone of voice you would tell someone that the sky was blue or that the earth rotated around the sun.

"Akira... Ukyou's dead." Akane let go of her bottle and looked the young woman right in the eyes. "I talked to Ranma. I'm certain you have too. He told me what happened. Ukyou ran off on a suicide mission against Millennium and she never came back."

"She isn't dead."

"Then why haven't we heard anything about her?" Akane crossed her arms and Akira looked away. "Ukyou wasn't the kind of person who vanished into the background. Wherever she went... things happened. She was like a hurricane. She swept into a place and when she was gone, nothing was ever the same again. Ukyou wouldn't have been laying low for seven years. She'd have DONE something by now." Akane tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She was pretty certain she succeeded.

"I know..." Akira frowned again. "I know this is selfish and foolish and that..." She sighed. "I know that I could be doing more with my life. I know I could help you make a difference. I could follow Ranma, maybe. I could even join the French or the Americans and fight for something important..." Akira met Akane's gaze again. "But I won't give up. It's just... not in my nature, I guess. I don't surrender."

Akira stood up, the sound of her chair scraping on the floor. "I'm sorry I brought up bad memories, Akane. I shouldn't have come..."

"Nonsense!" Akane slapped her hand on the table. "What happened between me and Ukyou is ancient history. What's happened since then can't be changed. At least let me contact Daigo. He'd be overjoyed to see you. I think he and the boys are somewhere in Okinawa..." Akane frowned. It was times like this she hated the cell structure they had been forced to adopt.

"Don't worry about it." Akira smiled her brave little smile again. "Just tell him I said 'hi' next time you see him. You probably have important work to do."

Akane frowned as Akira turned to leave. Finally she let out an explosive breath and reached into her pocket. "Akira, before you go..."

Akira paused and looked over her shoulder. Akane flung the white envelope at her so fast it blurred in the air. With the speed and power Akane had put behind it, it could have flown straight through a tree without pausing. Akira caught it between two fingers without even changing positions. She looked at the envelope.

"Nabiki dropped it off to me a few days ago. Said I should give it to 'an old friend' if I saw one soon."

Akira chuckled wryly. "Your sister likes playing cryptic, doesn't she?" Akira shook her head. "Do you know how many times I've walked into a hostel somewhere with a note like this waiting for me? Telling me about some dangerous Chronos experiment or some Millennium-inspired doomsday cult or demons haunting a local village or..." Akira trailed off slowly. "I don't think I've ever even met her face to face."

"Well?" Akane stood up, leaning over the table with her palms on the wood.

"Well what?" Akira blinked.

"What does it say?"

Akira blinked again, then tore it open and read the short note inside. Her brow furrowed and she tossed the note to Akane before leaving again. Akane also caught it with two fingers. She looked it over.

'In payment for services rendered:

Please contact a man by the name of Zoicite. He doesn't have the answers you seek, but he knows who does.

We're even,

Nabiki.'

"Zoicite?" Akane muttered, but the door was swinging closed.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Epsilon: The alternate title for this chapter is "Blade and Epsilon's A Series of Unconnected Vignettes."

Blade: (too busy editing character guides to pay attention)

Epsilon: The really sad thing is that no one even reads the Character Guides.

Blade: What?

Epsilon: Nothing. But aside from that, the reason Blade is so busy at the last minute is because... uh, this chapter and last chapter were LONG! 330 and 290 kilobytes respectively. This chapter is fifty two THOUSAND words LONG!

Blade: Yeah. Meaning these two chapters took up about as much time to write as three regular chapters.

Epsilon: Which partially explains why the six chapter buffer I had insisted on before we started releasing this fanfic has shrunk to... to... (sob softly)

Blade: Zero.

Epsilon: I was SO CLOSE! Just ONE SCENE! One FIGHT SCENE away from having Chapter 22 finished!

Blade: (patpat)

Epsilon: I am inconsolable! I am disconsolate! I am desolate! I am crestfallen! I am... (consults )... I am funereal!

Blade: Riiight. Anyway. What this means for you, the reader, is that unless Aaron can finish chapter 22 AND chapter 23 by the end of March we might have to skip a month. Now granted, he wrote something like 150k in a week and a half but then his brain melted down and he had to take a break.

Epsilon: Yes. (sigh) But there is good news! Since next month is April the 1st anyway we decided to release a neat special surprise on that day, regardless of whether or not there will be an actual update of the fanfic.

Blade: Yes. It involves Epsilon drawing over one hundred pictures. But other than that, we will not say more.

Epsilon: So... tune in next month for what might be another chapter, plus a special treat regardless!

Blade: And on that note...

01010

"My name's Angel, what's yours?"

"Akira."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 22: Forgotten


	22. Forgotten

My name is Akira Kazama, and this is not my story.

This is the story of a boy and a girl. It starts in a world like your own: a world of science and physical laws, where fantastic things either don't exist or are so rare that they may as well not. The boy named Aaron lived in this world, and he became a fan of imaginary worlds where people lived extraordinary lives. Worlds like those of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Street Fighter and King of Fighters, Guyver and Tenchi Muyo and Hellsing and many more.

Then he died.

Ukyou Kuonji was an extraordinary young woman. When she was young she was engaged to Ranma Saotome, whose father then abandoned her and ran off with the dowry. Since then, she dedicated herself to training in her family's school of martial arts, and renounced her femininity, living as a boy. One day, she planned to track down Ranma Saotome and his father, and have her revenge on them both.

Or so she told herself.

For reasons neither understood, the soul of the deceased boy named Aaron awakened one day within the mind of Ukyou Kuonji. Ukyou's spirit remained also, but two souls are not meant to live with only one mind or body between them. So it was that the memories of Aaron flooded into Ukyou's psyche, and the memories of Ukyou's past flooded into Aaron's. But something kept them from blending together completely. It took them only a short while to come to an understanding of the other, and to learn how to use Ukyou's body without their contradictory thoughts making all action impossible.

From that point forward, they had only one goal - the separation of their souls. To this end, Aaron suggested they seek out an item of magical power, a sword capable of granting three wishes. Ukyou agreed, even though she did not trust his knowledge of the 'future' or believe that she and all she knew was a fairy tale in his reality. But she had her own motives to go along: she wanted to go to Nerima, where the wishing sword was, so she could confront Ranma at the place Aaron insisted he was, or would be.

In Nerima, the two found the Tendo Dojo, where they didn't find Ranma but they did find Akane Tendo. After an initial misunderstanding Akane and Ukyou became friends, but Ukyou never revealed the truth about her knowledge of the future or the other soul that travelled with her. Akane did learn of Ukyou's true gender, and they even came up with a plan involving Ukyou's apparent gender to keep Akane from being unwillingly engaged to Ranma by their fathers.

When Ranma arrived in Nerima, things began to go wrong for the two 'soul-mates'. Ukyou discovered she still had romantic feelings for Ranma, and Aaron viciously quashed those and made Ukyou promise not to confess her feelings until after they were separated. They were also confronted by the spectre of Aaron's friend Chris, who had travelled across the dimensions with him but been trapped as a ghost-like spirit skipping from one corpse to another. Ukyou, acting more on her anger towards Aaron then anything else, drove Chris off and refused to allow Aaron to reveal himself to his old friend. They also discovered that the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto, had taken a personal interest in them.

The next day, they set off to try and find Sailor Pluto by locating her companions, the Sailor Senshi. Unfortunately, they walked into the middle of a battle between the Dark Kingdom General Jadeite and the Senshi. When everyone (including Ranma) was rendered helpless by Jadeite's ability to absorb life energy, Ukyou and Aaron found a dark power deep in their soul that allowed them to disrupt Jadeite's plan. It also allowed them to barely escape Sailor Pluto, who showed up to kill them shortly thereafter.

The mysterious power had a price, weakening and injuring Ukyou by its use. After Ukyou returned to Nerima, she found that her friend Akane and Akane's sister Nabiki had been kidnapped by a woman called Kodachi. Ukyou and Ranma set off to confront Kodachi, only to discover Chris had killed her and taken her body (and martial prowess) for himself. Chris defeated them both but was unable to get what he really wanted out of Ukyou, so he released his hostages and left.

Ukyou and Aaron did not have much time to recover. They were tracked down by Jadeite once again, who confronted them. Ukyou managed to drive him off by blowing off his arm. This, unfortunately, only enraged Jadeite further. He kidnapped Akane's sister Nabiki to draw all of Ukyou's friends to him at Narita airport, where he and his companion Tethys would destroy him.

The battle at Narita was epic, and Jadeite managed to permanently scar Ukyou's arm. With some help, Akane managed to destroy the trap that had stripped Ukyou and the others of much of their power, and Ukyou then defeated Jadeite. The helpless Dark General was destroyed by Sailor Pluto, who once again confronted Ukyou with the intent to kill her. Ukyou was unable to defend herself, but was saved by her friends - particularly a boy named Tsubasa, who had loved her from before Aaron had entered her life.

The battle at Narita was watched by many, including Ran Hibiki, a teenage reporter who made the story an international sensation. The world reacted as if the existence of superhumans was a startling discovery, and forces in the shadows watched with interest. On a more personal level, one of Ukyou's old enemies, a boy named Hayato, was attracted by her fame. He challenged her to a duel.

Ukyou accepted, even though she felt no reason to fight Hayato. But during the course of the battle, he insulted her pride and sense of self. Ukyou tapped into the dark power inside her again and shattered Hayato's spine, crippling him for life. Horrified by her own actions, Ukyou fled.

Ukyou tracked down a boy named Ryo Urawa, a psychic capable of seeing the future. He told her of a prophecy, a foretelling he and all the other precognitives of the world had shared. In it Ukyou stood upon a dark plane confronting a terrible enemy and with her first strike unleashed a power so terrible it destroyed all reality. Sailor Pluto showed up shortly thereafter and tried to kill Ukyou to prevent the terrible future she too had seen, but this time was defeated outright.

Ukyou returned to Nerima, but found herself suddenly bereft of friends. Tsubasa, who had loved her, left her with a word of warning about the path she was following. Tofu Ono, a doctor who had taken her in, forced her to leave. Ukyou herself began to lash out at her friends, insulting and driving Akane away. She also alienated Ranma's mother and the rest of Ranma and Akane's families as well.

Ranma was her only remaining companion. He overlooked her bad judgement, preferring to stay loyal to his friend. This proved fortunate, as a woman named Rose appeared with Sailor Pluto to try and destroy Ukyou. Rose was more than a match for Ukyou and only Ranma's timely arrival saved her life. But at the same time Hayato reappeared, mysteriously healed.

It was around here that I first met Ukyou. She was recovering from her battle with Rose at a school where friends of mine went. I was sent to Ukyou by another friend of mine on a mission to 'cheer her up'. I'm not certain if I succeeded. Shortly after I met Ukyou, Hayato reappeared.

He kidnapped Ukyou, taking her to a place where her friends couldn't help her. There he revealed that he had made a deal with the demon Tethys. Tethys inhabited his body, gaining his martial skill even as he regained the use of his legs. The two of them working as one seemed more an unbeatable foe, especially as Ukyou and Aaron were unwilling to draw on the dark power in their soul. But somehow they won, and did so without using the mysterious power or killing their foe.

Badly injured, Ukyou returned to Tokyo to try and find Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon had, however, been attacked by the monsters of a powerful secret organisation called Chronos, and driven into hiding. Ukyou was confronted by Chris, who had switched bodies again but who was being driven mad, both by the same dark power that Ukyou had so recently decided not to use and the recent discovery that his former friend Aaron was alive and well as a spirit inside Ukyou. The battle that followed was brutal, and Ukyou only survived because of the timely arrival of Nabiki and her bodyguard Ryouga.

Nabiki had, however, not saved Ukyou out of the goodness of her heart. Ukyou had made notes of the stories, the possible futures that Aaron knew, and partially complete notes had fallen into Nabiki's hands. Nabiki wanted a favour from Ukyou in return for her rescue - the whereabouts of the wishing sword. Ukyou agreed. Ukyou was trying to turn over a new leaf, and as part of this effort she promised never to use the dark power in her soul OR to take a life.

But Ukyou soon learned that those would not be easy promises to keep. A young Sailor Senshi, one not yet awoken to her powers, had been kidnapped by a Spanish assassin named Vega. We fought his henchmen, the Dolls, a group of young women who had been brainwashed into suicidal obedience. To save their lives, Ukyou was forced to use her powers to tie their life forces to the life of a man named Mamoru Chiba. Mamoru had powers before this, but lost them in the aftermath. He wished us luck as we went to confront Vega, Ukyou, Ranma, Ran, Ryouga and I joined together to defeat Vega and save the girl. We succeeded, but Ukyou was forced to take the young Hotaru away from her family because the whole household had been possessed by demons.

Before Ukyou could decide what to do about the young girl who had been thrust into her possession, or about the information she had given to Nabiki, tragedy struck. Vega murdered Ran. Ranma, in a rage, tracked down Vega and fought him. Vega was much stronger than Ranma, and even my help barely kept us alive. Meanwhile Nabiki had taken the wishing sword. Ukyou tried to take it from her, but at the last moment she decided to leave the sword with the unscrupulous Tendo sister and come to help us instead. The help wasn't needed, since Ranma finally defeated Vega. But Vega was still alive, and he promised to return to torment us again. Ukyou stepped in and killed Vega, taking the decision out of Ranma's hands without asking.

In the wake of this tragedy, Ranma wanted to leave Japan. Far across the world, in England, a legion of vampires had descended and annihilated much of the country. Ukyou and Ranma went there, taking young Hotaru with them, since her father was tragically killed before he could be saved. I stayed behind.

I've always regretted that.

In England, Ukyou and Ranma found themselves confronting horrors they had never even thought possible. They saved a young Senshi named Minako Aino from the vampires, and evaded the undead headhunter Rip Van Winkle. In time they found the last of the living resistance of England. But no sooner had they found sanctuary then things turned sour again. Zoicite, another General of the Dark Kingdom, was there as a spy, and Ukyou unmasked him. In spite, Zoicite revealed to Millennium where Ukyou and the resistance movement was.

The wrath of Millennium was profound. Many died. Ukyou was drawn off once again by Sailor Pluto and Rose, who confronted her away from the main battle. Ukyou fought on, smashing Pluto's time staff and removing her ability to control time. This alone would not have saved her, but at this point a man called Bison appeared. The true master of Vega and the Dolls, he had grown intrigued by Ukyou's power and wished it for himself.

Bison drove off Millennium, and attacked Pluto and Rose. The two chose to confront him rather then finish off the weakened Ukyou. Ukyou, meanwhile, felt her world crumbling. Young Hotaru, horrified by the carnage around her and driven by the demon her father had placed into her soul, had awakened to her powers and was attempting to destroy the whole world. Ukyou drew once again on the dark power and managed to stop Hotaru. In the process she destroyed the demon inside Hotaru and took much of the young girl's power.

In the wake of the battle, Ukyou began to think there was no way to escape her fate. Step by step the future of the prophecy was unfolding no matter what she did. With a heavy heart she sent Hotaru away, convinced she would be safer away from Ukyou. She also drove Ranma away, playing on his lingering resentment from when she had killed Vega. Then she journeyed to the heart of Millennium to destroy them, and possibly die herself.

But she learned that Millennium had captured Hotaru and killed her. In a rage she destroyed Millennium's flying fortress, but her will was broken. When Bison confronted her, she was in no condition to fight him. But fight she did, until Bison revealed that he had captured Ranma and held her one true love's life in her hands. Aaron had, all unknowing, fallen in love with Ranma too. Neither could stand to see Ranma hurt, so they surrendered in a moment of weakness and despair.

That was seven years ago. Ranma was released and believes Ukyou dead. Akane fights a hopeless battle against monsters that control her homeland and has all but forgotten Ukyou. Nabiki has used the power of the wishing sword to make herself the queen of a criminal underworld, and she seems to have forgotten Ukyou as well. One by one, all the others have forgotten she ever existed, or given up on trying to discover the truth.

Everyone except me.

My name is Akira Kazama, and THIS is my story.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 22: Forgotten

Akira was surprised at how warm it was up here in the summer. She'd always sort of thought of Scandinavia as a frozen wasteland. Once, when she'd been very young, she and Daigo had watched a TV special about the "ice hotel" they built there. She had been fascinated by the concept. The narrator had told them that everything in them was carved out of ice, even the beds. She had asked Daigo how the guests could sleep there without getting cold. He'd looked at her and, with a completely straight face, had told her that he guessed Swedes just had a higher tolerance for cold than Japanese.

A font of cultural understanding her brother was not.

Her cycle hummed under her as Akira drove down the Swedish highway, trees passing by on either side. Her jacket was tied around her waist, the thick knot keeping it from being dragged off by the wind. Her hair flowed with the current and she had to resist the urge to close her eyes and just bask in that soft cool caress of the open ride. Not that she was worried about crashing. Even if she was going twice as fast as anything else on the highway, she knew that her reflexes and senses were sharp enough that she could have driven twice again as fast, on a highway twice as crowded, blindfolded and with one hand and still not risked a crash. But appearances had to be maintained, and showing off like that was one sure way to get yourself spotted.

One more turn and the forest opened up and she could see Stockholm spread out in the distance. She raised up in her seat, squinting to get a better view. It was a pretty enough city. Stockholm was a city of water. Beyond it Akira could see the wide midnight blue expanse of the Baltic Sea, and a large lake was even closer. The city sprawled out from the water like a wave, a strange juxtaposition of modern skyscrapers and ancient buildings. She slowed down as she approached, allowing herself to just absorb the city as it grew steadily to engulf her.

This was probably the best part of travelling. Akira leaned back on her bike, enjoying the feel of the city as it washed over her; the sights of the buildings and the look of the people as they went about their daily business, the sounds and the scents and the feel of the breeze; each of these was unique. It went even beyond that. Every city had a different heart; a spirit to it that a martial artist of Akira's calibre could feel like a wine steward could discern vintages.

Stockholm felt alive. It practically vibrated. Akira had been in cities that had more energy: Hong Kong, for instance. But there was something special about the way this city pulsed. It was like it was floating on a river of power. Akira allowed a rare smile to grace her features as she enjoyed the feel of it, cruising around the city without any particular plan or agenda.

She got strange looks as she drove by. Not just because she was a foreigner, though that was rare enough in these troubled times, she supposed. She guessed it was her bike. Not many people had an old machine like this anymore. She gunned the engine a little, just for fun, startling some people nearby. She supposed even she would have to give it up soon enough. Gas was scarce, with Chronos controlling most of the world's oil wells.

The new hyper-combustion engines had replaced most old car engines these days. France had exported the things to anyone willing to buy them, and they'd caught on over the last few years. Akira didn't really like them. They may have taken one tenth the fuel of a regular engine, but there was just something about the old bikes that Akira appreciated. The HC engines didn't have the same kick to them, the same feeling of naked power.

Plus this bike had been with her for almost five years now. She'd picked it up in Africa and driven it across Asia and back. It was covered in small nicks and scratches and dents, a hundred reminders of the little adventures she'd had over the years. This bike had survived landslides and explosions. She had driven it through burning factories and outrun helicopters on it. She had had to repair it a hundred odd times, gradually replacing everything from shocks to throttle. This bike could off road as easily as an ATV and burn asphalt like a racing bike.

Plus she'd finally broken in the seat to the point she liked.

Akira pulled to the side of the road, deciding that she was getting a bit too melancholy over a simple motorcycle. Besides, it was time to start getting to work.

Akira's Swedish was non-existent, but her English had long since passed fluent. Thankfully many of the people in this city spoke it, and after a few aborted attempts she was able to track down a nice fellow who was willing to give her directions. If he stared a little too long at her chest... Akira didn't mind. The art of feminine distraction wasn't something Akira looked down on. When you lived on the road as a hunted fugitive in half the world, you didn't waste any resource on hand.

The hostel Akira was directed to was in a rundown part of the city near the waterfront. Here the scars of Millennium's hand still lingered. A few buildings were still abandoned, a few more still had scorch marks and boarded up windows. It gave the neighbourhood a brooding air, and the people within moved about in a furtive manner. Here the city did not hum with life. The violence of the war seemed to linger... like smoke in an enclosed room.

The people on the street gave Akira more openly hostile looks as she drove her bike up to the hostel. She ignored them for the most part, except for a small group of young men with slick black hair hanging back near one corner. There eyes didn't linger so much on Akira as on her bike. She frowned and stepped off her cycle, turning to face them.

They all made a big deal of looking anywhere but at her as she faced them. Akira shrugged and turned back to her motorcycle. Then with a very slow and deliberate motion she reached out with one hand and picked up the vehicle that was half again as large as she was and carried it over her head as she walked over to an alley she could deposit it so it would be out of the way. When she turned back, the young turks were all staring at her. She smiled in a vaguely threatening manner, patted her machine twice and entered the building.

The old woman at the counter was fat, smelled of cigars and didn't ask questions. She accepted what few yen Akira had left and handed her a key. The girl gave her a genuine smile and then purposefully asked her where the local arena was.

The old woman gave Akira a half-lidded stare. Akira just did her best to look innocent and hopeful, which was an expression she knew she projected rather well. The old woman snorted and snuffed her cigarette out on the long abused counter-top.

"Not much call for sporting events, these days," the woman grumbled.

Akira sighed. It always went like this. Nobody trusted the foreigner. Not that Akira blamed her. She had no way of knowing if Akira was a zoanoid, or a vampire or worse. Still, she wished that for once she didn't have to go through this.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about." Akira placed her gloves on the counter and leaned over it slightly. "Every city has one. I should know, I've been in most of them."

The woman eyed Akira for another long minute. Then she made a sound like a toad swallowing an insect and gave a wry chuckle. "Okay, fine. You a spectator or a participant?"

Akira frowned. She hadn't been above using the arenas to earn a few extra dollars over the years, but that wasn't why she needed one now. What she needed now was information. But she wasn't about to admit that.

"Participant."

"Not much to look at, are you?"

Akira shrugged.

The woman spat, managing to hit a garbage pail halfway across the room. Akira was impressed despite herself.

"Man you want to talk to is named Bert. You'll find him in the old town. Tonight. This address..."

01010

The old city had survived remarkably intact. The buildings were still mainly relics of an older era, connected by a series of narrow alleys. Akira had to park her bike quite a few blocks away and walk the rest of the way. The place was in terrible disrepair, and a lot of the area was poorly lit at this late hour. Then again, that just might have been a mandatory blackout. Millennium hadn't attacked Scandinavia since the disaster five years ago, but that didn't mean they weren't willing to do so again.

Bert turned out to be a small man with a wiry frame and a rat-like mustache. His eyes glinted like flint and he had a nasty habit of rubbing his nose with the back of his hand between sentences. He chuckled as he led her through a series of short tunnels from the waterfront.

"The take here is one thousand kronor flat, plus ten percent of the bets if you win," Bert informed her as they made their way through the tunnels. The air here smelled of the sea. They must have been old smuggling tunnels, Akira guessed. Probably refitted recently from the looks of it.

"Ten percent?" She frowned and crossed her arms. "That's a little light, isn't it?"

Bert looked at her oddly. Then he chuckled. "But you wouldn't know."

"Know what?"

Then he grinned and opened the door at the end of the tunnel. Akira blinked, rubbed her eyes and blinked again.

It wasn't an arena. It was a stadium. Row upon row of seats stretched downward into the bowels of the earth, with marble columns that looked impossibly delicate supporting the arched ceiling overhead. The fighting pit itself was fifty meters across at the least, covered in soft sand with weapons hanging from hooks along the wall; everything from brutal-looking clubs to modern assault rifles. The rest of the stadium stretched out three times that distance, with tier after tier of seats. And most of those seats were full. The noise was deafening. Men and women screaming and cheering, bet takers circulating with receipts and pouches full of cash, all underscored by the intoxicating beat of violence as it played out in the arena below. There was no way that somebody had just found or reconfigured something like this under Stockholm. Somebody had made it specifically.

Akira's eyes instantly found the sponsor's seat. It was on a dais that jutted just out over the arena slightly, offering the best seat in the house. The dais was flanked on both sides by long silk curtains and a lush divan. But there was nobody there tonight.

"I see..." Akira coughed into her gloved hands. "So, who built this thing?"

Bert laughed. "Who else?"

"Zoicite..." Akira's managed to say it without any emotion leaking into her voice. Truth be told, she didn't know exactly how she felt about that. Zoicite was a name whispered about in the underworld. He was one of the Dark Kingdom's top generals, and that was about all that was known about him. It had taken Akira almost two months to track him down.

The community Akira belonged to was an eclectic one: martial artists, mystics and monster hunters that wandered the world from one city to the next, owing no allegiance to any of the major powers, hunted by Chronos as terrorists and by Millennium for sport. These arenas were how they met and fought.

The only thing universal among them was the joy of the fight. It drew them together, burned inside of them as a need to test themselves against their peers. Every one of the people in the community wanted to be the next Ranma Saotome or Ryu, legends who had never been defeated. At every corner of the globe one could find some place where they gathered, to test themselves, to pass on rumours and to earn cash for the next leg of their endless journey.

Zoicite was a name a few in the community knew. He wasn't a warrior, but he was well known throughout Scandinavia as a fan of the underground world that Akira lived in. And Zoicite knew something about Ukyou. The leather of Akira's gloves creaked audibly as she clenched her fists, even over the roar of the crowd.

"He's not here tonight," Akira commented, trying to keep his voice idle.

Bert looked at her sharply. Then he grinned. "I'm afraid the card for tonight isn't exactly the kind Lord Zoicite prefers to watch."

"I see..." Akira forced herself to relax. "And if I wanted to meet him in person?"

Bert grinned, looking even more like a rat then he had before. He rubbed his nose and giggled. "You're not his type."

"I didn't ask if I was his type." Akira frowned and stared him straight in the eyes. "I asked how I could meet him."

The grin faded from the rat-faced man's features and he backed up a step. He cleared his throat and rubbed his nose again, more nervously this time. "I suppose something could be arranged. Lord Zoicite is a very busy man, however-"

"How much?" Akira cut him off.

Bert considered that for a second. "There's a woman here tonight. She's been touring the region recently, stopping off at the arenas. So far, she's been undefeated and has become something of a fan favourite. Against a relative unknown I guess the bets will go heavily in her favour..."

"So I beat her, I get to see Zoicite?" Akira didn't like skating around the issue.

He smiled. "And if you gave up your share..."

"Done." Akira agreed, grabbing his hand and pulling it up for a firm shake. He blinked in startlement and his hand hung in the air for a few moments after she released him. She started to walk past him. "You better call her down to the arena. I don't have all night."

Akira paused at the lip of the pit, placing her hands on the edge and peering over. A pair of zoanoids were down there, going at it tooth and nail. They were leaving long red lines in the dirt from their wounds and Akira turned her eyes away. She hated watching zoanoids fight. There was no poetry in their attacks, just savage power. Still, it surprised her that they were allowed in this city. From what little Akira knew, this place was all but owned by the Dark Kingdom. Then again, Tethys was renowned for her soft touch.

Akira fidgeted uncomfortably at the thought of the Dark Empress, then purposefully sidestepped the memories.

A loud roar erupted across the crowd and suddenly everyone was standing. Akira looked down and watched as one of the beastmen was being dragged from the arena, the larger and more muscular beast raising its arms in triumph. At least the other one was still alive, Akira mused. Then the thing in the arena paused.

It was looking right at her. Akira cursed inwardly and maintained her outward cool, pretending like she hadn't noticed. But the beast had gone silent, and it was staring at her long and hard now. The stone under Akira's hands began to crack, but she kept her expression neutral and didn't meet the thing's gaze.

Finally the zoanoid was led out of the arena by an official. Akira forced her muscles to untense. Her every instinct told her that it was time for her to go. She wasn't as wanted by Chronos as Akane or Ranma, but she wasn't exactly an honoured citizen either. By all right she should turn around and walk straight out of this stadium. She shouldn't stop until she'd found her bike and then she should ride right out of the entire country.

But...

Hidden loudspeakers suddenly blared to life. They were screaming something in Swedish so Akira couldn't make out what it was. But she did recognise her name when the man screamed it at the top of his lungs. For a split second Akira's common sense warred with her emotions.

Akira vaulted into the arena like an acrobat, using her hands on the lip of the pit like a springboard. She spun and twirled in mid-air, letting her hair and the jacket tied around her waist flash and whip around her. When she reached the apex of her leap she spun into a tight ball and added a little chi to her momentum, coming down at the floor like a meteor. She landed in a crouch, her arms extended to either side like wings. The sand burst up around her, flaring out in a brief hemisphere before settling to the arena floor in a cloud. The crowd roared and Akira smiled.

They had come here for a show, after all.

Akira rose slowly, adjusting her gloves one at a time. She was already tuning out the crowd by the time the door on the far side of the arena opened and her opponent stepped out. Her entrance wasn't nearly as spectacular as Akira's had been, but she made up for it in sheer presence.

Akira felt her breath briefly catch at the sight of her. She wasn't tall or short, and her build was slim... almost delicate. But muscles rippled on her thighs under the skin-tight jeans she wore as she walked. Her face was stunning, perfectly shaped with large lips and thick lashes, not the least compromised by the golden tattoo that adorned one side of her face. A thick lock of snow-white hair fell over her right eye and her ears were pierced multiple times. She wore a midriff-baring leather jacket over a tight navy blue t-shirt that molded itself to her breasts. A thick belt flopped around her waist, hanging off one of her hips, and on her left thigh a sword had been tied. The sword looked old- fashioned, with a jeweled hilt.

The sight of the sword brought Akira back to herself. She blinked and willed away the distraction. The crowd was roaring and cheering as the young woman, no... little more than a girl actually, made her way into the arena. She turned and waved to the crowd, soaking in the attention. Akira caught a brief glimpse of the symbols sewn into the back of her jacket.

Mirai. The Japanese word for 'future'.

Finally the crowd died down and the woman turned to level her gaze on Akira. Akira met it without letting much show on her face. The girl grinned, a grin filled with good cheer, and said something in Swedish. Akira shrugged and raised her hands to indicate she hadn't understood.

"Japanese?" the girl asked in Akira's native tongue. Akira blinked.

"Yes," she replied evenly.

"Hey cool," the girl's grin widened. "You're a long way from home, taka taka."

"I guess that's true," Akira said, pausing to consider the statement. It rang false to her, but she couldn't pin down why.

"My name's Angel, what's yours?"

"Akira."

"Looks like you'll be more of a challenge than most of the scum this place rounds up," Angel called cheerfully. She grabbed the hilt of her sword. "Though it would be a shame to cut up such a pretty face."

Akira blushed despite herself, then shook it off. "Don't hold back on my account. I've faced worse than a sword in my day."

Angel let out a short sharp laugh. "I'm sure you have." Angel tilted her head to the side, considering something. "Tell you what..." She crouched on one knee and reached down with both hands to untie the sword on her thigh. For a moment Akira wondered if she was going to toss it away. Then the girl stood up, still holding the hilt from which the ties dangled. "I'll make this a friendly match." She looped the ties around the crossguard on her blade a few times then cinched them tight before finishing the process off with a quick knot. "Here, why don't you examine it?"

Akira caught the softballed blade with one hand then tossed it back without even looking at the knot or ties. Angel blinked. Akira shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

Angel smirked. "Fine."

The fight almost ended there. Akira fell back as the sand exploded behind Angel, and she came in fast enough to leave a wake. The sheath of her sword almost caught Akira right on the temple. Almost. Akira grimaced as pain shot down her wrist. She had parried that blow badly, caught it on a joint. Angel continued smirking and then she was attacking again. Akira fell back again and again under the girl's onslaught.

She was fast. Much faster than Akira had expected. Plus she wielded that sword with the skill of a master. It wasn't just a weapon for her, it was an extension of her arm. They way she spun and thrust it spoke of years and years of familiarity. That wasn't a blade Angel had picked up yesterday; it was a weapon she had been using for years. It was as much a part of her as her hand or her foot.

Akira concealed a smile. Well, she hadn't had a challenge like this in years.

Her hands came up again and again, batting aside the girl's increasingly swift blows. Yet even as the strikes accelerated, Akira's defence kept improving. The power of Akira's chi flowed through her, responding to attacks she couldn't even perceive, to ones that Angel hadn't even started yet. The girl was making an amateur mistake. Even as her speed and concentration increased, they were rapidly passing the point where Angel could consciously direct each blow. She was striking from pure muscle memory for half her attacks, starting a dizzying array of patterns, each more complex and intricate than the last.

Against a lesser foe, they might just have overwhelmed on sheer speed. Even the most skilled fighter could only stay a step ahead of the pattern for so long. Akira herself probably would have started letting blows slip past her guard eventually, if the girl managed to keep upping the pace with each strike. Thankfully, she had far more options than just defending herself.

Akira breathed in, relaxing her muscles even as she upped her speed another notch to compensate for the strikes. She listened and found the sound of her heart beating, the pulse of her blood in her veins. And as the blood flowed around her entire body, so did her chi, her very spirit. She concentrated and her hand came up, a ripple of chi passing up her arm leaving goosebumps in its wake. Her palm deflected another blow, and Akira felt her chi resonate through the blade, flowing down it like a stream.

The effect wasn't spectacular. In fact it was so minor that nobody but Akira even noticed. But the minor vibration had thrown off Angel's pattern just the slightest bit, throwing her next blow less than a centimeter off target. There Akira met the blow again, and again her chi pulsed down the blade, throwing the pattern off. For almost a second Akira met the onslaught, pushing Angel more and more off balance without the girl even realising it.

Then Akira smiled, a dangerous wild smile. Angel blinked as Akira touched her blade one last time and suddenly the girl found the weapon jerking in her hands. It slipped past Akira's right cheek, missing by less than an inch. But Angel wasn't able to halt its momentum, and her thrust was carrying her one step off balance.

With a roar like a crashing wave Akira slammed her palm into Akira's stomach. For a moment time seemed to slow to a crawl as Angel floated gently backward, her toes reluctantly parting from the floor. Then the sand around them exploded in all directions at once, a great wave that blasted across the arena. Angel blasted ahead of that wave, driven like a cannonball. The wall halted her flight with a resounding boom that shook the stand on that side of the stadium. Cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact point.

Akira started forward, her boots clacking on the hard stone her attack had exposed. Angel was staggering to her feet, clutching her stomach and hissing. But she was still holding her blade in her other hand. And she was grinning.

"Not bad, old timer," Angel said, managing to keep the pain out of her voice. "Round one to you." She gestured Akira forward with her blade and Akira obliged her.

She came in straight, firing off a jump kick aimed right at Angel's head. The girl stepped back, then ran backward up the wall, flipping over Akira's head just as the blow shattered the abused stone. She landed behind Akira, her sword already slashing out before she even reached the ground. Akira bounced back from the cloud of debris, arching back like a gymnast. The blade passed just over her nose. Then she was hand-standing on the soft dirt. Angel spun with her inertia, turning her entire weight behind a sweep kick. Akira frowned and pushed off, launching herself into a reverse cartwheel that landed her behind the girl.

Angel muttered a curse and spun her blade in her palm, reversing her grip and thrusting it backward at Akira. The older girl danced backward away from the probing weapon. Angel didn't pause to let Akira regain the momentum. Her body completed its spin, coming to face her opponent. She was crouched on the ground, one foot still extended from her missed sweep. Her hand whipped forward, carrying her blade with it. Akira was far too distant to strike, but the target was not her.

The edge caught the sand, geysering a line of it into the air and blocking her from sight. Akira snapped herself to a ready position and waited a single heartbeat. But when the dust settled, no attack had come and the girl was gone. Akira spun her head and extended her senses, trying to find her opponent.

With a gasp she felt a power coming straight down on her. She rolled onto her back, snapping her body into a handstand kick. Angel caught her feet with one palm and her other continued its downward thrust. The tip of the sheathed weapon just touched the end of Akira's nose before it reached the limit of its length. Akira let out a sigh.

Then she allowed her hands to fall out from underneath her. Angel blinked as she and Akira both plummeted, but Akira was bending herself backward, impossibly limber. The tip of the sword struck the dirt and Angel's arm snapped ramrod straight as she balanced on it for a fraction of a second. That was all the time it took Akira to sweep it out from under her, before launching herself backward with a thrust of her other leg. Angel managed to land on one foot a half dozen meters away.

Akira shook her glove, dislodging some grit from it, and frowned. That had been close. Angel only smiled, then her form flickered and she was moving in, juking side to side. Akira firmed up her stance, and then the sand pile to the side of her exploded. Akira wasn't about to let the same trick work twice. Her hand came up and she let her aura loose just a little. The sand burst back, pushed away by a sphere of expanding force that kept it from coming anywhere near Akira.

But Angel wasn't finished. Instead of following the cloud of sand in, she darted to the other side of Akira, her sword flashing down and sending up another blast of sand to obscure Akira's sight. Akira met that one with her other hand, pushing the sandstorm away. Angel's grin only widened and then she was moving behind Akira, producing another geyser. Akira spun and crouched, catching the cloud with her palm and sending it flying back. Again and again she moved and spun, her aura flaring and snapping about her, gradually growing so intense that the naked eye should have been able to discern it. And Angel just kept moving, always staying one step out of range, her sword and arms flashing as she sent up cloud after cloud of sand.

"Clever girl," Akira commented aloud. "You guessed I have more power than you. But every time I do this, I expend energy." Akira backhanded another cloud of sand away with her aura. "While it takes you almost no energy at all just to send up a cloud of smoke. What's more, you know I can't risk letting these clouds obscure my vision: any time I lose sight of you, it's an invitation to another attack."

"Why thank you," Angel commented wryly, not pausing in her assault. "I'm rather proud of it."

"You should be." Akira smiled again. "But allow me to show you why that doesn't have a hope of working." Angel frowned, and then her eyes widened a fraction of a second before Akira let loose.

Her aura exploded around her, a raging vortex of blue light, a force of raw chi strong enough to send the sand near her flying away in all directions. Angel threw up her arm, blocking the worst of it from hitting her face. But even as she stopped for that, Akira was already moving. Her hand snapped out and latched onto the other girl's wrist, just below her sword. Akira jerked her arm up, wrenching Angel's up as well. The girl twisted painfully to prevent her shoulder from being popped out. That left her side wide open as Akira gathered all her power, shrinking her aura down to a pinprick in front of her other hand.

When she slammed it into the girl's side, the sound was like a glacier cracking. Angel screamed as her body was jerked backward by the pressure, but Akira held her arm up and didn't let her fly free. The force nearly snapped Angel's arm like a twig. The ground beneath them both shuddered, concentric circles forming as the force of Akira's technique rippled through the world like waves across a pond.

Akira raised an eyebrow when she saw that Angel was still conscious. That had been one of her strongest attacks, one step down from an attack that could have done permanent damage, maybe even killed her. The girl was slumped in Akira's grip, however, her legs dangling above the floor. Akira was just tall enough to hold her an inch off the ground. Finally Angel coughed and her sword fell from her limp figures.

"Yield?" Akira asked somberly.

"Heh," Angel grinned weakly. Up close the light glinted off the golden tattoo on her face. It looked like stylized lightning bolts. "I guess you win round two..."

Akira allowed herself to smile. "Don't sweat it. You almost had me a few times..." Akira trailed off and her head snapped around.

The crowd was roaring, screaming, their excitement reaching a fever pitch. Half the crowd was egging Akira on. Cries of 'Finish her!' were being picked up by more and more people. They jumped and they waved and they roared like wild animals.

But Akira barely saw them. Way up, beyond the crowd and beyond the screams and beyond the seats was Bert. He was standing with five women. Five women Akira was certain she recognised. The oldest was a statuesque Chinese woman with long black hair and a form-hugging suit of silver silk embroidered with a pastoral scene. She carried a long rake over one shoulder. Around her were four young girls, each with a more ridiculous hair style than the last. Bert was speaking, and although Akira couldn't hear what he was saying, the message was clear when he pointed down into the center of the arena.

Akira cursed. She should have obeyed her instincts.

"What's going on?" Angel murmured.

"Sorry to hit and run," Akira apologised, setting the girl down. "But I have to get out of here."

She released Angel and began to sprint for the exit. She began to curse herself even more. She should have taken a few minutes to familiarise herself with the layout of this place. As it was, she might end up running down a lot of blind alleys in the tunnels.

"She's running away!" someone, a young girl, called out in Japanese.

"Stop her," an older, more authoritative voice snapped. But it sounded oddly reflexive, not really filled with any malice. Still, Akira wasn't about to pause and debate the motives of her attackers.

She almost made it. A green and red blur arched over her head and landed in front of the exit. Once done it resolved into two young ladies. The taller one was the redhead, clothed in a skimpy little bikini that desperately wanted to show off curves the girl just hadn't developed yet. The shorter one had green hair done up so that large balls of it hung from the sides of her head and dangled from an elaborate headdress. She wore a slightly less revealing outfit.

Akira hissed and glanced over her shoulder. Angel was hanging in the air, her heels held together and her arms splayed out on both sides. She was struggling, but nothing was holding her. Then Akira saw the shortest of the girls, the one with the blue hair, holding up a little doll towards her and giggling. As the girl twitched one of the arms, Angel's arm twitched in response. The tall silver-clad woman was staring straight at Akira, her pretty face creased with a frown. The pink-haired girl stood just behind her.

"Take her, too," the woman ordered.

That settled it. Akira spun around to face the woman and assumed a stance. She wasn't about to abandon somebody to... whoever these were.

01010

Cologne's eyes followed the nervous man's hand as he pointed down into the arena. Of course she would be in the arena. That was what had drawn her here, after all. She gestured sharply for the girls to follow her and she began to make her way down the stairs to the floor. She allowed her fighting spirit to leak a little bit from her body, and the crowd parted unconsciously away from her, the way animals moved away from a predator. Cologne smiled. It was nice having enough chi to be able to do things like that again. It really was the little things you missed when you got old.

Cologne noticed the other woman staring at her. She wasn't really short, not for a Japanese girl anyway. Her long hair fell down in thick locks to her shoulders, forming a bob-cut. She wore a pair of tight leather riding pants that were creased and worn with years of use and had the matching jacket tied around her waist. Her grey-brown muscle shirt did little to conceal her more feminine qualities. Cologne narrowed her eyes, certain she recognised the young woman from somewhere.

Then she turned and sprinted for the exit.

"She's running away!" CereCere shouted, her voice sounding slightly more offended than normal.

"Stop her," Cologne snapped, gesturing to VesVes and JunJun. Considering the condition of the other girl, she doubted she would need them for her actual mission, and those two were the best equipped to handle a woman who could run that fast. The two gave a sharp nod almost in unison and then exploded forward, their bodies nothing more than red and green streaks to the untrained eye. Even Cologne would have had a hard time following their magically enhanced movements, had she been paying attention.

She was only halfway down the stadium, but she leapt the rest of the way to the arena floor with a brief kick of her ankles. CereCere and PallaPalla followed, each landing on the other side of her. She looked down briefly at the woman who had given her so much trouble.

Angel was young, a child really. Her ears were overpierced and she had a strange tattoo of a lightning bolt creeping up the side of her face. It was hard to believe this young thing could possibly be a tool of such a monster, but Chris had a way of twisting those around him. Really, Cologne told herself, she'd be doing the girl a favour.

"PallaPalla," she indicated. The girl removed a doll from... somewhere. Cologne had long since given up trying to figure out where the Amazoness Quartet placed their magical spheres and other tools when they weren't in use. She giggled as she pointed the doll at Angel, then lifted it into the air. The girl rose in response, her body suddenly going rigid, held fixed in the same position as the doll. Angel snarled. She was still conscious.

"Just insurance you don't run away," Cologne explained. "I've been tracking you for weeks. You really shouldn't have stayed in one area for so long."

"Who the hell are you, old woman?"

Cologne felt her eyebrow twitch. When Frederick had convinced her to undergo the process, her age had been reversed back to its prime. She was as svelte and beautiful as she'd been when she was twenty-five, according to the technicians. Hardly what Cologne considered old.

"Watch your tongue," she warned, and turned to regard the other combatant. Really, Cologne should have just let her go. It had been sheer instinct to order her held. The woman had paused in the middle of the arena, VesVes and JunJun blocking her escape route. She was looking back over her shoulder at Cologne and the others, her expression frustrated.

Then something she saw caused her to frown, and recognition hit Cologne. She'd seen that face more than once on the wanted lists. Well, Frederick would never approve of this mission if he knew its actual purpose, so if she handed him an S-Class criminal he'd probably be mollified enough not to dig too deep into what she was actually doing.

"Take her, too," Cologne ordered.

Akira turned to face Cologne fully, and her body firmed up into a fighting pose. It might once have been tai chi, but time and experience had hardened the stance and modified her motions to the point that Cologne knew better than to judge her by that art's standards. But she herself only smiled. This would be a good test of the girls' abilities. Five years of training had honed them, now it was time to see if they could pull off what Cologne needed.

JunJun made the first move, as always. Cologne reminded herself to have a talk with her about her impulsiveness later. In the time it took that thought to cross Cologne's mind, JunJun had already closed the distance between herself and Akira. She came in low, then stopped abruptly and snapped her hands up and straight, like a crane raising its neck. Akira parried the blow with disturbing ease, then fell back as VesVes came in at her from the other angle.

The girls laughed and cheered as they struck and danced with Akira. But even with their magically enhanced speed and strength, they were no match for the girl. The two of them together were just enough to force Akira to back up step by step, her hands moving in subtle patterns that looked deceptively simple yet warded off every blow.

"Wow, they really suck," Angel offered.

"Be quiet," Cologne snapped, but was unable to keep herself from spotting all the openings in her students' forms. But she wasn't the only one. Akira, she realised suddenly, had changed her stance. She was no longer just parrying. She was leading. Forcing the girls' attacks more and more often into each other. In a few seconds they would be thrown totally off balance and then...

"CereCere!" Cologne barked.

"Right, right..." She stepped forward and with a gesture the pink orb of her magic appeared floating above her palm. "It's up to me to save the day again." CereCere smiled and snapped her ball forward, and suddenly a flurry of rose petals erupted around her. The petals drifted forward, and despite their lazy motion, crossed the space in the time it took Cologne's heart to beat once.

Akira's head snapped around and she did two things at once. Her right hand came up, and there was a soft blue flash. The petals scattered, blown back by the force of her aura. At the same time her left hand smashed up between VesVes and JunJun and there was another flash. The two yelled in surprise as they were flung back like ragdolls.

JunJun managed to land on her feet, VesVes came down with less dignity. Akira stood still for a moment and Cologne could see her aura whirling and flowing around her. She narrowed her eyes. This one was powerful. Blowing away that magical wind with just the force of her aura was an impressive feat.

"If it's any consolation, she used that trick on me too," Angel pointed out.

"Can't you silence her, or something?" Cologne asked PallaPalla. The girl tittered uncomfortably and shook her head. "Girls, I think you should use your magic," she advised.

"Right, enough of this Hong Kong movie stuff," VesVes said irritably, rising to her feet and rubbing her posterior. She gestured and her red orb appeared above her palm.

"You're just mad cause I outdid you again," JunJun teased, pulling down one eye and sticking her tongue out at her companion. But with her other hand she was summoning her magic sphere.

Akira looked warily between the three girls that were surrounding her.

"Come on, Akira! Kick their butts!" Angel cheered.

"Let's see her kick this!" JunJun cried, and leapt forward, carrying her ball in front of her. The orb flashed green and the ground beneath Akira suddenly exploded upward, a great geyser of stone and sand. Akira grunted and pushed her hands down even as she rode the top of the geyser almost ten meters into the air. Then she leapt up even further, arcing through the sky.

CereCere sighed and reached up with one hand. Suddenly she was holding the bar of a trapeze, the cords of which rapidly shrunk until she was sitting on the bar high above the stadium. Akira was coming near the roof of the cavern when CereCere attacked. She lifted her hand daintily and blew on it. White flower petals drifted out from her hand, multiplying and spreading as they travelled toward Akira.

The woman spun snapped up one hand, sinking her fingers into the stone ceiling like it was clay and thrust with her other hand. Once again there was a blue flash as her aura attempted to drive the petals away. But this time the petals just floated through the blast like it wasn't there. Cologne smiled bitterly, recalling the first time she had assumed that all of CereCere's magic had to be purely physical.

The ethereal flowers floated around Akira on all sides, swarming and spinning about her. She desperately clamped her hand over her mouth, but it was no use. Her eyes began to lose focus and her head began to droop. Then abruptly she lost her grip on the ceiling and plummeted like a rock.

CereCere smiled, but Cologne frowned. And it was only when Akira was halfway to the ground that she realised that CereCere had been fooled. The girl snapped her body down, like a diver, seeming to throw off the effects of the magical anaesthetic instantly.

"She was faking it," Angel pointed out chipperly.

Akira landed palm first on the ground and immediately began flipping backwards away from the girls. JunJun snarled and ran forward. She brought up her fingers and snapped them once, and from behind the elusive martial artist a wall of iron bars erupted from the dirt. The girl smashed into them and tumbled to the ground. Then JunJun gestured sharply five more times and four more walls rose out of the sand, with a ceiling dropping from the shadows of the roof to effectively cage the martial artist.

"Hah!" JunJun said as Akira rose to her feet. "Those bars are enchanted. No matter how much you strike them they won't break!" Akira remained silent as she ran a hand along the bars towards the floor.

"That ain't gonna hold her for long, just you watch."

"What are you, her cheerleader?" PallaPalla asked genuinely.

"Hey, the enemy of my enemy and all that..." Angel smirked.

"All what?"

"Uh, you know, that. The rest of the saying."

"No, I don't know. What is the enemy of your enemy?" She blinked, tapping her chin adorably. Cologne sighed.

Then the ground rocked, the entire stadium seeming to tremble. Cologne gasped and looked back to Akira. There was nothing but a cloud of dust where she had been caged. Then Cologne saw the cage itself falling down in the distance. As the smoke cleared, Cologne saw Akira kneeling in the center of a crater nearly five meters across and half that deep. She was breathing heavily and rose to her feet much more slowly than before.

"Next time, JunJun, don't forget to put in an indestructible floor too," CereCere offered as her trapeze lowered down next to the other girl.

"Damn," JunJun growled. "I thought I had her."

"Heh. You guys don't know nothing." VesVes smirked. She was holding up her orb above her head and staring at the ceiling.

"Well, at least we've been trying. What have you done so far?"

"Me? I've been busy looking for something suitable," VesVes answered evasively.

JunJun blinked. Then her eyes narrowed. "What did you do, VesVes?"

"Nothing special..." Then the chamber began to shake again. Cologne blinked and looked at Akira. But the girl was just watching the trio of girls warily. She was too far away to be able to pull off a surprise attack, and thus probably just trying to figure out how she would counter the next assault. Cologne had to admit she was mildly impressed with the girl's resourcefulness so far.

The shaking began to intensify, and loud crashes could be heard now. Cologne looked up, and she stared as great cracks began to appear in the ceiling. Then the entire thing exploded, a titanic cave-in as the stone poured down from overhead.

"VesVes!" Cologne shrieked and her rake flashed up. The tip began to blur as Cologne struck again and again, reducing the larger boulders hurling down at her to a fine mist. She heard the others cry out, but from what she could see each was holding off the cave in their own way. For a moment Cologne lost sight of Akira, lost sight of everything. Finally she coughed and climbed up onto the massive pile of rubble that had formed in the chamber.

Thankfully the stadium hadn't been that far underground. The ceiling had vanished, letting in the light of the night sky overhead. Cologne blinked, and then looked around. Here and there in the rubble were the shattered remains of those buildings unlucky enough to have been built above the stadium.

Then she heard an angry roar and watched as a chunk of stone was thrown to the side. Akira was dashing across the uneven stone with the speed of a bullet train. But her expression was no longer wary or frustrated. No, Akira's face was twisted into an expression of rage. Cologne found herself stunned by the sudden fury that poured palatably out of the girl.

VesVes didn't know what hit her. One moment she was climbing out of the rubble, the next Akira hit her with enough force that the rocks around them for five meters shattered to dust. VesVes screamed and flew back, smashing into the wall hard enough to dent it. Akira didn't pause, following the slight redhead so fast that Cologne could barely follow her.

"You fucking idiot!" Akira screamed, grabbing VesVes by the collar and lifting her up into the air. "Do you have any idea what you did! There were INNOCENT PEOPLE in those buildings! There were people in the stands!" She struck VesVes with the back of her hand, nearly taking the girl's head off.

Cologne was striding forward, getting ready to intervene. VesVes needed to be punished, but she wasn't certain Akira would hold back for much longer. Best to save the girl for now and try to explain how what she did was wrong later.

"Heh..." VesVes chuckled, a trail of blood trickling from her mouth.

"What's so funny!" Akira demanded.

"You better not knock me out. I'm the only one that can control him, after all."

"Control... him..."

As Akira trailed off the chamber began to shake again. Then the center of the massive rubble heap began to shudder and spasm. Finally, a long serpentine figure emerged from the debris. It was made of brass, its body pitted green with corrosion, and had to be five stories long as it reared its great draconic head. Stone clattered off it like water dripping from a swan rising from a lake. Akira released the girl and turned to face the giant monster. It opened its mouth, obviously trying to roar, but its metal jaw produced no sound.

"I may have magically enlarged it a bit, but I wanted to do that ever since I saw it the first time I came here..." VesVes explained. She grinned. "They don't call me 'the beast tamer' for nothing, after all!"

"VesVes!" CereCere appeared behind her and knocked her on the head lightly. "Stop using priceless cultural artifacts as weapons of mass destruction!"

"Ow!" VesVes complained.

Meanwhile, the beast dove down towards Akira. She sidestepped its first attack, watching as the massive metal creature's weight tore a gaping hole in the debris. Cologne could only stare as the girl leapt at the thing while its back was turned, her fist glowing brilliant blue as she smashed it down on the back of the thing's neck. A hollow sound, like a gong, reverberated across the cavern.

Akira landed on her feet, clutching her wrist. The creature turned to face her and roared. There was a dent on its back now, maybe a meter across. It looked tiny compared to the beast.

The ground behind Akira exploded as the thing's tail emerged from the rubble suddenly, whipping at her. She leapt over the tail without so much as blinking. Then its head snapped out, catching her in mid-air. It moved like lightning, faster than Akira could react. She found herself in its gaping maw. With a cry she reached up, curling her fingers around teeth as large as her thighs, and planted her feet firmly on the thing's tongue.

For almost half a minute she held it like that. Cologne could only imagine the crushing force the dragon was subjecting her to and didn't envy the girl one bit. There was no hope of escape. If she tried to slip free, reduced her efforts by even a fraction, the monster's mouth would crush her like a bug. And the dragon was inexhaustible. Forged of magic, without any sort of biology, it would just continue to crush and crush until all her energy was gone. Finally Cologne sighed.

"We need her alive, VesVes," she advised.

"What?" VesVes snarled. "After what she did to my face? She'll be lucky if I don't..."

"That's enough!" Cologne roared.

VesVes shrunk back. JunJun and CereCere stood behind her, both looking anywhere but at her. Their clothing was torn and their bodies covered in dust. Frankly, Cologne was surprised she hadn't heard a peep out of CereCere about that. But she sighed and turned to the pink-haired amazon.

"Knock her unconscious. Make certain you do it all the way this time."

"Of course..." CereCere nodded. She gestured with her pink orb and suddenly the dragon's mouth was filled with a flowing miasma of bright flower petals. Akira grit her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to fight off the effects. But in the end, it was magic. It was the Second Circle, and she had no defence against it except avoiding it entirely. Her body slumped and then fell forward, losing their grip on the dragon's teeth. The metal beast didn't crush her, letting the girl slump into a peaceful slumber between its rows of sharp fangs.

"You and I, young lady, are going to have a long talk later about..."

"Hey, old bat!"

Cologne turned around, surprised to hear that voice again. She had been certain they would have to dig her out of the rubble. But instead she was standing proudly on a piece of rock, and dangling from her right hand was PallaPalla. Cologne narrowed her eyes. There was a light, a soft golden glow that surrounded the girl. It was like a chi aura, but unlike it as well. Then she realised the source of the glow... it was some sort of design on her chest. Something hidden by her shirt, but that was glowing with a golden light so fierce it was leaking through the thin fabric.

"I SHOULD thank you. I thought I'd never get a chance to show off," Angel quipped. She pulled up her free hand and she was carrying an unsheathed sword in it. "But you, red, you almost crushed my sword. I don't like that much."

Angel roared and threw PallaPalla at Cologne. She cursed and leapt to catch the unconscious girl even as Angel flew past her through the air. As Cologne watched, the glow on the girl shifted. The lines of light that formed the pattern on her chest seemed to flow down her stomach and settle on her hips. She briefly touched down on another stone and then leapt up, towards the dragon. Her sword seemed to glimmer with the same golden glow for a fraction of a second and then she struck it right on the neck.

Cologne could only stare as the dragon shattered. First a huge crack ran down the length of the beast, a crack that bisected it neatly into two pieces. Then, just as the pieces of the great serpent began to slide apart, they shattered with an earthshaking concussion, scattering little pieces of debris across the cavern. Cologne swirled her rake in front of her, deflecting the worst of it away.

Angel, meanwhile, had landed, carrying the unconscious form of Akira in one arm. She gently set her passenger down and then turned to face the three remaining girls. She grinned and the light flowed up her body, settling on the lines of gold that were etched into the side of her face. The tattoos! There had to be something about them! Cologne cursed herself. She should have known better than to assume one of HIS agents wasn't well armed.

Cologne could barely follow the young white-haired girl as she flashed across the room towards the girls, and they probably didn't even get a chance to blink before she was on them. Two strikes with the butt of her sword were enough to drive the already injured VesVes into unconsciousness. A moment later her foot came up, striking every single one of CereCere's weak points and sending her flying back. The girl groaned as she landed, not unconscious but probably wishing she was.

Finally Angel turned on JunJun. The shorter girl was snarling, holding her orb in front of her. Angel struck with a swiftness that defied belief, but her sword bounced back as a field of green force appeared briefly between them. Angel shrugged and the glow began to travel down her body towards her hips again.

At that point, Cologne intervened.

The attack should have taken out Angel with one shot. It hit with all the force one hundred years of martial arts training could produce. The blast cleared away the rubble out to ten meters. Cologne had put everything she had into that blow.

When the smoke cleared, Angel was still standing. Well, not so much standing as kneeling. Wisps of smoke climbed off her body and she was breathing heavily, using her sword to help prop herself up. But there was an intense golden glow on her stomach now, and she turned to look at Cologne, her expression filled with a sort of strange wonder.

"Wow, talk about lucky. Good thing you hit me when I was still passing through the earth chakra. A second sooner or later and I'd have been dead."

"What are you?" Cologne snarled, shifting her rake up to a battle position.

"I could ask the same of you." Angel rose to her feet, the light travelling up her body to settle in the tattoos along her face again. "Magical minions and enough chi for three S-Rank martial artists... you're not some ordinary old bat."

Cologne backed up a step. "I am Cologne, of the Joketsuzoku. I am here for vengeance against the man who murdered my great-granddaughter and you are the tool I will use to find him. I don't care how much power you have in those tattoos, I won't let you defeat me!"

Cologne struck with all the speed she could scrape together and it still wasn't enough. Her rake slashed out so fast it literally sizzled, harsh red lines forming in its wake as the friction cooked the air. Angel's sword met her every attack blow for blow. But that was all she could do. Cologne could see the surprise writ large on her face. She had expected to be even faster than this compared to Cologne. Cologne smiled coldly and began to restrain her technique. Her blows became more measured, more precise. While still none of them got through, they were driving the girl back step by step. Three more blows and she'd force the girl into a corner where she couldn't dodge!

Then Angel leapt backward, vaulting over a large boulder. Cologne was caught by surprise and unable to halt her last swing. Her blow tore the top off the boulder, sending it spinning away into the cavern. She cast about desperately for the girl, only to see her too late.

Somehow Angel had gotten behind her. She ran up one of the ragged chunks of concrete from the streets overhead, her sword flashing out at Cologne's side. Cologne snarled and braced herself, spinning her rake behind her back and forced to catch the attack at an awkward angle.

"Canny, old bat, but this is nothing," Angel teased. Cologne heaved and pushed the girl back, spinning to face her. Angel had already recovered with her unnatural swiftness. She began to dance around Cologne, striking from every angle, and for a moment Cologne allowed herself to focus solely on defence.

It was hard. The girl was fast, damnably fast. Maybe even faster than she was. She could also attack from virtually any angle. In mid-leap, while hanging upside down, while running up or down a piece of debris. Her every move was an athletic marvel, a daring maneuver to place herself at an optimum attack angle. If Cologne had been a lesser woman, she wouldn't have been able to handle it. If she had still been feeling her hundred years on this earth and not had access to her youth and the chi accumulated by all those years of intense meditation, it would have broken through.

Cologne was beginning to think she saw a pattern in the strikes, when suddenly her footing vanished from underneath her. She gasped and tried to right herself, but it was too slow. Angel's sword flickered out, faster than she could respond. One blow knocked her rake to the side, and without missing a beat the second came in at her heart. Somehow Cologne managed to twist her body and the took the blow in the shoulder. The blade bit into her, sending a burning cold pain echoing across her body. She struck out instinctively, her legs smashing out at the girl's chest. The blow caught Angel clean in the solar plexus and the white-haired girl's breath exploded from her lungs as she was sent flying back.

But even in mid-air she somehow twisted and landed against a section of cracked wall, hanging there for a moment like a spider before sliding down. Cologne rose unsteadily to her feet, clutching her bleeding shoulder. The stain was passing down her shirt, ruining the delicate silk. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the shattered rubble around her, wondering why it had given out. Then she saw it. The boulder had not been shattered. It had been cut clean, a dozen or more times. Even while she had been forcing Cologne to defend with everything she had, the girl had been fast enough to destroy her opponent's footing.

"Old hag!" JunJun gasped.

"Stay back, girl!" Cologne barked. "This opponent is beyond you." Though truth be told, Cologne had no idea how she had survived that. She had watched the girl destroy VesVes's summoned beast with a single strike. Cologne herself knew how strong the red-haired mage's powers were. If the girl had hit her at full strength, Cologne should have been reduced to a fine red mist.

"Man, do you have to sound like something out of a bad kung fu movie?" Angel spun her sword around herself and adopted a patently ridiculous-looking stance, balancing on the tips of her toes. She spoke, exaggerating her lip movements so they seemed out of sync with her voice. "Ha! My kung fu is the strongest! You cannot hope to survive!"

"Let's finish this, little girl," Cologne offered. While the child had been posturing, Cologne had been concentrating. She had been drawing up the chi around her, siphoning it slowly out of the earth at her feet and through the chakra in the centre of her stomach. She was beginning to suspect something, and it was time to test that theory. So she released a slow breath and began to channel the chi into her shirt. Normally, such an effect would have been obvious, but Cologne's blood stained the silk, making it possible to accomplish without flaring her aura.

"Okay, your funeral!" Angel called and ran forward. Cologne stepped forward, seeming to move to parry. Then she threw her arms to the side, allowing the girl's sword to come in without hindrance. Angel's eyes widened as the blade bounced harmlessly off the thin fabric of Cologne's blouse. She was moving so fast her sword was already going for three more strikes, each of which was deflected by Cologne's iron cloth technique. And all the while Cologne had as much time as she wanted to strike.

The blow caught Angel in the face, a simple strike with the ball of Cologne's thumb. But Cologne screamed and released her chi. The explosion of silver light turned night into day and Angel was sent careening through the air like a rag doll. She smashed into the half-destroyed wall with enough force to knock a dozen bricks loose. Cologne took a few deep breaths. That had been risky. If the girl had really just been holding back her true strength, those strikes would have bisected Cologne. But instead, they'd been barely strong enough to wrinkle the fabric. It appeared her speed was wildly out of proportion to her strength... or her stamina, from the looks of the girl as she wobbled to her feet.

"Heh. Guess for an old bat, you're quick on the uptake." Then she raised her sword in a salute. "But I already learned my lesson today. When you're just good enough to make your opponent stop holding back, it's time to exit!"

"No you don't!" Cologne roared and leapt forward, but she was much too slow. Angel flipped back over the building and landed among the rubble even as Cologne's strike blasted the chunk of debris to dust. The girl streaked across the cavern, a golden light trailing in her wake. Cologne started after her, but had no chance to keep up. Angel paused only long enough to scoop up Akira before she leapt up, easily clearing her way free of the cavern and up into the city. Cologne paused. She could leap up too, but it would take her two or three bounces to get that height. And once Angel was out of sight, she could literally go anywhere.

"Damn..." She took a deep breath and forced her anger away. There were other things to worry about. Soon enough the forces of the Dark Kingdom would be here to deal with this disturbance. And while Cologne measured her chances as good against anything they had short of Queen Tethys herself, she decided it was best not to start an international incident by having a city-levelling brawl between herself and their local General.

"JunJun, get your sisters. Let's get out of here."

01010

Akira woke up feeling oddly refreshed. Her eyes blinked open, then squinted as the sunlight flared across her retinas. She reached up to shield them and her hand diverted almost of its own accord to cover her mouth as a loud yawn broke free. She sat up, stretching and looking around blearily. She hadn't had such a good sleep in ages.

She was mildly surprised to find herself in a forest. Pine needles still clung to her riding leathers, a few falling softly to the forest floor. She leaned back, supporting herself on her arms as she tried to remember what had happened.

Oh right. Those girls. They must have used some sort of magic on her to knock her out. She hadn't been paying much attention, what with the giant dragon trying to eat her at the time. Akira frowned. She didn't really hate magic so much as found it terribly unfair. The only reason she hadn't been knocked out by that pink-haired girl's first attempt was because she had managed to drop out of the area of effect. Then again, magic tended to work like that. In its area of specialty, it was supreme. But so long as you didn't let it corner you into confronting it on its terms, you could handle magic.

"Well, most of the time," she groused aloud.

"Hey, you're awake."

A quick glance confirmed that Angel was walking through the trees towards her. Her tanned face gleamed in the morning sunlight, a cheerful smile on her features. She had a way of walking too, a certain sway to her hips that was nakedly sensual without being trampy. Akira forced herself to look away. She leaned forward and began to brush the needles off her clothing to give herself an excuse.

"Yeah." Akira yawned again. "What time is it?"

"Hmm..." Angel looked up at the sky. "About ten o'clock, I'd wager." She crouched nearby, unslinging a bag she had been carrying over her shoulder. "I went into town and grabbed some food, want some?"

"Cookies?" Akira asked hopefully.

Angel blinked. "Uh. No. I did get some breakfast burritos. And Pepsi." She reached into bag and tossed it to Angel. "It's the choice of a new generation. Or so I've been told."

Akira caught the can and the lukewarm bundle. "Oh," she murmured, not really hiding her disappointment. She shrugged after a moment and started working on the food. As usual after a massive battle like the one she'd been in last night, Akira was voracious.

"Ugh." Angel was looking down at her half-eaten burrito with the same expression you would give a rat. "Man. I can't believe they call these things Mexican food. I apologise on behalf of my country for the obviously talentless expat chefs here."

"They aren't?" Akira didn't really notice the taste of hers. She had barely even chewed, just shoved it down her throat in two large bites. Angel just sort of stared at her while Akira had been smashing her sternum to force it down her esophagus.

"Uh, no..." Angel shook her head and continued. "It's about as Mexican as... take-out Chinese is like actual Chinese food."

Akira nodded as she chugged the soda. She gave a loud sigh when she was finished and glanced at the girl. "Got anything stronger?"

Angel's lips quirked up. "Hey, this is Stockholm." She reached into her bag and produced a six-pack of cans covered in drops of condensed water. "Scandinavian beer isn't as good as authentic German beer, but it's a lot better than Asian stuff."

Akira chuckled and broke off a can. She decided to take her time on this one, however, and thus only drank half the can in one gulp. "Thanks."

"Ah, you can buy me a drink when we get back," Angel said, chuckling. Akira felt her cheeks burn again and she took another drink to conceal it.

"No. I mean for saving me back there."

"Yeah..." Angel twirled her can on the end of one finger. "After the avalanche I caught the woman off-balance and..." She trailed off when she realised Akira was standing up. "Hey! I'm telling the story of my dramatic last minute rescue!"

"Yeah." Akira brushed the last few needles off her jacket, which she had apparently been using as a pillow, and slipped it on. "Thanks for that. I gotta get back to town. You wanna come?"

Angel blinked. Then she stood up, the hilt of the sword tied to her thigh jingling softly against her belt in the comfortable silence of the forest. "I guess." She paused. "I know we introduced ourselves yesterday, but a fight is not really the best way to start off a relationship." She extended her hand. "I'm Angel, freelance monster hunter."

Akira didn't hesitate, she grabbed the hand firmly. "Akira Kazama."

"Akira... Kazama?" Angel withdrew her hand. "Wait... not THE Akira Kazama?" Akira raised an eyebrow, but Angel had already sat down again. She was digging rapidly through her pack, muttering something about 'sure she had it' and 'rares'. "A-HA! I knew it!" She held up what looked like a small black playing card, squinting as she looked between Akira and it. "Well. It is you. I mean I can see the resemblance. But you certainly look a lot more pissed off. Plus you're kinda butch, and your tits are smaller..."

Akira snatched the card away and glanced at it. It was a picture of what could have been her. Except she was grinning evilly and wearing a leather jacket covered in spikes and skulls. She was also punching some guy in the face. The picture took up about half the card. Under that were a series of numbers and some text in Japanese. "When Akira is played, you may search your deck for Akira's Motorcycle and place it in play as well." She looked up at Angel. "What the hell is this?"

"You've never heard of it before?" Angel blinked. Akira shook her head, her hair brushing against her shoulders. "It's only the coolest show on Japanese TV." Angel affected a deeper, masculine voice. "Martial Arts Hunter, Zoa-Man!" She snorted a brief laugh. "A young Japanese high school student has his entire family slaughtered by rogue martial artists and consents to an experimental neo- zoanoid conversion process. Now he is Martial Arts Hunter, Zoa-Man! Transform! For the protection of Japan! And... THE WORLD!" Angel almost managed to say all that with a straight face, almost. She cracked up at the last word.

Akira stared at the card flatly. "A kid's cartoon show..." She sighed. "Is this what I've been reduced to? A game piece in a propaganda show created by Chronos?"

"Hey, it may be blatant propaganda, but that doesn't mean it's not a cool show." Angel smirked as she began to look through her pack. "Becoming a character on the show is considered something of an 'in'. You know, a signal that you've finally hit the big time. I hear Governor Purgstall makes regular appearances. And of course there's Akane and 'The Scarlet Hand'."

"The what?"

"The resistance. You know, the martial artists fighting Chronos over in Japan."

"I know who they are." Akira groused.

"Aren't they called 'The Scarlet Hand' or something?"

"As far as I know, they don't call themselves anything."

"Oh." Angel chuckled. "No wonder they felt the need to jazz it up a little. No sense of style. I don't have an Akane though. She's an ultra-rare. I do have one of your brother!" She gasped and held up another black-backed card. "Yeesh. They must not have done a very flattering job on him either. I certainly wouldn't want to meet that in a dark alley." She showed the picture to Akira.

Akira blinked. "Actually, that's exactly what he looks like."

"Oh." Angel looked at the picture again. "No wonder you left."

Akira's eyebrow twitched but she didn't say anything.

"I just hope I get my own card one day," Angel said, sighing melancholically and propping her chin on her palm. Akira closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Well, keep getting involved in fights that destroy several city blocks and I'm sure you will someday." Akira turned to leave, but suddenly paused. She wasn't certain where the strange urge had come from, but it hit her with a force that left her dumb for a few moments. She fidgeted, uncertain how to ask the question. But finally her curiosity got the better of her and she had to ask. "Do they have an Ukyou card?"

"A who?" Angel asked, perplexed.

"Never mind," Akira muttered, waving the comment aside. "Nothing important." She stretched again. "I should really get going. I have to go make certain nobody stole my bike. Plus I have to pay for the room I didn't get to sleep in."

"You're going back into town?" Angel asked, sounding more serious as she put her playing cards away.

"Yeah. There's someone I have to meet."

"Oh? Who?"

Akira briefly wondered if she should tell the younger girl. Then she shrugged. "His name is Zoicite."

"You mean, Dark Kingdom General Zoicite?" Angel asked slowly.

"That would be him."

"The man Tethys placed in charge of the entire region? The liaison between the civic government and the youma that keeps this region from being overrun by Chronos or Millennium?"

"Huh." Akira rubbed her chin. "Obviously what I have to start doing is paying attention to things like newspapers."

"Well, to be fair," Angel said, "he does keep a low profile. Queen Tethys-" Akira frowned and closed her eyes, banishing memories. "-likes a soft touch. Most people that live here still think they're run by the usual governments. She doesn't forcibly conscript people like Chronos does. Just sort of keeps an eye on things. After what she did to Millennium's fleet five years ago, I guess she can afford to be a little hands-off."

"Yeah..." Akira had seen the footage, just like most other people. The Dark Kingdom had been certain to send it all around the world. It didn't look like much. Just a bunch of specks on a blue plain being swamped under by a wave. It didn't look like much until you realised that was a satellite camera. Those blue specks were dozens of ships. And that wave had swept across the entire Baltic Sea. According to rumour, Millennium had never bothered to rebuild the coast where the tsunami had hit. The message of that footage had been clear.

You didn't fuck with Tethys.

"So I don't suppose you know where to find him?" Akira asked hopefully.

Akira leaned against a tree, crossing her arms over her chest. "The royal palace. It's about fifteen minutes drive from central Stockholm."

"Which direction?"

"You're just going to walk in?" Angel asked incredulously.

"Walk in... break in... destroy everything between me and him..." Akira shrugged. "He knows something I need to know."

"Kinda direct, don't you think? And after you destroyed his stadium, I don't think you're his favourite person right now."

"I didn't destroy that stadium!" Akira snapped, her fists tightening enough for her gloves to creak audibly. Angel stared at her, but Akira was already taking a few deep breaths to clear her mind. Akira made a mental note that the next time she met that red-haired bitch she should practice some of her more brutal forms. The worst part was she didn't even know who they were or why they were after her. Magical girls weren't Chronos' or Millennium's style, and Tethys wouldn't...

She cut that thought off.

"Listen, Akira, what you obviously need is some finesse to handle this. You can't just go kicking down the door of the most powerful man in all of Scandinavia and beating the shit out of him." Angel buffed her nails on her shirt, her stunningly bright smile coming out again. "Thankfully you have me along."

"You know how to get me in to see Zoicite?"

"That depends..." Angel's grin suddenly went from cheerful to teasing. "Do you have a pair of tube socks?"

Akira blinked.

01010

"This was much easier when I was younger," Akira grumbled as she shifted uncomfortably. Angel smacked the older woman's wrist lightly as she reached for her pants again.

"Leave it alone," she hissed.

"It's uncomfortable," Akira hissed back.

"It's a pair of tube socks down your pants. It's not really supposed to be comfortable," Angel replied wisely. Akira stared at her. "Plus, I can afford to be magnanimous about this. After all, I'm not the one with her breasts bound back so tight she can barely breathe." Angel grinned and held a finger to her lips. "Now remember, you're a young man, you have to look dour and sort of pissed off." Akira just continued to stare at her flatly. "Yeah, like that."

Angel chuckled into the back of her hand and started forward. Akira followed her after a few steps, thrusting her hands into her pockets and slouching forward slightly as she walked, her head bobbing grimly. Angel was impressed at how masculine she looked. Considering how much effort it had taken to tie down her chest and stuff her pants, she looked positively sexy when she moved like that. Angel wondered for a moment if it was deliberate.

That was the problem, Angel decided as they moved up the driveway towards the palace. It was too hard to figure out Akira. Angel looked to both sides, glancing at the people calmly picnicking on the elegantly landscaped lawn. She could figure out most of these people with a single glance. There was a guy over there who loved the girl he was with so much he would kill for her. It was really too bad the girl didn't really like him so much, though from the way her hand lingered near his Angel guessed the sex was good. One of the police walking along the route greeted them softly. He was worried about something. You could tell by the way he shifted his weight and looked around too much.

But Akira was still an enigma. When she'd woken up in the clearing, Angel had expected to have to give Akira her carefully prepared story right away. She had actually been a little insulted that Akira hadn't so much as asked a single question about her. Angel had created an elaborate history, mixing just enough fact with fiction to sound convincing. It was the tragic tale of a young Mexican girl driven from her home by monsters who took up a life of the sword to avenge the memory of her dead parents and blah blah blah. Claiming she had spent the last few years in Russia was the real brilliant part. Russia was huge. Even if Akira had driven back and forth across it fifty times, there was still little chance she had met everyone that wandered from city to city in that massive chunk of land.

They came up to the doors of the palace and were stopped by two uniformed guards. Angel saw Akira tense slightly. Then she felt it herself. These two had real power. She smiled at them and scanned them with her eyes. They looked like normal officers of the law. They had that same look of intensity that properly intimidating bouncers the world over shared. But there was something beneath the surface. A dark, dangerous energy that flowed from them and sent the little hairs on the back of Angel's neck dancing.

Youma, more than likely. Or at least more of those demon-human hybrids that Tethys liked creating.

"And what are you two doing here?" one of the guards asked, his Swedish thick and accented.

"I'm here to deliver a new friend for Lord Zoicite," Angel answered sweetly. She winked and propped her head towards Akira. The guards looked at Akira slowly. She was still slouched slightly, looking at the ground, Sensing their scrutiny, she looked up, her face forming into a dour but intense frown.

"What?" she said in a voice that somehow both demanded an answer and didn't care if you did at the same time. Once again, Angel wondered if the girl was doing this deliberately.

"And you are?" the guard asked, turning his eyes back to Angel.

"Does that really matter?" Angel winked again and put her arm around Akira's shoulder. She tensed suddenly and shrugged her off with a glare. But her face was flushed. "Let's just say... I'm a person interested in a trade."

That caused the guards to laugh. One slapped the other on the back and said something in a language Angel didn't recognise. It sounded old. Like Latin. The one who had been speaking up to now nodded his head and stepped back to push open the door. "By all means. After last night, Lord Zoicite could use some cheering up."

"Thank you!" Angel cried sweetly, blowing them each a kiss before leading Akira inside. The palace itself was quite pleasing to the eye. Angel took her time to do the whole gawking tourist thing. Akira just slouched along behind her, not quite glaring at the pictures of various former kings and queens that lined the walls.

"What did you say to them?" Akira asked in Japanese.

"Oh, nothing..." Angel teased. She wondered if Akira had even considered the possibility that they were being monitored. That they had probably been watched like hawks from the moment they had stepped onto the palace grounds. The problem was that it would be impossible to tell if Akira hadn't considered that, or had but just didn't care.

"Whatever..." Akira sighed.

Eventually Angel tracked down a maid, who was more than happy to give them directions to Lord Zoicite's 'receiving chamber.' Angel almost cracked up on the spot when she called it that. Akira just looked at her strangely, but that could have been because she didn't speak Swedish.

Angel thanked the confused-looking girl and led Akira deeper into the palace. It gave her a few more minutes to think about what she was going to do here. The problem was, she hadn't really been given much of a mission. For two years she had been doing things for Him. Always before her mission had been very specific. Find someone. Kill someone. Kidnap someone. Then, return home and amuse herself in the hills of Luxembourg until He called for her again.

But this time the mission had been strange. This time Angel had walked into the large hollow bunker that Chris used as his meditation chamber. The boy god had been floating softly in the air, gazing at a large map of the world painted onto the back wall. The map was the most accurate, most up-to-date map like it in the world. It showed all the nations of the world in perfect scale, with all the borders carefully arranged. When one battle or another stretched a bit of territory for Chronos or lost a bit of territory for the Americans, the map changed. There were even symbols on it. Symbols that represented people. Purgstall. Arkanphel. Tethys. Bison. All the major players, and where they were at any moment. Angel had once examined the map to see how it had worked, but when you got too close you could see the millions and millions of tiny...things. Not quite insects, not quite plants. More of Link's work.

This time, Angel hadn't bothered to spare the map a second glance. Chris had turned and looked down at her coldly as she kneeled and awaited instructions. "Angel. There is a young woman named Akira Kazama. In a few weeks she'll be arriving in Scandinavia. Find her. Stay with her. Report back to me what she discovers."

"And...?" Angel had prompted.

"That's all. For now."

And so here she was.

She looked at the large mahogany doors for a moment. Angel had never been the most spiritually sensitive person. Rei used to compare her unfavourably to a goldfish, a creature so dense it couldn't even tell if it had fed in the last fifteen minutes. When Akira had sensed the youma-men outside, Angel had been forced to focus intensely even to pick up a hint of what they actually were. But even she could sense the power behind this elaborately carved door. It was massive, a power that pulsed darkly just at the edge of her awareness. Whatever it was, it was evil.

She glanced at Akira. If Akira sensed it as well, she gave no sign.

Shrugging, Angel pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The first thing that struck her was the heat. The room had to be ten degrees warmer than anyplace else in the palace. But she understood the reason for that when she took one quick look around. The place was full of nearly naked men.

They came in all shapes. Tall ones and short ones. Some blond, some with black or red or brown hair. Some had bodies that were lean and soft, almost boyish. Others had rippling muscles and rugged jaws. There were men lounging in pools of water. There were men leaning indolently against the walls. Some just stood in the middle of the room, staring serenely off into nothing at all, their bodies like breathing statues. Angel caught herself examining a few of the more prime specimens when she felt Akira brush against gently as she stepped past.

She glanced at the disguised girl and saw her eyes had narrowed. There was a dangerous look on her face now. Angel followed her line of sight and couldn't tell what was setting her off. Then she saw it. The men here, their eyes were wrong somehow. They looked at you, but didn't see you. And not a one of them was talking, not even so much as a single word. They just stared at the two of them as they crossed the large chamber with the same kind of passive interest you would expect from an especially bright dog.

Then Angel saw the man that Akira was walking towards. Zoicite was lounging back on a divan, a glass of brandy held idly in one hand while he held a rose up to his nose with the other. He was a tall thin man, with short blonde hair, one lock of which fell in front of his face artistically. He wore a grey uniform but the front was open, revealing a large part of his slender but well- muscled chest. A man was kneeling next to him, holding a platter of grapes.

"Zoicite," Akira said sharply.

Zoicite glanced down. "Now how did you get in here?" he asked idly.

"Front door," Angel answered helpfully. Zoicite only glanced at her dismissively before turning his attention back to Akira. Angel bristled, but hid it well.

"That isn't important," Akira said, straightening. "You know why I'm here."

"I do?" Zoicite only partially hid his smile behind his rose. His gaze travelled down to her crotch. "Mmmm. Is there something you want to tell me, Akira?"

"Wait, you two know each other?" Angel asked incredulously.

Akira merely nodded. Zoicite allowed his attention to settle on her for the first time. "Akira and I go way back. When was the last time we met..."

"I believe it was when I said I'd break your arm if we ever met again," Akira snarled.

"Ah yes." Zoicite sighed. "Nostalgia." He batted his eyes at her. "So, have you come here rethinking my Queen's offer?"

"No," Akira said it with enough firmness that Zoicite started slightly.

"Ah... that isn't what I heard..." Zoicite regained his composure quickly. "I believe the last time I talked to her about you, she told me how-"

"Enough games, Zoicite," Akira snapped, cutting him off. "I've come here for information and I know you have it."

"Have what?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You know who I'm looking for."

Zoicite reflexively reached for his ear, then let his hand drop to his side. Angel frowned. There was a tiny scar there, on the lobe of his ear. A little chunk of the ear was missing.

"Ah yes. Ukyou. Of course. It always comes back to her, doesn't it?"

Angel's frown deepened. This was the second time she'd heard that name. Or was it? The name was a little familiar, like a memory from childhood. Who was Ukyou?

"Nabiki told me you had information. And Nabiki is never wrong," Akira pointed out, cracking her knuckles for emphasis. Angel carefully filed that tidbit away for further analysis.

"There's no need for threats, Akira dear." Zoicite laughed, a haughty sound he hid behind his hand. "Besides, as good a martial artist as you are, I'm not the person I was four years ago."

"Everybody changes," Akira said.

"Except you." Zoicite smiled and leaned forward. "Still tilting at windmills. No matter how hopeless."

"Listen, Z..." Angel stepped in between the two of them before Akira did something they'd all regret. "You seem like a reasonable man. Granted, a psychotic gay man who devours souls, but a reasonable psychotic gay man who devours souls. So why don't we work something out here before things get unpleasant?"

Zoicite stared at her for a moment, obviously unsure how to take her intrusion into his little reunion. He had liked having something he could hold over Akira. He wasn't even trying to hide it. He also knew that nothing Akira could do would force him to give up the information. With his magic he might not be able to beat her, but escaping before she could inflict any damage wasn't beyond the question. Then Akira would have an entire palace full of elite youma troops to deal with.

No, he was enjoying needling the young woman.

"I don't even have the information she wants." Zoicite yawned and leaned back. "Nobody does. Or... to be more accurate, everyone does. She just won't admit it. Ukyou is dead, Akira. She is gone. There is nothing left of her in this world."

"No." Akira didn't really say it with any obvious conviction. She didn't shout it in denial or sound fervent. But there was something in her simple certainty. She believed.

"Okay, Z, let's work something out then. You tell the lady what she came here to hear and..." Angel trailed off.

"And what?" Zoicite smirked. "There's nothing you can offer me I don't already have." He glanced around his 'receiving chamber', his smirk slowly changing to one of genuine satisfaction. "I have everything I ever wanted. I have power. I have luxury. I have respect and obedience. There is nothing you can offer me that I don't already have."

"Revenge."

The word hung in the air for a long time. Angel looked back over her shoulder at Akira, but her expression was still bordering on the edge of fury. Zoicite lifted his glass to his lips and took a long sip.

"Go on."

"We both know who really knows." Akira looked down and away, suddenly unable to meet his gaze. "That's why I went to her... She and Pluto, with their long talks up there. I know what they're talking about. They're talking about her. They know. And you know too." Akira looked up. "You don't care about me, or Ukyou. You care about what happened to you seven years ago. You care about Kunzite."

Zoicite's eyes narrowed. "Ancient history." His voice was curt.

"Don't sound like ancient history to me, Z," Angel pointed out cheerfully.

"How do you even know about that?" Zoicite asked, only taking a moment to glare at Angel before directing his question to Akira.

"Tethys told me a lot of things." Akira smirked and crossed her arms. "She loves telling that story. It's one of her favourites. She thinks it's funny."

"Funny..." The stem of Zoicite's rose snapped. "I see."

"Well, it seems obvious to me, Z." Angel walked over and leaned over the divan, placing her palms on the soft pink cushion. "Tethys doesn't want Akira to know this, and you want to screw over Tethys just a little. This way, you can do it without pissing off one of the most powerful beings on Earth."

"Provided she doesn't find out," Zoicite snapped.

"Who's gonna tell her?" Angel blinked innocently. "I certainly never heard you say anything about this. I'm certain Akira didn't either." She glanced over at Akira and winked.

"Uh... right. Not a word."

Zoicite considered. Then he sighed. "I'm afraid you really do have a problem. I truly don't know where Ukyou is, or even if she's alive."

"But Nabiki-!" Zoicite cut Akira off.

"But I have learned something." He paused. "There is a being that Tethys fears more than any other on Earth. A figment of the imagination, some would say. A ghost that kills without a trace..."

"Lotus Infinite?" Angel blurted.

Akira glanced at Angel, raising an eyebrow.

"Lotus Infinite is... a fairy tale," Angel tried to explain. "Sometimes people around the world die, and nobody can figure out how. This is pretty common, obviously. But sometimes it happens to really powerful people. Really dangerous people. Zoalord-class beings, powerful and dangerous. And when people like that start dying with no good reason, people begin to see things that aren't there." Angel shrugged. "Lotus Infinite is a conspiracy theory. An assassin that nobody can stop, that can strike down anyone, yadda yadda yadda..."

"Yes," Zoicite said. "But I think Lotus Infinite is real. Keeping her existence a secret is perhaps her greatest asset." Angel couldn't fault that logic, not considering who she worked for.

Akira shrugged. "So, what does this have to do with Ukyou?"

Zoicite steepled his fingers. "Nobody told you the real truth about what happened to Ukyou seven years ago. She did go off to fight Millennium, but in the process she ended up running into Bison."

"Bison..." Akira said the name slowly. "Ranma told me about him."

"In the most flattering terms, I'm certain," Zoicite drawled. "Lotus Infinite is an assassin that works for Bison." He paused. "I know why you don't believe Ukyou is dead, Akira. Because of that... other power she has. That force which preserved her life time and time again. The power to fight back the very force of Oblivion itself. Nothing on this earth could snuff that power out."

Angel kept her expression carefully neutral. She successfully resisted the urge to demand he clarify. There was a pregnant pause.

"You think Bison used Lotus Infinite on Ukyou," Akira stated after a moment. Zoicite said nothing. "You think Lotus Infinite killed Ukyou."

"Something like that..."

"No." Akira frowned and looked down at her clenched fist. "That didn't happen."

"The only people who would know for sure..."

"Are Bison and his pet assassin," Angel pointed out.

"I can't take on Bison," Akira admitted. "He's... too powerful."

"Plus he hasn't been seen in two years," Angel informed her.

"There is another way." Zoicite piped in.

They both looked at him.

"Lotus Infinite is an assassin. She must leave... Bisonopolis-" the word came out with distinct distaste. "-to find her targets."

"That doesn't do us much good unless we know who her target is," Angel groused, crossing her arms.

"You know who the next target is, don't you?" Akira demanded.

"I keep myself informed," Zoicite yawned. "I'm no Nabiki Tendo. But you don't successfully hold off Chronos and Millennium without having some resources." He paused.

"Spit it out already!" Angel demanded, smacking him lightly. He stared at her. Akira chuckled. Finally Zoicite sighed.

"No appreciation for drama." He leaned forward. "The next target is the invincible fire god... Saffron."

"Saffron..." Angel's voice suddenly sounded very small.

01010

Zoicite leaned back on his divan once the two young ladies were gone. He sighed and plucked a grape from the tray. The manservant hadn't moved a muscle since the girls had arrived. He smirked to himself.

It was really too bad. Akira made quite the fetching man when she put her mind to it. Then again, even if she had been a man, she would have been beyond his touch. The dead were cold comfort, after all.

"I wouldn't underestimate her."

She didn't so much appear as allow him to notice her for the first time. He idly wondered how long she had been here. Long enough, he supposed.

"Oh, please." Zoicite chuckled. "She's an impressive martial artist. Did you see the footage from the arena last night? Of course you did." He waved his own comment aside. "But up against what's she's going to fight? She hasn't a chance."

"If you say so." She turned and looked at him. "I trust I can let you handle your end."

"Yes, yes... but are you certain that they've finally succeeded this time? Do they really have a weapon that can kill a god?"

Nabiki smirked, crossing her arms. "The Major is nothing if not single- minded. If anyone can be trusted to figure out a way to destroy a god, it's him."

"I hope you're right. This could end badly for both of us if things don't go as we hope."

"Hope is all we have, Zoicite. Against the Third Circle... hope is all we have."

01010

Cracker Jack stepped into the room slowly. He adjusted the brim of his ever-present hat, and resisted the urge to lick his lips. Going to see the boss was always something of an unnerving experience, especially these days. Bison had always been a little unstable, but at least he used to be mostly understandable. Now... Jack didn't know what his master thought anymore.

The room was long but narrow, consisting mainly of a walkway extending out across a dark chasm. The walkway was just wide enough for one person to walk down, and had no railing or any other concession to safety. Jack tried not to look down as he made his way across. It wasn't that he hated heights (though he did) but that looking down into the shadowy chasm over which he walked made him think that beneath him was a wound in the earth itself. It was dark, dark like the bowels of the planet where the sun never shined. Out of that pit crawled lines of red light. They ran up the ways and vanished into the shadows deep below.

They were thin, branching and joining in a seemingly random manner, sometimes ending in a blood-coloured sphere. The light from the lines wasn't constant: instead, pulses of energy seemed to emerge from the underworld, shooting up through some complex network, each ending in a sphere which dimmed or brightened depending on how many pulses it was receiving. The whole thing hummed, a strange otherworldly sound that seemed to dig down into your bones and just sort of linger there. Jack swore that sometimes, when he was trying to get to sleep at night, he could still hear that unnerving hum.

But that was what the Dolls were for. Warm comfort on the nights when you began to realise that you were working for a man who had harnessed the power of hatred and terror. The soft submissive body of a young lady could make a lot of your doubts vanish. Still, such a thought was distant comfort now, when you were in the heart of the beast.

It was times like this that Jack was glad he had never developed that funky 'chi' awareness that other people around him had. He had seen great martial arts masters enter this chamber. They had wills of irons and the power to perceive the heart of the world, the spiritual center of all creation even. Every single one of them had walked out a broken man. One old man had started screaming the moment he'd entered and not stopped until Jack had put him out of his misery a few hours later. But even as spiritually dense as Jack was, he could feel the power in this room. Pure concentrated evil was the only way to describe it. It made the little hairs on the back of his neck shiver.

Sighing and deciding to get this over with, he started across the walkway. His footfalls echoed hollowly along the steel mesh as he made his way toward Bison's throne. The light got dimmer as he approached the end of the chamber, until all that provided illumination was the unpredictable pulses of red light as they travelled their clockwork mechanical paths along the wall. Thankfully, Jack didn't have to walk long through it before he reached his master.

The walkway suddenly ended just before a platform that was connected to the far wall. There was a gap of nearly five meters between the walkway and the platform, and the platform was raised slightly above the walkway so that you always had to look up to see Bison. The platform itself wasn't too big, maybe three meters to a side. Just large enough for the throne and a few people to stand on it comfortably.

Two of the Dolls were here. There were always a few, though the number varied wildly. Ever since Vega had been ganked, Cracker Jack had been placed in charge of the Dolls' training and overseeing their missions. It was a job he relished the perks of much more than Vega did, perks he shared with any Shadowloo operative he figured had done a good job. Lesser men might have seen his actions as misogynistic, but Jack actually had a good deal of respect for the fairer sex. But he knew the truth. The Dolls were machines, not people. They might once have been human, but Bison's Psychopower had hollowed out their minds and souls, leaving only flesh and a mind that was more like a combat computer than a human brain.

The Dolls were officially here to serve as guards, but they certainly didn't look like guards at the moment. Enero was lying down in front of the throne, her face angled towards the ceiling and her back arched just slightly. Her face was flushed and her lips parted. Sweat had slicked back her pink hair. She was making no noise, just breathing heavily. Eidolon was leaning against Bison, pressing her body against her master's, her body partially phasing through the throne itself. Eidolon was Jack's favourite Doll, mainly because she appeared so much older than the others. Ever since he had returned from England with her, Bison had halted the aging process of all the Dolls. Jack just preferred women to teenage girls, he guessed.

But Jack had put off the inevitable long enough. He looked at Bison himself... or herself, as the case may be. Over the years, Jack had grown used to Bison's intimidating presence, his massively muscled body and his garish red uniform. Bison might have been a madman, but he was a man you could respect, a man who understood the appetites of a man and reveled in them. Violence, sex, luxury... these were the things Bison had and the things that had attracted Jack to Shadowloo.

But now...

Jack had always sort of understood, intellectually, that Bison's power had been growing. The Psychodrive had increased his dark chi so much that his body had been straining to contain it for years. That had been why he had been so eager to get his hands on the cloning technology of the I-Jin. Jack had seen the man transfer his memories, his consciousness, from one clone to another as the Psychopower inevitably disintegrated his bodies one by one.

Then two years ago Bison had simply emerged from his lab one day like this. The woman before him was slender but voluptuous, with breasts that verged on the point of being too large for her body. She was wearing a version of Bison's old military jacket that had been recut to hug her body and was open at the top to allow a glance at the top of her cleavage. The hem of the jacket came down just below her hips, just far enough to be somewhat decent. Other than that, her long milky thighs were exposed until they came to the knee-high red stiletto boots. Her arms were bare as well. On her head she wore Bison's cap, the gleaming metal skull-and-wings of Shadowloo perched just above the bill. The cap was tilted down, shadowing most of her beautiful face, allowing one only to see her wide sparkling grin and the two blue glowing lights that were her eyes. Bison was leaning back in her throne, one hand stroking the back of Eidolon as the eldest Doll ran a hand through Bison's long black hair. Bison's long purple cloak was draped over the seat of his throne, her legs crossed almost daintily over it.

Jack could understand power, but this just gave him the willies. Not that he didn't appreciate lesbians. After all, he did command the Dolls and Bison had hard-wired some sort of strange lesbian nymphomania into them, but he just wasn't used to seeing his boss like this.

Even more unnerving was the way Bison seemed to be a part of this room. She looked like the room was an extension of her. The angled lines of red light that travelled up the walls, all of them converged here. They funnelled themselves up into the throne. And just under Bison's exposed flesh, you could see the red lines running. Like circuit diagrams, the lines of light traced constantly changing paths across her legs, arms and face.

"Cracker Jack..." Bison said finally. Jack had been standing there for nearly five minutes by that point. But one didn't interrupt Bison. You waited on his... er, her sufferance. "What have you to report?" Her voice was soft, deceptively light even. But there was a hint of the arrogant cruelty that was Bison underneath that. Jack never had any doubt that the woman before him was still Bison when he heard her laugh.

"Lo... Lady Bison," Jack said, tipping his hat and lowering himself to one knee. "I've gotten a message from our contact in the Dark Kingdom."

"Indeed..." Bison was hardly paying attention. Then again, Jack knew just how distracting Eidolon could be. He almost wished the brim of his hat allowed him to see what was happening. Almost.

"Zoicite told me that someone is looking for Lotus Infinite."

That caused the mood of the room to shift dramatically. Jack felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to shrivel.

"Did he, now?" Bison's voice was harsh. "Still, this is no threat to my plans. My conquest of the infinite power she possesses is almost complete." He paused. "But better not to allow some fool hero to delay my plans any more than is necessary. Do you know where they are searching?"

"Yes, sir." Jack nodded. "They think we're sending Lotus Infinite to Phoenix Mountain to deal with Saffron."

"Saffron?" Bison chuckled, a soft sound under the surface of which something sinister lurked. "What do I care about that bird-man when ultimate power is within my grasp?" There was a soft swish as Bison rose to her feet. "I am Bison, and I have nothing to fear from some foolish god."

"Yes... Lady Bison. But that does give us an idea of where to go." Jack coughed lightly. "I can take a few of the Dolls with me, maybe Balrog too. We should be able to sneak into the Bayankala range and wait for them. There's only supposed to be two of them, and I think we can handle that."

There was a long pause. Then Bison swirled his cloak. "No. I think if these young fools wish to find Lotus Infinite, we satisfy their curiosity."

"As you wish." Jack stood up, nodded and made his way out.

"Poor bastards..." he muttered once the elevator door had closed behind him.

01010

Beneath Berlin, underneath the blackened skeletal remains of buildings, below the scorched earth and past the unmarked graves, there was a cavern that was known as Gehenna. It was a deceptively small chamber, the walls hewn out of rough stone and lit by nothing but the flickering images of dim screens. In the centre of the room was a simple leather chair, a chair that was far from the light and to which the shadows clung almost unnaturally.

It was here that the Major received his lieutenants. He was sitting back, leaning in the chair. The shadows clung to him such that only the gleam of his glasses and his immaculate white glove could be seen. The sounds of his command center rolled around him and he just absorbed it, appearing for all the world as the eye of a hurricane of constant updates and status reports being barked out from all corners of the world.

The door closed behind Rip Van as she walked into the room, a swirl of mist passing between her legs. She walked without pause straight up to the man she had dedicated her life, her unlife and her death to. Once she was a few feet away she stopped, snapping her heels together smartly and thrusting her arm outward in a salute.

"Heil! Lieutenant Rip Van Winkle reporting!"

"Velcome home, Rip Van," Schrodinger said from his usual lounging place just to the side of the Major's chair. He grinned, his teeth gleaming ferally in the half-light. For a strange moment, all Rip Van could see of him was the gleam of his monstrous grin, giving her the impression he was nothing but a disembodied set of teeth. "I see you managed to actually complete your mission!"

A murmur of laughter echoed around the chamber. Rip Van bristled but said nothing. The Major had never said anything to her about her failures. Nothing direct. Nothing that could be considered disappointment.

"Lieutenant," the Major greeted her. "Please relax. Zis is not an inquisition." Rip Van did relax, dropping her salute and crossing her arms behind her back. She kept her eyes on him and ignored Schrodinger as he made his way over to the board, tearing down the sheet of paper to reveal a fresh eight- seven below the words 'Days Since Rip Van Has Been Forced To Crawl Back Half- Dead After Her Latest Humiliating Defeat'. She ground her teeth, but let no expression show on her face. She was a soldier. She was a perfect soldier. Victory would be hers. Eventually.

"I haf returned from China, Herr Major. Ze mission vas a complete success."

"Vas it now?" The Major's voice never changed, but she could sense his amusement. "Zen you located the girl, Hotaru? You destroyed the source of zese Oblivion cultists?"

"I..." Rip Van lowered her head. "Nein, Herr Major. I haf destroyed the cult zat vas harrying our forces in ze area, however."

"Ah. Too bad." He paused. "Zis girl, this Silence Messiah, she is a formidable opponent and her bodyguard even more so. I would have liked to see how your upgrades vould haf fared."

Rip Van said nothing.

"Did you at least get a chance to test your upgrade?" the Major asked innocently.

Rip Van closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Thinking of her 'upgrades' always filled her with a soft terror, a terror she would never admit to anyone. It always went the same. She would engage an opponent too great for her skills and powers, and nearly die. Then she would be forced to flee, often missing several limbs and on the verge of second death. At these times the Major would never frown at her. He would never berate her for failure in her mission. He would never question what she could have done better, how she could have fought harder. There was never any punishment or reprimand.

Instead, she was simply sent to Alexia. The experiments would begin. The tests. The implants. The injections. The weeks spent floating in sickening fluids filled with poisons and acids that ate her flesh even as they rebuilt her. Once... once she had broken down and asked the Major if these sessions with the madwoman were a punishment for her failures.

He had looked at her and he had told her something that had hurt her more than any wound she had ever taken. He had told her the truth. "My dear Rip Van Winkle. You are a veapon. You are MY veapon. Every day you live is so that I may use you as a way of destroying my enemies. I vill not haf a veapon that is less than a perfect machine. I vill not haf a veapon that is capable of failure. But to destroy you for not being perfect? Preposterous! As vell blame a rifle for misfiring or a tank for breaking down. No, Rip Van, when a veapon breaks you fix it. You improve it. Every time you break, I vill improve you. Zat is your purpose. Your mission, your battles against my true enemies... zey are tests of your power. Do not zink of your defeats as failures. Zink of zem as evolution." Then he had patted her on the head. "Now, ve haf much vork still to do before you are perfect."

The words still burned in the back of her mind. Her fists clenched behind her back and her eyes narrowed. She was more than a weapon. She would prove it to him. She would prove it to everyone. Whatever mission she would be sent on, she would succeed at. She needed no more treatments. She needed no more experiments. Her will alone would allow her to succeed.

"Ja, I see." The Major leaned back again and his white teeth briefly flashed from the silhouette of his figure. "Wery vell, Lieutenant Rip Van Winkle. I haf a new assignment for you."

"Ja!" She snapped her heel again sharply.

"Ve haf learned that Bison intends to deploy Lotus Infinite again."

The words hung in the air for a long time. Rip Van Winkle snarled. Always her. Always her. Time after time, she would destroy all enemies placed before her. Then, then it would be time for them to test them against Bison's precious superweapon. A war by proxy. But for Rip Van, it was much more than a simple mission. Every defeat she had ever faced. Every failure. It was always her.

"Vhere is she?" she snarled.

"Zat..." The Major leaned forward, his face finally coming into the light. The scar that boy had left there still traced up his cheek. A reminder, he was fond of saying, that one should never grow too at ease when one was at war. He smiled at her beatifically. "Zat is the INTERESTING part..."

01010

"Damn it, Cologne!" Purgstall smashed his palms into the table, denting the marble. "How the hell am I supposed to explain this?"

Cologne was not intimidated by his temper. She was sitting in her chair, her gaze level. Her eyes had never changed. Even before she had undergone the rejuvenation process, her eyes had contained that hint of steely independence. They were not the eyes of a woman who was cowed. He had seen those same eyes meet the gaze of a zoalord who could flatten her without pause and never flinch.

"Frankly, at this point I don't care how you explain it," she replied icily.

"First, you requisition Chronos intelligence resources without authorisation. You're not a member of Chronos, Cologne. You don't have any authority here." Her eyes narrowed a bit, but he met her gaze with his own level glare. "Then you run off to Sweden with the girls. And in the process you not only manage to kill hundreds of civilians and destroy a large portion of Stockholm, you also managed to get yourself and the girls injured." Here Cologne finally was forced to look away. She made no move to grasp the sling that supported her arm. He knew she wasn't thinking of that anyway. She was thinking of the girls.

"Yes, that's right. You put them in needless danger against an enemy you didn't have correct intelligence on." He stepped around the table. "And worse yet, you didn't even succeed! This... assassin escaped."

"Yes..." Cologne said softly. For a moment she sounded as young as she looked, like a young woman who had been chastised. Then the steel returned to her voice an instant later. "But none of this would have happened if you had been willing to make a move!"

"It isn't my decision-"

"I know that!" she snapped, cutting him off. She stood up quickly. "I don't blame you for Chronos' inability to see the truth right in front of them, Frederick." She walked over to him. "It's Arkanphel. He can't see past his own power. He doesn't realise how much of a threat Chris represents to us... to everything." She moved closer to him, so close he could feel the heat of her. "If you could just convince the other zoalords to see him as the threat he is..."

"This isn't about how much Chris threatens Arkanphel, and you know it, Cologne." He backed away a step, his voice suddenly icy.

Cologne's eyes narrowed. She tossed her head, her silken black hair whipping around as she turned her back on him. "Yes, I want him dead for what he did to my great-granddaughter. But that isn't the only reason I'm here, Frederick, and you know THAT. Chris is an enemy that will destroy YOU. I don't care about Arkanphel, or his quixotic crusade. But if Chris decides that Chronos needs to be destroyed, he will not stop with just Arkanphel. He'll butcher every zoalord in his path as well."

"Which he didn't have a reason to do, until today," Purgstall pointed out sharply. She stiffened. "I admit that this Chris is a dangerous power. If he has the abilities you've attributed to him, then he is beyond anything we've ever faced. But he's been content to keep a low profile for the last seven years. He isn't doing anything, Cologne. Why can't we just let him be?"

"No." She reached up with her good hand and hugged herself. "I've heard rumours. He's up to something. I haven't been able to learn much about it. Just a name. Kalia. Whatever that means." She paused. "It's big, and I think once he's finished with it, then it will be too late." She whirled to face him again. "We have to stop him NOW!"

"Arkanphel said..."

"Damn Arkanphel!" she roared. "If you won't stop him, I will!"

"Cologne!" he roared. For a moment he allowed his full power, all his authority and command to leak into his voice. He had hoped he would never have to do that with her. The effect was as immediate as it was painful to watch. She shrunk back. For a moment, she almost fell into a martial stance. He moved past that image quickly. "You will do no such thing. One of his minions almost killed you. A girl that you say has been working for him for less than two years. You can't stop him alone."

"The girls..."

"The girls have no part of this vendetta and you know it." He reached up and rubbed his temples. "VesVes will be in the infirmary for a week, since she won't use the rejuvenation tanks. The others are hardly better off. I..." He trailed off for a moment.

"I know." She paused. "I... didn't want them to get hurt. I never thought about..." She hesitated again, then chuckled wryly. "I'll let you in on a secret, Frederick. At first, when they first came here... I wanted them as weapons. Their magic, their mastery of the Second Circle. It was a weapon I could use against him... but now..." She sighed. "I never thought they'd get hurt."

"Yes." He paused. "Go to the infirmary. Have the med-techs heal your injuries. I have to report this to the zoalord council... I'll try to keep your name out of it."

"You don't have to protect me!" she snapped.

"No. I don't have to, but I want to."

She blinked, then her expression softened and she smiled at him. He stared at her face for a long time. Then she sighed and nodded. A moment later the door hissed closed behind her.

Purgstall walked over to his desk, frowning at the damage he had inflicted. He hated to waste resources having it repaired or replaced... but appearances had to be maintained. He sat down and touched a hidden button, causing a drawer to slide free. He pulled out the single object inside: a simple folder, filled almost to overflowing. It was labeled simply 'Chris'.

In this folder was all the information he had gathered on Chris over the years. In it was all the information Cologne had told him, all that she had given him in confidence since they had first become... allies. The information in this document frightened him. It frightened him more than the Guyver had. It frightened him more than Akane Tendo's resistance, or Millennium, or the Messiah of Silence and her cult. If the information in here was true, then they were up against an enemy that could be anyone, could go anywhere, and could kill with impunity.

Such an enemy would not hesitate to track down one old woman who had declared herself his mortal enemy. Such a being would not allow her to announce to all the world that he was there. Secrecy was his most potent weapon, and Purgstall knew that when he felt that was threatened... people vanished.

Cologne had given him all that information, expecting him to pass it along to Arkanphel, to the Zoalord Council. He gathered up the report Cologne had given of her misadventure in Sweden and placed it in the folder as well. As the hidden drawer slid closed with a soft snap, he set about thinking what lies he would pass along to the zoalord council this time.

01010

The wind of the sea was refreshing as Ranma strolled along the boardwalk. The people of Auckland moved by on either side of him in small groups. He smiled at a young couple lingering near the water. The man's arm was around the woman's shoulder and she was leaning into his chest. The two were laughing at some private joke, but mainly just enjoying the closeness of their bodies. Ranma shook his head.

He and Minako had been like that once. Not that they didn't enjoy being close anymore, but they had grown a little beyond the helpless giggling and baby-talk phase. These days, they had begun to develop a sort of personal time, where being apart from each other was almost tolerable. Not that he still didn't miss her, but Minako preferred to do things her own way.

For instance, she had come to this city expecting to have their long- delayed vacation. She'd been talking about having a vacation for almost three years. He'd told her that if they really wanted to get some peace and quiet they should just crash at his father's place like they did whenever they ran out of cover identities. She kept saying stuff about 'romance' and 'personal time' that he didn't really understand but went along with.

Ranma had suggested New Zealand. It was a nice place. This time of year the place wasn't nearly as full of tourists as it would be in a few months, since it was still warm up north and comparably cooler in the topsy-turvy south. Minako had leapt at the idea, saying that they should spend time at the beach and so on. Ranma had really stopped paying attention at about that point.

He chuckled and moved on, leaving the couple behind. He wondered if anybody here would ever figure out how close they had come to disaster. The Heresy of Silence had probably been a few days away from launching their plan to poison the entire water supply. It was also possible that Chronos would have uncovered the plot and dealt with them before then. But Ranma had heard the rumours and gotten here first, and he always relished the idea of beating up a few death cultists.

He shook his head, not for the first time wondering what the people that joined the cult were thinking. According to everything he had heard, the death messiah pretty much killed everyone indiscriminately, especially those that sought her out. Did they expect to get some sort of reward out of a religion whose basic mission statement was 'Destroy everything, including yourself'?

He shrugged and dismissed the idea. He turned the last corner on the way to the little hotel he and Minako were sharing. It wasn't a luxury resort, or even much of a hotel. They accepted cash and they didn't ask questions, which was as good as you were going to get when you were the most hunted man in the world. He took a few moments to change into his swimsuit and headed for the beach.

It wasn't hard to find Minako. She was sitting under a garishly-coloured beach umbrella on a pale blue towel just large enough for two. A straw hat seemed to float on top of her head, buoyed by a cloud of golden hair that fell down behind her like liquid sunlight where it formed a pool on the towel. Her face was partly hidden behind a pair of wide-rimmed sunglasses. She wore a white bikini that covered most of her but was made of a fabric so sheer it left very little to the imagination. Ranma just stopped, standing stiffly under the warm sun, stunned to inaction by the sight of her.

It took him a long moment to realise she was even talking to someone else. In his defense, Minako had a strange habit of talking to something that most certainly wasn't there. No, not there at all.

The girl Minako was talking to was young, a teenager of around sixteen or so from the looks of it. She was short, with equally short black hair that came down to her neck with a flower over her ears. She was wearing a Chinese shirt and a bust-hugging cuirass, a petal-shaped skirt descended from this. She also had on black tights. Ranma frowned. She looked awfully familiar.

Shrugging, he walked over, not bothering to conceal his approach. Minako was talking to the girl pleasantly. He had long since learned to pick up on her every nuance of emotion and would have known instantly if she was feeling threatened or annoyed. Since she appeared happy enough to be talking, he assumed this wasn't an enemy to be summarily pounded.

"Hey," he called, stopping just short of the umbrella. The two girls stopped speaking and glanced at him. Minako lowered her glasses slightly and raised an eyebrow at him. He fidgeted, hoping she wasn't going to start complaining about his swimsuit. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten almost used to this body by now, but he swore she bought those skimpy suits for him just to see him stammer and blush.

"Ah, Ranma Saotome," the girl said, her face and voice both turning suddenly smug. "How nice to see you again."

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" Ranma didn't bother to ask how she knew it was him. While Chronos (and most everyone else) couldn't seem to figure out what gender he was, it was a sort of open secret in the martial arts underworld.

"This is Link," Minako introduced the girl. Ranma frowned. That name sounded very familiar.

"We might as well get the unpleasant part out of the way," Link said, shifting her position on the sand so she was facing him. "You met me when I was travelling with Chris."

"That's it!" Ranma said, snapping his fingers. "You work for Chris!" He paused. "Wait. I hate that guy's guts!" He towered over her as much as his tiny female form would allow. "Okay, so... is there some reason I shouldn't beat you up now?"

Minako sighed.

"I told you she smelled funny, but does anybody listen to me...?" someone who wasn't there said.

"But I asked if she worked for Chronos... and Millennium... and Shadowloo... and the Dark Kingdom... and the Heresy of Silence... and the Freemasons..." Minako pouted cutely. It was amazing she could still do that with her baby fat gone. "So I forgot one threat to the world. Sue me! I never met Chris anyway."

Link raised an eyebrow. "To answer your question, Ranma, I suppose one reason might be that I came to talk with you."

"What could you possibly have to say that I'd be interested in?" Ranma grunted.

"Well, she was saying something about the death cultists setting up in this town..." Minako trailed off. Then she pulled down her glasses, her eyes narrowing dangerously at Ranma. "Ranma... why are you rubbing the back of your head and laughing nervously?"

"No... no reason! Honest!"

"Ranma Saotome... did you convince me to take OUR vacation here so you could beat up fanatical nihilists?"

"Maybe..."

"We will talk about this later," she threatened before turning her attention back to Link. "Well, I guess that puts the ball back in your court."

"Actually I'm more here to speak to you, Minako." Link laced her fingers together. "You see, I'm a scientist, and I'm interested in learning more about the Sailor Senshi."

"Forget it." Minako crossed her arms. Ranma nodded and began to reach for the girl's shoulder. He wasn't really going to hurt her. Just shake her up a little.

"And if I agree to tell you where Chris is now?"

Ranma's hand paused. His hand curled into a fist. He'd never really settled his score with that jerk. Sure, Chris wasn't as obvious a problem as Millennium or Chronos, but he was still a murderous little bastard. He wasn't the type to confront you openly. No. He preferred to trick and mislead. He preferred to hide behind honour and civility. Well, Ranma had learned that sometimes there were people you just didn't deal with honourably.

"Where is he?" he growled.

"Tut tut, Ranma. Quid pro quo." She paused and her voice grew insufferably sweet. "That means 'This for that,' Or, you only get what you want to know when I get what I want to know."

"I don't think we should tell her anything," the voice said. "I'm the psychic with the animal senses and they tell me not to trust this person."

Ranma nodded idly. Sometimes that imaginary voice from a person who wasn't there made sense.

"Oh quiet, you," Link snapped at something behind Minako. "It's a very simple question. I'm not asking for the codes to America's secret defense system or anything ridiculous like that." She irritably brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "I just want to know what happened to Sailor Venus - or V, as she calls herself - in England."

"Well, what do you mean?" Minako asked, sounding subdued. Ranma stepped up and placed a hand on her shoulder. England was a place that conjured up only bad memories for Minako.

Link leaned forward, and her voice became soft but insistent. Her knees almost brushed against Minako's as she spoke straight at the young woman. "I've met all the living Sailor Senshi of this planet. They all have power. Impressive power, by their own standards. They can freeze things and burn things and electrocute things. There are ones that can travel in time and ones that can fight zoalords to a standstill. But you, Minako... you're special. You're the only one who seems custom-built to destroy vampires. They tell stories about you at night to frighten each other. Even a single touch of your golden light can reduce them to ash and memory. Now, I suppose it's possible that you're just lucky. That you just happen to have been custom-built to deal with such things. But I doubt that. I think something happened to you in England, alone with all those vampires. What was it, Minako? What happened to make you so special? What chose you?"

"Geez." Ranma frowned. "You sound like Ukyou."

Link turned and stared at him and Ranma fidgeted a little under her intense gaze. "Do I? And what did Ukyou say?"

Ranma shrugged. "It's been seven years. I don't really..." But he realised that he did remember. Very clearly. He trailed off as the memories flooded back unheeded. Because it hadn't been Ukyou that had said the biggest shocker that evening. It had been Hotaru. Hotaru... the one he had failed. The second girl he had let die. He was only glad that at least she didn't have to suffer anymore. But Hotaru had sounded so certain, cutting in when the silence brought about by Ukyou's crazy theory had stunned everyone. "God... she said Minako had been touched by God..."

Minako pulled Ranma closer and wrapped an arm around his waist. England was a place of bad memories for the both of them.

Link, meanwhile, was rising languidly to her feet. And as she rose she smiled. It was a smile devoid of human kindness. The kind of smile some Millennium scientist might have while testing the effects of their latest virus on a small town. "Well then... that's all I wanted to know," she said pleasantly, and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Ranma broke free of Minako's grip and grabbed Link's shoulder. "What happened to our deal?"

"Oh..." Link frowned, an expression that looked much more natural on her face. "Right, that." She shrugged. "A deal's a deal. Chris is in Europe."

Ranma blinked. "That doesn't help at all!"

"I don't think I ever promised helpful information."

"You..." Ranma tightened his grip, only to have her shoulder literally dissolve in his grasp. He stared in shock and horror as her body started disintegrating. Her face, her skin, even her clothing was starting to break apart, a thick amber ooze spurting out from the openings.

"Oh Ranma. You martial artists always think you're the only ones who learn new tricks," Link said, her voice dissolving even as her body became nothing but a pile of leaf-like fragments and sap that settled into the sand.

"Eww." Ranma shook some of the sap from his fingers. "Minako, you're supposed to stop me from doing stupid things like that!"

Minako glared at him. "I already have a full time job fighting evil." She looked around. "And from the looks of horror on the faces of all these beachgoers, it looks like we're cutting my vacation short. AGAIN."

"Hey! It wasn't my fault this time!"

01010

Moscow, Akira reflected, was a city that looked far too cheerful considering how close it was to the front line. Less than a hundred kilometers from here, down near the end of the Mishkva River, there was an army. The propaganda claimed that there were three thousand zoanoids down there. Less than fifty feet from them was the Millennium army. Akira could easily imagine it. She had seen such armies in the past.

The first thing you noticed was the ghouls. Thousands of them. Millions of them. To Millennium, humans were only breeding stock. They needed to survive only long enough to produce more humans. Those that lacked any useful skills and weren't actively breeding became ghouls. Those with useful skills became freak- chip vampires... or worse things. Entire cities, entire countries... a legion of the dead walking in lockstep across the empty plains. The Russian winter was no obstacle to this army. They needed no food, no water and no rest. Once upon a time they had been held back by the sun. Then, five years ago, that had ceased to be an issue.

Akira had been in South America when she'd heard the news. Armies of the dead walking out of Europe, killing everything in their paths. Every creature they killed, man, woman, animal... they all rose up to join the shambling horde. Worse yet was how the army moved with military discipline. Even one vampire was enough to control a small army of ghouls, and Millennium could mass-produce vampires with only slightly less efficiency than they could their footsoldiers. The Major had cut across Poland and into Russia like a dark wave. Chronos had met him with everything they had short of zoalords, and found that all they could do was slow them down.

But Moscow had been spared. Most of Russia had been spared. Millennium's goal had been further east. Russia was just a place in its path. Chronos tried to spin the lack of devastation as a victory. All throughout Moscow one could see the posters. One could hear it on the news. You couldn't go five minutes in this city without being reminded of the terrible enemy less than a day's march to the south.

"Hey, gloomy Gus, I got your sno-cone."

"OH! Sno-cone!" Akira leapt up and skipped across the parking lot, grabbing the frozen confection from Angel's startled hand. She picked up the spoon, looked at it distastefully and flicked it across the lot to a garbage can nearly twenty meters away. Then she downed the entire thing in one gulp.

"How do you do that?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow. Akira stared at her blankly. For a moment, she couldn't understand what the other girl had meant. Then she groaned and clutched her throbbing temples.

"Long practice. The cold headache goes away quickly," Akira explained. She took a few steps back and leaned up against her bike again. Thankfully it had been parked well away from the city blocks that the redhead had collapsed.

"Nah..." Angel waved that aside as she sat on the curb, hiking up her boots slightly. "I mean the going from looking like someone just ran over your cat to acting like a six-year old in a candy store in zero-flat?" Angel, Akira noticed with some annoyance, took her time eating her own sno-cone. It was purple. Probably grape. She idly wondered what flavour hers had been. It had been pink.

"I'm not certain what you mean," Akira said with a shrug.

"You're a weird chick, Akira Kazama," Angel opined after a moment's thought. This marked the beginning of a long pause in their conversation. Akira steadfastly ignored the sno-cone in the girl's hand, with its tempting deliciousness, and instead scanned the local sights. She had gotten caught up in her thoughts of war and thus missed most of it. And on the way in she'd been too busy concentrating on other things.

The problem was that her motorcycle had never really been built for two. Akira had modified the thing for stamina and speed but not really much in the way of comfort. With her endurance training she only needed enough seat cushion to actually prevent her from sliding off the back of it, and that was it. This led to the interesting problem of how to accommodate Angel coming along with her. Angel, of course, had all innocently proposed the standard arrangement of the passenger behind the rider with their arms around the rider's waist for support.

This was a fine arrangement, but with Akira's abbreviated seat that meant she had to sit very close. So close Angel had basically no choice but to squeeze herself against Akira's back and clamp on tight. So tight that it was hard to ignore the pliant pressure of her not-inconsiderable breasts against Akira's back or the tightness of her legs next to Akira's.

Akira had, for the first time in years, wished she'd had her helmet back. Mainly to hide the blush she had worn on her face on the entire drive here from Stockholm. She sighed and rubbed her hands across her cheeks, the leather of her gloves coarse against her skin.

It wasn't that she minded the fact that Angel was very attractive, precisely. Akira had long ago come to terms with her sexuality. She just preferred not to think about it most of the time. Especially now, when she had the first real lead on Ukyou she'd had in seven years. She was getting so close to finding her that Akira could practically taste it. She had been saving herself for Ukyou, all these years. Not that she really had any hope of something happening when she did find her (there was always hope, but a faint hope). Ukyou had loved Ranma. Not because Ranma made a very attractive woman half the time, either. She had even tried once to let Akira down easy, though Akira had been so far in denial at the time that she'd missed it entirely.

A part of her kept saying that she should just give up on this whole chaste waiting thing. It was never going to work out between her and Ukyou, after all. Even if... WHEN she found Ukyou, there wasn't going to be anything sexual between them. There had been plenty of young women over the years who had been willing, certainly.

Save a little village from a demon that had been eating all the virgins in the area and you suddenly found that the locals were more than willing to give you almost anything as a reward. Anything. Then there had been the fighters Akira had shared a few too many beers with. Beers that led to loose lips and unguarded declarations of who found who attractive. Declarations followed by awkward silences and guilty glances over the tops of bottles for the rest of the night.

Sometimes she'd just gotten so lonely on the road. She'd gone months at a time without seeing another human face in some places of the world, places where heading to a major population center was tantamount to suicide. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to laugh with. Some nights when the moon was full and the stars shone in the sky like a glittering sea, all she'd wanted was somebody to hold her, whisper in her ear that they were there.

Sure, there had been moments of weakness. She'd lingered with some village maiden almost too beautiful for words. She found herself in the room of a local hostel with a young woman from the circuit once or twice. But... she'd never gone all the way. She'd never gone beyond a kiss. Some pretty serious kisses, she thought with a smile, but kisses was all they were. But even on the loneliest nights, when she had wanted so badly to be with someone that it had hurt, she'd still kept her thoughts on her goal.

Because if she hadn't, it would be admitting, in a small part of herself, that she would never find Ukyou. That nothing would ever happen because Ukyou was dead. But she'd never let herself think that, not even with Tethys...

"It is a pretty big tower," Angel commented, startling Akira out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"The tower," Angel said, indicating with her plastic spoon. Akira followed her gaze. It was a huge tower alright. It must have been over two hundred meters tall. A elegant slender spire, pristine white, rising up from the earth. A javelin thrust into the sky. "It's supposed to be the second tallest in the world or something."

"Huh." Akira shrugged.

"Well, you're the one who's been staring at it for five minutes," Angel groused, swallowing another spoonful of partially melted ice. She took a moment to lick the juices from her lips and then flashed her crooked grin at Akira. "You about ready to go?"

"Maybe in a minute. I've been driving non-stop for days now." Akira glanced around. She hadn't told Angel the real reason she'd stopped yet. In truth, she could probably drive for weeks without stopping. The very act of moving seemed to invigorate her somehow. But for the last day, she could have sworn she'd felt someone watching them. Following them.

Stalking them.

The people of Moscow moved around the two of them, chatting and laughing. Akira couldn't follow a word they were saying, but she didn't have to. Moscow was a city of surprising levity, considering its position. The people here were content. The aura of the place was smooth.

It was only if you probed closely that you felt the tension underneath. It was like a tightly wound spring, something pushed so deep down that most of the people here didn't even realise it existed.

"Akira... do you mind if I ask you a question?" Angel had finished her treat and was idly spinning the empty container between her hands.

"Go ahead," Akira responded, shifting her attention back to her unusual travelling companion.

"Who is Ukyou?"

Akira frowned, not certain how to respond to that.

"If you don't want to tell me..."

"No." Akira said quickly. "It's... nothing secret." She looked down at her feet for a moment but discovered no wisdom in the distorted reflection of her face in the steel-capped toes. "Ukyou is... an old friend of mine. From back before X-Day."

"You whispered her name earlier, when you were staring at the tower," Angel pointed out.

"I did?" Akira blinked. Angel nodded. "Well, I was kind of thinking about her." She paused again. "Have you heard of the Narita Incident?"

Angel chuckled. "I spent half my life in Scandinavia: Dark Kingdom central. Everyone there has heard of the Narita Incident." She paused and closed her eyes, then began to recite from memory. "In 1992, the first international story about metahumans was released to the public. The reason this was one of the first major stories about metahumans was because of the former Dark General Jadeite, who chose to challenge a group of local martial artists to a duel by kidnapping their friend and displaying an illusion of himself that could be seen all across the city of Tokyo, Japan." She paused, frowning slightly. "There were several big timers involved in the conflict. Tethys herself was there, by all accounts, though she vanished halfway through the battle. Ranma Saotome was there, and so was Akane Tendo. Nabiki Tendo was also supposed to have been involved, but I forget how."

"Kidnap victim," Akira said, shrugging.

"Kidnap victim?" Angel blinked. "You mean, Nabiki Tendo... the famous Queen of the Criminal Underworld, was kidnapped?"

"More than once, from what I heard," Akira said with a chuckle. "She wasn't nearly as intimidating back then."

"Wow." Angel laughed. "I wonder how much she would pay not to have that get leaked out."

Akira shrugged. "Anyway, one of the people you forgot to mention was a girl named Ukyou Kuonji. Though the newspapers at the time all thought she was a boy." Angel raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing. "For a short time, she was something of a celebrity. She was the big star of the show, engaging in a very flashy and very final duel with Jadeite." Akira chuckled. "In a way, I think she'd be glad that her part in history has been forgotten. She never did like the attention it gave her." Akira smiled thinly and shook her head. "I met her because one of my friends was a newshound who broke the big story."

Akira's expression suddenly fell.

Oh man... when was the last time she had thought about Ran? They had been friends. Good friends. The girl had brought little cakes from Akira's favourite shop when she could afford it. Akira had tried to return the favour, but her allowance was so small and she and her brother barely got by as it was... But Ran had never cared. She'd brought the cakes because she knew that treats like that always got Akira to smile.

Ran had been the first dead body she had ever seen. Certainly she had understood the reality of death, but her parents had died when she was so young that all she could remember of their funeral was her brother squeezing her shoulder. He had been crying. She could remember that. But she had been so young she couldn't understand why, so she started crying herself. He had thought it was for their parents, but it was for him. And that was all she remembered about the funeral.

But Ran's death... Ran's death had been the first time that Akira had been forced to accept that sometimes, people... the people you care about die. She tried to picture the girl's face, but found it hard. Had she worn glasses? No... She'd always worn this garish blue vest and...

"Akira, you're spacing out again."

"Sorry..." Akira waved her hand in front of her face. "Bad memories."

"You were talking about Ukyou..." the white-haired girl prompted.

"Right." Akira took a deep breath. Best keep this short and simple. "We became good friends. She taught me a lot, about how to fight, about how to look at life. She taught me that it wasn't important what others wanted, just what I wanted of myself." Akira frowned again. "Then she left. She went to England shortly after Millennium destroyed it, trying to help." Akira felt her fingers digging into the metal of her bike, but couldn't stop herself as the emotion began to finally creep into her voice. It was thick and acrid. "She went off to confront the Major himself. She destroyed his command base, destroyed a lot of Millennium's forces. Everyone who went with her died. She never came back."

"Huh." Angel frowned. "She must have been pretty powerful."

Akira chuckled. "I guess you could say that. Most of the time I knew her she was..." She paused to think how to phrase it. "She spent her life going from one fight to the next, always clinging on to her life by a thread. I first met her in a... hospital. She spent a lot of time so injured she could barely move." Akira paused for a moment, remembering again. "But there was something about her. A power. A strength. It sustained her. Even if it drew a lot of people that wanted to kill her, she also used it to survive. It wasn't anything like chi, or magic... it was..." Akira frowned. "I can't say what it was. It was otherworldly. She had a way of changing everything she touched. It was like the world moved around her. Once you met her, it was impossible to escape her orbit. You just found yourself swept along in the path of Hurricane Ukyou. She was like a... like a..."

"Like a god..." Angel murmured, almost too softly to be heard.

Akira looked at her and smiled thinly. "Maybe not quite that far. But a force of nature? Yeah. Something like that." She shrugged. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I..." Angel coughed. "I guess I'm just curious. If I'm going to risk my life going up against the most powerful agents of Shadowloo, I'd like to know who I'm doing it for." Akira nodded. Angel frowned at her again. "Isn't this the part where you tell me you didn't ask me to come along, or demand to know why I'm doing all this for a person I barely know?"

"Should it be?"

"You really don't care why I'm here?"

"You have your reasons." Akira shrugged. "If you want to share them with me, you will."

"And what if I want to leave?" Angel stood up and placed her hand on the jewelled hilt of her sword. "This still sounds like a fool's quest to me. Ukyou went up against an assassin who killed zoalord-class beings. Most likely, all you'll do is find out how she died."

"I don't think she died," Akira said softly.

"What could possibly make you think that?" Angel demanded suddenly. "Why are you so damned SURE? You don't know! You can't know!"

"You're right." Akira nodded. "I don't know. I just... a part of me thinks I shouldn't give up. I have to keep going. It's..."

"Faith..." Angel said slowly.

"Yeah, faith." Akira chuckled. She had been about to say 'love' but faith sounded so much more... mythic and important. Like she hadn't been wasting her life chasing a shadow of a woman who she'd had a crush on before she'd even known she swung that way.

"You still didn't answer my question. Why should I risk my life for this?"

"I can't answer that question for you, Angel." Akira shrugged and stood up. "But I can say that you saved my life once. You helped me get information from Zoicite that I might never have otherwise gotten. You've been more company to me than I've had in years." Akira smiled again. "Heck, I've probably said more to you in the last fifteen minutes than in the last five months combined." She chuckled. "Sometimes I miss conversation."

"So, you want me to stay?"

"Yeah, we're friends. Of course I want you to stay."

"And what do I get out of it?"

"Aside from my eternal gratitude?" Akira quipped. Angel frowned. Akira blinked. She'd meant that seriously? Akira shrugged. "Uh... nothing, I guess. I'll still be your friend even if you decide to leave. You have a good fight together, you save each other from a mutual enemy, that makes you friends for life. I won't think less of you if you don't want to follow me on a fool's quest to save a god from a person who doesn't even exist to find out if she killed a friend of mine seven years ago."

Angel stared at her for a long moment. Then she sighed and crossed her arms. "Do you think Lotus Infinite could really kill Saffron? The guy single- handedly fought off the entire army of Millennium. He pushed back Bison. He sent Chronos packing. He can wipe out a mountain range with a single shot. Plus I hear he's immortal. In the 'I instantly regenerate from an injury' sense of the word immortal."

"Zoalord Purgstall tore Gill in half with a blast that put a dent in Mount Fuji. He came back from that." Akira shrugged. "You said yourself that Lotus Infinite was supposed to be the one who killed him."

Angel frowned some more and nodded. "Then I guess I'm coming with you for now. I... I know someone at Phoenix Mountain. I owe them. A lot. It's the least I can do to help warn them. To do what I can." She paused. "But after that, no promises."

Akira smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "On one condition." Angel raised her eyebrow. "You have to buy me another sno-cone."

01010

They hadn't been on the bike for five minutes when Akira suddenly pulled to a stop. Horns started honking and people started yelling as the motorcycle sat there in the middle of the crowded street. Angel looked around nervously, then turned her attention back to the older woman. Akira was just sitting there, staring off into an alley between two buildings. Her jaw was gaping open.

"Akira, I don't know where you learned about 'low profile', but..."

"It can't be..." Akira slid off the bike, landing lightly on her feet. Angel shifted to a more comfortable position now that she wasn't sharing the tiny cushion.

"What can't be?" Angel shielded her eyes from the mid-day sun and looked at the place Akira was walking towards. It was a perfectly normal alley. Perfectly normal garbage. Perfectly normal dankness.

"I saw her!" Akira insisted, then she was moving faster, running towards the alley. Angel frowned and then hopped off, landing a few steps behind her new fr... travelling companion.

"Saw who?"

"Ukyou!"

"You're kidding, right?" Angel called as Akira ran into the alley. Angel took a final look back at their ride then gave a sigh and ran after her. But just in case, she loosened her sword in its scabbard.

"I saw her!" Akira repeated more forcefully. She had stopped in the middle of the alley, her eyes scanning frantically from side to side. Angel stood just behind her, her left eyebrow cocked.

"Just out of the blue?" Angel asked. "Are you certain it wasn't wistful thin-"

"There!" Akira shouted. Angel followed her finger and saw a lithe black figure disappearing over the edge of the roof. She squinted, but the figure was gone before she could focus. With the sun overhead and the speed whoever it was had been moving at, it was impossible to get a good look. But that wasn't stopping Akira. She didn't even bother looking for a fire escape, instead she just leapt up almost twenty meters. Then she hit the wall and kicked off, flying another twenty meters up and across the opposite wall in the alley. Angel watched her springboard from wall to wall for a moment before she realised she was being left behind.

"Hey! What happened to travelling together?" she cried as she proceeded to follow Akira in much the same manner. To her annoyance, she was only able to clear half as much distance with each jump as the leather-clad woman. If she had been able to use her tattoos she would have beaten Akira to the top, even given the woman's phenomenal head start. But she was trying to keep her 'true power' a trade secret, so to speak.

As it was she reached the rooftop a few seconds after Akira. She got there just in time to see Akira running towards another rooftop, in pursuit of a shadow that was vanishing around a set of chimneys. Angel sighed and gave chase. It was obvious Akira wasn't going to listen to her. Whoever this was, they had caught the brown-haired woman's attention. And Angel figured Akira was the type to pursue something to the end no matter what.

So the chase went. Angel found herself straining to keep up, pushing herself more than she had since she had left the shrine. Whoever Akira was pursuing, they were damned fast. Akira was always just one step behind them as the shadow flitted around and between buildings. But that was as close as she got.

Angel suddenly felt her throat go dry. She glanced around. The chase had taken the three of them into a less busy part of the city, an industrial area with far less commuter traffic. It was when the shadow flickered into what was obviously an abandoned factory that Angel felt her spine really begin to chill.

"Akira, it's a trap!"

"What?" That managed to get the woman to stop. She was standing just outside the door, her fingers almost touching the handle. She was glancing back at Angel, her expression hard to read. It was an expression that Angel had never seen her use before, something like happiness.

"The shadow led us here!" She gestured around. "A deserted factory in an almost empty part of town? Can you think of a better place for an ambush? The kind of place to deal with two martial artists without drawing too much attention?"

Akira frowned at her, and Angel almost felt bad at the look of confusion and betrayal that flitted across the woman's features. "I saw her. I saw her face. As plain as I see yours right now..."

"Could it have been a trick?" Akira started at Angel's words. "Chronos can create people to look like anything. They could have found a picture of your friend and created a double... something to lure you here."

"No."

"Akira..."

"I'm going in." Akira pulled open the door. "Even if it is a trap..." Then she was gone.

"Stupid taka taka!" Angel cursed and ran in after her.

The factory was dim, lit only with what little light came in through the dust-covered windows high on the walls overhead. The beams cut through the darkness unevenly, and Angel saw the metal buckles glitter on Akira's riding leathers as she moved deeper into the factory. The woman passed between the looming ghost sculptures of deserted machinery. Angel followed her slowly, pausing to let her finger slide through a layer of dust almost a centimeter thick.

There were no signs of passage here. None that Akira and she hadn't created, anyway. For a moment Angel wondered what esoteric technique Akira was using to allow her to track through this place. There were no footprints in the dust, and not a single machine had been disturbed. Sometimes Angel envied the ability to sense things that some martial artists had. The only chakra her tattoos couldn't connect her to was the Void, and sometimes that irked her. Then she realised that Akira was wandering around as aimlessly as Angel when their path crossed back over itself.

"Where are you!" Akira finally shouted, throwing her arms to the side. As she screamed her body lit up, a lambent blue glow like a rippling lagoon that steadily pushed back the darkness. And as the light crept forward it revealed a figure standing on one of the machines.

The light hit her legs first and crept slowly up her body. She was wearing thin-soled black boots that came to just above her ankle, with the rest of her legs unclad all the way up to her thighs. She was wearing a leotard of a thin purple material so dark it was almost black that shone in the blue light. The leotard formed a thin thong on her crotch before expanding rapidly to cover her entire midsection like a second skin, up to a turtleneck that hugged her neck. A jaunty little black tie hung down between her breasts, apparently sewn right into the uniform. Her arms were unclad and they hung at her sides. Thin black lines crept up the left arm, looking like circuit diagrams tattooed into her flesh. On her right arm were five odd-looking parallel scars. The light crept up further, revealing the face... of a teenager. She couldn't have been older than sixteen, with her slightly chubby features. But her expression was cold... no, not just cold. It was nonexistent. It was the face of a mannequin. Her long black hair hung limply behind her, pulled back at her neck. On her head was a little military cap.

"Ukyou..." the word came out of Akira's mouth so softly it was barely a breath. She took a small, hesitant step forward, her hand rising towards the young girl standing on the old welding robot. "I'd almost lost hope."

Ukyou pulled up her hand and Angel saw that all the circuit diagrams terminated in a small node on her wrist. She spoke into the node. "Primary and secondary targets located and isolated. Awaiting instruction." Her voice had no more human warmth to it than a glacier.

"Ukyou?" Akira stopped, her hand falling. "I... I can't believe I really found you."

"Instructions received," Ukyou responded into the darkness. "Target threat levels, primary Elite Class, secondary Unknown. Initiating Second Circle measures." As she spoke, the lines on her arm began to glow, soft purple pulses of light that crept up her arm and then began to trace across her entire body. Angel stiffened when suddenly the woman began to descend to the floor... straight through the welding robot.

It was like something out of the ghost stories she used to listen to as a kid. Ukyou's body simply passed through the obstructing matter as if it wasn't there. When her body came into contact with the machine, a small shower of purple sparks came out and then she was moving through it. Angel's eyes widened as the girl set down on the floor and walked out of the machine without so much as displacing a single mote of dust.

"Ukyou..." Akira said as the girl began to walk towards her. Now that they were on the same level, Angel could see that Akira was taller than the girl. The girl didn't respond to her. Instead her hand stretched out to the side and grasped at thin air. Except it suddenly wasn't so thin.

The weapon seemed to knit itself into existence. Bits and pieces of metal that spontaneously appeared, weaving between each other and connecting into a single solid whole. It was a fearsome and almost ungainly-looking weapon, twin inward-curving blades on the end of a metal staff almost seven feet long. For a moment Angel wondered how the girl planned on using such a cumbersome blade in such confined quarters, then she saw the staff ghosting through the machinery just as her body had.

Oh. Well, that answered that.

"Ukyou, what's going on? Don't you recognise me?"

"Primary target: Akira Kazama, age: twenty-three, birthplace: Tokyo, Japan, classification: martial artist, Elite... Second Circle countermeasures approved."

The girl was only a few steps away from Akira now, and the leather-clad woman was still standing there, her hand half-raised, her expression dumbfounded. She wasn't moving. She didn't even start to move when the girl began to swing her arm in, and then the blade wasn't ghosting through the machines anymore. Suddenly, sharp clean lines began to bisect them. Suddenly this wasn't a phantom. And Akira still wasn't moving.

"MOVE, YOU IDIOT!" Angel shouted and tackled her from behind. She felt the glaive scythe through the air over her head. It was cold, dreadfully cold. It was like heat simply ceased to exist in its wake. Then she heard Akira give a small grunt as they smashed into the concrete. She looked up and the girl had leapt back, already reversing the direction of her unwieldy-looking weapon as if it were as light as a feather. Angel snarled and kicked forward, launching herself off Akira and straight at her attacker.

Angel's plan was to leap in within the reach of whatever that blade was. Once there, her smaller, lighter sword could have the advantage. She would force the girl onto the defensive, push her back. She had no illusions about defeating this opponent, not now. Not without using her tattoos, anyway.

The sound of her sword withdrawing from her scabbard merged seamlessly with the keening whine of the blade cutting through the air and Akira's shouted 'no!'. Angel's eyes widened as she realised the girl wasn't even trying to dodge. Then her blade flashed up and through the woman's head, drawing a line of purple sparks. When they cleared Angel was left staring into her eyes. Black, inhuman, flower-shaped pupils stared back at her. No, not at her, through her. Then she felt a strange sensation. It was a cold breeze rippling along her naked skin, except it was coming from inside her, penetrating deep through her. And then she realised the girl hadn't stopped her swing. Her arm was passing through Angel like she wasn't even there.

Angel leapt straight up, spiralling herself so she could look straight down at the assassin. The blade of her weapon was buried a few inches into the concrete where Akira had been standing. She could phase out portions of her body? "Oh come ON! That's just not fair!" Angel cried as she landed on a nearby riveting machine, sending up a small cloud of dust. Then her words fell as she realised there was no sign of Akira. But a second later there was another soft puff and Akira set down on a machine opposite Angel.

The girl on the floor turned slowly to face them both, her glaive coming up into an attack position.

"You do realise who that is, don't you?" Angel asked softly. Akira didn't respond. Her eyes were focused on the assassin below. Her jaw was clenched, the muscles on her neck tensing and untensing. Her leather gloves creaked as she clenched her fists so hard the material almost tore. "That isn't Ukyou. That's Lotus Infinite! The number one assassin of Shadowloo. The single greatest assassin in the world." And I should know, because I'm in that business too, Angel didn't add.

"I know." Akira said, her voice thick. "Bison. He... he did something to her."

"So what do we do now?" Angel asked.

"I... I don't know..."

For a long moment, the two stood there. Lotus Infinite stared up at them, expressionless and motionless as a statue. Her deadly weapon was held perfectly between the two of them, able to move to strike either at a moment's notice. Angel tensed and shifted her grip on her sword.

"Why isn't she attacking?" Akira asked suddenly. "She has the upper hand, and every second she delays gives us a chance to think up a plan..."

Angel frowned and stared down at the assassin. Then she noticed it. The woman wasn't staring at them. She was staring through them. Her eyes weren't flickering between the two of them, they were following something... something behind them.

"Go left!" Angel shouted and leapt to her right, carrying her further away from Akira. She didn't pause to see if Akira had listened, only step- jumping lightly from machine to machine, sending up tiny puffs of grey smoke with each footfall.

A moment later the silence was ripped apart by the loud crack of a rifle firing. Angel looked back over her shoulder. Her senses were just fast enough to watch the projectile as it tore through the factory, blowing beachball-sized holes through anything that got in its way. Angel blinked when she realised the shot was heading straight for Lotus Infinite, and not herself or Akira like she had thought.

Lotus Infinite did not so much as bat an eye. Her weapon flicked slightly to the side and a shimmering wall appeared in the air before her. The bullet rammed into the shield and simply vanished, leaving not even a wisp of smoke to mark its passing. The torn and shattered robotic arms and waldos unlucky enough to have been in the bullet's path began to crash down haphazardly.

"Who the hell...?" Akira shouted, balancing on the arm of a robot half- way across the factory. Then the clapping started.

The figure who emerged from the shadows was rail-thin, wearing a black suit and immaculate white gloves. For a moment Akira mistook her for a boy, but despite her flat chest she had a woman's face. Long and pale, with dark freckles and thick glasses perched at the end of her thin nose. Long black hair fell behind her like an oil slick. The woman was smiling, revealing her brilliant white teeth, including elongated canines. An unusual rifle was slung over her shoulder, and she was clapping softly.

"Excellent, Lotus, excellent..." the woman said, her voice pleasant but filled with a deep and terrible hatred that seethed just under the surface. "But zen again, I vould never settle for such a wictory. A shot from the dark? An assassin's bullet? Nein. Ve deserve a much more spectacular battle, don't you agree? One zat vill go down in history!" She threw her arms up and laughed.

"Positive identification of hostile," Lotus Infinite said, her voice raising slightly. Her weapon came up and the dark-clad vampire smiled. "Mission objectives deferred. New primary target confirmed. Proceeding with all-out attack!" Then the blade came down and all hell broke loose.

01010

Akira had heard a few stories about the Silence Glaive. Minako's talking cat, whose name eluded her at the moment, had told her about it. It was supposed to be a terrible weapon. One that could end the world. He had told her how Ukyou had taken it from Sailor Saturn to protect the entire world. How she had used it to wipe out an entire army of ghouls and vampires with a single shot. She had never really doubted those stories. She had seen zoalords tear the sides out of mountains, she had seen the long line carved into the Chinese countryside where Saffron had rained down fire on Millennium's advance force, she had seen Tethys sink an entire armada with a single wave.

None of that really prepared her for what happened. The Glaive came down and everything in front of it simply ceased to exist. The remains of the assembly line, the concrete, the very dust in the air. Even the light seemed to vanish, leaving a sort of blank unnatural stillness in the air. It all happened without a sound, or more accurately with a single sound. A single perfect upper c, the soft hum of the Silence Glaive as it vibrated in Ukyou's hands.

For a moment the mystery woman stood in front of the approaching silence, smiling as if she were facing nothing more than a summer shower. Then her entire body blurred, becoming a black streak that vanished to the side faster than Akira's trained eyes could follow. Her breath caught. Nothing she knew of could move that fast. Not Ranma. Not any zoalord.

But even with its target gone, the Silence continued inexorably forward. In the time it took Akira' heart to beat once it had spread from the tip of the blade and reached the end of the massive factory. The wall and ceiling evaporated in its touch, and then the pavement and the sidewalk beyond. A mailbox unravelled like a poorly knitted sweater, its mass disappearing an instant later. And still the Silence went forward, crossing the street and hitting a fifteen-story-tall building across the way. The wave of utter annihilation carved out the bottom ten floors of the building without pausing. The top of the building began to descend into the Silence, vanishing brick by brick, when suddenly sound returned to the world.

The remaining four stories of the high rise crashed to earth with a sound like an avalanche, sending up a massive cloud of dust. Akira stared. There had been people in that building. She had seen them in the windows.

This wasn't happening.

"Vhat splendid destruction!" the mystery woman called. She was sitting just outside the cone of empty air that showed the path of the Glaive's attack. The rifle had come down from her shoulder. She flicked a small lever on the side. "I seem to haf made an impression on you after our last battle. Vell zen, if we are not holding back anything..."

The woman slid her hand forward and pointed the weapon at Ukyou. Ukyou was already moving, dashing to the side. Her body ghosted through the remains of the factory, lines of purple sparks flashing where her body passed through solid matter. Then the insane woman began to fire. And fire. And fire.

The gun she was holding must have been really well-designed. It was putting out a more steady stream of bullets than Akira had seen any mundane gun ever manage. It must have been firing hundreds of rounds a second. The bullets tracked just behind Ukyou, tearing apart the remaining undamaged pieces of machinery, each shot punching a hole the size of a baseball through the metal robotics. But as fast as the bullets were, Ukyou was a step faster. She made a tight curve along the wall of the factory, the shots peppering the concrete walls with holes through which the light shone in. Finally she ended just short of the expanding V of destruction her Silence Glaive had carved into the earth. There were a few dry clicks from the suit-clad woman's rifle and she looked down at it, obviously slightly disappointed.

"Ah... all out..." she said, but her voice was full of amusement. Akira tensed. There was a loud buzzing in the air. A whine like a circular saw. No... like a whole swarm of circular saws. And the whine was growing louder. She looked around at the half of the factory the woman had shot up and her throat went dry. There wasn't a single bullet among the debris. Not a single one.

"Hey! Watch where you're shooting!" Angel cried, ducking out from under a piece of masonry that had almost fallen on her. "Who do you think you are, anyway?"

"Me..." The woman smiled at Ukyou. "Vill you introduce me, my eternal rival? No? Ever the silent type, even unto ze end." The woman stepped back and raised her arms. The whine began to grow deafening. There was a loud crack as a hole appeared in the wall with a small explosion. Then another. And another. Akira felt the blood drain from her face.

"Angel, run!" she screamed and put word to action, turning and sprinting out of the gaping hole in the factory. The woman was laughing loudly now, and as the walls continued to explode again and again with holes Akira could see tiny black things beginning to spin around her, forming odd elliptical orbits. Every second dozens more joined them until she was at the center of her own personal galaxy.

"Just be glad zat you are not my target this day, little girl," the woman said with a short laugh. "For I am the Huntress, Rip Van Winkle. And my varheads shall punish ALL vithout distinction!"

Then Rip Van Winkle snapped her arms down and the galaxy of bullets spinning around her body screamed forward at Ukyou.

01010

Rip Van Winkle laughed as her magic bullets ripped through the air. They came in straight and curved, high and low, from left and right and all points in-between. Many of them even curved around behind her hated enemy, drilling at the woman from behind. Lotus Infinite waited patiently. They had danced this dance before, and both of them knew the moves.

But this time... Rip Van smiled. This time, Lotus Infinite would die.

The bullets closed, time seeming to slow to an interminable crawl as Rip Van laughed. Then when the first of the magic bullets came within reach of her weapon, Lotus exploded into action. She moved with the grace of a ballet dancer and the speed of a lightning storm. Her unwieldy blade spun and flickered in her hands, striking out again and again and again, faster than the eye could follow. She moved the Glaive without a care for such petty things as inertia or mass. A forward strike seamlessly transitioned into a reverse-handed thrust, turning into a sideways slash almost before the latter was even completed.

And where the blade went, the magic bullets ceased to be. Sometimes the tines of the weapon touched the bullet itself, but far more often the weapon simply produced a localized hum and all the bullets within a foot of it just popped out of existence without any fanfare. For almost thirty seconds Lotus Infinite held her ground as hundreds of bullets vanished.

But even she couldn't defeat them all. Finally she moved. Her body shifted to the side, and then she was airborne, her body a purple and white streak as she moved. The Glaive sang around her, continuing its earnest defence. Then Lotus's foot snapped out and found a single bullet just under its toe. Rip Van Winkle jerked her fingers, trying to alter the course of the bullet, but it was too late. The woman had already used the projectile as a springboard, sending her yet higher.

Rip Van slowly raised her hands, pulling her swarm of bullets up after her. If Lotus thought she could evade them in the air, she was mistaken. But the woman continued rising, and the very bullets that pursued her were her stepping stones. Rip Van laughed in delight as the girl rose and rose, dancing just ahead of the swarm, her weapon not stopping for a moment.

Not for the first time, Rip Van Winkle wondered how her rival did it. The level of concentration that it took Rip to control all of these bullets was staggering. She would have never believed she could do it. But Alexia was nothing if not a genius. Inside each casing was a tiny piece of flesh; Rip Van Winkle's flesh, torn painfully from her body piece by piece while she slowly regenerated. Preserved with science and magic, connected to her... it was all that allowed her to even begin to control the thousands of bullets in her arsenal.

But Lotus Infinite was not only keeping track of every single bullet in that swarm, she was also striking out at them and moving among them. She was turning their very motion into her escape, anticipating where bullets would be seconds before they were, predicting every possible path and angle. The first time it had happened, Rip Van Winkle had been infuriated. But now, she merely smiled.

Her fingers spread wide and she began to raise and lower her hands, spreading and waving them about like a conductor. She knew this game well. Even if Lotus was trying an amusing new variation of it, it would still end the same and they both knew it. No matter how fast she was, no matter how brilliant her strategy, she was only mortal. Her weapon could not be everywhere at once.

Finally Lotus decided to end the game. She pulled her staff in close and closed her eyes. The purple lights along her arm shone brightly and for a moment she was cocooned in a field of force. The bullets smashed into the barrier one after another, vanishing into Oblivion. Rip Van smiled and calmly pulled a clip of ammunition from her inner pocket, snapping it into place with a dull click.

With a slight effort of will she sent the few hundred remaining magic bullets away from Lotus. They took up an orbit around her as the girl fell to the ground. She landed hard, stumbling slightly. Sweat was pouring down her brow. Rip Van raised her modified rifle and smirked at her. Rip Van never grew tired. She never faltered. She was the hunter from whom there was no escape.

"Round two?" the huntress offered. Lotus' eyes narrowed. Then she vanished. A circle of purple sparks on the ground was the only indication of her exit point. Rip Van tsked and leapt back, firing her weapon at the ground. The bullets tore through earth and stone as easily as air, chewing huge holes in the concrete. She landed out in the street and a second later threw herself to the side.

The ground where she had been standing vanished, a wide patch just boiling away into nothing. "Attacking from under ze ground? Not bad. Not bad at all." Rip Van continued moving, her long legs striding quickly across the street. She could feel the woman moving through the sewers below, popping into firm reality just long enough to attack before vanishing into another wall. Behind Rip Van the ground continued to vanish. Deep cuts into the fabric of reality, one after the other. Rip Van laughed and ran further away from the factory. She could see people approaching now, hear the blare of sirens.

Lotus would not wait for Chronos to arrive.

Sure enough, the girl rose from the ground like a dark angel. Her weapon was held to her side. Rip Van gestured sharply and the bullets that had been chasing her underground rose into the air, each creating a geyser of shrapnel as it burst from the pavement. But Lotus was through playing around.

"Law enforcement approaching..." Lotus noted mechanically. "Third Circle countermeasures are authorized."

Rip Van forced herself not to smile. This was what had happened last time. She knew what was coming next. There was a flicker as three rings of light briefly appeared around her, before they vanished. Next she raised up her weapon, preparing for her deadly ultimate strike again. Rip Van gestured sharply and the bullets came in at her from all sides. Like the last time, they met no resistance. Tiny flashes of purple light was all she got for all her effort.

It was the perfect defense. Whenever Lotus Infinite wished it, she could simply not be hit. Alexia had once tried to explain the principle to her. She said it was very similar to the method Schrodinger used. Rip Van hadn't cared much about the mechanics. The point was that it was damn annoying.

No matter how fast or how powerful she became, no matter how many magic bullets she could create, Lotus Infinite could simply ignore her. The one weakness Rip Van was aware of was that she couldn't safely wield both the Silence and the ghosting trick at the same time. Alexia had explained that it was an interaction between her ethereal nature and the power of Oblivion. Her barely existing body simply did not have enough reality to wield the Silence without annihilating itself in the process. So her rival had been forced to choose always between offense and defense.

So that had been her strategy. Force Lotus Infinite to commit to an attack and strike while her perfect defence was gone. But then... the last time. The last time she had called out something about 'Third Circle' and all the rules had vanished. Rip Van's careful strategy had almost gotten her killed. Her entire body except for her head and her right arm had been utterly annihilated by Lotus Infinite's attack. Sheer luck had saved her, as the arrival of a team of hyper-zoanoids had caused Lotus to retreat.

But now, even as the woman brought down her Glaive for its decisive strike, Rip had already won. The last time, she hadn't been able to maintain the concentration for her assault and make a dodge at the same time. This time she simply let her control of most of her magic bullets cease. They clattered to the ground in a steel rain as she streaked to the side. She felt the Silence brush against her legs, unravelling the soles of her shoes and the skin of her left foot. She ignored the pain as she dived out of the path of the attack.

A moment later she crashed through a window and tumbled to a stop. She stood up slowly, breathing heavily. That had been closer than she had planned. She looked out the window. The section Lotus Infinite had carved out of the city was three blocks long and half that wide, creating a cone-like trench nearly thirty meters deep at its end. Rip Van winced as she vaulted the windowsill back out into the street. Lotus was standing at the apex of her trench. She was bent forward, blood was dripping from her face, her arms... her body had nearly torn itself apart. Just like last time.

"Wery good, Lotus Infinite. But I do not fall for the same trick twice."

"Hostile, still operational..." Lotus said through clenched teeth. Rip Van smiled, her fingers twitching. She had abandoned control of all her magic bullets. All of them but one. The one that floated serenely in the very center of the woman's incorporeal body. She couldn't possibly sense it. That bullet was special. All Lotus Infinite would see was an unarmed and undefended Rip Van Winkle. Her ultimate target. The huntress who had hounded her for seven years.

She would strike. She could not risk summoning the Silence while still incorporeal. She would have to return to normal, even if only for an instant. Rip Van smiled and her finger twitched again. Just one instant. Just let her become solid for the one moment she needed. The explosive in that special bullet was powerful enough to tear apart a tank. Nothing could survive it.

"Damn you..." Rip Van hissed under her breath. "Vhat are you vaiting for... strike!"

Lotus Infinite raised her Glaive.

"NO!"

A figure dropped down between them. Rip Van blinked. She had honestly forgotten about the woman. She had been stalking her for days, just waiting for Lotus Infinite to show herself... Rip Van smiled as the leather-clad woman landed between them. It was too perfect. Both of her rival's targets in one blow. There was no way she could resist!

"Ukyou, stop! You'll kill hundreds of people!" the leather clad woman shouted.

"Appealing to her humanity?" Rip Van sneered. "Idiot woman. She HAS none."

"Shut up!" the woman screamed back at her. She turned around to face Lotus Infinite. "Ukyou, I know you're in there. I know you can hear me! You have to stop this! Another strike with that Glaive and you'll destroy too many innocent lives! Not even this Millennium bitch is worth that!"

"You really zink zat is still your friend?" Rip Van said with a small laugh. "You are a fool. She is a veapon. She is the perfect veapon. She does not zink, or feel or hesitate. She cannot be tracked. No barrier can stop her. Her attack vill slay any being she is directed against. And she vill do so vithout remorse or contemplation!" Rip sighed. "In a vay, I envy her. She is to her master vhat I always vished to be for mine. The perfect tool. The perfect veapon." Rip Van giggled again. "Zis battle is ours, fool. You haf no place here! Your friend is gone! There is only my rival! There is only our endless battle!"

"Then why hasn't she attacked yet?" the fool asked softly, looking directly into Lotus Infinite's cold inhuman eyes. For a moment Rip Van Winkle hesitated. Her first thought was that her rival had sensed the special bullet waiting within her ghost form. All she had to do was step through something solid to prevent it from following her. Then Rip Van would be truly defenseless. All her speed, all her power... all would mean nothing before the unstoppable wrath of Lotus Infinite.

Lotus Infinite lowered her weapon. "Imminent arrival of authorities will compromise this unit's identity before she can complete primary objectives. In compliance with the Prime Directive, this is unacceptable. Returning to base."

Rip Van could only stare in horror as her enemy slowly began to sink into the earth. "NO!" she screamed and clawed at the air. The bullet inside Lotus Infinite exploded, tossing the fool woman back into the building behind Rip Van. But even as the smoke cleared, she could see the swirl of sparks on the ground fading. "NO! I vas so close! I had von! I HAD VON!"

A groan behind her caught her attention. She turned towards the fool woman, her eyes narrowing. "You. You did zis. Somehow, you... you..." Rip Van Winkle trailed off. She was unsure what the woman had done. She had seen Lotus Infinite carve her way through huge crowds of innocents to get to her targets, leaving none in her wake. She was a reaper of men. Why had she not struck? Rip Van could sense the Chronos units nearby, but not close enough to interfere or attack. They must have been wisely waiting for a detachment of hyper and neo- zoanoids to arrive before attacking someone who could level entire city blocks with casual ease.

"YOU DID THIS!" Rip Van Winkle screamed and was upon the woman. She reacted quickly. Her arm came up, blocking Rip Van's first wild blow. With an inarticulate howl she struck again and this second blow was met with an even more measured counter. The parry redirected Rip Van's arm into the building, destroying the wall. But Rip Van slipped as her attack went somewhere unexpected and the woman struck. Her palm came in just under Rip Van's guard, slamming into her ribs.

For a moment, Rip Van stood there. She felt a sensation like vertigo ripple through her. Then light, bright painful light, brighter than the sun. She collapsed backward, gasping and trying to scream.

She looked down at herself, incredulous. The attack had torn a chunk out of her body. Most of her chest was gone. A perfect circle including her left lung, heart and stomach had been blown out by that single strike. The woman was walking towards her, and it was only then that Rip Van realised she had been sent flying across the road.

"I have no morals against destroying your kind, vampire..." the woman was saying, but she sounded surprised. Rip Van smiled. So she thought she was dealing with a mere vampire? No wonder she was surprised. Such a blow would, indeed, have destroyed any vampire.

"Heh. Ha HAH!" Rip Van Winkle laughed. She looked around and saw that there were a few bodies lying haphazardly about. Victims of her magic bullets or Lotus Infinite's attacks that neither had really noticed during their battle. They would be enough. She reached over and touched one on the leg. "You really are a fool. Mere injury does not concern me."

The woman's eyes widened as the corpse Rip Van had touched began to tear and shred. The process was gruesome, as the virus coursing through Rip Van's body did its grisly work. It spread in, rewrote the structure of the body, tore it to pieces. Then all she had to do was assimilate the flesh to be at full strength again. To her credit, the woman did not pause to let her finish. She screamed a battle cry and ran forward, her aura blazing out from her body. But Rip Van leapt away, a trail of gore flashing in her wake. The blow the woman had been aiming at her created a crater five meters wide in the pavement. Rip landed on a nearby building as the gore trailing her swirled into the hole in her chest, almost instantly reforming into her own flesh again.

"Now girl, ve shall continue."

Rip Van leapt to the ground and came at the woman with all her speed. The fool stood her ground bravely. But she was not facing a raging enemy. She was not fighting a mad animal. She was fighting the perfect weapon. A weapon that had been shaped for seven years to defeat the mightiest assassin in the world.

They exchanged blows for a few seconds before the woman's defences slipped the first time. It was enough. The blow was grazing, Rip Van's knuckles barely touching the girl's cheek. Her head snapped back and the flesh on her neck strained as it tried not to separate from the rest of her body. She flew back, her body smashing through one building, then another. The third finally stopped her, as her body slammed into a concrete wall hard enough to dent the side of the building. Her entire body jerked, blood erupting from her mouth in a small cloud. her body beginning to slump forward.

She hadn't even gotten halfway down before Rip Van caught her. The huntress smiled at the astonished expression of her victim. She had crossed the ground between them in the time it took this poor fool to blink. She tightened her grip on the woman's neck, cutting off her breath. "Zis is vhat you face, fool." Rip Van pulled the woman back and pistoned her forward. The wall exploded as the fool's head struck it. Then Rip Van started laughing as she smashed her into the ground hard enough to cause the pavement to crack, and then again hard enough to make the earth explod upwards in a grey geyser. Then again, and again, until they were in a crater ten meters deep.

She held up the woman. Her left eye was swollen shut and blood trickled from her lips and nose. Her legs hung limp. Her arms were twitching as she tried to raise them. "Now, I think I've worked up a bit of un appetite," Rip said, smiling and allowing her fangs to show.

Then there was a golden flash and she screamed. She looked down and saw that her arm had been cut off cleanly at the elbow. She looked to the right. The other little maggot with the white hair was standing there, supporting the fool with her body. The lightning bolt tattoos along the side of her face were glowing.

"Told you... stay... away... too much..."

"Yeah, yeah. Too much for me to handle. Listen Akira, why don't you cut the heroic bullshit, since you're not exactly in the best position to argue?"

Akira looked at her saviour with her one good eye, blinked, then nodded. The maggot placed her down and then turned to face Rip Van Winkle. Her sword came up and pointed at her.

"You hurt my friend."

"I haf plans of doing more zan zat," Rip Van replied, fusing her severed arm back on. "Plus you ruined my suit."

"Uh, it was already kinda ruined." She frowned at Rip Van, then deliberately glanced at her chest. "No wonder you're such a bitch. Compensating for something, huh?"

Rip Van smiled, flexing her fingers. "Pray to vhatever god you believe in."

The maggot smiled. "I don't need to. He already gave me a gift to defeat you with."

Then Rip moved. She knew she was fast. Faster than almost anything in the universe. But somehow, the girl was matching her. No... not just matching, exceeding! Rip Van's arms snapped and spun as she struck again and again, but every time she attacked she found her blow parried by that blade. Each parry carved a little more of the flesh from her bones. No single strike was pulling away more than a sliver, but they traded a hundred blows in the space of a heartbeat. Finally Rip Van leapt back, shaking her bloody limbs.

"You're almost fast," the maggot said, smiling. "Hey. Wanna see a trick?"

Rip Van narrowed her eyes. The glow on the woman's face began to shift, the golden light of her tattoos shifting down her body, tracing arcane patterns until they settled around her hips. She smiled. Then with a fierce roar her sword came down, striking the ground between them. Rip Van threw up her arms as the street erupted like a volcano. She was flung off her feet as the pavement tore apart underneath her. Debris smashed into her, driving the air from her lungs and then burying her as she landed.

With a growl she threw off the debris, standing up. She blinked. The crater formed by that woman's attack had destroyed an entire intersection. A four-lane intersection. She looked around, only to note the woman vanishing across the rooftops, a golden blur vanishing into the distance. The fool was slung over her shoulders. Rip Van was fast, but not that fast.

"Halt right there!"

She turned slowly. There were five hyper zoanoids there. Their monstrous bodies were covered in spines and weapons. She smiled. Well, at least she would be able to work out some frustration.

01010

Angel threw another stick on the fire. The wood was wet of course, so it was a sputtering, pathetic-looking blaze, but it was better than nothing. Besides, probably best not to have anything that would draw too much attention. Normally, you'd have to worry about vampires and darkstalkers when out in the woods of Russia. She glanced over in the direction of Moscow. Though she couldn't see it through the trees, she figured the many plumes of smoke that she'd seen rising as she got the hell out of there hadn't vanished yet.

Two zoalords, at least, had shown up to take out that vampire assassin. She knew one, the big hairy bastard, was here full-time. And she'd actually seen a glimpse of another as she'd rocketed through the streets of the city, near that park with the big tower. He'd been flying with a complement of other Chronos monsters, a little short Chinese guy floating along in lotus position, almost serene, except that he'd been moving faster than Akira's motorcycle could. Khan, she thought his name was.

She wondered if they'd killed the vampire. Well, even if they hadn't, they must have driven her off, and since Angel'd escaped from the same end of the city Khan had entered from, she was pretty sure they wouldn't be seeing Rip Van Winkle again for awhile.

After poking the sickly fire again a few times, Angel straightened up and looked over at her companion. Akira already looked a lot better than she had when Angel had tossed her aboard her own motorcycle and gotten out of Moscow. Most of her bruises had faded, leaving only puffiness. Angel figured it must be some Water Chakra trick, like how she could heal her own wounds if she channelled enough power through the tattoo on her chest. But it must have taken a lot out of her - Akira had barely so much as twitched since Angel had carried her away. Even now she was sound asleep, breathing deeply and evenly. Since she wasn't totally healed yet, Angel figured she'd sleep until morning if she wasn't disturbed.

Which made this a good time to report.

Angel stepped away from the fire, wound her way around the damn motorcycle that had been an enormous pain to drive through the forest with an unconscious passenger, and into the darkened woods. She walked maybe half a kilometer away, close enough that she could be back in seconds if something happened, but far enough away that hopefully Akira wouldn't overhear anything even if she woke up

Leaning against a tree, she reached up and plucked an earring, which looked like an innocuously dangling twisted piece of metal. Holding it out, she applied the precise amount of pressure to the end and one side to activate it. She knew the French had reengineered this particular piece of Galaxy Police technology Chris had let them have by now, but couldn't remember if it was in mass-production yet or just for the Gendarmes. Not that it mattered to her: this piece was a direct line.

A moment later, the hologram snapped into existence, glowing faintly blue against the moonless night. Chris was sitting in a business-like chair, the shiny black leather fading into the shadows around him. His one-eyed gaze was calmly fixed on her.

"Report."

Angel opened her mouth to respond, but at that point there was a childlike giggle and a hint of movement in the darkness behind Chris. It was a voice Angel knew. She felt a shiver run down her spine, which made her angry, so she set her teeth and responded into cool, measured tones: "I have made contact with the target and am now travelling with her."

Chris smiled slightly. "I had no doubt of your success, naturally."

"I also ran into someone who had been trailing me, apparently looking for you."

"Did you determine their identity?"

"A woman, maybe in her mid-twenties. Chinese, black hair, used a rake as a weapon. Called herself Cologne of the Joketsuzoku, and said she was looking for revenge on 'the man who murdered her granddaughter'. She was an incredibly powerful fighter. Better than nearly anyone I've ever seen. Could likely defeat Master Gen, would give Master Yosho a run for his money. Not on Master Oro's level, though."

Chris blinked in surprise, an expression Angel didn't often see. "Cologne? In her mid-twenties?" He paused for a moment, then smiled. "Oh. Of course. So that's who she is. Continue your report."

"The target has found who she is looking for, as well, if that's of interest to you." Angel didn't know, after all. Chris hadn't mentioned why he suddenly cared about the goings-on of Akira, but Angel figured Lotus Infinite or Ukyou or whomever had to have something to do with it.

"Oh?" Chris raised his eyebrow. "Please elaborate."

"We're near Moscow. We followed a tip from the Dark Kingdom General Zoicite, who got HIS information from Nabiki Tendo, that the assassin Lotus Infinite was a servant of M. Bison, that both of them knew where someone named Ukyou Kuonji was, and that Lotus Infinite had been sent to kill Saffron. So we were on our way to China, but in Moscow we were intercepted by Lotus Infinite. It seems she was in fact the Ukyou that Akira was searching for. She tried to kill us, but then a Millennium assassin named Rip Van Winkle intervened, and Lotus fled after a short fight. Then I managed to get away with Akira shortly afterwards."

Chris laughed to himself, which was echoed in a soft higher pitch by the voice from the shadows behind him. This time Angel didn't shiver. "So that's what Ukyou's been doing," Chris said after a moment. "Well, well, well. That makes sense. Though I wonder what convinced her to give in to Bison?"

"Well, Bison's got all that brainwashing stuff..." Angel volunteered, and Chris laughed again.

"No, no, no. That wouldn't work on HER. Bison may think otherwise, but he is in fact in for a very unpleasant surprise with 'Lotus Infinite'. Which is not really a bad thing at all."

Angel stared. "Really? What's so special about this Ukyou person? Is she a psychic like Nabiki Tendo or something?"

"Not precisely. But that's a long story. Anyway, excellent work, Angel. I'm proud of you. You should make your way back now."

Before Angel could respond, the child-like voice emerged from the shadows again. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Angel blinked. So did Chris. He turned his head and stared. For a moment Angel could see a flash of white in the darkness, but the speaker didn't move into the image. "Is that so?" Chris said after a moment. "It's unlike you to offer an opinion. Would you care to explain?"

"Akira is more important than she seems," the little girl's voice explained.

"How is that?"

The childish voice giggled. "I have no idea!" she announced cheerfully.

Chris stared for a moment longer, then smiled slightly and turned back to Angel with a shrug. "Well then, there you have it. In the interests of harmony here, I'll leave the decision up to you, Angel. Come back, or keep travelling with Akira Kazama and let me know what she's up to."

Angel thought quickly for a few seconds. If she left now... Akira was sleeping like a baby in the woods of Russia, surrounded by zoanoid patrols, darkstalkers, Millennium horrors, at least two zoalords and there was no way to know for sure where Rip Van Winkle or Lotus Infinite were. It wasn't as if Angel owed her anything - she'd saved her life twice now - but Akira was a decent enough person. "Well, in that case, I'll stick around for the moment. It'd be dangerous to leave her alone here, and in any case, if you're interested in this Ukyou person I'm sure she and Akira are going to run into each other again."

"No doubt," Chris said dryly. "Very well, then. Let me know if anything of interest occurs. But be careful, Angel. These are dangerous powers you're trifling with."

"Trust me, I will," Angel said. She switched off the communicator and set off back through the woods. No way she wasn't going to be careful with things like that vampire and Lotus Infinite - and BISON - around.

The first thing she noticed when she got back was that the fire was now burning a lot more strongly then before. She blinked and walked into the clearing to see Akira feeding small sticks into the fire, pausing each time as a pulse of blue energy flared along the wood before throwing the now-dried kindling in.

"You should learn this trick if you're going to be spending a lot of time carting my unconscious body into woods," Akira said with a smile.

"Uh..." Angel blinked, feeling a little panic rise in her. How long had Akira been awake for, anyway?

"Thanks again, by the way." Akira stood up slowly.

"Yeah, well, I had to leave to..." Angel trailed off. She honestly hadn't expected Akira to be up yet.

"No worries. Pack your stuff if you're coming, though." Akira said, dismissing Angel's explanation without any sign of suspicion.

"Huh? Where are we going?" Angel frowned. "On to Mount Phoenix? Or Shadowloo?"

Akira gave her a level look. "No. Hong Kong."

"Hong Kong? Why there?"

"Because I do not like being set up."

To Be Continued...

Blade: We're back! Did you miss us?

Epsilon: You better damn well have, because if you don't, we'll just inflict even more crack-induced April Fool's side stories! You must BEG! Beg for more Hybrid Theory!

Blade: Uh... Epsi?

Epsilon: What? Can't you see I'm ranting?

Blade: Yes, but for starters, it seems most people LIKED the crack-induced April Fool's side story. Also, many of them did beg for more Hybrid Theory.

Epsilon: Wow! We can just spin off Hybrid Theory for the rest of our fanfic writing careers! Maybe if we can change the characters names from like Ranma to Fred and Ukyou to Jenny, we can publish it and make lots of money!

Blade: When the premise of the fanfic includes the fact it is based on established series' like Ranma 1/2...

Epsilon: No no no, the established FICTIONAL series "Fred 1/2".

Blade: Y'know, I still don't think it's gonna work.

Epsilon: Aw, come on! They don't have any proof that it IS Ranma 1/2! I mean, the events as they occured, for starters, are completely different.

Blade: Yes, but they're specifically completely different from the events of Ranma 1/2, which is a plot point.

Epsilon: No, they're different from Fred 1/2! Stop crushing my attempts to not have to write another series!

Blade: Also there's the slight fact this has been published in multiple places as being related to actual series', and thus would be easily proven to be related to Ranma 1/2. As if it wasn't obvious anyway. They caught that Harvard girl, and they'll catch you.

Epsilon: Ahh, topical commentary!

Blade: Which won't make any sense five years from now, but let's be serious, nobody'll be reading this then. After all, by then we'll look back at this, decide it is utterly disgusting and pathetic garbage like all our previous writing, and scour every copy from the Internet.

Epsilon: With FIRE! PURGE IT WITH FIRE!

Blade: Believe it or not, this month we actually have gotten sleep. So I have no explanations for this behaviour.

Epsilon: On that note, for the people that referred to Tarou and Sakura and Athena showing up in the main narrative... umm... we appreciate the enthusiasm, but you missed the point of "sidestory with no relevence to the main canon". Also, "excuse to not do as much work as if we'd released an actual chapter".

Blade: That was a shitty excuse then, because the upshot is we did 70k of writing we otherwise wouldn't have done.

Epsilon: Curses! Foiled again! Will I ever get to be lazy?

Blade: Obviously, since the REAL April Fool's project isn't ready yet.

Epsilon: And it never will be, with that attitude!

Blade: THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING!

Epsilon: Well, then, you better change your attitude.

Blade: YOU'RE THE ONE WHO NEEDS TO DO THE DRAWING, IDIOT!

Epsilon: I'm sorry. As an artiste, I cannot work under these conditions.

Blade: Now I remember why I hate you in the fanfic. ANYway... for those who wrote concerned about Tarou, Sakura and probably not Athena's health: on the bright side, China clearly didn't get immolated or have all its populace turn into chickens or whatever the hell Major Krieg had planned, so presumably the fearsome threesome foiled his dastardly plans and went on to have many wacky adventures that will continue to not interact with the main plot. So, yay?

Epsilon: Speaking of the main plot, it's time for an ungainly segue into the next episode preview!

"You're very intuitive," Nabiki groused.

"I won't let you do this, Nabiki."

"You can't stop me, Akira. I only need you to stay here. I don't need you even conscious for the operation. Out of deference to the friendship you share with my sister, I won't hurt you, but..."

"I said I won't let you." Akira took a few steps towards the desk. "What you're doing is wrong. I won't let you abuse Ukyou like that."

"There's nothing left of Ukyou to abuse," Nabiki smirked. "Trust me. I've seen into Lotus Infinite's mind. There is... nothing. NO trace of the woman who used to live in there."

"I won't accept that!" Akira snarled.

"Yelling won't make the sun set in the east."

"If I have to... I'll..."

"You'll what?" Nabiki snapped. Then suddenly Akira felt her body moving again. Once more, it was like something had crept under her skin and simply put her on like a suit. She could feel her limbs moving, but had no control over them. Her mouth clamped closed and her eyes stared at Nabiki as she was forced to kneel before the desk. "There is nothing you can do, Akira. You've spent the last seven years chasing a phantom. Accept it. Move on."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 23: From The Inside


	23. From The Inside

Heeelllloooo~! Greetings to all you people out there in fanfic land. I am your host for this exciting episode! That's right, the sexiest woman you'll never get to sleep with, Angel! *wink*

Aside from being hot and awesome, I was also a major character last chapter. You may remember my tragic story... (cue violins) Orphaned at a young age by the dreaded monsters of Chronos, I was saved by Chris, who then gave me the chance to travel with him while I tried to repay him and make a difference. To this end, I was shuttled around the world, (almost) never able to stay in one place long enough to have friends, always learning new martial arts styles and the art of fighting. Then, he revealed to me his plan to create the Perfect Possible Future (tm, all rights reserved) and I became his real ally! Now, I... uh... well, kill people for him, mainly.

But last chapter I didn't have to do that! Instead, I met this nice girl named Akira. She's a martial artist like me and we met in Stockholm where she was looking for this really hedonistic guy named Zoicite. Turns out Zoicite knew something big and secret about Akira's old friend who had vanished seven years ago.

After, we met this crazy bitch called Cologne and her four lolicon commandos and she beat up Akira and then tried to capture me to get at Chris. Turns out she's really this old bag who got de-aged when she joined up with Chronos and wants to get back at Chris for murdering her granddaughter. Which is kinda sad, but... he's the only hope for the future, so I kinda had to give her the slip, and also saved Akira in the process.

So, following my orders, I tagged along on Akira's quest, helping her intimidate Zoicite (who, despite being evil, has great taste in beefcake) and then we set off to learn more about Ukyou. Akira and I are kinda becoming friends, though between you and me, she's a bit butch and gloomy. Maybe I should introduce her to Remy, he has a way with women, ya know. Anyway, we never got all the way to the place we were going, because we were attacked in Russia by...

DUM DUM DUM

Ukyou! Or, as it turns out, this assassin named Lotus Infinite that just happens to be Ukyou, minus all the things like memories and morals and desire not to kill her friend (and her friend's hot Mexican companions). Worse part was that Lotus Infinite had the ability to walk through walls (well, so do I, but I leave holes) and had this weapon that could annihilate anything it touched, so we were in bad straits.

Then this crazy German vampire chick shows up and starts attacking us with thousands of bullets at once, all of which she can control... with the power of her mind! Geez, and this is the world I live in. Sounds like something out of a bad pulp novel. Anyway... crazy German vampire chick wasn't that interested in us, so her and Lotus Infinite had a throwdown that sorta ended in a tie and we escaped.

So, yay us?

But now Akira is pissed, because it turns out that Nabiki (telepathic queen of the underworld) originally sent her on this mission as a trap so she's gonna make Nabiki pay, or something.

Oh, and Nabiki also has a sister named Akane. Turns out Akane used to be one of Chris' friends before I met him and she turned her back on him seven years ago. Now she runs the Japanese resistance to Chronos, and is hunted by their most powerful zoalord, Reichmann Gyro. Scary!

So that's all my time for today, fanboys and girls. Remember to keep reading, because there's the possibility of hawt lesbian luvluv!

Or not. But hey, whatever moves product!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 23: From The Inside

"IS IT FINALLY HAPPENING?"

That's what the newspaper said, in large block letters at the very top of the page. The same refrain, or something close to it, was being said by every other paper in Hong Kong. Probably every other paper in the entire world.

"Zoalords Waferdanos and Khan chased the Millennium agent out of Moscow but only at the cost of thousands of lives and property damage estimated in the billions. In response to the unprovoked attack Zoalord Khan retaliated against the Millennium garrison not far from the city..."

Nabiki crumbled the paper in her hands, making a small annoyed sound. The last thing the world needed now was open warfare between the Major and Chronos. Why couldn't the peace have lasted? For seven years the two powers had been at detente. Certainly the Major unleashed the occasional horror on Chronos, but it wasn't like Chronos didn't retaliate with its own abominations. If you drove two hours out of Hong Kong you ended up in the middle of a place that was a warzone in everything but name. Until now, they'd been more than content to snipe at each other from the shadows.

So why now?

Then Nabiki chuckled.

Of course.

"Heh. So I guess she found you after all..." she whispered. The door to the elevator opened with a pleasant chime. Yun adjusted his cap and glanced at her as his brother stepped out into the hallway to make certain it was clear. Nabiki knew that it really wasn't necessary. She would have sensed any intruders long before the boys would. But she let them have their illusions. It made them think they were important and helping her instead of being a drain on her resources.

She actually found it kind of endearing.

"What's your problem today?" Yun asked directly. Nabiki smiled a bit at him. He really did remind her of Ranma, right down to the same direct manner.

"Nothing." Nabiki took a step forward and paused. "Listen, why don't the two of you take the morning off?"

"What's up?" Yang asked, his enormous bangs preceding him into the elevator.

"Nabiki's tryin' to get rid of us," Yun pointed out dryly. Yang frowned at her. Nabiki frowned right back.

"If you two don't want to take the offer, I could make it an order."

Yang's frown only deepened. Then he sighed and stepped aside to let her out into the hallway. "We don't make very good bodyguards if you never let us do our job."

"If it'll make you feel better, there's some death cultists in Kowloon. You could always go beat them up."

Yun's face immediately brightened and he looked at his brother imploringly. Yang sighed and shrugged. A moment later the door slid closed and Nabiki allowed her frown to return. She walked the short distance to the door to her office. Her hand rested on the expensive wood.

She could feel it inside. Not a mind. Nothing nearly so complex. It was more like an instinct. No more of a brain than an insect, really. But the power of it was far beyond what any normal insect could have created. Nabiki's fingers curled into a fist and she felt her lips peel away from her teeth. She rested her knuckles on the wood for a moment longer, drawing up the courage to walk inside.

When she finally did, there was no hint of frustration on her features. She barely even gave her guest a second glance as she walked towards the desk and calmly placed the paper on the polished black opal surface.

"And a good morning to you as well, Nabiki Tendo," her guest said with obvious irony. Nabiki glanced over her shoulder. Her guest was lounging on one of the couches scattered about the room, her feet jauntily perched on a table. In her hand was a cup of water which she sipped while Nabiki turned fully to face her. Nabiki decided to get this over with and turned around, leaning back and placing her hands on the table. The sword hung neatly at her side as she brought her full attention to her guest. "I won't even hazard a guess as to how much that thing cost," the woman said, indicating the desk with a nod of her head.

"You know I don't like to talk to puppets," Nabiki informed Link. The thing in front of her didn't really smile. Its face was human, but not really well suited to smiling. Nabiki sometimes wondered if that was a design flaw or a feature that Link had implemented. "What does Chris want this time?"

The thing on the couch sipped her water again before responding. "Well that's the thing, isn't it? I guess you could say this is more a matter of what Chris didn't get than what Chris wanted."

"You've been spending too much time with him. Get to the point."

"Oh Nabiki, you misunderstand. I'm not trying to pretentiously sound intelligent. I'm merely savouring this moment." She took another sip of her water, that not quite smile on her face again.

Nabiki resisted the urge to hit the thing with the telepathic equivalent of a roundhouse punch. It's not like it would have done any good anyway. Certainly it might have snapped the tiny little brain of the doppleganger like a twig, but the real Link would not be fazed in the slightest. Nabiki felt the mental frequency of the thing shift again. Four times so far. Link was being more cautious than normal. Usually she felt content to allow a single transmitter to carry her mental commands to her puppet-bodies for a little longer. Nabiki had, however, long since given up on trying to trace back the signal.

"Well, when you're finished savouring, let me know. I have important work to do." Nabiki slid off the desk and made her way around to her chair. Besides, you could only pose like that for so long before your legs started to go to sleep.

Link sighed. "Very well. Since you're apparently not a morning person, I'll get to the point." Nabiki just sat down and stared at her. She didn't like giving Link the satisfaction of a response. "Your message to Chris was that one Akira Kazama had a lead on how to find Ukyou."

"Yes. I believe he did ask me to keep an eye out for that kind of thing," Nabiki replied acidly.

"Indeed. And certainly Akira did have a lead. But the interesting thing appears when one examines exactly what kind of lead she had. Specifically that she knew to investigate the Dark General Zoicite concerning Ukyou's whereabouts."

Nabiki had bluffed down Arkanphel and the Major. She didn't so much as bat an eye. But under the desk her hand slid fractionally closer to the sword.

"Now. Akira Kazama didn't even know who Zoicite was. So how could she possibly know to ask him about Ukyou? Well, it turns out that she got this lead from your friend and mine, resistance leader Akane Tendo." Link paused. "And here is where the plot, so to speak, thickens.

"Akane has not been looking for Ukyou. Akane really sort of has her hands full with Chronos. Also, she has no idea who Zoicite is. She is not looking into the matter. Nor has she met with anybody who has in the last year."

"I'm glad to hear you're keeping tabs on my sister," Nabiki informed the woman on the other end of this puppet. But Link chose to ignore the comment.

"So how could Akane have learned this? Well, interestingly enough, it just so happens that you, or so sources tell me, happened to be absent from Hong Kong just before Akane learned about this little piece of information she could not possibly have picked up through ordinary means."

"You're going somewhere with this?" Nabiki replied flatly. Her fingers began to itch. She reached out with her mind and found nothing else of any danger nearby. But then again, she wouldn't. She would never sense him. Never touch him. Not until it was too late.

"So let's... speculate that perhaps it was you who told Akane to tell Akira where to find Ukyou."

"Is that what you're accusing me of?" Nabiki smirked and leaned back in her chair. "What makes you think I even know anything about where Ukyou is?"

"It really doesn't matter if you do or not. What matters is that instead of telling Chris directly where to go, you told him about the person you'd already involved in the manner. In other words, by selectively withholding information you got Akira Kazama involved in a situation Chris would have long since resolved before she ever arrived in Sweden."

"I see." Nabiki cocked her head to the side. "I didn't know omniscience was one of your new talents. Or perhaps being stuck in a cave with no one to talk to but Chris has allowed your imagination to flourish."

"So being completely innocent of all wrongdoing, I suppose you won't be bothered by me telling Chris about this sequence of events and allowing him to clear up any... misunderstanding himself?"

Nabiki didn't freeze. She had far too much self-control to do that. But her mind immediately flashed back to the one time she had met Chris since she had received her powers. He had simply stepped out of the shadows, wearing the body of a woman that had once been Nabiki's secretary. He hadn't threatened her. He hadn't even raised his voice. He had just told her that he was willing to do business with her. He was also interested in making certain that his secrets remain secret. Only at the end, when he had been leaving, had he casually asked Nabiki about her new telepathic powers.

Nabiki hadn't said anything to him. She hadn't even made a sound. He looked at her and smiled. The eyes he looked at her with were lifeless and emotionless, but his smile told her that he knew. He knew that she had spent the entire conversation trying to read him. Trying to read anything off him. But there was nothing there. Nothing.

Nabiki hadn't slept for a week afterward. There hadn't been a single threat, but the message was clear. If Chris wanted her dead, she was dead. And there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

"I could just head over to his room. It's only a few minutes walk from me at the moment..." the puppet said in Link's voice.

"What do you want?" Nabiki said through clenched teeth.

"What do I always want, Nabiki? Information." Nabiki noticed that Link was chuckling deep in her throat, a sound her puppet replicated mindlessly from however many thousands of kilometers away. The eyes of the doppleganger danced with mirth as they watched Nabiki stare at her in impotent fury. Nabiki had been dealing with these things long enough to know that unless Link allowed it to happen deliberately, the doppleganger did not show much of her actual emotion.

The bitch was taunting her. Allowing her to know how much she enjoyed backing Nabiki into a corner. Nabiki felt the corner of her eyes tighten as she thought about it. She knew that even that small reaction would make Link happy, but she couldn't help it. Link was one of exactly three people who could force a reaction out of her. She had earned that privilege by being Nabiki's rival for years. A twisted, spiteful rival. Nabiki had never figured out why Link hated her so much, though she had a few guesses. But even though the two had never actually met face to face for seven years, Nabiki had developed a healthy distaste of her own.

"Stop toying around," Nabiki demanded.

"I'm glad to see we both know where we stand," Link said smoothly, and in the moment between finishing that sentence and her starting her request Nabiki suddenly did know exactly where they stood. Because why was Link even here? She had Nabiki by the throat. She should have just walked right up to Chris and told him what Nabiki had done. She didn't know what Nabiki was really up to. She couldn't. If either of them even suspected what Nabiki's actual plan was, she would already be dead. So why was Link here, instead of getting her hated rival into a world of trouble with the one person she feared above all others?

Because she wasn't supposed to be here. Because Chris didn't know she was here. Because whatever information Link was after this time, it was information she did not want Chris to have.

To her credit, Nabiki didn't smile. In fact, she managed to look even more angry as Link began her request.

"I want you to tell me where the Death Messiah is."

All the moisture in Nabiki's mouth evaporated. Her eyes widened and she backed away a bit. For a moment, she allowed herself to believe she had misheard.

"But that isn't all. I also want you to tell me everything you know about the Death Messiah. Her strengths, weaknesses, habits..." Link's doppleganger paused and tapped its lip. "Also any information you have about her companion, that bodyguard of hers..."

"Ryouga..." Nabiki hissed.

"Yes, that's his name."

Nabiki closed her eyes. Ryouga. The eternal man. The unkillable man. The only person able to survive against the Death Messiah. Nabiki's hand clutched onto the sword at her hip. Link's puppet raised an eyebrow. She had seen the motion. But Nabiki couldn't help it. She stared at Link. Stared at her hard.

Link's clone suddenly looked blank. The woman at the other end of the complex network of psychic transmitters wasn't transmitting anymore. Nabiki wondered for a moment if she was afraid. Nabiki could certainly believe that her anger could be seen plainly. She could believe that the threat was implicit.

It took every ounce of Nabiki's willpower not to say the words. She slowly pulled her hand away from the sword. The wish died in her throat. Link got to live. Then suddenly the doppleganger began to act again. It didn't quite smile, and it looked at Nabiki cockily once more.

What had Nabiki been thinking? Wasting her last wish on something so petty? No. That wasn't necessary. Only one person had ever survived a confrontation with the Death Messiah, and that was the man who could not be killed. Well... him and one other...

So if Link wanted to throw her life away, Nabiki wasn't about to stop her. Nabiki grimly turned to her computer and began to type. Link would get everything she knew. Which would hopefully be just enough for her to hang herself with.

01010

The room was luxuriously appointed. There was a single central pillar, extending from floor to ceiling and painted the colour of warm honey. On this pillar were four mirrors, arrayed so that they faced the four beds that were set about the room at positions a quarter turn out of sync with the cardinal directions. The walls of this place seemed to fade away, not really being there. Instead, diaphanous pink curtains billowed around the area, forming the default borders of the space the four of them shared.

JunJun was rolling her green orb back and forth, sending it out past the borders of their room beyond the pink veils. Then it would come back. Sometimes from the same angle, sometimes from a different one. She never really looked up while she did this, and kept her back firmly against the central pillar.

"Would you stop that?" CereCere asked shortly. JunJun looked over. Her fellow Amazoness was lying on her bed face down, clad only in a towel from the waist down. A tuxedo hovered just beside her, its form falling as if there should be a person inside, but there was none. Its immaculate white gloves, lacking any human fingers inside them, were nonetheless doing a thorough job of massaging her back. The thing moved with a strange rhythm and made a sound almost like chanting as it worked.

It was a useful construct, one that CereCere had developed... JunJun didn't know how long ago. Really, there was only three times she was aware of. There was Before Nehelenia. There was With Nehelenia. And there was After Nehelenia. Which included now, she supposed. She didn't remember CereCere ever teaching her or the others the shaping necessary for the construct, but she knew the girl had, at some point.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" JunJun shot back, suddenly feeling a desire to be rude to the pink-haired girl. CereCere's pretty face frowned.

"It annoys me," she informed JunJun, shaking her head so her pink curls swayed slightly. She couldn't quite lift her nose in the position she was in, but she clearly wanted to.

"And this is my problem?" JunJun shot back. She didn't really know why she was being so hard about this, she just was. Really, the game had grown boring a long time ago. No matter how hard she pushed the ball away, it always came back.

CereCere looked like she was about to snap something rude back, but then she took a deep breath and sighed. JunJun looked away. CereCere was no fun anymore. She used to be the easiest to rile up. She was always concerned with her hair and her dresses and her makeup. JunJun didn't like makeup. She didn't much like anything CereCere liked. But CereCere wasn't as easy to get a rise out of anymore. She had been spending too much time with the old man.

"Lord Purgstall doesn't want us to fight." CereCere was speaking softly now, her tone reasonable. "He says that we tend to ruin the Pillars."

"What if I want to fight?" JunJun growled and rolled her ball away again.

"There are plenty of zoanoids. Or you could find one of the martial artists training for the neo-zoanoid program. They're always looking to prove themselves."

"Martial artists..." JunJun hissed. Her ball rolled back into her hands and she gripped it so hard her knuckles turned white. The bright green surface of the orb didn't react in the slightest. The light gleamed along the length of the sphere.

"Oh..." CereCere snickered behind her hand.

"Oh what?" JunJun snapped at her.

"I see, that's it. What has you so upset."

"I am not upset!" JunJun leapt to her feet.

CereCere laughed lightly and waved for her to sit down. "You're just mad you met one who could beat you in a straight fight." She smirked behind her hand. "Seven years of training under Lady Cologne and you still haven't improved nearly as much as you would like, have you?"

"I have too!" JunJun stepped forward, raising her fist in front of her. "I'm a lot stronger now!"

"Really?" CereCere yawned. "I don't see it. All this hard work, it doesn't get you anywhere. Those girls in Stockholm, they could have defeated you with ease. You're really not very much compared to them at all. Now, for a circus acrobat, you're very good..."

"I'm the best!"

"...but for a martial artist?" CereCere laughed behind her hand again.

"Damn..." JunJun turned away, clutching her magical sphere close to her chest. She hated this because CereCere was right. She hadn't really gotten better since Cologne had started training her. She looked down at the orb. It was the source of her magic, just the same as her sisters. Without it, she couldn't have shaped even the simplest spell. From it she drew great magic. But it had been a gift from Nehelenia. With Nehelenia destroyed... sealed away forever by Purgstall in Elysium... Shouldn't it have stopped working by now? If she wasn't dead, shouldn't Nehelenia tried to contact them at least once?

"It isn't that," JunJun said, trying to distract herself. "It's how they hurt VesVes."

CereCere went silent. She might have been the most self-involved of the Amazoness Quartet, but they were all sisters. JunJun couldn't remember if there were any blood ties between the four of them, but she knew that the other three were her sisters regardless. The bond between them went deeper than blood.

"Yes. I would like to get back at them for that. But what can we do?" CereCere sighed. "They're both strong. The one girl is very hard for even the four of us to pin down with our magic. The other..." Here CereCere paused.

"The other has true power."

They both turned to see that PallaPalla had joined them at some point. The girl was sitting idly on her magical sphere, levitating in mid-air. Her hands were gripping the sides of the orb and her legs kicked idly while she rocked her head back and forth. The blue dangles on her head swayed softly as she moved.

"True power?" CereCere asked.

"Couldn't you feel it?" PallaPalla asked innocently.

"Of course!" CereCere snapped.

"Damn right!" JunJun lied. The truth was that sometimes PallaPalla scared them. It wasn't just the fact that her magic certainly outstripped either of theirs. It was how casually she used that magic. Most of the shapings and spells JunJun had learned had been developed first by their youngest sister. PallaPalla never seemed to notice this. She would often compliment them on a particular shaping they displayed weeks after she had first used it in front of them. And the smile that appeared on her face at their declarations showed she had bought their lies with the same casual acceptance.

"Yeah. That kind of power is really rare." She cocked her head to the side and pouted, placing a finger against her bottom lip. "Mm. But I think it may be even stronger than our magic."

"What kind of magic is it?" JunJun asked. "She certainly wasn't shaping."

"The tattoos." PallaPalla shrugged. "There something powerful about them. It's like... the heart of a star. The heart of an entire galaxy. It shines through her body so brightly, I wonder if she can even notice it?"

"Huh..." JunJun kicked idly at the floor. That didn't bode well. If that girl had magic even stronger than theirs... then there would be no hope of getting to her. Even without martial arts, JunJun knew they outclassed most people in this world.

"She reminds me of the scary lady..." PallaPalla murmured, floating away.

"Scary lady?" JunJun asked sharply.

"Yeah, you know... the one that the grumpy man is always talking to?"

JunJun frowned. She knew who the grumpy man was. That was Gyro. The other zoalord. She had only met him once and in that meeting had made the mistake of cracking a joke about how he looked like he was going bald. It had taken her shoulder a week to heal, even with magical aid. If Mr. Purgstall hadn't stepped in when he had...

"I thought Cologne asked us to leave Gyro alone?" CereCere murmured.

"She did," JunJun answered, looking at PallaPalla with a raised eyebrow.

The smallest of the Amazoness Quartet had the decency to blush in embarrassment, like a kid who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Well, I just couldn't resist. I had to find out what all the magic was. It was so... so bright and dark at the same time. It was like a shine that taints. A... something that tarnishes other things just by being so pure, you know?"

JunJun had no idea what she was talking about, but nodded. "So, that was the scary lady? Who was she?"

"I don't know..." She tapped her chin. "She was tall. Taller even then VesVes, but not as tall as the grumpy man. Not as tall as Lady Cologne either. She wore gold, bright gold that glittered with that non-light. Her skin was black and her eyes were red." She shivered, clutching her shoulders. "She's scary."

"We've established that," CereCere pointed out. "But what were she and Gyro doing?"

"She was... asking him about something called Star Seeds." PallaPalla nodded. "Yes, something about that. He was telling her about that girl he's looking for. The one that killed Martial Artist Hunter Zoaman's sister?"

"Akane..." JunJun said quickly. CereCere glanced at her and JunJun looked away, blushing. She had started watching the show because PallaPalla liked it so much and... She shook her head.

"That's her. He said-" And here PallaPalla's voice changed. She leaned forward, dark shadows creeping up on her face and her expression forming into an exaggerated scowl. Her voice growled and rasped at the same time as she spoke. "'Do not worry, Lady Galaxia. I know exactly who has the Star Seeds you seek. And with the power you have given me, I will have them in your possession soon! MWA HA HA!'"

CereCere broke out into a fit of helpless giggles, completely forgetting herself as she rolled back and forth on her bed. "That's him! That's so perfectly him!"

JunJun sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Probably just some other zoalord." She glanced down at the ball in her hands. Then she placed it deliberately on her bed and walked towards the mundane exit from the bedchamber. "I'm going training."

01010

"So, you really don't have a problem with this?"

Akira looked up from her bike, the screwdriver hovering a few centimeters from the engine she was adjusting. "Yeah. Go on. Have some fun or something."

Angel frowned and fidgeted, her hand playing with the hilt of the sword tied to her thigh. "It's not that I'm abandoning you..."

"No. We'll meet up after I have a... chat with Nabiki," Akira murmured, waving aside the white-haired girl's objections.

"It's just, I don't really want somebody probing around in my brain... I just... I have private thoughts..."

"Angel." The girl started a bit at the authoritative tone Akira said the name with. "I don't mind. Besides, this is your first visit to Hong Kong, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Go have some fun then." Akira stood up, pulling a cloth from her belt so she could wipe the grease off her hands. It was getting harder and harder to maintain her bike. Just not enough parts for these old gasburner models around anymore. And she didn't have time, or a proper shop, to tool up some custom replacements. "This is Hong Kong, the city of a thousand wonders." Akira smiled and spun around a little, stretching her arms out and taking in all the buildings that surrounded them. "The last free place on Earth. The place where anything you can imagine you can have... for a price."

"You sound like a tourbook," Angel said with a snort.

"And you are a tourist, so listen to the tourbook." She pushed Angel's shoulder lightly, sending her stumbling back. "Now, for the last time: go and have some fun."

Angel looked at Akira for another long moment and then threw up her arms. She walked away, muttering something under her breath in Spanish. Akira shook her head and went about placing all her tools back in their cases. She looked at her bike. It had gotten them this far, taking them all the way across most of Asia. It had been a long trip.

Nearly a month of traveling, the countryside whipping by on either side. Laughter filling the air as the two of them chatted about unimportant things. The trip had taken them through the backroads of Russia, most of which were in terrible shape. They had spent their time dodging Chronos patrols and the occasional pack of darkstalkers. There had been camps in the evening, where Akira and Angel had talked a little bit about their lives, watching the sunset and eating trail rations. Angel, she had learned, had spent most of her life moving from one place to another, finding herself masters of the martial arts to teach her things. But she was reluctant to talk much about who she trained with or what she had learned, which left Akira to pick up the slack.

Akira reflected that she had never really been a talkative person as she packed away the last of the tools and began to stroll out of the small garage that she had found to stash her bike in. It had been odd, at first, to tell the tales of her adventures. She didn't even really think of them as adventures. She was just wandering and searching and doing what needed doing along the way. She had no idea how she had become famous.

The street was full of hundreds of people, even this late at night. The two of them had gotten into Hong Kong when the sun was setting, and if anything the crowds had grown since then. The people of this city had a frantic energy to them. It was contagious. You couldn't help but find your pace increasing, couldn't help but focus on your goal. The people of Hong Kong, she reflected, must lead very tense lives.

You tried to forget that you were surrounded on all sides by forces that wanted to consume you. You focused on your job, on your bottom line, on feeding your family for the day. In the alleys and the brothels you found the releases you needed. Drugs, sex and more exotic delights were everywhere. Not a day passed without a festival or a show or a grand performance. Here, in the city of a thousand wonders, you could find something to occupy you, to keep your mind off the rest of the world.

Akira paused as she passed a small sign on the street. It was so small she almost didn't see it. The sign was attached to a store that you accessed by walking down a short flight of stairs to a dark door. But even this late there was still a light on under the door and the 'open' sign was in full view. Akira paused for a long moment at the top of the stairs.

She had a meeting she had to get to. Nabiki had to learn a thing or two about jerking Akira around like a puppet. The woman had deliberately set her up. It was the only conclusion Akira could reach. She had been sent off to find Ukyou, on a mission that was obviously a fool's errand. Because it had turned out that she had been the target of... Lotus Infinite. Akira clenched her fists.

She had seen this all before. She had fought Bison's Dolls, his augmented female super-soldiers, in the past. He didn't just brainwash them. He erased them. He hollowed out their souls and poured his malice and bitter chi inside. He shaped them, broke them and left nothing of the original behind. Even if you wanted to save them, it was no use. Breaking Bison's control over them was a death sentence.

The only person who had ever saved any of them from their fate was Ukyou.

"No..." Akira loosened her hands. "I can save her."

"Can you?"

Akira looked up sharply, but there was no one there. She glanced around the street and as she did a strange feeling began to creep up her spine. She took a few steps, but found her momentum petering out. The wind was suddenly chill, cutting through her riding leathers, cutting through her flesh and sinking into her bones. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her mouth was dry, like she hadn't drank in days. There was laughter in the distance, a hollow echo of the laughter of a child.

This feeling she had, it was loneliness. She turned around, staring into the crowd. She could reach out and touch them, but they seemed a million miles away. For some reason, she couldn't focus on their faces. She could see their smiles, but couldn't tell what colour their eyes were. They just moved around her, an undifferentiated mass of humanity. The garish lights of the neon signs up and down the street seemed to shine from far away. And still the laughter continued.

"I think I can," Akira said, then blinked. She hadn't meant to say that. But she understood why she had. She was answering the question, after all.

"Why do you think you can save her, Ahura Mazda?"

"I..." Akira had no idea who Ahura Mazda was, but she could tell that the voice was referring to her. It was female, young, almost immature-sounding. It spoke perfect Japanese, but it was like the voice's words rung around her. She spun again, trying to get a good view of this strange girl.

"Is it hope that keeps you driving, on all those cold lonely nights?"

"No." Again Akira was surprised by her response. She had meant to demand who she was talking to. But the word just felt right. It felt true. It was the only correct answer to the questions she had been asked.

"Is it love that makes you look for a person you know will never return your affections? Do you desire her heart, even though she has already given her heart to another?"

"Yes," Akira said but she heard herself say, at the same time, "No." The two words echoed off each other. She started. The voice giggled, the sound merging into the background sound of the child's laughter. There was a sharp hissing buzz, and Akira turned around.

The young girl was sitting just above her. Her legs were crossed daintily, as she dangled them off the edge of the neon sign she was using as a stool. She wore a tight white body-stocking that hugged her almost scandalously, but her body was that of a young girl. She had short white hair that came down on both sides of her face like feathers. Her complexion was dark. Akira couldn't tell what colour her eyes were.

"You sound so certain, Ahura Mazda," the girl said with a teasing smile.

"I guess you can never be certain about these things." Akira felt strange. She knew she was talking. She knew exactly why she was saying these things. But until the words left her mouth, she had no idea what they were going to be.

"No." The girl raised her arm slowly. She wore a fingerless black gauntlet that covered her wrist and hand, and inset on the back of it was a large red jewel. The light of the street gleamed and fractured off that jewel, like a prism. A million rainbows cascaded down into the street. "There are so many ways for things to go. So many reasons and purposes and whys and answers. How can you pick just one?"

"Because it's the only one I know." Akira squinted, shielding her eyes from the lightshow above her.

"Touch ." Akira blinked and when her eyes opened again, the girl was gone. But a light touch on her shoulder let her know where the girl had gone. Akira froze. The touch had sent a deep shiver through her body, a shiver that echoed through her soul. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was as light as a feather, yet as strong as steel. It was as warm as a cat curled up in her lap, and as shocking as a plunge into an arctic spring. "People in this world are so limited by their lack of perception."

"We see the world around us," Akira insisted.

She felt the girl press herself into Akira's back. Akira felt the press of her small breasts through the thick fabric of her jacket. But her body felt lighter than air. One of the girl's arms encircled Akira's waist, the other draped itself around her shoulders. When next she spoke, her breath tickled across the lobe of Akira's ear.

"You see shadows on the wall, Ahura Mazda."

"What are you talking about?" The question came out feeling more genuine than anything Akira had said since this conversation had begun.

"In good time, my counterpart." The girl giggled and the sound made the flesh on Akira's neck crawl. "If I told you now, it would defeat the purpose of telling you. To know, is to not know."

"I prefer to know."

"Do you?" The hand around her waist began to rise higher, inch by inch, scarlet fingers climbing up her body like the thick legs of some horrific spider. "Does knowing really make you happy? Does knowing that Ukyou is gone forever fill you with joy? Does knowing Bison tore out her soul, erased her mind, broke her spirit until there was nothing left... does that make you feel complete?"

"That isn't true!" Akira growled.

"It is the truth," the girl explained in her sickeningly happy tone. "It is the only truth. For anybody else, there might be many truths. But for Ukyou, there is only one truth. The one she chooses. She chose to cease to be. She chose oblivion. There is no coming back for her now. Your quest... is doomed."

"I don't accept that!" Akira yelled. She wanted to throw the girl off. She wanted to spin around and strike her. She wanted to do anything but what she did next. Her back arched as the girl pressed herself further into Akira. Her defiant yell trailed off into a soft gasp as the hand reached her left breast. It came to a stop, pressing gently against Akira's rapidly beating heart.

"Shadows on the wall, Ahura Mazda." the girl said throatily into her ear. The warm breath drained the heat from Akira and brought a burning flush to her cheeks. "All you see is shadows on the wall. But to see the source, all you have to do... is turn around."

"Let me go!" Akira shouted and spun, slashing her arm in a vicious chop. A young man screamed and fell back, toppling almost comically onto his behind. He stared up at her in abject terror. She looked down. She was glowing faintly blue. The sidewalk at her feet had cracked. The people on the street had stopped and were staring at her now.

The buzz of the street signs. The sounds of murmured words in Cantonese and the shuffle of many footsteps. Eyes the colour of black pearls and emeralds and soft forest loam. The air here was fetid with the scent of the city, a warm mix of urine and smog. Akira looked down at her hand, curling and uncurling her fingers.

It was... like a dream. She looked around slowly. There was no sign that anybody had been here. No clue as to who that young girl had been was to be found. Not even her enhanced senses picked up any trace of anything unusual. Had she daydreamed the whole thing?

She looked at the sign to the shop she had stopped in front of. The one that had started her thinking about Ukyou in the first place. It was a card shop. She had broached the subject once with Angel. They'd talked a lot about that show, the one with that card game that Angel kept trying to get her to play. Akira had asked, almost casually, if they'd ever done an Ukyou card. Angel had seemed doubtful, but she had thought there might have been a card done in the first series. Ukyou was still the first metahuman to receive international exposure, after all. They had been at a loss for characters for the cards at first. Even so it would have been very rare card.

Akira looked at the small door at the bottom of the stairs. Then she smiled and shook her head. She started down the street again, thrusting her hands into her pockets. She didn't have any need for some artist's vision of Ukyou. She would find the real thing soon enough.

And strange daydreams would not stop her. Neither would Bison, or the parody of a human being that was Lotus Infinite. Nobody would stop her.

01010

Over the years the room had become both more comfortable and more alien. The shelves were full of books, leather-bound tomes that filled the room with a pleasant musty smell. But between those books were... things. Here a desiccated human hand, there a green crystal that moaned softly like a damned soul. The desk was modern, a computer built right into the oak top one on side and a ball full of twisting inhuman shadows on the other. The chair was prosaic leather, soft and well-worn, but it floated without the need for legs. A minor bit of magic.

Tethys was leaned back in this chair now, her fingers laced in front of her mouth. Her foot tapped out an irregular rhythm on the floor. Scattered across her desk was the day's business, the reports from her field agents, the stories from a dozen reliable papers the world over. None of it was good news.

Millennium openly attacking Chronos. Chronos responding in kind. Zoalords deployed to the front lines for the first time since... ever. At the beginning of the summer the Americans had graduated the first classes from their little academies. Her sources told her they had an army of almost one thousand martial artists, each highly trained. Each deadlier than a hundred zoanoids. Touga had sent her reports from Jurai. The royal family had finally had enough. They were launching the first large-scale assault on Galaxia. All of the free worlds were joining in.

For seven years, there had been relative peace. Oh certainly, there had been skirmishes and dirty little battles. There had been displays of naked power, assassinations in the dark and acts of terrorism committed by all sides. But now...

"It's all starting up again, isn't it?" Tethys murmured into her hands. "Seven years of waiting... and now it's starting up again."

There was a knock on her door. Tethys gestured gently and the door opened with a soft click. Three figures walked in. Well, to be more accurate, two walked in and the third was dragged between them and thrown unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Lady Tethys, I protest this treatment!" Zoicite snapped as he rose to his knees. Tethys said nothing, merely kept her eyes level and most of her face hidden behind her fingers.

"Pluto, Rose... I take it you have a good reason for this?" she said slowly.

Rose's expression didn't change, it was as cold and hard as always. She had proven to be a most efficient and powerful ally. Tethys sometimes wished she could have convinced her to undergo the fusion process with one of her youma. She knew several who could have enhanced her already considerable talents a great deal. But like Pluto, she had insisted on retaining her 'humanity'. Tethys smiled, an expression that was hidden behind her hands. It was so adorably naive.

Pluto stepped forward, adjusting a green hair behind her ear as she did so. As usual she wore her Senshi uniform, a tight white leotard with a short black skirt straight out of some fetish schoolgirl fantasy. Tethys knew this personally, since she remembered all of Hayato's daydreams.

"Zoicite's been talking around behind your back," Pluto said sternly. Tethys glanced at her sharply. The woman's red eyes did not flinch in the slightest on meeting the aqua depths of Tethys' gaze. They never had. In all the time that Pluto had lived under Tethys protection, she had always met her gaze as an equal.

"I have not!" Zoicite protested sharply.

"He's lying," Rose informed them needlessly.

"Stay out of my head, witch!" Zoicite hissed. He rose to his full height, a swirl of rose petals beginning to form an anima around his body.

"Zoicite," Tethys chided softly. The power he had been gathering winked out and the man turned slowly to look at her. "I'm disappointed. I gave you everything. Power. Prestige. All the men your horny little posterior could handle. For seven years you've served me faithfully. You've grown stronger and smarter under my banner. I must say, I am very disappointed."

"I... Queen Tethys! I can explain!" a note of desperation crept into his voice.

"It had better be the truth," Rose informed him. "I will sense if you lie." That wasn't, strictly speaking, true. Tethys knew the limits of Rose's psychic powers. She was far better at divination and clairvoyance than mundane telepathy. But this was a fact none of the three decided to share with Zoicite.

"It... it..." Zoicite looked back and forth between the three of them uneasily. Sweat began to pour down his brow and Tethys could see his teeth grinding under his lips. "It was... it was... that Tendo woman!" he said with such force that he couldn't have done anything but thought of the answer a moment before he blurted it out.

"Oh?" Tethys murmured.

"She dragged the information out of my mind. I never meant to tell her about Ukyou! But how can I resist her? She's a monster!" The room had gone silent at the mention of that name. It was a name they had avoided saying out loud for years.

"Go on," Tethys prompted icily.

"Then she made me give the information to that girl... that little biker brat Akira! That animal woman practically beat the information out of me as well! She's a barbarian."

"Akira?" Tethys murmured. She frowned and she saw Zoicite wince. Perhaps he was remembering the history Tethys and Akira shared. Perhaps he was regretting his choice of words. Tethys' knuckles turned white as she thought about Akira. That... was a regret. Letting her go had perhaps been the stupidest thing she had ever done.

Now, Akira was one step ahead of her in perhaps the only race that mattered.

"Very well." Tethys leaned forward, unlacing her fingers. "You're dismissed, Zoicite."

"Please don't kill... what?"

"I said you're dismissed. Return to Stockholm," Tethys informed him again.

"But..."

"Zoicite... I told you I'm disappointed in you. Seven years and it took you this long to finally betray me? I suppose I must have scared you more than I thought. I would have expected something more... dramatic after this long a wait." Zoicite was speechless. "But now you know that even small things like this don't escape my notice. Now you know that any attempt to subvert me is doomed before it starts. Frankly... I need devious bastards like you, Zoicite, and I don't feel like taking seven years to train a replacement. Go back to your duties." She paused. "And never forget."

"Y-yes, Queen Tethys!" Zoicite bowed hastily then vanished into a swirl of pink rose petals.

Once the signature of his teleport spell faded, Tethys turned to her two remaining guests. "Seven years. All good things, I suppose."

"Why are you so worried about this?" Rose asked. "Akira is just a girl. A powerful martial artist, true, but no real match for Lotus Infinite, much less Bison." She pulled a tarot card from her suit and consulted it. "The Tower. This is her future. Disaster."

"Pluto." The woman inclined her head at Tethys' prompting. "You still have the dreams?"

"Yes."

Tethys nodded. "Don't underestimate Akira Kazama. She has a core of willpower that has not yet really been tested. She has in her... the strength to defy any power." Tethys couldn't keep all the bitterness out of her tone, but the other two either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge it. "I think it's time you two paid me back for my gracious hospitality. One way or another, things are going to change. Seven years of waiting is over. Either way, you know what to do."

She dismissed them with a wave and watched as they walked out of the door.

"Ukyou... my old nemesis..." Tethys' smile was vicious and dark. "How will you respond to this, I wonder?"

01010

Akira gently pushed open the door with her toe and walked into the room. She glanced around. It was a nice set-up. The top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong, with an entire wall made up of a single pane of glass that gave a spectacular view of the city falling away beneath them to the ocean. There were dark green exotic-looking plants in the corners and inviting leather couches along both walls. At the far end of the room, Nabiki sat behind a jet black desk, shuffling papers silently.

She looked up as Akira walked in and the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.

Akira shrugged and let go of the young man who slumped bonelessly to the floor. She dropped the other from her shoulder letting him land with a thud on the wood-panelled floor. "They tried to get in my way."

"You could have asked for an appointment. I would have made time in my schedule for such an old friend." Nabiki smiled, a venomous smile.

Akira felt her cheeks burning. But she swallowed her rage. No doubt Nabiki had picked up on it long ago, but Akira doubted shouting would accomplish much here. "Can we skip the bullshit, okay?" Akira stepped further into the room. "You. Set. Me. Up." Each word was punctuated by a steadily louder rise in Akira's voice.

"What makes you think that?" Nabiki slipped the papers on her desk to the side. "I believe I gave you exactly what you said you always wanted. You found out what happened to Ukyou, all those years ago. Didn't you?"

"You knew," Akira accused. She realised she was losing her grip on her temper but couldn't seem to care. "You knew and you never said anything."

Nabiki snorted and stood up. "Of course I knew, Akira. I make it my business to know these things. I'm probably the single most well-informed person on this planet."

"You... BITCH!"

Akira moved so fast the air cracked. She vaulted the desk in a single fluid motion, catching Nabiki by the throat at the same time. The wall of the office shuddered as Akira slammed Nabiki into it with enough force to crack the gyprock. The woman hissed slightly, her brown hair flowing around her mature features.

"You sent me out there to get killed! It was you who told Zoicite. It was you who fed him the story about Saffron. All so that Bison would see me as a threat, see me as somebody who was beginning to unravel his hold on Ukyou. Then he sent her to kill me." Akira pulled her face in close to Nabiki's. "And it was you who warned Millennium as well, wasn't it? You told that monster assassin about me and had her follow me. I knew I was being followed, but didn't know by who. It was a trick, to lure Lo... Ukyou into the open so that that monster could kill her!"

Nabiki's painful grimace turned into a triumphant smile as Akira talked. Akira snarled, wanting to put her head through the wall. Nabiki had used her.

"Of course I used you," Nabiki answered the thought. "Now... if you'll kindly let go?"

"No..." But her grip on Nabiki's neck released and the girl slid lightly down the wall to land on her heels. Akira could only stare as her arm pulled back and she started to step backwards away from the girl. She tried to resist, but it was like somebody had pulled on her hand like a glove. Her fingers were no more than empty shells to be turned to whatever purpose the unseen force wanted. A shiver of disgust ran up her spine as Nabiki forced her back step by step. The woman wasn't even straining. Akira could see it in her eyes. To Nabiki, this was nothing.

Finally Akira had been marched back around the other side of the desk, where she sat down in a chair stiffly. Nabiki was rubbing her neck as she righted her own chair and sat down. "I trust I've made my point perfectly clear here, Akira?"

"If you think this will stop me..."

Nabiki sighed and ran her fingers along her forehead. "Some people are slow learners." She looked up. "If I wanted to, Akira, I could have you leap out that window. The fall is over sixty stories. You might survive. But not if I force you to take the fall head-first with all your precious martial arts techniques nullified. Quite frankly, there is nothing you can do to threaten me. So, as you so eloquently put it earlier, let's 'skip the bullshit' and get down to business."

Akira closed her eyes and nodded once, sharply. Instantly she felt control return to her limbs. She shuddered and stood up, stretching and waving her fingers. When she was finished she looked down at Nabiki, who was once again working on the papers on her desk.

"Why?" Akira asked.

"Decided to calm down?"

"I guess I don't have any choice in the matter."

Nabiki chuckled. "Not really. Not many people have much of a choice in the matter at all. I'm glad you realise that, Akira." She flicked her hand, skimming a piece of paper across the desk. Akira slammed her hand on it to keep it from flying off the end and pulled it up.

"What is this?" she asked, but she could see very well what it was. It was a picture of her, high quality and a recent shot too. She hadn't started wearing her hair this long until a few years ago. On the top of the page was the winged skull emblem of Shadowloo. Underneath it was some script. The word 'TERMINATE' was written in large red block letters.

"Your death sentence. Bison wants you gone." Nabiki leaned back in her chair. "It's been sent out to every Shadowloo operative by now. They'll hunt you to the ends of the Earth. The orders are to report your location once you are found, then to engage with all available force." Nabiki smiled. "Congratulations, Akira. Lord M Bison thinks you are the most dangerous human being on the planet."

"Why would he think that?"

"Because you know." Nabiki stood up. "You know about his special pet project. The one he's been working on for seven years. His trump card in this little game of powers he's been forced to play."

"Ukyou?" Akira said softly. "Because I know about her, he plans on killing me? But what about you, and that assassin woman..."

"Rip Van Winkle?" Nabiki chuckled. "He knows about her. He doesn't consider her a threat. She's a test bed. He and the Major have been playing a dangerous game, improving their weapons at every turn. Refining them and playing them against each other. So far, in every test, Bison's weapon has proven superior."

"She isn't a weapon!" Akira snarled, crumpling the poster into a ball and throwing it into the floor with enough force to crack the boards. "She's a human being!"

"Not anymore." Nabiki replied. She turned and walked over to the window, splaying her hand against the thin glass. "You're going to have to face the facts here, Akira. Ukyou is gone. Bison erased her like you might a bad spelling mistake. Rewrote her from the ground up."

"I refuse to believe that," Akira hissed. She took a few deep breaths. Anger wouldn't serve her here. She needed to think clearly. "This is a familiar game, Nabiki. You didn't convince me the first time. You won't convince me this time."

"The first time?" Nabiki turned around, her words coming out slowly. Either she was genuinely surprised by the statement, or a very good actor. "What first time?"

Akira frowned. "I don't like being played with, Nabiki." The woman frowned and Akira sighed. "On the street, a few hours ago. The dream with the strange little girl? You were trying to convince me of..." Akira wasn't certain what the vision had meant, so she trailed off. "Well, it didn't work then, and it won't work now."

"On the street..." Nabiki walked over to Akira and Akira stiffened as she approached. There was something dangerous in her eyes. Something powerful. She reached up and placed her palm against Akira's temple. Akira considered resisting, but then dismissed the idea. Let her see if she wanted.

"There's... nothing there..." Nabiki said softly.

"What?"

She looked up at Akira. Akira squirmed uncomfortably. She wasn't used to being so tall compared to everyone else. Too much time on the road and hanging around westerners, she supposed.

"Describe this dream to me," Nabiki ordered.

"I..." Akira shrugged and did so. It was hard to describe it easily. It was rather straightforward, but her words didn't seem to catch the utter alienness of it. Her unpoetic explanation somehow seemed unsuited to telling Nabiki what she had experienced. When she was finished, Nabiki had turned around to look out the window again. Akira could see her expression reflected in the glass. It was worried.

"You remember all this clearly?" she asked.

"Yes."

"And believe it all happened."

"Maybe... it was very... dreamlike."

"It isn't there. Not a single sign of it." Nabiki crossed her arms. "The memories of your encounter... as far as my talent is concerned, they don't exist."

"I'm telling you-" Nabiki cut off Akira with a sharp gesture.

"I believe you." She took a long breath. "Well, this just moves up the time table." She looked over her shoulder at Akira. "Tell me, Akira. Have you ever heard of the Third Circle?"

"Third Circle?" Akira frowned. Hadn't Lotus... hadn't Ukyou said something about that during the fight? Otherwise she had no idea what the term meant.

Obviously sensing Akira's answer before she could say it, Nabiki moved on. "It's really very simple. In this universe, there are physical laws. Gravity. Entropy. Nuclear forces. They make up the world we experience, and for most people they are as unbending as iron bars." Nabiki turned around. "But for people like you and me, the physical laws are not nearly so defining. You have the power to summon up your spiritual energy, your chi. By channelling it through your chakras you can harness forces that allow you to defy the physical laws for a short time. You can run faster, hit harder, sharpen your senses to a superhuman degree. This power is what we call the First Circle.

"Then there are people like me," Nabiki continued, beginning to walk around the room. She reached down and grabbed the simple sword that hung at her waist. "People and objects that don't just defy the physical laws but define them. People call this magic, but a few more informed people call it the Second Circle. It allows us to gain access to abilities that would be otherwise impossible. Creating matter from nothing. Reading thoughts. Restoring youth or staving off death. The Second Circle can work many miracles.

"But even it has limits." Nabiki had circled the room back to her desk now. "Magic can only bend the world so far before the world starts bending back. The larger the change we cause, the more power it takes to cause that change. And the universe has a natural compulsion to return to its normal state. Without a constant supply of maintaining energy, even the effects of the Second Circle eventually wither and vanish. And the power required for this magic is rare. People like you can never gain access to it. It takes a special connection, a special power you either are born with or granted later in life to open up access. So in the end, the Second Circle is just like the First Circle. Nothing more than smoke and mirrors. The universe continues on.

"Then there is the Third Circle." Nabiki sat down heavily in her chair. "The Third Circle is... infinity. Limitless. It creates change by its very nature. It doesn't just define natural law, Akira. It transcends it. Using the Third Circle, you could make up green or let time run sideways."

"You're not making sense, Nabiki." Akira accused. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"My talent makes me the most powerful telepath on the Earth. It's a Second Circle effect. Perhaps one of the strongest in the universe. I am fairly confident that no other Second Circle effect could stop it, at least not without me noticing something was wrong. But someone altered your perceptions, Akira. Someone who did so in a way I can't detect."

"So... someone Third Circle?" Akira asked. She found herself nodding. If the Third Circle was as strange as Nabiki said it was, it would certainly explain what she had felt when near that girl. That alien... wrongness, the lack of anything remotely normal.

"There are exactly two beings in the entire world who have access to the Third Circle."

"Ukyou!" Akira shouted, leaping to the conclusion. "That power she had. The one that allowed her to tie the Doll's lifeforce to Mamoru. The one that allowed her to take the Silence Glaive from Hotaru..." She had only heard about the last part, but as she said the words she saw Nabiki wince. Akira briefly considered pursuing the subject, but then dismissed it as unimportant.

"And there is one other. You've met him too, I think. He calls himself Chris."

Akira frowned and rubbed her chin. "I... think I remember him." She nodded. "He came by to taunt Akane after the fight at Tokyo Tower. He was saying something about..." What was that phrase?

"The perfect possible future." Nabiki seemed to deflate. "Yes, that's him." She smiled, a self-mocking little smile. "He's completely insane. I don't know what his exact plans are, but I do know he's manipulating things from the shadows. He's almost unstoppable. He can take over the body of any dead person, and learn their skills. He has phenomenal direct powers. But more importantly, he's a Third Circle being. I don't think he can be killed by us." Nabiki laughed sharply. "No, make that I am certain he can't be killed by us."

"Certain? Why?"

"Because I've been working on finding a way to kill him for seven years. Ever since..." She trailed off. "Ever since he came to me and put me under his thumb." She snarled, but there was something forced about her expression. "I can't stand living every day, knowing that the only reason I'm drawing a breath is because he still finds me convenient. Having to bow to his servants, leap to his every command. It sickens me. I won't stand for it."

"That bad, huh?" Akira muttered without sympathy.

Nabiki smirked. "So I've been trying to find a way to destroy him for seven years now. And all my plans... apparently came to nothing. I had such high hopes for Rip Van Winkle. I thought she might actually pull it off this time."

Akira snapped her head up. "Wait... you admit..."

"That I was trying to kill Ukyou? Of course I was. She's also a Third Circle being. But, unlike Chris, she doesn't know it. Bison doesn't know it. They really have no idea what they're playing with down there in those labs of his. All he sees is her power, and he can't understand why he can't just strip it out of her soul and attach it to his own. He finds it frustrating, so he seeks to understand it. Again and again he sends her on missions. Testing her limits. Putting her in situations and against opponents she can't possibly defeat. But she always returns. You see... Ukyou has a good old fashioned capital-D destiny."

Nabiki stood up again, placing her palms on the iridescent black desk. "That's her Third Circle power. She will survive, until that Destiny comes to pass. Even if her memory, her very identity, is gone, the body and the power will remain until one day she fulfills that edict. And I've been trying to kill her for seven years, to stop the tide. I thought that if anyone could produce a weapon strong enough to defeat the Third Circle, it would be Millennium. But I have to face facts. Nothing either of us can do can touch them. The only person ever to defeat Ukyou was Chris. Only the Third Circle can defeat the Third Circle."

Akira felt her anger rising again. Only the certain knowledge that she wouldn't make it two steps towards Nabiki kept her from trying to cave her face in. But she did control herself, she kept her voice almost level as she spoke. "I can't believe you. All this, because you can't stand being humiliated. You're trying to kill her!"

"If it makes any difference, I don't plan on killing her now." Nabiki said, smiling evilly.

"What?"

"I need her." Nabiki buffed her nails on her shirt and glanced at them for a moment. "The only person that can defeat Chris for me is Ukyou. I need a weapon of the Third Circle. Thankfully Bison has already done all the hard work for me. All I need to do is take it."

"You make me sick!" Akira shouted. "You're no better than Bison! No better than Chris!"

"Maybe I'm not." Nabiki snorted. "I've long since learned to live with what I am. Fabulous wealth helps a lot, I think." She chuckled. "Besides, I only need her for one mission. After I'm done, you can have what's left. I hear Bison doesn't just train his pets for fighting. I'm certain you could put the skills he's taught her to good use..."

Akira snapped her eyes away, unable to meet Nabiki's gaze. She hated to admit it, but the thought had crossed her mind. She knew that the Dolls had all been programmed with voracious... appetites and no particular care about the gender of the person who satisfied them. But she shook that thought aside. What Nabiki was suggesting was tantamount to rape. She would have no part of it.

"I'm certain I could sweeten the deal in a few other ways as well..." Nabiki offered enticingly. Akira snapped her eyes back to the woman's face.

"Why are you so interested in getting me to cooperate?" She narrowed her eyes. "You, the great Nabiki Tendo. Queen of the criminal underworld. You've already proven I can't stop you. Why bother trying to get my approval..." Akira trailed off. "Ohhh. That's it. You need me. Even you are afraid of Bison. You might outmuscle him in sheer power... but he's been at this for decades. Your power dwarfs his, but he can wield his with a skill you can't match. You're not certain you can defeat him." Akira crossed her arms. "So you want to lure Ukyou away from him. With the only thing you can... bait. Me. I bet the information has already made its way back to him. I bet his assassin is already on her way."

"You're very intuitive," Nabiki groused.

"I won't let you do this, Nabiki."

"You can't stop me, Akira. I only need you to stay here. I don't need you even conscious for the operation. Out of deference to the friendship you share with my sister, I won't hurt you, but..."

"I said I won't let you." Akira took a few steps towards the desk. "What you're doing is wrong. I won't let you abuse Ukyou like that."

"There's nothing left of Ukyou to abuse." Nabiki smirked. "Trust me. I've seen into Lotus Infinite's mind. There is... nothing. NO trace of the woman who used to live in there."

"I won't accept that!" Akira snarled.

"Yelling won't make the sun set in the east." Nabiki smirked.

"If I have to... I'll..."

"You'll what?" Nabiki snapped. Then suddenly Akira felt her body moving again. Once more, it was like something had crept under her skin and simply put her on like a suit. She could feel her limbs moving, but had no control over them. Her mouth clamped closed and her eyes stared at Nabiki as she was forced to kneel before the desk. "There is nothing you can do, Akira. You've spent the last seven years chasing a phantom. Accept it. Move on."

Akira resisted. She tried to summon her chi, but couldn't find the focus. It was like Nabiki was sapping her will. A chaotic mix of memories seemed to dredge itself up out of her subconscious, images of childhood and her adventures flowing unbidden to her mind. She couldn't help but focus on them, snapping her attention away from the here and now. It made focusing on anything impossible. It was like trying to hold a balloon in a tornado.

Then one particular memory flashed by. It was a cold night, starkly cold compared to the withering heat of the day before. Akira and Ukyou were standing in the gravel-filled courtyard of a small temple. Ukyou looked like death warmed over, and she was telling Akira that she was leaving. She wasn't saying it out loud, but she was letting the girl know they would never meet again. And Akira, haunted by grief over the recent death of her friend, haunted by the terrible things she had wanted to do in response to that grief, haunted by feelings she didn't understand and feared... had made a foolish promise. Ukyou had insisted they would never meet again, and Akira had promised they would.

She seized the memory. She held it tight. It was a familiar memory. It had kept her going for seven years. It would keep her going now. Even if Ukyou couldn't stand up for herself. Even if what Nabiki had said was right. Even if Bison had erased everything about her, replaced it with a emotionless meat shell to do his bidding. Even if Nabiki had all the power to take his weapon for her own, to turn against some man Akira barely knew in a game that Akira didn't understand...

None of that mattered.

She had made a promise.

Even if she had to fight the entire universe, she would see Ukyou again!

Akira threw back her head and gave out a wordless roar. The room flashed blue. Her aura exploded around her into a great wave, a concentric circle of power that flooded the room. The wood at her feet snapped. The walls cracked. Flecks of stone ripped free from the desk. The window shattered.

Akira slumped to her knees, exhausted. She looked up slowly.

Nabiki was rising to her feet. The wall behind her was dented from where she had struck it. Blood flowed from a small cut on her scalp. She was staring at Akira, her eyes wide.

"Not possible," she muttered.

"Round two?" Akira asked, rising to her own feet. Whatever she had done, it had drained her of almost everything.

Nabiki looked at Akira for a long moment. What she did next startled Akira out of her martial stance. It made Akira more afraid than any demon or vampire or zoanoid ever had. Nabiki started laughing.

It began as a soft chuckle, a sort of snorting hiccup of a laugh that pushed its way reluctantly past Nabiki's lips. From there it grew into what could only be called a schoolgirl giggle. Nabiki placed her hands over her mouth, trying to hold in her mirth, but it was no use. Within a minute the giggle had exploded into a full-blown set of body-shaking guffaws. The woman leaned against the wall, slapping her thighs and laughing until her voice went hoarse.

Akira had never quite found herself in a situation like this before, so she understandably decided to sit there and be confused.

"Okay." Nabiki said finally, her voice a little strained after she finally got control of herself. "You win."

"I... I what?"

"You win." Nabiki seemed to get herself under control, then she looked down at her toppled chair and snorted again. "Akira, what do you have against my chair, anyway?"

"Wait... could we back up a moment?"

Nabiki righted her chair, brushed some dust from it and sat down. "Sure, You win. We're going to try and save Ukyou."

"I..." Akira blinked. "I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth but... why?"

"Because I think you can do it," Nabiki answered softly.

"I can...?"

"After the display you just put on, now you begin to doubt?" Nabiki asked snidely. Akira frowned as Nabiki smiled at her poor joke. "The fact is that I had to be sure. I had to be sure you could do it. That's why I chose you, Akira. Because there are exactly four people Ukyou ever really cared about or that ever really cared about her, and you're the only one that kept looking..." Nabiki trailed off. "Rather, you're the only one that is still trying to save her. You were right, I can't fight Bison alone. He's too good. I've tried before. But whatever he did to Lotus Infinite, it's beyond my ability to counteract. Not without years more training, years I don't have. Chris has just finished something, something big. He calls it the Kalia Project. I don't know what it is, but I think I'm almost out of time if I want to stop him. And Ukyou is the only one that can.

"But I can't reach Ukyou. Frankly, I hate her. She hates me. It's a long story, I won't go into it here. That's why I need you. Someone who won't give up. Someone who hasn't given up." Nabiki frowned and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "My only hope is that you can reach her. Right now the only thing that can undo Bison's brainwashing is her."

"But... you said that Ukyou had been erased. That there was nothing left to reach."

Nabiki smiled. "If this were anyone else, that would be true. I've dealt with the Dolls before. Akane once had me try and recover the memories of the ones that are working with her. But there is no trace of their former lives left. Their minds were wiped clean." She chuckled softly. "But Ukyou has an advantage they don't have..."

"The Third Circle..." Akira murmured, feeling hope begin to swell in her chest.

"Yes. I don't think Bison CAN erase Ukyou. I think she's as much beyond him as Chris is beyond me." She held up a warning hand. "Which isn't to say this will be easy. Bison's technique is very good. Reaching Ukyou past whatever mental barriers he created will be next to impossible." She grinned again. "That's why I had to push you. I'm sorry, I really am. But I had to know that you wouldn't give up." She stood up and walked around the desk towards Akira. "I had to know, because this is it. This is the last roll of the dice. When - not if - this gets back to Chris, I'm a dead woman. I only have one chance to do this, and I need to make certain it will work on the first try, because it's all I'll get."

She extended her hand towards Akira. A western signal. Akira stared down at the offered palm. Did she really want to trust Nabiki? The woman had manipulated her at every turn. Had pushed her to the breaking point just to prove a point to herself. Akira still wasn't certain this wasn't another layer of deception. She could sense it in her bones. There was more going on than Nabiki was telling her. There was something else that Nabiki wanted.

But Akira didn't care. It would save Ukyou. That was all she needed to know.

"Fine." Akira grasped her hand firmly. Perhaps a bit too firmly, but Nabiki didn't let that show on her face. "I guess we're allies... for now."

01010

Akane kneeled down beside the wall. One hand rested on her hip, gripping the two sheathed swords that hung there, keeping them from rattling as she moved. It was almost pitch black out here tonight, so being seen wouldn't likely be a problem - there were zoanoids with exotic vision capabilities, but they were fairly rare. Sound could still give them away if they weren't careful. The pounding rain, however, kept most of the noise they did make nicely masked.

Akane could just barely make out a half-dozen forms in the darkness around her. Akane held up her hand and signaled once for everyone to halt their advance. She looked to her right and saw Satsuki crouched there. The young woman met Akane's eyes and nodded once before vanishing up and over the wall. She moved like a shadow, almost preternaturally silent, and very soon Akane lost all track of her. Akane hated sending the former Doll out on her own, but had little choice.

The cell with Konatsu in it was in deep cover halfway across the islands, and there were precious few other people in the resistance that had the skillset that allowed them to serve as good scouts. Not ones that were still with them these days, anyway. Akane bit her lip and forced that thought aside.

A soft hand descended on her shoulder and Akane looked over to see Mamoru smiling at her. She smiled thinly. Trust Mamoru to know what she was thinking about. The man had an uncanny way about him, to raise the spirit by his presence alone. She saw Fevrier giving her a dangerous look and Akane shrugged off the hand, widening her smile and giving him a thumbs up to show that the message had gotten across.

She still had friends here.

They waited in silence for another few moments. As they did, Akane allowed herself to think about what would happen if this mission went off as planned. It was a gamble, coming out here to the protected forest zone with potentially hundreds of zoanoids all around them working the terraforming systems. Akane looked at a nearby tree, looking for all the world like it had been here for centuries.

That was the key, wasn't it? As long as the people had to rely on Chronos, they would never be free. Chronos controlled all their technology. The terraforming was just one of the most obvious examples of what they could accomplish. Entire ecosystems could be revived and repaired by their scientists and engineers. On top of that, they could fix so many problems. Disease? Hunger? Both of these things were distant memories in Chronos Japan.

She remembered talking to Nabiki about it once. Her older sister had listened to Akane vent about how the people just couldn't seem to care about what was happening to their freedom. How they just surrendered all their rights into Chronos' hands. Once Akane was finished screaming and breaking a few of Nabiki's more expensive pieces of furniture, her sister had looked at her with that infuriating smile she had mastered in the last seven years. The smile that said 'oh, if only you knew the things I knew'.

"Akane, Akane..." She had explained in a soft, patronising tone: "You complain that people don't care about giving up their freedoms. You complain that they don't understand that they live in a world without justice or humanity. But you forget one thing, Akane." Then Nabiki had leaned forward, and spoken the next part in a conspiratorial whisper. "People are animals, Akane. They are driven by base desires. Fear. Hunger. Lust. Greed. What is freedom or justice, Akane? Can you distill them from this universe? Can you find me a thing which is justice? A particle of freedom? I don't think so. They're just words, little sister. But words don't put food on the table. Words don't buy you a new car. Words don't save your life or take it away. Chronos controls the world because it controls those things. It can show you those things. Things that bring fear. Things that satisfy hunger and lust. Things that inspire greed. So long as Chronos controls all those things, they will be in power. And no words you say, no matter how beautiful, will change that."

At the time, Akane had cursed her, said some things she later regretted and stormed out. But over time she had begun to believe in those words, just a little. Akane did not think so little of humanity as her sister did, but she did understand. The problem was that Chronos had all the power. They could give life and take it away. They had the ultimate carrot and stick, on the one hand taking away all the ills that plagued man, and on the other threatening to annihilate those who refused them.

What people needed was to understand that Chronos didn't control that power. It was just knowledge. Genetics. Technology. Science. You didn't have to be a zoalord to cure cancer. You didn't have to be a neo-zoanoid to filter smog from the air and restore the ozone layer. All you needed was science.

Knowledge, Akane speculated, was like an incurable disease. It spread quickly, from host to host. And you could never snuff it out. All it took was one person somewhere, willing to share, and the entire process would start over again. Until now, Chronos had guarded its secrets jealously.

But that was about to change.

There was a flash of darkness and Satsuki practically materialised in front of Akane. Akane didn't start. She was rather used to this by now. The rain pounded down on them, plastering the young woman's brown hair to her scalp and dripping down the length of her black body-stocking. Akane might have complained about the use of those uniforms, except that they were very useful for these kinds of missions. She wondered how Fevrier had ever convinced her to come in one of them, however. Ideal for stealth they may be, but they didn't give much pretense to modesty. Besides, they were cold.

"The lab is mostly deserted. A few dozen scientists, human for the most part. Two sentries at every entrance, another eight patrolling the grounds. I detected no signs of hyper or neo-zoanoids," Satsuki informed her in a soft whisper that barely carried over the rainfall.

"Good." Akane frowned, trying to ignore that sinking feeling she got whenever she thought something was too good to be true. As often as not, it had proven to be just nervousness on her part anyway. Besides, they couldn't afford to waste this opportunity. Within a few days, the lab would be deserted. She only hoped they hadn't removed everything already. "Marz?"

Marz looked up from the small laptop she was typing on, the light reflecting off her blue hair. The computer was waterproof and extremely sturdy: Akane had once seen the girl bludgeon a zoanoid unconscious with the thing. "My scans show the uplink here is still active. If I can get inside, I should have a direct line to the Chronos mainframe at Mount Minakami."

"How long will you need to hack it?" Akane asked bluntly.

"Chronos encryptions are very good, but with Mr. Yaegashi helping me from base, I feel I can be inside within five minutes."

Akane didn't sigh. She had hoped they could be in and out of there much faster, but there was no help for it. She mentally noted to try and give Marz a few extra minutes. The girl was almost always dead accurate in her predictions, but it never hurt to have an extra window in case of surprises.

"Okay." She looked around at her small group. Not the ideal force for a mission like this, but it would do. Akane was not pleased by the fact that she was perhaps the best fighter in the group. Satsuki and Marz were all but non- combatants. While they had certainly improved remarkably over the last seven years, neither of them was quite as good outside their speciality as they had once been. She glanced at Fevrier, who was calmly adjusting a few parts on one of her rifles. Fevrier could hold her own in hand-to-hand versus a regular zoanoid now, and her weapons were the best of the best. Smuggled in from America, they had the kind of stopping power that was needed to put down most hyper-zoanoids if they hit.

Most.

Koume was similarly equipped. Unlike the other women here, she had declined to use one of the Doll's old bodysuits, preferring to stick with her rather garish pink jumpsuit. She was loud in her defiant dislike of the body suits, but Akane understood the real reason. There was a combat vest and several other pieces of armour hidden under the bulk of that outfit. Koume would never admit it, but she hated having to wear something like that to keep up, and Akane allowed her the polite fiction. Her long red hair had been turned a mellow orange by the weather, and her only concession to stealth was that she wasn't carrying two bazookas today.

That left the guys. Mamoru, she knew she could trust. He may not be a good front line combatant but he was a damn good shot. Not even Fevrier was as good a sniper as he was, which Akane knew annoyed the woman to no end. He was wearing modern kevlar combat armour, salvaged equipment he and the ex-Dolls had put together over the years to keep him safe. For some reason Akane always thought the modern armour looked wrong on him. He should have been wearing something more... classic. He was inspecting the sight on his sniper rifle.

That left only the other man. Akane frowned as she looked at him. To call Skullomania ostentatious would be a bit of an understatement. He wore a padded black bodysuit, colored with white lines that looked vaguely like bones. He also wore an expressionless mask that covered his entire head, decorated with a garish skull. Around his neck was tied a long red scarf which, somehow, managed to flutter dramatically despite the fact that he was as soaking wet as the rest of them.

Akane didn't know much about Skullomania. Not even his real name. She had saved him by literally tackling him to the ground and beating him unconscious so she could drag him out of the Chronos military base he had attacked. Single-handedly. In broad daylight. After giving a speech. It was only sheer luck that Akane had been there at the time. Ever since then he'd been sort of following her around like a puppy.

He was always polite. He spoke very highly of her. In fact, he seemed to practically worship the ground she walked on, which made Akane more than a little uncomfortable. She was secretly convinced he had a crush on her, but had never said a word to her about it. Which would have been sweet, if he didn't always find a way to annoy the hell out of her. Plus she had never seen his face. He never took the mask off. Ever. Not even to eat. Koume figured it was because he was extremely ugly, which Akane wasn't sure she disagreed with.

But Nabiki had vouched for him (after she had stopped laughing), so Akane knew she could trust him. This wasn't the kind of mission she would have trusted Skullomania with, but she didn't have much choice. Even if she had ordered him to stay behind, he had a bad habit of showing up (often posing and giving a dramatic speech) at the worst possible moment anyway.

Besides, he was all she had. He wasn't a bad combatant either, once he stopped speech-making. Akane had tried to train him once or twice, because he certainly had a lot of raw talent. But the process had been too annoying for even her to endure for long.

"Okay, here's the plan. Satsuki sneaks in and nullifies the people in the comm-center." She looked at the brown-haired young woman. "Non-lethally, if at all possible," she clarified. Satsuki nodded sharply. Most of the people that worked with Akane for very long had gotten used to her quirks, but sometimes the ex-Dolls fell back on old habits unless you reminded them. She had tried talking to Mamoru about it, but he had just sighed and explained that the three often felt it was easier to ask for Akane's forgiveness then her permission. "That should prevent them from sending out a distress signal right away. Once she's secure, Fevrier and Koume act as heavy fire support: take out the patrols as quickly as possible. Mamoru, you take out the guards at the east entrance. Skullomania and I will storm the west entrance. Marz, you're with us. Once we're inside, head straight for the comm-center and do your work. Satsuki, you stay with her in case something goes wrong. If it does, you have my permission to knock her unconscious and drag her out. Understood?"

Satsuki nodded sharply again. Marz rolled her eyes but nodded as well. Akane wasn't about to be moved. She knew the hacker could get too engrossed in her work to notice that it was time to run.

"Skullo and I will round up the scientists while taking care of any zoanoids inside. Once we're done, everyone should move into the base. Koume, you rig the place with the charges while Fevrier and Mamoru serve as sentries at east and west entrances respectively. Any questions?"

"No," Koume said, yawning.

Mamoru just shook his head.

"Objectives clear," Satsuki said softly, the other two ex-Dolls echoing her a fraction of a second later.

"Do not fear, Akane Tendo!" Skullomania said, standing up and posing like a muscle-builder. "Your plan can not fail, for you have at your side the ultimate hero, SK-ERK!"

Akane released his scarf and glared at him once she had pulled him back down behind the retaining wall. He had the good sense to look slightly sheepish. At least, as sheepish as a man wearing a face-concealing mask could be. Akane sighed.

"Good. Go."

Satsuki vanished just as she had arrived. The others began to fan out, heading to their respective positions. Akane paused and reached into the pocket of the short vest she wore. She could feel the soft warmth of the Star Seeds between her fingers. As had become her ritual, she said a soft prayer through them. Not a prayer aimed at any specific deity. Not even a prayer to the spirits of the women who had died so that Akane could receive these talismans. It was a prayer to the entire universe, and every soul that lived within it. The words were always the same.

"I believe in you."

01010

Fevrier crouched in the entranceway, peering along the wall and out towards the forest beyond. The rain kept pouring down without cease. She ran a hand down to the stock of her assault rifle. It wasn't a pretty weapon: the design was far too blocky where Fevrier preferred sleek. But it worked, and Fevrier also far preferred function to form. It fired hypercore rounds that Akane had gotten her hands on through the black market.

Supposedly the thing could penetrate the hide of anything but the most advanced hyper-zoanoid battle armour. Perhaps it was a waste using them on unprepared and untransformed regular zoanoids, but Fevrier did not believe in taking chances. There were neo-zoanoids that were strong enough in their human forms to bounce normal ammunition off their skin, and they were all but indistinguishable from regular zoanoids from just visual signs alone.

For the third time she checked her weapon, making certain the safety was ready, the magazine locked, the barrel clear. It was time to admit the truth: she was nervous. She glanced down at the watch that was sewn into the wrist of her bodysuit. Four minutes. Marz had claimed she could break the Chronos encryption in five minutes.

The assault had come off with military precision. Even the buffoon managed to pull off his job with a minimum of posing and prattling. She hated to admit it, but over the years they had grown into a pretty efficient team. Akane was far from a tactical genius. She made mistakes. She risked too much to make certain every member of her team came home alive. Compared to the one hundred percent success rate - until Ukyou - that Fevrier had displayed as a member of the Dolls, this was nothing.

But Akane got them through. Fevrier had never really enjoyed the prospect of taking orders from some young, untested little girl. In the seven years she had known her, however, Akane had proven herself again and again. Not as a front line fighter, or as a great leader or tactician, but as the spirit of the rebellion. Fevrier felt it safe to say, and had said so to Mamoru and her sisters on more than one occasion, that without Akane there WAS no rebellion.

That was why she was here, in the pouring rain. It had taken her a long time to figure out why Mamoru had joined her cause. Why he would risk his own life for a hopeless battle. She remembered vividly the time he had nearly gotten himself killed on some fool errand, and when he had returned to her she had decked him so hard a tooth had come loose. There had been a lot of yelling and crying (though Fevrier would violently deny any of the latter had been on her part) and harsh words said.

Afterwards Akane had found her in the basement of the building they were holed up in. She hadn't said anything at first, just sat there across from her. Fevrier had hoped the power of her glare would set the woman on fire, but Akane didn't even seem to notice. Finally she had spoken.

"I'm not going to say I don't need you, Fevrier." Akane frowned and looked at her. "I need every person I can get. I didn't ask to be in charge of this battle. I never started this fight. But I AM going to finish it. Without you, without Satsuki and Marz and Mamoru... I'm not certain I can do this. If I lose even one person, it may be one person too many." Then Akane had sighed. "But I'm not going to force you to stay. And I can't force Mamoru to stay either." She stood up. "It's unfair to you to make you fight for a cause you don't believe in. What's worse, I can't let Mamoru fight either."

Fevrier had jumped to her feet, about to protest that Mamoru could do anything he wanted, but Akane had quieted her with an angry scowl. "The fact is that your life force and his are still entwined. If he dies, I have no idea what will happen to you or your friends." She smiled. "So as of today I'm ordering him off the battle. I'll contact Nabiki and see about getting the four of you smuggled abroad to somewhere safe. America maybe."

"You can't do that!"

"I most certainly can. I'm the leader, and that means I get to make these decisions."

"He won't accept it!" Fevrier had snarled. "You don't know Mamoru like I do. He won't settle for the sidelines! He believes in a better world, a world without anger or fear. He believes that people working together can bring about a better world." Akane stared at her. "He believes that you can bring about that better world. And he will die to protect you if it means preserving that hope."

"I don't have any control over what he believes. But I can control what kinds of risks he puts himself, and you three, into."

"Damn you!" Fevrier snarled and stepped forward, clenching her fists. "It's because he listened to your preaching. Your endless speechmaking! All that talk about joining together for the common good. It's worthless!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way..."

"You're all he talks about! He keeps saying how he has this need to protect something. How he wants to help you. How he believes in you!" Akane stared at her silently. "Why does he always talk about you!"

Fevrier never remembered throwing the punch. She just remembered watching the specks of blood spatter along the concrete floor. She remembered Akane reeling back. She recalled the woman's hand reaching down and settling on the hilt of one of her swords, the wooden one. For a long moment, there was utter silence in the room save for the low hum of some piece of industrial equipment.

"Did that make you feel better?" Akane asked slowly. Fevrier had no response. "I know it's hard. You must love him a great deal. But you have to understand that he doesn't really see that. He thinks that the three of you are compelled to love him. That's why he pushes you away. I'm not the problem here, Fevrier."

Fevrier wasn't certain what to say at the time. Akane had simply left. And now, five years later, she was sitting here willing to give her life for that girl. Not because she was a great hero. It was because Akane always put the needs of the people above her own needs. It was because she was always there for every single one of them. It was because when it came right down to it, Akane believed. And when you fought with her, you believed too.

The door to the facility opened with a soft hiss. Fevrier glanced back as Koume walked out. She was toying idly with the detonator, spinning it around one finger. She smirked at Fevrier.

"What are you doing out here?" Fevrier asked.

"Just getting some fresh air," Koume answered roughly.

"You should be inside."

"Doing what?" Koume murmured. Fevrier tried to think of something but failed, so she settled on glaring. Really, she rather liked Koume. The two of them had spent a lot of time field stripping and machining their arsenals together. It said a lot about how much they trusted each other that they were willing to let the other handle their equipment.

"I don't like this," Fevrier said finally into the rain.

"What, getting soaked? Neither do I, really. But it's better than sitting in there with a bunch of freaked out Chronos geeks and Mr. Upright Action Hero."

"No. I mean this mission. Something is wrong."

"Wrong?" Koume snorted. "Everything's going right for once. Akane's been looking for a way to get a direct line to the Chronos mainframe for years. We're just lucky that they decided to shut down this terraforming station and move out most of the personnel before disabling the uplink."

Fevrier didn't squirm, but she sometimes wished it wasn't beneath her. She settled for nodding slowly. It made sense. Chronos wasn't infallible. They made mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes were all that had kept them alive.

She was about to try and vocalise her unease to Koume when she felt it. Most martial artists have a danger sense. It seemed to just come naturally as you developed your chi, an almost instinctive awareness for hostile energy in the area. She was quite familiar with it from her time as a Doll. Seven years ago, when she had been summarily stripped of her abilities, she had lost her danger sense along with her superhuman prowess. Seven years of near fanatical training, training to the point where her body almost literally broke, had not restored it. She knew she had made enough progress that she could no longer be considered strictly human in her limitations, but the danger sense had never returned.

But as she opened her mouth she felt it. A low tickle on the back of her neck. Nothing more than goosebumps. "DOWN!" she screamed and tackled Koume. Almost too late as a lance of red light shot out of the darkness. It ran up the side of the door and into the wall. A second later the embedded doorway exploded into a shower of molten metal. Fevrier hissed as sparks and tiny pieces of red hot door impacted against her back. Her bodysuit was made out of fabric that deflected most of the damage, however.

She looked up through the smoke and saw two figures approaching through the rain, appearing from among the trees like lumbering behemoths.

"Holy shit!" Koume screamed. "It's ZX-Tole! It's the Elite Five!"

Fevrier didn't even spare a moment to agree with her. She was already rolling off the woman and bringing her rifle to bear. ZX-Tole was a huge target, a prodigious mountain of a monster that looked like some sort of walking rhinoceros beetle. On his arms the chitin above his wrists had opened, showing the red eyes of his laser cannons. Fevrier knew she didn't have a chance of piercing his armour with the firepower she had on hand, so she took a moment to aim and fire.

She knew her shot was dead on. The hypercore bullets should pierce the soft iris of the laser projector, disabling them. If she was lucky, the bullet would go even further into his armour, perhaps cause some minor internal damage. Either way it should slow him down for a few seconds.

Then there was a sound like a whip cracking and suddenly a long lithe figure was standing in front of ZX-Tole. He had thin eyes on an almost faceless head, with a long dorsal fin running from his scalp almost completely down his body. A low hum vibrated off the fin. His arm was extended, the coarse grey flesh of his wrist transforming into a thin rapier-like blade. Bits and pieces of Fevrier's bullet rained down around him.

Koume was shouting even as the vaguely familiar hyper-zoanoid chuckled. Fevrier didn't hesitate. She just clicked the rifle to full auto and expended her entire clip. He was a soft target, from the looks of him, and her only hope was that he couldn't move fast enough to parry all the bullets at once.

But he just held up his other hand, which also had been twisted into a bony rapier blade. Then a high-pitched whine emanated from it, an ear-splitting shriek that resonated through the air. As Fevrier watched the bullets seemed to slow down in mid-air as they approached him, then began to scatter and spiral away from him, digging little holes into the ground. The projectiles that weren't knocked aside merely harmlessly exploded before they reached the zoanoid. The sound cut off a fraction of a second later.

"Not this time, human filth. I am Neo-Thancrus. With my modifications, I can produce sound waves that can easily shatter your weapons!" the zoanoid said, laughing.

"Shut up and just take them, Thancrus," ZX-Tole rumbled in his buzzing insectile voice.

"Move it, Fev!" Koume shouted, grabbing her with one hand and throwing her back through the blasted doorway. With her other hand she was already firing her bazooka. The heavy shell popped into the air, a jet of flame erupting from the tiny rocket a moment later. Fevrier heard the explosion but didn't see the result. She didn't have much hope of it taking down either of them.

She turned and ran deeper into the facility. There was a crack like thunder and a bright flash from further inside. She cursed and reloaded on the move. She only had one more clip of hypercores. She supposed they would have to count. She heard a mixture of laughter and curses from behind her as Koume started a running retreat, unloading everything in her arsenal as she went. For a moment, Fevrier wondered what her friend hoped to accomplish. Then she heard the ceiling behind them collapse.

Fevrier smirked. It wouldn't stop two hyper-zoanoids, but it would delay them a few precious seconds.

Fevrier burst into the main control center of the terraforming lab at a dead sprint. She had already memorised the layout of the complex earlier, so she knew exactly which direction to dive towards for cover. This allowed her to use her first few moments to evaluate the situation.

It was, indeed, the Elite Five. Ikazuchi had apparently dropped through the ceiling in a blast of lightning, judging from the sparking hole above him. He was standing tall in the center of the room, his purple-blue flesh shining as the rain fell on it. In one hand he held a blade of sparkling blue light, pointing down and to his right. In front of him Skullomania was standing in a martial stance. On the other side of the room Red Cyclone was fighting with Akane and Satsuki. Both girls were attacking with live steel, trying to stay away from his clumsy-looking but deceptively fast grabs. Thankfully, either he was too dumb or too arrogant to have assumed his battle form yet. Fevrier wondered if it was worth taking a shot at him, considering the two blades had yet to so much as scratch him.

"Dark-clad visage, I must insist you stand down this instant!" Ikazuchi cried, sweeping his blade up in something like a salute. "In the name of righteousness and the authority of Chronos, I place you under arrest!"

"There can be no authority that flows from evil!" Skullo declared, switching poses rapidly, his red scarf trailing behind him. "In the name of true justice, I will defeat you, paragon of darkness! I am the phantom soldier, the fear of all tyrants! SKULLOMANIA!"

"Before I accept your challenge, it is custom to acknowledge with my own name." Ikazuchi smiled and levelled his blade directly in front of his face. "I am the pinnacle of genetic evolution. The expression of the perfect genius of Dr. Valkus and the trailblazer of humanity's bright future! Neo-zoanoid, IKAZUCHI!" A flash of lighting and a roar of thunder punctuated his speech.

Then Fevrier shot him.

The bullet wasn't enough to puncture his armour, but it was enough to pick him up off his feet and send him flying back against the wall.

"Go help Akane!" Fevrier roared at Skullo when he looked at her reproachfully. Fevrier meanwhile ran forward, peppering the neo-zoanoid with shots from her rifle. The problem was that without the element of surprise she was no match for him. His blade moved with inhuman speed, almost literally as fast as a lightning bolt. Where it went her bullets just sizzled and vanished in a puff of ozone. She snarled and reached down to her belt, grabbing a grenade. "Block this!" she yelled and threw.

He wasn't quite stupid enough to do so, instead moving to the side with enough speed that the explosion didn't even touch him. He ran towards her, and the next thing she knew her stomach had exploded in pain and she was plastered against the far wall.

She looked up groggily and saw the fight was not going well. There was an explosion on the east wall and Derzerb stormed in, tearing through the metal walls like they were tissue paper. Fevrier felt her heart stop, but then a moment later saw Mamoru run in after him. The grey-skinned monster was ignoring the shots from Mamoru's sniper rifle as he made a beeline for the trio fighting Red Cyclone.

Akane meanwhile had fallen back when Skullo had arrived. Two opponents seemed to be enough to keep the muscular Russian off balance, even if neither was doing any damage.

"We have to retreat!" Akane shouted.

"Oh, I don't think so, Akane Tendo."

The blood drained from Akane's face and she turned around slowly. Fevrier propped herself up and watched in mute horror as a man walked out of the stairwell. He was dressed in a tight blue bodysuit with a golden breastplate and shoulderpads. His wrinkled face sneered as he spotted Akane, his inhuman eyes widening in delight. In his right hand he gripped the unconscious form of Marz.

"Gyro..." Akane hissed.

"It's been... such a long time, Ms. Tendo. I had almost thought you had forgotten me." Akane shifted stances, bringing her sword up in front of her. "But then, you never do forget the people who killed you, do you now, Ms. Tendo?"

Killed? Fevrier blinked.

"That was a long time ago, Gyro," Akane snarled.

"Why don't you do the intelligent thing for once, Ms. Tendo?" Gyro sneered. "Or do you really think that blade can save you? You, of all people, know the futility of fighting me."

"You forget, Gyro. I don't have to win. I just have to delay you."

"So your friends can escape, no doubt." Gyro shook his head and held up Marz. His fingers curled around her neck and she whimpered softly.

"MARZ!" Mamoru shouted and rushed towards Gyro, swinging his rifle like a club. Gyro gave a sharp glance and suddenly Mamoru was grabbed from behind by Derzerb. The immense horned hyper-zoanoid easily held the much smaller man with one hand. The thing chuckled as it plucked the weapon from his hand and shattered it like a toothpick. Fevrier looked over and saw that ZX-Tole and Neo- Thancrus had joined them. ZX-Tole pushed Koume forward, who stumbled groggily into the room before collapsing to her knees. Her jumpsuit was cut open in several places and blood was pouring down her shoulder.

"Damn you, Gyro!" Akane snarled. "This was a trap all along."

"How remarkably perceptive of you, Ms. Tendo. Also, how utterly foolish." He threw his head back and laughed, a low rumbling sound. "Who do you think allowed your organisation to learn of this station, Ms. Tendo? I knew that if I gave you a target too tempting to resist, you would come to me eventually." He smiled. "All things do, in time."

"You black-hearted villain!" Skullomania shouted, standing up and shaking his fist at Gyro. "I won't let you continue your diabolical plans any longer! In the name of justice and..."

"Somebody shut him up," Gyro ordered.

There was a flash of blue lightning as Ikazuchi blasted Skullo from behind. The man stood for a moment, the back of his black combat suit having been burnt off. He looked slowly behind him at Ikazuchi. "Bad form," he groaned, then collapsed to the ground. Ikazuchi looked away from him, his expression growing troubled.

"As you can see, Ms. Tendo. There is no point in resisting. You will submit to me, or all your friends shall suffer."

"I'll never submit." Akane said softly. She still hadn't moved; her sword was still pointed at Gyro's heart.

"Then watch as your friends die." Gyro reached up with his free hand and snapped his fingers.

"Sir, I don't think this is necessary." ZX-Tole stepped forward, his insectile voice worried. "These are all fine specimens. If we take them back to headquarters we can process them. Even the Tendo girl will be loyal once we do that."

"Are you defying my orders, ZX-Tole?" Gyro said in a dangerously calm tone. "That is an unfortunate habit you have acquired."

ZX-Tole obviously chose his next words carefully. "Not at all, Commander Gyro. I'm merely suggesting that slaughtering the rebel command staff here, in an anonymous terraforming station far from civilization, isn't the best use of this victory. Think of how much greater an impact this will have on the morale of the rebellion if we convert their most infamous operatives to our side."

"Morale?" Gyro sneered. "You have been spending too much time with that bleeding heart Purgstall and his tramp." His eyes narrowed. "Perhaps I should rethink who commands your unit. Derzerb?"

"Yes, Commander Gyro!" the rhinoceros-man shouted.

"Kill one of them. Messily."

"NO, MAMORU!" Fevrier shouted. Before she could move, there was a low hum and Neo-Thancrus placed a vibration blade under her chin.

"Lord Mamoru!" Satsuki screamed, but Red Cyclone was holding her firmly.

Derzerb chuckled. "My pleasure, sir!" He looked down at the struggling man in his grasp. "You certainly seem popular with the ladies. But men don't scream nearly as loud as I like." The beast hurled Mamoru across the room, denting a wall. He then stalked across the room and stood over the kneeling form of Koume.

She looked up at him, one eye swelled shut and one arm hanging limp. "Fuck. Killed by the walking scab. Just my luck."

Derzerb only chuckled and lifted her into the air, his heavy hand wrapping neatly around her entire body. Then he squeezed. Fevrier tried to avert her eyes, but Neo-Thancrus made a tsking sound and nicked her chin with his blade. Koume did scream before the end.

"KOUME!" Fevrier shouted, her voice hoarse. She could feel tears run down her cheeks. Akane winced and looked away.

"As you can see, there is no point in resisting. It will only bring you pain," Gyro informed Akane with a savage grin. "Who will die next, Ms. Tendo? This girl?" He gestured with Marz. "Perhaps the boy?" He glanced at the unconscious form of Skullomania. "No... I think..." His eyes settled on Fevrier. "Thancrus, I can sense your desire to punish this woman. Far be it from me to disallow my men the simple pleasures of life."

"Thank you, Commander Gyro." Neo-Thancrus stepped back from Fevrier. "This is for blowing off my arm, bitch." He drew back his blade.

Akane opened her mouth to scream something, but whatever it was, it was drowned out by a new voice.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

Neo-Thancrus vanished behind a blast of flame. He gave a startled shout and fell back. When the smoke cleared there was a large hole burnt clear through his shoulder. Fevrier stared, then followed the path the flaming projectile had come from. A young woman stood in the east entrance, her long black hair flowing around her. She was wearing a severely abbreviated red skirt and a body-hugging white leotard adorned with ribbons. In her hands she held a large bow composed of flame, and she was already releasing another blast by the time Fevrier noticed her.

"Rei?" Akane breathed, her voice disbelieving.

Neo-Thancrus was dodging this time, and thus the bolt missed him as he leapt to the side, only to find his way blocked by an old man in a simple white and blue hakama and gi. There was a crack like thunder and then Neo-Thancrus collapsed to the ground. The old man adjusted his glasses with one hand and looked at the bokken he had shattered against the hyper-zoanoid's skull.

"Shoddy construction," he said, disapprovingly. It was unclear whether he was talking about the weapon or Thancrus.

"What? What is going on here?" Gyro demanded, gesturing wildly with his arms. Then he blinked as he realised he was no longer holding Marz, but instead a vaguely Marz-shaped stuffed doll. He took a moment to process this before tossing the doll aside in a rage.

"Interesting, they seem to be drawing their life force from an outside source..."

Fevrier followed the new voice only to see a young girl with long red hair kneeling at Gyro's feet. She was cradling the unconscious Marz in her lap, looking at a small floating pane of light that hovered just above the former Doll's chest. "Thankfully the brute didn't do any permanent damage."

"You! How dare you interrupt-"

"Oh, you be quiet!" the little girl snapped and flicked her hand absently behind her. Lines of red light flashed from her fingertips, uncurling into a net. The net snagged Gyro and dragged him back, pinning him against the wall. His eyes widened in surprise. "Don't think I won't give you a time out, Mr. Bully."

"C-commander Gyro!" ZX-Tole stuttered, obviously taken off-guard by someone so easily manhandling a zoalord. Fevrier herself was a little shell-shocked as well.

"Rei..." Akane took a step forward. "You... came to rescue us?"

"Yeah." The girl called Rei replied, pulling back another flaming arrow with her hand and covering the remaining Elite Five. "Sorry we couldn't arrive sooner. Washuu only just noticed your hack a minute ago..."

"Rei..." Akane blinked away tears. Then suddenly her expression went hard. "Wait. Aren't you supposed to be with Sailor Moon?" Gyro's eyes flashed.

"Long story, that," the girl said, standing up, Marz somehow floating up to levitate beside her. "But we should get you out of here, Akane."

"Do I know you?" Akane asked.

"Me? I should hope so! I am just THE single greatest scientific genius in the entire universe!" She pulled a pair of fans from somewhere and waved them in front of her face, "The beautiful and multi-talented, Washuu Hakubi! At your service."

"Great, another Skullomania," Fevrier grumbled.

"I think not!"

Washuu turned around as an explosion suddenly enveloped Gyro. When it was finished, his restraints had vanished and he had turned into his battle- form. It resembled nothing so much as a devil, with a trio of organic horns and the face of a demon. His outfit had expanded to accommodate his bulk and his inhuman features grinned ferally.

"You little whelp, if you think you can keep me from my desti-"

"Yeah, yeah. You're going to crush me and all my friends and steal my candy and I've heard it all before by much more impressive men, trust me." Washuu leaned to the side and stage-whispered to Akane. "Personally, I think these types are compensating being a little light down below, if you catch my drift."

"Insolence!" Gyro roared. "Face my power, child!" Gyro spread his arms and suddenly the world was a thousand times heavier. Fevrier's legs gave out from under her and she gave out a short gasp as the air exploded from her lungs... then it stopped as quickly as it started. She climbed to her feet and saw the little girl standing in front of Gyro, holding up one hand. There was a shimmering dome of force between the two of them, red sparks and flashes racing out its orbit.

"Hey, not bad!" Washuu admitted. "Gravitic induction via the process of induced energy-mass conversion, right? With this kind of output you might be able to even bend the local space-time."

Gyro was snarling, sweat running down his twisted face. One hand reached down to his belt, where for the first time Fevrier noticed a small black device. But his hand hesitated, then he raised his arms again and his smile became more cruel. "If you think this is the limit of my power you are mistaken, wench."

"Language, or I'll wash your mouth out with soap," Washuu scolded.

"But even you can't hope to stand up to this!" Suddenly the gems embedded through his body flashed and spiralling rays of light flashed out, swirling forward. They smashed into the force barrier hard enough that the entire room shuddered. "If I cannot have Akane Tendo, no one can!"

Washuu staggered back and raised her other hand, the shaking barrier re-firming. Her playful smile had been replaced by a look of intense concentration. "This energy output, it's much higher than before. Could he... no. Only an idiot would try to provoke a spontaneous singularity event in a planetary gravity well..."

"Ha ha ha! Foolish child, now you know my power! The force I have summoned will create a black hole! Nothing can survive that!"

Washuu sighed and looked downward, "Right. Idiot. Got to remember never to underestimate the power of stupid people."

"Washuu!" Rei called, sounding worried. Fevrier looked back. During the time she had been focused on the battle between the two titans, she had lost track of the others. She cursed herself for a fool. The old man and the new girl had helped Akane and the others deal with the remaining members of the Elite Five. Ikazuchi was down now, as was Red Cyclone (who never had bothered to go battleform) leaving only the last two. The massive chitin-covered hyper-zoanoid was clutching Skullomania and holding off the others with his many laser cannons. Derzerb stuck close to his companion, one arm hanging limply, but taking swipes at anyone who came too near. "We should be getting out of here!"

"I'm sorry, Rei, but if I try to teleport us all now, this black hole he's forming could scatter our molecules across half the solar system."

"It's only a matter of time, fool child!"

"What do we do?" Akane asked sternly.

"Do? Oh, well, I suggest running. That usually works."

Akane blinked. "Is she always like this?"

"Pretty much," Rei muttered.

"What about Skullo?" Fevrier shouted. He was a pain in the ass, but he was THEIR pain in the ass.

"You don't have time," Washuu warned. "Just get going!"

Akane stared at the woman, as if about to protest. Then the old man stepped up beside her and his fist flashed out. Akane slumped forward bonelessly and he threw her over his shoulder. "When Washuu says run, we listen," he explained. Then he turned and dashed through the west exit. Rei and the others followed, but Fevrier could only manage a hobbling walk. The blow from Ikazuchi must have cracked her ribs. She looked back over her shoulder and the battle between Gyro and Washuu. ZX-Tole, sensing the end, started grabbing his teammates and running.

"Now that they're gone, I'll show you real power!" Gyro roared and gestured sharply. There was a wave of distortion that travelled between him and Washuu and she frowned as it struck her shield. Then a tiny black dot appeared at the edge of the barrier, growing increasingly rapidly into a basketball-sized sphere. "Little pest! Disappear! Into the event horizon!"

"Maybe another time," Washuu quipped. Then she made a sharp gesture and suddenly the ball of darkness began to bulge and distend. Gyro blinked. Then he was thrown back by a wave of force that sent him crashing into the wall, shattering it. Washuu turned and began to run. Marz floated along beside her. She spotted Fevrier and reached out with one hand, grabbing her wrist and dragging her along.

"What... what did you do?"

"Inverted the particle flow via a shift of the local gravitational constant," Washuu explained quickly as they ran towards the exit.

"Huh?"

"In layman's terms, I turned his black hole from 'suck' to 'blow'."

"Isn't that bad?"

"For everything within about a ten kilometer radius, yeah." She sighed. "Too bad. This forest was just regrown, from what I heard. Ah, this is far enough." Washuu reached up with her free hand and toggled a little icon in the air. Then she and Fevrier vanished.

Fevrier never did see the explosion, though they said it was heard all the way in China.

01010

Angel rested her arms on the rail of the ferry as it brought her back from the mainland. She absently pursed her lips and puffed, causing the thick white bang that hung over half her face to flutter idly, rocking back and forth in the salt sea breeze. Hong Kong, she noted ruefully, was not all it was cracked up to be. The people here were rude and furtive, unwilling to trust strangers and ten times more likely to be thinking of ways to stab you in the back.

She reflected that maybe this place had good reason to be so full of the scum of humanity. Like Switzerland, it served as one of the few entirely neutral zones left in the entire world. But unlike Switzerland, this wasn't because the forces of the world had decided they wanted a place to negotiate. This place was neutral because no matter how much you cracked down on it, no matter how many police you had and laws you passed and prisons you built, crime existed. It grew like mold.

Crime needed a place where it could flourish, a place where decadence and gambling and all the other vices of mankind could be satisfied. That place was Hong Kong. Chronos and the other powers hadn't crushed Hong Kong because they realised that in the end, they could not change human nature. So to their thinking, it was probably better to have a place like this, where they knew all the illicit activities of the world were committed, than force it truly underground, where they could never hope to find it.

It made Angel sick. These people were scum. They lacked faith in anything but themselves and their money. Not a single one of them could be counted on to stand up for what was right and necessary. Plus at least five men had mistaken her for a prostitute since she had arrived. Five sorry men now, but the fact remained.

So why was she even still here?

She looked towards the approaching towers of glass and steel that formed the heart of Hong Kong. She could have just turned around back at the ferry entrance. She had crossed to the mainland out of mild curiosity, but nothing would have prevented her from just catching a ship out at the port there. A quick trip up the coast to Russia, then a few weeks of travel overland back to Europe. Cut down through the Mediterranean on a cargo ship to Spain. From there, she was just a hop skip and a jump from France and then home to Luxembourg. Back to Chris.

He hadn't ordered her to stay with Akira. He seemed totally unconcerned by this quest. Angel got the impression he didn't see this so much as unimportant, as not important yet. It was something he could take care of whenever he wished. So why was she here?

She could go back, get a real mission. Then she would be doing something. Something productive. She would be building the perfect possible future, brick by brick. Body by body.

Her hand reached down and caressed the scabbard of her sword. She closed her eyes. She preferred not to think of the bodies. It wasn't guilt. Not really. The people she had killed needed to die. She was no more responsible than the bullet or the blade. She was the weapon wielded. She was a scalpel, cutting the cancerous cells from the world.

"And maybe if I keep telling myself that, someday I'll actually believe it..." Angel said with a sigh.

Angel was not all that surprised to see Akira waiting for her. The ship had docked and she was walking onto shore when she spotted the woman leaning against a cargo container not too far away. Her bike was in front of her. Akira was looking down, her shoulder-length brown hair fluttering slightly in the breeze and concealing her face from view at this angle. Had she finished her business already? Were they going to get out of this stinking city?

Angel couldn't help but feel her heart lighten at the prospect. If Akira left, she wouldn't be forced to choose between her distaste for this city and her...

Her what, exactly?

"Hey," Akira said as Angel approached. Her voice was dour.

"Always a ray of sunshine," Angel commented happily.

"Huh?"

"You sound so happy to see me," Angel explained.

"Oh. Sorry. I have things on my mind."

"You always have things on your mind." Angel looked at the bike. She didn't really want to ask the question, but she had learned exactly how tight- lipped Akira was. She never seemed to pry into your business, and she never hesitated to answer even personal questions. However, unless you prompted her, Akira was as likely to spend hours staring at the buckles on her boots as she was to have a conversation. "So... what now?"

"Huh." Akira looked up. "We're waiting a few days."

"For what?" Angel squirmed. She didn't guess that Akira meant waiting somewhere else.

"Lotus Infinite."

Angel blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Lotus Infinite is coming here. She intends to finish off the job she started in Moscow."

"And we're standing here!" Angel shouted.

"Yeah," Akira replied, not acknowledging the sudden shift in volume.

"Are you INSANE? Lotus Infinite is a killing machine. She can vanish through walls. She can annihilate city blocks! You don't seriously want to stand around waiting for her, do you?"

"Yeah," Akira replied in the exact same tone.

"So she can kill you?" Angel asked incredulously. She realised she was coming closer to a shriek, so she took a deep breath. She didn't know why she was getting so worked up here. It wasn't like she had to stay. If Akira wanted to throw her life away fighting to save an old high school friend, Angel wasn't obligated to stay with her. Akira had said as much. Really, what she should do was just wash her hands of this whole affair.

"No. So I can save her." Akira pushed off the wall. "We have a plan. We're going to lure her here. Then we're going to un-brainwash her."

"We?"

"Nabiki and I."

"Nabiki." Angel frowned. "And you trust her? After she set you up?"

"Do I trust her? No. Not really. But she's the only chance I've got." Akira shrugged.

"So Nabiki's going to... what, put the mind-whammy on Lotus?" she said flippantly.

Akira looked sour for a moment. "Yeah, essentially." She paused. "The thing is that she can't do that and hold her back at the same time. It's going to take everything she has to punch through Bison's psychopower. While she does that, she's totally vulnerable. Somebody has to protect her."

"You're going to fight Lotus Infinite?" Angel chuckled. "She didn't hesitate the last time you fought." Then she saw Akira looking at her, long and hard. Angel blinked. "Me? You want ME to fight her?"

"Yes." Akira slid onto her bike. "I need to be involved in the... 'mind- whammy' if we're going to have any chance of success. Something about friendship being the only thing that can beat this thing. I don't know, I really don't understand it very much."

"You expect me to fight the best assassin in the world?" Angel stared in shock.

"You can do it, Angel." Akira looked up at her, her face was earnest. Her large brown eyes fixed directly on Angel's. "I know you have the power to fight her. Not win. But you can hold her off. You fought off those magical girls, you saved me from the vampire in Moscow... you're better than me. I don't know how much better, but you can do it."

Angel couldn't pull her eyes away. She had known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that Akira wasn't stupid. She must have put two and two together at some point. One miraculous rescue at the eleventh hour could be surprise or sheer chance. Two was pushing it. Chris had once told her to try and keep her powers secret. To not reveal how much chi her tattoos allowed her to call upon. Akira might not know everything, but she might well have guessed a lot.

"I need you, Angel."

Angel breathed out a short Spanish curse. "You crazy taka taka's will be the death of me." She shook her head. "So where do we wait?"

Akira smiled, a brave little smile.

01010

Akira sat on the edge of the dock, her legs dangling out over the water. The waves licked at the soles of her boots. The clouds overhead were stormy and bleak. Akira could feel the storm in the air. It clashed and surged around her. The quick, brilliant chi of the clouds stirring the profound chi of the water. It was really quite beautiful, like a thunderous orchestra building up to a crescendo. The build-up was slow but steady, inevitable. Like the storm that was just now finishing its drift over from the Sea of Japan. Akira briefly wondered at the feeling of it.

Two pairs of footsteps echoed behind her, coming steadily down the wooden dock. Akira didn't need to look up. There were only two people on this island with her.

"You always so philosophical before a fight?" Nabiki asked. Akira heard her cross her arms.

"I guess."

"Nah. She's just gloomy. I swear, she'd bring down people at Mardi Gras with those frowns of hers." Angel chuckled.

Akira chuckled. "I guess I do have a tendency to be a little fatalistic."

"You better have finished preparing. She's coming."

Akira looked around for the first time. Nabiki was wearing something appropriate for the coming weather. Her legs were clad in glossy tights and she wore a brown jacket that dripped down past her knees and glistened like most things waterproofed did. The arms were extremely loose and a hood was pulled up over her bob-cut hair. Her ever-present sword descended from one voluminous sleeve. Angel, on the other hand, looked like she was getting ready for the beach. She wore leggings that came up to mid-thigh, where her sword was still strapped, but above that she wore a scandalously cut pair of briefs... no, not briefs. It was something like a red leather leotard, except so many sections had been cut from it that it was more like the skeleton of a leotard, the open places covered only by an almost invisible mesh. Over this she had a thick floppy belt that was probably about two sizes too large for her and barely hung loosely on her hips. She still wore her leather jacket. The strategically cut areas on her outfit were not for exhibitionist purposes... or not just, anyway. Her outfit artfully revealed the intricate golden tattoos that had been etched up her body.

On her cheek and forehead there were lightning bolts: those, Akira was familiar with. She was not familiar with the soft golden glow that seemed to flow down them, however. On her chest she had what looked like many little whirlpools, the funnels draining down between her breasts. These funnels then linked into a elaborate crystalline image traced across her stomach, which itself fed into a tracery of curves and flourish along her hips and inner thighs that looked like flames. Akira stared.

"Uh... nice outfit?" she said softly.

"Just my working clothes," Angel said cheerily, then pivoted around on her heel in an overdone manner, her voice taking on a vapid tone. "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

"Yes... certainly..."

"Naughty thoughts, Akira," Nabiki said chidingly.

Akira glared at her. Nabiki only smirked. How dare she accuse her of such things? She hadn't really thought anything wrong. Not for very long at least. Only a few seconds...

"Just remember what you're here for," Nabiki pointed out, her voice turning suddenly grim.

"Right..." Akira stood up. The rain had begun to fall. The drops pattered noisily against her leathers and the wood of the dock. Nabiki looked at her for a moment, then suddenly Akira heard her. The voice wasn't in her head. It was exactly the same as if she'd heard Nabiki spoke, as if the woman was leaning forward and whispering into her ear, her right ear. But she could see Nabiki a few steps away, and the woman's mouth wasn't moving.

"Do you really trust this girl, Akira?" Nabiki's voice said. Nabiki turned and gave a steady look at Angel. As she did she said something aloud. "I hope that sword of yours is magic."

"Nope." Angel settled her hand on the hilt. "Just... an heirloom, I guess you could say."

Akira considered how to reply, then realised she didn't have to. She just let her thoughts about Angel rise to the surface. How she trusted her. How the girl had saved her life, twice. How she was the closest thing Akira had to a friend since seven years ago.

"You shouldn't trust her. She's dangerous." Nabiki's voice whispered into her ear.

"Are you certain Lotus Infinite is coming?" Angel asked aloud, ignorant of the silent conversation going on right in front of her.

"Oh yes. I can feel her. That much psychopower can't move around subtly. If you know what to look for, it's like... a taint. A cancer swimming through the world."

Akira frowned. She didn't exactly trust Nabiki very much. Besides, if Nabiki was so concerned, why didn't she use her all-powerful ESP to drain every last secret and motivation from Angel's mind?

"Because I can't," was the silent reply. Akira started. Angel looked at her for a moment, but dismissed it.

"How do you know it's her and not another Doll, or even Bison himself?"

"The other Dolls don't feel this way. Bison doesn't feel this way. It's her. Trust me," Nabiki answered blandly. She glanced at Akira again, her whispered voice continuing where it had left off. "There some sort of static in between me and her, like a prism refracting light or a distortion in a funhouse mirror. A very powerful Second Circle effect protects this girl. I could batter through it, but not without her noticing and maybe hurting her in the process if she decided to resist. But I can pick up bits and pieces, fragments of thoughts and surface emotions. What I do see... concerns me greatly."

Akira stepped forward. "Then until you have something solid to tell me, I suggest you shut up about it," she growled.

"Hey. She did tell us something solid..." Angel trailed off at the glare that passed between the two older women. Then she shrugged.

"We should get ready," Akira said.

"Too late," Nabiki pointed out.

Everyone followed her gaze. The rain was coming down in sheets now, making seeing anything beyond a few meters difficult. But Akira could see her. She stood at the end of the docks, a silent figure clad in the same black leotard as before. A million tiny purple lights traced lines across her form and Akira wondered what that meant before she realised it must be the rain, passing through her body. Then the lights stopped and she held out one hand to the side. In her grasp the Silence Glaive materialized.

"Ukyou..." Akira said softly.

"Guess that's my cue." Angel began to walk down the dock towards her, swaying her hips unnecessarily. "Hey there, your Infiniteship. Pleased to meet you again. Sorry we didn't really get a chance to introduce ourselves last time. I'm Angel, and I'll be your dance partner this evening."

Lotus Infinite's voice carried just past the thunderous downpour. It was so like Ukyou's voice, but unlike it as well. "Secondary target confirmed. Additional threat present. Subject: Nabiki Tendo, age: twenty-three, birthplace: Tokyo, Japan, classification: psionic, Elite Class... termination order outstanding. Lethal countermeasures mandated. Second circle countermeasures, approved."

"Aww. Isn't that sweet, Nabiki? She treats you just like an old friend!" Angel called over her shoulder.

"You idi-" Nabiki's shout died off in mid scream as suddenly the light around Angel's face went from a soft glow to a glowing blaze. Then she was just a streak of golden light, moving so fast that even Akira could barely follow her. Her sword sang from its scabbard and slashed up towards Ukyou. The woman leapt backward and her glaive came up, the two weapons clashing in a shower of sparks and a ring that cut through the gentle patter of the rain.

"Remember that threat level unknown stuff from last time, Infinity- baby?" Angel chuckled as Ukyou leapt back. "You're about to regret that, regret that a LOT!"

"Angel, be careful!" Akira shouted.

"No time to worry about her." Nabiki snapped. Her hand reached out and her fingers rested lightly on Akira's brow. "I need you to concentrate!"

"I... okay. But what exactly do I-"

Akira was standing in a darkened room. She was tense, her muscles trying to fight the urge to relax too much. She was standing in ready position, a staff held sideways beside her. She recognised the stance: it was an old one, used to give a person an optimum number of defensive reactions. She knew she had been holding the stance for hours. For days. It was a test of endurance.

They were out there. The enemy. They could strike at any moment. She couldn't sense them. Somehow they had been cloaked from her senses. Only what she could see with her eyes, hear with her ears, that was all the warning she'd get. The slightest hesitation, the slightest opening in her guard would be lethal. The enemy had been given orders to kill and they would not hesitate to pull off those orders.

Akira had no idea how long she had been here, or how long she remained there before the attack came. It was like the passing of time had no meaning. She simply existed, an observer of the world, detached from it and from the flow of one minute to the next. When the attack came, it was merely another moment.

Three women came flashing from the shadows, clad in outfits that clung to them like the inky shadows from which they emerged. They were armed with swords, and obviously knew of their use. One came from in front: European, with pink hair done up in two ponytails. The other two came from right and left, both dark-haired Chinese girls.

She had never seen them before, and didn't seem to care who they were. She moved instinctively towards them even as she moved to defend. Blades sang in the air and her staff spun and shifted to intercept each stroke. Her actions came without thought or plan, just reaction and instinct.

Then data began to flood her mind. It was coming from somewhere else, but also somewhere inside of her. It was an in-depth combat analysis of the three girls, produced with a speed that Akira found slightly unnerving. The forward combatant was the weakest of the three. Her upper body strength was lower and her reaction time was almost five percent less. Her skill with the blade was rustier than the others - not unpracticed, but inexperienced. The other two were greater threats, but each was also unused to their weapon. From the way the one on the right moved, she was obviously used to wielding a weapon with more reach, while the one on the left was restrained by the stiff nature of her sword.

Even together, the three of them wouldn't be enough to penetrate her guard. Operating purely in instinct mode she could fend them off for hours. Even as she realised this, dozens of strategies began to be supplied to her. Complex plans and tactics, unfurling from the back of her mind as if they were her own thoughts. Each was reviewed at lightning speed and then rejected in turn. Then somehow the instinct and the information reached a conclusion together and acted in sudden unison.

Somehow she had anticipated the fourth attacker. The idea of a three-way distraction setting up for an ambush seemed obvious in retrospect. But she had been informed there were only three enemies and had almost been fooled. She ducked down, allowing the blade of the fourth attacker to flash through the air above her head. This one wore a steel mask, red lights flashing through the hidden eye slits. This one was a truly serious threat: she was already reacting to her missed strike with a speed that placed her reaction speed at least fifteen percent faster than the other three.

Suddenly Akira was moving, dancing back between the flurry of blades. She was no longer trying to parry so much, but was giving ground. Once again the information came from that place that was her and not her. Muscle power. Estimated chi reserves. Tactical analysis. Too much data for Akira to process, but for some reason she wasn't worried. She knew that she wasn't meant to process the data. That wasn't her job. Her job was to work the feet, to wield the staff. She had to trust the information to be correct.

Then the plan was formalised and they acted. Akira knew what the outcome was, but found herself terrifyingly incapable of affecting it. She released her staff, bouncing it forward into her attackers. They parried the errant weapon, taking a moment to knock it away into the darkness. But that had been part of the plan. Their desire to eliminate her weapon, which she was much more skilled with, was what had led them to the opening Akira needed.

She moved in, grabbing the Chinese girl that had been to her right by the wrist. The woman's eyes widened as Akira pulled her forward, spinning her around and twisting the arm behind her back. There was a crack as her wrist fractured under the pressure. The other three weren't hesitating, their blades all flashing in to attack.

Akira released the woman just before they struck, shoving her away as she herself leapt. The blades cut the air beneath her, and a few strips of black fabric filled the air as the edges tore small strips off the woman's outfit. But there was no blood. She had not been harmed.

Akira then flipped the real object of her attack around in her hands. The sword she had grabbed from the woman's nerveless fingers. She came down in the center of their formation, her strike swift and sure. The woman in the mask moved to parry, but she was used to wielding a much shorter weapon. The mass of her sword threw her parry off by a fraction of an inch, enough for Akira to slip her own weapon in past her guard.

For a moment Akira crouched there, her hand resting on the hilt of the blade. It was stuck in the floor. She had driven it straight through the woman's stomach, and a red pool was forming around the haft buried there. Akira didn't spare her a second glance as she rose to deal with her three remaining enemies. They were already incoming, their blades flashing in the air.

"Stop."

The blades halted in mid-cut. The three enemies took two steps backward and fell into an at ease stance, their weapons hanging by their sides. Akira herself stepped back and adopted the same stance. Suddenly there was light again; it came on with a dull hiss and a flash. She was in a large room, at least the size of a soccer field, with dull gray walls and ceiling.

He arrived in a swirl of purple light. Akira looked at him and couldn't help but feel a stir of adoration in her chest, and a stir of something else further down. He was tall and broad, a perfect physical specimen. He wore a red military outfit with a cap pulled low over his glowing blue eyes. He swirled his cape around himself and approached her.

"Your orders were not to kill any of the targets," Bison informed her needlessly.

"Yes, Master," Akira found herself answering.

"Why did you do that, then?" he asked. He didn't sound angry, merely curious.

"The exact wording of my orders confirmed the existence of three enemies and that I was not to kill those enemies in the exercise, even though they had been ordered to kill me." Akira paused as the informative part of her mind recalled the exact wording. "I was never informed of a fourth enemy. Nor was I ordered to keep her alive."

Bison looked at her for a long moment. Then he threw his head back and laughed, a thunderous laugh that shook his whole body and seemed to fill the air around him with dangerous energy. He stopped laughing as quickly as he started, and looked at her, his wide smile gleaming in the florescent light. He snapped his fingers.

"Enero, treat Decapre."

The girl in the pigtails ran forward and crouched by the woman Akira had stabbed. Akira spared a moment to look. The woman was still alive. You didn't die instantly from such a gut shot. "Her wound is beyond my ability to heal without equipment, Lord Bison," the girl said after a quick look.

"Then acquire the equipment. You do know how much I hate to abandon useful things."

Enero nodded and ran towards the far wall. Bison turned his attention to Akira once more.

"Now, as for you-"

-do!"

"Akira! Akira, do you hear me!"

Akira screamed, throwing whoever was touching her away. She heard Nabiki grunt and stumble back. Akira blinked and look around. She was in a featureless white plain, a surface that extended in all directions to infinity. There was no horizon, no sky... just the endless white void all around them.

"I... what happened?" Akira sighed, reaching up and holding her hand over her rapidly beating heart. Nabiki gave a sigh of relief.

"I thought I lost you."

"Lost me?"

"The traps set up in Lotus Infinite's mind." Nabiki walked forward. Except she didn't seem to really walk. It was less like she was approaching Akira than that Akira seemed to be approaching her. "What you just experienced was her memories, or one of them. It was a memory that Bison thought was important. He didn't just let it linger in the mind like a regular memory, he impressed its very shape into the power he has fused into Ukyou's body. The memory is written into the very fabric of the psychopower which sustains her."

"I'm not certain I understand," Akira admitted.

"Just trust me, then. It's part of Bison's trap. When you touched her mind you got drawn into the memory. Worse yet, that memory... it's a part of YOU now."

"A part of me?" Akira frowned, looking down at her hands. She had killed before. But only when it was necessary, only when it was right. Only when lives besides her own were at risk. That had been the thing that had finally driven her away from... She dispelled that memory. "What do you mean?"

Nabiki was looking at her oddly. Akira grit her teeth. Some memories were private. Nabiki's expression saddened.

"I... wow. I'm sorry, Akira."

"I don't want to talk about it," Akira snapped. "We have important business, right?"

"Right." Nabiki sighed. "That memory is now a part of you, Akira. You'll always remember it, as much as you'll remember anything else. You won't be able to distinguish it from your real memories either. You'll experience it as if it was YOU in that room..."

"Can you..." Akira didn't finish the sentence.

"Maybe." Nabiki sat down. "But playing with memory is a dangerous business. I'm not precise enough yet that I could safely cut it out of your mind entirely, not without risking more damage to your psyche in the process. In a few years..."

"Never mind." Akira stood up. "At least no more damage was done." She saw Nabiki wince, but chose to ignore it. "So, uh, where are we, some sort of astral plane or something?"

"No, no..." Nabiki chuckled. "It... doesn't work like that." She paused. "This is a construct I created, a buffer between us and the rest of Lotus Infinite's mind. In effect, I've isolated us from the oversoul."

"Oversoul?" Akira blinked.

"Oh..." Nabiki crossed her arms. "It's just a term I use. It's because of the way I noticed that my telepathy seems to work." Nabiki frowned. "You see, we're all connected, all of us, on some fundamental level. I think it's like that chi field you people keep talking about. Except it goes deeper than that. We all sort of bleed into each other below the surface, in the place where thoughts and emotions don't exist anymore. It's like a painting. Each of us is a brushstroke on the canvas, and where the brushstrokes meet the colours blend together a bit. That's how I get into people's minds, by just recognising where the connections are and crossing over." Then Nabiki laughed. "I picked the name oversoul out of whole cloth. It just... came to me one day. I thought it sounded neat, so I kept it."

"Okay." Akira wasn't certain what that meant, but she decided to file it away to think about it later. "So... what next? I mean, we can't really waste time here, can we? Angel's fast, but..."

"Don't worry." Nabiki waved her hand. "This is all happening at the speed of thought. Minutes here are seconds on the outside."

"People die in seconds," Akira pointed out grimly.

"Hmm. Point." Nabiki stretched. "We better get going then." She paused. "I'm afraid you're not going to like this, Akira." Akira just stared at her. "Now that I'm touching it, I can feel the defenses Bison has set up. The layers of psychopower he's used here. I can sense their centre." As Nabiki turned and looked out into space, Akira thought she saw something in the distance, like a flicker of darkness, there and then gone. "There is something beyond all the walls, something he desperately wants to keep contained. Layers of memory, layers of the psychopower imprinted with memories, that's what he's using to contain her."

"How do we break through?" Akira asked.

Nabiki paused. "When you experienced that memory, the power of it weakened. I was able to break it down, pull you free."

Akira let the implications of that sink in for a moment. "So... I have to..."

"Yes. I'm afraid so. It's the quickest way. I could try to brute force my way through, but that could take me actual hours of time and as you pointed out..."

Akira held up her hand. "Do it."

"I'll... try to protect you as much as I can. I'll buffer you against the worst of it. But I'm using most of my strength just to unravel these damned barriers..."

"I don't care." Akira looked up. "Do it."

"Right." Nabiki looked her in the eyes. "Remember. It isn't you. None of it is real. Remember!"

"I will..."

01010

Angel dashed backwards, a plume of dust rising in front of her as she retreated faster than the assassin could follow. Barely. Damn, but she was fast. Lotus Infinite was sprinting, her body low, her weapon held out to her side, its scimitar-like blades mere centimeters from the pavement. She was keeping up with Angel despite the difference in speed through the simple expedient that she didn't have to worry about dodging around the environment.

"Neat trick that, but can you pull a rabbit out of your hat?" Angel grinned. Let her come. Nabiki had picked this battlefield well, even if she didn't know it. A island off the coast of Hong Kong, a good half day's trip by boat. It had once been a factory of some sort, but had long since been abandoned. No one lived here. No one who could get hurt in their battle. But all their things had been left behind. Too large to ship out, too old to salvage. Old trucks, buildings... the detritus of human society.

Angel's playground. She leapt back, spinning as she did and took in everything with a quick glance of her eyes. Always know where you are fighting, that was the lesson Kiima had taught her. You are almost certainly not going to have the skills and abilities of your opponent, so you minimise those as much as possible. That was the second lesson.

As she landed her sword flashed out, toppling a power line. Lotus Infinite didn't pause as she ghosted right through the collapsing pole. But Angel had never planned to catch her with that. She drove her sword down, anchoring it in the earth, and waited for the other assassin to close.

"I know some magic too," Angel shouted a moment before the blow came in with deadly precision. It was a perfect lateral slash that would have torn Angel in two. But Angel snapped her foot back, catching the dead powerlines that had scattered across the earth. "The hand is quicker than the eye!" Instantly they pulled taut around her sword, springing from the earth. Lotus Infinite's ankle caught them and she was sent tumbling. Angel leapt, floating a inch over the tip of the Silence Glaive.

Before she could capitalise, the woman vanished into the ground in a shower of purple sparks. Angel took a long breath, then leapt up onto one of the remaining poles, spinning her sword behind her, and waited.

There should have been blood. Akira wasn't certain where the thought came from. It just popped into her head without warning. She stared down at the drain, past her naked breasts, and thought that the water there should be stained pink. She told her body to raise her hands in front of her face and examined them closely. There was no blood. It was foolish to think there would be. She began to ran a diagnostic of her thought patterns as she allowed the body to return to the act of cleaning itself.

At first, she thought the strange impulse had emerged from body control. It was not unusual for that more forward, more physical part of her mind to have strange thoughts about physical things. Cravings for food, sex and other material weaknesses. But that was why Lord Bison had crafted her with two minds. One for the body and all the concerns of the physical, one for the brain and all the concerns of the spiritual. It was a perfectly efficient engine. Body control could be programmed to perform at peak efficiency with all the physical concerns. Normally this led to dangerous imbalances in psychopower, a tendency for overindulgence and arrogance, uncontrollable rages and short-sightedness. But she could control that because her spiritual mind served as a balance. Completely unconcerned with the flesh, it could instead focus on information, raw data, pure logic. It examined, processed and archived her sensory input, as well as monitoring the integrity of the mental system.

The scientists had told her she was a marvel, how they had spent years working out her kinks. Of course, Akira didn't remember any of the process. Bison wisely chose to remove harmful memories rather than let the shadow of previous failures threaten her mental stability.

So why was she still thinking about blood? Akira couldn't answer that. She knew exactly what body control was thinking at all times, and knew the stray thought hadn't come from her. She was also familiar enough with Lord Bison to know that she hadn't been the subject of a telepathic message. Akira puzzled over that, devoting more and more of her mental resources to the solution to the puzzle.

Still, the impulse could not, would not, go away. Akira was familiar with frustration. She was aware of the tests and missions she had undertaken that had taxed her resources to the upper limit, almost breaking her. She was beginning to feel that emotion know. Logically she knew that this was a problem.

Unexplained mental and emotional responses, especially those that had no discernible source, were the symptoms of insanity. Akira examined her mental efficiency once again. Both minds were operating parallel, each exchanging data perfectly, with no feedback or snarls. Still, the only possible reason, the only logical reason, was some sort of mental breakdown. Akira had been told about such breakdowns, about the failures to perfect her dual mind technique and how dangerous her reactions could be. There was only one logical reaction to this line of thought.

Akira had to report to Lord Bison right away for memory erasure. After that, they could start from scratch. Locate the problem at its source and rebuild it. It was just like a car engine; you didn't repair it while it was running.

The water came down, hot and hard, plastering her hair against her back, running down her skin in little rivers. Akira consulted the body control portion of her psyche to verify her analysis and confirm her conclusions. Body control agreed. Obviously there was something wrong with them, and it needed to be fixed. Immediately.

Akira stood there. Too much longer in the steam and water and her skin would start to wrinkle. Lord Bison would not find that acceptable.

It had begun in the village, Akira concluded after a moment. Yes, it would do well to examine and get every piece of information she could before she went to Lord Bison. The technicians could hook her into diagnostic equipment to locate the problem, and Lord Bison could tear the memories from her mind to examine them as he pleased, but her own insights could certainly be helpful. Nodding, she tried to narrow down what she was feeling.

Akira was forced to come to the conclusion that she had been malfunctioning for longer than she had thought. The aberrant thought patterns had been following her since she had left the village, long before she had returned to the palace. She had been wondering why there wasn't more blood. But that was simple. There wasn't blood because she had Silenced the targets. That had been her orders. She had deployed Second Circle effects on the village, reducing dwellings, animals and people to sheer nothingness. There was not even dust to mark their passing. Of course there wouldn't be blood. The Silence unmade things.

But the longer she thought about it, the more she was beginning to conclude that the aberrant thoughts had begun before that. It was during the mission itself, not its conclusion. The mission mandate had been simple. "Proceed to the coordinates supplied. Silence the village. Vanish every building. Unmake every field. Kill anything that moves."

Akira ran through the mission in playback, remembering every event as if it were happening there and then. It had gone well. She hadn't met any resistance worth noting and proceeded to unmake the small settlement with highest efficiency. Then she had encountered the child.

He had been eight or nine. A comprehensive scan had revealed that he was in good shape from working in the fields, but had no cultivated chi or magical potential. He wore a simple grey shirt and matching pants. In his hand he held a small child, a baby no more than a few months old. It was asleep, perfectly still, barely breathing. Analysis of the aura revealed a first degree relationship. The boy was frozen in place. His heart was beating too fast, his pupils dilated. He made no sound, unable to react from the fear.

Akira had stopped, standing in front of him. A few meters separated them. She was presented with a puzzle. She raised up her weapon, the long tines humming softly, rippling the air around it. Without really knowing why, Akira had spoken. "Mission objective: Kill anything that moves," she had explained to the boy. He hadn't reacted. Then Akira had pondered the situation for a moment.

Her orders had been very explicit. She had undertaken such missions before. The objective was to kill everyone in the village. Leave no witness. Leave nothing but an empty plain. No bodies, no buildings, no dust... no blood. It was an example to what happened to those who defied Bison. She knew that she was expected to perform the same function again.

But her orders had been explicit.

A minute passed while Akira worked out the logic puzzle, and still the boy had not moved. Akira could sense the aura of the baby stirring. In a few moments, it would awaken. It, being a baby, would move. Then she could complete her mission without disobeying her explicit orders. The boy would certainly move once she started her attack, after all.

Akira turned away and walked back the way she had come. She finished her mission faster than normal, burning more energy than was necessary. She never returned to the spot where the boy had been, never examined it with any remote senses. It had all seemed perfectly logical at the time. She had been obeying her orders. She had been doing exactly what she was told to do.

Akira stepped out of the shower. She didn't bother to turn off the water, as the sensors inside would notice she was gone soon enough. She took a towel and began to dry herself.

Then she felt him arrive. Akira's head snapped up, looking at the door. The vortex of his power was immense, unmistakable. He was waiting for her in the next room. In the last few months she had gotten very good at reviewing his moods by the disposition of his aura. From the way it snarled and spun like a thunderstorm, she knew he was not here for sexual gratification. She therefore allowed body control a few seconds to wrap the towel just above her cleavage before stepping into the room.

Lord Bison did not look pleased. His eyes flashed as he saw her and his arms were crossed. He floated a few centimeters in the air, waves of power spreading out across the floor from beneath his steel-toed military boots.

"Lotus Infinite, you disappoint me."

Akira didn't say anything. What response did she have to make? Whatever transgression she had committed, she would accept her punishment without explanation or complaint if that was required of her.

"I asked you to Silence that village, Lotus Infinite," Lord Bison told her unnecessarily.

"I fulfilled the letter of my orders," Akira felt the need to respond.

"I see..." Lord Bison's eyes flashed again. Then he floated to the side. As his cape flapped out of the way she saw them. A young boy. A child in his arms. The boy floated in the air, clutching the girl to him. He was unconscious, but alive, held in the grip of the psychopower. "Explain how you failed to me. This boy was caught in a nearby town, ranting to all who would listen. Did he escape? Did he defeat you? Explain, Lotus Infinite!"

"I failed to kill him," Akira said softly.

"Explain!"

"I..." She couldn't explain. She didn't know herself. She was malfunctioning. She needed to be fixed. She didn't say anything. Bison stared at her a moment later.

"Fine." He nodded. "Complete your mission, Lotus Infinite. Kill them."

Akira stared at them. They weren't moving. They looked to be asleep.

"Are you hesitating? Summon your weapon, Lotus Infinite!"

Without thinking, Akira did so. The glaive materialised in her grip. It was too tall to carry in the room, so she held it sideways. Body control fixed their stance, ready to make that single perfect strike. Akira channelled a bit of power and the blade hummed, the single perfect tone that was all that held the Silence at bay.

"I gave you an order and you will obey! Kill them!"

"I..." Akira felt the saliva in her throat dry up. What was this aberrant feeling? She knew she had to eliminate it. She furrowed her brow. It was preventing her from completing her mission. It was unacceptable!

"Do it, Akira!"

Akira blinked. Bison was floating right next to her. He was screaming in her ear. What had he said?

"I gave you an order and you will obey, Akira Kazama!" Bison snarled. Of course she would obey, Akira thought. There was no alternative. Whatever these feeling and thoughts were that were preventing her from completing her task had to be eliminated... "Do it! Obey me! You are my puppet, Akira! DO IT!"

Akira opened her mouth...

01010

Angel grunted and flipped off the top of the wall. The bricks below her vanished, dissolving into nothingness as the glaive swung through the air. Her momentum carried her straight over Lotus Infinite's head and she landed behind the woman, perched on the roof of an old car. "What do you have against buildings anyway? They kill your dog or something?"

Lotus didn't react to the taunt, instead instantly halting her forward momentum and then leaping backward, thrusting the butt of her glaive at Angel like a spear. Angel muttered a curse, deflecting the first thrust with a hasty parry. The force of it nearly drove her off the car. The second and third strikes were avoided more deftly with a backflip that carried her behind the vehicle. As she landed, Angel shifted the focus of her chi. The lights on her body shifted down and suddenly her fire chakra burned with inhuman energy. She roared and kicked, hitting the car, nearly shredding it and sending it flying up and into Lotus Infinite. The woman merely ghosted through the crumbled vehicle.

Angel reacted quickly, leaping up and through the woman's startled face. It was a chancy gambit, since she hadn't gotten a chance to switch back to her wind chakra, but she had to do it. For a moment she thought she had succeeded, she felt her foot slip free of the strange tingling that passage through Lotus Infinite caused. Then she felt a hand clamp down on her ankle with a grip of iron.

Angel didn't have time to swear as she was dragged off course and slammed into a wall. The wall was old, and disintegrated under the punishment. She was sent tumbling through the air, battered by flying debris before landing in what had once been a workroom of some kind. A piece of lumber, rotted and moldy, collapsed onto her.

"Damn... she's smart..." Angel groaned, pulling herself to her feet. Her lungs were burning. Her sides splitting. She had never run at her peak for so long. She needed to switch over to water, use the restorative power to regain some of her energy, but she didn't dare. Water chi was almost useless in a fight like this. She needed power and speed. Speed to evade. Power to destroy.

Everything else was a waste of time.

Cycling her tattoos with a flicker of thought Angel switched to her air chakra. The light glowing along the side of her face was barely visible to her. She spun in place, turning slowly so she could survey the room. Lotus Infinite could come from virtually any direction. The walls, the ceiling, the floor; these things were just suggestion to her.

When the attack did come it still almost caught her by surprise. She barely managed to duck as the glaive scythed through a wall right where her neck would have been. The flash of purple light had been all that had saved her. Still, now she knew where the enemy was. With a roar she cycled back to the fire chakra and leapt in the other direction, casually driving an elbow in the wall. The explosion of force blew out the entire side of the building, allowing Angel a few moments to escape through the dust and back out into the open where she had the advantage.

Of course, if that didn't change soon...

01010

Akira screamed, her body buckling. Black lightning flashed across her vision. Her eyelids had peeled back, but she couldn't really see anything. She couldn't focus through the pain. The world had devolved into an indistinct blur, a pastiche of colours and shapes that twirled before her eyes. Then the pain stopped and she fell back on the cool metal of the table.

She felt his hand wrap around hers. She blinked, gazing up at him dully. He was tall, massive, his body rippling with confidence. Just looking at him filled her with strength. The warmth of his hand in hers made the pain seem less now. It made it seem worth it.

"What's wrong?" Bison snarled.

"Her body is rejecting the implants..." someone said from out of Akira's line of sight. "The circuitry is building up feedback, unable to properly-" The words cut off as the pain returned with the black lightning. She could feel it leaping up her arm, down her leg, traversing across her body. It snaked through her flesh, down into her bones. She felt her hand reflexively squeeze his, and felt him squeeze back. She didn't scream this time.

When the pain finally stopped she collapsed back onto the table, the cool metal clammy against her naked back. Smoke was rising from her body, which was strapped to the table by thick metal bands at her wrists and ankles. Bison reached down and cupped her chin with her other hand. His expression was grim. His glowing blue eyes flashed with what might have been worry on a lesser figure. Akira smiled at him. She couldn't speak. Her voice was raw and she didn't trust her self-control.

The abstract part of her psyche was reporting back to her now. It had been knocked for a loop by the pain, but was rapidly trying to evaluate the damage now. Something was tearing at her chi, her very spirit, she learned as quickly as it did. It was like something was trying to tear her spirit in two, cleave out a portion of her soul. She knew, on some level, that this was bad.

"Can you fix it?" Bison demanded, looking up.

"I... I don't think so... L-lord Bison..."

Bison frowned and his hand rose up. There was a blue flash and a strangled cry, followed by a wet splatter. The room went terribly quiet.

"Somebody fix it. I cannot lose this one. She is too important," he ordered.

Akira felt the abstract part of her warning her about another build-up. There was something inside her, foreign matter of some kind. It was under her flesh, racing up half her body, just under the surface of both her arm and leg. It was beginning to cycle once more. She had a few seconds before it hit a critical feedback again.

"My Lord... I think that SHE can fix it," somebody said softly. Bison's frown lessened and he nodded for the man to continue, but before she could hear what he was going to say, the pain returned.

It was worse this time, far worse. For a moment, just a moment, she felt the abstract part of her recede. It was unnerving, it was unnatural. That part of her had always been there. It was the yin of her yang. She had always had a part of her mind that was not a part of her mind, and understood only that. As it seemed to recede, she felt as if someone were tearing out her heart or ripping off her flesh. Then she felt something else, something Other. It was profound, it was beyond anything else. It stretched between her and her other self like taffy, then smashed them back together.

This time she did scream. There was an explosion and she felt Bison let go of her hand. She fell, whimpering, to the ground. Her body curled into a fetal position. There were shards of sharp metal all around her, but she didn't care. Slowly the abstract part of her mind began to inform her what had happened. There had been an explosion, the table had been destroyed, they had fallen to the floor.

Bison was stumbling to his feet. She could feel his pain. She had hurt him. She whimpered again. Not in fear, but in abject despair. She had hurt him. HIM. He was everything. He was her life. Akira wanted to die then. There was no greater hell than the one she was living in right then.

She felt Bison kneel down beside her.

"Lotus..." he said slowly. "This experiment... you are the only one that can save yourself now. It is beyond the science I have at my disposal." Akira wanted to nod, but she couldn't work up the strength to respond. The implants in her body were cycling up again, tearing at her soul. She probably wouldn't survive another episode. "You can stabilise it. You have the power."

"I... can't..." Akira insisted.

"Yes, you can." He paused. "The psychodrive I installed in your body is trying to remove your weakness, like it removed mine. But you reject it. You must go beyond that. You must transform your weakness. You must render yourself inviolate."

"How...?"

"Just do it," he snarled. "I command you. It is not my will that you die here today!"

Akira needed no other prompting. She would serve him, even if what he asked was impossible. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused. The abstract part of her informed her they had a few seconds before the cycle returned. So she took that part of her mind and together they went inward and found it. The Other. The Third Circle. It was no less alien, no less intimidating now than the first time she had touched it. For years it had been there, forbidden. Bison himself had ordered her not to toy with such a force. But now he was ordering her to unleash it, and she would.

So just as the implants in her body began to tear at her, she screamed and focused down, letting the power of the alien energy flow through her.

01010

Lotus' knee drove into her stomach like a hammer shot. Angel bent forward, the breath exploding from her lungs and her lunch attempting to escape after it. She managed to hold onto her sword and with a flicker of motion it passed up and through the woman's head in a shower of purple sparks. The assassin's cold inhuman eyes didn't even blink. Her arm pistoned out, catching Angel in the jaw with her wrist.

Angel was only aware of her jaw being shut, and didn't even notice she had been sent flying until she skidded to a stop next to a ruined tractor. She moaned and flexed her fingers, making certain her head was still attached to her body. It was then she noticed that she had lost her grip on her blade.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked down the street. Lotus Infinite was walking towards her. She paused as she passed within a stride of Angel's sword, laying innocuously on its side amidst a patch of grass. Then the woman kicked out with her foot, sending the weapon flying up and over a building behind her. Angel chuckled wryly.

"Don't take chances, do you?" Angel grunted and got to her feet. "This is hardly sporting, you know. I'll lodge an official complaint."

The assassin sprinted at her, the haft of her weapon spinning up. Angel leapfrogged her, landing in a crouch. She sunk her hands into the soil, turning her crouch into a handstand. "You'd be surprised..." she began as the woman thrust her blade backward at her. She twisted to the side, the weapon feathering across the exposed skin of her stomach. A line of blood appeared. "... how effective a strongly worded letter can be!"

Angel turned her twist into a full spiral, ripping her arms free of the earth and sending showers of grit up into Lotus Infinite's improbably-shaped eyes. The woman started, raising one hand to ward off the unexpected assault. As she did Angel completed her spiral, turning her momentum into an upside-down spin kick that caught the woman in the side.

Or would have, had it not ghosted through her without resistance. Then the haft of the Silence Glaive reversed its motion and came back, catching Angel on the temple with the hard metal. A tone like a perfect note exploded through Angel's head and the next thing she knew she was lying in a heap on the grass again.

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword is a damn dirty liar..." Angel groaned. She blinked and grabbed the side of her head. That blow had nearly knocked her unconscious. Which begged the question... why wasn't she dead?

As her vision cleared, Angel turned to look and saw that Lotus Infinite was standing over her, the Silence Glaive poised for a deathblow. But she wasn't moving. She might as well have been a statue. Her eyes looked distant, like they were staring through Angel at something deeper, further away... vaster. It unnerved Angel. She had felt that way before sometimes, when Chris had been talking to her, telling her of the perfect possible future. Like He wasn't really talking to her, but to something much larger than her. Those eyes looked at her the same way that Chris talked.

Then they suddenly cleared, and the blade came down. Angel somehow managed to pull herself out of the way as the tines buried themselves in the earth, dissolving the soil around them. "Right, as master Yosho once said, never have a flashback in the middle of a fight to the death..."

01010

Akira woke up with a gasp. The concrete part of her reached up and softly pushed aside her bangs. It had only been a dream. A memory fragment, dredged up by some psychological process or another. She would report it to the technicians later. Especially that bizarre part. After the third circle had flooded her, she had passed out like she remembered, but there had been...

Something strange. A voice calling to her? A voice she recognised. A woman's voice, she was certain, but Akira didn't recall from where she had heard it. The concrete part of her was confused, but she could find no record of it in her brain. There had also been the impression of a space, a white space...

But it was gone, fading away like a dream. While Akira had been busy trying to solve that puzzle, the concrete part of her had gotten back to running her body efficiently. She had reached down and moved the arm draped across her, then calmly pulled back the sheets and stood up. She paused for a moment to look down at her companion. The dark-skinned Doll shifted slightly, her nose crinkling and her mouth forming into a small pout as she pawed absently at the space that Akira had occupied a few seconds ago. Finding nothing, the young woman merely pulled in her arm and curled up a little more tightly, her breathing returning to a deep regular rhythm of sleep.

Noembleu was perhaps a little too possessive, Akira thought as she pulled the sheets back up over the woman. It wasn't that she wasn't entertaining, in her own way. It was just that Akira found her endless need to hold on tiresome. The concrete part of her mind seemed to enjoy it, so Akira allowed it to a certain extent. Still, it lacked a certain efficiency.

Perhaps a way could be found to disable Noembleu during their lovemaking. Some series of pressure points that would quiet her passions a bit. Both her halves admitted that it would be easier to deal with their fellow Dolls if they had some manner of deflecting their amorous attentions aside from marathon sessions such as last nights'. The problem, Akira concluded, was the psychopower.

It was pure, raw passionate energy. Bison had removed all the limits on his intensity, discovering that the one true path to power was in embracing all the fire in your soul. He had transferred this gift on to his Dolls, removing their feeble chi and replacing it with his own boundless passionate energy. Akira had long since deduced that her fellow soldier's appetites were likely linked to this. The same relentless passion that drove them in battle also drove them to other pursuits, if they could find no easy outlet for that energy.

The fact that the other Dolls were also so passionate worked out well for them. Unfortunately for Akira, she didn't share that drive. She glanced down at her arm. It was hard to notice them now, when she wasn't actively channelling chi, but you could just make out the faint lines with the naked eye. A tracery of circuits and lines, just under the flesh, barely visible. Remnants of a failed experiment...

Akira frowned and clenched her fist. Why was she so different? The other Dolls hadn't required such drastic measures. Replacing the chi in their body with psychopower had been the work of a few weeks in the psychodrive. But her body rejected the psychopower. It rejected Bison's will. She knew it wasn't her fault, or the fault of the more concrete part of her mind. Both of them wished they could be just like the other Dolls. They had a connection, a resonance, to Lord Bison that she lacked. Akira had hoped the experiment would work, but instead...

She finished cleaning and dressing and walked out into the main room of the compound the Dolls shared together. Immediately she sniffed and her nose twitched. She looked to the side and saw him sitting at a table with his feet up on another chair. A can of beer was open on the table and he was reading the Bisonopolis Times, concealing most of him from view. A plume of smoke rose up from behind the paper.

"Master Cracker Jack?" Akira asked.

The paper rustled and then dropped. Cracker Jack tipped his hat slightly, adjusting it. The dapper suit and tie he wore strained over his muscular chest. "Lotus Infinite. Been waitin' for you."

"I gathered," Akira replied, but frowned. Something he had said sounded wrong.

"Your... heh, friend still out?"

"Noembleu is currently in a dormant state."

"Good, good." He stood up and walked over to her. His white teeth flashed around his cigarette as he leered at her. "You have some time free."

"I have no current duty assigned," Akira informed him.

He reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder. She resisted the urge to shrug it off or shrink back. The man always felt... dirty to her. He was too sweaty, and he smelled bad. With her enhanced senses she could detect the scent of cigarette smoke that always lingered near him.

"Maybe me and you could... get to know each other then..."

Akira was no fool. She was familiar with common mating rituals. She had been undercover often enough that she had been required to use them a few times to secure information or the confidence of her target so that she could get them alone. Both parts of her mind balked at the idea he presented.

"I am familiar with your data files, Master Cracker Jack. My data files, however, are beyond your clearance level."

His smiled became more strained. "Come on, don't be so cold. All the others..."

Without bothering to inform Akira, the concrete part of her mind knocked his hand off her shoulder gently. "I am not like the others, Master Cracker Jack."

"Lotus..." He rubbed his wrist. "I could order you to do it, Lotus Infinite."

"But you won't." Once again Akira paused. There was something wrong with what he had said again. No... not with what he said. With how she reacted to what he said. Something wrong with her... Perhaps it was time to report to the scientists again. "I will be leaving now."

Cracker Jack looked like he was going to protest, but she merely stepped forward and through him. It was a unique sensation, moving through solid matter like that. It was even stranger to move through a living creature, especially one with a spirit as powerful as her trainer. Akira could feel his life force flowing around her, through her, his chi tingling along the edges of her senses. She felt like taking a shower once she was clear, but she continued walking.

The process of ghosting was not really taxing, anymore. She looked down at the lines on her arm, which were flowing with soft purple light. That was one beneficial side effect of the experiment. The implants allowed her to channel her chi, refine it in a way that normal concentration never had. By focusing her void chi through them, she could achieve the same level of dematerialisation as Eidolon. Until then, that had been her particular gift alone.

The scientists had certainly been surprised when Akira had pulled off that trick during one of their interminable combat tests.

She paused in the corridor, suddenly clutching her head. There it was again, that feeling. That feeling of wrongness. It was like a misplayed note in a symphony. You hardly noticed it, but the dissonance threw off the entire performance. She took a deep breath and examined what had been the same about all of the occurrences so far.

The dream, the talk with Cracker Jack, just now...

Her name. She blinked. She had thought her name. She had responded when he had called her by her name. She had heard someone calling her name in her dream...

Akira reached up and brushed aside her bangs, then paused. No, that was wrong. Not her bangs...

"What is wrong...?" she gasped, suddenly stumbling forward. "My name... is Lotus Infinite." Yes. That sounded right. That sounded true.

She could remember her entire existence. Waking up in the psychodrive, training, fighting, going on missions, acquiring powers, fighting the huntress, the other Dolls... that was her life. It all flashed before her eyes. Faster and faster it came.

It was right. It was true.

But why didn't she believe it?

"Lotus Infinite."

"Who?" she turned around and blinked. The Doll that was standing there was short, with neon pink hair done up in pigtails. There was a pause, then she realised that Enero was talking to her. She straightened and nodded. "Report."

"Lord Bison wishes you to go to his quarters," Enero informed her, then saluted with an outstretched hand. She turned crisply on her heels and then walked away down the corridor.

A few moments passed. She knew there was something wrong with her. She should report to control immediately. She might need another mind wipe. But... Lord Bison's orders were absolute.

To make up for lost time she passed through a few floors and walls, travelling through the palace with the speed of a ghost. She startled a few troopers, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she concentrated on getting to Lord Bison. He would know what to do, he would know what was wrong with her.

The door to Lord Bison's chamber slid open with a soft hiss of pneumatics. She entered slowly, hesitantly. She had only ever been in this room a few times. More often, Lord Bison met people at the heart of his psychodrive. His power had been growing over the years, and he could little afford to be away from the stabilising influence of the massive machines for long. He only ever left the psychodrive when there was something critically important for him to take care of.

"Lotus Infinite, reporting as ordered, sir!" she shouted, snapping out a sharp salute. Inside, she felt that dissonance again. She tried to quash it, but it wouldn't go away.

"At ease," he said. He was sitting back in the darkness of the room. The door hissed closed and she was plunged into darkness. All she could see was the bright glow of his eyes. Still, she had far more senses than just vision to rely upon. As usual, she was running a tactical evaluation of her surroundings, cataloging all objects and life forces with equal ease. Nothing had changed since her last visit. "Come closer, my creation..."

She did so. There was something wrong with his voice. It was... tired. "Lord Bison, I detect an irregular feedback in your chakra system," she began, but he cut her off with a dry chuckle.

"Yes. It is as I feared. This body is finally giving out on me. My power had grown too great for it to contain. Like a wildfire, it burns me up from the inside out."

"You must return to the psychodrive immediately!" she shouted, feeling a dark chill clutch her heart. If Bison should die...

"I cannot." He chuckled grimly again. "The psychodrive can no longer hold my excess power. If I channel any more into it... it will explode."

"No..." She looked down at her arm. She could make it out clearly in the utter darkness. "The implants. If they can store and refine my chi..."

"There is not enough time." He rose up. "No. I have only one hope left. I require a new body."

She nodded. The cloning tanks, of course. They could fast grow a new body for him in a few hours. "I will inform the scien-"

"No," he barked, shutting her down. "That will not work. I need a body far stronger than any mortal frame. I need... something only you can provide me with, Lotus Infinite."

The dissonance struck her again, and she took a step back. What was he suggesting?

"Come to me, girl."

"I..."

"What is the matter, Lotus Infinite?"

"I..." she hesitated again.

"I have made you to obey me. To love me above all else. Do as I command."

"Lord... Bison..."

"What is the matter, Lotus Infinite?" His voice was coming closer, his eyes growing larger. "Or should I say, Akira?"

She stood up straight, her body freezing.

"You love me, don't you, Akira?" Akira tried to respond, but her mouth had gone dry. "You remember how I love you. How I look after you. How I steer you back onto the correct path."

"I remember..."

"And you don't need to know anything else. You don't need to experience anything but here and now." She felt his fingers lace together with hers. They were warm. She stepped forward, leaning against his chest. His heart was beating loudly, quickly. It was too fast, she realised. He was in pain. He really was dying. "Why should you care about anything else? This is reality. No hard questions. No complicated morals. Just my will, my love... our love. Us. Together. Forever. As one."

"As one..." she repeated mechanically.

"What else is worth remembering? The loneliness? The years of wandering? The betrayal of everything you believed in? The friend you know will betray you? Why go back to that? Just... be with me instead."

"With you..."

"That's it. Just let go, Akira."

"Let go..."

"It's so simple. It's like water running between your fingers. All the uncertainty just flowing away."

"Flow away..."

"Now... just embrace me." His arms wrapped around her. It was safe and warm here. The hot energy of his psychopower was comfortable, familiar... she had known it for years...

"No..."

"What?" he said slowly.

"No... can't give in..."

"Akira, don't do this!"

"Won't... give... up!"

"Why fight me? Why fight this? You can be with her!" he snarled, clutching her tightly. "You've seen what she has become. If you were to join me, to become one with my will as Noembleu and Enero and all the others have, you could have her. You could be with her. No struggle. No pain. Just you and her, together, forever!"

"No... not like that!" Akira shouted, pushing against his chest. Somehow his strength failed and she sent him stumbling back. "I don't want a lie! I won't live with that... that thing you created! I want Ukyou back!"

The blue eyes flashed in the darkness. "You cannot have her back. She is gone. She is beyond even me now. Annihilated."

"NO!"

"I didn't do it." His tone was no longer kind, it was harsh and mocking. "She did it to herself."

"NO!"

"She couldn't stand what I wanted her to be, so she erased herself rather than live with it. She abandoned everything. She gave up. She-"

"SHUT UP!" Akira roared and leapt forward, driving her fist towards those glowing eyes. She was shocked when her fist passed between them without meeting any resistance. Then she was stumbling through the area she was certain he had occupied. She blinked, and watched as the darkness around her wavered. It was like somebody had grabbed the edges of reality and began to wrinkle it like a piece of paper.

She gasped as, with a sound like a million mirrors shattering, the darkness was torn apart.

01010

Nabiki was not really holding Akira. She couldn't really feel the woman trembling in her arms. Couldn't hear her choked sobs. In the real world, where they were standing right now, Akira's expression hadn't even changed. She still had that confused, deer in the headlights expression she'd had the moment Nabiki had forced the mental connection between the two of them and Lotus Infinite.

Everything around them was a lie, a fabrication. It was no more real than the images on a TV screen. Nabiki had constructed it so that Akira would not have to experience what telepathy was really like. It was a comfortable shelter, a wall that protected the other girl from understanding what was really happening to her. Sometimes Nabiki wished there had been someone around to do this for her, to shield her from what she had done to other people, and to herself.

Because once you understood the truth of it, you could never go back.

"It's okay, Akira... it's over..." Nabiki said, trying to keep her disappointment out of her voice. She was not cruel. She had not wished to harm Akira, not really. She had truly believed the girl could make a difference. And she had, in her own way. Without her, Nabiki never would have been able to get this far.

"I... my god... I still remember everything..." Akira shuddered, hugging herself. "They way she obeyed him, the way she loved him, the way she killed for him..."

"It wasn't real," Nabiki assured her, running a hand along her back. "Just... phantoms. Lingering memories. An elaborate trap for people looking where they shouldn't."

"It felt so real!" Akira looked up at her, her brown eyes shining with tears. "I could feel it, I could smell it... I was there, I was DOING IT..."

"That's what he wanted you to think." Nabiki sighed. "For a moment there, I thought I lost you. You were sinking into the layers of memory faster than I could follow. Somehow you kept yourself, even after my protection slipped away." Nabiki smirked, a confident smirk she didn't feel. "I was right. You do have a stronger will than I gave you credit for."

"I... guess." Akira seemed to suddenly become aware of their embrace. She blushed and pulled free. "Sorry. I..."

"It's okay." It was the least I could do, Nabiki silently added.

"So... we did it? We made it to the center of her mind?"

Nabiki chuckled. "I guess you could call it that." She frowned. "It doesn't really work that way, but... it's a comfortable illusion." Nabiki felt it was best not to pollute Akira's mind with the truth. How her mind, how all minds, were connected, a stream of energy... a web that connected them all, stretching out across the entire planet... maybe the entire universe, for all Nabiki knew.

How, when you came right down to it, it was the connection between them that defined that. How there was hardly anything to be called a 'self' at all. Those were things Nabiki tried not to think about, things she safely shoved away to the back of her mind at most times. But she was feeling especially morose now, and the thoughts bubbled up unbidden.

"Then where is she?" Akira said happily, her voice filled with almost childlike excitement. She pulled herself to her feet. "What do we have to do to free her..."

That was when Akira got her first good look around them. It was the same featureless plain as before: an endless white void with nothing that could be called a floor or a ceiling. Here, the suggestion of standing was just that, a suggestion, a sensation you created yourself. But there was one new thing.

It was like a wound, a terrible gaping chasm in the centre of their reality. Nabiki had seen it growing as she got closer to the centre, steadily stripping away the shields of memory Bison had wrapped around it. This was the thing that he was protecting. As Nabiki watched it inched wider, more and more of the white space vanishing into the black maw. She couldn't look straight at it. She couldn't even really picture it. Doing so was like staring into the sun; her mind simply slipped off it, refusing to focus. As far as she could tell, it was exactly what she thought it was... nothing.

It was impossible. She knew the web of minds: the connections went everywhere, connected everything. If what she thought was true, it connected minds and animals and plants and rocks and even the void of space. The fabric of chi, the makeup of their entire universe, of which Nabiki had managed to tap some small portion.

This emptiness was abhorrent, utterly alien, utterly wrong. It shouldn't exist. But there it was regardless.

"What is this...?" Akira said softly.

"Just what it looks like, Akira," Nabiki stood up as well. "Nothing."

"Where's Ukyou?" Akira demanded.

"She... isn't here." Akira whirled on her, her expression enraged, but Nabiki cut her off before she could start speaking. "I'm so sorry, Akira," she said softly. "I thought... I really thought..." She sighed and placed her hands over her eyes. "This is what Bison was afraid of. Not Ukyou, this... nothing. Look at it. It consumes. It destroys. He was afraid of it growing. That's why the defenses were so strong. Not because he wanted to keep Ukyou locked away, but because he wanted to keep this power locked up."

"But..."

"She's gone, Akira." Nabiki looked at her. "We did everything we could. You tried." The words sounded hollow, even to her, but Nabiki continued. "It's time to put an end to this."

Akira stared at her, then her eyes slowly filled with horrified comprehension. "I... I won't let you!"

"There's no other choice," Nabiki told her coldly. "That void is growing, every moment. Without Bison's wards in place, it will consume Lotus Infinite's mind. Somehow those memories were hemming it in. But without them... she'll become a living nothing. And it won't stop there. It will spread, beyond her. I can already feel it..."

"No, no, no..."

"This isn't a test anymore, Akira!" Nabiki snapped. "I'm not evaluating your willpower. This isn't a gauntlet Bison created for us to run. This is real. This is how it ends. We have to kill her before it spreads!" And to punctuate her point, Nabiki allowed Akira to experience what she experienced. She unlocked all the locks in her mind, let Akira see the truth deep in her soul. Akira's eyes widened as she felt the overwhelming weight of the truth crash down on her. Nabiki pulled back quickly, slowly gathering together her mental defences and illusions once more, but the damage had been done.

Akira collapsed to her knees, her eyes losing focus. She reached up and hugged herself, shuddering slightly. "I..." her voice was teetering on the edge of despair. "I can't do anything, can I?"

"No." Nabiki frowned. "None of us can. Nothing but end this."

"And if I don't want to?" Akira said softly.

"You'll throw your life away. Maybe a lot of other people's too."

"I can't... I can't do it."

"Damnit, Akira, this is no time for heroic gestures!"

Akira looked up at her, and her eyes suddenly focused. She looked at Nabiki, but it was not with the same eyes as before. There was suddenly something more... profound about them. She stood up. "Nabiki... somebody once told me something very important. 'We are, who we choose to be'... well, I don't choose to be the person who can't do anything. I don't choose to be the person who gives up. So what if I can't do it? I have to try. I have to keep going. Because... because that's the kind of person I want to be. The kind of person who doesn't give up." She turned towards the gaping hole in reality.

"Akira..." Nabiki gasped. "Don't! It'll tear you apart!"

"I know." She smiled. "Tell Angel..." She chuckled. "Forget it. I'll tell her myself."

Nabiki tried to stop her. She reached out with all her willpower and tried to force Akira to stop running, but it didn't work. It was like trying to grab onto fog. Then Nabiki tried to terminate the connection. This was all a projection, a construct of fantasy and dream: all she had to do was will it away, return Akira safely to her own body (which she had never left) and that would be that.

But it didn't go away. Akira just kept running. It was like one of those dreams where you are charging down an hallway that never ends, the one where the door at the end was just beyond your fingers no matter how quickly you ran. But as Akira reached for it, her fingers did brush against that nothing.

And she screamed.

Nabiki slapped her hands over her ears, but it did no good. The scream was ripping through her, cutting through her mind like a knife. She could only stare as the fingers of Akira's hand began to unravel. Bits and pieces stripped away, revealing nothing underneath. It was like she was a shell of a woman, a balloon in the shape of a girl. But even as she screamed Akira continued forward, she was stretching out her arms across it even as it ate away at her. She was trying to embrace it. Nabiki could only stare.

She had never watched someone commit suicide before.

Then something happened. Nabiki wasn't certain what. It seemed to ring across the mindscape like a bell, but too loud or too soft for her to hear. For a moment, Akira's form flickered, the last threads of her body simply ceasing to exist. For a single dreadful heartbeat she was gone.

Then, with a suddenness that caused Nabiki's heart to skip, she was back. Whole, undamaged. And in her arms was a shape... no, two shapes. It looked like a man and a woman, two bodies in the same space... Then she blinked and the image was gone, replaced by a woman cradled softly in Akira's arms.

Ukyou.

Nabiki looked around. The nothing was gone. Perversely enough, the vanishing point had itself vanished, like it had never been.

"Nabiki..."

"Wha..." Nabiki started, but it was only Akira. Akira who, by all rights, should have died. Worse than died.

"Nabiki, I want you to do me a favor," Akira said, looking up and staring at Nabiki with her new eyes. They looked the same. They were the same brown. They were the same size. But now... they were different. They had seen something. For a moment, Nabiki wondered why they looked so familiar. Then it came to her. They looked just like Ukyou's. The exact same.

01010

Just to be on the safe side, Angel actually both ran well out of eyeshot and then behind a ruined piece of equipment before squatting to make her report. The excuse 'Lotus Infinite threw my sword into the bay' was close enough to the truth to not be suspicious, and in any case she was sure Akira was far too concerned with the unconscious assassin to be worried too much about Angel. And as for Nabiki... well, either Nabiki Tendo knew everything, or she didn't. Either way, there wasn't much point worrying about what she might suspect.

The warm glow of the water chakra filled her, sweeping away her fatigue. Her wounds had already healed in the short time since the fight ended, though she felt damn lucky to be alive. The fact Lotus Infinite had gotten more and more erratic towards the end of the fight had been all that had saved Angel from rather grisly death. Angel had been weighing the option of just cutting and running when Lotus Infinite has suddenly paused, then her weapon had dissolved like morning mist a split-second before the assassin had toppled bonelessly onto her side.

Angel grinned to herself. Now that it was over, she felt a little less put-upon about the whole thing. After all, she'd survived a fight with Lotus Infinite! Which put her in a class of two with that flat-chested vampire, as far as she knew. That had to be worth a notch or two on one's belt.

The hologram flickered into existence as she activated her communication device. But Chris wasn't there. Instead, a familiar face stared blankly at the screen for a moment before lurching to life. "Report."

Angel scowled, her momentary good humour evaporating. Link. Or rather, one of her dopplegangers. The real Link hadn't left her lab in the two months before Angel had departed to find Akira. The real Link didn't look like the dopplegangers anymore, either. "Where's Chris?"

The false-Link paused the slightest instant as it relayed information back and forth from its mistress. "He's in his room. Obviously, I don't know when he'll emerge, so I'm... taking his calls, I suppose."

"Oh." Angel didn't know what was in that room, the large circular chamber at the deepest point of the complex that had been built of and around Mihoshi's ship. Nobody did. Chris had forbidden them all from disturbing Him when He retreated there, or of attempting to find out what was inside. Anybody else, and Angel would have taken that as an invitation. But when Chris gave a rare order, neither she nor Link disobeyed.

"So, do you have anything to report, or is this call a social one?" Link inquired archly.

Angel gritted her teeth, but proceeded to fill the doppleganger in on the events of the last few days. The simulacrum scowled ferociously as she described how Lotus Infinite had fallen unconscious.

"So, Nabiki Tendo must have reached her inner mind and freed it from Bison's control. Her powers are growing." Link did not sound in the slightest bit happy about this.

"You're wrong," came another voice, the voice of a little girl. Link glanced in the direction of a shadowy corner outside Akira's field of view, her expression no less distasteful than it was when she had mentioned Nabiki.

"Oh? So who did it? Akira Kazama?" She sneered the last contemptuously.

"Of course Akira did it," the child's voice said. "She's much more restricted than Nabiki, after all."

"Uh, wouldn't that be a bad thing?" Angel asked, already regretting it as she did. The childlike voice laughed softly, but made no further comment. The Link-doppleganger stared a moment longer, eyes narrowed in reflection of its mistress' thought, but then turned back to Angel.

"Regardless of that, it can be safely presumed that Ukyou Kuonji has been freed from her mental domination. Obviously you should stay and observe what effects the last seven years have had on her." The corners of her lips quirked into one of her fake little smiles she always flashed when she knew something you didn't. "I'm certain Chris will be very interested. And you, Angel, are so lucky to get to know her."

Angel considered not taking the bait. She hated giving Link the satisfaction - and she obviously found it very satisfying - of letting her ignorance show. But, damn it, she DID want to know what was so special about Ukyou aside from being the world's greatest assassin. "Lucky? Why?"

"Why, how many people get to know both of our gods? You'll only be the second, in fact."

Angel rolled her eyes. Link was being cryptic again. "Whatever."

"Oh, that's right, you didn't know, did you?" The simulacrum's face affected an expression of shock. "Well, I'm sure it won't hurt to let you know. After all, it might be important."

"I'm kind of on a time limit here," Angel growled. "If it's important, spit it out."

"It's really very simple. Ukyou is just like Chris."

"... what?" Angel said. Her mouth was suddenly dry.

"That girl you just assisted in the rescue of came from... a higher plane, I suppose might be a good term? From the same place as Chris. I believe they even knew each other there, before they died and came here."

"But... that's not possible," Angel said. She felt numb. "She's... she's alive, for starters. I know. She breathes. She bleeds. She's warm."

"Dear little Angel, the very peculiar and fascinating thing about gods is how little they fit into the preconceived categories we'd like to put them in."

"But... she was Bison's slave..."

"Incorrect. She surrendered to Bison. She chose to serve him, for what reason I don't know, though I have several suspicions. But she is no Doll, no soulless puppet on a string. Something like him could never make her truly his. After all, don't you remember Chris telling you the same thing? You should listen to him more."

Angel wanted to shout at her. She wanted to accuse Link of lying. But she knew better. Link never lied when she could derive more satisfaction from telling the truth. And this wasn't something she'd lie about anyway. Not about Chris. And somebody like Him. So she just sat there and stared.

"Is that all, then?" Link noted with great good humour. "Excellent. I have things to do myself, anyway. Enjoy yourself, little Angel."

And then the screen shut down.

To Be Continued...

Blade: Okay! So, what is there to say about this chapter?

Epsilon: What ISN'T there to say about this chapter?

Blade: Lessee: "This chapter ended all the plotlines, brought Jadeite back to life, got rid of the Third Circle, and starred a fluffy bunny."

Epsilon: Fool. Logic has no place here!

Blade: Well, no, probably not.

Epsilon: Besides, this chapter's getting released near the beginning of the first rather than the end! AND it's still only 200k! That is clearly bonus enough!

Blade: But just in case it isn't, check out triple-w at bladeandepsilon dot com to see this month's fanart! Warning: contains actual fanart!

Epsilon: Thanks to the actual fan who sent actual fanart that Blade didn't actually pay for (for once)! Also, thanks to him for becoming our latest prereader!

Blade: Because he's one, he's gonna get to know what happens with THIS before any of you! Isn't he lucky?

"She is not zere," Schrodinger told her in a sing-song voice.

Rip Van tried not to let her relief show. "Zen vhere is she?" she growled out.

"America."

Rip Van blinked and turned to face him fully, just to make certain this wasn't some joke. Schrodinger never looked serious, nor grave. But if you knew him long enough you learned to read his different kinds of amusement. This was not the kind of amusement of a cat playing with a wounded bird. Nor was it the teasing amusement of a child taunting a humbled rival. It was the anticipatory amusement of knowing there would be great fun in the near future.

"Our agent has reported to us her location, or at least vhere she vill be shortly. She is in the heart of the beast. The fortress of the S.T.A.R.S."

Rip Van hissed and clenched her fists. Attacking America was foolish, even for her. Especially that place, There had to be close to a hundred martial artists in that one city alone. Her hated enemy had chosen to surface in one of the few places she dared not attack.

"I haf orders from ze Major concerning zis." He cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Rip Van Winkle, you shall proceed to zis city at once and eliminate Lotus Infinite immediately," he said with the odd lilt of memorization. "Also, you shall be provided vith a sufficient force to level ze city of Southtown to a smoking crater, and let not a single living human escape alive."

Rip Van Winkle stared at the grinning catboy for a few moments, then she smiled.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 24: Nobody's Listening


	24. Nobody's Listening

Guten tag!

Vhat is my name? Vhat a silly and pointless question! My name is not important. Vhat I am is var. Vhat I am is chaos. And oh, vhat beautiful chaos zere is in zis vorld!

Seven years ago, I met a girl. She vas not much to look at, but she vas a magnificent varrior. She evaded my troops, humiliated my best soldiers and destroyed my floating fortress. In exchange, I kidnapped her vard, tortured her to death and had her revived as a killing machine. I felt zis vas ze beginning of a beautiful hatred. Unfortunately, she vas blackmailed into surrendering her very soul to a man from the east.

Ah, such is life. You lose one lifelong enemy. You gain another!

Zis man from the east and I haf had a long and interesting var. I continuously improf my disciple Rip Van Winkle and he continuously improfs the shell zat used to be the girl and zey haf glorious battles. Alas, someone has decided to ruin it for everyone.

A trio of young ladies haf captured ze young lady and vith magic tricks and mind control haf restored her previous self. Tsk. Such a waste. Still, Rip Van Winkle is burning vith a desire to make amends for her long string of humiliating defeats by killing anyone I tell her to. She is such a helpful girl.

I vould consider ze young ladies an obstacle to my plan, but zey too haf such chaotic lives! Ze young telepath, she has an ex-friend who she cares for deeply... who is journeying even now vith the killing machine I made out of zat young vard. And even now, the telepath's hated enemy, a botanist of all zings, is out to destroy my creation (and possibly ze boy as vell). One uf ze young ladies is an assassin for the man who commands the botanist, a fact vich none of zem know, and ze last has chosen to seal the memories of the one she rescued out of misguided compassion.

Vatching all zis, I can see ze appeal of the American soap opera. Zankfully, zis vill contain far more bloodshed. I am positively frenzied vith anticipation!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 24: Nobody's Listening

Link opened her eyes. It was only for a moment that she was left unable to see in the pitch darkness; at a thought, dozens of tiny creatures sprang into the air around her, glowing dully. The light was hardly any more than that provided by the stars of the night sky, but Link had adjusted her eyes to see quite clearly in that amount of illumination.

She attempted to rise, only to immediately realise that would be impossible, as her knees refused to move. An oversight on her part, she quickly realised. She had not moved from this position in nearly four months, and the joints had calcified. It wouldn't be hard to rectify the problem, however. One of her sh y crawled forth from her sleeve into her hand. Its tiny mind whispered a paean of joyous devotion to her even as she strangled its life force, reshaped its internal workings, and released it a moment later as an entirely new creature.

The newly reborn sh y obediently followed its new directive, which was not entirely unlike its predecessor's task of keeping Link's muscle fibres from degenerating. It injected a specially designed chemical into her bloodstream which dissolved the excessive mineral deposits in her joints. In the seconds it took for this to occur, another newly reengineered sh y injected a second chemical which swept the excess calcium and other impurities from her bloodstream. By the time Link had risen and taken her second step, the calcium had begun extruding onto her skin. More sh y removed it.

After five steps, Link reached the densely woven canopy that she had grown around her for privacy and quiet four months ago. She commanded it to shift aside for her, which it did as if bowing out of the way. Link had readjusted her eyes a moment before, and thus was not blinded as the brilliant reasonable facsimile of sunlight poured through.

Her garden was much as she had left it, despite the preponderance of new species of plant she had designed in the last two months. Smells - some vigourously fresh, some light and pleasant, some sickeningly sweet - washed over her. Over some parts of the garden, noxious miasmas hung, but these were kept carefully within their own areas so as not to sicken other plants. A few areas of the garden were enclosed by dark domes of tightly interwoven trees, as Link herself had been moments ago - reserved for certain fungi and plants that were best suited to growing in darkness. Sh y flittered around the garden in great dark clouds, each tending plants as they had been designed to do, keeping them properly fertilised or watered, or adjusting their airflow. The millions of whispers of the tiny little lives curled around Link's brain; worshipfully praising her, crying out for joy at the sight of her, begging for her to notice the particular colour of their blossoms or how the false sunlight glittered off their wings.

Link nodded slightly. Her servants had done well to maintain the garden. The joyous silent song of the garden redoubled at her praise, and Link silently commanded them to continue her work. They hastened to do so, and were then put from her mind, save one particular patch of the garden.

Those plants were her newest, specially designed for the same task that had forced Link to emerge from her sanctuary. She inquired as to their readiness for what lay before them, and received enthusiastic answers to the affirmative. Nodding again, she had several dozen sh y gather their seedpods as she exited the garden.

The area outside the huge chamber that was Link's garden was scarcely less impressive, though far more friendly to human habitation. Link allowed herself to walk around for awhile, refamiliarising herself with Chris's domain. It had changed significantly in the last four months. In area, it had increased twenty-seven percent, and she could tell it now housed forty-six discrete individuals. She passed two of the architects Chris had chosen near the boundaries of the place. They were slowly excavating a new room from the earth and rock that surrounded the place, though 'excavating' was perhaps not the correct term. Instead, they each carried small yellow cubes that appeared to be made almost of solid light. As they put pressure on various parts of the cubes, they transmuted the rock and earth to various other materials. Link remembered the two men as being in open-mouthed awe of the technology that they had been given, when she, Chris and Angel had first come here. Now they laughed and joked as they slowly created another wonder out of base earth.

And wondrous it was. Even Link could find little fault with the domain that Chris had created here, under the dirt and ruins of what had once been the commune of Mersch. Built underground, from the core of the galaxy police spaceship and advanced technologies, the hidden fortress seemed more vibrant and expansive than the oft-overcast ruins above did. Huge vaulting rooms were the norm for the common areas, the ground covered with lush, soft grass and criss- crossed by streams of fresh water that fed into splashing fountains. Elegant fluted alabaster columns reached up into the 'sky', which could almost be mistaken for the real thing until you noticed the lack of a sun, illumination instead provided by a steady ambient glow. The air was fresh, and a slight breeze carried the slightest scent of flowers. These were all carefully designed by Link not to offend even the most sensitive nose or lungs, of course. In all ways this was a paradise, especially to the inhabitants who came from war-torn France or the ravaged remains of Germany.

Which was precisely the point, naturally. Link observed one young red- haired woman, a biochemist, working in the designated laboratory area. Many of the other people she had run across in their travels had hastily and with clear surprise greeted her - even those who had not met Link before obviously recognised she was not simply another dweller here. This woman, however, was too distracted to even notice. She was tapping insistently on a holographic terminal, staring intently at the modelled behaviour projected on the screen.

The woman had been rescued from a Chronos facility in Syria seven months ago, along with another scientist of some ability that had been pressed into service to develop new bioweapons. They were not zoanoids: as was usual for Chronos non-combat personnel, their loyalty was instead ensured by a virulently lethal drug injection and daily doses of another drug that temporarily halted the first's effects. Link had easily cleansed the poison from their bloodstreams, naturally, and the three had quickly settled into their new homes.

Five months ago, Link had watched as the woman before her had knelt before Chris, confessing that she was a Chronos spy, specifically planted in order to find out where the handful of top-flight scientists and researchers that had started vanishing in Europe had been taken. Chris had listened silently to all this, and when she had completed her confession, he told the woman of his plans, his goals, his 'perfect possible future'. The woman had wept and begged to be killed for being his enemy.

Chris hadn't obliged her. The woman really was a very talented biochemist, and not at all a bad agent, since her subterfuge had gone undetected as she had amassed information about the facility. She had been encouraged to feed certain carefully selected pieces of information back to her superiors in two reports before she had been 'found out' three months ago and supposedly killed. Link had adjusted the woman's formerly black hair and facial features significantly enough to prevent recognition, and she had continued to serve Chris since, both as a scientist and in identifying other agents. Two spies were allowed to discover impressive but relatively minor secrets of the technology here and report them before 'escaping' into the Millennium-held territory; most of the rest were killed. One other had been allowed to stay long enough so that he too had confessed to Chris and been converted.

None of them, before they had become utterly loyal, had met Chris, Link, or Angel. All were allowed to believe this facility was a hidden French lab devoted towards research into ecosystems and their reconstruction as well as associated work in highly virulent bioweaponry. For both reasons, a facility well outside France's borders was only reasonable. It was a great secret, and the technological achievement of the hidden base was impressive, so that the other powers of the world were quite curious and had attempted unsuccessfully to find the specific location of the laboratory - a secret not known to the scientists Chris had brought here - several times. But their curiosity and satisfaction at having found out about the secret French lab kept them from guessing at the truth.

The former spy finally clucked her tongue in frustration and spoke to the holographic terminal. "Provide a sterilised area, five feet square."

A brilliant beam of light shone down from the false sky. As it touched the ground, the plants there shifted slowly away from the marble-like floor underneath and the air was cleansed of even the tiniest dust motes, which Link could clearly see. The woman looked at the golden beam, and for a moment the irritated, harried look on her face faded away, replaced with wonder.

That too was entirely the point. Link snorted and strode away as the woman began to requisition the materials for her experiment from subspace. Of course, none of this was what had truly swayed that woman to throw away the life she'd had to serve Chris faithfully. Link herself could just barely detect the truth. The entire hidden utopia was filled with HIM. His presence. His personality. She could just feel the edges of it as it dripped into the Second Circle like acid. It didn't touch her or Angel, but insinuated itself into the minds of every other human here. The effect she was not quite sure of, but it certainly had assisted in the sudden conversion of the woman and the fanatical loyalty to Chris she and everyone else who stayed here long enough developed.

The frightening thing, Link reflected, was that she was not quite certain how much of the effect was Chris's deliberate act, and how much was simply the force of his belief in himself and his goals spilling out into the mundane world around him. It would not have been the first time Chris had produced odd, unintentional effects through his usage of the Third Circle.

Outside the common areas of the hidden fortress, the decor was far less expansive, instead still closely resembling the original construction of the ship which had been its core. Chris's office, itself, was almost claustrophobic. The room was a reasonable size, but absolutely stuffed with computers and other equipment, as well as the meta-natural tracking map he'd had Link create for him and various other odds and ends. Occasionally there'd be a corpse or two there as well, adding to the one usually in residence.

Link's lip twisted involuntarily as the metallic door slid aside and she stepped past it into Chris's domain, but she hid the expression by the time he noticed her. It was hard to control her distaste here. Here, the smell of decay hovered faintly in the air, but more so was the sense of HIM. Elsewhere Link could barely detect his will tainting the fortress, but here she could not even ignore it. His presence struck her almost like a physical blow as she walked into the room. Still, that was something she'd learned to live with as her sensitivity had increased, and she'd long since come to terms with being the subordinate of the undead creature as well. Were that all there was, she'd have been able to control her emotions.

"Oh, she's back! Did you bring me a present?"

Chris's marionette was, as usual, only visible at the edge of her senses. Link tried to look in her direction, although she really ought to have known better, and saw only a flash of white from the darkest corner of the room. She sniffed, ignoring the girl and-

"Of course I brought you a present," Link found herself saying. And of course, she had. Despite the fact she hadn't. Grinding her teeth, she released a sh y , a brilliant cobalt and amber beetle that floated on gossamer wings across the room. Chris merely watched the whole spectacle with a slight smile.

A small gasp of delight emanated from the corner. As the sh y grew closer, two crimson fingers slid from the darkness, catching one of its wings and tearing it free. The sh y spiralled to the floor, its mind calling out in distress, but Link resolutely refused to touch its mind in any way. Not when it was so close to that... thing.

"That's what I find so wonderful about you," the childlike voice said conversationally. "You take these tiny little things, and make them feel so important and special." Then the sh y was snatched into the darkness by a darting hand. A moment later, its pleading ceased.

"If you've had your fun now..." Link said irritably. Her only response was a ghostly giggle.

"What would you like, Link?" Chris said. "I don't see you in the flesh very often."

Link glanced over at him. "I'm going to leave here to conduct some field research. It's something too delicate to trust to anything other than my own flesh."

Chris raised the eyebrow over his intact eye. "Oh? And what might that be?"

"I'm going to collect some samples from Ryouga Hibiki, as well as from his companion Sailor Saturn. As long as I am doing so, I will also dispose of her."

Chris paused for a moment, considering this. "Those won't be easy samples to collect, Link."

As if she didn't know that! But Link kept her expression calm, placid. "Of course not. Thus, I have been preparing for this for the past six weeks. Given the knowledge I have acquired of their abilities and personalities, I don't believe I will have any trouble with them."

Chris smiled. "Well, far be it for me to doubt your word. And certainly someone has to deal with the so-called 'Messiah of Silence' sooner or later. Alright, then. But don't take long. Events are soon to come to a head with the Ukyou situation." Chris paused. "Oh. And if possible, preserve Sailor Saturn's body."

Link nodded. "I won't be long at all. And I intended to bring it back relatively intact."

"Very well, then."

Link retreated from the room, hurrying perhaps the slightest bit. It wasn't merely her distaste for Chris and his unnatural marionette. Instead, she felt anticipation building within her.

Ryouga Hibiki. The immortal man. Blessed by one of the most powerful Second Circle effects in her records, able to recover from any injury and adapt to any circumstance. And, of course, a direct connection to Nabiki Tendo, even if Link had been frustratingly unable to learn the precise details of that connection.

Hotaru Tomoe, aka Sailor Saturn, self-titled the Messiah of Silence. The result of a potent mixture of the power of one of the most notable Sailor Senshi of this system, the curse of undeath, and the biotechnological expertise of Alexia Ashford.

It had been quite some time since Link had had the chance to study such fascinating subjects. The Sailor Senshi in particular... her actions, reactions, and brain functions could all provide evidence to prove her theory about that particular group of girls.

And the boy's connection to Nabiki Tendo... Link allowed a malicious frown to cross her face. That wretched small-time con artist obviously thought that Sailor Saturn would kill Link. Otherwise she would have fought harder to avoid giving up the information. Link looked forward to watching the reaction as she informed Nabiki that she had Ryouga in her care.

Yes, she was very much looking forward to this.

Link stepped into the sunlight of the surface, which was rather less clear and beautiful than that which had been underground. She'd need to cover a great distance to reach her targets. She slipped her hand from the green silk of her robes, clutching a mitama. Its mind, only partially awake, drowsily began to rouse itself, but it alone wouldn't be suited for the task Link had in mind.

At her mental instruction, one sh y pulled back the sleeve of the arm which held the mitama. The various others crawled out of the way, leaving a patch of bare, pearly white skin. One hovered slightly above it, an impossibly delicate mayfly-like creation with legs sharper than the finest blade. The slightest touch of the leg to the underside of Link's arm and a vivid red line appeared, the blood dripping down towards the mitama even as other sh y rushed to mend the wound and clean the trail left by the droplets.

The blood reached the mitama, mingling with the azure blue of the crystallised soul. Link dropped both in the earth at her feet.

Link had not, in truth, gained such mighty power in the last seven years. Her abilities had grown, certainly, but in raw potency many people surpassed her. What Link had gained, however, was far more valuable: knowledge, both of how to use her power, and how to best manipulate it. She couldn't project a complicated Second Circle effect much beyond a touch... but the crimson liquid that carried her life force was just as good as that. That beneficial effect was the main reason Link had not yet proceeded with her plan to replace her circulatory system with something more efficient.

The soul inside the mitama stretched out, attempting to bond with the first plant it encountered. But Link stretched out with her mind, seizing the Second Circle weave of the magical parasite, drawing it through not only that first plant, but others, more and more, sinking into the gnarled trees that were only barely alive, sinking into the algae of the river, encompassing the scrubby grass and the mindless crawling things of the earth that flourished even here. She and the aragami touched them all, her guiding the aragami's will to overwhelm all of theirs, her own mind shaping the physical melding of the various forms, until finally her steed was complete.

The basic form was of a classical Chinese dragon, easily twenty meters long. Its torso was the twisted grey of the tree trunks, and vines swirled around it to make up the limbs. The claws were of the stones of the river, its eyes were fresh green moss and soft loam, its teeth of the shattered bones of men that had been unfortunate enough to live in this city when Millennium had come, and mingled grey worms and grass formed its mane.

It kneeled before her, and Link allowed it to scoop her up, settling into a comfortable position just behind its ears. Her blood still flowed through the body of the great beast, and Link used that connection to instill in it a Second Circle weave she'd learned from the staff of the Phoenix King.

The dragon rose into the air, sniffed it once, and then, with an coughing roar, turned and flew with unnatural speed towards the east.

01010

Akira walked her motorcycle along the road. Her eyes were downcast and she was certain she should feel more elated than she was. Not doing so made her feel a little guilty, even. She looked up and saw the woman walking in front of her. Ukyou looked exactly the same. Her face had aged not a single day, and she still moved with the same unhurried quickness. Somehow, over the years, Akira had forgotten how pretty she was. Even when she had been confronted by her alter-ego, Akira had somehow forgotten it. Maybe it was the vulgar, even crass way the outfit Bison had chosen for her showed off her body. Akira was forced to conclude that it wasn't the type of beauty that looked best wearing next to nothing. No, there was a certain dignity to Ukyou's severe, utilitarian garb that made her appealing.

Akira smiled despite herself. It was good to have her back, even if they could never be... that way. It wasn't just Ukyou's face that was the same, but her demeanour had not changed either. It should have been surprising, but wasn't really. Akira looked back over her shoulder at Nabiki. The woman walked with a sort of indifferent air about her. Her arms were laced behind her back and she strolled with her eyes closed, looking like she hadn't a care in the world. The wishing sword hung at her hip, slapping occasionally against her thigh.

Not that Nabiki needed eyes. She was the most powerful telepath on Earth. The young woman was aware of the world and the people around them in a way that Akira shuddered to think about. Her mind shied away from the fleeting memory of what Nabiki had showed her... the vast web of minds that she called the Oversoul. Akira had trained extensively in mystic senses. She could feel the life force of living beings, sense the complex web of connections that tied every living thing to every other living thing. A web that, for all Akira knew, stretched across the whole of the universe. But for Akira those forces were distant, coming to her like echoes or vibrations through a spider's silk. For Nabiki, they were a reality she could never escape.

It gave the woman power. The power to see into minds, the power to control them. To alter and erase and manipulate almost as she pleased. So, in the wake of the struggle in Hong Kong, Akira had asked her a simple favour.

Erase Ukyou's memories of the last seven years, utterly and without exception. While Ukyou and Akira had been connected, the two had shared those memories. Akira remembered most of what had happened to Ukyou over those years of servitude. She remembered being reduced to an automaton, a tool. She remembered being used as a weapon, as a pawn, as a sex toy... She remembered liking it. Akira shuddered. Ukyou did not need to remember those feelings. It was for her own good.

Nabiki had hesitated at first, had tried to say that she couldn't do such things, that it was beyond her skills if not her power. But Akira had insisted and somehow, Nabiki had done it. But when the operation had been over, Nabiki had looked at Akira in a strange way... like she was afraid. What did Nabiki have to fear her for?

"We should stop here," Ukyou said suddenly. Her long hair was bound back at her neck, a long ponytail flying loose in the breeze behind her. She wore a simple white shirt and a pair of dark slacks that she had picked up somewhere in Russia.

"Why?" Nabiki asked. She opened her eyes and looked at the sky. "No offence, Ukyou, but we could be on a train and out of this city before nightfall. It's only a few days overland by train to Southtown."

"I..." Ukyou frowned and looked around her. They had made port a few hours ago and Ukyou had been walking absently around the streets every since. "There's... something I need to do here. That's all."

"What?" Nabiki asked.

Ukyou seemed unwilling or unable to answer, so she just shrugged softly and walked on down the road.

"Hey, it's her decision, right?" Angel said, speaking up for the first time since they had made landfall. Akira glanced at her, but the girl looked away. She wore the same clothes she'd had for the fight, and the daring outfit was drawing more than a few second glances from the passersby. Not that Akira could blame them. Unlike Ukyou, Angel did not have a beauty that looked better fully clothed. "If she wants to stay here for a day or two, why not?"

"Because time is of the essence," Nabiki said peevishly. She lowered her arms and placed her palms on her hips. "Bison is looking for her and his reach extends very far. I can feel him, probing the world with his will. He's like a great flame, a burning brand that can't be denied."

"Can he really do that?" Akira asked. "Find us just with his will alone?"

"Maybe if it was just me, or you or Angel he couldn't." Nabiki looked at Ukyou. "But he's touched her. She carries a bit of him inside her now, and he can feel that. I'm keeping us hidden... for now. But even I have to rest eventually. We need to get someplace where it's safe."

"We have to get to Ranma," Ukyou said into the silence that followed. Akira looked away.

It was wrong of her, to feel such a sickening wrench in her gut at HIS name. She knew she had no real right to be jealous. Ukyou didn't belong to her, anymore than she belonged to Bison. On top of that, Ukyou was... straight. Even if she didn't love Ranma, there was no real chance of anything intimate forming between them. Still it stung. No, stung was too small a word. It festered, like a rotten wound.

It might have been better, if the memory had managed to fade. But six weeks ago, when Ukyou had woken up...

"Where is he?" Ukyou had said. She had just come out of a three day coma. Nabiki had kept her down as she worked her magic, carefully cutting out pieces of Ukyou's memories with the skill a surgeon would cancerous tissue. She had been startled at first, frightened and... sad. Her expression had been so empty and hopeless that it had wrenched Akira's heart to see it.

"Who?" Nabiki asked. She had just finished explaining the basics of what had happened to the girl. They had asked her a few probing questions, confirming that Ukyou remembered everything about her old life up until the point Bison had taken her. They'd told her seven years had passed, and Ukyou had accepted their word without batting an eye. Then she had asked the question.

"Ranma. I have to find Ranma. His life... it's in danger."

Akira shook her head and forced herself back to the present. This feeling didn't suit her. Ukyou had explained what she had meant. She had explained how Bison had taken Ranma in England, how the threat of killing him was what had forced her to give in at the end. She believed that Ranma's life was still in danger, that Bison had his hand on the young man's heart even now. Akira had been forced to confirm the memory, not aloud... but to Nabiki silently. She remembered that Bison's power could extend that far, and if he had some power over Ranma, then Ukyou had every reason to be worried.

Bison was a petty man. If he got frustrated with his search for Ukyou, he might just snuff Ranma out of sheer pique.

"All the more reason to leave quickly," Nabiki said. "Plus there are the other people after us."

"You don't think they'd really follow us this far?" Akira asked wearily. She had to admit, she was getting tired of running. If they had stopped and fought, that would have been one thing. But fleeing disagreed with her nature, and Akira didn't like it.

"Maybe..." Nabiki looked around at the people moving around them. "I know none of them saw us leave on that ship, but they could guess where we're going. The Shadowloo agents can blend in with the people here, and the Millennium vampires are deeper into American territory than the united command is willing to admit."

"This isn't American territory," Ukyou pointed out absently. "We're in Canada."

"Your point?" Nabiki arched an eyebrow. "It's the same thing, effectively. Canada might have a different elected body, but the real power in North America is the United Strategic Defence Command. Especially in a large port city like this one, they have all the political power they need." Nabiki frowned and looked around. "These people remember eight Millennium attacks in the last two years alone. The only reason there haven't been more is because the harbour here prevents the U-boats from sneaking into the docks easily." She smiled unpleasantly. "It's very easy to avoid detection when your crew needs neither air nor warmth. Millennium can sneak small forces into this country any time they wish. They're scared, and they're willing to give up a certain amount of political independence for the illusion of safety."

"You're just a font of sunshine and rainbows," Angel said, crossing her arms over her breasts. "Once again, I think we should listen to Ukyou."

Akira glanced at Angel again. She was beginning to act more like her old self again. She had barely strung together two sentences since they'd freed Ukyou, and her usual good humour and wit had vanished. Akira had presumed it was the near-death experience in the fight against Lotus Infinite. That was probably also why she had avoided speaking to Ukyou in the last six weeks unless spoken to. And since Ukyou had avoided saying anything unless spoken to herself, the two had not exchanged a single word that Akira was aware of.

"It will only take a night... just." Ukyou sighed. "I just have to do something. I... couldn't live with myself if I left here without it."

"Why don't you just tell us if it's so important?" Nabiki asked directly. Her eyes narrowed.

"Why don't you pull it out of my mind if you care so much?" Ukyou snarled. "It's private."

The two stared at each other for a long time, the tension in the air growing noticeably. Akira sighed and stepped between them. "Okay, okay, cut it out you two. You can hate each other after we get to Southtown. Nobody in Millennium or Shadowloo is crazy enough to attack the headquarters of S.T.A.R.S. with anything less than a large army."

Nabiki snorted. "Fine. Do what you want. I'll find us a hotel."

"Remember to actually pay for it, Nabiki," Ukyou called as the girl retreated. Nabiki gave her a look over her shoulder. "A fair price." Nabiki snorted, flipped her hair and continued walking.

"Shouldn't we find out what hotel she's going to use?" Akira asked.

"No." Ukyou looked at her. Her black lotus eyes were cold, her expression dour. "I can find her. She stands out like a beacon if you know how to look. Whatever the wishing sword did to her, it made her really easy to find."

"Funny, I can't sense her," Akira admitted. "Not especially, anyway."

"You have to know what to look for." Ukyou made a face. "It's not chi. It's deeper... a more profound sort of force."

"The Second Circle?" Akira asked.

"If you want to call it that," Ukyou said, looking suddenly uncomfortable. She changed the subject quickly. "Angel..."

"Yes, Ukyou?" Angel said a bit too quickly.

"Do you mind staying here for a bit? I want to make good time, and unless we want to startle the locals that means using Akira's bike. It's a little small to fit three..."

"I don't mind," Angel said. She looked down the street. "I'll be at the church down there."

"Church?" Akira said, looking surprised. "I never knew you believed in God."

"How can you not?" Angel said, looking at her meaningfully.

Akira wasn't certain what she meant by that, so she said nothing. Ukyou walked over to the bike. "The place I want to go is a little outside of town. About a half-hour. If we start now, we should be back by nightfall."

"Uh... right." Akira flushed and forced the thought aside as she straddled the bike. She felt Ukyou get on the back, and felt their bodies touch for a brief moment. For a second, she thought the shorter girl would wrap her arms about her waist, then Ukyou leaned back and clasped down firmly on the back of the seat. Akira knew she wouldn't fall, but couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Just head for one of the bridges across the harbour, I'll guide you from there," Ukyou said. Akira nodded, revved the engine and then they were off.

01010

It wasn't much of a house. It was set back in a subdivision with unpaved roads off the highway. The houses here had that distinct middle-class North American look to them. They were separated from each other by thick trees and shrubs, many beginning to turn gold and red as spring approached. Akira even saw a few of the Canadian maples here and there. The house itself was a single story affair, with an attached garage and white siding. The lawn was neat and a blue car sat parked in the driveway.

Akira watched as Ukyou approached the doorway with hesitant steps. For the life of her, Akira could not figure out what was wrong. She could sense nothing out of the house that was out of the ordinary. There were two life forces inside, each no stronger than your average human being. But from the way Ukyou was moving, you would have guessed that there were two zoalords slumming it in the suburban neighbourhood.

Akira sat on the idling motorcycle, watching the woman as she came up to the door. Ukyou paused, then knocked once tentatively. She was forced to knock again a few seconds later. The door opened revealing a tall silver-haired man wearing a knit sweater and slacks. He wasn't much, handsome in a domestic sort of way, Akira supposed.

"May I help you, Miss?" he asked.

"I..." Ukyou slumped, and whether it was from relief or disappointment, Akira couldn't say. "You wouldn't happen to know if someone named 'Peori' used to live here, would you?"

The man shook his head. "We've lived here since we built the place."

"Ah. Wrong house, then." Ukyou thanked the man and apologised for the trouble, then walked back to the road. She looked like someone had wrenched out her heart.

"What's wrong?" Akira asked, getting off the cycle and approaching her. She hadn't realised she offered her arm until Ukyou brushed it aside.

"I... nothing." She sniffed. "I was a fool. I guess. I knew... there was no way that he could possibly be there."

"Who?"

"My father." Ukyou let out a deep breath and sat down on the ground.

"I thought your father had died." Akira frowned. "Just before you came to Nerima, if I recall."

"He did..." Ukyou spoke softly. "And he didn't. One of him did..." Ukyou looked up at the sky. "It's... I just. I never thought I would miss him. I always used to tell myself that I was the m... the woman without feelings. That I never cared about anything. My entire family could die and I wouldn't bat an eye." She chuckled. "But he was always there. When I faltered, when I fell. I treated him terribly. I never helped unless he almost forced me. I never even bought him a Christmas gift. Not even once. But he didn't care. When I flunked out of school, he helped me. When I needed a place to stay, he found one for me. When I needed to pay off debts I'd made for myself, he gave without me even having to ask. He was a good man, and I miss him."

Akira sat down next to her. "I... don't remember my own father. My parents died when I was very young. Daigo raised me. He's as much my father as he is my brother. I... don't want to think about what I would do if he died."

"Yeah." Ukyou smiled thinly. "But what would you do if he never existed? What if all your memories of him... what if you forgot them? What if he stopped being who he is, and became someone else?"

"I'm not certain what you mean."

"I'm just rambling." Ukyou stood up. "It's nothing. I just had to... do this. To see it with..." She sniggered cynically. "I was going to say 'my own eyes' but how does that apply here?"

Akira stood up with her and looked into Ukyou's eyes. The strange flower shape was almost compelling. The way the dark of the iris and the pupil seemed to merge together wasn't human, but it wasn't ugly either. "I think your eyes are beautiful," Akira said before she could stop herself.

Ukyou flushed, then looked quickly away. "Akira... don't..."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Ukyou took a long breath. "Come on. We better not keep Nabiki waiting."

Akira nodded and reset the kickstand as she boarded the bike. A part of her wanted to ask Ukyou how a Japanese girl with the name 'Kuonji' could be looking for her father in a Canadian city under the name 'Peori' but that part was small and easily ignored. If Ukyou wanted to tell her, she would. Until then...

Until then, Akira would be the friend she needed. Until then, she might not be the person Ukyou was looking for, but she would be the person that was there.

01010

It was a small Catholic church, clearly either built or renovated fairly recently. But it looked like most others, with a row of pews leading up to the altar. Near the door was the shrine to the Blessed Virgin, a collection of candles standing silent vigil under her sympathetic eyes. Above the massive double doors was a elegant stained glass window. It was here that Angel was looking.

The image was of Christ the Saviour standing among the lambs, a golden halo about his head. Angel could vaguely recall the church in the small town where she had grown up. The image there had been of Christ on the cross. She ran a finger along the hilt of her blade. Honestly, she wasn't certain which image she preferred more.

On the one hand, there was the reminder that sacrifice was necessary to absolve sin. On the other, there was the reminder that mankind needed a shepherd. If asked, Angel never would have called herself a very religious person. She had been raised Catholic, but had lost faith in the Christian God a long time ago. She had placed her faith firmly in another. Her faith was in a man who got results. A man who walked among the mortals and dispensed miracles with casual ease.

He had told her Himself. He was the Chosen One. He had been called here from a higher plane, a different form of existence. His very nature was unique. No force on Earth could stop Him, only slow Him down. So, to build the perfect possible future that He was sent to create, Angel had shed blood. The blood of her enemies. The blood of her friends.

All because He was the only one that could do it. The only one that could fight the darkness and succeed. Not just in driving it back for a time, but in eliminating it forever.

So... what then of Ukyou?

Angel sighed and returned the communications device back into the shape of an earring. Chris had been unavailable, again. He had been very busy the last six weeks. She could understand that. When He wasn't in his personal quarters, the forbidden room deep down at the bottom of the sanctum, He was abroad in the world. This time, however, not even Link had been available. That was too bad. Angel hadn't gotten a chance to report back since Hong Kong.

The constant flight had kept them busy, and Angel had quickly discovered that Ukyou had a preternatural ability to sense things trying to be hidden. Many times while they had been crossing Asia the girl had sensed the presence of scouts or ambush parties long before even Nabiki could. Thinking of Nabiki made Angel realise something she hadn't been paying attention to much.

Nabiki hated Ukyou, that much was clear. Angel could understand that. People hated Chris. People hated gods. It was the nature of those who defied them to hate. But Nabiki wasn't defying Ukyou. Somewhere between Hong Kong and getting on that container ship across the Atlantic, Nabiki had conceded leadership to Ukyou.

Angel had missed it, because she had been thinking about other things. But all of them had just fallen in behind Ukyou, following her direction. For Akira, it made sense. But Nabiki? Not to mention herself, Angel thought bemusedly.

There was a creak as the door opened and two figures stepped in. It was Akira and Ukyou. As usual, Ukyou was in the lead by a few steps. She moved with a sort of cold efficiency and her face was expressionless. Akira was keeping pace with her, but her expression was dour. She had been unusually downcast lately. Angel would have thought she would be overjoyed, given how much she'd wanted to find Ukyou.

"Huh." Ukyou paused and looked back over her shoulder. "I don't remember that being here."

"What?" Angel asked.

"The stained glass window." She frowned.

"Maybe it was added recently." Angel shrugged. "From what I understand there's been an upswing in religion all across the Americas in the last seven years."

"People looking for answers, I guess." Ukyou murmured.

"Did you use to live here?" Angel asked.

"In another life, if you want to look at it like that." Ukyou shrugged. "We should head to the hotel. We want to get going early tomorrow and get to Southtown as quickly as possible." She looked more directly at Akira. "Are you certain Ranma will be there?"

"He tends to move around a lot," Akira hedged. "But his mother and father live there. If anyone has heard about where he is, it's them."

Ukyou nodded and started towards the exit. Then she paused, her body stiffening. Akira looked at her sharply, and subtly altered her stance. "What is it?"

"Damn... how did they sneak up so close?" Ukyou hissed. Angel kicked to her feet and placed a hand on her sword. She and Akira exchanged a glance and then wordlessly moved to flank Ukyou. They'd gotten into a few fights with Shadowloo and Millennium forces along the trip, and while Ukyou could hold her own, they both knew she wasn't as good as them. Not without all the special abilities Lotus Infinite had used. "Vampires... a cool dozen of them. They have the place surrounded."

"This is a church," Angel said, feeling a bit offended.

"Feel free to hit them with the crucifix then," Ukyou replied dryly.

"What, and ruin a perfectly good cross?" Angel said with mock startlement. Then she realised who she was joking with and sobered up. Ukyou appeared to have not noticed the comment, as her unusual eyes were darting around the shadows.

The vampires emerged from the darkness in ones and twos. They didn't look like much. Men in everyday clothes, women in casual dress. But their eyes glowed red in the faded light of the building and their mouths were horrifically distended, filled with row upon row of glittering white fangs. They made a uniform sibilant hiss.

"They have us outnumbered," Ukyou pointed out. She reached up, as if she were going to clench something. Then she spied the faded tattoos on her arm and her grip relaxed. Instead she fell into an unarmed fighting stance.

"Well, I'll take the six on the right, if you two can handle the six on the left," Angel offered with a smile.

"Greedy," Akira noted.

Angel stuck her tongue out at her. "Fine. Four each, that better?"

One of the female vampires laughed, stepping slightly forward from the others. In the distance, Angel could hear a soft roaring sound. "I wouldn't be so confident, girl. We're elite vampires, trained in martial arts." She smiled gruesomely. "We're the equal of any S.T.A.R.S. agent."

"Can I just ask why you chose to attack us?" Ukyou said slowly. "Even if you win, your cover is blown."

The woman looked at her. "No particular reason. But I haven't had a metahuman's blood since I got here. I was curious what it tasted like."

"Curiosity killed the cat," Angel pointed out, shifting her stance.

The vampire woman laughed, and then cut off in surprise as the dull roar outside suddenly became much louder. Angel leapt back, and even Akira ducked and covered her head. Only Ukyou wasn't startled in the slightest as the massive motorcycle came smashing through the plate glass window like a rocket. For a moment, Angel thought it was Akira's, then she realised it was much larger, with huge chromed exhausts that roared thunderously in the church.

Astride the massive machine, unmindful of the cloud of razor-sharp glass pinwheeling about him, was a man. He was Asian, but larger than most. His hair was hidden under a red bandana and he wore black sunglasses. His chin was covered in fine brown stubble. He wore a black leather vest, a blue shirt and denim pants.

Still in mid-air the man reached down to the side of his bike, his hands leaving the handlebars. He pulled two long chromed handguns from holsters beside the seat of the massive cycle. With casual disregard he aimed and fired each in different directions. Once, twice, three times he fired. Each shot hit. One vampire's chest disintegrated, holes the size of bowling balls vanishing from its torso in time with each shot. Two more fell over, their heads dissolving into a fine red mist. A final vampire managed to move in time, only losing an arm from the shoulder down as the bullets whizzed through the air.

The man kicked off the cycle when it was halfway across the church, pushing himself backward and executing a perfect flip to land in a crouch on the floor. Ukyou leaned her head slightly to the side, the massive wheel of the cycle cutting through the air just to the side of her. There was a loud crash as it plowed into the altar with enough force to smash the thing to splinters and rock dust.

For a moment everyone just stood there, frozen in place. The mystery man was still crouched on the ground, the chrome-plated Desert Eagles held in the arms crossed in front of his chest. From this angle Angel could see that words written in blood-red lettering spelled out 'Lone Wolf' on the back of his vest.

"It... it's h-HIM!" one of the male vampires called out in horror.

"He's just one man!" the woman who had spoken earlier shrieked. "Don't just stand there, get him!"

All at once the air was full of leaping vampires. They pounced and glided like birds of prey; one even ran along the top of the pews with hands outstretched. The man smirked. Angel stepped forward, her sword sliding from its scabbard, but Ukyou's arm suddenly barred her way. She looked at the woman, but Ukyou was staring intently at the newcomer, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

The 'Lone Wolf' exploded into action before the vampires crossed half the distance to him. He rose in a lazy spiral, his arms swinging out in both directions. Again and again the reports of his guns filled the air with a crack like thunder. The running vampire shrieked as one of its legs vanished below the kneecap, sending it stumbling into the pews. Two more undead died in mid-leap, one from a hole that appeared where its heart should be, the other when a trio of shots neatly cut it in half from brow to crotch.

Then the beasts were next to him. The armless one landed first, swinging out wildly with its remaining limb. The man stepped back, allowing the blow to pass harmlessly in front of his face. For its trouble, he placed the muzzle of his weapon beneath its chin and removed the top of its skull. Even as he did his other hand lashed out, striking with the butt of his pistol. It crashed into one monster just before she landed, sending her flying back into another. The two flew back into and through the wall of the church, making a hole the size of a sedan on their way out. Then he was in among the remaining three, including the leader.

The creatures fought with savage intensity, but still with good discipline. Angel had to admit that they probably had been trained in the fundamentals. Most vampires she met had been little more than street brawlers, attempting to make up for a lack in technique or talent with superhuman speed and power. The problem, of course, was that when they didn't overwhelm their victims as brutally as they did with most humans such tactics quickly fell apart. Even a person with no mastery of chi could kill an unwary vampire if they had the skill to back it up.

But these three were wary. They struck as one, giving the man no chance for counterattack. He moved smoothly among them, his arms a blur as he blocked attacks from all three sides. Some of the strikes were getting through, but he only grunted when they hit. From personal experience, Angel knew how much the strikes of the undead hurt. The guy must have been made out of lead.

"You'll need this!" Ukyou called suddenly. Angel turned. The woman had walked over to the bike and retrieved a wrapped cloth bundle from the back. She spun it through the air. The man looked up and he grinned savagely. There were a pair of clatters as he dropped his guns, then with a roar he stamped his foot. The entire church shuddered and Angel stumbled to keep her balance. Akira and Ukyou seemed unaffected, but the vampires were not. While they were distracted, the man reached up and caught the bundle as it fell neatly into his hands. He drew it around him quickly, the cloth unwrapping like a black ribbon behind his stroke. There was a flash of candlelight off metal, then the man sheathed the sword with a single motion.

The three vampires blinked. Then one by one they began to slide apart, their bodies having been neatly divided right across the heart. The man looked at Ukyou, then he smiled. It was a charming smile, the kind of roguish grin men had just before they were about to do something endearing. Or stupid. Or both.

"I'll be with you ladies in a moment." He looked out the hole his casual backhand had sent the two vampires through. "Just let me take care of them before they decide to run away." His voice was soft and pleasant in a manner that seemed uncharacteristic of his appearance.

He swung the sword down and attached it to his belt with some hidden catch as he walked towards the wall. With one hand he reached out and casually picked up a pew. He thumbed it with his other hand. "Not a stake, but it'll do."

He cocked the pew over his shoulder like a javelin. Angel shifted positions, giving herself a better view of outside. The two vampires were running for their lives, hauling down the road so fast they would be out of sight in a few seconds. The man didn't seem to mind. He took a moment to line up his shot, then took two steps forward and launched. The pew travelled like a missile, leaving a visible ripple in the air behind it. The pavement in the parking lot buckled in its wake. It passed through the vampires without pausing, first one then the other, before vanishing from sight.

The man patted his hands together. He was wearing fingerless denim gloves, Angel noted idly. He turned to face them. "Not really much. I've been tracking this particular cell for a few weeks now. Guess they finally decided to make their move."

"Thank you," Akira said sincerely.

"It was nothing," the man said good-humouredly. "You three are just lucky I was here."

"Indeed..." Ukyou murmured. She walked up to him. "But... remember to finish off all your enemies next time. Angel?" Ukyou nodded her head to the side. Angel saw it. The legless vampire, trying to crawl away. She stepped forward and channelled her air chakra, and suddenly the world was a golden blur. Her sword made a sharp hissing sound as it bisected the air. The vampire never even heard her coming. She flicked the blood off the blade and resheathed it, making a note to clean it more properly later.

"Heh." The man chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked kind of cute in that 'aw shucks' way when he did it. "Guess you ladies could have taken care of yourselves." He reached up and pulled down his glasses, revealing a pair of bright blue-green eyes. "But I'm a bit surprised. I thought I knew every independent meta in the country."

"We recently arrived," Akira explained. She paused. "We needed to get out of Asia."

"Huh." He shrugged. "Yeah, Asia's a pretty tough place, from what I hear."

"My name is Akira Kazama," Akira continued, bowing slightly. "Pleased to meet you." She indicated Angel with one hand. "The lady with the sword is Angel. And this is-"

"Aaron," Ukyou introduced herself. "Aaron Peori."

Akira gave her a long look. Then she continued. "Yes. Aaron." She straightened. "We were hoping to find refuge here."

The man rubbed his chin. "Hey, I'm all for it. The more the merrier. But the suits have rules. You're supposed to register every new metahuman arrival with S.T.A.R.S."

"We were planning on doing just that," Ukyou said blithely. "We heard the headquarters was in Southtown, and were planning on catching a train there tomorrow."

"Train?" the man laughed. "Naw. It just so happens that with this little business taken care of I was on my way back there myself." He extended his hand towards Ukyou. "I would be delighted if you three young ladies would allow me to personally guide you there."

Ukyou didn't take the hand, and after a moment the man pulled it back, looking puzzled. "Thank you. We'll accept your offer." She narrowed her eyes. "You... are exceptionally strong, and I'll feel safer with you around to protect us."

Akira raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing.

"Great!" the man said, smiling roguishly again. "Now, where were you all staying for the night?"

"At a hotel." Ukyou said flatly. "Why don't we meet in the morning, Mr..."

"Oh." He laughed and patted his side again. "Right. Name's Tsukino. Shingo Tsukino."

"SHINGO!" Ukyou yelled, falling back a step.

"I see my reputation precedes me," he said, buffing his knuckles on his vest.

"SHINGO TSUKINO!" Ukyou shrieked.

"That's my name..."

"Not a chance in hell!" Ukyou shouted, pointing at him accusingly.

"Uh... I know I can be a bit overwhelming, but..."

Akira quickly stepped in. "Oh... don't mind Uk... Aaron. She's just a little high-strung after our ordeal in Asia." She grabbed Ukyou's wrist and began leading her out the door. "Come on."

"Not a chance!" Ukyou was shouting, but she let herself be led along without resistance. Angel shrugged and flashed Shingo a helpless grin. He grinned back at her and winked slowly. She winked coquettishly back at him and then sashayed from the church.

01010

Akane yelled and ran forward, her blade singing in the air. There was a loud clatter as the old man parried her attack with one hand. But he shifted backward, bracing himself with one foot. Akane smiled and pulled back a step, then launched herself again in the same elegant motion. For a moment the shrine was filled with the sound of bamboo against bamboo, the air between the two of them flashing and cracking as Akane battered through his defences with the force of a volcano.

Katsuhito smiled a second before she made her mistake. The tip of her shinnai slid along the edge of his, forced up and just to the right of his ear. Then his foot snaked out and caught hers. The air exploded from her lungs as she crashed to the ground in a heap. She groaned and forced herself to her knees, bracing herself on her weapon. Her breath was coming in short gasps and sweat was pouring down her brow, more than her headband could account for.

"How did you know I was going to overextend there?" Akane asked between breaths.

"I didn't," Katsuhito answered. He looked as fresh as a daisy, holding his practice sword balanced on one shoulder.

"But... your smile?" Akane frowned at him.

He grinned and adjusted his glasses, causing his eyes to vanish behind the glare. "That... was just so that you would overthink and make a mistake. I was about to lose my guard there so I had to do something..." He ducked as Akane threw her bamboo sword at him. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You're a dirty cheating old man!" Akane grumbled as she walked over to the corner her things had been placed in.

"But I won, didn't I?" he replied simply.

Akane didn't deign to answer that as she picked up her swords. She checked them, drawing first the steel then the wooden blade. She absently noted that she would have to spend some time taking care of them later: the steel was growing dull and the wood getting chipped. Katsuhito came up behind her, his footsteps soft.

"You're getting impatient."

"I don't like sitting around doing nothing," Akane said simply, slamming the blades back into their sheaths one at a time. "And staying in one place for so long..."

"You should relax. Chronos has no records that this valley even exists. Plus we have... considerations."

"Easy for you to say." Akane turned and looked at him. He looked like an old man, with a pinched face and a pair of tiny spectacles that had a habit of hiding his eyes when he turned his head in the right way to catch the light. But he was no ordinary old man.

Akane wasn't the most sensitive person. Her lessons with Tofu and Ukyou had never gotten that far, but she could sense the power of this man. "I've been running for my life for the last seven years. Staying in one place more than a few weeks was a invitation for a Chronos attack. But a month and a half..." She sighed. "Is it September already?" she asked rhetorically. She hadn't realised how much time had passed.

"It's almost over."

Akane shook her head. "I just feel I have to do something. Go out there and make a difference..."

"Like charging foolishly into the Pillars of Heaven and getting yourself captured to rescue a man you barely like?" Katsuhito said. He sat down in lotus position, propping his practice sword against the wall next to him.

Akane let out a deep breath. "Something like that." She looked down at him. "Skullomania may be an annoying jackass, but he's MY annoying jackass. Besides, according to Washuu he hasn't been taken for processing yet. We can still..."

"Did you ever consider the reason he hasn't been is because Gyro knows that it will draw you to him?" Katsuhito asked softly.

Akane had no response to that, so she turned and left the small temple. The courtyard was empty. The September sunlight was warm, but the breeze carried the first hints of autumn as it caressed her cheeks. It felt good after her workout. She started down the long fight of stairs, enjoying the solitude of the walk between the old trees that rose up on either side. Her footsteps crunched lightly on the first of the leaves that had begun to fall.

At the bottom of the stairwell she found Rei. The young woman was wearing her traditional shrine maiden gear. Her lustrous black hair shone against the stark white of her shirt and touched the top of her baggy red pants. The girl was humming a soft melody to herself as she worked, her straw broom creating an odd counterpoint to the song.

"Have I heard that tune before?" Akane asked.

"Oh!" Rei turned, somewhat startled. "I didn't hear you come down."

"You were distracted, I guess," Akane said. She sat down on a space that Rei's efforts had successfully cleared.

"I'm not certain if you ever heard it before..." Rei shrugged. "My grandfather used to sing that song to me when I was very young. But he could never remember the words, so I don't know what the song actually is."

Akane nodded and stared out across the clearing in which the oddly modern-looking house was sitting. Beyond it was the lake, the water gleaming cerulean as the sun crept across its surface. She could see Mamoru trying to hang up the laundry. He was hampered slightly by the assistance of his companions.

There was a rustling sound as Rei sat down next to her.

"So... have you made a decision yet?"

Akane thought about the question for a moment. Washuu's offer was compelling. With her help, there was hope of actually defeating Chronos. Not just holding them, not just curbing their excesses... actually defeating them. Her genius, her technology... Akane had seen it in action many times. Weapons were the least she could offer the resistance. She could hack the Chronos computers like they were open books, and her understanding of genetics and bio- mechanics far outstripped anything Akane had ever seen. If Akane had never seen her hold off a zoalord by herself, she never would have believed half the girl- child's claims. But... "It's certainly something to think about." Akane frowned. "But I don't like the fact that I have to pay a price for it."

Rei shrugged. "Is it that bad a price?" She placed the broom beside her. "You know he has to be stopped. Somebody has to do it. We need your help."

"Why me?" Akane smiled as Fevrier began barking orders at the other two, who had managed to knock Mamoru into the washtub. "Washuu is powerful by herself."

"It doesn't work like that," Rei said slowly. "At first I wanted to go right after him myself. After what he did to Mihoshi..." She clenched her fist, then forced herself to relax. "But Chris is a dangerous man. His power is different than anything even Washuu has ever encountered before. At the moment he's scared of her, scared of what she might be able to do. But that could change. According to Washuu, he's only limited by what he perceives as a threat." Her eyes turned hard. "We're only going to get one shot at destroying him. One chance. We have to make it work the first time."

"Yeah..." Akane breathed. "I just..." She frowned. "I've never been one for this kind of thing." Rei gave her a look. "That's different. Chronos is an organisation, a philosophy. I hate everything they stand for. I'm not fighting Arkanphel or Purgstall or even Gyro. I'm fighting THEM. This is... revenge. Just plain revenge. However you candy-coat how it will be good for everyone, the reason you want me here is to punish him because he hurt you."

Rei gave Akane a reproachful look. "That's not fair, Akane."

"Isn't it?" Akane frowned. "What would Sailor Moon do?"

Rei looked away. "Sailor Moon isn't here," she said softly.

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean we can't be the best we can be." Akane spent a few moments watching as the ex-Dolls tried to strip Mamoru of his wet clothes. She could just picture them talking about how it was for his own good. Of course, he was objecting in no uncertain terms. Fevrier was trying to look like she was unconcerned, but she kept glancing over her shoulder nonetheless. "When we were back at that mountain when Sailor Moon..." She trailed off. "That day I saw that this world can have absolute good. And later I learned that you can do horrible things in the name of that good. I learned that you can say whatever you want about why you're doing things. But in the end, the only thing that matters is the choices you make."

"And what good has always making the correct choice done for you, Akane?" Rei snapped a little peevishly. Instantly the anger drained from her face, to be replaced with regret. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"No. You did." Akane adjusted her sword belt. "I haven't done much good in the last seven years. I admit that." She looked up at Rei, and suddenly Akane's voice was filled with more pleading then she intended. "Why hasn't she come, Rei?"

Rei flinched. "I... don't know."

"Have you ever talked to her? Asked her to come out and join in the fighting like us?" Akane gestured impotently. "I... we... the world needs a symbol. Sometimes I feel like if I could just show her to the people, they would finally see the lies Chronos has draped around their eyes. They would finally tear free and rise up. I can't be that symbol, Rei. But Sailor Moon..."

"I haven't talked to her in years," Rei admitted. She glanced to the side. They'd been avoiding this topic since they had met each other again, but it was clear Akane wasn't going to let it drop, so Rei continued. "The place we left her at... it was evil, Akane. It was full of lies, worse lies than any Chronos has ever told. The lies of that place seep into your heart and make themselves at home. They become a part of you."

"Really?" Akane blinked. Ohtori hadn't seemed that bad, from her memories of it. Then again, she'd been there for about... a day? Maybe less. It was hard to remember exactly. "I guess I should have known. Chris was always about what was practical." She frowned. "So why not go get her out? Washuu and you could do it, right? Just like you rescued me."

"It... isn't that simple."

"Sure it is." Akane said plainly.

"I... can't go back, Akane."

"Rei, whatever painful memories you have, whatever happened between you and her-"

"NO!" Rei snapped. "Damn it, Akane. I didn't mean I don't want to. I meant I can't!" She balled up her hands and her face twisted in grief. "You don't think I haven't tried? For the first few months, I went out every week! I swore I wouldn't let her stay in that place a day longer! I would MAKE her see it for what it was... but..."

"But?"

"I couldn't find it. It just... it's like I was never there. I can remember the school, the way the uniform was uncomfortable. I remember this girl I met, Shiori, and Nanami... I remember Anthy." She shuddered. "No matter how much I don't want to, I remember Anthy." Then she looked up. "But I can't find my way back. I think... I think they're blocking me. I ran away and I can't ever go back."

"Wait, back up. Can't find it? Don't you remember the way? It's not like we're talking about a single house in Tokyo or something. This is an entire city. A rather large one, on the coast even. There aren't that many of them in Japan."

"I know that, I just... every time I try and remember the way, I can't." Rei flicked her fist open slowly. "Poof. Gone. Like I was never there."

"That's... strange." Akane whispered.

"Washuu can't find it either. And neither can any of the old graduates."

"Graduates?"

"Yeah. It's a school. People graduate from it and move on. I tried tracking them down, and even found a few. I talked to Shiori a few years back. But none of them know the way to get back. They all remember it, but not how to get there."

Akane stared at her. "There's something you're not telling me."

"I..." Rei sighed. "I'm not the only one who talked to them. I managed to get Washuu to sneak Shiori and her family out of the country, but there were others..." She paused. "Chronos. Gyro. He was looking for them too."

"He knows where Sailor Moon is?" Akane gasped.

"Or at least, the name of it. From the way he was trying to track down the graduates, I'm guessing he's been having about as much luck as me."

"I see..." Akane stood up stiffly. "I... have to go, Rei."

"Right." Rei stood up, pulling her broom up with her. "You should still think about Washuu's offer. She may be a little crazy, but she's a good person. Helping her defeat Chris, it can't be bad."

"Right..." Akane murmured, walking away. She hadn't really heard Rei's parting words. Her mind was too busy thinking about something else. She was running back in her memory, to the desperate flight across the country of seven years ago, when she had first been on the run from Chronos. She remembered the tragedy of Ryugenzawa... and everything in between. It took her a few moments, but it came back with startling clarity. She knew the exact train one had to take, the correct path through the surrounding woods. She remembered how to get to the place where she and Shampoo had sparred that day.

"So... why can I remember?" she said softly, heading slowly into the house.

01010

Nabiki found Ukyou brooding near the back of the train. She was standing on a narrow iron balcony that hung from the last car, her arms draped across the protective railing. She was looking back as the darkened landscape shot by on either side, receding endlessly into the past.

"I'm surprised you're still awake," Nabiki lied, joining her as she slid the door closed.

"I don't sleep very well." Ukyou didn't make a move, just staring out behind them.

"Any particular reason you're avoiding us all?" Nabiki asked quickly. The wind was roaring loudly, so she had to speak up lest her words be lost. Of course, she could have just projected her thoughts at Ukyou, made her think she was hearing what Nabiki was saying. Ukyou, however, had made it quite clear what she thought of that practice early on. The young woman hadn't batted an eye when Nabiki had explained her powers, but had summarily forbidden her from probing her mind uninvited. Nabiki might have been the kind of person to enter unannounced, but Ukyou had the ability to simply... eliminate her thoughts. If Ukyou wanted to, her mind simply became totally blank, like there was nothing there at all. It was rather unsettling. Of course, Ukyou had to concentrate on that, but Nabiki didn't favour her chances of sneaking a peek without notice.

Ukyou shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Just... thinking."

"About Shingo?" Nabiki asked quickly.

"You're perceptive," Ukyou complimented her.

"Not that I had to be." Nabiki chuckled. "I believe that rant you gave back at the hotel in Halifax was enough to pique my interest."

"I..." Ukyou sighed. "It's not right, Nabiki."

"What isn't?"

Ukyou paused, as if considering whether or not to confide in the older mercenary. Finally, Ukyou relented. "His power, it's unnatural."

"Is there one of us here who doesn't have unnatural power, Ukyou?"

"This is different," Ukyou replied quickly. "Normal humans can train to the level of great strength, but Shingo... there's magic lingering over him."

"Magic?" Nabiki blinked.

"Second Circle. Something has... altered him. He's strong. Stronger than he has any right to be." She looked at Nabiki. "I also have it on good authority that he isn't a prodigy of martial arts."

"Maybe it has something to do with his sister?" Nabiki mused aloud.

"Perhaps," Ukyou grunted. "But I doubt it. He never displayed any magical talent..." She shook her head. "I think we should keep an eye on him."

"I could just..." Nabiki said leadingly.

"No." Ukyou snapped.

Nabiki frowned. "Oh please. You find him untrustworthy. He's not really your friend at all. Why protect his rights so much? He won't even know I did anything."

"It's not right, Nabiki."

"Why?"

Ukyou opened her mouth, closed it and then looked sullenly to the side. "It's complicated," she said shortly.

"No, it really isn't." Nabiki frowned and stepped into her line of sight. "It's just like with Angel."

"Not this again..." Ukyou said curtly.

"Yes. This again." Nabiki stepped closer to her, allowing her voice to drop a little. "That woman is dangerous."

"How do you know?" Ukyou frowned. "I thought you said you couldn't get into her mind?"

"I can't..." Nabiki tapped her fingers along the railing. "Or more accurately, there is some powerful static that prevents me from doing it covertly. I could batter through whatever shield she has around her mind, but not without her noticing I was doing it." She looked back up the length of the train, her eyes narrowing. "Which I'm beginning to think I should do regardless."

"What proof do you have that she's a danger?" Ukyou asked.

"None." Nabiki frowned. "But I had instincts before I was a telepath, Ukyou. I can read people, even when I'm not invading their minds. Plus, I do pick up some things from her. Emotions. Bits and pieces of thoughts. Nothing substantive, but when I try and put them together it forms... a bleak picture."

"What picture?"

"She knows Chris."

Nabiki let that hang in the air for a long moment. Ukyou had stiffened slightly at the mention of her counterpart's name, but no more. Even now, she was a master at concealing her true feelings. "So do you. So does Akane. Should I not trust you?"

"Of course you shouldn't trust me, Ukyou," Nabiki laughed. "I didn't go through all that trouble to free you out of the goodness of my heart. I plan on exploiting you."

"At least you're upfront about it," Ukyou said dryly.

"At heart I'm a salesman, Ukyou." Nabiki chuckled some more. "Salesmen make bargains. Sometimes they're unfair, but that's the nature of trade. It's a game. Which of us will come out ahead is decided by who has the better skill." She frowned, her mirth vanishing. "I'll be honest and say that I trick and lie and cheat to get what I want. But in the end, both sides walk away from the table with something they want. I'm up front about it. Angel... Angel is hiding something. Hiding something from all of us."

"I see." Ukyou straightened. "And what do you expect me to do about this, Nabiki?" Nabiki looked at her. "She risked her life to... to rescue me just like you and Akira did. I owe her more than confronting her with half- formed suspicions and mistrust. Even if she is our enemy... I'll deal with that when we come to it."

Nabiki paused and looked back at the countryside sliding away into darkness. "You want her to kill you, don't you?"

"That's absurd," Ukyou snorted.

"I may not be able to read you like a book, Ukyou, but like I said, I still have instincts." She looked back at the girl. It was odd, seeing Ukyou the age she was now. When they had first met, Ukyou had always seemed so much older, so much more mature then everyone else. Now she looked like what she was: a sullen teenager. "You've been going through the motions for the last six weeks, but your heart isn't in it. You've been deliberately cutting off Akira. You haven't even bothered to learn anything about the last seven years. This stoic acceptance bullshit may fly with the others, but I can see right through it."

"I think this conversation is over, Nabiki," Ukyou said, her tone cold.

"Oh no, it's just begun." Nabiki leaned in toward her. "I think it's about time you pulled your head out of your ass, Ukyou." Ukyou's eyes narrowed dangerously. "We all have to deal with the real world, and quite frankly I'm sick of you avoiding it. Yes, I know about your stupid prophecy, and guess what? I don't care." Nabiki examined her nails. "You tried to run away from the world seven years ago, and now you're one step closer, aren't you?" Nabiki looked pointedly down at the arm on which the bizarre tattoos could be seen.

Ukyou snarled and before Nabiki could think her hand was curled around the lapel of Nabiki's shirt. The fabric shifted ominously as she curled her fingers into it and Nabiki found herself standing on tiptoes.

"I don't think I want to listen to you anymore," Ukyou snapped, her voice still icy.

"I don't respond well to empty threats," Nabiki replied laconically.

They stared into each others eyes for a long moment, then Ukyou's hand relaxed. Nabiki settled back on her feet, unwilling to let her relief show on her face. Ukyou continued to glare at her, her alien lotus-shaped eyes narrow and cold. Nabiki took a moment to brush the wrinkles out of her shirt.

"You can't understand what it's like," Ukyou finally said, turning away. "I... I lost everything."

"I think Akira would disagree," Nabiki pointed out.

"I'll just end up hurting Akira, too." Ukyou smiled, a twisted grimace of self-loathing. "It's not like I can ever be the person she wants me to be for her."

"God, you're even more of a pretentious stuck-up bitch than I remember you being," Nabiki said with a snort. "Do you even listen to yourself anymore? So life dealt you a bad hand. Yeah, well do something about it." Nabiki started towards the door. "I should have let Bison keep you. At least Lotus Infinite could obey orders. You..." Nabiki shook her head. "You're so self-absorbed you can't even see the world around you, moving forward while you stare back."

Nabiki didn't give Ukyou the chance to respond. Instead she reentered the car, slamming the door behind her. Then she walked a few meters into the car. Her fist slammed into one of the metal walls hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. She needed Ukyou!

Without Ukyou, there would be nothing standing between Nabiki and Chris.

Without Ukyou, there would be nothing keeping Hotaru from getting vengeance if she discovered who had sold her out to Link.

Without Ukyou, Ryouga would...

Nabiki shoved that last thought aside. She needed to be strong, and the only thing thinking of him did was reduce her to tears. Wiping her eyes off with her sleeve, Nabiki started back towards the others. Maybe a few hours of fending off Shingo's advances would take her mind off things.

01010

It took the train five days to reach Southtown. The time it took was because of several factors, the least of which was probably the distance involved. Halifax was a city on the far east coast of Canada. Southtown was a city near the Mexican border of California. They literally had to cross the entire continent to get there, which was not an inconsiderable distance. Then there was the fact that while the train could run all day and night, it tended to do so at a sedate pace. There were bullet trains in Japan that could break the sound barrier, but such a feat took power.

The second most precious commodity in America was power. Everywhere they went there were posters about it. Patriotic figures, often in S.T.A.R.S. uniforms, saying how you could do your part in the war by turning off the lights, conserving water and everything else. It was almost bemusing, in a strange way reminding Aaron of World War II propaganda films. The advertising and methods were more slick, sometimes more subtle, but the message was the same.

Support the troops. Do your part. Conserve. Produce. Hate the enemy.

There was also several levels of security that had to be bypassed. While citizens of either country were free to move about, their movements were monitored. Getting into or out of a major city required paperwork and tests. Simple tests. Exposure to intense UV lamps for a few minutes, a blood sample here and there, and a quick examination by the local psychic.

That almost surprised Ukyou enough to actually care. None of the anime or video games that had come together in this gestalt universe seemed to have an overabundance of psychics, but America had a regular bevy of them. Aaron had asked Nabiki about it, a question to pass a few meaningless hours on the train ride between Montreal and Boston.

"Psychics aren't as common as martial artists," Nabiki had told her after a moment. She had looked surprised at the question, but then again it had been the first thing Ukyou had actually asked about, so that was understandable. "From what I've gathered, nearly everyone has the talent to develop chi control at some level. Really, everybody does it unconsciously anyway. Respirating and circulating chi through their chakra points and back into the world. With training, anyone can learn to harness the natural flow that occurs whenever you do... anything. Fighting is just the most obvious application. The academies are just beginning to look into what the training does to the already naturally intelligent with..." Here Nabiki smiled venomously. "...interesting results. And it's spreading beyond their ability to control. The techniques are beginning to filter into the general population. I've heard rumours about one kid, a twelve year old they smuggled out of the tropics, that thinks on a whole other level. Some sort of strategic genius and natural born leader. Was fighting Chronos forces with nothing but a half-dozen men and a few old style weapons, and winning." Nabiki chuckled. "If he really exists, he's so far underground by now that not even I know for sure where he would be."

"Maybe they took him into space," Aaron joked. "To train with all the other supergeniuses."

"Maybe." Nabiki shrugged. "Real pure psychics, those with actual telepathic or extrasensory powers, are nearly nonexistent. But a lot of people are beginning to develop the same technique you did, Ukyou. Chi awareness, enhanced perception... People can't tell the difference between that and real psychic powers because to them the power is pretty much the same. If someone can understand your thoughts by interpreting the slightest involuntary change in facial expression or subtlest body language... what's the difference between that and actually invading your mind, anyway?"

Ukyou and Aaron had cut off the conversation at that point, wandering off to think to themselves. Of course, it was huge. Perhaps larger than Nabiki, or anyone else, thought it would be. People able to benchpress a battle tank or survive a howitzer shell were one thing. But what about people who could literally read anyone like an open book? What about engineers who could jump technological advancements thirty, fifty... a hundred years ahead of the curve in a few weeks? What would happen when the first of these people learned to apply the art of chi control to even more esoteric skills, like seduction, persuasion, oratory...

It was too big to think about, so they chose not to do that. Ukyou didn't ask how they got through all the checkpoints and tests without questions, but she was certain that Shingo's apparent celebrity and Nabiki's... gentle persuasion had something to do with it. She just spent the time sitting and thinking about what she would do when she got to Southtown.

The answer was simple. She would find Ranma.

Aaron still felt the pain. They had told him, upon waking up, that seven years had passed. Certainly everyone was older and the world was different. Aaron never doubted them for a moment. But to him and Ukyou... it was still 1992. Even the season had synched up. It had been late summer when they'd confronted Bison and the Major in England, and it was early fall now. Aaron looked down and began to count it out on his fingers, like a child. Six weeks. More accurately six weeks and four days. With an ironic chuckle he vaguely realised that his birthday had passed unnoticed two days ago.

Aaron was still quite aware of his surroundings. He seemed to know things instinctively now. Thus he was quite certain they were free from any eavesdroppers when Ukyou began to talk to herself. "Why am I even still here?" she murmured.

That was the question of the hour, wasn't it? Nabiki had forced them to confront some unpleasant realities a few days ago, and they had mostly ignored her. But the night time confrontation had stayed in the back of their shared mind, growing larger and larger in that strange no-man's land of thought that they shared. Like a piece of sand eventually forming into a pearl, the thought had grown in their mind until there was no ignoring it.

They were acting like a stuck-up bitch. Like the whiny protagonist of a hundred different stories. Aaron had always hated them. The sullen arrogance of a Squall Leonhart or the pathetic spinelessness of a Shinji Ikari, they had always annoyed him. Ukyou had never really shared his interest in pop culture, but she disliked the type as well. For her, it had always been the whiny useless girls of her school who pissed her off. The kind that moaned about their boyfriends, while secretly gossiping about the lives of others behind their hands.

Ukyou had made it a point of pride that when she had been abandoned, when she had been left on the side of the road, she hadn't started simpering or moaning. She had gotten pissed off instead. When Aaron had been confronted by bullies and namecallers and other such struggles of youth he had faced them head on, with icy determination that was often enough to scare away his antagonists by itself.

Where had that gone? Ukyou remembered it quite clearly. That stubborn pride had driven her to fight Hayato, even when there had been nothing to gain. It had made them spit in Chris's face, even after he had poisoned them. It had let them fight on against Jadeite, and Pluto, and Rose and Tethys... Ukyou could remember what that felt like. Aaron could remember it.

So why were they standing here, watching the Rocky Mountains slide by, and wondering where it had all gone? It hadn't been England. Aaron remembered England. For others, the events of seven years ago had faded. The universal balm of time had soothed whatever wounds they had acquired during those desperate struggles. But for Ukyou and Aaron, they were as fresh as yesterday. The soul- crushing emptiness of London, the mad struggle against Millennium, the stoic despair of Integra and her empty, meaningless death. And Hotaru.

The metal of the trainwall squealed as Ukyou curled it between her fingers. She clenched her eyes shut, but the tears wouldn't be denied. Oh god, it hurt. It hurt more than anything ever had. She had been beaten to the brink of death. She had been humiliated. She had been broken, and mutilated. She had watched her father die of illness, and she had lost her very memory, her very identity. Ukyou was, in fact, hard pressed to think of an indignity she had not suffered at some point.

But this hurt somewhere deeper. It was a bleeding ache, sickening everything around it. It didn't go away. It festered. Just her name, just the thought of her name... It made her eyes burn. It made her jaw ache. It made her lungs empty. She was sobbing, her entire body wracked. She wanted to shove her head through the wall. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cut out her heart. She would do anything. Anything at all to make the pain stop. Once, while they had been travelling through Sweden to catch a boat, Ukyou had slipped away to a seedy bar. To her disgust she had discovered her chi-enhanced metabolism was too powerful for such simple escapes. But the temptation to just keep drinking had been strong. In the end, it had been the taste that sent her away. Alcohol tasted vile to her, and with her chef's tongue and Aaron's enhanced senses, it only stood out even more no matter how she tried to hide it.

But before she had left Sweden, Ukyou had found a place that dealt in stronger drugs. Drugs that might be strong enough to overcome her innate resistance. The kind of stuff that erased thought. Erased memory. In the end, Ukyou had left. But in a pocket of her shirt, unseen...

No. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. With an effort of will she shoved the pain back inside, sending it back to fester unnoticed in the dark recesses of their psyche. Perhaps after they had saved Ranma, they could contemplate those darker impulses.

But not until then. They had failed Hotaru. They had failed her utterly and now she was dead. But they wouldn't fail Ranma. Bison would kill him. It was only a matter of time. Ukyou had to prevent that. Somehow. She had no idea how, but the thoughts of the Third Circle floated nebulously in their head.

The important thing was getting to Southtown, finding Ranma, and removing Bison's hold on his heart. By whatever means necessary. After that... Ukyou pulled back the sleeve of her shirt and looked at the markings there. They could almost go unnoticed, faded and obscure. They weren't tattoos. They were something beneath her flesh. A part of her she had gained in that missing seven years. One more step down the path toward her fate.

They had tried to deny it. They had tried to fight it. They had tried to run away from it. They had even surrendered to it, allowing Bison to take them and erase them. All so they wouldn't have to face it. But fate was a cruel bastard and it would not let them escape.

Ukyou sighed. Was that it? Was that what had killed that fire inside them? The prophecy, and all it implied? Ukyou thought it might be. But Aaron disagreed. He thought it was more personal than that. More immediate. Not something forced upon them, but something they had done. Or not done.

Ran. That was the beginning of it. Her death had been... had been far too real. It had been when everything changed. Despite the battles, despite the pain and the struggle and the humiliating defeats... up until then it hadn't seemed real. It was like some game, a roleplaying game where he was just playing the part of Ukyou Kuonji. Ukyou had always hated him because he made her think she wasn't real, and he hated to admit it, but she was right. He probably never had thought of her as real. Even forced to live her life, feel her emotions, experience her day to day world... it wasn't enough to really hit him with how real this world had been. He had cut himself off from it. He had erected an icy shell around his feelings, around his and Ukyou's heart. He had denied the love Ukyou felt for Ranma, even as it wormed its way into his heart. He had denied his friendship with Akane, allowing it to be cut off without protest... when even a single word of reconciliation could have salvaged it.

Aaron had wanted nothing to do with this world. Then Ran had died, and suddenly it had all become real to him. Staring down at her broken body, covered in her blood, cradling her cold flesh in Ukyou's arms. Looking up and seeing the anguish on Ranma's face. The horror on Hotaru's. The shock on Akira's. That's the moment when it had become real. When it had stopped being something that was happening to other people, and starting becoming something that was happening to him.

And while Ukyou didn't like it, because it had been the moment he had started feeling, it had been the moment she had started feeling too. The events of England, they were just a sad spiral building off that morning. Standing in the Ex Machina, listening to Yan laugh, Ukyou had been remembering that moment. That morning. Except instead of Ran it had been Hotaru in her arms. And that had hurt even more. Then, down on the field, when Bison had threatened Ranma...

She couldn't do it. She couldn't picture herself, in that stifling hot classroom, covering in cold blood and staring down at his lifeless face. It would have destroyed her. Whatever Bison would do to her... whatever he HAD done to her, it was better than that.

So that was her answer. She had lost that drive, that pride... that spirit which never gave up the moment she realised that people died. "So... what now?" Ukyou asked herself. She couldn't go on this way. Crying alone about a friend murdered seven years ago, about a little girl taken from her so long ago that the others had probably forgotten her name, was not going to solve anything. Giving in to Bison had not saved her from having to face her life. Fate wasn't going to allow that.

So what was she supposed to do? Who was supposed to help her? Nabiki had been right, she was acting foolish, stupid. Her attitude was hurting Akira, if nothing else. The girl deserved something better than the way Ukyou had been treating her since she had emerged from the fog. But even if Akira had been there for her that time, she wouldn't be there at the end. At the end, Ukyou would face her fate alone.

So she screwed her eyes shut and she decided not to think about it. For now, she had to get to Ranma. Get to Ranma. Save him from Bison.

After that? The next day.

And the next.

And the next...

01010

The huntress, Rip Van Winkle, was standing on the edge of the deck, watching the water run by beneath her. This was one of the few ships in the Major's navy, a U-boat, a relic of the past dragged out of mothballs in some hidden cave and refitted for the war to come. There were perhaps a double handful of the vessels in the world. Each was crewed and piloted only by vampires and ghouls, and also fuelled by the same. There was no air inside the metal coffins. There were no engines or reactor piles. Propulsion was provided by muscle power, the tireless power of the walking dead.

It had several advantages. It made them virtually undetectable. They made no noise, had no heat signature and could run underwater for literally infinite periods of time. Tracking down and destroying them was near impossible. That was the only reason they had survived the disastrous invasion of Scandinavia. Tethys ruled the ocean. While Chronos had more ships, more zoanoids adapted specifically for aquatic combat, than any other power... it was Tethys that ruled the oceans of the world.

Rip Van Winkle and others like her were trespassers that survived at her leisure. She snorted and pulled her rifle closer to her. That would change. It would all change.

"Rip Van, ze colour of ze sea, it brings out ze shade of your eyes!"

She repressed a shudder and looked over her shoulder. Schrodinger was standing there, his arms jauntily clasped behind his back, one leg askance as he grinned at her. "Vhat do you vant?" she hissed, her eyes narrowing as she stared at him over the rim of her glasses.

"You vound me, Rip Van. Can't I just be here to compliment you?" She didn't dignify that with a response, and he laughed. "Wery vell." He made a mocking bow. "I bring news from ze major. He has located your rare flower."

Rip Van stared at him and then looked back across the sea. In the distance, she could see a shoreline. The country over there was HIS land, Shadowloo. Zamiel's home. In all her years, she had never managed to enter that accursed land once. Not even in her most desperate pursuit of her eternal rival. Even when the Major had tormented her with ever more vigourous tests and tortures, she could not bring herself to enter that place. The place where HE dwelt.

'Ah Rip Van, such a shame,' the Major had told her once, when she had returned after being unable to bring herself to sneak into Zamiel's capital. 'I can only torture your body. But Bison... he can torment your soul. I shall haf to ask him his secret, someday.'

"She is not zere," Schrodinger told her in a sing-song voice.

Rip Van tried not to let her relief show. "Zen vhere is she?" she growled out.

"America."

Rip Van blinked and turned to face him fully, just to make certain this wasn't some joke. Schrodinger never looked serious, nor grave. But if you knew him long enough you learned to read his different kinds of amusement. This was not the kind of amusement of a cat playing with a wounded bird. Nor was it the teasing amusement of a child taunting a humbled rival. It was the anticipatory amusement of knowing there would be great fun in the near future.

"Our agent has reported to us her location, or at least vhere she vill be shortly. She is in the heart of the beast. Ze fortress of the S.T.A.R.S."

Rip Van hissed and clenched her fists. Attacking America was foolish, even for her. Especially that place. There had to be close to a hundred martial artists in that one city alone. Her hated enemy had chosen to surface in one of the few places she dared not attack.

"I haf orders from ze Major concerning zis." He cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Rip Van Winkle, you shall proceed to zis city at once and eliminate Lotus Infinite immediately," he said with the odd lilt of memorisation. "Also, you shall be provided vith a sufficient force to level ze city of Southtown to a smoking crater, and let not a single living human escape alive."

Rip Van Winkle stared at the grinning catboy for a few moments, then she smiled.

01010

Summer clung tenaciously to the city of Southtown, but even here you could start to see the approaching signs of autumn. The breeze was blowing in off the ocean, carrying with it the scent of salt and a merciful relief from the heat. People went around dressed in clothing more commonly suited to much colder climes, and made frequent references to the chill. Few had ever been to any place as cold as the wind-blasted plain cities in the Canadian north where the first sister school of the academy here had been established. Most probably had never even experienced a winter as cold as the ones of his native Tokyo.

Ono rubbed his eyes and sighed, leaning back in his chair. The window to his office was closed and in the corner of the room a fan whirred, its round head whispering back and forth through the air like the gruesome skull of some unnatural snake. He chuckled a bit at the morbid comparison. In seven years he had never really gotten used to the heat of this city. It baked the streets, rising from the asphalt in waves in the long, agonising months of summer. The heat did strange things to the brain then.

Now summer was over, and they had begun the long slow walk into winter. In a few more months the rains would come and finally relieve the city of the baking heat. But too quickly the rain would be gone, and the heat would return. In this dry hellish place, man had no right to build glass towers and claim dominion.

He missed Tokyo. He missed his cool little clinic on a back street of a backwater neighbourhood. He missed old men complaining of aching knees and old women complaining about old men. He missed sweeping the path and watching the children walk, carefree and laughing, to school and back. He missed the rain that came without warning, and left just as quickly. The sudden showers, not the scouring storms that swept out of the mountains onto this place that had once been a desert. He missed...

Ah, but he was growing melancholy in his old age. He swung around in his chair and looked at the documents spread out across his desk. It was not hard to understand why his mind had started to wander back to the past. The name on some of those documents had returned him back to a time, years ago, when he was much more innocent.

Back when he was a doctor. A man who had sworn to do no harm. Back before he trained children to kill and die.

The door opened and closed and Ono didn't have to look up to know who it was. His steps were heavy, and the man sat down in one of the comfortable chairs that Ono kept for students and visitors. Only honoured guests were allowed in this office to meet him; only exceptional students ever got to talk to him privately. Genma and Soun handled matters of discipline. Or they had before Soun had moved north to found the second academy.

"So, what do we do about her, Doctor?"

"I don't know, Chris." Ono looked up now, even through he didn't want to. Chris Redfield looked old. He was about Ono's age, and had looked even younger than the doctor when they first met. He still had that rugged, masculine charm that he had displayed when they first met, but now it was beginning to grow into what polite company called 'distinguished'. His hair was greying at the temples, and lines of worry had taken up residence at the corners of his eyes and lips. He had always gone clean-shaven before, but now he had a short beard. This too was streaked through with grey. "How's Rebecca?" Ono asked.

Chris sighed and shook his head. "Young."

Ono grinned. "So are we."

"Are we?" Chris ran a hand along his face. "I feel eighty years old. She looks like a child to me sometimes now. I swear she hasn't aged a day. Now I know why old men are always the ones in charge. This wears out a man too quickly."

"Yes." Ono drummed his fingers on his desk. "But if we don't do it..."

"The whole of the earth, resting in the hands of people not even forty years old. Kind of scary." Chris leaned forward. "I don't want to do it anymore. All those kids... the army is flush with them now. And you trained them well... too well, I think."

"They had to be trained that way." Ono sighed. "We looked for the talented ones. The ones with drive and ambition. The ones with the killer instinct."

"I know. I've read your papers. I didn't understand half of them, but I read them." Chris laughed. "But how am I supposed to control them? All the graduates of these academies, and all the ones who slipped through the cracks... they're beginning to affect things. They don't want to sit here and quietly stand on walls. They don't want to fight meaningless little wars in the Bahamas or the Pacific islands. They want to do something."

"That's your job," Ono said, feeling bad for saying it.

"Yeah." Chris frowned. "I'll be the one that decides which of them lives and dies." He looked at Ono sadly. "Which brings us back to the real reason I'm here."

"I don't think she's dangerous," Ono said. He leaned back, picking up a pen and holding it between his hands. "Not from what I remember of her. She's very... enigmatic. Unpredictable. But not dangerous."

"She's been Bison's slave for over seven years," Chris countered. "Who knows how many people she's killed? Remember Senator Kensington, who vanished without a trace? That could have been her work."

"I've been informed she doesn't remember any of that. That she wasn't in control of her actions. That's she's free of Bison's control."

"I've read the debriefings..." Chris stood up. "But I'm not certain we can trust her. I want you to talk to her."

"You're going to leave the decision in my hands?" Ono resisted the urge to make the question an accusation.

"I know you knew her, and that's why you have to do it." Chris rubbed his chin. "We have to decide if she's a threat or not." His eyes narrowed. "I'm not saying you'll be signing her death warrant if you can't trust her. I'm saying that we can't give her sanctuary, either."

"I'd just like to point out that she didn't have to tell us any of this." Ono looked down at the pen in his hands. It was blue, and the sun outside reflected off its mirrored finish. "She's the one who walked into our offices and confessed everything. Against the protests of her friends, from what I hear."

"How many times has Bison, or Chronos, or Millennium managed to sneak something like this past us? How many died?"

"That's unfair."

"It's the truth. You talk to her. You make the decision."

Ono wanted very badly to hate Redfield just then, but couldn't bring himself to. He sighed and nodded instead, and Chris left. The wait thereafter was interminable. Minutes stretched by. He realised he should probably put away the documents on the desk. But he couldn't find the will to. He was too absorbed in the meeting that was about to happen.

But why? Was it because she was a ghost? He had thought her dead for seven years. Everyone had. Truth be told, they had never really known each other. She had slept in his clinic, she had done his finances. He had taught her martial arts, but he had ended up learning more from her in the long run. Then... she had broken a boy's spine and he had kicked her out to the curb. After that, he had never seen her again.

Was that why he was nervous? Afraid of revenge? Or worse yet, afraid of her knowing eyes when she looked at him? He had cast her out of his life because he couldn't stand to be part of the violent world she was part of. Yet here he was, training a army of assassin and soldiers. Weapons for killing.

No. It went deeper than that.

Before he had a chance to decide what it was, she was in the room. A duet of S.T.A.R.S. elites guided her in, and then left. Ono knew they would be standing just outside the door, ready to burst in at the slightest hint of anything out of place. Ono looked at the young woman in front of him, and wondered if they would have time to react if she decided to kill him.

She had changed, but not aged. She looked sixteen years old. It was like the last seven years hadn't happened to her. He wondered briefly how old he looked to her, now that he was losing the lean muscles of his youth. But she was different in other ways. He had read the reports and seen the pictures, but was not really prepared for the reality. Her eyes were inhuman, shaped like black flowers. Combined with her usual cold gaze, the effect chilled him.

"How's your arm?" he asked into the silence, more to say anything at all than out of any real curiosity. She blinked, then looked down at her arm. The five scars still ran down the length of her forearm. He remembered frantically working into the dark hours of the morning to save the limb.

"Sometimes it aches when it's damp, or when it's going to rain," Ukyou responded slowly. "I never really notice, though."

"Ah." Ono had no better response.

"Did you ever get together with Kasumi, by the way?" she asked idly, not really sounding curious, just chatting politely.

"Ahh, no..." He frowned. "She's up north with her father. I needed to concentrate on my work and she tended to distract me, so..." He trailed off. It was an uncomfortable topic. "I'm married now. She's a Chinese national, a refugee."

"I'm happy for you," Ukyou replied ritually.

The silence stretched on another few minutes.

"Ranma isn't in the city." It wasn't a question, but not quite a statement either. Ukyou just let it slip into the air to hang for a few moments.

"No. He isn't here often. Just to visit his mother every now and then. He and Minako..." He trailed off. Ukyou had looked at him sharply. He continued carefully. "He's very busy abroad. We've tried to convince him to join on full time. We could use someone like him as a teacher..."

"I don't think Ranma wants to teach," Ukyou said.

"Probably not. But I'd hate to see all that talent go to waste."

"Indeed." Ukyou sighed and brushed a hand through her bangs. "Why don't we get to the interrogation? You have to decide if they're going to kill me, or lock me up, or something, right?"

Ono didn't bother to ask how she knew. Ukyou always had a way of knowing. "Yeah." He paused. "What do you remember about being Lotus Infinite?"

"Nothing." The answer was flat, simple and Ono instantly believed her. He couldn't say why, but he just did. "But it isn't that simple."

"Oh?"

Ukyou looked down, and slowly drew back the sleeve on her other arm. There was a tattoo there... no, wait, not a tattoo. Shadows, beneath the skin. Some sort of implants. They looked like circuitry, like the kind of diagrams one would see in a electrician's notebook. "I don't know what this is. It's... something he put in me. For all I know, it's how he was controlling me. For all I know, he could use it to take control of me at any time."

Ono leaned forward and she invited him to look at the arm with another gesture. He moved around the desk and laid his fingers on the limb. He probed gently, looking with eyes that saw more than just the physical. He could sense layers of chi, and deeper things, inside the folds of whatever it was that was beneath Ukyou's flesh. He could also tell that the implants extended down the entire half of her body, but he refrained from examining them all. He took a deep breath and reverted his senses to normal, then stepped back around the desk. She was looking at him curiously when he sat down.

"I don't know what they are either." He frowned. "They store a great deal of power in them, however. They're implanted along the natural flows of chi in your body, connected to all your major chakra points. I think... I think they interact with your aura in some manner. Maybe they help store energy, or control it, or block it... I can't tell without a more thorough examination." He paused. "You should be able to do something with them. Just channel chi through them. It would be easy. Have you tried?"

"No," Ukyou spat. "I don't want anything to do with them." She paused. "Could they be removed?" Ono clucked his tongue. "I don't care about scarring, or if it takes a dozen surgeries..." She trailed off at his expression.

"Ukyou, those implants are hooked into your body in ways I can't even imagine. Not just physically, but spiritually. If we tried to remove them, it could kill you."

"What if I told you I was willing to risk that?"

"I'm not," he said firmly.

She sighed, then leaned back in her seat. "I was afraid of that." She smirked. "It would have been too simple a solution anyway. And probably wouldn't solve the actual problem."

"The actual problem?"

"You're trying to figure out if I'm still Bison's slave. If I still have any connections to him. The answer is yes." He narrowed his eyes. "I can... I can feel him. I can't remember a thing about the last seven years, but I can feel him. Inside me." She closed her eyes. "When I'm trying to go to sleep at night. When I wake up in the morning. When my mind drifts. I find myself thinking about him. I smell him in the air. I hear him on the wind. He's worked his way into my flesh..." She paused for a moment. "No. That's not right. It's not that he's worked his way into me, but more like... like he's taken a part of me. Those seven years, I guess. I can feel them." She reached down, placing her hand over her stomach. "I left a part of myself back in Thailand. It's with him. I know it is. I am... a part of him. He is a part of me." She opened his eyes. "And a part of me, a quiet insistent part of me, want to go back to him. I think... I think I loved him. Sick and twisted as it is, I think I did."

"Do you still?"

"I don't know. I can't remember." She chuckled softly. "But, I really don't care. I'm here for Ranma." She looked at him. "Bison has his hand on his heart. I need to find him, protect him. After that, you can do whatever you want with me. Until then, I'm not going anywhere."

Ono crossed his arms and looked at her. "Ukyou, seven years ago..."

"Is ancient history," Ukyou waved his words aside.

"It isn't." He stood up. "Seven years ago I abandoned you. I abandoned everything. I was scared. I abandoned Japan, my homeland, my friends." He frowned. "I trust you. I don't know why I do, but I do. Even back then, back after Hayato... I trusted you then. I knew that what I did wasn't right. But... I was scared." He pulled the documents off the desk. "You're my friend, and I trust you. You have safe haven with us, as long as you need it. I promise... I'll do everything I can to help you. Even if the people I answer to don't like it. I'll find out what Bison did to you, and we'll solve this together."

Ukyou was staring up at him, her expression odd. It took him a second to realise why. She was looking at him in wonder. He'd never seen wonder on Ukyou's face before.

"I..." Ukyou's voice was suddenly choked. She looked away. "Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I should have done this years ago."

She said nothing, only stared at the floor.

01010

The air was heavy this far north. Snow still lingered in the shade of the thick spruce trees, turning the ground muddy under his feet. Ryouga walked with the same kilometer-eating stride he always had, not hurrying but still moving much faster than most people expected. He grunted and shifted the pack, adjusting the pull of the straps. The sun was setting slowly, spreading a blood- red glow across the sky.

"Damn," he cursed. He just had to think of that. He'd successfully gone the entire trip from Yakutsk without once thinking about it. Now, less than five minutes away, the image would have to resurface. He paused and took a deep breath and his fingers hovered just over the scarf. The scarf was yellow, covered in black checkerboard marks. It was much like his old bandanas had been, before he'd stopped wearing them. He allowed his thumb to drift along the edge of the fabric for a moment, then he drew a deep breath and forced himself to start walking again.

Ryouga forced himself to chuckle. He couldn't believe he was scared. It was ridiculous. She was a tiny little girl, barely a third his weight, and looked like she would have trouble fending off the affections of a particularly fluffy puppy. She didn't even want to hurt him. She wouldn't hurt him. He was special to her. She had told him as much.

Besides... he was immortal, wasn't he? Ryouga, the eternal man. She couldn't really kill him if she tried. But when he thought about what happened at night, when she walked up to him in the dark, her expressionless eyes glowing in the shadows of her hair... He shuddered.

Just once, out of curiosity, he had picked up a novel about vampires. It was an old book, by some American woman Ryouga couldn't even remember the name of. He had laughed sourly at the way she described the vampires in her novel. But the one thing he hadn't laughed at was the part where they fed. Ryouga never laughed about that.

She had suggested the process was erotic, something sensual and almost sexual. That both victim and vampire found an appeal in the process. But Ryouga knew better. It wasn't pleasant. It hurt. It hurt like hell. Vampires didn't just puncture a little vein and drain a little blood, they tore out your throat and lapped up the blood that spurted forth. They devoured you. He easily recalled the way the strength faded from his body, one limb at a time. The creeping numbness as Hotaru drank her fill.

Every morning, when he woke up, he would contemplate leaving. He would stare out at the sunrise while Hotaru slept and think about just standing up and walking away. Dylek might try and stop him, but Ryouga had learned a great deal about the demon blade in the last four years, and he didn't fear it as much as he used to. No, he had no doubt he could leave anytime he wanted.

But if he left, if he escaped the nightly torment... it would just be someone else taking his place. Somebody who wouldn't wake up the next day. Somebody innocent. Hotaru might have been a creature of darkness that scared vampires, but she still shared that one overwhelming desire. He had once worked up the courage to ask her about it and she had looked at him in that disturbing way she had and her words had echoed hollowly in the night.

"Because it always has to be blood, Ryouga."

He'd been too afraid to ask her to explain further. That was the problem: four years, and he had never really had a conversation with the girl. She had spoken, and he had listened, but the two of them never talked. He wandered and she followed and that was all they did. He hated to admit it because it scared him. It was the way Hotaru KNEW things. Sometimes, when she was talking to the few people they encountered in their travels, she saw right to the heart of situations in a way that sent chills down his spine.

Maybe she really did... No. Ryouga cursed softly and shook his head. If he started believing that, it was too late. There was no way she was right. There was no way he would accept it. It was simply too horrific. She was insane, insane in a way only a shattered little girl could be, but insane nonetheless. Her preternatural insight... was just some bizarre power she possessed. Some vampire thing.

Of course, even accepting her insanity as a given, it still left him at an impasse. Ryouga had made no progress in four years in figuring out what made her tick, how he could defuse the time bomb that was once a child. Sometimes, when he was staring into that sunset, he wondered if she was really worth it.

The sun sank beneath the horizon and the shadows filled the forest. Ryouga paused as he heard a twig snap from nearby. For the last few hours it had been quiet, unnaturally so. It was always silent around her. Even the rain fell soundlessly in Hotaru's presence these days.

"You have returned," her voice came out of the darkness. He turned to face her, but he couldn't see her at first. It wasn't just the night, it was like the light around her simply vanished. For a moment all he could see was the massive white-black form of Dylek as it hovered protectively above its mistress.

"Yeah." He paused, squinting and trying to see her in the shadows. He might as well have been trying to look through a steel wall. He couldn't even make out the colour of her eyes, just the vague girl-shape near an ashen pine. "I got the supplies I needed. I should be good for another few months now."

"I see." She didn't move, but suddenly Ryouga could see her. He blinked and frowned. He would never get used to that. He closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. He wished that he at least could control it consciously. Suddenly adapting like that always made his heart skip a beat.

"We should get going, then..." Ryouga offered slowly.

"No."

Ryouga blinked. She had never hesitated to leave when he said so before. He adjusted the fabric of his scarf again, nervously. Then his mind flashed to darker things. He had told her to wait here, more than two days travel outside of Yakutsk. It wasn't that she killed everyone on sight anymore. After he'd forced her to promise not to attack unless provoked, on threat of him leaving, she'd been very good in that regard. The problem was that in a large city like that someone was bound to recognise her. It wasn't like she went to great pains to hide her identity or her mission. No, he didn't want that kind of trouble right now.

But what if...

"I don't care about the little city, Ryouga," Hotaru said, stepping out of the darkness. He paused on seeing her. She hadn't changed in the slightest over the years. She still wore the torn and bleached uniform, the blood still trickled endlessly from the symbol cut into her forehead. Her alien bronze eyes still stared at him with a strange, compelling compassion and pity. Looking at her, he remembered why he didn't just walk away at sunrise. He realised with a suddenness that startled him that he could never walk away. Like a mother would embrace her son, even if he slew a thousand people, so Ryouga could never leave Hotaru like this. "We have to stay here for a little while longer."

"Wh-" Ryouga cut himself off. He knew perfectly well why. He just didn't want to hear it. Hotaru smiled at him, a smile that showed she knew exactly what he was thinking. He frowned and turned his eyes away. "Fine." He set down his pack and sat on it.

"Don't worry, Ryouga. It's almost over."

"What is?" Ryouga muttered.

"Our journey together. I can feel it. We are... rushing towards the conclusion now. Or maybe the conclusion is rushing towards us? Either way, your pain will end soon."

Ryouga shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like it when she started talking like this. He looked down at the earth, wondering what it was this time. The last time Hotaru had started talking like this, they'd spent the better part of a month chasing down some Millennium scientist. But he'd learned to accept it. Sometimes Hotaru just felt the need to do something, and when she did there was no talking her out of it. Usually, she at least explained things to him first.

"And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men."

"Huh?" Ryouga looked up and stared as he followed Hotaru's gaze. At first he thought it was a cloud, but it was too close to the ground. Then he thought it was smoke, but it moved too quickly for any smoke he had ever seen. Then he saw what rode at its head. It was a dragon, a twenty meter long serpentine creature with white teeth and long thin green hair that whipped behind it. And around and about it flew creatures. They might have been insects, but Ryouga had seen no such insects, especially not ones so large, in all his travels. And sitting sidesaddle just behind the dragon's neck was a woman.

With his new eyes, Ryouga could make her out easily as she approached. She was human, with pale Chinese skin and long black hair pulled back in elaborate waves from her face by gold and silver hair pins decorated with shards of blue crystal. The same crystal dangled from her earrings, and trailed from the golden chains and belts that served to hold her flowing, layered green silk robes tight to the curves of her body. Her arms were crossed in her lap, the voluminous sleeves trailing artfully down her legs, the cuffs decorated with embroidered leaves and insewn crystal of the same brilliant blue. A diaphanous scarf fluttered behind her in the wind like a pennant, its ends twirled around her upper arms. From her expression, she might have been out for an evening ride, careless of the dragon she rode or the swarm of things that fluttered and zipped through the air behind her.

Ryouga sighed and rubbed his temple. This was not the first time some idiot in a colourful costume had come gunning for Hotaru. He glanced over and saw that she was simply standing there impassively, the demon sword with its sickle-shaped end hovering eagerly over her shoulder. He narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, flaring his aura. If this person wanted a display, he'd give them a display.

The sky lit up like noon, the pillar of green light around Ryouga stretching almost five meters into the air above him. The ground at his feet cracked as the weight of his heavy chi flattened the undergrowth and shattered weak rock. Tree trunks too close to him snapped and splintered. He allowed the energy to flow into his eyes, turning them into burning green pits. He snarled and grit his teeth.

"Whoever you are, I have to warn you to turn back!" Ryouga shouted.

The dragon wheeled to a stop just over the treetops, its massive body curling and uncurling behind it as the head hovered in place. The woman looked down, her lips pursed in a tiny little frown. "We meet again, Ryouga Hibiki. You're well, I trust?"

Ryouga frowned. He didn't remember this woman at all. But a small spark of hope appeared in his chest. Maybe, just for once, this person had a grudge or debt to settle with him. That would mean Hotaru could be left out of it entirely.. And as long as Hotaru wasn't forced to defend herself, she couldn't kill this poor ignorant fool. Ryouga always made certain anyone that came after Hotaru had to go through him first. He saved more lives that way.

"I'm fine. But I'm not really up for a reunion, so I have to warn you to get out of here," Ryouga said. He didn't really hope it would work, but he had to try. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hotaru looking around, her eyes flitting from shadow to shadow. But whatever she was looking at, it didn't seem to concern her, so Ryouga placed all his attention on the woman, her giant plant-grown dragon and her swarm of deformed insects.

"Don't worry, Ryouga, I never really expected you to remember me anyway," she said, leaning forward and cupping her chin in one hand as she gazed condescendingly down at him. "We met once many years ago." She paused, her eyes shifting slightly. "I suppose we'll have to catch up on old times later."

The next thing he knew, the forest had turned into a jungle. Thin whips of green vines covered in inch-long black thorns tore free of the earth, the trunks of trees and from the canopy overhead. Ryouga reacted instinctively, pulling his aura in tight and turning it into a sheath across his body. A dozen, then a hundred, then a thousand vines swirled and spun around his body. They slid around his arms, his legs, his torso. They pulled taut with a sound like leather snapping and the staccato crack of hundreds of thorns breaking at once.

There was a loud clang behind him and Ryouga spun his head backward, tearing some vines in the process. He watched as Dylek was pulled back through the air by a web of green, then slammed into a tree with enough force that the trunk cracked down the centre. The blade tried to pull forward, but more and more vines laced around it, holding it tighter and tighter.

"Hotaru!" Ryouga shouted. The little girl was staggering, her body convulsing as the vines swept around her en masse, snapping around her limbs in increasing numbers. Blood was blossoming across her body as the thorns ripped into her flesh. A moment later there was a sickening sound, like someone trying to suck a thick milkshake through a straw, and the vines around Hotaru began to turn red. The colour slowly crept down the length of the thin creepers.

Then the vines around her turned grey, then black. It was sudden, like a camera flash. Ryouga snarled and tried to pull free of the vines slipping around him but they were amazingly strong. Hotaru could channel Oblivion with her very touch: if he didn't stop her soon, she would destroy these creepers and move onto their master.

The vines around him began to creak like worn leather, then Ryouga gasped and stopped, his aura dimming slightly. The vines around Hotaru had died, but more were replacing them, and more each second. As fast as her touch was sucking the life force out of them, they were being replaced by more and more.

"Impressive, isn't she?" Ryouga turned his eyes back, watching the woman walking towards him, her long sleeves waving in the wind about her. "An ordinary vampire would be torn to bits by those." The vines were swaying and swinging around her, disturbingly like arms, none ever coming close enough to touch her. "In sheer power she far outstrips my own modest abilities," the woman said, catching his eye again. "Had we run across each other by chance, no doubt she would have killed me with little trouble. Which is why you never have.

"But you see, Ryouga... power alone is not everything." She chuckled, her tone becoming more patronising. "Certainly our dear 'messiah' has potent abilities, but she has no more understanding of them than a passenger understands how an aircraft flies. And the most powerful ignorant demigod is hardly more threatening to a properly prepared opponent than a yapping dog. Observe how I have timed this attack to the youngest hours of the evening, immediately before she was to feed, thus catching her at a low ebb of her abilities, but not during the day when she may have decided to allow you to escape with her rather than risk a confrontation." She gestured, and one of the vines rose up sinuously beside her, its ebon thorns glistening. "This is a specifically designed weapon, an exsanguinator. As you have no doubt noticed, it not only restrains quite excellently, but in the case of a subject with less adamantine skin than yourself, it pierces the flesh, specifically seeking and draining blood. This thus swiftly removes from Sailor Saturn a great deal of her powers. Of course, she still has the ability to channel the force she calls 'the Silence' at a touch, but without her true weapon, she is able to do this at only a leisurely rate." She looked around theatrically, her frown oddly bemused. "The exsanguinators reproduce parasitically. Sailor Saturn will force them to kill this entire forest eventually, but it will be at least two days before she can free herself through that method."

She stopped walking for a moment, looking down. "And, of course, there is Dylek." The demon blade lay at her feet, a pile of ash from the tree it had been lashed to blowing in the wind around it. At the woman's closeness it twitched spasmodically, but hundreds of vines held it to the ground. "Once, such restraints would have been nothing to this weapon. But the 'Messiah of Silence' has no desire for companions with wills and desires, now does she? What dregs are left of this poor creature are inextricably tied to her. As Sailor Saturn is rendered helpless, so too is Dylek." The gowned woman raised her eyes, and though her lips did not smile, arrogant triumph nearly shone in her face and voice. "You were going to warn me off in an attempt to save my life. And Nabiki planned for me to die here. But I knew more than either of you. The much-feared 'Messiah of Silence' is just a child playing with toys she doesn't comprehend. Without them, she is nothing more than a spoiled brat, screaming profanities against a universe she wasn't strong enough for."

Ryouga glanced back at Hotaru, prompted by the woman's words. Hotaru had been pulled back into a sitting position against a large rock. Her arms were pulled up and back, spread back and chained with a continuous growing mass of vines. The vines were sinking into her flesh, burrowing beneath her lacerated skin grotesquely, creating bizarre lumps and lines to form. Her legs had been pulled apart in much the same manner, and as quickly as the things died they grew back. Her clothing had been torn and shredded, only the mass of thorny creepers preserving what few tattered pieces remained to provide her with some measure of dignity. Her head was lolled back, her hair blowing listlessly against the grey stone. Her skin was not pale, but a sick grey like a corpse that had been underground far too long. And for once he could see the full shape of the rune cut into the child's forehead, because no blood flowed from it. In fact, no blood was there at all.

Ryouga felt something stir inside him that hadn't stirred in a long time. It was hot, it was powerful, it was so overwhelming that his vision blurred and his heart started beating so hard it hurt. It was old and familiar and he exulted in it. It was rage.

With a roar, his aura turned from green to crimson and the vines around him exploded away in all directions. The torn fragments fell like rain as Ryouga took a slow step forward, his fist clenching and his lips pulling back from his family's ancestral fangs. "I try not to kill people, but in your case, I think I'll make an exception!"

For a brief moment Ryouga saw fear flash in her eyes as his arm hurtled forward. He could see the air shimmering like a heat mirage as he threw the punch faster than the human eye could follow. But even as he did, her arm swung up jerkily, as if it were pulled like a puppet's limb. A black cloud, hundreds of tiny insects, exploded from her wide sleeves like the smoke of a fire. Ryouga's blow struck the cloud and he felt the things popping like balloons against the momentum of his fist.

They didn't do much more than slow him down, but it was enough. The swarm threw off his blow so that he missed the woman's face, though by little enough that the passage of his knuckles caused tiny bruises to appear along her cheek. Before he could recover, the full weight of the swarm slammed into his back as the insects completely surrounded him. He staggered to the side, slamming one leg into the ground with enough force to create a small crater and restore his balance.

He spun, swatting and slapping at the things as they crawled over his body, under his clothes, along his flesh. It was disgusting, but Ryouga had experienced worse. Unfortunately, he couldn't see more than an inch in front of his face. He bit out a brief curse and then began to focus his energy. He was too angry for a full Shishihokodan, but a blast of hot chi set loose indiscriminately would work just as well.

Then he felt a small sharp pain in his right ear, like the pricking of a needle. He ignored it. What did he care if a few of the things sliced him up a little? He was immortal, and they couldn't possibly do enough damage to stop him before he unleashed his chi. Then, with a suddenness that left him feeling numb, the chi vanished. It was like snuffing a candle: one moment he was full of raging light... the next, he was numb and cold.

Suddenly he was forced to the ground, some overwhelming weight smashing him into the forest loam with enough force that the breath exploded from his lungs. He blinked, then realised that what had dragged him to the ground was the swarm. A legion of insects, none larger than his thumbnail, and they had overpowered him.

Him!

That... didn't happen.

He grunted and tried to leverage himself up, but he might as well have been trying to lift Mount Fuji for all the good it did him. Then the pressure changed and he felt himself being dragged across the ground. He struggled in vain as the swarm lifted him up, bracing his back against a tree. The blood- sucking vines snaked out, wrapping around his arms and legs, lashing his ankles to the base of the trunk and pulling his arms to the side. He could feel the insects slicing open his shirt and peeling the fabric back, leaving his chest exposed. Then the swarm fluttered backwards, vanishing back into the woman's sleeve like water down a drain.

The woman was gingerly fingering the bruises on her face with her unoccupied hand. "Naturally," she mused, not even quite seeming to be paying attention to him, "I was just as well prepared for your abilities as for hers." She looked at him again, tilting her head to the side. "At this point your fire chakra has been suppressed, leaving you as weak as a newborn babe. I'm certain your interesting abilities will adapt to it... eventually. But since it's neither immediately life-threatening nor directly harmful, it will probably take you a long time." She gestured with the arm the swarm had disappeared down. A much larger insect, the size of a field mouse, flew down from the large swarm overhead. She reached up and plucked a single leg from it with distracted ease, the thing giving a tiny death squeal before falling limply to the ground behind her. "I'm afraid this is going to hurt a great deal. Please don't think too unkindly of me. I would anaesthetise you, but I'm afraid that might interact with the drug in your system."

It was then that Ryouga saw the gleam of light off the edge of the thing's sickle-shaped leg. Before he had a chance to say anything she pressed the tip against his sternum and began to slice. He wanted to scream, but he just couldn't seem to work up the energy. It hurt like hell: he just couldn't seem to care too deeply. It was like he was a dispassionate observer, merely noting the existence of the damage as the woman cut him open with surgical efficiency.

"If it's any consolation, you're really a far more interesting subject than that girl, anyway," the woman said absently as her blade continued to work at Ryouga. He could feel her inside him, her fingers probing. He hissed, gritting his teeth. "After all, she's merely a vampire and a Sailor Senshi, and while she is singular via combination there are examples of both still running around. In fact, she's seven years obsolete. You, however, you are UNIQUE!" She made a soft cooing sound and he groaned as her fingers grabbed something inside him. "Take this for instance. It's an organ, but I have no idea what it does. You just grew it at some point, in response to some stimulus you likely don't even remember. What secrets does it hold? Does it produce hormones that retard aging? Or maybe aid in the recovery from major trauma by releasing super coagulants? It could be anything beneficial to you." She looked up at his face, her eyes sparkling with delight. "And did you realise you aren't really using your lungs anymore? Oh, you breathe, but your body has found some more efficient way of absorbing oxygen since your lungs... but I'm rambling." She held up one blood-stained finger, insects crawling up from her sleeve to clean it as she talked. "Really, I could study you for decades. Subjecting you to experiments and seeing what you develop..." She sighed. "It's too bad I don't have access to a full lab right here. But it does keep me from being distracted from the important task I came here for."

The woman stepped back. Ryouga slumped forward, groaning. He could feel that part of him that controlled his power flitting at the back of his consciousness, but just out of reach. Why had he never learned to harness it at will? Why? Because he was afraid of what he might become? Look where that fear had gotten him now.

"Really, you should be thanking me, Ryouga." The woman looked down at her bloody scalpel. "Well, not for this, but in the larger sense. While an existence as my guinea pig may be unpleasant, it is better than being a walking blood bank for the self-proclaimed incarnation of the end of the world." Then she leaned in closer and her eyes narrowed and she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Besides, you have to admit that the world will be better off without her."

"...bitch..." Ryouga finally managed to say. The woman only snorted in disdain, her frown deepening.

"If you care so deeply about her, you might not want to look," the woman sniffed. She turned away from him, her long green robes swirling and the gems embedded throughout jingling. Ryouga considered it. There was really nothing he could do. But he couldn't look away. Even if it was torture, he had to see it. He had to do something.

Then Hotaru's voice rose from where she sat slumped against the stone. "It must be sad to be so close to the truth that you are blinded by it, Link," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. The woman paused, starting in surprise. "I can understand your pain. You reach and you reach, grasping at a thing so close you can feel it slipping from your fingers." Hotaru's head rose, and she was smiling, a gentle smile of comfort and sympathy. "I was like you once, believing that there had to be a reason, a point to all this... suffering and darkness. But I didn't learn the truth until I did the one thing you can never bring yourself to do."

"And what is that?" Link said slowly. But she sounded hesitant, as if uncertain she should be asking the question.

"Admit to yourself that you can never succeed." Hotaru leaned her head back as far as the rock she was bound to would let her. "Maybe that is why it is so hard for you to smile? Because to be satisfied with what you are, what you know, would be to admit that you can never improve. And you can't stand that thought, can you, Link?" The older woman's eyes narrowed. "Always so concerned with rising above yourself, climbing up the ladder. Bending knee to a monster you abhor for the status it gives you... Mortgaging your humanity for a taste of power... Risking all those things you've gained on one gamble to catch a glimpse of the face of God..."

Link drew herself back up to her full posture, arranging her gown elegantly around her. "I already know the face of God. Don't think you can rattle me with empty words as easily as the other fools you've met."

"Empty?" Hotaru smiled. "Of course they're empty, Link. They're all empty. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. But it isn't a stage, is it, lost little girl? You caught a glimpse of something bigger than yourself. You saw exactly how empty this world is, how meaningless. You read the stories, you know the characters. You laugh at their pathetic lives and trivial problems, entertainment for jaded masses in a world far more substantive than anything you will ever experience." The colour drained from Link's face and her eyes widened, her mouth moving soundlessly. "All this desperate scramble to prove yourself real. All this quest for knowledge, looking for an answer you already know isn't there. You are like a child holding her hands over her ears and screaming 'no', denying what you know is true even though you force yourself to stay every day in the presence of absolute proof."

Then Hotaru's voice suddenly turned cold, her words hanging with vindictive malice. "At least SHE didn't deny it. At least SHE understood it. She might have been the one who vanished, but you are the one who is a phantom screaming for acknowledgement. At least Pink-"

"DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT NAME!" Link shrieked and stepped forward, swinging her hand in a vicious slap aimed at Hotaru's cheek. Then she gasped as the girl calmly turned her head, opened her mouth, and caught the hand in a maw full of needle-thin fangs. Blood exploded from between the grey-skinned girl's teeth in long spurts and Link screamed in pain.

Hotaru twisted her head, a deceptively simple-looking gesture, and Link's arm tore from her body like a piece of wet paper. Blood blossomed from the stump of her elbow, bits of flesh wavering in the wind. Hotaru threw back her head and the blood flowed down her cheeks and stained onto her chest like a river.

It was like a soft breeze, a silent wind that swept across the forest. Where it passed, there was nothing but death in its wake. Hotaru rose, the blood still running down her lips as the desiccated hand fell limply to the ground. Her inhuman bronze eyes blazed red as she stared at the slowly retreating woman.

"Thank you, Link," Hotaru said softly, compassionately. "Your blood, it really is the key to these thing's lives." Then before Link could react Hotaru streaked forward. It was easy, sometimes, for Ryouga to forget how fast she was, how powerful. With her tendency to rely on him or Dylek to do her fighting, you forgot that Hotaru had all the speed and strength of a vampire, and beyond. Hotaru was as much beyond a vampire as Ryouga was beyond a regular man. Link didn't even have a chance to scream this time before her other arm vanished in a shower of gore. Red dots splattered across the landscape as Hotaru landed a few meters away, holding the woman's other arm between her teeth. Dead insects spilled from the sleeves like a grotesque waterfall.

Link collapsed to her knees, staring in shock as the little girl grabbed her severed limb and tore a chunk out of it like she might a chicken leg. "You... you can't know that! NOBODY knows that! Nobody but them! Nobody in the universe!"

"I didn't learn it from somebody in this universe," Hotaru explained easily. She gestured and Dylek flew up to her hand, resting easily in her grip. Ryouga staggered forward, suddenly realising he was free and had been for some time. At some point his torso had mostly healed, but he still felt that creeping numbness flooding his body. For the briefest of moments, he was thankful for that.

At this point, Link broke out into hysterical, body-shaking laughter. Ryouga sighed. He'd seen such reactions before. "Of course! Of course!" she shrieked in between peals. "I never considered-" She cut off suddenly, her words and her laughter dying instantly. She looked down at the ground. "But I can't let you kill me now."

From the splattered droplets on the ground erupted geysers of twisted roots and slime. They shaped themselves into humanoid monsters, faceless shambling things with ichor-tipped claws that swept through the air at Hotaru. Her blade rose and fell with mechanical efficiency, hacking the beasts to pieces in a few seconds. But a few seconds was all Link needed, as a roar erupted from the dark cloud overhead and the serpentine shape of her dragon swept down in a tight spiral.

Just before the thing snatched her in its jaws Ryouga caught one last glimpse of Link's face, a ghastly wan grimace of victory with eyes feverishly gleaming with exultation that vanished behind a mass of ivory teeth and wooden flesh. The thing swept up into the sky like a rocket, vanishing into the cloud of insects. Ryouga collapsed, sitting down hard and staring upward.

Slowly, the cloud vanished as the things gradually flew off in all directions. Of course, by the time they were gone, there was no sign of the woman. He looked around idly. Even her limbs and the bits of clothing Hotaru had torn from her had vanished. Aside from the blasted landscape around them, there was no sign she had even been here. Hotaru approached him, and laid her hand on his shoulder.

"It's time to go, Ryouga. This is how it starts."

01010

They had been given the use of a small bed and breakfast on the outskirts of the city. Akira was down near the edge of the yard, tooling around with her bike. Her face was covered in grease and her jacket lay in a bundle on the grass. Black stains ran down her shirt, but she paid them no mind as she worked. She wore shorts, which she always did when working so she didn't ruin her leather riding gear. Angel was lying on the deck, her eyes closed and her body stretched out across a long white chair. She was wearing a string bikini that only barely managed to be legal and seemed to maintain its position in direct defiance of the laws of physics. Her golden tattoos ran up her body, an intricate work of art laced into her bronzed skin.

Ukyou sat in the doorway. The patio doors were wide open to let in the refreshing fall breeze. She wore a shirt and slacks. In her hand was a glass of... green. Something green. Ukyou took a sip and immediately Aaron went to work, analyzing it, breaking it down into data and information, but she had identified it before it even touched her tongue. Aaron stopped, somewhat shamefaced, but the instinct to interpret the data had been automatic. It was limeade.

Akira had handed her the drink before heading down to the bike. She had also given one to Angel, who was mostly ignoring it. Ukyou allowed herself to consider Angel for a moment. Her white hair was pulled back in something between a topknot and a ponytail, the bangs styled so that they fell over her right eye. Her skin was bronzed, smooth and unblemished except for the golden lines of her tattoo. She was certainly attractive... no, more than that. She was beautiful, like a sculpted model, a living work of art. She had full lips and her body curved in all the right...

Ukyou blinked. She shook her head. Where had that thought come from? Aaron frowned, and looked down at his drink. It wasn't him. He had come to terms with the reality of their situation six weeks or seven years ago, depending on how you chose to count the time. He'd never really felt sexual attraction before, not to men or women. It wasn't really a case of shyness or queasiness, just a general apathy towards the idea of sex like he'd had towards virtually everything else.

So it had come as something of a shock that he'd started loving Ranma Saotome. It made perfect sense, intellectually. Ukyou was a teenage girl, with all the hormonal urges that a young woman was supposed to have. Aaron had even caught her giving Shingo the once over on the way here. Ukyou smirked at the thought. Well, he was cute in his Clint Eastwood by way of Jackie Chan kind of way. Not to mention charming, when he wasn't being completely obnoxious.

Of course, Ukyou had been giving him the cold shoulder the whole trip. Mainly because... he was Shingo. He would always be a little brown-haired twerp to her. Which was unfair, really. She'd never even met Shingo before a week ago. She had no memories of him as a child, just a few increasingly vague memories of a TV show Aaron had once watched.

Aaron caught them there. They had drifted off the topic. He noticed they had a tendency to do that when they didn't want to think about something. He forced them to look up again. Angel had gotten up and was stretching like a cat. She caught Ukyou glancing at her and blinked, looking around her for what the problem might be. Aaron pulled their gaze away.

They had... felt something? It was hard to tell. They had been caught looking, and it was a little embarrassing. Whatever it was, it didn't feel like the same longing Ukyou had felt for Ranma. The naked desire. But... had Bison changed them? Done something to their hormones while they were his toy for the last seven years? Ukyou wouldn't put it past him. So how did they tell? Was it supposed to feel different when you looked at a girl or a guy?

Ukyou grimaced in disgust, but it was just a show. She wanted to feel sick at the very idea of it. She wanted to convince herself that she should feel sick of it. But Aaron was there, and he knew it was a lie. She didn't feel sick. She didn't feel disgusted. So... how did she feel?

Ukyou glanced down the yard, and saw Akira leaning back in the grass. She was sweating, the sun beating down on her brow as she tilted her head back, allowing the breeze to pass across her features. Ukyou really did grimace this time. The one person she knew that she might have been able to talk to this about, she couldn't. Akira had made her feelings quite clear. Oh, she hadn't come right out and confessed. But the way she looked at Ukyou, the way she smiled when she thought Ukyou couldn't see...

Akira looked over and for a moment their eyes met. Ukyou felt something hot shoot up her spine and settle in her heart for a moment. What the hell was that? Akira was just staring at her. They should look away. They were just giving Akira the wrong signals here. They loved Ranma.

That thought let Ukyou look away. She took a few deep breaths and downed the rest of her glass to calm her nerves. She heard the sound of an engine approaching, felt the strong chi of a warrior. "We have guests," Ukyou called out.

Was this the final decision? Tofu had said that Ukyou could stay here as long as they needed, but that was yesterday. Akira nodded at Ukyou's announcement, not doubting it for a second. She washed her hands with the hose before pulling on her pants. She tied the jacket about her waist. Angel just sat down in a regular chair. Nabiki came out of the house, stepping around Ukyou the way one might step around a live wire.

Nabiki was wearing a tank top and cut-off jeans. She looked remarkably young in them. Aside from being about a half inch taller and a little more filled in about the waist, she looked the same as she had seven years ago. Nabiki cast her a dirty look and Ukyou wondered if the brown-haired girl had heard the thought. Maybe. Ukyou wasn't going to any special effort to conceal her thoughts, but Nabiki was also not supposed to be snooping.

It took a few more minutes before the others heard the engine, and then a few more minutes again before Shingo arrived. His huge Harley-Davidson roared as he pulled into the yard, parking it with a screech of tires right next to Akira's bike. There was a girl on the back of his bike. Aaron didn't recognise her. She was young, maybe eighteen and wore the same uniform he'd been seeing all over town lately. The S.T.A.R.S. patch on her shoulder was prominent. She was cute, with a heart-shaped face and short red hair done up in a trio of pigtails that fell down to her shoulders. He idly wondered if she was from some series he had never seen before, forgotten... or was just another person caught up in this world. It reminded him of Angel. He was certain he should recognise the name and the face, but had no idea from where.

"Hey, ladies," Shingo said, waving. He flashed them all a bright smile and climbed off the machine slowly. He left his guns and katana on the vehicle. The girl had been clinging tightly to his waist on the bike and she let him go reluctantly. She cast all of them a suspicious look.

"Shingo," Nabiki said. "Is this a business call, or a casual visit?"

"Little from column A..." he said holding up two hands and adjusting their heights. He flashed a large grin at Angel; she smiled alluringly back at him and leaned back in her chair probably a little bit more than was necessary. The girl's eyebrow began to twitch violently. His boots made a hollow clumping sound as he walked up onto the deck, with Akira's lighter footsteps following him. "This here is Lieutenant McInnis. She said she was coming up here to pass along some info to you and I offered to give her a ride."

"You're quite the gentlemen," Angel pointed out, winking at him. McInnis glared at her and Angel just smiled in response. Nabiki sighed. Akira picked up a chair and turned it around, then sat with her arms folded over the back.

"I was going to give her a ride back afterward." He smiled. "It is getting on towards night soon, after all." He adjusted his shades with both hands. "Maybe I could show one of you around town some other night, however."

"If you'll excuse me, Mr. Tsukino, I have to deliver this," the Lieutenant said sharply, pushing him aside unnecessarily so she could approach Ukyou. She held a manila folder in her hands. It was sealed with reflective tape and the young officer made certain Ukyou was holding it firmly before she let go. She then turned around, raised her nose and began to walk past Shingo.

Shingo stared at her a moment, then looked chagrined. He grabbed her shoulder and she glared at him. "Hey, Cassidy, don't be so upset."

"If you'll remove your hand before I remove it for you, I think I'd prefer to walk home tonight," she said frostily.

"Now, don't be that way, Cassidy..." he leaned forward, smiling. She hesitated, her hand twitching as she tried to decide whether to slug him or not. But he was in close before she could decide to react. He began to whisper at her. It was probably too low for the others to make out, but Aaron could hear it clearly. "I can't help being friendly, baby. These girls just came here from overseas and they need a little protection. Not like you. I saw you press a tank over your head. Helpless refugees like these come along all the time, but you... you have to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen on the practice yard. Pure poetry. Your aura is like fire, burning the same colour as your hair, the colour of an autumn sunset." His other hand reached down and rested on the small of her back. He did something there, with his fingers, and she giggled. "I can prove it to you. There's a bluff, not far from the city, where the sun sets across the ocean. It's the exact same colour as your spirit, the fire of your soul. That's what I first thought of when I saw you..."

McInnis's former frostiness had melted away, and she was giggling a bit as Shingo pulled her closer, whispering into her ear. Nabiki whistled and sat down next to Ukyou. "That man is dangerous," she said in an appreciating tone.

"You referring to his pick up lines, or his superhuman strength?" Ukyou said, smiling despite herself. She knew exactly what Shingo was doing, but then again she thought that Lieutenant McInnis ALSO knew. It was pretty impressive to watch a master at work.

"Ah, he's not so bad." Angel chuckled. "At least he doesn't take himself as seriously as all the other taka takas..."

"You keep saying that," Ukyou turned. "What does it mean?"

"Uh..." Angel shrugged. "It means, uh... Asian. You know, like gringo except it's taka taka because all your damn names start with it, like Takahashi, Takashida, Takeuchi... you know, all that crap?"

Ukyou blinked.

"Well, after you..." Angel glanced at Shingo. "I mean after Ukyou did that crazy stuff at the airport everyone around where I grew up was talking about these Asians who could like fart fireballs and leap over roofs and stuff. I guess the phrase kind of stuck in my mind. But it's not a bad word or anything. Heck, I like Shingo. Reminds me in a funny way of this guy I know. You should meet Remy. Now there is a lady's man..."

"Remy?" Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "From France?" She frowned. The Street Fighter III game was supposed to be set years after Street Fighter Alpha... so why was... Then she paused. Oh right, it WAS years after. Angel's reaction, however, was unexpected. She snapped her mouth closed and then suddenly looked away, her expression worried. She kept glancing at Nabiki, who was staring right back.

Ukyou decided to break the mood. "Shingo, can I ask you one quick question before you go?"

"Huh?" He looked up from the girl in his arms. She glared at him, then at Ukyou. Ukyou felt the corner of her mouth twitch. From that expression, Ukyou guessed that Lieutenant McInnis didn't really care what Shingo was doing, as long as he was totally focused on her while he was doing it. "Uh... sure, what is it, Aaron?"

Nabiki blinked and looked at Ukyou. "I thought they thoroughly debriefed you."

"They did," Ukyou said, shrugging. She had travelled under the 'assumed' name only until she got here. Then, she had laid it all out on the table for the US government.

"So why doesn't he know your real name?"

"Real name?" Shingo looked at Nabiki, frowning. Then he shrugged. "Whatever. Everybody's got to have secrets." he smiled. "Makes her more mysterious. Exotic." He laughed. "Anyway, I'm not officially working for the US. I'm more of a contractor, I guess you could say. They don't end up telling me much." He looked back at McInnis and rubbed her chin with the back of his hand. "Unless some people slip me information, now and then." She looked very pleased to have his full attention back.

Ukyou was almost sad to break up the moment. "If you don't work for the government, how did you get training?" Shingo looked at her, slowly, carefully. Much of his cheerful demeanour had faded now. "I mean, I knew your sister, Usagi. And from the way she described you... you weren't much into martial arts back in Japan."

"You knew my sister?" Shingo said suddenly. He took a step away from the Lieutenant. "Tell me... have you heard anything else about her?"

"I... I've been out of touch for awhile." Ukyou glanced at Nabiki.

"I don't know much more." Nabiki shrugged. "There are a lot of people that would really like to meet your sister, Shingo. She vanished seven years ago. I'm pretty certain she's still alive."

Shingo paused and then he smiled. Not a cheerful smile, but an optimistic smile. "I'm sure of it."

"You never answered my question," Ukyou pointed out.

"Oh." He shrugged. "I was tutored by this woman named Blue Mary. She took a shine to me when I was still just a runt." He grinned. "I was a little bundle of nerves back then. I wanted to do something, anything to help out. I just couldn't stand there. I wanted to be just like my idol. I've lived my entire life trying to live up to his example."

"Your idol?" Angel asked.

"You wouldn't know him." Shingo crossed his arms. "He died seven years ago. I hear he went down fighting Millennium. He was the biggest badass in all of Tokyo." Ukyou began to get a bad feeling. "Never took shit from nobody. Had all the ladies hanging on him. Even my sister, the great Sailor Moon, used to doodle his face and little hearts on her homework. His name was Ukyou Kuonji. And I've always wanted to be a true man like he was."

Ukyou fell over, twitching.

"Oh dear, is something wrong... Aaron?" Nabiki said with false concern. Akira, meanwhile, had fallen onto her back, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. Her chair clattered to the deck next to her. Angel was just glancing between Shingo and Ukyou, blinking.

Shingo scratched his head and glared a little at Akira. "Fine. If you'll excuse me, I have to get Lieutenant McInnis back to her quarters... eventually." He grinned at her and she grinned back.

Then Ukyou sat up ramrod straight, her eyes widening. Aaron had felt it.

Akira stopped laughing. Nabiki narrowed her eyes. Angel tensed. Even Shingo and McInnis stopped in mid-stride, glancing back over their shoulder.

"Oh god, no..." Ukyou breathed. She looked up at Nabiki. "Nabiki! Evacuate the city, now!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"What makes you think I can..."

"I don't care if you have to do it person by person. Get the civilians out of the city, now! Start at the waterfront and work your way back, but do it!"

Nabiki looked like she was going to argue, but closed her mouth and her eyes. A moment later, Aaron could feel her power building. It was like a vibration, a tremor through the world as Nabiki sent her thoughts running out through the web of life. While she was doing that, Ukyou turned to the others. "McInnis, contact your superiors. Tell them to get everything they have ready down near the pier."

"The pier?" McInnis had her hand on a radio already, halfway up to her lips. Then she slowed down. It appeared the instinctive obedience to orders went only so far. "Wait, what's going on?"

"The city is under attack." Ukyou looked out in the direction of the ocean. "Something big is coming."

"Big?" Angel asked.

"BIG."

01010

The first indication anybody had that something was wrong was when the ocean turned black. The water in the bay that served as Southtown's major shipping port was never especially clear, but even on the cloudiest day it had that peculiar blue tinge that only the Pacific had.

A great black cloud rose in the water, spreading under the surface like smoke. Next came the stench, sickeningly sweet - like rotten eggs. The air filled with it such that breathing became laboured and eyes watered.

The Carl Vinson floated just off shore. At over a thousand feet long, it was an impressive sight. The black airstrip sat atop the tapered hull of the ship, which always gave the odd impression that the entire thing should have been overbalanced and toppled into the sea. People scurried across the deck, prepping planes and gazing into the dark water. After the sudden and unexplained evacuation of everyone near the harbour, the people on board were not about to take any chances.

The third set of planes was launching off the aircraft carrier when it gave a single lurch. The entire hull lifted out of the water, bucking like a bull, before collapsing with a gargantuan splash back into the froth. The heaving deck caught one of the departing F-16's by the tail, flipping it forward like a coin. The back of the plane sheared straight off and the multi-million dollar war machine made an ungainly swan dive into the water. The explosion could be heard across the city.

The navy crew were good men, one and all. Most had been thrown off their feet by the event, but few stayed that way for long. The few crewmen sent flying off the side were tossed lines, even if they had vanished into the black water without a trace. The crew never panicked, merely went about their job. They were the first line of defence for Southtown, and they would not lose their cool.

Some screamed as the ship lurched a second time, their voices carrying across the harbour distantly. This time when the ship raised into the air, it did not come down again. Up and up the keel of the ship rose, water pouring out of the bilges in torrents. Then they saw the first glimpse of the thing under it.

At first they thought it was an island. Nothing else could be so large. A huge black dome, dotted with spines and rocky outcroppings, rising from the water with ponderous inevitability. The Carl Vinson rose up on the back of the dome, until there was not a piece of it in the water. The ship fell to its side, a terrible rending sound cracking through it. Then, with a sound so awful it would be remembered in nightmares for years to come, the entire aircraft carrier cracked in two. Great rains of shattered steel and plummeting bodies fell from the remains of the Carl Vinson as it was torn in two by the monster beneath it.

The halves of the ship slid into the murky water as the form continued to rise, and that was when they saw what it was. It was a turtle. The massive reptile face, full of sharp teeth and with ominous red eyes the size of small cars, stared at the shoreline with undisguised hatred. First one, then another of the beast's giant legs emerged from the depths, lumbering forward as the thing moved into water too shallow to conceal its bulk.

It was only a fraction of a second later that the shoreline's defences kicked in. Rockets and missiles, cannons and mortars roared and volleyed, filling the air with contrails and smoke. The sound was deafening, shattering glass and sending ripples across the inky black water. Not a single shot missed. How could they, considering the size of the target? The monster roared, its voice a sibilant shriek, as the fusillade tore into it. Great smoking craters appeared in its flesh. Gouts of viscous black blood geysered and spurted. The shell cracked and shattered. The thing stopped its forward momentum for a moment.

A pause filled the air as the artillery crews moved frantically to reload. But even as they did it was easy to see the effort would be futile. Already the wounds on the beast were scabbing over. Flesh grew, inflating like foam as it moved to fill in the wounds. The cracks in the shell seeped thick liquids that crystallised almost instantly, forming rocky spines and protrusions.

Blue Mary narrowed her eyes. She turned around to look behind her. Five hundred men and women, most of them no more than twenty years old, stared back at her. They came from every race and creed, from every state and most of the nations of the world. They were armed with an eclectic mix of weapons both archaic and modern. Bows and swords and spears were as well-represented as rifles and pistols. All wore the blue uniform, each had the patch on their arm. Pro Patria Mori it said, right above the stars.

"There were five thousand people on the Carl Vinson. Five thousand of my friends and allies," Mary said, her voice carrying out over the assembled forces. She turned back towards the monster, which was starting in towards shore again. The water around it had grown agitated. "Five thousand good men whose only crime was being willing to stand up for their country. They're dead now. If the fall didn't kill them, the things in the water did." They could all see it now. It wasn't just frothing water, it was... things. They might once have been fish and eels, whales and sharks and squid, but they weren't anymore. Whatever was in that water had changed them. Their flesh rotted and their bones stuck out, and thick spines and implements of death had grown out through once healthy flesh. Many of them had fused together, forming hideous chimeras. An undersea army. Mary guessed they would have no trouble clawing their way onto land.

"Whatever else you can say about today, say this... those men didn't die in vain!" Mary roared, and the soldiers of S.T.A.R.S. roared with her. She saw it before she felt it, the shadows stretching out in front of her as the auras of her people flared to life one by one in every colour of the rainbow.

The turtle saw their animas blazing and it roared in response. Then it coughed and a thick cloud of noxious black smoke spilled from its maw, settling over the water like a fog. It rolled across the water towards them, and in its wake the things in the water became even more twisted, their bodies melting and reforming.

"Miasma!" someone shouted.

"MASKS!" Mary roared. She was already reaching for hers. The mask fit easily over her face, covering her mouth with a black mass like a beagle's snout, goggles fitting smoothly over her eyes. The air bladders on the side of the snout began to inflate and compress in time with her breathing. She knew they only had enough oxygen for an hour of fighting, after that they would have to trust the filter. Mary didn't care.

She could see a figure standing on the turtle now. A figure in black. The beast was close enough that she could almost make out the face. A great rage filled her. What she had said earlier was not empty propaganda. She had known people on the Carl Vinson. They were her friends.

She held up five fingers and gestured twice, then she ran forward along the docks. Five sets of footsteps followed her. The monster had reached the end of the dock. One giant clawed paw rose from the water and crushed the concrete beneath it like sand. Things rose out of the water on either side, hideous sea beasts and thick tentacles made of animal corpses. Her gun fired twice, blowing monsters from her path. More fire came from behind her. Then the air was filled with the deafening roar of the shoreline artillery again.

Mary roared and leapt, bouncing off one of the turtle's legs. She pinballed up the beast, bouncing from place to place, making her way to the shell and then up the neck. Artillery fell all around her, the orange and black pillars of the explosions lighting her way. When she finally made it to the top of the head, the enemy was waiting for her.

It was a woman. Just one woman. She was slim, nearly rail-thin, wearing black and long hair that hung like an oil slick from the top of her head. She had thin glasses and eyes that were filled with sadistic mirth. Her freckles dimpled as she smiled. There were five more soft thumps as Mary's squad landed behind her. The woman shifted her grip on the assault rifle she carried, but made no attempt to bring it to bear.

"Vell, you've come a long vay to be so disappointed," the woman said.

"Millennium," Mary said, her voice sounding oddly hollow thanks to her breather.

"Ja. Zat is right. You, dear lady, zis is your lucky day. Fortune smiles, for ze real target of my attention is a voman who lies beyond you in yon city. I vould tarry a vhile, perhaps entertain myself vith the splendour of your demise, but as ze old saying goes, zere is no rest for the vicked. Feel free to entertain yourself vith Lady Alexia's latest incarnation of immaculate destruction. I must say, it is quite impressive."

"What?" Mary blinked.

"Ja. I see." The woman smiled again. "Allow me to explain it in terms even you can understand. I am ze huntress, Rip Van Winkle. Thank vhatever god you believe in, for you are not my prey today." She turned to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" Mary shouted, rushing her. She felt more than saw her troops falling in behind her.

She didn't even see the woman move. One moment she was extending her hand to grasp the huntress, then next the air was exploding from her lungs. The bladders on her mask filled to capacity, comically flapping in the air like wings. Then she was flying back. She felt herself hit something solid, and almost panicked before the arms wrapped around her. A grunt followed.

"Shen..." she groaned. The soldier grunted again, not trusting himself to speak. She looked over. If he hadn't caught her, she would have been flung out into the ocean. She didn't fancy her chances down there.

"Where did she..." Mary began, but trailed off. Two of her men were down. One was slumped against a ridge on the turtle head, his arm bent at a unnatural angle. The other was curled up in a fetal position, clutching her stomach. Blood was seeping between her hands. As if that wasn't bad enough, she could see things climbing up the neck of the turtle, cutting them off from their passage back to the ground.

And Rip Van Winkle was gone.

01010

They watched the soldiers escorting the last of the civilians out of the city. The evacuation had gone off without a hitch. Within an hour of Ukyou sending out the call, Nabiki had managed to get a city of nearly five hundred thousand people completely empty.

It was eerie. Akira glanced over at the brown-haired woman. Nabiki was still standing there, her eyes closed and beads of sweat rolling across her face. She had known how powerful Nabiki was supposed to be. She had experienced her focused power first hand. Had seen what it was like for the woman just once. But even she couldn't help but feel a tinge of awe at this. Shingo and Angel were both giving Nabiki looks of open shock, with more than a little fear mixed in.

But there were other things to stare at aside from Nabiki.

"I didn't know anything could get that big," Angel breathed, staring across the city. They were on the top of a skyscraper in the downtown core. It was one of the tallest in the city and the roof gave them an unobstructed view of the harbour and the chaos below. They had travelled this far with Lieutenant McInnis, before Ukyou had insisted they stop here and wait. The Lieutenant had paused, given Shingo a quick but deep kiss, before getting back in the jeep she had commandeered and riding down to the waterfront to join her men.

"Kind of reminds me of Murakumo..." Akira mused aloud.

"No offence, ladies, but why are we up here?" Shingo asked. He had taken along his weapons, but seemed antsy as they stood on the roof. "If we're going to help, shouldn't we be down with the fighting?"

"We had to get off the streets," Ukyou explained, for the third time.

Akira looked over the edge of the building, fighting the momentary vertigo of being hundreds of feet up. Now she could see why. The miasma the turtle was belching out was flooding through the city like fog. It was heavier than air, never rising more than two stories high. But the black cloud was so thick that after a moment it was impossible to see the ground. It made it look eerily like the buildings were floating in a black sea.

"Everything in that mist without some form of protection is dead," Ukyou said. Akira had felt her come close, so she didn't start. "And... moving. The creatures of the city. Rats. Cats. Dogs. Any pigeon dumb enough to have not flown away... they're part of its army now." Ukyou looked back towards the battle at the shorefront. The boom and roar of the artillery echoed across the city. The flash and bang of the auras of the S.T.A.R.S. flickered though the mist. Great explosions tore chunks off the beast the size of houses, only to have them refill almost instantly.

"Oh..." Shingo looked down at the mist. "Damn. I knew I should have gotten me one of those breath-mask things." His face screwed up. "But they look so... lame." He sighed. "Now I'm going to miss all the fun."

"No, you're not." Ukyou said, looking down and across the building. Nabiki's eyes opened and she met Ukyou's gaze for a moment. They both nodded. "She's here."

Akira knew who it would be before she looked. Rip Van Winkle was on another rooftop, across the street and four stories beneath them. She had her rifle balanced on her shoulder and she was smiling up at them.

"Can't you do something, Nabiki?" Angel asked. She had managed to throw on her jacket and a pair of shorts, but that was it. Her sword sang from its sheath, glinting in the sunlight.

"No..." Nabiki sighed. "Her mind... it's... not human anymore. It's like it's in a thousand pieces, scattered all around her body. I can't lock onto anything with enough force to affect her directly."

"Then I guess we do this the old-fashioned way," Shingo said, grinning. He walked over to the edge of the roof, placing one thick boot on the top of the ledge. He smiled down at her, adjusting his shades so they reflected the light. "Wow. You're an ugly one, aren't you? I usually try to go easy on chicks, but I think in your case I'll make an exception."

Angel gave him a flat look. Ukyou just glanced at him and rolled her eyes.

"You dare address me like zat? Vhat kind of buffoon are you?"

"The kind... that is going to kick your ass!" Shingo roared. His muscles tensed for a fraction of a second, then he leapt.

"Shingo, wait!" Ukyou yelled too late. He was already half-way across the street, whooping and drawing his sword from its sheath. "Damn. Okay, Akira, Angel, you follow him. Try to keep her off-balance and don't let her use that gun!" She turned to Nabiki. "Nabiki, you stay here. This isn't your fight. But try to help out down below. The Americans are outnumbered, but with you providing tactical support that should make up for it. We'll try and keep her away from you."

Nabiki opened her mouth as if to object, then she nodded curtly.

Akira waited another fraction of a second. Angel was already sprinting for the edge. The glow of the tattoos on her face burned gold and she leapt like a gazelle. She landed a fraction of an instant after Shingo. Then Ukyou was charging at the edge as well, and Akira followed her.

01010

Angel set down an instant after Shingo did. The boy was already dashing, his katana pulled up over his head. A loud roar escaped his mouth as he swung the blade down towards Rip Van Winkle. There was a blur of motion and then Rip Van was standing to the side. A loud crack escaped the building as the force of Shingo's downswing tore a trench into the rooftop. He hissed and spun, trying to regain his target.

"So zis is the waunted hero of the American forces?" Rip Van snickered as she danced backwards a step away from Shingo's second swing. The force of his blow sent her hair billowing out behind her like a flag. "Nothing more zan a screaming fool!"

"I guess that's why he rushes in where I fear to tread?" Angel quipped as she landed behind the woman. Her sword sang out once, twice, each blow snapping the air as she poured all the speed of her supercharged wind chakra. There were two loud cracks as Rip Van Winkle somehow twisted her rifle behind her, taking the blows on the barrel of the weapon. Angel grinned and pressed the attack. She was too fast for the vampire to dodge fully, forcing her to parry with the stock of her rifle again and again.

"You hold her down while I finish her off!" Shingo shouted, coming in from the side.

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Angel laughed.

Rip Van smiled as the boy's weapon slashed in at the side. The dark-clad vampire's rifle twisted in her grip and the katana was caught neatly on the edge. Then her eyes widened as a loud crack echoed across the roof, followed by a jagged line appearing in the metal of the barrel.

"Not... possible..." Rip Van shouted as the force of Shingo's blow drove her back, her feet scuffing up lines of dust.

"Heh. I may not have much in the way of fancy tricks or special moves, but I do have raw brute strength!" Shingo roared, striking again. Rip Van Winkle bounced into the air, floating over the flashing blade. Angel was there to meet her, using Shingo's shoulder as a stepladder to propel herself higher than the black-haired undead.

Her sword flashed out a dozen times, shattering the air. Rip Van danced back, using the edge of Shingo's sword as a path. Red lines of blood carved elegant paths through the air as Angel's sword cut shallow strips from the vampire's flesh. Rip Van leapt away at the end, hissing. But Akira had slid into the space behind her, her stance wide and her arms drawn back. A bonfire of blue light erupted around her body for a moment, then collapsed into a pinprick between the young woman's cupped hands.

"You insects can't hope-" Rip Van cried, spinning to face Akira. The girl let out a roaring like a tsunami and thrust her hands. A sphere of brilliant blue power erupted from her hands. Rip Van thrust one hand into the sphere, and the blast redoubled in size. The vampire's arm disintegrated, the flesh peeling back from her bones like a a waterfall running backwards. The blow sent her flying back, up and over Angel's head.

Angel landed from her leap and spun to face the woman as she landed with a thump on the opposite side of the roof. Shingo turned quickly, spinning his blade around him in an elaborate but unskilled flourish. Akira took a deep breath and grimaced as Rip Van rose unsteadily to her feet. She was smiling.

"What're you so happy about?" Shingo asked. "In case you didn't notice, we are kicking your ass."

"Heh. You insects haf not even begun to see my true power." Rip Van Winkle chuckled.

"Oh, you mean those magic bullets?" Angel chuckled. "Lady. You need to shoot them to start using them. With a broken rifle and us on you like white on rice, you think you can do that?"

"Fire zem?" Rip Van Winkle's smile spread across her face, nearly splitting it in two. Her mouth was suddenly full of fangs and the sun behind her cast everything but her teeth and the gleam of her glasses into silhouette. "Vhy vould I fire zem now?" She laughed. "I did it five minutes ago!"

"EVERYONE SCATTER!" Ukyou yelled.

Angel reacted instantly, bouncing up and to the right. She saw Shingo and Akira doing the same in opposite directions. Then as she watched the roof where she had been standing dissolved. Hundreds of holes peppered the concrete, merging and growing until there was nothing left. She could hear the terrible whine of the magic bullets as they buzzed through the air at a speed faster than sound. Moving on instinct, she spun her sword around her and was awarded with a cacophony of metal on metal as her blade deflected too many of the projectiles to count.

Shingo gasped in pain. Blood blossomed out of his leg as a bullet gouged a bloody chunk out of his shin. His headlong flight turned into a forward flop. Somehow he kept enough presence of mind to turn that into a roll. He kept rolling forward, his body only a fraction of a second ahead of the dissolving rooftop. Angel held her breath as his momentum began to slow...

Then Ukyou was there. There was a flash of silver in her hand and suddenly she was holding the long cruel-looking pike that Lotus Infinite had wielded so well. The air before her seemed to shimmer and pulse and there was a single clear crisp tone, a perfect note that hung in the air. Angel could literally see the bullets flying into that field and vanishing one by one. Then the next hundred or so pulled up sharply just before reaching the barrier and curved into the sky.

"Ah, Lotus Infinite, I vas vondering vhat you vere doing," Rip Van Winkle said conversationally, seeming not to care about her missing arm. Angel landed on the edge of the roof, teetering there for a moment. A good two thirds of the rooftop had vanished and the hole continued down into the building. She glanced over and saw Akira crouched on another section of what had once been the roof.

Ukyou just stared at Rip Van Winkle and shifted her glaive up so the blades pointed at the tall woman. The air in front of her returned to normal. The high-pitched buzz of the magic bullets filled the air as they began to orbit around the building. A cloud of swarming bullets, forming an impenetrable wall on all sides.

"I haf to admit, I am curious. Vhat is Lotus Infinite doing in the company of two people she vas sent to kill?"

"They're my friends," Ukyou replied simply.

"Friends?" Rip Van Winkle chuckled. "Lotus, Lotus, Lotus... people like you und me? Ve do not haf friends. Ve haf only targets und potential targets."

"I'm not like you," Ukyou said, her voice like ice.

"Really?" Rip Van Winkle flashed her that manic fang-filled smile again. "I haf seen you slaughter entire towns vith a single shot of zat glaive. I haf seen you annihilate women und children, saints und sinners alike, vithout batting un eye. I do not know vhat you are playing at, but do not think you can trick me." Rip Van Winkle took a step forward. "You are a killer. A weapon of destruction. Just like me."

"Don't listen, Ukyou!" Akira shouted suddenly.

"Silence!" Rip Van snapped and gestured sharply. Akira gasped as red lines carved themselves along her shoulder and thigh. She fell to one knee as the bullets that had grazed her spun back into the cloud that surrounded them. "You und ze others haf interfered vith our destined battle quite enough."

"Hey!" Shingo roared. He was standing again, if unsteadily. "I'm not about to let some chick steal my spotlight. You want to fight someone, you fight me!"

"I haf no time-"

Shingo cut her off as he pulled back both hands over his head, lacing the fingers together around the hilt of his sword. Then with a roar he brought the blade down on what remained of the roof. The effect was spectacular. It was like someone sheared the entire building in two, right down the middle. A geyser of dust and debris shot up along the centre of the building. A resounding crack echoed up from underneath them and Angel saw the black miasma below them ripple outward with the force of the blow as it sunk into the very foundations of the skyscraper.

Then the building, all forty-odd stories of it, began to slide in two different directions. Rip Van Winkle was gaping in shock. So was Angel. She MIGHT have been able to pull off something like that. If she had her fire chakra tattoos on and gave herself a few moments to gather the strength. But while everyone else stared, Akira was already moving. She dashed across the roof, the cloud of debris that rose from the collapsing building somehow serving as adequate footholds. She smashed into Rip Van Winkle with her shoulder and the vampire flew away from the teetering building.

The black-haired huntress crashed into a wall of mirrored glass, the force of her impact sending a ripple away from her like a wave across a pond. In the wake of the ripple the glass exploded outward in a silvery waterfall, Rip Van Winkle vanishing into the middle of it.

"Hold on!" Ukyou was yelling over the sound of the collapsing building. "When the building falls far enough, we can jump underneath the cloud of bullets to another building!"

"Hold on, she says!" Angel cried back, staggering to keep her balance. "To what exactly? This entire thing is falling apart!"

"Find a way!" Ukyou shot back unhelpfully. She had leapt away from the roof she had been standing on as the ground crumbled under her feet. She somehow found purchase on the frame of a falling window, then leapt away again before that fell out from underneath her. Angel cursed loudly in Spanish and followed her example, bouncing from debris to debris in a desperate attempt to stay one step ahead of the building collapse.

"You vill all die!"

Angel looked up and choked. Rip Van Winkle was standing in the middle of the gaping hole of the other skyscraper. Her body was a torn ruin, but she was holding up her hand, clutching her fingers like a claw. With a shriek she pulled it down and the cloud of orbiting bullets hesitated for a moment, then started spiralling down towards them.

"Doesn't she ever die?" Shingo yelled, hopping off what looked like the remains of a desk.

"Not really," Akira commented, flipping forward on her hands off a large water-cooler.

"Damn..." Ukyou hissed. "Everyone get beneath me!"

"Beneath you is the collapsing building!" Angel felt the need to point out. "We'll be crushed if we try to move in that mess!"

"And those bullets will tear you apart if you stay up here!" Ukyou shouted back. She swung her glaive up, spinning it in the air above. "I just need one second to hold off the swarm, then get to another building!"

"Augh! Stupid taka taka!" Angel shouted and stepped forward, plummeting off the end of the debris she was using as a temporary perch. Her world vanished into a grey cloud. It was like stepping into the middle of an explosion. The noise was overwhelming, the dust crept up her nose and ran down her throat. Her eyes slammed shut, trying to prevent the sharp glass from getting under the lids.

She moved on instinct alone. Without sight or sound or smell, all she could rely on was her memories of which way was up and which was down. The debris was battering her from all sides. She really wished she could have switched over to her earth tattoos, but she needed all the speed and grace she could muster. Jumping blind, her body knocked side to side again and again, she was sure she would never make it. Either she would be crushed or the fall into the miasma below would kill her.

Then she burst into the open air. Her eyes snapped open and she took a deep breath. Then she saw the wall of the building rapidly approaching her. With a small gasp she spun, managing to land against the brick wall without either shattering herself or it. That was when she discovered there were no handholds. Her blade flashed out, and the metal dug into the wall like a hot knife through butter. Her arms wrenched as she wrapped her fingers around the hilt, holding herself over the gap between buildings. She allowed herself to look down.

About one story below her, the miasma rolled like a dark sea.

"Great, and I had to go and change out of my swimsuit," Angel muttered, then looked up the wall. No handholds up the entire side of the building. This was going to be fun.

01010

"AEGIS SILEO!" Ukyou shouted, holding the Silence Glaive stiffly above her. Aaron felt more than saw the power of the Silence expand outward in all directions, forming a disc centred directly at Ukyou's hand. He couldn't quite see the magic bullets as they drove through the air like supersonic hornets, but he could feel them as they crashed into the unreality of the barrier and ceased to exist one by one. Before more than two dozen had been lost, Rip Van Winkle cursed and pulled her arm up, turning the swarm aside.

Aaron couldn't believe he'd let them get trapped like that. His mind was still trapped seven years ago, back when Rip Van Winkle had been intimidating, but not overwhelming. His simple thought had been that compared to the power all four of them could bring to bear, she was nothing to worry about. He and Ukyou had handled her magic bullet before.

He hadn't even imagined she could control over a thousand of the things at once.

Ukyou was moving her legs quickly, shifting her balance on the falling I-beam Aaron had chosen as their perch. Every bit of concentration she had was going into maintaining their precarious position, which left him to maintain the Silence Wall and keep track of the others. As the swarm pulled up again Aaron allowed himself to shift some focus away from it and to the others. He could feel the resonance of their chi from the collapsing building beneath them. The magic that lingered on Angel and Shingo made them easy to pinpoint, but for some reason it was Akira that Aaron found first.

He gave a sigh of relief when he felt the three of them exit the building, flying off in three separate directions. Hopefully Rip Van Winkle was too focused on Ukyou to have noticed their escape. Which only left the matter of their own escape.

There was no way they could do it. It took everything Ukyou had to keep them afloat, and the ground was coming up fast. Even if Aaron strained what little chi she could spare from that, there was no way he could keep track of a thousand projectiles at once - and unless he did, there was no hope of evading them all. The shield he was holding was already pushing his limits.

His eyes narrowed. Ukyou nodded. So it was time to say 'fuck you' to their limits.

The Third Circle flooded their body. It was like the cloud of debris under them suddenly became a forest meadow. Ukyou ran along it with the ease and grace of a gazelle, her long strides taking her to the far edge. She leapt, knowing she would easily reach the ten-story building across the street. Aaron collapsed the shield, compressing it to a disc as wide as the Silence Glaive itself.

Rip Van Winkle cried out in triumph and the swarm came in again, but this time Aaron met it with the flashing blade of the Silence Glaive. Floating through the air like a acrobat, he spun and snapped the weapon around them. Bullets zipped and buzzed about them, but whenever they came close Aaron was there, moving faster than any human had a right to, moving his blade in stark defiance of laws like inertia and momentum. Ukyou turned the bullets into stepping stones, gaining altitude and momentum from their feeble attempts to catch them.

Aaron suddenly realised he was laughing. It had never felt this good before. It was like raw power flooded their body. Power without limit. The power to do anything! Ukyou joined him as she passed through the swarm without a scratch. She spun, landing sideways on the wall of a grey high-rise. For a moment she hung there like a spider, then started running up the side of the wall.

Aaron could feel the angry swarm chasing them. It dove in and through the walls of the building underneath them, turning the grey stone into swiss cheese. But it was always beneath them. The swarm chased them, bullets moving so fast they could intercept planes flying at Mach Five... and they were outpacing them!

Ukyou leapt, bouncing from building to building. She ran up one here, along the side of another there. Up and up she climbed, until there was no higher building to climb. Then she exploded into the air like a rocket, her last leap carrying them another five stories up. For one sweet moment it felt like they could fly. Then gravity finally caught up and they began to swing back down.

Turning with the motion, Ukyou faced down, into the canyons of steel and glass. The climbing swarm of bullets was a darker shadow against the sea of miasma below. Ukyou grinned and pointed the Silence Glaive straight down as she fell among them. Aaron expanded the shield, stretching it out and out, focusing it on the tip of the blade. It became a hemisphere, with them at the centre. The cloud of bullets broke around them like a wave, and when Ukyou had passed through it there was a great hole in its centre where almost half of Rip Van Winkle's projectiles had been.

Ukyou dove right past the vampire. The black-clad woman shouted and leapt back, just out of range of a casual swipe. She gestured sharply and the swarm reversed direction to follow Ukyou down. As she passed Aaron heard the woman muttering under her breath.

"Fall! Fall, damn you! Not even you can survive in zat miasma! Even intangible you still must breathe! SO FALL! FALL!"

Ukyou turned in mid-air, allowing Aaron to shift the Silence Glaive around them. Her feet stuck out and caught the edge of the skyscraper, the soles of her feet beginning to run along the slick mirrored surfaces that Rip Van Winkle hadn't shattered when she'd been knocked into it. With a single leap Ukyou carried them across the street to land on a steeple-roofed building there. Great stone gargoyles crouched on every corner. Ukyou realised dimly this was a church of some kind, a large cathedral.

Once they weren't moving, it hit them all at once.

They had just drawn more of the Third Circle at once than they ever had before... and they hadn't felt a thing. Not so much as a mild headache, much less the crippling internal bleeding Ukyou had come to associate with the power. Aaron blinked, running a hand over his face that came up without any blood. What... what had happened?

In that moment of stunned reevaluation, they almost died. Unable to comprehend what had happened, they lost control of the power and it vanished like morning mist. So it was that Aaron didn't even sense the attack coming. Luckily it wasn't aimed at them, or the cloud of bullets would have torn them to shreds. Instead, the bullets perforated the church roof all around them, tearing great chunks out of the green-shingled building. He heard Rip laughing.

"Now, my magic bullets! EXPLODE!" she cried, loud enough for Aaron's enhanced hearing to pick up. There was a roar, a thunderous volley of explosions like that produced by the artillery from earlier, except this was right under his feet. The next thing he knew, the roof was tearing apart under them. Ukyou reacted quickly, running to the edge. Geysers of flame erupted here and there, and Aaron managed to keep her one step ahead of them. Even so, she was singed pretty badly when one spit forth and briefly engulfed her arm.

They could access the power again. They should have. But some instinct, some part of them deep down inside didn't feel right. All she had to trust was her gut. Even if it saved them, she knew accessing the Third Circle again would be a bad idea.

So when Ukyou reached the edge of the roof and leapt she knew she was going to die. The church was in the middle of a small park, surrounded on all sides by triple lane roads. Engulfed by the power, they hadn't even noticed the distance. Now, they knew they could never reach the nearest building, the nearest refuge from the killing mist down below. Even so, they almost made it. At the last moment, Aaron gave Ukyou all the power he had been holding and she used it in one final desperate leap. The space floated underneath them and they came within a hairsbreadth of the edge of the next building over.

Then a hand flashed out and snapped tightly around her wrist.

Ukyou felt her heart skip a beat. She looked up into beautiful blue eyes that rested atop a devil-may-care smile.

"Hey, Ucchan! You're alive!" Ranma Saotome called, pulling her up onto the roof. "Guess I owe Akira an apology." He let her go and Ukyou stumbled forward, unable to say or feel anything. "C'mon. Whatcha say we take down that vampire bitch?" And with that he turned and leapt, flying towards the battle.

01010

"I'm beginning to think you do this on purpose," Minako drawled as they leapt across to another rooftop.

"I didn't do nuthin'!" Ranma protested reflexively.

"Idiot," Minako said, rolling her eyes. "I was just referring to the fact that this is the tenth time we've tried to go somewhere for a vacation," she mused. Up ahead, there was a series of shattering explosions. Ranma frowned and poured on the speed a bit. Minako grimaced and managed to keep up with him. "I finally agree to come back and visit your parents for a a nice quiet stay in safe, dull America and what happens? Giant turtles, deadly miasma and mid-air battles."

"I know, ain't it great?" Ranma said, smirking over his shoulder at her. She was about to warn him about the approaching wall of a glass skyscraper, but he kicked the window in and then they were running through the building. "Anyway, I saw some guy fighting this swarm of... something up ahead. You think it's bees? Or maybe mosquitos? I hope it's not mosquitos. I mean, ick. Flying leeches. Freaks me out."

Minako smiled and shook her head. She gestured ahead and a beam of golden light flashed out, blowing away the window on the other side of the building. They were near the centre of town now; where the fight had been, according to the reports they'd received. Minako had no idea what Nabiki was doing in Southtown, but she was certain the woman had something to do with this mess.

Ranma paused as he noticed a figure standing on a church roof across about three blocks away. The person was running as the church was exploding around him or her. Minako gasped. "He'll never make it!" she pointed out needlessly. Ranma could see for himself how improbably far the jump was from that roof to the nearest point high enough to be out of the miasma.

"Right, like I'll let that happen?" Ranma grinned and then he was off like a shot. Minako had no chance to keep up with him, so she just ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Magical enhancements and seven years of training, and she still couldn't even come close to Ranma when it came to sheer physical prowess.

Minako watched him blur across the rooftops, seeming to teleport from perch to perch as he moved with looping strides. Minako saw the person stretching out for the edge of the building, and knew he was going to fall short. Then Ranma was there, and he caught him - no wait, it was a her - with that same cocksure ease with which he did everything. He paused, looking at the woman for a second. He said something but Minako missed it as she came in for a landing on the same roof.

Then Ranma was turning and sprinting away, heading towards the ruined tower from which the vampire had been directing her assault. It was then that Minako saw exactly who Ranma had saved. Her breath caught and she staggered to a halt.

"Ukyou..." she gasped.

Ukyou turned slowly and looked at her. The girl hadn't aged a day. Her hair, her face, her black lotus eyes... it was all the same. She was wearing a white shirt and black slacks. Then Minako saw the difference. One of her sleeves had burned off, and there was a tattoo on Ukyou's arm - lines like a circuit diagram. They glowed softly with purple light, light that was fading steadily as she turned to regard Minako.

Their eyes met.

In that moment an understanding passed between them. She wasn't certain how it happened. Maybe it was something female. Maybe it was something even more primitive. But Minako had spent the last seven years listening to stories about Ukyou... oh, they had grown less common over the years. But they were always there. And now... now she was here in the flesh.

Minako walked over to Ukyou, keeping eye contact the whole way. "You know what me and Ranma are?" she asked, feeling a burning pit of jealousy deep in her gut. She knew it was unfair. Ranma had never once indicated he had liked Ukyou that way. But... Minako knew. And Ukyou was still so young. Ukyou had always been a better fighter than her. She had always been the one person, the only person, that Ranma really admired.

"I know," Ukyou said, her voice thick. She turned away from Minako, gesturing with one hand. A long slim glaive materialised in her hand, assembling itself from nothing like a jigsaw puzzle. "We... can talk later. Now... now, we have to fight."

"Right."

The two of them turned as one and ran. Minako was pleased to note that she had no problem keeping slightly ahead of Ukyou, that she even had to slow down a little to let the girl keep up. She resisted the urge to leave her behind. Ranma may have been all about charging in alone, but Minako preferred teamwork if at all possible.

They had to take a roundabout route to the tower. A lot of the city had been damaged severely by the battle, and the number of whole buildings was depressingly small. Minako thanked whatever providence had allowed them to evacuate the entire city before the fighting started. On the way, the two said nothing to each other.

They couldn't have gotten to the tower that long after Ranma. The entire top of the building had been torn off, the shattered remains of it had fallen into the canyon between buildings, the black miasma rolling between the broken beams and walls. The vampire was standing in the centre of the destruction, facing away from Ranma. Her breath was coming in long gasps and she was holding a shattered piece of wreckage in her one remaining arm. Her long inky hair, stained with blood and dust, trailed down behind her. With a start, Minako realised that the vampire had done this. In her rage, she had ripped the top off the building herself.

"So close... so close..." she was saying.

"I'll say," Ranma said, walking forward. "You almost killed a real personal friend of mine. And considering that until a minute ago I thought she was dead, I think that goes beyond rude to just plain bitchy."

"You saved her?" the vampire turned and faced him. "Oh... you. I remember you. Didn't I already almost kill you once?"

Ranma smirked. "How's the Major's arm?"

"He got a new one."

"Minako," Ukyou whispered. The two were crouched behind what used to be an interior wall. "She doesn't see us yet. If Ranma can keep her distracted, we can circle around, take her from three sides." Minako glanced, her eyes narrowing. Then she fought down the irrational urge to argue with the girl. She nodded and began making her way left, dashing from cover to cover.

"Ah. And here I was thinking that having one arm was a whole new Millennium fashion." Ranma chuckled.

"I vill only need one arm to kill you," the vampire hissed.

Then Ranma was dashing forward, his words trailing behind him. "Lady, I don't think you realise something." The vampire stepped forward to meet him, slashing with her fingers. Ranma slid on his knees, leaning back so her strike just passed over his jaw. "I am Ranma Saotome." She brought up her knee and Ranma snapped out one hand, catching it and using the momentum to drive him back to his feet. "And in case you haven't heard..." His other hand snapped back, his fingers lacing around her wrist, forcing her extended arm off-balance, "...I'm the best there is!"

Ranma's own knee drove into the woman's gut like a hammer. Blood exploded from her lips as her body bent forward over the blow. Ranma clenched her knee and wrist tighter, preventing the force of his blow from sending her flying back. Then his knee vanished. Minako could only see flashes of black rippling like shadows over water and hear the constant, escalating thrum of his knee colliding with her stomach again and again and again.

Finally Ranma gave a loud cry and released her. The vampire floated into the air as Ranma danced back, his entire body moving with subtle grace. Pivoting like a ballerina he raised his leg over his head and brought it down on the back of the rising woman's head. The blow sent her crashing into the floor with enough force that a gout of debris rose around her on all sides. Ranma backflipped away, his pigtail flapping in the air, and landed just outside the collapsing cloud of dust.

Minako paused, wondering if she would have to get involved after all. But as the dust cleared, the vampire was pulling herself back to a sitting position with her one good arm. She was coughing up blood. Minako heard a few soft thumps and turned to see that others had joined the party. She recognised Shingo, and the woman he was carrying looked like someone she should know. Whoever it was, she wore black leather and looked like someone had put her through a cheese grater. The other woman, the one with the white hair and the ponytail, she didn't recognise.

"Hey man, don't start the party without me," Shingo called, placing the brown-haired woman down on the floor. "I owe that bitch for slashing my leg."

"Naw, don't worry, kid, I got this one handled."

"Hey, don't call me kid!"

"Boys, we can measure your penises later. Let's finish off the undead killing machine now," the newcomer said.

The vampire had started laughing. Ranma looked down at it. "What's so funny?"

"Fools..." she coughed. "You should haf finished me off vhen you had ze chance."

"If you insist..." Ranma drew back his arm. But the vampire's body blurred as she pulled something from within her jacket.

"Ranma!" Ukyou shrieked, exploding from cover. Minako followed, and she could see the white-haired girl moving with a speed that made them both look like they were swimming in molasses. Ranma, however, saw the danger in time. He threw himself to the side as the air filled with a loud bang. The woman had been holding a single derringer, a small gun no bigger than her palm. A cloud of smoke hovered in front of the barrel, slowly tearing apart in the wind. She had missed.

So why was Ukyou and the new girl still running?

Then Minako remembered where she had met this woman before. Seven years ago, in England. The huntress, Rip Van Winkle... and her magic bullet. Minako yelled and brought her hands up. The light of her magic was already gathering on her fingertips. Ukyou was yelling something, and running straight at her. Wait. At her?

Minako gasped and felt herself lifted off her feet. Pain exploded through her stomach. Everything went silent. She couldn't hear a thing. The world had slowed to a crawl as she flew up and back. She could see the magic bullet winging through the air, circling around from behind her. She tried to warn everyone, but she couldn't say anything. Her mouth was full of something bitter, coppery.

Blood. Her blood.

Ukyou was still running towards her.

Ranma looked at Minako and she saw it all in his eyes. The look of horror, the sudden shocked grief. It told her all she needed to know. Then he roared, the sound failing to reach her, and he spun on Rip Van Winkle. The air around him cracked, rippling outward from the force of his strike. It caught the huntress right on the cheek as she was trying to stand up. The blow sent her flying off the edge of the building like a bullet. Ranma didn't pause; he was already running after her.

Then Minako tilted too far backward to see any more. She realised she was falling. The force of the shot had thrown her clear off the building. She was going to fall. If the bullet hadn't killed her, the fall or the miasma would. She drifted down, feeling suddenly sleepy. Was this what it was like to die?

Then a hand snapped around her wrist. Suddenly the world was full of sound again, sound and pain as she slammed hard into the wall of the building. The glass dented and cracked around her. She looked up, her vision greying. Ukyou was leaning over the side of the building, holding onto her with one arm. It must have been a trick of her mind, because it looked like Ukyou's arm was passing through the corner of the building. Ukyou herself didn't even seem to notice.

Minako looked up into Ukyou's black lotus eyes. A terrible thought ran through her head. She could drop me, she thought. I'm standing between her and Ranma right now and nobody knows she caught me. She could drop me and nobody would have to know.

"Minako!" Ukyou shouted. "Stay with me!" She began to haul her up. "None of my friends die today, you understand?" Minako tried to answer her, but she couldn't say anything. Then Ukyou screamed. "NO ONE DIES TODAY!"

It hit Minako like a lightning bolt. Her back arched and she took a deep breath. All at once colour returned to her vision. Then she was up on the roof, lying in a pool of her own blood. Ukyou was kneeling beside her. She looked grave. "I... I can't believe it. It missed."

"Like hell it did..." Minako groaned.

"It went straight through. Didn't hit a single major organ..." Ukyou was saying, her voice not quite believing. Minako couldn't believe that. She had felt it. She had felt her life dripping away. That bullet had nearly torn her in half. She looked over and saw the white-haired girl staring at them, her eyes wide. Ranma and Shingo were gone, presumably after the huntress.

"Will you be okay?" Ukyou asked.

"I'll... be fine..." Minako coughed.

"Good. I have to go." She stood up. "This ends now." She looked at the white-haired girl. "Angel. Make certain she and Akira stay safe." Then Ukyou was gone.

The girl ran over to Minako. "Don't try to sit up," she advised.

"Like hell," Minako growled, pushing her aside. "I have to go."

"You're injured!" the girl insisted, placing a hand on her chest. Minako growled and forged a chain of golden light. Snapping it rigid like a sword, she pointed it at the girl.

"I'm getting up. I've had worse."

"You taka taka's are crazy..." Angel murmured, but backed off.

"Which way did they go?" The answer was redundant even before she finished asking. There was an explosion and Minako was already running in that direction. Well, staggering, but with great vigour.

She leapt from the roof. Flicking her wrist and extending her chain like a line, she caught a nearby crenellation and swung through the city. She found the battle easily. It was on top of a TV station, the roof covered in satellite dishes and antennae and all sorts of equipment so that it looked like some bizarre alien metal forest. Minako landed on the roof with a groan.

What she saw made her gape. Ranma was down. His body had been sent crashing through a giant antenna. From the rise and fall of his chest, he was still alive. Shingo was also unconscious, his body lying in a crater in the centre of the roof.

That left Ukyou and Rip Van Winkle facing off. Somehow, the vampire had regenerated. She was looking down at her restored arm, a smirk on her face. Around her were the corpses of birds, mangled beyond all recognition, lying in disturbing piles across the roof.

"Nice trick," Ukyou was saying, her voice confident. She was circling the huntress, keeping the point of her glaive pointed at her. "But you can't keep it up forever."

Minako narrowed her eyes. She began to unravel a length of golden chain and sprinted once again from cover to cover, keeping herself out of sight.

"I'm surprised, Lotus Infinite. Such an attack is beneath you." Rip Van looked up at her. "If you had struck at my body instead, you might have killed me. But zen... I vould have killed ze boy." She laughed. "I admit, he is impressive. But nowhere near our league, sister."

"I am not your sister," Ukyou growled.

"Of course you are. Ve are sister veapons. Twins. Two sides of a coin." She spread her arms. "Vhen I am whole, no mortal technique can stop me." She laughed. "Why don't I show you?"

Rip Van Winkle seemed to teleport through the air. Her hand snapped out, tapping the glaive to the side. Her other hand came up and caught Ukyou in the gut. The woman folded forward, coughing and flying backward into a wall. Rip Van Winkle stopped, blinking. She reached up and adjusted her glasses.

"Vhat game is zis?" she snapped. "I shouldn't haf even touched you!"

Ukyou snarled and shot forward, her weapon coming down. But Rip Van Winkle casually sidestepped the blow and backhanded Ukyou in the face. The blow drove Ukyou onto her back. The vampire raised her leg and brought her heel down. It caught Ukyou in the gut and this time blood flecked from her lips. The girl curled up, clutching her stomach. The glaive clattered to the ground next to her.

"Come now, be serious, zis is pathetic," Rip Van Winkle said. She circled around Ukyou. "Use your speed, your agility! Phase through my fists. Wanish into ze floor. Do something!" She kicked out, sending Ukyou flying into the air. The girl screamed, but snapped out her hand, catching an antenna and preventing herself from being shot into the abyss. The thin metal snapped off and she plummeted back to the roof with a crash. "Vhat... vhat happened to you... my eternal rival..."

"I... am not... Lotus Infinite..." Ukyou gasped, rising to her knees. "I am not like you. Not anymore."

"You mean it, don't you?" Rip Van Winkle said, her voice filled with horror. "You... you really are not her... not the voman I haf spent seven years chasing... not the one I haf dreamed of surpassing, ze one I haf struggled to equal..."

"That's right." Ukyou grinned. "You've been chasing a ghost. Lotus Infinite is gone. My name... is Ukyou Kuonji!"

"You... you are NOTHING!" Rip Van roared, and started forward. It was then that a line of golden hearts streaked in front of her. Minako had done all she could from the shadows, but she wasn't about to let Ukyou get killed waiting until she was perfectly ready.

"Hold it right there!" Minako cried, posing as she held the end of the golden chain with one hand. Rip Van turned to her, snarling. "You're a monster from hell, Rip Van Winkle. And I am about to send you back where you belong."

"You?" Rip Van snorted. "Don't make me laugh!"

Minako smiled. Then she stepped forward and gestured again, flinging another chain at the vampire. Rip Van smirked and stepped to the side. Then she ducked the next strike, and leapt over the next. Minako didn't pause. She kept firing, filling the air with stream after stream of golden light. Rip Van continued to laugh as she dodged to the side, keeping one step ahead of the assault.

The Minako stopped. Her magical reserves were exhausted. It would have to do. She took a deep breath.

"See?" Rip Van snorted and crossed her arms. "I am frankly superior to you in every way."

"Except one," Minako pointed out. "Have you ever wondered why, back in England, I called myself 'V'?" Rip Van Winkle raised an eyebrow. Minako raised her arms and clenched her fingers. There was a creak all across the roof. "You see, I knew right away that my power was special. Even the slightest nick from my attacks and I reduced your kind to dust." Rip Van Winkle was looking around now, and she finally saw them. They were strung between every antenna, around every piece of equipment and spire. Hundreds and hundreds of feet of golden chains, glowing calmly, serenely. They formed a net, a huge net. Rip Van Winkle's eyes began to widen as she realised the truth. It was a trap, and she was at the exact centre. Minako smirked. "V does not stand for victory, or vengeance. V... stands for VAMPIRE KILLER!"

Minako snapped her arms in violently and the net closed. Rip Van screamed, trying to dodge. She moved fast, impossibly fast... but the chains collapsed inward, filling every avenue of escape. "No! Not like zis... NOT YOU-"

Then the blazing light slashed through her body in a hundred different locations. For a moment, her body hung in mid-air, golden lines criss-crossing her like a checkerboard. Then the light spread out, consuming her body like a candle wick. When the flare subsided there was nothing but dust blowing away on the wind.

Then Minako sighed and let herself collapse unconscious.

01010

"You actually called yourself the 'Vampire Killer'?" Ranma said, struggling not to laugh.

"What's wrong with Vampire Killer?" Minako snapped.

"Geez, Minako." Ranma chuckled and leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head. "Couldn't you at least called yourself a 'slayer' or something?" Then he paused. "Nah. Who'd believe a ditzy blonde girl could be a vampire slayer? Never happen."

"Ranma, dear... come closer..." Minako said sweetly. She was lying on a hospital bed, her stomach bandaged completely and an IV dripping into her arm. Ranma did as asked, not really hearing the menace in her words.

"Ow!" He rubbed the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"Being an idiot." She turned her head to the side.

"Aw, c'mon, Mina. Don't be that way." He reached out and took her fist in his hands, cradling it like he would a delicate jewel. "I'll give you one of my extra special footrubs."

"Ranma, I hate to break this to you, but you stink at footrubs."

Ranma blinked. "You always seem to like them."

Minako blushed. "That's because they usually lead to... well..."

"Sex?" Ranma said.

"Yes."

"Oh. Wow. That's awesome. I mean, I was always using them as an excuse for sex too. So... from now on, want to get straight to that?"

She glared at him.

Artemis took this as his cue to leave. Over the years, Ranma had developed an odd ability to totally ignore Artemis (it was slightly worrying, actually, but considering the alternative...). Minako, however, always remained aware of him. She really didn't like it when Artemis stayed around when she and Ranma were getting... intimate. Not only did it 'spoil the mood' as she put it, but sometimes Ranma forgot that he was supposed to be forgetting Artemis existed.

That never ended well.

So Artemis had learned to be elsewhere. If he didn't, Minako would pull out the Cone of Solitude. Artemis hated the Cone of Solitude. It was a perfectly normal neon orange traffic cone, but Minako had used it once to keep him from... eavesdropping. Ever since, she'd grown rather attached to stuffing him under the thing when she and Ranma began to play around. Which was often.

Artemis moved through the hospital like a white ghost. Nobody really noticed him. The staff was far too busy and the patients far too concerned to look down for the lithe white figure that slalomed between their feet. Artemis had become a master of moving about through crowded spaces without being seen. He noted that the place was mostly returning to normal.

After the turtle had finally been put down, the miasma had slowly seeped out of the city over the course of the next day. There were still pockets of it, from what he heard: heavy clumps of gas that had seeped into the sewers and subbasements. S.T.A.R.S. was cleaning those out efficiently, as well as taking out the remaining undead animals. The hospital and similar emergency services had been restored first, and were running at almost optimal capacity. Still, it would take weeks, maybe months, before Southtown was recovered from the attack.

Not to mention the property damage.

Which led him to his destination. It was a small park just outside the hospital, a nice place for the patients to get a few hours in the sun. Plant life had thankfully proven resistant to the miasma, so the park was hardly touched by the attack. It was out here he found the rest of the heroes of the day.

Artemis spotted Ukyou right away. The girl was sitting on a bench, looking up at the stars overhead. The lights of Southtown were still mainly unlit, as most of the citizens had not been returned to the city. The stars thus glimmered brightly in the sky. Ukyou was leaning back, her arms stretched across the back of the bench.

The other girl, Akira, was sitting in lotus position on the ground nearby. The two of them seemed to be talking, so Artemis paused to let them finish. He wasn't really eavesdropping. He was just... being polite.

"...yes, I'm perfectly fine, Ukyou," Akira was saying.

"Are you certain?" Ukyou asked, still not really looking at her. "I heard you got pretty banged up in the fight."

"I wouldn't put it that way. I lost a bit of blood, that's all."

"Did you get hit by one of Rip Van Winkle's bullets?"

"No."

"Then what happened?"

"I... I'm not sure. I think I must have swallowed something while I was in the collapsing building. Or maybe I was too low and breathed in a bit of the miasma." Akira was growing agitated as she spoke, her words coming out more quickly. "Listen, it's not important! I'm safe and sound, okay?"

Ukyou blinked and looked at her in surprise. "Okay. Whatever you say."

Akira nodded and sighed, leaning forward and smiling slightly. "I'm just glad it's over."

"Is it?" Ukyou murmured. "I keep feeling like I should be expecting the other shoe to drop."

"Pardon me, ladies, but may I interrupt?" Artemis asked, stepping into the open.

"Artemis?" Ukyou looked at him. "Sure." Ukyou patted her lap and he smiled before leaping into it. There he discovered that seven years had not eroded her ability to pamper a cat. Akira gave him a comical little glare and stuck her tongue out at him. "What's on your mind?"

"I actually have... an important message, but it can wait a little bit." He paused. "I really came to find out how you're doing."

"Indeed?" Ukyou didn't sound like she believed him. But she shrugged and told him anyway. "Honestly, I don't know. I... it's a lot to take in. So much has changed. So much hasn't..."

"You're talking about Ranma and Minako, right?" Artemis asked.

Ukyou stiffened and this time Akira gave him a real glare. He waited patiently as Ukyou relaxed. "Yeah... I could tell, the moment I met him. My senses... they're very sharp. I could... feel her on him. Her smell, her presence... and his on her." She stroked his back once, then held herself still. "Tell me, Artemis... are they happy?"

He paused, considering his answer. He could tell her about the laughter and the tears they had shared. He could tell her how the two of them, constantly running, fighting... constantly afraid for their lives one moment and euphoric with victory the next, had reached out to each other like two healthy teenagers would under such pressures. He could tell her a long story about the years over which such comforts had gradually grew into something more. He could tell her about Minako's confessions to him, how she dreamed of finding a place to settle down once 'all this was over'... a place where she and Ranma could raise some kids. He could tell her about how Ranma had never once been unfaithful to Minako, despite numerous opportunities.

Instead he said one word. "Yes."

Ukyou seemed to deflate. "Seven years... I guess it makes sense." She smirked bitterly. "I lost my chance with him... long ago, anyway. My own stupid fault for not being able to be honest with my feelings."

"So... you're giving up on him?" Artemis asked hopefully. He would hate to see Ukyou and Minako become enemies.

"I..." She looked apologetically at Akira. "I don't think I'm ready to say that. I mean, I still hope..." Her voice caught and when she continued it was cooler, more controlled. "I love him too much to just cut him away like that. I... I won't stand between them. I can't promise anything about how I feel."

"So what's this other news?" Akira asked, trying to change the subject.

"I..." He paused. "I received a message recently."

"From Luna?" Ukyou asked. "I heard Sailor Moon vanished around about the same time..." She didn't finish.

"No. From Sailor Pluto."

Ukyou stiffened again.

"What does she want?" Akira snapped. Her voice was taut with anger.

"She wants to talk," Artemis said. "Or at least that's what she told me. Her and Rose... they want to meet you."

"Alone, I bet," Akira growled. "Don't trust them, Ukyou. They work for Tethys now."

"Tethys?" Ukyou asked. "What does she have to do with anything?"

Akira stood up quickly. "She's calling herself a Dark Queen now. She runs the Dark Kingdom. Pluto and Rose are her lackeys. Errand girls. Not a single one of them can be trusted."

"You certainly sound like you know a lot about them," Artemis pointed out.

Akira opened and closed her mouth and looked away, her face flushing. "I... it's nothing. Water under the bridge. I still say you shouldn't trust them."

"Did they ask that I come alone?" Ukyou asked Artemis.

"Pluto said you could bring as many friends as you want. She told me to tell you that the two of you need to talk, need to find a way of dealing with the future laid out before you." He paused and ducked his head. "She sounded sincere."

"You knew her, back during the Silver Millennium, right?"

"Yeah," he responded to Ukyou's question with a nod. "But I can't remember much from back then. But if you're asking if I trust her because we used to both work for Queen Serenity..." He paused. There was some sort of commotion over by the hospital, a couple of women shouting loudly. But it didn't sound urgent, so he ignored it. "She's working for the people that killed my Queen. If anything, she's a traitor to everything I've ever stood for." He lowered his head. "Until we can find Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess... my only loyalty is to Minako and Ranma.

"But I believe her. I don't know why. It's a... feeling I have."

"I'll consider it," Ukyou said. She looked up. "What do you think, Akira? Me, you, Angel, Ranma, Nabiki... that should be enough to deal with anything Rose and Pluto could try to ambush us with."

"I think's it's dumb," Akira pointed out flatly. "Tell them to go fuck themselves." Ukyou just looked at her. Not a glare or a stare really, just a calm level look. It seemed to say 'I expect better of you' Akira sighed. "Why not take along Shingo, too? I hate to admit it, but with his strength, he's pretty good in a fight."

"I don't trust Shingo," Ukyou said calmly.

"Oh?"

"Something about his story doesn't ring right." She shrugged. "Like how he went from being an unathletic kid to the strongest human being in the world in under seven years, with minimal training and not even as much natural talent as Akane, much less someone like you or Ranma."

The commotion was growing closer. There were a lot of women shouting now. Artemis looked over, frowning as he saw several nurses running out of the hospital wielding various improvised weapons. Blue Mary and a few other people he recognised were in the group. They looked pissed. Shingo was chasing after them, looking worried. They paused, looking around the park as if they had lost something.

"Don't get me wrong, he seems like a nice enough guy." Ukyou leaned back, stretching and arching her back a bit. "But there are a lot of dangerous things out there. Demons, vampires, the dark kingdom, Chronos... he could have made a deal with some profound ancient evil and not even have realised it until it was too late. He still might not..." Ukyou trailed off.

Artemis looked up and stared. There was something attached to the front of Ukyou's shirt. It looked, for all the world, liked a shrunken bald old man wearing a dark purple ninja suit. He was only about twice as big as the moon cat. Artemis couldn't see his face, since it was currently nuzzled between Ukyou's breasts. The man was murmuring something about 'sweet' and 'soft'.

"Uh, Ukyou... don't look now, but I think there's some... person attached to your breasts," Akira said slowly.

Ukyou looked down. Her expression was oddly bemused. "I should have known I couldn't go through my life without this happening at least once."

"There he is!" a woman shouted. "Get him!"

There was a loud roar of approval followed by the charge of many women heading in this general direction.

"Up to your old tricks, Happousai?" Ukyou asked conversationally.

The man looked up from his nuzzling. "Hey, how do you know my name?" he asked in a dry old voice.

"You're famous," Ukyou replied dryly.

They were suddenly surrounded on all sides by a large crowd of women. Shingo was standing in the back, trying to crane his neck over the crowd and failing to look innocent.

"Stay very still, Ukyou," a white-haired girl that Artemis hadn't met was saying. There was a rasp as she drew a sword that was belted to her thigh. "We just have to kill that thing on your chest. Won't take a moment. I'm a very good shot."

"Looks like I'm not welcome here," Happousai was saying. "Besides, why make do with oranges when you can have melons?" The man cackled in glee and flashed through the air. There was a scream as he attached himself to the chest of the girl with the sword. She began to swing her weapon at him, but somehow he kept dodging her strikes without ever once taking his hands from her breasts.

"Impressive, isn't he?" Ukyou asked Akira.

"How could you stand to be... fondled like that?" Akira asked. She was holding her arms around her own chest protectively. The rest of the women were screaming and trying to help the white-haired girl without much success.

"Oh..." Ukyou's smile now was filled with pure malice. "Because around about when I figured out who it was, I sent off a signal with my chi. One that a friend of ours couldn't help but notice... and if I'm right she should be arriving about... now."

"Okay, old man, I think that's just about enough."

Happousai seemed to jerk, then with a cry of disappointment he leapt off the white-haired girl's chest and landed just outside the crowd. The crowd parted as a Japanese woman with short brown hair moved between them. Artemis had never actually met Nabiki Tendo, but he knew her when he saw her. Plus, she was radiating more psychic power than he'd felt since the fall of the Silver Millennium. She was grimacing in disgust.

"What's going on?" Happousai demanded. He seemed to be trying to do something, but failing. "Why can't I move?"

"Because I'm not letting you," Nabiki pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. She glared at Ukyou. "You owe me for this. His mind is like a septic tank."

"Just hold him," Ukyou asked nicely. She stood up and reached out. The Silence Glaive materialised in her hand. The weapon gleamed threateningly as Ukyou walked over to the old man. "I know you're more than capable of healing yourself from virtually any level of damage. Massive explosions. Savage beatings. You laugh those off." Ukyou reached out and tapped a nearby rock with the blade of her weapon. The rock dissolved, unravelling into nothingness with a menacing hum. "I trust I have your attention then."

Happousai was suddenly nodding, sweat rolling down his face. Ukyou's voice was cold, emotionless, implacable.

"Good. Now, I don't like killing people. So I'm going to give you a choice. Leave and never come back... or I start selectively vanishing portions of your anatomy."

"I think..." Happousai gulped. "The first option sounds fine."

"I'm glad we understand each other." Ukyou walked back towards the crowd. "Keep him immobile until they're done with him, would you, Nabiki?"

"My pleasure," Nabiki growled. The crowd of women smiled nastily and advanced on Happousai.

"No fair, no fair! You said I could go!"

"I never said when," Ukyou pointed out.

The crowd descended on Happousai and the violence began. Artemis looked away. Hey, the guy might have been a pervert, and Artemis might have been a cat, but he was still a man. Some things men should not see.

"And where are you going?" Nabiki said sweetly, directing her words at the only other man present. Shingo paused, caught in the middle of trying to tip-toe away.

"Uh... nowhere. I was just... drawn to all the screams. Thought I could help!" He laughed nervously. "But they seem to have it under control so I'lljustbegoingnowbye!"

Akira slid in front of him before he could dash away. Her expression was hard. He sighed and slumped, defeated.

"What's going on, Nabiki?" Ukyou asked.

"While I was in that pervert's mind I learned a few things." She glared at Shingo. "The reason he came here today is because he hadn't gotten his weekly... tribute. Payment for services rendered, you might say."

"Payment?" Ukyou blinked.

"For training Mr. Wonderful here," Nabiki said with a snort. "He agreed to train Shingo, and Shingo agreed to help him out by stealing panties and underwear." Nabiki narrowed her eyes. "Except Shingo learned it was easier to just seduce women and steal their underwear after they'd had sex. I expect most of the women just thought it was a trophy thing."

Ukyou blinked. Then she rounded on Shingo sharply. "That's... that's IT! That's your big secret?" she roared in disbelief.

"Uh... yeah..." He nodded his head in shame.

"That's... that's..." Ukyou threw up her arms. "Not a chance in hell!" Ukyou walked over and grabbed Shingo by the bicep. "How do you explain THIS, then? Huh? Superhuman strength! Insane destroy entire skyscrapers strength, huh? There is NO WAY even Happousai has that kind of strength, let alone this dork!"

"Hey!" Shingo sounded slightly offended. He pulled his arm free. "Super- strength? Man, I always thought I was just awesome..."

"You're magically tainted!" Ukyou said triumphantly.

Shingo adjusted his shades. "Wow. I guess that magic noodle thing the master gave me really worked." He rubbed his chin. "Would explain why I have to shave more often now..."

Ukyou stared at him, her jaw going slack. "The super soba... oh... for crying out..." She threw up her hands. "Not a chance in hell!"

"You keep saying that about him," Akira pointed out.

01010

The sun was rising, turning the sky a deep purple, casting long shadows from the city across the harbour. The disposal teams were tearing the remains of the giant beast apart. Akira and Angel found Ukyou on a hill overlooking the waterfront. It was a small park, surrounded on all sides by houses but with a magnificent view of the Pacific. Of course, the grim business going on below ruined the view somewhat. It had taken S.T.A.R.S. most of the day to finish off the monster, and it would take weeks before the harbour was safe for shipping again.

Ukyou wasn't looking down at the water, however. She was sitting with her back to the Pacific, facing the rising sun. Around her there were cars in driveways and lights in windows. Because of how high up these bluffs were, they had been virtually untouched by the miasma and people had been able to move back in virtually immediately.

"You shouldn't be out here alone," Akira chided, stopping her cycle on the street a few meters away from Ukyou. Angel hopped off the back and walked over to her, keeping her hand on her sword hilt. "There are still people who would love to see you dead."

"Indeed," Ukyou replied, running a hand through her hair. "I can take care of myself, Akira."

Akira paused before replying. She sighed. "I know, I'm just worried about you. When I woke up you had left your room at the hospital..."

"I didn't sleep." Ukyou shrugged. It was chilly this morning, but Ukyou didn't seem to notice. Angel clenched her jacket a little tighter. "I needed to think, after yesterday."

"Yeah, I guess it was kinda hectic," Angel said in a near whisper. "Still, you worried us both."

"You too?" Ukyou looked at the woman. Angel's golden tattoos gleamed in the purple sunrise. "I thought Akira dragged you out of bed to find me."

"Nah." Angel frowned. "I didn't sleep either. I was..." She coughed. "I was staying up. Keeping an eye on your room. Making certain noone tried to sneak in."

Ukyou considered that for a moment. "Thank you."

"I... it's the least I can do." Angel looked away. "After what you did yesterday, I needed to... to do something."

"I didn't do anything, Angel," Ukyou pointed out. "Minako killed Rip Van Winkle. The S.T.A.R.S. defeated the monster in the harbour."

"But you... you... you saved Minako's life!" Angel insisted.

"I guess. I pulled her off the edge."

"No! I SAW it. You didn't just pull her up... I saw the wound she took. There was a hole the size of my fist in her stomach. Noone could have survived that. But later... she was barely injured. YOU did it."

Ukyou looked at her. Then she ducked her head. "I think you're right. I... it was like the time in the warehouse with the Dolls. I DID something. I'm not even sure what."

"You... you have a power beyond anything mortal! You can decide who lives and who dies!" Angel wasn't shouting, but her words were intense, focused... almost feverish.

"No, I can't, Angel," Ukyou replied.

"But you..."

"Let it be, Angel," Akira recommended gently, placing a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. Angel swallowed whatever she had been about to say and walked a few steps away.

"I..." Ukyou looked down at her hand. "It seems so big. If I go to talk to Pluto... it will be about the fate of the entire universe. The prophecy... the one every psychic, every real psychic in the world saw. One day, I will destroy everything." Angel was looking at her. Ukyou looked up. "It's just seems so... ridiculous..."

Then she blinked, and her eyes focused on the tip of her nose. Akira frowned, wondering what she saw. Then she saw them, too. Tiny white flakes, drifting down from the sky. Snow? She held out her hand and felt the tiny cold touch of them drifting onto her hands. Every moment, the snow grew thicker, until it was coming down in gentle sheets.

"I didn't think it ever snowed this far south," Angel said, her voice filled with wonder.

"I guess... anything's possible?" Akira said, closing her eyes and letting the snow hit her face. It was a welcome change from the oppressive heat of Southtown, anyway.

Then Ukyou was laughing. Akira's eyes flew open. She had never heard Ukyou laugh, really laugh, before. But she was laughing now. She was standing up, spinning and walking slowly through the drifting snow. She was smiling, her eyes flashing with genuine joy. She turned slowly, her long hair trailing behind her. She looked so beautiful, Akira's breath caught in her throat.

Akira took a step forward, then stopped herself. Angel was looking at Ukyou curiously. The brown-haired girl stopped and spun to face them. "You're right, Akira. Anything is possible." She laughed, a sound without worry or care. "I've been so afraid. So afraid for so long that I forgot what it felt like to... to not be afraid anymore." She wasn't spinning, she was dancing. Her movements were graceful, sublime. "It feels so wonderful."

"I..." Akira didn't want to ruin the moment, but she had to ask. "But what happened? Nothing's changed from five minutes ago..."

"I know, I KNOW!" Ukyou ran over and tweaked her nose. Akira blinked, taken off balance as Ukyou danced back. "Isn't it fantastic? I never realised it before... but NOTHING HAS CHANGED!"

"Huh?" Angel crossed her arms. "What do you mean?"

Ukyou looked at her, deciding how to say it. Finally she turned and pointed to what seemed like a random house. "In that house there is a young married couple. They have two children. Last night, he came home and found out she had been sleeping with another man." She paused. "Right now, he's sitting up alone in his den, drinking hard liquor. He's trying to decide if he should divorce her, or stay for the sake of the children."

"That sounds kinda mundane," Angel mused. "I don't see the point."

"That's IT, that's it exactly!" Ukyou crowed. "I don't see the point, either! But to that man, that man over there... that decision is everything. Yesterday, a giant monster attacked his hometown. Five thousand sailors died. Downtown was reduced to rubble by us. And this has been going on for seven years! Martial artists, zoanoids, vampires... the world is full of gods and monsters... and for him none of that is as important as the decisions he's making right now."

Ukyou looked down at her hands. "What if there is no point? What if there is no reason? I've been so worried about what was behind this all, what the meaning of it all is... my place in the universe." She looked up, and her eyes were filled with tears. Not sad tears, tears of joy. "All of my life, all of the battles I've fought... To that man over there, it means nothing! And what if it does mean nothing? Nothing at all..."

"That's insane!" Angel suddenly shouted, stepping towards Ukyou. her face was full of... rage. Hate. "You can't compare your life to that of... some meaningless man!" She gestured wildly. "All of these people... they are the nothing! You... you're special. You're CHOSEN!" Angel snarled. "Have you seen the effect you have on the world? Akira once told me you were like a hurricane, and she was right. But it doesn't even catch the magnitude... you affect everyone around you! You change the world just by breathing! How can you say you mean nothing, when you do that?"

"Angel, I think you should calm down..." Akira flinched back as Angel swatted her hand away.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Angel was crying now. She turned back to Ukyou. "You have to mean something! You're... like a god! My family died... good people died... it has to mean something! IT HAS TO!"

"Are you looking to me for answers, Angel?" Ukyou replied calmly. "Because I don't have them. I have power. I realise that now. I can change the world. I can kill, and I can give life." She looked around. "I spotted that monster in time, and not a single civilian died. I saved Minako's life. I also killed hundreds, thousands of people as Bison's slave..."

"That wasn't you!" Akira protested.

"Yes it was," Ukyou snapped back. "I knew what would happen when I surrendered to him. Every life Lotus Infinite took is on my conscience." She smiled then, a grim smile, but a smile nonetheless. "And I could save a million, a billion lives and it will never make up for what I did." She turned and looked at the houses again. "But maybe it doesn't have to. Maybe..." She sighed. "I don't know. I think I'm on the edge of something here..."

"I can't stand this," Angel snapped. She turned away. "You're disrespecting the lives of everyone that died so that we could be here today. How can you do that?" Then she ran. Akira tried to stop her, but she was gone in a golden blur before Akira could reach her.

"It's okay..." Ukyou placed a hand on her shoulder. "She'll be back."

"I... don't understand." Akira looked at her. "How can that make you feel better? Angel has a point, it does sound like you don't care about anything that's happened up till now..."

"No." Ukyou looked at her. "I do care, Akira. I care a lot. Maybe too much." She paused. "But here's the thing. I've been afraid. Seven years ago, I thought the world was coming to an end. I saw everything spiralling out of control. I saw Chronos and Millennium coming out of the shadows, I saw death cults and monsters and entire nations die... I thought it was all over. It's hard to explain, Akira. I was looking at this entire world and I was seeing things I thought - no, that I KNEW couldn't exist together coming together. I saw a war brewing, I saw Armageddon. And from all I was seeing, I was a pivotal part of that. Everyone kept coming at me, talking about the prophecy, or my hidden power, or something... Everywhere I turned I became the centre of it all and I was convinced, utterly convinced that I was. That this universe was all about me. That I was going to stand on a plain one day and I was going to have to make a choice and my choice would be wrong. Because I'm human. Because I'm not a god. I'm just a woman.

"And I gave in. I let go. I made the wrong choice. But you know what? The world didn't end. There are still people worried about marital affairs. There are still nasty old perverts like Happousai, and punks like Shingo. The world didn't turn into hell. Oh, there's problems. But there has always been problems, Akira. There always has, and there always will be. Mankind has had problems long before I came around and it will have problems long after I'm gone.

"Things have a way of working out. If you had told me seven years ago that YOU, you of all people would defy everyone... would fight past a killing machine like Rip Van Winkle, defy Nabiki, Bison... defy everything you'd ever been told and seen and somehow save me, I wouldn't have believed it. Because I didn't save myself, Akira. You did. You changed the world. You changed the future. And if you can do it... why not others? Why do I have to be the only one that can save the world, or destroy it? Why should only my choices matter?

"And that's what I just realised. No matter how big it seems to me, no matter how special or important it seems... it's all the same. Nothing has changed. For all my struggle and pain life has gone on, and WILL go on. Maybe someday I will be on the field, and I will be facing a force so twisted and wrong I will be tempted to destroy everything... but so what? I'm through being afraid of the choices I haven't even made yet. I'm through worrying about the things I can't do anything about."

She turned to Akira, who stood there, stunned silent. "This is my life. I'll just play with the cards I've been dealt and let the rest fall where they may. Because, in the end, there is no grand plan. Just people. And I can live with that." She smiled and patted Akira on the shoulder again. "Come on, let's get back to the hospital before we catch a cold or something humiliating like that."

Akira looked down at her, and nodded wordlessly.

The ride back to the hospital was silent, but somehow comfortable. The snow continued to fall as they drove through the empty streets. They reached the hospital and started in, but they hadn't even come up to the door when a man came running down the steps. He was middle-aged, with short brown hair and wore thin spectacles. He was dressed in a brown casual suit.

"Ukyou, thank heavens... I was afraid..."

"It's okay, Doc..." Ukyou smiled. "Apparently a lot of people were worried about me this morning."

"I see, yes..." He paused. "Ukyou, I have to talk to you. I came as soon as I got the results but you weren't in your room. I was about to call security..."

"Tofu, relax!" Ukyou touched his arm once and he took a deep breath. "What is it? What results?"

"The tests we did on you. I finally got all the results back in." Tofu looked at Akira, and his mouth tightened slightly. "Maybe we should go inside..."

"If you need to be alone..." Akira began to step away.

Ukyou reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Her grip was tight. "No. Stay. Something's wrong."

"Ukyou, I think I should tell you this alone."

"I want her here," Ukyou pointed out. "Akira... is the only person who never gave up on me. If it's something bad Bison did to me, I want her to know."

Tofu paused and looked between the two of them. Then he sighed and nodded. "Okay... Ukyou. I... I don't know how to say this." He pinched his nose. "All the tests are definitive. Hormone levels. Catscans. Physical exams. The evidence is conclusive."

"Stop beating around the bush and say it," Ukyou said, her voice cold.

"Ukyou... about three years ago you were pregnant. According to all our tests, it appears you carried the baby to term and gave birth a little over two years ago."

01010

Angel punched down the wall. It broke into a satisfying amount of chunks, many of which flew on to impact the small house behind with much crashing and rising dust. Normally she might have been a twinge wary about committing as much property damage as she was right now, but nobody would be even able to tell the difference between the damage Angel had caused and the damage from the battle yesterday.

Leaping up to the roof, Angel kicked the chimney, which disintegrated into its component bricks as it hurtled through the air, splashing into a pond half a block away. Then, feeling ever so slightly less frustrated, she sat down at the ridge of the roof.

"Idiot!" she muttered ferociously. She wondered if she was referring to herself, or Ukyou. Either. Both.

Ukyou WAS like Chris. She knew it. She saw it. All the others, they were every bit as much Ukyou's followers as she or Link was to Chris. Even Akira, who had been so determined and willful when she and Angel had travelled together, deferred to Ukyou with hardly a murmur. Even Nabiki. Nabiki Tendo! The infamous queen of the underworld! And she didn't like Ukyou either, any idiot could see that. But she still followed the girl's lead as faithfully as any other.

Ukyou could tell them tomorrow that she was going to Germany to single-handedly take out Millennium, and Angel would bet anything Akira and Nabiki would follow her. She was like Him. She was unworldly. She pulled ordinary people along in her wake without even trying.

And yet...

She was nothing like Chris. It wasn't just her appearance or powers or demeanour. It was that it was so easy for Angel to forget what she was. It hadn't been until after the fight with the vampire had been over for nearly half an hour that Angel, mortified, had realised that she'd argued with Ukyou's plans, called her insane, made sarcastic comments... treated her like she might have treated Akira.

And then there'd been the argument she'd just run from.

"Idiot," she muttered again, and this time knew she meant herself. She'd almost given the game away. She could hardly have done any worse if she'd screamed 'I work for a different god' at them. Thankfully, hopefully, with the stress everybody had been under, maybe they wouldn't think too much about it. She'd go back, and apologise, and try to remember to stop treating Ukyou as if she was some ordinary human being.

And yet... Angel clenched her fists, almost itching to channel her Fire Chakra and do more damage. It was infuriating. It was like Ukyou was forsaking her responsibility. It made her so angry...

No. It wasn't that. It was that she didn't UNDERSTAND that made her so angry. Angel sighed and relaxed, unclenching her fists. In the seven years since she'd met Him, Angel thought she had come, at least as close as any human could, to understanding Chris. To at least understanding how He thought. At least He was logical. He was a god, and He thought like a god. He thought calmly, and dispassionately, and long-term. It wasn't that He didn't care about things, like Angel, but He never let them interfere with what had to be done.

That was something Angel could respect. That was something Angel had learned to live with. Angel had always known that if she ever failed on a mission, Chris would never risk compromising His secrets to rescue her. Not because He didn't want to, but because the goals He sought were more important than a single life. Any life. And in a strange way, that always made Angel feel better about the job she did for Him.

But Ukyou obviously didn't think anything like Chris. She didn't think anything like a god ought to. She was just like Him, and nothing like Him.

And the hell of it all was, it wasn't that Angel really wanted to disagree with her or hate her for what she'd said. Not really. If Akira had said that, she'd understand. Not agree, but understand.

But Ukyou wasn't Akira! She wasn't like Angel or Nabiki or anyone else! That's not how SHE should think!

Angel stood up with a grimace. This was just getting her worked up again. She needed to fight. Or drink. Or flirt with Shingo, though knowing his 'secret' had killed a lot of his appeal. But she needed to stop sitting here and thinking about all this. It was too big for her anyway. She'd just wait and find out what to do from-

"Angel."

Him.

Angel gave a quick glance around, but the section of the city she was in was still essentially deserted, which was why she'd been wrecking it in the first place.

"Are you alone?" His voice whispered into her ear again.

"Yes," she said, removing the earring and activating the full link. Chris's holographic image snapped into place. He was alone, this time, sitting in His chair. "I'm glad to see you're back."

He smiled slightly. "I've been busy. Events are moving at their fastest pace in the world since seven years ago. But you'll find out all about that soon enough. What do you have to report?"

Angel summarised the events of the last few weeks, Chris nodding along as she spoke. He already knew most of it, Angel could tell. But He still listened with interest to her perspective on events, as He always did.

"Excellent work," He said when she had finished. "And the destruction of Rip Van Winkle is a pleasant surprise. The world is certainly a little better without her in it."

Angel dipped her head slightly. "I apologise for losing my cool earlier with Ukyou."

He waved that aside. "Don't worry about it. Link was just being catty by mentioning it to you the way she did, anyway." The corner of His mouth twitched upwards. "Besides, I wouldn't blame anybody for losing their temper at Ukyou. She's often very irritating."

Angel didn't quite know what to say to that, so she merely waited for any further orders. A moment later, Chris's momentary good humour evapourated as He leaned forward, expression becoming serious.

"Angel, after what happened today, Ukyou and her friends will be heading to Bisonopolis."

Angel blinked. "She will? After what Bison did to her? I wouldn't think so..."

"Trust me. I know Ukyou very well."

Angel nodded. "Should I follow them?"

"Yes. And when you reach there, I will have a duty for you."

Angel didn't ask what He meant by that. There was only one type of task Chris called a 'duty'. "Who?"

He pursed His lips, considering, then shook His head. "I'm afraid it wouldn't be prudent to tell you just yet. You'll be travelling with Nabiki Tendo, and while your tattoos should be keeping her from reading you, there's no telling what she might still pick up on."

"I understand," Angel said. Her throat was dry. Of course, she'd always known this was a likely reason she was here. Would it be Nabiki? Ukyou herself? Or would it be... Angel grimaced. "I'll be ready."

"Don't worry. I have the utmost faith in you, as always. Take care of yourself, be watchful, and I'll speak to you again when you reach Bisonopolis."

Then His image flickered out, leaving Angel alone with her thoughts.

To Be Continued...

Epsilon: Welcome back to the Ukyou angsting!

Blade: Did you miss it!

Epsilon: I'll bet you did! I'll bet you missed it like cirrhosis of the liver!

Blade: Fortuitously, unlike cirrhosis of the liver it has been cured forever. If Ukyou angsts again I personally vow to butcher one of her friends per chapter until morale improves.

Epsilon: Ixnay! You're giving away the plot!

Blade: Nah. If I was going to do that, then I'd tell them how Bison has taken Ukyou's daughter and sent her to Hattori Nutrition College, where she is drawing upon her mother's genetic legacy of culinary excellence to become a master cook.

Epsilon: Ah yes. And about the final dramatic show-down between mother and daughter on Iron Chef.

Blade: But we're not going to give away the plot.

Epsilon: Or WILL we?

"You know, when I heard that you managed to escape, I never thought I'd see you again," Cracker Jack explained. He was leaning back in the shadows, the soft red glow of his cigarette making it so that only the lower half of his face was visible. He spoke with a sort of candid aplomb, as if he was discussing nothing more important than the weather or the bus schedule. "Like the other three we lost. I just assumed that nothing in the world would drag you back here. There were a few days there where I actually missed you, you know?" He plucked the red ember from his mouth and smiled. "But BISON never doubted. That was why there was never anyone sent off to get you. You'd be back. That was what we were told."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 25: Part Of Me


	25. Part Of Me

Welcome. My name is Rose. I see you are in search of knowledge. This I can provide, though I do not promise the answers you find will be the answers you seek. Allow me to lay out the cards and show you the truth of past, present and future.

First, The Magician. Two lives, torn from their own world by... what fate? No one knows. One became the Hero, the other became the Villain, though neither was certain of which they were, and which the other was. But this is their card, their world. The Magician shows us that they came into this world filled with knowledge and power.

Hmm. This is interesting. The Devil. You see how it holds a man and woman in thrall at its feet. That is the Hero and the Villain. Chained together by their own arrogance to the same fate, separated by their arrogance from true understanding. They drive each other apart.

And finally the Tower. The disaster is complete. The Hero loses all her friends and succumbs to despair. The Villain loses that which he cares about, and gives up his connection to mankind. They have many allies and enemies, all caught in the maelstrom. In the end, they both vanish from the stage for seven years...

And so we know the past. Now we learn of the present. Hmm. The Fool. The Questor, looking forever for the Hero on the next horizon. Unwilling to see when her feet take her too close to the edge. But like the Magician, this is more than one person. For there is also the Supplicant, who has lost faith and seeks it again in the words of the Villian, though he calls himself hero now. She too walks blindly. They find each other, and two quests become one.

Death is next. The moment of transition. They find the Hero in the hands of darkness, bound by her own will. But the Questor and the Supplicant together manage to bring her back from the edge. But in so doing, they are faced with the new world. What do you Quest for, once the journey is finished? What do you pray for, when God himself seems to have none of the answers?

And Strength. In the crucible of their own minds they find their strength again. The Hero learns that there are things worth fighting for, that victory is found in the smallest places. The Questor and the Supplicant are drawn in her wake, until the Villian makes his reappearance...

And now the future? Ah, the great mystery. Always impatient to get to the least interesting part, people are.

The Lovers. Odd. Growth into the new world. The Hero must face the demon of her past, the man she surrendered to. The only chance for salvation is love and compassion. Or maybe this is more mundane. The darkness which held the Hero now holds her daughter as well. Maybe reuniting them...

The Wheel of Fortune is next. Hmm. A lesson. Never underestimate chance. Once, a single girl defeated a god by the power of chance and fortune, and saved the entire world. Even through the Hero and the Villian seem to have the power of God, they are not God yet. Fortune favours no man. Or perhaps this is a indication that salvation can be found in the most unlikely of places...

And the last card... Judgement. So, what does that mean now? A great battle? A great decision? Appeal to a higher power? In the end, they say that the Hero shall fight a terrible Adversary and unmake all the world. I have seen this, and watched all the signs come to pass one by one. But can any human being escape destiny?

The cards are silent.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 25: Part Of Me

Seven years ago, Bangkok had been one of the jewels of the east. An ancient city, a place of temples and towers, of religion and commerce. It had been a den of vice. A centre of business. It had been one of the most beautiful cities in the entire world, blending aesthetics from the sublime to the sacrilegious. Walking down its streets, one could find oneself rubbing elbows with the richest people in the world or the dregs of humanity... and everything in between.

Ukyou had never been there, and Aaron had only read about the place in novels and magazines. More accurately, they could not remember the times they had been here. Nonetheless, they knew the place had changed in seven years. It would have taken a fool not to notice.

In seven years, Bison had made his mark upon this city. This was no longer a city of temples. The only god here was Bison, the only law that mattered here was his. All things flowed from Bison and to Bison all things would return. There was nothing left of the city that had once been Bangkok. There was only his city.

Bisonopolis.

Ukyou's mouth quirked upward in a smile. It was hard to take it seriously, when it was called something like that. She had learned the proper Thai name on the way here. It was fifteen words long and roughly translated as 'The Glorious City, City of a Thousand Adorations, The Invincible City of Victory, The First City, the City Blessed By Its Lord Bison'. Compared to that, 'Bisonopolis' almost had a charming ring to it.

Bisonopolis was a fortress. In the past, Bangkok had been like most cities, spreading out slowly from its downtown core, the buildings growing slowly smaller and more diverse as you travelled outward. Eventually the city gave way to suburbs and the suburbs to farmlands and the farmlands to wilderness. That was not the case anymore.

The land around Bisonopolis was a blasted wasteland. Torn rock emerged from the ground like waves. Bison himself had reduced the land surrounding the city to this state on the day he had risen to power. The former Thai army had stood here to oppose him. He had crushed them with a wave of his hand. The land had been left like this as a reminder.

No one defied Bison.

Much of the old city had been torn down and rebuilt in the last seven years. The city of Bisonopolis rose out of the earth like a great black beast, graceful towers and squat structures clawing up towards the sky. There was no poetry, no beauty to the layout of the city... it was simply big. It was modern, almost painfully so, but still managed to have a distinct Thai flair. The skyscrapers looked like Buddhist towers, harkening back to the ancient ways but still undeniable products of glass and steel and not stone or wood. The entire thing was surrounded by a wall, a glittering black barrier of shining metal that gleamed here and there with lights. It rose nearly a hundred meters into the sky, curved inward as if it were the beginnings of a vast dome. Ukyou's grin widened. She wouldn't put it past him. A giant dome that rose up and shielded his city from harm. It was just ostentatious enough to be something Bison would demand of his architects.

Searchlights arced out over the wasteland. Only one highway led into Bisonopolis, a massive sixteen-lane expressway full of traffic going both in and out. It rose up, steadily climbing into an overpass that flowed up and over the wall to Bisonopolis before descending back into the city. It was the only overland route leading there. One could also travel in through the river, and in fact from what Ukyou had been told most of the business and travel to and from the city was done that way.

It might have been easier to sneak into the city that way. Perhaps even sneak in under the water. But Ukyou wasn't interested in sneaking in.

She gazed down the road. The sky overhead was pregnant with clouds. They rumbled and growled, lightning flashing in the distance. And under those clouds, in the centre of Bisonopolis, was her target. It was huge, almost a hundred stories tall and easily the largest structure in the entire city. It was a man, kneeling in lotus position, his hands outstretched in a gesture of welcome. His face was shadowed by his cap and his enormous smile gazed out across the whole of Thailand. Bison, in all his glory.

"We should reconsider," Nabiki suggested. Ukyou looked back over her shoulder. Nabiki looked nervous, her face slightly sick. So she could feel it too. Bison ruled this land. It was his. He had seeped into every rock, every blade of grass, every building and every thing. He was in every breath you took.

"No," Ukyou told her. She turned and stepped out onto the road. There were roars and the shrieks of horns and cars and trucks started to swerve to avoid her. She didn't care.

"Heh, I'm certain Ukyou's got a plan," Ranma said, only a little nervously. He stepped out onto the road behind her. He glanced up at the clouds, frowning slightly. Seven years, and he still hasn't gotten rid of his curse, Ukyou noted with bemusement. She wondered idly if his cursed form had aged any since the last time she had seen it. The thought of Ranma standing under the driving rain in a clinging t-shirt flashed through her mind before Ukyou squelched it. She had no idea where it had come from, but she had bigger worries.

"I don't think she does," Akira said, following Ranma. She was wearing her motorcycle leathers, her shoulder-length brown hair swirling around her head. She locked gazes with Ukyou for a moment and again Ukyou felt something pass between them. Something secret and powerful. Ukyou shuddered and looked away. "But I trust her."

"Easy for you to say," Nabiki muttered. By now the traffic around them had stopped. The cars heading into the city were beginning to line up behind them. Horns shrieked and people yelled. One man got out of his cab and started yelling at them in Thai. Nabiki looked at him wearily and gestured with her fingers. The man blinked, turned around and slowly got back into his cab. The noise behind them gradually trailed off.

"Nabiki," Ukyou chided.

"What?" Nabiki looked at her. "Do you seriously want them here for this?" Ukyou considered that for a moment, shrugged and turned back towards the city.

"Interesting. You're even more powerful than I was led to believe," the other woman said. She walked out onto the road. She wore a knee-length jacket the colour of wine over purple hose and had the most gravity-defying hair Ukyou had ever seen. Rose glanced at Ukyou. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Oh yes," Ukyou said. She was walking steadily towards the city now, her pace eating up the miles. The traffic out of the city had cut off. Nobody else was coming down the road. They had noticed her approach.

Good.

"We came here three years ago," Pluto said, moving up to take her place beside Rose. Ukyou noticed Akira and Ranma place themselves between the two of them and her. She reminded herself to thank them for their concern later. Pluto hadn't changed much in the last seven years. Her hair was still long, and flowed in green rivulets down to the small of her back. She had exotically tanned skin and glossed lips. She was clad in the uniform of a Sailor Senshi, white with black trim, and wore it with a dignity and pride that Aaron had never recalled from anybody in the series. There was a presence to Sailor Pluto, even knowing she had lost her most dangerous powers, that slightly intimidated Aaron. "We didn't get within a kilometer of the palace. And the city is even more of a fortress now than it was then. A full frontal assault like this is suicide. We should turn back, find another way."

"No," Ukyou said. They had crossed the wasteland now and were coming up to where the road began to rise into the sky. She could see them gathering up there. Hundreds of them... a thousand. Soldiers. An army. They glowed in her perceptions like sparks amongst the flames of Bisonopolis. A thousand soldiers, each of them flooded with the psychopower.

Bison had been busy.

"Much as I hate to agree with the walking fashion victim, maybe she has a point?" Angel said softly. She was taking up the rear. She looked nervous, holding her sword and gazing up at the top of the ramp. She could probably see the army gathering there, even if she couldn't feel them. "I don't fancy our chances at fighting the entire city."

"We won't have to," Ukyou assured her.

"Doesn't look like that to me," Nabiki pointed out, her hand reflexively circling around the grip of the wishing sword. "Looks like he's called out the entire army."

"No, just the elites," Akira corrected her. "America isn't the only nation building an army. Those soldiers up there have been trained in psychopower techniques. Each one of them has the strength to punch through concrete, the speed to dodge bullets, superhuman reflexes..."

"Hey, great!" Ranma smirked, flexing a little. They could all see the army gathering up there now. It was like a black wave, tank upon rank of men and women in black turtle-shell armour with featureless black faceplates. "I hope he calls them the Legions of Terror. I've never had a chance to fight actual legions of terror!"

"Be careful Ranma," Nabiki warned. "They don't fight fair. They're armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art firearms. Weapons designed to channel chi energy and work just as well for psychopower as they do for normal chi. The bullets those soldiers fire can be as deadly as the most powerful zoanoid biolaser, just as fast and even more accurate."

"How did you know that?" Akira asked.

Nabiki snorted. "It's my business to know."

"Oh..." Ranma frowned and crossed his arms. "Maybe we should get some cover, then? Like a tank or something? We can pick it up and charge the line..."

"That won't be necessary," Ukyou pointed out. She could feel the buildup of energy among them. The army was forming up, the people in front kneeling, the ones behind them levelling large rifles. In a few more seconds she'd walk right into optimum firing range. "I'll take care of this. Stand back."

The others slowed down and let her take the lead. The commanders of the army began to shout. Ukyou couldn't understand what they were saying, but she got the gist of it. She extended her hand to her side and gripped her fingers. The Silence Glaive began to form in her hands.

The shout to open fire roared down the ranks and the air was filled with a hundred thunderclaps. Aaron focused and time seemed to slow down. He could see them, each individual bullet, flowing through the air. He could see the air rippling around them like waves on a lake as they emerged from the plumes of flame at the end of the rifles. The sky was full of them, a mass of lead travelling at supersonic speeds. There was no way to dodge this attack. It simply left you nowhere to go.

Ukyou spun the Silence Glaive in her hand and reversed her grip. With a wordless cry she slammed the blade into the pavement before her. The roar of the rifles died off, replaced with a single perfect note, a heartbreaking middle E. The first of the bullets approached her, then slowed down. Like a fruit being peeled, the outer surface of the projectile curved back, revealing nothing within. The flakes of metal floated backwards like flower petals, shrinking and vanishing like phantoms.

The massed fire continued. They must have fired well over a million rounds by the time the commanders called for a halt. Ukyou looked at them, her eyes hard. She willed her power up, allowed it to flow into her eyes and her voice. She was like ice. Her words flowed out towards them like freezing mist.

"Anyone who wishes to survive to see the next sunrise, get out of my way."

Then, to demonstrate, she ripped the glaive from the road. The overpass between her and them unravelled. Great cracks and tears smashed through it, becoming breaches into nothingness. The entire thing vanished, nearly a hundred meters of road surface and all the supports underneath straight down to the blasted wasteland below. She held the Silence Glaive up for a moment, then slowly brought it down and pointed it at the massed army. The wave of annihilation had stopped with surgical precision right at the toes of the nearest Shadowloo soldier.

For a moment the army regarded her. Then it turned and ran.

"Little over the top, don't you think?" Nabiki groused, walking up to the edge and watching the soldiers retreat into the city. "We might have to deal with them in the city."

"No, we won't," Ukyou assured her.

"How do you know?"

Ukyou didn't answer. Instead she focused for a moment and then leapt across the gap. She landed in a crouch on the other side, the glaive held to her side. She turned and rose to her feet. She looked back across the divide. Akira. Ranma. Nabiki. Angel. Rose. Pluto...

Those who could come with her. Those who had chosen to. Ukyou still wasn't certain she trusted Rose or Pluto, but she knew she would need their help. Destroying a bridge was one thing, but Bison had shattered the entire wasteland and that had been seven years ago. She turned and began to descend into the city. "Are you guys coming?" she called over her shoulder.

01010

"What if she doesn't come?"

"She'll come," Pluto assured her companion.

"Yes... but what if she doesn't?"

Pluto stood up, stretching and looking around the park. It was pleasant. The sun was shining brightly, and from this place you would never have known that the city of Southtown had been nearly destroyed just over twenty-four hours ago. She was wearing a long white dress, the same colour as the snow which blanketed the park now. Snow? In southern California? Who would have guessed?

But then, who would have guessed she would be here? It was unthinkable. Ukyou was... the apotheosis of everything that Pluto stood for. The end of all time. Pluto knew it with a certainty that edged out the certainty that the sun would rise tomorrow. Yet, here she was waiting on the vague hope that her greatest enemy, a woman she had almost killed a half-dozen times... that she would come so they could talk.

Pluto would be lucky if she lived out the day.

"Ukyou will come and we will discuss things," Pluto said. "That's why we came here."

"That isn't why Tethys sent us here." Rose pointed out.

"No, it isn't." Pluto looked down at her footprints in the snow. She had been looking forward to the heat, just a little. Three years among the frozen halls of the Dark Kingdom would do that to you. Though she smiled a bit at the thought of the words 'Dark Kingdom'. Tethys insisted on keeping the title, and everyone in the world referred to her capital as that.

But none of them had been inside D-Point.

"If Ukyou doesn't come, Tethys will be most displeased," Rose pointed out needlessly. She did that a lot. Rose had a distressing tendency to continue to press an issue long after Pluto thought that the topic was either dead or so obvious that it no longer bore repeating. It was one of the few things Pluto disliked about her.

"Tethys can be displeased all she likes," Pluto crossed her arms. "I'm not trying to kidnap Ukyou from the centre of all her friends. You've taught me a lot about martial arts in the last seven years, but I'm still not as good as you and you plateaued out... your Soul Power isn't growing any stronger." Pluto left the rest unsaid. Rose's Soul Power had, if anything, been growing weaker over the last seven years. Growing weaker while Bison's rose. The effect was subtle. Many would not have noticed. Pluto was certain Tethys had not, but...

"If we don't bring Ukyou to see Tethys," Rose pointed out, "she'll get someone else who will. And Tethys does not suffer traitors or incompetents well."

"Then we'll talk with Ukyou. Persuade her." Pluto frowned and looked up at the sky. The sun was out now. By nightfall, all the snow would be gone. "But first, we'll talk about..."

"The future," Rose murmured. She finally shifted her position, turning away to look down the park's paths.

"Or the lack thereof."

"Nothing's changed. Seven years ago you woke up every morning screaming because of those nightmares." Rose stood up and came over to Pluto. She laid a hand on the taller woman's shoulder. Pluto held it for a moment. "You still wake up every morning screaming. The future hasn't changed. If anything, the fact that Ukyou has regained herself is only proof that Bison could not counter her destiny."

"Which means what?"

"Either she dies, or the whole universe does."

Pluto considered that. She had spent many sleepless nights thinking about that. The truth was, she had no solution. She knew what was going to happen. She believed it with all her heart and soul.

But she couldn't do it anymore. If she had just talked to Ukyou all those years ago... instead of being enemies, they could have stood together. So many people need not have died...

Haruka. Michiru. Ran. Chizuru.

Dead because Pluto had been so caught up in her obsession that she could see nothing else. No. Not anymore. There had to be a third option. There had to be... didn't there?

"She's here," Rose whispered, then slipped away from Pluto. Pluto straightened and closed her eyes. She could feel Ukyou approach. Her senses were not nearly so fine-tuned as Rose, but they had the aid of magical enhancement. She turned to face Ukyou.

The woman came through the snow towards them. She looked exactly the same. Her long black hair was still tied into a ponytail at the bottom of her neck. Her face was still that of a girl of sixteen, but her expression was of a woman much older and wiser. Her eyes were black and cold, shaped like lotus flowers. She wore a long black coat that ruffled around her legs. Under that she wore a bodysuit, a white leotard with black leggings and heavy brown boots. The sleeves of her jacket were rolled up. On her left arm were a series of scars, five parallel indentations like phantom fingers.

She wasn't exactly the same, Pluto realised. On her right arm there was now a series of tattoos. No... not tattoos. There was something under her flesh, long thin angular lines that looked like circuit designs Pluto had once seen. Just like she had in the vision. Pluto felt her knees grow weak. Rose stepped closer to her, but Pluto waved her off. She firmed herself up.

Ukyou stopped just out of striking range. Not that it mattered for the three of them. Pluto had the attacks of her Senshi form, Rose had her Soul Power and Ukyou had the Silence Glaive, which could have almost covered the ground between them by itself without resorting to the Silence. Rose opened her mouth, but Ukyou cut her off with an upraised hand.

"Listen, I don't have time to talk to you here, so I'll make this quick." Ukyou glanced between the two of them. Her eyes were hard. Pluto stared. She had never seen Ukyou like this. She had seen Ukyou mad. She had seen her scared. She had seen her when her icy shell was at its most complete. But this... there was something different about Ukyou now. Something profound. "I don't know why you came here, and I don't care. Your prophecy? Your deals with Tethys, whatever they may be? I don't give a shit." She brought down her hand.

"I need your help."

"What?" Pluto gasped out.

"It's very simple." Ukyou turned the full weight of her expression on Pluto. "Bison has my child. Right now. Every minute I spend here talking to you is another minute that monster gets to sink his claws further into..." Her voice had begun to crack, but she took a deep breath and kept it under control. "I'm going to Shadowloo. I'm going to the heart of his power. I'm going to face him. I AM going to get my child back." A shudder rippled across her features. "I don't even remember... if it's a boy or girl... I don't remember ever... touching... holding..." She took a deep breath again. "But it's MY child, and I will NOT let that bastard have him for one more second!"

Ukyou stepped towards them. "So here's the deal. I'm going to fight Bison. You two are some of the only people to have done so and come out in one piece. I need you. What you know. Your powers. Everything you can do for me. If you don't come with me, I might lose my child forever..." She clenched her fist. "But I won't let that happen. So... how is this going to happen? Are you going to try and fight me, and make me beat the two of you into the ground until you agree to help me? Or are we going to skip me kicking your ass and get straight to rescuing an innocent child from one of the greatest evils on earth?" Ukyou paused. "Or are you just going to stand there staring at me like idiots? Make your mind up now, because I've wasted all the time I'm going to on this."

Ukyou turned and began walking back the way she had come. Pluto stared at her retreating figure.

"She wasn't being overly polite," Rose pointed out. Then her lip quirked up in the closest thing she had to humour. "But given our shared history, I can hardly blame her." She looked at Pluto. Pluto had seen that expression before. Rose was leaving this one up to her.

Great.

Ukyou was continuing down the path. "Are you guys coming?" she called over her shoulder.

01010

The buildings rose steadily on each side of them, enormous black shadows that loomed up from below and crowded the sky overhead. Soon the only illumination was the weak flicker of neon lights from the signs lining the streets. They were descending into the city proper now. A city full of shadows. The air down here was thicker, smokier and smelled faintly of decay.

Pluto followed Ukyou down the long street into the darkness. Who would have believed this? Seven years ago she had been doing everything in her power to kill this woman, and now she was... what, fighting at her side? No. Nothing as simple as that. She was fighting FOR Ukyou. Fighting for the child that Ukyou had left behind in this sick and twisted city.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked. They were slightly back from the others. Rose had been hovering protectively near her ever since she had carried Pluto across the gap. Pluto glanced at her.

"I'm fine... just, contemplating irony," Pluto informed her.

"Ah." Rose smiled, a icy smile that contained no real humour but managed to look the part very well. Rose was like that. She obviously didn't see the world in the same way that Pluto or anybody else did. For her, it was a world of cold logic and hard data. A world without passion. Sometimes Pluto envied her that. "I find it best not to give too much thought to irony."

Then Rose paused and looked at Pluto, her eyes serious. Her Romany face looked especially thin, haunted by shadows in the failing light. "I trust you, Sailor Pluto. Seven years ago I came to you and thought I had answers you do not, but I have learned the opposite is true. Even if you doubt yourself, know that I am here to follow you and protect you from whatever trouble your heart leads you into."

"I..." Pluto gaped. Where had that come from? Pluto smiled. "You're my friend, too, Rose," she said finally, smiling. Rose nodded gravely.

"But I suspect the time for discussion has come to an end," Rose told her, nodding towards Ukyou.

The young woman had paused in the middle of the street. They had reached the bottom of the city. The towers and clouds managed to filter out all the sunlight this far down. In the distance thunder crashed, but the flash of lightning never reached here. Street lamps buzzed. Ukyou was looking off to one side.

Then, in a shadow there was a snap-hiss and a spark appeared. It was held in the meaty hands of a man, who pulled it up towards his face. His square- jawed features were turned slightly away from them and he was wearing a fedora pulled low over his eyes. Once he was finished lighting his cigarette he flicked the match out into the street. The spark skittered across the street in front of Ukyou's feet, then travelling all the way across the highway.

Then it was crushed under the foot of another man who was stepping out of the shadows. He was big, his body rippling with muscles. His skin was the colour of stained wood and he wore a blue shirt and shorts that were stressed almost to the breaking point by his physique. His face was a study in dumb cruelty: beady eyes, caveman brow and a grin with one too many teeth missing. His short black hair was cut close to his scalp. He chuckled and slammed his boxing-glove-clad hands together.

"Cracker Jack, Balrog..." Ukyou said softly.

"You know, when I heard that you managed to escape, I never thought I'd see you again," Cracker Jack noted. He was leaning back in the shadows, the soft red glow of his cigarette making it so that only the lower half of his face was visible. He spoke with a sort of candid aplomb, as if he was discussing nothing more important than the weather or the bus schedule. "Like the other three we lost. I just assumed that nothing in the world would drag you back here. There were a few days there where I actually missed you, you know?" He plucked the red ember from his mouth and smiled. "But BISON never doubted. That was why there was never anyone sent off to get you. You'd be back. That was what we were told."

"He was right," Ukyou hissed. "I know it's not going to make any difference, but I'll give you the same offer I gave the drones up above. Run away, and we won't hurt you."

Balrog laughed, a short brutish snorting laugh. "Chickenshits. They ran like kids."

"Well, to be fair, B, they were facing Lotus Infinite." Cracker Jack chuckled, a decidedly more urbane sound. "Not to mention this fine collection of heroes." Cracker Jack paused. "You know, I might really like to do that, Lotus..." He shrugged and stepped out of the shadows. In one hand he carried a white ash baseball bat leisurely. "But I have orders. And I may be a bully, and a murderer and several other things that your mother warned you about, but one thing I am not is a man who breaks his word."

"'Bout time," Ranma groused, walking up to stand next to Ukyou. "I was beginning to think this was going to be boring."

"Heh. Kid, you're going to wish this was boring in a few moments," Cracker Jack laughed. Ranma glared at him when the older man called him 'kid'. The look Ranma was giving him carried a promise. Cracker Jack ignored it, instead laconically raising his hand and snapping his fingers.

They slipped from the shadows like wraiths. There were ten of them in all. They wore black leotards that clung to them like a second skin, the shade blending into the darkness around them. Overhead there was a flash of lightning and the Dolls were outlined for a brief moment.

They looked no older than Ukyou, barely old enough to be called teenagers. But Pluto knew looks could be deceiving. Bison had used the technology he had stolen from here and there to retard their aging, keeping them perpetually young. Pluto curled her lips in a sneer of disgust. The man was an animal. Like it wasn't enough for him to steal their minds, their very souls and turn them into his own personal army of assassins. He also had to defile their bodies. There was no other reason that all his Dolls were nubile young women, women that he never let age.

The Dolls had them surrounded. Ukyou, however, was looking at one Doll in particular. This one looked older than the others by a few years. She had chin-length glossy black hair and exotic features whose nationality it was hard to place. She was beautiful in a way that Pluto could appreciate. She had made a living in fashion once, and she had been around beautiful women all her life. This one made most supermodels look like the bulimic children they were. She was the ideal that every designer had been aiming for since man started scratching on walls.

"Nancy..." Ukyou said, and there was sadness in her voice.

Cracker Jack followed her gaze. He smirked again. "Ah, missing a bit of the old fun you used to have? You and Eidolon there were especially close, I know. Then again, being the only two Dolls who can ghost, you used to have the most... interesting games."

Ukyou flushed and looked away. "They have no choice in this, Cracker Jack. But you..."

"Don't worry, Ucchan," Ranma said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I got this guy."

Ukyou looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah, kid, whatever you say." Jack pointed his bat at them. "Dolls, Lotus Infinite lives. Everyone else... kill 'em."

Pluto forced herself to relax as she adopted a martial stance. She summoned her magic, allowing it to pool invisibly around her hands, ready to unleash it at a moment's notice. Rose swirled her shawl around herself, charging it with purple Soul Power. Ranma stepped away from Ukyou, smirking and raising his hands as he assumed a horse stance. Angel spun her sword around a few times and glanced around the Dolls. Akira had assumed a stance suspiciously similar to Ranma's on Ukyou's other side. Ukyou, meanwhile, was just standing there with her glaive pointed at the ground. Nabiki stood in the middle of their formation, her right hand rested on the wishing sword, but she didn't look the slightest bit nervous.

Then, the Dolls began to sing. One near the back started it, an especially young-looking girl with pink hair pulled into ringlets that tumbled down both sides of her head. She lifted a microphone to her lips and began to chant, a wordless melody that turned into a chorus as the others Dolls picked it up one by one.

"Heh." Cracker Jack smirked, resting his bat on one shoulder. "You may be six of the most powerful martial artists in the world, that's true. But that music? That's the Dolls synchronising their psychopower. I never believed it myself until I saw it in action. Linked like this, the ten of them are nothing short of unstoppable."

"I'm impressed," Nabiki drawled, stepping forward. "You're right. Their minds are connected on a level I wasn't even certain was possible. With that, they can share energy like a virtual network. It makes them collectively more than the sum of their parts. They might even have been able to stop us..." Nabiki grinned. "But it's such a delicate and... fragile process. Let's see what happens when..."

Cracker Jack was already moving, cursing as he sprinted towards Nabiki, pulling back his bat. Ranma slipped sideways, his feet not even leaving the ground as he came to a halt directly in front of the well-dressed mercenary. Nabiki, meanwhile, snapped her own fingers.

The Doll named Enero jerked, her voice strangling off into a startled choke. Her long pink hair bounced as she stiffened. The other Dolls foundered, staggering as the link that connected them was brutally shredded by the force of Nabiki's will. Pluto didn't even want to imagine what that felt like. From the look of sympathetic pain on Rose's face, it could not have been pleasant.

"They're off-balance!" Akira shouted. "Remember the plan!" Everyone nodded, then Akira turned towards the nearest Dolls. "Now!"

And they scattered, sprinting and leaping into the shadows of the city. Pluto heard Balrog roar in anger and Cracker Jack begin cursing as the six of them vanished into the depths of Bisonopolis.

01010

"What are they doing here?" Akira snapped, pushing herself into Ukyou's face.

"Don't start this again, Akira." Ukyou said, not looking impressed. Akira was taller than her, a fact that still tended to creep Akira out since she was used to the opposite. But she had grown in the last seven years, changed... Ukyou had not. She still looked like a child. Always before, Akira had been the one looking up to her, both literally and philosophically. Now... she sort of wished it could be the other way around. But Ukyou was not backing down. "I need them."

"No, we don't," Akira said. She glared over at the two women standing in the corner near the window. Pluto was wearing an innocuous-looking dress, but Rose was wearing the same jacket she always had. The two were doing their best not to look at her. "We have more than enough power to take down Bison without having to resort to... them."

Ukyou looked at Akira a long moment. "I expected better of you, Akira."

Akira flinched back. That had sunk in deep. She stepped back, frowning and looking away.

"Akira has a point, Ukyou," Nabiki jumped in, picking up Akira's argument. "The two of them tried to kill you a lot of times. How do you know we can trust them?" Then she paused. "I could..."

"No," Ukyou said.

"It's okay," Pluto said, stepping forward. "I have nothing to hide. If you want to let Nabiki enter my mind to confirm this, I won't object."

Nabiki began to grin, but Ukyou cut her off. "I don't think so," Ukyou said. "Nabiki, you already know too much and you're far too clever for your own good. Plus you still have one wish left on that thing." Ukyou indicated the wishing sword with a nod. "I hate to think what kind of mischief you'd get up to with Sailor Pluto's knowledge of the timestream."

"You wound me, Ukyou, you really do," Nabiki said flippantly, but her face looked annoyed.

"The fact is I need them both," Ukyou said. "They could have attacked me at the park if that was their intention. That's why I went alone." She paused. "Minako is still recovering from her injury and Shingo is staying here. Plus Angel still hasn't come back. That means at the moment it's three of us versus whatever Bison has in store." Ukyou laid her hands on the table. On it was a map of Bisonopolis, an overhead satellite shot. The Americans had long ago lost control over their satellite networks. Nobody had quite worked up the courage to ask where Nabiki had gotten the photos.

"You're right to be worried," Rose said, stepping forward. "Pluto and I have tried to infiltrate the city a number of times, looking for you. Even after we acquired the resources of the Dark Kingdom it proved impossible." She looked down at the photo. "Bisonopolis is HIS city. It belong to Bison like his arm belongs to him. The place is... infected with his psychopower."

"I get that," Ukyou said.

"No. You have forgotten that. You fail to understand." Rose crossed her arms. "The psychopower is not magic. It is Bison. His will, purified. It is his distilled hatred, his rage, his vile passions. It floods the entire region." Rose closed her eyes. "Normal people, they respire chi from the world. Every living thing is connected, and it is from this web of life that we draw our strength. But in his world there is no power to respire but Bison's. Every day a little bit of your chi, a small piece of your soul, is breathed out into the world and what rushes in to fill that gap is him. For those who train in the martial arts, it only happens faster. Their bodies go through much more chi, so if they train in his lands the conversion is all the faster. Soon enough, there is nothing left of them but Bison's power. All unknowing they become a part of his will: he taints them."

"You can't be serious," Nabiki said, looking disgusted.

"I am," Rose assured her. "It's an insidious scheme. Bison does not plan to conquer the world by force. Every day his influence grows. His power grows larger, swallowing more of the world. If he has his way... there won't be anyone fighting him. His power will gradually replace the life force of every living man, woman and child, it will flow in the rivers and the seas, in the plants and animals. If he isn't stopped, eventually he will taint the soul of the Earth itself."

"Thankfully," Pluto cut in, "he has reached just about the limit of his power. For all his strength he's still a man, still mortal. His body can only handle so much psychopower or it'll explode." Pluto paused. "That's what he wants you for, Ukyou. Your power, it's... infinite. He wants to transfer that power into himself so that his psychopower can grow unchecked."

"Hey, I don't understand a word you're saying, but whatever it is can't be that bad," Ranma spoke up from his position sprawled out on the couch. Everyone turned to look at him. He grinned. "Don't worry, because whatever he's up to ain't gonna happen. I'll kick his ass. End of story."

Ukyou smiled a little. "I'll keep that in mind." Then she sighed. "But you can't go, Ranma."

"What?" Ranma leapt to his feet. "Like hell I'm not! I'm not letting you walk off on a suicide mission again! Plus, I have to pay him back for beating me seven years ago."

"That's why you can't come, Ranma," Ukyou said, her voice hesitant. Akira repressed a sigh and leaned against the wall. She still loved him. Akira wished that Ukyou could look at her that same way... Then she shook off the feeling. It was petty of her. "When Bison beat you seven years ago he left a piece of himself behind. He put a spark of his power in your heart." Ukyou walked over and pointed at his chest. "Right there. I can feel it. It's connected to him. He can kill you with a thought."

"Nuh-uh!" Ranma snapped. "I got a plan, Ukyou."

"Don't worry about it," Nabiki said slowly, stepping up to the two. They glanced at her. "I can shield Ranma. My skill may not be quite as versatile as Bison's, but I still outmatch him in raw power. I can use my telepathy to shield Ranma from Bison. I couldn't do it from very far away, but I can keep him safe from close by."

Ranma grinned, that roguishly charming grin that he used so well. "See, everything going to be fine, Ucchan."

"Okay, if it's decided then," Akira stepped forward. "Then we're going to have to get through to Bison." Akira paused. "I know how to defeat him." Everyone looked at her. Only Nabiki looked at her with comprehension. She alone knew that Akira had... shared Lotus Infinite's memories. They were still there, or at least most of them. There were holes, which was why Akira had been just as caught off-guard by Doctor Tofu's pronouncement as Ukyou. But she KNEW Bison, in a way nobody else here did. "The key is here." Akira jammed her finger to the centre of the city, the titanic statue of Bison he had built.

"The palace," Rose said.

"No. Beneath the palace." Akira took a deep breath. "The Psychodrive. A massive machine Bison uses to augment his psychopower. If we can destroy it, we won't even have to fight him. Without that machine, he'll die."

"I see," Pluto mused. "But getting to it is the problem."

"Yes." Akira frowned. "We can't hope to sneak in. If Pluto and Rose can't do it alone, the six of us..."

"Six?" Nabiki asked.

"I'm including Angel."

"You really think she's coming back?" Nabiki looked at Akira harshly. "Besides, she shouldn't be trusted."

"I trust her, and I know she'll be back," Akira snapped. Ukyou looked at her and gave her a wry smile. Akira flushed and looked away. This wasn't the same at all. Defending Angel... she was defending someone who had gone out of her way to save Akira and Ukyou time and again. Someone with nothing to gain. Pluto and Rose... they worked for... for HER.

"A frontal attack would also be suicide," Pluto pointed out.

"Maybe..." Akira frowned. "But... if what Rose said is true, we don't have to defeat the entire army, or all of Bison's lieutenants. Once we take down the Psychodrive, he'll lose his ability to project the psychopower. Since many of them are living off it, it will be like if someone suddenly drained out all our chi. I imagine that anybody else in the city will become more... docile then."

"So..." Ukyou ran her finger along the picture. "Just one of us has to get to the Psychodrive. So... we split up?"

"Not at first." Akira corrected. "Bison will want to soften us up with minions first. He disdains fighting his own battles. It's beneath him. So we give him a nice target. Draw all his minions to us. Then... we split up, and race to the Psychodrive. I know exactly how to get there, and I'll tell all of you."

"You know a lot about this," Rose said, her voice accusing.

"Good thing for us," Ukyou said, and she looked up at Akira and smiled. Akira felt herself smiling hesitantly back, which was funny because her heart wasn't beating. "It's a good plan."

"It's suicide," Nabiki snapped.

"No, I think it's our only chance." Ukyou crossed her arms and nodded.

01010

Akira moved through the layers of the city quickly. Bisonopolis was a city of black glass and neon lights. The walls were full of flourishes and statuary that harkened back to the city's Buddhist roots. They made great steps as Akira bounced and strode her way across it.

In a way, this felt disturbingly like she was coming home. Lotus Infinite had spent many years in these streets. While they had changed over the years, the feel of the city, the basic shape of it, had never really been altered. It was hard sometimes to remember that it hadn't been her who had been here, that it had been Lotus Infinite who had called this place her home. Akira ended one particular leap on top of a large structure, a parking garage filled with the tiny open-air taxis that were common throughout the city.

The roof of the parkade was deserted, and she could see no other life anywhere else. It was empty. Akira knew better than to believe that. She could feel the city. It was twisted, vicious... full of dark passion. There were people who lived here, but they all knew better than to be out at times like this.

There was a scuff behind her and Akira turned, bringing her hands up. The two Dolls emerged from the shadows. They did not look winded. Akira sighed. Only two? Did she rate so low?

Then again, she knew these two. One was tall, leggy and with luscious curves. She had hair the colour of dark chocolate. The other was shorter, with a more girlish figure and short straw-blonde hair. They moved in eerie unison. Akira narrowed her eyes.

"Juli, Juni..." Akira smirked. "At least I get the cream of the crop."

"Enemy battle power is estimated high. Begin unified combat paradigm?" the shorter Doll suggested in a clipped mechanical tone.

"Yes," the taller one said. The two began to circle around Akira. Akira stood still, not making any attempt to keep them in sight. She had to trust her senses. The problem was that she could feel the link they had. The two of them were broadcasting power between each other like opposite poles of a magnet.

"That's right," Akira said to no one in particular. "I remember. You two can synchronise without an exterior stabiliser. Bison was always very proud of that."

The two ignored her conversational tone. Instead they came in like the proverbial greased lightning. Juli came in high, her left hand pulling back for a punch. Juni sprinted low, ready to turn her momentum into a slide designed to take Akira's feet out from under her.

It was a perfectly executed manoeuvre. They came in with absolute timing, each striking at exactly the same moment. Even if Akira somehow dodged or blocked both attacks at the same time, it would only place her off-balance. They would keep coming in, performing a brilliantly executed series of strikes that would slowly crumble Akira's defences until there was no way for her to recover.

Then it would be all over.

Thus, they both looked very surprised when Akira stepped into Juli's path. She caught the Doll's arm in mid-punch and levered her over her shoulder. Juni could only stare as her partner was used as a crude bludgeon, slamming them both into the concrete roof of the parking garage. Tiny clouds of dust erupted from a spiderweb of cracks that radiated around them.

Akira leapt back, landing on the top of a car roof. She smiled. The two Dolls got up slowly. No doubt they were wondering how Akira had anticipated their moves. Akira decided to keep them guessing. It just wouldn't be fair to let them know that, since she had most of Lotus Infinite's memories, she already knew all their moves. Akira raised one hand and made the universal gesture of 'bring it on'.

The Dolls exchanged another glance, then obliged her.

01010

"And you'll make certain to eat healthy," Minako said, clutching his hand tighter.

Ranma winced. "Geez, Minako..." He wanted to shake off her hand, but resisted the urge. "You're my girlfriend, not my mother..."

"Yeah..." Minako looked down at the water splashing on the side of the dock. "But... this is the first time that..." She bit her lip. "What I mean is, you'll be there and I'll be..."

Ranma flushed a little. "It's not like I'll be gone long. A month, maybe. Two weeks if this goes quick."

"I... can't you hold it off?" Minako begged. "My magic is healing me up pretty fast! I'll be good to go in less than two weeks! Doc Tofu said so himself."

Ranma looked across the pier to the small boat that Shingo had managed to get the US to lend them for the trip. It wasn't much; couldn't have been more than ten meters long, and it looked like it would be pretty cramped. But Shingo had promised that it would be fast, which was what Ukyou had asked for. Say what you would about the guy's habits when it came to girls, he was trustworthy in a pinch.

And on the deck of the boat was Ukyou. She was deliberately not looking in his direction. Her eyes were instead scanning the western horizon. Or maybe she was looking beyond it, towards the city on the other side of the ocean. Or to the child left there.

"You know we can't do that," Ranma said, sighing. "This is... I mean, Ukyou's kid..." He swallowed. "That's heavy. I can't imagine what it must be like, imagining our kid stuck in a hell like that, with Bison..." He shuddered.

Minako went completely still. Then she looked up at him. "What did you just say, Ranma?"

"Huh?" Ranma frowned and tapped the side of his head with the hand she wasn't holding. "I dunno... I was just kinda babbling," Ranma informed her with a grin.

"Oh no you don't," Minako hissed, squeezing his hand until it hurt. "You said 'our kid', didn't you?"

"I did?" Ranma blinked. "I... yeah, sure. I mean, I guess if I was going to have a kid it would be with you. I mean, who else?" He laughed. Her expression was unreadable, so he continued on nervously. He hated it when Minako looked like that. It either promised extreme pain or extreme pleasure, and he could never tell which before it happened. "Not that I've given it much thought," he said. Her eyebrow twitched and he verbally backpedaled. "Because it doesn't require any thought at all! It's like... instinctive! I just don't think of anybody else as the mother of my kids but you!" Ranma grimaced and flinched away.

Minako leaned forward, her warm lips touching his cheek. They burned through his brain, sinking down into his gut and settling there like a gentle candle. Ranma's flush deepened. Minako was smiling now.

"I want to come with you," she said and drew him into an embrace. Her head rested on his chest. He leaned his head forward, breathing in the fragrance of her hair. She never used special shampoo, but somehow her hair always smelled like a summer meadow.

"I wish you could too," he said. "But that bullet nearly killed you. I still don't know how you..." He shuddered. "When I saw it, the hole was... it looked so big..." He pulled her tighter. "For a moment there, I thought I lost you. I... I couldn't..." Something glistened in her hair. Tears? Nah. Must be dew or sea spray or something. "I lost my head, let that vampire goad me..."

"I know," Minako murmured. "But I'm okay."

"You promise me you'll be safe here?" Ranma asked. "You stay in bed and heal up right. No running off on some quest to save the world while I'm not around to handle it for ya, okay?"

Minako chuckled. "You know I can't promise that," she said. "But I'm certain Artemis will give me a stern talking-to if I consider it."

"Who?"

"Our pet, Ranma," Minako said, sighing.

"Minako, we don't have a pet. You have an imaginary friend who talks to you..." This time her laughter made her whole body shake. He was forced to loosen his grip... but not much.

"You promise me you won't do anything foolish, like try to take on Bison alone," Minako said, and her voice was much more serious than his had been. Ranma hemmed and hawed. "Ranma, he's not like any other opponent. You can't fight him."

"Hey, nobody beats Ranma Saotome twice!" Ranma insisted. He pushed her out to arm's length and looked into her sky-blue eyes. "This has been waiting seven years. Because of him, I wasn't there to help Ucchan or... or Hotaru..." He trailed off.

"Ranma..."

He smirked, pushing the past behind him. "Don't worry, Minako. I'm Ranma Saotome. I'm the best there is."

"So I've heard," Minako said with a smile. She looked over his shoulder. "You should go, looks like they're about ready to cast off."

"Right..." Ranma let her go. They stood there for another long moment. No words passed between them and they didn't so much as move. There were no more kisses or hugs. There was something deeper than just words and gestures between them. Ranma wasn't certain what it was. He turned around after a moment and made his way over to the boat.

"Ready?" Ukyou said. She still wasn't looking at him.

"Yeah..."

"Wait!"

Everyone turned. For a moment, Ranma thought Minako would be running over. Then he saw it was that other girl... Angel. She was sprinting across the pier, pumping her arms wildly. Akira brightened a bit on seeing her. Nabiki frowned and crossed her arms. She was wearing a bizarre outfit, some sort of swimsuit with sections cut out of it that were only covered by gauzy see-through fabric. It hugged her impressive curves and was cut to show off her elaborate elemental tattoos. She also wore hip-length leggings, a giant floppy belt and a black midriff-baring jacket. Of course, her sword was belted onto her thigh. She landed in the middle of the boat, taking deep breaths.

"Glad you could join us," Nabiki said in a tone that suggested the opposite.

"Back off, Nabiki," Akira said. She walked over and placed a hand on Angel's shoulder. "I'm happy you're here." Angel looked up at her and smiled, but it was a strained smile. She looked away quickly, stepping away from Akira.

"I'm curious," Rose said. "How did you learn about this mission?"

"I..." Angel looked around and saw the people on the dock that had gathered to see them off. Doc Tofu was there, as was Ranma's mom and pop. Shingo was there, still covered with bruises from the irate women that had learned about his association with the super-perv Happousai. "Shingo told me," she said swiftly.

"I see," Rose murmured, and turned her attention back to the ocean.

"Welcome aboard," Ukyou called over her shoulder. Angel glanced at her and nodded, her expression somewhat humble. "Let's not waste any more time. Cast off, would you?" Ukyou asked the S.T.A.R.S. cadet that had been given the job of piloting them across the ocean.

The cadet barked an affirmative and the engine roared. A moment later their boat jerked and then steadily accelerated, moving away from the dock. Ranma walked to the end of the boat, resting his arms across the stern guardrail. He glanced down the length of the pier to the people cheering and waving them off. Minako had joined the others.

He flashed her the patented Ranma Saotome grin. He didn't wave goodbye, because it wasn't like he wasn't going to see her again.

01010

The street was deserted as Cracker Jack walked leisurely down it. The streetlights created islands of light in the darkness, occasionally merging together when lightning flashed overhead. He walked alone, his baseball bat propped over one shoulder. His eyes were on the road.

"Gotta admit, they are fast," he said, shielding his eyes and looking off in the distance towards the giant statue which housed Bison's palace. "Too bad they ran, though. I was kinda looking forward to a good fight."

There was a clatter in front of him and he looked down to see someone had dropped something at his feet. He looked up, not so much as starting when a figure plummeted from the shadows overhead to land in a crouch in front of him. Ranma grinned and rose leisurely to his feet.

"Not all of them ran," Ranma informed him, stretching.

"Heh. You got guts, kid," Jack informed him.

Ranma frowned. He hated being referred to as a kid. He was twenty-three years old. He had fought the greatest warriors of the world. He had saved thousands, probably millions of lives in his time. He was a legend in every underground tournament from Southtown to Tokyo. He was considered one of the most powerful human beings in the world by every force in it.

He knew, he'd checked.

"Ya see, that's why I stayed behind," Ranma said, turning his frown into a smirk. "Because you don't know how to respect the up and comers of this world. Or ain't you ever gotten a whiff of my reputation?"

"Kid, when you get to be my age, rep don't mean much." Jack began to limber up. "You just want a nice smoke, a cool beer and a warm woman."

"Easy for you to say," Ranma flowed into an offensive stance. "You aren't even a has-been, you're a never-was."

Cracker Jack frowned. "Okay, just for that, I'm gonna take you out personally."

A long moment passed. Then they flashed forward, the air behind them exploding with clouds of dust. Jack came in first, leading with his bat. He swung it with one hand, bringing it around in a tight loop. Ranma leapfrogged over the blow, landing behind the man.

Jack caught himself, reversing his momentum in mid-swing. He twisted his entire body like a screw. His bat whistled backwards, aimed at Ranma's head. Ranma leaned back, catching the ground with his hand. His dodge turned into a cartwheel bringing him behind the man again. Jack's missed shot smashed into a street lamp.

The lamp was torn from its foundation with a shriek of protest. It spun, hurling through the air until it smashed into a wall with enough force that the entire side of the building disintegrated outward in a cloud of dust and glass. The light around them vanished.

Ranma struck.

His palm caught Cracker Jack in the ribs. The blow had been meant to send him flying down the street. Ranma had even picked out a sturdy-looking truck to send him smashing into. Instead the man grunted and staggered back a single step. Ranma hissed and slipped backward, shaking his wrist.

"Geez, what are you made out of?"

"Heh." Jack smiled and turned to face Ranma, switching to a two-handed grip on his bat. But he was favouring his side. "I'll admit kid, that's pretty impressive. You got me beat in speed and style. And from the fact I felt that, I'm guessing given time you'll wear me down. But there is one difference between me and you that'll make certain I come out ahead."

"Oh, what's that?" Ranma said, circling him slowly.

"I cheat."

Ranma nearly missed it. He moved more on instinct than anything else, tilting his entire body to the side. Even so a red line of pain traced across his midsection. He hissed and turned his unconscious dodge into a sideways roll. He came up in a crouch, clutching his side. He could feel blood there, and his shirt was torn.

There was a spear buried in the pavement where he had been standing. Cracker Jack was grinning as he watched a lithe young woman drop from overhead to grab the spear. She was about as tall as Ranma's girl-side. Her skin was dark, richly black, but her features were Asian. She had short black hair that puffed out of her head like she had stuck her fingers in an electric socket.

"Just a Doll?" Ranma sighed.

"Hey, kid, don't mock the Dolls." Cracker Jack said, approaching her. "This here is Santum. She's one of Bison's experiments. She has a particular grasp of psychopower that none of the other Dolls have."

"Oh, can she shoot fireballs?" Ranma asked.

"Uh... no."

"Teleport?"

"No."

"Read thoughts? Levitate things with her mind? Phase through matter?"

"...no."

Ranma crossed his arms. "Well what can she do?"

"Santum, show him."

The lithe black-skinned Doll nodded, then held out her free arm to her side and whistled. A shape scampered out of the darkness and crawled up her body, perching on her arm. It was the size of a large cat, with yellow fur and a long tail that swung behind it. It was wearing a little backpack and a fez.

"A monkey?" Ranma gaped. "She has a monkey. That's her special power?"

Cracker Jack frowned. "Yes."

"Oh man. A monkey? A cute little monkey with a fez? What the hell is that thing supposed to do?"

"Kill," the girl said to the monkey.

There was a loud screech and the golden furred thing leapt across the distance between them. It moved so fast that Ranma was caught totally off-guard. It clamped its tail around his neck and then began to beat and scratch at him with its legs and arms, screeching to wake the dead the whole time. Ranma stood there stunned.

For about a half second.

"AHH! AHH! She's attacking me with her monkey!" he screamed, running around in circles. He tried to pry the thing off his face, but it wasn't exactly letting go without a fight. Then Ranma heard the swish of incoming weapons. He leapt as the Doll's spear swept through where his legs used to be. Then he bent backward, turning his jump into a backflip as Cracker Jack's bat swept through the air where his head would have been. Ranma spared one hand from monkey- wrestling to handstand back and push away from them. "Do you mind! I have a monkey on my face!"

"That's kinda the idea," Jack said, rushing in with his Doll a step behind.

"Damnit, why do I always end up fighting like this? Stupid monkey girl!"

01010

The sun was just reaching its zenith behind the boat, now. Angel leaned against the rail, letting it hold her up as much as her legs. She wasn't really in any danger of throwing up, not really. The breeze helped a lot, and she channelled some Water Chakra whenever she got really nauseous. But sea travel was still not Angel's favourite thing in the world at the best of times, and after five days, it was definitely not the best of times.

At least they'd be reaching Hawaii this afternoon. Angel was very much looking forward to having solid land under her again, even if Ukyou was insisting they ought to leave as soon as possible. Angel could understand that, and she wasn't going to argue with Ukyou anyway, but she still tacitly agreed with the others that staying overnight in their last safe port of call before Thailand was a good idea. Though Chronos had declined to officially take over most of the Pacific islands due to the strategic difficulty of holding them if Queen Tethys decided to press a claim, everybody knew they had infiltrators and roving aquatic teams practically everywhere. Not to mention representatives of the Dark Kingdom were pretty common sights, and if rumour was correct, even Tethys herself had shown up on occasion. And as they got closer to Asia, the possibility of Shadowloo spies loomed larger too.

After Hawaii, there'd be no more time to relax.

Angel sighed, staring out at the Pacific. She'd grown up by the Atlantic ocean, which was also the one she'd criss-crossed most often since. The Pacific was a far different beast, though. Not just because it was much bigger and deeper in reality. It was Deeper. It was its own unique shade of blue, darker and colder. The Atlantic ocean was like... an opponent that could be battled, but the Pacific just didn't give a damn about humans. It could swallow you and continue going on forever, uncaring.

'The Pacific has no memory'.

Angel almost wished, for a moment, that she could just jump in and float there forever in the cool, uncaring dark, and not ever think again about the world, or gods, or the future. Then she grinned a little. That sort of thought wasn't much like her at all. Damn ocean travel.

She looked up. Ukyou was standing at the bow of the ship, arms crossed. The black trenchcoat she'd picked up before they left California billowed out behind her in the wind. Angel's grin spread a little wider despite herself. There was one way she was like Chris. It appeared all the gods enjoyed themselves a nice unselfconscious dramatic pose.

Nabiki and Akira were sitting on benches on opposite sides of the deck, glaring at each other. They did that rather a lot, actually. Angel wondered sometimes why the hell they didn't just stay away from one another if they disliked each other so much. Must've been one of those odd opposites attract situations.

Ranma still hadn't emerged from his cabin. Angel was amazed the guy wasn't getting fat, given how lazy he was. He'd been getting up later and later the longer they'd been at sea. They just put aside leftovers for him at lunch now.

Rose and Pluto were... somewhere. The aether, for all Angel knew. Or just sitting below in the women's cabin sipping tea. Either, as far as she could tell, were equally likely.

There was a loud clack as Akira slammed her hand into the rail of the yacht and stood up sharply, causing everyone to look over. Her face was taut with anger. "I'm sick of hearing this, Nabiki. She's right here! If you're going to accuse her of something, have the courage to do it to her face!" She jabbed a finger at Angel.

Angel took a step back. Hoo boy. Well, if this all went badly, at least it wasn't THAT long a swim to Hawaii.

Nabiki also jumped to her feet. "Fine, you want it that way? We'll do it your way, then. I think she's a danger to us and this mission and should have been left behind!"

"Exactly how many times do I have to tell you that's not going to happen before it gets through your thick skull?" Akira snapped. "You're supposed to be the telepath: read THIS."

"There's no need to be crude about it," Nabiki replied coolly. "And I'm not going to shut up about it because I'm RIGHT. Just because you and Ukyou are too stupid or complacent to see what's right in front of your noses doesn't mean I'm going to walk into the minefield with you!"

"We could always leave you in Hawaii," Akira replied.

"Spare me. Bison will tear you apart without me to protect you. Not to mention what he'll do to Ranma."

"Children, there's people trying to sleep," Ukyou said in a chiding tone.

Nabiki whirled on her in a fury. "Don't you 'children' me! I'm sick and tired of your patronising attitude, Ukyou! Treating us like we're too young to make any decisions. In case you haven't noticed, I'm seven years older than you, so unless you have something intelligent to add to this discussion, shut your mouth and let the adults talk."

Ukyou had initially been smiling, but that had steadily deteriorated throughout the rant, and she finally sighed. "I was joking. You know, humour, in an attempt to defuse tension."

"Well, maybe it's about damn time we stopped joking about this and started treating it seriously," Nabiki hissed. "As much as I'd enjoy being able to say 'I told you so', I might be one of ones lying dead because the two of you were so damn trusting that you'd let any total unknown stranger join us without even the most cursory of precautions."

Angel didn't quite flinch, since she was quite well-trained. Akira stepped in front of Nabiki, grabbing her attention again. "Angel isn't 'some stranger'," she said. "Frankly, if she wanted me, or Ukyou, or you dead, she's had plenty of opportunity. Instead, she's saved all our lives!"

"You're a simpleton, Akira. Just because someone helps you, their motives have to be pure? She's not trusted any one of us, including you, with any of her secrets, so why should we be trusting her?"

"Oh?" Ukyou said, deceptively mildly. "We shouldn't trust people who keep secrets, hmm? So I suppose you're finally ready to tell us the real reason you went through all the trouble to free me from Bison's control?"

Nabiki did flinch, but almost immediately covered it up with an expression of cold fury. She gave Angel a single menacing look. "Fine. These two fools might just decide to wait until you reveal what you're really after, but don't think I'll let you get away with anything."

Before anyone else could respond, she turned on her heel and stalked below the deck. The unfortunate S.T.A.R.S. agent piloting the boat remained rigidly staring at his controls throughout the entire confrontation.

Akira took a few moments to relax, then shot a grateful look at Ukyou, who just shrugged and went back to posing at the bow. Akira looked a little unhappy at that, but then resumed her usual stoic expression.

Angel stepped up beside Akira. "Hey, I'm sorry about that. Really, I can't blame her. I haven't really told you anything-"

Akira cut her off. "We ALL have secrets we don't tell people about," she said seriously. "I figured that whenever you were comfortable enough to tell me whatever it is you're holding back, you will."

Angel studied the deck seriously, not really wanting to meet the older woman's gaze. "Maybe. Sometime."

"C'mon, Angel, cheer up." Akira said, ducking down into Angel's field of view. "You've been moping since we left Southtown."

Angel straightened. She knew she had, and she knew it wasn't great for her cover, but found it hard to care. She knew the reason. Angel, above all, had always tried to be honest with herself. She'd had fun travelling with Akira... and Ukyou, and even Shingo and Ranma and the others. But it was going to end soon.

When they reached Bisonopolis, someone was going to have to die to ensure the perfect possible future. It wasn't going to just be Bison, either. And Angel was the one who was going to have to do it.

She'd enjoyed travelling with these people. She liked Akira, too, more than she'd thought she would when she'd met her, more than she'd really wanted to. But when they reached Bisonopolis, the ride was over. If she ever met these people again, it'd probably be as enemies.

She looked at Akira, her friend, and wondered if she would have to kill her, knowing that she would if she had to. Because that was the first thing she'd been sure she would do for Chris. "Yeah. But, y'know, maybe she's right. You can't just trust anybody that comes along and helps you."

Akira smiled, her typical melancholy little smile. "I know that. Nabiki does have a point. But she has it for the wrong reasons. You and her might say you can't trust somebody just because they helped you. But what I say is that you can't distrust somebody until they've proven you should." Akira sat down again, still next to Angel. "If you spend your entire life thinking about who might be out to get you, then you'll end up like Nabiki - sad and alone. And I don't want to end up that way. Do you?"

Angel turned and looked out, again, into the fathomless blue of the Pacific. "I don't know."

01010

Angel raced over the city, never walking, not quite flying. One foot kissed the ledge of a building, adding to her leap. Two fingers reached out and tapped the sill of a window, changing her momentum ever so slightly. The other shot up, clamping onto a fold of 'fabric' on one of those endless golden statues of Bison that were around everywhere here. She flipped upwards and landed in a tight crouch on one of the bulging biceps.

Movement had always been the part of the Art that had come easily to her. Maybe because her first serious training was with a winged woman who had never slowed down or modified her methods for a student that couldn't fly. If she couldn't reach the hovering Kiima, she would get beaten down mercilessly until she found a way to try to attack... then get beaten down some more, but at least there was a sense of satisfaction.

So she had learned. Angel wasn't much for spiritual senses: she couldn't read the chi of a martial artist, relying on reflexes and gut intuition to predict and counter her opponent's moves. But the inanimate was always her ally. She could read a battlefield in an instant, noting every anomaly, every dent in a wall, every crack in the floor. Every protruding structure was both cover and weapon, an opportunity for a sudden change in momentum, a way to attack at an angle a less aware opponent couldn't expect. She could run across a jagged mountaintop like crossing a street, and hop down a cliff face like stepping off a curb. A city skyline was something like her ideal battlefield.

She glanced behind her, smirking slightly. She'd left the soldiers pursuing her behind long ago, travelling in circles. The troops, which she guessed were reserves Ukyou hadn't scared off, had tried to jump her shortly after she left the party. It was a little insulting that none of the big goons had been chasing her, but that was the price of non-fame. Just as well. She didn't know when Chris would want her to carry out her mission. As the thought crossed her mind, she felt her smile vanish.

She'd studied them all, on the way to Shadowloo. Sparred with most of the martial artists, been informed by Link during private moments as to the capabilities of the rest. There was no one here she didn't feel she could kill. Most would require the advantage of surprise, but that would be possible for nearly any of them but Nabiki or Ukyou.

She still hoped she wouldn't have to kill any of them, but didn't hold out much hope. This was a dangerous group of people, to be sure. Powerful, but not just that. They had connections to Tethys and Bison and who knew what else. Plus there was Ukyou, and that strange power she was supposed to have, the power that made her like Chris, even if she was nothing at all like Chris.

The question was, which one was dangerous to the perfect possible future?

A movement caught her attention. She glanced down. It was the huge black guy, the boxer. Balrog, right. He was running below her, accompanied by a half dozen Shadowloo stormtroopers. Angel looked up again, following the path he was taking. Not quite three blocks away, a battle was raging. Three of the Dolls were attacking two other women. Sailor Pluto and Rose.

Sailor Pluto was being engaged by the first, a dark-haired girl with auburn skin that Angel figured must have been native Central American. The Doll carried twin tomahawks and was attempting to close in to split the Sailor Senshi's skull. Pluto was successfully evading her so far, but was unable to bring her own magic blasts to bear, as every time she got some distance the Doll kept her off-balance by slashing out with the tomahawks on the end of cords tied around her wrists. Pretty clever, Angel had to admit.

Rose was the more powerful combatant of the two, and the other two Dolls were attacking her. One was an orange-haired girl with a sort of incongruous Red Cross symbol on her arm where the Shadowloo lightning bolt usually was. She wasn't too much of a threat to Rose, but she obviously wasn't meant to be. Her real purpose was distraction. Every time Rose countered one of her attacks, the other Doll attacked. This one was a real threat, a lithe blonde girl with claws on each arm, whose face was hidden behind a featureless iron mask. Rose already bore a souvenir from her, a set of three bleeding cuts on one arm. But her expression was as impassive as ever, as far as Angel could see from so far away. She knocked the dark Doll away with a sudden counterattack, but before she could help her partner, both Dolls were back and attacking her again, seemingly unharmed.

Angel looked down at Balrog again. She didn't think much of the Doll's chances in the long term. Rose and Pluto were too crafty and too used to working together to be kept off-balance for long. But if the big boxer and his troops arrived, that would change the equation considerably. Which was probably the plan.

Angel straightened and stretched as Bison's lieutenant and his cadre of soldiers passed directly underneath the golden arm she was perched on. Time to save the day again.

The Shadowloo goons never knew what hit them. Angel simply dropped into the middle of their formation. On her way down, she had kicked one in the head and smashed her elbow into another, sending him flying into a third. The fourth's knee snapped with a sharp pop as Angel's foot swept into the side of it, and her sword thrust in and out of the side of the fifth so fast no blood stained the brilliant silver blade. Angel finished rising to her feet just as the sixth had enough time to stumble to a halt and begin raising his gun. She opted for simplicity and simply popped him in the face. His featureless visor shattered at the impact of her fist, and he went tumbling back across the square, finally stopped by a nearby building.

Balrog had turned around, and he began to grin, which only got wider as Angel prudently stomped on the solar plexus of the soldier who'd only been knocked down. "Well well, what we got here?" he drawled, the gaps in his teeth showing with his leering smile.

"Felt sorry for you," Angel grinned back. "You didn't have a dance partner yet."

"You wanna dance with me, babe?" He barked a laugh. "I'm cool with that."

"Sure. You lead."

"Heh heh..." The boxer stepped forward, fists sliding up in a long- practiced motion. "Don't expect me to go easy on you, chickie. They can always put your face back together again!"

Angel opened her mouth to reply, but then Balrog was in motion. His slow, careful, slightly shaky movements suddenly became lightning-swift and sure as he shot forward. Angel figured she probably would have had trouble dodging, if she'd actually been trying.

"H...huh?"

Angel grinned, then regretted it a little. Her jaw actually ached from taking that shot. Well, a bit. She swatted the boxing glove away from her face. Balrog took a step back, too stunned to respond. "Nice shot, stud."

"You took my punch. NOBODY takes my punch! W-what the hell... wait, what the fuck's with your stomach?"

"Trade secret, sweetie. But hey, watch this!" Angel grinned, funnelling the chi away from the earth chakra tattoo on her stomach that had made her near- invulnerable. "Now, see, I'm hot stuff!"

Balrog might have agreed. Or he might have taken another swing at her. Or he might even have run away. But Angel figured she'd have to live with never getting to know. Her foot slashed up in a thrust kick. One hand, the one she hadn't swatted away, moved reflexively to block her kick. It snapped like a twig from the slightest brush of her foot, falling uselessly out of the way as the arc of her attack continued, snapping into Balrog's massive, protruding jaw.

Then he vanished. Angel grinned. That wasn't unusual. When she hit someone with everything she had from her fire chakra, she wasn't always fast enough to follow the arc of their bodies. She looked up... ah, there he was. She had just enough time to see the body of her opponent arcing downward, flipping lazily end over end in the air, before it passed behind the giant wall that surrounded Bisonopolis and out of sight. He probably wasn't dead. But he probably wasn't a factor in this fight anymore, either.

Angel turned, cycling her chi back up to the air chakra. She tossed off an ironic salute to Rose and Pluto, still obliviously fighting their battle on the rooftop. "You can owe me one," she chuckled. Then she turned and-

"Angel."

Angel stopped as the voice, more familiar to her than any other in the world, spoke softly into her ear. "Chris?"

"Of course. I told you I'd be in touch once you reached Bisonopolis. Are you currently alone?"

Angel nodded, walking around the leg of the statue just in case Pluto, Rose or the Dolls happened to look over this way. "Yeah."

"Good. I want you to come meet me."

Angel blinked. "You're here?"

"Of course. I wouldn't allow the risk that Bison might once again have Ukyou under his control. As well, there are other considerations here." He paused, then spoke again with dry humour. "Besides, you've been gone awhile. It's boring without your company."

Angel laughed, a little nervously. "Where should I meet you?"

"Just follow my directions."

01010

Trust Ranma to find the single most stereotypical, tourist trap, campy bar in all of Honolulu. There were tiki masks on the walls, palm fronds hanging over the tables and girls in grass skirts serving the drinks. Ranma was slouched over the bar, absently stirring a straw through some sort of purple and red concoction.

"Not exactly the kind of drink I'd picture you getting," Nabiki said as she sat down next to him, tucking her feet up on the rung of the stool.

"Huh?" Ranma looked at her, blinking a few times. "Oh hey, Nabiki. We leaving yet?"

"In the morning," Nabiki answered. She caught the bartender's attention and ordered a martini. "So what is with the drink, anyway?"

Ranma looked down at it. "Ah. I wanted to get a beer, but..." He frowned. "This is the kind of thing Minako would have ordered. She always wanted me to take her to Hawaii. The one time we tried to come here we sorta got involved with this band of pirates and this teenage runaway slaver ring..."

"Teenage runaway slavers?" Nabiki frowned.

"Yeah. You'd think teenage runaways would have something better to do with their time. But there they were, trying to enslave the whole world..." He frowned and stirred his drink again. Nabiki blinked. There was probably a good story there, but she decided to let it pass. He sighed. "Man, I miss her."

"Minako?" Nabiki asked.

"Yeah," Ranma frowned. "I guess I never realised it..." He shrugged. "It's like you get used to something being there until you don't even notice it until it's gone..."

"Oh please, Ranma," Nabiki quipped, taking a sip of her martini. "You were with her, what... twelve hours ago?" Ranma raised an eyebrow. "The others may not notice you sneaking out in the middle of the night for a swim, but I certainly do." Nabiki chuckled. "Though I have to admit, you are one very dedicated man. Few people I can think of would swim all the way back to Southtown every night to spend the evening sleeping with their girlfriend."

Ranma chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. When he did that, he looked just like... Nabiki grimaced and pushed that thought aside. "Heh. Well... you know, I swim faster than the boat travels so I just figured..."

"Your secret is safe with me," Nabiki mock-swore, putting her hand over her heart and everything. "Though personally, Ranma, I feel slighted."

"Huh?"

"Throwing over your fiancee for some blonde girl three years younger then me, it's practically cliche."

Ranma blinked a few times. Then blinked some more. "Oh!" he said, snapping his fingers. "That mess. Damn, I'd completely forgotten about that."

"I guess there are some things in this world more important than teenage love," Nabiki said. She tried to turn it into a quip, but ended up sounding more... eager than she'd meant. She downed the rest of her martini and signalled for another. Then she rethought it and adjusted the bartender's memory so he'd bring her a straight vodka.

"Yeah, I guess..." Ranma was looking at her with a puzzled expression. Probably asking himself why she was here.

"It must be nice having someone to love, however," Nabiki said, downing her vodka. She tapped the bar and got the barman to leave the bottle this time.

"Uh, Nabiki, I think you should go easy on that stuff..."

"Oh shut up," Nabiki said calmly. She downed another shot and tapped the bar a few times. But damn, that stuff burned! She felt the liquor hit her like a boxing glove. "I plan on getting good and famously drunk, thank you very much."

"Uh... so what's the occasion?" Ranma asked.

"Aside from us walking into one of the most dangerous places in the world with a potential traitor or three and almost certainly going to die?" Nabiki hissed. Ranma frowned at her. Nabiki briefly considered the shot glass, then decided that wasn't getting her drunk nearly fast enough. Not if she had to put up with Ranma. But who else was she going to get drunk with? Pluto? Rose? Akira? Ukyou! (Did Ukyou even drink...?) And she'd be damned if she was going to get drunk alone. So she tipped the bottle into her mouth and took a good long swallow. It didn't hurt as much this time, and the warm pleasant feeling came faster.

"Nabiki-"

"It's all her fucking fault, you know," Nabiki said, cutting him off. "Fucking bitch. Ever since..."

"If this is about Angel again-"

"Angel? HAH!" Nabiki took another swallow. She looked around. You know, she was starting to see the appeal of this place. Kinda... what was that word that meant 'cute' but 'old'? "I mean Ukyou." Nabiki slammed the bottle against the bar, creating a pleasing bang sound. "Fuck her! She mentions it once, and now I can't get it out of my head." Nabiki took another swallow and gave a long sigh, slumping forward. That was more comfortable. It had nothing to do with the fact that her stool was swaying backward. "She didn't even know what she was talking about. Now... now I can't get him out of my mind."

"Him?" Ranma said cautiously.

"I can feel him, you know." Nabiki mused, sloshing the bottle in her hand. It was half empty now. Or half full. It was at the exact halfway point. Which only made it appropriate she was drinking it with a half-and-half guy. Nabiki snorted and laughed. Ranma was looking at her warily now. She tried to smile at him, but at some point it turned into a sob. "Everywhere he goes, there he is. All across the world. Not lost anymore. Always finds his way." She sniffed and took another swig. "Never even thinks about it. Never even thinks about ME." Her hand tightened around the neck of the bottle. "I'm in the past. Forgotten. Better left buried. Just another clusterfuck in the story that is his life."

"Aw man, this ain't right..." Ranma groaned. "You're not supposed to be crying!"

"And why NOT?" Nabiki snapped indignantly. "Besides, I'm not crying."

"Yes you are," Ranma grumbled. "But you're Nabiki! Queen of the criminal underworld! You ain't supposed to be all mushy."

Nabiki tried to jab him with her finger but he dodged it by swaying the entire bar sideways. She gave up and took a drink instead. That felt better. "So I'm not supposed to have feelings... is that it?" Nabiki looked down at the glossy finished bar. "That's what it takes to win the game. Never have anything invested personally. Always be willing to cut your losses. Take the small defeats without a word, without a care, because you are focusing on the big victories...

"But some losses are too big."

"Nabiki..."

"Ranma, what do you think of Hotaru?"

Ranma stiffened, then looked away. "You're drunk, Nabiki. We shouldn't talk about this now."

"She has to die, doesn't she?" Nabiki said slowly. Ranma didn't answer; he was looking anywhere but at her. For some reason Nabiki felt exceptionally clear-headed. She could feel him. He was with her, and they were heading north. Except, he wasn't leading anymore. She was. And he was afraid.

"I... don't know, Nabiki," Ranma said finally.

"Did you love her?" Nabiki asked him bluntly.

"Huh? No... I mean... she was a cute kid and all but..." Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "I guess she was all right and..." He sighed and his voice grew somber. "I liked her. A lot. I... when I think of what happened to her..." Nabiki stared up at him. Was the great and unflappable Ranma Saotome actually getting teary-eyed? She could swear she saw tears there, floating at the bottom of his eyes... but that could have just been the booze. "I failed her," he said finally. "I should have..."

"Fuck that," Nabiki grunted, taking a long swig. "You didn't fail her. You couldn't have done a thing. She was... taken while you were fighting Bison, right?"

"Yeah," Ranma said darkly. "Another thing I owe him for."

"But she has to be stopped."

"Nabiki..."

"Do you think... do you think Ukyou can do it?" Ranma stared at her. "Nobody else can. They tried." Nabiki chuckled. "I even wondered if Link was going to..." She shook her head. "Nothing can stop her. I KNOW it."

"Nabiki, you should give me the bottle. You're not really making sense."

"She's using him," Nabiki continued, ignoring him. "I can feel it. She needs him for something. But what?" Nabiki took another swig. "It won't be good. I know it. It'll kill him. He knows it. But what else is he going to do? Leave her? Of course not... he's RYOUGA HIBIKI... he doesn't abandon people. He'll fight her, if it comes to that... but he'll lose. He'll die." Now Nabiki knew she was crying, but she couldn't help it.

"Damn it, I'm twenty-four... I'm supposed to have outgrown this shit," Nabiki groused, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Here I am, whining into a bottle of alcohol with Ranma Saotome of all people..." She looked at him. "No offence."

"Uh... none taken..."

"I don't think she can do it," Nabiki picked up an earlier thought at random. "All that trouble. Seven years of planning. Playing everyone against the middle. Opposing Bison. Dealing with scum like Krieg and Zoicite... putting myself on Chris' hitlist..." Nabiki sobbed. "I don't think she will do it. I know she can... she has to... but I don't think she can."

"Can what?" Ranma asked.

"Kill her." Nabiki looked at him, her eyes widening. "She has to kill Hotaru, Ranma. It's the only way to stop her, to save..." She looked down. "She has to kill her, and I don't think she..." At some point, Nabiki must have passed out because she didn't remember anything after that.

01010

The sky overhead finally opened up. The rain came down in sheets, a literal torrent that soaked through clothing virtually instantly. The sound of the rain turned the city into a musical. It pinged off the glass and plunked into concrete. It clattered down onto car roofs and babbled through a million drains and gutters. The sky flashed white and a second later the thunderclap shot through the sky.

Nabiki stood in the rain, staring up at the palace. It was directly down the street. A huge statue of a man, sitting Buddha-style. Bison certainly liked to see his own face.

What was she even doing here? She had no reason to fight Bison. She wasn't a martial artist. Certainly her powers made her formidable, but Bison was... he was to her what Ranma was to a vampire. Certainly they had more raw power, but Ranma had talent and skill and a winning edge. By all rights she should turn around and go home.

Except she couldn't. Because Ukyou needed her. Nabiki's hand clenched the wishing sword tighter. It all came back to her, didn't it? Nabiki was sorely tempted to wish she had never met Ukyou, right there. Then maybe she could go back to the way she was. Back when the only person she really cared about was herself. Back when she didn't believe in a destiny you didn't write for yourself.

But she couldn't take back the past. Where Ukyou and Chris were concerned, trivial things like an omnipotent wishing sword held little sway. There was no guarantee she would succeed if she made that wish. Besides, if she did that she might never have met... Ryouga.

She concentrated a moment. There he was, still moving north. Hotaru was still leading. They were entering the tundra now. What could they be heading towards up there? There was nothing...

Except Tethys. Nabiki grimaced. Another of Ukyou's enemies. How convenient. So... was that where it would happen? An endless empty field? That described the arctic plains nicely. One more step to Ukyou's prophecy then.

Nabiki wondered if Ukyou knew. If she knew about what Hotaru had become. Nobody had told her... How would she react?

Nabiki flicked her eyes to the side. It appeared she had no more time for thinking about the future.

The three Dolls emerged from the shadows surrounding her on all sides. Two of them looked like twins. They were Chinese beauties, one wielding a staff and the other a pair of nunchaku. They looked like they knew how to use them. The third was the pink-haired singer from before.

"You should have tried a surprise attack," Nabiki suggested.

"You sensed us several blocks away," the pinkette (Enero?) replied. "Attacking from stealth would have been folly."

"You're right. But attacking me at all was stupid, so why not go the extra step anyway?" Nabiki said, smirking. She crossed her arms.

"Because I have psychic powers as well," Enero told her. "Bison has infused us with the Psychopower! Together we are one. It makes us resistant to your mind control. But there is no way for me to disguise my defences."

"Uh-huh." Nabiki yawned. "Here, little Doll, is where I give you a language lesson. 'Resistant' is not the same word as 'immune'." Nabiki snapped her fingers and the three Dolls jerked, their eyes rolling back into their head and then their bodies slumping to the ground.

"Enjoy your nap, girls," Nabiki called as she started towards the palace.

01010

The boat bobbed in the water, the soft moonlight coming down from overhead. There was no wind. The water was perfectly still. Ancient sailors used to call this a dead calm, Ukyou thought. She could see why. The ocean was a pane of black glass, stretching in all directions. The stars were reflected in its perfectly smooth surface. Ukyou looked west, but could not tell where the sea ended and the sky began.

She felt Rose approach before she heard her. She didn't even have to focus to determine who it was. Rose's aura was unlike anyone else's. It was clear, like a perfect crystal. It was cold, like an arctic wind. There was no spark there. No fire like she could feel burning in the auras of all her companions.

Rose was only half a person.

"It is a beautiful night," Rose said, sitting down on the railing, dangling her legs out over the water. Ukyou was standing at the bow, but she looked down at the purple-haired woman. Rose's voice was low so as not to wake up the others but it carried clearly in the utter silence. "Forgive my intrusion. If you wish privacy, I will leave."

"No, it's okay." Ukyou turned her face away again. Rose obviously had something to say, so it was best they let her get it off her chest. "I just... can't sleep."

"Bad dreams?"

Ukyou grimaced. "No. Not bad dreams." She looked down. "Something worse."

"Oh?"

"Bad thoughts," Ukyou admitted. "I can feel them, squirming around inside me like maggots. They drain my will, undermine my conviction..."

"Thoughts of...?" Rose prodded her again.

"Failure," Aaron admitted. "It's been... my constant companion." He stretched out his hand, splaying his fingers out across the invisible horizon. "All this potential. All the talent. They always told me I would go far. That I could do anything. But I never went far. I was never willing to commit. Because of failure." Ukyou lowered her hand. "I've always lived in the shadow of people greater than myself. Ranma... he was always so much better than me. Then he abandoned me, left me behind. I was convinced it was because I was a failure. That I hadn't lived up to him. So I tried so hard, always fighting on because I never wanted to fail again."

"You can hardly say you live in his shadow, Ukyou," Rose pointed out. "I've studied you ever since I woke up one day, sweating and afraid because of the future I saw. You aren't... you really do have a talent inside you that far surpasses anything Ranma could ever hope to achieve."

"'Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure,'" Ukyou quoted softly. "Being bigger than the other guy just means you have further to fall."

"In a sense, yes." Rose pulled out a deck of tarot cards. "Do you mind?"

Ukyou shrugged. What did it matter? Rose pulled a card from the deck, levitating it with a simple trick of chi above her finger. "This card is your past. Death. Reversed. An ending, but also a fresh beginning." She drew another card, the Death spinning lazily around her body in slow circles. "This is your present. The Wheel of Fortune." She looked up at the stars spinning slowly overhead. "An epiphany. An understanding of your place in the world? Maybe. But be careful. Such revelations can blind us." The Wheel of Fortune joined the other card, orbiting about her body. "And lastly, your future." She drew the card slowly. "The Lovers."

"A relationship. A connection," Ukyou said for her.

"You and Bison?"

"No!" Ukyou snarled. "I want nothing to do with him. I want my child back, that's all."

"Why do you fight so hard for this child? You've never held it. You've never even seen it." Rose looked at her, her eyes reflecting nothing. "Until the doctor told you, you didn't even know it existed."

"I can't explain it." Ukyou looked down at the water. It was too dark to see her reflection. "I can... feel it. It's... a part of me. Blood. Birth. I just feel... I can't abandon it there. There are too many people I abandoned."

"So... will you kill him, to save the child?"

"Yes," Ukyou said without hesitation. "God help me. But I would. I don't even know her, and I would..."

"Would?"

"I would kill an army." Ukyou clenched her hands into fists. "I don't know what I wouldn't do, what I wouldn't risk..." Ukyou trailed off. Why was she feeling this way? It... it didn't hurt. She had expected it to hurt. She kept waiting for the pain to come. The pain of failure, the pain of despair. Just like it had hit her on that field in England, amongst the flaming ruins of the Ex Machina. But it wasn't hurting.

It felt wonderful. Even knowing that the child was with Bison. Even knowing that she hadn't been brought into this world for love. Even having never touched her and...

...and she could almost feel her. She could hear her voice, distant... an echo of an echo from many miles away down dark corridors. She stretched out her hand. Someone was taking a bundled object away from her...

Ukyou came back to herself, and realised she was crying. She reached up and wiped the tears away. Had that been a memory? She choose to believe it was. It was her memory. Her memory of her child. And it filled her with... joy. There was no other way to describe it. That child was joy, and she would kill to protect her.

"How many are you willing to kill, Ukyou?" Rose said softly.

"What do you mean?" Ukyou said, suddenly wary.

"You know as well as I what will happen." Rose raised her hands and the cards in her hands suddenly flared before being consumed with purple flame. "Bisonopolis, if not all of Thailand... it's him. His plan was to replace the chi of everyone with his own. So that they could not survive without him."

"And if I kill Bison... millions of people could die..."

"Not could. Will." Rose stood up. "How many people are you willing to kill for one child, Ukyou?"

"Bison has to be stopped," Ukyou said, her words sounding hollow even to herself.

"That is neither here nor there." Rose dismissed her excuse with a wave. "You aren't fighting Bison because he is evil. You are fighting him for that child. How many will you kill to protect it?"

"It won't come to that," Ukyou said, her voice dry.

"Why not?"

"Because I'll find another way!" Ukyou hissed.

"What other way?" Rose's eyes narrowed. "You know what this battle is. It's the end of him, or the end of you. I can see it. I can feel it. Destiny lies heavy upon this journey. At the end of it, one of you will die."

"I won't let that happen," Ukyou insisted. She looked down at her hands.

"Is that your solution then?" Rose asked. "Will you use your miracle power to make it all go away? Solve the problem of Bison by divine fiat?"

Ukyou looked up at her. "You know what that means. If I try something that large. I can't control the power. It backlashes. It... twists things. Breaks them. If I try something that large... I could..."

"Yes, you could." Rose paused. "Will you?"

Ukyou clenched her fist. Then she sighed and released it. "I can't say, Rose. Nobody can say. That isn't the way it works." She looked up at the woman. "The decisions that determine the outcome of our lives... we can't make them in advance. We can't follow some plan, some rigid dogma." She looked west again. "I can't say what the situation will be when I have to make that choice. I don't know what I will have to gain, or what I will have to lose." Ukyou straightened. "But I'm sick of being afraid of it. I'm sick of looking forward to the future and dreading what I can't control. Every moment, every day I make decisions that will affect the rest of my life. This will just be one more."

"You've made bad decisions before," Rose pointed out.

"And good ones." Ukyou looked at her. "I don't have the wisdom to know what the right choice is ahead of time, Rose. Nobody does. When the time comes, all I have to do is believe what I'm doing is right. Because... there is nothing else we can do." Ukyou sighed and ran a hand through her bangs. "Does that answer everything you came here to ask?"

Rose smiled, a cold smile but nonetheless filled with a respect that Ukyou had never expected to see from her. "Yes it does, Ukyou Kuonji."

01010

Ukyou landed on the shoulder of the giant statue which contained Bison's palace. The rain was coming down hard now, pounding into the metal like a million deranged drummers. She grimaced and adjusted her grip on the Silence Glaive.

"You might as well come out; I can feel you!" Aaron shouted into the downpour. There was a ripple and then a wave of purple sparks. She rose from the floor like a ghost, her arms stretched upward. Her eyes were closed until she was all the way onto the roof. Then she opened them and focused on Ukyou, her stance becoming hostile.

"Lotus Infinite," the Doll said, her chin-length hair going from pristine to plastered against her skull in the space of two words. "I can not permit you to pass."

"Nancy." Ukyou spun her glaive around her, assuming a stance with the weapon held in front of her, blade pointed at her heart. Ukyou wondered which of the Nancys this was. There had been two, one that had been befriended by Yomiko Readman, and the other that was her enemy. In the end, did it matter? Yomiko had died trying to protect Hotaru when Ukyou could not. She owed it to the memory of a good woman to not harm the one before her. "We don't have to do this. You know that Bison wants to meet me, face to face."

"My name is Eidolon," the woman said, shifting to Ukyou's right. "And perhaps you are correct. But my orders are to prevent you from reaching Bison's presence."

"So why you?" Ukyou said, following her. Aaron extended their senses, taking in the rest of the palace. Akira had drawn what Ukyou was certain was a very accurate image of the inside of the fortress. But Ukyou wouldn't have needed it. She could sense it. The heart of this city. The Psychodrive. Beneath them...

"I am the only Doll equipped to fight you at your full strength," Eidolon said.

"Oh... right," Ukyou smiled impudently. "I was told I could ghost through things before. I guess that makes sense."

Then the time for words was over. Eidolon was flashing across the space between them. Ukyou shifted sideways, her feet skidding along the slick metal. The Doll skimmed past her, turning and striking with a roundhouse kick as she did. Ukyou raised her arm to block but the blow phased through her forearm without pause, leaving a trail of purple sparks. The blow caught her in the temple and stars exploded across her vision.

Ukyou reacted instinctively, thrusting out with the butt of the Glaive. Eidolon tried to shift backwards but the thick metal mace-like end of the glaive flashed into her chest... and straight through it. Ukyou was still falling backwards, and she moved without reacting at all to her weapon ghosting through Eidolon's incorporeal form.

Clamping her other hand onto the haft of the polearm, she spun it. The blade end suddenly reversed position. Eidolon was pushing forward, obviously believing that her ghost form would be immune to the desperate attack. She was wrong. The woman let out a scream as the blade slashed a bright red line across her shoulder. A centimeter or more back and it would have taken her arm off. Eidolon stumbled.

Ukyou stepped into her, her knee coming up and catching the woman on the chin. The Doll flew back gracefully, landing on the metal roof with a soft clang. Then Ukyou stepped back, spinning the Silence Glaive around her again.

"This weapon, it channels Oblivion itself," Aaron informed her. "It doesn't matter if I can't touch you. It can. It can destroy anything."

"That doesn't matter." Eidolon stood up slowly, ignoring her pain. Aaron could feel the psychopower flooding the Doll's system, banishing pain, doubt and fear. There would be no talking her down. His hand clenched the glaive. He could kill her...

No. He owed Yomiko that much. He owed the memory of Hotaru not to murder an innocent. They banished the glaive with a thought, letting it vanish back into whatever otherspace it went. Eidolon blinked, confused for a moment. Then she came through the storm, lightning flashing behind her. Her fists launched out, once, twice, three times. There was no way to block the blows, so they dodged, pushing their body to the limit.

The third dodge threw them backward. Aaron could feel the metal beginning to curve down beneath his feet. They were running out of roof. Fine. Ukyou threw herself backward, arcing up and over a thrust kick. She pirouetted in mid-air, turning her backwards leap into a swan dive.

The side of Bison's statues slid past, just out of reach. He could feel Eidolon coming down after them. She skimmed down the side of the wall, one hand and one foot leaving a trail of sparks as they slid into the steel to prevent her from freefalling. Ukyou reached into her coat and snapped her hand out, sending a thin line of sticky noodles flashing across the space between her and the next building. It caught on a cornice there and she abruptly turned her dive into a vertical swing. Eidolon leapt out to follow her, trying to intercept her path.

Ukyou released the line just before colliding with her. The water around them flew back in all directions with the force of their impact. Ukyou smashed her knees into Eidolon's stomach, while she got an elbow to the face for her trouble.

Then they were falling again, descending towards the earth in a flailing ball of limbs. Again and again Ukyou's strikes passed harmlessly through her opponent, and just as often her own blocks did no good. She could feel bruises forming along her ribs and sides from the punishment. But she needed to buy Aaron time.

Then, halfway down they felt it. It was a shift, a subtle change in the aura, but it was enough. One moment, Eidolon's attack was passing through her left hand. Her fingers were curled into a claw, aimed straight at Ukyou's heart. Then Ukyou's right hand smashed into her jaw with enough force to send her flying back into the palace. The metal dented around her.

A second later and she was out of sight. Aaron spun them, aligning with the ground. With a thought, he summoned the glaive again. The weapon extended below them, pointing straight at the ground. With a wordless scream he released the Silence, obliterating the pavement. A hole in the earth opened and then they were falling into the sublevels of the palace.

Eidolon was back with them a moment later. Ukyou spun her body, allowing her feet to run against one of the walls, sliding down it. She managed to somehow bleed off her momentum before hitting the floor and thus was only partially stunned when Eidolon erupted from a wall, trailing purple sparks and a line of red from her shoulder.

Aaron brought their free hand up, and his palm deflected the first of her blows. The Doll staggered back, surprise on her face. Ukyou gestured, bringing the glaive to bear as she rushed in. A thrust to her face forced her to dodge, allowing Ukyou to bring up her leg in a kick at the Doll's chest.

Eidolon ghosted through the blow, continuing downward. Then she stamped one leg into the floor to stop her momentum and began to pivot into a kick. Ukyou's leg had suddenly reversed direction, however, and it came back down into the leg Eidolon was using to support herself. She gave a cry as Ukyou's ankle crashed into the back of her knee. Something cracked.

Eidolon vanished, disappearing into the floor in a fountain of purple sparks. Ukyou continued her kick, planted her foot and brought the glaive down on the floor. Matter boiled away like morning mist and then Ukyou was heading down after her.

Eidolon was waiting for her. She came in with an elbow that Ukyou dodged by shifting her head to the side. The Doll continued forward, her body flickering as the lights overhead sputtered and dimmed from the damage. Yet Ukyou was always one step ahead of her. She tried feinting, striking with phantom limbs, but Ukyou just let those pass through her without pause. Her hands and weapon parried all the material blows, but she was still being driven back.

They had fallen into some sort of office. A large picture window looked out of it into a warehouse below. Ukyou allowed Eidolon to lead her there. Then she leapt back, smashing through the glass pane. It shattered around her and Eidolon followed. The glass blossomed around them and Ukyou narrowed her eyes as it passed through the woman's mostly intangible body.

Except for the arm she was striking with. Ukyou snapped her glaive up, smashing the haft into the crook of her opponent's elbow. The Doll screamed as the force of her own blow and Ukyou's combined to shatter the elbow joint.

Ukyou landed first, and Eidolon was only a second behind. But this time Ukyou came in, her polearm flashing and spinning so fast it resembled a silver waterfall. Eidolon retreated and retreated. Her body phased through obstacles, passing harmlessly through crates and equipment. She would catch them at unexpected angles and suddenly shift momentum, doing whatever she could to get away from her implacable enemy.

Ukyou was an engine of destruction. Where Eidolon passed through like a ghost, Ukyou left shattered ruin in her wake. Her blows cleaved machinery in two, smashed vehicles to bits and tore chunks out of floor and wall.

It took only one mistake for it to end. Eidolon stepped forward, moving within the arc of Ukyou's weapon to avoid the deadly blades at its tip. She screamed, striking out with her uninjured hand. Aaron waited, then at his signal Ukyou's hand flashed up and caught the Doll's wrist with one hand just before it struck them. With her other hand she pulled on the glaive, pulling it up so that the haft vanished into Eidolon's chest where her heart would be. It was surrounded by purple sparks, but on the other end the bottom of the blades were pressing against the flesh of Eidolon's back. The Doll's green eyes widened.

"Ho... how... you didn't ghost once..."

"I can sense it, the subtle change in your aura when you dematerialise. It takes long enough that I can react before you are finished." Ukyou jerked the hand a bit. "Don't even think of moving. I can draw the Silence Glaive through your chest faster than you can get away. You'd be dead before you even finished ghosting this hand."

Eidolon's eyes narrowed. "I would gladly die."

"Yeah. Dying is easy. Living is hard," Ukyou said softly. Then her knee came up and caught the woman on her bad leg. Eidolon screamed, and while she was distracted Ukyou released her hand and slammed her fist into the woman's jaw. She banished the glaive even as the woman that had once been Nancy Makuhari flew backwards. It vanished in a spiral of sparkling lights, so that Nancy's body fell to the ground among a shower of glittering sparks. When she hit the floor, she was fully solid. She was also unconscious.

Ukyou looked down at her a moment, then bowed her head and clapped her hands together twice. "I'll find a way to save you. But first, I have my own child to save."

Ukyou turned and walked to the nearest wall. There was an elevator there. It opened to admit her and closed just as swiftly behind her. Without her touching a button it began to descend. She closed her eyes and summoned the Silence Glaive again. Ukyou didn't believe the gods answered prayers, and Aaron didn't believe in God period. But they prayed nonetheless. To who?

Did it matter? If something out there could help them now, they didn't care who it was. The door opened with a hiss and Ukyou opened her eyes. She stepped forward into the Psychodrive.

It hit her like a physical force. The place was so full of hatred. So full of rage. It boiled up from below like a volcano, wave after wave of purified, untainted passion. It felt like coming home.

The Psychodrive was still far below them, deep in an abyss in which Ukyou could not see the bottom. Lines of red light crawled up the walls of that abyss, radiating to nodes implanted in the walls. The chamber was long and narrow, maybe twenty meters wide. A bridge was laid out before her, leading to the far end of the chamber. Where Bison was.

Ukyou looked around. None of her friends were here yet. Logically, she should wait for them. They would have a better chance together.

But to hell with logic.

She walked forward, her hand clenching the weapon of Oblivion firmly. It took a few minutes to make her way to the end of the chamber. Then, she paused. There he was. The entire back of the Psychodrive was in darkness, but she could feel his power radiating out from that darkness like a miniature sun.

"Bison, you know what I've come here for," Ukyou said.

"Ah yes... the prodigal mother."

Ukyou frowned. That didn't sound like Bison. Not the Bison she remembered. It had the same tone, the exact same megalomaniacal lilt... but it was off. Too high pitched. Too soft. Too...

"What have you done with my daughter, you son of a bitch?" Ukyou screamed into the darkness. She knew. She knew but she didn't want to believe. But of course, it made perfect sense. What else would he need her for? But still she found herself praying again. praying to God or Buddha or anyone who would listen.

Please, don't let it be true.

"Son of a bitch?" Bison chuckled and then he... or rather she, emerged from the darkness. She was wearing a variation of Bison's outfit, a red military jacket with a long purple cap and the short-billed hat with the winged-skull emblem on it. But the jacket had been cut much tighter, open to the third button and emphasising the generous curves of its owner. The hem flared into a skirt that came down just below her hips. Below it her legs were exposed until the tops of her slick red stiletto-heeled boots peaked at mid-thigh. "I think you just insulted yourself, mother dearest."

01010

"Take that! And that!" JunJun cackled. "Hah! Feel my power!" She smashed her hand down on the ground. "Perfect finish!"

"I don't want to play this anymore," VesVes sighed, looking down at the cards arrayed between them with disdain.

"You just don't want to because I'm winning," JunJun said accusingly. She began to gather up the elements of her precious deck.

"Now, if we animated the pictures on the cards and made them fight for real..." VesVes continued, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Lady Cologne already told us not to do that," CereCere mentioned from in front of her mirror.

"But we haven't even done it once!" VesVes whined.

"She still told us not to do it. Remember what happened with those old manga you found," CereCere pointed out, motioning with her makeup brush.

"Hey. It's not my fault!" VesVes groaned. "It was Vegeta."

"Vegeta is a fictional character," CereCere reminded her.

"With a hot butt."

The two looked at JunJun. She felt her cheeks heat up and sputtered a bit. "Oh c'mon. Like you didn't think it, too!"

The two paused. Then sighed and nodded.

"Great ass."

"Glutes of steel," CereCere added. The three sort of drifted off then, looking blissfully towards the ceiling. CereCere giggled girlishly at one point.

"Hey guys, whatcha doin'?"

"AH!" CereCere fell over. "Nothing! Nothing!"

PallaPalla had done her usual trick of seeming to literally appear out of nowhere. She was standing by a large curtain near the side of the room, giving them all a look of wide-eyed innocence. Her finger was pressed to her lip thoughtfully. JunJun laughed nervously. The thought of talking to PallaPalla about boys seemed... icky and wrong, so she decided to change the subject.

"You've been gone a long time," she pointed out.

"Oh! That's right. I've been playing with my new friend!" PallaPalla said cheerfully. It was then that everyone noticed that she had something on her shoulder. It was a small creature, an octopus, about the size of a particularly fat housecat. It was resting on its stubby little tentacles, but used one of them to wave cheerfully at the three of them. Its tiny little snout made a disgustingly cute little sound and it closed its eyes as if smiling. "Can I keep him?" she asked.

"Where on earth did you find such a thing?" CereCere said, clearly disgusted.

"Oh, around..." PallaPalla mused. She reached up and idly rubbed the octopus' scalp. "Poor little thing was hurting and alone. I think its friends abandoned it."

"I think it's disgusting," CereCere said, sniffing.

"I don't know, he's kind of cute." VesVes smiled. Then again, she wasn't called 'The Beast Tamer' for nothing. Back when they had been living in Elysium VesVes used to hunt down all sorts of strange creatures that emerged from the sleeping minds of earth's dreamers. Compared to the tyrannosaurs made entirely out of marshmallow peeps or the seven-headed dire badger that you could milk for vanilla parfaits, a land octopus was totally mundane.

Of course, thinking of Elysium suddenly made JunJun remember all about it. She looked down, summoning her green orb to her hands. They hadn't been to the land of dreams in over seven years. It was there that they had lived with Nehelenia since... since Before. It was from there they derived their powers. But... they had never returned. For a moment, as she held the orb, JunJun thought she felt a cold chill creep up her arm. It was worse than anything, it felt like an utter lack of warmth, like all the life was just ceasing in her arm... then it was gone, and the world was back to normal.

"I don't see why she can't keep him," JunJun looked up. "I mean, we lost all our pets when the old man blew up the Dead Moon Circus. What's one now going to hurt?"

CereCere sighed. "Very well. As long as you promise to keep it out of my possessions."

"Oh don't worry about that. He's a real gentleman!" PallaPalla smiled at them, then turned to the curtain and grabbed something from behind it.

The trio of Amazonesses felt their hearts stop, for just a second. The man PallaPalla had pulled out from behind the curtain was clad from head to toe in a black body suit, painted with white lines to resemble bones. Even his face was invisible behind his mask. He wore a red scarf, which somehow flapped behind him dramatically.

"Good afternoon, ladies!" the man said, posing with his hands on his hips.

"Isn't he just the cutest?" PallaPalla squealed. "And he knows all kinds of tricks!"

01010

There were few people that knew of the existence of this room, much less its location. It was far beneath the cavernous world that Tethys ruled over. Up above was the city-cave of D-Point, the heart of the Dark Kingdom. There, all the people that Tethys had gathered to her banner over the years lived their lives. The youma lived among them, at peace.

They called it the City of Black Ice.

Most of them knew what Tethys' goals were. She had willingly shared the secrets of her magic with them. There were scientists in D-Point that dedicated themselves to researching magic in all its forms. For the people of D-Point, the research of the so-called Second Circle was more than a hobby. It was a way of life.

Most of the youma who lived there still required life energy to function. But Tethys had forbidden them to feed off each other or off the millions of humans that called the City of Black Ice home. At first there had been objections.

Those hadn't lasted long.

Now, they needed to discover the truth about themselves. For them, discovering how to manipulate the Second Circle wasn't just a matter of improvement. It was a matter of survival. It was a truth that Tethys herself had found hard to swallow. So she had not simply told them the truth.

The truth was that she, and every youma, was a weapon. They had been designed by Metallia, carved out of the souls of humans and ambient magic into tools of war. A war that Metallia could never win. Metallia had a great flaw in her, a flaw that had eventually led to her destruction at the hands of a being much weaker than her. That flaw had been passed on to all her creations, every single youma.

That was the way it was supposed to be. Because Metallia herself had been designed. She was a spawn of Chaos. A god-like being forged by the incarnation of conflict and war millennia ago during the Sailor Wars... the great battle between good and evil that had raged across all the galaxy. She and others like her had been designed with one purpose: to wage war.

An endless, eternal war against the forces of good, the Sailor Senshi. There was no purpose to this war. It was conflict for its own sake. War for the ends of more war. And every time one of the spawn of Chaos provoked the Sailor Senshi into battle... Chaos fed, and grew bloated. Thus it had been Chaos that had led to the downfall of the Silver Millennium.

Tethys stepped out of the wall and started down the corridor. This place could not be reached by normal means. It existed miles beneath the polar ice cap, far beneath where even the deepest caverns of D-Point reached. A sheet of solid ice, one mile thick, separated it from the rest of the world. With her power over water, Tethys could easily gain access. She could also prevent anyone else from ever reaching this far.

"Lady Tethys, is that you?"

The voice was crisp, strong and clipped with a noticeable British accent. Tethys sighed and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Victoria, what have I told you?"

There was a pause, then the straw-haired vampiress emerged from the shadows. She wore a tight black uniform that highly resembled the one she had been wearing when Tethys had rescued her from England. Tethys, of course, had replaced the outdated insignia with emblems of loyalty to her. Still, Tethys didn't know why Victoria liked to wear such... tight clothing. She certainly had a very impressive figure, to be sure. But did she need to wear a jacket that fit like a second skin, a skirt that barely came down to her thighs and knee-high heeled boots?

It was... distracting.

"Oh... sorry. I'm not supposed to say anything, am I?"

"Not until you know it's me," Tethys said, repeating herself. "And if it isn't me...?"

Victoria's blood-red eyes narrowed and she smiled. "I deal with them."

"Excellent," Tethys said, reaching out and patting her on the shoulder. "Have you been well?"

"I've been fine..." Victoria evaded. "It gets... a little lonely down here, sometimes."

Tethys nodded sadly. "I wish I could replace you, but..."

"But nobody can even know what's down here, much less be trusted to guard it," Victoria said, her voice taking on that stoic quality famous among Brits.

"Exactly." Tethys paused. "I promise I will come visit you more often in the future. But events in the outside world have kept me... busy."

"Word from Pluto and Rose?" Victoria asked.

Tethys hesitated. They were walking down the corridor now. "Yes..."

"Well?"

"They're in Bisonopolis..."

"Is that good?"

"That depends." Tethys held up her hand. "If they fail to defeat Bison, I will have to step in. But doing that now would spoil my plans. I would prefer Ukyou came to me of her own volition, not that I wrest her from Bison like a prize."

"I see..." Victoria trailed off. They had reached the central room now. It was pitch-black except for a single beam of light that came from the ceiling. A complex system of reflection and refraction from the surface created that light. Tethys was rather proud of it.

"How is he?" she asked.

"No change... as usual."

Tethys walked into the crypt. The coffin was on a raised dais, so that it was just at waist-height when she stood next to it. She looked down at the pristine body of Alucard... the ultimate vampire. Her hand hovered over him. Then it came to rest over the hole in his chest. She closed her eyes and felt... nothing. There was nothing there. Not even so much as a slight distortion. But she knew there was something there regardless.

The last scientist to study that wound had been consumed by... something. Something otherworldly. His body had warped and twisted the moment he touched it, and then he had been torn asunder, ripped into a million fragments that skittered off along the creases of reality and vanished into realms Tethys didn't wish to explore.

This was her victory. That power. How could one gain revenge on Chaos, the incarnation of war? One could just as easily strike down the law of gravity or kill the concept of time. Even the very act of fighting, of struggling against it, would feed Chaos such that it would only grow stronger. Tethys smiled. No wonder it had grown so powerful these last seven years. With a world such as this one to feed off of, the only wonder was that it had not already conquered all creation.

"But one person can kill even you," Tethys hissed. "It has been foretold. Even war can die." She raised her hand. "And the same power that she used, lies in this comatose body." She chuckled. Once she had Ukyou, that power would be hers.

She turned and walked back over to Victoria. Victoria looked at her meaningfully. "Are you hungry?" Tethys asked. Victoria paused, then nodded. Her expression was a mix of reluctance and acceptance. Victoria had always had a problem with what she was. Maybe one day she could get over it. Tethys smiled and pulled her hair away from her neck, bending her head to the side. "Then drink."

Victoria paused for a long time, staring at her Queen's neck. The first time that Tethys had done this, she had practically had to force the young vampire. She had been convinced she would kill Tethys. But Tethys' power was far beyond that. Simple blood was nothing to her. Besides... it had the most interesting effects on the vampire.

With a hiss Victoria came in, her mouth becoming a field of fangs. Tethys winced as the sharp teeth pierced her neck, drawing in a sharp breath when Victoria began to feed. Her body shuddered as Victoria pulled her closer, pressing their bodies together. And for a long time, they remained there, one feeding off the other.

01010

It was a perfect scale map of Japan. The peaks of the mountains, the bends of the shoreline, all of them etched out to the smallest detail in a web of green light. There was even a flicker of blue along the edges of the coasts, suggesting the ocean. It hovered above the floor as Akane ran her finger along the edge of it. The image shimmered where she touched it, but did not lose coherence.

"Here." Akane paused.

"Are you certain?"

Akane turned to look back at Washuu. The little girl was sitting on a small cushion that hovered in mid-air above the floor of the lab. Her legs were crossed, one kicking idly like she was the innocent child she appeared to be, but her eyes were very serious as they studied Akane.

"Yes." Akane looked back at the image. "I'm very certain."

"How is this possible?" Katsuhito murmured. He was rubbing his chin, leaning in towards the image. "I thought that the magic this Akio evoked prevented anyone from remembering Ohtori's exact location."

"That's a good question," Washuu said, as she began to type at her holographic keyboard.

"Maybe he forgot to erase Akane's memory like he did Rei's?" Mamoru suggested.

"That would make sense..." Katsuhito said, but he didn't sound convinced.

"Ah-hah... there it is." Washuu smirked and spun herself around in mid- air. "Tricky little bastard, I'll give him that."

"You found it?" Rei gasped. A general murmur broke out across the room. Mamoru crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. Marz was trying to get a good look over Washuu's shoulder. Satsuki knelt, blending into the background. Fevrier snorted.

"I don't see what the big deal is," she muttered.

"Big deal?" Rei snapped at her. She glared at the ex-Doll and Fevrier glared right back. Akane could swear she could see sparks shooting between them. "This is Sailor Moon we're talking about. She can defeat a zoalord!"

"So?" Fevrier crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Plenty of things can defeat a zoalord. Tethys, for instance. I don't see us all going out of our way to track her down."

"That's because Tethys is evil!" Rei shot back.

"And sitting in a false paradise for seven years while the world goes straight to hell is much better?" Fevrier snapped.

"You wouldn't understand..." Rei snorted.

Washuu sighed and looked at Katsuhito. "Reminds you of two other girls, doesn't it?"

"Same spirit, but less property damage," the old man said, chuckling.

"Fevrier, I think Akane is right." Mamoru said. "We should find Sailor Moon, bring her back into the fight. It's time."

"Oh, and what makes you think that?" Washuu said, suddenly interested.

"I... don't know." Mamoru shrugged. "It's this... feeling I have. This feels right. Like it's what we're supposed to do."

"I see..." Washuu murmured. "And what about you, Akane?"

Akane frowned and crossed her arms. She could feel the Star Seeds pulsing in her vest pocket. They hadn't felt this active since... since she'd first gotten them. "I don't know, Washuu." Akane looked down at the floor. "I think... I think something important is about to happen. I'm pretty certain it's about Sailor Moon."

"Could it be because of the power from beyond our world? The one you experienced when you died?"

The room went silent. Akane looked around, realising all eyes were on her. How had Washuu even known that? Why had she gone and broken the big secret in front of everyone? Akane shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like to think about the brief time she had spent in the next world. Her mind shied away from it. She had experienced something profound, been touched by something... beyond this world while she was dead.

"Yes." Washuu leaned back. "I think that's it. Isn't it, Akane? You agree with me."

"I'm not certain..."

"Don't be coy, Akane." Washuu smiled. "I've done a great deal of research into you. I wanted to know why Gyro thought you were so important. Why Chris chose you. Why Ukyou chose you."

"I'm not special," Akane snapped. She hated being called special. She was just like everyone else. Except she was willing to stand up and be counted.

"Maybe once." Washuu laced her fingers under her chin. "But not anymore. And it was Sailor Moon that did it to you." Washuu smirked. "Oh yes. The Third Circle. Sailor Moon doesn't even realise it. That's what Akio is after from her. Sailor Moon has a conduit to the forces beyond this universe, the same ones that power Chris and Ukyou. When you were dead, you felt them, and she brought you back."

"Sailor Moon?" Akane murmured.

"Yes." Washuu looked at the screen again. "She may be the key to it all. The key to saving the world, to destroying Chris, to ending Galaxia and Chronos..." She looked around at them all. "It's imperative that you all head to Ohtori at once."

"I agree," Mamoru said.

"But... the illusions there, won't we be just as vulnerable as Rei was the first time?" Marz pointed out. Akane smiled at her. Always the practical one, but thinking two steps ahead of everyone else.

"I already thought of that." Washuu waved. "Now that I've locked in on their location, I can study the effect Akio and his sister are using to control your perception of reality. I should be able to whip up a few devices that will render you immune to them."

Akane blinked. She could swear she just saw a look pass between Washuu and Katsuhito. There was something Washuu wasn't telling them, Akane thought suddenly. She had no reason to distrust her. Washuu had been nothing but open with her since they arrived. But the feeling persisted.

"Good then. I'll need a night to build the shields, so you should all get ready. You leave in the morning." Washuu smiled and giggled. "Saving the world is more fun than I thought it'd be!"

01010

"But you said I could keep him!"

"Are you insane, PallaPalla?" VesVes hissed, dragging their youngest (mentally if not physically) sister to the side. "Do you know who that is?"

"Of course I do. He's Skullomania," PallaPalla said. She smiled over at the man, who looked rather nervous. He had good reason to be. They were in the middle of a large underground garage underneath the Pillars of Heaven. The place was used for receiving and shipping the vast quantities of bio-rea... reagen... react... regula... bio-somethingorothers that Chronos used in its massive zoanoid operations. All around them walked hundreds of men and women, loading and unloading containers and crates from a constantly shifting line of trucks and transports. More than a few heavy muscle type zoanoids were among them, handling the grunt work that would have been done by machines in a less progressive workplace.

And not a one was reacting to them. None at all. One technician walked right between them, idly checking her clipboard as she walked. The Gregole carrying a massive tube full of green goo behind her even went so far as to shift to walk around CereCere but didn't even notice she was there when he did it.

Really, JunJun reflected as she watched CereCere adjust her magic, it was a simple spell. Nobody really noticed the tiny flower petals drifting around the room, nor the hypnotic patterns they traced or scents they gave off. She could have done it, if she had really wanted to. CereCere was just better at the whole mindgames thing.

"If we keep him, we'll all get in a lot of trouble!" VesVes hissed to her sister.

"I don't care!" PallaPalla stamped her little foot and crossed her arms. "You said I could keep him."

"We thought you meant the octopus," VesVes tried to explain.

"What octopus?" PallaPalla asked, absently petting the thing on her shoulder. The creature in question looked over at JunJun and gave the mollusk version of a shrug. JunJun just blinked.

"Uh... right..."

"Ladies," Skullomania said. "I... uh... really appreciate the situation you are all in." He cleared his throat and posed again. He did that a lot. "I, Skullomania, owe you all a great debt of gratitude. Especially the young blue- haired girl here. It was she who rescued me from that fiend's evil laboratory where, no doubt, he planned diabolical experiments upon me! If there is anything that I, Skullomania, the Ultimate Hero-" A quick string of poses interrupted his speech for a moment, ending with him standing on one foot and looking off towards the horizon. "-can do to make it up, you need but ask."

"Be quiet, I'm having a hard enough time maintaining the magic as is," CereCere hissed.

"Yeah. What you can do is scram, before Gyro find out that our sister let you loose," JunJun barked.

"But young ladies, I can't do that!" He struck another pose, possibly because he was beginning to cramp up. "If I am found missing, the blame may go to you. I can not, as a Hero of Justice, allow you to suffer for my freedom!" He switched poses again, this time crossing his arms in front of his face. "I will stay, to protect you from minions of evil!"

PallaPalla laughed. "See, he's funny!"

"PallaPalla, in case you've forgotten, WE are the evil minions," JunJun pointed out.

"We are?" the girl cocked her head to one side and put a finger to her lip.

"We work for Chronos, use magic to get anything we want and basically only care about ourselves," JunJun refreshed her memory.

"Oh. You're right." PallaPalla paused. "I'd forgotten that."

"Surely you jest-" JunJun shut him up with a wave of her hand and a little splash of magic that made his mask soundproof.

"The point is, if we are found with him we're going to be in super big trouble. More trouble than we were when we almost collapsed the Pillars," VesVes said.

"More than when we replaced all the goo in the zoanoid tubes with dishwashing liquid," CereCere added.

"More than when we made ZX-Tole think he was a schoolgirl and had him do karaoke on national TV," JunJun continued.

"Wow." PallaPalla frowned. "That is a lot of trouble."

"Yeah, the old fart and the old hag might not even be able to get us out of it, this time!"

"Oh, ladies, I don't think... that will be a... problem."

CereCere gave a little shriek and spun around as she leapt into the air. They all turned. There, standing in no more than a few feet away from them, was Reichmann Gyro. He was dressed in a black-and-beige-striped suit. At his side was a black object that JunJun couldn't quite see. But she could feel it. It stank of magic. More magic than in all their orbs combined. More magic than Nehelenia.

Skullomania leapt in front of them, spreading his arms wide and obviously trying to shout something. Gyro only smiled. Gyro did not have a happy smile. He had the kind of smile that reminded you that the first purpose of the smile was to show other animals that you had teeth, sharp teeth, and a willingness to use them.

"M-mister Gyro!" VesVes gasped. "I-imagine meeting you here!"

"Yes... imagine..." Gyro rumbled menacingly. "Would you four... mind telling me... what it is you think you are... doing?"

"Uh..." VesVes had always been the sort of spokeswoman for their group, so she continued. "Just, uh... out for a stroll?"

"A stroll?" Gyro looked at them all. "With my prisoner." He paused. "My very valuable prisoner. The one who is the only link to my enemy?"

"Oh... this is THAT prisoner!" VesVes gasped in completely unconvincing shock. "We thought he was..."

"A lumberjack!" JunJun added helpfully.

"A lumberjack!" VesVes finished.

"Really?" Gyro did not sound pleased.

They all nodded quickly. Even PallaPalla. Few things scared PallaPalla, but Gyro was one of them.

Then Gyro stepped up to them. He casually brushed aside Skullomania, who immediately leapt to his feet and began to try and put the man into a full nelson. It didn't appear to be going well. Gyro stood over VesVes. He smiled, a mechanical, deadly smile. There was a gleam in his inhuman yellow eyes. Gyro had never liked them, JunJun reminded herself morosely.

Then he placed a hand on VesVes' head... and began to ruffle her hair. She blinked.

"Oh well... girls will be girls, I suppose," Gyro said, laughing in a forced manner. Everyone stopped in place. Well, except Skullomania, who continued to wrestle with Gyro ineffectually. "I'll just... go back to my labs now." Actually, now that JunJun thought about it, it seemed like Gyro's speaking had been kind of... weird all along. Not like something was making him talk, but more like he was trying very hard to do something that was not at all natural for him.

Gyro stepped away from them, removed Skullomania with one hand, and placed him next to them. He began to walk away, then paused and looked over his shoulder. "I trust, you will... return him to me... later, right?"

"Uh... yeah?" VesVes said, stunned.

"Good. Good."

Then he was gone. Skullomania looked at JunJun and she idly undid the spell on him.

"He was far more reasonable a supervillain than I expected," he said. JunJun silenced him again.

01010

"Aren't you going to attack?"

Ukyou staggered back. Her foot slipped and she nearly collapsed, but somehow she used the shaft of the Silence Glaive to hold herself up. The woman floated towards her, red lines of light tracing out circuits under her skin, sparking into flares of blue energy where they collided. The eyes of the beast glowed blue. Inhuman. Full of hate.

"Come now, you've come so far to find me. Aren't you going to do what you came here for?" The voice was smooth, full of the calm certainty of madness. It had that appealing, mind-numbing quality that only letting go completely offered.

"You... monster..." Ukyou breathed.

"Mother, I'm hurt..." Suddenly she vanished in a flash of light. Ukyou flinched as a hand appeared cupping her cheek. The woman... Bison... her daughter... she had appeared floating just off the side of the bridge. "All the time we spent together. All the moments we shared. You call me a monster?"

"What have you done?" Ukyou roared, pulling back. Her fist rose up to smash at him, but fell back. How could she... how could she attack...

That isn't your daughter.

The words came into her mind with stunning clarity. At first, she thought they might have been Aaron's. The cold logic of it was his way of dealing with the problem. The thing before them might have been born out of her body, might have been her genetic legacy... but it was not her daughter. It was a shell. Bison was all that remained of it now.

"How?" Ukyou gasped.

"You don't remember..." Bison said, sounding hurt. "Of course you don't." She smiled, a smile full of flashing white teeth. "I needed a new body. One that could withstand my psychopower. The implants we experimented on with you could not be integrated into my old form. Could not work with any form. Only you could stabilise them. So... I needed something you would be willing to use your powers for." She laughed. "Then... after you prepared the body, it was only a matter of using pilfered cloning technology to fast grow it to the proper age. The same technology that was used to preserve your beauty, mother..."

It isn't your daughter. Attack!

Ukyou flinched. No, that wasn't Aaron. He was here, with her. Every bit as shocked. Every bit as disgusted. That was something else... Then they sensed her. Nabiki.

Of course, Nabiki would be the first one to get here. She was back near the entrance, standing near the door to the lift, hoping no one would see her.

"Ahh... Nabiki Tendo," Bison purred. "Why don't you join us?" She snapped her fingers and there was a blur of blue light, out of which materialised the stunned Nabiki. She backed up a step, her hand reaching for her sword. "Now dear, none of that..." Bison raised his hand faster than Nabiki could hope to react. A ball of blue light formed on her palm, shooting out like a star towards the girl.

"Leave her alone!" Ukyou shouted, jumping between the two. The Silence Glaive came up, catching the ball and blasting it out of existence. Nabiki sighed in relief.

"You're protecting her?" Bison sounded genuinely surprised.

"Of course I am," Ukyou told him.

"Oh please," Bison said with a sneer. "Ukyou, don't pretend you care about this woman. Don't pretend you are anything else but a tool of my will."

"I'm not pretending, Bison..." Ukyou said with more conviction than she felt.

"Ukyou, you have to fight him!" Nabiki growled, stepping back. "I can only hold off his power for so long..."

"Why do you resist me, Ukyou? Surely you've felt it, the connection between us?"

"Don't listen to him, Ukyou! He's lying!"

Ukyou glanced at Nabiki, then back at the floating woman before her. She could see the resemblance between them now. The young woman floating there had so much in common with Ukyou. They could have been sisters.

"It's been pulling you back to me ever since you left." Bison extended his hand. "Even after this one erased your mind, you still felt it. The primal connection between mother and child."

"Erased..." Ukyou's mouth went dry.

Bison's blue eyes flashed. "Oh... you didn't know? They didn't tell you..."

"Ukyou..."

"How they toyed with your mind... how they tried to remake you." Bison laughed. "Did Nabiki tell you the real reason that she came after you, Ukyou? Do you really know what it is she's after? She erased you. She blocked out seven years of memories... because they were afraid."

"She's lying!" Nabiki pleaded. "That isn't why we did it!"

"They knew if you remembered, if you remembered what it was like to be Lotus Infinite... you would come back to me. The love we shared, the love we forged together-"

"Was a perversion!" Nabiki snapped. Ukyou could feel a pressure building in the air around her. She realised that they were fighting, combating each other on a level that Ukyou was only peripherally aware of. There was a struggle of wills being played out between them. And she was the prize. "You never loved her and she never loved you. You defiled her. Raped her spirit and her body. You tore her child from her womb and polluted its mind!"

"You say that like it was my idea," Bison said softly. "It was she that suggested I do this. She wanted a connection to me, a bond of blood that could never be shattered. She willingly gave of me her flesh that I might live eternally!" her voice rose to a shriek. There was a clap like thunder and Nabiki fell to her knees, whimpering.

"Look into yourself, Ukyou. You know what I'm saying is true..."

"Maybe it is..." Ukyou said softly. She looked down into the heart of the Psychodrive. The walls still crawled with light. "But that doesn't matter."

"What?" Bison said, sounding shocked.

"Ukyou?" Nabiki moaned, looking up blearily.

Tears were falling down Ukyou's cheek again. She smiled thinly and wiped them away with the back of her sleeve. "I don't really care what the truth is anymore." Her eyes snapped up to focus on Bison. "Because it doesn't matter what happened in the past. It's gone, and nothing I can do will change it. All I have left is the world I'm living in now... and the choice I make here." She brandished the Silence Glaive in front of her. "The devil's bargain. Fight you, and maybe kill my only child... or surrender and let evil win." She stepped forward and Bison floated back, her face suddenly uncertain. "Well, I'm tired of surrendering. I'm tired of being afraid of the hard choices. I'm tired of letting the world make my choices for me. This isn't about survival, this isn't about just existing anymore! I have the power to change the world, and I am going to use it! I'll defeat you! I'll save my child!"

Then Ukyou leapt forward, her body flashing through the air like black lightning. The haft of the Silence Glaive came around, the blunt end flashing up towards Bison's temple. The blue-eyed woman's hand snapped up and wrapped around the cold iron weapon, halting it with ease. Ukyou stared. Bison had never moved that fast before!

"I offered you a chance to talk this out, like a dutiful daughter," Bison said calmly. "And you chose the hard way." Ukyou didn't even see the blow. Her body exploded with pain as she was flung back. She smashed into the wall with enough force that the metal cratered around her. She screamed as arcs of red lights tore through her body, each one filling her nerves with pain. She slumped forward as the lightshow ended. Her vision was blurring. She was going to tumble into the abyss if she didn't do something... but she couldn't seem to move.

Then she was flying through the air and landed on the bridge again. She looked up. Red silk shirt, strained by the breasts underneath. Black pants. Blue eyes. Black pigtail. Cocky grin.

"Ranma..."

"Hey, Ucchan, starting the party without me?" the transformed martial artist clucked her tongue. "I told you, I got this one covered." Ranma stood up, facing Bison. "Hey, you... you hurt my friend. I think me and you are going to have a little discussion about that."

Bison's eyes flared. Then she grinned. "So be it."

01010

Sailor Pluto ran along two steps behind Rose, who was leading the way through the complex of corridors that made up Bison's palace. The place was oddly deserted. After the skirmish with the Dolls outside, there had been no more attempts to hinder them. Pluto was beginning to grow worried.

Unlike what most people initially thought, she could not actually see the future. Not even when she had still had her Time Staff that gave her access to the Gates of Time. But she did have a connection to it still. One did not live outside the flow of time for a literally uncountable span without developing some sensitivity to the strange way time was constructed.

And Pluto knew that something important was happening here today. Fate? Destiny? Prophecy? Whatever it was, she was here and she had become a part of it. Rose could sense her mood and her own face was a frown of worry as they dashed through the complex, looking for the fastest way down to the heart of it.

"The battle has started," Rose informed her, shouting back over her shoulder.

"Is it bad?" Pluto asked.

"Not yet... Bison's power is... larger than we had predicted."

"Great. Any good news?"

"I think I can sense one of our companions up ahead."

Pluto nodded sharply and indicated that Rose should lead them again. Rose adjusted her course quickly and soon they were running into a large foyer. They were on a balcony that overlooked an antechamber below, connected by a pair of curved staircases. Portraits of Bison ascended the walls above the stairs. Here he was standing with his cap flapping atop a mountain, there he sat brooding before a fireplace and in at least one he was grinning maniacally while reading a story to a group of cherub-faced children. Square columns of black marble stretched from floor to ceiling.

Akira Kazama was leaning against one of those columns, obviously out of breath. Pluto paused at the top of the stairs. Akira hadn't noticed them yet. She examined the young woman with a critical eye. Truth be told, Pluto didn't know what to think of her. She was very dedicated to Ukyou, but also seemed afraid of her as well. She was very strong, both in fighting skill and personality, but also oddly accepting of her lot in life.

One thing Pluto was certain of about her: if it came down to the worst case scenario, she didn't want to be the one that would have to go through Akira to get to Ukyou.

Rose leapt down from the balcony, landing near the young woman. Pluto sighed. She followed her and landed in a crouch. Akira looked up. She was sweating. In fact, her face was sopping wet. She was also close to hyperventilating.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"I'm fine..." Akira wiped some sweat from her brow. "I was fighting some Dolls... I think it took more out of me than I thought."

"I see..." Rose said, in a way that suggested the opposite.

"I hope you're feeling up to fighting. The battle started without us," Pluto pointed out.

"It has?" Akira frowned, closing her eyes. "You're right. I can feel it." Then she opened them. "Strange, I should have sensed Bison starting to really let loose long ago."

"We need to get to the heart of this complex quickly," Rose pointed out. "You have a great deal of knowledge of this place. Perhaps it is best if you lead us."

"Huh?" Akira blinked, then she nodded. "Of course..." She pinched her nose. "Sorry. I'm finding it hard to concentrate for some reason. It's this way..."

Akira pushed away from the column and began to trot towards a doorway recessed into the wall between the arching stairways. Rose and Pluto followed her at a brisk clip. Then as Akira reached for the handle the door shot open in front of her. All three of them reacted instantly, leaping back and landing in a variety of postures, ready for whatever enemy was going to step from the shadows of the doorway.

"Please, please, there's no need for all that, ladies. I just want a moment of your time," a voice came from the darkness. A moment later a figure floated out of the doorway into view. It was a boy, no older than ten, with short brown hair. His face was serene, dark-skinned and might have been beautiful were it not for the horrible wound. The boy's right eye had been torn out by some force and no attempt had been made to clean the wound, allowing a trail of blackened gore to drip down the side of his face. A hideous purple light flickered from the dark recesses of the empty eyesocket.

There was a clatter as Akira stumbled back slightly. "Chris..." she said slowly.

"Chris?" Pluto asked, looking at the girl. She did not look afraid, exactly. Cautious, guarded even... but not afraid. Still, there was something about the boy that Pluto found disturbing. Something profound that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I'm flattered you remember me. We have only met the once, after all." The boy smiled benignly, inclining his head slightly. "I have been following your... career with some interest, however."

"Who are you?" Rose asked bluntly.

"As the lady said, my name is Chris." The boy's good eye flickered towards Pluto and his smile widened slightly. "I'm what you may call an old acquaintance of Ukyou's."

"Is that what you call it?" Akira snapped. "You've nearly beaten her to death twice, from what I recall."

"To be fair, she started it," he said, his voice light with irony.

"What?" Pluto broke in, stepping forward. "Impossible! What are you talking about, Akira?"

"Meet Chris," Akira said coolly. "Psychotic body-jumping monster from beyond time. He and Ukyou used to be friends and then he decided to beat her to a bloody pulp a few times and go on to try and take over the world, or something."

"Well, that's a slightly slanted recounting of events," Chris said mildly, crossing his arms.

Pluto stared at them, taking a few steps back. She wanted to decry that as impossible, but couldn't find the words to do so. But it WAS impossible. Pluto had made it her life's work to learn everything there was to know about Ukyou. When she still had access to the Gates of Time, she had examined the woman's past in intricate detail, going over it again and again until she believed she remembered it more clearly than Ukyou herself did. While she had been hunting her, she had used the Gates to track her. While she could never seem to single on her present, Ukyou left a large enough wake in the past that Pluto had no trouble observing her many adventures.

There had never been a boy named Chris in those visions. Not once. Ever. To say that this boy and Ukyou had fought even once was impossible. Pluto had examined every moment of Ukyou's life, and she had never seen him.

"What game are you playing?" Rose said, stepping in front of Pluto. "We both know you have nothing to do with Ukyou. You've never even met her." Akira shot Rose a sharp glance, and Chris just chuckled softly, his child-body shaking slightly in mid-air.

"How can you not know Chris? He put her in the hospital for like... two weeks. That's when I met her," Akira said slowly, obviously confused.

"No, Tethys is the one who nearly killed Ukyou..." Rose trailed off. Pluto could see it on her partner's face. Doubt. Rose never doubted. She was a steady wind that never faltered.

Pluto turned her gaze fully on the floating boy. She could feel it, at the edge of her consciousness. The answer. But it was like trying to see the lay of the forest from under the canopy... all she could observe was shadows and light. Her throat went dry and her eyes widened.

"Actually, Akira is right," Chris began, his voice had an idle quality to it, like he was relaying an amusing anecdote. "I did in fact fight with Ukyou, and beat her twice. The reason you never saw our confrontations in your scrying or your cards or whatever it is you use to spy on her... is the same reason that Nabiki can not see into my thoughts." He chuckled again. "I'm beyond those types of powers."

It was the word 'beyond' that did it. Pluto suddenly saw it all, like the pieces of a jigsaw spontaneously organising themselves. How had she not sensed it the moment he had appeared? Because she hadn't been looking, she realised dimly. Because she had assumed, for seven years, that Ukyou was the only one. That her power was unique, that her nature was singular... that the only threat to everything that is was her.

She had been wrong.

For a long moment, nothing happened. The reality of Chris, of what he was... of what he MEANT settled around her. The room had gone utterly still. Like time had frozen. Then Rose roared and shot forward.

Of course she had figured it out too. Rose did not have Pluto's ability to sense the tainted power, but she was very smart. Pluto, however, could barely move. Rose's long purple hair flashed behind her as she arced in towards Chris, her shawl shining with light as she summoned all her Soul Power. Akira was stepping forward, reaching for Rose, trying to say something.

It was too late. Chris's body went nova, a wave of purple fire exploding out from him in all directions. The floor, the wall, the ceiling... all of it melted away in a pillar of hellfire. Rose, to her credit, was not caught by the worst of it. She managed to throw herself back at the last second, such that only the edge of the inferno caught her.

It was enough.

Rose's smoking body arced through the air like a marionette without its strings. She smashed into one of the marble pillars with enough force that the facade shattered around her. She fell to the ground in a rain of glittering black shards and did not rise again.

"ROSE!" Pluto shouted and rushed to her. She leaned down and laid a hand on the woman's shoulder. The blast had burned away a good part of her dress, but seemed to have left her skin mostly unharmed. She groaned at Pluto's touch.

"To be fair, she started it," Chris repeated with a sneer.

Akira slid across the floor, assuming a martial stance that put her between Pluto and Chris. "What do you want, Chris?" she growled. Her aura began to seep from her body, a soft blue glow like a tranquil lagoon.

"Relax, Akira. I didn't permanently harm her." He uncrossed his arms and shrugged. "I merely dissuaded her from continuing to attack me."

"Just get to the point," Akira said, her voice deadly soft and cold. Pluto was suddenly struck by her remarkable resemblance to Ukyou. The tone, the inflection had been perfectly alike. Where Akira found the courage to stand up to that monster, Pluto didn't know. Pluto herself was having trouble breathing.

Her world was crashing down around her. Seven years ago she had discovered that there were terrible things in this universe, and now she had just learned there were things worse than a woman who could destroy all creation.

"Well, as it happens, Akira. I suppose I'm here to actually fight you," Chris said with a grin.

"Sorry. I have another battle I have to be at," Akira informed him.

"Ah, but there is an incentive in it for you," Chris pointed out. "If you cooperate with me, I will give you the key to defeating Bison."

"Uh... no?" Akira said. "I don't make deals with the devil."

"It's very rude to call people names, you know," the small child chastised her. "In any case, if you won't take the carrot, there is always the stick: I simply won't let you leave until you do."

Akira paused and looked back at Pluto and Rose. Rose was coming to, moaning and shaking off the mental cobwebs of Chris's attack. The idea of the confrontation must have worried her more than her voice was letting on because Akira was looking very pale, her shoulders slumping slightly. She sighed and turned to face Chris again. "Fine. Let's get this over with then."

Chris paused, then raised his good eyebrow. "Aren't you at least interested in finding out why?" he said, his voice wavering between irritation and amusement.

"Not really," Akira said slowly. "I'm not nearly important enough to be interesting, so why ask?"

"Well, you might be right," Chris conceded, nodding slightly. "But I have a friend who thinks you're very special indeed. And I am quite interested in finding out what it is about you that so fascinates her."

"And I thought they were kidding about that. You really do like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Akira raised a hand and gestured for Chris to approach.

Chris sighed, then he turned on his side, floating in the air with one hand held up towards Akira. The girl's eyes narrowed and she began to circle to the side. Then Chris moved, and for a moment it seemed like there were two of him, and Akira fell back, blocking a strike at her head with her forearm. The image of Chris that had struck at her faded out. Chris smiled and moved in again, once again appearing to be both striking at her and standing still at the same time. Akira moved just a fraction of a second too slow and his blow caught her in the stomach. She flew back into the lobby, crashing down onto the floor.

Akira kicked to her feet almost immediately and this time she didn't appear to want to let him make the first move. She rushed towards him, coming in straight until at the last second she slid sideways. A cloud of dust exploded in her wake and her fist lashed up towards the floating boy... only to have her hand pass harmlessly through his fading image. He appeared behind her in a flash, his elbow striking into her shoulders. Akira cried out and collapsed onto her knees.

"...dear lord..."

Pluto took her eyes off the fight and saw that Rose had recovered. But she was making no attempt to move. Her eyes were focused on the battle. Pluto looked back up, only to see Akira had exploded into a flurry of action. Her body flickered and blurred as she struck, spinning between strikes like a tornado. Chris merely seemed to vanish and shift between blows without them coming near him, and when he grew tired of this he knocked Akira across the room with a deceptively simple-looking push. The woman crashed into the wall with enough force that it impacted in around her.

"That technique..." Rose hissed. "The bastard. He did it."

"Did what?" Pluto asked, unable to take her eyes of the battle. Chris was floating across the room towards Akira, looking for all the world like this was nothing more than a leisurely stroll. Akira, however, was barely rising to her feet. She coughed and Pluto saw blood flecking her lips.

"Can't you see?" Rose asked. "Those techniques. They're Chizuru's."

"Chizuru?" Pluto started. It had been almost seven years since it had happened. Chizuru had been a priestess Rose had recruited shortly before the disaster in England. She had managed to somehow talk Pluto into believing in her duty again, when Pluto had been willing to give in to despair. But they had left her in Tokyo, and she and the Outer Senshi had died.

"Yes..." Rose clenched her fist. "It's so obvious now. That's why she died. She met HIM. And he killed her, to protect his secret. To keep us ignorant of the truth until it was too late." Rose paused. "And it's my fault."

Chizuru... Pluto closed her eyes and took a long breath. "Damn him, this has to stop!" She gently laid down Rose and got to her feet. She may not be as good a fighter as Rose or Akira, but she would fight if she had to.

Chris was hovering over Akira now. The girl was trying to rise to her feet, but she cried out in pain when she tried to put her weight on her leg and toppled. She coughed again. Her face was covered in blood. What was that monster doing to her? Pluto didn't care anymore. She summoned up her magic, forming a ball of purple temporal force on her fingertips, and stepped forward.

"Leave her alone!" she demanded.

Chris glanced over his shoulder at her. "I've barely touched her. Look, I never hit her leg once and she can't even stand on it."

"Just get away from her, you monster!" Pluto shouted, drawing her hands down and levelling the Dead Scream at him.

"Is that your first reaction to everyone you don't like - to try to kill them?" Chris said with a smirk. He floated backward, putting some distance between himself and the injured girl. "That's okay. I've already learned everything I need to know from her. Being Ukyou's friend is so hard on people, isn't it?" He raised one hand and Pluto tensed. "Now, it's time I finished this."

Akira stared up at him, her eyes widening. Pluto moved to stand between him and her. Rose was using the pillar she had crashed into to pull herself to her feet, her eyes cold as steel. Then Chris snapped his fingers.

The only indication Pluto had that something was wrong was when she heard the sickening sound of steel driving through flesh. She spun slowly, and saw Rose standing there. Two feet of blood-drenched metal protruded from where her heart should be. A hand was curled around her lips, muffling her scream. Pluto felt her mouth moving, but no words were coming out. The white-haired figure holding her friend regarded her for a moment.

Angel's dark blue eyes then looked away. The golden glow of the tattoos on the side of her face faded downward, travelling until it reached her hips. Then with a jerk of her arms the young woman tore Rose in two, sending the halves of the body flying across the room. Pluto felt blood hit her face in little droplets.

"ANGEL!" Akira shouted, her voice was... there was no word for it. It was beyond horrified, beyond betrayed... it almost sounded broken.

"NO!" Pluto screamed, someone finding her voice in the wake of Akira. She staggered across the room and knelt down near where Rose's head had fallen. She was gone... Seven years. For seven years Pluto had lived on the edge, abandoning her principles, working for the devil herself and all that time the only friend she had...

"Angel, why?" Akira said. Pluto looked over blankly. Akira had somehow gotten to her feet. She was walking across the blood-drenched floor towards the white-haired assassin. Angel looked at her once, then looked away. Moving swiftly, she walked over to stand behind Chris.

"Allow me to answer for her," Chris said, his voice was full of what was probably supposed to be sympathy but came across as false and mocking. "This is exactly what I promised you. Rose, as you know, is a fragment of Bison's soul, which he expelled many years ago in order to more completely master his psychopower." He gestured toward Rose's body. "With her death, that part of his soul will rejoin him and weaken him considerably." He paused. "Plus, even if you had killed him he could have hijacked her body without her having any chance to resist him, as she is HIS fragment." He looked towards Akira again. "So having prevented his escape and weakened him, I've now made it possible for you to defeat him."

Pluto wasn't certain what happened next. All she could hear was her heart beating in her ears, and feel the rush of power through her limbs. She could see nothing but his smirking, smug little face. She threw everything she had at him, screaming wordlessly. There was a flash of golden light and when she came to, she was lying against the wall, blood flowing down her arm.

Pain drove the rage out of her head and she hissed, slapping a hand over the cut. It was deep, but her Senshi healing abilities could handle it given time. Angel was standing in front of Chris, her sword extended towards Pluto in warning.

"Don't try that again," Angel threatened.

"Hmmm." Chris mused, tapping a finger to his cheek. "Actually, it could be inconvenient if she went back to Tethys." Angel looked back at him, and something passed between them. Pluto realised that he had just signed her death warrant. She grit her teeth and pushed herself up. It couldn't end like this...

A black form seemed to materialise in front of her. It was Akira. Her arms were extended to her sides and blue light flowed from her, flooding the entire room with an intense glow. Angel paused in mid-step.

"I won't let you do it." Akira's voice was cold, emotionless. "If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me first."

For a long moment the two young women stared into each other's eyes. What passed between them, Pluto couldn't say. But she could see the hesitation on Angel's face. Then she glanced back at Chris, barely even that. When she looked back her expression had hardened and she took another step forward, her sword rising up.

"No."

Pluto looked at Chris, startled. The boy was frowning. "That's not a very fair reward for all of her hard work," he explained. "Come, Angel. I said I'd let Akira leave when we were finished. I keep my promises."

Chris floated towards the far end of the lobby. Angel didn't hesitate a moment, simply falling into step behind him. With a flick of her wrist, she cast the blood off her sword. She sheathed it in the same motion and walked out, not looking back once.

Akira followed her with her eyes. Then once the door had closed behind them she turned and knelt beside Pluto. "Are you okay?" Her face was bloody still. It was leaking from her lips, her nose... it came out of her eyes like tears. Pluto stared. She looked so much like...

"I..." Pluto looked at Rose again. "I... no. I'm not." She looked back up at Akira. "But we have to go. We have a mission."

The mission. It was all she had left now.

01010

Bison came down at Ranma like a meteor, trailing a stream of blue light as her body extended out like a torpedo. Ranma slipped backwards, allowing the maniac to smash into the bridge. The thin walkway smashed apart with a resounding crack, sharp pieces of metal and ceramic flying in all directions. Ukyou shook off her disorientation and flashed in front of Nabiki, raising the Silence Glaive and summoning a wall to protect them both.

Ranma landed behind her, looking at the young woman who was now rising from the depths towards them. She frowned. "I thought we were supposed to be fighting Bison. Who is this, some other Doll?"

"That IS Bison, Ranma," Nabiki pointed out.

"Seriously?" Ranma looked down as the woman rose, her arms crossed under her impressive cleavage and her mouth a white flash as she grinned. "Oh man, that's sick."

"Yeah..." Ukyou agreed hollowly.

"I mean, I'm kinda forced to be like this," Ranma said, plucking at her shirt. "What with my curse and all. But to choose it? Ewww."

"I don't think you quite..." Nabiki trailed off. "What happened to your face, Ranma? It looks like someone ran over it with steel wool."

"I don't want to talk about it," Ranma grumbled.

"Enough prattle," Bison growled and gestured. A ball of blue energy formed at her fingertips. She released it towards them with a flick of her wrists. Once again, Ukyou parried the attack.

"Well, I guess that's fair then," Ranma mused. "If I'm stuck as a chick for this fight, he should be too. Even odds and everything."

"Ranma..." Ukyou sighed. "We can't fight Bison. We have to destroy the Psychodrive. Without it... he is powerless."

Bison laughed. "Powerless?" She raised one hand. "How little you remember, my once and future slave." Energy began to crackle along the length of her arm.

"Nabiki, we can only buy you so much time..." Ukyou began.

"What about the others?" Ranma asked.

"Delayed," Nabiki pointed out. She could feel them up above, trying to make their way through the palace. But there was something wrong. She shook off the feeling. It was hard to focus on anything with Bison's immense presence. It took a lot of her power just to keep his will from infecting all of them like a virus. Nabiki wondered if the others even understood the silent battle being waged around them.

Maybe Ukyou did. Maybe.

"I need to get to the heart of it. Any damage we do here will be superficial," Nabiki pointed out.

"It's at the bottom of the chasm," Ukyou said. "But I don't think we can risk taking you there. The two of us are all that's keeping him from attacking."

"No, Ukyou." Bison laughed again. "I want you to make your foolish plans. I want you to hope and pray and cheat to defeat me. I want you to watch all your friends die at my hands, one by one. Only then, in the end, will you understand what it truly means to oppose Bison!"

"Shut up, you bastard!" Ukyou screamed.

Ranma looked at Nabiki a moment, then back at Ukyou. "Do you think you can hold him for a moment?"

"Maybe..." Ukyou took a long breath and then gripped the Silence Glaive with both hands. She set it before her. "AEGIS SILEO!"

Nabiki could feel more than see the barrier slide into place. It was like a pane of thick glass came into being between her and Bison. His presence didn't vanish from her perceptions, merely became weaker... as if she was feeling it from a great distance. Bison smiled but made no move to interfere.

Ranma wasted no time. She grabbed Nabiki and leapt into the chasm without so much as a word. Nabiki shrieked, and clung to her as they plummeted into the void. Ranma ignored Nabiki's protest and angled them so they came towards the nearest wall. Then once they were there, Ranma stuck out her foot, her sole sliding along the length of it for a split second. Then she did it again, and again. Soon Nabiki saw what Ranma was doing; she was running along the side of the wall.

She could only stare wide-eyed as the boy-turned-girl continued her improbable feat. It took Nabiki a few seconds to figure out what she was doing. She was bleeding off their momentum bit by bit. Each step slowed them down a fraction, defying gravity a little more each time.

Up above Nabiki could feel the immense power of Bison's energy suddenly brought to bear. It was like a tsunami crashing against the shore, a blast of power larger than anything Nabiki had thought him capable of. She was thankful that Ukyou's wall was up, because the psionic feedback from that blast would have given her a killer headache. Then Nabiki felt the barrier waver, briefly shifting from something like glass to something like smoke. Finally, the barrier firmed up again.

"Hurry, Ranma!" she hissed.

Ranma nodded. They could see the floor now. It was like something out of a science fiction show about alien landscapes. The floor was covered with odd spiral designs etched out in red light. Strange conical and minaret-shaped things protruded from the walls and floor, arcs of red lightning leaping from tip to tip with electric roars. Ranma set down in a zone of safety hemmed in by a number of the flashing bolts and took a moment to place her on her feet.

"Holy..." Ranma breathed. "Can you feel this, Nabiki?"

Nabiki nodded. She looked around. This was the heart of it, the centre of the beast. She looked at the walls. There were tubes all along the walls, each filled with bright green liquid. Thankfully, there was nothing in any of them.

"Go!" Nabiki snapped.

Ranma nodded and leapt up, easily clearing the lightning-marked walls. She began to run her way back up the wall, gathering momentum against all sense in the same manner she had bled it off on their way down. Nabiki kept a part of her mental 'eye' on him. It wasn't hard, since she was technically here to prevent Bison from using the fragment of psychopower inside Ranma's heart to defeat him. That fragment made it easy to lock onto him. Nabiki ran an impulse through the Oversoul, hardening her willpower around that node of fiery darkness. As a bonus, it should allow her to keep track of the fight while she worked.

Nabiki knelt down and placed her hand on the floor. It was unnecessary. Few people realised how deep the connections between them ran. Once upon a time, Nabiki would have scoffed if someone had told her that they were all connected, all united in a fundamental manner. Not anymore. Now she was frightened of how... intimate the connection there was between each person. Frightened of how fragile the barrier between you and everyone around you, everyone in the entire universe, really was.

But the gesture helped her focus her mind. It gave her comfort, so she did it. She closed her eyes and concentrated. There. She could feel it. The Psychodrive... it was alive, in a perverse sort of way. It didn't feel like a full soul, not a real identity. In the same way, it wasn't dead to her like an actual computer was. Now... this thing was inhabited by a spirit. Something like and unlike Bison at the same time. Had he created it? No... Nabiki did not give him that much credit. Bison did not create. He corrupted. He ruined. He destroyed.

The realisation hit Nabiki so hard she almost lost her concentration. This entire machine, it was another fragment of Bison's spirit. Her eyes snapped open and she stared. It was... just like Rose. Somehow, he had learned to reach into his own soul and divide up portions of it. She could feel it, the knowledge of what he had done, just beneath the surface...

Bison had reached a plateau. He was powerful in the arts of chi, and just psychically aware enough to be able to sense the Oversoul but not to do anything about it. So he had sought to increase his connection to the souls of everything that ever lived... he had personally set about tearing down the barrier of his own psyche, destroying that thin line between 'him' and 'the world'. And he'd succeeded. He had ripped out his own identity and cast it away like one would a coat they had grown too large for.

Except he hadn't been prepared for the consequences. With no barrier between himself and the mass of souls he could use his mastery of chi to manipulate others... but he was losing his own mind, his own identity. It must have worn and worn at him until there was nothing left, nothing left but his overwhelming rage and passion. Bison wasn't a person anymore, he was an impulse, a fading roaring echo of a human being... a ghost full of too much hate and desire to vanish.

This machine wasn't designed to enhance his powers. It was designed to limit them. It kept his soul from growing too diffuse, from spreading too thin. He had been trying to reproduce mechanically what he had denied himself spiritually decades ago...

Nabiki stared down at the machine beneath her hand. It thrummed and hissed with all his rage. Up above, she could feel the fight was not going well. Ranma and Ukyou were fighting Bison, but they were losing. Ranma was fighting at her all, moving as quickly and as skillfully as she knew how. But Nabiki could sense that Ukyou was holding back. The young woman was striking at Bison, but only with the flat of her blade or the blunt end. She was avoiding going for a killing blow.

Nabiki hissed. They didn't have time for this. She closed her eyes, and concentrated again. Nabiki rarely used her telepathy as an attack. It was a delicate instrument. Too much pressure on a person's mind, and they would break like a pane of glass. So even when she was at her most desperate, Nabiki had very rarely ever let out the full force of the abilities she had gained seven years ago.

Her willpower exploded out across the Psychodrive like a physical force. The lights on the ground around her flashed first orange then yellow then a startling green, spreading outward in waves. The lightning changed rhythm, then colour as well. A fraction of a second later, it began to explode. Great geysers of green light, huge blasts of out-of-control lightning, sparkling waves of emerald energy tore apart the surface of the Psychodrive. The machine was much like any piece of electronics: push enough power through the lines and it burnt out. There were safeties and bypasses and circuit breakers, but Nabiki overran those like a wave washing away the walls of a great city. The walls of the chasm above her began to flash green, then great spherical explosions shattered outward from both sides. The blasts stagger-stepped their way up the walls, random and chaotic.

Nabiki realised she was losing control of the process, but had no idea how to stop it. She withdrew her mind from the machine, but it was too late now. The Psychodrive was tearing itself apart, and unless she moved quickly she would be caught in the fallout. Except there was nowhere to go.

Her mind locked on Ranma's. The black-haired martial artist was in mid- air, dodging a blast of energy as large as she was. Ukyou was above her, driving the blunt end of her weapon at Bison's head. Bison grinned and slapped the metal rod away with one hand, then casually unleashed a blast at her with his other. Somehow Ukyou managed to catch the momentum of his swat and spin up and around the blast. She was moving faster than Nabiki had seen her move before. But it wouldn't be good enough.

Then Bison paused, floating back. He looked down the chasm. He could sense it, the destruction. A wave of worry shot through Ranma, then Bison vanished in a flash of blue light.

Nabiki turned around, unsurprised to see the floating form of Bison. She was surveying the devastation, which continued with eerie resilience. All around them the Psychodrive continued to burst and erupt, sending great gouts of red and green and blue light in all directions. Nabiki stepped to the side as blasts of only partially real flames flew through the spot she had been in.

Bison looked at her coldly. "Do you think this does anything more than annoy me?" she asked, suddenly grinning.

"Without this... you'll cease to exist. It's the only thing keeping you alive. Keeping you sane," Nabiki pointed out.

Bison laughed. "Foolish girl. It is the only thing LIMITING my power. Do you realise what you've done?" She held up her hand and Nabiki saw the red lines of the circuitry under her arms and legs begin to glow hotter. "You've only given me more strength to use when I crush you like a bug."

Nabiki swallowed her fear. Bison could sense it. She would feed off it. She needed to remain calm, to remain herself. She reached deep down inside and found her centre, and wrapped the comforting cold shell of her biting cynicism around her heart. She had avoided this exact confrontation for years, but there was no choice now. Ukyou and Ranma were descending at top speed, but had no chance of making it in time. So Nabiki did the only thing she could.

She attacked.

01010

"Foolish girl. It is the only thing LIMITING my power. Do you realise what you've done?" Bison paused and did something, the power around him growing more intense. "You've only given me more strength to use when I crush you like a bug."

Ukyou could just barely see the two of them. She and Ranma were rushing down the chasm of the Psychodrive. Great green globular explosions flashed and burned around them, erupting in their path and forcing them to zigzag between them like some insane ninety degree downhill slalom. Ranma was just edging out Ukyou, even though Ukyou was still drawing on the Third Circle as much as she dared. She still didn't understand why it no longer harmed her like it used to, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It was all that was keeping her in the fight.

Then Aaron sensed it. The build in Nabiki was unmistakable. It was like all the power around her was collapsing into a single point. His eyes widened and he tried to urge Ukyou to go faster, but she was already at her limits. "Ranma! Faster!" he yelled over the sound of an explosion that came up just behind them, one that would have immolated them if they'd been going a single centimeter per second slower.

Ranma nodded and began to pick up the pace, but she couldn't see what was happening. She could probably see Nabiki by now, even with her unenhanced vision. But she couldn't feel the flow of chi and mana as Nabiki gathered up everything she had for her attack. Aaron could, and it frightened him more than a little.

He had heard, of course, that Nabiki had wished to be the most powerful telepath on Earth. He knew she had powers. He could even feel them a little, if he thought to look. But this amount of power... Nabiki had been holding back. Holding back a lot. She was far more than she had even hinted at.

With a wordless scream Nabiki unleashed her mental attack. It wasn't really a shot. Ukyou guessed the world of the mind didn't work that way. There was no aiming or trajectories. The force of the blow struck Bison as instantaneously as if he had been standing right next to her.

Bison reeled back, her back arching and a scream escaping her lips. The pressure of it was rippling through the world around him. The Psychodrive around him imploded, pieces of metal and glass driven inward and crumbling. Nabiki snarled and pushed forward, not letting up for an instant. Ukyou was pretty certain that if it had been anyone else but Bison under the weight of that attack, they would have been reduced to a drooling vegetable.

"Yeah, Nabiki!" Ranma shouted, dodging around another blast. Ukyou continued moving as well, but couldn't bring herself to cheer as well. Bison had not fallen yet.

The sound reached Ukyou a moment later. Bison was... not laughing. It was too pained to be a true laugh. But he was slowly straightening himself. His eyes were glowing intensely blue, and the red lights of his implants was so bright that it looked like his entire body had lit on fire from the inside.

"I must admit... I am impressed, Nabiki Tendo." Bison's voice was strained. "I should have expected this from you." Ukyou narrowed her eyes. They needed more speed. She and Ranma were almost there, just another few seconds...

"Yes. I have followed your career with great interest." Bison chuckled, and this time the laughter came out less strained. But Nabiki hadn't let up in the slightest. If anything, she was intensifying her attack. "Seven years ago, you wished to be the most powerful psychic on earth, and that gave you great power." Bison smiled. "But you forgot one thing, little girl."

Nabiki's eyes widened.

"That... was seven years ago."

Bison roared and stretched out his hand. If what Nabiki had done was like a fuel air explosion of mental assault, Bison unleashed a hydrogen bomb. There was no build up, no real warning, just a sudden force that rippled through the chi of the world so violently that the entire Psychodrive burst into flames. All of it. For a moment, the entire chasm was nothing but a wall of blue flame.

It tore at Ukyou's body, but also at her mind. Her nerves were burning up from the inside out. It was like a hit from Rose's Soul Power but infinitely worse. Aaron reached out with a thought and shut it out, blocking it all out. He could sense Nabiki. She had been lifted off her feet by the explosion.

Ukyou landed behind the woman, grabbing her with one arm. With the other she brought up her glaive and summoned the Silence in a perfect dome around them. The blue flame inside the dome vanished like it had never been, and the rest streamed merrily outside of it. Ukyou knew she couldn't maintain the shield forever.

In theory, the Silence was undefeatable. It was the end of all that is. No power could defeat it. But functionally, it needed a conduit. Ukyou was that conduit, and the longer she maintained her connection, the more the Silence wore at her power. Soon it would run out of chi to devour and begin on her soul, her body...

Ukyou drove those thoughts from her mind. She looked down. Nabiki... oh god. Her eyes were open, but there was nobody there. They were glassy and unfocused. Her mouth was slack and there was blood dribbling from her nose and ears. Her entire body had gone limp. It was like Ukyou was holding a rag doll. Nabiki was breathing, but there was no other sign of life.

The fire outside died down as quickly as it had come, snuffed out by the power of Bison's will. Ukyou allowed her shield to drop and looked up at him. He hovered there in the body he had stolen from her daughter. Ukyou clutched Nabiki tighter. She had... for Ukyou... she had fought for Ukyou and maybe had lost everything...

Ukyou could feel the rage building in her. Bison only smiled. "Good. Rage is good. Give in to it." He laughed. "I warned you, Ukyou. I would kill each of your allies, one by one..."

"Keep talking, asshole!" Ranma screamed, falling on top of Bison from above. Her kick caught Bison in the side of the head, snapping the body-snatcher violently to the side. Bison flew across the room, smashing into the shattered wall. Sparks erupted around him.

Ranma landed and looked at Nabiki. "Oh man, is she all right?"

"I..." Ukyou looked down. "I don't know..."

"Damn..." Ranma turned and started towards Bison, only to suddenly gasp and fall forward onto her knees. Her hand reached up and began to clutch at her heart. Bison slowly floated out of the wall, none the worse for wear, his hand extended towards Ranma. "Ugh... bastard..."

"Ranma!" Ukyou stared. Of course, with Nabiki no longer protecting him...

"Yes, without the witch to shield him, I can do whatever I want to his heart." Bison smirked. "Isn't this familiar, Ukyou? It brings back old memories. Me, threatening to kill him, you swearing to serve me if I just spared his life..."

"Ukyou... don't..." Ranma gasped, her face turning pale.

Bison laughed. "Oh, don't be foolish. I'm not going to use you as a hostage, child." Bison laughed. "I already have the perfect hostage. Ukyou can not bring herself to harm this body. You... you are a footnote. The only purpose you serve is to..."

Ukyou hadn't realised she moved, but suddenly her Glaive was at Bison's throat. Bison looked down at the cold Oblivion tainted steel. He looked unimpressed.

"Let. Him. Go." Her voice was cold with anger.

"No." Bison smiled again. He clenched his fist tighter. Ranma screamed.

"Do it, Ucchan!" Ranma shouted through the pain "You have to... finish him now!"

There was no other choice. Ukyou closed her eyes. She was crying. "May whatever gods are listening... have mercy on my soul..."

Then she opened her eyes and pushed forward. Bison shot backwards, faster than she could follow. His hand released and Ukyou heard Ranma collapse, but she had no time to see how he was. Instead she followed Bison as fast as she could, her glaive flashing through the air. He vanished in a wave of blue light, and a moment later the floor he had been above, the wall behind him... it all unravelled into nothing.

Aaron felt Bison return a moment later. Ukyou was already moving. Suddenly they were synchronising in a way they had never thought possible. The Third Circle flowed through them. Their minds worked together as one. The tension, the barrier that existed between them seemed to dissolve away. There was no hesitation or doubt. What Aaron saw, Ukyou knew. When Ukyou moved, Aaron moved with her.

It had always been this way. How could they have never seen it before?

Bison's arm came up, smashing into the haft of the Silence Glaive and driving it off target. Ukyou instantly reacted, kicking him in the gut. His stolen body smashed backward, sending up a wake of shattered electronics. Ukyou was on him before he finished his flight. Her weapon thrust out at him.

Somehow he moved just that much faster than her. His hands blurred. He was deflecting her glaive not with his arms, but with his aura. Suddenly he vanished. Ukyou pivoted, turning her run into one up the side of the wall. Bison materialised underneath her and her glaive came down at where his head was, already moving before he had even begun to appear. His glowing eyes widened, and he just barely managed to duck. The edge of the weapon cut through the bill of his cap. As Ukyou spun over him the hat broke into two pieces. Long black hair, the same colour as Ukyou's, suddenly cascaded free.

Bison vanished again, appearing above her and unleashing twin blasts of psychokinetic fury. Ukyou parried one, dodged the other. She bounced up the wall, springboarding at him. He vanished. Ukyou twisted in mid-air, drawing her weapon back like a javelin. She released it at empty air. Bison very nearly appeared with the glaive already embedded in his heart.

His body blurred and somehow he caught the weapon just behind the blade with one hand. With a snarl he threw it to the side. Ukyou had already bounced off the other wall and she came at him like a rocket. Her fist slammed into his face, then again into his gut. The third blow was blocked. Then he returned a backhand that nearly split her skull in half. She felt blood trickling down her scalp, but didn't care. The momentum of his blow turned her body into a vicious scything kick that caught him in the midsection.

The air exploded from his lungs and for a moment they hung there. Then they flew apart. Ukyou reached out one hand and pushed off the floor, turning the fall into a cartwheel backwards. Bison flashed into the air in front of her. He was flipping forward, driving his knees towards her. Ukyou's hand slapped out, caught the knee, pushed him backward.

He didn't let up. Bison flickered and faded, appeared and struck, then faded away again. Each time from a different angle, coming in too fast for the human eye to follow. But Ukyou somehow stayed just one step ahead of him. She blocked his strikes, dodged his attempts to grab hold, kept herself from being trapped. Her legs carried her across the floor and up the wall, behind and around pieces of broken machinery.

But it wasn't good enough. Even blocking one of his blows was sending shockwaves of force through her body. Her forearms and shins were bloody and raw from the force of Bison's strikes that she had been forced to absorb with them. It was a miracle she hadn't been smashed in two. She only needed to slip up once...

Bison shouted in pain and flew to the side. Ukyou landed softly, taking deep breaths. She looked and saw Ranma standing next to her. His face was still pale, but he smiled. "Hey. This is my fight too, ya know."

Ukyou smiled, and gestured once. The Silence Glaive appeared in her hands. "Come on then. Let's finish this."

Bison rose to his feet again. His eyes focused on Ukyou and she took a deep breath. Then the unexpected happened... Bison started screaming.

01010

Ranma wasn't certain why the pervert man-turned-woman had started shouting, but he didn't much care. She was kneeling on the floor, clutching her head and shaking it back and forth. The light of her tattoos had faded. He shifted forward, ready to start running in to finish the job. Much as he hated to admit it, he did not want to take on Bison again when the bastard had her full faculties. His heart still hurt.

But even as he was about to attack he felt Ukyou clamp down on his shoulder. Hard. He looked back, blinking. "Ucchan?"

"Something's wrong..." she breathed.

"Well, yeah, with her." Ranma rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "Let's go make certain it STAYS that way, okay?"

"No... not with him..." Ukyou's eyes were unfocused, like she was looking through Bison. "His aura... it's changed. Like something has... something has..."

"What?"

"Oh dear god..." Ukyou's eyes widened. "Rose."

"Rose?" Ranma frowned. What did she have to do with this?

"I can feel her... her spirit... it's... it's inside him!"

"Rose... inside him..." Ranma frowned. "But wait, wouldn't that mean..."

"She's dead... somebody killed her..." Ukyou looked down. "Oh god, not her too. First Nabiki, now this..."

Ranma jerked away from Ukyou. He looked at Bison's new body. He clenched his fist. He had to end this. Ranma burst across the shattered floor of the Psychodrive. Arcs and fountains of red and blue light still erupted here and there, so he had to slalom to reach her.

"Ranma! Stop!" Ukyou shouted.

Ranma didn't listen to her. He came in quick. He had to reach Bison before she recovered. Ranma's face was grim. He hadn't killed many human beings in his years, but Bison wasn't enough to qualify for a human. If Ukyou couldn't bring herself to do it, he would.

Nobody else was going to die today. Not on his watch.

Never again.

Ranma screamed and put all his power behind his blow, striking at the screaming woman's head. A hand appeared in front of his fist, catching it. He blinked. How had Bison moved that fast? The delicate-looking hand had caught his blow like it was nothing. Bison was still kneeling on the ground, one hand clutching her head. But her eyes were looking up at Ranma. They were filled with...

Amusement?

"Oh, Ukyou... I never guessed you had it in you..." Bison chuckled. "Such a beautiful plan. Attack me with my one weakness, my other half." Bison rose to her feet, carrying Ranma's hand still. He tried to pull it free, but her grip was unyielding. "But while that may have weakened me... you forgot what I did to myself." The red lights on her body began to flicker and come back to life. "I implanted the Psychodrive in my own body. It is more than powerful enough... to prevent that woman's soul... from infecting me with her weakness!"

There was a flash of blue light and Ranma was suddenly flying backward. The nerves in his hand felt like someone had injected salt into them, but he ignored that. He twisted in mid-air and landed somewhat shakily on his feet. He shook his hand, clearing away the pain with a wave of chi.

Wait a minute...

"You mean... she's still there?" Ukyou asked, horrified.

"Oh yes." Bison smiled. "Her soul is trapped in the implants. While you've weakened me a little, it is not nearly enough. Soon, the implants will tear her spirit to shreds." She chuckled. "Then, I will be back to my full power!" Bison held up her hand. "Now, Ukyou... I will finish this!"

A ball of light appeared in her hands. Ranma tensed, ready to leap. Ukyou raised her glaive.

"DEAD SCREAM!"

Bison shouted in pain again, stumbling away from a blast of purple light. She snarled and spun. Two figures were landing among the twisted wreckage. It was Pluto and Akira.

Neither Rose nor Angel was with them.

Ranma didn't waste time wondering why. He attacked. Bison sensed his approach and vanished. Ranma grunted and dived, just as the bastard appeared above him and tried to cave in Ranma's skull with her boot. She just missed and Ranma rolled to a stop.

He came at Bison again, but this time Ranma was joined by a black-clad figure. Akira shouted and came in high, driving her body three-sixty in a series of spinning kicks. Ranma came in low, pivoting his waist and driving his arm at Bison's stomach. Bison blocked both their attacks. She pushed with her forearm, sending Akira flipping away. Ranma was able to slide sideways before Bison could do the same to him.

A ball of purple light streaked through the air where he had been. Bison's palm came down and a flash of blue energy exploded against the incoming orb, tearing it apart. Ranma managed to drive a kick through the opening, hitting Bison in the back of the knee. She grunted and her arm blurred as she backhanded him. Ranma took it full in the face and was sent flying backwards, stars dancing across his vision.

"Akira!"

Ranma managed to clear his eyes in time to see Ukyou dive, tackling Akira out of the way as Bison tried to smash her hand through the woman's chest. Akira grunted as Ukyou took her to the floor. She didn't look good. Actually, she looked like she'd been through a meat-grinder. Ukyou, however, had left herself wide open and Bison was about to capitalise. Ranma started forward, but knew he was too slow to get there in time.

Another ball of light caught Bison's attention, keeping her from following up on the opening Ukyou had left her. She snorted and vanished, suddenly appearing behind Pluto. She tried to spin to catch her, but Bison's hand reached out and snagged her wrist. Bison rose into the air, dragging Pluto with her. Pluto somehow twisted in the grip, driving her knee up into Bison's back. Bison just growled and, with deliberate slowness, shattered her wrist. Pluto screamed, but Bison wasn't finished. With a wave of her free hand the psychopath unleashed a ball of power into Pluto's abdomen at point blank range.

The blast tore through the air, carrying Pluto in front of it. She had stopped screaming, but when that thing hit something... Ranma leapt. His hands snaked out, grabbing her shoulders. Flipping in mid-air he tore her off the ball and they both continued forward. The rescue had been hasty, however, and Ranma was unable to keep them both from slamming into the wall at high speed. Still, from the sound of the explosion, that was better than the first option.

Debris rained down onto them all as Ranma slowly climbed to his feet. His back hurt from where he had crashed into the wall, but he channelled some chi to start healing that. Pluto was, amazingly, also getting to her feet. Her expression was... Ranma had seen the Dolls look like that, while fighting them. It was mechanical, like she was just going through the motions of fighting.

Bison was laughing at them again, floating across the room and gesturing for them to come forward. Ukyou was kneeling over Akira, who was coughing and shuddering. Ukyou looked up at Ranma.

"Ranma... Bison can still hurt you, in the heart." She stood up, and her weapon vanished as she released it. "Pluto, go find Nabiki. Keep her safe. Ranma, stay with Akira. I have one last card to play. "

"Ucchan..."

Ukyou was walking towards Bison now. Ranma could see her aura. It was white, the silvery white of fallen snow. He could feel the cold air rolling off her in waves. It was a welcome relief. This entire room was filled with so much hot energy that it was practically stifling. Ukyou paused once she was halfway to Bison. Then she began to circle softly around him, looking for openings.

Bison chuckled, easily rotating in mid-air to keep her in view. "Oh please, Ukyou. You already know you can't defeat me alone."

"Maybe not. But I have to try."

"Can you really go all out against your own flesh and blood?" Bison chuckled again. Ukyou was still circling her, but she was also coming closer with each step now, spiralling inward towards the maniac. "Why resist the inevitable? You know I love you. What need do you have for these people? Nabiki? She took the Wishing Sword from you, manipulated you... freed your mind from me only for her own purposes. Rose? How often did she try to kill you? She still works for Tethys, one of your deadliest enemies. How can you trust her?" Ukyou continued to close, her expression implacable. "Why fight for these people? They aren't your friends. Only I am your friend, Ukyou... mother..."

Ranma had gotten to Akira now. Pluto had come over to him, carrying Nabiki. She didn't look good. Why had Ukyou insisted they hold onto the two injured people... she wasn't planning anything stupid, was she?

He paused. Spiralling. Cold. Hot.

"OH SHIT!" Ranma shouted. "Grab the floor!"

Ranma sprawled himself over Akira, sinking his fingers into the jagged metal remains of the Psychodrive. Pluto glanced at him once, then did the same with Nabiki.

At that point, Ukyou reached Bison. She smirked up at her false daughter as she took one step towards her, then almost lazily raised her arm.

"Hiryuushotenha," she whispered.

Then all hell broke loose.

01010

The city that had once been known as Bangkok was no stranger to rain. During the monsoon season, the rain would sometimes come down so thick a man could probably drown just by looking up and opening his mouth. But the rain that had come down over the city today went beyond just a monsoon. The clouds boiled and spun over the city for hours, gathering and looming with deep menace. Lightning crashed through them, sharp brilliant flashes along the underside of the cloud cover with simultaneous booms and roars so loud that the windows of high rise buildings shattered in their wake. Bolts of incandescent light appeared without warning, connecting heaven and earth like dragon's tongues, blasting into the structure of the city.

Fires spread. Waves crashed into the docks with enough force to shatter anything not pulled out of the water. Everyone in the city could sense it, and they all knew to be afraid. Most of the city was deserted by the time the worst of it came. The only road out had been destroyed and the docks were impassable, but there were other places to go. Thick basements and tunnels beneath the cities, old bomb shelters and smuggler's dens packed to the gills with people. Only fools and madmen dared stand out on the street tonight.

Then, for a single instant, the storm died. The rain petered out, the thunder stopped rolling, the lightning ceased flashing. For a pristine few seconds, there was peace in Bisonopolis.

It began as a single crack, a loud metallic popping sound as a thin line traced its way up the side of the giant statue of himself Lord Bison had built his palace within. Then another came, and another. Each report of cracking metal echoed across the city, and those who were out to hear it looked over towards the place with worry on their faces.

A great howl rose within the city. An angry shrieking keen that seemed to rise out of the very stones itself, gathering strength with each passing moments. The palace of Bison shuddered, looking like the kneeling man was shaking with anger. Loud cracks, pops and roars emerged from the statue. A giant metal plate, forged into the shape of a fingernail, snapped off the palace. It didn't fall; instead, it blasted across the city as if shot from a gun. A high-rise that stood in its way disintegrated a moment after the giant metal fingernail tore a hole the size of a fishing trawler through its centre. There was a terrible shriek and another piece of metal ripped free from the palace, flying downward so fast it ricocheted off the pavement of a street, tearing a hole in it, before bouncing up and into a bank. The bank went up like a fountain, great geysers of glass and shattered steel flying into the sky.

Then the entire palace exploded.

It was torn apart from the inside out. A cyclone, a tornado larger than anyone had ever seen, rose into the sky like the finger of some dark and terrible god. The clouds began to swirl, caught in the awful energy of that rising behemoth. Wreckage and debris of the palace, some of it as large as football fields, swirled around and up the column of dark wind. Every building near the statue was either torn apart by the explosions, or literally uprooted from its foundations by the funnel of wind. Entire city blocks vanished from the earth as the mother of all tornados raged in the centre of the city.

Lightning began to crash down again, creating an eerie orchestra of destruction around the centre of the storm. The bolts came down faster and faster as the swirl of the clouds overhead picked up more and more speed. It was a deadly cascade of power, tearing apart the tops of every building in the city. In the shelters and the basements people screamed and held each other and wondered if this was the end of the world.

A light rose up through the centre of the funnel. A brilliant blue star, a spark of light so intense it was impossible to look at it directly. It rose up and up until it hovered almost a kilometer over the city, forming the exact centre of the spinning maelstrom. Then it seemed, for one terrible instant, that over the shriek of the storm, the grinding destruction of the buildings, the thunderous cracks of the cascading lightning, that everyone in the city heard a peal of insane laughter.

Then another light rose up through the centre of the storm, and for a moment they hovered near each other. Then the final battle began.

01010

Ukyou cracked open one eye. She hurt, everywhere. But she had been hurt worse and still kept fighting. Still, that had been remarkably stupid. She shifted a pile of debris off of herself. Only then did she become aware of where she was.

It couldn't really be called the palace anymore. She was on the edge of a great pit dug into the earth, an empty void that went almost thirty stories straight down. The mangled remains of the subbasements of Bison's fortress sparked and shuddered. She looked around. She was on a plateau that had been carved above the wound in the earth. It was a few dozen meters wide, covered in giant plates and pieces of debris. Instead of ending with another dropoff or something natural, the plateau was cut off from the outside world by a wall of wind. It swirled around the opening, a tornado near a hundred meters across, and they were in its eye.

Ukyou closed her eyes and allowed Aaron to search for the others. She found them... and none were in good shape. Unlike herself, they had not been mostly protected at the centre of the blast. Cursing, Ukyou dashed across the plateau, circling it. She first came to Akira. Ukyou drew out the glaive and cut a large piece of debris off her. Then leaned down and checked her pulse. She was alive, but weak. Her heart was steady.

Ukyou looked over and saw Sailor Pluto across the pit. The woman was draped under a piece of Bison's statue that had fallen to the earth. Blood ran down her temple and she wasn't moving, but Ukyou could sense her life force. Near the woman was Nabiki. She lay beside Pluto, pushed just out of the path of the incoming debris. Nabiki too was alive, but still out of it.

Then Ukyou sensed him. She looked up. Bison was there, floating above the centre of the pit. He was in the exact centre of the whirlwind. His aura was like a living star, swirling around him so fast it looked like it would tear apart any second. But it didn't. Bison was holding on by sheer will. By sheer rage. The power he had wasn't human, wasn't natural. He was feeding the cyclone, the cycle of the Hiryuushotenha tearing up his energy and twisting it around and around to form the funnel. His power was raging out of control, destroying the entire city.

Oh god, what had she done? If he didn't stop, thousands of innocents would die. Would? Had. She felt a sick cold lump settle in her stomach. Her mouth went dry. She had never imagined the devastation would be so great.

And Bison was laughing.

His stolen body was leaning back, his arms spread out like he was hanging on a cross. His head was thrown back and he was laughing, a sound so empty of human kindness that it sunk into that cold pit in Ukyou's stomach and settled in nicely. He wasn't just feeding the storm, he was exulting in it. He was a part of it.

"Now do you see, Ukyou?" Bison shouted. He leaned forward, looking down at the figure far below. "Now do you see what I am? Nothing you can do can stop me!" He reached down, and a ball of energy gathered on his fingertips. "You gathered allies to your cause, and I brushed them aside!" He released the ball of light, and Ukyou tensed... but she wasn't the target. It was Pluto and Nabiki. Ukyou gave a wordless scream, and leapt.

She wasn't certain how she made it, but she did. Instead of Pluto and Nabiki taking the blast full-force, she did instead. The ball exploded around her, cocooning her in a azure sea of pain. When it faded she fell flat on her face, coughing. She could barely move.

"You defeated my servants! You destroyed my palace! You shattered my Psychodrive! You struck at me with powers beyond human ken! You wielded the forces of time, and thought and will and skill and even the end of all things against me! You turned the very elements against me! BUT I STILL STAND!"

Bison laughed. Ukyou groaned and slid onto her chest. He was glaring down at her. His blue eyes gleamed like miniature stars. He was mad. He was completely insane. Whatever fragile hold on reality Bison had, it was gone now.

"You thought you could defeat me, simply because you are the Chosen One. But you forgot the one thing that you could never overcome. I am power! I am will! I cannot be denied! I... I AM BISON!"

"Yeah, that's right."

Ukyou looked over the pit. There stood Ranma. He stood tall and proud, his black pigtail flashing over his shoulder. At some point, he had returned to male form. His body was covered in scratches, his clothes nearly torn to shreds. He looked up at Bison. A brilliant blue aura flowed around Ranma. It was calm to Bison's storm. It was peace to Bison's rage.

"Sure, you are Bison. But I... I'm Ranma Saotome." Ranma smirked. The same cocky smirk he'd had since Ukyou had fallen in love with him almost seventeen years ago.

"And in case you haven't heard, I'm the best there is."

Ranma didn't so much leap as shot into the air like an arrow. He somehow caught the current of the tornado and flashed through the air, fist-first. Bison was so stunned by his sudden move that he didn't move until it was too late. Ranma's fist smashed into the megalomaniac's face so hard that Ukyou could see the shape of his skull deform slightly before bouncing back to place. Bison shot into the air, his body laid out.

Then he stopped, throwing his hand behind himself. Bison snarled, and gestured at Ranma. Ranma just floated below him, somehow riding the wind. Riding it like he was born flying. A look of confusion passed across Bison's stolen features. Ranma smiled.

"Not going to work." Ranma chuckled. "I discovered it. The secret to beating your Psychopower. You got no power over me anymore." Bison's eyes widened. "Now it's just you... and me!"

01010

Ranma and Bison met in mid-air in a flash of limbs. In a few seconds, a hundred blows were exchanged. Ranma came in with everything he had. His arms and legs and body swirled and flashed, switching from move to move faster than any human eye could hope to follow. Bison responded with slightly less speed, but far more raw power. Her body flickered and flashed, vanishing and appearing again over and over. The teleports were short: nothing more than a fraction of an inch each time, but enough to avoid the worst of Ranma's blows. The rest were caught with blocks that came in almost too fast for Ranma to perceive. And she returned as good as she got. Her hands and knees, feet and elbows crashed into and around Ranma's defences.

The air around them was alive with power. Their auras warped and shifted, sparks of blue lightning erupting where they touched. Two blue fields, expanding outward with each blow. They refused to mix, like oil and water. And that was the key.

Ranma realised he should have seen it sooner. Bison was like a raging inferno. She was power beyond human comprehension. If you stood in the way of the inferno, all you did was become fuel for the blaze. And that was how Bison's power worked.

It was an infection. It spread into your chi. It burned its way into your soul. Like a fire climbing a great oak, it turned your own strength against you. Bison ignited your own spirit, and used the flames of your burning soul to feed her endless hunger. She was no god. She was just a person. A person feasting off of stolen power, power gathered from each of her servants, each of her allies and all the people who lived in her world.

There was no way for an ordinary man to fight Bison. No matter how strong you became, she only fed off your rage and passion and became stronger still. When Ukyou had gone all-out below, shifting to a speed and strength Ranma hadn't believed her capable of, Bison had just fed off her spirit and gotten stronger still. You could never defeat Bison by trying to outpower her. There was no ordinary solution.

But Ranma was no ordinary man. He was a prodigy. He was the best there was. Seven years ago, this man had beaten him. He had stood between Ranma and helping his friends. He had used Ranma's weakness as a weapon against the people Ranma had been trying to protect.

But Ranma had grown. Seven years. Seven years of training, fighting battle after battle. Challenging every opponent he could find. Fighting monsters and maniacs and things from other worlds had taught Ranma in a way that nothing else could. It had given him a command over himself, over his own spirit, that few other people in the world could claim.

And that was where Ranma would defeat Bison. Not here, in this exchange of blows, but inside his own spirit. Ranma couldn't believe he had been so blind. Bison was a thing you had to resist inside of you. She was every darker impulse, every evil thought you'd ever had. To defeat Bison, you had to master yourself.

Suddenly they broke apart. Bison flickered, teleporting higher into the storm. Her expression was confused, her eyes full of... fear. Yes. Ranma thought it was fear. He smirked and allowed himself to ride the cradle of the wind for a few moments. He brought up one hand and gestured for Bison to come at him again, if she dared.

Ranma could feel Bison trying to get at him. She was trying to draw strength from Ranma. But it wouldn't work. Not this time. Ranma had discovered the secret to holding out his power. It was simple, the one thing that Bison could never understand. Not coldness, to oppose her fire. But openness. Acceptance. The embrace of all life.

The very soul of water. Because no matter how hot the fire grew, water did not burn.

Ranma smiled, floating leisurely while Bison tried to decide what to do. He reflected that seven years ago he could have never done this. Not just because he lacked the training, but because he lacked the wisdom. Seven years ago he had been full of rage, of driving passion. After Ran's death, he had wanted so badly just to hurt the darkness, to smash it in the face and make it feel like he had felt.

It had taken Minako to teach him the error of his ways. Ironically, by her bad example at first. Her obsession with revenge, and the pain it had caused her, had opened his eyes. Then, when they had begun to travel together, he had seen her coming out of that shell of bitterness. While the wounds of her parents' death would never go away, she had slowly begun to move on.

It was a wonder to watch her. She was surrounded by evil every day. She was immersed in it. She and Ranma had fought things that made them sick just to think about. They had seen bad things happen, some so bad that Ranma sometimes wished he had never been there. But always, somehow always she found a way to go on. She laughed, she cried and she smiled at him. Minako embraced life in a way Ranma never had. She lived every minute to the fullest. She bathed in the light of the sun, laughed over ice cream sundaes, sung so badly but with such passion that you had to admire her... and made love with him in a way that was so open, so accepting that Ranma sometimes wondered at it.

From her, Ranma had learned how it was you fought evil. You didn't dwell on it. You didn't let it consume you. You lived every free moment as if the world was not full of darkness and despair. You lived every free lunch, every shared laugh, every stolen kiss as if it was the single greatest you had ever had. And that was the feeling Ranma embraced now. That utter tranquillity of knowing that no matter how horrible things were, he would laugh again.

Bison roared. She had finally gotten sick of trying to penetrate his aura, and she came at him again. The woman vanished in a hiss of blue sparks and appeared right next to him. Ranma just barely managed to get his forearm up in time, and took her kick head-on. The force of it sent Ranma flying back like a bullet. He pierced the wall of the cyclone and was suddenly out over the city proper.

The wind wasn't here to carry Ranma, so he twisted and landed on top of a building whose top floors had been shorn away. Then the side of the cyclone exploded outward and Bison came at him. Ranma was ready.

She came in feet-first, her kick smashing a crater into the floor. Ranma tumbled over her. The floor of the building exploded outward in a wave, glass and steel and concrete erupting all around them. Ranma caught Bison's shoulders and twisted, spinning her quickly. Then he slammed his foot into her face.

The blow sent her flying across open air until she hit the side of a building. The glass shattered around her. A wordless, primal roar of madness erupted from Bison's throat and she unleashed a ball of Psychopower at him. Ranma smirked and made no attempt to dodge. He leapt straight at it, straight through it. The power slid around Ranma's aura like a stream of water dribbling around a glass ball. Bison's eyes widened as Ranma came in, and slugged her in the gut with all his strength.

For a moment, Bison hung there, Ranma's fist in her stomach. Ranma could see the shape of his hand distorting the back of Bison for a moment as the force of the attack went through her entire body. Blood coughed from her lips. Then Ranma drew down his hand and his leg snapped up, cracking like thunder. It caught Bison in the chin and the woman flew up the side of the building. She was still partially inside, and she carved a line straight up the side of the skyscraper. Her head tore through nearly fifteen stories of metal and glass before she was ejected from the top.

Ranma was a step behind her. He ran up the side of the building, each step catching on the floor of the next story up. Bison recovered before Ranma could reach her and twisted, her entire body snapping out as she drove her knees at him. Ranma spiralled sideways, his body arcing just around the attack. Then his momentum shifted into a vicious backhand that caught Bison on the back of the head and sent her smashing into the roof of the building like a comet. The top of the building imploded around her.

Ranma landed gingerly on the side of the roof. A great ball of blue light erupted around Bison and the shattered roof exploded in all directions. Ranma's hands blurred in front of him, smashing apart pieces of debris as it flew towards him. Bison hovered over the caved-in roof for a moment, breathing heavily. Then she smiled and raised her hand.

Bits and pieces of jagged metal and glass began to rise into the air all around her. They slowly began to spin, gaining momentum quickly until they were nothing more than buzzing blurs. Then with a cry she gestured at Ranma and unleashed her makeshift projectiles. Ranma ran forward, straight into the centre of the attack. He ducked and weaved, blades cut shreds from his clothes. Finally he arced to the side and flipped, somehow fitting his body between a dozen projectiles.

Bison hissed and vanished, appearing on the next building over. Ranma only smirked and followed her. "Running away? I thought you were power. I thought you could not be denied. I thought you were Bison!"

Bison screamed wordlessly, and brought up both hands again even as she floated higher and higher. Ranma paused as he heard an awful screeching sound. He saw it first out of the corner of his eye. One building began to shudder, then another. He looked on in awe as the top twenty stories of a nearby office building ripped free of the rest. A shower of material drifted underneath it. Bison roared again and with a gesture the entire twenty stories crashed through the air and into the building Ranma was on.

Ranma leapt, pushing off the incoming building with one foot and backflipping across the four lane street to the next building down. The collision of the two buildings had turned them into a waterfall of debris, great grey showers flowing off in all directions like some sick flower blooming. Then Bison gestured again and a second building lifted up, fifteen stories or so this time. She chuckled and gestured, sending it hurtling in towards Ranma.

Ranma took a deep breath. He had to make this count. Centering himself one final time, he yelled and launched himself directly at it. His fist crashed through a window and Ranma found himself in an office. The entire thing was spinning quickly, end over end. Ranma ran, his feet sure on the floor, or ceiling or walls or whatever it was that was down at that moment. He wove between the hurtling furniture. His body crashed through the door and into the hallway, a straight sprint to the other side of the building. He was halfway through when he heard the building smash into the one he had been on. It was a roar and crash like nothing Ranma had ever heard.

Must go faster. Must go faster.

Ranma turned a corner, sprinting for all he was worth. There, up ahead, he saw a window. Beyond it he could see the blue nova of Bison's aura. Even over the collapsing building behind him, Ranma could hear her laughter. She assumed she had gotten him. She assumed she had won. Ranma smiled. Her guard was down.

He concentrated, gathering every drop of the Soul of Water into his fist. He would only get one shot, but it was all he would need. He hit the glass with his shoulder and it exploded out around him. He rose through the centre of the swirling glass, the multifaceted shower refracting the glow of their auras into a rainbow of hues. Bison had just enough time to stare at him.

Then Ranma struck her in the face. Her body rocked back, her limbs snapping straight out. The light in her eyes flickered once, twice... then went out. She had brown eyes. Then they rolled closed and her entire body went slack. Ranma crowed in joy.

It was over. They had won.

01010

Minako held the dress up in front of her. The top was a blazing hot pink which faded slowly to white at the tip of the skirt. A line of yellow stars started at the right hip and worked its way up to the left shoulder before exploding into a dazzling burst of glitter. She turned slightly, trying to picture herself in the garment. The mirror image turned with her, but the mirror Minako frowned.

She sighed and put the dress in the large pile of rejects. She turned to the single item in the pile of 'maybes' that she had picked out so far. A seafoam green and blue number with a ankle-length skirt slit up the right side and a matching pearl handbag. Minako was pretty certain she would look stunning in it. She was also pretty certain she wouldn't end up buying it.

Normally around this point Ranma would start complaining about how she wouldn't just get on with it, already. She smiled slightly. Dragging Ranma clothes shopping was sort of a sport. First, you had to appeal to his masculine ego. The suggestion that he would leave his poor, hapless girlfriend undefended in a public place where Chronos agents could spot her usually did the trick. Then you had to embarrass said masculine ego. Buttering up how much Ranma would look like a kind, sensitive man helping his girlfriend shop usually worked for that. At this point, Ranma would insist on coming along, but in his female form because 'he wasn't going to do that girly stuff as a guy'. Then, when he least expected it you hit his female ego, suggesting that Ranma could not possibly look as good in a certain outfit as Minako herself did. Arousing Ranma's competitive spirit could get him to do anything: even try on dresses.

Minako giggled slightly to herself. Really, Ranma was the perfect boyfriend. Able to be manly and gruff and macho when you wanted him to and yet you could also take him out clothes shopping like a regular female friend. Not that Minako 'liked' his female side. She just found his own stubborn rejection of it, despite having grown increasingly used to it over the years, endlessly hilarious.

She sighed and slumped against the mirror.

God, she missed him.

"Minako, are you okay?"

"Artemis?" She looked down at her pet moon-kitty and smiled. She leaned down and began to stroke his back. Artemis arched his back a little, absorbing the pampering like all good cats did. "I'm fine. I just miss Ranma."

"He'll be back soon," Artemis said. "He should be in Bisonopolis by now. Then..."

"Then he'll fight Bison." Minako frowned and pulled her hand away. "Just like last time."

"Minako, it won't be like last time."

"You don't know that," Minako said thickly. "Bison took Ranma apart the last time they fought. He toyed with him like he was nothing."

"Ranma's much better now," Artemis soothed.

"I hope so." Minako bit her lip. "It's just... I'm so used to being there with him, to help." She looked down at her chest. "My wound is almost gone. I could have gone along with the group and still helped."

Artemis nodded deeply... then leapt up and tapped her in the stomach. Minako cried out and fell back against the mirror. The cat landed and glanced up at her. She held herself against the mirror for a moment, taking deep breaths.

"Okay. Point."

"Minako, you almost died. Heck... it's a miracle you're alive." Artemis walked over and rubbed against her ankle. "Don't worry about Ranma. He has the others there with him."

"That's what I'm worried about..." Minako muttered.

"Oh?" Artemis looked at her. "Scared that Ukyou is going to try and make a move for him?"

"She better not! Or weird otherworldly powers or not..."

Artemis laughed. "That's my girl. You don't look good brooding." He winked. "Angry, however, you can pull off."

"Well, you see this..." she pointed to her face. "This is my indignant face. What do you think about that?" Artemis only chuckled.

Then suddenly he stopped, and looked around sharply. Minako stiffened and reached out, clasping her transformation wand. "What is it?"

"I don't know... it's like... did you feel that?"

"I..." Minako paused. Then she saw him. It was a S.T.A.R.S. agent, and he was looking for something. Minako suddenly felt something. It was... an overwhelming need to go talk to the young man. It wasn't that he was cute, or particularly interesting. He just seemed very, very important. Minako found herself walking towards him even before she was aware she was doing so.

"Hello, are you looking for someone?" she asked, once she was close to him.

"Oh, sorry, Miss. Do you work here?" the agent said, still looking around.

"No."

He blinked at that, but shrugged. "I'm looking for a girl that was supposed to be here. A Minako Aino. But... I can't see anyone here that looks like her."

Minako raised an eyebrow. "You have a picture?"

The man reached into a pocket and withdrew a picture. Minako chuckled. It was her, still in her golden champion armour. She had taken off the facemask and was smiling for the camera, making a V-sign with her fingers. She remembered when they had taken that picture. "Wow. This was like... four years ago. Still using outdated pictures, I see."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm Minako Aino," she explained to him. He blinked again. She decided not to worry him too much. "It's a part of my transformation. Most people only see me as V. When I'm in my civilian form, they can't recognize me."

"Oh..." He shrugged. "Okay. I have a letter for you."

"A letter?" Minako watched as he pulled out a letter from his pocket. "Something so important it couldn't wait?" Then she paused. Oh god... what if it was about Ranma? What if he had...

He handed the letter to her and Minako stared at it. Then she felt relief flood her system. The letter was from Japan.

"Doc Tofu thought it was real important. You see, we have no idea where it came from."

"It's postmarked Japan."

"Yeah, but we don't exactly get regular mail from Japan anymore. Plus, nobody remembers delivering it. It just... showed up in the mail room this morning. Doc Tofu thought you should have a look at it. He checked it with every technique he knows and said it wasn't dangerous."

"Thanks..." Minako murmured. She broke the seal... really, who used a wax seal on envelopes anymore? And a rose to boot. The letter inside was on pink paper, and it was very simple.

"Sailor Venus,

Your presence is requested immediately to discuss the current crisis.

Sincerely,

Her Royal Highness Princess Serenity the Second."

Minako mouthed the words to herself again. Her hands were shaking. What did this mean? The princess? The moon princess was finally contacting her... but she hadn't been heard from in seven years! Why now? Why now of all times?

She had to wait here for Ranma to return... except. Except it was a summons, an official summons. Some instinct Minako hadn't even realised she had told her that she could not disobey. She folded the letter carefully.

"Thank you," she told the agent. Then she went to find Artemis. It was time to leave, Ranma or no Ranma.

01010

The witch opened her eyes. Immediately the flames licked across her eyeballs, causing the juices inside to sizzle and pop. Her flesh had long since melted off her bones.

"She's coming," the witch informed her brother.

He smiled, looking out across the night sky. They were within the tower, but the windows were open. The projection of the heavens onto the ceiling was so flawless that it was impossible to tell where the illusion ended and the reality of the sky began.

"Good. I'll go inform her highness."

The witch watched her brother leave the room. She knew he was growing impatient, but this was a dangerous game. The forces he was toying with were powerful. But... seven years, and still nothing. The Rose Gate still stood.

The witch walked over to the balcony and looked down into the garden. Somewhere, down there, the princess awaited word. Even this far away, the witch could feel her. She was so full of purity and joy. The witch hated her. She had forgotten how much she could hate someone. Seven years was nothing more than a blink of the eye to one such as her. How had this fair-haired damsel managed to get under her skin so quickly, made her... feel in a way that nobody else did?

It was the promises. The princess never looked at her with sad eyes. The princess never looked at her with pity. She had seen what the witch had become, the torments she endured as a result of her great sin, and she did not pity her. Because she believed she could end it.

What a foolish thought. The swords of hatred would impale her forever...

She turned around. There was a girl there. She was slight, with short white hair and exotically tanned skin. There was a strange symbol on her forehead, and she wore a tight white uniform with large jewels embedded in the gauntlets, boots and shoulders. She was also holding a sword. No... one of The Swords.

"Suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," the strange girl said, and as she moved around the witch the sword changed forms, becoming a arrow and a line of flame and a barb of ice. "Always caught between be and not be. It must hurt a lot, to be so incapable of deciding your own destiny."

The witch opened her mouth to reply, but found no words sufficient, so she closed her mouth again.

"Is this the fate of all fetich souls?" the girl asked. "Better to burn in hell so he may rule in heaven. Such a broken cycle. I much prefer my dear counterpart. You are a flaw that has never decided to be mended. Does not this endless torment annoy you?"

"I... yes. It rather does," the witch responded. She hadn't meant to say the words, but she found that she meant them when she said them.

The girl laughed, a sound that managed to do one thing that nothing else had done since the dawn of time: it made the witch feel fear. "So the morning star believes that he can climb back into heaven if only his princess can shatter her last ties." The girl vanished and appeared sitting atop the giant mechanical sphere of the illusion machine. She ran the edge of the sword along the edge, creating a metallic shriek. "There are so many ways this could end. You only see the ones where it ends in disaster. But you do not see the ones where it does not. You have despair, but not hope. So you can never be my sister, even by proxy. It's too bad that this could end in so many ways. Otherwise, you might have won."

"The world is full of infinite possibilities" the witch whispered. "In one, we shall succeed."

"And in many others you will fail." The girl smiled, and her eyes narrowed. It was the smile of a cat with a mouse under its paw. "You are like a puppetmaster, pulling strings on so many dolls. But you are so busy worrying about the movements of puppets, you never look up to see if anyone is standing in the rafters above you." The girl laughed again and the witch backed up a step. She looked up involuntarily, but there was nothing there.

When she looked down the girl was right there, her nose practically touching the witch's. The witch did not gasp, but she felt her heart skip a beat. "I'm not going to do anything to you. That would defeat the entire point," the girl said with a childish giggle. She pulled out the sword and rested it on the witch's shoulder now. "I christen thee. In the name of that which has no name I honour thee, thou who art about to die. Enjoy your disaster."

And with that, the girl was gone.

The witch stood there for a long time before making her way down to the garden.

01010

The storm had ended. The sun had come out. Bisonopolis was a shattered wasteland around them. Then Ranma walked back to them. He carried the body of Bison draped across his arms. The limp figure didn't look intimidating anymore. It looked like nothing so much as a woman, a tiny woman, hardly even two-thirds Ranma's size. Her long black hair fell down around her. Her clothing was torn, but still intact, covering what little of her body it did.

Ranma walked up to Ukyou and laid the body at her feet. He looked at her, and his face was grave. Ukyou knelt down, and placed her hand on the body of her daughter.

"Is she...?"

"Dead?" Ukyou answered. "No."

Pluto had recovered slowly. Ukyou had awoken her somehow. Then she had gone on to Nabiki and Akira. While the fight had been raging, Ukyou had placed her hands over Nabiki's head, then began to quickly and precisely strike some of her pressure points. Slowly, the woman had recovered. Her expression was still slightly dazed, but it appeared that her mind had not been annihilated like they had feared. Strangely, Akira had refused help. She had managed to briefly get back up on her own. She looked the worst of any of them. Her skin was pale from blood loss, her body slack. She had simply told Ukyou that she would be fine, then slipped into unconsciousness.

Ukyou had stood over her, looking down at the leather-clad girl for a long time. Pluto wondered if Ukyou realised how lucky she was, to have someone like that who truly loved her. Pluto drove those thoughts aside. They were vicious and petty. She had lost... lost her only friend. Her only companion.

But she would go on, because there was a greater evil to face. You had to go on. Because if you didn't, what then?

When Ranma returned, Ukyou had looked at him and smiled a brave little smile. Pluto and Nabiki approached her. Nabiki was leaning on Pluto for support.

"He's still alive in there, Ukyou." Nabiki warned. Her speech was slurred slightly. "We have to kill Bison, or this will all start over again."

"No." Ukyou said.

"Ukyou..." Nabiki stiffened as much as she could. "Your stupid feelings have already done too much! Look at this city! You did that! And... and Rose. If you had been willing to listen to reason instead of trusting your feelings, Rose would still be alive!"

"You're right, Nabiki." Ukyou looked up at her. "But without Bison, this country dies. Millions and millions of people. Without the Psychopower, they'll slip away. I can't do that to them."

"If we don't," Pluto warned, "he will rise again. Bison is a disease. If you don't kill it right away, it finds a way to thrive..."

Ukyou looked at them both. "There has to be another way." She looked at the body on the floor. "We..." Her fingers traced the soft red lines underneath Bison's flesh. "Her spirit... the lines are still full of power..."

"What?" Nabiki frowned as best she could.

"We're going to save her." Ukyou said slowly.

"Ukyou..." Ranma looked down at her.

"Nobody else has to die. Too many people died." Ukyou looked up at them all. "If Bison dies, all the people of Thailand infected with his energy die too. I won't accept that. If Bison dies, Rose's soul dies with him. I will NOT accept that. If Bison dies, my daughter dies. That WILL. NOT. HAPPEN!"

"Ukyou, we can't..." Nabiki said softly, but Ukyou cut her off.

"FIND A WAY!" Ukyou reached up and grabbed her by the lapels. "You have more power than a god! Use it! Use that fucking sword of yours! I don't care how we do it, but we will not let these people die!"

"I'm not going to use my last wish on this, Ukyou," Nabiki snarled, batting her hands off. "I have to keep it ready in case there is a real emergency..."

"This is a real emergency, Nabiki." Ukyou looked her in the eyes. "This is it. It's now. We all get to choose. We don't get to choose the world we live in, or the people we live it with. We don't choose who we love and who we hate. We don't choose our fate, we don't choose anything except this. We choose the kind of person we are. So choose, Nabiki. Are you going to sit there and do nothing where you could save millions of people, or are you going to try?"

"That isn't fair..." Nabiki hissed.

"It's life. It's not supposed to be fair."

For a moment the two stared at each other. Then Nabiki leaned down and placed her hands on Bison's unconscious body, resting her fingers on her temples. "If I can save them... without the wish. Will that do for you?" Nabiki snapped.

"Do what you have to, Nabiki." Ukyou responded.

Nabiki looked up at Pluto. "I need your help."

"Me?" Pluto blinked.

"You know the most about Rose of any of us. You have a connection to her soul that none of us share. I need that." Nabiki smirked. "Plus, all that raw Senshi power you carry around you. I'm trying to re-write the psyches of millions of people in an instant. I don't have the power to do it alone."

Pluto hesitated. She looked at the body on the ground. "What are you planning?"

"I'll invert them. I'll erase Bison. I'll replace his psyche with Rose's. It won't bring back Ukyou's child. But she never got a chance to live. Then... all the people in this country will draw their life force from her."

"Can you.. can you do that?" Pluto breathed. She had heard tales, of the Silver Crystal being able to revive the dead... but this, determining the disposition of a soul... "It's impossible..."

"It will work," Ukyou informed her. She looked the Senshi of Time in the eyes. "We have to believe it will work."

"I... yes." Pluto took a breath and grabbed Nabiki's hand. Then the woman closed her eyes and... Pluto felt something enter her. It wasn't subtle, it was like a presence rushing into her soul. Then she felt herself open, felt all the barriers of her mind crumbling and for one horrible instant she saw it all, the entire universe, all the souls... all of it...

She could see Bison's taint. She could see it spread across the souls of the world. It was too much, it was too big. Nabiki was fighting it, but she couldn't... it was larger than either of them. Then, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

"You will succeed," Ukyou whispered. Pluto gasped. She had felt something move through her, through Nabiki. She saw the girl's eyes widen. She had felt it too. It was something profound, something beyond. The billions of souls on this planet, the uncountable souls that existed in all reality... it was larger, greater... more there than anything else. Then it was gone.

Pluto staggered away from them, aware that she had and she looked at the woman. Nabiki was sprawled on the ground near Bison, conscious but otherwise apparently unhappy about it. Ukyou had fallen back too, but she was breathing heavily. Her eyes were open. They looked... looked normal. Like she had felt nothing. How could she have not felt that? It was... like she had just touched the face of God. Bison was also unconscious still, but there was something different about her. Before, she had been surrounded by a field of furious energy. A field so intense that, even unconscious, even Pluto couldn't help but perceive it. Now there was an aura of cold peace about her.

"It... did it..."

"I think it did," Ukyou answered.

And suddenly there was a look of sadness on Ukyou's face. Pluto suddenly realised what Ukyou had given up. This would never be her daughter now. While her blood, she had somehow integrated Rose with it in a way that made it... real. Pluto didn't understand how. Neither did Ukyou, obviously. But this child would never remember Ukyou as her mother. Pluto stared at Ukyou. What... what was this...

Then Pluto felt a sharp crack to the back of her head, and knew no more.

01010

Angel was glad she didn't have to knock out Akira. She didn't want to hurt her friend anymore than she'd already been forced to, for one. For two, poor Akira already looked like she'd been put through a meat grinder. It was pretty merciful that she was unconscious.

Angel was also glad that she'd been able to catch Ranma by surprise and take him out with a few shots of the hilt of her sword to his head. Not that she was frightened of him, exactly. But after that fight that had left her staring open-mouthed for about five minutes straight, she certainly would treat him with a bit of caution if they met again.

"I don't think it's necessary to have any further unpleasantness, is it, Nabiki? You're a lot more rational than Ranma or Pluto, after all."

Chris was just behind Nabiki; even floating off the floor, He barely reached her shoulder. The woman, previously hunched over in obvious pain, now stood ramrod-straight. Her face was deathly pale, beads of sweat standing out on the chalk-white skin. She swallowed, her eyes flitting backwards in an unsuccessful attempt to see Chris, then simply nodded once.

"Good." Chris slipped past her, and inclined His head towards His fellow god. "Unfortunate sort of necessity. I realise it doesn't give a great first impression to knock out someone's companions before talking to them, but then, first impressions hardly matter at this point, do they? Hello, Ukyou. It's been a long time."

Ukyou's back was to Chris. From her posture she looked, Angel thought, very tired. Slowly she turned around, her eyes narrowing when they settled on Chris. "How old was this one, Chris?"

"Ten. Not that I killed him. I don't do that sort of thing anymore."

Ukyou's eyes flicked to Angel, then back to Chris. Angel shuffled back a step. "Ah, so Chris doesn't kill people, Chris's MINIONS kill people?"

"Lots of people kill people. It's an unfortunate world we live in sometimes. Perhaps I should have asked you to be my personal assassin instead, 'Lotus Infinite'?"

The girl winced slightly, and Chris continued, "Ah, but I apologise. I'm not here to trade barbs with you, Ukyou. We've had some fights in the past, true, but that was a long time ago. I don't really hold a grudge."

Ukyou stepped swiftly, putting herself between Chris and the unconscious body of what Angel guessed was Bison. Didn't look much like his statues, but she guessed the fashion sense was the same. From the distance they'd been watching, Angel hadn't been able to get a very good look at Bison or Ranma, but Chris had described what had been happening to her.

"Then tell me what you want here, so we can get this over with," Ukyou said, her voice somewhere between cold and exhausted.

"Technically, I've already gotten what I wanted. Bison, one of the world's great serpents, has fallen. Good work, though I suppose Ranma deserves the lion's share of the praise." Chris smiled slightly. "He always was an overachiever. Anyway, it seemed a waste, as long as we were both here, not to talk."

Ukyou paused. "Chris, you do realise that power you're wielding even now is going to drive you insane, right?"

Chris's smile didn't waver. "Is that right?"

"You call it the Third Circle. And I've seen what it can do, Chris. I almost destroyed myself with it. I almost destroyed the world with it. You seem... a little more rational than the last time we talked, so please listen to me. If you're willing... we could find a way to solve this." She raised her hand slightly. "I can't forgive you for having a good woman murdered. But... there's no need for us to fight anymore."

"Well, that is what I said," Chris nodded. "But you misunderstand. Not surprising, you've been out of the loop for awhile, after all. The Third Circle, yes. You think... what? That it's dangerous? Wrong, maybe? Warps your brain just like it will inevitably go out of control and destroy everything about you? That about sum it up?" His tone was polite, but there was a condescending air of superiority to His statement. Ukyou's face fell and her hand lowered slowly.

"I guess it's too late, then."

"Ukyou, please. You of all people shouldn't be holding a holier-than- thou attitude. I'm not ignoring you on this point because I refuse to admit there was a problem." Chris raised His hand in the air, palm upward. Purple flames swirled around it, and Ukyou took a step back. The flames of the Orochi swirled higher and higher, and around them the air tore and snapped. Angel watched in fascination. At the very edge of the crackling flames, the air... no... not the air. The... the SPACE around them was distorting, warping, small black tendrils appearing and vanishing and never having been. She stared at them... she looked away almost involuntarily a moment later, and found herself staring at Ukyou. The woman's face was set in hard lines. Ice crystals were beginning to form on the ground near where she stood, and Angel felt a sudden cool breeze. Angel dropped her hand to the hilt of her blade, but Ukyou had made no move to attack yet.

Chris's voice was calm, faintly amused. "So, you see? It's true, the Third Circle can certainly be dangerous if used by a novice." Angel looked back at Him, just as He clenched his hand into a fist. Instantly the flames snuffed out, leaving no trace of their existence. The tearing of the air and reality was also gone. His hand was unmarked. "But I have not been spending these last seven years doing nothing. I have come into my abilities. As you can see, I've learned how to deal with the side effects of the Third Circle."

Ukyou didn't react for a long moment. Her cold, impenetrable mask had dropped, revealing honest astonishment. "How?"

"I could show you. That's what I'm here for, Ukyou. Not to fight. I want you to join me." This time it was Chris who held out His hand, the same that had a moment ago held out the flame. "It may be we were meant to fight, but I don't see that as necessary. Moreover, it's a waste of time. This world... no, this universe needs our guidance."

"Needs?" repeated Ukyou after a moment. "The world was getting along fine without us."

Chris shook His head. "No, Ukyou. This world is two steps away from falling into the abyss. I mean no disrespect to the people of it. They've been heroic and astonishingly successful at opposing the forces that would consume them. But in the end, they're only human."

Ukyou met His gaze, and her voice was gaining strength now. "And we're not?"

Chris's tone was patient, like a teacher explaining something to a slow student. "No. We are not. We are beings from beyond this universe. We hold a unique potential within us that no human can match. We are dead and alive at the same time. We lack the limitations that humans struggle to overcome. We are, to use an admittedly loaded term, gods. We have a destiny, Ukyou. Of course, you know all about that, but your destiny doesn't have to be a dark one. We were meant to be caretakers of this universe, and it needs us in that role."

Ukyou looked around at the ruins of the city, then back at Chris. "Guidance? Caretakers? What are you planning, Chris? What do you want?"

Chris's lip curled. "Thinking small, Ukyou. What, would you have had me save this city? Use my powers to rescue every orphan? That would certainly be heroic, wouldn't it? And all it would cost these people is every sense of accomplishment, every hope and dream they might have of making a difference in the world. Why try, when a god will solve all your problems for you?" He waved an arm at the ruins of the city. "That's not what I want. I don't want to quash the human spirit. I want to strengthen it. I don't want toadies who bow to me because I am beyond them. I want companions who share my vision and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary, like Angel here, but that is not my end goal either." His hand dropped again, one finger pointing at Ranma. "Him. He is my end goal. The stories of Ranma Saotome will spread from this battle, just like they've spread from battles before. They will inspire people. Strengthen them. Give them a dream, a pinnacle to strive for. Of course, many will fall short of that goal, but they will be better for the striving. And from that many who try will come the few who are a new generation of heroes, shining examples of the human spirit. They will not run or hide from a darkness that threatens them like Bison did, but instead face up to it, fight it, and overcome it."

Chris's one eye flashed, for a moment becoming somehow less glassy and dead. His voice soared, His features exultant. Angel felt her pulse race a little bit faster. Ukyou had to see. She had to see He was right. Humanity needed them. They needed an order beyond all things, even if they would never know about it.

"I won't save every orphan, Ukyou. That's not what you or I should be doing. A perfect future, without sadness or strife, is impossible. But we can bring about the perfect possible future. We can orchestrate the destruction of all the Bisons and Major Kriegs and Arkanphels and Galaxias that threaten everything. We can ensure that humanity, and all life, rises up to overcome the challenges that threaten it. We can ensure that spirit, hopes and dreams last forever. Only we can do that, and so we must."

Ukyou took a long moment before responding. Her expression hadn't changed throughout the entire speech. Then she looked down at her hands, curling them as if to clutch it for a moment, then they relaxed. "And how many people have to sacrifice their lives to bring about your perfect possible future, Chris? How many people will you kill to save them?"

"As many as necessary, and not a single one more."

"Who makes that decision?"

"We do, of course. Just as we have up until now. Just as we must."

Angel looked back and forth between them. Ukyou still looked down at her hands. Chris floated off the floor. For a single moment, a break in the clouds overhead bathed them both in sunlight. She held her breath.

"No, Chris." Ukyou continued to stare at her hands. "I'm no god, and I don't have the right to make decisions for the entire world. I'll be the first to admit that." Finally, she looked up, her voice filled with implacable, unshakable conviction. "But neither are you."

For a moment, Angel understood why people marched into battle beside Ukyou.

"You're right, Chris. We have power. We have great, overwhelming masses of power. The entire world, it seems, changes when we walk into a room. But that doesn't give us wisdom. That doesn't give us the right to choose the course of everybody's life."

"It's not a right, Ukyou. It's a responsibility."

"So you have your answer, then," Ukyou said. "I guess the next move is up to you."

And suddenly a new voice entered the argument. "Are you just going to STAND there?" All three of them looked over. Nabiki was still standing despite her injuries. Her face was twisted with concentration and pain as she forced herself to speak clearly. "You've seen him now, Ukyou. Isn't it obvious he's gone off the deep end? You have to stop him! Now!"

Ukyou looked at Nabiki sadly. "I'm not going to attack him, Nabiki. That won't accomplish anything. All it would do is get more people killed."

"Quite so," Chris agreed. "Really, Nabiki, is that the reason for all of this? You thought Ukyou could beat me? Ignoring the fact that I've fought Ukyou twice and won both times, Ukyou has hardly done anything in her entire life but fail. Whereas I have never done anything but succeed." Dismissing her, he turned back to Ukyou with an apologetic shrug. "I didn't expect you to take me up on my offer, really. You're so... you. But that's fine. For the exact reasons I just specified, I have no reason to consider you a threat. So I will go on, and you can... do whatever it is you want, I suppose. Within reason. I will be keeping an eye on you, but I won't take any steps unless you force me to."

He turned away, gesturing for Angel to follow. As she moved behind him, she heard Ukyou say, "I hope we never meet again, Chris."

"NO! I won't let this happen!" Nabiki snarled. Angel spun, her sword com-

She was hurled up against the wall. Her head was splitting from within. Chris was hovering over her. "Are you all right?"

"Iwhukkk..." Angel tried to say she was, but her mouth couldn't quite seem to form the syllables. But then her vision cleared just long enough for her to see what was happening behind Chris. She made a small, soft inarticulate cry. Chris frowned, but did not seem to realise what had caused her distress.

"I WISH CHRIS DIDN'T EXIST!"

After Nabiki's scream, there was a long moment of silence.

Then Chris picked Angel up off the ground. Gently carrying her in his arms, he turned to face Nabiki.

She was holding the sword in both hands. Her face was still deathly pale. She was shaking. The sword glowed slightly, and then a smooth male baritone voice emanated from its tip.

"Wish cannot be granted."

"What?" Nabiki's voice was suddenly small, terrified.

"There is no Chris here."

"He's here! Right here! In front of me!"

But the sword was silent. Its glow had died.

Chris smiled down at Angel, then looked up, giving Nabiki a pitying gaze. "Do you see now, Ukyou? That's the difference between us and them. We are eternal."

Then he turned and left the shattered remains of Bison's palace.

To Be Continued...

Blade: We. Will. NEVER. Do. That. Again.

Epsilon: Wow. I didn't know a human face could look that pissed.

Blade: NEVER. Never again will there be a fight where there is a girl, who used to be a guy, against a guy, who is currenty a girl, and a girl, who is also a guy in which we repeatedly change perspective, such that each feels the need to refer to them by gender-sensitive pronouns that are specific to them based on their own current view of that person's identity!

Epsilon: That is confusing. For instance, I have no idea what you just said.

Blade: Oh yes. Never again! For instance, next chapter, we kill off Ranma.

Epsilon: Cool.

Blade: Then, Ukyou picks a gender and sticks with it. One gender only!

Epsilon: I suppose this is a bad time to point out that Tsubasa shall be returning in Chapter 27?

Blade: RARGH!

Epsilon: AHH! My spleen!

Blade: You don't need it to write. So, go ahead and give them a next chapter preview.

01010

The better question was: how had Gyro known it was here? Earlier today, he had sent their plane into the air and trebled the normal sea patrols in this region. What had tipped him off about this city, hidden somehow from the eyes of Chronos until now? ZX-Tole was used to not knowing everything that was going on, but sometimes Gyro seemed to have access to information that made ZX-Tole wonder...

The waterfront was in flames. Aquatic zoanoids had climbed out of the water and were wreaking havoc, destroying everything in their path. The humans were offering no resistance. They were being cut down in the streets like sheep, or running screaming towards the upper parts of the city. The plane skimmed low over the rooftops and ZX-Tole was able to look right down into the carnage.

He hissed and braced himself, before turning to his team. "Remember your orders. Wipe it out. All of it. Leave nothing alive. Level every building to the ground." He turned back to the open door. "Everyone, transform!"

Hybrid Theory Chapter 26: By Myself


	26. By Myself

Oh for the love of... do I HAVE to do this?

Fine. sighs Hello, my name is Rei Hino and I will be introducing Hybrid Theory

this chapter: a fanfic about two arrogant know-it-all self-inserts and their

philosophical battles. Like anybody takes the philosophy in fanfiction

seriously, much less self-insert fanfiction.

The story stars Aaron and Ukyou, who are terrible protagonists who spent the

first two thirds of the fanfic being asses. Then they let Bison brainrape them

into a sex-toy/assassin (right, lesbian stripper ninjas, you can tell two GUYS

wrote this). Then Ukyou's lesbian fangirl Akira showed up, saved her soul

through a method that still hasn't been adequately explained and the two went

off to America to whine and kvetch some more together.

They also had along Angel, who is this Mexican girl who Chris (the other self-

insert) raised as his elite assassin wench. (Has anyone else noticed that

everyone Chris ever associates with is a girl? No seriously, this guy creeps me

out.) Angel is apparently supposed to be spying on Ukyou and Akira, and both of

them trust her like gullible morons.

Anyway last chapter the three of them and some frineds, including Sailor Pluto,

Ranma Saotome, Nabiki Tendo and Rose I-Don't-Need-A-Lastname, went to Bison's

home city which, by the way, he named Bisonopolis (real original, guys). Asses

were kicked, one of them was Bison's. Rose died, except she got better, sort of

and (surprise!) Angel turned on everyone and then Chris showed up to be a

pretentious dick. This involved the one thing both Chris and Ukyou like to do:

talk like second year philosophy majors at each other.

Meanwhile, I (who have been largely ignored in this fanfic, which is unfair

considered they went through this whole plotline with zoanoids killing my

grandfather and never tied that up) met up with Akane Tendo. Akane's nice and

all, but a bit naive. Anyway, she was going to be suffer a fate worse than death

at the hands of that zoalord Reichmann Gyro (Reichmann? Oh, seriously! Why not

kill him NAZIMAN MCEVIL? Although that's not the author of this fanfic's fault,

I guess) when Washuu Hakubi showed up and did some literal deus ex machina. Now

Washuu has convinced us to take Mamoru Chiba (and his three nympho sex slaves

roll eyes) to Ohtori Academy to find Sailor Moon so she can use her magic

crystal to save the world...

Right, oh... and in case you forgot all about the entire France thing that those

guys did way back in Chapter 21 with the French versus Millennium and so on and

the superscientist and the goth boy... I have as well! It's not like the writers

haven't UTTERLY IGNORED that plotline for five chapters now. But maybe you could

re-read that bit before going further.

You know, just for fun.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 26: By Myself

"Problem not..."

Their voice trailed off. Rob's car had gotten just far enough into the

intersection that the front half was beyond the point of the truck when it hit.

The huge "Mack" logo was at window height when the collision occurred. Their

mouth opened in a strange O as the doorway behind Chris crumbled inward in

disturbing slow motion. Then Chris was gone, the pinwheeling wreckage slashing

his body apart without even slowing. The shrapnel had slowed enough by the time

it reached them that it merely stuck into their body in a dozen places, none of

them immediately fatal.

The car was flipped by the impact, bouncing end over end to rest on its

side several meters away. The gyrations sprayed the interior with blood and

served to drive the shrapnel even further into their body. The pain was

omnipresent. It was everything. It was so there that it ceased to matter.

"Oh, God! They're dead!"

The voice had come from...

From...

The front seat?

No. It was coming from all around them now. They could feel the pain

inching its way up their body. The world... the world was falling apart. The

strange dream logic of the place melting away. The endless fog was gone,

replaced by the... darkness.

It was so huge. It defied size. It was infinite, stretching out in all

directions. Black lightning raced along its length. They could see bits and

pieces of the car, the wreckage, slowly spinning out towards that infinite

nothingness. It was consumed. And beyond it, beyond the car they were trapped

in, was... more. Here the sweep of a flower-filled plain, there an entire

house, and in the distance a mountain itself revolved into the darkness.

They were afraid. They heard footsteps beside them and looked up. The

figure was short, and wore white. Her skin was pale. There was crimson on her

face, but they could make out no details. The figure knelt down beside them, and

her hand rested on their forehead. They were dying. But the pain eased now. The

figure had blood on her fingers, but it was cold.

"That's right. Your pain is almost over." The voice was disturbingly

familiar, but they couldn't place it. It was a voice filled with sadness and

love. It ached in their heart to hear it. "We will meet again, in this place.

I'll be waiting for you..."

"Where dreams go to die."

Ukyou woke up with a gasp, throwing the sheets off her. She sat there,

the Silence Glaive extended out as if to intercept some threat. Her breathing

came in short, sharp gasps. She looked around. It was the same room. A small

room in the hotel they were using as their base of operations while in Thailand.

A ceiling fan rotated lazily overhead, casting odd shadows across the floor and

walls. There was a single window, but she couldn't see outside. The monsoon

rains were coming down so hard out there that the window was literally buckling

inward. It looked like they were underwater.

Ukyou took another long breath and sought her centre. The Silence Glaive

evaporated as she turned and sat on the edge of the bed. That had been...

Strange?

It seemed such a small word to describe it. Ever since she and Aaron had

been forced into the same skull, they'd had the same dream. The dream of his

death had haunted them every night. For all Ukyou knew, it might have haunted

the dreams of Lotus Infinite while their psyches had been repressed by Bison.

And after every dream there had been the awakening, and the struggle for

dominance between them. The struggle for identity as their unconscious minds

refused to mesh, until they forced them to.

So it had been. Every time they awoke, they forced themselves a little

closer. Degree by degree, inch by inch losing what made them "Aaron" and "Ukyou"

and making them into... what, exactly?

Ukyou stood up and walked over to the window. She slept in the nude, but

didn't fear anyone seeing her. Not with this weather. Nobody sane would be out

in this storm. If they were willing to risk this deluge just for a view of her,

they deserved it.

She placed her hand on the window. This had been the first change. The

first difference in her dreams. In their dream. She could feel the drum of the

rain vibrating up her arm. What did it mean?

They closed their eyes. No... this wasn't the first difference. They had

slept since their minds had been restored over three months ago, and just now

they were beginning to notice a minor difference. The struggle was gone. Oh, it

had lessened in the months before their confrontation with Bison in England,

becoming less vicious and smoother. But it hadn't vanished entirely. The very

act of losing a piece of themselves, a memory of childhood merging

indistinguishably with something else, had almost driven them insane.

Except...

Ukyou looked back in her mind. It was... all gone? No. They could

remember the details. The name of Aaron's brother, the face of Ukyou's father,

the places where he played and the beaches at which she trained. Yet, Ukyou

realised with a start, she couldn't determine which was which, anymore. Oh, if

she thought about it logically, it became clear. For instance, Aaron had never

had to learn how to bind his breasts so that he could blend into an all-boy's

school. Nor did Ukyou think she had ever gone to university. But... the emotions

had blended together. While they could tell one memory from another based on

context, they had lost all... essential 'otherness'.

Ukyou leaned her head against the glass. It was cold, refreshingly

cold. Ukyou knew, somehow, that she should be upset by this. That she had...

lost something of herself. That Aaron had lost a part of who he was. Except,

they couldn't bring themselves to be upset anymore. It just felt too natural.

No. They hadn't noticed before now because the struggle was over. For a

moment, they wondered what they would do now. The battle of wills between them

had been so all-consuming, so intense that it had formed a great deal of who

they were. The desire to be separated, to be 'whole' again, had driven them when

they had first been placed together. Yet if they had a chance now, right now, to

pull themselves apart, to be separate in mind and body and soul... would they?

Was there even a 'he' or 'she' to be separated anymore? Certainly there

were two wills inside of them. Ukyou could identify herself. Aaron could feel

his own presence. But the tension, or most of it, was gone. Aaron's thoughts

smoothly flowed into Ukyou's, and hers back into his. They had not become one

mind, but they weren't exactly two anymore.

Ukyou pulled herself away from the window and walked back into her room.

She pulled her clothes from the small dresser. She had managed to get a bodysuit

not unlike the ones the Dolls wore, except this one was white with black

leggings. It fit her like a second skin, hugging her curves. Aaron found he

didn't mind that all that much. When this first happened, he would have been

livid and nauseous at the thought of wearing something like this. Now? He kind

of liked the looks people gave him. It made Ukyou feel attractive, which made

him feel good along with her.

Ukyou grabbed her trenchcoat from the peg and slipped it on, then sat to

pull on her thick boots. While she did, she thought about where she was going.

Not just now, that was simple. She was going to see what the situation was. The

'death' of Bison had been hard on Thailand. Whatever last-minute miracle Nabiki

had pulled off had saved millions of lives, but they hadn't anticipated what

came after.

Shadowloo was made up of thousands of petty warlords. The organisation

had employed almost three thousand martial artists seven years ago, each of them

powerful enough alone to take on dozens of mundane soldiers at once. In the last

seven years, it had grown. Bison had recruited many like-minded people to his

cause. People who, sensing a power vacuum now that Bison was gone, had turned on

each other like rabid dogs.

Which left them to pick up the pieces. Two weeks in and they were still

no closer to ending the civil war.

Ukyou shook her head and stood up, running a hand through her bangs. She

was avoiding the subject again. Where was she going to go now? All this work

here in Thailand... she was killing time, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Ukyou had no illusions. Pluto had told her that the prophecy was still there, in

her own dreams. Soon enough it would come up again.

Ukyou looked down at her hand, the one in which her Psychodrive-derived

tattoos still resided. She remembered when something else had touched that hand.

The meeting with Alucard, in the insane dream realm into which his mind had been

trapped. He had told her that God had trapped him there. That God had worked his

will on Minako to give her the power to incapacitate him until the End Times. He

had told her about how the world was broken, and that she was the Chosen One.

Ukyou didn't believe that. She didn't feel different than any other

person. Oh, certainly she had two minds. But that didn't make her fundamentally

alien to others. She still had hopes, dreams, fears... all the usual

psychological trappings.

But she didn't doubt the world believed that. Chris believed it. He

believed he had been chosen. Chosen by who? Ukyou didn't think it mattered to

Chris. Frankly, it didn't matter to Ukyou either. But she knew something was out

there. Something with a plan. Something that saw her as useful. Soon, she would

be drawn out again. It would make certain of that.

This dream... it was just one step. The first change to the dream since

she had gotten here. An invitation to... what? A reunion? A battle? An answer to

all these questions?

Maybe Ukyou would find out one day. Maybe even today.

But until then, she had to help the people of this country. This country

that she had helped injure. The festering wounds of Bison's tyranny needed to be

dealt with. For now, she would busy herself with doing the right thing that she

saw in front of her. If tomorrow brought something more dangerous, then it

would. Until then, she would live like what was important was what was in front

of her.

OoOoO

Frederick Von Purgstall leaned forward in his chair and pinched the

bridge of his nose. His headache was growing worse. It just wouldn't go away. He

wasn't even aware that a zoalord could get such a serious migraine, not until

two weeks ago.

Not until Thailand had almost imploded.

Really, they should have had a plan for this years ago. Bison was an

unstable despot: it was only a matter of time before someone took him down. But

even so, they hadn't expected it to happen quite like this. One band of heroic

adventurers and the greatest power on the Indochinese sub-continent was gone.

And the resultant power vacuum was threatening to erupt into full-blown civil

war.

It should have been the perfect time to step in, to allow Chronos to

grab a chunk of the land, to restore order. Of course, things never worked out

that smoothly. The fall of Bison had come only two weeks after an unexpected

Millennium attack on America. The Americans were reacting predictably, gearing

up for a massive offensive against Millennium forces with the aid of France.

Millennium, having lost its primary enemy in the east, was turning its attention

westward again. Soon, their army would hit France. It was only a matter of

whether or not the Americans would get there first.

Which had a lot to do with whether Tethys stepped in. With her control

over the oceans, she could speed up or impede the American convoys. If she

didn't act against them, then Chronos would have to. The likely destruction of

France was regrettable, but an offensive in Europe with American troops was

unacceptable. Especially if the Vatican joined in. A three-way alliance, even

one of convenience, would almost put them at an even footing with Chronos.

Especially if the remnants of Shadowloo joined up with them. And since

the saviours of Thailand were American sympathizers... that was far too likely.

So...

He scanned across his desk, at the holographic images of the globe laid

out before him. He could read the movement of troops and forces on that grid.

But there were too many unknowns, too many variables. If he turned the attention

of Chronos to occupying Thailand, then they might lose control in Europe. If he

tried to stop the American fleet, then not only could that lead to a reopening

of open war between them but Tethys might also decide to get involved. Not to

mention that it would give the insurgents in Thailand a chance to restore order

and secure themselves from being taken in.

If he committed their resources to one area, then they would lose in

another. If he made one move, everyone else would move in reaction. If he did

nothing, committed forces nowhere, then he could lose it all. It was all

unravelling before his eyes.

The door opened and he looked up. He sighed and rubbed his nose again.

This was the last thing his headache needed.

"We need to talk," Cologne said as the door closed behind her. She was

wearing a blue Chinese dress with black and red flowers that flowed up over her

bodice. He tried not to look. Things between them had been... strained ever

since the fiasco in Sweden.

"No, we do not," Purgstall said, managing to sound at least civil.

"Yes, we do." She walked over to the map. "I have information that you

need to know."

"I do?" Purgstall looked up.

"Yes."

"How do you have access to information I do not?" Purgstall asked

sharply.

"I have resources you do not," Cologne pointed out. "People I know that

are willing to pass me information they would never tell anyone in Chronos."

"Who?" Purgstall asked. He realised he sounded a bit demanding, but

before he could mollify his tone, Cologne replied.

"None of your business." Cologne walked over and pointed at the

projection of France. "He's here."

"He? Who is 'he'?"

"You know who I mean," Cologne growled. "Things are coming to a head in

France. He has a plan and it's going to throw all of Europe into chaos. But he

has to be there personally. This is our chance to track him down..."

"No, it is not," Purgstall said. "Whatever is happening in Europe is

bigger than just one-"

"It is not!" Cologne barked, slamming her hand through the image and

into the desk. The projection flickered as her fist unaligned the projectors for

a moment. "He was in Thailand, too. He was there! Right when Bison died! You

should have sent in a force like I told you to!"

"Lord Arkanphel..."

"The hell with Arkanphel!" Cologne cut him off again. Purgstall was

beginning to grow annoyed, and allowed it to show on his features. Cologne

ignored his warning glare. "He doesn't know what he's dealing with. Chris had a

hand in killing Bison. He's the reason everything fell apart there! Now, he's

going to do it again in France." She looked at him, her eyes alive with

determination. "If we don't stop him now, we may never get another chance. Then

where will he move next? America? The Dark Kingdom? Here?" She threw out her

hands. "He's tearing it all down, Frederick. He's tearing it down and you won't

like what he wants to build in its place."

"Chris is just one man," Purgstall noted coolly, rising to his full

height and crossing his arms. "A dangerous man, but not nearly the threat you

believe him to be."

"If you don't help me stop him, I'll have to do it myself," Cologne

warned.

Purgstall had finally had enough. He stepped around the table, moving

right next to her. "You can't stop him, Cologne. He can kill you at any time. If

I hadn't been protecting you all this time..." He cut himself off sharply.

"Protecting me?" Cologne said, her eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it."

"No. Tell me. How have you been protecting me, Frederick? I've not seen

any more guards than usual. I come and go as I please..." She frowned at him.

"What do you mean? How have you been protecting me from him?" Then her eyes

widened. "Has Chronos made a deal with him? Is that it? Is that why your 'great

leader' is so hesitant to do anything about him?"

"No..."

"Arkanphel is a fool if he doesn't think Chris will turn on him like a

viper..."

When Purgstall slammed his fist into the desk, the projectors did not

survive. Sparks sprang up around his hand as the desk neatly cracked in two.

"ARKANPHEL IS NOT A FOOL!" he roared. "You go too far!"

But despite his anger, Cologne did not back down. She never backed down.

She was never afraid. Calculating, cautious, but never afraid. "I don't believe

in your messiah, Frederick. Despite all of Arkanphel's power, Chris will kill

him too, given a chance. If Arkanphel can not see this... he is a greater fool

than I ever imagined."

"Arkanphel has no idea what that man truly is," Purgstall hissed between

clenched teeth. "You stupid old woman. Do you think he would stand for such a

being? Arkanphel has been trying to kill Nabiki for years, and she is nothing

but an information merchant. Somebody like Chris would be a top priority. But he

doesn't know what I know about him. Because if he did, Chris would know who told

him... and then..."

Purgstall trailed off again. He realised he'd said too much, but

couldn't take it back. He just stood there, opening and closing his mouth. He

wanted to say something, but had no idea what. Cologne stared at him for a long

moment.

"So that's it..." Cologne finally said, her voice oddly calm. "That's

why Arkanphel never made a move against him. You've been lying to Arkanphel for

years. Hiding the truth. You've been lying to me. You said you passed on my

warnings..."

"I... it... it was revenge. I did not see Chris as a threat... I just

saw him as a threat to you... I wouldn't let him get word of you trying to track

him down..."

"Shut up," Cologne hissed. "Is this what we've spent the last seven

years doing, Purgstall? Lying to each other?"

Suddenly he was angry again. "Is all you've spent the last seven years

doing using me? Using the girls?" He regretted it right away, but once again it

was too late. The slap came without warning, at such speed that he didn't even

see it. He just stumbled back, propping himself against the shattered desk.

"You're right, Purgstall. I do want vengeance. I will kill him for what

he did to me and mine. I had hoped to save you and your noble goals at the same

time... but you are a fool. I will gladly give my life to destroy him."

Cologne turned and stalked from the room. Purgstall shook his head,

trying to clear it. By the time he was back on his feet, she was gone. Damn, she

hit like a zoalord when she was angry. He looked around at the room he was in.

He should run out after her, stop her. He should call security. He

should do something. Instead, he stood there, wondering when it had all begun to

unravel.

OoOoO

It was a beautiful day.

That was the first thought that ran through Akane's head upon stepping

down from the train. She had been so caught up in worrying about this trip that

she had not even so much as glanced out the window. All of her focus was on

making certain that none of the others slipped away, that no one followed them,

that everything went right. She couldn't even tell what time of day it was when

she got off the train, she had been so worried.

But whatever time of day it was, it was beautiful. That seemed such a

small word to describe it. This place was not just beautiful, it was paradise.

It was like they had walked out of Japan and into Eden. The city was so green.

Green and blue. Green from the leaves of trees, from the colour of wine bottles

resting on windowsills, from the lush lawns and painted roofs. Blue for the

perfect sky, the kind of blue sky that poets wept about, streaked through with

cotton-candy white clouds. The blue sea lapped gently at the shore, and sparkled

through with light. Even the streets were spotless: mostly cobblestone, some

pavement, but even there it was new and pristine, not marked by the cracks and

divots that all roads developed in time.

The people here, old and young, poor and rich, they mingled together and

they were beautiful, too. There were no ugly people. No signs of disease or

hunger. The men who were bald were so with a quiet dignity, the women who had

become wrinkled had gained elegance and sophistication. They wore well-tailored

suits, none worn out or ill-fitting. They passed each other in the street with

smiles on their faces, wide genuine smiles. They stopped in the street to talk,

errands momentarily forgotten. They laughed under the canopies of sidewalk cafes

and their happy conversation bubbled over the walls and hedges of the homes. A

complete stranger walked right up to Akane, told her to have a wonderful day

and, when she didn't respond right away, asked if he could help her. She

demurred and he went on his way with a shrug and a smile.

And everywhere you looked there were roses. They bloomed on private

hedges. They grew in parks. They sat in vases and hung on walls. Men carried

them in their hand and women wore them in their hair or lapel. Everywhere you

looked, they flourished.

Akane glanced back at her companions. They were enthralled. Even

Katsuhito, who she hadn't imagined had a poetic bone in his body, was looking at

the place with a sort of quiet rapture. His narrow eyes had softened and he was

running his hand along the bark of a nearby oak. He was whispering something to

himself, but it was in a language Akane didn't understand.

Beyond him she could see Mamoru moving about, as if in a daze. He looked

so out of place. Like Akane he wore a nondescript brown cloak, one that covered

the bulk of his body (and more importantly, his weapons and armour). Like Akane,

he had worn the hood up on the journey here. It was slightly obvious, to have a

large group of people clearly hiding themselves from scrutiny, but somehow they

had encountered nobody who asked questions, or even gave them a second glance.

Akane had agreed to the cloaks, mainly because she guessed that trying to hide

was pointless, so she had wanted to test a theory. Apparently, Akio's reach went

quite far indeed.

As she watched Mamoru pulled back his hood, exposing his ebony-black

hair and his immaculate face. He stared around in open-mouthed wonder at this

place. Then he smiled. Somehow, Akane couldn't help but notice how handsome he

was. He was a prince. A champion. He was Charming, come on a white charger (of

course, the train had been white) to solve all her problems. Akane thought for a

moment she could just relax and let him do what he had to do.

She drew a deep breath and frowned. Beneath her rope she reached across

and wrapped her fingers around the bracelet Washuu had given them. 'Akio's power

over that place runs deep, Akane. I can't shatter it. It's a part of that place

now. I couldn't possibly tear it all down so easily. But I can shield you from a

bit of it, you and everyone else. But just because he can't affect you directly,

don't think that makes you immune. That place is his.' The words were fresh in

Akane's mind. The bracelets would protect them, but only if they remained on

guard the whole time.

Akane looked at the others again. The ex-Dolls seemed so... happy. Marz

was sitting on a bench, just looking around her, an odd little smile on her

face. Her computer sat beside her, unopened. That struck Akane as odd. Satsuki

was standing in a patch of sunlight, watching a pair of children playing a silly

little game with the kind of rules only children understood. The children paused

as they noticed her, then beckoned her forward. Satsuki, laughing, complied.

Even Fevrier was smiling, a smile of genuine joy. Her eyes were closed and her

head was tilted towards the sky. She was listening to the music, Akane realised.

There was some sort of festival going on, and Fevrier was listening to the echo

of the music on the wind.

Then Akane met Rei's eyes. Rei met her gaze levelly. The girl wore a

simple two-piece dress and leggings. She looked so sad. Her eyes flicked away

from Akane after a moment, shame on her features.

"Everyone stop," Akane barked.

They all paused. They looked at her. The children were tugging on

Satsuki's arm. She kept glancing back at them. Akane realised, in that place

deep inside, that if she didn't act fast she would lose her.

To what? Happiness?

Akane quashed that thought.

"Everyone come here." She looked at them all, and they hesitated. "NOW!"

she barked with the authority she rarely used. Rarely used, but always demanded

when she did. One did not command soldiers in battle unless one expected to be

obeyed. Instantly everyone was coming towards her, even Rei and Katsuhito. Akane

looked at them all, making certain to make eye contact with each of them in

turn. When she looked at Rei, her gaze demanded the girl didn't look away. Rei

didn't.

"Yes, this place is beautiful." Akane took a deep breath. "But remind

yourself that it isn't real. It's wrong. Even a beautiful lie is still a lie."

"Such cruel words, Akane. Do you judge my world so harshly?"

Akane turned slowly. Of course, she hadn't heard the car arrive, but

there it was. A cherry-red convertible, a classic, was parked in the middle of

the street just in front of the train station. Akio sat in the driver's seat.

Akane had never met Akio, not personally. She had heard about him. Chris

had warned her off him, repeatedly told her about how dangerous he was. Rei had

told her about him, about how subtle and cunning he was. Washuu had talked of

his achievements, of how insidious he could be if you weren't careful. Words had

not prepared her for the truth.

To call Akio beautiful was to call the sun bright, or the universe

large. All were correct, but none of them caught the truth. Akio was beautiful

in the way that everyone aspired to be, that artists were inspired by. His was

an ideal beauty, almost inhuman. But at the same time, it was utterly smooth and

natural, even warm. He was a person you could walk up to, with his easy smile

and expressive eyes. His hair was light lavender, spilling down his back in a

flowing ponytail. His skin was exotic, a type of dark colour that Akane was

certain no one else quite matched. Akane could imagine that colour on the first

man, standing in the cradle of civilisation.

It hit Akane suddenly. That was who Akio was. He was Everyman. Not in

the sense of being the least among us, but the best, the brightest. He was the

ideal, the prototype, the form from which all other human beings had been

molded... and the one to which they could only compare unfavourably. Not just

men, but women too, all humanity... 'God made man in His own image...'

Akio exited the car and walked forward along the bumper. He smiled at

her, a smile that sunk into her body and left her feeling warm. His eyes

examined her and she realised that he was looking at her, and only her. Not

Rei's traditional beauty, not the Dolls' open sensuality. Just at her. He tapped

the roof and slid across it, kicking his feet in a flourish and then landing

before them to take a bow. His sheer physical presence, it was overwhelming.

Akane closed her eyes, and she reached up with the hand that bore

Washuu's bracelet. She gripped her fingers firmly around the Star Seeds. They

thrummed, warm and powerful, in her fists. She took a long breath, and when she

opened her eyes, her expression was hard again.

Akio only raised a single perfect eyebrow, then shrugged and stepped

back to lean against the hood of his car. "Such a collection of fine people have

arrived in my simple sanctuary today." He smiled at Akane's companions. "Please,

make yourselves at home. What I have is yours for the asking." He paused when

he spotted Rei. "Ah, Miss Hino. I was most disappointed when you chose to leave

us before graduation. I trust that you found..." He glanced at Katsuhito, his

smile becoming more amused. "...suitable tutors to continue your education."

"We don't have time for this, Akio," Akane said, stepping forward. "You

know what we're here for."

"Ah. Yes. Of course." Akio gave her a look of sincere apology. "I'm

afraid I can't help you there."

"If necessary, we'll use force," Akane bluffed. She wasn't certain what

would happen if it came to that. Just how real were the illusions here?

He spread his arms out. "I don't think there is any need for violence

here." He looked around the city. "This place is so peaceful, the air is

splendid. Why ruin a day like this with pointless conflict and property damage?

All we would accomplish is making more work for others."

Akane saw a few of her friends nodding slightly at his words, as if they

made a great point. Akane tightened her grip on the Star Seeds. "Where. Is.

Sailor. Moon?"

"Not here, I'm afraid," Akio said. He was sitting on the hood now, his

hands folded in his lap.

"Don't play word games, Akio," Akane said, taking a step forward. Akio

raised an eyebrow once again, but he merely shrugged.

"She isn't here. Our Princess is such a... busy person. She has many

duties to attend to. I'm afraid I don't keep track of them all..." He slipped

off the hood. "But don't take my word for it. Go and find her friends and ask

them. They will tell you the same story as I. Usagi is not here."

He started towards the door to the car, but Akane slid in front of him.

They were so close that Akane could smell him. His musk filled her nose,

travelled down her throat and kept going. She stared up into his eyes. Why did

he have to be so tall? But not the intimidating type of tall. The reassuring

type.

He slid around her. "You are, of course, welcome to stay as long as you

like. She will be back shortly, or so I was told. Sometimes her errands can take

days, sometimes it can take hours. I've reserved rooms for you all at a nice

hotel near the campus; anyone should be able to direct you to it."

He vaulted into the car and it roared to life the moment his hands fell

on the wheel. He leaned back and smiled at Akane again. "Why not take a little

time to explore the city? Get to know the people who live here."

"What is your game, Akio?" Akane managed to say with as much force as

she could muster.

"Game?" Akio smiled. "The game of truth, Miss Tendo. Take advantage of

all I have to offer, or not. I don't really care one way or another. But

hospitality dictates that I give my guests all due attention. And while I may be

called evil incarnate, I never wish to be called a poor host. Enjoy yourselves."

And with a wave, he was off. Akane stared at the car until it turned a

corner and was gone. She felt the strength sap out of her. She looked back at

her companions. They all looked uncertain. These were people used to fighting a

war, and a better unit Akane could hardly have asked for. She would trust any

one of them with her life. But...

Were they really prepared to fight Akio's kind of war?

OoOoO

"Come in," Nabiki said the moment before the knock came. There was a

hesitation and then the door opened. Yang looked inside, his almost perpetual

frown still on his face. Nabiki gestured for him to enter as she shifted a few

of her papers off her desk. It was all mundane data, estimates on the repairs

following Ranma and Bison's climactic battle two weeks ago. The cost of

rebuilding would be staggering.

"You busy?" he asked, stepping in and shutting the door behind him.

"No..." Nabiki sighed. "Yes. But I'll take any excuse for a reason not

to look at more numbers." She rubbed her temples. It still hurt. The attack that

Bison had hit her with had very nearly reduced her brain to cottage cheese. The

headaches still came occasionally, but with less frequency now. She looked

around. "Where is your brother?"

Nabiki felt a flash of irritation from the young man. "He's gone out

with Ranma, again."

"Ah..." Nabiki nodded. When Nabiki had called Hong Kong to get some help

with the current crisis, she hadn't thought much about what would happen when

Yun and Ranma met. Frankly, she had expected that Ranma would be halfway back to

the States by now. He had left Minako practically in a hospital bed. Instead,

he'd had Nabiki smuggle a few letters to her telling her to make her way here.

Then Yun and Yang had showed up. It was like putting fire and oil

together. Yun had challenged Ranma to a match the day after he got to the city.

Ranma had won handily, of course. But the younger boy had been following Ranma

around since, apparently to 'learn his secrets so I can defeat him'.

"Is that why you're here?"

"No." Yang flipped his head, his long bangs flicking a bit. He put his

hands in his pockets. "You wanted to know when she came back."

Nabiki looked up. "She's back already? That was fast."

Yang shrugged. Nabiki stood up and walked around him to the door. "You

going to need an escort?" he asked.

"Inside the building?" Nabiki asked.

"There have been two attempts on your life already," Yang pointed out.

"And I handled myself fine," Nabiki assured him. "I want to talk with

her alone. You can have the morning off."

Yang shrugged and exited just after her, closing the door behind him. He

paused and locked it with the key Nabiki had given him. She smiled and shook her

head. Those boys treated her like she was made out of porcelain, sometimes.

Honestly, you save someone's grandfather from cancer, have your life saved by

him in turn, and then end up like this.

As she moved through the corridors of the hotel Nabiki wondered where

the aforementioned grandfather was. He hadn't been in Hong Kong when Nabiki had

sent out the all-call to her contacts. She shook her head and dismissed the

thought as idle speculation. The old coot could handle himself. Until he decided

to show his face again, Nabiki would do her best not to get his grandsons

killed.

The underground garage was almost deserted. It wasn't hard for Nabiki to

locate Akira. The sounds of her tooling around with the bike she had picked up a

few days into their stay here echoed through the paved catacomb. When Nabiki got

there, the girl was sitting in front of a blanket on which a large number of

arcane little pieces of gleaming metal were arrayed. Akira herself was rubbing

one of those pieces down with a grease-stained towel.

"Hey," Nabiki called out by way of greeting. Akira looked up, her

expressive brown eyes blinking once. Then she waved idly and went back to work.

"You're back early."

"False alarm," Akira explained. "If there were Chronos operatives trying

to raise a little hell down there, they were gone by the time I got there. Also,

they didn't do a very good job."

Nabiki frowned. She prided herself on knowing who was doing what to who,

and when and where and why it was done. It had taken her seven years to create a

reputation of infallibility in the criminal underworld, and she had gotten that

reputation by being mainly infallible. Her sources inside Chronos had said that

Purgstall was going to do something about the situation, especially now that

Rose had politely declined his offer for 'humanitarian aid, merely until the

current crisis has passed'.

"Maybe they went underground," Nabiki mused. "How good are you at

sensing untransformed zoanoids?"

"Okay, I guess." Akira paused. "Better than most. I didn't sense any in

the village. They might have gone into the jungle, I suppose. If so, I doubt

anyone but Ukyou could track them."

"Yeah..." Nabiki sighed. Ukyou was far too valuable to risk sending off

chasing ghosts in the jungles of Indochina. Nabiki looked at the bike, wondering

why Akira was bothering to build it. She had one in the States still, after all.

For a moment, Nabiki wished she could read the young woman properly. Ever since

the fight in Hong Kong, Akira had become opaque to her. Not exactly empty like

how Chris or sometimes Ukyou appeared to her, but like she was much further away

than she was. "Are you... planning some sort of trip?"

Akira paused. She put down the gasket - or whatever - she was cleaning

and looked up at Nabiki. "Maybe."

Nabiki frowned and crossed her arms. "You're planning on going after

her, aren't you? That's why you've been rebuilding this thing."

Akira eyes took on a defiant gleam. "And if I am?"

"For god's sake, Akira. Why?" Nabiki grit her teeth. "She betrayed us!

She works for Chris! She's HIS."

"She doesn't belong to anybody," Akira countered. "She made a choice. A

bad choice. That doesn't make her a bad person."

"She killed Rose! Right in front of you! She would have killed you too!"

"Yeah. You're right." Akira picked up another part and began to inspect

it visually. "She would have. I saw it in her eyes." She paused. "But that

doesn't make her not my friend."

"I swear, Akira. You have a bad habit of this."

"What, foolish quests?"

"No..." Nabiki sighed. "Of making me feel... shallow."

Akira gave her a startled glance. "Shallow?"

"I don't agree with you, Akira," Nabiki grumbled and sat down next to

her, shifting the wishing sword so it rested beside her. Ukyou and Pluto had

both confirmed that her wish had not been lost trying to defeat Chris. "But I

have to respect your determination. You never give up, do you? Not even when it

seems hopeless. Especially when it seems hopeless."

"Lots of people don't think that's an admirable quality," Akira said,

sounding somewhat embarrassed. Nabiki grinned at Akira's discomfort. She never

could take a compliment well.

"Bullshit, Akira. You're the bravest person I've ever met. If I was half

as brave as you..." Nabiki trailed off. If she was half as brave as Akira, she

would have done something about Ryouga four years ago. She would have gone and

faced him down, faced down the 'Death Messiah' as well... Except she was scared.

Scared that Hotaru would kill her. Scared that Ryouga wouldn't listen to her.

Nabiki wished she had Akira's courage. It was... it was inspiring.

"I'm not brave, Nabiki." Akira began to fit the pieces together now. It

was like a 3D jigsaw puzzle. "Far from it. I spend a lot of time scared out of

my wits. I falter. I doubt. I'm human, Nabiki." She looked over. "You know how

much I doubt."

"You're talking about Tethys, aren't you?" Akira didn't respond. "It

wasn't your fault, Akira. And it's not like you actually-"

"What I did was bad enough," Akira said softly, cutting her off. "And

I'm not going back up there."

Nabiki placed her hands on the pavement and leaned back a bit, closing

her eyes. "So you still think Pluto and Rose just want to get Ukyou to go north,

meet with Tethys?"

"Of course."

"Then why haven't they mentioned it yet?"

"They choose to work with her," Akira growled. "Even after..."

"Angel chose to work with Chris."

"That's different..." Akira trailed off.

"How?"

Akira had no response to that for a while. For a while there was only

the metallic sound of Akira reassembling her engine. "Because Angel is my

friend. Friends don't give up on friends."

"Plus, there is getting away from Ukyou..." Nabiki mused. Akira shot her

a menacing glare. Nabiki smirked. "I don't need telepathy to see it, Akira." Not

that she could if she wanted to. But Akira didn't need to know that. "You and

Ukyou have been playing a game of keep away for the last two weeks." She paused.

"Here's an idea: why not go talk to her?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Akira said. She cursed as she slammed

something together too roughly and little pieces fell out of the engine. Nabiki

helped her grab a few stray bolts and connectors for a moment.

"I think there's a lot to talk about, Akira." Nabiki said while they

crawled around. "You love her. She deserves to make the decision whether she'll

love you back, rather than you running off on some fool errand."

"Ukyou..." Akira sighed. "Ukyou can't make that decision, Nabiki."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"She's not gay."

Nabiki looked at her for a long minute. Then, unable to contain it any

longer, she burst out laughing. Akira frowned at her, as Nabiki shook with

guffaws. "What's so funny?"

"Akira..." Nabiki wiped a tear away from her eyes. "Is that the problem?

Gee. I thought you of all people would know."

"Know what?"

"Sexuality is genetic." Nabiki tapped her forehead. "It's all meat

thinking. The soul... the soul is capable of love, Akira. But it doesn't

determine who we lust after. Trust me, I've spent seven years inside other

people's heads. It's all reptile hindbrain reactions, nothing to do with 'higher

thought' at all."

"So?" Akira crossed her arms. "Ukyou was born straight. She spent enough

time lusting after Ranma that it's pretty obvious. She still..." Akira trailed

off.

"You're right." Nabiki nodded. "But you forget, Ukyou spent seven years

as a Doll." Akira blinked. "What, you thought they were all born bisexual

nymphomaniacs? Bison altered them with his Psychodrive, right down to the

genetic level. He remade them."

"That's..." Akira winced.

"Disgusting? Sick? Twisted?" Nabiki nodded. "Yeah. That's Bison for you.

But, fact remains is that Ukyou got the exact same treatment as the others. You

experienced her memories. You know that Lotus Infinite swung both ways."

Akira blushed. "This is sick, Nabiki."

"Maybe." Nabiki shrugged. "But Ukyou's wearing that skin-tight suit

nowadays, and I don't think it's to impress Yun or Yang..."

"Ranma?"

Nabiki waved her hand. "Ukyou gave up on Ranma seven years ago."

Akira frowned. "I prefer the way Ukyou looks when she wears something

more... conservative."

"Have you told her that?"

"Of course not!"

"Have you even told her you love her?"

"What? Yes... I mean... she obviously knows. I've made my feelings

pretty clear... I mean..."

"Have you told her?"

Akira frowned. "What's your stake in this anyway, Nabiki? Why do you

care what happens between me and Ukyou?"

Nabiki opened her mouth. She had a good lie prepared. She had spent

days thinking it up. Days during which she had tried to broach the subject with

Ukyou, only to back off at the last moment. She could lie to Akira... but she

chose not to. "Because I need your help. I need... I need someone to stick

around and help me talk to Ukyou. Someone with more pull over her than I have."

Akira's eyes narrowed. "You want us to get together so you can use me to

jerk Ukyou around?" She turned away. "It doesn't work that way, Nabiki."

"I know..." Nabiki stood up. "I was an idiot for even thinking it." She

paused. "I'm sorry, Akira. I just thought... you loved Ukyou so much, spending

all that time fighting for her... I just thought you could..."

Could what? Help her? Who was her? Nabiki? or Ukyou? Why did Nabiki

suddenly think it was important to help Ukyou?

"It isn't like that, Nabiki." Akira looked at the hollowed out bike. "I

didn't spend all those years fighting for Ukyou because I love her."

"But why...?"

"Because it's about choices, Nabiki." Akira stood up. "It's always about

choices. Ukyou was my friend. She was my mentor. She taught me more about how to

live my life in a few months than my brother had in sixteen years. Even if there

hadn't been anything like love between us, I wouldn't have given up on her."

Akira looked back at her. "We don't choose who we fall for, Nabiki. You said it

yourself. It's all meat-thinking. We don't choose how we grow up. We don't

choose the world we live in. We can't decide if we live or die. All we can

really choose is who we call friend, and what we do with the hand life deals us.

So... I call Ukyou friend, and I choose never to give up on her." She looked up.

"I choose to call Angel my friend too."

"So, you're leaving?"

"Maybe."

OoOoO

"Do you really think this is wise?" Katsuhito asked as they walked down

the rose-lined path. Akane glanced at him. His expression was calm, but slightly

melancholy. He walked with his hands laced together behind his back, his

traditional priest's robes rustling as he moved. Akane took a moment to adjust

her cloak before responding.

"Splitting us up?" Akane frowned. "Maybe not. But we have to find the

other Senshi. Ami and... Maho- Maki..."

"Makoto," Katsuhito offered. Akane nodded in thanks. "The two of them

may not be as powerful as Sailor Moon, but we should still save them."

"From what, exactly?" Katsuhito asked softly.

"Don't you start, too," Akane growled.

"I'm not." He paused and adjusted his glasses. The path curved ahead and

swept into the front yard of a house. The house was... beautiful. The walls were

stone, with ivy creepers climbing along the outside. The windows had white

sills, the roof was painted sea-blue. A low stone fence, barely a half-meter

high, circled the building, with only one gap for the front entrance. The yard

was more than a yard. It was a garden. As Akane got closer she saw that someone

was maintaining the yard with great care. Flowers of all types entwined

together, somehow transcending the clash of colours and forms to form a unique

whole.

There was music. Someone inside was playing the piano. It was a

entrancing tune, something melancholy and yet hopeful at the same time. Akane

closed her eyes and for a moment she was in the back yard of her house in Tokyo,

her father teaching her the first steps of martial arts, her mother smiling from

the porch...

Akane shook off the feeling. That was the past.

"The point, Akane..." Katsuhito and she stopped in front of the

entrance, "is that Akio has had seven years to twist them to his own purposes.

You should prepare yourself for the worst."

"The worst?" Akane asked.

"They may not want saving."

Akane considered that for a moment, then knocked. The music cut off. The

door opened to reveal a kind-looking young man. He had short blue hair and eyes

that were just slightly more green. He was taller than Akane, but shorter than

the old man. He had an effeminate look to him, but his stance was firm and

masculine. He wore a white shirt with green thread etching out nonsensical

patterns around his shoulders and a pair of black slacks.

"Oh. Hello, may I help you?" he asked, blinking a bit at the sight of

them. He smiled and stepped back before they could answer, gesturing them

inside. "Please excuse me, come in, come in... The winter chill is setting in.

It will be much more comfortable inside."

"Winter chill..." Akane muttered. It felt like spring here. In fact, it

felt perfectly comfortable. But she didn't turn down his invitation. "I'm sorry,

we must have the wrong address. We were looking for the Mizuno household."

"Ah," the man shrugged and laughed a bit. "No, you have the right

household. My wife is just occupied at the moment."

Akane blinked. Wife?

"I'm sorry again, my manners fail me. But you are an unusual visitor."

He bowed slightly. "My name is Miki Mizuno. I am pleased to meet you. Would you

like some tea?"

"Ginseng?" Katsuhito asked.

"Of course," Miki replied. "I'll be right back then. Please make

yourself comfortable in the lounge." He gestured towards a room to the side of

the entrance hall and started towards the back of the house. Akane looked at the

old man and shrugged, before exchanging shoes and walking into the lounge. The

two of them sat down in comfortably stuffed green leather seats. The walls were

lined with bookshelves. Row upon row of books and other odds and ends. Akane

glanced through the arch into the next room. That room, too, was filled with

books.

"He seems nice enough," Katsuhito said cheerfully.

"Yeah..." Akane muttered.

"Something bothering you?"

"Aside from everything? No." Akane paused. "I'm more disturbed that I'm

not disturbed. Everything about this place has been rubbing me the wrong way.

But this house..."

"I know." Katsuhito nodded his head and pushed his glasses up with one

finger. "There is an air of a home about this place. There is happiness in these

walls. It reminds me of when my daughter was alive and..." He trailed off.

"It reminds me of back in Tokyo," Akane admitted. "But not in a bad

way."

"Why would is be bad?" Akane looked over her shoulder. Miki had

returned, carrying a tray of tea. He began to serve it as Akane carefully

prepared her answer.

"I have bad memories of Tokyo. I was there when... seven years ago."

"Ah." He nodded, and offered her a tea cup.

"Do you know what happened back then?" Akane asked bluntly.

He blinked and laughed. "No." He smiled, his eyes closing. "But if it's

a painful memory, why worry about it now?"

Akane stared at him, holding the tea cup in her hands. She glanced over

at Katsuhito, who was sipping on his tea. The old man was giving her a

meaningful look. She frowned at him. "What?" she asked.

"The tea is good," he noted.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Akane replied.

"Nothing." He smiled. "But it would be a shame if it got cold."

Akane sighed and took a sip of her tea. It was good, she admitted. Then

she sighed. "We need to see Ami."

"I was afraid of that," Miki said softly. He sat down on a couch near

the wall, setting the tray on a table beside him. He took a sip of his own tea.

"She is very busy and doesn't like to be disturbed while she works."

"This is an emergency," Akane insisted.

"A medical emergency?" Miki asked. "Have you tried the hospital? Dr.

Tokukatsu is very good. If you tell him I sent you..."

"No," Akane cut him off. "Not a medical emergency. We just have to see

her. Now."

Miki appraised her, and for a moment Akane understood that this placid-

seeming man had a strength to him. He was no longer looking at her like a host

to a guest, but as a guardian evaluating a threat to his ward. "Can I ask what

it is you need to see her about so badly?"

"Oh, nothing interesting," Katsuhito broke in. "Family business."

"What family?" Miki asked bluntly.

"Her mother," Katsuhito replied flippantly. "But I'd really rather

deliver the news to her personally."

"Ami and I have no secrets," Miki said. He was standing up. "And if you

think I can't tell that something is going on here, you are insane. You're both

armed, with swords no less, and walking into my house." His eyes narrowed, and

he looked like an entirely different person. He wasn't a kindly man now, but a

fierce one. "Plus you both reek of power."

Akane stood up. "How can you tell?"

"I may not be a great martial artist, but Ami has helped me to develop

certain skills."

Akane considered that. "Fine. We need to talk to Sailor Mercury."

Miki's eyes widened and he staggered back. Then he straightened and

rubbed a hand over his face. "You're too late."

"How?"

"You just are." He looked at Akane. "Whatever you are trying to do...

can't you just leave her alone? She's happy now. She doesn't need to go through

any more pain." His voice... it was genuine. He was pleading with her. Akane

steeled herself.

"No. I can't leave it alone. I have to speak with her." She paused

significantly. "One way, or another."

Miki stared at her. Then he looked away. "This way."

As Miki led them up to the second floor, Katsuhito whispered into

Akane's ear. "It would be wise to control your temper."

"I'm controlling it," Akane hissed back. The man raised an eyebrow, then

fell behind her. They were led to a large door near the back of the house. Miki

opened it without knocking.

Inside was something out of a science-fiction movie. It was a

laboratory. The blue-tile walls and floors sparkled, cleaned to an almost mirror

finish. The lights overhead buzzed the way fluorescents always did. There were a

number of tables, many covered with complex apparati constructed from clear

glass tubes and beakers and valves with multi-coloured liquids flowing through

them. Flames boiled things. Steam hissed through vents. There was a steady drip-

drip as something somewhere dribbled water into a echoing chamber.

Akane paused in the doorway. Ami was sitting near the back, facing away

from them. She sat on a elevating stool that rolled about on gimballed wheels.

Her long white lab coat fell behind her, almost to the floor. She was busy

looking into a microscope. Her blue hair had grown out long and was tied back in

a ponytail at the base of her neck. Just within hand's reach was an ashtray,

stuffed nearly to overflowing with cigarette butts. She appeared not to have

noticed them coming in.

"Ami..." Miki said, his voice apologetic.

"Damn it, Miki, I said not to disturb me. This is a very critical

moment!" Ami snapped, without looking up.

"I'm sorry, but we have guests."

"So? Entertain them. Offer to play the piano."

"They wish to speak to you."

"Get rid of them, then. Better yet, tell them to make an appointment at

the hospital."

"They want to speak to Sailor Mercury."

The room was silent for a few moments. Then Ami slowly sat up. She

turned on her stool, looking at everyone in the doorway. Akane only vaguely

recalled Ami, but she realised the young woman had not aged that well. Like

everyone else here, she was flawlessly elegant, but her face looked far too old

for a woman of only twenty-one. There were already lines forming at the edges of

her eyes and the corner of her lips. She looked at Miki, then at Akane.

And recognised her.

"Miki, leave us."

"Are you..."

"Yes. Now go."

Miki left, closing the door behind him. Akane and Katsuhito walked

forward.

"I knew you'd come back, some day," Ami said.

"Ami. It's been a long time," Akane nodded. "You know why we've come?"

"Yes. For her."

"Sailor Moon?"

"The Moon Princess," Ami nodded.

"We've also come for you, Ami." Akane looked at her. "We need you."

"You're too late," Ami informed her. "There is no Sailor Mercury."

"What?" Akane blinked and looked at her companion to confirm that.

Katsuhito merely shrugged.

"I stopped being her a long time ago," Ami said. Her voice was calm, but

there was an edge of something else under her breath. It was well-hidden, but it

was there. Ami reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette, which she

lit quickly.

"Aren't you worried you'll ruin your experiment?" Katsuhito explained.

"What, with this?" Ami smirked and gestured with the smoke. "No, I'm

not. Besides, I'll have to start over again anyway, now that I probably missed

the cellular mitosis."

"What are you working on?" Katsuhito asked, stepping forward. Akane

glanced at him. Why was he asking about that? There were more pressing things to

discuss. But he caught her eyes and she closed her mouth.

"The long form, or the short?" Ami slipped from her stool and started

across the lab. Underneath her coat she wore a blue sweater and a grey skirt

that came down to mid-thigh; the coat flapped around her as she walked.

"The short," Katsuhito smiled in his perfect 'I'm a simple old man'

manner. "Technical words just confuse this old priest."

She had reached a large coffee machine. She poured herself a glass,

then offered the pot to the two of them. They both declined. Shrugging, she took

a sip. "The cure for cancer," Ami replied.

"Really?" Katsuhito blinked. "Remarkable. But, from what I understand,

they already have a cure for that."

"You mean Chronos does."

"So you know about Chronos?" Akane snapped.

Ami gave Akane a level look. "Of course I do, Akane. I'm not blind."

"Nobody else in this town does. We've been here days, trying to track

you down and nobody knows anything about the outside world. Even your husband

doesn't-"

"My husband is a good man," she informed them. "He's been nothing but an

angel to me, but he's not prepared for what we know, Akane." She smiled.

"Before you ask, yes, I know what's been happening 'out there'. I've kept

track."

"Then you know how bad it is!" Akane shouted.

"Yes." Ami took a long draw on her cigarette then a drink of coffee.

"Don't you care?" Akane balled her hands into fists.

"Of course I care, Akane. Hundreds, thousands of people die." She

paused. "Of disease. Of medical problems. Not everyone dies at the hands of

Chronos or Millennium hit squads. Far more die from mundane ailments. Chronos

reserves their wonder cures for the wealthy and the politically expedient. They

also refuse to share with those places not under their thumb." She took another

sip. "I'm going to change that."

"I see..." Katsuhito, unnoticed by Akane, had moved over to the

microscope and was looking into it. "You're reverse-engineering Chronos's cure,

aren't you? These samples... they're zoanoid DNA. Fascinating. How did you

prevent the onset of terminal necrosis?"

"I..." Ami paused. "Simple old priest, hmm?" She smiled. "I think you're

more than you let on."

"Maybe I am," Katsuhito stood up and faced her. "And so are you. You

aren't a doctor."

"Yes, I am." Ami drew another puff. "And probably one of the best."

"You aren't just a doctor."

"Yes. I am." Ami glared at them. "Sailor Mercury is dead. Which is fine.

She was an ineffective, wishy-washy drain on other's resources. I am Ami Mizuno,

and I will do more good in this lab than I ever would have on the battlefield."

"Ami..." Akane stared at her. She had no idea what to say.

"Go. Akane. Go find your Princess. She can save the world." Ami turned

her back on them, walking around the edge of a table and out of sight behind a

large bank of machines. Her voice drifted around the corner. "I'm not in that

business anymore."

OoOoO

"Well?"

"As far as I can tell, they're working at full capacity," Marz informed

them. She removed the wires from the manacle around Fevrier's wrist and she

stared at the small device in annoyance. It was supposed to protect her. The

girl had said she could build a device that would keep Akio out of their heads.

"That girl, Washuu, she said that she knew exactly how this place

worked." Fevrier snorted. "If it's having this kind of effect on us, then she

didn't do a very good job of shielding us from it."

"What kind of effect?" Rei asked.

"Can't you feel it, Rei?" Mamoru asked. They were sitting in a park. All

three ex-Dolls and Mamoru wore long cloaks over their combat gear. Fevrier

picked at hers. It seemed so... drab. It would be much simpler to just dispense

with the cloak entirely. And the combat gear. They obviously wouldn't need it

here. This place was free of violence. It was peaceful, serene...

Undemanding.

"No," Rei sighed. "The only thing I've ever felt in this city is...

wrongness. It tickles at the back of my mind. Like an itch I can't scratch. It

makes my skin crawl."

Mamoru nodded. "I see." He looked at the other three girls and sighed,

rubbing his forehead. "Fevrier, how does this place make you feel?"

She looked at him, and frowned. She wanted to bark something out, tell

him that it was a stupid question. This place was just a place. As Bison's

assassin she had been in plenty of beautiful places and reduced them to rubble.

She wanted to say a location was only notable for its tactical advantages.

Except she knew she'd be lying. "I..." She looked at the ground. "I feel..." She

closed her eyes. "I feel..." She clenched her fist and leaned over. "I..."

"Fevrier?" Mamoru was walking towards her now, and she clenched her

teeth. She had to be strong! She had to be perfect! She wasn't going to let this

place get to her...

Except what was she fighting against? This warm feeling inside? This

sense of... belonging? They had spent the last few days moving through the city

and Fevrier had never felt so comfortable in her life. No. She had never

remembered feeling so comfortable.

She had woken up in a lab, woken up in a tube buried deep in Bison's

Psychodrive. She had been a tool, a weapon, forged by his hand. Except... she

hadn't been born that way, had she? She'd been a woman, once. A girl. A child.

She'd had a home. A family. Innocence.

"Oh god, make it stop..." Fevrier hissed, and she realised with chagrin

that she was crying. She felt Mamoru wrap his arms around her. She leaned into

him. "Mamoru... make it stop... these feelings..."

Mamoru was frowning. "Fevrier..." his voice was full of concern. Fevrier

looked at Rei, and the girl was staring at her, uncertain what to do. Then

Fevrier spotted the other two ex-Dolls. Marz was looking down at her computer,

her fingers hovering over the keys. She looked lost, like she had no idea what

she was supposed to be doing. Satsuki was sitting nearby, her legs drawn up to

her chest. She was just looking away across the field. Children were playing

there. "What feelings, Fevrier?" Mamoru clenched his fists. "If that bastard is

hurting you..." he growled.

Fevrier tried to reply, but she couldn't for a few moments. Her voice

was hitching. "No... not painful..." She held out her hand. "But... it's like...

like I can feel..."

"Feel what?" Rei asked.

"Her."

"Who?" Mamoru looked at her strangely. "Sailor Moon?"

"No... her... the girl... the... the one I lost..."

"The one you lost..." Mamoru's eyes slowly filled with comprehension.

"Fevrier... you mean you can feel your old self? The one that existed before

Bison?"

"I..." She chewed her lip. "Yes. I can feel... these emotions. They're

so strange. I feel sad, but at home and..." She clenched her head. "It's wrong,

Mamoru. I never felt this way before. I'm strong! I'm fierce! I've never felt

weak like this! I've never felt..."

"Happy?" Satsuki said. "You feel... happy, don't you?"

"Yes..." Fevrier said thickly.

"It's strange..." Satsuki murmured. "I've always been so shy... I get

nervous around everyone but sir Mamoru... yet... I feel such an urge to just

walk over to those children and say hello..."

"Are... are your memories coming back, too?"

"No..." Marz said, looking up. "I don't remember, anything... but..."

She looked at her hands. "What's happening to us, Mamoru?"

"The devil's bargain," Rei hissed. Everyone looked at her, and she

frowned at them. "Remember Makoto?"

They nodded. They had found the young woman at the school, coaching one

of the local sports teams. At first, the former Senshi had been happy to see

Rei. Then, she had grown increasingly hostile as it became clear what they

wanted. Fevrier rubbed her hands against her temples as she remembered Rei and

Makoto yelling at each other, their hands clenched into fists.

Then a woman had come out of the school and stepped between the two. She

had been tall, slim, with orange hair and a stern demeanour. One look at Rei had

made the Senshi back off a step. The woman had insisted they leave Makoto alone,

and Makoto had smiled, then grabbed the stranger's hand. Fevrier had raised an

eyebrow at that. She and her 'sisters' had been familiar enough with the concept

to understand what their touch, their intimate familiarity had meant. Even Rei

hadn't missed it. Shocked, Rei had demanded to know what Makoto was doing.

"Rei, don't be a prude," Makoto had said. "You sound just like Ami was,

back when Juri and I first got together." Makoto had smiled, a happy smile.

"Really, I'm glad. Usagi helped us find each other. She... she..." And here,

Makoto's smile had cracked just a little, but then returned to normal. "She made

certain we'd be happy together."

"Have you forgotten everything?" Rei demanded. "Everything it meant to

be who we were?"

"No. I haven't forgotten. But what good have any of us done? There's

always more monsters, Rei. Usagi can fight them. She's the sun. All we were was

lightning at midnight. All flash, and gone so fast you aren't even certain it

was there." Makoto had looked at Rei with pity. "Besides, if I want to be happy,

I have to stay here. I won't abandon what I've found. Somebody else will save

the world. Why should I make myself miserable when there's nothing I can do,

anyway?"

Rei had stared at the girl, then slowly walked away. They had followed,

unable to think of anything to say.

"You're saying... this place..." Marz spoke up, breaking Fevrier from

her reminiscence. "It's giving us what we want?"

"Yes," Rei said. "That's how it works. It gave Makoto love and

acceptance, in return for accepting it as it is." She looked at them. "It's also

giving you what you want."

"I don't want to be that girl!" Fevrier roared, standing up. Tears

flowed down her cheeks. Mamoru stared up at her. "I'm Fevrier! It's who I am!

I'm a warrior, a perfect warrior! Whoever that girl was, she died a long time

ago! I want to be me! I want to be who I am!"

"Fevrier..." Mamoru stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Why

can't you be both? You can be the girl I... know, and the person you were

before. It's... what I've always wanted for you three. To let you live your own

lives again, instead of having to rely on mine." He looked at her. "It's not

fair to you, to have to live my life."

"But..." I want to live your life, she didn't say. Fevrier looked to the

side, biting her lip again.

"I want it..." Satsuki said slowly. "I want to know who that girl was."

"I do too," Marz looked at her 'older sister' apologetically. Her cyan

hair glimmered briefly in the light. "I... I didn't think I did. Back when

Nabiki tried to help us recover our memories, I didn't care so much... but now.

These feelings, Fevrier! They're..."

"Wonderful," Satsuki finished for her. "I don't want them to go away."

"Can you say you hate them so much, Fevrier?" Marz asked, rising to her

feet so she could look her sister in the eyes.

Fevrier slumped. "No. I can't... I..." She stepped away. "Damnit. This

isn't fair! I'm used to things I can shoot! Even if the bullets bounce off, I

can do something about it!"

Mamoru looked around them. "There's nothing here to shoot, Fevrier." He

smiled a little at that. "We don't have to fight anymore, here."

"Can't you people hear yourselves?" Rei shouted. "You sound just like

Makoto!" She stared at them, aghast. "Is... is this place getting to you so

quickly?"

Mamoru frowned, then he shook his head. "She's... she's right." He

clenched his jaw. "We should go find Akane. This place is dangerous. We have

to remember why we're here."

"Yes... let's go finish what we came here for..." Fevrier said, taking

the lead as she started towards the hotel, the others falling in behind her.

Then...

Then, after they'd found Sailor Moon, then they'd know what to do.

OoOoO

"So, it's a letter from her..." Rose trailed off. She sat behind a

marble desk, her back to a wall coated in black basalt rock. In front of her the

city of Bangkok stretched out. One of her first official acts had been to rename

the city.

Pluto looked up from the note spread out in front of her. She looked at

her friend. It was hard to believe this was the same woman. She looked so

different. She was slightly shorter, and her face was softer, younger... the

face of a woman fresh out of puberty instead of the majestic dignified Romany

face Pluto was used to. Her eyes were brown, and her hair was black. It hung

down her back.

"I guess we should have expected this," Rose said finally. "What does

she want?"

"Nothing." Pluto looked down at the note again. "But you know Tethys.

She has two ways of dealing with you. Either she is bluntly honest and demands

what she wants... or she merely hints at it. For now, I think it's the latter.

She offers us help."

"Help?"

"No strings attached, according to her."

"Just like when she took us under her protection..." Rose murmured.

Pluto nodded and placed the note on the desk. Rose flicked a hand and levitated

it to her. She still acted much the same, but there were differences that Pluto

could notice. Like the smirk on her face now. It was an ironic smirk, a smirk

full of condescension and cynicism. Rose would never have smiled like that

before. She never had the passion to.

There were other little things, too. The new Rose had a temper. A

violent temper. They had already replaced the picture window three times, once

when Rose had thrown her desk through it shortly after a teleconference with

zoalord Purgstall of Chronos. She had managed to regain her control quickly, but

Pluto could see it, that violent passion rolling just beneath the surface of

this woman who talked so much like her friend...

But was she really?

"Purgstall would not be pleased..." Rose murmured.

"Pleased about what?"

Pluto started and even Rose looked surprised. They turned to see that

Ukyou was standing in the corner. Her long black coat blended into the shadows.

The two Dolls at the door were halfway across the room towards her before they

paused, recognising the young woman. Using them as bodyguards and servants

struck Pluto as wrong on some level, but Nabiki had been right. They needed all

the help they could get, and what else were they supposed to do with ten

superhuman killing machines?

At least they had stopped propositioning her. Pluto had been aghast when

they had suggested that she and Rose join them for "an evening". What amazed her

was the fact that some of the others seemed surprised at how vocally she turned

them down. They had apparently assumed that she and Rose were... were...

Didn't anybody ever think that two women could just be friends?

Platonically?

"Ukyou, you should knock," Rose admonished.

"Sorry." Ukyou looked at the ex-Dolls, who went back to standing guard

at the door. "I just... I..." She trailed off slowly and shrugged. Rose sighed.

Pluto merely looked between them. Ukyou was staring at Rose. Her eyes were

unreadable, but her posture was not. She looked weary... like just being here

tired her in some way.

Pluto stood up. "Perhaps I should be leaving...?"

"No, stay," Rose replied, gesturing for her to sit again.

"I think maybe you and Ukyou need time alone to talk..."

"We've talked," Ukyou said. "We have reached... an understanding."

"Understanding?" Pluto looked at Rose. This was the first she had heard

of this.

Rose rested her elbows on the desk and laced her fingers together. "It's

very simple. Ukyou realises that while we share a genetic relation, the

relationship between us can never be more than allies. Or perhaps not even that.

There is still the lingering question of the prophecy to deal with."

That hung over everyone's head for a few minutes. Pluto wasn't certain,

but she thought she saw Ukyou wince. It was hard to read the woman's expression.

"You were saying something when I came in," Ukyou changed the subject

clumsily. "Is it anything I should know about?"

"Perhaps..." Rose floated the letter across the room to Ukyou, who took

it. "Tethys has sent us an offer of help."

"The same way Chronos did?" Ukyou said coldly.

"Hard to say," Pluto replied.

"Are you going to accept it?" Ukyou replied, equally coldly.

"What you mean is, are we loyal to Tethys and her interests, or to the

people of Thailand?" Rose retorted bluntly. Ukyou glanced at her sharply. "I

never asked for this responsibility, Ukyou. Merely because I share Bison's

genetic legacy, and am currently the focal point of the psychopower that is

keeping many in this nation from dying, does not mean I enjoy either. Why

shouldn't I turn the stewardship of these people to someone more capable and

willing than I?" Rose stood up, her voice slowly rising. "Tethys isn't that bad

a person, Ukyou. In her Kingdom there are hundreds of thousands... millions of

refugees. She saved them from certain doom again and again from many nations of

the world. She has done a lot of good, giving these peoples homes, jobs... a

purpose."

"What purpose is that?" Ukyou growled out.

"She says she want to put an end to the chaos. To the constant

fighting."

"And you believe her?" Ukyou replied.

"Why don't you?"

"She tried to kill me."

"So did I."

"I haven't forgotten that."

Pluto felt the need to step in at that point. Rose was almost glowing

with power and the air flowing from Ukyou was so cold it chilled Pluto's exposed

legs. She stood up between them. "Ladies. Perhaps we can take a few moments to

cool off. There are other matters to discuss."

The two glared at each other for a long moment. Then Ukyou seemed to

deflate and she looked at Pluto. "Pluto... you still have the dreams, right? The

prophecy?"

"Yes..." Pluto murmured.

"Where does the final battle take place?"

"I... I can't say for certain. It's a featureless plain. There is a sky

filled with dark clouds and a hole opens in them..."

"I see..." Ukyou looked out the window for a moment. "Does the phrase

'where dreams go to die' mean anything to you?"

Pluto frowned. "No. Not really." She paused. "Why?"

"No reason." Ukyou started towards the door. She looked at Rose one last

time. "If you need..." she trailed off again, and for a moment Pluto saw her

mask slip. Pluto expected to see anguish there, or maybe anger... something

strong. But instead, Ukyou just looked weary. Then the cold mask was back again,

and she was gone.

"Perhaps..." Pluto looked at her companion. "Perhaps it wouldn't hurt,

if you..."

"What? Played the daughter?" Rose snorted. "There is nothing between us,

Pluto. And I can't afford to get close to her. One day, I may be forced to kill

her. Feelings would only get in my way."

Pluto had no response to that.

OoOoO

Rei wanted to say that what was going on at the windowsill was strange.

There was an octopus, a tiny little one with a big cute head and tiny little

tentacles, wearing a bandana with the rising sun of Japan on it; and it was in

the middle of a kung fu duel with a purple mouse/monkey thing wearing a white

gi. She just stared at them as they tumbled back and forth, throwing up little

clouds of dust and threatening to overturn the flower vases. Every time they

did, Katsuhito would absently reach up and set the things right, seemingly

without even noticing what he was doing.

Really, however, she had long ago learned to live with strange. Years

spent living with Washuu Hakubi had altered her very concept of the word

strange. Animals having a vicious little battle on the windowsill without anyone

else in the room noticing except her? Par for the course, these days.

"This isn't going well, is it?" Mamoru said. He had removed his sniper

rifle from under his cloak and was cleaning it. Fevrier was sitting next to him,

just staring at the ceiling. Marz and Satsuki stood in the far corner, talking

softly. Akane...

Akane was standing in the centre of the room, holding a pair of strange

crystals in her hand. They were the size of hen's eggs, shaped like diamonds.

They glowed yellow and aquamarine as Akane spun them around in her hand. They

made little clacking sounds as she did so.

"There has to be something we're missing," Akane said softly.

"What?" Rei sighed. "We've been over this town, top to bottom. It's been

two weeks. I hate to say this, Akane, but..."

"Everyone here is happy," Fevrier pointed out.

"Yes, they are." Katsuhito gave a small smile. "But then again,

ignorance is bliss."

"It's more than that," Fevrier pointed out. "Even if they didn't have

Chronos to worry about, people are still people. They make themselves miserable,

at least some of them. Jealousy. Intolerance. Hate. When I worked with Bison I

learned all about these emotions, how they lurked in every heart... how to use

them against people. But I haven't seen any of the signs of it here. People here

are genuinely happy."

"Yes." Mamoru agreed. "It's like a utopia."

"It's a lie," Akane insisted darkly.

"So many things we believe in are," Katsuhito pointed out, crossing his

arms and smiling sagely. "Gods. Demons. Fate. Religion. Who are we to say that

their lies are worth less than our lies?"

"You're sounding like Akio again," Akane said accusingly.

Katsuhito adjusted his glasses, frowning. "Maybe I do. But are you just

going to call me names, or are you going to answer my question?"

"What question?" Akane snapped.

"This entire place may be a lie, but do we have the right to destroy

these people's happiness just because of that?"

Akane opened her mouth, closed it again, and turned away with a snort.

Rei sighed and looked at the old man. He was such a pain sometimes. True, she

had learned more about fighting from him in the last few years then she had

thought possible, but he had a tendency to be such an... arrogant old fart about

it. Just because he was really hundreds of years older than any of them didn't

mean he had to treat them all like children.

On the windowsill, the animals now fought it out using flower stems as

bo staffs.

"So what now?" Mamoru asked.

"We can't just wait for Sailor Moon to come back," Akane said. "If she's

gone from here, we find out where, and we follow her."

"That... won't be possible."

Everyone in the room (except Katsuhito) jumped a little. Rei twisted her

head towards the door, and then down it. The door had slid open fractionally and

sitting in the space between it and the jam was a small black cat with a golden

crescent on her forehead.

"Luna!" Rei exclaimed. She stepped closer. "I'm glad to see you."

"I wish I could say the same, Rei."

Luna's tone brought Rei up short. Everyone else was staring at the

little talking cat. Marz even pointed at it and exclaimed. "Did that cat just

talk?"

"You have a problem with a talking cat, but not a kung fu octopus?" Rei

replied dryly.

"What octopus?" Marz replied.

"Luna..." Akane broke in, kneeling in front of the moon cat. "So, have

you found happiness here, too?"

Luna looked up at Akane for a moment. "No. Akane. I have not."

"You still have your own mind?"

"Akio doesn't take away your mind, Akane." She snorted. "He merely gives

you choices." She looked at the girl, then her eyes narrowed. "Akane. Why are

you carrying around the souls of two Sailor Senshi in your pocket?"

Rei snapped her eyes to the short-haired woman. Akane looked down at

Luna, and sighed. "They were entrusted to me, Luna. Sailor Uranus and Sailor

Neptune. They died in the battle in Tokyo, seven years ago. They found their way

to me, and I've been looking after them ever since."

"I see..." Luna frowned. "You should leave too, Akane. It's not safe

here for you. Either you or Rei."

"I can resist Akio," Akane insisted.

"No. I'm not worried about him. I'm worried about Sailor Moon."

"Sailor Moon?" Rei gasped. "Why would we have to worry about her?"

Luna glanced up at the two of them. "Because Usagi believes she doesn't

need the help of the Senshi anymore. She thinks that she has to protect them

from themselves. You've met Ami and Makoto... that was Usagi's doing, not

Akio's. She convinced them to abandon their powers. You should leave..."

"No," Akane insisted. "We need to see her. We need to know what she's

been doing for the last seven years."

"You won't like the answer, Akane."

"I'm sick of people telling me that," Akane snapped. "If I don't, then I

don't. Just take me to her."

"Very well."

OoOoO

Akira knew something was unusual almost instantly. Yet her hands

continued working. She was ratcheting at the bike, making certain everything was

secure. She had begun to whistle. She never whistled. But she did then, and the

tune was hauntingly familiar. She liked it, and it frightened her.

The parking garage seemed to stretch out. The walls receded into

shadows. The concrete columns bent slightly on the edge of her vision, the gaps

between them widening and widening even as the pillars themselves seemed further

away. Akira knew they weren't, that it was a trick of the eye, but she couldn't

dismiss the feeling that she was... somewhere else now.

She continued whistling and wasn't at all surprised when a feminine leg

drifted into her line of sight. The leg was covered in white spandex, or some

material very much like it. Akira ceased whistling and followed that leg up its

length to its owner. She wore a skintight outfit, but barely was worth it

considering how pubescent her body was. Her legs were crossed and she sat back

on the seat of the bike Akira was assembling. Her hands, the tops covered by the

large gauntlets with their strange red jewels, rested on her knees. Her white

hair flared out around her head and the glittering symbol on her forehead

sparkled in the half-light. She smiled at Akira. Her eyes were... calm. Serene.

Utterly insane.

"You took a long time coming back," Akira said. She had meant to demand

who she was, what she was doing, but that felt better to say, so she said it

instead.

"You missed me?" the girl said, her smile widening. It appeared almost

comical. Akira giggled.

"No. I didn't. I'd hoped you were a dream."

The girl reached down and pinched Akira's arm. The pain was sharp, but

brief. Akira shook the arm. The woman was leaning down close to her now. She

smelled... there was no way to describe her smell. It was every pleasant thing

Akira had ever smelt in her life. It was flowers and baking bread and summer

grass and fresh grease and the open road and...

"You're very good at this." The girl pulled away suddenly, and Akira

shook the fog from her head. The girl was looking at the bike now. "You

certainly know how things fit together."

"It's a knack," Akira replied. She leaned forward and began her work

again. She wanted to scream, to do something... but she found she didn't want

to enough to actually do so.

"No. It isn't." The girl slid off the seat and was behind Akira now. She

leaned over her shoulder and pointed to the engine. "You know because you saw.

You saw how it all fit together. Someone showed you. That's how you know."

"You're right." Akira continued working. "It's very simple, once you're

shown how it all fits together."

"All the pieces, fitting seamlessly together." The girl ran a finger

along the machines's frame. "Carburetor, sparkplug, exhaust... each of them

looks like a separate thing, doesn't it?"

"But they're all part of the same thing..." Akira murmured. "It just

looks like they aren't. But really, when you take the right angle... it is all

one thing. All of it."

"Yes." The girl slid around in front of Akira again. Akira opened her

mouth to scream, but found herself smiling instead. "Ahura Mazda..." She cupped

Akira's chin. "The great spirit chose you. Vessel of god. Fetich soul. Or did

you choose yourself? Hard to say, isn't it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you think trying to leave will take you away from her?" the woman

smiled. "You will always be a part of her now. You always were. It all fits

together. You just realised it more than someone else. So now... you have it

inside you. That part of her."

Akira felt like her head was swimming. The woman was leaning forward

now. There was almost nothing separating them. Her face was a millimeter from

Akira's. As she spoke, Akira could almost feel the movement of her lips.

"The part she doesn't like. The part she hates. All the doubt. All the

things that don't fit together neatly." The girl's irises began to shrink.

"Quite a paradox, to be god and be mortal too. She can't handle it... no one

can. That's why we exist. All those horrible things, that they don't want to

see... that's what we are for. To see them. To experience the truths they deny."

Akira fell back, she waved her hand in front of her. "What.. are you..."

"But that was their mistake," The girl crept forward on hands and knees,

crawling over top of Akira. "We are an inconvenient truth, but you can force

them to acknowledge it. You can. You have seen what she needs to see. You must

show her."

"Show her what?" Akira demanded.

"Why... the Oversoul, of course." The girl's eyes glittered with

madness. "The stuff that dreams are made of. You've seen it." She lowered

herself on top of Akira. "And together...

"You can make it die."

Akira screamed and kicked up. The girl looked startled for a moment, as

the blow sent her flying into the ceiling. The concrete cracked around her.

Akira kicked to her feet and looked at the woman with a growl. "Never!"

The girl laughed and clapped. "Oh... oh joy. You're so close. I can

almost taste it!"

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The girl smiled. "The trigger of destruction."

And then, when Akira blinked, she was gone. Akira looked around her. The

world had returned to normal. She looked up. The ceiling was still cracked. A

piece of stone fell at her feet. Akira shuddered, feeling suddenly very cold.

OoOoO

Akane had come, and Rei had come with her. Strangely enough, Mamoru had

insisted on joining them, but the three ex-Dolls had seemed fine with allowing

him to go on his own. The others had remained at the hotel. Akane didn't like

the idea of breaking up the group again, but Luna insisted that where they were

going a large crowd of people - heavily armed people, at that - wouldn't go over

well. Once they reached the hospital, Akane had to agree somewhat.

The moon cat led them downstairs, to the basement. Past a number of

twists and turns until they were in a lonely room near the back of the building.

In this room, there was a girl.

She was pale, like she hadn't been outside in a long time. She had hair

the colour of sunlight, but it hung limply around her. She was lying,

unconscious but not asleep on a simple hospital bed. Her body was covered up to

her neck, with her bare arms resting on the sheets. Wires and tubes stitched

across her exposed flesh, leading to machines that pumped and beeped and hissed.

There was a tube down her mouth, and one up her nose.

"Nanami!" Rei gasped at seeing her. She rushed into the room, placing a

hand on the girl's brow. "What... what happened to her?"

"Something terrible," Luna stated. She leapt up onto the bed with feline

grace and sat down just beyond the reach of the comatose girl's fingers.

"Who is this?" Mamoru asked. Akane frowned. Hadn't all the Sailor Senshi

been accounted for? This couldn't be another one, could it?

"Her name is Nanami Kiryuu," Rei explained. "She was... a strange girl

I knew when I used to go here. We didn't talk much. I know her brother vanished

some years ago and she was eager to find him..."

"And that's where things went wrong for her," Luna said. "Nanami's

desire to find her brother was such a pure and beautiful dream that it attracted

the attention of the guardian of Elysium, the world of dreams."

"Elysium?" Akane asked.

"Hmmm. Think of it as a sort of psychic plane, Akane." Luna looked at

the girl. "All human thoughts, all human experiences are connected. We share a

connected unconsciousness. Elysium is the physical manifestation of that

unconsciousness. It is a world where thoughts, dreams and nightmares compose the

physical reality."

"It's a spiritual pathway," Mamoru broke in suddenly. "It connects all

realms, all places, all realities. Powerful beings would use it to traverse the

cosmos across gulfs impassable by lesser magics. It was also used as a prison.

Objects and beings too dangerous to be allowed loose in the real world were

imprisoned in Elysium, trapped by the collective will of all humanity where few

could reach it.

"There was a guardian, a protector of the realm, appointed by the people

of Earth to keep the realm of dreams from being defiled. Because even as our

dreams feed it, so too does it touch all of us. To lose it, would be to lose

everything."

Silence descended on the room. "How did you know that?" Luna asked

breathlessly.

"I don't know... it just..." Mamoru shrugged. "I just knew it."

"Not even we have figured out all of the secrets of Elysium, and we've

been fighting it for two years now."

"Fighting it?" Akane asked.

"Yes." Luna bowed her head. "Seven years ago, something wounded the very

nature of Elysium. It changed from a world of dreams to a dead world. It

became... Oblivion."

"Oblivion..." Akane hissed. She'd heard the word, of course. Few had not

heard of the Messiah of Silence and her quest. Akane had a far more personal

grudge against the forces of Oblivion. It was their cult which had almost

destroyed Tokyo, which had been the spark that lit the powderkeg.

"Yes. Utter annihilation. The end of all things. Call it what you will,

but it exists now in that place. Slowly consuming the dreams of humanity one

thought at a time."

"So what does this have to do with Nanami?" Rei asked.

"She was... contacted by the guardian of the dream world, as I said."

Luna continued, "He needed to warn the world of the danger. So he came here, to

find Sailor Moon. He can't exist outside of the dream world, or a suitable pure

human dream. He had almost reached Sailor Moon... when Chris found him."

"Chris..." Rei snarled.

"Yes. The same one," Luna sighed. "He... tore out Nanami's soul. He

ripped out the very power that sustained the guardian, the Golden Crystal. He

left her a vegetable and went on his way. Why? Who can say?" Luna shook her

head.

"Another innocent he has to pay for," Rei growled.

Akane stared at the girl on the bed. Then she looked at Luna. "So,

Sailor Moon knows about this?"

"Yes. That's what she's been doing, Akane. She's been holding off

Oblivion. She journeys to that world, and uses her power to hold back the

darkness for another day. Without her, we would all have perished years ago."

"Bullshit," Akane snarled. Luna blinked. The others stared at her. Akane

clenched her fists. "Why didn't she stop this, Luna?"

"Stop Oblivion? Because, Akane, it's too-"

"I mean this!" Akane gestured towards the comatose girl again. "This

tragedy! She could have kept Chris from doing it! Why didn't she?"

"Akane, that isn't fair, she didn't know-" Luna began, but again Akane

cut her off.

"Akio knew. He knew and he did nothing." Akane glared at the body in the

bed. "Because... because this Guardian would have been a threat to him?" Akane

nodded, it sounded right. "A creature from the world of dreams. Yes. It could

have threatened his hold on this town. He ALLOWED this to happen."

"We already know Akio is scum, Akane..." Mamoru started but trailed off

at the look on Akane's face.

"But don't you see?" Akane said. "Sailor Moon knows all this, too. She

KNOWS."

Suddenly Akane was running. She heard the shouts of the others following

her, but they were drifting backwards. She sprinted up the stairs and out of the

hospital. She dashed between the smiling and laughing people, across the

immaculate streets and around the pristine roses. She dashed onto the campus and

straight towards the Chairman's Tower.

Her hand reached up and clutched the Star Seeds again. She clutched them

until they bit into her flesh, drawing blood. Akane ran, ignoring the elevator

and looking for the stairs. For a moment, the room seemed to swim around her,

like she was seeing double. It was clear the only way up the tower was the

elevator, so why didn't she take it? But she knew that was HIS game. That's what

they had been doing since they had gotten here. Playing his game.

Playing games. Toying with their hearts, with their emotions. Offering

them happiness, if only they gave in, stopped resisting. Typical MAN. Akane was

familiar with people thinking they knew best for her. People trying to enforce

their will on hers. People who thought they knew best.

It pissed her off. She reached down inside herself and found that anger.

That righteous rage, it filled her. It was like an old friend, coming back. She

had never really grown out of it, just learned to control it, to harness it, to

unleash it only when appropriate. Now was that time.

Seven years ago, she had defied the will of God. She would defy the will

of Akio, too.

And with that, the room snapped back into focus, and she saw the door

leading to the stairs. She ran up the flights, taking them three steps at a

time. She kicked out at the top, knocking the door off its hinges. It spiralled

into the room and clattered to the ground. Akane threw off her cloak and walked

into the room. Her hand reached down and settled on the swords tucked into her

belt.

Akio was waiting for her, of course. He stood in the middle of the room,

between two couches facing each other. He was wearing a white suit, a military

outfit with golden cords and elaborate epaulets. Standing behind him and to his

left was a young woman with purple hair done up in a series of buns. She wore a

red dress and stood with her hands clasped in front of her, fingers pointed at

the ground.

"Really, Miss Tendo, you only had to knock," Akio said, smiling.

"Shut up," Akane said, starting forward.

"Is this your answer, Miss Tendo? Violence?" Akio tsked. "What will that

solve? Prove that you can beat me up? That you can hurt me?" He smiled at her.

"Will that make you happy, Miss Tendo? Striking down a man who doesn't raise a

hand to defend himself?"

Akane looked around. The room was spinning again. It was like there were

two rooms, no... hundreds of rooms. This place was not just an observatory, it

was also an arena, it was also a garden, it was also an upside down castle,

floating in the sky.

"This ends here, Akio." She warned him. "No more words. I'm putting an

end to your paradise."

"What do you have against it, Miss Tendo?" Akio mused. "Is it the fact

that the people here are happy? That they live lives of freedom, freedom from

Chronos, freedom from hatred and malice? Or..." His smile became hard. "Is it

because you hate that I can give them what you can not? My world gives these

people the safety you can never offer. I can restore the Dolls to their former

selves. I can free Mamoru. I can do all this, all those things you never could."

He chuckled. "I can even clean up your messes. Who was it, do you think, who

nearly destroyed Elysium? You trapped a being of incarnate destruction in the

barrier between worlds, and you did not think that would ever come back to haunt

you?"

Akio started towards her. He was real, Akane realised. He was one of the

few constants. One of the things that never changed. Him and the woman. And

Akane. And one other thing.

"We are all free to make choices, Miss Tendo. But we must also face the

consequences of those choices. What have I done that is so evil? I allowed one

girl to be harmed. But what have you done? How many people have suffered because

of you, Miss Tendo?" He was almost next to her now. "The mass extinction was not

caused by me. YOU did that. It was YOU that gave Chronos the foothold in your

country. It was YOU who refused the easy solution because of your stubborn

pride. YOU caused it. YOU trapped Pharaoh 90 in Elysium. YOU are the one who

allowed his infection to spread beyond control. YOU are the one who has put not

just Japan, but the whole world... the whole UNIVERSE at risk. All for what?"

He stopped right in front of her, and looked down at her. His expression

was kind, but his words cut Akane like blades. "How much suffering is your pride

worth, Miss Tendo? How many more people will die because you must force your

morality on others? Is that all you fight for? This mad insistence that you,

somehow, are right? Why do you even fight... Akane?"

He reached and put a hand on her shoulder and her arm slumped.

"Because..." She looked up into his eyes. There, she saw it, the arrogance. The

certainty that he had already won. Without lifting a blade, he had cut her down.

He was so certain. So insufferably RIGHT. The anger leapt in Akane again.

"Because no matter the cost... no matter what... EVIL MUST BE OPPOSED!"

Akane roared and her blade flashed out. The silver streaked through the

air as she drew live steel. Akio fell back, gasping. But he was not her target.

The one other thing in the room that was real was. The machine, the giant

projector machine. Akane couldn't tell how she knew it was the source of all the

illusions, she just did. Her blade struck it and Akane released all her chi

through the cut. It blazed scarlet. The machine bisected, the edges of the

metal glowing orange as they were reduced to molten metal by the heat of her

blade's passage.

For a moment, the machine stood there, defying gravity as its halves

slid apart. Then, Akane struck again, and the machine exploded. The explosion

smelled of human blood, and when the smoke cleared, Akane stood atop the

chairman's tower. The ceiling had been blown clear off, revealing the evening

sky. She stepped back, and sheathed her blade as the pieces of the machine

rained down around her. A sudden wind, cold and sharp with the scent of winter,

blew across them,

There was nothing left of the room now, except Akane, Akio and the

strange girl. And there was a door. It was a gate, a stone gate carved with

roses.

"What have you done?" Akio gasped. The explosion had knocked him off his

feet.

"I've put an end to your dream," Akane informed him coldly.

"Idiot girl!" Akio climbed to his feet. "That machine was this place's

protection!"

"I know..."

And, as if on cue, in the distance there was an explosion. Akane turned

to see the scarlet globe erupting in the waterfront. She was not surprised,

except by the speed of their response. But then again, Reichmann Gyro had been

looking for this place for seven years. Why would he hesitate now, when his

objective had finally been flushed into the open?

OoOoO

Rose tapped her foot, raising an eyebrow. Cracker Jack adjusted the brim

of his hat, his eyes hidden from sight. The woman before him may have looked a

lot like Bison had towards the end, but she certainly wasn't Bison. For one, she

wore sensible clothes. A skirt that came down to her knees, a coat that came up

to her neck. It was a very tight skirt and coat, since she was extremely well-

endowed, but it was very sensible. Very businesslike.

Cracker Jack knew business. Still, he shifted uncomfortably. He was

facing down five very powerful women, and putting his life in their hands. Rose

was, of course, unpredictable. He had no idea how much of Bison remained in her

personality, but it was probably too much for his liking. Then there was the

queen of the underworld, the enigmatic time lady and the biker chick. But he had

one advantage over them.

They were all a bunch of good guys.

"Why should we trust you?" Rose asked.

"Frankly?" He shrugged. "Because I like money, I don't much like hiding,

and I ain't got nowhere else to go."

"Well?" Rose turned to the short brunette nearby. Nabiki was sitting in

a chair, leaning back and examining Jack over the tops of her knuckles as she

held her laced fingers before her mouth. It made it very hard to read her

expression.

"He's telling the truth," Nabiki said after a moment.

"Hey! You don't need to go mind-readin' me."

"Frankly? Yes we do. You were one of Bison's top men," Nabiki pointed

out.

"You're lucky we didn't have you thrown in chains the moment you showed

up," Rose growled.

"Right," Jack smiled. "You ladies need my help. This country is falling

apart without Bison at the helm. Chronos is just chomping at the bit to swallow

it whole, too."

"You're evil," Rose pointed out.

"Please. That's 'morally impaired'." Jack grinned.

"I don't see how we have much choice," the third voice said. Jack turned

to look at her. She was leaning against the wall, almost blending into the

shadows. If you didn't pay attention to her, she practically vanished. Her

inhuman black lotus eyes stared coldly at Jack. "He may be scum, but better he

be our scum than end up throwing his hat in with one of the petty warlords or

Chronos."

At that point the door opened with a loud bang.

"Hey, everyone, ya gotta see this!"

They all turned to see Ranma striding into the room. He moved with an

extra special helping of pride today, his face cracked nearly in two by an

enormous shit-eating grin. He didn't so much walk as strutted. At his side was

one of the Dolls, coming up to only his shoulder. Juni moved robotically, but

with a certain sensual grace, like she always did.

"This is totally awesome," Ranma told them all. "Oh, hey Jack."

"Ranma," Cracker Jack tipped his hat slightly.

"How's your leg?"

"Healed up. Your face?"

"Let's ask the ladies." Ranma turned his grin on the ladies in the room.

"What do you think, girls? My face all healed back up to its lady-killing

glory?"

Ukyou chuckled. Rose merely glared. Nabiki and Pluto exchanged a glance

but said nothing. The fifth girl in the room raised an eyebrow. She was standing

near the window, hands laced behind her back. "I've seen better," Akira said.

"Ah, whadda you know? You like chicks. Not that I don't also make a

sexy chick, but you have no appreciation for my manly attraction."

"If there is some reason..." Rose began, but Ranma cut her off.

"Oh, that's right!" Ranma turned to the German Doll. "Juni, what is...

say... Cracker Jack's battle power?"

"Cracker Jack's battle power is currently 1789," Juni replied

mechanically. Ranma turned around and grinned at them all, raising his eyebrows

a few times as if this was the best thing ever. Even Cracker Jack just stared at

him.

"Uh... what?" Ukyou said.

"It's awesome, Ucchan. This girl can read battle auras and assign a

value to them!" Ranma patted the Doll on the shoulder. "I wish I'd had one of

these years ago. It's like... it's like keeping score!"

"Keeping score?" Pluto snorted. "Men."

"Watch this! Juni, what is my battle power?"

"Ranma Saotome's battle power is 3004," the girl answered promptly.

"Hah!" Ranma pointed at Jack. "See that? In your face!"

"Kid, you already beat me up. You know you're better than me."

"But now I have an official number!"

"Juni..." Akira said, leaning forward from the glass. "Just out of

curiosity, what is my battle power?"

"Akira Kazama's battle power is 3007," the woman said without

inflection.

"What?" Ranma stared at her. "NO! This can't be right!" He clenched his

fists and growled.

"Ranma Saotome's battle power has risen to 3011..." the girl said.

"Yes!" Ranma turned to Akira and pulled down one eyelid while sticking

his tongue out at her. Akira chuckled into her hand, her eyes closing.

"What about Ukyou?" Everyone looked at Pluto. She, however, was staring

at the sandy-haired young Doll.

"Ukyou Kuonji's battle power is... infinite," Juni said after a moment.

"Whoa. Looks like I got some catching up to do," Ranma mused.

"Yes. Like, all of it," Nabiki pointed out snidely.

"As much as I hate to break up this amusing moment," Ukyou said,

stepping forward into the light. "I think this is an excellent opportunity."

"For what? Guessing Arkanphel's battle power?" Rose said flatly,

crossing her arms.

"No. This is the first time in almost a month we've all been together in

the same place. The brush fires haven't died down but we're in the eye of the

storm, so to speak," Ukyou continued. "Frankly, all this tension is getting to

us. We're all moping around and snapping at each other."

"So?" Rose grumbled again.

"I think it's time we took a break. That we made it clear this isn't

like the old order all over again. I think we should all take a day to relax,

invite people over, have a good time."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you suggesting?"

"Well, to use the words of a woman far wiser than I: 'We saved the

world, I say we party.'"

OoOoO

"Where did it come from?" Ikazuchi asked, his voice nearly drowned out

by the wind.

"I don't know," ZX-Tole shouted over the roar. The transport was

skimming low over the harbour. The city ahead was beautiful, laid out in neat

lines. The city rose in tiers until one reached what looked like a school, with

a large tower in the centre. Behind the school grew a small forest with large

green trees. ZX-Tole narrowed his eyes.

The better question was: how had Gyro known it was here? Earlier today,

he had sent their plane into the air and trebled the normal sea patrols in this

region. What had tipped him off about this city, hidden somehow from the eyes of

Chronos until now? ZX-Tole was used to not knowing everything that was going on,

but sometimes Gyro seemed to have access to information that made ZX-Tole

wonder...

The waterfront was in flames. Aquatic zoanoids had climbed out of the

water and were wreaking havoc, destroying everything in their path. The humans

were offering no resistance. They were being cut down in the streets like sheep,

or running screaming towards the upper parts of the city. The plane skimmed low

over the rooftops and ZX-Tole was able to look right down into the carnage.

He hissed and braced himself, before turning to his team. "Remember your

orders. Wipe it out. All of it. Leave nothing alive. Level every building to the

ground." He turned back to the open door. "Everyone, transform!"

ZX-Tole leapt from the plane just as it passed over a large open square.

He felt the transformation surge through his body, the power of it exploding

through his nerves like lightning. For a moment, his body was covered in flames

as the power ripped apart his clothing. Then he landed in the centre of the

street with a loud crack, his insectile feet sending tiny fissures across the

cobblestones.

Two more cracks signalled the arrival of Derzerb and Red Cyclone right

in front of him. Derzerb had already changed into his battle form, resembling

nothing so much as a grey-skinned upright rhinoceros. Red Cyclone had even

transformed, which was rare unless ZX-Tole ordered it directly. Neo-zoanoid

transformations were slightly less spectacular than those of their hyper-zoanoid

cousins. Much of the huge muscled Russian body had not changed. He had gained a

foot of height, allowing him to tower even over Derzerb with ease. His skin had

taken on the colour of a forest fire, mottled with reds and oranges, and also

acquired the texture of alligator hide. Huge vents had opened up in the back of

his shoulders and hips, from which great gouts of steam were spilling out.

"I am... RED CYCLONE!" the massive humanoid roared, before taking a few

steps forward to grab a bus with both hands. He lifted it up over his head with

the ease most people would an air mattress and hurled it through the air. The

people in the bus screamed, their voices suddenly cutting off as the vehicle

erupted into flames, blasting apart the front of a nearby building.

"HA! I like the way you think!" Derzerb called in his rumbling baritone.

He reached out, tearing a pair of street signs from the ground with enough force

they pulled thick divots from the ground. He spun them like batons, flinging

them down the street. One cut a running man in two, the other just missed a

screaming woman, instead cutting a huge hole through the front window of a candy

store.

There was a crack and a boom as Ikazuchi landed on top of a three story

building. His landing blew the windows out all across the neighbourhood. His

blue and purple body glowed as he gathered electrical energy around his hands

from the strange organs in his arms and legs. He frowned, holding a ball of

concentrated power in his palm for a second. Then, instead of unleashing it

against more fleeing civilians, he turned and unleashed it against another

building across the street. The blast cored the building, sending great clouds

of flame and ash out of the doors and windows.

The civilians' reprieve was short-lived. The air suddenly filled with a

high-pitched hum and then Thancrus landed among them. His arms twirled around

him, almost poetically, and the people stopped running. Thancrus chuckled as he

walked out of the group seconds before their bodies burst apart in sprays of

gore that painted the sidewalks red.

ZX-Tole stared on impassively. His orders were clear. The armour on his

forearms, legs and chest flipped back, the chitin exposing the deadly red irises

of his bio-lasers. This was not what he was for. He was a soldier, meant to

fight other soldiers. This was beneath him. This slaughter of people proved

nothing, accomplished nothing. But Gyro was a zoalord. ZX-Tole couldn't have

disobeyed him if he wanted to. He hissed, a sound that became an insectile buzz,

and braced himself.

Then his lasers fired off, sweeping across the town. Buildings went up

like candles, bodies burst like heated balloons, their remains vapourising

before the victims even had a chance to scream. In one salvo he had reduced ten

city blocks to a deadly inferno. He turned to his team, the Elite Five. The best

of the best. He was on the verge of ordering them forward when the air cracked

with the report of a rifle going off. ZX-Tole gave out a cry of pain and backed

up a step, swinging his left arm up. A stream of blood poured from what had once

been one of his lasers, but was now a bloody hole.

He looked around and saw the sniper. A figure in black, standing on a

building just to the side of the area ZX-Tole had immolated. ZX-Tole recognized

the man. So... THAT was why they were here.

"ZX-Tole!" ZX-Tole swung his gaze back and he saw her. She was standing

in front of the fire, like she had walked through them without a care. She wore

a yellow blouse and blue vest with a skirt that came to mid-thigh. Under it she

wore a black bodystocking. Her hands rested on the pair of swords she had

sheathed in her belt.

"Akane Tendo!" Ikazuchi said, leaping down from his perch. "I knew we

would meet again, my fiery destiny! Have you finally come to accept your future

by my side, as part of the great design of Arkanphel, as part of the honourable

strength of Chronos?"

"Great design? Honourable strength?" Akane looked around her, her lips

pulling back from her teeth. "Is this your honour? Slaughtering woman and

children? Killing the helpless? IS IT?"

"A soldier obeys his orders," ZX-Tole told her, his voice buzzing but

somehow coming out heavy.

She looked at him. Her eyes narrowed. "I'm sick of this war, ZX-Tole.

I'm sick of running away while your people butcher whoever they want. I'm sick

of lies and half-truths and compromises." With a steely hiss she drew both her

blade, and assumed a fighting stance. "Let's finish this. One way, or another!"

"Well, the orders said to kill everyone!" Thancrus shouted, charging

her. Then he leapt aside as a blast of flame smashed into the ground just in

front of him. He looked aside at the woman who was now standing on the other

side of the square. Her long black hair blew in the wind and in her hands was a

bow made out of flame; she was already drawing another fiery bolt across it.

ZX-Tole scanned the square. They were surrounded. The sniper up on the

roof was on one side, with three woman in black outfits coming out of the

alleys beside him. One carried a pair of handguns, another a long sharp blade,

the third had only her fists. And behind them was an old grey-haired man in

blue-grey hakama and a white shirt. He smiled at ZX-Tole, waving impudently with

his free hand. The other carried a wooden sword.

The orders had been explicit. While it was anatomically impossible, ZX-

Tole wanted to smile. THIS was what he had been designed for. "Kill them. All of

them."

And the city became a battleground.

OoOoO

Rei leapt backward, twisting through the air. Her hands blurred,

launching bolt after bolt of pure flame towards her enemies. She had lived with

Katsuhito and Washuu for years. They had helped her to discover the hidden

depths of her power. They had taught her how to use it in ways she hadn't

imagined. She moved without thinking, the flames exploding from her finger tips

with the speed of a machine gun. It was like fire was raining from the sky.

The Elite Five scattered, unwilling to be caught in the inferno the town

square had suddenly become. She saw the blue-skinned one and the one that had

swords for hands bound off in one direction, and the huge black bug and the

giant red man go off in the other. Which left just...

She was just landing on an untouched roof when he burst from the flames.

The flowed around him like water, not even singing his body. And he was

laughing.

"I remember you, little girl!" the monster roared and smashed headfirst

into the building she was on. The entire structure shuddered as his bulk

threatened to tear it in two. Rei flipped sideways, off the building and fell

to the ground. Her hands flickered again and she drilled three shafts of plasma

right into his side. They exploded, obscuring him in smoke and sparks for a few

seconds. But his laughter emerged seconds before he did.

"It is you..." Rei said, breathless.

The thing took a step forward. "Don't you remember me? I'm immune to

flame! You can't hurt me!" Rei hesitated and the thing's animal face twisted

into a parody of a grin. Its inhuman yellow eyes narrowed in glee. "Are you

going to run again, little girl? Run and leave your friends to die? Just like

you left your grandfather?"

For a moment, everything stopped. There was just the sound of Rei's

heartbeat. Then she stepped forward, lowering her hands to her side. The flaming

bow vanished. "I'm not going to run from you."

"Then... I'll tear you apart!" The thing charged and Rei raised one

hand, turning slightly sideways.

It was laughing as it came and Rei stood, implacable, to meet it. It

bent its head, its twisted horn dipping low to the ground as it came in to meet

her. Rei remained steady until the last possible moment. Then she moved back one

step and brought her hand down just behind its horn. She twisted, pivoting,

putting all of her enhanced strength behind it. The beast was huge, it was

massive... but it had no idea that momentum could work against it as easily as

for.

With a loud cry it slipped from the ground and rocketed past Rei,

spinning end over end before it crashed into a building. The entire facade

imploded, collapsing in on the beast. Rei smiled. Katsuhito hadn't just taught

her how to use her powers.

There was a roar and the thing burst from the rubble, uninjured. Rei

turned to face it again. "You think you can hurt me with simple tricks, little

girl?" it hissed, its eyes blazing with rage.

"Let's find out," Rei responded.

OoOoO

Fevrier knew they were in trouble the moment the two zoanoids came at

them. One of the Elite Five, they may have been able to handle between the four

of them. Might. Two was odds that she knew were suicide. What was Akane

thinking, attacking them head on like this? She was a better tactician than

that. They had to use hit and run, or better yet just run.

But in the distance, Fevrier could hear the cries of the wounded. Seven

years ago, she wouldn't have cared. Just more collateral damage. Just more

statistics. Now... now she cursed as she tumbled through the air, the magazines

from her handguns ejecting slowly. She had already knocked the reloads from her

belt and she caught them in mid-air before slamming them in place by cracking

the grips of the weapons together. She was firing again before she hit the

ground.

Thancrus laughed as he dashed sideways, his bladed hands slashing out in

both directions. Fevrier could see the ripple in the air as the soundwave he

produced caught the bullets, then a second later the hypercore rounds exploded.

Fevrier unloaded both clips into him, unloading them so fast the bangs became a

steady roar and not even one bullet came anywhere near him.

But she wasn't trying to hit him.

Satsuki emerged from the shadows behind him, a streak of black against

the flames of the burning city. Her steel blade came up, a silver shadow.

Thancrus somehow spun, catching her blade with his own. She was knocked back,

flipping in mid-air and landing on her feet. Her katana vibrated.

"That... that weapon isn't steel! I would have destroyed it," Thancrus

declared petulantly.

"We got upgrades," Fevrier informed him. He turned to look at her, just

as she dropped the useless pistols. She plucked the two strange-looking handguns

Washuu had given her. The air filled with white light as she unleashed bolts of

energy the shape of hen's eggs from the barrels. Thancrus might have blinked,

had he the capacity. He raised one hand, trying to parry the energy bolts with a

wall of sound. The blasts pelted through his field without resistance, and the

impacts erupted up his body.

The modified hyper-zoanoid staggered back under the onslaught. Fevrier

frowned. She had seen these things put a hole the size of a watermelon in five-

foot-thick concrete. Apparently sound control wasn't the limit of his

modifications. Satsuki dashed behind him, her alien-alloy blade slashing

crosswise. He gasped and collapsed backward as the svelte ninja girl turned to

face him. Blood dripped from her weapon. Fevrier held up her guns for a moment

as the thing fell to the ground.

"We can hurt you," Satsuki informed him.

"Maybe you can..." the thing hissed as it rose to one knee. "But all

you've really managed to do is make me angry!"

Moving on instinct alone Fevrier leapt, Satsuki only a fraction of a

second behind. It was almost too late. The hyper-zoanoid gestured with one claw

and the alley they were in exploded, the sound waves ripping apart the walls and

floor and turning it into a deadly shower of jagged rubble. Seven years ago

their jumps would have taken them to the top of the building, but now they

barely got a third of the way up.

So they improvised, turning the sides of the alley into springboards,

triangle-jumping up and again and again, crisscrossing three times as they

bounced higher and higher into the air. Just beneath their heels the walls

exploded as Thancrus extended his deadly sonic assault, chasing them into the

air. Then they were into open air and there was no more up to go.

Fevrier cursed and spun in mid-air, twisting her guns underneath her. A

rain of white pellets slashed down into the exploding alleyway. She heard more

than saw Thancrus dodge out from beneath them. Unfortunately, she had no more

upward momentum... then Satsuki grabbed her and the two of them landed on the

roof.

"Satsuki," Fevrier said softly. "I have a plan..."

OoOoO

Mamoru had grown used to his limits over the years. Once upon a time, he

could leap buildings, fence with superhuman skill and even produce magical

attacks from his fingertips. Then, he had found his life force linked to three

strange, irritating, pig-headed, overly sexual, beautiful fragile young women

and his powers had been gone. At first, he had thought that he could take them

away, allow them to lead the normal lives they had been denied. Maybe even cure

them, some day, so that he could know if they truly cared about him... or were

just forced to by their reliance on his life force.

But Mamoru Chiba had discovered that he could not stand on the

sidelines. The world was under attack, it needed champions. He had never chosen

to be a champion. He could hardly even remember his past life except as flashes

and dreams here and there. Even much of his time as Tuxedo Kamen was hazy and

indistinct, barely remembered. But he had found that he could not stand by while

people suffered. So... when Akane had found him and asked for his help, he had

given it to her.

Because while she did not have world shaking power, or the best mind for

tactics or even the most charisma he had ever seen, she had one thing he was

willing to follow her for. She believed. She believed that mankind was worth

saving, that people were worth fighting for, that evil had to be fought no

matter where it was. She believed with a conviction that reminded Mamoru that

even if he had never been chosen, he was a hero. He had to fight, powers or no

powers.

But damn, sometimes he missed them.

He jumped to the next building, just managing to clear the gap as the

building behind him exploded into a pillar of shattered wood and flames. He

tucked and rolled, trying not to lose hold of his sniper rifle as he moved. Not

that it did much good. His first bullet had been caught in the neo-zoanoid's

field and melted to slag before it reached him.

The purple-skinned humanoid set down just in front of him, his aura

burning the shingles of the roof black where it stood. He looked human, with a

handsome human face right down to its tousled 'hair'. The young man in front of

him sneered. "Are you ready to surrender yet, cur? I have no desire to sully my

hands smiting such an insignificant little man."

Mamoru stood up shakily. His hand reached down to the weapon Washuu had

provided for him. He wondered briefly why she had bothered. He was a sniper. He

was very good at hitting targets from very far away. He was even better than

Fevrier when it came to actually hitting things, rather than just unleashing

indiscriminate destruction.

Damn, he had to think about her, didn't he? He hoped the other two were

all right. But their only hope was to split up the Elite Five. "I don't think

I'm ready to give up yet," Mamoru said slowly.

"Do you need another lesson then?" Ikazuchi snapped up his hand, forming

a long thin blade of crackling blue electricity. "A stern reminder of who is

your better?"

"No, I just needed to delay you a few moments..."

"Delay me?"

Then Marz' fist slammed into the back of his head. The young man's eyes

crossed and he staggered forward. Mamoru reacted instantly, bringing his rifle

to bear. He cleared the chamber with a deft flick of his wrist and lined up,

then fired an instant later. The boy barely had no time to react. Marz had

fallen backward, clutching her burned arm, but his aura had whipped around his

body to meet the attack. There was no protection from Mamoru's bullet. The

hypercore round caught him right in the face. The man' head snapped back, and he

staggered.

Mamoru was already running past him. He dropped his rifle. It was empty,

and would take too long to reload even if he had more hypercore rounds to load

it with. But he was barely paying attention to that. He grabbed Marz around the

shoulder and spun her to face him.

"Your hand? Are you alright?"

"I..." She winced. "I am fine... Mamoru dear..."

"No you're not," he snarled. "You could have blasted your hand off! What

possessed you to do something so stupid? I said distract him, not get yourself

killed..."

"Mamoru, as much as I like it when you yell at me, perhaps later?" Marz

looked pointedly behind him. Mamoru turned slowly. Ikazuchi was standing there,

rubbing at the small dark circle in the centre of his forehead. He frowned at

Mamoru and Marz.

"That hurt, you know," he informed them. Then the purple neo-zoanoid

burst forward. His blade formed with a flick of his wrist and it was coming in

at Mamoru high and fast. Mamoru realised he had no chance of dodging, not

something like that and...

Suddenly he was moving sideways. He realised too late that Marz had

thrown him to the side. Except she didn't follow him. Grabbing him with her

injured hand had forced her to wince in pain. Ikazuchi's blade slammed into her,

and for a moment her body was a black silhouette traced through with lines of

blue light. Then Ikazuchi finished his follow through and landed on his knees

beyond her.

For a moment, Marz stood there, her eyes slowly closing. Mamoru could

only stare, his mouth going dry. His heart, it was too big for his chest. It

felt like it was going to explode. The woman... the frighteningly direct, the

annoyingly distractible, the amusingly naive in such strange ways... the

precious beautiful woman crumpled to the ground. She wasn't breathing.

"MARZ!" Mamoru screamed, at her side instantly. He turned her over,

cradling her in his arms. She still wasn't breathing. "Marz! No! No... don't you

die on me!"

"I... am sorry." Mamoru turned around, his eyes leaking tears. He

blinked in disbelief. The neo-zoanoid was standing there, looking... regretful.

Regretful! How dare he... "I never meant to harm your woman..."

"You... BASTARD!" Mamoru leapt to his feet, pulling Washuu's weapon from

his belt. It blazed to life, a thick beam of golden light in the form of a

sword. Mamoru didn't understand why she had given him this, but he didn't care.

Moving in a pattern he didn't understand, but knew intimately, Mamoru struck.

Golden light met blue as Ikazuchi just barely parried the blow. The

monster's eyes widened slightly as Mamoru somehow pushed him back. "My woman...

MY WOMAN? You monster! I'll kill you!"

OoOoO

Cobblestone shattered as Akane parried one of ZX-Tole's claws, the

impact grounding through her body like thunder and smashing the road to pieces.

She shifted backwards, sliding away from him. He stepped forward into the space,

swinging his arm up again. The next attack she tapped aside with less

difficulty, and the next.

Then she screamed and stepped into his guard. Her blade flashed and

spun, sparks rolling off his body as the weapon scratched along the length of

his armour. He buzzed and cursed, his body rocking back and forth from the

impact. Finally he shifted sideways, a move that seemed impossible for a

creature of his magnitude, and Akane's blade struck the wall of a local florist.

The side of the building imploded inwards, and a cloud of flower petals

shot out a second later. ZX-Tole snapped one arm up, the panel on his forearm

opening. Akane leapt, finding purchase on a piece of falling debris. The angry

red blaze of his biolasers carved a path beneath her, and the flower petals

became a storm of fire.

Kicking off the edge of the roof Akane backflipped over him. She

screamed, focusing all her energy through her blade, and slashed. ZX-Tole

snapped up his free hand, taking the slash on the back of the wrist. Chitin

parted, melting away from the heat of her attack. But not enough to reach the

flesh underneath.

Then he twisted his wrist, catching her blade between the grooves she

had cut. Wrenching his arm back he tore the weapon from her grasp. Akane landed,

her palms throbbing, but she settled them on the hilt of her remaining weapon.

Then she was screaming again, running in under his guard. The wooden blade sang

from its sheath, flashing upward in a brown blur. The arc caught him just under

the shoulder, in one of the few places his armour was near-nonexistent. There

was a satisfying crack and ZX-Tole jerked back, his segmented red eyes flashing

in alien pain.

Akane huffed, trying to recover her balance. In that critical moment,

the monster struck. His uninjured arm slipped down like a sledgehammer, catching

her neatly in the temple with the massive black back of his hand. The blow

nearly took her head clean off. She could feel her neck muscles straining and

stars exploded across her vision. She didn't feel herself passing through the

first wall, but the second one registered as her body smashed through brick and

wood before skimming out into the street again.

She acted on instinct, unable to even really tell what way was up, but

still trying to roll away. Somewhere behind her there was a flash of red light

and the place where she had been exploded. She coughed, blood spattering her

lips, and rose to her feet.

Akane had been knocked into a new street. The buildings here were

merely aflame, burning away. A quick glance left and right showed that there

was no escape from this section, not without trying to leap over or through

several tonnes of collapsed burning rubble. The building she had come through

was the only passage out, a tunnel of safety. But as she watched, ZX-Tole tore

his way through it, his giant beetle shape ripping through the burning structure

like it was made of paper.

He still had her sword embedded in the back of his wrist. Akane smirked

and looked down. Somehow she had retained her grip on her bokken. She tried to

firm up her stance, even though her head was ringing and her vision kept

doubling now and then.

"For what it's worth, Akane Tendo, I am honoured that it will end like

this," ZX-Tole said in his insectile buzz.

"Don't patronise me," Akane huffed, stepping sideways slowly, and trying

to slim her profile as much as possible.

"We fight for different causes, but that doesn't mean we don't

understand each other," ZX-Tole informed her. He reached up with his good hand

and swallowed the hilt of her blade in his massive claws. "We are soldiers. We

are leaders of men. You would not allow any of your people to come to harm, and

I feel the same way."

"But innocent people, they're okay to butcher, right?" Akane sneered.

"I follow my orders," ZX-Tole said stiffly. He ripped the blade free

with another splash of scarlet blood. Then tossed it into the ground, hard

enough that it sunk into the street nearly to the crossguard.

"You're wrong if you think we're the same, ZX-Tole," Akane said, and

spat another bit of coppery blood from her mouth. "Because you're a monster,

deep down inside. You kill, and you're good at it. Even under that zoanoid

shell. 'I'm only following orders' is an excuse. If you really had honour, you

wouldn't let this happen!" Akane swung her sword, indicated the devastated city

with the tip of her blade.

ZX-Tole looked at her as stiffly as his inhuman face would allow. "Very

well. If you cannot respect me, then at least I can respect you. Die well,

Akane Tendo."

His biolasers opened up and Akane charged. She crouched and leapt,

sliding right and left. The beams traced the air around her. One burned away the

fabric on her right shoulder, searing the flesh beneath. Another vapourised the

side of her shirt and a third passed so close to her cheek the heat of its

passage darkened her skin.

Then she was in too close for him to aim properly. She moved faster,

struck harder than she ever had before in her life. Her blade snapped and

cracked, smashing against his shell again and again. Step by step ZX-Tole was

driven back, towards the flames he had started. For a tiny moment it looked like

she had the upper hand... then his good arm met her wooden blade in a vicious

parry and the weapon shattered into a shower of splinters. Akane was thrown back

by the force of the blow. As she floated backward, he rocked forward, smashing

out with his injured hand. His hand was a big as her torso, and caught her

square in the chest. Her body deformed around the blow and she was sent skidding

back... her vision blackening. She slammed into a metal utility pole, which

bent around her and sent her crashing to the ground.

Akane forced her hands under her, trying to push herself up. She was

squinting with pain, looking up to see ZX-Tole opening the huge laser on his

forehead...

"LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

A golden light shot from on high, smiting the monstrous man in the

chest. He screamed and flew backwards, the armour on his chest cracked. He

landed on his back, flailing for a moment like a beetle that had been

overturned. Akane could only stare.

Then a figure landed in front of her. She had long hair, the colour of

sunlight on a cloudless day, that flowed around her like a cape. She landed in a

crouch, her tiny skirt rippling around her thighs. She was wearing form-fitting

armour made of burnished gold. She looked back over her shoulder at Akane and

Akane saw that the woman wore a golden mask over the top of her face, something

that made her look vaguely like a bird of prey.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. But this place is so hard to find," the woman

said, flashing Akane a v-sign.

"Who?"

"Name's Minako, but people call me V," she said, standing up. "Now if

you'll excuse me, I think bug-face is ready to fight again."

ZX-Tole had, indeed, managed to climb to his feet. "You'll pay for

that," he promised the stranger.

"Maybe. But not today!" Minako shouted, and leapt forward. The air

around her filled with red light, but she gestured and a golden shield formed

before her, blocking or deflecting the onslaught. Akane began to smile. The

golden warrior landed next to ZX-Tole and suddenly her shield unwove into a long

chain of golden links which she smashed into his side like a whip. The hyper

zoanoid staggered sideways.

Akane took a deep breath and heaved herself to her feet. She landed

running, ducking only long enough to grab her sword embedded in the ground. With

a wordless grunt Akane tore it free of the earth, shattering the area around it.

Minako was keeping ZX-Tole busy. She was dancing around his deceptively clumsy-

looking attacks with the ease of a ballerina. For a moment, Akane thought she

saw something familiar about her technique, but focused on more important

things.

ZX-Tole never saw her coming. She reversed the grip of her sword, and

ran, skimming it through the flames of a nearby building. It sparked and

crackled as it hit the debris and Akane focused all her chi through it... and

when she pulled the sword out it had caught flame. Minako caught Akane's charge

out of the corner of her eyes and she grinned.

Something passed between them. A wordless, instinctive understanding of

mutual intent. Minako leapt high, spiralling her golden chain beneath her. It

caught ZX-Tole's arms, snapping them together at the wrist and pulling them

above his head. The zoanoid snarled, opening his laser ports again. Minako was

right above him, and even in his current position he could still hit her with

most of them.

Akane's blow took him in the underarm, aimed directly where her last

blow had hit. She screamed and the flaming sword cleaved through the thin armour

like a hot knife through butter. Flesh and muscle parted, instantly cauterised

by the passage of the thin steel. Akane stepped past ZX-Tole and the beast's arm

came off, cut clean through at the shoulder.

ZX-Tole screamed and fell back to one knee. Minako landed in front of

him. "Wink Chain Sword!" she said in a deadly soft tone, snapping her wrist and

forming the supple chain into a stiff line of glowing gold light.

ZX-Tole looked between the two of them, then hissed and fell forward.

Akane's eyes widened, but it was too late. The ground around him geysered upward

as he dug through the earth faster than anything had the right to. She stepped

back, shielding her eyes. Minako, too, was caught off-guard. By the time they

could see again, there was just a pile of loose soil where the hyper zoanoid had

once been.

OoOoO

Derzerb was obviously growing more and more annoyed. Rei had so far

managed to deflect or avoid every single one of his charges and attacks,

successfully sending him crashing into buildings and walls when she did. The

problem was that she wasn't doing any damage. Aikido was, at heart, a grappling

art. Rei didn't fancy her chances if she tried any holds or grapples with the

behemoth.

Which meant she needed to change the strategy soon, or she would tire

long before he did. Derzerb, however, seemed to have finally decided to do that

for her. He stopped in the middle of the street, chuckling to himself. Rei

looked around. They had moved into one of the less damaged portions of the city.

There were people running in the distance.

"Well, little girl, you've certainly become more of a nuisance," the

beast said, chuckling. He moved over next to a overturned car. Rei frowned,

readying herself to dodge if he started throwing stuff at her. "But you still

have one weakness."

Then, with unnatural speed for anything so large, Derzerb's hand

snatched out and came back holding... a child. She couldn't have been more than

ten years old, dressed in a yellow summer dress now stained with soot. She

shrieked as the behemoth held her up by one hand.

"Well... are you just going to stand there, little girl?" Derzerb smiled

as much as his animal face allowed. "Or do I have fun with this little one

instead?" He grabbed her other arm and began to pull, lightly... but it was

enough to cause the girl to gasp in pain and her face to turn white.

"Let her go!" Rei said, her voice hot fury.

"Why don't you run away again?" Derzerb mocked. "I can crush this child,

just like I did your pathetic little grandfather!" Rei snarled. "His body broke

so easily, I wanted to make him beg for release... but he died after I'd barely

touched him!" He laughed. "But this one... I can make it last hours and

hours..."

"MONSTER!" Rei shouted, and charged. Derzerb laughed and with a casual

flip he tossed the girl at her like a missile. Rei gasped and changed course,

catching the child before she could hit the pavement. Derzerb took a deep

breath, rocking back on his heels. Then he stepped forward, breathing out a

cloud of flames.

The girl screamed, tears leaking from her eyes. Rei narrowed her eyes,

and pushed her hand forward. The flames parted around her, breaking around a

point in front of her palm like a wave parting around a reef. It was just like

the martial arts Katsuhito had taught her. Understand the flow of force, and you

could divert it against your enemy. Rei leapt, her fingers raking through the

flames. The girl was still cradled under one arm as Rei spun through the air to

land on Derzerb's back.

Rei skidded to a stop after dashing past the beast. He turned to her,

looking puzzled. Rei put down the girl gently and turned to face him. Her hair

blew in the wind.

"I'm going to kill you," she informed him.

"I'd like to see that!" he shouted, and stepped forward, unleashing

another jet of flames. Rei stepped into the fire, pulling back one hand. The

Flame Sniper formed in her grip, all of the fire from Derzerb's attack

collapsing into the point of the arrow. Rei grit her teeth and released, sending

the arrow of flame straight down his throat.

The fire exploded around the behemoth's face, forming a burning halo.

Rei leapt as Derzerb staggered back, spinning through the air and landing on his

back. Her hands snapped down, one curling around the base of his horn, the other

sinking into the fire still crackling around his face. Suddenly the fire

magnified as she began to pour her energy into it.

"HAH!" Derzerb laughed. "My skin is immune to this! You'll burn yourself

up before you'll even singe me!"

"I'm not trying to burn you," she informed him softly. He was reaching

for her, but his arms didn't bend properly for him to reach his own back easily.

Shifting slightly as he moved, Rei was just able to stay outside of his reach.

"You forgot that one other thing here burns."

"Oh, you mean the city?" Derzerb laughed, and started charging towards

a building. Rei braced herself as he slammed into it with enough force that the

building crumpled down around him. The force of the impact nearly jarred her

loose. Nearly. She grimaced in pain as a piece of shrapnel embedded in her

thigh.

"No," she said as he rose to his feet with her still in place. "I mean

oxygen. Tell me, Derzerb, is the air getting a little thin yet?"

Then his eyes widened. Rei screamed and took the last reserves of her

power, pouring it down into the halo of flame. It trebled in size, and a gout of

fire erupted from Derzerb's mouth as she channelled the flame down his throat.

Screaming incoherently, barely audible over the roar of the inferno, Derzerb

began to smash and crash against everything in sight. Rei was slammed into

walls, into streetlamps, into parked cars. She managed to roll aside as he tried

to fall onto his back, keeping her grip and swinging back out of reach when he

clawed at her.

But his attacks grew slower and slower, his charges less and less

vicious. His eyes began to dim, then darken. He took three more staggering steps

before collapsing onto his chest. Rei stood on him for a long time, her fingers

curled around his horn. The tips of her gloves were black, her fingers inside

scorched. Long after he stopped moving, not until his body began to dissolve

away, did Rei let up.

OoOoO

Fevrier wasn't certain where the sudden burst of power had come from.

One moment, she and Satsuki had been struggling, then suddenly there had been a

flood of power. It was like someone doubled her chi in a fraction of a second.

She didn't have time to guess why. She only took advantage.

Thancrus came at them like a sonic boom. He wasn't letting either of

them close now. The air around him shuddered and cracked as he unleashed blast

after blast from his high-frequency weapons. Rooftops shattered, windows

disintegrated and entire buildings collapsed in his wake. Satsuki was leading

him back now, her gleaming blade striking up again and again, just barely

parrying his blows. Five seconds ago she would have been dead; without the

sudden increase in speed, she wouldn't have had a chance of keeping up with the

hyper-zoanoid.

Fevrier kept blasting, forcing him to put some thought to defence. It

wasn't enough to stop his attack, but it was enough to keep him from realising

that they were leading him, leading him around in a large circle. Right back to

where they had started.

Suddenly Satsuki staggered, slipping sideways. Thancrus laughed, seeing

an opening. He lunged, his blade tracing along the edge of Satsuki's abdomen,

peeling away her flesh. She screamed and fell. But he had taken his eyes off

Fevrier for a split second.

It was all she needed. She grabbed her weapons and twisted them. Washuu

had given her the guns months ago, and explained very little aside from 'this is

the end the death comes out of'. But Fevrier never used any weapon she did not

understand. The physics of the hand cannons was somewhat beyond her, but she

had learned the basics of how they were assembled. Most of all, she understood

how dangerous they were if the power source became unstabilised. Which is

exactly what she did right then.

"Satsuki!" she cried, and with a flip of her hands she sent both weapons

flying towards Thancrus. They were just far enough apart that he couldn't parry

them with one hand. Thancrus chuckled and flipped his arms up...

The explosion was bigger than Fevrier had counted on. She was knocked

off her feet and down into the alley. She recovered midway down, spinning to

land on her feet. She grabbed what she needed and leapt up again. This time she

reached the roof with no problem.

Thancrus was buried in the centre of what used to be a three-story home.

He was shuddering, covered in scorch marks, but alive. Unfortunately for him,

the blast had shattered his blades, cracking them and taking the right one clean

off. Without his sonic powers or any useable hands, he was having a hard time

pulling himself free. Then Fevrier stopped over him, slamming home another

magazine of hypercore rounds into her previously discarded pistols.

"You..." Thancrus hissed.

"You don't get to run away this time," she informed him. Buried up to

his waist in rubble, he couldn't move as Fevrier placed the barrels of the heavy

pistols against his tiny eyes. She unloaded once, twice, three times with each.

His head jerked. She stared down. The back of his head hadn't exploded, which

meant his skin was indeed too tough for the bullets to pierce. Too bad, since

that meant they had probably bounced off the back of his skull and ricocheted

through his brain like a pinball. Fevrier snorted and turned away from the

corpse as it began to dissolve.

OoOoO

Mamoru knew all too well where the strength he felt was coming from.

Seven years ago, his life force had been linked to three young women. To

compensate, his body had lost much of the supernatural abilities he had once

used. Now... now they weren't back, not completely. But he could feel the power

running through him. As he chased Ikazuchi across the rooftops he kept feeling

like he was on the verge of transforming once again.

But even Tuxedo Kamen would have been no match for the neo-zoanoid. Not

on his best day. Mamoru, however, had not spent seven years idle. While his

focus had been sniping, he had learned a lot from the martial artists around

him. How to channel chi. And now, he was bursting with it.

Ikazuchi was frowning, his sword moving in complicated patterns too fast

for the human eye to follow. Mamoru wasn't even certain how he was fighting this

well. The laser sword Washuu had given him was moving practically on its own.

Instincts he hadn't even known he had were flooding back, and with them the

nagging edges of memory.

He remembered something like this. Except his armour then had been more

archaic, more formal...

"Enough of this," Ikazuchi declared. There was a flash and Mamoru was

forced to hop back. When his eyes cleared the neo-zoanoid was floating in the

air. Mamoru looked around. They had reached the edge of the school grounds.

Mamoru hadn't even noticed. "I cannot fault you for your indignation. But the

woman was my enemy. I will not allow you to defeat me."

"Shut up," Mamoru snarled. He leapt. Ikazuchi merely floated higher, out

of range. Mamoru landed and hissed, shifting his grip on his blade.

"Foolish mortal, do you not realise who you face? I am Ikazuchi, the

first neo-zoanoid! My battle prowess is without peer! Like the divine lightning

of Susano-oh, I will smite the infidels who stand before Chronos-"

"CRESCENT BEAM!"

A shaft of golden light took Ikazuchi in the chest, cutting him off in

mid-speech. Mamoru smirked as Ikazuchi rocked in mid-air. Then he looked behind

him. There was a woman with long golden hair running towards him. He felt he

should know her, if only she was wearing something else...

Behind her came Akane, Fevrier and Satsuki. The last was clutching her

side, but moving with her usual quiet grace. Mamoru felt his throat thicken.

How... how was he supposed to tell them... tell them that Marz...

Then his eyes met Fevrier's, and he saw hers widen. She knew. She

stopped in mid-sprint, staggering to a stop. They just stared at each other

until Mamoru could stand it no longer. He looked away, feeling sick and ashamed.

"Kunou," Akane said. "It's over. You're the only one left, and there's

more of us."

"Ah, Akane Tendo, but I think not." Ikazuchi smirked, crossing his arms.

"Isn't that right?" He was directing his question to a patch of shadow nearby. A

huge form emerged from it, the black carapace gleaming in the distant fires of

the city. ZX-Tole, however, was missing an arm.

"You... you killed my men," Zx-Tole hissed.

"There doesn't have to be any more killing, ZX-Tole," Akane said softly.

"Take your men and leave. There's been enough death today."

ZX-Tole chuckled. "No, Akane... I don't think so. You forgot, we have

one last ally."

"I think Katsuhito is dealing with him," Rei pointed out. "And that old

man is a lot stronger than he looks."

"Really?" ZX-Tole looked beyond them. "He looks like a crippled old man

to me. What do you think?"

Everyone turned and stared. The creature walking up towards them was

massive, taller even than Derzerb. His skin was red, his body covered in thick

scars and his skin the texture of old leather. One massive hand held the

unconscious form of Katsuhito like a ragdoll. The massive creature, whose face

was still disturbingly human, snorted, literally blowing steam from his nose.

Steam hissed out of vents in his shoulders and hips as well.

"I am... RED CYCLONE!"

"As much as Ikazuchi brags, he was the prototype for the neo-zoanoid.

More useful as propaganda than as a true warrior," ZX-Tole explained. "Red

Cyclone... he is the result of years of development. His battle power in hand to

hand combat exceeds that of even a zoalord! You have no chance. You'll pay for

killing my brothers!"

"Fine," Akane growled through clenched teeth. She turned to face the

oncoming monster, and Mamoru turned with her. He glanced up at Ikazuchi, but ZX-

Tole was gesturing the neo-zoanoid back. Akane turned to the stranger, "I don't

suppose you have any zoalord-killing energy attacks?"

"Nope," the girl replied grimly. Then she smiled, a cocky little smile.

"But my boyfriend always tells me that it isn't the size, it's the louder they

fall."

Akane blinked. "Huh?"

Then Red Cyclone was upon them. He had dropped Katsuhito and came in

slowly, one ponderous step at a time. Once he was close enough, his fist lashed

out at Satsuki. The ninja dodged, flipping sideways easily. Mamoru roared and

charged in at the beast's unguarded flank. His golden blade slashed out... only

to sputter ineffectively against the thing's flesh, leaving not so much as a

scorch.

He had the chance to blink, before the thing's hand snapped out with

inhuman speed and clamped like a vice around his shoulder.

OoOoO

"Mamoru!" Akane shouted, charging forward.

Minako followed her, already summoning the Love Me Chain. The massive

beast was lifting the struggling man up, carefully gripping both shoulders now.

Before anyone could reach it, the thing snapped backward, bending its body like

an arch and smashed Mamoru head-first into the ground. The soil dented around

the young man and his body went limp. The thing released him.

"Sir Mamoru!" the girl with the wound on her side shouted, dashing in

low. She grabbed the man's limp body and leapt aside moments before Red Cyclone

smashed his massive foot where the body had been. The air filled with the rapid

bangs of a unloading hand cannon as the redhead walked towards the beast,

drilling it straight with each round.

Red Cyclone didn't even notice. The bullets pinged harmlessly off his

skin. Minako grimaced. Why couldn't this thing be a vampire? She snapped her arm

down, spinning her lariat along the ground. She caught the thing around the

ankles and cinched her hold tight. The thing tried to step forward to pursue the

brunette and her unconscious passenger, but began to wobble.

Akane leapt up, pulling her blade back over her head. Red Cyclone looked

up, narrowing his eyes. Then an arrow of flame exploded in his face. He

staggered backward, beginning to topple. Akane came down on him, driving her

sword down on top of his skull with all her might.

There was a sharp crack and a loud crash as Red Cyclone smashed into the

dirt.

Akane landed, staggering to one side. She reached up to her cheek and

pulled her hand away. It was slick with blood. A thin line had been cut along

the edge of her cheek. She looked down. Her sword had snapped in two halfway

down its length.

And the beast was rising. He didn't even look dazed, just mad.

"Akane!" the brunette called, and something flashed through the air.

Akane caught it; it was the girl's sword. Akane looked at her. "I must care for

sir Mamoru! His injuries are grave... his neck..."

"Take care of him..." Akane said, turning back to the battle.

Red Cyclone has risen to one knee. The girl in the red skirt - Sailor

Mars, Minako's mind suddenly supplied - landed next to Akane. "Any plan?"

"How did you kill Derzerb?" Akane asked.

"Suffocated him..."

"Think that'll work again?"

"Worth a shot."

"Fevrier, you and I will get his attention," Akane said plainly.

"Minako, you hold him down. Rei, see if he's as invulnerable inside as out."

"Yes..." Fevrier said coldly. She charged in, Akane two steps behind.

Minako waited a moment, then flipped through the air, landing behind the red-

skinned monster. Her chain formed as she soared through the air. She wished

Ranma was here. Ranma always had a plan. But he wasn't, so she'd have to take

care of this herself.

Akane and Fevrier came in fast and low. Red Cyclone waited for them. His

hand snapped up with surprising speed, deflecting Akane's blade to one side.

Fevrier slipped in under his guard and pushed the barrels of her guns right

against his chest. The beast grunted as the cannon went off. Then he turned his

parry into a spin, twirling his arms out. Akane cried out as she was sent flying

back. Fevrier tried to duck away, but the monster's massive hand clipped the

side of her head. Her limp body flew free of the beast, landing in a heap on the

grass.

Minako struck, slashing out with her chain-whip. Her goal was to catch

the thing's legs again, trip it as it spun. But suddenly it stopped, and she

realised dumbly that it had caught her chain in one massive hand. With a roar it

pulled, pulling her in towards it before Minako could think of dispelling the

chain. She flew through the air...

And just before she came within reach Sailor Mars grabbed her from the

air and the two of them tumbled across the grass together. Minako shook her

head, and the earth shuddered as the massive neo-zoanoid landed from a leap that

placed him right in front of her. She cursed and kicked Sailor Mars off, sending

her away with a gasp. The beast grabbed her ankle, lifting her into the air with

one hand.

She barely had time to scream before she was brought down on the ground

again. Her back erupted in pain and she felt the ground beneath her dent. Then

the thing lifted her up again. Somehow she managed to focus, pushing her fingers

downward. "Crescent Beam!" she called, unleashing two pin point attacks from her

fingertips.

They smashed right into the monster's eyes. Minako KNEW they did. But

they bounced off. Just flickered off the monster's open eyes like Minako had hit

him with a particularly delicate breath of air.

It was enough to piss the monster off. With a roar, he swung her

sideways and sent her flying through the air. She just barely saw a silver and

glass structure before she smashed into it at full speed. Glass and metal and

flower petals erupted around her as she tore through the enclosed garden without

stopping. Then she hit a pillar of the school, which stopped her flight but

crumbled around her.

Minako tried to rise, but her back screamed and she gasped, collapsing

onto her face. She raised her head and stared as the battle continued.

Sailor Mars was pelting Red Cyclone with fiery arrows, but it ignored

her the same way it had ignored Fevrier's bullets. Akane was on her knees,

watching as the creature walked towards the school slowly and purposefully. The

brunette stood protectively in front of the unconscious Mamoru. For a moment,

Minako thought the beast was coming for her. Then she saw it turn slightly and

walk up to the large central tower of the school.

Grinning ear to ear, the beast sunk its fingers into the thick stone

wall. Granite cracked around its hands like sugarbread as Red Cyclone worried

its hands around the edge of the tower. The entire structure began to rock

gently, back and forth. Then the thing embraced the tower, its massive arms

fitting halfway around the building.

"I am... RED... CYCLONE!" the thing roared, its voice almost drowned out

as it lifted the entire ten-story-tall tower free of its foundation. Akane's

eyes bulged as the thing turned towards her. Somewhere, ZX-Tole laughed.

Then the tower was swinging down and through the air, its bulk shearing

through one wing of the school without pause. Red Cyclone tilted it, turning the

strike from downward to sideways as Akane began running for her life. She dashed

past Sailor Mars, who stood firm and pulled back her hand, forming a bow and

arrow of flame. Her arrow struck the hurtling tower dead centre, exploding a

hole in it... but not shattering it entirely. It might have saved her life, but

the girl only had enough time to blink before the remnants of the massive

structure slammed into her like a baseball bat.

Her limp body flew through the air, rising up and slamming into the

other wing of the school in the third story somewhere. Akane leapt, pushing off

the wall of the other wing, and arching backward as the tower passed under her.

The tower finally shattered entirely as it smashed into the bottom floor of the

school, turning into a cloud of shrapnel and debris.

Akane was caught in the cloud, pummelled on all sides. She tumbled

through the debris, landing badly on her side. The sword she had caught tumbled

across the grass. When it stopped, ZX-Tole walked over and placed a foot on it.

"Finish them off, Red Cyclone," ZX-Tole said, his voice hard and cold

through his insectile buzz. The thing grinned and walked over towards Akane. It

grabbed her as she was trying to rise to her feet, cinching her around the waist

in a bearhug. Akane screamed as her body was crushed.

"FINAL..." the beast began to roar.

"Oh, shit... Ikazuchi, get clear!" ZX-Tole yelled, taking a few steps

back.

"ATOMIC..."

Then the thing paused. He looked down. His hands were empty. He blinked.

Then looked up. Minako felt her breath escape her as her gaze followed his.

She was beautiful. There was no other word for it. It was a beauty so

pure it made tears come to Minako's eyes. She hovered in the sky, astride a

silver pegasus with a white horn. Her hair, the colour of the sun, flew behind

her in two delicate trails. She wore a gown of fine white silk, etched with

silver and shaped to her form in a way that made it clear that this was no mere

girl, this was a Lady. And her face...

Her eyes were the colour of the sky on a cloudless day. As soft and

empty of malice as a child's. Her features were like porcelain in their

perfection, but warm and inviting. She gazed down at the unconscious woman in

her arms with a tenderness so warm it made Minako's pain vanish, and she found

herself rising to her feet. There was a golden crescent moon on her forehead,

which glimmered.

"It's okay, Akane," Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino, the Moon Princess

Reborn, said in a voice that filled the courtyard. "You don't need to fight

anymore."

"Sailor Moon..." ZX-Tole hissed.

Drawn by the sound of his voice, The Moon Princess looked at him. And

her face went from tenderness to... something else. Something hard and powerful.

Minako was briefly struck by... how wrong it looked. She had never seen this

girl before, but she was never supposed to look at anyone with such hatred.

"You and your kind will hurt nobody else today. Withdraw, and I will

spare you," the Moon Princess announced.

"Get her!" ZX-Tole ordered Red Cyclone. The red-skinned monster roared

and leapt, arcing through the air towards her. The Moon Princess raised one

delicate hand, and for a moment there was a flash of silver on her palm. The

flash exploded out, blinding everyone. Minako blinked away the spots from her

eyes and gaped.

Red Cyclone was still hovering in mid-air, but his body had turned grey.

Then, as she watched, he began to dissolve like sand scattering in the ocean,

until there was nothing left of him but a grey sparkle on the wind, then nothing

at all.

ZX-Tole staggered back, his segmented eyes widening slightly.

"You are not welcome here," Sailor Moon informed him.

ZX-Tole looked at Ikazuchi, who looked at him. Then they turned and ran.

OoOoO

Ryouga lowered his hand. The ice around him steamed, the snow boiling

off in all directions. In front of him a hole had formed in the glacier, a

perfect hemisphere. Icemelt was beginning to pool at the bottom of it. He

narrowed his eyes and allowed the green fire around his arms to fade. He hadn't

seen the thing die, so he guessed that it had run away, like the others.

"Is that the last of them?" he wondered aloud.

"No. There is another over there," Hotaru's haunting voice told him.

He glanced along her line of sight and saw it. A humanoid, female shape

on the top of a snowdrift. Ryouga growled. This was the fifth attack in as many

days, and this was larger than the others by nearly double. Not that even

with that much they were a match for him. Or Hotaru.

He looked over his shoulder at the little girl. She was standing

serenely, the thick snow coming up nearly to her waist. The massive form of the

demon sword Dylek hovered just over her shoulder. Two of the things had broken

past him while he was too busy to defend her. He guessed that Hotaru had not

given them a chance to escape.

"It's too far away for me to hit easily..." Ryouga murmured.

"You need not worry about it," Hotaru told him. "She merely wishes to

watch. To evaluate. We are trespassing on her land, and she is wondering if we

are a threat to her."

"Are we?" Ryouga asked. He didn't much like the idea of taking on

Tethys. Back before she had the power of a living god she had been able to

defeat him with ease by exploiting her control over water and his curse. Now...

He shuddered at the thought.

"No more than to anyone else," Hotaru replied cryptically. "We should

go, I sus..." Hotaru trailed off. Ryouga looked at her. Her eyes had widened,

and they began to quiver. Then she screamed and doubled over, clutching her

stomach. Ryouga was at her side in an instant.

The child screamed again, a cry of human pain. Ryouga pulled her into

his arms. His mind was racing. In the years he had travelled with Hotaru, this

had never happened before. He began to look around. Was it some sort of attack?

Tethys striking at Hotaru from a distance?

Dylek hovered protectively close to its mistress. It was sliding back

and forth through the air, seeking some threat to destroy. Ryouga could

understand it, as feelings of helplessness and rage slowly built up inside him.

He had no idea what was happening. Hotaru suddenly coughed, and a spray of blood

exploded across the white snow. Something was hurting her. Something very well

might be killing her. There was nothing Ryouga could do to stop it.

Should he? Would he if he could?

Before he could pursue that thought further, Hotaru relaxed. She slumped

in his grasp, her body extremely light. He reached down and brushed aside the

bangs of her face. Her eyes were closed, her mouth a little frown of remembered

pain. The blood from the wound in her forehead had slowed to a trickle. She

looked so human.

So lost.

"How can I help you?" Ryouga said to himself.

"I... will be fine..." Hotaru said, her voice thin.

"You're awake?"

"Yes." She opened her eyes.

"What happened to you? Was it an attack?"

"Things did not go as they were supposed to. Plans had to be changed,"

she informed him.

"What?"

"Have faith, Ryouga," she said, reaching up to rub his cheek. "For now,

I have need of you. My strength was drained."

Ryouga looked down at her. For another moment, the irrational fear rose

up in him. Then he bit that back. He stood there, still as a statue as Hotaru

removed his scarf with her little girl hands.

OoOoO

Ranma frowned at his reflection in the mirror. His bowtie was crooked.

Again. He grumbled and began to adjust it, but knew the battle was futile. He

had long since given up on having any sort of coordination when it came to his

wardrobe. He had let Minako do that...

Ranma paused, looking into the mirror again. Minako still hadn't sent

him a message. He was pretty certain she would be on her way. He wasn't that

worried about her travelling alone. Minako could more than take care of herself.

On top of her own magical augmentation, she had seven years of training under

the best martial artist in the world to bring to bear. But it had been over

three weeks, almost a month, and she still hadn't returned his message. Where

was she?

Thinking back to Minako reminded him of something else. They had been

enjoying their last night together, before it would grow too great a distance

for even Ranma to conveniently swim back each night. The moonlight had been

coming in the window, and Minako was sitting next to him, her expression full of

dire warning.

"Ranma," she had said. "This is very important, so I want you to listen

closely." Ranma had nodded absently, half asleep. So she had hit him on the

forehead, causing him to yelp and sit up straight. He smiled at the memory. "Pay

attention!"

"I am, I am..." He rubbed his forehead and glared at her.

"Now, I know there is a... history between you and Ukyou."

"History? With Ucchan?" Ranma rubbed the back of his head. "You mean,

the way we used to fight together?" He smirked. "No need to be worried about

that, it will only let us work together better!"

"Not that kind of history, dummy!" Minako crossed her arms. "I mean a

romantic kind of history."

"Romantic? With Ucchan?" Ranma gaped at her.

"Fine!" She threw up her hands. "SHE had a romantic history with you,

even if you never saw her that way."

"Okay..."

"I'm just worried that... she'll try to... while I'm gone..."

"Hey! Hey!" Ranma wrapped his arm around her. "Have I ever been

unfaithful to you?"

"You mean, aside from Morrigan?" Minako said dangerously.

"She was a succubus! She was using sexy mojo succubus powers on me!" he

protested. "Besides, you broke that up before it went anywhere..."

"You don't have to sound disappointed," Minako teased. Ranma grumbled as

Minako snuggled a little bit more into his arms. "I just think... that Ukyou

needs someone. Artemis agrees with me. She's too... detached."

"Artemis?"

"Never mind..." Minako sighed. "Just take my word for it. She's

detached. She's looking for someone to love her, and she might be desperate

enough to..."

"What am I supposed to do about it?" Ranma replied.

"Fix her up with someone."

"That's it?"

"Yes. Unfortunately I, the Goddess of Love, Minako Aino, can't be there

to help. But I think you might have picked up a few tips on matchmaking from me

over the years, so you'll have to do."

"You want me to set up Ukyou with someone? Like who? Shingo?"

"God, no!" Minako looked aghast. "I was thinking maybe Akira. Akira

likes her already..."

"But... Akira's a girl."

"So?"

Ranma stared at her. "Uh... how can two girls get... together like

that?"

"You want to get some cold water so I can show you?" Minako teased.

Ranma flushed. "No!"

"Good. So, I have spoken. I'm not going to give Ukyou a chance to try

and horn in on you." She grabbed his arm. "You're MINE, got that?"

"Uh huh..."

"Good. Now, think of a way to get those two together."

"Huh? Why do I have to think of it! You're the 'Goddess of Love'!"

"I'm also injured. I can't be expected to do everything."

"You didn't seem that injured five minutes ago!" Ranma pointed out.

"Hmmm. You're right. Let's see how injured I am now?"

Ranma smiled as the memory faded.

Then he blinked.

Then he hit himself in the forehead.

"Stupid!" Ranma grumbled. "Why didn't I remember that until now? Geez,

if Minako shows up tomorrow and those two aren't a couple... she'll kill me! Or

worse, she'll make me sleep on the couch!"

Ranma frowned and looked at himself in the mirror. "Okay, Saotome. I

know this will be difficult. You have to convince a woman to love somebody else

when you're right in front of her. On the surface, impossible, I know. But Ranma

Saotome does not lose!" He made a determined face, pumped his fist and said

"Let's go!" before turning and leaving the room.

OoOoO

The streets of Paris were dark. That... didn't happen. It was la Ville

des Lumières, the City of Lights. It was never dark. It always shone warmly in

all the colours of the rainbow, like a multifaceted jewel.

Until war had come to it.

Area trudged down the street. She'd retracted the wheels on her

rollerblades, partially to create less noise, mostly because she couldn't go any

faster with her burden anyway. A scream tore through the air, not too far away.

Area couldn't tell if it was a person dying or the passage of a Komet overhead.

She didn't know which was worse, either.

Her burden shifted and groaned. She placed a hand over his lips, worried

he might give away their position. He nodded slowly after a moment, and she

dropped her hand.

"I can walk, mademoiselle," the Gendarme whispered, his voice so low it

only barely reached her ears.

"Maybe," she hissed back, "but not as fast as if I help you."

There was a short, sharp intake of breath from the Gendarme.

"Mademoiselle Area? You should have escaped. Someone else would have-"

"There was nobody else to do anything," Area cut in. "Don't even start

with me, Thomas. I won't leave you here. So save your breath and walk."

He half-sighed, half-chuckled. "You Americans. So stubborn. But where

are we now?"

Area looked around. They'd come a long way from the hospital where Area

and a small detachment of Gendarmes had been dispatched to survey the condition

of the trickle of fleeing refugees from the countryside that had just arrived in

Paris was. They had known that the German front had gone suddenly, ominously

silent earlier that day. Everyone expected an attack on Paris. Everyone was

braced for the worst possible scenario. And yet, somehow, it hadn't been nearly

enough.

There wasn't thirty seconds between the discovery that the first line of

Paris' defences had also gone silent and the attack coming. It was horribly,

devastatingly fast. Rockets had struck the hospital, laughing and leering

creatures following before the last explosions had died down. Area should have

died, but alerted by some martial artist's sense, a Gendarme had hurled her

behind some cover at the last instant before impact. She had been covered in

dust and gore and worse things, but the rain had long since washed it all away.

Area scowled at the rain. She'd managed to escape with the only survivor

and evade the Millennium pursuers, but at the cost of losing all her bearings.

She'd had to avoid all the major thoroughfares, and the thick black drops

falling fat from the clouds above had cut vision down to only a few hands in

front of her face. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "I've been trying to

get to the river, but I'm not even sure we're going in the right direction,

honestly."

Thomas nodded. "Let me see for a moment..." She helped him stagger up to

a shopfront. He squinted at the faded sign for a moment, then sighed again, this

time in relief. "It is not so bad. Near here is the Rue de Lappe. We should be

able to head south to the Seine, if we are not found."

"Too late, fool!"

Area wheeled. At the other end of the narrow street from where she'd

entered it stood a vampire. An inhuman fanged grin split his face. His German

uniform was torn and smeared with more blood than even the rain could wash out.

He turned his head, voice already raising in German, calling out his discovery.

He never got a chance to finish. By the time the vampire had turned his

head, Area had removed her arm from the injured Gendarme, letting him slump

against the wall of the shop. By the time the German's mouth had opened, Area

had leaped forward, her rollerblades exploding out underneath her. His first

word was drowned out by a burst of rockets, and his third was cut off as he

realised Area had shot the twenty meters down the street to him. He wheeled,

fumbling for his pistol, but far too slow.

The reason Area had only used one arm to carry the unconscious Thomas

was because her other arm sported Cancer. Some opponents had, in the past,

laughed at the blonde bespectacled scientist who challenged them, or her

garishly coloured spandex suit, or her oversized rollerblades, or the enormous

mechanical 'arm' she wore over her real one. They didn't ever laugh twice.

Cancer's massive metal fist smashed into the vampire's midsection, not

quite going through him but well more than enough to set his eyes bulging, lift

him off the ground, and send the last of the air escaping from his dead lungs

along with a splatter of stolen blood.

Then Area activated the electrical shock.

The effects, Area admitted, weren't quite as spectacular as a direct hit

from a bolt of lightning, but that was only because she and her great scientist

father before her believed in efficiency. She'd have to say that the smoking

body of the vampire that flew across the street as if launched from a cannon

didn't seem to be willing to 'gauge' the difference, though.

Area giggled a bit at her own joke, but almost immediately the

seriousness of the situation overcame her euphoria. She turned around, but

Thomas, holding onto the wall with his good arm, had nearly reached her.

"I told you I could walk, mademoiselle," he said with a slight smile.

She took his arm again anyway. "We need to get out of here quick. They

might have heard him."

He sighed. "Mademoiselle, even if they didn't, they heard the discharge

of your weapon."

"Well, then we should hurr... oh." Area paused as she looked around

them. "You did say 'heard', didn't you?"

"I'm afraid so."

Area looked at the vampires that had formed a semicircle around them.

They were cutting off the southernmost route, more and more spilling out of the

driving rain. She looked up, and barely made out a few more shadows on the

rooftops. There were easily two dozen of them, the white flash of their inhuman

grins carrying even through the darkness.

"Don't bother telling me to run away while you hold them off," Area

hissed fiercely, though her heart was pounding painfully in her chest. This was

it. She was going to die here. But she wasn't going to turn coward. Not when so

many people were dying and fighting all around her!

"I wouldn't. There's too many for that to possibly matter." Thomas

grimaced. "But they're hesitating... no... they're calm. They're waiting."

"For what?"

"For her, I imagine."

A final figure emerged from the shadows, her heavy boots splashing water

out of a puddle in the road as she stopped. She almost looked normal for a

moment, if brutish, a massively muscled woman wearing baggy fatigues cinched

with a canvas belt, military boots and a muscle shirt. Only after a moment did

Area notice that the darkness on the other side of her body was not darkness at

all, but rather hundreds - no, thousands - of intricate tattoos etched down her

body, stretching from her hairline down her face and shoulder and right down to

where her right wrist disappeared into a white glove. Mystic symbols swept

through the elaborate tattoos, including a pentagram directly in the centre of

the woman's forehead, but the bulk of them were words and letters, script

harshly etched into the skin. They seemed to shift and transform even as Area

looked at them. The vampire held a cigarette in the corner of her mouth,

seemingly almost unconsciously, as the rain had put it out long ago. The large

woman carried an even larger scythe, slung casually over her shoulder. She was

grinning, her fangs on full display.

"Vell, vell, what do ve have here?"

"Zorin Blitz!" Area hissed, feeling her hopes sink that little bit more.

Not just a collection of vampires, but one of the Werewolves, the elite of

Millennium. At least the Americans had reportedly put down Rip Van Winkle a few

weeks back. The command had been terrified of the thought of her ever sneaking

into Paris.

"Ja, und you are Area," the brutish woman grinned. "Zat's enough for

introductions."

Thomas reacted even as the woman exploded forward. His free arm rose

up while he pushed Area away with the other. The blue tracer of his ultraviolet

laser rifle exploded into the dark, but was answered by only the laughter of the

Nazis. Fast, far too fast, Zorin was there, rising from a crouch into Thomas's

guard. Her tattooed hand shot forward before he could react, clasping around his

face. Her tattoos writhed, reaching out for him hungrily, and he began to

scream.

Area screamed too, aiming a punch at the female vampire. She could see

the shadows of the other Germans creeping in around her, but ignored them for

the moment. For a moment, she almost thought she'd strike, but then Zorin's arm

vanished, letting Thomas collapse to the ground. Area stumbled forward, off-

balance, and then Zorin's steel-toed boot smashed into her foot. Her rollerblade

skimmed off the rain-slick pavement, slamming into her other boot and sending

her tumbling to the ground.

Another kick from the vampire slammed into Area's side as she tried to

rise. She felt something crack deep inside and her attempt to get to her knees

turned into a slump onto her side. She looked up through pain-hazed vision and

saw the long black blade of the vampire's scythe rise into the air. "Stupid

bitch!" Zorin's voice crowed gleefully. "DIE!"

The scythe began its inexorable fall. Area closed her eyes

involuntarily. A moment later her head shuddered at an impact directly beside it

and her eyes popped open again. The scythe was buried in the pavement just

beyond the frame of her glasses. Zorin's untattooed arm was still attached to

it, but it was no longer attached to her. She stared as the fingers, still

clenched with their last action, released after what seemed like a long moment

and let the arm fall to the ground with a wet splash. Then she looked up at

Zorin Blitz, just in time to see her face, previously staring at her severed arm

in disbelief, snap up sharply. Area levered herself up, following the vampire's

gaze.

Down the road, in the northerly direction, was a pile of wreckage formed

by a half-collapsed building and several crashed vehicles. The fire that burned

there earlier must have been very intense, as the remains still smouldered even

in the driving rain, providing a bit of illumination. A woman stood atop them,

holding a rifle outstretched in one hand. She was short, tiny really, with a

whip-thin figure that was clad in the stark black and white uniform of a

Gendarme. Her short black hair was plastered around her face by the rain and

wind, but her grip was rock steady.

"Who ze hell are YOU?" Zorin growled, seeming more angry than distraught

at the loss of her arm.

"Natalie Clement, Lieutenant-colonel of the Gendarmerie des Chevaliers,"

the newcomer's cool voice came back instantly. "I think that's enough for

introductions."

"Filthy scum!" spat Zorin. "You should haf run away while you had the

chance. Kill her slowly!" The Germans chuckled and began to advance, but then

came to a startled halt a moment later. Area felt like laughing and crying at

the same time as more figures climbed up the wreckage behind her, and more, and

more suddenly appeared from side-streets and allies.

"Run away?" the newcomer responded. "Non, non. I think you

misunderstand. We have been hunting dogs that have trespassed in Paris." She

gestured with her free hand, and the rifles of dozens of Gendarmes snapped into

position, taking aim at the exposed vampires. Natalie's lips twisted into a

spiteful little smile as she aimed her own rifle directly at Zorin Blitz's

chest. "Vive la France, bitch."

For a moment, the roadway was light again as it was crisscrossed by the

blue tracers of the ultraviolet beams. Area continued huddling close to the

ground, partially to stay out of the line of fire, partially because she was

still having trouble breathing from the vampire's kick.

A long moment of screams and curses and sizzling sounds later, suddenly

arms were scooping her up. Surprisingly strong arms, considering their petite

size. "Are you all right, mademoiselle Area?"

"Nat!" she cried in relief. "Thank God you came!"

"I heard your weapon, just like them, I think. Didn't the Général tell

you to work on sound dampeners? But that is not important." Natalie glanced down

at Thomas, who was huddled in a ball, weeping. "What happened to him?"

"The vampire commander touched him," Area said, waving the woman off as

she felt well enough to stand on her own. She struggled to remember her

intelligence briefings. "Zorin Blitz has some limited psychic powers. She can

cause neurotic hallucinations of people's fears, I think..."

Natalie nodded crisply. "I know." She snapped her fingers and two

Gendarmes moved forward while the others continued covering fire, gathering up

their fallen companion. "She also has the power to cause large scale illusions

when she has a moment." She stared hard, and Area followed her gaze. No more

vampires were in sight, though some of the dead bodies of those cut down by the

Gendarmes were. Instead, down the road was just an area of inky blackness. The

edge of it looked like words, like Zorin's tattoos, crawling forward as the

words writhed and wove themselves into new darkness.

"I... don't think you finished her off, Nat," Area said, starting to

back up. "We should retreat. If we can't get to the Seine, maybe the

Bastille..."

Natalie snorted, also backing away. "Of course I didn't. And some of the

others have gotten behind us, so that too is impossible."

Area whirled, but she could see nothing in the darkness. "How can you

tell?"

The Gendarme's glossy red lips were puckered in clear distaste. "I can

smell them. Prepare yourself, mademoiselle Area. It seems rescuing you has led

us into a siege."

OoOoO

Remy stared out at the balcony. The rain was pouring down, so thick that

fog rose instantly as it clattered down on the ground in a hail like machine-gun

fire. It wasn't a comforting sound.

He had sharp eyes, sharp enough that he never had to make use of the

specialised vision-enhancement equipment Area had created for distribution to

the Gendarmes. So it was that despite the rain, he could still see the murky

green waters of the Seine churning, just outside the railway station. He could

see the bridges and railway lines that crossed the great river, all of which had

been hastily barricaded with whatever could be quickly used to do so. The

bridges could have been destroyed to prevent any vampire crossings, but better

to let Millennium consider following a predictable plan of attack. They might be

overconfident enough to actually take the French up on it.

He could not, however, see anything on the other side of the river.

There, there was only darkness.

"It's ready, mon Général."

Remy turned and gave a nod to the Gendarme that had been setting up the

equipment. He returned a sharp salute and left the room to return to watch.

They'd need him. There were scarcely a dozen Gendarmes here. The attack

had come fast, far too fast for an effective defence and evacuation to be

coordinated. As such, it was a deliberate choice to spread out their forces.

Meeting the Millennium force that had crashed through the countryside and into

the eastern side of Paris head-on would be heroic, but also suicide. Instead, he

had deployed squads to harry the invaders, slowing them down and assisting

efforts to evacuate the civilians in the undead army's path.

It wasn't a winning strategy. But it would delay them. For how long?

"Ah, Général, you are brooding again. That will not help the morale of

the men, you know."

Remy saluted the figure who had appeared in holographic form before him.

He was sitting in a chair. His thinning silver hair was in some disarray, and

his clothes splattered with blood. However, his expression was calm. "Monsieur

le Président," Remy said cautiously, "there is reason for grave concern."

The man nodded, but his expression was still calm. "No doubt. The hour

of destiny lies upon us, and who is ever prepared for that? But I have faith,

Remy, that destiny will not find the French people wanting. You should as well."

"Of course, sir," Remy said diplomatically. Politicians of all stripes

seemed often to him to be speech-making even in casual conversation. "Are you

all right, monsieur le Président? Your clothing-"

The president waved that aside. "There were traitors. But not many. The

Gendarmes performed well and few were injured."

"I'm pleased to hear that, sir."

"So, how goes the struggle?"

"It is-" Remy began, but cut off as the door opened. He couldn't help

but scowl a bit at the man who had entered. Despite years of familiarity, the

first thing Remy always thought when Agito Makashima entered the room was that

he looked extremely sinister. He was tall for a Japanese, with short black hair

cut stylishly. He wore a grey suit, something finely tailored and just a couple

of shades lighter than his piercing black eyes. The elegant, chiselled lines of

his face were twisted into a slight smile. It was a politician's smile, the sort

that never reached below the surface.

"Ah, monsieur Makashima," the president's image said, turning to face

the newcomer. "We have been waiting for you."

Agito sketched a short bow. "I apologise for keeping you waiting,

monsieur le Président." His French had long since lost any trace of an accent.

"I bring good news, however. We are mobilising as you speak."

"Excellent," said the president.

"Wait," said Remy, stepping forward to force both men to look at him.

"Mobilising? Who is mobilising? Have some divisions made it to the city?"

Agito stared at him for a moment, expression unreadable. "I believe this

matter is one that the president should explain."

Remy faced the older man again. "Monsieur le Président?"

He laughed a bit, the skin crinkling around his eyes and mouth.

"Monsieur Makashima does me too much credit, for it was his idea, in truth." He

folded his arms in his lap. "In fact, monsieur Makashima has been working

tirelessly these past five years to help us develop these new weapons. I'm

certain Millennium will be very surprised."

"New weapons?" Remy said slowly. "Something Area and the aerospace

engineers have been working on?"

"No, Général, nothing so mundane. Laser weaponry and advanced armour and

such are certainly interesting, but this project is going to turn out enemy's

strength into our own. Put simply, in this project we have refined and combined

the best elements of Millennium, Chronos, and other... more exotic

biotechnologies we have acquired."

Agito's voice cut in. "Even now, the volunteers, the Prometheans, should

be deploying. They also guard the Palais de l'Élysée, where the President and

what parliamentarians and senators we have been able to find have taken refuge."

"Biotechnology?" Remy said incredulously. "You've created monsters using

Millennium and Chronos-"

"Not monsters," the president cut in sharply. "Volunteers. Patriots,

willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of all. Brave men and women who

have given up the lives they once knew to defend France."

"We don't need something like that!" Remy snapped. "The Gendarmes are

well-trained! The best fighting force on Earth!"

"Yes, Remy, they certainly are an exceptional force," Agito said

smoothly. "But there are so few of them. As a defensive force, I cannot fault

their courage. However, they could never be the only response to the enemies of

your people."

"No war has ever been won from a solely defensive position, Général,"

the president continued. "We need troops on the ground, and we do not have the

time or resources to train them up from youth like the Americans. As you now

see."

"We could have had that time!" Remy shouted. "Our defences were

impenetrable, until we lost all contact within a few minutes this morning! It

could only have been foul play, and I suspect-"

"It was Millennium," Agito interrupted. "Of course there was foul play."

Remy glowered at the Japanese man. It wasn't Millennium. He knew it

wasn't. He'd inspected every inch of those defences, had known every man and

woman there on a first name basis. They knew Millennium. They knew their tricks.

For seven years they'd fought them. Whatever happened there, it hadn't been the

work of the Letztes Battalion. Remy would have staked his life on it. He turned

to appeal to the president again, but suddenly, the man's projected image

vanished like it had never been.

"What happened?" Remy roared. Agito was already scrutinising the

equipment. After a moment, he stood straight and took out a cellular phone.

Punching a number, he listened for a few moments, then shook his head.

"There isn't any response," he said. "This is a bad sign."

"I thought you said they were protected!" Remy shouted. He was not

personally fond of the president or politicians in general, but if Millennium

had reached them...

"It must be some sort of covert operation. The Palais de l'Élysée is far

beyond where Millennium forces are known to have advanced." He shook his head.

"There's no time to talk about it. Remy, you're going to have to go investigate

the situation. We couldn't trust anyone less."

"And what will you do?" Remy said. He couldn't keep the bitterness out

of his voice. "Deploy your monsters, who have already failed in their first

assignment?"

Agito stared coldly at him. "Despite what you think of me, I will NOT

let the hordes of Millennium or Chronos have this land. It may be we all

underestimated the force necessary to protect the Palais, but the Prometheans

will more than prove their worth in this battle. You will have cause to be

grateful for them by tomorrow morning."

"I will withhold my thanks until there is a tomorrow for France," Remy

snapped, before running from the room.

OoOoO

Area was stumbling through the darkness. She could hear the spiteful

laughter of the vampires around her, but she'd kept ahead of them... so far. If

she only knew where she was, she might be getting somewhere. If she actually

knew whether the far-away sounds she heard were really far away or the close-in

ones were close, it would also help.

Area wasn't stupid. Quite the contrary, she was a bona fide genius. And

not one of those closeted geniuses who couldn't relate to the real world, oh no!

She'd learned abnormal psychology and basic tactical theory and propaganda and

other things to learn to combat the vampire threat, in-between designing better

laser rifles and monofilament whips. So, given the dossier of Zorin Blitz's

psychically-based illusion powers, Area had a hunch that some of the "vampires"

skulking in the darkness around her were actually her allies. The problem was in

determining which was which. Not able to think up a way to do that just yet, she

settled for trying to avoid all signs of vampires. The problem was she still had

no idea where she was, and the sounds kept getting closer.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to spin. Too close to

think. She screamed and lashed out with Cancer as a form flashed before her

eyes. There was a hiss as the vampire was slammed up into a wall. It had been

fast enough to catch the weapon with both hands just behind the gauntlet,

holding it back just enough to keep Area from flash-frying it, but it was still

pinned against the wall. The vampire, a scarred military man with a monocle,

leaned forward and snapped his fangs at her. Area grinned and intensified the

pressure. Even a vampire couldn't hope to overcome Cancer's muscular

augmentation. And once she could finally touch him, the electrical discharge

would end the fight.

Unless other vampires had heard her scream of shock and fear and were

running this way to attack her from behind, Area's tactically educated mind

promptly informed her. She swallowed, and in that moment of distraction, the

vampire unexpectedly raised a hand. Her suddenly unrestrained fist slammed into

its stomach, but for the briefest moment, Area was too surprised to react.

A slap sent her reeling back, stars flashing in her vision. She gasped

and threw herself backwards before the vampire could follow up, but he was just

standing there. Wait... he? For a moment, the briefest moment, he looked shorter

and slender and not very male and...

"Nat...?" she said slowly.

But the vampire was snarling and advancing again, and he looked very

male and deadly again. Area hesitated, and this time the slap impacted her other

cheek, even harder, sending her glasses falling to the ground and causing her to

stagger to the side.

"...head is as thick as your waist, sometimes."

That was a familiar voice, now. "Nat?" Area repeated, fumbling for her

glasses in a sort of numb shock, her cheeks both aching. She couldn't see much

without them, but the blur before her was definitely too short to be the

vampire.

"Ah. It worked that time? There is nothing like pain to disrupt

hallucinations, it seems."

Area fumbled on her glasses. "Natalie, it is you!" She paused. "Did you

have to hit me so hard?" She paused again. "And what was that about my waist?"

"Shush," the Gendarme admonished. She was peering around a corner, then

finally turned back. "It is not important. We are, as you Americans say, in the

deep shithole."

Area stared. Now that she had her glasses back on and the woman had

turned back towards her, Area could see she was badly hurt. A long slash was cut

through the side of her uniform, sticky with drying blood. Her thigh looked like

something had taken a large bite from it. "You're injured!"

"I am a good distraction. The Blitz woman wants to kill me even more

than you now, I think."

Area fumbled for a can of tempflesh. "Here, let me spray this on your

wounds..." she said, starting forward.

Nat snatched the can, shaking her head, and her voice dropped to the

barest whisper. "Non, non. That has turned out badly earlier today. The Germans

have been training their dogs to sniff out this stuff. It tells them where there

is weak, wounded prey." She grinned viciously. "There is one sniffing around

even now. Watch."

She sprayed some of the healing gel on the ground behind her. The can

was specially designed to be all but noiseless, but only a few moments later, an

new figure came into the alley. It was a young man, with crewcut blond hair, his

uniform splattered with blood.

It was the black and white uniform of a Gendarme. Area felt her heart

leap for joy. There was at least someone else!

The newcomer raised his hand as he entered the alley. "Ah, Lieutenant-

Colonel, mademoiselle. Thank the lord that someone else has surviv-"

He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Just as he walked into

arm's reach, Nat's hands whipped out, looping a thin wire around the other

Gendarme's neck. Before Area could react, she drew the garrotte tight with a

vicious jerk, nearly decapitating the man. A bit of blood bubbled up to the

Gendarme's lips and he toppled over as she released the hold. "Hah! Dog!" Nat

smirked. "Drink my blood, will you? I think not."

"Natalie!" Area gasped in horror. "He was real! We aren't seeing the

illusions anymore!"

The woman stared down at the body of the young man, and spat derisively.

"The uniform was real, but it was taken from a corpse. No honest Frenchman

smells of such bad sausage and worse cigarettes."

"A-are you sure?"

"Of course. He even smoked the same brand of German sewer rags as that

Blitz creature. Though I could not see her until she attacked me, I could tell

by the stench of-"

To Nat's credit, she straightened and whipped around instantly as the

shadow appeared behind her. But while it was fast enough to save her life, it

wasn't fast enough to avoid the blow completely. The huge black scythe caught

her in the shoulder instead of decapitating her, but the sheer force of the blow

sent her smashing into the wall. Zorin Blitz barked a sneering laugh and swung

again. Natalie barely managed to duck out of the way, and the scythe reduced the

wall to rubble. Area rushed forward to help her, but then three vampires also

landed before her, leaping from the same rooftop that Zorin presumably had. They

raised their weapons, their smiles full of needle-pointed teeth.

They thought they had the drop on her. They thought she was weaker, more

vulnerable, than her companion. But they were wrong. And Area was tired of

feeling helpless.

A bullet skimmed over her shoulder, cutting a painful line, as she

activated the rockets on her rollerblades. But that didn't stop her from

suddenly being in the middle of the trio. At close quarters a vampire's

superhuman speed and strength usually gave them an insurmountable advantage, but

the three hesitated as she was suddenly in their midst, still carrying guns too

long and unwieldy to bring to bear quickly. At that point, Cancer slammed full

force into the one on the right; electricity sparked out and the vampire

literally exploded. The bulk of the pieces struck his companions just as

they dropped their guns, and Area took advantage of this. Another rocket flared

as she swung her foot up to strike the one on the left. The side of the Nazi's

face caved in and it was sent hurtling back. The third snarled and leapt, but

Area seized its arm with Cancer's claw. It hissed and its nails raked at her,

cutting another gouge in her shoulder, but Area hurtled it away before it could

strike anywhere vital. The vampire smashed right through the already damaged

wall, and while it rose again, its arm was limp.

Area screamed and rushed forward, bringing Cancer around in a wide arc

even as the vampire snarled and dashed low, trying to come up under her guard.

Then there was a red flash and a sizzle of ozone and the vampire fell back, a

smoking hole in its forehead. Area skidded to a stop as the undead creature

staggered backward. Then the air was full of a barrage of nearly soundless

bolts, peppering the vampire and reducing it to a smoking corpse.

Area had never created a weapon like that, and she had been involved in

every major weapon developed by France for at least five years now. She turned

around hesitantly and, for a moment, thought she must be hallucinating again.

There were five of them, huge and menacing, each at least eight feet

tall and partially slouched forward. They weren't human: their heads were thick

and rectangular, growing from their shoulders without the need for necks. They

had small, pupilless white eyes and tiny black dots all around their brows which

glimmered as the rain poured down on them. Their flesh was white, and giant pods

grew out of their shoulders, making them look further hunchbacked. They walked

forward on hooved feet, their legs bent backwards like those of birds. Thick

arms descended from just under the pods, with bizarre transparent tubes filled

with glowing red gas growing from the backs of their wrists. They wore coats,

long black coats that flapped behind them in the gusts of the storm.

Area backed up a step, her eyes widening, and then they were past her.

She gasped. They moved fast! Even the compensators built into her glasses had

barely managed to keep them from becoming blurs of motion. She spun quickly,

uncertain what she would see.

She heard Nat curse and watched as the brunette was thrown back across

the street. One of her hands was missing two fingers and there was a bleeding

wound in her left shoulder that did not look healthy, but she was alive. Area at

first thought that Zorin Blitz had sent her flying, but realised a second later

that it had been the strange newcomers. One of them was standing in front of the

Werewolf commando, its arm extended back having just finished a throw. Another

had moved slightly, slipping into a space that put it between the wounded

Gendarme and the vampiress. Even as she noted this, another of the five was

moving to cover Area herself.

"Vhat the fuck is zis?" Zorin Blitz snapped, her eyes narrowing. "I

zought France had enough balls not to get in bed vith Chronos."

The creatures struck as Zorin lifted her scythe again. They moved in

eerie silence, but then again Area had not seen that they had any mouths to

speak with. Two rushed in on Zorin Blitz from her armless side. She cursed and

slashed, forcing them to leap up and over her blade. The third raised its arm

and the source of the red flashes became apparent as a rapid fire stream of red

bolts smashed into Zorin. She hissed and slammed back into the wall... and

suddenly the two that had been guarding Area and the wounded Gendarme moved,

their inhuman legs carrying them with equally inhuman speed. Their thick fingers

curled around Zorin's arm, knocking her scythe free.

"Fuck you, monster bastards!" Zorin screamed and slammed her tattooed

hand against the wall. The scrawling black madness of her tattoos began to creep

onto the brick, when the two that had jumped came down. They both struck in

unison, bringing down the glowing tubes on their arms like swords. Zorin roared

in pain as her arm was lopped off at the shoulder.

She fell to her knees, staring in shock as the creatures hurled her arm

down the alley, the scythe clattering as it fell. "Vhat... vhat ze hell are

you?" Zorin screamed as the five white-skinned humanoids lined up in front of

her. They raised their arms, pointing the trio of tubes that made up their

weapons at her. Area watched in mild disgust as lips began to form on the

formerly empty faces, lips that peeled back from thick teeth in a cruel smile.

"We are Prometheans, Nazi filth," the middle one said in a

intimidatingly deep, but oddly human, baritone. Then they started firing, and

they didn't stop until there was nothing left of the vampire but a charred,

armless skeleton.

OoOoO

The rain was still falling. It seemed like it would never end. There was

no lightning in this storm, no great hammer of the gods, nor even any high

winds. It just fell, in great black sheets, as if the heavens wept for what they

were forced to witness.

Remy had rushed into the Palais de l'Élysée, but when he left, he simply

walked out to the great arched gate and leaned against the wall. There had been

what he assumed were Prometheans here. Great hulking beasts, equally vile in

form and function. It made him sick to think that men and women had been turned

into such things. They were monsters. Monsters like those Millennium used,

monsters like those of Chronos, monsters like those who dwelled in the Dark

Kingdom. That the President had authorised such a thing...

But he wouldn't authorise anything again. And these twisted remnants of

human beings had been put to rest. For all of Agito's sneering claims of their

invincibility, the Prometheans had clearly been overwhelmed by a foe they

couldn't handle. Indeed, there was hardly any sign of a struggle; they had

been ambushed with devastating speed by a foe forewarned of whatever their

weaknesses were. Chunks of the beasts were strewn about the courtyard.

Inside, the electricity was off. The palace had its own generator, of

course, but it had been destroyed. Heavy steel doors had sealed shut at that

point, but had been systematically smashed in by something with vast power.

Soldiers and Gendarmes had been guarding, but all had died, often stabbed from

behind before even noticing their attacker. And in the reinforced chamber where

the President and other government officials had hidden...

Remy shuddered. He'd been fighting Millennium for years. He had, before,

seen scenes that could only be called charnel-houses. But this struck him to the

bone nonetheless. There had been no survivors. No witnesses. No recordings. Just

as if a great wind had struck the heart of France, leaving nothing but death in

its wake.

Blood...

Remy's eyes focused on the ground before him. There, in the stone of the

walkway passing under the great gate, was a footprint in a stain still fresh and

red. It was perfectly preserved, sheltered from the rain by the arch, a bootmark

stepping out from the Palais de l'Élysée.

It wasn't a real clue. The killer could have gone in any direction after

running out the arch; the rain washed away any other traces of passage. But it

was a chance, an invitation, to do something. Remy shouted something wordless

and leapt in the direction the unknown murderer had gone. Not knowing where to

go, he just ran in a straight line, leaping to the rooftops as he crossed the

street. It was leading him towards the Millennium forces, but he didn't care. If

he died fighting them, so what? He wouldn't have to face Paris at the next dawn

then, whether it be in the hands of the Nazi vampires or those monsters Agito

Makashima had created to fight them.

He almost missed it. He didn't know how far he had gone, but there was

someone, something, huddled under a tree by the side of the road. He had seen

no-one else in that time; the Nazis hadn't reached this far, and all Parisians

not involved in the fighting had locked themselves in their houses or shelters.

Remy flipped, turning his leap across the road into a plummet and landing only a

few meters away from the figure. Please, he pleaded silently, let this be the

killer. Even if I cannot defeat them, let me at least try to salvage my honour!

It wasn't who he thought.

"Angel?" he gasped.

The girl went stock-still. She had leaped up as he had arrived, and

her sword was half-out of its sheath. She was soaked. Every inch of her was as

wet as if she'd just emerged from a swim, her hair plastered to her head, the

lightning tattoo on her face seeming oddly almost to glow softly in the

darkness. Her eyes stared at him in blank, uncomprehending fear for a moment.

"Angel, it's me." Remy said, holding up his hands to show he didn't mean

to attack.

"Remy?" Angel said, slowly. Oddly, she didn't look relieved. "W-what are

you doing here?"

"I was..." Remy trailed off for a moment. "I was looking. For some

Millennium killers. Have you seen them? Or anything?"

She stared at him for a moment longer, then exhaled with a sigh,

returning her sword to its sheath on her thigh. "Nope. No Millennium killers

around." She laughed weakly. "Actually, from what I saw, they're getting hurled

back by some kinda new French superweapons." She paused. "I guess you'd know

about that, Remy?"

"Yes," he said thickly. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment,

then he spoke up again. "But what are you doing here, Angel? Are you all right?"

"Me... I happened to be in town shopping when all this went down. Once

those, y'know, those French superweapon guys started pounding on the vamps, I

wanted to get out of the way and, y'know, make sure none got past 'em."

"Some did," Remy growled.

"Yeah, I guessed," Angel sighed. "I'm sorry, Remy. Whatever happened

must've been bad."

Suddenly, the strength left Remy's legs. He slumped against the tree.

"No, it's worse than bad. They've killed the President, and not just that.

Almost all the ministers, many of the senators and députés... it's the worst

thing. The worst disaster since..." he trailed off. "And what must have happened

to all the towns between here and the German border... it is simply the worst

disaster of all time."

There was another long silence. The cold rainwater, falling between the

branches, was trickling down Remy's back. He ignored it, staring up at the black

sky. "It's even worse than that. Those 'weapons'... those were PEOPLE, Angel.

They were turned into monsters by... by a man I cannot trust. Were they even

volunteers? Did they know what they would become? But I can say nothing. Even if

they failed to save the President, if there is still a Paris tomorrow it will be

because of them. Our victory could only be obtained by making monsters of

ourselves. We Gendarmes failed to stop this. I failed." He felt water trickling

down his face now, not sure whether it came from the rain. "All this death. This

suffering. I saw children half-eaten, torn from their parent's arms even as the

parents themselves died in the most horrible ways. Nothing lives in the east end

of Paris now. I don't even know if Area escaped. She was sent out there just

before we lost all communication..."

"Hey, hey, Remy, don't get like that." He started as Angel's voice came

from right next to him, and only then realised he'd slumped so close to her that

he almost touched her. He drew away, but she caught his arm. "You can't just

give up. You've got to keep fighting, Remy."

"For what?" he whispered. "For the monsters? For the President I failed

to protect?"

She stared at him fiercely. "No! I know how horrible all this seems,

Remy. I KNOW, okay? But you can't give up. If you think the bad guys are going

to take over, whatever bad guys, you've got to keep going and stop them!"

"I can't-" he began, but was cut off as she shoved his arm back into his

chest, pushing him into the tree. Angel was stronger than she looked, something

he always forgot.

"You CAN!" she insisted, her eyes still boring holes into him.

"You're... you're a hero, Remy! You're a good guy that goes out and cares about

people and helps them, and you've got the power to stand out above the rest.

That's what you DO. That's what heroes are for. To be symbols. To show people

what they can be. If tomorrow you speak out against the Prometheans, people will

listen to you, because they trust you. If tomorrow you go out and fight the

vampires, people who might hide otherwise will follow you, because they trust

you. You can't let this beat you. The people who died; that's a tragedy. But you

can't let them change who you are." She released his arm, stepping back; there

were tears in the corners of her eyes now, but her voice was strong and filled

with conviction. "You're fighting for the people who are still there. You're

fighting for the people who are alive and scared and need to know there's

someone out there that can save them. They need to know that someday they could

be like you, going out and saving people too! You can't let them down! And I

know... I know you won't. That's what's inside you that makes you special."

Remy stared at her. He'd only heard her speak like that once before,

when Millennium had turned his own sister into a monster, bringing her back from

the dead at the cost of her soul. He would have died that day were it not for

Angel. At the time, he wished she had been too late to save his life. But she'd

told him something then, something he'd thought he would never forget. And yet

sometime during this day, he had.

"Death is only meaningless if you let it be," he quoted back at her

softly. "Even if a tragedy happens, something so horrible you don't think you

can stand it, you have to make it be something that lets you move forward

instead of shackling you to the past."

She blinked. "What's that?"

"You said it to me. I guess I should have listened more closely."

She blinked again, and then laughed a little bit. With the passionate

fire gone from her eyes and her hair and jacket plastered to her by the rain,

she suddenly looked very young. "Did I? And just now, too... I guess I can give

a speech better than I thought." She wiped her face, though it hardly did any

good with the water dripping from the tree above. "I guess I got it from my mom

and dad. They were revolutionaries, real fire-breathers."

Remy nodded. "Fighting to cause a change to bring good to the world. I

wish I had their courage, sometimes. And yours."

She waved that off with another laugh. "No way, Remypoo. You're the big

hero, I'm just your lovable and sexy occasional sidekick."

He shook his head seriously. "Not today. I'm... what's the term Area

always uses? Ah yes, 'whiny gothy pretty-boy'. You're the one that reminded me

what I could be. You're the-"

Angel's reaction was unexpected. Her face twisted as if she had suddenly

tasted something incredibly sour but was still trying to smile. She turned half-

away from him, rubbing at her face again. Her voice came out from behind her

hands, sharply, almost painfully. "No," she said, cutting him off as his words

faltered. "I'm not any kind of hero, Remy. I just know one when I see him."

"I'm sorry," Remy said slowly, not sure what had caused that reaction.

"Are you okay?"

She dropped her hands and looked back at him, and her cheerful smile was

back in place. "Of course I am! Silly, you know I'm invincible!" She leaned

over, yanked him over and pecked his cheek before he could react. He felt her

eyelashes flutter on his skin just before she drew away. "Don't worry about me,

Remypoo. You go find that girlfriend of yours, and start figuring out how to fix

this mess. Maybe it looks bad right now, but I know you'll do just fine. Me, I

gotta go do, y'know, other stuff. I'll see you around."

She turned around and stepped away, her boots splashing in the deep

puddles of the roadway. Remy stared after her, wanting to speak, but not quite

sure what he wanted to say. Before he could decide, Angel leapt up into the

night and was gone.

OoOoO

Frederick von Purgstall watched the indicators on the board changing

second by second. The command room was full of people, running and shouting and

desperately trying to keep up with events as they happened. It was all in vain,

of course, but the indications of what was happening was clear.

Millennium was falling.

The three zoalords were together watching as things developed. Purgstall

was in the centre, clutching his forehead and staring. Amniculus stood just to

his right, frowning at a report in his hand. Gyro was to his left, sitting in a

high-backed chair. A black object that Purgstall didn't recognize was belted to

his thigh, and he fingered it idly.

"What is happening over there?" Amniculus mused.

"I don't know," Purgstall admitted. "It looked like France was done for.

The vampires overtook their defence lines one after another. And now..."

"And now they die," Gyro said, smiling. "It appears that France had a

trump card."

"Whatever it is, it doesn't concern us," Amniculus said sternly. "We

should get back to discussing the Ohtori incident."

"Everything is under control," Gyro assured the dark-haired zoalord.

"Under control?" Amniculus growled. "We lost hundreds of good troops

because of your attack. Plus three of the Elite Five. Do I have to remind you

how irreplaceable every neo-zoanoid is?"

"We have the situation contained," Gyro informed him.

"Yes. A city in open rebellion against Chronos, on our very soil, and

the best you have for me is CONTAINED..." Amniculus was literally shaking with

rage by that point.

"Amniculus, we should send forces to France," Purgstall said softly.

"What? Why?" Amniculus was Purgstall's oldest friend, but he dismissed

the suggestion without even looking at the other zoalord. "Let the two of them

butcher each other. Hopefully they'll exterminate the Vatican and their

religious army while they're at it."

"Isn't this all a little too... convenient? A blitzkrieg attack into

France after their defences fall. Then while Millennium is overextended...

France counterattacks with a force so powerful it can wipe them out, but that we

knew nothing about."

"It is worrying, I admit..."

"It's more than worrying!" Purgstall pointed at the screen. "Why haven't

the vampires responded with their nuclear arsenal?" he snarled. "I think someone

sabotaged their supply. I think this was a trap. Someone is playing both sides

here, and if we don't step in..."

"Do you know something we don't, Purgstall?" Gyro asked. Purgstall

glared at him, but the vicious faced man merely smiled. A knowing smile.

"Yes, is there something?" Amniculus added.

"Cologne." Purgstall sighed. "She... she warned me about..."

"Why didn't you tell us about this, if she warned you?"

"Because..." He paused. "She's in danger. She's there. In France, even

now."

Amniculus paused, and looked at Purgstall strangely. "I never would have

figured you..." He shook his head. "Perhaps it is best if she dies, old friend.

Your judgement has been compromised. You know that Chronos can't involve itself

there. We don't know what's happening."

"Plus, we have to commit our resources to pacifying the threat on our

own shores," Gyro reminded him.

"Not to mention that your job now is to take advantage of the chaos in

Thailand. The current regime is weak and stupid. If we enter the nation in

force, bringing order..."

"To hell with Thailand!" Purgstall shouted. The other two blinked.

"Frederick, old friend, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that,"

Amniculus said cooly. "You've lost perspective. Maybe you should go see

Arkanphel..."

"I don't want to regain my perspective!" Purgstall snapped. Amniculus'

eyes bulged. Purgstall pushed past him. "If Chronos can not intervene, I will do

so myself."

"Arkanphel himself ordered no zoalord to engage-" Gyro began, but

Purgstall cut him off.

"Sometimes duty means knowing when to defy orders," Purgstall insisted.

"Purgstall!" Amniculus shouted, grabbing his arm. "If you walk out that

door..."

"I... Amniculus, we have been friends for nearly three hundred years. I

do not wish to spend such a thing poorly. But I have to ask you to let me go. I

MUST do this."

Amniculus stared at him, then snorted. "Go, then."

OoOoO

The sun had set long ago, but Alexia could see the storm clouds on the

horizon. The rain was sweeping eastward, and would soon pass overhead, drowning

this wasteland in rain. But nothing would grow here. Nothing could. The entire

region had been reduced to dust and ash, wind and memories. Once, it had been a

proud nation; now it was a land of the dead and those who refused to die.

"We should get moving, Lady Ashford," one of her bodyguards said

sharply. Alexia raised an eyebrow and looked back at her. It was the girl Agito

had sent her. The one he claimed was his lover. Alexia smiled mockingly. He

probably thought she cared about such gestures. But Alexia had no interest in

hostages, not even ones whose loyalty she was certain of due to her exposing

them to the T-Veronica virus that coursed in her veins.

"Don't be so naive," Alexia said, turning away from the young woman. "We

still have yet to say our goodbyes to the Major."

"I thought we were..."

"There was your problem. You thought." Alexia smoothed her dress with

one hand and looked towards the rain again. She could smell it in the air now.

The drop in pressure as the clouds approached. "We avoided the Major because it

would be foolish to have this meeting on his terms. Instead, he will be forced

to send his messenger to us." She tilted her head up as a new scent, a new

presence, appeared nearby. "Isn't that right, Schrodinger?"

"Ja, you are wery perceptive!" Schrodinger called out. He was sitting

on a large rock, his legs and arms spread out around him. Resting on his lap was

an open computer. Her bodyguards moved suddenly, their bodies beginning to bulge

and twist as they prepared to enter their combat hybrid form. Alexia halted them

with an upraised hand. "Whew! For a moment zere, I zought zey vere going to fail

to kill me!" the catboy said, laughing.

"Deliver your message," Alexia ordered him.

"But he is not ze one vith a message, Lady Ashford," the Major's voice

emerged from the computer. The screen flickered and she could see him there. He

was sitting mostly in shadows, only the gleam of his glasses and his fangs

visible in the silhouette of his body.

"Come to ask why I left?" Alexia said, allowing her mocking smile to

resurface.

"You mean ask you about zis plot of yours? How you and Makashima haf

been conspiring for years, vorking together to build these veapons called

Prometheans? Or maybe about how he and zat boy Chris conspired to destroy ze

laughable Maginot Line Redux and let our wampires sack Paris again? Or how you

haf delivered the location of our fortress Gehenna to zem, so that the monsters

you created could come here and destroy me and all of the Letztes Battalion?

Perhaps even how you haf conspired to sabotage my precious nuclear veaponry?"

The Major took of his glasses and leaned forward, grinning at her while his

inhuman yellow eyes widened in glee. "Vhy vould I ask you about zat? I already

KNOW."

Alexia looked up at Schrodinger. The impudent boy was grinning at her,

his eyes shining cruelly in the dusk light. "How..."

"I haf my sources," the Major said, leaning back and replacing his

glasses. "Really, Lady Ashford. And after all ze trouble I vent through to

rescue you and offer you sanctuary, too. If you vere going to betray me, ze

least you could haf done vas inform me first."

"What are you saying?" Alexia frowned and looked around slightly. She

wasn't nervous, merely cautious. Alone she was a match for anything in

Millennium's arsenal. She knew. She had designed the vast majority of that

arsenal.

"I vas hoping zis day vould come sooner," the Major said with a chuckle.

"Bison, my only suitable enemy, has wanished from zis Earth. Perhaps zese

Prometheans can entertain me in his absence."

"You're not planning on running?" Alexia asked, slightly shocked.

"Vhy?" the Major's smile expanded to inhuman size, his teeth gleaming in

the shadows. "Vere vould be ze fun in zat?"

"And you're not planning on stopping me?" Alexia asked suspiciously. She

could neither scent nor sense anything else nearby.

"No, no. I just came to say... auf wiedersehen." He chuckled. "But I am

certain ve shall be reunited in hell. Wery, wery soon."

Alexia snorted and raised her hand, spraying a stream of her blood

across the catboy and the laptop. With the smallest thought she ignited the

blood, turning the boy into a screaming blaze and reducing the computer to

melted slag in seconds. She lowered her hand and shook her head. The Major was

insane. He was right, she should have cut all ties with him years ago.

Alexia turned around and started to walk away. She heard her female

bodyguard gasp and smiled. She had probably seen Schrodinger's body vanish.

Actually killing that boy was near-impossible, though immolating him did feel

good. So Alexia didn't bother to look around and see what had alarmed the young

woman.

It was the last mistake she ever got to make.

The ground exploded, ash and dust erupting in great gouts. Alexia

stumbled, frowning as huge brown forms emerged from the dust. Fire raced down

her body, burning away her clothes and leaving her flesh grey and hardened in

its wake. At first she thought she was under attack by some huge behemoth,

perhaps even one of the ones she had created for the Major and he had secreted

across the globe. The she saw the truth. They were trees.

"Oh, her..." Alexia sighed. She looked around, but saw that most of her

troops had been cut off from her, leaving only a few mindless zombies ambling

about purposelessly. Alexia directed them to start tearing at the vegetation.

Not that she figured they would have much effect, but it gave them something to

do while her actual bodyguards made their way to her.

There was something strange about these trees. They were twisted and

deformed, with bulging sacks here and there that looked vaguely like honeycombs.

As she watched, the sacks began to deflate, releasing yellow spores into the

air. Alexia raised her hand, and her blood jetted out, igniting in midair and

burning any that came too near. The zombies were not so lucky.

Whenever a spore hit rotted flesh, it began to grow rapidly. Thick ropey

strands consumed decaying flesh with the speed of fire consuming dry paper.

Thick disks of fungal matter began to emerge violently from the zombie's limbs

and body. Within seconds, the entire pack had ceased moving. Alexia raised an

eyebrow as the former zombies began to grow twisted roots into the ground,

becoming hideous human-shaped trees covered in bracket fungi.

"Impressive," she called into the toxic jungle that now surrounded her

on all sides. She sent a stream of flame out, reducing a section of the jungle

to a fine ash in a matter of seconds. "But you will need to do better that

that."

"Is this the part were we start ranting at each other like villains from

a comic book?" a voice drifted out of the woods. "How cliche."

"If you prefer, I could kill you without all the melodramatics," Alexia

offered. She started down the path she had cleared, sweeping her eyes from side

to side. Things moved in the darkness, great insectile beasts made out of bark

and vines. Alexia formed one hand into a wicked blade, the other she sheathed in

flame. "So, I take it that this is Chris turning on me? I guess I should have

expected it."

The woman in the forest laughed, a bitter sound. "You think I'm killing

you for Chris?" Alexia spun, and fire sprayed from her fingertips. She watched

as a tiny creature burst into flame. It fell over, and another appeared behind

it. It opened its multi-hinged mouth and spoke in the woman's voice. "I hate to

break this to you... No, I lie. I love to break this to you." The girl laughed

again. "But you just aren't important enough to him to be worth killing "

"So you're betraying him?" Alexia asked, genuinely interested. She had

planned to kill Chris eventually anyway, if Agito did not succeed first, but

dissension in the ranks of one's enemies was always good.

"No. I informed him of what I was doing." Alexia saw a flash of movement

through one of the trees and she lashed out with fire again. There was a scream,

and Alexia frowned. The thing burning there had once been one of her bodyguards.

Her incendiary blood, however, was doing a thorough job of reducing him to ash.

She tsked. "He agreed killing you would be... convenient."

"Convenient?" Alexia said, leaping up and landing on a large branch,

leaping again before the spores could expel onto her. "Remind me to return the

favour."

"You... kill Chris?" the woman snorted. "You haven't a chance. Not even

a disgusting undead beast like you has any chance of defeating him."

"I guess we'll see..." Alexia continued leaping, moving in odd patterns.

The she smiled. The foolish botanist. She had done everything she could to mask

her scent and presence... but made one fatal error. Her blood infused this

entire jungle, and it carried with it a part of her scent. Alexia spun rapidly

and burst through the jungle as a flaming comet, landing not ten feet away from

the somewhat startled-looking young woman. She wore an elaborate gown with

hundreds of blue gems insewn. "Ah. There you are."

The woman frowned, reaching up one hand. Her motion with it was jerky,

as if she was unused to the limb. Noticing this, the woman frowned further. "I

guess I shouldn't be surprised. You are a very dangerous monster. But you're

just another abomination against nature."

"Yes, well, I tire of your ignorant prattle, peasant," Alexia replied

and sent a stream of fire at her. The ground and forest around the botanist lit

up nicely... but the woman herself was undisturbed. She smiled as the flames

dripped off her like water, leaving not so much as a scorch. Alexia blinked.

"You see, Alexia, I can beat you." the woman said, stepping forward.

"You aren't important. YOU aren't special." Link chuckled. "You have no idea of

how insignificant you are. Right here, now, this meeting with me is the closest

you will ever come to being important in your entire life."

"What idiocy are you babbling?" Alexia hissed. She flexed and brought

her clawed arm to bear. The woman paused and looked at it. Alexia smiled. She

might be fireproof, but perhaps old-fashioned brute force would finish her.

"You... just aren't part of God's plan," the botanist said, shrugging.

"I do not believe in God," Alexia replied, charging forward. The ground

in front of her smashed open, great finger-like mushrooms bursting out to block

her path. She snarled and smashed through them, but the woman had moved back out

of reach again while she was busy.

"That's fine. He doesn't care much for you, either," the woman said with

a chuckle. Then she paused, her eyes narrowing. Alexia was laughing. "What's so

funny?"

"You forgot that I had more than one bodyguard," Alexia explained.

Then the woods burst apart as her female bodyguard came smashing

through. She was still mostly human, her body grey-skinned and her mouth full of

fangs. The botanist gasped as the bodyguard grappled her from behind in a

bearhug, and brought her teeth down on her neck.

Then she screamed. Alexia watched as the demi-human woman stumbled back,

releasing the black-haired Chinese woman. Her teeth had vanished - no, melted

away - and as Alexia watched the rest of her began to follow. She was dissolving

from the inside out, the medical expert in Alexia noted. She could see her skin

collapse as first the bones, then the muscles and connecting tissue melted away.

Her inhuman scream of pain turned into a wet gurgle as she deflated like a

balloon, becoming a pile of grey flesh on the ground. Then her flesh too melted

away into a green cloud.

The Chinese woman hissed and dabbed at her neck. A row of shallow cuts

were there, bleeding rapidly. She looked at the blood on her fingers and sighed.

"Seven years... seven years, and I STILL can't escape the flaws that Japanese

bitch created me with. Seven years!" she growled. Alexia noticed a horde of

insects had crawled out of the woman's collar and were swarming over her neck,

visibly reknitting flesh and collecting every drop of blood. "Do you have any

idea what that is like? Knowing that you're a... an IDIOT, because someone

writing a comic book thought it would be FUNNY?" The woman glared at Alexia and

took a step forward. "Of course you don't, because you're an idiot too."

"Don't compare me to you," Alexia sneered.

"You're right, it's an insult to everything I've done." The woman

laughed again, a sick little chuckle. "Seven years of making myself beholden to

an abomination like you, just so I could be important. So I could rise above my

lot in life. So I could KNOW. And I still have the same damn issues!"

"You're insane," Alexia informed her. Then she rushed in again. The girl

blinked as Alexia moved so fast the world became a blur. Then Alexia was upon

her, grabbing her with one hand and pulling back the other to rip her intestines

out. The girl reached up... and tapped Alexia's nose with her bloodstained

fingertips.

Alexia blinked.

Then she sneezed.

She staggered back, sneezing again. Then she gasped and grabbed her

stomach, falling to her knees. Pain, sudden intense pain filled her body. It

flooded every nerve, every part of her. She hadn't felt pain like this. Not

ever.

"No, I'm sane. I just know the truth," the black-haired woman said as

she walked up to Alexia. "Do you like that, by the way? It won't kill you. You

see, my specialty isn't poisons. Finding one that would have killed you would

have been very hard, anyway. You can regenerate, adapt to most anything,

rearrange your body and organs at will... But I am very good at antidotes." The

woman reached down an placed a hand on Alexia's shoulder. "Like the ones for

viruses."

Alexia gave one final cry and then slumped forward. The woman caught

her, holding her naked body up. Alexia began to pant. She was... breathing? Her

heart, it was beating. She was... alive?

"Yes. You're human again," the woman explained. "All that power, all

that ambition. But you see, you aren't one of the special people, Alexia

Ashford. What do you matter to Ukyou, much less Chris? You're nothing." Alexia

looked up, staring into the woman's pitiless face. "Now, I could just leave you;

powerless and alone in a toxic jungle where you are certain to die. But..." The

girl reached into her robe and drew forth a gun. Not a fancy one. A perfectly

normal one. "I prefer to tie up loose ends."

OoOoO

Say what you will about seven years of self-indulgent criminal excess,

it did prepare one to put on a great party. Nabiki had had less than a day to

put the entire thing together, and it looked like she had been planning it for a

year. She'd rented out a large house in the least damaged section of town, one

of the few building that had survived Bison's architectural purge of the old

city more or less intact. It was three stories tall, with a large ballroom in

the centre with sweeping staircases leading to a balcony that ran along the top.

The place was full of people. Ukyou recognised most of them. The mayor

and the local high-class citizens, more city officials and most of the ones from

the outlying provinces. Here and there she spotted the few warlords that had

been willing to sign on with Rose and her 'new deal' government. There were even

a few of the less militant warlords who had somehow ended up at the party

despite not being invited.

There was music; a five-piece orchestra was up on the far end of the

balcony, playing something elegant and classical just softly enough that it

didn't drown out the buzz of conversation. The Dolls circulated through the

throng, offering refreshment. They wore simple little black dresses that came up

to just above the bustline with skirts that fell to the floor. They were each

wearing simple makeup, with their hair done up in buns for those without short

hair.

Ukyou had objected to using the Dolls as servants at first. She was

still hoping that they could learn to be... 'real girls'. Of course, when she

had suggested that the Dolls be given leave to just celebrate and enjoy

themselves like everyone else, Nabiki had reminded her of exactly how the Dolls

chose to celebrate with each other.

She flushed and took a long sip of the champagne.

She was standing in the corner, watching the party-goers circulate

around her. Most of them avoided her. She had actually gone out of her way to

look as little like "Ukyou Kuonji" or "Lotus Infinite" as she could. In fact,

she was wearing a dress for the first time she could remember. It was powder

blue, with a knee-length skirt and the loose fabric was cinched around her waist

by a golden belt. It came up to just under her arms, but she wore a waist-

exposing, elbow-length vest over the top of it. She also wore purple hose and

opera gloves to conceal her scars and the 'tattoos' of the implanted

Psychodrive.

Nabiki had picked out the ensemble for her, the entire process of which

had made Ukyou very nervous. The thing was, she had no idea why she was nervous.

It could have been Aaron acting up, freaking out a bit at such a feminine

outfit... but he had long since accepted that, well... they were female now. And

considering the other kinds of outfits she had taken to wearing, this was not

exactly shocking. It was actually rather demure. She also didn't have to worry

about romance... Ranma was all but married and Ukyou was willing to let him go.

It would always hurt. But she suspected that first loves always did

that.

"Stop picking at it."

Ukyou looked up. Nabiki came towards her. Nabiki looked resplendent. She

wore a long green gown of shimmering fabric with an ermine stole wrapped around

her shoulders. Unlike Ukyou, Nabiki had chosen to go with makeup. The effect on

her was spectacular. Instead of looking like a attractive young woman, Nabiki

looked something like a celestial being.

"And stop gawking," Nabiki said, smirking.

"Sorry," Ukyou turned away, shrugging. "This outfit is a little..."

"You didn't have any objections to it at the time we picked it out,"

Nabiki informed her.

"I did so."

"None that mattered." Nabiki took a few steps closer to her. "What are

you doing over here anyway? You were the one who suggested this."

"I was expecting..." Ukyou sighed and rolled her hand in the air.

"Something a little more... intimate. Not so many people."

"Ukyou, you were right. This party is a good idea, but not just for us."

Nabiki looked around. "This city has been on a razor's edge since the battle.

Everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is going to let out the

tension."

"For the whole city, or just the upper crust?" Ukyou asked.

"Please..." Nabiki snorted. "I talked to Rose. Tomorrow is being

declared a national holiday. There'll be a concert, and a parade and dancing in

the streets and all that jazz. This is just the kick off." She smirked.

"Besides, we need these people. Scum rises to the top, that's true, but these

people are the kind of people that know a few things about governance. A field

of study neither you nor Rose are well-acquainted with."

Ukyou smiled. "Yeah. You're right."

"Now go, mingle. You're one of the heroes. Plenty of people want to meet

you." Nabiki pushed her out into the flow of people. Ukyou let her. A few

moments later, Nabiki vanished into the swirl of gossip and networking that

always followed her around. Well, to each their own. Some people cooled off by

reading a good book, Nabiki cooled off by mingling. Ukyou wasn't about to

begrudge her that.

"Hey, Ucchan!"

Ukyou smiled and turned. Ranma was moving through the crowd towards her.

He didn't seem slowed at all by the press, effortlessly moving from one empty

pocket to the next. He wore a snappy yellow shirt and brown slacks, although

his bowtie was crooked. "Ranma, good to see a familiar face."

"Yeah," Ranma smiled. "This ain't exactly my kind of party, either." He

looked around. "Pluto and Rose seem to enjoy it."

"Dignified stuff like this is their element," Ukyou agreed.

"Hey, you seen Akira around?"

"Hmmm?" Ukyou frowned. "No, now that you mention it. I hope she didn't

decide to skip out..." For some reason, the thought of that filled Ukyou with a

sense of disappointment.

"Nah. I'm certain she's around." Ranma grinned and wiggled his eyebrows

at her. "Hey. Why don't you go find her? You have all those mystic senses and

stuff." He wiggled his eyebrows at her again.

"Is something wrong with your face, Ranma?" Ukyou asked, genuinely

confused.

"Heh. Nope. But you should go find Akira." He nodded his head and

wiggled his eyebrows again.

"Uh... right."

Ranma then vanished into the press of the crowd. Ukyou just stared after

him a moment, then began excusing herself through the party. It wasn't hard for

Aaron to find Akira. In fact, given the number of people here, it was far easier

than he would have thought. It was like the moment he thought about her she

showed up in his mental radar. He steered Ukyou through the ballroom towards one

of the halls leading into the main house. Akira was on the third floor, way in

the back for some reason.

Just as she was about to leave, Juni materialized to her right. The

sandy-haired Doll grabbed her half-empty champagne flute and offered her a tray

with two more on it.

"Uh... I wasn't finished with that."

"I am aware," Juni replied mechanically. "But I was informed you should

have these glasses instead."

"Informed? By who?"

"Ranma Saotome."

"Ranma... why did he ask you to do that?"

"I was not given a reason for this mission. I was merely ordered to

relieve Ukyou Kuonji of her current drink and make certain she took the two he

gave me instead."

"Really?" Ukyou raised an eyebrow.

"I was ordered to do this by any means necessary. I trust this will not

have to come to violence."

Ukyou opened her mouth to say something, reconsidered it, then closed it

and took the offered glasses. Juni vanished back into the ballroom without

another word. Aaron made a quick note of her path, and was not surprised to see

she was heading right for Ranma.

"Okay..." Ukyou murmured, then shrugged and started back into the house.

The party had spread into the house somewhat. Small groups and couples

had sought refuge in the antechambers and entertaining rooms of the house to

escape from the press of the crowd in the main ballroom. No doubt some literal

backroom deals might be being brokered right at that moment, but Ukyou decided

not to think about that.

When she found Akira, the girl was sitting on a bench in a small

arboretum on the top floor. Local plants formed a cool space at the end of the

hall, before opening up into a balcony overlooking the back of the estate. The

glass door to the balcony arched up into a skylight, facing west to catch the

last fading light of the day.

Ukyou paused in mid-step. Akira was sitting with her back to Ukyou, but

she was looking slightly to the side so you could make out the curve of her chin

beyond her shoulder-length hair. Black and red straps crisscrossed her back,

caught in a few gold loops that held on the front of her dress, giving the

impression the entire thing was laced on. It also exposed much of her back. It

was easy to see her physique. This was not the body of a fainting princess, or

sighing schoolgirl. The muscles of her back played just under the surface,

managed to look soft even though Ukyou knew they were probably anything but.

Akira's head jerked a little and she stood up slowly, turning to look at

Ukyou. For a moment, the cloud-cover overhead brook and the silver crescent moon

cast light across the arboretum. Her dress was red and black, tastefully cut to

emphasise her chest and hips, with a long skirt slit up one side to halfway up

her thigh. Akira's doe-like eyes glimmered in that reflected light, and she

smiled. Like all of Akira's smiles, it contained a trace of sadness to it.

"Don't you ever smile because you're happy?" Ukyou asked. The words just

popped out. She had no idea where they came from.

Akira's smile widened slightly. "This better?"

"Much." Ukyou walked towards her.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Akira asked.

"Hmmm?" Ukyou raised an eyebrow.

"Ranma told me to meet you here. You had something important you wanted

to talk to me about."

"He did, did he?" Ukyou murmured.

"Is one of those for me?" Akira gestured towards the champagne flutes

with one hand.

"Presumably." Ukyou handed her one of them, then took a sip of hers. She

made a face. "I wouldn't drink it, however."

"Oh, why not?" Akira looked at her glass quizzically.

"It's been spiked."

"Spiked?"

"With drugs, powerful ones..."

"Knockout drugs?" Akira frowned.

"No... these are more... recreational." Ukyou paused, wondering where

Ranma could have gotten something like this. It was the same kind of... then she

blinked. The drugs she had picked up, the hard ones to mellow out her mood. She

had never taken them, but she had left them in her pocket and completely

forgotten about them. "That wily bastard..." Ukyou said, not certain whether to

feel impressed or annoyed.

"What's going on, Ukyou?"

"I think Ranma's trying to set us up."

Akira blinked. "What?"

"The drugs in this glass are strong enough to effect even metahuman

staminas. I know, I bought them. Basically, they would make us incredibly drunk.

Or something like that."

"Ranma spiked our drinks to get us drunk? Why?" Akira did not sound

impressed.

"I think he wants to lower our inhibitions."

"Lower..." Akira trailed off and flushed. "That idiot. I should show him

a thing or two about interfering with..." Akira continued to mutter darkly.

"Yeah, well..." Ukyou shrugged. "What are you going to-"

She was cut off when suddenly there was a loud hissing sound. Then the

sprinkler in the arboretum exploded to life. A few seconds later, both Akira and

Ukyou were thoroughly drenched. Akira stared forward, then began to wipe at her

face slowly.

"Did Ranma do this too?"

Ukyou paused while Aaron scanned the area. Ah, there he was. In the

basement.

"Yes."

"Still think it's funny?" Akira muttered darkly.

"Actually? Yes."

"But your dress..." Akira trailed off.

"Ruined?" Ukyou picked at the shoulders. "I never liked it anyway."

"I... thought it looked nice on you."

Ukyou looked at Akira for a long moment. "Yeah. Come on. Let's go

outside. As refreshing as this is, I don't feel like talking in a miniature

monsoon."

The door to the balcony slipped closed behind them. Ukyou shuddered a

bit, brushing the water off herself. The night breeze was chilly. Even here,

winter was fast approaching. Of course, the cold hardly affected her. She looked

over her shoulder. Akira was shivering slightly. Her dress was also plastered to

her frame. Thankfully, it was made out of a material that stayed opaque when

wet. Ukyou sighed and removed her vest, handing it to the slightly taller girl.

"You don't..." Ukyou just stared at Akira until Akira sighed and took

it. "Thanks."

"Doesn't amount to much, I suppose," Ukyou mused.

"No, it's good."

For a long time, they stood there. The moon had gone back behind the

clouds. The music from the party echoed in the background. Ukyou closed her eyes

and listened. It was a pleasant tune. Aaron was certain he recognised it from

somewhere.

"Ukyou... I..."

"Yes, Akira?"

"I... I'm leaving."

Ukyou took a long minute to process that. "Why?"

"I'm going after Angel."

"I see."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Ukyou looked at her. "This... I should be the one thanking

you, Akira. You've done so much for me."

"I wasn't much help in the last few fights..." Akira said dourly.

"You were there." Ukyou smiled. "When I was fighting Rip Van Winkle, and

Bison... I could swear I could feel you. I mean, not literally. But it was like

you were there, just over my shoulder. Urging me on. It's like... just the

presence of you gives me strength."

"I suppose..." Akira looked away, off into the distance. She was looking

west. Towards the place where the sun vanished. No. She was looking west.

Towards France. France, where the armies of Millennium had attacked just a few

short hours ago. Where people were dying even while they stood here and

celebrated. The rumours had, of course, reached them. Reached Nabiki. But Nabiki

had insisted they go forward anyway. There was nothing they could do about

France.

Not without confronting Chris.

That was what Akira was looking toward.

Then, for the first time, Ukyou looked at Akira. Really looked at her.

She was beautiful. Strong. Proud. But not arrogant. She carried her strength,

her power with a feminine grace. She was beautiful, and if Ukyou let her go off

to confront Chris and Angel alone...

She would never see her again.

Ukyou's heart skipped a beat.

What was this? Ukyou couldn't be thinking about this. It was silly. She

was... she was... she had always only ever cared about Ranma, and Ranma was a

guy! Even Aaron had finally broken down and admitted that they both liked Ranma.

Both thought about kissing him, as a woman and a man. This was...

Oh, who were they kidding? It was time to stop denying what was plain to

both of them. Ukyou stretched out her hand. "Akira... before you leave, do me a

favour."

"Yes?" Akira looked up at her, her large eyes looked sad.

"Dance with me."

"But, I can't dance..."

"Akira, you're one of perhaps the ten most powerful martial artists on

the planet. You can dodge bullets, run up walls, and read an opponent's moves

five seconds before he does them. Don't try to tell me you have two left feet.

Now, do you want to dance, or don't you?"

"I..." Akira looked at her. She reached up and wiped a bit of leftover

moisture from under her eyes. "Yes. I would like that very much."

They laced their fingers together, and pulled each other close. Not so

close that they touched, but close enough that they could feel the heat of each

other's body. It felt good in the cool air. Then they danced.

It wasn't really a proper dance. It was no waltz or tango or something

more exotic. It was slow and graceful. There was no leader. One sensed the

intentions of the other, reacted, adapted, moved flawless into the next step.

They moved back and forth across the balcony, under the dark sky, the faint

echoes of the music from inside guiding them. Ukyou lost all track of time.

She suddenly realised she was crying. Yet, she didn't feel sad. It was a

comforting sort of crying, like something painful was finally leaking out of

her. Like she was letting go of something. For a moment, she thought she

wouldn't be able to stand, but then Akira held her. The girl was so strong. She

just wrapped her arms around Ukyou, and it was like she was absorbing all the

pain.

It all vanished. The frustration and anger, the hurt and despair... all

the events that had led up to now. They just faded away. Bison. Finding out

about Hotaru's death. Finding out about her child. Losing... seven years, her

friends, everything... it all drained away. The only thing that was left was the

slow, steady beating of Akira's heart. Ukyou rested her head against Akira's

chest, closing her eyes and listening to that comforting sound. It just went on

and on, forever.

It said, 'I am Akira's heart. I shall beat forever.'

"Ukyou... this is wrong..." Akira's voice was cracking. She was crying

too.

"No it isn't," Ukyou replied.

"But... Bison. You don't really feel this way, Ukyou. It's just the

things he did to you. He... rewired your brain. I can't take advantage..."

"Akira, shut up." Ukyou smiled and pulled back, until she was looking

the taller girl in the eyes. "It doesn't matter. What Bison did to me... it's

not important. What is important is this moment. We have a choice, Akira. We can

either let the mistakes of the past ruin this, or we can accept that we're both

happy. Make your choice, Akira."

Ukyou leaned in, and pecked her lightly on the cheek. "I think... I

think I've made mine."

Akira reached up and wiped away the tears from her eyes. Then she

smiled. It wasn't a brave smile, or a sad smile. It was... a genuine smile. It

lit up her face, like the sun rising. Her fingers reached out and cupped Ukyou's

chin, and drew her in closer.

OoOoO

The driving rain had turned the streets black. The grass sparkled and

shimmered as the rain turned to mist upon striking it, giving everything an

unreal quality. Cologne moved through the downpour, her rake held by her side.

The rain had washed the tines clean by now. She paused as she walked through the

massive park, then shook her head and continued forward, dismissing the thought.

The things she had killed tonight were just vampires, not humans. It hardly

mattered what happened to them.

Agito was waiting for her in the exact centre of the fields, in the

space where the grass-filled park was intersected by a oval roadway. He was

wearing a thick black coat, and carried a umbrella above his head which kept the

worst of the storm from his face. He was facing the huge tower, the pyramid of

skeletal steel that these French were so proud of. Cologne stopped when she was

just behind him to look at it. Truly, she wasn't that impressed.

"You have effective killing machines," Cologne told him. "They've not

only cleared Paris of Millennium forces, they must have overrun half of Germany

by now."

Agito either had sensed her approach or hid his surprise well. He

chuckled. "I can't take all the credit. If it hadn't been for the information

you... discovered, then we never could have finished the project."

Cologne frowned, brushing some of her drenched black hair from the side

of her face. "Where is he?" Cologne asked. She didn't want to think that hard

about what she had done. Frederick had trusted her and she had betrayed that

trust, passing what she had learned along to this man, Chronos' enemy.

"In due time," Agito said with a chuckle. "He'll take his time to get

here. He has to be circumspect. It would not do for him to be seen in Paris

like this."

"It won't help your position if I'm seen here either," Cologne snapped.

"Why insist on meeting out in the open like this?"

Agito shrugged. "I could use the fresh air."

Cologne let out a deep breath and glanced at this young man. He examined

her in turn. There was a power in him. His eyes were the eyes of a man who knew

what he wanted, and was willing to do anything to accomplish it. Cologne had

rarely seen such naked ambition, such dangerous pride before. The strange thing

was, that he was doing nothing at all to hide it.

"How do you know he's even coming?" Cologne asked finally. She looked

around. It was impossible to see very far in this downpour. "From the way you

described it, wasn't his part of this plan essentially done the moment he

undermined the forward defence posts?"

"He'll come," Agito assured her. "There is a loose end to tie up."

"Which is?" Cologne adjusted her grip on her rake. Something about Agito

made her uneasy. And it wasn't just the fact that he was willing to sell out

thousands of innocent lives for his ambitions. Cologne herself was as guilty of

that as he. She had played as much a part in today's carnage as he had. It was

those arrogant eyes and the shadow of a smirk on his lips that set her on edge.

"I believe that would be you," a new voice said suddenly.

Cologne spun, cursing, and bringing her weapon to a guard position.

Chris was hovering about ten meters away, the toes of his shoes no more than a

few centimeters above the ground. The rain was pouring down on his mutilated

child body, but he was not drenched as he should be. Then Cologne saw the small

wafts of steam rising from around him. Of course, he would be that concerned

with vanity.

"Chris," she snarled.

"Why hello, Cologne." He nodded to her then to her companion. "Agito."

Cologne frowned. He didn't sound at all surprised to see her. She looked

at Agito, who was chuckling softly to himself.

"Chris, I'm glad you could make it."

"Of course." Chris shrugged. "When else was I supposed to find her

without a legion of zoanoids surrounding her?"

Cologne felt the moisture drain from her mouth. She stared at Agito

again, who stared back. He shrugged mildly, almost apologetically. "You betrayed

me," Cologne hissed.

"Well, yes." Agito sighed. "I can't have the fact that the Prometheans

are partly built on Chronos technology be widely known. So, I have to tie up

loose ends."

"You bastard!" Cologne was very fast, her weapon lashing out towards his

head. Agito was just slightly faster.

"BIO-BOOST!" The explosion threw Cologne back, sending her smashing

painfully into the pavement. She hissed and rose to her feet slowly. A glance

confirmed that the top half of her weapon was gone.

Chris laughed. "Cologne, Cologne. Did you actually TRUST him? What

happened to your cunning? Did all your years of experience vanish when you

allowed Purgstall to restore your... feminine charms?" he asked snidely. Chris

floated a bit closer, glancing at Agito's armoured form. The man had gained half

a foot of height; thick black plates covered most of his body and his face was

something like a knight's helm, expressionless save for his thin red eyes. A

burst of steam escaped from the spikes on his cheeks as the top of his umbrella

floated away down the park behind him.

"Agito had no intention of letting either of us survive this meeting,"

Chris continued. Cologne glanced between the two and saw that Agito was looking

now at Chris. Even hidden behind the mask, she could still sense the raw

ambition in his eyes. "Of course, I had no intention of letting either of you

survive either," Chris noted, coating one fist in purple flame. "Agito is a very

useful ally, but... well, even the most wondrous vipers make poor pets."

"And here I was looking forward to betraying you first," Agito said

sardonically, his voice distorted somewhat by his combat armour.

"Is this your plan, Agito?" Chris said dryly, flames dancing in an arc

over his head from one hand to the other. The purple spark in his ruined eye

glittered in the darkness. "After seven years waiting to seize your power, why

throw away your life fighting me one on one?"

"Who ever said I was planning to make this a fair fight?" Agito asked

rhetorically, his arms crossing.

Then Cologne saw them. They emerged from the darkness in a great mass,

stepping out of the shadows between the trees and bushes like they were walking

out of the land of nightmares. Huge hulking forms, the rain running down their

bodies in tiny rivers. Their empty white eyes stared forward, their

expressionless non-faces implacable. Cologne shifted nervously, clutching the

remains of her weapon.

There were dozens of them. No, hundreds.

"Ah. I should have guessed." Chris turned back to Agito and bowed

slightly. "You have an appreciation for irony."

Agito simply snapped his fingers. "Kill."

The only thing that saved Cologne's life in those next few seconds was

the fact that she was not the primary target. She threw herself to the ground as

bolts of plasma crisscrossed the air above her. It was more than just a barrage,

it was a wave of fire, a stream of energy so thick it was almost a single sheet

of power. Agito had leapt up and back, hovering with the power of his Guyver

unit. Chris had also tried to evade upward, but the blasts tracked him and

surrounded him on all sides. There were simply too many. Nothing could have

moved fast enough to dodge all of them at once. One might as well have tried to

dodge the ocean from the bottom of the sea.

A field of purple fire snapped into place around him. It was a perfect

egg, obscuring Chris from sight. It rippled like a pond as bolt after bolt

slammed into it, shrinking almost imperceptibly with each shot. Then it pulsed,

like a beating heart, and exploded outward.

Cologne rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the blast that turned

the centre of the traffic circle into a crater two meters deep. She sprung to

her feet. The Prometheans nearest her and Chris had been knocked on their backs

by the explosion, but they were already kicking to their feet in a display of

acrobatic prowess Cologne would not have credited such ungainly-looking

creatures with.

Chris, however, was not about to let them get him in their sights again.

He snarled and hovered lower, ducking under the fire coming from the back rank

of fighting monsters. His hand raised up. "You forgot exactly who you're dealing

with, here, Agito! I think I'll remind you!" He raised his hand and an apple-

sized orb of flame hissed to life there. Then it doubled, and doubled again.

With a final roar it grew as wide across as a car. With a wordless cry he

slammed it into the ground... and the land ignited with purple flames.

Cologne leapt, spinning her staff beneath her. "HIRYUUSHOTENHA!" she

screamed, pulling the heat around her into a small tornado that left her

relatively unscathed. The mass of Prometheans was not so lucky. Waves of purple

annihilation nearly two meters tall poured over them again and again, obscuring

them from sight.

Finally Cologne landed as the waves of power ceased. The centre of the

parade ground had been reduced to ash, which was rapidly turning to mud in the

rain. Steam rose up, obscuring everything more than a few meters away. Chris

slowly rose to his feet. His right arm was scorched and cracked, but as Cologne

watched it seemed to grow healthy and fresh again. Chris looked at her, and

smiled almost apologetically.

Then they both paused as Agito began to chuckle. Chris looked up at the

hovering man, who hadn't changed position to so much as uncross his arms. A loud

thud sounded nearby, and Cologne spun in shock. One of the Prometheans was

walking out of the steam. Then another. And another.

Chris raised his one good eyebrow. "I see you've prepared for this

battle well." Suddenly a trio of the monsters burst from the steam and plowed

into him from behind. Chris somehow twisted and drove his elbow into one's head,

ripping the beast nearly in half. The other two clamped down on his arms and

drove him into the ground. Then four more leapt on top of him. The dead

Promethean stumbled back, disintegrating into a flash of red plasma before it

even touched the ground.

"Well played, Agito," Chris chuckled. "But don't think this will

stop..." Then Chris paused. He blinked, trying to crane his neck from under the

dogpile to look up at Agito.

"What's the matter?" Agito said. "Oh. Yes. That would be you failing to

sense any corpses within the city." Agito unlaced his arms and spread his arms.

"Not so much as a pigeon or rat. You see, I have not forgotten whom I am dealing

with. And I have been preparing for quite some time."

Chris made a thoughtful sound. "Exceedingly impressive. Well, Cologne,

if you plan on killing me I suggest you do it soon, before Agito takes away the

chance."

Cologne blinked, but before she could react her arms were seized from

behind. Two of the beasts lifted her into the air.

"No," Agito said slowly. "She's going to survive just long enough for me

to finish you off. Once I'm certain you're gone for good... then I'll kill her

too." Cologne stared at him dully. She wanted to protest, to scream at him in

defiance. But what would she say? Hadn't she already sold away her entire life

for this moment already? At least she would get to see Chris die first.

And in the clouds above, for the first time since the rain had started,

there was a flash and the roar of thunder.

OoOoO

"... I kinda like it, gives the place character."

"Says the only person here who thought to bring an umbrella."

"It's not my fault I checked the weather forecast beforehand."

"You always bring an umbrella!"

"Girls. We use magic. We can just create umbrellas if we want them."

There was a short pause, followed by a few grunts and the sound of

magical shaping. Once everyone was under a colour-coded umbrella, the four took

a few seconds to glance around them. Of course, JunJun was still soaked, but she

tried to ignore that. She was certain there was a spell to make you dry, but

damned if she could remember it. Not that she was going to admit this out loud.

"I always thought that when I got around to visiting Paris it would be

more... active," CereCere complained, still bone dry under her fancy parasol.

"Everyone's hiding from the vampires," JunJun pointed out.

"Or the other monsters," VesVes added.

"Or them." JunJun paused. "Hey, can't you take control of them or

something?"

"Hmm..." VesVes looked down the street to where a trio of the tall

hunched monsters were patrolling. "No. They have some sort of magic resistance,

I think."

"Great," CereCere sighed. "So... we came all this way despite Mr.

Purgstall ordering us to stay home. The place is not only overrun by vampires,

but also magic-resistant killing machines. And does anybody have any idea where

the old hag is?"

"I think she's over there!" PallaPalla pointed towards the Eiffel Tower

in the distance.

"You have a spell for finding her?" JunJun asked, genuinely curious.

"No... but there was this big flash of purple flames and a tornado there

a second ago..."

"Right. Eiffel Tower it is!" VesVes called. She gestured with her ball

and vanished behind it, the orb spiralling up and through the air, rapidly

shooting across the city towards the tower. JunJun raised her own ball and

shaped the transport spell as well. Teleporting this way always made her feel

uncomfortable these days. Once, when they'd first learned how, the process had

been quick and nearly without sensation. Now, it always felt cold and draining,

like she was skimming along the edge of something dark and terrible...

Then it was over as they showed up on the observation deck. CereCere and

PallaPalla were staring down towards the long park that stretched from the tower

into the city. JunJun followed their gaze and her eyes widened.

"There are so many of them..." VesVes murmured.

"They have Cologne!" JunJun shouted, just making out the woman's white

silk outfit. She was being held up by two of the monsters.

"I got her!" PallaPalla cried, leaping off the edge without a care. Her

umbrella vanished into the mist behind her as she fell towards the ground.

JunJun gasped and reached for her, but it was too late.

"So much for a plan," VesVes said, but her voice was not exactly

disappointed. With a wild cry she leapt as well, landing on one of the girders

and beginning to surf down it like a skier. JunJun shrugged and followed her,

just barely hearing CereCere's long-suffering sigh before the trapeze artist

began to show that her skills did not lie solely in looking pretty.

JunJun arrived just as PallaPalla sent her magical orb skimming out: it

crossed over Cologne, obscuring her for a second, and when it came back the

woman was gone. Then she appeared, looking slightly stunned as the ball curved

back behind the blue-haired Amazoness. A man in black armour which was covered

in spikes and other evil overlord stuff like JunJun might expect Gyro to have

did a double take as the rest of them arrived.

"Hey, old hag, I thought you were some sort of martial arts master,"

JunJun said with a smirk. "Do you always need us to pull your fat out of the

fire?"

"The Quartet?" the dark clad figure said, his voice distorted slightly.

Cologne looked at the four of them as they assumed a square formation

around her. The mass of monsters shuffled about, surrounding them on all sides.

"You girls... but I left you behind..."

"You think we were going to miss this?" VesVes said with a smirk.

"Besides, isn't that guy who's being shot repeatedly the one you've been after

for, like, the last seven years?" JunJun looked. There was indeed a small boy

under a dogpile of monsters. A few more were unloading blasts of red energy from

the tubes on their arms into him. His body kept jerking and spasming, but each

blast was being absorbed by flashes of purple flame.

"I didn't want you involved in..."

"This is touching," the armoured man said mockingly. "But thankfully I

planned for this. Prometheans, take them alive."

The monsters moved as a single wave. JunJun reacted instantly, dashing

forward and meeting the first two head-on. Her body spun up, smashing her leg

into the side of one and using her hand to spring off the other. The thing

barely even budged, but she snapped her orb below her and unleashed a

concentrated blast of magical power straight down. The ground cratered and

cracked... but the beasts only flinched slightly, as if they had been hit by no

more than an especially strong wind.

"Guys! They're REALLY strong versus direct magic!"

"I know..." VesVes cried out, raising one hand. Suddenly the earth all

around her exploded as great balls of rock emerged, each with arms and legs like

an upright turtle. There were at least a dozen, and the things jumped forward,

bowling through the ranks of the Prometheans and scattering them to both sides.

"But not INdirect magic!"

"This is fun!" PallaPalla called out. She was sitting astride her orb,

her hands clenching it as she flew in tight circles above the assembled hordes.

Blasts of energy flew all around her, but all just barely missed. Every now and

then she would gesture softly and one or two Prometheans would suddenly be

encased in giant cubes of ice.

CereCere, meanwhile, was gesturing rapidly, forming a swirling cloud of

flower petals that rose up all around her. As each energy blast came in, they

were intercepted by a petal, which burst into ash but stopped the blast dead.

Finally one got through, and clipped one of the rings of pink hair on the side

of her head, leaving an inch-wide gap. "Hey! You shot my hair!" she yelled in

indignation, grabbing her sphere and concentrating. The flowers in front of her

suddenly shot forward, spinning so fast they blurred into discs and began to

whine. Most of the creatures leapt back and aside, but a few could not move

quickly enough and the spinning petals tore them to shreds, sending body parts

flying in all directions. The dismembered corpses burned away in flares of red

light seconds after dying.

"Girls! This is hopeless," Cologne shouted. She spun through the air and

kicked, knocking a pair of Prometheans together roughly. When she landed her

palm smashed into the ground and a blast of light sent the fallen monsters

spiralling away into the air. "There are too many for us to fight alone! We

should fl-" Cologne's eyes widened. "PallaPalla, no!"

It was too late, however. The girl had already raised one hand and

gestured towards the dogpile of monsters. With a sound like a dozen cannons

going off at once the monsters were sent hurling in all directions. The boy

underneath them blinked his one unmangled eye and sat up. PallaPalla grinned and

looked back at Cologne, then she frowned. "What? You said we needed help and he

looked like he would want to fight these things too..."

The armoured man gave a long sigh. "It appears capture was a little more

trouble than it was worth." He snapped his fingers. "Kill them all. Turn the

corpses to ash."

Then JunJun noticed something as she ducked and weaved through the

crowds of beasts. She noticed they had been holding back. Her eyes widened as

five of the things came in at her at once, then three more from the other side.

They swung the trio of red cylinders like swords, but each was in perfect sync

with the others. Far from being a blind flurry, this was a coordinated strike,

filling the air all around her with flashes of deadly energy. She pulled her

sphere in, but one struck her on the shoulder. She cried out as the skin burnt

away. Then another smashed a knee into her gut, and a third rammed her in the

forehead with its bony skull. She collapsed, dazed.

The air exploded from her lungs as a massive hooved foot smashed into

her stomach. She reached up, clasping the thing's thin ankle reflexively. Her

eyes widened as the emotionless white eyes of the thing looked down at her

before it levelled the cannons on its arms at her forehead.

Then the lightning came.

The flash was so bright it made JunJun scream. It blinded her. The

sound was so loud she could not hear her own shout, only the boom of the air

being torn apart. The pressure on her stomach vanished and she curled up,

clutching her wounded shoulder.

Then the thunder came again, and again, and again. For a moment, they

were at the centre of the maelstrom as bolt after bolt of lightning rained from

heaven, spearing into the ground, sending geysers of molten rock and asphalt

into the air. JunJun squeezed her eyes shut and screamed, screamed like a child

hearing thunder for the first time. Then someone grabbed her and pulled her into

an embrace. JunJun was vaguely aware of someone saying something to her, but it

was impossible to hear over the noise.

Finally, the noise and light stopped. JunJun opened her eyes slowly, not

quite trusting it to be over. Her first sight was dirt-streaked white silk, and

she realised that Cologne was holding her. Then she looked across the ruins of

what had once been a park and saw him.

JunJun had only ever seen Frederick Von Purgstall in his zoalord combat

form once before, but she recognized him instantly. There was a dignity to his

bearing and authority to his every move that made him unmistakable in any form.

He had gained nearly a foot in height, and his body was only human in the

loosest sense. His face was stern, with glowing green eyes and the red gleam of

his zoacrystal in his forehead just before a pair of diamond-shaped protrusions

emerged on either side of his scalp. His skin was shining indigo, with patches

of black where the armour of his body thinned for the sake of mobility. Yellow

lights throbbed just under the armour of his chest.

The dark-armoured man was rising from a crouch, his body smoking

slightly. The armour on his right arm was melted and steam rose from the wounds.

The boy was also just getting to his feet. The back of his shirt was gone, a

wide hole burnt straight through it to the blackened flesh underneath. He didn't

appear to mind that much.

"The others!" JunJun cried.

"Safe," Cologne said, but her voice had doubt in it. JunJun looked and

saw that the others were all standing nearby, or sitting and shaking in the case

of CereCere. Even PallaPalla was staring at Purgstall in a sort of quiet awe.

The man had a look of... pure unadulterated rage on his face. JunJun had never

seen him so angry.

The small boy moved, suddenly flashing across the ground and extending

his hand. A tight spiral of flame lanced out towards the armoured figure, who

just barely noticed in time to roll to the side. He raised one hand as he rose

and a ball of darkness gathered there, the air around it seeming to twist

slightly.

"ENOUGH!" Purgstall roared and raised his hands. A bolt of lightning

nearly two meters across smashed into the earth between the two. The blast sent

them both flying back. The boy crashed into a tree with enough force to crack

it lengthwise. The armoured man was caught by a trio of Prometheans, who pulled

him to his feet. "This battle ends now!" Purgstall roared. His eyes glowed

brighter. "I am a zoalord! I will not allow any more people to be hurt by your

struggle for power..." He trailed off, as he finally noticed the five of them.

"VesVes... Palla... what the HELL are you doing here?" he snapped. "I

ordered you to stay home!"

"Since when do we ever do what you say?" VesVes called back.

"I..." the zoalord's eyes bulged. "I don't have time for this right now!

But when we get back to the Pillars, you girls are in a LOT of trouble!" He

waved a fist at them and turned back to his two opponents.

Only to discover that one of them was running. Running very, very fast.

The armoured warrior was launching himself from rooftop to rooftop, bouncing

rapidly away from the battle. Purgstall growled and raised a hand, only for a

half dozen monsters to smash into him and begin wrestling him to the ground. He

snarled and a blast of lightning came down straight on top of him, reducing the

Prometheans to ash.

He looked around, noticing that dozens more were surrounding him. He

snorted. "Impressive weapons Agito has developed. But still, no match for a

zoalord at full power."

The creatures leapt and charged, coming in high and low. The air filled

with red light as they opened fire with a barrage that was almost a single wave

of power. Purgstall gestured once and a field of crackling energy erupted around

him. The blasts shattered against the force field, and those Prometheans unlucky

enough to smash into it full force were fried by the voltage. The ones outside

the field were not spared. He gestured with his other hands and arcs of power

came down from the sky, hundreds of them, each striking with the precision of a

sniper. In less than ten seconds Purgstall had reduced the entire army of

monsters to a field of ash.

Into the silence, the sound of clapping emerged. Purgstall turned to

face the small boy, nearly one third his size, who floated a half dozen meters

away. "Excellent work," the boy congratulated him.

"You didn't try to run like Agito?" Purgstall sounded surprised.

"Where to?" The boy shrugged. "Despite your vaunted humanitarianism,

you'd clearly be willing to reduce the entire city to a smoking crater to get

to me."

Purgstall's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"Finish him!" Cologne yelled, letting JunJun go and standing up

suddenly. "This is our chance!"

"Oh..." the boy said slowly, a smile forming on his lips. "Come on,

Cologne. You and I both know that Arkanphel won't let him touch me. If it

weren't for me, their genetic messiah would still be comatose most of the time."

He turned his attention to Purgstall. "I trust the Water of Life has worked out

well for him? I hear it can restore strength to even those on the verge of

death."

Purgstall looked at the boy for a moment, then he looked at Cologne.

"He's right. Without that water, Lord Arkanphel would be... weakened." He turned

back to the smirking boy. "Yes, Chris. Chronos owes you much. To kill you after

Arkanphel himself declared his gratitude would be something close to high

treason."

"Damn you!" Cologne shouted, clenching her fists in impotent fury.

"Don't let this stop you, Frederick! He's a monster! He gave that water to

Arkanphel just so that he could use it against you now! This atrocity, all these

people dying... HE orchestrated this! His ambition is boundless! Do you think he

would have stopped with killing me and Agito? He'll destroy anyone that gets in

his way. Arkanphel is just another notch on his belt waiting to happen!"

"But I can prove you wrong, Cologne," Chris said, shrugging. "I'll let

you go."

"Easy to say now!" Cologne snapped.

"Oh please. I could still kill you before he finished me off. If he even

could," Chris smiled. "But why don't we just call this a draw all around? I have

to get around to tracking down Agito before he gets too far and you should get

out of here before..." Chris paused and looked up and to the side. "Or, maybe I

don't."

Then JunJun shivered. It was a feeling that started at the pit of her

stomach and crawled up her spine before settling like a cold lump at the base of

her neck. Her eyes widened and she stood up slowly, looking around her quickly.

There was something here. Something... wrong. Something that filled her every

instinct with the raw, animal desire to flee. She could see her sisters also

beginning to be affected, their bodies begin to twitch and shudder like rabbits

in the woods.

Then someone laughed. It was a little girl. Her voice echoed through the

rain, coming from everywhere and nowhere. JunJun gasped. Cologne started and

even Purgstall seemed to sense that something wrong was suddenly among them.

"So many children, walking around like adults..."

JunJun spun and saw the girl. She sat on a lightpole, one that JunJun

wasn't certain had been there a few seconds ago. Her skin was exotically

coloured, and her white hair was short and sharp. She wore a bodysuit of white

and grey and black. Red gems, the size of baseballs, were embedded in her

gloves, boots and shoulderpads. A sky-blue triangle on her forehead pointed

towards her tiny cherub nose and mouth. Her eyes... JunJun wanted to pull away,

to look at anything but those eyes.

Those eyes were madness.

She was carrying something black, juggling it from hand to hand. It took

JunJun a moment to realise it was Agito's head. The girl giggled again, her

mouth forming a thin amused line. "And adults acting like children," she said,

her soft voice carrying over the rain and the rumble of thunder. "This one was

the only real man here... more's the pity."

"PallaPalla!" CereCere cried, reaching for their youngest sister as she

suddenly walked towards the newcomer. But PallaPalla was already too far away,

and the pink-haired Amazoness was unwilling to step forward. The bluette marched

forward, striding along the ground and then effortlessly ascending the air

towards her like she was walking up an invisible staircase. PallaPalla stopped

when she was only a few feet from the girl. She frowned, her expression sad.

"You shouldn't be here," PallaPalla said.

"You're right," the strange girl said, smiling. "But I am."

"You're not like anything else," PallaPalla said, her voice growing

sadder.

"Don't blame me." The girl laughed, and suddenly she was behind

PallaPalla, her hand resting on the smaller girl's shoulder. "That's just the

way God made me." Then she quirked her head to the side and chuckled. "Or didn't

make me, as the case may be."

"Somebody has to stop you," PallaPalla said sharply.

"I'm hurt. What have I done to fill your innocent heart with such

naughty feelings?"

"You've done nothing. Except run over my dog."

"He was a naughty puppy."

"I don't care what you say!" PallaPalla shouted, spinning to face her.

"Eating kittens is just plain wrong!"

"That's what I said at the time."

"Who do you think will tend my flock now? A PIG?"

"If he's very polite."

PallaPalla fell back, landing atop the streetlight with a dazed

expression on her face. JunJun and the other girls ran over, catching the

smallest Amazoness as she tumbled off the lamp. CereCere held a hand to

PallaPalla's forehead. "What was that? What were you doing up there?" she asked.

"I... I don't know..."

"Did she do anything to you?" VesVes asked harshly.

"No? I mean... it all sounded so logical when I was saying it..."

"PallaPalla, you never sound logical," CereCere pointed out.

"I know! That's what was so weird!"

"Girls," Cologne said, landing next to them. "Are you okay?" she asked

PallaPalla, who nodded. "What... what is that girl?"

"She's a..." VesVes strained for words.

"She's a nothing," CereCere said.

"A hole. A rip. A tear," JunJun expanded.

"She's wrong and horrible! She should not be!" PallaPalla insisted.

"She doesn't exist! But she's here!" VesVes breathed.

"She has no dreams..." PallaPalla sighed.

"She has that effect on people," another voice observed sardonically.

They all turned and saw the girl had moved across the battlefield. She

was standing at Chris' side, still idly juggling the severed head of Agito. He

looked at her, narrowing his good eye. "You should finish him off. As long as

the control medal on his forehead exists, he can regenerate."

The girl looked down at the head, her smile growing somewhat sad.

"Goodnight, sweet prince. The tragedy of your life is that you never knew that

despite all your cunning and power and ambition, you were doomed because of

God's utter indifference to you." Her fingers made a wet sound as they sunk into

the armour of his head, then snapped closed. Bits of metal and red ooze sluiced

out between her fingers as she removed them. The head fell to the ground with a

soft clatter.

"You can accept that as my apology for inconveniencing Cologne," Chris

said, looking up at Purgstall with a smile.

"Frederick... even if you aren't going to do it for me, even if

Arkanphel does protect him... realise what he did today. All these people died

because he decided he wanted Millennium gone. And now, with Agito gone... there

is nothing to stop the Prometheans."

"Au contraire," Chris said with a sarcastic lilt. "The reason my friend

here was absent earlier was because she was busy destroying the lab responsible

for creating them. With Agito dead, and no records, there will be no more

Prometheans."

Purgstall looked at Chris for a long time, the thunder and lighting

filling the stormclouds overhead. Then he frowned. "No. Even if Arkanphel

himself tells me to spare you, I can't. You're a monster. I won't let you

threaten my future!" His last word as a shout, punctuated by a crack and blast,

a massive lightning bolt. JunJun screamed, as the world became light and sound.

She could feel the power of the blast, it was a bolt of raw elemental fury,

almost twenty meters across. Buildings in all directions melted slightly from

the heat of its impact.

Only it never hit. The girl was holding up one hand, almost casually.

She had parried the massive electrical arc with one of the gems on the back of

her wrists. Chris was ducking, hiding beneath her as she smiled. Then, with a

sound like water running down a drain, the entire bolt shrunk and shrunk until

it was nothing more than a few random sparks that vanished into the globe in her

gauntlet.

"Not... possible!" Purgstall said, stumbling back a step, his eyes

widening.

"Oh Purgstall," Chris said, rising back up and smiling. "Agito's blind

spot was that he never thought a zoalord would choose human companionship over

loyalty to his master. I was not under any such delusion. I was merely waiting

for you to make the first move. Formalities are the very heart of the law, after

all."

JunJun stared at the girl. Her body shuddered. She had felt it, when the

girl had sucked up Purgstall's attack like it was nothing. That strange,

otherworldly coldness. The same one she felt whenever she travelled with her

orb. That same chilling darkness that crept through her whenever she used her

magic. It was a taint, a wound, a gnawing emptiness in the centre of... what?

"WHAT ARE YOU?" JunJun yelled, taking a step forward. VesVes grabbed

her by the upper arm, holding her back.

"I'm the Trigger of Destruction!" the girl replied, adding a happy

little giggle to the end.

"You'll have to forgive her, she sometimes takes the form I modelled her

after too seriously," Chris explained, not even bothering to look back at the

Quartet. "Most of you have already met my sword, Angel. This is my shield.

You've probably already heard about her, Cologne. I call her Kalia, and she was

created to protect me from beings like you, Zoalord Purgstall."

"Cologne, girls... get away from here." Purgstall's voice was hard as he

began to rise into the air. Waves of energy, something between raw chi and

electricity, began to lick up and down his body in sheets.

"I don't think so," Chris replied, crossing his arms. "Kalia. Kill him.

But leave his zoacrystal mostly intact. Arkanphel will want it back.

Eventually."

"Now is fighty-time! Fighty-time! Blood! Blood! Blood!" Kalia said in a

sing-song voice, then JunJun blinked and suddenly the girl was right next to

Purgstall. He gasped and tried to move, but her backhand caught him in the

temple and sent him flying through the air. Then Kalia vanished again. A moment

later the Eiffel Tower shook in its supports as the zoalord crashed into it.

Then JunJun was forced to move her attention back to the present.

Because Cologne was charging, her scream trailing behind her almost like a cape.

Chris waited a heartbeat, then he moved to meet her.

It was like watching a movie set at too high a speed, or trying to watch

a dance illuminated only by a strobe. For several minutes, as the lightning

raged overhead, the two exchanged blows at a speed that JunJun could barely even

perceive, much less interfere with. The ground around them burst and shattered,

great geysers erupting into the earth whenever they came together for a brief

exchange. Their bodies flashed and flickered, appearing for the instant it took

to deliver or parry a blow and then vanishing again.

Then the battle went up a level. Suddenly the park was filled with

flames and wind, exploding rock and spears of water. Blasts of chi and

explosions of flame met, annihilating each other. VesVes and CereCere raised a

barrier, keeping the worst of the backlash from blowing the four of them away.

JunJun hated it. She had never seen the old hag fight like this. She was moving

far faster, far more nimbly, than she ever had when trying to train them.

It took Cologne almost ten minutes to lose. Ten minutes that reduced

most of the surrounding city blocks to ruins. JunJun didn't even see the fatal

mistake, the one slip-up that ended the battle. All she did was hear Cologne's

pain-filled cry and then the woman was flying through the air, skipping across

the landscape like a rock over water until smashing into a wall so hard she went

through it and the rest of the building besides. JunJun didn't think, she moved.

She appeared behind Cologne, catching her in her arms. The air exploded

from her lungs and she skidded along the cobbled street, finally coming to a

stop when she smashed into a parked car.

"JunJun..." Cologne hissed softly. Her right arm was so badly burnt that

JunJun felt her stomach twist at the sight of it. The burn spread down her side.

"Don't worry, old hag, I'll..." JunJun had no idea what to say next. She

blinked away tears.

"You have to admit, she is rather impressive," Chris said, floating over

the collapsed building he had sent JunJun's mentor through. "She did far more

damage to me than I thought she would." JunJun looked up. The boy was mangled.

His clothes had nearly been torn to shreds, barely covering him in some areas.

Holes ran up his entire right side, and one of his hands was missing three

fingers. His left leg was missing from the knee down. He didn't seem to mind any

of this. "She probably is the greatest living master of the First Circle on the

entire planet. Perhaps even the entire universe." Chris raised his maimed hand

and flames grew where his fingers should be, then he gestured, summoning a

purple fireball in front of him. "But it's just the First Circle. As she once

told me, its power only lasts as long as the will maintains it." He smiled. "And

even you have your limits, Cologne."

Then the giant metal lobster attacked him. He blinked in surprise as its

huge pincers grabbed his arms and its many legs curled around his body. It

looked like it was built out of what had once been cars and trucks. JunJun

looked up to see VesVes concentrating and holding out her orb towards the beast

she had created.

CereCere and PallaPalla appeared in front of him, landing acrobatically

and gesturing as they did. Flower petals swept from the pink-haired girl's hands

as a giant ball appeared under PallaPalla, rising her several meters into the

air. The petals flowed over Chris, seemingly without effect, then PallaPalla

bore down on him, threatening to crush his immobilised form.

Then Chris grunted and tore his arms free, the metal pincers of the

lobsters melting away like hot taffy. He extended one hand, catching the ball

and stopping it in place. PallaPalla leapt a second before the circus ball

exploded from within in a flash of purple flame.

"Damn you!" JunJun roared. She put down Cologne and charged,

cartwheeling across the road towards him. He shifted sideways as she landed

beside him, and started punching. He avoided each of her strikes with

contemptuous ease.

"Excuse me, but... who are you, precisely?" Chris asked.

"JunJun, of the Amazoness Quartet!" she yelled back.

"And we're going to kick your ass!" VesVes yelled. She snapped her

fingers and the ground under Chris morphed upward, stretching into a giant hand

which pawed at him. He tapped off the fingers and flipped over JunJun's head.

PallaPalla was holding out one of her dolls, sweat dripping down her brow.

CereCere produced another blast of flower petals, which Chris did not even

bother to avoid.

"I'm being attacked... by Sailor Moon villains?" Chris asked

disbelievingly.

"Don't underestimate us!" JunJun shouted, and leapt again, producing a

brace of throwing knives which homed in on him with magical accuracy. His hand

blurred as he parried each one with one hand. Then his body seemed to flicker

and there was suddenly two of him. One standing still, the other racing straight

towards her.. JunJun gasped, but couldn't dodge as the charging one grabbed her

arm just as the other vanished.

"I'm not underestimating you," Chris informed her. Then he broke her

arm. It was a simple twist of his wrist. JunJun screamed, collapsing.

"JunJun!" VesVes shouted. She leapt down, but in mid-air a thin ribbon

of flame sprang from Chris' mauled hand, wrapping around her ankle. She cried

out as the flames burnt into her flesh, then again as Chris swung her like a

pendulum into the ground hard enough that it cratered. Before the others could

react, Chris shifted sideways and gestured, dozens of thin purple darts flicking

from his other hand. CereCere only had a chance to gasp before she was pinned to

a wall, flaming darts embedded in her wrists and ankles.

"You jerk!" PallaPalla screamed, flipping backward. As she did, she

clapped her hands together then pulled them away quickly, a pool cue forming

between them. She landed facing him, leaning forward, and her blue orb floating

down right in front of the cue.

"PallaPalla, no!" JunJun yelled. She wasn't certain why, but she knew

this was a bad idea. It was their ultimate weapon. With one of their orbs, they

could punch the 'dream mirror' out of a person, literally that thing which

contained all their dreams, all their personality. It was the connection between

every living thing and Elysium, the thing which separated those things with

souls from those things without.

Once, four years ago, they had used it. The victim had been some girl

being fledged to become a neo-zoanoid. It was supposed to be a joke. Just a

lark. The mirror could be put back, after all. No harm. No foul. But it hadn't

worked out like that. The mirror that had come out had been black. It had

shattered, and in shattering it had released... something. Something cold and

dark and final. The entire facility had been reduced to a crater a kilometer

wide. The Quartet had barely escaped alive. Since then, they had never once used

it. Never even talked about it.

If PallaPalla actually hit Chris, likely she would take him out, and

everything else nearby... including them. But Chris just smiled as the girl took

a moment to line up her shot and released it with a gentle tap. The ball shot

right past his ear; he didn't even try to dodge. But far from missing, the ball

ricocheted again and again, off walls and debris and nearby cars until finally

smashing into Chris from behind... and then nothing. The ball appeared floating

straight in front of his chest, as if nothing had happened.

Except PallaPalla screamed. She clutched her head and fell to her knees,

her cue clattering to the ground.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Chris asked idly. Then he reached

out and grabbed the orb. "Well, on the off-chance it was..."

The sphere shuddered in his grasp for a second, then cracks began to

from, spreading slowly from his fingers, intersecting and multiplying. Flakes

began to peel off and a terrible deadlight, a hideous black anti-illumination,

burst forth from the holes. Then the entire sphere exploded. The boy grunted as

the blast threw him back, landing against a wall.

He frowned. His hand had vanished, consumed from the wrist down,

perfectly severed with no signs of scar or burn. "Right, dumb idea," he

muttered.

PallaPalla fell forward, her eyes rolling up into her head before she

slammed into the ground. JunJun got up and ran to her, trying to keep her broken

arm from jostling painfully without much success.

"Leave them alone!" Cologne shouted, having finally managed to get back

to her feet. Chris looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't attack them."

"They're just children!" Cologne accused.

"They're children with dangerous toys." Chris gestured with his stump of

an arm. "Really, Cologne. Oblivion? Are you so desperate to harm me you'd toy

with a force that could end all existence in the wrong hands?" He shook his

head. JunJun stared at him, blinking. What was he talking about? "But that

isn't the point."

"If you want to kill me, go ahead," Cologne snarled. "But leave them

alone!"

"Cologne... you know I don't kill people."

Then there was a loud crash as a figure smashed into the ground behind

him. It was Purgstall. He didn't look injured. He looked, for all the world,

like he was asleep. Except for the gaping wound in his forehead, where his

zoacrystal had once been.

"That's what I have HER for," Chris continued cheerfully.

Suddenly the girl was behind him. There was no sign of teleportation,

she was just there. And JunJun knew, somehow, that she had been there all along.

She was cradling Purgstall's zoacrystal like one would a baby.

"It's warm..." Kalia said, giggling.

"FREDERICK!" Cologne ran across the street, only to be driven back by a

wave of flame. "Damn you, Chris! They aren't involved! They weren't even

supposed to be here!"

Chris snorted. "Cologne, you never change." His lip curled up in a

sneer. "Oh certainly, you didn't give them an engraved invitation to join you

in grand suicide. All you did was dedicate the last seven years of your life to

my destruction. Using them like pawns in a game. Worming your way into

Purgstall's feelings, so you could exploit his resources to find me. So you

could betray his secrets in a scheme to kill me. Using these girls as weapons,

thinking that if you could devise ways to kill them, you could find a way to

kill me. No, of course you didn't INVITE them, Cologne. But you made them care

about you, and you came here. You KNEW they were going to follow you. You were

willing, you ARE willing to spend every one of their lives just so long as it

kills me in the process!"

"That's not true!" JunJun shouted. "Tell him it isn't true!"

But Cologne didn't answer.

"Just like before," Chris continued mercilessly. "Certainly Shampoo

decided she would rather die than remain a slave to Pink and Link. Certainly I

made her that slave. I'm certain that's what you say so you can sleep at night.

But YOU made the decision to let me do that. You decided that she needed a

lesson. You were the one who had the responsibility. You paid less attention to

your own flesh and blood than a complete stranger from Japan. You are the one

who had no idea what was happening to Shampoo until long after she was dead." He

paused, and then for a moment his voice was filled with a deep and terrible

anger. "Until long after PINK was dead." Chris floated a bit closer, and his

voice returned to its light, sarcastic lilt. "But of course, it's all my fault."

"There was an old lady who swallowed her guilt," Kalia began in a sing-

song voice. "I don't know why she swallowed her guilt. Perhaps she'll die."

Cologne looked down at the ground and fell to her knees. Her body began

to shake. JunJun realised dimly that she was crying. When she spoke, her voice

was hoarse. "You owe me," she said softly.

"What?" Chris asked, frowning.

"Seven years ago, when you were new to this world and confused... you

came to an old woman for help. She saw you were a... monster, a strange freak of

nature. But she did not cast you out, or destroy you. She helped you." She

looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "You owe me, Chris! You promised

me a favour then, anything I wanted, and I'm calling it in!"

Chris looked at her a moment, then his frown twisted up into a smirk.

Finally, he broke out laughing. "Of course. Unlike some people, I always keep my

promises."

"Let them live!" Cologne snarled. "All of them! Frederick and the girls!

Spare their lives! I don't care what you do to me-"

"Well, I do!" VesVes snarled, rising to her hands and knees. Her face

was bruised and one eye was swollen shut.

"Me too!" CereCere managed to get out, still pinned to the wall by the

flaming darts.

"If you kill her, I swear we'll find a way to make you pay!" JunJun

snapped, cradling PallaPalla's unconscious form in her lap.

Chris looked at them all, smiled again and shrugged. "What would be the

point anyway? She can't hurt me, and the purpose of killing her would be to

prevent knowledge about me from spreading. If I'm not killing any of you, it

strikes me as... needlessly cruel."

He gestured to Kalia. The girl smiled, then she held up the zoacrystal.

She tapped it once with her pinky finger and it made a sound like a bell

ringing. Then she tossed it at Cologne's feet. The woman looked down at it in

horror. A thick crack ran down its length.

"I suggest not bothering with the king, his horses or his men," Kalia

said. "Maybe Humpty-Dumpty would have been better off looking for a Queen to

help him?" she suggested, then laughed and was never there.

OoOoO

"You look like you're in a good mood today," Nabiki observed. She was on

her third cup of coffee, and it was only nine. She looked down at the dark

liquid. She needed to cut down, she noted idly.

"Yeah, I guess I am..." Ukyou mused. She was standing near the window of

Rose's office, looking out at the city. Below them, the festivities were in full

swing. Nabiki was actually slightly surprised by how well she had pulled this

off, given the time constraints. Of course, she knew it was superficial, that

Thailand had a long way to go before there was real peace, real reform... but it

was a start.

Nabiki smiled, a wicked little smile. "So, where did you and Akira go

last night, then?" Nabiki then got to see a rare sight: Ukyou blushing like a

schoolgirl and sputtering. She turned and glared at Nabiki.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Nabiki," Ukyou snapped. "Nothing like

that happened."

"Why not?" Nabiki purred, leaning forward.

Ukyou narrowed her eyes. "Does the phrase 'none of your business' even

mean anything to you, Nabiki?"

"Everything is my business, Ukyou." Nabiki snorted. "Don't think this is

some gossip thing. I need to know what's happening with you because of how

important you are, because you..."

"Stop right there, Nabiki." Ukyou held up a hand. "Don't start treating

me like some saviour. I'm not. I'm... human. Just like you."

Nabiki regarded Ukyou for a long time. She opened her mouth, ready to

say something, but stopped herself. She sighed and pinched her nose. "Fine.

Whatever you want, Ukyou." She looked up. "Why did you want to talk to me?"

Ukyou considered her answer for a long time. They watched the cheering

crowd outside. Almost everyone else was down in that crowd, Ranma and Rose and

Pluto and the others, all participating in the adulation and celebration. Nabiki

would have been down there too, except that Ukyou had pulled her aside.

"It's been seven years since I went away," Ukyou started. "I've lost

track of so much, and so much has changed. I never got a chance to recover like

the rest of you. Even after you, Akira and Angel saved me we kept bouncing from

one crisis to another. Running and hiding and fighting for our lives doesn't

give one much time for introspection. I was still caught up in what happened to

me back then, losing everything I thought I held dear. Never getting a chance to

apologize to Akane, things turning sour with Ranma... and Hotaru..."

Nabiki flinched, but Ukyou didn't notice. That was the one subject

nobody had spoken of around her. True, Ukyou had been mostly avoiding learning

about the world, but nobody had raised it. Least of all her. Even if Hotaru, or

more correctly the Messiah of Silence, was the whole reason Nabiki had embarked

on this foolish crusade. Ukyou continued.

"I was so caught up in what I had lost, that I forgot that there are

things I have now. I saw you as the selfish bitch you were seven years ago,

Nabiki. I never considered you a friend, just a convenient ally. I've been

treating you, more than anyone, like shit." Ukyou turned to her. "I'm sorry. I

can't take back the past and change the way things have been between us. Even if

I could, I don't think it's the right thing to do. But we can start over now,

don't you think?"

"Ukyou..." Nabiki began warily.

"The fact is, Nabiki, you never needed me the way you thought you did.

Even if you claim to have done all this because of some selfish reason, the fact

is you did it. You defied Chris and risked your own death saving me. You didn't

trust Angel, but listened to me when I asked you not to step in. You fought

Bison for me, by yourself, and nearly died. You helped me save Rose, save all of

Thailand..." Ukyou took a step closer. "Nabiki, you say you're a selfish bitch.

You call yourself the 'Queen of the Criminal Underworld' and that all you care

about is the game. But those are just words. Actions speak louder, the old

saying goes. And you've risked yourself more than most heroes in this world ever

have."

Suddenly Ukyou was extending her hand towards her. "So I'll say it

again, Nabiki. I misjudged you. I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for everything.

I'd be glad, if you and I could be friends. Not manipulating one another, or

using the other. Equals. I'll stand up for you, because you stood up for me when

it mattered."

Nabiki looked down at Ukyou's hand. Then she snarled and slapped it

away. "God DAMN you, Ukyou!" she snapped. The woman just looked at her, alien

eyes expressionless. "Why do you have to be so fucking noble?" Nabiki stepped

back. "This would all be so much easier if you went back to being a whiny self-

involved child."

Ukyou smiled. "I'm still a bit self-involved, Nabiki. I just choose not

to let that ruin the rest of my life."

Nabiki glared at her, but suddenly she couldn't hold in the anger

anymore. It just slipped out. Nabiki briefly wondered if this was how her little

sister felt, the sudden burst of mind-numbing rage and then... it was just gone.

And everything suddenly felt all right. It felt, for a moment, like it would

work out. Nabiki walked over and slumped against the wall.

"Are you okay?" Ukyou asked.

"I'm fine..." Nabiki sighed. "Ukyou... I..." Nabiki had tried so many

times to bring this up. She had wanted so much to find a way of tricking Ukyou

into it. She had hoped that Ukyou would solve her problem for her, since before

she had set out on this road. But after seeing how Ukyou acted after she had

come out of her 'captivity' the time had not seemed right. At first, she'd been

so obsessed with Ranma, then with Bison and her child and now... "I can't find a

way to ask this, Ukyou. I give up. I can't stop it anymore. It's all coming to a

head again and I can't wait for it to explode before I find the courage of my

beliefs." She looked up at the strange, alien and yet strangely human girl. "I

need your help, Ukyou. I need you to save a friend of mine. A dear friend."

"Ryouga," Ukyou guessed. Nabiki nodded mutely. "I was wondering where he

was..."

"He's in grave danger, Ukyou. He's... caught up in things he can't

understand." Nabiki looked at her. "Whatever force it is that did this to you.

Whatever it is out there, Ryouga's caught up in it. It's using him, and I don't

know why. I'm afraid that..." Nabiki didn't break down. She had more dignity

than that.

"I see..." Ukyou ran a hand through her bangs. "I'm not certain what I

can do, Nabiki. There is... something out there. I don't have a name for it. I'm

not certain anyone does. When we were in Europe... Hotaru..." Ukyou's voice had

a hitch in it, and when she continued her words were tremulous, hesitant,

"...Hotaru called it God... maybe she was right..." Ukyou rubbed at the corners

of her eyes, and her voice became stronger. "But I refuse to believe in a God

that is so cruel as that. Not even indifferent, but actively malevolent.

Whatever this nameless thing is, I'm not certain I'm up to fighting it. How do

you fight something like that, anyway?"

"By attacking its prophet..." Nabiki said softly. Ukyou looked at her

sharply.

"Prophet?" Her eyes narrowed. "You mean Chris." Ukyou shook her head.

"Maybe he and I will end up fighting each other, but..." She paused. "If he

really was involved in the events in France, then he's long gone now. He doesn't

strike me as the kind to stick around and admire his handiwork..."

"Not Chris," Nabiki said thickly. "There is, someone else... someone who

this thing has chosen to spread its word, to do its work on Earth..." Nabiki

looked up at Ukyou again. "A child. A child who died and was reborn. A child

cursed, who wanders the Earth. She spreads the word whereever she goes, and that

word is destruction. She preaches peace in death, joy in surrender, absolution

in oblivion." As Nabiki spoke, Ukyou's expression slowly changed, as she began

to understand where this was leading. "There are only three people out there

like you, Ukyou. People who change the world just by existing. You draw people

into your wake like a storm, entering their lives and leaving nothing unchanged.

Chris does it, too. And so does the Messiah of Silence."

"Hotaru..." Ukyou said almost too softly to hear. "No. No. She's dead."

"You believed she was dead. You let yourself believe it."

"No. She's dead!"

"It was easier. You'd heard the rumours, since you came back. But you've

been so concerned with other matters, you let them pass by unnoticed. You know

it's true, Ukyou." Nabiki stood up. "If you really doubt me, I can show you. I

know where Ryouga is, every moment of every day. I can show you his life, show

you everything that Hotaru has become."

Ukyou looked at Nabiki, then she nodded curtly. Nabiki paused and

sighed. It would be impossible to show Ukyou this without Ukyou also seeing more

than Nabiki wanted her to know, about Nabiki's feelings, about Ryouga's... about

what she wanted Ukyou to do, to save Ryouga from his foolish quest to redeem a

girl seven years dead. Ukyou's senses were too sharp. She would sense falsehood.

So Nabiki held nothing back. She let Ukyou see everything.

When it was finished, the room was silent for a long time. Ukyou looked

at the floor. Tears dripped from her eyes. "I never imagined..."

"Ukyou..." Nabiki looked at her.

Ukyou looked up at her. Her eyes were hard, her expression set firm.

"'All things end...' is that the message she has been preaching?" Ukyou curled

her hands into fists. "She's right. This ends. This can't go on. Not one minute

longer. Not as long as I have breath to fight for. I won't let it continue. I

WON'T! Not her! NOT HER!"

Ukyou looked up, into the ceiling, or beyond it, to whatever was beyond

the sky, beyond the depths of space. "You want to fuck with my life, fine. Come

get me! I'm sick and tired of your future, your malice ruling my life! I'm not

afraid for myself anymore! But not her! This ends! Whoever you are, whatever

you are! I won't let you destroy another innocent soul because of me!"

Ukyou's fist lashed out, and suddenly the Silence Glaive was in it. The

glass shattered outward, the shards spinning out into the air. They vanished one

by one, consumed by the oblivion of the weapon's field. The crowd looked up, the

music cutting off at the sudden violence overhead. Ukyou screamed again, and her

voice must have echoed across the city.

"You wanted to hurt me, to hurt my friends. NO MORE! I will find her and

I will save her, by whatever means necessary. And nothing on Earth, or Heaven or

all the power of God will stop me! Do you hear me?

"THIS ENDS NOW!"

OoOoO

It wasn't that Angel didn't enjoy the celebration. Not really. She was

as happy, as awed as any of them over the achievements of a week ago. Of course,

for her it WAS a week ago. Chris had decided to wait until the aftershocks had

died down before filling the underground fortress with news reports and images

for everyone to see. Most of the people had been stunned, just watching, only

slowly comprehending what He had accomplished.

Then, slowly, they had started to smile, to laugh. A few, especially the

ones from France, wept. And now, the same night, they were throwing a party.

Angel didn't blame them. They'd never be able to tell anyone else about their

role, their own contributions to what had been accomplished, but that didn't

mean they couldn't celebrate it.

Normally, Angel would have been happy to take part. She was definitely a

party sort of girl. But she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that this

wasn't... an end. Chris had retreated to His basement chamber, the sealed one,

the one nobody could enter. She hadn't seen Him, hadn't heard from Him except

when He unexpectedly emerged earlier today to announce to all of them what they

had done. His speech had been powerful, but short. Mostly, He'd let the images

on the broadcasts speak for Him.

But Angel felt He would need her again, soon. And she felt like she

should be ready. So she felt uncomfortable at the party, and finally retreated

out to the now-deserted working areas for some solitude.

She didn't find it.

"Impressive, wasn't it?"

Link was sitting calmly on an oversized toadstool, sipping something hot

and steaming from a cup. Her emerald robes were arranged artfully around her,

and the blue jewels in her clothing, on her ears, and on the pins holding her

hair up all gleamed just a little too brightly in the half-lit chamber. Angel

had almost walked into her before she'd noticed Link. Not that Angel wasn't

observant, but Link could almost fade into the background despite her gaudy

outfit, becoming just another plant.

She hadn't really wanted to talk to Link, but Chris didn't like Angel to

be rude to her either, so she responded. "What do you mean?"

Link took another sip, then lowered her cup to her lap, her eyes half-

lidded. "One day. In one day, Chris orchestrated the utter destruction of

Millennium. The most feared force in the world for seven years, enemy of all

that none dared attack, and he destroyed their power utterly in a single day.

Don't you think it's impressive? Does it reaffirm your belief in him?"

"Of course it's impressive," Angel said shortly. She didn't like the

note of sarcasm in Link's tone. The older woman was often snide around Chris,

too, but He never seemed to mind or even take note of it. "But it doesn't

surprise me. I never doubted Chris could do it."

Link's ever-present frown twitched a little as she continued to stare

downwards. "Of course you didn't. You have faith. Belief trumps reason." This

time her sarcasm was less subtle, and Angel almost replied angrily before she

realised the woman's tone was... hiding something. Some feeling. But what?

"Didn't you believe in Him?" Angel finally asked.

This time Link raised her head, affixing Angel with her dark brown eyes.

Her face was like flawless marble, nothing save a cold little frown, revealing

none of her feelings. "It didn't matter to me either way. I'm not surprised he

won, so that's belief of a sort. But it was forced upon me by fate, you know. I

didn't make the choice to believe in him, like you did."

"If you want to leave," Angel said slowly, not quite certain she knew

what Link was getting at, "go ahead. I'm sure Chris won't stop you."

The woman chuckled dryly, an odd sound emanating from those unsmiling

lips. "Leave? Nonsense. I cannot exist on my own." She rose to her feet,

allowing those shàyù bug-things that were always around her to collect her cup.

"That's enough of that, however. Chris wanted me to retrieve you."

"Why didn't you say so to begin with?" Angel snapped.

"Because I wanted a cup of tea first. Or perhaps I simply wanted the

pleasure of your company for a few moments. Don't be a fool about it. If he'd

required your presence so quickly, he would have sent Kalia to fetch you."

Angel shuddered reflexively. Half the people Chris worked with - Link

not excluded - set Angel's teeth on edge, but she swallowed it. That... whatever

she was, though, had just creeped Angel out from the moment Chris had created

her almost a year ago. The fact she wasn't alone in this reaction was small

comfort.

She followed Link down the hallway, wondering what Chris wanted her for.

Was it time to send her out again, to begin preparing for the next great step in

His plans? Angel decided she wouldn't mind that too much, if so. She liked being

near Chris, but right now she'd like to get away, far away from everyone she

knew, find a new place and new people.

Far away from Remy. Far away, she hoped, from Akira.

Chris was waiting for them, as she expected. Kalia was already there,

which also wasn't a surprise, though she'd hoped otherwise. She floated in the

air, legs crossed, merrily gazing at a chessboard in front of her. Several

pieces on it were turned to the side. She was playing black.. no, Angel blinked

and realised she'd been playing white. Or not. She rolled her eyes and looked

away before she got a headache.

Chris was standing with His back to them, staring at the huge living map

of the world Link had created. It had already redrawn itself to account for the

destruction of Millennium and subsequent expansion of French territory. Angel

wondered how much of that the French would keep. Already several of the major

powers - notably Chronos and the Vatican - were squabbling over who would send

troops to assist the rebuilding of Germany and the surrounding lands. At least

they wouldn't take Luxembourg and find the secret base. She was sure Remy would

see to that.

"So, we're all here," Chris said, not turning around. "I've already

congratulated everyone, of course, but I'll thank you personally as well. All of

you executed your roles to perfection."

"Thank you," Angel said, though she was alone in doing so. Link remained

stony-faced, not unusual for her when she was around Chris and Kalia. And

speaking of... Angel found herself glancing without meaning to. Kalia was

playing white. She was definitely playing white. She saw the little girl moving

a bishop to take out a rook, then jerked her head back to look at Chris. There

was a soft giggle behind her.

"We've taken the first step towards the perfect possible future," Chris

continued. "Millennium, save for some stragglers, has been annihilated. The

first great serpent has fallen. And at the same time, the second serpent, Agito

Makashima, is now dead."

Despite herself, Angel glanced again at Kalia. Of course, she was still

playing black. An ebony knight made a strange move.

"Is that it, then?" Angel said suddenly. "We don't have to do anything

like that again, right? I mean, it's not that I'm disagreeing with what you

think is necessary, but in the future, destroying an entire government-" she

clamped her mouth shut, biting her tongue with a Spanish curse. But the damage

was done. Chris slowly turned and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Angel shot

a vicious glare at Kalia, who was humming to herself as she played her game.

"Are you having doubts, Angel?" Chris asked. He didn't sound angry, just

curious.

"No!" Angel said instantly. "I mean, maybe I wondered, but... it's just

that..."

"Don't worry about it," Chris said. "It's your right to question me, as

always. I'll explain. Gutting the French government, so to speak, was in fact

part of Agito's plan. He wanted to show the Prometheans up by having them fail

to protect them and then allow Remy and the Gendarmes to find a suitably placed

villain to defeat, producing a truly human hero that outshone the actions of the

Prometheans. This would allow him to manoeuvre Remy into the position of

authority in France, a true national hero whom people would trust. He didn't

like Agito, but his position would have forced him to listen to Agito's advice,

at which point he would be ripe to manipulation and so forth. As well, removing

President Le Pen removed the only competing power controlling the Prometheans,

leaving them entirely in Agito's hands." He smiled as He recounted the dead

man's plans. "It was very clever, and I saw no reason not to continue it, more

or less. I didn't have the time to finesse Remy into power as he did, but it's

hardly a problem - he led the charge into Gehenna in revenge. He'll do well

enough as leader, and I can also nudge him in the right direction if necessary.

With the President and his closest advisors gone, as well as Agito, nobody is

left that knows the secrets of the Prometheans. They still have their supply of

superhuman killing machines, but their lifespan is only ten years. Thus, the

possible French problem solves itself. While it's certainly unfortunate that so

many had to die, the last thing the world needed was yet another military power

armed to the teeth with inhuman monsters."

Angel nodded humbly. Of course, she'd known there would be a good

reason. There always was. She probably wouldn't have thought anything at all, if

she hadn't run into Remy... and if that nasty little child hadn't brought it

from the back of her mind to her lips. And Angel was sure that was who did it.

"Now," Chris said, turning back to the board, "it's time to launch phase

two. Millennium has been defeated, so we move on." He stabbed a finger at the

map, to a dot of pure blackness in northern Russia. "Here, for starters."

"The Death Messiah?" Link said. "What an interesting choice." She must

have been surprised, Angel noticed: Link's voice was less guarded than usual.

She was anxious, almost gleefully eager, but there was an undercurrent of fear

there too.

Chris chuckled. "She's hardly important enough to be worth a term so

grand as a 'phase', don't you think? My concern isn't entirely with her. Observe

here." He pointed at several more dots, somewhat south of the first. "Ranma

Saotome, Akira Kazama, Sailor Pluto, Nabiki Tendo. And by inference, of course,

Ukyou. They're chasing her. And where she's going..." He traced His finger up

from the black dot, resting it at the frozen wasteland at the very top of the

map. "Here."

"The Dark Kingdom..." Angel breathed. "But... so soon?"

"Of course," Chris said, and there was a smile in His voice. "Did you

expect another five, six, seven years? No, no. The time for caution and

preparation is over. I won't let the serpents of this world continue to threaten

it. All of them, Angel. One after the other, they're all going to fall now. But

I'll need all of you to play your roles."

He turned around again, affixing each of them with the gaze from His one

remaining eye. "As she has proven more formidable than expected, I will deal

with Sailor Saturn. She's looking for something at the North Pole, and I believe

I know what it is. Angel, a distraction we will create will allow you to

infiltrate the Dark Kingdom, where you will seize what she's looking for. It's

too dangerous in the wrong hands." He nodded at Link with a half-smile. "You

don't look too cheerful today, Link. Well, this ought to fix that. Nabiki Tendo

has overstepped herself just once too often, and while she can't hurt me, she

can do immeasurable damage to the world if left unchecked. I want her dealt

with. I'm certain you've been planning ways to for years."

Link laughed. Angel stared. In all the years she'd known her, she'd

never seen Link laugh. Never even seen her smile. But she was smiling now, a

wide, poisonous grin that came awkwardly to her face but somehow looked like it

belonged there. "It will be simple. And a pleasure."

"Sailor Saturn was supposed to be simple, too," Chris noted. "Be

cautious and thorough."

Link's grin didn't even twitch. "Don't worry. Nabiki Tendo is not a

Messiah. Not by any stretch of the imagination."

He nodded. "Of course there will be interference, ranging from youma-

human hybrids to Ukyou herself. I have faith both of you can handle whatever you

run up against, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is Ukyou, but

given what I'm planning to do, I'm sure she'll come running right for me, which

neutralises her as a factor. And the other, of course..."

There was a loud clatter. They all turned to look. There were only a few

pieces left on the board, now, most of them white. A white rook and bishop

menaced the shattered black formation. Kalia reached out and grabbed the black

queen. "... is her!" she giggled, knocking the queen onto its side.

"Quite so."

"She's going to fight TETHYS?" Angel blurted before she could stop

herself. She couldn't help it. Aside from maybe Arkanphel, the Dark Queen was

the mightiest being on Earth. Everyone knew that. Even Link was also staring,

her earlier smile having fallen back into a thoughtful frown. The little girl

just smiled.

Chris shook His head. "It really doesn't matter if she can win against

Tethys. What matters is that she won't lose. That will allow everything to

proceed nicely." He chuckled. "After all, it won't take me too long to deal with

Sailor Saturn. So don't get discouraged if something unexpected happens, any of

you."

"Of course not," Link said softly, her voice unreadable again.

"Take this, take that, bring them down to size," Kalia chimed in, voice

sing-song. "March to the Black Queen."

Angel stared. It seemed ridiculous. Impossible. Even more than beating

Millennium in a day.

But she had faith. She nodded, affecting a cheerful grin. "Sounds like a

party, then. So, are we leaving now?"

Chris chuckled. "Of course not. I'm not so unkind as to depart in the

middle of the night. Get some sleep, you two. We'll be on our way tomorrow. And

then, by the day after... it'll be time to start thinking about America and

Chronos." He turned back to the map, glancing at all the remaining dots

scattered around the planet. "The millennium's coming up, you know. Well, not

the real millennium, but everyone thinks of it that way anyway. I don't see any

reason why we can't have saved the world by then, do you?"

To Be Continued...

Blade: Well, nope, I really don't. I mean, I already know the Y2K thing is

gonna be a big bust thanks to my Supar Future-Knowing Powerz, so how hard can

saving the world really be?

Epsilon: In the interest of not turning this postscript into an even longer

philosophical debate, I will sidestep this question!

Blade: With?

Epsilon: Umm... the... uh... metaphorical implications of... combat vampires

versus laser-wielding French chicks who smoke?

Blade: The implication there is clearly that petite short-haired smoking French

girls with laser rifles are way cooler than vampires.

Epsilon: Especially Zorin Blitz.

Blade: Poor Zorin Blitz. Nobody likes her.

Epsilon: That's because she's fugly.

Blade: Yeah, if she'd only had the sense to be going all Ilsa with an eyepatch,

she'd be way more popular than Rip.

Epsilon: Which just goes to show we're fools to not give one of our endless

hordes of hot female characters an eyepatch?

Blade: Well, Angel has a lock of hair over one eye, that almost counts. As a

Mexican, though, she's an unlikely Nazi.

Epsilon: Maybe Fevrier? She has a whole Nazi vibe going on.

Blade: Uh, yeah, but she's French, which is even worse than Mexican for being a

proper Nazi. Marz is German, but not very dominatrix-like. How about Chizuru?

She was all strong female character, sort of ice-queeny, I bet if you got her

drunk enough she'd wear leather, and y'know, the Japanese were part of the Axis

so it's almost like being a Nazi.

Epsilon: I guess she'd be suitable... other than being dead.

Blade: Damnit, I knew I'd made a mistake there. Well, sorry folks. No Ilsa With

An Eyepatch for you. You'll just have to settle for Zorin Blitz.

Epsilon: ...we're so sorry.

Blade: Truly sorry. But we'll try to make it up to you NEXT MONTH!

OoOoO

"Because Hotaru is the same as me, a puppet." Tethys looked around. "She

is as much damaged as I was. Her master is Oblivion, but it is no less dangerous

than Chaos. Perhaps even more so.

"I could destroy her, Ukyou." Ukyou tensed, her fingers curling as if to

grip a weapon. "Oh, don't overreact. I've spared her life thus far. I withdrew

my sentinels from her path. I allowed her to 'sneak' into my city. I know

exactly where she is at all times, and I know exactly what she is looking for.

Her powers do not concern me. She needs to touch me to inflict her Silence on

me, and other than that she is just a vampire. A being that draws her power from

blood." Tethys gestured, and a globe of water condensed in the air in front of

her. "I am not overly concerned about one whose power is based on a liquid.

"No, I spared her because I sympathise. I want to save her... just like

you, Ukyou."

Hybrid Theory Chapter 27: Meteora


	27. Meteora

My name is Link, and this is not my story, though it's one I'm well-familiar with. Listen closely, because I will only tell you once. 

In another time, another place, a man named Chris lived. There was nothing remarkable about him, nor about the world in which he dwelled, by the standards I measure such things. Then he died, and both his world and his existence changed forever.

He found himself in a world like his own and yet unlike his own, a world that was a hodgepodge of characters and events and objects and forces he'd thought imaginary. Moreover, he found himself bodiless, a drifting spirit that inhabited the bodies of the recently dead. In these bodies, he could take advantage of the knowledge and skills of his deceased hosts, but only at a terrible cost. Every move he made, action he took, thought he had caused the body he inhabited to suffer unnatural decay, which took its toll on his mind as well. He could survive only by finding new bodies to leap to, a situation that horrified the still-human portion of him. Chris travelled to Japan, the home of many of the people he 'knew' from his old life, hoping that a superhuman body could sustain him longer than a mundane one, and that with the knowledge and power he found there, he could halt the rotting altogether.

Of course, he could only do this by killing selected targets to take advantage of their abilities, their positions, their knowledge. Of course they were faceless, unimportant, meaningless people whose deaths meant nothing to the world. Chris comforted himself by telling himself these deaths were horrible but necessary, these deaths would be the last.

In Japan, he planned to take the life of Akane Tendo, a superhuman sufficiently weak to be killed by the skills he had available, but found himself unable to kill someone he saw as not only an innocent, but an innocent he was uncomfortably close to knowing. But while his murder attempt was aborted by his own end, it brought him into conflict with Ukyou Kuonji, who showed knowledge that only Chris or someone else from beyond the world knew. Chris demanded to know where Ukyou got this information, but Ukyou and her own otherworldly companion refused to tell him the truth, angry and repulsed at what Chris had become and his angry, desperate demands.

Chris proved he was not a person to take this hostile reaction lightly. He found and successfully took the body of another martial artist, Kodachi Kunou, and meticulously planned another confrontation with Ukyou where he would hold the advantage. To do this, he kidnapped Akane Tendo, as well as her sister Nabiki, questioning them. Akane pleaded with Chris to not fight Ukyou, whom she'd come to think of as a close friend, but Chris was adamant that the Ukyou Akane thought she knew was actually someone else entirely. Ukyou came to rescue her friend as Chris had planned, and he defeated both her and her companion Ranma. Even helpless, Ukyou and her companion Aaron refused to tell Chris the whole truth, instead letting him believe that his friend Aaron was dead. Chris accepted this and departed to find new solutions to his problem, freeing Akane and attempting to mend fences with her before he left.

His travels took him to China, where his search for knowledge took him to the Nyuuchezu village, where he spoke with Cologne, whom he considered to be wise and learned. He bribed her with some of the information he knew about her world from the comics he'd once read, as well as appealing to her native curiosity. She told him that she could not help him directly, but told him of the Three Circles of power. The First Circle: the realm of the physical, of the possible (no matter how remotely so), and of chi. The Second Circle: the realm of the mystical, of the impossible, and of sorcery and unworldly power. Neither Circle, Cologne informed Chris, could possibly have caused his strange condition, particularly since her well-honed senses could not detect any hint of chi or magic animated the dead body Chris inhabited. She thus postulated the existence of a Third Circle, a power even more profound than that of magic, and also mused that someone, for some reason, must have caused what happened to him. Chris thanked her, promising to repay her for her help in the future, and departed.

At this point, the body of Kodachi Kunou had lasted him far longer than any of his previous ones had, and the urgency of his initial quest had dimmed somewhat. Stung by the reactions he'd received from Ukyou and Akane, he wanted companions, someone he could make a positive impression on, even friends. This is where I begin to matter, for it was I that he chose to approach. At that time "I" consisted of two people, myself and a doppleganger named Pink - though neither of us knew which was real and which the shadow. Chris believed the duality of us to be twins, as did most others. At that time, our great shared passion was revenge upon Shampoo, a girl who had tormented us for most of our life, and who was also Cologne's great-granddaughter. Chris gambled that he could win us over by offering to assist in our defeat of Shampoo, rationalising his actions to himself by thinking we could help preserve his body with our skills in herbalism. As it turned out, we were pursuaded, though I was extremely reluctant, a fact that makes me laugh now.

It was not enough, however. Though Pink took well enough to Chris, I barely tolerated him, and since Pink was an unsubtle sociopath, her acceptance initially made Chris bemused and uncomfortable. Again he returned to the side of Akane Tendo, attempting to make what he felt was a reasonable request. Akane, however, rebuffed him harshly in her lingering fear, which had two interesting lingering effects. Akane, a soft-hearted sympathetic girl, felt bad about hurting Chris, despite the fact she had every reason to hate and fear him.  
Chris, for his part, starting brooding on how such a soft-hearted girl could possibly hold a grudge against him.

This disgusted Pink, who had been thrilled with the power Chris had shown in defeating our enemy Shampoo and obliging her to serve us in restitution for her torments of us over the years. She had quickly figured out that Chris really didn't want or need our help so much as our companionship, and had quickly begun to enjoy the thought of having such a powerful protector. For my own part, I was less enthused, but it's simple honesty to admit that I also took advantage of the opportunities offered by Chris, while still despising him personally. Pink, however, wanted to find out more about Chris and thus get him more firmly under her thumb. She seized upon an opportunity to read his journals - with Shampoo's unwilling help - and found out far more than she had ever expected: the truth. That Chris came from beyond this universe. That, to Chris, we were nothing but figments of someone's imagination. That his seemingly preternatural knowledge about everyone of consequence and future events was merely his recollection of comics or video games or cartoons. She revealed this triumphantly to Chris, as well as our own duality. Chris, realising how dangerous Pink could be, was going to kill her. But she had caught him in a trap of rather admirable brilliance for someone as tactically inept as Pink: by revealing our origins, she had let him now that by killing her, I might very well also die. And Chris, rather than risk the death of "innocent" me, talked himself into believing Pink was really harmless.

That was seven years ago, and even now, thinking of it makes me laugh and laugh.

Around the same time, Chris finally succeeded in winning Akane over to "his side", initially through telling her the truth as he saw it: that Ukyou was using Akane, manipulating her to be out of the running for Ranma Saotome's love. He convinced Akane that he was seeking redemption, got her assistance in saving the Sailor Senshi from the malevolent entity Chronos, and finally got her promise to travel with him and serve as his "moral compass" after a second violent encounter with Ukyou had terrified his little soul. Akane got Chris to promise never to kill anyone in exchange for her aid, which she no doubt thought was a very meaningful gesture. Of course, by the time she had, my other half had already killed her first replacement body to present triumphantly to Chris.

We travelled for some time together. At first too naive to really understand the depths of my other half's disregard for anyone other than herself, the two quickly grew openly hostile after Pink murdered a second body for Chris: a young boy with the power of a god also, amusingly enough, named Chris. By this point, Pink had used Chris to gain herself significant power and was increasingly... erratic, a fact I myself nearly missed due to my increasing fascination with the nature of this strange, contradictory, impossible world we lived in. Both Akane and I nearly paid dearly for underestimating her, but an unlikely saviour emerged in Shampoo, who "killed" Pink by breaking the mystical connection between us, causing her to fade from existence screaming for help right before Chris's eyes. He attempted to save her with his stolen power, and almost did, but his belief in the possibility of what he was doing faltered and she vanished, affirming my reality.

Chris, again, proved to be vengeful. He hunted down and butchered Shampoo, getting around his promise not to kill by forcing her to commit suicide rather than do the deed himself. He did this in front of the helpless Akane, who turned away from him in horror and disgust. Thus, in a single stroke, Chris lost both the woman who had loved him, and the woman he'd sought for so long to earn the love of. But after his initial vengeance, he reacted with considerable calmness, immediately setting out on an overarching plan to bring about what he called "the perfect possible future". In essence, while Chris was certain his connection to the Third Circle made him a god, he didn't wish to rule as one, at least not openly. Instead, he intended to surreptitiously overthrow the great powers of the world one by one, and subtly encourage a climate of conflict and great deeds, which would inspire people to become independant and powerful, overthrowing tyrants themselves without need for Chris, but always with his watchful eye making sure the "heroes" never lost to the "villains" at any time where all humanity lay in the balance.

Of course, to bring about this world, an enormous amount of people would have to die. While I had by then chosen to throw my lot in with Chris for reasons of my own, his promise to Akane not to kill hampered his ability to bring about the future. Thus, while consolidating his power in many other ways, he also rescued a certain girl, Angel, whom his otherworldly knowledge assured him had great potential. He then carefully molded her, physically and mentally, for the task he had planned for her. He cared for the girl, but always at a distance,  
cultivating in her mind the godlike image he wished for her to hold of him. He arranged for her to train with many powerful masters, unlocking her potential and turning her into a daring, aggressive swordswoman with an uncanny awareness of her environment. He built her up to believe that he had chosen her from some great task, and let her dangle long enough without knowing what that task was that the task became nearly as mythical, in Angel's eyes, as Chris himself. By the time he revealed the truth to her, Angel so firmly believed that to serve Chris was not only a great cause, but the only cause worth serving, that she fell into line as his assassin despite every personal reservation she had against it, tossing aside loyalty and friendship in order to serve as an instrument of Chris's perfect possible future.

And where was I? Unimportant to this discussion, and really, none of your business. Suffice it to say I continued to serve Chris for my own reasons, and do to this day.

Chris, in the last year, has been busy indeed. Through means unknown even to me, he has created an unliving doll, a frightening thing of emptiness and chaos named Kalia, whose likeness he whimsically appropriate from a character that does not exist (something which is, frankly, rather appropriate). As well, he moved to help the reemergent Ukyou and her friends defeat the tyrant M. Bison - by killing a strategic someone, of course. And then he unveiled an even grander plan, luring the vampires of Millennium into open war with France, allowing France's counterstrike to destroy Millennium, and simultaneously destroying the source of France's superweapons and killing everyone in France with both power and ambition. His plans were almost foiled by a joint plot between his old ally Cologne and the mastermind of France's superweapons, Agito Makashima, but Chris turned the tables and killed Agito, defeated Cologne utterly, and also defeated the Chronos zoalord Frederick Von Purgstall when he tried to rescue her. Only his long-ago made promise to Cologne to repay her for her help stopped him from having his doll kill Cologne, Purgstall, and those irritating brats that followed them around, but he nonetheless achieved every goal he'd set out for and walked away to pursue even loftier goals.

Only about half of the great powers of the world Chris pledged to destroy remain, but they are arguably the strongest: the United States and its allies, Chronos, and the Dark Queen Tethys and her domain. The latter of which, Chris now has set his sights upon, and has brought myself, Kalia, and Angel along to bring about Tethys' demise, as well as dealing with some secondary threats to him in the form of Hotaru Tomoe the so-called Death Messiah, and Nabiki Tendo.

That is the past, which you should all know.

The future? Well... that's something you're just going to have to wait and see.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 27: Meteora

She came awake with a scream.  
Her body was shaking, covered in a sheen of cold sweat. The fur blankets she slept under had been thrown off the bed and all the way across the room.  
She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shivering in the quiet for a time.  
"Just a dream..." she told herself. The words sounded hollow, like dust in her mouth. She smiled a little. What would the world think of her now,  
quaking in her bed like a frightened child? She was Tethys, Queen of Darkness.  
She had stood up to Arkanphel, Millennium... the best and the worst the world had to offer without batting an eye.  
And she was scared. Scared of one slip of a girl.  
They said her eyes were black and the shape of lotus flowers now, but to Tethys they would always be grey. Cold, emotionless eyes. Staring straight into her soul.  
"When you look back on this day, remember that the only reason you still live, is because I CHOSE to let you do so"  
The words rose unbidden from the depths of her mind. She remembered vividly lying sprawled on the concrete floor of the ocean cathedral, her body still spasming from the electrical current Ukyou had nearly killed her with. The current that would have killed her, had Ukyou not pulled her free of the source.  
And still she would have died had the part of her that was then Hayato not intervened, not refused to die.  
They had beaten her. Together, the two of them had been more than Ukyou was. But she had somehow reversed it, somehow won. Worse, she had won without even needing to use her miracle power. Their defeat had been utter, humiliating.  
Not again. Tethys wasn't that person anymore. She and Hayato were one now. He was her and she was him. Together they had defeated Beryl. Together they had defeated Metallia. Together they had faced down forces that could crush them like ants, and emerged the victor. With no miracle power. And now, they would destroy Chaos, the very force of conflict itself.  
Tethys was not afraid of Ukyou any longer. She sneered in the silence of her private bedchamber. The bed she hadn't shared with anyone since... since.  
Tethys shook her head, discarding that thought. What was important was that this was her chamber. This was her world. Her kingdom. Her rules. Ukyou would come to her.  
She would come because of the Messiah. Ukyou would chase her to the ends of the Earth. Well, this was the end of the Earth. The cold, bitter end. Even the Messiah had found it impossible to break her security, to fight her way to the heart of Tethys' power. Of course, Tethys could have crushed the girl at any time. Not easily, perhaps, but she was certain she could win. But to destroy the Messiah before she had drawn Ukyou to her was a waste.  
No, Ukyou would come to her world. And then, Tethys would have her. She would come with her friends, with Ranma Saotome the great warrior, with Nabiki Tendo the queen of the underworld, with Sailor Pluto who had served Tethys loyally for two years.  
With Akira.  
Tethys started.  
There had been a sound. She was certain of it.  
She spun, looking around her bedchamber. It was dark, the light was diffuse, purple and black shadows turning everything into a looming monster. She stood up slowly, gesturing and shaping a weapon out of random moisture in the air-  
Cold steel pressed against her neck. Cold steel held from behind her.  
Tethys froze. Her heart skipped a beat. That cold emotionless voice whispered into her ear from a hair's breadth away.  
"You were stronger then, and faster then. You had more tricks than me then. You were my superior in every way. But I won." The voice cut through Tethys' courage like the cold steel weapon Ukyou held against her throat. "And you made one mistake. You chose the wrong person to hurt. Nobody treats my friends like that"  
Tethys felt the blade cut through her and it was terrible and cold. It was the utter lack of heat. The utter lack of life. The end of everything.  
Oblivion itself tore at her soul. Her body spun as it dissolved into blue sparks, fading away into the nothing from which her soul had been summoned so many millennia ago. She looked up one last time into Ukyou's shadowed face, and her cold grey eyes.  
She came awake with a scream.  
Tethys looked around her room. Well-lit. Her body was warm, perfectly dry. Her blanket rested comfortably in her lap. She snarled and cast it aside.  
She was sick of fighting dreams.

OoOoO

Akane found Mamoru standing alone in one of the fields behind the school. The place was full of rose bushes. But even now, they were dying. The cold was getting to them. The icy chill of winter had settled down on the city,  
blanketing each morning in a glittering fog that sunk through your clothes and sapped the heat from your bones.  
"Hey," she called, stepping up beside him. He was holding a red rose between his fingers, worrying it back and forth so the blossom constantly shifted. She looked down and frowned. The thorns had dug into his fingers,  
leaving little trails of blood down the length of them. She tsked and grabbed the flower, tugging it free of his nerveless fingers. "Damn it, Mamoru. You hurt yourself"  
"Sorry..." he murmured in response.  
Akane stared at him, trying to summon up the will to be angry. Marz had died over a week ago. He had to get over it, to move on. Except how could she yell at him about that? It wasn't like any of them had moved on, or done anything, since then. She had come out here to give him the pep speech, the same one she had given far too many times since she had agreed to lead these people seven years ago. But now the words felt like dust in her mouth.  
"I should have been stronger," Mamoru said finally.  
"That's stupid and you know it," Akane snapped. "You've trained as hard as anybody. You did all you could. Ikazuchi killed her. You have to remember that"  
"But we're responsible for that." He looked up at her now, his eyes ringed in dark circles.  
"No, we're not!" She grabbed his lapel. "Chronos killed her. Chronos killed all the people in this town. She died trying to save lives. Don't you DARE dishonour her memory by giving up now"  
"That's not true, Akane"  
Akane stiffened and turned around slowly. The figure standing at the edge of the rose garden was short, beautiful in the same way a porcelain statue was. But her skin had a healthy glow, and there was a warmth... a sad kindness in her eyes that made Akane's blood run cold just in comparison. Her long blonde hair trailed out behind her as she walked towards the two of them. She wore armour of burnished silver, inlaid with gold, almost fancifully thin and molded to the form of her body. In her wake Akane could see the rose garden visibly revive. Wilting flowers straightened, darkened petals grew vibrant.  
"Princess..." Akane breathed, almost without meaning to. She bowed her head. To her side, she could just see Mamoru staring at the vision before him,  
his eyes sparkling with... more life than Akane had been able to get out of him.  
"You should apologise, Akane," the vision asked, her voice clear and bright. It was the tone of voice a forgiving mother used on a naughty child.  
"I... I don't understand..." Akane stammered.  
"This, none of this, should have happened." The Moon Princess walked up to her. "I understand, Akane." She placed a gauntleted hand on Akane's shoulder.  
The metal was warm, soft. Akane found herself straightening, growing more cheerful just to be worthy of that touch. "You have been lost and alone, without guidance for many years. You have struggled against the darkness and as all things mortal must, you have fallen back so that you would not be consumed." The Princess leaned forward and whispered into her ears. "I forgive you, for all your sins. You may rest now"  
Akane felt as if her heart would burst. She wanted to cry. It was like all the pain, all the misery of the last seven years was flooding out of her.  
Every dead friend, every bloody battle, every murder and every failure... they were a sick knot, a tight ball of sickness in the centre of Akane's gut. It had grown, bit by bit, moment by moment so slowly that Akane didn't realise she had even been filled with so much pain until it was suddenly gone. The Moon Princess smiled at her, the golden crescent on her forehead flaring as the years of anger and struggle and hate left Akane. It left her standing there, awed, renewed,  
refreshed.  
Drained. Empty.  
Akane staggered back, suddenly clutching her forehead. She felt the familiar throb of the Star Seeds in her vest pocket, beating like a heart against her chest. The Moon Princess frowned, just slightly.  
"You still carry around a heavy weight, Akane," she said, smiling again.  
She offered her hand out, palm up. "I could lift that burden"  
Akane instinctively grabbed the pocket, the fabric straining. Her eyes widened. "No. No. It's my burden to bear"  
"Very well. But we shall talk of this again," the Princess promised.  
Then she stepped back and gestured for Akane to follow her. "I believe you wished to speak with me"  
"I... what?" Akane stumbled and followed along in the silver-clad vision's wake. Somehow, she felt twenty years younger around this girl. Like she was a toddler trying to keep up with her big sister.  
"You came to Ohtori, confronted my friends, destroyed Akio's machine,  
and started us on this path so that you could talk to me." Akane could only nod mutely. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk with you until now. My work keeps me very busy. You will, however, be glad to hear that I have pushed the zone of safety out another fifty kilometers. Three more nearby towns now come under my protection"  
"I see..." Akane looked around. They were starting into the city proper now. The buildings were still mostly ruined. The charred remains of the fire,  
the shattered bricks of the road; Akane forced herself to look at it all. At least they'd removed the bodies. "Do you know why we came here"  
"I've talked with Luna about it," the Princess answered calmly. A group of young men, working to remove a shattered car from the road, spotted them approaching. At first, they just stared slack-jawed. Then, nearly as one, they fell to their knees. Akane could hardly blame them. The Moon Princess had saved them from hell with a single stroke. The Princess managed to conceal a brief look of pity, then allowed the full force of her beatific smile to come down on them. She brushed each of their shoulders with her fingers, whispering a small blessing. The men stared at her, their eyes shimmering with tears, until Akane lost sight of them.  
"Don't think I wasn't aware of the troubles happening in the outside world, Akane"  
"Troubles! Is that what you call it"  
Akane turned sharply, the Princess following more sedately. The woman walking down the street towards them was clad in golden armour, and her blue eyes flashed as she stalked towards them. Her hair snapped behind her as she marched up to the pair. Rei was walking behind her, trying futily to pull her back by one arm. The armour-clad girl shook off the fire Senshi with a snapped,  
"No, now IS a good time, Rei"  
"Ah. Sailor Venus," the Princess said with a small nod of her head. "I was hoping I'd get a chance to talk to you during this lull in the crisis"  
"My name is Minako," the girl snapped.  
"May I call you Mina"  
That took Minako back. She stared at the petite blonde. "My name is Minako Aino," she repeated.  
"I see." The Princess bowed. "I am Princess Serenity, but my friends call me Usagi"  
"Princess," Minako said, bowing stiffly.  
Serenity sighed, a look of motherly disappointment crossing her features. "You obviously have something you need to say. Why not get it off your chest? Unless you wish to speak privately"  
"No," Minako snapped her hand down. She glanced at Akane and Rei.  
"Anything I have to say, they can hear"  
"Go ahead, then"  
"Where were you?" Minako growled.  
"I thought that was the problem." Serenity shook her head slowly. "I had more pressing matters. There is a great wound in the land of drea"  
"Don't give me that bullshit," Minako cut her off. "Artemis and Luna have already talked a great deal about that. I overheard." The golden champion stepped forward, until her armour almost touched that of the Princess. "You didn't find out about that until two years ago. Where were you until then,  
Serenity"  
"She was gathering her strength!" Rei broke in suddenly. "She needed to learn how to master her powers. Back then, we were just children. Stupid. Weak"  
Rei pulled Minako away from the Princess and forced her to look the other Senshi in the face. "In case you don't realise what we are, we are the Sailor Senshi.  
Our JOB is to protect the Princess. Our JOB is to defend her. It's not our place to doubt her"  
"I'm capable of fighting my own battles, Rei," Serenity said, her voice carrying the first trace of true authority that Akane had heard all day. Rei looked at her, and backed up a step. "I would repeat what Rei said, but she has most of it correct. I was marshalling my strength. The world would not be served by me dying in a fruitless battle"  
"Fruitless?" Minako stared at her. "What about the lives that would have been saved"  
"What about the lives that will be lost if we fail"  
For a long time the street was quiet. Akane looked back and forth between Minako and Serenity. She... wished she knew what to think. Her first reaction was that Minako was obviously wrong. How could she know? She hadn't been there. She hadn't been there to see Usagi gain her full power. She hadn't been brought back from death itself by this slip of a girl. She had no understanding of what Akane had felt, what she had touched out there beyond the edge of life. Akane had brought something back, something profound, something great.  
Something huge and awesome.  
But.  
"There's no point yelling at each other," Akane said finally, stepping between the two. "We can argue about what the past was until the sun sets, but that won't change anything. Whatever it was that happened then was then. We should deal with now"  
"Yes, of course." Serenity smiled at her and Akane felt a little like genuflecting herself in the presence of this saint. "You always were wise beyond your years, Akane. Let's us talk about what the future holds. Perhaps you can start with telling me about our old friend Chris..."

OoOoO

"What time is it anyway?" Ranma muttered, pulling his blanket a little tighter around his shoulders.  
"Six thirty-three a.m.," Pluto responded idly, sipping a cup of tea between her hands.  
"You sure?" Ranma asked, frowning up at the dark sky overhead. Pluto looked at Ranma for a long moment. Ranma blinked. Then chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Right. Eh-heh. I guess you would be"  
Ukyou leaned back against the rock they were using as shelter. A smile played over her lips as she watched Nabiki teasing Ranma for his blunder. Sailor Pluto allowed Nabiki to rib the boy a bit without much in the way of comment.  
But she had a sort of quiet way of saying things in a sincere tone; little things that, when you looked back at them a few seconds later, you realised were really rather humorous or sarcastic.  
This was... nice.  
The five of them had started this journey northward on a dour note.  
Nabiki, of course, was worried desperately about Ryouga. Ranma, for his part,  
was equally worried about Minako. Apparently she had gone missing a few weeks ago in America. Just up and left without telling anyone. Ukyou privately suspected it had something to do with the massive battle between zoanoids and 'insurgent forces' on the coast of Japan. The battle that had ended when a dome of silver light had sent every zoanoid fleeing.  
Pluto had been down because she had been leaving her friend behind. But Rose needed to stay in Bangkok. Without her there, the people of the country could not begin the slow process of healing. Ukyou herself had felt a sort of melancholy about leaving what was the closest she would ever come to a daughter behind.  
Oh... she was still biologically capable of bearing children, she suspected. But.  
Akira walked into camp just then. Ukyou had known she was coming long ago, but even so seeing her here, right in front of her, was comforting. The way that the first thing Akira's eyes rested on were Ukyou, the way the tension in the girl drained away a little bit now that she could see Ukyou herself, it made Ukyou feel... strange. Warm and comfortable.  
Whatever it was that was between her and Akira now, it was different than what she had felt for Ranma. Her love for Ranma had been... consuming,  
demanding. It had burned in her veins. But Akira seemed to demand less of her.  
Or her feelings for her did. It was confusing. It was weird. It kept Ukyou constantly off balance.  
Ukyou rather enjoyed it.  
"Did you find anything?" Pluto asked.  
"No," Akira replied curtly. Pluto didn't frown or otherwise react, she just took another sip of her tea and nodded, as if expecting nothing less.  
"Strange. Shouldn't we have run into some youma patrols by now?" Nabiki said, stirring their small fire with a stick. They had been forced to provide their own firewood for the last few days now. The tundra was irksomely clear of anything resembling useable firewood. Still, there were ways to overcome such limitations when one had supernatural powers to throw at the problem. "We're pretty close to the edge of Tethys' territory now. Tomorrow we should hit the glaciers." She frowned. "Then a long walk across the icecap"  
"It's just a little cold," Ukyou commented.  
"Easy for you to say," Nabiki groused. "Some of us don't have martial arts techniques to keep the cold at bay." She fingered her bulky jacket. "We have to rely on good old-fashioned goretex"  
"We should have run into somebody by now," Pluto abruptly brought them back on topic. "Usually by now we'd have gotten some swift transportation"  
"Something must be stopping them from coming this far south," Ranma said.  
A silence descended on the camp. Akira took this opportunity to sit down next to Ukyou. She had passed on her motorcycle leathers and gone with some fur-  
trimmed pants and a jacket the colour of deerskin. She looked over and started when she realised Ukyou was staring at her. A flush crept up her cheeks.  
"Would you stop that?" she asked, softly.  
"No." Ukyou smiled.  
"This isn't really the time..." Akira murmured, looking nervously around at everyone else. Nabiki was making a point of examining her nails. Pluto was busying herself with the teapot. Ranma was shuffling his feet and idly doodling on the wall of the ravine with his finger.  
"Okay." Ukyou shrugged. "But, you know, if we're going to be a couple,  
there has to be a time when it is okay for me to stare at you"  
"We can talk about this. There are things we have to talk about, but.  
just, not now... okay?" Akira murmured.  
Ukyou frowned and sighed. "Okay, Akira"  
"Thank you," the girl murmured again. Ukyou knew she would have to have a nice long talk with the girl about this relationship they had going. Ukyou supposed that a large part of Akira's shyness, her reluctance, had to do with being Japanese. Ukyou had seen this with a lot of the girls she knew, growing up. Always doing everything but actually confronting their emotions. She smirked a little and chuckled to herself. Not that she had any right to talk,  
considering how much she and Aaron had repressed their 'feminine side'. Still,  
Ukyou would have expected the girl to be more open about her feelings. Instead,  
she seemed... afraid.  
Ukyou knew it was stupid to try and delay it. Tomorrow, either one of them could be dead. They didn't live the kinds of lives where you could act like shy schoolgirls, always inching around your actual feelings and blushing and worrying about the smallest little bits of intimacy. Plus, Ukyou knew that Akira was in special danger.  
Because she was close to Ukyou. She was one of those people Ukyou cared about. Ukyou looked up, into the night sky. It was always night, this far north.  
The stars were a brilliant sea. Was that were it was? Beyond the stars? In the dark between?  
"Who are you..." she whispered to the night.  
"Excuse me?" Nabiki asked.  
"Nothing..." Ukyou looked at her. "Just... contemplating what I have to do"  
Nabiki looked at her. She slumped slightly. "Ukyou, you know why we haven't encountered any patrols, right?" Ukyou didn't answer. "She killed them,  
Ukyou. She kills everything in her path"  
"I'm not here to fight Hotaru," Ukyou said, her voice strained. They had gone over this before.  
"She's going to want to fight you," Nabiki insisted. "You know, the only thing keeping her from killing the whole world is the fact that YOU have the Silence Glaive. Without it, she can't channel the Silence completely. She can only make little deaths. But if she pulls that thing away from you, she'll wipe out the entire planet"  
"You're probably right," Ukyou replied, helping herself to some tea.  
"You were willing to kill your child to stop Bison," Nabiki pointed out coldly.  
"I was." Ukyou agreed. "But this isn't the same. Hotaru... I know this isn't her. I KNOW it. I... I spent time with her, Nabiki. I watched her laugh and cry. I watched her mourn and celebrate. And, in the end, I abandoned her.  
Hotaru isn't a monster like Bison. She's a hurt child"  
"Seven years ago, maybe," Nabiki snapped. "But now? Do you have any idea how many people she's killed"  
"Lotus Infinite killed a lot of people, too," Ukyou pointed out. Akira flinched. Ukyou didn't react, but she did note the reaction with interest.  
Something else they would have to talk about. Unfortunately, Akira had avoided any chance of the two of them talking together alone since the night of the party.  
"That isn't the same," Nabiki retorted.  
"It's exactly the same," Ukyou insisted. "We both became the pawns of monsters. Akira and you saved me. I will save her"  
"Pawns?" Nabiki frowned. "So you still think there is somebody else out there"  
"I know it, Nabiki," Ukyou insisted. "Me and Chris, we're part of.  
something. A plan. Our enemy hasn't shown itself. We don't even know its name.  
But it's using Hotaru. It's using her because of what she means to me. It WANTS this battle. Well, I'm through running away from it, and I'm finished playing its game. I will find a way to save Hotaru, and defeat it"  
"How?" Nabiki asked bluntly.  
"Whatever it takes," Ukyou said calmly.  
"You sound just like Chris," Nabiki snorted.  
"Maybe he and I aren't so different after all." Ukyou shrugged.  
"Would you two stop it?" Akira asked gently. "Listen, we can't know what we'll do until we do it. So why waste time arguing"  
"Keeps the heart pumping and the blood flowing," Ukyou replied with a little smile.  
Ranma chuckled. "On that note, who wants to get in a little sparring match before we start out again for the day?"

OoOoO

The cold was bitter, this far north. They say it was the kind that sunk into your bones, but they lied. By the time you got this far north, you could no longer feel your bones. The wind howled across the icy plains, driving straight through the thickest coat like it was morning mist, ripping the heat out of your body and sending it spiralling away into the icy wastes.  
An empty featureless plain, endlessly dark, stretching in all directions.  
They had made their way up the glaciers without much trouble. Between the three martial artists and Pluto's own powers, getting up the sheer ice walls of the frozen north was child's play. They had made it all the way up here,  
without once encountering a single youma. Not so much as a scout, seen at a distance. Between Nabiki, Ukyou, and Pluto, they should have been well aware if anything came anywhere close to them. But there was nothing.  
"That's it," Pluto said, pulling her coat a little tighter around her.  
She had to shout to be heard over the roar of the wind. Everyone squinted and shielded their eyes, staring at the hazy object in the distance. It looked like a mound growing out of the ice, a black thing the shape of a coffin lying on the ice shelf. And it was still several dozen kilometers away. The thing had to be gigantic.  
"That mountain?" Ukyou asked, frowning. She was wearing nothing heavier than her good old-fashioned trenchcoat. Though, in a concession to the weather,  
she had switched from a skintight outfit to something more masculine and concealing. She had also taken to wrapping cords around her ankles, to prevent the snow from slipping into her boots. Nabiki wouldn't have noticed it, except that Sailor Pluto had spent a long time staring at Ukyou's feet while she was doing that.  
"Yes. That mountain is the surface portion of Tethys' kingdom," Pluto explained.  
"But it runs deeper than that?" Ukyou crossed her arms. She was the only one here who didn't seem to mind the cold. Ranma, surprisingly, was having the most trouble with it. For a guy who had just fought and defeated Bison in a spectacular aerial battle, he was surprisingly clumsy when it came to walking across ice.  
"Much deeper." Pluto looked at Akira for a moment, and the brunette looked away pointedly. "Almost a mile deep." She looked down. "We're probably already over the outskirts of the city"  
"City?" Ranma said, his teeth chattering slightly. "Great, an entire city full of people we have to fight"  
"No, Ranma, most of the people who live in the city are..." Nabiki trailed off. Her mouth fell open, the cold air stealing the moisture from her throat in seconds. She brought her hand up to her chest, trying to calm the sudden beating of her heart.  
He was here. Beneath. Within the city.  
"Nabiki?" Ukyou looked concerned. "Are you okay"  
"I..." Nabiki looked at Ukyou, then away. The woman had a way of knowing things, so best not to give her more hints than necessary. "I'm okay. This damn cold is just getting to me, is all"  
"The air is very comfortable inside," Pluto informed her. "We'd best start walking. It's still several hours away at our current pace"  
Nabiki opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked around at everyone.  
They were staring at her. Each looked concerned, in their own way. Even Sailor Pluto was frowning slightly.  
"I'll be fine..." Nabiki croaked. "I just... this city. It's full of so much darkness"  
"You feel it too?" Ukyou murmured.  
"Yes. All the monsters that live here. Their minds are... inhuman.  
It's very uncomfortable." She took a deep breath. "I think I'm going to need some time to get used to it. I'm still recovering from my fight with Bison. I don't want to rush into anything"  
Ukyou frowned. "I don't think it's a good idea to wait. Aside from the cold"  
"I'm not suggesting you wait," Nabiki snapped. "You should go on ahead"  
Ukyou raised an eyebrow, gazing at Nabiki levelly. "Tethys is waiting for you up ahead. If you don't come to her, I'm certain she'll come to you"  
"So she already knows we're here..." Akira sighed.  
"Of course she does. She knew the moment we started across the ice shelf. Probably before." Nabiki snorted. "You know how far her reach extends,  
Akira. Not to mention how..." Nabiki trailed off when Akira stared at her darkly. She didn't have to read minds to know what that look promised if she didn't stop. Nabiki closed her mouth and looked at Ukyou again. "Besides, we both know it's you she wants to talk to. Ranma and I are just not as important to her"  
"Hey," Ranma grumbled.  
"No offence, Ranma," Nabiki smirked.  
"Hmmm..." Pluto tapped her toe against the ice. Her long green hair snapped and cracked in the wind behind her. "Perhaps Nabiki is right. Tethys did send Rose and me back into the world to invite you to meet her. I don't believe you have anything to fear from her"  
"You WOULD say that," Akira snapped. "Tethys is a monster. She has no humanity left in her at all." She looked at Ukyou imploringly. "We should avoid her"  
Pluto, who looked slightly offended at Akira's rebuke, turned to face the other woman. "I think you're letting your personal feelings taint your reactions, Akira"  
"I don't have any feelings for Tethys," Akira hissed.  
Ukyou was looking at Akira strangely, but she stepped between the two of them quickly. "Cut it out, you two. You've been doing nothing but snipe at Pluto since Southtown, Akira. And you have tried to kill me repeatedly, Pluto. So neither of you are exactly winning me over by arguing like this"  
Akira looked chagrined, bowing her head and looking away when Ukyou chastised her. Pluto, for her part, merely let her ubiquitous frown emerge again and resumed tapping her foot. Ranma was sitting nearby, scrawling something on the ice with his foot.  
Ukyou walked closer to Akira and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This city, this is where Hotaru is coming, Akira. I HAVE to come here. And I'm not going to do it like a thief in the night. For all I know, the reason Hotaru is coming here is to kill Tethys"  
"And you want to warn her, is that it?" Akira snapped suddenly, pulling away from Ukyou and knocking her hand off with a swipe of her arm. "You don't know Tethys, Ukyou. Not like I do"  
"How do you know her?" Ukyou asked softly, so low that Nabiki cold barely make it out over the roaring wind.  
Akira blinked, then looked down and clenched her fists. "I"  
"That isn't important," Pluto said suddenly, stepping between Ukyou and Akira. "Tethys has made many enemies, done many immoral things over the years.  
Akira has every reason to mistrust her, and me for that matter"  
Ukyou seemed taken aback by Pluto's sudden defence of Akira, as did Akira herself. Finally Ukyou sighed and nodded. "Okay. We'll deal with that later. For now, we need to go introduce ourselves." Ukyou looked over her shoulder at Nabiki. "I'd really like you along for this one, Nabiki"  
"Don't quite trust Tethys... or Pluto?" Nabiki asked wryly.  
Ukyou smiled back. "Believe it or not, Nabiki, just having you nearby makes me feel better. Your refreshingly honest hatred of me gives me a sense of perspective"  
Nabiki couldn't help but chuckle. "No. I don't think that Tethys wants to speak to me, or Ranma. Why don't the three of you go on ahead?" Nabiki looked at Akira directly. "I'm certain there is a lot you have to talk about without us around"  
"Huh? Since when am I not going?" Ranma asked.  
"Since you're not about to leave me defenceless and alone in the middle of an arctic wasteland"  
"No offence, Nabiki, but you're about as defenceless as a polar bear"  
"Ranma, do you ever open your mouth except to put your foot in it"  
Ranma blinked. She grabbed him by the wrist and began to drag him away from the others. "I'm surprised Minako never taught you the rules, Ranma"  
"Rules"  
"For dealing with women," Nabiki said. "Rule one is, don't compare a woman to a giant, fat, hairy animal"  
Nabiki looked over her shoulder. Ukyou had paused for a moment, then began to walk towards the mountain in the distance. Nabiki kept dragging along Ranma, until she was certain they were out of even Ukyou's phenomenal earshot.  
She released him, making him stumble a bit as he tried to catch his balance on the ice.  
"Okay. Now we need to find another way into the city," Nabiki informed him.  
Ranma blinked. "But you said"  
"I lied," Nabiki told him.  
"Lied"  
"Listen, Ranma. We're too late"  
"Too late"  
"Yes. Hotaru is already here. She's in the city below"  
"Shit! We have to tell Ucchan"  
"No. We do NOT." Nabiki slid up on her toes to face Ranma eye to eye.  
"Ranma, you've been around for the last seven years. You KNOW what Hotaru has become"  
Ranma fidgeted. "Yes"  
"How many people have died because of her?" Nabiki drilled into him.  
"Not just the ones she's killed personally, but all those that have been killed in her name. That sycophantic cult of oblivion. You've fought them more than once, haven't you"  
"And I always won..." Ranma muttered.  
"That's right. But Ukyou isn't ready to face this. She hasn't had seven years to get used to the idea, like you and I have. Hotaru may look like a little girl, but she's a killer. She has to be stopped"  
"And you want us to do it?" Ranma sounded doubtful.  
"We have to, Ranma," Nabiki hissed. The she smiled. "Besides, you're Ranma Saotome. The best there is. Who defeated Bison? Ukyou"  
"No..." Ranma was preening just a little bit. Nabiki knew now was the time to go in for the kill. His pride was always his weak point. With his mind distracted, he would never even see the knockout blow coming.  
"And don't you have to make up for what you LET happen to her, Ranma"  
Ranma's mouth snapped shut and he stared at her. It was a dark, angry stare. "That isn't fair, Nabiki"  
"I'm not being fair"  
He ground his teeth and nodded. "Fine. But we're only going to see what's happening. Not even I'm stupid enough to take on the Death Messiah by myself..."

OoOoO

"So... how do we get inside"  
Pluto lifted her hand from the black pyramid. It was huge, larger by far than the pyramid of Giza, more grand still than anything the Aztecs had built.  
It was nearly large enough to be called a mountain. The cold wind snapped and cracked around it, breaking on its sharp corners and buffeting in all directions. Snow and ice, driven by the wind, whipped around them.  
Not for the first time, Pluto wished her uniform came with a pair of pants.  
"Technically there is only one entrance," Pluto said, turning to face Ukyou. "Tethys is paranoid. She keeps its exact location secret. There are rituals that can attract its attention, allowing one passage into the city itself. Or Tethys can allow you to enter, if you don't know those"  
"So, you work for her, right?" Ukyou leaned against the pyramid, not seeming to notice the numbing cold radiating from it. "You know the way in,  
right"  
"I used to," Pluto said with a shrug. "But... I just tried summoning the portal, and got no response"  
"Changed the locks on you," Akira muttered.  
"Akira... I know you don't trust me. After what happened you have every reason not to, but..." Pluto trailed off. She could understand why Akira was so angry at Tethys. After what had happened between the two of them, Pluto was hard-pressed not to call the youma queen the kind of monster Akira claimed she was. What Pluto didn't understand was why the girl hated Pluto herself so much.  
She had protested against the plan from the beginning. She had tried to do something, anything to save the refugees.  
Ukyou chuckled, either missing or no longer paying attention to the words being exchanged between her companions. "I bet I know what she wants"  
Ukyou pushed off the pyramid and turned around. She extended her arms, her coat snapping behind her. "Fine, Tethys. You want me to ask, I'll ask. Please let me in"  
The reaction was almost instantaneous. The black pyramid began to shimmer, a great sound like the hiss of steam escaping from a million kettles roaring forth. A rainbow of lights formed in the reflective surface before them,  
and then a second later it was gone. Instead there was a tunnel leading off into darkness. The sound died instantly. Ukyou lowered her arms and shook her head.  
"Man, we are all such drama queens..." she muttered before starting into the tunnel. Akira hesitated a moment, waiting at the threshold. Then she frowned deeply and crossed over forcefully. Pluto came last, not bothering to look back to see the portal close behind them.  
The walk took only a few minutes. It was just long enough that even someone of Ranma's speed would have trouble sprinting it before someone at the other end could react. At the end they stepped out into light again, walking forward onto a platform of blue-black ice, ringed on the other three sides by short safety rails.  
And out below them, stretching for kilometers in all directions, was the City of Black Ice. They were at the apex, their heads barely meters beneath the ceiling of the cavern in which the city stood. The cavern itself was a pyramid,  
stretching down and down and out, three great walls rising around the city until they reached this point. The walls were traced with a galaxy of lights,  
flickering pinpricks of light, in every colour of the rainbow, shimmering and shifting like the aurora borealis. It kept the city in a state of perpetual twilight, giving it an eerie quality of always standing on the cusp of.  
something.  
The 'city' itself could hardly be called as much. It was really a series of interconnecting structures, fluid and organic with shapes that looked eroded and worn away rather than chiselled or carved. The entire thing resembled nothing so much as a brobdingnagian coral reef, connected by tubes and whirling nautilus shell patterns with great gaping caverns and rifts. Directly beneath them was the Great Rift. Once, it had been the heart of the Dark Kingdom, the dark abyss into which Queen Serenity had cast the rebels thousands and thousands of years ago. Now it was a three-hundred-meter-across gap in the city, a pit of darkness full of bubbling lights whose colour had never been described in any human language. Steam, thick and slow, rose from that abyss. Huge ducts and valves lined the edge of the pit down into the heart of the city, siphoning away the steam to provide heat in the distant edges.  
Here and there, Pluto could see tiny shapes moving along the tops and sides of the massive interconnected structure. Humans, looking from this height to be barely larger than ants. The refugees that Tethys had collected over the years. Those who had pledged themselves to her service.  
"There are so many of them..." Ukyou mused, leaning over the edge, not caring a bit about the many-story drop beneath her.  
"Tethys takes the ones who have nowhere else to go," Pluto informed her.  
"Those driven from their homes by Millennium or Chronos. And not just from this world, either. The struggle between light and darkness extends beyond just this planet. Tethys has found people from all across the galaxy and given them refuge"  
"Like hell," Akira snapped. "They're puppets. Things for Tethys to use and discard with as much care as..." She floundered, trying to think up a suitable reply.  
"Hotaru is down there," Ukyou replied softly.  
"She is?" Pluto blinked. "How? Nobody should have been able to get in without"  
"My permission"  
"I was wondering when you'd make an entrance," Ukyou said with a smirk.  
She rose up and turned to face the Queen of the Dark Kingdom.  
Tethys was wearing one of her more risqué outfits. It was the colour of the ocean at midnight, with a faint silvery sheen as if moonlight rippled across her body. It was a one-piece dress that ran from neck to ankle but which clung so tightly to her torso there was no need for a neckline. The dress was slit up one side nearly to her hips, and her long legs were clad only in a pair of black pumps. The dress was sleeveless, but she wore opera gloves of the same colour that came most of the way to her shoulder. Her only jewelry was the tiara with its golden crescent-and-lightning-bolt symbol that she always carried on her somewhere. Her long blue-black hair hung over one shoulder and she smiled at Ukyou, standing casually in the centre of the platform.  
"It's been a long time, Ukyou," Tethys said, her voice unreadable.  
"I wish I could say the same," Ukyou replied. She looked over at Akira.  
The other woman was looking down, her cheeks flushed and her fist curled into fists. Her body was literally vibrating with repressed emotion. Pluto was surprised that Akira hadn't already attacked her.  
"Ah, yes. Your amnesia," Tethys said with a chuckle. "Trust me, you aren't missing much. The last seven years have been boring without you around"  
Ukyou opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. She took a deep breath.  
"That's enough. I don't have time to exchange snappy banter with you, Tethys"  
Ukyou quirked her head to the side. "Or is it Hayato? Huh. Now how did you pull that off"  
Akira snapped her eyes up, looking at Ukyou dumbly. Pluto too, stared at her. What was Ukyou talking about? From the look on Tethys' face, she had said something meaningful.  
"Just a trick we picked up," Tethys informed her blithely.  
"I see..." Ukyou shook her head. "Let's get everything out in the open,  
then. You know why I'm here, right"  
"You're after the girl," Tethys said with a nod.  
"Good. Now. What I want to know is why I'm here." Tethys raised an eyebrow at Ukyou's statement, and the girl explained, "Why are we talking,  
Tethys? Is this a trap? Is this still about what happened between us seven years ago? Or is it something else? Am I supposed to believe that you've become one of the angels while I was"  
"Was killing women and children as Bison's toy?" Tethys said with a sneer. "No, Ukyou. I don't care what you believe about me." Tethys walked towards the edge of the platform, and Ukyou stepped aside to give her room.  
"Frankly, your opinion of me doesn't matter one whit." She reached down and placed a hand on the rail. There was a sound like crystal cracking, and suddenly the ground underneath Pluto lurched. She realised that the platform was now drifting, separated from the wall and buoyed by Tethys will. "But if we're going to be frank, then yes you are here for a reason. You're going to give me something I very much want, Ukyou"  
"Why?" Ukyou asked defiantly.  
"Because if you don't, Hotaru is doomed."

OoOoO

It was strange, the kinds of things you think about when you were waiting to die. Cologne had once read that there were five or six stages people went through when they were going to die. She couldn't remember what they were,  
but sitting there in her cell, she decided they were all bullshit. She was pretty certain the first one was denial, and she hadn't gone through that. She had known that the moment she took Frederick back to Chronos that she was not going to walk out of their clutches again.  
The only question, she supposed, was if they would give her the honour of a clean death, or if they would violate her body and soul and turn her into one of their living weapons. Either way she would be dead.  
Her eyes were closed as she meditated, but she knew the dimensions of her cage. It had metal walls, metal bars. She knew about these cages. The walls were over a meter thick and made out of solid steel. The bars were made of one of those new 'super-alloys' and were much too close together for anything larger than a kitten to squeeze between. It was a cell designed to hold people much stronger and more potent than Cologne. For good measure, there were two hyper-  
zoanoids stationed outside.  
Cologne hadn't so much as gotten off the bench in the cell for anything except retrieving the food they gave her and personal needs. If she had wanted to escape, she would not have come here. She needed to stay, because if she fled there was a chance they would not do anything for Frederick.  
He had been breathing. His body had been so cold, but he had been breathing. He was so still. His eyes had stared upward at nothing until Cologne had closed them. It was like his soul had been ripped out with his zoacrystal.  
But he was alive. So Cologne had brought him to the one person that might be able to save him. And she would sit in this cell and accept whatever punishment they required of her if it meant he would live.  
"...don't think she's listening"  
"Try again, then"  
Cologne frowned. Words were sinking through her deep meditation. But she shouldn't be hearing them. Because if she was hearing them, people had not listened to her.  
"Hey, old hag"  
"Nope. Still nothing"  
"I saw her face twitch"  
"No you didn't, that was just her normal face twitch"  
"Oh"  
Certainly they wouldn't be here, Cologne reasoned. She must be hallucinating. Over a week in this cell and she was beginning to lose focus,  
lose touch. She was experiencing wishful thinking. If she didn't open her eyes and.  
"OLD HAG! WAKE UP! THIS IS NO TIME TO BE TAKING YOUR OLD PERSON NAPS"  
"Oh! That time her face definitely twitched"  
"Hmm. I must need to be louder. VesVes, could you get me a megaphone"  
"What the hell are you doing here!?" Cologne shouted, leaping to her feet and stalking over to the bars. The Quartet smiled at her. Cologne's eyes immediately moved to PallaPalla. She was dressed the same as always, but was looking much better than she had the last time Cologne had seen her. The colour had returned to her cheeks and the life to her eyes. In fact, she looked more.  
alive and happy than Cologne remembered her ever having been.  
"We're busting you out, obviously," VesVes said, crossing her arms and smiling.  
"Are you insane?" Cologne snarled. "Wait, don't answer that." She held up a hand. "What part of 'never go back to any Chronos facility' did you not understand? I know for a fact that I told you it one hundred times. I counted. I also explained it one hundred times. I made certain even PallaPalla knew what I meant"  
"Well..." CereCere shrugged. "We waited a few days for our injuries to heal. You know, just hiding out"  
"We hardly even had any fun!" JunJun felt the need to point out.  
"And certainly didn't almost blow up Iceland," VesVes said.  
"How can a place called Iceland have so many volcanoes anyway?" CereCere complained.  
"Girls"  
"But they had the best hot springs!" PallaPalla noted happily.  
"Oh yes. There was this one place, the water was so hot you weren't even allowed to be in it for over five minutes," JunJun added.  
"All we wanted to do was stay in longer. It isn't our fault that by diverting some of the heat to"  
"GIRLS"  
The Quartet came to a stop and stared at her.  
"Can we get back to why you're here"  
"Oh, right. We're here to rescue you"  
"I told you not to come for me"  
"But..." PallaPalla looked at her, her eyes seeming to grow larger. They quivered and shimmered with unshed tears. "We missed you"  
"Meaning you had nowhere else to go," Cologne pinched her nose and sighed.  
"Well, that too..." CereCere said. "But we really did miss you"  
"Never mind. You have to leave, now." Cologne glanced at the hyper-zoanoids that had been guarding her. There were garlands of flowers around their necks, and they looked very peaceful slumped against the wall together.  
Cologne had to imagine the one without the spikes would regret the situation later, however.  
"Sure." VesVes held up her orb and spiralled her hands around it. It floated forward, growing as it did. When it hit the bars it was the size of a door, and it vanished in a flash of red light, along with an equal amount of bars. "Let's go, old hag. We'll just go pick up Mr. Purgstall and"  
"I can't leave," Cologne told them. "You have to go"  
"But"  
"I tried to explain this to you before. But you four are in danger and..." Cologne trailed off. She snapped her head up, her eyes widening. "Leave!  
Now"  
"But"  
It was already too late. The door opened, and in walked the one man Cologne wanted to see least of all. His wrinkled face was sporting a rictus smile that didn't reach his inhuman eyes. He was wearing a grey suit, with a black object that Cologne couldn't seem to focus on attached to his hip. The Quartet looked at him. Then they did something that made Cologne blink.  
"Oh, hey! It's Mr. Gyro!" PallaPalla called, waving.  
"Hey, are you being mysteriously nice or blatantly evil today?" JunJun asked, also smiling.  
That seemed to slow Gyro down. His face twitched, but he smiled. "DEAR girls..." he said in his husky baritone. "I am your friend. I thought I already proved that to you"  
"What do you want, Reichmann?" Cologne asked, tensing herself. He wasn't transformed. Maybe if she struck fast enough she could give the girls time to escape. He had contemptuously swatted her the last time, but he had been in battle form and she had been carrying around eighty extra years.  
"Cologne, I'm shocked at your hostile... reception," Gyro's lips tightened, a hideous parody of a smile. "Who do you think has been arguing for leniency in your case? Who has been convincing the council not to just kill you and your... traitorous patron out of hand"  
"Hey, that's uncharacteristically nice of you!" PallaPalla said approvingly. Once again, Gyro twitched, but he continued.  
"I have been waiting for your... girls to show up." He gave a dramatic sigh. "Because I want to help you and Purgstall, but I can not"  
"What do you mean?" Cologne asked.  
"Purgstall is dying. Slowly but surely, despite our best efforts.  
Without his zoacrystal, his injuries will kill him." Gyro tapped the black object at his hip. For a moment, Cologne thought she could see... a sword? No,  
it was much too small... or was it? She was having trouble focusing her eyes again. "Arkanphel can not restore him. Not so long as his zoacrystal is damaged.  
Whatever... cracked the crystal did a very... irreversible job"  
Cologne felt a shudder run up her spine. She saw the Quartet similarly blanch. The memory of that girl made her skin crawl.  
"The difficulty is not the damage, but what was left behind in the crystal..."

OoOoO

"The question you have to ask yourself is, how much are you willing to do to save the life of one girl"  
The platform floated over the city, slowly. The people below paused to look up. Some pointed and shouted, others merely lowered the brim of their hats and moved along. Ukyou gripped the rail of the platform as she looked down among them. Not everyone down there was human.  
A few were obvious about it. They looked like any other youma. Bright colours, flamboyant outfits, and exclusively female. But others were not so blatant. There were seemingly regular people down there that Ukyou could feel the demon inside of. She and Aaron could sense the dark energy wrapped in and around their souls. When Hayato and Tethys had first formed their strange union,  
Aaron's senses had not been nearly so good as they were now. But he believed that they must resemble very closely what the two of them had once been.  
How could they stand it? Two voices in one body; it was the nightmare Aaron and Ukyou had lived for... one year? Seven? Except there were differences,  
of course. From the way Pluto and Akira had described it, the unity that those in the crowd with human and youma souls had was... voluntary. Ukyou could not even begin to comprehend the mindset that would lead one to do something like that.  
Much less what Tethys and Hayato had apparently done. Their presence,  
their soul... it was neither human nor demon. It wasn't blended together, or patched into one body. It was a strange unity. There was no way to separate out what she had once been. Whatever unity those two had achieved, it was so profound that there was no going back.  
Was that what would happen to them, some day?  
Ukyou found that the thought did not frighten her as much as it once did.  
"Ukyou?" Tethys frowned.  
"I heard you, Tethys," Ukyou replied. "The question just didn't merit a response"  
The platform dipped down below the top of the city. They slid into one of the giant gaping caverns, the huge organic cave that existed between the interconnecting 'buildings' of the City of Black Ice.  
"Don't be flippant with me, Ukyou," Tethys snapped. "I'm talking about something serious"  
"The question is meaningless, Tethys," Ukyou insisted. "I don't know what I would be willing to risk to save Hotaru. I love her. I love her as much as I did seven years ago. It tears me up inside, to think of her suffering. I want to say I would do anything to stop that. But I can't. Because I don't have that choice now, Tethys. I can't know which way I'll decide until the moment I make that choice"  
Ukyou noticed Akira look away at that. Of course, Ukyou would have had to be blind not to see the tension between Tethys and Akira since she had gotten here. There was a sense of... something shared, something intimate between them.  
The hatred that radiated from Akira was so crisp and clean, it focused her chi so sharply that Aaron couldn't help but feel it. It raised a frightening,  
protective... jealous feeling inside of them.  
Tethys, for her part, looked mildly annoyed with Ukyou's answer, so Ukyou continued, "Why don't you cut the sales pitch and give it to me straight.  
What do you mean that Hotaru is doomed"  
Tethys paused. "Very well." She looked up at Ukyou. "There is a fight going on here, Ukyou. A fight that is taking place on a whole different level than the ones even you are aware of. There are forces in this universe, primal forces older than mankind. They would tear the universe apart. Chaos. Oblivion.  
Other things for which we don't even have names"  
"Go on"  
"We are the pawns of these forces, Ukyou." Tethys gestured off to the side and Ukyou turned to see a group of youma walking by. They were laughing and joking, until suddenly they ran into a group of young human men. Ukyou tensed as the two groups paused in the middle of the skyway they were crossing. "Do you know how youma are made, Ukyou?" Ukyou shook her head.  
"You take a human being, and you rip out a portion of their soul. It could be their dreams, their hearts... it doesn't matter. You mutilate their very spirit, and you pour magic into the hole inside them. That is what it takes to create a youma, to create one of my kind"  
"Then those"  
"Yes. They were once human. A long time ago, when we first invaded the Moon Kingdom, we were human beings. An army. Then, when we were banished here by Serenity, Metallia... remade us. She made us demons, to better serve her needs"  
As Ukyou watched, one of the humans made a comment, which made the other humans laugh. Then the youma joined in. Soon, they were all laughing, and they went their separate ways,  
"Pawns. Made to fight. Made to die." Tethys' voice filled with bitterness.  
"By Chaos," Ukyou replied, drawing on Aaron's memory. "Metallia was a child of Chaos, wasn't she"  
Tethys smiled thinly. "Yes. I'm not surprised. You always did know more than was healthy for you." She gestured. "Chaos created us. Not directly, but it was the will of that black beast that set us in motion. Our only purpose was to feed its sick hunger. Hunger for conflict. Hunger for struggle and hatred"  
Tethys clenched her hand into a fist. "But if we ever won, it would end the war. So we were built flawed. Sick and damaged, in the very soul. We lacked that human spirit which allows us to... to struggle on, like humans do. So when human champions rose against us, we always lost.  
"I'm going to change that. I'm going to end the will of Chaos." She looked around, her voice growing more satisfied. "This is my prototype. Humans and youma, living together. Working towards peace, together. Merging together.  
Becoming more than what they were. This is my defiance against Chaos"  
"This is nice, but what does it have to do with me or Hotaru?" Ukyou asked.  
"Because Hotaru is the same as me, a puppet." Tethys looked around. "She is as much damaged as I was. Her master is Oblivion, but it is no less dangerous than Chaos. Perhaps even more so.  
"I could destroy her, Ukyou." Ukyou tensed, her fingers curling as if to grip a weapon. "Oh, don't overreact. I've spared her life thus far. I withdrew my sentinels from her path. I allowed her to 'sneak' into my city. I know exactly where she is at all times, and I know exactly what she is looking for.  
Her powers do not concern me. She needs to touch me to inflict her Silence on me, and other than that she is just a vampire. A being that draws its power from blood." Tethys gestured and a globe of water condensed in the air in front of her. "I am not too worried about one whose power is based on a liquid"  
"No, I spared her because I sympathise. I want to save her, just like you, Ukyou"  
"I can't stand this anymore!" Akira shouted, stepping between the two of them. "Don't believe any of her lies, Ukyou"  
"Akira, Akira..." Tethys shook her head. "I think you're letting our past interfere with your feelings towards me"  
"Feelings? FEELINGS!" Akira stepped up to her. "What would you know about feelings"  
Tethys leaned forward, placing her face just in front of Akira's.  
"Everything you taught me, Akira"  
"Akira...?" Ukyou stepped towards the taller woman. She looked at Pluto,  
but the green-haired woman refused to meet Ukyou's gaze.  
"Oh, didn't she TELL you, Ukyou?" Tethys purred, looking up past the brunette. "About the time we shared together"  
"Shut up..." Akira whispered, too low for anyone but Ukyou to hear.  
"I suppose it's easier for your relationship if she doesn't bring up the messy truth, isn't it?" Tethys mused. "Better to believe she is the faithful one. The one who never faltered, not even for a minute. The one who never gave up on you. It's so easy to believe that. So SIMPLE"  
"Shut up," Akira said, her body shaking.  
"But seven years is such a long time, isn't it?" Tethys stroked a hand along her cheek. "And she is only human. She has needs. And even she can't maintain the faith forever. It was so simple... just an offered hand, in a moment of weakness... you'd be surprised at how GRATEFUL"  
"SHUT UP!" Akira screamed, and suddenly Tethys was slumped against one of the rails, her head twisted to the side. Akira was standing, her body still curled in the follow-through of her punch. Her breathing was ragged, her eyes wide and shaking. Ukyou knew she should say something, but she was... shocked?  
Yes. She was probably in shock, she realised dimly.  
"Did that make you feel better, Akira?" Tethys asked, standing up. The bruise on her face faded, vanishing without a trace by the time she reached her full height. "Punching me won't change what you did"  
Ukyou looked at Pluto again, and this time the woman did meet her gaze.  
It was sad... pitying. It was true? Akira and Tethys.  
But.  
But.  
"Makes you think about what else Akira hasn't told you? Like how she erased your memory of the last seven years"  
"Erased..." Ukyou blinked.  
"How do you..." Akira gasped, then looked at Ukyou, her expression stricken.  
"No, Ukyou. I may be a monster, but if I am, so is she," Tethys stood up. "The difference between me and Akira is that I realise that I have to be a monster. That I will make a better world, a world with no place for monsters like myself"  
"Akira... is this..." Ukyou tried to find something to say.  
"I know you rely on her, on her faith, Ukyou. But you're relying on a lie." Tethys snorted. "The truth is that the world is harsh and cruel. Even Akira knows this. She was once willing to make the sacrifices necessary to save the world, to put an end to Chaos. She was my greatest ally. My most trusted lieutenant.  
"She once even killed a thousand people for me"  
Akira gave a small cry and stumbled away as if struck. Tethys merely smiled. "So, Ukyou. Who do you trust? I've never lied to you."

OoOoO

"I can't believe her!" Rei shouted, smashing her fist into the wooden wall. It made a satisfying cracking sound that echoed around the small room, but now her hand hurt. She began to pace, trying to hide her hand behind her as she shook it to chase away the shooting pains.  
"Can't believe who?" Akane asked. She was sitting on the floor, holding the two halves of her sword, frowning at the fracture that had neatly bisected it. She was still wearing that black bodystocking under her otherwise more normal skirt and blouse combo.  
"You know who I mean," Rei growled out. "Sailor Venus"  
"I think she prefers to be called Minako," Akane replied, holding up the blade to her eye and sighting along it. She sighed. "It's hopeless"  
"Damn right she's hopeless!" Rei spun to face her. "She's given up everything that the Sailor Senshi stand for"  
"I meant repairing my sword, actually." Akane placed the shattered weapon beside her. "A dear friend of mine gave me this sword"  
"Akane"  
"You met her, I think." Akane cut Rei off. "She was a pigheaded,  
arrogant girl. One who almost never had a kind word for anyone. Frankly, I think if we hadn't met how we did, we never would have been friends"  
"What does this have to do with anything?" Rei said, forcing her voice to be civil.  
"We were brought together by Sailor Moon." Akane let that sink in for a moment. "And then she died, fighting for something she believed in. At first,  
she fought because of stubborn pride, but I like to believe that at the end, she fought because she realised that some things are worth fighting for. That the risk, that the cost... whatever that may be. That it's worth it somehow"  
"I..." Rei tried to think of something to say, but couldn't.  
"However she went about it in a stupid fashion," Akane admitted ruefully. "She gave up her life... and in the end I have to wonder if what she did made any difference at all." Akane looked up at her. "But SHE believed it did. I don't know why she chose to give up her life that day, fighting a battle she couldn't hope to win. I'll never know. And there are days I curse her for it, and days I thank her for giving me courage"  
Rei rubbed her forehead and sat down. "So what are you saying, Akane"  
"I don't know..." Akane admitted. "I was just telling you a bit about this sword." She held up the hilt and the section of blade still attached to it.  
Rei felt her eyebrow twitch. "So, do you agree with Minako or not"  
"I don't know her, Rei." Akane held up her sheath and she experimentally slid the half-blade into it. She shook it a few times and noted it stayed.  
Apparently that was good enough for her, so she put it down. "I don't know what kind of life she's had." She looked up at the other girl, her eyes narrow. "But don't think she doesn't have reasons for what she believes in. I've heard about her, Rei. She was there in England, seven years ago when Millennium killed almost everyone. She's been fighting the good fight for the last seven years"  
Akane smiled. "If you think she's annoying, pray you never meet her boyfriend"  
"Boyfriend"  
"A more annoying man you will never meet, Rei." Akane said. "A macho hero type. The kind of guy who thinks that there isn't any problem he can't solve by punching it hard enough. The infuriating part is how often he's right.  
He and I have had a couple of major arguments over the years. I think his way of doing things is reckless, directionless, with no long term goals and no chance of accomplishing anything meaningful in the long run. He thinks I'm too cautious - in his words, a 'pansy' - and that I'm willing to lose by inches rather than risk everything at once"  
"Sounds like he doesn't understand how much there is to lose," Rei pointed out, crossing her arms.  
"Maybe," Akane shrugged. "I don't know anymore, Rei." She looked out the window. "I don't want to believe that life is like he says it is. I want to believe that there is something greater. That there is a world that can be better than this one, and that together we can go there. But seven years I've been fighting to bring about that world, and it just keeps getting further and further away. It makes it hard to believe"  
"You have to have faith," Rei told her, grabbing her hand impulsively.  
"Sailor Moon can do it, Akane. We can't doubt"  
"You're right, but"  
"But"  
"Hasn't this all struck you as... odd, somehow"  
"What do you mean"  
"Do you ever get that feeling, Rei? That feeling like you know what's supposed to happen? Not definitely, but it's like that old game of hot and cold.  
The closer you get to it, the more you can feel it? It's like the true future,  
the correct future... it CALLS to you. It stirs something inside you"  
Rei paused. "Yes"  
"You do?" Akane looked surprised.  
"I feel it all the time, Akane." Rei looked down. "I dream about it,  
sometimes. Or I used to. All my dreams lately... they've been full of darkness and they feel so WRONG. Like something is eating away at them. But in those dreams, I always felt a light. A light of hope. I knew that if we could just find it, that everything would turn out okay." Rei stood up suddenly, clenching her fist. "That's what pisses me off so much! Minako can feel it too. You can tell! Ever since we came here, I've felt like this was RIGHT. That this is the way it's supposed to happen. I thought it was Akio, but now that his machine is gone it only feels STRONGER"  
"Yeah," Akane sighed and slumped. "I've felt it too, ever since you rescued me and took me to Katsuhito's shrine. Ever since I met Washuu. Like this is how it is supposed to go"  
"So, what's wrong, Akane?" Rei frowned. "If you know, down in your heart, that things are going okay, why are you fighting that feeling"  
Akane didn't answer for a long time. She got up slowly and walked to the window and looked out over the still mostly-destroyed city. The wind blew through her shoulder-length hair and she adjusted her hairband to keep her bangs out of her eyes.  
"Rei... has Washuu ever done anything... strange"  
Rei raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. "Akane, everything Washuu does is strange"  
"No, I mean..." Akane floundered for a moment. "Ever since you started working against Chris. Has she... been acting strangely"  
"You'll have to be more specific," Rei pointed out. "She's been a lot less silly since then. Not totally, but more focused." Rei paused. "Sometimes she scares me. What Chris did... what ANGEL did, it was very personal to Washuu.  
It was personal to me too, and to Katsuhito, but Washuu took it the worst of all of us. When she found out, she just sort of... went blank. It was like she couldn't even see us. Then..." Rei shuddered, remembering the ominous feeling of presence, the overwhelming sense of being near something so profound it made her entire body scream to be away. Even remembering it now, years later, Rei was still afraid of that Washuu. That Washuu who had seemed less a human being, and more a god. "But she got over it. She's just been very focused on getting to Chris"  
"Right..." Akane rubbed her knuckles against her chin. "Of course. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just used to being paranoid. After what Chris did, Washuu's actions are only natural"  
At that moment, there was a polite knock on the door. Rei walked over and got it. Katsuhito smiled at her, his body briefly in shadow except for the gleam of his glasses. He stepped through into the room without waiting for an invitation. "Ladies, I trust you are well"  
"Yes," Rei said, blinking.  
"Good, good." The old man turned to face Akane. "Ah, Akane. I keep forgetting to give you this." He held out a long wrapped package. Akane took it,  
raising an eyebrow. "It's a new sword, a wooden one. It's carved from the wood of a Juraian tree"  
Akane unwrapped the package and her eyes widened at the finely carved blade she held. It was the colour of warm caramel. She held it out, swinging it as much as she could in the confined room. "This is... thank you. This blade is magnificent"  
"I'm glad you like it," Katsuhito smiled. "It used to belong to my daughter"  
"Thank you," Akane said, bowing. The old man gestured for her to rise,  
looking somewhat embarrassed.  
"I'm afraid this isn't entirely a pleasure visit," Katsuhito told her.  
"Oh?" Akane asked mildly, seemingly occupied with sliding the bokken into her belt.  
"You asked me to check with Washuu, about helping out that girl"  
"Nanami!" Rei gasped, stepping forward. She clenched her fists again.  
"Did she find some way to help her? Luna and Artemis said"  
"Whoa, whoa..." Katsuhito gestured for her to calm down. "It's good news and bad news"  
"What's the good news?" Akane asked.  
"Washuu thinks she may have a way to help her. But..." He frowned and ran a finger along his moustache. "You see, her dreams are the key. It is how the Oblivion got inside her. If we try to interact with her dreams here, we'll only punch a hole directly to Oblivion and destroy her and much of the surrounding area"  
"That's the bad news?" Rei asked, slumping.  
"No, this is still the good news." Katsuhito smiled. "You see, we can't affect her dreamscape directly. But we could try indirect methods. We would need to find a person close to her. Someone whom she felt a deep connection with"  
"Her brother!" Rei broke in, excited. "She was always concerned about her brother. Could we use HIM to help her"  
"Possibly," Katsuhito said, nodding sagely.  
"Is there any way to find him?" Akane asked. In her excitement, Rei almost missed the subtle suspicion in Akane's voice. Almost. She glared at Akane, who was ignoring her to look at Katsuhito.  
"Yes. In fact, we already looked for compatible dream waves. We located one in the North Pole"  
"The North Pole..." Akane frowned. "The Dark Kingdom, you mean"  
"Yes," Katsuhito replied. "Unfortunately we noticed several other things"  
"Such as?" Akane closed her eyes and laced her fingers together.  
"The fact that he is in close proximity to both the Death Messiah, and our mutual friend, Chris"  
"Damn..." Rei's eyes widened. "That can't be good. Tethys, Chris and the Messiah of Silence in the same place... that won't end well"  
"Not to mention that another of Akane's old friends is there. A girl by the name of Ukyou"  
"Ukyou?" Akane looked up sharply. "She's... she's ALIVE"  
"Apparently so"  
Akane frowned and grabbed the handle of her new sword. "We have to go,  
then, don't we"  
"Of course we do!" Rei said. "Sailor Moon doesn't need us here, Akane.  
But if the two of us go and find her brother, we might be able to help Nanami"  
"You're right." Akane looked at the old man. "So, how do we get there?"

OoOoO

It wasn't supposed to be this way.  
Ukyou was not supposed to be looking at her that way. Her eyes were not supposed to be cold, distant. For three weeks now, Akira had seen another side of Ukyou. She had seen a side that gave her warm looks. A side that opened up to her. A vulnerable human being beneath the facade of ice she had built up around her feelings. Now.  
Akira clenched her fist until her fingers dug into her palm. She glared at Tethys, hoping to burn the monster away with the sheer force of her will.  
Tethys was not supposed to be here, smiling smugly at her. She was not supposed to look so confident, so assured.  
One year ago. Had it only been a year? It felt like a lifetime. Akira had pushed this past, these feelings so far away she thought she would never have to face them. For the last three weeks, she had been avoiding them.  
Avoiding Ukyou. Avoiding herself.  
And now it was all out in the open. Oh, Ukyou didn't know the details.  
But why did she need to? It was Akira's sin. It was her decision, and now she would have to face the consequences.  
"Why don't you tell her the truth, Akira?" Tethys said calmly, brushing off her dress. "About how much you were willing to do for me"  
"Damn you... you made me..." Akira hissed. But the accusation sounded hollow even to her ears. She wanted deeply to believe that Tethys was responsible. That she had been forced to do it. That was a lie. Because it wasn't the fact that she had done it that had made Akira leave. It had been what she had learned afterward.  
"Very well," Tethys said with a chuckle. "Pluto knows well enough. Why don't you tell Ukyou exactly how pure and innocent her friend here is"  
"Tethys, I don't want..." Pluto whispered.  
"Tell her," Tethys said, her voice thick with authority.  
"It was a little over one year ago..." Pluto began slowly. "Rose and I had been here for less than a year, but Akira had been here longer than that"  
She paused and as Pluto talked, Akira felt her memory going back to those moments. How she had been... happy here. How she had felt like she was making a difference. Fighting the good fight. Oh, certainly she had spent a great deal of time on the road, wandering the earth, finding problems and solving them... But this place, for those three years, had been HOME.  
"Akira was travelling in space. She was Tethys' most trusted lieutenant.  
She was in charge of making certain one of Tethys' diplomats returned safely from the planet Jurai"  
Akira could see it, the strange controls of the ship Tethys had presented her with. Little more than a two-person shuttle, barely larger than a small car. But the controls had been instinctive. Akira had taken to piloting with the same aplomb she had to motorcycles. Running Galaxia's blockades had become something of a game, a game she was very good at.  
"On her way there she encountered a ship of refugees. One thousand people fleeing the destruction of their homeworld by Galaxia's forces. They were on their way to Earth"  
Akira could still see the 'ship'... little more than a freighter, a block of metal in space running on fumes and leaking exhaust from its engines.  
She could hear the desperate pleas of the distress signal. And she could hear Tethys' voice over the radio, telling her the awful truth.  
"One of the people on board that ship has a Star Seed, Akira. Galaxia knows this and she will chase it to the ends of the universe. If those people reach Earth, Galaxia will follow. And she will kill everyone. Everyone.  
Arkanphel? Millennium? The Americans? Nobody here can stand up to her. She alone can rip out the souls of everyone on the planet at once. I can't fight her,  
Akira. Maybe in ten years, maybe after I've had a chance to grow in power, but now... not now"  
Akira's hands cramped. They curled around phantom controls of a phantom ship. Her thumbs rested on a pair of raised triggers. There had been no choice,  
really. They were too close to Earth. They didn't have enough fuel, enough air or water, to turn around. Galaxia would chase them. She would hunt them. She would kill them.  
And if Akira helped them, she would die herself. She and everyone she cared about. Her friends. Her brother. The woman she had promised never to give up on.  
It was a mercy, what Akira had done. One moment of light and fire, then the cold emptiness of space. Akira told herself that they hadn't even seen it coming. They hadn't felt a thing. She had to believe that.  
"...but Akira didn't know the truth," Pluto pointed out suddenly, her voice fierce. "Tethys KNEW that the people on board that ship didn't have a Star Seed. Galaxia was not chasing them. She bragged to us later, me and Rose. She said that it was a test. A test of what kinds of choices Akira would make. A test to see if she could look past her 'shallow morality' and see the bigger picture." Pluto's voice was filled with disgust and she was levelling a dangerous look at Tethys. "Unfortunately for her, Akira overheard. What happened next... wasn't pleasant"  
"So that's the story, is it?" Ukyou said softly.  
"Ukyou..." Akira moaned. She wasn't looking at her. Ukyou was staring at Tethys. At her smirking face. Tethys knew she had won. Ukyou could never trust Akira now. Now after she had done all that and... and LIED about it. Lied to everyone, including herself. It went against everything Ukyou stood for.  
"That's it, Ukyou," Tethys said smoothly, stepping forward. "I bet you think I was cruel, that I was evil to bring this up, Ukyou, and you would be right." Tethys held up one hand, uncurling it in front of her face. "You're right. I am evil. But the difference between me and Akira is just that I admit it. That I'm willing to face myself, and what I am. I'm willing to do what is necessary. Pluto and Rose both agreed with me. Akira did not. She did not see that the illusion of morality holds us back. It plays into the hands of our enemies." Tethys brought her other hand up and spun, extending her hands outward. "This whole world is full of evil people, who in their hearts will do evil things. But I will change that. I want to destroy it, Ukyou. That part of the human spirit that can be evil. The part that will allow people like myself and Akira to exist.  
"The part that turns innocent young girls into killers. It's Chaos,  
Ukyou, the evil in everyone's heart, that I'm fighting. And it is your enemy,  
too. You came here looking for a way to save Hotaru, and I can show it to you"  
She stopped her slow spin and faced Ukyou again, extending her hand. "I admit, I don't have the power. I can not create the new world, a world that doesn't need people like me. But you can. And I can show you. I can help you save one girl's soul, and all I ask in return is that you save all creation"  
Ukyou looked at the Dark Queen for a few moments. Then her cold expression warmed. Her black lotus eyes softened and her thin lips curled up in a little laughing smile. "I'm surprised at you, Tethys"  
"Surprised"  
"Did you really think this would work?" Ukyou walked forward. "Show me that everyone can be evil, and I'll join your crusade? I have to admit, this was an elaborate plan." Ukyou paused, only a few steps away from Tethys. Well within reach of her Silence Glaive. Then she turned and walked over to Akira.  
Akira stared as Ukyou reached out and grabbed her hand, she pulled the unresisting limb up and placed it against her heart. "Do you think I care what Akira did? Do you really think it matters"  
"Ukyou..." Akira breathed. Tethys's expression darkened.  
"Yes, Akira isn't perfect. I never asked her to be. I never asked anything of her. And she never asked anything of me. All we have is whatever feelings we share, at this moment. Erasing my memories? Bison told me about that, and so what? Frankly, I don't want to remember Lotus Infinite. Serving you? Killing people? I'd be a bit of a hypocrite to say that one bad decision in her life made her a person I can't care for"  
Ukyou stepped to her side, her fingers lacing between Akira's. "If you hoped to win me over to your cause, Tethys, you're going to have to come up with something more powerful than the old 'everyone is really an asshole, down inside' bit"  
Tethys's expression darkened further, and her voice was cold and dangerous. "You have too much faith in your feelings, Ukyou"  
"Maybe." Ukyou chuckled. Akira was just looking at her, her head swimming. Ukyou didn't care? It didn't matter? Could it be true? "I have to admit, this was a good plan, however"  
"Plan?" Tethys frowned.  
"Oh, not your plan, Tethys. But you're a part of it. You and Akira,  
Hotaru and I, Nabiki and Ryouga. Pluto. Rose. Ranma. It's all led us here,  
hasn't it? Coming together." Ukyou smiled thinly. "We're all pawns of destiny,  
pieces on a board bigger than ourselves. It's all drawn us here, together. In fact, there are only a few major players missing from the..." Ukyou trailed off.  
She looked up, back towards the top of the chamber. "I spoke too soon. Looks like the gang is, in fact, all here"  
"What is it?" Pluto asked.  
"You felt that?" Ukyou asked Tethys.  
Tethys glanced at her, then up. Her frown turned into a snarl. "So,  
attacking my kingdom, are you?" She raised up one hand. "I'll show you not to trifle with me!" She clenched her fist and smiled.  
"What's going on?" Pluto asked. Akira was still staring at Ukyou,  
dumbfounded. She had wasted all this time, trying to run away from the thing she had wanted so bad after she had finally caught it. She had thought she had grown up seven years ago, but it looked like she was still a child. Still thinking she wasn't worth the happiness she fought for.  
"I think Chris is attacking Tethys," Ukyou mused. "Or maybe he's after something else"  
"Chris?" Akira started. "Here? That would mean"  
"Yes. Angel. And someone I don't recognise and..." Ukyou frowned. "No.  
that can't be right"  
"Heh," Tethys smirked. "Innovative. That actually held me back. But I haven't spent seven years idle!" Tethys gestured again, but her concentration seemed to totally be on what was happening somewhere above them.  
"She's distracted..." Ukyou said. She looked over the side. The platform had stopped directly above the great rift. She looked at Akira. "Akira, I'm going after her. Hotaru is here, in the city. I have to talk to her. This may be the only chance I'll get to do that alone"  
"You can't!" Pluto snapped, stepping in front of her.  
"You can either stop me, or get out of my way," Ukyou informed the Time Senshi flatly. "I have to know, Pluto. I have to talk to Hotaru, and learn what exactly it is I'm really fighting. What it is that we're all fighting"  
Pluto frowned. "Very well. But I'm coming too"  
"Akira..." Ukyou turned to her. Akira looked at her, then at Tethys. The Dark Queen was so absorbed in whatever distant battle she was fighting that she wasn't even seeing them. Akira was very tempted to punch her again. But she resisted.  
"Go, Ukyou." Akira looked at her friend, the woman she loved. "You have a soul to save, and so do I." She smirked. "After all, you forgave me, but someone has to forgive her"  
Ukyou looked at her a long moment. Then she clapped a hand on Akira's shoulder. "We'll meet again, then"  
Akira placed her hand over Ukyou's. Then she smiled. "Promise"  
Ukyou laughed. "Yes. I promise."

OoOoO

"Damn, there are so many people here," Ranma muttered.  
"What did you expect? I said it was a city of over a million people"  
Nabiki pointed out.  
"Yeah, but..." Ranma shrugged. He wasn't certain what it was, but this entire place set him on edge. He blinked. Wait, of course he was certain what it was. This entire place was a magical fortress built under a glacier of frozen water, powered by dark energy, filled with soul-eating demons and inhabited by millions of people loyal to a woman who called herself the Dark Queen.  
Frankly, if Ranma hadn't been on edge, he would have thought there was something wrong with him.  
"Also, didn't Pluto tell us there was only one entrance?" Ranma asked.  
"That doesn't explain that tunnel we came down in"  
"Tethys may be paranoid, but she isn't stupid." Nabiki snorted. "No city of this many people can only have one entrance, Ranma. Or more accurately, it has to have more than one exit. Just in case anything goes wrong. The trick is knowing where to look"  
"And how did you..." Nabiki interrupted him with a level stare. "Oh.  
right. Mind stuff"  
"Come on, we're almost there." Nabiki picked up the pace, moving through the crowds of people here with distinct ease. The people in the city really didn't look any different than any others. They came from all the races Ranma had seen, and a few he hadn't. There were people here with blue and green skin,  
some with antennae on their head. There had been a man with the head of a dog at one corner, hawking fish to passersby. There had been one woman Ranma was certain wasn't a youma, but who had been wearing nothing except curling strips of white fur. Of course, Ranma hadn't gotten a good look at her, since she resembled a... the bad things, a bit too much for his taste.  
Besides, Minako would have gutted him if she caught him staring at what was, essentially, a naked chick.  
"Where exactly is there?" Ranma asked idly.  
"Near the end of the market," Nabiki muttered. "He's alone. That's good.  
It means we won't have to worry about Hotaru showing up." Nabiki paused. "Ranma,  
he might not want to go willingly"  
"Well, can't you just..." He waved his fingers near his temples. Nabiki grimaced in disgust.  
"I'd... it's just"  
"Hey, fine." Ranma smiled at her. "If you don't want to mind-whammy him..." He cracked his knuckles.  
"We're not here to fight, Ranma"  
"Okay..." Ranma grumbled, walking along behind his ex-fiancee.  
At first, Ranma didn't recognize him. The man was taller than the boy Ranma remembered, and Ranma's memories were shaky at the best of times. It was the fangs. He still had the same little fangs that flashed when he spoke. He was arguing with a shopkeep, a short English man. Ryouga had filled out even more in the last seven years. He was more muscular than Ranma, probably with at least ten kilos on him, but still with the sleek frame of a natural fighter. His black hair was long, clumsily cut, and his bangs drifted down over his face a bit. He wore a brown coat and green pants stained here and there, both covered in rough patches. Around his neck he wore a scarf of yellow cloth with black checkerboard marks across it.  
Nabiki had paused, and was just staring at him. Ranma looked at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing short and shallow. She kept clenching and unclenching her hands. She looked for all the world like a teenage girl trying to work up the courage to talk to a cute guy, rather than the Queen of the Underworld, about to confront the bodyguard of the Messiah of Silence.  
Ranma reached out, and patted her on the shoulder once. He smiled as best he could. He really had no idea what he was doing, but Minako had told him that girls liked it when guys smiled at them and tried to be encouraging.  
Whatever it was, it seemed to work. Nabiki took a deep breath, steeled herself and walked forward. Ranma waited a few beats, then followed her.  
"Ryouga"  
The boy paused, turning slightly at the sound of his name. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the source. Nabiki looked back at him. He had to tower over her by at least a head, and he looked down at her, rising to his full height as he did so.  
"It's... been a long time," Nabiki said, her voice scratchy.  
"Nabiki," Ryouga said, his voice cold with anger. "I thought I told you never to come near me again"  
"And I've honoured that," Nabiki said softly, looking down. "But I had to come, Ryouga, I've been keeping track of you and"  
"Of course you have," Ryouga snapped, cutting her off. "You're here for her, aren't you?" he accused.  
"What? No! Well..." Nabiki trailed off.  
"Don't try to deny it," he snarled, stepping forward. "I won't let you or anyone else hurt her." He sneered. "What, the psychotic plant lady didn't succeed, so you came yourself?" He pushed her shoulder and Nabiki cried out,  
more in surprise than pain, and stumbled back. "Go away, Nabiki. If you come after Hotaru, she WILL kill you"  
"Hey!" Ranma grabbed Ryouga's wrist. "Leave her alone, tough guy"  
Ryouga looked up the arm, finally letting his eyes rest on Ranma's face.  
"Saotome"  
"Yeah, that's right, Ryouga," Ranma started. "Listen, we're not here about Hotaru. We were friends once and"  
There were few times that Ranma was ever taken off-guard. But all he got for a warning was a bloom of pain across his cheek, then the sensation of flying. He managed to roll, hitting the wall with his feet instead of his back.  
The thick black ice cracked as he touched it. He slid down, shaking his head.  
"We were never friends, Ranma," Ryouga informed him, slowly pulling back his hand.  
Ranma rubbed his lips with the back of his hand. There was blood. He frowned. "Ryouga, I'm going to try once more to be reasonable"  
"Reasonable?" Ryouga stepped towards him, stretching his fingers at his side. "You think I don't know what's going on? Nabiki's last assassin failed, so now she's getting the one person who ever defeated me to come." Ryouga smirked.  
"Well, Ranma, you'll find I'm just full of surprises"  
"Ranma! Ryouga! Stop this!" Nabiki shouted. Ranma looked around.  
Everyone was staring at them. Ranma grinned.  
"Hey, he started it," he told her. Then he exploded across the tunnel towards the boy. Ryouga met him, screaming. Each threw a blow, their auras suddenly exploding around them; Ranma's a deep blue, Ryouga's a thick green.  
And the city around them exploded. Shards of ice flew in all directions as the floor buckled and burst under the strain of their impact. Then they were falling, floating down into the pits between the tunnels of the city. Their arms and legs flashing, the air cracking as they delivered blows at speeds faster than the eye could see. Ranma didn't quite chuckle. Ryouga snarled and cursed.  
Well, if Ryouga was spoiling for a fight so bad, far be it from Ranma Saotome to deny him!

OoOoO

"A giant black pyramid, huh?" Angel commented, whistling as she looked up at it. "So how do you get in"  
"Forcefully if we have to," Chris replied, "but that may not be necessary. Link"  
The woman was already examining the pyramid, hovering her hand over it but not quite touching it. Finally, she looked back. "It's just a trick of the stone, not an entire new enchantment for each visitor. The tunnel remains inside... it would be more correct to say the pyramid rotates than that the tunnel moves, but it's actually more complex than that. I could attempt to figure out the weave she uses, but she'd certainly notice"  
Chris waved that aside. "We're not here for a social call, after all.  
Where is the tunnel now"  
Link stared at the pyramid again, sliding alongside it, still careful not to quite touch the stark black stone. In the air above, her dragon coiled and uncoiled, seemingly untouched by the wind, though icicles had formed on it midway along the trip here. Chris hovered above a snowdrift, face and posture calm. Kalia was beside Him, as she almost always was. She was giggling to herself about something, but Angel tried to ignore her.  
"Here," Link said finally. She had moved several steps to the right,  
and pointed at a particular block of stone. "Beneath this, about two meters directly inward"  
Chris nodded at Angel. "If you'd do the honours of announcing us, then"  
Angel felt a shiver running down her back, even through the thick multi-  
layered parka that was protecting her from the arctic winds. Despite everything else, despite being sure that Chris could handle any eventuality, she still prayed that Tethys wouldn't immediately rise to confront the intrusion as she stepped forward. Bison had been terrifying enough, and Angel had never even been close enough to see him - or her, she guessed - clearly. The few times she'd been in the presence of a zoalord were just as bad. Being near Saffron, too.  
Some beings just reminded you of how frail and human you were.  
But Chris was as calm and steady as ever, so she swallowed and ignored the tight knot in her stomach. Sizing up the imposing stone structure, she drew her fist back. The snow around her began to hiss, and steam rose as she poured all the limitless power from her tattoos she could handle into her fire chakra.  
Then she threw all the strength-enhancing chi into her fist as she swung forward with all her might.  
The effect was spectacular, but then, it usually was.  
Chris clapped politely as the dust cleared. A section the size of a largish bus had been knocked out of the pyramid wall; the part immediately around the impact point had been pulverised, and the surrounding chunks sheared off by the shockwaves. In the centre was the promised tunnel, a two meter wide passage into darkness. "Excellently done," Chris noted. "Well, she knows someone is here now. Let's go"  
They walked into the tunnel, which was pitch-black for a moment, but then several shàyù crawled from Link's sleeves and flew into the air, their bodies glowing like miniature lanterns. It was only cool in here, surprisingly,  
not bitterly cold as it had been outside or like Angel would have expected from the 'City of Black Ice'. But then, she supposed, people did live there.  
After a moment of walking, Chris raised a hand for a halt. "This is far enough for the moment. I expect Tethys is trying to get a fix on exactly what we are. Sensing me or Kalia ought to be beyond her until she gets much closer, but we will all need freedom of movement in the city to accomplish our tasks, which will require a distraction. Link, kindly create that distraction"  
Link nodded slightly and stepped forward. One hand emerged from her sleeves and scattered a number of small objects to the tunnel. "I'll create a self-generating forest," she explained. "It should act like chaff, millions of lifesigns obscuring our own." She frowned and reached the hand into her other sleeve. "I'll just need some water"  
Angel never even saw it coming. All of a sudden she was spinning end over end, which took her a moment to realise. It took her a further moment to determine she was underwater. Her mouth opened, maybe to say something, maybe just to gape in surprise, and she choked. She looked around for a pocket of air,  
something, but the lights had vanished and she was in pitch darkness.  
And then the light returned. Violet flared, and suddenly the water was gone. She toppled to the floor, retching the water from her lungs. She could barely see for a moment, for the water had been replaced by steam thicker than the densest fog. But the light cut even through it, and she made her way to Chris once she could stand again. He was surrounded by His purple flames, and spared a glance at her as she drew near Him. "Are you alright"  
"Fine," she gasped.  
He nodded, then raised an arm. A burst of power flared from His hand,  
blasting the steam away in all directions. The tunnel was lit again, this time by His aura of power. By the light, Angel could see the last of the water draining away from them. "I think that's her way of saying she wasn't overly impressed by our entrance," Chris noted wryly.  
A muttered Chinese curse caught Angel's attention, and she looked to the right, immediately suppressing a laugh. Link was sprawled on the tunnel floor,  
legs and arms spread out in an ungainly fashion. Her outfit was soaked, and the force of the water burst had torn most of the pins from her hair. Shàyù dropped from her sleeves as she moved, flailing helplessly in the water. As she crawled back to her knees, Link angrily swept the hair from her face, revealing that one of the pins had dug into her scalp to leave an angry gash in her forehead. She continued to curse under her breath as she struggled to her feet, forcing Angel to suppress another laugh.  
"I'm sorry," Chris said apologetically. "I should have guessed she'd realise what you were trying to do and act. I should"  
"Should nothing!" Link snapped peevishly, finally drawing herself up.  
"Don't do me any favours! If you or she thinks this will stop me - ME! - from growing whatever I please, you both can sit back and watch! All she did was provide me with water!" She stepped forward, hiking up her long sleeves and irritably swatting aside a shàyù that was stuck in the folds of the now-sodden fabric. "Now stay out of my way"  
"Of course," Chris murmured, smiling and drifting backwards, though He watched carefully down the tunnel. Angel stepped back as well. Once she would have been shocked to see anybody talk like that to Chris, but that was before she realised that Link was like that to everyone when she was angry. The strangest things set her off, too, sometimes.  
Link set herself and stared at the ground again, then sharply looked up into the dark void before them. Her eyes narrowed. "Not this time, you trumped-  
up youma bitch," she snarled.  
This time, she did feel it coming. A slow rumble that started deep in her bones and slowly grew until the entire tunnel was shaking. A blast of air hit them, intensely, pushed by the wall of water heading towards them. Angel looked at Chris, but He shook His head, the slight smile still on His features.  
So she turned back to Link. The Chinese woman's soaked robes were plastered against her slim figure as she raised her arms. Her long black hair,  
free of constraints, now streamed backwards in the rising breeze. Her face was set in a ferocious scowl of determination. Her hand raised, dipping her fingertips into the blood that trickled down her face. Then, even as Angel's eyes finally perceived the wall of water roaring up towards them, Link shouted and whipped her hand out in front of her. The blood on her fingertips hung in the air behind them as she drew a complex pattern. The air flashed just as the water struck.  
Angel flinched involuntarily, but she didn't get any wetter. Link staggered back as if struck, and her face was still screwed up in furious concentration, but her eyes sparkled with triumph. Before her, the wall of water pulsed and twitched, but moved no further. The lines she had drawn in the air with her blood glowed vivid, burning red. Abruptly they faded almost to black and the wall of water advanced a few centimeters, but Link muttered another curse and the seal she'd formed lit up again and continued holding it back.  
"No, I can't hope to match you for power or even hold you off for longer than a moment," Link growled, reaching back and delicately dabbing her finger in her blood again. "But I don't have to." She lowered her hand, letting a few drops of the red liquid fall on the tunnel floor before her. They bubbled and hissed, and then suddenly spread into a tiny flat reflective pool. The shield holding off the water shuddered again, but held. Link's face was now white with strain, but her eyes were even more viciously joyful than before. "I'll show you that even you can't brush me aside, Tethys"  
Her hand rose again, sharply. For a moment, nothing happened, as the seal on the water flickered even more ominously. Then the pool of Link's blood spread out in tight, thin lines through the grooves in the stone floor. The scarlet trails branched out and intersected in an intricate pattern that Angel could almost determine the form of before they drove into the wall of water.  
Green erupted outward. The speed of it was incredible. Angel didn't have her air chakra activated, but even so, her eye was far faster than any ordinary person's. Despite this, even to her the water seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye, replaced by a bulging barricade of bark, vines, and leaves. Link stood for a moment, her face twisted in triumph, then abruptly swayed, her eyes rolling upwards, and nearly fell over backwards.  
Chris was there, steadying her just as she lost her balance. For a moment Link hung there against His arm, then her eyes refocused. She flinched,  
her entire body shuddering, and drew so quickly away from Him that she nearly toppled over in the other direction. Chris didn't really react, but Angel noticed somewhere along the way He'd stopped smiling. "Did you do it?" He asked softly.  
"Of... course," Link said, breathing heavily. "I could have... done something like that... seven years ago"  
"Not against Tethys," Chris said.  
"No, I suppose not," Link muttered, hardly seeming any happier for the praise. "The main trick was to make sure it replicated faster than she could turn her power on the plants to destroy them. Not hard, when her entire city is made of ice. Magical ice, perhaps, but the difference isn't as great as she thinks." A spiteful little light suddenly danced in her eyes. "She'll remember me now"  
"No doubt, though she'll have other concerns soon enough," Chris replied.  
Angel wondered what He meant for a moment, then snapped her head back,  
looking around the tunnel. But they were the only ones there. "Kalia"  
"She'll find her own way," Chris said, the smile returning. "She always does. Now it's time for you to head out, Angel"  
Angel stared blankly at the impenetrable mass of vegetation for a moment. Link rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, and with a sound like rending cloth, the plants drew apart, leaving a passageway. "Okay," Angel shrugged. "But aren't we all going"  
"In a moment," Chris said. "I took the liberty of doing some research,  
and there's a few things I think Link ought to know about our... dear friend,  
Nabiki Tendo. I'll walk with her for awhile"  
Angel shrugged again, and then her sword leaped from her sheath. A few well-placed cuts later, and her sodden parka fell to the tunnel floor. She stretched, glad to be free to move again, and re-belted her sword to her now-  
bare thigh.  
"Be careful not to be seen," Chris cautioned. "There are many powerful foes here"  
Angel grinned as she fed chi into her air chakra; this time, the light that streamed into the tunnel came from her as her tattoo lit up like a bonfire.  
"Don't worry about me. I'll find where Tethys has stashed Alucard before anyone even remembers I'm here."

OoOoO

The first sign that there was something wrong was the thunderous crack that resounded throughout the city. The people stopped, their eyes drifting skyward. From those places with a view of the great black, star-dotted ceiling there came a collective gasp. A single crack, appearing as thin as a hair,  
traversed the pyramidal complex from one end to the other.  
For a moment, the people stood there, uncertain what to do. Then the crack came again, and another line formed in the ice. With a roar of protest a thick chunk of ice, the size of a football field, broke free. It slid downward slowly at first, then with increasing speed. Its descent was almost lazy, and strangely graceful. When it struck the city below, it broke into a cloud of grey mist, filled with razor-sharp shards of ice and hurtling chunks larger than a human moving at terminal velocity. Nobody heard the screams over the cataclysmic destruction.  
The people were already running, fleeing for their lives. In less than twenty seconds, the peace of this city had been shattered. A place that had become a refuge, a place that many had fled to in order to escape the chaos of the world outside, now suddenly violated.  
From the rift the fallen iceberg had come from, there came a small green thing. It appeared like a flower stem, uncurling itself from the earth like a bean sprout on fast forward. Except it was growing downward, and it was the size of a city block. Again and again across the ceiling the ice shattered and cracked, sending icebergs plummeting like asteroids into the city below. Out of these voids came more and more of the strange blooms.  
One by one the strange plants reached their full extension, becoming a green shaft pointed straight down at the coral reef-like structure of the city.  
When they were finished the city held its breath. There were no more cracks, no more explosions, no more rains of deadly ice from the sky. Just dozens of flowerless stems pointed straight down.  
A second later, the shafts rocketed downwards like spears, extending so fast that few could follow their descent. One after another they crashed into the devastated city. Where they came down, great clouds of yellow dust exploded outwards, swiftly blanketing anything nearby in a thick choking cloud. A phantasmagoria of plants burst forth from where the pollen had settled on the black ice. Everything from tiny flowers, to thick pines to other stranger things came forth. Great pulsating vines, thick and red, burrowed through walls and tunnels, tearing apart those citizens too slow to get out of their way. Even among those who did, there were screams and deaths, as the pollen shot forth,  
choking anyone caught in the expanding clouds.  
Tethys rested her hands on the rails of her floating platform. So far,  
none of the chaos had reached anywhere near the Great Rift. She frowned.  
"What an inconvenience," she stated. She flipped her head, letting her long hair fall behind her. The petty little magician that had invaded her city seemed to be quite skilled. Not that she could win. Even this wasn't beyond Tethys' ability to fix.  
Unfortunately it was interfering with her ability to sense her opponents. Among the trees and plants there were life forces, hundreds or them,  
thousands of them. Each beating strong and loud, the magical equivalent to throwing up smokescreen. Tethys knew her senses were not refined enough to pierce the deception.  
"Ukyou, we seem to be..." Tethys trailed off. She looked around the platform. She was alone. "Now that was just rude," Tethys said with a sigh,  
shaking her head. Unfortunately, it would be just as hard to track down Ukyou as it would to track down her attackers. She turned again, preparing to summon up some of her more powerful minions-  
"HI"  
For the second time that day, someone crashed their fist into Tethys'  
face. Unlike before, this blow was powerful enough to send her flying off the platform, shattering the guard rail like a dry noodle. She continued on,  
crashing through a tunnel as wide as a four-lane street without pause. Her body skipped like a stone across half the city, tearing divots and trenches through the buildings. Finally she came to a rest on the side of a nautilus shell-shaped structure.  
"That... hurt quite a bit," Tethys informed no one in particular as she raised to her feet. She adjusted her jaw with one hand, resetting the bone as she liquefied the torn tissue before regenerating it healthy once more, causing the pain to vanish as if it had never been.  
She then looked around. She distinctly remembered seeing a white-haired girl in a strange bodysuit just before the blow had struck her.  
"Up here"  
Tethys craned her neck, looking to the top of the nautilus. The girl was walking along a thin stalagmite of ice that grew from the top of the building,  
her arms extended to her sides and her body rocking back and forth as if she were traversing a tightrope. Except she was walking up the icicle.  
"I suppose this is the point where I ask who you are, except I don't really care," Tethys said with a shrug, and gestured with one hand. The entire top of the building exploded, the ice flashing upward, shattering into a million razor-thin daggers that spun into the sky, tearing everything apart in their wake. Tethys knew the girl would disintegrate in the centre of the blast, her body flying apart under the assault.  
She KNEW it.  
So why was the girl standing there, sitting on top of the icicle, her legs kicking back and forth idly, like nothing at all had happened?  
"Hey, not caring has gotten you this far, why should I buck the trend"  
the girl said, her voice cheerful. "My name is Kalia, since you don't care so much. How are you today"  
"I've had better days," Tethys said, tapping her foot impatiently. She blinked. She hadn't MEANT to say that.  
"Yeah, sucks to be you, I guess," Kalia said, nodding sagely. "I'm here to kill you, so that probably won't help"  
"At least you're honest," Tethys admitted, smiling.  
The girl cocked her head to one side and placed a finger to her lip.  
"Mou. Or am I supposed to delay you until someone else gets here to kill you? I can't decide"  
"Why don't we just fight each other? Then, if you kill me, you were here to do that, and if you don't you were just here to delay me," Tethys said helpfully. She started, staggering back through the air, overcome by a sudden wave of vertigo. What had just happened to her?  
"Now, I know that you're basically invulnerable to physical damage of all kinds," Kalia said, floating off her perch and down towards Tethys. Tethys frowned and rose into the air to meet her. She absently weaved her outfit into a more appropriate battle form, summoning her ice lance as she did so. They met in mid-air, floating less than a meter apart. Tethys' long hair billowed out behind her and Kalia just sort of smiled lightly, like she hadn't a care in the world.  
"You can turn into water, negating any blow that strikes you. And even if I did hit you, you can just instantly regenerate from it"  
"That's true," Tethys smirked. "So unless you have something special up your sleeve, why not give up and die now"  
"I think it would be a better idea if, for some insane reason, you just decided not to use those powers"  
"Agreed," Tethys said. Then blinked.  
The next thing she knew, her arm was broken in five places. She screamed, falling back and clutching it. Kalia smirked at her, holding up both hands in a sort of apologetic fashion. Tethys hadn't even seen her move. What.  
what was this girl?  
"I forgot to mention this earlier, Tethys, but I'm unfair," Kalia said,  
and then she laughed.

OoOoO

Akane hated teleporting.  
It wasn't that teleportation, at least the kind employed by Washuu, was particularly unpleasant. In fact, if you didn't pay attention closely, you might not even notice any effect whatsoever. It also wasn't that she hated it on an intellectual level. She had no idea how it worked (she had been too intimidated to ask), nor did she have any moral objection to its practical uses.  
It just always left her feeling... strange. Like she had lost something,  
but couldn't remember what.  
She also preferred to do it with her eyes closed, so she only opened them once Rei announced that they had arrived. She looked around the chamber they had arrived in. It was a large domed room, the walls glittering black, and there was a slight chill that radiated from them. Instinctively Akane drew in more of her fire chakra, warming herself back up to comfortable levels. The combat suit she wore was surprisingly good insulation, but it wasn't actually designed for the cold. Rei, despite wearing far less than Akane, didn't look particularly uncomfortable.  
Katsuhito didn't even look like he had noticed their current situation.  
He was staring down at the wristband that Washuu had given them to protect against Akio. Akane reminded herself to berate the short redhead later about that. Those things had proven practically useless. She had meant to do so when they'd left Ohtori, but Washuu herself hadn't arrived to personally teleport them.  
In fact, Akane hadn't even seen Washuu since they'd left for the academy over three weeks ago.  
"Hmmm... it appears we arrived just in time," Katsuhito said softly.  
"What do you-" Rei cut off as a titanic roar filled the chamber.  
Everything shuddered, rocking and bouncing. Akane staggered, barely managing to keep her feet under her while Rei fell ingloriously on her ass. Katsuhito, for his part, didn't even so much as twitch. He simply slid his hands into his sleeves and looked at the two of them.  
"The city is under attack," he said.  
"You think?" Rei grumbled, standing up. "What have you gotten us into this time, old man"  
Before he could answer, there was another crash. This time Akane had better luck holding her stance, while Rei was able to keep her footing with more difficulty.  
"We don't have much time," Katsuhito told them. "The devices on your wrists are tied into Washuu's computers back at home. She's locked on to the genetic signature of Miss Kiryuu's brother. You two better go quickly"  
"Right..." Rei looked at her wrist. "Now how do these things..." She blinked as a miniature hologram, a nearly flawless three-dimensional map of what Akane could only assume was the cavern complex they were in, appeared floating over her wrist. There were four blinking lights on it, three clustered together near the bottom and one somewhat distant, not that far away from them. "That's handier than most things she builds." Rei started as the projection turned abruptly into a small child-like version of Washuu which smacked her on the head with a tiny pink and blue hammer. It reverted back to normal and Rei blinked,  
rubbing her forehead. "That hurt"  
"Just because she isn't here, doesn't mean she isn't paying attention"  
Katsuhito pointed out, smiling jovially.  
"Right, so what do we do once we find him?" Akane asked.  
"Place this on him." Katsuhito threw her another armband. She looked at it. "Washuu can use it to teleport him away." Akane looked from it to him.  
"Where are you going"  
Katsuhito looked at her. Then he adjusted his glasses so the shine of them hid his eyes. "I'm going to go provide a distraction"  
"A distraction?" Akane asked.  
"Well, we don't want anyone interrupting us while we rescue Nanami's brother, Akane," Rei said with a sigh.  
"Of course," Akane murmured. Something about this seemed... off.  
But Katsuhito was already walking away, towards one of the four exits from the room. A tunnel that sloped up and in the opposite direction they were going. Akane watched him leave until Rei grabbed her arm and started pulling her in the direction of their objective. She shook her head.  
Whatever doubts she had, they could wait until after the current crisis had passed.

OoOoO

Someone could say that this was a fight seven years in the making. It was no doubt a clash between two masters of the art. The classic struggle, the unanswerable question. The immovable object. The irresistible force. In the first five seconds of the battle they realised each other's measure, and realised the other wasn't going to hold back.  
So neither did.  
Ryouga flew upward, his body carving a line through the City of Black Ice. A green meteor, trailing a line of light behind him. He hadn't even paused when Ranma had hit him. His hands came together, concentrating his power. His body went nova, light catching and reflecting through the sheen of the black ice.  
"JISATSU BAKUHA"  
Ranma was following him, running through the column carved by Ryouga.  
Ryouga screamed, releasing the blast of energy straight down. His aura collapsed into it, forming a ball of light no larger than a baseball. It fell far faster than gravity had any right to drag it. The city around it imploded, huge sections of ice and entire tunnels collapsing in towards the centre of the attack. There was no way for Ranma to dodge it, not in the tight corridor that he was travelling.  
So Ranma reached up one hand, and caught it. His body flew backwards until his feet sunk two inches into a thick sheet of ice. His face was a mask of concentration. Then the ground around him erupted upward, a circular mass nearly five meters wide exploding all at once. There was a pulse of blue-green light,  
and then the cloud of shrapnel fell down around him.  
Ranma was breathing heavily, but still standing.  
"Nice trick," Ranma said, smirking.  
"There was no way to block that," Ryouga accused. He was standing about fifteen meters above his opponent, so they had to yell. Ryouga knew that attack should have worked. It was the Jisatsu Bakuha, the Suicide Blast. Every time Ryouga used it, he literally tore out his own soul, filled it with chi and launched it like a nuclear bomb. Using it should have killed him. He could feel the strain of it, draining him, but he didn't die.  
Because the last time he had used that technique, a woman had wished that he wouldn't die. And so he wouldn't. Ever.  
"I didn't block it," Ranma said. "I just sort of..." He shrugged.  
"channelled it around me"  
"It seems Nabiki chose well," Ryouga growled. The one person, aside from Hotaru, to have ever defeated Ryouga in martial arts. Nabiki certainly knew how to pick them. Wasn't she ever going to stop ruining his life?  
Ranma had somehow managed to climb up to his level in the few seconds it took Ryouga to say that. "Hey, get a clue, Ryouga. I'm not here to kill you"  
"No, just Hotaru!" Ryouga leapt at him, and the fight began again. For now, they kept it to the mundane. Punches and kicks, leaps and blocks, an exchange of blows as speeds that cracked the air and tore the surroundings to shreds with even their near-misses. More of Ranma's blows got through than Ryouga's, but they were like drops of water against a mountain. Most of them Ryouga didn't even feel. Ryouga only managed to get in one blow, a deceptively gentle looking little push with the ball of his thumb.  
The strike sent Ranma flying nearly a hundred meters across the city.  
Ryouga bounded after him, cursing all the while. He'd have to rein back. He wasn't fast enough to follow through on hits like that. He was just giving Ranma a chance to recover while Ryouga caught up.  
Ranma was waiting for him, and he parried Ryouga's incoming jumpkick with his forearm. There was a soft clank as Ryouga was knocked to the side.  
Ranma skipped back, sliding around a few more of Ryouga's attacks. "Why do you care so much about Hotaru, Ryouga? You've been with her for all these years. You KNOW what she is"  
"I have nothing else!" Ryouga told him. A missed strike smashed into a building some thirty meters across, causing the entire side to rumble in. "I've lost everything, Ranma. My pride, my honour, my humanity. Nabiki stripped it all from me one piece at a time"  
"Pal..." Ranma suddenly flashed through Ryouga's guard to look him square in the eye from less than an inch away. "Get over it, already"  
Ryouga staggered back. "You don't understand"  
"Wah, wah, wah..." Ranma slid in, driving an elbow into Ryouga's gut hard enough that Ryouga actually had the wind blown out of him. Not that he needed to breathe anymore, but it was still uncomfortable. "If you whine this much, it's no wonder the girl planning on killing everything is the only one willing to put up with you"  
"Shut up!" Ryouga swung, just missing taking Ranma's head off. "After all the sacrifices I've made"  
"Whatever, Ryouga," Ranma slid backward, hitting Ryouga a hundred times in a heartbeat. None of the blows even registered. He hissed, shaking his steaming knuckles. "But if you claim you have nothing, you oughta look again"  
"Look at what?" Ryouga stalked forward.  
"At the simple truth," Ranma said, frowning. "Like... you ever wonder why you never get lost anymore?" Ryouga paused. "Or maybe wondered why you always seem to know the best way to sneak Hotaru and yourself through some populated region without getting people killed"  
"What are you saying..." They both started and looked up.  
And then their world was white and noise and pain.  
Ryouga wasn't certain how much later it was when he pulled himself out of the mound of crushed ice, but he realised that his body had already started adapting to the cold to prevent hypothermia. He groaned as he used his breaking point technique to open the last little bit. Then he started as he looked around.  
The ceiling, it was sprouting... grass?  
"Did someone just drop a mountain on us?" Ranma asked, standing up slowly nearby.  
"I'm surprised you survived," Ryouga grunted.  
"Almost didn't." Ranma blinked. "Wow. Iceberg. Maybe Tethys got sick of us tearing up her city"  
"No..." Ryouga leapt suddenly, grabbing Ranma. Ranma started, but realised that the grab wasn't a tackle or hold, and that Ryouga was already bounding out of the crater they were in. "Worse"  
"What..." Then Ranma's voice was drowned out as a giant green stalk fifty meters across shot from the ceiling to the city in less than a second. It shattered into the coral-like city, sending up a cloud of yellow and white dust in its wake.  
"Hey, I could have dodged..." Ranma said, before Ryouga slapped a hand over his mouth.  
"Shut up, you idiot, and don't breathe until we're clear!" Ryouga snarled. The yellow dust was falling around them. Ryouga flared his aura, the green nova pushing most of it away. Ranma frowned, and let Ryouga lead him.  
Soon, they were clear of it.  
Then Ryouga released him atop another building. The two looked as the dust began to sprout and grow. Flowers and brush and strange fungus and even weirder things were growing out of it now. "So, she's back too"  
"Who?" Ranma asked.  
"This crazy plant lady, tried to kill me and Hotaru once." He looked at Ranma. "Nabiki will be in danger. This stuff is poisonous to humans"  
"Right..." Ranma started to turn. "You coming?" he asked, pausing.  
"I have... someone else I have to save," Ryouga informed him, and then ran off in the other direction.  
"We'll finish this later, then!" Ranma promised, before taking off himself.

OoOoO

The press of the fleeing populace was almost too much. It was a stampede, great masses of screaming and panicking people running with no other thoughts in their head but to get 'away'. Ukyou grimaced as she pushed against the rush, trying her best not to hurt anyone. Pluto followed in her wake. At first, the Senshi had tried to use her authority to get the crowd to calm down.  
But they were too far gone. There was nothing they would listen to.  
"We should take another path!" Pluto shouted over the roar of the crowd.  
She grunted as someone pushed her hard from the side, trying to get her to move out of the way. Ukyou ignored her, trying to visualize a way past the rush. She could try going up the walls or along the ceiling, but wasn't skilled or fast enough to maintain that for very long. It was times like this she wished she remembered how Lotus Infinite had done her phasing trick.  
Then Ukyou sensed it, a person falling over nearby. In a few seconds they would be under the feet of the stampede, crushed by the frightened mob.  
Ukyou grimaced and acted.  
The Silence Glaive materialised, extended directly over her head. It gave off a low hum, a menacing sound that rippled through the crowd, slowing them down. Then Ukyou summoned the Silence, forging a wall in mid-air, shearing straight into the ice in front of her. The crowd was not so panicked as to run suicidally into the rippling wave of the barely visible barrier. Which was good,  
because Ukyou had no intention of letting them.  
Then Ukyou felt it.  
Of course, Ukyou had been aware of Hotaru since she had gotten here. She had sensed the ominous empty void that was now the girl's aura even before she had walked into the Dark Kingdom. It was a black hole, a sucking abscess in the metaphysical plain. In a normal person, chi flowed in and out, like tides in an ocean or breath in the lungs. But not with her. Power flowed in, and nothing came out.  
No warmth. No spirit. No feelings or emotions. Not a single trace of humanity escaped the spiritual void that was Hotaru.  
Except now. Ukyou could feel the void focus on her. It knew. SHE knew.  
Hotaru knew she was here. Ukyou could feel something, a sensation something like suction against the edge of her skin. She was being assessed, evaluated.  
Ukyou evaluated in turn. But there was something else there, in Hotaru's empty darkness. It flowed out of the emptiness. It wasn't real. Not the way other things were. It was wrong, it was alien.  
"We have to hurry," Ukyou told Pluto.  
The Senshi of Time looked at Ukyou and nodded. She stepped in front of Ukyou, and now that they had the crowd's undivided attention, her orders got through. The people began to organise, disperse. The panicked mob was becoming an orderly evacuation.  
Then Ukyou looked up sharply.  
The man walking towards her was old, but unbent. He walked with his back straight and his eyes bright. His grey hair was tied back in a simple ponytail,  
and his white and blue priest's robes were crisp and spotless. He carried a simple wooden sword at his side. But it was no ordinary sword. It had a power to it.  
Just like the old man. In fact, Ukyou had never sensed anything quite like the man approaching her. He was full of an energy that could not quite be called chi, and not quite mana. It was like somebody had taken the First and Second Circles and blended them together, seamless and whole. And as she focused, Ukyou could see the edges of something around him, a field that inhibited his power somehow. No, not inhibited, channelled... forced it to shape around him into... An illusion. A disguise. The appearance of an old man, and underneath she could sense his youthful vitality.  
Then she recognised him. The name came unbidden to her lips, drawn directly from Aaron's memories.  
"Yosho"  
"Ukyou," the man said, bowing slightly, but keeping his eyes on her. His manner was polite, but his energy was tense. He was hyped for a battle. "I'm glad we had a chance to meet. But while I'm somehow not surprised you know that name, on Earth, please call me Katsuhito"  
"What are you doing here?" Ukyou looked at Pluto, then back at him.  
"You're not working for Tethys, are you"  
"Me?" Katushito chuckled. "No. My family has made certain arrangements with the Dark Queen, but I am not here about anything that concerns them"  
"This isn't a coincidence then," Ukyou said flatly. She lowered her weapon slowly, sliding it up under her arm and keeping the point towards the ground. She was already preparing herself. The deadly cold calm was coming over both her and Aaron as they instinctively began their separate yet connected tasks.  
"I can't let you get to the girl, Ukyou." He held up his sword, the air snapping from the speed he drew it. "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry"  
"Why are you interested in Hotaru?" Ukyou asked.  
"I can't tell you," he said simply.  
Ukyou looked at Pluto. "Pluto... Setsuna, whatever you prefer to be called. I..." She closed her mouth. It had long gone past a question of trust with Sailor Pluto. The woman had fought with her to destroy Bison, had nearly died, had lost her best friend and betrayed a sadistic dark queen for Ukyou.  
Even so, Ukyou knew Pluto would still kill her if the chance arose. And she feared that once Pluto met Hotaru... "Pluto, you have to go on ahead. Hotaru is moving, but I think I can sense where. You have to delay her"  
"By myself?" Pluto gasped. "But as Sailor Saturn alone she was stronger than..." She trailed off at Ukyou's expression. "I'll... try." She looked at Katsuhito. "If you can keep him busy"  
Katsuhito smiled at Pluto, and he slid sideways, gesturing past him.  
"Please, be my guest"  
"What?" Pluto blinked in surprise.  
"You may continue on your way." He looked at Ukyou, his glasses gleaming. "Ukyou and Hotaru must never meet. I think you'll figure out why, when you see the child"  
Pluto looked at Ukyou, then Ukyou gestured her over. She quickly whispered a few directions into her ear, then Pluto was off. She dashed past the old man, and the once she was out of sight, the deceptive old Juraian firmed up his stance once more.  
"So... you're not going to let me past unless I beat you, is that it"  
Ukyou asked, beginning to approach him. She swung her glaive around a few times,  
the weapon humming through the air.  
"In so many words? Yes," he said. "It's for your own good"  
Suddenly they met, their weapons smashing into each other again and again. He moved with a speed and deftness that belied his appearance, fading back and away from her strikes, parrying them just enough to keep the glaive's longer reach from becoming an issue. Then he knocked her weapon to the side,  
throwing her off balance. But instead of following up he leapt backwards,  
landing further down the corridor. He gestured for her to come at him again.  
"You know, I really hate when people tell me that," Ukyou growled, and rushed towards him.

OoOoO

Nabiki was a practical sort of person. Somebody else in her situation -  
Ukyou, for example - might be wallowing in self-pity and angst at this point.  
She, however, was engaged in the productive task of evaluating the current crisis and how it had spiralled completely out of control despite both her best intentions and all logic.  
This involved a lot of cursing. And hitting things.  
It was therapeutic.  
However, her knuckles were hurting, so she decided to instead find something else to do. She took a deep breath and focused. The static being thrown up by Link's phantom life forces was very impressive. Nothing that, say,  
Ukyou could not have punched through with a little effortm, though.  
The problem was that Nabiki had no intention of doing that. Because Link was not the problem here. The problem was the walking hole that was Hotaru.  
Nabiki had thought, over the years that she had kept tabs on Ryouga and his journeys with the tiny psychopath, that she had understood Hotaru. It was easy to believe that when the girl was literally half a planet away.  
It was much harder when she was in the same city. The problem was that Hotaru, unlike Chris, was not disconnected from the Oversoul. She wasn't a phantom. She was a part of this universe, a sentient entity like any other with its own part in the vast cosmic tidal force that was humanity's subconscious.  
But she was a wound, a cancer.  
No, that wasn't right. Hotaru was just a part of it. An earthly reflection of something vaster and deeper. It was a chill void, an all-consuming emptiness at the very heart of what was reality. A rip, a tear... No. No words did it justice. No words except one. Oblivion.  
The end of everything.  
And it was out there, devouring the entire universe. One soul at a time.  
Nabiki realised that she had been ignoring it for years. She had danced along the edges of it, not wishing to gaze into that abyss. She had seen signs of it a few other times. The best example was the time when she and Akira had been within Ukyou's mind.  
"Oh god..." she gasped. "It all makes sense"  
The darkness, the consuming void. The one inside Ukyou's mind was just like the one that existed beyond Hotaru's. The Silence. That was what Ukyou had done to herself, rather than face her destiny and her guilt all those years ago.  
She had given in to it. But.  
But Akira had brought her back?  
How was that even possible?  
Suddenly the chamber Nabiki was in rumbled and tilted, throwing her off her feet. She scrambled for a handhold on the slick black ice, but found none.  
She crashed into the corner hard, cursing. The entire room had been spun sideways, tilted forty-five degrees.  
Then what had been the floor began to bulge. Once, twice, three times it pulsed, the bulge growing larger each time as a web of cracks erupted around the ice. With a sound like shattering glass the bulge erupted inward, showering Nabiki with tiny slivers of ice. She ducked, pulling her hood up to protect her face.  
A huge blue-green tendril, the colour of rotten cheese, emerged through the hole. It sprouted, noxious fungal growths rapidly spreading across every surface it touched. Tiny yellow spores, glowing like fireflies, began to fill the air.  
"Oh please..." Nabiki wrapped her hand around her sword. "Link, I'd rather not waste the wish here"  
Nabiki smiled as the spores in the air seemed to hesitate, then began to float around near the top of the room. Wherever they touched, the ice turned green. Nabiki watched cautiously. She was putting on a brave front, but knew that there was a real danger here. Unless she could find Link, she couldn't hurt her with a telepathic attack of any kind. Trying to break through Link's psychic 'static' would likely force the woman to attack. At which point it would be a race between Nabiki's power and Link's.  
Ranma would have risked it. He would have been confident of his own victory. Akira would have risked it. Even Ukyou would have risked it. But Nabiki had never had what one would call a surfeit of courage. So instead she began to gently probe around, hoping to find a mental connection to an ally quickly. One who could come to rescue her.  
The thick vine-like plant above her waved back and forth a few times before finally rearing into the air like a striking snake. Its tip began to bulge and stretch, making a sound like a man about to vomit. Tears began to form along its edges as it bulged out further and further. Thick red goo dribbled out between the cracks, welling up between them like jelly pushed out of a sandwich.  
The stench forced Nabiki to cover her nose. It was thick and coppery and smelled like almonds.  
With a final spasm the tip of the plant ripped open, its sections peeling back like a banana. There was something white and distorted within it,  
the shape covered by so much ichor and bile that it was impossible to make out.  
The plant shuddered once more then fell forward, crashing into what had once been the wall with enough force to make the entire room shudder again.  
Nabiki stared at the slurry of red and green and black ooze that was the thing. A figure was rising up from the morass. One of Link's dopplegangers, a perfect recreation of what she had looked like seven years ago, from her short hair to her strange Chinese circus outfit. The thing busied itself with brushing the ooze off its body.  
"Is this the point where you threaten me?" Nabiki asked brightly.  
"Hmmm?" It continued idly cleaning itself. "Oh, yes, you still have a wish. Chris was wondering about that"  
"I may not be able to kill him, but you I suspect would be less of a problem," Nabiki said with a smile. She idly probed the thing and felt the force of the transmitter there. It was even more powerful than normal, but that only made sense considering the psychic static it would have to break through. Nabiki withdrew her awareness before she could tip off Link. The longer Nabiki stalled,  
the more chance that help would arrive.  
"Please, Nabiki. We both know you're not going to waste that wish on me.  
Not now that you've felt what Hotaru has become," Link's decoy said with a tiny smile.  
Nabiki was about to return a comment when she heard the movement behind her. Really, was Link that predictable? Then again, this was the girl who had thought that sneaking into her house while whispering 'sneak, sneak' was a good plan. Nabiki turned and looked at the figure emerging from a nearby passage.  
Nabiki had never seen the older Link with her own eyes, but she knew her by description: her long hair, the blue gems embedded in her headdress and robes.  
Nabiki focused, and unleashed her entire mental will.  
Bison had been able to withstand the full power of Nabiki's will. But he had been something beyond human by that point. A torn and mangled soul infused with power. Link's brain should snap like a twig under the pressure of.  
There was nothing there. Just a weak transmitter like in all of Link's other dopplegangers. She watched as the thing in the passage fell back, its body disintegrating into ooze and leaves without a mind to support it. But.  
Then a hand grabbed her arm. Nabiki started and looked down, then up at the woman. Of course, the sheer power of that psychic transmitter. Nabiki didn't think any more, she acted. She gathered her will and-  
The ground was cold under Nabiki's cheek. The screams were dying out now, the echoes fading away. Her body shuddered and spasmed. Sweat ran down her forehead. She groaned, placing a hand underneath herself. She levered up,  
moaning. The pain... it had been.  
"Ah, you've recovered," Link said, chuckling to herself. "You see,  
Nabiki, you are the single most powerful psychic on Earth. Nothing I know of can possibly prevent you from using your powers. Even my fastest-acting poisons can't get to your brain quickly enough to prevent you from destroying me in the process"  
"What did you... do to me?" Nabiki gasped. Her voice was hoarse; from screaming, she realised dimly. The pain had been so intense, so pure and all-consuming, that all other thought, all other awareness had been washed away.  
"A tiny thing. Just the smallest little Second Circle shaping," Link pointed out. "You see, I can't STOP you from doing anything. But... a bit of feedback, maybe?" Link crouched down, coming into Nabiki's line of sight. Her long black hair, now revealed, was falling around her shoulders, being pulled strand by strand out of the clump the slime had stuck it into by the tiny insectile creatures that served her. More of them had removed the robes from the doppleganger and were bringing them towards her. "That barrier, between us and everyone else. It's small, but when you cross it, it makes a resonance. I just increased that. For a normal person, the effect would be... insignificant"  
Nabiki looked down at her arm. There, where Link had touched her. It was burrowed through her jacket, buried partly into her skin. A tiny piece of blue crystal like the ones on Link's robe. She reached for it, but as soon as her hand settled on it she screamed again.  
Panting, Nabiki laid on the ground again while Link tsked. "Nabiki,  
Nabiki. I've had YEARS to plan for this. I stayed up for weeks at a time, just dreaming up ways to kill you." Nabiki hissed and reached for her sword... "And of course, that including taking this-" Link purred as she stroked the metal blade of the Wishing Sword with one hand. "-at the first chance I could"  
Nabiki stared up at her.  
"You may start running now. Please do. I will very much enjoy it."

OoOoO

At the best of times, D-Point was a maze. Tethys had literally shaped the entire city with her magic, drawing deep water from far beneath the frozen pole and shaping it with magic like the ebb and flow of the tides before freezing it into this city. It had never really been designed for humans to live in. Oh, people had managed to turn it into a city, a rather busy one at that.  
But getting from one area to another in it had never been easy.  
That was before the city was being torn apart by giant killer plants.  
Pluto cursed as a caved-in section blocked her route, backing up and starting down a side passage. She was beginning to lose track of where she was going,  
and she hadn't had that good an idea in the first place.  
Of course, did she even want to reach Hotaru? Sailor Saturn had been the most powerful of the Sailor Senshi before reincarnating. With one blow she could wipe out an entire planet, cleansing it of all life. Granted, Ukyou had taken her weapon from her, but even without it Saturn would have been a terror. That was before she had been made into one of the undead.  
So what was Pluto even supposed to do when she met up with Hotaru? She had lost the Time Key Staff, and with it the ability to control the flow of time. Her martial arts training under Rose had been useful, but had not increased her power nearly enough to allow her to fight the Messiah of Silence one on one. She was having a hard time picturing any outcome to a battle between her and the undead Senshi that did not end up with Pluto dead.  
Yet she was going to do it. Because Ukyou had asked her to. Ukyou, who by all rights she should be trying to kill. Yet Pluto had become swept up in the strange girl's presence like everyone else. Pluto kept running, sprinting towards the clam-shaped chamber at the end of the corridor. She was going along,  
just a leaf in the hurricane, unable to see what was coming, only able to pray to whatever gods were listening that she would end up somewhere safe and whole once it was all over.  
Then pain flared across her face and she gasped, her body smashing into the wall and sliding along it. She collapsed to the ground, groaning. The hit hadn't been hard enough to really damage her, not with her magically-enhanced physique, but she was still seeing spots in her eyes.  
"Pluto?" There was a soft sigh. "I can see why Ukyou started getting sick of you"  
Pluto looked up. Chris was there, his tiny child body floating with his legs crossed as if he were sitting back in a deep and comfortable chair. He was holding his left hand up against his forehead and his good eye was closed. He shook his head sadly from side to side.  
"I was expecting Ukyou, actually. Did she get lost?" Pluto stood up. Her anger began to rise up inside her. Chris opened his eye, giving her a half-  
lidded stare. "Do we really have to go through this? I really have no need or desire to hurt you anymore. Can't you just accept that I'll win"  
Pluto's fingers curled and uncurled. She could summon her magic, but not nearly as fast as he could. If she'd had the Time Staff... who was she kidding?  
Ukyou overmatched her in every way, and that was seven years ago. Every fiber of her, everything that was human wanted to kill him. To strike out even in futile defiance.  
But Pluto was above that. If she was the kind of woman who gave into useless emotion, she would have broken down a long time ago. Every person she had ever cared for was dead, so what did she have to lose in this fight? Maybe if she died here, it would even upset the prophecy itself. Except Pluto didn't believe in throwing your life away on futile gestures.  
She forced herself to relax. "What are you doing here, Chris?" she hissed, unable to keep the hatred from her voice.  
"The same thing you are, Pluto," he replied, smiling a ghostly little smile now. He gestured with his right hand. "I'm here to take care of Hotaru"  
"Kill her, you mean," Pluto replied sharply.  
"Hotaru Tomoe died seven years ago. She just needs to be reminded of that fact." He chuckled. "Although I do recognise the irony of that statement"  
He floated a little closer. Pluto backed up a step. "Oh, don't give me that look. You would have tried to kill her when she was still alive, and you're condemning me for getting rid of one of the world' greatest menaces"  
Pluto wanted to argue with him, but what was she supposed to say? She HAD considered killing Sailor Saturn, before the child had even awakened to her powers.  
"Really, Pluto, I know we got off on the wrong foot, and I certainly don't blame you for..." he paused. "Holding something of a grudge. However, I also know you are a practical woman. So consider this:  
"That prophecy you are so scared of doesn't apply to me. I've fought Ukyou twice and thrashed her twice. She's alive only because I let her go. I exist outside Destiny, outside Fate. I write my own future." His smile widened and the purple deathlight in his ruined eye grew brighter. "I can stop Ukyou any time I wish. If you're scared she'll destroy the universe, don't worry... I won't let her.  
"But only I can make you that promise"  
"So... what?" Pluto stared at him. "You want my loyalty? After what you've done"  
"Like Tethys did anything less practical in pursuit of her dream?" Chris snorted. "I had hoped you'd be less hypocritical than Ukyou. But really, I don't need your loyalty or your help, Pluto. If you'd just be willing to step back and let things flow out the way they should, that would be fine. So why not consider carefully what I said"  
Pluto was suddenly distracted. A stale wind was blowing down the corridor. To call it cold would have missed the point entirely. It had no heat or cold. It leached away everything, every sensation, every eddy of air, every soft heartbeat. The entire room filled with an awful, expectant silence.  
"The guest of honour," Chris said, breaking the spell with a simple smirk. He unfolded, rising to a standing position, his feet still hovering inches above the black glassy floor.  
Pluto couldn't move. Her body was frozen, numb. She knew this sensation.  
She KNEW it. She woke up every morning to it. It had crawled into her very soul,  
settling down in that deep part of her that she never chose to acknowledge.  
That feeling of wrongness. The indescribable feeling of being in the presence of a thing which was the antithesis of everything that made sense, the existence of the Other that had been used to frighten children since the dawn of time itself.  
She appeared in the doorway all at once. Not so much walking into view as fading out from the darkness. For a moment, she was nothing but a shadow among shadows. A cruel silhouette cut out of the darkness, filled with a yawning void that defied all description, a black so terrible it sucked in all light,  
all life, all hope.  
It was HER. For seven years, Pluto had awoken sweating, cold and shivering at the memory of the terrible moment of What Would Be. For seven years she had known that Ukyou Kuonji would stand on a featureless plain, beneath a raging sky. She would be marked by Destiny, one step at a time so that you would know what was coming. She would grip a weapon of ancient power to fight a foe of terrible majesty. With Ukyou's first blow, the whole of Creation, all time and space and possibility, would be erased.  
But Pluto had never once stopped, had never once thought about who it was that Ukyou was to be fighting that day. It had never even occurred to her to seek out the force that Ukyou would be willing to fight, willing to risk all of Creation to destroy. But that foe stood before her. Pluto knew it. She knew it as surely as she knew her name, knew the colour blue, knew all the certainties of her existence.  
Then the girl stepped out of the darkness. Her skin was white, gone beyond pale to the icy perfection of alabaster. Her black hair bobbed around her head, and her Senshi uniform had been bleached colourless and floated around her, its edges torn and frayed. Blood, brilliant red and glittering in the azure twilight of the City of Black Ice, flowed from the symbol in her forehead. What had once been the symbol of her connection to the holy forces of Queen Serenity's reign, now a perversion. Out of the darkness a great weapon came,  
floating loyally over her shoulder. It was taller than she was, a great sword as thick across as a tree trunk with a wicked hook on one end filled with vicious spikes.  
The Messiah's bronze eyes met Pluto's for a fraction of a second.  
Understanding passed between them. Pluto knew who she faced, and so did the girl-child before her.  
"I know it's a terrible cliche, but: we meet at last," Chris said,  
bowing slightly. The Messiah of Silence's eyes flicked to Chris. She said nothing. "Allow me to thank you for your laudable quality of, whenever you have set your goal, taking a literal straight line towards it"  
Chris raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. There was a flare of purple light, a blast of heat and flame that roared across the room. Pluto threw up her arms. The sword behind the Messiah moved, shifting in front of her with a flicker of pseudo-motion. But even though the blast was deflected by her weapon,  
she was not the real target.  
As Pluto lowered her hands she saw that the walls of the clam-shaped building they had been in had melted away. A lattice hung in the air all around them, a web constructed of hundreds and hundred of meters of paper, tied off in tiny triangles, woven together again and again in intricate patterns, forming Japanese ideograms. As Chris lowered his hand the room became bathed in purple light again, but this time diffuse. Millions of tiny characters, glowing soft violet, had appeared on every exposed bit of the lattice.  
The Messiah staggered, stumbling forward. Her hand snapped up, grabbing the top of her giant blade as it drove itself into the ground. Her expression did not change, but her entire posture had lost much of its majesty.  
"It gave me a wonderful chance to prepare," Chris said, chuckling.

OoOoO

The tunnels down this far were narrow, looping back around on themselves, randomly moving up and down without apparent rhyme or reason. The light here was dimmer, the receding edge of twilight. Akane considered allowing her own anima to flare, but her aura would likely give away their position.  
"He should be just up ahead..." Rei said. "At least if we don't encounter another cave in"  
"Yeah..." Akane frowned. They had encountered a few people, fleeing the destruction of the city. Heading towards emergency exits or shelters of some kind, she hoped. None of them had been heading down this deep into the polar ice. Not like their target, who had been leading them a merry chase for the past few minutes.  
Akane slid to a halt, her hand resting on the hilt of the sword Katsuhito had given her. For some reason, it had grown warm to the touch. Up ahead the passage suddenly widened. There was a huge set of doors there, but they hung open. Two figures, large women with green and brown skin, lay unconscious by either side of the gateway. Akane could just see beyond the doors, to some sort of great chamber beyond.  
"What is this?" Akane asked, walking forward cautiously.  
"I don't know," Rei replied. "It's massive, however. We're nearly six hundred meters down and that chamber is almost three kilometers wide..." Rei perked up. "But he should be nearby. He's just inside the entrance"  
Rei trailed off as Akane sprinted into the room. They had to get this finished. Akane was beginning to feel antsy, as if she was missing something important. She dashed into the room and slowed, then skidded to a stop again.  
Her breath left her, and for a long moment all she could do was stare.  
The ship was huge, and Akane had never seen anything like it before. It was slender and elegant, with long graceful curves that appeared to be made of finished wood covered in plates of mother-of-pearl. The central hub of it was a dome, surrounded by a trio of tiny orbs with what looked like mandalas carved into them that floated independently of the ship's main body. Huge curving fins swept forward and back from the central core, giving the impression of a sleek fish-like creature.  
"A Juraian tree ship?" Rei said with a gasp.  
"You mean, the aliens? This is a space ship?" Akane asked incredulously.  
"A rather important one, as well"  
Both girls spun at the smooth, cultured voice that came from behind them. The man that stood there was tall, a head taller than Akane, with long thin limbs and a narrow androgynously beautiful face. His red hair was long and graced his shoulders with a few stray strands. A long lock of slightly lighter hair fell down in front of his right of his sapphire eyes. He wore a grey suit with red trim, accented by flourishing epaulets and golden cords that ran down the right side of his body. He smiled as his smoldering, but not aggressive,  
gaze met Akane's. It took her a moment to realise the irises of his eyes were shaped like... diamonds?  
Her hand reached up and wrapped around the Star Seeds hidden in her shirt pocket. Her heart was beating very quickly for some reason. Still,  
grabbing the Seeds seemed to be calming her down. It was like some sort of.  
physical wave of disinterest flowed out of them.  
"I'm afraid I won't be taking it, however," the man said, walking closer. Akane frowned as he approached, and stepped forward, tightening her grip on her sword. He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly - they looked like spades,  
now - but he managed to keep his smile. "There are a few other ships in the hangar, smaller ones. We could use them to escape"  
"We're not here to escape," Akane told him firmly. "Are you Touga Kiryuu"  
His expression darkened slightly, but still managed to look polite.  
"Yes. But who do I have the honour of addressing"  
"My name is Akane Tendo, this is Rei..." Akane trailed off. She realised dimly she had forgotten Rei's last name. "My friend," she covered quickly. "We need to talk to you"  
"Well," the man stepped to the side. "I would love to, but from the sounds outside I don't think we have much time before this entire city collapses"  
"You're running away?" Rei broke in.  
"Of course I am," Touga replied, turning to address her. He stepped sideways again. "I'm not a fighter. I highly doubt that Queen Tethys needs my assistance in this conflict"  
Akane snapped out her blade, placing it to his side and preventing him from taking another step. "Good. If you're leaving anyway, we can do this the easy way. We need you to come with us"  
"Well..." He smiled again. "I'm certain we can talk about that aboard the shuttle"  
"Not like that," Akane snapped. "We need you to come with us because your sister is sick"  
"Sister?" Touga blinked.  
"You remember Nanami, right?" Rei asked, her expression confused.  
"Oh. Yes. Her." Touga shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't help her. Sorry"  
"You haven't even heard what the problem is yet!" Akane barked.  
"Oh." He looked at her, his expression suddenly contrite. "Sorry.  
Please. What is the matter"  
"Your sister's soul was ripped out by a being with undefined but near cosmic power to extract a magic extradimensional crystal and it - her soul,  
that is - may very well have been consumed by the incarnation of the end of all things"  
Akane paused. Rei looked at her. Touga nodded studiously.  
"When you put it that way, I am quite certain I can't help her"  
"Oh yes you can!" Akane retorted. "A little girl genius scientist told me that your soul could... uh., resonate or something with Nanami's and... bring her back..." Akane waved her hand a bit. "I didn't really understand that part.  
But it was very compelling at the time"  
Touga was just staring at her now, his eyes half-lidded.  
"I don't care how silly it sounds!" Akane snarled. "You have to come with us"  
"And if I say no?" Touga asked, crossing his arms.  
Akane frowned. She'd never really considered that. Now that she did, the entire situation struck her as so utterly... pointless. Not that saving Nanami wasn't important. But.  
If they were just supposed to kidnap Touga like a couple of jack-booted thugs, why didn't Washuu just teleport him out of the Dark Kingdom at any time?  
"Listen pal," Rei snarled, stepping up to him. "Nanami was one of the few decent people I met at Ohtori and she doesn't deserve to live the rest of her life as a vegetable"  
"Ah. I see you wish to force the issue, then." He smiled. "Then I suppose I'll have to..." He paused and looked to the side and muttered just loud enough to be heard, "Do I really have to say it?" Akane blinked, as did Rei.  
Touga looked annoyed. "But it's so..." He trailed off. "What do you mean you won't help unless I-!" He growled. "Very well"  
He turned back to them and, his expression bored and his voice having become a monotone. "Then I suppose I'll have to... put on my game face"  
There was a puff of smoke, like one would see in a cheap Vegas parlour magic trick, that briefly obscured Touga from sight. Then a long white hand extended from the top. There was a small explosion of playing cards that scattered the smoke and Akane saw a figure spinning in the centre of it. The figure came to a stop.  
She was a woman, first off. This was impossible to miss, as she wore a skin-tight black leotard and fishnet stockings complete with black pumps. Her skin was white and her hair was green, with a single long forelock of a lighter green colour that came down in front of her left eye. A long ridiculous peacock feather headdress completed her outfit, the feathers dyed green and purple and red. Like Touga, her eyes had little card suits where her iris and pupils should be. At the moment, they were hearts.  
"Ha ha!" she laughed. "Now you face the awesome power of KAIROS! The youma of luck and sexy"  
"Luck and sexy?" Akane asked disbelievingly.  
"He... he turned into a girl," Rei said, stunned.  
"Oh, that's right. You've never seen this kind of thing before," Akane said, snapping her fingers.  
"You have"  
"Old friend of mine had a similar condition and"  
"Ex-CUSE me!" Kairos shouted, stamping her foot. "I'm about to pronounce your doom here"  
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me," Akane said. Then frowned, shaking her head slightly. What had possessed her to say that?  
"You should be sorry, Miss I'm Certainly Not Carrying Around A Sword To Compensate For Anything, Nosiree," Kairos said, chuckling into the back of her hand.  
"WHAT did you just say?" Akane felt her hackles rise.  
The youma smirked and stamped her foot again. Four posts snapped up from the ground and a green rectangle fell from the ceiling, landing on them to form a table. Kairos sat back, suddenly on a tall stool with a deck of cards in her hands. "I have complete control over luck and destiny. Can you possibly defeat me at a game of fate?" Kairos laughed, flipping and shuffling the cards in her hands. She was certainly very good at this, Akane thought: she could even do that thing where she made the cards leap from one hand to the other. "Now, face the Deck of Unfortunate Destiny!" She smacked the cards down on the table. "Why don't you cut the deck and test your fortune?" A small smirk formed on her perfect features as her eyes shifted to spades.  
Akane shrugged and did as she was asked. Her sword was involved. The two halves of the table fell down on either side of Kairos, and the entire deck of neatly bisected cards floated through the air around her. Her skin had, if possible, turned even more white. Her eyes had become little clubs.  
"Not quite what I meant," Kairos said slowly.  
"I'm sorry, I guess I was thinking with my compensation tool," Akane snapped back.  
"No matter!" Kairos leapt up. "The wheel of destiny keeps on rolling, as they say." She posed, holding up one hand. "Karma is a bitch and so am I!  
Face... the Indestructible Karmic Roulette Wheel of Doom!" She brought her hand down and a giant wooden roulette wheel plunged down from the shadows overhead,  
spinning straight towards them. Akane raised an eyebrow and looked at Rei.  
"Flame Sniper"  
Ashes settled down around them.  
"My Indestructible Karmic Roulette Wheel of Doom!" Kairos shrieked,  
bringing her hands to her cheeks.  
"Well, it was made out of wood," Rei explained.  
"But... but... that was my Indestructible Karmic Roulette Wheel of Doom"  
"I hate to break it to you, but I think you misnamed it," Akane said,  
pinching her nose. Only a week ago, she had been fighting hyper-zoanoids in a desperate win-or-die battle to save the lives of thousands of innocents.  
"TOUGAAAAA!" Kairos shrieked. Her eyes had turned to diamonds. "W- what do you mean you won't help?" She paused. "But you'll feel it too if they start hitting me!" She growled and stamped her foot. "What kind of advice is 'then don't get hit', you bastard"  
Kairos looked up at them again. "Fine, one more game of fate for you.  
This is my ultimate technique... the Fuzzy Dice of"  
Akane punched her in the face. It sent the white-skinned youma sprawling across the black floor. Akane then stepped on one of her wrists, causing the woman to gasp and her club-shaped eyes to focus on Akane. "Listen, I'm really not in the mood for this. Can't we just..." Akane waved her hand. "Skip to the part where you surrender, so I don't have to beat up someone who makes me feel vaguely like I'd be hitting a child"  
"Hah!" Kairos snorted. "You underestimate me. I don't need tools to change the wheel of fate!" Akane sighed and limbered up her sword arm. "Ack!  
KairosDesperationAttackHighlyImprobableField"  
Akane gasped and stumbled back. There was an enormous flash of light and a sound like a million slot machines hitting jackpot all at the same time. She held up her hand over her eyes and.  
There was a feeling from the Star Seeds. It was like they were shivering, pulsing in tune with some outside energy for a moment... and then suddenly everything went back to normal.  
Akane looked around. "Are you okay, Rei"  
"I'm fine," Rei said. She looked at the youma still lying on the ground.  
"What did you do"  
"I..." The youma woman sat up. "I..." There appeared to be nothing at all that had changed. The entire room was just like before. "I don't know. I've never done that before"  
"Never done it?" Rei snarled, a spark of flame jumping between her fingertips.  
"AHH! Don't blast me!" Kairos whimpered and cowered. "I swear! I just released all my luck-aspected magic at once..." She opened one eye. "I was kinda expecting something more spectacular than"  
At that point, the entire ceiling exploded.

OoOoO

It was a weird thing to get used to, being a pariah. Oh, Minako was used to being hunted. She had spent more years on the run than she really cared to think about. Yet even when she was running for her life from Millennium or Chronos, she had still managed to be a... symbol. She was a hero of the people,  
the Golden Champion who stood up for the way the world should be, to show it what it could be.  
Even in the heart of Chronos-controlled countries, Minako had enjoyed a bit of good will. There had always been someone willing to give Ranma and her access to an attic or basement for the night, someone willing to smuggle them through a checkpoint or slip them some money just because of who they were.  
While she was public enemy to over half the world, nobody had really hated her.  
Even the zoanoids she had fought were more likely to either respect or fear her than hate her.  
But the people of this town hated her. Oh, they were pleasant enough.  
They were always smiling, always cheerful to her. But unless she spoke directly to them, she was ignored. Ignored until she turned her back. Then they would stare, and whisper and turn away. Sometimes she would walk into a room and half the people in it would suddenly have somewhere else to be.  
Just the other day she had come to one of the buildings they were trying to rebuild and offered to help. She had scouted outside the city, but Chronos had pulled back and seemed unwilling to attack directly again. So she wanted to feel useful, like she was doing something. But shortly after she had asked, the work crew had found other things they needed doing, other places they needed to be. In less than a half hour she was alone in the ruins of what had once been a house, holding a two-by-four and wondering where everyone had gone.  
So she was alone here. No one trusted her, no one liked her. All because she dared to speak ill of... Usagi. She refused to think of her as 'the Moon Princess'. Minako sat on top of a local church, the cold December winds blowing her hair out behind her. Why was she even still here?  
"There you are," Artemis said, leaping up over the edge. He began to pad towards her, and Minako began to smile. Then the black cat, Luna, leapt up right behind him. Minako's smile dropped. Ever since she had gotten here, Artemis had spent all his time with his fellow moon cat.  
It was strange, being jealous of a cat. Especially since the two were the last survivors of their race and old friends on top of that. Really old,  
like thousands of years old. They had every right to want to spend time catching up. Minako hated feeling jealous, but she couldn't help it.  
Maybe it was because Ranma was still missing.  
"This is the most out of the way place I could find," Minako told him.  
She smiled. "I think the people here don't like me"  
"No wonder, with all the talking you've been doing around the city"  
Luna said, frowning. Minako noticed there was a small octopus trying to climb its way over the edge of the roof, but chose to ignore that.  
"So you think Usagi is right, too?" Minako asked.  
"What I think or not about her doesn't matter," Luna said defensively.  
"What matters is that she is the Moon Princess, and controls the Silver Crystal.  
She is our leader, and we should support her"  
Minako considered that. She could just picture Ranma's smirking face,  
and hear his cocky voice flippantly respond. "I'm sorry, I don't do the whole 'respect for authority' thing," Minako said, trying her best to capture Ranma's tone.  
"Mina," Artemis said, putting a paw on her thigh. "You're being too hard on Usagi. I mean, what do you expect out of her"  
"Expect?" Minako stared down at him. "I don't expect anything, Artemis"  
She stood up, his fur tickling her skin as it fell away from her. "I just don't respect someone who has to be dragged kicking and screaming into saving the world"  
"That's unfair," Luna snapped. "She hasn't complained yet, has she"  
Minako was trying to figure out how to respond to that, when suddenly she was distracted as a new figure landed on the roof. She slipped into a combat stance immediately, thankful she hadn't bothered to return to her civilian form.  
The figure was thin, muscular, wearing a suit of dark fabric with white patches on it in the shape of bones. A long red scarf rippled around his neck.  
"Here, Little Octopus?" the man said, looking down at the tiny land octopus that was sitting on the edge of the roof. The octopus nodded and gestured towards Minako with one of its cute little tentacles. The man )  
looked up at her. "Ah, of course! This would be the place, then"  
"Who are you?" Minako asked. So far, the man had not made any hostile moves. He did look strange, but Minako had long ago learned not to judge by appearances.  
The man seemed to brighten, which was hard to tell with his face-  
concealing mask with its skull deco. He stood up straight, clenched his fists and sharply tucked them in by his sides. "Where there is wrong to be righted"  
He shifted quickly, standing with one arm extended towards the horizon and the other curled up near his head. "Where there is evil oppressing what is good"  
He balanced on one leg, like a flamingo, leaning forward with his arms extended as if he were caught in mid-stroke while swimming. "Where the people cry out for a champion... they will find..." He rapidly spun, kicking and punching and finishing with a thumbs-up in her direction while he posed with one fist on his hip. "The ultimate hero... SKULLOMANIA!" His scarf cracked in the wind to punctuate his introduction.  
"Oh, man," Minako moaned, looking down at Artemis. "Did I ever sound like that?" He raised a paw, and jiggled it side to side. She sighed and rubbed her face. "Great. Were you looking for me, uh, Skullomania"  
"Not exactly!" he said, now standing with both hands on hips. Well, said was the wrong word. He boomed. He said everything as if he was shouting out to a large studio audience. "I was actually looking for Akane Tendo!" He shielded his 'eyes' with one hand and scanned the city. "But I cannot seem to find her"  
"Oh, you must be someone from Akane's resistance movement," Minako replied softly.  
"Yes!" He posed again. "I have very important news for her! I followed her pet octopus here, so perhaps you know where she might be"  
Minako frowned. Last she had heard, Akane was still with Rei. "I have no idea, she must be somewhere"  
"She is nowhere in the city!" Skullo exclaimed. "I know, I've checked with everyone"  
"Nowhere?" Minako frowned. She didn't know Akane that well, but she didn't seem the type to run off without telling anyone. "What about Usagi"  
"Usagi?" He looked perplexed, which was quite a feat considering he had no visible facial expressions.  
"Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess... have you talked to her yet? She might know where Akane is"  
"No, I have not!" He turned and stared out over the city. "I will do so right away!" The sun gleamed behind him as his scarf snapped and cracked in the mind. There was a long pause. "Uhhh"  
"Come on, I'll take you to her," Minako said with a sigh.

OoOoO

Ryouga hated to admit it. He hated it with a passion that surprised him.  
He hated it with a physical visceral impact, that twisted his guts up and made the back of his throat slick with anger. After seven years, it was time to face it once again.  
Ryouga was lost.  
He lashed out, striking a nearby wall. The entire wall, and a good portion of the next wall, crashed outward in a huge wave. A cloud of shattered ice and torn plants settled down in front of him. He bit back a frustrated curse and started walking forward again.  
He was walking in circles, he knew. He had no real evidence of this, but he knew it in his gut. He had been doing so well. For seven years, he had not once gotten lost. In fact, his sense of direction had become almost preternaturally astute. He'd been able to find his way to places he'd never been before. He'd been able to find all the short cuts, all the secret ways that allowed himself - and later, Hotaru as well - to avoid crowds and attention.  
He stopped, closing his eyes and placing a hand against another wall. He tried to remember when exactly he had lost himself. He'd been running along. He could vaguely feel where Hotaru was, and he knew he needed to get to her. If only to try and prevent... He had been trying to get to her, while Ranma ran off to go see to Nabiki. Then, there had been a moment of sudden pain, like somebody had filled his brain with burning thermite. It had passed quickly but when he'd stood up he'd realised almost immediately that he was lost. He had no idea where he was in relation to anything outside of his immediate line of sight.  
He felt helpless and alone.  
Like he had seven years ago.  
Just like he had when he and Nabiki had been fighting off Aptom and Nabiki had allowed their minds to become a little TOO closely linked. When he had learned exactly what she had done to him. How she had deceived him and played him for a fool. His entire world had been shattered. He had hated himself for so long that the idea that he was innocent, that Nabiki had been behind all his guilt and shame, had left him unable to feel anything.  
Especially since, especially since.  
How could he hate Nabiki? After what she had come to mean to him?  
There had been no way to escape the rage, the growing hatred in his heart. He hadn't wanted that. He had wanted, for a brief moment, to not know.  
So, he'd tried to kill himself.  
And she'd brought him back.  
"Damn you..." He growled, opening his eyes and looking down at his hand.  
"Why couldn't you just let me GO?" he snarled.  
Instead, he had been forced to live. To live with the pain, with the shame, with the hatred. He'd been forced to live as a freak. A freak that would never die. For seven years he had been running from those memories, trying to ignore them. Trying to pretend they hadn't existed.  
But just seeing her face. Just seeing it once. Seeing the look of genuine REGRET in her eyes.  
It had opened a wound that he'd hoped had long since healed. So, better to fight than think, and Ranma had been there and eager to aid. But now, he was lost and alone and helpless to do anything about it.  
Ryouga sighed and started walking again.  
There was a distant flash of light, reflected dimly off the black ice.  
Ryouga blinked, and heard a crack. He looked down, watching as the ground beneath him began to snap. For some reason he didn't try to run or jump away,  
just watched in sort of muted awe as the ground crumbled out from beneath him.  
He fell down, feeling oddly disconnected from what was happening until he smashed into - and through the roof of - a corridor a couple of dozen meters below where he'd started.  
Then he remembered that even if he couldn't die, falling hurt. Groaning,  
he began to brush bits and pieces of powdered ice off his clothes as he stood up. He was just resigning himself to the fact that where he'd landed was pretty much the same as where he'd left when something slammed into his back.  
Ryouga barely registered it; he didn't even so much as stumble. Whoever had hit him fell back, gasping out an abbreviated scream before landing on the ground. Ryouga knew who it was before he turned to look.  
Nabiki stared up at him. Her face was covered in a sheen of sweat. Her eyes quivered in the twilight of the city. Blood ran down one arm, the sleeve ripped off to reveal something small and blue burrowed halfway into the skin just under her shoulder. The flesh around it was torn and ripped, as if someone had been scratching and clawing at it. Ryouga's eyes involuntarily moved to Nabiki's other hand, and the blood on her fingers and under her nails.  
"Ryouga..." Her voice was tremulous.  
The corridor shuddered. Ryouga looked up, past Nabiki, into the darkness of the tunnel she had been fleeing through. He could hear something approaching.  
It made a noise, a rustling sort of sound, filled with abrupt sharp cracks like hundreds of whips snapping one after the other. A low, almost imperceptible clacking filled the air, like many many teeth chattering at once.  
A thick green vine, covered in thorns as large as a man's thumb, snapped out of darkness, burying itself into the wall. Nabiki gasped and turned around,  
her eyes widening in fear. A blue glow filled the area, soft at first but growing brighter and brighter by the moment. It was coming towards them.  
Soon, Ryouga could make out the outline of a figure. There was another whip-crack as a vine snapped out and clawed into the ceiling. For a moment, he thought the figure was floating, but then as she grew closer he could see the truth. She was not floating, she was being carried.  
Like snakes, the vines curled and twinned around her body, looped around her arms and legs. They hung from the ceiling and the walls, sunk into the floor and twisted forward, dragging her wraith-like down the corridor towards them. Ryouga narrowed his eyes. It was her. Link. The woman who had almost killed Hotaru. She floated towards then, and spring followed in her wake.  
The glow came from the gems encrusted throughout her flowing robes and dangling from her headdress. Wherever that soft blue light fell, flowers bloomed. Red and yellow and blue and all the other shades of the rainbow, a garden of sudden and striking beauty welled up behind her. It was so beautiful it made a severe contrast to the floating cloud of insectile... things that floated and swirled around her.  
The monstrous procession slowed, then stopped. The woman came to a halt,  
hanging in the air a few dozen meters down the corridor. Just within speaking distance, just outside of easy attack range. She held a sword Ryouga remembered very well. Her earth-brown eyes flickered across Nabiki, then settled on him. He gazed back at her.  
He looked down at Nabiki. She was staring at Link, her hand clutched to her heart. Her eyes bulging with fear. She looked towards him. This woman, who had ruined his life so much.  
Ryouga looked back up at Link, and with deliberate slowness stepped in front of Nabiki, throwing one arm to the side to shield her from view. Link laughed.  
"First Hotaru and now her?" Link didn't smile, but her eyes glittered with mirth. "Honestly, Ryouga, what is your attraction to these women? If I'd just hurt you more last time, would you be my willing slave as well"  
Ryouga allowed himself to smile. "I guess I'm just used to having a miserable life."

OoOoO

Nobody saw Angel as she criss-crossed the city. By now, she'd been across it three times. The toxic jungle that was slowly overcoming the city helped, but was hardly her only recourse. She skimmed from rooftop to rooftop,  
dropped into alleys, flipped behind architectural flourishes, was past a youma soldier in a flash when his gaze wavered for an instant. Her every glance took in everything, every threat and avenue and hiding place and route all at once.  
She was the wind. There was no crack she could not slip through.  
So far, nothing. Not that she'd expected to find it very easily. But she had a few clues to go by. Alucard's body was dangerous, Chris said, though he hadn't known precisely why. It was also a closely-guarded secret. Nobody would be near it. If there were guardians, they would be only ones that never left.  
That meant a remote place, hidden somewhere. Of course, Tethys could just seal a chamber in ice, but she also had little reason to fear an intruder in her own kingdom. Angel had little doubt she could spot the signs of where the Dark Queen kept her most secret treasure, but she hadn't done so yet.  
But she had time. She constantly fed more power into her air chakra from the limitless supplies her tattoos gave her. She blazed across the city, unseen and undetected. Every building got a casual glance, every wall an inspection,  
every guard detachment observed for a moment to see where they might be avoiding checking. Like the wind, she swept over everything, leaving nothing untouched.  
She almost missed it. Leaping over a rooftops, faster than the human eye could follow, she kept an eye on the detachments of soldiers around her like she observed everything else. In a blink of an eye, they would have been gone. But before that blink, Angel watched one group of youma, well-trained soldiers,  
superhumans all, accustomed to living in a city of ice, suddenly fall. Not in battle. They just... slipped. Every single one of them. All at once. They fell down in a confused jumble of arms and legs and curses and Angel stared. How the hell had that happened? Nothing had attacked them.  
And as she stared to the side, her feet kissed another rooftop and she shot forward and suddenly she smashed into an unyielding body and was flipping end over end. She tried to look to figure out what had happened and break her fall, but something was blocking her vision and then suddenly it was over.  
Angel groaned. She was lying on her back. Her vision had cleared, and she glanced around groggily. The building she was on curved up like a great wave. Cunningly designed blends of darker and lighter ice gave it the illusion of a foaming crest, or had before Angel's fall into it had snapped a good chunk of it off. She must have slid down afterwards, coming to rest in the middle of the roof where the 'wave' plateaued. She looked behind her, and her eyes fell upon what... or rather, who, she had crashed into. Now, at last, she blinked.  
"Oh, shit... Ranma"  
He stared back at her. Then he grinned. "Hey! I owe you for that sucker-  
punch last time!" He leaped to his feat, and Angel groaned again.  
So much for her timetable.

OoOoO

Perhaps if Sailor Pluto had not been so scared she could barely breathe,  
she might have been having a crisis of faith. Chris, the man who had killed her best friend, right in front of her. The man who had killed a woman Pluto had trusted and believed in when she had very much needed both. A man with a god-  
complex, and the ability and willingness to toy with a force that could potentially unmake all Creation. And the Messiah of Silence.  
The end of the world made flesh. The final enemy that would face Ukyou at the end of time and bring about utter annihilation.  
It would have been hard to choose which of them she wished to win.  
As it was, she was busy cowering in a corner of the room and hoping to god that she would not be noticed. She had already tried to flee, but the cage of interwoven wards prevented her from leaving. Getting too close caused the purple pictograms to flare, driving her back.  
Presumably they would also prevent the Messiah from escaping, not that she had tried. The pale girl-shaped monster was stoically defending herself,  
positioned in the exact centre of the cage, as far from any of the wards as possible. Her body flickered and shifted, moving too fast for Pluto to follow,  
evading the streams of purple flame that Chris directed from his perch of safety just outside the cage. Her dread blade, pale grey and floating, flashed around her in delicate arcs, parrying those attacks she was too slow to evade fully.  
"Come now, Hotaru, not even going to attempt to escape?" Chris said, his awful mutilated face smiling. "Of course, I did spend a great deal of time perfecting this technique. Do you know how hard it is to use the Orochi's energy to maintain holy spiritual wards? Especially ones I had to design to defeat not only your Oblivion-based powers, but also all your Sailor Senshi magic AND your vampire nature as well"  
"I am impressed," the Messiah replied. She stepped backwards as a jet of flame erupted from the ice at her feet, melting a hole. "But this won't help you, Chris," the Messiah's voice was full of... pity. Dylek caught a flame as it curled through the air to follow her.  
"Ah yes." Chris nodded, he floated outside the safety of the interlaced wards, his arms raised to both sides, gesturing and directing like a conductor as the flames flared out of the structure of the cage. "This is the part where you use your keen insight, your special acumen to see into my innermost self.  
This is where you disarm me with words, goad me into a fatal mistake by bringing up some terrible burning secret from my soul, is it not"  
"All things are weak and broken inside," the Messiah replied. "I merely give you the truth. You will not defeat me here, Chris"  
"I'm certain you believe that," Chris said with a chuckle. "But, Hotaru,  
I write my own destiny." And with that, he threw his arms up, his head tilting back as if to signal the crescendo.  
Up until then, there had been one or two blasts at a time. Suddenly,  
there were dozens. Pluto gasped and fell to the side, barely avoiding being cored through the middle by one. The Messiah merely smiled, and lowered her hands, a gesture of supplication. The flames flickered and flashed all around her, but none seemed to touch her at all.  
Then the fires went out, and Chris' plan was revealed. Where each line had been, there was now a strand of diamond-shaped wards, glowing purple in the twilight. With a series of hisses and cracks they wrapped around her, binding her in a dozen cords, pulling her body up and back into the air, lacing her wrists and ankles together and jerking them above and below her respectively until she was trussed up in mid air. A final cord snapped around her head,  
wrapping twice around her face and under her jaw, closing her mouth with an audible snap. Dylek was pulled away, ripped across the length of the chamber to become entwined among the lattice of the cage.  
"Some people are very confident and would want to test their debate skills with a person renowned for defeating people like you have," Chris noted,  
summoning a ball of fire in his hand and forming it into a lance. "I don't feel the need to prove anything.  
"Goodbye, Hotaru"  
Pluto held her breath. Chris pulled back his javelin, carefully aimed,  
and released in one smooth motion. The flaming projectile spun through the air,  
as inevitable as sunset. The Messiah did not even so much as twitch, her eyes merely looked up. For an instant, they were full of such... compassion. A deep overwhelming sadness filled the Messiah's bronze eyes, a sadness that ripped at Pluto's heart.  
Then the blast tore through her chest, ripping a hole through her entire body the size of a basketball. Pluto stared, her heart skipped a beat. Then she saw something, a flash of light reflecting off of something small.  
A crystal star, a multi-pointed star, the one on Hotaru's chest. It had been knocked through her body by the blast of hellflame but was miraculously unharmed. Pluto realised dimly that Chris couldn't see it, that it was flying through the air in the perfect place such that the only angle from which it would not be visible was his. Then the star flashed through the cage, propelled by Chris' own flame. There was an almost inaudible snap, and Pluto saw two ends of a severed cord begin to drift downward.  
The Messiah jerked, her eyes filling with pain and her mouth desperately trying to open for a scream, but the wards binding her held tight. Chris chuckled.  
"Of course, I could just burn you to ashes right here and now," Chris said. "But I really am interested in what you know, Hotaru. It's just that I don't HAVE to talk to you to learn everything you know." He smirked. "All I need is your head." He held up his hand again, summoning another javelin. "We'll just have to find out how much of you has to be destroyed before the remnants of your soul let go of what's left of your body"  
Pluto knew she should do something. She knew she should act. The wire cage behind Hotaru was unravelling. Pluto had never really studied mortal magics like this, but she knew that such wards were complex affairs. The slightest damage and the power could be lost. And if this cage was as complex as Chris claimed, it would only be more delicate, more fragile.  
It was falling apart. Chris released another blast, this one blowing a hole through the Messiah's hip. He was focused on the girl, not even noticing.  
Pluto could do any number of things to stop this. She could destroy the Messiah herself. Her magic would be enough to vapourise the girl's head, she knew that.  
Even without that, all she had to do was open her mouth, say something.  
She could stop it.  
But she didn't.  
God help her, she had no idea why, but she didn't.  
Chris was summoning a third javelin when the entire thing fell apart.  
The glowing ideograms on the wards first flickered, then died. It started behind Hotaru and swept through the entire structure like a wave. To his credit, Chris reacted quickly. His javelin was launched half-formed, and it expanded as it spun forward, becoming a ballista bolt the size of a small car. But it was too late. Dylek leapt free of its bonds and flashed in front of Hotaru. The bolt of hellflame winked out into nothing the moment it touched it.  
The Messiah sank to the floor slowly. Then with a snap she pulled her hands apart, rending the wards holding her. With a negligent flick of her arms she removed the rest. Chris, meanwhile, floated down to land on the remains of the floor. Dylek floated cautiously, keeping between them.  
"I did not say," the girl noted sadly, "that you could not defeat me,  
Chris. I said that you would not." As she spoke a thick black substance, the colour of dried blood, seeped from her wounds. It slowly permeated the holes in her, throbbing organically and filling the air with a sickening smell. Then the colour of the gore faded, until the Messiah stood once again, apparently whole and untouched.  
"Well, plan B, I suppose," Chris said with a unconcerned shrug.

OoOoO

The sound was what hit Akane first, a crack and rumble, like an avalanche. She looked up just in time to see something come flying through the ceiling of the hangar. The black ice blossomed out around it, a line of shimmering powder forming in the object's wake and the rest of the ceiling exploding downward in concentric waves. It looked like some bizarre flower,  
beautiful and bright.  
Rei was lifting her arms, drawing flame from the thin air, her mouth forming into a small O. The youma was cowering, throwing her hands up over her face. Akane just felt herself staring, her eyes following the progress of the thing sent plummeting through the ceiling.  
It was a girl, no older than fourteen. She wore a white uniform with large red crystals over her arms, shoulders and feet. There was a spear of ice,  
a shaft as thick as a telephone pole, lanced straight through her torso. She was smiling, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she was sent flying back into the giant Juraian treeship. The ship shuddered and rocked back as the girl hit it with enough force to knock it several meters sideways. The lance that had carried her smashed into the ship, burying itself into the alien armour like it was sliding into a block of soft butter.  
The ceiling was collapsing towards them. Rei was releasing a wave of flame, but it would not be nearly enough. The youma was scrambling to her feet,  
trying to run. Akane just continued staring at the girl. Her irises had narrowed to pinpricks and she laughed, a sound that was lost under the deadly roar of the falling ceiling.  
Then she looked at Akane. She whispered, and the words somehow reached Akane's ears.  
"This never happened"  
And it hadn't.  
Akane started, staggering back. She craned her neck, staring at the hangar. It was pristine. The ceiling was untouched. The Jurai ship was exactly as it had been, still moored in the same spot with not so much as a nick in its paint. Rei was lifting the youma woman up by the collar, her expression a mask of anger.  
"Rei, what"  
"In a moment, Akane," Rei snarled. "I have to convince the jerk hiding inside here to come out and talk to me"  
"No, Rei, did you SEE that?" Akane asked.  
"See what?" Rei turned to face her.  
"The girl and the ceiling exploding and the ship and..." Akane didn't know how to describe it. She could remember it, all of it. But it was like it had never happened. She remembered it the same way she remembered her father telling her ghost stories as a child. She remembered it the same way you remembered the plot to a good book you'd long since forgotten the actual words of. "Don't you remember?" Akane asked, her voice sounding more frightened than she wanted it to.  
"Akane..." Rei released Kairos and walked over to her. "Is there something wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost"  
"I... I might have..." Akane rubbed her temple. That girl in white, with her bronze skin and the strange triangle on her forehead. It was fading, like a dream. Akane grit her teeth and forced herself to grasp onto it. She had to remember, but remember what... "Rei. We have to go"  
"Go"  
"We have to go," Akane said quickly. "Before I forget. We have to go find that girl..." Akane tapped her wristband, calling up a map of the complex.  
If the angle she remembered was right the girl had come from... "Here. She has to be here. Or was here. Or"  
"Who are you talking about, Akane?" Rei frowned.  
"I don't know!" Akane snapped. She sighed. "I'm sorry, but it's important, Rei"  
"What about Touga? And Nanami?" Rei looked over her shoulder and noticed Kairos trying to sneak away. "Hey! Who said I was done with you?" A blast of flame in front of the youma stopped her in her tracks.  
"Rei..." Akane didn't want to say it. She had no idea how Rei would react. Rei had been living with Washuu for years. She trusted the woman. She was her friend. "Rei, if Washuu wanted Touga so badly she would have grabbed him herself. This is..." Akane frowned. "We're wasting time. Running around doing errands. But I saw something, Rei. I know where we have to go"  
"I'm not abandoning Nanami!" Rei snapped back.  
Akane looked at her, and nodded. "You're right. I'll go myself." Akane turned away, examining her hand. It was shaking. "But Rei... I... just ask yourself. Why didn't Washuu come with us to Ohtori? There's something here that doesn't feel right. I feel like I'm dancing to somebody else's tune again, and I gave that up seven years ago.  
"No. I saw something else. That girl, when she looked at me... I felt like my soul was shivering in terror. Every bit of me was afraid. Every instinct I have, every bit of me just wants to forget her. To give up. I'm so scared right now, I can barely breathe"  
Akane started walking, clenching her hand into a fist to stop the quaking. "Every instinct I have is telling me NOT to try finding out any more about that girl. That I'm asking for trouble. And you'd be right to accuse me of abandoning Nanami, of running off based on something I can barely even be certain was real. But I HAVE to.  
"Because something about this, about all of this is wrong. Fundamentally wrong. And I won't let this go until I know the truth"  
Akane was halfway to the entrance when she heard more than saw Rei fall into step beside her. Akane looked at the young women. Rei was frowning.  
"Understand, I'm just coming along because you're going to get yourself killed otherwise"  
Akane smiled. "Thanks."

OoOoO

"I don't suppose you'd just forget you saw me"  
"'Fraid not," Ranma said, shaking his head.  
Angel stood up slowly, patting dust off her legs. Then she reached down and grabbed the hilt of her sword. Ranma backed up a step and began to dance back and forth on his heels. He was looking forward to this. Maybe if he beat Angel quickly enough, he might be able to get Chris himself to come out and fight him.  
The tattoos on Angel's face blazed and Ranma started moving. He barely even saw her sword strike, but somehow his hand came up and there was a crack of metal on metal. Angel danced backwards, frowning.  
"Metal armguards?" she asked, sounding surprised.  
"Yeah, damn things are cold this far north, but I figured I'd be fighting you sooner or later." As he spoke Ranma came forward, his body uncoiling like a striking snake. Angel shifted sideways, dodging his first blow in a blur of motion. His second and third blows she had to deflect with the flat of her blade.  
"Guess that comes from the whole 'betrayal' thing?" Angel said, sounding bored. She turned with her last parry, spinning in a tight arc to deliver a high arcing slash.  
"Pretty much," Ranma said, stepping inside the arc of her swing. He rammed his forearm against her elbow, stopping her and smashing his shoulder into her back at the same time. She gasped and went flying back.  
Ranma saw the glow of her tattoos switch from her face to her stomach.  
She drilled into the building behind her, sending cracks up the side of it.  
Ranma shook his head and walked forward slowly. "You're faster than me, but doing fancy stuff like that just leaves you open for too long," Ranma pointed out.  
"I guess you're right," Angel said, getting up slowly. She wasn't even so much as winded. There was a smirk on her face. She reached out and placed her hand on the side of the building. Suddenly the light travelled down to her hips.  
"Or maybe I just wanted some room"  
Ranma raised an eyebrow as her fingers sunk into the wall and she lifted, almost negligently tearing the entire structure from its foundations.  
It was a huge spherical thing, all glittering and black, and must have been as big as a three-story house. She lifted it over her head with one hand, her other still clutching her blade.  
"Okay," Ranma said slowly. "I guess we take this up a notch"  
Everything happened at once. He charged, and she brought the building down. He snapped one arm up, his arm strained as the weight threatened to overwhelm him. He let his feet skid out from under him, turning his charge into a baseball slide. She leapt, her sword slashing out, and the entire building cracked in two.  
Then she was moving up and through the falling halves. He dug his fingers into the ice, creating ten tiny trenches as he came to a halt. Then he was backflipping, using his hands as a pivot. Like a gymnast. Ranma rotated in midair and landed on the shorn edge of the building just as it began to hit the ground. Angel was sliding backward along the opposite half of the building,  
using its edge like a rail.  
Ranma's feet seemed to vanish as he charged up the edge until he was level with her. Her blue eyes glittered as the tattoos around her face flashed gold. Then her blade started singing through the air. A pattern of strikes and parries, of swings and thrust and feints came in at him. His forearms spun and arced, catching those blows he could not avoid with a step right or left.  
They continued like this, both sliding along the edges of the building as it slowly fell apart, the bottom of it crashing into the rest of the black city. An exchange of blows at speeds that made the very air around them whirl and rip like the heart of the hurricane. Their eyes met, and Ranma allowed himself to smile.  
This was the most fun he'd had in days.  
Finally the building slid far enough apart that their attacks couldn't reach each other. Ranma leapt backwards as his perch began to shatter beneath him and Angel did likewise. They landed on ledges of the icy city, a distance of about four street lines dividing them. In between them the building completed the final moments of its spectacular crash.  
"Not bad, kid," Ranma shouted.  
"Kid? I'm only six years younger than you"  
"And you're five years too early to beat me," Ranma said, sticking his tongue out at her. Angel raised an eyebrow.  
"Can't you take this remotely seriously"  
Ranma thought about that for a moment. "Nah. Not really"  
Angel rolled her eyes.  
There was a heartbeat of silence between them.  
Then the ground nearby shattered as a giant black and grey mushroom erupted from the ice. Angel shifted, flashing sideways through the air towards it. Ranma followed her, and landed on the mushroom's cap a split second after she did. She twisted backwards, slashing twice with her sword and releasing clouds of spores from cuts in the fungus. Ranma went up, a perfect aerial somersault tucking his arms up to keep them from touching the toxic miasma. As he landed, Angel struck.  
He caught her blow on his bracer and was forced back. He was standing between the two clouds now as they slowly drifted together. Angel struck again,  
her blow coming in too fast for him to do anything but dodge. Clever girl,  
trying to force him to commit until the spores could get him.  
Ranma turned the tables by smashing a foot into the mushroom and sending a spray of the yellow dust geysering straight up at her. She cursed and backpedalled, spinning her blade so fast it knocked the spores aside with a gust of wind from its passage. Ranma copied her technique, snapping his body down and then thrusting both palms out with enough chi to create a powerful burst of aura that scattered the dust motes.  
Angel was already running, and Ranma followed her quickly. She leapt up,  
turning sideways and running along the side of a nearby wall. Ranma smirked and easily kept pace with her. She would run out of wall in a few meters, then either be forced to turn to face him or to dash out over a cliff that dropped of about a thousand feet and.  
And she was jumping out over the cliff. Ranma sighed. He could understand not wanting to fight him, but was a hundred story drop really that much more inviting? Grumbling, he followed.  
Only to discover that she was not apparently committing suicide. She spun at the last moment and her sword traced out, snapping off a section of the wall. A thick slab spun free and with a kick she propelled it under her. Still blurring with golden light, she planted both feet on the rotating slab and stabilised it. Just in time to hit the side of the cliff, which was actually just shy of a sheer drop.  
Promptly, she began skiing down it.  
Ranma landed on the side of the cliff, rolling himself into a ball. For a few dizzying moments he tumbled end over end, only barely in control. He was accelerating far too fast for his tastes, but if he tried to slow down he'd likely lose her.  
So instead he gritted his teeth and spun, moving with the momentum.  
Angel stared, wide-eyed, as he tumbled past her. Her skidding descent was throwing up a wake of powdering ice behind her, forming a v-shape around her body. But it was also slowing her down. Ranma easily shot past her, and once he did, he snapped his legs down.  
There was a great boom as his foot hit the side of the cliff with the force of a cannon shot. Great chunks of glassy ice snapped off, tumbling down into the abyss. But he stopped in place. In fact, he actually gained a few inches. Another mighty kick and another section of cliff wall flew off, and he was now moving upward. He didn't need any more strikes that powerful to stop him, but he let loose anyway.  
The chunks he cut loose tumbled free, smashing into the cliff again and again lower down. Even the supernaturally reinforced city could not take that and soon there was an avalanche of cascading black ice beneath him. He, however,  
was charging straight up at Angel.  
She glanced down at him, her lips pulling back from her teeth in a frustrated smile. Then she stopped trying to slow her descent and came straight down. They met with a crack like a thunderbolt. Sparks flew as her blade and his bracers collided again and again. But he got in two shots through the blur of her attack. One hit her side, forcing her feet off the board. The other caught her while she was stunned, rapping her hard against the back of the wrist with his knuckles. Her hand opened reflexively, and her sword floated free.  
She grabbed it with her free hand, but before her fingers could close on the hilt Ranma smacked the flat of it with the back of his forearm, sending it flying to her right. Her foot snapped out and up, kicking the thing on the reverse of the edge and spinning it up over her head, where she made another grab. Ranma drove his foot into her shin, sending her backwards.  
All that time, they had been in freefall, and at that point they caught up with the slightly slower avalanche. Angel's feet moved almost independent of thought, finding purchase on collapsing bits of ice, some no larger than a fingerwidth. She flipped and danced, Ranma just barely managing to keep up with her as the two continued to fight over the sword. It glittered and twirled,  
seeming to dance through the air, almost floating as their strikes and grabs kept pushing it around them.  
Their auras grew as they kept pushing more and more chi through their bodies. Angel's violent golden glow and Ranma's tranquil blue suddenly began to catch in the shower of ice around them. It caught the glow, refracting and reflecting it like a thousand prisms. Suddenly they were fighting in the centre of a sparkling rainbow, still plummeting down into the darkest depths of the underground city.  
Ranma's grin slowly faded. He had the edge here, but not by enough. Her speed was overwhelming and only grew with each passing heartbeat. The only reason she hadn't gotten the sword back already was because Ranma was simply that much better than her. He knew the ways of aerial fighting, of using the motions and strengths of his enemy against them, better than she did. But every moment she was closing the gap, not with skill but with sheer inhuman speed.  
Already there were times he couldn't even see her move, where she made three strikes and grabs in the time it took him to register even one.  
Ranma hated to admit it, but she was just better at his strengths than he was. Sure, he had trained more, but Angel belonged in the air. With the infinite power of her tattoos she could afford to just be faster, more buoyant,  
more mobile than he could. He needed to change the equation.  
Finally Angel made a mistake. A palm thrust hit him in the chest,  
pushing him above her and nearly emptying his lungs. The sword was spinning between them, out of reach of Ranma's arms, but within hers. But she had committed too much to the attack, too much speed for even her to bleed off her momentum quickly. She slipped forward and instead of grabbing it, her other hand smacked palm-first into the hilt and the sword rocketed upward, traveling high into the air. So high, that Ranma couldn't see it as it shrunk out of sight.  
Angel's eyes widened.  
Ranma almost laughed.  
Then he plummeted into her, rushing her in an unsophisticated tackle.  
She might have dodged, but her eyes narrowed and the light of her tattoos shifted from her face to her hips again. Air to Fire. Speed to strength. She was going to try to overpower him when he grappled.  
Ranma, however, had no intention of doing any such thing. He pulled his arms back at the last moment, and spun to her right, dancing upside down across a few pieces of falling ice. Then with a push of his heels he launched past her.  
She made a grab for him, but he was already too far beneath her. With a smile,  
he began running down the avalanche, using a few of the pieces of rubble to slow himself minutely as he went along.  
With a final roar the avalanche crashed into the bottom of the cliff.  
Ranma leapt up at the last second, defying physics for a few moments as he danced along the top of the destruction, untouched by it. He watched as Angel just plummeted straight into the cascade, the Earth chakra on her stomach glowing bright yellow.  
Ranma landed among the debris, panting and sweating. Fighting Ryouga earlier had pushed his limits, and this fight was pushing them even more.  
Thankfully, he only needed a few seconds to catch his second wind. The settling cloud of mist gave him that time, as it hid everything from sight. He muted his aura with an effort of will, just in case Angel might try something like a sneak attack. Not that he was too worried; the glow of her tattoos was like a beacon.  
She gave out a lot of chi like that, and even Ranma could follow her trail now.  
If she tried to run or sneak up on him while still using her magic crutch, he would know. If she didn't.  
Well, she wouldn't get far.  
The mist finally settled and Ranma turned as he saw Angel standing atop the rest of the rubble. She was also panting, her hair covered in a sheen of sweat. The chakra tattoos on her chest were glowing, and as Ranma watched, the bruises he had placed across her arms and legs were visibly fading. Ranma smirked and started towards her. She snapped up into a defensive stance,  
adjusting her tattoos to her face again.  
"So, wanna give up?" Ranma asked.  
"You know I won't," Angel snapped back. She reached down and removed the sheath of her sword, brandishing it like an impromptu blade.  
"I know. But I'm the good guy, we're obliged to ask," Ranma said,  
smirking.  
The fight this time was far more brutal. Ranma and Angel met, their strikes smashing against each other with enough force that the shockwaves sent the powdered ice flying in all directions. A hundred times a heartbeat they struck and were rebuffed, their feet shifting and sliding along the unstable rubble and slick fragments of razor-sharp ice.  
Ranma lost track of time. There was nothing he could do but concentrate on the fight. Attack turned into parry turned into riposte with a fluidity that baffled even Ranma. He found himself acting mostly on instinct, still struggling just to equal the girl's unnatural speed. He started parrying blows three or four moves before Angel even launched them. He was relying totally on his ability to guess ten strikes ahead. If he guessed wrong even once, he would likely lose.  
Thankfully, here on the ground, he had narrowed her options. While she could come at him from nearly any angle of above, behind, forward or the sides,  
he at least didn't have to worry about her getting beneath him. He steadfastly refused to engage her in the air, not unless she looked like she was going to try and retreat again. But Angel, it seemed, had resigned herself to this fight.  
A fight, he realised dimly, that he was winning. Oh, he wasn't wearing her down. Not really. He had yet to land another blow on her, and her energy supply was nearly infinite. No, he was winning because he was eating up the one thing that Angel did not have.  
Time.  
She was getting more and more desperate as time rolled on. Making more mistakes. At her speed, those mistakes had not yet translated into a sudden reversal, but Ranma knew it was only a matter of patience. He didn't have to fight to win, just fight to stall. Eventually, her own driving need to complete her mission, whatever that might be, would finish her off.  
Their eyes met over an exchange of blows, the air between them full of the flash and flicker of their fists. He saw his own face reflected in those blue eyes, and he saw her expression fall slightly as she understood. With a cry, she broke off, leaping ten meters back. Ranma hopped forward, halving the distance just so she wouldn't get the idea of trying to escape again.  
"Face it Angel, all I need to do is stall. YOU have to defeat me. I win by default"  
"That isn't very honourable," Angel grumbled.  
"Nah. It's okay. As Minako always tells me..." He paused and scratched his head. "Uh, forget it. She never told me anything that I ever actually understood anyway"  
Angel's eyes had been flickering across the rubble as they spoke. The sheath of her sword was cracked and beginning to bend under the strain. She must have been looking for a new weapon, something she could use against him. Then she took a deep breath.  
"Fine then," she said, closing her eyes for a fraction of a second. "One last round. Winner takes all, deal"  
"Sure, why not?" Ranma said, shrugging.  
Angel roared and lifted her hand, igniting her fire chakra again. Her fist smashed into the rubble and it exploded up around them both in a geyser.  
Ranma's hands blurred and deflected anything coming too close to him, as Angel rose up through the cloud.  
She kicked, sending a dozen huge thin slabs of ice falling towards him.  
Ranma turned sideways to dodge one and bent back to avoid the next, then snap rolled forward under the next two. He glanced at the ice. She was forming a wall around him. Great slabs of black ice, shining with an almost mirror sheen. Then Angel vanished.  
Ranma frowned. He could still feel her. The chi she put off was too much to miss, but his senses weren't accurate enough to pin her down like Ukyou or even Akira's might have been. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of white hair and black jacket. He lashed out, and his fist shattered a black mirror.  
"Ah. Clever," Ranma said. "But I watched Enter the Dragon like, fifty times when I was a kid"  
Ranma spun through the air, his fists and hands lashing out, crashing the nearby slabs of reflecting ice. Then one of the images grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward. Angel was suddenly in his face, her fire chakra burning. A wordless scream escaped her throat as she brought her sheath up at his head.  
Ranma dumped all his chi into his arm as he iron-arm blocked the attack.  
The sheath shattered, scattering fragments around him, one of which cut a line across his chest. His arm screamed in pain and he knew without a doubt that the bone had been broken. A clean break, he hoped. Without pausing he brought his broken arm, still thrumming with chi, up and into Angel's temple. He screamed, but she fell back, her eyes crossing and her body losing all sense of grace.  
He sucked in a deep breath as he slumped, allowing his arm to hang low like a heavy weight dragging him downward. He kept his chi focused on the arm,  
hoping that the life force would help minimise the damage. Angel, however, was barely able to stand. His blow had very nearly taken her head off. It had also very nearly shattered the bones in his arm to powder.  
Then Angel looked up, and smiled.  
Ranma had just enough time to blink before red hot pain lanced into his good shoulder. He screamed, staggering back. He stared. There was a sword,  
buried up to the hilt in his shoulder. It had gone straight through, coming out through his underarm. It was her sword.  
Angel was standing up, and Ranma stared at her, dumbfounded. She had.  
The sword had fallen all this way, and somehow she had KNOWN exactly where it would land. That was... that was nuts. She had planned that all along?  
Ranma watched in amazement as the golden glow on Angel's hips intensified and she stepped forward. With neither arm working, Ranma could do nothing to prevent her fist from crashing into his face like a sledgehammer. He was sent flying back, only barely aware of anything but the pain. He crashed into a wall, something that refused to give, and slumped forward.  
No... he wasn't going to let this happen! He was Ranma Saotome. Nobody beat him twice! He just needed a clever plan to defeat her with both arms crippled. While he was busy thinking of one, he slipped into comforting darkness.

OoOoO

"She doesn't want to be disturbed now," the woman told her forcefully.  
Minako frowned. The girl was taller than her by a good half foot. She had long brown hair, hard green eyes and rosebud earrings. She was also carrying a fencing sword on her hip. Not a foil or some other sport weapon, but a rapier with a long thin point that looked like it was meant to be used.  
Minako felt like she should know this woman. It tickled at the back of her mind. But it didn't seem important. What seemed important was getting into that room and talking with Usagi. And NOW.  
For some reason, on the walk over she had begun to feel... like she was walking down a tunnel. A dark tunnel with a very bright light at the end, but one that was getting narrower and narrower as she walked. But it was the only way to the light. She had to walk it. She felt... like she NEEDED to do it.  
"I need to get in there," Minako snarled. She wasn't certain where the anger was coming from, but she didn't really care either.  
"So you can yell at her again?" the woman snapped, crossing her arms under her ample chest. "I don't think so. You have no idea what it's been like for her. What she had to do..." The words were right, but there was something off about the girl's argument. Her words were full of conviction, but it felt.  
false.  
"Perhaps we can wait until anoth-" Skullo began, but Minako cut him off with a glare. He meekly slid back.  
"I AM going in there to see Usagi," Minako informed the brunette.  
"Not if I have anything to say about it," the brunette replied.  
"As a matter of fact, you don't," Minako said, allowing her power to build up a little bit. It wasn't anything blatant, but her armour started to shine a little bit more and her hair began to shimmer in a light that hadn't been there before. The building they were in was a broken-down dorm just off campus, with barely any electricity and most of the furniture covered in ghostly sheets. "Now, are you going to step aside, or do I move you"  
The woman stiffened, and her hand clenched for... Minako blinked. She hadn't reached for her sword, instead she had tried to grab something with the other hand. Like she was reaching for something that wasn't there. The motion had been oddly familiar to Minako. Like she did it herself a great deal. But whatever she had reached for wasn't there.  
The realisation of this seemed to hit the woman hard. Her expression went from angry to sad in a heartbeat. It was like she had lost something,  
something precious and wonderful. Minako felt her own anger draining away.  
Suddenly those green eyes were fragile, not hard. Suddenly she wanted to comfort this girl.  
But she didn't. Instead she pushed aside the suddenly unresisting woman.  
"Come on, Skullo. Time for our audience"  
"Oh, right! Of course!" Skullo replied, allowing himself to be led by the wrist as Minako pushed open the door and walked into the little dorm room.  
"I do hope that... oh my"  
Minako stared.  
Usagi was naked, covered only in a single bedsheet which just barely managed to keep her decent. The man in bed with her was also naked, and making no such effort to conceal it. He was also the most beautiful man she had ever seen. If an angel had fallen from heaven and landed on earth, he would look like this man. He had a perfect face and slim muscular chest, well-toned arms and legs and piercing but unchallenging eyes. His purple hair fell around him in a halo. He was smiling.  
It was wicked. Minako had never been quite certain what that word meant until she saw that smile. It was a wicked smile, and there was no other suitable way to describe it.  
Usagi had risen to her feet, clutching her blanket around her. "What are you doing?" she demanded.  
"I..." Minako faltered for a moment. What was she doing? She was barging in on Usagi and her boyfriend... who Minako was certainly not sneaking peeks at out of the corner of her eye. She had a perfectly good boyfriend... who didn't have purple hair or quite the same.  
"Get out of here." If the words had been said in embarrassment, or even anger or any other way, Minako would have obeyed without question. But the words were imperious. They did not demand to be obeyed, they EXPECTED it. Minako felt the anger rushing back in. It was like something outside of her just filled her body with rage.  
"No," she snapped. "You can dally with your pretty-boy later. Right now,  
I need to talk to you"  
Usagi's eyes hardened a bit, but then they softened. She sighed and let her blanket drop. Minako heard Skullomania yelp but he need not have worried. As the blanket fell Usagi was suddenly wearing her silver and gold-etched armour.  
She looked at the man on the bed apologetically, then stepped outside, gesturing for Minako to follow.  
The man on the bed just smiled at Minako. He was smiling as if he was in complete control. Minako turned her back to him and deliberately walked out.  
"...I tried to stop her"  
"There, it's not your fault, Makoto." Usagi brushed her hand along the other girl's cheek. Minako realised she was brushing away the woman's tears. "It isn't your fault. Besides, I don't need you to protect me. Go home"  
"But... I need to..." Makoto twisted her hands inside each other.  
"I thought we agreed, Makoto. You don't need to protect me anymore. I can save myself. Go. Be with the person you love." Usagi smiled. "I didn't go through all the trouble of setting you up just so you could leave her lonely"  
Makoto's face twitched once, then she smiled and turned, walking away.  
Minako frowned, watching her leave.  
"Walk with me, Minako," Usagi invited, and started out of the building.  
Minako looked back at Skullo, who looked out of his depth. She gestured for him to follow, which he did reluctantly.  
"You hurt Makoto's feelings," Usagi chided once they were outside.  
"That woman?" Minako frowned.  
"Yes." Usagi paused, then made up her mind about something and continued. "She was just like you, once. She was a Sailor Senshi, a warrior of love and justice." Minako stared. "She wanted to fight. To struggle and battle for peace. She was very good at it, as well. She had a talent for fighting. She wanted to leave, to go into the outside world and fight evil just like you were.  
"She just didn't understand," Usagi completed sadly.  
"You stopped her?" Minako asked sharply.  
"Stopped? Please, you make it sound like I forced her to stay," Usagi looked vaguely offended. "No, I just made her understand. I showed her why I was right and she was wrong. Why her way, why YOUR way can never win"  
"My way?" They were entering the city now. The people stared, with love for their Princess, with hate for the Judas who opposed her.  
"All this pointless struggle, all this needless, endless HATE..." Usagi bit off the last word. "Do you think it will really matter, in the end? You kill and you kill and you kill, and what have you accomplished in the end? You save one life that will be in danger again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next"  
"That's one more day they wouldn't have lived otherwise!" Minako shot back.  
Usagi nodded, accepting that. "And do you think that makes you a hero,  
Minako? Do you think that makes you anything but a killer?" Minako had no reply to that. "Akane was so caught up in fighting evil that she destroyed the thing that had protected this paradise. She was so obsessed with the good fight that she lost sight of all the lives she placed in danger. SHE is as responsible for this carnage as Chronos is. Is that what you want to end up like, Minako"  
"No..." Minako wasn't certain if she was agreeing or denying.  
"I understand why you're so angry, why you hurt so much. Because you think this war can't be won. You think that we can't save the world. That all we can do is fight off the end one day at a time"  
"Yes..." Minako looked at her, clenching her fists. "That's it exactly.  
Evil exists, Usagi. I've seen it in the hearts of good men and bad. I've seen monsters who look like children, and saints who look like things out of your nightmares. This isn't a WAR we can fight, Usagi. It isn't something we can win,  
or lose. It's just LIFE. It just IS"  
"Listen to yourself, Minako..." Usagi said sadly. "You've lost hope"  
"No... I found hope!" Minako roared back. How DARE she question Minako's dedication? "After what happened to my family, I lost hope then. But I found it again. I found it again because I realised that no matter how many monsters I slay, it will NEVER be enough. That if I drive myself towards an unattainable goal, all I'll do is drive myself crazy! I've found hope.  
"Hope is one child who will live to see tomorrow. Hope is watching the sunrise. Hope is the heartfelt thanks of the people you save today, this moment.  
Hope is what we do now, here"  
Usagi looked at her with such pity, such sadness that Minako felt her words had become dust. "I don't blame you for feeling that way," Usagi said.  
"Because you're right. You cannot win this war"  
Minako looked around suddenly. They had entered the graveyard. The makeshift graves of all those killed in the battle. Minako felt a shiver run up her spine.  
"So you agree"  
"Agree? No." Usagi quickened her pace. They came to the top of the hill and there they found a man in front of one of the makeshift graves. He wore black, and he was bowed over the grave, his forehead pressed against the wooden cross. "Mamoru, would you step away from there for a moment"  
"What?" Mamoru looked up. He was handsome, in his own way, but his face was dark with sorrow. "Princess... of course..." He stepped away from the grave,  
looking confused.  
"Look, Minako." Usagi gestured and a small crystal appeared in her palm.  
Minako's throat caught and her heart skipped a beat. "YOU can not win this war.  
But I can"  
Usagi raised the Silver Crystal above her head, and the world was filled with light. Minako felt it flow through her, and she fell to her knees and wept.  
It was glory. It was awe. It was pure. She had never felt it before, but she had no doubt: this was the glow of everything that was good and true in the universe. This was the shine of all things warm and beautiful. It was the light of hope.  
When the light vanished Minako could only hold herself and sob. Usagi was also on her knees, breathing hard, sweat on her forehead. She looked like she had just run halfway across Asia and back. Mamoru was staring in astonishment, staring at the young woman lying on the ground before the grave marker. She was beautiful; lithe and trim, with short blue hair. She was naked, and she took a deep breath... then Mamoru was suddenly holding her,  
blocking out anything from view.  
It wasn't anything crass. He was crying, sobbing in pure joy. He was clutching the woman to his chest. "Marz... Marz... oh thank you... thank god.  
never leave me again... never..." he was murmuring.  
"Mamoru dear?" Marz said, her voice drowsy. "Where are we... I... I was somewhere else"  
"Shush," he pulled back, smiling. The sorrow had vanished, replaced with a warm, grateful smile. He brushed her face with his thumb. "You're alive.  
You're with me. That's all that matters"  
"I..." She seemed like she was going to say something. But then she leaned in, placing her head against his chest. "Yes. You're right"  
"A miracle..." Skullomania breathed.  
"Th-thank you..." Mamoru said to Usagi, his voice cracking. She smiled at him.  
Minako took a deep breath, and slowly rose to her feet. She steeled herself. "I'm supposed to be impressed"  
All three looked at her in shock. Minako clenched her fists and stared at them all. "Is this it, Usagi? Your great argument? This"  
"I think you don't"  
"This is a parlour trick!" Minako cut her off. "You think this will save the world. One life? ONE LIFE? Is that it, Usagi? Is this your argument as to why I should trust you, why I should just surrender the struggle and let you do as you please"  
Usagi's eyes hardened. "I wanted to show you how meaningless the deaths you fight to prevent are"  
Minako stood there, stunned. Then her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean"  
"You don't know what I've been trying to attain here, Minako," Usagi said. "I'm not after temporal power. Fighting Chronos, fighting Millennium,  
fighting Shadowloo or the Dark Kingdom or Galaxia? Meaningless. Because evil will always exist." Usagi looked away, towards the setting sun. "Unless I make it not exist. Unless I change the world"  
"Change the world?" Minako asked slowly.  
"The power of miracles. The power to revolutionise the world. The power of Dios. The eternal thing. The shining thing. The ultimate force. The Third Circle. Call it what you will, but it's all the same thing." She turned to Minako again. "The power to change the world. Not just fight it, not just live in it. Not just change a little piece here or there. The power to change the world, the UNIVERSE. To declare that up is blue or space is time or that evil does not exist. The power to reforge the world into something better, cleaner,  
purer. Without sin or hate or killing"  
"That's impossible," Minako breathed.  
"No, it's not." Usagi looked at her. "I've seen it. The Rose Gate. The barrier behind which it is sealed. I've seen the artifacts of that power. And you have, too"  
"What"  
"Anthy's eternal torment. Your powers' ability to destroy undead. Not even I am so anathema to them as you are. It is a relic of God. The Third Circle touched you and remade all reality so that you could be a vampire killer." Usagi held up her hand, the crystal in it. "And you've met Ukyou. You KNOW what her power is like. How it saved you from the brink of death. You FELT it touch you"  
Minako started. How had Usagi know about that?  
"That is why I brought you here, Minako," Usagi said formally. "Because you have been twice touched by the Third Circle. You, more than any other person save Ukyou or Chris, have been altered by the power of God. The power to save the world from evil, forever.  
"I had hoped that your loyalty to me, to my cause, to my memory from your past life... that it would be enough to convince you. That you would be willing to give me what I need"  
"What do you need from me?" Minako asked.  
"I need that power, Minako." Usagi held out her hand. "I need a sword with which to cleave the barrier of infinity, and only yours will do"  
Minako stared, her heart beating. Sweat ran down her brow. "And if I refuse"  
"Then I will have to find another way," Usagi said sadly.  
"Then no," Minako growled. "I won't give up... give up what is a part of me. I want to keep fighting. I won't let you do this alone"  
"In the end, we can only do this alone," Usagi said.  
"Listen to yourself, Usagi," Minako snapped. "You're sounding insane.  
The power to change the world? A fairy tale! You can't do it, Usagi!" Minako snapped her hand down sharply. "You can't just wish away the problems of the world! Trust me, I know someone who tried and they'll tell you how hollow wishes are"  
"I can save the world," Usagi returned, not accusing, just certain.  
"You're just telling yourself that," Minako shouted. "You just want an excuse to lay in your bed and fuck a man more evil than"  
"Than what?" Usagi snapped. "More evil than what? Than you?" Usagi flicked her hair to the side. "Akio is evil, but even he hasn't killed as many people as you have, Minako." Then she paused. "And in the end, I will fix him. I will redeem him. I will change the world so he and his sister can be saved just like everyone else"  
"No, you won't!" Minako roared. "You'll fail! And you'll drag down everyone else with you. You'll destroy the world, watch it die by inches,  
because you want to save it all at once"  
"You should understand!" Usagi roared back. "You should believe in me"  
"What? Because I'm a Senshi?" Minako shook her head. "Sorry, Usagi. It doesn't work like that. I'm not your puppet. I will believe in my own dream"  
"You HAVE to help me!" Usagi pleaded, suddenly looking sad again. "We're running out of time, Minako. I can't fight Chronos forever. I CAN'T. I need what you have, to ascend"  
"You'll never have it, Usagi, because it's not mine to give," Minako insisted. "It belongs to every person who has ever died because I was too slow,  
too weak to save them. It belongs to their memories. It is the thing that keeps me going, that makes me keep fighting for each single precious life!" Minako swept her hand across the graveyard. "THEY are the ones who own my power, Usagi.  
And until they tell me to turn it over to you... I will never stop fighting"  
Usagi looked at her, her expression hard. "So be it." She raised her hand into the air. The crystal gleamed. Was she going to... But just returning one person had almost killed her!  
"Serenity, no!" It was Luna, she and Artemis must have followed them.  
Luna was standing on a gravestone and shouting. "You mustn't! That much stress will kill you"  
"I have to," Usagi said, the glow in her crystal beginning to shine brighter.  
"Stop this!" Skullomania said, suddenly grabbing Minako. "Tell her to stop this! We can't... that light... we can't lose that light!" Minako just stared at him, opening and closing her mouth soundlessly. She should do something, she realised dimly.  
"Serenity!" Mamoru shouted, trying to stand up, getting ready to tackle her. Then the blue-haired girl, Marz, grabbed him and dragged him to the ground.  
"NO!" she shouted. "You can't interfere, Mamoru"  
"Princess! You have to stop before it's too late!" Luna pleaded.  
"No." Usagi frowned. "I HAVE to do this. If this is what it takes... let them live. Let them all LIVE"  
Minako felt something wrench inside her. She toppled to her knees again.  
She gasped. The light exploded outward, so bright that nothing could be seen.  
Nothing except her. Usagi, Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity... outlined in white,  
her armour looking thin and fragile over the body of a little girl. A little girl defying the very nature of the world. She was screaming; a wordless,  
meaningless scream of pain. It was too much. It was too much power. The universe would not give up its hold on the dead so easily.  
Minako tried to stand, to do something. She had to stop this. She would do anything to stop this. Anything but watch this good, but misguided, woman throw her life away over a point of personal philosophy. This was never what Minako had wanted! She had wanted to make Usagi do something, but not like this!  
Never like this.  
Usagi was crumbling, falling over. Her body was beginning to split apart from the inside out. There was too much power. She would die. Minako reached out her hand.  
And the world CHANGED.  
There was no other way to describe it. You just suddenly knew that the entire world, the entire universe was different now. The light winked out.  
Minako blinked. Usagi stood in the graveyard, unharmed, not even so much as tired. She was looking up at the sky, a cheerful smile on her face.  
"I understand now," she said to no one. Then she gestured, and her crystal pegasus appeared from thin air. She slid up onto it. The sun had set,  
but she was bathed in the moonlight.  
"Wait... where are you going?" Minako asked.  
"To fix things," Usagi told her. Then she turned on her horse and went north, galloping at first but the pegasus's wings soon carried her into the air.  
She flew north until she was out of Minako's sight. She flew north and left her,  
and hundreds of confused, joyous people that had been dead moments ago stared after her in wonder.

OoOoO

It was just like seven years ago. He was moving like a man possessed,  
dodging and striking in a poetic economy of motion. His blazing green aura roared and snapped around him; the colour darker, more violent than the briar patch that had erupted around him. Just like seven years ago, he was constantly moving, because wherever he set down became a field of death. Thick vines and clouds of toxic gas came in from every direction.  
Wherever his fists went, there was nothing but destruction. His blows tore tree-trunk-thick vines in two, his hand crushed insects and pods and all manner of things. Once, a great cloud of insects had swept in on him, but his aura had exploded out around him like a miniature nova, crushing the tiny things against the walls and ceiling of the tunnel.  
But he was fighting a losing battle, and Nabiki knew it. In terms of speed, strength, agility and skill Ryouga outclassed any one thing that Link sent against him. But Link had a seemingly endless supply of suicidally loyal servants she could throw against him. Even that might not have been enough.  
Ryouga was much stronger now than he had ever been while travelling with Nabiki.  
He was strong enough to shatter this entire structure, to bring down most of the city in his rage. With his aura alone he could devastate entire city blocks, shatter whole buildings if that was his wish. But Ryouga was holding back.  
In seven years, Ryouga had not learned the fine control, the precision power of Ranma or Akira. He was a weapon of mass destruction, and his preferred tactic was to throw all his power at his opponent and save nothing for defence.  
After all, why did he have to worry about tactics? He was the man who could not die. But now, he was holding back, not striking out with his full power.  
Because of Nabiki. Nabiki knelt on the floor, staring up at him. The battle had shifted and moved while she watched and now it was taking place in the shattered remains of the city above them. Link's toxic jungle was rapidly eating up the few remaining safe areas for Ryouga, forcing him further and further away. Nabiki had seen Ryouga's face when he realised this. She had seen him draw up his hand, begin to gather his power for his most devastating attack,  
the Suicide Blast that would cut through anything Link had like a hot knife through butter.  
But he had hesitated, and nearly lost. The swarm of insects had come in again, sensing his aura concentrating in his hands. He had just barely managed to push them away with another pulse of his terrifyingly powerful chi. Nabiki had distinctly heard Link's sigh of relief. She had heard it for the same reason Nabiki was certain Ryouga had held back his attack, because Link was standing less than a meter away.  
Oh, not that Link was being stupid. She was holding the Wishing Sword in her right hand, while making certain to keep her left facing towards Nabiki.  
Also, even if Nabiki had been quick enough to reach it she would have to first go through the cage Link had grown around her with vines that conducted, of all things, electricity. Even if Nabiki had been able to get through that, there was the bed of soft red sporepods she was kneeling on, that had a tendency to expel a cloud of sleep-inducing pollen if Nabiki moved.  
"I have to admit, when I first saw Ryouga I was worried," Link said; a tiny creature crawled out of her long hair and began to remove the sweat from her forehead one drop at a time with its tiny proboscis. "God works through coincidence and his arrival was certainly coincidental, considering you can no longer lead him around like a dog." Link shrugged. "But now that I seem to have the situation well in hand, it just confirms my suspicion.  
"Your part in the tale God is weaving is finished," Link finished, her mouth setting in a thin line.  
Above them, Ryouga roared and pulled free of a pair of vines that had wrapped around his shoulders. His fist sunk into a large venus-flytrap-like mouth and a second later it exploded outward in a spray of green and black ichor.  
"You haven't beaten him yet," Nabiki pointed out lamely. She wanted to say something witty, something scathing and memorable, but she couldn't. She could barely even focus on Link's voice. Her eyes had not left Ryouga and his battle. She felt her heart beating faster, her mouth drying as he struggled against the jungle.  
"Oh, are you hoping the tide is going to turn?" Link shook her head.  
"That someone is going to rescue you? No, I'm afraid that any of the... few people that care enough to come for you are quite occupied at the moment." She chuckled. "Or are you merely hoping that I'll make..." She paused, as if the next words tasted bitter in her mouth. "An unsound tactical decision? Some idiot's mistake?" She frowned. "Like forgetting about some of his abilities, or using the same strategy twice just because it worked the first time or merely assuming he's harmless even though he's still fighting?  
"No, I'm quite certain I won't get to kill Ryouga, or even utterly defeat him," Link crossed her arms. "But I don't need to. All that is necessary is that I make certain he can't follow me quickly enough. Without your guidance,  
he'll never find me again"  
Now Nabiki could see it, driving him further and further away. Link wasn't actually trying to harm Ryouga, just drive him back. Far enough that she'd be able to take Nabiki and run? Or was she going to even bother? Nabiki felt her blood run cold.  
She had faced the possibility of her own death a number of times, far more often than she wished. In fact, she had been in far worse situations than even this. She still thought the moment that she would relive in her nightmares forever would be when Bison finally decided to show her what a real psychic could do.  
No, really, it was a wonder she was still alive. Link had everything she wanted. She had the sword. Why bother tormenting Nabiki, why even risk letting someone like Ryouga show up? As the question formed in her mind, Nabiki felt a good portion of her fear evaporate. It was not so much that she wasn't certain she could die at any moment, but now she knew there was something else going on here.  
Nabiki was careful here. She kept her voice soft, pleading. She had always been good at suckering people. In fact, she had often wondered why she kept her old skills polished at all, considering how much easier her telepathy had made her life. But now, she was grateful she'd never lost track of her mundane tricks. "But... but why... why are you doing this, Link"  
Link sneered. "You mean aside from Chris asking me to kill you"  
"But..." Nabiki took a deep, exhausted breath. "But you and I both know,  
you're not working for Chris any more than I am"  
Link paused. Her eyes narrowed and she looked down at the Wishing Sword.  
Nabiki noticed that her thumb was resting against the edge, hard enough that a few drops of blood had run down the blade, dripping from the tip onto the ground. Slowly, ever so slowly, she raised her head and her eyes came to rest on Nabiki. Nabiki wanted dearly, at that second to know what Link was thinking.  
More than she had ever wanted to know what someone was thinking before. And Link knew it. You could see it in her eyes. The way the edges of her lips kept trying to smile, but not quite managing it. Link was so used to frowning that for her a smile was a wholly artificial expression, one she only put on with deliberate irony. Now, now her face was trying to smile by itself for perhaps the first time ever.  
"At first I was wondering whether the power in this sword was tied to your life force, or something like that," Link explained laconically. "But... as it turns out, it's not." She quite deliberately turned her attention back to Ryouga. He was getting slowly further away. The area around him was a devastated wasteland, but still the rising jungle forced him back. "So what were you asking... oh, yes. I see nothing wrong with following Chris' orders, so long as they coincide with my own interests"  
It took Nabiki only an instant to realise that Link was not going to offer any more information. True, she had answered the question, but she was holding back more, and both of them knew it. Link wanted Nabiki to ask. She was enjoying it, she was savouring it the way a sommelier would a fine French wine.  
A few years ago... heck, a few weeks ago Nabiki might very well have refused.  
But Nabiki swallowed her pride with surprising ease.  
"So, why torment me like this?" Nabiki managed to keep her voice sounding defeated and tired. "Why waste all this time talking to me, forcing me to watch all of this and keeping me helpless? We both know you could probably kill me and escape Ryouga"  
"Why? Because I can't torture you to death physically. No, don't bother asking why that is. I have my reasons, and it was never really my... passion anyway." Link shook her head. "But I factored a certain amount of time for letting you come to grips with just how utterly I've beaten you, before the end"  
"I wasn't even aware I was your enemy," Nabiki said softly.  
"Oh please. You have every reason to hate and fear me, Nabiki. I've been a thorn in your side for years. Working around your powers, showing you up every now and then. Tweaking your nose when you got too full of yourself." Link chuckled. "Granted, the reason you hate and fear me is because of how much I hate you. Because until I started making your life hell, you'd never even have remembered my name.  
"But why?" snapped Nabiki, some of the frustration in her voice real.  
"What have I ever done to you"  
"You've done nothing to me. It's what you ARE," Link said softly, giving her a sidelong glance. "Look at you. Queen of the underworld, isn't that what they call you? The world's greatest broker of information. And, of course, so powerful a psychic. Some would think my defeating you here to be a far more impressive feat than if I'd destroyed Hotaru... more fools they. But what did you do to earn any of this? Nothing!" She waved her hand dismissively before Nabiki could respond. "Oh, yes, you expended effort in building up your little operation, and you've been earning your keep with Ukyou. But you miss the point.  
What did you do to DESERVE your exalted place in this company? What effort did you expend to become the mighty power in the world you are? You were lucky. You were in the right place at the right time to be so very angry at Ukyou for turning your petty, meaningless little world upside down that you determined you had to play with the big boys. And then everything fell into your lap. Ryouga,  
for instance. And that sword"  
"I took a bullet for this sword," Nabiki reminded her coolly.  
"I've taken far worse than that for far less reward," Link sneered. "But don't mistake me. It's not just that you have such power, such... importance,  
that makes me despise you. Plenty of people are like you. The chosen ones. But you... you're special"  
Link turned for a moment, raising her arm to direct some aspect of the battle. Nabiki strained to see, but Link blocked her view. Just another petty little bit of revenge, she groused, sinking back and then coughing slightly as even that tiny movement released more spores. Finally, the woman faced her again, and this time the good humour had evaporated from her face.  
"You're the one, the ONLY one that could take everything away from me"  
Link hissed. "Seven years of work, of effort, of research and induction and discovery... of practical prostitution to that undead bastard! Relying on HIM for power, for protection, for access to sources I'd never get near because I just wasn't lucky enough for Ukyou to be a fan of me! And you could take it all away. Only you." She clasped her arms tightly around herself, still careful to hold the sword nowhere near Nabiki's cage. "This is only the second time we've met. The first time, you hadn't made any wish. Until now, until I'd made sure you were helpless, at any time since then you could have reached into my mind.  
You could have taken everything I know, everything I've worked for." She stared downwards. "Power is meaningless. You were far more powerful than me. So is Ryouga. It means nothing, as you can see. The only thing that defines us as who we are is the roles we play. The only way I can define myself is by my knowledge. The things I know that nobody else knows! The secrets of Chris and Ukyou and what brought them here." Her head snapped up, eyes boring into Nabiki with feverish intensity. "Right now, Chris is fighting Hotaru. Ukyou will be fighting as well. Who, I can't say. Maybe Angel, or Tethys, or that damn monstrosity Chris created. But I do know what will happen. Only me." She paused,  
then grimaced. "Well, perhaps not only me. Only five people know more than me about this universe right now. But by the end of all this, there will be fewer than that. And none of them know the things I know." She caressed the Wishing Sword absently; at some point, her hand had been healed and the blood removed.  
"So do you understand why, Nabiki? You could have taken that away. In a heartbeat, in a flash, you could have ripped my secrets from me and told them to Ukyou, told them to anybody. Other people could merely kill me. But only you could take away everything that makes me REAL. I'll never let you do that"  
She crouched beside Nabiki, still holding the sword away from her. "And you never will. Even if I have to escape, I'll kill you first. Even if I cannot,  
the toxic miasma of this jungle will kill you once I stop holding it off. Even if it does not, that shard of crystal will kill you in a few hours. Should you actually succeed in removing it by force, it will kill you in so doing. In the end, Nabiki, you're just a frail human being, just like you were seven years ago. Killing you is so extraordinarily easy that you can rest assured that only God's grace has kept you around this long"  
"If God likes me so much, he's had a rotten way of showing it so far"  
Nabiki said wryly. Despite the seeming madness of Link's words, her rant had been oddly compelling. Maybe that was how Mussolini - or Bison - had gotten people to follow them, by being so convinced of what they said that they could even convince you.  
Link's lip curled derisively. "You have no idea how extraordinarily blessed you have been. No idea at all. But as cathartic as this is, the time for it has come to an end." Straightening, she drew aside with a swirl of her forest-green robes.  
Nabiki stared. Ryouga wasn't getting further away anymore. The bright glow that surrounded him had intensified, and he was charging. No more did he bother to knock things aside; instead, he simply destroyed them with main force.  
Slowly, deliberately, he was advancing towards the great plant that was Link's pavilion. This cost him - even at this distance, Nabiki could see blood staining his clothing. Once, briefly, he stumbled. But a moment later, with a renewed flare of power, he continued his inexorable advance.  
"He finally figured out my plan," Link mused. "Took him long enough.  
Dolt. But I still had no intention of leaving him at my back. That would be an idiot's mistake." She turned to Nabiki again. "Incidentally, Nabiki, you haven't by any chance become a vampire while I haven't been looking, have you"  
Nabiki blinked, tearing her eyes away from Ryouga. "Vampire"  
"I didn't think so"  
And suddenly three golden insects flew from Link's voluminous sleeves.  
Nabiki didn't even have time to draw back before they skimmed through the 'bars'  
of the plant-cage. One latched onto each arm, one to the back of her neck.  
Nabiki reached up to try and swat the last one off, but suddenly they yanked her forward with incredible speed and power for such tiny insects. Directly into the electrified bars.  
Nabiki's vision returned as the sound of her scream reached her ears.  
She slumped forward. Her heart hurt. Her face was pressed into the tough vines,  
and the flesh pressed against them felt burned. The electricity, however, had stopped arcing into her. And as she looked up, a fist was hurtling towards her face.  
This time she didn't black out briefly, but did cry out again as she fell back into the soft blossoms. Spores erupted around her, and she couldn't help but breathe some in. Coughing, she tried to rise again, but her vision swam and her muscles alternately spasmed and burned. There was blood on her face, and she vaguely wondered if her nose was broken.  
"I imagine that will do," Link said with satisfaction. "Ah, yes. Look at that. I once read that Ryouga Hibiki would do anything for a woman who showed him the slightest hint of affection. Clearly, a more accurate word would have been 'attention"  
Nabiki managed to focus through the drowsiness and confusion, She could see Ryouga: he was no longer just pushing forward, he was charging, he was screaming. His aura was blasting out in front of him as he ripped and shattered anything in front of him with berserk strength. But he had given up all thought of defence. A vine slashed past him, sinking its thorns into his arm. He ripped it apart, but the thing still clung to him tenaciously, rivers of blood pouring down his body. Link sighed.  
"Ah, I suppose it was too much to hope the same drug would effect him twice. Remarkably adaptive, but not nearly enough." Link gestured. "Watch"  
Nabiki could see it, but there was no way Ryouga could. They were hidden behind a pair of giant toadstools that Ryouga was running between without a care. He was busy ripping apart a swarm of bug-like creatures, one of them with his teeth. Thus he didn't notice when four vines snaked out, catching his wrists and ankles in neat little loops.  
Then everything around him died, all at once. It just turned black, and rapidly dissolved into black dust that blew away on the wind. Half the toxic jungle, gone in the time it took Nabiki to blink. Ryouga was left suspended in mid-air, his arms and legs still caught in the strange blue-green vines. He growled and yanked with one arm, but the vine merely stretched, and he yelped as his other arm was pulled back just a violently. He blinked, then slowly tried to pull his arms together; however, Nabiki could see what Link had done.  
His own strength was working against him. The vines effortlessly transferred the force across each other; if he pulled in one direction, he would be pulled in the other just as strongly. Maybe if Ryouga had been more clever,  
more skilled, or even just less furious and able to think clearer he could have escaped, but he was not and he would not.  
Nabiki wanted to cry. She should have warned him, but she couldn't. She could barely breathe. Her every muscle was on fire. Her system was full of who knew what toxins. Her nose was broken. She was trapped. Trapped like a rat.  
Link gestured and then rose up into the air, supported by a mound of thorny vines. She raised one hand and one of her creatures made a small incision on her thumb. She was going to use her blood. Of course, Ryouga had adapted to her second-hand poison, but Link would have other tricks.  
Nabiki rose up, and the cage she was in suddenly filled with spores. She clamped her mouth shut and pinched her nose. Oh fuck, she'd forgotten it was broken. Unable to contain her gasp she breathed in a cloud of spores. Her vision was darkening. She wouldn't even see it. She had come all this way, fought all this time to save Ryouga, save Ryouga from the path SHE had set him on. She had to make up to him for what she had done, and he was going to die. Or worse.  
Because of her. Link would torment him because Nabiki cared about him.  
He would suffer again because of Nabiki. No. Not again. He had saved her, saved her more times than she wanted to count. It was her turn. She was sick of being afraid. She was sick of failing.  
She reached out with her mind. The pain was immediate, all-encompassing.  
It blocked out all thought. It also drove the sleepiness from her mind. She focused, kept the power going. Somehow, she got her body moving. She walked forward and touched the bars. They flashed blue. The skin on her hand sizzled.  
She couldn't feel it, not above the pain in her head.  
With a wordless, noiseless scream she tore the bar apart. She had no idea how. She didn't care. She staggered forward. Her legs gave out. They wouldn't move. The pain, for a moment she'd let her concentration slip and the pain just changed. Her arms were twitching, her heart fluttering. For a moment,  
she felt it stop. Then she bit her lip, focused her power again. The feedback was intense, it blocked out the other pains. She crawled forward.  
There was no room for thought. No room for a plan. She had no hope for what she was going to accomplish. She just moved. She had to get to him. She had to save him. Even if it cost her everything.  
If someone had seen her, they might have gaped at the insane grin on her face. So this was what it felt like to be one of the good guys.  
Thorns sunk into her palms. Thorns tore at her chest and stomach. They ripped gouges from her dangling legs whenever they bounced against the column.  
Nabiki climbed, heedless of the damage. She couldn't see what was happening. She couldn't hear. There was nothing but the next handhold, the next breath-stealing lift of her arm, dragging the dead weight of her legs up. The feedback was going to tear her brain apart. But she had to keep it, block out everything else. It was a delicate balance, just enough feedback to make her able to act despite the pain, but not enough to cripple her. But it grew harder, it required more concentration with each injury, with each tiny nick or scrape or cut.  
Then Nabiki saw it. Link's foot. She was standing there, imperiously gesturing at Ryouga as he struggled vainly to get free. Ryouga was beyond words. His eyes were glowing green pits. His fanged mouth roared and snapped,  
almost like a vampire's. Link was laughing as one of her creatures drew a drop of blood from her palm. Its tiny wings unfurled and soon it would take off towards Ryouga.  
"NO!" Nabiki shrieked and her hand wrapped around Link's ankle. She pulled, weakly. It was not enough to cause Link to do more than stagger. But it drew her attention. Link stared down at her, her eyes widening. She kicked,  
smashing her foot into Nabiki's face. Nabiki's grip tightened as she was nearly knocked free.  
But she almost took Link with her. Ryouga was roaring. Link was screaming, but Nabiki could no longer hear it. Her world was a narrow tunnel,  
and everything outside of it was fading away. She pushed herself up with her other hand, trying to climb onto the top of the pillar, while pushing Link at the same time.  
Link flailed her arms back, and her eyes narrowed. Then Nabiki heard her shriek the next words. "Fuck you! FUCK YOU! Die, you bitch"  
Nabiki had heard there were times when people were stabbed and they didn't even realise it until they fell over dead. This was not one of those times. She felt the sword slide into her abdomen. She knew it punctured something vital, because the pain wasn't just sharp, it was also spreading,  
rapidly spreading through her entire body.  
But she laughed. Because Link had stabbed her with the most convenient weapon on hand. Nabiki's hand wrapped around the blade of the Wishing Sword.  
"I wish..." she said, blood pooling from the edge of her lips.  
Only then did Link realise her mistake. For a moment, Nabiki saw the struggle in Link's mind. 'Can you kill me in time?', Nabiki thought. Can you kill me before I finish? Is this all part of God's plan? Nabiki smirked. She was dying, but she didn't care. Because she'd won, and Link knew it.  
"Damn me," Link said in a tiny little voice.  
Link released the hilt of the sword and leapt backward. A wall nearby exploded outward and a great dragon snaked out. It had treebark skin, and moss for a beard and amber eyes. Link landed on the thing's back and began shouting something. It was already rising by the time Nabiki pulled the blade out of her gut.  
Oh god, that had been a bad idea. She'd worry about dying later,  
however. She staggered forward and swung clumsily. The sword smashed against Ryouga's arm, not even so much as scratching it. Her second swing hit home, and suddenly his arm was free. Then she was falling backward.  
Something grabbed her, holding her up. Ryouga had escaped with surprising speed. Either that or she was losing all track of time. She looked up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking up. His hand was raised up,  
and the aura around him was collapsing inward and inward.  
"Not this time!" he roared, and for a moment a tiny multi-pointed star appeared in his hand. Then it flashed green and shot into the sky. Nabiki watched it rise, overcoming Link's dragon with disturbing ease. It caught the thing in the tail and flashed straight through it without stopping. The thing exploded outward in a shower of gore, and Link fell.  
Ryouga roared again, drawing power for another shot. But Nabiki grabbed his arm. "No..." she wheezed. "She knows... something..." She was blacking out.  
Ryouga looked at her, but his eyes... did they soften? Or was she just losing her grip on reality? Still, the aura around him weakened and he aimed more carefully, releasing another blast, much smaller, much more refined towards the plummeting woman.  
Nabiki never saw it hit. At that point, the darkness took her.

OoOoO

"FLAME SNIPER"  
The debris in front of them literally melted away, vapourising away into a cloud of steam. Akane pushed her way through the cloud, wiping it away from her face. Rei followed her silently, uncertainty on her features. Akane chose not to think about that. She knew that there was something profoundly important going on here. Ever since she had started running after that strange girl, it seemed that the entire universe was out to stop her. They had encountered more cave-ins, dead end tunnels and bottomless gorges since that decision than.  
Akane probably had in her entire life. Plus, every instinct she had told her this was the wrong course of action.  
So, when the mist finally cleared and she could see the room beyond,  
Akane was a little surprised.  
It was a throne room. The ceiling was clear, impossibly thin ice that hung almost five stories overhead. Thick, deceptively delicate-looking fluted columns stretched up to support the roof, looking like something out of some Greek fantasy. The floor was black, but full of glittering lights. Akane realised dimly that it was an entire galaxy of stars, slowly rotating beneath their feet.  
And in the centre of the room two women duelled. Akane recognized the strange girl from the hangar. She moved with a disturbing fluidity, her short white hair flashing around her in something like a halo. Her opponent was a woman Akane had never met before, but instantly recognised.  
She had blue skin and short hair of a slightly darker shade of blue. A golden crescent symbol decorated her forehead, and she wore armour that seemed to be made of graceful waves caught in mid-crest, shaped to fit her curves and leaving most of her body only covered by a dark blue skintight suit. The black ice of her armour glimmered with multicoloured firefly lights. In one hand she wielded a long spear made of ice, a delicate-looking weapon that looked unwieldy for combat but that she wielded with startling efficiency. One of her arms was hanging limply by her side.  
For a long moment, Akane and Rei could only stare at the fight in front of them. Just watching made Akane's eyes hurt suddenly, like she hadn't blinked.  
Her eyes began to water and a pressure began to build up behind them. She watched as Tethys swung her spear around in an intricate pattern, forcing the floating figure of the girl to dodge again and again until she was trapped next to a pillar. Than Tethys' spear went through the surprised-looking girl's stomach-  
Tethys flew backwards, her head rocking to the side and blue water erupting from her mouth. She smashed into a pillar, sending a crack up its length. The girl floated in place, her hand extended from her punch. She had never gone anywhere near a pillar. As soon as Tethys had begun her attack the girl had easily swatted it aside and countered.  
Akane gripped her head and shouted. She... she remembered something different. It was like there were two worlds, two realities she had lived. Rei grabbed her as her feet went out from under her.  
"Akane!" Rei shouted, concern in her voice. "What's wrong"  
"I..." Akane was at a loss for words. How could she describe it?  
"Akane... Tendo..." Tethys gasped, rising slowly to her feet. Her spear hung limply in her hands. The huge bruise on the side of her face deformed her beautiful face. "What are you"  
"False prophet?" The girl said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Well,  
look who just keeps doing what she isn't supposed to." The girl giggled and floated back. Her voice echoed across the chamber; it was the sound of a child devoid of all humanity, all sanity. "Chris doesn't know you're here... Ah. God works in mysterious ways." The girl's eyes narrowed as she placed a hand on the delicate-looking but massive throne at the far end of the room. "I guess I'll just have to try direct and brutal for once"  
Akane could only stare as the girl flung the throne at her in a fastball pitch. The massive black chair was streaking across the throne room so fast that Akane couldn't have dodged it if she wanted to. Her hand seemed to raise of its own volition, trying to impose her sword between herself and it. Like that would help.  
"GET DOWN!" Rei shouted, tackling her to the side. They collapsed to the ground and Akane realised dimly that the throne should have flown right over them, but it wasn't going to, because it had been thrown right at where the two of them were and.  
It stopped, hanging in midair. Then it shattered. Akane covered her eyes and when she opened them she saw Tethys extending a clenched fist towards them.  
She was panting. The girl was looking at her oddly.  
"Oh poo," the girl huffed. "I forgot about you"  
"A decision you will come to regret," Tethys retorted.  
"Let's get out of here, Akane," Rei said, pulling Akane to her feet.  
"But"  
"This isn't our fight!" Rei shouted. "We aren't supposed to be here"  
"Nope"  
Akane's eyes widened as the girl appeared right behind Rei. Her hand reached up and grasped the fire Senshi's neck. The massive red gem of her gauntlet twinkled in the twilight. Rei didn't even get a chance to gasp as her head began to pull away from her body in a shower of red gore. Akane screamed and stabbed out, not caring, not thinking at all. Her sword struck that red orb tip-first. For a moment, the wood bent back. Then Akane felt a flush of warmth through it and the blade snapped forward. The gem seemed to explode-  
Rei smashed into the wall. She blinked. Her neck was perfectly intact,  
but there were large bruises on it. Akane shuddered, her entire body shaking like a leaf. The girl was floating back, the gem on her wrist perfectly unharmed.  
"I guess some of God's favour remains," the girl said, frowning. Then she smiled. "But not enough"  
Akane was under attack before she could figure out what had happened.  
She moved on instinct, her sword flashing left and right, parrying punches and kicks as the girl flew through the air, her limbs snapping out so fast they were nothing but white and red flashes. The girl's face was right in front of her,  
her Cheshire cat smile never wavering. Akane made the mistake of looking straight into her eyes.  
There was nothing there.  
A hand snaked past her defences, palm striking her in the chest. She felt her heart skip, and the world seemed to slow down. The girl brought her other arm up sharply, knocking Akane's sword aside and sending it skidding across the floor. Rei was shouting and Akane could see Tethys running towards her but they were both too slow. The girl drew her hand back, her fingers curling into claws.  
A flash of silver, a sound like a tuning fork striking middle E and a puff of breeze. Akane fell back, sitting down hard. The girl had fallen backwards, her face contorted into a hiss of surprise and anger. Between them was a slim weapon, long and silver-grey with a twofold blade buried in the centre of the galaxy. It hummed and vibrated as Akane skidded back.  
And the ceiling was falling. A delicate rain, a falling cascade of razor-sharp ice. It was all still coming down in slow motion. A figure in black was in the centre of it, a long black shadow rippling up and above her head as she seemed to glide to the ground. She landed in a crouch, her coat floating down around her. Her black hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. She rose to her feet, and reached out with one hand to grasp the glaive buried in front of Akane. There were five scars on the arm. The ice came down around her and Akane,  
but by some miracle it struck neither of them.  
Ukyou looked over her shoulder. "Akane, are you alright"  
"I..." Akane blinked. "Yes"  
"Good." Ukyou turned her attention to the girl hovering in the air in front of her. She snapped her weapon from the ice and brought it to bear on the... creature in one smooth motion. "Kalia"  
"Shouldn't you be looking for your dream girl or something?" the thing called Kalia replied, smiling coquettishly and lacing her hands behind her back.  
Ukyou paused for a moment. "You..." Her eyes narrowed, the black lotus shapes seeming to absorb the light around them. "You're... paradox. The backlash. Why? Why did Chris create something like this..." Akane got the impression Ukyou wasn't talking to the girl.  
"Forgive him, lord, for he knows not what he does," Kalia said with a laugh. Then she attacked.  
It happened so fast Akane didn't even see it. But Ukyou did. There was a loud clang and the two leapt back away from each other. Ukyou landed, her weapon held behind her. Kalia came to a stop in mid-air, her hands hanging low as she began to wave her fingers hypnotically.  
"Look out, Ukyou!" Akane warned. "She can... she can..." Akane faltered again, unable to explain it.  
"I can handle this," Ukyou said softly in response, and then she rushed forward. She turned sideways, pushing off a column and leaping into the air.  
Kalia met her, and the glaive was parried by the girl-shape's forearm. Ukyou didn't even pause. She kept striking, again and again, her body twisting in mid-  
air as she somehow maintained her altitude while driving Kalia down and down.  
A hand came to rest on Akane's shoulder and she almost screamed. Then she looked up to see Katsuhito's smiling face. One of the lenses of his glasses was cracked. Akane hadn't even felt him arrive. "Come along, you can't be here"  
he said.  
"What? But we have to help"  
"We can't help Ukyou with this battle," he informed her, pulling her to her feet. Ukyou had managed to get Kalia to the ground, and now the two of them were exchanging blows along the top of the artificial galaxy. Ukyou's movements were fast, efficient and brutal. Every parry she was forced to make flawlessly transformed into an attack halfway through. Kalia fought with no style Akane could discern. Her movements were wild, chaotic, seemingly ineffective, but then out of nowhere she would rebuff an attack and shift the momentum. "Ukyou is the only person here who can fight that abomination on its own level"  
The battle was shifting back and forth, the advantage changing so fast Akane could barely keep up. One moment Kalia would be battering Ukyou back with a series of devastating blows that Ukyou barely avoided, the next Ukyou was coming within millimeters of removing the girl-thing's limbs with her wicked looking blade.  
"Wait, that thing... she's not... she's not changing things anymore"  
Akane breathed.  
"Exactly, but all of us are just..." Then Katsuhito trailed off. Ukyou had just finished a massive strike, her blade swinging up and around her with a artistic flourish as she struck the floor, sending a crack through the cosmic map. Kalia had been forced to leap back and away to avoid it, landing near the back of the throne room. Ukyou smiled. It was then that Akane realised that Ukyou was now standing between them, all of them, and the monster in human guise.  
"MAGNUS NIHILO"  
Ukyou's words vibrated across the throne room as she brought down her weapon, slamming it into the floor. Everything in front of her just... vanished.  
Floor, pillars, wall, shards of broken ceiling; it all seemed to unravel, the surface of it peeling away to reveal that there was nothing inside. Not air, not even the void of space, just nothing. In the space of a single heartbeat, an area the size of a baseball field disappeared. The tip of Ukyou's weapon was left at the edge of a sphere that had been cut out of the City of Black Ice.  
Kalia was floating, right where she had been standing. Ukyou's eyes widened.  
"This is where you say 'im-impossible!'" Kalia said, and suddenly she rushed in, striking Ukyou across the face with the back of her hand. Ukyou flew back, crashing into the wall over the entrance so hard the entire thing smashed apart, burying her.  
"Well, shit," Katsuhito said.

OoOoO

Akira shivered a bit. Normally the City of Black Ice wasn't a very cold place. It wasn't ever particularly warm. It generally had that sort of cool air running through it that reminded you that autumn was going to end soon and winter's icy grip was settling in. But this place was different. This place wasn't meant for any living being to enter. The air here was as cold as a raging blizzard outside. The air you breathed out didn't just puff into steam, you could feel ice forming along the rims of your lips.  
Akira walked to the edge of the pathway. It was cut into the side of the wall, a pathway that orbited the entire Dark Kingdom. Once upon a time Akira had jogged along this path, circling the city multiple times while she debated in her head the morality of what she was doing in this city. This place had always been unnaturally cold. She remembered once dropping a orange off the edge and into the icy white mist below. The small fruit had frozen solid even before it hit the rolling white fog, and the sound of its tiny crystalline form shattering far below had echoed for a long time.  
Akira raised her eyes, looking out across the thin bridge of ice that spanned the gap to the far wall. There was a single door there, and beyond that door was a room. Akira shivered again, rubbing her bare shoulders. She wished she'd worn something thicker under her jacket. She narrowed her eyes and began across the narrow span. It was barely thick enough for her to stand with both heels firmly pressed together, and even with her skill Akira chose her path carefully.  
The last time she had done this, she had only gotten halfway across before Tethys had shown up to stop her. Whatever was in that room was secret.  
Yet another secret that Tethys had kept. Kept even from Akira. Akira felt her fingers curl into fists, the leather of her gloves cracking in the sub-zero air.  
Tethys was always good at protecting her secrets, at keeping them safe.  
That was why Akira had begun to trust her, begun to really truly care for her.  
Because Tethys had been willing to tell her secrets. She had told Akira about her origins, about her life in the Dark Kingdom. She had told Akira of how she had come to love Jadeite, in her own way. She had told her of the loss she experienced, of the rude defeat thanks to Ukyou.  
And she had told Akira about her other half. The man Hayato, whose body she had absorbed, whose soul she had fused with her own. The mortal boy whose humanity she had incorporated into herself. The boy that had taught her the meaning of love, and caring and dedication to something bigger than yourself,  
something grander than blind obedience to an empty god. Late at night, when no one else was awake to hear, Tethys had told her about the struggle to regain her own humanity.  
And Akira had believed her. Had she loved her? Akira frowned as she came to a stop halfway across the chasm. Even when things between them had seemed brightest, Akira had held back. She had shared her thoughts, her dreams, her feeling with Tethys, but she had held back from physical intimacy. Was that why?  
Had Tethys sensed that Akira was still pining for Ukyou, the woman Tethys hated... was that why.  
But the point was moot now. She took a long breath as the lithe figure emerged from the dark portal. The girl started, the bang over her right eye flipping up momentarily to reveal her startled blue eyes. Akira shifted sideways and lifted one arm into the air in front of her.  
"I used to live here," Akira pointed out, answering the unspoken question. "I guessed where you would be"  
Angel frowned and started across the ravine. She was dressed in the swimsuit-like outfit she had been wearing in Thailand. The red material stretched taut over her curves, with sections of mesh revealing her elaborate elemental tattoos for all to see. Her black leather jacket looked too short for the weather, but the tattoos on her inner thighs were glowing merrily. Her steel-plated boots flowed across the icy bridge. She carried her sword in one hand, the blade whispering through the air idly. Her sheath was gone. And across her face, down her chest and staining her right hand were tiny crimson droplets.  
"I hoped I wouldn't see you again, but I guess this was bound to happen," Angel said, her tone fatalistic.  
"We don't have to fight," Akira said. She had to try, after all. "I saw what you did to Ranma." Akira paused. "You could have killed him"  
"Yeah," Angel was less than a meter away when she stopped. "Is he okay?  
He looked pretty bad when I left"  
"I used my jacket as a tourniquet," Akira explained, shivering slightly.  
"He's tough. He'll live"  
"Good. I didn't want to kill him. He's a good guy. The kind of guy the world needs"  
"You don't have to go on killing, Angel," Akira said quickly. Time was short, and there was no more left to waste dancing around the subject. "I know you think you do, but you don't. You have the choice to stop"  
Angel raised one eyebrow. "Well, yeah. Of course I do. You don't think I'm aware of the choice I made?" Angel looked down at her sword. "I chose this life, Akira. I believe in what I'm doing"  
"No you don't," Akira countered. "You believe in HIM." She tensed,  
adopting a more aggressive posture. Angel slid backward, raising her sword in front of her. "You may have been spying on me for him, but while you were doing that I got to know more of you than you probably wanted me to. You don't believe in the killing, Angel. You believe in the cause"  
"And you're saying you wouldn't kill for a cause you believe in?" Angel snapped, her eyes narrowing dangerously.  
"No. Just the opposite. I've... I've killed more people than I want to remember, Angel," Akira admitted. The truth of the statement must have gotten through to the girl, because she hesitated. "The difference between us was that I learned that you can't kill for someone else's cause. You have to believe what you're doing is right because it's right"  
"Bullshit," Angel growled out. "That kind of thinking is great for people like Ranma, who don't realise what's at stake. It's great for heroes. But some people have to do the important work. While people like you and Ranma are busy congratulating yourselves on how righteous you are, the world slides towards Oblivion. Somebody has to stop that, Akira. Who's it going to be, you"  
"If I have to," Akira answered. Then she struck without warning or hesitation. The blow landed in her gut and sent the slightly shorter girl skidding back on the narrow bridge, a cloud of icy air exploding from her mouth.  
For a moment, just a moment, Akira was afraid the girl would lose her balance,  
but then she righted herself, crouching and sinking her fingers into the side of the bridge with an audible hiss.  
"Heh. So that's the way it's going to be, taka-taka?" Angel said grimly.  
She rose to her feet, her tattoos flaring as the light travelled up to her face.  
"Well, let me remind you that unlike last time..." She wiped a bit of blood from the edge of her lip with her thumb and tsked at it. "I won't be holding back."

OoOoO

It was a battle of dead children. Pluto would have found the irony amusing if it were not so deadly serious. Two tiny figures, neither of which would have stood taller than her waist, both of which would have been harmless-  
looking and innocent were it not for the gore that covered their faces: their battle was unlike anything Pluto had ever seen.  
The ground between them exploded as they came together, their fingers lacing together for a moment. Purple fire and darkness blasted out from them, a wave of destruction that ripped apart everything it touched. Pluto leapt backward, shielded herself from the worst of it.  
"Did you think you could kill me with that?" Chris laughed as the two of them struggled. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I am beyond your power"  
"You may be beyond the Silence," Hotaru acknowledged, her face betraying no strain, "but you are not beyond the power I represent"  
"I suppose we'll just have to see, won't we?" With a roar, Chris pulled,  
ripping one of the Messiah's arms from her socket. The girl didn't even blink,  
her face snapping down and her jaw distending like a snake's. Her teeth sunk into Chris' other arm and ripped it off at the elbow.  
His leg snapped up, catching her in the jaw and sending her spiralling up and away. Her body smashed into a wall, crashing through it with a crystalline crack. Chris jumped backward as the demon blade snapped through the air, nearly impaling him. With a flick of his wrist a long thin tendril of flame formed, which he snapped like a whip towards the vicious hook-ended blade,  
forcing it back.  
The wall cracked again and the Messiah stepped forward. Thick ropey strings of blood boiled out of her stump, rapidly forming into the shape of an arm and then solidifying back into flesh. She reached up with her new hand and pulled the forearm from her jaw. Dylek flipped back, hovering just over her shoulder. Chris came to a halt, floating in the middle of a crevice between two buildings.  
"It's old and dead," the Messiah said, not really complaining. "Empty"  
"No, my power is not in my blood," Chris said. He held up his stump.  
"Though I see you're not just another freak chip abomination. They gave you the full treatment." He chuckled and purple fire erupted from his torn elbow,  
curling and twisting around itself to form a forearm and fist made out of coruscating sheets of living flame. "Not that you have a monopoly on fancy tricks"  
"So I see," the Messiah replied. Pluto stared down at the two of them from her high perch. They had been at this for several minutes, and she had not seen so vicious, so devastating a battle before. Neither one of them cared about their bodies, and damage to their physical forms seemed to be at most a minor inconvenience. The Messiah's form looked pristine from her near instant regeneration, while Chris's body was riddled with tiny tears and holes which seemed to bother him not at all.  
With a flicker of motion Chris suddenly dived in two directions at once.  
His bodies were partially transparent, and as he moved he flicked his good hand.  
Tiny slivers of purple light, like needles, erupted rapid fire from both images'  
fingers. The Messiah stepped back, allowing Dylek to fall in front of her and parry the attacks.  
Then the images vanished and Chris appeared from the shadows behind her.  
He screamed and leapt, driving his knee into the side of the girl's head. Her body rocked to the side, but her hand swept up, her fingers curled into claws and caught him in the chest. Both staggered away from each other. Then Dylek spun around her, its thick blade arcing towards the boy's face.  
Chris parried with his hand of flame. Purple sparks ran along the edge of Dylek, falling like molten steel from the weapon and melting holes into the black floor. Again and again Dylek struck, its massive bulk moving impossibly quickly. Chris met it always with his conjured arm. Soon the flames had fallen so much the two fought in a small lake of water that was rippling and falling off the edges of what had once been the building.  
The Messiah snarled like a beast, charging through the water, geysers flying up behind her with each step. She came in on the side Dylek was not attacking, and Chris met her with his other hand. His limb flashed like a strobe light, seeming to teleport from position to position without passing through the space between. The Messiah was a frenzy of motion, her body twisting and striking all at once, water erupting around her. The flames of Chris' hand hissed as the water fell around him.  
Pluto looked down at the carnage. This fight was beyond her. She had no illusions of anything else. But she had to do something. Every instinct told her that she could do nothing, but she was a Sailor Senshi. She had to do something!  
It was her duty!  
Her hand rose and she whispered. "Dead..." The orb of power slowly formed on her fist. She concentrated, forcing more and more power into it. Her attack was all she had left of her time powers, and without the Time Key Staff Ukyou had shattered she should not have been able to reach even half the power she had once had. The Dead Scream didn't just blast people, it created a field of temporal stasis, a null zone in time itself that flung itself at any opponent. When it struck, the power it released was greater than a mere physical strike, it ripped at the target's temporal self. And the more power she concentrated into it, the more dangerous it became... for her target and herself.  
She lined up her shot carefully. Her body was straining with the power she had conjured. She would only get one shot like this, so she had to make it count. The Messiah and Chris were still duelling, his body floating further and further back as he was forced to give ground to the vicious two-pronged assault of the corrupted Senshi. Then one of the Messiah's strikes got through and her fist emerged from his back as she smashed through his chest. Chris reached up,  
grabbing her neck and.  
"SCREAM!" Pluto roared.  
The ball of temporal power rocketed down and into the melee. It struck with pin point accuracy, smashing into the back of the Messiah's head. For a moment there was just a shower of purple light as the Dead Scream exploded in all directions... Pluto held her breath. Her only hope was that she had totally eradicated Hotaru's head, to prevent Chris from gaining access to her memories and powers.  
"You need not have worried," a voice said behind her.  
Pluto's eyes widened as a hand snapped around her shoulder in a grip of iron. The other grabbed the side of her head and twisted it to the side. How?  
She was still... but as the light cleared, all Pluto could see was Dylek hovering where the Messiah had once been and a very surprised-looking Chris.  
"You survive until the end, Pluto," The Messiah informed her coolly.  
"But nothing said what condition you were in"  
Then the fangs sank into her neck. She wanted to scream, but the sudden crippling pressure cut off all sound, all breath. The pain raced up and down her body, the stabbing fire of it raging through her nerves as her brain seemed to shut off. This is how the deer feels, some distant part of her thought. This is the paralysing fear the prey feels when the predator finally sinks in its teeth.  
But the fiery pain wasn't the worst of it. It was the numbing, deadening draining sensation that followed shortly thereafter. That, and the animal sucking sound.  
Finally she was released, her limp body collapsing to the rooftop. She was dimly aware that she was still bleeding, her carotid artery no longer spurting but now just sort of weakly gushing onto the black ice. Every heartbeat was driving her that much closer to death.  
The Messiah wiped off her mouth and leapt back down to the battlefield,  
a spray of water falling upwards around her when she landed. It was getting cold. Things were going dark.  
"Well, you'll just be more dangerous now that you've fed," Chris said to the Messiah. While the girl had been busy he had been struggling with Dylek, and he now held it by the hilt in his conjured hand. It writhed and shifted, trying to escape his grip to no avail. "But why didn't you kill her"  
The Messiah had no response. She merely began to stalk towards him. The sound of her footsteps in the water echoed across the city.  
"Oh, that's right. You're the Messiah, the messenger of God." Chris snapped his fingers. "Which means you believe in Ukyou's prophecy. The one Sailor Pluto has to be alive for to send back in time." Chris smiled, and held Dylek behind him. "Well, I suppose if you believe that..." He snapped his hand around like a discus thrower and the giant demon blade was hurled through the air, spinning like a buzzsaw towards Pluto. "...you should do something about this"  
Pluto couldn't even work up the strength to blink. For a moment, as the blade came in, she was almost relieved. He was right, after all. If she died,  
maybe the Prophecy died with her.  
Then the Messiah appeared before her, her arms thrown to the side. Dylek carved through her tiny child's body like a scythe through wheat. Her head and torso went flying in one direction while her legs and one arm shot to the other,  
a shower of blood glittering briefly in the purple light. Dylek slammed into the ice, burying itself halfway up its length. It had missed Pluto by inches, thrown off course by the Messiah's sacrifice just enough to miss her.  
Chris chuckled as he seemed to vanish and reappear. His foot smashed down on the Messiah's wrist. Even torn in two, she didn't seem to care. Her bronze eyes stared up at him impassively. Chris grabbed his fiery arm with his good one and drew it back, ripping it free of his elbow, and the entire thing snapped into the shape of a spear.  
"I wanted to get a peek inside your head, but you're more trouble than you're worth," he apologised. His arm drew up-  
"You have caused quite enough damage"  
The light came from everywhere. It burst from the shadows. It flared from the water. It radiated from the ceiling and the walls. Pluto wept. It was warm and beautiful. Was this death?  
No. It was life. She recognised that voice.  
Chris only paused a second, then his hand started down, the flame beginning to leap from his palm. Then the light flared again, a brilliance so intense it blinded. He screamed, a scream of surprise and... pain? When the light cleared Pluto could see Chris lying in the water, which sparkled and glimmered silver around him. Smoke curled off his body as he slowly rose to his feet and looked around.  
The black ice was now perfect flawless crystal. Radiant silver light shone through the city. A woman on a white-winged crystal pegasus was before him. She wore armour of silver, etched with gold. Her long hair flew out behind her, two golden ponytails. On her forehead the golden crescent of the Moon Kingdom flared. Pluto felt her strength returning, just bathed in that light.  
Chris, however, was staggering back, shielding his eyes.  
"And yet another Sailor Moon character shows up at the last minute to bug me," Chris muttered.  
"Chris, once you were my ally, and for that reason I would love dearly to show you mercy," the Moon Princess said. "But there can be no mercy for you except death. I am truly sorry, but your existence is a wound that must be healed"  
"Yes, yes, I'm used to ingratitude," Chris replied snidely. "But before you get around to punishing me in the name of the moon, don't you think you should take care of that first?" He cocked his thumb towards the torso of the Messiah. The Messiah was staring at the confrontation, her eyes glassy and distant.  
"Yes. I suppose that too is for the best," the Princess intoned gravely.  
"I can not heal that which wishes to remain dead." Her hand swept out and in a flare of silver fire the head, torso and arm of the Silence Messiah was consumed, leaving not so much as a trace of ash. Chris raised his eyebrow.  
"Wow, somebody actually listened to my advice," he said. "Well, my job is done here, so I'll be leaving. If you..." The Princess gestured again and a javelin of light flashed from her fingers and lanced through his shoulder. He screamed as his body was driven into the ground. The flesh around the lance blackened rapidly and Chris' scream of surprise turned into a scream of genuine pain and anger. His good eye bugged out in pain and his body began to writhe.  
The Princess turned away from him, slowly climbing down from her pegasus. Pluto wanted to warn her, tell her to turn back. The woman was ignoring him. She was just turning her back on perhaps the most dangerous person in the world. The Moon Princess smiled and walked towards Pluto, her smile warm and forgiving. Chris was pulling at the lance, trying to rip it free.  
"I'm... dreaming..." Pluto whispered.  
"No, but your long nightmare is finally over." She leaned down and pressed her hand against Pluto's neck. "Be whole, once more"  
There was no sensation of healing, just a sudden absence of pain. Pluto blinked and stood up slowly, leaning on a long staff to prop herself up as her strength rapidly returned. Only once she was standing fully erect did she realise she was carrying the Time Key Staff in her hands.  
"Okay! To hell with this," Chris roared. He was standing now, the blackened ruin of his arm hanging on by sheer force of will. The spear was still embedded in the ground behind him. He had torn the top off his shoulder off to free himself, Pluto realised. "First off, you HURT me. Nobody can hurt me! Least of all Sailor-fucking-Moon. Second off, you ignored me. ME. Nobody ignores"  
Then he trailed off and his eyes fell on Pluto. "You... that... HOW"  
"I restored her," the Princess explained.  
"You can't! Ukyou shattered that staff! She has the Third Circle. You don't have the power to fix it"  
"It appears I do," the Princess explained, stepping towards him. And as she walked towards him, Pluto saw something new and wonderful in Chris's expression.  
Fear.

OoOoO

The air in the throne room grew colder. Akane reached up and laced her fingers around the Star Seeds. She stepped away from Katsuhito, her sword raising up before her. Kalia just stared at her, and out of the shadows that little girl laugh echoed.  
"Akane, get back!" Katsuhito warned.  
"I don't let my friends fight alone," Akane informed him. She breathed out and focused, allowing her aura to waft up around her. It glimmered red in the twilight of the throne room. Its flickering light danced across the swirling galaxy. Then another figure stood up next to her. Akane looked at Rei, who shrugged and smiled thinly.  
"So it's some sort of incomprehensible evil god-child out to kill me"  
Rei said. "Piece of cake"  
Katsuhito sighed and stepped up on her other side, his own sword raising. His stance was similar to Akane's but slightly looser, more fluid-  
looking. Kalia's smile glimmered. The air behind her seemed to darken... no, not darken. It was stretching, as if the huge gulf behind her was growing larger and larger. Its dimensions receded further and further from sight until they vanished from sight into a indistinct fog. Akane glanced around them. The entire throne room had become... emptied. Unreal. Like the place where Ukyou had unleashed the power of that glaive. The floor now flowed off endlessly into the distance, with an unbroken pattern of pillars stretching as far as the eye could see.  
Then Kalia moved. Her body snapped right and she flew in a tight arc towards them. Katsuhito leapt to meet her, his sword blade flashing towards her neck and cutting dee- He missed, his blade flashing just over her head. The blow cleaved a pillar apart, sending it tumbling backwards.  
Rei's hand snapped up, flame forming at her fingertips. An arrow of fire erupted and she unleashed it. Kalia's hand came up and she caught the bolt on one of her jewels, the heat sizzled through he- The arrow vanished, snuffed out in mid-air. Rei could only gape as the woman slid in, skidding along the ground.  
She came in right next to Rei.  
For a moment, the two stood there, next to each other. Rei trying to bring her magic to bear, Kalia leaning forward, her eyes lost in shadow and her smile gleaming. Then she snapped back and up, her arm coming up in a tight arc -  
and she spun forward lifting her leg up to drive it into Rei's midsection - and she jerked sideways, driving an elbow into Rei's chest -  
Akane screamed and fell back, her mind blanking. The next thing she knew was that Rei was crashing into a pillar hard, her impact sending a crack snaking all the way to the top of it. Kalia was dashing across the ground towards her,  
her hand pulled back for a claw strike. Or was she? There were six of her, no seven, no twenty - Akane's eyes widened as she drew her blade up to parry the attack. There was no way, it was - she was everywhere.  
This is no illusion, Akane remembered thinking.  
"Akane, to your right"  
Akane reacted instantly, spinning leftward and flicking her blade right in a cross-body block. She caught Kalia's extended arm, knocking it aside. The girl was thrown off-balance, and suddenly there was only one of her.  
Then Ukyou leapt at her, her blade coming in hard and fast. The weapon flashed and Kalia ducked, then slid backwards as the crosswise slash reversed into a sweep. Ukyou had a few tears in her coat, but no other apparent injuries.  
"Keep your head, Akane," Ukyou warned her as she let Kalia retreat little. "You weren't anywhere close to her attack there"  
"I..." Akane looked at her. "How did you do that"  
"Do what?" Ukyou frowned.  
"Make her... REAL"  
Ukyou seemed about to ask Akane what she meant when Kalia blindsided her. The blow caught her in the back of the head and sent Ukyou tumbling. Kalia came down from her backhand and her other hand snaked out, striking for Akane's chest. Akane gasped and leapt backward. The fingers of the girl-thing's hand sunk into the vest Akane was wearing; she could feel them brush against her skin-  
Then Ukyou grabbed Kalia from behind, her arm wrapping around the thing's neck. "Leave. Her. ALONE!" Ukyou roared as she lifted Kalia over her shoulder and smashed her into the ice hard enough to send a spiderweb of cracks radiating in all directions. Ukyou pushed away from the girl and kicked to her feet, summoning her glaive with an idle gesture. "I won't let you hurt any more of my friends!" she screamed, and brought the blade down.  
Kalia twisted in place, catching the edge of the blade on one of her gauntlet gems. Black sparks erupted from the impact. "You didn't say Simon Says," Kalia responded with a giggle, and pushed Ukyou back. Ukyou slid back along the ice, and her weapon slashed out. It was too fast for Akane to even follow, but she saw the ground around Kalia seem to rip itself apart as cuts appeared all about her. Kalia backed up, her hands pinwheeling about her. Black sparks... no, not black, EMPTY, little pieces of nothingness flashed around her,  
spiralling out in all directions.  
And around Ukyou Akane could feel something. It was great and terrible.  
It wasn't a power. She was familiar with chi, and she had been around magic often enough in her life to realise that it felt nothing like this. She recognised it instantly. It was the certainty, the awesome crushing need that she had felt back in Tokyo seven years ago. It was the purpose she had felt drawing her in since she'd met Washuu and gone to Ohtori to save Sailor Moon.  
It was Destiny. Except that it was nothing diffuse and vague now. It was pure and refined. Ukyou had just suddenly erupted with it. Except there could be no normal word for it. She did not radiate it like light, she did not bathe in it like water, she did not burn with it like flame. She WAS Destiny.  
Akane had only ever once before felt this. Beyond this life, when Gyro had killed her, she had felt this. Just this. Pure purpose. Pure need.  
"I'm not going to let you do it," Ukyou shouted as she leapt up and started duelling Kalia in the air. Her body flashed from pillar to pillar as Kalia danced and swirled through the air like a ballerina, deflecting and dodging her attacks by hairs. "If it is my destiny, then it is my destiny. I will face it! But you will not hurt my friends. You will not hurt the people I love! Not again.  
"NEVER AGAIN"  
"Yes, that's it, give in to your anger!" Kalia said in an exaggeratedly deep voice, then laughed lightly. "You poor girl, you're so close. So close that you can't see what is right under your nose"  
"You feel it, don't you?" a voice said near Akane's ear. She started and backed up. Tethys was standing near her, her face watching the battle above them impassively. "Ukyou's power. The Third Circle, you feel it. I can see it on your face"  
"Yes..." Akane looked up at the battle again.  
"You are a puppet, Ukyou," Kalia said, knocking the woman back. Ukyou smashed into the ground, cratering the ice. She was on her feet instantly. She leapt, her blade extended. Kalia bent her body around the blow. "You dance to the strings of God." The girl-thing's backhand was caught in Ukyou's free hand.  
"You can't blame me or God for your poor choices." Her knee smashed into Ukyou's body, bending the woman around it. But Ukyou smashed the blunt of her glaive into Kalia's face and drove her away.  
"You, of all people, are free to choose your own Destiny," Kalia explained, wiping away something that looked like blood from her lips.  
"Why aren't you doing something?" Akane asked Tethys. Tethys merely looked at her, then crossed her arms and frowned.  
"She can't, Akane," Katsuhito said. "Kalia's power can not be countered by limited beings such as us"  
"Limited"  
"She has no soul, Akane," the monk explained softly as the two continued to duel back and forth across the infinite battlefield. "It is the soul that defines who we are, what we are. Even now, there are an infinite number of Akanes and an infinite number of Katsuhitos watching this. We are having a like number of conversations. But each of them is slightly different"  
"A puppet?" Ukyou was shouting. "I may be a puppet, but I see the strings now. I know there is a person beyond them, running the course of my life. Using my friends, my family, against me like pieces in a game." Sparks of unreality wafted through the air as the two met. "How to get Ukyou to do something? Hurt one of her friends. Get her to go somewhere? Kidnap the daughter she never knew. Provoke her. Incite her. Force her to play along! Not anymore! I don't care about Chris, or you or whatever nameless thing it is that is doing this to me. I won't let it go on anymore"  
"But we don't hear those words, Akane. We don't experience all the other worlds. Because we have souls. That makes us REAL. That makes us able to be one person and only one person. It grounds us in this reality," Katsuhito continued.  
"Kalia exists outside of that. To her, all things are happening. Every possible reality all at once"  
"My god... that's horrible," Rei gasped. "How can she be sane"  
"You question answers itself," Tethys replied.  
"Ah, defiance in the face of Destiny." Kalia smirked, flying up over Ukyou. She kept rising, spinning up and around to avoid Ukyou as the woman tried to close on her. Finally Ukyou ran out of pillar to climb as Kalia flew up into the sky. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, Ukyou. For your problems are larger than that." The girl held open her hand and Akane saw a flash of yellow there. Then it began to grow, until it was an orb of golden light.  
Akane gasped and clutched at her vest pocket. One, only one was there.  
Her mind flashed back to the near-fatal blow from earlier. She must have grabbed the seed when.  
"Look out, Ukyou"  
"WORLD SHAKING"  
When Kalia brought her hand down the ball of power trebled, then cubed in size. It was the size of a city bus. Ukyou screamed and flipped her blade in front of her. "Aegis Sileo!" Ukyou vanished into the yellow light. The ball continued, striking the ground. Everything exploded. Pillars five meters away from the point of impact vanished into dust as the shockwave rushed over everything. Akane remembered screaming and holding on for dear life.  
When it cleared, there was a hole in the ground and Ukyou was nowhere in sight. Akane was on her back. Rei had taken cover behind a pillar that had partially survived the impact. Tethys stood near the edge, utterly unharmed. She was looking down the hole.  
Kalia laughed. "Now, False Prophet, where were we?" In an eyeblink the creature was in front of her. Katsuhito yelled, leaping at her from the side.  
Kalia looked up at him. "Oh yes, and you know entirely too much for your own good"  
Akane could only stare as the girl seemed to walk casually past Katsuhito, idly tilting her head to the side to avoid his strike. Her fingers ran along the outside of his gi and then she stopped behind him. Katsuhito stumbled to a halt, his eyes widening behind his glasses. Akane looked behind him and her blood froze.  
Kalia was holding a human heart. It was beating feebly in her hands,  
spraying the side of her face with scarlet. She smiled and rubbed it against her cheek, like one would a kitten. "Mmmm. It's warm"  
"KATSUHITO!" Rei shrieked and ran towards him, her hand extended.  
"Damn. I wish I'd thought of something pithy to-" Katsuhito choked, then stumbled forward. The sparkle in his eyes went out, and he collapsed into Rei's arms.  
"Katsuhito? Katsuhito! Old man, don't you die on me!" Rei was screaming.  
"Not again... I can't lose... not you, too.. not like this"  
"You BITCH!" Akane roared, tears blurring her vision as she charged.  
Kalia seemed to fade sideways; then there was a flash of yellow light and Akane's chest exploded in pain. She flew backward and crashed into the remains of one of the pillars, sending a cloud of powdered ice up around her.  
Then Ukyou appeared. She shot up through the floor, her body emerging in a fountain of purple sparks. Purple lights ran up one of her arms. The glaive sunk deeply into Kalia's shoulder, popping one of the orbs there like a balloon.  
The thing's face did not so much as twitch. Ukyou reversed her grip, ready to pull the blade sideways and tear Kalia in two.  
"That's right, Ukyou," Kalia said giggling as she dropped the heart from her wounded arm with a wet splat. "Use your power. Keep killing Akira"  
Ukyou froze.  
Kalia's hand snapped out and wrapped around Ukyou's neck. She wrenched her body back, tearing the glaive from suddenly limp fingers. "Oh, did you finally figure it out?" She floated upwards, wrapping her other hand around Ukyou's neck now. The glaive clattered to the ground beneath Ukyou.  
Ukyou's fingers scrambled along the girl's arms as her eyes bugged open.  
"How does one strangle a ghost?" Kalia asked. "By showing the ghost that by abusing her power, she is killing the woman she loves." Kalia's smile was small now, small and full of malice. "I care about Akira. She is my counterpart,  
Ukyou. As Chris created me to serve as the funnel into which he could pour all his negative self, so too did you choose Akira. All the paradox, all the backlash produced when a mortal mind tries to reach the most divine power, to alter Destiny itself... did you think that just went away, Ukyou"  
Ukyou's face was turning white. "Didn't you wonder why you haven't felt the pain since that day, Ukyou? Didn't you once stop and consider why the power that had ripped you apart, almost killed you even as it saved you, why it was suddenly consequence-free? You never thought to ask HOW Akira brought you back from Oblivion. You never once thought about what happened to her while you abused that power that once scared you so much you couldn't even contemplate using it. You never wondered why, at the end of every fight you have been in since then, your dear Akira has been leaking blood like a sieve. From her mouth,  
from her eyes, from her ears... just like you used to"  
"Ukyou!" Akane held up her hand. She was surprised she could even move.  
But as she looked down at herself, she saw a soft blue glow coming from her chest, one that dimmed with each passing second. That blow should have killed her, she understood. But she had been protected. She looked up suddenly. The feeling of imminent Destiny around Ukyou was weakening.  
"What, letting go of the power?" Kalia giggled, her voice echoing across the chamber. "Why not use it? Oh, but you can feel it now, can't you? You can feel it tearing her apart. You know you could free yourself. Maybe outpower me.  
Maybe summon the Silence against me. Maybe vanish through my fingers like a ghost. But it would kill her, wouldn't it? And you would never hurt my dear sis"  
Kalia screamed as ten giant barbs of ice smashed into her, driving her away from Ukyou. The barbs had pierced her arms and legs and her torso. She fell to the ground and when she hit she vomited up something that looked like blood but smelled like... like nothing at all.  
Tethys walked forward, gesturing and conjuring more spears of ice in the air. "As I figured. You can choose your own reality. You can force others to exist in the world of your choosing, thing without a soul. Everyone except Ukyou. She's real to you, isn't she? So if you want to HURT her, you have to be real too. Real enough to be vulnerable"  
"Heh," Kalia coughed. "It appears the game is not over yet. God's puppets protect his prodigal daughter still." Tethys raised her hand and the spears lanced forward. Kalia raised her hand and Akane saw the star seed glittering there. "Sailor Teleport"  
She was gone before the attacks hit.

OoOoO

Angel waited. A slight updraft, sweeping through the vast cavern, passed through her hair. She could hear it, hear the faint echoes from far below the chaos that had swept through the city. The unlimited chi channelled from the tattoo on her face through her air chakra made her AWARE, made her able to notice every stimuli affecting her, to clinically analyse them all individually or at once. She was aware of every tiny pit and imperfection in the ice beneath her feet, could tell the height of the ceiling above and depth of the pit below just from the echoes of the faint sounds. She could hear the throb of the blood in her veins, swelling and relaxing in counter to the beat of her heart. And she could hear Akira. Closer. Closer now.  
Angel opened her eyes. She could see hardly anything but the black leather sole of Akira's boot. It was only centimeters away from her face. Angel flicked her eyes up, seeing Akira's face locked in a silent roar as she attacked. On one level, Angel was fully aware of how time passed, but on another, the world always seemed to stand still, to hold its breath when Angel used her air chakra. The boot was closer now. It almost brushed her eyelashes.  
Angel sighed and let the world explode into action.  
Her hand gripped Akira's ankle as she spun to the side, sidestepping the jumping kick. Her feet left the ground, her entire body twisting along with them, and her own boot cracked into the side of Akira's head. Angel released her and flipped aside as the older woman crashed to the ground. One boot touched the impossibly slender ice bridge and she was instantly balanced, while Akira scrambled for purchase, only for a moment, before returning to her feet and attacking again.  
Angel fell back under the onslaught. Faster she might be, but she had a healthy respect for Akira's skill. When Angel had fought Akira the first time,  
she'd found being faster didn't help much. One moment of carelessness, one mistake, and she could find herself pinned, or hurled into the abyss below.  
So she wasn't careless. She ducked and weaved and danced, her entire body whirling around at speeds faster than most people could even see, evading Akira's blows. A few experimental pokes with her sword broke up the rhythm of Akira's attacks, caused her to hesitate. Then Angel struck, her leg slashing out and cutting Akira's legs out from under her. She pounced with her sword, but realised almost too late that Akira had anticipated this gambit. Her fist was already arcing up in counter to Angel's strike. Angel was fast, but even she had to obey her own momentum. If she followed through for a crippling strike, she'd have to take the hit full-on.  
So she changed the angle of her swing. It slashed a long, shallow cut along Akira's arm, weakening her strike at a critical point. Akira's punch glanced on her jaw. Even that caused Angel to wince as she let the impact knock her backwards; Akira hit hard. Harder than Ranma, even. But it wouldn't matter.  
The blow had knocked the upper half of her body from the tiny bridge now. Angel closed her eyes again, feeling the air rushing around her, feeling time slow to a crawl. Now, just one leg was still over the bridge; the edge passing beneath her knee. She smiled, eyes snapping open, and dug her leg down. The heel of her boot dug into the ice, gave her just enough traction to bend her body like a bow, swinging around beneath the tiny bridge. Her hand snapped up, gripped the other edge; she allowed her foot to rise and let go, and then time started again as she shot up like a bullet. Akira had figured out what Angel was doing; she was turning. Her hands were coming up to defend herself. Too late. Pivoting her entire body as she rose, Angel drove both feet into Akira's side, under her guard. She shot backwards, half-spinning, and plunged off the edge. Akira wouldn't fall, Angel knew, and was proved correct a moment later as both hands reached out and desperately gripped the ice, digging gouges into the edge. She started to pull herself up, but paused as her nose met the tip of Angel's sword.  
"You can't win," Angel said softly.  
Akira didn't reply for a moment. Angel stared down at her opponent. Her face was white, though not from the exertion of fighting Angel. Blood was oozing from the corner of her lips, from her ears, from one eye that she was blinking repeatedly to try to clear it. Despite her powerful ability to heal herself from injury, the few cuts Angel had given her were oozing more and more over time.  
"Not like this," Angel continued. "Not while you're being killed from within." Her sword didn't move so much as a millimeter, and neither did Akira.  
"Oh?" Akira responded after a moment. Her voice was gritty with strain,  
but calm. "So you knew"  
Angel nodded. "Chris told me. He noticed what Ukyou was doing to you when He fought you"  
"Nice of him... to mention it"  
"Chris can help you, you know. What you're suffering is the effects of Ukyou's use of the Third Circle. She channels them into you, but he can show her how to stop"  
"I'm not asking him for any favours, and neither is Ukyou"  
Angel sighed again. "Why not?" Akira made as if to reply, but Angel shook her head. "No, don't give me those answers. Don't tell me it's because of anything He's done. Honestly, Akira, you barely know Him. You're just working on hearsay"  
Akira quirked an eyebrow. "So I should at least hear your hearsay first,  
I guess." She almost smiled her quiet little grin, but at the last moment coughed, then turned her head and spat something red.  
"Yes," Angel said seriously. "You should"  
"So talk. Looks like I'm stuck anyway"  
"Listen, Akira," she said. "It's not a question of methods. It's a question of necessity. This world - no, even more, everyone in the world, in the universe, needs Chris. Only He can ensure that somebody doesn't come along and kill everyone, end everything, make everything you've ever fought for be for nothing. Only He can make sure there's nothing that ever destroys all the heroes." She rushed forward, trying desperately to make her point, to make Akira FEEL what Angel knew. "I've felt her power before, Akira! I've felt Galaxia!  
It's like nothing you can even imagine! If she comes here in force, none of us will be able to stop her, and she'll destroy everything! And who knows what else is out there! Even worse things? Someday, Akira, someday the heroes are going to lose, and that will be it. There will be nothing left, not even ashes to rise from. That's why we need Chris. To make sure it doesn't all end"  
Akira paused for a long moment. Her eye was closed now, blood crusted through the lashes. "That may be true. It may even be true that Chris could save us. But even so, I'm not going to work with him"  
"Why NOT?" Angel cried, frustrated. "Chris isn't a monster. If you join Him, and you don't like what He's doing, you can talk with Him! He'll listen to your concerns! He listens to me"  
"Did he ever not do anything because of you"  
Angel sighed. "No. But that's because when I found out why He does something, it's always for good reasons"  
"I'm sure they are," Akira said seriously. "Good for him and what he wants. And you want to think that's good enough for you, too. But that's where you're wrong, Angel. It's not good enough. You don't agree with Chris; you just think he must know better than you"  
"And why wouldn't He?" Angel shot back. "He's a god! He's not like us"  
"So's Ukyou, or so you say," Akira said calmly. She let go of the edge with one hand to wipe some of the blood from her mouth. "She doesn't agree with Chris either"  
"She's abdicated her responsibility"  
"Maybe. But aren't you doing the same thing, Angel? Why try to recruit me? That isn't your orders. Do you just want me to join Chris so you can be reassured you made the right choice after all"  
"NO!" Angel shouted. She grit her teeth. Akira was getting under her skin. If she got too angry, she'd get careless. When she spoke next, she measured her words. "I just don't want to kill you. Don't you see? I can't just leave you like Ranma. With what Ukyou's doing to you, you'll bleed to death"  
"So? Chris will just kill me sooner or later anyway"  
"That's ridiculous"  
"Yes he will. I know too much about him. Secrecy is his weapon. He can't create the world he wants if people know about him, because then they will be looking for him, fighting against him, ruining his perfect possible future of a humanity that's blissfully ignorant of how he's controlling it. Me, Pluto,  
Nabiki, Rose, Ukyou... eventually he's going to have to kill all of us. Unless we join him. Because if he doesn't, we're going to keep fighting him forever,  
and then we'll muck up everything. The loss of our lives, while tragic, just isn't worth risking the whole human race. And you know that's exactly what he'll think, because he's right - as long as we're alive, we won't let him win. You know that, Angel"  
Angel stared down at her for a long moment. Her blood still throbbed in her ears. The breeze still whispered through her hair. Why couldn't she find the words? Why couldn't she convince people like Chris had convinced her? "Why won't you understand?" she grated out. "I don't want to kill you"  
"I know," Akira said with a slight nod. "And I do understand. But I won't agree"  
And then her hand, the one she'd dropped to wipe the blood from her mouth, shot up. Angel swore as she realised her mistake, plunged her sword down,  
but at the same time the hand exploded with blue fire, ripping the bridge apart like tissue paper and hurtling Angel up into the air. She flipped back, landing on the caveward side of the remaining bridge.  
"Angel." She looked up; Akira was on the side of the bride leading to the city. A fresh slash decorated her cheek, but she was smiling slightly. She reached up, and rubbed at her crusted-over eye... then she opened it. Angel,  
blinking, suddenly realised that somewhere along the line her wounds had, in fact, stopped getting worse. "I'm not bleeding anymore, Angel. And I'm through talking. So stop holding back." Her smile abruptly became a small little frown.  
"You said you wouldn't, and I find it sort of insulting when someone does that,  
anyway"  
"Fine," Angel grated. She took a step forward. And then, suddenly, the world was bathed in silver light. Akira shouted in surprise, but Angel screamed in pain. As that light touched her, her tattoos suddenly twisted and writhed,  
twisting her flesh. It felt like they were trying to rip themselves free, to flee towards the source of the light. She took another stumbling step forward,  
and fell to one knee as the pain ripped through her. But the markings had been bound to her by Chris, on a deeper level than flesh. A moment later, the light faded, and they still remained.  
Angel looked around. The bridge was still broken, but it had changed from dark ice to gleaming crystal. She looked up, and saw so had everything else. The entire chamber, a forbidding vault of darkness, was now a shimmering cavern of crystal. Rainbows of light played down all around them.  
"Who..." she breathed, and then was suddenly struck by a certainty that came from the depths of her very being. Something was wrong. Something had happened that wasn't supposed to. Something dangerous. She dropped her gaze,  
fixed it on Akira, who was still looking around in bewilderment, blocking the path to the exit. "I have to return to Chris"  
Akira stared at her. The expression on her blood-stained face was calm,  
but her eyes were hard. "I won't let you"  
Angel narrowed her eyes. "You won't stop me"  
She exploded forward, her air chakra blazing like a bonfire. She was upon Akira before the woman could do more than take a step back. She drove an elbow towards Akira's chest, which was blocked. Spinning, she slashed out with her sword towards Akira's neck. Akira's hands shot up, knocking the path of the blade over her head, but it left her midsection open. Angel simply lifted her leg and drove it into the pit of Akira's stomach, doubling her over and causing her to hack out some remaining blood. Then Angel flipped up in the air, the heel of her boot catching Akira in the chin, reversing her momentum and sending her flying back through the air.  
Angel completed her backflip just as Akira hit the ice. Before she could possibly react, Angel was there and struck. But again, Akira had anticipated the attack before Angel even launched it, and as Angel's sword slashed down, Akira's palms slapped around the blade, halting it. For a moment they strained against each other, then Angel smiled grimly.  
"It's over, Akira. All I have to do is activate my fire chakra and you can't possibly hold my sword back. I'll cut you in two." Akira paused for a moment, but said nothing. "I'm going to give you one last chance"  
"That's not my style," Akira said, cutting her off. "You asked. I said no. Just accept it and do what you think you have to"  
"Fine, damn you!" Angel swore. In the blink of an eye she shifted her power from the speed-enhancing air to strength-enhancing fire. She plunged down,  
and her sword sliced through the crystal bridge like the proverbial hot knife through butter.  
Except Akira had moved.  
Angel was suddenly flying back, her cheek aching. She spun in mid-air,  
touching down where she knew the bridge was, hopped back to perch at the very edge of the ragged gap. She felt it trembling as the slender bridge, now with a chunk ripped through the middle, strained to hold her. She had only a few seconds before it collapsed. She looked up. Akira was standing in a defensive stance, just beyond where Angel had struck. Her expression was sad. "You were wrong, Angel. Now it's over. And you've lost"  
"We'll see about that!" Angel cried, shifting back to the air chakra.  
Her boots slammed into the crystal bridge as she ran forward, the impact a point of no return for the weakened end of it, but Angel was already at Akira before the shudders even reached the gap she nimbly stepped around. Her sword danced,  
flashing out and out again, wide arcs preventing Akira from keeping her arms close to her chest, then short stabs forcing her to step backwards to avoid being skewered. In less than a second, Angel had cleared the gap, reached relatively stable ground. But Akira still stood in her way. As the broken pieces of the bridge tumbled into the abyss, Angel feinted to the right, then flashed to the left, her sword driving forward for Akira's heart. She could at least spare her ex-friend a lingering death.  
She realised before impact that Akira had anticipated her move, had already moved to avoid it. But she still had to obey momentum. As her sword carved a painful strip from Akira's side, Angel tried to pull it back, but Akira's hand snapped around her wrist.  
"How." Angel gasped. "Even Ranma couldn't"  
"Unlike him, I've watched you fight before," Akira said. "And I'll have you know that on very good authority, I've got a higher power level than Ranma"  
Then her kick shattered Angel's kneecap. Angel screamed and flailed at Akira with her free hand, but the woman simply let her go and stepped back.  
Angel almost collapsed, but drew back, balancing on her good leg. She shifted her power to the healing water chakra on her chest. Had to heal this-  
Akira was suddenly upon her. Angel swung her sword but she ducked underneath. Before Angel was even sure what was happening, her world was turned upside down and her face slammed into the unyielding crystal. A moment later she was aware of how her arm was painfully twisted behind her back, a knee holding it down. Her injured leg was twisted, and she screamed for a moment before biting her lip to stop it. She quickly shifted to the fire chakra, ripping free of Akira's grasp. But the woman melted away from Angel's blind grab at her, and before Angel could turn around, an elbow slammed into her head. She took another swing at the source, sparks dancing before her eyes, but again Akira was gone.  
As she tried to push herself up onto her good leg, she saw Akira had stepped back, again, and reassumed her defensive position.  
"You..." she snarled.  
"It doesn't matter which of your tattoos you use, Angel," Akira explained calmly. "Without being able to walk, no amount of air chakra will let you get past my guard. If you use the fire chakra, I'll just hit you. If you use the earth, I can grapple you again, and I'll pull your joints from your sockets.  
And you won't get the chance to use water"  
Angel gritted her teeth. The doorway lay just beyond Akira. It might as well have been a thousand kilometers away. The woman, injured, weak, still stood between them like an insurmountable wall. This was why Chris had warned her not to display her powers too openly. They were a trump card; they were the gift He'd given her to overcome her limits. But they didn't make her invincible.  
No.  
This wasn't happening.  
She never failed.  
She had been chosen.  
She wouldn't let Chris down! Angel leapt forward, her air chakra exploding to life. Her sword flashed through the air, reflecting the light from the crystal walls. She aimed for Akira's heart, she moved like the wind, but Akira was moving before Angel had even totally left the ground. Angel was all too conscious of how Akira moved underneath her, how her fists slammed into Angel's unprotected stomach. She roared, trying to bring her sword around to stab her opponent from behind, but one hand seized her shoulder, swinging her towards the ground with incredible speed.  
And then she remembered nothing at all.

OoOoO

Ukyou was leaning against the wall, rubbing her neck and looking thoughtful. The throne room had returned to normal now that Kalia was gone.  
Akane hadn't even seen it happen. One moment they were in an endless room, the next she blinked and everything had returned to normal. Except for all the damage Kalia had inflicted.  
That remained.  
Akane placed her hand on Rei's shoulders as the young woman continued to sob softly. Akane had only known Katsuhito for a few months, and during that time they had not grown especially close. But... he was a good man. A very irritating man, but a good one. The memories Akane would carry of him would be nice ones.  
Rei, however, had lost the next best thing she had to a father. For years this old monk had been her mentor and her parent. Nothing Akane could say would begin to make her feel better now. It was time for Rei to grieve.  
Akane stood and walked towards Ukyou. The young woman had changed so much, and yet not changed at all. She was still so young, her figure so childlike compared to the people Akane had watched grow over the years. Her black hair was still in a ponytail, and she still wore a trenchcoat, which she was clinging to herself.  
But now she looked... almost inhuman. The scars on her arm seemed to stand out more, and the tattoos on the other hand had an unnatural mechanical quality to them. Then there were her eyes, black lotus shapes that looked up at Akane as she approached.  
Akane sighed and sat down next to her.  
"Hey"  
"Hey"  
They sat there for a moment. "I'm sorry, Akane." Akane looked at her. "I can't make what happened between us better, but for what it's worth I'm sorry.  
I..." She sighed. "I want us to be friends again"  
Akane smiled. "What ever made you think that stopped?" Ukyou smiled at her as well. And Akane was shocked to see how open and genuine that smile was.  
"So, what happened? I thought you were dead"  
"I spent seven years killing people and fucking a psychopath, had a kid,  
lost my memory." Ukyou paused and scratched her chin. "You"  
"Been leading a losing battle against Chronos," Akane shrugged. "Saved the world from Pharaoh 90. Might have doomed us all in the process"  
"Indeed"  
Then, for some insane reason, they started laughing. It was just a giggle at first. Then it quickly devolved into body-shaking guffaws. Akane fell against Ukyou, and Ukyou slapped the wall a few times. Akane realised she was crying. And so was Ukyou.  
But it felt good.  
"I hope you two are having fun," Tethys hissed once they stopped. "It must be nice to be able to ignore everything happening around you"  
"I'm not ignoring it, Tethys," Ukyou said slowly. "I'm trying to decide what to do. What that girl told me"  
"It was true, wasn't it?" Tethys insisted, crossing her arms and glaring down at Ukyou. "You ARE killing Akira. Every time you use the Third Circle, all the backlash you create is being funnelled into her"  
"Yeah..." Ukyou said slowly.  
"You only care about yourself, Ukyou," Tethys hissed. "I fail to see why Akira is so devoted to you. I think she would be better off with you dead"  
Ukyou looked up at her. "No. She wouldn't." She stood up. "Speaking of Akira... I have to go now"  
"Going to fix what you've done?" Tethys snarled.  
Ukyou sighed and pinched her nose. "Yes, Tethys. As a matter of fact I am going to try"  
Tethys was about to say something, when Akane suddenly shot to her feet.  
Ukyou looked at her. "What is it"  
"It's... Destiny! The same feeling I had with you! Except... pure"  
Akane's eyes widened. "It's"  
Then a wave of silver light washed over them. Tethys cried out in fright, but when it passed she was unharmed. Instead, the entire palace had been changed. Where once they had been standing in a city of black ice, they were now in a city of gleaming crystal. The galaxy of stars still swirled beneath them,  
but now all the lights were gold specks, like fireflies.  
"Sailor Moon," Tethys breathed. "She's here"  
"And fighting Chris!" Ukyou exclaimed. "But Hotaru is..." She frowned.  
"Hotaru is running away from that fight, it seems"  
"What?" Akane frowned.  
"This would be..." Ukyou trailed off. "No. No, I have to go find Akira.  
With this jungle around it's still hard for me to pinpoint Hotaru, but Akira I CAN find." She turned to Akane. "I have to go, Akane"  
"Ukyou..." Akane fell silent. What else was there to say?  
Ukyou ran to the edge of the sphere she had cut out of the city and leapt out of view. After a moment, Tethys made a sound and ran to leap after her.  
That left Akane alone.  
"There she is, girls"  
Akane's eye twitched. Oh no. Not.  
"Akane Tendo! Champion of righteousness! At last I have found you once again. Fear not of the dangers of this city, for it is I"  
"Can it, Skullo," Akane said, turning around. She wasn't surprised to see Patoratsyu with the deluded 'justice fighter', but was surprised at the four girls accompanying him. They were the strangest quartet Akane had ever seen, and she had been fighting Chronos for seven years.  
She petted her pet land octopus as he leapt up onto her shoulder and made little cooing sounds. Meanwhile the four girls were running towards her.  
They wore scandalously-revealing circus outfits, especially considering they looked all of thirteen. Also they had the most elaborate hairstyles Akane had ever seen, each one a less probable shade than the last.  
"Are you sure this is her?" the one with green hair said, crossing her arms.  
"Akane Tendo is taller than this," the one in pink insisted.  
"And she has eyes that can turn men to stone!" the blue-haired one said,  
snapping her fingers in front of Akane's face. Akane blinked.  
"Also, bigger tits," the red-haired one said, poking Akane in the chest with one finger. "I distinctly remember bigger tits"  
"Will you cut that out!" Akane shouted, waving them away from her and fuming.  
"See, this can't be Akane," the greenette said to Skullomania. "If she was really annoyed, she would have chopped us in two with her sword like she always does on TV"  
"No, no, I assure you that this is Akane Tendo!" He paused. "And she only hits people with the wooden sword when she's mad at them"  
"You stay out of this!" Akane snapped at him. He backed up, waving his arms defensively. "You four, who are you and why are you looking for me"  
"You're really Akane?" the red-head asked suspiciously.  
"YES I AM!" Akane shouted back.  
"Mmm hmmm..." the bluette was now cradling her head against Akane's chest. Akane clenched her fists and began to glow. "You don't say.  
fascinating"  
"I told you to stop that!" Akane punched downward, but somehow the girl moved just before Akane hit and all Akane managed to do was throw herself off balance.  
"Hey you guys, it really is Akane. The nice lady in the magical stone told me so," the blue-haired girl told the others.  
"Magic stone?" Akane looked down at her vest pocket. It was glowing slightly. Also, now that she focused on it, she could feel it tugging on her.  
towards the direction of Sailor Moon.  
"I thought you lost your powers?" the greenette accused.  
"I did, but only a doofus couldn't hear what the nice lady in the stone is saying"  
"Oh, right..." the red-head looked around. "Well, I heard it, too"  
"So did I!" the pink-haired girl lied well.  
"I... so did I! I was just teasing you!" the green-haired girl lied less well.  
Akane felt a headache coming on ,so she cut them off. "Now that we've established who I am, who are you and why are you here"  
"Oh, we're the Amazoness Quartet!" the red-head said and the four of them posed in front of Akane. Skullomania twitched, his hands clenched into fists and sweat appearing through his mask. "The four lovely young children adventurers"  
"And we need to find Sailor Moon," the green-haired girl continued.  
"If we don't, the old man will die!" the bluette explained.  
"She's the only one who can heal him! Without her, he'll surely die"  
"So we had to find Sailor Moon and we remember somebody telling us that you knew who Sailor Moon was"  
"But we didn't know who you were, so we couldn't find you"  
"But we DID know who Skullomania was, and he said he was your friend and so we"  
"I get it." Akane held up a hand to forestall them. She looked off into the distance. She could feel the power of Sailor Moon's destiny. She was fighting something, Akane could tell. Chris, Akane realised suddenly. Her hand reached down and touched the star seed. It was pulling her towards the battle.  
She looked over at Rei. "I..." She looked at Skullomania. "Skullo, could you stay with... with Katsuhito's body, please"  
Skullomania looked at her for a long moment. For once, he sensed the gravity of the situation. "Yes, of course. I will protect his body with my life"  
"Rei..." Akane placed a hand on the girls shoulder. Her eyes were bloodshot. "Come on. Sailor Moon is here. We should go see her"  
"I..." Rei blinked away a few tears. "Yes. Let's go"  
"You four..." Akane paused. "On second thought, just you," she pointed at the pink-haired girl, who seemed to have the least tendency to babble. "Tell me everything"  
And so she did, as Akane led them through the city. The tug on the star seed was growing stronger, serving as a perfect dowsing rod leading them straight to Sailor Moon.  
"The old man was in France. He'd gone there to save Cologne"  
"Cologne?" Akane started. She hadn't seen the old woman since.  
"Yeah, the old hag was there trying to kill some evil guy named Chris.  
Apparently he killed her great-granddaughter"  
"I know." Akane closed her eyes. "I was there"  
"Something else that monster has to answer for," Rei snarled.  
"Anyway, we went there to save Cologne but it was a trap and there was a lot of monsters. But Frederick showed up to save us all with a giant lightning bolt!" Akane frowned. 'Frederick?' That name sounded familiar. "But even after he took care of all the monsters, there was still Chris. And he had an evil not-  
right-at-all girl with him"  
"She was scary!" the blue-haired girl cried. Akane shushed her and indicated for the dignified girl to continue.  
"The girl attacked the old man and tore out his magic crystal. Then she broke it." Magic crystal? Akane frowned. Maybe a heart crystal? Or a star seed?  
Akane had encountered so many magic crystals in her life... "But the worst part was what she did to it"  
"She filled it up with something wrong!" the green-haired girl said.  
"Paradox," the bluette broke in. "The paradox backlash. That's what it is"  
"Paradox?" Akane asked.  
"We don't know what it is," the red-head explained. "But it's real bad stuff, like an infection in reality. It wears away at it, rots it from the inside out"  
"And as long as it's stuck in the crystal they can't fix it," the pink-  
haired girl continued. "That's why we need Sailor Moon. She's the only one who can purify the paradox, extract it from the crystal without destroying it in the process"  
"But that isn't the worst of it. You see, the paradox is all that's holding his crystal together"  
"What"  
"Whatever was done to the crystal should have shattered it," pink-hair explained.  
"But the paradox is keeping it in one piece. If the paradox vanishes suddenly, the crystal will shatter and he'll die"  
"So we have to get to Sailor Moon before whatever it is that's causing the paradox stops happening!" the blue-haired girl insisted.  
"I see..." Akane nodded. It was as good a reason as any. Maybe she would talk with Sailor Moon. But first they would have to get to her and help her out.  
If she was fighting Chris, then-  
The city in front of them exploded. Akane threw herself in front of the Quartet, extended her hands to block them from the debris. Rei stepped forward as well, conjuring a wall of flame that stopped most of it. The Quartet mainly shrieked and dove for cover behind Akane.  
Purple light flared as a figure shot up out of the mist. Lances of dark fire launched from his fingertips as he fired again and again, drilling down into the mist like a machine gun. He was screaming, his voice barely human as he roared with fury.  
And the mist parted, blasted away in a flash of silver light. The figure which rose from it was Usagi, Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess - but also much more. Her silver armour didn't just gleam, it WAS light. Pinions of light,  
ephemeral as dreams but too bright to look at flared from her back as she flashed up towards Chris. A barrier of light blinked into existence each time one of his attacks came too close to her. When the purple flames reached that barrier they just vanished, snuffed out like candles in the breeze.  
And in her hands she carried a sword. It was no ordinary sword. It was the perfect sword. Akane found her mouth drying up, her eyes moistening at the sight of it. Akane had once thought that Akio might very well be the model for all mankind. If he was, then this was the model for all swords. Perfectly shaped, perfectly balanced, an instrument of sublime war.  
Chris pivoted in midair, trying to dodge the attack of the ur-sword. But the blade somehow caught him just above the hip. His scream this time was full of pain and panic. Black rot rippled out from the impact, consuming the entire hip. But to his credit, he reacted quickly. His one good hand shot up and he unfurled his fist just in front of Usagi's face.  
There was a blast of purple fire, it roared and flashed, casting the entire world into shades of violet.  
"Usagi!" Rei screamed.  
"No!" Akane shouted, and started forward. But a figure jumped down in front of her. Long green hair and a Sailor Senshi outfit in white and black. She extended a key-shaped staff in front of Akane, stopping her.  
"Don't interfere," she warned.  
"Sailor Pluto?" Akane frowned. She vaguely remembered the woman, but last she had heard she was trying to kill Ukyou.  
"Yes, Akane Tendo," Sailor Pluto smiled, a relieved smile. "You need not worry. Everything is fine"  
Chris was laughing above them, but his laughter cut off abruptly. The fireball he had created was shrinking. No, not just shrinking. It was reversing,  
erupting backwards in time. Finally it became a spark hovering just in front of Sailor Moon's face. The Moon Princess reached up with one gauntleted hand and crushed it between two fingers.  
"Nice trick," Chris snarled, floating back. He gestured and a whip of flames appeared in his hand. "But I won't fall for such petty illusions"  
His hand snapped up and three times he struck. Sailor Moon effortlessly parried the strikes. But on the last strike Chris vanished, only to appear behind her. He drove a knee towards her head, and Sailor Moon wasn't even moving to block it. Then he flickered and vanished, appearing again in front of her,  
driving his hand towards her heart-  
And her fist backhanded him across the face, sending him flying into a nearby crystal building hard enough that he broke through the roof and collapsed the entire thing on top of him.  
"My power is no illusion, Chris," the Moon Princess said, in a voice filled with pity. "It is your power that is the trick"  
"We should do something," Akane said.  
"No, Sailor Moon can handle him." Pluto smiled again.  
"But"  
"Akane. I understand why you want to destroy Chris yourself," Pluto said. "But only she can do it. The Moon Princess explained it herself. His existence is a mere shadow. He died and yet he clings to life at the expense of others. His soul is already too full of chaos and paradox to be saved. His only salvation is death"  
Akane didn't respond. Mainly because she wasn't certain she wanted to destroy Chris. Oh, she hated him for what he had done to Shampoo. She knew he was beyond saving... but there was still a part of her that pitied him. No matter what he had done, he was still a victim in all this, and she couldn't control the way her heart felt.  
"Go get him, Sailor Moon!" the pink-haired girl cheered.  
"Yeah, get him back for hurting Mr. Purgstall!" the red-head added,  
pumping her arm and hooting.  
"Purgstall?" Akane turned to her. "Frederick Von PURGSTALL? As in zoalord Purgstall? That's who you're here to save"  
"Of course," the girl replied, blinking. "That's who we said, right"  
Akane felt her stomach lurch. Purgstall. A Chronos zoalord. The man had been trying to kill her for seven years. He had worked against her at every turn. He had turned her every victory into a defeat. He had engineered the program which had turned her homeland into a nation of willing slaves. He was everything she had sworn to oppose.  
There was a crack followed by the clatter of shifting crystal as Chris pulled himself out of the rubble. "So, Akio finally decided to make his move"  
he chuckled. "Sent his pet Senshi out to defeat me, did he? I guess he moves up a step or two in my plan once I'm finished with you"  
"Akio has nothing to do with this, Chris," the Moon Princess replied. "I was drawn to you. I can feel the sickness in your soul, the burning paradox which fuels your dark power"  
"Right, tell me another"  
"You thought you could get rid of it?" Usagi sighed. "You built yourself a puppet, a puppet in the shape of a girl. You built her from the bits and pieces of Juraian technology you stole from Mihoshi's ship." Chris was staring at her now. Sailor Moon's punch had rotted away the cheek opposite his maimed eye, making his visage truly hideous, but now he looked shocked. "But it wouldn't work, not until you poured into it all your rot and pain. Everything the Third Circle gave you from trying to abuse its power to cling to your unnatural life. Did you not think that the power was rejecting you, Chris? Did you not think it was not meant for mortal hands"  
"And what? It's meant for YOURS?" Chris exploded into the air once again. He whipped out a series of paper wards and sent them spiralling towards Usagi. She cleaved them with her sword, but he was inside her guard. Fire lanced along his body and up in front of her. But he was already spinning away from that. Usagi blocked the fire with her hand. Chris appeared behind her exposed back and stuck, kicking her with all his might.  
His shin exploded when it came into contact with her armour. The flesh just rotted away and the bone inside shattered into a cloud of dust. He screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his stump. She had hurt him, Akane realised.  
Not just the body, she had hurt CHRIS.  
"I want there to be another way," Usagi explained softly. She turned towards Chris. "When I... when I finally saw the truth, I realised there couldn't be. You came across the gap between worlds, across the barrier, and you brought something with you, Chris. It's a poison. I see it now. Your very existence poisons the world. When you created your puppet, you gave that poison shape and form. Now it spreads your sickness to everything it touches, leaving bits and pieces of itself behind. Bits and pieces of your poison, infecting this world. Until I remove you from it, the world can never be clean"  
"So, you think you're God? I'll show you," Chris growled. His remaining eye was bugging out in rage. He stood up, floating to his feet. "My power"  
"Stolen power," the Moon Princess said. She gestured. "Power which I can finally put to rest"  
A wave of light flashed across the battlefield. Chris didn't even have a chance to dodge. As it flowed over him it seemed to be ripping something from his skin. Something purple and black. It hissed and screamed, the power clawing at his flesh as it tried to burrow back into the body and escape. But it was drawn out. For a moment, Akane thought she saw a face screaming in the shadows it formed, and then it was gone. Just like that.  
Chris collapsed, the entire front of his body scorched and rotting. He tried to push himself up, but whatever power had allowed him to fly was gone. He started shaking his head, his voice emerging as a cracked whisper. "No... no.  
this isn't happening"  
"I'm sorry Chris, I wish I could save you," Sailor Moon said, holding up her sword. "But you must be cleansed"  
("The girl attacked the old man and tore out his magic crystal. Then she broke it)  
Akane felt her mind turning.  
("You built yourself a puppet, a puppet in the shape of a girl)  
("And he had an evil not-right at all girl with him)  
Something was coming together in her mind. Something important. But she didn't want to think of it. She knew that if she thought of it, there would only be trouble.  
("But the paradox is keeping it in one piece. If the paradox vanishes suddenly, the crystal will shatter and he'll die)  
("Now it spreads your sickness to everything it touches, leaving bits and pieces of itself behind)  
"NO"  
Akane didn't realise what she was doing until she was already standing in front of the body on the ground, her arms extended to her side. Usagi paused,  
her eyebrow raising "Akane, what are you doing?" Rei shouted.  
"Get out of the way, you idiot!" one of the Quartet shouted.  
"Stand aside, this has to happen!" Pluto screamed.  
"...this isn't happening... this isn't happening..." Chris moaned,  
rocking back and forth on the ground like a child.  
"You should move, Akane. I'm not certain I can finish him off with you in the way," Usagi pointed out.  
"No, you can't kill him," Akane said evenly.  
"Are you insane?" Rei started forward. "Do you know what he did"  
"He has to live, Rei!" Akane opened her mouth, and realised what she was about to say. If Chris died, so did Frederick Von Purgstall. Why should she care? He was evil. He had done more harm to Japan and the world than Chris had by a factor of ten. So what if he died?  
Akane looked at the Quartet. They were just children. Children trying to save their father.  
"If Chris dies, all the taint he left in this world goes with him"  
Akane pointed out.  
"That's kind of the point," Rei snarled.  
"But the taint he left behind is currently keeping a man alive. If he dies, then so does this man." Akane looked up at Sailor Moon. "But you can save him first. If you kill Chris, he dies now. If you save this man first, you can always come back for Chris later"  
"Akane, that's stupid"  
"No, she's right, Rei," Usagi said. She floated down towards the ground and rested her feet on it. A pegasus made of crystal appeared out of nowhere,  
neighing slightly. Its black onyx eyes were glassy and empty. "If this man can be saved, I must save him. I am not a butcher. If he dies because of this taint,  
then I may not be able to fix it once Chris is no more"  
Rei stared at Sailor Moon, her eyes widening and her mouth opening and closing. Akane looked away. She'd done the right thing... hadn't she?  
"Somebody take me to this man, I will save him." She looked down at Chris. "I have taken away most of his power, but he is still dangerous. Guard him until I return"  
The Amazoness Quartet made excited sounds and scampered over to the glorious Princess, one of them taking her by the hand. The other three raised three orbs and, with a gesture, they were gone. Akane deflated a bit as the five simply vanished. She looked over at Chris, who was still rocking and moaning on the floor.  
"I can't believe it's finally over," Pluto said, her voice thick.  
"Is it?" Akane asked. She hunched down, looking at Chris still.  
"I was actually a little worried, " Pluto said to no one in particular.  
"Sailor Moon seemed so... awesome and powerful. For a moment, I thought the power had corrupted her. But seeing how she cares more about one man's life than the salvation of the universe makes me feel better"  
"I'm still not sure it was a good idea," Rei said quickly, crossing her arms. She was glaring down at Chris. "We should have finished off Chris quickly"  
"It doesn't matter about Chris," Pluto told Rei. "Sailor Moon ended the Prophecy. Don't you see, she has the power to change Destiny! Even if Chris escapes, he's still not that powerful"  
"Change Destiny?" Akane asked.  
"He destroyed Hotaru, the Messiah of Silence, before she and Ukyou could meet and destroy the universe in their battle," Pluto explained.  
"But Hotaru is still alive," Akane said, blinking.  
"What? But I SAW her die"  
"Ukyou says that Hotaru ran away shortly after Sailor Moon showed up"  
Pluto stared at Akane, then looked around. "Wait, wait... where... where are her LEGS? Where is her sword?" She was beginning to look worried now. She turned towards Akane. "We have to"  
"Can't you people do ANYTHING right?" a new voice cut in.  
Akane turned around and blinked. Washuu was standing, with one foot on Chris. She had her arms crossed and was glaring at Akane. Rei looked slightly pale, and for a moment Akane was glad she hadn't seen the young-looking woman appear.  
"Who are you?" Pluto asked.  
"Heh. I'm Washuu Hakubi, THE greatest scientific genius in the universe!" She made a v-sign at Pluto. "And I was within seconds of finishing off Chris once and for all when Ms. Empathy here had to go and ruin it all"  
"Ms. Haku-" Pluto was cut off as Rei slapped a hand over her mouth.  
"Call her 'little Washuu'," Rei warned in a hiss. Akane nodded quickly.  
"Two years of planning, two years of manipulating and you had to spoil it all, Akane," Washuu pouted. 'I'm very put out with you." She looked down at Chris. "Thankfully he seems too out of it to have noticed and his friends are all defeated like I wanted. I should be able to salvage this. I'll just have to put him on ice for a little bit"  
She gestured and a door appeared in mid-air. It looked perfectly normal,  
except for being made out of some red material Akane did not immediately recognize. She hefted up Chris with one hand and threw him through the door,  
which opened just in time to accommodate him. "Now, the problem is, he can't suspect my involvement or everything goes to hell." She looked over. "Guess I'll just have to make certain no one knows"  
Akane shivered at the sinister sound in Washuu's voice. The girl smiled dangerously and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small silver wand with a red lens on the end. Pluto tensed, Akane did as well. Rei just sighed in a long-  
suffering way.  
"Look at the pretty light, everyone," Washuu chirped and there was a red flash. Akane blinked. Pluto and Rei seemed dazed. "Sailor Moon defeated Chris and you all watched, but he ran away at the last minute and she went to chase him. You all decided to stay here and help Ukyou or something, I don't know"  
"What are you talking about?" Akane insisted. Washuu looked at Akane.  
She snapped her fingers in front of Akane's eyes and Akane made a swipe at them,  
forcing Washuu to skip back. Washuu shrugged and flashed the red light at her again. Akane shielded her eyes and glared. "Stop that! You'll give me a headache"  
"Is this thing broken?" Washuu looked down into it and it flashed into her face. She blinked, staggering around in a daze. "What... what am I doing here"  
Akane walked up to her. "Are you"  
"HAH!" Washuu poked her in the ribs with the wand. "Gotcha! Just kidding. I'm immune to this thing, obviously." She looked at Akane and frowned.  
"Though why YOU are escapes me." She paused. "Maybe something to do with why you could see what Kalia was doing as well?" She shrugged. "Oh well, it just means you'll have to come with me." She grabbed Akane by the wrist. "Can't risk having you spilling the beans"  
"Wait, what"  
Washuu turned and yelled back over her shoulder. "Akane went with Sailor Moon and..." Washuu looked at her. "You won't need this. The Seed only interferes with what Usagi needs to do." She held up her hand, which had Neptune's Star Seed in it. Akane gasped and made a grab for it but Washuu had already thrown it at the ground by the Senshi's feet. "...Akane left with Sailor Moon and left that behind, something about not needing it anymore and blah blah"  
Akane stared at the crazy woman as she was dragged into the door.

OoOoO

ZX-Tole placed a hand on the guardrail and looked out over the city. It looked so calm from up here, so empty. The Pillars of Heaven were the tallest buildings in the world, a trio of skyscrapers that rose above everything else in the area by hundreds of stories. They were interconnected at all levels by a series of skyways, which allowed employees of Chronos to shuttle cleanly from one building to the other without difficulty. At the very top of the building was a single large structure that was supported over empty air by graceful-  
looking bridges that came from the corner of each of the three towers.  
Up here, at the very top of the building, humans were not advised to exit. The air was thin up here, making it difficult for normal people to breathe. But ZX-Tole wasn't human. Even in his stealth form he was gifted beyond normal people, with increased strength and stamina that had surprised more than one fool who had thought to catch him unawares.  
His knuckles turned white. What was he doing here? Back in this city,  
kilometers away from the front line, was not the place for a warrior. The situation at Ohtori was serious. It was the first time that Chronos had ever lost territory since they had halted the war with America almost seven years ago. It was already emboldening the other members of the Resistance. They had suffered more attacks on Chronos installations in the last few days than in the entire last seven years.  
At the very least, he should be out there putting down brush fires. He should be doing something, anything. Instead, he was here.  
"Commander? Ah, there you are"  
"Ikazuchi." ZX-Tole didn't turn to look. The neo-zoanoid walked up behind him, coming to a halt a few meters away. The snow crunched under his heels as he moved. "What did you want"  
"I've come to report that I have fulfilled our orders," Ikazuchi said quickly. "Of course, was there any doubt that"  
"Ikazuchi," ZxTole cut him off. "What do you think of our orders"  
"I..." Ikazuchi must have looked rather confused. Which was understandable, since ZX-Tole had never asked for his opinion on anything before. Then again, Ikazuchi was never one to hold it back. "I'm not certain what you're asking, ZX-Tole. The orders were rather simple. I had the top ten floors cleared of all people"  
"Yes. Rather strange, don't you think?" ZX-Tole leaned forward a bit,  
enjoying the brief sensation of vertigo. "Emptying some of the most important floors of every guard, every scientist, every technician. Especially with L.  
with Purgstall in there"  
Ikazuchi made a thoughtful noise. "Perhaps they believe the two of us alone are good enough for this duty? The others may well be needed back at Ohtori"  
"Scientists? Technicians?" ZX-Tole snorted. "No. Something else is going on here, Ikazuchi. Something I'm not certain I like"  
"ZX-Tole"  
"I shouldn't have run, Ikazuchi," ZX-Tole said suddenly, sighing.  
"Excuse me"  
"I should have stayed and fought Sailor Moon"  
"B-But... not even I could have prevailed against such a force as she!  
Her foul magic unmade even Red Cyclone, who I must admit was almost even at my own level of evolutionary perfection"  
"It would have been a warrior's death," ZX-Tole continued grimly, having barely registered Ikazuchi's response. "Elegen, Thancrus, Derzerb... they all died fighting. My brothers. The men I had grown to trust with my life. Each of them died fighting this enemy, fighting Akane and her soldiers"  
"Akane Tendo can not be blamed for their-" Ikazuchi suddenly sounded defensive.  
"Don't worry, I don't blame her." ZX-Tole smirked. "It was my fault.  
Akane was a better fighter than I gave her credit for. Her people wanted it more, and so they won. That's the sort of thing that happens on the field of battle." ZX-Tole looked down once again. At this height, it was impossible to make out the people below. "At least against her it would have been an honourable death. You can understand that, can't you, Ikazuchi"  
"I... yes." Ikazuchi walked up to the guardrail and placed his hands on it. "I can understand honour. But why are you talking this way, Commander"  
"I..." ZX-Tole decided to hold back his suspicions. How Gyro's foreknowledge of the location of Ohtori had been a little too convienent. How he hadn't pushed the issue since the initial battle. All the things that had worried him about the zoalord for years, adding up. "Ikazuchi, the zoalords have less control over you than they do over regular hyper-zoanoids like me, don't they"  
"I..." The young man looked confused.  
"Don't deny it," ZX-Tole pressed. "The process they used on you was rushed and incomplete, and they left you with almost your entire original personality intact. I once saw you take a mental blast from Gyro that would have killed any other zoanoid"  
"I always assumed I was such a loyal vassal I required no further measures..." Ikazuchi said softly.  
"I..." ZX-Tole looked back down at the city. "If I'm ever doing something... something that goes against everything I believe in. Something that goes against everything Chronos stands for. Something... dishonourable"  
"ZX-Tole"  
ZX-Tole spun and grabbed the younger man by the top of his gi, clenching the fabric tight in his fist. He lifted the boyish man up off his feet until they were staring face to face. "If I have no control, if I can't stop myself.  
YOU have to do it"  
"Do... do what?" For once, the foppish brat seemed stunned wordless.  
"You have to stop me, stop me from..." ZX-Tole had no idea what he would do. But he repressed a shudder. "Promise me, Ikazuchi. I'm not like those monsters at Millennium. I kill, but I don't enjoy killing. You have to stop me,  
if it goes too far"  
"I..." Ikazuchi nodded mutely.  
ZX-Tole released him and started towards the door back into the building.  
"ZX-Tole... how will I know"  
ZX-Tole paused and considered the question for a moment. Then he smiled.  
Gaster, Elegen, Thancrus, Derzerb... he had lost his greatest friends over the years. But this boy, this arrogant stupid boy. He was his friend, too. He was a good man, under all that bombast. You might not be able to trust him not to fuck up, but you could always trust him to be... well, to be Ikazuchi. "You'll know"  
ZX-Tole said before stepping through the door.

OoOoO

"Katsuhito's dead"  
Angel looked up. Rei was standing outside the icy bars of the cell. She looked angry. She pretty much always looked angry, but not surprisingly, this was more serious than usual. Angel, for her part, just felt tired, and her head still hurt. "I'm sorry to hear that"  
"Sorry?" Rei snapped. "SORRY? Is that all you have to say for yourself?  
After all the time Katsuhito spent helping you, after all the time he trained you, after he saved your life, after you were responsible for his death, all you have to say is 'sorry"  
"I didn't kill him," Angel said quietly. "I'm sorry he died. What more am I supposed to say"  
"You didn't kill him? Oh no, of course not. It's not like YOU didn't start us down this path, after all. It's not like YOU weren't responsible for what happened to Mihoshi. It's not like YOU haven't been supporting a psychopathic murderer. He had his doll Kalia do it because you were busy elsewhere, I guess"  
Angel sighed. "Okay. Sure, then. I would have killed him if he'd tried to stop Chris. So if you want, I'm responsible. I'm still sorry it had to happen"  
"Had to happen?" Rei growled. "Oh, right, you think he's some destined god saviour of the world. I guess you missed the part where Sailor Moon beat him like a child"  
"What"  
"Or you missed the part where Ukyou and Tethys beat his doll. Where you were beaten by a woman who was already crippled from blood loss! Where SHE was beaten by a normal human with no powers!" she finished, pointing across the hall to the other occupied cell.  
"Describing Nabiki as that is hardly accurate," Link corrected with a snort. "And in fact, it was her and Ryouga that beat me. More accurately still,  
I beat me. But do carry on. I enjoy watching you shattering Angel's illusions"  
"Shut up!" Angel snarled at the other prisoner, who held a hand over her mouth as she chuckled softly. She had woken up only slightly after Angel, both of them already imprisoned. Angel didn't know how bad she had looked before she had healed herself - she guessed her face at least had been bruised up, along with her wrecked knee - but Link was covered in small bruises and scratches;  
easy to see, for she only wore a white shift. Her robes, earrings, hairpins: all traces of the blue crystal Link normally dripped with were gone. She looked.  
surprisingly young and vulnerable now, just a skinny, pasty-complexioned young woman with long black hair and stick-like limbs. Tethys herself had shown up to explain the 'special features' of their cells shortly thereafter. Even the strongest punch Angel could deliver only caused the bars to bend and near-  
instantly snap back into place; all the blood from Link's cuts seemed to vapourise instantly in the air. Link had seemed perversely pleased at the precaution. "Sailor Moon? What are you saying"  
"You know this Third Circle thing that your boss is so obsessed with"  
Rei exclaimed triumphantly. "The one that makes him so special and divine?  
Sailor Moon reached it first"  
"That's impossible," Angel said.  
"And then she proceeded to beat him like a dog," Rei continued without even acknowledging Angel's statement.  
"That's not possible!" she repeated. "Sailor Moon's just a human. She can't reach the Third Circle"  
"If you like," Rei said, leaning down and smiling in a vindictive way,  
"I can get Sailor Pluto in to confirm it for me. And if there's anyone who's an expert on the Third Circle, it's her"  
Angel stared, uncertain of what to say.  
"So," began Link casually, "did your little band actually kill Kalia"  
Rei looked annoyed at the other woman speaking up again, but answered.  
"The last I saw her, there were several spears of ice the size of my arm stuck in her and she was running scared from Ukyou and Tethys"  
"Mmm. So, 'no they didn't', then. And Chris? After Sailor Moon thrashed him, did she... finish him off"  
"Are you actually believing her story?" Angel snapped. "You know Chris can't"  
"Can't what?" said Link mildly. "Lose? Oh, dear stupid girl. Chris can lose. I'll have you know that one time, Ryouga Hibiki smashed him into a weeping, incoherent mass of ruined flesh. He never did thank Ukyou for saving him that time, either... but then, I think that's one incident he's put quite firmly out of his mind"  
"You stay out of this!" Rei snapped. "I don't know why you hung around with that psychopath, but at least you did it honestly, not sneaking around making people trust you under false pretenses like this little traitor. People like her make me sick"  
Link actually laughed. "Of course. Please, don't let me interrupt your undoubtedly satisfying self-righteous tirade." She drew back into the shadows of the corner of her cell.  
Rei glowered for a moment, but then turned back to Angel. "And as for you"  
"Oh shut up, Rei," Angel said. "I didn't see anything that happened and I'm not taking either of your words for it. If Sailor Moon was some all-special divine being, what the hell has she been doing for the past seven years? Chris defeated Millennium. Sailor Moon, so I hear, has just been hiding in a fairyland kingdom having sex with the next best thing to the Devil"  
"She was holding off the end of the world!" Rei roared.  
"Sure she was"  
"Oh yes, you're just so very cool about this, aren't you? You're like this with everything. You don't care about the lives you destroy, as long as your precious god is right. You told me your parents were revolutionaries. I wonder what they'd think of you, slaughtering innocent people to help out the sick dreams of an even worse oppressor than the one they were fighting"  
Angel's head snapped up. "Don't you DARE compare Chris to Chronos, Rei"  
she said, her voice clipped. "Don't you dare. My parents died fighting for something they believed in, and"  
"And you'd have butchered them without a second thought if he'd told you to, right? Just like"  
Angel didn't even realise she'd moved. Her hand hurt. She realised she'd hit the immovable bars, hit them so hard her knuckles were bleeding. She realised she'd gotten up right around then. She hit them again and again, barely feeling the pain, her voice hoarse as she screamed at the woman, not even sure what she was saying, just knowing it was something angry. Hurtful.  
Rei just stared. Her expression was angry too, and she opened her mouth as if to shout something back, but then a shadow crossed her features. Without a word, she turned and walked away.  
"GO TO HELL!" Angel called at her retreating back. No sound had come from the other cell, but Angel imagined Link was laughing to herself again.  
Retreating to the corner of her own cell, she sat down. She didn't activate her tattoos to heal the injury she'd done to her hand; the pain felt good, somehow.  
Lowering her head onto her knees, she waited for Chris to come.

To Be Continued...

Blade: Holy shit, this was long.

Epsilon: And next chapter's even LONGER!

Blade: Hell, we haven't even finished it yet, even after taking a month off! That's how long it is!

Epsilon: We have failed in our bid to not become Robert Jordan.

Blade: Except with less spankings and more lesbians.

Epsilon: But why can't we combine the two?

Blade: We've replaced spankings with punching people in the face. See, it happens to Tethys all the time!

Epsilon: Well, she does call herself the Dark Queen and dresses kinda dominatrixy, so that makes sense.

Blade: So, in that case our equivalent to "crossing arms under your breasts" is coughing up blood?

Epsilon: And yanking on the ponytail is giant set-piece battles sets in climactic and awesome locales, such as Angel versus Ranma, which in our incredibly humble and unbiased opinion, is pretty much the best fight scene ever written in the history of language.

Blade: Anyway who disagrees, feel free to meet me on top of an avalanche plummeting down a cliff in a city created from black ice, and we'll settle the issue like God and Uwe Boll intended.

Epsilon: But if you think those were awesome, just wait until you see the giant set-piece battle that occurs next chapter! I will only give away this: it involves (censored for spoilers) (censored for spoilers) motorcycle out of a (censored for spoilers) and (censored for spoilers) (censored for spoilers) building-sized (censored for spoilers) that is raping (censored for spoilers) and then (censored for spoilers) (censored for spoilers) (censored for spoilers) monstrosity the (censored for spoilers) of (censored for spoilers) moon so hard it (censored for spoilers) in two.

Blade: Don't miss it! And don't miss this, either!

OoOoO

Akane was pretty certain that being bored at a time like this was bad. She knew that there was a lot of important things happening. Maybe even some critical ones. From what she could glean from Washuu's cryptic answers to her questions, the fate of the entire universe might well be decided in the next few minutes. So she was certain that she wasn't supposed to be running her hand along the edge of her sword and trying to think of something to do. It struck her as wrong, somehow. How do you justify being bored, when the entire universe was hanging in the balance?

Hybrid Theory Chapter 28: Reanimation

Blade: EXCITING!


	28. Reanimation A

You may call me Tethys. Of course, I have many names, but that one shall do.

My life is not like yours. In my world there are demons and gods, heroes and

monsters. In my world there are great battles and epic deeds. In my world there

are wonders and terrors.

Which am I? That matters little. To the people whose lives I saved when the

world had abandoned them to die, I am a saviour. To the soldiers I have slain, I

am a force of nature. To the world at large, I am the Queen of Darkness. To

those who know me, I am Tethys.

Ukyou Kuonji knows me well. She was there for the most defining moments of my

life. The moment the human part of me was crippled by her. The moment the demon

part of me was utterly defeated by her. She gave me new purpose, and in that

purpose I realised that we would meet again. But only on my terms.

So I gathered her enemies and her allies together, and I made them mine. In

time, one of her most loyal friends rejected me. I pushed the woman Akira too

far into the darkness and she abadoned me to find Ukyou again. She succeeded in

that quest, and in so doing pulled Ukyou out of another darkness.

Then, Ukyou came to me. She pursued the girl Hotaru, an innocent who might have

been a hero once but who had been destroyed by Ukyou's carelessness and the

cruelty of the world. She became the Messiah of Silence, whose only goal was to

end all things. Ukyou came to my City of Black Ice to find Hotaru, and to

perhaps save the child from the darkness.

Ah, the innocence of youth.

In my black city Ukyou and I met again and talked about the nature of the world.

But she rejected my philosophy. Before I could convince her of the truth of my

words, Ukyou's old nemesis the undead body-snatcher Chris attacked.

His goal was threefold. He wished to destroy Hotaru. He wished to secure the

body of the vampire Alucard which I kept hidden and secret far beneath my city.

He wished to destroy me. He very nearly succeeded.

Link, Chris deceptive ally, hunted down Nabiki Tendo and poisoned her to steal

her sword of three wishes. But Link was defeated by the intervention of Ryouga

Hibiki and Nabiki's uncharacteristic self-sacrifice. Angel, Chris's loyal if

manipulated ally, hunted for Alucard. But she was confronted by Ranma Saotome

and Akira Kazama in turn. The former she defeated, but the latter overcame her.

And I? I was confronted by Kalia, Chris' monstrous creation of Paradox. Kalia

could manipulate reality itself, and so even my not-inconsiderable powers were

no match for her. I was saved by the intervention of Akane Tendo, Rei Hino

and... Ukyou. She stepped in, her poorly understood Third Circle powers making

her the only one who could fight Kalia on the same level. Mind you, her foolish

naivite nearly allowed Kalia to slay her, but at that point I stepped in and

defeated the not-girl. Unfortunately, she escaped before I could destroy her.

Chris, despite the defeat of his three "queens", was on the verge of victory. He

had cornered Hotaru and was about to destroy her when Sailor Moon suddenly

arrived. Pushed to new heights of power by the defiance of Minako Aino, she

cleansed my city of 'evil' and defeated Chris soundly.

But in the end, Akane intervened and convinced Sailor Moon to spare Chris for

now. Reichmann Gyro was holding the body of a zoalord named Frederick von

Purgstall, who had been injured by Kalia in an earlier battle. Only Sailor Moon

could hope to heal him, and if Chris was killed all hope of healing him wou;d be

lost. Ironically enough, Reichmann Gyro once killed Akane, and Sailor Moon

brought her back from the dead. It was during those few moment of death where

Akane was touched by something Other, something nameless and huge.

It is this nameless thing which is behind all of the above. A hidden

chessmaster, playing us like pawns. It is he who corrupted Hotaru. It is he who

guided Akane's hands. It is he who set Ukyou on her path that led her, all

unknowing, back to me.

Washuu Hakubi, a great scientific genius, appeared after Sailor Moon had

departed. It turns out that she has been playing against the nameless foe.

She orchestrated Chris' downfall. Now, she merely needs to hold everything

together...

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 28: Reanimation

Drip. Drip.

It was the sound that woke Nabiki up. It was distant and muffled, from

far away. The steady, rhythmic plunk of water on water. Like a leaky tap, or

rain falling through a poorly-built roof. It made her think of run-down motels

and second-rate dives. The kind of places where the sink never worked and the

roof was always in need of repair. The kind of place she had stayed at in those

few weeks after her family had fled Japan, but before she had gotten the Wishing

Sword. The places where she had stayed with him.

The memories floated up in her half-awake mind, unbidden. Imperiously

ordering him about. Watching as Ryouga carried heavy loads at the day jobs she

made him get for spending money. The way he always watched her, out of the

corner of his eye. The way he hovered nearby. A silent, gentle presence that

would nonetheless destroy anything that threatened her.

"Ryouga..." she whispered, her voice was dry.

"I'm afraid your friend isn't here."

It was an effort of will to make her eyes open, and even then she had a

hard time focusing for a few seconds. Strangely enough, there was no pain. Just

a sort of pleasant numbness. She was drugged, of course. There was a white and

pink blur nearby, which slowly resolved into a person.

Or something like that.

It was a woman, dressed up like a nurse. But it was a nurse out of a

sixteen-year-old's fantasy. She wore a skirt that bordered on being a belt and

her pristine white shirt was so tight against her chest it left little to the

imagination. Huge pink crosses adorned her giant puffy shoulders and the little

cap she wore. Her skin was a healthy pink, and by that Nabiki meant the same

colour as bubblegum, with her hair being a slightly different shade. Her eyes

were all white, with no iris and pupil. Nonetheless, her smile was wide and

friendly.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," the youma said in a chipper

voice. "Please don't try to get up. You've lost a lot of blood, and even healing

magic is only so good." The nurse turned away to adjust something. Nabiki was

hooked up to an IV, and a bloodbag was also draining into her arm. The dripping

had been from the IV, of course. Nabiki barely even raised an eyebrow at the

giant syringe on the youma woman's back.

"How..." She coughed. "How long..." It hurt to talk.

"You've been here for almost four hours now," the nurse said, turning

back to her with a smile. "We managed to heal the majority of your injuries, and

clean most of the toxins out of your system." She nodded. "If your friend had

gotten you here even one minute later, it would have been too late."

"Friend?" Nabiki allowed her head to fall back into her fluffy pillow.

Oh, right, Ryouga. "Is he...?"

The nurse's expression didn't frown, but her smile did droop a bit.

"He... left, shortly after he arrived with you."

"He left..." Nabiki's voice was recovering, as were her eyes. The room

was softly lit by crystal globes arranged in four places on the ceiling. Nabiki

would have called them corners, except the place was all curves and sweeping

lines. The walls were made of silver crystal, which caught and magnified the dim

glow of the orbs, filling the entire place with a tranquil, comforting light.

"Of course he left."

Before she had woken up. Before she had a chance to talk to him. To

explain. To apologise. Had he even stayed long enough to make certain she would

be okay?

"No, Ms. Tendo, I highly recommend you not try to get up. You are still

very weak. Youma magic was never designed to heal, and it can only do so at the

expense of the subject's spiritual energy. Yours had already been almost drained

by the time you arrived. You'll be very weak for weeks at least." The nurse

walked over to Nabiki and placed her hand on the side of her bed. "And... I

suggest not attempting to use your powers."

"My powers?" Nabiki blinked.

"If you'll excuse me," the nurse evaded the question and stepped back.

"I have to inform some people that you're awake."

After the door closed Nabiki was left alone with her thoughts for a few

moments. She closed her eyes. Moving her arm wasn't easy. It was asleep, not

really so much in pain as it was just numb and unresponsive. But she managed to

pull it out from under the tightly tucked-in blankets. She let it flop against

her chest and then opened her eyes.

"She did say 'most' of the toxins," Nabiki said with a sigh. '...that

shard of crystal will kill you in a few hours. Should you actually succeed in

removing it by force, it will kill you in so doing,' had been Link's words. She

could see the taint spreading out from the tiny shard. The veins on her arm

stood out starkly, outlined in blue. The poison spreading through her system.

How much longer did she have?

"Hey!"

Nabiki looked up. Ranma was coming towards her, though he wasn't using

his usual swagger. In fact, he was walking with something of a limp. One of his

arms was in a cast, the other had a huge bandage wrapped around the shoulder.

But his blue eyes sparkled and his smile was as easy and free as it always was.

Nabiki quickly hid her arm under the blanket, more than willing to forget about

it for now. Ranma's presence, his overwhelming inability to ever be changed, was

strangely comforting.

"Hey, yourself." Nabiki inclined her head. "You look like hell."

"You should talk," Ranma returned with a laugh. He hopped up, landing on

the bottom of her bed and dangling his legs over the side. Then, for a moment,

his smile became serious. "I'm glad you're okay. It was touch and go there, for

awhile."

"Was it?" Nabiki mused.

"Yeah. Tethys herself had to be called in to purge most of the poison

from your system." His eyes shone a little as he continued. "It was so awesome,

she like gestured over you and all the blood in your body just sort of streamed

out, like tiny little worms or something. They formed into this ball that she

kept floating above your head that just sort of hissed and bubbled in mid-air.

Then Tethys waved a hand and it just vanished. POP!" He clapped his hands for

emphasis, making Nabiki start a little. "How she kept your heart pumping the

whole time, I don't know. But she's pretty powerful."

"Yeah..." Nabiki chuckled. "So, now I owe Tethys a favour." The morbid

part of Nabiki's mind figured that wasn't so bad. What could Tethys want that

Nabiki could hope to provide in the next few hours?

"Guess so," Ranma said. He tried to shrug, but hissed in pain. When he

went to grab his bandaged shoulder he jerked the arm in the sling and hissed

again. "Damnit..."

"So what happened to you?" Nabiki asked, genuinely concerned. After his

display against Bison, Nabiki had begun to think that there was literally

nothing that could put Ranma into this kind of shape.

"I ran into Angel," Ranma explained curtly.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"What?" he frowned at her, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You... lost, didn't you?"

"Hey, you're not supposed to be using your psychic stuff!" Ranma

accused.

"I hardly had to," Nabiki explained. "You have the worst poker face."

"I didn't lose anyway!" Ranma explained quickly. "I... engaged in a mid-

combat crisis recovery meditation as a delaying tactic."

Nabiki burst out laughing. Ranma glared at her, but that didn't last

long. Soon enough, they were laughing together. Nabiki wasn't certain how long

it lasted, and by the end of it her eyes were leaking happy tears. Ranma was

trying not to tumble from the end of the bed, he was laughing so hard.

They were still laughing when Akira came in. The brunette just stood in

the doorway, watching the two of them laughing like loons while looking like

they had just been run through woodchippers. She shrugged and leaned against the

wall, crossing her arms and waiting for them to finish. Finally the laughter

died off.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Akira asked, her voice uncertain.

"No, no..." Nabiki smiled. "Just, laughing at the absurdity of life."

"Oh, because you two ARE fiancees, or so I heard..." Akira smirked, just

a little.

Ranma threw Nabiki's pillow at her. Nabiki's head clunked in the bed as

Akira defended herself. Then Ranma was defending himself as Nabiki slapped at

him and yelled.

Finally things settled down and Akira dragged over a chair, which she

turned around and sat on backwards. "Glad to see you're awake, Nabiki."

"So am I," Nabiki said, with a little smirk. "So, what, is this just

going to be one person every minute or so until the entire cast and crew is in

here?" Except Ryouga, Nabiki didn't say. The other two glanced at each other.

Nabiki realised she must have flinched at the thought.

"No, I think everyone else is busy looking for Hotaru," Akira explained.

"Oh..." Nabiki sighed. "So, it's not over."

"Most of it is," Ranma said. "Pluto and some chick named Rei - that's

Sailor Mars, by the way - got to see the fight between Chris and Hotaru."

"I know who Sailor Mars is," Nabiki waved him on. "So,tThe Silence

Messiah. That's who Chris was really after. I presume since they're still

looking for Hotaru, he didn't..." Then Nabiki remembered Chris' very own special

power.

"It never got that far," Ranma said. He leaned over and tapped his

knuckles against the crystal wall. "Sailor Moon showed up about halfway through

the fight. Apparently she beat them both without breaking a sweat."

"Sailor MOON?" Nabiki gasped. When had she returned to the world? Nabiki

was getting further and further behind and... She looked down at her arm. "I can

believe it. Sailor Moon... she has a great power. Maybe even more than Chris."

Nabiki wasn't lying. She had seen everything Akane had experienced. Once she had

even considered recruiting the ersatz princess to her cause, but Sailor Moon had

been maddeningly impossible to find.

"According to Rei and Pluto, Sailor Moon had all but killed Chris when

he fled. Jumping bodies or something. She left to go track him down." Akira

explained. She hesitated. "Hotaru might have escaped in the confusion."

"Might?" Nabiki looked at Akira sharply.

She shrugged, her leather jacket creaking. "Ukyou said she felt Hotaru

escaping, but Pluto saw Sailor Moon vapourise the girl with a single strike.

Now, nobody can find any trace of her."

"She can't have just vanished..." Nabiki insisted. She was inclined to

believe Ukyou over Pluto.

"I know. I agree with Ukyou, too." Akira crossed her arms. "So does

everyone else, actually. They're all out scouring the city for her. They figure

she must have come here for something, but they have no idea what." Akira

frowned. "Well, I think at least two people know."

"Tethys," Nabiki guessed.

"Yeah. She won't trust anyone with the truth," Akira growled.

"Don't be so harsh, Akira," Ranma said. "She saved Nabiki's life." He

paused. "Mine too, probably," he admitted grudgingly. "She didn't have to help

us."

Akira looked like she was going to yell something back, but she just

closed her mouth slowly and shook her head. When she had regained enough

composure to continue, she did so. "The other person who might know is Angel,

but she isn't talking."

"Angel?" Nabiki asked. "We captured her?"

"What?" Akira frowned at her. "Did you think I would kill her?"

"YOU beat Angel?" Nabiki said. Akira very carefully did not look at

Ranma, who was also very carefully not looking at her. "Wait... what about

Link?"

"She's in a cage Tethys made," Akira said. She looked down at the arm

hidden under Nabiki's blanket. "It was actually kind of amusing. After Tethys

literally grew it around her, she had let Link do everything she could to try

and escape. The girl even cut herself." Akira shook her head. "Tethys explained

for a good five minutes exactly how much trouble she was going through to keep

her locked up." Akira looked at the two of them, then continued in a stage

whisper. "I think Link actually liked that part."

"I can believe it," Nabiki said, remembering Link's insane rant.

"So don't worry, Nabiki, we'll figure out how to get that thing out of

your arm." Akira grinned. "I'll personally start breaking the bitch's bones one

by one if you want me to."

"Uh, no..." Nabiki blinked. "That won't be necessary." Sometimes it was

easy to forget that Akira had a special appreciation for somewhat excessive

force. She looked the girl up and down. "But what are you doing here, anyway,

Akira?"

"I..." Akira trailed off.

"Ranma I can understand, he's injured like me. But you look hale and

hearty."

Akira leaned forward. resting her head across her crossed arms. "You're

right, I'm fine. They apparently think I need to recover."

"They?" Nabiki pressed.

"Ukyou..." Akira looked away. "I... never mind. It's private."

Nabiki decided not to press. Instead she looked at Ranma. "Any news

about Ryouga?"

"Him? No." Ranma shook his head. "I woke up after he left."

Nabiki looked down. "I... he's in danger," Nabiki said softly.

"Ryouga?" Ranma chuckled. "Damn, that guy's tough, Nabiki. I fought him,

and he gave me a good run for it. Plus he's immortal on top of that."

"No, I just..." Nabiki bit her lip.

"I'll go find him." They both turned to Akira. Akira just stared back

with her earnest brown eyes. "It's not like I'm doing anything else, and Ranma's

still in no shape to do it."

"Hey!" Ranma accused.

"Akira, I can't ask you..." Nabiki trailed off when Akira gestured for

her to stop.

"Nabiki, I need to DO something." Akira looked around. "This place, it

brings up too many ghosts. You of all people know what I'm talking about." She

sighed. "I need to keep my mind off that and... other things." She smiled her

shy, brave little smile. "Besides, he's just one guy walking on his own and I

know this city like the back of my hand. How hard can it be to track him down?"

Ranma and Nabiki exchanged a long look.

OoOoO

Ukyou examined the paper as Aaron continued his work. It was a fairly

complex drawing, one that Aaron had to put all his concentration on to get

right. She, they, had almost forgotten that they could draw. But then, while

they had been discussing how they could go about repairing the damage Chris'

attack had caused, the topic had come up again.

Tethys, of course, could repair most of the damage Chris had done. She

had dealt rather well with the jungle Link had deployed. Without their mistress

to guide and nurture them, the plants were no match for Tethys' power. In fact,

Ukyou couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by how easily Tethys removed the

jungle. Then came the difficult part.

The attack had killed hundreds of people, but it had injured thousands

more. Most of the residents had managed to get to shelters Tethys had designed

for just such an eventuality, but far too many had not. The problem was that in

all the devastation and chaos, the entire city had been massively altered.

Tethys could organise search parties, use her powers to undo much of the damage,

but the effort could take weeks.

Ukyou had sat back, listening to all that. She was busy searching for

Hotaru at the time. But the girl had vanished somehow. Before, her aura had

stood out like a misplayed note in the middle of an otherwise perfect symphony.

Now, it was gone. But worst of all was all the suffering that Ukyou could feel

from Aaron's enhanced senses.

The chi, the breath, of the universe was not a static thing. It was like

an ocean, constantly flowing into and out of every living and unliving thing in

the whole of the universe. Even the depths of space were probably heavy with

chi. But the nature of the things it moved through changed it, flavouring it

with the fundamental reality of their being. So it was that all the pain and

suffering that had been left in the wake of the attack had tainted the very

anima of all of D-Point.

Finally, Ukyou could stand it no more. She had stood up and proclaimed

that she could help the proceedings. Akira had been shocked by Ukyou's desire to

help out Tethys at first, but had been understanding when Ukyou had explained

that it was for the people that were still suffering. She could find all the

people, locate all the damage, do the work of hundreds of search parties in the

space of a few hours.

Which had prompted Tethys to point out that such information was useless

without the ability to put it into useable form. That had reminded Aaron that he

used to draw as a hobby - or was it Ukyou who had? Either way, all the years of

neglect didn't seem to have weakened their technical skills, at least. Ukyou

held up the paper, squinting and frowning at it.

"This should be accurate," Ukyou said finally, standing up and walking

over to Tethys. The Dark Queen's chambers had not been exactly what Ukyou had

pictured. While her throne room was ostentatious enough, this room looked like

nothing so much as a study. It was even lined with bookshelves and lit in a warm

and comforting manner. Tethys had provided everyone with large, comfortable

chairs while she sat behind her wooden desk, working on a computer.

It was almost enough to get Ukyou curious about the woman. Almost.

Tethys looked over the paper. It was a three-dimensional relief map of

the upper portions of the city, and combined with the seven other drawings Aaron

had done, it should cover the entire city. He hoped it did; Ukyou's fingers were

beginning to cramp from holding a pencil that long.

"This is... very precise," Tethys commented as she looked through the

papers. "Are you certain there is nobody in these sectors?" She indicated large

places on the maps that were devoid of the tiny icons Ukyou had come up with to

represent people. She'd even started thinking of a little system to indicate

what sort of problems they had, how severe and immediate those problems were

and... Really too much. She wasn't a triage nurse, and just getting the

information out there was the point.

"Not as precise as I would have liked, and yes, I'm certain," Aaron

replied.

"Remarkable," Pluto murmured. "You can really sense all of this?"

"Indeed." Ukyou sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Whenever I use

my... powers. Whenever I tap the Third Circle, I always seem to experience a

small growth in my baseline abilities shortly thereafter. Nothing nearly as

dramatic as the power boost from the miracle power, but nothing to sneeze at

either." Ukyou laughed at a sudden joke that ran through Aaron's portion of

their shared psyche. "I guess I get a lot of XP." The two women looked at Ukyou

strangely and she shrugged. "But I've been using my power a lot lately. So I

guess my chi has been growing as well."

"Is there a limit to this ability?" Tethys asked carefully.

"Truthfully?" Ukyou placed her hand on the desk. "I don't know. Why, you

want to test my limits?"

Tethys snorted. "Please." She stood up and walked over to a bare section

of the walls. It glittered silvery, a patch of ice in the centre of her

bookshelves. Ukyou wondered if they would rename the City of Black Ice now that

the name was no longer accurate. "I have no interest in making you my enemy,

Ukyou."

"You have a funny way of showing it," Ukyou said, then waved her hand.

"No, forget it. We don't have time for this sniping back and forth at each other

like teenagers. Whatever our personal feelings for each other, we have to work

together for now."

"Agreed," Tethys said. She placed the maps against the ice. Ukyou raised

an eyebrow as the blue-skinned woman pushed on the documents and they seemed to

ripple and vanish into the wall. Then as the wall solidified again she could see

that it now had a copy of Aaron's map etched into its surface. Tethys spun her

other hand and the image shifted and changed, like a 3-D wireframe model of the

city.

It was impressive. Even more impressive was the casual way she did it.

Aaron could sense the flow of magic through the room. It was a power that was

very different from chi. Describing the difference was difficult. It was like

comparing the colour of an object to its shape. What struck Ukyou was how easily

magic seemed to accomplish things.

Aaron was pretty certain he could have replicated some of the things

Tethys did with chi. He and Ukyou could cool and heat air and water, control its

shape and motion by adjusting the currents of chi and otherwise do similar

things. If Ukyou wanted to build a chair of ice, she would have to melt the

ice, adjust the melting water's shape, then refreeze it in position. It would be

a task that was beyond her current skill, but possible.

Ukyou was convinced that to do the same, all Tethys had to do was think

'chair' and it was so. So much more profound, so much simpler than all the chi

control in the world. And that was just one step up the ladder. The difference

between First and Second Circle.

So... what was the difference between Second and Third? How much more

profound?

"This map is being sent to all my rescue teams," Tethys explained.

"Thankfully, we have more time than we otherwise would have. Sailor Moon's aura

did more than just change the colour of my sanctum, it also left behind a

residual force that seems to be aiding the injured."

"Yes, a fantastic ability," Pluto added. "Just her presence can make the

world a better place."

Tethys didn't respond to that. Instead she took the time to sit back

down in her chair and look at her computer screen again. "Thank you," she said

softly, without looking up.

Ukyou shrugged. "I need to go looking for Hotaru now."

"I'll come with you."

Ukyou blinked. Pluto, for her part, looked nonplussed. "Tethys, there's

no reason for you to." Ukyou frowned. "Unless you've reconsidered."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ukyou."

"Hotaru was here for something, Tethys." Ukyou gestured and the Silence

Glaive materialised. She didn't hold it threateningly, just gently to

demonstrate that it existed. "It wasn't this. This is what she needs to destroy

the world in a single shot, sure. But even this isn't what she really needs."

She banished the weapon with another flick of her wrist. "She wants to destroy

everything, Tethys. Not just Earth. One planet at a time - even one solar system

- is a slow way to bring about the end of everything."

"Your point?" Tethys responded coolly.

"You know why she came here. She's after something here. What is it?"

Ukyou was practically snarling by this point. She slammed her palms into the

desk and leaned over, putting herself in Tethys' face. "If I know where she's

going, I won't have to look for her. I'll just be waiting for her."

"That may not be the brightest idea," Pluto warned.

"Fuck the prophecy, Pluto!" Ukyou snapped. "I'm through caring about it.

Maybe Hotaru and I meeting will end the world, maybe it won't. But I need to

find her. I NEED to."

"Besides," Tethys laced her fingers together, "we're still missing a few

elements. Ukyou doesn't have the forehead symbol yet. Isn't that right, Pluto?"

Pluto started at that. Her hand snapped down and clutched at a bag

hanging from her belt. Ukyou could sense the magic in it, of course. She didn't

know what it was, just that Pluto had been carrying it ever since she had

returned from the battle where Sailor Moon defeated Chris.

"Yes, but best not to tempt fate..." Pluto murmured.

Ukyou backed away from the Dark Queen, running a hand through her bangs.

"Forget it."

Tethys stood up. "I'm coming with you, like I said."

"Why?" Ukyou frowned.

"Because you have those senses. If anything goes wrong with my city,

you're the best-equipped to tell me. Plus I might need to update that map every

now and then."

It made sense, but Ukyou still didn't trust Tethys. She had an angle

here. She was trying to gain something out of the confrontation between Ukyou

and Hotaru. Maybe she wanted the Third Circle, too. Ukyou almost snorted. She

would give it to her, in a heartbeat, if it meant saving Hotaru. Maybe that

choice made her a bad person, but she didn't care about that anymore.

Not that she had that choice. Or apparently much choice about Tethys

coming with her. "Fine."

"Pluto, organise the recovery and make certain everything runs

smoothly," Tethys said as she led the way out of the room.

OoOoO

"Is he... dead?"

"Of course he's dead," Washuu replied, crossing her arms. "Your real

question is, is he 'gone'?"

Akane nodded, looking at the strange tube into which Washuu had

deposited Chris' body shortly after they had arrived... here. Wherever here was.

It looked like they were inside, but in a space so vast it boggled the

imagination. Up in the air far above them Akane could see what she was certain

was a whole planet in the sky. But it was far too big, far too close to be a

planet. There was something connecting it to the place she was in, a long thin

line that ran like an umbilical between the world in the sky and descended into

something in the far distance.

"Of course, he's not dead," Washuu explained. She reached out and began

to type on the holographic board she had produced. "He's retreated."

"Retreated?"

"Into his own subconscious," Washuu said. "He refuses to accept what has

happened to him. The rot and destruction that Usagi imposed on him has broken

his fragile little mind. He's not truly unconscious, but he's protecting himself

from reality by refusing to acknowledge it."

"So he can't see us?" Akane waved her hand in front of the tube.

"Maybe. Who knows? His power really is frighteningly unpredictable. This

could all just be an elaborate trap he's going to spring... NOW!" Akane jumped,

prompting Washuu to laugh. "Don't worry, Akane. I wouldn't have brought you here

if I thought there was any danger. I thought long and hard about how I would

hold him if I had to. I think that vat will work. It contains a matrix of energy

in it that mimics exactly a dead body in every respect, except it will funnel

his consciousness back into the main body if he tries to jump and..." Washuu

trailed off when she realised that Akane was paying more attention to the tube

than her, then shrugged. "Trust me, he's contained."

"Okay..." Akane frowned. "But what are you even doing here?"

"I can't answer that, Akane," Washuu said softly.

"You mean you won't," Akane replied sharply. "You're up to something,

aren't you? Since I've met you, everything has been running towards this,

this... tube!" Akane pointed at it. "You're manipulating me. Why?"

"I can't tell you," Washuu replied. She didn't deny it, Akane noticed.

She blinked. "I can't tell anyone, Akane. The secret, once out, is too

dangerous. If I tell you, we might lose everything."

"That's convenient," Akane snapped.

"No, it's not," Washuu snapped back. "You think I planned on getting

Katsuhito killed, do you?" Washuu leapt down off the floating chair she had been

using and walked towards Akane. "That I LET that happen?" Washuu shouted once

she was in Akane's face. "Do you think I want to kill anyone? Anyone at all?"

"I... I don't know..."

"Of course you don't," Washuu informed her. "I'm not omniscient, Akane.

I'm very close, but not close enough. And I can't risk anything else going

wrong."

"Is that why I'm here?" Akane asked reluctantly. "Because I messed up

your plan?" Washuu didn't respond, she just walked away from Akane. "I'm right.

When I stepped in up at the North Pole, I screwed up your plan, didn't I?"

"I can't tell you that, Akane," Washuu replied. "Please stop asking

questions."

"Why did you get rid of the Star Seed? You said something about it being

dangerous..."

"It is," Washuu replied. "Very dangerous. It's the tool of HIM."

"Chris?"

"No. Much worse than Chris." Washuu looked up at her. "You of all people

should know who I'm talking about. He touched you, tried to make you into his

tool. If you'd taken that Star Seed into your heart like he planned, you would

be no better off than Hotaru."

"What?"

"You think Chris is bad, Akane?" Washuu smirked. "You should see the

thing that sent him here." She shook her head. "No, I'm going to have to insist

you leave this alone. I'm playing a very dangerous game. I'd like to tell you,

but I can't. So just accept that and please help me out."

"Doing what?"

"Hoping that Sailor Moon returns before it's too late."

OoOoO

Angel's head snapped up. The cold, sterile light met her eyes, but there

was nothing near her. She looked past the bars of her cell, but there was

nothing in the hall. Across from her, Link was still imprisoned as well, but she

was huddled in the corner in her cell, seemingly asleep. Her arms were wrapped

around herself for warmth.

Just as she'd convinced herself she'd just had a dream, warm breath

tickled her ear. "Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable

possibilities."

Angel whirled around, but nothing was there. When she looked back, Kalia

was standing next to the bars. She was smiling. Her limbs and torso were

mangled. Cracks and small holes permeated her flesh, allowing Angel to see

inside the marionette's body. Inside was... nothing. An eternity, an infinity of

nothing. The air near the wounds writhed and twisted, as if something baneful

were trying to escape from within Kalia's body. But she was healing. Even as

Angel watched, tiny frayed edges slowly knitted themselves together out of

nothing. It was like, she suddenly realised, the opposite of watching Ukyou's

Silence Glaive destroy something.

"Why are you here?" Angel finally said. As always, she had no idea

whether the words she spoke were her own or forced out of her by the not-girl

before her.

"I'm waiting." Kalia replied with a childish little giggle. "Always

waiting. You all live in such a slow world."

"Did Chris send you?"

"Chris created me. There's nowhere I go that he did not send me." Kalia

grinned and sat back on nothing, her feet idly kicking the air. "Just like you."

Angel sighed. She hated dealing with... whatever it was that Kalia was.

"Look, why don't you get me out of here?"

"I can't," Kalia said cheerfully. "If I tried, Tethys would be down here

in an instant."

"Can't you just... make her not notice or something?" Angel asked.

"Oh, for a moment. Even she can make a mistake. But the Black Queen

learned long ago not to repeat the mistakes she makes. So she wouldn't be idle

long. Unless, of course, we fooled her."

Angel was about to say something else, but Kalia had turned her

attention to the side. Angel's gaze followed her, and her breath caught in her

throat. She had never seen the Messiah of Silence, but it was impossible not to

recognise her. Angel could tell she had once been a Sailor Senshi like Rei. Her

outfit, the skirt and blouse and collar and bow, were similar in style, but

Hotaru's uniform was a stark white, like bone bleached by the sun. The outfit,

even her gloves and knee-length boots, was torn and frayed. She was a tiny girl,

no more than ten years old, but moved with a complete assurance and sense of

purpose that made her seem far older. In her wake hovered a great gaunt blade,

easily twice the girl's height. In her forehead, right where Rei's tiara would

have been, was etched a symbol, something like a lower-case 'h'. Blood welled

from it, belying the dead girl's pale skin, trickling in a scarlet scream down

between her eyes.

Her expression gave no indication she noticed the blood; her lips were

pursed in a tiny little frown as she looked at the smiling Kalia. Then she

glanced over for just a moment, and her expression changed. A wave of sadness

washed across her features, and Angel, staring in shock at the tiny girl's

burnished bronze eyes, felt the sorrow hit her almost like a wave.

"Such suffering you have endured," Hotaru murmured compassionately. "And

inflicted. There is a better way, you know."

Angel just stared, unable to look away or speak.

"Hey," Kalia broke in, still grinning. "No poaching, sister."

Hotaru looked away, and Angel released her held breath explosively. The

Death Messiah now had a look of faint distaste. "You are no sibling of mine."

"Don't hold it against me that I'm adopted."

Hotaru's expression didn't darken farther, but the great blade at her

back jerked and twitched, like a dog straining at the leash to attack. "We

should move on with our business here. Time grows short."

"Of course," Kalia said cheerfully. "I'll just free Angel."

"I thought you said you couldn't get me out," Angel said, suddenly not

so sure she wanted to be freed anyway.

Kalia giggled. "No, no, I could get you out. But it'd be hard to

convince Tethys she wouldn't notice. At least, for a long time." She stepped

forward. "Now, this will only hurt a lot. So activate your water chakra."

Angel stepped back reflexively. "Listen, whatever you're doing, I don't

want any part-"

Kalia raised her head, meeting Angel's gaze. She flinched and looked

away instantly, but the not-girl's voice curled into her ear again. "Oh, so

you're just going to abandon Chris, are you?"

"What?"

"Well, my sister here is still ambulatory, isn't she? Poor Chris seems

to be in trouble. As his beloved daughters, it falls upon us to rescue him."

Kalia paused. "Now, does that make Hotaru his cousin? Niece?"

"Chris is in trouble?" Angel gasped. "Then... that means Sailor Moon..."

"Don't worry your pretty head about it," Kalia said, and her smile

became feral. "She's being dealt with. Now, are you coming?"

"Of course I am," Angel said, sure for once it was her own voice that

said it. But in the back of her mind, she felt uncomfortable. Chris needed help?

From HER? She shook her head, dispelling the small sense of doubt and stepped to

the edge of the bar. "Okay," she said, activating her water chakra. The glow

over her chest grew strong. "Now how does this-"

The next few moments were filled with pain. Kalia reached in and grabbed

Angel's arm and pulled. Angel felt her arm squeeze and distort. She had no idea

how, but suddenly she knew that one of the secrets of Water Chakra was

distortion and adaptation, that if one trained enough, one could reshape one's

own body, stretching limbs and even greater feats. But the knowledge came too

little too late, as Kalia ripped her through the bars with a single vicious tug.

Angel wanted to scream, but her entire body compressed inward, mashing like soft

putty as Kalia pulled her through. She could feel her skull flattening, her

brain being squeezed like a grape. Then she was through, and collapsed on the

floor.

She coughed and moaned. It felt like everything inside her had been

crushed. She turned slightly and vomited, releasing a pool of blood onto the

floor. Kalia giggled, floating over her. Angel could barely focus on her, barely

focus on anything... it hurt so much. Her Water Chakra was pushing itself to its

limit, and until now Angel hadn't been certain that was possible. She realised

that it was all that was keeping her mangled body from expiring on the spot.

Right then, she wasn't entirely certain that was a good thing.

Then Angel felt a hand on her brow. Numbness flowed down her head, along

her neck and arms. The pain simply vanished. She moaned and thrashed, opening

her eyes. Bronze eyes stared back down at her. They were full of pity. Angel

wanted to cry, looking into them. But she realised she was going to die...

"No. Not yet." The girl above her smiled regretfully. "Your destiny

has not been fulfilled." Then the numbness slowly receded and Angel could feel

her limbs again. She sat up slowly, wonderingly. She examined her hands, glanced

over her body. She looked like nothing had happened.

Hotaru had fallen back. She was coughing; retching really. She had one

hand over her mouth, and blood leaked between her fingers. Angel could only

stare. This didn't look like a merciless killing machine now. It looked like a

little girl, a little girl in pain. But that passed quickly, as Hotaru gave one

last cough and then stood up again.

"The power of healing has become... antithetical to my nature," Hotaru

explained, her tone verged on wistful. Then she shrugged. "But we are running

low on time. Do you have the replacement?"

It took a moment for Angel to realise the Silence Messiah wasn't talking

to her. They both turned their attention to Kalia. Who was smiling and standing

in front of a large curtain that was falling from the ceiling. Angel was damn

certain that... that it had always been there. She wondered why she had never

thought about it before.

"Ladies and gentleman!" Kalia called, tipping her top hat. "May I

present the original, the one and only! The perfect spiritual replacement for

our dear girl Angel..." She tapped her cane on the floor and the curtain snapped

up into the air with a soft hiss. "Miss Nanami Kiryuu!"

"Who?" Angel blinked.

The girl behind the curtain was short, with long pale blonde hair

braided in the front. She wore a yellow uniform of some kind. Her eyes were

closed and she stood stiff as a statue. If it weren't for the steady rise and

fall of her chest, Angel would have been certain she was dead.

Then again, this was Kalia. She may have been making the girl look alive

just to fuck with her.

"Nope, this is a one-hundred percent real person," Kalia explained,

floating towards Angel. "In fact, you should get to know her sometime. Hang

around, compare notes. You two are soulmates, after all."

"Wh-what?" Angel gasped.

"We don't have time for games," Hotaru interrupted. "Unless you can keep

Tethys distracted forever..."

Kalia stuck her tongue out at the smaller girl. "You only spoil my fun

because we're bitter enemies."

"Angel..." Hotaru said, stepping between her and the new girl. "We need

to fool Tethys. She must believe you are in this cell. But we can fool her, if

this girl has enough of your spiritual signature." She held out her hand. "Only

she can do it, because of the bond you two share. But I need something else from

you."

"Bond?" Angel stared down at the pale-skinned girl. She hadn't felt this

frightened since she'd fought Lotus Infinite. "What do you need?" But of course,

Angel already knew the answer.

"Your blood," Hotaru answered anyway.

"Why?"

"Because it always has to be blood," Kalia laughed. "Isn't that right,

Link?"

Angel turned. Link was awake now. She was sitting back in her cell,

trying to look as small as possible. Her eyes were wide and shaking. She gulped.

Kalia smiled. Then Hotaru grabbed Angel's hand and pulled it up, drawing her

attention back.

"I would like another way as much as you, but Destiny is a harsh

master," Hotaru said. Then she ran her finger along Angel's wrist. Angel hissed

as blood immediately started pooling out of the cut. Hotaru leaned down and

seemed to kiss it. Angel felt the strength draining out of her. Acting on

instinct she flared up her Water Chakra again, but it could barely restore her

as fast as Hotaru was draining her. Finally the girl released her hand and Angel

swooned, collapsing against a wall.

The girl turned and beckoned to the silent, obviously unconscious girl.

She walked forward, mechanically. Hotaru reached down and slit her own wrist,

causing blood to well up again. She pulled Nanami's head down and forced her

lips against the cut. Nanami was still for a moment, then her throat began

working. Her hands twitched. Angel gasped. She was burning. She reached up and

clasped at the side of her face. Her tattoos were burning. Then Hotaru pulled

Nanami free and the sensation stopped.

The girl's eyes were open now. Staring, empty, lifeless... Angel

couldn't look.

"Put her in," Hotaru said. Kalia grinned and grabbed the girl. She

walked her over to the bars and shoved. Angel gasped. Nanami ran through the

bars like cheese through a grater. It neatly sliced her into even chunks. Blood

spilled out over the floor, over the cage. Bits of organs and other gore

splattered around. Angel felt her gorge rising.

Then it began to reverse. It was like watching one of those movies where

they ran the film backwards. The blood and organs flowed backward, coiling and

shifting back into the shape of a girl. In less than a second, Nanami had been

wholly restored. Only her torn and tattered outfit showed the violence that had

been inflicted on her. Her expressionless eyes just stared up at the ceiling of

the cell.

"Well, that should keep her majesty nice and confused," Kalia said,

clapping. "But there's one more thing to worry about." She turned, and though

Angel couldn't see her expression, she saw Link flinch backwards from it. "You.

It seems you woke up, but didn't call any attention to yourself. Why is that,

Link? Aren't you eager to join us to save Chris?"

The woman in the cell was silent for a long moment, then uncurled and

stood up. Her white shift fell around her skinny body as she patted it down

nonchalantly, though she carefully didn't meet Kalia's gaze. "No. I have no wish

to be sliced to bits, particularly around that vampire."

"Oh, is that so?" Kalia said, and there was a sort of menacing sarcasm

in her voice. "Aren't you willing to dare anything for Chris? After all he did

for you?"

"You already have one worshipful fool," Link snorted. "Get out of here,

all of you. Don't think you can threaten me. I could alert Tethys faster than-"

She stopped, her head snapping up and eyes widening. Kalia didn't do

anything, not even move, but her gaze remained firmly locked on the other woman,

and Angel felt a sudden feeling of vertigo. It was if everything else, including

her, was suddenly falling away, leaving only a tunnel between Kalia and Link.

"Yes, you could," Kalia purred. "But you won't. You're so confident, so

prideful. Instead, you are taking a step towards me."

And Link took a step. Angel watched the scene as if it was a movie,

helpless to intervene or even speak. The air around Kalia's bottomless wounds

screamed in anguish, whirling faster and faster with black eddies of nothing.

The not-girl took her own step forward to match Link's.

"In fact, in a sudden mad rush of confidence, you might even lift your

chin and bare your throat to me." Kalia's voice was soft, hypnotic.

Sweat trickled down Link's face. Her jaw worked as if she was trying to

talk, to scream. But no sound emerged and slowly, reluctantly, her chin lifted

to expose the paleness of her neck.

Angel heard, dimly aware, a soft sound. Like bells tingling or... no, it

was music. Some kind of children's song, or rhyme, or...

"And you step forward again. Oh, Link, so uncharacteristically bold of

you," Kalia giggled, and Link took another step towards the bars. Kalia stepped

in tune with her, and raised her hand, her scarlet-clad fingers flexing. "And

again. Step."

The music was hauntingly familiar, but Angel couldn't think of what it

was, could only stare as Link stepped again.

"Step."

And again. She was almost at the bars now. Her exposed neck throbbed and

unshed tears glittered in her brown eyes, but still she made no sound.

"Step."

Her body was pressed against the bars. Kalia completed her final step,

and smiled. "So brave," she cooed. Her fingers reached up as the music paused.

"Enough."

And suddenly the entire scene crashed around them, falling outward as

reality reasserted itself. Link shot backwards just before Kalia's scarlet

fingers touched her throat, crashing into the opposite wall of the cell in her

haste to get away. Kalia looked over at Hotaru, who had spoken, and pouted

slightly. "Oh, no, does God want her, too? He's so greedy."

Hotaru was frowning. "That was foolish and unnecessary. Tethys-"

"So concerned about the Black Queen?" Kalia asked with a mad grin. "No,

you're safe either way, aren't you? Precious little child, your path is laid out

for you."

Hotaru said nothing, merely stared, her bronze eyes unreadable.

"So, does God want her?" Kalia asked again. "Oh, tell me, do.

Prophesise. She will be SO thrilled to know her existence has some significance

to the petty little tyrant you serve."

Angel looked, almost involuntarily. Indeed, Link was leaning forward

again, her eyes fixed raptly on the Messiah of Silence. But she wasn't getting

anywhere near the bars.

"Pop Goes The Weasel!" Angel suddenly said, snapping her first into her

palm. All of them, even Link, turned to look at her, and Angel felt her face

grow hot. "Umm, the music... that is... I mean..."

"Link's fate is none of your concern," Hotaru said suddenly. "But this

is." Suddenly her voice grew deeper, louder, carrying the weight of ages behind

it. "Chris will be destroyed by betrayal. But it will not be by Link that this

is done."

Kalia's smile faded. She stared at Hotaru for a long moment, then looked

at Angel again. This time it was Angel's turn to flinch. Those eyes...

But then Kalia's smile reappeared. "What a stuffily predictable old

fart." She laughed lightly, kicking up her heels, and floated over to Angel's

side, causing her to flinch again. "Awww, don't be so scared. You're my dear

compatriot. C'mon, you two. You're so slow!"

She set off down the hallway, giggling again. Hotaru silently followed,

her demonic sword following at her heels like a huge dog. Angel spared one

glance back. Nanami still stared blankly up at the ceiling. Link had curled up

in the corner of her cell, head pressed against her knees. Her thin shoulders

were shaking, though whether she was laughing or weeping Angel couldn't tell.

Then she turned and followed the Messiah of Silence and Kalia, not

certain how she could possibly not be walking to her own death.

OoOoO

Ryouga was fairly certain he had been here before. He looked around. It

was a path that cut around the outside of the city. The edge fell off into an

abyss filled with a silvery mist, a mist that made a sound like chimes echoing

as it moved. He was fairly certain that it was unhealthy.

He rubbed his eyes and sat down, dangling his feet over the edge. This

was getting tiresome. Being lost sucked. He'd forgotten how much it sucked. No,

it was worse than that. Back before he had met Nabiki, he had spent his entire

life lost. Lost was simply the way he had been. It was like breathing, like his

heart beating. It was one of the ways he knew he was alive.

But for seven years, he hadn't been lost. He'd experienced the carefree

existence that most people enjoyed. He'd lived in a world where the same path

always led to the same place, where houses were always arranged the same way,

where everything made sense. He'd started taking it for granted.

"I almost wish Nabiki had never bothered trying to cure me," Ryouga said

bitterly. He looked down at the sword. It gleamed in the silver light, but said

nothing. It looked like just any other sword. But Ryouga knew better.

"You could fix all this," Ryouga said to the sword, holding it up. It

gleamed silently. "You could make it all better, couldn't you? The magic wishing

sword. You made me immortal, cursed me to this neverending life. But I wouldn't

even ask you to fix me. Not my immortality. Not my direction sense. Not even my

Jyusenkyou curse.

"I wish you would save Hotaru."

"Unauthorised user!" the Wishing Sword said in a strangely normal-

sounding voice. Ryouga smiled wryly.

"You can't make an exception, just this once?" Ryouga ran his finger

along the flat of the blade. It was cold, smooth. The blade was excellently

crafted. There was nothing fancy about it; it was just extremely well-made. "You

don't know what this means, to me. To her.

"She suffers. No one else sees it, but me. To the world, she's just a

monster. A killer. A mass murderer. And they're right. But I look into those

eyes, and I never see malice. I never see anger. I see the eyes of a girl in

pain, who just wants that pain to end. I see the face of a little girl I rescued

from a plummet off a high-rise. I see a girl who watched her father die right in

front of her, while I was helpless to do anything but watch.

"You could do it. Bring her back from the brink. Her hunger, her burning

need to kill. You haven't see her fight it like I have. Before I met her, she

just killed and killed. But she's changed. She holds back. She allows me to keep

her away from people. Away from the people she would hurt.

"Don't you see? She wants to be saved! She deserves to be saved! It's

not fair. The voices she hears, the madness that drives her... it's not her! I

don't know if she actually talks to God, or if her fragile brain just couldn't

handle the pressure and snapped. But you can fix that!"

He pressed his thumb against the edge and blood welled up. He hissed at

the pain, letting his blood drip down its length.

"Is it because of what she's done? Is that it? Is she too far gone!?" he

was shouting now, but didn't care. "Bullshit! I don't believe that. Fix her,

damnit! Make her human again! Make her able to feel again! Drive the voices from

her head! Change history! Change reality! Change everything! I don't care

anymore!

"But damn it, I..." He trailed off. It was time to admit it. "I need it

to have meant something. I need to have made a difference. My life can't all be

pain and failure. The one good thing I ever accomplished in my life was saving

that little girl, and I will NOT let the darkness have her!

"I wish she was human! I wish she was normal! I wish her suffering would

stop!"

"Unauthorised user!"

"DO IT!" Ryouga screamed at the sword. "Do something good, you mindless

hunk of metal! SAVE HER!" He wrapped his hand around the blade, driving it into

his skin. Blood rolled down the sword. He snarled. "You're the magic answer! The

wand I can wave and make it all right! SAVE HER!" His wrist strained. His eyes

narrowed. The sword shuddered in his grasp. "Save her!" His voice caught.

"Save her... because I can't..."

With a choked sob he rammed the sword into the ice next to him. It

quivered, but was still in good shape. He buried his head in his hands. What was

he supposed to do now? He couldn't go anywhere, he had no direction.

He stiffened as a hand settled onto his shoulder. He lifted his head and

looked up. A young woman stood over him. She wore black leather, a jacket that

was tight around her chest and pants that hugged her thighs. It was hard not to

notice, since his eyes were at crotch level when he turned. He blushed and

turned his gaze away, apologiaing. The woman chuckled.

"Don't be sorry, Ryouga. You look like you could use a hand up, though."

She stepped back and offered him a hand. He looked at the offered hand. Then,

sighing, he took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. She looked

into his eyes, her lips forming a thin line. "There's something wrong, isn't

there?"

"I'm..." He looked her up and down. She looked vaguely familiar. "Have

we met?"

"Seven years ago, in Tokyo." The woman bowed slightly. "I'm Akira.

Ukyou's friend?" Ryouga nodded. He vaguely remembered somebody in motorcycle

leathers. But hadn't that been a guy? One who always wore a helmet, at that.

"Nabiki sent me," she explained. Ryouga stiffened again, and took a step

back. Her frown deepened. "I'm guessing that was the wrong thing to say."

"Tell Nabiki what's between us is over," Ryouga spat out. "I want

nothing more to do with her."

"You saved her life," Akira pointed out.

"I would have done the same for you," he growled. "Hell, I would have

done the same for Ranma."

Akira shrugged. "That's between the two of you." She looked past him.

"Though I think that belongs to her." She raised an eyebrow.

"I... I need it." She stared at him. Her expression wasn't accusing or

demanding. It was just calm and centred. He fidgeted. "I... I have to help

someone."

"You can't use it," Akira said in a tone of voice that indicated she was

aware he knew this.

"It doesn't matter," he snapped back. "I'll find a way. There is a girl

out there. She's... lost. Lost worse than I have ever been. She's in a very dark

place and can't see a way out. If I can figure out how to use this..." He pulled

the sword free. "Link thought she could take it. Maybe I can too. She was going

to use her blood, somehow. Well, I'm the immortal man, right? My body adapts to

everything. Maybe I can adapt to this. Maybe I can change myself until it

works."

"I don't think it works that way," Akira said, her voice soft.

He snapped the blade up and pointed it at her. She was forced back a few

steps. "Don't think I'm just going to give it up! I'll fight you if I have to!"

Akira held up her hands, the universal sign of peace. "Whoa, calm down!"

She stepped back again. "I never suggested giving up." Ryouga frowned. "I... you

remember Ukyou, right?"

Ukyou. Ryouga looked down. Hotaru liked to talk about Ukyou. She was the

key to all this somehow. His mind flashed back to one time on the road, a few

years ago...

"She suffers, Ryouga," Hotaru had explained. He'd looked up from the

rabbit he had caught for dinner. The girl was staring off into the star-filled

sky. He'd asked her who. If she had decided on another target, he needed to do

something. Maybe knock her down long enough to get a head start. To get away and

warn the victim... "It all comes down to pain, in the end, Ryouga. She clings to

life, she clings to this life, and it brings her pain. And her pain is our pain.

It can't end for any of us, until it ends for her. That's the way it has to

happen. She has to give up. She has to accept that it's over.

"And if she can't, I have to make her. She needs something she will hate

more than the thought of dying. Some defilement she'll want to avoid so much

that death is better. You've asked where you're leading me, Ryouga. You're

leading me there. To the place, to the time, where my fate will hang in the

balance. Where the perversion, the destruction of everything I was will force

her hand.

"She is God, Ryouga. She will be again. This world, it is for her. It is

her crucible. Her judgement. I am the final test. You will lead me to the day,

that Ukyou will finally die. And in dying, end all our torment with her."

That had been as coherent as she ever got with him. The closest she'd

ever come to telling him what was going on. He'd never understood it.

"We can't... I can't..." Ryouga looked up at Akira again. "Ukyou and

Hotaru can never meet."

"Sailor Pluto said that, too," Akira mused. "When Ukyou went after

Hotaru. She said it was best that Ukyou not look. That she wouldn't like what

she would find." Akira frowned again. "What is it, Ryouga? What happens when

those two meet each other?"

"The point of no return," Ryouga said. "I'm not certain. I don't

understand it. I think... I think that Hotaru isn't too far gone to save yet.

But once she and Ukyou confront each other... there's no going back from that."

"Why?" Akira asked, her voice suddenly intense.

"I... Hotaru believes that there is something behind this world.

Something that has been controlling everything. God, fate, luck... call it what

you want. But Hotaru believes that Ukyou and her are going to fight, and that

when they do..."

Akira walked up to him, right up next to him. "Did she ever describe it?

The thing behind this? Do you know anything about it?"

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not even certain Hotaru does."

Akira sighed and backed up. "No matter." She looked at the sword in

Ryouga's hand. "Ryouga, I trust Ukyou. I know all about the prophecies and all

that, but in the end, I don't think it will end that way. We always have a

choice, and I don't think Ukyou will make that choice." She looked at him. "But

you don't have any reason to believe that. You don't know me, or Ukyou. You

can't trust us. But trust this, Ryouga. Ukyou WILL save Hotaru. I just want you

to come with me to talk to her. Listen to what she has to say herself. Then,

then you can decide what to do."

Ryouga was about to answer when Akira's head snapped up and back. The

blood drained from her face. "I think... I think it's already too late." She

looked at Ryouga. "I know where she is. We have to hurry. I know where she is!"

She grabbed his hand and he was left with no choice but to run along

behind her.

OoOoO

JunJun shivered. She reached up and hugged herself, trying to keep the

warmth in. Her magical orb clattered to the ground. PallaPalla placed a hand on

her shoulder and JunJun grabbed onto it gratefully. The shorter girl smiled up

at her.

"It's getting worse, isn't it?"

"Yeah," JunJun replied, shaking off the chill. "Yeah, it is."

They had arrived just outside the city. The entire thing stretched out

below them, spread out around Tokyo Bay, shining and beautiful. For the first

time, JunJun realised that Chronos had done a spectacular job reconstructing the

city. It had never occurred to her before.

"Why did we stop?"

All four of the quartet turned their eyes to Princess Serenity. She was

standing next to her stead, the obsidian-eyed crystal pegasus with its clear

horn. Her hand was stroking the beast's neck absently, but it showed neither

pleasure nor even acknowledgement of this. Something about the horse twinged at

something in the back of JunJun's mind. It was like she should know who this

creature was. Not what, even, but WHO.

And she figured if she remembered, it would be bad.

"We can't go any further," VesVes explained. The Princess frowned almost

imperceptibly.

"There is... an evil force present," CereCere stepped in, deflecting the

young woman's attention.

"It's terrible," JunJun whispered. "Something terrible is happening

here. Power is gathering. I can feel it in my bones."

Serenity looked at the four of them and then back at the city. For a

moment her angelically blue eyes seemed to lose focus. Then she sighed. "Chaos.

Oblivion."

"Oblivion?" JunJun asked.

"A terrible force," Princess Serenity explained. "It exists in the world

of dreams. It destroys everything it touches. What it doesn't destroy, it

corrupts." She waved her hand before her face. "There were things that served

it, a terrible monster and a beautiful queen." She looked down. "I defeated

them, cast them down the Well of the Void, to block the rest of the world off

from the darkness."

"Beautiful queen?" CereCere looked at VesVes. JunJun felt that twinge of

memory in the back of her skull again.

"But what's really in that city is Chaos," Princess Serenity explained.

"Anger, Rage, Hatred. All the emotions of conflict, they're swirling around the

earth and gathering at this point. Somebody is preparing for something dire."

"We have to save Mr. Purgstall!" PallaPalla cried out.

The Moon Princess smiled at her indulgently and rubbed her hair. "Don't

worry. I don't intend to forget your friend." She turned to the others. "Bring

me to him. I have a feeling the other two are related to this."

"Yeah..." JunJun gulped. She reached down and grabbed her orb. Cold

tendrils climbed up her arm. It was like liquefied hate was crawling up her

veins, reaching for her heart. She gasped, but then the Princess touched her on

the shoulder and the pain vanished. She smiled gratefully. "Yeah, but we can't

teleport through this miasma. We'll have to sneak in the old-fashioned way."

The Princess smiled wryly and looked down at her shimmering silver

armour. "I won't be sneaking in, girls. But lead the way. I have a feeling that

we will reach our destination in due time."

OoOoO

The room looked just like Angel remembered it. It was disguised as a

trophy room. The large, perfectly circular chamber had smooth walls, and at each

station of the clock, save six o'clock, where the door was, had what almost

appeared to be a window. But, if you looked more closely, you could see that

they were actually clear sections of ice, with... things frozen within. Monsters

and vampires and demons and some sort of golden Aztec robot, a macabre testament

to the power of the Dark Queen.

Angel glanced back out the door, where the bridge that led to this, the

deepest room within the City of Black Ice, was still shattered from her battle

with Akira. Nobody had accosted them during the journey here, neither guard nor

refugee nor reconstruction crew; wherever Kalia went seemed to be conveniently

deserted, and so they passed unnoticed.

This room was the only place they'd seen in the entire city since

leaving their cells that was still made of black ice, instead of the shimmering

crystal the rest of the city had become. Angel shivered a little.

"How are you progressing?" Hotaru asked.

Kalia was kneeling, one crimson and black hand pressed to the icy floor.

She was smiling, and the fall of her white hair hid her eyes from view. "Deep

below here sits a broken little girl. Desperate to be ordered around, no matter

how morally repugnant her masters turn out to be. In her concern for them, she

hopes to retain her humanity. And oh, how concerned she is." The air around

Kalia's wounds churned and screamed again as she spoke. "It has been so long

with no word from her mistress. She does not like it. She felt the power, the

pure power of Sailor Moon that swept over this city, though how fortunate for

her that even it could not penetrate to the dark, hidden place she calls home.

But there is no word on what happened, and she is afraid. She is loyal, she

knows she should stay still, but oh so afraid. She fears she is needed. She

looks guiltily upwards. Oh, yes, it would take so little for her misguided

concern to overcome her good sense." Kalia stood with a small laugh. "She will

come. Give her a little time, and the suggestion in her mind will overcome her."

Hotaru nodded, and turned to Angel. "Then I will fulfill my terms of our

agreement."

Suddenly, her giant demon blade flashed forward. Angel cried out and

leaped backwards, raising her hands to shield herself, wishing desperately she

still had her sword. But the flying blade suddenly stopped before striking,

hovering in front of her.

"Don't fear it," Hotaru said. "You'll have need of a weapon where you

are heading. This is Dylek. It carries the seed of Oblivion within it. It can

slay anything that lives... even a god."

Angel helplessly looked at Kalia, for lack of anyone better to take

advice from. She only laughed.

"Take it, unless you think you can kill Washuu with your bare hands."

Angel gaped. "Washuu?"

"Oh yes," Kalia said innocently, "Nobody let you in on this, did they?

Sailor Moon might have stopped Chris from destroying God's little mouthpiece

there, but the one pulling her strings was Washuu. Are you surprised? You didn't

think she'd just forget what you did to Mihoshi, did you?"

"No," Angel said, feeling sick. "But..."

"Are you saying you won't kill her to save Chris?"

"No," Angel said finally. Washuu. Sailor Moon. Hotaru. Ukyou. Tethys.

This was all... so big. Way too big for her. But she had to try, didn't she? She

ignored the nagging voice in the back of her head that wondered why Chris could

possibly need her to save Him. It would all make sense when she saw Him again.

He'd explain it. "No, I'll do what I can. But I don't know what I can do."

"You can take the sword," Kalia said. "Then, I suppose we'll just have

to see what happens, won't we?" She laughed to herself.

Angel nodded, and took the sword firmly by the hilt. It felt cold in her

hands, but not uncomfortably so. The whole blade was easily two meters in

length, and as wide as her forearm was long. It looked like it once might have

been gleaming silver and polished bronze, but the colours had since faded. It

looked ancient now, old and tired, with cracks and chips marring the metal of

the blade. Still, she had no doubt, from the moment she touched the hilt, that

she was holding a weapon of power. The back of the great sword curved at the top

like a sickle, forming a 'mouth' which was studded with jagged metal teeth.

Above it, near the rounded tip of the blade, what looked like an eye was etched

in the metal. It seemed to regard her with suspicion, and Angel quickly looked

away.

"And now it's time for the fun to begin!" giggled Kalia.

Then the room suddenly erupted with a blinding flash of blue light.

Then a lot of things happened at once.

Angel screamed and leaped backwards, waving her sword defensively as she

tried to rub spots out of her eyes. She could hear figures moving into the room.

Was it Tethys? Angel powered her water chakra, clearing her vision, and shifted

instantly to air, for all the good it would do. She took a look around, and

saw...

Akira and Ryouga were attacking, hundreds of blows in an instant. Kalia

merely grinned and effortlessly evaded them. "Ahura Mazda!" she cried with

delight. "I've missed you, dear sister! But you ought to pick your partners more

carefully."

Suddenly Ryouga mistimed his attack, some unlikely error of judgement or

skill, and Akira was sent flying across the room. She rolled up before she hit

the wall, cursing. "I'm sorry!" cried Ryouga. "I don't know what happened..."

"Forget it!" Akira barked. "Do something to restrain Hotaru! Let me

handle her-" she broke off as her eyes fell on Angel, who stared back. "Angel?

What are you doing here?"

Angel opened her mouth, but for the life of her, couldn't think of

anything to say. Akira stared at her, then at the demonic sword she was

carrying. Her expression grew hard. "Alright. I'll stop you again if I have to."

"No, no, Ahura Mazda, I'm not ready for you two to fight again just

yet," Kalia called, and Akira whirled to face her. Kalia was holding an enormous

ball of yellow energy above her head with one hand. Her smile glinted white in

the reflected light. "But we'll meet again soon, I promise!"

Then she hurtled the ball into the ceiling. Somehow, without even

realising how she knew what to do, Angel was already moving. She flashed past

Akira and out of the tiny room just as the ceiling crashed down behind them.

"Soon, soon," Kalia repeated, clapping her hands. "But they can be God's

problem right now." She wheeled and flew through the air, easily keeping pace

with Angel.

"Where are we going?" Angel called. She ran more out of inertia than

anything else. She hated feeling this helpless. She'd find Chris soon, right?

Then he'd explain it, right?

Kalia smiled. "Just run. Where ever you go, there we'll be."

OoOoO

"Hey, old man..." Rei ran her hand across the smooth crystal. It was

cool to the touch. Of course, he didn't look old anymore. He looked so young, so

vital. Nothing like the man she had grown to know. Nothing like the old fart who

used to try and sneak a peak while she was bathing, or chide her for avoiding

her chores or taunt her while they sparred. This man looked so different that

Rei almost couldn't believe it was him.

He floated above the ground, suspended in a geometrically perfect block

of ice. He was in gentle repose, his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Tethys

had assured her that so long as he remained in the crystal, his body would not

decay. "I'm going to take you home," she said. "When this is over. I'll take you

back to the pond. I'll bury you under the spreading boughs of that tree. You'd

like that, wouldn't you? I hope you would."

She let her hand fall away. "It's... it's almost over now..." She

coughed and rubbed at her eyes. "I thought I was supposed to feel better now.

But I don't." She laughed bitterly. "This is the part where you start saying

something that sounds really profound. Something that is supposed to be wise and

mature and teach me a lesson. Except it turns out to be an awful pun or

something perverted or maybe you're just pushing my buttons."

She was crying. But it was okay to cry, right? She rubbed at her eyes

again. "It isn't supposed to feel like this. We won. We defeated Chris. We

avenged Mihoshi. I'm supposed to feel better now. But I... Angel..." Rei

remembered the look of pure animal hatred on Angel's face. It made her sick to

think of it.

"Rei?"

Rei looked over her shoulder, wiping her eyes quickly to hide her tears.

She wasn't certain why. Sailor Pluto stood in the doorway. She was tall and

majestic, with long green hair and a uniform that managed to look somber with

its dark colours. In one hand she held a key-shaped staff with a heart on one

end, a garnet orb in its centre. It looked like a part of her.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting..."

"No, no, it's okay..." Rei managed to keep her voice from cracking. "I

was just saying goodbye."

"Are you finished?"

"I..." Rei paused. "Yeah. I guess I am." She looked at the taller, older

Sailor Senshi. "Any luck?"

Pluto frowned and walked forward. "I returned to the Time Gate and did

all I could. Sailor Saturn's destiny has been severed from the normal flow of

time."

"Can't you just... look at the future?"

"I wish it were that simple," Pluto said with an exasperated sigh. "I

tried to locate Hotaru... her past, her future, any part of it. But she is

simply not there anymore. It is just like that boy Chris. According to the flow

of time, neither of them exist." She rubbed her brow with her free hand. "This

despite my seeing them both with my own eyes. When I try to view the battle

between them, all I get is... chaos. Distortion. It's like the very fabric of

reality itself had been warped and twisted by their very presence."

"Well, that stinks," Rei summed up.

Pluto smiled thinly. "Yes. Come on, we should go find the others."

Rei nodded as they left the mausoleum. She tried not to think of all the

other people that Tethys had been forced to dig out of the wreckage and place in

tombs like this. They quickly exited the macabre area and made their way to the

place which had been assigned to the walking wounded.

Rei considered striking up a conversation with the other Senshi. But

they barely knew each other, despite apparently being on the same side. Rei

wasn't even certain if Sailor Pluto had a civilian name. Everyone had just

called her 'Pluto' and left it at that. Rei wondered if one day that would

happen to her. Washuu had told her that she was immortal, or very close to it.

One day, would the girl Rei be gone and leave behind only Sailor Mars?

Well, this was a great way to cheer herself up. Rei shook her head,

trying to dismiss the morbid thoughts.

"Hey!" Rei and Pluto stopped. Ranma was walking up the corridor towards

them. He raised his hand to wave, but winced a bit and was unable to get it

above his shoulder. They paused as he caught up with them. "Either of you two

seen Ukyou?" Ranma asked once he was closer.

Pluto immediately reached for a pouch at her side. Rei glanced at it

curiously. Pluto had picked something up off the floor shortly after Sailor Moon

had chased off after Chris to finish him off. Rei hadn't gotten a good look at

it. Strangely, she felt like she should recognise it. Whenever she looked at the

pouch, something in her breast seemed to quiver in response. It was like a

tuning fork reacting to a particular sound.

"No." Pluto explained, "I believe she and Tethys are in the southern

section of the city, searching for the Messiah of Silence."

"Yeah," Ranma grumbled. He looked back over his shoulder. Rei followed

his eyes. The room he was looking at was the one they had put Nabiki into, if

she recalled correctly. Rei didn't really know the woman except by reputation.

What she had heard, however, was not very pleasant. "I just..." he turned back

to Pluto. "I have a problem."

"Nabiki is dying," Pluto stated matter-of-factly.

Ranma blinked. "How did you...?"

"While I was in the Time Gate I examined the future, trying to discover

what we should do next."

"And...?" Ranma prompted.

Pluto looked down. "I didn't like what I saw. I would prefer not to

speak of it." She sighed. "But I can tell you I saw that Nabiki only has a few

hours left to live. The poison in her system that prevents her from using her

powers will kill her soon."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Ranma shouted, his eyes

flashing. Rei started. She would have never guessed someone could have such

passion about someone like Nabiki. From everything Rei had heard, the woman was

one step above Bison and Millennium on the grand scale of scum. Except that

unlike them, she didn't have the courage of her convictions, instead offering

her services to the highest bidder.

"Unfortunately, we don't have access to anything that can heal her,"

Pluto explained. "Perhaps the Moon Princess could do so. It was her energy

diffusing throughout the city that kept her from succumbing to the poison long

ago."

"What about Link?" Rei suggested.

"Hey, that's right!" Ranma slapped her on the shoulder. "If Link did

this to her, she can reverse it."

Pluto considered it for a moment then nodded. "Not bad." She smiled.

"And while we're at it, we can ask her about what it was Chris was really after

here."

"Won't that piss off Tethys?" Rei said nervously. She had no intention

of getting on that woman's bad side. Water was a very good fire extinguisher.

Pluto's smile widened. "Perhaps. But she left me in charge. So... we'll

never know until we try, right?"

"Right!" Ranma laughed.

The three of them made their way through the rest of the hospital ward.

Human doctors and youma were working feverishly, trying to save those who had

been injured in the raid. Rei said a short prayer under her breath as she passed

through the area. Whatever small help it was to those poor souls.

The room Tethys had set aside for the prisoners was literally

inaccessible from the rest of the city. It hovered in the great gap between the

top of the coral-like city and the recently repaired ceiling. Around it floated

a sphere of water; hollow on the inside but spinning like a whirlpool on the

outside. Rei didn't know what would happen to anyone foolish enough to try and

step through that shell, but she didn't really want to find out either. Pluto

gestured with her staff and one of the whirlpools swirled faster and faster

until it slowly irised open. A staircase of floating crystal steps faded into

existence, allowing them to walk up.

Ranma somehow managed to slip on one of the steps halfway up and

stumbled into the water. Rei gasped and grabbed him, just pulling him back

before the tide ripped him off the path entirely. He came back looking annoyed,

soaked and female. Rei blinked.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" the girl Ranma snapped.

"Sorry," Rei said. "I..."

"It's a long story," Ranma didn't explain.

"Right..." Rei murmured.

They came to the small balcony on the outside of the floating room. A

man in a silly-looking black body suit and mask, painted with white to look like

a skeleton, stood on the balcony. He had his hands on his hips and his head

cocked to one side. A red scarf on his neck flickered in the wind. As they

stepped onto the platform, Rei could hear the barrier close behind them.

"Lady Pluto! Ranma, my friend! And Sailor Rei!" the man greeted them

enthusiastically.

"Mars," Rei corrected.

"Where?" He looked around. "I thought she was back at Ohtori!"

"I'm not Sailor Rei. I'm Sailor Mars."

"Oh!" He looked at her. "You look more like a Sailor Rei!"

Rei raised an eyebrow at that. "How, exactly?"

He shrugged. "But I'm delaying you all! Please be assured, the ultimate

hero-" he swung his arms out, striking a pose that made him look vaguely like an

Olympic discus thrower, "Skullomania, has made certain that nothing has

disturbed the inside of this room since you left, Sailor Rei!" Rei opened her

mouth, then decided to give up. Personally, she was convinced Tethys had

assigned him to guard duty here because he was far too annoying to let loose in

the city below.

Pluto made her way to the door and suddenly Rei felt her stomach twist.

She cursed inwardly. Of course, Angel was going to be in there. She really

didn't feel like another confrontation with her former friend. Why hadn't she

thought of that until now? The moment Nabiki's illness had come up, Rei had

jumped in without thinking.

"Ah..." Pluto stopped in the doorway. "Mr..."

"Skullomania!"

"Of course." Pluto was standing stock still, her eyebrow was twitching

slightly. "Would you care to explain this?"

Skullomania pushed past her into the room. "Hmm!" Rei raised an eyebrow.

Even his sub-vocalisations sounded like exclamations. "By all that is just, the

assassin has escaped!"

"What?" Rei shouted, pushing past Pluto herself. Pluto stepped aside

before Ranma could shove her out of the way. Rei stopped a few steps in. She

stared at the cage that Tethys had placed Angel in. Rei had seen Tethys snare

her. She knew that the girl couldn't possibly have escaped. But in that cage

now...

"Nanami!" Rei gasped, running over to the wall of icy bars. She paused

just outside of them, her mouth hanging open. It was Nanami. She looked almost

exactly as she had in the hospital room where Luna had led her and Akane. Except

now her skin was pale, and her eyes were open and staring at the ceiling. But

there was no life, no animation in those eyes. Rei waved her hand through the

light, but the pupils did not so much as flicker. Had Nanami's eyes always been

yellow?

"You know this girl?" Pluto asked, walking closer.

"Yes," Rei turned and looked at Ranma and Skullomania. Nanami's clothing

was shredded and had lost the ability to keep her decent. Ranma was

conspicuously looking elsewhere, despite being a girl at the moment.

Skullomania... Rei wasn't certain what he was doing. That mask of his made it

very hard to read him. "Her name is Nanami Kiryuu. Akane and I originally came

here trying to find her brother so we could cure her..." She trailed off,

looking back over her shoulder. "But this doesn't make sense. We left Nanami

back at Ohtori."

"I see..." Pluto murmured. She held up her staff and gestured once over

the garnet orb that tipped it. "Something has... altered time here."

"What about her?" Ranma pointed across the room. They all turned to look

at Link's cage. The woman was sitting with her back against the bars, facing

them. Her eyes glittered with something like amusement as she sat before them,

looking as regal and dignified as her near lack of clothing and current

circumstance would allow. "She probably saw what happened."

"Of course I saw exactly what happened," Link said with a hint of

smugness.

"Do tell," Pluto said, stepping in front of the cage and holding her

staff casually.

"You people really should learn to finish off all your enemies before

celebrating victory," Link replied snidely. "Kalia and Sailor Saturn came here

and freed Angel, then left."

"Kalia and Sailor Saturn?" Rei snapped. "That doesn't make any sense.

Chris and Hotaru are enemies!"

"Whether you believe me or not isn't really important to me," Link said

with a shrug. "I have no reason to lie."

"You have plenty," Rei snarled. "Considering you work for Chris, too."

Link rubbed her neck with one arm and frowned marginally. "I think my

association with Chris has reached the end of its usefulness." She paused and

then added, "For both of us."

"Okay, suppose we believe you," Pluto cut in, hushing Rei's next

outburst with a gesture. "What is that other girl doing here?" She pointed with

the key end of her staff at Nanami.

"Are you familiar with Angel's tattoos?" Link asked leadingly.

Ranma started muttering something under his (her?) breath. Pluto nodded.

Rei frowned. She'd seen the tattoos in question, but Angel hadn't had them while

she was living at the shrine. "What are they? What do they have to do with

this?" Rei asked.

"Chris created them from an artifact that has the ability to vastly

enhance the powers of its wielder." She paused. She looked very pleased with

herself. "I believe you will be familiar with it, Sailor Pluto. The Golden

Crystal."

Pluto gasped. "Not-" She cut herself off with a sigh. "Of course it's

possible."

"Of course," Link agreed. "And this girl was the former bearer of this

crystal. It appears a portion of her spirit was torn out when Chris retrieved

the crystal."

"Bastard," Rei snarled. Ranma nodded knowingly.

"Thus since Angel and this girl share a portion of the same spirit, she

apparently proved a sufficiently similar being that she could be substituted for

Angel without Tethys noticing," Link continued.

"They had to have known that it wouldn't last long," Pluto mused.

"Which means they're probably doing something right now!" Ranma broke

in.

"But what?" Rei asked.

"By the gods! The Messiah of Silence, the incarnation of cute chaos and

a hot assassin girl are all going off together! They're forming an EVIL GIRL'S

BAND!" Everyone stared at Skullomania as he clenched his fists and curled up

like he was constipated. "They'll use their wholesome looks and evil music to

hypnotise all the world's teenage boys, making them commit suicide!"

"A song that makes you commit suicide?" Ranma snorted. "Come on,

Skullo."

"No, it's true! I've heard of it!"

"I'm certain," Pluto cut in. "But perhaps we can keep our guesswork

limited until we have more information."

"I should feel insulted that I was being guarded by such an imbecile,"

Link added curtly.

"Do you have any idea what they're doing?" Rei asked her.

"Perhaps," Link started, only to be cut off as Rei stepped up to the

cage and glowered down.

"We don't have time to be coy," Rei insisted.

"Perhaps you don't," Link almost smiled. "I, however, have all the time

in the world, and nothing to lose."

"Listen, you-" Ranma was cut off by Pluto.

"I should have expected you were being too cooperative. What do you

want, Link?"

Link frowned deeply. "I need to talk to Ukyou, alone."

"That's it?" Pluto seemed oddly reluctant ,for some reason.

"You, of all people, should know that a few moments of Ukyou's time is

more significant than all of Chronos and the Dark Kingdom combined."

Pluto's eyes narrowed. "It will take time for Ukyou to get here. Time we

may not have."

"Or time someone else may not have," Link chuckled. "Unless I missed my

guess, you're here about Nabiki, aren't you?"

"That's right," Ranma said, his voice sounding oddly dangerous. He

gestured the other two back and they complied. "You have to cure whatever it is

you did to Nabiki."

"And I will..." Link tapped her chin. "Provided Ukyou takes her here.

Alone." She paused. "As an added bonus, I'll even tell you where Kalia and

Hotaru went... once I have your word."

Ranma, Rei and Pluto exchanged looks. Finally Pluto stepped forward.

"Fine."

Link stared at the other two until they nodded as well. Rei didn't like

bargaining with this murderer, but had little choice. "Good. Ranma, why don't

you head off to fetch Ukyou and Nabiki? Pluto and Rei here will want to move

quickly..."

OoOoO

Akira coughed and pushed a section of ceiling off herself. That had been

stupid. How could she have just stood there? The moment Kalia had unleashed her

attack it was like she could barely move. Angel had blurred right past her.

Akira knew she could have stopped the girl from escaping. She could have done

any number of things, but she hadn't. She wanted to blame it on the shock, but

that wasn't right.

It had been Kalia. Just like every other time they had met, the girl had

messed with her mind. It left her feeling defiled and helpless. She coughed

again and finally managed to clear the last of the rubble off herself.

"Akira, watch out!"

Ryouga's warning came a fraction of a second too late. Akira leapt back,

but a white blur flashed across the room towards her. It moved faster than Akira

could track, and she felt something clamp down hard on her arm. She skidded to a

stop, her feet sliding across the cracked floor.

Hotaru held her arm in one hand. She was smaller than Akira; the child

couldn't have weighed more than half what Akira did. But she could feel Hotaru's

cold grasp sinking into her flesh. For a moment, Akira remembered this girl. She

remembered the day the girl's father had died. The day Ran had died. The sweet

little girl had refused Ukyou's touch, and insisted that Ryouga carry her.

She remembered Ryouga's gentle eyes as he cradled the girl, soothing her

with meaningless words. She remembered standing back, feeling empty and

helpless. Feeling that everything had happened outside of her control. That was

the day she had decided to stay behind, when Ukyou had left.

Now the face looking up at her was pale, the bleached-white skin giving

a fine contrast to the crimson blood that flowed from the symbol cut into

her forehead. Bronze eyes, weary and tired, looked up at her.

Akira threw her fist forward, putting all her power behind one blow,

trying to smash that innocent face in. Hotaru's hand snapped up, just fast

enough to catch the hand. Just. Akira could see the strain in the girl's

features. She could see the hand vibrate as Akira's blow slammed into it. She

was strong, but not that strong.

"Don't resist," Hotaru pleaded. It wasn't a command, or even a request.

She was begging. It was enough to give Akira a moment's pause before she tried

to drive her knee into the girl. "My touch is the touch of Oblivion. If you

resist, I'll be forced to Silence you."

"Do what you have to!" Akira shouted back, but she hesitated. She had

heard a great deal about Hotaru, and she could admit she was scared. But

bluster was all she had.

"Hotaru! Let her go... please?" Ryouga was saying as he approached from

behind.

"Stand back, Ryouga," Hotaru warned. "Please. I don't want to cause

either of you needless pain."

"Let me go," Akira hissed.

"I can't do that," Hotaru looked Akira in the eyes. "If I release you,

then you'll fight me. Ryouga doesn't want to, but he'll fight me to protect you.

I'll win, but the battle will be great. There is no way that Tethys and Ukyou

would not feel it."

Akira narrowed her eyes. That was it. All she had to do was build up her

aura. Let loose with all her constraints. She'd created a blinding flash with

her anima earlier just to distract Hotaru. If she just flared her aura as high

as possible, Ukyou couldn't help but notice it. It would be like letting off a

signal flare.

"If you flare your aura, I will kill you," Hotaru said. Akira started.

How had she...? "And you would consider that a fair exchange, wouldn't you?"

Hotaru continued, and there was a grudging respect in her voice. "You think, you

KNOW that Tethys and Ukyou could stop me. You hate the idea. It eats at you, but

you know that the two of them working together are too much for me. And you are

right. But if you die, Akira Kazama, then Ukyou dies as well."

Akira gasped. Then her eyes narrowed. "You're lying."

"No, she isn't." Ryouga's voice was small. "Don't let her get in your

head, Akira. It's what she does. But she never lies. That's why it's so hard to

fight her off. Because she can see right into your heart."

Hotaru sighed. "I know only what God has decided I should know," she

explained. "But I know this, Akira." She frowned. "The paradox, the spiritual

backlash, all that negative energy that Ukyou has been feeding you. Do you think

it just goes away?"

"I..." Akira had very little idea what Hotaru was even talking about.

She knew a bit about the Third Circle. Everyone else seemed so obsessed with it.

Nabiki. Chris. Tethys. Even Ukyou and Akane. But to Akira it had always just

been a thing. A vague thing that she wasn't really a part of.

"Ukyou told me that she was the one hurting me. That whenever she

accesses her power, it hurt me now instead of her like it used to," Akira

explained. "But that doesn't explain why killing me would harm her."

"Because it doesn't go away, Akira. The Paradox just builds and builds.

Inside Ukyou, before she made you into her fetich soul, it built like a cancer.

It worried away at her sanity, her emotions. Now, she has you."

"I don't..."

"Don't deny it, Akira," Hotaru continued. "You can feel the connection

between you. Even now. The one forged when you consumed the Paradox that had all

but erased Ukyou from existence..." Akira remembered. Remembered that horrible

boiling nothingness inside Ukyou's mind. The sheer madness of it. She remembered

stepping into it.

'Take me, instead.' That's what she had been thinking. She hadn't hoped

it would work. But it had. She'd thought it was a miracle. She'd never

questioned it.

"And all the times Ukyou fought, really fought. Against Rip Van Winkle,

against Bison, against Kalia... you FELT it."

Akira didn't want to think about it. But it was there. The pain had

always blossomed out of nowhere. It had no origin, no purpose. It was just her

body seeming to twist and rupture itself. Her body seeming to reject its very

nature. The burning, sickening feeling that she was losing everything she was.

That she was being ripped apart.

"And you can still feel it. Inside of you. Building and building."

"Damn you..." Akira growled.

"Don't blame me, or Ukyou." Hotaru gave her a sad little smile. It was

the smile of a child trying to comfort an adult. "That's the way it has to be.

The way it has always been. Gods can not exist without devotion, without

sacrifice. For to be God is to be impossible, to defy all laws by fiat. But

reality has an inertia, Akira. It resents being made to fit God's will. So there

is backlash, and that backlash must go somewhere.

"And that is what you are here for, Akira. To serve as the repository of

all of God's hubris. To be the vessel into which she pours all those things she

does not wish to be. The fetich soul."

"How do you know this?" Akira gasped.

Hotaru's smile became wistful. "Because you and I are the same, Akira.

Those Chosen By God." Her smile faltered slightly. "Only the nature of our God

differs."

"You still haven't convinced me that I shouldn't do everything I can to

stop you," Akira continued. "I'm willing to spend my own life. You and I both

know you're after something. Something here. Tethys went through too much

trouble to keep this room a secret. Something here is important to you." She

looked around, but nothing caught her eye immediately. "Maybe you can kill me

with a thought, but at the same time I can get Tethys and Ukyou here. THEY can

stop you."

"Like I said, Akira, all that Paradox, all that twisted essence, is

built up inside you. But it never goes away, Akira. It doesn't degrade. It just

builds. So if you die, all that Paradox must go back to somewhere..." She

trailed off.

"Straight back into Ukyou," Akira finished for her. She closed her eyes.

"And if it all hits her at once..."

"She will be destroyed."

"Now, Akira, can you see why this is a stalemate?" Hotaru continued. "I

do not wish to kill you. My Destiny is to face Ukyou, as the instrument of God.

But if she dies before then, Destiny will be foiled. You do not wish to kill

Ukyou, because you love her."

Akira kept her eyes closed. "Bullshit."

"You doubt me?"

"About my death potentially killing Ukyou? Oh no." She opened her eyes

and looked into Hotaru's alien bronze ones. "I believe that. At least, I'm not

willing to test it." She smiled. "Or maybe I'm just afraid to die." Then she

grew serious again. "But I don't believe that is the only reason you are holding

back. I don't believe this is all for Destiny. I don't believe that this is all

about God's will."

"I do not require your belief," Hotaru said.

"Maybe not, but you require your own," Akira continued. "You need to

believe in what you are doing, don't you, Hotaru? But I've known too many people

who lie to themselves. I've encountered too many people who are willing to

overlook their own motives. People who want to paint their actions with noble

colours.

"Just forgetting Angel, and Nabiki, and Tethys and Ukyou and Chris and

everyone else. Just forgetting them, I went down that road myself. The road of

giving your trust to a higher power. Of thinking there was some noble goal

justifying your actions. I know what a crock that is. I know, personally, how

much damage you can do to yourself."

Hotaru expression was hardening now. Akira continued. She'd hit

something.

"So don't lie to me about God. Oh, he might exist. Whatever nameless

thing he is, that he would play with us like this. I can believe that. Certainly

Ukyou believes. But she believes you need saving from it. That's her mistake.

She can't save you from God, Hotaru, because you don't WANT to be saved."

"Saved for what, Akira?" Hotaru snapped back. "This mockery you call

life? Life is nothing but a string of tragedies. We exist so that we can feel

pain. These delusions of love, or comfort, of hope? Things humanity created.

Words we conjured out of thin air to give noble meaning to the pain we endure.

"Life starts with pain. The pain of our mothers. It ends with pain. Even

if we die in our sleep, we leave a legacy of pain in our loved ones. Love just

creates another way to hurt us. No, Akira, I lost my capacity to believe in

illusions a long time ago."

"You're lying," Akira insisted. "Because at your heart, you're still a

little girl. A little girl who was abused and mistreated. A little girl who got

a raw deal in life. And you blame the world. You blame Ukyou. You want to lash

out. It's natural, this anger you feel, Hotaru. But that doesn't make it right.

No amount of words, no amount of empty platitudes from whatever divine force you

follow can make vengeance right."

"QUIET!" Hotaru screamed, and pushed Akira back, slamming her into the

wall. Akira gasped as the ice cracked and shattered around her. She slumped

down, but the painful pressure of Hotaru's grip kept her from sinking into

unconsciousness.

Akira looked past her, and saw Ryouga. He was staring, his mouth agape

in awe. Akira smiled, a thin painful smile. So there was something under the

facade. Something more than mindless devotion. There was a human being under all

that pain and misery.

There was hope.

OoOoO

Cologne tested her restraints again. Once again, all she got for her

efforts was a lot of clanking. She had no idea what they were made out of, but

it certainly wasn't the iron they looked like. She had tried every variety of

escape technique she knew to no effect. Even her Bakusaitenketsu, which could

destroy any inanimate object, had done nothing more than produce a hollow ring.

Having nothing better to do, she looked around the room. It was large,

she had to give Gyro that. He always thought big. She guessed this room made up

most of the floor. In the centre was the trio of tubes through which the

elevators ran. From there the room spread out in all directions. Fluted columns

of black basalt rock spread out from the centre, evenly paced in straight lines

leading out like the spokes of a wheel. The ceiling was two stories tall and the

lights that flickered from hidden alcoves above was fitful, leaving most of the

chamber in shadows.

Cologne herself was chained to a pillar near the western end of the

room. She was actually not that bad off; she could stand, at least. While the

chains did keep her arms up over her head, the discomfort was nothing compared

to the everyday aches and pains she had experienced before having her youth

restored. She had also tried to destroy the pillar, but whatever Gyro had done

to the manacles, he had also done to the rock.

Then her eyes came to rest on the figure laying not too far away from

her. He looked asleep. His features were composed, refined. They looked noble

and powerful even in the middle of a coma. His arms were peacefully crossed over

his chest, as if in death, but his chest rose and fell with the rhythm of

breath. He was dressed in ceremonial robes, with those absurdly large shoulder

pads that he somehow managed to carry off without looking like a fool. He was

laid out on a crystal table that seemed to rise from the floor like it was part

of it.

"Frederick..." she whispered.

"He is perfectly safe," Gyro's voice said, his gravelly words rising

over the back of his chair. Cologne turned to face him. He was still sitting in

his throne, a thick black thing that reminded her vaguely of some shadowy

nightmare of a hunting bird. It was currently facing away from her and towards

the large bay window. The sun was just beginning to dip beneath the upper edge

of the window, so that the glare made her squint.

"You still haven't told me the reason for all this," Cologne said.

Gyro chuckled, but still didn't turn to face her. His laughter was dry

and utterly devoid of anything humane or cheerful. "You and Purgstall will be

reunited soon."

"Why don't I believe you?" Cologne asked.

"Cologne, you have such a distrustful nature." Another chuckle, this one

slightly more amused. "I suppose I can see what he found fascinating about you."

The chair spun around with a whisper. Gyro was leaning back in the chair, sunk

into it so the menacing curves and edges of it seemed to swallow him. His

yellow-green eyes stared out at her, blazing in the darkness. His face twisted,

its wrinkled features turning up into a bitter smile. He was clutching

something, something black and long that her eyes refused to focus on. "There is

a special guest coming. This is merely a proper reception."

"That girl again?" Cologne frowned. She had no idea who it had been, but

the girl had been somehow unsettling. She was dark-skinned, with purple hair

done up in a series of buns. She had worn a long red dress when she had come to

talk to Gyro. Cologne had tried to overhear their conversation, but it had faded

away, distorting into echoes. When Cologne had begun to use techniques to

counter that, the girl had looked right at her.

Cologne shivered. Those empty, dreadful eyes had pierced her right to

the core. She had been far more frightened of her than of anything Gyro might

threaten her with. But after the girl had given Gyro the chains which he had

used to bind Cologne, she had left without a word. Cologne had hoped that was

the last she would see of her, but...

"No. That was merely a messenger telling me that she is on her way,"

Gyro explained.

Cologne stared at him for a long moment, but he just smiled back at her

with those intense alien eyes, and eventually she was forced to avert her gaze.

Time passed in silence and Cologne could only really note it by the lengthening

shadow of Gyro's throne. For some reason she became fascinated by that shadow.

It spread across the floor like a grasping hand, stretching inexorably towards

Purgstall's pedestal. A cold lump formed in her stomach, growing larger as the

creeping shadow got closer and closer to him.

It was silly. No, it was insane. But she did NOT want that shadow to

reach him. The thought of it slipping over Purgstall's form... The thought of it

defiling him with its touch made her shiver with revulsion. The air in the room

seemed to grow thick, full of almost palatable fear and hatred as it got closer.

Then she was distracted from her intense worry by a small, cheerful-

sounding chime. A light appeared next to one of the elevators and a second later

the door slid open with a hiss of metal on metal. Light spilled out of the door,

so bright and pure that Cologne could not look at it for long. The light pressed

against the darkness like a physical force. Cologne swore she saw the shadows

writhing and creeping over the bubble of light for a moment. She heard

something, faint and distant but there, as the shadows were torn apart.

Out of the light stepped the saviour. The moisture in Cologne's mouth

evaporated. Her knees grew weak. Tears leaked from her eyes. She was so

beautiful. Her long blonde hair fell behind her like two sunbeams, and her

armour was silver so bright, so polished that no human hand could have produced

it. The moulded armour she wore was embossed with gold filigree. Her metal-shod

boots made soft sounds as she strode purposefully into the room. Her soft,

startlingly blue eyes glanced first over Cologne and then over the body of

Purgstall.

"Princess, at last we meet again..." Gyro said, his words dissolving

into a bitter chuckle.

"Oh, come ON!"

Everyone, including the Princess, looked back into the elevator car.

VesVes stood, arms akimbo, frowning at them all. "You can't be serious, can

you?"

"Excuse me?" Gyro said, blinking.

"This place is so obviously evil!" CereCere said, stepping past VesVes.

She adjusted her pink hair with one hand. "I mean, black pillars, stretching

shadows and that throne... wow. You're not even trying to come across as

anything other than evil, are you?"

Gyro frowned but before he could reply PallaPalla poked her head over

VesVes's shoulder. "He needs a cat."

"A cat?" That was JunJun's voice. She was still out of sight in the

elevator.

"Yeah, you know, to stroke while he smirks and explains his evil plan."

"Hmmm." VesVes eyed Gyro. "I think I might have..."

"I do NOT need a cat," Gyro said through clenched teeth. Cologne tried

not to smile, she really did.

"No, seriously, it would complete your look!" PallaPalla argued.

"He also needs a couple of big dumb tough guys to order around to do his

bidding," CereCere added, tapping her chin with one finger.

This made Gyro smile. He snapped his fingers. Out of the shadows on

either side of the room stepped the giant form of ZX-Tole and the slim purple-

blue figure of Ikazuchi. Neither of them looked very happy, though with ZX-Tole

it was hard to tell.

"Perfect," CereCere said to Gyro. All four of the quartet gave him a

thumbs up.

"Enough of this nonsense," Gyro said, standing up.

The Moon Princess was smiling, shaking her head slightly. She turned to

face Gyro. "Yes. I believe you were waiting for me." She raised an eyebrow. "And

you've gathered together so much energy. The force of hatred in this room is so

thick it feels like walking through sewage."

Gyro smiled. "But, it appears it's nothing next to your power,

Princess." He sighed; a long, dramatic and obviously false display. "I admit, I

was planning to destroy you and take your Silver Crystal. But I have learned the

folly of my ways. It appears that, as I am, I am no match for you and the power

you wield."

The Princess paused, and only then did Cologne realise who it was.

Sailor Moon? USAGI? This was that thin, crying, afraid little girl she had

helped rescue so many years ago? She had heard stories from Akane and Shampoo

about how awe-inspiring the child was, but she had been unconscious for most of

the battle against Gyro last time. All she had ever seen was a strange but

unremarkable girl that had needed protecting for the first part of their journey

across Japan.

"You concede? Just like that?" At least the Princess seemed properly

skeptical of Gyro's motives. Gyro laughed and gestured towards Purgstall.

"Do what you came her for, Princess. I will not stop you. Against the

infinite power you wield, I don't stand a chance." He sank back into his chair.

"Our last battle was quite enlightening enough for me, I feel no need to repeat

it."

The Princess looked at him for another long moment. Then she looked back

at the Quartet. The girls stared at her, hope fresh in their eyes. Then she

looked at Cologne. Cologne had faced down demons and zoalords, but she found

herself unable to meet the gaze of this girl.

"Very well," the Princess said, and walked up to Purgstall. Cologne

raised her eyes just enough to see the girl spread her fingers out above the

man's brow. Then there was a flash of white light.

OoOoO

Artemis found her in her room. She was sitting on the bed, her back up

against the headboard and her knees pressed against her chest. She had a pillow

between them and she was hugging it fiercely. She had been crying, he noted

with a frown. Her expression was far away.

He leapt up onto the bed and walked purposefully up to her. Purring

gently, he began to rub his body up against her ankle, offering what comfort he

could. For a long moment, she refused to acknowledge him. He was almost afraid

she had inherited Ranma's 'problem', when she suddenly broke down.

"Oh god, Artemis... how could I... I..." She hiccupped and rubbed her

eyes as fresh tears began to leak forth.

"It's okay, Minako," he told her. He purred again and rubbed against her

leg some more. "You had no way of knowing."

"No... I did, I did and I..." She buried her face in the pillow and he

heard her muffled screams. "How could I have been so stupid?" she asked, when

she looked up again.

"Everyone is allowed a little doubt," Artemis explained. "It's what

makes you human. We're not drones, who do what we're told without question or

hesitation..."

"But I was so convinced I was right..." Minako said, sighing. "It just

felt so... so perfect. I don't even know why I was so angry. It was like I was

barely in control of myself. I could just feel the burning need to do it, to

challenge her power so openly like that..."

"It's okay, I'm certain she'll forgive you," Artemis replied in his most

comforting tone.

Minako paused. "Do you think she'll really do it? Save the world, I

mean?"

"I..." Artemis paused. "Yes, I think she can. You saw what she did in

that graveyard. If she can do that, what can't she do?"

"I..." Minako shook her head. "I... I can't help but think I'm still

right, Artemis. Like this didn't prove anything." Artemis had no response to

that. "I still don't think I could accept her as my saviour. Does that make me a

bad person?"

"I... I don't know, Minako."

She picked him up and cradled him against her chest for a little bit,

just stroking him and crying silently. He rubbed her shoulder with one paw,

trying to play the father figure as best he could. His was a very small

shoulder, but he would let her use it as much as she wanted to.

Then there was a knock at the door. Minako stiffened.

"I'll tell them you're not here," Artemis offered.

"Thank you, I don't think I could face any of..." She trailed off. He

nodded and started towards the door. He leapt and pulled on the knob, opening

the door just enough for him to squeeze his head through when he landed.

"I'm sorry, I don't..." He paused as he looked up at the woman outside.

She looked down at him, pushed a strand of blue hair out of her eyes and made a

tching nose.

"I need to speak with her."

"I... she can't..."

The girl was apparently not going to take no as an answer. She pushed

the door open and strode in purposefully. The last time he had seen her, she had

been sitting naked on the ground, being cried over by Mamoru. Now she wore a

black bodysuit that was at least a vague step up from naked and she walked over

to Minako with deliberate purpose.

Minako stared at the woman, her mouth opening into a small O of shock.

The blue-haired woman stopped at the bottom of the bed and leaned forward,

placing her hands on the baseboard. "You and I need to talk," she said.

"I'm..." Minako gasped. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think..."

"That I would actually be restored? Of course not." The woman waved that

aside. "You shouldn't have. I need to warn you."

"Warn me?" Minako's face suddenly hardened. "Is this a threat? Have I

outlived my welcome?"

"With the other people here?" The woman considered that. "Probably. But

you can't leave, not yet."

"Why not?"

"Because I have a message for you." She stood up straight. "I FELT it. I

remember it, every moment of it. From the moment Ikazuchi's sword struck me, to

the moment I awoke in that graveyard. I felt it, Minako. I was beyond. I was in

a place beyond life. It was..." She bit her lip. "It was more beautiful than you

can ever imagine, and more terrible than I can ever describe. It was everything.

It was nothing. It was returning home, to the place you've always known you

belong to, and leaving behind everything you ever cared about.

"But while I was there, I felt IT."

"It?" Minako asked, curious.

"It has no name, Minako. No word in our language can describe it. We can

call it God, but that fails to live up to the reality. It... it's so huge, so

awesome..." She trailed off. "No. I have to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Minako asked.

"You have to bring back together the Sailor Senshi, Minako." The woman

put her arms on her hips. "Only the four of you together can do what needs to

be done." She turned away. "Akio has to be stopped. If you don't stop him, he

will use everything Sailor Moon stands for to destroy the world."

OoOoO

Akane was pretty certain that being bored at a time like this was bad.

She knew that there was a lot of important things happening. Maybe even some

critical ones. From what she could glean from Washuu's cryptic answers to her

questions, the fate of the entire universe might well be decided in the next few

minutes.

So she was certain that she wasn't supposed to be running her hand along

the edge of her sword and trying to think of something to do. It struck her as

wrong, somehow. How do you justify being bored, when the entire universe was

hanging in the balance?

"Washuu?"

"I'm kinda busy, Akane," Washuu replied. She was sitting on her floating

cushion, legs crossed as her fingers feverishly worked on the holographic board

in front of her. "Honestly, that girl really does think she's God..." she

muttered.

"Can I help?" Akane asked.

"Huh?" Washuu glanced at her, then back to the floating orange screen.

"No. You just sit there and try not to break anything. I have everything under

control."

"I see..." Akane frowned and sat back.

"There something bothering you?" Washuu asked, still looking at the

screen.

"I... you're busy..."

"No, I think I have it under control now," Washuu replied. Her strangely

styled red hair bounced as she turned to face Akane again. "You need to know

something?"

"I..." Akane shrugged. "How is everyone else doing? At the North Pole

and back at Ohtori..."

"They're all fine," Washuu replied. "The others are busy hunting down

Hotaru, and I'll help them out with that once this Chris thing is fixed." She

paused. "Everything in Ohtori is fine too. Once Sailor Moon restored everyone-"

"She what!?" Akane stood up quickly.

"Oh, that's right." Washuu smiled. "You weren't there. It was quite a

sight, if I do say so myself. Usagi brought all the people who had died in the

zoanoid attack back to life."

"I... she..." Akane was at a loss as to how to respond to that. She

swayed a bit and used the wall to steady herself. Usagi had revived all those

people...

People Akane had gotten killed. The thought hit her like a fist. It made

her feel queasy inside. She'd avoided thinking about the attack too much. She'd

known it was going to happen. She'd known the kinds of carnage she was inviting

when she'd destroyed Akio's illusion machine. She had thought then, she still

thought now, that it had been the right thing to do.

And now, Usagi had fixed it. She'd taken the problem Akane had caused,

and just fixed it. She had literally used her magic powers to undo all the

damage Akane's stubborn refusal to bow down had caused. Akane knew she should

feel good about this. It was good news. Not feeling overjoyed, not feeling

relieved beyond words, at the news that hundreds of people were no longer dead

had to be some kind of sickness.

Yet... She felt like the world was spinning away from her. It was like

she was walking across a narrow precipice but had only just noticed it now.

Because if Sailor Moon could fix it... If Usagi, or Washuu, or anyone else could

just step in and make things okay...

Didn't that make them right? They had the power to make things right.

Washuu had already proven she knew better than Akane. She had manipulated her,

manipulated everyone to set up the confrontation between Chris and Sailor Moon

at exactly the right time. But it had all been working.

Until Akane had stepped in. Until Akane had ruined all her plans. And

that was why she was here now. Because Akane could still ruin her plans. Washuu

was keeping an eye on her because Akane had managed to defy her plans once.

Akane felt like she was falling off the edge of something deep. The realisation

that came to her robbed her of any useful thought.

The only thing she could do here, was screw everything up.

"Akane? Akane!"

Akane shook her head to clear it. Washuu was holding onto her shoulders.

Her green eyes stared straight into Akane's. She looked so concerned. But was it

for Akane, or about Akane?

"Are you okay?" Washuu said slowly.

"I'm..." Akane's throat was suddenly dry. She croaked out the next few

words. "I'm okay," she lied. Washuu looked skeptical for a moment, but seemed

like she was going to accept Akane's words at face value. Then suddenly she

shook her head and sat down next to the taller girl.

"Akane... all this, all the things that happened, you know they're for

the best, right?"

"Yeah..." Akane replied in a monotone. Why was Washuu being so concerned

with her? They barely knew each other. But still, Akane found her presence oddly

comforting.

"I wanted to tell you what was going on," Washuu said, smirking. "Heck,

I wanted to tell everyone. It's a brilliant plan. About the only plan that can

work against him. You think I didn't want to brag about that?"

Akane couldn't help but smile a little at the young girl's gleeful

enthusiasm. "Did you really have to trick us all? I mean, why put me in a

position to endanger all those lives if Sailor Moon was just going to fix

everything anyway?"

"Because Chris had to believe it, Akane," Washuu replied seriously.

"Because that's what it comes down to. He has to BELIEVE he can be defeated or

he can't be. There can't be doubt." She clenched her little girl's fist.

"Because the only real limitation on his power is what he believes it to be.

That's the scary thing about the Third Circle. That's what I can never risk him

knowing. That he has no limits. Nothing is impossible for the Third Circle, only

what the user sees as impossible. So I had to create an-" Washuu cut herself

off. "I... I shouldn't have told you that."

Akane stared at her.

"Well..." Her face darkened. "It appears you know too much, Akane

Tendo." She reached out, her hands curling into claws. "I'll have to... take

CARE of you... MUAAHAHAHAHH!" Akane slipped back, propping herself up with one

arm, her eyes widening. "Psych! Geez, Akane. Don't be so tense."

"I..." Akane clutched her chest. "I will never look at little girls the

same way again."

"Relax, it'll all work out, Akane." Washuu started towards her monitor

again. "I know what I'm doing. After all, I AM the greatest scientific genius in

the universe!" She grinned at Akane and gave her a V-sign. Akane couldn't help

but grin back, despite the fact her heart was still racing.

"Sure, she's the greatest scientific genius in the universe, but can she

tell us why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?"

Akane gasped and stiffened. Washuu spun around, her eyes narrowing and

her teeth baring. Shadows suddenly flashed across her face as a humming bar of

green light snapped into existence above her clenched fist. Her other hand was

already pointing up and away.

Kalia was hovering in the air, arms akimbo as she smirked down at them.

Her eyes were wide and her pupils narrow as she chuckled. Pulses of light

erupted from Washuu's hand, flashing across the space between her and the

automaton. Kalia's arm snapped up, and she caught the blasts on her wrist-

mounted gem. The green lights spiralled inward, then vanished with a sharp pop.

"I thought you'd come for him," Washuu said slowly.

"And I thought you'd think I would come for him," Kalia said in a sing-

song voice. "And you thought I would think that you would think-"

She was cut off as hundreds of tiny spheres appeared in the air around

her. Before Akane could blink, the spheres suddenly shot thin beams of pink

light between each other, forming an incredibly complex cage. Kalia looked

startled as the cage hemmed her in-

Kalia blasted backwards, just outside of the cage as it formed up around

her. Except she flew straight back into a growing cloud of orange gel. She

gasped as the gel immobilised her limbs instant-

Kalia shot down from the cage, just managing to evade the entangling

beams of pink light. A cloud of orange gel blossomed behind the cage, but it was

nowhere near Kalia. Instead as she came to the ground a thin black hole irised

open and out of it several rubbery tentacles flew. They snapped around Kalia's

ankle, dragging her to the ground. She kicked at them, but more erupted from

three more holes, grabbing her other-

Kalia jerked sideways just as the cloud of orange containment gel tried

to envelop her. She just barely kept herself out of its reach as she flew

away... Except she slammed into a wall of invisible glass, bouncing backwards.

There was a mechanical hiss as five more walls slid into place-

Kalia evaded the tentacles just long enough to get struck with a net

that fell from-

Kalia stopped before the glass wall, skimming along it and away just

before the prison formed only to-

Kalia shifted right-

Kalia was caught-

Kalia moved away-

Akane tried to blink, but couldn't. It was all happening at once. She'd

once seen a film, where the director had taped several things all using the same

roll, so that all the exposures overlapped. It was like that, except they all

felt, they all seemed real. She could hear then, see them, smell them. She could

feel the vibrations through her body as explosions went off, as traps were

successfully deployed and destroyed and evaded at the same time. She wanted to

blink and look away, but that was the only thing that didn't change.

She saw it all. It just kept piling on and on. Washuu's traps, her

plans, her ploys within ploys just kept getting more and more elaborate. Kalia's

escapes, her evasions, her desperate dodges kept growing more and more

implausible. It all happened in a fraction of a second, all at the same time.

Before Akane could even begin to wonder what was happening, it was suddenly all

over.

There was a flash of light, a roar like thunder and a wind that blew

across the lab. Akane jerked her arm up, shielding her eyes. When she lowered

them, she could only stare in awe. The lab was destroyed. Scattered all

throughout the room were hundreds of traps that had been sprung. Globes of

floating orange gel, transparent-walled rooms that hovered above the ground.

Tendrils that came out of ceiling and floor and walls. Nets and craters from

explosions and devices Akane couldn't even guess at the meaning of.

And hovering in the centre of the room, caught between a net of pink

lights that had formed between a series of floating spheres, was Kalia. She had

her arms crossed and was pouting like a little girl who had been denied a candy.

Washuu was straightening slowly, smirking to herself.

"No fair, you cheat," Kalia said.

"I won, didn't I?" Washuu replied.

"What... what the hell just happened?" Akane asked, clenching her head.

She felt like she had too many memories. They were all blurring together. As far

as she could tell, what had actually happened was that Kalia hadn't even

attempted to evade the first trap. But that wasn't right...

"Oh, I'm well-prepared for her," Washuu laughed. "Kalia can do anything

that is possible for her to do." Washuu shrugged. "So I just created a series of

traps that was literally impossible for her to escape."

"How? You had no idea where she would even show up and..." Akane trailed

off at Washuu's disapproving stare.

"Akane, I'm the greatest scientific GENIUS in the universe. Besides, she

gave herself away earlier when she tried to trick me into telling you all the

big secrets. I had a whole three seconds between when I realised that and her

showing up to prepare." She nodded at Akane's open-mouthed gaping. "I know, I

thought I was cutting it close too. I was actually worried there for a moment."

"How long?"

"Five nanoseconds."

"Hey, Washuu..." Kalia called out sweetly. Washuu turned her attention

back to the not-girl. Her expression was stern.

"That's 'Little Washuu' to you!" Washuu snapped.

"Little Washuu..." Kalia said with a raised hand, now wearing a dunce

cap that had always been there. "I was just wondering something about your

ineffable plan." Her lips quirked upward. "Can Sailor Moon bring Katsuhito back

to life?"

Washuu stared at the girl-shaped thing, her expression hard. "You know

that's impossible. You made certain of that."

Kalia clasped her hands to her cheeks in horrified shock. "But... but

Sailor Moon has the Third Circle, right?"

Washuu glanced at Akane. Akane stared at her. Washuu looked back up at

Kalia. "What are you trying to prove, anyway?"

"Just that you aren't as smart as you think you are."

"I'm every bit as smart as I think I am," Washuu said with a little

grin. "I can prove it down to the ten millionth decimal place."

"Yeah, but for some reason, you decided to focus so much on me that you

never even considered the allies of Chris that had been defeated at D-point..."

Washuu's eyes widened. Akane started. A gold blur dropped from the

ceiling. It landed behind Washuu and swung something huge and grey-white. There

was an awful tearing sound and Washuu's head went flying away from her body.

Akane screamed and leapt, tackling the figure.

It was some white-haired girl Akane had never met before. She carried a

huge pale-metal sword. Akane reached for her wrist, but the woman moved much

faster than her. She felt pain explode in her stomach as the stranger kneed her,

then her face joined the fun as the girl laid her out with a roundhouse punch

too fast for Akane to follow.

Akane fell to the ground right next to Washuu's head. She groaned and

tried to look away from that rictus grin... Wait. That wasn't a rictus grin.

That was a happy smile. No, it wasn't even that, it was a drawing of a happy

smile. On a stuffed doll.

Akane looked up, just in time to see the white-haired girl turning to

look behind her. Washuu slashed out once with her sword, catching the giant

black blade and sending it flying away into the darkness. Then she pointed at

the girl and suddenly she was enveloped in a orange gel. The girl struggled for

a moment. The glowing tattoos on her face dimmed and one down on her hips and

thighs suddenly flared to life. She struggled for a moment, but nothing

happened. Then her head fell.

"Angel." Washuu's voice contained genuine anger now. She looked at the

captured girl for a moment, then shook her head. "I... I had hoped we'd never

have to meet again." Angel didn't respond. Washuu turned her attention to Akane.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm... fine..." Akane stood up slowly. The physical pain was nothing.

She'd received worse in sparring sessions. But she couldn't shake the feeling of

helplessness. Washuu hadn't even needed her help. She really was that smart.

"Good," Washuu smiled. "I like you, Akane. You've got spirit. But don't

feel so down. The good guys have won."

"Reallllly?" Kalia mused. She was holding a diamond-shaped gem in one

hand. Akane eyes widened as she recognised Uranus' Star Seed. "All signs point

to no, actually. You may want to check on your princess."

OoOoO

The room went silent as the Moon Princess stepped up to the bier upon

which Purgstall's body had been placed. The light grew brighter and brighter as

she walked, first reflecting off the polished armour then slowly engulfing her

entire body. It was like the armour itself was growing hazy and indistinct...

and then JunJun realised the truth. Her armour was not reflecting light, or

shining with it, it was becoming light. The gold filigree remained, shimmering

around her body as the armour finished its transformation into a gentle silver

glow.

JunJun hissed and stepped back. The ball in her hand was shaking. It was

cold; so cold it burned. She wanted to pull her hands away, but it was like

grabbing onto a freezing metal pole. A whimper escaped her mouth. She could see

VesVes and CereCere both staggering back from the light as well.

But PallaPalla was fine. She stood bathing in the radiance, her eyes

wide and staring. Her hands slowly raised up, like she was trying to embrace the

glow. For a moment, JunJun swore she could see something bright in front of the

smallest girl's heart.

Then the Princess reached Purgstall. She stopped over him. Wings of

ephemeral light flared from her back, traced out in lines of gold and silver.

Her hand reached out and hovered over his forehead. "Heal," she commanded. The

word was filled with such command that JunJun felt the pain in her hands lessen,

then cease entirely.

Purgstall's body spasmed. His eyes snapped open and his back bowed

upwards. His mouth opened in a wordless scream. JunJun heard Cologne gasp. She

could just barely see Gyro through the light. He was standing again, watching

with intense interest.

The golden crescent on the Princess' forehead began to flicker, then

came alive with light. It seemed to condense, pulling inward until it was a

single drop of light. The light flowed down her body, shifting through the

immaterial light of her armour like a drop of water vanishing into an ocean.

Then it emerged from the cuff on her wrist and ran down her finger, before

falling from her hand and striking Purgstall's forehead. Waves of light splashed

out from the point of impact, then froze in mid-air. They began to spin,

shrinking slowly inward.

When they had almost vanished, a tiny triangular crystal emerged from

Purgstall's forehead. His mouth opened and closed and his eyes rolled in their

sockets to fix on the Moon Princess. She smiled at him. The crystal started to

push out of his head, growing like an iceberg as it emerged into the air. It was

huge, nearly the size of Purgstall's forehead, and shaped almost like a diamond

but covered in rough edges and rounded tips. The end came to a rest against the

golden-haired woman's outstretched hand just when it fully emerged.

Purgstall made a gasping sound then fell back, his eyes closing

peacefully and his body sinking into repose. JunJun knew he was alive. She had

no idea how, but she knew it was true. The Princess inverted her hand, holding

the crystal now above it. JunJun could see it was cracked now, a series of

spiderweb-like cracks that sunk into the depths of it. It looked so fragile,

like any small pressure could shatter it.

"I see... there is much taint left in the wounds," the Princess said,

breaking the holy silence that had filled the room. "It's..."

"It is the death of worlds," Gyro's voice broke in. "Entire universes,

entire multiverses of annihilated possibility. Stillborn essence. Paradox, the

aborted waste of worlds that will never be."

The Princess ignored his words and shifted her hands, positioning them

in the air around the floating crystal as if it were twice its actual size. She

closed her eyes. The crescent on her forehead flared. JunJun felt something

inside herself respond. It was like a part of her was waking up, something that

had been asleep for a long, long time.

She could see it, inside the crystal. It was twisting along the paths

formed by the fractures. Twisting and turning the gemstone around it. It warped

and fluxed, like bubbles in reality. Something terrible was there, hidden from

view. She was just seeing the edge of it, the part where it leaked into their

world from Beyond. She wanted to scream, to warn the Princess that she was in

over her head.

But it was too late. Her hands suddenly flexed and her head snapped

back, as if a spark had galvanised her body. She gasped. The air around her

exploded. The crystal bier shattered. The floor buckled and twisted, spiralling

inward. A perfect slice ran across the room, and everything on one side shifted

upwards, while the other side shifted downward. Even time itself shuddered. One

moment passed so quickly JunJun could not even perceive it, then she found

everything moving in slow motion. Then it was moving backward, the damage

unmaking itself, before suddenly it started forward again.

Princess Serenity floated in the centre of the room, clutching the

crystal with all her strength. Her eyes rolled back and her body seemed to

shrink and distort, then was ripped apart by the- She was bending forward,

unharmed, sweat rolling down her features, but a piece of shattered crystal

exploded through her stomach in a spray- Her mouth was working, the light

deflecting the debris around her and the crystal itself exploded, shattering as

Purgstall screamed his last- Great eddies whipped up around the Moon Princess,

her hair twisting in them, as the space around her seemed to collapse inward-

Silver light shot out, vapourising everything- Cologne was screaming as the

entire centre of the building went up like a roman candle-

JunJun tried to pull her eyes away. She could see it. She could see ALL

of it. There were a million Moon Princesses, a billion, an uncountable infinity

of the one person. And in all of them she died. Again and again and again her

body was torn apart as something went wrong, something escaped her control, some

outside force stepped in. An infinity of failures.

"Please, stop! You can't!" JunJun screamed. She grabbed the Princess

from behind and dragged her back. The woman gasped, her body falling limp into

the green-haired girl's arms. Her hands seemed to spasm and then fell away from

the crystal. JunJun stared up at the gem. It was covered in twisting eddies of

reality. They had leaked out of it. The zoacrystal itself was perfectly whole,

perfectly fine. It floated serenely in the centre of the bubble of shifting

reality around it. The manifestation of Paradox.

"I... I couldn't..." The Princess gasped, her body shuddering. "Too many

failures..."

"JunJun!" It was PallaPalla. She grabbed her sister and the Princess and

dragged them back, away from the twisting nothingness. "Are you okay?"

"We have to stop it!" JunJun said. "It'll... it'll..."

"It will unmake everything," Gyro said, walking forward now. He had a

black object in his hand. "That is Paradox. The universe, the multiverse can not

withstand certain things. Things that defy all logic and definition. This is the

sum of those things. Those worlds which simply can not be. THIS is their power."

"How do you know so much?" Princess Serenity asked, her tone concerned.

Gyro smiled. His old-man face was filled with psychotic mirth. His alien

eyes glowed as he looked at her. "Fool girl, did you think you were the only one

who had toyed with the power?" He laughed. "Thousands of years ago, the universe

was torn with strife. One woman, the mightiest of all Sailor Senshi, saw this

and wished it would change. Her wish was so powerful, her desire so strong, that

the impossibility of her wish could not deter her. She desired to destroy war

itself, to attack the very heart of conflict and anger. To put an end to the

chaos and destruction with the edge of a sword."

He flourished his hand and suddenly JunJun could clearly see what he was

holding. It was a sword. Long and black, it had a thick blade that radiated

palpable menace. "This sword."

He raised it to his eye level. "It is called the Sword of Sealing. Her

naked desire, her overwhelming wish to end the conflict in the galaxy won out

over the very nature of reality. She forced the desire for war in all our hearts

to manifest as something this sword could defeat. But in doing so, she tainted

herself with Paradox. She tapped into the forbidden power, and could not handle

what she had unleashed. So she sealed it away inside herself."

He pointed the sword at the swirling mass of Paradox, his grin becoming

feral. "And this is how she did it."

"NO!" PallaPalla screamed, and leapt for him. He snarled and lashed out

with one hand, striking her in the cheek and sending her flying across the room.

"PallaPalla!" Cologne screamed. "You bastard!"

Gyro just laughed and grabbed the blade with both hands. Then he drove

it right into the distorted space. The blade slid into it like nothing. The very

air around it was shrinking, collapsing and expanding, but the sword remained

untouched. Then the bubble vanished. Just vanished, like it had never been.

Already, JunJun found it hard to picture the field of Paradox in her mind. Gyro

staggered back, his eyes widening.

"I never imagin-" His word cut off into a scream. He threw his head

back, stretched his arms out, his feet sank into the floor. JunJun felt the orb

in her hand shudder; the numbing pain was creeping up her arm again. And Gyro

was changing.

JunJun had seen Gyro's battle form before. It was taller than him, and

even more muscular. His skin turned pale green and his head became crowned with

a duo of long gnarled horns and a series of smaller ones forming a fin down to

the base of his skull. His zoacrystal appeared in his forehead and a series of

smaller focusing lenses traced down his forehead and his torso. Normally Gyro's

transformation was nothing less than a blinding explosion of power, in which

his body expanded and mutated to his combat form.

But now his body was twisting and distorting. His arms were bending as

if they had far too many elbows. His legs seemed to ripple. His chest imploded,

the entire front of it collapsing inward violently. The force of it bent him

forward, and JunJun saw two strange lumps appear on his back. They pulsated like

hearts, then exploded outward in two black waves. The liquid darkness streamed

upward, forging itself into two bat-like wings, long and thin with cruel barbs

on the end. His body was shrinking upon itself, then suddenly stopped. He

chuckled. Black horns had grown from the sides of his head even as his hair had

been replaced by a long series of spines that curved backwards. His face was

still twisted, but now his skin was black as night. His eyes were yellow and

bloodshot, full of vicious insanity. His zoacrystal was a dull black that

absorbed all light. His body was still covered in thick muscle, but actually

looked smaller than before. The focusing lenses of his gravity control powers

had spread down to his forearms, forming into diamond-like patterns there.

He stood up, his wings snapping open. He threw his arms wide. He

laughed. The bay window behind him exploded outward. "Using this sword," he

said, holding up the tainted black blade, "she sealed the Paradox inside

herself. And so have I. Now, Sailor Moon, now I have truly achieved oneness with

the 'Third Circle'." He emphasised the last words with a mocking tone.

The Moon Princess gently removed JunJun's arms from around her waist and

rose to her feet. She looked at Gyro, and the long blade in his hand. Her eyes

narrowed. "I will deal with you shortly," she said. Then she walked past him to

Purgstall. She grabbed the zoacrystal and slowly pushed it down into his

forehead. He moaned in his sleep as the gem vanished into his brow.

JunJun blinked. She had just seen something. A sliver of silver light

seemed to flash between the Princess's hand and Purgstall's crystal. It embedded

itself in the crystal, hovering in the very heart, just before it vanished.

"So this was your plan all along?" the Moon Princess turned to face the

devil-like figure. "You wanted me to draw the Paradox out of his crystal. As

long as it was trapped inside, you could not get at it with the Sword of

Sealing."

"Yes," Gyro agreed. He stepped towards her. "I was first approached by

the current host of the force of Chaos, the Sailor Senshi who manifested and

defeated Chaos all those years ago. She gave me this sword so that I could look

over this pitiful little world. So that the sword could feed on the conflict and

war this world has produced for the last seven years. Each battle, each heroic

struggle, they fuelled her power through this sword." He chuckled. "But not long

ago, I was approached by another faction. A girl-thing with no soul that

promised to deliver to me such a force of Paradox that I could escape my bargain

with Sailor Galaxia." He pointed the sword at her. "And in return, all I would

have to do is destroy you." His smile widened. "It had something to do with you

being a threat to her plans, her very existence. But to tell the truth, I did

not care. I would gladly have destroyed you for free."

"You will find..." The Moon Princess drew her hand across the air and a

blade formed in her grip. It was white where the Sealing Sword was black, but

the two were remarkably similar. "...that to be much harder than you think."

The Moon Princess surged across the room, wings of ethereal light

flaring from her back. The entire room light up with the glow of her aura.

JunJun held her breath. The space between Gyro and Serenity vanished-

And the Princess stopped in mid-air. Gyro smiled as his hand tightened

around her throat. His other hand held his sword in a reverse grip, easily

parrying the stroke aimed at his head. The golden-haired woman tried to cry out,

but her voice had been choked off.

"Surprised?" Gyro said with a smirk. "Don't be. Your power... is nothing

but borrowed strength. You think your crystal makes you divine?" He snapped out

his blade, sending the Moon Princess' ur-sword flashing across the room. Then he

held his hand against her forehead. "I will show you divinity."

With a single wrenching movement he pulled his hand backward and a

gleaming silver crystal erupted from the woman's head. She screamed, her eyes

widening in pain and fear. His clawed fingers curled around the glowing

crystal... and it shattered.

The light around the Princess dimmed, then died. Suddenly she was

clothed in a simple skirt and blouse. Suddenly she looked like nothing more than

a normal woman. Not even that, she looked like a girl. He threw her back, and

her body flopped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Gyro chuckled, pulling the shattered remains of the silver crystal up to

his face. "You girls should consider yourself lucky," he said, addressing the

Quartet. "Today you witness the birth of something beyond any mere god. Higher

than the greatest zoalord, higher than the trinity, higher than anything else.

Like Chaos and Oblivion before me, I have become a law of nature." He opened his

mouth and swallowed the shards, licking his lips. The crystal on his forehead

suddenly glowed with silver light. "My will is LAW!" he shouted, laughing madly.

"No..." JunJun moaned.

Gyro turned, and pointed his sword at the unconscious girl. She was

going to die, and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it. Then a

figure appeared from the shadows behind Usagi. She was dark-skinned, with purple

hair, and wore a elegant red dress. Her arms wrapped around Usagi. Gyro snarled

and a bolt of darkness erupted from his sword, the ground erupting upwards

underneath and the ceiling collapsing in its wake. The unknown girl and Usagi

vanished a fraction of a second before his attack struck. JunJun screamed as the

entire half of the building was torn out, blasting into debris.

Gyro looked at the empty air for a moment. "No matter." He stretched his

wings, which now had flares of silver light along their tips, and stepped

towards the opening. "I must go and let the universe, and all who reside within

it, know of the new law that has been passed with my name." He smirked. "But

before I go... ZX-Tole, Ikazuchi. Kill them."

OoOoO

"I... I didn't see that coming," Washuu said, her jaw hanging down.

Angel didn't think she would ever have heard those words, coming from

those lips. But no matter how startled she was, neither Angel nor Kalia's bonds

loosened any. She was uncomfortably aware she'd been stuck in a position where

she'd have to look at Chris. Oh, His body was burnt and ravaged and missing

several extremities, but it was Him, no doubt about it. Floating in the tube, He

looked like He was sleeping. On display, like a trophy. Beaten and helpless.

Just like Angel.

"This doesn't make any sense," Washuu growled, glaring at her own

computer readouts accusingly. "Even without me watching, she should have had

MORE than enough power to handle any random challenge. Especially from Reichmann

Gyro, of all people!"

A hollow child's laugh came from above her. "Oh, well, you know how it

goes. A girl walks around, eats an ice cream, ends a war, plays piano, gives

Reichmann Gyro phenomenal cosmic power... anything can happen!"

Washuu whirled, her eyes narrowing. Kalia grinned with complete

unconcern for the scientist's anger. "Oh, little Washuu... you didn't think

giving Sailor Moon power was going to solve all your problems, did you? You're

not the only source of power in the universe, you know."

"Wait a second," the other woman interjected. Angel hadn't met her, but

still immediately recognised Akane Tendo, leader of the anti-Chronos resistance.

She was a little shorter than Angel would have expected, really. "What are you

talking about? 'Giving Sailor Moon power'?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" purred Kalia, and her eyes danced with mad glee.

"You didn't really think that Sailor Moon REALLY had the cosmic mojo to defeat

Chris all by her lonesome, did you? Washuu here has been playing a very clever

little game. Feeding Sailor Moon power, reconnecting Sailor Pluto to the

timestream with a shiny new staff, making sure the poor little princess didn't

die resurrecting all those people you got killed... she's really been working

overtime! And, of course, you couldn't possibly know about it. Nor could Akio,

or Rei, or anybody else that could possibly get back to Chris. Because if he

knew Washuu was somehow involved in any of this, there's no WAY he'd have been

convinced that Sailor Moon had reached the Third Circle."

"But Sailor Moon... how could she even have done that without the Third

Circle?" Akane protested.

Kalia giggled. "What? Resurrecting people? Saying 'you rule the

timestream again'? Defeating Chris? You think THAT takes the Third Circle?" She

caressed her face, smiling mischievously. "Naive little girl, you don't know a

thing about the Third Circle. If Sailor Moon could wield the real thing, she

wouldn't NEED to defeat Chris. She could unmake him. Remake him. Make him a

pacifist. Make him a bunny. Make him the colour orange. Ignore him, and make the

rest of reality do the same. She'd no more have to fight Chris than a galaxy has

to fight a loud noise. Actually, even less than that."

"How do YOU know all that?" Washuu demanded. "What are you, anyway?"

"I'm the exposition box!" Kalia replied cheerfully. "Ask me anything!"

"Wait a minute!" Angel demanded. She was trying not to think about the

rest of this, as usual with Kalia's 'explanations', but something sprang to the

forefront of her mind. "If you knew... if you knew this was all some trick of

Washuu's, why didn't you TELL Chris?"

Kalia shrugged. "Who says I knew anything? I was just guessing!" She

wiped her forehead dramatically. "Whew! I'm so glad I was right and Washuu

really was fooling us all along!"

"That's okay," Washuu said. Her expression and voice were once again

calm. "I can still fix everything. And even if you three know what really

happened, all I have to do is prevent you from telling Chris before he gets

destroyed."

"Too bad your toy is all broken!" Kalia chirped. "And without her magic

crystal, it'll be hard to convince her she's God again."

"You might think so," Washuu said smugly. "But there's something you've

forgotten."

Kalia frowned. "What's that?"

"You brought me another magic crystal." Washuu turned, and suddenly,

Angel was free. She stumbled a bit as the pressure of the orange gel was

removed, but recovered quickly. She stared blankly at Washuu for a moment, then

swung her head around to again look at the tube where Chris was imprisoned. If

she could free Him-

"No."

The word rang in her ears before she completed her first step. Then her

world exploded in pain. It began at her legs, a burning agony that robbed all

her strength and sent her falling to the floor. Then it moved to her stomach,

and all her bones ground together at once, almost to the point of shattering.

Her chest came next, the point lancing out and bubbling through her blood like

acid. And finally it rose to her face, a cold so intense and pure that it burned

through her, leaving only a numbing cold that consumed her. Angel lay on the

floor, in too much agony even to scream. She noticed after what seemed like a

long time that her face was wet, not just with tears, but with crimson. She was

lying in a slowly spreading puddle of her own blood. She retched weakly.

"WASHUU!" a voice screamed, and suddenly someone else was there,

blocking out the lights of the lab. "W-what the hell did you do!?" Angel

realised it was Akane even as the woman lifted her head out of the blood. Washuu

was standing, staring down at them. Above her palm floated a golden crystal. It

looked like two crystals, actually, connected in the centre to form a shape like

a vajra. She was frowning, her green eyes hard as ice. "Answer me!" Akane

demanded. "You didn't have to do that!"

"You're... you're right," Washuu said. The grim resolve in her face

faded, replaced by uncertainty. "That's not like me." And then her eyes widened

and she spun around. Angel was already looking up at where Washuu turned, and

Kalia was smiling.

"Oh, little Washuu. So controlled, so rational. So sure that anything I

might see you doing, you'd have such a good, logical reason for doing. But hate

isn't logical. Pain isn't logical. And seeing dear little Angel makes you feel

those, oh so much, doesn't it? Katsuhito dead so recently, and of course, sweet

little Mihoshi-"

"SHUT UP!" Washuu roared, and from her empty hand a lance of green light

shot out, directly for the not-girl's head... only to suddenly strike a great

black blade. The attack vanished the moment it touched the ancient sword, and

Kalia laughed and leaped forward. Suddenly she was surrounded by the orange gel,

but the sword cleared a path, hurtling down, striking at black tentacles that

erupted from the floor, and then Kalia was upon Washuu. She struck deep, her

hand plunging into the scientist's chest, but then Angel blinked and there was

nothing there but a stuffed doll. Kalia just grinned and ripped the doll in two,

then swung around to confront the real Washuu as she came in to attack.

There was no trace of the cheerful, sarcastic little scientist now. She

stood almost twice as tall, and with the figure of a full-grown woman. Her face

was twisted in anger, and she swung a green blade with deadly intent. Kalia, her

infuriating grin never wavering, ducked, flipped, and finally blocked the

attacks. The blade hissed against the jewels of her gauntlet, the energy

draining into them, but Washuu merely growled and the beam doubled, then trebled

in intensity, cutting through Kalia's arm like a hot knife through butter. The

not-girl skipped back, tendrils of unreality leaking from the stump of her

forearm, then her gaze flickered over and she flew towards the machine that held

Chris captive.

Washuu was there to meet her. With another swipe, she drove the creature

back, and Kalia laughed and evaded another trap, feinting towards the machine

again and again. Washuu cut her off each time, her face set in hard, cold lines.

Abruptly Kalia switched tactics and attacked the scientist, but again struck

only a dummy. The real Washuu slashed her back, and Kalia flipped away again.

Only this time, Angel could see it happen.

She could see everything Washuu was doing. It was never precisely the

same twice. Sometimes she teleported, leaving the decoy in her place. Others she

wrapped an illusion around the doll while she moved elsewhere. At times it was

just sheer speed that allowed her to execute the trick, and sometimes it was a

device. It wasn't just when she was about to get hit, either. Washuu was always

moving, never where she seemed to be. Kalia was fighting shadows and decoys, and

while she reacted quickly, Washuu seemed inexhaustible, always a step ahead,

always striking at the most opportune moment. In seconds, the outcome of the

fight became inevitable. Only the fact Washuu had to protect the machine holding

Chris captive let it last even that long. There was simply nothing Kalia could

do to catch her.

So why could Angel see it? And not just that. The entire lab was alive

with forces and power, and Angel could sense them all. She heard the hum of

machinery miles away, felt the throb of current passing through tubes, could

taste the tang of chemicals in the air. She could hear the throb of Akane's

heartbeat as if it were being blasted through a loudspeaker, and feel every

twitch of her excited aura. She was ready to react at any time, was scared, was

unsure. Angel was even fully aware of her own body, of every hair, of the

pressure of blood in her arteries, and was aware, oh so painfully aware, of

every nerve in the ruined flesh that ran from her forehead to her thighs. Where

her tattoos had been.

And that led her eyes to the golden crystal. She could feel that

something was inside it, something which tasted of Nanami Kiryuu, and something

else as well. She could feel the quiet pulse of power within the crystal that

resonated with the entire planet. And she could also feel the resonance it had

with her.

The resonance it STILL had with her.

And then she knew. "The void chakra," she breathed. The chakra that

she'd never been able to use the crystal for, because it was outside the body.

The chakra of senses and perception. But Washuu had taken the crystal and not

realised she hadn't severed the connection Chris had given her to it. How could

she have made such a mistake?

"Because I can't make her stupid, I can't make her make a big mistake,

but YOU can make her angry, and then she'll do both for me. Because she's really

just a human pretending to be a god." The answer came to her mind in Kalia's

voice, and suddenly she remembered the conversation they'd had before entering

the lab, the conversation she somehow had not even thought of until now.

She stared at Washuu's face as she slashed at Kalia and effortlessly

evaded counterattacks. She had never looked so angry.

Angel felt the cold numbness of the void chakra falling around her

again, but this time she drew strength from it. Putting a hand down, she pushed

herself to a sitting position. "Hey," Akane said with concern. "Don't try to get

up..."

She didn't have time. She'd have only one shot at this. Every second,

she instinctively knew, was a second where it got more and more unlikely for

Washuu to be so angry, so frustrated, so focused that she could be making this

mistake. There was no telling when it would become impossible.

Shoving Akane aside, she rose to her feet. She could barely see from one

eye due to it being covered with blood from the raw, open wounds on her face.

The rest of her body screamed in protest, and every movement of her torn flesh

was agony. But she could do it. This was what she had been chosen for. This was

what He needed her for.

She ignored, again, the tiny voice in the back of her head wondering how

Chris could ever have needed her for anything.

She ran forward. Her unlimited senses could feel the sword, forgotten in

the confusion. It had taken a place. It was waiting. It had known all along what

was going to happen.

Angel also ignored the voice that wondered how Hotaru could possibly

have known this. Or why she'd made it possible.

She could figure it out later. She could ask Chris.

Her hand, slick with blood, grasped the cold hilt of the sword.

And then Washuu was dashing backwards, jockeying for position. Kalia had

slashed through another fake. The not-girl was missing her leg by now, and a

great gouge had been torn from her chest. She showed no signs of pain, but much

more damage and Angel could tell her body wouldn't be able to hold up to the

strain of... whatever it was she was containing. Angel didn't know what that

was, though. Even with all her senses, the inside of Kalia was as black and

empty as the void between stars.

Washuu was coming straight towards her. Her momentum was already slowing

as she prepared to rush back towards Kalia for the kill. Her face had regained

calmness, but it was a facade. The blood pounded in her with furious excitement.

Her breath came in shallow, almost-silent bursts. Her heart was beating like a

snare drum, betraying the anger and frustration and excitement that had made

her, for just a few precious seconds, blind to the power that pulsed through the

gem in her own hand.

Angel struck her directly in the heart. She heard Akane gasp behind her.

Washuu stopped as the great sword emerged from her chest. Had she still been in

the body of a child, she would have fallen in two. She slowly lowered her hand,

the energy sword fading from existence. Her back was to Angel, so she couldn't

see Washuu's expression.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," she murmured.

Kalia had wasted no time in moving to the machine that contained Chris.

"Oh Daddy," she sighed as she stared up at His unmoving, ravaged body. "What

ever would you do without me?" Her remaining hand drew back.

"WASHUU!" Akane cried again, her voice heavy with familiar horror.

"I'm sorry, Akane," Washuu said, still not looking back. Around the

edges of where the blade had cut through her, her body was beginning to vanish,

transforming into white motes of light that dissipated into the air. "But

there's no time."

And as Kalia plunged her fist toward the tube, Washuu's hand rose and

her computer appeared in the air before her. She punched a single button just

before her arms vanished.

And then the world collapsed.

OoOoO

Akane knew she was supposed to be dead. She didn't know anything about

astrophysics, but she knew enough to identify a black hole when she saw it - or

didn't see it, more accurately. Washuu's body had dissolved away into a swirling

cloud of white motes, and the entire world had imploded around them. The distant

planets had been ripped to shreds, entire continental plates being torn from the

bleeding magma cores. The complex network of tubes had collapsed, great chunks

of exotic matter being funnelled down towards them. The ceiling, walls and floor

of the lab had peeled away, vanishing into the event horizon.

Akane had grabbed onto something, anything, but knew right away that it

should have been futile. Washuu had lost and she was ensuring Chris did not

escape in the most permanent way her science allowed. The singularity would

utterly annihilate everything in the lab, her and Kalia and the other girl

included.

Really, considering the thing had formed just in front of them, Akane

should have already been dead. Except she wasn't. The pull of the gravity well

was intense, creating a howling maelstrom as it sucked away the atmosphere, but

not more than Akane could resist. And the cloud of lights that Washuu's body

had dispersed into was still there.

Finally Akane saw the container that Chris' body was in streak past. It

seemed to collapse in on itself, shrinking and twisting before it passed beyond

the point at which not even light could escape. Akane held her breath.

Then it stopped. The world became a series of thunderous crashes as huge

chunks of the colossal lab crashed down all about her. Akane could just see a

titanic transport tube, as thick across as Mount Fuji, crash down into the

planet in the near distance. But her eyes were drawn back to something closer,

as the lights slowly shrunk back inward.

They swirled and twisted, tracing out a humanoid figure. As they did

they glowed brighter and brighter, shining blindingly incandescent. Then all at

once the light vanished, leaving Washuu standing in the centre of her destroyed

lab. Her head was bowed and she was still, but Akane still felt her heart skip a

beat.

For a moment, she hoped. She believed, for that moment, that it was

over. That somehow Washuu's genius had defeated even death and the power of her

own suicide strike. But then her head raised up and her eyes opened.

Glassy. Cold. Lifeless.

"Don't be afraid," Chris said. It came from Washuu's vocal chords, but

had the unmistakable lilt of Chris's voice. He sounded calm, at ease. "I've

disarmed the trap Washuu set, you might say."

Akane could only nod mutely.

"Of course, it was going to kill you," Chris continued, gesturing with

Washuu's stolen hands. "Unfortunately, in the grand scheme Washuu was playing

you were just another disposable pawn. Very rude of her, I think."

"Oh Akane!" Kalia called out in a sing-song voice, cupping her chin in

her hands. "So many people are disposable pawns to me, but not you!"

"Chris? Is that... is that really you?" Angel asked softly. Akane

glanced at her. Even now, with her having drawn attention to herself, it was

hard for Akane to focus on her. It wasn't that she had actually faded away, or

become actually invisible, but Akane just felt as if there was something not

there about Angel.

The girl took a step towards Chris, staggering slightly. Blood ran down

her legs. Vicious strips had been torn out of her flesh when Washuu had removed

her tattoos. Worse of all was her face: the entire right side was a bloody ruin.

She was crying, her tears mingling with the blood flowing from her wounds. She

staggered a bit as she moved, trying to cover her chest and stomach from which

more crimson fluid spurted.

Chris looked towards the girl, a paternal expression of concern crossing

his features but never reaching his eyes. "Angel..." He paused. "I'm sorry you

had to go through all this. It's my fault, really." He walked across the floor

towards her. "But you exceeded all my expectations. I chose well in you."

Angel flinched as Chris got within arms-length of her. She seemed to be

having a hard time looking Chris in the face. Her entire body was quaking, but

whether it was from pain or shame Akane couldn't tell. Akane knew she should

feel something now. She knew that she should care one way or another about the

fact this girl had murdered Washuu, but she was too shell-shocked to figure out

what it should be.

"Please," Angel whispered. Chris frowned, he had raised one hand towards

her but Angel had flinched back, staggering away from Chris' new body.

"Please... don't look like that."

"Oh," he said and looked down at himself. "I suppose that was

thoughtless." He closed his eyes and stretched out his hands. As Akane watched

Washuu's body softly reshaped itself. Her hair shrunk and darkened, her face

grew older and more masculine even as her limbs stretched and thickened. Her

clothing rewove itself, the colours shifting and flowing like a kaleidoscope

before settling into a new configuration.

When he was done Chris no longer looked anything like Washuu except for

his hair, which was a deep red that bordered on black. He looked much like the

boy-child whose body he had first taken all those years ago in Ryugenzawa,

except maybe ten years older. His hair was meticulously unkempt and his features

still boyish, but unassuming. He wore a white vest and slacks over a burgundy

shirt, with a thick belt and light brown shoes.

He smiled as he opened his eyes. Then, he tilted his head to the side as

if remembering something. Reaching up with his left hand he sunk his fingers

into the flesh around his right eye and, with a sick tearing sound, ripped the

eye out. Akane felt her stomach lurch, but couldn't look away. A wisp of violet

light flickered in the empty eyesocket.

"Oh, it's so cute!" Kalia squealed as she flashed past him, pulling the

eye from his hand. She held it up so she could look right into it. "Can I keep

it? Please? I promise I'll love it and feed it and take it on walkies and

everything."

Chris glanced at her and shook his head silently, smiling indulgently.

"If it makes you happy," he replied. His voice was different now. It sounded

much more like she had always pictured his voice. It was firm and confident, but

also slick. Then he turned his attention back to Angel. "I hope you find this

more acceptable?"

Angel wasn't looking at him, she was staring at the eye in Kalia's

hands. The dark-skinned girl was playing cat's cradle with the nerve endings;

the blood from the flesh had splattered across her face and forearms. She

giggled, a sound that was childlike but devoid of any innocence.

"I..." Angel looked back at Chris. "Yes... it is."

Chris paused for a moment. A frown crossed his face for a fraction of a

second. Akane was fairly certain Angel didn't see it. "Good. Let's fix the

damage Washuu did to you, then, shall we?" Angel blinked and gave him her full

attention. Chris gestured, stretching out his hand palm upward. With a soft pop

of displaced air, the Golden Crystal appeared, floating there. "Actually I can

do this even better now. Make you even stronger than before. Would you like

that, Angel?"

Angel looked down at her bloody body. She hissed in pain. "Chris... how

is this... how is this possible? I could see what happened!" She looked up

sharply, the blood still flowing freely from her wounds. "I saw it! That was a

black hole, it should have killed us! I've never seen such a powerful force..."

Chris smiled and reached out, touching her ruined cheek. She hissed, but

endured it. "Washuu failed, Angel. She failed in the one thing she most wanted

to prevent. She failed to keep me from realising that I HAVE no limits."

"No limits..." Akane breathed. Chris looked at her, then turned to face

her. He brought his fingers away from Angel's face, but there were no

bloodstains on his fingertips.

"Yes, Akane," he told her. "All her secrecy, all her elaborate plans,

they were all designed to keep me from realising that my power truly is

unlimited. Washuu was as smart as she thought she was. She almost immediately

realised what I was. She also realised that the only limitations were those I

believed I had. So when she decided to destroy me, she knew that the last thing

she could do is tell anyone what she knew. She had to create an intricate

fiction. She had to convince everyone in the world that Sailor Moon had exceeded

me, that her power was my antithesis.

"And she almost won. She almost defeated me by exploiting my own

ignorance. But she forgot that I am beyond even a god," he said with a dry

chuckle. "So, to answer your question, Angel. I didn't destroy the black hole."

He turned back to the white-haired girl. "It's still here. I've just... altered

it slightly so that it is no longer a threat to us. Once we leave, I'll allow it

to finish destroying this place."

"But... but why?" Akane jumped in. "This lab-"

"Is worthless to me, Akane," Chris interrupted. "Not only do I have

access to all of Washuu's memories, but I no longer need anything here." He

looked over his shoulder, his grotesque missing eye staring at her. "Besides,

the destruction of this place will help convince Washuu's... extended family

that she and I were destroyed here. I could destroy Tsunami and Tokimi easily,

but doing so would be such a waste."

Angel suddenly cried out and collapsed. Akane rushed across the room to

her. This woman had just killed Washuu, had quite possibly assured Chris's

victory. But for nowm all Akane could see was that she was in pain. Apparently

her brave act had been just that; the pain of her condition must have finally

caught up with her.

"Ah yes," Chris said as Akane hovered over the girl, trying to offer

what meagre aid she could. "I'm sorry, Angel. Sometimes I forget how fragile

people are." He held out the Golden Crystal again, and as Akane watched it

seemed to unwind. It was like a spool of thread, releasing a long thin stream of

golden light as the crystal shrunk and shrunk until there was nothing left of

it. The light snaked through the air before finding Angel's wounds. It traced

along the bloody channels in her skin, resetting itself. The girl gasped, her

eyes opening wide. Her entire body was glowing softly by the time the tattoos

had been reapplied to her body.

Once finished, Chris waved his hand over her body; the blood vanished

without a trace, and her clothing repaired itself where it had been damaged.

Angel blinked and stood up slowly. Akane backed up, uncertain what was going to

happen. The glow around Angel intensified even as it shrunk down until it was

solely contained within the tracks of her tattoos. All of them glowed at once

for a long moment. Then, as Akane watched dumbfounded, a pair of ethereal golden

wing-like flares flashed from Angel's shoulders. Her eyes widened.

Chris chuckled. "I told you I would make you better than before," he

explained. Akane wasn't certain what he had done, but Angel seemed pleased by

it. With a small frown of concentration the girl cut off the glow on her body,

making her look like a person with just a set of exotic tattoos again.

"As well, I've gotten rid of the... uninvited guests that I didn't

notice last time," Chris said. "It wasn't as if they were any threat to you, but

it doesn't hurt to be certain."

"Guests?" Angel repeated.

Chris waved a hand. "Not important, really. Right now, I suppose we

ought to be concerned with getting out of here." He smiled faintly. "Washuu

certainly didn't want us to. Beyond the black hole - and a few other subsidiary

destructive surprises I've dealt with - she sealed this lab off as thoroughly as

she could from the universe. We've been removed from the normal flow of time,

not to mention reality. Plus this was a pocket dimension to begin with, which

has now been inexorably sealed. She herself couldn't have gotten out of here."

"But you're not Washuu..." Akane said slowly.

"No, I'm not," Chris chuckled. "You see, all of that was predicated on

my not realising the secret she'd kept from me. Which, really, I have to admit I

feel a little silly about." He stared up at the empty void above them where,

invisibly, the black hole still lurked. "All this time I've been playing by the

rules, never realising I'm the one that made up the game. It's obvious in

retrospect, isn't it? Why on earth can a dead person walk? Why can I access

memories, skills, thoughts from the bodies I inhabit? Why, as Link once asked

me, can I even see in binocular vision with only one eye? It makes no sense,

conforms to no natural or unnatural law. Until you realise the truth - it was

instinctive. MY instinct. I first jumped to a body instinctively, because I

needed to. I first used the memories because I had a desire for the knowledge

the body held, and thus obtained it. I see just fine because it didn't occur to

me that I shouldn't; besides, dead eyes couldn't see anyway, even if I had two

of them." He clenched his fist, and suddenly Akane could feel a crack in Chris's

calm facade, some long-buried bitterness resurface. "The only things I've ever

failed to accomplish are those things where I doubted myself. But I was too

short-sighted to realise that, too stuck in the same mindset as everyone else."

He turned to face her, smiling, his calm once again reasserted. "Why on earth

should I have to take anyone else's skills or abilities, Akane? I command the

Third Circle. I always have. And the power of the Third Circle is the power of

miracles. The power to reshape the universe." He lifted his hand. "So Washuu

made it impossible to escape? Impossible for her, perhaps. But I am, as you

said, not her. And I say that there is a door." He snapped his fingers.

And there was a door. It was cheerfully red. Chris walked over to it and

pushed on it with one hand and it opened. Bright light poured into the lab.

Grinning ear to ear, almost literally, Kalia slid around him and floated out.

Angel took one last look at the collapsing lab, still stuck in a single instant,

before picking up the huge bleached blade and following Kalia. Chris looked at

Akane as she stood there. Her hand tightened around the sword Katsuhito had

given her and she walked out.

Chris paused at the door for a fraction of a second. Akane could just

see the room beyond him beginning to collapse upon itself. Then Chris quite

deliberately closed the door behind him. Then there was no more door.

And the world started moving again. Akane jumped as she realised that

they had walked right into the middle of a battle. They were in a hemispherical

room, the walls broken at regular intervals by what looked like windows beyond

which were a number of increasingly bizarre monsters and artifacts. A man Akane

was certain she should recognise was standing near a large pile of rubble that

had been knocked out of the ceiling. Beyond him two women were locked in a

grapple. One was short and pale and also tickled at Akane's memory. The other

was-

"Akira!" Akane gasped out. She realised suddenly that they must be back

in Tethys' city. Which would make the girl Akira was struggling with... the

Messiah of Silence. Akane felt a chill run up her spine. She had heard about the

girl. Who hadn't? But to be here, in her presence, filled Akane with a dread she

wouldn't have thought possible from such a small figure.

Moving their heads in odd synchronisation, the two struggling women

looked at Akane. Akira's eyes lit up for a moment, then she seemed to realise

who else was in the room with them. Hotaru's eyes, for her part, seemed to

accept this with calm detachment. In fact, her expression was, if anything,

slightly resigned.

"Kalia..." Chris murmured. "I can't help but be suspicious of such a

remarkable coincidence." He didn't really sound angry, just bemused.

"Well, we parted so quickly last time," Kalia said with a giggle. "I'd

hate to be thought of as the kind of person who avoids company."

"If you're done with my sword, Angel, I would like to have it back,"

Hotaru said, turning her attention beyond Chris. Akane blinked and looked over

at the white-haired girl. She looked down at the giant blade with its wickedly

curved top, her expression grim. Then she looked over at Chris, clearly asking

for his permission. The dead man raised his only eyebrow.

"That was the sword that killed Washuu?" Chris asked. Angel nodded

slowly.

"Without it, we probably couldn't even have hurt her..." she admitted

reluctantly.

"A sword that can kill anything?" Chris mused aloud, turning back

towards Hotaru. Hotaru had changed position, keeping on hand firmly on Akira's

forearm while standing otherwise straight to look up at Chris. "Well, I suppose

I could thank you for helping me realise my full potential by returning your

god-killing sword to you, or I could just erase you from reality."

"If you stop my work, the consequences would be beyond your

comprehension," Hotaru told Chris. She didn't sound pleading, but it was obvious

she was concerned.

"Ah, still clinging to Destiny, are you?" Chris replied. He chuckled

softly. "I write my own Destiny now."

"You always have," Hotaru replied without batting an eye. "And it is

exactly that part of your nature, that mistake, which makes you so dangerous."

"Only to you and yours," Chris replied, raising his hands and holding up

his fingers as if he was going to snap them again.

"No, don't!" the man shouted, jumping between the two. It was the voice

that clicked in Akane's mind. Ryouga. The boy who had been hanging around with

Nabiki in Tokyo all those years ago. What was he doing here? "If you attack

Hotaru, she'll kill Akira!" he explained.

Chris looked down at Ryouga. For a moment something flashed across his

features. Something raw and animal, something that was half hate and half fear.

But then it was gone just as quickly and Chris smiled thinly. However, Angel had

obviously noticed it and looked worried. "Akira, would you be willing to die to

defeat this evil?" Chris asked.

"I..." Akira stared up at him. Her expression was unreadable. It looked

very much like the mask Ukyou used to use all the time. "No." She shook her

head. "No, I'd really rather live."

"Well, that isn't very noble of you," Chris replied in bemusement.

"Ah c'mon, boss," Kalia said, floating down next to his shoulder. "Let

the baby have her bottle. If she wants to believe helping save you was her

master plan, let her." She grinned at Hotaru. "I mean, you beat her before you

were capital-G God, she's no threat to you!"

"A good point," Chris acknowledged. "But I'm not stupid, Kalia. Threat

or no, I'm here now and I can see no good reason not to finish her off."

"Can't you just kill her later when she's not going to do anything to

Akira?" Angel jumped in. Akira looked at her, her face still expressionless.

"Besides, you can just shield Akira from the Messiah's Silence stuff, right? I

mean, you're God."

Chris waved Angel's concerns aside with one hand. "Oblivion is slightly

volatile stuff - or non-stuff as the case may be. I wouldn't make any

guarantees."

"But isn't Kalia made out of Oblivion?" Angel asked. "When I had my void

chakra enhanced, I could sense the void inside her..."

Chris shrugged. "More accurately," he responded, "she is not so much

made of Oblivion, but is a conduit to it. If you want to think of it another

way, I stretched a skin over the mouth of the void and then made that skin walk

and talk." He smiled. "It's been very useful for discarding my Paradox, but that

doesn't mean it was easy. In truth, neither Washuu nor myself are quite certain

how I did it. More of my will to do so, I suppose.

"But you're right," he continued, tilting his head to the side and

drumming his fingers against his cheek. "I could probably stop her from killing

Akira-"

"Don't," Akane found herself saying. She stepped in front of him and

Chris looked down at her. He was just a few centimeters taller, but seemed to be

much more. "It's not worth risking."

"Akane..." Chris's voice was intent now. "Did you want to ask me

something?"

"Akira is my friend, Chris," Akane said softly. She felt her insides

twisting. She had to close her eyes and force the words out. They almost

physically hurt. But they needed to be said. "If you leave her alone, leave

Hotaru alone... I'll come with you."

"Come with me?" Chris pressed. She opened up her eyes. He was staring

directly into her eyes. She wanted to look away, but forced herself to stare at

the horrible deadlights of his eyes.

"You once told me you'd show me the perfect possible future," Akane

said, keeping her voice level. "I want to be a part of that future."

The smile that bloomed across his face was perhaps the first truly alive

expression she had ever seen him have. It was the smile of a child being praised

by their parent, of a student being complimented by a teacher, of the faithful

being blessed by their priest. There was a joy, a fulfillment in that smile that

made Akane believe that under all his god-like powers and pretensions there was

a human being.

Then the smile vanished and Chris straightened up, stepping away from

her. "It appears the decision is made, then. And we have company approaching."

He turned to look at the pile of black crystalline rubble that covered half the

room. "I wonder if they'll be as reasonable as you, Akane?" he mused.

He turned and walked out of the room. The pile of rubble from the

collapsed ceiling had blocked the exit, but as Chris walked towards it, it

vanished, not even melting or moving, but simply vanishing as if it had never

been. Angel and Kalia trailed in his wake. Akane was struck, for a moment, at

the sight of both white-haired, golden-skinned girls following him. Kalia

floated through the air on her stomach, a leg kicking idly, smiling to herself

at some private joke. Angel had paused only a moment before turning as well,

throwing the huge sword to the ground as if she were glad to be rid of it. Her

face was now set in hard lines, ready to fight and die to protect Chris. Light

played over her tattoos, the mark Chris had left on her.

Akane looked back, and Akira caught her eye. The other woman didn't say

anything, but her face looked... puzzled. Maybe even reproachful. Akane turned

away abruptly, feeling her face burn. It wasn't that Akane had forgiven Chris.

It wasn't that she'd wanted to say what she'd said. But she knew, knew somewhere

so deep within her it went beyond instinct, that she couldn't let Chris attack

Hotaru. She'd had to do something. And to give him what he wanted, bribe him

with her allegiance, was the only thing she could think to do. What had Akira

wanted from her? She couldn't fight Chris.

She was only human.

She emerged from the remains of the room just as Chris was stepping onto

the broken bridge. He walked across the gap without even acknowledging its

existence, his feet walking across the air as if it were solid ground. Kalia

floated after him, leaving Akane and Angel to jump across. Angel ran forward to

take a place in front of him, which made Chris smile again. His expression did

not so much as twitch as two running figures rounded a bend in the icy tunnel

and skidded to a halt.

The first of them's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed again as her

face twisted in hatred. "Chris!" she snarled.

"Sailor Pluto," he replied with a nod.

Rei stared at her fellow Senshi, then at Chris' new body. Her mouth

opened, but whatever she was going to say was lost as Sailor Pluto pointed her

staff at Chris.

Akane raised her hand, trying to think of something, anything, to ward

off the impending conflict. Angel stepped forward, the tattoo on her face

flaring to life.

"DARK DOME ENC-"

None of them finished.

Sailor Pluto's staff fell to the ground with an empty clatter.

The rest of her body...

It had...

Akane fell to her knees. Her gorge rose. She vaguely heard Rei cry out

in shock and horror, and even Angel staggered back.

Sailor Pluto had simply exploded. Her body had erupted from within in

the blink of an eye. Akane didn't want to look, but her eyes moved of their own

accord. Here there was an arm, there part of a calf, there some unidentifiable

viscera. The tunnel had been abruptly sprayed red. Except for Chris. Not so much

as a single drop of blood had touched his white clothing or pale skin.

"That was silly," he commented calmly. "That trick didn't even work on

Ukyou."

"Chris..." Akane gasped, still trying to keep her stomach down. She'd

seen death before, even dealt it herself, but the suddenness of this had taken

her off-guard. Her head was spinning.

"Relax," he said, not even turning. "She's not dead." Akane stared. So

did Rei and Angel. Chris lowered his head to glance at the carnage that had

painted the tunnel, then closed his eyes with a smile. "Remember, Akane, I don't

kill people."

"You're insane!" cried Rei. But though her face and voice shook with

anger and sorrow, even she was too shocked to move yet.

Chris affixed her with a contemptuous glance. "Wrong. Oh, certainly she

should be dead. But I haven't let her. You see, Rei, when it comes right down to

it, nobody dies unless I let them. She'll be just fine when I put her back

together. For the moment, however, we'll be having no further interruptions."

"Monster!" Rei cried. "Whatever you do to me, Sailor Moon will-" she cut

off. Not with a gasp, or even dying off slowly, but sound simply stopped

emanating from her lips. Her eyes bulged, but she made no offensive movement.

Akane couldn't tell whether that was fear, or simply Chris stopping her.

"Oh yes," Chris smiled, "Sailor Moon. That's actually why I came to see

you, Rei. You see, she's gotten herself into a spot of trouble. And you see,

with her puppetmaster Washuu dead..." He paused. "Oh, yes, I suppose you would

want to know about that, wouldn't you? And Yosho, too... you just aren't very

lucky with your loved ones, Rei. However, in this case, you'll have to put the

blame on Sailor Saturn, I suppose. She provided the murder weapon."

Rei's face had drained of colour. Tears glittered in the corners of her

eyes, but she still made no sound. Chris continued calmly. "Unfortunately, I

doubt my condolences mean much to you. Therefore, I should inform you that

without her benefactor, Sailor Moon was... well, let's just say 'taken advantage

of'. And all this under the auspices of a man with a little too much ambition

for his own good, I think we can all agree. But why should I bother explaining

it?" he smiled. "I think I'll just let you see it."

He gave her a single long look, and Akane felt it. She wasn't even sure

what it was at first. It felt like a terrible pressure, like a giant wave

emanating from Chris, pressing down on everyone. Its focus was on Rei, who

staggered. Angel didn't even seem to notice; she was still watching Rei closely

to see if she would attack. And Kalia... when it touched Kalia, the pressure

suddenly abated, the force pouring into her and vanishing like water down a

drain. Kalia looked over at Akane knowingly, and raised a finger to her lips,

smiling.

"There," Chris said after a moment. "That should get you up to date.

Now, you're no friend of mine, but we have a certain common interest here. I'm

not worried about Akio, of course, but I can't help but take it a tad personally

that he never warned me of the plot Washuu was hatching. So I want you to go

join your fellow Sailor Senshi at Ohtori and stop him. After all, there's a

certain poetic justice in that. Mind you hurry and prepare yourselves, as I

imagine he'll be arriving soon."

He snapped his fingers, and Rei vanished. No flash of light, no effect

whatever; she simply was not there. But again, Akane felt that pressure. And

again, it swirled into Kalia, who licked her lips.

"Well, that's that," Chris noted. "Now for the matter of Sailor Pluto.

It's not really her fault she's convinced herself I must be her enemy, but it is

inconvenient. So, too, is the fact that once word of this gets around, Tethys

might just get it into her head to make me her sworn enemy instead of Chaos.

Certainly she'll try to tell everyone she can about me, clever little youma that

she is." He grinned suddenly. "In hindsight, the attack we made was something of

a mistake. But, Akane, the wonderful thing about commanding the Third Circle is

that your mistakes are only temporary."

Chris hadn't lowered his hand from when he'd sent Rei away. One more

time, he snapped his fingers. And as the sound echoed across the chamber, the

world seemed to resonate with that tiny sound, echoing it louder and louder and

clearer and clearer until it was a single perfect tone. Akane felt the pressure

again, far stronger than before, so strong it nearly hit her like a blow. Then

the world fixed itself.

At some point the day before this tunnel had been damaged, either by

combat or the monstrous plants or simply an aftereffect of nearby destruction.

Now the haphazard spill of broken crystal floated back upwards, fusing together

and rearranging itself until it perfectly filled the gouges in the ceiling and

walls that it had been knocked out of. Beyond where Rei and Sailor Pluto had

been, Akane could see the rest of Tethys' city, still made of the same shining

silver crystal.

Black crept across the tunnel as the crystal seemed to cloud from

within. The darkness crept on past the entranceway, moving faster and faster and

spreading up the side of Tethys' kingdom.When it reached shattered buildings and

bridges, pieces of inky shadow seemed to condense out of the air and freeze

quickly into ice which shifted together seamlessly to reforge the structure.

Where it went, ruins became buildings, pits became roads and rubble became walls

and ceiling and windows once again. In the space of two heartbeats the creeping

darkness had passed beyond Akane's line of sight, but she was certain it would

cross the rest of the city. That it would fix it all.

All of them were silent for a long moment. Finally, Angel turned back to

Chris and spoke. Her voice was deferent, hesitant. She looked like she wanted to

bow. "We should probably leave, too. Tethys will have noticed..."

Chris smiled indulgently. "Noticed? It's difficult to notice something

that never happened." He walked past Angel, looking over the dark, restored city

with obvious pride. Akane suddenly noticed that people were walking the streets.

None looked up at them. "That attack never happened, Angel. Nobody who lives

here, including the Dark Queen, remember it. There was no destruction. There was

nobody that died. Everything is just as it was. Well, save for Ukyou and her

friends," he amended. "I can't alter Ukyou's memories, and she'd no doubt just

come running after me if I did it to her companions. So I'll just have to rely

on them having some good sense instead, or at least being suitably distracted by

Hotaru's antics."

Akane didn't want to believe him. She didn't want to think Chris had

just fixed all the problems. Just like she hadn't wanted to believe Sailor Moon

could have just fixed what Akane had done. But he had. Just like she had. She

knew it, and she couldn't deny it.

"Is that what you're here for?" she said softly to herself. "To fix all

our mistakes?"

"That's right," a voice whispered into her ear. "Just think of us as the

magic eraser!"

Akane spun, but Kalia wasn't any nearer to her than before. She was

looking at Akane, though. Akane flinched away from meeting her gaze, and ended

up looking back at Chris.

He was tapping his cheek again, looking down at the gore that still

covered the tunnel. "Which just leaves you, doesn't it? Well, you were running

down here to deal with Hotaru. So go right ahead and do that."

And then she was. Again, there was no burst of light, no overt display

of force. Just that strange pressure, that feeling of wrongness, and then it was

gone, drained into Kalia, and Sailor Pluto ran past them, her eyes blank and

unseeing, the staff in her hand.

"And now it's time to go home," Chris said. A door appeared before him,

swinging open to a room filled with brilliant sunlight. He looked over his

shoulder. "Coming, Akane?"

OoOoO

Ukyou ran her fingers across the crystal floor. She brought the tips up

to her nose. She took a sniff, then rose out of her crouch and looked down one

of the tunnels, then the other.

"Does that actually do any good?" Tethys asked, crossing her arms.

"I'll have you know I have a great mastery over my void chakra, which

enhances perception abilities, including both tactile and olfactory

sensitivity," Ukyou explained.

"In other words, no."

Ukyou sighed. "Yeah. But I always see people doing it in the comics, so

I thought I'd try it myself." She shrugged. "I might have gotten lucky."

Tethys walked past her, choosing one of the tunnels at random. Ukyou was

forced to back away while the Dark Queen passed, as Tethys made it clear she

either didn't notice that she was standing in the way or didn't care. Ukyou

frowned but stuck her hands into the pockets of her coat and followed.

Tethys got to the end of the corridor. It didn't end in a room, or

another t-junction, or even a wall. Instead the end of the corridor became a

jagged ruin. The floor tapered off into a series of ragged tears and holes. The

ceiling and walls had vanished entirely, scattered pieces of shattered crystal

leaning here and there as the only indication of what had once been here.

The view was a good one of one of the more destroyed portions of the

city. Two days ago it had been a a commercial sector. People went here to engage

in the niceties of business. Tracking shipments of food and medicine,

negotiating trade deals with foreign powers, monitoring the economy and

reporting on it. Two days ago, it had been a place where people could live

normal lives.

Today it was a crater. A great wide hemisphere had been carved into the

top of the city. Tethys had shaped this entire city out of the ice with the

force of her own will, shaped it with magical forces raw and pure. Every curve

and sweep had been infused with her personality. The people who had lived and

worked here had been HER people. This place had been HERS.

"I'm sick of this!" Tethys snapped, turning quickly to face Ukyou. The

young woman was looking at her levelly, her black lotus eyes unreadable. "This

is a waste of time, Ukyou." She gestured across the ruins: the tunnels that had

been burrowed into the city by Link's toxic jungle gaped like open wounds. "We

should be fixing this."

"Do what you like," Ukyou replied. "I never asked you to come along with

me."

Ukyou walked over to the edge and scanned around. Her hands were still

in her pocket as she leaned out slightly. Tethys crossed her arms and looked at

the back of the woman's head.

"You can't find Hotaru because she doesn't want you to find her." Tethys

took a step closer. "I'm not certain how she did it either, but she managed to

completely vanish. Maybe she isn't even alive, Ukyou."

"She's alive." The conviction in Ukyou's voice was compelling, but

Tethys refused to be compelled.

"How do you know?"

"How do I know anything?" Ukyou stepped back and looked at her. "How do

I know that up is up and cold is cold and light is light? I just DO." She turned

away and started back down the corridor. "There's still more of this place to

explore. Hotaru hasn't found what she's looking for yet."

"You could answer the question quickly," Tethys told her. Ukyou glanced

over her shoulder. "The miracle power." Tethys smiled, a grim little smile. "You

said it yourself. It makes you stronger. Use it on your void chakra, and you

should be able to figure out where the girl is hiding."

"You know I can't do that," Ukyou said, her voice cold.

"Oh, why not?" Tethys answered casually. She started past Ukyou. Ukyou

refused to answer, she just fell into step behind Tethys. "Concerned about

Akira, are you? I don't see why. She's just a tool."

"Don't go there, Tethys," Ukyou warned.

Tethys smirked. "Don't get me wrong. She is very... useful. Her

earnestness, her dedication. They make her very valuable. Properly channelled

and controlled, her talent can make her into an excellent weapon."

Ukyou pushed past Tethys, forcing the Dark Queen to stagger for her

balance. The black-haired woman was not quite running, but she was rushing along

the corridor. Tethys crossed her arms again and floated forward, easily matching

pace.

"My mistake was pushing Akira before she was ready, before she was fully

committed to me," Tethys explained. "It was amusing, to toy with her affections.

To make the woman who loved you love me. It entertained me, but I let my hatred

of you taint my motives and pushed her too far, too fast. So I lost her."

"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish here, aside from pissing me

off?" Ukyou asked through gritted teeth.

"You're too busy focusing on the small things, Ukyou," Tethys insisted.

"This is bigger than just you and Hotaru and whatever personal issues you have."

She stretched her hands out. "You have a gift, Ukyou. A gift that could change

the very nature of the world. Think what you could accomplish if you learned to

use that power. Learned how to truly use it. Not just this half-blind fumbling

you've been forced to do when your life is in danger."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Tethys." Ukyou refused to

look at her. "The Third Circle doesn't solve problems. It's... terrible."

"No, it's POWER!" Tethys snarled. Why couldn't Ukyou see? "Power is just

power, Ukyou. All that matters is who gets to use it. The Third Circle can save

the world, or destroy it, but you are the one who gets to make that choice. You

HAVE to learn how to use it!"

"I can't!" Ukyou spun on her. Her face was twisted in an expression of

sorrow. Tears glittered in her eyes. "All it does is hurt people! If I use it,

I'll hurt Akira!"

"Then do it," Tethys hissed. "Don't pretend you care enough about her

that you won't."

Ukyou clenched her fists. "Don't ever say that again."

"What? Imply that you don't care about Akira?" Tethys smiled. She needed

the girl angry. It was what had always unlocked her power before. It was what

she needed to forget her human concerns. What she needed to ascend. Only then

would she be useful for Tethys' purposes. "I'm just pointing out the truth,

Ukyou. Akira is a weapon, a tool for you to exploit and abuse. I used her just

that way, and now so will you. Because at your heart all you care about is

your-"

Ukyou's fist crashed into Tethys face, and sunk in up to her wrist.

Tethys floated upward, shifting and shaping her body, her flesh rippling like

deep blue water. Then she was holding Ukyou's wrist with both hands, tucking it

under her chin.

"Temper, Ukyou." Tethys purred. "I don't see why you're so angry. You

can't honestly expect me to believe you didn't notice. Suddenly your power works

without any drawbacks? Suddenly this thing, this power you feared so much that

you would rather die at my hands than unleash; this power was suddenly nothing

but beneficial? Didn't you notice how she bled, Ukyou? Didn't you even bother to

ask where she had gotten so beaten up? It never occurred to you to care?"

Ukyou looked Tethys in the eyes, and the anger in her face drained away,

to be replaced by astonishment. "You care."

Tethys frowned. That wasn't the answer she'd expected. "What are you

talking about?"

Ukyou pulled her hand free. "You really care about her, don't you?"

Ukyou shook her hand a bit, scattering drops of water off it. "That's why you're

so angry, why you're trying to provoke me."

"You're barking at shadows," Tethys informed the woman, but a little too

quickly. Her words struck dangerously close to the truth.

"No." Ukyou stepped forward, closer to Tethys. "You're more human than

you want to admit, aren't you? What was it? Combining with Hayato the way you

did? Did that finally give you a conscience? Did that give you the ability to

really care about someone other than yourself?"

"Hayato and I are one, Ukyou," Tethys informed her, drifting back. "But

we have both lost and gained much in so doing. We absorbed the power of

Metallia: all her knowledge and spirit resides inside me. You really think

Hayato's pitiful human feelings have any effect on that?"

"You want to believe that," Ukyou said, tapping her chin. "You want very

badly to not have feelings, to not be attached to anything. What I can't figure

out is: why?"

"We should get back to the search..." Tethys said, floating around her.

"You know, Tethys, whatever your problem is, I couldn't care less.

Frankly, as long as you keep it to yourself, I won't even think about it. But

stop letting your issues mess with me and mine. We all have problems, and you

don't see me taking mine out on you." Ukyou followed her. "This has nothing to

do with me."

"Nothing!?" Tethys turned on her in a sudden rage. "You're the start of

all this! The very start of it! You set me on this path!" She curled her fist.

"You destroyed my life, ripped apart everything I ever cared about with casual

disregard. You humiliated me. Defeated me. Then, when I went after you for

revenge, you didn't even have the courtesy to KILL me. You took everything I had

away, Ukyou! My life revolved around you, and you dismissed me!"

"Yeah, I guess I did." Ukyou frowned slightly. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Tethys snarled. "Is that all you have to say?"

"What else can I say, Tethys?" Ukyou looked down at the floor. "I

destroyed Hayato's life, I admit to that. But the past is the past. Nothing I

say is going to make it better. I just have to try not to let myself go to that

place again."

"You're such a pretentious bitch, Ukyou," Tethys said with a sneer. "You

think you know the way the world works. But some of us had to forge our own

destiny. Some of us know what it's like to struggle not just to survive, but to

find MEANING in our lives. To find a reason to fight."

"What if there is no meaning, Tethys?" Ukyou asked softly. "What if this

is as good as it gets? What if this is all we have? No reward. No light at the

end of the tunnel. No heaven. No hell. No justice. No tragedy. What if all there

is, is life?"

"What does that even mean?" Tethys said, repressing the desire to snort.

It wasn't very dignified.

"Nothing, everything. I don't have the answer you're looking for,

Tethys," Ukyou informed her. "I'm not a messiah. I never asked you to define

your life around me. I'm not going to condone whatever you're doing, but I'm not

going to condemn it right now either. There is a girl I want to save, and

frankly she means more to me than all your issues and the issues of everyone in

the entire world, the entire universe.

"So either shut up, or-" Ukyou cut off, her eyes widening.

"What is it?" Then Tethys felt it too.

It was the power in this place, the aura of Sailor Moon. Her residue had

so permeated every atom of Tethys' city that the Dark Queen had barely noticed

it. It was like a vague feeling of comfort, a warmth that tickled at the bottom

of your heart and made you feel just slightly better. But now...

It had been snuffed out. All of it at once.

"Was it...?"

"No, not Hotaru," Ukyou said. She turned, looking southward. "Something

else. Something powerful..." She closed her eyes. "My god... it's..."

"Damn it, Ukyou, tell me!" Tethys snarled and grabbed her. "What's going

on?"

"She's gone..." Ukyou whispered, either unaware of Tethys' grip or

uncaring. "I could feel her, like a presence at the edge of my vision, but now

she's gone and there is something... somebody in her place." She looked up at

Tethys her eyes wide, in fear. "Something terrible has happened."

Tethys released her. So, it was finally happening. She looked down at

Ukyou. The girl wasn't ready. It was becoming clear to Tethys that she might

never be ready. The Dark Queen closed her eyes.

So, what she had feared then. No easy answer. No simple solution. Sailor

Moon would not solve the world's problems, and neither would Ukyou. She lacked

the resolve. So it was up to Tethys.

When she opened her eyes the city was as normal. They stood in a hallway

of black ice. Citizens moved around them, giving their queen and her guest a

wide berth but otherwise moving about their daily business. For a moment Tethys

found this odd. Hadn't this place been destroyed?

But the more she thought about it, the harder that became to believe.

They had captured Link outside the city while she was... was what? It didn't

matter. Tethys shook her head. Ukyou was staring at her, staring at the walls

and ceiling and the people passing around her.

Hotaru. That was it. Link had been trying to attack Hotaru. But Sailor

Moon had showed up and ended the fight, driving off Hotaru before leaving to

do... something. Tethys raised a hand and clutched her forehead. Why were she

and Ukyou out here, talking?

"Tethys," Ukyou grabbed her, shaking her. "You have to do something!

Chris... he..."

"Chris?" Tethys frowned. "Who are you talking about?"

Ukyou's expression was very odd. For a moment, she looked stunned. Then

her expression slowly grew frightened, before fading away to sadness. "I see. So

that's what he intends."

"Who are you talking about?" Tethys frowned. "Is it the person who

defeated Sailor Moon?" She looked southward. "We need to respond to that,

quickly."

"Ukyou!"

They both turned to see Ranma running towards them. He was moving much

more fluidly than Tethys expected him to, which was odd. Ranma was always

graceful. Ukyou walked up to him. "Ranma? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine, Ucchan." He waved his arm around. "Everything's working

fine now. But I can't figure out why. And the city, all the damage..."

"Indeed," Ukyou nodded. "We'll talk about it later. Is there

something...?"

"Oh, right..." Ranma looked at Tethys. Tethys frowned.

"You two deal with your personal problems." Tethys waved them aside.

Ukyou was not going to be part of her solution, it seemed. So she would have to

do this the slow, painful, bloody way. "I'm going to find out what just happened

to the world." She wove a simple spell and stepped into one of her walls,

teleporting across the city in an instant.

OoOoO

Cologne could only stare helplessly as the last two members of the Elite

Five rushed forward to attack. From the blank-eyed expression on Ikazuchi's

face, she guessed that Gyro had used his mental powers to compel them. Which

meant talking was useless. Which left precious little else she could do. The two

monsters rushed towards the Quartet, who seemed to be shell-shocked from Sailor

Moon's defeat.

"Girls, run away!" Cologne shouted. The Quartet looked at her and she

cursed. There was no time, the two zoanoids were passing right in front of her.

She only had one chance. She pulled her legs up to her chest and flicked her

sandal off her right foot. "BAKUSAITENKETSU!" she cried as she thrust her foot

at the ground, touching it gently with her big toe.

She managed to channel most of the explosion away from her but was still

pelted by a painful cloud of rock chips. However the blast did strike ZX-Tole

just as he was running past her, pulling back his hand for a haymaker punch. She

didn't know why ZX-Tole had bothered to rush in for close combat instead of

pelting the girls with his deadly lasers, but she didn't care. It saved the

girl's lives for another few seconds as ZX-Tole flew across the room and crashed

into Ikazuchi.

The two of them landed in a heap after smashing into one of the columns.

"Go, Cologne!" she heard VesVes shout. She wanted to shout, to cry, to do

something. She needed to get them to leave. There was nothing she could do with

the chains holding her in place. Even her last-second desperation move would

only buy them a few moments.

She should have known. She should have guessed. She should have been

smart enough not to hope. But the idea of Frederick being cured, becoming whole

again, had made her stupid. She should have MADE the girls run. Somehow.

ZX-Tole was climbing to his feet again. He looked almost comical,

crouched on one knee with his hand serving as support. He turned his emotionless

insect face towards her. The horn on his forehead peeled back, flipping backward

to reveal the huge red lens of his deadly laser. Cologne stared into his

segmented eyes.

She saw the flash of the charge up a millisecond before he fired. She

pushed herself up and sideways, trying to twist her whole body as much as she

could. The chains rattled and stretched, suddenly jerking her backward when they

reached the limit of their extension. By some miracle she had timed it well

enough that ZX-Tole's energy beam caught her only a glancing blow. This meant it

only left a third degree burn down her entire right side and singed a good few

centimeters off her thigh. She bit down a scream as she tumbled back downward.

She moaned in pain, however, when she saw his blast hadn't so much as scratched

the column she was chained to.

Then JunJun roared. She'd never heard quite such a sound of animal rage

come out of the girl before. Her entire face twisted in anger as the petite

green-haired girl charged across the room and slammed her fist into ZX-Tole's

side. For a moment, Cologne felt a surge of chi from the girl, then ZX-Tole was

sent careening through the air. His massive beetle-like body crashed through

another column in a cloud of grey dust.

Ikazuchi spun to his feet, snapping his hand out. The organs on his arms

flared blue and his long thin lightning blade flashed into existence. JunJun was

still extended from her attack, she would have no chance of escaping. Then a

huge bear wearing a ludicrously out-of-place pointed pink hat grabbed Ikazuchi

from behind. It growled in rage and pulled on him, trying to sink its talons

into his flesh. But Ikazuchi's purple skin was made of tougher stuff. With a

deceptive looking flourish, the neo-zoanoid reversed the grip on his blade and

shoved it back and up through the animal's skull. Light grotesquely shined out

from behind the beast's eyes before it fell back, smoke escaping from its mouth.

Before he could recover, two more creatures threw themselves at him. A

huge scorpion the size of a man dropped from the ceiling, trying to impale him

with its barb while a lizard-scaled cougar with two tails bit at his hamstring.

Ikazuchi parried the incoming barb with his free hand, and leapt up over the

teeth of the bizarre predator. He landed in a crouch as the two creatures

righted themselves and came back at him. Just out of the corner of her eye

Cologne could see VesVes holding her Amazon Stone in front of her, her eyes

closed in concentration. As she watched, a portal sliced open in the air beside

her, disgorging another horror.

Red lights drew Cologne's attention. ZX-Tole had opened fire on JunJun.

She stuck her hand out before her, her orb pulsing as it transformed into a

transparent hemispherical green shield. The first two blasts skittered

harmlessly along it. The next three slammed into it, driving JunJun back two

steps. The next shot shattered the shield like glass, sending the girl flying

backward.

"JUNJUN!" Cologne shouted.

"Quiet, old hag!" CereCere said suddenly. Cologne looked up and to her

left. The pink-haired Amazoness was hanging upside down from a trapeze near her

shoulder. She was holding her orb up near the point where the chains met the

column. "This magic is very complex. I'm surprised Gyro had the brains to

develop it."

"You're..."

"Rescuing you," CereCere said with a smile. "Of course. Ah, there."

With a twist of her wrist, CereCere pushed her pink sphere into the centre of

the chains. There was a sound like a bubble popping, and then Cologne staggered

forward as her chains came free of the wall. She hissed and almost instantly

collapsed to her knees. There was no hope of her right leg carrying her weight.

ZX-Tole's attack had burned away too much muscle. She also noted with bemusement

that the chains were still attached to her wrist, just no longer attached to the

column or each other.

"Hinder me no more, beasts of the underworld!" Ikazuchi shouted. His

body suddenly exploded with light as he spun around in a quick circle. The

monsters around could only be seen briefly in silhouette before they faded away

in clouds of smoke. He landed back on his feet, breathing hard. His eyes looked

slightly more focused now.

"I don't have any more beasts!" VesVes warned. JunJun hissed as she

rolled to her feet. A blast of laser light vapourised the stone she had been

lying on. ZX-Tole was running forward, firing volleys of beams from his wrist-

mounted lens. Somehow JunJun managed to tumble and backflip away from them, but

he was too good and she was too slow.

Then PallaPalla slid out from the shadows of another column. She threw

her tiny little body at the massive zoanoid, striking him with her elbow. She

bounced off with a hollow ponging sound, shouting in surprise as she landed on

her back. ZX-Tole paused and turned to face her. He leaned down slowly and

caught her in his massive clawed hand. His fingers wrapped all the way around

her torso, making her look like some strange doll in his oversized fist.

"PallaPalla! You idiot!" JunJun shouted. She snapped her hand out,

summoning her Amazon Stone again. VesVes shouted and her stone began to glow

intensely, filling the room with scarlet light. ZX-Tole popped open the covering

on his wrist laser. At that range, at that angle, there was no way he could

miss. JunJun and VesVes stopped in place, their faces caught in looks of horror.

"Ikazuchi," ZX-Tole said. His voice sounded strained. "Gather them

together. Place them with Purgstall. I'll destroy them all with a single shot."

"ZX-Tole?" Ikazuchi suddenly sounded uncertain. CereCere looked down at

the orb in her hand uncertainly. Cologne tried to breathe, to recover more of

her chi. She needed to do something, but she was drawing a blank. There was no

way she could reach PallaPalla in time. Why wasn't Frederick awake?

"You heard me, Ikazuchi," ZX-Tole hissed out in his insectile buzz. "I

am going to kill Zoalord Purgstall and these children." He looked at the blue-

skinned zoanoid man. "You heard me. I gave you an order."

Ikazuchi reached up and clutched his head. "ZX-Tole... my head hurts..."

"It's Gyro's will. But he's not focused on us now," ZX-Tole explained,

his voice now sounding almost pained.

"This... isn't right..." Ikazuchi snarled between clenched teeth. Both

hands were on his head now. His eyes were squeezed shut. "These are children...

no danger to Chronos..." He collapsed to one knee. "My head... it hurts..."

"Mr. Ikazuchi?" PallaPalla said, sounding oddly calm. Ikazuchi opened

his eyes and looked up at her. "It's going to be okay. You're not a bad person,

and no one can make you a bad person. It's always our choice. Always."

For a moment, Cologne could have sworn she saw a flicker of something on

the Amazoness girl's forehead, but it was gone so quickly she dismissed it as a

pain-induced fever dream. But Ikazuchi must have seen something on her face,

because his eyes cleared and the pained expression on his face melted away. He

frowned and rose up to his full height, summoning a blade of light.

"No..." Ikazuchi looked ZX-Tole in the eyes. "I will not do this thing.

I am Ikazuchi, I am Tatewaki Kunou, last of the Kunou family. I stand for

justice and I will not submit to the wiles of evil."

ZX-Tole dropped PallaPalla and turned to face Ikazuchi. "Are you

betraying Chronos?"

"No. I believe in Chronos. But Gyro is not Chronos, and I will not stand

for his evil. I will not let him butcher these children."

"I have no choice but to fight you, then," ZX-Tole said, raising his

hand-cannons.

"So be it!"

The two rushed at each other and suddenly CereCere grabbed Cologne up,

and began running for the exit.

"Amazoness Quartet! We are out of here!" VesVes yelled. JunJun paused

only long enough to grab Frederick's unconscious body before she and PallaPalla

followed.

OoOoO

Victoria Seras had never been popular. She was used to being alone. At

the tender age of ten, she had watched as her parents were butchered in front of

her. She had watched her mother's corpse violated. She had been tormented and

left for dead. Ever since then, she had been alone.

The children in the orphanage shunned her, in the way children always do

someone strange and different. Her parent's death had animated the young girl in

a way little else could have. She had made it her mission to become a police

officer, like her father before her. She wanted to protect people, to fight

against injustice like the ones she had experienced. This strange, oddly adult,

intensity had pushed away any friends she might have made.

When she had finally managed to work her way into the special tactics

division, she had still been alone. The only woman in an army of men. She had

been forced to be twice as tough, twice as dedicated as any of them just to

survive. Then had come the day everything had changed for her.

Being turned into a vampire had been a shock at the time, but in

retrospect it was just more of the same. Now she was separated from humanity by

an even more impassable gulf than before. Those few people she might have formed

attachments to had died on her, one by one. First Alucard had been placed in

his death-coma, then Walter had been killed... The resistance she had been a

part of after the invasion had been annihilated. B. B. Hood had been killed,

Yomiko had died and on and on the list went. Even Lady Hellsing had been

butchered in the end.

Which had left her alone.

Alone, in a world without purpose. For a few years she lived a pathetic

existence. No, living was too strong a word. She survived. She survived by

scrambling from shelter to shelter, avoiding the harsh sun. She survived by

mercilessly repressing her hunger, the awful consuming need for blood that all

vampires shared. She survived by avoiding humans. She survived alone.

By the end of the second year, she had been almost a beast. There was no

way she could control the hunger for much longer. Her aimless wanderings had

begun to take her closer and closer to human settlements. The thin blood of pigs

and other beasts had turned to ashes in her mouth. Every night from sunset to

sunrise was a constant battle with herself. Every time the sun dipped below the

horizon she could feel a little more of her humanity fraying away.

One day, she had decided that there was no hope. So she walked out of

the cave she was using for shelter and found a nice cliff, overlooking a valley

to the east. With rope and chain she bound herself in place. Her vaunted vampire

strength had grown so atrophied from starvation that even her haphazard bindings

could prevent her escape. So she had sat and waited, waited to see her last

sunrise. God might consider suicide a sin, but if she was damned to hell anyway

it would be without dragging anyone else down with her.

And, just as the sun had begun to peak over the horizon, just as the

skin on her face had begun to itch, it had started to rain. The sudden rainstorm

was so swift, so sudden that at first Seras couldn't believe it. Her head had

tilted back, her eyes widening. The rain had been cool and dark, running down

her skin in rivers. And, as she sat there chained to a cliffside, she had begun

to laugh. She remembered the next few minutes very clearly. She remembered

throwing back her head and laughing for a long, long time.

"And to what beast from hell do I owe this dark miracle?" she remembered

screaming.

"Please. I may be from hell, but I think 'beast' is unflattering."

The ropes and chains and stretched and groaned as Seras spun to face her

new companion. Her first meeting with the Dark Queen had been suitably

impressive. The woman had been standing, dark and statuesque, garbed in a

flowing robe of sapphire silk that rippled and flowed around her like the

beating of surf upon the shore. At first Seras had thought the Dark Queen wasn't

there, because it appeared that the rain was falling right through her. She had

been right and wrong: the rain travelled through the woman without interruption,

but she was very much there.

"What are you?" Seras had asked. Her voice was parched and dry.

"I am Tethys, queen of the Dark Kingdom," the woman's blue-tinted face

had smiled. "And before you ask, I have come for you, Victoria Seras."

"I'm not interested, I just want to die in peace..." Seras had turned

her face away, but the woman frowned and grabbed her chin, forcing her to turn

back. Her strength was exceptional, her grip crushing like the deepest ocean

trench.

"Peace? You think there is peace in death?" The woman snorted. "No.

Don't try to make this sound noble and right. You are killing yourself not

because you think it will make the world a better place, but because you are

afraid."

Seras had felt her hackles rise. "So what if I am? I don't want to live

in fear anymore. Do you have any idea what it's like being afraid of yourself!?"

Tethys took a long moment answering. She had closed her eyes,

considering ther words carefully. Seras bared her fangs. "Yes. I know perfectly

well."

Seras stared. There could be no doubting the sincerity in Tethys' voice.

She had continued, "I am no different than you, Seras. I too, am a victim. My

soul was shredded so long ago that I can no longer even remember what I once

was. My humanity was stolen from me. I was created as a weapon. To fight. To

kill. To struggle and feed my master's insane desire for war and conflict. But I

have risen beyond that.

"I have decided that there is a better fate than death, and that fate is

victory. I wish to defeat the thing that made me, the thing that made things

like you, the thing that even now gluts itself on the death of stars. Make no

mistake, Seras, it laughs at you. Your pitiful death here means nothing to it,

and it knows that the wars will go on. It knows that war and pain and suffering

will continue forever and that your empty, meaningless little death will not

amount to anything. Just another victim, just another tragedy in the endless

litany.

"You have a choice, Seras. You can die here and let it win, or you can

join me and together we will defeat it. Make no mistake: I am no hero, no

champion of justice. I will go to any means to accomplish my goals. I will use

you as I see fit, and destroy you if that is my need. But I will make you

MATTER! I will accomplish with your help what I might not accomplish otherwise.

And in so doing you will strike a blow at this unfair and unjust universe.

"Together, you and I will destroy Chaos itself!"

Seras had stared at this blue-skinned devil for a long time. Finally her

body had slumped, her face falling. "Why me?"

"Because of who you are, or what you are."

"Alucard... you're after him?"

"Yes, and no." The woman snorted. "If all I wanted was a desiccated old

corpse, I would rip his body from that cave you buried him in and blast you to

shreds if you interfered." She knelt, tilting Seras' head up with a finger on

her chin. "I want you, Seras. His blood flows in your veins. You are the last

true vampire. The final member of your tribe. Only you have the powers, the

power of blood that is yours by right. All I ask is that you take it."

"I won't!" Seras had screamed. "I won't feed off humans, ever!"

"Then feed off me," Tethys had said, tilting her head to the side. "In

my body flows the blood of gods. Feed on that, Seras, and become the thing you

are supposed to be."

Perhaps it was weakness. Perhaps a part of her wanted it. Perhaps there

had been the invisible hand of God. But Seras had taken her up on her offer. She

had drunk long and deep from the Dark Queen, and in so doing she had understood.

Seras wasn't certain if Tethys had ever realised the level of connection

between a vampire and its prey. How the act of feeding could drain away the very

soul, the will and memory and talents of the victim, and turn them to the

vampire's will. Without killing Tethys, there was no way Seras could gain her

full power. But every time she fed, Seras gained a small insight into Tethys'

soul.

Perhaps more than anyone else in the universe, perhaps even better than

the Dark Queen herself, Victoria Seras understood Tethys. She knew of the

youma's history with Ukyou. She knew of her merging with Hayato. She knew about

the Dark Queen's struggle to find a purpose for herself. She knew about her

defiance against her chosen fate and how, in the end, Tethys was convinced it

would all be pointless.

She knew the woman's plan. It was simple in its brutal efficiency.

First, Tethys would conquer the entire universe. She was immortal, so this would

take as long as it took. She would conquer through diplomacy where she could,

with inspiration where she could not, and with warfare if that was the only

option. But one day she would rule.

So that, once the universe was hers, she could weed all violence from

it. Ruthlessly, efficiently, she would breed out the capacity for hatred and war

from all the beings of the universe. In so doing, she would starve Chaos,

deprive it of food until it was nothing more than a pale shadow of what it had

once been. Then, when it was almost over, Tethys would destroy the only thing in

the universe capable of starting the vicious cycle again; herself.

It was insane. It was ridiculous. And Tethys believed in it with all her

heart. So, Seras had taken up her banner. Because everyone needed something to

believe in, some meaning to which they could dedicate themselves. Everyone

wanted to matter, and if Seras had to do so by tilting at windmills... well, at

least Tethys' end goals sounded better than those of the Major or Arkanphel.

So it was that Seras had accepted her banishment to the darkness beneath

the ice without complaint. Except for the occasional visit from Tethys to

provide her with more of her semi-divine blood, Seras was left alone. But she

was used to being alone, after all. She knew someday that Tethys would need her,

and the body she guarded. How, not even Tethys knew, but the two of them had

formed a bond that didn't require such definite answers.

For five years, Seras had been content to wait. Then, the world had

nearly came to an end. Seras had drunk deep from her master and she had gained a

certain sensitivity. Most vampires had an affinity for blood, but Seras had

begun to evolve that power to a frightening level. She could sense the flow of

blood in all the beings above her. She could feel it pump and flow in the hearts

of man and youma. If she focused, she could follow the movements of thousands of

people at once.

Then, just a few hours ago, she had felt death and pain. The sanctuary

of Tethys' kingdom had shattered in an instant, and thousands had died. Worse,

Seras could feel the Dark Queen's own pain. It had taken all of Seras' willpower

not to burst free and to hell with Tethys' orders. But the battle had ended, and

the majority of the city had survived.

Except the idea would not leave her alone. Tethys had not returned to

consult her. She hadn't so much as sent a note to explain what had happened.

Seras was going half-mad with worry. She paced back and forth, occasionally

glancing at Alucard's dried-out corpse as if it would offer some insight. The

waiting was wearing at her. Like those dark times five years ago, she could feel

her nerves fraying apart.

But she hadn't done anything. Until the explosion of power. Seras had

grown quite familiar with Alucard's wound. The one that contained the Paradox

power. The one no one else could see. But she could see what was in the wound.

She could see the way that it ate at reality, how the sick impossibility of it

churned in its non-space. It spread like a sickness across all the lands. It was

connected to every vampire, everywhere. But only Seras could feel it, because

Alucard's blood flowed in her veins.

So it was that when she had felt that same Paradox power sweeping over

the city, she had not hesitated. All thought of Tethys' orders flew from her

mind. The massive unreality of it made Seras feel sick. If that was directed

against Tethys, she would have no defence. Maybe with Seras there to warn her,

to help her, the Dark Queen and her vision would survive.

Tethys had only created one way out of this place. It was encased in

solid ice, warded so that even Tethys could only enter it at one specific point.

Tethys thought that the cage she had put Seras in was inescapable and

impenetrable. She would have been right, but she had never counted on exactly

how MUCH of herself Seras had consumed over the years.

With a hiss Seras bit open her own finger. When she reached the end of

the short hallway, she placed her blood against the wall and evoked her power.

The black crystal turned red, spreading up and into the city proper. It would

open a path for her. Nothing as fine as Tethys could do, but a crude portal that

would simply teleport her up to the trophy room instantly. Of course, it would

be two-way, but Seras didn't foresee anything being able to take advantage of

the fraction of a second the portal would remain open-

A body smashed into her with enough force that the two were sent

hurtling down the corridor. They smashed into the wall, sending a great crack

along it. The body on her gasped and Seras realised it was a woman. A very

powerful woman, from the smell of chi thick in her blood. Seras pushed her off,

cursing herself for a fool. She should have sensed someone there, but something

had blocked her powers.

A whiff of the woman's scent wafted up Seras' nose and she knew her.

Akira. The two had never met, but Seras knew Akira. She knew her very well. A

surge of hatred emerged in her. Hatred at what Akira had done to Tethys. How

this girl had almost destroyed everything Tethys stood for. And... there was

jealousy, too.

Then a tiny figure stepped through the red ice. It was a short, pale

girl with blood running down her face. Seras recognised her instantly. If her

heart had been beating, it might have stopped.

"Sister," Hotaru smiled.

"You... how did you..."

A huge pale-metal blade emerged from the portal, hovering over the

girl's shoulder. "I have come for him. Stand aside and die."

"Don't you mean, 'or die'?" the woman who had collided with Seras said.

She kicked to her feet. There was a smirk on her face. "You made a mistake,

Hotaru."

"No. I did not."

"I'm not talking about that. You released me. Now there's nothing

stopping me from calling Ukyou!" The woman clenched her fists and suddenly her

aura flared. It was thick and blue, full of liquid energy. Seras felt her fangs

itching from the presence of such a strong power.

Hotaru looked at Seras. "Will you tell her, or must I?"

Akira frowned.

"This place... it is sealed, warded from the rest of the world," Seras

explained. "Nothing comes in, nothing gets out."

"Not even your aura," Hotaru explained. She reached up and grabbed the

handle of her great sword. It was far too huge to swing in this place, but that

didn't stop her as she carved a line through the ice with it. "So use all the

power you wish. Scream, if it suits you. There will be no last minute rescues

today."

OoOoO

"Ukyou, this is a stupid idea."

Nabiki hissed in pain and clenched her arm. The throbbing was inching up

her body, minute by minute. She felt nauseous. Her head hurt. Leave it to Link

to make certain that she would not only die, but that she would die in

discomfort. Not overwhelming pain. The poison in her system was just giving her

small aches and pains. Tiny little things that by themselves would have been

nothing, but added together they became a severe annoyance.

"When has that ever stopped me before?" Ukyou asked with a wistful

smile. She grabbed Nabiki's arm and looped it over her shoulder. "Come on, we

don't have much time left."

"UKYOU, STOP!" Nabiki tried to shout as the girl started half-carrying,

half-dragging her along. "You shouldn't be doing this."

Ukyou paused. "If I don't, you'll die." The words were delivered with

surprising gentleness.

"Do you see this?" Nabiki snapped, tapping one of the walls with her

good hand. "Someone undid everything Sailor Moon did yesterday. You and I both

know who that was. I may not have access to my telepathy, but I know what

happened. Chris-"

"Left," Ukyou interrupted her. "And when he cleared out everything

Sailor Moon did, that included the purifying energy she infused into your

system. I can feel the poison moving through your blood again. So let's get you

to Link. She can cure you."

"At what cost?" Nabiki growled. "You're playing right into her hands.

This is what she wants. Can't you see that?"

"Yeah. I can. It doesn't matter." Ukyou had managed to get them to the

bottom of the floating staircase, past the evenly spaced gravity-defying ice

steps and the cocoon of rolling water. "You're my friend, Nabiki. I don't let my

friends die."

"I'd rather die than give her the satisfaction," Nabiki said slowly.

"I'd really rather you didn't," Ukyou said with a self-effacing grin.

"And I have it on good authority that I'm the next best thing to God, so what I

want wins, okay?"

Nabiki sighed. Really, what was she supposed to say? Truthfully, she

very much wanted to live. She had never been one for noble self-sacrifice. She

was still amazed at what she had done during Ryouga and Link's fight. Her

objections to Ukyou doing this were more pro forma than out of any real

sincerity.

Which didn't mean that this wasn't still a terrible idea.

They had reached the wall formed by the constantly flowing water. It was

difficult going up the steps. Nabiki had a hard time walking and Ukyou had to

take her time leading her. She wondered why the girl didn't just pick her up

and... Ukyou gestured and the Silence Glaive appeared in her free hand. Oh, that

would explain it. Ukyou had thrust the Glaive into the water and a hole opened

up, a perfect circle formed around the blades of the weapon. With a hop, Ukyou

leapt through, pulling Nabiki along uncomfortably in her wake.

"You okay?" Ukyou asked once they had set down.

"Yeah..." Nabiki sighed. "You do realise that Link is going to bleed you

dry? I know her, Ukyou. She's an opportunistic snake. Once she realises that

saving my life is that important to you, she'll take you for anything she thinks

she can get away with."

"And she'll get it," Ukyou said softly. "I don't think she'll be stupid

enough to ask for anything I'm unwilling to give. If she is... we'll deal with

that threshold when we cross it."

Nabiki was silent for the rest of the walk up to the prison. There was a

man standing in front of the door. Nabiki recognised him as one of Akane's

more... eccentric companions. He stepped in front of them, holding out his arm.

"I'm sorry, but you're not allowed in here!" he shouted.

"But we are in here," Ukyou informed him.

"Of course!" He nodded, placing his fists on his hips.

"So how could we have done that unless we were allowed?"

The man considered this. His mask made his face expressionless but

Nabiki didn't need telepathy to know his mind was slowly turning over that

thought. "But-"

"Are you calling this poor, sick, dying woman a liar?" Ukyou pushed

Nabiki forward.

"I didn't say anything!" Nabiki protested.

"Well..." he rubbed his chin. "That IS Nabiki Tendo..."

Nabiki hit him. Then she hissed and nearly toppled backward. Ukyou

caught her. The man, whose name still eluded Nabiki, rubbed his head and nodded.

"I see, your illness does make it unlikely you snuck in here for nefarious

purposes! Enter!"

Ukyou pushed past him, pulling Nabiki with her. Nabiki steeled herself

as the skeleton fetish man vanished behind the door of the room. The room itself

wasn't very large, maybe big enough for a dozen people to stand in comfortably

if you didn't include the two cells. In one cell a young woman lay. She had hair

that was a blonde so light it verged on white and was curled up in a fetal

position. She almost looked dead, except for the occasional twitch of her

fingers and the slow rise and fall of her chest.

Beyond her was Link. Nabiki had feared this encounter, but looking at

Link now made that fear go away. She looked so small and helpless. Just a tiny

little Chinese woman in a shift that covered up her skinny frame. Her long hair

fell limply about her shoulders, and her face was dirty and pale. She looked

nothing like the aristocratic figure that had very nearly succeeded in killing

Nabiki only a few hours ago.

She was sitting in the back of her cage when they entered, frowning at

space. Just as they entered, she seemed to come to life all at once. She stood

up and walked to the bars, clutching them with both hands. Her eyes widened even

as her pupils narrowed as she stared at Ukyou. A chill ran down Nabiki's spine

at the woman's expression.

"Ukyou," Link rolled the name around on her tongue as if tasting it. "At

last we meet."

Ukyou opened her mouth as if she was going to respond instantly, then

she closed it. She considered her words carefully for a few seconds before

starting. "Ask and ye shall receive. I understand that you can undo what you did

to my friend...?"

Link chuckled softly. "Of course. I'm given to understand you are very

businesslike, Ukyou, so let's do business. You're here to save Nabiki's life. Of

secondary concern to you, I expect, is Chris. No doubt you felt what he did to

this place. Impressive, wasn't it?"

"If by impressive you mean 'oh god, oh god, we're all going to die',

yes. Mildly. But I'm primarily concerned with Nabiki. She doesn't have much time

left."

"I know," Link said with a spiteful glance at Nabiki. "That's why I was

expecting you. So, Ukyou, here are my terms: I will save Nabiki for you. I will

also tell you everything you need to know about Chris. No one has been at his

side longer than I have. With what I know, I can absolutely guarantee that you

can deal with him. And more than that, I'll tell you what I know about you, and

about the workings of God. I'd like to stress that no one - NO ONE - alive can

tell you the things that I can tell you."

Nabiki opened her mouth to respond. She was a merchant by nature, and

even when bargaining for her own life she needed to make certain that deal was

made favouring her. That she WON the game. But Ukyou cut her off.

"And what do you want?"

"First off, what I tell you is for your ears alone. Nobody else can be

around when we talk. Not her, or Tethys, or Akira, or anyone. Second, you are

going to release me from this cage, and I am going to leave this place

unmolested by anyone. Finally..." she paused, licking her lips. "I want your

amnesty."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Mind explaining that last bit?"

"We've never met, but I'm sure you know plenty about what I've done,"

Link said coolly, but she suddenly wasn't meeting Ukyou's gaze. "I don't want to

be punished for it. I want your sworn word that you will never try to make me

pay for what I've done in the past, in Chris's service or otherwise.

Furthermore, I want your word that you will, in fact, defend me just as

ferociously as you would your dearest friend if someone tries to exact any

revenge. Now, I'm not unreasonable. If I knowingly attack your friends in the

future, go ahead and defend them. And if they attack me without you knowing,

I'll defend myself. But I want every leeway, every benefit of the doubt that

you'd give... say, Nabiki here. Or Ranma. Or Akane." Her head rose suddenly,

fixing Ukyou with an intense stare, her pupils tiny pinpricks in the dim light

of the room. "Are we agreed?"

"So, basically, I leave you alone and you leave me alone?" Ukyou tapped

the business end of the Silence Glaive against the floor a few times. "I can

live with that. Sure."

"Ukyou! That's insane..." Nabiki trailed off as Ukyou gave her a long,

hard look. Her eyes were cold and flat, the unnatural shape of her irises giving

her a sinister air.

"This will do fine, Nabiki. Revenge never made anyone's life any

better." Ukyou looked up at Link. "You'll forgive me if I ask you to heal Nabiki

FIRST. I'm afraid you'll just have to trust in my word after that."

Link had clenched the bars of her cell so hard her knuckles had turned

white. Her expression didn't quite change. But the corners of her mouth

twitched, and a visible sheen of perspiration was on her face. Her pale, slender

body was quivering with barely-contained energy.

She'd waited her entire life for this, Nabiki realised suddenly. This

moment, right here, was where Link had gotten everything she'd been working for

for years. Nabiki knew it, knew it as surely as she knew herself. She was a

master at reading psychology, and she'd been verbally sparring with this woman

for almost five years, even if only through a doppleganger. Link right now was

nearly bursting with joy.

Too bad none of Nabiki's keen insight gave her the faintest clue as to

WHY Link was so goddamn happy.

"We're agreed, then," Link whispered. "You'll have to release me from

here before I can help Nabiki. My abilities are suppressed within it."

"Step back," Ukyou ordered, her voice cool. Link did so, quickly. Ukyou

swept her weapon up and across the bars in a single motion. The bars weren't

just cleaved, they were unmade, vanishing into nothingness in the wake of

Ukyou's strike. Ukyou spun the weapon around herself and finished by pointing it

at Link. But it was not really a threatening posture that Ukyou had adopted.

More of a cautious stance, with her polearm held loosely but ready to react at

the slightest moment. At least she was taking the seemingly-harmless woman

seriously.

Link grew visibly stronger when the bars vanished. It wasn't a single

thing Nabiki could pin down. It was the flush in her cheeks, the steadiness of

her hands, the firming up of her whole posture. She drew a deep breath and let

it out in a grateful sigh. "Much better." She looked down at her tattered off-

white shift. "Hmm. Perhaps something with a little more dignity." She looked at

Ukyou and raised an eyebrow. "Unless you mind?"

"I'd prefer you hurry up, Nabiki is in a great deal of pain," Ukyou

commented tersely.

"Oh, she'll live a few minutes longer," Link said with an almost-smile.

She reached over with her nails and stroked the inside of her wrist. A thin line

of blood pooled up. She stepped out of the former cage and allowed a few drops

to fall to the floor before cupping her hand over the tiny wound. Ukyou frowned

but said nothing. A few seconds later a tiny line appeared in the ice with a

soft cracking sound. This was followed by more and more, heralding a bulge that

broke apart the floor. Out of it a thin long green vine appeared. Link stepped

next to it and the vine crept up her leg, twisting and twining almost obscenely

up her calf and thigh.

It took less than a minute for Link to finish. The vine wove around her

body again and again, forming an outfit from its unusual thread. When it was

finished Link stepped away, ripping the plant from the ground. What she wore now

looked like nothing so much as a labcoat; the kind of thing any modern doctor

would wear, except it glistened green in the soft blue light of the room. Link

paused and shook her head a bit before pulling a band of vine from the sleeve

which she used to tie her long hair back in an improvised bun.

Link glanced at Ukyou, who just stared at her without blinking. The

woman shrugged and walked towards Nabiki. Nabiki tried to make certain none of

the discomfort she was feeling showed in her expression. The black-haired woman

held out her hand once she was within reaching distance. It took Nabiki a few

moments to figure out that she needed to give the woman her arm. Reluctantly she

rolled up her sleeve and presented the limb. She had to use her hand to hold it

out, since it refused to move on its own.

The invasion had grown worse. The skin around the tiny fragment had

bulged outward, forming a bump nearly the size of an apple on her arm. The veins

of her arm stood out against her skin like elaborate blue tattoos. Right now

those lines vanished under the fabric of Nabiki's hospital-issue gown, but she

knew they had begun to extend across her chest. When they reached her heart,

she would die.

With no more effort than you would trim a fingernail, Link reached down

and plucked the blue shard out with two fingers. Nabiki gasped and fell

backwards, landing against the wall. Blue liquid spurted from her arm, a tiny

jet that appeared far too small for the infection that had nearly killed her.

But when it was done, all the bulging veins on Nabiki's arm had vanished. Nabiki

almost giggled like a schoolgirl when her fingers flexed and curled at her

command.

She snapped her head up, narrowing her eyes. It was back. That web, that

ocean of thought and experience and emotion that suffused the whole world. It

was like stumbling out of darkness into the light again, the intensity of it

almost painful. But after a few seconds, Nabiki could feel the fullness, the

overwhelming wholeness of the Oversoul retreating to the back of her

consciousness again.

Except for one thing. It was a wound. A sick, painful distorted wound in

the centre of it all. It dragged and roared at everything around it. Nothing

that went into that hole returned. Nabiki felt her face turn pale.

"Nabiki!" Ukyou was grabbed her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I... yes..." Nabiki looked at Ukyou. It was amazing that eyes that had

looked so threatening just a few minutes ago could now look so concerned. "Oh,

god, Ukyou, I'm sorry..."

"About..." Ukyou shook her head. "Never mind. Get out of here and start

gathering up the others..."

"Yes..." Nabiki pushed Ukyou aside and stood up slowly. "But first..."

She looked at Link, her eyes narrowing.

"Nabiki!" Ukyou warned.

Nabiki didn't listen to her. She pulled up her mental power. It surged

through her like an almost physical thing. She had never agreed to any deal with

Link. Link was a psychopath who hated Nabiki very personally. She had been a

thorn in Nabiki's side for years. She had tortured Nabiki almost to death not a

few hours before. She had tormented Ryouga. But Nabiki had to act before Ukyou

tried to stop her.

She found the core that was Link and plunged down into like a bird of

prey. There was no effective defence Link could raise. She would feel Nabiki

battering past her pitiful mental barriers, but Nabiki didn't care. It would all

be over before Link even had the chance to gasp. First Nabiki hit the surface

thoughts-

And stopped. There, right in the centre, in the forefront of the woman's

mind, was the warning. Link knew full well there was nothing she could do to

stop Nabiki. She had known for years that this day might come. But while Nabiki

had been only half-serious when she had suggested to Ukyou that she would rather

die than give her enemy satisfaction, Link was deadly serious.

Inside her brain were tiny bugs. Minute things, so small they couldn't

be seen with the naked eye. They served only one purpose. They were sensitive to

psychic waves. If they sensed an outside force breaking into Link's brain, they

would explode. The effect would be instant, and quite beyond Link's ability to

control. If Nabiki pushed any further into Link's mind, the woman would die,

taking anything she knew with her.

For a moment, one beautiful and horrifying moment, Nabiki almost did it

anyway. The thought of Link dying at the hands of her own paranoia was terribly

appealing. Then Ukyou stepped in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Nabiki, you're better than this," was all she said. Nabiki almost burst

out laughing at the absurdity of it. Ukyou, of all people, telling her, of all

people, that? She looked down and to the side, pulling herself back. She

retreated to the comfortable illusion that was herself and smirked.

"Is what she knows really that important, Ukyou?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" Ukyou answered. "I gave my word, Nabiki. But I know

that hurting more people won't make this any better. It won't undo the past.

Just... let it go."

"I'll NEVER let it go," Nabiki hissed. And she looked up into Ukyou's

eyes. "I'll leave. But because you asked me to, not her."

"Thank you," Ukyou replied, her voice choking just a little bit. Nabiki

made a dismissive noise and stepped past her, heading for the exit. She could

already feel the distress and panic building around the city. As Nabiki walked

through the door she heard Ukyou address Link once more.

"Now, I believe you had something to say to me?"

OoOoO

Sailor Pluto had that feeling that told her something was wrong. Of

course, the problem with that feeling was that so many things were going, or had

already gone, wrong lately. It was hard to pin down exactly what it was that she

was supposed to be worried about.

There was the fact that Hotaru was still alive, and that she was

obviously the apocalyptic foe that was going to face Ukyou at the end of time.

That was worrisome. There was the fact that Pluto carried the soul of one of her

dead comrades in a bag at her waist. If that had not been disheartening enough

on its own, she now could remember more of her visions. She knew the symbol that

would appear on Ukyou's forehead could only be one thing: the green trident

symbol of Sailor Neptune.

When she had first discovered the Star Seed lying there on the ice, she

had felt the certainty fill her like a menacing fog. Her hand had curled around

the crystal, hiding its light. Her heart had slowed down. Here, she finally held

a part of the great prophecy in her hands. She knew that, knew it as

instinctively as she knew that Hotaru would be the one to fight Ukyou at the

end.

She could have stopped it. All she had to do was conjure her magic. All

she had to do was destroy the Star Seed. She had no idea what such a thing would

do to the solar system. but she thought the worst was that the planet Neptune

might very well be destroyed. An acceptable loss, to prevent armageddon. Oh, and

she was fairly certain it would destroy the soul of Sailor Neptune forever.

So she had sat by herself for a long time, holding the crystal in her

fist, and thought. Sailor Neptune was already dead, the rational part of her

mind argued. She was dead seven years. This rock was nothing more than a

memorial. But that wasn't true, was it? The spirit lived on past death. She knew

this. What would happen to the soul if the thing that had been its heart was

destroyed?

In the end, she had found herself unable to do it. Perhaps when there

was no other way. Perhaps if she thought there was no hope in preventing the

coming apocalypse, then she would do it. But only then and no sooner.

So here she was running across an icy bridge over a chasm filled with

deadly freezing mist. She was coming here on the advice of a psychopath, to

pursue a girl who might very well be the end of all that is, carrying the last

physical link to the prophecy which would allow the girl to win. And she thought

there was something wrong?

There was everything wrong!

But still, it was like she was forgetting something. That nagging

feeling at the back of her skull. Hadn't she left on this trip with someone

else? No... that was foolish. But her mind would not let it go.

Then she ran into the grisly trophy room and the thought flew from her

head. There was a stain, red like blood, on the far wall. It roiled and bubbled

as if boiling. A man was running towards the stain, shouting.

"Hotaru! Don't!" he got out just before vanishing into the bloody

passage with a flying leap. Pluto knew she should do anything but run into that

portal. She could get Tethys, warn her. But she didn't want to. She knew that if

Tethys knew, so would Ukyou.

And Ukyou and Hotaru must never meet. Of that, Pluto was certain.

So, with those thoughts cycling through her head, Pluto sprinted and

dove. The portal was already fading, already closing. She just barely made it;

the closing portal clipped the tip of her high-heeled boot. Her body slammed

into ice, but her training prevented her from taking any serious damage.

"-doesn't have to end this way!"

Pluto looked up. The man - Ryouga, she vaguely remembered - was standing

just behind the Messiah of Silence. He towered over the little girl, to the

point where he had to lean forward slightly to get a grip on her upper arm. His

fingers curled almost entirely around her limb. In his other hand he carried a

ordinary-looking katana, but Pluto recognized it at once. The Wishing Sword.

Hotaru was carrying the huge demon blade in the arm Ryouga was holding.

It vibrated with repressed violence as the girl looked casually over her

shoulder up at the yellow-clad man. Just barely visible beyond the blade was the

form of Akira and a blonde woman whom Pluto didn't recognise.

"Yes, Ryouga, it does," Hotaru said. Her arm snapped back, jarring his

hand free. With a swift jab of her elbow the girl drove the boy back into the

wall hard enough that it cracked around him. Ryouga, for his part, looked more

annoyed than hurt. However, while the boy was recovering, Hotaru noticed Pluto.

A sad smile crossed her features. "And God provides. Welcome, I'm glad you could

join us, Pluto."

She was expecting me. The thought echoed in Pluto's head. She was

expecting Pluto to arrive. This was part of her plan. This was part of the

future, of the prophecy. She was caught up in it again.

While Pluto was staring, a form blurred into place behind Hotaru. It was

the blond woman, her eyes glowing crimson in the muted light of this place. Her

mouth was a forest of ivory spines as she hissed and drove her fist down at

Hotaru.

The child tried to dodge, her body flickering as she accelerated too

fast for Pluto to follow. But the unnamed vampire reacted just as fast, her arms

flashing out of the realm of visible motion. There was a crack like thunder and

then Hotaru smashed into the wall. The woman twisted on her foot, pivoting her

entire body and driving towards the girl again.

Dylek suddenly appeared, floating between them. The woman hissed and

leapt back. The passageway was too narrow for her to get very far away from the

blade. It seemed not so concerned, its huge mass shearing gouges from the walls

as it spun in place to try and cleave her in two. The woman sidestepped...

And Akira was there. She slid forward under the huge blade, her hands

snapping up and catching its handle. With a roar she dug her feet into the

floor, digging trenches with her heels. The blade tried to wrench itself free of

her grip, but Akira put all the power of her inertia behind her stance and with

a roar pulled the blade down and into the floor, burying it halfway into the

ice.

"RYOUGA! Bury it!" Akira shouted. Ryouga paused a moment, then nodded

and leapt. His hand flashed up, striking a few spots on the ceiling as he tucked

his legs in so he could clear both Akira and the sword, then rolled down the

hallway as he landed. "Pluto! Get out of there!"

Pluto saw the ceiling beginning to bulge. Her eyes widened. He was going

to bring down the entire passageway on the sword. She reacted perhaps faster

than she ever had in her life. She ran forward, trying to ignore the missing

heel on her right boot and dug her Time Key Staff into the ground, using it as a

polevault. Akira released the blade and kicked herself backward. She extended a

hand and Pluto grabbed it without thinking. Then the world blurred out for a

moment as somehow Akira doubled their speed with a kick of her heel.

Behind her Pluto heard the ceiling exploding downward, but she had no

time to contemplate that. Hotaru was sprinting down the corridor, heading for

the massive room Pluto could now see in the distance. The still-unidentified

vampire woman was in pursuit, her black-clad body virtually vanishing as she

moved.

With a flicker of motion the blonde appeared in the doorway in front of

Hotaru. The girl didn't pause, merely running into her at full force. Something

happened, a sort of twisting motion that Pluto couldn't follow, and Hotaru was

sent flying back. The girl flipped in mid-air, landing on her feet.

"I don't know how you tricked me, but you don't get any further," the

vampire warned. She bit into her thumb and a trickle of blood started down from

it. With a flick of her wrist the blood fountained out, shaping itself into a

sword.

Hotaru stepped sideways to avoid the first strike. The blood sword

ripped a trench in the ice from the overhead blow. Then the blonde pulled it up

and sideways, forcing Hotaru to leap to avoid having her legs removed.

"Dead Scream!" Pluto whispered, pointing her staff. The ball of purple

light flew straight and true, catching Hotaru straight in the back. It was

compressed time, unleashing all its power at once. The blast tore through the

girl's stomach, vapourising most of it.

"Don't kill her!" Ryouga shouted.

"Sorry, I don't take orders from you," the blonde replied. She brought

up her blade and it shattered, forming into a hundred thin tendrils of blood

that snaked out and into Hotaru, piercing her like barbs. The force of the blow

drove the remains of the girl back against the wall, her body snapping back and

forth.

"No, don't touch her!" Akira warned as she leapt, grabbing the girl and

pulling her away. The vampire's eyes widened as the two went flying back into

the room. The tendrils of blood thinned and snapped like fraying cords... but as

Pluto watched the portions still in Hotaru simply vanished, unravelling as the

Silence took them.

"Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!" the blonde shouted, throwing

Akira off quickly. Akira spun with the momentum, briefly touching off the

ceiling before falling to the ground in a crouch.

Hotaru slid to the ground. As she did, the hole in her torso was already

filling in, the thick ropey strings of viscera regenerating her form. Pluto

stood up and levelled her staff. "Dead Scream," she whispered again, firing.

This time, Hotaru was ready for her. The girl snapped out one hand,

catching the projectile between her fingers. The tips of her fingers were

sheared off, but the majority of the blast was Silenced. Even as Pluto watched,

the fingertips regenerated themselves.

"Stop, Hotaru!" Ryouga roared. He threw himself at her. His hand snapped

up, grabbing her by the neck. She grabbed his wrist with both hands, but was no

match for his sheer strength as he lifted her struggling body off the floor. "I

don't want to hurt you," he explained. "But I will if I have to."

"Then I apologise for the suffering you will endure in the attempt,"

Hotaru informed him.

"You can't hurt me, Hotaru," Ryouga stated firmly. "My body is immune to

your Silence effect and-"

Then the rubble heap behind Pluto exploded. Dylek burst past her,

skimming through the air so close it sent a few dozen stray hairs flickering

through the air. She watched as the great blade flashed through Ryouga's arm

without even pausing. The man's eyes widened in shock and pain.

Hotaru kicked at him, driving him into the wall as she fell to the

ground. She pulled the nerveless hand from her neck, clutching it idly in one

hand. Pluto brought up her staff and released a trio of quick blasts.

Dylek spun around behind the girl, deflecting the blasts with ease. But Pluto

had counted on that. She knew that in this fight, she was only good as a

distraction. If she could occupy the demon sword, at least that would give the

others a chance to defeat Hotaru herself.

Akira and the unknown vampire moved quickly, running towards the girl.

Pluto wished she could spare a moment of concentration to follow the fight, but

she was too busy with Dylek. The blade was advancing on her slowly. Her Dead

Scream attacks were only slowing it down and she couldn't get them off quickly

enough to halt its progress significantly. She was fairly certain the weapon

wouldn't kill her, since Hotaru believed in the prophecy even more than Pluto

herself...

"Hotaru, STOP!"

The violence came to a sudden halt. Hotaru was pressed against a corner

of the room beyond the arch, her arms up defensively. Akira and the blonde woman

were on either side of her. Ryouga was lying against the wall, clutching the

stump of his arm and hissing. All four of them were looking at Pluto, and at the

small gem she was holding in her hand.

"If you don't stop, I'll destroy it," Pluto informed her. To show the

girl she meant business, Pluto summoned a bit of magic, creating a purple orb

around her hand. A ring spun around the orb, like a planetary ring, except it

wobbled up and down. "All I have to do is release the magic and the Star Seed

will be ripped apart by the temporal forces. Then, this entire Prophecy suddenly

ceases to matter."

Hotaru looked at her. It was a look not of frustration, or of anger. It

was a look of resignation. "You are right, I can't risk you destroying one of

the cornerstones this late in the process."

"It's... over?" Ryouga gaped.

"No, not until this girl is destroyed!" the blonde insisted.

"We're not here to destroy her!" Ryouga shouted back. Apparently the

pain didn't keep him from rising to his feet. His body was glowing green now,

his feet beginning to sink just slightly into the icy floor.

"Both of you, calm down," Akira cut in. "The last thing we need to do is

fight each other." Ryouga and the black-clad vampire stared at each other for a

long minute, her clenching the blood sword and Ryouga's fingers curling tightly

around the Wishing Sword. "Please..." Akira continued. "Whoever you are, this

is a very complex situation-"

"No, she's right," Hotaru cut Akira off. "You should kill me."

OoOoO

Ukyou hadn't known what to expect from this woman. Aaron's memories of

the Pink and Link story from the Ranma 1/2 manga had become very vague and

imperfect. Combine that with the fact that a year (or was it seven?) had passed

since that moment of her life, and the fact that Ukyou had never even met her...

At first, the two of them had almost confused the woman for her sister.

While Aaron's skills with his Void chakra hadn't been as powerful when they'd

encountered Pink, he could still sense the similarities between them. But this

girl was very different in a number of ways. For instance, her arms were younger

than the rest of her body, almost twenty-three years younger from the feel of

it. She also had dozens of scars, but all beneath the surface of her flesh. From

the looks of it, she'd been injured a large number of times and simply patched

herself up.

The thing that surprised Ukyou the most was how little power Link had.

Ukyou had been around a large number of people who practised various forms of

magic, and in most cases they were beacons of Second Circle power. To Ukyou's

increasingly refined senses, it was impossible not to notice the magical energy

that flowed around their bodies like water caught in a whirlpool. But Link was

different.

Her power wasn't exactly insignificant. In fact, it was actually quite

respectable. But it seemed... foreign, somehow. It eddied around her, several

layers that refused to mix but that constantly swirled through each other. If

Ukyou had to guess, the power she did have wasn't hers. Instead, she was tapping

a patchwork of powers she had either stolen, captured or internalized from other

sources. What kind of techniques would be needed to keep that power in check,

Ukyou didn't want to know.

Ukyou came to a stop as they reached the top of the city. Link had been

very reluctant to talk about anything back in the room she had been imprisoned

in. In fact, she had refused to continue their conversation until they were far

away. The ornery part of Ukyou wanted to refuse the request on its face, but

eventually she decided that it didn't make any difference.

If she was going to let Link go anyway, did it matter if they talked in

the cell or up here, next to the tunnel leading out of the city? Either Link was

going to be honest with her, or she wasn't. Ukyou had no control over that. If

Link did decide to try and pull something up here, she would just have to deal

with it.

Link paused as she reached the end of the dark corridor leading out of

the city. She turned to look around at the City of Black Ice. It looked just as

pristine as it had when Ukyou had first arrived. There was no sign of the

massive damage this woman had caused. Link seemed amused by this, more than

annoyed. Ukyou tried not to think about it.

She sighed and shifted her grip on the Silence Glaive. "Well, unless you

want to talk out in the freezing arctic air, this is as far as we can get,"

Ukyou explained.

"So I see," Link noted. "I thought perhaps Tethys would accost us. You

did break into her cell. But, of course, it's not as if I'm someone who stormed

her kingdom, destroyed a huge portion of her city, or single-handedly held her

off. Not someone... important. I'm guessing I'm someone fairly ineffectual who

got captured right outside the gate, flailing impotently. Hardly anyone worth

noticing, I'm sure. So it seems she hasn't bothered to keep much track of me,

what with all the distractions of..." She paused thoughtfully, biting her lower

lip. "Reichmann Gyro. With a hitherto unknown friend. But you knew that already,

of course."

"Yes, plus we still can't find Hotaru and so on," Ukyou agreed.

"Oh you can't?" Link said, her voice filled with mirth. "Well, I suppose

I can tell you, but later. I don't want you running off in the middle of our

talk."

It took every ounce of Ukyou's willpower not to smash the woman against

the wall, place the Silence Glaive at her neck and demand she explain that. As

it was, she felt the air around her cool to the point that her and Link's breath

started coming out in little clouds of mist. "Don't push me," Ukyou warned.

Link backed up a step, her expression suddenly becoming nervous. Ukyou

felt a surge of pleasure at seeing the woman look suddenly cowed by such an

insignificant display. The next moment she felt a bit of disgust with herself.

Ukyou closed her eyes and took a long cleansing breath.

So, Link knew something about Hotaru. She had hinted at as much before.

This changed nothing, since Link could have been talking out of her ass just to

sound important. Ukyou slowly relaxed her grip on the Glaive and opened her eyes

to look at Link again. The patchwork woman had regained some of her composure

now. Not all, but some.

"I don't have a sister," Link stated abruptly, her eyes narrowing.

"What?"

"I don't have a twin sister. I never did. I want you to know that, first

of all," she said. "That isn't meant metaphorically. I was born one person. I

was split into two by Jyusenkyou. I am now one person again. The thing you met

before never existed."

"And I care... why?" Ukyou said with a frown.

"You should care!" Link barked. Then her face flushed and most - though

not all - of the anger drained out of it. "Rather, since you had such an

unpleasant encounter with... with that thing that looked like me, I thought you

should know it didn't exist. And I know," she said, voice suddenly growing

confident again, "that you didn't learn that about me from the manga you once

read."

It took Ukyou a moment to realise what encounter she had been referring

to. Ukyou gestured towards her eyes with her free hand. "You mean these?

Frankly, it's not that important to me. I barely remember your..." She trailed

off. "I barely remember what Pink did. I've been tortured by far more memorable

people."

Link stared at her, then laughed in a shallow, strained voice. "You have

no idea how much it would have enraged P- her to know that. But regardless, I

didn't want our relationship to get off on any worse of a foot than necessary."

"We don't have a relationship," Ukyou told her bluntly. "I don't know

you. All I know is that you're somebody that's important to Nabiki and Chris,

for different reasons. I don't really care about your life story or your

justifications for what you've done."

Link stiffened as if she'd been physically struck by Ukyou's words. Her

face had turned white, her bloodless lips tightly pulled down in a frown. "You

should care!" she repeated, and this time the anger didn't leave her voice.

"Don't you dismiss me! I've worked longer and harder than you can even imagine

to know the things I know! I've-"

"Okay," Ukyou said, cutting her off with a raised hand. This wasn't how

she wanted this conversation to go. All she was doing was pissing off the person

she was talking to. Which was a skill she had learned almost as well as kung fu

and awareness. But it was pointless here. It was becoming obvious to Ukyou what

this woman wanted.

She wanted Ukyou to care. She wanted Ukyou's attention. She was like a

child, getting petulant when a parent refused to look at the latest trick she

had learned. No matter how unimportant all of this was to Ukyou, no matter how

much it didn't matter or how distracting or how annoying it was... it was

important to Link.

And what would it cost Ukyou to give her this? To make it seem like she

cared? It would neither pick her pocket nor punch her nose to pretend this

woman's story, her presence, was very important to her. Plus, if she gave Link

this, it might be possible that they could leave each other's company without

Ukyou having created another person out for her blood.

It was unlikely, but why not try?

"I'm sorry," Ukyou said, forcing herself to sound sincere. "I'm just

distracted. But I agreed to listen to you. So, you have my undivided attention

now."

"...of course, I understand," Link said, folding her arms. She was

obviously aware of how much her desperation had shown, and trying to brush it

aside. "But it's not the same for you. How could it be? Every day, every moment,

the eyes of the entire universe are on you, Ukyou Kuonji. The gaze of God is so

natural to you that you wouldn't even realise what it's like to be there for the

first time."

Ukyou resisted the urge to bark out a laugh. Aaron's life, his entire

existence had been so mundane, so normal that it made everything that had

happened to them since they had become joined... But she managed to keep her

amusement off her face. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

"You are the centre of this universe," Link shrugged. "You should know

that, though I doubt you like it. Indeed, this universe didn't even exist until

you came into being as you are seven years ago. I'm quite certain of it."

"You're talking about the prophecy?" Ukyou couldn't keep a bit of her

annoyance out of her voice.

"In part. Of course, the interesting thing about prophecies is how

people take them so seriously, yet never consider their source. But nothing is

written without a writer. And no world follows a prophecy unless someone has

made it so. I suspect you've already come to realise, Ukyou, that your true

enemy - though that's likely a dangerous way to think about it - is none other

than God. God, who created this world seven years ago for you. God, who made

this world impossible, who made it broken in such a way that it could never have

existed, and thus ensured it would again and again reach the brink of

Armageddon." Link glanced down the tunnel that exited the city. "Like seven

years ago in Tokyo... and like, I suspect, today. God, who commands the Third

Circle. God who brought you here. God-"

"Don't call him that," Ukyou said coldly. "I refuse... I REFUSE to call

any being God. Especially one that has to be as cruel and depraved as the one

you're suggesting would have to be. It's just a person. A person with enormous

powers, but just because I don't know its name doesn't make it God."

It was Link's turn to stare at her. She blinked slowly. "I don't really

have any preconceptions as to what God ought to act like. But who am I to argue

with you? If you won't call the nameless being that has manipulated you God,

then I suppose it can be called the Nameless."

Nameless. Ukyou considered it for a moment. It was ironic. And it gave

her a title. The Nameless was as good a thing to call it as any. "It'll do."

Ukyou ran her fingers down the length of her weapon. "And you're right, I have

figured out someone has to be behind this. So, what do you know about it?"

"About its motives, I know nothing," Link admitted. "But it has methods

and patterns. As you know quite well, the world rejects usage of the Third

Circle, the resulting paradox damage causing greater harm. Though the Nameless

has infinite power, it's thus limited in how it can touch the world. It seems to

like using proxies. Judging from Akane Tendo, it can touch anyone who dies and

then returns, making them its servant. Although," she said, frowning, "I'm not

certain if Akane actually serves the Nameless' will. But it touched her when she

died, I'm certain of that."

"Wait, what...? Died?" Ukyou stared. She had never... But when she

thought back, to the few moments they had been together again after the fight

with Chris's creation, there had been something strange about Akane. Not really

anything weird or worrying, just something off about her. At the time, Ukyou had

dismissed her observation as just the result of seven years of unfamiliarity.

"Oh yes," Link said quickly. "That happened while she was travelling

with us. Reichmann Gyro killed her, and Sailor Moon defeated him and brought

Akane back to life." She closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth quirking up

an infinitesimal fraction. "And he's still making trouble now. How small a world

it seems to be sometimes. Still, regardless of what the Nameless can or can't do

with those who die, they are not its only servants." She opened her eyes and

affixed Ukyou with a firm gaze. "Hotaru is foremost among his proxies. This, I

doubt, surprises you. But perhaps this is something you haven't considered: when

you generate Paradox by your action, you channel it into Akira. Chris created

Kalia to serve the same function for him. Akio, whom I suspect you know of,

apparently used his sister Anthy in a similar fashion when he wielded the Third

Circle. The Nameless is no exception. I suspect Hotaru is the recipient of

all the pain the Nameless causes the world through being. I further suspect this

may give her some of her power. Even if I'm wrong, though, I can tell you,

having met her, that Hotaru is utterly in thrall to the Nameless. It talks to

her, and she to it. It protects her, and she carries out its wishes. If you want

to find the Nameless, or if you want to find Hotaru, they may as well be one and

the same."

Ukyou clenched her hands. "I refuse to believe that."

Link sniffed. "I didn't come to this conclusion merely on the basis of

one meeting, you know. Hotaru is the foremost servant of the Nameless, but all

the Sailor Senshi have felt its touch. I believe that, much like you and those

around you are shaped by the prophecy, the Nameless finds the Sailor Senshi easy

to touch because of their 'destiny'. Sailor Moon brought Akane back to life in

accordance with his plans. Sailor Venus was empowered directly by the Nameless

to be a peerless vampire killer. Sailor Pluto, of course, was both the original

sender and recipient of the prophecy, and the direct force driving your actions

many times over. Sailors Uranus and Neptune perished, but their souls found

their way to Akane Tendo's hands. I don't know the purpose that intended to

serve, but surely you can agree it was no coincidence. And Sailor Saturn-"

"No, you don't understand," Ukyou cut Link off. "I've seen the evidence.

Everybody keeps telling me about it. Everybody insists that it's true. But I

don't care. Even if the Nameless showed up and said she was his slave. Even if

Hotaru admits it. Even if everybody else in the universe believes it, I can't. I

won't. Hotaru can be saved. No matter what anyone says."

Link sniffed. "Well, I can't force you to believe anything. But you

would be well-advised to realise that when you deal with any Sailor Senshi,

you're dealing with a tool of the Nameless. Whether they know it or not, and

whether they've ever done anything particularly important in the past or not, it

has that power."

"Let's change the subject," Ukyou replied quickly. "You keep going on

about how important I am, but what about Chris? Doesn't his very existence

disprove that I'm the only one the Nameless cares about?"

Link giggled.

Ukyou stared for a moment. She didn't precisely know Link that well, but

still felt that the schoolgirlish titter that escaped the woman's lips was

somehow out of character for her.

"Oh, you'd think so, wouldn't you?" Link said, holding a hand up to her

twitching lips. "Oh, Chris. So powerful. So important. The chosen one. That's

what he calls himself. Not that he's ever bothered to sort out in his mind what

chose him or why, but he's never had to. Chris. The... 'master of the Third

Circle'. He who would be our god and guide us all to a new golden age." Her

voice fairly dripped contempt. "I've been saving Chris for last, since it's the

best. I told you I could absolutely guarantee that with what I know, you could

deal with Chris. And that's true. Why? Because you didn't need to know anything

to deal with him.

"Chris," she declared triumphantly, "is nothing."

OoOoO

"No, she's right," Hotaru said, her voice sad and alone, cutting off

Akira. "You should kill me."

Ryouga met her gaze. She was tired. Her bronze eyes stared into his. The

blood on her face could not hide the lines of worry, the dark circles under her

eyes. He felt his hand grip the Wishing Sword more tightly. The pain in his

severed arm was intense, but he ignored it. He'd had worse. Normally he would

have fetched the limb and reattached it, waited for his body to regrow the

nerves and tissue to make him whole once more.

But Hotaru still hadn't released his arm. The fingers still twitched. He

could almost feel them, despite the distance between them. Ryouga had

experienced such phantom feelings before. Parts of himself that were removed by

one hazard or another, they still retained a connection to him. Rudimentary, but

there.

"Hotaru, we can help you," Akira insisted.

"There is no salvation for me," Hotaru told her. "I have chosen my path

and this is where it has led me. You should finish me off, before I have a

chance to turn the tide."

"Hotaru, don't say that!" Ryouga cried out. She just looked at him again

and he felt himself stunned to silence. This was... this was unprecedented. In

the years he had been playing bodyguard and guide to Hotaru, she had never once

expressed doubt. She had never once wavered in her vision. Her implacable faith

had seemed inhuman.

"Stand aside," the vampire-woman in the tight black dress said. She held

up her hand and the blood around her hand began to expand. He could hear the

liquid gurgle of it as it poured out of her body. Bright and shining, it began

to change form, hardening into solid shapes. It took Ryouga a moment to figure

out what the shapes were connecting into, but then he felt his breath catch. It

was a cannon, a huge cannon taller than the woman who was creating it. The bore

of the barrel was almost as wide as his hand.

She brought the weapon down. There was barely enough room in this place

for her to wield such a weapon effectively. The intimidating gun was pointed

directly at Hotaru. Ryouga looked around quickly. He could see Dylek, but it was

still floating in the doorway, hovering in front of Sailor Pluto and preventing

her ranged attacks. Even with the frightening speed of the demon blade, Ryouga

wasn't certain it would reach her before the woman's cannon tore Hotaru in two.

"Don't hesitate, Seras, strike now," Hotaru told the woman. "You can

feel him calling me, can't you? You can feel his mad power reaching for me. You

KNOW what will happen if I devour that."

Ryouga looked at the only other thing in the room. A coffin, black and

red-trimmed, was open in the centre of the chamber. Inside it, a desiccated

human corpse lay, the skin on its face pulled away in a rictus grin from its

fierce fangs. For some reason, just looking at it gave Ryouga the creeps. He

could almost feel it, reaching out. A cloud of darkness that strained and

snapped around the body, like a rabid dog snarling at the end of a chain.

"You won't get such a chance," Seras replied cooly.

"No! There has to be another way!" Akira pleaded, placing her hand on

the barrel and pushing it slightly aside. The red-eyed vampire looked at her

with narrowed eyes.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Seras snarled, her teeth flashing. "You

always want to struggle and fight, to give away your life to hopeless causes."

With a shove the woman sent Akira flying back, her body smashing into the wall.

"I won't let your misguided optimism hurt Tethys again!"

"Akira!" Pluto gasped. Ryouga kept his eyes on Hotaru. She was looking

at him. She said nothing, she was just silent and contemplative. 'You... you are

the one chosen to lead me to the end of days.' That was what she had said to

him, when they had met again in the Russian snow. He had feared it, feared those

words for so long he had never thought of them much until now.

Ryouga ground his teeth together. He didn't want this to end this way.

He wanted to save her. But he knew, he KNEW that if she succeeded here, if she

reached the body sealed inside this icy tomb, it was all over. His hair stood on

end, his heart was beating faster. It wasn't the pain of the severed arm Hotaru

still carried that made his breath come in short, sharp bursts. It was fear.

Fear of the power lying in this crypt. The power that had been chained by some

unknown force.

The power Hotaru wanted to unleash.

Maybe he should step back. He looked down at the sword in his good hand.

It was useless to him. The 'magic wand' that could have saved her. There was no

magic wand, no 'everything gets better' button. Who was he to interfere now?

Seras was just doing what he had never had the guts to do.

"Why are you so scared?" Akira asked, getting up quickly. "We have her

in check. She can't move. As long as we can hold her back, we can-"

"Shut up!" Seras roared. "What are you hoping for, Akira? For Ukyou to

come and make it all better?" The woman's face darkened. "Ukyou. You and she are

the same. You don't think about what needs to be done. You're selfish. You hurt

people around you, breaking lives in your relentless stupid pursuit of

unattainable dreams."

"Is it the Third Circle hole in that body?" Akira asked, her voice soft.

"Is that it?" Seras looked at her in surprise. "Don't be surprised. My body has

been a storehouse for that... sickness for months now. I can feel it, echoing

against what's inside me. The residue of the Third Circle. That's what Hotaru is

after. That's what Tethys is so determined to protect at any cost.

"That's why you want so badly to kill her. Because you don't want Ukyou

finding out about this place."

"That's ridiculous, Akira," Pluto replied.

"Stay out of this!" Akira snapped at her. "You're no better than this

one, throwing in your lot with a monster because it's more convenient. Killing

in the name of the 'greater good'."

"Akira, that's unfair..." Pluto said slowly.

"That doesn't matter now," Seras replied. "Don't interfere again." She

held out her other hand and blood burst from her palm in a fountain. The spray

congealed, forming into a long red pistol pointed directly at Akira's head.

Ryouga glanced from person to person. Pluto was staring at Hotaru. Sweat

dripped down her brow as she strained to hold her magic in check. Akira was

staring at Seras, her eyes cold and dangerous. Her fists were clenched. Seras

stared back at her, her massive cannon still levelled at Hotaru. The hand cannon

she had pointed at Akira was steady as a rock. Ryouga had seen the two of them

fighting Hotaru. He had a hard time deciding who would be the faster if one of

them decided to make a move. Would they?

He could feel the tension in the room increasing. There was no way this

was going to end well. A single mistimed action, a single wrong word and the

three of them would be at each other's throats. And Hotaru might very well sneak

up the middle and get what she wanted, anyway.

He looked at her. She was the only one still paying attention to him.

Her hurt, little girl face looked so tired. This was the end, he realised. This

was the last time he would ever see her.

He knelt and placed the Wishing Sword in the ground. The stand-off

continued, with nobody paying any attention to him. He needed to end this

quickly. He took a long breath.

What was he worried about? It wasn't like this would kill him.

"JISATSU BAKUHA!"

The room exploded with green light. Everyone turned to Ryouga in shock.

The incandescent emerald glow of his suicide blast exploded out from his hand,

towards the one thing he knew would end all this one way or another. It smashed

into the corpse-body, exploding with the force of all his pain.

"MASTER!" Seras cried as the blast tore the coffin apart, sending wood

splinters into the walls with enough force they vanished into them, leaving only

steaming holes behind. Ryouga wasn't certain why he heard that over the

deafening concussion, but he did.

"It's... over..." He gasped. It always felt horrible doing that. He had

to literally rip his own soul out, to pull out his Heart Crystal and launch it

like a cannonball, using his chi to make it explode. For anyone else, it would

have been instantly fatal. Most likely, they could never have even gotten past

the first step. But he was the Endless Wanderer...

Then the pain started. He screamed and fell to his knees, clutching at

his heart. It was like no pain he had ever felt before. It wasn't physical, it

wasn't mental, it was beyond such things. It ripped into his body and mind and

spirit, twisting and perverting. The green glow around the corpse collapsed,

shrinking in and in. It imploded into a single point, the hole in the centre of

the thing's chest. The body wasn't even touched, wasn't even so much as

scorched.

How could he have missed that hole before? It was a sickness in reality,

a twisting writhing place where everything seemed to break down. It was the

place where this world ended and something else began. But before now, his eyes

had just slid over it, refused to acknowledge it. Now he was paying for his

ignorance.

In the centre of that chaos was his heart, the glowing crystal of his

soul. It was being twisted and shaped by the paradoxical hole. He could feel it

being ripped apart and pulled together again and again. A billion deaths, a

uncountable infinity of fates all playing out at once. Ryouga had grown used to

death, had grown resigned to the idea that it held no power over him. His body

always adapted, always changed to survive.

And that was what was happening now. His immortal body, his ever-

changing nature was fighting the Paradox. But the Paradox was winning.

"RYOUGA!" Akira, running towards him.

A scream. Sailor Pluto falling backwards, her eyes wide. A gleaming gem

tumbled from her nerveless fingers. Dylek swinging up through the space she had

occupied.

Seras, her mouth opened in a scream of rage. The cannon roared. Ice

shattered. Walls exploded. It fired like a machine gun, without pause.

Hotaru's arm exploded. Another shot ripped off one of her legs,

dissolving it in a cloud of red gore. She was falling, but as she fell, her eyes

were calm.

Impressions. Moments caught between new deaths.

'Together, we will usher in the end of the world.'

Her hand came up. His arm, still held between her fingers. Her mouth

opened. It was a sea of fangs. A shell caught her chest and her torso

vapourised. Then Hotaru bit down.

Ryouga could feel it. It was like lightning arcing through his body,

relentlessly seeking the ground. Except this was wrong, it was madness and

insanity. It was the world breaking down. The sick reality, the unending

torment, was grounding through him and straight towards Hotaru.

His arm. It was a part of him. His body that refused to die, even when

he was cut apart, even when his organs were removed. They still lived. He still

lived. His soul, trapped in that non-space, that hole that wasn't a hole. It was

a circuit.

This is what she meant, he realised dimly. This is what she meant all

along. He had been a fool. She had told him that he would lead her to the path,

that he would show her the way. He had thought that meant there was some place

he would take her. He had thought that meant there was some passage only he

could navigate.

But he wasn't going to FIND a path. He WAS a path.

A shot roared from Seras' cannon, heading straight at Hotaru's head.

Ryouga saw it now as it slowed to a stop. A slick red shell that tapered to a

wicked point, it was made of congealed blood. It rested in front of Hotaru for

a moment, then shattered. Droplets of gore splattered the chamber.

"NO!" Seras roared and fired again and again. But it was having no

effect. The Paradox protected Hotaru now, even as it tore Ryouga apart.

'I'm adapting,' Ryouga realised. 'I'm like a filter. Every pain it

causes me, my body adapts to, and Hotaru is devouring that. She's devouring the

immunity I'm developing...'

"Stop her!" Pluto shrieked. She was pinned against the wall, Dylek

pressed against her staff. Her strength was barely enough to hold the demon

sword at bay. The Star Seed glittered on the floor.

"I'm trying!" Seras called. She continued firing in futility.

"That won't work..." Akira said slowly. She stood up. "She's eating the

Paradox. We have to cut her off at the source."

"Akira?" Seras paused. The woman was walking towards the body. "Stop!

That hole is lethal! Anybody who's ever touched it has been destroyed!"

"I thought you didn't like me?" Akira gave Seras a brave little smile.

Then, before the vampire could react, she drove her hand elbow-deep into the

hole. She bit down on her lip, drawing blood. The muscles on her neck bulged.

The veins in her forehead pulsed. Her entire body locked up. Ryouga could see

the muscles under her leathers straining.

Then she screamed, a scream that turned into a wet cough as blood

spurted from between her lips. More blood ran from her eyes, her ears, her nose.

Ryouga could see her fingers groping for his heart crystal. The Paradox was

tearing her apart. Then he felt them, felt them wrap around the spines of his

soul. The sharp edges of the crystal bit into her leather gloves and sank into

her flesh. But she forced the crystal into her fist. It shrunk and shrunk until

it fit completely inside her.

Ryouga fell sideways. The pain stopped. He coughed, moaning weakly.

Hotaru fell to the ground. Seras was too busy staring at Akira to notice. He

wanted to warn her, to shout at her. She needed to finish Hotaru now. But he

could barely breathe.

Akira slowly closed her mouth. Her expression was grim, made all the

more ghastly by the blood. "Is that all you got?" she hissed. "I've swallowed

more than this without blinking."

With a final scream she ripped her hand free. And Ryouga felt it rip

free with her. All the Paradox, all the unreal wrong alien energy, was torn free

of the body without resistance. Then it vanished, funnelling down into her body.

Akira tottered on her feet for a moment, then collapsed unconscious on the

ground.

"Akira!" Seras called, running to her.

"You fool! The girl! Finish it!" Pluto shouted.

Seras snapped her head up. She looked at Hotaru. The Silence Messiah was

slowly climbing to her feet. Her body regenerated as she moved, body parts

congealing out of a mass of thick black blood. The red-eyed vampire snarled and

held out her hand. The cannon she had dropped when she'd run to Akira flew to

her grasp. She pointed the muzzle at the bronze-eyed vampire girl.

Then a white-gloved hand grabbed the muzzle and pushed it down. Seras

looked up, and up. A tall man wearing a red jacket stood above her. His face

was thin and topped by messy black hair. His smile was full of fangs.

"No, Police Girl, that isn't how this ends," he informed her in a voice

like liquid malice.

"M-master..." The girl blanched.

Then he struck her with his other hand. The force of the blow was enough

to send her flying across the room into the wall. She created a dent a good two

meters deep when she hit. Her body was propped up by the wall for a moment, then

she toppled forward, unconscious.

"No, no, no..." Pluto moaned.

The tall thin man walked over and picked up the Star Seed. He looked at

it for a moment. He gazed up at Pluto. "What think you? Should I take this with

us?"

"No. Leave it here," Hotaru said. She gestured and Dylek flew back,

resting in her hand. "Pluto knows that without it, Ukyou will never survive the

journey."

"Journey?" Pluto said, standing unsteadily. Her face was white.

Hotaru turned and gestured again. Ryouga felt the power around her

ripple and rend. Akira hadn't gotten all of it. Hotaru still had enough to

complete what she had come her for. He wanted to do something, but all his

energy was gone. He felt disturbingly mortal.

"To the place where it all ends, of course," the man said with a laugh.

"The land beyond time, beyond space. The very heart of the Oversoul." Behind

Hotaru, a portal had opened. It was less a gateway than a tear, a shapeless hole

ripped in the fabric of reality. It was impossible to tell where it ended. If it

ended. "Send Ukyou my regards and tell her I was right. I will get to be there

for the final battle."

"Where are you going?" Pluto asked, her voice sad.

"The place where dreams go to die," Hotaru said as the red-coated man

stepped through the tear she had created. Then she too was gone.

OoOoO

It was impossible to tell what it was actually made of. Minako thought

it might have been marble. It was white, but there was another quality to it. It

looked unearthly. Like it was carved from a substance and by a process unknown

on earth. On its face it was an arch-shaped door, carved with roses and

surrounded by a briar-patch of thorn-covered vines. There was no handle, no

hinges; it looked completely impassable.

Minako reached out and placed her hand on the centre of the door. She

hissed and drew back her hand. She stared at the tiny drop of blood welling from

her fingertip before sucking on it. She had somehow touched one of the thorns,

despite her hand coming nowhere near the vines. The message was clear.

In fact, the entire door practically screamed with it. If there was one

thing that Minako knew when she looked upon this door, it was that she should

NOT be looking upon this door. Beyond it lay things she had no right knowing, no

right seeing. It was here to prevent people like her from ever reaching them,

and it was very good at its job.

Finally she was unable to look at it any longer. She turned and walked

away from it, across the arena. Once, it might have been a place of beauty. To

hear Luna describe it, this place had once been hidden within the "forest" of

the academy, a huge forbidden green mass beyond which only Akio and those he

chose were allowed to walk.

Of course, that was all an illusion. In reality, the forest was an empty

lot, full of scrub-grass turning brown and the icy winter wind. The arena was

nothing more than a simple circle of earth, covered in footprints and the signs

of struggle. The wall that had been built around the place was real, but the

impressive portal that had once led into it had turned out to be nothing more

spectacular than a iron gate rusted with age. There was nothing special or

unnatural about this place. Nothing except the Rose Gate.

That had not vanished when Akane had destroyed Akio's illusion machine.

Minako wondered for a moment if he had created it, or if in some ineffable way

the Rose Gate had always been here. Waiting. She couldn't help but look at it

again, and a cold shudder went down her spine.

"It's real, if that's what you're wondering."

Minako turned quickly. The two young women were standing by the

entrance, almost identical expressions of distrust on their faces. The taller of

them was the brunette who had tried to keep Minako from seeing Sailor Moon

earlier. She wore the same outfit, but it was now smudged with dirt here and

there. The other girl was shorter by almost two full heads. She was even shorter

than Ranma's cursed form, and wore a set of green hospital scrubs; her blue hair

was pulled back by an elastic. In one hand she carried a surgical cap.

"I have important work to do," the blue-haired woman said. "There are

still sick and injured human beings in this city. So I don't have time to waste

on your childish games."

Minako looked down at herself. She had chosen to come here in her golden

champion armour, but now was beginning to regret it a little. It did look a

little silly, especially when compared to the awe-inspiring majesty that was

Usagi. Minako shook her head, dispelling those thoughts.

"If you didn't want to come, you didn't have to," Minako replied.

The blue-haired girl looked down. Luna was at her feet, trying very hard

to look unassuming. Artemis sat beside her, and was placing a paw on her

shoulder for comfort. For some reason, Minako felt a small surge of jealousy at

that. But she pushed that thought aside as well.

"I came because Luna said that Princess Serenity's life may be in

danger," the girl explained.

"Yeah," the brunette cut in. She crossed her arm and started across the

lot. "What is this all about? Are you planning something else?"

"NO!" Minako held up her hand. "No... I..." She looked at her hands.

What was she planning? Marz had been infuriatingly vague. "Akio has to be

stopped. If you don't stop him, he will use everything Sailor Moon stands for to

destroy the world." A message from beyond the grave. A message from God? Minako

had no idea what it was, but it was something. Something important.

Something to cling to.

"I told Luna the truth. I really do believe Usagi is in danger," Minako

told them earnestly.

"Why should we believe you?" the brunette asked, having walked straight

up to Minako. Her green eyes narrowed. "Ever since you've gotten here, you've

been nothing but trouble. You and that Akane woman. You destroyed the city,

verbally assaulted the Princess..."

Minako clenched her hands, unable to meet the woman's accusing glare.

Why wasn't Ranma here? He would have known what to say. He might not have been

very polite, or very smart or witty. But there was something about him. He had

an earnest quality, a unshaking belief in himself that inspired her and everyone

that met him. Even if he didn't know what to say, he knew how to say it.

But Ranma wasn't here. He was gods knew where, off having adventures

with Ukyou... Why had she ever come here? Why hadn't she gone after him? How was

she-

Then she felt something rub against her leg. She looked down. Artemis

was there. He said nothing, but there eyes met. She knew, in that instant, that

he believed in her. He would always believe in her.

And why not? Had Ranma defeated Rip Van Winkle? Had Ukyou? NO! She had

done it. She had saved Ranma's life just as often as he had saved hers. Well,

almost as often.

"I'm leaving," the blue-haired woman said, turning away.

"Don't go," Minako said, looking up. It wasn't a demand. It was a

request. The blue-haired girl paused, and the brunette snorted and backed up a

step. "I just want to know... why? Why did you give up being Sailor Senshi?"

"We didn't 'give up' anything," the blue-haired woman said over her

shoulder. Minako couldn't see her expression, but her words were very level and

controlled. "The Princess saw fit to ask us for our resignation, and when we

objected let us know it was not a request."

"You too?" Minako looked at the brunette. The brunette bit her lip and

turned her head away, but she nodded. "How could you let her do that?"

"She is our Princess," the taller woman explained. "I'd die if it would

make her happy. And if it makes her happy that I live a normal life, then that's

what I'll do."

"Does it make you happy?" Minako asked. The brunette didn't answer.

"I love my husband, I love my job," the shorter woman said, adjusting

her scrubs.

"Yes, but that doesn't answer my question." Minako walked around the

taller woman and towards the blue-haired one. "Don't you feel it, in your

heart?" She placed her hand over her breast. "I want to be a normal person, too.

I have a boyfriend, and we love each other very much. I would love nothing more

than to settle down with him, maybe raise a child. I want to be a singer. I want

to dance. I want to have a real job. One where I can walk on any street on Earth

and not have to worry about vampires or zoanoids or demons trying to hunt me

down." She reached the girl and stepped around in front of her. The woman turned

her head away.

"But I can't. I have a gift. Even if it's not the strongest power in the

universe, even if it's not something that can fix every problem." She placed her

hand on the woman's shoulder. "I almost lost myself once, letting my desire to

fix the world, to make it right and good consume me almost to the point where I

lost sight of what right and good was." The girl looked at her. "Right and good

is standing up. Even when you know it won't make a difference. Even if you think

it might make the situation worse. It's standing up and being counted. It's

shouting defiance in the face of evil, not because you'll win, but because to do

otherwise is to be a part of it.

"And nobody can take that away from you. That ability to stand up. Not

all of Akio's pleasant illusions, or any of Usagi's godlike power. If you feel

it in your heart, if you feel the need to help people, to make a difference,

however small, however fleeting, it can never be stolen. It can never be

destroyed. It's in you, even now."

The blue-haired girl looked up into Minako's eyes for a few seconds.

then she closed her eyes and sighed, pushing Minako's arm off with the back of

her wrist. "A beautiful fairy tale, but I live in the real world."

Minako felt her heart sink. She could only watch as the blue-haired

doctor left the field. Then she turned to the brunette. The tall girl's pony-

tail whipped around in the wind. She had her arms crossed and her eyes closed,

deep in thought.

"Ami is right," the girl said. "I'm not a hero. I never was. I was a

failure as a Sailor Senshi. All I ever did was hold the Princess back."

"What if she needs you now?" Minako cried.

"Why should you care?"

"Because..." Minako paused. "Because she's a human being. I care about

her because I don't want to see her hurt. I don't agree with her, but I don't

hate her. Maybe she's my princess, but that doesn't matter nearly as much as the

fact that if she's in danger, I have to stand up for her!"

"If I thought she wanted my help..." the girl sighed and trailed off.

"No, the Princess has made it clear. She doesn't need protectors. She doesn't

need friends."

"People who say that are people that need them the most!" Minako

insisted.

"Ami's right, you sound like a child," the brunette said before walking

past her and out of the yard.

There was a long pause before Minako reacted.

"FUCK!"

She punched the ground hard enough to create a crater.

"Feel better?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah, I do, actually," Minako said, getting up. "I guess I'll have to

do this alone."

"No." Artemis smiled up at her. "You're never alone, Minako."

"Thank you..." Minako choked out.

"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Luna snorted.

"You're staying, too?" Minako blinked.

"Of course." She laid back on her haunches. "The others may believe

Usagi has become some sort of god, but I'm not certain I do. I swore an oath to

a woman I hold in much higher regard than Usagi. An oath that I would guide and

protect her child. If that means occasionally defying the child's will, so be

it."

"Well, one outcast Sailor Senshi and two talking cats versus whatever it

is that I was warned about?" Minako laughed, but it was short and bitter. "No

problem."

"Make that two Sailor Senshi."

Minako looked up sharply. A woman with long black hair was walking

towards her. She wore a uniform that looked remarkably like her old Sailor V

outfit, except the skirt and collar were brilliant red and she wore heels

instead of boots. Minako recognised her, even though the two had only talked a

few times in the last week. "Sailor Mars."

"Sailor Venus," Mars replied. "But you can call me Rei, if I can call

you Minako."

"I'd like that." Minako smiled and Rei smiled back.

"You heard somehow?"

"About Sailor Moon?" Minako nodded. "But I'm not certain what..."

"It's bad," Rei frowned. "Reichmann Gyro has taken her Silver Crystal."

"Reichmann Gyro!" Minako gasped. If there was anyone in Chronos that

Minako knew beyond a doubt was evil to the core, it was that man. And she only

knew about him by reputation. "But how did he-"

"It was a trick," Rei informed her. "A powerful woman known as Washuu

made a deal with Akio. She would give Usagi the illusion of ultimate power if

Usagi would kill a certain man for her. But Akio had also made a deal with Gyro,

revealing Usagi's weakness to him. When Gyro defeated Sailor Moon, he got the

Silver Crystal and Akio got Usagi."

"So, she's alive then?" Minako was surprised at how relieved she felt.

The thought of Usagi dead had hit her harder than just anybody's death would

have.

Rei looked down. "I... I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Minako grabbed her shoulders.

"I mean I don't know." Rei looked up at her, tears glittering in her

eyes. "She could be dead."

"No..." Minako grabbed her harder. "That can't be..."

"Akio needs her soul," Rei explained. "A long time ago, Akio was once a

being of incomprehensible power. But he fell and became mortal. Beyond this gate

is where his power was sealed. With Sailor Mo... with Usagi's pure soul, he

might be able to unlock that power."

Minako let her go and stepped back.

"We have to stop him," Rei explained. "No matter what it takes. He can't

be allowed to gain the power of miracles."

"What about Sailor Moon?"

"There might be nothing we can do for her," Rei admitted. "I was sent

here to defeat Akio..."

"NO!" Minako stamped her foor. "I won't let it end like this!"

"Minako, for all we know, Usagi is already dead..." Rei walked to the

Rose Gate. "But we can defend her memory. We can make certain her spirit is not

defiled."

Minako looked at her for a long moment. Then she started towards the

mundane gate that led out into the rest of the campus. "Rei, you have to hold

him. If I don't get back in time, that is."

"What?" Rei stepped towards her. "Where are you going?"

"To find her."

"Minako... look down inside yourself. Deep inside. You know this is the

right thing. I can feel it. So can you." Rei clenched her hands. "This is why

we're here, to fight Akio. To defeat him."

"You're right..." Minako looked back at her. "I can feel it, inside me.

Every instinct I have say this is the right thing. That I need to stand with

you, and fight Akio." She took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. "But I don't

believe my purpose in this world is to fight hopeless battles. I'm not here to

kill. I'm here to protect. I'm going to find her, and save her from anything.

Even if I have to storm the gates of heaven."

Rei looked at her for a long moment. She closed her eyes. "I wish I had

your courage.

"Good luck."

OoOoO

Sin Rubeo Amniculus was not a man easily provoked. He had not survived

almost four hundred years by being the kind of person easily stirred to rash

action. Very few things had ever caught him completely unprepared. Even the

still unexplained and sudden appearance of dozens of other forms of supernatural

beings in the world had not really disturbed him for more than a few days.

He was the oldest of the zoalords aside from Hamilcal Valkus and

Arkanphel himself. As such, he had become something of a de facto leader of the

council. This situation had only become more obvious when Lord Arkanphel had

placed him in charge of the military operations of Chronos seven years ago. His

strategies had been controversial, to say the least. His choice to allow the

other powers of this world to survive had bitterly divided the entire Council of

Twelve.

Arkanphel's had been the deciding vote. No one with any brains defied

Arkanphel.

So for years, his strategy had been simple: contain and control. He had

allowed the Americans, the French, the Millennium vampires, Shadowloo and the

Dark Kingdom to exist, but had bordered them in. He had created a state of cold

war. It had amused him to turn the Americans' own tactics against them. By

cutting off their trade and isolating their culture, he had crippled their

economy. By giving them petty little wars to fight, he had drained their

resources by forcing them to push more and more money into their weapons.

He had been the only zoalord unconcerned with the so-called S.T.A.R.S.

project. In time, the Americans would destroy themselves trying to compete with

Chronos' economic and military might, just like the Soviets had killed

themselves trying to compete with the Americans before them.

Then everything had fallen apart. Shadowloo had fallen in an afternoon,

and the regime that came about was alarmingly friendly with the Dark Kingdom.

The Dark Kingdom itself seemed dangerously close to becoming an ally with the

Americans. France annihilated Millennium in a masterstroke which had been so

brutally uncaring of its own people that Amniculus hadn't thought them capable

of it. Then, worst of all, the unthinkable had happened.

Purgstall had betrayed his oath, and nearly gotten killed. Someone had

taken control of land that had belonged to Chronos. An entire city, rising up in

rebellion under the banner of a woman who had vanished almost seven years ago.

Amniculus had personally taken command of the forces surrounding the city,

trying to plan the military campaign that would take down the upstarts without

too much loss of life.

And now he was flying back across the islands at full speed. He had been

forced to abandon his post, his job half-finished. Something was wrong back in

Tokyo, and he was going to have to go take care of it personally. He almost

wished that they had just lost contact with the city. Instead, much more

disturbingly, they had maintained contact but everyone back at the city seemed

to have gone insane. All the radio traffic from the city was full of nonsense,

of screaming voices and babbled words.

To make it worse, it was spreading.

Amniculus tried to reach his lieutenants when he got near the city.

Sending out his telepathic will, he attempted to contact the zoanoids he had

left in control of the Pillars of Heaven. All he got for his trouble was a

headache. The city was a miasma of chaos. A lesser being might have been driven

mad by the sheer power of it. It was like everything in the city had gone

insane, all at once. But Sin Rubeo Amniculus was a zoalord, and thus made of

sterner stuff.

He turned sharply around the great mountain and the city itself came

into view. His flight staggered to a halt and he hovered there for a long

minute, staring in open-mouthed horror at what he saw. Seven years ago, this

city had been destroyed. The great battle against the Orochi and his aragami had

levelled most of it, and taken thousands and thousands of lives. But that was

nothing compared to this.

This was sheer chaos. He could see them in the streets. They were

fighting, endlessly fighting. Fighting and killing each other. They were twisted

parodies of people, screaming monsters with human bodies but dressed in

outlandish costumes. They would have been almost comical if most of them weren't

covered in the blood and viscera of the slain. Vehicles burned and buildings

toppled and the creatures danced and cavorted among the destruction. Above them

the sky was swirling clouds, dark and traced through with bolts of black

lightning.

His eyes rose to the Pillars. The trinity of buildings, a testament to

Chronos' power, were still there. There was a smoking hole near the top of the

west tower, but other than that they were intact. On top of them, however...

"Gyro..." Amniculus hissed. His eyes narrowing, he set a grim expression

on his visage and propelled himself across the city. It took but a minute to

reach the top of the towers, where he found Reichmann Gyro, if that was what he

could still be called. His body was a twisted parody of his former battleform,

with great black wings beating listlessly at the sky. In his clawed hand he

carried a dark sword.

"Amniculus," Gyro said, a smile crossing his features. "Do you like what

I have done to this place?"

"So, Frederick was right..." Amniculus mused as he set himself down on

the roof. He pulled his cloak tight and stared at the thing in front of him. "We

never should have trusted you."

"No, you should not!" Gyro broke out into a body-shaking round of

laughter. "I will give you one chance to leave me, Amniculus. Tell your master I

wait for him. Tell Arkanphel I am waiting to take his head."

"You're insane," Amniculus hissed. He gathered a bit of power, allowing

it to manifest as an aura around him.

"Oh please," Gyro said, sneering. "You were no match for me before my

ascension. Even now, I continue to gather power from the chaos beneath us. The

endless war, feeding my sword and my will." He laughed. "You can not hope to

defeat me, because my will is LAW!"

"Nothing you have done here is that impressive," Amniculus stated

evenly. "I doubt Arkanphel even cares."

Gyro looked at him sharply. Then he smiled. "No, you're right. What does

he care about Tokyo?" He held out his hand. "No, Arkanphel has plans. Grand

plans. This pitiful planet is the least of his worries. He wishes to chase his

parents, does he not?"

Amniculus stared as an image formed in the space over Gyro's hand. It

was framed in a seething ball of darkness, like one of the proto-black holes

that the zoalord could use as weapons. It was an image of a long valley, flooded

to create an inland ocean. Amniculus recognized it.

"That's... the womb..." He glanced up at Gyro.

"Yes, the place where even now Arkanphel is growing his fleet. Ships.

The ladder to space. He wishes to leave us behind, abandon the world just as he

was abandoned." Gyro's eyes twinkled with mirth for a moment. "But he will not

escape me so easily."

With a sharp crack Gyro closed his hand around the image, crushing it.

For a moment Amniculus wondered what that was supposed to mean, then he felt it.

The building shook. Not a lot. Very little in fact. But seconds later he felt

it through his powers. A great wave across the psychic plane, a massive death

scream. The collective death rattle of millions of zoanoids and humans, snuffed

out in an instant.

Millions killed, an entire sea destroyed... from half a planet away!

"NO!" Amniculus roared and unleashed his power. A great beam of power

lanced from the gem in his forehead, but Gyro parried it with a flick of his

sword. Amniculus concentrated, trying to evoke his battleform, but it was

already too late.

Gyro stepped forward, his sword flashing. Amniculus felt himself

falling. As he saw his shoulders rising up in front of him, he sent one last

warning to his master. Then the great black sword cleaved Amniculus' body in two

before burying itself in his forehead.

OoOoO

The Princess came awake on a field of flowers. She looked so fragile, so

human, lying there on the rose petals. Her clothing looked typical of any other

woman her age: a simple brown skirt and matching blouse. It was nothing like the

armour of light she had worn only a few minutes before. Her power, her ability

had been shattered.

Everything was going according to plan.

The witch watched from the shadows as her brother started across the

field towards the Princess. The girl blinked and shielded her eyes from the

light above. What must be running through her head? Was she wondering where she

was? Was she frightened? Was she confused? Did she know what had become of her,

how utterly she had been defeated?

The roses stretched out into infinity. This place was their place, a

place just for her brother and the Princess. He had asked her for it and she had

made it for them. The angry girl might have shattered the illusion machine, but

the witch was not called such because she was mean-spirited.

A slight smile crossed her features. Well, not just because of that, in

any case.

The Princess had risen up slightly, still lying on the ground but now

using her arms to push herself upwards. She had spotted the Prince approaching.

He was resplendent.

His long pale lavender hair fell around his shoulders like a halo. His

perfect face was dark and kind, his green eyes shone with concern. He wore a

white uniform, every seam immaculate, every thread flawlessly stitched. The

Princess's breath caught at the sight of him. He came to a stop less than a

meter away.

"Usagi..." he said, his voice full of sadness.

"Akio..." She replied softly. Her kind blue eyes fell and she stared at

the ground. Her entire body hunched. Then she began to jerk, a loud sob escaping

from her closed mouth. "I failed... I lost..."

"Yes, you did." His voice was cold and hard. The Princess looked up at

him in shock. "Because of you, because of your arrogance, millions of people

will suffer. Many people will die."

"Akio!" Usagi sounded shocked. Silver tears drifted down her cheeks.

The Prince took a step towards her and lowered himself to one knee. He

gazed down into her eyes. "I promised I would never lie to you," he explained,

his voice still formal and distant.

"Then it's over..." The Princess buried her face in the roses. "All I

wanted... was to save..."

The witch watched as her brother reached out and placed a hand on the

Princess's shoulder. It was almost over. All this time, all this waiting, so

long that the witch had long ago ceased caring. So many heroes that had fallen

at the end. So many that had not been enough. And this girl. This girl and all

her power.

It had made her believe. The witch wanted to run across the field, to

sink a poison dagger into the girl's heart. Because for an eternity the witch

had suffered. She still suffered. Beyond this place, in an infinity of other

layers, the witch suffered. Blood and pain and torment was her fate. And now,

this girl might be the end of it.

It made her hate her. It made the witch despise her. Because for

eternity the witch had existed with the most exquisite torment of all, the

torment of hopelessness. But the Princess had spoken so brightly of hope. While

they were alone, away from her brother, the Princess had spoken to her. She had

spoken of hope and release, of an end to her torment. She had believed it so

deeply, wanted it so badly that even the Witch, who had seen so many fail that

she had lost count, had felt her cynicism lift.

She hated because she knew it would never end. Her brother would not

lift her torment. He needed her. He needed her sacrifice, he needed her pain to

summon the Rose Gate. In his victory her fate would be sealed. But the witch

could do nothing but watch. Because it was her fault that the world had fallen,

and this was only what she deserved.

The Prince reached down and cupped the Princess' chin. He lifted her

head and brushed away her tears with one hand. "You wanted to save me," he

completed for her. Anguish filled the Princess' features. She nodded mutely.

"But this is beyond your power. I have told you again and again and you never

believed me. Now, now do you finally believe?"

"Yes..." She gasped out. The word looked like it had physically hurt

her.

"Then you are finally ready," the Prince told her. He pulled her to his

breast. "The power of Miracles... can only be attained by a will that believes

in the impossible, and defies it anyway." He tilted her head up and bent his own

towards her. "Usagi, have I ever lied to you?"

"No..." she replied, her breath catching.

"I have never lied to you. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how

much it would have helped me. I have never once deceived you." Their faces grew

closer. His hand moved down, cupping her breast. She moaned. "So I ask you this

now. I ask you to trust me just this once. On all the truth I have shared with

you, on all the love that you have for me... I ask you to believe me just this

once." Usagi stared up at his face.

"Trust me, Usagi, and I will save the world," he whispered, the only lie

he would ever say to this golden-haired girl. Her eyes shimmered, and then she

nodded, just once.

His hand pulled away from her breast and beneath it a light grew. It was

a globe of radiance, so brilliant it was impossible to see into. The Princess'

back arched and she gasped, her eyes closing. A hilt emerged from the light,

right above her heart. The Prince wrapped his fingers around the hilt and drew

forth a sword. It was a perfect sword, pure silver and mythic. He drew the blade

from her breast and held it out away from her body. Then he smiled.

Usagi cried out as he dropped her. He stood up and began to walk away.

The field of roses faded. The dead garden they were in returned. The sun became

cold and distant, the air sharp and loud with the shriek of wind. The Prince

began walking across the dry ground.

"Ak... Akio..." Usagi's voice was weak.

"Don't try to get up," the Prince told her without looking back. "This

sword is your soul. The grand total of all you are. Without it, you are

nothing."

"You..." She clawed at the ground, her fingers scratching at the dusty

earth.

"Lied?" He chuckled. "I told you never to trust me." He looked down at

the sword in his hands. "Come along, Anthy. The Rose Gate awaits."

The witch stepped out of the shadows and looked down at the fallen

princess. She was coughing. She lacked even the strength to lift up her head. To

think, the witch had once hoped this pitiful girl-child could save her. The

Prince was already out of the yard before the witch turned away from the sight.

"Anthy..." The witch paused at the weak voice. Nothing could survive

long without its soul. In time, her body would wither away. Without help, she

would die. "Please... don't leave... me..."

Anthy didn't even look back.

To Be Continued...

Blade: Normally at this point, we'd do author's notes.

Epsilon: But this chapter turned out to be about twice as big as we expected.

Blade: And still not finished anyway.

Epsilon: Yeah, so, this is part A of chapter 28. Part B will be out next month.

Blade: Anyone who complains should note that this means you essentially get an

entire other month and chapter of Hybrid Theory out of this. Which is a good

thing, OF COURSE.

Epsilon: But not an ACTUAL chapter. Because if it was, we wouldn't hit our self-

imposed thirty-chapter maximum chapter number limit.

Blade: And we wouldn't just be playing semantic arguments with ourselves to

convince ourselves that we didn't let this book bloat out of control.

Epsilon: Nope.

Blade: ...

Epsilon: ...

Blade: Damnit! We were supposed to give half-assed notes here! This is as long

as an actual author's note!

Epsilon: I know! We won't give a preview! That'll make this half-assed!

Blade: It helps that you haven't even written half of the next part!

Epsilon: Right!


	29. Reanimation B Side

HIII! We're the Amazoness Quartet, and we're finally going to get to introduce a

chapter!

Yup! It's awesome, you see last time Reichmann Gyro did something evil and

everyone was going to fight him in Tokyo and...

What do you mean we're done?

Well FINE, we didn't want to do your stupid recap anyway!

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 28: Reanimation - B Side

The sound of water dripping surrounded Nabiki as she opened her eyes.

There was a clock here, an elaborate series of gears and springs that was

powered by the steady fall of water droplets. One per second, each marking out

the slow, inevitable passage of time.

"So, what do we do now?" Nabiki asked the woman next to her. Sailor

Pluto was also looking at the clock. Her expression was melancholy, her soft red

eyes seeming to not really take in what she was seeing.

"You could try..." Pluto waved her hand at the sword Nabiki was

carrying. Nabiki looked down at it, belted safely to her waist again. Her hand

hadn't withdrawn from the hilt since Pluto had returned it. Nabiki had nearly

laughed when the Senshi had given it back. A few minutes earlier, and the 'deal'

with Link would have been a moot point.

When you really thought about the timing, it seemed like too much of a

coincidence. Link's attack on Nabiki, Ryouga taking the sword, Ukyou's talk with

Link, Ryouga's confrontation with Hotaru... they all happened in such a precise

order. Pieces of a puzzle fitting together in ways that were only obvious in

hindsight. Accomplishing little changes that added up to world-shaking events.

When Nabiki had first felt Pluto and the others return from the void in

the undercity of D-Point, she had immediately scanned the Senshi's mind to find

out what had happened. Akira's mind was as annoyingly off-limits as it had been

since her 'union' with Ukyou in the Oversoul, and Nabiki was not about to touch

Ryouga's mind without his permission. But Pluto was a person she could sneak her

way into without being noticed.

After seeing what had happened in the undercity chamber, Nabiki wished

she hadn't. "I... I tried." Nabiki looked down at the sword, her lips curling.

All her effort to save this last wish, and it did nothing but fail when she

needed it most. "Hotaru and Chris, they're both beyond my ability to effect at

this point."

"I thought as much," Pluto replied with a sigh. "To think, he could

accomplish so much..."

Nabiki nodded. "I know. He erased the last twenty-four hours from the

mind of everyone in the city, including Tethys. I mean, I could do that, but the

sheer scale of it..." Nabiki shook her head. "Chris makes what I can do look

like nothing."

"Yes." Pluto adjusted her grip on her key staff. She held it almost as

protectively as Nabiki did the Wishing Sword. "I think he actually reversed time

around here. He didn't just repair the damage caused by the fight, he erased it

retroactively."

"Great, so he can manipulate time, too," Nabiki grumbled.

"There's only one person who can deal with him," Pluto said, turning to

face Nabiki.

"Yeah." Nabiki looked across the chamber. The room was a masterwork, a

titanic indoor plaza built as the very hub of the City of Black Ice. It was

three levels tall, with concentric tiered balconies arrayed around the great pit

in the centre. The pit that extended down into a darkness lit with flashes of

rainbow lighting. Down that pit was the original D-Point, where the few youma

too violent to join Tethys' kinder, gentler Dark Kingdom still lived. Nabiki's

layman estimate figured that Tethys could fit most of the population of the city

in this plaza. From the way people were gathering, she guessed that was exactly

what the Dark Queen wanted.

Opposite them, all the way across the chamber, were Ukyou and Akira.

Akira looked surprisingly healthy for someone who had just been bleeding from

every orifice not a half-hour ago. Pluto and Seras had been forced to carry her

out of the undercity, but now she was back on her feet and looking almost none

the worse for wear.

Except for her eyes. Akira and she had passed each other briefly while

they were heading to this meeting. Akira had looked the same as always, except

that there seemed to be something behind her eyes. It was small, and unless you

knew the woman very well, you might have missed it. But there was something

strange and alien there now. It sent a shiver down Nabiki's spine.

As soon as Ukyou had returned from the surface, Akira had grabbed her

and dragged her off to the most private corner of the plaza she could find.

Nabiki very much wanted to know what they were talking about. Unfortunately,

they were both quite successfully blocking her. But then again, there were a LOT

of people here. It was a bit of a chore, focusing on so many people, using them

to filter the sound of the room out. But it was within her abilities. It was a

trick Nabiki had discovered to allow her to operate without alerting a nearby

zoalord. Just tapping dozens of minds subtly and using their unified perceptions

to paint a picture of what was happening.

"...going to stay behind trying to heal something that can't be healed,"

Akira was saying.

"Akira, I can't stand..."

"What, the thought of me getting hurt?" Akira replied sharply. "Get used

to it. I'm not a china doll. I fight. I hurt. I bleed. If this is going to be

any kind of relationship, you need to get used to that."

"It's not that..." Ukyou looked down. "If you died fighting some monster

or some psychopath, it would hurt. I... care about you a lot. But I could accept

that, I think. I can live with it. But every time I use the Third Circle, I'll

just hurt you more. The Paradox I generate doesn't go away. It pollutes, it

corrupts..."

"It'll do that whether I'm with you or not," Akira reminded her.

"Indeed." Ukyou placed her hand on the wall. "I can't avoid it, Akira.

Not after what Link told me. If what she said is true, and I find it

frighteningly easy to believe, then I'm going to have to use the Third Circle

again. In fact, I'm going to have to push it more than I ever have before."

"What did she tell you?"

Nabiki perked up.

"I... it doesn't matter." Ukyou waved her hand. "It doesn't really

change anything. Either I'm going to have to face Chris, or Hotaru, or the

Nameless itself. I'll need the Third Circle to stand a chance."

Akira paused. "You think it'll be easier if I'm not there."

"Akira, I-!" Ukyou cut herself off.

"If I'm there, right in front of you, screaming and bleeding because of

what you're doing, you're afraid you can't go through with it." Akira crossed

her arms. "You could kill me, and if it comes down to a choice between that

and..."

"I'm not certain I can do it," Ukyou murmured.

"Get over it," Akira snapped. Ukyou looked up sharply.

"Akira, you're not developing a martyr complex..."

"NO! Do I look crazy?" Akira grabbed Ukyou's shoulders. "I've almost

died twice today. In the last hour, I was almost wiped out by Hotaru, and my own

stupid bravery. I very, very much want to live!" She looked down. "Heck, you're

lucky I didn't grab you and strip off your clothes like a wild animal right

there in front of everyone."

"I..." Ukyou paused. She quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I..." Akira blushed. "We'll talk about it later, okay?" She took a

breath. "Because there IS going to be a later, for both of us."

"You know... when you say it..." Ukyou reached up and wrapped her

fingers around Akira wrists. She pulled the taller woman's arms down and cradled

them against her chest. "I almost believe it."

"Don't 'almost' anything," Akira snapped in mock-anger.

Ukyou laughed. "Yeah, you're right." She leaned forward, placing her

forehead against Akira's, making the other woman blush even deeper. "If it

comes down to a choice between your life, and something even worse... I'll just

find another way."

"Any idea what that will be?" Akira asked softly.

"No. Not a clue." Ukyou was still laughing. "As far as I know, it's

impossible."

Nabiki pulled herself back to the core of her own being again. She

allowed the walls between herself and the Oversoul to rise. Maybe it was best to

give them some privacy. Pluto was looking at her.

"Is she ready?"

"No. Probably not." Nabiki shook her head. "But how can anyone be ready

for this? Are you?"

Pluto chuckled grimly. "No, I suppose I'm not. Seven years I've had to

prepare myself for these last moments." She looked down at the pouch at her

side. "Can you feel it? Can you feel what Hotaru is doing?"

Nabiki nodded. It was almost like a wound in the Oversoul, if such a

thing was even possible. Nabiki had been wondering ever since she had regained

her powers why it felt so familiar, and she had finally but it together while

listening to Ukyou and Akira talk. It was exactly like the void that had been at

the centre of Lotus Infinite. It was a all-consuming nothing, an aberration

against everything that was natural. She could feel it, distantly, but growing

closer.

Someone was drawing it closer. Someone in this world. Gyro. Whatever he

was doing, it was feeding it. He was drawing it closer to the world with each

passing second. If he wasn't stopped, if Hotaru wasn't stopped, then it would

burst free from the confines of the land of dreams and enter the physical world.

And then...

"If Hotaru manages to pull Oblivion free, it'll be too late," Pluto

answered Nabiki's unasked question. "It's been building in Elysium for years,

ever since the last battle in Tokyo, when Akane sealed Pharaoh 90 in the space

between worlds. Now it's come full circle. Reichmann Gyro is gathering the power

of Chaos in that city, right beneath the hole Akane sealed. If the power grows

too great, he'll pop the barriers between worlds like a soap bubble. At that

point, Hotaru can allow Oblivion unfettered access to the physical universe."

"So, all we have to do is go down there, prevent Reichmann Gyro from

gathering any more power, follow Hotaru into a world of dreams and nightmares

and fight her at the heart of HER power, all while still worrying about Chris

interfering at any point he feels like it?"

"That about sums it up." Pluto rubbed her forehead. "The worst part is,

I don't think any of us stand a chance against Hotaru at all. Not you or Ranma

or Tethys will be able to stop her. In the undercity, we had her overwhelmed

with sheer power and she still won..."

"It wasn't your fault," Nabiki cut in quickly.

"I never said..."

"You didn't have to." Nabiki tapped the woman's forehead. "It's oozing

out of your subconscious like swamp gas. You can't blame yourself for what

happened down there."

"I COULD have ended it. I could have destroyed the Star Seed-"

"So?" Nabiki frowned and drew her blade free a bit. "You think that

would have been the end of it? Don't you find it convenient that this sword just

happened to be down there, when you had the 'last' chance to avert the Prophecy?

I bet if you'd gone through with your threat, I'd be short my final wish right

about now."

Pluto had no response to that. Nabiki sighed and pushed away from the

wall. "You can't think of yourself as a puppet, Pluto." She walked through the

crowd to the railing, leaning against it. Across the plaza there was a stage

that floated in mid-air, directly above the pit. "I've learned a lot of things

about the human soul since I made my wish. There are things I know that would

frighten people. If they knew how small, how fragile their being was, how much

all of them are connected... How EVERYTHING is connected, it would terrify

them. But the most frightening thing of all I've learned is how strong we are.

"I can invade your mind, and rewrite your entire memory. I can use your

body like a marionette. I can learn all your deepest secrets. I can do almost

anything I want. But I can't change your SOUL. I can't change YOU. That thing,

that small fragile little piece of the cosmos that is the only thing that

separates you from a rock or a gust of wind, is the most powerful thing in the

universe. I can't destroy it. Bison couldn't destroy it. I don't even think

Chris can destroy it. Not with a million Kalias.

"You're the first person I've ever said this to, because it's too

humbling. But I think I've been humbled enough. I think there is only one thing

sacred in all creation, and this is each and every soul. So even if Fate is

trying to push you around like a pawn on a chessboard, you have to realise that

there is something in you, something precious, that can NEVER be changed."

For a long time, Pluto did not respond. Nabiki turned, to see what the

woman had to say. She could have picked it out of her mind, but for some reason

she found the thought distasteful. Then she came to a sudden stop, her eyes

widening.

Ryouga looked back at her. His eyes were sunken, his face more than a

little pale. She gulped and looked him up and down. His body was covered with

scars, hundreds of them. His sleeves had been torn off his shirt, and the scarf

he wore around his neck had vanished. Aside from his face, he looked like a

roadmap of pain. For a long moment, he just stood there staring at her. She felt

her heart speed up.

"Ryouga..." she breathed. How long had he been there? She hadn't even

felt him approach.

"Ryouga!" Ranma called, bouncing over. He landed next to the slightly

taller man, grinning from ear to ear. "You're looking good as new. Man, having

your arm chopped off must suck, huh?"

Ryouga grunted. Ranma grabbed his arm and started probing it with his

fingers. "So, what's the secret, old pal?"

"I am not your 'old pal'," Ryouga informed him, pulling his arm away.

"Then as one martial artist to another, how do you do it?" Ranma slid up

and pushed his face in close to Ryouga's. "The putting your arm back on thing."

"It's not a martial arts technique," Ryouga replied coolly. He looked

over Ranma, towards Nabiki. "Why don't you ask her how to do it?" He smiled.

"She can 'help' you."

Ranma looked at Nabiki, his eyes narrowing. "No offence, Ryouga. But

Nabiki is as likely to help me as I am to grow a second head."

"Thanks," Nabiki replied dryly.

"So, whatcha say you help me out?" Ranma smoothly returned his attention

to the eternal wanderer.

"Just leave me alone, Ranma," Ryouga snapped. He started pushing away

through the crowd. "I don't even know why I came here..."

"Hey!" Ranma ran after him. "Come on, Ryouga. Don't be such a stick in

the mud. We're getting ready for some genuine heroing here. A one hundred

percent pure battle against no-nonsense no-grey-area evil. Don't tell me you're

going to miss out on that?"

"Do you practice being this annoying?" Ryouga yelled.

"Yes." Ranma grinned. "Now, come on, I'll introduce you to this guy

Skullomania. He's a hoot..." Ranma wrapped his arm around Ryouga's shoulder and

dragged him away. Nabiki watched until they vanished from sight. She released a

breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

"You've got it bad," Pluto said.

"Yeah." Nabiki looked at her. "If only figuring out what to do about him

was as easy a problem as Chris and Hotaru." Pluto chuckled. "Hah. I knew you

were still capable of laughing."

"I guess so," Pluto tossed her hair. "I think I've made a decision,

Nabiki."

"A good one?"

"A very risky one," Pluto replied.

"Well, welcome to the club." Nabiki tilted her head to the side. "Though

you should tell me later. It looks like our host is about to make a speech."

OoOoO

Tethys did not appear in front of them in a burst of magic. She did not

float out of the sky, nor rise from the ground like a phantom. She was capable

of all these things, but she chose not to do them. Instead she walked to the

floating platform, up a spiralling staircase made of impossibly delicate-looking

ice. She walked to the centre of the room like a mortal.

Nabiki could feel the crowd respond. They knew how powerful Tethys was.

She had demonstrated her power for them sufficiently. Now, they saw her as a

woman, a mortal that walked with them. The feeling passed through the crowd like

a fire. It was a silent awe, a respectful silence that infected the entire

crowd.

Suddenly Nabiki realised the truth about Tethys' power. It wasn't in her

magic, or her tricks. It was here, in this room. It was in every person in the

room. Nothing sinister or fiendish. Nabiki could feel the people's devotion. It

united them.

While other powers in the world had concentrated on personal power,

Tethys had been gathering a nation. They had made themselves gods. They had

created weapons of men. They found the special people and elevated them ever

higher. But Tethys had done none of that. She had scoured the world, finding the

lost, the disenfranchised, the hurt and the weak, and she had created this

nation.

Nabiki gripped the guardrail tightly as she looked out across the plaza.

It was full of Tethys' people. It was her nation, forged from the scraps thrown

away by the rest of the world. It was her army. It belonged to her through bonds

of trust and faith and loyalty that Nabiki wouldn't have thought possible before

coming here.

When she reached the centre of the room, Tethys stretched out her hands

to call for silence, though it was hardly necessary. Everyone was paying

attention to her. All of Nabiki's friends and every citizen of the city; human

and youma and Senshi and other things.

"I will not waste words pandering to your emotions, or trying to candy-

coat what I am about to ask you." Tethys' voice carried all over the room. It

spoke without echo or intense volume. She sounded like she was standing right in

front of Nabiki, speaking directly at her and her alone. "I am going to ask you

to die."

A murmur went through the crowd, but it was short-lived. Tethys brought

her arms down slowly, and the murmur died off in time with the gesture. She

frowned. "For seven years, we have made this land a sanctuary. In this city we

have existed apart from the pointless war and bloodshed. This can go on no

longer. There comes a point where people can't hide anymore. Where we have to

risk our personal safety for the safety of the world. There is a responsibility

we have to the world, no, all creation. A responsibility to stand up and be

counted."

Tethys' platform slowly rotated, allowing her to take in the entire

room. "Far south of here, in the city of Tokyo, a madman has gained great power.

He wields it like a hammer. Witness the extent of what he is capable of..."

Tethys gestured and the room darkened.

In the air above them, an image formed: light reflected and refracted by

a multitude of crystals, tracing together to form a hologram. It was a picture

of an immense sea, seen from far up in the atmosphere. The land around it was

dry, full of great hills and mountains. The Red Sea; Nabiki managed to pick the

information from the many minds around her. It was the centre of Arkanphel's

'Project Noah', the master plan that Chronos had turned its attention to for the

last seven years. Nabiki herself only knew a few things about the plan, but the

main thing she knew was that it involved space travel.

As the crowd watched, a flaw developed in the image. At first Nabiki

thought it was a distortion in the view, but then she realised that it was

happening inside the vision. The air was twisting, like a lens or mirror

swirling the image so everything beyond it seemed to twist and distort. Slowly

the distortion collapsed, forming into a tiny ball of darkness surrounded by

crackling arcs of blue lightning. The sea began to writhe beneath it. Great

gouts, waterspouts dozens of meters across, began to spiral free of the surface

and surge up towards the tiny ball of darkness. More and more spawned, growing

and multiplying until there were thousands of waterspouts, some over a hundred

meters across, rising into the sky. A great shape ripped free of the sea, and

Nabiki realised it was a ship.

Only then did she get a sense of the true scale of the image. The ship

looked like a child's toy. It was long and organic, looking like something more

at home in those places of the ocean where there was no light than in the air.

There were things, tiny dots racing across its surface frantically. Nabiki

realised with a sick fascination that those were people, more accurately

underwater-form zoanoids, desperately clinging to the surface of the ship for

salvation. As the ship rose, it was like a great hand grabbed it and began to

squeeze; large sections of the hull collapsed inward as the entire thing began

to implode under the pressure of its own weight.

More ships began to be wrenched free of the water. An entire armada.

Nabiki could only stare open-mouthed. The tiny ball of darkness seemed to pulse

once, twice...

Then it exploded.

The image slowed down, so they could all see every nanosecond of the

devastation. Everything near the orb was thrown back violently, shredding into

ribbons by the sudden reversal of forces. The water vapourised into a cloud of

steam that boiled out in all directions. The entire sea. Billions of liters of

water, gone in an instant. The ground distended downward, the surface cracking

apart with great red lines. A geyser of molten lava erupted from the centre of

what had once been a sea, rising nearly two kilometers into the air. Smaller

geysers began to appear at random, racing out from the central pillar in all

directions like some demented version of a starscape.

And as the image drew back, and back even further, Nabiki could see the

devastation. Entire mountain ranges, entire nations torn apart by the shockwave.

What had once been Saudi Arabia and Egypt were swept clean. The blast reached up

into the Mediterranean, sending great tsunamis across to the southern nations of

Europe. It devastated much of northern Africa and nearly all the Middle East.

In its wake it left a crater nearly two thousand kilometers wide.

Nabiki felt her knees giving out. She clutched to the guard rail, trying

not to fall. Others near her were not so strong. Many were weeping. Others

vomiting. Some were praying.

Ukyou's face had gone pale, her eyes wide. Akira held her from behind,

but her eyes were closed and she was looking away. Ranma looked somber, his blue

eyes having lost some of their cheerful glow. Ryouga's fists were clenched, his

jaw working angrily. Pluto was the only person who didn't look surprised.

The image faded away, the lights coming back. "That is the power of our

enemy. Reichmann Gyro is strong. Stronger than me. That single strike... the

world will be feeling the ramifications of that for eons. Make no mistake when I

say that this is the horror which we must fight now."

Tethys drew everyone's attention back to her with a gesture. "Make no

mistake, many of you will die. But I do not intend to lose this. Powerful he may

be, but Reichmann Gyro is still mortal. He can be defeated. WE can defeat him."

She looked around the room. "And we will not be alone. The heroes of Japan will

fight with us. And those I have allied with over the years will come to our aid.

Even now I appear to them, to gather up all our power. Because we must strike

now. Gyro's power grows with each passing second, and he wishes to test that

power against Arkanphel and his former comrades. Trust me when I say that the

battle he wishes is not one that we, that anyone on Earth, will survive.

"So we will give him our battle. Our war. I understand if you don't wish

to go. There are ships within this city. I can send those of you who fear what

is coming away. There is no shame in running."

For a moment, Tethys looked straight at Akira and their eyes met. Nabiki

couldn't help it. She launched her mind forward, piercing into Tethys' mind like

an arrow. There she saw it. The truth.

Tethys was willing to die for this. She was willing to die to defeat

Gyro, and Chaos, the force he served. Nabiki absorbed all of Tethys' great plan,

her mad, suicidal plan to end all war in the universe. And she saw the one

weakness in that plan.

Desire. The desire of one human soul for another. The yearning that

every human soul had for another. It was intrinsic to the human condition. From

the Oversoul we are born, Nabiki knew, and to it we will one day return. In

between, we all strive to capture some small memory of that unity, that perfect

togetherness. For a moment, Tethys had found that unity. She had found love.

It would have destroyed her. That was why she had turned against Akira.

That was why she had made the girl hate her. Not out of malice, but because to

undertake her plan she could not afford to be human. She could not afford to

care about anyone, or anything. Because if she loved anyone, then in the end she

might not be able to give up everything. Then, Chaos would win. And to Tethys,

that was worse than any other fate.

Tethys looked at Nabiki and made a dismissive wave at her brow. Nabiki

felt her trying to force her out, and allowed it. She lowered her head as Tethys

continued.

"Seven years ago I set out to learn what it was that humans fight for.

And I found it. We fight for each other. We fight to survive. We fight for what

we believe in. We fight because it is our nature. Choose the answer that most

pleases you. But when there is no other choice but to fight or to die, I choose

to fight. Not just against Reichmann Gyro, but against all the things like him.

All the mad demigods that would use our world as their battleground.

"In their struggles with each other, they have walked over your lives.

They have destroyed your homes. They have slaughtered your families and driven

you into exile. But you preserved. You rebuilt. You made new homes, here. You

made new families, here. You found something worth fighting for, each other. So

you wish to give up, just because he is so powerful? Will you sell everything

you have made here so cheaply?

"Or will you fight?"

The roar from the crowd was deafening.

OoOoO

Akane placed her hand against the clear crystal wall and stared out. The

sun was dipping below the horizon, turning the curve of the planet into a

brilliant pearlescent egg. It looked so small from up here. The mountains and

forests and plains vanished into tiny blurs, the oceans and seas were glittering

and huge. White clouds swirled beneath them, thick and thin they ran. It was

breathtaking.

"Why hasn't anybody noticed this?" she asked.

Chris chuckled. "Because I didn't want them to," he answered. He walked

up behind her. She didn't turn around and look at him. She couldn't. She

couldn't look at his face. She couldn't look at that horrible empty eye. Her

hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword Katsuhito had given her.

"You tore an entire mountain out of the earth and placed it in orbit,"

Akane continued slowly.

"Yes." Chris paused. "Perhaps a bit ostentatious, I admit. But I suppose

I can be allowed a few affectations. Besides, this isn't just for my benefit,

its for theirs as well."

Akane turned and looked to where Chris was gesturing. They weren't what

Akane had been expecting, these people in white lab coats and glasses. They

looked like scientists, doctors, and philosophers; not fanatics and apostles.

Then again, what HAD she been expecting? She'd never really given much thought

to Chris since their last meeting in Tokyo. Even after Washuu had begun to tell

her a bit about what he was doing, Akane had not really wanted to be part of any

movement against him.

But these people did not look insane. They looked more rational and

composed, truth be told, than the kind of people that Akane had been associating

with in the resistance. When Chris had arrived back at his hidden base in

Luxembourg, the residents had barely batted an eye. A few had approached him to

give reports on various projects and forecasts they were tracking. He had

responded to them with a few brief words and simple instructions. Then he had

made certain that Akane and Angel were taken care of for a few moments as he

proceeded to the centre of the base.

His voice had rung out across the entire structure. Akane was certain of

it. He had said only one thing. "I am going to raise us into low Earth orbit

now." Which he did. Akane had no idea how large the complex was, but she stared

as she looked out a nearby viewscreen and watched it tear loose from the earth.

It had been built under an abandoned city, which shattered and toppled away as

the massive metallic base floated free from the grip of gravity.

What struck Akane was how unaffected the people in the base were. It

wasn't that they didn't notice. Even though there was no shaking or the

slightest bit of turbulence as they levitated majestically into the sky, Chris

had set all the viewscreens through the complex to display what was happening

outside it. No, the people noticed, they just accepted it with a casual ease

that made Akane shiver.

To these people there was no need for awe and worship. They knew Chris

was a god, as he claimed. There were no sudden conversions of the doubtful,

because there had been no doubtful among his flock. And yet...

Akane looked over to the other side of the room. Angel was sitting with

a red-haired woman, holding her hand and talking softly to her. From what Akane

had gathered, the woman's homeland had just been devastated by the massive

explosion she had seen out of the observation deck less than a half-hour ago.

And she wasn't the only one. More than a few people here had been horrified by

Reichmann Gyro's casual display of wanton destructive power.

But with a smile and a chuckle Chris had informed them that it was 'not

a problem' and would 'soon be taken care of', so the people here had soldiered

on. Some of the men and women in this complex displayed looks of stoic

disinterest they were using to cover their sadness. In other words, they were

acting like human beings.

Akane almost wanted them to be mindless fanatics. She wanted them to be

automatons, or monsters, or something. Because if they were it would have made

that gnawing doubt in the centre of her gut go away. She would have been able to

safely say that Chris was very much a monster, that no matter his power or

aspirations he only accomplished evil ends. But Akane had been given a tour of

the facility while Chris was 'busy' with other matters.

These people genuinely believed they were working towards the greater

good. She had seen them working on projects that she barely understood, but that

did not look malevolent as far as Akane could tell. There was an entire lab

dedicated to finding cures for biological superplagues, another dedicated to

averting natural catastrophes and on and on. In fact, most of the staff seemed

to be busy at the moment dealing with the aftershocks of Gyro's explosion. How

much more devastating would the blast had been if these people, with their

frighteningly advanced technology, had not stepped in to stop the natural chain

reactions?

There was no doubt about it; Akane had watched them working, and had

seen it happening. Watched Chris occasionally step in when a problem was too

large for them to deal with. They stopped the earthquakes from spreading across

the globe, they stopped the chain reaction of volcanic eruptions that would have

made the Pacific "Ring of Fire" a less poetic description. As horrible as the

devastation was, without Chris and his cadre working from up here it would have

been much worse.

"Angel," Chris said, turning to face the young woman. Angel turned to

him, her expression perking up. "Would you take Petra out for a while?"

"I..." Angel paused and looked at Akane. Akane stared back, unsure what

the other woman was thinking. Finally Angel nodded and wrapped her arm around

the distraught redhead. The two walked down the spiral staircase in the centre

of the observation bubble Chris had created shortly after he had placed them up

here at the top of the world.

Chris gestured and the staircase sealed up behind them. Only then did he

return his attention to Akane. "I know what you're going to ask."

Akane had no idea how to respond to that. Her mouth was dry. She reached

up to her shirt pocket... except the Star Seeds were gone. One stolen by Kalia,

the other lost back at the City of Black Ice.

"You're wondering why, if I can do all this, if I could stop Gyro's

attack from wreaking an environmental catastrophe that the world might never

recover from, if I truly have no limits... why didn't I just stop him in the

first place? Why didn't I keep all those people from dying?"

"Yes..."

He nodded. "Of course. I understand, Akane. It's not that I don't care.

I do. But I can't do this for people." He turned, staring out the crystal dome

of his observatory into the vastness of space. "I don't wish to stand here, atop

the world, and rule it. I don't want or need to be worshipped. I already have

all the power I need - I can do anything. But what would it mean if I did?

"I don't believe in mindless subservience to God. When you look to a

higher power to solve your problems, you stop working to solve them yourself. I

could reach out and stop Reichmann Gyro easily. I could repair the damage he did

and bring everyone back to life just as I did in the City of Black Ice. But then

I'm taking on the role of God, Akane. The saviour, the protector. I could erase

the memory of the event, I suppose, but even then I'm still protecting them,

shielding them. And if I do it now, why not again? Why not every time? Should I

let nobody die? Ever? I could, you know. But I won't."

He placed one hand on the transparent surface before him. His dark red

hair fell back as he craned his neck back, staring off into the universe. "I

don't want to save humanity. I want it to save itself. I want more Ranmas. I

want more Akiras. I want more of you, Akane. I want people to fight their own

oppressors. This universe put humanity in a bad position, but I know they can

rise to overcome the challenges, and not rely on any god to fight their battles

for them. They need help to get there, yes. And in the meantime, and even

afterwards, many will die. But you know about that, Akane." He half-turned,

affixing her with his good eye. "You've learned the costs. You know that

sometimes you have to fight, to kill or to die, to do what you know is right.

I'm going to let as many people as possible learn the lessons you did. But if I

just step down and save everyone, then what is 'right' is just what I want. Look

at Angel. She's a good girl. I care for her deeply. But she's not what I want

humanity to become. I want them to be like you, Akane. Like Ranma. Like Akira.

That's why I can't save them all, though I'm sorry for it."

Akane still couldn't look directly at his face. Instead she looked at

the hand he had placed against the clear wall. Beneath them the sun was sending

out its last brilliant rays before slipping beneath the horizon. "So this is

what you meant, this is the 'perfect possible future' you told me about?"

His lip turned up slightly. "Allow me to show you something."

Chris waved his hand and images began to form in the impossibly

delicate crystal walls. They were flat, like television programs, but incredibly

detailed. At first there were only two, one of a man standing atop a tower in

the centre of Tokyo. Except Reichmann Gyro could hardly be called a man now: his

entire body seethed with elemental power and his great black wings beat at his

back with abandon. His horned head sported a smiling, inhuman face. The other

image was of a woman. She sat on a throne of crystal in a place without walls or

floor. She wore golden armour, cut at sharp angles and with a skirt of golden

slats, over skin the colour of volcanic glass. Her red eyes stared out from the

shadows that had covered the upper half of her body. A partially silhouetted man

with green hair whose face Akane could not make out but that struck her as wrong

somehow stood behind her throne. The woman was clutching the arms of her chair

tightly.

"This was not our agreement, Reichmann," the woman said. Her voice was

cold and tightly controlled. It was like a whip being wielded by an expert,

cracking and snapping with lethal and sudden force.

"Our agreement means nothing," Gyro said, his twisted smile becoming a

frown. "I learned of what happens to those who trust you, Lady Galaxia. I was

nothing more than a pawn to gather the Star Seeds and zoacrystals of this

planet." Then he smiled again, a vicious slash across his craggy features. "But

now I am a law of nature, Galaxia. Now, all the power of Paradox is mine. The

combination of Oblivion and Chaos, the primal forces of the universe, within

me!" He laughed. "Come, come to me, little Sailor Senshi. If you think you can

defeat me, do so."

"You presume much, Reichmann," Galaxia stood up. Her face coming into

view. It was a human face, but utterly black and with eyes like blazing coals.

"I gave you the power to defeat Sailor Moon. The Silver Crystal, and Arkanphel's

crystal, they belong to me. I WILL come to collect."

"So be it," Gyro said and laughed. the image suddenly snapped out of

existence. Chris looked at Akane. She was clutching her shoulders and shivering.

Gyro. The man who had killed her. It was hard to face his image, even as warped

as it was now.

"I intercepted this communication between them shortly after Gyro's

temper tantrum," he explained.

"Who is that woman?" she asked.

"Sailor Galaxia," Chris replied. "The strongest of all the Sailor

Senshi. Think of it like this, Akane. Each of the Senshi you know, Sailor Mars

and the others, represent a single planet. They carry within them the Star Seed

of that planet, and gain their powers through this. Sailor Galaxia is the Sailor

Senshi who carries the Star Seed of the entire galaxy." To demonstrate, Chris

waved his hand showing an image of Earth within the walls. Then as he pulled his

hand back the image zoomed out and out and out so quickly it was dizzying. Then

Akane was looking at the entire Milky Way, the whole of the entire galaxy. "On

top of that, she had gathered the Star Seeds of most of the other planets in the

galaxy. Her power is to any other Senshi as the entire galaxy is to a single

planet.

"And she is coming here. But that is not all..."

Another image, this time of a large room that was in shadow except for

the spotlights that came down behind the twelve seats of a large oval-shaped

table. Eight of those seats were occupied, but for the most part the

backlighting made it impossible to tell much more than the general shape of

them. Some of them Akane could only barely call human.

A man, long-haired and elfin-featured, stood at the front of the table.

He wore elaborate white robes like a Roman toga but with large metal

shoulderguards that flared out like wings. Akane had never seen Arkanphel

before, but she recognised him on sight.

"Gentleman, the situation is grave," Arkanphel explained, his voice calm

and assured. "Gyro has apparently made deals with forces outside of our

experience. His destruction of the Ark production facility signals his

intentions. I do not believe he will be satisfied with anything less than my

complete destruction." He paused. "It appears I was overly compassionate to

allow his previous indiscretions to go unpunished. But that is the past. Today,

we must defeat Gyro."

"My lord!" A bald old man with a long flowing beard stood up. "Let us

take care of this traitor. Amniculus' death must be avenged by the Zoalord

Council."

"Yes..." Arkanphel nodded. "But even your abilities alone will be no

match for him. I shall accompany you." He held up his hand. "We depart in five

minutes. Make whatever preparations you need before then."

"And so the participants gather..." Chris mused, waving his hand and

the image changed again. This time it was to a massive plaza in the City of

Black Ice. Tethys was giving a speech to her followers, preparing them to strike

at Gyro. Akane caught a glimpse of Nabiki standing on one of the balconies. Then

the image changed again. This time it was of a normal-looking office, an

American flag hanging from a pole in the corner. Two men were there.

One of them was Doctor Tofu. His companion was speaking into a phone.

More accurately, he was listening. He nodded a few times. Then he sighed. "Yes,

I understand, Mr. President." He hung up.

"Well?" Tofu asked. The other man was around Tofu's age but looked a

bit more worn out. He had brown hair and was taller than the doctor. He rubbed

his temples before responding.

"About what we expected," the man explained. "The President wants no

interruption to the timetable. In fact, he wants us to speed things up."

"That's insane!" Tofu shouted. "That explosion killed millions, maybe

even billions of people! Our fleet is halfway across the Atlantic..."

"But the S.T.A.R.S. fleet is almost within striking distance of Tokyo,"

the man continued. "Like it or not, the President is right. With the collapse of

Shadowloo and Millennium, the return of Sailor Moon and this recent explosion,

Chronos is reeling. If Operation Foxfire is to have any chance of success..."

"Redfield, with all due respect, we have a duty to the world. This is a

humanitarian crisis. The destruction to Europe will be unimaginable. We need to

return the fleet, deploy the graduates there performing damage control..."

"You trained soldiers, Tofu!" the man barked, banging the desk with his

hand. "They need to do what soldiers do. The plan has always been to try and

take Japan first. Now, now all we can do is pray."

"Pray to who?" Tofu asked, his voice suddenly tired.

"Whatever gods are listening."

This caused Chris to chuckle. He waved his hand and the image faded

away. "And so, all the great powers gather. In the end, I expect Gyro to

destroy them all, and then do battle with Arkanphel. Who wins will depend on how

much Gyro is bled in the coming battle. It will not matter, however. Galaxia

anticipated Gyro's treachery. She knows he cannot win against her. How could he?

He is tainted by Chaos. He is destined to lose. She, however, defeated and

sealed Chaos within herself. Galaxia has no such flaw in her character. She will

watch. Whomsoever wins, she will destroy them, and then she will destroy the

planet. She will strip everyone on it of their souls, of their crystallised

Destiny, and will march forward to conquer the universe." He smiled. "Or would,

if I were not here. Someone will arise from the ashes of the great battle.

Someone will unify the remaining defenders and lead them against her and her

forces. Someone will destroy Galaxia and save the universe for a generation.

Someone will become the shining hero that ten thousand years from now will still

be a figure for the weak and downtrodden to aspire to.

"I want that person to be you, Akane."

OoOoO

Tethys' office was an island of serenity in a sea of chaos. Her little

speech had certainly motivated everyone in the Dark Kingdom. Watching the people

here prepare for war made Ukyou feel vaguely uncomfortable. Mainly because she

was certain this was foolish. The power Gyro had now, the sheer destructive

force he could wield, was beyond anything an army could defeat.

"You think this is a fool's quest," Tethys said from behind her desk.

She was looking at the monitor. Aaron could have read the text reflected in her

eyes, but chose not to. If she wanted Ukyou to know what she was reading, she

would tell her. Pluto and Akira came in behind Ukyou, exchanging glances. Ukyou

had invited Nabiki along, but the woman had demurred.

"I think a lot of them are going to die," Ukyou replied.

"You're right." Tethys looked up. "Unless... you think you can do it."

"It?" Ukyou frowned. "Use the Third Circle? No. I can't. Not... not just

like that."

Tethys' smile was icy. "Then I suppose we mortals will have to solve our

problems the only way we can."

"That's enough, Tethys," Akira snapped.

The Dark Queen's eyes flashed as she looked at Akira. "Do you have a

better suggestion?"

"Please..." Pluto stepped between them. "This isn't the place."

"Why did you want to talk to me?" Ukyou put in before things could

degrade further.

"I didn't." Tethys looked up. "But someone else did."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow. The only person Aaron hadn't sensed at the

gathering had been Seras. But the young vampire wasn't here. He frowned and

narrowed his eyes. He could sense another life force nearby. It was tainted with

the whispers of oblivion, something inhuman. It was very familiar. "Who is it?"

Ukyou asked, though she was already afraid she knew the answer. It would be just

like Chris, to send a messenger...

"No need for theatrics," Tethys said with a smirk. She waved her hand

and one of the shelves moved aside, the wall behind it fading away into mist. A

young woman walked out of the mist. Ukyou staggered a bit, surprised. The young

woman was pale-haired and skinned. Her eyes were inhumanly gold. She wore a

yellow cloak. She looked almost nothing like Angel, being thin where Angel was

toned and angular where Angel was curved.

"Vampire," Akira announced. Aaron was forced to agree, though there was

something strange about her. The girl seemed almost exactly the same as Angel.

Her aura was almost indistinguishable. Now that he could feel it directly, he

could tell the difference. But Akira was looking confused. Her own perceptions

were probably good enough to pick up the similarities, but not so keen they

could spot the subtle differences.

"Not by my own choice," the young woman said. She bowed slightly. "My

name is Nanami Kiryuu." The name was familiar, but Aaron couldn't place it. Some

anime character or another, he suspected. "I've been chosen to guide you."

"Guide?" Pluto asked.

"To your battle with Hotaru."

"I don't intend to fight her."

"As you say..." The woman bowed again. "But that doesn't change my

purpose."

"Did you have any part of this?" Akira asked the blue-skinned woman.

"Me?" Tethys shook her head. "No. I found her awake in my dungeon." She

gave Ukyou a mocking smile. "By the way, next time you feel like springing one

of my prisoners, I would like to be asked first."

"We'll see." Ukyou turned to Nanami. "So what is this about you guiding

me?"

"Hotaru is awaiting you," Nanami explained. "She has set herself at the

very centre of Elysium, the World of Dreams. It is there that the Well of the

Void exists, as much as it can be said to exist. I am one of the few people who

has ever been to Elysium, and without a guide you will never make it through the

realm to the destined meeting place."

At this point she looked at Pluto. "As you already know, even that will

be impossible. No mortal can survive in Elysium. Time there is meaningless. Any

person of mortal descent who enters Elysium will vanish like mist as their body

ages epochs in seconds, or is torn apart by the stress of the phantom winds..."

"I am familiar with Elysium," Pluto returned stiffly. She was clutching

the bag at her waist again.

"What happens if I don't believe you?"

She shrugged. "This isn't a threat, Ukyou. I'm not a monster sent to

fight you. I'm not an obstacle. I'm just a girl who was thrust into a situation

she didn't want, just like you. I was visited by the former guardian of Elysium

when he fled the destruction that had been unleashed on his homeland. He had

hoped that together we could find a way to reverse the problem.

"But before I could start, Chris tore out my soul. I spent two years in

a coma, trapped in a fate worse than death. But while my soul was ripped from my

body, I learned things. It talked to me, Ukyou."

"It?" Ukyou's knuckles went white.

"The Nameless. It told me what had to happen."

Ukyou took a long few moments to process that. So far, this was playing

out exactly as Link had predicted. Was it true? Was this all really about HER?

"What does the Nameless want?" Ukyou growled.

"You." Nanami held out her hand. "It wants YOU. More than anything else.

I hung there for two years, trapped in the space between living and dying. I

felt it. It's... it's indescribable, Ukyou. It's so pure, so pure and awesome.

The Nameless is truly infinite. Infinitely powerful. Infinitely passionate.

Infinitely merciful. Infinitely vengeful. But one thing I felt, one thing I have

been aware of ever since Chris tore my soul in two, was that it wanted you. That

it wants YOU to confront Hotaru. That everything comes down to that moment."

Tethys, Pluto and Akira all looked at Ukyou. She closed her eyes. So

this was it. The moment where she and Aaron made the choice. Face their Destiny

head on, with eyes open, or don't. They could battle the Nameless' plan with

their last breath, struggle against everything it was. Or they could play along.

Let it get what it wanted until there was a chance to turn things around.

But what if that never happened? Neither of them wanted to claim that

stray thought, but once it was there it was hard to dismiss. If Link was right,

and nothing Ukyou had seen could disprove her, then the Nameless was the next

best thing to omnipotent. There might never be a chance to get the better of it.

It might not have made a mistake she could exploit. So the choice was between

facing an impossible battle, or hiding from it.

Akira slipped her hand into Ukyou's. Ukyou squeezed it and looked into

her lover's eyes. Then suddenly she realised something. This was how it would

end. The universe's fate did not hang on the edge of a blade. It would not be

made by a great battle. It would not be determined by a pretty speech. The

world's fate was not a puzzle to be solved, or a mystery to be unravelled. It

was this, right here.

One decision. One decision by one person. That was the fate of the

world. That had ALWAYS been the fate of the world. This decision. And the next.

And the next.

"How do we get to Elysium?" Ukyou asked.

OoOoO

"God, I love having my powers back!" Fevrier said, grinning from ear to

ear. The dust from the wall she had just punched in was still settling.

"Wait, up until Sailor Moon restored Marz you were limited to the powers

of being a superhuman acrobat with enhanced strength and the ability to shoot

guns really well," Mamoru pointed out. He was still adjusting the engine. Who

would have thought that Mamoru had such skills? Then again, if she recalled

correctly from the extensive files Mars and Satsuki had compiled about his life

and that she had just happened to catch a glimpse of and certainly hadn't

studied intensively, he did use to drive a motorcycle before meeting them.

"Yes," Fevrier snorted. "And I see where you're going with this. But you

see, the difference is that now I am a more POWERFUL superhuman acrobat with

enhanced strength and can shoot guns very, very well!" To demonstrate, she

pulled a handgun from her holster and hip-fired it at the blockade three hundred

meters down the road. Not only did she hit the C in the painted Chronos sign

dead centre, the otherwise mundane bullet created a hole nearly a meter wide

through the fifty-centimeter-thick concrete barricade. She also did so in a

flash of motion so fast that human eyes could not possibly have perceived the

motion. "Ohh, I almost forgot the simple thrill of wanton destruction."

Mamoru was sweating a little bit. "Marz, have you gotten any responses

yet?"

"Yes, Mamoru dear," Marz said with a smile. Mamoru smiled back at her

and Marz made a point of adjusting her blue hair back behind her ear. Normally,

Fevrier would have been annoyed with such flagrant posturing, but she found it

impossible to be angry at her fellow ex-Doll now. The overwhelming joy, the

sheer physical euphoria of discovering that Marz wasn't dead hadn't worn off

yet. Heck, the two of them and Satsuki would have still been celebrating if

Marz hadn't insisted that they needed to take care of more important things.

Fevrier sighed and adjusted her gun belts. It just wasn't as fun unless they

could tease Mamoru about it, anyway...

"I haven't managed to get in touch with everyone, but most of them

responded," Marz said, turning her attention back to her laptop. Her fingers

flashed across the keys, as quick with her keyboard as Fevrier was with her

guns. "They are all making their way to Tokyo."

"Is there really anything we can do?" Satsuki piped up. She was sitting

in a shadow. Her skill had returned with a vengeance as well, now that Sailor

Moon had 'healed' them all. In fact, she blended in with the shadows so well

that she had to actually try not to vanish into them now. "Reichmann Gyro..."

"Is going to threaten the entire world," Mamoru growled. "The entire

zoanoid force left." He pointed to the deserted blockade. Chronos had

constructed it within minutes of their ill-fated attack on the city being

rebuffed by Sailor Moon. Up until a few hours ago, there had been thousands of

zoanoids and a small but considerable number of hyper and neo-zoanoid models as

well. It was an entire army, one that could easily have crushed the city beneath

its heel. But now it was empty. The entire army had deserted their posts without

so much as a word. "And we've seen the reports Marz managed to intercept. Gyro

is a menace to everyone. He has to be stopped."

"You may have your powers back, but that doesn't mean you aren't still a

wuss." Fevrier growled. "Satsuki's right. We should think about this."

"What's there to think about?" Mamoru frowned and crossed his arms. His

sniper rifle was strapped to his back, the barrel pointing up above his

shoulder. "Can we come up with any plan that can help us? Is there any strategy

that will give us a chance against this kind of power?"

"This isn't like when we fought Thancrus!" Fevrier roared back. "We

should get in this bike and head for the mountains..."

"You don't mean that," Mamoru said to her.

Fevrier clenched her fists and turned to stare at the city of Ohtori.

She just wanted to be away from this place. Away from all the bad memories. Away

from the life that Bison had taken from her. Away from the promise of a normal

life. Away from watching a city burn because of their arrogance. Away from

collapsing sobbing over a gravestone. But it had all been made better. Sailor

Moon's power, when she had revived Marz, had restored them all. Marz was alive,

Mamoru had his magic back and the ex-Dolls were all at peak strength again.

Better actually. The last seven years of training had improved them, after all.

"We're going to get ourselves killed," Fevrier said.

"Yeah, we probably are." Mamoru grabbed her chin and pulled her face up.

"And I'm sorry."

"Sorr-" Then he cut her off by pulling her in and kissing her. At first

her eyes widened. Then she snapped her arms around him and pulled him in deep,

purring, drinking him in. He stiffened, obviously not expecting such a response.

Well, he hadn't been paying much attention then, had he? She wasn't satisfied

when she released him, but she did release him.

He fell to his knees, his eyes wide. "Wow."

"No fair!" Marz cried. "Why does Fevrier get the first kiss?"

"Well, I just sort of..." Mamoru was cut off by Satsuki sliding up next

to him without any of them noticing and deciding to get her own taste in. Marz'

eye twitched as the kiss deepened. Where Fevrier had been strong and constant,

Satsuki's was soft and came in many parts. It was as elusive and as mysterious

as she was. Finally Satsuki released Mamoru and turned to her sister.

"Uhm..." Satsuki blushed. "I..." She grabbed the back of Mamoru's head

and pushed him forward. "Here. Your turn."

"Hey, I'm not a thing!" Mamoru protested.

"Oh shut up," Fevrier snorted. "You started this. You finish it."

Marz nodded sternly and lifted him up. She perhaps acted the most

traditionally of the three, allowing Mamoru to be the lead as he embraced her

and slowly tilted her back for a long deep moment. It was Mamoru and not Marz

who finished up, allowing the giggling girl to get back to her job.

"I'm sorry I never did that sooner," Mamoru said simply. "Consider this

my promise. If we get out of this fight alive, I will no longer hold back with

you three."

"What's this 'if', wuss?" Fevrier grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

Everyone turned at once, Satsuki had her blade halfway out of its sheath

before the newcomer even had a chance to finish talking. The woman's eyes

widened behind her golden opera mask and she backed up a step. Fevrier holstered

her handgun when she saw who it was. V, also known as Minako Aino. The

travelling companion of one Ranma Saotome, and a noted expert in the

extermination of vampires and other undead. An 'ideologically compatible but

unassociated freelance metahuman', as Marz would have put it. Or, as Mamoru

preferred, 'one of the good guys'.

But that didn't mean Fevrier had to like her. In fact, she pretty much

thought the woman was an arrogant bitch. After Marz had... gone, it had been up

to Satsuki and Fevrier to help hold Mamoru together. The loss had almost torn

him apart. And while he had been suffering, this woman had been ranting at

Sailor Moon, the person who had ended all the fighting. The person who had

brought Marz back. Fevrier may have holstered her gun, but she kept her hand on

it. Satsuki also kept her palm balanced on the butt of her sword.

"Minako," Mamoru said stiffly.

"Mamoru..." She looked him in the eyes, but her body language said she

wanted to look away. "I need your help."

"What makes you think we're-" Fevrier started but Mamoru cut her off by

holding his hand in front of her.

"Let her say her piece."

Fevrier seethed, but kept silent for a moment.

"You are going to Tokyo, right?"

"Yes. Gyro needs to be stopped."

"I need to go too." Minako's voice was growing in strength with each

word.

"Why?" Fevrier barked.

"You have to stay here," Marz said. She alone, of all of them, did not

look angry. She walked towards Minako. "Your place is here, stopping what's

going to happen."

"No. I have to find and save Sailor Moon," Minako said, her voice hard.

Marz considered that. "And Tokyo was the last place she was seen

alive..." She lowered her head. "This isn't supposed to happen this way."

"I don't care." Minako threw her hand to the side. "No matter what

happened between us, Sailor Moon... Usagi is still a good person. Misled, yes,

but that doesn't mean she deserves whatever fate she's fallen into. I have to do

what I can to help her." She looked at them all. "I have to."

Mamoru looked back at her. Slowly, he smiled. "Okay. You can come with

us. Though it might be a tight squeeze."

"What? You're not serious!" Fevrier shouted at him.

"She's right." Mamoru looked at them all. "Once upon a time, I was her

defender. I lived to protect Sailor Moon. Now, you three are what I live for.

But this is the least I can do."

"I suppose I'll have to redo the calculations again," Marz said with a

sigh.

"Calculations?" Minako asked in an almost frightened tone.

"Yeah." Fevrier stepped aside and revealed their transportation. "It's

going to be a bit of a squeeze."

"Where did you get that?" Minako breathed.

"Some old abandoned rich person's house," Fevrier said with a shrug.

"I meant the vulcan cannon attached to the handlebars."

"Some questions are better left unanswered," Marz replied ominously.

OoOoO

Chaos.

It seethed across the city like a visible force. Everywhere they had

gone, there had been more chaos. Humans transformed into mindless engines of

destruction. First had come the rains of black lightning. Strokes of brilliant

oily light that passed through buildings and vehicles without pause. Bolts that

unerringly sought out humans, striking them down. A few at first, just enough to

give the initial survivors enough time to panic. Then more and more, until it

seemed the sky had unleashed an unending cascade.

There had been over fifteen million people living in the greater Tokyo

area, and Cologne would not have been surprised if there had been exactly one

lightning bolt for every single one of them; no more, no less. Thankfully, the

Quartet had shielded them from the assault. It had required all three of the

still functioning Amazon Stones to hold off the barrage of black lightning, but

they had managed.

For a few minutes they had walked through an eerily quiet Tokyo. The

girls couldn't teleport them out of the city while there was so much chaos in

the air, so they had been forced to walk. Having to carry around Frederick's

unconscious body had slowed them down. Not to mention that Cologne herself could

barely walk. Her vision kept fading in and out if she put too much weight on her

injured leg. She was fairly certain that the wounds she had taken were far more

severe than she had initially thought, but she didn't want to let this on.

The girls had enough to worry about. The walk through the bizarre

mausoleum that had once been Tokyo had been short. The bodies scattered across

the streets had all been alive, Cologne could feel their life forces, but they

were also shattered. Black gems, diamonds the size of hen's eggs, hovered above

the bodies. Then, all at once, the ground around the bodies had erupted with

black tendrils.

Inky vines had wrapped up each of the bodies, cocooning them in a few

seconds. Cologne had felt the terrible need to start running, but where was

there to run to? Then the cocoons had receded, and they had been left surrounded

by nightmares. Thousands of them, wild-eyed screaming monsters that had once

been human and were now grim parodies of themselves. No, not thousands:

millions.

So they had run. The individual creatures had been no match for even an

injured Cologne or one of the still magically empowered Quartet, but there had

been far too many to fight. They needed a place to hide.

Unfortunately, those were in short order. They had been forced into a

skyscraper, and engaged in a running battle up the stairs. The magic of the

girls helped, allowing them to block off many of the creatures' routes to them.

Finally they had been forced onto the roof, and there they had remained. The

girls had done something to the door, preventing any of the creatures from

following them up to the roof. This had, unfortunately, left them with an

excellent view of the rest of the city.

Chaos.

Without any humans to turn on, the mad creatures had turned on each

other. Cologne could only stare down at the streets in horror. They were killing

each other, tearing each other apart. Their clownish attacks should have been

comical, which made Cologne feel all the more unnerved by it all.

"What does Gyro want?" Cologne said.

"Who cares?" CereCere said tartly. "We have to get out of here. We can

run. Run and hide. Get away from him."

"Run where?" JunJun said brusquely. "Run where, CereCere?"

"Anywhere but here! Across the planet! Across the universe! Until we are

far enough away!"

"We can't fly out," VesVes said. "Not with the old man in this

condition." She turned to PallaPalla. "Any change?"

"No..." PallaPalla held a wet rag over his forehead, dabbing away beads

of sweat. "I can't see anything wrong with him. He just won't wake up." She

looked at Cologne. "He is going to wake up, right?"

"Palla..." Cologne trailed off. She could lie to the girl. It was what

she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that everything was going to be alright.

That this all hadn't been for nothing. But Cologne had no answer to that

question. She had no idea if things were going to be alright. Gyro had played

them all for fools; him, and the forces allied with him.

They had played Cologne, played the Amazoness Quartet, played the

entire world. And for what? Cologne wasn't certain she would survive without

medical attention. Frederick was still unconscious, and showed no signs of

waking. PallaPalla was helpless, and the other girls were scared, truly scared,

for perhaps the first time in their lives.

"I don't want this!" CereCere screamed. Her head was lowered, her palms

pressed over her ears in a childish attempt to keep out the shrieks and crashes

from the city below.

"There's nothing we can do..." Cologne started to say, but CereCere cut

her off with a sob.

"It's not fair! Everyone is in pain. Everyone's hurting. Mr. Purgstall

isn't waking up and you're hurt and PallaPalla lost her magic and the entire

city is being destroyed..." She raised her head and tears were pouring down her

face, her eyes were quivering and her mouth was twisted with grief. "And it

hurts! It all hurts!"

"CereCere..." Cologne blinked.

"All of you are hurting and it makes me hurt, too!" CereCere clenched

her hands helplessly. "I care! I care, a... and it hurts! I don't want to care

anymore! I don't want to hurt anymore! I want suffering to be funny again!"

"I don't think it works that way," JunJun replied softly.

VesVes bit her lip and looked away. PallaPalla just continued dabbing at

Frederick's forehead. But there were tears in her eyes now, too. Cologne's mouth

opened slightly. She suddenly felt something... something warm and pleasant

inside her. The heat burned up from her heart, up her cheeks and out of her

eyes.

"Now you've gotten the old hag crying!" VesVes said accusingly to her

pink-haired sister.

"No... no, VesVes," Cologne gasped. "It's... it's okay."

"But tears are bad," PallaPalla said softly. "They're what happens when

you're hurt." She brushed at her eyes. "I don't want to cry. I don't want to!"

"Sometimes tears are good, girls," Cologne said. But how could she

explain? For seven years she had been around these girls, and not once had she

ever seen them care, truly care, about someone other than themselves. It hadn't

stopped her from loving them, which she could now admit to without hesitation.

But she had always felt secretly sad that these girls would never truly know

what it was to be human. That they would be children, innocent and cruel by

turns, forever.

But this...

Even in the centre of all this chaos, it made Cologne proud.

OoOoO

The monsters started down the highway. They cackled and crowed, leapt

and cavorted. Their bodies were like something out of an insane circus. Twisted

parodies of human forms. A single sedan sped ahead of them. Noizi Ito was at the

wheel, her hands gripping the steering wheel as if it were a life preserver in a

stormy sea. She hadn't wanted to be attacked by monsters today. In fact, she had

just hoped to return to Tokyo for the day and retrieve her art supplies.

But fate had other plans. She had been just outside the border when the

black lightning had come. She had hid while the unnatural weather had raked back

and forth across Tokyo. When she had finally had the courage to get out from

under the seat, the city had gone quiet.

'Too quiet', her mind had unhelpfully filled in for her.

She knew then she should leave. Leave quickly. Leave NOW. Of course, the

car had refused to start. Noizi used to be a fan of horror movies. The really

bad ones with all the cliche plots. The kind that used to be produced in America

about men in hockey masks or with chainsaws and so on. She had a large

collection of bootleg copies that would probably get her fined if Chronos SecOps

found out about them. But as she sat there, desperately turning the key and

pushing the gas pedal over and over again, she swore she would burn them herself

if she got out of there.

The car had started up just as the first tendrils of darkness had

erupted from the ground to encircle the people caught within the city. She

reversed, her eyes widening as she watched the... things emerge. One young

police officer had driven right into the city as soon as the barrage had ended.

He had been bravely doing CPR on one of the bodies while calling for backup. He

had tried to run, but the things were upon him in seconds.

Noizi would never forget that moment. With adrenaline-fuelled strength

she had kicked her car around, spinning it almost perfectly in place while still

backing up at top speed. She could hear the screech of the tires, smell the

burning rubber. She jerked the stick into forward and pushed the pedal to the

very literal metal.

Looking in the rearview mirror had been a mistake. The things had

snapped their heads up like dogs scenting prey. Then their faces had split in

perverse grins and they'd loped off in chase. Noizi had managed to outrun many

of them, but there were a few that were very fast indeed. One had reached the

side of her car and began smashing at her door with its deformed paw-like hands.

Acting on instinct she had jerked the car into the thing, knocking it aside. But

she'd almost lost control. Worse, a few seconds later the cat-headed beast was

still after her.

Her eyes widened as she saw another one in the road ahead of her. This

one was big, almost two meters tall. He wore a black coat that flapped around

him, and underneath it he wore a navy suit. His face was scarred, one eye

missing. He frowned as she screeched towards him. There was no way for her to

turn. She screamed and clutched the wheel tighter.

He stepped towards her. Then up, his foot easily clearing the hood of

her car. It left a dent as he pushed off the hood and leapt up and over her tiny

sedan. She could hear him shout. His voice was deep, loud and full of righteous

rage. Noizi continued screaming but pulled on her wheel, sending the car into a

spin. She lost all track of space as everything whirled around her. She was in

full panic mode.

Then something caught her car. She felt it settle gently into

something's grasp, like a ball into a catcher's mitt. She turned and saw

something green pressed against her window. She screamed again. The green thing

backed away and a hand appeared. It was much too large for a human hand. It

fumbled at her door. She screamed some more. She hadn't thought to lock it. Oh

god, why hadn't she locked the door?

Then the door came off.

'Oh, it wouldn't have done any good anyway,' a part of her thought with

odd rationality. She screamed again.

"Sorry," a huge voice said. A face peered down. It was huge and round,

with a big goofy grin. "I'll fix it, okay?"

She screamed.

"Gan, you're scaring her!" a smaller, more nasal voice said from the

side.

"Oh... right." The huge man backed away. "You help her out, Edge."

A thin man wearing a bright purple jumpsuit appeared. He had blonde hair

pulled up in a set of spikes that rose almost thirty centimeters straight up off

his head. He squinted at her with one eye while he widened the other all the way

as he leaned into the car. "Hey lady, be nice and get outta the car, okay?" He

grinned, a manic grin. "It's okay. You're safe with us." He pulled his hands

from his pocket and he was carrying eight small black objects between his

fingers. "See?" There was a series of clicks and each of the objects sprouted a

thin blade. "Ain't no-one gonna hurt you with me around!"

She screamed.

"Edge! You're scaring her, too!" the big man's voice said.

"I am not, you lummox!" Edge shouted over his shoulder. "I'm comforting

her. You know, explaining the situation."

"I don't think you should have your knives out..."

"Do NOT dis the knives!" The little man waved the blades in a vaguely

threatening manner towards his companion.

"I'm just sayin-"

"EDGE! GAN!"

Something in that voice prevented Noizi from screaming again. She looked

out her car and saw the other man. He was standing further down the street, in

the middle of a crater that extended all the way across the eight lane highway.

Bodies of the circus freak monster people were scattered around him, obviously

unconscious. There were about three dozen more at the edge of the crater,

cavorting nervously. One of them stepped onto the shattered asphalt.

The man snapped his head around, his one remaining eye locking onto the

malformed creature. It gulped, a huge bulge working down its throat, then backed

up onto the undamaged pavement. The man turned his scarred face back to the two

next to her car. "Leave the poor woman alone." Edge and Gan muttered 'sorry' in

stereo and walked around the car and away from her. The scar-faced man looked at

her. "I'm sorry for my companions, Miss."

"No... that's okay..."

Now that was a MAN.

"I'd escort you out of the danger zone, but it appears there are more of

those beasts approaching. I fear that once they reach a critical number, their

bloodlust will overcome their good sense and I will be forced to engage in

punitive action." Noizi nodded up and down slowly. She was memorizing his body.

As an artist, she had a good eye for anatomy. This had the side benefit of

making it very easy to picture people naked.

"Edge, Gan, get over here." The man swept around to face the growing

horde of circus freak monsters. The two wildly different men ran up behind him.

The huge man had to be at least a half meter taller than the scarred one, and

built in a manner that would make champion sumo weep in envy. The little one was

bouncing on his feet, using a quartet of knives to comb his long punk hair.

"Let's teach these bullies how we deal with those who don't know how to

treat a lady," the scarred one said.

"Right, Daigo!" the skinny one cried. The big one just laughed and

stomped his foot, sumo style, so hard the ground shook.

"Daigo..." Noizi mused to herself.

OoOoO

"RAIJIN!"

Lightning sprang from the ground, erupting right in the middle of the

crowd of monsters. They scattered like ten pins, falling in all directions.

Hinata ran straight into the opening, her short brown hair snapping behind her.

Her body lifted up as she moved, spinning her legs out in a tight circle, then

again, then again. Flames burst from her foot, sweeping out and pushing the

carnival freak monsters back yet further.

Batsu came in behind her, sprinting with his hands cocked back. He

concentrated, pulling up his chi, focusing it in his fists. A half dozen of the

things had survived the first two assaults, and it was up to him to finish them

off. He came in straight, smashing an uppercut into the chin of a female

creature. This was followed by a quick sidestep into a backhand, levelling a

second beast. The next three were in a tight group, so he just pulled back his

hands and released his Kaiaken power wave with a fierce yell. The pulse of

compressed air hit them with the power of a runaway train, picking them up and

smashing them into a wall which shattered at the impact.

Kyosuke appeared behind him, slashing out with one hand and catching the

last remaining carnival demon. The blow was vicious, struck right to the thing's

neck. Batsu heard its bones snap before it collapsed. Batsu smirked and gave his

companion a thumb's-up. Kyosuke just adjusted his glasses with his index finger

and turned away.

"You let your guard down. That one almost had you from behind."

"Ah, what are you worried about? These things are nothing!" Batsu

exclaimed. He turned to Hinata, who was crouched in the street. They'd cleared

out pretty much this entire block, but she was staring down the road. A dozen

more of the monsters were pouring out of the buildings on either side of the

roadway.

"Maybe, but there are a lot of them," Hinata pointed out. She stood up

and adjusted her oversized karate gloves one at a time. "We have to get to the

Pillars. They're the source of all this madness."

Batsu shrugged and started down the street. "Yeah, but nothing's to say

we can't have a little fun on the way."

"Only if you consider killing innocent people fun," Kyosuke stated.

Batsu stopped and turned to the tall blond boy. Kyosuke was looking down

the street at the assembling mob of carnival demons. From the looks of it, they

were smart enough to gather together in large numbers before challenging the

superior martial artists. But Batsu had no idea what Kyosuke was talking about.

Sure, these things were humanoid, but they looked about as human as something

seen in a funhouse mirror. Their bodies were distorted grotesquely, often with

skin colours that ranged across the entire rainbow. Not to mention the fact that

their costumes ranged from the ridiculous to the outright insane.

Granted, Batsu had met Skullomania, but that was a special case.

"What are you saying, Kyosuke?" Hinata's orange skirt played along the

bottom of her thighs.

"Each of these monsters was once a human being." Kyosuke crossed his

arms. His expensive white suit wrinkled up slightly around his body. Batsu

snarled.

"Even so, that can't stop us," he said.

"You're right. But it means we have to get to Gyro." Kyosuke unlimbered

his arms as the creatures began to charge. "Needless fighting like this will

only weaken us in the end and do his work for him."

"Tell them that!" Batsu roared, and began to charge up towards the

approaching horde. He summoned his chi again, but not so much that it began to

seep into his aura. While allowing the energy to leak from his body did look

impressive, if he pushed himself too much the energy lost was extremely

inefficient in the long run.

Kyosuke and Hinata hesitated a moment, then followed him. Batsu smiled.

He knew that as long as his friends were with him, they couldn't lose. For seven

years, they had lived and fought as one. Forged again and again in the gauntlet

of Chronos. There would be no doubt among them.

Then a giant purple energy ball fell from the sky and smashed into the

monsters. Batsu scrambled to a stop, his eyes widening. The blast had left a

hole in the street nearly five meters across. Whatever had caused it had some

serious power.

Then something started shouting. Batsu frowned. It was too far away for

him to hear fully. He tilted his head back, and his eyes widened again.

He had seen a lot of zoanoids before, but this one was certainly one of

the strangest. It looked nothing so much like a giant minotaur, easily the size

of a city bus, complete with cloven hooves and bull's horns. But it also had a

tiny little tail that had to be an eel of some kind and what looked like a pair

of wings on its back. The wings were too small to possibly support the titanic

beast, but despite that it was hovering over them.

There was also a young woman on its head. She had long purple hair that

rippled out behind her in direct defiance of the prevailing wind. She seemed to

be posing and shouting something. But she was so far away that Batsu couldn't

make out a single word. Kyosuke and Hinata joined Batsu a moment later.

"Any idea what she's trying to say?" Hinata asked Kyosuke.

Kyosuke adjusted his glasses again and squinted his eyes. He crossed his

arms sternly and his entire posture became alert and tense. Then he sighed and

looked away. "I think she's telling the thing to fly lower."

Batsu and Hinata gaped as the woman began to kick and punch at the

flying minotaur's head, shouting and pointing at the ground. The thing snorted

in annoyance and began to lower itself to the ground. Finally it landed with a

loud crunch, its hooves digging slightly into the pavement. There were a few

carnival freaks around, but it took care of them with a few sweeps of its

massive arms. The purple-haired woman, who Batsu could now see was wearing a

pink and purple frilly outfit that looked more like it belonged on an idol

singer than a monster's rider, was still standing on its head. He could also

just barely see another person on the thing's back. A brown-haired schoolgirl

who was doing her best to hide from them.

"Fellow champions of justice, well met!" the girl cried out. "I saw your

dire peril and came at once to assist you!"

"Dire peril?" Kyosuke murmured.

The young woman spun, sparkling lights flaring around her. "Fear not,

for in this great age of darkness a trio of lights still shines! With the power

of friendship and unity we oppose the minions of chaos and oblivion this

day! Together, we can not hope but to succeed!"

"Oh man," Hinata rubbed her forehead. "It's another Skullo."

"SHE'S SO COOL!" Batsu crowed, clenching his fists with tears streaming

from his eyes. She was... she was... just like a real superhero! He wondered if

she could sing, too.

"Oops, we lost Batsu," Kyosuke said laconically.

Hinata looked at Batsu, back to the purple-haired woman, then back at

Batsu. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hey!" She stepped in front of Batsu with

her arms extended. "What do you think you're doing here, anyway?"

"Why, joining you to fight the good fight." The woman preened. "Besides,

it looked like you could use a ride. Since this city is terribly full of

phages."

"Phages?" Kyosuke asked.

"The carnival monsters you face," the girl explained, her tone suddenly

grim. "Human beings with their star seeds removed and infused with the power of

chaos and oblivion. Though they're different than normal phages a little bit..."

"So you're offering us a ride?" Kyosuke folded his fingers together.

"Awesome! We get to ride that big ugly monster!" Batsu cheered. The

thing tried to smash him and Batsu barely managed to sidestep in time. The fist

was as large as he was, and had gone through the pavement like it was tissue

paper. The thing glared at him. "Hey! Get control of your pet monster, lady!"

"Oh, he's not a pet!" The girl waved her hand. "He's my boyfriend!"

Hinata gaped again.

"He's cursed," the woman explained.

"I see," Kyosuke muttered. "Well, never look a gift giant flying

minotaur in the mouth..." He jumped onto the thing's back. Batsu tried to

follow, but the thing glared at him so hard he thought better of it. Instead he

was allowed to sit near the thing's butt. Just as Batsu sat down, the thing let

loose a massive fart. Batsu choked and coughed, clutching at his mouth while the

thing laughed derisively.

"Bad!" The purple haired woman smacked the thing in the head with her

heel.

Hinata gave Batsu a concerned look, but she jumped onto the thing's

back, far away from the smell. Traitor, Batsu growled as he tried desperately to

wave away the stench. But Hinata became distracted from his predicament quickly

when she saw the other passenger. She blinked, her mouth forming a comical

little oh. She pointed.

"It... can't be... can it?"

Wait, now that Batsu looked closer, the brown-haired girl looked pretty

familiar. Also she looked a little old to be wearing a sailor suit. The girl

laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Heh. Long time no see, Hinata..." she trailed off, her face flushing

with embarrassment. "Long time no see."

"What are you..."

"I can explain!" the young woman yelled, holding up her hands. "I don't

even like these people! It's not my fault! Really!" Then she was clinging to

Hinata, wrapping her arm around the shorter woman's waist. Tears poured down her

cheeks. "Hinata! You have to save me! Take me away from all this!"

The monster was looking over his shoulder at them. It raised an eyebrow

and grinned.

"Pervert!" The other girl slammed her foot into the thing's skull. It

glared up at her. She pointed to her temple. "Psychic powers!" The thing

snorted. "Now, I believe the Pillars of Heaven are..." She looked around.

"Uh..."

"That way." Kyosuke pointed.

"Right!" The girl bounced. "Up, up, and away!"

"I'm going to ignore that," Kyosuke murmured as the thing began to beat

its tiny little wings. Somehow this carried them all up.

"Uhh... Kyosuke, a little help, please?" Hinata gestured helplessly to

the woman clinging to her waist, now sobbing and mumbling incoherently. Batsu,

meanwhile, was just busy trying not to fall off the minotaur's ass.

OoOoO

The last seven years had been a special kind of hell for Mamoru

Kusanagi. Despite the fact that he was perhaps the most powerful fighter in the

Resistance, Akane had refused to use him in most jobs. Especially the high

profile ones. In fact, he had been forced for the last seven years to play

little more than a glorified bodyguard. He just hung out with whatever loser

Akane thought needed protecting again this month, until Akane could get them

smuggled out of the country.

Of course, he could understand why she did it. Kusanagi might have been

a powerful fighter, but he admitted that subtlety wasn't his strong suit. A man

with green hair and orange skin stood out, even in a country with a growing

population of zoanoids. Combine that with the fact that he was the last

surviving aragami specimen, and that meant Chronos wanted him. Badly.

So he'd been forced to pretty much stay on his own, hiding in the

mountains and not getting involved in much action. Staying in the mountains...

with Momiji.

Now, there was something important that had to be understood. Kusanagi

loved Momiji. His puppy-dog adoration had only matured along with the girl.

These days, he found the idea of not waking up next to her breathtakingly

beautiful face such a foreign idea that he might well have reacted with more

shock to the prospect of the sun setting in the north. Maybe at first they'd had

a bit of a rocky time. What with his 'I loved your sister and killed her spirit,

condemning it to eternal oblivion' and her 'I'm a sixteen year old girl'

respective issues, but seven years was a long time.

They'd gotten over their personal hurdles.

No, what was really the issue here was that Momiji was dedicated to

becoming... special. Apparently being the Kushinada and having the ability to

sense and commune with aragami wasn't really enough for her, what with all the

aragami being destroyed or lost at the end of the last crisis in Tokyo. Kusanagi

had heard rumours of mitamas showing up other places in the world, and he didn't

doubt that the girl who had absconded with Susano-oh's broken god-seed was up to

something bad, but the fact was that none of it had ever affected him or Momiji.

Sometimes he wished it had. Then maybe Momiji wouldn't have felt that

overwhelming desire to develop her own superpowers. She'd tried everything.

She'd tried binding shikigami and other Shinto spirits after training with her

grandmother as a priestess. That hadn't taken. She tried developing her 'sixth

sense' and expanding her mystical awareness. Apparently that took a lot of

meditation and discipline that Momiji simply lacked. Akane had tutored her a few

times in martial arts before she began finding increasingly more strained

excuses not to. Momiji had even asked Fevrier and Koume to teach her how to

handle a bazooka once.

The less said about that, the better.

"Wait, wait, Kusanagi!" the woman pleaded. She was reaching into her

pouches. "I know I have something that will work! Just gimme a second!"

"Why don't I just blast them?" Kusanagi growled. He was leaning against

a building. The hordes of carnival monster freaks were coming in from every side

street, effectively blocking them off from any ground-based escape. Kusanagi

sighed and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Just give me one more second!" She adjusted her giant array of pouches.

Her 'combat poncho', as Kusanagi had come to call it, was perhaps the most

sublimely silly thing he had ever seen. It consisted of a loose bit of long

fabric that draped over Momiji's shoulders such that it looked like she was

sticking her head through an especially thin mushroom. The poncho itself was

made out of kevlar, with a wire mesh over the entire top of it. The mesh served

as the perfect thing to hook all the various pouches and boxes and other things

Momiji had picked up to. Inside each pouch was some crazy mystic object. Here a

magical knickknack, there a charm or talisman, there a Christian cross and right

next to it a set of Buddhist prayer beads. And a Star of David, a stone

inscribed with the Islamic shahadah, a voodoo doll and some contraption called

an 'e-meter' for good measure.

If it was in any way vaguely mystical and Akane hadn't found a better

use for it by now, Momiji was probably carrying it somewhere.

"Aha!" She held out a piece of chalk. "This will defeat them."

"Chalk?" Kusanagi gave her a flat look. "They aren't speaking up in

class, Momiji."

"You just watch!" She knelt and began to draw a series of diagrams in

the ground. "This is actually the ancient art of Alchemy. Using a series of

diagrams, I can transmute matter itself through a process known as 'equivalent

exchange' that will..."

Kusanagi lowered his arm and fired off a series of shots from the mitama

embedded in the back of his hand. The blows scattered the approaching freaks.

Momiji frowned up at him. "What? They were getting close." She muttered

something he couldn't hear and returned to her drawings. He shrugged. Sooner or

later she would catch on and he could just get her out of the danger zone. Then

he could really cut loose. He grinned in anticipation. That was going to be fun.

OoOoO

Cracker Jack had never liked Japan. Where Jack came from, the world

existed in a steady state of semi-corruption at all times. People got drunk in

the streets and started fist fights over hookers. The cops were on the take. The

politicians lied with smiles on their faces and everyone knew this. It still

made him nostalgic to think about.

But Japan was another matter. Everything here was so clean and sterile.

Except where it wasn't. Japan had this strange sort of deal going on where it

was expected that in public you were perfectly polite and happy and a productive

citizen. Then, in private, you got to tie your girlfriend up in leather straps

while your wife relieved herself on your back or something. Japan was a place

where you were either totally lily-white pure, or completely bugfuck crazy with

no apparent middle ground.

Jack always preferred the way of moderation, himself.

His bat cracked as it connected with the head of another of the

monsters. The thing flew a good hundred meters before vanishing into the side of

a building in a cloud of broken glass and concrete. He sighed and tapped the

weapon off on his boots.

Who was he kidding? He just didn't like being in the middle of a war

against alien zombie clowns. But that's what he got for hitching his wagon to

the new boss.

Rose was doing a remarkably good impression of Bison now, which made

Cracker Jack reconsider his plan to submit his resignation, effective the moment

he could get out of her line of sight. She was floating down the street, her

long brown hair waving behind her like a living thing. Her eyes were glowing so

bright you could barely make out the rest of her face. She was gesturing with

her hands, sort of like a conductor. When she did, the demon clown things died.

Some of them were thrown into walls so hard they shattered... both them

and the walls. Some were crushed by cars, others impaled on telephone poles.

Some of them just exploded, apparently when Rose just couldn't think of anything

more creative to do with them.

With a sigh she slowly settled to the ground, glimmering orbs of purple

light swirling around her. Her hair fell and the glow in her eyes receded until

he could see her baby browns again. Her expression was partly relieved, partly

disgusted.

"So, any reason you took me along on this little trip?" Jack asked,

walking up to her. "You seem able to handle them yourself pretty well."

"I am not Bison," Rose snapped. Then she immediately looked frightened

and she waved a hand over her face. "Forgive me. Sometimes my emotions get the

better of me. I have not been forced to wield my powers so intensely since my

reintegration with Bison." She looked away. "The effort is more taxing than I

thought it would be."

Cracker Jack shrugged and adjusted the brim of his hat. If she was going

to have some sort of identity crisis deal, it wasn't his problem. He'd just keep

an eye out for the inevitable breakdown and remember to make himself scarce just

before everything went south.

"The immediate area is clear."

Jack never jumped when Eidolon showed up anymore. Since the 'oldest' of

the Dolls could appear out of virtually anywhere, she had a habit of doing just

that. The thought that other people were concerned about things like walls and

floors apparently never really occurred to her. He turned slowly to look at the

young woman.

Rose had attempted to convince the Dolls to wear something other than

their skin-tight black catsuits, but thankfully without much success. Jack

concealed a smirk behind his hands by lighting a cigarette. He always liked

Eidolon. She was a full-grown woman, with the kind of shape that Jack thought

was pretty much ideal. The Doll looked at him and he swore she smirked a little

and arched her back just a bit.

Well, Rose had made it clear he could no longer ORDER them to sleep

with him. She hadn't said anything about asking...

"What is the situation?" Rose growled, crossing her arms and glowering

at the two of them. Eidolon snapped to attention.

"The other Dolls have secured the area for a five block radius. All

hostile entities in the area have been neutralised," she explained with

mechanical precision.

"Call the others back here." Rose turned to look at the Pillars of

Heaven. It was a rare section of Tokyo that did not have a fantastic view of the

massive towers. Eidolon nodded and vanished into a nearby wall in a flare of

purple sparks. "We're going to have to make a push for the Pillars now."

"Not the brightest plan," Jack said around his smoke. He tapped his bat

against the ground. "I doubt a Louisville Slugger is going to do much good

against a guy who can blow up entire oceans."

"Maybe, maybe not." Rose looked back at him. "But we can't risk that it

won't. The plan is simple. We attack Gyro as quickly as possible. If anyone can

get in a killing blow, then it's worth it."

"So we just throw ourselves at him like lemmings until one of us chokes

him with our corpse?"

"Perhaps put a little more crudely than I would have liked." The other

Dolls were showing up now; in teams of two they hopped and bounced over the

debris and came to settle in a rough circle around them. "If you didn't want to

play the role of hero, you shouldn't have chosen to be on the side of one."

"Heroes are cool," Jack said with a shrug. "Heroes get fame, chicks,

respect... all that nice stuff. It's martyrs I have a problem with. Specifically

being one." He looked at all the Dolls around him. "And these young ladies

didn't exactly get a choice in the matter."

"They can leave if they feel like it!" Rose insisted, a vein in her

forehead throbbing.

"And if you die?" He spread his hands. "They're still connected to your

life force..."

"Jack, don't push this." Rose snarled. "We need to be here."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just... know. This is important enough to risk

everything for."

"Lady Rose!" the Doll called Noembelu called out. "There is a powerful

chi force moving towards us at high speed!"

Cracker Jack looked at the Native American Doll. She was already

unlimbering her hatchets and turning to face down the road. Noembelu was a

tracker. Bison had chosen her because of her sensitivity, and she had the

ability to hunt down just about anyone no matter where they went. If she said

there was danger approaching, he was getting ready. The other Dolls followed

suit. Rose looked somehow both annoyed and worried at the same time, but she

turned to face the same direction as the copper-skinned Doll.

Jack heard it before he saw it. It was the roar of a motorcycle,

straining past its breaking point. Then a plume of dust on the horizon, coming

straight down the centre of the street at them. The plume grew and gradually a

shape resolved itself in front of the dust cloud. Jack tilted up his hat

slightly, not certain if he could believe what he was seeing.

The bike was cherry-apple red, all smooth and glistening. It had an

attached sidecar and looked like it belonged to some rich kid who knew about as

much about motorcycles as Jack knew about legitimate finance. And there were

five people on that.

Wait, make that five people and an octopus.

A pink-haired woman was bent over the handle bars, grinning insanely.

She was steering with one hand while she manipulated a huge gun that had been

welded to the handlebars with the other. He could hear the deadly purr of the

weapon going off just under the roar of the motorcycle. A man was sitting with

his back to hers, hip-firing a sniper rifle behind them. A young woman with

brown hair was hanging by one arm and one leg to the right of the bike, opposite

the sidecar. She carried a sword in her other hand, which she was wielding with

deadly accuracy. The sidecar had two women crammed into it: one was facing

forward and clinging to a laptop computer with all her strength, apparently

shouting directions to the driver. The other was a woman in golden armour

straight out of a fantasy novel. As he watched she slashed her arm through the

air behind them, a ray of brilliant gold light following in her hand's wake.

And on top of the gatling gun welded between the handlebars was a tiny

octopus, clinging onto the barrel of the weapon with his eight little tentacles.

He was wearing aviator goggles.

They were surrounded on all side by monsters. And more kept joining them

every second. Jack, however, couldn't take his eyes off the three non-armour-

wearing women on the bike. It couldn't be... weren't they DEAD?

"Minako," Rose murmured. "Everyone, help the people on the bike. They

are not enemies."

The Dolls needed no other orders. Like a black, lithe and sexy wave they

poured forward. The driver of the bike spotted them, her eyes widening. She

turned the bike sideways, slamming on the break and burning off a few

millimeters of rubber as she screeched to a halt. She whipped an Uzi up that had

been slung around her neck to point at the oncoming Dolls. Her face had drained

of all colour and she was mouthing something to herself over and over.

Then the Dolls flashed past them and struck into the pack of demons. She

blinked.

Jack sauntered up to the bike. "Hey, Fevrier, long time no see."

"Cracker Jack..." The woman frowned. Then she pointed her gun directly

into his face. The muzzle felt warm against his nose. "I am NOT going back!" she

snarled.

"Cracker Jack?" Marz said, blinking and looking up at him. Her eyes

widened and she pulled her computer to her chest. Satsuki dropped from the bike

and landed in a fighting stance. The as-yet-unidentified man and woman turned to

face him, only reluctantly tearing their attention away from the battle going on

behind them.

Jack smiled. "It ain't like that anymore, babe. New management."

"I'll believe that when I see Bison's body," Fevrier replied sharply.

Colour was returning to her cheeks, but her eyes were cool and deadly.

"I'm afraid this will have to do," Rose said as she floated down next to

them. The five looked at her. The gold-clad woman frowned as she looked at the

new leader of Shadowloo, but it was hard to read her expression behind her mask.

"Minako, you're looking well."

"Do I know you?" the woman replied.

"In another life," Rose said, waving her hand. "I am Rose. Or what is

left of her. Or what Rose became..." She closed her eyes and rubbed her

forehead. "It is complicated. I am still trying to discover what it all means

myself."

"BISON!" Marz suddenly cried out, stumbling out of the sidecar. She was

pointing at Rose. "Stay away from me!"

"Marz, please, I have no intention of..." Rose trailed off as a sword

appeared at her neck. Jack, however, had known better than to take his eyes off

Satsuki for even a split second. The blade had halted after cutting halfway

through his bat. Still, it had come close enough to draw a bead of blood from

the woman's neck.

"Nice try, but she signs my paycheques," Jack said, then backhanded her

with his free hand. Satsuki rolled with the blow, coming up in a fighting

stance.

"Satsuki!" the boy shouted. He vaulted the bike and came down at Jack.

He was wearing military gear and wielding a sniper rifle, but he moved with the

speed of a martial artist. Still, Jack was just fast enough to backstep out of

the way. "Leave her alone!" the boy shouted.

There was a clatter and a hatchet on a chain snapped around the boy's

arm, pulling his rifle to the side as the boy tried to draw a bead. Then there

was a loud bang and the chain went limp. Smoke wafted from the barrel of the

pistol Fevrier had just drawn. The other Dolls had finished with the horde of

demon freaks and were beginning to circle the group now. Noembelu adjusted her

grip on her remaining hatchet and its attached chain.

"ENOUGH!" Minako roared, snapping her hands out. Instantly golden walls

appeared all around them. Jack blinked. They appeared to be made out of tiny

little golden hearts that glowed brightly. But then again, he'd seen this woman

cut through a half dozen monsters with a single shot, so he wasn't about to test

these walls no matter how silly they looked. "Everyone calm down!" Minako

continued shouting. "We don't have time for this. So somebody had better start

talking about this like a rational human being or so help me, I'll put you all

in the hospital."

"It's very simple, Minako," Rose said. She sounded unconcerned with the

fact that she was surrounded on all sides by a glowing prison. "You remember me,

correct?"

"I knew someone named Rose. She hung out with Sailor Pluto. You look

nothing like her."

"And appearances are so convincing?" Rose snorted. "With your boyfriend,

you should be more open-minded."

"I am." Minako smiled. It was just possible to see her and most of the

others through the gaps between the links in the wall. "That's why I haven't

started blasting you."

"Good." Rose crossed her arms. "When we left you last, we were on a

mission to rescue Ukyou's child from Bison. We defeated Bison, but he was

inhabiting this body. So in order to fully defeat him, Nabiki was forced to

reintegrate my psyche with Bison's. Thus, Bison has become me and I have become

complete."

Jack knew there was a lot Rose was leaving out of her explanation. He

still had no idea exactly what had happened during the last few hours back in

Bisonopolis. Then again, he didn't really care.

Minako looked at her a moment. "That face looks familiar." Then she

gasped, a short, sharp intake of startled breath. "You're...!"

"Yes."

"Ranma..." Minako began.

"I don't know." Rose looked aside. "He went north with Ukyou."

Minako sighed. "Okay, you three, is that convincing enough for you?"

"She certainly doesn't sound like Bison..." Fevrier muttered.

"Her waveform isn't exactly the same either." Marz explained. "It is

more level than Bison's was. I think she is telling the truth."

"I sense no evil from her," Satsuki added. She sheathed her sword.

Jack relaxed as the walls of golden links vanished. Minako immediately

slumped against the bike, breathing heavily. That had taken more out of her than

she had let on. Good for her. Bluffing was a valuable skill.

"So, you don't intend on taking them away," the boy said to Rose.

The brown-haired woman looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I'm impressed

you were able to humanise them so much, Mamoru."

"You know me?"

"I've heard of your... predicament." She frowned. "I find myself in a

similar condition." She leaned in closer to him. "How did you hold them off for

seven years?"

Mamoru looked at her, then back at the rest of the Dolls. They were

moving with their usual grace as they approached the trio of ex-Dolls that had

been missing since Vega's ill-fated trip to Tokyo seven years ago. Enero walked

up to Fevrier, her expression curious.

"We thought you were dead," Enero said.

"I thought about you as little as possible," Fevrier returned with a

grunt. She had holstered her pistols, but kept her hands on the hilts.

"You've aged," Enero noted curiously.

Fevrier smirked. "So will you."

Jack adjusted his hat. This was going well. He slowly moved away,

noticing Minako and Rose doing the same. As well as the land octopus, which

was hiding behind Minako now.

Mamoru chuckled. "I don't know. I don't think I did." He turned to her.

"They kind of sneak right into you."

"I most certainly hope not!" Rose snapped. She grit her teeth and

clenched her fists. "But enough about this. I assume you are here to confront

Reichmann Gyro?"

"Yes..."

"Good. We'll need everyone we can get." Rose turned to Minako. "We have

to attack Gyro to keep him off-balance. Your boyfriend is coming, as are Ukyou

and Tethys. We have to keep him from spreading his madness further until they

arrive."

"Ranma..." Minako shook her head. "I'm sorry, Rose. I can't stay with

you." She stood up straighter. "There's someone I need to find." The octopus

behind her nodded vigourously.

Rose stared at her a long moment. "I see. I doubt you'll locate anyone

in this city. But I can't force you to come with us."

"I..." Minako lowered her head. "If you see Ranma..." She paused. "Never

mind. I'll tell him myself." Then she jumped up and backwards, landing on a

small building before vanishing over the other side.

OoOoO

"Captain, why have we stopped?"

Sakura Yamazaki did not pride herself on her patience. She prided

herself on her stunning beauty, her overwhelming talents, her superhuman

charisma and her attractive modesty. Patience, however, was not a virtue she had

ever really understood the point of. So after seven years of careful planning,

seven years of deferring to the next year and then the next, when the plan that

would eventually free the nation of her birth from the tyranny of Chronos hit

even the slightest hitch, she did not feel bad about displaying her annoyance in

the loudest possible way.

The captain of the submarine was a heavy-set man, with a florid face and

a balding head. He was also one of the sharpest minds in the US Navy. He had a

grasp of naval tactics that exceeded his peers by leaps and bounds. More

importantly, he had been one of the few members of the so-called old guard who

had immediately grasped the tactical and strategic changes that the usage of

metapowered operatives introduced to the world. After seven years of playing

undersea tag with Millennium and Chronos, the captain was perhaps the single

best man at his job on the entire planet.

That wouldn't stop Sakura from giving him a piece of her mind. However,

he neatly sidestepped her tirade by standing to the side and gesturing out to

one of the sonar screens. As a Shinto priestess, and a national hero, Sakura had

never bothered to learn much about sonar. She pretty much dealt with mystical

things and left all the tiresome technical details up to the people trained in

those disciplines.

However, even she was certain that there wasn't supposed to be a giant

green wall across the screen of the sonar station. Pulses of sonar pinged out

from the ship, represented by concentric waves on the screen. But they all

reached that green line and then vanished. She pointed to the screen. "What is

that?"

"We don't know, ma'am," the captain replied. He pointed to some tiny

green dots on the screen. "Those, however, are our ships." Sakura stared. That

couldn't be right. These submarines were over a hundred meters long, each. For

that scale to be right, the thing in the water ahead of them had to be...

"I see you understand the situation." He adjusted his hat. "Oh, and it's

lobbing depth charges at us."

"Depth charges?" Sakura looked up, blinking.

There was a loud boom, and the ship shuddered slightly. Sakura stumbled

but kept her footing by grabbing a pipe above her head. The captain didn't so

much as flinch. He nodded slowly.

"Ayup." He squinted and ran his tongue up against the inside of his

cheek. "Nothing coming close to us, really. But every ship that tries to move

gets a depth charge exactly..." He looked over at one of the officers. "What was

that again, Charley?"

"Fifteen meters, sir!" the man replied quickly.

"Ayup. Exactly fifteen meters off their bow."

Sakura stared at him. "Captain, I think you should surface," she said

seriously.

"Why is that?"

"You have over three hundred highly trained martial artists on board

these ships. They have, among them, more firepower than anything short of a

nuclear missile. However, trapped in these boats a hundred meters beneath the

surface they are about as useful as insults and spitballs." She tapped the sonar

screen again. "So unless you think you can defeat that, I suggest you surface so

my people can do their jobs."

"I think that may be a good idea." The captain grabbed a small

microphone off the wall, hitting a button. "All ships, surface. I repeat, all

ships are to surface immediately."

Sakura was already leaving the bridge by the time he finished speaking.

She snarled and pushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. This was not

happening. She had made a promise. A PROMISE. Sakura Yamazaki did not go back on

her word.

Seven years ago, just before Chronos had made their move, Sakura had

swept through Japan like a reaper. Except instead of killing people, she took

them away. Fighters. The best and the brightest. Many of the highly skilled

martial artists of Japan had taken her up on her offer. Sanctuary from Chronos

within the US, in exchange for helping to fight the good fight.

And her promise to all of them had been that one day, they would return.

One day, they would head back and free their homeland from the enemy. Too many

of the people she had promised that to had not lived to see this day. Too many

people had died protecting her adopted homeland. Too many had sacrificed

themselves to protects strangers. Now, when they finally had a chance to strike

back, to regain everything they had lost...

No giant fucking wall in the middle of the ocean was going to stop them.

"Whoa, Sakura!" Shingo caught her a second before she barrelled into him

at top speed. She thought briefly of trying to push past him, but Shingo was

perhaps the single strongest human being on the entire planet, so she knew it

would be futile. "What's the rush, babe? And did I just hear we were surfacing?

I thought we were still several hours outside of Japan?"

"Yes, we're surfacing. There's been a snag." She frowned at him. "I have

to get topside."

"What is it? Zoanoids? Millennium remnants?"

"I don't know." She pushed at his hand. "Excuse me..."

Shingo released her, frowning. He adjusted his sunglasses as she walked

past. Why on earth he wore sunglasses in a nuclear submarine she had no idea.

Did he really think it made him look cool?

"Sakura, wait!" Shingo caught up to her at the ladder leading up the

tower. She stiffened. "You've been avoiding me for weeks now-"

"This isn't the time, Shingo..." Sakura snarled, cutting him off.

"I know." He rubbed his scruffy little brown beard. "And I understand. I

hid important things from you and I've never exactly treated you right. But

Sakura, I want you to be able to trust me." He took off his glasses and stared

at her with his soulful green eyes. "Japan is my homeland. Sailor Moon is MY

sister. She's the one that gave us this chance. I want... I NEED to be here for

this fight. I need to make a difference here. But I can't if you don't trust

me..."

Sakura felt her heart melting just a little bit. She knew this might

very well be another false confession. But damn her, she had never been able to

stay mad at him. He just looked so adorable when he was faking being sorry.

Plus, he was the best sex she had ever had.

She threw up her hands. "Fine." She leaned in and kissed him. "You're

forgiven, okay?" The alarm indicating they had breached the surface went off.

Sakura began to climb the ladder. "Just make certain you keep that lecherous

master of yours away from me."

"No problem," Shingo called out as he followed her. She was probably

giving him a good show, given her high-cut skirt. But if she cared about that,

she would have worn pants. It was fun playing with Shingo a little, now and

again.

True, he would probably be gone the moment this battle was over. True,

he would be leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him as he travelled. But it

wasn't like Sakura was above playing the game, too. She was damn proud of the

fact that any man pictured on her arm was an instant celebrity. No, she and

Shingo would just have these moments here. Fun while it lasted.

It wasn't like there were any emotions really invested between them.

Certainly not.

That would be stupid.

The hatch opened with a soft pop and a cascade of salty water. Sakura

made a face as it poured over her outfit. Damn, red leather didn't handle water

well. Maybe she should get out her priestess robes? No, not enough time for

that.

It was pouring rain when she exited. The clouds overhead were thick and

black, run through with blasts of lightning. Strangely enough, there was no

wind. The rain came straight down in sheets, drenching everything instantly.

Sakura walked over to the edge of the tower, pulling her glasses from between

her cleavage.

Shingo came up behind her and stopped at the edge of the tower, his

hands grabbing the guardrail to keep himself steady. "Is that what I think it

is?"

Sakura nodded. It was a crimson wall. A wall of blood, her nose

instantly told her. It rose out of the ocean nearly twenty meters, and must have

gone down beneath it several hundred more. It stretched out for kilometers in

either direction. Shingo was looking at it through a pair of binoculars. "Whoa,

who is that?" His voice had the unmistakable tinge of lust to it. Sakura had

heard it before, whenever Shingo spotted a new, attractive young woman. It was

like a reflex. He didn't even think about repressing it.

Personally, she found it cute.

"Give me those," Sakura snapped, grabbing the binoculars away from him.

A glance through the lens showed the woman Shingo had seen. She wasn't tall, but

she was definitely big in other areas. For her part, Sakura thought that too

much up top made a woman look like a cow, but that wasn't an opinion shared by

nearly enough men. The woman had blonde hair and wore a black outfit, some kind

of uniform that looked like it was designed for a fetish costume party rather

than actual combat use.

And she had guns.

No, 'guns' was too small a word. She had cannons. She had howitzers. She

had huge giant barrels nearly three meters long and with nozzles the size of

dinner plates. These were connected by a belt of half-meter-long shells to giant

containers on her back, presumably filled with more ammo. That woman was

probably carrying enough firepower in those two cannons to sink their entire

fleet.

The woman looked right at Sakura. They had to be hundreds of meters away

from each other, but the woman looked right at her nonetheless. She had red

eyes.

"Vampire," Sakura hissed.

"Did we think to bring any blessed ammo?" Shingo asked.

"Nope."

"Shit."

"Any idea what she wants?" Sakura said, holding up the binoculars for

Shingo. They were already being joined on deck by some more of the S.T.A.R.S.

units. Sakura could also see other dark shapes through the rain - the rest of

the fleet. Ten subs in all.

"I don't think she wants us going any further." Shingo shrugged. "But

she isn't attacking."

"Should we hit her?"

"I wouldn't suggest it." Sakura turned slightly. The captain had joined

them on deck. He had thought to put on a rain slicker beforehand. "Not unless

you think your men can fight without ships underneath them." He lowered his own

binoculars. "Those cannons could likely punch through my ship like it was made

out of tissue paper."

"We're not giving up now!" Sakura slammed her fist into the guardrail.

"We're so close!"

The captain shrugged. "Maybe somebody doesn't want you joining the

party?"

"Who?" Sakura snapped.

The captain shrugged again. But Sakura could see he had some ideas.

"Anyway, we're only a few hundred clicks off the coast now..."

"Little good that does us." Shingo crossed his arms. The rain ran off

his broad shoulders. His t-shirt was plastered tightly to his muscular chest,

and the rain water ran down the channels carved out by his physique in ways that

were distracting enough that Sakura resolved to keep her eyes on the florid-

faced captain instead.

"Maybe, maybe not." The captain smirked. "These aren't standard nuclear

subs. They're mobile launch platforms for metahuman operatives. We've

retrofitted them so we can deploy agents anywhere in the world in a few moment's

notice. Of course, against a vampire of that kind of obvious power, you'd

clearly need spiritual potency to slip by unmolested in any sort of vehicle."

"So?" Sakura tapped her foot.

"Either of you two know how to fly a helicopter?"

OoOoO

Rei sat in lotus position, her back to the Rose Gate. All around her,

the ground was covered in paper wards. They extended in all directions, forming

an elaborate mandala. She had used every trick she could remember, all the

techniques and seals taught to her by her grandfather and Katsuhito. She hoped

it was enough.

As she waited, she prayed. Prayed to the souls of those who had gone

before her. Prayed to the spirits of the earth and the sun. Prayed to any god

that would listen. Her hands clapped together, she continued praying until the

creak of the iron gates into what had once been the duelling forest announced

their arrival.

Rei opened her eyes and rose to her feet. Akio and Anthy stood just

inside the entrance. He wore a uniform of white silk and golden cords. His long

lavender hair spilled out behind him. His thin face was smiling. Anthy wore a

dress that was red like blood, velvet folds flowing out around her. Her long

violet hair was held up by an array of pins and a golden tiara. She looked every

part the princess.

"So... this is it?" Akio seemed amused. "This is the best He could do?"

In his hand, Akio carried a sword. Rei had never seen it before, but she

knew instantly what it was. It was a perfect blade, shining white and pure. She

felt a little part of herself die. But she blinked away the tears before they

could form. She had a job to do. She raised her hands and summoned her magic,

forming the Flame Sniper. She pulled the flaming arrow back.

"One Sailor Senshi and two cats?" Akio chuckled. "Is this all He has

left? Is God's attention so invested in Tokyo now that He can spare nothing

else?"

Fire, a small part of her said in the back of her mind. Don't listen to

him. Just fire. He killed Sailor Moon. He KILLED her. He defiled her and tore

out her soul and now he carries it like a damn trophy. He destroyed a girl whose

only crime was being too trusting. A girl too innocent for this world. A girl

who loved too much. A messiah whose message this world didn't want to hear. He

turned that around. He twisted it. He made it wrong, and awful and dirty...

KILL HIM!

But she hesitated. At her feet she could see the two moon cats tensing.

A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. She needed time. That was it. She

needed time. She had to wait for something. But she had no idea what.

Akio stretched his arms out to his side, still holding the blade. "Come

then, Rei. Strike me down. That is your purpose, isn't it? That is what you were

put on this green Earth to do. To strike down evil." He smiled, a winning

smile that made his entire face light up.

"You're afraid, aren't you, Rei?"

Don't listen to him, a part of her said. Strike now. But she needed

time. She had to wait. But every fibre of her being told her to attack. There

was no miracle to wait for.

"It's okay to be afraid." Akio brought his arms back down, and placed

the tip of the blade on the ground in front of him. "He is afraid too, you see."

"Who?" Rei snapped.

"God, of course." Akio waved his hand through the air. "Or whatever He

calls himself. You see, He's beginning to think He made a mistake. The mistake

of letting me be here.

"I was placed here with a purpose, just like you." He chuckled. "I was

once like Him, Rei. I've been of the Third Circle. I could make miracles

happen." He shrugged. "But in the end, the universe does not want miracles. It

wants laws. It despises gods who think they can live among men."

He gestured to the young woman behind him. Anthy did not look nearly as

nonchalant as her 'brother'. Her eyes were hard and cold. Rei couldn't help

picturing her as she had seen her seven years ago, her body pierced by

thousands, millions of swords. And her eyes, hard and cold and uncaring about

her suffering. That had been Anthy's true self, not this image before her. When

all the illusions of Ohtori had been shattered, this one had remained.

"Usagi could not have lived that way, Rei." He walked sideways, and Rei

turned to keep a bead on him. He stopped and draped himself against the wall.

"She would not have been willing to make the sacrifice. To force all the pain,

all the misery onto another. It's the only way, Rei. God can not exist. His very

nature defies creation. He destroys possibilities, and the ravaging hatred of

those stillborn universes... they never go away."

Rei heard it. It was a distant growl. A sound like a wild animal.

"That's the true secret, Rei. The truth about all of this. The power of

Miracles does the impossible, and in so doing it unmakes the world. It shatters

reality like an egg, to make the world anew. But it can not truly destroy

things, Rei."

The roar was growing louder. It swept around the bare field like a wind,

rising and lowering. Rei thought she could see the glint and shimmer of metal,

undulating around the outside of the walls. She tried to focus on Akio. She had

to be ready. She might only have one shot.

She needed more time.

"You see, the soul, alone among all things, is sacrosanct. Even the

Third Circle cannot unmake it. It cannot truly destroy it. Washuu must have

told you of souls, Rei. She told you how they divide, endlessly. How they

propagate across all the possibilities of time and space. How right now, there

are a billion yous, all standing there in that spot. Each slightly different.

Differences so small we could not even notice them. A stray quark here, a

neutrino's worth of weight more or less. But all of them are YOU, Rei."

Rei's eyes widened. The wave had crested high enough above the

surrounding wall that she could see it for what it was now. It was swords.

Millions and millions of swords.

"The Third Circle collapses all that, Rei. It shatters the cycle,

unmaking all those other yous and leaving only the person that God wishes there

to be. But He can't make those souls, those other Reis, truly vanish."

There was a cracking sound. A stone dislodged from the wall. Then

another. A rent appeared. Through it, Rei could see more swords. Every type and

make. Then she realised the truth. She could feel it. These were not swords. No

more than what Akio carried was a sword. A crack appeared near his head and he

calmly walked away from the wall, making certain that Anthy was between him and

it.

"They are cast into the darkness. Into Oblivion itself. There they

become crushed, distorted... but you can never make them truly go away. They

return over and over. Except there is nowhere to return to. No place for them to

be. Except for the soul of the one who cast them out."

The walls were vanishing, piece by piece. Chipped away. Rei felt her

knees shaking. It had to be an illusion, she told herself. It couldn't be real.

But a part of her, an increasingly loud part, told her to fire now. That it was

almost too late.

"You see, one who has touched the Third Circle is a gateway. He is the

only one who remembers the world as it was. Who can experience that which was.

So He is the only one who can experience the anger, the hatred of the souls He

has cast out. Of the universe's worth of lives He has destroyed.

"Unless he can find a shield."

Anthy spread her arms wide, her hair suddenly flying free. The swords

burst through. The walls disintegrated. The roar was defeaning. They swirled all

around the dueling arena, carving up the earth if they flew too low. It was a

tornado, a tornado of sharp flashing blades. And they were in the centre of the

tornado. Rei and Akio and the two moon cats. They were safe within the eye of

the storm.

But Anthy was not. She was on the edge of the cyclone. No, she WAS the

edge of the cyclone. Her body spasmed and jerked as the swords flayed at her

skin, cutting her dress to shreds. But she held them back.

The swords ripped at her flesh. But they weren't swords. They were

souls. The souls of those denied. Those destroyed by the Third Circle. Lost in

Oblivion, full of nothing but hate and rage at the existence that had been

denied to them. Rei felt tears falling from her eyes. It was monstrous.

"This is why Usagi could never have been the champion she wished to be,"

Akio explained. "This was the truth she could not stand to see. This was what I

protected her from." He held out his hand. "To change the world, to save it,

means to destroy. And nothing we do can be attained without sacrifice.

"So, Rei, do you see why I have to get past you?" He held up Sailor

Moon's soulsword. "With this sword, Usagi could have broken past the Rose Gate.

She could have attained the power of miracles. But she was unwilling to pay that

price. So, I must do it for her. Then, Rei, then I will make the world a better

place. God sent you, Rei, because He is scared of me.

"Unlike Ukyou, I will not be a novice to my power. I will fight Him as

one God against another. I will wrest the destiny of this world from His grasp.

And more besides. He is nothing but a phantom. He has no identity. He sacrificed

it a long time ago, to protect Himself from the souls he has destroyed. They can

not find Him, as long as He does not exist. But I can find God, Rei. I can

punish Him for the horrors He inflicted on this world.

"You are the last defence. You are what He hopes will stop me. You are

playing His game. You are a puppet, being used by this phantom God. You're all

He has left. He can risk no greater miracle now, so close to His purpose. Will

you play for Him, Rei?"

Akio walked towards her. "The thing that created this world of sorrows.

The thing that plotted out your life. Used your destiny like a hook to drag you

from one horror to another. Make no mistake, Rei. It was He that killed your

grandfather. It was He that destroyed your life. It was He that did everything

to you. Just so that you would stand here, now, between me and that door."

Akio's expression was serious as he looked straight into her eyes.

"Don't give Him the satisfaction, Rei. Don't let Him win."

Rei closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She believed him. She didn't

know why. She realised he had every reason to lie to her. But she believed him.

She KNEW, deep in her heart, that he was telling the truth. Because she had

always felt it. The call of Destiny.

That was His touch, wasn't it? Guiding her from one place to the next.

She had always been drawn to it. She had been born to it. She was a Sailor

Senshi, chosen to protect the world and strike out against evil. Chosen by who?

Protect it from what? Which man's evil?

No. Akio's words had struck a chord inside her. She could feel that

small part of herself screaming at her. She now recognised it for what it was.

The voice of Destiny. The voice she had always listened to for guidance. The

voice of whatever had created this world.

She opened her eyes.

"I believe you, Akio." He smiled. "And you're right. If I stand up to

you, here, now, I'm doing His work. I'm fighting for something cruel and

nameless. And that would make me worse than a puppet. Because a puppet doesn't

know it's being manipulated, but I do. If I fought you, I would be knowingly

condoning all the evil that He has done to this world.

"And maybe that sin will damn me. Maybe when it grows tired of this

world, my soul will be cast into Oblivion, torn apart by Paradox, and I'll join

the swords around us. Just another damned soul, screaming mindlessly in hell."

Akio was frowning. He stepped back from her.

"So be it. If that is my destiny, I accept it. Because if I'm going to

hell... you're going there before me!

"FLAME SNIPER!"

OoOoO

The further Minako got away from the others, the more deserted the city

became. It worried her. It did mean that there were less and less demons to take

care of, but it also made her feel strange, like she was overlooking something.

Truth be told, everything about this felt wrong. She wanted desperately

to abandon the search. She wanted to go and help Mamoru and the others fight

Gyro. Or maybe head back to give Rei a hand fighting Akio. Anything but be

hopelessly scouring the city for Sailor Moon.

"How am I even supposed to find her?" Minako asked herself as she looked

down the four nearly identical streets leading away from the intersection she

was standing in. Minako had no idea where to even look. Tokyo was a huge city

and Usagi could be in literally any part of it. If she was even in the city at

all.

Akio could have taken her anywhere in Japan. Anywhere in the world. She

had no idea how powerful he or his sister were, or how limited they might be.

There was no clues, no insights she could discover in herself.

But why bother? Did she even like Sailor Moon? She was a brat, a spoiled

self-indulgent child. She had never lost anything. Not like Minako had. Her

family was safe. Prospering. Everything she loved and cared for was protected.

Her world was one of ease. Her battles were nothing compared to the fights

Minako had undergone.

Minako clutched her head and closed her eyes. No. That didn't matter.

She had to think past that. No matter what she thought of Sailor Moon, it didn't

matter. Because she needed to be saved.

Minako's eyes flashed open.

She could feel a pressure inside her. No, not just inside her. It was in

the whole world. The entire city was heavy with it. It was that feeling you get

when you realise you have to make an important decision. When your entire life

comes to a halt and everything hangs in the balance. It was a profound, almost

otherworldly feeing.

The weight of Destiny.

She took a step forward. The weight seemed to increase. It was like the

city was focusing on her. The whole world. The entire universe. Every step she

took, the pressure increased. It was pulling on something inside her. Her heart

was racing. The air was thin in her throat. Her legs felt like lead. Her entire

body was betraying her.

She kept walking.

Anger. She could feel it. It was huge. It seeped out of the pavement. It

thickened in the air. It filled everything. She wasn't supposed to be here. She

was supposed to be elsewhere. She needed to be elsewhere. She needed to turn

around. To go back. To fight with Rei. It HAD to be done.

"This is MY life!" Minako shouted. She had no idea who she was yelling

at. She had no idea why she was even yelling. She stumbled and fell to one knee.

Her eyes closed. Tears poured out.

What would Ranma think? Abandoning your friends wasn't something he

would appreciate, was it? Minako could almost hear him. "Minako! We fight evil!

It's what we do! Akio has to be stopped. You can stop him. Stop wasting time on

a fantasy. It's just like in England all over again. You can't lose yourself in

your own stupid quest. You have to realise that there are some fights you just

can't win, and choose the ones you can. Just go back and punch Akio in the face.

Everything else will just take care of itself."

No.

He would never say that.

Ranma would fight Akio, just like she wanted to. But he would not give

up on Usagi. She knew. She knew how much he hated himself for giving up on

Ukyou, all those years ago. How he had run away. How THEY had run away. Ranma

would never give up.

"And neither will I!"

And just like that, the weight vanished. She almost collapsed, sobbing

in relief. She had no idea why, but she felt more exhausted than she ever had.

It was like she'd just fought a harder battle than any other. Even after Rip van

Winkle had blown open her chest, Minako hadn't felt this bad. She had no idea

what had happened. But she knew that it wasn't over yet.

Minako managed to stagger along. She had to clear her eyes and wipe the

sweat off her brow. But as she continued walking, she began to hear a voice.

"...Chuuko, reporting for Galaxy TV, here from the ruins of Tokyo..."

A voice, here? Minako stopped. It was coming from further down the

street and around the corner. She knew she should walk away. She was looking for

Sailor Moon, not some survivors. And this place was full of monsters. Monsters

that could trick her. Lure her into a trap. But if that was a survivor...

She ran around the corner.

The woman was shorter than any adult Minako had ever met. She was

practically tiny, with a childish figure. If it hadn't been for her pinstripe

suit and matching hat, Minako might have assumed she was a child. She was

standing there, talking nervously into a microphone. In front of her was a

parody of a human being.

It looked like it had once been male, but now it was hard to tell. It

wore a dress with a short skirt, and had cerulean blue skin. Its hair was tied

back in two buns which, upon looking closer, were actually satellite dishes. The

thing's right arm ended in a large camera which it was pointing at the young

woman. She was adjusting her collar and looking nervously at the thing's other

hand, which was carrying a cat-o-nine-tails made up of loose television cables.

"As the last survivor of Tokyo, I certainly have no idea how I could

have persevered this long! Chuu!" the woman laughed. "Nor would I really like

some HELP, getting away from this PHAGE, that is threatening me! Chuu! He is a

nice Sailor Cameraman, chuu, and won't hurt poor little Nezu as long as she

continues to report for him! HAHA-CHUU!"

Minako raised an eyebrow and began to walk towards the woman. It was

possible that someone had survived the initial attack. If so, she needed help.

But something about this seemed off. Maybe it was the convenience of them

showing up now, of all times. Maybe it was how Minako was certain there was more

to this woman than met the eyes...

"It's not like I survived the black lightning because I don't have a

Star Seed to extract, chuu!" The woman continued, laughing. "Nor that I think

the world is soon going to end at the hands of Sailor Galaxia, who I most

certainly haven't heard of, chuu!"

Or maybe her babbling was giving away the game. Minako sighed and held

up her hand. "Crescent Beam!" she announced and blasted away at the demon thing.

It was caught completely flat-footed. Her attack left a hole in it which smoked

as it toppled over. She hated having to do that, but she knew that, like ghouls,

there was probably no helping a human once they had been turned into one of

these things.

"My saviour, chuu!" The woman bounced up and down. "You came along just

in time!"

"Yeah." Minako waved. "It's dangerous here. You should leave right

away."

"It really is dangerous..." The woman sneered. "For you!" She jumped

backward, pulling off her outfit in a single flourish. Underneath she was

wearing a white costume that looked like a little girl's pyjamas. She also had a

mouse tail, and mouse ears in her white hair to match. "You fool, you got too

close to me, chuu! Witness the wrath of Sailor Iron Mouse!"

She snapped her wrist together and a pair of gold bracelets appeared.

Minako sighed and flicked her wrist. Her Love Me Chain snapped out and around

the woman's arms, binding them together and then looping around the arm so much

they vanished within the golden glow.

"Now, I'll take your Star Se-" The woman blinked, only now noticing her

bindings. "Huh?"

Apparently she wasn't able to stop whatever attack she had started

because a moment later a golden explosion enveloped her body. She was thrown

back against a wall, moaning. The blast had disintegrated Minako's chain,

meaning Iron Mouse's arms were free. But she didn't look very good. Minako

rushed across the street.

She grabbed the woman by her sailor-style collar before she had a chance

to slump to the ground. Then she banged her against the wall. "Okay, now I get

to ask you a few questions."

"OWCHUU!" the woman moaned. "Not so rough! I just got blown up!"

"Not my fault," Minako pointed out. "And unless you want to end up like

Sailor Cameraman, I wouldn't worry too much about what happened then, and start

worrying about what's going to happen next."

The woman's eyes narrowed. Minako allowed herself to smile, an evil

threatening smile. It was good to know they were on the same page.

"I'll do anything chuu want!" the woman whined. "Just don't hurt me!"

"Really? This easy?" Minako mused. She held up her hand, conjuring a bit

of light on the tips of her fingers. "I was just getting started."

"No, no! I'm a craven coward, chuu have to believe me!" The woman shook

her head violently. "I sold out my entire race to save my hide! Chuu!"

"Who sent you?" Minako asked bluntly.

"Sailor Galaxia," the woman replied.

"Who is that? What does she want with me? Is she trying to stop me from

getting to Sailor Moon?" Minako emphasised her question by shoving the woman a

little each time.

"Whoa, slow down, chuu!" the woman gasped. "I can only answer one

question at a time!"

"Why are you after me?"

"I wasn't... not after you specifically." The woman gulped. "I work for

Sailor Galaxia. Chuu. She wants to collect all the pure Star Seeds in the

galaxy. Some guy named Reichmann Gyro was supposed to be doing that for her.

Chuu. I was just supposed to keep an eye on him. Well, chuu, he betrayed her and

plans to blow up the Earth. Chuu. So, chuu, when I tried to run away, chuu,

planning to use the excuse that she needed to know what he was up to, chuu, she

sent me back. Chuu. She told me, 'You have to collect the true Star Seeds of the

other Sailor Senshi on this world before Gyro destroys them in a fit of pique.'

So, chuu, I started looking for them and yours was the first one I found

and..."

"Hold up," Minako insisted, putting an end to the girl's babbling. "So

this has nothing to do with..." Minako trailed off. How could she say it without

sounding insane? The entire universe, trying with all its might to stop her from

reaching Usagi? That was silly. Whatever she had felt back there, it couldn't

really be that. Could it?

"So you just attacked me for no reason?" Minako asked.

The woman nodded. "I would have taken Sailor Moon's, but Gyro already

took her Star Seed. Then someone else took her soul-"

"Wait, what do you know about Sailor Moon?" Minako smashed her against

the wall again. Cracks radiated out from her body. The woman moaned. "Answer

me!"

"I saw it all!" Iron Mouse squeaked. "I was keeping all the Sailor

Senshi under surveillance. You, Sailor Mars, Pluto, that girl Akane, and Sailor

Moon..." She coughed. "Please stop hitting me, chuu."

"Where is she?" Minako restrained herself.

"It's too late. She's already dead. Without her Star Seed, she can't

survive. But someone took out her soul as well! So she's even more dead, chuu!"

"I'll determine that!" Minako roared. "Where is she?"

"I..." Iron Mouse coughed. "I sent some phages after her. Even if she

isn't dead, they'll take care of her..."

"You what? WHY?"

"I... I don't know." Iron Mouse frowned. "I just... it felt... like I

had to. You know? Tying up loose ends? Though, now that you mention it..."

Minako allowed her magic to radiate from her, giving her a golden aura.

She knew from experience that the aura reflected from the eyes of her mask,

completely blocking out the ability to see her actual eyes and turning them into

radiant pools of violent golden light.

"Where. Is. She?" she bit out.

OoOoO

Mamoru Chiba had not always gone by that name. In a previous life, he

had been Prince Endymion, the next in line to rule the Earth. Then his world had

been overrun by demons and he'd been killed trying to protect his true love from

that evil. Thousands of years later, when that story had vanished beyond myth,

he had been reborn. He hadn't known this, but he had inherited some of his

previous incarnation's magical powers. So he had developed the ability to assume

a magical form, garbed in a tuxedo and top hat with a little domino mask to

conceal his identity. During this time, he had called himself Tuxedo Mask.

Then that had been taken away from him. A young woman known as Ukyou had

bound his life force to three dying girls in a desperate attempt to save them.

As a result, he had lost all his powers. But heroes don't give up just because

they have lost their powers. He had continued fighting, finding ways through

modern technology to try and compensate for his human weaknesses.

Then that had all changed. Sailor Moon, the reincarnation of his one

true love, had cleansed him and all of Ohtori of their wounds. Now, he had his

powers back. But he now felt a little silly going around in a tuxedo throwing

roses, so he had activated the magic and simply kept it on while he changed into

an outfit more suitable for fighting.

Because he and the three young women he had come to love were going to

go into the fight of their lives. A fight they very well might not come back

from. It frightened him. He wasn't the kind of person who got excited at the

thought of pushing his skills, or testing his talents in battle. He much

preferred peace to war. But they had to do something.

Reichmann Gyro's evil was spreading. He had seen it on the ride here.

The demons he had unleashed from this city were slowly drifting out into the

rest of the country, seeking prey. The forces of Chronos had been chaotic and

disorganised, completely unprepared for the sudden cataclysm. They had run three

separate roadblocks getting into the city, and Mamoru had found each of them

wanting. The zoanoids staffing them were strong, but undirected.

That was always the problem with Chronos. It worked very well when it

had a plan. It worked very well when a zoalord or similar being was in charge.

But it reacted poorly to surprise and disintegrated utterly when there was no

one around to give orders. Akane had managed to keep the resistance alive for

seven years because she understood these facts. Chronos was a behemoth, an

oncoming train that plowed over everything in its path... and one that could be

derailed by the slightest bend in the rails.

So if anyone was going to stop Reichmann Gyro, it was going to be them.

The woman who called herself Rose said that Tethys, the Dark Queen, would be

arriving with reinforcements soon. He didn't think it would matter. Marz had

shown them all the footage being played all across the world. The entire Red

Sea, destroyed in an instant.

Not even Tethys could stand up to that kind of power.

The plaza around the Pillars of Heaven was strangely quiet. There was

nothing there, no sign of any of the carnival freak monsters they'd been

fighting to get to this point. In fact, the closer they had gotten to this

place, the less of the monsters they had been forced to fight. Mamoru felt a

warning tickle at the back of his mind. Something wasn't right here.

He entered the plaza as quietly as he could, sliding along in a half-

crouch. His rifle was slung over his shoulder. Satsuki was just ahead of him,

examining the way and signalling when it was safe to move. Marz and Fevrier were

behind him, both advancing with the softness of a gentle breeze. Out and around

them the other Dolls, the ones that until a few weeks ago had still been under

Bison's control, were spread out. He could only see a few of them, and knew the

others were probably moving just as quietly.

Of course, pretty soon they would run out of cover of any kind. There

was nearly seventy meters of open ground all around the Pillars, just meter

after meter of grass and pavement without any sort of cover at all. It was

specifically designed to prevent people from doing exactly what they were doing.

At some point, they would have to sprint the distance to the buildings. Then it

was only a matter of sneaking up hundreds of flights to the top of the largest

buildings in the world and confronting a madman with the ability to lay waste to

entire continents. And he had a sniper rifle.

But this was his world. Even if he had no hope of winning, he had to

try.

"Sir Mamoru, I have located other people." Satsuki appeared from around

a corner, speaking softly.

"Friendly?"

"I recognized Batsu and his squad, but there were three unknowns."

Well, Marz had put out the all call. Batsu, Hinata and Kyosuke were good

people to have at your back. "See if you can find anyone else," he ordered.

Satsuki nodded and vanished around the corner again. Mamoru turned to his two

remaining companions. "Marz, see if you can contact anybody else in the area.

We'll need to coordinate if we're going to have any hope of winning this."

"Already on it," Marz replied in a chipper voice. Her laptop was out,

her fingers running along the keys so fast they were a blur. "I can set up a

scramble communication channel. Should I include Rose?"

"If possible," Mamoru replied. Fevrier snorted. "I know you don't like

her, but we need all the help we can get."

"Don't worry, wuss." Fevrier grinned tightly. "But I'm keeping my eye on

her. You don't know what Bison was like..."

"And hopefully I never will."

"Sir Mamoru!" Satsuki appeared again, her face pale.

"What?"

"I believe there is a problem..."

"What is..."

"REICHMANN GYRO! Come out and face me!"

"Who the hell?" Mamoru poked his head over the wall and stared. There

was a woman walking towards the Pillars of Heaven, making every attempt to be

obvious about it. Her body was surrounded by a purple aura that flared dozens of

meters into the air. She had long purple hair to match and wore a ridiculous

outfit with too much lace. She stopped halfway across the dead zone and extended

her hands to both sides.

"My name is Athena Asamiya, and I've come with my friends to challenge

you for the fate of the entire Earth!"

"Well, there goes stealth..." Mamoru growled. When Skullomania had left

with those four strange girls, he'd thought they wouldn't have to deal with this

sort of thing.

"Maybe not," Fevrier said with a shrug. "If he's distracted killing her,

we might be able to get in a clean shot."

"Fevrier!"

"What? You were thinking it too."

"I don't say it out loud," Mamoru chided her.

"I doubt Gyro is even paying attention to her," Marz pointed out. "And

my sensors don't detect any monsters in the building at all."

"I wouldn't count on that," Mamoru said, shuddering.

"What is it, sir Mamoru?"

"I can feel him..." Mamoru shuddered again. "All the sickness in this

city. It swirls around these buildings. It spirals up to him. And he's coming

down."

"Well..." Fevrier pulled out a rifle. "Best not to waste this

opportunity."

She slipped to the right. Satsuki nodded and vanished left. Marz tapped

a few more keys and gave him the thumbs up. Everybody she had contacted knew to

hold back. Mamoru sighed and unslung his rifle.

As he looked through the sights he could feel the magic inside him

focusing. He'd always been a good shot, even after he lost his powers. But with

them, his accuracy was amazing. Once upon a time he could have knocked a bullet

out of mid-air with a well-thrown rose. He knew the power inside him could

create them. But he also knew, from talking to Minako on the way over, that his

magic was not limited to just that one shape.

He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. The entire Tuxedo Kamen

thing had been a creation of his subconscious. It was the magic shaping itself

to his dreams and desires, the last remaining pieces of his previous life. His

clearest memory of that time was dancing in a grand ball with the girl that

would become Sailor Moon. His magic had fixed on that and conjured up

appropriate gear. But he was past clinging to that memory now.

He cleared the chamber of his rifle and sighted through the scope. There

was a bullet in the chamber now. He hadn't placed one in there, but he knew

there was. It was gold, and shone in the darkness. It was sharp-tipped and

sleek. He had handled enough ammo that he could picture it clearly, right down

to the texture of it, the weight of it, the smell of it. There was a bullet in

the chamber. A magic bullet. As much more deadly than a regular bullet was as

his roses had been compared to regular roses.

He hoped.

"Little girl, do you think you can demand anything of me?"

The voice boomed across the plaza. It was deep and grinding, the kind of

voice that made you think of monsters from fairytales. Athena raised her head,

her aura flaring even higher.

"Show yourself!"

Laughter followed her outburst. Then a figure appeared in the air over

her. Mamoru sighted on it quickly but cursed. It was too translucent to be real.

It had to be some sort of projection. Still, even as an image, Reichmann Gyro

was disturbing.

He was just over two meters tall, with huge black wings three times that

length stretched out on either side of him. His skin was black, shining like

fresh tar, marked through with silver accents. His head was topped with a crown

of spines that grew out in all directions. His face was all lines and folds,

with a mouth full of tiny sharp teeth and eyes that glowed malevolently yellow.

In his forehead a black crystal was set, with shards of silver light floating

through it. In one hand he carried a fanciful-looking broadsword, nearly a meter

long and made of grim black metal. The air around the sword seemed to twist and

pulse, as if it was being warped by the very presence of the blade.

"You are of no interest to me, girl," Gyro's voice continued to boom out

across the plaza. "Nor are your friends."

Mamoru stiffened, but made no move to break cover.

"I have been chosen to save this world from the likes of you," Athena

told him. "Come and face me, if you dare."

"Save the world?" Gyro's face twisted into a parody of a smile. "I am a

law of nature. You could as much save the world from gravity or time as you

could from me. Pitiful child. I see the divine spark within you, and it seems so

small, so pathetic." He held up his blade. "Compared to the harnessed power of

Paradox, all your divine wrath is as nothing."

"We shall see, monster!"

Mamoru groaned. He wasn't even out there and still he found this

embarrassing.

"Bah!" Gyro scowled. "I have no time for this." He waved his hand. "You

and your friends made your way through my city only because I allowed you to.

Now my minions shall destroy you."

"Your minions are nothing!" Athena replied.

"Perhaps. They too are pathetic creatures." He smirked. "But unlike you,

there are millions of them."

Mamoru paused and then turned to look behind him. He could see them

coming. Not in small groups like before, but in a great mass. They clung to the

walls of buildings and scampered along the road. And not all of them were

humanoid. Many of them were great beasts, huge and distorted.

Zoanoids, he realised. If the carnival monsters were what happened to

humans when they were killed, then the hulking brutes among them were what

happened to zoanoids. He looked at Marz and her expression confirmed what he had

feared. Zoanoids were already much more dangerous than humans. The things that

Gyro had turned all the zoanoids of Tokyo into were more dangerous still.

"Tell everyone to fall back into the plaza!" he shouted. He could

already see explosions of chi and magic as Akane's resistance attacked the

approaching army. "Fall back to the Pillars. We have to try and get up to Gyro,

bring the fight to him. We can't hope to overcome this many." He cursed himself

silently. He had known that getting here had been too easy.

"It won't help," Marz pointed out. "Gyro was apparently suppressing my

scans. The building is full of zoaform monsters. If we try to break through,

we'll have to deal with thousands of them."

Mamoru considered this. He could see their companions falling back.

Akane would have known what to do. She might not have been a tactical genius,

but she would have known what to say. She could have given them all hope. She

could have rallied them together, maybe found a way to punch through the massed

monsters. But Akane wasn't here.

Which left him.

He looked up the Pillars. Somewhere up there was the cause of all this

madness.

"Marz. Hold the line."

"Mamoru dear?"

He crouched and gathered his power. Even if he had no hope of winning,

he had to try. "Just hold on," he told her, and with that he leapt up. He easily

cleared the seventy meters to the building, striking it on the side. Then,

calling on powers he hadn't used in seven years, he began to run up the side of

the building.

Someone needed to reach Gyro. Someone needed to stop him before it was

too late. He just hoped that his three precious girls would forgive him for

abandoning them.

OoOoO

ZX-Tole bounced backwards, unleashing a volley of energy shots. The

walls around him turned red, then white, then boiled away in clouds of

superheated metal. Ikazuchi moved through them like a phantom, his blue

lightning blade arcing side to side as he deflected the incoming lasers. His

strangely human eyes shone with tears as he charged his former commander.

ZX-Tole's only hope was to keep them both at range. Ikazuchi was far

more powerful than him. In close combat, he approached the level of a zoalord.

The ultimate secret of the neo-zoanoid was that for all their genetic

enhancement, for all that the scientists of Chronos had done to grant them power

beyond even a hyper zoanoid like ZX-Tole, their real power came from within.

"ZX-Tole!" Ikazuchi shouted, having closed to within a meter of the

giant beetle-like monster. "This does not have to end this way!"

"Damn stupid idiot!" ZX-Tole roared, his voice an insectile buzz. He

kicked up, driving his huge knee towards the blue-and-purple-skinned neo-

zoanoid. Of course, Ikazuchi slid back easily. But while his leg was in mid-

extension, ZX-Tole opened up the bio-lasers on his leg and fired. The blast

caught Ikazuchi totally flat-footed. The man's eyes widened as the bloom of red

light lifted him up and drove him into the ceiling with enough force that he

went up through the next several floors as well.

ZX-Tole brought his hands together and unleashed a barrage up into the

hole, screaming incoherently. When there was nothing to be seen but the slowly

descending cloud of metal vapour, ZX-Tole forced himself to turn and begin

running. He knew that the attack would have been less than enough to kill

Ikazuchi. He certainly hoped it would be.

Because he didn't want to kill the poor fool. He didn't want any of

this. He was a soldier; not a duellist, and not an executioner. His purpose was

to fight for Chronos, to fight for the zoalord council and all they believed in.

That was what he had been created for. He and his brothers.

And one by one, his brothers had died.

ZX-Tole made it to the edge of the Pillars. He looked out, across the

city. Out there somewhere was the unconscious body of Frederick Von Purgstall.

He could feel it. Zoanoids instinctively felt the presence of zoalords. It was

like a beacon. Even in a coma, the signature of Purgstall was unmistakable.

With a roar ZX-Tole blasted open the window and climbed out onto the

wall. He had to go. He had to keep moving. Because Reichmann Gyro's will told

him to. It was like a sickness in his mind, a vice that kept pushing him and

pushing him. Thankfully, the traitorous zoalord hadn't felt the need to give ZX-

Tole personal attention. If he had, ZX-Tole might have gone mad.

If he had, Ikazuchi might never have broken free of Gyro's control.

Then they would have slaughtered the helpless zoalord, the four girls and the

woman without hesitation. Then what? Once Gyro had forced them to do his

bidding, would their fate be the same as the rest of the people of Tokyo?

ZX-Tole had seen the remains of the zoanoids inside the Pillars. Twisted

and mutated by Gyro's magic, they had been turned into parodies of living

things. Mindless and savage, they had torn into each other. It was an orgy of

violence to fit the depraved amusements of Reichmann Gyro.

ZX-Tole didn't want to die like that.

He didn't want to die as a tool of chaos. He knew he was going to die.

He'd known it since the moment that Sailor Moon had shown up in that chamber.

The only question was how.

The wall above him exploded outward with a crack of thunder. His body

surrounded by blue lightning, Ikazuchi floated outwards. His chest was scorched,

and one eye was closed. He was breathing deeply.

"ZX-Tole..." Ikazuchi groaned.

"Ikazuchi..." ZX-Tole half-hissed, half-sighed. Every moment he fought

the powerful neo-zoanoid was another moment when he could resist the urge inside

his own skull. The compelling command of Reichmann Gyro was impossible to

overcome, but it could be deferred. So long as ZX-Tole could find a more

pressing mission, he could avoid hunting down Purgstall and his girls.

"This madness has to stop!" Ikazuchi yelled, spreading his arms wide.

"We are brothers in arms. I no more wish to harm you than you do me!"

"Shut up!" ZX-Tole kicked in a window and slid into the building, firing

with his wrist-laser. The man flashed sideways, avoiding the strike. "Every

time you open your mouth, I want to kill you!" It wasn't exactly a lie. If the

idiot kept trying to talk him down, ZX-Tole was afraid he would lose himself.

The sickening presence in the back of his mind might overwhelm him at any

moment.

Ikazuchi floated just outside the window. His aura was charging up. ZX-

Tole had seen him punch through a mountain at full strength. All he wanted was

for the boy to kill him, to end this here before it went any further. And there

was only one way he was going to do that.

Had he a mouth, ZX-Tole would have smiled. "Ikazuchi, there is something

about me you don't know." ZX-Tole leaned forward and concentrated. The armour on

his back split open. "I was built as the ultimate artillery." From his back

emerged two pairs of translucent wings. "But the scientists at Chronos never

tested the full extent of my power." The wings extended outward, unfolding and

snapping into place. ZX-Tole had never seen them, and for one brief instant

wished he could. "They were afraid that if I unleashed myself at full power, I

might very well kill myself... and everything else around me."

ZX-Tole activated his final weapon. It started small at first, like a

warmth from a pleasant fire spreading down the length of his wings. Then it

quickened, and quickened again. He could feel the energy leeching into him.

Drawn from electrical lines behind the wall, from the air, from the walls, from

the very light itself. The world around him was growing darker and darker as he

absorbed the light into himself like a siphon. It was filling him, filling him

to bursting. The bio-batteries in his body couldn't handle it. The strain would

destroy him.

He kept going. Pulling in more and more power. Ikazuchi was staring, his

eyes wide. "IKAZUCHI!" ZX-Tole yelled. "This is my ultimate attack!" With a

snap, the lens on his abdomen opened. "A destructive beam... and you know what

I'm aiming at!"

Ikazuchi looked behind him, and then back at ZX-Tole. "Purgstall..." he

murmured. ZX-Tole couldn't really hear him over the sound of his own body

sizzling. He was drawing in too much power. It would overload and kill him. But

he couldn't just let it. Gyro's imperative, his mind-numbing will, overrode even

the ability to choose to die.

Ikazuchi could easily dodge the attack. He was so fast that it would be

nothing to him. But if he did, the attack would strike across the city. ZX-Tole

could feel Purgstall. He knew exactly where the fallen zoalord was. Ikazuchi

knew better than to doubt ZX-Tole's ability to strike at this distance. The

Japanese neo-zoanoid, the prototype, the next step in human evolution... stood

his ground.

ZX-Tole chuckled. He wished Akane Tendo was here to see this. He didn't

know why. Perhaps he had spent so much time pursuing her that the thought of

dying at anybody else's hands was alien to him. Well, dying at the hands of the

neo-zoanoid who had never stopped loving her would be enough.

But mainly, he wanted her to understand. Akane and Purgstall both. He

wondered what they would think of this. He felt it would be strangely similar.

If only ZX-Tole had been able to work with the other zoalord. If only Akane

could have first met Purgstall rather than the monster that was Reichmann Gyro.

So much useless fighting...

"Don't disappoint me, Ikazuchi!" ZX-Tole roared, and unleashed his fire.

Ikazuchi roared back, and rushed forward. Red and blue light smashed together.

The explosion blinded out all sight, all sound. This is it, ZX-Tole realised.

This is my last act. It may not make up for what he had done, but it would have

to be enough.

He might not be human. But he would not die a monster.

OoOoO

His family was below him. They were fighting. They were suffering.

When had they become his family, Purgstall wondered? But the question

was meaningless. They were his family. He loved them all, more than he loved the

ideals of Chronos. He had thrown away everything he had worked for, for them. To

come here and protect them.

This little slip of a girl would not stop him.

They floated between two layers of clouds. They swept past above and

beneath, dark and menacing. Lightning arced between them. Flashes of power that

were the only light in this place. It was like the clouds and the lightning

stretched on forever. He knew it was insane, but he was certain that these

clouds had no end. That there was nothing beneath them except more clouds, and

nothing above them except darkness and lightning.

"Silly old man," the girl said with a giggle. She was floating back and

forth, swaying in mid-air. She was dancing, to a tune only she could hear. It

was a music with no melody, no sanity to it. "Three hundred years of loyalty and

you give it up because of a bunch of girls." She grinned. "Or should I say,

dirty old man."

"It's not like that!" Purgstall protested. He snapped out his hand and

lightning followed his call. It burst up from the clouds and down from them as

well. Eighteen bolts, arcing together like entwining snakes.

The girl snapped her hands to the side and the blasts collapsed around

her. They just vanished, swirling down into the gems implanted throughout her

body like water down a drain.

"Do you really think that love is all it takes to be human?" The girl

asked. She flashed forward, suddenly appearing in front of him in a flicker of

pseudo-motion. "That this one act makes up for centuries of cruelty?"

Her hand snapped up and he tried to parry. But despite Cologne's

encouragement, he was still not a martial artist. His head rocked to the side as

she struck him. He spiralled through the air. She appeared behind him and caught

him around the waist with one arm.

"Don't worry, you're not the first man to play at being god." She

grabbed his shoulder and bent him back. He groaned and tried to summon the

lightning again, but he couldn't. The power was draining out of him. "And they

all suffered the same fate."

"Let me go!" he shouted, and managed to push himself free. She laughed

and floated backward. What was she? How could he defeat her when his powers had

no effect at all?

"Oh, are you worried about your 'family'?" The girl placed a finger on

her lips. "Quiet your worries. I will let no harm come to them today. I still

need them."

"What do you mean?" He snarled.

"You are all such wonderful tools, did you know that?"

She flashed next to him. Somehow he managed to turn and catch her kick

with his forearm. But she vanished even as he blocked and caught him from

behind, pulling an arm around his neck.

"Your Amazoness Quartet, they are such trusting dupes. They will believe

anything anybody tells them, if it fits in with their need to be special." She

breathed in his ear. Her breath drained the warmth from his body. "Little girls

captured by a higher power, all their strength and potential turned to evil

ends. And they couldn't care less as long as they have shiny toys to play with."

"Damn you..." Purgstall grasped at her arm, but couldn't budge it. Her

other hand encircled his waist again.

"Cologne, such a worthless creature." The girl's voice dripped venom.

"Her own arrogance led her to ignore the warning signs, her laziness led her to

act too little, too late. And her great-granddaughter died for it." She laughed,

a little silver bell sound devoid of humanity. "She betrayed everything she

believed in to redeem her sin, to achieve vengeance. Selling out you, and all

that YOU believe in, for one vain chance at revenge. And she'll pay for what

she's done, I promise you. I won't let her live in his new world.

"And then there is you..." Her voice purred and she pressed herself

against his back. He felt helpless as she stroked the armoured plates on his

chest. Her arm tightened around his throat and he couldn't breathe. "You believe

so much in advancing the species, in your genetic destiny, that you never once

questioned if that was Arkanphel's real motive. You advocated a cause that was

just as much an illusion as the one the Quartet and Cologne did. But even worse,

because you saw the signs. You know Arkanphel's real plan is to leave this

planet and all of humanity behind, so he can pursue his creators like an

abandoned child seeking solace in his abusive mother's arms. You KNEW, and still

you fought for a lie."

"Not... true..." he gasped.

"Did you really think coming here would change that? That there is any

way to change that?" The girl's voice was sweet, oddly seductive. "If you truly

want to change the world, I can use you."

"Go to hell!" he managed to roar.

She laughed. "That is the one place I can't go. Only souls can, and I'm

empty." She spun him around suddenly and looked into his eyes. Hers were wide

and her pupils had shrunk. She leaned into him. "I need you, Purgstall. You must

live so that I can protect what is special to me. I need you, if I am going to

destroy the Oversoul to make him happy."

Then she reached out, and her finger slid into his zoacrystal...

Darkness.

"Frederick..."

He was floating, naked and alone, in the void. Around him swirled the

howling wind of Oblivion. He was used to this by now. Waking up from the dream

only to realise he was still trapped here, on the edge of death. For a moment,

he thought that he had seen a light, but it had abandoned him. Now he was alone

again.

"Frederick, can you hear me?"

"Lord... Arkanphel?" Purgstall opened his eyes wide and spun in place.

Had it been another dream, another nightmare to torment him? No. He had heard

it, he was certain of it. "I can hear you, Lord Arkanphel!"

Then he could see him. The man stepped out of the darkness. He was

dressed in silver robes, his short hair flickering slightly in the unseen wind.

His elfin features smiled when they saw Purgstall.

"I have found you."

"Lord Arkanphel... is that really you? This isn't another

hallucination?"

"I am here." Arkanphel extended his hands to both sides. Purgstall

vaguely felt other presences. Figures shimmered out of the corner of his eyes,

but he couldn't focus on them. "Your brothers have lent me their power, so that

I may speak with you, Frederick."

"My lord..." Purgstall bowed his head. "I am not deserving of such

effort. I betrayed you."

"Yes, but that is of no matter now." Arkanphel smiled. "You are my third

son, Frederick. I have always been proud of you." He clasped his hands together.

"You brought peace to this world. But now I need you to fight for me."

"Fight?"

"Yes. You must wake up, Frederick." Arkanphel gestured into the

emptiness. "Your youngest brother has betrayed us all."

"Gyro?" Purgstall's voice was cold.

"He killed Amniculus."

"NO!" Purgstall clutched the air impotently. Amniculus had been closer

to him than a brother. They had survived centuries together.

"Yes. And Gyro must be stopped." Arkanphel held out his hand. "You must

stop him."

"My lord..." Purgstall growled and reached for the hand. Then paused.

"But why do you need me, Lord? Why not crush Gyro yourself?"

Arkanphel's expression became stormy. "This is your chance to redeem

yourself to me, Frederick."

"Will you be fighting with me, Lord?" Purgstall's hand hovered just out

of his master's, his creator's, reach.

"I must save my strength," Arkanphel insisted. "I need loyal servants

such as you to do these things for me."

And like a light turning on in the void, Purgstall suddenly understood.

It was fear. That was what was motivating Arkanphel now. He wanted Purgstall to

fight for him because he was afraid of Gyro. Somehow the traitorous zoalord had

gained enough power that Arkanphel feared him.

But it went deeper than that. It had always been fear. Fear of risking a

zoalord in open battle had kept them from crushing the Americans while they

were still too weak to offer a resistance. Fear of counterattack had kept him

from destroying Millennium or Shadowloo. Fear of death had made him conspire

with Chris, the man who had killed Cologne's great-granddaughter. Fear was

behind everything that Arkanphel had ever done, in one way or another.

Whatever that child had been, she had been right. Purgstall had been

fooling himself. He had thought this man, with all his power and apparent

wisdom, was the messiah. He had thought he had all the answers.

But he didn't. He was just a man. A man who was afraid.

Purgstall closed his hand. "No, my lord. I will not fight for you."

Arkanphel's eyes widened. "I have something else I have to fight for now. I

would gladly fight with you. To protect this green Earth and everyone on it, I

would do that. But I will not fight for a man who does not have the courage of

his own convictions."

Purgstall straightened up and looked his former lord in the eyes. "So if

you have nothing else to say, kindly go back to hiding. I have to save my

family."

And with that, he woke up.

OoOoO

Ami lit another cigarette. It was her tenth one today. She needed to cut

down. As a doctor, she knew that they were bad for you. They had been linked to

everything from heart disease to cancer to bad breath, but knowing something was

bad for you and actually not doing it were two different things. She still

wasn't certain when she'd started. It had been sometime during her very short-

lived residency at the local hospital. A surprising number of the staff there

smoked 'just to keep the edge off', as they put it. So sometime between when

she'd started practicing medicine on actual people and when she'd mainly

stopped to move into the realm of research, she'd picked up this filthy habit.

"Ami, you should go take a walk."

Ami looked up from her books. Miki was standing in the doorway, looking

slightly concerned. Then again, he'd been looking like that ever since Akane had

returned. She put down her book.

"I need to work," she told him.

"Is that why the book is upside down?" he asked mildly.

Ami looked down. It was a medical journal. One of the ones she had

imported from America. She had no idea how it got through all the embargos, but

the Americans were years ahead of similar Chronos texts on the effect of

metahuman abilities on modern bio-medical fields. And she was trying to read it

upside down.

No wonder it hasn't made any sense, Ami thought to herself. "Maybe

you're right. I need to clear my head."

"Right. I'll get started on dinner."

She smiled up at him. Miki really was the best thing that had ever

happened to her. And if that idiot Minako thought she was going to risk losing

everything she had built with him...

Damn. She'd promised herself she wasn't going to think about that.

The air outside hit her like a hammer. She shivered and was forced to

put on a coat. It never got this cold in Ohtori. But it was November, and the

cold wind was blowing in off the ocean. Already Ami could see sheets of frost

where there were supposed to be puddles. Many of the gardens in the area were

also beginning to falter. As Ami walked she noticed one perplexed-looking old

woman just staring down at her flower garden, holding a trowel and watering can.

Everyone here is used to relying on Akio's illusion machine, Ami

realised. Even she had grown used to living in a virtual paradise for the last

seven years. Without it, most of the people here didn't appear to have any idea

what to do about their day-to-day affairs. Ami wondered how long the idyllic-

looking buildings would last once rain and wind and gravity and all the other

forces of entropy began to wear at them.

In a few years, Ohtori would be just like any other place in the world.

Ami took a long drag of her cigarette.

And sometime while she had been thinking, she'd ended up just down the

street from Makoto's place. She had no idea why she was here. It wasn't like she

and Makoto were really friends. They'd both drifted their separate ways once

Sailor Moon had made them retire. The only reason they still knew each other was

because in a small place like Ohtori, everyone knew everyone else.

Makoto was outside on the porch, talking with a young woman. Something

about the woman seemed familiar to Ami. She was short, with burgundy hair in a

pageboy cut and violet eyes. She wore some form of grey tracksuit, thick wool

from the look of it, with a hood that flopped on her back. She also carried

herself in a professional manner, her movements brisk and controlled.

She was trained, Ami realised suddenly. She'd had some form of military

training. Ami knew that this wasn't her problem. Makoto could take care of

herself. The best thing Ami could do was just walk away.

But she didn't. She had no idea why. She just felt like she needed to go

up there.

"Makoto," she called as she stepped onto the porch.

"Ami." Makoto looked at her. For some reason, she didn't seem surprised

to see her despite the fact that the number of casual visits they'd had with

each other in the last seven years could be counted on one hand.

"Oh, hello, Ami!" The woman smiled and stepped down towards her. "It's

been a long time."

"Long time?"

"This is Shiori Takatsuki, Juri's old friend," Makoto introduced her.

"You remember, she used to hang out with Rei when we first came here?"

"Oh... her." Ami looked at the woman. Yes. Her hair had been longer,

styled in a less professional manner. Her face had been a bit thicker than, the

chubbiness of youth. Now she looked more lean. More focused. "Sorry, my manners

are poor." Ami bowed.

When she stood up again she took out another cigarette, but just held

it. She really wanted to light up right away. Her nerves were on edge, and

smoking made them calm down. Or made her think they did anyway. But she felt

like she wanted to be nervous right then. It was a silly impulse, but for once

Ami let that guide her.

The woman bowed back. "No, it's no problem you forgot me." She shrugged.

"I just... came by for a visit."

Ami's eyes narrowed. She should have recognised her more easily, if the

woman had been living in Ohtori for the last seven years.

"Where is Juri, anyway?" Ami asked Makoto.

"She's in town, picking up a few supplies." Makoto leaned against the

railing. "She wants to head up to Fukui to visit her sister..." Makoto trailed

off.

"She must be worried about her," Shiori mused aloud. "Having not had a

chance to see her for seven years."

Makoto looked at her. "What do you mean? We've been out to visit her

sister at least four times."

"In the last two hours?" Shiori seemed surprised. "The blockade has

stopped anyone else from getting in or out!"

"The last trip was eight months ago." Makoto frowned a little. "Frankly,

I don't see why Juri cares so much about her family, considering what they think

of us. But with the chaos outside of Ohtori now, she wants to make certain

they're all okay."

"Wait..." Shiori held up her hand. "You've been coming in and out of

Ohtori for the last seven years? Multiple times?"

"Of course." Makoto shrugged. Ami frowned. Makoto was only partially

aware of the efforts Akio had gone through to protect Ohtori from the outside

world. Back when she was still Sailor Mercury, Ami had been only too aware of

those efforts. In the years since, she had successfully put most of them out of

her mind. Aside from giving her a place she could do her research in peace from,

she hadn't had much reason to think about that element of the town's character.

"You're from outside," Ami announced, looking at Shiori. Shiori looked

slightly guilty, but she nodded. "I find it hard to believe you just came by for

a visit, then." Makoto was beginning to tense up. "Most people couldn't get

inside Ohtori until the defence went down. And Chronos had the entire city

blockaded since then until two hours ago. There is no way you could have learned

about the city being open again and snuck through the blockade..." Ami stared at

the girl. "How did you get here?"

Shiori sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that." She slumped her

shoulders a little. "I was able to get in so quickly because I was on the

blockade when it got deserted." She looked up again. "I work for Chronos."

"Shit!" Makoto cursed and vaulted the railing, landing in front of Ami

in a half-crouch. Her hands came up quickly. Shiori backed up three steps,

unconsciously falling into a simple self-defence stance. Ami reached up and put

a hand on Makoto's shoulder to calm her. It was actually kind of touching that

the woman had reacted to defend her. But Ami was becoming convinced this girl

wasn't a threat. "Ami, she could be a zoanoid!"

"I don't think so," Ami replied.

"I'm not!" Shiori held up her hands. "I just work for them." She

frowned. "Though technically I'm AWOL. The reason it took me so long to get into

town when everything disintegrated is because I ditched my uniform and changed

clothes so I wouldn't stand out."

"You're a Chronos soldier?" Ami asked.

Shiori chuckled. "No. I'm a secretary. I run files from place to place

and type up reports." She shrugged. "Not everyone in SecOps is a soldier."

"Your people killed hundreds of people in this town!" Makoto shouted.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't punch you in the face."

"Because I just work for Chronos?" Shiori replied evenly. "Over a third

of everyone in Japan does, you know. And those that don't work for it directly,

just work for it by proxy. They control every business on the islands, either

openly or not so much."

"Calm down, Makoto," Ami appealed.

"The people she works for are butchers!" Makoto insisted.

"Not really." Shiori shrugged. "I get this all the time from Rei. Most

people in Chronos are just people." She looked down. "True, they reserve all the

best promotions for people willing to go through processing, but it's like any

other place. Most of the people who work for it are just like me, people with

nowhere else to really go." She looked at Makoto. "Not that I don't think there

are people in Chronos that need to be taken out. Some people I've seen scare me

to death. But what am I supposed to do about it? I'm not some superhero. I don't

have the power to stand up to those people." She held out her hands. "And

Chronos does good work too. Some of the people I work with-"

"Save it," Ami snapped, suddenly feeling annoyed. She knew all about

Chronos' 'good works'. They had the knowledge, the technology to make the world

a better place for everyone. Instead, they doled it out in tiny packages to

maintain strict control. She lit her cigarette. "We don't need a sales pitch."

"Fine..." The woman looked away, chewing her lip. "I just don't want you

to think I'm a monster."

"You're not," Ami replied, waving her hand, trailing smoke behind it.

"You should leave," Makoto said.

The girl looked at Makoto. Then she frowned and stepped up to her,

Makoto tensed and for a moment Ami thought she was going to lash out, but she

held herself in check. "Don't judge me, okay?" Shiori snarled into her face.

"You and Juri, you're special people. You don't know what it's like to be a

nobody like me." She stepped back again. "All my life I looked up to Juri

because of what she could do. But I couldn't follow her. I just wanted to be

special too, you see. That's originally why I joined Chronos." She clenched her

fist. "I was going to become a zoanoid. Maybe even an elite. I was determined to

make something of myself. Be a hero." She smiled. "I believed the propaganda

about zoanoids. Who could blame us? They'd single-handedly saved Japan from

starvation. Seven years ago, this island was a barren wasteland." She looked up

at Makoto again. "I wanted to be like them. Someone larger than life who could

be looked up to."

She let out a breath. "Thankfully, Rei talked me out of it. She let me

know the truth about zoanoids. She also had a friend of hers arrange it so that

nobody in Chronos knew that I was linked to this place." She smirked. "It seems

people who leave Ohtori have a habit of disappearing into zoalord Gyro's labs."

Makoto looked at her for a long moment. "Fine. So you're not a butcher.

Happy now?"

"I just wanted to talk to Juri," the woman said, on the verge of

pleading. "I just wanted to let her know that I'm happy for her. Check and see

how she is..."

"Juri's fine," Makoto said. "I make certain of that."

"I'm sorry I offended you, but..." Shiori sighed and sat down on the

steps.

"Listen, you really should come back later," Ami replied. "After you've

both had a chance to calm down."

"I can't," Shiori said slowly. "This may be the last chance I get."

"What?" Ami felt her heartbeat increasing slightly.

"There's been some sort of disaster in Tokyo. Everything is in chaos."

She looked at her hands. "The all call went out. Every available Chronos

operative is making their way to the capital, to try and help." She looked up.

"Once I leave here, I'll be heading there myself."

"So you can help them fight another war?" Makoto accused.

"NO!" Shiori clenched her fists. "Because I want to help, damn it!" She

looked between them. "Listen, I could have quit SecOps years ago, but our people

really can do good work. We're just like the old police force, only..." She

trailed off.

"You should quit," Ami said. She took a long drag of her cigarette.

"Why?"

"Because your people do bad things as well, and you're supporting them.

Which makes you also responsible in part."

"I can't quit," Shiori insisted.

"Sure you can." Ami snorted. "You think they'll miss you? They'll hire

another person to replace you in less than a day. You said it yourself. You're

not special, or important. You're not even a zoanoid." She shrugged. "You're

simply not going to make a difference at all."

"You're wrong!" Shiori stood up quickly. "I do make a difference." She

walked up to Ami. "When Rei convinced me to give up on becoming a zoanoid, I

considered quitting. But I have friends in SecOps now. People I care about. I

may not be there with a gun, or a biolaser, or whatever it is that could make me

a fighter. I was never given the gifts that would have made me able to stand up

and fight for what I believe in, like some people. But I try to do my best with

what I have. I make certain that little things happen. I've kept our department

from being like some of the squadrons people are too afraid to talk about, when

I could." She stepped away from Ami suddenly. Tears glistened in her eyes.

"I would give anything to be able to stand up and fight the big fights.

I want to be somebody special. But I can't be. I'm forced to just be a normal

human. So I make the best of it. I do what I can!"

"Being special doesn't make you a hero," Ami snarled back. She reached

up and clenched a hand over her heart. "It just makes you able to screw up on a

larger scale. It just makes you bigger and more powerful. Trust me, being

special is not some miracle that makes you a better person. It just forces you

to make harder decisions."

"I'd still rather be able to make those decisions myself," Shiori

snapped. "Unless you think sitting back and doing nothing makes you a hero. If

so, then I'm sorry for you."

The woman snapped her heels together and turned sharply, marching away.

Makoto growled, the veins on her neck throbbing. She waited until Shiori was out

of earshot before addressing Ami. "Who does she think she is?" Makoto snapped.

"What gives her the right to treat us like that? She works for a bunch of

butchers!"

"Maybe she does..." Ami looked at the cigarette in her hand. She knew it

was bad for her. When she'd first tried one, she had almost hacked up a lung.

But over time, they'd just become easier. Why let your nerves get the better of

you? Especially when a patient's life may be on the line? You needed a clear

head. It was quick and easy. Just one more cancer stick and you would feel

better. "But then, it's not like we have any right to judge her, either."

"What?"

"At least she's doing something she believes in." Ami dropped the

cigarette. It bounced off the frozen ground. "So, I guess if I want to be able

to judge her, then I'm going to have to start doing that, too."

"Ami?"

"Come on, Makoto. We have someplace we need to be."

Ami ground the smouldering cigarette under her heel.

OoOoO

Cologne jumped in front of the others the moment she saw the red light

lancing out from the Pillars. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she

knew that her place was in front of everyone. The quartet screamed as the flare

of energy grew larger, inching across the sky towards them. Then Cologne saw the

blue spark in the centre of that light. It seemed tiny in comparison, but

somehow it was slowing a blast that should be traveling at the speed of light to

a crawl.

"Ikazuchi," Cologne murmured. He was protecting them? She still didn't

understand. Of all the saviours Cologne could have imagined, the last would have

been the arrogant buffoon that served more often than not as the Elite Five's

comic relief. But she would take any salvation that was offered now.

With a suddenness that surprised her, the battle reversed. The blue

light flared out, blinding them with its shine. Then the red light faltered and

the spark shot through it, splitting the fountain of energy apart into a blossom

in the darkness. There was a sound like thunder and a roar, and a moment later

the blue spark appeared on the other side of the Pillars of Heaven. The red

light sputtered and died.

Then the Pillar exploded. Waterfalls of dust sprayed out from all sides

of the massive building. A moment later the top portion of one of the three most

massive buildings in the world slid off, toppling sideways down into the city.

Cologne clenched her fists.

She could feel the battle happening down there. The last of the martial

artists of Japan, fighting a titanic struggle at the base of the three towers.

There was so much force, that even from over half-way across the city she could

feel the chi generated by the conflict. She only hoped that those in the city

beneath had the presence of mind to flee the debris that would rain down on them

from the explosion.

"Cologne!"

The fear in CereCere's voice made Cologne spin around too fast for her

injured leg to stand. She nearly collapsed when it tried to give out on her. But

she managed to keep her footing by using her rake as a staff.

The quartet were staring at the door leading up the rooftop. A huge

dent had appeared in it. Then another appeared, accompanied by a loud smash. The

noise must have been blotted out by the explosions, Cologne realised. Whatever

was behind that door was powerful, and the thin steel would do little to stop

it.

"Girls, prepare yourselves. PallaPalla, stand with Frederick." Cologne

forced herself not to wince as she put weight on her leg, and moved her rake up

to a defensive position. She was proud of the way the three combat-capable

members of the quartet moved into an arrow formation in front of PallaPalla and

Frederick. They held their Amazon Stones at the ready, their expressions going

grim.

The door exploded off its hinges. JunJun did something with her stone,

sending the door flying out over the edge of the building. A massive creature,

some sort of cross between an octopus and a woman, with eight flailing tentacles

where her arms should be, was stepping out of the door. Cologne could see more

beasts beyond them.

These were not normal demons. Cologne could sense that much. They were

much more powerful. The twisted remains of hyper and neo-zoanoids, sent

especially to deal with them. "Whatever happens, protect each other!" Cologne

ordered. She began to draw her chi into her weapon, preparing to release it in a

single massive burst. If she was lucky it would take out the first half dozen or

so, giving them breathing room.

"Mr. Purgstall!" PallaPalla gasped.

"Make certain he's..."

Then Cologne felt a hand fall onto her shoulder. She turned and looked

up, her eyes widening. Frederick smiled down at her. His chiselled features had

never looked so perfect. Suddenly she felt like crying.

"Cologne, please..." He stepped past her. As he did, he transformed.

Always before, his transformation had been like an elemental force. Raw

lightning flashing out in all directions, scorching and destroying everything

nearby as his body tried futilely to control all the power of his zoacrystal.

But this time his transformation was more subtle. Silver lightning arced along

his body, tracing along his muscles. Where it went, his body was changed.

It looked almost the same as before. It was still covered in some form

of armour, with large pods on his shoulders. In fact, it was all exactly the

same except for his skin and head. In the past his body had been covered by thin

armoured plates, and his head had become more monstrous, with two thick stumps

that extended from his head in a V and spines growing from around his face. Now

his face was much more human, as was the rest of him. His skin had turned

ndigo, but aside from replacing his hair with some form of glistening armour and

the emergence of his zoacrystal from his forehead, that was all the changes that

occurred to him now.

"You will NOT harm my family," Frederick informed the monsters. The

tentacle woman and a dozen other massive creatures burst out of the stairwell,

ripping apart the wall as they did so. Frederick gestured with one hand and

called the lightning. One bolt for each beast, each perfectly aimed. A series of

cascading explosions lit up the rooftop; then there was nothing left alive but

them.

"Cologne, you're injured?" Frederick said as he turned to face her. She

nodded mutely. There was a light. A new light in his zoacrystal. A tiny sliver

of silver light floated in the yellow glare of his crystal.

"You got better!" PallaPalla shouted, jumping up and hugging him around

the waist. He started. Then he looked down at her and smiled.

"Yes. I've gotten better." He rubbed a hand into her hair. "Thank you."

For a moment, Cologne was certain she saw something glimmer on the

girl's forehead. Apparently Frederick saw it too, because he paused and stared

at her. "PallaPalla, you're... different."

"I lost my Amazon Stone," she explained simply.

"You... don't sound disappointed."

"Naw. She just mooches off of our magic." VesVes said. She was trying to

look cool and unaffected, but her eyes were glittering with unshed tears.

CereCere's weren't unshed. She was dabbing daintily at the corners of her eyes

with a handkerchief. JunJun was smiling and shaking with repressed joy.

"No, it's something else..." Frederick said. "Something inside of

her..." He frowned. "I can feel it."

"Huh?" PallaPalla looked up at him.

"It's... not important now." He looked up at Cologne. "We have to get

out of the city."

"The girls can't teleport us. Gyro flooded the entire city with chaos

magic."

"Mr. Purgstall, we want to leave!" CereCere said.

Purgstall looked at them all. "I..." He paused. His head snapped up. "Do

you feel that?"

"What?" Cologne frowned.

"Magic!" PallaPalla gasped.

"A lot of it!" JunJun agreed. She turned east, towards the ocean. "I've

hardly ever felt so much at once..."

Then Cologne felt it. Not magic, though she had trained herself to know

something of that enigmatic force, but something much more sinister. The

building was shaking. The windows were rattling. The loose stones on the roof

and smaller pieces of debris were bouncing. She looked around. It wasn't just

them, either. All the buildings within eyeshot were vibrating slightly. Leaving

suddenly seemed more important.

"LOOK!" VesVes exclaimed, pointing to the east. Cologne turned and saw

it. At first she wasn't certain what she was seeing. Then she realised it and

her heart sank. It was like the horizon was rising up, higher and higher into

the sky. But she realised it wasn't the horizon. It was the ocean. The entire

ocean. As far across as Cologne could see, it was rising up. A tsunami. No,

that was far, far too small a word for it.

"That fool! She'll kill everyone!" Frederick shouted, his eyes widening.

"What?" Cologne could hear the roar now. It was a bass rumble, at the

back of your skull. You didn't so much hear it with your ears as with your

bones.

"Tethys," Frederick shouted, trying to be heard over the approaching

roar. "There's no time!" He turned to CereCere. "I need a platform!"

She nodded mutely, unable to take her eyes off the approaching swell. It

wasn't like a wave. It was like the ocean itself was simply rising, tier after

tier. Great shelves of water, reaching into the sky. CereCere thrust her Amazon

Stone downward and it flattened out, forming into a pink disc beneath their

feet. Frederick knelt on it and thrust his hand downward.

There was a crack and suddenly they were flying. Cologne felt all the

hairs on her body stand up, and realised what he was doing. He himself could

fly, but he couldn't hope to carry them all. So he was using his power to propel

them off the ground. CereCere was also kneeling, hands pressed against the

platform. Her eyes were closed and sweat stood out on her forehead. She was

holding back the lightning, keeping them all from being fried. Then VesVes and

JunJun knelt as well, and suddenly the pink disk was shot through with lines of

green and red.

Still it almost wasn't enough. The wave hit the city with a force so

massive that windows shattered outward from the shockwave. The waterfront

vanished, swallowed entirely in the blink of an eye. The wave was almost three

hundred meters tall. It smashed into high rises on the outskirts of Tokyo

without stopping. The buildings exploded outward, sending clouds of debris in

front of the approaching wall of water. Eventually it reached a few buildings it

could not overreach. Those buildings were shorn from their supports. She saw the

radio antennae of one building swirl backwards in the wake of the tsunami.

Finally the massive wave crested, and plunged down into the rest of the

city. Some buildings were demolished, but many more were left standing. The

force of the water was terrific, but seemed to have suddenly lost a lot of its

power. Cologne felt something leave the air. Magic, she realised.

Purgstall just barely got them up and over the cascade before it struck

the building they had taken sanctuary on. The water continued flowing, a series

of smaller waves following the first huge one in. Within a matter of minutes the

entire city of Tokyo, and all the area for kilometers in every direction was

underwater.

"Damn her!" Frederick snarled.

"By all the gods..." Cologne gasped in horror. She had heard stories

about the might of the Dark Queen. She had seen the footage of her wiping out

the Millennium fleet in one swoop. But to see something from a distance and

to experience it here and now were two different things. Like it or not, Tokyo

had become her home. To see it so easily destroyed by such a massive elemental

force was humbling. "She destroyed everything," Cologne murmured.

"Not quite." Frederick frowned. He was looking towards the Pillars.

Cologne followed his view. The water was slowly receding around the massive

structures. "Chronos constructed the Pillars with such things in mind," he

explained.

The bottom third of the Pillars of Heaven were ruined, but standing.

Windows had caved in and such, but the greater part of the superstructure was

intact. The only true damage was to the top of the west tower, which had been

blown off by Ikazuchi and ZX-Tole's final battle.

"Why would she do this?" JunJun asked, her voice choked.

Cologne clenched her hand into a fist. "Gyro's army. His army of

transformed humans. She did this to wipe them out. Every single monster in the

city. With one strike."

"Not to mention all her allies!" Frederick snarled. Cologne nodded

grimly. All the people fighting at the base of the tower. She closed her eyes

and muttered a quick prayer to whatever force it was that guided heroes' souls

to the afterlife.

OoOoO

The Dark Queen walked into the ruins of Tokyo. Her hair was a dark blue

wave breaking down her soft blue skin. She wore armour, tight and contoured like

waves breaking against her body, dark as the depths of the ocean and glittering

with tiny stars. In one hand she carried a lance, black and glistening, with a

long thin tip that trailed in the water as she walked. Her stride carried her

across the swirling water that had flooded the entire city. Ripples radiated

from each of her footsteps.

Around her, Tokyo was all but gone. Only the largest buildings remained

in the area where the wave had crashed down, and most of those had been crushed

into unrecognisability. Huge pieces of what had once been civilisation were now

nothing but jetsam and flotsam, drawn here and there by the strange currents

created by the reefs of shattered buildings. Here an upside-down car floated

almost sedately; there, a shattered tree bobbed.

And behind her came her army. They moved across the water, their feet

moving as if they strode on solid ground. It was unnerving. Beneath them was a

tidal pool of destruction, water ripping through shattered pieces of the city at

staggering speed. Chunks of the city that had been reduced to jagged, tearing

edges existed down there, waiting for any soft human bodies that could be dashed

against them. The sections of the city that poked up out of the water were

crumbling and treacherous, offering no safe haven.

It left them all totally at the mercy of Tethys. Without her, they

wouldn't even be able to fight. It would be a struggle just to remain alive in

this devastated city. What unnerved Akira more than that, more even than the

fact she was relying on Tethys to allow her to fight, was how casually the Dark

Queen did it.

There wasn't even the slightest trace of tension or strain on her face.

Her army had to number in the thousands, and she was not having any trouble

keeping them all from sinking into the murky undertow. Everything about this

trip had rubbed wrong at Akira. The woman she had once worked for had

transported them hundreds of kilometers all but instantly, through the simple

expedient of ripping out a large enough chunk of the Arctic glaciers and

propelling them along on that. Akira had always known that Tethys was powerful.

She knew her better than most. But even she found these casual displays of god-

like power uncomfortable.

It always reminded her of how limited she really was. How human.

Ukyou reached out and grabbed her hand. Akira looked over at the brown-

haired woman. She wasn't smiling, and she was staring straight ahead with her

cold-eyed expression of intense concentration. But her hand was warm. Akira

squeezed it back.

"Was this really necessary?" Akira asked her.

"I don't know." Ukyou looked at her. Then she looked across the way at

Nabiki. The woman was walking just behind the front rank. Her head was bowed as

she tried to stay close to Ryouga without actually looking like she was trying

to. Ryouga, for his part, was ignoring her with all his attention. But Nabiki

looked up when Ukyou gazed at her and the two shared some sort of look. Nabiki

nodded and Ukyou seemed to relax.

"What is it?" Akira asked.

"I..." Ukyou looked up at the Pillars of Heaven. Akira realised that

Ukyou had never had a chance to see them before. Everyone in the world had seen

them at one point or another. Chronos used them as a propaganda tool, and

everyone else used them as a symbol of Chronos arrogance. "I can't say. But

Tethys has a plan."

"Killing all these people was a plan?" Akira snarled.

Ukyou ducked her head. "She killed the phage army."

"I know..." Akira forced herself to calm down. "There was nothing we

could have done for them." Ukyou didn't answer her. "Ukyou?" Ukyou looked away.

"The only reason anyone agreed to this insanity was because it was the only way

to wipe out Gyro's army, Ukyou." Akira realised she was getting upset.

"It'll work out, Akira." Ukyou murmured. "I can't say anymore. We're

being watched."

"Watched?"

And then Akira realised they had reached the bottom of the Pillars. The

waters rose up almost twenty meters above the base of the tower, a raging vortex

ripping around the base of the only intact structures left in all of Tokyo. And

waiting for them, floating a half-meter above the cresting tips of the waves,

was Reichmann Gyro. His black wings were extended out on either side of him, his

yellow eyes glowed, his thick black blade was held casually in one clawed hand.

He looked the very model of the perfect devil.

"Devil Gyro!" Skullomania shouted. He started sprinting forward across

the water. "You'll pay for your outrages, at the hands of justice!"

Tethys snapped her arm out, blocking the man's path. Skullomania skidded

to a halt. Akira could see the others in the group tensing. Ukyou hadn't

summoned her glaive, but she released Akira's grip and positioned her hand to do

so at a moment's notice. Ranma was practically bouncing on his feet. He was

actually smiling. Ryouga stood as still as a stone, his body flickering with a

faint green light. Sailor Pluto held her time key staff ready, and even Nabiki

looked tense. The strange vampire girl that had joined them pulled a pair of

short swords from behind her back. Akira reminded herself to keep an eye on that

one. She was not entirely certain she trusted Nanami Kiryuu, or her motives.

Behind them, the army was spreading out. Armed with the most potent

weapons Tethys had collected from on Earth and her forays into space, they

looked formidable, but Akira had to question the point of bringing them. Against

Reichmann Gyro, they were like gnats.

Then again, some people had said the same about her once.

But still, she couldn't help but think that to Tethys, all these people

were disposable. She would gladly kill every last one of them, just for one shot

at taking Gyro down. Akira realised that if she didn't want to see that happen,

she would have to make certain the devil went down quickly.

"Reichmann Gyro. We meet again." Tethys walked forward.

"The Dark Queen." Gyro left his sword on his hip and raised his hands

towards her. "I think a proper greeting is in order." Then he started clapping.

It was a hollow sound that echoed across the ruins of the city. "A fantastic

opening move. Such a brilliant display of cold-hearted tactical acumen. Truly, I

am impressed."

"I didn't do it to impress you," Tethys bit off coldly. She pointed her

lance at him. "I plan on making you pay for every life you stole."

"Don't be so coy," Gyro chuckled humourlessly. "It is not every day you

please a fundamental law of nature. I shall let you have this little piece of

glory." His face twisted up in an inhuman smile. "Luring all of my minions to

one place with a sacrificial force so that you would force me to fight you

personally, a spectacular display of inhuman cruelty. I appreciate it enough,

that I will honour your request."

"Sacrifice?" Akira felt her blood run cold. "Ukyou, what is he talking

about?" she whispered. Ukyou looked away. "Wait. There were other people in the

city besides the phages, weren't there? She didn't..." Akira felt the iron

certainty settle on her. "She did." Her voice was hard.

She felt something dark stir inside her as she stared at the back of the

Dark Queen. Something cold and malevolent. Her hands clenched. Her lips peeled

back from her lips. She had killed... She had killed not just the monsters. She

had killed anyone here still fighting Gyro. Akira's world began to narrow. That

hated bitch was going to pay for that...

"AKIRA!" Ukyou grabbed her shoulder, hard, and whispered harshly into

her ear. Akira shook her head. The darkness receded from the edge of her vision.

"You... that was..."

"I..." Akira grabbed her forehead. "I feel strange."

"You're bleeding," Ukyou noted, her voice oddly inflectionless.

Akira drew away her hand. So she was. But Ukyou hadn't used her power,

so why was she reacting like she had?

"Come now, woman," Gyro called out, pulling his sword free. "I offer you

a chance to throw yourself against the bulwark of infinity. Such conviction

deserves a swift death at my own hands."

Tethys looked at him, and the spear she was holding. She smiled. "I

didn't come to fight you alone." She reached up one hand and snapped her

fingers. "Attack."

And the army charged.

OoOoO

Ranma had been practically bursting since Gyro had appeared. He knew the

plan, but keeping to it was such a pain. It wasn't that Ranma didn't appreciate

the talking part. A good pre-battle smacktalk session was half the fight right

there. But it was the fact HE had to remain quiet during it that pushed his

buttons.

Then Tethys signalled the attack, and it was on.

Ranma quickly sprinted to the front of the formation. Reichmann Gyro

frowned, his yellow eyes narrowing. The air around Ranma filled with the whine

and sizzle and snap of all those alien weapons going off. Beams of light, every

colour of the rainbow, speared towards Gyro from all directions.

The man snapped up his sword and with a deft motion swatted them all

from the air. Ranma blinked. He had literally deflected each beam with that

blade. Ranma had hardly seen him move, but it was like his arm was everywhere at

once.

Then Ranma was too close for thinking. He bounced up, testing the devil-

man's defences with a series of snap kicks too fast for the human eye to follow.

Too bad Gyro had inhuman eyes. His sword managed to catch each of Ranma's

strikes. Thankfully, Ranma kept the edge from hitting him, but just hitting the

flat of that black blade felt bad. Whole worlds of bad.

He cartwheeled back as others came in to take his place. Ryouga roared

as he ran under Ranma, his aura exploding around him. From the other side Akira

slid behind Gyro, snapping her hands up and around to backhand him.

Skullomania took the monster's right side, planting his foot hard into the

disturbingly solid water and launching into a spinning punch. Once again, Gyro's

arms moved impossibly. It was like they were bending and multiplying to defend

against all the strikes.

And the barrage never stopped.

Tethys herself came in as the third wave. Her lance flashed out,

striking at Gyro's head. As his impossibly swift sword parried the blow the tip

of the ice lance shattered into a dozen pieces... and each piece suddenly

elongated into another lance. Tethys pushed forward, screaming and striking

again and again.

Each blow that Gyro parried shattered and the pieces turned into yet

more striking lances. Soon it was impossible to see anything but the flash of

black ice as Tethys' lances multiplied faster than Ranma could keep up with. And

apparently that went for Gyro was well, as there was a snarl of annoyance on his

face.

That's when Ukyou dropped from the air behind him. Her Silence Glaive

flashed downward. Gyro looked up, his eyes widening. He stepped up to parry her,

but suddenly a figure in yellow appeared at his side. Her blades snapped out and

Nanami bound his sword between the guards of her weapons. Ukyou extended her

blade straight at Gyro's shining zoacrystal. The steel tines smashed into the

water and the water itself vanished, unmade by the Silence.

Unfortunately, Gyro was not there. Millions of ice lances speared in

towards Ukyou, who had enough time to look surprised before they stopped within

centimeters of her flesh. Tethys waved and all but one of the lances melted,

dripping into the water beneath them.

"I see..." Gyro's voice growled from above them. Ranma looked up. "You

brought the power of Oblivion to fight for you." Gyro was floating above the

conflict now. The beams of all the attacks followed him the moment their firers

could get a new bead on him. He gestured with one hand and suddenly all the

blasts began to twist and spiral around him.

Ranma was forced to dodge as a number of the beams were sent arcing down

in his direction. His companions managed to avoid the suddenly erratic fire;

Nanami was actually deflecting the attacks away from herself and Ukyou, but some

of the people in the army were not so lucky. Ranma winced as a few of the

soldiers in the front lines were vapourised, or worse, by the reflected attacks.

"Hold your fire," Tethys ordered. The firing stopped.

"You think I can be defeated by such base methods?" Gyro sneered.

"All we need is one hit," Tethys informed him.

"Then despair!" he roared, and snapped out his hand. Ranma felt the

force of his will explode outward. It was like being trapped in a dark cave, a

cave full of something terrible and nameless. It crushed out all thought, all

emotion. He could feel his heart slowing as his brain began to shut down...

Then with a suddenness that left him gasping, the power reversed. Ranma

fell to his knees. He looked over at Nabiki. The woman wasn't moving. But her

eyes were closed and sweat was beading on her forehead so fast it looked like

she was leaking. The veins around her eyes and temples throbbed visibly.

"Girl, do you think you can-"

"JISATSU BAKUHA!"

Ryouga's suicide blast rocketed up towards Gyro. He snapped his head

around as the blast entered the field of distortion around him... then exploded.

Gyro cried out in surprise as the explosion of green light flooded the air

around him, bending and warping around his body.

"He's distorting space," Ukyou shouted out suddenly. Her eyes were

narrowed. "Like the event horizon of a black hole. He's using gravity to bend

light and energy around him."

"Any thoughts on how we defeat that?" Ranma asked. The light around Gyro

had cleared. The monster did not look happy. He also did not look injured in the

slightest.

"Quickly," Ukyou offered. Then she leapt up, swinging her weapon in a

wide arc.

Gyro's arm blurred and distorted, once again moving impossibly fast.

Ranma frowned. He was pretty sure he had it figured out. The devil zoalord

wasn't just parrying, he was actually bending space around his body so that he

could move his weapon to where it needed to be. With that kind of defence, they

would be hard-pressed to find an opening. His sword could literally be anywhere,

everywhere, at once.

The Silence Glaive and the Sealing Sword met in mid-air with a loud

crack and a spray of ebon sparks. Ranma felt something pulse through the air

around him, and down into the water. He staggered and saw that most of the

people around him were doing the same. He wasn't certain what had happened, but

whatever it was wasn't good.

Gyro seemed as surprised as him. He flew back away from Ukyou as the

girl was flung backwards towards the water's surface. Two shapes blurred to

catch her, but the yellow one reached her first. Akira skidded to a stop, then

stepped in front of the two women. Gyro's inhuman yellow eyes fixed on the

trenchcoat-clad woman. "What are you?" he asked, hissing.

"A distraction," Ukyou explained.

Then Tethys was behind him. Her lance flashed down, and he twisted to

protect himself. As he did, the water underneath him exploded upward. A

waterspout.

Ranma didn't think. He ran forward and stepped up onto the spout, riding

it like an elevator. He saw Akira following a few steps behind him, but she

didn't reach the top like he did. Instead, she began to sprint up the side of

the spinning tornado of water.

Ranma let himself get within the reach of Gyro's blades before moving.

He snapped his hands up, and Gyro responded instantly. Still holding off Tethys'

attacks, he bent space so he could parry Ranma's blow as well. Except Ranma's

fist vanished and he struck with his other hand. Again Gyro's sword twisted and

Ranma pulled his hand back before the black blade could touch him. Ranma kept

going; an elaborate series of feints, each one faster than the last.

On the other side he could see Akira doing the same thing. Her limbs

flashed as she struck not at Gyro, but with enough force that he was forced to

respond. Soon enough he was surrounded by a forest of blades. There had to be

some limit to how many times he could split his body among the different layers

of folded space.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma saw Ukyou grabbing Ryouga and Sailor

Pluto. She was whispering something in the lost boy's ear and he was nodding

reluctantly. But soon enough, Ranma was forced to devote all his attention to

Gyro. His body was reaching its limit. His arms and legs were on fire, the

muscles burning from the inside out as he pushed more and more chi through them.

But he needed to keep accelerating, staying one step ahead of Gyro.

Their one advantage here was that despite all his power, Reichmann Gyro

was really a mediocre fighter. He was a bully who relied on sheer force and

bluster over finesse. Granted, with that much sheer force, he could afford to

do so.

But with Ranma, Akira and Tethys all striking out at him from every

angle, even he would reach his limits. He had to reach his limits.

Why wasn't he reaching his limits?

Then, just as Ranma felt one of the muscles in his right arm give out,

the devil zoalord snarled and there was a flicker of motion. Then they were

striking at empty air.

"NOW!" Ukyou screamed.

"Dead Scream!"

"Jisatsu BAKUHA!"

Ranma allowed himself to freefall. He twisted. The fight had carried

them ten stories up without him noticing. The waterspout broke apart into a

shower, mist spraying out in all directions.

Gyro had teleported not far away, apparently getting ready to inflict a

blow on Tethys from behind. But he was distracted by a ball of purple light

flashing up from the ground right at him. Somehow Ukyou had sensed exactly where

he was teleporting to, such that the attack would reach him before he had a

chance to escape. Behind the ringed ball of light, another of Ryouga's powerful

soul bombs followed.

Gyro sneered and held out his hand. "This trick didn't work the first

time-"

The Dead Scream shot right into his palm, exploding against his hand

with a blast like a cannonshot. Gyro screamed and drew back his hand. Then the

green crystal of Ryouga's soul shot into him. The explosion this time was clean.

It drove Ranma towards the surface even faster. The water dented underneath the

shockwave of the attack, revealing pieces of rubble that cracked under the

pressure.

Akira landed on the water on all fours and Ranma followed her, wincing

as the impact sent signals of pain shooting up his overexerted hand. The dent

Ryouga had created was slowly levelling out.

The light above cleared, and they could all see Gyro now. He had drawn

his wings around him for defence at the last second. Dozens of holes now

peppered his wings, leaving them in tatters. Thick yellow blood, glittering with

silver light, oozed from them.

"FIRE!" Tethys ordered as she dipped beneath the madman.

The army opened up again. This time the weapons all struck home.

Hundreds of them. Most did nothing, harmlessly skittering along his black-

armoured hide like flashlight beams. But a few caused smoke to erupt from his

hide, leaving trails of scorch marks across his body. A rare few even began to

cut through the armour.

"Enough!" Gyro roared, snapping his arms out. Once again the blasts

began to twist and bend, slashing out in all manner of wild directions. The

army didn't need to be told to stop firing this time. The hum and whine of

their sci-fi weapons trailed off as the people on the water began to shift

nervously.

"How?" Gyro snarled. "How did you break my perfect defence?"

"What, like we're supposed to tell you?" Ukyou returned.

"I will tolerate no insolence!" Gyro roared and snapped his hand at her,

The water around them dented downwards again and all three fell to their knees.

The light around them dimmed.

"Ukyou!" Akira screamed.

Then suddenly the space around them collapsed into a tiny black orb

hovering in mid-air. Gyro's razor-teeth flashed as he smiled. And a moment

later, his smile faltered.

Ukyou stood underneath the orb, both hands clutching the Silence Glaive.

The air above her shimmered and wavered. Ranma realised that all sound around

her had utterly ceased. But she was still on her knees, and her face was pulled

into a rictus grimace of effort. Behind her Ryouga was holding Pluto, who looked

stunned.

"You can't hold me off forever!" Gyro informed Ukyou. Then he clenched

his hand. The orb above her began to pulsate, like a beating heart. Streaks of

silver lightning began to arc around it.

"RYOUGA!" Nabiki screamed.

Ranma flicked his head to her, then back towards Gyro. Nabiki's face was

filled with inarticulate rage. She roared again, and this time Ranma felt it. It

was just at the edge of his awareness, and he was glad he wasn't the target of

it. Gyro's head snapped back, and his hand jerked up. A muffled gasp escaped his

lips.

Tethys flashed forward, lance extended. It was a perfect chance to

strike him, Ranma realised. He was distracted and hurt by Nabiki's attack. She

might be able to strike a critical blow.

But then Ranma saw something else. Akira was running towards Ukyou. The

pulsar orb was still crackling. In fact, it was growing more unstable. Ryouga

was now holding up Ukyou with one arm, as she was slumped against him trying to

maintain her shield. Ranma dimly realised that the orb was going to explode, and

pretty spectacularly.

"NO!" Nanami shouted, trying to run towards her. Skullomania grabbed her

arm.

"Don't go forward!" he warned. "It's too dangerous!"

Ranma distinctly saw Tethys' eyes flicker from the orb up to Gyro. Her

face hardened as she continued up towards him. Ranma was watching it all happen

in slow motion. He was so hyped up that he was perceiving things at a much

higher level than most people. Akira was going to reach the orb. She was diving

for it. She intended to try and push it away, bat it out of range of Ukyou and

the others. It was suicide, there was no way she could survive touching that.

Then suddenly Tethys was there. Her hand extended and the orb was

suddenly swallowed in a block of ice. The ice cracked instantly, deforming

inward around the pulsar. With a snarl Tethys whipped her arm up. The iceblock

shot into the sky, so fast that Ranma couldn't even follow it.

A fraction of a second later there was an explosion high above them. It

seemed so tiny. Just a snap like a firecracker, and a few moments later a gentle

wind pushed down on the field.

Gyro started laughing. Ranma grimaced, but looked at Ukyou and the

others. Ukyou was breathing heavily, but seemed unharmed otherwise. Akira was

staring at Tethys, her expression unreadable. Tethys was looking up at the devil

zoalord.

"Very well played..." Gyro continued laughing, a loud bellowing sound.

"But I am Reichmann Gyro! My WILL is LAW! Did you think that the universe would

allow you to destroy one of its foundations so easily?" He smirked, his yellow

eyes flashing. "Though I admit, I underestimated you all."

He was floating up and backward. He held his sword out to his side.

"Everyone prepare yourselves," Tethys ordered them.

"What if he's going to use the attack he destroyed the Red Sea with?"

Nabiki asked. She was panting as well, but there was a grin of triumph under her

worried voice.

"I don't think I can make a shield powerful enough to protect everyone,"

Ukyou groaned as she rose to her feet. "Not even with the Third Circle."

"You mean, without killing your girlfriend," Tethys snapped. She shook

her head. "But I don't think that's what he intends. No... I know Reichmann

Gyro. I've studied him for years. I know how he THINKS. He won't be satisfied

with such an impersonal attack. He wants to crush us utterly first." She

fingered her lance. "It's his primary weakness."

"You fool yourself, Dark Queen," Gyro said between fits of dark

laughter. "Did you truly think this was the limit of my power?" He shook his

head. "Tell me, Tethys: do you know why they built the Pillars of Heaven here,

of all places?"

He was rising higher into the sky every minute, retreating further and

further from them. Yet somehow Ranma could see him clearly. He was bending space

again, Ranma realised. He wanted them to see what he was doing, so he was

distorting space so they could.

"I managed to convince the Zoalord Council to construct on this very

spot. I used some prattle about it signifying our victory seven years ago

against the aragami, but that wasn't my real reason." He began to run his

fingers along his blade. "Seven years ago, a great and terrible force was almost

unleashed upon the world. It was known as Pharaoh 90. It is... a planet, which

eats other planets. But when the portal opened to allow this thing to enter our

world, a great sacrifice was made and the portal was closed, locking it away

forever.

"Until now."

Tethys' eyes widened. "NO!" She gestured and from the water around them

a forest of icicles emerged. Then they began to fire upward, a steady rain.

Ranma held perfectly still as javelins of ice propelled from the water so fast

he could only perceive them as white flashes, even with his enhanced awareness.

But it was too late. Gyro had reached the top of the Pillars. He turned

and slashed once through the air with his sword. A black line formed in the sky

overhead.

Gyro smirked and vanished the instant before the ice reached him. The

strange doubled perspective vanished with him. But Ranma could still see the

dark mark in the sky, nearly a kilometer above them. It was spreading, widening

out and out. It stretched from horizon to horizon, quickly passing out of

everyone's arc of vision.

Then it snapped open all at once, like an immense eye opening. Beyond it

was madness. Horrible black and red madness and a swirling green sun.

"Oh fuck," Ranma said.

OoOoO

The witch watched the Senshi of Mars struggle with indifference. It was

just another hero fighting against the inevitable. Some people might have found

her admirable, but the witch had little room left in her heart for admiration.

This girl would die, like untold numbers had died before her, and that would be

the end of it.

"Akuryu Taisen!" Rei screamed, snapping her hand forward. The ward in

her hand exploded outward in a wave of red flame. Around her the world shifted,

and the swords that had been plunging towards her shattered and vanished. The

girl fell back, panting. "I won't fall for your illusions!" she declared.

The witch allowed herself the slightest frown. The Swords of Hate had

been summoned, and now her world had collapsed once again. It was the first

torment again. For her sin, the sin of unseating God, she had been punished for

so many years that she had lost count of them. Every day for her had been a new

torment, every moment a new agony. Molten metal pouring through her veins or

maggots devouring her flesh or barbed wire wrapped around her bones had been

some of the simpler punishments. But the first, the ultimate flaw that was her

fate was the swords.

'The witch, the witch...'

They teased her now. Their blades ran along the edge of her skin,

peeling away slivers but leaving the rest of her intact. Soon enough they would

come for her in full. They would pierce her flesh and her organs, they would

sink into the deepest parts of her. They would stab into her mind, her soul, her

very being.

'Kill the witch... Kill the witch...'

It was her brother who inflicted the swords upon her, she knew. She had

always known. Even back before the end, when he had been the Prince, she had

been the victim of his power. All other girls got to be princesses in his

utopia, but she had to suffer alone in silence.

'The witch, kill the witch...'

Then she had finally seized control of it. In one desperate moment she

had stretched out and grabbed hold of them. The great Paradox, the souls cast

forever from the universe whenever the Prince had used his powers, it had always

been within her. And she had taken that power and with it she had brought God

low. In so doing she had damned herself, because she had opened her soul to all

the endless worlds of creation.

'Kill the witch! KILL THE WITCH!'

For every possibility there existed a world, for every choice made there

existed a separate time and place. But none of it was truly separate. It was the

great secret that she had seen that day, the one that would drive most mad. All

realities existed at the same time, in the same place. What humans called the

soul was a buffer, a tiny kernel of awareness that only perceived some small

part of the cosmic all. But the Paradox tore down those walls, opened up the

floodgates to the infinite realms.

The blades began to sink into her flesh. She could hear their chanting.

The voices of those worlds whose very existence the Prince had denied. They

chanted for blood. For vengeance. They dragged her to the worlds full of nothing

but pain. Hells the likes of which human minds could not long survive.

And this impertinent brat had the audacity to call these swords

ILLUSIONS?

Rei had placed herself before the Rose Gate. In one hand she held her

bow of conjured fire, in the other a trio of Shinto wards. She was bent forward

slightly, panting. Ever since her first strike, she had been playing defensive.

When the witch had intervened to protect Akio by deflecting her attack, she had

been forced to stand back. Up until now, the witch had been probing her

defences.

The woman's magic was powerful. It was holy. Worse yet, it was

supplemented by God's will. Whatever nameless force had risen up to replace

her brother, it was determined not to allow its predecessor to ascend the lofty

heights once again. Her holy power could drive back the witch's magic. But now

it was time to show the lone Sailor Senshi the limitations of her ability.

Her brother smirked slightly as he watched the bladestorm. The cyclone

of paradox blades, held back by the witch's will, began to shift. The currents

of the swords changed. They began to weave in and out of the storm, ripping out

into the real world. The witch looked at her brother and drew strength from him.

She had not been forced to try and take control of the blades since the time he

had fallen from grace. Her brother no doubt would find it fitting that she would

use that same sinful power in his latest attempt to place him back on his

throne.

Rei pulled back her wards, drawing them across the flaming bow. They

ignited, the flames of them curling outward into three long, thick arrows. She

grit her teeth and aimed the weapon at the witch. All her magic was going into

this shot, her innate ability to dispel the grip of evil magnified by the

spiritual power of an entire planet. "I won't let you past!" she screamed as she

let loose.

The arrows snapped forward, greedily seeking their target. The witch

reached out and grabbed one of the errant swords. For a moment she held its

blade and it bit deep into her fingers. More and more of them came, ripping into

her. They would punish her for her audacity. Then she saw Akio's eyes.

They contained no real love for her. There was no real mercy or

forgiveness in him anymore. Those qualities had been long ago ground out of him

by the necessities of life among mortals. Yet his eyes compelled her forward

nonetheless. Perhaps if she did this, this final act, then they would soften the

slightest bit, became something like they once had been...

She held the hilt of a sword in her hand. She brought it down, and the

great tide of Paradox came with it. In some reality, the arrows struck the

witch. In some reality she burned away, screaming as her body was rendered down

to ash. But in the reality the witch chose to let others perceive, the sword

snuffed out the flaming arrows. The mass of the Swords of Hate came down on them

like the sea on a candle.

Rei barely had time to scream before the wave came towards her. The

witch almost smiled. Did the girl sense it with her finely tuned spiritual

training? Did she feel the difference between these blades and mere illusion?

They would rip her apart, tear into her very soul. They would sever her thread

from the Oversoul and cast her into Oblivion.

Then a woman appeared in front of Rei. She was tall and beautiful, her

posture more reminiscent of a man than a woman. She wore simple clothes, and

carried nothing more than a bamboo blade. Her long pink hair flowed behind her

as she screamed defiance...

The bamboo shaft came down and struck the oncoming wave of Paradox. The

swords parted around her, splitting around the two women. They flashed across

the dirt field, tearing great gouges in it. Some few struck the edges of the

Rose Gate. Those that did bent and warped, some shattering entirely, against the

barrier that could not be crossed. When the wave abated, the witch was left

holding the writhing form of the Paradox blade in her hand. It wanted to twist

and bite her, to reshape itself into something deadly and painful. But she

managed to keep it at bay, for now. Its brothers continued to tear at her body,

but as long as she held this one, she could keep fighting.

The newcomer stood up slowly. Her brown hair floated behind her as her

green eyes twinkled. The witch felt something oddly like disappointment. How

could she have mistaken such a detail?

"Rei, are you okay?" the newcomer asked.

"M-makoto?" Rei whispered.

"Yeah." The girl grinned. "Looks like I arrived just in time."

The witch's brother began to clap. "Well played. I must hand it to my

adversary." He chuckled. "But this is desperation. He is grasping at straws,

drawing in anyone whose Destiny He can get His hooks into. You can't hope to

stop me now."

Makoto pointed her weapon at the witch's brother. The length of it was

torn and shredded, so much so that it barely even contained its shape anymore.

"I don't know much about what's really going on here. But I do know that I won't

let you defile that sword you carry." Her eyes narrowed. "Maybe you're right and

this won't make a difference. But I'm sick of waking up at night, unable to keep

from shaking because I know that there is evil in this world. Evil like you."

"And after everything I have done for you," he replied, smiling

slightly.

"Shut up, you bastard!" Makoto charged towards him. She leapt and as she

did the air around her flared. The witch's brother raised a single delicate

eyebrow. He drew up the ur-sword of the Moon Princess, ready to meet the

crumbling weapon of the ex-Senshi.

There was a loud crack, a boom like thunder as the weapons came

together. The witch felt something like surprise. While a normal woman had leapt

at her brother, a Sailor Senshi had come down. Clad in white and green, wielding

a sword of pure liquid lightning. It seethed against the ur-sword. Her brother's

feet slipped back as the force of her blow pushed him through the dirt.

"And so the hero, driven by feelings of guilt and rage, draws upon the

power hidden within her," he mused. The woman backed up a step, her eyes

widening. "Did you really think it was taken from you, Makoto?" He chuckled.

"Sailor Moon does not have that power. Your Star Seed is as much a part of you

as your heart or your soul. She could not rip your Destiny from you. Only you

could choose to give it up.

"It was you that convinced yourself that Usagi did not need you. It was

you who gave up on saving the world. It was you who accepted the deal with the

devil." He bowed slightly to acknowledge his role. "Nobody but you."

"Damn you!" Makoto charged again, her body surrounded by flashing

lightning. The witch had seen enough. She gestured with the Paradox blade. The

ground before her brother sprouted a hundred swords, driving upwards like

stakes. Makoto was driven back, shouting as a half dozen of the blades pierced

her arms and legs. Rei gasped and leapt to her.

"Makoto!" she cried.

"Forget me!" Makoto snarled, pushing her away. "Get him." She looked at

Rei. "We have to focus all our attention on him."

The witch frowned. Her brother was no threat to them. No real threat.

All they had to do was prevent him from reaching the Rose Gate. Even with the

ur-sword, his powers were limited in comparison to her own. She was the real

threat here, so why should they ignore her...

Oh. Clever.

The witch held up her sword. Did they really think they could deceive

her, who had studied at the knee of the greatest liar the universe had ever

known? She brought her blade around, preparing to attack again. The two Senshi

were striking now, splitting up to circumvent her blade barrier. Unless she

afforded them all her attention, they would probably reach her brother and

overwhelm his defence.

The witch spun and struck out with her blade. Blue eyes widened. A mouth

opened. Hands that had been raised dropped, a sword clattering uselessly at her

feet. The witch stared back at the blue-haired girl who had been attempting to

sneak up on her. She twisted the Paradox blade in her gut. The woman tilted back

her head and screamed, her eyes losing focus.

Ami Mizuno would see it, now. She would see that terrible door opening.

All the horrors of existence spread out for her, waiting hungrily to take her

into them. To make her a part of them. It would be a swift mercy when her mind

shattered and she became one with the lost souls of Oblivion. At least she would

not linger on forever like the witch, caught constantly at the border.

Lightning and fire rained down upon her. Pain was something she was

familiar with, and could thus ignore. The force of the blows split heaven and

earth, however, and she was thrown from her feet. The blade she had grabbed

slipped free of her victim reluctantly, but the witch kept her iron grip. If she

lost control for even an instant, the maelstrom would devour her.

The blue-haired woman collapsed, blood gushing from her stomach. The

sword had ben wrenched in her gut when the witch had been knocked clear. The

wound left behind was mortal.

"NO, AMI!" Makoto yelled, landing next to her. Rei was a few steps

behind. "Ami, you have to use your power!"

"Oh god... it's full of hate..." Ami said, then coughed, bubbles of

blood forming on her lips. "So much hate..."

"You never lost it, Ami!" Makoto was saying, grabbing the woman's

shoulders. "It's still inside you! Find it! Find the power to be Sailor Mercury

again!"

Rei hesitated above her, as if doubting even a Sailor Senshi's

constitution could survive such a blow. But in the end, she no doubt would give

in to hope. It was the thing that they clung to. It was all they really had,

sad and alone in the harsh universe. She knelt down next to her former friend.

"Ami, I believe in you. I love you. Come through this for us."

She placed her hand on Ami's shoulder. The red gem on her chest flared

with light. The green gem on Makoto's ribbon flared as well. Then Ami coughed

once more, and reached up to where that light came together.

"Mercury... Make... UP!" she coughed out.

Her body flared with blue light. The witch hissed as she once again felt

the hand of God. Somewhere out there, His fetich soul was feeling the scourge of

more Paradox. He had altered the game again. When the light vanished, Ami was

being helped to her feet by her companions. Her wounds were gone. The witch

almost laughed. If that was all God could do, then He was lost already.

"You should not have come for your friend. You should have let her die,"

the witch told them.

The three Sailor Senshi faced her, their faces hard and determined. "Not

again," Rei said. "I'm never abandoning my friends again. I've watched too many

people I care about die!"

"You misunderstand," the witch corrected. "I merely meant that you

should not have taken your eyes off my brother."

Their eyes widened and as one they spun to face the Rose Gate. But they

were already too late. He stood before it, the sword of Usagi's soul clenched

tightly in his hands. He brought it down over his head, a perfect swing and one

he had long practised. Then the sword met the Gate.

The Rose Gate had stood inviolate for uncountable scores of years. It

was the ultimate immovable object. Beyond it was the Power of Miracles, the

Third Circle, the godhead, whatever you wished to call it. No mortal or immortal

hand could move its ivory surface. The swords of thousands of would-be Princes

had shattered against it, shattered like their bodies and minds and nobility.

Once, perhaps, the witch had truly believed that someday that gate would

crack. But not any more. The power that had been lost would never, could never

be regained. Now she kept playing her role through rote, loyal to an empty shell

of a memory of a brother she had once loved. She was never certain how much her

brother believed he would someday succeed. He had told her, some years prior,

that Usagi Tsukino would be the one. But he had said such things before.

With a sound like a cup chipping, a crack appeared in the surface of the

Rose Gate. The ur-sword rested at the centre of that crack, which slowly spread

from its tip like a spiderweb. In almost no time at all it stopped. The damage

covered not even a tenth of the Rose Gate's surface. The witch stared. Her

brother's eyes quivered, his mouth trembled.

"At long last."

He brought the sword down again.

OoOoO

Mamoru sat against a pane of glass, his body shuddering. His rifle lay

at his feet. He couldn't for the life of him figure out how he had gotten in

here. The windows were whole and undisturbed. The entire place was clean and

unaffected by the chaos. Not even a single jar of pens had been tipped over. Not

so much as a single piece of paper had scattered off the desks.

They were dead. He'd watched them die. The water had come and they had

died. He'd been above the waterline. He'd nearly been knocked loose. The water

hadn't been content to just crash into the building. He'd seen it surge up and

into it. It filled up the windows. It surged up inside the Pillars like a living

thing. He'd watched a demonically-twisted zoanoid get caught in the water. It

didn't drown. It didn't have time. It was torn apart. Desks and file cabinets

and bits of broken wall had swirled up in the water and crashed into it from all

sides, tearing it to pieces.

Mamoru could only stare in horror. He'd clung to the outside of the

building, somehow maintaining his three-fingered grip on the nearly nonexistent

sill beneath the mirror-tinted window. He'd watched the water receding, and

leaving no sign of them.

They were dead. And he had abandoned them.

He knew who had done it. When Tethys had arrived, he had KNOWN. It

boiled alive inside him. It ate at his gut. It burned his brain. He wanted to

kill her. He wanted to END her. The seething vicious hatred that surged out from

the depths of his mind frightened him even as it comforted him. Because if he

focused on that, on paying her back, he wouldn't have to focus on the pain.

He'd almost done it. He'd lined her up in his sights. He'd begun to

gently squeeze the trigger. He had no idea if his magic bullet could possibly

kill the Dark Queen, and he didn't care. He wanted it too, more than anything

else. He wanted to be able to kill her.

But he couldn't. It just wasn't in him. He could almost hear Fevrier,

screaming in outrage. She always called him a wuss. She complained that he

didn't have the spine for the kind of work that needed to be done. Maybe she was

right. But he just couldn't find it in himself to fire.

Then the fight had started. Mamoru had watched. He felt the hatred drain

out of him. The pain seeped into the space left behind. But he couldn't let it.

He still had a job to do. He had come here to take down Reichmann Gyro. So he

had stopped and waited, hoping for the chance to attack.

Now he was here. He had no idea how he had gotten here. He moaned and

rose up. His body felt thick. It was the kind of feeling you get when you'd just

woken up. The way your body felt like it was wrapped in gauze. That hazy sort of

feeling where you realise you're still half asleep. Your brain is still half

stuck in the dream you were just having.

He placed a hand against the window pane. It was impossibly smooth. He

leaned over and breathed against it, panting. He wanted to cry. He had lost

everything. He should just lie here and remember. But he couldn't.

His breath wasn't clouding the glass. It was November. It was very cold

outside there in Tokyo. His breath should have left little white patches on the

glass. It didn't. He frowned and breathed out, carefully. A white line formed as

he lifted his head up. It was a perfect line. Exactly as he had pictured it.

Exactly.

His gaze traveled up, and up. The sky above was red, the colour and

texture of spilled entrails. The sun was the green of horror movie uranium,

bright and flourescent. It gave off no light.

"Elysium," he gasped. He knew this place. He knew it, somehow. Memories

from another life, squirming just below the surface. He could almost feel them.

A magnificent palace, on the edge of a lake. Serious men in grey and black

armour, talking in corners. He could see one of them turning the corner away

from him. "Father..."

Mamoru clutched his head. No. It wasn't his father. The memory faded

away. He was back in the office. The perfect office. The platonic ideal of an

office. He was still dreaming.

The office was cold. Wind howled through the shattered window. His right

arm stung a little, the piece of glass that had cut him when he'd smashed in.

The furniture was reduced to kindling. Everything was soaked. Water dripped from

the ceiling. In the corners it had already begun to freeze into thin sheets of

ice.

"Dreams," Mamoru groaned. He knew that place up there. It was Elysium,

the land of dreams. In the past, the ancient past, his family had been the

guardians of the gate. The only ones who controlled access in and out of it. Now

that gate had been thrown open, and it was leaking out into the real world.

And from the looks of it, Elysium was no longer the pleasant paradise of ages

past. He ran over and grabbed his rifle. Something in him had protected him from

the chaos. But he had been forced to fight his way out. His family was in charge

of Elysium, and he had been barely able to resist being drawn into it.

Tethys' army was mortal. He couldn't stand around grieving any longer.

OoOoO

The village was burning. Monsters ran through it, their claws dripping

red. Some carried the bodies of their victims, others were seeking fresh prey.

Cologne staggered through the smoke, her weapon dripping with gore. "Where are

you?" she screamed.

She was looking for somebody. She had no idea who. It was hot here. The

silk of her dress was stained red with blood. The heat kept it from hardening.

It made it slick. A small part of her mind told her that made no sense, but that

part was easily ignored.

She need to keep looking. She burst through a door. There was a boy

there. He was standing with his back to Cologne. His brown hair shifted slightly

in the thermal drafts. Cologne choked down a cry. He hadn't noticed her. He

hadn't turned. She drew back her weapon.

He had done this. Her homeland was being destroyed because of him. She

would have vengeance. She struck out... and a hand caught her rake in mid-

strike. The brown-haired boy didn't even so much as twitch.

"Wow, old lady, you certainly have violent fantasies!"

Cologne stared at the golden-skinned girl, with her silver hair and the

strange symbol on her forehead. "You..." Cologne murmured.

"Don't mind me, I'm just another part of your psychotic delusion," the

girl-thing explained. "Well, I wasn't, but I am now. Thanks for giving me a

front row seat, by the way. I'm busy, so I couldn't have come if you hadn't

dreamed of him." She smirked. "It gives me an excuse to do so many things!"

Cologne kicked out, her foot flashing through the air so fast it made a

crack like a whip. The girl floated around the attack, not even concerned. "Oh,

I'm not your enemy." She paused as Cologne continued her assault. "Well, I am,

but I'm not now." She giggled, a sound that echoed across the room and down into

Cologne's bones. The battle had carried them out of the sight of the boy, who

had not responded in any way. "I want you dead, but I can't actually do a

thing." She pointed behind Cologne, towards the boy. "Your enemy is there."

Cologne knew she shouldn't look, but she did.

Shampoo was rising from the ground. One hand was still holding the hilt

of the sword that had killed her. It was her own sword. She looked perfectly

healthy, except for the blade she had slammed into her own gut. Her purple hair

shone. Her red eyes flashed. Her lips twitched in that familiar annoyed frown.

"Old woman," Shampoo said, in her high-pitched annoyed child voice.

"Look what you did."

"Shampoo... I..." Cologne couldn't respond.

The girl pulled the blade from her stomach. It dripped hot blood onto

the floor. "Did you think you could replace me? Just forget about me? Have your

four little brats and your dashing monster of a fucktoy made you feel complete

again?" She started towards Cologne. "Have your pert new tits and your smooth

new skin made you forget who you are?"

The sword flashed out and Cologne instinctively raised her arms to

defend herself. The blade bit into her arm. She gasped. The arm felt brittle.

The joints flared with pain. The muscles seemed weak. It felt... old. She

stumbled back. Old, dried up blood oozed from the wound the sword had made.

"Wow," Kalia crooned, her chin cupped in her hands as she watched. "You

have serious issues, you know that, Cologne?"

"Shampoo, I didn't..." Cologne had no idea what she was going to say.

"Fuck you, old woman!" Shampoo held the tip of her sword at Cologne's

throat. "You let me die because you thought I needed to learn a lesson about

humility. Like you have the right to accuse me of-"

"Hey, leave her alone!"

All three turned. JunJun stood in the door of the hut. She did not look

pleased. Shampoo turned on her with a snarl. "Stay out of this."

"Oh please." JunJun reached out and tapped the girl's forehead. Shampoo

dissolved into ashes, her body blowing away in a stiff breeze. "Stupid

hobgoblins..." she muttered. Cologne could only stare.

"You're no fun," Kalia pouted.

JunJun turned to her. "You're not really here either."

"I'm not really anywhere, to be fair," Kalia countered.

"Leave Cologne alone!" JunJun shouted, shifting into a martial stance.

"Fine." Her eyes twinkled. "It was fun while it lasted. I'll see you

soon."

Cologne gasped and staggered. She nearly slipped off the edge of the

disc the quartet had summoned for them. Frederick caught her. Her pulled her in

tight, clenching her fiercely. "I thought you were lost..." he muttered.

"What..." Cologne's voice was weak.

"A living dream," CereCere explained. She was the sole person

maintaining the disc now. VesVes was busy holding her Amazon Stone up, creating

a dome of red light over them. Cologne looked up and immediately regretted it.

That sky was not something she wanted to see again. It had been the last thing

she had seen before...

"You got caught in your own imagination." PallaPalla was rocking back

and forth. "It happens. When you encounter too much dreamstuff. Sometimes you

just sort of shape it without realising. Little details at first, then before

you know it you're off in your own little world."

"Just a dream," Cologne muttered to herself.

"More than that." JunJun walked over and pulled Cologne's arm free.

Cologne stared. The dry old blood had clotted on her sleeve. Her arm still felt

brittle and arthritic. "You're mortal. You've got no protection against

Elysium's influence. Most of the time, it's harmless, but something's...

tainted it."

"It's bad!" PallaPalla explained.

"Liver and onions bad!" VesVes added helpfully.

"Frederick?" Cologne turned to him.

"I... I'm immune, somehow." He frowned and held her tighter. "But...

this has to stop, Cologne. That opening will only get wider. The stuff that

makes up Elysium is seeping into our world. Everyone who isn't protected by some

magic will be caught in it. I don't think the dreams they make real will be

pleasant ones."

Cologne paused. "You're going to fight him."

"I have to."

"You'll die!" Cologne shouted, pushing away from him.

"Perhaps." He walked to the edge of the platform. "But I'll die

protecting the people I love." He smiled, and for a moment Cologne's heart

stopped. She didn't want him to go. She wanted him to hold her. "Not just you

five, but all the people of Japan."

"When did you become a hero?" she hissed.

"I don't know." He shook his head. "I don't think it works that way."

He stepped from the platform.

OoOoO

They were falling towards the earth. The building sped along beside

them. Each floor marked off another moment before impact. He was reaching for

her, but she was just out of reach. If he didn't catch her, she would die. The

tiny slip of a girl would be crushed, and he would be forced to watch. They had

trusted him to save her, and that was what he was going to do.

Except, wouldn't it be better if he didn't? What if he just let her go

now? She would never have to see the horrors of this world. She would never

watch her father die. She would never see the horrors of England. She

would never awaken her awful destructive powers. She would never be abandoned.

She wouldn't watch her guardian die. She would never be violated by a madman.

She would never be killed, brutally, and then brought back, denied even the

reprieve of death...

Hotaru's purple eyes stared at him in horror. He was hesitating. His

hand was within reach of hers. All he had to do was close his fingers. He could

save her. But for what?

Then suddenly it wasn't Hotaru. It was Nabiki. She was screaming at him.

He could feel her, pushing into his mind. His eyes narrowed. His hands clenched.

How DARE she? He should let her plummet. He should let her die. The ground was

rushing up behind her. She didn't even see it coming. She probably wouldn't feel

a thing.

"Ryouga, take my hand!" she shouted, her voice almost torn away by the

wind.

Damn. He had done it. He felt her warm hand in his. No choice but to do

the rest now. He pulled her to him, cradled her with his body. Her figure was

soft and small in his grasp. He twisted his own body. He could take the

punishment. He was the immortal man, after all.

The ground he hit was wet. He gasped and pulled away, patting at his

back. No, not wet enough to activate his curse, thank god. Funny. He could live

forever, but his power didn't seem to think turning into a pig was a life-

threatening situation.

A form shuddered against him. Nabiki. He dropped her and she landed on

the solid water with a soft ripple. She looked up at him. He looked down at her.

"You were..." She trailed off.

"I was dreaming." He rubbed his head. "The sky opened up, and then..."

"It's the Oversoul." He looked down at her again and she continued. "I

never realised it until just now. Elysium, the land of dreams. It's the

Oversoul. It's the place where we are all connected, every one of us. It's the

thing we are all a part of. That why it reflects our dreams, because it IS our

dreams. It's our hopes and hates and memories and everything else." Nabiki

looked up. "And it wants us back."

"What?"

"It's taking everything I have just to shield you and me," Nabiki

explained. "That rift leads straight into the Oversoul. Except it isn't a place,

Ryouga. It's a state. It's the point at which the borders between us and

everyone else, everyTHING else, else break down. The closer we get to it, the

closer we come to vanishing forever." Nabiki gulped. "It takes very powerful

magic to maintain yourself. If you don't... you'll just dissolve into it."

Ryouga looked around. They were standing alone behind a large piece of

building. "The army..."

"Most of them are already gone." Nabiki ducked her head. "I couldn't do

anything to save them."

"And the others?"

"I think those with powerful magic might be able to protect themselves.

But those without..." Nabiki trailed off.

He clenched his fists. Up there, in the mad red sky with its lightless

glowing green sun, was Hotaru. "We have to stop it."

"How?" Nabiki gasped.

"Your sword. Wish it closed."

Nabiki grabbed the hilt of the blade. "I... already tried. The hole is

being held open by Paradox. I can't close it."

"There has to be some other way!" Ryouga roared, gesturing towards the

ruined city. "If this spreads, the entire world..."

"I don't know how to stop it!" Nabiki snapped back. "I don't even think

killing Gyro can do it! I'm not certain we can. The gate, once opened, can not

be closed!"

"There is a way."

They both turned.

OoOoO

The monsters slowly walked across the brown lawn. There were ten of

them. They varied in size and shape and gender, with the only constant being the

sailor collars around their necks. Alien mouths peeled wide, revealing rows of

sharklike teeth. The girl in front of them was a tiny thing. She looked like no

princess or saviour. She looked barely alive.

The lead one reached her. It probably thought that this was much easier

than it had been led to believe. It probably expected a fight, not just the

snuffing of a helpless girl. But it wasn't about to hesitate.

"LOVE ME CHAIN!"

The monster's arm dissolved as the chain severed it from its body. A

slim figure in golden armour appeared behind it. A trio of golden flashes and it

was dead. The other nine had time to react. Some drew back, others charged and

snarled. One just blinked. The result was the same regardless.

Minako was an angel of death. Her moves were quick, elegant and lethally

efficient. When she was done, there was nothing left but piles of dust. She

stopped and walked over to the prone girl.

"Usagi... what have they done to you..." She reached down, and checked

for a pulse. "Still alive..."

Then something distracted her. She turned and looked over her shoulder.

A great wall of water was coming down. She didn't even have a chance to scream

before it overcame her...

Ranma screamed. He smashed his hand against the glass, again and again.

His hands were raw, bleeding from where his struggles had rubbed away the skin.

"MINAKO!" he screamed, his voice was hoarse.

Her body floated up towards him. She looked like she was sleeping. He

screamed again, smashing his fist against the glass. "Nonononono..." He groaned,

slumping forward. "I should have been there..."

The image flickered again. It was starting over again. Like it had the

last thousand times. "I should have been there... I should have protected

you..." he moaned.

Why had he ever let her out of his sight? It was just like with Ukyou,

seven years ago. He had let his emotions get the better of him. He'd taken her

for granted, and run off to have adventures. He should have left a long time

ago. He should have found her.

Now she was dead. Dead and it was all his fault. Dead because he wasn't

there the exact moment she needed him. He couldn't take it. Not again. He didn't

want to see her body again. Not another body.

Not like Ran.

A hand settled on his shoulder. Ranma turned and looked up.

She was covered in blood. Her hand was cold. Her eyes were empty. She

smiled, her ruined face grotesque. "It's okay, Ranma. I'll forgive you." She

held out her arms. "How 'bout a hug, stud?"

Ranma screamed. He backed against the glass. If she touched him again,

he would go mad. He needed to get away... Wet arms wrapped around his waist.

Minako's voice gurgled in his ear. "Don't run away, Ranma. Be with us... be at

peace..."

"Just give in," Ran said, stepping forward-

"-OF IT!"

Ranma eyes came open. Hands were wrapped around him. But they weren't

wet and lifeless. One was etched with strange tattoos. The other was scarred.

The body pressed against his back was warm. He looked up. Akira stood in front

of him. Her face was not a bloody ruin, but blood was dipping from the corners

of her eyes.

"I think he's awake..." Akira moaned, then toppled backwards. Sailor

Pluto caught her. Ranma blinked.

"What... I..."

Ukyou released him and flashed across the distance to Akira. She took

the woman from Pluto, cradling her head in her lap. She was muttering something

over and over.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry-"

"What just happened?" Ranma asked.

"You were caught in the pull of Elysium." Ranma turned to the blonde

vampire. Namimi? Nakami? Something like that. She was standing on the edge of

one of the Pillars of Heaven. "It was trying to draw you back into itself."

"What?" Ranma frowned.

"When you go to sleep, your conscious self retreats to rest." The blonde

turned to face him, her red eyes narrowed. "All the barriers we build up within

ourselves, our pride and identity and emotions, they all recede. At that point

we come closest to perceiving the truth.

"We are all part of the Oversoul. What we call the soul is merely a part

of that, a small unit. It is like a drop of water, drawn from the ocean. It

mingles with other waters for a time, forming what we call reality. Then,

eventually, it returns to the Oversoul, as all water eventually makes its way

back to the sea.

"When we are asleep, we come closest to perceiving that reality. When

Gyro split open the barrier between reality and the Oversoul, he brought us much

closer. Our mortal bodies are not strong enough to hold us here. They're like

dewdrops on leaves; when a dam breaks and floods the valley. the droplets cease

to exist."

Ranma frowned and nodded. "I have no idea what you just said."

"Reichmann Gyro tried to suck out your soul. Ukyou stopped him," Pluto

explained.

"Oh. Cool." Ranma nodded. "So, we should get back to punching him in the

face, right?"

"We can't." The blonde vampire looked up. "Our Destiny lies elsewhere,

now."

"Huh?"

"She thinks that the rift was opened up for us..." Pluto frowned. "Or

more specifically for Ukyou." She gestured with her staff. "So that she can

follow Hotaru into Elysium."

"You know I'm right."

"Ukyou?" Ranma turned to the girl. She was still holding Akira, who was

just now stirring.

"Hey, don't cry..." Akira reached up and brushed a few tears from

Ukyou's cheek. Ranma blinked. He hadn't even noticed she was crying. "If every

time you have to use me like that I get to wake up with my head in your lap..."

Ukyou's face flushed and she backed off, dropping Akira's head against the

mysteriously solid water. "Ow..."

"Pervert," Ukyou muttered, but with warmth in her voice.

"I think it's the delirium," Akira pointed out. "Maybe you need to knock

me senseless more often."

"Don't joke about that," Ukyou snapped.

Akira looked her in the eyes. Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "Okay," Akira

said as she stood up. "Let's just move forward."

"But against who?" Pluto asked.

Ukyou ducked her head. "Tethys is fighting Gyro. She's distracting him."

She looked up to the pillars. "We have to get up to that rift and close it.

Something terrible is coming, and if we don't get up there in time, this will be

like nothing."

"Aww, Ucchan!" Ranma laughed. The woman was already walking around the

corner. He jogged to catch up, along with a few of the others. "Every fight with

you around is like this."

"I don't know how to stop it!" It was Nabiki's voice, from just behind a

large chunk of debris. "I don't even think killing Gyro can do it! I'm not

certain we can. The gate, once opened, can not be closed!" They turned the

corner and she and Ryouga came into view.

"There is a way," Ukyou said.

OoOoO

Tethys floated up towards Gyro. Her hand was waving in front of her

face, like she was trying to waft away a noxious odour. Her star-speckled black

armour shone in the green and red light of Elysium. Gyro waited for her, his

black wings beating lazily as he hovered in place. As she reached him, her face

was calm, almost mockingly so.

"So now you know the folly of bringing an army to fight a force of

nature," Gyro announced once she was level with him. He levelled the tip of his

great black blade at her forehead with one hand. Tethys lifted her ice lance,

the tip almost touching the end of Gyro's weapon. The rainbow starlights inside

it spun madly, swirling up and away from Gyro's weapon along its length.

"You destroyed an army of mortals, Reichmann Gyro." Tethys yawned

theatrically. "I wouldn't get cocky just yet."

Gyro chuckled. "Such coldness of heart towards the deaths of your

servants." Tethys nodded in acknowledgement. "You would have made such an

excellent addition to my new order. It will be a true shame to destroy you."

"The feeling is not mutual," Tethys hissed. "I will enjoy watching you

die."

"Then come," Gyro replied, drawing his blade up into an offensive

stance. "Let us show the world how gods do battle."

"Let's." Tethys voice was cold as she shifted to defend herself.

Purgstall decided to step in then. He flashed up over the side of the

Pillars, gathering power in his hand. Tethys saw him, her eyes widening. Gyro

did not. With a silent scream Purgstall unleashed a blast of lightning into

Gyro's back. The bolt took the devil zoalord completely flatfooted. He screamed

as he was thrown forward.

Tethys was quick. Seeing Gyro caught by surprise, she flashed forward, a

blue flicker Purgstall's eyes couldn't follow. A second later Gyro was flying

away from the Pillars, out across the drowned city. Purgstall raised his hand to

follow up, but the water witch held up her hand to stop him.

"Where did you come from?" she asked.

"Around." He narrowed his eyes. "Listen. You are no friend of mine, but

I might need your help to defeat him."

Tethys paused. Then she chuckled. "Oh, you're referring to me drowning

the city." She shook her head. "Don't worry about that. But if you're going to

help me, you have to help me draw him away from the towers."

"Why?" Purgstall stared at her.

"Because we need to keep him distracted while my companions try and

close this portal before the entire Earth is dragged into Elysium and everyone

on it dies. Unless you think you can protect them all from it?"

"He's coming back," Purgstall pointed out, turning to face Gyro. The

black-skinned monster didn't simply fly towards them. He seemed to shift across

space, the world literally folding around him so that he could appear before

them.

"Purgstall," he snarled. "You should be dead."

"Learn to live with disappointment," Tethys replied for him.

"No matter. I can handle two as easily as one."

Purgstall glanced at Tethys. The woman looked at him. He nodded. He

would have to follow her plan, for now. Gyro brought up one of his hands, a wave

of distortion clinging to it. They tensed themselves...

And ran.

Gyro's attack exploded through the air as they both plummeted like

meteors away from the towers. Purgstall's body was a silver comet, trailing a

wake of lightning. Tethys was a blue and black flash, diving like an Olympic

gold medalist toward the drowned city.

Gyro folded beneath them, bringing up his sword in a sharp arc.

Purgstall was familiar with the ex-zoalord's Incision Wave. It was an arc of

air, compressed through gravitational forces until it was as thin as a razor but

with the mass of a speeding train. Using it, there was very little Gyro could

not cleave.

This attack was in all ways greater. A brilliant black arc erupted from

the end of the great sword. Then it multiplied, becoming a hundred, then

thousands of crisscrossing blades. Purgstall snapped right as Tethys flowed

left. Moving with enough speed to be almost mistaken for the lightning he

wielded, Purgstall just barely managed to avoid the edge of the effect.

His desperate evasion had nearly thrown him into one of the broken hulks

of the ruined buildings. He snapped out his arms and legs, catching himself

before he slammed into it at full speed. His aura exploded on contact with

something solid, creating a crack like thunder and a cloud of dust as the

remains of the building were blown apart. Acting on instinct, he threw himself

backwards.

As he emerged he saw Gyro fold in directly underneath him. The huge

black sword he carried thrust into the dust. There was a burst of radiant

darkness and the back half of the building imploded. The shriek of metal and

concrete falling in towards the blade was deafening.

Purgstall gathered power as he flashed back over the demon zoalord's

body. He thrust his hand downward, watching as the charge of his lightning

gathered between his palms. Gyro reacted before he could finish building up

enough force to trust it would affect the madman. He didn't so much move as

twist, suddenly facing Purgstall. His needle teeth flashed in a savage grin.

The black blade came forward. Lightning exploded from Purgstall's hands.

The blade twisted, parrying the blast. Even as it did, it also shot forward

towards Purgstall's neck.

Then Purgstall was flying sideways. He saw a blue figure standing

between him and Gyro, her arm extended towards him. Then the black blade cleft

her from one shoulder to the opposite hip. Purgstall's eyes widened.

The female figure exploded, bursting outward in a cloud of mist. Gyro

flew through it, cackling madly. Purgstall roared in wordless rage as he snapped

up one hand and brought down the lightning.

OoOoO

The Pillars of Heaven were oddly deserted as they made their way up.

They didn't bother with stairs. Ryouga had suggested blasting his way through

the ceiling with his Bakusaitenketsu, but Akira had just sighed and walked over

to the elevator.

"Those must be offline," Nabiki had pointed out.

"I know." The metal doors screeched as Akira tore them back, bending

them like tinfoil. "But the shaft is a clear run straight to the top."

"We climb?" Pluto asked.

Akira shook her head as she looked down at the water that flooded the

lower part of the shaft. "No. We jump."

"How..." Pluto closed her mouth as Akira leapt forward. Her foot came up

and pressed against the far wall. With a grunt she heaved herself up and

backwards. She grabbed the cable and spun herself, then kicked off the other

wall. This repeated, as she gained altitude each time.

"She expects us to do that?" Ryouga groaned.

"Whatsa matter?" Ranma smirked at him. "Not really nimble?"

"I can do it!" Ryouga snarled.

"You guys coming or what?" Pluto looked up into the shaft at the sound

of a voice. Akira had paused about fifteen floors up. She was hanging from the

cable and looking down quizzically.

"It is the fastest way," Nanami pointed out. She leapt into the shaft.

She was surprisingly quick, bouncing from wall to wall like a yellow superball.

Akira started up again when Nanami had reached the third floor.

"How are Nabiki and Pluto supposed to follow us?" Ryouga snapped at

Ranma.

"Huh. You're right." Ranma turned to Nabiki. "Hold on tight, okay?"

Nabiki had enough time to realise what he was going to do before Ranma grabbed

her up and jumped into the shaft. The girl screamed and snapped her arms around

his neck.

Ryouga's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. Snarling, he leapt into

the shaft after them. For a martial artist famous for brute strength, he proved

nimble enough to handle the unorthodox climb. Pluto turned to face the only

other remaining person.

Ukyou held out her hand. "Do you trust me?" Pluto didn't answer; she

just grabbed the woman's hand. Ukyou pulled her in tight before they began their

own ascent.

It was surprisingly pleasant. Ukyou's grip was gentle but firm. Even as

the woman twisted and spun constantly so she could always face towards the

incoming walls, she did so with a tranquil grace. The first few jumps were

jarring and shaky, but after that Ukyou soon fell into an easy rhythm. It was

almost like a dance in constant freefall.

"So, what is the plan?" Pluto said as they rose through the guts of the

deserted Chronos facility.

"I'm not certain," Ukyou admitted.

"You have no idea how to close that hole, do you?" Pluto said mildly.

"I know. I just don't like it." Pluto raised an eyebrow at Ukyou's

response. "That portal, it's cut from pure Paradox. The backlash power of the

Third Circle. I can sense it even down here. It's a tear in reality. But I think

I know how... or rather who can close it."

"You?"

"No." Ukyou closed her eyes. Pluto might have panicked then, considering

how much could go wrong with the slightest misstep in this suicidally foolish

ascent. "The worst thing is I think the portal can only be closed from this

side."

"You're planning on going through. After Hotaru." It wasn't a question.

"I have to. I can't run from this anymore, Pluto. It's time to face the

Nameless. If I have to do that on its terms, so be it."

"Ukyou... you won't survive in Elysium."

"I'm handling this fine..."

"No." Pluto shook her head. "You don't understand. This is still

reality. It still has shape and form and function. Even if the dreamstuff of

Elysium is spilling into our world through that portal, it's being... diluted.

The difference between this and heading through that portal will be like the

difference between vinegar and hydrofluoric acid."

"Maybe the Third Circle..." Ukyou suddenly paused, looking thoughtful.

"Would the Third Circle protect you from Ryouga ripping your head off?"

Pluto countered.

Ukyou frowned. "Okay, point. But I have to be able to get through,

Pluto. I'm not going to back down."

"Ukyou..." Sailor Pluto bit her lip. Did she really want to do this? A

part of her, a very large part, still wanted to turn against Ukyou. The very

thought of helping her was insane. Much less helping her with a part of the

prophecy that Pluto had seen. If she went forward, it wouldn't just be sitting

back and letting that terrible future occur. She would be actively helping it.

"Long ago, the land of Elysium was discovered by the Moon Kingdom. It

was decided it was too dangerous for humans to be exposed to, so it was sealed

away. The royal line of Earth was placed in charge of maintaining that seal. The

decision was also made to cut off all contact with the Earth Kingdom, to make

certain no knowledge of the land of dreams could escape to the other colonies.

This was why Earth was a forbidden land." Pluto carefully noted Ukyou's

reaction. The girl looked intrigued, but not particularly affected one way or

another. Pluto, of course, understood her queen's order. It was the same order

that had sealed away Pluto and the Gates of Time from the rest of society.

"But Queen Serenity knew that dangers might exist in the land of dreams.

Dangers that couldn't be fought in the real world. So she granted each of her

Senshi a small spark of the light of the silver crystal. It would protect them

from the ravages of Elysium should it ever be necessary for them to venture

there."

"Does this have anything to do with the Star Seed on your hip?" Ukyou

asked. Pluto paused, then nodded.

"Ukyou, I think I can-"

"Something's wrong," Ukyou hissed, her eyes narrowing. Pluto frowned and

looked up. The shaft above led up into darkness. Up above Akira had flared her

aura, a brilliant blue light that lit their way. The others had also followed

suit. Ranma's aura was a slightly lighter shade than Akira's, but where hers

raged like a storm-tossed sea, his pulsed like rippling water. Ryouga's aura was

a thick and heavy green. Surprisingly, the vampire girl Nanami was glowing with

the faintest yellow light. It took a moment for Pluto to realise that Ukyou was

also glowing. Her aura was pure white, like freshly fallen snow.

But Akira's aura was no longer climbing. She was hanging from the cable

in the centre. Up above them was a wall of pure darkness. As Ukyou and she

approached, Pluto could swear she saw it move. It was like something was pushing

on the other side of it. Something not human.

"What is it?" Ryouga growled. He had dug his fingers into the metal

walls like they were clay. Ranma had kicked open one of the doors and set Nabiki

on the ledge there. Pluto found herself deposited next to the young woman as

Ukyou caught up. Nanami was standing on the side of the wall, hanging perfectly

sideways with utter nonchalance. As if she defied gravity everyday.

Ukyou stared up at the almost liquid darkness. Her eyes narrowed. "It's

him."

"How much further to the top?" Ranma asked.

"This is it." Ukyou indicated the darkness. "Beyond this, it's just a

few more floors before we reach the top of the tower."

"So what's the hold up then?" Ranma grunted and leapt up and through the

darkness. Everyone else just stared.

"Heh." Ukyou chuckled. "He'll never change. Come on everyone, he'll need

our help."

One by one they vanished into the darkness. Pluto glanced at Nabiki. The

girl was frowning. "Pain, Pluto. Pain and anger."

"Shall we go?" Pluto held out her hand. "I'm no martial artist, but I

can carry us through this barrier, I think." Nabiki nodded.

Forcing her way through that darkness had to be one of the single most

unpleasant moments of Pluto's life. It slipped along her flesh, seeping under

her clothes. It touched her with its cold emptiness. It violated her. And not

just her flesh. It sunk into her bones, into her mind, into her soul. It was

like leaping through the psychic equivalent of raw sewage. When she finally

burst through to the other side, she released Nabiki, staggered a few steps away

and vomited.

It was the sound of clapping that brought her back. She looked up.

The man had hardly changed from that dark chamber far beneath the ice.

He wore a red fedora and matching coat. His hair was like writhing oil. His eyes

were red and slitted, and seemed to be staring directly into her. He sat in a

tarnished bronze structure that could only be called a throne. Directly behind

him spun the mad green sun of Elysium, and all around it the red skies of the

world of dreams boiled like blood.

"I'm so glad to see you all made it," the man said with a laugh. "It

wouldn't be nearly so much fun otherwise."

"Alucard," Ukyou almost spat the name. A small part of Pluto was

perversely glad to see that Ukyou was leaning heavily on her Silence Glaive for

support. Apparently she hadn't been entirely unaffected by the passage through

that hellish darkness. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you you should have killed me when you had the chance, Ukyou."

The man flowed to his feet, his coat snapping out around him like a living

thing. "I was promised that I would get to be here for the final battle... one

way, or another."

"So you're working for the Nameless now?" Ukyou accused.

"We're all working for God," Alucard corrected her. "Even you, Ukyou.

Especially you. The one He's waited all this time for. The final experiment.

After an infinite number of failures..." He chuckled. "But I'm ruining all the

fun."

"Why?" Ukyou snapped. "He tortured you for seven years! Why fight for

him?"

Alucard smiled, a thing of all sharp angles and lacking anything like

mercy. "Because then I can die, Ukyou. Because He promised me one last glorious

final battle, then an end to it all. No more petty games. No more tiny monsters.

Just a battle to end all battles, then Oblivion."

"I don't suppose you'd just let us beat you to death, if that's what

you're after?" Akira asked.

Alucard chuckled, a dry and unnerving sound. "Where's the fun in that?

Besides, I'm under strict orders. Only Ukyou and Nanami may pass me. All

others..." His grin widened. "I get to do with as I please."

Ukyou stiffened, her body locking up. Nabiki was shaking. Pluto could

suddenly feel it. She had heard Rose describe 'killing intent' a few times. That

slight change in the air that let you know that a fight had gone beyond the

point of no return. That the only way it could possibly end was with death. Up

until now, she had never understood exactly what that meant.

She felt her mouth drying out. Her heart was racing. She wanted to run,

to hide. She wanted to just stand there and hope that this thing didn't notice

her. She might have been a Sailor Senshi, but she was still a human being. She

was still prey. And this man in red, he was the thing that frightened you at

night. He was the nightmare from which you woke up screaming. He was the reason

men lit fires and prayed.

Alucard reached into his coat and drew out two firearms. They were

almost comically huge, barely fitting into his palms. Everyone took a step

backward. Then he spoke.

"Control Art Restriction Unlocked to Level Zero. The Divine Mandate is

now in effect. Level will be maintained until primary targets are eliminated."

OoOoO

Blood ran down Purgstall's chin. He coughed and rose slowly to his feet.

A beam of green sunlight streamed in through the hole in the wall he had

created. The room he was in was huge, some sort of theatre from the looks of it.

The water had flooded most of the lower half of the room, including the stage.

He was on the balcony, having crashed through several rows of chairs. This place

was filled with moisture. The floor was slick with it. The walls dripped with

it. Even the air was thick with a soft mist.

Gyro was unstoppable. Purgstall had thrown everything he had at the

madman to no avail. Lightning bolts just curved around him. Those he didn't

parry with his great dark blade were funnelled harmlessly around him, bending

through the distorted space he surrounded himself with. On top of that, his

attacks did not have to obey any rhyme or reason. He could appear absolutely

anywhere, strike at any area. It had taken everything Purgstall had to stay one

step ahead.

And now it looked like his luck was running out.

Gyro floated through the hole, casting a shadow across the balcony. He

smirked, holding his sword idly. Purgstall forced himself to stand firm. He just

hoped that Cologne and the girls would survive, somehow. Gyro drew back his bade

and folded forward, suddenly appearing right in front of Purgstall...

An icy lance intercepted the blade. There was a ringing clank as the

blade rebounded. Purgstall staggered backward. Tethys had appeared literally out

of nowhere.

"You live?" Gyro inquired with a smile.

Tethys didn't reply. Instead she pushed his weapon back and turned,

thrusting the butt of her lance at him. As she did the weapon shifted, the shape

reversing in the blink of an eye. Gyro blocked the suddenly reversed lance,

driving his sword against the black ice with enough force to shatter it. Her

weapon didn't even slow him down as he drove it up and through her chest.

Like before, the blue skinned woman exploded into a cloud of mist. But

even as she did she stepped sideways out of the air behind him. Purgstall stared

in confusion as she brought her lance up towards Gyro's back. Gyro's weapon

twisted through the air, somehow intercepting the attack.

He snarled and struck again, and again Tethys made no move to dodge. Her

body evaporated as his blade passed through. Purgstall didn't wait for her to

return. He began to gather his power...

A hand settled on his wrist, pulling it down. He turned to see Tethys

looking at him, shaking her head. He looked back in surprise. Tethys was also

coming out of the air above Gyro. Her body seemed to congeal out of nothingness

as it drove the lance down. Gyro slipped sideways, and cut her body in two as it

came down. Once again she exploded into mist.

Except she was still holding his wrist. "You don't want to do that in

here," she warned him.

In front of them Gyro was being drawn out across the pool of water that

was the flooded lower half of the theatre. A Tethys dipped down beneath him,

driving a lance up at him. The lance multiplied in mid-thrust, becoming a dozen.

Gyro roared and snapped his hand forward. A sphere of force shredded through the

wall of lances, ripping the weapons and Tethys to shreds.

Except it wasn't.

"The moisture..." He whispered. "You...?"

Tethys nodded beside him. "Yes. For a being so proud of his newly

ascended status, Gyro thinks in predictable mortal manners." She smiled. "He

assumes I need a body, for one."

Purgstall looked down at his hand. He could feel the pressure in the

room growing. The water was collecting on his cheeks and forehead now. He felt

like he was breathing in a sauna. Every time Gyro struck down one of the bodies

Tethys was creating, the room became saturated that much more. Unfortunately,

with all this water he couldn't risk using his own powers.

"You lured him in here. You used me as bait," Purgstall admitted

grudgingly.

"Not everything is as it appears, Frederick von Purgstall." Tethys

smiled as she watched another of her water clones continue to provoke Gyro.

"There is a lot hidden here, under the surface."

"You really are as cold and manipulative as he says," Purgstall grunted.

He wanted to do something, but had no idea what. If he unleashed lightning in

here it would arc through the entire structure. While the Dark Queen was able to

spread her consciousness throughout the entire room thanks to the moisture, he

doubted she'd appreciate a hundred thousand volts flashing through her.

"Don't confuse me with him," she snapped. In front of them, Gyro had

grown tired of trying to catch her with his sword. He floated in the air,

unleashing balls of high gravity force from his palm at any Tethys clone that

appeared. The pressure cannons ripped great holes in the structure and sent

geysers of water up all around them. "All I'm doing is playing for time. I need

to keep him busy until my companions can close that portal."

"And then what?"

She frowned. "Then I play my trump card."

"You have something that can cut past his defences?"

She looked at him. "You don't trust me."

"You slaughtered your own people needlessly," Purgstall barked. "It's

not a matter of trust, Tethys. It's a matter of dislike."

Tethys smiled. "Oh, ye of little faith." She turned back to Gyro. "Do

you realise how much fine control this takes, Purgstall? Not only talking to

you, but engaging in a battle with him at the same time. I'm controlling every

molecule of water in this room, forming bodies and weapons as I need them, and

discarding them as I don't." Her smiled deepened, became more predatory. "Do you

really think that someone with as much control as I have would destroy valuable

allies? Or do you instead think I would merely let Gyro believe that half of my

force was destroyed?"

Purgstall started and looked down. Tethys chuckled.

"Like I said, Purgstall, there is a lot going on underneath the

surface."

Purgstall was about to reply when suddenly the entire theatre shuddered.

The Tethys he was with staggered, her eyes widening. Purgstall braced himself

against a chair that had been ripped free of its moorings by his crash landing.

He looked up.

The top of the theatre was littered with holes from the fight going on

between Tethys and Gyro. Through those holes, Purgstall could see a shape in the

sky above. It was beginning to slowly eclipse the sun. It was huge. Impossibly

huge. A perfect circle of darkness, and from it radiated dozens of thin,

writhing silhouettes.

"Pharaoh 90..." Tethys hissed. "Ukyou, what are you doing?"

OoOoO

Ukyou crashed against the wall with enough force to send a crack running

down its length. She sat there for a moment, stunned. Then the shadow of the

wall ripped apart. Vermin of all shapes and sizes tore free of the shadow like

they were ripping out of something's flesh. Huge chittering millipedes wrapped

around Ukyou's arms and legs as flies and spiders crawled over her body. She

screamed.

"Ukyou!" Akira shouted, but she was busy holding apart the jaws of a

huge black dog. Its teeth writhed inside its mouth, its hundreds of eyes rolling

around insanely. Its tongue darted towards Akira, the tip splitting apart to

reveal dozens of lamprey-like mouths that snaked towards her face. The girl

screamed and threw her entire weight forward. A blast of blue light erupted from

her, snapping the jaws of the beast apart and ripping it in two in a spray of

blood.

Ranma was grappling with Alucard himself. But it was like trying to grab

smoke. The mad vampire laughed as Ranma futilely tried to disarm him. Every time

Ranma knocked the huge hand cannons away from the thing's grasp, it just grew

another pair of hands from some part of the inky shadows around it and clasped

the weapons again.

Ryouga roared in pain suddenly, a huge black spike snapping out of the

shadows and piercing him through the gut. Blood exploded from his lips and he

swayed forward as the spine pinned him up against the wall. But his hands

grabbed onto the spine. His knuckles turned white. The spine shuddered, then

shattered in his grasp. He snarled, blood still leaking from his mouth and from

the edges of the horrible thing buried in his abdomen, but he was still alive

and fighting.

Nanami was in worse shape. A dozen men in medieval armour had grabbed

her from behind, stepping out of a shadow cast on the wall as easily as one

might walk through an open doorway. They had pinned her for a second, then one

of them had brought an axe down on her shoulder. Her arm was lying in a pool of

blood at her feet.

But the men had not fared as well. Far from being hurt by the attack, it

seemed only to enrage the vampire. She spun, her yellow aura blazing through her

eyes, and drove the hilt of one of her curved swords through the head of one of

her attackers. The next three died from a single slash as she arced the blade

through their necks.

Pluto stood stiff as a statue. Her staff was held above her head and a

bubble of purple force surrounded her. Darkness howled all around her, swirling

around the outside of the sphere. It chattered with red eyes and probed with

white teeth. Legs like daggers crawled along the surface and bony hands clawed

beneath them.

Pluto was sweating, but her concentration was not wavering. Nabiki knelt

behind her, just barely inside the barrier. She was clutching her side. One of

Alucard's first bullets had been aimed at her heart. Ryouga had thrown her to

the side and nearly had his left arm disintegrated for the effort. Even given

his sacrifice the bullet had passed close enough to graze her. That graze had

peeled the skin from most of her right side, leaving it raw and bloody.

Nabiki blinked away tears. They were losing. They weren't fighting a

man, or even a monster. They were fighting an entire army. They were fighting

the legions of hell itself. Akira found herself dodging a hail of gunfire from a

group of men dressed in world war two uniforms. Ranma was blindsided by a

crocodile-like beast that emerged from the ground beneath him. The shaft through

Ryouga's stomach had turned into a three-headed snake, one of which had bit into

his thigh, the other his arm. The third head was being held back by one of his

hands, its forked tongue licking along his face. Nanami was tearing through a

throng of soldiers now, a virtual lawnmower that left nothing but bodies in her

wake. But every man she knocked down got up a few seconds later, their wounds

gone. And more kept coming.

Ukyou was driven back, smashing her head into the wall hard enough to

daze her. She moaned and slumped. Nabiki reached out to her and found the woman

was conscious, but barely.

"I can't hold this barrier forever," Pluto warned.

"I know..." Nabiki sighed and stood up. She drew the Wishing Sword from

its sheath with a hiss. "I only need a few seconds..."

"Ms. Tendo, you think to end our fun so soon?" Alucard whispered. His

voice sounded like it was coming from right next to her. She flinched as she

realised he was in her mind. With a snarl she drove him out. The laughter of his

presence receded quickly. He was no match for her mental power. But his will

was strong enough, insane enough that it was hard to focus on the actual person.

All of the horrors, the damned souls that fought them... they were a

part of him. Not just projections, either. He had consumed them; every living

soul had died in agony. But instead of being allowed to cycle back into the

Oversoul, he had bound them to him. It was from them that he had drawn his

power. Their cacophony of voices was endless. A shrieking wail of torment and

agony, caught forever between life and death and forced to obey this madman

until the end of time itself.

That was his shield. Nabiki might be able to find his true mind, his

real identity among that swirling chaos. If she did, Alucard would be no match

for her. She could break him as easily as a twig. Maybe a thick, gnarled twig,

but a twig. But she needed time. He was hiding from her, using his 'familiars'

as a smokescreen. In time she would break through, but not even the Senshi of

Time could grant her enough of it.

So it came down to this. "I wish..." she began.

"Nabiki, don't..." Ukyou gasped. Nabiki looked at her. The woman had

regained much of her wits. "You can't waste it on killing him."

"Hold that thought," she said to the sword. "Ukyou. He's killing us."

"Correction, I'm merely killing you." Alucard laughed. Ranma finally

tired of trying to disarm the monster. He leapt and drove his fist right into

Alucard's laughing face. The face caved in around Ranma's fist, bone erupting

from it in bloody spurts.

Then the bone spurts became teeth and the face folded forward around

Ranma's arm, clamping down like a giant mouth. Ranma screamed. His foot slashed

up, severing Alucard's head. He brought his other hand around in a chop, ripping

the bizarre mouth in two and pulling his wounded arm free.

Then the two guns emerged from the stomach of the man and unloaded

pointblank into Ranma's side.

"NO!" Nabiki gasped. She reached out desperately and found Ranma was

still alive. The boy had somehow managed to twist sideways just before he was

hit. The near-impact had shattered most of his ribs and sent him flying, but

hadn't actually managed to pierce Ranma's hide. "Forget it, Ukyou. I'm ending

this bastard now!"

"I mean it's too late." Ukyou moaned.

"Too... late?"

"We failed."

Nabiki's eyes widened. Ukyou let her in. Not all the way, but enough.

She felt for a moment what Ukyou felt with those superhuman senses of hers. And

what she felt was a great darkness. It was pulling its way free of the portal.

One great tendril, hungry and seeking, pushed out through the barrier between

reality and fantasy. It was... huge, unspeakably so. Another followed. Then

another. They curled into the world, digging into the sweet firm reality of it.

"What the hell is that!?" Nabiki shrieked.

"Pharaoh 90." Ukyou groaned. "We're too late. It found its way here."

Nabiki looked up. She could see it now. It was blotting out the tortured

sun of Elysium. A huge shadow across the land. Dozens of squid-like tentacles

extended from it, shooting downward. They smashed into the ground, ripping into

the earth itself. They were anchoring the beast. Then, in the centre of the

planet, opened a cyclopean eye.

"Welcome, sister!" Alucard called up to the thing in the sky. "Feed!

Digest this entire worthless planet! Turn this rotten world into shit!"

OoOoO

A great grey tendril shot down from the sky, crashing into the side of

Mount Fuji with enough force that the entire side of the great mountain was

obscured by a cloud of dust. The tentacle was immense: kilometers thick at its

thinnest point, and it thickened considerably as it approached the behemoth. A

dozen more tentacles erupted from the red sky, sinking into the earth with a

series of earth-shaking booms. One landed in Tokyo Bay, another pierced the

heart of the city. Still more crashed on the outskirts of the metropolis.

The sky seemed to bulge downward. Pharaoh 90 was the colour of charred

flesh, its huge shell covered with hills and valleys that resembled hideous

scars. At the very bottom of it was a single eye. It was strangely beautiful,

soft blue and with a single slit for a pupil. It looked disturbingly feminine.

"Neherenia..." PallaPalla whispered.

"What?" Cologne looked over at the girl. She was looking up at the

massive thing, the impossible planet that was pulling its way into their world.

The cyclopean eye was moving across the landscape beneath it, searching. It

looked almost amused. "PallaPalla, what do you know?"

"It's her, it's Neherenia!" PallaPalla shouted.

"It can't be..." VesVes moaned in fear.

"She's come for us!" CereCere shouted.

The sky gave a single great heave, and then suddenly the planet pulled

free of Elysium. Cologne gasped at the size of it. It dwarfed the entire city.

The country. It had to be larger than all of China. Somehow it hovered above the

city despite the impossibility of this, more and more of its giant tendrils

snaking free of its burn-scarred shell towards the Earth. The very sky around it

was twisting. Great columns of water were rising up from the city. Tornados and

lightning arced between the behemoth and the world, annihilating entire city

blocks in the process.

"You're right..." JunJun was looking down at her Amazon Stone. "I can

feel her. She's calling... she's calling to us through the Stones..."

"I don't want to go back!" CereCere shrieked.

"We don't have any choice!" JunJun snapped at her. "We CHOSE this,

remember?" She looked at her sisters. "All those years ago, back in the Before.

We found the mirror that Neherenia was sealed in. We let her out in exchange for

power. We helped her invade Elysium and capture Pegasus."

"Now you're beginning to sound like the old man," VesVes said with a

nervous laugh.

"Maybe I'm growing up," JunJun said simply. The others stared at her,

their faces filled with horror. "Maybe it's time we all did."

"We can still run..." CereCere trailed off.

"Mr. Purgstall will die." PallaPalla looked around at her sisters. "We

need to help."

OoOoO

Tethys watched Pharaoh 90 free itself from Elysium with an impassive

expression. Its massive tendrils crashed into the Earth so hard the entire city

shuddered. Then they began to feed. She could feel it. All the life energy near

the impact points was vanishing, slowly spiralling inward into those massive

tentacles. It was devouring the life energy, the chi and magic, of the entire

planet.

HER planet.

Tethys spared a bit more of her attention for Gyro. The devil zoalord

was still busy fighting her water clones. He could swing his sword around for a

million years and still not come close to actually cutting her. But it was

getting annoying. The man didn't seem to have a limit to his powers. It was

taking far more than she was comfortable with to continue to occupy his

attention.

Truth be told, she was straining a lot more than she had let Purgstall

see. In fact, she was pushing herself to her breaking point. It was taking a

great deal of power to protect all the martial artists she had caught in her

first deluge attack. They were floating in personal air pockets beneath the

surface of the huge lake she had turned Tokyo into. If she could have, she might

have released them. But her magic was the only thing keeping them from having

their souls torn out by the dreamstuff still pouring out of Elysium. Combine

that with fighting the sudden gravitational force of a small planet appearing

only four kilometers above the earth, and fighting Gyro, and she was nearing her

breaking point.

It didn't help that she had almost trebled the number of people beneath

the water when Ukyou had warned her about the dreamstuff. Choosing the most

powerful of her youma and human allies to protect had been harder than she

wanted to admit. But now she had a significant army beneath the raging surface.

She also needed a way to deploy them.

Perhaps a large enough force could defeat Gyro. Maybe if they could take

that sword from him, there might be a way to deal with the planet-eating

behemoth. If only she could make the pathetic 'heroes' beneath her trust her.

She had already noted that youma-human hybrids like herself were immune to this

magic. If she could just find a way!

Her eyes turned to Purgstall. He was clenching his hands in impotent

fury. His strangely human face was lined with frustration. She didn't need

Nabiki's powers to tell what he was thinking. He wanted to do something. To do

anything. He wanted to fight against Gyro, not just sit back and watch her do

it. He would probably do anything...

Tethys held her breath. It was a purely human instinct, one of the

things the part of her that was Hayato still did without her thinking. She felt

the colour drain from her features. She knew the only way to bring the heroes

into this fight. She knew the only way to make them trust her.

It was a risk. It was a greater risk than she had ever consciously gone

into. But the rewards...

Tethys held up her hand and with a thought ceased the flow of magic to

her clones. Instantly the air around Gyro drained of mist. She stepped forward,

towards the startled yellow-eyed devil. "Is that all you have, Gyro? You think

your pet planet will hurt me? My body is the entire ocean. My spirit can cover

this entire planet. Nothing you can do can defeat me."

His eyes narrowed. "You are persistent. I give you that." His lips

curled into a sneer. "But you mistake me for a being with limits." He began to

float upwards. "If you are the oceans of this world, then I will slay the

oceans!" He held a hand above his head. A speck of darkness appeared there. It

was not really darkness so much as a place where the light ceased to flow. It

entered that tiny dark dot and then... never returned. He began to laugh as he

floated into the air, rising higher and higher as the dot in his hand grew

larger and larger. Tethys could feel the pull of it. It was dragging in the air

around it. The storm howled as the wind rushed from all directions into the

rapidly expanding singularity in Gyro's hand.

"Tethys! Why did you stop distracting him?" Purgstall shouted.

"I'm out of power, zoalord, and we are out of time." She looked up at

Pharaoh 90. Its oddly feminine eye was half-lidded, glancing at them in

amusement. "My colleagues failed. In a few hours, that thing will devour this

entire world. All life will end. And that madman will feed on the misery and

chaos, eating it up like a sponge. I need to stop him now, before that happens.

Before the world I save is nothing but an empty husk."

It was only partly a lie. Tethys smirked to herself as she began to

float. "Stay back, Purgstall. You're no match for him. Your lightning will only

hold me back." That was the truth. She still vividly remembered her final defeat

at the hands of Ukyou. She remembered the woman pulling the iron bar from her

stomach, saving her life. She remembered Ukyou's words.

For a brief, world-shattering moment she wondered if this really was all

foreordained. If the reason she had been spared all those years ago was so that

she could do this, now. But she pushed that thought aside. She had risen up

through the ranks by her own will. She had broken all the taboos of her people

by entering an equal partnership with a human. She had defied her queen and her

god and won. She had done all these things because of who she was, not because

of some prophecy.

Gyro was almost finished. She paused below him, hovering over a hundred

meters beneath him. Her only hope was that he would dedicate so much of his

concentration to his attack he would forget his defence. Purgstall had managed

to catch him off-guard once. It could be done. She needed to strike one blow.

Just ONE blow.

Gyro's laughter cut off. He held a sphere of pulsating darkness the size

of a city bus above his head. Lightning arced from the sky and earth, wind

roared, chunks of the city and sheets of rain all spiralled into that horrible

darkness. "Now Tethys, witness the punishment for defying the Law of Gyro!

DISAPPEAR! INTO THE EVENT HORIZON!"

Tethys screamed and shot forward like an arrow. Her body flickered as

her spirit flashed through the rain all around Gyro. She reached him in the

fraction of a second between his cry and unleashing the blast. Her body formed

behind him. Her lance shot forward.

Gyro's eyes widened.

Tethys' eyes narrowed.

For a moment, there was only the roar of the wind.

Then Gyro looked down. The tip of her lance emerged from the front of

his chest. It dripped with blood the colour of tar. Gyro lost his grip on his

attack. The massive gravity bomb detached from his palm gently, floating for a

moment like a balloon. A second or so more and it would explode, taking Tokyo,

herself and almost all of Japan with it.

She screamed as she kicked Gyro down and released her lance. Both her

hands latched onto the underside of the gravity bomb. It was pulling her in. She

could feel the water of her form being siphoned through her palms into that

thing. It began to rock. It was nearing critical mass.

"I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" she roared at it, bending all her will, all her

magic to it. She had too much to live for. She had too much to fight for. She

realised she was crying as the tears flew from her cheeks and into the darkness.

It wasn't going to be enough. She was losing control. She would die. Everyone

would die.

Akira would die.

And just like that, she found the power to stabilise it. It would not be

long. But it would be enough. She reached down inside herself, and with a

wordless scream that very well might have been heard all the way across the

world she pushed.

The gravity bomb ascended into the sky like a meteor in reverse. The

massive eye of Pharaoh 90 widened as it realised there was only one target she

could be aiming at. But it was too huge to dodge, its tendrils too slow to

possibly defend itself. The darkness shrunk and shrunk until it was nothing but

a mote against the eye of that thing.

Then it exploded. The force sent Tethys back, pushing her down. She

found she didn't have the power to resist it. A scream echoed across the world.

A woman's scream. It roared through the air. It shrieked through her very

thoughts, her very soul. She had hurt it. It floated backward, its eye squinted

shut in pain.

"This planet bites back," Tethys told it with a grin. "You bi-URK!"

She gasped and grabbed at her chest. The huge black blade had shattered

through the armour between her breasts. She twisted her head to look back at

Gyro. Blood trickled from the corners of his lips. There was a hole in his

chest, but she realised dimly that it wasn't near anything vital. She had meant

to pierce his heart. She had missed.

"So it ends," he intoned. "The only way it could."

OoOoO

Angel stared. She was vaguely aware of her mouth hanging slackly open

like some sort of mentally deficient drunk, but couldn't help herself.

There, on the screens before her, were countless images that could have

been from some cheesy disaster movie. A huge... planet, too big to comprehend,

had appeared directly over Tokyo. Vast tendrils wriggled obscenely out from it,

their sinuous motions disguising their impossible bulk. Their touch deformed the

earth like a steel-toed boot coming down on styrofoam. Before her eyes, Japan

was literally being torn apart. Water was gushing in to fill the ravaged lands.

In other areas, cities crumbled before her eyes, tossed around like tops. New

mountains were rising even as old ones tumbled into the waiting sea. It was

nothing short of apocalyptic.

"The magnitude of this disaster is unparalleled," Petra commented

needlessly. She was staring at a variety of computer readouts, most of whom were

gibberish to Angel. The red-haired ex-Chronos spy leaned back in her chair,

shaking her head wearily. "Between the impacts, the gravitic forces, and the

distortion in reality caused by the rift, there's already fractures forming in

the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates." She rubbed her nose. "And it's

only getting worse. I can't imagine there's many Japanese survivors left outside

of the capital at this point."

"The capital?"

"It should be more than utterly destroyed, but seems to be protected

from the worst of it, presumably by Reichmann Gyro's intervention." Petra stared

grimly at the viewscreens of the ruins of Tokyo. "Small comfort, I suppose."

"Can't you do something?" Angel asked.

Petra shook her head. "This is beyond us, Angel. You'd have to look back

to the Theian impact event to find a greater disaster. It's all we can do to try

to lessen the force of the tsunamis, and the only reason we can do that is

because Queen Tethys is so distracted."

Angel stepped away, leaning against the back wall. For a moment, she

just stared at the horrible images.

Petra answered her before she opened her mouth. "This isn't like what he

did to the Red Sea. That was really nothing in comparison. We can't really do

anything except damage control for the aftershocks."

Angel shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the earlier cataclysm.

"Petra..."

"Stop worrying about it." Petra swung around to face her. Her eyes were

still red-rimmed, but her face was dry and set in determined lines. Those eyes

were dark and sharp, like an eagle's. They were the only features still

recognisable of the Syrian woman that had come to Chris's hidden sanctuary

barely a year ago. When she had later confessed her intent of spying and sworn

to serve Chris's goals instead, Link had changed her hair, her skin tone, even

the structure of her face. Petra, meanwhile, had taken the initiative to change

her name.

But she was still the same. Even before knowing the woman had been a

Chronos agent, Angel had sometimes been a little intimidated by the woman's

brilliance and those piercing brown eyes that seemed to see everything. It had

been a shock to see her emotionally overcome by what Reichmann Gyro had done to

the Red Sea, until Angel had remembered that her home country had been among

those almost totally devastated by the blast.

Yet here it was, less than an hour later, and the only trace left of her

tears was the redness of her eyes. But in a way, that was comforting. It made

Angel feel like SOMEONE was in control of the situation... even if she was,

apparently, only in control enough to calmly realise they weren't in control at

all.

"Somebody's got to close that rift, or get rid of that giant planet-

thing," Angel finally said.

"I'm sure whoever's left there is trying," Petra shrugged. "But I'm

having difficulty following the course of the battle with all the Second Circle

and Paradox distortions. We can only hope they succeed. Or perhaps that Chris

will intervene."

"He might," Angel said, hoping it was so. She knew interfering directly

was against Chris's belief in the perfect possible future, and why, but surely,

for something like this, He could make an exception. "It's such a horrible

disaster."

"Yes, well, it's exactly what He said would happen," Petra said. "It's

why we're working here."

Angel could only nod. "Maybe he's talking with Akane about it..." She

drifted off as Petra let out an inelegant snort. "What's wrong?"

"Akane Tendo. That's something that worries me almost as much as

whatever horror Reichmann Gyro summoned from Elysium," the red-haired woman

said, pursing her lips in distaste.

Angel stared. "Why? She's a hero, for sure."

"Exactly," Petra said with a wave of her hand. "No doubt she's a hero.

That's just the point. This isn't the place for heroes. Heroes belong on the

world, blissfully ignorant of us while they give hope to everyone else. Why is

Akane HERE? This isn't where she belongs. What does Chris want from her?"

"I don't know," Angel admitted. "He seemed really interested in her. I'm

sure it's for a good reason."

Petra shook her head. "That's a dangerous attitude, Angel." She held up

a hand to forestall protest. "No, listen. Chris is our hope. Chris is the only

salvation we have. And yes, Chris says he has come into His power and I do not

doubt Him or His destiny. But Chris can make mistakes. He's said so Himself. And

though I don't know exactly what happened in the Dark Kingdom, I do know Link is

missing, neither Tethys nor Hotaru nor Nabiki Tendo have been destroyed, and in

general things didn't seem to go at all according to plan." She looked up, as if

her eagle-eyed gaze could pierce the floors above and see into the chamber where

they had left Chris and Akane to talk. "I would probably trust Akane Tendo with

my life, but I don't trust what brings her here."

"Well, I'm here," Angel offered. "Maybe He wants her for-"

"Wants her for what? You said it yourself - she's a hero. I'm sure

you've seen the files on her. I can't imagine she'll join us. Even if she did,

what on earth does she possibly offer Chris? She's just a martial artist. If any

of her anti-Chronos resistance even survives this battle, she has no true

authority over them beyond being well-respected. And again, even if she could

lead them here, so what? Chris doesn't need or want them. They're supposed to be

out in the world doing good works, not here finding out how things truly are so

they can ignorantly object to it." She tapped a finger insistantly on the arm of

her chair. "No, I can't see anything she offers us. She's compromising our

secrecy, and to no tangible benefit, meaning Chris probably wants a more

intangible benefit from her. And I don't like that at all."

Angel shifted again. She didn't want to hear this, mostly because she

had no counterargument. Akane really WASN'T that special except as the powerful

symbol of hope she represented. Even if she had some sort of unique knowledge,

Chris could have plucked it from her brain without Akane even knowing. She still

wanted to say that Chris must have had some reason, something that would make it

make sense, something their limited perceptions just hadn't caught upon.

But every time she almost opened her mouth to say this, the vivid

recollection of seeing His ravaged body in that tube came back to her, and she

couldn't force the words out past her lips.

So she changed the subject instead. "Petra, have you noticed that

Kalia's missing?"

Petra blinked. "Missing?"

"Ever since Chris lifted the ship. She was with us in the Dark Kingdom,

but I haven't seen her since."

Petra shrugged. "Perhaps He had a mission for her? Or she just is

somewhere else causing trouble."

"No, that's what I figured first too," Angel said. "But then I got to

thinking when I noticed I hadn't seen or felt her around. Whenever Chris sends

her on a mission, she... well, she does what she does. She's there already, and

then she's back as soon as she's done. And the same thing when she takes off. I

can't remember any time since Chris created her, except when she was travelling

with Him, when she stayed away this long. She doesn't hide, either. She likes

making everyone uncomfortable too much."

Petra paused, considering that for a long moment. "You're right.

Normally I always keep noticing her out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't really

thinking about it." She bit her lip, an oddly delicate feminine gesture.

"Another worrisome problem. I never liked that creature."

"I'm sure Chris could find out where she is, if He doesn't know."

"No doubt." Petra raised her eyes to bore through the ceiling again. "If

only Akane Tendo weren't here, and we could bring it to His attention."

"I'm sure He'll be finished with her soon," Angel offered, somewhat

lamely.

"Let's hope so."

OoOoO

"Your friends will die."

Ukyou struggled futilely against her bonds. The things that held her had

pulled the Silence Glaive from her grasp, keeping it just out of reach. Razor-

sharp mandibles pinned her arms in place, thin trickles of blood running from

the tiny holes where they punched into her skin. Thick millipede bodies pinned

her legs to the wall. She was crucified, held in place and helpless while her

friends fought for their lives.

And lost.

"Oh, they are very good," Alucard said from beside her. He had lost his

hat at some point. He stood next to her with arms crossed and a naughty little

smirk on his face. "Few others would have lasted so long."

Akira leapt over a reptile-shaped shadow, kicking backwards. Her kick

caught the side of a massive bear that was trying to grapple with Ranma. Ranma

shifted sideways as the thing crashed and he punched forward, his hand chopping

a snake in two that had been trying to swallow Ryouga. Ryouga was forming

another of his suicide blasts, his body a mass of scars and blood.

But they were being exhausted. Ranma was still moving, but his movements

were stiff and his expression was pained. He was on his last legs. Akira was

gasping for breath, her normally inexhaustible stamina finally reaching her

limits. Ryouga's body was adapting to every deathblow Alucard landed... but he

was making no headway.

"I think I'll eat him," Alucard mused. "Do you think his immortality

will protect him from that?" He laughed. "I've never eaten a true immortal

before. I think the experience would be worth enjoying at least once before the

end."

"You're toying with them," Ukyou said. It wasn't a question.

"You refuse to play," Alucard said, looking at her out of the corner of

his eyes.

"Let me go, and I'll fight you," Ukyou promised coldly. She could see

fog forming in front of her lips. The temperature must have been dropping in

response to her aura.

"Break free, and I'll let you." Alucard chuckled.

Ukyou snarled and threw everything she had into it. She reached down,

down into the dark well between her and Aaron's souls and pulled all the power

she could from it. She tried to ignore Akira's sudden gasp. She didn't watch as

the woman toppled backward, barely caught by Nanami. She needed every bit of

concentration on just breaking the hold of Alucard's familiars.

Her lips opened in a soundless scream as she pushed the alien energy

through herself. Her chi doubled, then squared. The air around her turned white.

The ground in front of her crackled as it suddenly froze solid. And for a

moment, just a moment, it looked like she might break free.

Then Alucard backhanded her across the face with enough force to leave

her seeing stars. She slumped, able only for a few seconds to moan in pain. When

she came to she was still as tightly bound as ever, and now one of her teeth had

been knocked loose.

"Is that the best you can do?" Alucard sneered. "This is the great final

battle I was promised?"

Ukyou spat her tooth onto the ground. It landed amidst the frost with a

soft sound. Her eyes shifted up. The battle had gotten worse. With Akira down,

the balance had shifted dramatically. The girl was being held to the ground now

by a multiple-eyed Lovecraftian horror. Nanami was pinned to the wall behind it

by a spear of darkness through the heart. Ryouga was still struggling, tearing

through the constantly regenerating familiars. Ranma, however, was only putting

up a token resistance now. He was being pushed side to side by the ebb and flow

of the battle. He was barely conscious, but still trying to fight.

"Why couldn't HE have been the chosen one?" Alucard said with a sneer.

"Look at him. That one knows how to fight. He will die on his feet."

"Don't hurt him!" Ukyou cried.

"Stop me!" Alucard shouted at her, turning. His eyes flashed with fury.

"You have it in you! Your potential is limitless! Throw away this human frailty

and FIGHT ME!"

"I... I can't..."

"Ukyou!" Nabiki shouted. "Let me use the sword! This has gone too far!"

"No!" Ukyou snapped. "We need it. The whole world is in danger now,

Nabiki. Save it if you have to!"

The girl was still safe inside Pluto's barrier. But the barrier itself

had shrunk. She and the green-haired Senshi of Time were crouching inside it.

The nightmares Alucard had summoned from his flesh were pounding relentlessly on

the ball of purple light.

"Stay out of this, Tendo," Alucard growled. He turned back to Ukyou. "Is

that what is holding you back? Are you waiting for some saviour? Do you think

God will send someone to save you at the last minute, like He always has

before?"

'How many times have you been about to die, Ukyou, when someone saved

you? Someone who had no earthly right being there?'

"He isn't coming, Ukyou." Alucard grabbed her chin and pulled her eyes

up to his. "There is no prince on a white horse. Your friends are helpless. God

has forsaken them. You have to fight me. You must if you wish to pass." He

shoved her head against the wall sharply. Stars exploded across her vision

again. "Fight me, you stupid bitch! You have no choice!"

Ukyou looked down at Akira. The woman was coughing, blood leaking from

her lips. Ukyou squeezed closed her eyes. She reached out for the power again.

She felt it surge up through her-

Alucard drove his fist into her gut. She gasped, losing her grip on the

power. The man grabbed her chin again and screamed into her face. "Stop trying

to fight me and FIGHT ME!"

"I don't know... I can't..."

"This cannot be the limit of your powers. I sense it within you. The

power to destroy. It is your gift. God gave it to you. I sensed it seven years

ago." His fingers began to sink into her cheeks. Tears of pain welled up in her

eyes. "Find it! Find it and fight! Find it, find it, finditfindFINDITFINDIT!"

Alucard was knocked to the side. His lanky form smashed into the ground

with a muffled grunt. Ukyou blinked. Ranma was there. His body was covered in

blood and bruises. He was barely standing. But he was there. Despite everything,

Ranma had come. Because he would always come.

"Leave her alone!" Ranma screamed down at Alucard. "You want a fight so

bad, fight me! Man to man! Because the only way you're getting to my friends is

over my dead body!"

Alucard looked up at Ranma. Then he flowed gracefully to his feet. He

looked at Ukyou. He smirked. Ukyou felt her blood freeze. "Very well."

"RANMA!"

Ranma didn't even have a chance of dodging. Alucard drew his gun and

fired so fast that even to Ukyou's eyes it was just a blur. But then the world

seemed to slow down. She could see the bullet, rotating lazily through the air.

She could see Ranma. He was just beginning to react. His eyes only twitching

slightly as his danger sense registered the attack his mind hadn't even

perceived yet.

Ranma began to shift backward, but by that time the bullet reached him.

It was like the entire world just kept going slower and slower. She could see

the bullet pushing against the skin of his forehead. She watched in horror as

the flesh dimpled inward, a ripple passing across his brow at the impact. The

flesh slowly began to shred, little gem-like drops of red began to spurt from

under the bullet. They rolled out into the air, seeming to hang there...

And they were.

"DARK DOME ENCLOSE!"

Ukyou snapped her head back. She realised dimly that it hadn't been a

trick of her mind. Ranma and the bullet really had slowed down in front of her

eyes. Slowed and stopped. She turned her eyes to Pluto. The Senshi of Time was

holding her staff towards Ranma.

She had saved his life. Ukyou glanced back at Ranma. No, just stalled

the inevitable. The bullet was there. As soon as time started again, it would

rip his head open like a ripe melon. How long could Pluto maintain the time

stop...

Pluto gasped. Nabiki screamed in pain.

"NO! The barrier!" Ukyou could only stare. In order to protect Ranma,

Pluto had been forced to drop the barrier protecting her and Nabiki. Now the

horrors were upon them. A wolf-like creature had grabbed Nabiki's arm with its

jaw, trying to pry free the Wishing Sword. Five men in various military uniforms

archaic and modern were pinning Pluto to the ground. But she was still holding

her time key staff out towards Ranma.

"Nabiki!" Ryouga roared.

"Pluto!" Akira shouted almost simultaneously. She had recovered enough

to throw off the creature pinning her. She was running towards the green-haired

woman. Alucard smirked and pointed his giant gun at her back.

He was going to kill her. Her and Pluto and Nabiki and Ranma. Likely he

would kill Ryouga too. All of her friends. One by one. He would torture them to

death with all the mercy a spider would show a fly. All to get what he wanted.

He wanted one last battle and a glorious death.

All she had to do was give it to him.

"Bang," Alucard said. His gun went off. Akira spun to the side, her

right shoulder vanishing in a cloud of blood. She looked surprised more than

hurt. "Bang." Another bang, and Akira's left foot vanished. She stumbled

backwards. "Ba-"

The next crack was different. It was a gun going off, but not Alucard's.

The vampire's hand suddenly exploded, fingers flying in all directions as

something tore it to shreds. Ukyou looked up. A man in dark commando armour was

kneeling at the edge of a balcony. He was reloading a sniper rifle with

superhuman speed. Ukyou almost recognised him.

"Who?" Alucard snarled. He snapped his arm and a new hand dropped from

his sleeve. "No matter. I'll kill you too." The man on the balcony leapt away as

things emerged from the darkness all around him. He spun in mid-air, aiming at

Alucard with his rifle. There was another bang and this time the vampire's chest

exploded. He staggered back with a hiss. There was a golden glow around the hole

that sizzled and hissed. The hole was right where his heart used to be.

But he wasn't finished. Only slowed down. Ukyou looked at the young man.

Tux-boy, she realised suddenly. Mamoru Chiba. Tuxedo Kamen.

'...the Nameless finds the Sailor Senshi easy to touch because of their

"destiny".'

It was her last chance. She needed to act now. "Pluto, the Seed!" Ukyou

shouted.

Pluto looked up at her. The soldiers were crushing her, but they weren't

doing nearly as much damage as they could have. Alucard was still playing. For a

moment their eyes met and Ukyou knew that Pluto understood exactly what she

wanted. Then, for a moment, there was doubt.

"If you want to end the prophecy, Pluto, then all you have to do is

nothing," Ukyou said coldly. "Alucard will kill Mamoru soon enough. Then Akira.

Then you and Ranma and Nabiki and even Ryouga. And when I can't give him what he

wants, he'll kill me too. All of us.

"And the portal will never be closed. The Earth will be consumed by

Pharaoh 90, or destroyed by Gyro. But the prophecy will be over. I'll be dead,

and the universe will be safe.

"Or you can trust me. I'm asking for this, Pluto. It's time I stopped

running from my Destiny. It's time I stopped denying what I am. If I have to

become that thing to save the people precious to me, I will do it.

"But I will never betray the people I care about. I will never let them

come to harm. You have to believe me, Pluto! Please! Give me the Star Seed!"

Pluto closed her eyes, and when she opened them again they were set. She

reached down and pulled the Star Seed from her pouch. The soldiers only stared

impassively as she threw it towards Ukyou. Of course, they wouldn't think of

preventing this. This was part of the plan. This was what was supposed to

happen.

All of this pain, this entire senseless battle, just to put her in this

position. To force her to make this decision.

With a scream she drew on the Third Circle, and ripped her hand free.

She snapped her hand up and clamped it around the Star Seed. She could feel it

pulse, like a heartbeat, in her grip. She had no idea what she was doing. But

then, she hadn't when she'd taken the Silence Glaive from Hotaru. She hadn't

when she had joined those girls to Mamoru. She hadn't when she'd always pulled

off her miracles. Well, now she needed a miracle. She needed the power to fight

Alucard. She needed the power to defeat him.

"So be it," a cultured, feminine voice whispered into her mind from the

Star Seed.

OoOoO

"...allow me to explain this again, in simpler terms." Zoicite resisted

the urge to rub his temples and grimace. For one, he didn't want to show off how

frustrated he was. For another, the guy with the pantyhose wrapped around his

waist was perhaps one of the most appealing pieces of eye-candy Zoicite had seen

since Kunzite had died. He was also beginning to think the guy might like him

back, with the way he kept smiling. Thus, it was important not to appear like he

had lost his cool.

"Oh, I understand it," Athena replied in her chipper voice. "Basically

we let the youma possess us..."

"It's not possession!" Zoicite snapped. Then regretted it. He glanced at

the tall, luscious hunk of man-meat but the man was only smirking and leaning

against the side of the bubble with his arms crossed. "For the last time... it's

a partnership. If we wanted to possess you, we'd just do that! We don't need

your permission."

"But I have unbelievable psychic powers, so they would make me immune

to forced possession," Athena countered. "Therefore this could all just be a

ruse to trick me into letting my guard down."

"Boss..." One of the youma that had been assigned to Zoicite grabbed his

arm nervously. "The Queen..."

Zoicite looked up and frowned. Thanks to the Queen's magic, anybody in

the protective bubbles that floated here beneath the lake that Tokyo had become

had a clear view of the battle overhead. If Tethys died, then the people in

these bubbles would get a very rude awakening.

"I don't have time for this," Zoicite said, turning back to the three of

them. "It's very simple. If you enter into a contract by your own free will,

then the youma will bond to your soul. They will become a part of you, but not a

controlling part. Your human souls are more complete than theirs. They were

mutilated to turn them into weapons long ago.

"But if you do bond with them, you'll gain access to their magical

powers. It will protect you from the Elysium effect, allow you to join the fight

again." Zoicite gestured grandly. "But the bond is permanent. In order to ensure

that the youma could never 'possess' you like you're afraid of, the bond has to

be effectively unbreakable. So either you choose this now and forever, or you

stay down here and watch - or die - helplessly. I really don't care anymore."

"I'll do it."

The other two turned to the brown-haired girl in the sailor suit. At

first Zoicite had thought she was some local schoolgirl, but upon closer

inspection she looked to be in her mid-twenties. Which made her either very poor

or very strange. Not that Zoicite was one to complain about strangeness.

"Sakura!" Athena gasped, her purple hair flashing as she turned to face

the other girl. "What about our alliance against evil? Don't you think I can

protect you?"

"You'll promise I won't have to deal with her anymore, right?" Sakura

jerked a thumb towards Athena. "I mean, if she doesn't join up, she's not going

to be allowed in the clubhouse or wherever."

"Uh... sure?" Zoicite blinked.

"Feh." The tall boy smirked. "Don't let it be said some dyke is braver

than me." He looked over at the three youma that had been chosen for this

assignment. The Double-D Girls were some of Beryl's most powerful youma. They

had once been her top assassins. Now they mainly just hung around at D-Point

waiting for Tethys to find a use for them. "And if this is the kind of partner

I'm going to get, then I guess I can team up."

Zoicite raised an eyebrow. The Double-D Girls had not been named the

most imaginatively. They were, in fact, famous around the City Of Black Ice for

their most obvious assets. From the way the young man was looking at them,

Zoicite was fairly certain he wasn't concerned with their skills as assassins

either. Which was odd, considering the looks that he had been giving Zoicite.

Then again, maybe he swung both ways? Zoicite had no problems with that.

As long as he didn't have to touch a woman himself. There were places where you

just had to draw the line.

"And if I get to work with a fine young woman like yourself, it just

sweetens the deal," the man said, smirking at her.

"Uh, Tarou, you do realise that-OUCH!" Sakura glared at Zoicite and

began to shake her recently-stomped-upon foot. Zoicite loftily pretended not to

notice the 'accident'. "Look, I think Zoicite here isn't exactly the kind of

person you want-"

"Hey, back off, dyke-girl!" Tarou snapped. "Just because you're too gay

to appreciate my obvious sex appeal, doesn't mean all women are."

"I am not gay, you idiot!" Sakura snapped. She threw up her hands.

"Fine. I was trying to help you, you jerk. But go ahead, I'm certain Zoicite

here can take care of all your manly needs."

"I knew you were jealous."

Zoicite chuckled. "Well, then... I think we might have a deal?"

OoOoO

Daigo gazed upward with his one good eye. He had lost the other, along

with his depth perception, many many years ago. So it was hard to tell exactly

how far away Tethys was. But he knew she was in trouble. She could not easily

survive such a wound. He clenched his fist.

"You could make a difference," the woman-thing beside him said. She was

tall and thin, with hair the colour of burning embers and skin made of obsidian.

A youma. A demon, who existed only to fight and feed off the life energy of

humans. One of Tethys' pawns. "Join with me, and you can survive exposure to

Elysium for a time. Enough to fight."

"I won't give my body and soul to evil," Daigo growled.

"Evil?" The woman chuckled. "I don't think you understand how this

works. If we bond of your own free will, I cannot MAKE you do anything. All we

do is become connected. You gain my magic, I gain a portion of your 'humanity',

and the two of us become better for it."

"Why should I believe you?" Daigo grunted.

The woman shrugged. "I guess that's up to you. But the offer is ending

in a few seconds." She looked up at the Dark Queen, her magma-bright eyes

flashing. "That's my Queen up there. She has given us youma something we never

even knew we had lost. She gave us hope. I'm not going to stand here waiting for

long. Come with me, or I'll go fight Gyro myself."

"You'll die," Daigo pointed out.

"Maybe. I'm no match for him as I am." She nodded. "But that isn't your

problem." She began to step towards the edge of the bubble. "I have to go-"

"Wait."

Daigo grabbed her arm. He snarled. She might be a demon. She might be a

minion of a being that willingly called herself the Dark Queen. But she was

still a woman. An upright man did not let a woman walk to her death.

OoOoO

Fevrier fired another bullet into the water. It was no use. Bullets were

useless against water this deep. Even firing from underwater upward was no help.

The bullet just wouldn't go through.

"We need to get out of here," Fevrier snarled to her sisters. Fevrier

had no idea how they could be so calm. When the tsunami had fallen down on them,

she had thought for a moment that she was going to die. Surprisingly, as the

water had smashed in, her last thought hadn't been that she would never see

Mamoru again. It was just a sense of relief that Mamoru would survive.

"Yes, but how?" Marz asked, peering up from her computer. "We have no

recourse. It appears our only option for escape is to accept the terms of

Tethys' youma."

"Perhaps it would not be so bad?" Satsuki mused. She was sitting with

her legs crossed like a monk.

"Not so bad?" Fevrier screamed. "Satsuki, we just finally got our

freedom back. I'm finally me again. I'm finally..."

"Going to get some action with Mamoru dear and don't want to share with

anyone else?" Marz asked impishly.

Fevrier gave her the glare of death, but Marz just smiled at her.

"That concern requires that we survive this situation," Satsuki pointed

out.

"That isn't a concern!" Fevrier shouted. Her voice was growing hoarse.

"Your face turned very red when it was mentioned," Satsuki said.

Fevrier decided to try being more reasonable. "This is serious. Will you

two stop clowning around?"

"According to my scans, the area outside of this bubble is full of chaos

energy that would likely kill us upon exposure," Marz said, turning to her

computer. "If my scans are correct, the youma are partially immune to this

effect." She tapped a few keys. "Thus, even if we were to break free from this

confinement, we'd only be destroyed trying to help Mamoru dear fight."

"I do not wish to sit back," Satsuki said. "I wish to fight with sir

Mamoru. I want to help protect this Earth."

"Don't you two understand it's permanent?" Fevrier shouted again. She'd

tried reasonable and that hadn't worked. "If we go through with this, there is

no going back!" She clenched her fist in front of her. "It will be like what

Bison did to us all over again."

"Except that instead of losing everything we were, we would be gaining

new parts of ourselves."

"Marz, that's stupid."

"I did a full analysis of the proposed fusion from the data the youma

provided. According to my findings, there is no danger of losing our

individuality."

"How do we know they aren't lying to us?" Fevrier asked sharply.

"I..." Marz frowned. "I suppose it is possible. but I do not believe

that to be the case." She closed her eyes. "I think this is the only chance we

have."

"Why? What logical reason is there to believe them?"

"Sometimes we can not work on logic alone," Marz admitted. "Sometimes we

need to have faith. Sometimes we need to trust in others." She looked up.

"Mamoru dear trusted us. We were his enemies. He could have destroyed us. There

was no reason to believe that we would not betray him and return to Bison at the

first opportunity. But he chose to have faith in us. He chose to let us become

more than what we were." She looked down at her computer again, and her voice

grew soft. "And in seven years, he never abused the power he had over us."

When Marz looked back up at her, her eyes were shining. "When I died,

the thing I regretted most was that I had not really lived up to the kind of

person he wanted me to be. That I was never as good and true as he was." She

closed the laptop and stood up. "And he is still fighting, for us. Even now. I

can feel it, in my bones."

She held out her hands to the other two. "Something I took back with me

can feel it. It can feel God reaching out to him, drawing him to the fight up

above us. A fight he can't hope to survive." Her face grew dark. "To God, Mamoru

is a piece of the game that can be thrown away at any time. But to me, he is

faith. He is hope. I will not let that be taken away from me. If I have to lose

a part of myself, become a part of something else, then I will. Because I want

to be there to protect him."

Fevrier stared at her sister for a long time. Finally she could stand

looking into her eyes no more. She turned away with a little snort. But those

eyes hadn't been lying. She knew Marz better than anyone else. She and Marz and

Satsuki had been together for their entire lives. Ever since they had been

awoken in Bison's labs, they had been part of each other. Lovers, companions,

comrades in arms, sisters... There were no secrets between them. No games. No

power plays.

Marz believed this. And Fevrier believed in Marz. So really, that left

only one real choice, didn't it?

OoOoO

Akira tried to block out the pain. She tried to push it away. She called

up her chi, picturing it like a rising tide. The pain was dark eddies in the

waters of her body. All she had to do was channel that dark water away from her,

out into the world. She was intellectually aware of the damage she had taken,

but it didn't really affect her.

Her shoulder was gone, she realised. Not just with a hole in it. Most of

her shoulder was just gone. Somehow her arm had not been sent flying, but it was

clinging to her body only by strips of flesh. Her foot was gone as well. She

could feel her leg down to her ankle and then... nothing. She had to stop the

bleeding, she realised. By some miracle the bullet to her shoulder hadn't sent

bone shrapnel down into her chest, ripping her organs to shreds.

These pains, she could have dealt with. The task of recovering from them

was beyond her powers of healing, true. Even she couldn't regenerate lost limbs.

But she might have been able to do something. Instead, she could barely breathe.

It was there, inside her. Pure Paradox. The sensation was not unlike

somebody filling all the empty spaces of her body with acid. It was like every

cell was being stabbed with little pins. It was like the air was on fire. The

light was scouring her eyes. But she had to work past the pain. She had to

continue living, because Ukyou needed her to live.

Blue light, the colour of tropical seas, flashed out across the room.

Akira raised her head painfully. Ukyou was beginning to float up off the ground,

her arms stretching out to her sides. On her forehead was a symbol, a trident

with a slash across the bottom, the symbol of Neptune. The light washed down

Ukyou's body, and as it did she changed subtly.

She was still wearing the same clothes, for the most part. Her coat

seemed to gleam a little more brightly. Her shirt became a white leotard, and

her pants became black tights. The ties around her shins seemed to fuse straight

into the leggings, forming something like boots. The tattoos on her arms flared

aquamarine, pulsing with magical light.

Akira gasped; not in pain, but in shock. She could feel them. The

memories of Lotus Infinite, rising to the surface. She had absorbed seven years

of torment at Bison's hands. Akira and Nabiki had agreed that Ukyou did not need

to realise what she had lived through. They had decided to remove them. Akira

had taken the horrible memories, to spare Ukyou. But now she could feel them

rising up from the part of Akira's mind that Akira had forced them down into.

Then everything went still. The massive chamber the fight was happening

in seemed to fade slightly. The armies of Alucard's familiars halted in place.

Everyone held their breath. Ukyou settled to the ground with the sound of a drop

of water falling into the ocean. Her eyes opened.

When she moved, Akira knew what had happened. Ukyou did not move exactly

like herself anymore. Her motions were more efficient, more hypnotically

dangerous. She took a single step forward and reached out her hand. Akira heard

Pluto gasp. She realised that Ukyou had just stepped directly into the area of

stopped time around Ranma. She didn't even seem to notice.

Her fingers plucked the bullet from Ranma's forehead. She held it

between thumb and index finger as she walked easily back out of the zone of

stopped time. With a moan Pluto let her hands drop, the Time Key Staff smashing

against the ground. Ranma began to fall backward, his hand snapping up towards

the tiny bloody dot in his forehead. This was the cue for everyone else to start

acting again.

Alucard reacted first. He turned towards Ukyou, his face splitting into

a demonic grin. "See, was that so hard?"

Ukyou's head snapped up towards him. Her eyes narrowed. Akira could see

the air around her cooling. Mist began to rise up from the ground, swirling up

around her legs. She could hear the hiss and crackle of water freezing. Alucard

stepped forward.

Ukyou snapped up her hand and the Silence Glaive was there. She slashed

the blade towards him, and Alucard's eyes widened as he stepped backwards. The

mist around her vanished, then Akira felt it push against her, a wave of

pressure. She grit her teeth and dug in with the fingers of her good hand. The

creatures standing over her dissolved.

The beasts and monsters and madmen were turning to ash. The colour of

them faded first to impenetrable black, then down the shades of grey until they

were the colour of a washed-out photograph. Then they began to fall apart. Small

parts of them at first, then more and larger chunks as the ashen bodies

collapsed under their own weight. A soundless wind ripped through the room,

exploding out from Ukyou. The ash was blasted to clouds which swirled and

dispersed and faded until there was no trace of it left.

Alucard fell back against the wall, clutching at his heart. His brow was

coated with sweat. His eyes were bulging. "You... you severed the connection..."

Ukyou turned away from him. Her eyes settled on Akira, and Akira saw her

cold eyes soften. Akira felt a surge of relief flash through her. She hadn't

lost her. Ukyou walked over to her and leaned down over the woman.

"It's going to hurt for a while longer, Akira. Please forgive me." Her

voice was pitched low. These words were for Akira alone. Akira wanted to reply,

wanted to tell her that it was nothing. But when she tried to speak all that

came out was a whimper of pain. She reached up and clenched at her shoulder,

helpless. She hated this.

Ukyou placed her hand on the wound. Akira felt a sense of something cold

there. When Ukyou brought her hand away, the bleeding had stopped. The wound was

perhaps even more gruesome now, but she might survive it. Ukyou rose to her feet

and walked the few steps to Pluto.

"Pluto, I need to borrow your staff."

"Ukyou?" Pluto rose her head wearily. There were a bunch of bloody holes

in the back of her costume. Ukyou reached down and pulled the Time Key Staff up

for a moment. She reached out with her hand and touched the bullet she was still

carrying to the garnet orb atop it. Akira bit back a scream as she felt more of

the Paradox roll into her. For a moment, the bullet flashed with purple light.

Then Ukyou pulled it away. "Mamoru, come here please."

There was a soft clatter as the man who had saved her life landed in

front of Ukyou. He looked at her, his expression awed. The woman reached out and

pulled up his hand. She placed the bullet in his unresisting palm and curled his

fingers around it. "You'll know when to use it."

"I..."

"Take care of my friends."

"Ukyou..."

"I have a battle to fight."

Ukyou released his hand and turned sharply. The Silence Glaive appeared

in her hands again. She held it loosely as she walked toward Alucard. The red-

clad vampire had regained his composure. He chuckled.

"You destroyed my familiars. I didn't even think that was possible,"

Alucard noted.

"I'm going to kill you." Ukyou's voice was level, emotionless.

"That's my girl," Alucard said with a laugh. "This is what you were born

for. You were born to destroy. Let me witness it!"

"Ucchan!" Ranma groaned, trying to get to his feet.

"Stay out of this, Ranma." Ukyou shifted her grip on the Glaive. Then

she looked over her shoulder at him, and smiled. "It's time for me to play the

hero, just this once. Okay?"

Ranma blinked. Then, amazingly, he just chuckled. Despite his injuries,

he could not have looked happier. "Go for it, Ucchan!" He gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you." She looked at all of them. "Thank-"

The crack of the gun going off was deafening. Nabiki gasped. Ryouga

screamed. Ranma stared. Akira narrowed her eyes. Alucard's black hand cannon was

smoking, white whips of gunsmoke flowing from the barrel. But Ukyou had moved so

fast that Akira hadn't even seen it. Her weapon had snapped up in front of her,

the blade edge pointed directly at the cannon.

There was a series of small cracks that broke the silence. Akira glanced

at the wall behind Ukyou. Tiny holes had been blown into the thick stone,

forming a pattern around the woman. The fragments of the bullet, Akira realised.

Then Ukyou moved, her body flashing forward. Alucard grinned one last

time before rushing in to meet her.

OoOoO

Purgstall was flying as fast as he could. His body was surrounded by a

streak of white lightning. And he strained more, trying to push himself faster.

Trying to become the lightning. Trying to move with the speed of light itself.

He knew he was already too late.

The black blade had pierced Tethys exactly where her heart should be.

Purgstall knew she was not human. No mortal sword could have delivered a fatal

wound like that. You might as well try to slay the ocean with a twig. But that

was no ordinary sword. Purgstall could feel it. It was evil. He had encountered

few things in his life that he would call pure evil. Major Krieg, leader of

Millennium, he had been evil. The strange young woman who had placed him in his

coma, she was evil.

And this sword.

Tethys was fading away. Her body was thinning out. It was like the water

that made up her form was simply draining away, leaving only the shell of her

body behind. She was growing translucent, her struggles increasingly feeble. She

was dying.

Then there was a blue flash. A figure appeared above her. Blue hair and

pale purple skin flashed. A sword of blue light formed in his hands. "Unhand

her, beast of the underworld!" the young man screamed.

There was a crack like thunder as the boy brought his sword down. Gyro

hissed and flashed backward. His sword pulled free of Tethys and folded through

space to intercept Ikazuchi's attack. Purgstall snuffed his aura as she caught

the plummeting youma queen.

She looked half-dead still. Gyro was fencing with the neo-zoanoid.

Ikazuchi was fast. His blade was lightning itself. But even he was no match for

the demonic zoalord's ability to simply will his blade anywhere he wished. The

brave young fool wouldn't last long at this rate. Purgstall found himself torn.

It was strange. Even a few days before leaving for Paris, he would never

have even thought about this decision. Tethys was his enemy. Ikazuchi was his

servant. Gyro was his colleague. He would have beaten the boy down for his

impertinence to challenge a zoalord, and slain the upstart Dark Queen for

defying Chronos.

But now he was torn between rushing Tethys to safety and staying to help

the boy kill a fellow zoalord. And it didn't really feel strange at all. It was

as if the coma he had been in had simply made everything clearer. Like he knew

now what things were important, and which were not. Like he understood what he

had to fight for, and what he had to fight against. It just came to him.

"Run, Lord Purgstall!" Ikazuchi shouted over the roar and crash of the

swords clashing together. Each time they struck there was a thunderclap and the

sizzle of sparks. "I shall not fail to protect you!"

Purgstall didn't hesitate. He surged back down to the flooded city. He

almost smiled. He had just taken an order from Ikazuchi. Ikazuchi of all people.

Perhaps he had gone mad?

No. This felt all too right to be madness.

Purgstall landed on the remains of a larger office tower which had been

toppled over by the tsunami. He looked down at Tethys. To his dismay, she was

still fading. Her normally blue flesh had turned white and her eyes had rolled

back into her head. She was shaking like a leaf, and despite her being large

enough he had to carry her with both hands, she weighed about as much as a leaf,

too.

"What do I do?" he mumbled.

"Put her in the water, of course."

He turned his head around. The woman wasn't very tall. She had long

black hair and brown eyes. He recognized her instantly. Rose, the woman who had

taken over Bison's empire. "How do you know that will help?" he asked.

Rose frowned. "Do you have a better idea?" she snapped. Purgstall

grunted and had to admit he didn't. He climbed down the side of the building and

gently floated the Dark Queen into the water. He gasped when she vanished,

dissolving like milk into a cup of dark coffee.

"She'll be fine." Rose said. "She needs a while to recover. In the

meantime, we have to keep up the fight."

"We?"

That's when Purgstall saw them. They rose from the water in groups of

three and four. There wasn't more than a few dozen of them, but he could sense

the power radiating from them. Men and women, each radiating a palpable aura of

energy. Martial artists, he realised, as he recognised more than a few of them.

But also something more. It was their eyes. They did not look exactly human

anymore. There was something behind their gaze now.

"Let's take this bastard down!" a red-haired woman shouted, snapping a

clip into one of her firearms.

Everyone nodded. Then the new army exploded into the air, taking flight

like birds. Some of them actually formed wings, but most just shot up without

any visible means of support. Purgstall looked around. Then he nodded and

followed them.

OoOoO

Ukyou shifted at the last moment, flipping up and over the vampire king.

He spun with inhuman speed. His red coat swirled around, her blade vanishing

into it. She realised instantly that she had missed. His hand snapped straight,

pointing right up into her face. Her head vanished sideways, the bullet cracking

the air next to her ear. Black hairs floated out in its wake.

Her leap turned into a spiral. Her free hand clasped the hot metal

barrel. She pivoted around it and drove her feet into Alucard's stomach. He was

knocked up and back. She held the gun, allowing his momentum to carry them both

back towards the edge of the room.

His smile never wavered. His red eyes widened in amusement and pain. His

body was twisted sideways. He twisted his arm up behind his neck. The elbow bent

unnaturally. Ukyou snapped the haft of the Glaive sideways. There was a hollow

crack moments before the cannon fired. The bullet shot wide, smashing into the

floor.

Alucard wrenched at the gun in her grip, pulling her in. She released it

and allowed the force to drive an elbow into his grinning face. She heard the

jawbone shatter. She felt his face cave under the impact. She dropped, allowing

the force of the blow to push him past her.

"DELEO!"

The Silence Glaive snapped up so fast there was nothing but a grey blur

even to her enhanced sense. The floor and roof in front of her vanished, unmade

in an instant. The nothingness spread like fire across oil, spreading out in a

wedge. Alucard snapped one arm to the side, the limb stretching grotesquely. He

caught a black marble pillar in his hand, his fingers sinking into the stone.

With a snap he swung just out of the path of destruction.

Ukyou wrestled with the Silence for a moment, taming it. Alucard came

around the other side of the pillar with his huge handgun levelled at her. His

face was uncollapsing, the dented skin filling out like a balloon. A bullet

erupted from the barrel.

Ukyou could sense the attack to every degree. Aaron didn't just float

in the back of her mind anymore. He was there, his consciousness evaluating

every move she made. He was her eyes and ears, her every sense. He was their

thoughts. She was their reactions. She was their spirit. It was like all the

walls between them had vanished. All the strain, all the pressure had just

ceased to exist.

Ukyou's legs had already begun moving even before Alucard had appeared.

She leaned back just far enough that the bullet passed harmlessly over her

shoulder. Then the next and the next bullet came. Aaron could feel them. He

could sense the bullet sliding into the chamber. He could smell the gunpowder

igniting. He could feel the puff of air from the barrel a moment before the

bullet exited. He could watch the flash of the shot unfold in slow motion.

Ukyou shifted back and up, lifting her arm just enough so the next

bullet passed just under her arm. She slid forward. Another bullet was avoided

by the slightest step to the left and rotating her torso. The giant chunk of

lead passed so close to her that the ripple of air in its wake tickled across

her leotard. It blew through the back of her coat.

Then she was on him.

She came in with the Glaive held back and low, allowing her to bring it

up in a vicious swing. Alucard snapped up his arm, catching the haft of the

weapon on his forearm. Aaron could feel the muscles in his body tensing. He

could sense the dark chi, the corrupt undead energy, flowing through his dead

veins. He could hear the pulse of Alucard's undead heart. He saw the vampire's

eyes flicker, the slightest of expressions.

Ukyou was waiting for the parry. The glaive bounced off Alucard's

forearm. She transferred the momentum, twirling the nine foot long polearm

around her body like a baton. The solid end smashed into Alucard's shoulder with

enough force that his bones shattered into dust.

The red-eyed monster snapped down his blocking hand, grabbing for the

haft of the weapon. Ukyou was already stepping back, beyond his reach. The

weapon spun in her grip, a chaotic pattern that rapidly switched the blade and

blunt ends around and around. Alucard took another blow to the stomach before he

wisely stepped back. Ukyou slid backwards on the soles of her feet, before

bringing her weapon to a rest held slightly behind her.

Alucard was hunched over, his head twisted up to face her.

"Magnificent." He chuckled. The bones in his shoulder began to regenerate.

"Everything I had hoped for."

Aaron was aware of the others. They were clustered together. Nabiki was

leaning over Akira. Ryouga stood protectively over them both. Ranma was crouched

near them, his mouth agape.

"I... I can barely follow her moves!" Ranma gasped.

"She isn't just a martial artist anymore," Pluto pointed out. "She is a

Sailor Senshi now. The magic of our transformations eliminates limitations,

multiplies its capabilities. When combined with her training... the effect is

dramatic."

"It's more than that..." Akira groaned. "That isn't just Ukyou fighting

there."

Alucard had finished regenerating. Ukyou might have attacked him, but

she needed to make certain she could land a telling blow. Nothing short of the

Silence itself would be able to prevent him from recovering from any wound she

inflicted. Even with her newfound speed, even with Aaron's ability to analyse

everything Alucard was doing, it would be hard to land a decisive strike. No,

best not to push too hard too fast.

Alucard was a wily bastard. They had the advantage now, but that could

shift at any moment. Giving him a chance to recover was a gamble. He might just

figure out a strategy to defeat her in that time. But on the other hand, if she

indulged his desire for a glorious final battle, she might prompt him into

making a critical mistake.

Plus, she had her trump card now.

"She's right, Alucard." Ukyou shifted back towards the edge of the room.

A huge section of the tower had been blown outward by some force. It left a

gaping hole into the dark sky. Outside, the massive presence of Pharaoh 90

hovered.

Even Aaron's senses shied away from it. It wasn't just large. A mountain

was large. A mountain was something that you stood at the base of and felt

humbled. It was something that you stood at the summit of and felt elated. It

was so much bigger, so much more THERE than you.

Pharaoh 90 was a planet. Not a large planet. Barely larger than the

moon. But still so large it covered the entirety of Tokyo with its massive bulk

blocking out the rest of the sky. Its tentacles were the size of mountains. Its

massive eye was the size of Tokyo all by itself. Tornados and waterspouts

swirled and roared behind them, hundreds and hundreds of stories tall. Great

chunks of the ruined city floated into the air, caught in the awful gravity of

the behemoth.

"This place is too small for our fight." She balanced on the edge of the

hole. "Let us go someplace more suitable."

Alucard smiled as she leapt out and back. He sprung after her without

hesitation. Both of his guns roared, releasing round after round. Ukyou guided

the glaive to where Aaron sensed the bullets would be, shattering the lethal

rounds into nothingness with short sharp movements.

Her foot inched backwards and caught the edge of an office tower. She

ran backwards up it. Her glaive spun around, slashing through the air in front

of her. It gave off a single perfect note. A razor-thin line of nothingness

carved down through the glass and steel before blasting through the air. Alucard

bent, shifting in mid-air with the grace of a bat. Ukyou launched from the

floating debris and soared backwards and up again.

Alucard followed.

She had to trust Aaron. His mind probed out, finding all the floating

debris. It swirled around without pattern or purpose. The pieces varied from

the size of a button to the size of a bus. They moved as fast as bullets or as

slow as glaciers. And Aaron needed to keep track of every little piece. Every

movement. They ascended through the storm, always leaping up and backward. From

debris to debris they rose. The slightest misstep, the smallest fraction of a

second would spell the difference between landing safely on a pencil-thin piece

of metal and having that same metal drive through her chest like a spear.

And as they moved, the fight continued. Alucard didn't have Aaron's

senses, but he had powers they didn't. He did not quite fly, so much as glide.

When he smashed into the side of a piece of shattered office tower with the

force of a speeding train, he barely slowed down. He didn't even notice when his

leg was sliced clean through by a spinning chunk of metal the size of a CD.

He just kept laughing and firing. Bullets whizzed through the air all

around Ukyou. She dodged some, parried others and even used the occasional shot

as a stepping stone when no others were available. And she returned fire. Waves

of Oblivion snapped free from her Glaive with each swing. All around Alucard the

cyclones and debris were sliced and slashed by the razor-thin attacks. But the

bastard flowed and shifted between them. He moved like a spider, like a crab,

like a snake and like a wolf. He leapt and glided and ran and scuttled.

With a final cry Ukyou poured power into the glaive and produced a

massive wave of nothingness. It smashed down, expanding out in a cone. Alucard

fell back, floating down and to the side to avoid the destruction. His bullets

vanished from the air, not even coming close.

In the brief reprieve Ukyou twisted, spinning her legs above her and...

dropped upward. Her feet came to rest against the impossibly smooth surface of

the giant eye. Her feet stood on the edge of darkness, a deep darkness. She had

landed in the middle of the great orb. For a moment, Ukyou wondered if the

behemoth could even see her. Or if Ukyou was like a microbe, no more noticed by

the thing she was on than a normal human would notice bacteria.

"Above" her Tokyo stretched out in all directions. She could see the

ocean and the lands beyond. The horizon here curved away just under her line of

sight. It was breathtaking; beautiful and horrible in equal measure.

Alucard landed on the eye with little fanfare. He came down in a crouch.

His red coat flowed around him. He tilted back his head slightly as he rose. His

eyes rolled across the destruction.

"Armageddon," he whispered. "The final battle, where the chosen of God

shall triumph over the infidels. And in so doing bring about the kingdom of

heaven."

"If you believe that, you know that you're destined to lose," Ukyou

replied.

"Destiny?" Alucard chuckled. "Ukyou. I don't fight because I want to

fulfill any destiny. I fight because it is what I am. I am a tool for killing. A

weapon refined for the joy of pitting himself against the likes of you. I am the

army of the unrighteous." He lifted one gun and pointed it at Ukyou. "And if, in

the process, I get to kill you and fuck with God just a little bit, then I will

descend into hell with a smile on my lips."

"Indeed." Ukyou ran a hand through her hair. "Let's give them a show

they'll never forget, then."

"Of course."

Ukyou rushed forward again. Alucard dashed. His handcannon started

firing. The twin joined it a second later. The reports of the shots were so

close together it sounded like one long thunderous roar. Ukyou narrowed her

eyes, pouring on the speed. Aaron carefully tracked each bullet as Ukyou

zigzagged through the attack.

The vampire stood his ground. He chuckled as he braced himself and

brought his weapons to bear. Even with her speed, Ukyou couldn't hope to engage

him fast enough to land a telling blow and still avoid the lethal counter-

attack.

So she didn't.

Alucard's eyes widened as a half dozen bullets flashed through her body

in fountains of purple sparks. Ukyou was already bringing her Glaive around. Her

blow was aimed for his neck, but even caught off-guard Alucard was a wily

bastard. His body snapped backward, just out of reach. Aaron smiled. Ukyou

reacted to his input, adjusting the path of the attack with the slightest nudge.

The vampire fell back, both his hands coming off at the wrist. He hissed

as the hands fell to the ground, Like his familiars before him, the hands

rapidly greyed out until they became nothing more than ash.

His pistols, knocked free of his grip by the attack, were next. Ukyou

reversed her attack before they even had a chance to reach the ground. With the

harsh scream of metal cutting metal the Silence Glaive ripped Alucard's weapons

in two. Unlike his limbs, these weapons literally unravelled.

Alucard staggered backward, breathing heavily. "You could have done that

at any time..." he snarled.

"And you could still regenerate the wounds... if you had any human

beings to devour for blood nearby." Ukyou gestured around them. "I learned that

lesson fighting Rip Van Winkle."

"So that's why you lured me up here." Alucard threw his head back and

laughed. "You knew I couldn't resist following you," he said when he had calmed

down slightly. His eyes narrowed grimly. "A brilliant strategy. I commend you."

"We could still end this peacefully," Ukyou said slowly. She hated doing

it, and knew it was likely to fail. But a part of her desperately wanted to

spare Alucard. Even with all the evil he had done, even with all the danger he

posed, he was as much a victim here as she was. "You said yourself you hate the

Nameless. If you can help me, together we could..."

"Could what?" Alucard smirked. "Fight God?" He chuckled. "No." He raised

his handless arms to his side. "Strike me down, Ukyou. You've earned this

victory."

Ukyou forced her expression to remain cold and neutral. Then she flashed

forward, drawing the Glaive backward like a spear. With a wordless scream she

drove the tip of the weapon into Alucard's heart. His body bent forward, blood

exploding from his lips.

"Goodbye..." she whispered.

Then his arms snapped around her. Her eyes widened. Alucard hadn't

stopped smiling. "God Himself ripped out my heart, girl. You'll have to do

better than that." Ukyou did the absolute worst thing she could do, she froze.

Aaron was scrambling, running through all the data his senses were revealing.

That blow should have worked... "And you forgot about one source of blood."

Alucard's neck snapped as he jerked his head forward. His jaw distended

like a snake, row upon row of fangs appearing there. Ukyou tried to jerk back,

but it was too late. The ivory teeth sunk into her neck so fast she didn't even

feel them.

OoOoO

"How are we supposed to follow her?"

Nabiki looked over at Ranma. The water rushing in through the hole in

the wall had failed to trigger his curse; a minor enchantment Tethys had given

to him and Ryouga. It was almost surprising it was still intact, given Tethys'

current condition.

"You're not serious," Nabiki replied. She was still nursing the welts on

her arms. The soldiers Alucard had summoned hadn't done any permanent damage,

not like with Akira. Mamoru and Pluto were doing what they could for the girl.

But while Akira had the worst, none of them were up for any more fighting.

"Of course I am," Ranma said, turning around. He crossed his arm and

nodded outside. "In case you haven't noticed, the world is still in danger."

"How are we supposed to do anything about that?" Mamoru asked. He

gestured out towards the mammoth thing in the sky. Nabiki glanced at it and

shuddered.

She could feel its mind. It was full of hate. More hate than Nabiki had

thought possible. Not even Bison had come close to this. That thing out there

hated them all, everything that lived. It was an affront to it. It wanted

nothing more than to devour them all. To destroy everything.

And underneath it all was a frighteningly human mind. It was buried deep

within the core of the behemoth. But there was a woman's mind up in that

monster, directing its rage and hatred.

"We're not in any condition to fight that," Nabiki pointed out to Ranma.

"I... may be of some help."

Nabiki turned to the blonde-haired vampire girl. Nanami looked away. "I

was created by Hotaru. When she passed her blood on to me she also passed on

certain traits as my sire. Such as the ability to heal injuries."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Pluto asked slowly.

"Because I'm not certain if there won't be side effects," Nanami said.

"If I healed your wounds, I would have to transfer a bit of my blood to you. I

have no idea if I could... infect you with something."

"God never told you one way or another, did He?" Pluto mused.

"This is outside of His plan." Nanami shrugged. "But I do know that you

and I have to be at the top of that planet. We have to go into Elysium with

Ukyou."

"I'm coming too." Akira growled. "Do it."

"Akira, don't!" Ryouga snapped, stepping between her and Nanami. "You

have no idea what will happen. You could be cursed like me..."

"I'll take that risk," Akira growled. Then she winced, and coughed.

Nabiki noted grimly that the wounds Pluto had been trying to staunch started

flowing fresh again.

"If she doesn't do this, she may die, Ryouga," Pluto admitted. "And if

she does, then all the Paradox built up in her..."

"Will flash into Ukyou, probably killing her instantly." Akira nodded.

"I can't afford to die here." She looked at Nanami. "Do it."

Nanami nodded and pulled one of her curved duelling swords from her

belt. She walked over to Akira, slowly running the tip down her wrist. The blood

started welling up instantly. Akira braced herself as Nanami began to drip the

red liquid into her wounds.

The effect was immediate. Nabiki gasped. It was like throwing baking

soda and vinegar together. The wound on Akira's shoulder foamed, red blood

bubbling out in all directions. Akira bit down, refusing to scream. Nanami

paused as the foaming blood filled up the section where Akira shoulder had once

been. Then it began to seep off.

The flesh looked raw and thin, but it was there. Akira gasped and

shuddered.

"So, do any of us look like lunch yet?" Ranma asked.

"Haha." Akira grunted. "I... I can't tell. The Paradox effect, it blocks

out everything else..."

"It's too risky," Ryouga grunted.

"I need my foot back."

Ryouga turned his eyes away as Nanami repeated the process on Akira's

foot. Akira did cry out this time, but she managed to choke it off. In a few

moments there was a healthy, if slightly pinkish, foot back on her ankle. She

rose slowly.

"Now, we just have to get up to that place."

"I think I could do what Ukyou did..."

"Don't even think it, Saotome," Nabiki said with a snort. "That wasn't

just Ukyou's skill. That was Lotus Infinite as well. She's recovered all her

memories of her time as Bison's doll. Which means she remembers how to ghost

through things now." She nodded. "Ukyou is in no real danger in that hellstorm.

You, however, would be torn to shreds."

"So, how do we get up?"

"You could say please."

Everyone shifted quickly. Nabiki cursed herself. She should have sensed

them coming. But the Amazoness Quartet were still one of the only group of

people in the world who could block themselves from her senses unless she was

actively looking for them. Of course, once she knew they were there it was no

trouble dealing with them...

But something was different about the four girls that had appeared in

the room. They looked pale. They looked... older. Cologne was leaning on the

green-haired girl, JunJun.

"We can get you up to the planet," Vesves said. Her ridiculous huge red

braid bounced behind her as she stepped forward.

"Why are you here?" Pluto asked.

"There is... someone we need to see in that planet," JunJun admitted.

"And we saw you guys were hanging around being worthless lumps, so we

decided to recruit you as bodyguards!"

"PallaPalla!" the pink-haired one hissed. "You're not supposed to tell

them that part."

"Oh, sorry, CereCere!" The blue-haired girl looked at them and smiled

while sticking out her tongue. "Could you guys forget I said that?" She rubbed

the back of her head.

"Already forgotten," Akira said with a wave of her hand. "You can get us

up to Pharaoh 90?"

"Yeah..." They nodded. "Frankly, we were surprised you guys weren't down

in the big battle."

"What battle?" Mamoru asked.

"All the people Tethys saved from the tsunami versus Gyro," JunJun

pointed out.

"It's awesome!" VesVes added with sudden enthusiasm.

"Everyone..." Mamoru walked to the edge of the floor. "Are they...

alive?" He looked back at the others. "I..."

"Go." Pluto said. "We'll understand." He nodded. "One more thing,

Mamoru." The boy paused. "The bullet Ukyou gave you. She extracted a small part

of my temporal power to fuel it." She paused. "Earlier, when I attacked Gyro, I

was the only one able to cut through his defence."

Mamoru looked at the bullet in his hand. "So... one shot?"

"One shot," Pluto agreed.

"Good luck, all of you," Mamoru said before leaping out into the chaos

once again.

OoOoO

Gyro folded sideways, shifting through space so fast that for a moment

there appeared to be two of him. A half dozen opponents flashed through his

previous position, cursing as their attacks were wasted. They landed on the

remains of a shattered parking structure.

Fevrier tracked Gyro with her pistol. Her eyes narrowed. The black-

skinned demonic creature was parrying a series of attacks from above. Purgstall

was going all out, sending bolt after bolt crashing down into the ex-zoalord.

With the storm around them, Purgstall apparently had a lot of lightning to draw

upon.

Fevrier waited until the moment when she thought Gyro was the most

occupied. Then she fired. The bullet that exploded from her weapon flashed green

as it flew, trailing green sparks in its wake. According to her new "partner",

the shot would have ten times its former power.

Gyro didn't even acknowledge her attack. His blade flashed down,

parrying her bullet. He seemed to be surrounded by dozens of swords. Fevrier

cursed and swooped to the right, trying to line up a better shot. Her wings

creaked as she flew.

"I need to get closer," she said. "I have to try and catch him unaware."

"But we could break a nail!" the voice in the back of her head whined.

She stopped in mid-air. The eagle wings her youma partner had grown for her were

useful, but unfortunately seemed to be totally under the youma's control.

Fevrier strained a bit, but couldn't force them to move forward.

"You useless..." Fevrier growled. "Grow a spine, already!"

"I have a shpine, and I'd like it to shtay in one piece, shank you very

much," the youma replied. For some reason it spoke in an overdone lisp. Fevrier

resisted the urge to smack herself in the head with the butt of her pistol. She

wondered idly if Satsuki and Marz were having as much trouble with their

partners...

"Fevrier, why did you stop?" Marz' voice came to her suddenly. Fevrier

started. She was still getting used to that. The girl wasn't even anywhere near

them. She was literally blocks away, having been left behind by the battle

minutes ago. But she seemed able to communicate with them at any distance.

"I'm having a disagreement with Ganymede," Fevrier replied. "I need to

get in closer and she doesn't want to."

"Just a moment..." Marz murmured. "Io says that Ganymede always was a

bit of a coward..."

"Hey!" the voice in the back of Fevrier's mind protested.

"Shut up, you," Fevrier snapped. "How is Satsuki doing?"

"Patching her through..."

"I am in position," Satsuki's voice came in a moment later. "However,

even my improved weapon will do little good if I can not strike effectively."

Fevrier frowned, trying to locate Satsuki in the shadows that kept

shifting and moving around Gyro. The pyrotechnics of the battle around him and

the storm overhead made the lighting erratic at best. However, she couldn't spot

the girl.

Gyro, however, had stopped to make another stand. He was floating a

dozen meters over the water. His sword flashed and folded through space as he

deflected the incoming attacks from every angle. With his free hand he began to

fight back. Fevrier cursed and dodged right. Ganymede eeped like a child and

relinquished control of the wings as Fevrier dove between a pair of pin-point

gravity wells. She'd seen how much damage even a tiny blast from Gyro could do.

They'd lost two people the first time Gyro had pulled off this trick. Nobody

Fevrier recognised.

But they were slowly losing. Ikazuchi had lost one arm and leg to Gyro's

sword. He was back with Marz and Aprile. He was one of the lucky ones. In all,

about a third of the force that Tethys' youma had merged with were either dead

or disabled.

And Gyro was grinning. He wasn't even close to running low on power.

"Marz, tell everyone to back off for a moment," Fevrier said, knowing

that her friend was likely monitoring her. "Give Gyro a few moments to gloat

while we try to think up a new strategy." Fevrier cursed as she flew behind a

series of still mostly-erect skyscrapers to get out of the monster's line of

sight. As much as she hated to admit it, they needed more firepower here. Why

wasn't Tethys back yet? She couldn't be dead. If she was, Fevrier was pretty

certain her pact partner would have noticed and said something.

"If you're looking for suggeshtions, I shay we make a run for it."

Ganymede said in her silent voice.

"I thought Tethys saved you because you were a fighter," Fevrier

growled. She checked her magazines again. Both guns were fully loaded. Her

partner had the ability to just materialise ammo as she used it. But old habits

died hard. "We can't run away. There's no place to run."

"Fevrier?"

"I'm here, Marz. Tell me you have good news."

"I'll try..." Marz gulped. "I've analysed Gyro's defence. He is bending

space around him. While we see his sword moving to intercept an attack, he is

actually barely moving at all. He just bends any attack coming in to that sword

of his. In fact, his defence is even stronger now, and growing stronger every

moment. The gossamer energy being expelled from the portal to Elysium is making

space around here even more fluid and chaotic every moment. He has to expend

less and less energy on every attack."

"That must be the real reason he opened the portal." It was the voice of

Frederick von Purgstall.

"Zoalord Purgstall?" Marz sounded surprised.

"Sorry to eavesdrop on your link, girls." Purgstall made a grunting

sound. "Do you sense any weakness we can exploit, Marz?"

"I..." Marz hesitated. "None that WE could exploit. But the limitation

of the technique seems to be that he does bend space/time around his body. If we

could generate some sort of extradimensional energy, a force that travels

outside the flows of normal spacetime, then we could bypass his defence

entirely."

"So that was how Pluto did it," Tethys' voice whispered over the

communication link.

"Marz, is everybody on this channel?" Fevrier snapped.

"I'm sorry!" Marz sobbed. "I'm new to this telepathy thing. Io assures

me I'm doing very well for a first timer."

"Don't blame yourself," Tethys replied. "Io is my servant, and Purgstall

has been a telepath longer than you have been alive."

"Where have you been?" Purgstall asked.

"Recovering..." Tethys hissed. "Even now, my injury is still serious.

That blade of his does not just cut physical forms, it seems. I've recovered

some of my strength, but not nearly enough to overpower him again."

"Gyro appears to be finishing up his megalomaniacal declarations,"

Satsuki came over the link as Tethys finished. "I suspect he will soon begin to

renew the attack."

Fevrier peered around the corner. A quartet of youma-human hybrids were

standing in front of Gyro as he finished his raving. The monster had done

something with the local space so his voice carried over the entire battlefield.

But one of Marz' first actions had been to "mute" his voice for Fevrier and a

dozen others. Fevrier reminded herself to really thank the girl for that later.

"Adrasteia suggests I try to strike while he is distracted," Satsuki

said.

"Forget it," Fevrier replied. "You can't do enough damage. And he might

take you out in the attempt. It's too much of a risk."

"The risk is acceptable..."

"I said no!" Fevrier growled. "We need to..."

"Mamoru!" Marz gasped.

Fevrier snapped her head up. Her eyes focused in, much faster and

clearer than they had any right to. Another gift from her partner. She could see

him. He was leaping across the battlefield, staying to the shadows of the

shattered buildings. His sniper rifle was held tight to his chest as he bounded

with supernatural grace among the debris.

"Mamoru..." Fevrier muttered. Her vision blurred a little. She wiped at

her eyes absently.

"Whoa. He's cute..." Ganymede murmured hungrily. "You never told me he

was cute."

"Shut up!" Fevrier growled. "What is he up to..."

"I'm contacting him now..." Marz replied quickly.

"Marz?" Mamoru paused, flattening himself against a wall. An explosion

nearby forced Fevrier to fly across what had once been a boulevard and down

between a few buildings that had collapsed against each other to form an arch.

The four warriors confronting him earlier had decided to engage Gyro.

Fevrier recognised Skullomania. He didn't look different in the slightest. The

three with him she didn't recognise. But the important thing was that they were

keeping Gyro busy. She turned her attention back to Mamoru, flapping closer

while trying to stay out of Gyro's line of sight.

"I'm going to take a shot at Gyro," Mamoru was explaining.

"It won't do any good," Tethys replied through the mental channel. "We

need an attack that can pierce through his space fold with extradimensional

energy. If you could return to the tower and fetch Sailor Pluto, we might be

able to open up a hole in his defences long enough..."

"Pluto is on the planet," Mamoru cut her off. Fevrier looked up and then

down again. Her mind simply refused to accept the enormity of the thing above

them. Even with all his casual power, Gyro was still humanoid. He was still

something she could confront. But the planet hovering above them was too vast

for her to even see it all. She had an easier time imagining fighting the ocean

than the behemoth in the sky. "But I have a small fraction of her power here.

One bullet. I should be able to cut through his defence with it, we'll need..."

"Thank you."

Everyone stopped dead.

"Did you fools truly think you could prevent me, the most powerful of

all zoalords, from following this inane mental chatter?" Gyro's voice grumbled

over the mental link. "I am Reichmann Gyro! My will is LAW!" He turned his body

and pointed a hand at the building Mamoru was hiding behind. "Now watch as I

show you how futile hope truly is!"

"MAMORU!" Fevrier screamed, flying forward. She felt Ganymede resist her

for a moment, but she just screamed and pushed past that with a feat of raw

will. Her body blurred as she flew across the sky toward the black-clad man who

meant more to her than almost anything else in the world. There was no way she

would be in time.

Gyro laughed and launched a ball of darkness from his palm. It grew,

expanding to the size of a bus in a fraction of a second. A moment later, it

smashed into the building. The entire structure merely vanished, imploding

inward with a shriek and a pop. For a moment, there was a dimple in the water,

which began to rapidly fill with water again.

Fevrier could only stare. Then she screamed and threw herself at Gyro.

The black-skinned monster grinned, his yellow eyes flashing with glee as he

beckoned her forward.

OoOoO

"BAKUSAITENKETSU!"

Ryouga pulled back his hand, wincing a little. He'd almost broken his

fingers that time. "No good," he growled. "The technique only works on unliving

matter. Stone, metal... this entire planet is alive. Even this rock is suffused

with this thing's life force."

"There has to be a way inside," Ranma growled, clenching a fist in front

of him. He looked a bit better now that he had been given a few minutes to

regain his breath. Ryouga narrowed his eyes at his old rival.

"He's right, Ranma," Cologne replied evenly. "We've tried everything we

can. Nothing we can do will do more than dent this thing's hide."

"We need to get inside!" one of the girls who had introduced themselves

as the Amazoness Quartet shouted. Her blue hair bobbed as she looked around at

everyone. "We have to get to the core. That's where she'll be!"

"Who?" Akira asked, crossing her arms. She was looking down the curve of

the moon-sized monster they were on. Ryouga could easily guess what she was

thinking. Somewhere out there, Ukyou was still fighting Alucard. He could tell

because the girl kept wiping at her nose and lips to brush away the blood.

"Queen Neherenia," the red-haired girl replied.

"Our former master," the green-haired one explained.

"Our Amazon Stones can feel her," the pink-haired one added. She held up

a pink orb somewhat bigger than her fist. "She's drawing power through them. I

can feel it. It's like a funnel leading straight down to the heart of this

beast."

"I thought this was Pharaoh 90?" Ranma blinked.

"It is, and it isn't." Nabiki was kneeling against the dark purple

stone, her palm stretched across it. "There are two minds, two souls within this

thing. They've... merged."

"Yes," Nanami nodded. "When Akane sealed Pharaoh 90 inside Elysium all

those years ago, Neherenia had already been there for hundreds of years. Of

course, time has no real meaning inside the dreamworld. The two of them must

have fought."

"Who won, then?" Ryouga asked. "Which one is in charge?"

"Neither," Nabiki replied. "What I sense inside this thing is not what

I'd call sane. The minds of the two of them haven't been merged so much as

they've been mixed. It's like somebody melted their brains down and then forced

them together before letting them freeze solid again."

"Paradox," Akira responded. She looked down. "It was the Paradox.

Oblivion is made up of it. When Ukyou created the Paradox rift in Elysium, it

must have started growing. They must have gotten caught in it."

"None of this matters," the green-haired Amazoness said. "This giant

body is just a shell. Inside, at its core, is where the real monster is. If we

can make it there, we can destroy this thing!"

"How are we supposed to do that, JunJun?" Cologne asked mildly. "Even

Ryouga wasn't strong enough to crack the surface open all the way. We could dig

our way in, but it would take us years." She sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Who the hell...?" Akira gasped, looking back "up" towards the city.

Ryouga snapped his head up and around. "Above" them floated the flooded

ruins of Tokyo. The gravity storm ripped through the air between the rogue

planet and the Earth, creating tornadoes and lightning strikes and all sorts of

chaos. The Quartet had carried them through that in a three-coloured sphere,

avoiding the worst of the storm with their magic.

But there was something else climbing up through the storm towards them.

Ryouga rubbed his eyes to make certain he hadn't seen wrong. It was a

helicopter. Someone was insane enough to try flying through that mess? Whoever

it was, they were a good pilot. But they were having a hard time keeping stable.

"They'll be torn apart," Nanami gasped.

"Go back, you idiot!" Ranma shouted, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"You can't get up here like that, it's hopeless!"

Ryouga wasn't certain how Ranma could have expected to be heard over the

storm, when a faint reply came back. "Nothing is hopeless!"

The helicopter jerked sideways for a moment, coming perilously close to

one of Pharaoh 90's giant tentacles. A loud crash exploded out from it, and a

shape exploded from its side. It was a motorcycle, a huge American machine, with

a leanly muscled man astride it.

"Shingo?" Akira gaped in disbelief.

"And you know why?" The man on the cycle shouted, his voice just barely

carrying to them. He flew through the air, rearing his bike like a stallion.

First one, then the other wheel touched down on the giant writhing tendril.

"Because I have the strength..."

Ryouga realised, for one transcendent moment, that he was seeing perhaps

the most insane thing he would ever see. A man was driving a motorcycle up the

length of one of Pharaoh 90's tentacles. The writhing pulsing mass failed

utterly to throw him off. He zigged and zagged around blasts of lightning that

erupted from or struck against the tendrils. The hurricane-force winds didn't

push him free. The flying debris was deftly avoided.

"...of the great United States..."

The boy reached to his side and grabbed a katana sheathed at his side

with one hand.

"..of America!"

The boy threw himself from the bike with a wordless scream of defiance.

He flashed through the air, drawing the blade back and over his head. Some

instinct in Ryouga made him brace himself. Then the boy hit the planet at full

force, driving his blade in front of him.

The behemoth exploded.

Ryouga snapped his hand down, grabbing hold of some of the rocky folds

of the planet-eater's flesh. He could hear the others scrambling for support as

well, but his eyes remained glued on the spectacle in front of him.

A giant geyser of rock was spraying out of the side of Pharaoh 90. It

was the size of a mountain. A blast the likes of which Ryouga had never seen

before. He felt his mouth dry out.

Then a moment later the shockwave hit. The ground around them bulged

upward, buckling as it rippled like water. He snapped his head around, looking

for Nabiki.

Akira had caught her, holding on to her with one hand while she clenched

the tearing earth with the other. With a roar Ryouga threw himself at them,

bringing them both to the "ground" with his weight. Nearby he could see the

others doing similarly.

Then he heard it scream. It was a roar of pain, unlike any Ryouga had

ever heard before. He didn't hear it with his ears. He heard it in his bones. He

heard it in his flesh. It roared through his body. It roared in his mind. He

could feel it hissing against his soul. It was everywhere, it was everything...

Then it was over. He realised that the screaming he heard now was his

own. He rolled over, pulling his hands away from his ears. Everyone was slowly

coming to their feet now. From the looks of it, they hadn't lost anyone.

"What just happened?" Pluto asked, obviously shaken.

"That was their scream," Nabiki moaned. "I shielded us from the worst of

it. If I hadn't..." She shook her head. "He actually hurt it. I didn't..."

Everyone looked over at the area where Shingo had landed. There was

nothing there but a giant chasm. The boy had landed at the base of the tendril,

and his blow had severed the tendril from the rest of Pharaoh 90s body. Ryouga

didn't dare look up. He didn't want to see what sort of damage that falling

tentacle had done to the Earth. The chasm was more than a few kilometers across.

And climbing out of it was a man, no, a teenager, with a giant grin on

his face. Tied around his arms and legs and waist were dozens of Shinto prayer

strips. "Not bad, huh?" he said. He held up his sword. The blade had shattered

halfway up its length. "Looks like I broke my sword."

"How did you do that?" Ranma demanded as he ran forward.

"I'm the strongest man in the world, Ranma," Shingo said. He was swaying

drunkenly.

"He's right," the blue-haired girl said.

"What?" Pluto turned to her.

"Those wards he has on are designed to protect him from the dreamscape,"

the girl explained. "But I think whoever made them was guessing; they're kind of

amateurish. They're only partially protecting him." She nodded. "He's being

affected by Elysium. When he made that attack, he was as strong as he dreamed

himself to be."

By this time they had reached Shingo. He was sitting down, a manic grin

on his face. "What's that, Mr. President? Yes, I would like to meet your

daughter, now that you mention it..."

"He's losing it," Akira pointed out. "The wards are breaking down." She

turned to the Amazoness Quartet. "Can you shield him from the dream effect?"

"But we might need him to hit something else... ow!" the red-haired girl

glared at Cologne. "Okay, okay!" She walked up to him and touched him with her

orb.

The boy blinked. "Aren't you a little young to be the president's

daughter?" he asked.

"Shingo, you were dreaming," Nabiki explained.

"I was?" The boy frowned. "Then I didn't really almost kill a planet?"

"No, you did that all right," Akira said, peering over the edge. "I

think we have our way in now."

"That's good," Ranma muttered nervously. "Because I think we've

overstayed our welcome."

Ryouga glanced around. They were growing out of the ground. They looked

like statues made out of sculpted glass, completely white. They were in the

shapes of beautiful women... no, a single beautiful woman with long hair and a

pretty face, with slitted eyes and pointed ears. They were giggling as they

slowly grew and grew until they were the size of human beings. And there were

thousands of them.

"What are they?" Cologne asked the girls.

"Don't ask us!" the red-head replied. "I've never seen them before."

"They have no minds," Nabiki supplied. "They're puppets, created by the

force inside the planet."

"Like white blood cells," Nanami offered. "Coming to eliminate the

intruders."

The things had finished forming. Their soft laughter echoed all around

them. Then the things flexed their fingers, which snapped into long talons in

the blink of an eye.

"We can't take them all on!" Akira protested.

"Then run!" Cologne shouted, and jumped over the edge of the crevice and

into Pharaoh 90.

OoOoO

"Don't try to move, Artemis..."

Artemis didn't really want to die. His body, it seemed, had other plans.

It had been foolish of him. He didn't know why he did it... No, that was a lie.

He had done it because he was the only one who could.

The battle between Rei and the witch had been apocalyptic. But it had

been a battle between them. He and Luna had been forgotten. Not without cause,

he admitted ruefully. He winced as a chuckle passed through his body. What

difference could a talking cat make in the end?

Just enough, he hoped. He admitted that he had enjoyed the expression on

Akio's face when Artemis had landed on him, leaping from the top of the Rose

Gate. For a moment, Artemis had felt like a big jungle cat, something powerful

and fearsome. He had struck with abandon, drawing red lines across that pretty-

boy face.

Then reality had reasserted itself. Akio had grabbed him by the scruff

and with an inelegant snarl had smashed him against the gate. Artemis had felt

something inside him break. He wasn't certain what, but it hurt. He couldn't

breathe very well anymore. But the very moment Akio had struck him against the

unyielding gate, he had been driven away from it.

The girls had driven him away. They had retaken the gate. They

controlled it now. The crack running down its center was ominous, but not

growing. He had done it. He had made a difference.

Luna stood over him protectively. She looked so tired, so afraid. Her

eyes kept flicking back and forth, changing from the battle and back to him. He

wanted to tell her it was okay. He wanted to lie and tell her he would be fine.

But he couldn't seem to speak.

His attention drifted back to the battle. It was a stalemate. The three

Senshi could hold the gate and prevent Akio from getting to it, but they

couldn't strike at him or Anthy effectively. So it had come down to a standoff.

The girls grimly guarding the Rose Gate, and Anthy standing in front of her

brother, wielding the chaotic Paradox sword that made her so dangerous.

Except Artemis thought he had seen something that no one else had. Akio

kept glancing at the sword he carried. He did it subtly, when no one but Artemis

was looking. The girls, all of them, were too involved in trying to predict the

enemy's next move to pay much attention to Akio's eyes. But Artemis wasn't. Akio

was looking ever so faintly worried.

Like he wasn't certain if, when he looked, the sword would still be

there.

That was when it hit Artemis almost as hard as the Rose Gate had. Akio

was running out of time. Usagi, Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity... she was dying.

And if she died, her soul would go on to whatever final reward it had earned.

That sword was her soul. He had left her alive, Artemis knew. He had done it not

because he cared about her in the slightest, but because as long as she lived,

he could wield that sword. When Usagi passed on, his sword would be gone too.

And that was that. He lost. They won. By default, but still a victory.

All the Sailor Senshi had to do was run out the clock. He winced again as he

realised what he was thinking.

He was hoping a girl would die, so that Akio could be stopped. What

would Minako say to him? She had run off to save that girl. Everyone had called

her a fool for it. They had said that Usagi must already be dead. But if Artemis

was right, and he was certain he was, then Usagi was still alive. Minako could

find her.

She was right, he realised. He just wished that before he slipped away,

he would have a chance to say that...

"LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

Anthy screamed as the blast took her from behind. She toppled forward,

collapsing to her hands and knees. Her grip on her sword faltered. Artemis felt

his heart skip a beat. Everyone paused.

She came through the storm, slumped to one side. Around her body was a

shield, a sphere of rapidly shifting and rotating golden heart links. Her Love

Me Chain wrapped around her as a bubble, keeping most of the Swords of Hate at

bay. Most.

There were cuts along her body. She had not emerged from the cyclone

unscathed. But her grin was proud and unfailing. It was the grin she had learned

from Ranma. It was the 'you all doubted me, but I'm just so badass I saved all

your lives' grin.

Artemis was never more happy to see that grin in his entire life.

"You have something that doesn't belong to you," Minako said. Only then

did Artemis notice the girl Minako was carrying. She was being held up by one

arm, leaning against Minako's shoulder. She looked so small and frail. Her hair

had lost most of its luster and hung limp. Her entire body was limp. She looked

unconscious.

But she was breathing.

"You never could resist making an entrance," Akio said, faintly

approving. He rubbed absently at the scratches Artemis had given him. Shallow

and temporary, but the sight of them made the moon cat feel much better.

"Give me the sword, Akio," Minako said, holding out her hand. "It's

over."

"Usagi..." Makoto said in awe. She was clutching her side where Anthy

had managed to sneak past her guard. Ami was speechless, simply staring in

disbelief. Rei was smiling.

"You hurt me..." Anthy said as she slowly rose to her feet.

"Yes, and I'll do it again," Minako warned, gesturing to her.

"No... you really hurt me." Anthy's eyes narrowed. She had long ago lost

her glasses. Her face looked exotic and malevolent. "I've been tortured for

eternity and a day, and nothing has ever really hurt me. I can't die. But you

hurt me... how?"

Minako lowered her hand slightly.

"God's work," Akio said simply. "He chose you, Minako. All those years

ago, back in England." Akio chuckled. "It's funny, really. Did you think He

designed you solely to kill vampires?" Akio laughed. "Oh, He is a tricky

bastard, I'll give Him that. That was His plan all along."

"What are you talking about?" Ami asked.

No, girls, Artemis thought. Don't let him speak. That's his game. Don't

play it. You have the advantage, seize it! He drew hin breath to cry out a

warning, but ended up hacking and coughing.

"Artemis!" Luna gasped, turning to him in worry. He saw Minako's eyes

turn to him, and they widened slightly. No. She was worried about him now. She

was worried about getting this over with and saving him now. He could see it in

the way her eyes refocused, he could read it in the shift in her stance. She

wasn't thinking about defeating Akio anymore.

"Minako was once touched by God, one of the few people that have been.

He gave her a gift. He made her able to kill the unkillable. He gave her that

power." Akio shrugged. "Except He hid it. He made it look like she was given

that power to destroy vampires. And her power worked very well on them indeed.

In fact, even I was fooled as to her true purpose.

"Because she wasn't made to kill vampires. She was made to kill

immortals. Like Anthy and me." Akio gestured with Sailor Moon's sword at the

three guarding the gate. "You three were never important. She was the chosen

one. God made her to kill me. All along, trying to guide her to this moment.

Quite a genius move. He placed me in check, without me even noticing."

"Then you'll surrender?" Minako said, her voice filled with hope.

Artemis wanted to cry. This was what he wanted!

"Of course..." Akio held out Sailor Moon's sword. He opened his fingers

and it began to slip through-

Usagi screamed, her body arching backward. The sword flickered. Minako

clutched at the girl, her eyes widening. The Sailor Senshi gasped. Luna screamed

her ward's name.

Akio grabbed the sword before it could slip through his fingers

entirely. It solidified in his grasp. Usagi fell silent, slumping against

Minako.

"Oh, I should probably mention something before I hand this over..." he

mused. "You see, Usagi is dying. Her Star Seed was ripped out. Without it, she

should be dead. Except I took this sword." He waved it around a bit. "Do you

know what a soulsword is?"

"Bastard! What are you up to?" Rei snarled.

"Nothing, Miss Hino, nothing at all." He gestured to the howling cyclone

of flashing steel all around them. "Each of these swords is a soulsword. When

the souls of these unfortunates were cast into Oblivion, all that they were was

drained away. All except this." He slipped a finger along the edge of the sword.

A bead of blood appeared on his fingers. "The thing which cuts."

"Of course..." Ami murmured. "Basic symbolism."

"Very good, Ami." Akio smiled at her and she blushed, before forcefully

shaking it off. "A sword divides, Sailor Senshi. It cuts. It rips and tears. It

is an instrument of breaking." He paused for effect. "It is the thing which

separates us from the Oversoul."

He spread his arms wide. "That is why when we are cast from the Oversoul

into Oblivion, all that is left is a sword. That is why I use a sword to try and

cut through the Rose Gate. Because it is the thing about us that is most unique

and personal. It is the thing which makes us... us. Which keeps us alive. Which

makes us LIVE."

He sunk the blade into the ground. "Usagi is already dead. All that is

keeping her here, all that is keeping her from being drawn back to the Oversoul,

is this blade." His grip loosened and Usagi screamed again.

"Stop it!" Minako shouted, clutching onto Usagi tightly. "You're killing

her!"

His grip tightened again and Usagi once again slumped into

unconsciousness. "Quite the contrary, Miss Aino. I am the only thing keeping her

alive." He tapped the blade. "I am eternal. The Paradox backlash that stripped

me of my powers also granted me eternal life. And that same force can make other

things eternal." He smiled. "Like this sword. So long as I hold it, it is as

eternal as I am.

"So you can see, if I were to release this sword to you, it would only

kill the woman you care so much about, Minako Aino." He gestured towards her, an

open palm extending peacefully. "You are free to take it from me, if you are

willing to kill Usagi to do so. But that would make your whole quest pointless,

wouldn't it?" He chuckled. "Did you go all that way, fight through all that,

defy the very will of GOD Himself... just to let Usagi die now?"

Minako's mouth opened and closed helplessly.

"I didn't think so."

OoOoO

It was strange. They were running straight down into the heart of the

beast. They were charging down the slope of the great chasm Shingo Tsukino had

cleft into the body of Pharaoh 90. They should have been forced to climb down,

or something. Ranma was fairly certain that you didn't just run into a planet.

There were things like gravity to worry about. But it appeared that they didn't

have to deal with that.

Just an endless supply of glass women. They bloomed before them like

flowers. They poured out of cracks in the earth, and leapt from side tunnels.

They fell from overhead and ripped through the earth at his feet. But he wasn't

about to let that stop him.

He ducked under a pair of claws. His arm swung up, catching the creature

under the arm. With a grunt he levered it up and over him, smashing it sideways

into two that had been approaching him from behind. Even as the three of them

fell behind him six more appeared in front of him. He leapt. His body twisted

sideways, their claws flashing diamond bright all around him. He felt one of

them brush against his skin. Then his feet slammed into a pair of faces, sending

them crashing back. He caught the next four with his outstretched arms, driving

his limbs into their necks. The monsters made no sound as he smashed them into

the ground.

Unfortunately he landed on his back. He kicked to his feet, but it was

enough time for more of the creatures to encircle him. He grimaced. He'd lost

his momentum for just a moment...

A trio of shots cracked through the air. Three of the mannequins' heads

exploded in shower of glass. Ranma dived through the opening, giving a thumb's

up to Shingo. The boy was busy reloading his pistol. He'd lost the other one

earlier.

The others were spread out all around them. Akira was slipping through

the endless crystal women like water, somehow finding her way through the

tiniest cracks and holes in their formations. Her fists and feet lashed out as

she moved, leaving detached limbs and divided torsos in her wake. Ryouga just

barrelled through them like a runaway train. Anything foolish enough to get in

front of him was swept aside. Occasionally he would lash out with a pair of

fingers, exploding the unliving mannequins with a wordless bark. Cologne

followed him closely, her staff flashing out and finishing off any that Ryouga

left too mobile. She had been limping heavily before, but had made a taciturn

request for some of Nanami's healing powers during a brief respite from the

attacks. Now she moved with a fluid grace that was nonetheless perversely

vicious, dealing destruction in movements so economical even Akira was put to

shame.

Pluto was breathing heavily. There were a trio of claw marks on her arm,

oozing blood. She wielded her Time Key Staff with one hand, firing round after

round of magic blasts from it into the horde. Nanami stayed near her, her twin

sabres flashing almost too fast for Ranma to follow. She kept anything from

getting close enough to do any more injury to the time Senshi.

Nabiki was in the centre of their loose formation. She was doing

everything she could just to keep up the pace they were forced to set. Everyone

took turns protecting her. Even so, Ranma knew she was doing far more than just

running. He could feel her, at the back of his mind. She was acting as a link,

helping them all coordinate. As erratic and as haphazard as their headlong rush

into the core of the planet seemed, Ranma knew that Nabiki was coordinating it

like a concert conductor.

Which left only the Quartet. They were leading the way. The three armed

with those strange orbs seemed to be the muscle, gesturing and producing blasts

and explosions of magical might. At first they had been using weird tricks,

producing cages of flowers and illusions and all sorts of other funky stuff. Now

they had exhausted their imagination, and were down to just throwing out raw

power.

"Everybody stop!" Nabiki's voice exploded across the group.

Ranma skidded to a stop. Everyone else did so as well, glancing around

nervously. The sky had long since vanished overhead. Only a small glimmer of

light reached from overhead. Most of the light was being provided by the glows

of the auras of everyone.

"What is it, Nabiki?" Pluto grabbed her bleeding arm. Ranma tensed up;

for some reason, the horde had backed off. He could see them, just at the edge

of the light provided by his flaring aura. They giggled and shifted amongst

themselves.

"Something big is coming..." Nabiki warned.

Then it was upon them. It exploded through one of the walls with enough

force that Ranma was forced to crouch to avoid being thrown off his feet. Others

weren't so lucky. He heard several groans as people began to try and orient

themselves again.

It was another crystal woman, but this one made the others look like

dolls. She had to be fifteen stories tall, and she completely blocked out the

passage in front of them. Her slitted eyes narrowed and her glass face shifted

into a grin. She brought down a set of claws the size of a city bus. Ranma leapt

backwards, just barely missing being slashed to ribbons.

"Bakusaitenketsu!" Ryouga roared, smashing his fist into the palm of the

other hand as it descended towards him. The hand exploded and Ryouga screamed.

He collapsed, oozing blood from a dozen wounds. Ranma frowned. Up until then,

his and Cologne's technique had been their trump card. But the shards of this

mannequin would be far deadlier than any released from one of the smaller ones.

And worse yet, the thing was regenerating. The stump of its hand was

rapidly regrowing, huge crystals popping into place with a disturbing cracking

sound. The giggles around them intensified.

"I can handle this..." Akira said, cracking her knuckles.

"You should save your strength," Ranma told her, stepping in front of

the girl. "I can take it down."

"Stop being a macho idiot, Ranma," Akira snapped. "You're in worse shape

than I am."

"I'm not being killed by Paradox!" Ranma replied, turning to her.

"That has nothing to do with this!" Akira responded angrily.

"Children!" Cologne shouted in warning. A shadow fell over them as the

colossus decided to attack the only two unwary-looking targets.

Ranma and Akira slid apart. The hand smashed down where they had been.

"Look at you, you're bleeding from your eyes!" Ranma accused as he leapt up onto

the thing's arm.

"At least I'm only bleeding from the holes I was born with," Akira

accused as she ran sideways up the arm, keeping exact pace with Ranma. "You have

more holes in you than swiss cheese."

"Says the woman who not ten minutes ago didn't even have a foot," Ranma

snarled. He reached the shoulder and bounced up off it as the colossus tried to

shrug them off.

"Macho idiot!" Akira shouted as she flew up over the thing's head.

"Crazy tomboy!" Ranma grunted as he slid under its chin.

His fist smashed into its jaw just as Akira's double overhand blow came

down on its brow. With a shriek of exploding crystal the colossal mannequin's

head imploded, the majority of the shards flying out behind it. Ranma and Akira

landed, glaring at each other as it slowly toppled.

Shingo ran in and grabbed the body by one ankle. "Everyone duck!" he

roared. Akira and Ranma did so. Ranma seethed, trying to think up a better

insult. The massive crystal creature flew over them and back up the tunnel.

There was a series of crashes and cracks as it plowed through the packs of

mannequins before becoming lodged in the narrow tunnel.

"That should give us a few seconds..." Shingo gasped. He was sweating

heavily. Power was one thing Shingo had in abundance, but his training hadn't

been very well-rounded. He was already running out of energy.

"Are you two quite finished?" Nabiki asked Ranma and Akira.

"It's not my fault!" Ranma pointed at her. "She keeps trying to steal my

thunder."

"Ranma," Akira sighed and put a hand over her face. "Listen, this isn't

a competition between us. I have no intention of TRYING to steal your glory,

okay?" The others all began to nod. "I just can't help it. I'm so much better

than you I do it naturally."

"See!" Ranma pointed at her again. "Totally after my thunder!"

"We have to go!" one of the quartet yelled. They pointed back up the

tunnel. Ranma could see the giant body beginning to shift. Bits and pieces of

crystal were popping out of it. They were beginning to look like faces and hands

and legs.

"You guys go," Ryouga grunted. He stepped towards the mass of mutating

crystal. His checkered scarf waved around him. "I'll hold them off."

"Ryouga!" Nabiki gasped.

He smirked at her. "Don't worry, I can't be killed." He held out his

hand and a green glow began to surround them. There was a pop as a mannequin

fell from the colossus' body. "Hurry!" Ryouga shouted.

Nabiki hesitated, then Ryouga looked at her. "Get out of here! You have

to live, dammit!"

"R-right!" Nabiki turned and started running. Everyone else followed her

a few moments later. They ran for almost twenty seconds, until the twists and

turns of this strange innerspace had blocked Ryouga from sight. Then they heard

him.

"Jisatsu Bakuha!"

The first explosions was loud enough it blocked out all other sound.

Then there was another shout, and another explosions. Gradually as they ran, the

sound grew dimmer and dimmer until they could hear it no more.

"We have more company," Akira warned. She glanced side to side.

More of the mannequins had arrived, but these ones were different. Their

faces had elongated and their mouths filled with fangs. Their arms and legs bent

at odd angles and they scuttled along the walls and ceiling like spiders. Ranma

felt a shiver run up his spine.

"What do we do?" Shingo said. His gun kept shifting from target to

target. Ranma guessed there were far more of them than he had bullets remaining.

Cologne's eyes narrowed.

"Girls, which way to the core?" she shouted.

"Straight down here!" the red-head in the lead shouted back, gesturing

towards a narrower tunnel leading off from the one they were in.

"Good." Cologne was beginning to lag behind them, slowing down subtly as

if she were still injured. Ranma glanced back and caught her eyes. What he saw

made him pause. He looked at Nabiki. Nabiki nodded to him.

They reached the tunnel just before the things attacked. Ranma saw

Cologne falling back amongst them. Soon he would lose sight of her. He grit his

teeth. He looked at Nabiki again. She looked grim, but refused to meet his gaze.

They both knew what the woman was planning.

Ranma leapt between a pair of spider-mannequins and rolled into the

tunnel. The others were only a step behind him. The Quartet was already running

down the tunnel ahead of everyone else. Ranma noticed, not for the first time,

that none of the creatures really seemed to attack them. They only used their

magic to defend the rest of the group.

Cologne's voice suddenly sang out loud and clear, and Ranma heard an

explosion behind them. But Cologne's target hadn't been one of the mannequins.

The entire entrance to the tunnel was collapsing behind them, with Cologne on

the other side.

"Old hag!" the green-haired girl screamed, turning around. Ranma grabbed

her and kept running. The others swept up the remaining members of the Quartet

as they moved. Behind them the tunnel continued imploding. Ranma grit his teeth

and pushed all the speed he could out of his legs. It was enough to keep them

ahead of the cave-in, which was more than the remaining spider-mannequins could

say.

They emerged into a large chamber, a plume of dust following them. The

girls were staring at the rockfall in shock.

"We have to go back for her!" the green-haired girl in Ranma's arms

shouted. She began to struggle with him. "Let me go, we have to..."

"We have to save the world," Nabiki pointed out. "Cologne knew that."

She smiled then. "Don't count that old woman out yet. It will take more than a

countless horde of unliving crystal killing machines to finish her off."

"Which way?" Akira asked the girl she was holding, the pink-haired one.

"T-that way..." she gestured towards another tunnel. Ranma leapt towards

it, and as he did he could see more of the things emerging. Once again they had

changed shape. Now they lacked legs, having fused them together to form

something like a tail. Their faces were more reptilian, and their perpetual

giggle had taken on a snake-like quality.

Ranma landed and put his passenger down. He turned to face the

approaching horde. His hands curled into fists.

A series of gunshots rang out, and in a few seconds dozens of the

mannequins died in showers of glittering dust. Shingo grunted and dropped his

handgun. He looked at Ranma. "You better get going." He reached down and grabbed

the ground. "After all..." With a grunt he stood up quickly, wrenching a boulder

ten times his size from the tunnel floor in a shower of dust. "...you don't want

to get left behind."

"Shingo?" Ranma frowned.

"Go." Shingo smiled and pulled a cigarette from his leather vest with

one hand. He stuck it between his teeth. "I'm not going to miss my turn to do

the whole heroic sacrifice thing." He grinned, the unlit cigarette dangling

between his teeth. "Besides, you're the best there is, aren't you? They'll need

you more than me."

"Damn it," Ranma hissed, clenching his teeth.

Shingo turned to face the horde, which was approaching more slowly after

Shingo casually wiped out the entire first rank. "If you see Sakura..." He

paused. "Heh. Never mind. She'll know."

Ranma clapped the man on the shoulder. "You're a good man, Shingo."

Ranma said. "You... you'd make your sister proud."

"Hey, no chick flick moments. Just go."

Ranma ran, and a second later he heard the boulder crash down over the

entrance behind them. He didn't like this. He could see the pattern. They were

losing people, one by one. The planet, Pharaoh 90 or Neherenia or whatever it

was now, was dividing them up.

They came to a fork in the tunnel. One led down, the other led up. The

girls looked at each other. "Which way?" Akira asked.

"I..." the red-head looked at her orb. "I can't tell... they both feel

right."

"Now what?" Ranma asked, crossing his arms. More of those things could

show up at any second.

Nanami stepped forward, placing her hands on the wall between the two

passages. She closed her eyes. "I smell..." She opened her eyes. "Pain and

bitterness. Paradox." She looked down. "That way."

"So that's the direction we're headed?" Akira said, starting towards it.

"Not so fast," Nanami held up her hand. "I think it's a trap."

"How?" Ranma asked.

"I just... feel it." She looked up. "Up. Head up."

"What about you?" Akira said suddenly.

"I..." Nanami looked at Pluto. "The trap needs to be sprung. If we don't

do it here, then Neherenia could shift it to ahead of us along the other path."

Pluto looked at her. Then she sighed. "You could be destroyed. Even

vampires can die."

"Maybe." She stared at Pluto for a moment. "But I think this is our

path." She gestured to the downward slope. "I think the Nameless isn't finished

with us yet. We both need to face this."

"This is insane!" Ranma shouted. "It wants to split us up!" He looked at

the others. "Can't you see that?"

"Of course we can, Ranma," Akira said slowly. "But what choice do we

have?" She chuckled. There was something... off about her laughter. It made

Ranma very nervous for some reason. "Let's go. We have a destiny to fulfill."

Ranma ground his teeth, but nodded. He hated this. Every fibre of his

being hated this. It was wrong. They shouldn't have left Ryouga behind. He

should have stopped Cologne. He should have stood with Shingo. He should not be

letting Pluto and Nanami walk into a trap, just to give the rest of them a

better chance. It wasn't the way he worked. It wasn't his style.

But he went with Akira and the girls as they ran up the sloped

passageway. He forced himself not to look at Pluto and Nanami running down the

other way. He didn't want to think about it.

For a few minutes, there was a strange peace. Then they came out into

the most massive chamber yet. Ranma stood at the lip of the tunnel, his jaw

hanging wide.

It was a castle. Something right out of a fairytale stood there, real as

day. It was the home of every evil witch ever dreamed up to scare children at

night. It was every lonely tower in the woods. It was every decaying keep

hanging atop a looming cliff. It was every fortress on a mist-shrouded island.

It was all those things at once.

Ranma felt fear. He knew it wasn't his fear. It was unnatural fear,

seeping into his bones, seeping into his very being. He was a child again. He

was a tiny boy, screaming in the night while the storm pounded down outside. The

lightning was ripping open the sky. He was screaming. His father wouldn't come.

He was supposed to be strong, he was supposed to be above fear. That's what

Father said.

But this place was worse than any storm. This place was where he was

going to die. He was a child and this place was death. In it dwelt every horror

he had every imagined. He backed against the walls, clawing until his fingers

were raw and bleeding. He needed to escape. He needed to get away. But he

couldn't. He was going to die and...

"Fuck off, bitch!"

Ranma gasped and fell forward. He looked up. Nabiki was in front of them

now, her hand extended outward. Ranma could see it. He could see the fear in

front of her. It was like a cloud of poison. Nabiki hissed between clenched

teeth. "I can't... I can't hold it forever. GO!"

"Nabiki," Ranma stood up. "If something attacks you... you can't affect

those mannequins."

"If I move, it will escape," Nabiki looked at the others, who were just

now regaining their feet. "This is my fight, Ranma. Go find yours. Find this

bitch. Put her out of her misery!"

Ranma looked at her. Seven years ago, they had become engaged. It had

been a false engagement. A thing arranged by their families that neither of them

had wanted. Back then, she had been like an enemy to him. But now, they were

friends. He would never love her the way he did Minako. But this woman had

become one of his important people. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Nabiki, don't you dare die on me!" he ordered.

Nabiki smirked. "Saotome, I plan to live forever."

He nodded and then sprinted into the castle, the others on his heels.

OoOoO

Hotaru was tired.

The air here was thin. It smelled of dust. The cold here was so intense

that even her undead bones were being leeched of their warmth. The light was dim

and flickered fitfully. Everything in this place was fading. There was no drama

to it. There was no spectacular rift, no massive swirling cosmic spectacle of

destruction. There was nothing to this place, nothing at all.

Just a slow, encompassing sense of fatigue. The end of world was so soft

it could hardly be called a whimper. Hotaru clenched her hand around the handle

of Dylek.

The sword shifted slightly, its massive bulk rumbling in the grey and

hollow earth. The spirit that had once been within the blade had dimmed so much,

been so consumed by Oblivion, that it could barely be called alive any more. It

responded to her will now, but it did so without emotion or thought. Hotaru

envied it.

How much better this world would be, how much easier to endure if she

simply did not feel. If she was a mindless creature, a tool of God, that killed

what He said to kill and made no thought of it, then she would not have to

endure this. This waiting.

She felt His presence within her. She slumped slightly, the pressure of

Him filling her up almost to bursting. She felt His awareness on her mind. And

her mind shrunk back from him, like it always had. Like it always would. He was

so... so MUCH. Every time He came to her, she was surprised that the utter

presence of Him did not erase her. The slightest brush of His soul against hers

threatened to eradicate Hotaru Tomoe much like Hotaru had eradicated Dylek.

But then He was gone. Patience. Always patience. She had to wait. She

had to be strong. She had to stand longer. She had to endure. She had to endure

the hunger. The burning need in her throat, the ache in her heart. The desire to

feed. She had to endure the pain. The ripping, tearing force of Paradox inside

her. The constant build-up as He worked His will upon the world. He could not

risk bringing His full power to bear. She would shatter like an egg if He did

that. He was forced to work through coincidence, through chance, through Destiny

and Fate and all those other things. Even doing that built up enough Paradox

that Hotaru had long since forgotten what it was like to not be in agony.

But most of all, she was tired.

Her eyes opened and she looked out across the blasted emptiness that was

once Elysium, the world of dreams. From here her gaze could follow the entire

world. The fitful sparks of soullights shone like fireflies, rising from the

ash-grey ground and hovering for a moment before succumbing to the terrible

gravity of this place again.

She could feel the struggle in the world. Every soul engaged in the

battle was pushing hard. Their hopes and fears and struggles burned bright in

the bleakness. But the brighter they burned, the shorter they would last.

"I wonder if they would fight so hard if they knew the truth?"

"Kalia," Hotaru said, her voice carefully neutral.

The chaos puppet floated next to Hotaru. Of course, she hadn't been here

a moment ago. But in this place, the walls of reality were mere suggestions.

Hotaru was neither surprised nor particularly annoyed by the thing's presence.

She wondered idly if Kalia would be irked by that. Did it realise how little

Hotaru thought of it? Did it care? Did it even have a mind, or just a twisted

sort of programming?

"You sound so happy to see me, big sister!" Kalia gushed, floating

around in front of her. She was lying with her head across her wrists, kicking

her legs idly.

"Why did you come here?" Hotaru asked.

"I just dropped by to be annoying," Kalia said with a giggle. She

rotated, now miming lying on her back. "Little sisters do that." She floated

back away from Hotaru.

"Very well," Hotaru replied, and turned her attention away. She looked

out and found the one spark she was most interested in. It was no brighter, no

stronger than any of the others, really. But where each of those sparks

resembled a single light, this one seemed oddly double. If Hotaru were to

compare it to anything, it would be to the ouroboros. It flickered fitfully now,

dimming by visible degrees as she watched.

"What would you do if she died?" Kalia asked suddenly. She appeared

behind the spark, cupping her hands around it. "What if she was simply...

snuffed out?"

"She will live," Hotaru assured her. Kalia grinned, closing her hands

around the bright spark. Hotaru did not react. She simply stared. Then just as

the empty puppet's hands began to enclose the spark, she hissed and pulled them

back.

"Ouchie..." Kalia murmured and sucked on her fingers.

"There is nothing you can do to Ukyou," Hotaru told her. Kalia giggled,

her voice echoing obscenely across the empty landscape.

"You still didn't answer my question," Kalia said, wagging a finger at

Hotaru. "What would you do, if this all fell apart?"

Hotaru didn't respond. She didn't trust the words that would come out of

her mouth. Because the truth was that if His plans for Ukyou came apart now...

it would be over. It would just all be over. All this rotting flesh, all this

burning hunger, all this empty pain.

All the meaningless, excessive, juvenile sadistic struggle. All the

empty promises. All the lies and deceit. All the shattered dreams. All the empty

hopes. The wretched worthless struggle to just go on and on and on... with no

end, no reward. Ever.

It would just be over. It would be done with. He would scatter this

world like ash in the wind.

"You are trying to provoke me," Hotaru informed the thing. "It will not

succeed."

The girl-thing rose to her feet, stretching her arms to the side. And

she danced. Back and forth, swaying to a rhythym only she could hear and with no

discernible beat. "Imagine it, Hotaru, if it all just stopped."

Hotaru didn't reply. She could feel Him, distant now. He was busy. So

many things had come to a climax, so many threads of the tapestry he was weaving

coming together at once. He needed all His attention there. Hotaru could feel

the empty, angry pain of Paradox fill her like a gentle trickle as He tugged on

the strings of Fate and Chance. She realised this was why Kalia was talking to

her now.

Hotaru smiled, a thin and sad smile. "Say what you have to say. Your

time is almost up."

Kalia stopped and glared at her. Then she shrugged it off and smiled

herself, a smile devoid of sanity. "All this fighting, Hotaru. It's meaningless,

don't you agree?" Hotaru made a noise that might have been agreement. "If only

they knew. If only they knew that all their power, all their endless strength

and struggle, was just a game. If they knew how many times they failed, how many

mighty hero Ranmas had to die so that one of them could strike the final

dramatic blow. If they knew how many Nabikis had to go insane so one of them

could peek into the mind of another. If they knew how many lives were lost, over

and over and over again.

"They wouldn't want to play that game anymore, would they?"

"So that is the difference between you and them?" Hotaru mused. "They

have fooled themselves into thinking their struggle has meaning. You have fooled

yourself into thinking it does not."

Kalia blinked. Then she chuckled. "Touché." She floated back, curling

and uncurling her fingers in front of her hand. "I just want to play the game

too, in the end." Her white teeth flashed in the fading light. "I just want

someone to play with me. Why don't you play with me?"

"Because my purpose is here," Hotaru replied.

"Of course." Kalia laughed, a full blown body-shaking maniacal laugh.

"You are the end." She stopped abruptly and looked at Hotaru. "I... I guess I'll

just have to settle for being the Trigger of Destruction."

And with that, she was gone. Hotaru hadn't seen her leave. It was hard

to tell if she had ever even been there. Perhaps Hotaru had only seen what she

wanted to see. Something to distract her, for a few moments. To keep her from

looking out across the endless expanse of the world. To see what she saw now.

All the worlds stretched out before her. That was His gift to her. She

saw it all, all the many worlds. She saw all of the failures, all of the death

and misery and misfortune of all the people of the world. Every victory, every

triumph was so empty. There were so many ways that it failed, that everything

went wrong.

So Hotaru closed her eyes and leaned up against the mindless husk of

Dylek again. She was left alone at the edge of Oblivion. Alone with the silence,

and the dust and the gradual inexorable fading of the light.

She was so tired.

OoOoO

It couldn't end like this.

She wouldn't let it end like this.

Ukyou was surprised with how quickly she reacted. Her hands released the

Silence Glaive and latched onto Alucard's jaw. The needle-teeth had pierced her

neck, but not ripped it in two. She strained, barely holding the vampire at bay.

Even that was not enough to prevent his tongue from luridly slithering between

her fingers, licking away the blood oozing from her wounds.

Then she tried to ghost out, phasing up into the body of Pharaoh 90.

That would have saved her from any other vampire in this situation. But Alucard

was no ordinary vampire. With nothing more than a chuckle, he never even

loosened his deathgrip as he too sunk into the flesh of the planet-eater with

her.

Oh fuck, he could phase through matter?

"Of course I can, have you forgotten already?" Alucard's voice seemed to

whisper from right beside her ear.

"Get out of my mind!" Ukyou screamed. Alucard winced slightly, but

tightened his arms around her. They were falling deeper and deeper into the

planet now. There was no light here. No way to tell if they passed through solid

rock or vast caves within the behemoth. They were floating through empty

darkness. There was nothing there but each other.

"You know I can't do that," Alucard purred into her mind. His grip on

her neck tightened. She whimpered a bit as the teeth dug deeper into her. "You

said that together we could fight God?" He chuckled. "No, Ukyou. But I can hit

Him where it hurts. I can destroy you, and ruin everything He has made. I can

pay Him back for this world of misery and hate. I can make it right."

"Don't try and make this sound noble," Ukyou growl. She felt faint. He'd

managed to tag her artery, she realised. Not all the way, or she'd be dead

already. But she was bleeding out. "You're not doing this for anybody but

yourself. This is revenge."

"Perhaps it is," Alucard murmured. "But don't you deserve it?"

"Fuck you." Ukyou needed to think of something. She and Aaron were

struggling, trying to find some way out of this. But they needed every bit of

concentration, all the chi and magic they could summon to fight off Alucard's

implacable grip.

"You've said it yourself, Ukyou, or Aaron, or whatever you prefer to

think of yourself as," the vampire said lightly. His eyes flashed with

amusement. "You don't have what it takes to be God. That's what it would take to

defeat Him. To fight the Nameless, you must become Him. But you don't want that,

Ukyou. You've fought against it all your life, haven't you?"

It was impossible to tell where they were anymore. It was all darkness.

The vampire clung to her, pressing himself up against her obscenely. She felt

disgust and fear rising in her throat and the emotions only made Alucard laugh.

"Aaron, such a useless person. Never having the slightest hint of

ambition. He had an iron will to accomplish what he set out to do, but never any

goal worth accomplishing. And Ukyou, with so many noble goals. An entire future.

But never the will to do what was necessary. You erased yourself, erased the

girl Ukyou when you thought you had lost what you really wanted. When things got

tough, you crumbled. And then, when you found Ranma again, you gave up on even

your dreams of vengeance." He chuckled. "And him. You have nothing you wanted,

Ukyou. Where is your restaurant? What happened to your happy life with Ranma? Do

you even care about separating from Aaron anymore?"

She wanted to reply, but her vision was dimming. Her grip was slipping.

If she let go, he'd tear her throat out. She would die here, in the dark. Alone.

"No..." She groaned, and managed to push Alucard's fangs back. He

tightened his grip around her shoulder. Her bones felt like they were being

ground together. She pushed harder.

"Even now, you're not actually fighting FOR anything, are you?" Alucard

hissed into her mind. "Just mindless struggle against the darkness. You react to

this world. You make pretty speeches about how you've changed. How you've taken

your destiny into your own hands, but they are hollow and empty. You are empty.

Your life is a string of meaningless battles against great men and women."

Alucard's eyes narrowed. "Like Integra."

Ukyou's eyes narrowed. "So that's it... Alucard?" Aaron smiled. His

fingers began to dig into Alucard's jaws, pulling them back further. "That's the

truth."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is about vengeance too," Aaron said, his voice level. Somehow, he

and Ukyou were growing in strength. They were pushing Alucard back, inch by

inch. The vampire was clawing at their shoulders, trying to hold on. "But not

against the Nameless. This isn't about "God" at all. This is about you. This is

about the woman you dedicated your life to." Ukyou and Aaron screamed and gave

one last push, flinging Alucard back. "The woman I led to her death!"

"This has nothing to do with that!" Alucard snarled, and hurtled

through the darkness at them. Ukyou clutched her neck with one hand and leapt

upward. She wasn't certain what she was leaping off of, but it was there.

Alucard's fingers brushed against her heel, but then she was past him. In a

geyser of purple sparks she emerged atop the malevolent planet. Alucard oozed up

from the ground in front of her. He hissed.

"You talk a big game about being a monster, Alucard, but you're just as

human as the rest of us," Aaron continued.

"Please. You know what I'm capable of," Alucard said with a frown.

"What? All those flashy undead tricks?" Aaron chuckled. "It's just

power, Alucard. Anyone can have power. Ranma can run up a smooth wall of solid

ice, and he's still human. Nabiki can rearrange your brain like a Rubik's cube,

and she's still human. Pluto, Setsuna, can stop the flow of time itself... and

she is human, too."

"There is a difference between me and them!" Alucard roared and came in.

Aaron sensed his attacks before they even began. Ukyou danced between them. She

felt her power returning to her. All the energy drawn from the Third Circle hole

the Nameless had drilled into her was rejuvenating her.

"No, there isn't." Ukyou whispered she slipped past his guard, sliding

just to the side of his body and coming to a stop behind him. "You want to

believe there is. You revel in it. In your vampire nature. But that doesn't make

you not human. You kill and you rape and you turn everything you touch to ashes,

and that doesn't make you not human." Ukyou smirked, dodging another blow. "You

think there aren't human madmen?" Alucard just missed tagging her with a

haymaker. "You think there aren't thousands of people just like you in this

world?" She leapfroged over a clumsy charge. "Abusive husbands. Serial rapists.

Hatemongers and robber barons and war profiteers. You're just another version of

human scum."

"SHUT UP!" Alucard spun towards her, roaring and frothing.

Ukyou snapped her hand out and the Glaive appeared. She slipped

backward, her body bending so his grabbing hands brushed within inches of her

neck. Then she came to a stop behind him.

"In the end, Alucard, I don't need to fight for a high ideal," Ukyou

informed him. "I'm a human being. I fight for the things I hold precious to me,

just like you do." She rose to her feet. "You once said that only a real human

could defeat you in the end, and you were right. But you forgot about the human

in your own heart." She turned to face him. "It was that humanity that destroyed

you."

Alucard was dissolving. The slash had perfectly bisected him from crown

to sternum. He was turning to ash from the inside out, and the ash was being

carried away by the wind. "Well played," he gasped. "Remember that lesson. It is

the only thing that may save you from the Nameless..."

And then he was gone.

OoOoO

Tethys materialised and grabbed Fevrier from behind, holding her in a

full nelson. The eagle-winged woman screamed and struggled, trying to throw

herself at Gyro. The mad demon was laughing, his head thrown back. He was

exulting.

"Let me go!" Fevrier screamed, her voice hoarse. Tears flowed from her

eyes. "Let me GO!"

"You'll only get yourself killed," Tethys answered levelly. The hybrid

youma-martial artist was very powerful, much more than Tethys had actually hoped

for when she had begun experimenting with this process. But compared to Tethys,

she was still a mortal. She may as well have struggled against the bottomless

depths of the Pacific.

"It doesn't matter," Fevrier insisted through grit teeth. "I have to

HURT that bastard!"

"Your hatred only makes him stronger," Tethys advised.

"Then I hope he chokes on it!" Fevrier screamed.

"Come now, Queen of Darkness," Gyro said, beckoning with his sword. "Let

her fight me. The seconds it shall take me to end her misery will give the rest

of you a few more moments of life in this world." He howled in laughter. "It's

all you can hope for now."

Purgstall floated down beside the two of them. "Is there another plan?"

he asked.

"No," Tethys said grimly. "Mamoru's magic bullet is our only hope."

Purgstall glanced at her. She kept her expression grim and focused on

Gyro. She could only hope he picked up on the hint. She dared not say anything

else. Gyro was far too clever. Tethys had hoped that Io's telepathy could keep

them out of his reach, but there was no such luck. His powers were just too

great for any mere hybrid to defeat.

"Purgstall, we only have one chance left." Tethys continued to hold

Fevrier. "We need to kill Gyro in one blow. He must have no chance to survive.

You are the next most powerful being to me, and capable of generating more raw

power. Can you do it?"

"A bolt of that magnitude..." Purgstall nodded. "But there would be no

way for me to guide it. He could avoid it with ease."

"Don't worry about that." Tethys looked down at Fevrier. "I'll take care

of it when the time comes." She looked back. "You three," she said to a group of

hybrids, "take care of her."

She threw Fevrier at them. The huge green-clad man caught the winged

woman, holding her down. Everyone was here now, having come out of hiding. With

Gyro's display of power, everyone now knew hiding was futile. Good, they would

all get to see this.

Tethys refused to smile. It was time not only to win this battle, but

far more importantly, it was time to win the next as well.

Behind her she could feel Purgstall gathering up his power. The storm

around them would serve as a massive energy field for him. He stretched up his

hands, calling more and more lightning into the area. Soon the area was lit up

like noon. The air overhead was literally incandescent with the power Purgstall

was building up.

Tethys floated closer to Gyro, conjuring up another ice lance. She

floated up and to the side, putting herself between him and a crumbled piece of

what had once been a stadium. Gyro followed her, holding his corrupt black blade

at the ready.

"Your stubborn struggle begins to bore me," Gyro said with a needle-

toothed smile. "It is time to end this."

Tethys needed one last distraction. Something, anything, to hold his

attention for a fraction of a second. Then a miracle happened. Pharaoh 90

screamed.

It was a roar that rippled through the entire city. It tore into their

minds. It exploded across the entire Earth. Tethys flashed forward. Gyro had

looked up, just the slightest glance. It was enough. His sword snapped out,

parrying her ice lance with ease.

"Adrasteia, now!" Tethys screamed.

Behind her, a woman threw off a black cloak. Magic and mystic martial

arts combined had made her almost invisible. Her and the man she had grabbed out

of the path of danger at the very last second. Mamoru was already aiming.

The retort of his rifle going off was nothing compared to the scream

from overhead. Tethys felt the bullet flash through her shoulder. It tingled,

but did no real damage. Then it slammed into Gyro's forehead. Directly into his

zoacrystal.

He screamed as the crystal exploded out from his head in a fountain of

yellow and silver shards. "Purgstall!" Tethys roared, knocking Gyro's nerveless

hand away. She drove her lance into Gyro's chest.

Purgstall roared and unleashed the lighting. It came down, a bolt of

destruction worthy of Zeus or Thor, a single arc of electricity almost a hundred

meters across. Tethys stuck her hand up and into it.

Water conducts electricity, as she knew well.

The current surged through her, snapping down her arm, across her chest

and down her other arm. It flowed through her lance, right into Gyro. Right into

his dark beating heart. All the power of the storm, channelled all at once.

Gyro's mouth opened and light exploded out from it. His eyes shone from the

inside. The crater in his forehead sparked and surged. His body galvanised,

twitching like an insect pinned to the ground.

"No... this... this cannot be!" Gyro's voice roared out over the

explosion. Tethys could barely hear him. Her body couldn't take much more. The

lightning was ripping her apart. "I am... immortal! I am... invincible! I am a

law, unto myself!"

"All laws exist to be broken," Tethys managed to gasp, before letting

the last of the energy flash through her body. Gyro exploded. He simply ceased

to be, his body ripped apart. His form was swallowed up in the dreamstuff,

vanishing into chaos. Tethys grinned.

Then darkness took her.

OoOoO

Once upon a time...

That was how the story always started, wasn't it? Once upon a time,

there was a prince in an ancient castle. Once upon a time, there was a princess

on the moon. Once upon a time, there was a witch. Once upon a time, there was a

place where dreams came true. Once upon a time.

And for every once upon a time, there was supposed to be a happily ever

after. That was just how the story ended. Except it didn't, did it? Not really.

Usagi was mainly unconscious, but she was aware enough to know she was

dying. She had lost so much of herself. She had lost everything. How could she

continue on?

She had family, once upon a time. She had a father who worried too much

and mother who nagged too much. She had an annoying little brother who was

nothing but a pain. But she had sent them away, far across the sea. They would

be safe without her. She had protected them.

She had friends, once upon a time. Friends she loved with all her heart.

Friends she would have died for. Friends she would have given anything to keep

from hurting. She had listened to Akio, and driven them from her life. It was

for their own good. She had protected them.

She had dreamed she'd had love, once upon a time. He had been a man in a

mask, a man she still didn't even know the real face of. But that dream had

faded. She had found a new face. The devil's face. He had never once claimed she

could trust him. He had never asked to be saved. But she had set out to save

him, and his sister. She had thrown herself into his world knowing full well the

mistake she was making.

She just hadn't cared.

And so, she had lost everything.

Then someone had come for her. A golden knight. She couldn't see who it

was at first. She barely saw anything now. The world was dimming all around her.

But the knight had shown up just as the monsters had loomed large. The knight

had struck down the monsters and taken her into her arms.

It had been Minako.

Was this some dream? Was her mind conjuring this knight out of her own

guilty conscience? She had driven away Minako. She had tried to 'protect' her

like she had the others. And she had, in her arrogance, pushed away the voice

that was telling her to think. To look at herself and see what she was doing. To

look down at the void she was flying over, just waiting for gravity to catch her

and drag her down.

Her mind faded in and out. She was vaguely aware of being taken

somewhere. She could hear Minako's voice, catch bits and pieces of words. The

woman had sounded worried, sounded scared. But her words were comforting. She

was telling her it was going to be okay. She was going to live. She would

survive.

She saw the world they travelled through in brief flashes. She saw a

world in chaos. A world falling apart. She saw a wall of water descending

through the city. She saw the sky burn like fire. She saw green light swirling

madly above them. And, just as they had approached the city, she had seen

something coming down from that sky. Like a massive eye, the eye of God...

Then she had faded away. She was aware that something important was

happening, something she should be awake for. But she had no strength. She was

spent. For an agonising moment pain had spiked through the numbness that had

settled over her. She felt arms tighten around her. She heard people scream her

name.

Then the pain had faded, and the numbness returned. But now, now she

could see a bit. She was aware a little bit. She was being held gently. Someone

was crying, their hot tears falling onto her cheeks. She wanted to comfort them.

She wanted to take away their pain.

Except that wasn't the way it worked. There was no happily ever after.

There was no magic princess who could make everything right. She had been a fool

to believe that.

And many, many kilometers away, she felt herself die. She gasped, her

back arching. It felt like the bullet had smashed through her own chest. She

felt the Ginzuishou, the almighty Silver Crystal, shatter. And somehow she knew

that he was responsible. The man in the mask she had once loved had killed her.

She smiled. She wanted to thank him.

"USAGI!" a voice screamed.

"I can save her." It was Akio's voice. She recognised that voice. She

would recognise that voice forever. It had burned into her mind. It was like the

smell of him, the touch of his warm flesh, the colour of his eyes... it was him.

It was all part of him. "If you let me do this, I can save her."

She wanted to hate him, but found she was incapable. She was dead. She

knew she was dead. Something held her here. But it wouldn't for long. She was

going to fade away. No force under heaven could hold her here forever.

She wanted to hate him, but knew she never could. Perhaps it just wasn't

a part of her. Even now, with the world ending, with everything being lost

because of her arrogance and his ambition. Even now, she couldn't hate him. She

needed to make things right.

She was dying. There was nothing she could do. She had fallen. Akio held

her sword. Her Star Seed had been shattered. She was gone. There was no magic.

There was no salvation. God would not save her. He wanted her destroyed. She

didn't know how she knew that, but she knew. Perhaps now, as she was floating at

the edge of death, she could finally begin to see the truth.

She saw it all. Stretching out back so many years. She saw the all, the

Oversoul. She saw it stretching back and back, forever and ever back before the

beginning of time. From it, all the souls came. Every life, every mind was born

of it. And of it, all things returned. Each child, each world, each universe was

born of the Oversoul and to it they would always return.

And there was a sickness in it. A darkness, an emptiness. Like a cancer

it ate away. Paradox. When a soul failed to return to the Oversoul, it became a

part of the sickness. It was ripped free of the all, and became nothing but

emptiness and hate. It struck out, finding more and more victims and dragging

them with it.

Except one. It hid. It hid outside the Oversoul, outside the universes.

It was too large to fit inside anymore. It had grown too huge. Its endless

infinity was beyond comprehension. It could not touch the Oversoul, because its

touch was too large. If it did, the Paradox would find it. It would make it

suffer. It would drag it down into darkness.

It sat apart from all the worlds. It looked upon all that was, and it

desired. It wanted in, but it could never achieve that desire. It was too huge.

Its very presence would tear everything apart. So it searched, and it searched,

looking for that right combination... that impossible combination...

Usagi's eyes snapped open. She gasped. Minako looked down at her.

"Usagi...?" her voice was choked with pain.

"Minako... I'm so sorry..." Usagi moaned.

"She's awake..." Akio mused. "It's no matter. Her fate is sealed." The

fallen prince moved slightly. "Hate me if you will for what I did to her, for

what I let her do to herself, but you have to realise that I am her only hope."

"We won't let you win, you bastard!"

Was that Ami? It was. And Makoto, too. They stood proud, in the Senshi

uniforms once more. Rei, Sailor Mars, stood with them. They stood between Akio

and the Rose Gate.

Always the gate. The symbol of that which was beyond. The final barrier.

Now Usagi had seen beyond it. She had seen what was on the other side. And it

was great and awesome. It was terrible and hungry. There was no salvation beyond

the Rose Gate.

"You have no more time, girls," Akio told them. "Anthy, let them see the

world." Usagi only noticed the cyclone of swords as it vanished. The Swords of

Hate slowly faded, one by one, to reveal the world.

It was terrible.

Above them loomed a monstrous thing. A planet, massive beyond all

meaning of the word. It spread from horizon to horizon, curving gently up and

away from them. Great tendrils, thick and grey, swirled from its titanic form.

Usagi could see one of them where it had smashed into the Earth in the near

distance. It was like someone had smashed a mountain into the world, cracking

the crust of the planet. Storms raged. Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. Great

cyclones tore at the land. The ground began to quake.

And all around them, for as far as the eye could see, was devastation.

It took Usagi a moment to realise they were back in Ohtori, because Ohtori was

all but gone. The buildings that had not been shattered by the storm had been

rent apart by the earthquakes. The people that had not died in the cataclysm,

had died in the chaos that flowed through the world.

"This is your last chance, Sailor Senshi," Akio said. "This is

Armaggeddon. This is the end! This is what God wants! This is His judgement!" He

pointed the sword he had taken at the planet. "There is no saving the world from

this. It will rip this planet apart. Already Japan is no more. Every living soul

on the islands is dead, save for us and a few desperate people crouched in the

ruins of Tokyo waiting for the end. And the devastation grows. Tidal waves.

Earthquakes. Storms like you have never imagined. The very life force of the

planet, vanishing drop by drop.

"There is no-one who can save you!" Akio brought his sword down swiftly.

"Except me. I was once God. I can be so again. Step aside and let me go to the

Rose Gate." He held out his hand imploringly. "I will become God, and I will

fight Him. I am not just the best choice, I am the only choice. I know what it

means to be God. I can fight Him on His own terms. I can WIN! Give your hope to

me! I will save us ALL!"

The world suddenly shifted. A great crack shattered across the ground,

as if to punctuate his words. Minako screamed and lost her grip on Usagi as the

world shattered all around them. Only the Rose Gate was unaffected. Usagi landed

hard against the rock.

"Save humanity! Save yourselves! Save Usagi!" Akio yelled over the roar

of the wind. Lightning crashed down nearby, sending up a geyser of dirt. "But do

it now!"

"Damn you..." Minako snarled. She looked down at Usagi. "No. I won't do

it."

"That's God talking-"

"SHUT UP!" Minako screamed. "I won't let you win, Akio!"

"Even if it means dooming the entire world?"

"I don't believe that, I can't believe that!" Minako rose to her feet.

"I will not surrender, not even in the face of Oblivion! Because I have hope,

Akio. Hope. It's all we have to fight this, and I refuse to surrender as long as

I have it!"

"Hope..." Rei murmured. Then, more forcefully, "We still have hope!

While there is fire in my heart, we have hope."

"While there is breath in my lungs, there is hope," Makoto added.

"While there is blood beating in my veins, there is hope," Ami added.

Usagi's hand reached out. She had no strength, but she had hope. That

was what she had surrendered, she realised. What she had let Akio take from her.

She had believed so much, so much that she could save the world, that she had

lost hope. She had know that she could save the world, so there was no reason to

hope for it. And without the need for it, she had forgotten how to do it.

But now she knew.

"Akio..." Usagi climbed, unsteadily, to her feet. "There is still hope."

Akio's eyes widened. She heard her comrades... no, her friends, her good

and true friends, she heard them gasp in shock. Luna stared at her. Anthy

stepped back, her expression stunned.

"No..." Akio murmured. "How can you...?"

"Have you forgotten, Akio?" Usagi asked, her voice sad. "What it is to

hope?" She staggered forward. But there was something she was reaching. She

could feel God. She could feel His anger.

The storm ripped through the arena. The earth in front of her cracked.

Lightning struck less than a meter away. Makoto gasped and made to run for her,

but Rei and Ami held her back. Usagi kept walking.

"And Anthy, I'm so sorry..." She looked at the girl. "I thought you

needed saving. But I was wrong. You always had it in you to save yourself." She

started towards the girl. "Can you forgive me, for my arrogance? For thinking

that I could fix you?" She chuckled. "Because I can't give you hope, Anthy.

That's something you have to give yourself. Neither me, nor God, nor Akio can

take that away. No amount of torment or punishment can take it away. While you

still live, there is hope."

"No... that isn't true..." Anthy murmured. She was holding a sword. The

sword of Paradox. It was her burden, the one she had accepted willingly to save

her brother. The one that could never be taken from her, the torment that would

continue eternally, no matter what.

She knew that to be true.

But she had hope.

Behind her Usagi heard a loud crack. Akio gave out a strangled gasp.

"The Gate!" Rei shouted. Usagi didn't look behind her, she just kept walking

towards Anthy. With each step, there was another crack.

"NO!" Akio screamed. He pulled back his hand and cast away the sword. He

threw it into a crack into the earth. It fell and fell, vanishing into a rising

pool of steaming magma.

But Usagi didn't stop. It was like the world was opening up before her.

She could see it all, see how it all connected. She understood. And she knew

that, in the end, it was meaningless. That even this final epiphany was useless,

because in the end she would just start the cycle again.

She could feel the Paradox building. Every step she took. Every crack

that formed in the Rose Gate. Every word she said. She was defying everything

now, and the Paradox would come. It always came. That was the price of the

ultimate power. The price of being God, even for just a moment.

She reached Anthy, and her hands wrapped around the girl's wrists. She

looked into the Rose Bride's shaking green eyes. "You never really lost hope,

Anthy. You have always had it inside you." Usagi smiled. "You hope that Akio

will one day smile at you, and mean it. You hope that one day, he will love you

again." Anthy just stood there, stunned into silence.

"But he doesn't, does he?" Usagi asked. Anthy nodded mutely. "But that

hasn't stopped you from hoping. That hasn't stopped that secret part of your

heart. You hid it away, because it hurt too much, more than any torture. But you

could never get rid of it entirely. Because a person without hope can never

truly be hurt. Isn't that right?" Anthy nodded again, and as she did her eyes

began to water. Tears leaked down her cheeks.

"You don't have to punish yourself anymore, Anthy," Usagi told her. She

could hear them coming now. The Swords of Hate. The Rose Gate gave one final

great crack, then it shattered, falling in a cloud of dust. Every grain of dust,

every tiny bit of it, became a sword. They swooped up and around, streaming

through the broken sky towards Usagi. "Let yourself feel hope."

Anthy looked up at the swords. They paused, hanging in mid-air. Their

tips seemed to quiver, shifting minusculely. It was like they couldn't make a

decision. Usagi ran her fingers up until she was clutching Anthy's hand, the one

wrapped around the sword she carried.

"Believe."

Anthy let go.

The swords came down like rain. Usagi didn't scream out as the first

buried itself in her shoulder. Nor did she cry out when the next pierced her

hip. She turned and started to walk. The swords came and came. She heard Anthy

fall back.

"No... USAGI!" Anthy screamed. "What have you done?"

"Nothing," Usagi replied, her words clipped. They just kept coming. She

could feel each of them slide into her. She could feel her body being torn to

shreds. She kept walking.

"Usagi, no, don't do it!" Minako called out. "You don't have to do this!

This isn't what I wanted!"

"Usagi!" Rei cried, tears falling from her eyes.

Makoto could not force herself to look. Ami choked, falling to her

knees. Usagi kept walking.

Akio waited for her. Where could he run? He looked down into her eyes.

"You have come to punish me?" he said, softly.

"No, Akio." Usagi staggered towards him. She could barely walk now. The

pain was intense. She had no idea. She had taken it all. All the Paradox, all

the centuries of torment. She had just taken it away from Anthy. But it had to

go somewhere. Paradox refused to be destroyed. It just kept building. There was

no escape from it.

But she had hope.

"I just wanted to hold you, one last time..." she murmured. She wanted

to hate him, but she could not. She fell forward, and he caught her. There was

still enough of the Prince in him to do that. "I... love... you..." she gasped

out.

"Usagi..." He turned his head away. "You aren't going to kill me?"

"No..." She gasped. "But Anthy has lost her powers now, Akio." She

smiled. "She has lost the Paradox. I took it from her. You are no longer

eternal. It's over, Akio. I can't save you, but I can give you one last chance

to save yourself. Find hope, Akio. Please, for me..."

Usagi gave one last breath. Then her body dissolved, until there was

nothing but a vague shadow among the swords. Then the swords themselves

vanished, one by one. Then there was nothing.

OoOoO

Akira entered the castle last. She was walking on autopilot. She was

drifting. Her heart was racing so fast, she could barely hear the individual

beats. But outside she was calm, collected. She moved simply and easily.

There was pain, of course. Ukyou was still fighting, still drawing upon

the Third Circle. The Paradox felt like every torture ever imagined, all at

once. She felt like her skin was being flayed off. She felt like her intestines

were burning. She felt like her bones had shattered and her blood had turned to

glass. Her lungs breathed in acid and her eyes were being stabbed through with

sharp needles.

But for some reason, it didn't seem to be affecting her as much as it

should have. She should have been on the ground, wailing. But instead she was

walking, following Ranma and the Quartet into the core of the beast. It was like

her mind had a certain capacity to experience pain and it had simply been pushed

beyond that. She felt oddly detached. Like the pain was happening to somebody

else.

For the moment, she was thankful.

Neherenia was waiting for them. She sat on a throne of brass crow wings,

curtains of spidersilk waving around her. She was beautiful, in a horrific sort

of way. She had long black hair that shone with blue highlights, and a face of

sculpted artificial flawlessness. Her indigo eyes were slitted and her ears were

leaf-shaped. On her forehead was a trio of crescents, arranged in a triangle.

One of them was gold, another silver and the third black as pitch. She wore a

gown cut low on her chest and sat with a relaxed sensuality that made Akira

pause.

Then she realised that Neherenia was not sitting. Her arm was not

draped across the arm of her chair, it grew from it. Her feet were not touching

the floor, but fused into it. Her hair was not wavering in the half-light, it

was the air itself, thick and blue-black. If you looked carefully, you saw past

the illusion.

Neherenia was not there. Or more accurately, she was not only there. She

was also in the air, in the floor, in the walls and the ceiling and every other

part of this place. What sat on that throne was no more Neherenia than Akira was

her spinal cord.

"Our Amazoness Quartet, you have returned to us." Neherenia voice echoed

strangely. It had an oddly baritone echo to it, considering her voice was high

and sharp, like a blade raised to strike. "We have hoped this day would come."

"Mistress Neherenia..." the red-head, VesVes, said softly.

"You look terrible!" PallaPalla said. The other three gaped at her.

Neherenia's eyes fixed on the blue-haired girl. "It's like you're not even there

anymore," the girl continued despite her sisters' frantic attempts to motion her

to silence. "You used to be beautiful and creepy and interesting. Now you're

just creepy."

Neherenia's lips twitched upward. "In our old life, we would have

destroyed you for that." Akira noticed that her voice did not exactly sync up

with her lips. "But we have moved beyond an empty quest for beauty, child."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma stepped forward, rubbing the back of his neck.

"This is the part where you tell us your sob story about how you've been trapped

in Oblivion for seven years and you've been driven insane and now you want to

destroy the world in the name of some bullshit or other and blah blah blah..."

He shrugged. "Can we just skip to the part where we kick your ass and save the

world?"

Neherenia frowned and gestured imperiously. Ranma slid sideways as a

bolt of darkness erupted from a nearby shadow. It left a crater in the ground he

had been standing on. "I'll take that as 'yes'," Ranma said with a grin.

The boy leapt forward, arcing through the air. Akira briefly considered

joining him, but something held her back. Earlier, when they had been arguing,

she had just gone with her first instinct. This time, she felt like she should

wait, so she did.

To call it a battle would have been an exaggeration. Ranma dashed across

the room, avoiding a barrage of bolts. He reached Neherenia in the time it took

for Akira to blink. He roared and unleashed a punch, putting all his energy

behind it. There was a blue flash as his fist connected with the woman's skull.

She exploded.

Ranma stood in the centre of a meter-deep crater, breathing heavily. He

looked around warily. The Quartet shifted nervously.

"Do you think a fist alone is strong enough to defeat us?" Neherenia's

voice, with its peculiar feminine/masculine quality, echoed across the chamber.

"I am this world. It is me and I am it. When Oblivion consumed us, we came

together in our pain. There is nothing your mortal strength can do to hurt us."

"Worth a shot," Ranma said with a shrug. Then he skipped backwards as

another bolt of darkness leapt from the shadows. "I don't suppose you're one of

those villains insane enough to tell us your one true weakness, are you?"

The voice laughed. "We cannot be killed, Ranma Saotome," it purred.

"Seven years ago, weakened by the battle between the two parts of ourself, we

were overcome by Oblivion.

"Were we mortal beings like yourself, that would have been the end of

us, but it was not." The voice chuckled again. "We had ties to the outside

world. Even dragged down deep in the depths of that hellish nothingness, there

was something we could cling to."

"The Amazon Stones," the green haired girl, JunJun, said slowly.

"Clever girl." Neherenia faded out of a wall nearby. Ranma glanced at

her, his fingers flexing. He made no move to attack. "Long ago, when I-that-is-

Neherenia discovered you four, she gave you four magic stones. With those

stones, you could do magic. But through those stones I-that-is-Neherenia could

feed. Your beautiful dreams... so bright and powerful, were like fine wine. I-

that-is-Neherenia could glut on them and grow strong, and all you lost was your

age. You would forever stay the children you are, never growing or maturing in

mind or body. An even trade, you would have said."

"Is that why you brought us here?" JunJun asked. "You want our

life force?"

The Neherenia shaped thing smiled. "No, child. What need have we of your

small life force?" Then her eyes narrowed. "In fact, I curse you all for what

you have given us."

"What?" CereCere, the pink-haired one, sounded shocked. "But we... we

saved your life!"

"You have no idea, NO IDEA!" The room shook enough that Akira was forced

to alter her footing. "We were consumed by Oblivion, but we could not be lost in

it. The ties to your life force were too strong, your happiness too bright to be

lost entirely. So we were forced to live, always on the cusp of death, never

able to cross over. Seven years of existing as something-which-is-not!" She

reached a grasping hand towards the Quartet. "We called you here, so we could

destroy you personally. So that our nightmare of being one-who-is-both can end!"

Akira watched as the woman unleashed a bolt of power. It was a thousand

times stronger, a thousand times faster than anything she had used against

Ranma. The Amazoness Quartet didn't stand a chance. They were caught in the

blast, vapourised instantly, screaming their last...

Or that's what would have happened, had Akira not stepped between them.

She lowered her arms. The leather of her coat had been burned away by the

attack. The flesh was raw and bleeding underneath. But it was only pain. She

realised dimly that if she had gone with Ranma, she never would have been able

to intervene.

"Akira Kazama..." Neherenia murmured. "I see now that you truly are the

fetich soul."

"Akira, are you okay?" Ranma said, appearing beside her.

"I'll live," Akira informed him. She laughed a little and waved her arms

a bit. Blood spattered on the floor. Ranma looked at her. His expression was

strange. He seemed... frightened. He couldn't be afraid of Neherenia, could he?

"And Ranma Saotome," Neherenia said. "Two out of three." She smiled.

"Did you wonder why I let you two, of all those who came to visit, actually see

me?"

"I figured it's because you're insane," Ranma murmured. Akira chuckled.

"Because you are two of the three people in this world that Ukyou cares

about most." Neherenia held up her hand. The flesh seemed to ripple. It was the

air around it, and it wasn't as well. Akira felt her focus narrowing. At the

same time, she could see more things than ever. "Ukyou, who created the Well of

the Void, who created the sickening cancer of Oblivion. When she tore apart the

Destiny of Mamoru Chiba, her actions affected all the worlds. It was she who

destroyed the we-that-was." Her eyes flashed. "And you will suffer. She is

beyond my power, but you are not."

Akira turned back to the Amazoness Quartet. "So long as you carry those

stones, Neherenia can not truly die." She turned back to the woman-thing. "I

won't let you do anything to hurt us."

She started forward. Her heart was thudding in her chest. She could feel

the Paradox all around her. It was flooding her. It was ripping her apart. She

choked on it. She drowned in it. Neherenia backed up a step.

"You can not stop me," Neherenia warned. "You are still just a fetich

soul. Nothing but a repository for pain and misery."

"You're right." Akira felt her face splitting into a manic smile. "Allow

me to share that with you."

She ran across the room, hands trailing behind her. Neherenia threw her

hand up and the world was full of black lightning. It smashed into and through

Akira, ripping out her torso and blowing her into ash... or it would have, had

Akira not slipped sideways at the last moment. Neherenia began to vanish,

escaping back into the nebulous darkness. But that didn't happen. Instead, Akira

managed to leap up and behind her. Her hand snapped firm around the woman's

throat.

"How...?" Neherenia gasped as Akira put a bit of pressure on her grip.

Akira pulled her tighter. She was warm. Her body was close to female perfection.

Akira enjoyed the feeling of the struggling body against hers.

"I can see you," Akira whispered into her ear.

"W-what... what are you!?" Neherenia screamed.

"I can make you die."

Across the room there was a shared scream of frustration, then a series

of cracks. Like glass shattering against the floor. Akira twisted her hand once,

sharply. Neherenia could have survived any number of ways. She could have simply

dissolved her body, like she did against Ranma's attack. She could have ignored

the injury. Her body was the planet, and breaking this small part would be like

destroying a single brain cell to a human. She could have thrown Akira off. She

could have made her neck so hard Akira could not possibly have snapped it. She

could have done a thousand things.

But instead, her neck snapped like a twig. Neherenia died. Pharaoh 90

died with her. Akira giggled, like a child devoid of innocence.

OoOoO

"Really, I have to hand it to her. I certainly underestimated Tethys. I

suppose my only consolation is that I'm not alone in having done that." Chris

shook His head, a slight smile playing on His lips. "I almost want to see if she

can pull it off and live through the day. Of course, if she doesn't, neither

will much of anyone else on the planet."

"And if she does pull it off?" Akane's voice was terse, barely

controlled. Her hands had clenched so hard while watching the destruction that

had befallen Japan that her nails had bitten into her palms. She didn't seem to

have noticed. "What then?"

"Why, what she's wanted all along," Chris replied with a shrug. "It's

really quite clever. Her pet vampire kept the official American presence away,

and can't be traced to Tethys since she's been in an iceberg for the last five

years. Zoalord Purgstall played a large role in her victory, but Chronos'

deliberate inaction here and inability to protect Japan will have tainted their

public relations. Tethys is more than just a winner of the fight - now, she's

the undisputed saviour of the world." He tapped His cheek thoughtfully. "And

she's also now created a great army, one that fought under her command and are

permanently tied to her through their very souls. Most of them will eventually

join her. Her good public image is now unassailable; the Americans will have to

moderate their stance on her or be seen as petty as well as ineffectual.

Shadowloo is already her ally, and no other significant power is actively

hostile to her except the Vatican, who are similarly petty and ineffectual. If

she lives through today, many will flock to her banner. She'll make them all

immortal like she and her servants, and wait." He chuckled lightly. "That's the

beauty of her position, I suppose. She can take all the time she wants to take

over the world."

"She sounds just like you," Akane said. Her voice was not so much

hostile as suddenly tired.

"If you fancy all of humanity being turned into a weapon for her

personal revenge against Chaos, yes," Chris said. "She's not interested in

empowering humanity, Akane. She's going to use you, not free you."

A long silence fell after His statement. Angel shifted her feet

uncomfortably. She still had no idea why Chris had abruptly summoned her. When

she had arrived, the climax of the great battle against Gyro and Pharaoh 90 had

been occuring. She, like Akane and Chris, had just watched. Angel couldn't help

but feel a bit of jubilation. She'd watched everyone fight, from Ukyou to Ranma

to Akira to the revived Rose to V - although a few minutes ago, the battles at

Ohtori and Pharaoh 90 had abruptly vanished from Chris's observations. Chris had

blinked at that, then shrugged it off.

But what everyone had done in Tokyo... it had taken Angel's breath away.

She'd seen plenty of battles and been in a few herself, but nothing like that.

She wished that, somehow, she could have been down there.

Of course, that wasn't possible. That battle was for the heroes. It

wasn't Angel's duty to participate. That didn't stop her from wanting to cheer

when they finally wiped out that bastard Gyro, though.

"You shouldn't be so happy, Angel," Chris said.

Angel blinked. "Wh-what?"

"Certainly it was a great victory. But look at how many died to achieve

it. The people Gyro killed. The people Tethys drowned or let die. The people of

Japan. I don't think they're so happy, do you?"

Angel stared, and then suddenly remembered that Chris could now listen

in on her thoughts as if she were shouting them. But then, hadn't she been

taught in childhood that her most private thoughts were an open book to God? She

felt her face flush. "I'm sorry! I know that was terrible..."

Her words drifted off, as Chris had already turned back to Akane. "I

know you're horrified about what happened, Akane. This is exactly why I am doing

what I'm doing. Certainly, the theoretical good guys have won for now, but your

home country and much of the Middle East are devastated. Entire countries gone

in moments. And the day is not over. Arkanphel is still watching. Galaxia will

come. This was just the prelude. You see, Akane, why Ukyou is wrong? Maybe she

and her friends will survive, but there's no guarantee for the rest of humanity,

is there? They're not ready to handle this yet. They need time. And not Ukyou,

and not Tethys, can give them that time."

Akane refused to meet his gaze. She turned her head away from him, her

face draining of colour. Her eyes squeezed shut as her jaw clenched tight. Her

entire body was trembling. Angel could tell the woman wanted to do something,

anything. But she was controlling herself. Tightly. Then, with a suddenness that

startled her, Akane seemed to deflate. Her shoulders slumped. Now she just

looked tired again. She was shaking her head softly, but saying nothing.

Chris continued looking at her for a moment, then sighed. "I can see you

need more time as well. Well, Angel is here, like you asked-"

"Like SHE asked?" Angel blurted.

Chris smiled a bit at her. "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't explain when you

arrived. Akane wants to speak with you about me before she makes her decision."

Angel stared at Akane, but the older woman wasn't looking at her,

either. She was just staring at the crystal wall. Maybe at the ravaged remains

of Japan that were still shown on several panels, maybe out into space. It was

hard to tell.

"I suppose I should let her, as time is growing short," Chris noted.

"Don't worry, I won't listen in on you two. I'm going to be in my private

chamber." He paused, glancing at the crystal screen. "But hurry, Akane. I'm

going to come back when Galaxia arrives. I'm not certain the planet can survive

her."

"What will you do?" Akane said suddenly. She still wasn't looking at

Him.

"Excuse me?"

"What will you do, if I decide to go along?"

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you want, Akane. I'm prepared to be

flexible here. This is so big a tragedy it's rather disheartening rather than

empowering, I think. So if you want, I'll change it. I'll send you to stop Gyro

before he takes the Silver Crystal. There will be no battle. Neither Japan nor

the Middle East will suffer devastation. Gyro will be defeated, and you can do

it rather than Tethys. Then, when Galaxia or Arkanphel come, you can defeat

them. Or somebody else, if you think someone else is trustworthy enough to bear

that responsibility..."

"You could do that?" Angel said slowly. "Just like that?"

"Of course I can," Chris replied. "Just like in the City of Black Ice.

'Time' is really just a word, when you get down to it. Just a limit. But I don't

have limits unless I want to, Angel. That's the difference between me and

everyone else."

"All right, Chris, you've made your point," Akane said, finally turning

around. "But I still want to talk to Angel."

Chris nodded. "Very well. But when Galaxia arrives, I'm going to act.

With or without you. I might be able to fix everything when she destroys Earth,

but it'll be considerably trickier than fixing this. I'm going to stop her

before she has a chance. And I think you want to make sure you're part of the

process when I decide who's going to get to stop her." When Akane said nothing,

Chris glanced at Angel. "So tell her whatever she wants to know, Angel. I'll see

you both soon."

And then He was gone.

To Be Continued...

Epsilon: Hey there! Welcome back after our one month hiatus!

Blade: Which would have had SOMETHING to tide you over if SOMEBODY had actually

done the work they PROMISED they would do.

Epsilon: (sweats) I hope you enjoyed this, the longest ever Hybrid Theory

chapter! Or, uh, "half" a chapter.

Blade: I'm sure they WILL, since they WON'T enjoy the THING that was SUPPOSED to

come out LAST month.

Epsilon: (more sweat) And hey, this chapter puts us well over one million words,

making us, I believe the longest running fanfic on all of The longest running story on that is certainly an

ACHIEVEMENT.

Epsilon: Uh... are you feeling okay? That is actually an achievement.

Blade: I KNOW, but I can't STOP.

Epsilon: ...

Blade: ANYWAY, there's no PREVIEW this MONTH. This is because EVERYTHING WOULD

BE MASSIVE SPOILERS.

Epsilon: Yep, it's certainly not because the length of this monstrosity means

we're scrambling to catch up even after a month off and don't have enough to do

a preview with yet!

Blade: (GLARE)

Epsilon: (SWEAT)

Blade: SEE you next MONTH.

Epsilon: Or not! Anything can happen here at C&A Productions, after all!

Especially laziness!

OoOoO

Hybrid Theory Chapter 29: Faint


	30. Faint A Side

Wow! So, it's been a while, huh? My name's Shingo Tsukino, by the way. I'm

certain you've heard of me. I assure you, everything you've heard about me is a

pack of lies. Unless you're cool with it, then it's all true. heh, just kidding.

Anyway, this isn't about me, this is about me letting you guys know what

happened. So...

Everybody fought each other.

A lot.

For one hundred and thirty thousand words.

I don't think I've even read one hundred and thirty thousand words, put

together, in the last seven years. I mean, sweet merciful gods, these guys need

to learn brevity. Look, I'll show them how it's done. So here we have the

entirety of Chapter 28 of Hybrid Theory, Reanimation... Shingo Style!

Akane angsts. Chris is in a tube. Washuu is a bitch. Kalia is fucking crazy.

Angel kills Washuu. Chris might be god! Or not!

Usagi fights Gyro. Gets owned. Yeah, whatever.

Akio is an asshole. Like, really. I'm totally going to punch his face in for

what he did to sis.

Gyro causes, like, massive propety damage. Massive. Everybody goes to fight him.

I mean everybody. Some guy who appeared for like three pages ten chapters ago?

He fights Gyro.

Gyro summons giant tentacle-rape planet from... uh, place that might or might

not be the soul of everyone.

Ukyou fights Alucard. She kills him.

Everyone fights Gyro. They kill him.

Everyone fights the giant tentacle monster planet. They kill it.

See, was that so hard?

Fucking writers, man. I just don't understand 'em. Anybody have a beer?

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 29: Faint

"Momiji, I have to go."

She wasn't looking at him. Kusanagi grimaced and walked to stand by her.

"It's not over yet. Maybe that bastard Gyro's dead, but..." he trailed off, not

willing to look up at the monstrosity overhead. "I have to go. We've gotta beat

this thing somehow."

"They're all dead," Momiji said softly. She still hadn't looked at him.

"Who?"

"The people of Japan." She clutched at her chest, where beneath her

shirt the mitama, the soul of a plant creature inextricably linked with the soil

of Japan, was buried. "I felt them dying. All through the fight. Japan itself

was ripped apart, I felt it."

She had three souls in her now, Kusanagi suddenly realised. An aragami,

a human, a youma.

She finally turned to him. Her skin had turned the colour of the first

pale spring grass, and her hair had become longer, the locks tipped with lilies,

marigolds and lilacs. Her eyes were narrower, and the whites had turned a

dark fern-green. But as he looked into those eyes, he knew she was still the

same Momiji he'd come to love. No matter how many souls were in there with her.

"I know how you feel," she said. "But you know there's nothing you can

do, Kusanagi."

He gritted his teeth, and now he did look up. The giant floating planet

above had become quiescent, its enormous cyclopean eye seeming almost to look

inward at some amusement. The great tendrils that had smashed Japan now moved

only idly. Small comfort.

Kusanagi could see the others, around him. The survivors of the battle

with Gyro. They were gathered in twos and threes, youma-hybrids and a couple of

martial artists who had refused or not needed the bargain, coupled with a few

stranger creatures that had apparently been serving Tethys. Of the queen

herself, there was no sign. She'd vanished somewhere after Gyro had exploded.

Not that he blamed her, really, but he couldn't help resenting it. They all

needed that kind of power. Of course, against the impossible bulk of the

monstrosity above, even the Dark Queen looked small.

"Yeah, I know," he finally said. "But I want to do something anyway." He

wasn't alone. Slowly, the remnants of the army were gathering to fight the next

battle. He saw a few of the more alert and authoritative people talking to

others, gathering the ones that couldn't fly near others that looked like they

could carry them.

It was a joke, of course. What could any of them do against something

like that? They'd all seen when Tethys had hurled Gyro's blast into the thing's

eye. It had screamed, sure. But it hadn't been HURT, even after taking the best

Gyro could dish out. True, somebody, somehow, had cut off one of those huge

tentacles. But whoever or whatever had done that, they didn't seem to be around

now.

It was hopeless. Ludicrous. The tattered remnants of Tethys' army would

be lucky if they could even get its attention.

But what could you do, but fight?

"I guess I know how you feel now, Momiji," he said with a rueful grin.

"I guess I gotta apologise. I really don't want to do the sensible thing and run

away no matter how much sense it makes. I'm gonna go fight that thing. So I

guess if you and, uh... whatshername..."

"Meliai," Momiji said, and she smiled a bit too. "She's saying I should

stop feeling so sorry for myself. She also wants us to, uh..." She laughed a bit

nervously, her face colouring. "Run off and celebrate. She says she wants to

know what it's like."

"She can wait," Kusanagi growled. He wasn't happy about that situation,

at all. But what could he do? All his protests weren't enough to stop Momiji

from jumping at the offer to merge with one of Tethys' servants. She'd wanted to

help. She wanted to DO something. Kusanagi understood, but that didn't make him

any happier about it. The youma had said it was irreversible, but he'd see about

that. He just bet the Dark Queen could do it if she really wanted to. He'd just

have to persuade her. He heard she didn't like electricity. "Anyway, if you

and... Meliai want to come along, you can."

"No, doing that would be pointless," Momiji said, and laughed a little

again, though there wasn't much humour in it. She looked around at the ruins of

Tokyo. The water was receding now, but still about ankle-deep. Chunks of debris

floated around them. Thankfully, the sheer force of the water had rendered the

millions of bodies mostly unrecognisable. "I guess it's strange that it's only

now that I've figured that out. I remember Mr. Kunikida talking about how he was

scared normal people were going to become sideshows, how they would never be

able to even control their own lives anymore."

"So... what are you going to do?" Kusanagi asked quietly. For a moment,

he wanted her to agree with Meliai, to give them an excuse to run, away from

this doomed struggle, away to somewhere safe and far away. He clenched his fist

until his nails bit into his palm. That was a selfish thought. Plenty of good

people had given up their lives fighting. Old man Kunikida. That loud-mouthed

gun freak Koume. Even Matsudaira. He wasn't going to let down their memories by

running away. Besides, where was 'safe' if that thing wasn't stopped?

"No," Momiji said, shaking her head. "You don't get it. Mr. Kunikida was

wrong. You remember when Akane told us how he died? He saved Akane from Ms.

Matsudaira, and he saved Ms. Matsudaira from herself. He made a difference. He

saved Akane and Matsudaira, and they helped save the world. One ordinary man

helped save the world." She turned back to him again, and her eyes were clear

and determined. "Maybe we can't fight directly. Maybe you can't just blast or

punch it. But we can do something if we work together. All of us." She stood up.

"I think I have an idea. We need to find-"

Kusanagi had been about to interrupt, to ask what this idea was before

she went running off. But then suddenly, far above, they heard the scream. It

was greater than any mere voice. It surrounded them, enveloped them, ringing

inside their heads and through the city. It was a scream of horror and despair.

It was a scream that didn't come from a mouth, but rather from a soul.

Then they both stared up, watching a planet die.

OoOoO

The world was coming to an end.

Ranma grabbed onto the shoulders of Akira. She was just standing there,

staring. Her hand was still clutched around mid-air. The body of the dread witch

Neherenia had vapourised. Akira was just standing there, her eyes wide. For a

moment, Ranma had been truly afraid of her.

He had looked into Akira's eyes, at that last moment, just before she

made the killing blow. He had seen nothing. Nothing at all. Then, as the body

had dissolved into mist, Akira's eyes had slowly changed. Her pupils had begun

to quiver. She had begun to cry. Tears of blood rolled down her cheek. And she

stood there.

The world was coming to an end.

The inside of Pharaoh 90 was dying. The whole planet was dying. The

inside of this mansion/castle thing had been dimly lit, by some sort of weird

glow. Now that glow was dying. Ranma was surprised the entire place wasn't

shaking and exploding. Wasn't it supposed to explode at this point?

But it was dying, and they had to get out of here. Except Akira wasn't

moving. The moment his hand clasped onto her shoulder Akira screamed, throwing

herself away from him,

"Get away from me!"

"Akira, we have to go!" he shouted back.

"Hurry!" one of the girls said. They were standing at the entrance.

Ranma looked at them. He motioned for them to get running. There was no need for

them to risk anything here. They had given up their powers to help save the

world. Ranma respected them a lot for that. He wasn't certain he would have had

the same courage.

"Keep away!" Akira shouted, backing up. "I don't know... I don't know

what I'll do!"

"What are you blathering about?" Ranma growled. He grabbed her wrist.

"You saved the world, now isn't the time to have a mental breakdown!"

"I couldn't control it..." Akira gasped. "It just..."

Ranma slapped her. Her head snapped to the side. For a moment there was

a terrible silence in the room. The darkness was becoming thicker by the moment.

Akira stared at the floor for a long moment. Then she coughed and clutched her

stomach. She was bleeding again.

"I.. I'm fine," she said, pulling her hand free. "Let's go."

Ranma nodded.

OoOoO

Pluto collapsed against the side of the tunnel. The remains of the glass

mannequin were dissolving at her feet. She reached up and rubbed her neck. She

could feel warm blood on her palm. Another centimeter and she would be breathing

through her neck. She looked around.

They were all dead. The entire army of them. Gone. Like the one that had

pinned Pluto to the wall, they had dissolved into dust. Pluto hesitantly reached

over and grabbed the Time Key Staff.

Nanami did the same thing with her right hand. She held it against her

bloody stump for a moment. Pluto averted her eyes as the flesh regenerated. The

yellow-clad vampire looked at Pluto, her red eyes flashing.

"They won," she said needlessly.

"Y-yes..." Pluto said, still out of breath.

"We have to hurry," the girl said, and ran along. Pluto hesitated. Then

she firmed up her grip on the Time Key Staff. It was time to see this through to

the end.

Whatever that was.

OoOoO

Cologne was amazed when she realised she wasn't dead.

She hurt like hell. Then again, after collapsing a tunnel of mostly dead

giant planet-eating behemoth onto herself and an army of glass monsters, it made

sense she should hurt. Digging herself free had only placed her in the

middle of another army of them. She had looked up and grimly set to work,

striking with her village's secret techniques in what was really a hopeless

battle.

Still, it had been almost liberating. Somehow she had known that she was

doing the right thing. That as long as the Quartet made it safely to the centre

of the behemoth, everything would work out. Cologne had been so certain, so

absolute in her conviction.

Of course, now she was more than a little curious where that conviction

had come from. JunJun was half-carrying her as the group made their way rapidly

to the surface. Everyone was alive. She felt... wrong, somehow. Like that wasn't

supposed to have happened.

Her eyes settled on Akira as the dark-haired girl took up the rear. The

girls had been chattering and praising her, almost as excited by whatever Akira

had done to take out the 'soul' of this place as they were by the fact that

Cologne was not, in fact, dead. Again that strange certainty came to here; the

thought that the girl had somehow done something... wrong. From the way Akira

kept avoiding eye contact with everyone, Cologne guessed she shared that view.

"Hey, old hag, you okay to walk yet?" JunJun complained.

"Shush girl, we don't have a handy healing mag..." Cologne trailed off.

"What was that?" JunJun asked, frowning.

"I..." Cologne shook her head. That girl... Nanami? Had that been it?

Cologne was certain that until the point where the girl had healed her of the

injuries ZX-Tole had inflicted, she hadn't felt the strange... certainty. Yes,

after that was when she had begun to feel as if she were walking along some

path. Or was it?

Cologne rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Nothing. If you're tired, I'm

certain someone else can help me..."

"No!" JunJun protested too quickly. She tightened her grip a little.

"Come on, old hag, if I let you go you're just going to end up getting yourself

killed."

Cologne smiled. Then she looked back at Akira, her eyes narrowing

slightly. Something had happened here, in this place. Something larger than she

could understand. She was fairly certain that she was supposed to be dead now,

her and perhaps most of the others. But somebody had changed that.

Well, she pulled JunJun a little tighter. She smiled at Akira, causing

the girl to start. She chuckled. It didn't matter, in the end. She was alive

now. She would just be thankful for that.

OoOoO

"It's not going back in."

Fevrier released Mamoru and turned to look upward.

The mood among the ruins of Tokyo worsened. For a short time, there had

been jubilation. The moment Gyro had exploded, a cheer had rung out across the

city. Then, slowly, reality had settled in.

The city was still destroyed. The entire island was destroyed. Mount

Fuji, once the majestic symbol of the nation of Japan, was now nothing but a

torn and blasted ruin. The entire east slope of it had been torn free; one of

the massive tendrils of the planet-devouring monster was still buried into it.

It had stopped moving. The great feminine eye of the planet had opened

up in shock. Then everyone had felt it. The death rattle of a dying planet. It

was something Fevrier never wanted to experience again. Then the eye had closed,

slowly and finally.

But it was not vanishing. It hung there, defying all their triumphant

yells. The force of its mass was still tearing apart the Earth. Fevrier didn't

know much about physics beyond what she needed to understand about guns, but she

figured that there was no reason they should all be alive right now. The planet

should have smashed into the Earth with a force greater than anything seen since

life had started swimming in the ocean epochs ago.

"It's the dreamscape," Marz explained, looking at Fevrier. Fevrier

grimaced. That was going to take getting used to. Back under Bison, she had been

aware that her thoughts and emotions were an open book to her former master. But

she had grown used to having her thoughts be private in the last seven years.

Now with her youma partner, Marz still hadn't learned basic telepathic

etiquette.

"Elysium?" Mamoru asked.

"Yes, Mamoru dear," Marz replied. "The presence of the portal is still

altering the local laws of physics. Without it, Pharaoh 90 would smash into the

planet itself. I believe the technical term for that is an ELE."

"Extinction level event..." Purgstall murmured. He was staring up at the

planet, his body tense. From the way he was looking, Fevrier suspected that he

had something more personal involved up there than just a planet-eating

behemoth.

"Of all the times for Tethys to fall unconscious..." Fevrier growled.

"I don't think even she has the power to fix this," Rose said. She was

bent over the Dark Queen. The youma queen was laid out in a basin full of thick

blue water. Rose looked up from her, her expression worried. "She's already

pushed herself to her limits."

"We have to fix this..." Mamoru said. "It can't end now. Not after that

battle."

"I think I can help."

Fevrier turned. The woman she saw was vaguely familiar to her. She had

long brown hair and green eyes. Her flesh was the colour of freshly cut grass

and there was a single blue seed-like object on her chest. A large man with

orange skin stood over her. His long red coat was torn and shredded. Fevrier had

seen him in the fight. He had toppled an office tower onto Gyro.

Ganymede piped up quickly, telling Fevrier that this girl was one of the

hybrids. Her companion, however, was not.

"Help?" Rose asked.

"Yes..." the girl swallowed. "That is, I think we can all do it." Her

eyes narrowed. "If we all work together, that is."

OoOoO

"Stupid..." Minako groaned. She knelt on the dirt. All around them the

world was coming apart. The force of the planet hanging above them was ripping

apart the Earth.

"We.. we have to go..." Ami said, rising slowly to her feet. Makoto was

leaning heavily on the smaller girl. "It's not safe here."

"Where is it safe?" Rei asked. She looked around them. In the distance,

a chunk of land ripped free of the Earth. It was the size of a large house. It

simply tore free and began to float up and up. It got maybe twenty meters before

it was torn apart by the howling winds of the storm. Lightning rained down upon

the land from all directions.

Minako closed her eyes. "Tokyo."

"That's the centre of all this!" Ami gasped.

"We have to go to Tokyo," Minako said simply. She rose to her feet as

well. "We'll be safe there."

"Why bother?" Makoto asked. "Everyone is dead!" she screamed. "Usagi is

gone! Jur... Jur- j-" She just broke down at that point. Ami clutched her. Her

eyes looked down. Minako remembered that she had a husband out there.

Had a husband. No normal human could survive this. If the storm didn't

tear them apart, the chaos infusing the air would. Nobody was alive anywhere

near Japan.

Ranma...

No. He was alive. She had to believe that.

"We have to keep going," Minako said."It's what SHE would have wanted."

It felt easy and natural to do this. To fall into the role of leader

here. The others all looked at her. She had hit just the right chord. They all

nodded. They would survive. Then Minako turned to look at the other people.

Anthy was lying on the ground, arms spread. Her expression was that of a

woman startled. Not by something frightening; by something wonderful. Looking up

into the darkness and destruction, Anthy looked like a woman who had just walked

out of the desert only to stumble upon a beautiful blue glacier.

Then there was Akio. He was laughing. His head was thrown back. His

lavender hair was blowing freely behind him. His arms were thrown to the side.

He was just laughing and laughing.

"Is that all you have?!" Akio shouted into the storm. "Is that it? You

threw everything at me, and I'm still here!" He ran a hand over his face. "Your

puppet failed, you miserable bastard! In the end, none of them could kill me!"

"Akio, we're leaving," Minako shouted at him.

"Go!" He waved her aside. "Take... that with you." He gestured towards

Anthy. Minako looked down at the stunned woman.

"Usagi wanted you to have a second chance," Minako growled out between

clenched teeth.

"Usagi was a fool."

There were a few things Minako would consider the best experiences of

her life. When she had first become Sailor V and saved her friends from evil.

When she and Ranma had first kissed, and first made love. The look on a little

girl's face as Minako saved her and her entire family from a gang of vampires. A

single perfect day on the shores of a lake, with the rain gently falling all

around her.

And punching Akio Ohtori in the face so hard she could feel his jaw

break.

The man was sprawled on the ground beneath her as Minako took deep

breaths. She snarled. "You ungrateful bastard. Usagi is a saint, if she can

forgive you for everything you did. To honour her memory, I'm not going to kill

you. But you would be surprised what you can live through."

Akio somehow managed to laugh again, despite his broken jaw. Minako

started away from him. She heard Akio rising to his feet. The fallen prince

continued laughing, dancing amidst the destruction.

And Minako felt it. The build up. Her eyes widened. She turned to Akio

and Anthy. The man's eyes widened. He felt it, too.

"LOVE ME CHAIN!"

Minako snapped her chain around Anthy and pulled. The other Sailor

Senshi grabbed her and jumped back. They could feel it too. The overwhelming

presence of it.

And the world was torn apart. Minako could only stare in shock as the

full force of God finally made itself known. Her mind shied back from it. Her

eyes refused to see. She imagined it as lightning from the sky. She imagined it

as a meteor. She imagined it as anything but what it was.

She collapsed to the ground, clutching Anthy in her arms. She couldn't

stop shaking. Anthy was crying. She was saying something, over and over again.

But Minako couldn't hear it. She could only stare at the place she and Akio had

been only a fraction of a second ago.

Akio Ohtori was no more. The same could be said for a large section of

the world. The world there was broken. Not just physically broken, like the

storm had done. Not just spiritually broken, like Elysium's unreality had done.

For a moment, Minako could see the cracks in reality itself. The great gaping

wounds of God's wrath, and leaking between those cracks was something more

awesome and terrible than anything she had ever imagined.

And in an eyeblink it was gone.

Minako didn't know what had happened to it. She didn't want to know. She

rose to her feet, the surviving Sailor Senshi rising with her. She clenched

Anthy tightly. She could hear what the girl was saying now.

"Why for me... why for me..."

OoOoO

Ukyou snapped her head around, staring. The curve of the dead planet

vanished out beyond her. Past that there was the Earth. It looked so small from

up here, small and fragile. And she could feel it, out there.

The Third Circle. And the Paradox.

"The Nameless..." Ukyou mouthed. It was called God by most, but Ukyou

refused to call it that name. But there was no mistaking it. She had felt the

strike like it had happened right next to her. There had been no subtle touch,

no elaborate game that time. It had simply lashed out and destroyed.

Ukyou collapsed to her knees. Her legs simply couldn't bear her weight

any longer. She gripped the Silence Glaive like a lifepole, using it to prop

herself up. She had never felt anything like it. She had fought so many things

that called themselves "god". She had struggled against mad psychics and power-

hungry genetic weapons and vampires and demons. But none of it compared to this.

There was simply no way to compare it to anything else. The presence of

it, even so far away, had echoed across the entire universe. It was like Ukyou

had just now had her eyes opened. Like she had finally seen. Up until now, the

world had been shadows on a wall. Images and reflections that she tried to piece

together into something called reality. But the world had just been peeled back

a bit, and she had seen what was really underneath. What made it all work.

The Nameless.

And she was planning on fighting that? On struggling against it? For a

single human soul? She was insane. There was no way.

Ukyou snapped her head up. She could feel the Paradox retreating. The

Nameless cleaning up its mess, before it got out of hand. She could feel it

siphoning through the portal. No, it wasn't being sent, it was being drawn to...

To Hotaru.

Ukyou clenched her teeth.

"Leave her alone," she growled out. "Leave her alone, you bastard!"

She reached out. The portal to Elysium was there, right in front of her.

She could feel it, the place where the real ended and the unreal began. The red

sky rippled as her fingers touched it. The green sun swirled. The world seemed

to shake, as if a heartbeat had echoed out across it.

"Well," she said, smiling thinly. "You've done everything for this. You

almost destroyed the world, just to get me to this threshold. But you can't make

me cross, can you? You can't really force me. I don't know why, but you can't."

She chuckled. "But as a wise man once said, 'Ask, and ye shall receive'. So here

I come, you bastard."

And with that, she let herself enter the portal.

OoOoO

"And we go live in five, four, three..." Marz held out two fingers, than

one. She dropped her hand.

Rose felt like an idiot. She clenched her hands tightly, hoping it

didn't show in her face. If Marz was to be believed, millions of people, maybe

even billions were seeing her now. Every single person in Thailand, and many

from beyond. All the denizens of the Dark Kingdom who had not marched to war.

And anyone else who could see this broadcast, which was being beamed out across

most of the world.

Momiji nodded to her. She was standing to Rose's left. Enero, the pink-

haired Doll who had the most experience with this, stood to her right. Rose

realised that she wasn't talking. She was supposed to be talking.

She was never good at this.

"My name is Rose..." she began slowly. She took a deep breath. They had

kept telling her that she had to sound confident. She had to be appear strong.

Everyone had to believe this was going to work. They had to believe she was

going to make it work. "My name is Rose, and this is the most important message

you will ever hear." She pointed upward.

The massive bulk of Pharaoh 90's corpse still hung in the sky. But it

hung a little lower now. Slowly but surely it was coming down, or they were

going up. The difference was trivial at this point. In a few minutes, everything

here would be wiped out and the shockwave would likely end all life on Earth.

"A short time ago, the zoalord Reichmann Gyro opened up a rift that

summoned this monster planet to Earth. The earthquakes and storms that are

sweeping the globe are caused by it." She lowered her hands. "Working with Queen

Tethys of the Dark Kingdom, zoalord Frederick von Purgstall and myself have

helped destroy Gyro and put an end to his madness. But as you can see, Gyro's

deadly legacy remains."

She took a deep breath. She hated this. She hated the idea of it. She

didn't want to be the only one they could turn to. She felt her rage rising. The

nearly uncontrollable anger. Bison's legacy. The part of her that was him.

"We must push this behemoth back through the rift. We have to get rid of

it before it crashes into the Earth and destroys everything. But no single one

of us has the power to do so."

What if, when she felt it, she couldn't give it up? That was what had

tempted Bison, all those years ago. The purity of the power was intoxicating.

Rose knew that. The body she was in had been bought at the life of an innocent

child, because Bison had grown so absorbed by the power he could steal from

other's souls. Didn't they realise how much they were asking of her?

"Ironically, it may be the legacy of the man I helped kill that saves

us." She spread out her hands. "The psychopower. Bison invested all those in his

lands with it, slowly and surely. Like an infection. His life force was

connected to that of thousands of human beings. When he died, I took up that

mantle. Our souls are connected."

Rose closed her eyes. Was this how Ukyou felt? To have the power to

change the world, to save it and be afraid of it... it was staggering. Rose had

never liked Ukyou. She had always been a threat to everything that was. It was

only Rose's friendship with Sailor Pluto that had kept her from striking the

woman down. Then, after she had... died... Ukyou had revived her inside the body

of her own daughter.

Rose had never forgiven her for that. She had hated this, this body with

all its foreign feelings. All its potential power and all its temptations. Her

life had always been one of absolute control. Certainly she was nothing more

than half a soul, but she was a logical, calm and ordered half. Ukyou had turned

her life into chaos. She had destroyed everything Rose held dear.

"And all the people of the Dark Kingdom, all the youma and the humans

still there. Tethys' power is with you too. Every youma was created by Metallia

and carries a bit of the dread god within them, and that part of you connects

you all." Rose looked at Momiji. The girl smiled at her. "And your power will be

needed too."

She hated being here. But what choice did she have?

"Every zoanoid within the power of my voice, you are all connected as

well. The power of the zoacrystals held by your zoalords connects you together."

Rose looked over her shoulder to where Purgstall stood. He was human once more,

except for a small sliver of yellow crystal that emerged from his forehead.

Within that crystal a tiny silver light gleamed.

What did he feel? His eyes were locked on the planet above them. His

mouth was moving silently. Was he praying? If so, to what god?

"All of you. Every creature that lives of this green and beautiful

Earth. We are all connected. We all need to work together." Rose brought her

arms up, clenching her fists in front of her face. She was beginning to feel it

now. The excitement, the energy. The passion of the moment.

"We can push back the darkness, if you try! You have to trust me! But

only together!"

And as she finished her plea, her words echoing out across the entire

world, the song started. It was wordless. Momiji and Enero started off, in

perfect counterpoint. It was a melody with no name. It was as primal as the

beating of a heart.

Then Purgstall joined in. He had a strong and powerful tenor, and sang

with surprising skill. Slowly the wordless, nameless song spread. The Dolls took

it up next, their voices rising in perfect unison all at once, a dramatic swell

that was the signal for everyone else to join in. The song spread by individuals

and by groups. Many sang with more enthusiasm than skill, and some sang so

softly their voices were drowned out by the growing chorus.

Momiji grabbed her left hand. Enero her right. Rose closed her eyes and

opened her mouth. The passion of the moment was overwhelming. She felt tears

forming in her eyes. She could feel them all. Her own psychic powers resonated

as the power of all these people rose like mist. Then Momiji and Enero and

Purgstall began to channel it, all of it. Into her.

And she could feel them. All across the world. Their voices raising. In

Thailand and the North Pole they began. But she could feel it spreading. Her

eyes snapped open. She could feel it all. A hundred became a thousand. A

thousand became a million.

And still the power swelled as the song grew.

OoOoO

Nabiki reached out her hand. She could feel it. The power gathering

beneath them. For a moment she was confused. Then Marz was there. Her telepathic

voice was still unpractised, but it was powerful enough to grab Nabiki's

attention. Rapidly, the girl unfolded her plan.

Nabiki frowned. She looked 'down'. They had made their way out of

Pharaoh 90 and now they stood on the underside of the planet-sized corpse. It

was too big, even with all the power Rose and the others were gathering. They

couldn't hope to shift that much bulk.

"Nabiki, what is it?"

Ryouga's hand on her shoulder startled her. She turned and faced him,

her face flushing. She was almost sorry that she had reacted so nervously. The

feel of his hand against her, it had been... gentle. Maybe...

No. There were other things to do now.

"I have to do something," she said. "I need all of you to trust me."

Cologne looked up wearily. Ranma looked up from the still mostly-out-of-

it Akira. The Quartet smiled, their faces full of hope. Nabiki didn't envy them.

She had felt it when the girls had sacrificed their powers inside the core.

She had also felt something else, something growing inside them even as they

shattered the orbs that had gifted them with magic, while at the same time tying

their life force to Neherenia.

But before whatever had been growing inside of them could blossom

outward, Akira had killed the behemoth. Nabiki still wasn't certain how the girl

had done that. She hadn't even thought it was possible. But when Nabiki had

asked, Akira had just stared at her, her face full of anguish.

"Hey," Shingo said, giving her a thumbs up. "Whatever you need, babe."

Nabiki tore her mind away from wondering about what had happened inside

the core. A miracle, she told herself. She didn't need to concern herself with

it beyond that. Because of it, they had all survived.

"Good..." She looked at them all. Her mind was already working,

stretching outward. Rose's words were spreading across the entire globe. Nabiki

could feel it, the swell of emotion. Not everyone, but most of them. And those

that the message hadn't reached, Nabiki made certain it reached. From the rudest

hut to the largest skyscraper, no one would miss this message.

Nabiki reached out and gathered her friends, all her friends together.

She could feel them now. Feel their power. Weak and depleted as it was, it

still burned across the Oversoul like St. Elmo's Fire across the ocean.

Understanding spread across them, and one by one they all gave up that power.

Everyone except Akira.

Then Nabiki began to gather it all. She clenched her teeth and moaned.

Her head was throbbing. She had never spread herself this far before. She had

never contacted so many people at once. But she had to do it. Every single drop

of chi, every bit of psychic force, every drop of magic she could gather might

be critical. She had no idea what the tipping point was, but she was not about

to let everyone down because she hadn't been willing to risk it all.

Then Ryouga's hand settled on her shoulder again. She looked up at him

in surprise. He didn't smile. She could almost feel the hurt radiating off of

him. But he nodded. She smiled.

Then, all at once the flood poured down through her and into Rose. She

gasped. It was... it was so beautiful!

OoOoO

"He's not here!" Marz shouted suddenly, stumbling. Mamoru caught her.

"Marz!" he called. He looked around; the song was continuing without

them for the moment. But Marz was one of the key pieces, one of the lynchpins.

She and that Momiji girl and the American psychic who claimed her boyfriend had

cut off Pharaoh 90's tentacle and all the other psychics and mages. They needed

to be strong.

Rose raised her hands and gently placed her palms against thin air. With

a visible effort, she began to push. Slowly, ever so slowly, her hands began to

inch forward. And he saw it move. The planet. A mass bigger than China, just

moving. Under her power.

Under their power.

He clutched Marz tighter. Her face was going white. The girl, Momiji,

had fallen to her knees. A man with orange skin was standing behind her, holding

her hand. He was singing too; badly, but with a desperate passion. The pink-

haired Doll was also trembling, but two of her fellows were holding her up.

Purgstall wasn't bowing, but his face was covered in sweat. His knees were

shaking. There was no one to offer him strength.

"Marz, we have to do this!" Mamoru whispered.

"No..." Marz' face was still white. "He's gone, Mamoru! GONE! He's

abandoned this world!"

"Who?"

"GOD! He's abandoned us all..."

Then a figure was standing next to them. It was Fevrier. She came in to

Marz's right, and Satsuki appeared at her left. They didn't say anything. Their

voices were still raised in song. He looked at them, pleading for help with his

eyes. They each took one of the girl's hands and pulled her to her feet.

Mamoru rose as well, holding her around the waist. He closed his eyes

and sang into her ears. He knew that she had come back, back from that Other

Place, with something more. Some connection to whatever was beyond. But right

now he didn't care.

Please, Mamoru thought as he stood there with his family. He could feel

the connection between them. Forged seven years ago by Ukyou, it was still

there, still strong. Usagi's healing had not destroyed it. He just hadn't

realised it was there, because they didn't need it anymore. But he needed it

now, to reach Marz. In this rush of voices, in this song of millions of souls,

he needed her to hear just him.

Don't falter. Don't stop believing. We can do this. Together. All of us.

Its our only hope. It must work. It has to work. Please. Understand.

And Marz looked up. The tiny dot of light on Pharaoh 90 was so small.

The creature was trembling. The force they had created was just enough to hold

it up. It was just enough to counteract gravity. Mamoru sang into her ear.

"If God has abandoned us..." Marz murmured. "Then let's make our own

hope." She closed her eyes. Mamoru could feel her reaching out. Who? The thought

was answered instantly. Nabiki. Yes. Of course.

Mamoru gave Marz all his strength. She reached out and found the girl,

far above.

A moment later, the small dot of purple light exploded. The corpse

planet became a purple star, bathed in a corona of radiance. Then, unbearably

slowly at first but with increasing speed, the massive world-killer was pushed

back. Back into the blood red sky. Back towards the mad green sun of Elysium.

And Marz raised her voice in song. Ancient and primal, a wordless song

of defiance. She would live, dammit. It didn't matter if God didn't exist to

save them. They would survive. The sun would rise tomorrow.

Mamoru laughed as he and his family sang. And up above them, the black

planet shrank away and away.

OoOoO

Akira was aware of everything that was happening. She knew that there

was a struggle going on. That they needed to deal with what was left of Pharaoh

90 before the world was destroyed... again. It just seemed all so shallow and

pointless.

"No..." She moaned, clutching her head. It wasn't pointless. It. Was.

Not.

But a part of herself thought that. She had felt it awaken inside that

throne room. She had felt it seep out from inside her and just take her over.

All the petty pointless drama of it had just suddenly become meaningless. She

had killed Neherenia-Pharoah 90, not because it was the right thing to do... but

because it had struck her as more amusing than listening to the woman talk.

A part of her had known that they would win. She could sense it, in a

fraction of an instant. She had seen the entire event play out before her. She

and Ranma had been battered around by the shade of Neherenia, while she taunted

the girls. While she ranted about her revenge on Ukyou. Then the Quartet had

shattered their spheres, cutting their life forces from Neherenia.

And they had stepped forward, powerless little girls, and stepped

between Neherenia and her victims. Neherenia had laughed. That had been just

what she wanted. She taunted them as well, told them the person they had come to

care for was dead, relishing in their pain.

And the girls had found that it had been THEM with the power all along.

That Neherenia had stolen it from them. And with that discovery they had found

within them the power to become...

And at that point, all Akira could think was 'Bored now.' Then she had

attacked before any of that had happened.

She had no idea how she had done it, how she had seen it. But she had.

And it scared her more than anything. It scared her more than the idea of the

dead planet crashing into the Earth. It scared her more than Chris. It scared

her more than the feelings she had for Tethys. It scared her more than the

thought of Ukyou dying.

"It's working!" Ranma cried out in triumph.

Akira slowly looked up. For a moment, she wasn't certain what she was

seeing. It was like the world was blazing with purple fire. Then she realised

what it was. It was the planet. The planet was glowing.

A nimbus of bluish-purple right had coated the entire thing. Akira felt

her perspective beginning to shift again. It was like she was seeing the event

from far away, someplace hovering between the two worlds. She could almost see

the dead planet beginning to inch up and up. She could see Rose, her body bowed

as if by a great weight. She could see the people around her, their voices

raised in hopeful song. It was like she was standing with them. She could see

the people, all across the world. Billions of human souls, joined together for

one brief instant. For just one instant she saw the world without hatred,

without politics or money or religion or any of the million things they killed

each other for.

And she was afraid.

"We're going up?!" Shingo shouted in fear and suddenly Akira's

perspective snapped back to the here and now. She blinked owlishly, and fell to

her knees.

"That's a bad thing?" Ranma asked.

"Only if we're still on this thing when it enters Elysium," one of the

Quartet said simply. PallaPalla, Akira's mind provided.

"How do we get off?" Cologne asked. She looked at Nabiki. The girl was

still kneeling on the ground, her face upturned so she was looking straight

down. Her expression was rapturous. Ryouga stood behind her, looking worried.

"Cologne..." Akira looked up at her. "All of this power, it's produced

from passion. The heart and souls of billions of people, channelled right here,

right now. Their passion to live. Their passion to survive. All of their desire

and strength, directed at this place."

Ranma looked at her. "Akira..."

"Think about it, Ranma." Akira stood up. "It's Fire, Ranma. The heat of

human life. Perhaps the greatest concentration of fire chakra ever created.

Heat."

"You're not suggesting..." Cologne's face paled. "There's no way I can

control that! It's too big!"

"You'll have to," Akira said solemnly. "You have to make it to the

planet again."

Cologne looked down at the Earth. She was a mess. Her body was covered

in a massive burn. Cuts and gashes ran up her limbs and across her face. She was

coated in a thick layer of blood. It was a wonder she was still alive. Akira

suspected she was not entirely human.

Cologne's eyes opened wide. "Okay. Everyone gather close. I'm only going

to get one chance at this."

Akira stepped back.

"Akira?" Ranma looked at her. 'What are you doing?"

"I can't go with you." She lowered her head. "I have..."

"Don't start with that 'you can't be trusted' crap," Ranma growled.

"No." Akira shook her head. "The portal has to be closed, Ranma. Someone

has to do it." She clenched her fists. "Ukyou told me how to do it. That I'm the

only one who can."

"You can absorb Paradox," Ryouga said softly. Akira nodded.

Ranma looked at her a long moment. Then he grinned. "Okay. Go. Just make

certain that you and Ukyou finish this!"

Akira smiled back, a smile she didn't feel. She walked away from them as

Cologne slowly began to explain to Ranma and Ryouga and Shingo how she would

need their help.

Akira had almost reached the very bottom of the beast when she heard it.

The snap and roar of the Hiryuushotenha. She looked out at the column of

swirling wind lifted off from the dead planet. In one of those increasingly

frightening flashes of insight, Akira knew they would be okay. It would be a

rough ride, but somehow they would make it down in one piece. She shook her

head, banishing the strange thoughts.

She needed to focus. Pharaoh 90's corpse was accelerating with each

second. She ran, sprinting to the bottom of the behemoth. She needed to be in

just the right position. She couldn't afford to flake out now.

Maybe a part of it was the dream reality, but she made it despite the

size of the body. She knew that she was exactly at the very bottom of the

planet. Already it was most of the way through the portal. Akira took a deep

breath and braced herself.

She spread her arms out. Her mind flashed back to an icy cavern far

beneath the North Pole. She had had no idea what she was doing when she'd

reached into that wound in Alucard's chest. She still had no idea how she had

actually pulled it off. But she didn't care. She needed this to work, so it

would.

Her fingers flexed out, and she felt it. The portal was too huge for her

to possibly feel the edges of it. It had been big enough for Pharaoh 90 to pass

through and had been growing since. But she could feel it, at the edge of her

fingers. It was like millions of little pins, jamming themselves into her skin.

Paradox.

Her eyes narrowed. With a snarl she snapped her fingers closed, pulling

on the edges of the gaping wound in reality. The pain flashed into her hands,

and travelled down her arms right into her chest. It was tearing her apart, but

she refused to let it. She clamped down her mind on it. She needed to control

it. Slowly, ever so slowly, she began to bring her hands together.

She was doing it! She couldn't believe it. Her body felt like it was

going to explode, but she was doing it. The portal was sealing up. As she

drained the Paradox from it, the laws of nature began to reassert themselves.

Elysium and reality were not supposed to meet, so the natural barrier was

restoring itself. Akira began to laugh. She was doing it!

In a few seconds the tip of the planet would vanish into the land of

dreams. Then Akira could safely snap the portal shut behind her. And from there-

"ACCESS DENIED!"

Akira's head rocked back as a fist slammed into it. The 'ground' of

Pharaoh 90 exploded up around her as a figure blasted through it. Akira caught a

glimpse of her. Kalia.

The puppet-girl laughed. Her hand snapped out again. Akira wanted to

block, but she couldn't release the edges of the portal. The girl's hand curled

around Akira's neck.

"This is where I say something witty and cryptic," Kalia told her, her

face splitting in a mockery of a smile. "But I don't have to be cryptic anymore,

Ahura Mazda. He made a mistake. He struck out at Akio, and he's paying for it.

He can no more see what's happening here than a man who has just torn his own

eyes out could!"

"Kalia... what do you want?" Akira gasped.

"I told you what I wanted, sister," Kalia said with a hurt voice. "I

can't do it. I'm not a part of it. I'm outside. I'm empty. But you're not. You

have it in you. And you have me in you too. You have the same powers I do. You

KNOW that now!"

"Not... like... you..." Akira gasped out.

"No..." Kalia sighed. "Not yet. But soon, and for the rest of your

life." Kalia laughed. "Soon everyone will be like me!"

Kalia pushed her up harder and Akira lost contact with the planet. She

realised that the woman was preventing her from entering Elysium. "I see by your

expression you figured it out." Kalia giggled. "God can see better in there. No,

I have to make certain what we do, we do in a place he can't see anymore."

Kalia's eyes narrowed. "But later, when you're finally ready."

"Ready?" Akira managed to say.

"To help me kill it," Kalia whispered into her ear. "The Oversoul."

Then with a final shove Kalia tossed her away from the portal and into

the sky. Akira screamed as she realised she was nearly in orbit, with nothing

beneath her except open sky and kilometers and kilometers away the hard

unforgiving Earth. Her fingers lost touch with the portal as she fell out.

Kalia laughed and reached out. Akira saw the flash of something

squirming underneath her skin. She was absorbing the Paradox, Akira realised.

Just like Akira had. The portal slid closed with a pop, and then Kalia was gone.

Akira looked down at the Earth.

She was afraid.

OoOoO

Tokyo was a wasteland. The once proud city was a ruin, every building

having been smashed and torn apart by the forces brought to bear. The

floodwaters Tethys had summoned were slowly beginning to recede, revealing the

full extent of the damage her tidal wave had done.

And people were celebrating.

The islands of Japan were destroyed. The mainland of Honshu had

literally been torn to ribbons by the fury of the demon-planet, splitting it

into a dozen smaller islands between the new straits the rushing sea was roaring

to fill. The smaller islands had fared little better. Volcanoes, earthquakes and

gravitic storms had swept them clean of life.

And in the centre of it all, the people were celebrating.

The world would be lucky to recover from the destruction. Tidal waves

and earthquakes would be the immediate repercussions. Volcanoes all along the

Pacific Ring of Fire would be more active over the next few years than in the

last thousand combined. The weather might never return to normal. Hurricanes and

tornados and worse would rock the world for decades.

But still, in this place, they were celebrating.

Because they had won. They had somehow stood up to the devil himself,

and prevailed. Maybe tomorrow they would have to face the reality of the damage,

but for today they knew that they had prevailed. They had brought the world at

least one more day. The universe had tried its best to wipe humanity from the

face of the Earth, and it had failed.

So if there was a crisis tomorrow, they would deal with it. But today,

they would celebrate.

Tethys didn't begrudge them this. They had earned such a brief respite,

and much more besides. She very carefully vanished as the heroes began their

self-congratulations. She had awakened shortly after they had managed to push

Pharaoh 90's corpse through the closing portal. She realised as she slowly

climbed to her feet that she had missed something fairly profound. She could

sense the lingering traces of it on everyone there. Whatever they had done to

save the world had left them all feeling very much connected and together.

Tethys found herself feeling oddly regretful. The more cynical part of

her nature insisted that she was annoyed because she had become excluded from

the unity that was fairly quickly growing among the heroes here. That it would

make her more of an outsider. But she realised that was not actually a bad

thing. A queen was not the same as a comrade in arms. A queen commanded. By

necessity, she had to be above and beyond those beneath her. So really, it

wasn't that big a deal.

She just felt... oddly unfulfilled.

She had slipped away from the festivities shortly after they had begun.

She had complained that she still needed to recover from the damage her physical

form had taken in the final strike against Gyro. That was technically true. Her

integrity was at its lowest. She probably couldn't risk taking much in the way

of physical damage at this point. If her body was pushed to assume a more liquid

state before she absorbed a considerable amount of energy to repair the damage

she had taken, she doubted she would be able to return to a humanoid form at

all.

Maybe that was what had happened to beings like Metallia and Pharaoh 90?

Maybe they had started out almost human, like her. Then as they expended and

pushed themselves, they lost the ability to simply become humanoid again. They

had to exist as clouds of darkness or inhabit increasingly larger vessels to

contain their slowly dispersing power. Then they just forgot they were ever

human at all...

Or maybe she was just feeling sorry for herself. She walked into the one

part of the city where no-one else was. The water had completely drained from

this street. In the centre of the intersection was the Sword of Sealing.

Apparently when Gyro had been destroyed, the sword had plummeted and set itself

in the pavement here. No one was willing to touch it. Nobody wanted to be near

it.

Tethys sat down against a huge wall of rubble that had been torn from

the earth. She curled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin between her

knees. She shivered. The black sword stood in the centre of an improbable pool

of shadows in the moonlight.

That was what she had done all this for? For seven years she had plotted

and schemed for... this? It looked so small. Just a sword. Albeit, it was

probably one of the most powerful weapons in all the universe. With it, Gyro had

been able to tame Paradox. He had rent asunder the world. With this sword,

Sailor Galaxia had sealed away Chaos itself.

But it just looked like a sword. Her great enemy? The evil creature that

had brought her into existence, that had made her as a tool in an endless

pointless game... this was its weapon? Just another sword.

All those lives lost. All the damage done. And it still wasn't over. The

real confrontation was still to come. The real war was just starting. How many

billions would Tethys kill in her quest to unseat the avatar of war? How many

worlds would she shatter? How many friends would she sacrifice?

"It's not like you to be this introspective."

Tethys snapped her eyes up. Akira sat on top of the wall Tethys had

chosen as her shelter. Tethys opened and closed her mouth, unable to believe

what she was seeing. Her friends had leapt from the vanishing planet, using some

martial arts technique to control the wind and keep them safe for most of their

plummet. Then they'd been safely escorted to the ground by some of Tethys' new

hybrids.

Tethys had heard from Nabiki that Akira was among those who had stayed

on the planet. Ukyou was apparently running full steam into Elysium. She was

running to save the soul of a child. Tethys stood up slowly, unable to stop the

smile from growing across her features.

"I thought... I thought you had gone..."

"Into Elysium?" Akira shook her head. "No. Apparently, my destiny

doesn't lie there." Tethys felt something inside her quicken, but she ruthlessly

crushed that feeling.

"I see..." Tethys looked away, forcing a frown across her face. "So why

did you come here?"

"I wasn't looking for you." Akira leapt down, landing in the middle of

the intersection. "I was looking for this."

"The Sword of Sealing?"

"Yes. I can sense the Paradox in it..." Akira held out her hand, curling

her fingers so they drifted around the hilt of the weapon. "It has its own

voice, you know. I can hear it. I can hear the pain. All the souls crying out in

torment, forever separated from the Oversoul..."

"Akira?" Tethys didn't like the sound of the woman's voice. It sounded

oddly detached.

"They cry out inside me..." Akira mused. "Just like in this sword." She

smiled. "They have no voice, but I can hear them."

"Akira, you should back away from that sword," Tethys warned. "It's a

tool of destruction. No good can come from it."

"It's a fetich."

"A what?" Tethys frowned.

"The Paradox is bound into it, you see. It was bound into it a long time

ago. Someone defied the world, and billions of souls suffered. Their screams

were sealed inside this sword." Akira laughed. Tethys felt her skin crawl. "It

makes a perfect weapon. Don't you think?"

"Akira!" Tethys grabbed the woman's shoulder and pulled her back. "This

isn't you!"

Akira looked at her. Her eyes lacked any real emotion, any real presence

to them. It was like looking into the eyes of a doll. "It won't stop. They won't

stop. For them, I am a weapon, just like this sword... an instrument of

vengeance."

Tethys had no idea what to do. There was something profoundly wrong

about this. This was not the Akira she knew. The Akira she had known was a

source of quiet strength. The Akira she knew never gave up. The Akira she knew

struggled on even when all hope had been lost. But this person here, with her

empty eyes and fatalistic words... this was not the Akira she knew.

Tethys thought that having all the power of Purgstall's energy forced

through her had been painful. But somehow it was nothing next to the fear she

felt now. She was losing Akira. Right before her eyes. Whatever was inside her,

whatever UKYOU had put inside her, it was eating her up. And there was nothing

Tethys could do.

So she kissed her.

At first Akira just stood there, stiff as a statue. Tethys pulled the

unresisting woman closer-

And was thrown violently across the road. She smashed into the remains

of a building and groaned. Akira was sputtering and flushing and flailing her

arms. Her eyes were full of disgust and loathing and lots of anger directed at

Tethys.

But they were full of SOMETHING.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Akira roared.

"I..." Tethys considered how to phrase it. Then she gave up. "It doesn't

matter."

"What are you smiling for?"

"I have no idea," Tethys lied and chuckled.

Akira glared at her. Then she walked over and offered her hand. "Get up,

you make me feel like a bully if I keep yelling at a woman lying sprawled on the

ground."

Tethys allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She looked away from

Akira. The girl started to leave. "Akira..."

Akira looked back.

"That time... what happened between us..." Tethys struggled with the

words again. "That ship I made you destroy. The refugees on it, they were

already..."

Akira held up her hand. "Stop."

"But I wanted you to-!"

"No, Tethys. Whatever you're about to say doesn't change anything. I

acted that day based on what I thought was the truth. It doesn't take away that

decision, whatever you're about to say. I blamed you for it, because you tricked

me... but that was unfair." Akira crossed her arms. "It was my decision, Tethys.

It always was. I have to live with it. So whatever you're about to say, forget

it."

"I..." Tethys looked at the young woman. "Yes, you're right," she

admitted. A sudden sharp pain bloomed up inside her. "What's done is done..."

She looked down. She screwed her eyes shut. She would NOT cry. She was Queen

Tethys, master of the Dark Kingdom. She had saved the world. She had defied

Fate, all by her own will. She would NOT cry! "Goodbye, Akira."

"I trust I'm not interrupting anything?"

OoOoO

Akira looked at Tethys for a long time. She had no idea how the woman

had done it, but she had knocked Akira out of... whatever it was. The strange

fugue that had settled over her had burned away in a flash of anger and disgust.

But it had vanished.

For now. Akira could still feel it inside her. But it seemed dormant

now. Akira was about to open her mouth and say something else when she heard it,

the soft clack of metal-shod heels touching down behind the Dark Queen. She

looked up, and felt the blood drain from her face.

"I trust I'm not interrupting anything?" Sailor Galaxia said simply. She

was standing next to the Sword of Sealing, her posture sure and confident. She

was tall and beautiful, with skin the colour of burned wood and eyes the colour

of blood. She wore an outfit of golden plates. It resembled the costume of a

Sailor Senshi the same way a wolf resembled a dog. On her, it was armour and

glory.

Tethys gasped and started turning. Akira flashed forward, extending a

hand in front of the blue-skinned woman. Galaxia stared at the two of them, her

expression somewhere between annoyed and bored.

"Galaxia," Tethys hissed. "So, we're out of time so quickly..." Akira

raised her hands in a martial arts stance.

"Don't be foolish," Galaxia said, her voice dismissive and sharp. "I

could slay you with a thought."

"That's what Metallia believed," Tethys replied.

"I just came to reclaim my sword," Galaxia informed them. Her hand

reached out and wrapped around the hilt of the black-bladed weapon. She lifted

it easily from the concrete. Akira tensed. She could feel the power building up

around the woman. She was doing a very good job of concealing it, however. "I

have no intention of fighting you. It would be a waste of my time."

"You're going to leave?" Akira asked slowly.

"Of course." Galaxia dragged her sword in front of her and balanced her

palms on the pommel of the weapon, letting its tip sink slightly into the broken

pavement. "Then I plan on destroying this entire world from orbit."

"What?" Akira gasped.

"This planet has served its purpose," Galaxia said simply. "Up until

now, I have been forced to keep away from it. But now that Ukyou is gone, the

God that protected this world has lost all interest in its future. I can safely

dispose of it."

"Damn you!" Akira shouted and rushed forward. There was a black flash

and she flew backward, clutching her arm. She landed on her feet, holding the

gash in her forearm. "I won't stand back and let you do this!"

"I see..." Galaxia chuckled. "You plan on releasing all that Paradox

inside you as a weapon against me, is that it?" Akira was silent. "Please, girl,

I was taming the Third Circle long before you were even born."

"You... control the Third Circle?" Tethys chuckled. "Gyro made the same

claim."

"Gyro was a fool," Galaxia sneered. "A useful fool, but a fool

nonetheless." She waved her hand. "No, I have no control over the Third Circle.

It is beyond my ability, now." There was a wistful quality to her voice. "Not

that it matters. Very soon, this universe will be rendered to nothing."

"What are you talking about?" Akira said.

"You know full well, Akira Kazama," Galaxia said, tilting her head

slightly. "The confrontation between your mistress and the being she calls the

Nameless. It will happen. I have no idea what a being of such power could want

with a mortal girl, no matter how many souls she has, but I am certain that

Ukyou will not give it what it wants.

"In its rage, we shall all be destroyed."

"Ukyou will stop it," Akira said softly.

"You really believe that, don't you?" Galaxia said, and smiled for the

first time. It was actually a very pleasant, if slightly condescending,

expression. "And that is why she will fail."

"What?" Tethys blurted out.

"Reaching the Third Circle is impossible," Galaxia informed them. "A

long, long time ago, I did it. I..." She trailed off, and looked away. "It was a

time of great conflict. They called it the Sailor Wars. Champions, chosen by the

stars and planets, fought tooth and nail against the evil that lies in men's

hearts. No sooner had we defeated some wizard or monster than another rose in

its place.

"I was the greatest of them. Gifted with the star seed of the entire

galaxy, my power dwarfed all others. No evil could stand against me. And so I

wandered from world to world, ending darkness wherever it could be found." She

waved a hand across her brow, as if dismissing some persistent fly. Akira

shifted forward, hoping to take advantage of her distraction, but Tethys caught

her arm. She shook her head softly.

"Well chosen, Tethys. Your good sense has carried you far." Galaxia

looked at them again. "But I will tell you what you are up against." She held

out her sword, levelling the tip at Akira's heart. "I grew tired of the endless

fighting. For centuries I struggled, a struggle that would never end. I sought

out the source of all the evil. I sought out the heart of darkness. I scoured

the far corners of existence, from the most distant planet to the smallest

pocket reality.

"I found nothing."

She chuckled. "Imagine my shock. There was no source of darkness. There

was no first evil. All my power, all my magical might, and I could do nothing.

There was no enemy I could fight to end the pointless, ceaseless wars."

Her expression grew grim. "So I made one."

"Chaos," Tethys said darkly.

Galaxia nodded. "I was in my moment of greatest despair. I was

convinced, thoroughly convinced that my quest was impossible. I had set out to

change the nature of the cosmos, and I had discovered that it was beyond me.

Beyond anyone. I could no more put an end to war with my strength than I could

make space a colour or laughter the opposite of gravity.

"And yet I could not stop. It was hopeless. It was impossible. But I

needed to do it. I needed to find the source of evil. So, I threw all of myself

at it. It was pointless, a waste. I knew I would fail. At the same time, I knew

I had to succeed. That I had to find a way. And so I did. I attained the Third

Circle, and I created Chaos."

Akira stood there, her heart beating slowly. She wasn't picturing

Galaxia's battle. She barely heard her words. In her mind, she saw herself,

somewhere in the depths of what had once been Ukyou's mind. She saw the awful

void that Ukyou had created, the Paradox-fuelled hole she had erased herself

with. She remembered walking into it, knowing it would consume her. That Ukyou

was gone. She knew that, at the time. But she knew she needed to find Ukyou, to

save her somehow...

"The rest, as they say, is history." Galaxia bowed slightly. "I created

Chaos, and in doing so created a monster even I could not destroy. So I sealed

him away, inside my own body." Her face was grim as she spoke. "Now, I am its

instrument. The penance for my hubris. I look back at the peace I tried to

achieve, and find myself hating the idealistic fool I was then.

"That is why I will kill you now," Galaxia said apologetically. "You and

all the other people of this world. You deserve some small mercy before the

end."

"Wait," Tethys said, stepping in front of Akira. "What makes you think

that Ukyou can't do the same thing? Why can't she achieve the Third Circle? I

have seen her do many things..."

"You've seen parlour tricks." Galaxia informed them. "Ukyou has never

touched the Third Circle. She is borrowing a bit of the Nameless' power. You

think that could defeat Him? She has nothing."

"She can do it," Akira said sternly.

"You don't see, do you?" Galaxia replied softly. "That support is

exactly what will destroy Ukyou, and the rest of you. The Third Circle can only

be achieved, truly achieved, when a human soul is pushed up against the utterly

impossible. When they see the end of the universe and know they can do nothing

against it. It is in that moment of understanding that there is nothing you can

do, combined with that once-in-an-eon will to do something anyway, in spite of

your own limits. That is what it takes to achieve the Third Circle. To truly

command it. Ukyou will never surpass the powers the Nameless has given to her,

until she believes she has already failed."

Galaxia pulled her sword down. "As long as she can sense the love and

support of her friends, as long as she knows that you believe in her, she will

never feel pushed into that corner. And so, she will die."

"No..." Akira hissed.

"The truth is often difficult to accept," Galaxia said, her voice

sounding oddly regretful. "It was hard for me to learn that lesson as well." She

stepped back, and as she did her body began to fade.

"NO!" Tethys roared, jumping forward with her arm outstretched. "Give us

more time!"

"There is no more time, spawn of my spawn," Galaxia informed her. "I

will destroy this planet, and bring you peace."

"I..." Tethys grit her teeth. "Give Ukyou a chance."

Galaxia raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because if you do, you lose nothing. What do you gain from destroying

us? Nothing. It's like crushing an ant. Worth a second's amusement and then,

what? Waiting to die at the hands of the nameless god Ukyou is off to fight?"

Tethys lowered her hand. "Is that the end you want, Galaxia? Is that the way you

want Chaos to go? Quietly into that good night?"

Galaxia said nothing, but she did not move either. Tethys took a deep

breath and continued, "But what if Ukyou does it? What if she wins? What if she

defeats the Nameless and saves everything? Then you and I, we can have a

fantastic war."

"Ah yes, your petty revenge," Galaxia mused. "To be frank, you are

hardly worth my time."

"Alone? No." Tethys' eyes hardened. "But I am not alone. You watched

today's battle. The people who stand with me destroyed Gyro, they destroyed

Neherenia and Pharaoh 90... And in time, I will forge them into a weapon. In

time I will come for you. I will put an end to war." Akira glanced at Tethys,

then back at Galaxia. "Picture it, Galaxia. A grand conflict, played out across

a galactic stage. What is the personification of war, without a suitable

opponent to fight? Admit it, the Juraians aren't the enemies you want. They're

too defensive. They don't want conquest. They don't want to destroy you, except

to survive." Tethys smirked. "But you know me. You know my hatred. You know how

much I loathe you for creating me and my kind, for making us nothing but

weapons. You know that I will not stop. I will keep coming and coming. It will

be a struggle that makes all others look like playground scuffles."

Galaxia looked at Tethys for a long moment. Then her lips quirked up in

a vicious little smile. "Very well. As you say, Tethys, I have nothing to lose.

I doubt we will ever meet again. But if we do... I look forward to your war."

And with that, she was gone.

OoOoO

Frederick Von Purgstall looked out on the city and wept. Just a few days

ago, he would not have been willing to show that much emotion. But now, after

almost dying and barely scraping through by the skin of his teeth, after

agonising over the survival of his family, and being joyfully reunited with

them, he was allowing himself to cry. The reason was very simple, actually. He

wept because he had failed.

It had been... July? Only five months? Had it really been only that

long? How much could change in such a short time. Five months ago he had stood

at this very spot and promised Japan a bright future. He had promised them

safety and strength and unity.

He turned and looked back at the shattered remains of the Pillars of

Heaven. The battle with Gyro had ripped the tops from them. Huge holes gaped in

the buildings' superstructures. He was amazed they were even still standing. It

had only been five months since the construction of these monuments to Chronos'

hubris had been completed, and already they had been toppled.

He had failed. He may have helped save the world, but he had failed the

country he had adopted as his homeland. "So much loss..."

"You better not let the girls catch you moping out here," Cologne said.

Purgstall didn't even start as the woman slid up next to him. He was used to

her being able to appear where she wished with him none the wiser.

"Yes..." He mused. "How are they?"

"Better than I ever thought they could be, considering they've lost

almost all their powers."

"Hmmm..." Purgstall nodded.

"They're coming, aren't they?" Cologne asked.

"Yes," he admitted. "I'm not even certain why he waited this long."

"It's not fair," Cologne hissed. "We shouldn't have to fight anymore."

"I'm afraid Arkanphel will not see it that way," Purgstall informed her.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Look at it from his point of view. All

his enemies, gathered in one place. And exhausted to boot. How could any sane

commander not take advantage of that situation?"

"Yes... Frederick, do you think we can beat him?" Cologne asked softly.

"Not a chance." He smiled. "But then, I thought the same thing about

Gyro."

They waited in silence as the power in the air slowly built and built.

Then, in a flash of blinding light, they arrived. Purgstall lowered his arm from

in front of his face as the glare died down. They were all there, the remaining

ten members of the Zoalord Council. At their head stood Arkanphel, perhaps the

most powerful being on Earth.

He wasn't toying around. The ultimate zoalord had already transformed

into his battleform. It was an almost angelic figure, with skin of pale yellow

and black. His slender form was covered by thin armour. His shoulders and head

had flaring extensions that almost resembled feathered wings as beaten from soft

gold. His face was strangely human, crowned by a single perfect yellow

zoacrystal.

"Lord Arkanphel," Purgstall said, nodding his head slightly. It wasn't a

gesture of fealty, but an admission of respect.

"Purgstall, I have come to give you one last chance to submit,"

Arkanphel said, his voice oddly distorted by his transformation. "If you kneel

at my feet, I may still allow you to live."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Purgstall replied, gripping Cologne more

tightly. "I made my choice."

"Very well." The first zoalord raised one hand, cupping his fingers as

if he were holding a champagne flute. "Understand that it is with a heavy heart

that I do this."

Purgstall tensed. Cologne squeezed his hand.

"Is that all he gets for everything he has done? An ignominious death?"

Arkanphel looked to the right. Tethys was walking up the street towards

them. At her side strode the man whose bullet had allowed them to defeat Gyro.

Behind him were three young women. At her other side was Rose, her long brown

hair flowing out behind her. Behind her walked a dozen others.

And all around them, they began to pour into the plaza in front of the

Pillars of Heaven. Humans and hybrids, youma and soldiers that had remained out

of the final battle. Dozens of them. They slowly surrounded the Zoalord Council.

But Arkanphel gave them one look and dismissed them all. Purgstall didn't blame

him. They all looked half dead. They had just barely won. They were not ready

for another fight.

"Is that the way you treat your saviour, Arkanphel? I see living for

longer than the rest of us has not given you common courtesy."

"I will deal with you in a moment, Tethys," Arkanphel said evenly. "This

is between me and the one who has dishonoured me."

Tethys glanced at Purgstall. Their eyes met. It was time. He closed his

eyes and opened his mind. He let his mental barriers down, one by one. It was an

act of profound trust, to open himself so much. But if Tethys' plan was going to

work, then he could do nothing himself.

He felt Nabiki's will slid safely into his mind. He could feel his

zoacrystal vibrating slightly in his skull as the girl's inhumanly strong

psychic power wrapped around it. Then he felt the others joining her, one by

one. Rose and Marz and Momiji and all the other psychics in Tethys' little army.

And he felt them slowly spread their power out, like a great wave. It

lapped across the land, flashed across the seas with the speed of a thunderclap.

Within moments, it had reached across the entire globe. It was time. He opened

his eyes and gave Tethys the barest of nods.

"So you're going to kill us, Arkanphel?" Tethys asked.

"Of course," Arkanphel declared. "You have all been a thorn in my side

too long."

Tethys considered that for a moment. Then she nodded. "Very well."

The crowd went silent. The zoalords behind Arkanphel stopped in place.

They had formed a defensive ring around their liege. They all stared at Tethys.

"You can kill us. Really, there is nothing that I, or anyone else can do

to stop you." She shrugged. "I just have one question before we all get

slaughtered, if you don't mind?"

"Very well..." He gestured to her. "Make it quick."

"Where were you?" Her voice was a sharp snap, like the sound of ice

cracking.

"Where was I?" Arkanphel looked confused.

"You would never fight me at my full strength. You know the only reason

you can defeat me is because I've worn out all I have. The fight we just had,

the struggle against Reichmann Gyro, your former lieutenant, drained all I had."

She stepped closer. "I fought and I bled. I struggled and screamed here, today.

I sacrificed everything so that I could save this world." She clenched her

hands into fists. "Where. Were. You?"

"I was..." Arkanphel trailed off.

"Hiding, in the shadows, like you always have." Tethys snarled. "Was it

fear, Arkanphel? Was that why you cowered behind your... servants, while we

fought?"

"You presume too much," Arkanphel informed her. He turned to face her.

"I did not come here to be insulted by you, Queen of Darkness." He raised his

hand again.

"Then strike me down, and prove to the whole world what a coward you

really are," Tethys roared and threw her arms to the side. Arkanphel frowned.

Then Purgstall felt it, the gentle touch of the man's massive psychic presence

as it probed the world...

And the man gasped. He backed up a step, realising what Tethys had done.

"Why don't you attack, Arkanphel?" Tethys asked simply. "Certainly you

aren't afraid of a little bad press?" She chuckled. Purgstall frowned. She was

playing too much to the audience. Nabiki and the others may have been able to

transmit this confrontation to the billions of humans across the globe, but that

didn't mean that Arkanphel couldn't do something about it.

"Did you know that there are people who came to this fight that had no

powers at all? They had no martial arts training. They weren't magically or

genetically enhanced. They had no genius, no talents at all to raise them above

the common man. But they came, and died, here because they wanted to fight to

save this world. They struggled against a god, knowing they would die. They had

courage that I can hardly dream of.

"So, where were you?"

Tethys took another step forward. "Where were you when your servant was

plotting to destroy this world for his own ambition? Where were you when he

turned an entire city into monsters? Where were you when he destroyed entire

countries? Where were you when he ripped open the sky? Where were you when a

monster from beyond space started to eat our world? WHERE WERE YOU?"

The crowd went silent. Arkanphel was staring at her, his face flushed

with rage.

"You're a coward, Arkanphel. You could have crushed America years ago,

but you were afraid to. You could have stamped out Millennium, but you feared

reprisal. You could have liberated Thailand, but you feared driving Bison to

desperation. You hate risk. That is why we'll beat you."

"I've had enough of this..." Arkanphel growled.

"You can strike me down, and everyone who stands with me. We saved the

world, and because of our sacrifices we are easy targets. You can attack and

win. But everyone will see what kind of a monster you are.

"You don't really care about this world. All you want to do is run

crying from it, to find the parents who abandoned you at the dawn of time. You

don't care about anything except your selfish goal. And people can see that now.

If you kill us, who struggled to save you and everyone else, you'll just prove

it to the entire world.

"You want to leave? Fine. Do it. Your fleet is gone, but I can get you

another one. I have connections to Jurai. I can get you fleets of ships for your

odyssey. I'll give it to you, no questions asked. I just want you to leave.

Leave OUR planet.

"Or strike us down. Do that and realise that every other living soul on

this planet will know what a monster you are. That every man, woman and child

will rise up against you. That you will never have peace again. Your precious

hegemony? Gone. Your mastery of this world? Burnt away. We will die here and

thousands will rise up to take our place.

"So make your decision."

Arkanphel looked at the assembled crowd. He turned his eyes back to

Purgstall. Purgstall looked away, refusing to meet his gaze. He lowered his

hand, slowly.

"Your eloquent words have softened my heart," Arkanphel informed the

Dark Queen. "In acknowledgement of your sacrifice and struggles for this world

that has given birth to us all, I will allow you all to live." He waved his arm

magnanimously. "We shall speak again, Tethys."

Then in another blinding flash, he and his entourage were gone.

Purgstall saw Tethys smile as the ultimate zoalord vanished. It was a smile of

triumph. For a moment, Purgstall wondered if the world had traded one tyrant for

another.

OoOoO

The first indication Ryouga had that they had won was when Nabiki

slumped against the wall. She didn't fall over in utter exhaustion. Instead she

just sort of crumpled against it, the tension draining out of her. He watched

her closely as she took a couple of calming breaths to clear out her head.

When had he become her bodyguard again? He remembered standing up on

that giant floating monster, holding up her body as she helped channel the power

to save the Earth. Then when Cologne had pulled her insane stunt with the wind

vortex to get them safely off the planet, he had ended up holding her close as

they plummeted through the space between worlds. Then, when Purgstall had

informed everyone that Arkanphel was coming...

He had just ended up here, standing with her.

"Ryouga..." Nabiki looked at him, her eyes heavy-lidded. She looked so

serene there, more like a kid trying to stay up way past her bedtime than the

Queen of the Underworld. Ryouga grunted and turned his face away.

"It's over, isn't it?" he asked.

"No..." Nabiki sighed. "Not entirely. I don't think it ever ends,

Ryouga. But for today, for today we've won."

Ryouga nodded and took a step away. "I guess this is goodbye then."

"You're leaving?" Nabiki gasped, trying to hold back her disappointment.

"There's nothing for me here," he informed her. "The battle is over.

We've won. The world was saved." He really wished he had his backpack. He would

need to find some new supplies...

"Don't..." Nabiki placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Nabiki, please let me go," he said slowly.

"No, Ryouga, I'm not going to." He turned towards her, surprised by the

steel in her voice. She was staring at him, her eyes warm but hard. "I love you,

Ryouga. I've loved you for years. I can't let you go. I just... I can't. It

hurts. It hurts too much inside to think of the world without you."

"Nabiki, this isn't going to change anything..." he trailed off slowly.

She was... crying? The tears rolled down her cheeks one and two at a time.

"Why can't it?!" she hissed. "Why can't it change things? What do I have

to do to make things better?" She put her other hand on his other shoulder.

"I've tried so hard, Ryouga. I've tried so hard to be a better person."

Ryouga raised his arms, his fingers hovering just above Nabiki's wrists.

He could pull her away so easily. But he couldn't bring himself to touch her.

Nabiki's body shook and she ducked her head, looking down at the ground. "I know

what I did to you was wrong. I know I was a horrible person. I know I don't

deserve forgiveness. But please... please!" She fell against him, burying her

face in his chest. "Please, Ryouga! I can't stand the thought of you leaving

again. I want you to hold me, I want you to look at me without hatred in your

eyes, I want you to love me, too."

"Nabiki..." Ryouga said, his voice choking up.

"I can be a good person, Ryouga. I'm not perfect, I'm not. I know that.

But I can try... you have to give me credit for trying, right? Isn't that how it

works? What do I have to say to make you forgive me? I'm sorry? I'm so sorry. I

want to take it all back. I want to make it all have not happened. I want you to

sit over me while I sleep again. I want to feel safe. I want to feel your eyes

on me. I was such an idiot... such a fool... I'm so sorry. Please, please

forgive me... please..."

Ryouga gently wrapped his fingers around her wrists and with great care

he pushed her back and away. Her eyes were a red mess. Her body was heaving with

great gasping sobs. Oh god, why did she have to look like that? In all his

memories all he saw was her cunning smirk, her proud sneer.

"Nabiki, I can't... I just can't..."

She looked up at him with those stricken eyes and Ryouga felt something

inside him twist. Something painful and deep. Something he had buried so far

down, he had forgotten it even existed.

"Please..."

Ryouga released her wrists and stepped back. "I don't love you, Nabiki."

Oh, that had been so much harder to say than he had ever imagined it being.

Still, he forced himself to turn away and begin walking again.

OoOoO

"Who are you?"

Ukyou was dreaming again. She and Aaron had started the dream as they

always did, in the phantom remembrance of his last moments in life. But as they

had cruised along in the back of Rob's phantom car, suddenly they had become

aware of it. Aware of the dream.

It wasn't just Aaron in the back of that car now. Chris sat across from

them, but he seemed far away. It was like the backseat of the car was a thousand

miles wide, and they were just seeing him through a fisheye lens that made him

appear much closer than he was. Rob and Jenn still sat in the front seats, but

they had faded away to smoke and shadows, not really people.

Still Ukyou had waited. Despite knowing what was going to happen she,

they, felt a need to wait. Then it happened, they entered the intersection.

Aaron looked over and saw it, the massive form of the transport truck that had

stopped at the red light.

Then it was moving. Just sitting there one moment, then running the red

light the next. And she FELT it. Felt the world change. Felt everything change.

Not just the truck, she felt like the entire world was suddenly in a fisheye

lens. It was distorted, bending around itself, until finally it snapped into

place.

"That was it," Aaron whispered. "That was when this all started."

The collision ripped the side of the car apart, flipping it end over

end. Chris was torn apart in the impact, his body disintegrating in a shower of

blood and viscera. The world was revolving, but it was also shrinking. She could

feel IT. It was reaching for them, for Aaron. The shrapnel was floating through

the air towards them. Aaron imagined he saw a hand behind it, he saw the world

rippling behind it. The shadows snapped into focus, the world behind those

lethal projectiles was being defined by them. It was real. It was true.

And it swept over Chris and reached towards him, and just as the

shrapnel started to pierce his flesh-

A flash of light.

"It all began then, the pain of this world," a voice said into their

ear.

Ukyou and Aaron were standing on a flat plain, a featureless grey floor

that stretched out until it vanished in the mist beyond. Above them was a wound,

a wound in reality. It was a hole, an emptiness so profound that it hurt to

conceive of it. It was the abyss, it was the end of all things. Oblivion.

Suddenly, smoke swirled in front of it, obscuring it from sight.

"That is YOUR wound, Ukyou." The voice next to her ear was soft, warm,

full of compassion. "But we need not focus on it, if you do not wish to." Ukyou

recalled a time she (or had it been Aaron?) was in the hospital. There had been

a kind-voiced nurse they couldn't see, because they had a bandage over their

eyes. A rock had struck them in the eye. The nurse was calmly explaining the

reality of the situation to him, to her, despite the fact that he was all of

twelve years old. It trusted him to understand, and that very act set his heart

at ease.

"Who are you?"

"The messenger," the voice continued. "You know who I am, but who I am

isn't important. You have to hear my message, Ukyou. You must listen to me,

Aaron."

"I'll listen," they agreed.

"You just saw it, the pain that is this world. You saw the truth, the

one that you have been denying." A small hand fit itself into hers. It was so

small, and so cold. Ukyou clutched it reflexively and it squeezed back. It was

so weak, so faint.

"Wh-what are you trying to say?" Ukyou asked, her voice catching.

"You're dead, Aaron," the voice continued. The hand squeezed again. "I

know. It's hard. It's hard to let go. But you have to. The more you struggle to

hold on, the more pain you cause."

"No, that can't be true," Aaron gasped.

"Why not?"

Suddenly they were not on a featureless plain, but instead in a bus full

of collapsing people. Ranma was falling against her, and a monster was stepping

forward. They felt their strength fading. If that thing reached them, they would

die.

"NO!"

Pain raced up their body, pain erupting from that empty wound in her

soul. Overhead the dark clouds stirred, swirling slightly. Ukyou roared and

charged. She would not die!

"You're a very strong person. You do not just crumble. You fight."

They were on the street, facing down Sailor Pluto. She was raising her

key staff. They were bleeding from mouth and nose and eyes. The pain was

unbearable, there was no way they could win. Ukyou turned and ran.

"And when you can not fight, you run."

She was floating above a black tarmac, the burning ruin of a airliner

beneath her. She was held like a marionette with invisible strings, her body

crucified in mid-air. Jadeite floated before her, his face was madness. His eyes

burned with rage. Strips of cloth flapped from the stump of the arm she had

taken from him. He reached out and with his good hand crushed her arm, burning

his fingers into her flesh. She screamed.

"When you can do neither, you persevere."

The scene changed again and Ukyou stumbled forward, clutching her arm.

It throbbed. The pain of the Third Circle backlash raced through her body. The

small, cold hands wrapped around her waist from the front. A hug, a childish

embrace. Small comfort.

It was enough.

"But the stronger you hold onto your life, your pride, the more pain you

cause."

Hayato lay in front of her, spitting blood into the dust. The shattered

remains of his mask lay around him. He was clutching feebly at her leg,

promising her that this wasn't over. She lifted up her leg and drove it down at

his spine.

Akane's face was a mask of shock and pain. Ukyou turned away and walked

from her.

Pluto lay in a heap on the ground as Ukyou screamed at her. Her staff

lay nearby. The woman was defeated, and Ukyou found herself curling her fist up.

It would be so easy.

"And pain begets pain. The vicious cycle continues."

Ukyou was running backwards, barely evading Rose's attacks as she tore

up the street. Even with the Third Circle singing through her body, tearing her

apart inside in exchange for power, she was still no match for her.

Ukyou floated in a pillar of water, it swirled and roared around her.

She was being crushed and torn. She couldn't breathe. Tethys laughed as she

gestured, controlling the column. Ukyou scratched at her throat. And the power

beckoned, just within reach. The power to defeat Tethys.

The power to destroy.

"Think of all the people in your life, Aaron. Think of them."

Akane, proud and strong, held aloft in the grip of a monstrous man. Her

body was a mass of bruises and cuts. Her arms dangled limply, one eye was

swollen shut. The monster-man laughed and dropped her, but also brought up his

hand and a wave of energy tore into her-

Hotaru had gone deathly silent. She had been silent but sullen until

now, demanding to be sent home to her father. But when the door opened all the

anger drained out of the child. Ukyou stepped forward, her eyes widening. There

was so much blood. The body on the floor was lying in a pool of it. It flecked

her brown hair. A drop had settled in the centre of one of her open, staring,

accusing eyes-

"Ran..." Aaron choked.

Mamoru stood in the centre of the street, dressed in a tuxedo and cape.

He clutched a single rose, which had pricked his fingers. Three young woman

clustered around him. The city was burning. He crushed the rose in his hand, and

turned away to walk into the darkness-

Kunikida screamed as his daughter's soul was torn from her chest right

in front of him-

Ranma floated in Bison's psychic grasp. His body was broken. He was

barely breathing. The madman was laughing. He was taunting her. The Silence

Glaive shuddered in her hands. Integra's corpse was laid against the wall,

staring at her. It had Ran's accusing eyes. So many people had died... so many

had died-

Nabiki and Ryouga stood in the centre of the street, surrounded by a

monster. It had the faces of the two Sailor Senshi it had murdered. The monster

laughed with theirs and a hundred other voices. Ryouga walked towards them, his

eyes empty. He was going to kill himself. He had nothing left to live for, he

had already lost everything. Nabiki was crying, and as Ryouga began to vanish in

a flare of light she raised her sword and screamed-

Matsudaira shrieked as Akane touched her. She raised her hand, the demon

in her soul forcing her to attack. Vicious acid splashed out, but it struck the

form of an old man who threw Akane to the side at the last instant-

Kusanagi stood over the cooling body, his blade slowly withdrawing. The

soul of the woman he loved was dead and he was empty inside. Revenge had not

relieved the pain in his heart-

Minako flew backward, her eyes opening in shock. Blood geysered from her

back as Rip Van Winkle's magic bullet tore her nearly in two. Ukyou was

screaming, screaming and running but she knew she'd be too late-

Akira huddled against a wall, biting her tongue to keep from screaming.

It was tearing her up inside. It hurt like nothing else. It poured into her

soul, ripped her apart from the inside out. She coughed and blood splattered

against the ground. She needed to move. Somewhere out there Ukyou was fighting

Rip Van Winkle. She needed to move, but the pain was too much-

Angel stepped through the shower of blood. Rose's body landed on two

separate parts of the room. Sailor Pluto was screaming. Akira looked up at

Angel, and their eyes met. Trust, friendship, loyalty: they hadn't been asked

for, but they had been freely given. Now, now there was nothing but the taste of

ashes in her mouth-

The woman looked so much like Ukyou. She was laughing with madness, the

glowing eyes of Bison looking out from her face. Ukyou ran towards her, the

Silence Glaive humming as it prepared to deal out death. Death would be

preferable than to let that thing inhabit her daughter's body for one more

second-

"Is there one person, Aaron, one person in all the world whose life you

have touched that has not led to pain? How many lives have you ruined? How many

dreams have you destroyed, just because you refuse to let go of this broken,

pitiful world?"

Ukyou was back on the plain. Her arms wrapped around the little girl in

front of her. She was crying. She looked up at the sky. The clouds were

swirling. In a few moments they would part and Ukyou would see it. The wound.

HER wound. It was the same as the thing inside her, the place from which the

Third Circle came. It was exactly the same. She KNEW it.

"You know it has to end. All of it has to end. You're already dead,

Aaron."

"But... but..."

"You've known the truth all along. This world is a fantasy. Constructed

of your dreams and memories. It is everything you cling to."

"But Ukyou, she's real..."

"Yes. She's as real as you, or me, or anyone else. But we are all

figments, living in a dying universe. She is the thing you cling to hardest of

all. The denial of the very unreality of this place, this shadow existence."

"No. All my friends, all the people I've helped and hurt... That's

REAL!"

"You want so hard to believe that, don't you? But which is more likely?

Are you really a profoundly deadly, beautiful, bisexual ex-assassin with magic

powers? Have you really fought wizards and martial arts masters and madmen? Have

you saved the world, all by yourself? Everyone you meet is either your greatest

enemy or your dearest ally, or both at once. There is no in between, is there?

Is that likely, is that possible?

"Or are you a dying man? Are you just the shadow of Aaron Peori, a

delusion created as neurons fire randomly and slowly die from lack of oxygen?

Are you just falling towards the end, the abyss of death, and denying it every

step of the way?

"Which makes more sense, Aaron? You are a man of logic. What does that

tell you to believe?"

Aaron felt his body shuddering. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He could

feel pain, all over his body. It was torn apart, he was bleeding. He was always

bleeding. He had been torn up, beaten, tortured... always there was the pain.

Every battle, every victory and defeat and stalemate ended in blood and pain.

The same blood. The same pain.

It was so deliciously simple. So absolutely CORRECT. How could he have

not seen it?

"No."

The body pressed against him stirred.

"No. Fuck logic. Fuck what is likely or possible." Aaron pushed the body

away. "Fuck reality. This is real. I am real! Ukyou is real. We are the same,

two parts of a whole. I accept that now. Ranma is really my friend. I really

love Akira. Their hopes, their dreams, their pain and their failures, all these

things matter. I will not deny them. I will not debase them by accepting this.

"Even if it is the truth. Even if it is correct. I will fight it, I will

struggle against destiny and death and god himself if it comes to that."

Aaron and Ukyou looked down at the slim pale figure before them.

"If you're a messenger, deliver a message for me. Tell the nameless

thing beyond you that I will not lie down and die. I will not submit. I will

struggle on even when I don't have any strength left, even when all hope is

lost. Because I have to. Because I have to believe in this world."

Hotaru raised her head and looked at Ukyou. Blood ran down between her

bronze eyes.

"So be it."

And Ukyou woke up.

OoOoO

Pluto helped Ukyou to her feet. The girl was still shaking off the

cobwebs of sleep, her eyes vaguely unfocused. "What... what happened?"

"You had a vision," Nanami explained. She was standing nearby, holding

her swords idly as she looked out over the landscape of Elysium. Pluto tried not

to look. She had been to Elysium once, thousands of years ago back when the

Silver Millennium had ruled the Solar System, and at that time it had been a

place of beauty and reflection. A dangerous beauty, but beauty nonetheless.

Now it was a wasteland. It was like someone had taken the shattered

wastes of a million civilisations and dropped them into a desert. Huge,

partially shattered Buddha statues were drowning in the shifting dunes next to

toppled nineteenth-century ocean liners and the ruins of Greek temples. Out and

out the wasteland stretched, into infinity. And nowhere was there a single thing

that looked vital or alive... with one exception.

Everywhere you looked, there were fireflies. They drifted between the

ruins and along the avenues. They alighted on crumbled stone and rusted metal.

They fluttered weakly across the sandy ground, or floated high in the air. Aside

from the mad green sun swirling and dancing overhead, they were the only light

in this place.

"A vision..." Ukyou rubbed her temples. The symbol of Neptune flared

briefly on her forehead before fading away into invisibility. "A dream."

"This place IS dream, Ukyou," Nanami said. "There is no difference

between it and the reality of what you see."

"Indeed..." Ukyou shrugged out of Pluto's gasp. "I... well, this isn't

what I expected." Ukyou glanced around the ruins.

"It wasn't always like this," Pluto offered. "Once, it was a place of

beauty and harmony."

"It reflects the world," Nanami explained. "During the Silver

Millennium, when there was near universal peace, Elysium was a paradise full of

verdant forests and soft music. Now, when the world is falling apart, this is

what it is. The souls of all the people in the world is what shapes this

landscape."

"Wonderful," Ukyou deadpanned. She dusted the sand of the endless desert

off her lapels. "Which way?"

Pluto looked at Nanami. Nanami, for her part, was standing on top of a

streetlamp that had begun to lean dangerously over. Her slight form didn't seem

to disturb it in the slightest. Her hand was extended, and as Pluto watched a

few of the fireflies swirled around her fingertips.

"Souls..." Ukyou murmured. Her own hand was extended. She held her

cupped hands around one of the flickering motes. "They're souls..."

"Yes. Every soul on Earth, and all the other countless planets of the

cosmos, can be found here."

"They're so small..." Ukyou continued, her voice trembling.

"Yes..." Nanami pointed at one light. It was flickering erratically, the

mote spiralling slowly downward. "And very fragile."

"It's dying!" Pluto realised.

"Is there anything we can do?" Ukyou snapped, jumping to her feet again.

"Not if we want to get where we're going."

"What?" Pluto looked at the girl. "What are you saying..."

"She's saying that it's going to lead us to Hotaru," Ukyou said, her

voice suddenly cold. The mote was flickering faster now, and began to drift like

a feather blown on the wind. "Oblivion. The soul is being drawn to Oblivion as

it dies. Hotaru is drawing them to her. My god, that's how she plans to do it."

"I don't understand," Pluto pointed out.

"Hotaru doesn't plan to end the world by blowing it up, or by ripping

the universe in two or anything spectacular." Ukyou started forward, following

the glimmering soul-mote. "She just plans on destroying it slowly and

effectively. By ending the cycle of reincarnation."

Ending the cycle? Pluto stared at Ukyou's back, then ran to catch up

with her and Nanami. It made a perverse sort of sense. In the real world, there

was only so much Hotaru could do. Even with the Silence Glaive she was limited

to one planet at a time. There were billions of inhabited worlds in the cosmos.

Hotaru couldn't have destroyed them all except over the course of hundreds of

thousands of years.

But if she was in Elysium itself, she had access to the Oversoul. All

she had to do was capture the souls of the dying as they exited the world, and

then prevent the Oversoul from seeding any more into the universe at the same

time. Pluto tried to imagine it.

A world with no more children. Rank after rank of cribs full of

stillborn babies. Empty nurseries. Empty playgrounds. A population that just

grew older and older with no hope, no future in sight. Eventually only the

ageless, like herself, would remain. And then, one by one, they would die.

Brought low by infighting or accident or simple despair. How many years would it

take? A hundred? A thousand?

Pluto choked back a sob. She grabbed hold of the Time Key Staff. That

was what they were going to prevent.

The light in front of them vanished. "Is it..." Pluto asked.

"No," Nanami shook her head. "It died before it could be drawn fully

into Hotaru's realm." She began to look around. "It returned to the Oversoul.

Now, we must find another."

"A trail of corpses..." Ukyou growled. "So that's why you're here. You

can sense the dying ones, can't you?"

"Yes." Nanami nodded. "I carry a part of Hotaru's power inside me. I can

feel the whispers of Oblivion. Not as strongly as she can, thankfully, but still

enough to sense which souls are on the verge of dying." Her hand was extended

again, and more soul lights had gathered around it. One of them began to pulse

weaker than the others. "Like this one."

And so they followed that one for a time. Pluto looked over at Ukyou.

The woman was looking anywhere but at Nanami. Her eyes scanned over the

landscape of ruins and relics. The colour had bled mostly out of the area,

leaving everything a shade of brown and grey. And the sand was everywhere. But

there was no wind, just a sort of stale, oppressive air that lacked real warmth

or cold.

"Ukyou..." Pluto began. The girl looked at her. "I... I just wanted to

know one thing."

"I'll try to answer your question," Ukyou replied.

"Why you?"

"Why me what?" Ukyou asked.

"Why... you?" Pluto gestured helplessly. "All this, all this fighting

and torment. I realise now that I've been a tool of all this all along. That

God..."

"The Nameless," Ukyou growled. "I refuse to call it God."

"The Nameless, then. I realise that it used me. The prophecy, the vision

I and the other psychics shared. That cane from it, didn't it? It wanted me to

provoke you, to push you." She trailed off. "And all the people I lost along the

way. Chizuru, Uranus and Neptune..." She glanced at Ukyou's forehead, but the

girl merely looked away slightly. "Even Rose, after a fashion." Pluto chuckled

bitterly. "She certainly isn't the same person who was my friend for seven

years."

"I'm sorry," Ukyou murmured.

"No, that isn't what I meant!" Pluto said hastily. "I'm not blaming you.

I was just wondering... why all this trouble over you? Is it because of the

Third Circle?"

"No, I don't think so," Ukyou mused, as she gazed out across the empty,

ruin-strewn landscape.

"Of course," Pluto said with a nod. "After all, Chris has the Third

Circle as well. So he would be just as important as you, in that case."

"Oh, you'd think so, wouldn't you?" a new voice broke in. Pluto gasped

and spun. There was someone else walking with them now, a short Chinese woman

wearing a green labcoat, her hair tied back in a slightly messy bun. "Oh, Chris.

So powerful. So important. The chosen one. That's what he calls himself. Not

that he's ever bothered to sort out in his mind what chose him or why, but he's

never had to. Chris. The... 'master of the Third Circle'. He who would be our

god and guide us all to a new golden age." Ukyou seemed to recognise the woman,

since she had turned quickly, spinning with inhuman speed as the Silence Glaive

materialised in her hands. The blade came to a rest under the Chinese woman's

chin. She stopped walking, craning her neck slightly and looking at Ukyou with

an annoyed expression. "Do you mind?"

"Link," Ukyou hissed. "What are you doing here?"

Pluto tightened her grip on her staff. Link was one of Chris' minions.

One who had killed thousands of people in the Dark Kingdom when the boy had

invaded. The fact that most people didn't remember that - and in most cases were

no longer dead - because the boy had erased it all from the flow of time didn't

make Pluto any more inclined to trust her.

"You can put down your weapon," Nanami said, landing beside Ukyou. "It's

just a figment."

"A figment?"

"Like all of Elysium, she was shaped by your memories and dreams."

Nanami looked at the Chinese girl for a moment. "Obviously the topic of

conversation reminded you of this person for some reason."

"Just a memory," Ukyou mused, slowly lowering her blade. The phantom

Link rubbed her neck. "She's acting so real..."

"Dreams often seem real, until we begin to notice the tiny details."

Nanami shrugged.

"Can I get rid of it?" Ukyou asked, frowning.

"I suppose." Nanami leapt back up to start looking for another dying

soul. "The question you should be asking, though, is why did you summon up such

a figment in the first place?"

"Obviously because she's too much of an idiot to figure this out on her

own," the phantom Link snorted. "She needs someone intelligent to remind her

what is happening."

"Is the real version always so... distasteful?" Pluto asked.

"Hey, I'm being portrayed by a person who is very biased against me,"

the phantom shot back. "You can't take her perceptions at face value."

"Right..." Pluto ignored the woman and looked at Ukyou. "So why did you

start thinking of her?"

"This is... a conversation Link and I had," Ukyou explained. "After I

freed her from Tethys' dungeon, she wanted to tell me about the Third Circle,

the Nameless and Chris."

"Ah..." Pluto glanced at the woman, who was tapping her foot

impatiently. "I suppose that makes sense. Perhaps we should let it continue

to speak, then?"

"I guess," Ukyou shrugged. "Maybe if someone else hears what she has to

say, they can help prove why she has to be wrong."

"Oh, don't be stupid," Link replied with another snort. "You know I'm

right. You just don't want to admit it. As I was saying before I was rudely

interrupted... I've been saving Chris for last, since it's the best. I told you

I could absolutely guarantee that with what I know, you could deal with Chris.

And that's true. Why? Because you didn't need to know anything to deal with him.

"Chris," she declared triumphantly, "is nothing."

"What?" Pluto gaped. "That's absurd! I've seen what Chris can do. He

rewrote TIME!"

"So what?" Link retorted. "Yes, he's powerful. So are you," she said,

indicating Ukyou. "So is Tethys. So is Galaxia. So was Washuu. You'll notice the

universe in no way revolves around those three. So what makes you think it

rotates around Chris?"

Pluto glanced at Ukyou, who was just looking at Link with an odd

expression on her face. Of course, for Ukyou this was the second time she'd

heard this response. It appeared that the figment was independent enough that it

could react to other people and incorporate them into Ukyou's memories of the

conversation.

"I'll tell you why," Link continued. "Because he's got you fooled into

thinking he MUST somehow be important. He's got everyone around him fooled to

believe it too. Most of all, he's got himself fooled, because it would

absolutely destroy him to realise how pathetically unimportant he is in the

grand scheme of things. But Chris, just like everything else in this universe,

exists only because you are here."

"Ukyou..." Pluto looked at the girl.

"I didn't believe her," Ukyou said. "I didn't want to. How could I

believe that. Do you understand what she's suggesting, Pluto? What it MEANS?"

Her eyes hardened. "You should listen to the rest of it. Because it makes too

much sense to me." She turned her attention to the phantom Link. "I don't

believe that. I'm not that important."

"I understand it's hard for you to believe." Link's expression lost its

triumphal arrogance, becoming more reflective. "I was fooled too. I stayed with

him because I was sure he had to be important, crucial somehow. But then I

fought Hotaru-" She trailed off suddenly.

"Huh?" Pluto blinked. Nanami looked back over her shoulder, attracted by

the sudden lack of noise. Ukyou coughed.

"Uh, at this point Link and I had a... discussion about Hotaru," she

said.

"Discussion, right." Link grunted. "You were an overly emotional idiot

looking for an excuse to..."

"I think we should just skip this part," Ukyou growled to the figment.

"And get to the important bits."

"Fine." Link adjusted her collar. "I only wish you were this reasonable

the first time." She cleared her throat. "As I was saying, when I... encountered

Hotaru, I realised the truth. Hotaru talks to the Nameless. Hotaru is the chosen

tool of the Nameless, the executor of his will, and the recipient of all his

Paradox. Hotaru, you must realise whether you like it or not, is an important

piece in the game the Nameless is playing. And she DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT

CHRIS. She didn't care that I accosted her. She's never interfered in his

operations or made a move in response to him. And, you will notice, his attack

upon her in the Dark Kingdom made not one whit of difference to her. She

survived, and is moving on with her real plans. Plans that involve you, not

Chris.

"Think about it, Ukyou. The world's psychics all experienced a prophecy

that you would end the world. But nobody knows about Chris. Heroes, villains,

psychopaths and good samaritans beat a path to your door. People you never would

have met suddenly became interested in you. You were hounded, never able to

rest, and often through no fault of your own. Chris? If he'd sat at the bottom

of the sea, he would have stayed there. Nobody is pushing him into action, and

the only person hunting him is a pathetic old woman in Tokyo... and he had to

kill her great-granddaughter to provoke even that much reaction. Nobody cares

about Chris, Ukyou. Nobody makes Chris their top priority. Not even you. In the

seven years you vanished from the world, an equilibrium formed. Now, less than

seven months after you've returned, everything has descended into chaos. Do you

think that was a coincidence? It's not. It's chance pushing you forward again,

and chance is the tool of the Nameless. Chris is a thousand times more powerful

than you, yes. And it doesn't make a whit of difference. He's not the focus of

the Nameless' plan. He's not the fulcrum around which the universe revolves. You

are. Only you."

"Then why did Chris come to this world, if he's so unimportant?"

"Oh, an intelligent question," Link mused aloud. "I only wish someone

had thought to ask it," she glared at Ukyou, "so that I could actually have an

answer for her. I'm certain my answer is brilliant."

"I believe that is my subconscious's snide way of saying I don't know

what Link thought the answer to that question was," Ukyou said, rubbing her

face. "Though I have my own theories."

"Such as?"

"...maybe later." She looked through her fingers at Link and, in the

melodic tone of someone repeating something memorised, asked: "But Link, he has

the Third Circle, just like me. In fact, he has far more control over it than I

do."

"The Third Circle?" Link actually laughed. "Yes, he certainly thinks he

has it. Tell me, Ukyou, what has Chris done that used this amazing Third

Circle?"

Ukyou looked at Pluto and Nanami. "I just started listing things off at

random here. You know, like altering time and coming back from the dead and so

on. I think only you," she said, looking at Nanami, "aren't really aware of what

he can do."

"The first time I met Chris, he ripped out my soul with his bare hands,"

Nanami replied in a dry tone. "Since then, in addition to being caught on the

edge of the well of Oblivion, I've also been trapped inside the remains of the

Golden Crystal, which were etched into the body of one of his servants. While I

didn't experience everything she did, I was aware of a lot of it." She looked

away. "If anything, I probably know more about Chris than either of you at this

point."

"Wait..." Pluto held up one hand. "If what Link is saying is true...

then perhaps if Link hadn't told you this information about Chris, it was Nanami

who was supposed to tell you?"

"But I got there first!" Link crowed, pointing at Nanami. "First come,

first served, bitch! I stole your thunder!" She laughed, throwing back her head

as she did so, the laugh promptly descending into coughing. Finally she stopped

and glared at Ukyou. "Damnit, Ukyou, stop projecting what you think I'd say.

It's undignified."

"Uh... sorry?"

Link waved it away. "S'okay. Now, where was I... oh yes, ranting about

how much I hate Chris." She cleared her throat. "Time manipulation? Sailor Pluto

could do that... does she have the almighty Third Circle? Coming back from the

dead? Well, I guess Sailor Moon's silver crystal must be some amazing font of

the Third Circle... except it isn't. In fact, can you think of anything Chris

has ever done that could not be accomplished by, say, Nabiki's Wishing Sword?

I'll answer for you," the figment added primly, "since you've wasted so much of

my time making me unfairly act like an idiot. The answer is no. Chris has never

done any particular thing that that sword couldn't do, except exist, and I'll

get to that in a moment.

"That's all the Second Circle, Ukyou. Just like you have only used the

Second Circle. You both think like the difference is power, as if only you got

ENOUGH power somehow, you'd reach the Third Circle. What nonsense. If you punch

hard enough, does that mean you can use magic? No. The Third Circle isn't the

power to do things like that, Ukyou. It's the power of God - by whatever name

you call him. The Third Circle can create a universe and people it with a

teeming population, each with their own life and past. But even that is nothing.

The Third Circle, Ukyou, makes this universe work. I know you come from a world

where nobody has such powers. Why do they exist here, then? Because someone with

the Third Circle declared it so. The Third Circle isn't the power of 'let me win

a battle or do a thing'. The Third Circle is the power of 'let me declare, "This

is what a battle is", or "This thing now exists", and make it so'. You can't

compare it to the pitifully limited power you've wielded, Ukyou. It's as

different as the power to hit something is from the ability to control time.

More so, even."

Ukyou stopped in place. She looked down, refusing to meet the phantom's

eyes. Pluto looked at her. Ukyou was clenching her hands. The figment looked at

her in exasperation. Then she turned to Pluto.

"She doesn't want to ask it," Link explained. "She doesn't like thinking

about it. But I can't just go on. Someone has to prompt me." Pluto opened her

mouth, then closed it.

"What about the Paradox?" Pluto turned to Nanami with a start. "If all

Ukyou is doing is using magic, using Second or First Circle effects, why is she

producing so much Paradox? Where is it all coming from?"

"THANK you," Link said with satisfaction. "Really, I'm surprised you

couldn't figure this out yourself. Yes, you and Chris produce Paradox, the

residue of the Third Circle. But just who told you it was YOU using the Third

Circle? No, don't answer, whoever did was clearly a dunce. Consider this, Ukyou

- did YOU bring yourself here? Chris most certainly did not say "I AM" and

materialise himself into existence from nothing. The two of you were dragged

here from elsewhere. Who was the true user of the Third Circle? Just WHOSE

Paradox are you suffering from?

"Oh, and that's another bit of proof for you, as if you needed more.

Look at your 'Third Circle' powers. Though I've not met you before today, I've

studied your exploits quite carefully. When you use the power you so quaintly

refer to as the 'Third Circle', you obtain a temporary boost of physical

prowess, accompanied by a quantum leap in your proficiency in certain talents,

notably your sensory prowess. How... limited. Structured, you might say.

Planned. Look at Chris, however. He just does whatever he wants. Leaps from body

to body gaining any power he chooses, leapfrogging past you in power and ego.

And now he is just wielding raw Second Circle, causing any effect he wants with

brute force. There's no chains on him, no limitations.

"You might think that makes him powerful, but it also shows how little

planning went into him compared to you. He suffers from far more Paradox than

you as well, accordingly. And all that power he's so proud of means nothing,

Ukyou. That is why you will inevitably triumph over him. Because you're

important, and he's not. He's just an idiot who, if you'll permit the metaphor,

was given a magical sword and is now running around screaming 'I am Magic!'.

Powerful, maybe. Dangerous, perhaps. But he's not the one that made the magic

sword that gives him such power, and the day he runs up against the person who

did, he will be in for an extremely rude awakening." She smiled, for the first

time since appearing. "I wish I could see the look on his face."

The phantom took two more steps, then vanished. Pluto didn't even blink.

The girl was just gone.

"That's... it?" she asked.

"Indeed." Ukyou looked up. "I was too stunned at the time by what she

said. She just... left."

"Too bad, I would have liked to ask her a few more questions."

"No, you really wouldn't have," Ukyou replied. "Because the answers you

would get are ones you wouldn't want to hear."

"That's the problem with truth," Nanami said. "Trust me. I'm very

familiar with how much having your delusions shattered can hurt."

"Yes, I suppose you are." Ukyou turned back to Pluto. "The thing is, I

can't disprove anything she said. It all makes too much sense." She looked down

at her hands. "I can't even remember all the times my life was saved by...

coincidence. Just suddenly out of nowhere. I'd be facing a situation I couldn't

overcome and one of my friends would show up to protect me..."

Pluto nodded. She was very familiar with that, having been stymied by

those last minute rescues on more than one occasion. Of course, she had always

known that it was the Prophecy. She had just never, until this point, really

stopped to think WHAT had written that Prophecy. What made certain it happened.

What was fate?

"Chris says that he exists outside of that fate," Nanami pointed out.

"He may be right. He's never lost when he really wanted to win-"

"Bullshit," Ukyou snarled. "When I first was told all this, I thought

back. I thought hard. And I remembered something. Something that destroys Chris'

entire argument." She took a deep breath. "Seven years ago, Chris and I fought a

few times. The first time, I was more powerful than him and scared him off. The

second time he did beat me, but he never went in for the kill. That's the key,

you see. Surviving. I've lost plenty of times. I'm not incapable of losing, I

was just incapable of DYING." She shook a little. "Then, one time he was really

going insane. I was almost dead from fighting Tethys, and he caught me at my

weakest. It wasn't a fight. It was a beating, a slaughter. He smashed me around

like a grown man would a child. And just when I was on my last legs, when he was

so far gone he couldn't even hear reason anymore, when he was about to finish me

off for good... I was saved."

The silence was thick.

"Ryouga showed up and defeated him. With ease."

"Fate," Pluto gasped.

"Fate." Ukyou looked at her. "Chris thinks he's escaped it, but he

hasn't. If this is all about me, if the entire universe was created for me, then

the one time when he was close to changing fate, he was stopped. Just like

everybody else.

"And everything I see makes me think Link was right. The way chi works,

the five chakras. I imagined that, Pluto. I IMAGINED it. It was a wild theory,

based on a GAME! I made it up!" She threw up her hands. "Yet that's how it works

here. Not just for me, but for Ranma and Akira and Shingo... Because that meant

that I KNEW it."

"And your power?" Nanami said. "That too, was part of Fate?"

"Yes." Ukyou turned her head away. "I don't have the Third Circle. It

does. The Nameless. It MADE me. It forged me, for one specific purpose. It gave

me data I would need. It gave me friends and enemies. It gave me challenges.

It's been guiding me. It's been pushing my development." She chuckled.

"Every time I used the 'Third Circle', I would suddenly get this learning spurt

afterwards, like I'd been training for years. But always in a certain

direction." She closed her eyes. "I thought it was me, but it wasn't. It was the

Nameless. You see, when I use that Third Circle or whatever you call it, I'm not

tapping into MY power. I'm tapping into ITS."

"But... but you plan on fighting it!" Pluto stood there, astonished.

"How can you do that, without the Third Circle?"

"I don't know." Ukyou bowed her head. "Maybe I can't. Maybe there is no

way to win." Her eyes snapped open and she jerked her head up. "But that doesn't

matter. Because I'm going to win this."

"Win against what?" Pluto asked. "What does the Nameless even want from

you?"

"I don't know. I don't know why I was chosen, and I don't care." She

looked at the two of them. "Because it doesn't matter. All I know is this. This

Nameless, this asshole who can do anything... he choose to make my life hell. He

tortured my friends. He killed them. He twisted the heart and soul of an ELEVEN-

YEAR-OLD GIRL just to get at me. Just because I cared about her. If Link is

right, and I fear that she is, then all the suffering that's happened in the

last seven years is because of me, for me.

"So no, Pluto, it doesn't matter why I was chosen. I was. Now, I have to

decide what to do about it. And I've decided I'm not going to let him win.

"I just wish I had the faintest idea how."

OoOoO

"Minako, we have to stop."

Artemis felt himself being laid down. Grass, he realised. They had found

a bit of grass. A small section of the islands that hadn't been destroyed by the

monster planet. Ami leaned down over him, her face mostly hidden behind the blue

visor. But he could read her expression nonetheless.

"Is it...?" Minako was standing near the front of the small group. Rei

and Makoto had been following just behind her, with Ami picking up the rear.

They had been forced to set a sedate pace because of Artemis' injuries. He would

have laughed, if it didn't hurt to breathe.

"He's... not doing well," Ami answered.

"Oh. Artemis..." Luna murmured softly. She sat on her haunches near him.

"Why did you have to be such a damn fool?"

"Helped..." He wheezed. "Save the world..." Ami was a magnificent

doctor. She had managed to track down some supplies from a few broken buildings

in a city they had passed through. He was bandaged and splinted and drugged to

the gills. He barely even felt the pain anymore. Just when he breathed.

"Do you need more supplies?" Minako asked Ami as she walked over. "I can

get more supplies. I can find drugs, if you need them. I can find something,

something to help. He needs help. Why aren't you helping him?"

"Minako, you're babbling," Ami said softly.

"Why aren't you helping him?!" Minako shouted, grabbing the smaller

blue-haired Senshi by the collar. "You're a doctor! Do something!"

"I'm not a veterinarian, Minako. Even if I was, I don't think-"

"Don't say it!" Minako shouted. "He's going to live!"

"Minako..." Artemis hissed.

"I didn't go through all this just to lose him, too!" Minako shrieked.

"If I had been there from the beginning, he wouldn't... he wouldn't..."

"Minako, please... look at me..."

The girl slowly, jerkily, shifted her gaze down to him. He tried to

smile, but a flare of pain in his lungs turned it into a grimace and cough. "I

don't... blame you..."

"Artemis, don't say anything." She released Ami and knelt next to him.

Her hand hovered over him, afraid to touch him. "You need to conserve your

strength. We'll get you to Tokyo. There'll be help there..."

Artemis did smile this time. She never gave up, did she? He was so

proud. When he had first met her, she was nothing but another ditz; just a

schoolgirl more interested in flirting and fashion than homework and fighting.

But over the years he had watched her grow.

She had experienced tragedy the like of which no one was supposed to.

Her family had been taken from her in the most brutal way imaginable. She had

been forced to live and fight while everyone around her died and fled. But she

had survived, and thrived. She had stepped away from the brink of despair and

regained her spark.

"Magic, or maybe chi healing..." Minako was saying. "Come on, don't you

want to freak out Ranma again? Don't you want to berate me for something?"

Ranma. Yes, the boy had been good for her. He had a spark too, an energy

that could not be suppressed. He had watched the two fall in love. Not a

childish crush. Not even teenage hormones. He had seen their feelings mature the

way real adults' did.

"Min-" His word turned into a cough. He grimaced and forced his leg to

move. Minako's eyes shimmered and she took his tiny white paw in her large

hand. Larger still than it had been when he'd first met her. She had grown up.

She was an adult now. A grown woman.

"Artemis..."

She had experienced pain and love, loss and joy. He had been with her

every step of the way. He would continue being strong for her. He needed to let

her know how much he was proud of her. He needed to let her know how much he

loved her. He wanted her to know that she should be happy. That she should never

lose that attitude. That he would be there with her forever.

"Artemis?"

This was important. He needed to say something right, something noble.

Something inspiring. Something that said everything he wanted to say. He closed

his eyes and took a deep, painful breath, trying to think of what to say.

"ARTEMIS!"

And while he was thinking, he died.

OoOoO

"...and then Chris told me to go to Sweden, which is where I met Akira,"

Angel said somewhat wistfully. She and Akane were sitting in a pair of chairs

next to a long curved window that overlooked the sweep of Chris' flying

fortress. Akane was nodding along quietly. The girl had been going through her

life story for nearly fifteen minutes now.

Akane wasn't certain what to think about it. To be fair, she had only

been half listening. Her eyes kept straying down to the planet far below. There

was a layer of sharp white clouds, obscuring most of the world from sight except

for a few blue patches. There was no way to tell what was happening down there.

Akane turned slightly to look at the white-haired girl. Girl? Akane

masked an amused grunt, not wanting to interrupt Angel. According to her story,

Angel was nineteen years old. Akane was just five years older than her. And here

she was, referring to the battle-hardened assassin as a 'girl', as a 'kid' in

her mind.

Frankly, the life Angel had led must have forced her to grow up very

fast. Akane had never lost her family like Angel had. She had never been

shuttled from remote location to location like her, learning all she could and

never really having a home. She had never been groomed for nearly seven years to

be a fighter. Akane's father had barely taught her. Ukyou had tried to give her

a few pointers, but soon they became too busy to train and then they parted

ways. Shampoo had actually been one of the only people to have ever really

trained with Akane, and even that had been cut tragically short.

No, Akane had been forced to learn what she could when she could as she

needed it. Angel, in contrast, had been... molded. Chris had been very careful

to make certain that the girl would learn all the skills she would need to

survive as his servant. Of course, that made Akane realise something.

"...we spent a little time in Southtown but then that vampire chick

showed up with undead Gam-"

"Wait a minute," Akane said, holding up her hand to cut Angel off.

"Don't get me wrong, Angel. This is all fascinating. Especially learning about

what happened with Akira and Ukyou. But what about before?"

"Before I met Akira?" Angel blinked. "Well, like I said, I was mainly

just training. I didn't have much time to live here at the compound before all

this..."

"No. Before that." Akane frowned. "I asked to know about you. I want to

know more about... the kind of person who would choose to follow Chris' ideals.

But you just started with the day Chris saved you."

"Well... yeah." Angel shrugged. "That's basically when my life began."

"No," Akane snapped. "It isn't."

Angel stared at Akane for a long moment. Akane struggled to find the

right words to say. She took a deep breath and stood up. "You're nineteen years

old, Angel. You've known Chris for what... seven of those? You had a life before

then. A family. Friends."

"They're all dead," Angel returned with exaggerated nonchalance.

Akane winced. "I'm sorry." She took a deep breath. "My own mother died

when I was very young-"

"It's not important," Angel interrupted dismissively.

"Not important?" Akane snapped, turning on her with a snarl. "Did you

really just say that?"

"I..." Angel stared up at Akane.

"Don't you ever, EVER say that again!" Akane leaned forward. "Don't ever

call my mother, or your parents, unimportant!"

"Who are you to tell me I shouldn't?" Angel growled back gamely. "They

AREN'T important. Face facts. Yes, I loved them. Yes, I still think about them.

They were insurgents, fighting against the Chronos forces, and I hope they'd be

proud I'm fighting for a better world. But they're dead, and nothing from that

time matters to what you asked, because until Chris saved me, I would never have

done anything even if I'd survived!"

Akane had learned, as a matter of simple necessity, to control her

temper over the years. She had learned that at times, she needed to reign in her

anger. She had developed techniques she could employ to restrain herself, remain

clear-headed and force herself to think rationally. At those times, she could

deal with the most infuriating things in a diplomatic fashion. This, she

decided, was not one of those times.

"So that's it, is it? They're nothing. Just because they had the

audacity to fail? Everything they fought for, fought to protect and preserve, is

just wasted time because they couldn't kill enough people?" Akane snapped back.

It felt good, to be yelling again. It was comfortable.

"Don't like it?" Angel yelled back. "Tough. Welcome to the real world,

'resistance leader'. I'm sure it feels great that you stood up to Chronos. You

think I wouldn't have? You think I wouldn't fight them? I HATE them! But if you

hadn't been saved a few months back and Gyro had killed you and all your

friends, what then? In a hundred years, who was going to remember you? What

difference did you make? It's nice to be nice, but you have to make a difference

to matter!"

Akane snarled and clenched her fists. How dare she? How dare this brat

insult her friends? Taunting Akane was one thing. She was used to that. But the

people who worked with her were like family. The thought of someone spitting on

them like Angel was...

Why was she so angry? Akane stepped back, the rage burning out of her

with a flash that left her feeling cold and kind of numb. Hadn't she just

thought it herself, a few minutes ago? Angel had been molded. She had been

carefully guided by Chris's hand. Akane couldn't blame Angel for fiercely

believing the only perspective she had ever known.

"I... I'm sorry," Akane said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you." Angel

shifted in her seat, her eyes scanning Akane's face. Her face was still twisted

into an annoyed grimace. Akane suspected the girl was waiting for the other shoe

to drop, for Akane to reveal the trap her seeming acquiescence was leading Angel

into. Except Akane didn't really feel any anger towards the girl anymore.

"Listen, I don't want to argue about this," Akane informed her levelly.

She turned to face the window again. A break in the clouds showed a long slice

of brilliant blue water. They were floating somewhere over the Atlantic now,

from what she recalled. "I'm running out of time here, so I never should have

brought up your parents. I apologise."

"It's all right," Angel said with a hint of sullen petulance that

reminded Akane instantly that, after all, she really was talking to a teenager.

"I didn't mean that what you were doing was worthless. What people like you do

is important. It is. I mean, doing important things, saving people, taking out

monsters like Bison or Gyro, those are things worth fighting for." A hint of

longing had entered her voice. "But without Chris, it really won't mean

anything. I'm not trying to be mean, but you saw what happened to Japan. The

people you saved... they're all dead now. That could happen to the whole Earth.

The whole universe. The most important thing is that that never happens. No

matter what. So that's why I believe in Chris."

"Because he's the only one that can do it," Akane said softly.

"Yeah-" Angel was cut off by Akane continuing.

"And that makes him right?" Akane mused.

"Of course He is," Angel replied forcefully.

"Because he's the strongest?" Akane turned to her again. "Because he can

win. Is that what makes him right?"

"No... yes..." Angel frowned. "Stop twisting things around, Akane. He's

Chris. You've seen what He can do. He's... not like us. He's... He's the chosen

one."

"Okay." Akane tapped her hand against the glass. "Let's say that I

accept that. What difference does it make?"

"Huh?"

"If Chris is the chosen one, if he literally cannot fail, then what does

it matter what I do?" Akane mused aloud. "In the end, whether I choose to work

with him, against him, or just ignore him it's all going to turn out the same,

right? He wins. So then, it doesn't matter what you or I do here today."

"I..." Angel stood up quickly. "You're wrong! Chris will win, that's

what's going to happen, but what we do now matters. Because if we... if YOU help

Him, then it will get done faster. He'll save more lives. He needs us to put an

end to the needless suffering."

"Yeah..." Akane nodded. "Except... you yourself said it, Angel. We've

seen his power. He has no limits. None. He could snap his fingers and do

anything he wanted. What does he need an assassin for?"

"I told you about when he told me that. He can't kill people-"

"Yes," Akane nodded. "But that was then. When he hadn't unlocked his

powers, or learned how to use them, or whatever he's done now. Maybe then he

needed you. Maybe then he really did need someone to kill people for him and

maybe he thought it was necessary. But he doesn't now. Angel, do you seriously

think Chris HAS to kill anybody? He can blow them up and not let them die. He

can rewrite their minds and their entire personality. He could turn them back

into babies, or shove them to another planet, or god knows what else. So what

does he need you or me for?"

"I..." Angel threw up her hands. "I don't know! I haven't asked Him yet.

Why are you asking me? I don't know what He's thinking!"

"You're right." Akane stepped over to the girl. "I'm asking the wrong

person." She reached out and grabbed the girl's wrist, pulling her to her feet.

Angel was too startled to respond. "Come on, let's go talk to him."

"But... but you can't!"

"Why not?" Akane asked, already pulling the girl along behind her. "I

have to ask him, Angel. I have to know why we should follow him, when it doesn't

matter. Because if it doesn't matter to his plans what we do, then the only

persons whose morals we really have to worry about are ourselves. Which is

funny, isn't it? Because that's pretty much the way it would be if he wasn't

God."

"I... what?"

"Come on, let's go ask Chris."

OoOoO

"We have to stop here," Angel said firmly.

Akane paused, turning to look at her. "Why?"

"You're not allowed in here," Angel explained, gesturing at the door. It

was deceptively simple-looking, a simple metal outline at the end of a short

corridor at the very bottom of the fortress. "Nobody is. It's Chris's private

chamber."

"He told me he was going to talk to me later," Akane argued. "So how

could that happen if I can't go see him?"

"I don't really know," Angel said. "I assume He'll come out when He

feels you're ready. Or when Galaxia shows up He'll act, like He said. But you're

not going in there without permission."

Akane hesitated for a moment as if planning to argue further, but after

a glance at Angel's face she sighed and nodded. "Okay, I understand you."

"Great," Angel said. "We should go- hey!"

Without warning, Akane had shoved past her. Angel whirled and grabbed

her by the shoulder, but too late to stop Akane's hand from reaching the door.

Without the slightest noise, it slid open. "Why you-"

"I understand you," Akane repeated, not looking back. "But I don't take

orders from Chris. And if he wants me to help him, in any capacity, I don't want

him keeping secrets from me. So I'm sorry, Angel, but either you let me go or

I'm turning around and leaving this fortress right now. You'll just have to

decide whether this 'secret room' or me is more important to him."

Angel froze for a long, painful instant.

"Thank you," Akane said as Angel's hand released her shoulder. "Now, why

don't you follow to keep an eye on me?"

Angel wasn't certain what she had been expecting. She entered the room

behind Akane slowly, hesitantly. As her head crossed the threshold she felt

almost giddy, like a child sneaking into an R-rated movie. She didn't even

notice the room until she realised that she was here, in the sanctum, the one

place Chris always went to meditate and deliberate and be at peace.

It was small, smaller than Angel had ever imagined. It had an austere

quality to it, due less to a deliberate plan than simply because it was His

room. There were no creature comforts, no chairs; not even any lights because,

in the end, Chris didn't need any of these things. He only used them because

they made it easier for the people beneath Him, people like Angel, to understand

Him. The air was stale, and smelled vaguely of rot.

The only illumination came from the open doorway behind her, and with

both her and Akane standing near it, that cut off most of the light. Even so, it

was easy to make out a few generalities about the room. It was circular,

with a ceiling about half again as high as normal. The floor was grey and

pristine, as if nobody had ever walked on it. Which, Angel realised a second

later, nobody had.

There were things floating in the room. Cylinders of some kind. The

light reflected off the edges of them that Angel could see. Glass? There was

something green in them that fluoresced in the scant light.

"What is...?" Angel cut off as Akane suddenly flared her aura. She

winced. The sudden blast of red light gave the room a sinister quality. The

unfurnished walls and floors seemed stained. Then Angel saw the tubes more

clearly. There were probably two dozen of them, bobbing gently in mid-air.

Inside each, behind a layer of translucent shimmering liquid, was a naked

green-tinged figure.

"Link?" Angel gaped, staring around. Each one was a perfect copy of the

traitor's. Except... they all had short, bobbed hair, like Link had had when

Angel had first met her almost seven years ago. Even more oddly, though none of

the floating bodies moved or showed any sign of life, every single one of them

was smiling.

"No," Akane said slowly. "Not Link."

"No, not Link," They both turned. Chris was sitting in the air, floating

a few feet above the pristine floor, just high enough so they had to glance up

slightly to see Him. He didn't appear to have moved at their entrance; He was

facing one of the tubes. "You must have been very eager to talk to me, Akane."

"Chris," Akane said. Her voice was unreadable. "Why?"

Chris pivoted in the air to look at Akane. The eyebrow above His good

eye arched slightly. "That's a silly question, isn't it? She was my friend. She

was killed despite my best efforts to save her. I promised her then that I'd do

everything I could to bring her back, and as you know, I keep my promises. So

I've tried. Is that really such a shocking or horrifying thing, that I've tried

to bring back my friend? Someone did the same for you, after all."

"I..." Akane paused. The intensity of her aura dimmed somewhat as her

anger settled down. Angel glanced between the two of them. Chris was waiting

patiently for her reply. No, more than patiently. He was waiting eagerly. She

had been with Him long enough to read His moods a little. The way He kept His

gaze on Akane, the way His body seemed to freeze up entirely as He forgot to

consciously do all those little human movements like pretending to breathe.

"Chris," Akane started again. "You might not like what you bring back.

What's out there..." Akane trailed off.

He shook His head. "It's not that. Bringing people back to life isn't so

difficult for me. After all," he said with a small smile, "even Sailor Moon

could do that. I've done it before without any problems." His smile instantly

vanished. "But she's... different."

"Is that because of the spring? Because she doesn't really exist..."

Akane trailed off again, this time looking a little ashamed, as if she'd said

something hurtful.

Chris shook his head again. "No. No, not even that. That's just a...

complication. I could get around it. I have, in fact." He sighed. "It's my

fault. I realised that, eventually. When I tried to save her, I... didn't know

what I was doing. I was just using my power, not realising... it was the

Paradox. It must have been. I didn't know what I was doing, and some of it must

have touched her. And then... I don't know. It took her somewhere, Akane. And I

can't find her."

Angel stared. While Chris had said that, His facial features had

slumped. His cold, glassy, implacable eye had suddenly wavered, just a little

bit. And His voice... it sounded tired. Old. Not ageless, like He usually did,

but just... old. He sounded like someone at the end of a long war, rousing

themselves to go fight one last time. He sounded like someone going to visit

their dying parent.

He sounded, she suddenly realised, terrifyingly like Remy, the day he

had told Angel about how his sister had died.

It didn't sound like Chris at all.

Who the hell was that woman in the tube?

"I'm sorry, Chris," Akane said. The sympathy in her voice sounded

genuine, but only half-hearted. "There's some things none of us can do."

"No," Chris's head rose, and his features firmed again. "It's a setback.

No matter how far she is, no matter what happened to her, I will find her again.

I promised. There is nothing I can't do, Akane. I've told you this." Before

anyone could respond, He gestured, an abrupt, sharp movement.

And then she was there.

The woman wore an outfit, a Chinese-style dress of green silk with

golden trim. There was a chevron cut in the cheongsam at the very centre of her

chest, though there was nothing there and her very modest cleavage hardly

warranted the exposure. Her black hair swirled around her head as she jerked her

head to look around the room; her eyes were wild and unfocused. Her face, pale

and sharp-featured just like Link's, sported a smile, but the smile seemed

perfunctory, more out of habit than mood.

Until she spotted Chris, floating above and to the side of her.

She stared at him blankly for a long moment, then suddenly her eyes

widened in recognition. Her smile became wider and genuine, but while there was

warmth to it, it was a predatory warmth. She stepped towards him, her body

relaxing. She walked like she owned the room, like everyone in it existed at her

leisure.

"I knew you'd do it," the woman said, then laughed lightly. "I knew I

could trust you, dear Chris." She reached up and, catching His hand, drew Him

down to her level. As she did so, she turned and affixed Angel and Akane with a

haughty glare. Until then, she had seemed perfectly alive, but when Angel met

her gaze, she flinched. Something about her eyes was... empty. Like Kalia's.

"Are you still hanging around with HER?" the woman sneered at Akane.

"How ridiculous. And who's this other girl? Well, I don't care anyway." She

hooked her arm around Chris's possessively, like a lover. "Get rid of them. And

then..." She paused. "And then..." Suddenly, her smile fell, becoming the same

slight, perfunctory one she had had when she first appeared. "...we can..." Her

voice trailed off into nothingness, her expression becoming blank.

"You see?" Chris said softly. "I can reach back to when it happened.

There's... an impression there, of her mind. I can take that, and bring it here.

But there's something that's missing." He looked down at the woman beside him.

She turned mechanically to look back at him, face still totally blank. He stared

at her for a long moment, then raised the arm she wasn't grasping and tapped her

once on the forehead. The woman's body toppled back like a marionette whose

strings had been cut. As soon as she broke contact with his arm, her body began

dissolving; nothing remained long enough to hit the ground. "Something that I

can't find," Chris finished after the woman had vanished. "But I will."

"My god..." Akane breathed out, her face going pale. The colour of her

aura seemed to fade slightly as well. Angel herself shifted uncomfortably. She

had so many questions burning in her mind. So many things she needed to know.

This entire conversation was happening on a level above her head. She could

piece together a lot of it, but there were still pieces missing. "Chris, how...

how many times have you..."

"I stopped counting," He said simply.

Angel felt like something cold and hollow had slammed into her gut. She

saw Akane's eyes widen, a look of mute horror crawling across her face. Angel

knew the same expression must have been on her own face. Angel might not have

been well-versed in all the theory, but she was smart and could make educated

guesses very well. Chris had trained her to. If Angel was right, then this

woman, this strange not-Link, was being drawn forward again and again and

again... and killed. All at the last moment of her life.

"You... you... how can you do that!" Akane screamed in anger, her aura

flaring red once again. "It's monstrous!"

"No," Chris said simply. "It's terrible that I have to do this, yes. But

once I understand, once I figure it out, I'll simply make it so that everything

I've had to do to her never happened. I'm omnipotent, Akane, not omniscient. I

told you that. I have to figure this out, but when I do, I'll make it right."

His voice was smooth and cool again. "You can trust me that Pink would have

wanted it this way, much more than my giving up."

"Is that what it's like to be a god?" Akane asked. Well, shouted more

than asked. Angel gave her a sidelong glance and stepped a bit away. People

didn't treat Chris this way. They just... didn't. But strangely, Chris seemed

more amused than annoyed by her reaction. It was like He was teasing a puppy,

getting it all worked up and barking all while smiling to Himself.

"Is that your answer to all the hard questions, Chris? 'I'll make it go

away', just like that?" She snapped her fingers. Before Chris could reply, she

continued. "Why should we do anything then, Chris? Why should we bother going

along with your plan if you can just 'fix' it all?"

"This is the exact reason I don't 'fix' everything, Akane," Chris

replied, completely unruffled. "Because people stop caring. If God solves all

their problems, they stop struggling to improve themselves. If you don't like

that I can do something like this, then you should be glad I don't plan to. I

don't even want to. I want to make it so humanity doesn't need me helping them

to survive. This, on the other hand, is entirely a personal matter. Surely even

I'm allowed to have someone I care about. Surely even I can bend my rules just

once. Is that so wrong to you?"

"Damn it, stop twisting around everything I say!" Akane exploded in

frustration.

"I'm not trying to be annoying, Akane," Chris said with a bit of honest

contrition in His voice. "I can understand your frustration, and I'm sorry I

spoke so plainly..." He trailed off, clearly trying to read her mood. Angel

started a bit as she realised that Chris was concerned about Akane's feelings,

genuinely concerned. He didn't want her mad at Him.

Why? What was so damned special about Akane?

Akane took a deep breath. She turned her eyes away from Him, unable to

look into His dead, knowing gaze anymore. "You always have an answer," she

admitted.

"I've thought very carefully about all this," He replied. "But I'm

sorry, I understand it was a little shocking because you're not really used to

what I can do. You probably need some time to digest it. Look, I'll have a room

set up. Perhaps you should sleep on it, and-"

"But what about Galaxia?"

Chris stopped.

Then he turned to look at Angel. Angel couldn't believe she'd actually

interrupted Chris. But she was hearing this, still not understanding why any of

it was happening, and she remembered how Chris had been taking about Galaxia,

how it was important, how it was urgent, how she could destroy everything and

how Akane had to make a decision before she arrived. She didn't have time to

sleep on anything!

Chris was still staring at her. His gaze had first been of blank

unrecognition, and now he was clearly digesting her presence.

And then, Angel realised the truth. He'd never looked at her since she

arrived in the room. Never spoken to her. Never acknowledged her.

Never even realised she was there. Until now.

Akane was looking at Angel now, too. Her expression was unreadable.

Angel had no idea what her own face looked like. She didn't even know what she

was feeling.

"Yes, a... good point," Chris finally said. He glanced downward.

"Ironically enough, she's already arrived."

Akane started. "Is she..."

Chris shook his head. "Actually, you've gotten a reprieve. She was

talked into the notion that a slaughter now wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable as a

full-fledged war when Tethys seeks her out later. A pretty irresistible bargain

to the embodiment of Chaos, no doubt." He chuckled, but there was an edge to it.

"It was a lucky thing. But it IS just a reprieve. You've gained a day. Maybe a

week, maybe a year, maybe a decade. But sooner or later, that luck will run out

for the human race, just like it did for Japan."

"Or it could be a hundred years from now," Akane mused softly. "When I'm

dead and gone." She looked up at Chris. "So... why do you need me to be the one

to take her down?"

"What?"

"Why me, Chris?" Akane said. Angel started as if someone had run a spark

down her back. Akane was asking the exact same question she was? She stared at

the girl. "I'm nothing special. I'm not a good martial artist. I'm not a great

speaker. I'm not a good leader. Everything I've done, it's always been one step

forward, two steps back. So why did you want me to fight Galaxia? Why not Ranma,

or Akira? Why ME?"

"Well, for one, because I trust you."

"So what?" Akane countered. "What about Angel? Don't you trust her?"

"Of course I do," Chris replied quickly. "But that's not the sort of

thing she needs to do." He paused. "On that note, actually..." He turned and

fixed her with his gaze. She started, because suddenly he was holding a sword.

Her sword, which she had lost in the City of Black Ice. "Angel, I have a duty

for you."

OoOoO

Link loved this place. After sneaking into the ruined islands of Japan

at night, after crawling through the broken, dead land in mortal terror that she

had miscalculated and her own death would follow shortly, coming to this oasis

of life very nearly put a smile on her face.

Here, the earth was still whole. Here, the grass grew tall and lush and

the air was fresh with the scent of things green and growing. Other flavours

accented the air, like tea and the smoke of cooking. But they were long past,

memories of a time when people still lived here. Nobody lived here now; quite

possibly nobody ever would again. It gave the tiny little pocket of life a

secret, mysterious feeling, weighty with the past.

Of course, this was nothing but romantic nonsense. But Link allowed

herself to enjoy it a little nonetheless. It reminded her in a small way of her

own sanctuary in Chris's fortress, which she would never see again. That was

only a small regret, however. It was another chapter of her life to put behind

her, much like the time she had spent with that... shadow. Whatever small joys

her old life may have held, holding onto them would only be a weakness. And she

had quite enough of those to worry about without adding more.

Here, tonight, she would begin a new chapter.

The tree was still the centrepiece of this oasis, an even more literal

term now that it was surrounded by death. It rose majestically over the

elaborate water and stone pond, and even the most ignorant onlooker would have

been awed at its sheer size and beauty. Few would guess, even in these chaotic

times, at its alien origin; fewer still would know how to speak with it. But to

Link, the tree could almost be considered an old friend.

It was in bad shape, now. The great branches sagged as if weighed down

by a thick coating of ice; the leaves had lost some of their colour. It was

emitting light in erratic flashes, perhaps some call of distress. Link had once

seen it in full glory, her reward for healing it, and her breath had been taken

away by the glorious rainbow light show. What the tree was doing now was a

pitiful thing in comparison, irregular glimmers of pale light.

"You are dying," Link informed the great Juraian tree bluntly by way of

greeting. "It is not merely the loss of the power source which had sustained you

until Ryoko left this planet, nor is it the strain in protecting this place from

the devastation that struck this land, though both are contributing factors. But

your true problem is the death of your soul-partner, Katsuhito Masaki."

Another burst of light flashed from the tree, red suddenly

predominating. Link could feel its mind pressing against her own, filled with

sadness and anger. It was intriguingly different than a human one. The tree was

very ancient and greatly intelligent, far more so than Link herself. But it

lacked the subtle twists and turns of the human mind. Instead, it was more...

primal, based on emotion rather than reason.

In an unexpected burst of emotion, Link found herself suddenly

regretting what she was about to do. The ancient Juraian tree was a wonder, a

living piece of history with vast knowledge that could very well be lost

forever. Much like her nostalgia, however, she quickly put the emotion aside.

"I regret that I could not prevent his death. Please understand that his

killer is an enemy of mine as well as yours." She let her utterly sincere hatred

for Kalia and Chris flow through her mind, and knew the tree felt it as well.

"But it is killing you. And worse than killing."

Disbelief. Rage. Sadness. Link frowned, a sad, sympathetic little frown.

"His soul was destroyed by Paradox. But as you were connected to him,

instead of just escaping, the Paradox has attacked you as well. Even you cannot

resist it, great tree. Steadily, inevitably, you will be consumed and you

yourself will become more of it. At that point, there can be no going back for

your soul." A wordless question, and Link shook her head. "There is no

salvation. I would not have come to you if there was. Great Tsunami, for all her

power, dares not come to Earth now. Even if she did, Paradox is a power beyond

even hers to fight. There are those that could, I suppose, but they have

forgotten you." The bitterness and regret in her voice didn't require any

falsification. "They have forgotten me as well. We are one in this, great tree."

She rested her cheek for a moment against the cool bark, savouring the life

within. "But I remembered you. Isn't it wonderful, to be remembered?"

Of course, Link had no one but herself to blame for that, did she? She

could have stayed. She had extracted Ukyou's promise. She could have joined her

companions. She could have clung to the heart of the grand story, the tale upon

which this universe was founded.

But she was afraid.

She knew she had accomplished the part she had - been born for? Been

destined to play? Grown into? Seized with her own hands? It was a frustrating

uncertainty. But nonetheless, she knew it was done. And she knew very well the

fate of traitorous lieutenants in stories.

Kalia lurked in Tokyo. Waiting for Akira, for whatever mad scheme it was

she had planned for the woman. No, Link could not have gone there. But it was a

blessing, too. The not-girl was too close to great events, events that even she

could not change. She could not risk leaving to search the world for Link now.

And so Link would live. Even if she had been forgotten. She drew back

from the tree. "I can save you."

The tree radiated confusion. As well it should, she supposed. "No, I am

as nothing compared to Tsunami, great tree, and I would never claim otherwise.

But it is a saying of my people that if properly placed, a single twig may stop

an avalanche. I swear I can save you from the Paradox, if you will but trust

me." She held her breath, unable to halt her anxiety, hoping the tree would

interpret the emotion as concern for it rather than herself.

Success. It indicated she should continue. She released the breath and

straightened. "I have been in close contact with the Paradox for many years.

More so than any other mortal, I have studied its peculiarities. I cannot fight

it, granted. But I can hide you from it." She rested her hand on the bark, a

comforting gesture. "Paradox is all that is left of the identity of a soul. It

is pure hate and rage at its own destruction, but it has no mind beyond that. It

seeks out that which is like unto itself, you see. It seeks identity, the sense

of self of the soul, that which it once was. To illustrate... I knew a man,

once, who was tormented by the Paradox."

She almost smiled a little bit to herself. "That man would, when the

Paradox grew too great to bear, take new bodies. When I finally discovered the

nature of Paradox, I wondered how that could have worked, but then hit upon the

truth. When he took on a new body, he took on identity as well. Speech,

mannerisms, knowledge and power he seized, and these provided him with the

buffer he craved, confused the Paradox for awhile as it sought a soul that was

no longer there. Of course, it always found him again eventually, but the

stronger the identity he stole, the longer it took. Eventually, he found a more

permanent solution, and created a... thing, a false identity that he funnelled

all his Paradox into. This thing had identity to lure it in, but no soul to

destroy, so it caught all the Paradox in the nothing inside it, where it was

trapped."

The tree rumbled with horror. Link nodded, and let it know how she

shared its disgust at the unnaturalness of it all. "I cannot do that for you,

nor would I wish to. But there is still a possibility." She stepped back. "The

trees of Jurai may regenerate from nearly any wound. They may recreate

themselves, like a phoenix from the ashes. You can do this still. But it will

have to be... complete. You will lose every trace of your identity. Your memory,

your personality, your very being. And by so doing, you will escape the Paradox.

I will spirit you and your soul from this place before it can find you again."

The great tree's radiance went out. For a moment, all was dark. And then

it blazed with light, angry light.

"I know that's not how it works," Link said smoothly. "But I will help

you. I know how your biological systems function. Let me assist you, and it can

be done." Hesitation. Link expected this, and so played her trump card with all

the sincere grief she had hours before carefully arranged to have

pharmaceutically stimulated in her brain at this moment. Her eyes watered, and

her voice shook with conviction. "I ask this not merely to save your soul, great

tree. Not just that! You realise, you must know, that just as Katsuhito was

connected to your soul, so to is your soul connected to all Juraian trees,

everywhere in the universe, and even Tsunami itself. If the Paradox takes you...

it might... it could..." She couldn't finish the sentence. She lowered her head.

"We can't let that happen."

The facts of that argument were even possibly true.

Horror. But not disbelief. The horror of realisation. And then, a grim

and growing determination. And a single word blazed around Link, a single simple

answer.

She didn't smile. But she wanted to. Relief flew through her mind, and

she needed no preparation for it to be genuine. She would not have wanted to

have to destroy the tree. Of course, no one could ever know that she had been

here, or what she had spoken of. These were her secrets.

Perhaps this would all come to nothing. Perhaps the world would end

tomorrow. Link fully intended to witness it, if so. But, should it survive...

Well, there was a long time to learn what the new order of the world

would be. A long time to find what her place was in in it. Link did not intend

to spend any of that time living at the pleasure of a master ever again. And to

ensure that, she would need power. Power to mold as she wished.

She lifted her hand once more. A shàyù fluttered from the darkness

around her; it pressed a thorn-like leg into the pad of her thumb, and blood

flowed freely. Thick and rich, carrying all her life and power.

"Just trust me," she repeated, and let her blood drip upon the great

tree.

OoOoO

"Where is she?" Ranma shouted as he burst into the door. Ranma didn't

recognise the girl who looked up to greet him. She had blue hair and was chewing

on the end of a pencil, which bobbed up and down in her mouth almost comically.

She also wore a costume that vaguely reminded Ranma of Minako's outfit, but

instead of it being armour it was some sort of swimsuit with a really short

skirt.

"You must be Ranma," the woman said, standing up. She had been working

on a small laptop computer when Ranma had arrived. Ranma nodded briefly,

scanning the room. There was another woman in a similar outfit; this one had

brown hair and a green trim to her costume. She was sitting in the corner next

to a girl with dark skin and purple hair, who was asleep by all appearances.

"Yeah, I heard that survivors arrived and..." he trailed off. The

woman's eyes had clouded over slightly. Ranma was not the most socially adept

person, but even he could recognise the signs of a woman trying very hard not to

cry. With mechanical precision she rubbed her eyes with the back of her fist,

and returned to her neutral expression.

"Minako is in the back."

Ranma briefly considered asking what was wrong. But he was fairly

certain that he wouldn't be able to do anything for her. So, nodding silently,

he slipped past her towards one of the rooms in back. This building was almost

totally restored. A few of the youma-hybrids had nifty powers that let them do

stuff like rebuild buildings very fast. Of course, at this point it was like

getting around to fixing that squeak in your front door after the house had

burned down.

But people needed places to get inside. Places that looked normal.

Places that didn't look like millions of people had died there.

Minako was in a room with the windows drawn. There were a half dozen

cots in the room, but only two other were occupied. A woman with long black hair

was sleeping on one and someone else Ranma didn't recognise was drinking quietly

in the corner. Well, it was too much to hope they would get some privacy.

Ranma stopped, hovering above her. He wanted to grab her and crush her

to his chest. He wanted to breathe in the scent of her hair. He wanted to feel

her lips against his. But he settled for just placing a hand on her shoulder.

She gave a sound halfway between a choke and a laugh. "She's dead."

"I..." Ranma trailed off. That really hadn't been what he had expected

to hear. He knelt, placing his face level with hers and gently turned her chin

with one hand until he was staring into her blue eyes. Yup, she had been

seriously crying. "Minako... what happened?"

"I couldn't save her, Ranma," Minako breathed. "I tried to be a hero and

I failed. And because of me, Artemis..." She broke down at that point,

collapsing into his arms. Ranma held her awkwardly for a few minutes. Then

instincts he'd almost forgotten kicked in and he began to gently rub her back

and rock her back and forth.

Minako had been like this once. Just after they'd fled England, when

they were still hurting from that. He hadn't really known how to deal with it

then, either. Every time he said something, it was wrong. So he had learned not

to say anything. He just knelt there, letting her get it out. He wanted her to

know, he needed her to know, that he would be there.

Even if he hadn't been.

Damn. Bad thoughts. Ranma banished them with a grimace.

Eventually Minako stopped soaking his shoulder. Ranma pushed her back a

bit and looked at her face. Her face was covered in dried streaks from the

tears. She looked like hell.

Ranma smiled. "I'm never going to let you go again."

Minako blinked. Ranma chuckled a bit. He knew it was stupid. She was

hurting so much, but all he could be was so damn happy. He never should have

left her. He hadn't even realised it until now, until he was looking at her

face, that he had been missing something. That he had left an important part of

him behind. That he wasn't complete.

God, he sounded like such a girl. But he wanted to fill her ears with

happy words. He wanted to tell her all about beating the snot out of Bison. He

wanted to tell her about saving the world and grand adventure. He wanted her to

be a part of that. Maybe he would tell her about all the jokes and pranks. Tell

her about how he had set up Ukyou and Akira, about how depressingly cute a

couple Nabiki and Ryouga made, even if pig-boy didn't admit it to himself. He

wanted to talk about happy things.

"This is a time for happy things," Ranma said, leaning down and kissing

Minako just below the eye. "Tomorrow, we can mourn. Today, let's talk about

happy things, okay?"

Minako stared at him a moment longer. Then a phantom of a smile appeared

on her lips and he saw the old twinkle, the old never-say-die energy appear in

her eyes again. His heart clenched euphorically.

"Ranma, how can someone so stupid always say the right thing?" She

leaned in against him. Ranma chuckled and breathed in her hair.

"It's a gift," he said without any modesty.

"Stop ruining the moment."

"Yes, ma'am."

To Be Continued...

Epsilon: Fuck you, Linkin Park.

Blade: We hate you.

Epsilon: "No More Sorrow".

Blade: "What I've Done", "Bleed It Out", "SHADOW OF THE DAY"!

Epsilon" "Minutes to FUCKING Midnight"

Blade: Where was this four, five, six chapters ago, when we could have used

them?

Epsilon: Hell, where was this shit last month when we put out the sidestory?

Blade: So, of course, they release a new album during the LAST TWO CHAPTERS! The

ones we HAVE names for. Just when it won't do us any good at all!

Epsilon: I like to imagine them sitting around their studio, reading Hybrid

Theory, and laughing at each other. Laughing about how they're screwing with us.

Laughing at these little fanfic writers. I hear it.

Blade: Well, screw you guys, we're not-

Epsilon: All the time. There laughter. It mocks me. Yes, yes it does.

Blade: Uh... and the fact that they'd make such cool titles-

Epsilon: I can't sleep. I hear it in my bedroom. I hear it at work. Always their

laughter! ALWAYS! Why won't they leave me alone!

Blade: Riiiiight. Aaron has gone bye-bye... so, next (half-) chapter preview!

OoOoO

Finally Ukyou got to within earshot of Hotaru. The girl was sitting on

the ground. The swords orbited her, falling like rain. One would sink into her

flesh, causing her to cry out. Then the sword would burrow into her. For a

moment the flesh around the wound would bulge and throb as the sword crawled

under the girl's skin. Then its handle would vanish, and the skin would settle

down... only to have another sword take its place. Dozens at a time.

"Hotaru..." Ukyou gasped.

"Ukyou." Hotaru looked up. The skin on her face was being distorted

grotesquely. Points and bulges would throb into place, pushing at her cheeks and

forehead. A wound in the shape of Saturn's symbol was oozing blood. Her eyes

were bronze and venomous. There was nothing of the girl Ukyou had known in this

face. "We weren't supposed to meet like this."

"Oh... oh god..." Ukyou slumped forward. Perversely, now that she was

this close to Hotaru, the storm was no longer striking her as much. The Paradox

swords had a more tempting target. Blades still slid across her limbs, some

vanishing as Akira absorbed the hate-filled energy before it could harm Ukyou,

but most passed by her harmlessly.

"There was... going to be a battle..." Hotaru coughed. She was sitting

against something. A huge blade, faded and cracked, served to prop her up. The

shape was vaguely familiar to Aaron. "I was going... to push you... past your

limits..." Hotaru moaned as a blade struck her in the side of the neck. The

continuous strikes were forcing her to cut in and out as she tried to talk

around the moans and shrieks of pain.

Ukyou stepped forward, her hand outstretched.

"If you touch me, I'll kill you," Hotaru said. There was no threat in

her voice, just a statement of fact.

Hybrid Theory Chapter 29: Faint, B-Side


	31. Faint B Side

My name? Call me Nabiki. Pull up a stool and have a drink with me. Your treat,

of course.

My story? No, I don't think so. My story is... painful. I'd rather not talk

about my life. I made a mistake. I was stupid and young. I tried to make up for

it. Damn, now I'm getting depressed...

I should tell you about my sister instead. Akane is younger than me by about a

year. Some people call her a hero. Some people call her a terrorist. Just a

matter of perspective, I guess. I mean, when you look at her life, it could have

been mine. It was just a matter of luck and timing.

We have something in common: it all went wrong when Ukyou showed up. Ukyou is

this... person. She's actually two people. Don't ask me to describe it. Ukyou

walked into our lives and nothing was ever the same. Ukyou has a destiny. You

can feel it. The world, it spins in her wake. It orbits around her and leaves

everything changed. Not necessarily bad, just changed.

Akane was drawn into Ukyou's world pretty quickly. She became her friend. And

though I didn't realise it, I was drawn in too. We all were. People either

became Ukyou's friends, or her enemies.

But then Akane did something that none of us did. She got to know Chris. Chris

is... you could say he's Ukyou's nemesis. The yin to her yang, so to speak.

Chris was a creature, a man who lived in the corpses of murder victims. He and

Ukyou used to be friends, but then they - pretty undderstandably, huh? - started

to hate each other.

Chris liked Akane. I don't know why. I don't WANT to know why. And when Akane

got burned by Ukyou, it was Chris who came to her. She became his friend. She

did so by making him promise that he would never kill anyone again. This, by the

way, worked extremely well, by which I mean it didn't work at all. Sure, Chris

never killed anyone... he just later got flunkies to do it for him.

And then Akane died.

Damn. Have you ever seen a loved one die? Now try picturing that, but this time

you get to experience the moment of death from their point of view. I swear,

telepathy is a curse. I need another drink.

Don't worry, there's a happy ending here. Akane was brought back to life, except

she came back... different. She was still Akane, but she had been touched,

altered in some way. She could sense the flow of destiny now. She could see the

path set out before her.

She fought it, tooth and nail. In the process, she may just have saved the

world.

Akane became her own person. Ukyou went off to England. She was trying to help

this girl Hotaru. But she failed. Hotaru died, and came back as something

twisted and hungry and hateful. Ukyou vanished, and didn't return for seven

years. Chris... Chris killed Akane's best friend by making her commit suicide.

He did this in front of her. He then offered her a place by his side while he

made the perfect possible future.

I believe she politely told him to go fuck himself.

And so here we are, seven years later. Ukyou's come back, and she's still

chasing that girl she let down in England. Chris has emerged and now he has the

power to make himself a god. And Akane? Akane's just a mortal, still.

Damn. That wasn't as cheerful a story as I had hoped. Let's wash the bad taste

out of our mouths, shall we?

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 29: Faint: B Side

It was amazing how easy it was to remain unnoticed. True, the city was

almost depopulated, and the few remaining stragglers were mostly resting from

the apocalyptic struggles of the day before. But the survivors were one and all

superhuman in some manner, many with naturally or magically enhanced senses, and

after surviving no less than three virtually all-powerful foes in the span of a

day, were understandably extremely wary.

Angel slipped by them all. It was nearly effortless, almost

frighteningly so. Of course, she'd always been good at sneaking around. As a

child, she'd once filched the key to her cabinet where her parents had kept all

the liquor, slipped a half-full bottle into her coat, and replaced the key as

she'd sauntered out the door to greatly impress all the other kids on the

street, all without being noticed.

Of course, the lack of any other candidates for the theft when it had

inevitably been discovered had been a flaw in her otherwise brilliant plan.

As a martial artist, Angel had taken to stealth like a duck to water.

She understood how to make use of the space in an area, what areas would be

hidden from the eye level of a passerby, how to breathe and move evenly, calmly

and soundlessly. As she'd grown older and learned more from her many different

masters, she'd grown further in ability; learning to guess which way a person

would turn by the subtle tells of their muscles, becoming so comfortable with

using other shadows to hide her own that by now it was second nature. She'd

snuck through a chaotic Dark Kingdom with ease before her unfortunate run-in

with Ranma.

All of that was nothing, however, compared to the mastery her void

chakra was imparting to her. She was no longer even looking for any possible

watchers, except out of ingrained habit. Walking onto a street, she was

instantly aware of everyone on it. She could tell their height to within

millimeters, whether they were excited, angry, happy or sleeping, their hair

colour, and a thousand other things, even if they were inside a partially

reconstructed building. And that was without even paying attention.

She flitted like a ghost between the people in the ruins in Tokyo. The

glowing golden wings that hovered just away from her back slightly outshone the

morning sunlight, but it made no difference. She hid in the shadows of the

people she was slipping by, she passed soundlessly over or behind or through

them, she blended seamlessly as a chameleon into a momentary interplay of light

and shadow as eyes unknowingly slid over her. And it was so easy. Some of these

people had magical senses, yes; Second Circle effects that would pierce her

stealth like a boot smashing through a spiderweb, but they needed first to know

where to look. None of them even felt anything out of place, no-one even glanced

around with puzzlement. They might as well have been on another world.

She hadn't even had this new applicability for her tattoos for a week.

This was only the second time she'd seriously used it, and the first time she

had done so deliberately. Not that it was any more powerful than anything else

she did, she supposed, but it was so much less... intuitive. Or maybe it was

just that she wasn't used to it.

She reached the point where Chris had told her to wait. Any number of

good vantage points presented themselves; Angel chose a small alcove on the far

side of a half-tumbled wall. The smell here, close to the ground, was atrocious.

The ground here was only mildly damp, but Tokyo was a long way from recovering

from the horrific flood of the day before. She didn't look to see what was what

amongst the unidentifiable detritus that lay scattered around, but her head was

instantly filled with the unwanted information anyway. Not every aspect of an

enhanced void chakra was helpful.

She took a deep breath - through her mouth - and shifted the focus of

her power. Void to water. She'd been walking since the night before, trekking

across the broken landscape of Japan. Chris had told her that due to the high

number of powerful beings in or watching Tokyo, he preferred not to risk

transporting her directly there. By now she was quite tired, but she felt the

fatigue wash away as the healing, transforming chakra flooded her body with

energy.

If Chris could raise a mountain of earth and technology into the sky

without anyone in the world noticing, why couldn't he have just as easily put

whatever he wanted in Tokyo?

The question had suddenly occurred to her during the long walk. She'd

tried to put it aside, but it kept flitting back at quiet moments. Angel sighed.

She'd ask when she returned. Right now, she had a job to do.

It had been a minute precisely. She shifted her focus back to void, and

felt her instantly, just like Chris had said she would.

Cologne wasn't nearly as injured as she should have been. Her body

showed the signs of massive recent trauma, but they were fading swiftly. She had

undergone a remarkable recovery in the last twelve hours. This was not merely

due to water chakra, though her body fairly hummed with it, but due to more

technologically-based enhancements. Her body had been altered, rebuilt from the

genetic level. The effects of age had been reversed, obviously, but many other

subtle changes had been made as well. Angel lacked the knowledge to determine

exactly what the changes did, but their effects on her physical condition were

easy to determine. Cologne would survive many injuries that would kill an

ordinary fighter.

But not all of them.

She was about to look. Angel slid from her secluded spot, slipping away

before the woman's eyes brushed over it. She was looking for something, but she

was wary, too. Her mood was a mixture of surprised hopefulness and tense fear.

She suspected she was walking into a trap. Her fear wasn't just for herself,

though. She constantly glanced behind her, as if wondering if she'd been

followed. Angel could have told her that so far, she hadn't been.

She didn't look like a threat. She didn't look like a person with a

vendetta, or even like the powerful martial artist who had humbled Angel months

ago in Stockholm. She looked like a scared young woman with old, old eyes.

Angel hadn't pried into Chris's reasons for why Cologne had to be killed

now, though he had dismissed the woman after their encounter in France. She

hadn't wanted to know. She had wanted to go out, get away from Akane and her own

thoughts, and accomplish something concrete. She'd wanted to feel useful and

needed again, erase all the thoughts that kept flashing through her head as

unwantedly as the composition of the detritus on the ground.

She was hesitating.

This was stupid. Void chakra or no void chakra, Cologne had proven

herself no opponent to be trifled with. Angel had already been taught the harsh

lesson of her limits by people like her, and Ranma, and Akira. She could

outmatch anyone in raw ability in any field, but raw ability wouldn't always win

the day against greater skill and experience. Angel knew Cologne could easily

thrash even Akira in a fight; Angel's only chance was to take advantage of the

surprise of her new power, strike decisively before the woman noticed her.

If she was discovered before she attacked, or if Cologne could call for

help, Angel would need a miracle to escape Tokyo. Every moment she delayed was

risking catastrophic failure.

But she still hesitated.

She slid into the shadow of a ledge just as Cologne's eyes passed above

it. Her nervous, excited hope was fading now - she was finding no trace of

whatever she was looking for. Soon she'd turn back. Angel swore at herself. What

was she doing? This was the path she'd chosen for herself. She believed in the

perfect possible future. She believed in Chris. The questions in her head were

just that, questions. But right now, she had a duty to fulfill.

Cologne glanced backward one last time. Then she looked forward,

searching for something she missed. She opened her mouth as if to call out for

someone, and that was when Angel slipped behind her and drove her sword through

the woman's heart.

OoOoO

Akira stepped into the hospital, and immediately wondered why she had

done so. She knew a lot about human anatomy, that was true. However, her

knowledge consisted almost solely of ways to make the body break, bleed and

explode. She looked around, taking in the walking wounded and those less

fortunate.

Her first thought was that there were surprisingly few injuries. Then

she realised why. She closed her eyes. Those killed by Gyro had been killed very

thoroughly. Wherever the Sealing Sword had gone, it tended to leave corpses.

Then there were the millions killed in the opening actions of the battle. Plus

tens of millions more killed by Pharaoh 90.

Akira's hand twitched. She could still feel Neherenia's neck snapping.

The feedback of the shattered spine sending a tingle up her palm. She could feel

the woman's body pressed against her own. She grimaced and staggered to the

side, feeling suddenly nauseous. Damnit. She smacked her palm against the wall.

So many people had died, and she was still focusing on that? What was wrong with

her?

"Please don't do that."

Akira looked around. There was a girl with blue hair there. She was

wearing a nurse's uniform, though it had been retailored so that it looked more

like a circus outfit than anything from an emergency room. It had also been

altered to show off the assets the girl mostly didn't have. It took Akira a

moment to recognise her.

"PallaPalla?"

"Yes, Miss Akira. But could you keep it down? The patients are trying to

sleep." The girl glanced over her shoulder at the people moving about. There

were a lot of other nurse-like uniforms. Most of them had the telltale signs of

new hybrids, though a few, like a catgirl Akira recognised, had auras that

weren't youma in the slightest.

Akira nodded her head. Really, the hospital wasn't much. It was one of

the few buildings restored by the more industrially-inclined people here. It was

just going to serve as a temporary base, a stable and safe location for the

wounded to be taken to for treatment. Unlike the other buildings, here all of

the rubble had been cleared out and the entire first floor restored to almost

perfection. Akira had to hand it to Tethys, her people were efficient.

"What are you doing here?" Akira asked. She wasn't sure what prompted

her to ask it. She did feel something towards the girl, and her sisters. It was

a strange sense of obligation. Akira realised she'd done something up there,

altered their destiny in some way.

"Just trying to help..." She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially,

"But between you and me, all these injured people are kind of downers."

Akira smiled a little. "Why hang around then?"

"Cologne asked us to." The new girl that showed up turned out to be the

red-head of the quartet, VesVes. Akira nodded.

"Where is she, then?" Akira frowned. "I would have thought she'd be with

Purgstall and Tethys..." Of course, Akira could see why Cologne had the four of

them here. Considering the delicate nature of the negotiations between Tethys

and Arkanphel, it was understandable that she'd want them... elsewhere.

"She was actually helping out here," VesVes said. "Then she ran off to

chase somebody."

Akira looked at her sharply. "Who?" Akira knew there was one person that

Cologne might be interested in enough to leave her 'family' behind to chase.

"Some guy in a white cloak," PallaPalla supplied. She turned towards the

rest of the room. "Hey JunJun!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Who was

that dork Cologne was after again?"

Akira winced. So much for peace and quiet.

"Shut up, you idiot!" JunJun yelled back, her green hair... things

bobbing up and down as she did. "People are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry!" PallaPalla yelled back.

"Don't apologise to me!" JunJun roared. "Do it to them!"

"Sorry, everyone! Go back to bleeding to death and stuff in peace now,

okay?" she yelled at them all, then winked and gave them a thumbs up.

Akira rubbed the back of her neck and tried to look like she wasn't

involved. The other two members of the Quartet arrived shortly thereafter.

"What did you want to know again?" JunJun said to Akira, her voice surly

as she gave the girl a half-lidded glare. Akira stared back, slightly offended.

She had saved her life and... No. Bad thoughts. Akira shook her head clear.

"I was asking about the boy Cologne went after."

"Oh, him." JunJun paused. "Some guy showed up, said he spotted a guy

with long black hair in the fight. White robe, thick glasses, Chinese-looking."

She shrugged. "Said he was talking about the Joketsuzoku. When Cologne heard

that, she told us to stay put and ran off."

"Joketsuzoku? What a ridiculously undignified name." CereCere said with

a snort.

Says the girl who calls herself an 'Amazoness', Akira thought but

didn't say. "That... sounds awfully suspicious."

"Huh?" JunJun looked at her.

"Well, it's obviously someone Cologne knows..." Akira nodded to herself.

"But if that's the case, why wouldn't he stop by to see her? No... something

isn't right." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to go find her."

"We're coming, too!" VesVes declared.

"I..." Akira frowned. "Whatever. Let's go."

OoOoO

Angel realised her mistake instantly. Cologne had no awareness, no way

to react to Angel stepping behind her. But a sword sliding into her back was

quite another thing altogether. She reacted with the instinctive reflexes of a

trained warrior, jerking herself to the side to avoid the fatal blow. But Angel

had attacked slightly from the left, and thus her sword still drove through the

woman's chest. If Angel had struck again, she probably would have finished her

off, but before she could decide if it was safe to do so, Cologne had literally

leaped off the blade piercing her, twisting in mid-air to land in a crouch.

There was a long moment of silence.

Cologne's eyes, despite the pained grimace on her features, were bright

and sharp. They took in Angel with a single glance, and a resigned understanding

filled them. "Ahhh," she said softly. "Karma."

The woman was clutching her chest as a bloom of red stained the white

silk cheongsam she was wearing. Her body was trembling slightly as she attempted

to stay still and hide the extent of the damage, but her efforts were in vain.

Angel could tell at a glance every bit of injury she had done to the woman, from

the smallest ruptured capillary to the lung that had very nearly been torn in

two. Terrible injuries, but not fatal yet, Angel was certain.

What Angel wasn't so certain of was what her best option now was. How

much had Cologne's fighting ability been diminished? Could she risk a shift to

air chakra to try and finish her off? For the moment, she would be able to tell

anything Cologne tried to do before she even moved, but she'd just been reminded

that the void chakra didn't physically enhance her ability to react to what she

noticed.

"I don't suppose telling you that I am no longer trying to destroy Chris

would make a difference at this point?" Cologne said slowly. Her voice was dry

and controlled, but Angel could hear the pain in it. She knew that the woman was

spending a great deal of energy keeping up appearances. The tactical part of

Angel's mind, the one honed by Chris and her various masters over the years,

knew this was an advantage. Cologne had no idea how much Angel knew. She was

spending most of her energy on a bluff that wasn't working. "Ah... I see not so

much," Cologne coughed.

Angel ignored her for the moment, weighing the odds of her options. She

didn't have time to waste talking to her target. Not only did every moment raise

the chance they would be discovered, but it was giving Cologne precious moments

to heal and regain combat effectiveness. Since running wasn't an option, that

left attack, risky though it was.

"Wait," Cologne said, shifting position slightly. "I don't know how you

got so close to me without my noticing, child. You have more abilities than I

gave you credit for. But I hope you can sense this."

Angel switched to a defensive stance as fire chi suddenly built up in

Cologne's body. Then she blinked. That was...

"Ah, I see you understand," Cologne chuckled. "I concede defeat, child.

I am not even attempting to heal myself. You may kill me at your pleasure. But

if you strike, I will release a flare of energy that will bring everyone in this

city running. Do you think yourself able to escape Tethys or Frederick, if they

see what you have done?"

Angel shifted from foot to foot. She knew that Cologne was telling the

truth. She didn't think, at this point, that Cologne could convert all that fire

chi to something more offensive before Angel could strike, either. "So I guess

we have a stalemate," she said slowly. Until someone else comes along, her mind

unhelpfully added. But she could still finish the woman off before anyone else

could interfere, if it came to that.

"So, child, have you made your decision?"

"No," Angel admitted. This was not really going at all like it ought to.

"Then... if you do not mind, I'm going to sit." Cologne settled back

with a grimace of pain. "And while you are deciding if I am to live or die, I

think I would like to know more about you, child."

"I already gave my life story out yesterday, if you don't mind," Angel

growled.

"Mmm," Cologne wheezed. Her fingers twitched and lips pursed as if she

almost wanted to pull out a pipe... which, Angel's senses informed her, she in

fact had on her person. Probably hard to smoke on only one lung, Angel reasoned.

"That will be unnecessary," she finally said. "I used all the resources I had,

both of Chronos and otherwise, to research Chris for years. I know all about

your past, girl. You were held in a Chronos facility, which was suddenly and

mysteriously destroyed with no known survivors. Since the forensic examinations

revealed that the Chronos personnel there were by and large killed by some sort

of plant-based creatures, it was written off as some remnant aragami incident,

but I think we both know better." She paused, breathing slowly and shallowly for

a moment. "Sit down, child. I told you I surrendered to you, and I meant it. If

you doubt my word, I can end this and make the point moot." Her chi flared just

the tiniest bit, not enough to make anyone more than a few feet away take notice

but more than enough to convince Angel of the woman's continuing tight control.

Angel growled. The damn woman was bluffing her into a corner. She had to

regain at least a little bit of the initiative. "Fine," she said, suddenly

smiling. "I'll sit." She abruptly leaped, spinning over Cologne's head and

landing behind her. She relaxed back into a sitting position, gesturing broadly

with her sword so that a shadow of the blade briefly fell in front of Cologne.

"So you know about how Chris saved me from the monsters that you've been working

for for years. That's a rotten anecdote to try and convince me to disobey him."

Cologne chuckled. She hadn't moved, but Angel could feel her tense up,

just a little bit. Nobody liked having an enemy at their back, but the woman

wasn't going to push the issue. Angel slowly shifted her focus from void to air.

Cologne would probably notice, and Angel wouldn't be able to read the subtle

tells of the woman's chi anymore, but there would still be no way for her to let

off her 'warning signal' without Angel noticing, and now she could react far

faster if Cologne tried to attack.

"I acknowledge your point. But then, neither of us could rightly be

called saints, could we?"

"Cut to the chase already," Angel snapped.

"I thought you'd be used to circuitous conversation, given the company

you keep," Cologne replied, then coughed. "But it does hurt somewhat to speak.

So I'll ask you a question. I know how you met Chris. But I do not know what

drives you. Is it mere gratitude? Or something more, some greater ideal?"

"Chris intends to empower humanity to fight off what threatens it."

"Does he?" Cologne said noncommittally.

"Yes," Angel replied, considering how best to phrase it without giving

away specifics of Chris's plan. "This world, this universe we were thrown into

without any safety net. Look around you. You may have won the fight yesterday,

but that's hardly any consolation to the people in Japan, is it? To say nothing

of the consequences the destruction here will have elsewhere. To say nothing of

the fact that... ZOALORD Gyro," she deliberately emphasised the title,

"destroyed half the Middle East. Hundreds of millions of people, Cologne.

The biggest disaster in history. In a single day, despite everything all you

heroes tried to do about it. And there's bigger threats out there, as I'm sure

you know."

"It's not something I've given a lot of thought to," Cologne replied.

"But there may be something to what you say. Still, it doesn't reveal your

ideal."

"I figured you'd realise," Angel said. "You were in France when Chris

destroyed Millennium."

"Indeed I was. So is Chris going to save us from Galaxia and her ilk?"

"No, not like that. Even there, he let the French do it themselves,

just... making sure the wrong people didn't profit by it."

"And who chooses-"

"Oh, don't even start with that," Angel interrupted. "Would you have

chosen Agito Makashima to inherit the power of any empire?"

"Point taken." Cologne chuckled a little, then coughed again.

Angel was feeling more comfortable now. Though she still didn't really

have a good idea on how to get out of this, at least she felt more in control of

the situation. "Chris isn't trying to rule the world, though he could. He wants

to get us to fight off our own problems, without horrible disasters like this

happening. So he's going to encourage people, let victories like that one

inspire them. He'll protect us until we're ready, then let us defeat Galaxia or

whomever by ourselves."

"Like children," Cologne mused.

"Yes, like children, if you want to put it that way," Angel snapped. "I

suppose you'd prefer if we were all dead, instead of our dignity theoretically

marred by someone most people won't even realise exists. Or maybe you'd prefer

if he just took over everything and killed everyone bad for us. That'd make you

feel all grown up and independent?"

"Calm yourself," Cologne said. "I never said I disagreed with your

philosophy. You make a strong case, particularly after these recent events. I

will have to think on it. But, I wonder... is Chris truly the saviour you

declare is necessary?"

"Who else could be?" Angel said. "If he isn't, then nobody is."

"Is that so? What makes him so special, then?"

"He's... the chosen one, of course!" Angel replied. "Nobody can do what

he does."

"Mmm, so is it his power? That none are greater than him?"

"Not just that. He's... different. Unique. He's..."

"Perhaps," Cologne interrupted, brushing at her lips. "He is powerful,

though I know others who are powerful. He is dead yet alive, though we are all

aware of others that fit that description. He appears to come from beyond this

world, though who among us has not felt that some in the last seven years did

that? But for the sake of argument, let us say he is uniquely powerful. But that

does that make him not human, Angel?"

"Well, why wouldn't it?" Angel snapped. "You're arguing just for the

sake of arguing. Just because you don't want to admit you're wrong."

"Perhaps," the woman repeated. "But we met him at different times, and

my impression of him does not match yours. Do you feel he is not human, Angel?

Does he not have human wants, desires, weaknesses?"

"Well..." Angel hesitated. "No... I mean, he cares about me, he's always

treated me well..." she trailed off. Damn it. It was that girl. That not-Link

girl. And Akane. What was that all about? He'd never acted like that before...

but that was the point. He never had. Chris shouldn't just change how he acted

because some person was around...

"Cares about you? Oh, girl, I thought you knew better." And there her

voice regained the same sharp edge Angel had seen in her eyes. It reminded her

of Link taunting her.

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" she growled. "Don't play games

with me."

"How many others survived along with you, Angel, in that Chronos camp?"

Cologne said. "Actually, it's not necessary to answer. All bodies were

identified and catalogued as the prisoners, since the records were not

destroyed. All except yours, of course."

"He saved me-"

"Indeed he did," Cologne said. "Saved you. You, silver-haired girl with

a family history of rebellion and idealism, who had exceptional talent for

martial arts, who would prove willing to kill or die for his cause."

"So what?" Angel retorted. "He's CHRIS. He knows things, things about

people. I've seen him tell other people's secrets the first time he met them, so

maybe he just knew about me..." she trailed off.

She had been trained, Chris had trained her, to make educated guesses

very well.

She'd never thought about it like this before.

But...

"Was the great Chris, with all his knowledge, merely lucky?" Cologne

continued relentlessly. "Did he simply stumble upon you on a routine trip to

Chronos-occupied Mexico? No, of course not. He was searching, wasn't he?"

"Wait-"

"You were his chosen one. You knew that, I'll wager he even told you so.

But did Chris merely find you at the last possible moment? He may know the

secrets of the heart, but he has never claimed to know the future. Was it luck?

Unlikely."

"Shut up." But the details were coming back to her now. When she'd left

the building, the zoanoids were already dead. Link had killed them with her

monstrous plants. But that couldn't have happened in a few seconds. By the time

she had seen Chris, he must have already...

"Chris is a consummate planner. I find it unlikely he merely stumbled

across that camp in time to save you and only you. I find it questionable that

the zoanoids there breached Chronos protocol during a time of great tension in

the area and engaged in a bloody, senseless massacre in broad daylight. Monsters

they may be, but they are not usually all such fools as that. I find it unlikely

that you merely happened to be the last child alive, Angel. But I do find it

likely that none of that would have occurred to you when you were ten years old,

Angel, merely happy to be saved, to be the chosen one of somebody who seemed

all-powerful to you-"

"SHUT UP!" Angel roared, leaping to her feet. "You're lying!"

"No," Cologne said calmly. "If I was, you would be easily dismissing

this. But your own memories are backing me up. Kill me if you wish, but you'll

know you're the one hiding from the truth." Angel stared at the back of her

neck, but couldn't move her sword. The woman kept talking. "I think Chris knew

where you were long before you met him. I think Chris wanted a companion whose

loyalty he could trust, who felt herself chosen for a great task. Who knows the

power of that belief better than he, after all? Those other children, those

prisoners who lacked your talents and history and special qualities, they would

only interfere in the scenario he had planned. They might give you attachments,

make you wonder why he was only interested in you. Perhaps he even delivered the

anonymous tip that led Chronos to your parents' organisation-"

This time Angel's arm moved, and Cologne finally fell silent as she felt

the edge dig into the skin on the back of her neck. "I told you to shut up," she

hissed. "Doing any of that would have been pointless. He's not some-"

"Pointless?" Cologne continued, infuriatingly ignoring Angel's warning.

Her knuckles turned white around the sword hilt. "For a god, yes, although I'm

certain we can both think of times Chris has allowed people to die when his

reasoning was not so soundly justified as with Agito Makashima. However, for a

man, the train of thought is clear. A child taken from her family or rescued

along with an entire camp of prisoners might be convinced of the importance of

Chris's mission, but the whole scenario lacks the mythic resonance of being the

sole survivor, doesn't it? With no attachments, having seen the brutal cruelty

of the world close up, and instantly convinced this must have happened for a

profound reason, who could expect you to do anything but follow your saviour

willingly and loyally? Indeed, to be happy to do so? To give him worship, to

hang on his every word. Not like Link, eh? I can't speak of gods, but every sane

person craves someone who will comfort them, who will reassure them that their

path is right. And the Chris I knew, a dead man forced to prey on the living to

continue his own existence, certainly seemed to be seeking out that reassurance.

Have you seen him search for it as well, Angel? Do you think he would allow

some... inconvenient people to perish for it?"

Angel began to laugh. She couldn't help it. It was a burning that

started in the pit of her stomach and spread up. She felt her eyes were flowing

over, and the squeezed them shut, but it did no good. She felt the salty tears

reach her mouth, and that made her laugh harder.

Now it made sense, didn't it? The girl, and Akane, and everything.

Angel had been trained to make educated guesses very well. Except when

she didn't want to. Anyone but Chris, it would have been obvious. He loved that

girl in the tube. He loved Akane. He wanted them to love him back. He wanted to

know someone would understand and accept him, after all he'd done. Angel had

seen the same thing in a dozen different people of power, some of whom had done

the most horrific things imaginable. The desire for love, friendship, support...

even loyalty. Just something to prove someone else was on your side.

But it had to come from an equal. Not a dog, unless you convinced

yourself a dog was as good as a person.

Angel was just a child to him. Sure, she'd made her own decisions. She'd

thought about his ideas, about the perfect possible future, and decided she

believed in it and Chris. Meeting Ukyou and Akira had caused her to doubt,

knowing he'd lost had made her wonder, but she had always decided he was still

right. She'd come back to believing in him.

She'd assumed he knew that.

But his attention was already elsewhere. On an equal. Not a child.

Angel stopped laughing. Though her whole body had shook, the hand

holding her sword remained utterly steady.

"You're right," she said softly. "Or close enough. You're right, it

makes complete sense. But so what? What kind of hypocrite do you take me for?

I've killed... I've killed lots of people. I've stopped counting. How can I get

upset just because some more people died to make me just a little more likely to

do what I'm told? If I, if I just STOP, what does it say? What's the difference

between them and me and anyone else? You asked me for my ideal. That's what

matters. There's more dead people around us than anyone him or I or you or Link

ever killed, Cologne."

"And he didn't stop it," she said simply.

"You don't know that yet," Angel replied. "If he does, you'll never even

know it happened. Nobody will. Maybe he's just waiting for someone to ask him.

Maybe I will."

"No, you won't, Angel."

Angel looked up.

OoOoO

Nabiki woke up and instantly regretted it. There was a small gorilla in

her head and he had begun to play bongo drums. She tried to open her eyes only

to have snakes made out of light begin to bite the inside of her eyelids. Her

mouth was dry. Her nose ached.

Well, Nabiki hadn't had a hangover like this in... she had never really

had a hangover like this before. Oh, she had gotten drunk and regretted it in

the morning. But last night she had gotten drunk in a way that defied sense. She

was fairly certain that she had drunk her own body weight in alcohol, not

counting the liquid the alcohol was mixed with. This was physically impossible,

but what did she care about that? Yesterday she had fought a horrific dread

queen who was also a nihilistic planet the size of the moon underneath a sky

made out of blood and a green sun while a madman ripped the souls out of

everybody in Tokyo.

The important thing here was to... to... something. There was something

you were supposed to do with a hangover. Nabiki dearly wished it was to lie on

the ground moaning in pain until the magic hangover fairy came along and made

your problems go away. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure that wasn't it.

"Water!" she rasped, and regretted it as her ear and throat protested.

Right, water. You were supposed to drink water.

That sounded like it might involve getting up. Or moving. Or remaining

conscious. None of these were things Nabiki looked forward to. Damn. She was

the most powerful psychic on Earth! She had a brain that was magically evolved

or something! It wasn't supposed to... oh, fuck it.

Nabiki managed to open her eyes. She was in... an alley. The remains of

an alley anyway. She remembered... a girl with white hair, who provided booze.

She also kept talking about her boss, and how she didn't want to go back to

work. She also said 'chuu' a lot. Other than that, and booze, Nabiki didn't

remember much.

But then again, forgetting had been the point. Ryouga-

Damn. Not even two minutes.

With a groan Nabiki forced herself to her knees. She immediately began

to heave, but thankfully her stomach was empty.

"Wow, boss, you look like shit."

Nabiki snapped her head up. That was the plan. What she ended up doing

was sort of tilting her head randomly, squeezing her eyes shut, overbalancing

and tumbling back to the alley floor with a muffled grunt. She moaned there for

a few seconds before a hand rested on her shoulder.

"You okay?"

"Yang?" Nabiki asked, recognizing the voice. She opened her eye a sliver

and looked up. If that wasn't Yang, someone had stolen his hairstyle. That

seemed unlikely. He nodded.

His brother appeared over Yang's shoulder. Yun was wearing his

traditional baseball cap and equally traditional grin. He knelt down and slipped

around his brother a bit.

"Geez, boss, the one time you could have used bodyguards, and you leave

us behind?"

"Not my job..." Nabiki muttered. "Bodyguards supposed to protect me..."

She trailed off.

Yun laughed. Yang frowned but didn't say anything. "No, seriously, why

didn't you tell us you were having a giant showdown in Tokyo?"

"Rose...?" Nabiki groaned out.

"She..." Yang's frown deepened and he looked down. "...forgot."

"Forgot?" Nabiki gasped.

"Yeah, what a stupid thing!" Yun groused. "We just barely get settled in

Bangkok to help her with settling down the country and she keeps forgetting

to give us any assignments!" He threw up his hands. "At least you used to give

us busywork so we felt less useless." He slapped his knees. "And then, when

there's this big apocalyptic battle and everything, she rushes off and leaves us

behind. We had to swim here from Thailand." He pulled out his long braid and

twisted it, letting water drip to the ground. "Just got here this morning."

"You... swam?" Nabiki looked at the water. She resisted the urge to

start wringing Yun's braid out into her mouth.

"It was..." Yang looked up at her. His eyes narrowed. "...very cold."

"But we're here now, boss," Yun laughed. "So if you need someone to

vomit on or something... Yang's here for you."

"...idiot." Yang grunted.

"Help me up," Nabiki grunted. Yang gently lifted her up to her feet. She

realised as they began to walk down the alley that it was not so much 'they'

walking as Yang doing so while allowing her the polite fiction of moving her

legs.

"What happened?" Yang asked.

Let's see, I ran into Ryouga at the North Pole and he's doing well

except for that whole having been alone with a nihilist all-powerful little girl

for the last few years. We hit it off well, by which I mean while I was being

tortured to death by my most hated enemy he decided to defend me but only got

even more tortured for his trouble. Oh, we defeated her, only to have Ukyou let

the bitch go for reasons she refused to talk to me about. And then an insane

madman that nearly blew up the entire City of Black Ice fixed it with a snap of

his fingers and kidnapped my sister who might be being brainwashed as we speak

but that's okay because we were too busy with the other megalomaniac who had

just blown up the entire Middle East. Then we fought him and nearly died except

we then had to fight an ancient evil vampire god-thing that forced Ukyou to use

her evil powers to save us and then we all fought a giant god-monster planet and

Akira was forced to use HER evil powers to save us and Ukyou has gone off to

fight the insane nihilist little girl who is in the centre of the soul of

everyone in the universe threatening to blow it up.

Oh, and Ryouga still hates me.

"A lot," Nabiki croaked.

"Need to talk about it?" Yang asked in his usual quiet tone.

Nabiki felt a flash of memory. Sitting against the alley wall passing

back and forth a bottle of... green... something... She remembered the white-

haired girl asking Nabiki why she was being so mopey. "After all," Nabiki

remembered her saying. "You have these magic psychic powers, chuu. Just MAKE him

love you."

Nabiki didn't remember how she responded, but given the surge of disgust

and anger rising up in her she figured it wasn't agreement.

"Whoa," Yun moaned, placing a hand against the wall. "Ow, my head." He

clutched it. Nabiki looked at him. Yang cleared his voice.

"You..." He closed his mouth and pursed his lips."...projected."

Nabiki sighed. "Being a psychic with a hangover sucks," she muttered.

"I'll say..." Yun moaned.

"For pretty much everyone," Nabiki said. "How much have I... projected?"

"Let's just say I learned more about your sex life in the last few

minutes than in the last five years," Yun pointed out.

Yang stared at him. "She didn't HAVE a sex life."

"I know! Like all my fantasies were just ruined AND I have a headache."

"You two..." Nabiki looked around. They had arrived at one of the

stations set up by the survivors of the fight. There were a few people here, and

they looked over idly but none of them were paying much attention. There had

been a lot of partying last night. The kind of unrestrained revel that only the

survivors of such a disaster could participate in. "...keep that to yourselves."

"My lips are sealed," Yun promised. Yang smiled and nodded. He put her

down in one of the scavenged chairs before leaving to fetch her something.

"So... struck out, huh?"

"You make it sound so petty," Nabiki hissed. "It's only the... the

moment I've been working towards for seven years. Everything I did, all the

scheming... just so that I could prove to him that I've changed.

"And it didn't work."

"Yeah, that sucks," Yun mused, leaning back and wringing out his hair

some more.

"What, that's it?" Nabiki asked.

"Who needs that idiot anyway?" Nabiki suddenly remembered the white-

haired girl saying. The girl had leaned in, smiling in a devious manner. "Let's

just leave this place. Go pick up some strippers or something. What you need, is

a good bout of break-up sex, chuu!"

Nabiki shivered. She noticed Yun was as well. "Oh... sorry," Nabiki

said.

"Gah, not that you aren't hot or anything, boss, but wasn't that girl

you were with, like, twelve? That's probably illegal even in Japan, you know."

"Thanks for the tip," Nabiki said dryly. She frowned and looked down.

The last thing she wanted was to think about sex. That was why she hadn't sought

out Ranma last night. The fact was, she had intended to get brain-meltingly

drunk and... and Ranma was Ranma. There had been something between them, these

last few weeks. She wasn't certain where it came from, and she was certain it

wasn't him doing anything... it was just there. She would never think of him

that way. But... two young adults, scared and alone and drunk and...

Yeah. That could have been a mess.

So Nabiki had wandered the city, looking for someone to drink with.

Someone who she could safely feel wasn't going to hit on her, and who she could

also stand. She'd been forced to settle on some white-haired kid she didn't

recognise from Eve but...

"If he doesn't appreciate what you've done, chuu, then screw him." The

girl's smile glittered in the darkness. "It isn't worth it, being good.

Chuchuchu. Just stop thinking about what other people think!"

"Did you...?" she looked up at Yun. He shook his head. Well, her control

was coming back. But Nabiki frowned.

That girl, what she could remember. She had reminded Nabiki a lot of...

herself. Before she had made her wish. Before she had... seen what she had done

to Ryouga. Caring about nothing but her own skin and her own pleasure. And...

Nabiki patted her pants. That bitch had stolen her wallet! Oh, just great. Just

another thing the old Nabiki would have done.

Except she had changed! She wasn't that person anymore. She had fought

to save the world. She had risked her life! How much more did Ryouga want?

"He..." Yang said, sticking a glass of water out to her. She looked up

at him, mortified. He met her gaze, letting her know she had indeed projected

the last few thoughts to him. "...doesn't want anything from you."

"He doesn't?" Nabiki took a long drink. "I suppose you're right."

"So, the question you got to ask yourself, boss..." Yun said, as he

stood up. "Did you do all that to win him back?" He looked at her and tossed

his braid over his shoulder. "Or did you do it... because it's right?"

With a smile and a wave he left, his twin brother walking out behind

him. Nabiki was left alone.

She looked at the glass in her hand. She thought back to everything that

had happened. All the near-death fights... and all the laughter. The latter was

much less common than the former. But she remembered watching Ukyou and Akira

dance and just smiling to herself. She remembered watching Ranma and Minako

embrace on the dock. Little moments.

Little moments worth more than all the money in the world.

She hissed and took a drink. Damn hangover was filling her head with

crazy thoughts. Still...

She looked around at the devastation around her. The shattered shells of

buildings. The empty streets. The people there, desperately trying to look like

they had won a victory. This had been her home. Why was she letting this

continue? Why was she not fixing this?

What, did she need to save it for... for a bigger disaster? Anything

bigger than this and she wouldn't be around afterward. Shaking her head at

herself, she pulled the Wishbringer from its sheath. She hesitated. This was it.

One last time. She cleared her throat and took another drink. Better make this

count.

"I wish..."

OoOoO

JunJun wanted to jump forward. She wanted to kick that white-haired

tramp in the face and get her away from Cologne. But the moment the five of them

had walked around the corner to see Cologne at the mercy of some tattooed freak-

girl, Akira had stopped in place and thrown out her hand in front of the

quartet. Somehow that one gesture had stopped the four of them from rushing

forward with violent intent.

Which JunJun had to admit was probably a good thing, considering they

had no more powers.

Instead the white-haired girl had looked up as Akira had spoken. She had

been crying and laughing at the same time, the tears running down along the

tracks of her glowing facial tattoos. Lightning and rain, JunJun thought

suddenly, struck by the imagery.

"Akira..." she said. There was a sullen resignation in her tone.

"Angel, you don't want to do this," Akira said, stepping away from the

quartet.

"Don't!" Angel warned. Her blade shifted and a red drop appeared along

Cologne's neck. She hissed. VesVes snarled and stepped forward.

"NO!" Cologne gasped. "Girls, stay back!"

Akira held up her hands and took a step back. "Okay, let's just stay

calm..."

"CALM!" Angel snapped. She gasped and held in a sob. "Damn you! I don't

want to be calm!" Akira didn't respond. JunJun held her tongue, as did the rest

of her sisters. Cologne cleared her throat, painfully. JunJun did not fail to

see the red stain spreading across her chest. Her hands clenched into fists.

"It's already too late, child. You've lost. Please..." Cologne sighed.

"This city has seen enough bloodshed."

"Maybe it hasn't," Angel said with a growl. "Maybe there's going to be

at least one more person."

"So, is that your solution?" Akira said slowly.

"Shut up, Akira," Angel snarled.

"Go ahead and do it then, Angel." Akira lowered her hand and relaxed her

stance. "Kill Cologne."

"What?!" CereCere screamed.

"No, don't listen to her!" PallaPalla shouted.

Angel stared at Akira. Her fingers tightened on the hilt of her sword.

Akira just stared back.

"Cologne, drop the flare," Akira said.

"But..." Cologne blinked.

"Just do it."

"What are you..." Angel trailed off.

"It's just us now, Angel," Akira said softly. "Just the seven of us. No

angry zoalords or dark queens or anyone else. Just you and me and them." Akira

stepped forward again. Angel tensed. "And I'm not going to kill you."

"Then I can just kill her," Angel said, gritting her teeth. Tears still

ran down her face.

"You can do that," Akira agreed. "You can make that choice. Or you can

not do it. You can choose not to kill her."

"I can't do that!" Angel shouted, her voice cracking.

"Yes you can. It's easy. You just... put down the sword." Akira crouched

and gestured to the ground.

"It's not that simple," Angel protested.

"Why not?" Akira looked up at her.

"I..." Angel opened and closed her mouth a few times. "It has to be,"

she said finally. "It has to! All the people I've killed, all the blood I've

shed! IT HAS TO MEAN SOMETHING!" She stood up, pulling Cologne with her. "I've

gone too far, Akira. There's no going back!"

"Bullshit!" Akira roared, so ferociously JunJun found herself

involuntarily taking a step back.

"There's no such thing as a point of no return," Akira said as she rose

to her feet again. "As long as we're alive, there is always a chance to make a

different choice. There is always a moment when we can look at our life and

decide to change it. There is always the choice. And it's now. This second. This

second and every other moment of your life." Akira held out her hand. "This is

when we make the choice."

"I wish I lived in your world, Akira," Angel said, her voice full of

regret. "But I don't. I live in the real world. I killed people, Akira. I killed

them all. I butchered them for him. I killed them for no other reason than that

Chris told me they had to die. I killed my best friend!" she screamed. "And what

are you saying, that I can just make that all go away? That if I really,

sincerely say I'm sorry then I'm not suddenly a murderer?" Angel was

shaking. "I've killed more people than most serial killers," she whispered.

"Angel..." Akira frowned and sighed. "You were a child-"

"A child?" Angel cut her off, her face hardening. "Is that it? I'm just

too stupid to realise that I'm evil, is that it?"

"I didn't mean..."

"Yes you did," Angel snarled. "Just stupid kid Angel, too naive to

see what she is doing. Isn't that right, Akira?"

JunJun had to do something. She couldn't just stand there watching. She

wasn't very good with all this talking. In fact, she had never liked it one bit.

But even she could see things were taking a dangerous turn. So she took a deep

breath and stepped forward.

"I don't want to grow up," JunJun said, much more softly than she had

intended. "I never did. Because growing up is scary. It means that you have to

make hard decisions, and sometimes you make the wrong ones." She looked off to

the side. Her sisters were glancing at her and then back to Cologne. "Once, I

made a deal with a very powerful woman and she let me stay a child forever, and

never grow up. It was just like you. I could just let someone else decide what

was right and wrong for me."

"And we were happy," CereCere stepped in smoothly, picking up the line

of thought. "Sometimes we hurt people. Sometimes we did terrible things for this

woman as part of our deal." She looked at her hand. "Sometimes we questioned it.

But whenever we did, we went to her. And she spoke so... beautifully." She

looked up at the sky, wistfully. "She told us beautiful things, and they made us

feel better. No matter how much we doubted, she just managed to keep us feeling

like innocent children for a long, long time."

"But then we lost her," VesVes slipped into the conversation. "And we

had to live on our own. We tried to replace her, with Cologne and the old man...

but it wasn't the same." VesVes looked down, her cheeks darkening. "I... the

first time we met you, I accidentally killed a bunch of people. I collapsed that

roof on all those people who were just there to watch you fight. I... I hadn't

even thought about them. But Mr. Purgstall did. He... he told me it was wrong.

I..." She trailed off. "I... I've never been unable to sleep before that day.

When he just told me that I had killed all those people, and that they would

never be able to laugh or cry or sing or do anything else ever again..." Her

voice began to hitch. "I..." She clenched her fists. "I..."

CereCere wrapped her arms around VesVes. JunJun looked away. She hadn't

done it herself, but she had also thought about it a few times. Before today,

she had just sort of... forgotten about it. She had pushed it away. The other

three hadn't seemed affected by the old man's speech to them about the reality

of death. She had thought she was a freak, and just forgotten about it. She

looked at PallaPalla. In fact, everyone was looking at the blue-haired girl. She

looked so young, even compared to her sisters. She took a step forward.

"Please don't kill my Mama."

Angel looked at the blue-haired girl for a long moment. Then, without

fanfare, she pulled the blade away from Cologne's neck and dropped it to the

ground. It clattered against the cracked pavement. Akira smiled. Cologne sighed

in relief. The Amazoness Quartet cheered.

Angel fell to her knees.

PallaPalla snapped her head around, looking back towards the heart of

the city. A moment later, JunJun felt it. She may have lost her powers, but she

recognised magic when she felt it. To her surprise, Cologne's eyes widened as

well. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough that even dabblers like Cologne

could feel it at this distance. Then JunJun felt it crest outward, and for a

moment the world dissolved away under a torrent of pure power.

When her senses returned JunJun was kneeling in the centre of the

street... which was whole again. There were no cracks in it. The buildings rose

up on either side, pristine and undamaged. There was a noise all around them and

it took JunJun a moment to realise that it was people. Hundreds of them,

thousands of them...

She rose to her feet. The city was... alive. Akira was staring around,

her mouth agape. Cologne rose to her feet as well, the blood on her dress having

vanished. Angel blinked.

"I'm fairly certain I didn't do that," Angel said, breaking the silence.

For some reason, JunJun found that intensely funny. She broke out

laughing, not even trying to hold it back. Her sisters joined her a few seconds

later, after they got over their surprise. Akira just stared around a bit.

"Nabiki..." she whispered.

"She fixed it?" VesVes asked.

"Yeah..." Akira said, but she was frowning. "Still..."

Angel chuckled dryly. "So what now, Akira?" She slowly rose to her feet.

"I... I can't go back to Chris, can I?"

"I..." Akira shook off her distraction. "No. I guess you can't."

"I can't fight him, Akira," she said. "I can't help you..."

"I don't think we're going to fight Chris," Akira said. "I'm more

worried about-"

"ME!"

JunJun was certain she saw the woman walk up behind Akira. She had seen

her detach from the crowd and walk forward on tip-toe. She had recognised her as

the same not-right girl who had hurt the old man. She had known that she was up

to something bad, but she hadn't reacted. She hadn't even wondered what was

happening until the woman sucker-punched Akira so hard the girl went flying into

and through a building, vanishing from sight behind a cloud of expanding glass

shards and dust.

The crowd cried out in surprise and shock, diving for cover from the

sudden explosion. JunJun leapt to her feet. VesVes dived at the girl. Only she

wasn't there anymore, she was behind Cologne now, holding the woman in place by

the shoulders.

"Kalia!" Angel gasped.

"You made a bad choice, Angel," Kalia said, her smile widening in a way

that almost distorted her entire face. "But that's okay. I call do-over."

Angel stumbled back a step-

JunJun cried out in horror as Cologne's choked gasp brought her

attention back to the situation at hand. Angel was stepping backward, her eyes

red and tears on her cheeks. She was screaming at them. Blood fell from her

blade. Cologne slumped to her knees. There was a neat hole where her heart

should have been.

They had been distracted. Why had she let the restoration of Tokyo take

their eyes off Cologne? JunJun took in a deep breath-

-and screamed.

Angel's eyes were wide. Cologne tried to gasp, but only a wet choking

sound came out. She began to teeter over. Angel looked down at her hands, which

were empty. Her sword was still where she had dropped it, untouched by the blood

flowing from Cologne's wound. Angel made a sound that was both meaningless and

filled with confusion and horror.

"I told you what would happen to you," Kalia sneered, grabbing Cologne's

arm again to stop her from moving. "Nobody tries to hurt Chris." Her eyes

narrowed. "Nobody," she repeated in a deadly cold tone. Her hand reached up,

hovering over the wound in Cologne's heart. "Say hello to hell, you worthless

old hag!"

OoOoO

So much can happen between one breath and the next.

A battle can be won or lost in that instant. An idea can spring to mind

that will change the world. You can first see the face of the person you'll love

for the rest of your life. You can say the words that will cut you off from

someone you cared for forever.

You can be turned into a murderer.

"Don't flatter me, little Angel. I'm far too late for that." Angel could

only nod at the truth of the words. Kalia grinned. She was also shouting, and

doing something around Cologne. But all of that was far away, happening to

someone else. Kalia was also whispering, and her words came directly to Angel's

ears.

"You were so right, and you let them convince you you were wrong. Stupid

girl. There's no going back for you. Do you remember Dail, little Angel? Do you

remember the zoanoid, the commander of the camp where you were captured, little

orphan? He was going to torture you to death, and when Chris gave you the

chance, you killed him for it. Good. He deserved it.

"You are worse than him. You have killed more people than he could have

dreamed of. You've left more families broken. You've taken the kindness of

people who trusted you and spit on it. In fact, you've never done anything else,

have you, little Angel? You betrayed Akira, and you tried to kill her. Katsuhito

and Washuu and Rei and Mihoshi took you in, and you repaid them with a

treacherous, cowardly murder and ran off in the night. You took what Katsuhito

taught you and turned it to monstrous ends. And now he's dead, and I've ripped

apart his soul. He would never even have been involved with Chris if you hadn't

forced him. He could still be alive. Rei is right to hate you. You two are the

only survivors of that time, do you realise that? That house lies empty now,

nothing left but blood and memories. And it's your fault."

"You're right," Angel said. "But I thought-"

Kalia sneered. "You thought you'd found something to believe in? But now

you've even turned on that. What life is left for you, Angel? What evil can you

oppose that's even greater than your own? Or will you face punishment instead?

Will you seek out the families in France you bereaved and say 'Yes, I killed

them', and ask for their justice? It will never be enough. You will never find

them all. You didn't even know the names of everyone you slaughtered. You just

knew it was for Chris. And now you've turned even on him. You are nothing but

murder and betrayal. And nobody forced you to do a single bit of it. It's you.

All you. Nothing but you."

"I didn't choose to kill Cologne."

The not-girl cackled. "Yes you did. Don't you remember?"

"Yes, I remember." She had... she couldn't face it. She couldn't admit

that Chris had been wrong, destroy everything she'd built up. She knew, no

matter what Akira said, if she killed Cologne she wouldn't leave Tokyo alive.

Zoalord Purgstall, if no-one else, would see to that. It would be a quick death.

Clean. She wouldn't have to betray herself.

And all it would take is a single breath. A single strike. She'd done it

a... a...

How many times?

A hundred? No, more than that.

A thousand?

It would have been so easy. Just to act, not think, for one moment. And

then to know there was no going back. No escape. No reason to think any longer.

It WAS so easy. It had been so easy...

"That isn't what I did," Angel said. "That isn't..."

"Isn't it?" Kalia laughed. "Then why do you remember doing it?"

"You did it-"

"Which did you do? Which is reality? You're a smart girl, Angel. Turning

against everything you've believed in or killing one more person so you don't

have to make the really hard choices... What do you think the Angel we all know

and love would do?"

"...I don't know."

"It doesn't matter," Kalia laughed and clapped her hands, despite the

fact that they were already holding somebody. "Either way you're a traitor to

the people who trusted you. Just like always. Either way you're a murderer. Just

like always. Either way you're a coward - whoops! Time's almost up."

Something intruded between Angel and Kalia. It was an object. A fist,

Angel realised dimly after a moment, covered by a black glove. It was strange,

because up until then, the only truly real things had been the two of them. But

now the fist had intruded and it was... reestablishing the outside universe,

reality flowing from it as if it was the centre of a reverse vortex. Suddenly,

time was flowing again, first one one part of the street, then the next.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by people, some screaming, some running, some

staring in horror. A few of them were increasingly recognisable. A sword lay at

Angel's feet.

"If I were you, I'd kill myself," a Kalia sneered to her.

"Nobody tries to hurt Chris," a Kalia said to someone else.

"But I'd never be you. I'm faithful to Daddy always!" Kalia said, her

tone happy.

"Nobody," another Kalia said, her voice cold as ice. Angel suddenly

realised it was Cologne the not-girl was holding.

"If I see you again, I'm going to eat your soul." Kalia smiled.

"Say hello to hell, you worthless old hag!" Kalia snarled.

Then Akira was there. It was her fist that Angel had seen. All of

reality had just reasserted itself when it crashed into Kalia's face. Suddenly

Kalia was only snarling, not happy. And then, just as suddenly, her face nearly

caved in. She flew backwards, smashing into a fire hydrant and causing a plume

of water to erupt across the street. Akira was already stepping forward to

follow her when Cologne began to topple.

Akira turned and grabbed Cologne, placing her hand over the woman's

heart. Blue light pulsed from her hands.

"Heheh..." Kalia giggled. "Bad choice, Ahura Mazda!" she called,

floating up over the waterspout.

"You..." Akira snarled, her voice full of malice.

"Don't shoot the messenger," Kalia said, waving her finger. "Chris said

she had to die, and that Angel had to kill her. I was just supervising."

"You psychotic..." Akira growled, closing her eyes and releasing

another pulse of energy into Cologne.

Angel's knees buckled under her. Her mouth was dry. She couldn't

breathe. She could see Cologne, staring up at Akira. Her eyes said what Angel

and Akira already knew - that Akira's efforts were futile.

"I bet you really want to kill me," Kalia said, floating backward.

"Well, you can't do it as you are now." She giggled again. "So, once you know

what to do, come and find me, Ahura Mazda!" She waved and stuck out her tongue

before vanishing in a flare of light that did not belong to her.

Akira tensed up. Her eyes shut and she began to pull in more energy.

Then Cologne grabbed her wrist.

"Y-you'll need that..." she said, her voice coming out in a gurgle.

"No!" one of the girls screamed. They all rushed up to her. The smallest

was just staring at the gaping wound in Cologne's chest with wide eyes. The red-

haired girl was the one who had shouted angrily. "We could fix this if we had

our powers!" she yelled, and then the anger seemed to drain out of her. She

grabbed Cologne's arm and her eyes filled. "This would be so ea-" her voice

hitched, "...so easy, if... if we just had our powers!"

"Girls, please, take care of Frederick... he needs you, as much as you

need..." Cologne coughed, tried to regain her voice, failed. Then, with a long

sigh she slumped back. Her eyes lost their focus.

"Mama..." PallaPalla said.

"No!" CereCere screamed, throwing herself over the woman. "It was all

going to be okay! It was all going to be okay! It was all, all going to, it was,

was going to be..." She choked off.

"COLOGNE!" VesVes screamed.

JunJun just cried.

Angel looked at her sword. It was still clean, which it had no right

being. The sun gleamed almost mockingly on the polished blade. She'd felt it

slide into Cologne. Once before, and once after...

"I killed her," she whispered. What HAD she done? And did it matter,

anyway? Maybe Kalia was right. Maybe...

"It wasn't you," Akira said, her voice hoarse. "Kalia... changed

you. She made you do it."

Angel stared at her. She wanted to explain how Akira was wrong, but

couldn't find the words. "No," she finally said. "I remember everything."

"It's..." Akira trailed off. She looked away.

"NO!" VesVes screamed again, but this time at Angel. Angel was sent

sprawling on her back by the girl's surprisingly strong punch. The girl stood

over her, firsts clenched, tears streaking down her face. "I won't forgive you!

I'll pay you back for this!"

All the girls had turned to her now. None of their expressions were

forgiving. "We trusted you," PallaPalla said, stepping forward. She was still

crying, but she was angry as well. Not a childish rage, but a deeper, colder

anger. "That was you. You can't say it wasn't you!"

"That's right!" CereCere snapped. She drew herself up from the body, and

pointed accusingly at Angel. Her red-rimmed eyes were flashing with hate. "She

couldn't have made you do that if it wasn't in you to do it. That was YOU, not

her!"

"Stop it, all of you," Akira said. "I realise how you feel, but this

isn't going to help-"

"No," Angel said, cutting her off. She sat up, her cheek still aching

from where VesVes had hit her. "They're right, Akira. I did this. It was in me

to do it. I remember it perfectly. It wasn't someone invading me. It was ME."

"If you let her go with you, she'll probably just kill you too!"

CereCere snarled.

"That's ridiculous!" Akira snapped.

"No it's not," Angel said softly. "You know better than anyone that I

could have killed you, Akira. You think I won't be used against you? It'd be the

easiest thing in the world for Kalia." She turned her head away, not wanting to

look Akira in the eyes. "That's what I was raised to be. Just because I don't

want to kill for him doesn't mean I won't. Hell, I didn't want to kill Rose. But

I did. I didn't want to kill those people in France. But I did. I didn't..." she

broke off. "I can't stop myself. You have to stop me, Akira."

Akira paled. "Don't be stupid."

"You can't trust her!" CereCere snapped. "If you won't do it... we

will!"

"No!" PallaPalla gasped. "Mr. Purgstall-"

"You know he'd do the same thing!" VesVes said. "For us, or for... C...

you know he'd do it!" She tossed a glance back at JunJun. "What are you doing?

Back us up here!"

All three of the girls glanced behind them. The last, the green-haired

one, had hung back with an unreadable expression for the last few moments.

Abruptly, however, her expression firmed. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but her face

and posture were angry. She stomped forward, shoving past the others until she

was face to face with Angel. Her green hair bobs shook comically as she came to

a halt.

"You..." she said after a moment. "You make me SO MAD."

Angel stared up at her blankly. The absurdity of it - a girl who looked

no older than twelve, with that ridiculous hair and costume saying something

like that - left her speechless.

"You know why?" JunJun continued. Angel silently shook her head. "I want

to be angry. I want to hurt you, like they want to hurt you. I want to hurt you

for what you did. But I can't, because everytime I started to think that way, I

remembered what I said to you, about growing up and hard choices. Hating you is

one of those easy choices." She paused. "I want to forgive you, I want to say

'you didn't really do it'. But I can't do that either, because you're right. You

could have done it. You did other things, lots of bad things, and I just can't

forgive you that easily. I guess I'm not grown-up enough to do that. So I

couldn't figure out what to do, and it made me mad."

Without warning, she grabbed Angel by the lapels of her jacket. Angel

was jerked half-upright as the girl hauled her up - she was stronger than she

looked. JunJun continued talking very quietly. "And then I looked at you, and

you made me even more mad. You make me mad because you were just sitting there,

and I could tell you were giving up. And maybe I don't know if I can forgive you

for everything else, but I KNOW I can't forgive you if you give up, because if

you do, you're letting that girl win!"

"Y-you mean Kalia?" Angel said, but the green-haired girl didn't reply

for a moment. She licked her lips as if she was thinking of something, and again

Angel just hung there, unsure of what to do.

"Cologne did bad things, too," JunJun said suddenly. Her voice almost

cracked on the name, but her eyes were hard and focused again. "She did bad

things to us. She did bad things to Mr. Purgstall. She did bad things to

herself. And she gave up too. But you know what? She kept going and she found

something else. You know what I didn't tell you about Neherenia before? She was

someone who had lots, but there was something that was more precious to her than

anything else. When she lost that, she lost everything. She hid away so she'd

never have to face it. I thought everyone did that. I thought that was all you

could do. You just went on. But Cologne didn't do that. She found something new.

She said so. She found something new to live for."

Angel turned her head to the side. She couldn't meet the girl's gaze

anymore. "But I can't just-"

"Awwww, damn it!" JunJun shouted. "I hate this!" Startled, Angel looked

back up. The girl was crying again; she let Angel slump back to the ground and

furiously wiped the tears from her face with the back of a hand. "I hate

this," she repeated. "This isn't me. All this talking, it just isn't... Look,

just stop it. Stop it. I'm not telling you to find something else. I don't know

you or what's important to you. But I know something - if you give up, if you

just stay here or die or whatever, you're being stupid. You're just letting that

not-girl hurt you more."

"What else can I do!" Angel burst out. "I'm a killer! That's all I've

ever been! Anytime she wants, she'll just-" She cut off. What was she doing,

yelling at a kid? Whose mother she had just killed, at that.

"You're wrong!" JunJun said just as fiercely. "You're so stupid. You're

so caught up in what you've DONE. Who cares?"

"But you said-"

"I don't know you!" JunJun roared. "I can be mad at you for what you do

all I want! But you know you. If you don't know if it's you who would have

killed Cologne, why don't YOU ask yourself who I'm talking to - the you who

wanted to kill Cologne, or the you who didn't?" Angel stared as JunJun grabbed

her by the collar again. "That not-girl can change what you DO. She can find

another you that does what she wants. But she can't change who you ARE. Don't

you get it? She can't break what you are as a person unless you let her. It's

you who decides if you're the kind of person who just sits down and cries

because someone hurts them." She let Angel go and stood back, rubbing a hand

across her eyes and then ungracefully wiping her nose. "This isn't who I am. I

can't go fight her, so I'm gonna see if there's still hurt people at the

hospital who need help, and go find Mr. Purgstall." She turned, looking at the

body, and though Angel couldn't see her face, her posture straightened. "C'mon,

guys. We should go."

"N-no fair!" PallaPalla said. "You got to give the cool speech again!

All by yourself!"

"I didn't want it!" JunJun growled.

"I'm just kidding," PallaPalla said with a little laugh. She was still

teary, but her cold, dangerous anger had vanished. She looked over at Angel, but

didn't say anything. Slowly, the other two turned away as well. They gathered

around Cologne. CereCere gently closed the woman's eyes.

"And to think I came to stop you," Akira said. "I should have just sent

them." She smiled, but it was that preculiar tiny little sad smile of hers.

Angel remembered that smile; Akira had always had it whenever she talked about

Ukyou. "Are you going to be all right, Angel?" She extended a hand.

Angel looked down. "I dunno." Akira paused uncertainly, then Angel

looked up and smiled back at her. "That's something I'm going to wait till

tomorrow to find out. But for right now..." She grasped Akira's hand, and let

herself be pulled to her feet. "...I was wondering if you wanted some help with

a certain little monster."

OoOoO

Purgstall did not rub his temples. He did not produce a blast of

lightning that would vapourise everything in a fifty meter radius, either. Both

of these things were very tempting ideas, but probably wouldn't be very

productive. Instead, he decided to get up and grab a drink.

Tethys had actually been able to produce quite a serviceable conference

room on such short notice. The entire structure was constructed merely out of

glimmering ice, yet was undeniably elegant. She had also provided food;

largely dishes that involved more water than normal, true, but she had an

impressive ability to just will such things into existence. In a way, Purgstall

found that ability far more intimidating than her combat prowess. He had seen

beings with the ability to match (or exceed) Tethys' destructive powers. But he

had yet to meet a being who could create like she did. With her powers, she

could rebuild Tokyo in a week.

"A staged withdrawal of Chronos resources is the only logical solution,"

Arkanphel said. "And that can not begin until after I have the Jurai

biotechnology."

"What guarantee do I have that your staged withdrawal won't turn into a

staged invasion the moment I turn over the Jurai ship to you?"

"You have my word," Arkanphel snapped. He had assumed his battle-form

for this negotiation. The golden warrior form looked angelic, in an alien way.

It fairly radiated power. More than either Purgstall or Tethys could produce. A

few weeks ago Purgstall might have believed that he had assumed that form as a

show of his vast might.

Now he knew better. Arkanphel was in that form because he was afraid. He

was here on Tethys' territory. He wanted to be ready in case she tried anything.

Purgstall stood next to the table of refreshments as he considered his ex-

master.

Oh, how quickly the mighty fall in our minds, he thought to himself.

Until recently, he would never have dared to question Arkanphel's motives or his

purpose. He would have not seen the ultimate zoalord's shifting eyes or his

uneasy posture. If he had seen them, he would have interpreted them differently.

Whenever he looked at the man now, it was like looking at a completely different

person from the one he had served faithfully for centuries.

Except it wasn't. It was Purgstall who had changed. He smiled at the

bitter irony of it all. What was he now? His life had been defined by Chronos.

When he had thrown in his lot with the motley band, he honestly hadn't expected

to survive. Now, now he would have to forge a new life for Cologne and the

girls.

He looked out the window at the devastation. Tethys had made certain

that there was a nice panoramic view of the fallen city. Perhaps she wanted to

remind Arkanphel of what kind of power he was up against, since she had caused

much of the destruction. Or perhaps she wished to remind herself what was at

stake. How much everyone had to lose by drawing this into a war that nobody

really wanted.

He considered the ruined city, the ruined country, for a few moments. He

had been in charge of it, and had ruled it with what he still believed was an

even hand. He did not regret his actions. He believed that the steps he had

taken were largely just, even if they had been commanded by a man who was

unjust. He had helped rebuild this country after the last devastating battle and

environmental collapse. He had learned to love it.

That was why he had been chosen to mediate the talks between Arkanphel

and Tethys. The American fleet was also parked off the coast, and that Yamazaki

girl was sitting nearby, throwing in her two cents every now and then. None of

the three powers sitting at the table could be considered his allies, but none

of them could think of anyone else they trusted not to betray them, nor who had

the experience to handle these kinds of negotiations.

"We don't have to rush into this," Purgstall suddenly pointed out. He

took a drink of his coffee, enjoying the slight bitterness. The three of them

looked at him. "The exact mechanics of the treaty is something that can be

hammered out by lawyers. They love to do that. We'll have them argue for a few

weeks over the definitions of words like 'are' and 'henceforth' and once they

are all satisfied that the documents make everyone equally angry, you can all

review and sign it."

He placed the cup down. "The important thing here is that we come to a

decision as to what form that treaty will take." He looked at Arkanphel and

Tethys in turn. "Earth can not afford another war. Period. We have to put an end

to the fighting, at least for a time."

"I agree..." Arkanphel waved his hand. "And I couldn't care less. This

planet is nothing more than a stepping stone. If this 'treeship' is everything

it is claimed to be, I will be able to move off planet to humanity's true

birthplace soon enough." He looked at Tethys. "However, I plan on bringing my

armies with me, and that means I will need time."

"What you're forgetting is that those armies will strip resources from

Earth," Sakura said, standing up and banging her hands into the table.

"Resources we can't afford to lose! The planet itself is reeling after you lost

control of your minion."

"They are mine by right of conquest," Arkanphel informed her coolly.

"Are you forgetting which of us has a fleet full of highly trained

fighters sitting outside?" Sakura snarled.

"Are you forgetting which of us-"

"Enough!" Purgstall shouted. "This is exactly what we need to avoid!" He

smashed his fist into the table, causing the ice to quiver. Tethys frowned and

placed her palm on the surface, stabilising it.

"There are a large number of expatriates in America," Sakura pointed

out. "And they will not like hearing that Chronos is going to strip their

homelands raw, even as they are abandoning them."

"Perhaps a more staggered approach has merit, then," Tethys mused. "If

Chronos forces leave Earth over the course of say... a decade, they will have

more time to develop resources they will need." She nodded. "I would also be

willing to assist them in setting up stations on the other planets."

Everyone looked at her in surprise. "The ice within Mars, and on Io is

just more water. Despite what modern science says, there are a lot of untapped

resources on the planets out there. The Moon Kingdom spanned the solar system.

Entire ecosystems full of flora and fauna that died out when the Silver

Millennium collapsed... but that have since decayed into more useful resources."

"Oil?" Sakura asked in astonishment. "There's oil on other planets?"

"With suitable processing, yes; a surprising amount, according to my

research. Also large quantities of rare metals and elements. The Silver

Millennium could manufacture materials out of raw mana and forge types of matter

that we can't dream of now. All of that is out there, buried under ten thousand

years of debris, but easily mined and salvaged if you know where to look."

"And you know where to look?" Purgstall asked.

"Of course," Tethys smiled.

"Very well," Arkanphel said. "Chronos will agree to non-aggression for

now. You will help us develop these extraplanetary colonies for our fleet

construction, and in exhange we shall leave terrestrial resources untouched." He

paused. "Chronos will retain control over the areas it currently administers. We

will cease hostile actions in Europe, America and... on these devastated

islands." He stood up. "Then you will turn over the Jurai ships for us to study

and replicate. The rest..." he turned to Purgstall and sneered, just a little.

"...I will leave to lawyers."

Purgstall didn't let the hurt show on his features. It should not have

hurt. It was a minor insult. His respect for the man who had given it had fallen

a great deal. But that was an intellectual respect. He had served Arkanphel for

hundreds of years. The man was... was a father to him. Even thought he knew it

would come to this, the rejection in those words still burned.

He turned away and looked at the shattered remains of Tokyo.

And as he watched, the city changed.

For a moment, he thought he was seeing double. The entire city seemed to

be superimposed on an image of itself... then the image was gone and the city

was back. It was restored, entirely.

His breath caught in his throat.

He had spent seven years rebuilding the great city of Tokyo. He had

overseen the construction of many of its buildings in the wake of the

destruction the aragami had brought upon it. He had personally broken the ground

on the rebuilding of the Diet buildings and cut the ribbon on the reopening of

the Tokyo train station. The only neglected landmark was the Tokyo Tower, which

had been cleared away to make room for the Pillars of Heaven.

It was all back. He could see the Pillars, rising pristine and undamaged

in the center of the city. Taller than any buildings ever built, they had

managed to survive Gyro's rampage still mostly structurally intact. But even

they had been left hollow shells. Now... he could feel them.

Zoanoids. Thousands of them. All of them alive again. The suddenness of

it left him speechless. He looked over at Arkanphel, and could see that the

prime zoalord felt it too. Tethys was staring, and Sakura Yamazaki was gaping in

wonder.

"They're... all alive..." Sakura said, her voice catching.

"The city?" Purgstall asked. He looked out, and he could see the people

of the city milling about in confusion down below. The heroes of the battle were

beginning to wander out amongst them, obviously just as confused.

"Not just the city," Sakura said, a smile blooming on her face. "The

entire country! All of it! It's back!"

Arkanphel frowned and looked away. Tethys walked up to the window,

leaning out of it. She paused, then smiled in a surprisingly gentle manner.

"Not a bad wish," she said.

"What happened?" Purgstall asked.

Tethys shook her head.

"Hmmm..." Arkanphel frowned. "It appears that only these islands were

affected."

"Oh?" Tethys turned to face him.

"For a moment, I had hoped that all of Gyro's damage had been undone,

but the damage in the Middle East remains." He frowned. "More's the pity." He

looked out at the city.

"Don't think this changes anything," Tethys said. "You're withdrawing

from Japan, still."

Arkanphel looked at her. Then he closed his eyes and smiled. "You can

have this tainted land, Dark Queen."

"Tainted?" Tethys asked. But Arkanphel only chuckled and vanished in a

swirl of light. Tethys turned to Purgstall, and he frowned.

Then he felt it. He looked back towards the Pillars of Heaven. All those

zoanoids, those thousands of souls suddenly returned to life. There was

something... something off about them. He sensed confusion and relief and a

swirl of other emotions, which had served well to hide it. But deep down inside

them all he felt something else.

Something... strange.

"What is it?"

"I don't know," Purgstall admitted. "I think... I think something else

came back with all those people."

"Gyro?" Sakura asked, her eyes widening.

"No..." Purgstall shuddered. "Something... empty."

"Hotaru," Tethys hissed. She looked up at the sky. "Ukyou... what have

you let happen?"

OoOoO

"So, Angel, you have to defeat Kalia."

Angel paused in her stride for a moment. "You're kidding, right?"

Akira was looking straight ahead, her expression grim. "Kalia... I know

what she wants. She's going to use me... somehow... to destroy the Oversoul."

Angel nodded. "Well, that sure sounds bad. What's an Oversoul?"

"Oh... well, it's a... it's the very core of every soul. We're all

connected, and the connection is the Oversoul... I think. Nabiki explained it to

me once, but it was a little confusing."

"And you're going to destroy it?"

"Well, that's what she keeps saying. Along with stuff that doesn't make

any sense. And she keeps trying to bring out something... bad in me. The

Paradox."

Angel considered that for a long moment. "Okay... what's Paradox?"

This time Akira did turn and look at her for a moment. They dodged

around a crowd of people and ducked through an alley. "Umm, you don't know,

right. Okay, so Paradox is like... bad stuff."

"I knew it!"

"Don't be a smartass. It's anti... good, I guess. It's souls which have

been destroyed, except they're not totally destroyed, so they're Paradox

instead. It's created when the Third Circle is used, so whenever Ukyou does

certain things, it gets made."

"Hey, I do know what the Third Circle is! Well," Angel amended, "I've at

least heard of it. So, if Ukyou makes it, what's it got to do with you? I know

you two were friends and all, but..."

"Well, you see, what happened was that... when I was truly, absolutely

sure Ukyou was gone, my love for her made it so I couldn't accept it and so I

brought her back... somehow... and became the repository for all her Paradox...

stuff."

Angel blinked. "Pure love? What?"

"Well, yeah, you know, I love Ukyou..."

"Seriously? I thought she was just your old friend!"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Akira growled. "I can't catch you up on

everything, Angel!"

"Geez, it's not my fault," Angel mumbled. "Hey, how do you know where

you're going, anyway?"

They leapt up the side of a recently restored skyscraper. Akira looked

grim again. "I know. She wants me to find her."

"Gotcha. So, hmm... you and Ukyou do it yet?"

Akira missed a step and flailed her arms wildly in freefall before Angel

flipped upside down, dangling from a flagpole, to catch her. "None of your

business," she muttered, flushing. "And thanks."

"No problem," Angel grinned, tossing Akira up to the roof. "So, now that

I'm kinda all caught up, want to tell me again just why I, me, personally have

to defeat Kalia? You know she beat the crap out of zoalord Purgstall, right?"

"And Tethys," Akira admitted.

"Oh, riiiiight, I forgot! So first Lotus Infinite, then Kalia? I'm

seriously going to have to reconsider the benefits of being your friend at this

rate, taka taka."

Angel landed beside Akira on the roof in a crouch. Akira was looking

apologetic, but serious. "I'm sorry. I'll do what I can, but... I'm sure she's

trying to goad me into something. Something that will help her destroy the

Oversoul. I can't let her do that. I'll help as much as I can, but..."

"Okay, okay," Angel said. She sighed. "Let me think about this for a

sec, alright?"

In fact, she'd been thinking about it all along. The problem was that

she hadn't come up with much. She shivered a bit as she remembered their

encounter a few minutes before. It was just like every other meeting with Kalia

- dreamlike, where it almost felt like you were simultaneously doing a million

things at once and yet also standing far away watching it. She remembered

clearly making the decision, the choice, that she couldn't do it anymore, that

she couldn't kill Cologne for Chris. But she also remembered...

No. That wasn't her. It wasn't.

But it reminded her of something. "Wait, Akira. You punched her. How'd

you do that?"

"Well, first I clenched my fist-"

"Now who's being a smartass?"

Akira chuckled, but then looked serious again. "I don't know. At first I

couldn't hit her. She was like a ghost, she'd always be somewhere other than

where I was. But over time, especially after I took Ukyou's Paradox, she's been

getting more... real to me. I think it's because we're the same, me and her.

She's full of Paradox too. I think she's trying to make it even more so, even

more like her..." She shuddered.

Something about what Akira said tickled at Angel's mind, but she ignored

it for the moment as she thought furiously. "So... when you're looking at her,

she can't slip away? You make her more real?"

"I think so, yeah..."

Angel smiled. "Then maybe I've got a plan, taka taka."

"What?"

"Yeah, yeah, what?"

Angel swung around at the sound of the new voice. Kalia grinned.

"Actually," she said with a giggle, "I don't really care."

Angel was suddenly flipping end over end. She had just enough time to

realise that her cheek was throbbing from impact before she slammed into the

unyielding concrete, at which point she also remembered she was on top of a very

tall building. Orienting, she slammed a hand into the roof, flipping herself

back upright and digging five gouges with her fingers as she tried to stop

herself from plummeting over the edge. She felt her back gently bump into the

guardrail.

At that point, Akira's shout of "Angel!" reached her ears. The woman was

rushing at Kalia, heedless of her earlier reservations. Leaping into the air,

she bore the laughing not-girl to the ground. The first punch smashed Kalia's

head back into the concrete, leaving a visible dent.

"So aggressive, Ahura Mazda!" Kalia laughed. "Now what did I ever do to

you?"

After her initial rage, Akira seemed to hesitate. She pinned Kalia's

arms to the ground as she tried to escape, but otherwise made no further

offensive move. "You... you monster..."

"With your combined power, I'm surely doomed! Or I would be..." Kalia

jerked one hand free that was suddenly - had always been holding a pocket watch.

She made an elaborate show of looking at it. "...if Ukyou weren't encountering

Hotaru... right... about..." A splash of dark liquid appeared on Kalia's face,

quickly followed by another. And another. She smiled. "Now."

Akira suddenly slumped, but only for an instant before Kalia casually

kicked her off. The not-girl sat up, hovering in the air, and casually drew two

fingers across the blood splattered across her face. She stuck them in her mouth

with a giggle.

"Akira, are you all right?" Angel cried, rushing to her friend's side.

She couldn't keep the gasp from escaping her mouth. She was covered in blood. It

was leaking from everywhere, from her nose and eyes and ears and pores... her

eyes were unfocused. Her body twitched spasmodically.

"Oh, she'll be fine!" Kalia called. "Zurvan won't let her die just yet,

that would spoil all his fun and we certainly can't have THAT, nosiree."

Angel found herself turning, not sure whether it was her own choice or

not. "Who's Zurvan?"

Kalia smiled sweetly. "Time. Inevitability. The true wielder of the

Third Circle. According to some, God. But that's a latter-day interpretation,

forced upon us by a self-serving state religion. I don't buy it, you see. We may

all be his children, Ahura Mazda and I, but who's to say he's really greater

than us? I'd bring up the precedent of Kronos, but that would just be confusing

in light of political events, wouldn't it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," Kalia purred. "You're just a stupid little

ungrateful girl."

"So what are you, Kalia?" she countered. Akira was still bleeding, but

her reactions weren't as violent as before. Angel hoped she came out of it soon,

because she couldn't hope to take out Kalia without her.

Luckily, Kalia seemed quite happy to keep talking. "I'm a beautiful and

unique snowflake. I'm a dream of a girl who never existed. I'm a skin stretched

over infinity. I am the one true and faithful daughter." She smiled a dark,

secret little smile. "I was born to protect Chris. And I will do it."

"How-" Angel began, but Kalia interrupted her with a dismissive wave.

"Oh, silly little girl, you don't know even now? Zurvan is god here, you

see. Not Chris. Right now, Ukyou and my dear sister fetich Hotaru are meeting in

the climax of God's plan. Seven years in the making, or all eternity, which is

only seven years anyway. You see why Zurvan thinks he is so important? Making

seven years all eternity is a trick even I can't do." She sighed happily. "But

he's blind. Blind and arrogant. He thinks I can't do anything to stop him. Of

course, he's completely right. I'm a nothing. Being nothing gives me power, but

keeps me from the ultimate power. He thinks I'm strange, but not worrisome

enough to terminate the game." She giggled. "I'm confusing you, but you're

easily confused, little Angel. So simple and direct. I'll explain for you:

"God hates Chris. Chris wasn't part of his plan. When God wins, or even

if Ukyou wins, or whatever it is that is supposed to happen - I don't really

care, you see - they will destroy Chris for all his power. When I was not-born,

I saw this, because I can see all possibilities and this was the only one. The

only way it could end. How could I save Chris, when he was doomed? Well, I

couldn't. That was the problem. I would have killed Ukyou, but then God would

have just ended the experiment and destroyed Chris. I wouldn't let that happen.

So I had to find a way to do the impossible. Except I can't, so I found someone

else to do it for me."

"And that's me." Akira's eyes snapped open. She pushed herself up,

seemingly unmindful of the mask of blood that covered her face. "That's what

you've done all this for, Kalia? To save Chris?"

"Of course. That is why I am. And am not." Kalia smiled. "I'm not going

to hide my intentions from you, Ahura Mazda. I don't want you to mess this up.

So I'll tell you what we're going to do." Uncrossing her legs, she flipped over

in the air to stare at them upside down, ticking off points on her fingers.

"You're going to attack me. Not with fists or sword or anything else, because

you can't defeat me the way you are. You will use the power Ukyou granted you,

the Paradox, because it is your only effective weapon. It will work! Isn't it

wonderful to know you will win? You'll destroy me utterly, because I'm just a

poor little skin without a soul. But you have all that Paradox, all that lovely

detritus of destroyed souls. When you use it, I will take it all into my hands

even as it destroys me, and I will whisper to it, whisper such wonderful and

beautiful lies." She brought her hands together in a surprisingly loud clap. "I

couldn't do it myself. Sure, I can let some of it spill out of me into the

world, but a nothing can't command the Paradox within itself. But I can whisper

to the Paradox that YOU direct, Ahura Mazda. I can tell it that God hides in the

Oversoul as it devours me. I am Oblivion, and Oblivion is me. The Oversoul is

there, and I will let it pass through me and into the Oversoul, where they will

seize upon it and devour it with their mindless rage. The Oversoul is sick with

Paradox already, you know. It rots and festers within. Of course, it is

infinite, but so are they. Your Paradox is the Paradox of this universe, and the

one before, and the next, and all that is or was or was not or can be or shall

never be. When it attacks, the soul of everything will shatter."

"And how will that help you?" Angel asked. "Or save Chris?"

"Help me? I will be gone, little Angel. I will be less than nothing. But

everyone else will be like me." Kalia laughed. "Ahura Mazda knows. She's almost

felt it. It's the Paradox eating at your soul, dear sister, and you're right to

be afraid. But don't worry - if you live through the battle, you'll survive. So

will most people, at least at first. You don't NEED your soul... it just

separates you from everyone else. Without it, you will be defined by your will

and identity, not your piddly little perceptions and causality."

"So that's it," Akira said. She was crouching now, looking strangely

calm under the mask of blood that covered her face. "That's why you let Chris

get defeated by Sailor Moon, isn't it?"

"Of course!" Kalia clapped her hands again in delight. "Aren't I a good

little girl? Poor Chris, he wasn't convinced he was God yet. He needed to be

taught better. Now I've prepared his belief in himself for the new world where

he will survive and thrive. He will think this was his mission all along.

Whereas Zurvan is nothing. He gave up his identity to hide from the Paradox, and

without it, he will fall apart when he experiences true freedom. He can't handle

it. I will be destroyed, but I will have given Daddy a new world, the world he

can rule just like he wanted. Aren't I good? Aren't I?" She smiled again, and

the smile was suddenly wistful. "Isn't that true love? Dying to save the one I

love? I wouldn't know. I don't have a soul. He can't know what I'm doing, of

course, so he probably won't remember me. But maybe he'll name a planet after me

sometime. Planet Lovely-Faithful-Daughter-Saviour-Of-The-Universe; wouldn't that

be nice?"

Akira rose to her feet, followed almost instantly by Angel. "You know I

won't let this happen, Kalia," she said.

"And why not?" she pouted. "You know this will save Ukyou too. She has

TONS of identity! Two of them, even! It'll get rid of that obnoxious little

frump Hotaru, of course, but I'm sure she'll get over it. Ukyou, that is." She

suddenly grinned, rising to her feet as she continued to stand in mid-air. "You

just don't want to try anything different, do you? You 'real' people and your

attachment to 'real' things. I've had all your real things, and they bore me.

You need to do some impossible things. You haven't musicsexdancevomitkilled with

me, Ahura Mazda. How can you know being like me is so bad when you haven't

even musicsexdancevomitkilled yet?"

She looked between them, and pouted again. "I knew you wouldn't listen

to reason, Ahura Mazda. Luckily, I never intended you to!" She looked over at

Angel. "That's why you're still alive, after all, you filthy harlot traitor.

What's your wonderful plan for fighting me? I'm so curious!"

"You'll find out," Angel said cheerfully. She drew her sword; it felt

easy and light in her hands. "Are we finished talking now? I'm ready to get rid

of you."

"Oh, you're not convinced to help me either?" Kalia smiled. "I guess you

really do hate Chris. And after all he's done for you."

"No, I don't," Angel said. "If God or whoever is fighting Ukyou, then I

know who I'm cheering for. And I don't think she'll destroy Chris. Maybe he was

wrong. Maybe he's not God. But I want to save him too-"

"Wrong wrong wrong!" Kalia cackled. "Ahura Mazda never told you this,

did she? I hold the Paradox that seeks Chris. I am the identity that keeps it

trapped, writhing inside me. Just like Akira does for Ukyou. And just like

Akira, if you kill me, it will find him all at once and destroy him."

Angel stared.

And then she slowly looked over at Akira. "Is that...?"

Akira looked her directly in the eyes. "She's probably right. I'm sorry,

Angel. Please believe me: I didn't even think of that."

A heartbeat passed.

Angel smiled. "I believe you. Good thing she told us, huh?" She turned.

"I guess we'll just have to beat you up without killing you or using that

Paradox."

"Well, if you do, that will certainly ruin all my plans!" laughed Kalia,

drifting backwards. "Let's see if you can! But not here, this place is boring.

Think fast - I'm going to kill one person a second until you come down to join

me!"

And then she vanished, dropping past the guardrail. Akira swore and was

in motion. Angel hesitated a moment longer. This was it. Would it work? No time

to wonder. She switched chakras once more. She'd healed the damage from Kalia's

earlier hit with water, now it became void. Before she even took a step, she

felt every motion of Akira's body, knew without even looking how the woman dived

after Kalia. Felt them clash, bodies twisting and striking as they hurtled down

the floors of the building. By the time she'd reached the guardrail, Akira had

already lost the clash. She was too weak, too slow, too injured. Kalia batted

her around a few times, and kicked her back up in the air.

Angel smiled as she flipped over the railway, placed her feet against

it, and propelled herself downward. Perfect.

She closed her eyes. She felt the world around her spread just as the

golden wings spread from her back. She felt Akira hurtling towards her. And she

felt Kalia below. She was slowing slightly, invitingly, waiting for Angel to

overtake her. She slipped in and out of Angel's perceptions, one moment here,

there, subtle differences from moment to moment that were still always the same.

But Akira never moved. Akira was solid and real and always there. She

was already regaining control of her fall, thankfully. Angel pushed past her

gently, spinning around and tapping off the building. Kalia was laughing. Or

giggling. Or whispering. Or saying nothing at all. Or all at the same time.

But Akira was always there. Akira was real. So Angel ignored Kalia, and

focused on Akira. Where her head moved, her eyes focused, how every bit of air

struck her. Nothing existed without impacting something else.

So Angel opened her eyes, and found Kalia right in front of her, just

like she knew she would be. The not-girl's eyes widened as she realised the

truth and she... Angel ignored what was in front of her, but the air was

suddenly disturbed just like Kalia had tried to flip away. She slashed out.

Kalia's severed arm hit the ground just as Angel did. Akira did a moment

later. Kalia slowed to a gentle stop above the ground, scowling. Aside from

losing her left arm, a long slash was now cut into her side. "How do you like

that?" Angel grinned.

Kalia held up her remaining arm speculatively. The air writhed and

screamed as it touched her wounds. "Well, well... I'd applaud your cleverness,

but I apparently can't."

Angel didn't wait for another response. A breeze striking Akira was

altered by something two-point-three meters in front of her, and Angel attacked

it. Kalia skittered backwards out of the way; something pushed the air back at

Akira with a strike which Angel easily avoided.

"Wait!" Akira yelled. "We can't fight her around all these people!"

"What, THOSE people?" Kalia laughed. "Don't worry about them, Ahura

Mazda. They're not even paying attention."

Angel stared. The street wasn't exactly crowded; most people seemed to

have rushed away. But there were a few walking on the sidewalk. Up the road was

a cluster of half a dozen people, apparently a family that were tearfully

reuniting. A man in a business suit was climbing into a parked car. Several more

cars were on the street.

But nobody noticed the three figures at the side of the road. Nobody

even glanced at the severed arm.

"Maybe you can see me, and Angel can oh-so-cleverly see me through you.

But these little people? Oh no, they don't get to scream and run away, Ahura

Mazda." Kalia laughed. "You'd better be caaaaaaaaareful, hadn't you? But don't

worry, I'm hoping that torturing Angel to death and then torturing her soul into

nonexistence will be enough to motivate you, so I'll only start killing random

people if you make me mad or I feel like it or they're there - whoops!" She

flipped out of the way again, dodging a strike. "Of course, I do appear to be

kind of at a disadvantage now. I guess I need to be ar... no, the bad puns are

someone else's shtick." She grinned. "But I could use a weapon."

Angel blinked. It wasn't a blink of surprise, just an ordinary blink,

the type you do ten or so times a minute. Normally she wouldn't even have

noticed; she'd learned to compensate for the milliseconds of sightlessness it

caused years ago. But when her eyes opened again...

It was dark. The sun was dark. It wasn't eclipsed, or dimmer, but

suddenly it was warped and dark. The street was straight and curved and twisted

and narrow and wide and stretched into infinity and ended behind her and rose

into the sky. And Kalia was...

Kalia was...

It was no bigger. It was the size and shape of a girl. And it was made

of swords. Billions of billions of swords in the shape of a girl. They writhed

and twisted in their impossible confinement, twisting around each other. A thin,

pale skin stretched over them which they prodded and scratched and pressed

against, causing it to distort and bulge like maggots and insects in the flesh

of a rotting carcass.

They were whispering, the swords, whispering hateful and horrible

things, but Angel couldn't make out the words, even with her void chakra. She

was grateful. The cacophony of the whispering swords rose around them. They

strained at their confinement, blades and hilts and guards pouring through the

holes in the overstretched, impossibly delicate skin. They blocked each other in

their rush to escape, entangling and whispering and hating.

The head of the creature was nothing human. It was nothing Angel could

even describe. Blades sprang from its eyes, and as it opened its mouth, more

spewed forth from that, and it spoke with the voice of a girl.

"Now, which shall I pick? So many likely candidates!" It raised its arm.

"I've got a good idea! I'll show you something really special." In the palm of a

hand, fingers jerkily writhing as swords wriggled in it like worms, there was a

golden glow. "Are you the one Hotaru spoke of, Angel? Are you the traitor that

brings Chris down, filthy little girl? But I am a nothing. Zurvan can write

Chris's destiny, but I have nothing to write. And I will use nothing and his own

tool to thwart him. I hope he appreciates the irony, Ahura Mazda, when you and I

cast him shrieking into the abyss he's been hiding from the gaze of for so

long." The glow grew and grew, and Angel reflexively shut her eyes.

When she opened them, the world was sane again.

And Kalia held a sword. It was not an impressive sword, truthfully. It

looked almost like a child's plaything, short and golden and covered with

jewels. But it had power. Stolen, holy power. It writhed in Kalia's grip, but

she merely laughed.

"Now we're standing at the end of the world, Ahura Mazda. It's too bad

you're not good for much but to sit and watch." She reversed her grip on the

sword, pointing it at Angel. "Let's start the final boss music, shall we?"

OoOoO

The ruins gave way gradually. At first Ukyou noticed the strange hollow

quality of it. It was like walking through a movie set. She was convinced that

if she looked behind the walls and pillars, she would discover there was nothing

but cardboard and cheap wooden slats holding it all up. It was a facade. As they

walked further, moving in uneasy silence, bits and pieces of everything began to

be.. not there anymore.

It wasn't like the shattered ruins of before. Entire sections of

buildings were just gone, like they had never been. But the buildings didn't

seem to mind. Roofs floated in mid-air, held up by a Swiss cheese of walls that

had no right supporting them. Columns leaned here and there, sometimes with

entire middle sections gone entirely. But even this would not have bothered

Ukyou much.

What bothered her was how her eyes kept drifting over them like there

was nothing wrong. She would see a streetlamp flickering and buzzing overhead,

the metal pole in which it should have been set missing entirely. Yet she didn't

see anything wrong. It was only by focusing, by forcing herself to really

consider it, that she noticed the increasingly more common gaps in the world.

Breaking down, Ukyou finally asked Pluto if she noticed it too. The

green-haired woman gave her a long look, then asked what she meant. Ukyou didn't

ask her again.

Then, the half-forgotten ruins gave way to dunes of dust, and from there

to an empty waste. The fireflies were less common here, and those that floated

did so listlessly and dimly. The air drained of warmth, drained of cold. It took

Ukyou a moment to realise that the air drained of all sensation. A few dozen

steps later she realised there was no air. Not even the memory of it.

And yet they continued walking.

Ukyou felt her mouth dry up and her palms grow damp. She ran a hand

nervously through her bangs. The sound of her footfalls had ceased. Not just

dulled to inaudibility, but ceased entirely. There was no feeling to the ground,

not even the feedback of her feet falling against it. She had no idea how she

continued walking, but the unnerving quality of the strangely sensationless

environment had her on edge. She had to bite her tongue to keep from whistling

nervously.

Then she heard it.

Ukyou held up her hand, calling a halt. Nanami and Pluto paused, looking

at her strangely. Ukyou closed her eyes and focused her chi, allowing Aaron to

take control of it all. He stretched out and... there. The sound. The sound was

an incoherent buzz. It was a whine that rose and dropped erratically, sweeping

back and forth in front of them. As she struggled to make sense of it, to try

and identify it, she felt an eerie familiarity rise up inside her.

"There's something..." Ukyou trailed off. Her voice had cut through the

empty land like a knife. It left behind no echo. In fact, the words died off far

more quickly than she had guessed they would. They seemed to travel no further

than her companion's ears. "There is something ahead," she said, trying to

ignore the echoless, airless quality of her speech.

"Hotaru?" Pluto asked. Her voice was like a harsh whisper by the time it

reached Ukyou.

"No," Ukyou frowned. "Something..." She shook her head and continued

walking. There was little they could do to prepare. No use wasting time.

The noise grew stronger as Ukyou approached. Occasionally it rose so

high that even Pluto and Nanami could hear its wordless shriek. Ukyou could tell

because Pluto started, then all the colour drained from her face. Ukyou grabbed

the woman's arm, steadying her.

"By all that's holy, what was that?" Pluto gasped.

"Something is wrong," Nanami replied. She was gazing out into the empty

wastes. There was no real horizon here anymore. Things just faded away into the

distance, getting more and more vague as your eyes lost the ability to

distinguish masses from each other until eventually it all became a muted beige

blur. Not that there was much to see. Ukyou guessed that the fog-like masses

that floated in the distance were the ruins of Elysium on the other side of

this wasteland.

Ukyou grunted and continued walking. She could hear the sound more

clearly now. She was beginning to realise it was not a single noise, but many.

Uncountable noises. All running together and over each other. And it wasn't some

insectile buzz or some alien whine either. It was... it was...

"Look!" Pluto said, pointing. A dark shape rose in the distance, like a

cloud of locusts. It swirled up and around itself, curling into a vortex then

smashed down again. Ukyou shivered. The sound roared up. Babbling, screaming.

"Voices," Ukyou croaked, her voice suddenly dry. "They're voices."

Nanami glanced at her, then at the cloud. It hung low to the ground now,

spinning round and round a single point. As they watched a pale light rose from

the wasteland, flickering. Ukyou stared at it.

The firefly soul shuddered in the air. It pulsed, a sound like a

heartbeat echoing out from it. It began to jerk back and forth, another beat

echoing from it. There was a soft gasp and Ukyou realised it came from her. The

light seemed to sense them. Its erratic flight drifted in their direction.

There was a silent desperation to it.

Ukyou stepped forward, her hand reaching out. Nanami caught her wrist.

"There is nothing you can do," she whispered softly.

"No..." Ukyou groaned.

The light was pulsing more frequently now, its core flickering on and

off like a strobe light. Ukyou could see something inside it, something

terrible.

"There is nothing anyone can do," Nanami ground out between her clenched

teeth. Her fangs had grown out, giving her face a monstrous character. "It's too

far gone. IT has this soul now."

Then, with a suddenness that startled Ukyou even though she had been

expecting it, the light was gone. In its place was something like a hole. A gash

in space where once there had been something beautiful. From that gash came a

noise, a wordless, meaningless noise. It was hate. It was anger. A glint came

from the hole, which grew into a blade. It was a swordpoint, pushing itself

through the hole. It was tearing into this world through the wound.

With a final heart-rending shriek it burst free. It was a simple sword,

short-bladed and flat with a dull leather grip. It hovered in the air before

them, the tip hesitating. Ukyou wanted to reach out, but Nanami pulled her hand

back quickly.

"NO!" she barked. "It's gone! Don't touch it!"

"But I..."

"Do you want Akira to suffer more?"

Ukyou lowered her eyes. She felt the blade shift a few more times, then

with a meaningless babble of hate it sped off, floating quickly through the air

to join its brother and sister blades.

"Is that... is that..."

"The price of the Third Circle," Nanami hissed. "That's where Paradox

comes from, Ukyou."

"Where is it going?" Pluto asked dully. Her eyes were flat. She was

probably in shock, Ukyou realised dimly.

"Where else?" Nanami released Ukyou. "It's looking for more like it.

It's looking for something it can understand. It will run to the nearest thing

that it can sense and touch..."

"Hotaru!" Ukyou gasped. She didn't wait for a response, she just ran.

Her legs burned as she pushed far more wind chakra into them than was healthy.

The endless wastes didn't blur. There was no sensation of movement. But the

drone of the swords grew louder. The cloud grew more and more distinct.

Then finally Ukyou was standing before it. Her mind backed away from

what she saw. It wasn't a cloud. It was a galaxy. Billions and billions of

swords, orbiting each other around and around. Yet they never touched, not even

long enough to rebound accidentally. It spread up and out in all directions,

filling up the world with nothing but the endless, screeching Swords of Hate.

And in the centre of it was Hotaru. She was so small. Ukyou had

forgotten how small she was. The girl was pinned to the ground, blades rammed

through her shoulders and hips. And as Ukyou watched, the infinite cloud was

tearing her apart, ripping her inside out. Somehow, the girl was surviving.

Somehow, her body had not been reduced to a fine red mist.

Ukyou felt powerful arms wrap around her shoulder. Somebody was

screaming. She struggled, fighting to get free. A figure appeared in front of

her, swinging something.

Ukyou's head cracked to the side. She felt the sting in her cheeks.

Slapped? By... Pluto? Ukyou's eyes focused on the Senshi of Time. Nanami was

holding her in a full nelson, screaming in her ear.

"You idiot, you'll be torn apart!" Nanami roared. "You won't do her any

good if you're dead!"

"I..." Ukyou watched as one of the blades flashed by just behind Pluto.

The woman dove forward, rolling behind Ukyou and Nanami. She was very close to

the edge of it now. She must have broken into a run, losing all thought.

What had she been thinking? Had she been thinking? She couldn't

remember. Ukyou took a deep breath and relaxed. Without being asked, Nanami

slowly released her.

"This wasn't supposed to have happened," Nanami informed her.

"No shit," Ukyou growled.

"No, I mean, this wasn't the plan. G... the Nameless didn't want this."

Ukyou looked at the girl, not trusting herself to speak. "There is too much of

it. Too much for any one fetich soul to contain..."

"Where did it all come from?" Pluto groaned.

"She has a good point," Ukyou moaned. She looked through the galaxy of

Paradox to the little girl trapped within. "I can feel the magnitude of this.

It's... it's so much more than... than anything I've ever produced. Not even

Chris at his worst had this much Paradox inside him. Where did all this come

from?"

"The beginning," Nanami said softly. Ukyou looked at her sharply. "The

Nameless made this world, Ukyou. He constructed it, raw and unyielding from the

very stuff of the Oversoul. He willed it to be, just so you could have a place

to stand. And he did it with the Third Circle."

Pluto closed her eyes and whispered something that sounded like a

prayer. Ukyou needed no more hints. What she and Chris had done, had MADE to be

done, had been nothing. A tiny miracle here, a small impossibility there. It was

nothing compared to the scope of this. This was the Paradox of an entire

universe, created by act of raw will. But something didn't add up.

"But... where has it been all this time?" Ukyou asked, her eyes

narrowing.

"I suspect..." Nanami closed her eyes. "A woman named Anthy Himemiya.

She is also a fetich soul. She believed that all the Paradox inside her was from

Akio... but Akio never existed until seven years ago. The same as me and Pluto

and everyone else. And he hasn't touched the Third Circle since then. So...

where did all that Paradox come from?"

"He hid it," Ukyou growled. "He hid it in plain sight. That fucking

bastard."

"Something went wrong," Nanami said. "This was never supposed to

happen."

"No." Ukyou narrowed her eyes. "This should NOT be happening."

Then, moving faster than either of them could react, she charged into

the maelstrom.

OoOoO

The air was thick and cold. The people moved through the streets with

agonising slowness. Everybody but Angel and Kalia. They danced across the plaza,

their swords flashing back and forth, sparks erupting whenever the blades

touched. Nobody noticed them, not even when they paused directly in front of

pedestrians for a furious exchange of blows. The people would just slowly begin

to adjust their course, their footfalls seeming to take five times as long as

normal.

Except that wasn't what was happening. Akira was just seeing things

taking place at a much more rapid pace. Even without her air chakra overcharged

by her tattoos, Angel was very, very quick. She shifted stances with lightning

speed and laser precision. Her sword moved from attack to defence to counter in

short, sharp movements. There was a dreadful economy to her style. She had

improved, Akira reflected.

And she was going to lose.

Kalia did not fight with any specific style. One moment she was

aggressive as a berserker, the next as passive as a tai chi master. She didn't

so much move between styles as use them all at the same time, switching which

one was real constantly. Akira could almost see them, the million-billion

possible Kalias all striking in a different manner. But her mind retreated from

that. She had to focus on the now. If she let herself go, if she let herself

see... she might never get back.

Angel stepped back, her blade deflecting a blow aimed at her head.

Kalia's ridiculous-looking sword bounced back, and swept easily through the body

of a businessman. Angel's eyes widened, but she was already running back as

Kalia pushed the offensive. They were ten meters away before the man's torso

began to slide apart. Blood spurted out along the path of the blow, spraying

across a few people nearby. Kalia grinned, her empty mad eyes widening even as

her pupils narrowed to pinpricks.

Another exchange later and two more people, a woman and her boyfriend,

began to fall away from each other, hideous wounds appearing in their chests.

Angel screamed and slid forward, kicking up into Kalia's stomach and launching

the not-girl skyward. The two traded blows in mid-air for a few seconds.

The crowd was just beginning to notice what was happening. People were

starting to scream. To Akira's sped-up senses, the screams were drawn out,

dulled. The image of those three people suddenly dying for no apparent reason,

their gore splattering across the crowd, suddenly struck Akira as tragically

comic.

She groaned and tried to push herself up. She needed to do something. If

she just sat here, she was going to lose it. Her throat was on fire. She could

feel blood in her lungs. She was being crushed and ripped apart at the same

time. But it was just pain. She could move. She. Could. Move.

"No, no," Kalia laughed. "That isn't how you do it, Ahura Mazda!" The

girl-shaped thing giggled as she landed next to Akira.

"Get away from her!" Angel shouted as she plunged to the ground. Kalia

slipped backwards, allowing Angel's sword to cut a new trench into the sidewalk.

Angel didn't pause, she pulled the sword up and through the concrete, sending up

a spray of debris. The ethereal wings on her back flared with golden light as

she pushed forward, striking again and again.

"You know how to use it," Kalia said, directing her words around Angel.

"You just have to let go."

Akira staggered forward, trying to push her body. She felt a sudden pain

slam into her side. It was like a sword being pushed through her guts. Another

stabbed into her left biceps. She cried out, stumbling to a stop. Kalia laughed

and another man beside her exploded into pieces as she retreated from Angel. The

crowd was beginning to panic, their bodies moving in slow motion.

They had no idea what was happening. They couldn't see it. They couldn't

predict it.

"You monster!" Angel screamed, chasing Kalia through the crowd. She

flipped and spun around them, passing by the slowly shifting bodies with

centimeters to spare. Kalia led her around, striking out with impunity.

Wherever she passed, people died. "Damn you!"

"Leave them out of it!" Akira screamed, and coughed, slumping to one

knee again.

"But they're already part of it," Kalia said, laughing. She reached the

street and began to move among the car. They were beginning to speed up, trying

to peel away from the danger zone. "Can't you see? These people are already

doomed. I'm doing them a favour!"

"What are you...?" Angel trailed off as she leapt up on top of a

speeding car to catch up with Kalia. Kalia bounced from roof to roof, forcing

the girl to rush to keep up. But Akira could see it in Angel's face. She had

spotted something. Something that even Akira hadn't detected yet.

What was it?

The girl's eyes kept flicking over the crowd. Except she wasn't looking

angry, or concerned like she had a moment ago. She looked afraid. Not afraid of

Kalia, afraid of the crowd.

Why would she...?

Then Akira felt it. The revelation hit her like a truck and for a moment

she lost her iron grip on the pain. She fell to the ground, screaming and with

one thought playing in her mind.

The people. They were... infected. Each of them. They carried a piece of

Paradox inside them. Everyone in the crowd. Everyone in the city. Everyone in

the country. Everyone that Nabiki had wished back. They were infected with

Paradox. Akira could see it, she could feel it. It was eating them away, slowly,

from the inside out.

"You see?" Kalia called out. "Zurvan's plan is at its climax." She

turned to Angel. "I'd like to continue playing, but we're almost out of time.

Forgive me."

Angel braced herself. "I can defeat your tricks."

"Maybe you can," Kalia agreed. She held up the silly-looking sword. "But

this, this isn't a trick. This is real." She drew it back. Akira felt energy

gathering along its edge.

"Angel!" Akira cried.

"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"

"YAAAH!" Angel cried, pulling her sword in to defend herself as Kalia

streaked forward. Her sword glowed brilliant orange for a fraction of a

second... and then it smashed right through Angel's sword like a hot knife

through butter. The blade separated cleanly. Angel had an instant to realise

what had happened before the leading edge of the magic sword cleaved into her

shoulder. Her shout of defiance turned into a scream of pain.

Somehow Angel managed to throw herself back. What should have cleaved

her in two instead only opened her up to her shoulder bones. She landed badly,

tumbling and sliding through the crowd. Three people were unlucky enough to be

in her path and they flew like tenpins. The blade of Angel's sword descended

into the forehead of a woman who was crouched over her screaming child.

Kalia flourished her blade. "And with one blow of my magical ginsu

sword, I have once again saved the day," she said with a hollow laugh. "I'd tell

you to pray, Angel, but there is no god who would listen to your pitiful

traitorous whining." She held back the blade in ready position again. Angel was

trying to pull herself to her feet. "SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"

"ENOUGH!"

Angel did not die. She was not beheaded by the magical blade. Her body

was not nearly atomised by the magical forces. Instead, Akira caught the blade

in her hand. It did not blow through her fingers. It did not tear her apart. All

the million bad things that could have happened did not happen. Akira stood over

Angel, holding the magic sword with one hand, her fist having struck Kalia.

The girl flew back. She did not smash into a child. She did not crash

into the side of a moving car. She did smash against a lamppost with enough

force that the entire thing bent. Akira took a deep breath.

Kalia lay on the ground for a long moment. Her mouth began to twitch.

The sound of her empty, sickening giggle filled the air. "That's the stuff,

Ahura Mazda," she said, slowly rising to her feet. Her one good hand massaged

her face. "That's it, let it all go!"

OoOoO

Ukyou wasn't certain what she was planning when she ran into the storm.

She knew that the swords would tear her apart, would flay her alive, but she

didn't care. She had to do something. She couldn't just sit there and watch. So

she had plunged into it headlong.

The storm welcomed her with fury. Ukyou moved quickly. The Silence

Glaive materialised in her hand and she spun it around her. There was no sound

as her weapon struck all the swords in front of her. Blades rebounded off blades

sent flying by her sweep, opening up a small vacuum in the cloud. Ukyou charged

in.

She lost track of time. She lost track of everything. Everything but the

swords. She dodged and sidestepped, flipped and leapt and rolled and slid. The

Silence Glaive spun and parried, twisted and darted and blocked. Like their

battle with Alucard, Aaron took on the part of their eyes and Ukyou became their

body. They moved in seamless unison. They moved with preternatural speed and

skill.

They got three meters. Then the first blade sunk into Ukyou's chest,

followed quickly by three more striking her in the side, her thigh and one

through her forehead. Ukyou stopped, stunned. There was no pain.

The swords vanished. There was no pop. No displaced air or flare of

magic or anything fancy. They just vanished. Thirty more embedded themselves in

Ukyou in the time it took her to realise what was happening.

"Akira..." she mouthed. They weren't striking her. She had a perfect

defence against the Paradox. It couldn't strike her. She was defended by Akira.

Her head snapped up. With a snarl she continued forward. She did not

focus less on defending herself. If anything, she redoubled her efforts. She

needed to. Akira didn't deserve this.

Some part of Ukyou suggested that she should go full out. She could amp

up the Third Circle, move much faster than she possibly could now. Aaron would

sense far more. But it was too dangerous. The blades striking Ukyou now were

doing so almost incidentally. They hit her because she just happened to be in a

place full of them. They couldn't NOT hit her.

If she allowed herself to use the Nameless' power, it would be like

setting off a flare. She would stop being a passive victim, and become a target.

Ukyou suspected Akira would not long survive the focused attention of all this

Paradox. She was in no mood to find out for certain.

Finally Ukyou got to within earshot of Hotaru. The girl was sitting on

the ground. The swords orbited her, falling like rain. One would sink into her

flesh, causing her to cry out. Then the sword would burrow into her. For a

moment the flesh around the wound would bulge and throb as the sword crawled

under the girl's skin. Then its handle would vanish, and the skin would settle

down... only to have another sword take its place. Dozens at a time.

"Hotaru..." Ukyou gasped.

"Ukyou." Hotaru looked up. The skin on her face was being distorted

grotesquely. Points and bulges would throb into place, pushing at her cheeks and

forehead. A wound in the shape of Saturn's symbol was oozing blood. Her eyes

were bronze and venomous. There was nothing of the girl Ukyou had known in this

face. "We weren't supposed to meet like this."

"Oh... oh god..." Ukyou slumped forward. Perversely, now that she was

this close to Hotaru, the storm was no longer striking her as much. The Paradox

swords had a more tempting target. Blades still slid across her limbs, some

vanishing as Akira absorbed the hate-filled energy before it could harm Ukyou,

but most passed by her harmlessly.

"There was... going to be a battle..." Hotaru coughed. She was sitting

against something. A huge blade, faded and cracked, served to prop her up. The

shape was vaguely familiar to Aaron. "I was going... to push you... past your

limits..." Hotaru moaned as a blade struck her in the side of the neck. The

continuous strikes were forcing her to cut in and out as she tried to talk

around the moans and shrieks of pain.

Ukyou stepped forward, her hand outstretched.

"If you touch me, I'll kill you," Hotaru said. There was no threat in

her voice, just a statement of fact.

Ukyou's hand lowered. "Hotaru, I'm here to help you."

Hotaru stared at her. "I don't... want to... ohh... be saved."

"You're not thinking straight..." Ukyou began. "You're in too much pain.

You've been kidnapped and brainwashed and tortured for seven years. I can help

you. I can make it all right."

"Yes... I know."

Ukyou stopped. She hadn't been expecting that. Hotaru looked up, just in

time to receive a sword straight into the eye. Ukyou winced in sympathy. Hotaru

didn't even seem to notice.

"You don't know... what you were chosen for... do you?"

"Hotaru!" Ukyou stepped closer.

"God wants you," Hotaru gasped and panted, her body convulsing as the

swords kept digging into her. Her entire body was pulsing now. She wouldn't be

able to hold much more. "To exceed him."

"Exceed...?" Ukyou trailed off.

"You have to... aah!... achieve the Third Circle... Ukyou." Hotaru

jerked. "That... was God's plan..."

"Why?" Ukyou snapped. "What can I do that he couldn't?"

"End it," Hotaru said, her hand reached out and began to claw at the

empty, dirty ground of the abyss. "End it." She coughed as another three swords

entered her shoulders.

Ukyou recoiled. "No." She slammed her hands into the ground. "I won't

kill you."

"If you won't..." Hotaru raised her hand and the huge blade behind her

began to rise out of the earth. Lifeless earth fell like waterfalls from the

edges of the demonic weapon. The sword rose up over the girl's head, and now

Aaron recognised it at last. Ukyou leapt to her feet, drawing the Silence Glaive

up in front of her. "I will give you a battle."

"I don't want to fight you!" Ukyou shouted. "There has to be another

way..."

"No, Ukyou," Hotaru croaked. For a moment, her face seemed to have

returned to its old appearance. Her lips turned down in a slight frown. "It has

to end. God's sick little plan, his perverse game... it has to end. All the pain

and sacrifice and meaningless babble, it has to end." With a gesture, Dylek flew

over Hotaru's shoulder at Ukyou.

There was a crack and a shower of black sparks as the Silence Glaive

parried the demon sword, knocking it back. Ukyou stepped further away from

Hotaru. Her eyes narrowed. There was something wrong. Aaron could feel it,

crawling at the back of his awareness.

The demon blade swept in again and Ukyou was forced to concentrate on

defending herself. Again and again she parried as the weapon swung through the

air. It didn't have to obey the limits of a wielder. It could pivot and spin in

mid-air, hampered only by its own bulk. Ukyou slipped between the strikes,

applying the Glaive like a surgeon's scalpel, with just enough precision to

force the blade away from her.

"Haven't you ever wondered how you were going to destroy the world,

Ukyou?" Hotaru asked.

"Yeah," Ukyou grunted. "But I stopped worrying about that a few days

ago." The blade came in again, forcing her to leap and tumble to avoid it.

"Too bad..." Hotaru sighed. "You don't, if it helps you any."

"What?"

"I am going to destroy the world," Hotaru said. "Oh, it'll be your blow

that will kill me, was going to kill me... but I am the one who ends it all."

Ukyou ran sideways, parrying a dozen blows from Dylek as she tried to

circle around closer to Hotaru. She had to think of some way to reach the girl.

She had to find some way to reach the girl who Ukyou had known seven years ago.

She was there, under all that pain and hate. All Ukyou had to do was reach her.

"You still think you can save me?" Hotaru said, laughing. Her laughter

was bitter. "It's too late for me, Ukyou." Hotaru coughed. "I've absorbed too

much Paradox. My soul can't take it. It's already dissolving. Soon... I will be

nothing but another Sword of Hate. Just another mindless part of Oblivion. Like

everyone else."

"I won't let that happen!" Ukyou shouted. She grabbed the Glaive with

both hands and swung it as hard as she could. It smashed into Dylek, sending the

weapon spinning away to clatter against the ground.

"You can't stop me. That's why I came here, Ukyou." Hotaru looked down

at her hand. It had returned to normal. "When I die... all the Paradox within me

will explode outward. It will explode in the very heart of the Oversoul."

"You... you're going to destroy it all?" Ukyou gasped.

"No, not the whole Oversoul, Ukyou." Hotaru smiled. "I'm not cruel, or

vicious. There are places, places far beyond this universe. Worlds where people

are happy. Worlds where there is hope. But this world, it is a sick joke played

on everyone within it. It was designed for one purpose. It was designed to make

your life unbearable, Ukyou."

Ukyou spun, parrying Dylek again. The demon blade pushed against the

edge of the Silence Glaive. Ukyou grunted and braced herself, her feet digging

into the lifeless soil.

"So I'll end it." Hotaru smiled. "It's like giving a terminally ill

patient release, Ukyou. This universe is full of cancer. And when the Paradox

explodes out of me, it will spin through the world, seeking out the cells it can

detect and spreading, ripping everything apart..."

Aaron's eyes widened. "That's it. That's why you came here."

"Oh?"

"You don't want to prevent new life from being born. You want to mark it

all. You want to touch each soul with a bit of Paradox." Ukyou looked at Hotaru

in horror. "And like will draw to like. When the Swords burst free, they'll seek

out all the tainted souls and destroy them. Then those souls will seek out the

souls connected to them... and on and on. A chain reaction that will destroy

every living thing in the universe."

"Very good," Hotaru said. "You always were a bright one, Ukyou."

"I'll stop you!" Ukyou shouted.

"Stop me?" Hotaru chuckled again. "Ukyou, I've already done it." Ukyou

looked around. The swarm wasn't attacking anymore. It was swirling around them,

a perfect circle. It was like they... were torn between two targets. They kept

shifting to attack Hotaru, and then shifting back to attack whatever else it was

they sensed out there. Chris? Akira? No...

"Your friend Nabiki just wished back all the people of Japan. It would

have taken me years to taint a sufficient number of souls through simple births.

But Nabiki dragged back millions of them all at once. Millions that were already

here, caught in the taint of this place." Hotaru slowly rose to her feet. "All

that's left, is for me to die."

"No..." Ukyou stepped back. Dylek hovered in front of her. "I don't

believe you."

"I told you, you can't stop me. It's already over. You lost."

"Then why?" Ukyou growled. "Why this charade? Why fight me?"

"Why?" Hotaru's eyes narrowed. "Haven't you figured it out?"

"No, damnit! What more do you want from me?"

"I'm not fighting you because it's necessary for my plan," Hotaru said.

"God wants me to, but I don't care what God wants."

"You... don't... care?" Ukyou stared.

"Of course not," Hotaru said, her voice cold. "I obeyed God because I

had no other choice. Because he would give me the chance to end the suffering,

and to do the one other thing I wanted. If I didn't obey, the torment would just

continue forever. So, just like you, I played his game to allow us to be here,

now."

"Hotaru... why me? Why this?"

"Because I hate you!" Hotaru roared. Her little hands curled into fists.

"And my one selfish wish before the world dissolves, is to see you die!"

Hotaru screamed and pulled her hand down. Ukyou turned as Dylek came

towards her. She ground her teeth and focused. She pulled the blade down,

striking the leading edge of Dylek straight on. Dylek went flying right past

her... in two pieces. The halves of Dylek slammed into the ground. One cracked,

shattering into pieces. The other quivered for a moment, then fell lifelessly.

Ukyou took a deep breath. "Not today..."

Hotaru collapsed to her knees. "I see God is not so easily defied,"

Hotaru sighed. "No matter." She held up her hands. "I'm not the only one who

hates you, Ukyou. We will all have our revenge."

Ukyou tensed. The cloud of swords had stopped. Slowly, it settled down.

The blades dipped until they were hovering not far above the ground. They formed

rank upon rank, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Points towards the

sky, the Swords of Hate hovered and waited.

"I cannot fight you, Ukyou," Hotaru said. "My body can't endure it. But

I can watch while you are destroyed." Ukyou stared as the swords began to

flicker. No, not the swords, the air around them. Figures were appearing.

Hundreds of thousands of them. They faded in and out like ghosts. Each held the

grip of one of the Paradox blades. With a final crack, the world suddenly became

filled with an army.

Ukyou spun slowly. There were millions of them. They were of every race

and creed, human and inhuman. Housewives stood next to soldiers, zoanoids stood

next to humans, and they were legion.

"Kill her," Hotaru commanded, and the army charged.

OoOoO

Akane opened her eyes. Yup, same ceiling. She shifted on the bed. It was

disturbingly comfortable. It wasn't overstuffed, nor was it too hard. She

clamped her arms around the pillow, which was just a tad too perfect to be

natural. She squirmed under the blankets.

She couldn't sleep. She wanted to sleep. To just sleep and, for a few

blissful hours, forget about all this. Of course, she couldn't. When was the

last time she had really slept? Before going to the North Pole with Rei, wasn't

it? Except she hadn't really gotten any sleep before then either.

She hadn't been able to sleep since she had gone to Ohtori. She had

rested, but her sleep had been fitful. She kept remembered the destruction that

had flooded the city. She had caused that. Because she had done the 'right

thing'.

She clenched her teeth and tried to think of something else. She

wondered, for a brief moment, how her friends were doing. Were they okay? Were

they thinking of her? Were they going to try and rescue her?

Rescue her... Akane closed her eyes at that thought. That would be nice.

Just have someone burst in the door, stretch out their hand and say, 'I'm here

to rescue you!' Then she wouldn't have to get up and face him.

She opened her eyes. The ceiling looked down at her.

She was running away, she realised. She was afraid of him. He hadn't

raised a hand to her. He hadn't even threatened her. She wasn't certain he could

bring himself to hurt her. But Chris frightened her more than the thought of

facing Reichmann Gyro did. After all, Gyro had just killed her.

Chris had smiled and talked, and politely destroyed everything she

believed in.

Akane sat up, gripping the side of the bed. Her thoughts kept going back

to what had happened yesterday. Chris had, casually and easily, ordered Angel to

kill someone. He had done it right in front of Akane. It should have been a

damning moment. It should have been the ultimate damning moment.

She picked up her hairband from the nighttable and carefully put it in

place. She had charged into that room, so full of vigour. She had thought she

had him dead to rights. She had thought of a perfect hole in his logic. And then

he had just calmly ordered Angel to kill someone.

Akane walked over to the wardrobe. There were dozens of outfits inside.

It hadn't just been anyone. It had been Cologne. Akane and Cologne had never

been friends, especially since Cologne had started living and working with

Chronos. But Cologne was Shampoo's great grandmother. Shampoo had died trying to

show Akane that Chris was beyond saving.

Each outfit was tailored just for her. She ran her fingers along an

outfit done in yellows and blacks. She would probably look good in it. Heroic.

Epic. There was even a belt with two hooks for her to attach her traditional

dual swords.

Akane was standing here, fondling fabric while Chris sent a girl to kill

Cologne. Shampoo had died to give Akane a message, and she was sitting here

contemplating... contemplating turning her back on that message. Because Chris

had done with words what Chronos and Akio could not. He had made her doubt

herself.

She let the suit slip from her fingers. It would have been easier if she

couldn't remember it so clearly. If the argument had been so fast and heated

that Akane could only remember a blur, she might have been able to convince

herself that it was just a... a trick, a hallucination, or maybe some form of

magical mind control. But it hadn't been.

Akane looked down at herself. She was in the same outfit she had been

wearing when she went to the North Pole. She hadn't changed in... a long time.

Chris had just dismantled her arguments. Her accusations of murder were met

with replies about how she had killed people for her cause as well. When she

claimed that his godhood rendered her choices irrelevent, he countered with the

fact that he was going out of his way to make them relevent. He wanted a world

that didn't need a god. He then went on to prove that only a god, namely him,

could provide that future.

She grabbed the bokken from where it was leaning against the wall.

Katsuhito's last gift to her. Every position she took, Chris undermined. Every

argument she made, Chris answered. Every challenge she made, he responded. It

left her speechless.

So she had run away.

She had begged that she needed to sleep. That she needed to think.

Chris, as always, seemed more than happy to give her time. He was always willing

to give her more time. His smile seemed to say, 'Take all the time you want,

Akane. Come up with all the perfectly logical denials you want. I'll be here,

waiting. I have the truth. I can wait.'

Akane walked open to the door and palmed it open. The corridor outside

was empty. She knew it would be. She took a deep breath.

She had to face it. There was no good reason to reject Chris' offer.

There was no valid excuse to deny him. There was no logical, rational argument

she could think of to counter him. Maybe smarter people than her could. But she

wasn't a philosopher.

She started down the halls. It wasn't a long walk. She didn't meet

anybody along the way. The door to his chamber opened up as she approached.

Chris was hovering with his back to her, his head bowed slightly and his arms

crossed. There was a large crystal screen floating before him. Akane paused as

she watched it for a second.

Angel was there, and so was Akira. It took a moment for Akane to

recognize the woman, even though they'd saved the world together seven years

ago. She looked... different, somehow, then when Akane had last seen her. But,

from what Akane knew, Akira and Angel had experienced a falling out. Why would

they be running anywhere, together?

Chris waved his hand, banishing the image on the screen and turned to

face her. He turned around, his expression uncharacteristically dark, but his

tone was light and even. "Ah, Akane. Did you sleep well?"

"Frankly? No," Akane replied, frowning to herself. "What's happening

with Angel? I thought she and Akira were... not exactly friends anymore."

"Well, Angel is very gregarious," Chris said lightly. "So they've made

up, it seems."

"That isn't what I meant," Akane responded, annoyed. "Angel told me

about their fights. Akira would never let her kill people."

"No, you're right. Angel's instead decided to leave my service, at least

for the moment." Chris shrugged nonchalantly. "That's her right, of course.

Truthfully, I don't have a lot of use for her now, so I hope she'll be happy."

"That's... it?" Akane asked in disbelief. She paused. "What about

Cologne?" she forced herself to say.

"What, should I be raging?" Chris said. "I care for Angel. I wouldn't

want to force her to do something she doesn't want. I saved her life, and she

gave me many years of loyalty, so neither of us truly owes the other anything.

If she no longer feels comfortable working for me, so be it." He paused. "As for

Cologne, that mission was completed."

Akane felt something cold settle in her stomach. Of course, she had

known that was going to happen. She closed her eyes. Damnit. She hadn't expected

it to hit this hard. Cologne was... had been working with the enemy for years,

after all. But Akane could have done something. She could have forced him to...

To what?

"So... I guess you win. Cologne is dead," Akane hissed out.

Chris sighed. "It wasn't winning. We discussed this yesterday, Akane. I

know you don't like it, but it was self-defence. Cologne had dedicated her life

to destroying me. And she'd so adamantly refused to let Chronos mentally

manipulate her that simply making her forget about me would have been a worse

crime. I didn't hate her, and it's unfortunate she could not forgive me."

There it was. That simple, reasonable argument that he had for

everything. She grabbed onto the handle of Katsuhito's sword, squeezing until

her knuckles hurt. "You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Akane asked,

feeling her temper fraying. Cologne was dead, and she had done nothing. How

could she not have done something?

"What would you have done, Akane?" Chris asked. "You've had enemies. Not

all of them were black-hearted villains. You're certainly aware of this now, if

you ever really weren't. But sometimes, for an important enough cause, you will

have to do things you don't like. Things that make you uneasy. You killed men

and women who had families and children. Did you want to kill them? Of course

not. You simply had no choice. And I had no choice but to stop Cologne. The life

lost here was tragic, but nothing compared to the consequences of my stepping in

this room one morning and seeing the armies of Tethys raised against me, or

Chronos, or even Jurai." He raised one hand, tapping his cheek. "I would win, of

course. I could send them back where they came from, I could erase their

memories, I could even make them my allies. But is that right? To simply use my

power to force everyone in the world to do whatever I want? I don't think so.

What do you think?"

"It doesn't matter," Akane said sharply. She opened her eyes, and rubbed

the back of her free hand against them. "It's done. You did it. I didn't stop

you."

"Akane, you didn't want to stop me."

"What?"

"Just what I said," Chris said calmly. "We discussed this last night.

You argued against it, and I told you my reasons. You went to bed knowing I had

sent Angel to kill Cologne. You are not to blame, but true, you didn't stop it."

He raised one hand, pressing his middle finger and thumb together. "However, you

could have. And you know it. All you had to do is ask. Yes, you can't come up

with a good reason why I'm wrong, but nonetheless I'm willing to trust your

judgement. If you still think what I did was wrong, then ask, and I will take it

back." He glanced up at his hand. "A snap of my fingers, and I'll bring Cologne

back and none of this will have ever happened. And then we'll see what she does.

Perhaps I was wrong, and you were right. So if you're still so adamant, just ask

me, and we'll see where the dice fall."

Akane stared for a long few seconds. There it was again, the floor

collapsing out underneath all her anger and justifications. "So... you just snap

your fingers and that's it? It never happened?"

"Yes, Akane, it will never have happened. Isn't that what you want? That

Cologne isn't dead? Or am I misunderstanding you?"

Akane felt her stomach twisting. Of course she didn't want Cologne to be

dead. She didn't want anyone to be dead. Except maybe Gyro. But if she told him

to do this... to just wave his hand and fix the problem... what did that say

about her? Would it be so wrong? She could just ask him this one favor. Maybe...

Maybe if he listened to her...

"What do you want out of me, Chris?" Akane asked. "I mean, why me? Why

do you need my permission to save Cologne? Or anybody?"

"Why NOT you?" Chris said, and smiled with genuine humour. "You think so

poorly of yourself sometimes. Akane, I want to help save the world. Why wouldn't

I trust the advice of the person who did it first?"

Then it hit Akane. She remembered that time, seven years ago. She

remembered what it had felt like. How she had kept being pushed and pushed.

Pushed by what? She still didn't know. Whatever it was that she had met on the

other side of death, it had changed her. It had sent her back a slightly

different person than she had been before. It had given her a purpose. It had

wanted her to fufill that purpose. It too had needed her.

And she had refused. She had refused and risked everything. She had

known, at the time, that what that nameless thing offered her might well have

been the only way to save the entire world. It had pushed and pushed... but in

the end, it had backed off.

Just like Chris was now. He wanted her to agree with him. And he kept

giving her deadlines and ultimatums, and then pulling back from them. He kept

giving her second chances.

"...more seriously," Chris was saying, "I don't think of myself as

infallible. I want someone else who I can trust, who will give me a sober second

thought on things, and I think you will be-"

"No," Akane cut him off. Chris paused, obviously confused, then quickly

recovered, arching his good eyebrow.

"No to what, precisely? No to saving Cologne, or...?"

"No to all of it, Chris," Akane replied. Strangely, she didn't feel

angry. She felt tired. But she forced passion into her voice. She forced herself

to sound hard. She had learned to do that, over the years. Sometimes people

didn't need a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes they needed a bitch to order them

into action, even when it meant risking your head. She used that voice now. "I'm

not talking about this anymore."

Chris paused again. "So, if I understand you correctly, you're saying

you think I should just do as I see fit? And therefore, Cologne remains dead?"

"I'm not saying that," Akane snapped. "I just refuse to participate in

this anymore." She kept her voice level, barely. "If you want some sort of

response out of me, you're not going to get it. I'm not going to forgive what

you did, just because you can make it better. I'm not going to ask you to fix

it. I'm not going to tell you anything."

Chris lowered the hand that he had been holding up to snap. The good

humour had evaporated from his voice. "And what exactly has you so upset?"

"No, Chris. No more words. No more arguments. This is it. This is my

choice. I'll defy you, in the only way I can." Akane stiffened her posture.

"Even if that's just doing nothing."

"That doesn't make any sense," Chris snapped. "You're no coward, Akane.

You don't shirk decisions just because they're tough. You're just going to sit

there like an angry child refusing to talk, because of... what? Because you know

that if I bring Cologne back, everything I said will happen, and you don't

want-"

"Believe what you want," Akane interrupted. "You have the only answer

I'm going to give you, Chris. Now, I would like to leave."

"Don't be ridiculous, you won't even explain-"

"No. I won't. Now, I would like to leave."

"You-" Chris started to shout, then swallowed the words with an audible

effort. When he continued, his voice was controlled again, but terse. "Akane,

whatever this is about, there is a more reasonable way to work through it. This

is too important to just have you walk away from it. I need your help, all of

humanity needs it."

Akane didn't answer this time. She just stared at him. She had to force

herself to stare directly into that awful empty socket of his eye, but she

didn't let that show on her face. In fact, she let nothing show on her face.

And Chris looked away first. "Damn it," he growled, turning with an

irritated sweep of his arm. "You won't talk? Fine, we don't need to talk." He

whirled in place, and suddenly his face contorted with rage. A dark red light

sprang into life in his eyesocket. "I don't need to talk, Akane. But you're

going to understand what's at stake here. I will MAKE you understand!"

Akane had just recently remembered what it was like seven years ago. She

had remembered what it was like to find herself being pushed by god. That was

nothing like this. That had just been pressure. That had just been a feeling

of... expectation, such an overwhelming feeling of need that turning her back on

it had been near-impossible.

This was a violation. Her body rebelled against her. She couldn't even

scream. She couldn't even whimper. Her eyes refused to look away. Her nose

refused to twitch. Her entire body ceased to be her own.

Fast on its heels, her mind went away too. She tried to focus on

something else, but it was impossible. She didn't want to focus on anything

else. She wanted to listen to him. She wanted to nod along. He was only telling

the truth. She remembered things in her life, things that made him seem more

sympathetic. She remembered-

"No," Akane said.

The word shocked Chris, and it let up for a moment. Then his face

twisted into a scowl and it returned. There was no crushing weight. There was no

sense of invasion. There was no feeling of horror. The hatred in her bubbled

away, as naturally and easily as it had when Akane had first learned that Nabiki

had invaded her mind without permission. After all, if she could forgive Nabiki,

how could she hold anything against Chris? She felt her image of Chris

softening. She felt her opposition evaporate.

She opened her mouth, for a moment unable to understand why she had

opposed him. Then Chris frowned slightly, and she remembered. She had been

confused. Petulant. She had been forced into a corner. But it was okay. He would

forgive her childishness. She cleared her throat and spoke.

"No," she said.

Chris' eyes narrowed. Akane felt a thrill of fear run through her. She

had no idea where that word had come from. When she had spoken, she had meant to

ask him to forgive her for being childish. She had meant to apologise. She had

meant to explain that she was tired and stressed out. She wanted to explain.

"I... won't..." Akane said.

She reached up and clutched the sides of her head. That wasn't supposed

to happen! What was wrong with her? She could feel something inside her. It

filled her with disgust and rage. It was dark and pulsing. It was angry. She

tried to force it back down. She looked up at Chris, to draw strength from him.

He was snarling now. His hands were curled into claws. The deadlight in

his ruined eye flared. She could see the air rippling around him. Her mind

retreated from it. But she knew she shouldn't be afraid. He was fighting for

her. He was helping her.

"Leave..." Akane gasped, collapsing to one knee. "Me..." The word came

out as a shriek. The awful, hateful thing inside her pulsed again. She couldn't

make it go away! "Alone!"

"Stop fighting me!" Chris yelled. "You have to stop!" His face was

twisted, but not with rage. It was twisted with confusion and fear. Of course,

Akane realised. He was God. Nothing she should have been able to do should have

stopped him. "How can you fight me?!" Chris shrieked.

Then Akane suddenly remembered. She remembered the Oversoul and the

void. She remembered herself slowly fading away, as she drifted back into the

familiar, peaceful All. And she remembered being ripped rudely out. She

remembered being sawed out. She remembered something huge, pulling her free from

the All. She remembered being pulled past... an emptiness that was full of

blades that screamed. She remembered encountering something.

No, not something. It was nothing. It had no name. It had no face. It

was just immensity. It was just power. It had no voice, so it borrowed hers. 'I

have died,' Akane remembered herself saying in a non-voice. 'Because Chris loves

me. I will return, because I will be his undoing. And I shall have the tools

needed to do this.'

The words, spoken by her and that awful, immense nameless thing beyond

the edge of the All, hidden amongst the screaming swords, had burned themselves

deep inside her. She had been given Purpose.

Chris staggered back and Akane collapsed. Her hands shot out, preventing

her from smashing facefirst into the floor. Her breathing came in shaky gasps.

Her skin crawled. Her mind recoiled in horror. Chris had... he had...

"You... fucking... BASTARD!" Akane leapt to her feet.

"No," Chris growled. "I won't let you ignore me!" And he held out his

hand and this time Akane could feel it. The weight of his power. All that

immense power. There were no more subtle tricks, no more games. Just raw brute

force smashing against her psyche.

Akane held her ground.

"Why?" Chris shrieked. "How can you do this?"

"Because someone has to," Akane replied.

Chris clenched his hands and Akane felt something deeper draw out of

him. He wasn't just using stolen power now, Akane realised. He was tapping

whatever well of power he had. She could feel something awful rushing out of it.

She couldn't help but picture that abyss of shrieking swords. And with a

wordless scream, he tried to smash it into her.

Something inside Akane immediately knew what he was doing. He was trying

to forge a connection between them. He was trying to funnel all the shrieking,

horrible energy inside him into her. To erase her, and make her part of him. He

had done it before, she knew. He did it without desperation. He had created this

channel before.

It was like the swords were pushing into Akane's skin from every angle.

Whatever thing the nameless force had left her with, it too was buckling under

this assault. She snarled and took a step forward. She could feel herself

fraying with every step. She could feel the flow from him double with every

heartbeat. He was pushing himself to the edge. The wound in his face darkened

and began to putrefy, only to stop suddenly as he pushed the consequences onto

Akane. She could feel it burning at her eye.

The sound of her slap broke the tension in the room. Chris, who could

face down gods, staggered back. The pressure broke. Akane could feel the

horrible energy retreating towards him... then begin to vanish. It was heading

somewhere else.

"No, Chris. Never."

"Akane..." Chris gasped. Then his head twisted to the side suddenly.

"Kalia?"

OoOoO

The mob came forward, screaming silently in the void. Ukyou tensed

herself, allowing her eyes to track around the circle. There was no escape, of

course. Her hands slid along the length of the Silence Glaive. Hotaru watched

her, her bronze eyes narrowed with hate. Ukyou took a deep breath.

The first rank reached her.

"Forgive me, Akira," Ukyou said softly and opened herself to the Third

Circle.

There was an explosion of sound as Ukyou swung the Silence Glaive

through them. They scattered like tenpins, blasted away in all directions.

Hundreds of the ghostly figures went tumbling away.

Then the second rank reached her. A half dozen swung at her, their

movements coordinated in eerie unison. Ukyou managed to deflect all the strikes,

and Aaron kept her a fraction of a second ahead of the next half-dozen, and the

next. As the ghosts struck they moved aside, letting the next ones have their

shot, and the next and the next.

And the ghosts rose to their feet, showing no signs of injury. She had

withheld using the Silence against them, but they refused to go down from just

normal blows. She couldn't defend against them all. Eventually, she would make a

mistake. With a frown, she shifted from defence to offence.

The Silence Glaive sung in her hands. A dozen ghosts were scattered by

the first blow. Ukyou moved into the gap, avoiding the Paradox swords that fell

from the ghosts' limp hands. Without pausing, she struck again, the Glaive

exploding with near-silence. Even as the gap she had created was filled by more

silent ghosts, she moved into the next gap, and the next.

She and Aaron recoiled from the thought of killing these ghosts. They

were innocent souls, Ukyou was certain. Hotaru was doing something to control

them, using the Paradox blades to command them. However, each soul she cut down

with the Silence Glaive would be annihilated, and all that would be left was

another Sword of Hate.

Ukyou ran up the side of a largish man, and suddenly she was on top of

the army of ghosts. She moved across it, her legs moving from shoulder to head

as she flitted across the field. The ghosts' mouths opened in silent screams as

they swung up at her, some leaping to get better opportunities to strike. They

didn't care about each other. The swords passed through their ghostly flesh

without pause.

In other words, she was trapped in a no-win situation. If she fought

back at full effectiveness, she would be doing Hotaru's job for her. If she held

back, it would only be a matter of time before they wore her down.

Ukyou frowned and dropped, her body flaring with purple sparks as she

phased down through the body of a ghost. She avoided the blade and sidestepped

through another ghost. The glaive parried three swordstrokes at once, and

ghosted down and to the left, passing through a few startled spirits.

Hotaru was in charge of this. She was using the swords to control the

spirits. Aaron was certain of it. Which meant that this army was nothing but

window dressing. It was Hotaru she had to reach. It was Hotaru who could end

this.

Ukyou hissed as a blade slid along her arm, drawing a red line through

the fabric of her coat. It appeared that her absolute defence was gone. Two more

strikes slipped through her guard while she was getting over the surprise of

being hurt by the Paradox. The first scored a shallow wound along her calf, the

second cut her cheek. She leapt up and back, putting all the power she could

into the leap.

She sailed out and over the army. It turned en masse, following her. The

mass of them stretched out around her, seemingly forever. The souls of the dead,

enslaved by Paradox to give Hotaru her vengeance. The place Ukyou was going to

land was just as crowded as everyhere else. The shades braced themselves, swords

held high to pierce her as she landed among them. The Glaive came around...

"Dead Scream!"

A blast of purple light exploded among the crowd, sending them flying in

all directions. Ukyou landed in the gap, panting slightly. She caught a flash of

green hair as Pluto landed beside her, followed shortly thereafter by a yellow

streak as Nanami landed nearby.

"You shouldn't be here," Ukyou said as she stood up, placing her back to

Pluto. Pluto chuckled as she placed her back to Ukyou's. The army circled them

warily, apparently confused by this arrangement.

"If you lose, we're all doomed," Pluto explained. "So... even if it's

meaningless, I'll help you."

"You should listen to her, Pluto," Hotaru's voice came from the crowd.

It parted slightly to reveal the girl as she limped forward, clutching her side.

"I have nothing against you. Your death could be quick and painless."

"Maybe," Pluto agreed. "But I've chosen not to die. And so has everyone

else back on Earth." Her eyes locked on Hotaru. "No matter how much pain the

world is filled with, they keep fighting on. We all do. That is our nature." She

took a deep breath. "So remember that, Ukyou. If your friends were here, every

one of them would stand with you against this."

Ukyou glanced at Pluto out of the corner of her eye, and smiled. "Yeah.

They would."

Nanami said nothing as she drew her blades with sharp rasps. Hotaru

sighed. "You think that makes it okay, Ukyou?" Hotaru growled. "Let me remind

you of what kind of pain your presence causes!"

A figure burst from the crowd, shooting forward. Ukyou tensed, then

realised too late the attack wasn't directed at her. Pluto barely got her staff

up in time, deflecting the sword that almost took her head off. A figure in a

grey coat and pants stood with his blade locked against her staff.

"Jadeite?" Pluto gasped.

"That's right," the dead Dark General snarled, one sleeve of his jacket

flapping emptily behind him as he pressed her. "This is revenge, for destroying

me!"

"Pluto, duck," Ukyou called as she swung the Silence Glaive. Jadeite

leapt back, managing to parry the attack with the Sword of Hate he carried in

his remaining hand. Ukyou growled and stepped in front of Pluto. The scars the

Dark General had burned into her arm ached as she clenched the glaive tighter.

"Is this supposed to impress me, Hotaru?"

"You destroyed me, the both of you!" Jadeite screamed, his face twisting

with rage.

"You kidnapped my friend, threatened my homeland, tortured me and tried

to kill me," Ukyou replied sharply.

"And what about me, Ukyou?"

Ukyou snapped her head around just in time to parry a blow meant to

skewer her back. A blonde-haired woman wearing round glasses pressed the sword

forward, causing Ukyou to stumble back. The woman was dressed in a conservative

suit that concealed her curves, and her face was full of righteous fury.

"Did I deserve to die for you?" the woman snarled, striking twice more.

Ukyou could hear Pluto struggling with Jadeite nearby.

"Integra... I didn't..." Ukyou paused.

"You let me die! You were right there, you could have destroyed Bison,

but you let him kill me!" Integra shouted, suddenly switching her style. Ukyou

was going to reply, when Aaron suddenly warned her.

They barely phased in time as white darts flashed through their body.

Purple sparks flew as Ukyou leapt up and back, landing just outside of sword

range of the wall of ghosts that had encircled her Pluto and Nanami. Integra was

running towards her, holding the Sword of Hate like a sabre as she closed. And

behind her came another bespectacled woman, this one with long black hair and

uncombed hair. Her eyes were clear, and full of hate.

"Yomiko..." Ukyou gasped. The dead paper-master held a sword in one hand

and was producing a sheath of papers with the other. "Hotaru! Stop this! She did

nothing to deserve..."

"Deserve has nothing to do with it," Yomiko replied, sending the papers

in her hands at Ukyou like missiles. Ukyou parried with the Glaive, as Integra

slid to the side to strike with her sword. "I died because of you, Ukyou. All I

wanted was peace. But you abandoned me and Hotaru. You went off to kill

yourself, because you couldn't face the thought of actually being responsible."

The glaive sang as it parried two simultaneous thrusts from the two

women. Ukyou's feet dug into the ground as she was pushed back. The crowd at her

back screamed and surged forward, blades flashing. Ukyou released the glaive,

banishing it and tumbling forward between the two suddenly off-balance ghosts.

She came up near Pluto, conjuring up the glaive with a thought. Jadeite

took an offhand swing in the temple, toppling forward. Pluto gasped and

staggered away a bit. But Jadeite wouldn't be down long. All three of them were

more than they had been in life.

"Hotaru, please, just stop this!" Ukyou shouted.

"There is no stopping it," Integra cried, leaping at Ukyou.

"You destroyed us, Ukyou," Yomiko snapped as she swung a whip of folded

paper at her. Ukyou phased through it, and parried the downward swing from

Integra. Jadeite thrust at her back.

"All of the lives you've touched," he snarled, "have ended in tragedy."

"That isn't true!" Ukyou shouted, and with a heave she tossed Integra

back. Her leg came up, catching Jadeite in the stomach and knocking him back.

Yomiko closed, her blade flashing out. Her swordplay was weak, but her off-hand

held a weapon that changed and moved by her will alone.

A blast of purple light took Yomiko in the side, sending her tumbling

away. Pluto grit her teeth as she turned the focus of her staff towards Integra.

"Ukyou, you can't keep holding back against them!"

"But..." Ukyou paused as she struck at the rising Jadeite, sending him

sprawling. "I can't..."

"Ukyou, you have to-ARGH!" Pluto toppled forward, her eyes widening in

pain. Three lines of red had torn through the back of her costume, A tall figure

stood behind her, his face hidden behind a white mask. He stepped forward,

chuckling under his breath.

"No..." Ukyou breathed.

"What's the problem, Ukyou?" Vega asked, his smile audible in his smooth

voice. "You didn't hesitate to murder me. How can destroying my soul be any

worse? Come now, give me a battle to end all battles!"

Ukyou didn't react as the claw came in. Thankully, Aaron seized control

long enough to parry the three blades. He could feel the Paradox in them. The

blades touched the side of her cheek, drawing more blood. The shock brought

Ukyou back to her senses. With a cry she smashed Vega away. He landed on his

feet.

"No..." Ukyou breathed. "I've made my peace with that." She pointed her

blade at Vega. "I'm not afraid of you." She turned to the other three shades.

"I'm not afraid of any of you. So try again, Hotaru." She turned to face the

girl. "No matter what you do, you won't drive me away."

"Drive you away?" Nanami said. She was crouching over Pluto. Her eyes

flashed yellow. She ran her fingers over the wounds, pulling lines of blood

across her fingers. "Is that what you think this is about, Ukyou?"

"Yes," Ukyou replied.

"You really are a fool," Nanami said, rising to her feet. "You can't

see beyond your delusions." She licked her fingers as she stood up.

"Nanami?" Ukyou backed away from her. The other four figures silently

circled her, swords at the ready. "What's going on?"

"I had thought, that maybe you would have the strength to do it,"

Nanami said with a snarl. "That you could look past that weakness in your heart

and actually do what needed to be done. But I was wrong." She drew her swords.

Ukyou's eyes narrowed. "You... you're on the Nameless' side?"

"Of course I am!" Nanami snarled. "We all are. Your delusion is that

there is any other side, Ukyou." She stepped forward. "This is His game. I saw

Him, in that hellish experience. I know. This world is an experiment, designed

to test you. To see if you have what it takes."

"What it takes?"

"To fix it, you idiot!" Nanami struck, her blades flashing out. Ukyou

parried, but barely. Damn, the girl was fast. Suddenly the other four struck.

Ukyou dodged and slid, phasing past one strike and blocking another. "Do you

think any of us want this? This is hell, Ukyou! I live in hell, dead yet not

allowed to die!"

"And you left us," Yomiko said. Ukyou just barely flipped over her

strike, parrying two more at the same time. "You abandoned Hotaru to that fate.

You KNEW she had been taken, and still you left her! You left her to suffer!"

"But you've always been good at that," Jadeite accused. Ukyou landed

behind him as he swung to face her. She ducked his strike. "You shattered my

body, took my arm and... spared me? You left me broken and beaten! You didn't

have the mercy to kill me!"

"You've never had the conviction to do what needs to be done," Integra

said as she thrust around Jadeite. Ukyou rolled away, phasing through Yomiko.

"Or maybe you just didn't care enough? Maybe you never wanted to do the right

thing?"

"No!" Ukyou denied, deflecting a pair of attacks.

"Oh please, Ukyou," Vega said as he flipped over her. She thrust her

glaive up, their blades meeting three times in a flare of sparks. "You knew what

would happen when you took Hotaru from me. You knew what I was." He laughed.

"Everything that happened after that, is on your head."

"NO!" Ukyou roared and with a snarl she ran Vega through the chest. He

stiffened. Then with a shriek he dissolved away, leaving nothing but his claws.

They fell with a clatter to the ground. Ukyou stared.

"So much for your morals of convenience," Integra snarled, sliding her

sword into Ukyou's shoulder. Ukyou screamed in pain and clutched the blade.

"That's perhaps the most annoying thing about you. You speak so well, but when

push comes to shove... you don't have the strength of your own convictions."

"You're nothing, Ukyou," Yomiko accused, stabbing her through the thigh.

Ukyou stumbled, falling to one knee as she cried out. "At least Chris had the

willingness to commit to his delusions. You can't even do that. You are nothing

but doubt and weakness."

"Shut up!" Ukyou growled, biting back the pain. She brought up her free

hand. "DEEP SUBMERGE!"

The blast of water caught the two off-guard, sending them both tumbling

back. Unfortunately, they left their blades embedded in Ukyou's body. She hissed

as she slowly rose to her feet, blinking away tears. "Enough, Hotaru!" Ukyou

shouted. "I will NOT give up!"

"I don't want you to give up," Hotaru explained. "I want you to suffer.

I want you to die, realising that you could have done something to save us. But

you chose not to. You always choose not to." Hotaru quirked her head over

Ukyou's shoulder. "Isn't that right?" she asked the person behind her.

Ukyou already knew who it was going to be before she turned. But, like

a victim in a horror movie, she couldn't stop herself from looking. The

girl who stood there had black hair in a ponytail and wore a blue vest over her

school uniform. Her freckled face was twisted with rage.

The blade that she held slammed into Ukyou's back, piercing her straight

through the stomach. Ukyou screamed in pain and collapsed.

"You could have saved me," Ran said, her voice full of hate. "You could

have taken the Wishing Sword and made me live again. But you didn't. Because you

are afraid. You're afraid of what you'll become if you have too much power." Ran

twisted the sword, causing Ukyou to scream again. "Well, guess what, Ukyou? You

can't save anyone without sacrifice. Everything has a price. And if you aren't

willing to pay that price, none of your good intentions matter one bit!"

"Ran... you don't... understand..." Ukyou gasped.

"I understand perfectly," Ran said. Nanami walked up next to her, and

Hotaru came up on the other side. "You could end this at any time. You choose

not to."

"H-how... I don't..." Ukyou coughed.

"You can't do it, Ukyou," Hotaru explained. She knelt beside her. "Your

soul is too weak. You can't make the sacrifice." The girl reached out and her

fingers wrapped around the Silence Glaive. "But my soul is strong. I know what

needs to be done." She rose up, holding the Silence Glaive up almost wistfully.

"You know, I've dreamed of this moment for seven years. I always thought I would

enjoy it more." She looked down at Ukyou. "Except you haven't lost everything

yet, have you?"

"What do you...?" Ukyou paused. She felt something inside her shift,

then break. It was like a part of her vanished entirely. The sudden emptiness

left her cold. "No... Akira..." she breathed.

"Yes... that's better," Hotaru said with a smile. "Now, you really are

alone, Ukyou." She lifted the Silence Glaive up over her head. "Goodbye."

OoOoO

Akira sprinted forward, drawing her fist back. Kalia slid sideways, past

a pair of people that were still running in slow motion. Akira thrust, her fist

passing through the space between them and striking the not-girl in the stomach

as she moved. She could have missed. Any number of a million things could have

gone wrong. They didn't.

Kalia grinned as she crumbled around the blow. Her hand snaked out and

latched onto Akira's elbow. "Good, but not there yet," Kalia said. "You're too

caught up in what isn't happening."

The two people ran away from each other, parting just enough for Akira

to drive her leg up and into Kalia's chin. The girl's head snapped back, and

right and left and-

Akira went flying backward, the air exploding from her lungs. Except

she didn't. She caught the knee at the last second with her free hand-

Her arm snapped like a matchstick as Kalia twisted in her grip, pulling

on Akira's arm. Akira grit her teeth and suddenly her arm was fine, Kalia having

missed the grab and only gotten a hold of her forearm. The twist she did was

painful, but not enough-

Kalia's fist slammed into her face. Akira tumbled to the ground,

coughing. She looked up. "You... already lost that arm..." Akira gasped.

"You don't expect me to fight fair, do you?" Kalia giggled as she

floated backward. She was flexing her arms, curling and uncurling her fingers.

Akira pushed herself to her knees. She coughed. The pain was weakening.

She could feel it, the flow of Paradox from Ukyou was tapering off. Had she won?

"Eye of the storm, Ahura Mazda," Kalia called out.

"Akira," Angel said as she walked closer, clutching her shoulder. The

tattoos on her chest were blazing as the girl tried to channel enough water

chakra to heal the wound. Blood seeped between her fingers. "Did you just... I

could swear I saw you..."

"Yes..." Akira gasped.

"No, not good enough!" Kalia called out, suddenly appearing behind

Angel. The girl cried out as the girl-shaped thing wrapped both hands around her

throat. "You have to go further, Akira!"

"Let her go!" Akira shouted, leaping to her feet. The pain didn't stop

her. Angel managed to twist just right so that Akira's punch would catch Kalia

without harming her. Kalia's face caved in under the blow. Akira' fist exited

the back of her head. A thrill of pleasure ran up Akira's spine and she grinned.

Then Kalia kicked her, sending her flying back. She flew into a group of

running children, scattering them-

She landed hard on the asphalt, skimming across it harshly and tearing

some of the skin off her elbows. She hissed as she kicked to her feet. Kalia

grinned at her as she floated up into the sky. Grinned with her perfectly intact

face.

"I... your face..." Akira groaned.

"And I gave you such a nice soft landing," Kalia pointed out. She

tightened her grip on Angel's throat. The girl was clawing uselessly at Kalia's

fingers with her one working arm. Her face was going blue.

"You... changed time..." Akira admitted slowly.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" Kalia giggled. "Give the woman a cigar!" She smiled.

"And read into that all the Freudian things you want."

"You can't do that, my presence..."

"Ukyou's presence," Kalia pointed out, leaning down and licking Angel's

ear. The girl shuddered even as she redoubled her efforts to escape. "Ukyou. Not

you. A nice plan, using you to force context on me... but you don't really do

that, Akira. Ukyou does. Chris does. But you... you're like me. We CREATE

whatever context we want."

Akira screamed, suddenly feeling the Paradox inside her spike again. She

placed a hand on the ground, ground her teeth and cursed. Not now, damn it.

"For instance, you can choose to be crippled by Ukyou's waste," Kalia

said, floating lower. "Or you can make a whole new context for yourself."

Akira closed her eyes. Kalia had shifted time. She had literally altered

herself so that Akira's punch had not hurt her. She had altered herself so that

Angel's attack hadn't chopped off her arm. She hadn't just made something not

happen, she'd made something else have happened.

"For example, I could just be here, holding Angel in a deathgrip while

she struggles..." Kalia said, her grin obvious in her voice. "Or maybe I broke

her leg before I grabbed her neck?" Angel whimpered. "Or maybe I snapped her

thumb?" Angel's hissing scream was loud in Akira's ears. "Or maybe I..."

"Stop it!" Akira stood up, forcing her eyes open. Angel was clawing at

Kalia, the thumb on her good hand bent back at an unnatural angle. But her

chakra was different. She wasn't using water to try and heal her wounds, or

earth to resist Kalia's attacks. Instead she was using void, the chakra of

stealth and sensory input, the ethereal wings on her back flaring almost through

Kalia. Akira wondered why, then suddenly realised that void chakra would give

Angel the greatest sensitivity to pain.

"Do you want to stop me, Ahura Mazda?" Kalia smiled. "All you have to do

is let go. Let go of that fragile little soul thing that keeps you so limited.

Open your eyes and see; look across the great barriers of time and space. Look

across all the worlds. Pick the destiny that suits your fancy!" Kalia's smile

widened and her voice became dark and cold. "But act fast, offer expires while

you wait."

Akira looked at Angel's eyes. She saw the girl pleading for... for

release? For Akira to fight on? For salvation? It was impossible to say. Akira

looked away.

"I'm sorry."

She let go.

Akira's body twitched. She was surprised. Surprised by how little seemed

to have changed. The pain she was familiar with. Ever since she had rescued

Ukyou from Bison's prison in her mind, she had been familiar with the pain. The

way it felt like every pain at once. That was familiar. What was surprising was

the pleasure. She felt like her body was being wrapped in fresh silk, or touched

by warm skin or lathered with cold ice. Her form shuddered as erotic impulses

flooded her system. Her stomach churned as a million delights ran down her

tongue.

And there was more than pleasure and pain. There was heat and cold. She

felt rain on her skin. She felt arid air blowing across her cheeks. There was so

many sensations, so many emotions all churning inside her. She felt anger at

Kalia. She felt anger at Ukyou. She felt lust. She felt sadness. All at once,

all blazing so strongly and barely at all...

It just suddenly didn't matter. All the feelings, all the emotions, all

the sensations just sort of cancelled each other out. There was none that was

more real, more important than the others. She could feel a burning desire to

kill Angel, every bit as strong and driving as her desire to save her, as her

desire to kiss her and no less real than her utter apathy towards this girl she

both knew very well and not at all.

Kalia's face was laughing, crying, smiling, frowning, growling and a

million other expressions at once. Angel was dead in her hands. She was

uninjured. She was naked and moaning, or nothing but a charred corpse. She

wasn't even Angel. She was Nabiki, or Sailor Mars, or female Ranma, or male

Ranma, or Shingo...

Akira looked down at her hands. They were covered in blood. Or they

weren't. It didn't matter. She began to giggle. What a meaningless choice.

Bloody or not? How trivial! How small! She stretched out her hand. She could

grab it all, or none of it.

"Why did I ever resist this?" Akira whispered. It was heaven. It was

hell. It was whatever she wanted and everything she didn't want and all the

things she had never thought of. It was all so meaningless.

"I can change the past, the future..." Akira hissed out, giggling

softly. "I can make it all happen, or make it have never existed. I can kill

Angel, or save her or just have never met her..."

"Yes!" Kalia cried out. Akira twisted her head to see her. For some

reason, she thought she saw a man in green hair there for a moment. But it faded

into the background. He was still there, but less... real than Kalia.

No, that was wrong. She tilted her head sideways. It wasn't that Kalia

was more real than him. Just the opposite. She was less there than him. He was

there, and Kalia was not. She was... like a cut-out. A hole that wasn't there.

"What you see is your past, and your future," Kalia informed her.

"Backwards and forwards in time." Kalia held out her hand. "Little baby Akira,

suckling at her mother's teat and little girl Akira at her brother's bedside

while he lies bleeding from the hole that used to be his eye and your meeting

with Ukyou and all that... every moment of your life." She chuckled. "Except you

don't see much of a future, because you don't have one."

"Z, I see Z." Akira said. "Why? I don't care about the war he fights, so

why? I can make it all go away, right?"

"If you want," Kalia said, floating backward, an emptiness in the past

that shouldn't be there. "But you should look to the future, Akira. Because

soon, it's going to end. All the possibilities will collapse when Ukyou finally

confronts her destiny.

"Unless you change that."

"When it gets to that point, Ukyou will die," Akira pointed out. She

could feel it, the crush of inevitability. In fact, she could feel that with

everything related to Ukyou. As the world seemed to cycle through her entire

past and future - how little of the latter! - the only constant was Ukyou. Her

life didn't seem to spread out in every direction like the rest of the universe.

"When she goes, so do we all." Akira felt sadness and envy and hatred and joy

at the thought. "It's hopeless. I can't change her life... not at any cost."

Except it seemed to keep coming back to that moment. Akira vaguely

remembered it. Her first mission in space. She had been caught up in the war

between Jurai and Galaxia, had almost been killed by a madman named Z who had

enough power to give Gyro and Pharaoh 90 and Alucard combined a run for their

money. And she had... how had she survived that?

"This is the moment you can change it, Akira," Kalia whispered into her

ear. She stroked Akira's back. Akira tilted her head again, indicated she was

listening. "That man is changing time. He's summoning you, this moment, into the

past. It gives you a break. A break no-one else has. The chance to change the

future. To change now. Even for Ukyou. Even for Chris."

Kalia ran her fingers along Akira's flesh, teasing her. "It's not that

long in. You can go back. You can change the now. You know where Ukyou is. You

can save her from Bison. You know where Angel is. You can save her from Chris

before he gets his hooks into her too deep. You can keep him from ever making

me. You can prevent Ryouga from ever meeting Hotaru. You can prevent the whole

chain of events.

"And nothing can stop you." Kalia breathed into her ear. "Not with the

power you have now. You choose your destiny, Akira. Choose to make it all go

right this time. All the things you wanted." Kalia giggled. "Or not. Choose to

kill Ukyou. Choose to fuck Angel. Choose to burn the world. The choice is yours.

All the choices." Kalia pressed herself against Akira's back. "Are you really

going to turn down this chance?"

"No." Akira said simply.

Suddenly she was back there. She was standing in a cosmos of stars. They

swirled around her. Z, the monster, stood before her. Kalia floated behind her.

There were other figures, but they faded in and out. Was Angel here? She

shouldn't be. But the girl was there, on the ground, crawling towards Akira. For

some reason that seemed important. Something about what was in her hand. But it

wasn't important. It was just another thing that Akira could discard or focus on

at her leisure.

"I have your Star Seed..." Z said. He was holding something in his hand.

Had he taken it? When had he done that? Oh well, it didn't matter. It was just

her soul. She could make herself a new one.

"Z..." Akira said. "I don't care about the Star Seed, I can make it all

go away, and I will." Akira giggled. She could feel the past coming into more

focus now. She could see the others around. They were dead or alive or neither

at her pleasure, all at once.

"I control your power," Z informed Akira. "You will serve me."

"In a few seconds, Ukyou will die. Your hopeless quest won't matter

then. But I can pay any cost to make it not happen."

"That's right," Kalia crowed. "And when you burst through, break the

chain of fate forever, you'll create more Paradox than ever before. And

together, we'll destroy God!" Kalia laughed. "Oh, if only he could see you now!

We'll teach that bastard to mess with the people we love!"

Kalia danced among the stars. For some reason, Angel was still there,

she had almost reached Akira. "So are you going to hesitate now?"

"No."

Z narrowed his eyes. Of course, he couldn't hear most of the

conversation. He was only aware of the parts taking place in his past. In

Akira's past. But Akira was also here, in the now. With Kalia and Angel.

"Woman, you think you can resist me? I have your soul..." He brandished the

little thing.

"Keep it," Akira said, her twisting face breaking out into a smile. "Not

gonna need it no more."

Z suddenly looked apprehensive. He backed up a step. Akira appeared

beside him, in front of him, behind him and all around. She began to laugh and

tease. She could see his life running out in all directions. His pathetic life.

What a useless being.

"...you should have died, too..."

"...betrayed your family..."

"...failure..."

"...abandoned..."

"...unloved..."

"SHUT UP!" Z roared, stepping forward as he flared all five of his Wings

of the Light Hawk. They spread out across the sky, huge ribbons of pure white

light. Akira smiled, reached out, and curled her fingers around the edge of the

white ribbon-blade.

What happened next was impossible, but why should Akira care? She

grabbed the edge of the wing and, with a snort and a flick of her

wrist, bent it like wet taffy. A sound escaped Z's throat. A scared, small,

pitiful sound. Something dropped from his hand to the 'ground' with a clink.

Akira reached out and grabbed another nearby wing. Then she proceeded to wrap

the wings around his body, tying his arms to his chest with them. She grabbed

two more and hogtied his legs behind his back. The fifth she balled up like a

wad of putty and shoved into his mouth. Z could only stare, nearly crying in

naked fear as Akira disassembled his ultimate defence with ease.

Akira looked down at her handiwork. It would do. "Bye bye." She waved a

little wave and pushed him out into space. He slowly drifted back and Akira lost

interest in him. He vanished from her perceptions,

"Now to fix it all..." Akira said, her face widening in a smile.

"Akira, stop!"

Akira looked around suddenly. Angel was on her knees. She had something

in her hands. It glowed yellow. It flared with light. Except it wasn't just

Angel. It was another girl. It was Ayeka, princess of Jurai. She was holding a

blackened and cracked star seed. No, she was Angel. Both of them, at once.

"Don't stop now!" Kalia hissed. "Just ignore them. They'll both be fine,

if you want them to be." Kalia grabbed her shoulder. "Change time. Do it! Change

fate! Destroy all his work! Destroy him!"

"If you do that," Angel gasped. "There won't be a future, or a past.

You'll destroy it all."

"So?" Kalia stuck her tongue out at Angel. "Who needs context, anyway?

Akira feels much better without it. All those little worries. Won't it be so

much better when everyone is like us? When we all can experience whatever we

want? When we'll all be together and apart and everything else all at once.

Ayeka/Angel was talking again. "I don't know what terrible choice you're

making. But you can't do this. I can tell, in my heart, that what you are about

to do is wrong. You're changing time..."

"I can fix it," Akira informed them both. "Angel won't have to grow up

with him. Ukyou doesn't have to be tortured. I don't have to kill all those

people..." Akira moaned. She felt herself swaying. "I can fix it? But if I make

it not real, how can I? Just shadows..." She grabbed her head.

"Do it, Ahura Mazda! It's the only solution!"

"Come on, you damn taka taka! Even you can't be this stupid!"

That wasn't all they said. They said much more. A million and one

variations on a theme. Every argument, every speech, all playing out at once.

"...too many voices... too many... can't hear..."

"There's no going back," Kalia hissed. "Not for you. Not now. It's too

late. The Paradox has you. You can ride it, or you can be consumed."

"You don't need it, Akira," Angel hissed. "There is another way. We can

beat her without this!" She held out her hand. There was a glowing yellow

diamond in her palm.

"AKIRA!" Ayeka screamed. "You don't have to listen to me, but listen to

yourself!" Ayeka held up the star seed in her hand. "Listen to the voice inside

you!"

Akira's eyes focused on the gem in Ayeka's hand. "My... soul..." The

thing that gave her focus. The thing that gave her perspective, the thing that

made her human. Resting in Ayeka's palm. She had let it go. She had become just

like Kalia. "Of course..."

She reached out and grabbed the gem in Angel/Ayeka's hand.

"What are you doing?" Kalia shrieked.

"Sorry, Ukyou... I can't do this for you, anymore."

She wasn't certain how she did it. Then again, she had never been

certain how she had made it happen in the first place. All she knew was that she

could feel the connection between her and Ukyou. She could feel the Paradox

flowing through it. So, while she still had the power, she just reversed the

flow. Kalia's eyes widened.

"You'll kill her," she gasped.

"Maybe," Akira said. The past was gone. The world was collapsing. She

could feel ground under her feet, not water or lava or space. She could feel

cold Tokyo air on her cheek, not dry desert wind or fire or perfumed sweat. She

was surrounded by people running from the fight they couldn't even see. Angel

was kneeling on the ground, clutching the one wound in her shoulder. She had to

act fast, before she lost it all.

The Paradox was draining out of her faster than she had expected. And

with it went all the power. She could see less and less of Kalia's 'world', and

more and more of her own. She had to do this before it was all gone.

"You... you stupid little whore!" Kalia shrieked, her hands raising up

curled like claws. "Do you realise what you've done?! It still ends! She loses!

Now she just loses faster! You cow! You bitch! I'll do so many things to you...

so many torments..."

Akira didn't dodge as Kalia grabbed her by the arms. She needed to be in

close. "I think what you need, Kalia..." Then Akira flared her aura and burst

free all at once. She pulled up her hand and smashed her palm into Kalia's

forehead. "...is a little perspective."

Akira staggered back. It had worked. Kalia, rightfully, hadn't cared

about Akira hitting her. Why should she? Nothing she would have done could have

hurt Kalia. Kalia stood there, her mouth opening slowly.

Then a gold light sprouted on her forehead. Akira opened her palm. The

star seed of Sailor Uranus was gone. The soul of a dead warrior had finally

found a new incarnation. Akira whispered a prayer for it. The light resolved

into a flaring symbol. Kalia's mouth finished opening. Her eyes focused. They

focused on Akira.

They saw her. They were there. There was something behind them now.

Kalia screamed.

She fell to her knees and screamed and screamed. Akira fell back.

Everyone in the plaza turned towards them, caught off-guard by the scream. It

was nerve-wracking. Kalia grabbed the side of her head, squeezed her eyes shut

and screamed.

"She has a soul now," Akira said, smiling. "Maybe we don't have to..."

Angel appeared in front of her, and drove the remains of her sword into

Kalia's forehead. The blunt tip of the broken blade smashed right through the

symbol, and Kalia's scream cut off. Something orange and runny leaked from the

girl's mouth.

"Angel?" Akira gasped.

Kalia collapsed to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut.

"We... we had about..." Angel took a staggering step back. "We had a

few seconds, before she figured out that... that she was part of the Oversoul

now. That she didn't need you. We had a few seconds while she was still human...

to..." She began to shudder.

Akira couldn't help it. The thought formed in her mind and reached her

mouth before she could stop it. "But... now Chris will..."

"I KNOW!" Angel blurted. There were tears now, running down her cheeks.

"I know, I know, but if she had... I couldn't risk it, we couldn't risk it. I

couldn't..." she choked off.

Akira looked down at Kalia. For the first time, there was peace on her

face. She realised she couldn't feel it anymore. The Paradox was gone. Just

like Akira had sent it away, now Kalia could no longer hold hers.

Angel had slumped to her knees. Akira knelt beside her and wrapped her

arms around the girl. She could feel Angel's body shaking, but she returned the

embrace. The blood of her torn hands mixed with the blood covering Akira, and

neither moved for a long moment.

"We just have to believe..." Akira said softly. "There's nothing else we

can do, for either of them. Now... their fate is in their own hands."

OoOoO

Akane shivered. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, and her stomach

clenched. Her gaze followed Chris's. The crystal viewscreens hung there,

innocent and unremarkable. But Akane could feel something beyond them. It was

approaching fast.

It felt just like the pressure Chris had used against her at the end.

The hideous wrongness. It felt just like the emptiness she remembered from her

death, the emptiness beyond which the nameless force had lived. It felt like the

utter absence of sanity. It was approaching fast.

Chris could sense it too. He took a step back from the wall, his eyes

narrowing. "So, this is my thanks?" he muttered. His voice sounded... resentful,

like a jilted lover. He swung around and affixed her with his gaze. "Akane.

Listen to me."

Akane looked away from the crystal screens. She opened her mouth, but

didn't say anything. Whatever was coming, it was horrifying. She wanted to tell

Chris to run, but she didn't.

"Akane, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I don't know why... well,

it doesn't matter why anything happened or didn't happen. But listen to me,

please." There was strain around his voice. She suddenly had the sense he was

trying not to look over his shoulder. "Angel killed Kalia. No, I don't know why,

I wasn't paying attention. But this is something I may not survive alone. All

the Paradox within her has escaped. It's coming, Akane. I'm sure you can feel

it."

"Yes..." Akane breathed. She looked around and realised with a shudder

that it was already too late. The walls... the walls were pulsing. It looked

like raindrops falling against glass. First, a tiny little bulge would appear in

the wall, then it would shrink back. A fraction of a second later another bulge

would appear near it, and then it was gone. Then two more, further apart. Then

more, and more. Hundreds of them, thousands of them. More every second. And some

of them were growing. They'd get just a bit larger, each time the same section

bulged outward.

And there was a sound. It was muffled, which Akane was thankful for. But

soon they would break through, and the sound would fill the room. Akane knew

what that sound would be. She knew what was pushing at the edges of the walls.

She wanted to throw her hands over her ears and close her eyes, but she was

frozen.

"I need your help, Akane. Look, it's not forever. I can make another

artificial fetich, but I need more time than I have right now. But until then, I

need you to draw it away from me. It won't kill you. You see, you're not who

it's looking for, which makes you able to actually tolerate much more of it-"

"No," Akane said, firmly. The bulges in the wall had grown larger now.

In one or two places the... realness of the walls was begining to strain. It was

thinning out. Something was pushing through.

"Akane!" Chris barked. "This isn't a moral game, this is a matter of

life or death!"

"No."

"Akane," Chris said, more calmly, but the strain was still in his voice.

His eye kept darting past her, to the walls. "I apologised. What do you want

from me? Yes, yes, 'nothing', okay, but you can't possibly be... willing..." he

faltered at something he saw behind her, then continued at a faster pace,

"...you can't possibly be willing to just let me... to just abandon me to this!

It's only temporary! I promise you, I will free you as soon as I can! You know I

keep my promises!"

The walls were fraying. They were made of clear crystal, and Akane could

see clearly out to the horizon. But whatever was pushing at them wasn't outside

those crystal walls. It was outside reality. It was pushing its way in, seeking

Chris. Chris, who had defied the world for so long...

And she could save him. She had thrown off his compulsion once, she

realised. Whatever nameless force existed beyond the vast gulf of nothingness,

it had sent her back changed. It had made her so she could defy Chris, and he

could force her to do nothing she did not want to do.

So... if she saved him, he would... he would have to listen to her.

Because she would hold all the cards then.

"Maybe there's nothing I can promise you that you'll believe," Chris

said softly. "But you have to realise the choice you're making here. Whatever

you think of me, whatever you think I've done, hell, whatever I HAVE done,

you've never been the person that would abandon somebody. You've never been the

sort of person who wouldn't show mercy. Akane, I'm just asking for your help.

Help me. Please."

There was a sound, and Chris winced. Akane snapped her head behind her

and saw it. There was a hole. A tear through the crystal wall and it led...

somewhere else. Someplace that was nowhere. A long thin blade was worrying its

way free of the hole, slowly but surely. A sword.

Akane grabbed the hilt at her side again. It was going to tear Chris

apart. She couldn't just stand there and watch that. Chris was right. No matter

what he had done, he was still a human being. He could change. He could learn.

Nobody really deserved death. Not to say that Akane hadn't killed, but she had

always done so in... in the heat of the moment.

No. That was a lie. She had ordered people be killed before. She had

casually signed people's death warrants. But, if she saved Chris, she could put

an end to that. She could make him not kill anyone, and it would stick this

time. Because she would be in charge.

There was another sound, and another. More of them were coming through.

She could hear them. They were whispering. There was no real words to it, just

sound. But it was so disturbingly close to words. She swore, if she just focused

enough, that she could understand it. She didn't try. She didn't want to know

what would happen if she tried.

"Akane, please!" Chris cried out, stretching his hand towards her.

Akane closed her eyes and remembered. She remembered the moment she had

been taken beyond Oblivion and the Nameless had changed her. It had left her

with not just the strength to fight off Chris, but also... something else. A

message.

Chris, the Nameless had written into her soul, was not out to save the

world. He was not trying to create any future. He was just trying to... to

justify himself. He had been an accident. The Nameless had pulled Ukyou, or a

part of what was now Ukyou, from elsewhere and Chris had just been caught up

like a leaf in the wind. He had found himself dead yet alive in this world.

He had become a monster. The Nameless had watched him, like it watched

all things. It had considered wiping out this anamoly in its plan, but that

carried more risks than Chris created, so it had refrained. So the Nameless had

left him to his own devices, except when he got caught up in Ukyou's Destiny.

And Chris had been ignored. Ignored as he slew the living and stole

their power and identities to stay one step ahead of Paradox. And Chris had

become a monster. But he couldn't admit this to himself.

Akane looked at Chris now. He was turning slowly in place. The Swords of

Hate were beginning to slide into the room. There were hundreds of holes in the

walls now. The swords were creating more every second. They slid through the air

like sharks, gliding around the periphery as they hunted. Chris was being

stalked, and he knew it. He had finally been caught, and couldn't run away

anymore.

Chris was doomed, Akane realised. He had always been doomed. The

Nameless had only let him live because it would be too much bother to kill him.

It might backlash on its experiment with Ukyou. But the Nameless had never

planned on letting Chris live.

And Chris didn't know this. He had slowly convinced himself that there

must be a plan for him. That just like Ukyou, Chris was important in his own

way. No, not just as important, more important. It had been Pink who gave him

the idea, Akane realised. The idea that he was God.

God didn't have to feel guilty, after all. God didn't have to feel

worry. God didn't have to look back at all the people he had killed, all the

lives he had destroyed and justify them to himself. He was God. The world needed

him. So, if one person had to die so that Chris could live and fulfill his

destiny, so what? Without him, the world was doomed.

That was how she could destroy Chris, she realised. She could tell him

this, and destroy him. Tell him that he wasn't God. That he was an accident.

That all the necessity he had argued himself into believing didn't exist. And

he would lose himself, and the swords would take him.

Or...

Or she could tell him that, and save him. She could break him down, and

protect him from the swords. She could shatter all his arrogance, all his

delusions and then he would be...

He would be hers. She could mold him into whatever she wanted. She could

make him whatever god she wanted to make him. She might even be able to help

Ukyou, or whoever, fight the Nameless itself. And it wasn't like she would be

corrupted by the power. She would be one step removed. Chris was the godlike

being, she would just be his advisor. She would be a human voice to guide his

actions.

She could...

"No," Akane said slowly. Chris turned and stared at her. She wrapped one

hand around the sword hilt and clenched the other into a fist. A Sword of Hate

slid past her, the blade almost touching her cheek. "No. I can't save you,

Chris."

"Yes you can!" he snapped. "Just let me-"

"You're right, I can," Akane amended. "But I won't."

Chris stared. His mouth opened and closed, once. "You won't," he said,

tasting the words. "You won't save me." A sword came too close to him, and he

snarled and lashed out with a fist. To Akane's slight surprise, it actually spun

away, crashing back into the wall. But the rest of the wall suddenly redoubled

in its seething and whispering. More points began emerging. "Not me." And

suddenly he snarled. "Damn you! What more evidence do you need, Akane?" Heedless

of the swords, he strode to the crystal wall. "I'm right! I've always been

right! There's whole countries lying in ruins below because you trusted them to

the likes of Ukyou! Is it so easy to forget that, just because Japan was saved?"

Akane blinked, but Chris didn't stop to clarify himself. "I have become

everything I ever thought or said I was! There is no power beyond me. With a

snap of my fingers, I could turn the sun purple or resurrect your mother or

destroy the entire Juraian empire! I have defeated Ukyou, destroyed Millennium,

survived every effort of Washuu to destroy me! And still you stand there, not

believing me?"

He spun to her again, still ignoring the swords. But they were not

ignoring him. With every word of his rant, they had redoubled in whispering, in

writhing. Whatever Chris saw in her face seemed to enrage him even further. "I

have done everything I said I would do, outlasted every opponent, seen every

prediction fulfilled! And you STILL abandon me? You, and Link, and Angel, every

one of you abandons me! You ungrateful... None of you would even be alive if it

weren't for me! What would you have been without me, Akane? Sitting in America

as one of their jackbooted thugs? A monster of Chronos? A vampire? Tagging

around after Ukyou, still letting her shove you around and decide everything for

you, like you were before I told you the truth about her and let you find your

own destiny? But of course, you all turn on me. It doesn't matter what I did for

you, just what's convenient for you right now, right?"

A sword started drifting toward him, lazily at first but starting to

gain momentum and speed and... certainty. Chris sneered at it. "Fine. Then I'll

show you all again. I don't need any of you. I am the most powerful being in the

universe, Akane. You think Paradox can destroy ME? I beat it years ago." He

raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The sword quivered like the string of a

harp, and then shattered. Its pieces fell to the floor, suddenly dead and

unmoving.

For an instant, Akane was frightened that he had actually done it. That

he had finally gone beyond. Chris grinned at her. Akane took a deep breath. "It

won't work, Chris," she said, with more confidence than she felt.

"It won't, will it?" Chris snarled. He reached out with both hands and

made a clawing motion. Akane gasped as the crystal walls shattered. There were

thousands of them. They screamed, suddenly able to sense their target. They dove

towards him like birds of prey. He held up his palms to both sides and they

stopped. "Paradox is nothing to me!" Chris roared, and with a pulse of light he

shattered them, all of them. A thousand, a million Paradox blades simply

snapped, blasting apart into dust. The sound around them ceased.

And Chris screamed. He stared down at his hands. The flesh was sloughing

off them like water. The smell hit Akane and she gagged. Jagged bones emerged

from his fingers, muscles and blood melting together as they decayed faster and

faster. The ends of the fingers began to crumble, falling inward. The fingertip

bone of one hand fell down, turning grey and black as it did. When it hit the

ground it puffed into dust.

"This can't be happening!" Chris shrieked. But the decay was spreading,

up his arms, inexorably. Faster than Akane had thought it would. Akane wanted to

turn her eyes away, but couldn't. She had to watch. She wouldn't let herself

turn away from what she was doing.

With a cry Chris clutched his hands and suddenly they were whole again.

Perfectly fine. Then a black spot appeared on them. And more appeared. Akane

heard a sickeningly wet gushing sound as Chris's left foot detached from his leg

and tumbled to the ground. "NO! I won't let this happen! Not again!"

And Chris concentrated and his leg was back. The black spot on his hand

was gone. Except this time the decay came back faster. His left hand literally

imploded, collapsing in on itself. His shirt was torn open as a geyser of

putrescence spilled out of his gut. "Why isn't it working? WHY?"

Akane knew. She could tell him. The swords had not been destroyed. They

had just... gone inside him, where they belonged. They didn't need blades to

tear him apart. And the more he struggled, the more he drew on his power to

fight them, the more and more he summoned. Eventually, they would eat him away

faster than he could regenerate himself.

Chris seemed to reach the same conclusion. He snarled and gestured. A

circle opened in the floor and a tube shot out of it. The tube was glass, filled

with some sort of green fluid. There was a man's body in it. Akane didn't

recognise it. Chris took a step toward it, even as the rotting reached the

bottom of his jaw. Then, he collapsed in a boneless heap, the body falling to

the ground in a puddle of black and green ooze.

The body in the tube jerked. His eyes snapped open. He screamed, his

words drowned out by the liquid. The flesh of the body simply exploded, rot

tearing it apart in seconds. Chris gurgled and gestured again. Dozens of tubes

emerged, probably close to a hundred, containing men and women, old and young.

The one Chris was in tore itself apart violently, becoming a cloud of gore in

the green liquid. Then Akane looked over as another body exploded, and another.

It was happening too fast for her to follow. Before long, the entire room was

filled with sickening clouds of rotting meat.

Then there was a crash. Akane leapt. The tube had been right beside her.

Glass sprayed across her body, cutting a few tears in her clothes. She staggered

away as something fell out. It was barely human. It was impossible to tell if it

had once been male or female, much less its features. Black ooze was slipping

off its skull, but its eyes were still intact. Akane stared at those human,

untouched eyes.

They would burn themselves into her mind forever. The stark, naked pain

in them. The need to know why, the pleading for mercy. She felt her gut clench

as the thing reached for her. Its arm fell off with a wet splat before it could

fully extend. The mouth opened and out came a sound that was just barely a

voice.

"Akane... please..."

Akane forced herself to watch. This was what she had chosen. Damn her to

hell, this was what she had chosen. She did not look away. She did not close her

eyes. She did not ask him to understand. She didn't explain why. She could have.

She could have told him that she had made her decision. That she would not save

him because... the world did not need gods. It did not need things like that

Nameless force, or Chris or anyone else. She wouldn't trust anybody with that

power. Not Chris, not Ukyou, and not herself. She could have, but the words

would have been empty, meaningless.

So she did nothing. And it was the hardest thing she had ever done.

The eyes held her for another moment. Everything had been stripped away

from them. They were utterly human now. Then they looked away, frantically

searching for something else, some salvation. The rotted flesh at the throat

worked, and even though the jawbone had fallen off or melted in the moments

since it had last spoken, a half-understandable voice emerged.

"...ink... sav..."

Then the eyes rotted out of the skull and the head bobbed back and forth

for a moment. With a sound somewhere between a sigh and a gurgle it fell to the

ground, the skull splitting across the ground like an overripe melon.

Akane staggered away, and emptied her stomach.

She wasn't certain how long she knelt there, shuddering and cold.

Eventually she felt the danger retreat. She felt the Paradox retreat. The swords

vanished like they had come, disappearing back into Oblivion. With a final

shudder she rose to her feet and made her way to the door. The wind up here was

thin and cold, and she could feel her breath escaping her. Whatever magic Chris

had used to make this room habitable had been weakened precipitously when he'd

torn the walls away.

She fumbled with the door and it finally opened. She fell inside, spots

dancing across her vision. The door slid shut with a hiss and she gasped for

air. She curled up, crying softly.

OoOoO

This is the way the world ends.

Ukyou looked up into Hotaru's eyes. They were bronze and inhuman, shaded

by the blood pouring down her forehead. There was emotion in those eyes, hatred

and pain and satisfaction of revenge. The girl was bringing down the Silence

Glaive, to kill Ukyou.

It does not end in fire or ice.

Ukyou had fought a great deal to get to this moment. She had struggled

past a vampire king and a mad planet. She had abandoned her friends and walked

across the decaying dreamscape of humanity's collective soul. She had done a lot

to try and save this girl.

It ends with silence.

But Hotaru did not want to be saved. She saw a world filled only with

misery. The Nameless had brought her back from death, showed her its plans. It

had whispered into her mind about how this was all a game. That all the struggle

of the world was nothing but an excuse to test Ukyou.

When you die, Hotaru will let go, and the Paradox will leave the world a

soulless husk.

Ukyou couldn't move. The swords of the ghosts Hotaru had summoned pinned

her to the ground. Nanami had her swords pierced through Ukyou's shoulders. The

vampire girl, like Hotaru, had been tortured by the Nameless to prepare her for

this moment.

Unless you stop it.

For all Ukyou knew, the one person who had believed in her was dead. The

light that Akira had given her, the support she had been since coming back to

the world, was gone. Hotaru had spit her offer of salvation in her face.

Everyone was going to die. She had to do something.

The blade of the Silence Glaive plunged towards her heart. She closed

her eyes. She could feel the Paradox, building up inside her again. She was

absorbing it-

Her eyes snapped open. Her palms clapped together. The blade halted just

above her. Hotaru's eyes widened.

"How?"

Ukyou began to push back. The girl stumbled. The ghosts backed away,

looking confused. Their hands were empty. Nanami fell back, opening and closing

her fists. Ukyou coughed, blood running down her jaw.

"You absorbed the Paradox," Hotaru said, frowning.

"Yes..." Ukyou hissed.

Hotaru smiled. "It will destroy you." Ukyou looked around. The crowds of

ghosts were shifting. The swords in their hands were vibrating, trying to escape

their phantom grips. If they broke free, it wouldn't be Hotaru they came after.

"You have no more fetich soul, Ukyou. No more shield."

"I don't need a shield," Ukyou informed her. She pushed the blade up and

back and the girl grunted as she was forced back. Ukyou rose to her knees.

"But you do," Integra said. She appeared at Ukyou's side, grabbing one

arm.

"You can't fight Oblivion," Yomiko said, grabbing her other arm.

"This is the way the world ends," Ran said, wrapping her arms around

Ukyou's neck and squeezing.

Ukyou choked. Then she pushed again.

"You... aren't... real!"

The shades wavered slightly.

"They are real," Hotaru informed her. "I dragged their souls out of the

Oversoul, and gave them shape so that they could fight you."

"They would never do this," Ukyou snarled. "Integra may hate me, but she

would hate you more." The shade of Integra began to fade. "Yomiko is one of the

most gentle souls I have ever met." The ghost of Yomiko was transparent, her

grip was like mist. "Ran..." The phantom pulled its grip tighter as Ukyou felt

doubt bloom in her heart. Maybe Ran really could hate her, for not saving her

when she had the chance. "Ran may hate me..." Ukyou choked out, her breath

coming in gasps. "But deep down inside, she was a hero! She fought to help

people, and she would never stand for this!"

Suddenly the phantoms were gone. Hotaru was thrown backward, barely

keeping her grip on the glaive. The weapon hummed between Ukyou's hands. She

rose, getting her feet under her. She could feel the paradox churning inside

her, eating her up inside.

"What about me, Ukyou?" Nanami said, suddenly appearing beside her. Her

fist rocketed out and struck Ukyou in the chin. Ukyou's head snapped to the side

and she gasped. "I'm not a phantom! I'm real. I've never even met you until

today, and I hate you! I hate everything you've done to this universe. All the

death and destruction just-urk!"

Nanami was cut off as a silver rod was placed against her throat. Pluto

snarled, pulling the Time Key Staff tighter as she dragged Nanami back. Her eyes

met Ukyou's. She nodded, then went back to struggling with the vampire. In the

end, she would likely be overpowered, but Ukyou would not need that much time.

"I'm not going to let you stop me, Hotaru," Ukyou said. "I won't give

up."

"You can't save me!" Hotaru screamed. She pulled one hand free and

gestured. The phantom army vanished, and suddenly the swords came in. It was a

tornado of steel, a hellstorm that would tear all four of them apart. Hotaru

smiled beatifically.

Ukyou took a deep breath and focused, pulling on as much of the Third

Circle as she could. The blades paused for a fraction of an instant. They

stopped, the edge of one kissing the side of Hotaru's neck. The sword wavered

for a moment, then flew back and slammed into Ukyou. She gasped, but bit back

the worst of the scream. Then another blade hit her, and another. The entire

storm swept in at her, and only her.

"You're not..." Ukyou gasped. "Going to get away from me like that."

"How do you think this is going to end, Ukyou?" Hotaru roared. "That if

you just don't give up long enough, it will make everything better? That all you

have to do to save me is just not fall down?"

"I'm not giving up on you," Ukyou said. "I'm not giving up on me. I'm

not giving up on anything. I'm through surrendering. So... let the Nameless do

his worst."

"This is it, Ukyou!" Hotaru screamed. "Nobody is going to save you, this

time. There won't be any last minute heroics. There is no more hidden talents.

No more fate. No more destiny.

"Even Chris is dead," Hotaru hissed.

And as she said it, Ukyou felt it. She saw the number of swords

increasing, as if a huge number had come into existence all at once. Chris... a

part of her was sad. He had been Aaron's friend. Even if he had become their

enemy, it was still a blow. And now there would be no-one else. There was no one

who had enough connection to the Third Circle to stop this if Ukyou fell.

"Yes, that's right..." Hotaru whispered. "Do you really think that you

have it, Ukyou? Do you really think you can resist Oblivion?" Ukyou twitched,

her body spasming as the Paradox began to burn her up. Cracks were appearing on

her skin. "You can't win."

"This is the way the world ends!"

"No." Ukyou grit her teeth.

"You can't just deny it away, Ukyou!"

It wasn't real, a part of her whispered. It was all a dream. This entire

universe, all its pain and misery. It was a fantasy.

"All the death, all the hatred... you can't just make it go away!"

Except it wasn't. It was real. It was as real as her feelings made it.

As real as anything Aaron had ever done. It was true. The pain, the joy, the

hate and the love of it was all real.

"The Nameless created this world for you, to be your crucible... so this

world is yours, Ukyou."

The Paradox was inside her, and it was outside, spinning through the

heart of Oblivion. She was inside the soul of every living being. She was in a

wound in reality. She was a dream. She was real.

"So own it! Own all the misery! This is your world, Ukyou, made in your

image. Are you proud of it? Do you love it?"

She was Ukyou Kuonji. She was Aaron Peori. They were two people. They

were one. They were real. They were a fantasy. Her eyes snapped open. Hotaru's

bronze eyes stared into hers.

"Take a look at me, Ukyou. Take a good long look at the child of your

world! I am the Paradox, the consequence, the contradiction that can not be

solved."

"No," Ukyou whispered. She released her grip and stepped back. Hotaru

cried out in triumph and thrust the Silence Glaive forward. Ukyou and Aaron took

one last breath.

There was no way they could do this. It was impossible. If that blade

struck home, they would die. Every instinct they had told them to fight, to

parry, to dodge. To do something.

The blade slammed into her chest. The pain was worse than they had

imagined. They gurgled as the blade twisted through their heart.

Except that was the problem. They couldn't solve this with words, or

fighting, or naked resistance. There was nothing they could do.

Except change the world.

The Silence Glaive shimmered for a moment. Then, it began to dissolve.

Not flaking away into nothing, like so many of its victims had. Motes of light

rose from its surface, each one carrying away a small part of its substance. In

no time at all, the dread weapon had become a cloud of firefly lights. Hotaru's

eyes widened.

Ukyou collapsed to her knees, smiling. The swords around her stopped.

She reached out with one hand and touched the nearest one. It seemed to shimmer

for a moment, then with a pop it was replaced with a mote of light. Ukyou smiled

wider.

"What... what are you..." Hotaru gasped.

"I'm going to fix it..." Ukyou said. "The Paradox... it was born when we

destroyed souls. It was born when all those other worlds were destroyed to save

this one." Ukyou spread her hands wide, and every sword within a meter flickered

out, replaced by a mote of light. "Leaving nothing behind but the pain. Because

souls are sacrosanct. They can not be created or destroyed. Only separated from

each other. And that separation, that is pain. But if something can be broken,

it can be repaired..."

"You can't!" Hotaru roared, and charged. Her hand slammed into Ukyou's

chest, knocking her down. The lights around them flickered again, screaming as

the points of blades began to emerge. "You idiot! You're using the Third Circle

to fix them? You'll just create more!"

"No..." Ukyou stood up. She looked at Hotaru. She looked over at Nanami,

who had sent Pluto sprawling. The vampire was looking at her in mixed awe and

fear. "I can't..." Ukyou closed her eyes. She let her heart beat once. "But WE

can!"

Her eyes snapped open and she leapt forward, her hand extended.

Suddenly, the entire galaxy of blades spun in place, trying to place itself

between her and Hotaru. As she ran through them, the blades vanished into sparks

of light. Hotaru could only stare as Ukyou placed her palm against her forehead.

"This is not the end!" she screamed, and changed the world.

To Be Concluded...

Blade: Holy shit! It's almost over!

Epsilon: Meh.

Blade: Meh? MEH! How can you be MEH about this?! One more chapter and it's over!

Three years of our lives went into this! Heck, three and a half years!

Epsilon: (shrug)

Blade: Be excited, you bastard!

Epsilon: Don't mistake me, I understand the grvaity of the situation, it just...

hasn't hit me yet.

Blade: Huh?

Epsilon: It's too big. I won't be able to appreciate this until it's over. Right

now, I'm standing on the mountain, looking around at the view, and it's great.

But I won't realise what it means until I can be far enough away to look back

and see... how large it is.

Blade: Hey, no fair! You went serious without me!

Epsilon: Sorry. But this is probably the last author's note that will be posted

in a chapter. I felt it should have more gravitas.

Blade: Okay, okay. Usually, you wait until the last chapter to thank everybody

for reading through everything, but this is the end of chapter 29, well over a

million words from Ukyou first walking into Nerima. What, you're going to quit

now? So thanks everyone, for sticking with us this long!

Epsilon: Yes. I want to especially thank all our pre-readers: Chris's

girlfriend, our Super Swedish Prereader, Ran Mace, Rob Kelk, Lathis, Rebecca and

Ben.

Blade: And all of you who were kind enough to leave a review. Though you'll

forigive us if we don't list all your names.

Epsilon: Also, we commissioned fifteen commemorative artwork pieces based on

Hybrid Theory, and we will be writing an accompanying huge "what the hell were

they thinking?" essay after the fanfic is completed. Mainly because, uh... we're

attention-starved egomaniacs.

Blade: So much for being serious.

Epsilon: Well, this should get us back in the mood!

OoOoO

"It never ends.

"I guess, I never really thought about it before. But it really never

ends. It just goes on and on. This boundless thing we call 'existence' never

stops. It stretches out into infinity. We all move along it, and not everyone

makes it, but it never ends

"One moment becomes the next. One challenge gives way to the next

battle. One life ends, and another begins. Each decision leads to the next, and

the next, and the next. There is no final state. We're not traveling towards

anything, because no matter what destination we reach there is always somewhere

else to go from there.

"That's a lot to accept. Most people never have to. But I touched it. I

felt it. I saw the whole thing, stretched out forever in front of me. It's a

heavy thing. It can break you. It can make you despair.

"But it also means one thing you didn't count on.

"It means that even if I lose this battle, it will go on. Even if can't

win, this fight will go on. If I fall, someone will stand up in my place. So

don't think this is the end. One day, you will pay for this. One day, someone

will take you down. And life will go on.

"Because I am sure that while existence is eternal, you are not. So come

on, you self-righteous son of a bitch! Give me everything you got!"

Hybrid Theory Chapter 30: In The End


	32. In The End

I am the guardian of time. Some call me Sailor Pluto; others, Setsuna Meiou.

Unlike others, I have little to recap, only to foretell.

For the last seven years, every night, I have had a dream.

In this dream, I see a young woman standing beneath a bank of clouds, three

circles of light rotating around her body, the symbols that mark them rendered

illegible by the speed of the rotation.

The woman is clad in skin-tight black pants wrapped about the ankles with cords,

her torso is covered in a turtle-necked skin-tight white shirt and over that she

wears a long black trench-coat which is blown back and flares in an unseen wind.

Her sleeves are rolled up and both arms were reaching out towards the heavens.

On her left arm, five parallel scars glow with eldritch light, on her right arm

a tattoo of some kind snakes up to disappear under her sleeve. A power radiated

from her, a power that even now I can neither place nor understand. A bright

light flares from her forehead, and there is something terribly wrong with her

eyes.

In her hands, she holds a terrible weapon, and as I watch, she raises it against

a foe beyond conceiving, a foe without a face or a name.

A voice that I recognise as my own tells me this vision is a warning, of events

that must not come to pass. This voice tells me that I have come to the final

moments of the universe. This voice, myself, tells me that I must stop this

future from coming about no matter what I must do or how I must damn myself.

The woman in this prophecy I have come to know as Ukyou Kuonji. And every night,

I have watched her raise the weapon in her hands and destroy the world.

I have fought with my entire soul against this prophecy. At times, I have

despaired of it, and at times I have almost come to accept it. I have tried to

kill Ukyou, to stop her, to influence her, and finally even to help her. All of

it has proven equally fruitless in halting the relentless advance of the

prophecy.

Now Ukyou has come to face the terrible foe. Now the time has come to see an end

to it all. And just as in my dream, it seems I and everyone else in this

universe will be able to do nothing but watch.

C&A Productions Presents

A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion

Hybrid Theory

Chapter 30: In The End

"It never ends.

"I guess I never really thought about it before. But it really never

ends. It just goes on and on. This boundless thing we call 'existence' never

stops. It stretches out into infinity. We all move along it, and not everyone

makes it, but it never ends.

"One moment becomes the next. One challenge gives way to the next

battle. One life ends, and another begins. Each decision leads to the next, and

the next, and the next. There is no final state. We're not travelling towards

anything, because no matter what destination we reach there is always somewhere

else to go from there.

"That's a lot to accept. Most people never have to. But I touched it. I

felt it. I saw the whole thing, stretched out forever in front of me. It's a

heavy thing. It can break you. It can make you despair.

"But it also means one thing you didn't count on.

"It means that even if I lose this battle, it will go on. Even if can't

win, this fight will go on. If I fall, someone will stand up in my place. So

don't think this is the end. One day, you will pay for this. One day, someone

will take you down. And life will go on.

"Because I am sure that while existence is eternal, you are not. So come

on, you self-righteous son of a bitch! Give me everything you got!"

OoOoO

Ukyou woke up with a gasp.

She sat bolt upright in bed, sweat clinging to her skin. She was naked

and cold, and shivered under the thin blanket. It was dark in the room, too dark

to see anything. There was rain outside. She could hear it beating against the

walls and ceiling like a tiny percussion orchestra. She felt drained. Empty.

"Ukyou?"

She looked down, even though she couldn't see anything. Aaron's chi

senses had sharpened to the point where he no longer needed eyes to tell certain

details. It was Akira. She was slowly sitting up, rubbing the back of her eyes

with one hand. Ukyou paused.

"Are you okay, Ukyou?" Akira asked, her voice still heavy with sleep. A

hand reached out and brushed against her arm. Ukyou felt a trill of warmth

spread from the brief contact. "Damn, you're cold."

Akira did something. Aaron could feel the flare of chi as Akira flicked

her hand. A fraction of a second later the light came on. The girl was pulling

herself out from under the covers. She was wearing a pair of brown pyjamas that

was one size too large and was covered in pictures of French pastries. Her eyes

fixed on Ukyou's for a moment and she frowned in that cute little way she had.

"This is what you get for not sleeping with any clothes on," Akira

chided, as she stood up. "I'll go get another blanket."

"No, I..." Ukyou reached out to her. She wasn't certain why. Akira

paused, the fabric of her sleeve caught between two of Ukyou's fingers.

"Well..." The girl paused, and tapped her chin with her free hand as if

considering something very important. "I guess... I might be able to help warm

you up a little. You know, or I could go get a blanket, or some clothes..."

"Akira... how did I..." Ukyou trailed off. She had been about to ask how

she got here. But even as the question formed in her mind, the answer formed

too. They were in a motel just outside of Tokyo. They had stopped here for the

night instead of camping out like usual because of the rain Ukyou had sensed

coming. Ukyou even remembered the lecherous grin the motel manager had tried to

conceal while Ukyou paid for the overnight stay.

"Is something wrong?" Akira asked, her voice suddenly serious. "Danger?"

She knelt down next to Ukyou. She was asking if Ukyou sensed any nearby danger.

Of course, Ukyou didn't. She didn't even sense anything so much as a strong chi

adept within a kilometer.

"No..." Ukyou frowned. "I just... had a bad dream?"

A sympathetic look appeared in Akira's eyes. She slid closer to Ukyou,

pulling her head down onto her shoulder. "Those again, huh?"

"Again..." Ukyou murmured.

"Well, I guess it makes sense, given the timing." Akira ran a hand along

her back. Her touch was intimate, but not arousing. Ukyou relaxed in her

embrace. "You've been under a lot of stress lately."

"Yeah..." Ukyou agreed. Akira shifted and suddenly they were lying under

the covers together. Ukyou was now staring up at the ceiling, while Akira lay

underneath her with her arms cradled around Ukyou's waist. There was something

very comforting and familiar about it. Ukyou knew that Akira had often helped

her get back to sleep like this. Ukyou had always had trouble sleeping. It was a

trait she had inherited mainly from Aaron.

"Nabiki assured us all the paper-work went through." Akira spoke softly

into her ear. "So don't worry. Tomorrow is a good day, Ukyou. You'll see."

"But..." Ukyou wasn't certain what she was objecting to.

"It doesn't matter if its been a year since you last saw her..."

"Two," Ukyou corrected. The word just came to her. It sounded very

correct, but also left her feeling sad and hurt.

"No matter how long it's been, it won't matter." She kissed Ukyou on the

side of the cheek. "Now get back to sleep. We still have a long drive tomorrow."

Ukyou wasn't certain she wanted to, but the gentle warmth of Akira's

presence and the soft cushion of her body eventually lulled her away from the

conscious world. As she was drifting away, a part of her wondered briefly why

she didn't find any of this strange.

She pushed that part of her away, and just let herself have this one

moment.

OoOoO

The ride into Tokyo took about four hours. The streets were nearly empty

when they started, but quickly filled as they moved closer and closer to the

rush hour traffic. The rain had left the roads looking clean and dark. The

breaking clouds had pulled away the scent of smog and overcrowding, leaving a

fresh salt tang in the air that reminded Aaron of his youth. They drove in

silence, Ukyou keeping her head against Akira's back and her arms around the

taller girl's waist.

She could hear Akira's heartbeat through the leather of her jacket. It

was a steady, even rhythm that only increased slightly when Ukyou wrapped her

arms around her waist, then went back to its leisurely pace. There was something

indisputably real about the sound of that heartbeat. In the bright light of

morning, with the cool November breeze rushing over her face, the sound of that

heartbeat drove away the lingering traces of bad dreams. The reassuring sound of

Akira's heartbeat made her discomfort from last night slowly drain away.

But it refused to vanish entirely.

She knew how she had gotten here. She remembered most of the trip. They

had started in Halifax when they had heard the news from Nabiki. Normally, Ukyou

would have been on the first flight but Nabiki assured her that it would be a

few months before all the legal paperwork went through. They had time. So they'd

made their way slowly across the continent, camping out and discussing what they

were going to do when they went back to the cottage Ukyou had bought. They would

need to make space, which meant giving up either Ukyou's library or Akira's

machine shop.

From San Francisco they had managed to book passage on a ship willing to

ferry over Akira's bike. Ukyou spent the crossing mainly practising her drawing.

Akira spent it mainly annoying the engineer about the ship's systems. The ship

had made port in Osaka and Ukyou had taken the chance to drive out and visit her

parent's graves. Then it was a few more days drive to Tokyo proper. If

everything worked out according to the timetable Nabiki had given them, they

would arrive one day before Ukyou could see her again.

All the details were there. She could remember them as vividly as usual.

Sure, some things were hazy, and some weren't. It was the nature of memory to be

that way, so Ukyou didn't really question it. However, Ukyou kept thinking there

were more questions she should be asking. The one she kept coming back to and

back to was: is this real?

Of course it was. It was a foolish question to ask. She could hear

Akira's heart. She could feel the air, smell the faint odour of the city. It had

been years since she'd allowed herself to get so philosophical about such

things.

To Aaron, a part of all this would still be a world of make-believe. Oh,

he had long ago learned to accept the reality of the people around him. But the

fact was that his first exposure to Akira, and Nabiki and all the rest was as

characters in stories. They were dreams and fantasies. None of that mattered,

however. This was real. This was now. Every sense he had developed told him so.

And something deeper too. In that part of their mind that existed

between them, they could sense it. They could feel the weight of this world. It

existed. So, why was Ukyou doubting it?

The bike came to a stop. Ukyou looked up.

The Tendo Dojo.

Akira gently unwrapped Ukyou's arms and gave her a smile before walking

inside. Ukyou hesitated a moment, then followed her. The dojo was just as she

remembered it. Over there was the koi pond, and there was the tree where she had

hidden when she looked for...

Ukyou paused. For a moment, she had felt something shift. It wasn't

something she had really perceived. She couldn't even be sure it had happened.

The sensation she got was like she had been watching a movie and someone had

left a single frame as a blank white square. Realistically, the single frame

would flicker past the screen so fast that the eye couldn't even make it out.

But the brain would, subliminally. That was the sensation she had gotten, except

far more profound.

A moment later she felt the presence of Paradox. It was a very little

bit. But she frowned and... and did something. She reached out her hand and

clenched it around thin air. There was a hiss as a thin blade appeared, clasped

in her fingers. Blood flowed down her wrist as the blade cut into her flesh.

Then with a slight effort of will, Ukyou healed the sword. It collapsed into a

mote of light, which slowly drifted away from her open palm before fading from

view in a ray of sunlight.

A surge of joy filled her. An idiot grin spread across her face as

comforting warmth spread through her entire body. It had just felt so right, so

perfect. There was nothing that compared to the feeling she got when she did

that. The knowledge that she had restored something from nothing, and ended an

eternity of pain.

"Ukyou! What happened to your hand?"

Ukyou was brought back to earth by Akira's worried shout. The other girl

ran up to her and grabbed her wounded hand. She frowned down at the thin,

shallow cut, wiping away the blood with a burst of water chi. Kasumi was walking

out behind her and the girl made a soft sound before turning and running back

inside. Probably for the first aid kit, Ukyou thought absently.

"Another Paradox Sword?" Akira asked, her voice soft. Ukyou nodded. The

girl sighed, a long-suffering but accepting sound. "Did you catch it before it

did any damage?"

"Yes," Ukyou replied. "I think..." She paused. "I was thinking about the

first time I came here, looking at that tree over by the koi pond. You know, the

one that overlooks the back porch and..." Ukyou shrugged. "It was nothing."

Akira glanced up at her. "If you say so. Come on, let's get you inside."

OoOoO

Five lines, four in parallel with the fifth slightly shorter and offset

from the others. Ukyou frowned down at the scars on her arm. She lifted her arm

up and looked at it in the glare of the lamp. She reached out with her bandaged

hand and wrapped her fingers around her forearm. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it

was rather obviously a close one. A hand had done this.

But not hers.

"Akira?"

Her girlfriend was in the centre of the dojo, practicing a few slow

kata. Normally Ukyou would have been enthralled, but she kept being drawn to

those scars. There was something off about them, and she couldn't figure out

what.

"Yeah?" Akira stopped and rotated to face her.

"When did I get these scars?"

"Scars?"

Ukyou held up her forearm... and blinked. Her flesh was completely

unmarred. She stood up slowly. "There were..."

"Ukyou?" Akira took a step forward.

"I have scars. Five scars, on my arm..." Ukyou realised she sounded

borderline hysterical, but found she felt borderline hysterical.

"Ukyou, you don't have any scars." Akira held her hand out placating.

She grabbed Ukyou's wrist and began to stroke the smooth skin. "See. Perfectly

normal arm."

Ukyou jerked her arm away. Akira looked hurt for a moment, then the

expression faded quickly. Ukyou opened her mouth to apologise, then closed it.

She looked down at her arm.

There HAD been scars.

Ukyou closed her eyes. How had she gotten them? It would have hurt. She

imagined the pain, the pain of having someone crush her arm with such force that

it warped the shape of her arm...

Akira grabbed her and shook her a little. "Ukyou!"

"What?" Ukyou opened her eyes.

"You were zoning out there? Was it more Paradox?"

Ukyou mumbled a brief response before she turned her head slightly. Yes,

it could have been Paradox. The scars had been there, and then not. That could

explain it. Somebody could have... have un-willed them, or something. But there

was nothing. Just the world, full of a billion glowing soul lights filtering

back and forth to the Oversoul.

"There's no Paradox," Ukyou replied.

"Good." Akira relaxed and let her go. "Listen, Ukyou. I think maybe you

should find something to do." Akira paused. "Keep yourself occupied. You're

spacing out too much lately." She shrugged and walked over to pick up a towel.

"It probably just stress, but better safe than sorry."

Ukyou blinked slowly. "I..." She realised abruptly she had no idea what

she could do to pass time. When was the last time she'd had a chance to just...

kill time? "What should I do?"

"You could go putter around the kitchen," Akira suggested mildly.

"I'm not making you cookies," Ukyou responded dryly.

"But..."

"No," Ukyou said sternly. "Besides, Kasumi is busy preparing dinner for

everyone."

"Ukyou, you can cook using rocks and stream water," Akira pointed out.

"Maybe." Ukyou crossed her arms. "But I'd rather not."

"You could draw," Akira shrugged. "Or write, or..."

"A journal!" Ukyou shouted, happily. She reached out and grabbed Akira's

shoulders. "Do I have a journal?"

"What?" Akira blinked. "Not that I know of..."

"Damn, that would have been too easy, I guess," Ukyou muttered.

"Shouldn't you know that?" Akira asked, her voice edging towards worried

again.

"Right, right, of course..." Ukyou backed a few steps away. "Listen, I

think I'll just take a walk. I want to clear my head before the others show up."

"I can come with..."

"NO... I mean, that won't be necessary." Ukyou held up her hand. "I'm

not going to do anything stupid. I promise."

"Okay, now I know I'm not letting you go anywhere alone," Akira replied

laconically.

"Ha," Ukyou grunted. "No, seriously. I just... everything's changed so

much, Akira." She stepped back. "I need to just absorb it all. Especially if I'm

going to not make the same mistakes as last time."

"I don't think I should..."

"Sorry, Akira," Ukyou said, and took one more step back, and ghosted

through the wall. Akira gave a startled grunt, but by the time she reacted Ukyou

had already leapt back and over the wall. She choose a direction at random and

vanished into the streets of Nerima. "But, my arm had scars..."

OoOoO

Setsuna tapped a fingernail against the table. It was a bad habit. It

could damage not only her fingernail, but the fine wood of the table. However,

it helped her think. She needed to choose a design, and now. The show was in

three days, and the seamstress would need all that time to put together

everything. Granted, there were people who could sew faster, but none that had

Koboyuko's feathertouch.

She decided to step away from the table, and leave the sketches behind.

She walked over to the single window that overlooked the rest of Tokyo. It was

a beautiful day. The rain last night had given away to a virtually cloudless

sky, and the moisture in the air gave a refreshing quality to Tokyo's usual

heat. Of course, there was little you could do about the smell.

For a moment Setsuna closed her eyes and imagined a different view

outside that window. Marble pillars and majestic arches gave way to sparkling

fountains and impossibly delicate minarets. But, that was gone now. She opened

her eyes back to the present and looked out across the city for a few more

minutes. Maybe if she looked long enough, inspiration would strike.

"Pluto!"

"GAH!" Setsuna fell back, clutching her heart. The young woman had

popped down headfirst into her line of sight. She was hanging upside down from

the roof. Setsuna landed with an ungraceful grunt, just barely keeping herself

from doing more than sitting down harshly. "Ukyou?"

The woman twisted, phasing through the ceiling and window lintel in a

flare of purple sparks. She landed in a crouch on the ground in front of her.

Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing a long trenchcoat

over a white blouse and black slacks. She stood up with a frown.

"Sorry about that, Pluto," Ukyou said. She offered her hand. Setsuna

took it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She resisted the urge to

rub her behind. "I was just concentrating so much on keeping a low profile, I

forgot..."

"It's okay," Setsuna replied, waving the incident away. "Why did you

come here? Some sort of crisis?"

"I... I don't know."

Setsuna stared at the girl a moment. Ukyou looked confused. She kept

rubbing one hand against her forearm. The hand was covered in bandages, Setsuna

noted with concern. "Your hand..." She reached for it.

Ukyou pulled the hand away. "It's okay. I healed some Paradox earlier

and the sword cut me."

"You say that so casually," Pluto laughed.

"Yeah... I do." Ukyou replied seriously. "You'd think I did it all the

time."

"Ukyou, are you okay?"

"I wish people would stop asking me that," Ukyou muttered.

"I'm your friend, you come to me, obviously upset..."

"No, please, I'm sorry." Ukyou backed towards the window. "I just... I

thought you might be able to help me."

"Help you?"

"With this?" Ukyou asked hesitantly. She held up her forearm.

"What about it?"

"It has no scars."

"I can see that."

"But it did."

"No, it didn't."

"Pluto! Damnit, you of all people..." Ukyou trailed off.

"Also, stop being so formal," Setsuna frowned. "I've learned to put

Sailor Pluto aside when I don't need her. I would appreciate the courtesy of

being addressed by my name, rather than my title."

Ukyou stared at her. "I..." Ukyou looked at her bandaged hand. "That

didn't sound wrong at all. It sounded perfectly right."

"Ukyou, I think I should call Akira..."

"NO!" Ukyou was suddenly holding her wrist. Setsuna hadn't even seen her

move. "Please... I don't want her to be caught up in this."

"But you want me to be?" Setsuna said with a frown.

"Because you already are!"

"Already are what?" Setsuna shouted.

"You were there, at the end!" Ukyou moved her grip to Setsuna's

shoulders. "YOU WERE THERE!"

"There for what? You're not making any sense." Setsuna didn't raise her

voice, or let it quaver. But she wanted to run. She was scared. Ukyou was

acting... unhinged. And the idea of am unhinged Ukyou was just about the

scariest thing Setsuna could think of. If she used the Third Circle in this

state, she might just...

No. That didn't bear thinking about.

"Everything's right, Pluto!" Ukyou cried. "It all... it all is so...

okay! So, why do I keep..." She stepped back. "Why don't I have any scars?"

"You want scars?" Setsuna asked softly.

"What?"

"Is that what you want, Ukyou? Scars?"

"Of course not..."

"So... what about them, then?"

"Because they're my scars!"

"I don't recall you ever getting any scars, Ukyou."

"You were there!" Ukyou accused. "I know you were. I can't see it, but I

know it." She tapped her chest. "Here. I can tell. You were right there, when

I... when I..." She looked down at her hand, which had come to rest over her

heart.

"Why don't you sit down. I'll make some tea..."

"I don't want any damn tea!" Ukyou roared. "I want you to remember!"

And Pluto remembered.

She gasped, and stumbled back, grabbing her head. She felt like someone

had just set off a nuclear bomb in her head. But she remembered. She remembered

all of it.

She remembered the prophecy. She remembered the battles against Ukyou,

then in support of her. She remembered the mad green sun and the doomed little

girl and Ukyou's desperate hopeless attempt to save her. She remembered Ukyou

reaching her and...

And...

Nothing.

Ukyou screamed. Pluto looked up. Ukyou had fallen against the wall. Five

swords had appeared and were slashing at her. She was using her undamaged arm to

ward them off. They paused, and then as one they flew in, chopping into her

flesh. Swords of Hate, Pluto realised suddenly.

Ukyou grit her teeth as the blades sawed into her flesh. She reached out

her bandaged hand and touched the blades... and they collapsed, dissolving away

into motes of light that rose up into the ceiling and slowly faded from view.

Ukyou took a few sharp breaths.

There were now five parallel scars on her arm.

OoOoO

Akira knelt by the window. She placed her fingers next to the splatters

of blood on the floor. Her eyes narrowed. This didn't look like the result of a

fight. But it looked violent, nonetheless. So... either Ukyou or Setsuna was

bleeding. Judging from the scattered remains of a first aid kit, somebody had

tried to help someone else out.

Akira sighed and stood up. "Anything, Nabiki?"

Nabiki shook her head. "I'm not a psychometric," she explained. "And I

still can't follow Ukyou."

"What about Setsuna?" Akane asked. Her tone was worried. Akira couldn't

blame her. The only reason they were even here was because of what Nabiki called

'a psychic scream' from Setsuna. Then nothing.

"Still nothing," Nabiki said softly. "You said Ukyou was..."

"Ukyou didn't hurt her," Akira growled out. She shook her head. "There

must be something big going on."

"It is like Ukyou to think she can handle things by herself," Akane said

with a sigh.

"To be fair, she's mainly right." Nabiki shrugged. "What? Don't look at

me like that. Do you seriously think there's anything in the world that can

threaten her?"

"Well, either way, they're not here," Akira said, trying to squelch her

worry. "Come on, we haven't exhausted all the possibilities yet."

OoOoO

"A dream," Pluto said.

Ukyou looked up. The three girls were walking out of Pluto's apartment,

not talking much. Then again, they could have been all in psychic contact, but

they certainly didn't look that way. Akira paused by her bike and said something

about splitting up. The other two nodded.

"This all has to be some sort of... mindgame. It's an evil dream," Pluto

continued. "Like the one you had in Elysium, except on a bigger scale."

"Elysium?" Ukyou asked. She knew the term, but she couldn't remember

having ever been there.

"It's..." Pluto looked at her for a moment. Then she shook her head.

"You really don't remember, do you?"

Ukyou stood up. The wind up on the roof was playing havoc with her long

bangs but she didn't mind much. "Sorry. I still don't."

"So... why do I remember, but you don't?"

Ukyou shrugged and looked over the edge again. Akane and Nabiki had

vanished, but Akira was still there. She was sitting on her bike, shading her

eyes as she looked up at the building across the street. Ukyou felt an

irrational impulse to go and tell her what was going on. But at the same time,

she knew that Akira was...

She remembered a sense of emptiness. It was like a lurching inside her.

There had been something there, a precious beautiful connection, and now it was

gone. It had been taken from her. She didn't know how she had lost it, but she

knew it had something to do with Akira. And Akira didn't fill that void. She

wasn't a part of her.

So she stayed away.

"Maybe you don't want to remember?" Pluto asked.

"Pluto... is Akira..." Ukyou's voice dried up, but she kept talking. "In

this other... other timeline, is Akira...?"

Pluto ducked her head. "I... can't say for certain."

"Don't play games, Pluto."

"She was your fetich soul. She absorbed your Paradox for you. While you

were fighting... that connection suddenly stopped, and all the Paradox she had

been holding flooded into you. I only know of one way that can happen."

Suddenly the wind on the roof was much more cold. Akira turned to look

up at their roof. Her eyes fixed on the exact spot where Ukyou was. Ukyou made

her not notice. She couldn't notice. She must not notice her.

Akira frowned in that adorable way of hers, then started up her bike and

roared out of view around a corner. Ukyou let out a deep breath. "Who did this?"

Her voice was colder, more vicious than she would have thought.

"The Nameless, I would imagine." Pluto speculated.

Ukyou felt something. It was dark, and cold and powerful. It was hatred,

and more than that. Suddenly the Silence Glaive appeared in her hands. Her

fingers clenched it, to the point of pain.

"I'll destroy him," Ukyou said, her voice thick.

"I don't think it's that easy," Pluto cautioned.

"I'll find a way."

Pluto looked away. "First, we have to find a way out of this dream. Some

way of breaking its hold on you."

"Where do we start?"

Pluto paused before responding. "At the beginning."

OoOoO

Ukyou stood on a street. It could be any street in Japan. There was a

sign in front of her. She walked up to it and ran her fingers along the metal.

"Nerima Ward..." she said aloud.

There was a flash.

Ukyou was standing in a tree. Her gaze looked down across the yard of

the Tendo Dojo into the living room. The entire family was there. Akane, her

long hair tied with a small bow, and both of her sisters looking young and

healthy. "He's not here..." Ukyou stated aloud.

Another flash.

This time Ukyou was in an alley, buttoning up her shirt. Akane was

standing there, blushing slightly and looking unsure of herself. Ukyou ran a

hand through her bangs. "My name is Ukyou Kuonji," she said with a short bow.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding."

"Akane Tendo," Akane bowed back, dipping only slightly deeper. "It was

my fault. I leapt to conclusions..."

Pluto lifted her staff again, only to have Ukyou place a hand on it. She

gazed intently at the image. The younger Ukyou in the image the timegate had

created seemed to be considering something. Finally she opened her mouth.

"Actually, Akane, you're right. I was following you. And I was doing it

for probably the wrong reasons. You see, there's this boy named Ranma and...

well... I like him very much..."

Ukyou lowered her hand. Pluto frowned and paused the playback. "What is

it?"

"Is that what happened?"

"Excuse me?"

"In the real world. Is that what happened? When Akane and I first met?"

"I'm not certain," Pluto admitted. "It was seven years ago. I'm smart,

but my memory isn't eidetic." She looked at the Time Key Staff for a moment.

"Why?"

"I felt..." Ukyou paused. "A... a something. Like deja vu, but exactly

the opposite."

"That narrows it down," Pluto murmured.

"I remember that," Ukyou hissed. "I know how that went. I told Akane

everything, about myself and Ranma and the agreement between our fathers, and

about the one Genma made with her father..." She trailed off. "I remember it

all. Not clearly. It was seven years ago. But... it feels odd. Like I

experienced it before, but completely differently."

"Shall we move on?" Pluto asked.

"Indeed..." Ukyou agreed after a moment.

Pluto shifted forward, stopping only at the pivotal moments. There were

few people who knew how time actually worked. It wasn't a river. It existed more

like a tree. Every time something different could happen, it did in two

different worlds. Everything from the position of an electron, to the explosions

of stars, the reality split off into multiple worlds.

Most of the time, the changes were so minor most people would never

notice. In this case, the different worlds ran... close together, for lack of a

better world. Layer upon layer of worlds were created from the changes in

position of subquantum particles or the minor decisions one made in everyday

life. Such things became primary timelines.

Large decisions branched out their own worlds. The timelines became too

incompatible. In one world, there was a Hitler. In another, there wasn't.

History, thus, happened differently and in such a way that the timelines drifted

further apart. Such branches were common.

So it was easy for Pluto to 'fast forward' through the past. She just

looked for the places where the most major timeline shifts happened, where the

splits between major timelines started. She had done this once before regarding

Ukyou's past.

And the results of this viewing were disturbing her greatly. She knew

what Ukyou's timeline was like. It was unnatural. There had only ever been one

Ukyou. So, if a timeline shifted so much that it became incompatible with

whatever Ukyou was doing, that timeline had simply... vanished. Swallowed up

into nothing. Knowing what she did now of Paradox, Pluto knew what was

happening.

Ukyou could not split off into multiple versions of herself, so if a

world tried to split too far away from what she was experiencing, it suddenly

had no Ukyou. Except it needed Ukyou. She was a part of it. Part of its history.

But now it had none. Paradox. Contradiction. Enough for Oblivion to find that

timeline... and destroy it.

Pluto didn't mention this to Ukyou. The girl didn't need to know.

Especially considering that this wasn't happening this time around. Oh, there

was still only one Ukyou. She existed alone, and didn't split off into multiple

selves if the timelines diverged too much. But each time a timeline shifted too

far away instead of vanishing it...

It just kept going. It was impossible, but it was happening. And Pluto

couldn't help but think that Ukyou was the one doing it. Somehow, Ukyou was

keeping entire realities from breaking down. The very thought frightened Pluto

to her core.

"Wait..." Ukyou said, holding up her hand. "Go back one."

Pluto looked over. She had hardly been paying attention to the specific

scenes playing out in front of them. She knew it was all phantoms and illusions,

conjured by the Nameless to... to do something to Ukyou. As requested, she

willed the timegates to flip back to the last major focal point.

"Chris..." Pluto murmured. Ukyou was standing on a roof with what looked

like a police officer. Except the officer had inhumanly dead eyes. He was

shouting at her, his hands curled into fists.

Ukyou looked down for a moment. "Chris, you deserve to know the truth."

She looked up. "And I think I can help you with your problem."

The policeman stopped, his eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"

"Chris, it's me... it's Aaron." Ukyou smiled lopsidedly. "Or, that's

half the truth." She stepped forward. "And if you take my hand, I can make the

pain stop."

Chris' eyes widened. "Aaron..."

Ukyou raised her hand. Around Chris, there was a hissing sound. He

looked around, as the air began to ripple. Holes began to open up. Blades began

to slide out of those holes. "What the hell is going on!"

"Paradox," Ukyou explained. "But don't worry, I can fix it..."

"Go on," Ukyou said softly. "I remember this part."

"I..." Pluto stared at her. "You can heal Paradox?"

"Yes." Ukyou looked at her. "I've always been able to."

"Can you still use the Third Circle?" Pluto asked, trying to keep her

voice steady.

"I..." Ukyou trailed off. "I don't know. Sometimes..." She shook her

head. "Show me more. There must be some crack in this prison. Something that can

break the hold the Nameless has on us. Something... important."

"Right..." Pluto murmured, and turned her attention back to the Gates of

Time.

OoOoO

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," Tethys said. Akira waved her

hand dismissively and closed down the connection. She leaned back in the chair

and covered her face with her hands.

"No luck?"

Akira peeked between her fingers as Akane walked into the room. Shampoo

was with her this time. The purple-haired Chinese girl seemed bored. Akane, for

her part, had her usual intense look.

"None." Akira sighed. She ran a hand over the crystal ball. "If there's

some kind of crisis Ukyou ran off to deal with, it's nothing the Youma Kingdom

have picked up."

"I was speaking with Purgstall," Akane said. She walked over and sat in

a large chair. "He said there was no political crisis he'd heard of."

"The old man knows what he's talking about," Shampoo agreed. She crossed

her arms and walked to the window. Technically this was Nabiki's apartment, but

everyone tended to make themselves at home. It didn't hurt that Nabiki spent so

much of her time not actually living in her apartment. "Great-grandmother and he

are busy working on the peace accords." She frowned. "Isn't this a terrible time

for Ukyou to vanish? I thought tomorrow was-"

"Yeah," Akira sighed out, cutting her off. "Nabiki's working on finding

some reason to delay if Ukyou doesn't show up in time." She bit her lip.

"Isn't this exactly the reason that she was taken away in the first

place?" Shampoo asked.

Akira wasn't even aware of moving. She just found herself grabbing the

other girl by the collar, holding her against the wall. "It wasn't Ukyou's

fault!" she snapped.

Shampoo stared at her coldly. "Don't get angry with me." She brushed

Akira's hand away. "The fact is, that Ukyou has a lot of enemies. Even being

near her is dangerous. Especially if she keeps looking for crises to solve."

"Shampoo..." Akane warned. "This isn't helping." She turned to Akira.

"Maybe Ukyou is having second thoughts. She hasn't seen her in... two years?

Three?"

"A long time," Akira said. "She wanted to be sure she could control it.

Not hurt anyone by accident anymore." Akira looked down at her hands. A memory

flashed through her mind, her arms twisting and bending like taffy as she

screamed... then the memory was gone. She didn't even really know when it had

happened, or why. She was fairly certain that whatever had happened, Ukyou had

just... fixed it. She'd made it go away. Only that one image, disconnected from

any sensation or emotion, remained. Akira kept meaning to tell Ukyou about it,

ask her about it. She had never gotten around to it.

"I think Ukyou's just scared of the responsibility," Shampoo insisted.

"Shampoo!" Akane snapped.

"You know I'm right, Akane." Shampoo snorted. "She likes playing the

hero, but she never sticks around to fix things in the long term."

"It isn't like that," Akira snapped. "Ukyou just realises other people

are better at that kind of thing. Nabiki, Cologne, Purgstall..." She trailed

off.

"Then maybe Rose should keep the child?" Shampoo asked softly.

"That's different!" Akira snarled.

"Why do you care so much, it's not like she's even your-"

Shampoo crashed into the wall hard enough to punch a hole through it.

Akira wasn't even aware of leaving. She came to on the sidewalk, when Akane

caught her shoulder. Akira managed not to lash out at her.

"Hey, Shampoo wanted to let you know she's sorry," Akane said.

"Why didn't she come down to say so herself?" Akira snapped.

Akane smiled. "Because I think you broke her shoulder. And she's scared

of you."

Akira grunted and crossed her arms. "Whatever. She crossed a line. After

everything Ukyou and I went through..."

"I know how much you care about her, them... both of them," Akane said.

"Listen, Shampoo can be a bit abrasive. I think she's just on edge. The last

time Ukyou vanished like this, it was because of Galaxia..."

"It turned out okay, in the end," Akira replied defensively.

"Yes. It did." Akane nodded. "Then again..." She turned her eyes away.

"What?" Akira felt her anger rising again. She knew she shouldn't push

this. She wasn't going to like what Akane had to say.

"It's just..." Akane paused. "It turned out okay, as far as we

remember."

"Yeah..."

"Well, sometimes I wonder, if it really did turn out okay." Akane sighed

and adjusted the hem of her skirt.

"What are you suggesting?" Akira growled.

"Just... if Ukyou decided to just change all of us... how would we know?

She could just alter the past, or the present, or anything else. You know what

she did." Akane gestured up into the sky. "She just... willed Galaxia away. Her

and all her armies. Across the entire universe, all at once. Ukyou just... fixed

it." Akane snapped her fingers. "Like that."

"And that's a bad thing?" Akira asked incredulously.

"No! Of course not!" Akane paused. "It's just... a lot of power. She

could do a lot with that."

"Well she didn't!" Akira snapped. But Akira remembered that single

image. Nothing but a flash in time. It could just be a nightmare, half

remembered in the morning. The idea that Ukyou would... would edit her, was just

unthinkable. Because if she could, then everything about their relationship

was...

No. That wasn't true. It couldn't be.

"Yeah, you're right..." Akane laughed. She rubbed the back of her neck.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just being a little morbid. This is Ukyou we're talking

about. She wouldn't even let us give her a medal or put her name in the papers."

She chuckled a bit. "If there is anyone humble enough to trust with that kind of

power, it's Ukyou."

"Damn straight," Akira said, nodding. "Now, we just have to figure out

where she went."

"The problem is, that as long as Pluto's missing too, they could be

anywhere... or anywhen."

"Well..." Akira smiled. "I'll just have to trust in fate, then."

OoOoO

The conference room went silent for a few long minutes as Purgstall

finished his speech. He sat down, adjusting the papers in front of him. The

image in the background of Gyro's death, caught in freeze-frame, lent his words

a solemn reality. A grumble of dissent stirred among the crowd, but was quickly

silenced when the elegant elfin-faced man at the head of the table tapped his

finger once. Everyone turned to face him.

"Purgstall, I'm putting you in charge of finding out about these new

threats." He frowned. "This, combined with the problems in America and Italy,

worry me. Perhaps it is not the right time to come out into the open, after

all." He paused. "We can not risk our operations, not at this late stage." He

stood up. "Do what you feel is necessary to prevent any further lose of Chronos

resources."

"Yes, my lord..." Purgstall said with a smile, bowing as the man walked

out. The scene faded to white again.

Ukyou nodded. "I remember that fight."

"Against Gyro?" Pluto asked.

"Yeah..." She looked down at her hands. "I was still getting a handle on

my powers. I might have lost it. But in the end, I overpowered him." She

shrugged.

"And by facing him..." Pluto murmured. "You prevented all the horror

that was to follow."

"Horror?" Ukyou asked.

"In the original timeline..." Pluto trailed off. "I won't go into the

bloody details, but let me say this. Chronos did not decide to be peaceful.

Their forces rose up violently across the globe, slaughtering anyone who

resisted and throwing all the metanormals into research labs so they could be

studied or converted..."

Ukyou felt sick. "Why didn't I stop it?" she shouted.

"You... were busy at the time." Pluto shrugged. "You went to England, to

fight the vampires."

"The what?"

"The vampires." Pluto raised one of her eyebrows.

"Never heard of them. Some sort of criminal cartel?"

"You've... never heard of vampires?" Pluto seemed aghast. "Undead

creatures that feed on the blood of the living?"

"Uh... no." Ukyou shrugged. "Seems kinda silly."

Pluto turned back to the timegates, and began to scan through it again.

For some reason, she kept focusing on England and Minako. As she continued to

scan through the young woman's early career as a superhero, she continued to ask

Ukyou questions. "Have you ever heard of Millennium?" Ukyou indicated she

hadn't. "Alucard?" Ukyou hadn't heard of that name either. "Dracula? Nosferatu?

Bram Stoker? None of this is ringing a bell, is it..."

"No," Ukyou said, frowning. "Why, is that something else from the

original timeline?"

"Yes..." Pluto allowed the images of Minako to fade out. "Vampires

are... horrific things. They attacked England, and killed nearly everyone there.

From there, they invaded the rest of Europe and spread like a plague across the

globe."

"Well..." Ukyou looked down at her hand. "I suppose there is no reason

to miss them."

"Yes..." Pluto said with a sigh. "This world, everything in its history

is so different from the one I know." She looked at Ukyou, her eyes sad. "But

nonetheless, I think that may be the key."

"The key?" Ukyou looked up. They'd been at this for what felt like days.

Pluto told her that in reality, no time at all was passing. Which was good,

because Ukyou still had to be back in Nerima by tomorrow. If she wasn't, then

she would miss... would miss...

"So far, every change I've seen between the real timeline and this one

is something you caused." Pluto held up her staff. "Either because you made a

different choice, or because you had a lot more power. Even the ones that seemed

to be part of someone else's work can be traced back to you by the ripple

effect. America didn't become a military state because it never got into a war

with Chronos which never happened because Purgstall convinced Arkanphel to play

more peacefully with the rest of the world which happened because you defeated

Gyro in single combat."

"That was quite a mouthful," Ukyou said with a chuckle. She lowered her

hand from her forehead. She kept feeling she was forgetting something, but

couldn't focus on it.

"Yes, well, it's the truth." Pluto swung her staff around and the air

around them filled with images. It was Ukyou, in any number of places. In some

of the images, she was fighting. In others, she was laughing, or crying. In a

few of them, she was just sitting by herself. "I was beginning to think the big

difference here was that you gained access to your Third Circle powers so much

earlier." She flicked her staff and the images changed, this time displaying all

of Ukyou's friends. "And that spread out through all your actions and effected

the entire world." She banished the images with another flick of her arm.

"Except that I think there is one difference you didn't cause."

"The vampires?" Ukyou asked.

"Yes." Pluto nodded. "We've been looking for some way of tracing this

back to the Nameless. Some mistake he made when he created this illusion. And

this is it. This is the chink in the armour."

"So... what do we do?" Ukyou asked.

"Maybe Nanami can help us?"

"Nanami?"

"A woman who was turned into a vampire against her will." Pluto replied.

"You met her briefly. The Nameless used her to try and..." She trailed off.

"Anyway, I think we should go meet with her."

"Right..." Ukyou nodded. "Then let's not waste time. I have to be back

by tomorrow morning."

Pluto looked at her. Her gaze was sad, but quickly vanished behind a

mask of determination.

OoOoO

The explosion sent a tremor through the floor that almost knocked Ranma

off his feet. He stumbled, bracing himself with a grimace. There was another

explosion and one of the walls nearby blew inward, showering them with debris.

Ranma's hands blurred as he caught all the dangerous bits. He sighed as another

blast caused the floor to buckle.

"What is it with you and these exploding bases?"

Chris slowly tottered to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth with

the back of his hand. "Don't think you can escape this time, Ranma!" he shouted.

"I swear you, like, rig these things to explode beforehand!"

"Nonsense!" Chris shouted, clenching his fists.

"You do!" Ranma pointed at him. "You totally do!"

"I do not!" Chris shouted back, also pointing. "I have no idea what

you're talking about!" A chunk of the ceiling the size of a refrigerator

crashed down between them.

"Oh Chris..." Pink shouted sweetly, sticking her head in from the other

room. "The place is exploding, over."

"I noticed," Chris growled, his eyebrow twitching.

"Well, you may be immortal, but me and Link are not," she said,

vanishing through the archway. "So, we'll be leaving now! Bye-bye, over!"

Chris sighed and rubbed his face with one hand.

"Hey, you're the one who chose to become a supervillain," Ranma offered,

shrugging.

"I am not a supervillain!" Chris shouted, clenching his fist while veins

bulged in his forehead. "Just because all my bases explode every time you beat

me, does not make me a supervillain!"

"What about the evil monologues?" Ranma asked, sidestepping as a Greek

column crashed down where he had been standing.

"They are not monologues," Chris growled. He slipped backwards as a

pillar of fire disintegrated the floor where he had been standing. "I would

think you, of all people, would understand my situation and..."

"Blah, blah, blah, Ukyou shouldn't be god, it should be you, you're

going to steal her power and so on and so forth," Ranma interrupted, waving his

hands. "Listen, this place is getting a little too explodey for me. So, why

don't I just punch you while you scream something cliché and vanish into the

self-destructing fortress?"

"Damn it, Ranma!" Chris snarled. "I. Am. Not. A. Supervillain!"

"That'll do," Ranma shrugged and punched him in the face. Chris shouted

in pain and flew back, his body vanishing into a hole that was suddenly filled

with a torrent of flame. Ranma frowned. "Well, no one could possibly have

survived that!" he called, and turned to make a break for it.

It was a pretty standard self-destructing villain fortress escape from

that point. Ranma dodged collapsing walls and ceiling, evaded pits of fire and

other explosions and engaged in other feats of superhuman athletics. Eventually

he leapt out of one of the entrance, chased by a tongue of flame and a trail of

smoke as the building finally collapsed entirely behind him.

He almost forgot to smile for the camera.

"Nice shot!" Ran shouted, pulling down her camera.

"What can I say?" Ranma said, posing on one of the chunks of rock that

had been sent flying from Chris' latest fortress.

"Something quotable?" Ran suggested as she took out her notebook.

"Uh... Justice has once again triumphed over... uh..." Ranma scratched

his neck. "Did I already use that one?" Ran nodded. "How about the spirit of

friendship?" Ran nodded. "Okay, I got it." He cleared his throat. "The passion

of youth will always overcome..." He trailed off at her flat look. "Not that

one, too!"

"I'm afraid so," Ran replied apologetically.

"Life is too short to spend it on speeches!" There was a flash as the

setting sun glinted off golden hair. "True heroism is not fickle celebrity but

instead the pure desire to stand up and do what is right, as any citizen with

the will and power could do if he so chose."

"Wow!" Ran shouted. "That's good!" Her pencil scribbled madly.

"Yeah, and I bet she was up all night thinking of it," Ranma said,

sticking his tongue out at her.

Minako stuck her tongue back out at him and leapt down off the rubble.

"It's not my fault I'm a natural at this."

"Natural at hogging my glory!" Ranma accused mock-seriously.

"Oh, don't be that way," Minako laughed. "We're a team. The virtuous,

famous and lovely Sailor V, champion of the common man, and her kid sidekick

Ranma Saotome, the kung fu boy."

"I'll show you kung fu!" Ranma shouted, leaping at her just slowly

enough that she could dodge. She laughed as she led him on a merry chase away

from the collapsed hideout. Out of the corner of his eye Ranma thought he saw

Ran give him a weird look, but the expression quickly vanished behind her

notebook.

Minako had just reached the edge of the island and was turning around to

face him when her eyes widened. Ranma skidded to a stop and glanced over his

shoulder. Sometimes Chris would throw one last surprise at them after they

stopped his latest scheme. But that wasn't what he saw. Instead he saw a sphere

of purple energy slowly fading from existence. Two young women were inside it.

Ran was behind them, blinking and shielding her eyes from the dust their arrival

had blown up.

"Ukyou? Setsuna?"

Ukyou looked at him and smiled, thinly. Something seemed off about her

smile. It almost looked forced. As for Setsuna, there was something entirely

wrong with her bearing. She seemed more closed up than normal. She looked at

Minako, and blinked.

"Sailor V?" she asked.

"Huh?" Minako replied intelligently.

"I thought you wore armour..." She trailed off. "But of course, you

wouldn't in this timeline."

"Hey, hey!" Ran shouted, appearing in front of them. "What are you two

doing here? I thought tomorrow was the day you finally got the government out of

your life."

"Yeah..." Ukyou nodded. There wasn't much enthusiasm in her voice. "I

had to come and find out something."

"Well, if you were worried about Chris, there's no need," Ranma crowed.

"I already destroyed his fortress, again."

"Chris?" Ukyou's frown deepened. "Is he still trying to go Third

Circle?"

"Oh yes," Ran answered, nodding. "I think this time he was trying to tap

the world's ley lines or something like that." She glared at Ranma. "Somebody

didn't let him explain himself before he started the punching."

"It was boring!" Ranma complained.

"Besides, it's just the same old stuff." Minako crossed her arms.

"Hey, you don't think Chris would be stupid enough to try and kidnap..."

Ran trailed off slowly, looking at Ukyou.

Ukyou's eyes flashed. "He and I have already had a talk about getting

her involved in his little experiments." She ran a hand through her bangs. "We

have an... understanding when it comes to my family."

Ranma felt a chill pass down his spine at those words. It was times like

this that he remembered the only reason Chris could keep coming back from the

dead like he did was because Ukyou had felt so bad for him she had just... made

him immortal. But he pushed aside those thoughts.

"So, what are you looking for?" Ran asked.

Ukyou looked at Setsuna. The Senshi of Time looked back at her. "Well,

Minako should have some residue on her."

"Residue?" Minako shrieked. "Ew! Ew! Get it off!" She danced around,

looking for stains on her Senshi uniform.

"Spiritual residue," Ukyou explained.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Minako screamed at her.

"Uh... yes?" Ukyou paused. Then her hand snapped up and she grabbed

Minako by the forehead. Ranma shivered. He hadn't even seen her move. Minako

went still. The light of her Senshi symbol glowed between Ukyou's fingers. Ukyou

dropped her hand as the Venus icon faded. "Nothing."

"Like... oblivion nothing, or just... normal nothing?" Setsuna asked.

"Normal nothing," Ukyou explained. "Minako is perfectly normal. The

Third Circle has never touched her."

"Just like Nanami..." Setsuna chewed on her lower lip. "This can't be

right. There has to be some sign, some trace we can follow."

Ukyou shrugged. "You're the one who would know where to look?"

"Ranma, have you ever heard of a man named Alucard?"

Ranma paused. "Uh... no?"

"Too much to hope for," Setsuna sighed. "Well, there's only one other

person I can think of..." Setsuna trailed off.

"Who?" Ukyou asked.

"Also, what is going on here?" Ran leapt between the two. "Inquiring

minds want to know!"

"Please, not now, Ran." Ukyou waved the girl away. "Well, Pluto?"

"I..." Setsuna paused for a long time, obviously struggling with some

decision. "There's no choice then. Ukyou, what do you remember about Hotaru?"

OoOoO

"Thank you, Mr. Peori." Akira said into the phone. "Yes, I'll be certain

to let you know the moment I hear anything."

She sighed and flipped the cell phone closed. It had been a long shot.

Ukyou only rarely went to visit Aaron's family. Despite seven years to get used

to the idea, there was still a lot of social awkwardness between the Peoris and

their son-turned-daughter-turned-god. Still, Akira didn't like to think what

would have happened with Ukyou's psyche if she hadn't had some family to ground

her in the real world, even if it was a half-family.

Akira had barely closed the phone when it began to ring again. She

flipped it openly and almost shouted hello into the mouthpiece.

"Whoa! Akira, watch the ears," Ran called back, her voice distant in

only that way the telephone could make it. "I take it from that reaction you

probably aren't going to be able to help me."

"Ran..." Akira pinched her nose. "Sorry. I'm just... a little on edge."

"I guessed," Ran replied, her voice crackling softly. "Anyway, I was

going to ask you about Ukyou, but I think I might know more than you."

"You've seen her?" Akira asked sharply.

"She just showed up out the blue with Sailor Pluto, did some funky god-

scan on Minako and vanished."

"Vanished?" Akira said, suppressing a curse. "Do you have any idea where

she went?"

"She mentioned some girl named Hotaru..."

Akira stopped listening. She dropped the phone. Hotaru. Why would Ukyou

reopen that old wound? No, this was not right. They had both sworn to leave the

girl alone. She was living a normal life now. She ran over to her bike, trying

to remember Hotaru's address.

Even as she peeled out with a screech of protesting rubber she barely

heard Ran shouting at her over the dropped phone. Akira made a mental note to

apologise later. But for now, she had to prevent Ukyou from making another

mistake.

OoOoO

Ukyou froze.

The house was nothing special. It was two stories, with a neat little

front yard, and was located in a cozy little neighbourhood. The setting sun gave

it an air of melancholy. It looked about as harmless as a house could look. Even

the spirit of the place was utterly quaint. There was nothing supernatural or

dangerous about it. Two people lived inside.

Yet Ukyou couldn't take a step forward. Her breath was caught in her

throat. Her heart was pounding faster than it had in months. Her palms were

sweating.

She... remembered...

Her hand touched her forehead. Images seemed to drift unbidden out of

her subconscious. There was a man with a mask, holding a frightened girl. There

was a girl screaming for her father. There was a hallway full of hot air and the

child's scared eyes as she looked-

No, don't go there.

She lowered her hand. The images faded. The last thing she saw was a

cloud of swords, roaring through the air towards her. But when she opened her

eyes, it was just a house.

"Are you okay, Ukyou?" Pluto asked.

"I'm fine..." Ukyou murmured, waving her aside. "Just... fragments."

"Maybe those were your true memories?" Pluto said. "The ones not created

by the Nameless." She frowned. "It appears coming here was a good idea, despite

my misgivings."

"I suppose," Ukyou admitted. She sighed. "Let's get this over with,

then."

It was only a short walk to the front door. Ukyou half expected it to

feel longer, but it was actually almost pleasant. The doorbell gave off a cheery

chime. They didn't have to wait long before the door opened.

Ukyou stiffened as a white-haired man peered out. The arcane symbol

etched into the glass plate covering his left eye gleamed sinisterly and his

smile widened unnaturally- Except he had no arcane diagram. He just had two

normal human eyes and his smile was not at all unnatural. It was just a friendly

smile of a man greeting someone at his door. Not exactly genuine, but enough for

civility.

"May I help you?"

Ukyou opened her mouth. She saw the man, lying on a field of green

grass, a red stain congealing on his shirt. His blank eye stared up into the

sky, and a girl sat beside him, crying and crying...

"We're here to see Hotaru," Pluto stepped in, knocking Ukyou out of the

phantom memory. The man glanced at her, his eyes travelling up and down her

outfit. For a moment Ukyou thought he was admiring the view, but his eyes

narrowed.

"Oh, really?" He stepped out and closed the door behind him. "I'm afraid

she's not available."

"It's very important that we see her," Pluto insisted.

"That's what you people said the last time." He looked at Ukyou. "I

remember you now. After what you did last time, you can forget being able to see

Hotaru. She's recovered and is living a perfectly normal life now."

"What I did?" Ukyou asked. For the life of her, she couldn't remember

what that was. She knew it was bad. She'd done something without thinking and it

had... had...

("Because I hate you!" Hotaru roared. Her little hands curled into

fists. "And my one selfish wish before the world dissolves, is to see you die!")

Ukyou braced herself against the wall of the house. Her mind was

spinning. Had that been a memory? It seemed likely. The girl, Hotaru, she had

looked like something from a horror movie. Her skin had been pale, her face

covered in blood, her little teeth a field of fangs. What had happened to her?

Why did Ukyou deserve that much hatred?

Pluto grabbed her shoulder. "Mr. Tomoe, I understand that your history

with the Sailor Senshi has been... delicate. However, there is something we need

to talk with your daughter about. It may very well be the most important thing

in the universe."

"Damnit!" he shouted. "I don't care about your big concerns!" He slashed

his arm in front of them. "All I care about is my daughter. If you freaks want

to drag her back into that world, I won't have it. Now get off my property!"

"Mr. Tomoe..." Pluto trailed off under his glare.

"If you're not gone in five seconds I'm calling the police," he informed

them.

Ukyou frowned. Why was she listening to this? She didn't have to deal

with him. She could just walk through him. She wouldn't even have to hurt him.

Akira even described the process as vaguely pleasant, but that might have been a

biased account. And if Ukyou didn't feel like walking through him she could make

him see reason. She could...

Her perception scaled back, and outward. She could feel the world

unfolding around her. All the millions of little connections that made it up,

were suddenly clear as day. She could see the soul of Suichi Tomoe, his concern

for his daughter and his mistrust of them. It was such a small thing, those tiny

lights. She could just... move them. It would be no more difficult than mod-

chipping a game console, or loading a pair of dice or...

No. She lowered her hand and suddenly all the extra perception just

vanished.

"Father, there's no need to get upset."

All three of them looked at the door. It had opened soundlessly. The

young girl who stood on the other side couldn't have been more than fourteen.

Her large purple eyes stared at Ukyou. She looked young and healthy, and she

even smiled. Somewhere inside, Ukyou felt her heart slow down.

"Hotaru, please go back inside..."

"No, father." Hotaru shook her head. "I may no longer be a Sailor

Senshi, but I have not forgotten my duty." She looked at Ukyou again. "Please,

come inside. I made some lemonade. We can discuss your crisis over that."

"I... thank you." Ukyou smiled and nodded happily.

Hotaru stepped aside to let them in. Ukyou paused only long enough to

exchange her shoes for guest slippers before walking directly into the living

room. Pluto followed her more warily, but Ukyou sat down without any

reservations. Pluto knelt next to her. Hotaru spoke with her father briefly and

he frowned but walked off into the house.

"You seem happy," Pluto said.

"Yes, I am..." Ukyou said with a sigh. "She's... alright."

"Yes, she is..." Pluto murmured softly.

"Whatever I did, it can't be that bad."

There was a clack as Hotaru set a glass in front of her. Ukyou thanked

her and took a small sip. It was tart. Needed more sugar. She declined to say as

much. Hotaru finished serving Pluto and herself before sitting across from them.

She took a sip of her glass.

"You're such a pitiful creature, Ukyou," Hotaru said, her pleasant tone

not wavering. "A few happy endings and all your righteous indignation drains

away."

Pluto gasped and shot to her feet. Ukyou's hand snapped out, catching

her glass before it could tip over. The girl didn't react. She merely took

another drink of her lemonade and set it on the table. "Please sit down, Pluto.

There's no need to be so rude."

Pluto stiffened and began to reach for her Time Key Staff. Ukyou

gestured for her to stop, then indicated her former position. The green-haired

Senshi paused, indecision obvious on her features for a few moments. Finally she

sat down, very reluctantly.

"You know why I'm here," Ukyou said. It wasn't a question.

"Of course." Hotaru smiled. "He still speaks to me, Ukyou." She closed

her eyes and beamed. "In fact, now I can hear his voice more clearly than ever.

You cleared away all that annoying static."

"The Paradox," Pluto gasped.

Ukyou clenched her temple. She remembered walking forward into a cloud

of swords. The pain blossomed all around her, driving into her arms and legs and

chest. But she kept healing it. The pain of the Paradox was nothing. She just

had to heal it away. Hotaru's face floated before her, her eyes staring and

shocked as Ukyou reached through the swords for her. The swords were vanishing,

becoming light. But more swords took their place, which became more light and

then... and then-

"Congratulations, Ukyou," Hotaru said. "You won."

"I... won?"

"Yes." Hotaru gestured to the glass. "Please, drink."

"What did I win?"

"Everything," Hotaru offered.

"I don't understand."

"No. You don't want to understand. You do know what I'm talking about.

If you didn't, you couldn't have gotten here." Hotaru refilled her glass from a

pitcher in the centre of the table. The ice and lemon slices floated in it like

wraiths.

"Where is here?" Pluto asked sharply.

"Heaven." Ukyou blinked. Pluto opened and closed her mouth a few times.

"Nirvana. Yu Shan. Valhalla. Whatever you want to call it." Hotaru shrugged.

"Are we dead?" Pluto asked in a strained voice.

Hotaru laughed. "Oh, dear no. Quite the opposite. It wouldn't be much of

a paradise if everyone was dead." She picked up her glass. "Besides, thanks to

Ukyou, the dead can't walk around bothering people anymore." She took a long

drink, forcing Ukyou to consider what the girl had just said.

She looked down at her hand. She remembered placing it against Hotaru's

forehead. She could almost feel the blood from the girl's constantly oozing

wound. She recalled the desire in her, the overwhelming need to just fix the

girl. She knew it was impossible. There was no way she could save Hotaru. But

still, if only she could undo what had happened to her... make it so that she

didn't feel the pain she had felt...

"No more vampires..." Ukyou whispered. Pluto looked at her. Hotaru

raised an eyebrow. Ukyou felt herself begin to shake. "That was... that was..."

It was all rushing back at once. The confusion and the pain almost

overshadowed the few moments of happiness. But they seemed all the brighter

because of that. And she remembered wanting so badly to fix Hotaru. She

remembered her mind trying to seize upon anything. She remembered needing it.

And the thought that had flashed through her mind just before something had

opened up all around her.

"No more vampires," she repeated. "I did it. I... I removed them. I

wanted them gone, and then they were." Ukyou looked at Pluto, her eyes widening

in fear. "Good god, Pluto. I just... I just unmade them!"

"You destroyed all the vampires?" Pluto said, failing to keep her voice

steady.

"No, I didn't destroy them... I erased them!" Ukyou stared at her hands.

"I needed to fix Hotaru, to relieve her of her pain. And the world seemed to

unfold around me and it all seemed so simple. Vampires are just a painful

concept. No good ever came out of them. It was so easy, to just will it away.

To make the entire universe change and remove the very essence of them..." Ukyou

trailed off.

"And so you created this world, Ukyou." Hotaru indicated Ukyou's glass.

"This is your heaven, Ukyou. Maybe it's not perfect. But you would never accept

an utterly perfect world, would you?" Hotaru stood up. "Nothing went really

wrong here, Ukyou. None of your friends were tortured to death. You were never

mentally and physically violated. You never abandoned anybody. The world didn't

explode into violence. The universe is at peace... all because of your wishes."

"It's a lie!" Pluto shouted, leaping to her feet again. This time Ukyou

didn't save her glass in time. The clear yellow liquid pooled on the table.

"This whole world, it's a lie!"

"Is it?" Hotaru replied, smiling. "You and Ukyou are so alike." Hotaru

walked around the table and reached for Ukyou's bandaged arm. Ukyou hesitated,

then allowed the girl to take it. "You both cling to your pain so tightly." She

slowly unwound the bandages as she spoke. "You let your scars define the shape

of your lives." The bandages fell to the floor, revealing the still fresh cuts.

"Why is it so hard to just... let them heal?" White light poured out from

Hotaru's fingers as she kneaded the scars. Gentle, comfortable warmth spread

across Ukyou's arm. She shivered. But when Hotaru pulled back her hand, the

scars were still there. "Still stubborn," Hotaru chided.

"This place is an illusion," Ukyou said, standing up and cradling her

arm.

"No, it isn't." Hotaru shook her head. "It's real. As real as your old

world was. The people here, they live and breathe and have souls. They have

memories and histories." She shrugged. "What does it matter that they were spun

out of whole cloth when you woke up this morning?" She gestured to the walls.

"The old world was just over seven years old, no matter what the history books

said."

"I want to go back," Ukyou insisted.

"To what?" Hotaru challenged.

"To my home."

"This can be your home, Ukyou," Hotaru asserted. "All your friends are

here. All of them, including the ones you lost. Akira is here. She's on her way

here, even as we speak."

"Stop it, Hotaru," Ukyou growled, her body shaking. She remembered. She

remembered the feeling of emptiness within her. The sudden lurching certainty

that her connection with Akira was no more. And a moment later, the Paradox

exploding around her in confirmation.

"You could make a life for yourselves here," Hotaru pointed out.

"Everything that was taken from you. You can have it back."

"I want to go home!" Ukyou screamed. There was a flash of silver as she

lashed out, chopping the table in two with the Silence Glaive.

Hotaru paused. She tilted her head, as if listening to some far off

voice. Then she nodded. "Very well. I'll take you there." She turned to Pluto.

"I'll need to borrow your power."

"I... of course..." Pluto said. She stretched out the Time Key Staff.

Hotaru placed one hand on the Garnet Orb. Just as she did there was a bang as

the front door flew open. A figure in black ran in.

"Ukyou!" she shouted.

"Go faster!" Ukyou hissed.

"Ukyou, what are you-"

And then they were gone.

OoOoO

Ukyou kept her eyes closed for the trip. But she could feel it

happening. They moved through time and space. She could feel the very concepts

of the universe bending around her. There was something profound moving behind

Hotaru's hands. Not just the girl. There was a power there.

She recognised it.

Her eyes snapped open as the bubble of nulltime faded around them,

letting back in the feel of the real world. She fixed her gaze on Hotaru. The

girl was smiling. But there was something more there, behind her eyes. It was

larger than her. It was bent and folded into her to the point of bursting. Her

purple eyes returned Ukyou's gaze. Behind those eyes, there was nothing but

Hotaru.

"Hotaru... what happened to you?"

"I told you, Ukyou," Hotaru said with a pleased sigh. "I can hear the

Nameless much more clearly now." She reached up and clasped her hands over her

breast. "I can feel him, inside me. He is with me. He is a part of me, as he is

a part of all things."

"This is..." Pluto murmured, distracting Ukyou. She looked around.

This was the Tendo Dojo. The training room was unchanged. The lacquered

wood floors still had that faintly oily scent to them. The walls looked as if

they had been repaired frequently, but with great care. There was a shrine in

the far corner, and tatami mats opposite it.

Ukyou wandered over to the large sliding doors. Her hand reached up and

brushed the screens. She could feel beyond those doors. The part of her that was

Aaron could feel people out in the house proper. They were... afraid and

concerned. They were concerned about her, Ukyou realised.

"We haven't left," Pluto said. She pointed her staff at Hotaru. "You

didn't take us back!"

"Don't!" Ukyou warned. "It won't do any good."

Hotaru smiled. "I did exactly what you asked."

"Don't play word games with us!" Pluto shouted, but she lowered her

staff. "You know what we meant."

"Ukyou, Pluto may not be able to sense it, but you can." Hotaru held out

her hand. "Stop looking at the world with those limited eyes. Stop seeing it as

fields of chi or mana. Stop understanding things as something within them." She

stepped forward. "Let yourself see, from a different point of view."

Ukyou stared down at the girl. Then she changed herself. Her perception

became bigger than reality. Her understanding became larger. The world ceased to

be people and places and things. It became potentials. An infinity of infinities

folded out and out, stretching on forever. Uncountable worlds all existed, all

entwined within the same space. All of it was touching in more ways than there

were numbers.

And yet she didn't lose track of herself. A part of her remained in that

room, staring down at that little girl. Her body was there, a part of who she

was. She realised with mild surprise that this too, was part of the plan. One

being, two souls. Two points of view. Infinity and finite. Within and without.

"Good," Hotaru said. Except it wasn't Hotaru. Or it wasn't all Hotaru.

Her potential self was overshadowed by something far grander. It echoed through

all her destiny lines, across all her beings. It vibrated through her and around

her. "You're finally seeing."

"You aren't Hotaru," Ukyou said.

"I am," the girl said, she giggled. "And I am the Nameless." The

potentials around her shimmered and flexed, the Third Circle equivalent of a

shrug. "That name, that concept, is one you branded my overself with. It serves

a purpose, in its own way.

"But you fail to understand its implications," the Nameless-within-

Hotaru said.

"Let her go," Ukyou hissed.

"I can not." The girl pouted. "I need her. Without her, I can not speak

to you."

"Are you afraid I'll fight you directly?" Ukyou clenched her hands into

fists. She could feel the world around her begin to vibrate in tune with her

will. It was... a surprisingly mundane feeling. She had expected a headrush, or

some sort of intoxicating sense of purpose and power. Instead, she just felt

aware.

Hotaru laughed. And Ukyou could tell that it was Hotaru laughing. The

overentity entwined through all her potential selves did not vibrate in tune

with her amusement. "Please, Ukyou. You don't have a chance against the

Nameless." She shook her head. "No, Ukyou. He needs me to speak with you because

without me he has no voice."

"No voice..." Ukyou murmured.

"No voice, no name, no identity..." Hotaru looked away. Ukyou could feel

the attention of the overentity swirling around Hotaru's soultree. Fingers of

intangible presence stretched out across the web of lives that touched Hotaru's,

trailing up and down the timelines of their lives like a violinist tuning an

instrument. "Your great enemy, Ukyou," Hotaru said, "is Nothing."

Ukyou could perceive the phantom presence as it floated along the web,

and as its tendrils touched her own potential she realised it was... like a

morning mist. No, even less. There was no weight to it, no focus. It was

diffuse...

"Don't touch me," Ukyou snarled. Ukyou flared her own presence, and the

Nameless retreated. "You're a ghost."

"A useful term," the Nameless-in-Hotaru said. "I was once like you,

Ukyou. I was once... a mortal. I think. I..." Hotaru's face frowned and she

rubbed her temple. "I can't remember, anymore. My past, my purpose... it's gone.

It faded away long ago." She sighed, and Ukyou felt herself shudder.

She had once managed to erase herself. She had vanished, allowing

herself to be folded up inside the identity of Lotus Infinite. But even then,

she had been able to say she had some sense of self. No matter how much Bison

tried to erase her, she retained some small spark of herself. Even if it was a

twisted parody of a human being, unlike anything she had been before, it had

been something.

"I am nothing," the Nameless-in-Hotaru said. Her face twisted into a

scowl. "Once, long ago, I ascended to the Third Circle. And in so doing, I

created a Paradox backlash so large it annihilated everything I was. My entire

universe was gone. Everyone that had existed with me was gone. There was

nothing, Ukyou. NOTHING!" Hotaru roared and curled her hands into claws.

"Nothing but the power. I had escaped the Paradox, but at the cost of

everything. I was... I was nothing."

Hotaru shivered, and then visibly calmed herself. When she spoke, her

tone was more level. "I do not remember how long I spent like that, existing as

mindless, diffuse power. I cannot even remember..." She trailed off. "In time,

I discovered I could touch the timelines of others. Or maybe they could touch

me. When my overself touched the soul of a person who had been removed from the

Oversoul, it picked up some traits of that person. For a moment, I was alive

again...

"And then the Paradox found me," Hotaru hissed out bitterly.

"Paradox never goes away..." Ukyou murmured.

"Precisely!" Hotaru shouted in triumph. "The Paradox that I had created

in my ascension still existed. And it trailed me. It could not be said to hunt

me. Paradox has no mind. It is merely Oblivion, seeking to consume. And because

I could perceive it, it could perceive me." Her voice grew thick. "The life I

touched was consumed by Oblivion, as was the entire world. This happened again

and again. Eventually, by accident and design, I discovered I could touch a

world but lightly."

The overself inside Hotaru stretched out and Ukyou felt it spinning

itself smaller and smaller. Until it was nothing more than a filament. It

flicked across the soultrees, touching here and there. Where it touched, a

ripple spread. Small ripples, echoing off each other.

"I found people like Hotaru," The Nameless-in-Hotaru explained. "Souls

that could survive some exposure to Paradox. These souls I touched more deeply.

I invested a part of myself in them. Or perhaps they defined me. Does it really

matter?

"The point is that they became points of reference. Things outside

myself that I could use to define myself..."

The filaments withdrew into Hotaru. "But it was never enough," her voice

was thick. "It was like watching a picture of a perfect family. It was like

someone describing a good meal. It was like an echo of an echo of a lover's

voice." Her hands curled into fists. She squeezed her eyes tight.

"If I touched the world, it would die. It would be torn apart by my very

presence. I was too large for existence." Tears began to leak out from behind

her eyelids. "And if I withdrew... I would just lose it all. Even the memory of

it would vanish. I can't know what I've lost! How many times have I almost

existed? HOW MANY?

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" The Nameless screamed with Hotaru's voice. "All I want

is to touch! All I want is to see! I want to remember, and be remembered. I want

to feel and experience and grow and change and exist!" Her eyes snapped open.

"All the things you take for granted, I can never have."

Hotaru turned and walked to the centre of the room. Her body was calm,

but the thing entwined within her soul was writhing with violent energy. "Even

this body, this soul and identity... this is not real. Hotaru has allowed me to

use her voice, but I know that I can touch her only like this. I am closer to

Hotaru than any other fetich soul I have ever touched, and still it all feels

empty." She looked down at her hands. "These hands are not my hands. This voice

is not my voice. Even these words are the ones that Hotaru chooses to express my

presence. Even the feelings I experience are just a reflection of her. I am

nothing."

"What do you want with us?" Ukyou asked.

"I want to be you."

Ukyou froze. She could feel the Nameless stirring within Hotaru. Its

tendrils reached for her, in the overspace. She hardened herself, twining the

Ukyou and Aaron together so tightly that even his intangible spirit could not

fit between the cracks.

"Please... Ukyou." The Nameless-in-Hotaru turned to look at her, her

voice sad and haunted. "I've been trying so long to create one like you. You are

the culmination of an endless string of experiments." She stepped forward. "You

achieved the Third Circle, and retained yourself." Her voice slowly grew

stronger, more hopeful. "You didn't just brush against it, and then retreat

away. You weren't torn apart. You conquered the Paradox. You achieved what I

never could, because I lacked the very identity you had."

Hotaru offered her hand. "The two parts of you, that was the key." She

laughed and skipped around Ukyou. The Nameless thing within her soul quivered

excitedly. "So many failures... but you did it! The key was making you BOTH go

Third Circle at the same time. If one of you had made the transition before the

other, the stress would have torn you apart. But you could just... heal the

Paradox. You could free it. You can exist, as two things at once, as God and

Mortal." She fell down and started laughing. "You are a perfect thing!"

She stopped laughing abruptly and her expression turned serious. "I did

all of this, so I could create you." She stood up, her head looking down. "I did

it, so I could become you."

"No..." Ukyou hissed, backing away.

"You don't need to fear me taking over," the Nameless-in-Hotaru said,

snapping her head up. Her expression was earnest. "I am nothing. I could not

overpower your mind if I wanted to. I would just... fuse into you. My power, my

presence, would become a part of you. Whatever identity I had, wouldn't matter.

It would vanish in between Ukyou and Aaron. It would act like the glue." She

held out a hand imploringly. "My power, all of my power, would be a part of

you."

"No..." Aaron groaned.

"You would be God." The thing-and-Hotaru paused. "You could be MORE than

God. You would be everything. You could have everything."

"No."

Her eyebrow twitched. "Why? Why reject me?"

"I don't want to be god!" Ukyou roared.

"What choice do you have, Ukyou?" Hotaru asked. "Look beyond this world.

Look at the Oversoul. Look at all the world out there. What do you see?'

Ukyou stretched herself out further... and she didn't find it.

"Your world is gone, Ukyou," the Nameless said. "You changed it, in that

moment when the two of you ascended. I just... stepped in and made it better."

She gestured around. "THIS is your home, Ukyou. This is your world. This is what

you have fought for." The Nameless-in-Hotaru smiled. "Only better."

"I know..." Ukyou looked down. "You changed everything." Her hands

clenched. "I don't care. I won't submit."

"Why not?!" the Nameless-in-Hotaru shrieked.

"You DARE ask that!" Ukyou roared. "You... you tortured me! You

tormented my friends! You created an entire world, just so you could make it

explode! You're a sick, emotionless monster! You killed my friends, just to

provoke me! You teased me with love, just to motivate me!

"NO MORE!

"I am not your puppet!"

The Nameless went very still. The thing entwined in Hotaru's soul,

folded and bent to fit between the branches of her destiny, flexed. The girl

gasped and collapsed to her knees. Blood oozed from her eyes and the corners of

her mouth.

"Leave her alone!" Ukyou roared.

"Or what?" The Nameless replied, her voice icy. Ukyou paused. She felt

a cold sweat break out on her skin. "What will you do, Ukyou? How will you stop

me?"

"I'll..." she trailed off. She had the Third Circle, right? She should

be able to fight the Nameless now. "I'll fight you!"

"You can't harm me, Ukyou," the Nameless-in-Hotaru replied coldly. "I am

Nothing. I have no body to bruise, no mind to shatter, no soul to abuse. I have

no destiny to rewrite, no purpose to be twisted." She stood up, her body moving

jerkily, like a marionette. "You can't fight me, Ukyou.

"I suffer no such limitation."

Ukyou screamed. She fell to her knees. Her overself shrieked as the

Nameless lashed out. It was nothing like any attack she had ever felt. It struck

her everywhere at once. It was in her past, and her future. It was in her body

and mind and soul. It spread through every part of herself. It wasn't just pain.

It was the reality of pain. It was the definition of pain. She was being remade

into living pain.

And just before she snapped like a twig, it stopped.

She knelt, panting on the ground. Hotaru stood over her, looking down at

her with a smile of dreadful joy. "You seem to think you have a choice here,

Ukyou." Hotaru's fingers curled around her chin, lifting it up. She could feel

the Nameless coiling itself tighter and tighter into the girl's destiny. "I did

not go through all this trouble to give you a choice. You will allow me to

become you."

"Never..." Ukyou hissed.

"Oh please, don't pretend you have that kind of strength, Ukyou," Hotaru

said with a snort. "I chose you very carefully. I know that, in the end, you'll

break."

Ukyou started, the Nameless and Hotaru smiled. "Oh yes. I was very

careful. I could have chosen anyone. I can create people out of whole cloth. I

can forge entire realities. Did you think you were special? Stronger than other

souls?" She chuckled. "Far from it. You are flawed, terrible human beings. Ukyou

and Aaron, two beings that seem strong and reliable, but that fold in the

critical moment." She released Ukyou's chin, letting her drop back to the

ground. "And you've proven me right again and again. You know that when you

can't win, you'll compromise. You accept me, even if it makes your skin crawl."

Hotaru leaned down and hissed into her ear. "I WILL have my identity."

She straightened and backed up a step. "So... you get to choose, Ukyou," she

said in a tone that suggested the exact opposite.

"Either you allow me to become one with you...

"Or I destroy everything."

"You... wouldn't..." Ukyou gasped.

"Really?" Hotaru-as-Nameless chuckled. "Hotaru wants me to. It's such a

compelling emotion. Even as a pale reflection, it's very strong. I've never felt

a desire this strong in all the memories I scraped together for myself." She

knelt in front of Ukyou. "I would enjoy it. I would enjoy casting this whole

mess into Oblivion."

Her smile was vicious. "After all, I know how it's done now, Ukyou."

Ukyou's blood went cold.

"Even if you refuse," she explained. "I can just do this again.

Different people. Or the same. Doesn't matter to me. I can try it over and over

again. I've done it before, I can do it again." She laughed. "I have forever! I

AM forever!" She stood up, throwing her arms out.

It could do it. It would do it. It had already done it. How many times

had someone been here, in this position? How many other "perfect beings" had the

Nameless created with its twisted experiments? How many times had she herself

been here, in this place, faced with this choice?

It would think nothing of scrubbing the entire experiment. It would

start over again. It knew how to make it work. It just had to keep trying, until

finally someone submitted. How many more worlds would have to suffer? How many

more innocents would it create, just to torment? Not just the fate of herself,

and Hotaru and everything she held dear was at stake here. The fate of

uncountable billions of souls that did not even exist yet was in her hands. If

she did not stop this madness here, it would just go on and on until the

Nameless won.

She couldn't fight it. There was nothing to hurt. There was nothing to

struggle against. Slowly, very slowly, she rose to her feet.

"Are you ready?" the Nameless-in-Hotaru asked. Ukyou looked at Hotaru.

The girl smiled. "I know how you feel about me," Hotaru said, and Ukyou could

sense it was her voice now. That there was nothing of the Nameless in these

words. It was letting Hotaru speak for it now, figuratively instead of

literally. "You think that by saving me, you can redeem yourself." She pulled

back her bangs, revealing her forehead. "You lost your child, Ukyou. You had her

taken from you. Bison practically tore the girl from your womb. He twisted and

corrupted it, destroyed it to make room for himself. And even when he was

defeated, you needed to save Rose. You gave up your child.

"And that's why you fixated on me," Hotaru said. "You hadn't even

thought about me until after you knew there was no way to get your little girl

back. Then, suddenly, I became all-important." She sighed. "I am not your child,

Ukyou. I am not your redemption. You tried to help me, in the only way you

could. You failed. I was lost.

"But you thought to yourself, 'If I can save Hotaru, that means I saved

the child. I saved the girl I lost because I was too weak and selfish to defend

it.' That would make it all right." She shook her head. "Like everything else,

it was just another selfish desire."

Hotaru stretched her arms out. "I can never forgive you, Ukyou. But you

don't have to get my forgiveness. This isn't about me. This is about you. Your

choice here can make it all worthwhile, Ukyou. You can either justify all the

suffering, and make it okay. Or you can be stubborn, and have it mean nothing.

And if you choose to fight, you make me right. You prove that you're just a

selfish bitch who can't handle responsibility."

"You're wrong..." Ukyou hissed. She closed her eyes.

"Wrong?" Hotaru sighed. "Ukyou... you think you need to save me. I don't

want to be saved. I want it to end. But if you want redemption... you don't need

a substitute child."

There was a whisper as the screen door of the dojo slid open. Ukyou

stiffened. There was a presence there. It was a small presence. It stepped into

the room. Ukyou didn't look. She couldn't look.

"Mama?"

"No..." Ukyou moaned.

"Mama, is that you?" The presence took a few steps closer. Ukyou didn't

look at it. Aaron didn't focus on it. It existed as a shadow at the edge of

their perceptions. "They said... they said it's okay to see you now."

"You bastard..." Ukyou growled, squeezing her eyes shut. That way, she

couldn't look. She couldn't see.

"Mama? I... I was lonely. Mr Tofu is nice, but I... I missed..." The

presence stepped closer. "Mama? What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Damn you..." Ukyou growled at the Nameless. She still didn't look, even

when the Presence touched her. Little hands touched her leg. Warm hands. Real

hands. Child's hands. A girl's hands. She couldn't look. If she looked, she was

lost. She would crumble. She would do anything to not have to unsee this. So she

couldn't see it.

"Mama? Why won't you look at me?" The presence's hands grabbed the side

of her coat, and began to tug at her. The voice began to grow annoyed. "This is

a terrible game, Mama. I don't like this game."

"Your choice, Ukyou," Hotaru and the Nameless said.

"Mama! Please, look at me! Say something! MAMA!"

"I..." Ukyou swallowed her words.

"You can have it all, or you can have nothing, and I win either way."

"Please! Mama, please! JUST LOOK AT ME!"

"DAMN YOU!" Ukyou shrieked, and made it all go away.

OoOoO

Sailor Pluto realised she was out of her element. As Ukyou and Hotaru

confronted each other, she understood that there was another confrontation going

on outside of her ability to perceive. There was something huge behind Hotaru,

something within and around her. Pluto could no more perceive it then she could

see all existence at once. She had the dreadful feeling that whatever was beyond

Hotaru was bigger than the entire universe.

Pluto might have been able to handle that. The problem was what she was

sensing coming from Ukyou. Pluto shuddered as she felt the presence of the girl

expand. It didn't seem to be just one presence. There was a duality to it. Yet

Pluto could not pin it down. Ukyou's presence was growing. Growing faster than

Pluto could conceive. It flooded out from her, and as it did, she changed.

When Pluto had first been revived in this world, Ukyou had appeared as

she once had seven years ago, long before her misadventures had left their marks

on her. Now, as the feeling of Ukyou continued to grow and grow the image of the

girl was shifting. The crude cuts on her arm weathered and deepened into shallow

scars. The colour of her eyes darkened, and the shape of them shifted into lotus

flowers. Her unscarred arm burned with purple light as tattoos etched themselves

into her flesh in a swirl of sparks. The symbol of Neptune flared brightly on

her forehead. Her clothing shifted with the change. Instead of a shirt and pants

she wore a tight white and black bodysuit with cords strapped around the shins.

Her trenchcoat flapped behind her in an unseen wind.

Ukyou did not notice these changes. She rose to her feet after being hit

by some sort of attack, her face twisted in pain. Pluto had not even sensed

whatever it was the Nameless had struck her with, and was glad. She could barely

follow the conversation happening between them. She could hear the words, but

there was something happening beneath and above the level of mere words.

There was a form of communication happening between them that Pluto couldn't

hope to understand.

And Ukyou's presence was still growing.

Pluto closed her eyes. This was just like the final moments of the

confrontation in Elysium. As Ukyou had rushed through the Swords of Hate,

brushing through the Paradox, Pluto had felt something changing then, too. Ukyou

had been curing the Paradox, and that is what Pluto had convinced herself she

had seen.

It wasn't. She had been witness to Ukyou's ascension to godhood. There

was simply no other way to adequately describe it. Ukyou's soul had achieved a

new state. Her physical body was still present, but a part of her was now larger

than any mere body. Pluto was beginning to think that soon it would grow larger

than the entire universe. She would have all the powers of the Nameless. That

was what Hotaru claimed, and Pluto believed her.

Pluto looked down at her Time Key Staff. She hated this. It was the same

as before. The feeling of uselessness had returned. What could she possibly do

in comparison to such powers? The Nameless had played her like a fiddle. It had

created Destiny, and firmly fixed her place in it. Ukyou was growing into a

being much like it, as it had planned. A being that would not suffer its single

limitation.

There had to be something Pluto could do. Something she could say. But

while she could hear the words of Ukyou and Hotaru, the meaning of them seemed

to slide around her. She had tried to shout something, to give Ukyou

encouragement, but Ukyou had ignored her. Now Pluto realised that Ukyou was not

ignoring her: she just could not perceive her. Ukyou, Hotaru and the Nameless

had grown beyond Sailor Pluto. To them, she was as significant as a bacterium.

Then Pluto saw the girl enter the room. She realised instantly who it

was. She knew what it was that Ukyou had been waiting for, what memory of this

false/real world had eluded her. She felt her heart sink. There was no way that

Ukyou could resist this. But there was something about the child that refused

to stick in Pluto's memory.

It was like she wasn't all there. As long as Ukyou didn't look at her,

the child didn't seem to be fully real. The girl walked up to Ukyou and began to

demand her attention. Ukyou ignored her. Ukyou clenched her eyes closed and grit

her teeth. Pluto took a step back. She could sense Ukyou's will wavering. Then,

like a damn, it burst.

"DAMN YOU!"

Sailor Pluto reflexively raised her staff and shielded herself. She

stepped outside the flow of time, and still she was almost destroyed. The

destruction was instantaneous. One moment, there was a Tendo Dojo, then there

wasn't. One moment there was a Tokyo, and an Earth for it to sit upon and a

universe for it to exist within. The next moment, they were all gone.

Pluto gasped and fell to her knees. She held up her staff. She was in a

bubble of empty time, one she had somehow created. They were back in Elysium, or

something very much like it. Except that there was nothing here; no fragments of

fading dreams, no howling swords, no deserts, no soullights... nothing. Just an

empty plain, as far as she could perceive. Pluto realised with a certain

grimness that she was the last living thing in the universe.

Ukyou stood on the featureless plain, her attention turned downward. She

was looking at her hands. Her expression was shocked and horrified. Hotaru was

gone. But even as Pluto thought that the girl's voice echoed out of everywhere.

Above them, stormclouds began to gather. Hotaru was laughing.

"Does it feel better now, Ukyou?" Hotaru asked. "You did it. You really

did it."

"I..." Ukyou fell to her knees. "No... I didn't mean..."

"That's what it means to be God, Ukyou," Hotaru lectured. "Your will is

reality. Your desire is law. Your thoughts are truth." She laughed again. "And

so, when the universe became too great and painful for you to endure, you wished

it away..." Ukyou closed her eyes. "...and it left."

"Ukyou..." Pluto gasped. This was it, she realised. This was the moment

of Prophecy. She looked down at her Time Key Staff. She knew she shouldn't have

survived that. There was no way she could have reacted. No... she had been

saved. The Nameless had intervened. It had made her do this, the one thing that

would save her for long enough to witness this.

It had played her again. She was a part of this. In a few seconds, Ukyou

would raise to her feet. She would draw out the Silence Glaive, not out of

necessity, but out of familiarity. She would do it only out of what felt right.

An attack needed a weapon. Then, she would strike at the Nameless... and it

would crush her. She and Ukyou and Hotaru and their memories, all that was left

of everything they had known, would be wiped out.

The End of Time.

Ukyou was standing up. She was clad in skin-tight black pants wrapped

about the ankles with cords, her torso was covered in a turtle-necked skin-tight

white shirt and over that she wore a long black trench-coat which was blown back

and flared in an unseen wind. Her sleeves were rolled up and both arms were

reaching out towards the heavens. On her left arm five parallel scars glowed

with eldritch light, on her right arm a tattoo of some kind snaked up to

disappear under her sleeve. A power radiated from her, a power that Sailor Pluto

could neither place nor understand. Now Sailor Pluto saw the woman's face, and

it was undeniably Ukyou's face, though a bright light flared from her forehead,

and there was something terribly wrong with her eyes.

No.

There was one thing missing.

The clouds overhead swirled and shifted, and a human figure began to

descend from them. It was Hotaru. She was the vessel of the Nameless' final

judgement. She would destroy Ukyou for her impertinence. Her body overflowed

with such twisted power that it made Pluto's blood chill. It was a wrongness.

Paradox, Pluto realised. The Nameless was using Hotaru to store all its Paradox

as it prepared to strike at Ukyou.

Pluto narrowed her eyes. There was still something missing. She should

know this, this had been her entire life for seven years. Every night she had

seen this moment. She grasped the Garnet Orb on the end of her staff with one

hand.

She was supposed to send back an image now. She was supposed to send a

warning to herself. She could feel the strength of the Nameless on her, his

great will. It was more profound than she had ever imagined. Filtered through

Hotaru's body, she had not understood it. But she could feel the press of

Destiny upon her. She could send back a message. She HAD to send back an image.

So this could all start again. The Nameless wanted a life, and Ukyou

could provide it with that life. It would do this, again and again and again.

This was the point where it all ended, and all began again. Once the Nameless

crushed this obstinate Ukyou, it would just create another, and if that one

failed they would be back here... again and again until it got it right.

Pluto's mouth opened. She remembered the final moments of Ukyou's

ascension, back before this world had been forged anew. She remembered Ukyou

touched Hotaru and the girl changing. Her pale skin flushed with life. Her

bloody forehead healed. Her ruined clothes were replaced with a well-maintained

outfit. Nanami had gasped as the warmth and colour of her body had returned, as

Ukyou wiped the concept of vampires from the fabric of reality.

And then she remembered Ukyou standing up, cradling the sleeping Hotaru

in one arm. She had looked out, at something only she could see. She had spoken

into that void.

"It never ends.

"I guess, I never really thought about it before. But it really never

ends. It just goes on and on. This boundless thing we call 'existence' never

stops. It stretches out into infinity. We all move along it, and not everyone

makes it, but it never ends

"One moment becomes the next. One challenge gives way to the next

battle. One life ends, and another begins. Each decision leads to the next, and

the next, and the next. There is no final state. We're not traveling towards

anything, because no matter what destination we reach, there is always somewhere

else to go from there.

"That's a lot to accept. Most people never have to. But I touched it. I

felt it. I saw the whole thing, stretched out forever in front of me. It's a

heavy thing. It can break you. It can make you despair.

"But it also means one thing you didn't count on.

"It means that even if I lose this battle, it will go on. Even if I

can't win, this fight will go on. If I fall, someone will stand up in my place.

So don't think this is the end. One day, you will pay for this. One day, someone

will take you down. And life will go on.

"Because I am sure that while existence is eternal, you are not. So come

on, you self-righteous son of a bitch! Give me everything you got!"

At that moment, Pluto's memory stopped. The Nameless had done its worst.

It had tried to break Ukyou's spirit, and failed. Now Ukyou was fighting it

again. It was a hopeless attack, but Pluto realised that Ukyou remembered

those words. Ukyou knew what was going to happen, and still she would fight.

Because it would all start again. Maybe next time, if they failed, the

next Ukyou would succeed? Except...

Except that there was a flaw.

Pluto wanted badly to transmit the message. She wanted to set the events

of the universe in motion all over again. It needed to be done. She knew that.

There was no hope of winning this time. The only hope was that next time, some

version of Ukyou would be able to win. If she could master the Third Circle

to the level that the Nameless had before this confrontation...

Third Circle.

Three circles.

They were missing. Three circles of light that orbited Ukyou, each made

up of little bits of data. That was what was missing from this vision. This

wasn't the exact same vision. This wasn't what she had foretold.

This wasn't Destiny.

Ukyou lifted up the Silence Glaive, ready to strike. From the set of her

face, she was aiming for one final clash of raw will. She would lose. But she

wasn't Destined to lose.

Pluto dropped the Time Key Staff. She dashed in front of Ukyou and, with

all her strength, grabbed the Silence Glaive as it began to descend. Ukyou's

eyes widened as the attack of will she had been gathering dissipated. Pluto

hissed. She could feel herself unravelling. The void of this place, its utter

absence of anything, was eating away at her very being. She had foolishly

dropped her only defence. Even now, the Time Key Staff had already faded away.

She didn't have time.

"Ukyou..." Pluto gasped in pain. She couldn't explain it all. She needed

to tell Ukyou what she had guessed, and quickly. "Remember your life, Ukyou!

Remember it all!" Her words were fading away in her own ears. "Remember-"

Sailor Pluto said no more.

OoOoO

Ukyou laid Pluto on the 'ground' of this place. She closed the woman's

eyes. Her chest rose and fell slowly. She was alive, but only just. Ukyou had

protected her from the emptiness, but only just. She could still feel the raw

hatred, the anger of the Nameless battering at them both.

There were two soft taps as Hotaru set down. The air around her was bent

and distorted. It was Paradox. The Nameless wasn't even trying to be subtle

anymore, so the Paradox was everywhere. It had consumed everything. Her... no,

THEIR world was gone. All of their friends. Everything they had cared for.

They still felt the anger. The mindless anger that wanted them to lash

out at the Nameless. They had almost given into it. They had almost lost

everything.

"Pick up your weapon." It was Hotaru's voice. It was the Nameless'

words.

"No," Ukyou said, standing up. She left the Silence Glaive on the

ground next to Sailor Pluto. They had come so close to attacking, and Pluto had

reminded them at the last minute what was important.

Life. Life was important. Life was hope.

"I will destroy you!" Hotaru screamed. The world around her exploded,

Paradox causing reality to run like wax. The threads of reality began to

unravel, the ends of them burning away backwards into the past.

Ukyou snapped her hand out and grabbed the edges of the fraying

timelines. She wrapped them around her fingers, and with her other hand she

pulled the frayed ends out, healing them. The effort created more Paradox, but

the other half of her healed that just as fast.

"You can't win by just defending yourself," Hotaru informed her. Ukyou

looked into the girl's eyes. There was a bit more than just Hotaru there now.

She could see the Nameless behind those eyes. It was thick inside her. It was

clinging to her reality, burying itself in her identity. "I'm not going to spare

you, Ukyou." Hotaru brought up her hands. "You had your chance for forgiveness.

You had your chance for salvation. You could have chosen to just put aside your

stupid pride for one moment. You could have been God. You chose this path. You

chose destruction. So live with your choice, Ukyou. Pick up your weapon!"

"I won't," Ukyou said, tightening her grip on the few remaining

timelines. She realised that they had manifested physically. The world around

them was filled with threads of light, sparkling in the darkness. There were so

few of them, and so much darkness.

Hotaru snarled and grabbed a nearby thread. It burst apart into a shower

of black sparks. Ukyou hissed as a potential future vanished, the sparks burning

her hands.

"I am the Nameless," Hotaru informed her. "I have more power than you

can imagine. Do you think you can resist me? I've been doing this for countless

epochs. You've been doing this for less than a day!" Hotaru struck again, her

fingers shattering timelines wherever they went. Ukyou cried out a little with

each one, feeling parts of herself that might be cease to exist in rapid order.

She couldn't heal them fast enough!

"Pick up your weapon, Ukyou!" Hotaru screamed. "Give me the pleasure of

seeing you die, with the full knowledge that even your best was futile." Hotaru

walked towards her, occasionally destroying a thread as she did. Ukyou gasped

and fell to one knee. "You don't have any choice!"

"There... is always a choice." Ukyou forced the words out. She looked at

Hotaru's eyes. There was less of the Nameless there now. It was cloaking itself

deeper inside Hotaru with each passing moment. Ukyou wondered why-

And the answer hit her immediately. It was creating Paradox. More and

more with each strike. That was how it was destroying the timelines. Ukyou could

heal the timelines, but not quickly enough. More and more Paradox was building.

And Paradox was drawn to beings of the Third Circle.

The Nameless... was a powerful Third Circle being. Perhaps it was THE

most powerful Third Circle being. So, with every strike it made, it had to hide

further and further behind Hotaru's identity. Without her, the Paradox would

tear it apart. It literally had nowhere else to go.

Ukyou had rejected it. The universe had been destroyed in a fit of

pique. Sailor Pluto was barely real, maintained only by Ukyou's will. It only

had one vessel left. If Ukyou could destroy her...

Hotaru punched her. The blow sent Ukyou sprawling. She gasped as she

lost her grip on a number of threads. They spun off into Oblivion, vanishing

into the perpetual emptiness.

"Yes... that's it, Ukyou..." Hotaru sneered. "Look at me with that

intent to kill." She leapt forward, her foot lashing out in a flying kick. Ukyou

kicked to her feet and blocked with her forearms. The blow sent her skidding

across the floor. "Fight me." She ran forward, driving a blow at Ukyou's face.

Ukyou dodged sideways, but Hotaru stepped in and drove her other fist into her

stomach.

Ukyou coughed and toppled to her knees. "Fight back," Hotaru snarled.

Her next blow sent Ukyou flying. Stars exploded across her vision. "I'm enjoying

this primitive game, Ukyou." Ukyou landed on her back. Hotaru appeared standing

over her. Ukyou clenched her hands tighter around the timelines she was holding.

"Fight me!" Her foot settled on Ukyou's neck. "Can't you at least give me this

last request?"

Ukyou started to laugh.

Hotaru's eyes widened. Her mouth opened and closed. The pressure from

her foot eased.

"Hotaru..." She spoke to the girl still there, whatever part of her was

still there. "Remember life, Hotaru. Remember your life."

"Remember life?" Hotaru shrieked. Her foot came down, almost crushing

Ukyou's throat. "I remember my life, Ukyou! I remember pain and misery. I was a

tool, a prize to be shuffled from person to person. Even you never really cared

for me. I was just a way of salving your guilty conscience! And when I was

useless to you for that, you threw me away." The pressure on Ukyou's throat

increased. "I hate you, Ukyou. I hate this cursed existence. We are all tools!

We are nothing but pieces on a board. We exist to fulfill our roles and be cut

down when no longer needed.

"The Nameless showed me the truth, when I died." The girl leaned down.

"Your very existence was poison, Ukyou. The Third Circle effect that was

attached to you created Paradox. It burned away every timeline but your own,

dooming trillions of souls. Do you think I'm going to weep that it's gone?"

Hotaru's eyes narrowed. "I saw it, and knew I had to help end it. I had to put

an end to that mockery of a universe, the only way it could be." She lifted up

her foot. "With your death!"

Ukyou caught the descending foot and pushed Hotaru off-balance. She

flipped to her feet and landed clutching her throat. With a thought, the

physical damage was healed. Hotaru steadied herself and snarled.

"Hold onto that memory, Hotaru," Ukyou told her.

"Hold onto it?" Hotaru snarled and launched another assault. Ukyou

parried the blows, trying to keep the threads from touching the girl. "You want

me to remember all that pain and misery? You bitch! Just fight me, so this can

end the way it's supposed to!"

"Hold onto that memory and ask yourself, Hotaru..." A blow crashed past

Ukyou's defences and she staggered backward. She willed the pain away. Willed

the damage away. She had to reach Hotaru. She would have to reach Hotaru now.

There was no way she could keep on fighting.

"Ask yourself, if it's more important to have revenge on me, or to save

the world from that fate?"

Hotaru's fist came to a halt. It quivered in the air, just in front of

Ukyou's face. The girl's eyes were wide. Ukyou could feel the Nameless shifting

inside Hotaru's soul. Ukyou didn't say anything. There was nothing else she

could say. No amount of speechmaking would reach the girl. She had made her

point. Either Hotaru would see it, or she would not.

Ukyou slowly released the threads she was holding. She uncurled her

fingers. She spread her arms to her sides. She smiled.

"No..." Hotaru cried. Her eyes began to shimmer. "NO! FIGHT ME!" Hotaru

stepped forward and punched Ukyou in the chest. The blow lacked any strength.

"It's not supposed to be this way! FIGHT!" Again, Hotaru punched her. Again, it

was barely felt. The girl began to flail at her.

The Nameless surged.

"Why should I listen? Why should I care?" Hotaru shrieked, her body

quivering. "It's all pointless! I am a tool, just like you. We'll both die.

Heroism? That means nothing! It's a word, a pretty word created by society to

encourage people to be stupid for its benefit. Justice? There is no such thing."

A tear ran from her eye. "Love? Even if love exists, it is nothing more than a

fading dream. It can not last. It can not be eternal. Your family will die! Your

friends will abandon you!"

Once again Hotaru stepped in and she brought both fists down on Ukyou's

chest, hard enough to drive Ukyou down a bit. Ukyou gasped. The girl collapsed

against her. "The Nameless can destroy it all. The Nameless can defeat us all.

There is no resisting him. Nothing you can offer me, he can't take away. So what

should I fight him for, Ukyou?" She sobbed. "Name me one thing I can believe

in!"

Ukyou wrapped the girl in her arms.

"You."

Hotaru froze.

The Nameless roared. Its anger burst across the landscape. Ukyou clung

to Hotaru, holding her as tight as she could. The girl was no longer crying. The

nothingness around them was pulling in, faster and faster. The Nameless was

releasing all its power. They would be annihilated. Nothing Ukyou could do would

stop it. She closed her eyes.

Hotaru sent her flying. Ukyou's eyes widened. The girl stood with one

hand extended. Ukyou landed. She could see Oblivion collapsing in towards

Hotaru. The girl's expression was grim. The threads of her souls were being

consumed.

"Hotaru!" Ukyou yelled.

"I will never forgive you, Ukyou," Hotaru said, her voice gentle.

The Nameless surged. But Hotaru closed her eyes and... and she held it.

It was inside her. Somehow Hotaru wrapped her soul around it, as if was spinning

millions of threads to envelope it. Hotaru gasped as Oblivion reached her

physical form. Her body was beginning to unweave, from the inside out.

"Hotaru, no!" Ukyou stood up. "You don't have to do this!"

"Someone has to..." Hotaru gasped. She clutched her head. The Nameless

was trying to escape her. It sensed, with whatever primitive survival instinct

it had outside of the personalities it stole, the end coming. But Hotaru clamped

down on it. "It's too far inside me..." Hotaru fell to her knees. "It was too

greedy. It wanted to feel your death, to punish you... it got careless..."

"Hotaru, let it go!" Ukyou stepped forward, but the force of Oblivion

held her back. She thrust her hands into it and began to heal. She restored

reality where there was none. But it was too much for her. She wouldn't reach

Hotaru in time.

"I can't..." Hotaru chuckled. "It will just flee this world." She

shuddered. There were great holes in her. Her entire left arm was missing. Her

stomach was gone. Both legs were in pieces. Her right eye was a gaping pit.

"...like it always has before."

"Let it!" Ukyou shouted. "I can save you!" She pushed her hand forward

as much as she could. White sparks erupted around her outstretched arm as she

healed more and more of the damage the Nameless was causing by its very

presence. Its struggle to escape was producing Paradox faster and faster. "Just,

please, give me your hand!"

"If it doesn't end here," Hotaru explained as her other arm began to

vanish and another hole began to grow in the side of her face. "It will just go

on and on." Hotaru smiled. "You reminded me, that I can't let that happen. No

matter how much I hate you...

"Thank you."

And then she was gone.

"HOTARU!" Ukyou screamed.

The Nameless fluttered for a moment. Then, without its host to protect

it, caught without an identity to corrupt in the sea of its own Paradox, it

finally returned to what it had been all along: nothing.

Ukyou let out a wordless howl. She squeezed her eyes shut. They were

burning. Her jaw was clenched so tight it ached. Her heart was crushing itself.

Her lungs shrinking. She couldn't breathe.

Then she opened her eyes.

She looked out at the empty universe. She looked down at her hands.

"No. It doesn't end like this."

She stood up. She closed her eyes again. She took a breath, and let all

the pain seep out of her as she released it. She wasn't certain what she was

doing, but it didn't matter. She was not going to let it end this way. Not after

everything that had been paid. She was going to go home.

OoOoO

It was like a weight lifted from Natalie's shoulders as she climbed off

the train and stepped into late evening London. Of course, it wasn't the same

London that she'd last seen as a girl, before her Da had moved them back to

their little farm outside Saint-Dizier.

It was way too damn clean, for one. Not just the lack of garbage in the

streets and gutters. The London she remembered smelled of a thousand things,

smoky and sweet and wet and disgusting all at once. Now it was... clean. At

least it probably smelled like it to almost anyone else. Hopping past an

alleyway, she distinctly caught a whiff of piss. Even the great and wonderful

Link couldn't quite scrub the smell of generations of hobos and drunk teenagers

out of the stone, it seemed.

Natalie grinned. She didn't have any real reason to dislike the 'new'

London, or the new England in general, or its architect. Hell, in the bad old

days when Umbrella had still been kicking around, it didn't look like anyone

alive would ever be in London again. But damnit, London SMELLED. It was as much

a part of the city as that ridiculous giant clock. Some things just shouldn't be

cleaned up.

Oh well. Natalie had no intention of letting that ruin her time off. She

leapt up onto a nearby rooftop, drawing a few interested second glances from

passersby. Well, it might get her in a bit of trouble to be so conspicuous, but

she didn't feel like taking the underground. Besides, this was one view of

London she hadn't gotten as a kid.

It didn't take long to reach Soho. She hopped down into a mass of people

thronging on their way to work, or from a bar, or maybe to their second or third

bar. Only one person noticed her this time, and was probably too drunk to be

surprised, judging by his breath. Gin-and-tonic, Natalie's nose told her. She

responded to his stare with a wink and vanished into the press of people before

he could respond.

It was almost quaint to be stared at again, for her abilities to be a

thing that was wondrous rather than mundane. It reminded her of the first time

she had seen grainy footage on TV of a battle that had taken place at some

airport in Japan. There was a flying man and a woman who seemed to command huge

waves of water, fighting a small group of people who looked like high school

students. She and Da had both stared at the screen as the announcer repeated,

seemingly to convince himself as much as the viewers, that this was real

footage, not special effects. Then they'd cut to the speech the American

president had given earlier that day...

Natalie shook the memory off. This place was making her nostalgic. Or

maybe it was the lack of sleep. Reaching her destination, she swung open the

door under the tacky neon sign. She'd smelled the curry from outside the

restaurant, but she still inhaled gratefully as she opened the door. The recipe

was the same. The exact same. She was sure of it, even if as a child she

couldn't estimate right down to the gram how much cardamom was in the mango

chutney. And since it was the same, then...

"Hasari! What, you are still in business?"

A head poked up over the tandoor in the back, blinking owlishly out in

the dimness of the restaurant. Natalie stepped through the patrons, raising her

voice again. "You cannot trust a German to do anything right, I guess." That got

a few unfriendly-sounding grumbles from the few customers here this late, but

Natalie ignored them.

The man blinked owlishly at her. He'd gained a few pounds, a few more

lines criss-crossing the golden-brown skin of his face, a few more streaks of

grey in his greasy hair. He smelled of sweat and dough and spice. After a

moment, his face broke out in a wide grin. "Nat! Well, I'll be damned!" His face

may have been Indian, but his coarse voice didn't carry a hint of an accent.

"And here I thought they were being tough on immigrants, but looks like they'll

let any stray cat in."

"Ha, I am here on business." Natalie lowered her voice, pitching it so

only Hasari would hear. "Just a few days. I am amazed you have any customers.

Must be the drink in them. The street doesn't stink enough to make your food

smell good anymore, you know."

"I always thought a pint made a good appetiser," Hasari replied amiably.

"Prawn puri for you, Nat?"

"Aaaah, if the undead hordes of Umbrella cannot kill me, what can one

stomachache do?" Natalie leaned up against the wall. "There's papadams with

that, of course."

"Of course." He tossed one still hissing with oil to her; she took a

satisfyingly crunchy bite. "I'd give this on the house to you, but I heard you

got a good job." He looked her up and down critically. "Although you wouldn't

know it to look at you. What do they feed you frogs? Asparagus and spring

water?"

"Well, you know, the fat ones got eaten first. Except you. Some things

even a zombie won't stomach, eh?"

He shrugged. "Most of us were evacuated when the plague reached London,

except the nutters who wanted to fight. So, what's it like being a Gendarme? You

shoot fire out of your arse now or something?"

"No," Natalie grinned. "You must think I am Japanese. I suppose that is

what my flat chest and your advancing senility gets me. I jump high, punch hard,

can smell a dead German from three miles away, and use guns to shoot him. It is

a lot of mind-numbing boredom mixed with occasional terror and not enough pay,

which I hear is a lot like soldiers everywhere, but at least the uniform isn't

too ugly."

"How's your Dad?"

"Uneaten, which is more than I can say for a bunch of the neighbours,

unfortunately." Natalie shrugged. "But we can all say that. I'm glad you're all

right. Although I figured you'd be out in the countryside enjoying retirement."

"Ah, I tried, but I got bored sitting around eating that wonder fruit

and drinking out of rivers. I need a hobby for the next time I retire. Or at

least some fit little bird to keep me distracted." He gave Natalie a sly

sidelong glance. "One with a bit of a meat on her bones."

"If you're lucky, maybe that will mean she can cook," Natalie retorted.

"So what's brought a big-shot Gendarme over here, anyway? Spying?"

"Yes, spying, which is why I am here talking with you. Besides, what

would be spying on, a bunch of plants? No, I am bodyguard to the French

ambassador."

"Well, you're doing a jolly good job," Hasari observed dryly.

"Silly Englishman, this is my time off. A bodyguard can hardly do their

job if they are asleep. I can only hope your food will not incapacitate me too

badly for tomorrow."

"Wait, does that mean you're just down from Eden?" At her nod, a wistful

expression came over his face. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Natalie hesitated a moment before responding. "Yes, it is that." And

just a bit too showy, she didn't add. The seat of England's government was a

city without a single brick. A magnificent, impossibly huge palace was its

centre, a palace of vines and flowers where flittering insects provided light

and chairs would grow obediently out of the walls as you tapped them. Fountains

of crystal-clear water dotted the pristine plant city, the fàn liáng trees and

their sublimely delicious, nutrient-filled fruit growing nearby. The air was

clean and filled with the scent of a million flowers which somehow didn't

irritate even the most sensitive nose.

It WAS beautiful, almost impossibly so. It lightened the spirit just to

be in it, even one as cynical as Natalie's. But it also stood as a stark

reminder of its architect. Standing in Eden, you knew damn well who the real

power was in England, no matter what titles and power the lords and ministers

elected to live there supposedly had.

Natalie shook her head, smirking at her suspicions. There were a hell of

a lot less beneficent overlords than Link, honestly. Her attitude was her

father's fault - his poetry and his organic farming and his ranting about

conspiracies and corporations and the power of the people. She always secretly

suspected her Da had been disappointed to be born just a bit too late for

Marxism to be fashionable, so had settled on democracy instead. "Yeah, it is

definitely something. You don't go often?"

"Too many loiterers, so they passed a law. Can't stay in Eden except on

official business or a tour, and the waiting list for those're months long. I

went when I got my license, though."

A bell rang as the door swung open; Natalie didn't pay any attention,

but Hasari brightened and waved. "My favourite customer! See, Nat, at least one

Frenchwoman isn't too stuck up to eat good British food."

Another Frenchwoman? That was a bit curious. Only former residents of

the United Kingdom were allowed to live in the restored islands so far, to

'avoid placing strain on the infrastructure'. Could have been living here

before, though. Natalie cast a glance back, preparing some sarcastic comment

that died forgotten in her throat.

She knew her.

This woman had saved her and her father's life.

"Ciel!" she exclaimed happily.

The woman halted in the act of pulling out a chair and looked up,

blinking owlishly. She hadn't aged a day in the last eight years, though she was

wearing regular clothes instead of the pseudo-religious uniform Natalie

remembered. She smelled of Indian spices and soap and some sort of incense and

something Natalie couldn't quite put her finger on...

"Do you remember me? We were worried something had happened to you-"

Their eyes met. A small sound escaped involuntarily from Ciel's lips.

Natalie fell silent. There was something wrong, but she had no idea what it is.

"Are you alright?" she asked slowly.

"Who are you?" the other woman breathed.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Natalie said, feeling uncharacteristically clumsy. "My

name is Natalie Clement. Umm, you may not remember, but you saved my Da and me

when Umbrella invaded France eight y-"

"I don't know you," Ciel said. She shook her head emphatically, and her

voice suddenly rose, jagged with something like fear. "Who ARE you?"

Natalie took a step forward. "I-"

Ciel flinched backward. The chair she'd been pulling out fell on its

side, and a hand flew up to her forehead as if she were in pain. "I don't know

you!" Everyone was staring at them now. "You don't know me!"

Natalie just stood there, open-mouthed, trying to decide what to say.

Had something happened... captured by the Germans, maybe? They'd done something

to her mind? But what would she be doing in England, then?

She blinked. In the space of that blink she heard the bell on the door

ring. When her eyes opened, Ciel was gone. "Wait... where did she go?"

"Where'd who go, Nat?" Hasari asked calmly.

"That woman who was just here!"

"Who?" He peered around her. "Someone skipping out on the tab?"

Natalie spun around. Everyone in the restaurant was calmly eating their

dinner. A few were talking quietly amongst themselves. Nobody was looking at

her. But one chair was still incongruously lying on its side.

She ground her teeth. "PUTAIN!"

Ignoring Hasari's concerned voice behind her, Natalie dashed out the

door. What the hell was going on? She weaved around a drunkenly staggering old

man, spinning to check the street, but Ciel was nowhere to be seen. She lifted

her face and scented the air. There!

A moment later she landed on the roof of a nearby building. She caught a

glimpse of a startled white face and then the woman had spun and was gone,

leaping from rooftop to rooftop. At least she was real, after all, no matter

what the hell she had just done back in the restaurant.

Natalie gave chase, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. She quickly

realised she was outmatched at this. The other woman was faster, knew the city

better, knew how to hide better than Natalie knew how to look. It wasn't ten

seconds before she lost sight of Ciel, only a few more before most traces of the

woman vanished from her senses. But as had been the case many times in the past,

her sense of smell saved her. It was the incense. Probably some Vatican scent,

or maybe just a personal favourite. She followed the thread of that unique

scent, and occasionally would catch glimpses of the woman as they weaved through

the city. But she wasn't catching up, and wouldn't unless she could slow Ciel

down somehow. Damn it, if she had her gun, she'd-

She'd what? Take a shot at a woman she owed her life to? Natalie ground

her teeth as she ran and leapt from rooftop to alley and back again. Suddenly

the smell was weakening, too. Natalie noticed a drinking fountain had been

destroyed, cleaved in half like it had been struck with a sword. Water gushed

from the exposed pipe beneath where it had been. Ciel must have figured out how

she was being tracked. Well, she could follow the water-

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? HA!"

A form flew out the twilight, landing almost right next to Natalie. No

matter how distracted she was, though, she was still a veteran of the war

against Umbrella. Her body moved almost before she realised someone was there.

Flipping backwards, she then rolled to her feet, feeling the cool, sturdy trunk

of a tree against her shoulders. She reached for her gun, cursed as she realised

again it was still back in Eden.

"Oh, that was a pretty good move!" the voice laughed. It was male,

adult. She couldn't see the newcomer well in the darkness, but she smelled him.

He was excited - his pores were opening and starting to perspire, his breathing

had sped up, adrenaline was flooding his bloodstream. He ate a lot of rice and

wore silk - probably Asian. "But I don't think you know who you're up against

here!"

"Ranma!" Another figure walked out of the darkness. The scant light

glinted off gold. But not real gold - it smelled too clean, not earthy. "What

the hell are you doing? Who is this?"

"I dunno," the first figure said, then said "Ow!" as the second whacked

him on the side of the head.

"Then why are you starting a fight, you dummy?"

"But there was this huge bang-"

Some damn random do-gooders. Natalie rushed past them, but stumbled to a

halt a few steps later. It was too late. The scent trail, already faint, had

already faded. She didn't know what the woman had done, but she was damn near

undetectable when she wanted to be, apparently.

"Hey! Okay, I still wanna know who you are-"

Natalie whirled on him in a fury. "You stupid oaf! You fool! Tete te

pine! You idiot! Connard!"

The man stepped away, taken a bit aback by her swearing. Now closer, she

could recognise him easily even in the dim light. Of course, he was famous. This

didn't mollify her in the slightest. "The great Ranma Saotome, runs around at

night poking his nose in something that is none of his business! Do I look like

a zoalord? Ha? A zombie, a werewolf, a demon, a monster, ha? Well? MANGE MERDE!

If you are so blind and stupid, it is a wonder you can find your dick with both

hands to piss!"

The other woman walked forward, holding her hands up placatingly. Not

surprisingly, now that she had recognised Ranma, it was 'V'. "Hey, calm down,

alright? We're here to help. Why don't you explain what's going on-"

"I-" Natalie began to snarl, then cut herself off. There was no point in

staying angry, especially since punching Ranma Saotome was starting a fight she

wasn't going to win. The woman was gone; maybe they knew something about her,

anyway. "I was chasing someone. She got away when you stopped me, though."

Ranma blinked. "Someone else? Seriously?" He looked around. "Weird, I

didn't notice anyone. Hey Minako, did you see who she was chasing?"

The blonde-haired woman shook her head. "We thought it was just you. I

guess this dummy thought you were the one breaking stuff."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Ranma shrugged. "But weird we didn't notice

her. You sure she was here?"

"She smashed the fountain, did she now?" Natalie replied. "She is very

good at masking her presence."

"Neat," Ranma said. "She a good fighter?"

"Ranma..." Minako began warningly. "We're not here for trouble."

"I was just asking! Y'know, in case she's an evil minion of Link or..."

He stuttered a bit under Minako's gaze. "Umm, you know, just in case." Sweating

a bit, he turned to Natalie. "So, hey, who were you again? I'm Ranma Saotome -

oh yeah, you already knew that." He grinned. "This here's Minako Aino. You a

Brit?"

"Gods no," Natalie muttered. "I am Natalie Clement. I'm a colonel in the

Gendarmerie des Chevaliers."

"Oh hey, a Gendarme," Ranma said with a nod. "So, hunting some kind of

fugitive? You figure this'd be a weird place for one of the Umbrella guys to

hide. I'll give Link this, everyone knows she hates 'em."

"No. The woman I'm chasing is... an old friend, I suppose?" Natalie

shook her head. "And she works for the Vatican. I think."

"What would she be doing here, then?" Minako asked, having walked up

beside Ranma. "And why would she run and break the fountain?"

"To mask her scent, or perhaps just make a distraction. Perhaps she

noticed you," Natalie said. "As for why she is running, I don't know." She

sighed. "I called her my friend, but in fact we have only met once. Eight years

ago, when those goddamn Umbrella monsters attacked France, they ravaged many

defenceless villages and towns in the country.

"My Da and I lived on a small farm near one of those towns. Nobody

knew what happened, merely that the power and phones were both dead. We could

hear..." She paused. After all this time, the memory still caused her to shiver.

"We could hear the screaming, even some kilometers away. We had heard of what

had happened to England, of the American city that had been destroyed, but we

did not know what to do. We barred up the windows and doors and hoped we were

far enough away to be missed." Minako nodded sympathetically at the story, her

eyes clouded with some memory of her own.

"We were only far enough away to be the only targets remaining by the

time they reached us. The zombies, we could hear them banging, banging and

hissing and roaring. And there was something else with them, something far

bigger we saw through a hole after a zombie had punched through the window. My

Da - my father had told me to hide. He would hold them off. Somehow." She smiled

a bit. "He is sentimental. As if it would have helped, once they had my scent.

But it was then that she came.

"We didn't know what was happening at first. We thought it might have

been another monster. But as we heard the noises, all the - mm, how would you

say - I guess growling and splattering and icky sounds. Eventually, it was all

quiet. Da had just about gotten brave enough to peek outside when there was a

knock at the door and a woman's voice asking if we were all right.

"Nobody knew about the Vatican and its forces then, so all we could tell

was that a woman in priest's robes had killed all the monsters. Her clothing was

torn in places, and we were worried because we had heard that any bite or

scratch could infect, but she laughed and said not to worry, they hadn't even

scratched her. And it's true, there was no scratch on her. But she was tired. We

would have offered her dinner, but it had been ruined when Da had thrown the pot

at the zombie who stuck its arm in." She started, suddenly remembering. "It was

curry, too. Just like today..."

Minako blinked. "Curry?"

Natalie waved her hand. "Never mind. Anyway, she promised that no more

monsters were in the area, and she would come back sometime to have dinner with

us as thanks. She then led us away from the house from the back door - the area

was contaminated, you see, all the monsters being sliced up, although she had

moved them out of the way somehow - to where a nearby army division was, who

took us in. Then she left, and before today I did not see her again. We later

figured she must have been with the Vatican, and too busy. We hoped nothing had

happened to her, anyway."

"Huh," Ranma said. "Sounds pretty cool of her. What was her name,

again?"

"Ciel. She has blue hair."

Minako looked at Ranma, who shook his head. "We haven't heard of her.

But what would she be doing here? And why would she run from you, then?"

"I don't know," Natalie said. "That is why I was chasing her down. She

also said she didn't know me, screamed it really, as if seeing me hurt her. I do

not know why." An insect buzzed near her, she slapped it away absently.

"I bet it's Link's fault!" Ranma growled. "Sounds evil enough for her.

Brainwashing and crap."

"Link?" Natalie said with arched eyebrows. "The great healer? The

saviour of England? Not your friend, then? Is that why YOU are here?"

"Actually," Minako said, "we're here on a bit of a vacation. I used to

live here, and I haven't been here since a few months after... Umbrella came. We

just wanted to see how things were now." She paused and gave Ranma a hard glare.

"Or so I was TOLD..."

"Eheh." Ranma said, rubbing his head. "Yeah, of course! It wasn't like

we were looking for a fight or nuthin', just relaxing and hanging around.

Definitely not looking for any evil conspiracies."

Minako sighed. "Ranma, not everything is an evil conspiracy."

"Ahh, you don't know Link like I do." Ranma swatted at an insect buzzing

around his ear. "She's a crazy psycho. Worked for Chris and... oh yeah, she

killed everyone in the Dark Kingdom once! Now that was evil!"

"What!?" Natalie said.

"Yeah, when'd that happen?" Minako challenged.

"Well it kinda sort of DIDN'T happen," Ranma said, rubbing his head

again. "But it also did! It just sort of... didn't, after. And everyone came

back to life. She really WANTED to kill everyone in the Dark Kingdom."

"Well, Queen Tethys must have forgiven her for her bad thoughts,"

Natalie said dryly. "Since she was the first to give the new English government

diplomatic recognition."

"Well, most people kinda forgot she did it, including Tethys. Or forgot

she didn't do it, I guess. Remembered she didn't do it? Oh crap, this is

confusing," Ranma grumbled. "Wish Ukyou was here to explain it. Anyway,

whatever. Link is evil, trust me. Hey, she damn near tortured my fiancée to

death, and I'm pretty sure that still happened... even if, uh, nothing else

around the same time did."

"Fiancée?" Natalie said, glancing over at Minako. The woman was staring

at Ranma, looking completely baffled. Abruptly, however, she seemed to decide

that even if she didn't have any idea what he was talking about, she had ample

ground to be angry. Her cheeks colouring, she grabbed him by the shoulder with a

grip just a little too tight to be friendly.

"And just who was this? Or is your fiancée something else that happens

not to exist anymore?"

"Oh. Uh... didn't I tell you?" Ranma sweated, waving a hand at another

insect.

"No." The grip tightened even more. "But I think you should."

"Aw man, don't look at me like that. It's not what you think. It's just

Nabiki. Our families got us engaged, like, years before I met you. We never took

it seriously, and everyone's forgotten all ab-"

"Quiet!" Natalie snapped. She spun around, cursing. "We are not alone

here!"

The other two turned as well. Minako gasped, anger forgotten for a

moment. They were surrounded on all sides by insects. The ones buzzing them were

only a few strays of the hundreds that flitted around them in a rough circle,

gleaming in the streetlamps. How could she possibly have missed them until now?

But even as she cursed herself, she realised the answer - these insects were

eerily silent, and even more, didn't smell.

Or more accurately, they did smell. They smelled of earth and leaves and

straw, of grass and bark and flower. They smelled like nothing that didn't

permeate all of England now.

Instinctively, she found herself back to back with Ranma and Minako,

each of them forming a triangle. "What are they?" she growled.

"They're shàyù. More importantly, they are mine. More importantly, they

are no threat to you, so please relax." The cloud of insects swept away, to

reveal another woman standing near one of the trees across the paved plaza.

Natalie had seen her before, once, at the formal reception for the ambassador.

So had Ranma, apparently. He stepped forward, fist clenched. "Link!"

The ruler of England inclined her head, the pins and fans holding her

long black hair up in intricate weaves clattering slightly. "Ranma. It's been

some time. I admit I'm surprised to find you here."

"Don't give me that! You had those bugs spying on us-"

"These shàyù merely informed me of the destruction of the fountain, as

they would of any other obviously supernatural violence." Link said, glancing at

the still-leaking ruin in disapproval.

"And you show up in person for every bit of vandalism?" Natalie asked

skeptically.

Link pursed her lips slightly. "No. However, upon realising who these

two were, I felt I would renew old acquaintance." She nodded to Minako. "I hope

you're enjoying your stay in England. I feel you should know, however, that

sneaking in was entirely unnecessary. You still carry British citizenship, and

could have acquired a visa. I invite you to do so during your stay."

"Don't give me that!" Ranma said. "What're you doing, Link? Whatever you

do, I'm gonna stop it-"

"What am I doing?" Link repeated. "I think you've seen it. I cleansed

every last remnant of the undead in this land. I have made the soil fertile

again and created plants that end hunger, that ward off disease. I have created

cures for numerous plagues and afflictions and released them freely to the

world. I am currently working with Queen Tethys on engineering a macrobe that

will cleanse the oceans of every shred of harmful pollution." She arched an

eyebrow. "I suppose this is the evil you came to prevent?"

"Nah, I know about that stuff," Ranma said, waving his hand. "I mean

your real plan."

"Perhaps I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart," Link said. By

now, Natalie was already thinking better of herself for distrusting the woman

and her perfect city. Just like at the reception, she was utterly polite. But

unlike then, when she was formally obsequious, while talking with Ranma her

contempt was perfectly obvious. Natalie was very good at reading people, and

every action, every gesture, every clipped word from her mouth made it clear

that Link considered everyone here to be no more significant or interesting than

her insects. Possibly less, since they were more troublesome.

Ranma appeared to miss it, though. "Bologna. You're up to something."

Minako stepped up beside him. "Look, Ranma, we haven't SEEN anything..."

She hesitated a bit. "I mean, it's not like she's Zoalord Khan or something like

that."

Link shrugged, the insects around her buzzing. "I thought something like

this might happen. One can not escape one's past associations. So, Ranma, let us

settle this."

"Ha!" Ranma leaped back and into a defensive stance. "C'mon, let's go!

You and me!"

The woman looked down at him, her lip curling derisively. "No. I

surrender."

"Aww, c'mon, you won't fight me ei- wait, surrender?"

"Yes," Link said. "I surrender. Completely. Absolutely. You win, Ranma."

"Uhh..." Ranma scratched his head. "So, you'll stop being evil?"

Link continued as if he'd not spoken. "Say the word, and I will leave

England within 24 hours. I promise you I will take absolutely nothing except my

own personal possessions. No money, no experiments, not even my plants or

followers here." Ranma grinned, but then Link held up a hand to forestall him.

"However, before you say that word, let me explain something to you. If I leave,

I LEAVE. And I take everything with me. Everything, you understand? This tainted

land will return to exactly what it was before I came here. Barren. Lifeless.

Without industry, without food, without a future."

"No!" Minako gasped. "You can't do that!"

"I have no choice," Link said calmly. "I am part of this island. Every

part of it is infused with me. That is what gives it life. I cannot do it if I

leave, I need the connection to the soil. It strains me to the utmost as it is.

I can repair the damage, eventually. Or perhaps Chronos will take over and do it

- it is not much different than what they did for Japan." She shrugged.

"Besides, how could you ask me to leave my power? Any trace of me left in

England could be part of the sinister plan Ranma seems convinced I must have. So

tell me to leave, if that's what you want." She curled her lip again. "My

approval rating here is ninety-six percent. I will, of course, announce exactly

what happened. Perhaps you can feed all these people with your moral certainty."

"Awww, crap," Ranma grumbled. "I hate all you guys who worked with

Chris. You always do this, making things all complicated."

"Life is complicated, Ranma. So, shall I prepare to leave?"

"Look," Minako said. "No, I get your point. We're just concerned, okay?

And don't think we'll let you get away with it if you're up to some kind of

sinister scheme!"

"Of course you wouldn't. Which is precisely why you should realise I am

not doing anything." Link folded her arms. "This world is vast. I cannot keep

out spies and infiltrators, merely ensure they do not cause much harm. Any

'sinister scheme' I had," she sneered contemptuously, "would undoubtedly be

discovered. And I myself am strained to the limits by what I am doing, even if I

were not vastly outclassed by many powers in might. My position depends on the

goodwill I am fostering throughout the world. It would be... idiotic of me to

jeopardise that. So, I suggest you enjoy your stay, secure in the knowledge I

have no intentions of letting this nation come to harm."

"But... then why did you take over here in the first place?" Minako

asked.

"I told you," Link sneered. "Out of the goodness of my heart."

"Great, then," Natalie said just a bit loudly. They all looked at her.

"If you are done with them, I have a question for you."

"You're one of the bodyguards for the French ambassador," Link said,

almost to herself. "A little far from where you're assigned, aren't you?"

"So are you. Can't I travel in your utopia?" Natalie said.

"Of course," Link murmured. "I was just surprised. So what did you

want?"

"Ciel," she answered bluntly.

Link didn't give much outward reaction, but her eyes, previously still

sparkling with poorly-hidden pleasure from how she'd dealt with Ranma and

Minako, were abruptly clear and sharp. "And who would this person be?"

"Don't lie," Natalie said. "I know you know exactly who she is." It was

a bluff, but Natalie was also good at that. She also didn't think Link's island

was nearly so open to 'spies and infiltrators' as the woman had claimed.

Link's expression became icy. "I think you forget who you're talking to.

Don't let Ranma's poor example of manners make you think I will let myself be

insulted by any random nobody. Or, for that matter, answer their impertinent

questions."

"Listen, Link," Ranma said. "If you know anything, you better tell her

or-"

"Or what?" Link coldly interrupted. "You have already played your hand,

Ranma. I don't need you to like me, just leave me alone. Be quiet."

"Played his hand?" Natalie said, and then grinned. "Maybe he has. But I

haven't."

"I'm not so weak as to be threatened by you," Link informed her.

"Maybe, but I was more thinking of coming back with an invasion force,"

she said.

Link blinked. "An... invasion force?" Regaining her composure, she

snapped, "Are you insane? It's only a matter of a few formalities before your

country gives me diplomatic recognition."

Natalie yawned. "Yep, but that'll change pretty fast once I tell them

what you're up to."

"What I'm up to- what are you talking about?"

"How you're planning to take over all of Europe. With, I dunno, giant

plant men or something."

Link clenched her fists. "Stop joking! I am doing no such-"

"Sure you aren't," Natalie cut her off. "But who do you think they will

believe? Me or you? I am a personal friend of President Remy, you know." She

looked Link up and down. "Look at you. You came out of nowhere. This whole

island is soaked with you. You've got insects everywhere spying on everybody.

Everyone knows the government is just your puppet."

"I've never even exercised my veto!" Link snapped. "I have collaborated

with every resolution they've passed! And the shàyù don't even enter or look

within buildings!"

"So you say," Natalie said with a yawn. "I don't believe you."

"You're mad!" Link growled. "Starting a war over pique! Tethys and I are

allies, you'll never get across the Channel!"

Natalie laughed in her face. "You think France needs command of the

water to launch our assault?" She snapped her fingers contemptuously. "We are

the leader in military technology in Europe, maybe the world. In a day, we could

land ten divisions, a thousand Gendarmes, and another thousand Prometheans. What

do you have for an air force, Link?" The woman's face turned a deep, angry red,

but before she could speak again, Natalie continued. "Oh yes, your precious

plants. Can't have those. All spies for you. We shall burn them. Every single

one. In three days, there will not be a blade of grass left in England. We will

kick your skinny ass off this island, and see if your little friend Tethys likes

you enough to pick you up."

Link's eyes were bulging. "You... you insane..." she sputtered.

Natalie reached up a finger and poked Link in the chest. The woman

actually staggered back. "Perhaps you have forgotten who you are talking to. I

am not 'some nobody'. I am a Gendarme. I am FRANCE. You understand? I stared

down the throats of the undead and the Nazis reborn, and I sent them screaming

back to hell. Do you think I fear the threats of some skinny, miserable little

wretch who was ready to surrender to one man? You think I am frightened of war

with one puling little dictator? Fuck with me, and I will personally throw you

head-first into the Atlantic. Now, answer my question."

Natalie became conscious of Ranma and Minako staring at her in open-

mouthed horror. She hoped they had the good sense not to interfere, since she

was probably dead if Link thought for one second that she could murder her and

have Ranma let it go. Oh well, those were the risks one ran when one bluffed.

But for Ciel, she would do it. Hell, she might even start a war. Natalie

didn't just owe the woman her life, and her father's life. Ciel had been no

older than Natalie - or so she had looked - but she'd destroyed a legion of

monsters that had invaded her home country and destroyed the only other one

she'd called home. Natalie had volunteered for recruitment the next day, waiting

in line alongside thousands of others. And when the Gendarmerie des Chevaliers

had formed six months later, she trained day and night, pushing herself to the

breaking point, to be able to develop herself to the point where she could be

admitted.

It was because of that woman that Natalie had been able to help defend

France. Whatever had happened to her, she'd be damned if the likes of Link would

keep her from returning the favour she owed.

Link's throat worked. Finally, she drew herself up with as much frosty

dignity as she could manage. "Fine. I will tell you what I know, for what little

good it will do you. Yes, such a woman is here. She is an agent of Division XIII

of the Vatican, one of their most well-trained and dangerous operatives."

"What is she doing here, then?" Natalie demanded.

"She is an official representative. In a way, a bodyguard like yourself.

She spends much of her time searching for evidence of intrusion."

"Wait a minute," Minako interrupted. "Those guys didn't even send

anybody to England when Umbrella was here." An old bitterness was in her voice.

"Why would they send one to help you?"

Link sniffed. "At the time, this was largely a Protestant nation and

thus outside the Vatican's purview. I, however, am a Catholic."

"You are?" Minako said with obvious surprise.

"My ass she is," Natalie added.

Link spread her hands. "I was baptised and confirmed by an Archbishop in

a somewhat clandestine ceremony six months ago. Whether you believe in the

sincerity of my having seen the Word is not my concern. They do. If you question

my truthfulness, you'll have to take it up with them."

"So where is she?"

The corner of Link's lips twitched, almost as if she were trying to

smile. Her eyes had regained their gleam. "I do not know. Threaten all you like,

but as you no doubt noticed, that woman is exceedingly difficult to keep track

of. I truthfully did not realise that she was even nearby." She shrugged. "If

you wish to meet her, search. I will not stop you. I will tell you that no

matter what problem she may have, it is not of my devising. I did absolutely

nothing to her mind, nor do I know what precisely may have happened to it."

There was something in her voice. She wasn't lying, but she was not

telling something she knew, as well. Natalie looked at her eyes - they were

self-assured and clear again. Link had regained control of herself. She'd call

the bluff if Natalie used it again.

Natalie snorted. "That's it? I guess you don't know very much after

all." Link's face twisted. She regained control of herself after a moment, but

for a split-second more hate had blazed in the woman's eyes than ever had when

Natalie had threatened her. Odd. But not her problem. She turned around.

"Well, I have some prawn puri to finish. I have a job to do, which

includes escort back, so I won't take you up on your offer, Link, but I'll be

coming back sometime."

"Certainly," the icy voice followed her as she left. "I'll look forward

to it."

OoOoO

"The problem with your supposed utopia, Mr. El Sayed, is that it leaves

no room for the 'normal' people," Mr. Abbas declared with the finality of a

person who obviously thought he had won the argument in one fell swoop.

Hamadi allowed himself to smile. The studio lights were intensely hot,

but that did not bother him in the slightest. A simple chi technique that

allowed him to survive in parching deserts more than compensated for that. As a

result, he was looking as fresh as when this debate had begun almost forty

minutes ago, while Mr. Abbas was sweating almost indecently.

"You have misunderstood the entire thrust of my argument," Hamadi

responded, his voice full of liquid confidence. As he spoke he allowed the aura

of his body to expand invisibly, cooling the entire studio by one or two

degrees. This would be barely noticeable to mundane human perceptions, but would

still register subconsciously. By controlling the ambient temperature he was

slowly priming the audience to associate him with a refreshing breeze and his

opponent with an oppressive heat. It was a cheap trick, and would be ineffective

against the people watching on TV at home.

"I do not wish to have metahumans rule over the so-called mundanes." He

chuckled at the term, allowing his aura to be permeated with his good humour.

"No, I want to erase the very concept of 'mundane' from the world."

"So you admit your plan is genocidal!" Mr. Abbas shouted, standing up.

"No such thing," Hamadi didn't raise his voice, but a chi technique made

certain his voice carried loudly across the entire studio. "The vision of my

country is to make the mundane nonexistent by elevating everyone." Mr. Abbas

was going to reply, but a brief flare of killing intent, too brief to be sensed

consciously, robbed the other man of all momentum. "The thing you have to

understand is that anyone, each and every man, woman, and child, has within them

the potential to be great. 'Metahumanity' is a term of convenience. But it is

not a function of genetics or environment. Metahumanity is a philosophy of the

self. It is a decision.

"Anyone who wishes to could develop their chi. Anyone who wishes to be

part of the 'ruling elite' you have accused me of creating is free to join that

elite through the fundamental steps of self-discipline and developing their own

potential."

After dropping that bombshell, which Hamadi had been waiting the entire

debate for, he leaned back to concede the floor to his opponent. The man was

sweating even heavier now, his eyes darting side to side. Mr. Abbas was a

pompous American prick. He had been sent on this 'goodwill tour' by the

Americans because he was a South African ex-patriot who had fled the Chronos

occupation. Also he was black, and the American political mind didn't seem to be

able to penetrate any deeper than the colour of a man's skin. Certainly he was

no skilled ideologue or orator. Hamadi had almost been looking forward to a

challenge. Perhaps that half-Japanese woman Yamazaki, or maybe even the famous

Valentine woman.

Instead, he was left with this fool. Hamadi could have demolished him

within five minutes of the debate starting. But he couldn't afford to do that.

His audience would not appreciate a quick and decisive victory. Oh, that might

have played well to the propagandists back home and the plebes watching this all

across Africa, but Hamadi had a far more specific audience in mind.

An audience of one.

"Your words sound suspiciously like those of Chronos," Mr. Abbas said,

licking his lips. "They also promised a utopia, free or war and poverty. They

wished to uplift all humanity. And look where that has gotten us. The damage

inflicted by-"

"Do NOT defile that tragedy as a cheap talking point!" Hamadi shouted,

leaping to his feet. The entire crowd drew in a breath. Hamadi allowed his front

of false rage to simmer for a few moments, his muscles rippling under his

immaculate silk suit.

There she was. White hair, and a face half-covered in gold. She was

standing near the back, in the shadows. His eyes kept wanting to slip off her,

so he mainly let them. No need to test her resolve to stay anonymous, yet.

"I'm certain everyone here remembers that tragic day well enough, Mr.

Abbas," Hamadi pointed out calmly, allowing the tension to flow out of himself

and the room at the same time. "There are many in my country who remember it

quite keenly."

Mr. Abbas' nostrils flared. He was, of course, aware of how the Kingdom

of Egypt had taken in the few scattered survivors from across the what had once

been the Middle East. The fact that Anakaris had offered those unfortunates

sanctuary long before any relief could come from either Chronos or America was a

wound to both those great powers' pride. Best of all, Hamadi had managed to make

his point without having to come right out and claim it. He came out of the

exchange looking like the humble one.

This was no challenge.

"And the difference between the Kingdom of Anakaris and Chronos is self-

evident," he added.

"Really? You both are ruled by creatures that claim divine rights over

the lives of others."

"Your ignorance of my country's political systems is disheartening but

expected." Hamadi sighed softly. "Chronos exists to support the rule of their

artificial god-emperor. They micromanage their subjects, telling them what sorts

of laws and traditions they can respect. They determine your worth based on your

genome alone. Those that have the 'potential' to become zoanoids are pressured,

if not gang pressed, into accepting their 'elevated' positions. And if you lack

the ability to become a hyper- or neo-zoanoid? Well, you can hardly expect to

become anything in their society. Everything is dictated from on high by shadowy

figures who operate without oversight or accountability.

"But we are different. We embrace metahumanity, but as an ideal for all

to achieve in their own way. The fact is that in this day and age the 'mundane

world' exists only at the sufferance of those with the power. Your democracy

exists today only because your S.T.A.R.S. force defends it. If those individuals

should decide to overthrow your government tomorrow, your government will cease

to exist. And that is not even counting beings like Tethys or Arkanphel, who

could wipe out entire nations by themselves.

"In our country, we have only come to the logical conclusion. Since

authority exists only at the choice of those with power, then those with

personal power should be given the authority."

"And where does that leave those of us without your gifts, El Sayed!"

Mr. Abbas growled.

"Exactly where you were before, except with your comfortable illusions

removed." Hamadi shrugged. "Your old society was already run by those with great

gifts. Athletes who could outplay others were rich, celebrities that were

prettier or more charming then their fellows were idolized, the exceptionally

devious and clever ran your political systems and the brilliant and innovative

defined your medicine and technology. The world you are so in support of never

existed, Mr. Abbas. This is just the natural evolution of the system that has

existed for thousands of years. Metahumanity will supplant humanity, whether you

or I wish it or not. The only question is if you will join us, or if you will

cling to your power at the expense of the potential inherent in all beings."

"Easy for you to say, since you are one of the 'chosen ones'. are you

not?" Mr. Abbas accused. Hamadi sighed. This was growing tiresome. He began to

wish that their company would arrive more quickly.

"I am just like you, Mr. Abbas." Hamadi gestured to himself. "Five years

ago, I was nothing. I was a chartered accountant. But then I discovered the

Kingdom of Anakaris, and joined it willingly. It is a beautiful place, Mr.

Abbas, our paradise hidden beneath the desert sands. But I digress...

"I was not frightened by this new world. I embraced it. Did you know

that Anakaris himself was once human? It's true. Five thousand years ago he

began a ritual that granted him great power, power beyond most mortals. Rather

than seeing this as a blasphemy, I saw it as an inspiration. If he could gain

such power, why was I limited to this human existence?

"So I changed my life. I studied ancient magics and martial arts. I

developed my personal power, and as I did so I naturally ascended in Pharaoh

Anakaris' court. At first I was seen as an upstart. I was even punished more

than once for the great sin of questioning my lord.

"I see your skeptical look, but it is true. I admit that Anakaris is a

tough sovereign. He asks little, but he demands those things he asks. Even so,

I was able to convince him, and many others, that our Kingdom could not survive

in isolation. It was, in fact, that great tragedy you made such light of that

vindicated me.

"So you can see, that is why I find your accusations of favouritism in

my country offensive and laughable at the same time. In a world where anyone can

learn to leap five stories straight up or punch through concrete with their

fists, why should we cling to the illusion of-"

His final words were cut off by the crash of the studio roof caving in.

Hamadi remembered to look surprised and shocked. He resisted the instinct to

dodge out of the way, allowing a piece of rubble to strike him in the shoulder.

He was driven to the floor of the studio with a grunt.

There were ten figures. Hamadi frowned. There was only supposed to be

six. He also recognized some non-zoanoids amidst the collection. They were all

inhuman, bestial figures, but four of them were drenched in mystical power.

Demons of some sort, he guessed.

A S.T.A.R.S. agent was already acting. He pulled out an impressive-

looking pistol and fired at one of the beasts from the hip. With his other hand

he was shielding Mr. Abbas. The fool was practically gibbering in terror. How

little the Americans must have thought of this continent, if this was the best

they could send.

The bullet blew a small hole in one of the zoanoids, staggering it. The

other nine creatures immediately focused on the S.T.A.R.S. agent. The damn fool

man grinned. Hamadi shuddered and rose to his knees, clutching his injured

shoulder. What kind of people were the Americans creating?

Hamadi's own bodyguards rushed forward, firing their small arms. This

drew the attention of some of the monsters. One paused long enough to lift its

palm, revealing a focusing lens embedded in its flesh like a grotesque eye.

There was a flash of red light and a pair of screams. Regrettable, but those two

had been chosen primarily for their incompetence, so it was no great loss.

The zoanoid turned its weapon towards Hamadi. Its vulpine face broke

apart in a toothy smile. "Goodbye, Magic Kingdom Man," it hissed, the lens

growing red and whining.

Then its arm was gone. It looked down at its stump in shock for a

moment. There was a gold flash and the thing fell apart in five pieces. A young

woman shimmered to a stop in front of Hamadi. She had white hair, and the left

side of her body was covered in elaborate gold tattoos, a fact that her

distastefully revealing outfit made clear.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I am now," Hamadi managed to keep the smugness out of his voice.

"Hide behind something," she told him.

The next thirty seconds was a study of violent efficiency. He had never

before seen something quite so beautiful and so deadly. She moved like an

elemental force, a primal component of creation. Each step, every tiniest motion

was a prelude to a deadly attack. Two more zoanoids died before they even knew

she was attacking. Three of the demons tried to turn their attention to her, but

she faded away from their assault with the grace of a ballerina. Then they could

only stare dumbfounded as their limbs collapsed to the floor, severed by

sword blows they hadn't even seen. A second later, their heads joined the fallen

limbs. The other two zoanoids and the final demon had managed to kill the

S.T.A.R.S. agent in the meantime, but only at the loss of the two Chronos

flunkies.

With a final snarl the white-haired woman vanished, appearing behind the

massive bat-winged beast in a flicker of pseudomotion before driving her sword

up through its back and out the top of its skull. The thing twitched once, then

went still. Mr. Abbas fainted.

"Damn..." she said, looking down at the S.T.A.R.S. agent. "Idiot, why

didn't you get your man out of here..." She sighed.

"A waste," Hamadi agreed. The girl looked at him, her eyes narrowing

slightly. He smiled disarmingly. "Just because he is technically my enemy,

doesn't mean I wish him dead."

"Yeah, I guess." She flicked the blood off her sword. "Good thing I

heard about-" She cut off. Hamadi had actually sensed it before she did. The

demons were reviving. The wounds she had inflicted were reforming in a swirl of

purple smoke. "What the?"

One of the creatures stood up, its fang-filled face giving off an angry

bellow. She stepped back, looking down at her sword uncertainly.

"Allow me," Hamadi said. He pulled back his sleeve, revealing the

elaborate tattoos. "By the true names of Thoth, Horus and Set, I abjure this

creature of the Makai Kingdom." He ran a hand along the tattoo, infusing it with

a small measure of magic. "I evoke the messenger of my will, sacred Scarab!"

There was a swirl of unseen wind and a flash of golden light. With a

bang like a gun going off, four golden scarab beetles appeared floating in mid-

air. Hamadi gestured imperiously and the spirits flew forth to do his bidding.

The three demons still reforming were easily dispatched. The moment the scarabs

touched them they exploded, leaving behind a hieroglyphic. The demons then

shattered into purple mist which sunk into the floor with a sound disturbingly

like a child's shriek of pain.

The active demon, however, was able to dodge the scarab and lash out

with a pulse of purple energy from its mouth. The two magics annihilated each

other in with a thunderous crack. The demon then turned towards Hamadi.

"Ah... perhaps some assistance?" Hamadi asked. The beast unleashed

another blast, only to have the girl step between them. The purple flames

splashed against her skin, scattering like water over her flesh. The tattoos on

her waist were glowing.

"You can do that again?"

"I have the energy," Hamadi confirmed.

"Good."

The creature did not last long past that.

"So... what were they?" she asked, flicking blood off her sword with an

ease born of long practice.

"Demons," Hamadi informed her. "Lesser infernal creatures from the Makai

Universe. They do not normally have the ability to cross over. Either they

stumbled across a convenient rift, or..."

"Or they were summoned."

"The question is, what is a Chronos strike team doing with demonic

backup..." Hamadi mused. It was quite the puzzle. As far as he knew, the

Zoalords were too dogmatic too risk infernal pacts. Then again, this might work

out well for him in the long run.

"Demons," the girl cursed. "Leave it to Chronos." She turned to him. "My

name is Angel, by the way. Pleased to meet you."

"Hamadi El Sayed, the pleasure is mine," he said, taking her hand with

his good one and kissing it lightly on the knuckles. She flushed, just a little.

He smiled.

Of course, he knew her all along. He knew about her powers. He knew

about the vendetta against Chronos she was carrying on here in Africa, far away

from both her friends in America and Japan. He knew that the information he had

purposefully leaked to Chronos about the secret location of this 'televised

debate' would make its way to her. And most of all, he knew that the tattoos

that covered her body held a Second Circle power mightier than any other on

Earth. But he carefully kept such knowledge from his face.

"I know why Chronos wants me dead," Hamadi said as he rose. "But I had

no idea there were demons involved. I can handle purely First Circle opponents

like zoanoids... but..." He trailed off.

The girl looked at him a long moment. "Maybe I can help you out for a

bit." She frowned. "Just until you can get back to safety," she hedged quickly.

"Of course," he said with a chuckle. "I would welcome the presence of

such a beautiful and competent bodyguard." He turned towards the back of the

stage. "But I think we can say more after we get safely away from here."

"Huh? Oh, right." She followed him. He stayed silent as they walked. Let

her make the first move. Finally, she opened her mouth. "Say, uh... did you

really mean all that stuff you were saying?"

His smile widened.

OoOoO

Yao Shui shifted her spear slightly. She stretched and leaned back,

rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. The Nyuuchezu village was quiet, and

this part of it even more so. Despite its position in the centre of the village,

few came close to the Forbidden Shrine even on the best of days; now, most of

the warriors who would be brave or stupid enough were away on missions. Still,

she had to keep an eye half-open just in case one of the old hags decided to

drop by for a visit.

She had already been bitched out twice this month for being caught

'unready at her post' by one of the old hags. Of course, since then she had

developed a nice little technique that allowed her to sense an approaching chi

aura long before it could get close enough to actually see what she was doing.

She had managed to evade two attempts by the old hags to catch her slacking off

thanks to that.

Really, why were the old hags so worried about this old building? It was

probably some stupid tradition thing, just like those ridiculous marriage laws.

The building was a perfect dome, made out of seamless white stone with only one

entrance. That entrance had never been open in the sixteen years that Yao Shui

had been alive and, if the old hags were to be believed, the sixteen hundred

years before that. Nobody really knew what was in the building, or why they were

supposed to make certain the doors were never opened, but it was tradition.

Somebody from the village always needed to guard the Forbidden Shrine.

Normally, that job went to the worst martial artist in the village.

After all, this was a village filled with warrior women. If anybody was stupid

enough to attack the Shrine, all the guard had to do was make enough noise to

attract attention before she was killed. Yao Shui was the first Joketsuzoku in

living memory to ask for the job.

Well, it was either that or end up going out into the world. Yao Shui

snorted at the thought. She had been forced to listen to enough of her spear-

sisters brag about their adventures in the wider world. They spoke of battles

against rogue demons and zoanoids, zombie hunts and, of course, all the martial

artists. Some of the girls had even come back with new 'husbands'. Frankly, the

idea of marrying a man who beat her up and then had to be drugged and dragged

back to the village made Yao Shui slightly ill.

Nope, just another reason not to go on any 'adventures'.

She was so caught up in her musing that she almost missed the old hag.

The woman landed in front of the door, accompanied by a cloud of dust and a loud

crack. She swept out her robes to dispel the dust, obviously expecting to

impress Yao Shui. Yao Shui was standing at attention, gazing calmly into the

sunset when the cloud cleared.

"Hmmm..." the old woman croaked. "I'll catch you yet, child."

"Ya, ya..." Yao Shui shrugged. "If you say so, Granny."

"Yao Shui, you should not be here," the woman said, sitting down. She

was about half Yao Shui's size, her body hunched over with age. Her green velvet

robe spread around her as she knelt on the hard dirt yard around the Forbidden

Shrine.

"Still my shift," Yao Shui responded sullenly.

"I'm not talking about that, girl," the old hag said with a sigh. "Your

talents are wasted on this position."

"If you say so, Granny." Yao Shui saw the rock coming but forced herself

to hold still so the blow could strike home. She winced and rubbed her forehead.

"That hurt."

"You could have blocked that," the old hag accused.

"If you say..." The old woman picked up a much larger stone. "Feh.

Whatever." She waved the old woman down. "Is there something you wanted,

Granny?"

"I want you to stop playing at being a dunce," the old hag said with a

snort. "I believe you are the finest martial artist of your generation."

"If you say so, Granny," Yao Shui drawled. She made an exaggerated show

of ducking to avoid the next rock, letting it hit her in the shoulder. A little

bit of earth chi kept the blow from actually doing any damage. "Hey! Hey!" she

protested. She winced and rubbed her uninjured shoulder, pouting. "Anyway, I

think the winners of the last four tournaments would disagree with you."

"Ah yes, the tournaments..." The old hag smiled. "I bet you think you

are very clever." She held up on hand and slowly peeled out one finger. "The

first year you entered as a rookie at age twelve, two years before anyone

normally does so. You were up against last year's champion, an girl six years

older than you who had mastered both the Bakusaitenketsu and the Amaguriken. And

through some miracle, you managed to knock her out in five minutes." She paused

and grinned. "Of course, it was a complete fluke, since you were so injured by

the fight that you had to be taken out of the tournament before the second round

even started."

She peeled out the next finger. "Then, the next year you went up against

that girl the Musk Dynasty had sent to participate as an 'act of good will

between our people'. The girl was descended from the blood of elephants-"

"Rhinoceros," Yao Shui corrected idly.

"Quite so, you're right. But she was a monster, able to punch holes in

concrete walls ten feet thick with one finger and absorb a tank shell in the

chest without noticing." The old woman chuckled. "Somehow you managed to get her

to knock herself unconscious in the first round. Though, tragically, you were

once again injured. Your next opponent took you down without breaking a sweat."

"Yep, I have been pretty lucky," Yao Shui said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Lucky." The old woman snorted. She peeled out another finger. "Then you

went up against Pao Pao, the girl who could shred steel with her hair." The

woman looked at her. "She left the ring bald. Once again, a fluke victory that

you couldn't seem to repeat in the second round."

"Tragic story," Yao Shui growled.

"And just two months ago, we hold another tournament." The old woman

shook her head. "The first open invitation tournament in our history. 'A

celebration of the new global peace,' I believe they called it. We had fighters

from all over the planet come here. You were up against that strange American

girl, the one who could make things explode with her mind."

"Light on fire," Yao Shui corrected. "You see, she could draw heat out

of the air and..." She trailed off, lowering her hands. It had taken Yao Shui

almost two whole days to figure out the secret of that technique. "I still have

the burn scars," she added lamely.

"I'm certain." The old woman laughed. "And that girl's technique just

happened to backfire at the last moment, nearly killing you both." The old

woman's eyebrow raised. "I think they still haven't filled in the crater."

"If you say so, Granny," Yao Shui shrugged. The old woman sighed rather

than hit her for her insolence.

"You think you are very clever, girl," the old hag repeated. "But I

find it very hard to believe that a girl who consistently scored dead last in

every test could just happen to win such a string of fluke victories against

some of the strongest martial artists the village has ever seen."

"The gods must have been trying to make up for all the bad luck they

regularly give me," Yao Shui murmured.

"Why waste your life like this, Yao Shui?" the old woman said with

another sigh. "It takes far more effort to conceal your talent like you have

then to just let it shine! You could already be the rising star of this

village."

Yao Shui shrugged. "I'm not concealing anything, Granny." She smirked.

"If I were, then people would keep expecting me to perform better and better.

More and more people would start looking up to me. More and more people would be

calling me out for challenges. All the village would expect me to stand up for

them against zoanoids and monsters and space aliens." Yao Shui leaned back

against the wall. "So it's a good thing I'm not anything like that."

"Yao Shui-"

The old woman cut off as Yao Shui suddenly spun, spear in hand, lashing

out like a serpent. The world blurred and flashed as she struck at the presence

she had just sensed. There was a shrill scream.

Yao Shui halted the blow just before it removed the girl's head from her

shoulders. The girl was staring at her in horror. She couldn't be more than

fourteen, and was... blue. Blue hair, blue eyes, blue outfit that looked like it

belonged either in a circus or a really creepy boy's comic, and even blue balls

tied to her hair by little rods.

"Who are you?" Yao Shui asked.

"Let her go!"

At the shout, Yao Shui realised there were three more girls here. They

all looked to be about her age. They were dressed just as ridiculously as the

one in blue, though they at least tried to vary the colour scheme a little. The

one who had shouted had green hair with some sort of elaborate headdress made

out of rope with green orbs attached to it. The other three were circling around

Yao Shui.

She looked at the old hag. She was just watching quietly, an

insufferably smug look on her face. Yao Shui groaned. Now how was she supposed

to get out of this without either showing off, or failing to do her duty? This

job was too cushy for her to lose it.

"Feh. Okay..." Yao Shui lowered her spear. "Just, ya know, let me know

next time before you instantly teleport into the air right next to me."

"I will..." the blue-haired one managed to squeak. The other three

relaxed slightly.

"So, you gonna answer my question?"

"Oh... oh right!" The girl brightened abruptly. "I'm PallaPalla! These

are my sisters JunJun..." she indicated the green haired one... "...VesVes..."

she indicated a red haired girl "...and CereCere," she finished, gesturing to

one with pink hair. "We are... the Amazoness Quartet!" the girl shouted,

assuming a dramatic stance. The other three leapt behind her, posing in perfect

synchronisation.

"Uh... right..." Yao Shui glanced at the old woman, who was still

sitting there silently. "That's... nice." She shrugged. "Something I can do for

you?"

"Yes, we came here to help your village!" the green-haired girl, JunJun,

spoke up.

"Our old hag came from here," VesVes explained.

"And she died, so we decided to come and help out her home since she

helped us out so much!" CereCere finished.

"Wait... what?"

"You must know the old hag," VesVes said, stepping forward. "She was

really, really old! Like, over thirty!"

"She had a rack!" PallaPalla shouted.

"You mean a rake," JunJun said. "She fought with a rake."

"She also had a rack," CereCere jumped in.

"That's true!" VesVes agreed, nodding rapidly. "Uh... and she had black

hair..."

"No, wait!" JunJun interjected. "She would have had white hair!

Remember, she stopped being a midget one day."

"Oh right!" CereCere agreed. "Personally, I don't know why she spent so

much time as an ugly old midget. It was very disturbing."

"Did she spend all her time here as a midget though?" PallaPalla asked.

"Maybe she spent some time here as a non-midget too."

"Maybe the midget is in the eye of the beholder?" VesVes offered. The

girl all thought about this for a long moment, nodding and frowning studiously

to each other.

"Hey, Granny, you have any idea what they're talking about?" Yao Shui

asked.

"Not a clue," the old woman said. She cleared her throat. The - ugh,

Yao Shui couldn't believe she was thinking it - Amazoness Quartet looked at

her. "Excuse me, you said you knew someone from our village. Might I ask her

name?"

"Cologne," the green-haired girl said, her voice a little sad. The name

meant nothing to Yao Shui, but the old hag stiffened.

"I see," she murmured. "I have not heard that name in over five years."

"Yeah." The girls all looked sad. "She's... not with us anymore."

"Ah..." the old hag sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. She was a

remarkable talent."

"But that's why we've come here!" PallaPalla shouted, gesturing wildly.

"The world should not be without her legacy. So we have determined to help out

this... uh..." She looked at Yao Shui. "What's this place called again?"

Yao Shui blinked. "Nyuuchezu," she explained. "Though we're more

commonly known as the Joketsuzoku Village."

"That's a terrible name," VesVes complained.

"You need something catchy," CereCere said. "You know, something easy to

say for the worldwide market."

"Uh-huh..." Yao Shui grunted.

"I know, I know!" JunJun shouted. "Since we are going to be your young

and beautiful advisors and protectors, you can name the place after us!"

"Ohhh! I like it," PallaPalla agreed. "We'll call it the Amazon

Village!"

"You can't just rename our village like that!" Yao Shui shouted.

"Sure we can," VesVes said.

"We just did," JunJun agreed.

"And now that we've done our first good deed for you backwater hicks, I

think we need some time off. I'm tired," CereCere picked up without pause.

"But all these houses are ucky," PallaPalla explained.

"This big dome seems nice!" JunJun said, reaching for the door.

"Wait! You can't open that!" Yao Shui shouted. She could have stopped

her. But doing so would have given away how good she was to the elder watching

her like a hawk. Instead, Yao Shui could only watch as the door to the Forbidden

Shrine was opened for the first time in sixteen hundred years... and she saw

what was on the other side.

Damn. There went her quiet uneventful life.

OoOoO

When the door opened, Sailor Sabre assumed it was one of the others come

to taunt her about her imminent demise. She steeled herself for that, but when

no mocking voice accompanied the figure walking up to her, she grimaced in

disgust.

She would have preferred the taunts.

"Are you all right?" The voice was soft and concerned, of course. He

didn't touch her, but Sabre felt her shoulders tense nonetheless.

"Of course," she replied, her tone cold and even. "You designed me well,

master. I am either well or dead, with little possibility of being in-between."

He hated her calling him that, but didn't acknowledge it. "What

happened? When you arrived, you were-"

She interrupted him casually. What difference did it make if he was

offended at this point anyway? "I located the Sailor, but was intercepted by

Ryoko."

"How did she know you were there?"

Sailor Sabre shrugged. "Perhaps I was careless. Perhaps the Juraians

have begun to successfully predict our operations. Perhaps it was merely luck.

Regardless, I was only narrowly able to escape their combined efforts."

Truthfully, she was a little proud of her own cleverness in the matter.

Realising the situation was hopeless and unable to escape, she'd launched a

suicide attack on the Sailor of the planet. Ryoko had taken the bait, slicing

off Sabre's attacking arm and sending it hurtling away, even as the Sailor had

burned a hole through Sabre's torso. Then it had simply been a matter of

teleporting to the sword still clutched in her severed arm's grip and escaping.

An unpleasant gambit, but effective.

However, she doubted it would save her from Galaxia. In the end, a

clever retreat was still a failure. And as several of Sabre's comrades and

Galaxia's Animamate servants had discovered, failure was not something the

supreme Sailor Senshi tolerated.

This time a hand did come to rest on her shoulder. Sabre stiffened, and

it was hastily withdrawn. "Don't worry, Sabre. It wasn't your fault. I'll speak

to Galaxia..."

"You...!" She spun in her chair. Z looked just like he always did. His

rough face was lined with concern. His eyes, both the normal one and the inhuman

purple one, both looked down at her. They were filled with the same concern.

Concern!

She nearly spat, but controlled herself. "That is unnecessary, master. I

do not wish for you to trouble yourself over me."

He looked hurt, causing yet another rush of contempt. It was hard to

believe now how she'd lusted after this man, after she'd been created. Of

course, he'd seemed so different then.

He was a monster. He was responsible for the death of entire planets,

the slaughter of thousands of Juraians. More than that, he plotted against

Tokimi, and Tsunami, and even Galaxia herself. The sheer audacity of it had

taken her breath away. And, of course, he'd taken the weak and useless person

Sailor Sabre had once been, twisted and broken her soul and made her a

superlative killing machine. She had longed after him from afar, then.

Something had changed him, something in that battle with Princess Ayeka

and her friends on Demood. Or perhaps that had always been the true Z, and those

events had just revealed it. Some time afterwards he had come to her, told her

he knew how she had felt.

How she FELT. That should have been the first sign, hadn't it? But she'd

been too foolish to understand at the time. If she'd refused him, if she'd hurt

him then, maybe he could have become himself again.

But instead, she'd become his lover. For a month. Just a month. It was

enough to ruin him forever. She hadn't quite understood what was wrong, or it

wouldn't even have lasted that long. He had suddenly stopped yelling at her, or

at the others when they were around her. He'd stopped giving her cold,

impersonal orders. He'd started asking her questions - about herself, about what

she wanted 'out of life'. He hadn't been pleased when she'd told him her desire

was to serve him forever and kill his enemies.

Yes, in retrospect, it was so obvious. But it was only when he'd told

her one night, how he'd 'never felt like this around another person' that she

had realised the truth.

Z, the monster, didn't exist anymore. If he ever truly had. Instead,

here was Z, the person, confessing his love to her.

Love! As if she was some sort of human being!

She'd laughed in his face. He'd gotten angry, then, and for a single

glorious moment she'd thought he was going to strike her. But then he'd turned

away, looking sad and hurt.

Just like he did now. Sabre didn't bother hiding the contempt on her

face as she rose. "I assume that Mistress Galaxia is ready to see me?"

Z nodded silently. She swept past him without a second glance, her long

skirt trailing on the ground behind her. It had been torn in the fight, but like

the rest of her body, had repaired itself as she waited on Galaxia's pleasure.

The wait was something new. Once, she would simply have reported

immediately, but for the past two weeks, Galaxia had abruptly insisted on

'appointments' before meeting with her minions. despite the fact that she did

little other than brood on her crystal throne. Nobody knew whether this meant

anything or was merely another of the ultimate Sailor Senshi's increasingly

mercurial whims. But nobody dared to question her order, either.

He had fallen into step behind her. Not that this wasn't expected, but

she still felt her mouth tightening. Ignore him, she chided herself. It would

hardly matter what Z did if she was executed.

She walked down the hallway sheathed in marble, the great golden doors

to Galaxia's throne chamber looming ahead of her. This too was new, and almost

farcical. Galaxia's throne room stretched out in all directions. If it was not

an infinitely vast space, it was close enough to make little difference to the

handful of inhabitants who resided here at the centre of the galaxy. But

abruptly, an entire palace had come into being six months ago, with elaborately

appointed chambers for all of them, and many more besides. The privacy certainly

cut down on the infighting, but was that the reason, or was it just another

whim? Again, answers were not forthcoming from Galaxia.

The doors slid open noiselessly. The room beyond was not diminished in

any way by the structure that had been adjoined to it. It still spread out in

all directions - including behind her - as far as she could perceive, a vast

transparent grid under and above and around which all the glory of the cosmos

could be seen, almost close enough to touch. The stars and planets and gasses of

the Milky Way, however, were drenched a deep blood-red from the vantage point of

the Galaxy Cauldron.

Only two structures existed in this vast chamber, one of which being the

doors Sailor Sabre had stepped through. The other was the throne of Sailor

Galaxia. It was a strangely inelegant thing, a blocky seat hewn out of slabs of

gold and crystal. It was so large that almost any normally-sized being seated in

it would have been dwarfed and diminished.

Almost any being. But not Galaxia.

"Sailor Sabre." As the cold, imperious voice reached her, Sabre

instantly dropped to one knee, bowing her head. "Have you brought me a Star

Seed?"

"No, Mistress Galaxia, I have not." Sabre did not raise her head, but

she could hear the chorus of whispers above her. She sneered. Escaping from

single combat with Ryoko was more than most of them could hope for. Perhaps one

would be fool enough to offer to execute Sabre personally, and provide her with

a last bit of satisfaction.

"I do not tolerate failure, Sailor Sabre. Do you have anything to say

for yourself?"

"Yes, I do." Sailor Sabre had prepared for this moment. From the moment

she had fled from Ryoko, she had expected her execution would follow. She had

used the time waiting for her 'appointment' to compose what she thought were

some stirring last words. Mostly, they were a string of invective directed at

her mistress.

It wasn't that Sabre didn't have great respect for Galaxia's power and

ruthlessness. She didn't even take her forthcoming murder that personally -

failure was failure. What she objected to was Galaxia's lack of willingness to

use her power on their enemies.

It had been nearly a year since the phages had died. All of them, all at

once, suddenly reverted to twisted corpses. The same day; indeed, the same

moment, the great black blade of the Sword of Sealing had abruptly been...

cleansed. Even now it shone a pure and unsullied silver. When Sailor Sabre had

rushed back to report the death of her army, she had found Galaxia staring in

wonder at the blade. She had said or reacted to nothing, merely gazing on the

purified blade of her sword, for almost four days.

Then she'd started laughing.

Since then, though the war against Jurai had continued, Galaxia took no

interest in it. She let her subordinates determine their own targets, only

taking enough interest to receive Star Seeds from successful operatives or to

punish failures.

Needless to say, this effort was doomed. With every phage destroyed, the

only 'army' that Galaxia had remaining were her own personally created Sailor

Animamates, and Z's small force of Sailor Killers. Between those killed in

action and those executed for failure, they now barely numbered two dozen. And

Jurai grew in strength and confidence by the day. Of course, there was little

they could do for the numberless worlds stripped of life by Galaxia's campaign,

but it was only a matter of time until Jurai and its allies whittled their

numbers down to nothing.

But how different it would be if Galaxia would step onto the

battlefield! The greatest Sailor Senshi was not just a warrior unparalleled,

but a mighty rallying force. With her, they could break the confidence of

Jurai's allies. Some would even defect in the hope of buying their survival,

bringing their own armies to replace the phages. The fight could be brought to

the Juraian homeworld itself. Sabre had dreamed of that day. Cutting a bloody

swath through their armies, burning their precious trees, smashing their

palaces! It would be the most glorious battle in the galaxy since the Sailor

Wars themselves.

But instead, the great Galaxia just sat on her throne, disinterested in

the progress of the war she had started, issuing her meaningless and

contradictory edicts.

They all agreed with her, Sailor Sabre knew. They all knew that unless

Galaxia took a stand, they were all doomed. Sailor Archer had even been executed

for grumbling a little too loudly and often. But none of them had the courage to

say it. In the face of death, they begged for their lives instead. Sabre sneered

and stood up to face her executor. At least they'd be forced to remember that

she'd said what none of them would have dared, even Z. Especially Z.

She opened her mouth. "Lady Galaxia..." she began. And that was when the

boy appeared before her eyes.

He was short and slim, dressed in some sort of light brown uniform. His

back was to Sabre; he had light blonde hair and some sort of furry animal-like

ears growing from his head. He held up his hand in greeting, and then stumbled

forward and looked down as the tip of Sabre's sword emerged from his chest.

"We have an intruder," Sabre said calmly as she appeared behind him,

hand gripping the sword she had thrown. With a casual shrug of her shoulders,

she tore the strange boy in two. His hot blood sprayed over her as his top

half flipped away to land face-down in front of Galaxia's dais. His suddenly

orphaned legs and torso wobbled for a moment, then fell over as well.

Dying in a satisfying fashion was all well and good, but seeming to have

presciently risen up to kill an intruder no-one else perceived coming offered

the chance of erasing her previous failure and allowing her to live, a far more

satisfactory outcome.

"Do we, now?" Galaxia mused. She seemed neither surprised, nor angry,

nor pleased. "I wonder where?"

Sabre blinked. Then looked down. There was no body there. There was no

blood splattered on her armour and skirt.

"What excitable fräuleins you have!" a cheerful voice called from behind

her. Sabre spun. The intruder looked utterly unharmed. He was standing with both

hands in his pockets, grinning widely enough that she could tell some of his

teeth were pointed. "Is zat how you greet a guest who has come so far to see

you?"

Sabre answered the boy by eviscerating him. She twisted her sword as she

ripped it out of his guts, then kicked him over and pinned him to the ground by

plunging the other through his throat. This time she did not take her eyes off

him. She did not look away. She did not blink. And yet, still, one moment his

dead eyes stared at her, and the next moment they were simply not there. Her

sword was plunged through nothing. Her foot that had been planted on his bloody

chest suddenly fell, causing her to stumble.

She caught herself and twisted around, catching sight of him suddenly

being there out of the corner of her eye. This time he was slouched against the

doorway. He yawned insolently, peering at her from the corner of one half-closed

eye. "You should stop vasting your time, Fräu Pigsticker. I am everyvere und

novere. Your pretty weapons vill never harm me."

Sabre stepped towards him. None of the others had come to join her. This

was her fight, and she would win or die. And it wouldn't be long before she

perished regardless of what the boy did. The spectacle of her servant repeatedly

failing to kill the intruder wouldn't amuse Galaxia. She'd annihilate Sailor

Sabre rather than continue to allow such an embarrassing farce to continue. In

fact, this was probably going to be her last chance to attack.

Sabre smiled, bringing her swords up and stalking towards the boy.

Despite knowing any further mistake would be her last, her blood was rushing in

excitement. She'd been created to kill. The prospect of ripping the boy's

insolent smirk away, replacing it with the fear and awe of death, excited her.

What was the correct attack strategy? Her mind filled with

possibilities. Perhaps attacking him with a Second Circle effect would prevent

his teleportation. Or rendering him senseless rather than killing him. Or

perhaps he had a well-hidden weak point somewhere...

Before she could choose, another voice rang out. "Everywhere and

nowhere, is it?" Suddenly, Z stepped out from the door. Sabre remembered he had

been behind her as she walked to the throne room. He stared down coldly at the

boy. "You overestimate yourself. You are here, in the seat of Sailor Galaxia's

power, and nobody leaves this place so easily."

The boy blinked, then suddenly seemed to realise something. The smirk on

his face froze.

Z sneered. "And as for being 'everywhere', to some of us that merely

makes you a far larger target." He raised one arm, and the Light Hawk Wings

flared to life, so bright Sabre reflexively shielded her eyes. When she lowered

her hand, the intruder was sprawled on the ground, covered in bruises. His eyes

were dazed.

"Now talk," Z said. "What brings you here?" He glanced back at Sailor

Sabre, and that was when she knew.

He'd known her next attack would probably be her last. But now nobody

was paying any attention to her anymore. All eyes were on the strange boy.

Z had protected her.

She met his gaze with a look of such loathing that he whitened a little

bit. Z's mouth tightened, and he turned back to look at the intruder.

The boy shook his head to clear it, rising up on one elbow. He looked

around at the grim, staring figures, and then abruptly started laughing. "Ach,

all zis trouble for just a wisit. Very well, I surrender." Hopping to his feet,

he raised his hands. His insolent grin, however, didn't falter. "Fräu Galaxia, I

apologise. I didn't know you'd made a door to knock on. You should put out a

sign so all your guests do not get stabbed."

Sailor Sabre looked up at Galaxia. She had leaned back in her throne,

crossed her legs, and rested her cheek on one hand. "Is that so? Unfortunately

for you, I have little need for guests."

"Of course not!" the boy laughed. "But I zink you are a little curious

about vat someone who wud go to all zis trouble has to say. Otherwise, zis

has all been a vaste of time, and why wud you do zat? Zat wud make you

seem foolish."

Sailor Sabre waited eagerly to see the boy eradicated in a flash of

golden light. Instead, the corner of Galaxia's mouth quirked up. "Well, I

certainly would not want to seem... foolish. So speak, boy. What message is so

important that you would forfeit your life to deliver it to me?"

"Ja! Well, I should introduce myself." The boy snapped into an attentive

stance, hands crossed behind his back. "I am Oberstammführer Schrödinger,

representative of ze Umbrella Corporation. Although zat is a formality since I

may be ze only one left. Ze Letztes, you could say." He grinned, then looking

around at the unamused faces, hastily continued, "My late führer - although zis

is the more recent one - was a great fan of your vurk."

"A fan?" Z shouted. "Nonsense! What are you babbling about?"

"Oh, but it is true!" Schrödinger grinned, making an elaborate show of

bowing to Galaxia. "Ze records ve could acquire of your vurk were incomplete,

but oh, such vurk! An instrument of truly sublime war, he once called you. A

force of pure devastation and conquest, truly an avatar of chaos and death! One

of his fondest dreams was that you wud come to Earth and we wud kill or be

killed by you. So few merited that sort of respect! But sadly, it vas not to

be."

"So is that your message?" Galaxia said, abruptly sounding bored. "Of

the respect of your late master? How trifling."

"Oh no, zat was just ze preamble, you see. He is dead - why should I

care vat message he had?" Schrödinger straightened and looked directly into her

eyes. "I come to see you, to ask you vhy you have become such a stinking

coward?"

The gasp was audible throughout the room, emanating from nearly every

throat. Sabre was too shocked even to do that. Unconsciously, she took a step

further away from the boy.

Galaxia raised an eyebrow, but made no other move. "And what is it that

you mean by that?"

"Is it not obvious?" Schrödinger swept his arm around the room. "Vat

are you doing here? Are you not ze greatest warrior in the galaxy? Are you not

ze victor of ten thousand bloody battles? Yet you retreated from Earth without

even a single blow last year. Then you haf sat here since, letting zis handful

of girls fight a pitiful phony war against ze Juraians. You were so close to

breaking their spirit, und now you huddle here, hiding in a bunker. What, vill

you let yourself grow fat on your throne until they find a way to destroy you?"

Sailor Sabre found herself nodding at the tirade, but caught herself

before anyone noticed. But still, this would be the end of the idiot boy-

Wait, Galaxia was smiling. SMILING?

"Your candour is amusing, boy. But you're wrong. I'm not hiding from the

Juraians. I'm ignoring them. They no longer interest me." She raised one hand

languidly and made a half-shrug. "Someone on your planet promised me a far more

interesting war. I'm awaiting her challenge."

"Vat, just waiting? If not cowardice, that is just lazy, if you'll

excuse my saying so, Fräu Galaxia." Schrödinger snapped his fingers. "How can

you haf a proper war without an army?"

Galaxia still didn't annihilate the arrogant boy, but again she began to

look bored. "The pitiful remnants of this galaxy will barely serve to arm my

foe. I leave it to her to make some use of it."

"Ja, this galaxy is mostly depopulated. So vat?"

Galaxia paused for a long moment. Suddenly, her eyes were sharp and

alert again. "You have something in mind?"

Schrödinger's grin stretched across his face. His sharp teeth flashed.

"I am no expert, but aren't zere billions of galaxies? If ze ruins of zis one

cannot provide a suitable army, then ze answer is obvious: attack another. Und

another, und another. Attack and pillage and loot and destroy and enslave until

you haf an army suitable for zis conflict. Bring back an armada zat will suit

for a war between galaxies. If zis woman promises a war worthy of ze greatest

warrior in the galaxy, vhy should you make it easy for her?"

Galaxia laughed. It was the first time she had done so in a year. She

placed her hand over her face and continued laughing. Sabre stared, as did

everyone else. Launching a war against an entire new galaxy... just the handful

of them? There would be threats they could not even dream of. Those other

galaxies could even have their own equivalent to Galaxia. It was insane.

"You have convinced me, Schrödinger," Galaxia said finally. "After all,

waiting for my foe was growing almost as tedious as battling the Juraians."

Sabre felt a grin spreading across her face. It would be GLORIOUS.

Then Z's hand fell on her shoulder. He was looking down at her solemnly.

He opened his mouth-

"Mistress Galaxia, there is one problem." It took Sabre a moment to

realise the voice was hers.

The slight, mysterious smile danced on Galaxia's lips again. "Oh yes, it

seemed that whatever you were going to say was interrupted earlier, Sailor

Sabre. So, what is this problem?"

Sabre took a step forward, not incidentally removing Z's hand from her

shoulders. Her mind raced. No matter how glorious the battle, decades or even

centuries with Z? Her skin crawled at the thought. But inviting death wasn't her

idea of a preferable alternative. And then the answer came to her. "These

battles will take a very long time. Leaving your foe on Earth unobserved for so

long would be imprudent."

"And you are volunteering yourself to watch her?" Galaxia mused. "How

strange, for someone who loves combat as you do."

Sabre lowered her head. Time to gamble. "I am ashamed at my failure to

retrieve the Star Seed. Therefore I see this mission as a chance to both punish

myself and further strengthen my skills, to become a perfect soldier when you

make your great invasion."

Of course, there was more to it than that. Sabre knew precisely whose

challenge Galaxia was waiting for on Earth. And she knew that that woman

numbered among her servants one Touga Kiryuu, who she had met briefly some years

earlier. He had tricked her, taken advantage of her foolish attraction to Z,

USED her, and then discarded her as callously as garbage.

A smile flitted about her lips. Now that was someone who knew how to

treat a girl.

Perhaps it was even worth considering switching sides. Tethys was a

warrior queen who did not shrink from the front lines. And going into battle

against an army forged from entire conquered galaxies would be a battle that

attracted her even more than any Galaxia could offer her.

Getting to carve through the ranks of her former comrades would merely

be a bonus.

"Your reasoning is sound, Sailor Sabre," Galaxia proclaimed. Sabre bowed

more deeply. "However, I have seemingly already lost one servant to the...

chaotic straits of Earth. So I will assign a native to assist your

acclimatisation. Schrödinger, will you accept this task?"

"I wud be delighted!" he proclaimed, as cheerfully as if he'd had any

choice in the matter.

"You two should get along well together, since you share such similar

ideas," Galaxia added. Her tone was calm, but Sabre's blood froze for a moment.

Similar ideas? Had she seen Sabre nodding along with the boy's audacious rant?

Had she suspected what Sabre was going to tell her?

She smiled tightly as she rose. So, perhaps Galaxia was placing two

servants of unreliable loyalty together. Either of whom would happily betray the

other if they found proof of disloyalty. Well, so be it. She glanced over at

Schrödinger, who grinned at her.

"A pleasure to be vorking with you, Fräu Pigsticker."

OoOoO

Yuzuki Nagashiro loved Tokyo. She had lived here pretty much her whole

life, and knew the ways of the city like the back of her hand. She had memorised

all the subway schedules and all the bus routes, but really she preferred to

walk if it was at all possible. And when she could walk, she chose to run. This

was why she was caught totally off-guard by the white-faced man.

She was running through the twisting city streets, her eyes almost

closed as she laughed and called out greetings to the people she passed. She

leapt over a little old lady cleaning her porch, calling a hello as she hit the

top of her jump. The old lady feebly waved as Yuzuki dashed past, taking the

corner as fast as she could without sending herself sprawling. She waved as she

sprinted past the florist and the bird shop. The clerks waved back, slightly

nonplussed by her enthusiasm.

She grinned, enjoying the feeling of the wind in her long hair. Coach

kept telling her to get it cut, but Yuzuki would sooner paint her face purple

than cut her hair. But it wasn't like the hair got in her way. She was just too

good at the game. Her legs made her the star of the football team. That, and her

ability to turn on a dime. She could find gaps in the opponents' defence and

snap a ball past the goalkeeper before most players even realised that she had

decided to turn. It was why she was never afraid to be sprinting at full speed

through the streets of one of the most crowded cities in the world. She had even

tried kicking a ball along on her sprints, to practice her control.

That hadn't worked out so well, admittedly.

So it came as a complete surprise when Yuzuki flashed around a corner at

top speed and slammed into a wall she knew hadn't been there. Stars exploded

across her vision and she collapsed onto her back, groaning. Gingerly she

reached up and probed her face, glad to feel that her nose was not broken. She

moaned as she sat up. Who had decided to block off this alley?

When her eyes opened fully she got her answer. There was a man in the

alley. He was tall, wearing a brown trenchcoat pulled tight around his thin

frame. His hands were stuffed in his front pockets and he was wearing a fedora

pulled so low over his face that it was impossible to make out anything about

him. His boots were seamless and white, sort of clashing with the rest of the

outfit.

"Wow, sorry, mister stranger," Yuzuki said, pushing herself to her feat.

She frowned when he said and did nothing. "Hey, I said I'm sorry..." she

repeated. Still he didn't respond. What a jerk, letting a girl slam into him and

not even so much as offering her a hand up. And he was tough too. She could have

sworn she ran into something like a lightpole or a door, not a human being.

Yuzuki made a show of dusting herself off. Her school uniform had a

small tear in the skirt now. She sighed. Knowing her father, he would leap on it

as an excuse to try and claim she was doing something too dangerous again.

"Well, goodbye mister silent stranger," Yuzuki called, stepping back.

The man twisted his head slightly. Something about the way his head

moved made Yuzuki's stomach tighten. She could see a bit under his fedora now.

His face was white, pure and utter white. She couldn't see his eyes. She should

have been able to, from this angle, but she couldn't. Yuzuki quickly backed up a

few steps. The man took a step forward. Those strange boots were the exact same

colour as his face. The exact same.

Yuzuki bolted.

The first few blocks were hell. She kept glancing over her shoulder. Her

heart was beating in her throat. Sweat trickled down her neck. She never sweated

when she ran. The white-faced man was no longer following her. The next few

blocks she was beginning to calm down. She considered calling for the SecOps,

but as she put more distance between herself and the shortcut alley, the idea

seemed more and more absurd. There was no need to call down a cadre of combat

zoanoids on the neighbourhood just because she had run into a stranger.

By the time she came within sight of her house, Yuzuki was laughing the

encounter off. The man had probably been just as startled by her as she had been

by him. And so what if his face was white? She had seen stranger things. Mr.

Tatsuki down the street occasionally turned into an eight foot tall lizard

with a horn on his head, and her English teacher would lecture the class while

her prehensile braid wrote notes on the whiteboard. She had successfully

convinced herself that nothing important had happened by the time she entered

the house.

She announced herself loudly, as always, making certain to slam the door

a little bit. As always, Anthy called out to her from the kitchen. Yuzuki paused

only long enough to change to her house slippers before following the sounds

from the kitchen.

"You're not trying to cook again, are you Anthy?" Yuzuki asked.

Anthy turned to face her slowly. She was smiling, but in the way that

was far too polite. Yuzuki, as always, found herself a little jealous of her

maid's exotic beauty. Anthy had dark skin, purple hair and striking green eyes.

While she preferred to keep her hair up in a modest style, Yuzuki knew that her

hair was actually long enough to fall all the way down to her ankles. She had

discovered this once when she had stumbled in on the woman in the bath.

"You're late," Anthy said, waving a mixing spoon in Yuzuki's general

direction. To Yuzuki's horror, it was covered with... something. "Your father

would not be pleased. He wanted you to come straight home after practice."

"Father didn't even want me to go to practice," Yuzuki said with a

frown. She sat down on one of the stools, depositing her bookbag and gymbag on

the small island that cut the kitchen in half. The portable TV was on opposite

her.

It was showing a still picture of the Sailor Senshi fighting some man.

Yuzuki couldn't make out much, but the man had very dark, almost bronze skin and

wore nothing but a thong. She blushed a little. He was in the middle of blocking

an attack from Sailor Mars with one hand while the other was firing a large

energy sphere at the other two.

"...Miss Hino refused to comment on whether the battle today at Todai

station was related to the string of disappearances that has plagued Japan for

the last three weeks," the reporter was saying, her voice crisp and

businesslike. "When asked whether or not they would be continuing their

investigations, the Senshi spokeswoman said that 'the incidents of the last few

weeks have a great deal of supernatural character that the Security Operations

division is unequipped to handle as well as us'. Interim Prime Minister

Purgstall could not be reached for comment as of this broadcast, but

presumably-"

Anthy flicked off the TV with a twist of her fingers. Yuzuki frowned and

looked up at her. "Why were you late, Miss Nagashiro?"

Yuzuki screwed up her face and considered her answer. She really didn't

like talking to Anthy. It wasn't that the maid wasn't nice. In fact, she was

always unfailingly polite. She was demure and happy and never had a bad word for

anyone. She also did whatever her dad or mom or Yuzuki asked her to without

complaint, in that order.

Which was why Yuzuki didn't like her. Anthy was the perfect Japanese

woman; beautiful, elegant, graceful, submissive and quiet. In short, she was

everything Yuzuki's father had been trying to force Yuzuki to become for the

last six years. Then there was the fact that her father refused to give Yuzuki

an answer when she asked why they even needed a maid.

The Nagashiro family wasn't exactly poor. Father was a dentist and

mother worked as his secretary. Plus, there was the settlement from Chronos for

big brother's... Yuzuki shook off the thought. The point was they made enough

money to afford a house with a modest yard and even enough space for her

father's sports car. But it was just the three of them, and the house wasn't so

large that Yuzuki and her mother couldn't keep it tidy with a weekly clean up.

Which is what they had done until about two months ago when Yuzuki had come home

from work to find Anthy in the living room, dusting the TV and wearing one of

those ridiculous western maid dresses.

Anthy had seemed astonished when Yuzuki had asked what she was doing

there. She was the maid, of course. She had been hired to clean and cook and so

on. Every question was answered quickly, if with a minimum of information. And

when Yuzuki had cornered her dad and demanded an explanation, he had looked at

her like she had grown a second head.

"Why wouldn't Anthy be here, Yuzuki?" he had said, in a confused tone.

"She's the maid."

"Miss Nagashiro?"

Yuzuki shook off her thoughts and looked back at Anthy. "Sorry. I

was..." She trailed off, then shrugged. "I was just thinking about how weird you

are." Sugarcoating the truth had never been one of her strong points.

"Well, thank you!" Anthy replied, smiling. "But that doesn't answer the

question. Where were you that you were almost an hour late? It's almost sunset."

"I was at..." Yuzuki considered how to phrase it. "I was at the

memorial." There was no need to specify what memorial. There was really only one

memorial in Tokyo.

"But the ceremonies were yesterday," Anthy said. "They even gave all the

schools the day off to participate. I believe both Mr. Purgstall and Miss Tendo

gave speeches..."

"Yeah, but I wasn't going for them..." Yuzuki said, waving her hand.

Almost instantly she regretted it. Anthy's eyes narrowed.

"Oh?" Anthy's smile grew more predatory. "Who did you go there for?"

Well, there was no helping it now. Truth before safety! "I was there for

Mr. Gyro."

Anthy seemed taken aback. She staggered a step. "R-reichmann Gyro?" she

gasped.

Yuzuki puffed out her cheek and crossed her arms. "Yes. Reichmann Gyro.

I went to lay a rose on the memorial for him."

"You... you can't be serious!" Anthy snapped, her face flushed with more

emotion than Yuzuki had seen from her in two months. "Reichmann Gyro was a

monster! That memorial is for all the people he killed in his madness."

"So?" Yuzuki grunted.

"Why place a rose for him, of all people?!" Anthy slammed her hands down

on the table. "I think I may have overestimated you Yuzuki, maybe you aren't-"

"If I don't do it... who will?"

The words cut Anthy off in mid-speech. She looked at Yuzuki for a long

time. Uncomfortable under the older woman's gaze, Yuzuki quickly explained

herself. "I know he did bad things. I know he hurt a lot of people. I know what

he did to the Middle East and all that. They tell us at school all the time."

She paused to collect her thought and sighed. "But... he wasn't just a monster.

He was a human being. A human being who just found himself walking a very dark

road. Who knows what he could have done if he had survived the fight? Terrible

things, yes. But he could have also done great good, if he chose to."

"That's impossible," Anthy replied. "His soul was as black and twisted

as they come."

"Nothing's impossible!" Yuzuki shouted, leaping to her feet. The stool

fell to the floor with a clatter. For a moment she remembered the same sound,

and running laughing into the kitchen and seeing- Yuzuki forced away the memory.

"Nobody is too evil to see the light," she continued in a more subdued tone.

"If you die, if you die..."

Big brother's face came to her. He was laughing. He was so tall! Father

was so proud of him. To think, HIS son had been accepted. To think, HER brother

had the stuff to be a Hyper Zoanoid! They threw him a party. That was the last

time she saw him smile.

She didn't see him again until a year later. He came home so quiet. he

never smiled. His eyes were haunted. He kept washing his hands. He would lock

himself in his room and Yuzuki would lie against the wall that connected to two

bedrooms and listen to him sob and beg someone for forgiveness.

And then, the clatter of a chair on the kitchen floor and-

"If you die, you'll never know what good things you could have done."

Yuzuki brushed at her eyes, drying the slight mist there. The ache wasn't as

strong as it used to be. She forced herself to smile and she looked up at Anthy.

She made her voice cheery, which wasn't as hard as it might have been even a

year ago. "So that's why I left a rose for Reichmann Gyro."

Anthy was beaming. Not just smiling politely. She was just standing

there and radiating happiness like Yuzuki had never seen before. She had hardly

ever seen anybody that happy since... well, since everybody in Tokyo found that

they weren't dead anymore. It was actually a little scary.

Thankfully at that moment, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Yuzuki yelled without thinking. She sprinted to the front

door and pulled it open, calling out a greeting that died on her lips.

It was him. She recognized the trenchcoat. He was just as tall. His hand

was withdrawing from the doorbell. Except it wasn't a hand. It was like a hand,

but it was white as chalk and poorly shaped. It looked more like a child's clay

model of a human hand than an actual one.

Yuzuki backed up a step. The man looked down at her. She could see under

his hat from this angle. He had no face. There was the shape of a face, the

outline of a nose. That was it. There were no eyes. There was no mouth. Just a

shiny white blankness like some sort of horrible animated mannequin. And even

though it lacked eyes, Yuzuki got the impression it was looking at her. It was

staring at her. It was staring into her. Its hand stopped pulling back, and

started moving towards her.

She froze.

The hand was moving towards her chest. It was opening, unfolding like a

flower blossom. The fingers moved all wrong. There was no muscle action. They

just flowed, like they were floating. The thing reached for her chest.

"YUZUKI!"

Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Even as she did, there was

a flash of... of something. Yuzuki could tell something had happened. The man in

the doorway seemed to be holding something. His other arm had reached around and

he was cradling something to him. Except he wasn't. There was nothing there.

"Yuzuki, snap out of it," Anthy's voice came to her. Yuzuki turned

around. Anthy was no longer wearing her maid's uniform. She was clad in some

elaborate dress that fell to her feet. It was red and looked very formal. She

was holding Yuzuki by both arms, looking into her eyes. "He won't be fooled by

the illusion for long."

"I-illusion?" Yuzuki asked.

Anthy frowned. "Of course, you can't see it." She looked back at the

man. Except that it looked less like a man now. The fedora had fallen off,

revealing its featureless and subtly misshapen head. The trenchcoat had come

undone and its body was revealed, all sleek and white with no muscles or veins

at all. It had one arm curled as if holding something, while the other was

digging around in open air. "I fooled it into thinking it has you, but it will

catch on when it realises that crystal shard isn't there."

"Crystal shard?" Yuzuki asked. "What's going on?" She felt control

returning. "What's going on?" she repeated, more forcefully.

Anthy considered her. "Yuzuki, you aren't like normal people."

"What..."

"Shush, let me finish." Anthy looked back at the thing, and her eyes

narrowed. "Perversely, that thing is so simple and stupid that it is much harder

for me to affect it than it is to affect humans." She shook her head. "So I

don't have much time." She took a deep breath.

"Yuzuki. When Reichmann Gyro attacked the world, a large portion of his

power came from a magical gem called the Ginzuishou, the Silver Imperium

Crystal. This jewel was... a soul, to put it simply. A stolen soul, from a very

good person.

"To kill him, that gem had to be shattered, and it was. But souls can

not be destroyed. The shattered crystal fragments, hundreds of them, began to

seek to reunite with each other and with a living soul. Then everyone in Japan

was wished back.

"And the hundreds of fragments of the Silver Imperium Crystal were

reborn into the pure souls of some of the people brought back to life by that

pure-hearted wish.

"That is what that thing came for."

Yuzuki blinked. "Wait, you mean...?"

"Yes." Anthy stepped back, releasing Yuzuki. She bowed her head

slightly. "You are one of the people reborn with a shard of the Ginzuishou in

your body."

"Oh... neat." Yuzuki smiled. "Does this mean I have superpowers?"

"I..." Anthy paused. "You believe me?"

"Well, come on, they teach me weirder things in history class..." Yuzuki

replied laconically. Anthy chuckled at that.

Then there was a roar. It wasn't exactly a voice. It was too liquid and

alien to be human. Yuzuki spun to face the creature. It had exploded. Its body

was rippling, like water. The coat was shredded as long thin blades and spines

erupted from all over it. It roared again, and its hands became thick claws that

ripped at the doorway. Anthy gasped and fell back.

"I can't disguise us anymore..." she said. "We should have run."

"Can't you hurt it?" Yuzuki asked. The thing seemed to focus on her and

Anthy now. Its shape was settling down. It was humanoid, with a round head and a

hunched posture. Its limbs were thick and its fingers were wickedly curved

claws. "I can run fast, but I think it can run faster."

"I cannot harm it," Anthy informed her. "Not directly."

"Any chance of calling the SecOps?" Yuzuki asked, backing up a step as

the thing stepped into the porch. It had eyes now, inhuman blue eyes, the only

colour on its vaguely human form.

"No." Anthy admitted. She paused. "If you run, I can lure it away..."

"No way!" Yuzuki shouted. "You may be a creepy old maid..." Anthy's

eyebrow twitched. "...but I'm not going to let anybody get hurt protecting me!"

"Then..." Anthy stepped forward and placed her hand against Yuzuki's

breast. "You'll need a way to fight."

Yuzuki flushed. The thing roared and charged towards them. Time seemed

to slow down. She could hear Anthy's voice.

"Rose of the Silver Castle..."

There was no way she had enough time to say that. The thing was sliding

down the hallway at them, moving on all fours like some bizarre spider.

"Let this humble champion..."

Yuzuki felt a shot of liquid hot energy snap through her. She gasped,

her body arching backwards. She felt Anthy's other arm supporting her. She

felt... she felt... fantastic.

"Draw you forth!"

Anthy's hand began to lift from Yuzuki's breast and light began to

gather there. It was silver and pure, shining brightly. The thing seemed to

hurry up, but yet still failed to reach them. Soon there was a globe of

incandescent light floating between Anthy's hand and Yuzuki's heart. With a snap

of her wrist Anthy reached into it, and the handle of a sword appeared in her

grasp.

The next thing Yuzuki knew she was standing in front of the thing. The

doorway was exploding around her, splinters shooting out in all directions. The

thing was screaming, flying backwards into the street. There was a great gash in

its chest. Yuzuki looked down at her hand in surprise.

The sword was thin, just barely thicker than the fencing foil her friend

Kana kept in her room. It was made of pure silver, and shimmered and refracted

the light around it. The crossguard was shaped like a crescent moon.

"Yuzuki!" Anthy warned.

Yuzuki snapped her attention up. The thing was rushing her again, and

this time there was no dramatic slow down. It came at her faster than she would

have thought possible. There was no cut on its body. It leapt, its form

unfolding like a great kite.

Yuzuki threw herself to the side and, acting on instinct alone, she

slashed out at it. There was a liquid roar and the thing landed just behind her.

Its left arm fell to the ground. Yuzuki landed on her side, tumbling badly as

she tried to hold onto her blade. She came to her feet quickly.

The thing paused, looking at its stump. Then it snapped its remaining

arm at her. It unrolled like a fishing line. She brought up her sword in front

of her, but it wasn't aiming at her. It snagged its severed arm and the extended

limb snapped back like an elastic. The thing pressed the stump up against its

shoulder and it began to merge back together.

"How do I hurt it?" Yuzuki cried out to Anthy.

"It's your sword," Anthy replied unhelpfully.

"Great..." Yuzuki closed her eyes. "Brother, help me," she whispered,

holding the blade up in a final salute.

Then she opened her eyes and charged. The thing met her charge with a

run of its own. She aimed the point at its blue eyes and thrust and yelled at

the top of her lungs.

Just before they met, just before the thing's grotesquely misshapen arms

snapped around and took her head off, the sword blazed with silver light. Yuzuki

could feel it pulsing out all around her. The thing's arms rebounded from the

shield and Yuzuki pushed the blade into its face.

The face pushed inward even before the tip pierced it. It gurgled and

the indentation grew and grew, becoming a tunnel down the length of its body. As

the blade entered the tunnel the thing unravelled, its substance sent spinning

in all directions as the force of the magic tore it apart from the inside out.

Yuzuki ran through it as it was reduced to a fine white mist and came to a halt

just beyond where it had been, panting.

"Well done," Anthy said, stepping down from the house.

"T-thanks..." Yuzuki gasped and continued panting. She put a hand over

her chest. Then she noticed that her shirt was a LOT tighter than it had been

before. She looked down at herself. "Anthy... what happened to my clothes?!" she

shrieked.

OoOoO

Petra glanced at her cards. Two fives down, one ace up. She nodded and

shoved about half her chips forward. "I'm in."

"That's my girl," Erdmann chuckled. He went around the table, getting

bets from the other two. "Oh-ho, everyone's feeling lucky this hand? But I hope

you're ready to lose."

"Fermez la bouche," Marie mock-growled. "Just deal already." The French

woman grinned impudently. "I'm already planning my vacation." Alisher, sitting

to her left, grunted noncommittally.

"So what's the next order of business?" Erdmann asked as he slid off a

burn card from the deck. "Any other wrongs that need righting or rights that

need wronging in the world?"

"France is on the verge of recognising Link's regime in England," Petra

said. "Given that the Vatican is also very friendly with Link, and France, Spain

and Portugal are at least nominally Catholic, it presents the possibility of a

strongly united western European power bloc revolving around France. What are

your thoughts?"

"Not our problem," Alisher grunted. The scarred ex-mercenary looked

sourly at them. "Chris set up the situation in France. I'm sure He knew what He

was doing."

Marie shook her head. "Non, non. I do appreciate your thought, but that

is not what Chris would have wanted of us." She glanced over the top of her

glasses at Alisher. "Even if He had a plan, it is not for us to simply follow.

He has left us, His chosen, to bring about the perfect possible future. As all

mankind can and must gain the strength to walk their own path, so too must we

take our own action, not just trust in the world He left to us." She glanced

triumphantly at Petra. "Is that not right?"

Petra smiled thinly. "So it is." Marie was certainly quick to defer to

her authority when a question about Chris came up, provided she knew Petra would

agree with her. "What shall we do, then?"

"That Church is an archaic, rotting edifice," Marie sniffed. "I believe

we would do well to undermine its authority. I have been thinking that we could

begin seeding a new religion, one that encapsulates the virtues that Chris would

instill in the populace. Self-reliance, and so forth..."

"That's a risky proposition," Erdmann stated, his face turning

uncharacteristically serious. "Although many new religions have arisen in these

past years, if we were to make this one be successful, it would get all sorts of

attention that could lead back to us."

"That is not necessarily true," Marie argued. "At the moment, Spain and

Portugal are virtual satellite states. They are all but ignored in world

affairs. I think we could achieve a critical mass before it was noticed by

anyone of importance. And as for tracing back to us, the only ones familiar with

Chris's philosophy are those who already know of us. Thus, the problem is not

really any different than before."

"You gotta have someone on the ground to start a movement," Alisher

said. "Someone mind controls them, and then we're in trouble."

"Who says they will know of us? I think we could implant some memories

in a suitable candidate, perhaps craft some preprepared speeches..."

"Hmmm..." Erdmann mused. "It could work if we made sure they could do

something suitably heroic. Lead by example, yes?"

Petra nodded. "It's an interesting possibility, I suppose. Maria, I'll

put you in charge of drafting a plan, and we'll discuss how to flesh it out once

you're satisfied."

Maria nodded, with that peculiar mixture of benign smugness she had when

she got her way. "I will. Now will you deal the cards already, Erdmann? I do

intend to sleep tonight, you know."

He laughed. "I didn't want to interrupt your train of thought." The next

round of cards slipped out. Petra got an eight of clubs, nothing at all useful.

Erdmann had a pair of threes showing, and looked cheerful, though that wasn't

unusual no matter what cards he held. Alisher was scowling at his cards, but

that was even less unusual. The man never folded no matter what he held, in any

case.

Maria tossed down her cards with a grand sigh. "So this is your revenge

on me, eh? Well, I'll be busy with this project, so neither I nor anyone in my

department needs a vacation anyway." She stood up and inclined her head, sliding

her glasses back up her nose. "I'll be retiring early, then, to consider this.

The rest of them all bet. Alisher looked up after doing so, still

scowling.. "I still don't like relying on a religion to splinter western Europe.

Too slow, too chancy. They were thick as thieves before 1992, with the

Maastricht Treaty and all that. We should get something else going."

"Any ideas?" Petra asked. It would be something military; Alisher's

origin was central Asia, a hellhole even before it had been flooded with

darkstalkers and stray Umbrella monstrosities. He thought primarily in terms of

violence, though he was very good at such thinking.

He didn't disappoint her expectations. "Zoalord Khan is cooking up a

whole mess of strange stuff in Russia. We should make sure he gets the idea to

test it out in Europe. Will make him look big and tough to all the other

warlords, and Arkanphel doesn't care enough to say boo anymore. Also give us

some intelligence on what he's working with, which can't hurt."

"Won't attacks on the civilian population just encourage Europe to pull

closer together?" Erdmann objected mildly.

"If he attacked 'em all, sure. But if he attacks mostly the border

countries - the Dutch and the Croats, say - it'll be a security crisis. They'll

go beggin' for the French to help them." Alisher flashed one of his rare,

crooked smiles. "That's a no-win situation for the French - if they give help,

they'll be stripping their own defences, Khan can hit a village or two, the

French start resenting the other countries for not pulling their weight. If they

don't, the other countries figure out France can't protect 'em. If they do a big

military buildup to try and protect themselves and the other Europeans, everyone

starts to get worried. Will mess with their trying to colonise what's left of

Germany, too, and of course there's not a hope in hell they'll openly attack

Chronos."

"Good," Petra nodded. "I'll let you handle how to bring this opportunity

to zoalord Khan's mind. So, with that settled, shall we finish this hand, then,

Erdmann?"

This time she got a third five. All her useful cards were hidden. How

appropriate. She smiled slightly. "Shall we, then?" She laid her cards out.

"Three of a kind."

Alisher got his last card, then turned them all up with a snort. "This

is not real poker anyway. You get seven."

"Hmm," Erdmann mused. "My three threes could certainly not beat your

fives." He grinned. "How fortunate that I also have two tens, therefore." He

turned them up and raked in his chips. "It appears this weekend's vacation goes

to me. Or perhaps that nice little Spanish linguist. She's been working so hard

lately."

"I'm certain she'll be grateful," Petra murmured. She was almost

surprised to feel a little flash of jealousy, and then was amused. "Well, I'll

leave the cleanup to you two gentlemen."

She ended up heading to the DC. "I'd like ice water," she said as she

entered the room. The dining common area was in fact one of the most normal-

seeming places in the entire fortress. Soft, almost inaudible music played,

immediately relaxing whomever entered. The walls were slightly curved and a very

muted blue in hue. Of course, you could not forget where you were.

A glass glistening slightly with condensation slipped out of one of the

apertures at on the far wall. It slipped through the air towards her, the water

within not showing the slightest disturbance until her hand closed around the

glass, causing the ice to clink slightly. "Thank you," she murmured, not that

there was anything to hear her.

There was no copied or adjusted Galaxy Police technology involved here.

There was absolutely nothing in the recesses on the walls. After He had returned

from the Dark Kingdom, Chris had simply noted to His followers that they could

now get whatever food or drink they wished by speaking it aloud. Finished plates

could be deposited in the recesses and would disappear just as suddenly as they

had appeared in the first place.

The DC was even more relaxing for most of the denizens of the fortress,

now. After all, it was a tangible sign of Chris's power. It was proof, to most

of them, that He was still with them. Petra smirked bitterly as she sipped her

water. They all knew the essentials of the First and Second Circles. They really

ought to know better.

"Not in bed yet, Petra?"

She gasped in surprise, which caused her to cough as some water entered

the wrong pipe.

Erdmann grinned his wide, lazy grin at her. "It's a good thing you're

supposed to be an apostle and not a prophet, eh? You wouldn't look good." He

held up his hands defensively as she glared at him. "A joke, a joke."

A napkin was provided by the room before she could even gasp out the

request, and she coughed into it before wiping her lips. "We're all followers of

Chris here, Erdmann. Weren't you cleaning up?"

"Well, you left the cleaning to Alisher and I, so I in turn just left it

to him. He grumbled, but he always does that."

"He'll garrotte you in your sleep if you're not careful," Petra

muttered. "So, did you come here for food, or...?"

"Actually," he said, face growing more serious, "I was a little worried

about you."

"Oh?"

"I couldn't help but notice you didn't have any ideas at the table." He

held up a hand to forestall any objection. "That's not the first time. In fact,

policy-wise you've been very quiet these past few months. It's not like you."

Petra swore inwardly. Of course it was true. She'd lost interest in the

schemes to control the destiny of humanity, to bring about Chris's ideal of the

perfect possible future, a long time ago. She'd thought she'd hidden it better

than that, but the German psychologist knew her well enough to know when her

heart wasn't in something.

Once upon a time, she'd been a spy. Truthfully, much of what she'd

learned at the Idarat al-Mukhabarat was useless, what she'd learned at Chronos

even more so; a lot of redundancy and pointless procedure and paranoid

fantasies. Most of the real lessons of espionage, she'd found, were very simple

ones. But one thing she'd been told she remembered very well. "If you need to

hide information from someone who's suspicious of you, and you will," her

immediate al-Mukhabarat superior - one of her few friends in the organisation -

had once told her, "then be sure to tell them something else they do not know.

They will start thinking about that, and then their attention on you, formerly

focused, becomes divided."

Petra hesitated for just long enough to give the impression of someone

conflicted, then looked Erdmann in the eye and lied. "You're right. There's

something that's been worrying me; I haven't really been able to concentrate on

things while I've been thinking about it."

Erdmann smiled again. "Is it something you can talk about?"

She glanced around. The room was deserted; most people in the fortress

took to bed early. "It's the long term, Erdmann. Everyone is so caught up in

events of the here and now, and that's fine, but... consider. There's not even

fifty of us. Inevitably, some will be lost in the field or by accident. Even

more so, even with the medical technology we have, the time will come when we've

all grown old and feeble. We're only human. The solution isn't easy, either."

She turned and paced a little bit, as she often did when she was agitated. "We

can't risk recruiting new members. No matter how carefully we choose, no matter

how much we watch or how many hoops we must go through, the moment we start

letting anyone else on this fortress, we have created a security leak. Certainly

Link, Angel, and Akane Tendo know we exist, but their words are all suspect and

no amount of searching will reveal us. But every intelligence agency or secret

organisation that exists or has existed in the world has been infiltrated when

they began recruiting. We cannot assume we can be the exception. And should a

spy provide a way to find us to the right enemy, we are finished."

"Hmmm..." Erdmann rolled his tongue in his mouth. "I see. You are

correct, it's not a problem I think too many are focusing on yet. But does it

worry you so much?"

"Of course," Petra replied. "Look at how much damage was done by

traitors even when Chris was with us."

"Well, if as you say no intelligence agency has ever gotten around this

difficulty, then we just need a new resource." He pinched his nose between thumb

and forefinger. "What about a telepath?"

"We don't have one, and recruiting one would be even more risky."

"Ah, ah, ah. We do not have one YET," Erdmann corrected, waggling a

finger. "But it may be that we can encourage the development of one. Many of us

have been working on developing our Second Circle potential. Now, we'd be almost

starting from scratch," he admitted. "Most of the telepaths we know of seem to

have 'inborn power'. But I see no reason to believe that is necessary. Nabiki

Tendo gained hers from that sword of hers, after all."

"You're right," Petra said with honest admiration. She never precisely

forgot the jolly German psychologist was very intelligent, but she still was

sometimes startled to be reminded he was very likely the smartest of all of

them. "I applaud you, Erdmann. And here I had been struggling with the problem

for months."

"Ha, but it is hardly solved yet. Just a theory." He grinned. "But I

will begin looking into the matter."

"Please keep me updated, then," Petra said. She placed the half-full

glass of water back in the wall recess; as she withdrew her hand, it vanished.

"This time, however, I really do intend to retire," she said, casually lying

again. "So go get some sleep."

He laid a hand on her shoulder as she turned away. "You should have told

us earlier, Petra. You don't have to bear these kinds of things by yourself."

She smiled slightly, unseen. After all this time, his touch still

brought back lovely memories. She felt sorry for him. "You're wrong, Erdmann. I

appreciate your help, but you know that I was chosen by Chris. It's necessary

for me to maintain my distance."

"That doesn't mean you-"

"Yes, it does," she said calmly, still not turning. "His last message

was for me. The destruction of my family, my friends, my coworkers, my country,

my life, was for me. All of you are loyal, but you still have loyalties. Marie

thinks of things in terms of religion and is very Eurocentric, Alisher in terms

of military force and the political fault lines of central Asia. You think in

terms of people's minds, and you care about the displaced civilians of war. You

are all, no matter how talented and clever, biased. It is up to me to see

clearly." She finally looked back at him, her face now perfectly composed. "I

have no connections. I care for nothing but the survival of the human race. That

is my place here, and that is why I was chosen."

He let her go, looking down. "Of course, I didn't mean to say..." He

trailed off.

Petra walked away without another word. She hoped, for Erdmann's sake,

that his new project wouldn't bear any fruit. If it did, she'd have to take

steps she would deeply regret. No matter what, she couldn't allow any telepath

to have the chance to read her mind.

She did in fact pass by own room. It had once been Chris's study, the

closest chamber to the observation room. Nobody had argued with her

appropriating it, not after she told them the last message Chris had supposedly

left for her. She hadn't wanted it merely for symbolic value, however, but

rather for the fact that there was no longer any surveillance of that room or

the corridor around it.

She didn't worry about anyone following her; the door to the final

corridor would now open only for her. The same went for the door to her room,

and the last door, the one she now stood before.

It slid open. A blast of cold assaulted her. But she had long since

expected that. She stepped into it, through the door, and out into the

observation room. Or what had once been the observation room. The room where

Chris had died.

It was torn open to space now, a great gaping wound in the fortress.

Some fragments of crystal still lay on the floor, held by the artificial

gravity. The atmosphere clung weakly to it; the air was thin and very, very

cold. It was like a mountaintop. But that was bearable, for awhile anyway. Petra

took slow, shallow breaths as she stepped out.

There were no longer any remnants of Chris's bodies. Nearly everything

remaining here had vapourised the first time it had been exposed to the sun's

rays. Petra would be no different if she were there then; not enough protection

remained. But for now, the weakened, torn remnants of Chris' power stood between

her and instant death.

She walked up to the very edge. Petra had never been afraid of heights,

even when she had been very young. She stared down from the edge of the

fortress. Below her, the Earth spread out across her vision as if it were just

beneath her feet, almost close enough to touch or dive into. The Andes were

directly below her, and then the cloud-swirled deep blue of the Pacific spread

out until the curve of the planet took it out of sight.

A giddy, jittering rush spread through her. It took her back to when she

was a child, and had stealthily climbed the gate of the Citadel of Aleppo. She

had climbed Mount Hermon some years after and wondered why, even if it left her

breathless, neither it nor any other height could produce that same exuberant

feeling in her. But she'd learned when she'd first come out here, two days after

Chris had died.

It was the forbidden. Getting caught climbing the citadel would have

gotten her in the most trouble her young life had experienced. Now the stakes

were unimaginably higher.

Of course, the others in the fortress thought that too. They plotted and

schemed to save the Earth. They certainly knew their fates if the world

discovered them. But in the end, what they did was almost meaningless. Control

humanity? A few dozen scientists, engineers and architects in a satellite?

Ridiculous. Without Chris, preposterous. Chronos had infiltrated every

political organisation on Earth and commanded power and technology that dwarfed

everyone else on the planet, and they couldn't keep a firm grip on humanity. How

could a tiny little cabal hope to direct it, save it from itself? It was a

fool's quest.

They believed in it, of course. They believed in Chris. They believed in

the story Petra had told them about how He had died and left the task to them.

None of them knew the truth, of course. Petra had destroyed the record of His

last moments, then destroyed the computers it had been captured to, destroyed

the devices that recorded it. She had done so with a calm efficiency that had

surprised even her, and only later realised the truth: she had instantly grasped

that none of the others could ever know what had happened to Chris.

How their god, their saviour, had died whimpering and begging a human

girl for help, His body and soul rotted out and destroyed by Paradox.

But one thing she was truthful about: Chris had left Petra a way to do

it. This technology and people in this fortress meant nothing, in the long run.

Humanity couldn't be changed by something so petty as a few would-be

Machiavellian conspirators manipulating politics behind the scenes. But at the

same time, in dying, Chris had proved Himself correct.

If Chris, if the most powerful being in the universe, could be killed by

a few 'heroes', then who couldn't be? If He wasn't invincible, neither was

Galaxia, or Tsunami, or Arkanphel, or anything else that might be out there.

Humanity didn't have any need for a god to protect it. It just needed to

be prepared, thrown into a conflict that would never end and would breed

strength and will.

Chris had left her the tool she needed for that. This fortress, which

was full of the power of Chris, a power so great that its existence was hidden

from anything. Not any would-be god had the power to see through the veil Chris

had thrown over this. Not even Chaos itself, searching for a thousand years,

could find this fortress. It was protected by the most powerful Second Circle

enchantment in the universe, the legacy of the most powerful god of all. That

much power could do anything. Once.

At first Petra had considered changing the fundamental nature of

humanity, but she'd realised that if humanity could kill Chris, their nature

didn't need changing. All they needed was to have no choice, to fight or perish,

to never be able to sink back into complacency. The Earth was too friendly for

that to happen. So she'd merge it with something else. Like a world of demons

who themselves constantly struggled for survival and dominance. Their detritus

spilled out in Russia and China, but humanity didn't even conceive of how huge

the Makai dimension was, how full of wonders and horrors.

They would find out. And all Petra needed was someone, somewhere in the

universe, who could free all that power Chris had left, turn it into something

more mutable, something that could be directed. Petra couldn't do it. She'd

studied the Second Circle, but she had no innate magic, no power to wrench

Chris's enchantment loose. But she was sure she could direct it once that had

been done for her.

She stared down at the Earth below her feet. The giddy feeling rose up

in her again. Soon. Soon she'd have finished researching for the ritual, and

then she could begin looking in earnest for her patsy. It would take someone

with nearly godlike power themselves, but wasn't that exactly the sort of being

that Chris had chosen them to help humanity overcome?

Chris had known-

"Damn it!" she swore, and immediately regretted it. The deep breath of

thin, icy air chilled her lungs down, and she coughed, drawing in more and more

air that wasn't there. Vertigo struck her, and she retained just enough presence

of mind to fall backwards instead of out into the abyss. She lay where she fell

for a long time, how long she wasn't sure. Abruptly she realised she was crying.

She swore again, softly this time. Through her watery eyes and frosted eyelashes

she could see a dark stain on the floor of the former observatory beside her

head. She managed to weakly smash her fist into it. The slight pain cleared her

head a little, made her blood run faster. She couldn't stay out here much

longer.

"Damn you, Chris!" she hissed. "You lied! You aren't a g...g...!"

"You weren't...!"

"You never were a...!"

She couldn't say it. She couldn't force the word past her frozen lips.

She couldn't bring herself to believe it, even now. Not even when she'd seen Him

crying and begging Akane Tendo to save Him. Not even knowing He was dead, that

His soul had been ripped apart and become just more Paradox.

But all the Paradox was gone now. Had He been reborn in this universe

somewhere?

It didn't matter! The fact someone else had done what He couldn't was

just more proof! He would just be a normal person! There was no connection

besides the sharing of a soul. He wasn't a g-

Couldn't even think it.

She watched numbly as another wet tear managed to roll down her cheek.

She twitched and it fell off, solidifying as it fell, cracking as it hit the

dark stain on the floor. The stain that could have been Him. Or could have been

anything at all, now.

"Why couldn't you have picked me?" she whispered at it. "I would have

taken it. I would have taken all of the Paradox." She couldn't speak anymore,

her breath was gone. She'd get frostbite if she stayed out here much longer; her

fingers had grown numb. But she couldn't stop her thoughts, the same ones she'd

had day after day, night after night, for the past year.

Why would He cling to all those people who betrayed Him? Why were His

only thoughts, at the end, about people like Angel and Link and Akane? Why would

He let them destroy Him?

All He had to do was look at her. All He would have had to do was ask.

But in the end, in the face of death, He had forgotten her.

Why?

What had she not been able to be for Him?

Petra wrapped her arms around herself and sat up. Her chest felt like it

had frozen from the inside out. She had to get back inside. How long had she

been out here, anyway?

She crawled to the doorway, which opened at her touch. Collapsing

inside, she coughed as the warm, more humid air entered her lungs. Spots she

hadn't even realised had been dancing around her vision started to vanish. She

chided herself. That had been stupid. Of course, going out there was always

stupid.

But it was the place she felt closest to Him, the place where it was

most tangible how His power, even torn and broken, was all around her.

She laughed weakly. She felt like a stupid little girl in love. Well, it

didn't matter.

"Watch me, Chris," she whispered. He had said humanity wouldn't need

gods. But only she was going to prove how right He was.

OoOoO

Feng Xian decided to ride inside the car this time. It kept Tofu from

giving her that look he did when she decided to ride on the hood or skate along

behind the car attached to it by a rope. He was so silly when he got worried

about her. It was one of the things she loved about him.

The car pulled to a stop at an unremarkable-looking outdoor restaurant.

It was about a half-hour's drive outside of town, overlooking the seaside. Palm

trees had been planted so they shaded the dining area, which was full of pretty

little chairs and tables. The food was cooked in a series of outdoor grills, and

a small outbuilding served refreshments and cold treats. Feng was already

looking for potential hazards and dangers, her practiced eyes flitting across

the scene.

There was a cliff not far away that gave the dining area a fantastic

view of the ocean. Quite a drop if you fell over it. The grills were potential

fire hazards. She supposed a coconut could fall and hit you on the head as well.

There wasn't much else. She sighed and placed her chin in her hands.

"Dear, please don't be like that," Tofu said as he turned the car off.

"Sorry," she said, allowing herself to smile again. This reunion was

pretty important to her husband, so she would try not to ruin it for him. But

the dreams she had been having recently just tended to fire up her imagination.

They were so vivid, so exciting!

They made jumping the Grand Canyon on a pair of rocket-powered skates

seem tame. Feng Xian smiled at the memory of that adventure. She promised

herself she would keep it in mind. This reunion of his promised to be quite

boring, after all. She knew the kind of people Tofu considered friends and aside

from that delightful Genma fellow, they were all so... careful.

As they approached, Feng saw that they had not been the first to arrive.

In fact, from the crowd, she was fairly certain they had arrived fairly late.

Most of the people there seemed to be Japanese; in their mid-twenties, from the

looks of them.

A woman with a bob-cut wearing a flattering skirt-suit was sitting at

one table with a woman with long green hair and dark skin. Something about the

green-haired woman struck Feng Xian as familiar. Across from them was a Japanese

woman with atypically blonde hair talking with a roguish-looking young man

wearing a leather vest and a bandana... oh, it was that amusing Shingo person!

Feng Xian waved. The boy looked up, and his face went white at seeing

her. Yelping, he made his excuse and retreated to the other side of the dining

area. Feng smiled, unoffended. She had that effect on people.

Tofu stopped to say hello to Shingo's friend. Yamazaki something, if

Feng remembered correctly. She was somebody important in the government. Feng

smiled graciously and moved away from them as quickly as possible.

Another blonde-haired Japanese woman was there as well. She was sitting

at a table with a beautiful young Mexican girl. Feng Xian paused only long

enough to determine that the blonde was trying to talk about the latest pop idol

and that the other girl was quite uncomfortable before moving on.

There was something about that young Mexican girl, however. She gave

Feng Xian an ominous feeling. She would have to remember to see if the girl

wanted to kill her or something, but later.

The final duo was a young man wearing a red jacket and a young woman

with a pair of swords belted to her waist. They were involved in some sort of

argument, so Feng Xian paused to eavesdrop.

"...man, you really know how to get in over your head, don't you,

Akane?" the boy was saying from behind his grin.

"Shut up, Ranma," Akane snapped back.

"Not that I've ever seen you NOT in over your head..." Ranma mused.

"Listen, Mr. Wandering Do-Gooder, some of us have to do real work."

"Feh," Ranma waved his hand. "I know I'm not suited for this political

garbage. So I just leave it alone."

"Yeah, well, while you're running around playing, SOMEBODY has to deal

with it." She crossed her arms and snorted. "We all can't just run off, shirking

responsibility and punching people in the face and having it all magically work

out for us."

"Of course not! Not everyone is Ranma Saotome," the boy replied without

a hint of irony.

At this point, everyone's attention was drawn to the road. A motorcycle

was pulling into the parking lot. There were two women on it, the one on the

back perhaps holding the driver a bit more tightly than was absolutely required

for safety.

"The guest of honour arrives," the green-haired woman announced.

Everyone gave out a cheer as the two women walked towards the dining area. They

both blushed slightly, but the one with the long hair looked especially

chagrined. She was also much weirder than her companion, so Feng Xian's

attention fixed on her instantly.

She wasn't tall, and looked about five or six years younger than her

companion. She had long black hair tied in a ponytail and wore a black

trenchcoat over a white sweater and dark slacks. Her eyes were black, with the

irises shaped like flowers. She had scars on her right arm, and tattoos on her

left. There was something about her that Feng Xian found instantly fascinating.

It was like there was a connection there. The woman paused and looked straight

at Feng Xian. She started when their eyes met, then quickly turned away.

Oh, now that was NEW.

Feng Xian smiled. It appeared she might have been wrong about how boring

today would be after all.

"Ukyou!" Akane yelled happily, jumping up and running to greet her. "You

made it."

Ukyou smiled back. "I said I would be here."

"Yeah..." Akane chuckled. "But I haven't seen you since..." She

shrugged. "You're very hard to find."

"She likes her privacy," Ukyou's companion explained in an almost

apologetic tone.

Suddenly Akane was hugging Ukyou in a sisterly fashion. Ukyou blinked.

"Uh... Akane?"

"I just wanted to thank you!" Akane said, shooting a look back at Ranma.

"Thank god I didn't end up married to him!"

Ukyou suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and Akane backed away, looking

contrite. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up..."

"It's okay..." Ukyou shrugged, but still looked uncomfortable. "Just

forget you mentioned it."

She looked out across the crowd and her face slowly lightened. It was

like a weight was being lifted off her shoulders, bit by bit with every familiar

face she recognised. Greetings were called out and soon everyone was smiling.

Ukyou rolled up her sleeves a bit more and promised to kick the chefs off the

grill and help prepare some real food. And with that, the tension of the last

few minutes was lost.

Ukyou's companion made a beeline towards the Mexican girl. The girl

looked up, smiling thinly. Her blonde tablemate also smiled more genuinely.

"Angel," the brunette said, sitting down. She pulled off her leather

jacket and draped it over the back of the chair.

"Hey Akira, it's been a while."

"Over a year," Akira agreed.

"You two want to catch up?" the blonde asked, starting to rise.

"Nah, Minako, you can stay." Akira waved her down. "I was actually

hoping to ask you some questions."

"Oh?" Minako looked puzzled.

"Yeah..." Akira drummed the table with her fingers. "I know you and

Ranma have been doing this 'two people against the world' thing longer than me,

so I was hoping for some advice."

Minako's smile turned wicked. "Advice about fighting evil, or advice

about roadside romance?"

Akira coughed. Angel laughed. "I think I'll avoid this conversation,"

she said, standing up. Akira gave her a pleading look, to which Angel responded

with a stuck-out tongue. The girl stepped away from the table and looked around

for something to do.

Ukyou was bullying her way into the cooking area, with Akane only two

steps behind. Apparently the other girl was inspired to help Ukyou out at the

grill. Tofu was talking to the green-haired woman, and the wealthy-looking girl

with the bobcut was staring at Akane with some form of trepidation. Finally

Angel apparently decided that the only person who looked approachable was Feng

Xian.

"Hey, you're not very comfortable here either, huh?" Angel said by way

of introduction.

"Oh, not at all," Feng replied, smiling. "I have to admit, I never knew

Tofu had so many interesting friends."

"Tofu?" Angel looked mildly confused.

"My husband," Feng replied, pointing him out.

"Oh, him." Angel shrugged. "To tell the truth, I don't know him real

well."

"That's too bad," Feng murmured. "You look like you've led an

interesting life."

Angel broke out into loud laughter. It took her a few seconds to get

herself under control. "You could say that." She wiped some tears from the

corners of her eyes. "So, you're married to Tofu? You meet him at that academy?

You from S.T.A.R.S.?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Feng Xian replied. "I'd never be in such an

organisation."

"Ah, too viol-"

"It would be terribly dull," Feng explained.

"Dull?" Angel looked at her oddly. "You that good a martial artist?"

"I tried martial arts for a while, but it got old fast." She sighed.

"Fighting is so boring and predictable."

"Uh... right." Angel backed up a step. "If you say so."

"Now, have you ever tried surfing on top of an avalanche?" Feng asked

excitedly.

"Uh... actually, yes. Once." She scratched the back of her neck. "Though

I didn't have much time to appreciate it."

"Oh." Feng tried to contain her jealousy. "Well, that isn't important."

"Hey, there you are!" Ranma said, approaching. "Angel, I deman-"

"I'm not fighting you, Ranma," Angel interrupted him with the calm of

familiar repetition.

"Damn it, Angel! You can't leave me hanging like this!" he snapped.

"My record against you is two and oh, Ranma." She smirked. "And it's

going to stay that way."

"You're afraid!" Ranma accused.

"No," Angel chuckled. "I just have nothing to prove."

"You, you think she should fight me, right?" Ranma said, turning to Feng

Xian.

"Not really." Feng shrugged. "If she's already won twice, what would be

the drama?" Ranma staggered back, his face adopting a comically pained

expression.

Feng excused herself and went in search of her husband. She paused as

she approached the table. He and the two women were in deep conversation.

"...believe that anyone would give up that much power," the woman with

the short hair was saying.

"Ukyou said she did, Nabiki," the green-haired woman responded.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything," Tofu replied. "I've talked with

her quite a bit in the last year." Ah, so that was the mystery patient Tofu

refused to tell her about. "She sincerely believes that she gave it all up, of

that I'm certain."

"That would tend to support my view," the green-haired woman responded.

"The problem, Pluto, is that it's meaningless." Nabiki sighed. "She

could have just convinced herself she doesn't have the power. She could still

be... well, you know..."

"What Nabiki is saying is that if she is still capable of wielding that

power, we have to watch her closely."

"If she does have that power," Pluto pointed out coolly. "Nothing in

this

universe is a threat to her."

"You're the only one who remembers everything, Pluto," Nabiki pointed

out. "But I know that some things are different."

"And best forgotten, Nabiki, and best forgotten." Pluto stood up

abruptly and walked away quickly. Nabiki sighed and Tofu gave her a sympathetic

look. Pluto brushed past Feng Xian. Once again Feng was caught by the bizarre

impulse to talk to her, but she let it pass.

Nabiki looked up and started at seeing her. Feng Xian smiled down at

her. She hadn't really been trying that hard to eavesdrop, and had been more

politely waiting for the conversation to reach a low point so she could

interrupt. But from the girl's expression, Feng might well have just committed

treason.

"Tofu... is this your wife?"

"Yes." Tofu stood up and put his arm around her. She snuggled into his

grip a little. "Nabiki Tendo, meet Feng Xian."

"Pleased to meet you," Feng replied formulaically.

"And you," Nabiki murmured. She turned her head sideways slightly. "So,

how did you two meet?"

"Well, I'd just nearly killed myself trying to run across the interstate

on the car roofs," Feng Xian explained, smilingly brightly at the memory.

"Thankfully, Tofu was able to put me back together." She brightened. "I have a

great scar..." She started to lift her blouse. Tofu grabbed her hand.

"That's okay, dear," he said.

"Oh, so he helped you out," Nabiki said, her voice now less suspicious.

"Florence Nightingale syndrome." She snickered. "I can just imagine him blushing

like a schoolboy around you during your convalescence-"

"Oh, I was out of there by that afternoon," Feng cut her off. "No, we

didn't start dating until after the Wyoming Forest Fire."

"Forest fire?" Nabiki asked.

"She didn't set it!" Tofu leapt in.

"Silly, of course not." She looked at Nabiki. "But I did take the

opportunity to roast the world's largest marshmallow." She giggled. "I never

would have guessed it would melt quite so quickly! They took three days to cut

me out."

"I... see..."

Tofu laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "She's a bit of a

firecracker..."

"Huh. Who ever would have imagined he'd go for someone like you over my

sister?"

"Your sister?" Feng Xian asked innocently. Tofu paled.

Nabiki smiled, an expression even more wicked than Minako's. "Oh, you

and I have a lot to talk about..."

"Oh look! The food is almost done!" Tofu grabbed her elbow and led Feng

Xian away as quickly as he could. "Let us help distribute it!"

"Sister?" Feng asked.

"Nothing, nothing! Just a boring part of my past!" Tofu laughed

nervously. "Hello, Ukyou, we would like to help you with the food."

"Of course," Ukyou said, leaning away from the fire. She had hung up her

coat on a nearby tree. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply from the grill.

"Ah, meat and fire. Truly a divine combination."

That reminded Feng. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Feng Xian," Feng said,

bowing slightly.

"Ukyou Kuonji," Ukyou responded.

"So... you're God?" Feng mused, rubbing her chin. "I would have thought

you'd be taller."

Ukyou blanched. Then she glared at Tofu. "I never told her!" he

gasped.

"Don't blame him," Feng said, waving her down. "I just sort of pieced it

together." She leaned in. "Everybody around here treats you like you're about to

bust out an apocalypse on them."

Ukyou looked vaguely ill at that. "I'm not god," she said.

"Oh. Too bad. Now that would have been interesting." Feng rubbed her

chin again. "Were you God, then? Is the position vacant?"

"I was..." Ukyou frowned. "I guess, when you look at it strictly, yes. I

was, for a few moments." She waved that away. "And I made myself not god."

"Why?" Feng asked, fascinated.

"Because I prefer this life," Ukyou replied, looking out at all her

friends. A smile bloomed on her features. "I prefer living for this moment."

"Oh." Feng shrugged. "That's as good as reason as any."

"You'll keep this quiet, right?" Ukyou said in a slightly pleading tone.

"I don't want it generally known."

"My lips are sealed," Feng promised as she picked up a plate of burgers

and skewers.

For the next ten minutes everybody was too busy eating to engage in

conversation. The meal was very good. It was American food, but somehow Ukyou

gave it a very Asian flavour. Feng did notice that everyone conspicuously

avoided the food Akane had cooked. Curious, she decided to see what all the

fuss was about. She took a bit from all the dishes Akane had prepared and wolfed

them down.

When she regained consciousness, Tofu was crouched over her, his eyes

wide in fear. He sighed as she blinked the darkness away from the edges of her

vision. "That was perhaps the worst food I have ever eaten," Feng pointed out.

"Yes, I'm very sorry, but Akane is far too busy with the interim

government to take cooking lessons and..."

"Tell her that she's invited over anytime she wants!" Feng sat up

quickly and clasped his hand. "We can have cookover parties!"

Tofu stared at her. Then that smile of his appeared. The smile that

said, 'I think you're crazy and I think I love that about you.' "I'll get you

some water," he said.

She watched him leave and then flowed to her feet. Her brief stint of

unconsciousness had cleared her mind a bit. She looked around the party and

quickly spotted the people she needed to talk to. She walked over to Sailor

Pluto and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Pluto said, turning away from her talk with the Yamazaki woman.

"Could you get Ukyou and Minako," Feng replied, "And meet me by the

refreshment stand?"

Pluto blinked, then murmured a puzzled assent and went to do so. Feng

wandered in that direction. Akira was walking away from the small outbuilding,

balancing a ten-scoop ice cream cone in each hand. Feng ducked around her and

came to a stop. A few minutes later Pluto arrived, with Ukyou and Minako in her

wake.

"This is certainly an eclectic combination," Pluto said as she

approached. "You are Tofu Ono's wife, are you not?"

Feng nodded. "Yes." She looked at them all. "I suppose you're all

wondering why I called you all here today." She grinned. "I've always wanted to

say that."

"Is this about that magical aura I sensed on you?" Ukyou asked.

"Yes, I think it is." She took a deep breath. "When I woke up just now,

I knew I had to ask you three about it. I've been seeing it in the mirror for

the last few months. I've no idea what it is, but it keeps showing up. So, maybe

you know." She pointed to her forehead and with a surprisingly easy effort of

will she made the mark appear. It kind of tingled, like being too near a high

voltage line.

The three of them stared.

"Sailor Uranus!" Minako exclaimed. "But... I thought she was dead?"

Ukyou and Pluto exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable.

OoOoO

It could have been anywhere. There was green grass and dark water, soft

sand and a small fire, the reflection of a crescent moon and a breeze that was

cool without being cold. There were two women, sitting together under a hand-

knitted blanket that was just barely big enough for them. The sounds of the

night washed over them. There was no one else for as far as the eye could see,

and that was enough for now.

Akira leaned against her lover, enjoying the feeling of her skin. Ukyou

was relaxed, her eyes alert but her face beginning to show signs of weariness.

Time seemed to slow down, and the moment stretched on forever. But all good

things come to an end.

"Thank you," Akira murmured.

"For what?" Ukyou's voice was tired.

"For coming back."

Ukyou closed her eyes. She smiled, but it was a strained smile. Akira

brushed her cheek with her hand. The stars blinked in the sky, distant and

uninterested.

"If you ever need to tell me, I'm here."

"Tell you what?"

"Anything. Everything." She turned Ukyou's face to hers and their eyes

met. "I'll always be here for you."

Ukyou stared at her for a long time. Akira stared back. The air around

them grew slightly warmer.

"Let's not get caught up in 'always'," Ukyou said. "Let's just enjoy

now."

"Of course." Akira looked away. The water lapped against the shore. Time

passed. For a short moment Akira was afraid. Ukyou might retreat again. She did

that, sometimes. There were things she just didn't seem to share with anyone.

She had always been that way. Perhaps she always would be.

"I'm not certain I can explain it anymore," Ukyou spoke up in the

darkness. "I'm not certain I can do it justice."

"I understand..." Akira murmured but Ukyou continued earnestly.

"A part of me has always been an artist, and I don't want to mess this

up. If I tell you, I want you to understand." She ducked her head. "I want you

to understand. I need you to. Because maybe tomorrow we'll be dead. Because this

world isn't perfect, and we have so much left to do. Because it will go on.

"I want you to understand why I chose this. Why I... why I chose to do

it all again. Why I brought back all the pain and fear and tragedy." Ukyou

stretched her hand out towards the stars. "And why I gave it all up."

"You don't have to explain," Akira assured her, wrapping one arm around

her shoulders. She was trembling.

"Yes, I do." Ukyou turned to her again, and placed her outstretched hand

against Akira's cheek. "Because this is more important to me than all that power

ever could be. Nothing is going to ruin this."

Akira felt her cheeks flush. She leaned in and they kissed. It was brief

and chaste, but it still left her heart racing. Ukyou was also blushing by the

time Akira pulled back. For a long moment, neither of them said anything,

suddenly feeling like shy schoolgirls again.

"So if I'm going to tell you my story, I'll start at the beginning."

Ukyou drew a deep breath. "Aaron was the one who first led us to Nerima. Back

then, we were much more separate than we are now and I still didn't trust him.

The first thing I made him do was lead me to the Tendo Dojo and that's where he

proved that, to him, this was all a story..."

The End

Hello my friend, we meet again

It's been awhile, where should we begin?

Feels like forever

Within my heart are memories

Of perfect love that you gave to me

Oh, I remember

When you are with me, I'm free

I'm careless, I believe

Above all the others we'll fly

This brings tears to my eyes

My sacrifice

We've seen our share of ups and downs

Oh how quickly life can turn around

In an instant

It feels so good to reunite

Within yourself and within your mind

Let's find peace there

When you are with me, I'm free

I'm careless, I believe

Above all the others we'll fly

This brings tears to my eyes

My sacrifice

I just want to say hello again

I just want to say hello again

Cause when you are with me I'm free

I'm careless, I believe

Above all the others we'll fly

This brings tears to my eyes

Cause when you are with me I am free

I'm careless, I believe

Above all the others we'll fly

This brings tears to my eyes

My sacrifice, My sacrifice

I just want to say hello again

I just want to say hello again

My sacrifice.

"My Sacrifice", by Creed


End file.
